Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

You know, the blackwoman is feeling pretty good these days. Tomorrow I leave for New Haven CT. where my youngest son is getting two (count ‘em) two, Masters Degrees from Yale University.

Last Thursday, my ninth grandchild was born. Shares a birthday with two other of my grands. And my brother. And one of my dearest friends.

My Azaleas are kicking butt beautiful.

My lawn is mowed. It had started looking like Afro (Ultra Sheen big ass afro)-turf.

My bills are mostly paid (a big thank you Jesus).

Yeah, it’s a good time.

It started a couple of weeks ago when I just plucked Hillary Clinton out of my mind. Held off on letting her antics piss me off. That and spring got the blackwoman’s groove back.

I admit that I have to work real hard at keeping my groove. If you turn the television to cable news you cannot escape videos of young black men being brutalized by the po-po. I always think, ‘That could be one of my sons’. Growing up black in America teaches you that you don’t have to do anything to find yourself behind the fraternal order’s black ball.

Monday we celebrate Memorial Day and I for one will be thinking about the soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. Those brave souls who rode and died for freedom back in the day. I will remember all those whose last look was at the face of hatred. I will talk to my children about the sacrifices these souls made so that they could do better and go farther. I will bless all those who sacrificed in the name of freedom. And I will keep stepping in an effort to shorten the journey for those who come behind me.

There is still so far to go.

There are those who keep talking about the election of Obama in post racial terms. His election will be a thing of joy for many of us, but it won’t change anything but the buzzwords of racist. The buzzwords will become more cunning, but they will still be there. However...

I’m going all Scarlett right now, and I’ll think about that tomorrow. For today, I’m thinking that it’s about time for a groove. Been a long time coming. Here’s hoping that you find your groove. Wherever. Kickin’ McCain’s ass is gonna take some energy. I’ll be more than ready.

Now, run and tell that.

The Urban Educational System
Sephius1, Black Kos Editor

Last week we discussed community resources and how they can be used to help the education system and at the same time ensure a good local workforce, thus putting the local community on firm foundation economically and socially.

This week we'll took a look at national resources and how they can be leverage to link communities. Just to rehash where we are at:

Community Resources - this includes a discussion of how the small business community can partner with the local school system to ensure the success of the student

National Resources - this includes a discussion of what corporations around the U.S. can do to improve the national work force, thus increase the country's intellectual capital.

Transnational Resources - This will be a discussion on how a local work force/school system relates to local work force/school system in other countries


2.2 National Resources

Once you have a handle on the education system at the community level, the next thing to do is to get the states, and specifically bussinesses within different states, talking to one another. Being here in Georgia, one of the issue that sticks out was the discussion on water limits. A couple of months ago Georgia and Alabama experienced some drought area and low lake, whicn in turn caused heated rhetoric over water supply, even within Georgia itself, Atlanta and Columbus argued wit each other over acceptable water limits. Now this may, or may not, be the best showcase of communication skill but it demonstrates how a shared resources can cause discussion. The resource, educationally speaking, being a productive citizen is what should be our goal.

Each state has a commodity, or something they excel at in producing. I'll use my state of Georgia as an example. Here in Georgia, peaches and vidalia onions are two major ones that come to mind. The process of growing those two commodities is an educational experience. Everything from soil sampling, crop destruction due to weather, infections, insects, or discovery ways to increase yields all go into a successful harvest. So what I am proposing is an inter-state program. One that starts at 7-grade and progress through each grade level. The following how I would set up program:

• At each grade level the student would pick a neighboring state to go to for 1 month. There of course would be administrators managing the program in each state.
  
• Once a state is chosen, several businesses in that state, ones that are tied directly to the livelyhood of the state (like farming, fishing, logging, etc) can be selected from. Lodging and meals would be provide.
  
• The student will then serve in a "intern" role at that business learning its processes.
  
• The student will be evaluated and that evaluation will be a piece of information used when given the final grade

This type of program does 3 things. First, the student learns about the different businesses that help keep this country afloat. Secondly, the student learns to respect their fellow man because they get a chance, if only for a month, to walk in someone else's shoe and live there daily life. Third, the student gets to see the "working world", and their horizons open up. This is especially necessary for the students of inner city schools because, alot of the times, their imagination is drained due to all the negativity surrounding them. We should be planting seeds of positive influence so their world will expands beyond there local borders.

Next Week >> 2.3 Transnational Resources There is a generational divide in the black political community that in many ways mirrors the one exposed this primary season. The NAACP is for the first time trying to deal with it. Put it will take more then just making the national president a young person.(dopper0189)

NYTimes ≫ New Leader for N.A.A.C.P. Is Its Youngest.

The N.A.A.C.P. chose Benjamin T. Jealous, 35, an activist and former news executive, as its new president on Saturday, making him the youngest leader in the organization’s 99-year history. The board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People met for eight hours before selecting Mr. Jealous. He was formally introduced Saturday afternoon and will take over as president in September.

