Dr Boyce on MSNBC to tAlk Scholarship

Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University speaks on MSNBC – click here to watch!

The Think Tank for African American Progress

The Think Tank for African American Progress – to be held in Memphis from October 14 to October 16, 2009 – seeks solutions to challenges confronting Black boys and young men. We are inviting scholars, activists, and advocates to join us for the 2009 Think Tank with the theme “What is the Future of Black Boys?”. Practitioners, community activists, and researchers whose efforts are related to the following thematic areas are especially invited to submit a solutions’ proposal in relevant to one of the 4 areas: (1) Health; (2) Education/Youth Development; (3) Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics; and (4) Community/Economic Development.

The Think Tank will feature opportunities for practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and, Black youth themselves to dialogue about solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, think about strategies to resolve these challenges, and design methods in which to implement solutions to challenges.

Click here to read more

Does Anyone Want Mike Vick?

If any NFL teams are interested in Michael Vick(notes), they’re not saying.

A day after the quarterback was conditionally reinstated to the league, only the Baltimore Ravens would directly acknowledge evaluating him.

“We’ve had long discussions about Michael Vick and we have a feeling about how he would impact our team and not impact our team,” coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday.

General manager Ozzie Newsome declined comment. Previously, he has said the Ravens have enough quarterbacks.

Other teams either refused comment or insisted they wouldn’t pick up the former Atlanta Falcons star, who served 18 months in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring and was released from home confinement on July 20.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that Vick can immediately take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games—if he can find a team.

Once the season begins, Vick may participate in all team activities except games, and Goodell said he would consider Vick for full reinstatement by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latest.

Two clubs that might have seemed like a logical destination—the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals—said they wouldn’t pursue Vick.

Click here to read more

A Beer for Your Thoughts

You can make fun of me for being a goody two shoes, but I’ve never finished a beer in my entire life. I am, however, willing to drink a beer with President Obama if that will open the door to an honest conversation on race relations in America.

President Obama’s announcement that he will get together today with Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley for a beer sounds, honestly, like a bit of political posturing from a man who is trying to reverse the stain of tremendous embarrassment. But like a political pro, the president is getting chummy with police departments across the nation, and this will help him recover from his own "George Bush moment," in which he attacked the Cambridge Police Department while admittedly not knowing all the facts.

Perhaps the first beer in the White House will turn into a second and a third. People let it all hang out when they get drunk, so maybe open bottles of beer will encourage the three parties involved to have an honest dialogue on race. In fact, why don’t the rest of us drink a beer too? The American racial conversation should not only include three people behind closed doors, it should include all of us.

 

Click here to read more

What Black Thinkers are Thinking

• 

  G’Ra Asim

  Writer & Novelist

  Young black voters came out for Obama, but may not return

  8:12 AM on 07/29/2009

  During last year’s presidential campaign, the second-most talked about aspect of Barack Obama’s historic candidacy was the fervor with which…

  > MORE

• 

  Rashod D. Ollison

  Cultural Critic

  Brewski diplomacy won’t wash down racism

  12:59 PM on 07/28/2009

  Unemployment among African Americans, which some may partly attribute to racism, is now at Depression-era levels. Racial profiling and police…

  > MORE

• Robert George

  We’ve learned enough from Obama’s "teachable moment"

  8:00 AM on 07/28/2009

  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, file) Despite (or perhaps because of) President Obama’s rare White House press room visit Friday, the racial…

  > MORE

• 

  Noel Anderson

  Associate Professor Political Science Department – City University of New York

  Sotomayor may pass ultimate one-size-fits-all test

  7:43 AM on 07/28/2009

  Judge Sonia Sotomayor admits she’s an affirmative action baby. She stated in an interview that she did not have high…

The Cause of the Deficit and Why it Matters

When George Bush took office at the beginning of 2001, the federal government was running a substantial budget surplus and projected rising surpluses "as far as the eye could see." Now, the United States is facing massive current deficits — as a share of the economy, the largest since World War II — and an increasingly dire and unsustainable outlook over the next 10 years and beyond.

How did we get into this fiscal mess? To quote a character in Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel, "The Sun Also Rises," when asked by another how he lost his wealth, "Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly."

The gradual part was a series of policy actions adopted during the Bush administration. In 2001, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the 2008 budget would show a surplus equal to 4.5% of gross domestic product. The actual 2008 budget ran a deficit of 3.2% of GDP. Almost all of the reversal was the result of policy changes — tax cuts and spending increases.

Then, in 2009, the bottom fell out.

Click here to read more

Your Black News: Dr Watkins Speaks Up on Anderson Cooper 360 – 7/27/09

Watch Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University on Anderson Cooper 360 speaking on the problem of racial profiling.  Click here to watch!

Post-Race Scholar Yells Racism

By ISHMAEL REED

Now that Henry Louis Gates’ Jr. has gotten a tiny taste of what “the underclass” undergo each day, do you think that he will go easier on them? Lighten up on the tough love lectures? Even during his encounter with the police, he was given some slack. If a black man in an inner city neighborhood had hesitated to identify himself, or given the police some lip, the police would have called SWAT. When Oscar Grant, an apprentice butcher, talked back to a BART policeman in Oakland , he was shot!

Given the position that Gates has pronounced since the late eighties, if I had been the arresting officer and post-race spokesperson Gates accused me of racism, I would have given him a sample of his own medicine. I would have replied that “race is a social construct”–the line that he and his friends have been pushing over the last couple of decades.

After this experience, will Gates stop attributing the problems of those inner city dwellers to the behavior of “thirty five-year-old grandmothers living in the projects?” (Gates says that when he became a tough lover he was following the example of his mentor Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka as though his and Soyinka’s situations were the same. As a result of Soyinka’s criticisms of a Nigerian dictator, he was jailed and his life constantly threatened.)

