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Editorial (July 22, 2010)

Nobody involved in the Shirley Sherrod scandal emerged with reputation intact — except, of course, for Sherrod herself. But although key players Andrew Breitbart, Tom Vilsack or Benjamin Jealous all deserve a measure of scorn, we're even more distressed by a political culture that, despite the promise of a "post-racial" society after Barack Obama's election as president, has clearly made little progress in coming to terms with the issues that divide our multiracial nation.

By Peter Nicholas and Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau (July 21, 2010)

The Obama administration issued an extraordinary public apology Wednesday and offered to reinstate a federal official who was fired after she appeared to make racial comments on a misleading snippet of video.

When it became clear that her comments had been taken out of context, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to Shirley Sherrod by phone to apologize and to ask if she would return to the department.

This is an illuminating interview with Haile Gerima about his experience as an Ethiopian filmmaker, and discusses issues faced by independent filmmakers, lack of distribution, including the hostile reception and rejection by American press from Washington Post, Time, New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR) and others for his film Sankofa until the film was embraced by the Black community. Additionally, Sankofa was the only independent film that was in competition with major Hollywood movies at the international film festival. The interview was conducted by Lee Thornton for  "A Moment with..." at the University of Maryland, College Park.

This is a short clip from the powerful film Sankofa. The film was directed by Ethiopian born filmmaker, Haile Gerima, who is based in United States. Sankofa opened 1994 as a widely acclaimed film. The film is about slavery, African resistance to the institution, and mental destruction on the psyche. This is a must watch.

This is a well-edited video montage of African discovery and contributions to the world.

This is a short film directed by up and coming director, Ayoola Daramola. This short film is not above love, but do watch.

The music is cool vibrant, the singing is a blend of English and Yoruba, and the singing is smooth. This is a wonderful addictive song. The music video features Seyi Sodimu and Shafy. The music video was directed by Ayoola Daramola.

This is a music video by Geoffrey Star. The video was filmed St. Ann Parish in Jamaica. The label is Pete Music and Kings of Kings. The music video was directed by Ayoola Daramola.