John Howard Griffin (pictured) was born in 1920 in the “good ol’ boy” state of Texas. During his childhood, Griffin, who was Caucasian, was quickly schooled in the White supremacist ideologies of his surrounding community. When Griffin reached adulthood, he felt compelled to contribute toward ending racism, so he embarked on a journey.  Disheartened by America’s racial climate, Griffin wanted to see what life would be like as a Black man, so he concocted a daring experiment, where he would pose as one in order to understand the plight of “Negroes.” Griffin drastically darkened his skin and inconspicuously traveled throughout the rabidly racist South for nearly two months during the height of the civil rights era in 1959.  He chronicled his emotionally charged discoveries in his book published two years later entitled “Black Like Me.”  Even though Griffin’s skin-darkening methods were perilous by today’s standards, did he in fact die of the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma, as a result of his experiment?

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Serena Say ‘A White Man Is The Only Real Choice For A Successful Black Female?’

Griffin’s memoir recounts the medical treatments he endured in order to darken his skin pigment. After the journalist found a dermatologist who agreed to take part in his outlandish experiment, Griffin began the skin-darkening process by ingesting a pill daily then subjecting himself to 15 hours a day of an ultra-violet sunlamp treatment for seven days straight. Once the week was up, Griffin shaved his head, and when he looked in the mirror, a Black man stared back at him (pictured).

In his controversial book, Griffin explains how segregation and racism reigned supreme in the South and how he was also privy to acts of Black solidarity that forever remained ingrained in his soul. Griffin also exposed the ugly and dehumanizing treatment he received as a Black man, such as not being able to use public restrooms, being denied housing, having to work as a laborer for the leisure or pleasure of serving Whites, and becoming the target of brazen insults and indignities.

After Griffin’s book was published, it ignited a firestorm, both good and bad. Many praised the book for his raw and unique look at how Blacks were treated in this country at the time, while others trashed it.  In fact, when Griffin returned to his birthplace of Dallas, he was burned in effigy on the main street of his hometown. The “Black Like Me” author was also forced to flee from his home for fear of possible persecution from White hate groups.

Griffin had become a target, branded an “N-word lover,” and there were racist Whites, who felt he needed to be taught a lesson, so he and his family relocated to Mexico, where they lived for years before returning to the United States.

After fighting all his adult life for the fair treatment of Blacks, Griffin, a humanitarian who received the National Council of Negro Women Award and the Pope John XIII Pacen in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, passed away in 1980, but not as a result of the deadliest form of skin cancer as it had been rumored.

While undergoing the skin-darkening process, Griffin had been carefully monitored by his physician and only suffered temporary and minor side effects from the treatments.  He had also received blood tests to make sure his liver would not be damaged by the oral medication, oxsoralen, he had taken to help accelerate the skin-darkening process.

Griffin suffered a serious heart attack in 1976 while on a lecture tour. During subsequent years, he suffered additional coronary attacks followed by surgeries that left him in a debilitated state.

On September 9, 1980, at age 60, Griffin passed away from complications due to diabetes.

Sound off!

On December 6, 2004, an alleged interview appeared involving tennis mega-superstar Serena Williams (pictured) that mysteriously flooded e-mail inboxes everywhere.  The question and answer printed dialogue depicted Williams as a self-hating individual who put Black men down by making explosive statements about them such as, “They [Black men] will be obsolete in 10 years…once artificial insemination has become as common and accessible as the flu shot.” But the comment that picked up the most steam was her allegedly saying, “A White man is the only choice for a successful Black female.”  Almost immediately, the e-mail became viral, but did the interview actually take place or was it the stuff of urban legends?

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theory 101: Did a Judge Forbid Black Mothers From Naming Their Children?

The mysterious Williams’ interview prompted radio call-ins, debates, e-mails, letters, and news reports, with people being up-in-arms as to why Williams would make such inflammatory statements about men of her own race.

But there was more.

The following statement was attached to the tennis dynamo as well:

I dated Black men.  I loved many of them but they were not suitable for marriage.  Many of them were raised by women with warped mentalities.  So I had to date outside my race.

…

The secret organization of women is waiting for the day when men are 100 percent dis-empowered.

I hope Oprah makes the choice to marry a non-black man soon so she can have a child of her own.

To those who believed that Williams was a Black male-basher, they were dead WRONG. The interview was a fake and the comments that were purported to belong to Williams were conjured up. As to who created the fake interview or why, it still remains a mystery to this very day.

Williams’ publicist at the time, Raymone K. Bane, adeptly hopped on the defamatory and slanderous story and spun Williams out of a situation that could have maligned her permanently. Bane issued a press release pronto about the hoax that stated:

Serena Williams has not conducted and would not, under any circumstance, conduct such an interview. We are making every attempt to find the source of the hoax.

Incensed about the hoax, Williams then provided her own statement:

Words cannot express how upset I am to find out that someone has deliberately attempted to ruin my reputation and image, says Ms. Williams. I would never, ever, under any circumstance, be so disrespectful. Whoever decided to write this garbage does not know Serena Williams. It is not my thinking nor my being. I want to find out who is behind this, and have them prosecuted within the fullest extend of the law. I am hoping that there will be more policing over the Internet, in order to find out immediately the origin of this kind of treachery. No one deserves to be humiliated and defamed this way.

Serena, the haters could never make you fall from grace, keep doing what you do!

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Troop Sport Clothing Line Fund KKK Activities?

Video of Brooklyn Mother of 13 Zurana Horton shot and killed in a gang shooting was revealed Thursday, according to the N.Y. Daily News.

SEE ALSO: Bring On The Gun Control Debate!

The footage shows 34-year-old Horton (pictured) picking up her daughter from school on October 21, 2011, in Brooklyn’s Brownsville section. Around 2:18 p.m., Horton and two other Moms are seen waiting at an intersection as a yellow bus pulls up to the curb.

The shooting then breaks out, with Horton pushing a child out of the way to take a bullet. She then grips her chest and collapses to the ground. Prosecutors showed the tragic footage at the trial of the two youths charged with murdering Horton.

Watch news coverage of Horton’s murder here:

Twenty-year-old Andrew Lopez has been accused of carelessly firing at rival gang members from a rooftop. Half-brother Jonathan Carrasquillo is suspected of having directed Lopez to kill their enemies. Both are charged with murder, with Lopez standing accused of letting off 13 shots in Horton’s death.

One of the two Mothers with Horton that day testified at the trial. “I saw her fall back . . . I saw blood coming from her,” said Unique Armstead, who is seen in the video covering her son with her body as the shooting began. Armstead sustained a gunshot wound to her left arm.

Armstead said she heard someone say, “He has a gun,” prompting her to take her son inside a nearby corner bodega for safety. When the coast seemed clear, they reportedly went back out, which is when the shots began.

“I thought it was a brick but it was a bullet,” Armstead said. “I told my son, I think I’m shot.”

Watch a remembrance video of Horton here:

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday, with testimony from a man who claims Lopez’s brother threatened to kill him; he is reportedly scared to take the stand.

“The man is petrified,” Judge Vincent DelGiudice said. “The man is an emotional wreck.”

SEE ALSO: Nene Leakes Renews ‘RHOA’ Contract For Cool Million

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Troop Sport Clothing Line Fund KKK Activities?

In March of 2008, a disturbing e-mail began circulating about Judge Cabrera deeming it unlawful for Black women to continue to give their children “ridiculous” names that oftentimes involve nonsensical spellings. The e-mail allegedly addressed how parents who conjure up these “names” usually don’t know the origins or meanings of the said names but somehow feel compelled to prove how “unique” the names are.