Prior to the late eighties, Gates’ tough love exhortations were aimed at racism in the halls of academe, but then he signed on to downtown feminist reasoning that racism was a black male problem. Karen Durbin, who hired him to write for The Village Voice, takes credit for inventing him as a “public intellectual.” He was then assigned by Rebecca Penny Sinkler, former editor of The New York Times Book Review, to do a snuff job on black male writers. In an extraordinary review, he seemed to conclude that black women writers were good, not because of their merit, but because black male writers were bad. This was a response to an article by Mel Watkins, a former book review editor, who on his way out warned of a growing trend that was exciting the publisher’s cash registers. Books that I would describe as high Harlequin romances, melodramas in which saintly women were besieged by cruel black male oppressors, the kind of image of the brothers promoted by confederate novelists Thomas Nelson Page and Thomas Dixon.

Click here to read more

Black News – 7/30/09

• 
  

  Attorney General: I was racially profiled

  By theGrio via AP

  7:09 PM on 07/29/2009

  The nation’s first black attorney general, Holder tells ABC News that, as a college student, he was stopped by an officer while driving and told to open his trunk for a search.

  > MORE

• White officers resign after fatal shooting of 73-year-old black man

  By theGrio via AP

  6:27 PM on 07/29/2009

  Two white police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a 73-year-old black man in northern Louisiana have resigned from the force. The Feb. 20 shooting of Bernard Monroe Sr. sparked protests and at least two investigations.

  > MORE

• 
  

  HPV infection makes cancers less deadly for blacks, doctors say

  By theGrio

  4:52 PM on 07/29/2009

  VIDEO – Doctors have made an important discovery into the impact of HPV on head and neck cancer. Their research may explain why black patients are less likely to survive than white patients with the same diagnosis.

  > MORE

• 
  

  Ex-Giant Burress testifies before grand jury

  By theGrio via AP

  2:55 PM on 07/29/2009

  Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress testified Wednesday before the grand jury that is investigating weapons charges against him and told reporters outside that he was sorry for his actions…

  > MORE

• 

Black News: CNN Talks to Dr. Boyce and Michael Fauntroy – 7/29/09

Click here to watch Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University on CNN American Morning with Dr. Michael Fauntroy

What Needs to be Done to Stop Racial Profiling in America

In one week, President Obama covered the waterfront on racial politics. Although, in his address to the delegates at the NAACP‘s Centennial he said, "an African-American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a jail," he also used the same "personal responsibility" rhetoric as he has every time he has spoken to African American audiences as candidate and president. Just days later, he would answer a question at a prime time press conference regarding the arrest of African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. that would place him in the middle of the debate on racial profiling.

"Personal responsibility," a Republican vocabulary word born in the Reagan era, plays politically well among moderate and conservative Whites, and even among some White liberals who, unfortunately, have a hard time distinguishing reality from the right-wing noise machine. The "personal responsibility" argument suggests that there is some inherent pathology within African Americans that is disabling. "Personal responsibility" is the modern day replacement for the antebellum term that endured through the middle of the 20th century — "shiftlessness."

Today, Republicans argue "personal responsibility/shiftlessness" most frequently with the statistic that 70% of African American children are born to single mothers. But according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "the increase in the share of White children living in a single parent home has been much higher (229%) than for Black children (155%) since 1960." Yet Whites are never accused of lacking personal responsibility or preached to about the subject. And sometimes we Democrats, Lefties and Progressives are too quick to repeat what the Right has popularly propagandized without a careful analysis of this rhetoric’s roots.

Click here to read more

How Companies Profit off Prisoners

 

Dr. Byron Price is a black scholar with a mission. His book, "Merchandizing Prisoners" opens the door for a discussion on how the African American community is being financially pillaged by the prison industry. You may not know this, but private corporations earn money from inmate incarceration and have a direct financial incentive to house more inmates. This is a problem, since unfocused profit maximization does not make room for the dual-significance of social progress. Dr. Price is one of the leading scholars in America and he has taken it upon himself to help solve this problem.

1) What is your name and what do you do for a living?
Byron E. Price, Associate Professor, Political Science Department and Interim Director, Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research
2) Tell us about your book? What does it teach us?
According to National Union of Public and General Employees, "This book examines the steady growth of private, for-profit prison firms and the correctional-commercial complex that has developed tangentially with the private prison industry. It also details the strange bedfellows that have been brought together to expand this industry.

I underscore how these for-profit private prison companies have gone public and are trading on the stock exchanges and the inimical impact of prisons being publicly traded. The book debunks many of the claims as to why states seek prison privatization and demonstrates that incarceration is the new form of slavery….This work sets the record straight about the decision to privatize state prisons, revealing the political bias that often drives these policy choices."

Click here to read more

Colin Powell Criticizes the Actions of Henry Gates

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was mildly critical Tuesday of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose angry response to a Cambridge, Mass., police officer touched off a national debate involving President Obama.

Powell, interviewed by CNN‘s Larry King, criticized the way Gates dealt with Sgt. James Crowley, a white officer who responded to reports of a possible break-in by arresting the black professor at his home on a charge of disorderly conduct. The charge was soon dropped.

Gates "might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer, and that might have been the end of it," said Powell, one of the nation’s most prominent African Americans.

