Against a backdrop of acceptance, ambivalence and denial, a social commentary of same-sex relationships in Oprah Winfrey's production of Alice Walker's Color Purple and implied in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, begs for further examination.

The Color Purple, with its run on Broadway ended, attracted not only notable stars to many of its leading roles, but hordes of African-Americans who came to see the performance. To some it reflected suffering and redemption running like a strong river through their lives and to others it was an opportunity to see their favorite stars up close and personal.

At the end of the play, Channel 7, ABC-News Anchor Sade Baderinwa hosted a question and answer session with the cast and audience. Without re-hashing the play, I asked a question about the significance to African-American women of the kiss shared between Celie and Shug Avery, when Shug first came to visit. The response from Zonya Love (appropriate surname?) the leading lady and from Angela Robinson, the actress who played Shug was anything but satisfactory. At best they skirted around the issue and dissembled, referring to the reaction of Robinson's mother coming to see the play and after seeing it made a dismissive comment about the kiss between Celie and Shug.

What piqued my interest and made me sit up was how acceptable the kiss between Ceile and Shug was to everyone in the theater who saw the depth of the relationship between two women shared so openly, with ease and without question, much less a raised eyebrow. I looked around the theater in the dim light to see how people were reacting; everyone's eyes were transfixed, without a blink, on the stage. Faces were set impassively, everyone absorbing what was playing out in front of them.

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by Antoine Craigwell, Sr Journalist

Another shooting in a public place! When the news broke of a shooting in a shopping mall in Omaha, NE, and when order had been restored to pandemonium and chaos, of people running, screaming and ducking for cover, there were nine fatalities, including the gunman, Robert Hawkins. Images released from the Von Maur shopping mall show 19-year-old Hawkins pointing a rifle, people running and some being wheeled through the doors on stretchers, a final telephone call, and a suicide note have all confirmed he was the lone gunman.

Still emanating from authorities in the city are reports regarding the entire incident continue to replay the repeated sound ‘pop-pop’ of 23 rounds being fired against the backdrop of the voice of a 9-1-1 operator quizzing a caller and of people screaming. Television images showed interviews with frightened and traumatized witnesses, whose recollections of the sequence of events have already become altered— undoubtedly, their respective minds have gone into “lockdown-mode” as protection from the memory.

In the analyses and blame pointing, one correspondent on the scene representing a New York-based news radio station, 1010WINS, said that the question being asked is how did the gunman obtain a rifle? Other reports coming out of the mall area speak of people terrorized, fearful and traumatized. Another reporter said that what is being looked at and the questions now being asked, after looking at the trail of evidence Hawkins has left, is what had happened to cause him to want to commit, not only suicide, but murder as well.

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by Antoine Craigwell, Sr Journalist

HIFU, high intensity focused ultrasound, is prostate cancer technology used to eliminate cancerous cells in the prostate, with comparably lesser side effects, cost and a quicker return to normalcy than other commonly used treatment methods currently available in the U.S.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound

The American Cancer Society (ACS) 2007 Cancer Facts and Figures says that while incidence rates of prostate cancer are significantly higher in Blacks than in white men and although prostate cancer death rates have been declining nationwide since the early 1990s, mortality among African-Americans still remains more than twice as high as those of white men.

The ACS 2007 Surveillance Research estimates 26,730 new prostate cancer cases in African-Americans in the New York tri-state region and 8.5 percent or 2,270 deaths. The ACS says that though common among men in North America and southern Europe, statistics show that Afro-Caribbean men have the highest prostate cancer incidence rates in the world and advises men with a strong family history to begin screening for it as early as age 45.

