For the week of Oct. 29-Nov. 4

October 29

1929—The Stock Market collapses ushering in the Great Depression bringing about Black unemployment rates ranging from 25 to 40 percent. The effects of the Great Depression would last until the start of World War II which created massive war industry jobs and a second mass migration of Blacks from the South to the industrial North.

PEARL PRIMUS

1994—Famed dancer Pearl Primus dies. She blended African and Caribbean dance and music with Black American traditions of blues, jazz and the jitterbug to form a new vibrant dance form. She formed a dance troupe and she personally appeared in such early Broadway hits as “Showboat” and “Emperor Jones.” Primus was known for her amazingly high leaps. In 1991, the first President Bush awarded her the National Medal of Arts.

•Students, from the elementary to the university levels, should report ALL cases of abuse of power. It is never OK for an instructor or administrator to harass, humiliate, intimidate or discriminate against students. It also is illegal to demand payments and “favors” for grades, materials or anything that should be provided by the school for no charge.

by Brandon Perry
For New Pittsburgh Courier

(Editor’s Note: This is part three of a four-part series from the Indianapolis Recorder dealing with the abuse of power)

(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.)—You go to school to be educated—at least that’s the plan. But the fact is that corruption is one of the last things families expect when a loved one is enrolled in an educational institution.

Educators and the faculty they work with—whether at the grade school, high school or university level—are expected to conduct themselves with integrity and fairness.

CHARGED—Former dean Cecilia Chang is charged with abusing students and embezzlement at St. John’s University.

by Brandon A. Perry
For New Pittsburgh Courier

(Part three of a four-part series from the Indianapolis Recorder.)

“These are arrogant public officials who play by their own rules,” assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said at a courthouse in Northern Indiana.

Bell wasn’t talking about the Taliban or North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. He was referring to East Chicago Mayor George Pabey and his city supervisor, Jose Camacho. Last week, a jury found the two politicians guilty of conspiracy and theft. They were accused of using city funds and workers to renovate a lakeside property in Gary that Pabey owned.