Click here to read more

News from the Grio – 7/28/09

• 
  

  Deaf man tasered

  By theGrio

  7:45 PM on 07/28/2009

  Officers who used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a man from a store bathroom found out only later he was deaf and mentally disabled and didn’t understand they wanted him to open the door, police said Tuesday…

  > MORE

• 
  

  Houston fire captain apologizes for noose in locker

  By theGrio

  6:20 PM on 07/28/2009

  A senior Houston firefighter apologized Monday for keeping a rope that looked like hangman’s noose in his locker, saying it was a memento from early in his career and not meant as a racist symbol…

  > MORE

• 
  

  MLK statue defaced

  By theGrio

  4:14 PM on 07/28/2009

  The statue of America’s foremost civil rights leader — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — has been defaced, painted white. Now Hollywood police are trying to determine whether this case is a hate crime or just vandalism. A homeless man…

  > MORE

Rick Sanchez of CNN Talks to Dr Boyce Watkins

Syracuse University Professor Dr Boyce Watkins speaks with CNN’s Rick Sanchez about Obama’s Mistake.

Click here to watch the video.

News: Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton Meet with Dr Boyce Watkins

Click here to listen to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Dr. Boyce Watkins (Syracuse University) talk with Harvard Law Professor, Charles Ogletree

Jackson’s Doctor Gave Him a Strong Drug

Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered a powerful drug that authorities believe killed the singer, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Dr. Conrad Murray was with Michael Jackson on the day that he died.

Murray, a Texas-based cardiologist, allegedly gave Jackson the anesthetic propofol — commonly known by the brand name Diprivan — in the 24 hours before he died, the source said.

The doctor’s attorneys in a statement Monday said they wouldn’t comment on "rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources." In the past, they have said Murray never prescribed or administered anything that could have killed the pop star.

Murray was the doctor who was at Jackson’s home when the pop star died on June 25.

Last week, Texas authorities searched Murray’s Houston medical office and storage unit, looking for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter," according to court documents.

Among the items removed from Murray’s office were a computer; 27 tablets of phentermine, a prescription-strength appetite suppressant; 1 tablet of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication; and some Rolodex cards.

Click to read.

Diddy’s Restaurant Owes Over $7,000 in Taxes

The IRS has its sights on Sean "Diddy" Combs’ Atlanta spot Justin’s Restaurant, claiming it owes $7,373 in federal taxes, reports the Detroit News, citing public records. The restaurant, named in honor of his son, opened in 1998 and specializes in upscale Southern and Caribbean cuisine. An identically named restaurant in New York City closed a few years ago.

Click here to read more

Michael Jackson’s Autopsy points finger even more at dr. conrad murray

It was reportedly a chaotic scene inside the bedroom of Michael Jackson on June 25 — clothes strewn around the stifling hot room, handwritten notes papering the walls.

The King of Pop , for all intents and purposes, was dead — killed, ABC News has learned, by a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs that included Oxycontin and Demerol.

But according to the Associate Press, investigators believe it was Dr. Conrad Murray who injected the pop icon around midnight with propofol, the power anesthetic authorities believe ultimately killed him.

"This doctor is in serious trouble," criminal defense attorney Roy Black told "Good Morning America" today.

Murray, whose Houston office was raided by local and federal authorities last week, has already been named in court papers as the subject of a manslaughter investigation.

Source

Octomom Inks A Reality Show

Just when I thought I was done hearing about all the foolishness that involved Nadya Suleman aka “Octomom” I find out that she is getting a reality TV show deal for $250,000.  Nadya signed a deal with a European TV Company to star in a reality show with her 14 children for three years.  According to the contract she will receive $125,00 for 36 days of shooting for the first year, $75,000 for 21 days in the second year, and $50,000 for 14 days of shooting in the third year.  As required by California law 15% of the money will be put into a trust fund for the children, so at least the kids will benefit. 

Black News: Dr Boyce Watkins Speaks with Anderson Cooper – 7/25/09

Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University and Anderson Cooper discuss the case of Harvard Professor, Henry Louis Gates.  Click here to watch the video!

Dr. Peniel Joseph: America’s Post-Racial Hangover

With the Gates fiasco, the rosy glow has faded

AP Photo, Cambridge Police Department

by Dr. Peniel E. Joseph

My first reaction to watching the unfolding Saga of Skip Gates’s Cambridge Arrest was that America’s postracial bubble, like its recent economic troubles, was about to pop. The fact that some observers had never bought into the story of a race-free America purged of its past sins by a watershed presidential election had done little to diminish either that narrative’s moral resonance or political weight.

Since America’s racial disparities remain as deep-rooted after Barack Obama’s election as they were before, it was only a matter of time until the myth of postracism exploded in our collective national face. That they would rear their ugly head in the form of an intellectual and racial cause célèbre is fitting, since black scholars and activists have been engaged in a robust debate over the meaning of race in the Age of Obama.

Suddenly Obama’s recent declaration before the NAACP—that American blacks have come farther than at any other time in our country’s history—seems suspect, our national progress undone by the fact that Gates’s predicament has become a metaphor for the nation’s legacy of racial discrimination.

Click to read more.

The 911 Tape on Gates Arrest is Released

Just out.  Listen to the audio from the 911 call on Henry Louis Gates’ Arrest by clicking here.

African American Woman Named Surgeon General

 

President Barack Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, choosing a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Regina Benjamin is known along Alabama’s impoverished Gulf Coast as a country doctor who makes house calls and doesn’t turn away patients who can’t pay — even as she’s had to find the money to rebuild a clinic repeatedly destroyed by hurricanes and once even fire.

"For all the tremendous obstacles that she has overcome, Regina Benjamin also represents what’s best about health care in America, doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients," Obama said Monday in introducing his choice for a job known as America’s doctor.