As a treatment method, HIFU goes back to the early 1940s through to the 60s when it was used extensively for the treatment of various cancers in women. It is an alternative to already established treatment methods, including: cryotherapy, freezing cancerous cells; radical prostatectomy, prostate removal; external beam radiation, radiation through healthy tissue for six to eight weeks; and internal radiation seeds, permanent implantation of 80 to 100 radioactive seeds in the prostate — all of which have periods of hospitalization, extended recovery, varying percentages of impotence and incontinence (insufficient bladder control), pain and other lower abdominal abnormalities. While avoiding nerves and blood vessels, HIFU focuses a large pulse of high-energy ultrasonic waves on a single location, raising the temperature of cancerous cells to 100 degrees Celsius, and causing the lipids of cell membranes to melt and the proteins in them to denature.

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by Antoine B Craigwell, Sr Correspondent

(San Francisco, CA) -Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Wednesday, April 9, accepted the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) OUTSPOKEN Award held at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. In a historic acceptance speech, he apologized not only for his Church's attitude toward the LGBTI community, but called on world leaders to boycott the Beijing Olympics to protest China's record on human rights.

According to a press release issued by the IGLHRC, Archbishop Tutu in his 30-minute address, said that for his part it was impossible to keep quiet "when people were frequently hounded...vilified, molested and even killed as targets of homophobia...for something they did not choose-their sexual orientation."

The press release stated that with over 500 people attending, this was the largest gathering and the first time that Archbishop Tutu had ever spoken to such a large audience from the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) community. Along with condemning the persecution of gay people and apologizing for the ostracism many suffer, Archbishop Tutu challenged the Chinese government to improve their human rights record.

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By Antoine Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent


While China is in “full-speed-ahead” mode with preparations for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, behind the frenzied building of new facilities, in keeping with the International Olympic Association requirements, and the expected economic boon for the Chinese, there lurks a dark underbelly that is yet to see the light of condemnation by their government and the international community.

About late January to early February this year, a coterie of New York politicians met and had dinner with the Chinese Consul General Liu Biewie. The dinner, attended by NY State Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, representing the 79th Assembly District in the Bronx, said that the Consul General spoke about China’s contribution to the New York State economy and the need for greater bilateral economic relations.

“He [Biewie] bristled at my questioning about the lack of democratic freedoms among the Chinese rural and lower classes. He stated that they have to evolve into the growing economy and basically, that internal Chinese affairs are none of my business,” said Benjamin, referring to the numerous human rights abuses in China.

Benjamin said that he is personally appalled that the Chinese or any civilized government would place such little value on human life.

“Organ harvesting is reprehensible. That government has criminalized spirituality and the universal desire for freedom and democracy. And, too many foreigners are complicit in accepting these organs, no questions asked. The Chinese doctors and journalists who have spoken out are credible. The Chinese fascist dictatorship has made human life a commodity as they have gone to great guns to embrace capital accumulation,” he said.

As an African-American, Benjamin said he recalled the oppression in China, where the Catholic Church is controlled by the CCP, about the one child rule.

“As an elected official, I am sounding the alarm to my colleagues and business leaders. New York State should not be accomplices in the oppression of the Chinese people or the suppression of their rightful yearnings for freedom and democracy,” Benjamin said.

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By Antoine Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent

Before the A train doors had closed, at a little after 9 am Tuesday, April 1, a slew of people had jammed themselves into each and every open space in the cars. Men and women were seated, stood and hung on to overhead or vertical poles, or leaned against closed doors; going to work, for appointments or whatever, were dressed either in business attire or more casually; and, some staring, their eyes glazed over looking into a distance only they could see, lost in their own thoughts planning for the day, or recalling the night just passed; some reading newspapers, catching up on the latest events and happenings in the city, some studying texts which they knew they should have done before, some reading magazines, catalogs, or books, or some just looking at others, either cruising, admiring or mentally criticizing; and some others lost in the music pumping into their ears through ipods and earphones, all on the stretch between the 125th Street station in Harlem and 59th Street or Columbus Circle.

In the press of people was one man, who came aboard the last car of this 10-car train. He was Black, stood between six-feet and six-feet two-inches tall, with an estimated weight of close to 250-pounds. He was dressed in a dark suit and a blue shirt, without a tie. He carried in his hand a black briefcase. This man, who so far is nameless, is forced to assume a John Doe name, stood against the panel of doors opposite the platform. He too, blended into his surroundings and assumed the pose of indifference: just simply minding his own business.

