My God Daughter and the Lady Raiders

This weekend, I went to see my god daughter play basketball. Her name is Carmen and she is a fiesty little thing that I've grown to love over the years. I am not 100% sure how she became my god daughter, but I think it started about 7 years ago, at the age of 9. I was her track coach in 2001 and 2002 and we developed a bond. I was the only one who could get her to calm down during her temper tantrums, and she also identified well with my "Kick ass or die" attitude about everything. Before long, I ended up as her god father, which has been a wonderful experience for me.

Years later, Carmen has grown into a beautiful 15 year old girl, who plays for one of the top basketball teams in the country. They aren't very tall, but I call them a "pack of very angry midgets". They are 100% black and intimidate the crap out of anyone with the misfortune of standing on the other side of the ball.

I got a chance to see the Iroquois Lady Raiders in action the other week, as they slaughtered some poor team by 30 points. I was so proud I didn't know what to do. Even my little Carmen was getting "major ticks" as she provided a great spark off the bench, helping the team win The Lady of the South Tournament. As of right now, they are #1 in the state of Kentucky and one of the top 30 teams in the country. Not bad for a pack of angry midgets.

What makes me most proud is that Carmen has the right attitude about life. She wants to be a winner in everything she does. I tell students all the time that attitude is everything. A great person with the wrong attitude is going to fair far worse than a mediocre person with a great attitude. Carmen has the attitude of a great woman, and I know she is going to excel.

I plan to speak at the banquet for her basketball team. I spoke at her school about the importance of attending college a few months ago, and I also speak at The University of Louisville very soon as well. I would be honored to speak to the Iroquois Lady Raiders Basketball team, and I am especially honored to be a part of my God daughter's life.

NPR Interview on Black Family Finances

As a finance professor, I see regular misconceptions in media about black people, black families and black wealth. America somehow has chosen to believe that the reason for wealth disparities in America is that African-Americans have simply chosen to be lazy and engage in the practice of bad money management. They also cite the fact that black families are not married as regularly and that this is a reason for poverty in the black community.

I could not disagree more.

The reason for the wealth disparity between blacks and whites is very simple: For 400 years (a very long time), America had a clear tradition of not allowing black people to pass wealth onto their children. As a result, all the big buildings in Manhattan, all the major media companies, and all the large corporations in America are owned, run and controlled by the white community. Period. Most wealth is inherited wealth and we were not allowed to inherit.

Black people choosing not to get married is no worse nor better than the fact that many families in America choose to get divorced. Honestly, I think divorce is far more devastating to the life of a child than not getting married. If one throws in the fact that non-custodial parents are obligated to pay child support, then the income gap, in a perfect world, should disappear. One can argue that two parents are better than one, but at the same time, 3 parents would be better than 2, and 4 parents would be better than 3. You could make this argument forever, and to use the one vs. two parent disparity as the fundamental basis to explain America's commitment to racial inequality is ridiculous.

Bottom line: Love is what matters, and if you look at the lives of Al Gore's son and kids in the suburbs who engage in just as much deviant behavior as kids in "the hood", you will see that a parent's decision to get married or not can be good for the child or bad, depending on the circumstances.

In other words: I get sick of people trying to say that black families are immoral or culturally inferior. Our culture is just fine thank you. Also, racial inequality and wealth gaps are due to one thing: historical discrimination. If you want to talk about creating a fair america, then you must first correct the huge imbalance created by racist ancestry. Trying to be fair from this point on (as Ward Connerly tries to argue) is like a lifelong crook stealing billions and then promising not to steal anymore. A fix must be applied to past wrongs before you can move forward in fairness.

I did this NPR interview on the topic not too long ago. It was done with Farai Chideya, a woman I had a huge crush on during my time in graduate school. Don't tell her I said that (haha!).

Why Christmas Gift Cards Work my last nerve

My mother, who is one of the wisest people I know, was talking to me the other day about gift certificates. We were having this discussion while debating what to get our needy-ass, yet loveable relatives for Christmas (only a couple of them are needy, most of them are loveable). Christmas is that overly commercialized holiday that seems to come every single year. I don't mind Christmas, but it seems that the word "Christ" has been removed in exchange for the last part "must". "I MUST have this", "we MUST do that", it's crazy!

At any rate, we were wondering if gift certificates were the best gift to give, since it avoids the awkward, yet inevitable reality that you are going to always end up giving something to someone that they just bought, don't want or don't need as much as something else. So, you have then graced your loved one with the burden of yet another trip to the pawn shop or the 50 mile long Walmart return line right after the holidays are over. They are also burdened with the guilt of having to pretend that they like your gift, even though they really don't. You know, those fake, awkward smiles that make your face hurt and stomach turn.

We both concluded in our scientific analysis (My Mama and Me Labs, Inc.) that gift certificates were better than regular gifts, since you can get what you want.

But I had to put the brakes on our ground breaking analysis....I then said, "Well, based on that logic, it would seem that money is the best gift certificate, since you can not only get whatever you want, but you can use it at any store."

That led us to wonder: "What exactly do companies give us in return for exchanging a hard earned $50 dollars that can be used ANYWHERE for their pathetic, multicolored little piece of paper that can is also worth $50, but can only be used in ONE PLACE?"

Nothing.

The companies typically give us nothing in exchange for the purchase of a gift certificate. It would be one thing if they allowed us to purchase a $30 gift certificate for $25. That would make our decision to limit the stretch of our money at least partially worth while. But when you give them $30 dollars that can be spent anywhere, they give you back the same $30 dollars that can only be spent at one place.

That's not all they do to screw us for the holidays.

Companies also get over on the fact that many of us never use the gift certicates anyway! According to Needham, Mass.-based consulting-firm TowerGroup, over $5 billion dollars in unused gift certificates allow corporations to fill the stockings of their stock holders. And believe me, they aren't giving that money to charity.

So, my mother and I both came to the grim conclusion that gift certificates, from a financial standpoint, are not very good gifts. Cash is the best gift certificate there is. It's the thought that counts, and my mother and I put quite a bit of thought into our decision. We hope our relatives appreciate it.

So this year, everyone we love is going to get a card with cash in it. That's the same gift that makes every third grader smile (Remember when that old relative you never talked to sent you that ugly card every year that always had cash in it? Don't pretend like that WAS NOT the first card you opened!). Perhaps the third graders are onto something, since this gift can make adults smile even more.

Rutgers University Global Scholars Program Offer

REMINDER - Please Distribute Widely

The Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers, The State University of
New Jersey solicits applications from Global Scholars who would like to be
in residence during the 2008-09 academic year (September 2008 through May
2009).

We cannot provide any financial support, but do welcome scholars/activists
into a vibrant interdisciplinary community focused on women and gender.
Our theme for 2008-09 is “The Culture of Rights/The Rights of Culture.”

The application deadline is January 15, 2008. More information about the
IRW and how to apply is available on our website (http://irw.rutgers.edu)
and at http://irw.rutgers.edu/scholars/08-09globalscholarcall.pdf

Thank you.
--

Marlene Importico, Office Manager
Institute for Research on Women
Rutgers the State University of New Jersey
160 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732/932-9072; 732/932-0861 (FAX)
http://irw.rutgers.edu

Do Your Employees Consider Your Corporate Policies Racist?

This is an article in a magazine that used one of the polls we conducted on YourBlackWorld.com. I think it makes strong points for organizations that hold onto racist policies and ignore racial inequality within their constructs:


Reactions to recent (and not so recent) news events show that black and white Americans see things very differently. As businesspeople we must ask ourselves a very difficult and important question: Is it possible that a company’s policies are being viewed differently by different minority groups within its overall employee base?
By Ann Carlsen

o begin to fathom the breadth and depth of the cultural and racial divide in America, you need look no further than three major news events involving athletes; two of them recent, and one which dominated the headlines just over a decade ago:
The 1995 murder trial of football star O.J. Simpson.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s guilty plea to dogfighting conspiracy charges

San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds’ breaking of Hank Aaron’s home-run record, amidst allegations of steroid use.

All tell us in no uncertain terms that we are, in many ways, a divided nation when it comes to how we view and perceive certain occurrences. Despite facts which have proved to be incontrovertible, blacks and whites viewed each of these events differently and hold vastly dissimilar opinions about the relative guilt and innocence of the individuals involved:

Following Simpson’s acquittal, while the majority of African Americans rejoiced, most whites felt shock and anger. U.S. News & World Report found in a survey taken immediately after the trial that 55 percent of all blacks felt Simpson was not guilty, while 62 percent of whites felt he committed the murders.

