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When the authorities suggested that two black men whose bodies were found hanging from trees in two Southern California cities had died by suicide, many community activists did not buy it. Their fear: The men had been lynched. But family members of 38-year-old Malcolm Harsch, one of the two men, said through a spokesman that after reviewing video footage provided by the police, they were now convinced that he died by suicide. Mr. Harsch was found on May 31 in Victorville, Calif., near a homeless encampment where he was living. Family members of 24-year-old Robert Fuller, the other man whose...

Several advocates are changing their stance on Daniele Watts' incendiary Facebook post: "It's like crying wolf" Civil rights leaders who initially defended Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts in her dispute with the Los Angeles Police Department are now calling on her to apologize. Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable president Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Project Islamic Hope president Najee Ali and other activists held a press conference Friday, telling reporters that they now have doubts about Watts' side of the story. "I was one that was very outspoken about it," Hutchinson said about having come to Watts' defense when her story first...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A prominent Los Angeles-based Muslim activist has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to attempting to bribe a witness, prosecutors said Tuesday. Najee Ali, who heads the community group Project Islamic HOPE (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere), was sentenced on Monday after he admitted an attempt to interfere with a witness in a court case involving his daughter. A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney said in normal circumstances Ali would have received a two-year sentence but saw his term doubled because he had a prior conviction for armed robbery in 1992.

Black civil rights leaders in Los Angeles claim the California Highway Patrol has made singer/actress Brandy Norwood "a political trophy." The Los Angeles City Attorney is deciding whether to file misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges against Brandy, whose Land Rover slammed into a Toyota on the 405 Freeway killing the driver. Today, Najee Ali, leader of Project Islamic HOPE, said the CHP's recommendation to file charges against the singer "is unfairly targeting her for prosecution because of her celebrity." Ali told TMZ he is organizing an e-mail campaign in the African American community to put pressure on City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo...

(CBS) LOS ANGELES A civil rights activist obtained a stay-away order against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, claiming the congresswoman threatened him at a Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign appearance, the activist said Wednesday. Najee Ali. executive director of Project Islamic Hope, said he sought the order, which he said requires the congresswoman to stay five yards away from him, to show "no one is above the law." Mikael Moore, Waters' chief of staff in Washington, D.C., had no immediate comment. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard E. Rico issued the temporary restraining order against Waters Wednesday and set a Nov....

.Minutemen Rally in Leimert Park - No, Really. The pace car. Image via SpiritofAllegiance.com The immigration debate just got a little weirder: The Minuteman Project is kicking off a Minuteman Caravan Wednesday morning to drive from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, stopping in Phoenix and Crawford, TX, the president's home town.So why start in predominantly black Leimert Park? "Over 40% of black teenagers are unemployed. Overall unemployment in the black community is double that of white Americans," said Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist. "They are the most harmed by illegal immigration and it's time we focused our efforts in our inner...

About 2,000 people turn out to view the body of the killer and writer executed last week despite a high-profile campaign to save his life. For many of the mourners filing past the casket Monday, the gray-bearded gentleman in the tailored gray suit and silk tie bore little resemblance to the man they remembered as the muscle-bound, fearsome Crips co-founder, Stanley Tookie Williams. "When I was a kid, Tookie was the most dangerous man in South-Central Los Angeles," recalled Najee Ali, 42, director of Project Islamic Hope, a Los Angeles-based civil rights group. "Looking at him today, I'm reminded that...