Lady Drama: Dr Jan Adams (Kanye West’s Mother’s Doctor) Goes to Jail

L.A. plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams, best known for his possible role in Kanye West’s mother Dr. Donda West’s death, has been sentenced to a year in prison for drunk driving. Adams received the DUI back in June and he is set to report to the Solano County jail in Vallejo, California on February 6 to serve his time. Will he also get sentenced for the death of Kanye’s mother?
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Posted By N. Taylor to Your Black Gossip at 1/08/2009 01:56:00 PM

Your Black Hip Hop: Biggie’s Big Movie Premiere

Derek Luke–who plays Diddy in the movie–hit the carpet with his wife Sophia

Tyrese

Ja Rule

Diddy

Kitty Janice Combs

Diddy and Biggie’s mom (and the movie’s producer) Voletta Wallace.

Ciara

Anthony Mackie and Dennis White

Busta

Q-Tip

Beyonce

Cassie

Carl Thomas

Angela Bassett–who’s playing Voletta Wallace and of course her hubby Courtney B. Vance

Jamal “Gravy” Woolard–who plays B.I.G. And Naturi Naughton, who plays Lil Kim

Toccara

Jay-Z

Mary J

Faith Evans and Kids

Fabolous

Michael K. Williams

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Posted By AutumnJones to yourblackhiphop at 1/08/2009 10:20:00 AM

Your Black Scholar: Dr. Peniel Joseph Speaks on Blacks, Jews and Obama

Your Black Sports: Should Charles Barkley Be Suspended by the NBA?

Yesterday, we discovered former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti landed a job as a columnist for AOL Sports. No small achievement for a pundit Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan describes as “easily the most despised columnist in Chicago, if not in America, for his ill-informed opinions, delusions of grandeur, and the undeservedly cocky cut of his jib.”

With Monday’s introductory column in the books, Mariotti hit the ground running this morning with a scathing criticism of Hall of Fame hoopster Charles Barkley, who was arrested on suspiscion of drunk driving early on New Year’s Eve morning in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mariotti claims Barkley is “stuck in permanent adolescence and has become a perpetual circus onto himself,” and says David Stern should step in and advise TNT to suspend Barkley — perhaps until the playoffs in April.

Click to read.

Is Barack Obama a Fan of Hip Hop?

Barack Obama was in his last year of high school in 1979 when hip-hop broke out of the ghettos of New York on its way to becoming a national phenomenon.

He is in many ways a child of hip-hop, but sometimes a reluctant one. Even as the president-elect claims to “love hip-hop” he has spoken out against its more explicit lyrics. When Ludacris released “Obama’s Here” a few months ago, the Southern rapper extolled the future president’s credentials while viciously putting down Obama’s rivals. An Obama spokesman issued a stinging rebuke: “While Ludacris is a talented rapper, he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”

Yet Obama has been embraced by the hip-hop community like no presidential candidate in history. Bill Clinton was the first president to forge a bond with the ’60s and ’70s classic-rock generation (even persuading Fleetwood Mac to reunite and perform at his inaugural ball in 1993). Obama now commands the respect of the voters who came of age when hip-hop transformed pop culture.

The non-partisan group Hip-Hop Caucus and rappers T.I., Jay-Z, T Pain and others spearheaded the “Respect My Vote” campaign, which registered voters between the ages of 18 and 29, most of whom voted for Obama.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Celebrities: Fantasia’s House Foreclosed

Seems that another celeb is on the road to bankruptcy and this time the unlucky star is “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino.

Read more via New York Post…

“The inspirational “American Idol” winner owes a Florida credit company $65,000 – money she borrowed in 2006 to pay back taxes she owed the IRS.
The singer made a $10,000 payment in August 2007. But she never paid the rest, so the company won the right in court last month to auction off her house for the balance. “

Poor thing…And I literally mean POOR
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Posted By N. Taylor to Your Black Gossip at 1/07/2009 01:04:00 PM

Your Black News: Black Man Shot in the Back By Transit Officer

  

The officer involved in a New Year’s Day shooting that left a passenger dead in a crowded Oakland, California, subway station resigned Wednesday, a Bay Area Rapid Transit spokesman said.

Oscar Grant, 22, was killed January 1 in a shooting at a subway station in California’s Bay Area.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said in a statement that the officer’s attorney and his union representative submitted the resignation at a meeting Wednesday morning with BART police investigators. The officer was going to be at the meeting but did not show up, Johnson said.