An ESPN/ABC News poll found that 74 percent of African Americans wanted Bonds to break Aaron’s record, compared with only 29 percent of whites. Forty-six percent of African Americans felt Bonds was treated unfairly by the media, compared with just 25 percent of whites. An overwhelming 85 percent of African Americans feel Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame, compared with just over half of all whites.

In a recent poll conducted on the Web site YourBlackWorld.com, 46 percent of African Americans responding said they believe that the Michael Vick case involves race, while only 14 percent of whites believe it does.

Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University, who helped construct the Vick survey for YourBlackWorld.com, says the results are not surprising. "Every time we have a controversy in America involving race, it’s always very clear that whites and blacks see it differently. The polls during Katrina, O.J. and many other tragedies showed similar trends," Watkins says.

These polling figures seem significant for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most compelling might be the quantitative differences between them. Whether these differences are ultimately a product of race or class, or a combination of both, this much seems clear: In America, whites and blacks view the world through the prism of personal and cultural experience and each group processes information very differently and forms opinions accordingly.

And given that as a backdrop, as businesspeople we must ask ourselves this very difficult and important question: Is it possible that a company’s policies are being viewed differently by different minority groups within its overall employee base?

And, most important, could your own company’s policies being deemed as racist and/or sexist by one or more of these groups?

The high cost of being viewed as a racist organization
Having read to this point, it would be very easy to click to another Web page and go on believing that our companies are, as we’ve always believed them to be, racially neutral and culturally sensitive. And to some degree, with some companies, this may indeed be the case.

But what the polling data above tells us is that any two groups of people can look at the same set of facts, the same combination of circumstances, and perceive them entirely differently. And for a major corporation, that can be a dangerous and costly thing.

Consider, over the past few years there have been dozens of class-action suits alleging corporate and institutional racism brought against American companies, and the settlements in these cases have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

Among the most noteworthy and recent:

In July 2007, Nike agreed to pay $7.6 million to settle a race discrimination suit involving 400 employees at Nike Town in Chicago. The suit alleged that 75 percent of the store’s lowest-paid employees were black, while 75 percent of it highest-paid employees were white.

In 2001, 10 named plaintiffs and thousands of members of a certified class brought suit against food service giant Sodexho, arguing the company systematically denied promotions to 3,400 African-American midlevel managers. The company settled for $80 million, while agreeing to a monitoring program to ensure its ongoing compliance to the terms of the settlement.

In 1999, Microsoft was hit with one of the largest discrimination suits in U.S. history, as seven African Americans alleged racism and a "plantation mentality" at the software giant. The $5 billion suit cited one particularly chilling fact: Only 2.6 percent of Microsoft's employees and 1.6 percent of its managers were black.

In the summer of 2007, retail pharmacy giant Walgreens agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class-action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of African-American employees who alleged "hiring and placement discrimination."

What is interesting to note is that in all four instances, the companies completely denied any wrongdoing, and in most cases issued statements defending their hiring and advancement practices, while at the same time reiterating their belief in diversity as a social good.

Now, the legal rationale for making such statements notwithstanding, I’m confident that both sides in these cases utterly believe in their respective legal positions. And I sense that even if money were not part of the equation and the cases were being judged on merit alone, each side would resolutely believe in the validity and sincerity of their argument.

There’s little doubt that the African Americans who brought suit felt horribly wronged by their respective employers. But there’s also little doubt that employers felt that they had done nothing wrong.

Why the disconnect?
Given the direction of corporate America over the past two decades, and the fact that so much focus has been placed on both minority hiring and equal opportunity advancement, I think that executives at these companies truly believed they were being unfairly singled out as racist organizations. I’m sure many chief executives at these companies are resolutely convinced that their policies rank among the more enlightened in corporate America.

Yet like the divided reaction to the news events mentioned above, a person’s belief ultimately comes down to one simple thing: a personal perspective, shaped by personal experience and values. So with this in mind, consider your own company policies for a moment. Are they truly as fair as you believe them to be? Are they the products of another era, drawn up by a homogenous and, perhaps, small group of people and then simply tweaked and modified over the years? Or were they developed with a deep understanding of the current marketplace? Do you even know?

Taking the right steps
When you’re dealing with perceptions, it’s a tricky proposition. It’s likely impossible to resolve a complex issue like this one to everyone’s full satisfaction. But there are steps employers can take to steer their organizations toward a healthier, more diverse workplace environment:

Thoroughly review your HR policies and practices often. Times change, and a full, periodic HR audit is a good way to keep them fresh, relevant and effective.

Solicit feedback from your employees at all levels. Employees appreciate being part of the process. Just make sure you follow up with them and that they can see the results of their participation.

Continuously communicate. Make sure everyone is clear on your HR policies, and encourage discussion. Don’t just deliver the employee handbook and walk away.

Seek outside perspectives. Read what’s going on at other companies, talk to peers and keep up with workforce issues and trends.

Walk the talk on diversity. Let your employees know you’re serious about this issue, and demonstrate that you are continuously exploring how to improve.

Ask yourself if perception is reality regarding your current workplace policies and practices. But before you do, make sure you know what the perceptions are. There are no quick fixes or easy answers—just the willingness and the resolve to look in the mirror and take the necessary action.

An Email on Racial Inequality I sent to a Friend

I sent this email in response to a friend of mine on a listserve, who seems to think that African-Americans who challenge the system are whiners. This is interesting, since it seems that calling someone a "whiner" when they demand changes to obvious inequality is a good way to get the oppressed to shut up. I wonder if major corporations are called whiners when they lobby for changes in the tax code?

I also addressed in the email my "Nation of Super Negroes" theory. It's the one that says "If one person out of 100 can overcome all these obstacles, then everyone can." They point to people like Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and Bill Cosby as examples. So, it must be easy: If every black child in America would simply study 10 hours a day, have an IQ of 150 and get extremely lucky, then all would be fair in the world.

This goes back to what I've mentioned in my book, "What if George Bush were a Black Man?" White men and women have a "right to be lazy" that black people don't get. If they make a mistake, it can be recovered. If we make a mistake, we deserve to pay for the rest of our lives, and it's our own fault because we chose to make the mistake in the first place.

Here is the email I sent my friend:

I would not say that most middle class black people don't care about the poor. I would say that, at worst, some of us don't understand them. It reminds me of when I was on the track team and I would get frustrated by my teammates who could not run as fast as I could. The reality was that I had some talent, training and conditioning that they did not have. So, my ability to empathize was minimal.

Many middle class African-Americans have either been born with advantages they are not aware of, got a little extra luck or possess an ability to endure that not everyone has. It doesn't mean that poor people don't have potential - they certainly do, but it's easy to say "If I can make it, then anyone can." That leads to the "Nation of Super Negroes" Theory, that says that if one in every 100 black people can achieve something, then that is clear evidence that anyone who did not achieve the same thing is just being lazy.

So, that one kid who dodges bullets every morning on her way to a school with no books after not eating breakfast because her mother had no money becomes middle class. She then looks at her friends still in poverty and says "It's because I care about you that I am going to tell you how pathetic you are. All of you should have been able to do what I did, so complaining about the school with no books and dodging bullets makes you into a whiner."

I argue that perhaps the woman should try to empathize and realize that not every person is going to be able to do what she did (and luck also plays some role, since there is some other girl out there who did the right things but was shot by one of those bullets). I argue that the woman should go back to the hood, demand personal responsibility, accountability and hard work, but then go down to the city councilman's office and raise hell there too.

But for her to sit in her cushy little office at some Ivy League University and talk to Bill Cosby about how pathetic her people are would be counter productive and weak. Also, one would have to question her quick willingness to attack those who are poor, but her fear of attacking those who are in power. That's like the house slave attacking the field slaves, when in fact, they should both be going after the master.

Boyce

Kevin Blackistone from ESPN Sets the Record Straight

After seeing the letter from one of our writers at YourBlackWorld, my man Kevin Blackistone wanted to set the record straight on his perceptions of the Sean Taylor case. Kevin is a sports guru for AOL and XM Satellite. He is also a regular on the popular ESPN show "Around the Horn".

Kev and I were on CNN together a few months ago trying to figure out why the NFL still has work to do when it comes to hiring black coaches. At the same time, I would argue that it is the NCAA that refuses to let go of it's racist traditions.

