by Cyril Josh Barker

NEW YORK (NNPA)—Labor Day weekend, millions of Americans hit the highways to get to their weekend vacation destinations.  However, the lack of a simple task is killing Blacks on the roads at an alarming rate.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the No. 1 leading cause of unintentional injury death for all African-Americans is motor vehicle crashes. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for African-Americans ages 1 to 14. Of those killed while passengers in a vehicle, 52 percent of Black children were not restrained at the time of the crash.

Though wearing a seat belt is the best way to avoid injury, Blacks are still failing to buckle up. The problems have become so severe that it has been declared a public health crisis.

Week of Sept. 10-16

September 10

1847—John Roy Lynch is born into slavery on this day near Vidalia, La. Lynch would be among the first group of Blacks to serve in the United States Congress after slavery. He represented the state of Mississippi. Lynch would even serve as temporary chairman of the Republican Party National Convention. During this period, the Republicans were the more progressive and friendly-to-Blacks party. But as the period of Reconstruction faded and Southern politicians made it virtually impossible for Blacks to remain in political office, Lynch moved to Chicago and practiced law. He died in 1939 at the age of 92.

FATHER DIVINE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)—Authorities say a student athlete at Florida A&M University died after she was stabbed in the neck, and another young woman has been arrested.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that police said Shannon Washington died early Sunday. She was a member of the women’s basketball team.

by Charles D. Ellison

WASHINGTON (NNPA) —The past couple of weeks were overflowing with headlines of agitated Black Members of Congress throwing tantrums at the tea party, the president and anything that could create distance between them and the wrath of frustrated Black constituents looking for jobs.

FRUSTRATION CONSTITUENT—K.T. Houston, left, of Inglewood, Calif., talks with Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., during a Kitchen Table Summit event at Inglewood High School Aug 20. More than 2,000 residents gathered around tables at the Los Angeles-area high school gymnasium to vent their frustrations about the lingering recession and call on their elected officials to focus on job creation. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

It was the Black version of the summer of 2010; an In-Living-Color retrofit of those angry, legendary town hall meetings last year that took down the Democratic majority in the House, slimmed it down in the Senate and made President Obama wear a gray suit and ideologically matching red tie in a white flag waving peace sign the day after.