Queens, NY (BlackNews.com) — Local New York residents are being encouraged to support NYC Outward Bound at an upcoming special theater event in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater (242 West 45th Street).

“The Mountaintop”, starring actors Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, is a gripping theatrical experience that reimagines the night before the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The play was written by Katori Hall, and is directed by Kenny Leon.

Here’s the synopsis:

After delivering one his most memorable speeches, an exhausted Dr. King (Samuel L. Jackson) retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis while a storm rages outside. When a mysterious stranger (Angela Bassett) arrives with some surprising news, King in forced to confront his destiny and his legacy to his people.

Taking place on Tuesday, January 17th at 7pm, the evening will include an exclusive post-show talk back with playwright Katori Hall. Ticket sales support NYC Outward Bound and its work with NYC’s public schools. All seating is orchestra. Tickets are on sale until Jan. 6th and are $125 per ticket, $40.50 of which is a donation that will directly benefit students.

About NYC Outward Bound

NYC Outward Bound operates a growing network of public schools in all five boroughs of the City. Run in partnership with the City’s Department of Education, their schools are built on the nationally recognized Expeditionary Learning model and prepare students for college, citizenship and the 21st-century workplace.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, comments, “NYC Outward Bound is… defying the lie, defying the myth, defying the stereotypes about what children can and cannot do.”
For more details about the play, visit:
www.themountaintopplay.com

To purchase tickets, visit:
www.nycoutwardbound.org/get-involved/calendar-of/the-mountaintop.html

By Chinta Strausberg

While the nation’s economy is slowly coming off its fiscal life support and some people are returning to work, Saint Sabina has been performing miracles on 79^th Street in providing food, clothing, shelter, spiritual and family counseling and restoring utility services all year round.

In just the last two-weeks, Saint Sabina has helped thousands of people many of whom reside well beyond the borders of the Auburn Gresham community. Father Michael L. Pfleger has been able to literally beg for food to keep the shelves of the Saint Sabina Catholic Charities shelves stocked while some food pantries have closed.

In just over two-weeks, Pfleger, his staff and an army of volunteers passed out 836 turkeys, thousands of toys, 2,050 hot dinners to the community and fed hundreds of homeless people, seniors and their families on Christmas Day.

But, the giving spirit doesn’t start and end on holidays. Saint Sabina continues to service thousands of people throughout 2011 including getting their lights and gas turned on, finding homes, distributing food and clothing, Father Michael L. Pfleger said, “We are doing what the church is supposed to do” meet the needs of the people and being church beyond the doors of Saint Sabina.

During the Christmas Day Feast where hundreds of homeless people, seniors, children and their families ate a full course, home cooked meal in the Bethune Hall, Father Pfleger blessed the food and told them: “When Jesus left Heaven to come to earth to find you and me, He was so in love with us He said, ‘I gotta go and find them.’

“I don’t know about you, but I’m glad He found me,” said Pfleger. “And, the great news of it is that He not only came but it would be nice if we just celebrated Christmas but it’s not just that He came. When He came He said ‘I’m with you forever. I’m never going to leave you.’

“We all go through different stuff,” he told the crowd. “All of us are in different situations. I’ve been in my situation. I got suspended this year; so I know about situations,” he said with the crowd applauding and laughing. Pfleger was referring to Cardinal George who suspended him for a month.

“But, guess what? No matter what situation we face, first of all, situations are temporary,” Pfleger explained. “So, what ever situation you’re in right now, if you’re in a shelter right now, a half-way house, it’s temporary.”

Pfleger asked each one to face someone in the audience and repeat after him: “Neighbor, don’t you worry about where I am. You ought to be excited about where I’m on my way to,” he told a cheering crowd.

And, while Pfleger is preparing to close the chapter on 2011 at Saint Sabina in what has been a fruitful year that has enabled him to be a beacon in the community, city and nation, he has once again prepared a special Black History Month program starting with his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and “A CALL TO NONVIOLENCE” featuring guest speaker Elder Bernice King, the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King, on Sunday, January 8, 2012, 11:15 a.m. at Saint Sabina Church, 1210 W. 78^th Place, (78^th Place and Throop Streets) in Chicago.

But, Father Pfleger doesn’t stop at February, which will once again include the African/African American Marketplace that allows blacks to sell their wares in the church; he has greater plans for Saint Sabina all throughout 2012 and beyond.