As the train pulled away on the express track from the 125th Street Station in Harlem its wheels clacking and slapping the rails, gaining momentum, the noise reverberating in the car, everyone in this last car settled down to the seven to 10-minute drive, a long straight stretch on the A train, to 59th Street/Columbus Circle.

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By Antoine B Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent

(New York, NY - Apr 30, 2008) - As a continuation of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's (IGLHRC) award presentations, the Outspoken Award presented to Archbishop Desmond Tutu in San Francisco, CA; an Iranian gay man and a Chilean transsexual received the organization's 2008 Felipa De Souza Award

The IGLHRC's "Celebration of Courage" award ceremony held at the Asian Society and Museum on Monday, April 28, boasted several local and internationally prominent people from the gay and lesbian community.

At the awards, IGLHRS's highest award was presented to Arsham Parsi, executive director of the Iranian Queer Organization (IQO) and Andres Ignacio Rivera Duarte, founder of the Chilean-based Organizacion de Transexuales por la Dignidad de la Diversidad, and the 2008 Special Recognition Award to IBM.

"I'm happy to be here in New York to represent the Iranian Queer Organization and to accept this award. When I received news about winning this award, I was working on the documentation for an Iranian who had escaped from the United Kingdom after he was denied asylum and was scheduled to be deported back to Iran where he would have faced persecution and death," said Parsi in his acceptance speech.

Though the organization is based in Canada, Parsi said, they do not have an office because they use all their available funds to help asylum seekers. The IQO, Parsi said, is starting a new project devoted to poetry, publishing books and brochures in both Persian and English written by gay men in Iran, and continuing to provide telephone counseling for gay men in Iran.

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By Antoine Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent
     Eric Jones, Photojournalist

New York, NY-An upscale Harlem clothier, N Boutique, hosted a fundraiser in support of The Ali Forney Center last Wednesday, May 21. At the store, located on 116th Street, in Harlem, close to 100 people gathered for the fundraiser which provided that 10 percent of all store sales, a percentage of the book sales of "Hiding in Hip Hop" by Terrance Dean, and proceeds from a raffle would go to supporting the work of the Center.

 

The Center was established in 2002 following the murder on the streets of Harlem of homeless youth, Ali Forney, as a place for homeless LGBT youth.

Steven Gordon and Carl Siciliano(r), director of the Ali Forney Center

"We are living in times when people are coming out younger and younger. About 25 percent of the youth in our country coming out are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered, and about 40 percent of all those young people are homeless," said Carl Siciliano, the Center's founder and executive director, speaking at the fundraiser about the mission and role of the Center.

Organizers of the fundraiser Laurence Pinkney and Terrence Dean

Len Shebar, one of four partners who own and manage the store said that they have recognized the importance of contributing to deserving causes by incorporating a charitable component to their business. When Shebar and his partners learned of the Ali Forney Center, of the work it does for LGBT youth, and those marginalized, it was an instant decision to do something for them, he said. "For me, its all about bringing a broader awareness through education," Shebar said.

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By Antoine Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent
     Eric L. Jones, Photography 

New York, NY-In an exclusive interview last Friday, May 23, Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the Ali Forney Center, spoke, about it, the work it is doing, the challenges, and its future plans. The Center, he said, was established in 2002 as a safe place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth after he experienced the traumatic event surrounding Ali Forney, a homeless African-American gay youth who was killed on the streets of Harlem

Instrumental in the formation of the Center, said Siciliano, were two significant events that came together: A study published in the late 1990s by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene revealed that young men who have sex with men, especially those who live on the streets, account for 20 percent of all HIV infection rates; and the death  of Ali Forney, who was homeless and whose demise drew attention to the plight of  the number of youth who not only live on the streets, but are infected with HIV and are unaware of their status.

