Wednesday, October 31, 2007
NO HALLOWS EVE FOR MINORITIES
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Recent Polls Say Parents Believe Halloween Not Safe Enough For Their Little Ghouls And Goblins.
Sounds like Halloween is getting a lot scarier than it use to be. Two-thirds of parents say their kiddies will be out trick-or-treating, but a recent poll posted in the Associated Press says fewer low-income and minorities will be taking part in the festivities.
The survey says 73 percent of whites versus 56 percent of minorities said their children will be out trick-or-treating this Wed.
According to the poll, by The Associated Press and Ipsos, the numbers are based on how people view the safety of their neighborhoods. Lower Income and Minority families are more likely to be a bit sketchy about letting their children knock on stranger’s doors.
Thomas Link, 50, and his family are newbie’s to their trailer park in Palatka, Fla. In an Associated Press article he said, that he wasn’t sure if he would be letting his three kids trick-or-treat.
“I’m very particular about who I let my kids deal with,” he said.
Neighborhood newbie’s aren’t the only ones having trick-or-treat reservations, some people who have lived in their neighborhoods all their life, say it’s just not as safe as it use to be.
Another reason kids might not be able to participate in fright night is some parents say it’s against their religion.
“It’s demonic,” said Donna Stitt, 37, a nursing aid form Barto, Pa., with four children. “People are celebrating the dead. I’m not into that.”
The AP article also says that 86 percent of the people in the survey said they are worried about the infamous “trick,” that comes along if there isn’t a treat.
The percentages of those who are worried isn’t really that surprising, women under the age of 45 were about twice more likely than men to be a bit on edge with the idea of vandalism or pranks.
The poll involved phone interviews with 1,013 adults conducted from Oct. 16-18, said AP. There was also a minus 3.1 percentage point margin for sampling error.
Go to http://childcare.about.com/od/childsafet1/a/trickortreat.htm for safety tips on trick-or-treating.
MAFIA HELPED FBI SOLVE 1964 MURDERS IN MISS
The Associated Press is reporting that a woman has testified in open court that her former boyfriend, Mob enforcer Gregory Scarpa Sr., was recruited by the FBI in 1964 to help find the bodies of three civil rights volunteers who disappeared in Mississippi.
Monday's testimony from Linda Schiro confirms a story that has been underworld lore for years, according to the AP. Schiro said Scarpa told her he put a gun in a Ku Klux Klansman's mouth and forced him to reveal the whereabouts of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were beaten and shot by a gang of Klansmen and buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss.
The FBI has never acknowledged that Scarpa, nicknamed "The Grim Reaper," was involved in the case.
Schiro took the stand as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, who is charged in state court with four counts of murder in what authorities have called one of the worst law enforcement corruption cases in U.S. history. Prosecutors say Scarpa, who died behind bars in 1994, plied DeVecchio with cash, jewelry, liquor and prostitutes in exchange for confidential information on suspected rats and rivals in the late 1980s and early '90s.
Scarpa's recruitment by the FBI to force a Klan member into giving up information about the missing volunteers has been talked about in mob circles for years.
In 1994, the New York Daily News, citing unidentified federal law enforcement officials, reported that a frustrated J. Edgar Hoover turned to Scarpa to extract information. The Daily News said the New York mobster terrorized an appliance salesman and Klansman already under suspicion in the case and got him to reveal the location of the bodies.
Schiro testified Monday that she and Scarpa traveled to Mississippi in 1964 after he was recruited by the FBI. She said they walked into the hotel where the FBI had gathered during the investigation, and the gangster winked at a group of agents. She said an agent later showed up in their room and handed Scarpa a gun.
She said Scarpa helped find the volunteers' bodies by "putting a gun in the guy's mouth and threatening him." She said an unidentified agent later returned to the room, gave Scarpa a wad of cash, and took back the weapon.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
BLACKOUT FRIDAY BOYCOTT, NOV. 2
Ballentine, Other Talkers Urge Friday 'Blackout' Boycott
A group of black talk show hosts led by RADIO ONE Urban AC-Talk WAMJ (102.5 GROWN FOLKS RADIO)/ATLANTA middayer WARREN BALLENTINE is urging a one-day national general boycott FRIDAY to protest what they call racial and economic injustice. BALLENTINE is being joined in "The Blackout" by syndicated hosts MICHAEL BAISDEN and Rev. AL SHARPTON.