Police officials recently told this writer “I don’t know what we would do without Father Pfleger” in helping them stem the violence not only in the community but the city of Chicago as well.

Pfleger’s in-your-face stance against illegal guns has gotten him in hot water with the Archdiocese when the NRA put out a false press release accusing him of saying he would “off” the owner of a south suburban gun shop.

Pfleger has certainly lived up to the title of the book, “Radical Disciple,” written his friend, Robert McClory. He continues to take on the NRA, which has targeted him with hate mail including e-mails and phone calls, but Pfleger, who is not for sale, remains consistent and uncompromising in his opposition to the flow of illegal guns that have taken the lives of so many innocent children and young adults.

Every time a child is shot, it reopens the wounds of losing his son, Jarvis Franklin, who was fatally shot just a few blocks from Saint Sabina on May 30, 1998. Jarvis had turned his life around and had accepted Christ as his Savior. The pain of losing his son never goes away but it strengthens him in his fight to help rid illegal guns in Chicago.

Saint Sabina’s staff, volunteers and supporters are ready to once again follow their shepherd into 2012 armed with their marching boots and a social justice agenda that includes continued opposition of the death penalty for the New Year’s problems and never ending issues.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced all that offices and Driver Services facilities will be closed on Monday, January 2, 2012, for New Year’s Day.

Driver Services facilities that are usually open Tuesday through Saturday will be closed on Saturday, December 31, 2011.

All Driver Services facilities will open for regular business on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

Individuals can visit the Secretary of State’s website, www.cyberdriveillinois.com, to change an address, register to become an organ and tissue donor or renew license plate stickers by mail.

 Award Given to Nation’s Most Outstanding Senior Participating in U.S. Army All-American Bowl

San Antonio, TX (BlackNews.com) – Dorial Green-Beckham, Hillcrest High School, Springfield, Mo., is one of six finalists for the prestigious U.S. Army Player of the Year Award that is given to the Nation’s most outstanding senior in high school football participating in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The 2012 U.S. Army All-American Bowl will be televised live on NBC Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. EST from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Green-Beckham is an accomplished wide receiver that set the national career receiving yards record with 6,447 and finished the season with 119 catches for 2,234 yards and 24 touchdowns. Both Rivals.com and MaxPreps list him as the top overall recruit.

“Dorial Green-Beckham possess leadership, dedication and strengths similar to Army Strong Soldiers, being named a finalist for this award only underscores his talents,” said John Myers, Director of Strategic Communications, Marketing and Outreach, U.S. Army Accessions Command. “The six finalists are outstanding athletes. We congratulate them on their nomination and are proud to have them wear the Army colors.”

For more than a decade, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl has been the Nation’s premier high school football game, serving as the preeminent launching pad for America’s future college and NFL stars. Adrian Peterson, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Ndamukong Suh, Marcus Lattimore, and Andrew Luck all made their national debuts as U.S. Army All-Americans. The 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl drew a crowd of nearly 38,000 to the Alamodome, and was the most-watched sporting event on television over the weekend, excluding the NFL playoffs.

For more information on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and its related events visit www.usarmyallamericanbowl.com and www.goarmy.com/events/aab or the official Facebook and Twitter pages located at www.facebook.com/USArmyAllAmericanBowl and www.twitter.com/armyallamerican.

Detroit, MI (BlackNews.com) — Award winning Actress Phylicia Rashad, will join ABC News Anchor John Quonines, to co-host the 16th Annual Urban Wheel Awards Sunday, January 8, 2012 at MotorCity Casino Hotel inside the Sound Board theatre during the North American International Auto Show’s (NAIAS) press preview week. The Urban Wheel Awards is the official multicultural event of the NAIAS.

Rashad and a roster of other celebrities, politicians, professional athletes and dignitaries will honor automotive companies, executives, and the winning urban vehicles at the star-studded annual event.

Whether Rashad is bringing laughter to millions of television viewers around the world, moving theatre-goers to tears, thrilling movie fans, offering new insights to students by teaching Master Classes at renowned learning institutions that include Howard University, Julliard, and Carnegie Mellon, serving on Boards of prestigious organizations, or breaking new ground as a director, Phylicia Rashad is one of the entertainment world’s most extraordinary performing artists.

John Quiñones is the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC newsmagazine “Primetime” and has been with the network nearly 25 years. He is the sole anchor of the “Primetime” series “What Would You Do?” one of the highest-rated newsmagazine franchises of recent years. During his tenure he has reported extensively for ABC News, predominantly serving as a correspondent for “Primetime” and “20/20.”

