June 14, 2004

The East Valley’s only Juneteenth celebration, an event commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, will be on Friday and Saturday in Chandler.

"Straight hell." It's the existence of a child prostitute. Girls as young as 10 years old, manipulated by networks of pimps who force them to the streets - often all night - to sell their bodies to men several times their age.

Police say a former Mesa Police Sergeant has been arrested on sex abuse charges.

The story of a courageous woman determined to free her people from slavery is told through powerful dance, dramatic narration, African drumming and music, and traditional spirituals sung by a choral ensemble in “Sister Moses: The Story of Harriet Tubman.” The annual show put on by Tempe contemporary dance company Desert Dance Theatre opens with performances by local community talent and Axe Capoeira Arizona.

A boy blessed with prophetic dreams is sold into slavery by his conniving brothers in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," a lively musical parable out of ancient Egypt by Broadway hitmakers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. But in rags to riches fashion, Joseph overcomes the odds and dares audiences to dream of doing the same.

Scott Sternlieb’s remarks on Nov. 7 were uninformed and unfair. He inferred that instances of slave murder, torture and rape were common. They were not. Slavery, then as now, was an uncivilized and inhuman institution, but the slaveholders were not the Simon Legrees depicted in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Assuming them to be so is an affront to any intelligent discussion of the subject.

It was 15 years ago LaVon Woods decided Chandler and the East Valley needed its own Juneteenth celebration to mark the end of slavery in the United States.

One hundred and forty four years ago, the log-cabin man lived in a manner humble before God but a warrior before men. Today, his memory is in marble.

WASHINGTON - Four U.S. allies in the Middle East are among countries added to a State Department list of nations that are not doing enough to stop international human trafficking, a practice the department described as modern-day slavery.

A retired Mesa police sergeant has pleaded not guilty to charges of child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor.

A Mesa man is in custody for allegedly sending an explicit photo to a 16-year-old girl online.

In celebration of Black History Month, Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert is hosting an exhibit of West African art on loan from local genealogist Joyce Reese McCollum.

In her Sept. 5 (Spiritual Side) column (“‘Coming out’ for marriage equality — a letter of thanks”) Diane Meehl proclaimed her support for legal and church marriages between persons other than one man and one woman. Meehl urged Christian churches to follow suit, saying “does the church want to continue to be associated with a divisive issue about which we likely will never achieve consensus?” There are many “divisive issues” — including the divinity of Christ and the message of salvation — on which the church must take an unwavering position on principle, not on the nose count of a supposed “consensus.”

The ethnic studies ban that went into effect Jan. 1 brings a continuing dark cloud over the teaching of history. While projections show the U.S. population will become much less white as time progresses, history slants toward the white version.

Get a sneak peek at movies opening in East Valley theaters this week, including "From Paris With Love" starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

The commentary of Robert Parker ("LDS church on wrong side of gay marriage," June 29) has several false statements and innuendos needing correction. Parker's views definitely are not representative of active members in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For those of you who are not aware — and until a couple of days ago, that included us — today is a holiday. National Freedom Day commemorates Feb. 1, 1865, the day that President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. Its purpose, according to the Library of Congress, is “to promote goodwill, harmony, and equal opportunity among all citizens, and to rededicate the nation to the ideal of freedom.”

Once upon a time, I heard a wise man say: "Communism and capitalism cannot coexist." The man was a personal friend of V. I. Lenin and was living with him in October of 1917, when Lenin's Bolsheviks forcibly overthrew the quasi-republic of Russia, which had been established in May of 1917. The man was also a friend of Mahatma Ghandi's. He'd visit him while he was jailed in India. The man was a professor of mine in 1954, my senior year in college. He was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and was one of only four men in the world who was licensed to practice psychiatry without having his M. D. Reason being - Sigmund Freud was his mentor.

Once upon a time, I heard a wise man say: "Communism and capitalism cannot coexist." The man was a personal friend of V. I. Lenin and was living with him in October of 1917, when Lenin's Bolsheviks forcibly overthrew the quasi-republic of Russia, which had been established in May of 1917. The man was also a friend of Mahatma Ghandi's. He'd visit him while he was jailed in India. The man was a professor of mine in 1954, my senior year in college. He was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and was one of only four men in the world who was licensed to practice psychiatry without having his M. D. Reason being - Sigmund Freud was his mentor.

PITTSBURGH - Over more than three centuries, more than 12 million Africans were loaded on ships, bound for the Americas to be slaves.

As the Mesa Martin Luther King Jr. Committee prepares for the annual 2013 Celebration of Dr. King’s life, Legacy and dreams this weekend, my thoughts are not only on Dr. King but also on President Abraham Lincoln.

One Casa Grande man feels a special connection to a historic event that took place Thursday in the warm tropical waters of Havana harbor, Cuba.