September 24

1957—President Dwight Eisenhower orders federal troops into Little Rock, Ark., to prevent angry Whites from interfering with the integration of the city’s Central High School by nine Black students. The confrontation was one of the most dramatic during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. Governor Orval Faubus had vowed to go to jail to block the court ordered desegregation of the school claiming that Whites would be destroyed if they integrated with Blacks. But the confrontation settled the issue of whether states had to obey orders issued by federal courts.

1965—President Lyndon Johnson issues what is generally considered the nation’s first affirmative action order—Executive Order #11246. It required companies receiving federal construction contracts to ensure equality in the hiring of minorities. Despite a disastrous war in Vietnam which would eventually force his resignation, the Southern-born Johnson generally supported a host of legislative and executive efforts beneficial to Blacks.

PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON

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)—Former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin allegedly had a “one-night stand” with former NBA all-star Glen Rice back in 1987, according to the National Enquirer.

The Enquirer claims that Palin’s “one-night stand” is one of other “shocking secrets” revealed in author Joe McGinniss’ highly-anticipated book “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” scheduled for release Sept. 20.

Sarah Palin, left, and Glen Rice. (Courtesy Photo)

According to the tabloid’s report, McGinniss explains how Palin, who had a “fetish” for Black men, hooked up with Rice during a college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska, nearly 25 years ago.

At the time, Rice was a junior forward for the University of Michigan performing in the tournament, and Palin (known at the time as Sarah Heath), a 23-year-old sports reporter, was covering the event for Anchorage TV station KTUU.

Rice, 44, is most famous for helping lead Michigan to the 1989 NCAA Basketball Championship. He was drafted fourth overall into the NBA in ’89 and played 15 years, earning three all-star awards and a NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.

(Reprinted from the Afro American)

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.