Without further ado, here is the article that Kevin wrote on Sean Taylor:


Sean Taylor and Timothy Spicer lived and worked in metropolitan D.C., Taylor as star safety for Washington’s famous pro football team and Spicer as a short-order cook for a famous Washington eatery, Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Eric Rivera, Jr., 17, shown in the preliminary court hearing, was identified by the grand jury as the gunman in the murder of NFL star Sean Taylor.

Both were young; Taylor 24 and Spicer 25. Both enjoyed nice cars that young men often do; Taylor had a Yukon Denali and Spicer drove a shiny ‘94 Caprice on big silvery rims. Both young men were black.

And both are dead now, murdered.

Taylor died in the wee hours Tuesday morning in Miami from a gunshot wound he suffered early Monday from what authorities said was an intruder in Taylor's Miami-area home.

Spicer died two Saturdays ago in Washington after he was found shot multiple times as the victim of a carjacking of his Caprice.

The only reason the country learned of Taylor's death is his celebrity. Spicer's death remained local news, the 169th murder in D.C. this year, or as many as occurred here last year.

But Taylor and Spicer are as linked in tragedy as they were as young black men working in D.C. trying to make it to another day. Gun violence is the No. 1 killer of black men like Taylor and Spicer.

According to most recent disseminated data by the Center for Disease Control, Taylor and Spicer will be two of roughly 4,000 black homicide victims in the country this year killed by guns. Most, of course, won't be a pro athlete like Taylor but an everyman like Spicer.

It didn't matter if they were rich or working-class, went to college or dropped out of high school, lived in a near million dollar home with a remote control gate or in mom's apartment in a tough quarter of town. It didn’t matter if one was strapping, strong and fast as the wind and the other was more like everyone else.

It didn't matter if they were famous or known to only a few. It didn't matter if they were living their dreams or still chasing them. They didn't escape the pathology.

On the face of it, as news of Taylor being shot rolled through the 24-hour news cycle, it sounded as if Taylor shouldn't have succumbed to such a menace. His father worked in law enforcement. Taylor went to a prep high school and a private college, Miami. He was a multi-million-dollar athlete and even his dalliance with lawbreaking and gun brandishing was said to be something of his recent past. He was a father now too. He had someone to live for forever besides himself. But what do we know?

"Sometimes we assume that because one is raised a certain way one is going to come out a certain way," the recently retired NFL star receiver Keyshawn Johnson, now ESPN football analyst, told me by phone on Tuesday. "Look at Andy Reid's kids. He's coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and they're (sons) selling drugs out of the house. You can't assume that because Sean's dad was a police chief that his life…would be different. It depends on how you approach it." Johnson knows all too well. He was reared in the toughest section of South Los Angeles. He survived being shot twice. He was stuck up outside of his favorite barbershop with his kids in tow.

"You just become an easy target," Johnson said of being an athlete or any well-known person of means.
Darrent Williams was a Denver Broncos' defensive back doing a responsible thing while out last New Year’s enjoying the night. He was in a limousine. A wrong word or misunderstanding in a club turned into bullets fired into his ride. He was killed. He was Taylor's age and another statistic in the deadly demographic.

In the wake of Williams' death, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed alarm at the senseless gun death of a league player and of run-ins with the law involving guns that other players were going through. Not long after came defensive back Pacman Jones' incident at a Las Vegas club that left one man shot and paralyzed.

But this isn't, unfortunately, just a problem of professional athletics, Johnson pointed out. It is bigger than one genre of livelihood.

"You have to be very cautious…about your surroundings and about the company you do keep. You can’t worry about feeling like people are going to look at you and say, 'He's made it now so he doesn't come around.' Well, isn't that the whole point? Secure your life and secure your family and move on? The point is to be able to be successful and make it."

Taylor appeared to have reached that point. Spicer was still working at it with a budding clothing business and dreams of – what else? – producing rap music.
Now both are in the same sad statistical pool. A Miami black neighborhood was planning this week to protest three recent fatal police shootings of young black men. It may want to protest the shooting of young black men by other young black men, which is far more prevalent, when it is through.


There was a lot of outpouring of support almost immediately for Taylor. A candlelight vigil was held. A funeral that will be covered by the national media is probably being planned.

Some athletes interviewed about Taylor's demise served up the trite words we're accustomed to after such a horrific event. They said it reminded that they just played a game and that other things were much more important. It put things in perspective, the choir sang. It shouldn’t have, of course. These things in sports never should. Other things are always more important.

Sports are not a separate thread in the fabric of society. They are no more than another spec of alloy in the mirror that reflects it all.

Sean Taylor as well as Timothy Spicer were the latest victims in what is a near epidemic among young black men. If anything good can come from Taylor's demise it will be that more of us pay as much attention to, and express as much outrage and sadness for, the Spicers where we live too.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, an XM Satellite Radio host and a frequent sports opinionist on other outlets like National Public Radio and The Politico. A former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News, he currently lives in Hyattsville, Md.

Why I am Endorsing Barack Obama

I got a call a few months ago from the Hillary Clinton camp. One of her advisors, or perhaps it was an advisor of her advisor, felt the need to call and ask for my help with her Senatorial campaign in upstate New York. I am not big on unpaid labor, and I’m not a politician, but I will back something if I believe in it. So, I challenged the advisor’s advisor to make me into a believer.

The advisor’s advisor pitched me on an idea involving black men, particularly those who have served prison time. In New York, due to the RICO laws and other modern day versions of Jim Crow, it turns out that the population of black men in New York who have done at least a little prison time is as high as the number of Sean Hannity fans at the local KKK rally. The number of brothers in the area who have done time is only dwarfed by the number of brothers still doing their time.

The advisor’s advisor wanted me to reach out to these men to get them to vote. I guess my role as the local “angry black man” makes them feel that I can immediately identify with prison inmates. But then again, I don’t detach myself from ex-convicts, since I have some friends and relatives who have done time in prison. I also get a letter every month or so from brothers in prison asking for my help with their cases. If only I were Johnny Cochran.

I was not against the idea of getting these guys to vote, since New York is one of the few places to realize that by not allowing ex-convicts to vote, you are effectively implementing Jim Crow laws designed to take away the civil rights of African-Americans. The notion that serving a little time in prison implies that you should not be allowed to vote for the rest of your life is nothing short of ridiculous, racist and incredibly un-American.

My problem was not that they wanted me to encourage these men to vote. It was that they were encouraging me to get these men to vote for HILLARY.
Obviously, that led me to ask questions. I wanted to know what Senator Clinton planned to do for these men once they had given her their votes. Of course, the advisor’s advisor gave me all the “right” answers. But I couldn’t help but feel like a pretty girl on prom night when her boyfriend is trying to get her naked. They seemed willing to tell me anything I wanted to hear, as long as I gave them what they wanted. I got the sense that after the election was over, my calls would not be returned.

So, I looked at the record. I thought about Bill Clinton’s status as the “First Black President”, which I consider to be incredibly insulting. We have so relegated ourselves to second class status that we don’t even think we can have a real black man in the White House. Is it the case that we would settle for anyone who plays the saxophone and eats barbecue chicken?

I thought about Hillary’s neck-swinging, “you go girl” appearances at black churches all across America. She impresses us with flash and then caters to conservative interests. I thought about how she was spineless enough to support President Bush’s decision to go to war, even though everyone and their mother knew it was the wrong thing to do. I saw a woman and a family who will do whatever it takes, to whomever it takes, and follow every crowd of trendy sheep in order to get elected. I certainly did not see a person who was serving America, and I damn sure didn’t see a woman who was serving black people.

Seeing my life as a Clinton flash before my eyes, I then told the advisor’s advisor “no thank you”, and hung up the phone.

Oprah and I had our beef, but I agree with her decision to back Obama. This is a time for black people to come together to push a black man into power. Obama’s not exactly Malcolm X, but Malcolm could never get elected in Iowa. We once thought that Bill Clinton was the closest a black man could get to the White House. But Obama gives us the hope that perhaps we, as black people, can actually get a little bit closer.

I consider Barack my brother, and he is going to get my vote.

Dog, Imus and the Racist Propaganda Machine

Apparently, the bigots are getting more sophisticated in their ability to spread their message and use the web for damage control. I got alot of posts and emails recently from people firmly defending Don Imus and Dog the Bounty Hunter after their racist rampages that got them off the air. I had my techy dudes look into it, and it turns out that they were being sent to me in droves by websites specifically designed to support Don Imus and Dog The Bounty Hunter.

How stupid.

These guys are racists, and networks that support these guys are racist. They represent the fact that the media has never had the interests of people of color at heart. Had a black man been working for CBS sports and referred to all white people as "Oily skinned crackers", his black butt would NEVER be allowed back on the air after making such a horrendous statement.

