Author: chicagoinquirer

by Emeka Obasi Tears drenched Onyeka Paloma Gamero after the Flamingoes ousted the United States from the India 2022 FIFA Under 17 Women’s Championships. She wore the Stars and Stripes. While Onyeka cried, Nigerians smiled. It was pay back time. In 2012, Chioma Ubobagu wearing American colours was in their Under 20 team that beat Falconets in the semi finals of the  FIFA Under 20 Championships in Japan. The Yankees had laughed best for quite some time. Nneka Ogwumike played for the US basketball quad that stopped D’ Tigress, in the quarter finals of the FIBA World Cup in Tenerife.…

The 2004 Noble Laureate for peace Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya has come a long way from her days as a controversial environmentalist and community organizer in Kenya to winning the Noble Prize for Peace. In this interview with Joseph Omoremi, she recalls her ordeal in the hands of security agents during the Green Belt campaign and the trouble she went through to emerge the winner of the Noble peace award. It is a must read. Inquirer: You are in parliament; you are a minister and you are engaged in so many speaking engagements besides the Green Belt Movement. How…

by Sudhin Thanawala and Gary Fields ATLANTA  — Black church leaders in Georgia organized rallies Sunday in a push to get their congregants to vote — a longstanding tradition known as “souls to the polls” that is taking on greater meaning this year amid new obstacles to casting a ballot in the midterm elections. State lawmakers nearly did away with Sunday voting under a bill signed into law last year. The Republican-sponsored legislation followed former President Donald Trump’s false claims that voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020. Though lawmakers backed off the Sunday voting ban, the bill shortened the…

by Emily Wagster Pettus MOUND BAYOU, Miss.  — The tiny, all-Black town of Mound Bayou became a safe haven for Emmett Till’s mother as she traveled to Mississippi to testify in the murder trial of two white men who lynched her son in 1955. Hundreds of people — a good portion of Mound Bayou’s 1,500 residents — turned out Thursday evening to watch the movie “Till.” The feature film is going into wide release across the U.S. this weekend after being in limited release since Oct. 14. “This place, this city, is very sacred to the story of Emmett Till,”…

by Aaron Morrison Devin Allen admits that he occasionally behaved like a knucklehead, growing up in Baltimore. But he was not so irreverent as a tenth grader that he could see an image of Emmett Till’s open casket and not find it arresting. The story of the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi became widely known because his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, asked a press photographer to document Emmett’s funeral. The horrifying 1955 photographs depicted tangible evidence of how violent racial hatred was plaguing the U.S., catalyzing the civil rights movement. “Back then, I was like, ‘Wow, that happened…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — Joel Embiid scored 25 points and made a tiebreaking 3-pointer to help the Philadelphia 76ers squeeze by the Chicago Bulls 114-109 on Saturday night. Philadelphia led by 19 midway through the second quarter before Chicago went on a big run to get back into the game prior to halftime. The Bulls took the lead in the third quarter, and it remained tight the rest of the way. But the 76ers made just enough plays to beat Chicago for the 12th straight time. “That wasn’t pretty,” coach Doc Rivers said. “That was the first thing I…

by Seung Min Kim WILMINGTON, Del.  — President Joe Biden — accompanied by one of his granddaughters, a first-time voter — cast his midterm ballot on Saturday. In-person early voting in his home state of Delaware, where Biden regularly returns for weekends, began Friday. Democrats nationwide have encouraged voters to take advantage of early voting, either by mail-in ballots or at precincts where available to maximize turnout. Biden said he was feeling good about the midterms, which will decide control of Congress for the next two years. In the final days before the Nov. 8 elections, Biden plans to step…

by Schuyler Dixon ARLINGTON, Texas  — Justin Fields might be in his best groove yet in his second season as Chicago’s quarterback. Dak Prescott is trying to find his next one with the Dallas Cowboys in his second game back after missing five with a fractured right thumb. The Bears face another tough road game against the Cowboys on a short week after winning in New England for the first time in franchise history. Fields has a shot at his first back-to-back road victories Sunday after arguably his most complete performance during Monday night’s 33-14 win over the Patriots. “It…

by Bill Weissert GARY, Ind.  — After a lunchtime roundtable with Indiana Sen. Todd Young and Utah Rep. Burgess Owens, Republican congressional candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green suggested she appreciated “serving alongside my peers.” “Not my peers,” she quickly corrected. “I misspoke.” Green isn’t their congressional colleague yet, but her slip might not be all that premature. Democrats have represented this industrial, union-friendly corner of northwest Indiana in Congress for nearly a century. But their grip on the seat is in question as the party faces headwinds around the U.S. this year, buffeted by President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and high…

Two hundred and fifty Quantum convertible pressure-relief hospital mattresses have been donated to Nigeria by Joliet’s Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center recently. A new version of the mattress goes for about $1000 according to Janet Long, image maker for the 100-year old hospital. “It is rewarding for us that we can help people across the ocean. We are happy that it could be put to use by an hospital in Nigeria,” John J. Short, a vice president with the hospital who handed the mattresses to Chief Emeka Daniel Ibekwe, chairman PDP,Chicago branch said during the occasion. Chief Ibekwe praised the…