Doctors' Group Issues Apology for Racism

This is good. More organizations need to follow suit. You know who you are:

Story here: Doctors' Group Issues Apology for Racism

Cops in Sean Bell Trial Found Not Guilty on All Counts

I guess it's fair to say the jury has spoken. And there appears to be no racial bias here. But this case is truly such a tragedy. Police retraining and other measures should be put in place to prevent such future incidents from occurring. RIP Mr. Bell.

Story here: Cops in Sean Bell Trial Found Not Guilty on All Counts

Wesley Snipes Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Sorry Wesley. Next time just pay the blo0dy taxes. We still love you.

Story here: Wesley Snipes Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Obama Loses PA Primary

So the selection process for the Democratic candidate drags on. Who will be the nominee?

Story here: Obama Loses PA Primary

Newark Ex-mayor Sharpe James is Convicted of Fraud

Poor poor Sharpe James, and Tamika Riley.

Story here: Newark Ex-mayor Sharpe James is Convicted of Fraud

April 4, 2008: 40th Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. King

This piece is from The Economist Magazine

A dream deferred?

Apr 3rd 2008 | NEW YORK
From Economist.com

Forty years after the murder of Martin Luther King

MARTIN LUTHER KING dreamed of a day when his children would be judged not by skin colour but by character. Black America has moved far since his murder on April 4th 1968, at least on the political front. Four decades ago racists blew up churches and beat civil-rights marchers. Today, at least at the top, black America has found its voice: a black woman, Condoleezza Rice, is secretary of state, and a black man, Barack Obama, may capture the presidency in November.

In social and economic matters across the black population as a whole, however, blacks are still much worse off than whites. They endure far greater rates of poverty, crime and other social ills. Efforts to tackle these problems have produced dismal results, as opposing groups lay claim to King’s dream of colour-blindness.

Schooling shows some of the most intractable difficulties. Last year the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional plans by two school districts to assign students, according to race, to various schools (in an effort to balance the mix of races in classrooms). The court narrowly declared that the plans were against the constitution’s promise of equality before the law.

Yet few tools exist to tackle de facto educational resegregation. Aggressive federal intervention in the 1960s got black and white pupils to mix more. But by the 1980s white parents and conservative jurists had turned against controversial programmes such as the bussing of students to distant schools. Today blacks are again increasingly concentrated, if not legally segregated, into failing schools. Some 73% of black children study where over half the students are non-white, and 38% attend “intensely segregated” schools (over 90% non-white). Those schools get less funding and have less qualified teachers than average. In turn fewer blacks finish their studies. The most hopeful estimate—a 2006 report by the Economic Policy Institute—suggests that 74% of black students graduate. That is still ten percentage points below whites.

Another difficulty on the road to King’s colour-blind America concerns higher education. In 2006, the average white student scored 1063, out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which is widely used for university admissions. The average black score was just 863. A 200-point gap usually means the difference between admission to an excellent university and a decent one, or between a decent one and a mediocre one.

The traditional remedy was “affirmative action”: various measures by universities to ensure higher rates of black enrolment. Here, too, jurisprudence has pushed back, most notably in a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, Gratz v Bollinger. The court found that universities may seek “diversity” in admissions, but the mechanistic system used by the University of Michigan, which gave points to students merely for being black, was unconstitutional. A simultaneous ruling on Michigan’s law-school admissions programme provided some ambiguity, when the court said that an “individualised, holistic” review of each application could consider race as a factor. Voters in Michigan responded by approving a 2006 ballot measure that banned affirmative action. The issue may now arise in the presidential campaign. A prominent (and black) opponent of affirmative action, Ward Connerly, is trying to get an initiative on the ballots of five states that would ban public institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity when, for example, hiring staff.

Affirmative action—and other efforts—have certainly failed to rid America of sharp inequalities. Past oppression probably counts for much of the persistence of black poverty: in 1967, according to the census, the average black person had an income that was just 54% of the average white one. By 2005 the gap had only closed to 64%. And lingering prejudice makes life harder for many black job applicants. Social experiments have repeatedly shown that employers who are offered two otherwise identical résumés prefer one that carries a typically white name to one with a typically black name. Increasingly it is poorer and less educated black Americans who use “typically black” names, according to research by Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago.

With educational and economic opportunities skewed, no wonder that health and welfare indicators are too: the Justice Department estimates that one in three black men will go to jail at some point. An astounding 68% of blacks are overweight or obese, compared with (a still high) 58% of whites. Black people get cancer slightly more often than whites (despite smoking the same amount), and are more than twice as likely to be shot dead. Overall, black lives are five years shorter than white ones.