Emmy Winning phenomenon Debbi Morgan – formerly Dr. Angie Hubbard on “All My Children” – joined the cast of The “Young and The Restless.” Fans are already familiar with Morgan’s character, which was previously known as Yolanda when the role was played by Chene Lawson (2005-06). Ms. Morgan’s career over the past twenty years has shown how diverse her body of work is and has become a household staple across the country.

Other celebrity presenters include: NFL Detroit Lions Starting Linebacker Justin Durant, Celebrity Actress Gina Hiraizumi, Fox 2 News Anchor Roop Raj, NFL Superstar Damian Gregory, Award Winning Radio Host, Author and Business Woman Frankie Darcell and the cast of Wives of Favor. The UWA will also include special musical performances by Celebrity Singer Songwriter Lisa Deveaux, Celebrity Singer Songwriter Beth Griffith and the Citadel Church Gospel Choir and Celebrity Band Larry Lee and the Back in the Day band.

About the Urban Wheel Awards

The 16th Annual Urban Wheel Awards is a world-class awards show, held during the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). The only Official Multicultural Event held in conjunction with the NAIAS, the awards promote diversity inclusion in the nation’s largest auto show and brings together celebrities, automotive executives, international media, government representatives and the multicultural community to celebrate diversity accomplishment in the automotive industry. The festivities begin at 2:00 p.m. with a vehicle exhibit, followed by a reception at 4:00 p.m. to honor William “Bill” Perkins, the first African-American Chairman of the NAIAS. The celebrity Green Carpet and VIP reception follows at 5:30 p.m. and the awards show will take place from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. An afterglow networking reception will conclude the evening. Proceeds from the event support the Emerging Diversity Education Fund, which provides internships, scholarship and mentoring to students pursuing careers in the auto industry, communications, and Green jobs. For more information, please contact Marjorie Staten at events@decisivemag.com or (248) 866-8837 or visit www.urbanwheelawards.com for more information.

Patrick Clear, Marc Grapey, Geoffrey Owens and Tamberla Perry star in the Pulitzer Prize-Winner’s no-holds-barred suspense story

Chicago, IL – Pulitzer Prize-winning and Chicago native playwright David Mamet ruthlessly examines guilt and oppression inRace, his “intellectually salacious” (Chicago Tribune), “scalpel-edged” (The New York Times) drama which bows for its first time in Chicago at Goodman Theatre. Resident Director Chuck Smith, who helms Mamet’s work for the first time, has cast a four-member ensemble including Patrick Clear (King Lear, The Clean House); Marc Grapey (Vigils; Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Geoffrey Owens (The Cosby Show; Julius Caesar at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.) and Tamberla Perry (In the Next Room or the vibrator play at Victory Gardens Theater, Eclipsed at Northlight Theatre). Race runs January 14 – February 19, 2012 in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre. Tickets ($25 – $89) can be purchased at GoodmanTheatre.org, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Mayer Brown LLP is the Corporate Sponsor Partner for Race and WBEZ 91.5 FM is the Media Partner.

“Race, to me, is the most in-your-face play that I’ve dealt with on the subject of race in America, and David Mamet does it in an intriguing, effective way—sharp, precise, right to the point,” said Chuck Smith, whose numerous directing credits include plays of the twentieth-century African American experience: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Amen Corner and The Good Negro. “There are uncomfortable questions raised in this play, but I think it’s every theater’s job to address contemporary issues and mirror our society. Race carries on a conversation that is essential to us individually and collectively.”

Race begins as a crime mystery, as two high-profile lawyers—Henry (Geoffrey Owens) who is black, and Jack (Marc Grapey) who is white—are called to defend a wealthy white client Charles (Patrick Clear) who is charged with the rape of an African American woman. The client admits that he was intimate with his accuser but vehemently denies the charges of rape, insisting that the sex was consensual and that he and the woman were in love. As the two lawyers mull over the potential pitfalls in accepting the case—among them contemporary racial politics and myriad unclear details from the alleged crime scene—they enlist the help of their new associate, Susan (Tamberla Perry), a black woman in her 20s. Susan openly admits that she thinks Charles is guilty and makes a critical administrative error that prematurely forces the firm to take on the controversial case—and casts suspicion onto Susan’s motives. In the lawyers’ struggle to find the truth, their own prejudices are exposed, and they quickly discover that present-day racial and gender politics are as complex as the case in front of them.

