Catfish-and-Grits

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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Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

What a week. I’ve been in such a good mood, I’m sure that somewhere I’m illegal. I’ve got that I can do anything, I just kicked some bear boodie exuberance. I’ve experiencing that cup running over thing while cheerful is slapping me about the head and shoulders.

Something has shifted. A tide has turned. Not a moment too soon if you ask me. The blackwoman needs a little rest, some time to put my hands in the dirt and grow something wonderful. In celebration.

This year I’m planting an Obama Victory Garden . It will provide food, flowers and fragrance. I will watch it grow and see it as an analogy for what is taking place in America.

The silly season is officially over. Now I’m not making any predictions about how some folks may or may not act. Don’t care. Silly season is over.

There are some of us Boomers who have been waiting for you young people. Those of us who railed against the government are glad you’re here. Thrilled that many of you are willing to judge the content of character. Elated that you feel the fierce urgency of now. We know the feeling. Bout this time, now is feeling pretty good.

It’s not over yet and I’m not foolish enough to suggest that there is not challenge ahead. I’ve lived too long to imagine for a moment that we can just sit back and coast into the White House. We’ve seen the kitchen sink and before it’s all said and done, we may see the septic. But... not right now. Right now it’s time, if you have been waiting, to exhale.

I’ve no doubt that things may get down and dirty before next January’s swearing in. I’ve got the spell of Backatcha at the ready. I will not hesitate to use it.

For now, I think maybe we need to rest ourselves and do something productive. Plant something. Lend a hand. Offer smiles and salutations to strangers.

Build a reservoir of goodwill. We will need it this fall. The real lesson if we are willing to learn is that goodwill carries the day. Obama gave the example.

We are not only watching history. We are its makers. We’ve worked hard, Prayed. Canvassed. Called. Ranted and raved. We’ve also won this round. Rest up. We’ll need it later.

I’m figna find my Billy Stewart and all the Hot Fun in the Summertime music I have and listen and laugh and allow myself to feel some contentment. I remember a poster I put over my bed in the dorm a long, long time ago. Sums up what I’m feeling.

“Yea’ it read ‘though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...cause I’m the baddest M***er**cker in the valley.” That’s how I’m feeling.

Now, run and tell that!

The Urban Educational System
Sephius1, Black Kos Editor

Last week we concluded Part I: A Strategy At The School Level. In it I provided some summarized solutions to put kids on equal playing field like school uniforms, better teacher pay, better books, more involvement from parent, and also a system to began tracking students from start to finish

This week we'll took a look at the commercial's side in having a good school system. Below are the areas of discussion:

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


2.1 Commuity Resources

One of the things that strengthens a community is the small business community, the "mom and pop" shops. But you might not immediately see how they can help in the education of our young. Most of us got our first job at a flower shop, car repair, grocery store, etc. We usually move on to bigger and better job, but that initial job taught us the value of dollar, how to manage money, your introduced to technology that you are forced to learn whether that's cashiering, or be in charge of inventory. However, small businesses within the community can play a bigger role.

We all remember career day, when you got to bring your parent to school to talk about what they do for a living. And if you were lucky one of the parents worked at a bakery, or ice cream shop, and they brought sample. But what if we were to reverse the situation, and the students went to different establishments. And not merely observe the operation, but were required to work for the business maybe one day a week. Of course, depending on the business and safety concerns, certain business operations would be more appropriate for certain grade levels. The goal is:

1. to develop the students skill set all throughout their education so that as they are learning in the class room, then be able to see it's practical application,
   
2. help build understanding and pride in the community,
   
3. provides a "first look" a potential workforce, so that the small business community can see were their respective community excels and lags, and partner with the education system to help solve those issues

Another way to look at this is starting internship programs earlier in the education track rather than at the college level. I would suggest maybe starting in the middle school years. I envision a partner ship between small business and the school system in which (1) the student chooses a business, (2) works for the business for 2-4 hours a week, and (3) this work would be apart of the student's final grade because the owner, or surrogate, would provide an evaluation. I think placing a small burden on the student, early on, prevents the student from falling through the cracks because you will have the school system and the community making the students success a priority. This will also stunt businesses from falling into the trap of wanting a cheap labor force, as oppose to, a educated work force that knows the particulars of their community.

Next Week >> 2.2 National Resources I'm going to try and make it to Hanover, NH to see this.

Boston Globe ≫ Dartmouth's gutsy 'Black Womanhood' probes old wounds.

In 1810, an English ship's surgeon brought Saartjie Baartman, a young South African woman, to London. She was displayed on stage and made to squat to show her genitals. After she died in 1816, her brain, skeleton, and genitals went on exhibition in Paris, where they remained until 1974. Baartman, dubbed the "Hottentot Venus," was a victim of colonialism at its most vulgar. She plays a generative role in "Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body," a sweeping, gutsy, and provocative exhibition organized by curator Barbara Thompson at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. "Black Womanhood" draws a powerful portrait, vivid with pride and celebration, degradation, anger, and reclamation. Themes of maternity, sexuality, beauty, and women's social roles cycle throughout....... More ►

Eboney / Jet ≫ “Black Is, Black Ain’t”, An ambitious review of the cultural psyche.