BALLENTINE tells the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION that "after JENA, I decided there's so many things going on in this country as far as [injustices within] the justice system.... I'm a lawyer and I'm seeing a lot of people across the board suffer from the mortgage crisis. I'm asking all Americans to participate, not just blacks. I'm asking people —- if you can —- don't spend any money."
OVERSTOCK.COM FOUNDER TARGETED BY NAACP
Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne has refused the NAACP's demand for an apology Friday after video surfaced showing him saying that Utah minorities who don't graduate from high school might as well be burned or thrown away. [See clip below.]
The comments were made during a debate two weeks ago in Provo, where Byrne was speaking in favor of vouchers, public aid for families sending kids to private schools, according to the Associated Press.
A statewide voucher program that would grant $500 to $3,000 per child based on family income is on the Utah ballot Nov. 6.
On the video clip that appears on YouTube, Byrne says: "Right now, 40 percent of Utah minorities are not graduating from high school. You may as well burn those kids. That's the end of their life. That's the end of their ability to achieve in this society if they do not get a high school education. You might as, just throw the kids away."
Byrne said Friday that his remarks were taken out of context and he will not apologize.
"These folks have been selective in their editing," Byrne told The AP. "I very clearly said the system is throwing away 40 percent of the minority kids because they're not graduating. I'm saying that I'm against throwing kids away. People against vouchers are in favor of throwing the kids away," Byrne said.
Jeanetta Williams, a voucher opponent and president of the NAACP's Salt Lake branch, said the videotaped comments shocked her and she believes Byrne meant that minorities who don't graduate should be burned or thrown away. Williams noted that Byrne didn't mention white children who don't graduate. Utah is 83.5 percent white, 11 percent Hispanic and 1 percent black.
"It says he's not sympathetic to the minority community and he means exactly what he said," Williams said of Byrne's lack of an apology.
Byrne, chief executive of Utah-based Overstock, has long been a voucher advocate and has donated several hundred thousand dollars to the voucher movement in Utah. The NAACP is against vouchers, saying they could lead to segregated public schools. It says tuition still would be out for reach for many minority families because a voucher wouldn't cover the entire cost of private school.
TPMtv: BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Last Friday was the final day of Islamofascism Awareness Week and I'm afraid to say our coverage of the event comes to an end today too. But we're finishing off with a special episode of TPMtv. On Friday, the final day Islamofascism Awareness Week, the week's founder, David Horowitz went to Columbia University for a triumphant speech denouncing campus jihadists even in the face of the ever-present threat of violence he faces from University undergraduates. And we were there to capture all the nonsense on film.
OPRAH BEGS ACADEMY PARENTS FOR FORGIVENESS
Oprah Winfrey was in South Africa again Sunday to meet with parents of the students at her all-girls academy and beg for their forgiveness in the wake of sexual abuse allegations at the school.
"I've disappointed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," the talk show host reportedly told families during the emergency meeting at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg.
A "dorm parent" has been accused of sexually fondling one of the students. Other pupils say they were physically abused by the woman. Another student said the matron grabbed her by the throat and threw her against a wall. There are also allegations that the authority figure swore and screamed at them.
The alleged incidents were exposed when one of the students ran away from the school because the reported abuse had become too much to bear. South African police and the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit have opened an investigation.
Winfrey canceled appointments and flew to South Africa twice in the past few weeks to meet with parents and check in on the investigation. In addition to the matron suspected of being involved, Winfrey also placed the principal and at least one other matron on leave two weeks ago, reportedly for failing to notify authorities of girls' complaints sooner. Only the principal was on paid leave, according to a South African newspaper.
The TV host, who has spoken openly about being abused as a child, gave the students her personal telephone number, e-mail address and her postal address so that they could contact her at any time, day or night.
