Beating Death Of Derrion Albert, 16, Caught On Video

Four teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder in Derrion Albert's beating death.
Silvanus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, and Eric Carson, 16, all of Chicago, were charged as adults ordered held without bond. Eugene Bailey, 18, was also charged with first-degree murder and will appear in court Tuesday.

Prosecutors declared Albert an "innocent bystander" in the fight that led to his death.
video of the brawl.

Chicago police are still investigating the gang fight that erupted Thursday in Roseland that resulted in the death of 16-year-old Fenger High School student Derrion Albert.

Albert was killed in a melee near the school that police believe is a continuation of ongoing tensions between Fenger students that are members of rival gangs.

An amateur video of the brawl shows dozens of people punching, kicking and swinging wooden boards in the street. Albert was struck by blows from one of those boards, Fox Chicago reports, and the video obtained by Fox shows a person getting hit with a board and then stomped on after falling to the ground.

As people rush to help the injured person, a voice can be heard on the video yelling, "Derrion, get up!"

Albert's mom said witnesses told her that her son "trying to help another student and kind of got mixed in with the crowd of the fight and he was hit."

A memorial and march planned for Sunday was rescheduled for Monday at 1 p.m., the Tribune reports.

UPDATE: Police are questioning four people in connection with Albert's death, Fox Chicago reported late Sunday night.

The student who hit Albert with a board is in custody, Fox reports, as police try to figure out why Albert, an honor student whom family and friends said was not involved with a gang, was killed.

Meanwhile, police beefed up security around Fenger Monday as students returned to school the week after the melee that led to Albert's death.

"We want to provide reassurance to the public that there's a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school," the Tribune quoted Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth as saying.

CHICAGO - Cell phone footage showing a group of teens viciously kicking and striking a 16-year-old honors student with splintered railroad ties has ramped up pressure on Chicago officials to address chronic violence that has led to dozens of deaths of city teens each year.

The graphic video of the afternoon melee emerged on local news stations over the weekend, showing the fatal beating of Derrion Albert, a sophomore honor roll student at Christian Fenger Academy High School. His death was the latest addition to a rising toll: More than 30 students were killed last school year, and the city could exceed that number this year.

Prosecutors charged four teenagers Monday with fatally beating Albert, who was walking to a bus stop when he got caught up in the mob street fighting, authorities said.

The violence stemmed from a shooting early Thursday morning involving two groups of students from different neighborhoods, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor's office. When school ended, members of the groups began fighting near the Agape Community Center.

During the attack, captured in part on a bystander's cell phone video, Albert is struck on the head by one of several young men wielding wooden planks. After he falls to the ground and appears to try to get up, he is struck again and then kicked. Simonton said Albert was a bystander and not part of either group.

Prosecutors charged Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, with first-degree murder, Simonton said.

Shannon, Riley and Carson were ordered held without bond Monday. The Cook County Public Defender's Office, which represented the three teenagers in court, had no immediate comment. Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday, Simonton said.

Chicago police said they were looking for at least three more suspects, but would not discuss a possible motive for the attack.

Simonton said Albert was knocked unconscious when Carson struck him in the head with a board and a second person punched him in the face. Albert regained consciousness and was trying to get up when he was attacked a second time by five people, struck in the head with a board by Riley and stomped in the head by Shannon, Simonton said.

Desiyan Bacon, Bailey's aunt, said her nephew didn't have anything to do with the beating and was a friend of the victim.

"They need to stop the crime, but when they do it, they need to get the right person," Bacon said.

Fenger students said Albert's death intensified tensions at the school, with arguments about him breaking out in hallways all day Monday. Several blocks away, a memorial erected on the spot where he was beaten was burned down. Police also increased patrols before and after school and in the neighborhood.

"They're still trying to retaliate," said sophomore Toni Gardner, 15. She did not elaborate.

For Chicago, a sharp rise in violent student deaths during the past three school years -- most from shootings off school property -- have been a tragedy and an embarrassment.

Before 2006, an average of 10-15 students were fatally shot each year. That climbed to 24 fatal shootings in the 2006-07 school year, 23 deaths and 211 shootings in the 2007-08 school year and 34 deaths and 290 shootings last school year.

At a Monday vigil at the school, some community members said the solution lies with parents.

"It is our problem. We have to take control of our children," said Dawn Allen, who attended the vigil where a group of residents tried to force their way into the school before being turned back by police.

This month, the city announced a $30 million project that targets 1,200 high school pupils identified as most at risk to become victims of gun violence, giving them full-time mentors and part-time jobs to keep them off the streets. Some money also will pay for more security guards and to provide safe passage for students forced to travel through areas with active street gangs.

