(NNPA)—During her last round of picks for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“Debt Supercommittee”), intended to help solve the nation’s debt crisis, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., adding diversity to the important panel. The Demo­crats are also represented by the only woman on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The 12 member bipartisan panel will have until November to decide how the country should save $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

by Jesse Washington

(AP)—A Black man killed by police. Mobs of looters. Cities charred and shaken. The riots in London mirror some of the worst uprisings in modern U.S. history.

And there are more parallels: Stubborn poverty and high unemployment, services slashed due to recessionary budget cuts, a breakdown of social values, social media that bring people together for good or bad at the speed of the Internet. And finally, there are a handful of actual attacks, isolated and hard to explain, by bands of youths in U.S. cities.

LONDON RIOTS—Looters break into an electrical store during the second night of civil disturbances in central Birmingham, England, Aug. 9.(AP Photo/Tim Hales)

As Americans look across the Atlantic, a natural question arises: Could the flames and violence that erupted in Britain scar this country, too?

For the Week of August 20-26

August 20

1619—This is the most probable date that Black History in America begins. Approximately 20 Africans (the records of the day referred to them as “20 and odd Negras”) arrived in Jamestown, Va., aboard a Dutch ship. It appears the Africans were sold as indentured servants who could work and earn their freedom. Little is known about the group except that the Dutch had stolen them from a Spanish slave ship which was probably headed for the Caribbean or South America. Few names survive. But one of the men was called Anthony (or Antonio) and one of the women was called Isabella. The available records indicate the ship arrived in Jamestown in the latter part of August. Other records and some speculation have led most historians to believe the actual arrival date was Aug. 20, 1619—the beginning of Black history in America.

NAT TURNER

For the Week of August 13-19

August 13

1881—The first African-American nursing school opens at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga.

1892—The Afro-American newspaper is founded. The first edition is published in Baltimore, Md., by John H. Murphy Sr. At its height, the newspaper chain would publish papers in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Richmond, Virginia and Newark, N.J. It continues to publish today in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

ERNEST E. JUST

1906—The “Brownsville Affair” takes place. Angry Black soldiers, who had been subjected to intense racial discrimination and insults, are accused of sneaking into Brownsville, Texas, and killing a local White bartender and wounding a police officer. Although the evidence was weak, President Theodore Roosevelt sided with Brownsville Whites and ordered 167 of the Black soldiers dishonorably discharged for a “conspiracy of silence” because they either denied involvement in the shootings or refused to say who was involved. However, 66 years later (as a result of the findings of a book) the Army opened a new investigation which cleared the accused soldiers and reversed the 1906 dishonorably discharges.