Don Imus, Bill O'Reilly and Dog the Bounty Hunter should all be taken off the air and replaced by black women. In spite of their desire to claim fairness, there are almost no black women who have shows on these networks. That's pathetic and patently unfair.

If you think that this is fair, then that's your problem, not mine. By subscribing to such beliefs, you are only continuing the 400 year racist tradition on which this country was founded.

That's real.

CBS and Santita Jackson Show - MLB's Juicy Screwup

I did an interview today with Santita Jackson, daughter of Rev. Jesse Jackson. I also appeared last night on the Dom Giordano Show on CBS Radio. Dom is a cool conservative, one of the few cool dudes in the bunch. I just can't get mad at him the way I get mad at Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. The guy is just too decent, and I actually listen to him when he talks. The last time we were together was when he was filling in for Bill O'Reilly. I hope that this guy gets additional promotions within the Conservative Nazi Heirarchy. He deserves to be near the top. Hannity does not.

As far as Santita Jackson goes, she is a good friend with whom I've had alot of wonderful conversations. She teaches me alot and I respect her. It's ironic to me that she reminds me alot of Wendy Williams: they are both major divas, have alot of hair and I love them both to death. But their personalities are incredibly different: I am not sure how well they would get along. Either way, it's always an honor to spend time with either of them.

What is true, however, is that they are both amazing radio show hosts. I think that Santita's show should be nationally-syndicated (she's the best on WVON, along with my friend Roland Martin) and I consider Wendy to be the second most powerful black woman in media, next to Oprah Winfrey.

We talked about Major League Baseball and this Mitchell Report. In case you're not aware, this report blows the whistle on steroid abuse and shows that Barry Bonds had alot of partners in this thing. I love how the conservatives wanted to call Marion Jones and Barry Bonds immoral cheaters. I can't wait to see how they deal with Roger Clemens.

But it's no secret that Clemens was juiced. No 42 year old is expected to be able to play like a teenager. What is also true is that this is just the tip of the iceberg: there are alot of other players involve who were not named in the report. I also have two quick thoughts about steroid use:

1) the owners should have been held more accountable - Mitchell is on the board of directors for Disney, the group that owns ESPN, which is the primary television partner for Major League Baseball. He's not going to go too far with this report.
2) it's not going to stop. Steroids are out of the bag and there is going to be an arms race between the testers and the inventors to find something that is undetectable that still enhances performance. There's too much money at stake, and many players can't do anything else if their baseball careers don't materialize in a favorable way.

This is just the beginning.

Al Sharpton's Investigation - What I think about it

I could not help but notice that Rev. Al Sharpton is under investigation by the Justice Department. I’ve interacted with Al on more than one occasion (He is the voice in the background during my last appearance on The Wendy Williams Experience in NY - when I proposed to my fiancé. We were also on Rev. Jesse Jackson’s show together during the Don Imus situation and a few months earlier on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch).

I am not sure what to think about the investigation. But there are some things I know for sure. First, I know that I do not always agree with Rev. Sharpton: He can, at times, possess viewpoints with which I am not 100% connected. Secondly, there is no other black leader in America who can mobilize people the way Sharpton can. I have always been impressed with his ability to create action where there was none before. For that, he should be commended. Finally, I know that he is likely to be the target of Federal Authorities, particularly since 2008 is an election year, he has marched on the Justice Department, fought the city of Chicago on police brutality and done a lot of other things that are likely to lead to a backlash.
Remember in 2001, when it just “happened” that the media was leaked the story about Jesse Jackson’s affair right during the protest of President Bush’s election? That kind of thing is not a coincidence. My personal opinion? Someone is out to get Al, and their goal is to kill any credibility he might have in the public eye. I also feel that there is a connection to the Obama/Oprah campaign, as Sharpton and Obama have worked together on some initiatives.

Ironically, right as I was thinking about this situation with Rev. Sharpton and reminiscing on what happened to Rev. Jackson in 2001, I got a call from the producer of the Santita Jackson Show in Chicago. Santita is Rev. Jackson's daughter and a great person. Her producer, Stacey is one of my favorite people on earth as well. We talked about what was happening with Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton. All I can say is that I am glad I don't have to do what they do. I have enough problems of my own.

Don’t believe everything you read. Sharpton and Obama are probably no cleaner or dirtier than anyone else in the dirty game of politics. The thing is that when you get enough enemies, they can make your dirt look grimier than the next person’s.
There is more news on Rev. Sharpton below. Enjoy!

Surprise! Turns Out that Barry Wasn't the Only One Using Steroids

Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report, which blows the roof off steroid use, has as much scandal and intrigue as a novel by Karrine “Superhead” Stephens. For the non-geto fab inclined, Stephens wrote a book called “Confessions of a Video Vixen”, which exposed the dirty little secrets of many entertainers and celebrities with whom she’d “become acquainted”.

Apparently, “Superhead” has been “one-upped” by the Mitchell Report. Rather than the secret and forbidden pleasure being a sexy woman with brown skin, it is a slender syringe with clear fluid. The dirty little secret, otherwise known as steroids, is nothing short of a deal with the Devil, promising fame, riches, power and prominence in the halls of Major League Baseball. No sexual hormones, just human growth hormones. With both hormones being equally seductive.

Barry Bonds was, until today, one of the few individuals proven to have spent time with the mistress. But as I’ve mentioned all along, he wasn’t the only one hanging out in the brothel of performance enhancement. As a former coach, I saw many athletes exhibiting symptoms of “extra juice”: 40 year olds playing as if they were teenagers, former 90 pound weaklings showing up to camp looking like Sylvester Stallone, and guys hitting more homeruns in a season than they’d hit their entire career.

Of course, if you were to ask any of the 50 year old sports writers in America, all of whom were on the war path to paint Barry Bonds as the “unethical little black man” (something they do to at least 3 black athletes every single year), they would attribute the performances of Roger Clemens and others as being the product of hard work and commitment. But not Barry Bonds, who was considered by some to be the only cheater in the entire sport, and thus deserved to have his records tainted with an asterisk.

Sorry homeboy, now it’s time to look in the mirror. Your heroes are every bit as fraudulent as the hair piece you wear to Sports Center interviews. Your noble commissioner is every bit as compliant as the Bishop who doesn’t report the horny Priest. All of baseball was guilty during the “Era of the Asterisk”, and your efforts to write off and villify whistle-blower Jose Conseco have been muted forever. Jose might be the only honest person in the entire sport.

Of course there won’t be any deep reflection or remorse on the part of the self-righteous sports writer. He will continue to pass judgment on black athletes and question our character. I recall hearing a disgusting display on Monday Night Football about Michael Vick being a criminal and Reggie Bush needing to be taught hard work by Saints quarterback Drew Brees. I remember Randy Moss and Terrell Owens being treated worse than criminals when the public decided they were not “good boys”. I recall one conversation after another on CNN where I was being asked why black athletes display such poor ethics.

It turns out that when it comes to values and ethics, many black athletes should be teaching the lessons, not taking them. Go ask yourselves about THAT.

White May Be Might, But It's Not Always Right

By Khalil G. Muhammad
Washington Post

Sunday, December 9, 2007; B03

Recently I showed my college students a YouTube clip of Bill Cosby's
and Alvin Poussaint's appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." After
hearing Cosby plead for poor blacks to embrace their parenting
responsibilities, many of the students said they wished their parents
had followed his advice. They regretted that some of their peers had
done poorly in school, abused drugs and alcohol, and run afoul of the
law. These problems, they agreed, might have been avoided with more
supervision at home.

They might have been the perfect audience for a Cosby town-hall lecture
on the dangers of self-destructive values in black America. They might
also have been perfect illustrations of the growing "values gap"
between poor and middle-class blacks described in a widely cited recent
Pew Research Center poll.

Except almost all my students are white.

Cosby and the recent Pew study are the latest in a long finger-wagging
tradition of instructing poor blacks to lift themselves up by their
bootstraps and reject pathologically "black" values. Today, rap culture
is usually presented as Exhibit A, but strains of the same argument
have cropped up for more than a century. If blacks would just get their
act together, this old story goes, all the social inequalities between
them and the rest of society would disappear.

In its coverage of the Pew report findings, National Public Radio asked
whether some blacks were lagging behind because they were choosing not
to become "closer to whites in their values." Unfortunately, this line
of questioning reinforces one of the most persistent myths in America,
that white is always right. The myth reflects an enduring double
standard based on "white" and "black" explanations for social problems.
And it assumes that "white" culture is the gold standard for judging
everyone, despite its competing ideologies, its contradictions and its
flaws, including racism.

