National

Exhibit Opens July 4 About Black Experience in WW2

Published

11 years ago

July 4, 2015

Janet McConnaughey, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — About to be overrun by Germans, a young black lieutenant called in an artillery barrage on his own position, knowing he’d be killed. It was the only way to hold off the enemy.

The sacrifice by 1st Lt. John Fox is one of many endured by the 100,000 African-American service members during World War II and is now the focus of an exhibit at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Titled “Fighting for the Right to Fight: The African American Experience in WWII,” the exhibit runs from July 4 through May 30, 2016. It describes discrimination before and after the war as well as in the military during World War II.

The exhibit also includes an original 8 1/2 -minute video about the famed Tuskegee Airmen and video interviews with 10 veterans, including Rothacker (ROTH-uh-ker) Smith of Huntsville, Alabama who served in the 366th Infantry Regiment.

A Seventh-Day Adventist and conscientious objector to combat, Smith — serving in the same segregated 92nd Infantry Division to which Fox also belonged — was drafted and became a medic. Often Smith was the only African-American on the bus back from town to Camp Stewart, Georgia, on Saturday nights. He remembers being made to sit in the baggage compartment behind the back seats.

Smith was stationed in southern Italy, where his unit guarded airfields, one of many noncombat jobs to which black troops were relegated. But the war’s heavy death toll eventually sent more African-American troops into combat. Smith was assigned to a machine-gun nest in Sommocolonia, Italy, where Fox was a forward observer directing fire for one of the 366th’s artillery units.

By that time, ammunition was running so short in Italy that it was rationed, said John H. Morrow, a University of Georgia history professor and co-chair of the national advisory committee that drew up plans for the exhibit. Smith said that when the sergeant in charge of the machine gun crew called on Christmas Day for a barrage on German artillery, he was told, “We can’t fire until tomorrow morning because we used up our 16 rounds for today.”

The morning of Dec. 26, 1944, a German mortar shell hit the window of the stone house where the machine-gunners and Smith were holed up. Smith was hit in several places, including his right hip, elbow, upper back and cheek. He used his teeth and left hand to bandage the sergeant, who was more severely injured.

Later in the day, as the Germans pressed their attack toward Fox, he made the ultimate sacrifice: he called in artillery fire right on his own position.

Smith knew, from their location, that the guns were American.

“But I didn’t know the significance of it until 50 years later,” he said.

Smith was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans until his release April 29, 1945. Unlike many POWs, he said, he was able to keep all his clothes because they were bloodstained and full of holes. He has donated his long-sleeved, blood-soaked undershirt to the museum.

After helping to defeat the tyranny of Nazi Germany and its allies, black soldiers returned home, expecting a more tolerant nation. Most were deeply disappointed.

“Segregation was still the law of the land, and racism was alive and well,” the museum’s website says. “For many African American veterans, that disappointment became determination to create change. They fought against segregation and discrimination with the same sense of purpose that had defeated the Axis.”

It is no coincidence, the exhibit points out, that many leading figures of the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s were veterans, including Medgar Evers, who became one of Mississippi’s most active civil rights leaders.

In 1995, Smith returned to Sommocolonia with his sons. They saw a memory garden listing the names of Italians killed on the day he was wounded and one American name: Lt. John Fox.

Fox was among seven African Americans awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997 for service during World War II, after President Bill Clinton ordered an investigation of why blacks had not been getting the medal. Five of those medals were loaned to the exhibit, curator Eric Rivet said.

“It’s the first time they’ve been together since they were awarded in 1997,” Rivet said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 6 – 12, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of may 6 – 12, 2026

Published

4 days ago

May 10, 2026

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2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring Review — Is This $136K EV Sedan Worth It?

AUTONETWORK ON BLACKPRESSUSA — Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, but it still feels elegant instead of trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring is the kind of luxury EV that makes people stop and ask a simple question: Is this really better than a Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS, or BMW i7? At $136,150, it has to do more than look futuristic. It has to feel special every time you get in it.

Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, yet it still feels elegant rather than trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Inside is where the Air Grand Touring really makes its case. The 34-inch Glass Cockpit Display and retractable Pilot Panel screen give the cabin a clean, modern look that still feels different from other EVs. The Tahoe Extended Leather and Lucid Black Alcantara headliner lifts the sense of occasion, and the front seats are a highlight. They are 20-way power-adjustable, heated, ventilated, and include massage. That matters because luxury buyers at this price expect comfort first.