An alleged excerpt from Judge Cabrera’s e-mail:

After Judge Cabrera’s historic ruling, little Clitoria Jackson will likely undergo a name change.

(DETROIT) In a decision that’s expected to send shockwaves through the African-American community — and yet, give much relief to teachers everywhere — a federal judge ruled today that Black women no longer have independent naming rights for their children. Too many Black children — and many adults — bear names that border on not even being words, he said.

“I am simply tired of these ridiculous names Black women are giving their children,” said U.S. Federal Judge Ryan Cabrera before rendering his decision. “Someone had to put a stop to it.”

While the rule applies to all Black women, Cabrera allegedly singled out impoverished Mothers. “They are the worst perpetrators,” he said. “They put in apostrophes where none are needed. They think a ‘Q’ is a must. There was a time when Shaniqua and Tawanda were names you dreaded. Now, if you’re a Black girl, you hope you get a name as sensible as one of those.”

Few stepped forward to defend Black women—and Black women themselves seemed relieved.

“It’s so hard to keep coming up with something unique,” said Uneeqqi Jenkins, 22, an African-American Mother of seven who survives on public assistance. Her children are named Daryl, Q’Antity, Uhlleejsha, Cray-Ig, Fellisittee, Tay’Sh’awn, and Day’Shawndra.

Beginning in one week, at least three White people must agree with the name before a Black mother can name her child.  “Hopefully we can see a lot more Black children with sensible names like Jake and Connor,” Cabrera said.

His ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a 13-year-old girl whose mother created her name using Incan hieroglyphics.

While this e-mail raised the ire of Black women everywhere, it would later prove to be a hoax: Judge Ryan Cabrera never existed, so there was never a mandate that Black women could not name their children without the approval of White people.

The urban legend actually came from a satirical article, “Enough With the Stupid Names,” that was written by Bill Matthews, a humorist, who in 2008 co-founded the blog “The People’s News,” which poked fun at the lives of Blacks but has since “evolved” into satirizing everyone and all situations.

Apparently when the e-mail was circulated, what was left out at the bottom of it was the disclaimer that the judge’s edict and the entire article was made up.

Still, according to a 2004 study, more than 40 percent of African-American girls born in the mid-2000s had names that could not be found among Whites and another 30-plus percent have names that are not even common in the Black community. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed in another study that employers are 50 percent more likely to call in applicants with ”White-sounding” names than those with “Black-sounding” ones even if the Black job seeker had impeccable credentials.

Meanwhile, the fake e-mail was followed up by yet another tongue-in-cheek article about how Condoleezza Rice was calling for the removal of Judge Cabrera and how she might not have been as successful in life had her mother not given her the extra ‘e’ and ‘z’ in her name.

Sound off!

The year was 1985 when the Troop Sport clothing line hit the scene with their ghetto fabulous and overpriced athletic urban wear. Troop, which was owned by two Jewish brothers, Teddy and Harvey Held, and a Korean, Howard Kim, was an instant hit with Blacks and Latinos, but as Troop settled in to their marketing niche, a rumor began to float around that the company name was in fact an acronym that was Ku Klux Klan-inspired. Did Troop actually stand for ‘To Rule Over Oppressed People?’ and was the company owned by the KKK?

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did George W. Bush Refuse To Sell His Home To Blacks?

In the ’80s, tongues began to wag, minds wondered, and word began to spread that every dollar from a Troop sale would go toward financing White supremacist group the KKK, who would allegedly insert little slips of paper in to the lining of Troop jackets and in to the tread of their sneaker line with that said, “Thank you n*gger for making us rich.”

Soon the rumors intensified, with folks swearing they had witnessed rapper LL Cool J on Oprah Winfrey‘s now-defunct talk show putting down the clothing company as a KKK-run establishment and ripping off his Troop jacket in disgust.

As the rumors spread, Troop was quickly going to hell in a hand basket.

In order to try and dispel the very damaging rumors, Troop placed anti-Klan posters in stores and publicized endorsements by leaders of the NAACP and Operation Push.  Celebrity franchise owners Willie Horton and Gladys Knight also lent their support. Troop’s Black marketing director, Wesley Mallory, even cut open the linings of five jackets in a Montgomery, Ala., store to prove that there were no cryptic anti-Black cryptic messages inside.

Unfortunately, Mallory’s demonstration had no affect on the masses; the damage had been done and folks were not interested in any messages from spin doctors.

Five years after Troop Sport had begun its operations, they were forced to shut down the company by declaring bankruptcy.  The company’s owners attributed the brand’s demise to bad business decisions, though, rather than the KKK rumors that many still believe till this very day.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Elvis Presley Say ‘The Only Thing Negroes Can Do For Me Is Buy My Records, Shine My Shoes’?

Bush and Laura bought a Dallas subdivision home on November 16, 1988, for $320,000.  The couple then sold the home in January 1995 for a reported $348,000, so that they could move in to the governor’s mansion in Austin. The conspiracy theory alleges that Bush, who had just been elected the governor of Texas, refused to allow ANY African-American potential buyers to even view the house because he only wanted to sell his home to Caucasians.

SEE ALSO:   Should We Profile White Men?

Apparently, there is just a smidge of truth to this urban legend about Bush and the sale of his home but there is also a lot more to the story: In all 52 of the subdivision homes, where Bush lived, there is a deed provision restricting ownership only to Whites. The biased real estate covenant stipulated that the homes could only be occupied by Whites. The only exception was servants, who could be of any race.

When Bush and Laura purchased their home, they claimed they were totally unaware of the racist clause, which had been with the property since 1939.  The restriction — although legal at one time — was null and void by the time Bush had purchased his home anyway.  The racially exclusive restriction was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1948 and was banned in Texas 36 years later.

Segregationist real estate restrictions were common practice practically everywhere in the United States at one time.  There were deeds that denied sales to not only Blacks but to Chinese, Latinos, and Jewish people as well.

SEE ALSO:  Civil Rights Leader Jesse Hill Jr. Dead At 86

Even though Bush denied having any knowledge about the covenant when the story surfaced, many refused to believe that he was oblivious about the prejudiced covenant.

But the covenant is not part of the deed that the buyer and seller actually sees; instead, it is an addendum that is filed with the county.

Still, there are those who argue that a politician such as Bush should have done some investigation about the subdivision and then refused to buy in to it.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: What Voters Must Know Before Election Day

1) Straight-party voting does not apply to the President.  There is a rumor that you must vote for the President first before voting for all democrats — or what is called “straight-party voting” — or your vote for the President won’t count.

NOT TRUE!   

Straight-party voting applies to the President and all other partisan offices on the ballot.  In America, the voting process depends on the type of elections that are being held as well as what state you live in.

For example, some states allow straight ticket voting, where voters can choose a single vote button and elect all members for various positions from a single party.

Presently, a total of 15 states offer this straight-ticket voting option.

On the other hand, there is also a split-ticket voting system, where voters can elect candidates from different parties by using various voting buttons. Either way, how to vote will be clarified in your voting region and at your respective voting venue, so you don’t have to worry about being tricked or mislead while voting.

2)  New regulations require a picture identification as well as a voter registration card for voting this year and all the information has to match.

FALSE!

In order to vote, you only have to produce one of three items: a voter registration card, driver’s license, or DMV-issued state ID card. Your driver’s license/ID card address does not have to match your address on the voter registration list. All that matters is that is your address on the voter registration list is correct.

3) If you show up wearing a T-shirt with your preferred candidate’s face plastered on it, you will be asked to leave the polling site! 

Not! 