Mr. Jealous provides the organization with a young but connected leader familiar with black leadership and social justice issues. He succeeds Bruce S. Gordon, who resigned abruptly in March 2007 after 19 months on the job, citing differences with board members over the direction of the organization. Dennis C. Hayes has served as interim president and chief executive officer....... More ►

I'm a huge Jim Webb fan. He talks like a grown up even on complex issues.(dopper0189)

Huffington Post ≫ Jim Webb Speaks Out On Race, Addresses Grievances Of White America.

It's refreshing when someone makes the effort to advance the discussion of this year's election beyond debating a black/white divide. So when that someone is oft-mentioned potential Democratic running mate Jim Webb, it's worth taking note.

Webb appeared on Morning Joe today to speak about his newest book, A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America, and to dodge questions about whether he would accept a spot on Barack Obama's presidential ticket. But since the Kentucky primary had just provided pundits with fodder to discuss the ever-popular "Does Obama have a working whites problem?" Webb weighed in on the election results and his Scots-Irish heritage.

The Virginia senator suggested that race is indeed a factor in Obama's poor performance among white voters along the east of the country, saying, "we shouldn't be surprised by the way they're voting now." But he bristled at what he suggested is a simplistic interpretation of the issue. "When I hear people say this is racism, my back gets up a little bit, because that's my cultural group."...... More ►

Not sure how this is being perceived yet by the hip-hop world. But I have a bad feeling I know how it will react.(dopper0189)

Newsweek ≫ Outing Hip-Hop, In a new memoir, a former MTV staffer dishes on the rap industry's persistent "down-low" culture.

In a hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans, Terrance Dean doesn't give off "gay" on first sight—and he has worked hard to present himself that way. In a downtown coffee shop in Manhattan, the former MTV staffer describes the lengths he's gone to over the years to achieve that body aesthetic: he strolls, never saunters. He dresses well, but not too well. He doesn't wear flashy jewelry and substitutes "she" for "he" when he tells colleagues about his weekend plans. Even now that he's out of the closet, he sometimes forgets. When somebody asked if he was gay recently, he blurted out "no" without even thinking.

But Dean is going to have a hard time fooling anyone much longer. His new book, "Hiding in Hip-Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry," is a tale of life inside Hollywood's secret gay subculture, and hip-hop's place within that world. Though it doesn't name names, the memoir is a detailed (and graphic) account of down-low life, gay sex parties and secret societies, where some of hip-hop's major artists openly sleep with men, only to go home to their wives and girlfriends at night's end. (A person who is "down low" considers himself straight but regularly sleeps with members of the same sex; the term is frequently used when describing black men.) ...... More ►

Nas ditched the N-word. But does he even need it anymore? I respect him enough as an artist to think he didn't do it "just" for publicity, but I do think it wasn't a good idea. I edited the title because I don't think it's a respetable word, even though I do support artistic freedom strongly.(dopper0189)

The Root ≫ Untitled: The Album Formerly Known As..

Contrary to the recent flurry of reports regarding the name change of Nas' ninth studio album from N*gger to Nas , Nas himself confirms a change, but sets the record straight about the record's title. According to AllHipHop.com, Nas will allow the album to be released untitled, claiming that his fans are fully aware of his original naming intentions.

The publicity surrounding the album previously known as N*gger has been ubiquitous-- from Nas wearing a N*gger shirt at a high-profile awards show to an audacious and financially incisive divestment threat from former industry-insider-turned-reactionary-politician, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn, N.Y.).

Jeffries threatened to pull $84 million in New York state pension fund money out of an investment in Universal/Vivendi. Thus, despite L.A. Reid's public support for Nas' artistic freedom, there was no way that his bosses were going to allow Nas his first amendment rights at the risk of losing $84 million in a lose/lose public relations conflict. ...... More ►

The Root ≫ Dillard's new African-American foodways program is finally giving black cuisine the respect it deserves. What took so long?

My own interest in the study of black food culture field began innocently enough as a child at the tables of my mother and grandmother where I savored hot water bread, oxtails and chess pie all the while pondering the logic of pig feet, stewed okra and banana pudding. My interest in the Diaspora grew stronger after living in France for a short time, as an affaire d'amour led me on a journey of discovery deep into the North African neighborhoods of Paris in search of the best Algerian pastries I could find. The affair ended, but the experience led to an article in Gastronomica, an obsession with Algerian food and culture I still can't shake, and an even deeper interest in the cultural and culinary connections among people of African descent outside of the continent.

I know that there are others who share my passion for our food culture, so I was thrilled to learn that Dillard University is creating an Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. To be housed within the university's department of African-American material culture, the institute will examine the foodways (i.e., the gathering, preparation and consumption of food of a cultural group) of the people of the African Diaspora. ...... More ►

This is a VERY deep book.

The Root ≫ ‘Song Yet Sung’ Makes Freedom’s Bell Ring, James McBride's new novel links dreams of historical past to today's reality.

It's March of 1850 when James McBride's new novel, "Song Yet Sung," opens. That's when Liz Spocott has the dream that makes her decide she'd rather be a 19th century slave than a 21st century black American.

