EBONY NEEDS SOME INVESTORS

The outlook for the grand dame of black-owned publishing companies, Johnson Publishing, looks dimmer by the day.
Speculation began earlier this year that the company behind Ebony and Jet magazines was on the ropes.

Then came the news came earlier this month that the Ebony Fashion Fair traveling fashion show -- a flamboyant staple of black women's fund raising efforts since 1958 -- was being canceled for the first time in its history. Now comes a Newsweek.com article that says the company is is putting its flagship title, Ebony, up for sale.

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Technorati Tags: sale,ebony magazine,jet magazine,black celebrity gossip,black gossip

Your Black News: Author Writes a Book for Ex-Cons to Start Businesses

from AOL Black Voices, Your Black World 

In the first book published by her New York-based Resilience Multimedia, Sheila Rule delivers much-needed information to a segment of society that has long been ignored: the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. In 'Think Outside The Cell: An Entrepreneur's Guide for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated' by Joseph Robinson, readers learn vital information, including how to overcome obstacles that convicted felons face while trying to reenter society and find work.
Rule, who worked at The New York Times for 30 years before her recent retirement, was spurred to start her publishing company after writing to the incarcerated as a volunteer for the Riverside Church Prison Ministry. With funding from the Ford Foundation, she plans to publish next year the 'Think Outside the Cell' book series featuring real-life stories by the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and their families. Rule takes time to talk about the book with AOL Black Voices.
AOL Black Voices: How did you come up with the idea for the book?
Sheila Rule: Joe's book has been published amid renewed efforts to help the formerly incarcerated-who are disproportionately black and Latino-successfully reenter society. But Joe believes that the reentry programs being developed, while commendable, too often focus on finding jobs in a nation where, according to a Princeton University study, it is easier for a white person with a felony conviction to get a job than for a black person who has never been arrested. Joe believes that "Think Outside the Cell" presents a largely unexplored option-entrepreneurship-that can help give men and women leaving prison a realistic second chance

 

Click to read.

Dr. Wilmer Leon on Serena Williams

 

By

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

This past Saturday evening, on a second serve at 15-30, 5-6 in the second set at the U.S. Open semifinals, Serena Williams was called for a foot fault by the line judge. Based upon the judges call, Ms. Williams walked towards the judge, pointed her racquet at the judge and launched into an “f-bomb” laden tie raid saying in part, “If I could, I would take this @#$#ing ball and shove it down your @#$#ing throat…"

This exchange resulted in Ms. Williams being penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct. This penalty resulted in the match being awarded to her opponent, Kim Clijsters. Some are now questioning the chair umpire and tournament referee Brian Earley’s decision. With Ms. Williams being African American, many are crying foul based on race. Others are objecting to what some believe to be a ticky-tack call, especially at such a key point in a match.

Click to read.

Black Scholar Dr Boyce Watkins Writes for MSNBC – 8/26/09

about Dr. Boyce Watkins

• 

  Teddy was a lion for civil rights

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:30 AM on 08/26/2009

  OPINION - In a multitude of areas including housing, income, and civil rights for African-Americans and all minorities, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has been on the front lines.

  > more

• 

  Cocktail of unethical behavior and incompetence killed MJ

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:15 AM on 08/25/2009

  OPINION - It was Dr. Conrad Murray's cocktail of unethical behavior and extreme incompetence which ultimately killed the most well known entertainer in history...

  > more

• 

  Felix the Cat flap signals era of racial paranoia

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:30 AM on 08/20/2009

  In an article for the Financial Times, Ferguson compared President Barack Obama to Felix the Cat, stating that Obama, like the cat, is "black and lucky."

  > more

• 

  The return of the prodigal quarterback

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  6:40 AM on 08/14/2009

  OPINION -- I was as shocked as the rest of America to hear that Michael Vick has been signed by the Philadelphia Eagles. Although I've always supported Vick's human right to fairness...

  > more

• 

  NCAA treating black athletes like second-class citizens

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:50 AM on 08/11/2009

  The revolution has been televised. I always knew it would be, since African American athletes have always been center stage in the NCAA's multi-billion dollar money machine...

  > more

Dr. Wilmer Leon: How is Barack going to Deal with Afghanistan?

by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

Under the pretext of responding to the September 11, 2001 attacks in America, the United and States and Great Britain invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 under the banner of Operation Enduring Freedom. President Bush 41’ told the American people that the US strikes were,

“…designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations, and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime…we will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans. Initially, the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves and other entrenched hiding places…At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan… ”

During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Obama promised to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq in order to bolster the forces in Afghanistan in order to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda. “It’s time to refocus our attention on the war we have to win in Afghanistan.”

I believe that this tactic was taken by the Obama team in order to placate the anti-Iraq contingent of the American electorate on the left while not leaving himself vulnerable to the “soft on defense” hawkish argument on the right. As a campaign tactic this approach proved to be successful. In reality, this may prove to be one of the greatest miscalculations President Obama has made. The real question here becomes, what’s the best tactic to accomplish this end?

Click to read.

Black Women and Eating Disorders

That wasn't always the case. The cover of her new book, 'Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat,' tells it all. Jagged black scribbles cross out a childhood photo, which is set against the backdrop of a stark yellow cover. But the most striking image, also on the cover, is of two fingers-the index and middle fingers-both used to induce vomiting by sticking down the throat.

They symbolize bulimia, which is characterized by binge eating and purging either by throwing up, laxative abuse or over exercising. A compulsion, it is usually done to numb feelings of anxiety or pain, experts say.

"My childhood picture is crossed out because it's about my self-loathing phase,'' she says in a reflective voice in a telephone conversation from her home in Los Angeles. "The two fingers, well, they are about bulimia. It resonates for me.''

Click to read.

7/27/09: Dr Boyce Watkins hits Anderson Cooper 360 Again

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

Black Politics: Why The Troy Davis Case Must Be Studied

by Elliot Milner, JD.

" I have faced execution and the torment of saying goodbye to my family three times in the last two years and I may experience that trauma yet again; I would not wish this on my worst enemy and to know I am innocent only compounds the injustice I am facing."- Troy Davis, from Georgia's death row, on facing a fourth possible execution date.

For those who are unaware, Troy Davis has been on Georgia's death row for about 18 years, after being convicted of murdering police officer Mark McPhail(Mr. Davis has maintained his innocence from the very beginning).

It would take pages to give all of the details of Troy Davis' case, however I will say that there was no physical evidence found(including a murder weapon) connecting Troy Davis to the killing of Officer McPhail; he was convicted largely on the basis of inconsistent and often contradictory eyewitness testimony. The vast majority of those prosecution eyewitnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony implicating Mr. Davis, and one of those who hasn't is Sylvester Coles, the main alternative suspect presented by the defense during Troy Davis' trial. In addition, there have been multiple allegations of police coercion and the usage of unethical interrogation techniques.

(For additional information on Troy Davis' case, or to get information on how to act, check out www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis and http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/.).

 

Click to read more on YourBlackAttorneys.

Technorati Tags: troy davis,black men in america,african american men,black attorneys,african american attorneys,black lawyers,african american lawyers

Dr Boyce Watkins on Dyson vs. Obama: Why We need to Listen

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

When I heard the controversial and heated comments about President Obama that were made by my respected colleague Michael Eric Dyson, I felt like a 2nd grader running outside to see the fight between two middle school kids. Both Barack and Michael are men I've grown to appreciate, and I love them for their strengths as well as their imperfections. Michael was the reason I became a public scholar during graduate school, as I would watch the words flow out of him like an MC in the booth dropping his hottest album. The man is good, damn good.

Barack Obama needs to listen to the words of Michael Eric Dyson. In fact, he should give Dyson as much, or more respect than he gives me or any other black public intellectual in America. Dr. Dyson, no matter how you perceive his critique of President Obama, represents a form of insight that you are not going to find in politics, the pulpit or anywhere else. At the same time, I will confess that his words may also come from an impure place that lies within the darkest part of our souls. In other words, Dyson, Tavis, Barack, Jesse and every other ambitious man in America is always going to be tempted by the "Demon of Playerhaterology". Men are naturally competitive, and no man likes to be disrespected. Obama, as a condition for his employment, is often asked to disrespect other leaders across America who represent the essence of meaningful black thought. That's going to create a long list of enemies.

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Read more Black Politics at www.YourBlackPolitics.Blogspot.com.

Dr Boyce Watkins: Preparing for the Retirement Crisis: America’s Perfect Storm

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Finance Professor at Syracuse University

www.TheGrio.com

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But then again, it must not bother me very much, since I am going to give you a big pile of bad news right now. Given that I earned a Masters Degree in the "morbid science" of statistics, I figured I would start the day by fulfilling my occupational expectation.

The first piece of bad news is that you are going to die. One day, your heart will stop beating and the 2.5 billion breaths you'll take during your lifetime will come to an end. Hopefully, it won't be painful, but I can't guarantee that. The truth is, however, that death might not be the worst part of it all.

The toughest news is that before you die, you are likely going to experience a long, slow period of physical and psychological decline called "old age". In conjunction with this decline, you are going to see your financial resources dwindle as quickly as the muscles in your body. Not only will the scale of your resources decline, but your expenses will likely mount as you go to one doctor's visit after another, all with the hope of delaying the inevitable. That period of life is called "retirement", and most Americans are not financially prepared for it.

Now that you are sufficiently depressed (there's no point in lying to you, I'm not very good at that), I will give you some facts to chew on. I also hope that in light of these realities, you will engage in something that the rest of America is not doing: preparing for retirement. While retirement planning has always been important in the past, it has never been more important than it is for you right now. The Perfect Economic Storm is coming, one in which all the scary clouds merge together into one big ball of fiscal devastation that can only be created by God himself. When your financial meteorologist (me) gives you that information, it's your decision to get your family prepared. Let's break down the components of the storm, shall we?

 

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Technorati Tags: black money,black wealth,african american money,african american wealth,black scholars,black professors,black news headlines,african american news

Sotomayor, Obama and Racial History

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

Howard University

On Tuesday May 26^th, President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Before the President announced his selection he stated he was not just looking for someone with just “ivory tower learning”; he wanted “intellectual firepower” as well as a “common touch” and a “practical sense of how the world works”. He also used the word “empathy” several times. It did not take long for the critics to weigh in and challenge the nomination.

What is troubling about the criticism is that most of it is intentionally not directed at judge Sotomayor’s record as a jurist and opinions that she has rendered. Most of the criticism is deliberately based upon select statements made in speeches or lectures, as was the case with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. They have been contextualized in the most inflammatory way possible in order to scare white people.

Click to read more on our Black Scholars Blog.

 

Technorati Tags: black scholars,black professors,african american scholars,african american professors,dr wilmer leon

Georgetown Professor Chris Metzler Breaks down Sotomayor

Dr. Christopher Metzler

President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be a Justice on the United States Supreme Court has brought to the surface the lingering resentment that so many White men in America have harbored since the end of slavery. Moreover, it has denuded the souls of white folks who have now become part of a race. It has also revived White men as victims and given voice to the intellectually dishonest rhetoric of "reverse" racism while also race-baiting the White House, albeit one headed by a Black man.

Of course, we understand that race is a social construction. That is, there is no biological basis for race. Rather, in the context of the United States, race has been formulated and given meaning by society and the courts who wished to connote difference and the privileges and insults thereto appertaining. That formulation for so much of our history defined Whites as superior and numerical racial minorities as inferior thus justifying different treatment.

First, it is not an understatement to say that many White men in America have opted out of the conversation on race. In fact, in most conversations about race, racial minorities are the ones who are presumed to be affected by racism because of America's toxic relationship with race. White men in particular enjoy the visible and invisible privilege of being both White and male and thus, until now, have seen no reason to be considered part of a "race." 

The White men of whom I write have decided that they will pick the carbuncle of race in an attempt to protect their white privilege at all costs. Hoisting the White man's burden are Rush, Tancredo, Hannity, Dobbs and Gingrich; the "unelected" leaders of the party. The elected leaders (especially those with significant Latino voters) and the languid "head of the party" (Michael Steele) will collude with them by saying nothing.

Click to read more on the Dr Boyce Black Scholar’s Blog.

Dr. Christopher J. Metzler is associate dean at Georgetown University and the author of The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a Post-Racial America.