Albert's family attended a news conference Monday with school district leaders and police, but did not speak. They wore T-shirts with a picture of him in a cap and gown, with the words, "Gone too soon, too young."

But Annette Holt, mother of Blair Holt, a Chicago Public Schools student who was shot on a city bus two years ago, said Albert represented "another promising future, just snuffed out because of violence."

"Someone said he (Derrion) was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "No, he wasn't. He was in the right place. He was coming from school."

Strong Indonesia quake kills hundreds,traps more

PADANG, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia trapped thousands of people under collapsed buildings — including hospitals, a hotel and a classroom, officials said. At least 200 bodies were found in one coastal city and the toll was expected to be far higher.

The temblor Wednesday started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami. It was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in Malaysia and Singapore, causing buildings there to sway.

The undersea quake of 7.6 magnitude was followed by a powerful, shallow inland earthquake on Thursday morning with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It hit about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Padang at a depth of just under 20 miles (24 kilometers).

Shallow, inland earthquakes generally are more destructive. There were reports that the second quake badly damaged dozens of additional buildings.

In Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, the shaking was so intense from Wednesday's temblor that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands of frantic residents fled the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.

At least 500 buildings in Padang collapsed or were badly damaged, said Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono, adding that 200 bodies had been pulled from the rubble there. The extent of damage in surrounding areas was still unclear due to poor communications. Indonesia, a poor, sprawling nation with limited resources, was cobbling together an emergency aid response, and the government was preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths.

Padang's mayor appealed for assistance on Indonesian radio station el-Shinta.

"We are overwhelmed with victims and ... lack of clean water, electricity and telecommunications," Mayor Fauzi Bahar said. "We really need help. We call on people to come to Padang to evacuate bodies and help the injured."

Hundreds of people were trapped under collapsed buildings in Padang alone, including a four-star hotel, he said. Other collapsed or seriously damaged buildings included hospitals, mosques, a school and a mall.

"I was studying math with my friends when suddenly a powerful earthquake destroyed everything around me," an unidentified boy told the TVOne broadcaster. He escaped out of the top floor just as the three-story structure, used for after-school classes, crumpled.

TVOne footage showed heavy equipment breaking through layers of cement in search of more than 30 children it said were missing and feared dead.

Thousands were believed trapped throughout the province, said Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center.

Search and rescue teams were working in heavy rain when the second strong quake struck, causing widespread panic and badly damaging 30 houses in Jambi, another Sumatran town. It was not yet clear if there were injuries, said Jambi Mayor Hasfiah, who uses only one name, like many Indonesians. Frantic parents were seen rushing to local schools in search of their children.

"This is a high-scale disaster," Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told Metro TV, referring to the Wednesday quake.

The first quake struck just off the coast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

A tsunami warning was issued Wednesday for countries along the Indian Ocean, but was lifted after about an hour; there were no reports of giant waves.

The shaking in Padang felled trees and crushed cars. A foot could be seen sticking out from one pile of rubble. At daybreak, residents used their bare hands to search for survivors, pulling at the wreckage and tossing it away piece by piece.

"People ran to high ground," said Kasmiati, who lives on the coast near the quake's epicenter. "I was outside, so I am safe, but my children at home were injured," she said before her cell phone went dead.

The loss of telephone service deepened the worries of those outside the stricken area.

"I want to know what happened to my sister and her husband," said Fitra Jaya, who owns a house in downtown Padang and was in Jakarta when the quake hit. "I tried to call my family there, but I could not reach anyone at all."

Hospitals struggled to treat the injured as their relatives hovered nearby.

Indonesia's government announced $10 million in emergency response aid and medical teams and military planes were being dispatched to set up field hospitals and distribute tents, medicine and food rations.

Local television reported more than two dozen landslides in the province. Some blocked roads, causing miles-long traffic jams of cars and trucks.

On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake off the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga — thousands of miles (kilometers) from Indonesia — spawned tsunami that killed at least 120 people. Experts said the seismic events were not related.

___

Associated Press writers Ali Kotarumalos and Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.

Obama addresses black caucus on health care

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday resumed his push to overhaul the health care system, telling a Congressional Black Caucus conference that there comes a time when "the cup of endurance runs over."

"We have been waiting for health reform since the days of Teddy Roosevelt. We've been waiting since the days of Harry Truman," he said in remarks at the caucus foundation's annual dinner. "We've been waiting since Johnson and Nixon and Clinton."

"We cannot wait any longer," Obama said.