Click to read more

Black Love: Group Promotes Marriage in America

Group holds a conference to promote Black Marriage.  Click here to watch the video trailer!  You can learn more by visiting their website at HappilyEverAfterTheMovie.com.

Vernon Forrest had Intuition about His Death

Former Boxing Champ Vernon Forrest who was killed Saturday in Atlanta when he was robbed at gun point Tweeted a week before his death about a dream he had that was similar to the way he was killed.

Man I had a nightmare last nite I dreamt I come home and found 4 guys were breaking into my house. I pull my heater and it was empty they chased me and was about to shoot me then I woke up. The first thing I did was get my heater and made sure it was loaded. That dream will not come true.

Man that’s is some scary ISH.  I think I will start taking my dreams a little more serious.

Source

Black News: Dr Boyce Watkins on The Montel Williams Show

Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University spoke with TV and radio show host Montel Williams on Monday.  The conversation focused on race and racial profiling.  They are going to also speak on financial advice in the future.

Obama Needs bipartisan support for his health care plan

President Barack Obama‘s push to overhaul health care needs Republican votes, lawmakers from both parties say.

Democratic and GOP officials acknowledged Sunday that Obama’s ambitious plan would not pass without the aid of a doubtful GOP, whose members are almost united against the White House effort.

"Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., the chairman of the budget committee.

Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat and a member of the fiscally conservative "Blue Dogs," said he doubts the Democratic-controlled House could pass a proposal as it’s drafted now.

"We have a long way to go," Cooper said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, insisted she has the votes to move forward with the plan despite concerns among fiscally conservative fellow Democrats.

"When I take this bill to the floor, it will win. We will move forward, it will happen," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Not so fast, Republicans said. Sensing a public uneasiness over the pace and price tag of the overhaul, Republicans said the longer the delay, the more the public understands the stakes of a policy that has vexed lawmakers for decades.

"We could have a plan in a few weeks if the goal is not a government takeover," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. "We’ve never seen the government operate a plan of any kind effectively and at the budgets we talked about."

Click here to read more

trailer for I Can Do Bad All By Myself

The trailer is out for Tyler Perry’s newest movie I Can do Bad All by Myself.  The movies stars Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige, and of course Tyler Perry so click the image above to watch the trailer.

The NCAA Finally Gets Sued by Players

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

Syracuse University

I’ve written extensively about the NCAA and what I perceive to be their consistent efforts to exploit the black community. They spend millions on public service announcements to protect their deception, but eventually the athletes and the public are going to wise up to what they are doing. The truth is that college athletes should be paid for the same reasons that any actor in a Hollywood blockbuster film would expect to receive compensation. The problem is that the families of athletes don’t quite know how to organize and fight for their power. So, when I read about the recentlawsuit against the NCAA for allegedly misusing the images of athletes for videogames, I was a very happy man.

Let me break it down for you:

Based on my 16-years of experience as a college professor (I currently teach atSyracuse University, a school that earns millions off black families every year), collegiate athletics is not, in my opinion, about amateurism and it’s not about education. It’s about making money. Period. Many athletes are admitted to college every year and they would not be granted admission were it not for their ability to play sports and make money for the campus. Making money is not a problem, but the problem comes with the fact that universities do not share this revenue with the families of the players.

Click to read more.

Black in America 2 has drop in rating compared to last year

 

CNN’s Black In America 2, the two night long form programming event hosted by Soledad O’Brien, underperformed for the cable news network, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

Despite having President Obama’s press conference as a lead-in Wednesday, a press conference which ended on a discussion about race (as it related to the arrest and subsequent release of Henry Louis Gates), the first edition of Black In America 2 was down slightly from last year, down 6% in total viewers (2.128 million to 1.991 million) and 7% among P25-54 (966,000 to 894,000). While Black In America declined year over year, CNN still won the night in the key 25-54 demo the news nets target.

While the 2008 special improved during its second night, the 2009 edition dropped significantly. Night two drew 1.406 million total viewers, compared to 2.565 million last year, and 569,000 demo viewers, compared to 1.210 million last year, that is down 45% and 53% respectively. Fox News won the night in both demo and total viewers

Despite the drop, CNN noted that Black In America 2 was the highest rated cable news documentary so far this year on any network.

Source

HIV Killing Black Women in Droves

Tony Wafford has taught his three daughters that when they go on a date, they need to be prepared: They carry a credit card, cash for a cab, a cell phone and a condom.

Young black women, he tells them, make up a strikingly disproportionate amount of HIV and AIDS cases in the United States. HIV infection is the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those aren’t statistics you ignore.

Click to read.

Parents blame 8-year old Child for her Rape

Just when you think you’ve heard all there is to hear about the horrors of child abuse and neglect in this country, there’s this horrifying report: An eight-year-old girl is allegedly gang-raped by four boys — one of them her cousin — and then rejected by her parents for shaming them.
You heard me.

The victim hails from a Liberian enclave in Arizona, and all of the children involved are refugees. Her 23-year-old sister, who was supposedly babysitting when four boys attacked the youngster in a storage shed (pictured), told KTVK in Arizona, "She always bring trouble…I came to her and said it’s not good for you to be following guys because you are still little." If the girl, who is now in foster care, were to come home, her sister says she would be scolded. "She’s just bringing confusions among us," she said.

Click to read.

PK Takes on Secular Music in Gospel

PJ Morton won’t be the first preacher’s kid to sing secular music, and he isn’t likely to be the last!

Unlike those before him who were ostracized and condemned by traditional churchgoers and religious radicals for singing non-sacred sounds, Morton has decided to educate churchgoers rather than rebelling against them.

