Tuskegee Airmen Invited to Inauguration

The Tuskegee Airmen, who made history during World War II as the country's first Black military pilots only to return home to discrimination and exclusion from victory parades, have been invited to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California sent the invitation to Tuskegee Airmen Inc. The Arlington, Virginia-based organization represents 330 of the original pilots, whose ranks were once about 1,000.

The Tuskegee Airmen were recruited into an Army Air Corps program that trained Blacks to fly and maintain combat aircraft. They trained as a segregated unit at an air base in Tuskegee, Alabama. After fighting the Nazis, they returned home to face discrimination. Blacks weren't allowed to participate in victory parades with other troops returning from Europe after World War II.

Each member will receive two tickets to the January 20 inauguration, and they have 10 days to decide if they will attend. A spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said the airmen's seating assignment will be within the ticketed viewing area around the U.S. Capitol. Robert Rose, first vice president of Tuskegee Airmen, said local chapters are contacting airmen. Most are in their late 80s and early 90s, making travel difficult.

"I want to come hopping, skipping and jumping!" said 92-year-old Spann Watson, an airman from Westbury, New York, who flew above Pennsylvania Avenue for President Truman's inauguration. "We had a part in changing these United States." John L. Harrison Jr. an original airman now in his 80s, also said he plans to attend Barack Obama's inauguration. "It makes us very very proud," said Harrison, of Philadelphia. "And it sort of compensates for a lot of the things that we had to endure in the early days. We were excluded out of everything and hidden from everything," he said. "Now this time is our time, and to have a Black man as the elected president, this is indeed a turn in history."

Flying Aces

Sixteen-year-old pilots Kelly Anyadiki, left, and Jonathan Strickland, who set world records March 16, 2008, share their record-setting day with Robin Petgrave, founder of Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum, a program, designed to make flight training available to inner-city and minority youths, at Compton Woodley Airport, where they learned to fly.


Sixteen-year-old Jonathan Strickland became the youngest Black pilot to solo six airplanes and one helicopter in the same day, at Compton Woodley Airport. Jonathan, a Los Angeles resident, has been flying since he was 12. During a trip from Compton to Canada at age 14, he became the youngest Black pilot to solo an airplane and a helicopter on the same day, the youngest Black pilot to fly a helicopter internationally and the youngest Black pilot to fly a helicopter on an international round-trip.

Kelly Anyadiki, a 16-year-old Inglewood, California resident, also broke a world record and is now the youngest Black female to solo four airplanes on the same day. "I'd rather have a plane than a car," said Kelly, who is still waiting to get her driver's license.

Robin Petgrave, a long-time Hollywood stunt pilot, founded Tomorrow's Museum in 1997 as a way to keep inner-city kids off the streets and teach them life skills and discipline through aviation. As part of the program, children earn "flying money" by cleaning planes or painting over graffiti. The airport provides aviation-themed after-school programs for more than 800 children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Petgrave said the Tuskegee Airmen are major contributors to the program.

GSU Tiger Marching Band Invited to Perform in Presidential Inaugural Parade

GSU Bands performs at its annual High School Band Camp

The Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band has been chosen by The Presidential Inaugural Committee and has been invited to Perform in the 56th Inaugural Parade.

The world famous Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band will join representatives from across the country and the Armed Forces in the historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue following President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol.

“I am honored to invite these talented groups and individuals to participate in the Inaugural Parade,” President-elect Obama is quoted as saying in a news release.

“These organizations embody the best of our nation’s history, diversity and commitment to service. Vice President-elect Biden and I are proud to have them join us in the parade.”

Organizations wishing to participate in the parade submitted an application to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), which then assisted the Presidential Inaugural Committee in reviewing all of the groups’ applications. All told, 1,382 organizations applied to participate, setting a new standard for interest in marching in the parade.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee was assisted in its selection process by a group of experienced military musicians, who utilized their expertise to help assess the presentation skills of marching bands, musical acts and drill teams.

The Grambling Tiger Marching Band’s fame has grown worldwide, having played in a number of countries, including Africa, Korea and Cuba. The band has become a staple at major sporting events and parades. The GSU Marching Band played at President Bush's first Inaugural in 2001,

All participants in the Inaugural Parade are responsible for paying for their own lodging and transportation to and from Washington, D.C.

Businessman Offers Inspirational Inauguration Package — Free

As Washington gears up for January's presidential inauguration, tickets to the evening's festivities are going for hundreds of dollars, and the city's remaining hotel rooms are astronomical. Even basements and couches miles from the National Mall are going for a premium on Craigslist. But one of the most attractive inauguration packages out there - including high-end hotel rooms and luxury suites, food and drink, a (heated) viewing spot right above the parade route, even gowns and tuxedos to wear to celebratory balls, and a beautician to help you get ready for it - is going for the most eye-popping price of all: absolutely nothing.

