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Dr. Marc Lamont Hill Debates Ann Coulter over Obama
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill debates Ann Coulter on Fox News about Obama’s appearances in national media. Click here to watch!
Dr. Boyce Watkins: The Big Money of the NCAA
by Dr. Boyce Watkins , Syracuse University
MSNBC’s TheGrio.com
The University of Michigan football team has a storied tradition when it comes to winning. The program is equally storied when it comes to making money by putting athletes on the field no matter what. This football factory rivals the other bastion of athletic exploitation down the road: my alma mater, The Ohio State University.
It was recently unearthed that The University of Michigan has been using "optional" practices as a way to push athletes against their will. Players and their families have reported that any athlete who doesn’t attend the "optional" practices has a strong likelihood of being punished by the team.
I have just one question: why is anyone surprised? The only thing surprising to me about the University of Michigan case is that someone is actually willing to testify against the university. I am simply stunned that the players are bold enough to stand up for their rights in light of the fact that there are extreme penalties for athletes who have the audacity to think for themselves.
For college athletes, loyalty to the NCAA is not a choice. The officials who run college sports serve as the judge, jury and executioner in all cases related to athletic conduct. Like Michael Vick’s pit bulls, athletes within the NCAAsystem are domesticated, indoctrinated and brainwashed from the minute they set foot on a college campus.
The same way that many major retailers look the other way when five year olds are employed in third-world factories, the NCAA doesn’t do a very good job of enforcing the standards within its very own rulebooks. The only standards that seem to be applied strictly are those that keep the athletes and their families away from the multi-billion dollar revenue-generating machine that pays for the massive salaries of college football coaches. This is nothing less than a slap in the face to the players and their families, who give so much on the field.
Dr. Boyce Joins the Al Sharpton Show
Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition is now slated for a weekly segment on "Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton." The show is currently syndicated in 18 cities across the nation and adding new affiliates each week. Every Monday from 1:15 – 2:15 pm EST, Dr. Watkins and Rev. Sharpton will discuss political issues of the day and matters affecting our nation. To find out more about the show, please visit www.SharptonTalk.net or www.BoyceWatkins.com.
To see Dr. Watkins’ latest articles with MSNBC’s "TheGrio.com", please visit this link: http://www.thegrio.com/author/dr-boyce-watkins-1/
To see Dr. Watkins’ latest work with AOL Black Voices, please visit: http://blogs.blackvoices.com/bloggers/boyce-watkins-phd/
To listen to Dr. Watkins’ last conversation with Rev. Sharpton, please click here.
In light of President Obama’s recent announcement that African American education should be a top priority for Black leadership, Dr. Watkins will be speaking with Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill and other African Americans on ways to directly challenge the astronomical dropout rates for African American students. Many of these issues are addressed in Dr. Watkins’ book, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About College." To start the academic year, Dr. Watkins will be distributing free e-copies of this book to members of the Your Black World Coalition during the month of September, 2009. We will also be reaching out to President Obama to offer support in solving this problem, for we firmly believe that managing the dropout rate is one of the keys to saving our great nation.
For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
RNC Disappointed in Obama’s Performance Thus Far
It’s the one-month anniversary of President Obama’s swearing-in, and not surprisingly the Republican National Committee is out with its’ verdict: It’s been "disappointing."
"Obama’s first month has been marked by wasteful spending, failed bipartisanship, and questionable ethics," the RNC said in a document circulated to reporters.
Your Black World Headlines: 10/03/2008
Will Ethnic Print Media Outlast Bad Economy?
20 Children Die & 50 Injured In Tanzania Stampede
Haitians & Jamaicans Not Eligible For Green Card Lottery
Kansas Mayor Appears In Blackface Drag
Your Black News: Iconic Singer, Odetta Dies At 77 — R.I.P.
Odetta, the singer whose deep voice wove together the strongest songs of American folk music and the civil rights movement, died Tuesday. She was 77.
The cause was heart disease, said her manager, Doug Yeager.
He added that she had been hoping to sing at Barack Obama’s inauguration. [...]
[Odetta In 2005, "House of the Rising Sun"]:
Her voice was an accompaniment to the black-and-white images of the freedom marchers who walked the roads of Alabama and Mississippi and the boulevards of Washington in quest of an end to racial discrimination. [...]
Born in Birmingham on Dec. 31, 1930, Odetta Holmes spent her first six years in the depths of the Depression. The music of that time and place — in particular prison song and work songs recorded in the fields of the deep South — shaped her life [...]
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