The 28-year-old singer, who is the son of renowned pastors Bishop Paul S. Morton (Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church in Atlanta) and Dr. Debra B. Morton (Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church in New Orleans), has written a new book called ‘Why Can’t I Sing About Love?’ that dispels the myth that all Christian singers must record and perform gospel music.

"I hope that the book causes people to see how big God is and that His affects reach far beyond the church and church music," he explained. "Also, I want people to realize that if we believe that the Bible is truly God’s word, we can’t overlook certain parts, specifically the book of love songs in the Bible. He created those as well."

Click to read.

Black Republicans Concerned about Party’s Future

 

• Watch black Republicans discuss the party’s future

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Sarah Palin’s resignation from her role as governor of Alaska has prompted new questions about the GOP’s leadership and future. While Michael Steele made history by becoming the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, where do African Americans stand in helping to redefine the party?

TheGrio sat down with a group of black Republicans to discuss their feeling on their political party and its future.

"What does it mean to be a black man that agrees with the Republican party’s agenda, the Republican party’s message?" said hiphoprepublican.com’s Brandon Brice. "That is, reducing the size of government, giving people real opportunities to excel from any circumstance or situation."

According to a report released in May by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Africans Americans make up two percent of the nation’s Republican party, compared to 22 percent of the democratic party. The study also found that during the 2008 election, 95 percent of blacks voted for Barack Obama, while just four percent voted for Republican candidate John McCain.

Click to read.

Black News: Leaks in the Jackson Probe Being Investigated

Investigators are looking into whether employees at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office illegally leaked information about Michael Jackson’s death probe to the news media, according to a sheriff’s spokesman.

Police stand outside the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office when Michael Jackson’s body was there in June.

Vivid descriptions of Jackson’s corpse, which was in the coroner’s custody for an autopsy, were published by tabloid newspapers in the days after his death.

The Los Angeles County Supervisors office on Friday asked the sheriff to conduct a "preliminary inquiry," which will determine whether there is enough evidence to launch a full investigation, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Whitmore did not provide details on what prompted the request.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as saying his office called the sheriff’s department after reports that coroner’s employees not involved in the Jackson death probe had viewed his death certificate in the office database.

Click to read.

Boyce Watkins, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Charles Ogletree on the radio Sunday

 

Tomorrow morning, July 26, 2009 at 8:30 am EST, Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University will appear on the Jesse Jackson Show with Rev. Al Sharpton and Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree.  The conversation will center around the recent arrest of  Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates.

Kelis Gets Rich off of Nas

Now last week I told you all about Nas not paying the $5,000 a month in child support to Kelis and that she was complaining that he only gave her a gift certificate for a few thousand dollars.  Well now the baby is here and the entire situation has changed.  Kelis has been awarded $55,000 a month in child support from Nas and in addition to this he must pay for the baby’s nurse, prenatal expenses, medical insurance and $35,000 to Kelis’ lawyer.  DAMN who would of ever thought that Nas had bank like that???  I see him filing for bankruptcy some time in the near future.

Posted by LadyBaby at 6:05 PM 0 comments

Labels: baby mama drama, black celebrity gossip, couples, Kelis, Nas

President Makes a good move for the Poor

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

Syracuse University

I am a curious professor, a compassionate capitalist and the owner of a small business. All of these hats create a complex perspective on whether or not it is a good idea to increase the minimum wage. After all, we are in a recession, and one might be tempted to argue that any sort of pay increase would slow down our nation’s economic recovery, eliminate jobs, and significantly reduce corporate profitability.

Sorry to burst those bubbles, but the data don’t validate most of the above concerns.
First of all, the minimum wage was introduced during the Great Depression, the mother of all economic downturns. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was designed to ensure that the most vulnerable Americans were no longer going to be exploited by the power of big business. The Great Depression came to an end shortly thereafter, and there is no evidence that it slowed down the economic recovery in any significant way.

Secondly, the budgetary implications of minimum wage increases are not very large. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 2 percent of all men and 3.6 percent of all women currently earn the minimum wage. But while the impact on our national budget is small, the gains for those affected are tremendous: there are nearly 5 million children in families who earn the minimum wage, and nearly all of these children are going to have better lives in the advent of an increase.

 

Click to read.

E. Lynn Harris Dies at 54

John Bazemore/Associated PressThe author E. Lynn Harris.

Updated | 2:48 p.m. E. Lynn Harris, the best-selling author of novels that addressed questions of identity and sexuality among black men, has died, his publicist told The Associated Press. He was 54.

According to his official biography at his Web site, Mr. Harris was born in Flint, Mich. and raised in Little Rock, Ark. At the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, he was the school’s first black male Razorbacks cheerleader and was a lifelong fan of the team. He sold computers for a living until he self-published his first novel, “Invisible Life,” in 1991; it was picked up by Anchor Books in 1994, spawning a prolific writing career spanning ten more novels, from “Just As I Am” in 1994, to “Basketball Jones,” published in January, as well as a 2004 memoir, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.”

In a review of Mr. Harris’s 2006 novel “I Say a Little Prayer” in The New York Times Book Review, Troy Patterson wrote that Mr. Harris “has helped bring taboo topics — like closeted black men indulging their sexuality ‘on the down low’ — into mainstream conversation.” From his debut with “Invisible Life”, Mr. Patterson wrote that Mr. Harris offered a writing style that “was smoothly paced, and the prose occasionally opened up on Fitzgerald-lite moments of sparkling sentiment.”

 

Click to read.

Dr. Gates: Let’s Now Create that “Teachable Moment”

Boyce Watkins
Professor, Syracuse University

I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are infected with a disease. The disease that has infected you is called racism. The disease is a silent killer, not of our bodies, but of our society. It also deteriorates the brain and makes us delusional, as we sometimes see things that are not really there or refuse to see things that are actually right in front of us. What’s worse is that we know the disease is in the fabric of our institutions, but it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location. This leads to sloppy missteps, embarrassments and damaging accusations.