King is widely remembered as an inspirational speaker and moral leader. But John McWhorter of the Manhattan Institute concludes that his more mundane efforts may end up mattering as much: “I wish more people thought about the long, hard work he did behind the scenes on policy and negotiation.” Rows continue over the relative merits of race-blind policies and the need to level out America’s inequalities. Four decades after King’s death much remains to be done.

Crocodile Crossing for SA Pupils

Can someone PLEASE buy these kids a new boat?

Story here: Crocodile Crossing for SA Pupils

Court: Mumia Deserves New Hearing

This is great news.

Story here: Court: Mumia Deserves New Hearing

Detroit's Mayor Indicted In Sex Scandal

We are watching this story very closely. You should too.

Story here: Detroit's Mayor Indicted In Sex Scandal

Barack Obama - A More Perfect Union

More Than 2.3 Million People in US Prisons

Of course the majority of the prison population is made up of minorities. America needs to do better. Criminals should be punished but more creative forms of punishment should be used for some of the petty stuff.

Story here: More Than 2.3 Million People in US Prisons

Racist Video Sparks Outrage in South Africa

What is wrong with humankind? My God!

Story here: Racist Video Sparks Outrage in South Africa

Followup story here: South Africa's Ugly Present

Trial Begins for the Cops Who Killed Sean Bell

Pay very close attention to this very important trial.

Story here: Trial Begins for the Cops Who Killed Sean Bell

Ex-Cop Bobby Cutts, Jr. Found Guilty

The jury did not buy your story, Bobby.

Story here: Ex-Cop Bobby Cutts, Jr. Found Guilty

Australia's New PM Apologizes to the Aborigines

Big up Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Great move. Now do everything in your power to have a united Australia going forward. Those who have eyes to see let them see and ears to hear let them ear.

Story here: Australia's New PM Apologizes to the Aborigines

The Trial of Ex-Cop Bobby Cutts, Jr.

This is a very interested case. If Bobby Cutts, Jr. did what he is accused of doing then he is very cold and wicked.


Story here: The Trial of Ex-Cop Bobby Cutts, Jr.

Go Michelle Obama

Obama has finally pulled his secret weapon:

Story here: Then Came Michelle Obama

Exxon Mobil Profit Sets Record Again

Uhm, this clearly means that we can pay half the price that we are paying now and Exxon mobil will still make super profits. It's outrageous.

Story here: Exxon Mobil Profit Sets Record Again

Obama Endorsement Mania

Go Obama....

New York Post Endorses Obama

Moynihan's Widow Endorses Obama

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (of Kansas) Endorses Obama

LA Times Endorses Obama & McCain

Moveon.org Endorses Obama

Second Opposition Legislator Killed in Kenya

Such a shame how these Kenyan so-called leaders are putting themselves before their country.

Story here: Second Opposition Legislator Killed in Kenya

BET's Top 25 Events That Mis-Shaped Black America

BET recently aired its top 25 events that mis-shaped Black America. Funny that BET did not make the list. It should have been included on this list.

What started out as a media house for the empowerment of black people was sold to Viacom and has been transformed into a platform that spews black self-hatred daily. BET has been responsible for projecting the most negative images of Black America in all media and has been selling advertisements to people who prey constantly on Black America. Ads for ringtones, debt relief, furniture rental, and sex talk (chat) are what BET has been selling us. Most of these ads can be found nowhere else on television.

Shame on you, BET. We are putting you at # 2, right below slavery, on your very own list of 'Top 25 Events That Mis-shaped Black America'. You have been failing Black America miserably. Clean up your act.

Here is the list:

25. The Jheri Curl

24. Hurricane Katrina

23. The N-Word

22. CoIntelPro

21. Elvis

20. Negative Hip-Hop

19. Bling-Bling

18. Welfare

17. The American Prison System

16. Light Skin Blacks vs. Dark Skin Blacks

15. Ward Connerly

14. The US Supreme Court

13. Ronad Reagan/ Reaganomics

12. The Burning of Black Wall Street

11. Soul Food

10. Gangs

9. Hollywood

8. The Deaths of Malcolm X & MLK

7. Blacks that glorify stupidity

6. The KKK

5. Apartheid/Segregation

4. Religion

3. AIDS

2. Drugs

1. Slavery

Burmese Women in Thai 'Human Zoo'

Shame on you both, Thailand and Burma. Free these women now.