Technorati Tags: race,racism,black america,black scholars,african american scholars,christopher metzler,black politics,african american politicsl

Men Need to Stop Selling Dreams!

by Nicole Spence

There is this girl I know, and we're friends.

She has been sorta dating this guy, well they've flirted with the idea of being more, but never took it there fully. Why? Cuz he is always on some stop and go shit! You know one minute wanna kick things up a couple of notches and the next he's on his period!

I don't like inconsistency so I encourage her to dip out! Don't delete him from your phone, but he sure as hell shouldn't be in her top 5!She took my advice and remained out of the picture for a couple of months, and you know never really gave the idea of him another thought, other than the occasional " what the hell was his problem"?
Fast forward time passes and he reaches out stating how much he misses her ( oh yea? ) and get this, that he realized that he needs her in his life. ( Pretty heavy shit I thought). So they exchange niceties back and forth, but she's still wading in the water because she doesn't know what this brother wants.

Click to read more.

How to Find Success without Falling for the Wizard of Oz Syndrome

by: Lawrence M. Watkins

Last weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to go home to Louisville and attend the Kentucky Derby. Growing up, I was not allowed to participate in many of the Derby festivities. My father was a Major with the Louisville Metro Police Department and was often over security for the city’s Derby festivities. Because of this task, he was subjected to a lot of foolishness through the years during Derby in order to serve and protect the city’s patrons. Therefore, he insulated me from most of the damaging behavior that comes with having an extra 200,000 people in the Louisville metro area of only 700,000 residents. This year was only my second “true” Derby experience and it was completely different from the Derby with which my father was familiar. I was excited to get the weekend rolling!

As I boarded my plane from Ithaca, NY all I could think about was how much fun I was going to have at all of the VIP events and all of the interesting people I was going to meet. Thanks to an awesome friend, my girlfriend, Kandice, and I were given some box seats to the Derby and tickets to all of the VIP galas. I was afforded the opportunity to spend hours with some of the top entertainers, athletes, and business moguls in the nation. I quickly became disappointed, however, as I transitioned from dreaming about talking to ‘Deity XYZ’ to actually speaking to him in person.

After exchanging small talk for a few minutes, I asked each person one simple question, “What are you passionate about?” My goal was to attain deeper insight on what made them successful. After proposing the question, each individual looked at me for a moment with a perplexed expression. After a much anticipated silence, most of individuals said, “Wow . . . No one has ever asked me that before.” As people answered this question for me throughout the evening, I slowly became saddened and disappointed by their responses. I was shocked by the amount of times I heard “making money”, “ballin’”, and “I have no idea” as simple responses to the question asked of them. I then asked myself a vital question . . . Is there really anything more to life than fast cars, chartered jets, and high class sporting events?

 

Click to read more on the Black Authors Blog

The Pain from Divorce: A Sister Writes About It

My heart taken freely as the love was squeezed out of it

All the flavor is gone there is nothing left not a bit

My mind nearly destroyed as any independent thought I had was negated

My body abused- no longer is there found pleasure- once loved now hated

My soul what is left of it is freely given back to God

I’d rather risk being as though I never was rather than continue this facade

Existence in a body abused without pleasure,

A mind without independent thought, how can one measure?

A heart without love, or life without breath

A soul broken and bruised is worse than death

Let me go -be happy

Or if per chance during this thing

Some pleasure is found in my suffering

Just let me be

This misery cannot be my destiny

Let me go and be happy without you

Death can be sweet sometimes when colors are always blue

When life with someone is become so harsh and so bitter

I have given up trying to love even though I know I am no quitter

If continuing in this is proven to be my destiny

Then let me not continue to breathe just let me be

Let it not be too long

That I endure this life’s sad song

Let me go and be happy

This cannot be my destiny

Let me go -be happy

Or if per chance during this thing

Some pleasure is found in my suffering

Just let me be

This misery cannot be my destiny

Leave me alone and just let me be

Copyright 2006, by Arene

Technorati Tags: black love,black romance,black relationships,black women

Dr. Christopher Metzler Analyzes Recent Supreme Court Decision

by Dr. Christopher Metzler, Georgetown University

As we worried about whether Michelle Obama should have touched the Queen, whether Bo (the White House dog) will be as famous as Barney and whether Levi Johnson of Sara Plain fame practiced safe sex all of the time, the Supreme Court of the United States was wading into the racial water with an American public that is now ensconced into "post-racial" cocoon because of the election of Barack Obama.

This week the Roberts court heard the case of Ricci, ET Al. In this case, several white and one Latino firefighter in New Haven Connecticut asked the Court to decide whether the city violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the United States Constitution by throwing out a promotion test in which the plaintiffs but no blacks scored high enough to be promoted. The rather clinical legal questions are:

• Whether the city's failure to certify the results of promotional exams violated the disparate (or different) treatment provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Whether the city's failure to certify the results of the promotional exams also violated Title VII since Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to "adjust the scores of, use different cutoff scores for, or otherwise alter the results, of employment tests on the basis of race."
• Whether the city's failure to certify the results of the promotional examinations violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

As clinical as these legal question are, they have significant real life political ramifications. Although the plaintiffs in this case are firefighters, the decision will affect employment law, affirmative action, diversity and they way in which employers and others seek to remedy the lingering effects of discrimination. The reality is that not everyone believes that discrimination still occurs in America since slavery has been outlawed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been implemented and President Obama occupies the White House. Regardless of the position one takes on these issues, the significance of the Court's decision cannot be underestimated for many reasons, a few of which I have outlined below.

First, the Roberts court has not spoken on race in any significant way and is eager to do so. Of course, it is Justice Kennedy who will ultimately decide this case and both the liberal and conservative blocs of the Court will work to craft a decision which he can sign onto. The difficulty for the liberal wing of the Court is that this case is as much an ideological case as it is a legal one. Good old fashioned liberal ideology will require a decision which reaffirms the need for government to be zealous in forming race-conscious decisions. In order to uphold the city's decision, the liberal wing will have to convince Kennedy that the city's decision to refuse to certify the test results was based on the fact that the test impacted Black fire fighters negatively and worse because it ensured that none of them would be promoted.

Given that so many Americans now believe that the election of President Obama is proof that America is "race blind," this argument will run into political headwinds. The Court's decision will reveal whether it relies on the political or finally acknowledges that American legal decisions because of the ideological shift of the courts are both political and legal and thus not neutral.

Congress prohibits both disparate treatment (treating someone different because of race) and disparate impact (discrimination where an ostensibly neutral practice such as the test, disproportionately impacts a group because of race). The question is, how the Roberts Court views disparate impact since, in theory anyone who fails the test (be they Black, White, Asian or Latino cannot be promoted). The Roberts Court will have to judge both the theory of equality and the reality of inequality in an effort to reach a decision.

Second, one can only hope that the Court will not make a decision in which it instructs employers to avoid thinking about how employment related decisions can and do have racial implications as to do so will simply be as divorced from reality as anyone can be. Moreover, cities and states in the not so distant past denied Blacks the right to vote ostensibly not because they were Black but because they could not pass the "voter exam" or pay the poll tax. Thus, employers cannot craft anti-racist employment policies without first examining whether racial bias is embedded in supposedly neutral tests.

The conservative bloc of the court will argue that the City should not reward the black firefighters for failing the tests. They will posit that race has nothing to do with the test and that the tests are simply designed to promote the "most qualified" firefighters to the next level. To do so will require a through and sifting analysis of whether "most qualified" is a neutral term or whether it has cultural and racial implications. The conservative bloc will argue that qualifications are neutral and that valid tests, such as the one in question here, are an equalizer.

Of course, they would be hard pressed to prove the degree of rationality of the tests and its correlation of it to promotion. This wing then will rely on the rhetorical claim of equality in testing without examining the flaw in the rhetoric and the reality of a still racial America. The argument in sum is that the test cannot be discriminatory because employers no longer discriminate against Blacks. Thus, the firefighters failed the test not because of racial bias but because they are ill prepared to be leaders in the department.

Given the "post racial" hysteria that has enveloped this country, this may in fact be the winning argument. Thus, the Roberts Court may have political cover to issue a decision which elevates the theoretical rhetoric of equality in a substantively unequal America. The question then becomes whether Congress will have the fortitude to resolve the dilemma with the support of the President.

Dr. Christopher J. Metzler is associate dean at Georgetown University and the author of The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a Post-Racial America.

Technorati Tags: black news,black politics,black experts,black professors,african american professors

Maryland Professor Ronald Walters Writes about Obama’s Boycott of Racism Conference

by Dr. Ronald Walters, University of Maryland

I am missing something here.  President Barack Obama just went to Europe and Iraq and made speeches saying that he would be deferential to Communist China,  that he would meet without conditions with the leadership of Iran and that he wanted to open up a new relationship with the Islamic world.  Then he went to the Conference of the Americas in Trinidad and shook the hand of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who has said some devilish things about America and the Bush administration.  But the key issue that took the conference over was the American overture to Cuba to talk, in response to Raul Castro’s statement that he would talk with the U. S. and that everything would be on the table.  Moreover, the Obama administration has said that it wanted to open up a new chapter in its relationship with the United Nations.  To that end, it has appointed an African American  Ambassador and put in its application for a seat on the Human Rights Commission.  Against this background, the decision of the Obama administration not to go to the United Nations Conference On Racism in Geneva, Switzerland April 20-24 would appear to be a powerful refutation of this relatively liberal approach to the international community it has established.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: dr. ronald walters,black politics,african american politics,racism,barack obama

Nobel Prize Winner: Lynn Nottage

Stories of race and gender prevailed at this year's Pulitzer Prizes, with "Ruined," Lynn Nottage's harrowing tale of survival set against the backdrop of an African civil war, winning for drama Monday and books about slavery, civil rights and Andrew Jackson also receiving awards.

In a rare victory for the short story, Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge," a collection set in New England and linked by the forthright title character, a math teacher and general scold with an understanding heart. It was the first book of short stories to win since 2000 (Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies").

Three prize winners centered on racial history, from colonial times to the 20th century.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: lynn nottage,black news,african american news,black writers,african american writers

How Predatory Lending Works: Dr Boyce Watkins

 

Why Financial Predators Usually Have Black Prey

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.DrBoyceMoney.com

I talked to my good friend Ryan Mack, CEO of Optimum Capital Management, the other day. Ryan wrote an interesting piece about The Rushcard, a new prepaid debit card offered in a partnership between Russell Simmons and Unifund, a company that typically makes its money from bad debt collection. I read the piece curiously, as I have been learning how the Rushcard works, why it exists and who might benefit from the service. On the flip side, there is the larger concern that someone might be taking advantage of those who have the least access to capital, largely African Americans in poor communities.

The Rushcard is a prepaid banking card with no credit check that allows consumers to deposit their paychecks onto the card, as well as make purchases and withdrawals as if the card were a regular Visa. Russell (a self-proclaimed “philanthropist”, a title likely used to pre-empt any accusations of fraud or exploitation) also argues that the card helps marginalized Americans to seek out the American dream.

I didn’t know that the American dream was to hold a piece of plastic. Credit cards have created an infinite number of American nightmares as they tend to breed excessive consumption. But one can certainly argue that this card deals with one serious problem in the Black community: a lack of access to capital and banking services. Many people in urban America can’t get bank accounts. Many more have bad credit, can’t get rental cars or find themselves leaning toward check cashing services to liquidate their paychecks. Russell, “the philanthropist” has apparently taken it upon himself to solve this problem.

I can say, as a Finance Professor, that the Rushcard would likely not make money if it were not filling a critical need. The problem, however, is that those who “help” individuals in need may end up abusing their power. One can argue that a pimp is “helping” a young homeless girl by giving her a place to live. A loan shark can say that he is “helping” a family get the money they need by lending the funds at exorbitant interest rates. A man who sells water for $10 a sip is “helping” a man in the desert get what he needs to survive. So, there is a thin line between “helping” someone vs. exploiting a given need or weakness.