The masquerade began over a hundred years ago. Shortly after the end of
slavery, sociologists and demographers began presenting research on
black failure and struggle as "indisputable" proof of black
inferiority. One of the first studies was released in 1896, when the
leading race-relations demographer of the period, Frederick L. Hoffman,
analyzed census data showing that blacks were doing worse than whites
in mortality, health, employment, education and crime. The problem was
not racism, he argued, but "race traits and tendencies."

To him, the civil rights acts of the 1860s and 1870s had leveled the
playing field. Blacks should be left to compete against whites on their
own and face the inevitable. The black man, he wrote, "has usually but
one avenue out of his dilemma -- the road to prison or to an early
grave."

At the same time, when explaining rising rates of crime, suicide and
mental-health problems among whites, Hoffman blamed industrialization
and the strains of "modern life." He called for a reordering of the
nation's economic priorities. Hoffman's study coincided with -- and
provided justification for -- the Supreme Court's notorious Plessy v.
Ferguson decision, which legalized segregation.

As segregation took hold, there was a powerful need to minimize the
role of racism as a factor in explaining racial disparities. The
"Cosby" role at the start of Jim Crow was first played by Booker T.
Washington. Counseling blacks to conquer their inferiority, he
repudiated civil rights activism in favor of self-help and moral
regeneration.

Many whites loved Washington, and his ideas were echoed by liberal
social scientists such as the psychologist G. Stanley Hall, who
instructed black people to stop sympathizing "with their own criminals"
and "accept without whining patheticism and corroding self-pity [their]
present situation, prejudice and all."

But when Hall turned his focus on whites, his research on adolescent
psychology directly influenced national efforts to protect them from
the ravages of industrial capitalism. Drawing on his work, the
child-welfare activist Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago at
first to help immigrant families adjust to American life, and later to
save thousands of Chicago's white youth from lives of crime, violence
and drug abuse attributed to "modern city conditions." But black
children were not generally welcome at Hull House. Addams claimed that
similar problems among black youth were due to the race's "belated"
moral development, manifested in poor parenting and a lack of "social
restraint."

The pioneering black social scientist W.E.B. Du Bois challenged this
first generation of white liberals and social scientists, including
Hoffman, on the flawed assumptions and racial double standards in their
studies and in their practices. But when Du Bois tried to argue that
pathology knows no color, he was ignored, criticized and dismissed by
his white peers as an angry black man with, as one sociologist put it,
a "chip on his shoulder."

Du Bois's frustrations led him to leave academia for a life of
anti-racist activism. In 1910, the year he became director of research
and publicity for the NAACP, he warned that "whiteness" was becoming
the new basis of the nation's consciousness. "Are we not coming more
and more day by day to making the statement, 'I am white,' the one
fundamental tenet of our practical morality?" he asked.

In today's era of hip-hop, Du Bois's warning still goes unheeded. If
rap music is so bad, why are white kids its major consumers? And by
what value system should we judge the large media companies that
publish and distribute hip-hop -- or, really, gangsta rap, its most
popular and sinister cousin?

Were "white values" on display two years ago when the federal
government failed to adequately respond to one of the greatest natural
disasters in American history?

If lower-class "black" values are so distinct from those of the rest of
America, particularly the "white values" supposedly now embraced by
middle- and upper-class blacks, why, according to the Pew report, do
less than a third of white Americans graduate from college? Are legions
of whites similarly devaluing higher education? Are they "acting black"?

If lower-class black values are so peculiar, why do whites report the
same or higher levels of illegal drug use as blacks, as numerous
studies show?

What of underperforming white schoolchildren in rural America, the
Great Plains, Appalachia or the Deep South? Are they "acting black"
because they can't compete with their upwardly mobile suburban
counterparts?

Today's liberals still empathize with America's invisible white working
poor, who they warn are being "nickel and dimed" to the point of near
homelessness. But why the empathy? Isn't their poverty really a
function of their choosing to embrace their hidden blackness?

Du Bois's scholarship and activism helped pave the way for the modern
civil rights movement, which helped exorcize the ghost of America's Jim
Crow past. That he was right about racism but that we still continue to
accept the same flawed thinking about race and social problems suggests
a powerful and enduring paradox.

If we insist on explaining racial disparities in terms of black vs.
white values, then we need to explain what exactly white values are.
When we do, we'll find that whiteness is an inadequate standard by
which to judge good black people vs. bad ones.

As my students would tell you, the real white world is as pathological,
as respectable and as diverse as the black one.

kgmuhamm@indiana.edu

Khalil G. Muhammad is an assistant professor of history at Indiana
University and the author of the forthcoming "The Condemnation of
Blackness: Ideas about Race and Crime in the Making of Modern Urban
America. "

What I said about Vick in BlackAmericaWeb

Does Michael’s Vick’s Punishment - Nearly Two Years in Jail - Fit the Crime? Many Say No
Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By: BlackAmericaWeb.com and Associated Press

Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced Monday to serve 23 months in prison and three years probation for his role in a Virginia dog fighting operation, but some observers are questioning whether the punishment fits the crime.

“He did a despicable thing, but does going to jail for almost two years fit the crime he has committed?” wonders Doug Stewart, who forms the two-man syndicated sports talk show team, "2 Live Stews," with his brother, Ryan. “He did not have a prior record. They did not mention all of the work he has done for charity in Atlanta and in his hometown, Newport News, Va.,” Stewart told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Vick was indicted in federal court in July on federal conspiracy charges related to a dogfighting ring operated on his property in Virginia. In August, Vick pleaded guilty, admitting he bankrolled the Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs.

The president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States released a statement saying he was pleased with the sentence handed down for Vick.

"Michael Vick committed a reckless and unconscionable crime, and the sentence meted out today is fitting and appropriate. We hope that anyone participating in the sordid activity realizes that dogfighting is a dead end, and no good can come from it,” the statement from Wayne Pacelle read.


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Federal sentencing guidelines called for a term of 18 months to two years. While prosecutors asked for a sentence on the high end, defense attorney Lawrence Woodward asked for leniency, noting his client's previously clean record, despite growing up in a rough area in Newport News.

But in addition to initially lying about his role in killing dogs, Vick tested positive for marijuana use in violation of the terms set for his release -- then gave conflicting accounts about when he used the drug, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson noted.

Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse finance professor and social commentator, said Vick’s sentence and the publicity surrounding it is another example of how African-American athletes are vilified today in society.

“He did something stupid. He should be punished, but the negativity is magnified by who he is,” Watkins told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “When it comes to vilifying black athletes, look at Barry Bonds. Look at Terrell Owens. He was vilified and never committed a crime."

Stewart said part of issue with Vick is his persona.

“I think he made some people uncomfortable," he told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "He wore the jewelry and the baggy clothes. He was a top quarterback, and he dressed hip hop, so he was a target."

Producers with Stewart's show researched to find other instances where the federal government has intervened in a dogfighting case. “They found none,” he said.

In Atlanta, at headquarters for the "2 Live Stews" syndicated show, the telephones lines were lit up nonstop on Monday afternoon, Stewart said. “Everyone wanted to talk about Vick. They had many of the same questions. They were disappointed that Vick is going to jail for almost two years."

Despite the early surrender, a public apology and participation in an animal sensitivity training course, Vick was denied an "acceptance of responsibility" credit that would have reduced his sentence. Federal prosecutors opposed awarding Vick the credit.

Dogs that did not perform up to expectations were killed by electrocution, hanging, drowning and other violent means by the dog fighting ring. Hudson said evidence, including statements by the co-defendants, showed Vick was more directly involved than he admitted. Hudson also mentioned that Vick had been deceptive on a polygraph test. Though that evidence was not admissible in court, the results were discussed.

"He did more than fund it," prosecutor Michael Gill said, referring to the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation. "He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants."

The judge agreed.

"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," he said.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."

"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."

Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked after Monday's ruling if Vick should play again.

"That's a determination we'll make later on," he told the Associated Press from a legislative hearing in Austin, Texas, involving the NFL Network. "As I said earlier when we suspended him indefinitely, we would evaluate that when the legal process was closed."

On its Web site Monday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution estimated that Vick has incurred financial losses of $142 million, including $71 million in Falcons salary, $50 million in endorsement income and nearly $20 million in previously paid bonuses.

Vick's lead attorney, Billy Martin, said Vick had been diagnosed as clinically depressed.