While you WILL be asked to cover that Obama T-shirt before you vote, no one will give you the boot at the polling place for advertising your preferred candidate on a piece of clothing, so you will STILL be allowed to rock your vote!

4) Voters can cast their votes via telephone.

There has been a rash of voting saboteurs who have been calling the elderly and advising them to vote for their presidential candidate via phone to save them the trouble of heading out to the polls.

FALSE! 

Voting via phone is not a technology that has been introduced for national elections.  Before voting via phone could even be possible, there has to be significant security issues that have to be resolved.

5) If you have outstanding warrants or unpaid traffic tickets undercover cops will be waiting for you at the polls.

Stop It!

This is a nonsensical rumor that began circulating circa 2008 primarily in Black communities. Have no fear, the only thing that police personnel will be doing at the polls is exercising their own right to vote!

6) Black President Barack Obama supporters will riot nationwide if he loses the presidential race and he will then declare martial law and refuse to leave office.

ARE YOU SERIOUS!

This myth is obviously so absurd, it doesn’t even merit an explanation!

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Was Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry Framed?
 
Even though Elvis was born in 1935 in Tupelo, Miss., where segregation reigned supreme, and grew up attending a “Whites-only” school, he reportedly managed to steer clear of political issues and causes and concentrated solely on his art.

Watch Presley perform “Return to Sender” here:

Throughout his musical career, despite his radical public persona, Elvis was described as being shy, humble, religious, respectful, and polite. But in 1957, at the height of his career, it came out that Elvis allegedly put down Blacks, saying that the only use he had for them was as servants and consumers of his music.

The alleged statement was supposedly made in Boston or on Edward R. Murrow‘s “Person to Person” TV show.

The problem was, though, that Elvis had never reportedly visited Boston nor had he appeared on the TV show. In addition, those who knew him could not take the rumor seriously because the drummed up so-called urban legend was the total opposite of all that Elvis seemed to stand for.

During the ’50s and ’60s, Blacks were among Elvis’ biggest fans, because many recognized the love he had for gospel, soul, and R&B music. Elvis also seemed to show his appreciation to those Black musicians who influenced him.

When Elvis was interviewed by Jet Magazine’s Louie Robinson, a reporter who was dispatched to cover the conspiracy theory which had picked up steam and was causing quite a stir, Elvis was on the set of his famed 1957 musical drama “Jailhouse Rock.”

Watch Presley perform “Jailhouse Rock” here:

Responding to Robinson’s question about the affront, Elvis, who at the time was 22 years old, said, “I never said anything like that and people who know me know I wouldn’t have said it.”

An associate of Elvis’ also went on the record to reply to the conspiracy theory, saying it was just a consequence of Elvis being so successful coupled with his birthplace, which was chock-full of bigots at the time, “People will always try to start something like that about a celebrity. It’s a stupid rumor. To Elvis, people are people, regardless of race, color, or creed.”

At the time, Rev. Milton Perry, an African-American minister from Jersey City, N.J., spoke with a number of Black and White Memphians about the conspiracy theory and he concluded that “an overwhelming majority of people who know him speak of this boy as a boy who practices humility and a love for racial harmony. I learned that he is not too proud or important to speak to anyone and to spend time with his fans of whatever color, whenever and wherever they approach him.”

Robinson ultimately concluded that no proof existed that Elvis had ever made the alleged racial statement anywhere.  Thus, JET magazine, highly revered among Blacks in 1957, not only cleared Elvis of allegedly uttering the bigoted comment, but also depicted him as a young White man who was pro-racial equality both privately and professionally.

Elvis probably thought he had finally found some semblance of peace after Jet had laid the nasty rumor about him to rest, but he was wrong.

Decades after Elvis passed away on August 16, 1977, the rumor would continue to live on as a conspiracy theory. The idea of Elvis’ racism unfortunately did not get buried with the megastar.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Conspiracy Theory 101: Bill Cosby? Oprah Winfrey? Who Got Dave Chappelle’s Show Off the Air?

Barry was an activist, legislator, and had the backing of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post, so why wouldn’t he win D.C.’s mayoral race of 1978? With the promise of improving the “bumbling and bungling” D.C. administration, Barry set his course, and his first term in office was once described as “methodical, competent, and intellectually superior.”

On the flip side, though, unemployment and crime rates soared, the promise of improved public housing was slow and coming, and the city’s deficit — which was $258 million — had become a major problem. All of a sudden, mini-scandals began to surface involving Barry and his administrative minions. Reportedly, there was graft and embezzlement, financial malfeasances among his “dream team” staff, and Barry was allegedly seen dabbling in cocaine use at downtown nightclubs.

In Barry’s second term of office, the press got wind of the very-married mayor’s womanizing ways, drug, and alcohol abuse. The D.C. politico was under everyone’s radar at this point, and his devil-may-care usage of cocaine in public became fodder for the media. In 1984, Barry’s onetime lover Karen Johnson was convicted of cocaine possession and contempt of court for refusing to testify to a grand jury about her former lover’s drug use.

By the time Barry was in his third term of office, his reported alcohol and drug use had spiraled out of control. In public, the effects of his addictions became noticeable in his appearance and his speech.  He would arrive to work midday and fall asleep at his desk. He could allegedly no longer properly function as the city’s mayor and was urged by close associates to not run again. Consequently, the city declined badly, with Barry turning into a derelict.

The year 1987 was a banner year for crack use in D.C.  Drug lords were seizing the city, homicides were at an all-time high — and remained so until 1990.  D.C. had now become the murder capitol of the nation and was unraveling at the seams.  Police had no cars to get to crime scenes, EMS went to wrong addresses or barely responded, and D.C.’s public agencies fell by the wayside.

For six years, Barry was being watched by the feds, because they suspected him of illegal drug possession and use along with his political cohorts.  On December 22, 1988, police officers were about to make an undercover drug buy from Charles Lewis, a former Virgin Islands official and friend of Barry, but they were ordered to back off when they learned that the mayor was in Lewis’s hotel room. One month later, Barry had to testify before a grand jury about Lewis, who then told reporters that he had done nothing wrong.

By the time 1989 rolled around, the walls were quickly closing in on Barry, with Lewis being convicted of four counts of cocaine possession in the Virgin Islands and facing multiple charges in Washington, D.C.

On November 6, 1989, Lewis pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges and spilled the beans to authorities that he had been buying crack for Barry.

Barry was arrested on January 18, 1990, in Washington’s Vista Hotel, and he was charged with smoking crack with Rasheeda Moore, who was a former model who cooperated with the FBI in setting up Barry’s drug arrest. She testified during his trial that they had habitually abused cocaine, marijuana, opium, and crack “over 100 times.”  The woman also revealed that her relationship with Barry had also been sexual and that they used drugs at all hours and in all places, from government offices to hotels to a drug dealer’s rooming house to his own home.

In June 1990, Barry announced before the start of his trial that he would not seek a fourth term in office. Barry’s drug trial lasted eight weeks, and ironically, many of his supporters were not only saddened but angered by the testimonies that portrayed their mayor as a drug user.

Watch news coverage of Barry’s drug bust here:

Those constituents who stood by Barry thought that he was framed by White prosecutors because he was one of the country’s leading Black politicians at the time.

On August 10, 1990, out of the 14 counts against Barry, the jury came back with a single misdemeanor conviction of cocaine usage.  Six or seven jurors were White and the rest were Black. Reportedly, the African American jurors staunchly believed that the prosecution had falsified evidence and testimony, creating a racist attack against the politician.