I became quite concerned when I saw the long list of complaints from those using the Rushcard. Those who wrote the comments I saw on a blog about the Rushcard seemed to have serious problems with the customer care behind the card. In his article, Ryan does an interesting comparison between the fees of the Rushcard vs. those of a typical Bank card:

Rushcard vs. Typical Bank Card
Activation Fee: Rushcard = $19.95 Typical Bank Card = Free
Convenience Fee: Rushcard = $1.00 Typical Bank Card = Free
ATM Cash Withdrawal: Rushcard = $1.95 Typical Bank Card = Free (At Branch)
ATM Balance Inquiry: Rushcard = $.50 Typical Bank Card = Free
Bill Payment: Rushcard = $1.00 Typical Bank Card = Free
Inactivity: Rushcard = $2.95 Typical Bank Card = Free
Refund of Rushcard/Bank Card via Check: Rushcard = $5.00 Typical Bank Card = Free

So, if these numbers are any indication, it appears that the Rushcard is not a very good investment. Most reviews that I’ve seen recommend against using the card, since it appears that users are paying a premium for the Baby Phat design on the front. What’s more disturbing about the Rushcard is that Russell does not seem to be nearly as determined to fulfill his role as a “philanthropist” when it comes to helping African Americans overcome the underlying cause of the very problems he claims to be fixing. As Ryan explained it, “It’s like telling someone with a cavity that they should chew with the other side of their mouth.” The Rushcard offers few options to help people repair their credit, and I have personally found most of Russell’s financial literacy initiatives to be quite limited in impact.

While we cannot blame Russell Simmons and others for profiting from the lack of financial literacy and access to capital in the Black community, there are things we can do to encourage Russell to do the right thing. First, the Obama administration can and should implement programs to help those with poor credit obtain bank accounts. Every American should have access to a bank account, and services such as direct deposit should not be a luxury. Secondly, the Banking industry should stop passing over profitable investment opportunities in the Black community. Perhaps if Russell had more competition, his fees might go down. Third, there is no greater cure for money problems than good old fashioned financial literacy. Most victims of financial exploitation are not even aware that the exploitation is taking place. Financial literacy should be taught in every public high school in America, since it might actually be the one class that students actually use.

Russell Simmons is not necessarily a philanthropist, but he is not the devil. He is merely a symbol of a larger problem. The problem requires long-term solutions, and a high cost piece of plastic is certainly not one of them.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He makes regular appearances in national media, including CNN, BET, ESPN, and CBS. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

Technorati Tags: black money,black wealth,black financial experts

Genma Holmes: Where did this Tea Party Come from?

Genma Holmes, YourBlackWorld.com

I attended several tea parties yesterday. An informed consumer makes a better a tax payer in my book. Paying taxes is not a Democrat or Republican issue to me. It is an issue that everyone in this country should be paying attention to, especially during this time of economic chaos. As I listened to the crowds yelling about the President, I think the message of why they were gathering in the first place was lost in the screaming.

One of the top grievances of the organizers was the hundreds of billions of dollars in recent taxpayer subsidies to automakers, banks and Wall Street investment giants. This was a grass roots movement that started in Tennessee. Many concerned citizens, black and white, red and yellow, were disgusted by executive bonuses and the lack of accountability to the taxpayers who are now "investors" in these global companies. Being investors in companies that many Americans do not consider good investments should have been a time for not only educating taxpayers but elected officials as well.

Click to read more from Genma Holmes and other Black authors.

 

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Dear Mr. President: What are you going to do for Black Males?

Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell

I applaud your recent creation of the White House Council on Women and Girls to help ensure we are treated equally in public policies, by employers and in every other aspect of American society. I must also urge, however, that you place a similar emphasis on men and boys, particularly young men of color, who face some of the steepest hurdles in American society.

The reasons cited in forming the new council are just -- throughout our nation's history women have often been treated as second-class citizens when it comes to earning a livelihood, climbing the corporate ladder and even exercising the delayed right to vote. Let us not forget that the Equal Rights Amendment was first drafted in 1923--and has yet to be ratified.

To be sure, the new council will focus attention on continuing the progress that has been made through the decades as women have crashed through the glass ceiling.

But I would argue that young men of color face even more daunting circumstances. Young men of color face challenges ranging from a justice system that disproportionately incarcerates them to media and entertainment industries quick to portray them as worthless, violent and criminal. Even before the recession, our young men of color faced a bleak job market where discrimination, globalization and structural change made it difficult for them to find good jobs and succeed in life. With the nation's economy in a tailspin, the unemployment of young men of color has been spiraling out of control.

Consider this sampling of data:

* High school graduation rates for males of color--African Americans (42.8 percent), Native American/Alaska Natives (47 percent) and Hispanics (48 percent)--are far lower than for whites (70.8 percent).
* Minority youths are disproportionately in the juvenile justice system: African Americans (1,004 per 100,000), American Indians (632 per 100,000) and Latinos (485 per 100,000) compared with whites (212 per 100,000).
* More than 29 percent of African-American boys who are 15-years-old today are likely to go to prison at some point in their lives, compared with 4.4 percent of white boys the same age.
* The mortality rate from homicide for African-American boys ages 15-17 is 34.4 per 100,000, compared with 2.4 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic white boys.

Click to read more from Dr. Treadwell and other Black scholars.

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New Book: Black Athletes Getting Used to Support Title IX

Dr. Billy Hawkins, University of Georgia

Excerpts from the forthcoming book – The New Plantation: The Internal Colonization of Black Male Athletes

It should not take a long stretch of the imagination to see how Black male athletes contribute significantly to the athletic labor class at predominantly White National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Institutions (PWI’s); thus, to the overall bottom-line of the revenue generated. Their presence as starters and their representation on the top football and basketball programs in the country speak volumes to PWI’s need for Black male athletes. Tables 1 &2 illustrate the contribution Black male athletes make for some of the top athletic programs in the nation.

Within this current economic configuration, another area to consider is the contribution Black male athletes are making towards “Title IX sports”[1]: those sports that are added to meet gender equity requirements, which undoubtedly are played mostly by White women (e.g. rifle, golf, equestrian, rowing, bowling, and lacrosse). According to Welch Suggs:

…Only 2.7 percent of women receiving scholarships to play all other sports at predominantly white colleges in Division I are black. Yet those are precisely the sports – golf, lacrosse, and soccer, as well as rowing – that colleges have been adding to comply with Title IX.[2]

Therefore, since Title IX has provided very limited opportunity for Black females but additional opportunities for White women to compete and Black male athletes make-up the greater percentage of the revenue generating sports that contribute to athletic departments’ revenue, and thus their ability to support these additional sports, a reoccurring historical relationship between the White female and Black male has been resurrected. I refer to this contribution and connection as the “Driving Miss Daisy” syndrome.

 

Click to read.

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Kevin Powell: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

Writer’s note:

Given all the hype and controversy around Chris Brown’s alleged beating of Rihanna, I feel compelled to post this essay I originally wrote in late 2007, so that some of us can have an honest jump off point to discuss male violence against females, to discuss the need for ownership of past pains and traumas, to discuss the critical importance of therapy and healing. Let us pray for Rihanna, first and foremost, because no one deserves to be beaten, or beaten up. No one. And let us also pray that Chris Brown gets the help he needs by way of long-term counseling and alternative definitions of manhood rooted in nonviolence, real love, and, alas, real peace. And let us not forget that Rihanna and Chris Brown happen to be major pop stars, hence all the media coverage, blogs, etc. Violence against women and girls happen every single day on this planet without any notice from most of us. Until we begin to address that hard fact, until we all, males and females alike, make a commitment to ending the conditions that create that destructive behavior in the first place, it will not end any time soon. There will be more Rihannas and more Chris Browns.

In my recent travels and political and community work and speeches around the country, it became so very obvious that many American males are unaware of the monumental problems of domestic violence and sexual assault, against women and girls, in our nation. This seems as good a time as any to address this urgent and overlooked issue. Why is it that so few of us actually think about violence against women and girls, or think that it’s our problem? Why do we go on believing it’s all good, even as our sisters, our mothers, and our daughters suffer and a growing number of us participate in the brutality of berating, beating, or killing our female counterparts?

All you have to do is scan the local newspapers or ask the right questions of your circle of friends, neighbors, or co-workers on a regular basis, and you’ll see and hear similar stories coming up again and again. There’s the horribly tragic case of Megan Williams, a 20-year-old West Virginia woman, who was kidnapped for several days. The woman's captors forced her to eat rat droppings, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her, a Black female, a racial slur, according to criminal complaints. They also poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet, and beat and sexually assaulted her during a span of about a week, the documents say. There’s the woman I knew, in Atlanta, Georgia, whose enraged husband pummeled her at home, stalked her at work and, finally, in a fit of fury, stabbed her to death as her six-year-old son watched in horror. There’s the woman from Minnesota, who showed up at a national male conference I organized a few months back with her two sons. She had heard about the conference through the media, and was essentially using the conference as a safe space away from her husband of fifteen years who, she said, savagely assaulted her throughout the entire marriage. The beatings were so bad, she said, both in front of her two boys and when she was alone with her husband that she had come to believe it was just a matter of time before her husband would end her life. She came to the conference out of desperation, because she felt all her pleas for help had fallen on deaf ears. There’s my friend from Brooklyn, New York who knew, even as a little boy, that his father was hurting his mother, but the grim reality of the situation did not hit home for him until, while playing in a courtyard beneath his housing development, he saw his mother thrown from their apartment window by his father. There’s my other friend from Indiana who grew up watching his father viciously kick his mother with his work boots, time and again, all the while angrily proclaiming that he was the man of the house, and that she needed to obey his orders.

Perhaps the most traumatic tale for me these past few years was the vile murder of Shani Baraka and her partner Rayshon Holmes in the summer of 2003. Shani, the daughter of eminent Newark, New Jersey poets and activists Amiri and Amina Baraka, had been living with her oldest sister, Wanda, part-time. Wanda was married to a man who was mad abusive—he was foul, vicious, dangerous. And it should be added that this man was “a community organizer.” Wanda tried, on a number of occasions, to get away from this man. She called the police several times, sought protection and a restraining order. But even after Wanda’s estranged husband had finally moved out, and after a restraining order was in place, he came back to terrorize his wife—twice. One time he threatened to kill her. Another time he tried to demolish the pool in the backyard, and Wanda’s car. The Baraka parents were understandably worried. Their oldest daughter was living as a victim of perpetual domestic violence, and their youngest daughter, a teacher, a girls’ basketball coach, and a role model for scores of inner city youth, was living under the same roof. Shani was warned, several times, to pack up her belongings and get away from that situation. Finally, Shani and Rayshon went, one sweltering August day, to retrieve the remainder of Shani’s possessions. Shani’s oldest sister was out of town, and it remains unclear, even now, if the estranged husband had already been there at his former home, forcibly, or if he had arrived after Shani and Rayshon. No matter. This much is true: he hated his wife Wanda and he hated Shani for being Wanda’s sister, and he hated Shani and Rayshon for being two women in love, for being lesbians. His revolver blew Shani away immediately. Dead. Next, there was an apparent struggle between Rayshon and this man. She was battered and bruised, then blown away as well. Gone. Just like that. Because I have known the Baraka family for years, this double murder was especially difficult to handle. It was the saddest funeral I have ever attended in my life. Two tiny women in two tiny caskets. I howled so hard and long that I doubled over in pain in the church pew and nearly fell to the floor beneath the pew in front of me.

Violence against women and girls knows no race, no color, no class background, no religion. It may be the husband or the fiancé, the grandfather or the father, the boyfriend or the lover, the son or the nephew, the neighbor or the co-worker. I cannot begin to tell you how many women—from preteens to senior citizens and multiple ages in between—have told me of their battering at the hands of a male, usually someone they knew very well, or what is commonly referred to as an intimate partner. Why have these women and girls shared these experiences with me, a man? I feel it is because, through the years, I have been brutally honest, in my writings and speeches and workshops, in admitting that the sort of abusive male they are describing, the type of man they are fleeing, the kind of man they’ve been getting those restraining orders against—was once me. Between the years 1987 and 1991 I was a very different kind of person, a very different kind of male. During that time frame I assaulted and or threatened four different young women. I was one of those typical American males: hyper-masculine, overly competitive, and drenched in the belief system that I could talk to women any way I felt, treat women any way I felt, with no repercussions whatsoever. As I sought therapy during and especially after that period, I came to realize that I and other males in this country treated women and girls in this dehumanizing way because somewhere along our journey we were told we could. It may have been in our households; it may have been on our block or in our neighborhoods; it may have been the numerous times these actions were reinforced for us in our favorite music, our favorite television programs, or our favorite films.