The resignation was effective immediately.

Shortly before the funeral for the passenger, 22-year-old Oscar Grant, Johnson said the officer had received death threats.

The BART officer fatally shot Grant in the back after he and some friends were pulled from a train car following a report of an altercation, according to a BART statement.

On Tuesday, attorney John Burris filed a $25 million claim with BART in which he identified the officer as Johannes Mehserle. Several local media outlets had already identified the officer.

Burris alleges in the claim, “Without so much as flinching the Officer Mehserle stood over Grant and mercilessly fired his weapon, mortally wounding Mr. Grant with a single gunshot wound to the back.”

 

click to read.

Your Black Brothers: Roland Martin Says Burris Should Be Seated

Editor’s note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith” and “Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America.” Visit his Web site for more information.

Roland S. Martin says Gov. Rod Blagojevich had every right to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat.

(CNN) — It is total hypocrisy for the naysayers of embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to assert that he didn’t have the legal right to appoint Roland Burris to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

According to the Illinois Constitution, the governor of the state has the sole responsibility for appointing the replacement. Did Blagojevich resign, or has he been impeached? Nope. If you call Springfield, Illinois, and ask for the governor’s office, they’ll tell you that Blagojevich’s name is still on the door.

It seems a lot of folks are excited and happy that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White took a stand by refusing to sign the paperwork certifying Burris as the Senate appointee.

Yet what these same folks somehow refuse to recognize is that Blagojevich isn’t some guy sitting around in his office, twiddling his fingers, flipping through the cable channels with a remote and waiting to get impeached. He is still carrying out his duties as governor.

Did you know that since his arrest in December, Blagojevich has pardoned 22 people? I haven’t heard a huge outcry over this tainted governor setting folks free.

Click to read.

Your Black Celebrities: Jennifer Hudson is NOT going to Perform for Obama

Turns out that all these rumors about Jennifer Hudson performing at the inauguration are completely false.

…read more via Access Hollywood

Jennifer Hudson will not be singing at Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, despite reports to the contrary, her rep told Access Hollywood. “There is no truth to this,” the rep said.
The New York Post reported on Wednesday that Jennifer was in talks to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the ceremony, but the rep told Access that the star has no plans to participate in any inaugural activities.

I must say I am extremely disappointed to hear this because I was looking forward to seeing her perform.

Your Black Politics: Roland Burris May Get Seated After All

In an abrupt reversal, Senate Democratic leaders are sitting down with Roland Burris in the Capitol amid new indications that he’s likely to be seated as the new senator from Illinois.

But there is no final deal yet, and Senate officials say Burris’ appointment still has to be certified by Illinois’ secretary of state.

Burris is meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid and his lieutenant, Sen. Dick Durbin, in Reid’s spacious suite off the Senate floor. Officials were searching for a way to let him take over President-elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat a day after they turned him away for having incomplete paperwork.

Democrats had claimed the appointment was tainted by allegations that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich attempted to sell the seat.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris is closer to taking President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the Senate, say knowledgeable officials in both parties, despite Democratic leaders’ vows to reject any appointee of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Click to read.

Your Black Sports: Watch Candace Parker Dunk in a WNBA Game

Your Black Writers: The Truth About Terror

by Shannon Joyce Prince

YourBlackWorld.com

My blood was literally chilled when I read an Associated Press article entitled “Gaza civilians left exposed in Israeli invasion” in which Israeli military correspondent Alex Fishman is quoted as writing in the newspaper Yediot Ahronoth, “We’ll pay the international price later for the collateral damage and the anticipated civilian casualties” as though the horror of harming and killing innocent people doesn’t lie in children’s limbs being blown from their bodies as easily as dandelion spores spread by the wind, in grandmothers’ failing eyes exploding from their faces, in young fable weaving fathers and lullaby singing mothers dying in front of children who will never, ever forget, but in the unflattering press the self-righteous men and women who commissioned their deaths will face. Perhaps Mr. Fishman wrote what he did because he believes that evil can cloak itself in language, that individual lives, each incalculably precious, can be callously defined as collateral damage. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that another phrase for “anticipated civilian casualties” is premeditated murder.