Herein lie buried many things which, if read with patience, may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader, for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line. - W.E.B.DuBois (1903) W. E. B. DuBois penned these prophetic lines over one hundred years ago, yet news headlines of the past twelve months ala Don Imus, Jena 6, and Barack Obama indicate that the issue(s) of the color line continues to weave its way even deeper into the American fabric, and indelibly onto the American psyche. Indeed as the ever-evolving discourse on race continues to shift from one “ism” to the next, it appears that much of the academic and creative production and dialogue about race now focuses on its fictive nature, more so than its real life complexities and implications for folks who are “Black like me”. Writers, dramatists, scholars and artists have parlayed this “revelation” about the emptiness of race into discourse(s) where ideas about race and what it means to be racialized—Black, White, and person of color-- are wide, varied, liberating, and in some ways potentially explosive...... More ►

If you live near Chi-town this is a must see.

Ebony / Jet ≫ Ifa Bayeza's Ballad of Emmett Till

The 1955 murder of the 14-year-old Chicagoan, Emmett Till was one of the major pivotal points in the civil rights struggle that still reverberates and impacts America today. Award winning playwright, novelist, and conceptual theater artist Ifa Bayeza has spent the last decade writing and shaping her powerful and haunting play, “The Ballad of Emmett Till,” directed by acclaimed film, television and theater director Oz Scott and currently running at The Goodman Theater in Chicago....... More ►

NYTimes ≫ E-Mail Shows Racial Jokes by Secret Service Supervisors.

Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents. The filing includes 10 e-mail messages that were among documents the agency recently turned over to lawyers for the black agents as part of an increasingly bitter discrimination lawsuit. The messages were written mainly from 2003 through 2005, and were sent to and from e-mail accounts of at least 20 Secret Service supervisors. The messages offer a glimpse into the darker recesses of an agency known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries but whose culture is regarded as one of the most insular in federal law enforcement....... More ►

Every once in a while I read a story like this that makes me feel good. A person in a position of power does something good. When asked "but what will you do about racist who are your customers" they respond go "F" yourself!

The Root ≫ Viva Vogue Italia! Finally, a fashion mag that appreciates the black female form.

Don't let "America's Next Top Model" fool you—the politics of the runway are rarely so neatly wrapped up. Sure, four of the show's nine winners so far have been black (plus Boricua Jaslene Gonzalez), but catwalks in the States and overseas have been slow to integrate as industry insiders still claim that non-white models just don't sell the fantasy—you know, of being young, gaunt and blonde. Vogue Italia to the rescue! The entire July issue will feature black models exclusively, all shot by American photographer Steven Meisel, who famously captured BFF Madonna for her 1992 "Sex" book. Newly discovered-but-already-worshiped 17-year-old Jourdan Dunn will grace the cover. Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani told the UK's Independent, "Nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls, and they were complaining that they are not used enough." When asked if she thought there might be some backlash in Italy, which has had an increasing "uncomfortable" relationship with its immigrants, Sozzani was blunt: "Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don't care. I think it is not my problem if they don't like it—it's their problem." (emphasis mine)...... More ►

As the race is coming to a close, I feel less need to hold back on "too many" Sen. Obama diaries.

The Economist ≫ Barack Obama's success shows that the ceiling has risen for African-Americans. But many are still too close to the floor.

WHEN Roland Fryer was about 15, a friend asked him what he would be doing when he was 30. He said he would probably be dead. It was a reasonable prediction. At the time, he was hanging out with a gang and selling drugs on the side. Young black men in that line of work seldom live long. But Mr Fryer survived. At 30, he won tenure as an economics professor at Harvard. That was four months ago. Mr Fryer's parents split up when he was very young. His father was a maths teacher who went off the rails: young Roland once had to borrow money to bail him out of jail. His great-aunt and great-uncle ran a crack business: young Roland would watch them cook cocaine powder into rocks of crack in a frying pan in the kitchen. Several of his relatives went to prison. But Mr Fryer backed away from a life of crime and won a sports scholarship to the University of Texas. He found he enjoyed studying, and was rather good at it. By the time he was 25, the president of Harvard was hectoring him to join the faculty. Mr Fryer now applies his supple mind to the touchy, tangled issue of racial inequality. Why are African-Americans so much less prosperous than whites? Why do so many black children flounder in school? Why do so many young black men languish behind bars? Why are stories like Mr Fryer's considered so surprising?...... More ►

NYTimes ≫ Music Review: Ego-Fueled Hip-Hop Sci-Fi Space Odyssey

There is a new yardstick for the size of the universe. It is approximately equal to the size of Kanye West’s ego. That’s not necessarily bad. Hip-hop runs on self-glorification, the transformation of underdogs into self-invented legends. Sooner or later someone was bound to claim what Mr. West’s show did on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden: that he’s “the biggest star in the universe.” That was not only part of the script but also a crucial plot twist for Mr. West’s headlining set on his Glow in the Dark Tour, a quadruple bill with Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco....... More ►