All these years later I feel, very strongly, that violence against women and girls is not going to end until we men and boys become active participants in the fight against such behavior. I recall those early years of feeling clueless when confronted—by both women and men—about my actions. This past life was brought back to me very recently when I met with a political associate who reminded me that he was, then and now, close friends with the last woman I assaulted. We, this political associate and I, had a very long and emotionally charged conversation about my past, about what I had done to his friend. We both had watery eyes by the time we were finished talking. It hurt me that this woman remains wounded by what I did in 1991, in spite of the fact that she accepted an apology from me around the year 2000. I left that meeting with pangs of guilt, and a deep sadness about the woman with whom I had lived for about a year.

Later that day, a few very close female friends reminded me of the work that some of us men had done, to begin to reconfigure how we define manhood, how some of us have been helping in the fight to end violence against women and girls. And those conversations led me to put on paper The Seven Steps For Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. These are the rules that I have followed for myself, and that I have shared with men and boys throughout America since the early 1990s:

1. Own the fact that you have made a very serious mistake, that you’ve committed an offense, whatever it is, against a woman or a girl. Denial, passing blame, and not taking full responsibility, is simply not acceptable.
2. Get help as quickly as you can in the form of counseling or therapy for your violent behavior. YOU must be willing to take this very necessary step. If you don’t know where to turn for help, I advise visiting the website www.menstoppingviolence.org, an important organization, based in Atlanta, that can give you a starting point and some suggestions. Also visit www.usdoj.gov/ovw/pledge.htm where you can find helpful information on what men and boys can do to get help for themselves. Get your hands on and watch Aishah Shahidah Simmons’ critically important documentary film NO! as soon as you are able. You can order it at www.notherapedocumentary.org. NO! is, specifically, about the history of rape and sexual assault in Black America, but that film has made its way around the globe and from that very specific narrative comes some very hard and real truths about male violence against females that is universal, that applies to us all, regardless of our race or culture. Also get a copy of Byron Hurt’s Beyond Beats and Rhymes, perhaps the most important documentary film ever made about the relationship between American popular culture and American manhood. Don’t just watch these films, watch them with other men, and watch them with an eye toward critical thinking, healing, and growth, even if they make you angry or very comfortable. And although it may be difficult and painful, you must be willing to dig into your past, into the family and environment you’ve come from, to begin to understand the root causes of your violent behavior. For me that meant acknowledging the fact that, beginning in the home with my young single mother, and continuing through what I encountered on the streets or navigated in the parks and the schoolyards, was the attitude that violence was how every single conflict should be dealt with. More often than not, this violence was tied to a false sense of power, of being in control. Of course the opposite is the reality: violence towards women has everything to do with powerlessness and being completely out of control. Also, we need to be clear that some men simply hate or have a very low regard for women and girls. Some of us, like me, were the victims of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse at the hands of mothers who had been completely dissed by our fathers, so we caught the brunt of our mothers’ hurt and anger. Some of us were abandoned by our mothers. Some of us were sexually assaulted by our mothers or other women in our lives as boys. Some of us watched our fathers or other men terrorize our mothers, batter our mothers, abuse our mothers, and we simply grew up thinking that that male-female dynamic was the norm. Whatever the case may be, part of that “getting help” must involve the word forgiveness. Forgiveness of ourselves for our inhuman behavioral patterns and attitudes, and forgiveness of any female who we feel has wronged us at some point in our lives. Yes, my mother did hurt me as a child but as an adult I had to realize I was acting out that hurt with the women I was encountering. I had to forgive my mother, over a period of time, with the help of counseling and a heavy dose of soul-searching to understand who she was, as well as the world that created her. And I had to acknowledge that one woman’s actions should not justify a lifetime of backward and destructive reactions to women and girls. And, most importantly, we must have the courage to apologize to any female we have wronged. Ask for her forgiveness, and accept the fact that she may not be open to your apology. That is her right.
3. Learn to listen to the voices of women and girls. And once we learn how to listen, we must truly hear their concerns, their hopes and their fears. Given that America was founded on sexism—on the belief system of male dominance and privilege—as much as it was founded on the belief systems of racism and classism, all of us are raised and socialized to believe that women and girls are unequal to men and boys, that they are nothing more than mothers, lovers, or sexual objects, that it is okay to call them names, to touch them without their permission, to be violent toward them physically, emotionally, spiritually—or all of the above. This mindset, unfortunately, is reinforced in much of our educational curriculum, from preschool right through college, through the popular culture we digest every single day through music, sports, books, films, and the internet, and through our male peers who often do not know any better either—because they had not learned to listen to women’s voices either. For me that meant owning the fact that throughout my years of college, for example, I never read more than a book or two by women writers. Or that I never really paid attention to the stories of the women in my family, in my community, to female friends, colleagues, and lovers who, unbeknownst to me, had been the victims of violence at some point in their lives. So when I began to listen to and absorb the voices, the stories, and the ideas of women like Pearl Cleage, Gloria Steinem, bell hooks, Alice Walker, of the housekeeper, of the hair stylist, of the receptionist, of the school crossing guard, of the nurse’s aid, and many others, it was nothing short of liberating, to me. Terribly difficult for me as a man, yes, because it was forcing me to rethink everything I once believed. But I really had no other choice but to listen if I was serious about healing. And if I was serious about my own personal growth. It all begins with a very simple question we males should ask each and every woman in our lives: Have you ever been physically abused or battered by a man?
4. To paraphrase Gandhi, make a conscious decision to be the change we need to see. Question where and how you’ve received your definitions of manhood to this point. This is not easy as a man in a male-dominated society because it means you have to question every single privilege men have vis-à-vis women. It means that you might have to give up something or some things that have historically benefited you because of your gender. And people who are privileged, who are in positions of power, are seldom willing to give up that privilege or power. But we must, because the alternative is to continue to hear stories of women and girls being beaten, raped, or murdered by some male in their environment, be it the college campus, the inner city, the church, or corporate America. And we men and boys need to come to a realization that sexism—the belief that women and girls are inferior to men and boys, that this really is a man’s world, and the female is just here to serve our needs regardless of how we treat them—is as destructive to ourselves as it is to women and girls. As I’ve said in many speeches through the years, even if you are not the kind of man who would ever yell at a woman, curse at a woman, touch a woman in a public or private space without her permission, hit or beat a woman, much less kill a woman—you are just as guilty if you see other men and boys doing these things and you say or do nothing to stop them.
5. Become a consistent and reliable male ally to women and girls. More of us men and boys need to take public stands in opposition to violence against women and girls. That means we cannot be afraid to be the only male speaking out against such an injustice. It also means that no matter what kind of male you are, working-class or middle-class or super-wealthy, no matter what race, no matter what educational background, and so on, that you can begin to use language that supports and affirms the lives and humanity of women and girls. You can actually be friends with females, and not merely view them as sexual partners to be conquered. Stop saying “boys will be boys” when you see male children fighting or being aggressive or acting up. Do not sexually harass women you work with then try to brush it off if a woman challenges you on the harassment. If you can't get over a breakup, get counseling. As a male ally, help women friends leave bad or abusive relationships. Do not criticize economically independent women because this independence helps free them in many cases from staying in abusive situations. Donate money, food, or clothing to battered women's shelters or other women's causes. Do not ever respond to a female friend with “Oh you're just an angry woman.” This diminishes the real criticisms women may have about their male partners. American male voices I greatly admire, who also put forth suggestions for what we men and boys can do to be allies to women and girls, include Michael Kimmel, Jackson Katz, Charles Knight, Mark Anthony Neal, Jelani Cobb, Charlie Braxton, and Byron Hurt. Of course standing up for anything carries risks. You may—as I have—find things that you say and do taken out of context, misunderstood or misinterpreted, maligned and attacked, dismissed, or just outright ignored. But you have to do it anyway because you never know how the essay or book you’ve written, the speech or workshop you’ve led, or just the one-on-one conversations you’ve had, might impact on the life of someone who’s struggling for help. I will give two examples: A few years back, after giving a lecture at an elite East Coast college, I noticed a young woman milling about as I was signing books and shaking hands. I could see that she wanted to talk with me, but I had no idea the gravity of her situation. Once the room had virtually cleared out, this 17-year-old first-year student proceeded to tell me that her pastor had been having sex with her since the time she was four, and had been physically and emotionally violent toward her on a number of occasions. Suffice to say, I was floored. This young woman was badly in need of help. I quickly alerted school administrators who pledged to assist her, and I followed up to make sure that they did. But what if I had not made a conscious decision to talk about sexism and violence against women and girls, in every single speech I gave—regardless of the topic? This young woman might not have felt comfortable enough to open up to me about such a deeply personal pain. My other example involves a young male to whom I have been a mentor for the past few years. He is incredibly brilliant and talented, but, like me, comes from a dysfunctional home, has had serious anger issues, and, also like me, has had to work through painful feelings of abandonment as a result of his absent father. This, unfortunately, is a perfect recipe for disaster in a relationship with a woman. True to form, this young man was going through turbulent times with a woman he both loved and resented. His relationship with the young woman may have been the first time in his 20-something life he’d ever felt deep affection for another being. But he felt resentment because he could not stomach—despite his declarations otherwise—the fact that this woman had the audacity to challenge him about his anger, his attitude, and his behavior toward her. So she left him, cut him off, and he confessed to me that he wanted to hit her. In his mind, she was dissin’ him. I was honestly stunned because I thought I knew this young man fairly well, but here he was, feeling completely powerless while thoughts of committing violence against this woman bombarded his mind and spirit. We had a long conversation, over the course of a few days, and, thank God, he eventually accepted the fact that his relationship with this woman was over. He also began to seek help for his anger, his feelings of abandonment, and all the long-repressed childhood hurts that had nothing to do with this woman, but everything to do with how he had treated her. But what if he did not have somebody to turn to when he needed help? What if he’d become yet another man lurking at his ex’s job or place of residence, who saw in his ability to terrorize that woman some twisted form of power?
6. Challenge other males about their physical, emotional, and spiritual violence towards women and girls. Again, this is not a popular thing to do, especially when so many men and boys do not even believe that there is a gender violence problem in America. But challenge we must when we hear about abusive or destructive behavior being committed by our friends or peers. I have to say I really respect the aforementioned political associate who looked me straight in the eyes, 16 long years after I pushed his close female friend and my ex-girlfriend into a bathroom door, and asked me why I did what I did, and, essentially, why he should work with me all these years later? American males don’t often have these kinds of difficult but necessary conversations with each other. But his point was that he needed to understand what had happened, what work I had done to prevent that kind of behavior from happening again, and why I had committed such an act in the first place. Just for the record: No, it has not happened since, and no, it never will again. But I respect the fact that, in spite of my being very honest about past behavior, that women and men and girls and boys of diverse backgrounds have felt compelled to ask hard questions, to challenge me after hearing me speak, after reading one of my essays about sexism and redefining American manhood. We must ask and answer some hard questions. This also means that we need to challenge those men—as I was forced to do twice in the past week—who bring up the fact that some males are the victims of domestic violence at the hands of females. While this may be true in a few cases (and I do know some men who have been attacked or beaten by women), there is not even a remote comparison between the number of women who are battered and murdered on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis in America and the number of men who suffer the same fate at the hands of women. Second, we men need to understand that we cannot just use our maleness to switch the dialogue away from the very real concerns of women to what men are suffering, or what we perceive men to be suffering. That’s what step number three in the seven steps to ending violence against women and girls is all about. So many of us American males have such a distorted definition of manhood that we don’t even have the basic respect to listen to women’s voices when they talk about violence and abuse, without becoming uncomfortable, without becoming defensive, without feeling the need to bring the conversation, the dialogue, to us and our needs and our concerns, as if the needs and concerns of women and girls do not matter.
7. Create a new kind of man, a new kind of boy. Violence against women and girls will never end if we males continue to live according to definitions of self that are rooted in violence, domination, and sexism. I have been saying for the past few years that more American males have got to make a conscious decision to redefine who we are, to look ourselves in the mirror and ask where we got these definitions of manhood and masculinity, to which we cling so tightly. Who do these definitions benefit and whom do they hurt? Who said manhood has to be connected to violence, competition, ego, and the inability to express ourselves? And while we’re asking questions, we need to thoroughly question the heroes we worship, too. How can we continue to salute Bill Clinton as a great president yet never ask why he has never taken full ownership for the numerous sexual indiscretions he has committed during his long marriage to Senator Hillary Clinton? How can we in the hip-hop nation continue to blindly idolize Tupac Shakur (whom I interviewed numerous times while working at Vibe, and whom I loved like a brother) but never question how he could celebrate women in songs like “Keep Ya Head Up?” and “Dear Mama,” on the one hand, but completely denigrate women in songs like “Wonda Y They Call U Bitch”? What I am saying is that as we examine and struggle to redefine ourselves as men, we also have to make a commitment to questioning the manifestations of sexism all around us. If we fail to do so, if we do not begin to ask males, on a regular basis, why we refer to women and girls with despicable words, why we talk about women and girls as if they are nothing more than playthings, why we think its cool to “slap a woman around,” why we don’t think the rape, torture, and kidnap of Megan Williams in West Virginia should matter to us as much as the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, then the beginning of the end of violence against women and girls will be a long time coming.