The mainstream media mischaracterizes the conflict in the Gaza in order to justify the massacre of Palestinians. For example, at the time of this writing, Hamas has killed six people while Israel has killed five hundred (around three hundred of whom are civilians) and wounded three thousand more. The media assures us, however, that it is the members of Hamas who are the terrorists. I say, if they are, how much more then are the soldiers in the Israeli army? The media tell us that Hamas broke a truce between Palestine and Israel by firing rockets. This article http://www.alternet.org/rights/115953/israel%27s_bombs_are_only_the_latest_variation_in_the_killing_of_palestinians/ quotes the head of operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees John Ging as saying of the truce, “The people of Gaza did not benefit; they did not have any restoration of a dignified existence … at the UN, our supplies were also restricted during the period of the ceasefire, to the point where we were left in a very vulnerable and precarious position and with a few days of closure we ran out of food.” In other words, Hamas did not interrupt a time of peace – the truce was only peaceful if we have the crudest possible definition of peace – peace being the absence of violence, peace being the quiet acceptance of apartheid. What Hamas interrupted was oppression no less pernicious for being quiet.

Israel’s violence towards the residents of the Gaza is terrorism no matter how anyone tries to pretend it is an equitable, necessary, or justifiable response to Hamas’ rockets. Violence against the innocent is terrorism, even when state sanctioned. And violence couched in the rhetoric of Zionism is religious fundamentalism as perverse as Al Qaeda’s. I have been surrounded by compassionate, wise Jewish people all my life, and I’ve been profoundly moved by the beauty and tenderness of the Torah, so I know that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is far from true Judaism. The Torah forbids the “passing of children through the fire” or the killing of children in the name of religion. The Torah makes it clear that God sees the killing of children in the name of religion to be an abomination. The soldiers massacring Palestininas and the Israeli government leaders condoning it are no more Jews than the Klan members whose bombing killed the four little girls in 16^th Street Baptist Church were Christians. The deaths of sisters Jawaher, Dina, Samar, Ikram, and Tahrir Balousha, killed just before the New Year by a missile dropped on them by an Israeli warplane http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3732 are no less wrong than the deaths of Denise MacNair, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson.

This massacre is not an issue of a democracy defending itself against terrorists. Israel, as anti-racist activist Tim Wise has pointed out is not a true democracy http://raceandhistory.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1021177705,44009,.shtml. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all described Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as a system of apartheid. Nevertheless, there are calm, articulate, well educated people who are and will continue, during the next few weeks, to explain why it’s okay, or even noble, to slaughter human beings who are only trying to live with dignity – just as there were calm, articulate, and well educated people who made persuasive arguments about why it was okay to turn German Shepherds and hoses on Civil Rights demonstrators, to give smallpox infected blankets to Native Americans, and to lock anti-apartheid activists away in prisons. There will always be those who condemn those who agitate for justice, equality, and freedom. That means there must also be those of us Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, and none of the above who raise our voices in defense of those who cannot speak for themselves.

Lady Drama: Katt Williams Gets Pimp-Slapped by a "Fan"

While performing in Detroit Katt was talking smack as usual, but this time it led to him actually getting smacked across the face. The incident occurred on New Year’s Eve when Katt was cracking jokes on a guy wearing a cowboy hat with matching boots, but obviously he didn’t find Katt’s jokes that funny because he got up and slapped Katt. This morning Katt gave his side of the story on Detroit’s Dr. Darius radio show claiming that the hit didn’t phase him and that he didn’t get knocked out, but several callers who claimed to have been at the performance said Katt was lying. Looks like little Katt Williams might have learned his lesson.

Labels: black celebrity gossip, Katt Williams

Your Black Money: Dr. Boyce Discusses Barack Obama’s Economic Plan

Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.com

Hey Peeps,

I thought you guys might want to hear Barack Obama’s latest pitch as he works to solve one of the greatest economic crises since The Great Depression. It is here if you’d like to take a look. I agree with the President that bold moves by our government are necessary. Where we differ is that I do not believe it to be reasonable to think that our economy, stock market, economic growth or employment numbers are going to reach prior levels any time soon. That’s because much of our economy one year ago was an illusion….a mirage created by easy access to credit sparked by a poorly regulated financial system. We are effectively the great athlete trying to compete after his steroids have been taken away: The athlete might be good, but his natural talent will likely never match his performance when it has been enhanced by doping.

Click to read.