Two months later, Barry resigned from his position as mayor of D.C. He was then sentenced to a six-month prison term. In October 1991, Barry was sent to a correctional facility in Petersburg, Va.  He was then transferred to another facility in Loretto, Pa., because during his prison stint, he was accused of allowing a woman to perform oral sex on him while in a prison waiting room.  He was released from prison in April 1992.

There are those who believe that Black politicians are subjected to wiretapping and engineered plots by White racists who want them to fail. Does the government look to single out or discredit Black elected officials? Is the White establishment constantly on a seek and destroy mission to knock off our leaders?

You be the judge!

SEE ALSO: Conspiracy Theory 101: Crack Is Wack But Did CIA Create It To Kill Off Blacks?

Dave Chappelle was the “it” man: His groundbreaking show was No. 1 on Comedy Central and it had a palpable buzz other shows would die for.  So why — after signing a $50-million contract in 2004 to shoot Seasons 3 and 4 — was his show was suspended “until further notice”?

Watch a clip of the ‘Chappelle Show’ here:

A self-professed retired public relations executive claimed he had a reason and created the davechappelletheory.com site to pontificate about Chappelle’s sudden departure. According to the anonymous writer, an organization called the “Dark Crusaders,” consisting of Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton,  Louis Farrakhan,  Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert L. Johnson, and even Oprah Winfrey, literally ran Chappelle out of town because they felt the show depicted and promoted a demeaning portrayal of stereotypical Black life.

According to the conspiracy, Cosby, who allegedly decided to bring Chappelle down after viewing just two episodes of the young comedian’s show, stood at the helm of the plot. Reportedly disgusted by the “show’s outrageous tone,” Cosby then sought accomplices, such as businessman and former BET owner Johnson, who allegedly joined the group because he had a grave concern over how the show was making Blacks look like “minstrels,” and Winfrey, who allegedly made calls to all of her bigwig friends to alert them about Chappelle’s appalling show, to be a part of the clandestine organization. Cosby also reportedly enlisted Farrakhan to speak with Chappelle, who supposedly befriended the famed minister while seeking spiritual guidance during his conversion to Islam in 1998.

On the surface, the retired executive’s conspiracy theory seemed quite believable…until this part:

With Chapelle’s Show on hiatus before production for season two commences, Chappelle took some down time at his Ohio area farm. It was here that he received a strange package. As told by Dave himself, at around noon, in the middle of an early season Cincinnati Reds game, there was a knock at his door. Chappelle was a bit concerned, as no one except his close family and friends were aware of where he was. When he opened the door, all he found was a crudely wrapped package, with the inscription ‘For Chappelle’ on it.

Inside the package was a voodoo-doll style replica of Chappelle dressed as Clayton Bigsby — the African-American Klansman from his first show. The doll was riddled with safety pins, and had a noose tied sharply around his neck. Accompanying the doll was a message in a childlike scrawl that read, ‘What you’re doing is hurting the African-American community — it needs to stop.’

Chappelle was extremely bothered by the development, but later chalked it up to a local group of Black nationalists — “probably some college kids from Anitoch [a nearby University] looking for kicks.”

Though Chappelle was unaware of it at the time, this was the first assault by The Dark Crusaders aimed at shutting down his comedy career.

Who has been hitting that pipe?!

The theorist’s claims get straight-out ridiculous when he or she also wrote that one day while Chappelle was watching Oprah’s now defunct talk show in his home and she was interviewing Tom Cruise, Winfrey stared in to the TV lens and said, “Dave Chappelle, you should be ashamed of yourself for airing that Ni**ers sketch on your show this week, I’m going to make sure you never work in Hollywood again.”

According to the theorist, Winfrey’s message was heard only by Chappelle, because Johnson used his network ties to ensure that no viewers heard it except for the studio audience.

Although this theorist’s claims seemed to be mixed in with at least one pint of crazy, others speculated that Chappelle was near collapse and having psychiatric and substance abuse problems. Either way, after Chappelle’s show was suspended, he flew to South Africa to stay at an undisclosed location.

On May 14, 2005,  TIME Magazine announced that one of their reporters, Christopher John Farley, had interviewed the then-31-year-old Chappelle in Durban, South Africa, and that no psychiatric treatments were occurring or necessary. “I’m not crazy,” Chappelle said. “I’m not smoking crack. I’m definitely stressed out.”

Chappelle also appeared on Oprah’s talk show and again stated that his South Africa sojourn was taken to mourn the loss of his father and to reflect on his career.  He also said, “I was doing material that was funny, but was socially irresponsible.”  Chappelle went on to describe a sobering moment while taping a sketch, when he caught a laugh from one of the staff that wasn’t a “laugh with me,”  but rather a “laugh at me.”

Since Chappelle felt that viewers were not interpreting his humor positively, he faced moral dilemmas about his comedy, so he made the decision to give up the boat load of money Comedy Central had offered him and take his final bow.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO:

Conspiracy Theories 101: Designer Tommy Hilfiger Is Racist?

Black Conspiracy Theories 101: HIV/AIDS Was Created To Extinguish Blacks
 

I have compiled a list of the 11 most compelling 9 11 conspiracy theories that exist:
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MUST WATCH: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did George W. Bush Refuse To Sell His Home To Blacks?

1. Inside Traders Knew About Attacks Before They Happened

Right before the September 11th attacks some fishy business happened within the stock market and insurance firms. An “extraordinary” amount of put options were placed on United Airlines and American Airlines stocks, the same airlines that were hijacked during the attacks. Many speculate that traders were tipped off about the attacks, and profited from the tragedy. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an insider trading investigation in which Osama Bin Laden was a suspect after receiving information from at least one Wall Street Firm.

2. Air Defense Was Told To “Stand Down”

In the event that a airplane were to be hijacked, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), is prepared to send out fighter jets which can debilitate or shoot down an airplane. On 9/11/01, NORAD generals said they learned of the hijackings in time to scramble fighter jets. Some skeptics believe NORAD commanded defense systems to “Stand-down”, because of their lack of presence during the attacks.

3. Planes Didn’t Make Twin Towers Collapse, Bombs Did

The World Trade Center collapse appeared similar to a controlled demolition. Many speculate that the towers were in fact blown down with explosives placed in selected locations. Some witnesses accounted hearing explosions inside the building as they attempted to escape. Many architects and scientists even maintain that a planes fuel cannot produce enough heat to melt the steel frame of the two buildings that collapsed.

MUST READ: Conspiracy Theory 101: Crack Is Wack But Did CIA Create It To Kill Off Blacks?

4. The Pentagon Attack Scientifically Doesn’t Hold Up

The Pentagon crash may be the most puzzling event of the day. Theorists maintain that the impact holes in the pentagon were much smaller then a commercial American Airlines plane. They also question why the plane was not shot down prior to impact, as well as why the plane impacted into a section of the Pentagon that was vacant due to renovations.

5. Flight 93 Was Completely Staged

The fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It is believed that the passengers fought back, and crashed the plane into a field. Skeptics believe that Flight 93 landed safely, while a substitute plane was shot out of the sky. Other theorists believe that the passengers were murdered or relocated, and will never be found.

MUST READ: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Troop Sport Clothing Line Fund KKK Activities?

6. Hijackers Are Alive. How Did Their Passports Survive Explosion?

After the September 11th attacks, the “Loose Change” documentary stated that all of the hijackers were in fact alive in other countries. Rather presumptuous since it is possible for two different people to have identical names. But they did raise a good point; how did the passports of the terrorists survive the explosion? In the aftermath of the attacks, passports and identification were found as evidence. Many skeptics question how identification made out of paper survived an explosion, which destroyed buildings.

