Dorothy Height, Guru R.I.P.

Two towering figures of the Black community have passed away. Although from two generations, and in very different ways each has had a profound impact on the lives of Black folks in the U.S.

Civil rights leader Dorothy Height dies at 98 | Reuters

Trained as a social worker, Height began her career as an advocate for civil rights and gender equality during the 1930s, working to prevent lynching, desegregate the U.S. armed forces, reform the criminal justice system and work for free access to public accommodations in the United States.

Height died at Howard University Hospital of natural causes, a hospital spokesman said.

“Ms. Height was arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of civil rights leadership, but she never drew the major media attention that conferred celebrity and instant recognition on some of the other civil rights leaders of her time,” the Washington Post said in an obituary in its online edition.

Dorothy Height

“Every struggle has the same concerns at the bottom of them,” Height says. “Race, color, creed, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, it all matters. We need to go back to the time of the March on Washington. That time in 1963. That coming together of all backgrounds with a fiery sense of righteous indignation.”

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Guru Dies Aged 43 | Billboard.com

Rapper Guru has died aged 43 after a long battle with cancer, according to statements published online.

The New York MC – whose real name was Keith Elam – suffered cardiac arrest on March 2 and had been in a coma.

His death was announced on the DJ Premier Blog site. Premier and Guru made up the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, which released six albums between 1989 and 2003. Guru went on to release a series of “Jazzmatazz” albums featuring collaborations with Cortney Pine, Roy Ayers and Kool Keith.

A very sad day.

People Act Like This Is Surprising?

This isn’t much of a surprise at all, but since Boston has been on my radar of places that I may live one year from now, I took notice. It’s not like 1989 was that long ago. And as you surely remember, there was that thing over a black professor and white cop there recently.

(Yes, I know that if I chose my new home based on lack of racist asshats, I might as well plan on moving to Jupiter, but I can hope, right?)

Diary of Boston Cop Hints at Deep Racism

The legacy of the Boston Police Department’s ugly racial past is playing out behind closed doors and under seal in federal court as lawyers battle over an explosive diary written by a former head of the homicide division.

Retired Lt. Detective John Daley – who led homicide from 1985 to 1989 – scribbled his personal thoughts on murder cases and professional life within the department in the 1980s in a diary that includes sharp critiques of black officers and the black community, according to brief excerpts contained in court papers.

According to the records, filed in the Shawn Drumgold federal civil rights case, Daley wrote that the department was “getting the bottom of the barrel” as it recruited black cops in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He called the removal of two white homicide detectives involved in the controversial Drumgold investigation a “sacrifice to the black community.”

“I’m not interested in talking about it,” Daley said when asked for comment outside his Marshfield home yesterday afternoon.

Of course you’re not interested in talking about it. It’s because all the other racists have moved on to, um, subtle racism.