SHARPTON COMMENTS ON CHENEY'S LATEST HUNTING TRIP
Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network has released a statement calling on Vice President Dick Cheney to leave his hunting trip at a gun club in New York because of its decision to hang a flag viewed as offensive to African Americans.
Sharpton said: It has been reported to us by media on the site that Vice President Dick Cheney is duck and pheasant hunting in Dutchess County at the Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club outside of Lagrangeville in Union Vale, New York, and there is a Confederate Flag hanging at the club.
I am calling on Vice President Cheney to leave immediately and denounce the club and apologize for going to a club that represents lynching, hate, and murder to black people.
In this age of Jena and hangmen nooses all over the country, for the Vice President to relax under the flag of the hangmen nooses is an unpardonable insult to all Americans, particularly Blacks. He ought to leave immediately, call for the flag to be brought down at once, and apologize for being connected to an institution that would be insensitive enough to fly it in the first place.
What is interesting to me is that this is not even in the South that it is flying. The club owners must identify with the philosophy of the Confederacy because they can’t say that they are a historic club that 200 years ago was a part of the Confederacy since New York was never a confederate state.
If Cheney does not leave, I will bring a delegation of clergy to lead a prayer vigil in the immediate future.
Monday, October 29, 2007
NCAA FOOTBALL POLLS
2007 NCAA Football Rankings - Week 9 (Oct. 28)
BCS Standings
1. Ohio State 9-0
2. Boston College 8-0
3. LSU 7-1
4. Arizona State 8-0
5. Oregon 7-1
6. Oklahoma 7-1
7. West Virginia 7-1
8. Kansas 8-0
9. Missouri 7-1
10. Georgia 6-2
11. Virginia Tech 6-2
12. Michigan 7-2
13. Connecticut 7-1
14. Hawaii 8-0
15. Texas 7-2
16. Auburn 6-3
17. Alabama 6-2
18. South Florida 6-2
19. USC 6-2
20. Florida 5-3
21. Wisconsin 7-2
22. Boise State 7-1
23. Virginia 7-2
24. Wake Forest 6-2
25. Clemson 6-2
AP Top 25
1. Ohio State (59) 9-0 1,615
2. Boston College (1) 8-0 1,501
3. LSU (3) 7-1 1,478
4. Oregon 7-1 1,417
5. Oklahoma 7-1 1,365
6. Arizona State (2) 8-0 1,310
7. West Virginia 7-1 1,286
8. Kansas 8-0 1,164
9. Missouri 7-1 1,121
10. Georgia 6-2 949
11. Virginia Tech 6-2 823
12. Hawaii 8-0 776
13. USC 6-2 742
14. Texas 7-2 728
15. Michigan 7-2 726
16. Connecticut 7-1 555
17. Alabama 6-2 547
18. Florida 5-3 532
19. Auburn 6-3 530
20. South Florida 6-2 392
21. Wake Forest 6-2 259
21. Boise State 7-1 259
23. South Carolina 6-3 196
24. Tennessee 5-3 165
25. Clemson 6-2 146
Others Receiving Votes
Wisconsin 132, California 131, Kentucky 123, Virginia 33, Penn State 30, Purdue 22, Brigham Young 22, Troy 13, Kansas State 12, UCLA 11, Oklahoma State 5, Illinois 4, New Mexico 4, Rutgers 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Kentucky 14, California 18, Virginia 21, Penn State 24, Rutgers 25.
