14 Memorable Black News Events of The Decade

By Brittany Hutson and R. Asmerom

It’s certainly been a whirlwind decade for the Black community to say the least. We’ve witnessed history making moments, events that brought to light the struggles that still plague our community, devastating natural disasters, and moments that caused us to scratch our head, raise an eyebrow and think ‘what the…?’ Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we recap some of those moments:

Hurricane Katrina

One of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S., Katrina caused devastation when it hit the Gulf Coast states (from Florida to Texas) in August 2005. New Orleans bore the brunt of the devastation as the category 3 storm with maximum winds near 125 mph caused the levies to break and flood nearly 80% of the city. The nation was in utter shock as images filtered across television screens, on websites and in publications of residents stranded on the roof of flooded homes, or in boats, waiting for help without water or food.

Katrina caused the deaths of at least 1,836 people and caused immense damage—early estimates of total property damage were $81 billion. Over one million people were displaced and sought solace in cities such as Houston, TX, Mobile, Ala, Baton Rouge, La, and Chicago.  Federal, state and local governments were criticized for their mismanagement and delayed response to the storm.

Police Brutality and The Death of Sean Bell

In the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2006 in Queens, NY, Sean Bell, 23, who was supposed to be married later that day, was leaving a strip club with two friends. Unbeknownst to the men, the strip club was under police surveillance. Reportedly, one undercover police officer claimed to have heard one of Bell’s friends say ‘yo, get my gun.’ The plain clothed undercover officer followed the group to question them before they left the scene. Bell and his friends climbed into a gray Nissan Altima and Bell, who was legally intoxicated, accelerated and struck a black unmarked police minivan. He backed up onto a sidewalk, almost hit the undercover officer, and accelerated into the van again. In response, five police officers fired 50 rounds at Bell’s car. Bell was killed and his friends were severely wounded.

The incident brought back memories of the high-profile police shooting and death of Amadou Diallo, who was killed when police fired 41 shots at him in 1999. Three of the police officers in Bell’s case were indicted for first and second-degree manslaughter, as well as reckless endangerment. But all three were acquitted of all charges in April 2008. Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for wrongful death, negligence, assault and civil rights violations, and received $3.25 million in July.

Another high profile brutality case that’s still in the news today is the one involving Oscar Grant, who was shot to death in Oakland California in January 2009 by a police officer even though Grant was unarmed.

First African American Woman Is Named Head of Fortune 500 Company

A native New Yorker who grew up in a lower East Side housing project, Ursula M. Burns started out as a mechanical engineering summer intern at Xerox in 1980. She proved that hard work and persistence pays off when she was named chief executive officer in July 2009. That year, though nearly 66,200 women were employed in the civilian labor force, only approximately 26,800 served in management, professional and related occupations. Burns’ appointment was the first time in history that a Black woman became the face of a Fortune 500 company.

OJ Simpson’s Karma

The OJ Simpson Trial, in which the football Hall of Famer was charged and later acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown,  captivate the 90s, going down as one of the most sensational court cases in American history. It was even dubbed the “Trial of the Century.” When Simpson was acquitted, many people still had their doubts. Unfortunately for him, he satisfied many a doubter when he went broke into a room in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia at gunpoint.

As a result, in 2008, Simpson was found guilty of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison and is now serving his sentence in Nevada.

Bishop Eddie Long Gets Us Talking About Hypocrisy in Religion

Eddie Long is not the first pastor to be accused of hypocrisy but he’s certainly represents one of the more notable cases in the past decade. The Bishop at the mega church of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside of Atlanta was accused in September 2010 of sexual misconduct by four former church members, who were young men at the time that the alleged sexual coercion took place. Long is known to have preached against homosexuality and the accusations have sparked a discussion about hypocrisy in the church and the relationship between black men and the “down low” phenomenon. Long has vehemently denied the accusations; however, he is reportedly in negotiations to settle the case out of court in order to avoid a public trial, leaving many to wander what he has to hide.

Haiti Earthquake 2010

It seemed like the world had ended for Haiti when images of catastrophe and devastation were broadcast all over the world following its 7.0 earthquake on January 12th 2010. The quake did major damage to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, including the Presidential Palace, and left nearly 92,000 people dead and many, many more homeless and injured.  Despite public and political support from around the world, the recovery process for one of the poorest countries in the world is slow. As of September 2010, it has been reported that there were still many refugees living in tents.  In the past year, musician Wyclef Jean became more of a public figure, advocating on the behalf of his home country and helping to raise money for relief efforts, although it should be noted that the legitimacy of Wyclef’s nonprofit Yele Haiti Foundation was questioned at one point.

