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NEW ORLEANS – Charles Steele Jr., president of Dr. Martin Luther King's old organization, said the slain civil rights leader left behind a "business plan" for Black economic success.
Opening the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 50th convention here, Steele said: "If you listen closely to his last speech at Mason Temple [in Memphis], Dr. King was giving us a business plan. Dr. King was taking care of business. If you have taken the most elementary business course  -- and even if you haven't -- you know that the first thing you need when you go into business is a business plan."
The SCLC president mentioned the early struggles of the founder of Radio One and TV One media companies.
"Cathy Hughes talks about starting out in business and being asked, 'What is your business plan?' Her reply: 'I plan to stay in business.' SCLC plans the stay in business.
"Our business plan is straight out of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  No, it's not about a dream, it's about economics. The part of the speech that you don't hear repeated every year around his birthday is the section related to economics. He declared, 'America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
Steele said, "We're back here, where SCLC was founded, to say that we came back to get the check. Dr. King said 45 years ago, that America did not have enough funds in its bank account. They gave us a bad check. And today, we're back for a good one. If you can't give us a check, we'll take cash. But with your record, we need cash – and two forms of ID. We probably should ask for a DNA test as well."
Speaking at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in suburban Kenner, La., Steele said: "Nearly five years after announcing we got stuck with a bad check, Dr. King went to Memphis to outline a business plan, not just a plan to stay in business.
"Dr. King explained: 'We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails. ...

MONROE, Ga. (AP) _ It's become a familiar, if painful, annual tradition here: Civil rights activists gathered Friday at the Moore's Ford Bridge to re-enact the unsolved 1946 lynchings of two Black couples.
It's a gruesome ceremony that can be difficult to watch. The scripted rattle of gunfire, screams from victims and racial epithets from the White mob are quickly followed by the all-too-real sound of sobbing from the crowd.
But this year's actors and observers are hopeful authorities may be closer to bringing the aging suspects of the lynching to justice. ...

The Forum results are in. Because of overwhelming response, NAACP  couldn't limit themselves to just ten questions. So here are the fifteen questions that they sent to the campaign staffs of Senators McCain and Obama....

The Lions Mobile Health Screening Unit visited the Community Learning Center on Northeast Prescott Street last Sunday.  The health unit offers free screenings for vision, hearing, glaucoma, diabetes, and blood pressure. Dr. Bill Guyer draws blood to test Paula Nesmith for diabetes.

In a community-wide volunteer effort, the National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon has put together a million-dollar plan to remodel the historic Billy Webb Elks Lodge on Tillamook Street in Northeast Portland.
Local business consultant and entrepreneur Faye Burch is helping lead the effort. ...

Several high-profile incidents on TriMet have raised the public's awareness of young people's actions on the public transportation system.
A.K. Rucker is hoping his young people will help raise a different kind of awareness.
Every summer now for 10 years, Rucker takes 20 young persons in a trash-cleanup program called First Step. For two months during the summer, Rucker drives them around Portland in a TriMet bus clearing litter out of bus stops and much of the surrounding routes ...

With only two more agencies set to approve the controversial Columbia River Crossing Project, time is running out for the public to give input on the $4.2 billion project.
The projected increase in traffic along the I-5 corridor will have a much greater impact on Portland's North and Northeast neighborhoods – neighborhoods with a greater percentage of minorities and people of low-income. This is exactly the reason people like Jeri Williams say it's essential for residents near the highway to get involved.
"We got involved in the first place because we have a high asthma rate," says Williams, the former executive director of the Environmental Justice Action Group, who has been involved with I-5 freeway expansion projects for nearly a decade. Along with more cars comes more pollution, and a recently unveiled letter from the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as feedback from the Multnomah County Health Department, spell out the reasons residents should be aware that more vehicle trips on the highway will affect their future health.
Proponents of the expanded bridge say cleaner burning vehicles in the future will cause a decrease in air pollution. Not so, says Multnomah County.
"A recent report by the Health Effects Institute cautions that the alternative fuels and emissions control technology being adopted may themselves contribute to increases in other mobile source air toxics and particulate matter," says a letter from the county health department. ...

Demonte Boss, 17, a drum major with the Seattle All City Band, leads the ensemble during a performance July 12 at the 59th annual Wallingford Seafair Kiddie Parade and Street Fair.  The official Seafair event included hundreds of children representing a variety of schools and organizations and an appearance by the notorious Seafair Pirates.

Photo by Suas Fried

On a recent Tuesday evening, homeowners at risk of foreclosure attended a housing intake at The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now office in Burien. The homeowners were from a variety of ethnic, social and age backgrounds. ...