Author: Dennis J. Freeman

By Dennis J. Freeman Reggie Bush had it all. He had the fame. He had become a rock star in pads. He had the credentials to back up his play on the football field as one of college’s best. In fact, Bush was voted on by a group of sportswriters as the best college football player in 2005, capturing the prestigious Heisman Trophy award. Now all he has is shame. Embarrassment and public ridicule now follow his path as a professional football player for the New Orleans Saints.

Jim Brown: Making a difference his way./Photo courtesy of Amer-I-Can By Dennis J. Freeman The beat goes on for Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown and the Amer-I-Can program.  Even without the financial backing of the Cleveland Browns, the NFL franchise he played for and has been embedded with for the last couple of decades, Brown and Amer-I-Can will find a way to make it over the temporary speed bump it faces. Amer-I-Can is not about one person, one group of people; just one message. And that is helping others to find their place in society and to help them…

Dennis J. FreemanDennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com News4usonline.com

By Dennis J. Freeman In the month of September during the 1960 Olympics, Wilma Rudolph lit up the Summer Games with her southern charisma, engaging smile and smoldering good looks. Rudolph also turned the XVII Olympiad into her own coming out party. Wilma Rudolph (left) became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field when she achieved that feat at the 1960 Olympics./Photo courtesy of Tennessee State University/Sports Information/Athletics Rudolph shined at the Summer Games in a way that transformed her from a lanky, speedy runner from a small historically black college in Tennessee to…

By Dennis J. Freeman We knew it would come sooner or later. Black folks knew it had been hiding. It had been lurking somewhere, just waiting to expose itself. Well, the recent avalanche of the N-word used by high-profile white celebrities have outed the myth of a post-racial lovefest that was supposed to happen now that we have a black President.

 Veteran film and stage actress Margaret Avery shares her thoughts on the hit movie and her Oscar-nominated role of “Shug”that put her on top of the acting world 25 years ago. The lovely Margaret Avery talks about the impact of the “Color Purple” in a recent interview./Photo courtesy of Magaret AveryBy Dennis J. Freeman It’s been 25 years since the Color Purple made its big splash in theaters everywhere. It was a triumphant film in many ways, bringing the issue of domestic violence front and center at America’s doorstep. Margaret Avery was part of that groundbreaking project.  But before she…

Actress Maya Gilbert (Sex Chronicles) take in the festivities at the John Wooden Memorial Celebrity Basketball Game./Photo by Dennis J. Freeman Former NBA great Mark Jackson relaxes at the John Wooden Memorial Celebrity Basketball Game./Photo by Dennis J. FreemanCelebrities and stars honor UCLA and basketball legend John Wooden.  Hawthorne-John Wooden has meant so much to the game of basketball that it is only fitting the game honors him. That’s what happened recently when a cluster of local celebrities, former NBA players and street ballers came together at the Hangar Athletic Xchange in Hawthorne, California to pay homage to the legendary UCLA…

  Sarah Culberson shows off her royal look as she reunites with Joseph Kposowa, her biological father and heir to the Mende Tribe leadership./Photo courtesy of Sarah CulbersonSarah Culberson’s real-life role from Hollywood to heroine is no fairy tale. By Dennis J. Freeman More than half the people in the Western African country of Sierra Leone are illiterate. Retrieving clean running water is elusive. Diseases like Typhoid fever run rampant, snuffing out lives, young and old. Poverty and concerns of human rights issues grip the nation. For years, education has had to take a back seat to survival in this…

By Dennis J. Freeman Black boys in this country are on the outside looking in when it comes to achieving the American Dream. Getting a basic high school education has now become a foreign idea to many of these young men. A report released by the Schott Foundation for Public Education in 2009, show that black students across the board are at an disadvantage when it comes to receiving an opportunity to learn. The Schott 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America tells us that only 47% of black students receive the basic fundamentals of an education.…

It was all good at the National Association of Black Journalists 35th Annual Convention and Career Fair in San Diego, California. Black journalists from all over the country coverged in San Diego for employment and network opportunities and some much-needed R & R. There was also plenty of presentations of awards for distinguished pioneers such as the late Curt Flood, who opened the door for free agency for professional athletes. News4usonline.com captured a little of what was going on in photos.  Top row, left to right: Representatives of Black Entertainment Television (BET) pose for the camera; Curt Flood’s widow, actress Judy Pace Flood,…

  By Dennis J. Freeman Los Angeles-The city of Los Angeles is badly in need of a professional football team. With the defections of the Rams (St. Louis) and the Raiders (Oakland) to other venues, the city has been mired in proproganda the last two decades about whether or not if there ever will be another team.

Los Angeles (News4usonline) – Anger. Rage. Disappointment. Hurt. Heartbroken. These were some of the emotions expressed from the family and friends of Oscar Grant after the jury verdict was read at the criminal trial of Johannes Mehserle, the white Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer charged with shooting and killing the black man in the wee hours of New Year’s Day, 2009. In less than a week the non-African American jury came back with an involuntary manslaughter conviction of Mehserle, who shot the 22-year-old Grant in the back as he laid face down at a BART transit station in…

By Dennis J. Freeman Los Angeles-The anticipation of the jury verdict in a racially-charged, police officer involved shooting death of an unarmed black man in Oakland, California, has gripped the nation. Possible civil unrest and unruly disturbance is on the minds of every law enforcement agency from Oakland to Los Angeles should a jury absent of any African Americans, come back without a murder conviction of Johannes Mehserle, the white police officer who shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant to death as he laid face down at a train station.

By Dennis J. Freeman Maria Bermudez left her home in East Los Angeles 17 years ago to immerse herself in the culture and ways of the Gypsy people. Her fascination for better understanding of this people and its culture was brought on a child when she watched her older brother Alfonso drip himself in flamenco dancing and made it a routine phenomenon around the young woman.