USA Today Poll
1. Ohio State (56) 9-0 1,495
2. Boston College (3) 8-0 1,414
3. LSU 7-1 1,324
4. Oregon (1) 7-1 1,280
5. Oklahoma 7-1 1,269
6. Arizona State 8-0 1,221
7. West Virginia 7-1 1,177
8. Kansas 8-0 1,108
9. Missouri 7-1 983
10. Georgia 6-2 791
11. Hawaii 8-0 769
12. Texas 7-2 753
13. Virginia Tech 6-2 736
14. Michigan 7-2 701
15. USC 6-2 679
16. Auburn 6-3 454
17. Florida 5-3 451
18. Alabama 6-2 439
19. Wisconsin 7-2 422
20. Connecticut 7-1 419
21. South Florida 6-2 291
22. Boise State 7-1 218
23. Kentucky 6-3 159
24. Clemson 6-2 145
25. South Carolina 6-3 131
Others Receiving Votes
Virginia 119, California 118, Wake Forest 115, Purdue 107, Tennessee 64, Penn State 53, Illinois 21, Kansas State 20, Brigham Young 13, Oklahoma State 11, Cincinnati 8, Texas Tech 8, Vanderbilt 4, Houston 4, Colorado 2, Florida State 2, Oregon State 2.
Dropped From Rankings
Virginia 18, California 20, PENNST 22.
ESPNU Allstate Standings (Fan poll)
1. Ohio State 9-0
2. Oregon 7-1
3. LSU 7-1
4. Boston College 8-0
5. Arizona State 8-0
6. Oklahoma 7-1
7. West Virginia 7-1
8. Kansas 8-0
9. Missouri 7-1
10. Georgia 6-2
11. Hawaii 8-0
12. Virginia Tech 6-2
13. Michigan 7-2
14. USC 6-2
15. Texas 7-2
16. Connecticut 7-1
17. Alabama 6-2
18. Florida 5-3
19. Auburn 6-3
20. South Florida 6-2
21. Boise State 7-1
22. Wake Forest 6-2
23. Tennessee 5-3
24. Clemson 6-2
25. South Carolina 6-3
Others Receiving Votes
Wisconsin, California, Kentucky, Virginia, Penn State.
JAY-Z SUED BY EX-EMPLOYEE OF 40/40 CLUB
A former sales associate at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired because her pregnancy was considered "inconsistent' with the "young, fashionable, unattached, and sexy" image preferred for employees.
According to TMZ.com, Folake Ogundiran's lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges that a female supervisor reacted to her baby news by saying she couldn't run a business "like this" and telling her not to bother showing up for work the following day.
When Folake tried to report for work two days later, she says she was "barred from entering the workplace" and denied unemployment benefits, according to the lawsuit. She's suing for discrimination, and seeking unspecified damages.
However, TMZ says it has learned that Ogundiran did in fact stop showing up for work, and despite the club's efforts, she never returned. Club rep Ron Berkowitz tells the Web site that her lawsuit is without merit and that "like many other lawsuits" brought against Jay-Z, "will likely be dismissed."
NATIVE AMERICAN LEADERS TO PROTEST AT MINNEAPOLIS RADIO STATION
Furious over recent on-air comments made by CITADEL Classic Rock KQRS/MINNEAPOLIS personality TOM BARNARD and his show's co-hosts, American Indian leaders plan to protest at KQRS at 10a TODAY, reports THE STAR TRIBUNE. Representatives of the American Indian Movement (AIM), the RED LAKE Indian Reservation and urban Indian leaders hope to meet with executives from the station.
AIM co-founder CLYDE BELLECORT said the remarks about the RED LAKE CHIPPEWA and SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX tribes were "ignorant." He compared them to comments made this spring by DON IMUS.
The uproar stems from a broadcast last month in which BARNARD and co-host TERRI TRAEN talked about the RED LAKE and SHAKOPEE tribes while discussing a report by the state Health Department that BELTRAMI COUNTY has the state's highest rate of suicide among young people.
The jocks then mentioned BEMIDJI and the RED LAKE Indian Reservation, which are both located in BELTRAMI COUNTY.
"Maybe it's genetic; isn't there a lot of incest up there?" TRAEN said about the tribe.
"Not that I know of," BARNARD replied.
"I think there is," TRAEN continued. "Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure."
"Well, I'm glad you just threw it out there, then," BARNARD said to laughter in the background.
Minority groups have long criticized BARNARD and his crew for their on-air banter.
