Sylvia A. Harvey's Nook

On Friday morning the Port of Oakland was inundated with hundreds of police officers clad in riot gear. The officers were participating in a number of mock riot exercises. Why? Because if Johannes Mehserle is acquitted in the case of Oscar Grant III’s death Oakland will literally and figuratively be on fire.

On New Years Day in 2009 police were called to the Oakland Fruitvale BART station after the train conductor reported fights on the train. Moments later, Oscar Grant III, lay on his stomach with his hands behind his back as BART officer, Johannes Mehserle, fired a shot that later proved fatal. A bystander captured the searing video footage of the tragedy: the video showed the already restrained 22-year-old being shot in his back by Mehserle. As the news spread of yet another unarmed black man dead at the hands of a white officer racial tension bubbled and the theme of police brutality inflamed the Oakland streets.

While it’s easy to interpret Alicia Keys’ undeniable track “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready) as a tribute to her highly publicized and controversial love affair with current beau, Swizz Beatz, she flips it and takes us on a spin across race and through time in her daring new video.

The talented songstress truly aims to illustrate the title of her fourth album, The Element of Freedom, as she tackles the topic of interracial dating. The Jake Nava directed gem takes a trip through the decades brilliantly showcasing the complications that often surround race and love, in particular a black woman with a white man. Yearning for her love interest, played by the former One Tree Hill actor, Chad Michael Murray, Keys is faced with the challenge of leaping across racial confines and defining her own ending or allowing others to dictate it.

After the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti the world sat at the edge of its seat. We were shocked, worried, saddened. And like with most tragedies we came together as a people ready to aid the country. For those of us who weren’t able to lead huge relief efforts we sent small donations to Red Cross, Yele, UNICEF, and other NGOs supporting the relief efforts. And after that the images kept pouring in and the death poll continued to rise: many of us were temporary shrouded in hopelessness feeling paralyzed as if there was nothing else we could do.

Kitchen Dread in 1992

As a kid, Stacy dreaded the twice a month Saturday morning ritual that she shared with her mother. She usually shuffled her feet across the floor until she made it to the kitchen. She would inch herself up the tall wooden barstool and plop her small frame atop the hard surface.

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