Features
- Created on 13 May 2013
Coke Donates $1 Million to NCNW in Honor of Ingrid Saunders Jones
Calling Ingrid Saunders Jones "the heart and soul of the company," Muhtar Kent, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company announced the donation of $1 million in her honor to the historic National Council of Negro Women (NCNW).
Jones, who retires next month from Coke after 31 years, was elected chair of the NCNW last summer. At the gala celebration on May 1 at the Fernbank Museum, Jones said "turning the nonprofit around" will be her focus after her
career at Coke.
"I claim it here tonight," Jones said after receiving many tributes from colleagues and the community, including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
She expressed her gratitude and appreciation for the gift in her honor for the organization founded by Mary McCloud Bethune and headed for years by the late Dorothy Height.
The surprise announcement and tributes brought Jones to tears. She said she had "practiced" not crying, but was unable to contain herself as she listened to speaker after speaker say how much she has meant to them personally and to the larger community.
Beside Kent, both of her two direct bosses sang her praises. Retired Coke executive Carl Ware talked about working with her at City Hall when he was president of the Atlanta City Council and how he was thrilled that she accepted his offer to come work for him in 1982 after he was hired by The Coca-Cola Company.
Alexander Cummings, chief administrative officer of Coke and her current boss, said he was grateful for the work that reputation that Jones has given the company worldwide.
In addition, Helen Smith Price, spoke on behalf of Jones' team at Coke. She brought a smile of recognition to many faces when she talked about Jones' attention to detail.
"To say she is a detail person is an understatement," Price said. "She not only wants the details, but she wants the details behind the details."
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed praised Jones for her dedication to the city, as well as to The Coca-Cola Company. He noted that Jones had worked for former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson before joining The Coca-Cola Company. And after he was elected mayor in 2009, Reed said he met with Jones, who offered her support and counsel.
"She said I'll probably be the last mayor that she gets to train," Reed said with a smile.
In addition, several of the Morehouse College students that Jones has mentored stood in celebration of her work with them. She has worked with the student leadership development program since its inception.
Alicia Phillip, president of The Community Foundation, spoke on behalf of the "elders," several women who have worked with Jones over the years in philanthropic activities here and around the nation. Former Depart of Labor Secretary and Coca-Cola Diversity Council Chief Alexis Herman also praised Jones for her skills at pulling people together for a common good.
A native of Detroit, Jones came to Atlanta in a fellowship program to work at City Hall during Maynard Jackson's first term as mayor. Jackson was elected the first African-American mayor of a major Southern city in 1973. She began her career as a teacher and used her skills in government and corporate America to make the world her classroom.
(Photo: Muhtar Kent (from left), CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, shows a proclamation that was issued in honor of Ingrid Saunders Jones’s retirement after 31 years from the company, as she and Alexis Herman look on. The proclamation and a $1 million gift from Coke to the National Council of Negro Women were among the many tributes made at the gala reception on May 1 at Fernbank Museum.)
- Created on 11 May 2013
‘Searching for Our Sons and Daughters’ Debuts on DCTV
DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis has announced the debut of DeKalb County Television's (DCTV Channel 23) newest feature, "Searching for Our Sons & Daughters: Finding DeKalb County's Missing."
The segment spotlights missing persons cases via public service announcements and news segments, and reaches out to family members, friends and officials to shed more light on the person and the circumstances of his or her disappearance.
DCTV's first feature in this series highlights the heartbreaking, yet hopeful story of Senella Watson and her search for her adult son who had been missing since November 2012. Watson now credits DCTV's feature with helping to successfully find her son.
To view Senella Watson's story, visit http://youtu.be/AjSrYeZNiPc.
"Stories of our missing residents offer profound insights and hope for a positive reunion," said CEO Ellis. "With this new DCTV feature, we have an opportunity to reunite DeKalb County families."
In addition to disseminating important, timely information that could help reunite a missing person with their loved ones, the
segment also helps DCTV partner the reunited individual with local and state-wide services when needed.
"The purpose of this feature is to remind viewers that missing persons reports are not isolated cases which do not affect us. Instead, the people featured are the actual mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters of DeKalb County," said segment creator and DCTV Director Diamond Miller Lewis.
The features are made available through a partnership between DCTV and the DeKalb County Police Department.
"I look forward to working collaboratively with DCTV to help DeKalb families locate their missing family members," said Police Chief Cedric Alexander.
Citizens with information about a missing persons case are encouraged to call the Special Victims Unit at 770-724-7710.