Story here: Burmese Women in Thai 'Human Zoo'

Haiti's Rising Food Prices Drive Poor To Eat Mud

This is just plain sad. The international community should help Haiti. So much money for war and no money to help the poor and marginalized. What is this world coming to?

Story here: Haiti's Rising Food Prices Drive Poor To Eat Mud

Diana Ross Booed At Air Jamaica Jazz Festival

What is wrong with Diana Ross? Is she gone mad?

Story here: Diana Ross Booed At Air Jamaica Jazz Festival

Edwards 'Quits' White House Race

Now it is an all-out duel: Clinton vs. Obama

Story here: Edwards 'Quits' White House Race

Vermont Anti-Bush Petition Sparks Anger

Now this is interesting...

Story here: Vermont Anti-Bush Petition Sparks Anger

Australia to Apologize to Aborigines

This is a move in the right direction. Those who have eyes to see let them see.

Story here: Australia to Apologize to Aborigines

UBS Takes a $14 Billion Write-Off

These numbers are staggering.

Story here: UBS Takes a $14 Billion Write-Off

US Home Foreclosures Surge

This is problem is getting worse each day. How long with the govt inaction continue?

Story here: US Home Foreclosures Surge

Mom Who Left Kids for Nigerian Groom Arrested

Mental issues?

Story here: Mom Who Left Kids for Nigerian Groom Arrested

Coors Brewing Company Signs Historic Economic Covenant with National Black Economic Development Coalition

Great going, Coors (and the entire Molson Coors family). A BIG thank you. We appreciate your commitment to us. Long live Canada.

Story here: Coors Brewing Company Signs Historic Economic Covenant with National Black Economic

Foxy Gives Judge Earful, Gets Denied

Poor Foxy Brown. Oh well!

Story here: Foxy Gives Judge Earful, Gets Denied

Detroit Mayor Appoints New Chief Of Staff

Good luck Mr. Milton...

Story Here: Detroit Mayor Appoints New Chief Of Staff

Kwame's Text-Message Lover Quits

Say it in-person, and make sure you are not being recorded. Never email it or text it. Detroit stand up!

Story here: Kwame's Text-Message Lover Quits

Opposition Politician Is Killed in Kenya

This situation in Kenya is getting worse each day. Both sides need to reign in their supporters, for the sake of Kenya. This is really such a shameful situation.

Story here: Opposition Politician Is Killed in Kenya

and here: Opposition Politician Is Killed in Kenya

US Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama

Again, this is a significant endorsement of Obama.

Story here: US Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama

Kennedys Endorse Obama

These two endorsements should help Obama significantly. Only time will tell.

Story here: Kennedys Endorse Obama

White Supremacist Protest in Jena, LA

This is not a fairy tale. This is reality. Some people don't get it and they never will.

Story here: White Supremacist Protest in Jena, LA

Race Row Over Brazil Fashion Week

The organizers of Brazil Fashion Week ought to be ashamed of themselves. Bastards!

Story here: Race Row Over Brazil Fashion Week

Foxy Brown Asks for Prison Release

Poor Foxy Brown. Do you promise to be on your best behavior from now on, Foxy?

Story here: Foxy Brown Asks for Prison Release

BET Founder Apologizes to Obama

We are happy to see this.

Story here: BET Founder Apologizes to Obama

'Catastrophic Times' for Black America - The Mortgage Crisis

This Mortgage crisis issue should really be playing a bigger role in the 2008 presidential elections.

Story here: 'Catastrophic Times' for Black America

Marion Jones Sentenced to Six Months in Jail

Poor poor Marion Jones. Girl we feel your pain.

Story here: Marion Jones Sentenced to Six Months in Jail

The Greasy Ladder

We got this very interesting article from the Economist Magazine. It was published in November 2007. Please read all of it:

Middle-Income Blacks Are Downwardly Mobile. Why?

SOME black Americans are doing very well. Barack Obama is pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton in Iowa. Tiger Woods is the world's best-paid athlete. Stan O'Neal was given a $160m golden parachute as he was ejected from Merrill Lynch last month. But these exceptional folk are indeed exceptional. For members of the black middle class, the news is gloomier. New research suggests that their grip on affluence is precarious.

The Economic Mobility Project, an arm of the impeccably non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts, compares contemporary Americans' family income (based on surveys conducted between 1996 and 2003) with their parents' (between 1968 and 1972). Overall, the picture is cheerful. Two-thirds of Americans who were children in 1968 and are now in their 30s or 40s enjoy higher household income than their parents did then. The same is true for black Americans. But black upward mobility consists largely of people from poor families moving up. Blacks born halfway up the income ladder, by contrast, show an alarming tendency to fall down. Only 31% of blacks who were children in 1968 and whose parents were in the middle fifth of America's income distribution now earn more than their parents did. The average household income for this group has actually declined—from $53,700 (in 2006 dollars) to $44,900. Nearly half fell all the way into the bottom fifth.