Your Black Hip Hop: Rapper DMX Home in Foreclosure

Adding insult to injury for DMX while awaiting sentencing on various charges, the rapper has to also deal with the news that his Arizona home is going into foreclosure. Ever since the police raided the home it’s been in a frenzy for thieves who have targeted the vacant and unprotected property because police left the doors and windows blown away, according to realtor Andrew Wheeler. Various items, including DMX’s quad bikes, were stolen from the home.

Your Black Politics: Senate Rejects Burris

The secretary of the U.S. Senate on Monday rejected the certificiate of appointment for Roland Burris, named by Illinois’ controversial governor to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat, according to an aide to the secretary.

The aide said Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson rejected Burris’ appointment because it does not conform with the Senate rule requiring that the secretary of state — in this case, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White — must sign the certificate of appointment along with the governor.

White has declined to sign the certificate, siding with some Senate Democrats who say Burris should not be seated because of the cloud over Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

According to a Democratic source and a Democratic Senate leadership aide, without the signed certificate Burris will be denied access to the Senate floor.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Sports: NBA Star Vince Carter Called a "Boy" By Black Referee

Einstein/Getty

Nets coach Lawrence Frank holds back Vince Carter, who was ejected during Wednesday’s loss in Detroit.

Lippitt/Getty

The NBA will ask Carter and referee Derrick Stafford to sit down together and work out their differences.

Related News

Articles

• NBA likely to look into Vince incident

The NBA decided Friday that no action will be taken against either Vince Carter or referee Derrick Stafford following their heated confrontation on Wednesday, although a league spokesman said the two will be required to talk in the near future to clear up any misunderstandings.

During the second quarter of the Nets’ 83-75 road loss to the Pistons, Stafford whistled Carter for a pair of technical fouls in quick succession and referred to him as “boy” – a term considered offensive to African-Americans. Stafford, like Carter, is African-American.

Automatically ejected after the second technical was assessed, Carter had to be restrained by both Lawrence Frank and Devin Harris before a member of the Nets’ security staff escorted him off the floor. But Carter was back to his usual, nonchalant self during the Nets’ shootaround Friday morning, ready to move past the incident even though he had yet to learn the results of the league’s investigation.

“It’s over with, I’ve moved on. I talked about it, and was asked about it, for a day and a half now. I’m kind of over it,” Carter said. “Whatever their ruling is, you have to live with it. It’s just one of those things. It happened, and it was unfortunate, because maybe if I’m still in the game, we could have pulled that game out.”

League officials spoke with both Carter and Stafford on Thursday, and Friday decided not to fine or suspend either party for any language that was used, or any inadvertent contact that may have occurred, according to NBA spokesman Tim Frank.

Click to read.

Your Black Sports: Giants Star Captured by Federal Marshalls

Former New York Giant Mark Ingram was arrested in Michigan, nearly a month after he disappeared on the day he was scheduled to begin serving a prison sentence for bank fraud and money laundering.

U.S. marshals tracked the retired wide receiver to a hotel room in Flint, Mich., after a manhunt that began when he failed to turn up at a federal prison in Kentucky on Dec. 5.

A spokesman for the Marshals Service in New York, Timothy Hogan, said Ingram was arrested Friday without incident. The hotel wasn’t far from Ingram’s home in Grand Blanc, Mich.

Ingram, who has been in and out of jail since his playing career ended in 1996, pleaded guilty in 2005 to cashing counterfeit checks and laundering money he believed to be proceeds from narcotics deals.

Click to read.

Your Black Celebrities: Denzel Washington Gives to Boys and Girls Clubs

Your Black Brothers: Smart is the New Gangsta?

 

by Charlamagne Tha God

YourBlackWorld.com
Intelligence is the new gangsta. In fact, intelligence is the old gangsta but it’s the new gangsta to this generation because we have
been dumbed down for so long that we either forgot, never knew or just didn’t acknowledge being intelligent was the most gangsta way to be to begin with. 2009 is going to be the year of the righteous and the year of the thinker. 2009 begins an era where knowledge truly does reign supreme over almost everyone. (Word to KRS) in fact 09 is a divine year. If you are

 

Click to read.

Barack Obama Addresses the Nation

Your Black Global: Ghana Gets a New President

Opposition candidate John Evans Atta Mills has narrowly won Ghana’s presidential election, the Ghana Electoral Commission said on its Web site.

John Atta Mills, left, of the opposition NDC has defeated Nana Akufo-Addo, right, of the ruling NPP in the runoff.

The chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said Mills had garnered about 4,521,032 votes, or about 50.2 percent of the total votes cast.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the incumbent New Patriotic Party, won about 49.77 percent of the total valid votes cast, Afari-Gyan said, according to the commission’s Web site.

The two men led a field of eight candidates in the December 7 general election, but neither secured a majority of the votes. Akufo-Addo had held a slight lead in that vote.

The runoff election was so close that it could not be decided until the last of the 230 constituencies, the Tain constituency, voted on Friday.

“On the basis of the official results given, the results of the run-off election in the Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, which was held on the 2nd January 2009, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the President-elect of Ghana,” Afari-Gyan said, according to the government’s Web site.

 

Click to read.

Lady Drama: Solange, Jamie Foxx, and Meagan Good Partying it Up in the MIA!!!

 

The stars rolled out in MIA this week for the New Year’s Eve party at Karu & Y. Among the guest were Solange who was looking FABULOUS, and letting it be known that she can outshine big sister B.
Jamie Foxx was also in the house celebrating for his “Intuition” album release party
Meagan Good was looking HOTT as usual, but she could have done away with the Cat Woman imitation

Your Black Hip Hop: Dr. Dre’s Son’s Cause of Death Revealed

An autopsy was released stating the cause of death for Dr. Dre’s son Andre Young, Jr. According to the autopsy Andre die of a heroin and morphine overdose. According to People, Young, 20, was found unresponsive by his mother, Jenita Porter, in their Woodland Hills, Calif. home on the morning of Aug. 23
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Posted By AutumnJones to yourblackhiphop at 1/05/2009 12:41:00 AM

Your Black Scholar: Black Professors Face Racism

By Elwood Watson

Recently I was interviewed by a student reporter for our campus newspaper about a racially tinged incident that took place earlier in the semester.

This past October five members of a prominent fraternity on campus dressed in blackface at a Halloween party as what they saw as an effort to portray rappers. The story does not stop here.

Several days after the incident, photos of the young men were posted on the internet. Thoughts and reactions varied greatly. There were those who were outraged –mainly Black students and a few other students of color, as well as those who thought that the reaction of those who were offended were over-reacting.  A majority of students were indifferent to the controversy.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Sports: The Great Dr. Harry Edwards

Harry Edwards still turns heads. When you’re NBA-tall, cultivating a jutting white beard against dark skin, and clad in black from head to toe, you tend to attract attention. So eyes follow him as he squeezes his six-foot-eight frame alongside a tiny table at Panera Bread in his hometown of Fremont, California.

Edwards, PhD ’73, is no longer the beads-and-beret-wearing militant once described as “Nat Turner, Malcolm X, and Paul Robeson all rolled into one,” a mountain of a man who made international headlines forty years ago when he was briefly a member of the Black Panther party and his movements and statements were monitored by J. Edgar Hoover himself. Indeed, these days he is part of the mainstream—a retired professor often sought by the media for commentary and analysis. But even at sixty-five, he remains imposing. And the way he tells it, he remains the same Harry Edwards.

Click to read.

Your Black Politics: Obama Replacement Burris Heads to Washington

Senate appointee Roland Burris has plans to speak before ministers and supporters before he departs for Washington.

Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat last week.

Senate Democratic leaders say they will reject any appointee named by Blagojevich but Burris said late Saturday he still planned to go to Washington on Monday to claim the Senate seat.

Burris said he would attend a Sunday evening prayer vigil at a Chicago church before addressing his supporters.

Although Burris had been scheduled for an interview on ABC television’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the network said Sunday he would not appear as the program focused on the fighting in the Middle East.

Click to read.

Your Black News: Couple Gives Birth to Mixed Race Twins…..Again

Fleet, Hampshire UK — A British mixed race couple have become parents to a set of black and white twin girls for a second time, defying the odds, British broadcaster Sky News is reporting.

Dean Durrant, who is black, and Alison Spooner, who is white, from Fleet in Hampshire first welcomed daughters Lauren, who takes after her mother, and Hayleigh, who takes after her father, in 2001.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Global: Are the Palestinians in a Modern Day Jim Crow?

From the Christian Science Monitor

I hear the voices of my friends in Gaza as clearly as if we were still on the phone; their agony echoes inside me. They weep and moan over the death of their children, some, little girls like mine, taken, their bodies burned and destroyed so senselessly.

One Palestinian friend asked me, “Why did Israel attack when the children were leaving school and the women were in the markets?” There are reports that some parents cannot find their dead children and are desperately roaming overflowing hospitals.