In the late 1990s, members of the SOMALI community picketed over BARNARD and Co.'s mocking of SOMALI dialects after a SOMALI cabdriver was slain. Before that, the Asian-American community was irate when BARNARD and his co-hosts made fun of a teenage HMONG girl who was charged with killing her newborn son.
They said of her potential $10,000 fine: "That's a lot of eggrolls."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WOMAN FIGHTS PRINCE'S 'CRAZY' YOUTUBE CRACKDOWN
A woman whose 29-second video clip of her baby dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was removed from YouTube for copyright infringement filed a counter notice and was allowed to re-post the footage, reports ABC News.
As previously reported, Prince hired legal muscle Web Sherriff in September to go after YouTube, Ebay and other Web sites to scrub them clean of his music and video footage. Three months earlier, Stephanie Lenz received an email from YouTube saying that her footage was removed at the request of Universal Music Publishing Group, and that she could have her YouTube account canceled in the event of any future copyright infringements.
In response to Universal's move, Lenz filed a "counter-notice" and her video was restored six weeks later, TMZ reports. YouTube explained to ABC that they are bound by provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to honor all takedown and counter-notices.
In a statement released to ABC, Universal said, "Prince believes it is wrong for YouTube, or any user-generated site, to appropriate his music without his consent ... It's simply a matter of principle."
POLITICIANS JOIN FIGHT AGAINST NAS' N-WORD
Plus, poet Saul Williams joins the controversy with 'NiggyTardust' part of upcoming CD title.
Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is calling on the New York Comptroller to pull an $84 million state pension fund invested in Universal Music Group and its parent company Vivendi unless Nas changes the title of his new album "N**ger."
“[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” Jeffries tells Rolling Stone. “It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.”
Meanwhile, Nas also said this particular title was supposed to grace his last album, "Hip Hop Is Dead," but "the climate wasn’t right, and 'Hip Hop Is Dead' is also what I was feeling," he explains. "That went first, and now I’ve got to get this one off my chest.”
So what of all the controversy? “It’s like talking to your child about sex. It’s hard, but it’s important,” he tells Rolling Stone. “It’s probably going to make people uncomfortable. I don’t expect a lot of people to sell a record called N**ger. Hopefully, people can open their minds up and lose some of their fear and deal with it. It’s just an album. It’s one piece of the many things I do, and this will be one of my favorite pieces.”
And despite early reports to the contrary, his label Def Jam says it's 100 percent behind the title.
“It will be certain record stores that will be scared to deal with it. The record label is gung ho, and it’s ready to go,” Nas said.
In related news, poet Saul Williams may join Nas as a target of protest with the announcement of his upcoming album title, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!," produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and mixed by Alan Moulder.
The title is a play on David Bowie's album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.' Williams announced the news on his Web site, stating: "Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce, where exploitation strips each artist down to 'n**ger.' Each label, like 'apartheid,' multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures ... the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways."
Tracks on the album include "Black History Month," "Tr(n)igger" and "NiggyTardust."
According to MTV.com, the album will be available Nov. 1 in digital form on the Inevitable Web site, which allows fans the choice to either pay $5 for the album — or nothing at all. For five bucks, customers can get either 83MB (high quality) or 128MB (very high quality) MP3 files. A third $5 option is also available, in the Free Lossless Audio Codec format, which is similar to MP3 but doesn't lose quality in the compression process — that version has CD quality (395MB) but isn't playable on iTunes or Windows Media. The free option provides an 83MB zip file that contains lower-quality, DRM-free MP3s of the songs.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
RUTGERS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM TIRED OF IMUS CONTROVERSY
RUTGERS women's basketball coach C. VIVIAN STRINGER says the team is "tired of" the DON IMUS controversy that followed the team's loss in the NCAA championship game this spring. "Why should I have to marry him, walk down the aisle?,” said STRINGER at the BIG EAST conference media day in NEW YORK THURSDAY. "Every time I’m in the spotlight and this team is in the spotlight, he gets a play. I mean, what is that? Who loses in this? Maybe what I’m asking for" -- recognition for the team's accomplishments on the court -- "is impossible."