Henry Louis Gates, the Prominent Harvard University Professor who was arrested this week at his home by Cambridge Police Officer James Crawley, may have been a victim of the disease of racism. Even he has gotten to the point of stating that this story is no longer about race and his buddy, President Obama, has been back-peddling faster than a free safety in the NFL. In the midst of letting go of his allegations of racism against Sgt. Crawley (which I thought was a very good idea) Professor Gates has stated that we should use this situation as a “teaching moment.” It is also my hope that Dr. Gates understands that the first step toward being a good professor is to learn how to be a good student. As a professor myself, I am hopeful that he will allow me to teach the first class.

 

Click to read.

Wilmer Leon Questions: When Is Racial Profiling Not Racial Profiling?

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

When is racial profiling not racial profiling? When the facts or circumstances fail to fit the accepted definition.

In 1999, the Oxford American Dictionary (OAD) provided a definition of racial profiling for the first time. “Racial profiling: an alleged police policy of stopping and searching vehicles driven by people from particular racial groups.” In 2005 the ACLU provided the broader definition as follows, "Racial Profiling" refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Criminal profiling, generally, as practiced by police, is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be associated with crime… Racial profiling does not refer to the act of a law enforcement agent pursuing a suspect in which the specific description of the suspect includes race or ethnicity in combination with other identifying factors.” Intent is a key element in evaluating this circumstance. It does not appear by any of the facts as stated that Sgt. Crowley focused on, targeted or arrested Dr. Gates based upon his race (human), ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

One unfortunate outcome of the Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. arrest in Cambridge, MA has been a rush to judgment by many who should know better. To immediately place Dr. Gates’ unfortunate arrest into the category of “racial profiling” does a great disservice to the volumes of cases that fit the accepted definition.

read more

Sgt. Crowley has the Support of his Coworkers

Supporters say the white policeman who arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home is a principled police officer and family man who is being unfairly described as racist.

Friends and fellow officers — black and white — say Sgt. James Crowley, who was hand-picked by a black police commissioner to teach recruits about avoiding racial profiling, is calm and reliable.

"If people are looking for a guy who’s abusive or arrogant, they got the wrong guy," said Andy Meyer of Natick, Mass., who has vacationed with Crowley, coached youth sports with him and is his teammate on a men’s softball team. "This is not a racist, rogue cop."

Gates accused the 11-year department veteran of being an unyielding, race-baiting authoritarian after Crowley arrested and charged him with disorderly conduct last week.

Crowley confronted Gates in his home after a woman passing by summoned police for a possible burglary. The sergeant said he arrested Gates after the scholar repeatedly accused him of racism and made derogatory remarks about his mother, allegations the professor challenges. Gates has labeled Crowley a "rogue cop," demanded an apology and said he may sue the police department.

President Barack Obama elevated the dispute when he said Wednesday that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" during the encounter. Obama stepped back on Thursday, telling ABC News, "From what I can tell, the sergeant who was involved is an outstanding police officer, but my suspicion is probably that it would have been better if cooler heads had prevailed."

Crowley told a radio station Thursday that Obama went too far.

Click here to read more

Cosby Speaks on Gates being arrested

 

 

University of Massachusetts graduate and African American leader Bill Cosby spoke Thursday about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Cosby, who has frequently spoken critically about the state of black America, remarked, "Those two men need to realize the importance and how this is brewing."

Though charges against Gates were dropped, the professor still wants an apology from Sgt. James Crowley.

"What it made me realize," said Gates, "is how vulnerable all black men are, how vulnerable all people of color are and all poor people are to [police]."

Meanwhile, Crowley has said, "I’m not apologizing. I have nothing to apologize for."

Cosby just wants a resolution.

"You don’t have to shake hands," Cosby said. "You sit together and say to the public, ‘this is what happened,’ so that people can go on about their lives without worrying about what color one happens to be."

 

Source

Black News: Sgt James Crowley Denies Being a Racist

Senne/AP

Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley says that he’s not racist for arresting Henry Louis Gates, citing the CPR he gave the Celtics star Reggie Lewis (below) as proof.

Kappock/News

Take our Poll

Racist or not?

Do you think the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was racially motivated?

Yes

No

Related News

Articles

• Police union supports arrest of Gates Jr.
• Obama: Police acted ‘stupidly’ in arrest of Harvard professor
• Charges dropped against Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Harvard prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrested outside his home, calls police ‘racist’

The cop who arrested African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates refused to apologize and denied he’s a racist, saying he once gave black basketball star Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

"I wasn’t working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn’t working on a black man," Sgt. James Crowley told the Boston Herald. "I was working on another human being."

Crowley, 42, was referring to his actions after the Boston Celtics forward suffered a fatal heart attack in 1993 at Brandeis University, where he was a campus cop.

An 11-year veteran of the Cambridge Police Department, Crowley arrested Gates, a noted Harvard professor, last Thurdsay while investigating a reported break-in at Gates’ home.

Click to read more.

Police Looking for Evidence of manslaughter in Michael Jackson case

 

Authorities searched the Houston clinic of Michael Jackson’s doctor Wednesday, and his attorney said they were seeking evidence of manslaughter.

Dr. Conrad Murray had been interviewed by police as a witness to the pop star’s death, but has not been considered a suspect. Police have said little about the probe, neither confirming or denying the possibility of criminal charges.

Los Angeles police and agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration went through the Armstrong Medical Clinic on Wednesday for about 2 1/2 hours. Authorities said they were searching for documents.