As Jews celebrated the last night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights commemorating our resurgence as a people, I asked myself: How am I to celebrate my Jewishness while Palestinians are being killed?

The religious scholar Marc Ellis challenges us further by asking whether the Jewish covenant with God is present or absent in the face of Jewish oppression of Palestinians? Is the Jewish ethical tradition still available to us? Is the promise of holiness – so central to our existence – now beyond our ability to reclaim?

The lucky ones in Gaza are locked in their homes living lives that have long been suspended – hungry, thirsty, and without light but their children are alive.

Since Nov. 4, when Israel effectively broke the truce with Hamas by attacking Gaza on a scale then unprecedented – a fact now buried with Gaza’s dead – the violence has escalated as Hamas responded by sending hundreds of rockets into Israel to kill Israeli civilians. It is reported that Israel’s strategy is to hit Hamas military targets, but explain that difference to my Palestinian friends who must bury their children.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Gossip: Jennifer Hudson on the Move Again

We all know about the tragedy that J. Hud endured this past October, but she is not letting this keep her down. It is reported that J. Hud has been scheduled to sing the star spangled banner at the upcoming inauguration this month.

Read More via New York Post:

SCAR winner and former “American Idol” star Jennifer Hudson
hasn’t been able to perform since her mother, sister and nephew were brutally murdered in October – but sources say she may be summoning up the strength for President-elect Barack Obama
. “Organizers want Jennifer to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at the Inauguration on Jan. 20,” our source said. “They are talking to Jennifer about it. It would be the first time she performed since the murders. She is from Chicago and a huge Obama supporter.” Hudson sang the national anthem at the Democratic National Convention
in Denver in August. Her rep didn’t return calls.

I am sure this will be an emotional event for J. Hud and us all and I wish her the best. (Correction to the New York Post her sister wasn’t killed it was her brother.)

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Posted By N. Taylor to Your Black Gossip at 1/02/2009 01:26:00 PM

Your Black Politics: Barack Obama Plagued by Senate Seat Scandal

The scandal surrounding the senate seat of president-elect Barack Obama looked set to shadow his first months in office after prosecutors asked for more time to bring charges against the governor accused of trying to sell the coveted post.

The motion came a day after Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich defied Democratic party leaders by appointing a respected African American statesman to the vacated seat.

Senate Democrats have vowed to block the appointment, saying former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris would “serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety,” but it is unclear if they have the legal right to do so.

Burris vowed Wednesday not to “create a scene” in Washington but showed his determination to fight for the seat by filing suit with the Illinois Supreme Court in an attempt to force the secretary of state to certify his appointment papers.

“The secretary of state cannot veto an action by simply not signing the document,” Burris said. “He doesn’t have that authority. He must do his job.”

 

Click to read.

Your Black Politics: Barack Obama is Not Black Liberation

Al Calloway

South Florida Times

Unfortunately, so many people of African descent have been conditioned to a deep and abiding belief that a Moses is coming to deliver them from an evil pharaoh. For generations, black Christians throughout the Diaspora have sung the words, “Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land. Tell ol’ Pharaoh, to let my people go. . . .”
To many, the civil rights movement was in large part based on that premise. Martin Luther King Jr. was Moses incarnate. The evils of segregation and discrimination authorized by federal and state governments, not only in the U.S. but also throughout western civilization, were the pharaohs. 
And so white people simply assassinated “Moses” (King) and that was that. As hard as white folks tried to replace King with Jesse Jackson, a charismatic speaker they control through his own greed, the churchless preacher’s sense of morality has proven banal at best. Al Sharpton is trying to be the second coming of Jesse, albeit with a different cadence.
While it took the majority of black folks some time to warm up to the candidacy of President-elect Barack Obama –  so enamored was the black electorate of the Clinton mystique – between the Iowa and South Carolina primaries, they began to see his message of hope and their hope for deliverance as synonymous.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Celebrities: Queen Latifah Gets Robbed

Queen Latifah has reportedly had thousands of dollars worth of jewellery stolen from her while on holiday in the Caribbean.

The Secret Life of Bees actress’ idea of a relaxing low-key Christmas break in a luxury villa in Tobago didn’t go to plan, according to E! Online, after her holiday home was broken into.

Local newspaper Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday says the 38-year-old tried to keep a low profile by checking into the swanky Stone Haven Villas using a pseudonym.