Obama spent the past week largely focused on global and economic issues in meetings with world leaders in New York and Pittsburgh.

At the G-20 economic summit that wrapped up Friday in Pennsylvania, Obama told a story about an unnamed foreign leader who privately told the president he didn't understand the at-times contentious debate over changing the health care system.

"He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and they're putting a Hitler mustache on you. That doesn't make sense to me,'" Obama said, quoting the world leader he declined to identify.

The reference to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was to signs some people have waved outside of often testy town hall meetings around the country this summer where lawmakers discussed Obama's health care plan.

In the speech, Obama described his plan as one that would not require people with coverage to change anything but would make health insurance affordable for the millions of people who don't have any. Republicans dispute those claims.

The Senate Finance Committee is in the process of amending a health care bill introduced by Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

Before becoming president, Obama was the only senator in the all-Democratic caucus, which now has 42 members. He wasn't particularly active in the group and isn't especially close to many of its members.

Animosity toward the president and his policies has bubbled up in recent weeks, most notably with Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouting "You lie!" at Obama during the president's recent health care speech to Congress.

Democrats from former President Jimmy Carter on down have blamed the increasingly harsh criticism of Obama on racism.

Obama says it's not racism but an intense debate over the proper role of government.

Before he began to speak, Obama walked to a podium facing the audience from the right side of the stage before he was directed to another one — the one affixed with the presidential seal — on stage left.

"They don't want me to be on the right," he joked. "This is the CBC

Russell Simmons writes about Minister Farrakhan's recent visit to New York: "My Second Father"

Minister Louis Farrakhan: My Second Father by Russell Simmons...

When we think of Minister Louis Farrakhan, we often think about the man who helped guide Muhammad Ali or the man who came up together in the Nation of Islam with Malcolm X. Do we ever think he's the man who helped hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of black people to love themselves? Well, we should.

When I grew up in Hollis, Queens there was a rehab, a mosque and a “Steak n' Take” on my corner, all of which where run by the Nation of Islam. There was also a heroin epidemic on that corner that was killing off our teenagers and young adults. Our parents would tell us that when we grow up we should make a choice to either join the army or "be a Muslim or something.” The Nation of Islam secured our housing projects, promoted dignity and transformed men with criminal pasts. Those men would then, in turn, raise refined, educated black children. Hard to dispute this. It took guys off the street and created a powerful, non-violent movement. The Nation of Islam has never been associated with any form of violence and always been about uplifting our communities and making a better future for black people. If you ask anyone from my generation, from any ghetto in this country, I promise you they have roughly the same experiences regarding the Nation's presence in their communities.

Certainly some of their preachers were fiery, especially in their pointing out the evils of white supremacy. They said some things in a way that was hard for most whites and some blacks to digest. For example, “THE WHITE MAN IS THE DEVIL.” We have to remember the climate of the country during this time. It was an all out war and the Nation was not about to back-down. The Nation of Islam, which was started by Elijah Muhammad and a white man named, Master Fard Muhammad, always pointed out that one day we would all live in harmony. Although this still isn't quite true, their message under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan has evolved to fit the time.

It is true that some blacks are still not “free” and stuck in a slave mentality, due to the lingering affects of 400+ years of slavery. It is the recognition of this condition that the Nation continues its important work in ghettos across America, giving steady doses of spirituality or sense of higher self to many men and women who need it.

This past week, it was my honor to host the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at my apartment in NYC. He was joined by his sons Louis Jr., Mustapha and Joshua Farrakhan, along with their personal chef and at least 75 security personnel. It was quite a scene to see how they set up shop at my apartment. This was a week where I didn't miss my 6am prayer because I could hear them already awake and ready to start the day off right. This was a week where the word "Allah" was on the tip of everyone's tongue. And was a very special time when I got to hang with my “second dad” and my other brothers. We reminisced about the three marches where more than three million people marched on Washington. We talked about how we brought Snoop, Ice Cube and other LA rappers together with members of the east coast rap community and how he helped mediate the beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule and countless other instances where he was there to help hip hop. And of course we talked about his keynote address at the hip hop summit that created the Hip Hop Summit Action network. We even mentioned a subject that the Minister doesn't care to discuss, his legacy. He has talked about the oneness of god for years, about the sameness of all religion and all people. He has given his followers spiritual roadmaps to happiness on Earth his whole life. I want future generations to know him as I do, so I am working to have his thoughts on this subject made into a book. I believe that his memoirs are going to be one of the most interesting and inspiring autobiographies ever written.

So that is my goal.

