Black History Month 2024
'california' - 10 results
Los Angeles, California - Sam Cooke was shot to death. Cooke wrote and sang 'A Change Is Gonna Come' among many other popular songs. His friends included Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Jim Brown (football).
Cooke was respected for his activism for Black Rights (see Civil Rights). He refused to perform at segregated events.
Mrs. Bertha Franklin shot Cooke in the chest. It pierced Cooke's heart and killed him. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) quickly ruled the murder a 'justifiable homicide.'
Mrs. Franklin was never charged with Cooke's murder.
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Burbank, California - Roots was first broadcast, on ABC (American Broadcasting Company). It was the story of a Black family. It began in Africa, with the birth of a Black child, in 1750.
As the child grew, he reached the age of maturity. There, he began his rites of passage. It was at this time, that he was captured, by white males. These whites made him a slave.
Roots showed his path through the Transatlantic Slave Trade and into American slavery. Slave existence was shown all the way to the American Slavery War. The final part showed life after slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and a grim future for Black Americans. The time spanned over 100 years of American history.
There were 8 parts. Each was shown over 8 days. All times are Eastern time. Roots Parts 1 and 2 were on Sunday and Monday, 9:00-11:00 p.m.
Parts 3, 4, and 5 were on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Part 6 was on Saturday, from 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Part 7 was on Sunday, from 10:00 p.m - 11:00 p.m.
Roots Part 8 was on last, on Monday, from 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Part 8 was the highest rated of the series. It was the third (3rd) most watched show in television history.
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Barima-Waini (Jonestown), Guyana - (909 dead) Jonestown was a camp for the religious cult-leader, Jim Jones. His cult was known as the Peoples Temple. It began in 1956, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jones preyed on Black Americans. He focused on Black American women. He was a known womanizer. Jones regularly slept with female members. While the Temple was mostly Black American, the leadership was almost all white. Local whites were upset that the Temple had Black American members. Jones made plans to move the Temple.
In 1966, Jones left Indiana for California. First he went to Redwood Valley. Later, he went to San Francisco. There, Jones became well-known in politics. Yet, there were those who felt he abused his followers. It convinced Jones to leave the country.
In 1974, Jones decided on Guyana. He leased land (3,800 acres) from the Guyana government. The land was in the middle of the jungle. Over time, Jones moved hundreds of his followers to the area. He had a compound built, and called it Jonestown.
On Tuesday, November 14th, Congressman Leo Ryan, Jr. came to Jonestown. He heard reports of abuse and that members were forced to stay. Ryan went with a group that included journalists and aides. They toured the camp and talked to people in Jonestown.
On Saturday, November 18th, at 4:45 p.m. Ryan's group were to leave, from the Kaituma airstrip. It was the first part of their trip back to the United States. As they waited for their flight, Jones followers opened fire.
Ryan, three (3) journalists, and one (1) former Jones member were killed. Ryan was shot twenty (20) times. He was on the runway, to board the plane, to leave. He was the only person, in Congress, to die in the line-of-duty.
Later, that same day, Jones told his followers to drink poisoned (cyanide) Kool-AId. This is where 'drinking the Kool-Aid' started.
Most did not drink the poison, as told by survivors. Many were shot to death by Jones' bodyguards. Others, were intentionally injected with poison. Others were forced at gunpoint. Hundreds of men, women, and children were mass-murdered, on the word of Jim Jones.
The Jonestown Massacre was the largest peacetime loss of American non-military life in United States history, until 9/11. Jim Jones did not escape Jonestown. He was killed, the same night. It was a single gunshot to his head. It was never proved if it was suicide, or murder.
Some suspect Jones was a CIA asset. His death was on orders from the CIA. The reason was the end of the Jonestown project.
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Los Angeles, California - Rodney King was beaten by four (4) white police workers. They worked for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Stacey Koon tasered King twice. Laurence Powell clubbed King. Timothy Wind beat King with a baton. Ted Briseno kicked King.
The attack on King was videotaped. It showed the different assaults on King, by police. King was unarmed and alone.
There was a jury trial and verdict, the following year (1992). The jury had no Black Americans on it. They said all the police workers were not guilty of the assaults on King.
On April 29th, the day of the verdict, the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 started.
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Los Angeles, California - The Rodney King Uprisings (L. A. riots) began.
At 1 p.m. (PST), Monday, April 29th, Judge Stanley Weisberg announced the not guilty verdict, in the Rodney King case. Four white male police workers, of the Los Angeles Police Department had brutally beaten, Rodney King. The jury allowed them to escape punishment for beating an unarmed Black American man.
The verdict, by the all-white jury, outraged the Black American Los Angeles community. Many in Los Angeles felt the white police workers should have been tried in the city. But, they were allowed a trial in the white-friendly area of Simi Valley. Almost no Black Americans lived there.
By 4. p.m., civil disturbances erupted in parts of Los Angeles. By 5 p.m., the disturbances exploded into what became known as the Rodney King Uprisings (L. A. riots).
This period of civil unrest lasted until May 4th, with 63 people killed.
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Los Angeles, California - The Rodney King Uprisings (L. A. riots) lasted until Saturday, May 4th.
Source:
Arrests During Riots
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Los Angeles, California - Orenthal James (O. J.) Simpson was found not guilty in the murder of a white male and a white female. It was an extremely rare case. Normally, a Black American man was convicted when a victim was white. In those cases, evidence rarely mattered, in the United States.
Unfortunately, the white press, white politicians, and white media have complained about this outcome until this very day.
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Oakland, California - Oscar Grant III was shot and killed by Johannes Mehserle, Thursday at 2:15 a.m. Grant III was shot point-blank and face down, with Mehserle on his back. Mehserle worked for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police.
The round that Mehserle shot into Grant, bounced off the concrete, into Grant's lungs. Grant cried out immediately that Mehserle shot him. Less than seven hours later, Grant died at 9:13 a.m., at Highland Hospital, in Oakland, California.
On January 30th, 2010, Mehserle was charged with Grant's murder. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served 11 months in jail.
The last day of Oscar Grant's life was made into a movie, Fruitvale Station (2013).
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Big Bear Lake, California - The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) searched for Christopher Dorner, on Sunday. It lasted nine (9) days. In the end, Dorner died.
The LAPD claimed Dorner targeted and killed police workers. The alleged motive was rampant and unjust violence against Black Americans, by Los Angeles police workers.
Dorner worked for the LAPD. His training officer was Teresa Evans. During one encounter, Dorner saw Evans abuse a suspect. Later, Dorner filed a police brutality complaint against Evans. Because of this complaint, the LAPD fired Dorner, in 2008.
On October 3rd, 2011, the California Court of Appeals dismissed Dorner's case. This covered Dorner's firing and his police brutality complaint.
On Tuesday, February 12th, 2013, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office said they found Dorner. He was at a cabin, near Big Bear Lake, California. The Sheriff's Office set the cabin on fire, with Dorner inside. Dorner died inside the cabin.
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