7. Cell Phone Calls Made From Plane Were Faked

In flight calls were made from cell phones in hi-jacked airplanes. Scientists and skeptics maintain that cell phones could not receive reception from the altitude the planes typically fly. Other skeptics questioned a phone call from a son to his mother, in which he referred to himself by his own first and last name.

8. Jewish People Knew Attack Was Going To Happen, Took Off Work On September 11th

Theorists noticed that 4,000 Jewish employees took off from work on September 11th 2001. Some of the first people to record the attacks on camera were Jewish also. Many became suspicious of there actions, and put them on the radar as suspects in the wake of the attack.

9. Black Boxes Found By Search Crew Kept Secret

During the ensuing weeks after the attacks, the Black boxes were one of the most important items to find. They were the only evidence into what happened inside the cockpits of the plane. Three of 4 black boxes were found, and only one was in good enough condition to listen to. The tape was not initially released, but was shared with the families in 2002. Skeptics believe the tapes were not disclosed in order to support the secret scheme.

10. The Bin Laden Tapes Are Fake

Initially, Osama Bid Laden denied any responsibility or involvement with the attacks. Soon afterwards, numerous tapes came out claiming that he took full responsibility on the attacks. Many skeptics believe that Bin Laden was targeted because of his stakes in the stocks as well as former President George W. Bush’s personal business ventures in the Middle East.

MUST READ: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Troop Sport Clothing Line Fund KKK Activities?

11. Aluminum Planes Can’t Penetrate Steel Structure Of World Trade Center

Commercial airplanes’ frames are constructed with a very light aluminum material, in order to make it easier to fly. Theorists maintain that there is no possible way an airplane can do as much damage as it did to the Twin Towers as it did. Theorists believe that missiles or explosives were used to ensure the buildings collapsed.

END

Ten years after the attack we may never know the entire story, but will always remember the people who we lost on this tragic day.

“The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working”

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In the highly controversial 1991 film “Boyz N The Hood,” a saga about young Black boys growing up in the ghettos of Los Angeles, film writer/director John Singleton gave the viewing audience some food for thought, “They want us to kill each other off. What they couldn’t do to us in slavery, they are making us do to ourselves.”  “They,” who?

Watch the crack “Boyz N the Hood” scene here:

In 1996, Gary Webb, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News wrote a series of expose pieces, “Dark Alliance,” that centered around the CIA and their possible dealings with Central America ‘s drug culture, a San Francisco drug ring, and an L.A. drug kingpin.  According to the stories, the CIA and its operatives used crack cocaine — sold via the Los Angeles African-American community — to raise millions to support the agency’s clandestine operations in Central America.  Since the general public had suspicions about the intelligence agency anyway from its rather spotty past, the articles were pretty believable.

In the weeks to follow after Webb’s stories had received much-publicized attention, though, his merit took a plunge.  Fellow colleagues at such press powerhouses as the New York Times and the Washington Post accused Webb of exaggerating many of his alleged facts to the point of creating a kind of hysteria or conspiracy theory, which exploded.

Writers from these reputable news organizations eventually debunked Webb’s theories, with the Senate Committee reportedly finding that there was no evidence to support Webb’s theories.

Webb had painted a destructive picture of the CIA, blatantly accusing them of practically lighting the crack-cocaine fuse.  These drug purveyors were allegedly injecting the Black community with crack-cocaine and killing off the community.

Webb later agreed in an interview that there was no hard evidence that the CIA as an institution or any of its agent-employees carried out or profited from drug trafficking. But it was too late!  The conspiracy theory was let out the bag!

Highly respected politicos like Rep. Maxine Waters wondered whether there were possible machinations behind the crack epidemic that involved the U.S. government and the Black community.  She was one Black leader who validated Webb’s allegations that there was a plot to destroy inner-city Black America via drugs. At a rally, the South Central L.A. member of Congress told onlookers, “People in high places, knowing about it, winking, blinking, and in South Central Los Angeles, our children were dying.”

Even distinguished Black journalists jumped on the CIA/crack conspiracy bandwagon, such as award-winning columnist for the Boston Globe Derrick Z. Jackson, who wrote in his column:

The only conclusion is that Ronald Reagan said yes to crack and the destruction of Black lives at home to fund the killing of commies abroad.

The editor/publisher of the Amsterdam News, the late Wilbert Tatum, also gave credence to the theory that Webb perpetuated, calling the theory “entirely plausible,” and in Los Angeles, street vendors sold baseball caps with lettering that read “CIA Crack Inforcement Agency.”

Protests across the country were channeled through the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington D.C., who pushed both the CIA and the Justice Department to delve in to the charges of government complicity in the crack trade.

After Webb’s highly controversial stories had spun out of control, Frederick Hitz, a CIA inspector general, and an independent watchdog approved by Congress were brought in to conduct an investigation of the drug accusations against the government agency.

In October 1998, the CIA released a declassified version of Hitz’s two-volume report, and the CIA was cleared of its alleged complicity in the spread of crack-cocaine in to the inner-cities.

Conspiracy theorists still believe, however, that the government agency did in fact bring the crack epidemic to Black communities and their denials have not quelled this certainty.

What do I say?  The U.S. government is pretty proficient at covering up what they don’t want us to know, so the jury is still out as far as I’m concerned.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Tropical Fantasy Drinks Make Black Men Sterile!?

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: HIV/AIDS Was Created To Extinguish Blacks

And that wasn’t the end of it.

Another version of the rumor mill allegedly ballooned to include Asians, “If I knew that Blacks and Asians were going to wear my clothes, I would have never designed them,” Hilfiger purportedly said.

The rumor went on to say that Oprah actually threw Hilfiger off of her show for his incendiary statements.

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Even though folks were up-in-arms about what Hilfiger had allegedly uttered, no one was quite sure what he had in fact said, whom he’d said it to, or to exactly which ethnic group.

Yet Hilfiger’s clothing line was boycotted by those who believed the damaging myth.

To counter the slander that had spread like wildfire, Hilfiger representatives sent out notices, stating that he had never appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Oprah also attempted to come to Hilfiger’s rescue on January 11, 1999, by emphatically stating that Hilfiger had never been a guest on her program:

So I want to just set the record straight once and for all.  The rumor claims that clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger came on this show and made racist remarks, and that I then kicked him out.  I just want to say that is not true because it just never happened.  Tommy Hilfiger has never appeared on this show. 

READ MY LIPS, TOMMY HILFIGER HAS NEVER APPEARED ON THIS SHOW!  And all of the people who claim that they saw it, they heard it, it never happened.  I’ve never even met Tommy Hilfiger.”

SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Atlanta Child Murders

Even the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that was formed to fight anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, got involved and delved right in to the out-of-control conspiracy theory that was wreaking havoc on Hilfiger’s reputation. In 2001, the League summarized its findings in a letter to Hilfiger:

Dear Mr. Hilfiger:

The Anti-Defamation League has received recurring inquiries regarding a number of defamatory rumors that have been spread on the Internet and by word-of-mouth in recent years about you and your company.

Based upon our investigation, it is apparent to us that you never made the statements that attribute racist remarks to you. In some cases, the rumor alleges that you appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and made racist remarks, causing a supposedly irate Oprah to ask you to leave.

We have concluded that these rumors are completely false, and it is apparent that you never made the statements attributed to you, nor did you appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Ironically, nearly 12 years after the rumor got its legs, Hilfiger finally did make an appearance on Oprah’s talk show on May 2, 2007.  He discussed the conspiracy theory at length, stating that he still did not know how the myth got started.

The clothier also mentioned that in his pursuit to get to the root of the rumor, he even enlisted the assistance of the FBI, who conducted an investigation. The disparaging theory was traced back to a college campus, but the agents could not zero in on anyone specifically.