Virginia businessman and philanthropist Earl Stafford has spent $1 million to give hundreds of poverty-stricken and terminally ill Americans, along with wounded men and women in uniform, an inauguration experience that would ordinarily run each of them thousands of dollars. Mr. Stafford is a devout Christian who made millions at the helm of a defense technology firm said the $1 million will finance the use of 300 hotel rooms, four hotel suites, a ballroom and meals for all the invited guests, as well as a coveted parade-viewing venue smack on the route of the procession. The events will take place in the J W Marriott Washington, D.C. hotel, located between the Capitol and the White House where he rented a bloc of inauguration week rooms just hours after the election. He is hoping to raise roughly the same amount from sponsors. For now, the money is coming from his family's non-profit foundation, the Stafford Foundation.

Events will include a prayer breakfast on the day preceding the inauguration; a luncheon that same day invoking the memory of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr; and tickets to the "People's Inaugural Ball" on the evening of January 20, as well as to an "Inaugural Youth Ball."

Mr. Stafford said, "We wanted to… bless those who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to be a part of the great celebration, the inauguration and the festivities. Our objective is to bring in a cross-section of society; those who are distressed, those who are terminally ill, those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, those veterans who are wounded and served our country.We’ve gotten away from those core values that made America great," he said. "We just need to get back to caring about one another."

Mr. Stafford has been planning the effort since the primary season. He said he decided the inauguration would be a transition in history, and everyone should be included. Stafford calls it “The People's Inaugural Project” and it offers the underprivileged in our society an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come to our nation's capital and join in the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. He looks at it as an opportunity to bring Americans of every walk of life together for a momentous celebration. And the greatest part of the story is that Mr. Stafford didn't release that he was the one doing this. It was the Hotel. No self adulation, just trying to do something for those less fortunate. The Stafford Foundation is a private foundation committed to helping underserved, marginalized and distressed individuals.

What a wonderful gesture. This is about inspiring people. In this current environment where we see how many people are ripping off other people and keeping millions for themselves, it is so nice to know there are still good people in this world. May God bless you for being so kind to people who need some kindness in this world. What goes around comes around. Mr. Stafford and his family are fine examples of people who obviously live according to the Word of God….”I have blessed you to be a blessing… The more you give, the more He gives to you.” My hats off to you Earl Stafford! You are an example of great humankind. May God continue to bless Earl Stafford and his family.

Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 77

Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, died Tuesday of heart disease. She had been admitted to the hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago. In 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr. anointed her "The Queen of American folk music".

In spite of failing health that caused her to use a wheelchair, Odetta performed 60 concerts in the last two years, singing for 90 minutes at a time. With her booming, classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, Blacks and Whites.

Coming to prominence in the 1950s, she influenced Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other singers who had roots in the folk music boom. With an Odetta record on the turntable, listeners could close their eyes and imagine themselves hearing the sounds of spirituals and blues as they rang out from a weathered back porch or around a long-vanished campfire a century before. Odetta called on Blacks to "take pride in the history of the American Negro" and was active in the civil rights movement. When she sang at the March on Washington in August 1963, where her great, full-throated voice carried almost to Capitol Hill.

She was nominated for a 1963 Grammy award for best folk recording for "Odetta Sings Folk Songs." Two more Grammy nominations came in recent years, for her 1999 "Blues Everywhere I Go" and her 2005 album "Gonna Let It Shine." In 1999, she was honored with a National Medal of the Arts. Then-President Bill Clinton said her career showed "us all that songs have the power to change the heart and change the world." In a 1978 Playboy interview, Bob Dylan said, "the first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta." He said he found "just something vital and personal" when he heard an early album of hers in a record store as a teenager. "Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar," he said. Harry Belafonte also cited her as a key influence on his hugely successful recording career, and she was a guest singer on his 1960 album, "Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall."

She continued to record in recent years; her 2001 album "Looking for a Home (Thanks to Leadbelly)" paid tribute to the great blues singer to whom she was sometimes compared. Odetta's last big concert was on October 4 at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where she performed in front of tens of thousands at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. She also performed October 25-26 in Toronto.

On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' National Medal of Arts. In 2004, Odetta was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the "Visionary Award". In 2005, the Library of Congress in Washington honored her with its "Living Legend Award". On January 21, 2008, Odetta was the Keynote Speaker at San Diego's Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration, followed by concert performances in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and Mill Valley, California.

Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 31 1930, she moved with her family to Los Angeles at age 6. Her father had died when she was young and she took her stepfather's last name, Felious. Hearing her in glee club, a junior high teacher made sure she got music lessons, but Odetta became interested in folk music in her late teens and turned away from classical studies. Odetta is survived by a daughter, Michelle Esrick and a son, Boots Jaffre. She was divorced 40 years ago and never remarried.

One writer said “A couple of weeks ago I was listening to "Harry Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall" and there she was with that great voice and on another part of the double album set there was Miriam Makeba. In the last month, we have lost two huge voices both musical and political.

Bayou Classic: The Mecca of Black College Football

Just got back from the 35th Bayou Classic and I need at least a day to recover. We drove from Dallas to my sister’s house in Beaumont, Texas Thanksgiving night (five hours). We got up early Friday morning for another 3 hours on the road. The check-in line at the Hilton was LOOOOOONG. There were a few Southernites in the crowd but it was plain to see this was a Grambling place. My sister made reservations for 2 rooms and with that many people you know there has to be some mistakes. They only had us down for one room. They finally found another room but it was for Friday only.