"Mr. Vick, in life, had numbed himself to a lot of events around him. That was, in a sense, his way of surviving," Martin said.

Outside court, Woodward said Vick didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.

"He just wants a chance to prove himself when all this is over," he said. "But the other thing he said to me, which I also think is important for everyone to know, is that he understood that some of the things he was doing in life and off the field were dangerous, and he told me he feels lucky that he's alive and not hurt, and now it's all about the future."

Vick will be sidelined at least three years following the Monday sentence, sports observers say.

Once he has served his time, it is possible that Vick could make a comeback, said Bill Rhoden, author of “Third and a Mile: From Fritz Pollard to Michael Vick.”

“I don’t think he will have the same level of prominence,” Rhoden told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “If he becomes this great story of redemption and leads his team to the Super Bowl, he can do it. Winning has to be in the formula -- winning and contrition.”

Watkins agreed.

“There is a rule in sports: If you win, we forgive all sin,” Watkins said. “If he comes back and wins a Super Bowl, somebody is going to love him. The corporate brand will embrace him as the ultimate bad boy.”

Watkins and Rhoden said there are lessons to be learned by current and future black athletes.

“Everybody can be taken down,” Rhoden said. “Sometimes, those of the older generation were taught that you got to be twice as good. With this generation, they feel that they can do anything anyone else can do. But even with money and wealth, you have to keep yourself in check.”

Watkins said Vick was prosecuted and sentenced as an example.

“I think it is the goody-two-shoes lesson,” he said. “Don’t get out of line, even if you are at the top.”

Michael Vick is Still Not a Monster

I did this episode of Boiling Hot about Michael Vick not too long ago:



I still stand by my initial statements on the day that Michael Vick is sentenced. He got 23 months, which I feel was relatively fair, given that they could have done much more. But I encourage the world, as they judge Michael Vick, to remember the following:

1) He was 27 years old. Most of us did really dumb things in our 20s, I am no different. I would hate to have to pay for the rest of my life for one of those mistakes.

2) Vick is not the biggest monster on earth. People want to behave as if he did something so abnormally outrageous. Dog fighting is terrible, yes. But Dick Cheney and President Bush sent thousands of people to Iraq to die after telling lies to the American public. That is much worse, and they are not going to spend a day in jail because of it.

3) I hope Michael learns from all this. He screwed up by getting caught up in something stupid. I also hope he gets a chance to earn some money to pay these mounting bills that will surely be kicking his butt for a while.

4) The NFL needs to let Michael Vick back on the field. Banning this guy for life would be absolutely stupid.

5) Notice that I am being nice by defining the judge's sentence as "relatively fair". The federal sentencing guidelines were 12 - 18 months, so the judge used his discretion to decide that he didn't feel that Vick was truly remorseful. I wonder if Vick is eligible for the Paris Hilton treatment, where he can claim that jail makes him emotionally uncomfortable, so that he can be let out. Oh yea...I forgot....he's a black man....they're SUPPOSED to go to prison.

Here is another interview I did on CNN on the Michael Vick case. I told CNN and the other networks that I don't want to do anymore this time around. I've said all that I need to say:

Michael Vick House Up For Sale

I feel sorry for Michael Vick. I have tried my hardest to defend him on CNN and everywhere else, but I honestly think that this is going to be his last run as a football player. When I heard about the dog fighting situation, I really felt bad for him. He never seemed to realize that being on top today doesn't guarantee that you're going to be on top tomorrow. I've seen great athletes in my neighborhood with amazing ability end up in situations worse than if they'd never had any ability at all. I feel sorry for Vick, and I feel sorry for those who actually thought the Atlanta Falcons, the NFL or Virginia Tech ever gave a damn about him.

People ask me what I think about the Vick situation, and I honestly feel that it was a lynching. What happened to him shows what happens to any black man who makes white america angry, no matter what the cause. Let's be real: dog fighting is bad, but who actually thought it was worth losing your entire life and livelihood over? Also, there are tons of people who go deer hunting on a regular basis, shooting animals in the head, cutting out their guts and stuffing them on the mantle. How in the hell is that humane?

I wish Michael and his family the best, but I am not sure how he's going to recover from this one.

Why AIDS Education is Entirely Necessary

black scholar, black scholars, black professors, african american scholars,

This came from a newsletter someone forwarded me from a group called ASPH. I thought it was deep and relevant, since alot of people in the world actually think that having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDS! Honestly, I do remember a documentary on a North Korean Leader from long ago (his name escapes me right now) who allegedly went decades without hardly ever taking a bath. When they asked him about this, the story went that he said "I cleanse myself through my women." What the hayell?



At any rate, here is the letter that came with the newsletter. Here is a link to their site.

A billboard in Lusaka, Zambia reflects efforts to counter the practice of some traditional healers in the area to prescribe traditional medicines and sex with a virgin to HIV+ men as a "cure for AIDS." The billboard was part of a campaign sponsored by the Partnership Against Gender-Based and Sexual Violence Against Children and Women in Zambia.

Photo submitted by: Dr. Sandra Crouse Quinn, Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Education Associate Professor, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). Dr. Quinn took this photo in August 2007 while she served as part of an interdisciplinary delegation participating in a meeting with the Network of African Congregational Theology (NetACT) hosted by the Justo Mwale Theological School in Lusaka, Zambia.

Dr. Quinn and Dr. Stephen Thomas, director of the Center for Minority Health and Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice at University of Pittsburgh GSPH, were part of an NetACT, an association of twelve theological schools located in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, that met in Lusaka to consider the role of theological education in addressing the challenges of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This billboard reflected some of the conversation at the NetACT meeting, during which participants discussed HIV+ adult men having sex with young girls as a "cure for AIDS." When asked about the origins of this belief, participants stated that some traditional healers prescribed traditional medicines and sex with a virgin as a cure. To counter this belief, a campaign, including billboards and buttons, was sponsored. Later, in a rural village, Dr. Quinn and her colleagues saw a young boy wearing the button. The issue of violence against girls and women reflects the broader context of economic and social inequality for women in Zambia. According to the World Heath Organization, the HIV prevalence among females 14–19 years old is six times that of males in the same age group in Zambia. The prevalence rate for women in general is far higher than men. Mobilization for gender equality is essential to reduce the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS among women.

To learn more about NetACT, please click here.

For more information on the Friday Letter Photo-of-the-Month contest or to submit a photo, click here.

I was supposed to go to NYC to talk to black kids about going to college. Suddenly, the event was cancelled, and I wasn't sure why. Not that it matters very much, but I was a bit curious. I later found out that the person in the university who'd initially contacted me about going to talk to the kids was advised by university administrators to not allow me to talk to the kids, since I am so controversial. She said that she was concerned and that the university is concerned about my presence on campus and that I should not be involved with their initiatives to reach out to the inner city.

Hearing this didn't bother me very much, but it did make me think about slavery. I am reminded of a time when "trouble making" black people were kept away from the "good negroes" in order to keep them from corrupting their minds. All the while, there were black overseers appointed, whose job it was to provide a black face that would safely protect the interests of the oppressor. I see that alot at Syracuse, as some try to use a black face to keep us in a black place. All the while, the "bad negroes" like myself are kept away from the good ones.

Seeing these reminders of the 400 year social foundation of our country can be hurtful, since I have only worked to be a good, strong, honest scholar. If I were a white man, I would be applauded for my work. As a black man, I get fired for it. But my mother told me that is how things would work out. I accept it.

Why the NCAA Should be Sued for Racial Discrimination

I despise the National College Athletic Association (NCAA). I hate them more than asparagus or burnt popcorn. Hate is a strong word, I know. But it’s the only word that properly summarizes the rage within me when I think about an institution that is probably one of the most exploitative in all of American history.

Why do I hate them so much? I am glad you asked. When asked on an ESPN show to provide an academic summary of the methods by which the NCAA is taking unfair advantage of its athletes, I had to go to the street. Maybe I watch too much BET, but the first thing that came to mind was “pimpin”. So, I simply told the host of the show that “It’s hard out there for a pimp, and nobody knows that better than the NCAA.”

To drive the point home, I used this example: “Stephen (the name of the host), if I were to go out here and earn you 20 million dollars, and you turn around and cut me a check for $2,000, I’m gonna find you and kick your butt…..Then I’m gonna sue you.” I think he got the point, since I could see him balling up his fists. I might be a professor, but if someone were to jack me the way the NCAA does its athletes, they would be begging for a beat down.