Kevin Powell is a writer, activist, and author or editor of 9 books. A native of Jersey City, NJ, Kevin is a long-time resident of Brooklyn, NY, where he ran for Congress in 2008. He can be reached at kevin@kevinpowell.net.

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African American Love at Valentine’s Day – A Black Man’s Definition

Brought to you by The Great Black Speakers Bureau - The #1 Black Speakers Bureau in the world.

To get financial advice from Dr. Boyce, please visit www.DrBoyceMoney.com.  To see video commentary from Dr. Boyce, please click here.

Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

FYI: I should be on the NPR show "Tell Me More with Michel Martin", a journalist for whom I have tremendous respect.  We recorded today with Shelby Steele, a conservative scholar out at Stanford and another scholar named Jon Powell, at Ohio State.  The conversation is interesting, and I recommend you give it a listen.  You can learn more about the show at this link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/.

I also got another call yesterday from "The Big O"...yes, you know who I am talking about.  Apparently, there is some interest in my Financial Lovemaking Book.  I'll keep you posted on that one, since I am not 100% sure if my demographic matches that of the Great Ms. Winfrey.  While I feel that Financial Lovemaking can work well for her audience, my alignment with the hip hop community may make for an awkward fit.  The fact that I engage in critical analysis (meaning that no one is 100% good or 100% bad) means that I sometimes make enemies in this game because of my refusal to kiss anyone's butt too much.  But I do give respect where it is due, and I consider Oprah to be an amazing role model for all of us.  The same goes for President Obama. 

In light of the fact that Valentine’s Day is coming, I was thinking about the whole idea of love.  I must also admit that I thought about love when I noticed the singer Chris Brown might have ruined his career in this mad situation with Rihanna (apparently, there may be some abuse in that relationship, I’m not sure).  Either way, I think that anyone who has been young and in a relationship understands how stupid and crazy things can happen.  I’ve never considered Chris Brown to be a bad person.  But he may have done a bad thing.

Seeing the huge loss that these two young people may have imposed on their lives (Chris and Rihanna), led me to reflect on love and what it means to me.  Here is my personal perspective on love….love it or hate it (haha).

What Love Should and Should Not Be

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

I’ve lived a bit of life and made my share of mistakes.  But as a professor, I am trained to learn from poor choices and grow from them.  Most processes have a purpose and a pattern.  If you think hard enough and honestly confront your failures, triumphs and observations, you can usually walk away with a bit of insight.  The term “No pain, no gain”, can certainly be applied in the game of love, and I intend to gain from my own personal portfolio of blissful heartache.

So, I’ve come up with some “Rules of Love” out of respect for Valentine’s Day.  It’s not scientific and not a fit for everyone.  But it comes from the head, the heart and all the other body parts I can’t mention in this article.  So, at least you know it’s sincere.

Love should be RESPECTED: One of the silliest things I see in some relationships is that people seem to be most interested in chasing the person who loves them the least, while kicking their greatest admirers to the curb.  They choose the best option they can GET instead of the best option they’ve already GOT.  There is something that people love about a challenge.  It can be a natural instinct to equate kindness with weakness and easy access with a lack of value. Many of us are guilty of crying over the person who ignores us and ignoring the person who cries for us.  Someone who gives you their heart can also take it away, so we must respect those who’ve truly earned it.

Love should be EXPECTED:   Part of the reason that some of us spend our time chasing the loser who doesn’t love us is because deep down, we feel that someone who cares for us must be flawed or unworthy of our time.  On the other hand, it is easy to feel sorry for yourself when you see that the one you usually want doesn’t want you back.  The truth of the matter is that if someone disrespects the appreciation you are showing toward them, then they don’t deserve your love anyway.  You should love yourself enough to walk away from those who choose not to treat you as you deserve to be treated.

Love should be given to YOURSELF: Part of demanding the love that you deserve is engaging in the difficult art of SELF LOVE.  Many times, we look in the emotional mirror and see blemishes, flaws, faults, mistakes and the ugliest sides of who we are.   Rather than greeting the world with our heads held high, we keep our heads down and hope no one notices that we are not as good as everyone else.  Loving yourself is similar to learning to love another person:  there is a point where you must simply accept the flaws.   You must realize that you are no more defective and no more perfect than everyone else, and that you too deserve to be happy.  If you can’t love yourself, then it’s damn near impossible to truly love someone else, since you are only offering them what you perceive to be damaged goods.

Love is meant to be CELEBRATED:  I’ve admittedly never been able to fully grasp the concept of homosexuality, but I’ve never had a problem with gay marriage.  One thing I believe is that love was created by GOD: that includes love between a man and a woman, a man and a man or a woman and a woman.  There should not be religious, social or racial boundaries imposed on meaningful love, for we do not get to choose the shape, size or complexion of the package.  When God blesses someone with such a powerful connection, this love should be celebrated by all of us and not judged or held in contempt.   Melting someone’s halo of happiness by dousing it with a flood of hate is a counter-productive use of our time and a wasteful spiritual endeavor. 

Valentine’s Day is meant to be YEAR ROUND:  You should not need a special holiday to show someone you love them.  You should tell them something good, positive, and affirming every time you see them, because this will make that person feel good.  You should not need corporate America’s permission and some hyper-commercialized holiday as your excuse to show affection.   I encourage you to say ten nice things per day to people you care about, which may include complimenting them on their clothes, their hair, their personality, their beauty or their presence.  It will make them feel good and leave a lasting psychological impact.  Our words are “emotional money” and we should be consistently making donations.

Love should be REFLECTIVE:  The hardest way to get what you want is to selfishly pursue it, take it or relentlessly absorb it.  That’s like waiting for your paycheck and never showing up for work.  If you are in a truly loving situation, you get what you want by REFLECTING IT.   If you WANT more success out of life, you GIVE more hard work.  If you WANT better grades, you GIVE more time to the library.  If you WANT more appreciation from your partner, you GIVE more attention and affection.  If you choose to share your love with someone who deserves it, then they will give the love right back to you, with interest.  Like a healthy economy, the cycle will become recursive and productive trade increases the value of each partner’s “Life Portfolio”.   In pleasure, pain and everything in between, to get more, you must give more.  You must also make payments in the currency deemed most valuable to your partner.  There’s no way around that fact.

Love should be PRACTICED:  Love is not just a feeling, an emotion, a whim or something that makes your skin shiver.  Loving someone is a DELIBERATE ACT and a series of habits designed to sustain and maintain the relationship you have with one another.  The work of the greatest writers in history was not always driven by inspiration and a desire to write…..sometimes, it was the act of sitting down each day and forcing themselves to write which eventually inspired them to do their greatest work.  In other words, love is a series of proactive habits, choices and behaviors that correlate with your desire to have a meaningful and stable relationship with another person.  It’s not something you just randomly “fall into” and “out of”…..it is something you choose to do.

Love should be CONTEMPLATED: When it comes to dating, I tell my daughter and God daughters the following: “If a man is not someone you can see raising your children, then don’t even go out on the first date.”  They look at me like I’m crazy, but the point is simple:  While you cannot easily choose to release yourself from the psychological grips of love, you have some ability to choose who you are going to fall in love with in the beginning.  Most of us don’t meet someone and decide that we are going to be with this person for years.  There is always the first glance, the first date, the first kiss, the first touch, and before you know it, you’re stuck in a situation that doesn’t make any sense to you.  So, if you don’t start with point A, you can never reach point Z.  This makes the most sense when you can see that point Z is not the place you want to visit with this particular person.

Love should be REMEMBERED: A big challenge for many young or single people (and even those who are married) is that we spend our time chasing the love and affection that is most intriguing to our hormones, while ignoring the love that is most tried and true.  A man might spend hours on the phone with a pretty lady who doesn’t even like him, but simultaneously ignore his grandmother who would gladly give her life for him.  Valentine’s Day is not just the day you send “sweets to your sweetie”.  It is also the day you shower love on your mother, brother, sister, father, best friend, homeboy, children, grand parents and all the people who will love you long after your sweetie has become sweet on someone else.   In the city of love, new buildings are shiniest and most appealing.  But the older buildings are the sturdiest and most enduring.  

Love is LIFE:  Not only does the act of love create and sustain life, it is also the greatest part of our journey through life.  We may or may not remember or be inspired by our professional or educational achievements, but we have an immediate and powerful emotional reaction when we reflect on the love we’ve experienced over the years.  Thinking about children, family or ex-lovers can create an emotional response that can’t be matched by a corporate job or advanced degree.  I tell my students that one of the most important decisions they will ever make is who they choose to spend their lives with.  I’ve seen many people drive themselves down the path to hell by choosing to share their love with someone who deserves it the least.  Like the most amazing roller coaster, the journey of love is long, complicated, exciting, scary and fulfilling.  So, while we’re on this journey, we should make sure we turn on the GPS.

Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope this day inspires you to find the love that exists in your life.  It’s all around you if you learn to look for it.  Even in an economy like this one, the love in your life can make you a billionaire. 

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University.  For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.    

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Your Black World: White Liberals Scold Obama… But Come Off Cynical & Hypocritical

White Liberals Scold Obama… But Come Off Cynical & Hypocritical
By: Tolu Olorunda
Reprinted From Dissident Voice

I think that I have the capacity to get people to recognize themselves in each other. I think that I have the ability to make people get beyond some of the divisions that plague our society… [D]uring my younger days when I was tempted by, you know, sort of more radical or left wing politics, there was a part of me that always was a little bit conservative in that sense; that believes… [in] recognizing everybody’s concerns, seeing other people’s points of views and then making decisions.

– Barack Obama on ABC’s This Week

In the wake of President-Elect Obama’s recent cabinet-appointments, many white liberals have taken it upon themselves to release pent-up aggression at a man they thought was the “progressive” candidate he had earlier claimed to be.. As they saw it, Obama had “betrayed” the loyalty that earned him victory. As a sort of catharsis, railing Obama’s reputation over the coals of indignation could make them feel better about their decision to elect a man who promised virtually nothing (of substance) in his bid for the presidency. White liberals, especially, have had to learn so much, in the last 1 month, about the man whose political dirty-laundry was never hidden from the public to begin with.

In a highly predictable move, they have sought to bash everything Obama, or Obama-like, and couch their frustration in the ‘eloquence,’ and ‘con-artistry’ of Obama. Spare me the misplaced aggravation. One of such liberals is writer and activist, James Petras who went as far as suggesting that no progressive organization or publication held Obama’s feet to the fire during the presidential campaign. Petras believes that, to guarantee John McCain a loss, every progressive and leftist news site accommodated and encouraged Obama’s sophistry, as he clinched victory into becoming the “greatest con-man in recent history.” As Petras tells it, “The entire political spectrum ranging from the ‘libertarian’ left, through the progressive editors of the Nation to the entire far right neo-con/Zionist war party and free market Berkeley/Chicago/Harvard academics, with a single voice, hailed the election of Barack Obama as a ‘historic moment’, a ‘turning point in American history and other such histrionics.” This is stunning because “self-opiated ‘progressives,’ who” once operated as the conscience of the Democratic Party, saw no wrongdoing in concocting “arguments in his [Obama] favor,” – long as it ultimately garnered Obama victory.