These findings have furrowed many brows. CBS News calls them “chilling”. The Washington Post laments that the middle-class dream is eluding African-Americans. Many people find the data perplexing. Why, if America really is the land of opportunity, are so many blacks finding it hard to hold onto the middle rungs of the ladder?

Some caution is in order. Black families who managed to pull themselves up to the middle of the national income distribution by the late 1960s—ie, within five years of the Civil Rights Act—must have been hot stuff. Certainly, they would have been near the top of the income distribution for blacks. So it would not be that odd for their children to fall short of their high standards. Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, thinks some of the downward mobility unearthed by the Pew study will turn out to be nothing more sinister than a reversion to the mean. White children whose parents were in the top 20% in the late 1960s have also fallen slightly behind their parents. But nothing like as dramatically as middle-income blacks have. Furthermore, at all income levels, blacks were less likely than whites to surpass their parents. (Overall, blacks and whites were equally likely to be upwardly mobile, but this was because anyone who starts at the bottom has more room to climb, and more blacks started at the bottom.)

Is racism to blame for downward mobility among middle-class blacks? Probably not much. Discrimination is far from dead, but it is hard to argue that it has intensified since the 1960s. The grease on the ladder must have other ingredients, too. An oft-cited one is the changing structure of the economy. Forty years ago a man with a high school diploma could work at a steel factory for a middle-class salary. Nowadays good jobs typically require a college degree, which black men are less likely than whites to have. Black men who worked full-time in 2004 earned 22% less than white men did, and fewer of them were employed at all.

Another big change since the 1960s is that the black family has all but disintegrated. In 1969 two-thirds of blacks in their 30s were married. Three decades later, 42% were. White families have gone non-nuclear too, but much less dramatically. This affects household income. Other things being equal, two working parents earn more than one. White household incomes have risen sharply in the past generation largely because white women are now far more likely to work outside the home. The richest households typically consist of two professionals, married to each other and working full-time. Few black households look like this. Black women, who have always worked outside the home in large numbers, now earn 95% as much as white women. But they are more likely to be sole breadwinners. And for those who want to marry a black man of similar status, the odds are unkind. For every 100 black female college graduates, there are only 70 black male ones.

Cash is king

A third factor is that even when blacks earn the same as whites, they tend to be less wealthy. In 2000 the average white household in the bottom fifth of income-earners was worth $24,000. For black households the figure was $57—less than Mr O'Neal might spend on lunch. Whites in the middle fifth were five times wealthier than their black counterparts; those in the top fifth were three times more so.

Dalton Conley, a sociology professor at New York University and the author of “Being Black, Living in the Red”, thinks this explains a lot. Extra cash cushions whites against temporary setbacks, such as losing a job or falling sick. It makes it easier to buy a home near a good school, and to borrow money for university. Blacks are less likely to graduate from college than whites with the same family income, but the gap disappears if you compare families with the same income and net worth. Wealthier parents can more easily lend their offspring cash to start a business, and assets mean you can plan for the future.

So what can blacks do to keep their grip on the ladder? Financial education is one big thing, says Dawn Franklin of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. As the recent collapse of the subprime-mortgage market shows, people without assets need to be careful how much they borrow, and on what terms. “Just because a bank says yes to you doesn't mean you got a good deal”, she says.

Is This Police Brutality?

We think it is. The Police must recognize that there will always be people who are not going to be fully compliant with their instructions. They should be properly trained to deal with such people. This Policeman (and his Department) should be reprimanded/disciplined.

Direct Link to the Youtube Video:

Kerry Endorses Obama

Great going John Kerry.

Here's the story: Kerry Endorses Obama

Sharpton et al March for John White

The Justice Department should investigate this case and address the Black Community's suspicion that justice was not served in this case. If the DA is so confident that justice was served then calling in the Feds should not be a problem:


The Story here: Sharpton et al March for John White

Obama Loses New Hampshire Primary

Sorry Barack Obama. Keep at it.

Story Here: Obama Loses New Hampshire Primary

Obama Wins Iowa Primary

Congratulations Barack Obama.

Here is the outcome: Obama Wins Iowa

The Case of John White

The Justice Department should investigate this case. The outcome of such an investigation would be more acceptable to the Black Community.

Here is the story:

Man Convicted for Shooting Teenager