"I wanted to scream," said Siciliano. "There was so much money coming into the city to provide condoms, but no other support for them, especially for those out on the streets."

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(New York, New York-- June 18, 2008)- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Mental Health for Mount Sinai's research for The Manhattan HIV Brain Bank (MHBB) recently awarded an $8.6 million grant to Susan Morgello, MD, Professor of Pathology and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

According to a press release, Dr. Morgello said that the new grant award will help Mount Sinai to continue to make scientific discoveries leading to cures for nervous system disorders caused by and associated with HIV/AIDS infection.

"We hope to better understand how HIV impacts the nervous system, and assist other research programs in understanding the pathogenesis of HIV-related neurological disorders. Through this information, we can arrive at better therapies for common HIV-associated problems like dementia and neuropathy," she said.

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Washington, DC-June 20, 2008-Senators Barack Obama and John McCain added their names to the U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (S. 2731) in the last few days. The presumptive presidential candidates, who had verbally committed to supporting the legislation at Town Hall forums last week, joined more than 60 of their Senate colleagues in supporting the passing of the bill.

According to a press release, in a media conference call last Wednesday, June 18, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, adding his voice to the call, said that when the United States takes the action that is being suggested, by passing the legislation, then that act will in turn generate more specific country commitments from other donor nations.

"I plead to the leaders, the members of the congress, for the sake of the world, for the sake of the future, expedite the passing of the relevant legislation," said Archbishop Tutu.

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(New York, NY)-At what has become the "in" place for fundraising events, N Boutique, on 116th Street in Harlem, hosted a fundraiser " Groove, Give and Get" on June 11 for the Chuck Allen Scholarship Fund to benefit the St. Philips Episcopal Church and the Democracy Preparatory Charter School.

As a memorial to his untiring work, not only in the New Haven communities where he was an alderman and special assistant to the mayor, but in the Harlem area where he lived, Chuck Allen, III was honored and remembered at the fundraiser.

Paying homage to his partner for nine years, Tod Roulette, said that it was interesting that with Allen's death in February 2008 a lot of the work that he [Allen] had committed himself to is now coming to fruition.

"When I walk pass on 137th Street and I see the building he was instrumental in raising funds for, the people moving in and the school moving in July and will begin to formerly occupy the space with the beginning of the new school year in September, I feel close to tears as I remember how devoted he was to seeing it all completed," said Roulette.

Hosting the fundraiser was actor, writer, songwriter and educator Cornelius Jones, Jr., who for six years was a member of the cast of the on stage performance of the Lion King on Broadway, and who performed two selections from his upcoming performance "Flag Boy," which he said is autobiographical solo play that was written and is done by him.

"I'm just helping to bring more diversity to the work that Chuck was involved in," said Jones. "I'm not a politician, but I do a lot of work on humanitarian issues and I'm an advocate for gay issues."

When the time had arrived for Jones to perform selections from his upcoming show, he turned to the crowd of guests and suggested that because of the R-rated material in his performance and the age of the students, they were asked to go to the lower level until it was over. In his performance, Jones recounted in a dramatization a snippet of his first gay experience with his close friend, Danny, who had stayed over at his house and with whom he shared a bed.

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By Antoine Craigwell

As the night deepened, getting closer to 11:30pm, a group of people marched brazenly into and headed toward the back of Gemini's Lounge on Liberty Avenue in the Richmond Hill section of Queens, NY and proceeded to enjoy the pulsating mix of calypso, reggae and Indian chutney music. The crowd at Gemini, a mix of straight, bi-curious and gay and lesbian men and women, is mostly of East Indian descent from Guyana, the only English-speaking country on the northeast coast of South America.

In a black dress and dancing with her friends was Vermal Persaud, an incomplete transsexual of Indian descent originally from Guyana.

Vermal, as she prefers to be called, had come from a one-time performance of the play, Tara's Crossing, at the Richmond Hill High School on Saturday, May 17 and which told the story of her experience as a young boy struggling with his sexual identity, persecution in the countryside and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital, to asylum seeking and detention in the U.S, in Miami and Elizabeth, New Jersey. Along with some of her closest friends, the play's cast, and with the play's writer, director and producer, Vermal twirled and danced to the music blaring from two large speakers.