It is unclear whether Mr. Petras is engaging in grand-delusion. In the course of the ’08 presidential race, countless “progressive” publications never let a second slip-by without heaping fact-based criticism on the Obama campaign staff, and the candidate it worked for. Perusing the pages of Black Agenda Report and Black Commentator solves the puzzle. Black Agenda Report, notoriously known for its constructive criticism – characterized by some as, “attacks” – of Obama, must have mysteriously slipped Petras’ memory, as he proclaimed the progressive community to have cheerled Obama into victory. Another Black progressive publication, which I write for, BlackCommentator.com was unrelenting in its undressing of President-Elect Obama, as the tiresome 22-month long campaign drained the blood of reasoning from, otherwise, radically-inclined liberals, leftists, and progressives – most especially Black ones. At Black Commentator, readers were left to juggle between the biting commentaries of Cynthia McKinney-supporters, such as Larry Pinkney, Dr. Lenore Daniels, Tolu Olorunda (myself), etc., and the discontent Obama-supporters, such as Bill Fletcher Jr., Reverend Irene Monroe, David A. Love, etc., expressed on a weekly basis. How Black progressive voices became muted in Petras’ reproof of the progressive bloc is not a surprise to this writer..

Black progressives have always maintained an impeccable legacy of critical opposition to empire – in whatever form it comes in. Whether it was Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, or Clarence Thomas, Black progressives have remained unbridled in their remonstrations against White power in Black face. Yet, the liberal wing of the American political system has never appreciated, nor accepted, their moral leadership. This reality is validated in the leadership of most unions, non-profits, and left-inclined political organizations. The membership might be disproportionately Black and Brown, but the management, mostly, retains a White identity.

Whilst Black progressives sought to rip the mask off of Barack Obama, in an attempt to unveil his true identity, we were deemed ‘Obama-haters,’ whose egos sought to stifle the chances of a Black man making history. The same white liberals, who now find no progressive solace in Obama’s unfolding cabinet, told Black progressives to be quiet, and “wait till he gets in first.” This logic of reprimanding Black souls to be silent, and reserved, dates back to the era of slavery, with pretentious white liberals, presented as abolitionists, urging Black slaves to fight for more substantial accumulations, other than freedom. “Higher wages,” “better treatment,” and other silly calculations were exalted above the pedestal of liberation. As it was then, so it is now. At a time when the inconvenient truth stares White liberals in the face, they seek to put the blame, instead, on a Black man who bathed them in his eloquent and rhetorical oceans. With this outburst of disillusionment, what most disturbs Black progressives, such as myself, is the reality that every disappointing appointment, by the President-Elect, was foreseeable a million miles away.

From the selection of pro-war Zionist, Rahm Emmanuel; to the hawkish center-right triangulator, Hillary Rodham Clinton; to the grossly incompetent hoop-star, Arne Duncan; to Monsanto-shill Tom Vilsack; to religious-right ideologue Rick Warren, the inevitability stands out.

Since clinching the Democratic Party nomination – but really dating back to his Senate career – President-Elect Obama had dropped countless hints about the administration he planned to oversee. As a strong believer in bipartisanship, Obama had pledged to welcome voices, opinions and characters he ‘disagreed with.’ Most white liberals, instead of questioning this logic, played along with his divine call for “unity.” As one who could “bring together” all factions of society, and heal the “racial wounds” that “divide” us, it was only a matter of time before Obama was perceived as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Though voting repeatedly for an extension of the Iraq war, whilst a Senator, white liberals convinced themselves that he was more than willing to end the war in 2 years, as he had promised – or not.

While most White liberals were foaming at the mouth, many Black and Brown progressives sought to expose Obama as the unraveling of a hip, cool, and sexy imperialist-to-be. An example is L.A.-based writer and editor Juan Santos, whose phenomenal piece, titled “Barack Obama and the ‘End’ of Racism” (Feb. ’08), put to bed all claims to a war-ending-peacenik-post-racial-uniter – in the personage of Barack Obama. Santos captures the Obama personality with exceptionality: “Obama plays the role of a Black Cinderella. He does for Black folks what Cinderella does for girls. He shows that oppression and silence can be good for you – at least if you are the one the prince chooses, or if you are the one who gets to be the prince. It’s total fantasy… Obama, with his extraordinary intelligence and presence (by any standard), is, in the eyes of white Amerikkka, (and, according to the standards of the so-called “Enlightenment,” which still rule the thinking of Euro-Americans) the half-white, and thus, half-redeemed “Black savage” – “redeemed” by his “white blood”, “civilized” by it - redeemed by his relative whiteness- ultimately redeemed and refined by the white nation itself… Obama knows the rules of the game, after all - he is the rules of the new race game- his candidacy itself is a manifestation of the new system of racism.”

The problem with white-liberalism, and its inability to render deserved criticism, while it mattered, lies in the inherent non-identity of its political philosophy. White-liberalism is structured around celebrity, popularity and majority – Democracy? It blows with the cultural and political tide. Whilst it was convenient, and even expedient, to embrace Obama’s candidacy as the “dawn” of a new political paradigm, white liberals flocked with endorsement of this “charismatic,” and “new” Black politician, who doesn’t see Race or color. He was, in their imagination, the manifestation of Dr. King’s dream. Not the Dr. King who grew into consciousness from 1965-1968, but the “I Have a Dream” Dr. King, but the Dr. King who wouldn’t dare say that, many in “the white community” feel the Civil Rights movement “should slow up and just be nice and patient and continue to pray, and in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out because only time can solve the problem;” not the Dr. King who incinerated the petty belief that “integration” is “merely a romantic or aesthetic something where you merely add color to a still predominantly white power structure.” This belief that Obama is the birth child of ‘the other’ Dr. King’s dream, led White liberals into missing the point on Obama. Having been taking for a ride by the Obama campaign, they now feel the need to justify their gullibility with the infantile defense that Obama had misled them into thinking differently about his potential as a progressive president.

While some see latent value in the recent outrage surrounding Obama’s cabinet-picks, I’m not as convinced that disorganized screams are the keys to steering the wheels of the Obama administration in a progressive direction. With self-proclaimed “progressives,” such as cable-news host Keith Olbermann, ascribing unconditional praise to the grave of Mark Felt, otherwise known as “Deep throat,” without mentioning his supreme role in the formulation of COINTELPRO, it’s clear that White liberals still have a lot to learn.

Your Black World: "Reggie Wakes Up"

Book Review of "Reggie Wakes Up"
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com
Reprinted From Black Commentator

“Under the FUBU is a guru, that’s untapped...”

-Hip-Hop artist, Common, The 6th Sense.

With the recent victory of President-Elect Obama, many have speculated a change of attitude in young black men, vis-à-vis the thirst for educational prowess. Whilst this prediction does seem, by all measures, accurately reflective of the lingering emotion within Black circles, some have suggested the need for a handbook of sorts, as necessary in guiding Black students, male and female, toward a more promising future. Of such is Zekita Tucker, a St. Louis author and publisher, whose advocacy for Black students builds on the legacies established by W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Janice Hale, etc. Zekita Tucker, of fame “Don't Call Me Nigga,” has a new book out titled, “Reggie Wakes Up.”

Reggie Wakes Up is a blueprint for teachers and students alike – with an emphasis on public schools. In a moment when numerous questions abound, concerning the fulfillment of a Black presidency, Ms. Tucker has provided some suitable and reliable answers, in dealing with Black students. Meant for ages 8 and up, Reggie Wakes Up takes a hard look into the public school system, and its effects on the psyche of Black students. Though written in simplified terms, and intended for a young readership, Zekita Tucker takes into strong consideration the impact teachers have on their students. With subtle advice for tutors confused about their role(s) in the education relationship, Ms. Tucker has written and published a great resource for combating the sleeping giant of black academic inferiority in the public and private school systems.

Reggie, the book’s main character, is presented as a representation of young black masculinity in society. With a clear overdose on commercial Hip-Hop and other forms of mindless entertainment, Reggie’s view of life is infinitely limited to the Black characters he sees repeatedly on TV, and hears on the radio. With a nickname of “Dolla,” Reggie’s outlook is blurred by the pursuit of temporary pleasure, and endless gains. As he strolls late into class, Reggie feels at home in a classroom filled by nonchalant and directionless students. Prompted by Ms. Roberts (his 6th grade teacher) to take off his hat, Reggie refuses as he furthermore declines the offer to pay close attention to her subsequent demands.

In public schools across the country, marred by unenthusiastic, frustrated, ill-equipped and financially-challenged instructors, most similar scenarios unveil an all-too-familiar ending: The protagonist gets suspended, the rest of the class revolts, teacher takes leave of absence, less-enthused substitute teacher is hired, and the vicious cycle repeats itself – until each student has been suspended, or placed in detention, at least once. In this case, however, Ms. Roberts lays out a manuscript for future, and present, inner-city school teachers.

“Going rogue,” as it’s colloquially known, she employs some creativity in engaging her increasingly lifeless classroom. “How many of you would like to be important in your community and make lots of money?” she asks. At this point, every hand goes up. Leading through a series of succeeding questions, she stumbles while inquiring how many of her students “want to study hard, focus and go to college or university.” Puzzled by the intense decline in enthusiasm, as expressed by her students, in pursuing some form of advanced education, Ms. Roberts curiously inquires what each student foresees as a successful future, devoid of any substantive engagement with education. In a highly predictable move, the words “model,” “go ‘pro’ (baller),” and “rapper,” swing high from the lips of her students.

Those who have struggled for many years with the hoop/mic-dreams of younger Black males/females understand the dire need for, as Dr. King might put it, a revolution of values in the younger generation. The psychological warfare waged by big-media companies against the mental-fiber of Black children is bearing poisoned fruits, as more, and more, Black kids see no future worthy of aspiration, beyond the entertainment realm. For a disturbing number of Black younger adults, a deliberate avoidance of critical interaction with intellectual stimulation is a viable route toward financial empowerment.

Aware of this trend, Ms. Roberts, a diligent, skilled and empathetic tutor, enlightens her students on the powerlessness of most Black entertainers: “...I’m sure that those things probably look really good and make life seem much easier than it really is,” she says, “but why not start a business or choose a career that will give you the money that you want and some form of power?” With a look of bewilderment overwhelming her students, leading one to ask if “money doesn’t,” ultimately, “give them [Black entertainers] power,” Ms. Roberts explains that the ones who “seek them out to do those jobs for entertainment” are the characters with “real power.” This foreign language, of empowerment beyond entertainment, is carried on as Ms. Roberts informs her students that “the people who control TV, politics, and big companies… decide on how things… work.” Ms. Roberts advises that to “break” this “cycle… of bad habits,” it’s “important” to begin the process of mastering education as a weapon for liberation.

What the fictional Ms. Roberts understands, which many inner-city tutors sadly struggle with, is the degree to which the educational system, as it stands today, works in harmony with enemies of Black advancement. Inner-city Educo has lost its inspiration “to draw out” passions for greatness in younger Black students. Ms. Roberts is aware of the necessity for a re-education, within the education paradigm, to take place – if a future of possibilities is to be unraveled in the next generation. As the Hip-Hop artist Nas, remarked earlier this year, in a song titled N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and The Master), from his controversial album Untitled, “They say we N - I - Double G - E – R/ We - are - much more/ Still we choose to ignore/ The obvious/ Man, this history don't acknowledge us/ We was scholars long before colleges.”/ It goes without saying that the Eurocentric educational model is a misfit for most Black students.

With the attention span of her students at an unprecedented high, Ms. Roberts snags the opportunity to inspire her students toward becoming marathon runners in the seemingly endless race for educational excellence in the Black Community. Ms. Roberts confirms the potential for distinction in her once-nonchalant pupils: “Even though most African Americans have had many challenges and disadvantages in the past,” she says, “we have a chance now to catch up.” Raising the stakes, Ms. Roberts announces her students as “the key” to the Promised Land of equality.

Breaking conventionality seems to be the least of her worries at this point. As she sees it, the depth of concern for her students could not be, and should not be sugar-coated to fit into the presumed mold of an acceptable educator. To Ms. Roberts, conventionality – otherwise known as eurocentricity – in inner-city schools was/is the cause of the jaw-dropping statistics of Black students, and an end to the vicious cycle is optimum. Ms. Robert’s leadership is a blueprint for success for any aspiring educator, who holds dear the value of her/his students.