"The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter," Ed Chernoff, Murray’s attorney, said in a statement posted on his law firm’s Web site. The Harris County warrant remains sealed and unavailable to the media.

Chernoff said agents left with "a forensic image" of a computer hard drive and 21 documents.

Click here to read more

Wendy Williams Leaving Radio

It has been announced that Wendy Williams is leaving radio so that she can focus more on her television career.  Wendy currently  has a show that airs on Fox and BET five days a week, so from the look of things her television career is taking off.  Read the statement from her people below.

July 22, 2009 — Executives from WBLS and representatives for Wendy Williams today jointly announced Ms. Williams plans to leave her daily radio show at month’s end to dedicate herself full time to THE WENDY WILLIAMS SHOW, a nationally syndicated talker which launched July 13th. Ms. Williams, who has been a fixture on WBLS since 2002, has spent more than two decades on the air winning over fans and was recently nominated as a potential inductee to the National Radio Hall of Fame. Her radio show has consistently rated as one of the highest rated programs on the station.

“We are saddened to lose one of our most popular personalities,” noted Deon Levingston, Vice President and General Manager of WBLS. “But we understand what it requires to put a live show on television each and every day and wish Wendy all the best in this new venture.”

“I want to tell all of my fans that after July 31st, I will no longer be doing a show with WBLS,” Williams said. “I really was blessed to have a broadcast home in NY on radio for the past 7 years and I want to thank everyone who supported me. I have one of the best jobs in the world, making a difference in the lives of my fans made all the difference to me and I look forward to doing the same thing in my new role as a TV host. My hope is that you will do your best to find me on your remote so I can continue to entertain and inform you each and every day.”

Posted by LadyBaby at 9:05 AM 0 comments

Obama Comments on Gates arrest

 

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted "stupidly" in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that despite racial progress blacks and Hispanics are still singled out unfairly for arrest.

"This still haunts us," Obama said.

Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn’t know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him. Gates claims he was arrested in his own home after showing ID to police who responded to a report of a possible burglary.

"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said during a prime-time news conference that otherwise focused on the health care debate.

"What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately," Obama said. "That’s just a fact."

 

Click here to read more

Dr Boyce Watkins and Free Talk Money on Power 105.1

Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University speaks with Free on Power 105.1 about Financial Lovemaking.  Click here to listen to the interview!

Dr. Boyce: President Obama Needs to Check Details

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

Syracuse University

10:00 PM on 07/22/2009

• facebook
• delicious
• stumbleupon

send to a friend

comment now

Related News

Obama says police acted ‘stupidly’ in Gates arrest

Obama to address healthcare reform in news conference

Not so post-racial America

Obama responds to questions during a news conference Wednesday, July 22, 2009.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

I found myself enjoying President Obama’s Healthcare pitch to the nation on prime time television, as he explained (as most politicians do) why the world will come to an end if we don’t adopt his policies. His arguments were strong and valid, and he made it clear that he was out to help the middle class by letting rich folks pay the bill. I’m all for that.

I noticed how the president used the words "middle class" about 20 times through the night, and allowed nine different reporters to ask questions, none of them African American. But then again, it might have been tough for President Obama to find black people in the room, since there sure as heck didn’t seem to be very many around.

Less predictable was the racial bombshell that President Obama saved for last on Wednesday night. After being asked about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, a prominent Harvard University professor, Obama spent just a few minutes reminding the world that he was not only a black man, but that that he was also an alumnus of Harvard University.

The man who some feel embodies the essence of a post-racial America was suddenly willing to candidly discuss race on behalf of his wealthy Harvard associate. What is incredibly ironic is that these were probably the most post-racial comments Obama has ever made, since they further opened the door to class warfare in America.

Click to read.

NCAA Being Sued Over Use of Player Likenesses

LAS VEGAS — Lawyers for the former U.C.L.A. basketball star Ed O’Bannon filed a class-action lawsuit against the N.C.A.A. on Tuesday, claiming former athletes should be compensated for the use of their images and likenesses in television advertisements, video games and apparel.

The lawsuit, which did not include a dollar amount sought, will bring into focus how the N.C.A.A. handles player images, especially after players leave college and are no longer bound by N.C.A.A. rules, and its vast licensing deals, which are estimated at about $4 billion. None of that money goes to the former players whose images, jersey numbers and likenesses are used.

“We really couldn’t believe that these compensation practices still existed in any kind of industry,” said Jon T. King, a partner at Hausfeld, a Washington-based law firm that is representing O’Bannon. “We do antitrust cases in all sorts of industries, and when we learned about this disparity, it was literally shocking to us.”

Click to read more.

Sometimes You’re Wrong Even When You’re Right

By Wilmer Leon

On Thursday July 16, 2009 after returning from a trip to China, Harvard University scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. had difficulty opening the front door of the home he leases from Harvard.  After he and his driver struggled with the front door Dr. Gates gained entry through the back door of the home, shut off the alarm, opened the front door, and the driver left.

According to Cambridge Police Department Incident Report #9005127, a neighbor called the police and reported a possible breaking and entering at the residence. The woman “…observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch…”  Her suspicions were aroused when, “…she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”  The uniformed police officer went to the front door, saw Dr. Gates standing in the foyer and asked him to step out onto the porch.  Dr. Gates refused.

According to the Incident Report, after identifying himself as Sgt. Crowly and explaining that he was “investigating a report of a break-in in progress” at the residence, Dr. Gates opened the front door and stated, “why, because I’m a black man in America?”  After supplying the officer with Harvard University identification, the officer radioed for Harvard University Police.

