by Valencia Mohammed

(NNPA)—Former U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, who recently returned from a self-sanctioned peace mission to Libya, said he went into hiding for about a month in Libya after witnessing horrifying events in Libya’s bloody civil war—a war that Fauntroy claims is backed by European forces.

WALTER FAUNTROY

Fauntroy’s sudden disappearance prompted rumors and news reports that he had been killed.

In an interview inside his Northwest D.C. home last week, the noted civil rights leader, told the Afro that he watched French and Danish troops storm small villages late at night beheading, maiming and killing rebels and loyalists to show them who was in control.

“‘What the hell’ I’m thinking to myself. I’m getting out of here. So I went in hiding,” Fauntroy said.

(NNPA)—Hundreds of mourners packed Bethel AME Church in Detroit, Mich., Aug. 31 to pay their final respects to Esther Gordy Edwards, older sister of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and the label’s matriarch.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the ceremony was attended by family members, Motown artists and local politicians who all wished their final goodbyes to Edwards, who died on Aug. 25 of natural causes. She was 91.

ESTHER GORDY EDWARDS

Among the entertainers at the ceremony were singer Smokey Robinson, members of the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder, who performed “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and “Isn’t She Lovely.”

During Motown’s heyday in the 1960s, Edwards served as the label’s vice president and chief financial officer. When the company was sold in the ‘80s, she collected and organized the items left behind at their famed Hitsville headquarters. Shortly thereafter, she transformed the establishment into the Motown Historical Museum.

by C Stone Brown

WASHINGTON (NNPA)—In a joint session to congress Sept. 8, President Barack Obama gave his much anticipated speech on his prescription to resuscitate the ailing American economy.

The president’s plan is an ambitious $447 billion stimulus package that would include small business payroll tax cuts, tax credits for businesses that hire new workers, and new construction jobs to repair bridges, build public schools, roads and highways.

President Barack Obama addresses joint session of Congress Sept. 8. (NNPA Photo/Fred Watkins)

If there was a theme in the president’s address last night it was the urgency of getting his bill passed “right away,” which he repeated eight times.

(NNPA)—A high school football game in Painesville, Ohio caused tension when students and supporters of the winning team held up a banner that some thought was racially offensive.

According to Fox News’ Cleveland affiliate WJW-TV, after Kirtland High School defeated Painsville Harvey High during a football game on Sept. 2, Kirtland students celebrated their victory by raising a sign that read, “You Mad, Bro?” enraging some Black attendees.

“At the conclusion of the game, some of their students put up a sign that we believe was racial intimidation, ethnic intimidation,” Roderick Coffee, president of the Lake County chapter of the NAACP told WJW.