In a symbolic gesture to highlight the sacred relationship between a teacher’s words and a student’s consciousness, Reggie, who had remained visibly silent through the whole ordeal, asks how much of Ms. Robert’s comments affect “our community.” Before Ms. Roberts can chime in, a classmate mentions that “because we are all a small part of our communities… we can change things from bad to good.” With the intense level of emotion and excitement tethering on the brink of explosion, Reggie wakes up from his mental slumber and removes his hat of insouciance.

At a time when most administrators are scrambling to develop creative models that incorporate the victory of the President-Elect into school curriculum, Ms. Zekita Tucker has written a blueprint for what such a model must look like. Reggie Wakes Up is a must-read for students, teachers, parents, activists and other concerned citizens.

Your Black World: Community Gardens Can Help Eliminate Poverty

Poverty: Policies and Possibilities (Part 2 -- Read: Part 1)

By: Shannon Joyce Prince

Contributing Writer - YourBlackWorld.com

Reprinted From Black Agenda Report

Imagine a program that built a childcare center which gave teens construction work experience, used Department of Agriculture funds to pay poor women to cook for poor children, taught poor women to become day care teachers and run day cares, and helped poor women get their GED's. Imagine this program also provided mortgage counseling and founded a health center that provided forty local women with jobs. Now imagine the program was run almost entirely by black welfare mothers. Such a program did once exist. It was called Operation Life. It was at its peak during the 70's and 80's and is detailed in the book Storming Caesar's Palace by Annelise Orleck.

Operation Life was based on the principle that the poor themselves are the experts on poverty and many current successful programs make that adage their foundation. One such program is Jobs for a Future/Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries was founded in 1988 by the priest Father Greg Boyle and acts as both an employment agency and a force for economic development, meeting the needs of young people of both genders who have histories of gang involvement. It is funded by local and federal money. The organization helps one thousand people a month. It offers free counseling, tattoo removal, and help transitioning from prison. It provides community service opportunities to those with court mandates, creative writing workshops, and classes in business skills, running female headed households, dealing with domestic abuse, parenting, and general education with a focus on math and reading skills.

"Homeboy Industries was founded in 1988 as both an employment agency and a force for economic development."

The organization also teaches self employment principles, life skills such as budgeting, banking, financial skills, work skills, and business skills. "Homeboys" and "homegirls" range from as young as fourteen to as old as seventy with three fourths being between eighteen and thirty-five. Since many of the participants are seen as unemployable, Homeboy Industries develops relationships with businesses to find people willing to employ marginalized people, matches young people with jobs that meet their interests, and seeks out mentors in their fields for them. Homeboy Industries then pays the salaries of the workers when they first begin so that businesses have little to lose by employing them. Homeboy Industries owns several businesses that train and employ those they serve. There's a silk-screening business, a bakery, a café, and a landscape/maintenance business. By engaging the efforts and talents of poor people, Jobs For a Future/Homeboy Industries successfully lifts people out of poverty.

Another factor in reducing poverty is looking for creative solutions that solve multiple problems. For example, many poor neighborhoods have constructed community gardens in vacant lots. The gardens change spaces once used for prostitution and drug dealing into crime free areas. They also reduce crime by providing young people with a positive activity in which to engage. In Philadelphia, crime on some blocks dropped 90% after the creation of community gardens. After all, it's hard to mug or shoot somebody surrounded by fresh tomatoes and sunflowers. (See "New York's Community Gardens - A Resource at Risk," The Trust for Public Land.)

"The fifteen community gardens in New York grew 11,000 pounds of food in 1999."

The gardens decrease racial tension as people of different cultures come to work together in them. People who once thought each of each other as strange and menacing come together as they encourage new life to grow. Furthermore, community gardens provide access to nature to young children who often are without green spaces. The gardens provide young people with experience on everything from ecology, to marketing (as they sell crops at farmers markets), to government as young people elect each other to decide how to govern their gardens. The gardens also provide the poor with the kind of nutritious food and exercise they are often otherwise denied. This helps prevents poor nutrition from leading to further health problems such as diabetes or babies with low birth weights. The fifteen community gardens in New York grew 11,000 pounds of food in 1999. More than meeting the needs of the community, surplus food is sold to raise money for the poor who grew the crops. Work in these gardens is used to rehabilitate criminals, and local business people are often willing to underwrite the start up costs of the gardens because community gardens raise property values. The creation of community gardens provides poor people with money, food, lower crime rates, higher property values, and better health, while increasing their autonomy and control of community solutions.

We all know there is no single policy that can be implemented to fight poverty - no wizard's spell or magic bullet. Several creative policies must be designed and employed. By creating policies based around two principles - the idea that the poor should not be punished by facing greater obstacles to escaping poverty when they choose to marry or profit from personal knowledge, and the idea that programs that creatively meet the needs of the poor and organize their efforts such as community gardens and tax-funded social programs can have a large impact in reducing destitution - we can help people to escape penury.

While no single policy can be considered a panacea, one major principle is crucial in aiding the poor - the idea that the poor themselves are a powerful resource in the struggle against poverty.

Shannon Joyce Prince is a contributing writer to YourBlackWorld.com, and a creative writing major at Dartmouth College. In addition to writing, she is an activist for indigenous and African issues, a ceramics maker, and a travel addict. She has been published in Frodo's Notebook, Falcon Wings, KUHF Magazine, Imprint, Rice University's Writers in the Schools Magazine, Illogical Muse, Damn Good Writing, Lost Beat Poetry, Haggard and Halloo, Houston Literary Review, Words on Paper, Bewildering Stories, The Smoking Poet, Muscadine Lines, Ragad, and The Green Muse. She also won Dartmouth's Thomas Ralston Prize for creative writing. She can be contacted at Shannon.J.Prince (at) Dartmouth.EDU.

Your Black World: Would Sojourner Truth Want To Lick Lil' Wayne?

Would Sojourner Truth Want To 'Lick The Rapper?'
By: Zekita Tucker
Reprinted From Black State

One morning while riding in my car I decided to venture away from my regular News programming on the radio and turned to one of our local Hip Hop and R&B stations. It wasn’t long before the commercial for some debt creating pay-day loan went off and my ears, mind, and soul was being violated by rapper lil’ Wayne’s song ‘Lollipop.’

As I listened in disgust to the monotony of his lyrics (similar to many I had heard in some contemporary rap songs today) about how some women wanted to ‘lick the rapper’ amongst other things, my eyes began to tear up from those degrading and humiliating lyrics. Keeping in mind that I am in no way picking on any one rapper, I began to think about all of the African American women who fall subject to those words and gobble them up as a ‘way to behave.’ Pardon the pun. And then I thought back to the glorious African American women like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nzingha, Yaa Asante, and Mary McLeod Bethune. I turned my thoughts to these women and I wonder. I wonder if our fore-mentioned female ancestors are watching us from the other side in utter disgust and humiliation.

I wonder if they cry for us. I wonder if their spirits cringe and fall to their knees in agony as they watch their descendants fall into a deeper pit of sexual promiscuity, self imposed inferiority and hatred, and total mis-education. I wonder if Harriet Tubman feels like all 19 of her potentially deadly trips were traveled completely in vain. I wonder if Sojourner Truth still feels like a ‘woman’. I wonder if Mary McLeod Bethune still believes in the power of knowledge and education being put into action as a form of liberation and progress. I wonder if Nzingha and Yaa Asantewa would still feel like mighty warrior Queens who believe in the power of women’s leadership strong enough to defeat the deadliest of opponents. Maybe. Maybe not.

Are not African American women worthy of marriage, community, and family life no matter what their educational, social, or economic status may be? Are we not befitting of praise and uplifting, adoration and hope; rather than being the modern day sex toys degraded and mistreated in the very same manner that our ancestors were treated by white males? Are we not precious jewels blessed with the ability to bring forth life and love? As proven by time immemorial, the African American woman, then and now, has undeniably been the glue that binds. We are strong and beautiful. We are the hopeful and forgiving mothers, lovers, and friends to our communities. We have been the nurturers and the shelters of those in need. We have worked like horses to keep our families and our Men from falling through the cracks of hunger, helplessness, and even homelessness.

In spite of all the propagandizing of us being bitter, cold, disrespectful, and nowadays no more than some poorly upgraded bed winches- many of us still stand strong. We have been used up, beaten, raped, tortured, and mentally tormented while our babies are being trained to be nothing more than fools and jesters for the entertainment purposes of a society that does not consider their best interest. We have been subjected to mutilating ourselves and our God given beauty and resilience only to be told that we are never enough. We have to declare our freedom and our sanity. We must embrace our struggles and now our mental liberation. It’s time to take back your lives, your families, your respect, and Your Mind.

Zekita is author of Don’t Call Me N!gga (Revised- Purple Cover) and Reggie Wakes Up- two socially conscious books for African American Youth about the ‘n’ word and education and entrepreneurship. She can be reached at info(at)zeniampublications.com by email or visit www.zeniampublications.com.

Your Black World: Saturday Night Live Draws Deserved Criticism

SNL’s Bigoted Paterson Sketch Falls Flat

By: Tolu Olorunda

Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

In a highly distasteful Saturday Night Live sketch, depicting New York Gov David Paterson as a New Jersey-hating, wandering, drug-loving, blind buffoon, many found comedic value. As the studio audience applauded and cheered, even with the Paterson-impersonator equating blindness with “something awful,” the mock-fest increasingly drew deeper into the well of immorality. However, others were not so amused – including the Governor himself. In a Press-Conference Monday morning, David Paterson commented that, while he can “take a joke,” the SNL spoof came off more as a “third-grade depiction of [blind] people and the way they look.” Paterson was concerned that SNL misled its audience into thinking that “disability goes hand-in-hand with an inability to run a government or business.” Paterson noted that while he might not have any concerns to worry about, as someone who “runs the place I work in,” other visually-challenged individuals might be “discriminated against,” as a result of the SNL sketch.

In addition to Governor Paterson, the National Federation of the Blind also faults Saturday Night Live with pushing the envelope on satire. A spokesperson for the organization, Chris Danielsen, agreed with the Governor, noting: “The biggest problem faced by blind people is not blindness itself, but the stereotypes held by the general public.” Danielsen fears that SNL, through its infantile sketch, helped perpetuate the illegitimate conception that “blind people are incapable of the simplest tasks and are perpetually disoriented and befuddled.”

SNL’s immoral mockery notwithstanding, it was curious to see NBC degrade a man whose educational credentials, his visual impairment aside, trumps that of most executives at the NBC headquarters. With a BA from Columbia University, and a JD from Hofstra Law School, SNL’s depiction of Gov. Paterson as a helpless, incoherent clown should fall flat – if no racial undertones were embedded in the sketch. One couldn’t help but wonder if SNL would have, at the very least, entertained the thought of diminishing the once-deputy New York Governor, in such appalling style, to one who was “totally off guard and comically unprepared to take office” – following the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal – if he happened to be non-black.

Whether Paterson agrees with this assessment or not, he has encouraged the suits at SNL to attempt being “funny without being offensive.” Call me a cynic, but I’m not counting on an apology anytime soon.

A Chance at Love - by Lisa

Sandy and Chance met during their junior year at USC. During their time in college, they ran with different crowds. Chance was a jock, with a chip on his shoulder. At 6’3” and 253 lbs, this all muscle dark-brown Adonis was a force to be reckoned with. He was headed to the NFL and nothing would stop him. With that said, he knew that he should also get a college degree. On the off chance that something happened, he wanted a back-up plan and a degree in architecture was the answer that he chose. Although he played football for the love of the sport, the women that chased him was the biggest reason that he took the physical beatings on the field. There was no woman of any nationality that could resist his looks, charm and desirability.

On the other hand, Sandy was a quiet bookworm with few friends. You normally could find this Nia Long look-a-like sitting somewhere alone studying or reading a book. Although she was one of the most beautiful women that walked the campus, she kept to herself. She didn’t have the time or the patience for idiocy. It was a miracle that their paths had ever crossed, but it was meant to be.

