She's Got It: Meet Nicole Lyons, Race Car Driver

Nicole Lyons is doing big things in the NHRA circuit and for black women globally. By winning, challenging stereotypes and by being a banger that is so easy on the eyes… Nicole has nowhere to go but the top.

BOSSIP: How did a pretty girl like yourself get into racing cars??

Nicole: When I was little. You can see how long we have been in racing. My father was a racecar driver and engine builder. He was my inspiration and my best friend. We lost him suddenly in 2005; he was also a pioneer of racing and he would be so proud we never gave up.

BOSSIP: How are you guys making it work being a black motor sport team and being a black woman in a white male sport?

Nicole: We are looking for sponsors NOW and we have made history already and will continue as I am the 1st black woman to race now and compete in NHRA top sportsman, competition eliminator, pro stock. I will also be the first to race NHRA pro mod once we find funding then once I smash all the competition in that… it’s on to Nascar for 2012.

BOSSIP: You know a lot about the racing aspect, but what about the cars?

Nicole: Many people don’t know I have built award winning engines and own and operate a muscle car restoration shop “Cole Muscle Cars.” History is being made and the world should know!

BOSSIP: Who all should get involved in your sponsorship and your movement?

Nicole: The car can be sponsored by record labels to cosmetics… it’s time to join the movement!

BOSSIP: Are you married?

Nicole: Yes, but no kids…

BOSSIP: Is he black?

Nicole: Yes…

BOSSIP: Cool, we will most definitely get this up for you sweet heart! Great talking to you too!

Nicole: Likewise… You guys are funny!

www.colemusclecars.com/NLR

Taken from Bossip.com!

Juneteenth Information

June 17-20 @ Independence Park in Charlotte

􀁹 The Marilyn Griffith Turner Scholarship Fund which is named posthumously after our long standing Chairwoman. This full four year college scholarship is given to a deserving youth approved by our selection committee in conjunction with the awarding college. The award is valued at $80,000 and is offered by St. Augustine College.

􀁹 A Healthcare Village that is staffed with health care professionals from area hospitals and clinics. There will be various FREE healthcare screenings available to all festival goers.

􀁹 Children’s Village children will enjoy the Juneteenth Festival as well, with our special area filled with entertaining and educational crafts, as well as a story teller, performing stage and other interactive activities designed just for kids. Small fee for Jumps and Rides, Crafts & Snacks Free of Charge.

􀁹 The Entertainment Stages spotlights all genres of entertainment to include fashion, dance singing, poetry, a gospel fest and much more. This year Anthony Hamilton & Tarsha McMillan Hamilton will perform on Saturday and John P. Kee, Hood, Sign of the Time and Voices of Hope will take the stage on Sunday along with other local artists.

􀁹 The Multi-cultural vendors that travel from all across the country and parts of Africa showcasing food, exquisite art, music and culturally relevant specialty items add even more “flavor” to this must attend event.

http://JuneteenthOfTheCarolinas.com

Blacks Are Being Blocked From Southern Juries Recent Study Shows

According to a recent study, Southern states have been excluding Blacks and other ethnic groups when selecting juries:
While jury makeup varies widely by jurisdiction, the organization, which studied eight Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee — found areas in all of them where significant problems persist. In Alabama, courts have found racially discriminatory jury selection in 25 death penalty cases since 1987, and there are counties where more than 75 percent of black jury pool members have been struck in death penalty cases.

An analysis of Jefferson Parish, La., by the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center found that from 1999 to 2007, blacks were struck from juries at more than three times the rate of whites.

In North Carolina, at least 26 current death row defendants were sentenced by all-white juries. In South Carolina, a prosecutor said he struck a black potential juror because he “shucked and jived” when he walked.

Studies have shown that racially diverse juries deliberate longer, consider a wider variety of perspectives and make fewer factual errors than all-white juries, and that predominantly black juries are less likely to impose the death penalty.

Excluding jurors based on race has been illegal since 1875, but after Reconstruction, all-white juries remained the norm in the South.

“It really made lynching and the Ku Klux Klan possible,” said Christopher Waldrep, a historian at San Francisco State University and the author of a forthcoming book about a lawyer who was able, in a rare case, to prove jury discrimination in Mississippi in 1906. “If you’d had a lot of black grand jurors investigating crimes, it would have made lynching impossible.”

In one Mississippi case, a black man, Curtis Flowers, was sentenced to death in 2004 for killing four furniture store employees. The jury was made up of 11 whites and one black after prosecutors used all 15 of their peremptory strikes on black jurors. Montgomery County, where the crime occurred, is 45 percent black. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the case, noting that “racially motivated jury selection is still prevalent 20 years after Batson.”

At a retrial, in which prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, the jury of seven whites and five blacks was split along racial lines, resulting in a hung jury. At the second retrial, prosecutors sought the death penalty, which eliminated more blacks from the pool of qualified jurors. The jury, nine whites and three blacks, hung again when one black member declined to convict, said Andre De Gruy, the director of the state’s Office of Capital Defense Counsel.

The Equal Justice Initiative study argues that jury diversity “is especially critical because the other decision-making roles in the criminal justice system are held mostly by people who are white.” In the eight Southern states the study examined, more than 93 percent of the district attorneys are white. In Arkansas and Tennessee, all of them are white.

Taken from Bossip.com!