The Root ≫ 2008 valedictorian is different kind of 'Morehouse Man'

From his first day at Morehouse College _ the country's only institution of higher learning dedicated to the education of black men _ Joshua Packwood has been a standout. His popularity got him elected dorm president as a freshman. His looks and physique made him a fashion-show favorite. His intellect made him a Rhodes Scholar finalist. His work ethic landed him a job at the prestigious investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in New York City. But it's his skin that has made all of this an anomaly. This month, Packwood is set to take the stage and address his classmates as the first white valedictorian in Morehouse's 141-year history. The 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., will graduate on May 18 with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics. He could have gone elsewhere, to a school like Columbia, Stanford or Yale, but his four-year journey through Morehouse has taught him a few things that they could not, and he makes it clear that he has no regrets. ...... More ►

The Telegraph ≫ Stephen Hawking seeks 'Einsteins of Africa'

Prof Hawking's speech at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), titled Universe, marked the expansion of the postgraduate institution in an effort to accelerate Africa's development.

[snip]

Prof Hawking, 66, said: "The world of science needs Africa's brilliant talents, and I look forward to meeting prospective young Einsteins from Africa in the near future. If my visit helps to create opportunities for Africans to enter maths and science, I will be delighted."...... More ►

The New Republic ≫ The Big Race

The issue of race is the longest-lasting cleavage in American politics. It is also perhaps the least understood. The open exploitation of racist sentiment by vote-hungry politicians was for centuries a durable American tradition. More recently, race has assumed a subtle, often unspoken form during campaign season, as Republicans have sought white votes by slyly associating their Democratic opponents with controversial black figures like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, or with topics--welfare, crime, federal funding for "midnight basketball"--that many voters identify with African Americans. Now, with Barack Obama inching closer to the Democratic nomination, race looms yet again as a central factor in American politics. Already, race has played a key part in the Democratic primary, almost certainly hurting Obama among swaths of voters in states like New Jersey, Ohio, and, most recently, Pennsylvania. If he manages to win the nomination anyway--and it appears he will--race seems likely to play an even larger role in the general election....... More ►

Many young people think racism doesn't exist anymore, or it's very rare. This is one sad truth many volunteers have learned this season.

The Washington Post ≫ Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause.

Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama. Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated....... More ►

For those who aren't familar with them, rightwing death squads in Brazil have over the last 20 years killed thousands of black street children, and hundreds of environmental activist.

The Root ≫ Brazil activists fear death squads back.

Bishop Flavio Giovenale was crushed by the acquittal last week of a rancher accused of ordering the killing of a crusading American nun — and not just because he admired Dorothy Stang. Giovenale, who spends much of his time battling child prostitution, police corruption and drug abuse, fears the verdict means it's open season again on activists in the Amazon jungle state of Para....... More ►

Sudan has been backing genocide in Darfur for several years. But the people of Darfur are of the same ethnic groups as those in Chad. Recently Chad (with it's new found oil wealth) has been backing rebel groups in Darfur. Thus Africa new cycle of violence. Ethnic groups and clans that were forced to live in artificial countries still hold more sway then the weak nation states. This creates a never ending series of cross "border" conflicts.

BBC ≫ Human rights workers say they are worried about the possible mistreatment and torture of those detained since the weekend attack near Sudan's capital.

State media says at least 300 people have been arrested on suspicion of backing the Darfur rebels but many believed the true figure is far higher. Saturday's raid on Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city across the River Nile, was the closest Darfur's rebel groups had come to the capital in five years of conflict in the region. Sudan has accused neighbouring Chad of backing the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) rebels and cut diplomatic relations. Chad has denied the charges and closed its border, saying Sudan is planning an attack. Sudan's government has doubled the reward for the capture of Jem leader Khalil Ibrahim to $250,000. Human Rights Watch said it had received unconfirmed reports that two of those arrested had been executed in public....... More ►

The Black Middle Class: Pound Cake On Parrish Street......More ►
┗ by SicPlurisPoenaPrestantia

I have know of this movement for sometime. I have tried to talk people away from it because the media will of course try to play it up as more of the "racial divide" storyline.
Black Elected Superdelegates "Day of Reckoning"???......More ►
┗ by CatholicPriestDeminAL

Diaries by StormBear
┗ Black History: U.S. Colored Troops......More ►
┗ Black History: Reconstruction......More ►

I haven't linked to SB for a while, they are always good diaries.
From oppression to development: chevron's policy rethink in nigeria's bayelsa state......More ►
┗ by scoutbanana

Don't agree but I want to put it out there.
The black case against Obama.......More ►
┗ by JustinL

Very good read.
When Racism and Populism Intersect.......More ►
┗ by Randian