Players from the SCARLET KNIGHTS squad said that they continue to get peppered with questions about the IMUS brouhaha, and CONNECTICUT coach GENO AURIEMMA said that he was disappointed that instead of using the incident to examine racial issues, "a bunch of kids had to go through something that, from a media standpoint, a scrutiny standpoint, that nobody should have to go through."
T.I. RELEASED ON BAIL
By Matthew Bigg
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. was ordered released from prison on $3 million bond on Friday and will be allowed to remain at home under strict supervision in a weapons case that could see him jailed for up to 30 years.
Judge Alan Baverman said the rapper could stay at his home south of Atlanta on condition that he is monitored electronically and submits to random searches.
The judge said his visitors also must submit to searches and no more than three can visit at a time.
"You are going to be under home incarceration that is going to be governed by an active GPS (Global Positioning System) at your cost," Baverman told T.I., warning him not to have any contact with potential witnesses in the case.
The 27-year-old rapper last Friday pleaded not guilty to a trio of illegal weapons charges, each of which carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison.
Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested the rapper in Atlanta on October 13, the day he was due to have starred at the BET hip hop awards.
He had been nominated for nine awards, more than any other artist, and won two.
The agents said the arrest came as he took delivery of three machine guns and two silencers that a bodyguard purchased on his behalf. T.I., born Clifford Harris, was convicted of a drug offense in 1998 and is prohibited from owning or buying firearms.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved
WILSON TO BE RELEASED
Ga. court orders release of teen sentenced in sex case
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of a young man who has been imprisoned for more than two years for having consensual oral sex with another teenager.
The court ruled 4-3 that Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.
Wilson, 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year's Eve party at a Douglas County hotel room where he was videotaped having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time.
Wilson was acquitted of raping another 17-year-old girl at the party.
The 1995 law Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the state Supreme Court later upheld a lower court's ruling which said that the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.
Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the majority opinion that the changes in the law "represent a seismic shift in the legislature's view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants."
Sears wrote that the severe punishment makes "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment" and that Wilson's crime did not rise to the "level of adults who prey on children."
The state Supreme Court had turned down Wilson's appeal of his conviction and sentence, but the justices agreed to hear the state's appeal of a Monroe County judge's decision to reduce Wilson's sentence to 12 months and free him. That judge had called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice."
Dissenting justices wrote that the state Legislature expressly stated that the 2006 change in the law was not intended to affect any crime prior to that date.
They said Wilson's sentence could not be cruel and unusual because the state Legislature decided that Wilson could not benefit from subsequent laws reducing the severity of the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor.
They called the decision an "unprecedented disregard for the General Assembly's constitutional authority."
A spokeswoman for Wilson's lawyer said his legal team received no advance notice of the decision.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
NOOSE OR NOT ON TUPAC STATUE
In yesterday's EUR we reported that a noose was discovered around the neck of a bronze statue of late rapper Tupac Shakur, which sits in the Peace Garden inside of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
That information came to us directly from the center itself via a news release. However, DeKalb County police who are investigating that incident and others, is now disputing the center's claim.
The news release described a series of vandalism "attacks" officials said occurred at the center, including a "noose" that was tied around the neck of Shakur's statue.
The statement also said that two incidents were being investigated as hate crimes.
"Hate comes in all colors and genders therefore we will use this act of hate and ignorance to bring our community together and to pray for the healing of those who harbor such feelings," Shakur's mother and the center's founder, Afeni Shakur, said in the news release.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted Marcus Hodge, a DeKalb County police spokesman as saying there was no noose around Shakur's neck, but rather an orange nylon string with a wooden cross attached.
When the paper spoke with the center's spokeswoman, Versa Manos she said she was standing by the press release.
"That was the information that was given to me from the folks at the center."
According to Hodge, the first incident was reported early Saturday. He said underwear had been put on the head of the statue, and the orange string was around its neck. Also, stickers had been placed on the statue and on nearby walls.
Two days later, around 3 a.m., police responded to a suspicious-person call at the center.
A 37-year-old man told police he was there "because he wanted to talk to Tupac," Hodge said.
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