If America can know his heart, it will inspire millions of Americans for generations to come. It will happen with or without me, but I just thought writing this would be a good karmic expression for me, and a chance to reflect on a very special few days in my life.

courtesy of Russell Simmons
http://globalgrind.com/content/1015963/Minister-Louis-Farrakhan-My-Second-Father/

Gadhafi supporters dwarf opposition

by Richard Muhammad (Chicago, IL)
While opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi showed up at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across the street from the United Nations headquarters, their numbers and their energy were no match for those who turned out to show support for the revolutionary leader.

A mix of Libyans, many of whom were students at American colleges and universities, was joined by Native Americans, Africans and American-born Blacks.
Nation of Islam members oversaw the huge rally that stretched for blocks down the plaza.

The Sept. 23 program, which started before UN General Assembly speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama, included young Black dancers, Chuck D and Professor Griff of the rap group Public Enemy, Native American leader Ernie Longwalker, representatives of Libyan students, and student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, national assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and others
The speakers praised Gadhafi for his progressive leadership, which includes free education and health care in his country, support for the African Union and sub-Saharan Africa and oppressed people around the globe.

The crowd listened as a satellite feed brought
President Obama’s image and words live to the audience and projected the General Assembly proceedings on a huge screen. The crowd cheered wildly, waved pictures and waved signs when Mr. Gadhafi took the microphone. The Final Call newspaper, eadlined “Welcome to America,” featured a photo of the Libyan leader, who is also head of the African Union and was distributed to the audience. Gadhafi supporters were bussed into the event from several east coast cities.

Members of the Fruit of Islam, the men in the Nation of Islam, came in from around the country, attired on traditional suits and bowties or neck ties.

With remarks translated by an interpreter, the Libyan leader called for greater equality for the United Nations and expanded decision-making through the work of the General Assembly. The veto-wielding Security Council is a throwback to the war against the Nazis in the 1940, he noted.

The veto violates other principles contained in the UN Charter, he said. Mr. Gadhafi said the UN should respect and help meet the needs of all nations, whether big or small or rich or poor. It was his first visit to the United States.


Location: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York

Black People welcome Muammar Gadhafi at the UN

OUTSIDE THE U.N., MANY WELCOME GADHAFI

NEW YORK – Yussif Ali did not mind waking up at 2 a.m. this morning to come from his native Boston to Dag Hammarskold Plaza, next to the United Nations, to support a world leader he respects.

"I set aside two doctor appointments today to come see [Moammar] Gadhafi’s first time visiting the United States. To me, he’s a hero," the union carpenter said.

While many Americans associate Gadhafi with the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, (Libya formally admitted responsibility for the attack in 2003), Ali and hundreds of others who gathered across the street from the U.N. on Wednesday have a very different view of the Libyan leader.

Supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi watch a broadcast of his address to the United Nations General Assembly at Dag Hammarskold Plaza in New York on Wednesday.


"I’m a black American and taking lives of innocent people is wrong and unforgiveable and I see no excuses," said Ali, who has been a member of The Nation of Islam for more than 25 years. "But I don’t believe Col. Gadhafi gave anyone a direct order. You have a lot of radical people you can’t control."

An imposing phalanx of hundreds of Nation of Islam supporters dressed in dark suits flanked the walkway that led to a podium at the end of the plaza. A large JumboTron television had been set up to allow those assembled to watch Gadhafi’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

After the speech, many left inspired, including Abdush Shahid, a police officer from Newark, N.J. "This is the beginning of the history of Africa. Under the leadership of Gadhafi we begin to unify under one banner." Shahid was clear that he was not a member of The Nation of Islam. "I am a Sunni Muslim, and there is no separation – we are all brothers." Shahid believes Gadhafi as a leader who is unifying millions of Africans and their descendants into one community.

On the other hand Earl Dickinson, a 75-year-old retired tractor trailer driver who also traveled from Newark, had a much more practical reason for supporting Gadhafi. "He gave $2 million to [Louis] Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam." Dickinson said it was Gadhafi’s support and connections which helped Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam since 1978, expand his organization and disseminate his message.

In fact, Farrakhan met Gadhafi at Libya’s mission in New York on Tuesday to welcome him ahead of his first ever appearance at the U.N. after 40 years as the ruler of the oil-rich North African nation.

And Alonzo X, a serious and mature-looking high school senior, traveled from Connecticut to witness the Libyan leader’s U.N. speech. When asked whether they received any payment or remuneration for coming, Alonzo and others said they volunteered to come to New York as soon as they heard the news of Gadhafi’s visit. "I wasn’t paid to be here," said the young man in the somber suit. "God is paying us."
courtesy of msnbc.com