The fashion icon told Oprah during the interview that the rumor, “Hurt my integrity, because at the end of the day, that’s all you have. And if people are going to challenge my honesty and my integrity and what I am as a person, it hurts more than anything else,” he says. “Forget the money that it has cost me.”

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The humanitarian, who is the founder of a summer camp for inner-city children and one of the driving forces behind the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Fund, the group dedicated to creating the monument to the slain civil rights leader in Washington, D.C., told Oprah during his visit with her that all he has ever wanted to do was to create a fashion line for everyone, “I wanted to sell a lot of clothes to a lot of people.”

Conspiracy theories are usually overwhelmingly convincing even if they don’t make sense and there’s no proof. To this day, I still raise an eyebrow whenever I pick up something from his clothing line….

Sound off!

RELATED: Church’s Fried Chicken Will Make You Sterile?

From the time HIV/AIDS hit the mainstream news, many Blacks believed that it was created in a laboratory and spread by the CIA with the goal of killing Blacks. However, round-the-way Black folk weren’t the only ones to believe in this conspiracy theory.

Case in point, post-apartheid South African President Thabo Mbeki once accused the U.S. government of manufacturing the disease in their military labs and world-renowned Kenyan ecologist, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai used her international spotlight to give credence to the conspiracy theory about the creation of HIV/AIDS.  After accepting her prestigious honor, the first African female Nobel laureate used her acceptance platform to state, that the deadly virus was created as a biological weapon by the west to wipe out Africans:

“AIDS is not a curse from God to Africans or the Black people.  It is a tool to control them designed by some evil-minded scientists, ” according to Maathai.

Even passionate preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright was rebuked by his former congregant President Barack Obama for giving sermons in which he blamed the government for creating a racist state and “inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.”

Watch Rev. Wright discuss HIV/AIDS here:

The fact that many Blacks thought that HIV/AIDS was created to destroy Black people is actually not so far-fetched. Past sins of the U.S. government against Blacks have indicated that our lives were not valued.

Na’im Akbar, a renowned clinical psychologist who specializes in African-American behavior, told the Washington Post in an interview that was conducted on Blacks and the conspiracy theory surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic, “This is not a bunch of crazy people running around saying they’re out to get us,” Akbar said. The belief “comes from the reality of 300 years of slavery and 100 years of post-slavery exploitation.”  He also cited the Tuskegee syphilis experiment that was the ultimate betrayal of trust for Blacks against the U.S. government and was not a conspiracy theory by a long shot.

The Tuskegee syphilis study began in 1932.  The experiment became a powerful symbol of racism in medicine and ethical misconduct in human research and legitimately fostered government mistrust.

The study enrolled 400 poor Black men (some of the men are pictured right) with syphilis from Macon County, Ga., in a program that supposedly treated them for “bad blood,” which was a local catch-all term used to describe several maladies. For their participation in the study, the unsuspecting men were given free exams, free meals, and free burial insurance.

When penicillin became the cure for the disease in 1947, the medicine was withheld from the subjects.

The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue with their experiment to study how syphilis progresses, then kills.  The experiment lasted four decades until it was leaked to the media.  By this time, dozens of Blacks had died, with many wives and children also becoming infected and succumbing to the devastating effects of the illness.

It was not until May 16, 1997, under President Bill Clinton, that a formal apology was issued to the victims’ survivors, stating that what the government did to those Black men was shameful, racist, and morally wrong.

Watch former-President Clinton’s apology here:

Therefore, it clearly isn’t a long shot that Blacks would also believe that HIV/AIDS was in fact created by the constitutional governing body that was put in place to supposedly protect them as a people.

As late as 2005, a study was conducted by the research organization the Rand Corporation and Oregon State University that stated that a large proportion of African Americans STILL embraced the notion that AIDS/HIV was engineered for the sole purpose of wiping them out as a people.

Nearly half of the 500 African Americans surveyed by the researchers said that HIV is man-made, more than one-quarter said they believed that AIDS was produced in a government laboratory, and 12 percent believed it was created and spread by the CIA.  Fifty-three percent said they believed that a cure for AIDS is being withheld from the poor.  About 16 percent agreed that AIDS was created by the government to control the Black population.  Lastly, about 15 percent said AIDS is a form of genocide against Black people.

Though the co-discoverers of HIV, Dr. Robert Gallo (right) and Dr. Luc Montagnier (pictured left) don’t agree on its origins, most members of the scientific community believe the virus jumped from monkeys to humans some time during the 1930s.

RELATED: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Tropical Fantasy Drinks Make Black Men Sterile!?

On the show, Claiborne supposedly said that she did not make clothes for Black women because they simply could not wear the same sizes as White women and that she did not like the idea of making clothes for Blacks. 

Gasp!

The conspiracy theory about Claiborne hit the Black community like wildfire, and suddenly, the clothing icon’s fashions were mince meat. Adding fuel to the alleged incendiary comments made by Claiborne was “Do the Right Thing” filmmaker Spike Lee (pictured below right).  The director became a parrot of sorts and took the conspiracy theory about Claiborne to a code red level.

In an Esquire magazine interview, Lee urged the Black community to boycott Claiborne’s company in protest of her alleged inflammatory and cutting remarks that were made on Winfrey’s show.  He went on to state:

“Last week, Oprah Winfrey had Liz Claiborne on the show. I guess she wears Liz Claiborne’s clothes all the time. Claiborne got on and said she didn’t make clothes for black people to wear. Oprah stopped the show and told her to get her ass off the set.

How you gonna get on Oprah’s show and say you don’t make clothes for Black women? It definitely happened. Get the tape. Every Black woman in America needs to go to her closet, throw that shit out, and never buy another stitch of clothes from Liz Claiborne.

Lee’s revolutionary stand against Claiborne was one that should have appeared in one of his movies, because the Claiborne statements that incited many in the community to rise up against her were all false!

Claiborne never appeared on Oprah’s talk show and was not even associated with her clothing company in 1991.

The designer had retired from the day-to-day activities of her company in 1989.

Even still, you can find those in our community who continue to give Claiborne’s products the side eye whenever they visit their local mall.

Urban legend indeed!

Sound off!

RELATED: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Atlanta Child Murders

With its yummy taste and cheap price of 49 cents for 20 ounces, Tropical Fantasy, which was manufactured by Brooklyn Bottling out of New York City, was way lower than any of the more mainstream soft drinks and other beverages. Nearly a year in to taking the urban scene by storm, though, Tropical Fantasy turned into an urban nightmare.

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Anonymous pamphlets began popping up in hoods all across the United States, saying that Tropical Fantasy contained a secret concoction that was added by the White supremacist gang the Ku Klux Klan.  The alleged additive was intended for Black men, and the ingredient’s potent power could sterilize them, rendering them unable to have children.

Brooklyn Bottling’s advertising was aimed at the Black consumer: The location of its products was predominantly in areas with high concentrations of African Americans, so the company was an easy target for conspiracy.  The company tried to stop the false rumors, regarding its products, but were unsuccessful.

Upon hearing about the conspiracy theory, folks panicked and stopped buying the Tropical Fantasy sodas: Sales plummeted by a whopping 70 percent, and the drink was renamed “Tropical Fanticide,” with many of the company’s storekeepers and truck drivers being targeted and attacked.

Rumors began swirling that Coke and Pepsi, the competitors of Tropical Fantasy, were behind the false rumors that were killing the once-wildly-successful soft drink company so that they could regain their throne. Of course, company reps for the bottling companies denied having any role in trying to destroy their competition.