My hatred for the NCAA is equaled by my love of college sports. But my smiles turn to frowns when I see the thousands of kids being taken for a ride by the 50 year old farts who benefit from this multi-billion dollar industry. Coaches earn salaries in the millions. Lavish buildings are being financed on campuses where many of the athletes will never receive a degree.

Athletic directors, most of them non-minorities, earn incredibly high salaries. The kid on the field risking life and limb while his mama is still in the projects….he gets nothing. Not only does the kid get nothing, he doesn’t even get an opportunity to coach when his career is over. In many cases, he simply gets a one-way bus ticket back to the projects.

This degree of exploitation should be an outrage. Does it make sense that universities who don’t hire black professors, black coaches or even admit very many black students are earning billions of dollars from black athletes? At the same time, many historically black colleges and universities can’t even pay the bills. How much aggregate wealth is being extracted from the black community when these athletes are earning billions for their universities and not being compensated?

Again, I am glad you asked. In a research study conducted this year, using conservative estimates, I determined that $250 billion is being taken out of the black community over a 40 year period under the current system being used by the NCAA. My PhD is in finance, so don’t mess with me. Some argue that it comes down to graduation rates. They feel that if the universities ensured that these individuals were getting college degrees, the exchange would be fair.

Answer: no it would not. I value education as much as anyone (I have far too much of it myself), but a college degree does not give you what a nice 2 million dollar salary would. Some argue that it is the fault of the athletes that they are not graduating. Again, I do not agree. I see these kids in action every year. They are 18-21 years old, and essentially do what is asked of them by their coaches in order to play.

If they are told to get up at 6 am for practice, they do it. If they are forced to miss my class for a week to make a Thursday night game on ESPN, they do it. If they were being told to hit the books in order to get on the field, they would do that too.

Don’t get it twisted. It is clear that academics is far from being the top priority of the NCAA and college coaches. I have taught at Ohio State, University of Kentucky, Syracuse University and Indiana University (all with big time athletics programs). So again, don’t mess with me.

What does it come down to? It comes down to good old fashioned American values. If you believe that a person should get paid what they are worth, then you can only agree that the athletes should be paid fairly before the coaches and administrators.

The billions don’t disappear just because the players are not being paid. The money goes into SOMEONE’S pocket. Why IN THE WORLD would it make more sense for the coaches, athletic directors and others to get that money before the athletes do? Basketball games do not happen without basketball players. We all know that. So, as I said before, the NCAA should be sued.

They should be sued for being unwilling to hire black coaches and athletic directors. Terry Bowden, a powerful, white ex-coach from Auburn University, admits that black coaches are not hired because of pressure from alumni. This folks is discrimination. They should be sued for pillaging the black community of a valuable financial resource.

Some say that the athletes are to blame for this, since they are the ones choosing to do a job in which they are not paid. “Why not pursue other options?” I have heard some say. Good question. Well, if you are allowed to legislate a monopoly and unfair control over your source of labor, then THEY HAVE NO OPTIONS. Why do you think that there are rules in place that FORBID anyone from paying a college athlete?

Why is there a rule stating that a player must sit out a year if he decides to transfer? Why is there a rule in college football stating that the player must be in college three years before he is eligible for the NFL draft?

These rules are all designed to control the athlete and create a world in which he has no options. In addition to being a financial expert and a college professor who has seen the abuse first hand, I am also a black man. So, as I said before, don't mess with me!!!

Nigga Nation- Award winning film by Dorian Chandler

Donda West was My Mother Too

When I heard the tragic news about Kanye West's mother, Donda, passing away, my mind was flushed with piercing thoughts. I thought about how proud I've been of Kanye, the artist with the courage to be different, the creativity to be a star, and the vision to tell George Bush what the hell the rest of us were thinking. Kanye even convinced me to avoid purchasing a diamond for my engagement because of the many Africans who continue to perish in the diamond mines.

I thought about his mother, a scholar like myself, who'd obviously raised her son to be the amazing human being he has become. When a black boy has the courage to tell the president to kiss his ass, it's usually because he has a strong, intelligent mother behind him yelling "Go on baby!" I know this well, for my own mother provided me with the courage to be strong in the face of adversity.

As a child, my mother used to say, "Boy, your mouth will either make you great or get you killed, I'm curious to see which one." With far less fanfare than Kanye, my mother's encouragement helped me endure the 2000 emails I received and nasty looks I got from campus colleagues after I verbally body-slammed President Bush during Hurricane Katrina. I speak for black males, which is about as popular as fighting for the rights of lab rats. Were it not for her instilling me with such a strong sense of self, I would have fallen for the same racially-charged intimidation of academia that make my colleagues say one thing in private and another in public.

So, in light of the fact that I connect so well to Kanye and Donda, I knew one thing was true: Donda West was my mother too. My mother didn't have a PhD, but being a black woman is harder than getting a double-doctorate. It's that "Black Female Double Doctorate" that helps a woman raise an empowered and fearless black boy in a world where black males are massively incarcerated, instantly murdered, consistently miseducated, overwhelmingly emasculated and horrifically criticized every single day of our lives. She put Kanye on the world's stage with more intelligence than the average Chicago Bear. He is the Muhammad Ali of his generation, with the vision to see far beyond a paycheck, bling and a damn hit record.

Her death hurt....a lot. But I am sure it hurt Kanye even more, for Donda's death was the death of an irreplaceable part of his being. His ability to change the world died just a little bit with the death of his inspiration. So, the entire world should be in mourning.

I also noticed how the physician who performed Donda's fatal surgery, Dr. Jan Adams, was being dragged through the mud for allegedly being incompetent. I don't know this man, but the dozens of times I've been on CNN, CBS and other networks tell me that you clearly cannot trust what the media says, especially about black doctors. It's normal for the media to try to make black doctors, lawyers and professors into quacks. I've had people with far less education than myself do the same thing to me. Black males would be much more readily accepted if we were athletes, entertainers or criminals. In these fields, our credentials are not questioned.

I also thought about Hollywood's psychological torture of black women, forcing them to feel that their bodies are not beautiful and perfect as they are. Tocarra Jones from America's next top Model was told she was too fat, although she was the first truly sexy woman I'd ever seen on TV. Janet Jackson was told as a child that her butt was too big to become a dancer. Lisa Nicole Carson went from voluptuous to Lindsay Lohan in 2 seconds flat. I hope that Dr. Donda West, the beautiful and amazing woman she was, didn't lose her life trying to fit an image that was meant for someone else. Her vision, purpose, and meaning to this world was far greater than a tummy tuck.
I never met Donda, and I haven't yet met Kanye. But I know my sibling when I see one, and I miss our mom already. Great black moms make the world go round, and Donda will be missed.

War of Words or Words of War?

By Dr. Marc Lamont Hill - Temple University Professor and regular analyst on CNN and FOX.

After years of negotiation, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Orin Hatch were finally able to pass their anti-gang bill. In essence, the bill will make it easier to classify youth as members of gangs, and intensify the penalties for those who are charged with crimes. Despite its devastating implications, particularly for young people of color, the legislation was uncontested by Senate colleagues and publicly celebrated as a victory in the “War on Gangs.” As always, the language of war was used to sanitize a filthy set of politics.


For decades, politicians have used the rhetoric of war in order to draw public support for questionable domestic policy initiatives. In 1971, President Nixon launched a full scale “War on Drugs” that has heavily tipped the criminal justice scales against poor people, petty drug users, and small time dealers. More recently, after the September 11 tragedy, President Bush unleashed a War on Terror that has undermined any semblance of individual privacy and civil liberty for the entire nation.


In case you haven’t noticed, there is a disturbingly consistent pattern here. First politicians create a common enemy. Not a real enemy, but an indefensible bogeyman –say, a suicide bomber or a crack rock-- that we all agree is bad for society. Then they tell us that we are facing an immediate threat because of this bad entity. Once everyone is sufficiently (and irrationally) scared of our “enemy,” the government then prosecutes a war in order to snuff it out. Given the bellicose nature of American society, this becomes a reasonable if not axiomatic conclusion. After all, if you don’t support a war against bad things then you must a supporter of bad things, right?


By playing these language games, we are able to ignore clear evidence that these faux-wars don’t work. Thirty-six years into the current drug war, drugs are easier to find, cheaper to buy, and more potent than ever. Since the beginning of the war on terror, Americans have lost layers of freedom with no indication, regardless of what Bush says, that we are any safer. With the current war on gangs, we are bolstering a prison industry without affecting the root causes of gang membership and youth crime.