“I do not think that people are basically good at heart,” said playwright David Mamet in a 2008 interview with the Village Voice. “That view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine; this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.”

David Mamet began his association with the Goodman in the fall of 1975 with the world-premiere production of American Buffalo. Since then, the Goodman has premiered nine of his plays, including A Life in the Theatre, Lone Canoe, Lakeboat, Edmond, Red River, The Disappearance of the Jews, adaptations of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, and Glengarry Glen Ross—the 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama. In 2005, the Goodman celebrated Mamet’s work with a festival that featured a variety of his productions including Romance, A Life in the Theatre and Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock. His other plays include Oleanna, Speed-the-Plow, Boston Marriage and November. Mamet has written the screenplays for The Verdict, The Untouchables, and Wag the Dog, and has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. He has written and directed ten films, including Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main, House of Games, Spartan and Redbelt. He has authored the novels The Village, The Old Religion, and Wilson: A Consideration of the Sources, and was co-creator and executive producer of The Unit on CBS.

Chuck Smith (Director) was recently awarded the Lloyd Richards Directing Award for his production of Knock Me a Kiss at the National Black Theater Festival (nominated for 13 Audelco awards, including Director of a Dramatic Production and Dramatic Production of the Year). Goodman Theatre’s Resident Director and an associate producer of Legacy Productions, a Chicago-based touring company, Smith’s Goodman credits include the Chicago premieres of The Good Negro, Proof and The Story; the world premieres of By the Music of the Spheres and The Gift Horse; James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner, which transferred to Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company where it won the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Direction; Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun; Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky; August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; the Fats Waller musical Ain’t Misbehavin’; the 1993 to 1995 productions of A Christmas Carol; Crumbs From the Table of Joy; Vivisections from a Blown Mind; and The Meeting. He served as dramaturg for the world premiere production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at the Goodman. He directed the New York premiere of Knock Me a Kiss and The Hooch for the New Federal Theatre and the world premiere of Knock Me a Kiss at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater, where his other directing credits include Master Harold…and the Boys, Home, Dame Lorraine with the late Esther Rolle and Eden, for which he received a Jeff Award nomination for best direction. Regionally, Smith directed Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Birdie Blue at Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Story at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Blues for an Alabama Sky at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and The Last Season for The Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles. At Columbia College he was facilitator of the Theodore Ward Prize playwriting contest for 20 years and editor of the contest anthologies Seven Black Plays and Best Black Plays. He won a Chicago Emmy Award as associate producer/theatrical director for the NBC teleplay Crime of Innocence, and was theatrical director for the Emmy Award-winning Fast Break to Glory and the Emmy Award-nominated The Martin Luther King Suite. He was a founding member of the Chicago Theatre Company, where he served as artistic director for four seasons and directed the Jeff Awardnominated Suspenders and the Jeff Award-winning musical Po’. His directing credits include productions at ETA; Black Ensemble Theater; Northlight Theatre; MPAACT; Congo Square Theatre Company; The New Regal Theater; Kuumba Theatre Company; Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre; Pegasus Players; the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, Illinois; and the Black Theatre Troupe in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Smith is a 2003 inductee into the Chicago State University Gwendolyn Brooks Center’s Literary Hall of Fame and a 2001 Chicago Tribune Chicagoan of the Year. He is the proud recipient of the 1982 Paul Robeson Award and the 1997 Award of Merit presented by the Black Theater Alliance of Chicago. He is currently a board member of the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago.

Washington, DC — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $335 million joint settlement with Countrywide, a subsidiary of Bank of America, over allegations that the former mortgage giant steered African-American and Latino borrowers into risky subprime loans more often than similarly situated white borrowers and charged them more for their loans during the height of the nation’s housing boom.

The joint settlement reached by Madigan and Department of Justice officials resolves allegations by Madigan and the DOJ of widespread and illegal discrimination against minority borrowers at Countrywide, which was purchased by Bank of America shortly after its collapse in 2008.

“Countrywide consistently sold African-American and Latino borrowers riskier loans at a higher cost than similarly credit-situated white borrowers. Even when Countrywide sold minorities prime loans, they paid more than white borrowers,” said Attorney General Madigan. “Now, African Americans and Latinos are still paying a higher price. No one can dispute that minority communities have been hit hardest by this crisis and will feel its effects longer.