However, any chance of Queen’s trip going unnoticed were ruined after the resort’s management decided to throw her a private barbecue brunch. After the party, she reportedly found a 10,000-dollar bracelet, two gold rings, a gold chain and a silver ring were missing from her villa.

There was apparently no sign of a break-in and police on the island had to be called in.

Queen Latifah’s people have yet to give any official comment.

Your Black Gossip: Beyonce vs. Janet Jackson

Looks like Beyonce and Janet Jackson may be exchanging some words. The feud began when Beyonce cleared up the comparisons with her family to that of the Jacksons. It is reported that Beyonce told OK! magazine,

“I grew up upper-class. Private school. My dad had a Jaguar,” she recalls. “We’re African-American and we work together as a family, so people assume we’re like the Jacksons. But I didn’t have parents using me to get out of a bad situation.”

As expected members of the Jackson clan weren’t happy with Beyonce’s statements and who better than Ms. Janet (Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty). An insider said that Janet “blew up” when she heard about Beyonce’s rambling of the mouth. Looks like Beyonce’s EGO is getting a little bit too big.

Dr Boyce on Wendy Williams, Steve Harvey Shows to Talk Money

Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

Brought to you by the Great Black Speakers Bureau, the #1 Speakers Bureau in America.

Happy New Year Peeps!

OK, if you want to start the New Year off with a laugh, here is the video of Jesse Lee Peterson of Fox News thanking White people for slavery. What’s really funny is that Jesse is being dead serious. I also want to share my support for the great Cynthia McKinney, whose boat was attacked as she worked hard to provide humanitarian support for suffering Palestinians during the unfortunate conflict in the Middle East. May this year bring peace to that region of the world.

I just wanted to reach out and inform the members of the YBW family that my wonderful publicist, Tarin Donatien, is now pushing me back out into the crazy New York media for a brief tour to start the year. Our goal is to make the world aware of our new financial fitness program at FinancialLipo.com, which will focus on helping people learn to manage their bill collectors, cut their debts legally, gain financial literacy and get their financial situation right for the New Year (the site will be launched on January 6). Sign up for our Money Advice Email list to get free money tips and to stay briefed on the issue. We are also going to discuss the new TV show I am working on with Dara Cook from BET/MTV called “Ying Yang”, in which the goal is to discuss the Ying and the Yang of various controversial issues (i.e. is Hip Hop too sexist? Does a Black President necessarily help black people? Are men or women the primary cause for troubles in the Black family?). If you have ideas for good show topics, please feel free to share them with us.

Here’s the break down:

On the morning of 1/8, I’ll be on The Ed Lover Show in NYC. It’s on Power 105.1, which I think is the #1 show in NYC. But Hot 97 is pretty strong, and so is WBLS. The New York Media market is pretty fierce.

I’ll be on Hot 97 the following Sunday. Lisa Evers, the host of Street Soldiers, is one of my favorite people.

I’ll be on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on the morning of the 9th at 9 am. The show is on National TV and probably comes on in your city. Here’s a list of the affiliate cities.

Wendy Williams and I are going to be on the 9th at 4 pm. I love Wendy’s show: she’s crazy but professional. Our past appearances have always been pretty exciting.

Steve Harvey and I are going to talk money during the same week. The exact time has not been confirmed yet, but I’ll let you know when that happens. I like Steve Harvey’s show a lot. He is actually a funny dude in person.

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Your Black Love: 7 Marriage Secrets No One Ever Tells You

You’re smart. You know life is no storybook. But admit it: Somewhere deep in your subconscious lurk romantic visions of Cinderella, or maybe Julia Roberts. The images may be sketchy and a little outdated, but you can still make out the silhouette of the bride and Prince Charming riding off into the sunset.

In real life, sometimes your Disney fairy tale ends up feeling more like a Wes Craven horror flick — and you’re the chick who keeps falling down and screaming for her life. I’ve been there. Let’s face it, marriage is not for the faint of heart. You want to believe your pure love for each other will pull you through. And it does. But it ain’t always pretty.

That may sound grim. But here’s a secret: Sometimes it’s the least romantic parts of marriage that have the most to teach you about yourself, your partner, and the nature of love. Read on for some simple truths that will unlock the surprising treasures and pleasures in your imperfect, unstorybook, real-life love.

Click to read.