Fair Sentence Act

In July 2010, a historic piece of legislation was passed; historic, that is, for African-Americans and those unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system. The Fair Sentencing Act reduces the discrepancy between the penalizations of those caught with cocaine v. those caught with crack. For the past 30 years, those who were arrested with crack possession (mostly Black men) were sentenced more harshly than those who were caught with cocaine (mostly Whites and Latinos).

A person found holding 500 grams of powder cocaine would face a five-year mandatory minimum sentence although crack offenders would only need to be in possession of 5 grams to face the same obligatory sentence. Although the Fair Sentencing Act doesn’t make it a 1:1 case, it reduces the disparity to 18 to 1.

According to the Washington Post: “Some critics of the crack sentences have pushed for complete elimination of the disparities. But this ignores some data that crack has a slightly more powerful and immediate addictive effect and more quickly devastates the user physically than does powder cocaine. It also fails to acknowledge the higher levels of violent crime associated with crack. The 18:1 compromise fairly reflects this reality.”

The Rihanna-Chris Brown Scandal

Sure, it may seem trivial and sensational but the accusations of domestic violence which ensued between pop stars Chris Brown and Rihanna put the spotlight on abusive relationships and sparked a national discussion amongst young women about healthy and unhealthy relationships. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to a felony and accepted a plea deal of community labor and five years’ formal probation.

9/11

The terrorist attacks on September11, 2001 marks the most pivotal moment in the 21st st century thus far and one of the most pivotal moments in U.S history overall. The event not only changed the way our lives functioned, with new measures instituted at the airport, but also the way countries related and policies were formed. Terrorism has now become associated with Arab Muslims and fear-based ideology has become the new weapon of extreme political groups looking to capitalize. Just take a look at the rise of FOX news in the past decade.

The Sale of BET

The largest Black-owned cable station in the nation, started by Bob and Sheila Johnson, was sold to Viacom for $2.34 billion in 2000. The Johnsons, along with Oprah, have gone down in history as two of the most successful business moguls in Black history. Mr. Johnson went on to found RLJ Companies and Ms. Johnson went on to run Salamander Hospitality.

The Oscars

Progress for Blacks in Hollywood has been sluggish, from the number of roles available to being recognized at the Academy Awards. With the exception of Sidney Poitier, African Americans were only getting awards in the supporting role category, but that began to change in 2002 when Halle Berry became the first black actress to win best actress in a leading role. Denzel Washington also won that year, becoming the second black to win best actor. For the remainder of the decade, more actors took home awards from the best actor category, including Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker. Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Hudson and Mo’Nique all won Oscars for supporting roles.

The Death of The King of Pop

At first it sounded like a sick joke. But when reports confirmed that beloved entertainer and king of pop Michael Jackson had died at the age of 50 on June 25^th, 2009, it triggered an immediate state of grief around the world. Jackson suffered from cardiac arrest as a result of a combination of drugs he was taking, including propofol for insomnia, and lorazapam and midazolam for anti-anxiety. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering the drugs to him. At the time of his death, Jackson was preparing for what was to be his final series of performances called This Is It. His memorial service was broadcast live around the world and attracted an audience of up to one billion people.

The Great Recession

Not since the Great Depression of the 1930s has the U.S. experienced a recession as severe as our most recent between 2007 and 2009. A number of factors have been said to contribute to the economic downturn, including subprime mortgages, reckless lending by financial institutions, increased loan default and foreclosure activity, sharp increase in oil and food prices and heightened unemployment. The Black community has been hit the hardest with an unemployment rate of 16 percent as of Dec 3^rd and nearly 8 percent of blacks have lost their homes to foreclosure, compared to 4.5 percent of whites, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

The Election of Barack Obama

It was a day that no one in the black community expected to see in their lifetime. On Nov. 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama was elected the first African-American president of the United States. The former U.S. senator from Illinois resonated with voters across ages and races with his call for change in Washington, reminding them that he too had a middle-class upbringing in a strong family and believes in hard work and education. Despite being met with constant criticism, Obama has successfully spearheaded a number of initiatives: he’s expanded Pell grants to help low-income students pay for college; established the credit card bill of rights to prevent credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers; signed into effect the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 and passed health care reform.