paul-adams_web.jpgTuskegee Airman Adams
LINCOLN, Neb. – Paul Adams, a Nebraska veteran who served as a Tuskegee Airman during World War II, has died. He was 92. Adams’ son, Michael Adams, told the Lincoln Journal Star that his father died Sunday, July 30.

A native of Greenville, S.C., Paul Adams joined the Army after graduating from South Carolina State University and flew with the 332nd Fighter Group. The Tuskegee Airmen broke racial barriers, becoming the first black aviators in the U.S. military.

The military transferred Adams to Lincoln in 1962. He retired a year later and began teaching industrial arts at Lincoln High School in 1964. His son says Adams also taught what likely was the first Black History class in the district. Adams retired from teaching in 1982.

Protests for history materials tossed
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. – A protest blocked traffic after part of a financially struggling Michigan school district’s collection of black history books, tapes, film strips and other materials was found discarded outside its high school library.  WWJ-AM and the Detroit Free Press reported the protest took place Monday at the school in Highland Park.

The district’s state-appointed emergency manager Donald Weatherspoon has said workers on the second floor of the library mistakenly threw them out last month. He’s said the district in the mostly black Detroit enclave was able to recover the materials in time.

The materials were found by area residents who say some of the collection was destroyed. Andre’ Davis, vice president and secretary of the Highland Park school system’s board, says he’s resigning in protest of the dumping.

Swastika on councilwoman’s lawn
TRACY, Calif. – Police are investigating an apparent hate crime in which several landscape rocks were arranged in the form of a swastika on the lawn of an African-American city councilwoman.

The Contra Costa Times reported Friday that Tracy councilwoman Nancy Young found the Nazi-style swastika near her doorstep in the early morning hours of July 2.

The rocks were dug up from around palm trees in her front yard. Young told the Tracy Press that she heard the doorbell ring several times around 1 a.m. but nobody in the household answered the door.

Police are treating the incident as a hate crime. Police said in a statement that the city of Tracy has had four hate crimes reported in recent years.

Photo: Paul Adams