Desperate to combat the sterilization rumor that was putting them on a fast track to bankruptcy, Brooklyn Bottling hired a Black public relations firm.  The company sent out trucks wrapped in advertising that denied the falsehoods and even took Tropical Fantasy to the feds to be tested by the FDA, so they could publicly announce the agency’s negative findings.

Unfortunately, even though Brooklyn Bottling had absolutely exhausted their anti-conspiracy theory campaigns, their soft drink was still rejected by the Black masses.

Until David Dinkins, who was New York City’s first Black mayor, came to their rescue.  For many, particularly Blacks, Dinkins was highly respected, nicknamed “Mr. Nice Guy,” and stood for integrity. The troubled company asked Dinkins to drink one of their beverages on television in order to dispel the destructive rumors surrounding them.

And he did!

One month after Mayor Dinkins drank a Tropical Fantasy on TV, Brooklyn Bottling was back in the Black (so to speak).

Today, many young people still refer to Tropical Fantasy as “Nutties,” because of the stories told to them by folks who remember that, once upon a time, the drink was rumored to be a sperm killer.

Bottoms up!

RELATED: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Church’s Fried Chicken Will Make You Sterile?

Was It the FBI?

Of the urban legends that developed was that the FBI had a disguised agenda and were to blame for dragging their feet with regards to the case.  Much of the Black community was up in arms because they were convinced that these ‘alleged’ law enforcers failed to produce plausible suspects.

Or the KKK?

Another popularly held conspiracy at the time was that the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) or some similar racist brotherhood wanted to exterminate young Blacks in Atlanta.  Folks were convinced that the city’s law enforcement along with White supremacists had concocted a secret pact to terrorize the swelling population of Blacks in Atlanta, which seemed like the perfect place to carry out their alleged seek-and-destroy mission.   So compelling was the implication that the KKK could very well be involved in the murders that former President Jimmy Carter ordered the FBI to pursue the white supremacist conspiracy in their investigations of the murders.

Watch the Atlanta Child Murders’ case here:

During this harrowing time, folks from the gliteratti to the literati, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, the Jacksons, and James Baldwin, came from all over the country to offer support to the grieving city, with personalities like Muhammad Ali and Burt Reynolds donating money to help find the killer.

Then as if he had miraculously fell from the sky, on June 21, 1981, Atlanta police proclaimed that they had indeed found their serial child killer suspect.  Wayne Williams (pictured right and below) was indicted for the first-degree murder of two adults,  Jimmy Payne and Nathaniel Cater, both 22 years old.  Wayne was a failed music producer, freelance photographer, and alleged homosexual.  Several pieces of evidence led investigators to the 23-year-old suspect.

When Wayne was taken into custody, police performed three separate polygraph tests, all of which indicated that he was being deceptive in his answers.  FBI laboratories claimed that they were coming up with a number of matches between the fibers found on the victims and the fibers found on Williams’ home and cars.  A number of witnesses materialized who swore they saw Williams with various victims, and a couple of recording studio people claimed to have seen serious-looking cuts and scratches on Williams’ arms, suggesting that he struggled with the boy victims.  Williams was also very arrogant and hostile — traits that only helped to further dig his grave.

There was a very public grand jury trial, which began on January 6, 1982.  Williams was convicted on two counts of murder based on circumstantial evidence for the deaths of Payne and Carter, and sentenced to life for each count.

On May 6, 2005, the DeKalb County, Georgia, Police Chief Louis Graham ordered the reopening of the murder cases of five boys who were killed in the area between February and May 1981 that had been pinned on Williams.  Police Chief Graham believed that Williams might not have been responsible for the murders in his county.  The remaining cases, however, are under the jurisdiction of Fulton County, Georgia, and the investigators of this county considered the homicides a done deal since Wayne was given a trial and put away for life.

On June 26, 2007, the DNA test results were published, but they failed to exonerate Williams. While some prosecutors asserted that the results “linked” Williams to the killings, defense lawyers called the test results inconclusive.

Now at 52 years old, Wayne still maintains his innocence with regards to the famed child murder case.  And to this very day, there are many who STILL believe that Williams was railroaded into confessing to the crimes he was convicted for and that the KKK were the actual child murderers.

What do you think?

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Obviously, once a conspiracy theory starts, it can pick up incredible steam, lasting for decades. Although there have been quite a few that have turned out to have some truthful beginnings, many experts believe that the more elaborate a conspiracy theory is — and the more people are involved — the less likely it is true, with these types of theories often discrediting themselves in the long run. Twice a month, NewsOne will look at some of the top urban legends in our community. Enjoy!

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Food conspiracy theories are pretty interesting. The famous Church’s Fried Chicken chain has one associated it, and it originated in the mid-’80s. At the time, it was believed that the company was owned by White supremacist gang the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), who have always had a vendetta against African Americans.

Since it is no secret that the KKK hates Black people, it was allegedly thought that these haters tainted their chicken recipe with an ingredient that would render all Black men sterile.

Yes, you read that right.

The Church’s Fried Chicken chain was started by a San Antonio, Texas, entrepreneur named George Church in 1952.  The business first began as a single run stand, but then it quickly gained popularity and branched out across Texas and eventually on to other states. Church’s son, George Church Jr., took the business over in 1965, the same year that the company went public.

Author/folklorist Patricia Turner, who wrote “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” about conspiracy theories, says that the Church’s Fried Chicken myth seems to have been exacerbated by the fact that it located its franchises primarily in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Blacks.  The chain also did little advertising as compared with other fast-food companies.

Furthermore,  by  being a southern-based company and offering a southern menu that commonly identified with the African-American home kitchen, Church’s had transgressed into somewhat sacred territory.  Therefore, when people heard the rumor, they totally believed that the Klan was more than capable of carrying out such a well-devised and diabolical plan.

By the time Church’s was taken over by Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken and Biscuits in 1989, the unfounded conspiracy theories had waned.

Still, this provocative conspiracy theory continues to be shared, with some authenticating the myth by swearing they saw this theory reported on television.

To this day, I  — and I hang my head down in shame as I write this — will not allow any of my male family members to consume Church’s Fried Chicken!

Tell us!

Rapper, Too Short, real name Todd Shaw, who was recently the scapegoat for negativity in hip hop after he did a video with XXL Magazine in which he advised young boys to be sexually aggressive with females, is blaming an industry conspiracy for negativity in hip-hop.

In an interview with HipHopDx, Too Short blames the record labels who control the output of hip-hop for shutting down conscious hip-hop and destroying the balance of positivity and negativity that it once had.

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HipHopDx reports

I wanted to do a whole album of positive Too Short songs, just to keep that balance. I had made a verbal deal with Barry Weiss, where he was like, “Right now would be the perfect time, you should do like the raunchiest Too Short album ever – the album cover, the songs, just do a dirty f***in’ Too Short album.” This is the executive running the company advising me to put out an entire album of just cursing and sex.

And I noticed that at a certain point in Hip Hop the major labels stopped signing and promoting the positive artists, the ones that was just really positive. Positive images were hard to get out there. So I’m just saying that at some point it wasn’t that Hip Hop changed on its own, it had a little push. I’m a real conspiracy theorist, and I just feel like there had to be a gathering of the major labels and somebody had to say like, “Look, we gotta keep this positive shit off the airwaves and let this booty-shaking shit take over. It’s time.” And after that it’s like the floodgates just opened with sex and violence.

Read More At HipHopDX

A video from 1998, put out by the John Birch Society, the group that created the “New World Order” conspiracy theory features Ron Paul warning of a United Nations conspiracy to take away the guns and property of Americans.