“This settlement upholds the basic American tenet of justice and fairness for all,” Madigan said. “People’s access to credit, and the terms of their credit, should be determined on an equal basis, not on the basis of the color of their skin.”

Today’s settlement provides for an independent administrator to contact and distribute compensation payments to borrowers identified by the Department of Justice as victims of Countrywide’s discrimination. Eligible borrowers will be contacted by the administrator. Individuals who believe they were victims of Countrywide lending discrimination and have questions about the settlement may email countrywide.settlement@usdoj.gov.

The settlement stems from Madigan’s June 2010 lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corporation, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. and Full Spectrum Lending Inc., an arm of Countrywide that mostly sold subprime loans. Her suit alleged numerous violations of the Illinois Fairness in Lending Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act, and included data to show minority borrowers paid more for mortgages than white borrowers and that they were more often sold riskier home loans, despite their qualifying for prime, or low cost, loans. Madigan’s analysis of Countrywide loan data found that these disparities could not be explained by objective factors, including borrowers’ credit scores or their debt-to-income ratios.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit and subsequent settlement follows years of investigation by her office into Countrywide’s lending policies and practices during the years leading up to the market’s collapse. Madigan issued a fair lending subpoena to Countrywide in March 2008, after a study by the Chicago Reporter of federally collected mortgage lending data for the Chicago area found that, in 2006, Countrywide Financial Corporation sold higher-cost loans to 50.9 percent of its African American borrowers and 33.8 percent of its Latino borrowers, while only 19.5 percent of the company’s white borrowers received high-cost loans.

Madigan’s analysis of Countrywide’s loan data found that African-American and Latino borrowers were three times more likely to receive a higher-cost subprime mortgage than white borrowers, and that Countrywide charged African-American and Latino borrowers higher interest rates and fees on loans spanning the company’s range of products, including its prime products, as compared with similarly-situated white borrowers.

It also found that these disparities in Countrywide’s subprime sales and loan pricing were the result of company policies that gave employees and mortgage brokers almost unlimited discretion in the selection and pricing of loans.

Countrywide was once the largest mortgage lender in the nation, including in Illinois, and led the country in selling subprime loans. The failure of millions of these higher-cost mortgages nationwide contributed to the nation’s housing crash, resulting economic recession and ongoing foreclosure crisis.

This is the second lawsuit Madigan filed against Countrywide. In 2008, the Attorney General filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against the lender for its major role in driving the foreclosure crisis, and in November 2008, she led negotiations that resulted in an $8.7 billion nationwide settlement of that lawsuit with Bank of America.

Her case against Countrywide is also Madigan’s second fair lending lawsuit brought against a mortgage lender. In July 2009, Madigan filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo for violating the state’s fair lending and civil rights laws, becoming the first state attorney general in the nation to sue a federally chartered lender for its role in creating the foreclosure crisis. The Wells Fargo litigation is ongoing.

 Prominent suburban Republican takes on role with #1 Victory Program in the Nation

Chicago, IL - Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady today named DuPage County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Darlene Ruscitti Co-Chair of the statewide Victory Program – the number one Victory operation in the country in 2010.

“Dr. Ruscitti is the first elected official to serve in this capacity for the Party and is a perfect choice given her background as a suburban leader in the state’s second largest Republican county,” said Brady.  “Darlene’s experience gives us the competitive edge our ground game needs with so many important races in 2012″

The Illinois Republican Party Victory operation was first in the nation in 2010 beating states like Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin with over 4.1 million volunteer contacts.   The program was critical to victory in 5 congressional races and 3 statewide elections.

“The Victory Program was instrumental in my race for Senate and Darlene is the suburban leader we need to lead our targeted races to victory in 2012,” said Senator Mark Kirk.

“As a leader in Congress and Illinois, I am committedto the Illinois Republican Victory Program and can’t think of a better person to help lead this effort than Dr. Darlene Ruscitti,” said Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam.

“I’ve known Darlene for many years and her hard work and record of success on winning campaigns will be an invaluable asset to our candidates in a competitive election year”, said Congresswoman Judy Biggert.

Dr. Darlene J. Ruscitti is the Regional Superintendent of Schools for DuPage County and began her 3rd term on July 1, 2011. She has earned her doctorate of education from Loyola University and currently VicePresident of the Illinois Association of County Superintendents. Her civic responsibilities include: Chairwoman of the Bloomingdale Township Republican Party, Vice President of Campaigns for the DuPage GOP and Co-chair of the Illinois Republican Women’s Roundtable.