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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Entebbe raid, also known as Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (subsequently Operation Yonatan), was a 3 July 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. It was launched in response to the hijacking of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris by members of the PFLP-EO and the German Revolutionary Cells, who diverted the aircraft to Entebbe International Airport with the backing of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Following the 27 June hijacking, the captors took the 248 passengers hostage with the objective of compelling the release of imprisoned Palestinian militants and international prisoners. Backed by over 100 Ugandan soldiers and welcomed by President Amin at Entebbe, the hijackers moved the hostages to a disused terminal. After releasing most non-Israeli hostages over the following days, the terrorists held the remaining 106 captives, predominantly Israelis and the flight crew, in a separate room. After initial debate over whether to negotiate, the Israeli government decided on a military rescue based on intelligence provided by Mossad, preparing for potential armed confrontation with the Ugandan army. Initiating the operation at nightfall on 3 July 1976, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) to Uganda. During the assault, the commandos rescued 102 hostages and killed all the hijackers alongside 45 Ugandan soldiers, while destroying 11 Ugandan fighter jets. Three hostages died during the raid, and a fourth—Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a Kampala hospital prior to the rescue—was subsequently murdered by Ugandan authorities. Sayeret Matkal unit commander Yonatan Netanyahu was the sole Israeli military fatality, alongside five wounded commandos. Israel received logistical support from neighboring Kenya during the operation. In retaliation, President Amin ordered the Ugandan army to target Kenyans, leading to the killings of hundreds of Kenyan-Ugandans and the exodus of thousands more from the country. The raid became a landmark event of the era, generating widespread international media coverage, literature, and cinematic adaptations. It significantly influenced global counter-terrorism strategy and heightened Western resolve against state-backed hostage crises.
Victory at Entebbe is a 1976 American made-for-television action-drama film for broadcast on ABC, directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. The film starred Helmut Berger, Linda Blair, Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Dreyfuss, and Kirk Douglas. Julius Harris portrayed Idi Amin, following the fatal heart attack suffered by the actor originally cast in the role, Godfrey Cambridge. The film was theatrically released in Europe. Victory at Entebbe is based on the actual event Operation Entebbe, the raid on Entebbe Airport (now Entebbe International Airport) in Uganda and the freeing of Israeli hostages on July 4, 1976. It was the first of three films made in the 1970s based on the Entebbe Raid. The other two, Raid on Entebbe (1977) and Operation Thunderbolt (1977, Israel) soon followed. A fourth film, Entebbe (titled 7 Days in Entebbe in the U.S.) was released over four decades later in 2018.
Operation Thunderbolt, known in Israel as Mivtza Yonatan (מבצע יונתן, literally 'Operation Jonathan'), also called Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt in the US, is a 1977 Israeli film directed and co-written by Menahem Golan and starring Klaus Kinski, Yehoram Gaon and Sybil Danning. The film is based on an actual event – the hijacking of a flight by terrorists and the freeing of Israeli hostages on July 4, 1976 at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The Entebbe raid was known as Operation Entebbe or Operation Thunderbolt. Operation Thunderbolt follows the events following the flight's takeoff until the hostages' return to Israel. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Awon'go Idi Amin Dada Oumee (30 May, 1928 – 16 August, 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and dictator who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until his overthrow in 1979. He gained power after the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état and subsequently ruled the country under a regime characterized by rampant human rights abuses, economic mismanagement and corruption. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime. Amin was born to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles, part of the British Colonial Army, as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of deputy army commander in 1964 and being appointed commander two years later. He became aware that Ugandan president Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he overthrew Obote in 1971 and declared himself president. During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1972, Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime. In 1975, Amin assumed chairmanship of the Organisation of African Unity, an intergovernmental organisation designed to promote solidarity among African states (an annually rotating role). Uganda was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1977 to 1979. The United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title, for "Conqueror of the British Empire". During the late 1970s there was increased unrest in Uganda, prompted by Amin's persecution of political dissidents and certain ethnic groups and also by the country's very poor international standing, a result of Amin's support for the 1976 hijacking that led to Israel's Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978. Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere ordered his troops to invade Uganda in response. Tanzanian Army and rebel forces successfully captured Kampala in 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.