Read More

Black News: Beyonce Named the Queen of Pop

 

There are no formal anointments with these kinds of things, but it’s hard not to crown Beyoncé as the current queen of pop music.

She’s the female artist who has spent the most weeks at No. 1 this century with five No. 1 singles, she is the woman with the most Top 5 hits since 2000, and she has the most hits in the Top 10 with a dozen.

Her latest, and third, solo album "I Am … Sasha Fierce" — named after her onstage alter ego (who sounds like a Tyra Banks character) — is one of the best-selling albums of the year. With more than 2 million in sales, the album is still in the Top 30 after 34 weeks; its latest million-selling single, "Halo," is still in the Top 15 after 25 weeks. Its newest release "Ego" is No. 2 on the R&B charts.

Click to read more.

Black News: Positive Hip Hop Star Speaks His Mind

Hip hop star Vigalantee talks on “Kansas City After Hours” about how Hip Hop can be improved.  Click to watch!

Black Scholar News: Dr Boyce Watkins on AOL – 7/22/09

The Latest

Dr Boyce: Henry Louis Gates and His Arrest at Harvard

E-MAIL|SHARE

• I don’t like our nation’s criminal justice system. Every statistic reeks of racism, and the prison … Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV Black Spin | Comments (2)

Dr Boyce Money: What Can Michael Vick Do Now?

E-MAIL|SHARE

• Previously, I did a piece on Michael Vick and discussed ways in which Michael can get his … Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV on Money | Comments (2)

Are Hip Hop Artists "Bo-Jangling" for the Dough?

E-MAIL|SHARE

• I was on the phone with an artist in NYC the other day. I asked her why she hasn’t released an … Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV Black Spin | Comments (3)

Dr. Boyce: Michael Vick is Finally Free

E-MAIL|SHARE

• Michael Vick is finally out of prison. He is not just being transferred from one prison to … Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV Black Spin | Comments (9)

Dr Boyce Money: Steve McNair’s Missing Will

E-MAIL|SHARE

• My heart was broken when I read about the murder of NFL great, Steve McNair. My heart went out to … Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV on Money | Comments (10)

“Being A Black Male – 101” Don’t Argue With the Police

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

On Thursday July 16, 2009 after returning from a trip to China, Harvard University scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.  had difficulty opening the front door of the home he leases from Harvard. After he and his driver struggled with the front door Dr. Gates gained entry through the back door of the home, shut off the alarm, opened the front door, and the driver left.

According to Cambridge Police Department Incident Report #9005127, a neighbor called the police and reported a possible breaking and entering at the residence. The woman “…observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch…” Her suspicions were aroused when, “…she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.” The uniformed police officer went to the front door, saw Dr. Gates standing in the foyer and asked him to step out onto the porch.  Dr. Gates refused.

Read More

think about this before crying "racial profiling"

by Boyce Watkins

I am not Al Sharpton. In fact, I never could be and I don’t want to try. I am also not Henry Louis Gates, a man with an undeniable contribution to the legacy of Black Scholarship in America. I am simply Boyce Watkins, the son of a 17-year old mother and a father who happened to be a high-ranking police official for the past 28 years. I’ve argued with my father for decades, as his Bill Cosby-like views of the world have often made my face twist with confusion. But I listen to my father, because there is value in seeing other points of view.

When I hear about a Black man being mistreated by police, I take a moment of pause. I think about the horrific statistics on Black males in the criminal justice system, in which we are more likely to be arrested for the same crimes, more likely to be convicted, more likely to be incarcerated and expected to get more prison time than our White counterparts.

I think about my uncle, an older brother figure who was pressured into pleading guilty to a case that he wanted to fight, and who is psychologically damaged to this day from the trauma of going to prison as a 17-year old kid. I also think about my own graduate school experience in Kentucky, when I was rudely questioned by an officer after falling asleep in my office the night before a final exam.

Read More

Michael Steele Criticizes Obama healthcare plan

 

The chairman of the Republican Party on Monday called President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul health care "socialism," accusing the president of conducting a risky experiment that will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage.

Michael Steele, in remarks at the National Press Club, also said the president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a "cabal" that wants to implement government-run health care.

"Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele said.

Asked if Obama’s health care plan represented socialism, Steele responded: "Yes. Next question."

 

Click here to read more

Antoine Walker Appears in Court Over Debt

Former NBA all-star Antoine Walker appeared briefly in a Las Vegas court to face criminal charges in a case involving an $822,500 casino gambling debt.

The 6-foot-9 Walker said nothing inside or outside the courtroom as he appeared Monday with his lawyer, Jonathan Powell, on three felony counts of writing bad checks. Powell also declined comment.

Each charge carries a possible one- to four-year prison term.

Walker remains free on $135,000 cash bail posted Thursday following his arrest at a Lake Tahoe hotel. Walker was in northern Nevada to play in a weekend celebrity golf tournament.

Walker wasn’t asked to enter a plea before a Las Vegas justice of the peace set a Sept. 16 date for an evidentiary hearing.

Source: thegrio.com

Funding for aids vaccine cut in south Africa

 

South Africa’s government joined Monday in launching a high-profile trial of an AIDS vaccine created by its own researchers — the first designed by a developing country — but the moment was marred by the lead researcher’s announcement it has actually halted funding its own project.

It was a jarring development in a nation whose politicians have a history of unscientific responses to the epidemic. Attempts to get an explanation from the government were not immediately successful.

Monday’s announcement was meant to be a proud occasion for a nation where politicians have a history of unscientific responses to the epidemic. But after a government minister lauded the project, Professor Anna-Lise Williamson, the scientist heading the research, said the state had pulled the plug on its funding.

 

Click here to read more