Rear passengers are not ignored either. You get 5-zone heated rear seating, a rear center console display, and power rear and rear side window sunshades. Add in the Surreal Sound Pro system with 21 speakers, and the Air feels like a true long-distance luxury sedan.

Lucid also gives this car serious EV hardware. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, 900V+ charging architecture, and Wunderbox onboard charger are big talking points. Buyers in this segment care about range, charging speed, and everyday ease, not just raw performance. That is where the Lucid continues to stand out.

On the technology side, the Air Grand Touring includes DreamDrive Premium, with 3D Surround View Monitoring, Blind Spot Warning, Automatic Park In and Out, Automatic Emergency Braking, and a Driver Monitoring System with distracted and drowsy driver alerts. This one also has DreamDrive Pro, which adds future-capable ADAS hardware.

There are still some real-world annoyances. Based on your notes, the windshield wiper control is hard to find and use, and that matters more than people think in a high-tech car. When controls become less intuitive, even a beautiful interior can feel frustrating.

Still, the 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring succeeds where it matters most. It feels luxurious, advanced, comfortable, and thoughtfully engineered. For buyers who want an EV sedan that feels truly premium and less common than the usual choices, this Lucid makes a very strong case.

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Snoop Dogg Celebrates 10 Til’ Midnight at the Compound

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

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Snoop Dogg celebrated the premiere of 10 Til’ Midnight at his Inglewood recording studio & multipurpose facility, The Compound, but the night felt like much more than an album release. It felt like Los Angeles. It felt like legacy. And it felt like another major move from one of the city’s greatest cultural architects as he continues to prove that he is not just dropping music — he is building moments, shaping narratives, and pushing the culture forward in real time.

What made the event so powerful was the clarity behind the vision. During a panel conversation with DJ Hed, Snoop opened up about the heart behind 10 Til’ Midnight, explaining that the project was created to help bridge older and younger generations while also speaking to the long-standing divisions between Bloods and Crips in a unique way through film. That alone gave the project a different kind of weight. This was not just about songs. This was about using creativity as a tool for connection. This was about taking a story rooted in Los Angeles and telling it in a way that could bring people together.

Snoop Congratulated By Rapper & Fellow 10 Til Midnight Cast Member G Perico (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles. The film was shot in the city, including at WePlay Studios in Inglewood, which gave the entire project an even deeper hometown feel. It was not just a West Coast story in content — it was a Los Angeles-made production from the ground up.

That matters because, in a city like this, authenticity still carries weight. Snoop understands how to make sure that what he creates does not just represent Los Angeles on the surface, but actually comes from it.

What also makes 10 Til’ Midnight significant is that it represents another major step in Snoop’s evolution as both an artist and executive. Public reporting around the project identifies it as his 22nd studio album, but the bigger story is what it represents in this season of his life. This is one of several consecutive moves he has made in his 50s that show he is still building, still expanding, and still finding new ways to reinvent what the next chapter looks like.

Snoop Dogg at the Premiere of 10 Til Midnight (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

Now, as the head of Death Row Records and the newly aligned leader of Death Row Pictures, he is taking the brand into a new dimension. That is what made this moment feel bigger than music. Snoop is not just protecting the legacy of Death Row — he is stretching it. He is expanding it beyond records and into film, visual storytelling, and larger creative worlds that can continue carrying the label’s impact forward. Public reporting has noted that this project arrives as part of that broader cinematic push.

That is a major Los Angeles move because the city has always been built on the intersection of music, film, neighborhood identity, and cultural storytelling. With 10 Til’ Midnight, Snoop is leaning all the way into that intersection.

The room at The Compound reflected that. It felt like a private premiere, but it also felt like a statement — a reminder that Snoop Dogg’s staying power has never been based only on nostalgia. It comes from his ability to remain connected, remain visionary, and remain in tune with how to move the culture without losing the essence of who he is.

That is why this premiere mattered. It was not just about celebrating another album. It was about witnessing a Los Angeles legend continue to evolve, continue to unify, and continue to use art to tell stories that hit deeper than entertainment alone.

In that sense, 10 Til’ Midnight became more than a project launch. It became another example of how Snoop Dogg is still taking Los Angeles to the next level — using music, film, and legacy together to build something bigger than a moment.