DCTV's full programming roster is available on Comcast Cable Channel 23 in DeKalb County, online through a live video stream and on demand at www.dekalbcountyga.gov/dctv and on the county's YouTube channel "DeKalbCountyGOV." DCTV serves as the sole media source of DeKalb County government events and programs, working to inform more than 700,000 residents in DeKalb.
- Created on 09 May 2013
Ariel Castro: Cleveland Man Charged With 3 Women’s Kidnapping, Rape
(AP) — A man suspected of keeping three women captive inside his decrepit house for a decade was charged Wednesday with kidnapping and rape, accused of holding them under conditions so oppressive they were allowed outside for only a few moments in disguise and never saw a chance to escape until this week.
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- Created on 10 May 2013
Malcolm Shabazz, Grandson of Malcolm X, Murdered in Mexico - Report
Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of icon Malcolm X, was killed in Mexico Thursday. The news was reported by New York’s Amsterdam News and confirmed by Terrie M. Williams, a family friend via Twitter.
Several reports around the circumstances of his death are still unconfirmed.
"I'm confirming, per U.S. Embassy, on behalf of family, the tragic death of Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X.Statement frm family 2 come," wrote close friend of the Shabazz family Terrie M. Williams on twitter.
The Journal News , a paper from White Plains, N.Y., did directly confirm Shabazz’s death with Williams via phone.
“I mentored him and he did a lot of work with us in terms of speaking to young people,” Williams told the Journal News. “He was a very, very powerful brother.”
Juan Ruiz, a member of the California-based labor organization Rumec, told Talking Points Memo that Shabazz was in Mexico City with Miguel Suarez at the time of his murder. Ruiz asserted that the previous reports of a shooting were wrong and that Shabazz was beaten to death.
“He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didn’t allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital,” said Ruiz. “This is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime.”
Officials with the State Department would not confirm Shabazz’s death, but did confirm the death of a U.S. citizen.
“We are aware of the death of a U.S. citizen in Mexico City. We have been in contact with the family members and at their request, there will be no further comment at this time,” a State Department official said in response to an inquiry about Shabazz.
Family members have also confirmed his death and said that he was in Mexico, but have not confirmed the exact location or circumstances of how Shabazz died.
Speculation on Shabazz’s murder being an assassination is intensifying.
On Tuesday, Shabazz posted to his Facebook page that “enemies” thought they could defeat him, but the “war” wasn’t over. (Click 'Next' on the photo at the top of the article to see Shabazz's tweets.)
Shabazz is survived by his three-year-old daughter, Ilyasah, his mother, Qubilah, and his closest aunt, Ilyasah, among others. Shabazz was living with his grandmother Betty Shabazz, when he confessed to setting fire to her Yonkers, N.Y., home in 1997. Mrs. Shabazz died from severe burns caused by the fire. Shabazz was just 12-years-old at the time. He eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson and was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile detention facility. Years later, he told the Amsterdam News that he had not set the fire.
Shabazz was in the process of writing two books, at least one of which was a manuscript. He was attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
- Created on 08 May 2013
Five CAU Student-Athletes Receive Arthur Ashe Jr. Honor
Five Clark Atlanta University student-athletes were named 2013 Arthur Ashe Jr., Sports Scholars by 'Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine': Nekesha Whitaker, Kelvin Tanner, Brionne Bachus, Kailyn Blackmon, and Kasey Dawson.
Inspired by tennis legend Arthur Ashe Jr.'s commitment to education and his love for tennis, Diverse Magazine established the Sports Scholars Awards to honor undergraduate African-American student-athletes who are community leaders and have excelled academically and athletically at their respective colleges and universities.
Whitaker, one of the featured student-athletes, is a graduating senior wth a 3.73 GPA in Criminal Justice and the 2013 Georgia Peach of an Athlete top female honoree. With a wealth of community service initiatives including her involvement with CAU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), she paces her workload as a member of the women's cross-country and track and field teams.
Dawson, a graduating senior and Psychology major and Bachus, a rising senior and Accounting major, are both women's tennis student-athletes who boast a 3.78 and 3.76 cumulative GPA, respectively. Blackmon, a junior Psycology major, claims a 3.74 GPA while Tanner, CAU's male Peach of an Athlete nominee, excels with a 3.55 GPA in Computer Information Systems.
These student-athletes are among others at NCAA DI, DII and DIII member institutions to receive this recognition.
(Photo: Clark Atlanta cross country athlete Nekesha Whitaker.)