Clutch Magazine: Black Men to Watch

Name: Lawrence Watkins

Current Gig/Occupation: Owner of Great Black Speakers Bureau and MBA student at Cornell University

Motto: “Success is manufactured”

Favorite Quote: In order for God to direct you, you have to be moving.

Q: What makes you one to watch in your opinion?
I am very ambitious and I want to make a positive impact on my community politically, socially, and economically. Also, I have a business that is growing and that will soon be a powerhouse within the speaking industry.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you learned so far?
Always approach task and people with humility, yet still have the confidence inside that you know you will achieve.

Q: What or who are your inspirations?
Warren Buffet, Google, The Wire, my parents, my brother Dr. Boyce Watkins, John Wooden (Former UCLA basketball coach), Tim Ferris Author of the 4-hour Workweek.

Q: If you could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be?
John Wooden. His books on leadership have changed my life.

Q: Describe a typical day.
I wake up about 7:20 a.m. in the morning and take my shower and get ready for school. On the bus, I listen to a motivational audiobook on my iPod. From 8:40 – 1:10 p.m. I am in my finance, strategy, and statistics classes. After that I take a break and review my financial and advertising numbers for Great Black Speakers. The company’s director gives me a call and an update on the daily activities for the last 24 hours. From 3:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., I am preparing for class/tests. Lastly, I hang out with my friends on another successful day.

Q: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
I am extremely silly under the right circumstances.

Q: What do you bring that hasn’t been brought to your craft?
I sense of purpose and passion in what I do to help the African-American community. Also, analytical skills that most people do not have.

Q: Where do you hope to be in five years?
I hope to be a tycoon of many different companies related to speaking, public relations, and event planning. I hope to travel the world speaking to organizations about productivity and entrepreneurship.

Q: What’s the one thing you are still trying to overcome or master?
I am trying to become more consistent in my work ethic.

Q: What three words describe your attitude?
Positive, Laid-back, Cerebral

Q: What do you want to be remembered for?
I want to be remembered by the people who loved me and the people that I loved.

Your Black College: Morris Brown May Get Shut Down Due to Large Water Bill

Morris Brown College has asked a Fulton County judge to force Atlanta to restore its water service or the 127-year-old historically black institution will have to close.

Judge Henry Newkirk is scheduled to hear the colleges’s request for a temporary restraining order Friday morning.

The fight with Morris Brown is the latest facing the city’s Department of Watershed Management as the agency tries to collect about $37 million it says it is owed by about 25 large customers.

Morris Brown is one of those customers, owing Atlanta about $380,000. Some of the debt is five years old.

Watershed Management spokeswoman Janet Ward declined to comment Wednesday on the Morris Brown suit because the matter is pending in court.

College spokeswoman Bunnie Jackson Ransom also declined to comment Wednesday evening.

Atlanta City Council member Ceasar Mitchell, who serves on the Morris Brown Board of Directors, said he was surprised by the filing of the lawsuit Wednesday.

“This is news to me,” Mitchell said, adding he has tried to “facilitate a conversation between city of Atlanta officials and Morris Brown officials.”

“I hope that can still happen,” Mitchell said.

 

Click to read.

Your Black Woman: Oprah Winfrey Gives $365k to a School

The Ron Clark Academy got an unbelievable Christmas gift from Oprah Winfrey Wednesday morning: a check for $365,000.

The students are on vacation this week. They got a call at home requesting them to come to school Wednesday morning for a special announcement.

When the students were assembled, the co-founders of the school, Kim Bearden and Ron Clark told them the story of a card he opened the day after Christmas, and how a piece of paper fell to the floor. That piece of paper was a check from Winfrey.

The news was a shocker for the students and faculty. The private school is only in it’s second year of operation.

“She (Winfrey) said that she has been on our website,” Ron told the kids. “She goes there to check out what we’re doing. She loves the school. She loves the kids. She just loves our passion.”

 

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Your Black Sports: Charles Barkley Arrested for DUI

DECEMBER 31–Following his arrest earlier today for drunk driving, Charles Barkley told Arizona cops that he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up a girl who had “given him a ‘blow job’ one week earlier,” which the former NBA star described as “the best one he had ever had in his life.” According to a Gilbert Police Department report, a copy of which you’ll find here, police asked Barkley where he was going at the time of the 1:26 AM traffic stop in Scottsdale. “You want the truth? I was gonna drive around the corner and get a blow job,” answered Barkley, who is pictured in the below mug shot.

Click to read.