The conspiracy theories from Ron Paul’s newsletters also mirror those of the John Birch Society. The John Birch Society, through racist undertones, was successful in bringing its conspiracy theories to white supremacist groups and militia groups, including Timothy McVeigh who was fueled by those theories to murder hundreds of people in the Oklahoma City bombing.

The John Birch Society believes in a conspiracy of a Illuminati group dating back to the French Revolution in which secret communist agents and American capitalists join together for a New World Order which would lead to “the destruction of all traditional religions, private property, morality, marriage, existing governments, and the fomenting of world government, “democracy” (leading to anarchy and then totalitarianism), the deification of sexuality, and the state control of children and their education” according to its president, John McManus.

Among the targets of the John Birch Society’s conspiracy theories is the Federal Reserve and the United Nations, both of which are common targets for Ron Paul.

Ron Paul has continued to court conspiracy theorists, many of whom are his rabid supporters. Paul addressed the John Birch Society on their 50th anniversary in 2009 and had their President, John McManus speak at his 2008 “Rally For The Republic.” Paul is also a frequent guest on New World Order conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones’ talk show.

When asked about the New World Order, Paul responded

The first President Bush said the New World Order was in tune– and that’s what they were working for. The U.N. is part of that government. They’re working right now very significantly towards a North American Union. That’s why there’s a lot of people in Washington right now who don’t care too much about our borders. They have a philosophical belief that national sovereignty is not important. It’s also the reason I’ve made the very strong suggestion the U.S. need not be in the U.N. for national security reasons.

Fox News had previously attacked Elmo and Sesame Street for having a liberal bias and “dumbing down African Americans.

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Regardless of how you might have felt about Sharon Bialek or Karen Kraushaar, by the time Ginger White emerged, it was a wrap. Rather than face the firing squad alone, he walked out dragging his wife before the cameras. It was so sad. It was painful to watch.

The meteoric and mysterious rise of this largely unknown Black Republican was over. Herman Cain’s campaign went down harder than a groupie at a Lil Wayne concert. That the Republican Party would have any Black answer to the charismatic Barack Obama seemed so unlikely. But there he was. He was funny, relaxed in front of the cameras and clearly passionate. He was no dummy, did not come from a lot of money but made a lot of money selling pizza. He was everything your average Republican wanted to see in a Black candidate — almost. We all know when it comes to the Oval Office, almost is never good enough.  It was a character assassination, no doubt. But who was the triggerman?

Meet Mark Block, Herman Cain’s campaign manager. This man is impressive. Mr. Block was the first 18-year-old ever elected to office in Wisconsin in 1974. In 1997 he was banned from politics in Wisconsin for three years and paid a $15,000 fine after being accused of violating election laws when he served as campaign manager for state Supreme Court Justice Jon P. Wilcox.  Mark Block is powerful indeed.  Yet he’s not powerful enough to get Cain on the national stage by himself.

In October of this year, an Associated Press story on Herman Cain explained some of the power behind the power “Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending.”

If you don’t know the Koch brothers, that’s OK. For those that don’t know, they run a company called Koch Industries.  Wikipedia says Koch Industries is a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. David Koch is recognized as a philanthropist. His personal worth was recently clocked around $22.5 billion. Cain was backed by hardcore conservative one percenters. Why would they want a Black man to run the free world?

With the backing of the Koch family, it looked like the game was locked for Cain. But someone, somewhere knew Cain had a weakness for women.  They had to.  How was it before his campaign got underway nobody said “Hey look, if we’re gonna do this we need to know if you have any side chicks, spring break video tapes, baby mommas- anything?”  Somebody had to have done some homework.

When the story first broke, Cain blamed Perry:

“Mr. Cain, in an article published by Forbes on Wednesday afternoon, accused Curt Anderson — an aide with Mr. Cain’s 2004 Senate campaign in Georgia and now an adviser to Mr. Perry — of being the source. Mr. Cain recalled telling Mr. Anderson about the harassment charges in 2003.

“It was a typical campaign conversation,” Mr. Cain told Forbes. “I told him that there was only one case, one set of charges, one woman while I was at the National Restaurant Association. Those charges were baseless, but I thought he needed to know about them. I don’t recall anyone else being in the room when I told him.”

Perry denied the charges and promoted the idea that it was possibly Romney who pulled the trigger.  But it really doesn’t matter now.

The question is why?  The answer is simple.  The Republican Party never wanted a Black man to lead, but they wanted to look like they did. After the RNC Chariman Michael Steele (a right wing token if we ever saw one) was bullied by Rush Limbaugh and cast aside like a rusty spittoon, there was no Black Republican leader to represent the right.  Most of the candidates Black America knew from the right were either seen as Toms (like Steele) or just had no juice on the block.  They needed a new guy.  A charismatic guy.  A Black guy who looked like he could win, but couldn’t.  Herman Cain was that Black guy.

Ultimately, Herman Cain assassinated himself. Shot himself in the heart and took his wife with him.  His infidelity is his to own and his to work out between his God and wife.  He knew what was in his past.  Only his ego, or the false support of those in on the hit, would make him believe he could get past the vetting of so many in such crucial times. As of now, there is no fingerprints, no weapon, no get away vehicle. Suspects?  There are many.  We have Mark Block, the Koch Brothers to Perry, Anderson, its a long list.

The one thing nobody argue though, is that it was a clean hit, and Cain’s run is done.

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“And I know the government administered AIDS/ So I guess we just pray like the minister say.”

Kanye’s not the only black person who believes the Feds are behind this devastating disease.

The Rand Corporation reported in a study that, of the 500 black participants they surveyed on whether AIDS was man-made, half answered yes.

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Back in 1995, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, Minister of Health for Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, called for a congressional investigation on the subject.

“We know from the Congressional Record that money was appropriated for the creation of artificial biological agents to defeat the human immune system. This took place in July of 1969. Ten million dollars was allocated to the U.S. Army. So… let there be hearings to uncover the files,” CNN quoted Dr. Muhammad.

Here is a rundown of a few theories that have kept the AIDS conspiracy merry-go-round spinning:

1) God Is Punishing You

The late Jerry Falwell not only felt that gays and lesbians were responsible for 9/11, he argued that AIDS was God’s punishment for them as well. “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals,” Fallwell said, “it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

2) Laboratory Accident

British journalist Edward Hooper claimed in his book, The River, that Dr. Hilary Koprowski of the Wistar Research Institute unintentionally created AIDS by using chimp kidneys to produce an oral polio vaccine, according to a 2008 Slate article.

3) The Government Is Trying To Kill Black People

A more recent claim that AIDS was government-sponsored came from the pulpit of President Barack Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. During a sermon, Wright blasted the U.S. government for “inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.”

4) What Virus?

In 1996, University of California-Berkeley professor Peter Duesberg claimed that AIDS is connected to recreational drug use and that HIV is harmless.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki believed him. Mbeki made international headlines ten years ago questioning whether HIV causes AIDS along with a number of other controversial remarks.

Does Any Of This Matter?

Whether or not the government manufactured AIDS, the illness is ravaging the black community in the most devastating fashion.

Blacks make up only 12% of the U.S. population, but account for 44 percent of new HIV infections, according to a recent study by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The study also reports that black women account for 57 percent of new HIV infections and that their incident rate is 15 times more than that of white women. Black teens between the ages of 13-19 account for 68 percent of new AIDS cases despite only making up 17 percent of the teen population.

Given these devastating numbers, are conspiracy theories even relevant? Do you feel conspiracy theories harm efforts to fight HIV-AIDS in the black community?

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