"Although the play does tell my story, it only tells of my experiences when I arrived in the U.S. and not of my complete experience back in Guyana," said Vermal shimmying and gyrating to the music as if she was casting off the memories of the pain she had endured.

As she explained, the name "Tara's Crossing" was taken from the Hindi word for star, which she attributes to her experience and likening to a star crossing in the night sky.

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By Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) - Former Broadway actor, Cornelius Jones, Jr., who after six years with the Lion King, is making a comeback with his solo-autobiographical play, Flag Boy.

For Jones, the play is an affirmation of his identity as a Black gay man. It is two stories: a young boy's journey toward acceptance of himself and his sexuality, and about a flag - a gay flag, a country's flag and the symbolism that goes with flags - the sense of identity and pride.

Flag Boy will be performed on July 14, at the Eagle Theater, located at 347 West 36th Street, ground floor, New York, NY, and is part of the Midtown International Art Festival. It is directed by Josh Ian. A second show will be on Sunday, July 27, at 12:45 p.m., and a third show on Friday, August 1, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $18.00. Recalling, a vignette in the play, a life experience from which the title was born, Jones says that when he was in the ninth grade, about 13 or 14-years old and around 1991 to 1992, he wanted to be in the auxiliary team of his school's marching band - whose members were the pompom girls, majorettes, flag girls and rifle boys. Jones became a rifle boy. But, it was the band director, Mrs. Martin, who made every one in the auxiliary team learn to handle flags.

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By Antoine Craigwell, Sr. Correspondent

(New York, NY) - As if dedicating July to the celebration of America's independence, the solo play, Flag Boy, set to play with a first show on July 14, at 6:30 p.m., for three shows, is also a celebration of the liberation and establishment of the French Republic on Bastille Day.

Directed by Josh Ian, Flag Boy will open at the Eagle Theater, located on 347 West 36th Street, ground floor, New York, NY. It is part of the Midtown International Art Festival. After the opening, a second show will be held on Sunday, July 27, at 12:45 p.m., and the third show on Friday, August 1 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $18.00.

The show is exactly one hour, without an intermission. Jones will also be doing a benefit performance on July 27 for the 3Lions Stage Theater Company, and a single performance on September 18, at 8 p.m. at the Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington, Delaware.

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By Antoine Craigwell

New York: The New York think tank, the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has condemned as Police abuse, the July 17th arrest of Guyanese-American Richard Fraser and his friend, Trinidadian-American, Jeremy Phillips, by NYPD narcotics officers attached to the Brooklyn South Task Force. The Institute said the two were unjustly and unlawfully arrested.

On July 17th, 2008 Fraser and Phillips, while awaiting the bus at the intersection of Avenue N and Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, witnessed several plain clothe Police officers rush into a store, tackled a young black male to the floor and then dragged him from the store on to the roadway. Fraser, upon seeing the young man being maltreated, turned on his phone camera and began to record the incident.

When the officers realized that they were being recorded, one went over to Fraser and demanded that he prove that he is a United States citizen, telling him that he was obstructing a Police investigation and that he would be arrested for obstructing a government agent, if he did not give up the video recording. Fraser refused and was arrested. During this arrest he allegedly sustained injuries. A videotape of an aspect of this incident can be viewed...

 

 

As the officers attempted to effect Fraser's arrest, he threw his cell phone to Phillips for safe keeping. However,once the officers had handcuffed and placed Fraser into a Police van, they then turned their attention to Phillips. They demanded that he also produce identification to prove that he is a United States citizen and that he hand over Fraser's phone to them. Phillips produced his New York State "drivers" license but refused to surrender the phone. He too was then arrested and placed in handcuffs. Fraser's phone was also forcibly confiscated. Once the officers seized Fraser's phone from Phillips, he was releasedon the scene.

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