My suggestion is that we rename our wars in more honest fashion. Imagine how the public would respond if they knew politicians were proposing a “War on the Constitution” or a “War on Mexican Teenagers.” Perhaps, after recognizing the real stakes, we could begin a much-needed “War on Wars.”

Black Enterprise Report - Starting an Investment Club

I did this interview when I was at the Frasernet Conference in Atlanta. George Fraser, a networking guru, is a respected friend of mine. What is really funny about this interview is that I have never seen this woman in real life. I was actually answering the questions of a man, and they edited it to make it look like the woman was talking to me. Funny huh? Let's be honest: most of the stuff you see on TV is just a little bit fake. In fact, all the make up they slap on me to make me look like Baby Denzel is a part of the big lie....if only I looked so good in real life!

I will never forget that weekend, for that was also when I had a chance to meet some of my other friends for the first time: Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Julianne Malveaux, Al Sharpton and a few others. Since that time, I've had chances to interact with them many times. Julianne and Michael were my greatest inspirations in the 1990s, for they were the ones who taught me what it means to be a black scholar. The problem at this point is that I am still not sure if my university truly understands or appreciates what black scholarship is all about.

Enjoy!

The Return of the Nappy Headed Hoe

I did an interview this morning on American Urban Radio Networks about Don Imus. They'd heard that we have a petition to keep Imus off the air, and wanted me to talk about it. I agreed to do so, mainly because Bettie Lee, the woman who interviewed me, is a respected friend. I also like AURN because they allow black people to have a voice that is not muffled by the stupidity of mainstream media.

When it came to Don Imus, I made these simple points:

1) His return to the air after apologizing signals a fundamental disrespect for people of color and women. Had Tyra Banks referred to Rudy Giuliani as an "oily skinned cracker", she would never be put on the air again.

2) It seems that the networks could have found a woman of color to replace Imus, since they are non-existent from mainstream media. So, while Imus paid a 6 month price for degrading women of color, they have paid with a lifetime ban for doing nothing.

3) Don Imus, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly form the the New KKK in America. Without using the N-word, they engage in the perpetuation of policies and ideologies that have been hurtful to all of America.

4) Our plan for boycotting Imus and his supporters is not a short-term plan. I want, for at least 2 years, all people of color to do the following:

- Boycott the Imus Show and WABC Networks in New York.
- Consider boycotting all corporations that sponsor this network (we have a list of current sponsors below this post)
- Hold all dignitaries and political candidates who appear on their shows accountable for their actions. It's interesting that Republican Presidential candidates did not appear in the debate on HBCU campuses, but yet they find time to appear on racist conservative talk shows.

Gathered from MayorMikeforPresident.com: YBW primary focal points are highlighted in red. You may choose to call the sponsors and express your concern, or refrain from purchasing their products. Email us if you have something to say



AT&T Wireless *

Chase.com

Geico *
1-800-947-AUTO
J.C. Penney *

McDonalds **

Radio Shack

Sam's Club *

Sears *

Staples *

Target

Tom Tom GPS

Travelocity.com *

Verizon WIreless **1-800-2-JOIN-IN




Here is an episode we did that refers to Don Imus:

African American Health: The Consequences of Stress

Submitted by Corina Campbell, Special reporter for Fierce411.com

Have you ever considered how stress, anxiety and even depression affect your attitude towards violence? How about how men and woman are affected by stress, anxiety and depression differently? No? This topic was surly on the mind of Dr. Sung Joon Jang, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Baylor University. He recently revealed some interesting new facts in the September edition of Justice Quarterly about how strain and its emotional consequences, such as anxiety and depression, affect African Americans and how gender plays a significant role in coping with strain.

Jang’s study focused on testing Robert Agnew’s general strain theory. Agnews’s theory asserts strain generates negative emotions that provide motivation for deviant acts, including crime, as a coping strategy. Jang’s study, which he titled “Gender Differences in Strain, Negative Emotions and Coping Behaviors: A General Strain Theory Approach,” analyzed this approach by studying African American men and women.

Jang worked independently to critically analyze the interviewed responses he obtained from the Inter-University Consortium for Political Social Research (ICPSR). ICPSR describes its mission as an organization “of member institutions working together to acquire and preserve social science data, provide open and equitable access to these data and promote effective data use.” The initial study consisted of the responses from African Americans between the years of 1976 to 1992, and was based on the national distribution of African Americas indicated in the 1970 Census. The study participants were surveyed repeatedly four times. The individuals were initially interviewed in 1976 and then followed up with three additional surveys taken in 1988 and 1992. Jang explained that the 1970 Census was the most recent U.S. when the first study was conducted. During the initial 1976 interview, participants were interviewed face to face and then followed up with phone interviews. The 1976 interview brought about the largest number of participants and was the primary focus of Jang’s study. “While the most recent survey was in 1992 there were limited responses. So, I decided to analyze the wave of data collected from the largest number of survey participants,” Jang explained.

Now at this point you may be wondering why the response of African Americans in the 1970’s concerning strain are relevant today. While the thirty year period may seen long, Jang believes no drastic change has occurred in the way strain affects the lives of African Americans since the survey was conducted. Jang admits that there must have been some changes since the survey was conducted, but he does not believe the old data set has no relevance to the present time. “The relevant questions is whether the fundamentals changed between 1976 and 2007,” said Jang, “I doubt new data, if collected this year, would result in totally different findings. I’m sure there would be some differences, but overall I doubt there would be a drastic difference in the new data as long as scientific sampling design were used like the survey data I analyzed.” he continued.

The far bigger issue in this case is the unique information that Jang was able to generate from analyzing this sampling. Jang’s focus on studying these individuals was to apply the general strain theory and its concept of why some people commit crime and deviance as a result of experiencing bad things. The strain theory proposes that strain causes individuals to experience negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety. “The stain theory suggests these negative emotions cause people to engage in crime and deviance to cope with not only strain but also foster negative emotions,” explained Jang.

The male and female perspectives to strain are quite different, particularly in the case of African Americans. While African American women were more likely to report strains related to physical health, interpersonal relations, gender roles in the family, they are less likely to mention work-related, racial as well as job strain than African American men. Jang also found that African American women were less likely than African American men to turn to deviant coping strategies when they experience strain. Jang hypothesized that this may be attributed to the fact that African American women are more likely to experience self-directed emotions, such as depression and anxiety, which in turn were less likely to lead to deviant coping behaviors than other-directed, angry emotion.

This hypothesis is consistent with national statistics that report that while men engage in higher rates of violence and crime, woman report higher level of negative emotions. “The fact that studies tend to report that woman experience higher levels of anger, depression and anxiety than men but men are more violent, creates a paradox,” Jang said. He became interested in studying the inconsistency and came up with an explanation for why woman experience higher levels of strain and negative emotions, but men, not women, have higher rates of crime and deviance, including violence.

Jang proposed “African American women are less likely than African American men to turn to deviant coping strategies, whether other-directed (i.e., fighting and arguing with other people) or self-directed (i.e., drinking alcohol or getting high in other ways), when they experienced strain partly because their strains were more likely to generate self-directed emotions (i.e., depression and anxiety), which in turn were less likely to lead to deviant coping behaviors than other-directed, angry emotion,” Jang explained. Jang’s interpretation of this data is that the differences in coping with strain exist because of the differences in the nature of negative emotions experienced by the two genders. “African American women tend to internalize their strain and negative emotions, whereas African American men externalize them.”
When asked why Jang felt that this particular study was worth pursuit, the response came quite easy. “The study was worth pursuing not only because it is an interesting paradox, but also because the study findings have practical implications. For example, I see religious involvement as another explanation to this paradox. Specifically, I found religious involvement as a helping tool to cope with strain and negative emotions in a conventional, instrumental, or, at least, non-deviant manner. In this study, I found African American women tend to be more religious than men, and my findings indicate that this partly explains why woman are less likely to be deviant than men,” he said.

Thus this study has various practical applications for everyday life. “No one is immune from life’s strain, no matter who you are, now and then you feel angry and anxiety,” Jang said. He points that the difference is in how you choose to respond. “There are ways to manage negative emotions instead of pouring out negative emotions onto others. Religious involvement has shown to have positive social influence in dealing with negative emotions,” Jang proposed. Jang would like to further this line of research with a follow up study on how bad things may cause some people to do good things. I think we will all be anxious to hear the findings from this future study.

Dog The Bounty Hunter

Here is what I think about the racist tirade by Dog the Bounty Hunter. I got alot of emails over this (roughly 400 or so), so I figured I would share the video with my readers on the blog.