"She dreamed of Negroes driving horseless carriages on shiny rubber wheels with music booming throughout, and fat black children who smoked odd-smelling cigars and walked around with pistols in their pockets and murder in their eyes. She dreamed of Negro women appearing as flickering images in powerfully lighted boxes that could be seen in sitting rooms far distant, and colored men dressed in garish costumes like children, playing odd sporting games and bragging like drunkards—every bit of pride, decency and morality squeezed clean out of them."

Liz is a runaway slave, who experiences Harriet Tubman-like visions that lead the other characters whose lives she touches to nickname her "the Dreamer." Repeatedly, in this stunning, hypnotic book, McBride uses Liz's dreams to ask whether the world of black America today is the destination that the African Americans who fled to freedom on the Underground Railroad had in mind. ...... More ►

The Root ≫ Kehinde Wiley's brilliant b-boy portraiture brings vivid color to black.

My introduction to portrait artist Kehinde Wiley was happenstance—a tag-along-type adventure with a photographer friend to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Upon entering the gallery, I was greeted by space: a labyrinth of hollowed rooms demanding silence on behalf of the stark white walls. Amid this absence, Wiley drew me in with bright colors and decadence, massive canvases and intricate regalia. I was captivated—never allowed to blink—and I loved every moment of the intake.

The Brooklyn-based artist's work is being featured in "RECOGNIZE!"— a four-part exhibition on the culture behind hip-hop music at the National Portrait Gallery until Oct. 26. There are many artists on display, each utilizing a different medium to entice their gallery-going audience. Some use graffiti, some use photography, but Kehinde lures with paint. ...... More ►

Spike has a point but I think he is making a mistake. During WWII units were segregated, but the black soldiers were there and should be shown more in films.(dopper0189)

Huffington Post ≫ Spike Lee Slams Clint Eastwood Over Representation Of Black Soldiers

Spike Lee is slamming Clint Eastwood over his two recent Iwo Jima movies, saying the filmmaker overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II. Lee whose next film is this fall's "Miracle at St. Anna," the story of an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during the war said Eastwood's 2006 movies "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" were whites-only affairs.

"He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films," Lee said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was a judge in an online short-film competition. "Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different version," Lee said....... More ►

The Econimist ≫ Xenophobic violence rocks South Africa’s biggest city.

SITTING beside a road in Alexandra—an overcrowded Johannesburg township on the edge of the city’s main business district—a 21-year-old Zimbabwean migrant, Talent Dube, is at a loss for words. Two years ago she fled hunger and unemployment in next-door Zimbabwe. Last week an armed mob chased her and two relatives from the small shack they shared in Alexandra. The attackers took everything: phones, television, clothes and their single mattress. She is now camping, along with 1,000 or so Zimbabweans, Mozambican and Malawaians, in the safety of the Alexandra police station. Many of the displaced have been in South Africa for years, but angry residents—themselves suffering pervasive unemployment, poverty and now rocketing food and fuel prices—accuse them of stealing jobs and houses, and of being criminals....... More ►

Everyone once in a while a story so troubling emerges that it makes you wonder why some people go into law enforcement? Prosecutors who seek perjury and police officers who abuse power, why become "law enforcement" officials? It's rare for a sitting judge to give an interview for a case. But U.S. District Court Judge Tucker Melancon was so troubled by it that he Judge James Gray of Superior Court of Orange County, California gave an interview to reason magazine (yeah conservative reason magazine) about the racial motivated prosecution of the Colomb of Church Point, Louisiana.(dopper0189)

BNet ≫ Guilty before proven innocent: how police harassment, jailhouse snitches, and a runaway war on drugs imprisoned an innocent family

Legal experts say the Colombs are unlikely to get any compensation for their wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Last December, they found an attorney to help them with a lawsuit, but it’s a long shot at best, mostly because there’s no one to sue. The prison snitches themselves have no money. Any action against the sheriff’s deputies is well past the deadline set by law and would be difficult to prove anyway.

The most likely target of such a suit would be Assistant U.S. Attorney Grayson and his employer, the U.S. government. But Grayson and the federal government enjoy near total immunity from such suits. Prosecutors are almost completely insulated from lawsuits in order to prevent them from factoring potential litigation into their decision whether to pursue a case. A complaint would have to show that a prosecutor willfully or maliciously pursued charges he knew to be false—both of which are extremely difficult to prove.

After dismissing the charges against the Colombs in December 2006, Judge Melancon strongly urged U.S. Attorney Donald Washington’s office to investigate the allegations of information sharing at the federal prison facilities named in the Cotton and Colomb cases. “The problem wasn’t just this case,” Melancon says. “We potentially have a huge problem with this network in the federal prison system....... More ►

ODDS AND ENDS

Everyone seems to love the recipes from theroot.com so here is another. Eco-Soul Kitchen: Chocolate-Pecan Pudding Pie with Nut Crust.(dopper0189)

Coming home from Memphis a few years ago, I stumbled on an immediately mouth-watering recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie (in of all places the airport!). The recipe had the unhealthy trappings of many Southern dishes: lots of "bad" fat and highly processed sugars. But by the time I got home, I had figured out which health-supportive ingredients could be substituted for the less healthy ones. I decided to use maple syrup, for instance, instead of light corn syrup. In the end, the only resemblance that my pie had with the original one was chocolate and pecans.

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