We settled in and then went to lunch at one of New Orleans landmark eating places Mothers. It was crowded but the food was great. We went back to the hotel and mingled for a few minutes then headed for the Battle of the Bands and step show. We decided to walk the approximately eight blocks instead of sitting in the traffic. It only took about 45 minutes (stopping at all the vendor booths – there was almost as much Obama stuff as there was Grambling and Southern stuff).

The step show was awesome. The Battle of the Bands was a little disappointing. I was expecting the bands to march on the field; instead they played while standing in place. They alternated songs and between the two played all the current hits. Southern played the loudest because they have a larger band and they have more brass instruments, but you can hear all the instruments when Grambling played and they had more variety. Southern played more to the younger crowd, while Grambling played it all - some old school and even a gospel song. They alternate each year on the home team, but Southern is always the home team with the bigger crowd (they are only about an hour from home while Grambling is about four hours away).

We then spent a couple hours on Bourbon Street and went back to the hotel. Saturday we went to the Grambling Alumni Breakfast and moved to the Marriot Courtyard. They should call it homecoming because you see people you haven’t seen in years. We decided to take a taxi since it was raining. While we were waiting in the lobby my cousin was checking in (homecoming). At the game I met friends that I haven't seen in over 20 years.

Oh yeah, they did play a game. Southern took (or should I say was given a 14 point lead – that home field thing was blatant). But the G-men ran off 29 unanswered points and won 29-14 to clinch a spot in the Southwestern Athletic Conference title game against Jackson State in Birmingham, Alabama on December 13. And Grambling won the halftime show also with Southern committing the marching band sin of placing their horns on the ground to dance.

Star Athlete is a Rolle Model: Rhodes Scholar

High academic achievement? Check. Integrity of character? Check. A spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor? Check, check, check and check. Florida State University student-athlete Myron Rolle is the living personification of the criteria established more than 100 years ago for the Rhodes Scholarship - one of the oldest and most prestigious awards for international study. The Rhodes Trust has named 22-year-old Rolle one of 32 U.S. Rhodes Scholars for 2009 - the first time in nearly 25 years it has awarded the scholarship to a prominent college football player.

The Rhodes is a crowning achievement for the student-athlete who aspires to both the NFL and medical school. Graduating in just two-and-a-half years with a 3.75 grade point average, Rolle completed all the necessary pre-medical requirements and earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Florida State in August. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in public administration.

Along the way, Rolle founded Our Way to Health, a fifth-grade curriculum that addresses diabetes and obesity for students at a charter school run by the Seminole Tribe of Florida; conducted research on the metabolic profile of stem and cancer cells; tutored at-risk eighth-graders; studied abroad; and played safety (he's one of the best in the nation) for the Florida State University football team. He also racked up numerous academic, athletic and leadership awards. Among them:

In addition, Myron has held several leadership positions since arriving on FSU's campus as a freshman in spring 2006. He currently serves as a student representative on the University Athletics Committee and the Equity and Student Athlete Welfare Committee and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference Student Athlete Advisory Council. He previously served as vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council and as a member of the executive board for the Seminole Student Boosters.

Myron Rolle, who was born October 30, 1986 in Houston, TX and raised in Galloway, New Jersey, began receiving national attention while still in high school. He was rated the No. 1 high school prospect in the country by ESPN and in 2006 received the Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Trophy Award, which is awarded to the top Black high-school senior student-athlete in America. Rivals.com rated him the 12th-best player and the top athlete overall. After transferring from the Peddie School, a highly selective, coeducational prep school in Hightstown, New Jersey, Rolle played high school football at the Hun School of Princeton, where the All-American made 112 tackles his senior year including 14 for loss. In addition to football, Rolle had a 4.0 GPA. At Peddie, he played the saxophone in the school band, sang in a school play, and was the sports editor of the school newspaper.

Rolle tries to pattern himself after former Minnesota Vikings running back Robert Smith, making decisions that set him up as a well-rounded individual who isn't tied only to sports. (While attending Ohio State, Smith had told his coach he would quit football unless he could take a science lab course that conflicted with practice.) Myron is a distant cousin of Samari Rolle, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

At Oxford, Myron will enroll in a master's degree program in medical anthropology that examines the sociocultural aspects of medicine. After completing his studies there, Rolle hopes to play professional football - many analysts project that he will be a first round pick - before going to medical school. He would like to practice medicine in the United States as well as assist medical efforts in developing countries, especially the Bahamas, his parents' native country.

Created in 1902 through a bequest in the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British philanthropist and colonial pioneer, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest international study award available to American students and widely considered the most prestigious of its kind. The selection process is highly competitive with more than 1,000 nominees seeking 32 scholarships. Two scholars are chosen from each of 16 regions across the United States. The scholarships provide all expenses for up to two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England.