Sandy happened to be working at the campus library on the Saturday morning that Chance strolled in. It was not his M.O. to be in such a setting, but with finals coming up, he knew that the apartment that he shared with his buddies was not conducive to real studying. He did pride himself on being an intelligent athlete. He was looking for a book on 18th century architecture and Sandy was the only one to help him. As he approached the desk at which she was sitting, Sandy’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. His face was flawless. He had a slight slant in his dark brown eyes that made him look exotic; lickable lips; long powerful legs and a chest so dark and hard that it must have been made of raw mahogany wood. Sandy had never seen any man so beautiful in her life. She wanted to run out of the room as he got closer and closer.

“Go away, go away”, she thought to herself.

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Your Black World: Wal-Mart Shoppers End Life With Greed

Wal-Mart Shoppers Give Jdimytai Damour The Death Penalty
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com
Reprinted From Black Commentator

“No man is an island/

Entire of itself/

Each is a piece of the continent/

A part of the main/

... Each man’s death diminishes me/

For I am involved in mankind/

Therefore, send not to know/

For whom the bell tolls/

It tolls for thee”/

John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel.

If the esteemed poet, John Donne, had lived long enough to witness what happened on Nov. 28th, at Nassau County, New York, he might have rethought penning those timeless words. Precious poems ought not be wasted on a soulless generation. Even for the strong-willed, it takes a level of soul-numbness to digest the eye-witness accounts of shoppers whose uncontrollable greed ended the life of Jdimytai Damour.

While many have remained shocked at the level of apathy directed at the 34-year old Jamaican native’s fragile soul, various anti-consumerism advocates have kindly outlined the inevitability of this tragic incident, following years of programming through relentless advertisements, by Wal-Mart and co. As conscionable members of society tried to reconcile with the reality of a world they never new encompassed them, consumer-activist, Al Norman sought to draw a parallel between the marketing ploys of big-money corporations, and the beast-like attacks of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart shoppers. In a blog post on Nov. 30th, Norman suggested that not only were the socially-unconscious, robot-minded Wal-Mart patrons a victim of circumstance, but they “were merely lab rats responding to a stimulus. When the door opened, they went after the cheese. In the past, it has been fellow shoppers who have been killed in the “savage” rush, as one onlooker at the Valley Stream store described the incident. Our culture of mass consumption has bred these "supershoppers," who will show up for every clearance, every special, with one goal in mind: to be at the cash register first.”

If we are to be candid, it would seem unequivocally clear that society, as it stands today, has, for a long time, accommodated such foolishness, and muffled voices of reasoning which have consistently attempted, rather hopelessly, to set up proactive measures, in anticipation of Nov. 28th’s horrific incident. The dog-eat-dog world, in which we live, has put competition at the center of our existence. Success has trumped greatness, and “being first” has a higher fulfillment value than concrete accomplishments. No more is this visible than in the usage of the highly flawed Electoral College system, to elect leaders of the free (or mentally incarcerated) world. Since the unforgettable event of November 28, many have attempted to come to grip with the unbiased display of inhumanity, which has, hopefully, stained the legacy of “Black Fridays” to come.

The actions of the Valley Stream shoppers are appalling, but also inevitable, in our television-controlled realm of existence. A TV-raised generation is illimitably susceptible to the felicities of temporary pleasure, and satisfaction. The truth is that we live in a sick, demented, twisted and ungodly society. Our disdain for organized religion, while understandable, has sucked the life-blood of spirituality from our consciousness. Nothing more shackles an unbroken soul, than the reports of shoppers who, having been informed of their life-ending (literally) actions, neglected orders by store-clerks to stop shopping. These discount-fiends must assume that, somehow, the acquisition of low-priced electronic toys is equitable to the life of a 34-year old man.

The fate of Jdimytai Damour, a Black man, also reminds us of the not-so changing attitudes toward the plights of Black men – in spite of the President-Elect’s recent victory. The Black Community can hardly claim astonishment at the degree of neglect Mr. Damour suffered from, as the biblical Good Samaritan narrative has become customary for many of its inhabitants. For the Black Community, the only difference has been the omission of a happy, colorful and redeeming ending. Black folks have always been, and still remain, offspring of the Curse of Ham.

On an experiential level, the term “Black Friday,” says it all. It is clear that our feeble-minded, slow-witted society lacks the temerity to confront the connotations aroused by attributing darkness (or Blackness) to evil, and lightness (or Whiteness) to the herald of good tidings. A Utah State Senator would remind us, earlier this year, that to be a Black baby, is to be a “dark, ugly thing.” Our “post-racial” society still clings to terms such as “Black Monday,” “Black Friday,” “Blackball,” “Blacklist,” and “Blackmail,” in ascribing nefarious intentions to character traits. Dr. King, who fought vociferously to lay bare the hypocrisy of our adopted culture, understood, quite clearly, the lethal havoc misplaced language wreaks on the psyche, and self-esteem of Black people:

“Don't let anybody take your manhood [or womanhood]. Be proud of our heritage as somebody said earlier tonight, we don't have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language - they made everything Black ugly and evil. Look in your dictionary, and see the synonyms of the word Black - it's always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word White - always something pure, high and clean.”

A society which promotes entertainment as a guise to justify the pejorative usage of racial slurs, such as “Redskins,” is, in the words of Hip-Hop artist and philosopher Canibus, “on the brink of extinction.” Mankind cannot live on bread alone, and certainly not on stupidity or commercial profit.

In the years to come, it would be intriguing to gauge how truly remorseful shoppers are, vis-à-vis the tragedy of Brother Damour. Radio host and activist, Mark Thompson has proposed a moral solution to remind shoppers of the endless possibilities embedded in shopaholism. Mr. Thompson has recommended that “Black Friday” be renamed “Jdimytai Damour Day.” Perhaps this would persuade shoppers, who feel an obligation to the cash register, to critically assess the ramifications of their actions. More important than Thompson’s suggestion, is the reality that Black folks should be the last wallet-happy shoppers in a society that openly dehumanizes them, without any repercussions. For what does it profit a man [or woman] to gain the whole world, and forfeit his [or her] soul?

Your Black World: Poverty: Policies and Possibilities

Poverty: Policies and Possibilities
By: Shannon Joyce Prince
Reprinted From Black Agenda Report

"Poor people can use themselves as weapons against poverty."

With the recession imperiling the nation's well-being, poverty is on everyone's mind regardless of their political orientation. Yet too often the poor are cast as ignorant and impotent pawns needing either a kick in the pants or a magical cocktail of resources and programs. The dialogue typically stalls around what "we" must do for or to "them" as though the poor lack ingenuity and agency.

In this commentary I identify four ideas that can be used to battle poverty: ending marriage penalties, deregulating selected industries, creating tax-funded social programs run by the poor, and creating community gardens. These four ideas are based around two central beliefs. The first is that people should not be punished by having their fight to escape poverty retarded when they choose to marry or profit from their personal knowledge. The second principle is that creative projects such as tax-funded, poor people-led social programs and community gardens help the poor to martial their efforts to fight the penury in their environments. While these two principles and the policies I propose based upon them may seem disparate, they are united by one central idea - that the poor themselves are resources. The minds and spirits of the poor can be marshaled in the fight against the poverty. If their family structures aren't undermined, if their personal knowledge isn't penalized, and if their labor and ideas are supported and nurtured, poor people can use themselves as weapons against poverty. Part 1 of this commentary focuses on marriage penalties and deregulation.

"Uncle Sam has no more right to break up families than slave-owners did."

The first policy change we should make is to stop the government from dictating to the poor how to organize their homes. Uncle Sam has no more right to break up families than slave-owners did. Currently, poor women receiving government aid face being further impoverished if they choose to marry because the additional income of their husbands often makes them ineligible for government aid. For example, as former Mayor Steve Goldsmith of Indianapolis pointed out, "In my state, a mother qualifies for welfare only if she does not marry her children's father, and a teen-age mother qualifies only if she leaves home." Furthermore, public policy consultant Wendell Cox gives the following example of how Temporary Assistance to Needy Families punishes women who choose to marry:

"For example: the typical single mother on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families receives a combined welfare package of various means-tested aid benefits worth about $14,000 per year. Suppose this typical single mother receives welfare benefits worth $14,000 per year while the father of her children has a low wage job paying $18,000 per year. If the mother and father remain unmarried, they will have a combined income of $32,000 ($14,000 from welfare and $18,000 from earnings.) However, if the couple marries, the father's earnings will be counted against the mother's welfare eligibility. Overall, welfare benefits will be nearly eliminated and the couple's combined income will fall substantially."

"It is unacceptable for the welfare system to tyrannically regulate women's lives."

According to the Center for Marriage and Families, "marriage penalties" can lower a family's income by twenty percent. The Center goes on to say that many poor parents either secretly cohabit or live near each other as they are unable to marry without punishment. It is unacceptable for the welfare system to tyrannically regulate women's lives by penalizing them for certain choices they make such as marrying their children's fathers. This system undermines impoverished families, which are disproportionately families of color, forcing men to sneak to see their children and treating would-be wives like slaves sold to a different plantation.

Cox also points out anti-marriage discrimination in public housing policy. He notes:

"In the case of subsidized housing, the typical single mother receives a subsidy worth about $5,000 per year; if she marries a male with earnings the value of the rent subsidy will be reduced. The more the male earnings the greater the loss of housing aid, and, if she marries a male with earnings around $18,000 per year (a typical sum for unmarried fathers), the housing subsidy will be completely eliminated. Thus, in general, low income couples can maximize their welfare income by remaining unmarried."

Cox suggests that this could be remedied by not lowering women's benefits if when one thousand dollars of her husband's income is ignored she is still eligible for public housing and by making exceptions for men with criminal records (who are normally excluded from subsidized housing) if they are married to and supporting the children of women who live in subsidized housing. I agree. In the Victorian era Dickens lamented how husbands and wives were separated from each other when they entered poor houses. Victorian aid was frequently contemptuous and based on the belief that the poor had no family bonds one need respect - they were like puppies who could be separated at the will of those more powerful. It's the twenty-first century now, and it's time to take a stand and affirm that marriage is a right, not a luxury.

"Several states have exempted hair braiders from needing to have cosmetology licenses."

In addition to not undermining the family structures of the poor, anti-poverty policy should not undermine the efforts of the poor to profit from their skills and talents either. The problem often isn't that the poor aren't pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but rather when they do so they are told they don't have the appropriate credentials. The deregulation of some industries could help poor people to use self employment to become more financially stable. For example, many poor black women braid hair as a way of making money. However, as the National Center for Public Policy Research points out, many states have threatened these women with arrest because they don't have cosmetology licenses; licenses that often demand taking courses that cost around $10,000, and frequently don't even cover hair braiding in their curriculum. Several states have exempted hair braiders from needing to have cosmetology licenses after black women asserted that by using a traditional skill they were keeping themselves off welfare.

Furthermore, as noted in this September, 2006 AP article, the law punishes African immigrants who don't speak the English necessary to get a license and only possess the knowledge of hair braiding as a marketable skill. More and more black women are using individual and class law suits to change the laws of their states. State laws requiring the licensing of hair braiders must be revoked.

"Wall Street corporate leaders may need someone looking over their shoulders, but black women don't need supervision to braid."

One concern about industry deregulation, however, is quality control. I do not feel that all industries should be deregulated; however, I do think that we should, whenever possible, avoid regulating industries that have shown themselves capable of functioning ethically and monitoring their own quality levels independent of regulation. We know that since time immemorial black women have braided hair in open air and in kitchens and on front porches without licensing, to no societal ill effect. Wall Street corporate leaders may need someone looking over their shoulders, but black women don't need supervision to braid. In their case, I think it would be unjust and unnecessary to require government regulation of their industry. Furthermore, there is nothing to prevent those believing that quality control can only be managed by the regulation of industry from going to a hair braider with a cosmetology license. Deregulation may not make small scale entrepreneurs become the next Sheila Johnson, but it can fight poverty by opening up avenues for people to profit from skills they possess.

Next, Part 2 - Social programs run by the poor and community gardens.

Ms. Prince can be contacted at Shannon.J.Prince@Dartmouth.EDUThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Your Black World: VIGALANTEE: A Voice In The Wilderness

VIGALANTEE: Hunting for Souls
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com