Young, Prominent, Smart, Well-to-do, Black Men Are Dying and Nobody Seems to Know Why. CRAIG WATKINS, First Elected Black District Attorney in Texas, Dies at 56. Also Gifted Actor, ANDRE BRAUGHER, Actor on ‘Homicide’ and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ Dies at 61 on the Same Day.
Daniel Whyte III, President of Gospel Light Society International, encourages prominent pastors, especially those who have a worldwide television ministry, to personally reach out with the Gospel to prominent, well-known politicians, celebrities, and sports figures because all that matters now for these two men is whether or not they believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and served him, for when they are dead they are done — and the BURNING HELL awaits all who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ–rich or poor, famous or not famous alike. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Craig Wakins, the former Dallas County District Attorney who is best known for rebuilding trust in the office through his Conviction Integrity Unit and for targeting sex offenders for prosecution, has died at the age of 56.
Watkins’s death on Tuesday was confirmed by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, though his cause of death has not been provided.
Watkins, a Dallas native and product of the Dallas ISD, graduated first from Prairie View A&M University and went on to earn his law degree from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth.
Watkins remained in office in Dallas County for two terms but lost a re-election bid to Republican Susan Hawk in 2015 following an FBI probe into allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
In 2017, after Hawk had resigned and was replaced by Republican Faith Johnson, Watkins considered running for his old job but said the decision was ultimately going to be decided by him and his wife.
The day before the filing deadline, he told NBC 5 that he’d decided against a return to public office and instead would be focusing on his family while continuing to work in private practice.
According to his bio on the district attorney’s webpage in 2015, under Watkins’s leadership, the Dallas County DA’s office achieved a 99.4% conviction rate and focused on protecting children by locking up sex offenders and child predators.
A highlight of his career in the district attorney’s office was the creation of the Conviction Integrity Unit, which reviewed more than 300 cases and helped free 25 wrongly convicted inmates. The creation of that unit led to Watkins being named one of Governing Magazines Public Officials of the Year in 2008.
Current Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said he was proud to hold the same office as someone who was able to effect change and leave behind such a powerful legacy.
“I am saddened to learn of the passing of my former colleague Craig Watkins. Craig was bright and ambitious and for his life to end so prematurely is a tragedy, however, he leaves behind a powerful legacy. He made history as the first elected African-American district attorney in Texas. His fierce focus on the prosecution of child abuse cases and his creation of the first Conviction Integrity Unit in the nation are testaments to his vision and ability to effect change,” Creuzot said. “Craig was perfectly human, and those who knew him are better for it. I am proud to have known him, to have worked with him, and to have been elected to the same office he held. He will be missed.”
Source:msn.com
To read more, click here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/craig-watkins-former-dallas-county-district-attorney-dies-at-56/ar-AA1lpigL?cvid=4f653f961b0740ffeaaa0ed66e8cbb7e&ei=20
Gifted Actor, Andre Braugher, Actor on ‘Homicide’ and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ Dies at 61
That would not prove to be a problem. He would go on to play a very different kind of cop on a very different kind of show, shifting to comedy as Capt. Ray Holt on the Andy Samberg-starring “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” It would run for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021 on Fox and NBC.
Though he’d dipped his toe into comedy in the TNT dramedy “Men of a Certain Age,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” still represented a major shift for Braugher, who was known for acting in dark and heavy dramas.
“I just felt as though it was an opportunity to do something strikingly different from the rest of my career,” Braugher told the AP in 2019. “I like it because it just simply opens up my mind and forces me to think in a different way. So I think I’ve become much more sort of supple as an actor, and more open to the incredible number of possibilities of how to play a scene.”
He would be nominated for four Emmys during the run.
Braugher’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” co-star Terry Crews was among those paying tribute to him Monday night.
“Can’t believe you’re gone so soon,” Crews said on Instagram. I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts.” He added, “You showed me what a life well-lived looked like.”
Braugher most recently starred in “She Said,” the 2022 film about the New York Times journalists who broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexually abusing women. Braugher played Times editor Dean Baquet.
Born and raised in Chicago, Braugher graduated from Stanford and got a master of fine arts degree from Juilliard.
He had his breakthrough role in 1989’s “Glory,” starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for the film about an all-Black Army regiment during the the Civil War.
Braugher played the bookish, frightened union corporal Thomas Searles in the film.
“I conceived that character as heroic, but I got a lot of scripts after that where I’m constantly crying,” he told the AP in 1993.
Despite the part, he told the AP in 2019 that before “Homicide” he struggled to find work in a Hollywood where roles for African American actors were “few and far between, Period.”
Braugher won his second Emmy for lead actor in a miniseries or movie for the 2006 limited series “Thief” on FX. Braugher would be nominated for 11 Emmys overall.
His other film credits included “Primal Fear” and “Get on the Bus,” and his other TV credits included “Hack,” “Gideon’s Crossing” and “The Good Fight.”
He also acted frequently on the stage, often doing Shakespeare. He won an Obie Award for playing the title role in “Henry V” at the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he also appeared in “Measure for Measure,” “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It.”
Braugher was married for more than 30 years to his “Homicide” co-star Ami Brabson. He is also survived by sons Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley, his brother Charles Jennings and his mother Sally Braugher.
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