What is the economic cost of racism? Children from a predominantly black daycare were kicked out of a white country club pool for no apparent reason. Some argue that it was because they were black.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Your Black Money: Young Black Entrepreneurs Win Big Prize
Awarded 25K Grant in National Business Plan Competition
After competing against hundreds of minority owned businesses across the country, dangerousNEGRO Black Empowerment Apparel (dN|Be Apparel) was recently awarded $25,000 at the culmination of MillerCoors’ Urban Entrepreneur Series (MUES). Owners Tre Baker, Justin Giboney, Sebastine Ujereh, and Demetrius Walker were on hand to accept the prize at Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel. Known for being an edgy, yet socially conscious streetwear line, dN|Be Apparel has proven that it has a profitable business concept, which will undoubtedly expand as the company continues to accept new capital from enthusiastic investors this summer.
Hatched from President Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 characterization of A. Phillip Randolph as “America’s most dangerous Negro,” the company is best known for promoting positive messages and social awareness through its graphic tee shirts and school lectures. With tees carrying clever, universal messages like “Smart is the New Gangsta,” dN|Be Apparel is winning over those concerned with the deterioration of social values in their community. Supporters sharing dangerousNEGRO’s rejection of the victim mentality have not only purchased shirts in mass quantities, but have also participated in discussions with company lecturers Justin Giboney and Demetrius Walker across college campuses.
Click to read more.Thursday, July 9, 2009
News: McNair Was Shot While He Slept
More details are starting to come out about the murder of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and his 20-year old mistress Sahel Kazemi. According to the Associated Press, Nashville police believe that McNair was killed while he was sleeping. The evidence is leading investigators to believe that Kazemi shot McNair in the head while he slept on a couch, then shot him twice in the chest and then in the head once more. Before shooting herself, Kazemi apparently tried to position herself to fall on McNair's lap, but instead her body slid to the floor and lay at McNair's feet. The gun was found under her body.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Your Black News: McNair’s Wife Didn’t Know about Affair
An associate said Wednesday that the wife of ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair didn't know about Sahel Kazemi before the 20-year-old woman was found dead alongside her husband on the Fourth of July.
McNair, 36, was shot four times in what the medical examiner has said is likely a murder-suicide, though police haven't confirmed that Kazemi was responsible.
Mike Mu, who has worked with McNair's charitable foundation for years, said Mechelle McNair "didn't know who this girl is."
Mechelle McNair, who has not spoken publicly since the shooting, has been described by people close to her as being very upset and distraught. Agent Bus Cook said McNair's wife was "in and out" of it in the hours after the shooting.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Hip Hop: Dr Boyce Lays Down Economic Advice for Rappers
Hip-Hop Wired’s Michael “Ice-Blue” Harris recently sat down with scholar Dr. Boyce Watkins. The Syracuse University Financial Professor and advocate for African-Americans obtaining education and economic empowerment and warrior against racial injustice goes in on a few topics affecting Black America in the first of many insightful interviews.
HipHopWired: As far as Hip-Hop is concerned, you’ve been one of the people who….you’re part of the Hip-Hop generation, you speak to the Hip-Hop generation without criticizing but you do point out some of the things that are wrong. What are some of the changes you think we as men need to step up and do with the music?
Boyce Watkins: We need to stop being high paid hoes and learn how to be pimps. The truth is that…I actually wrote an article about this literally three days ago. Basically I created a hypothetical conversation between a rapper, a hypothetical rapper named Cash Money and the record label. Basically, Cash Money’s going to the executive and he’s saying, “Oh I know that my last album, Booties, Hoes and Bitches did real well on the charts but I’ve been thinking that this stuff’s not positive and I want to do something more positive next time, so I’m gonna do an album called Studying, Homework and Better Grades…” or something like that. I was just being silly so the executive is basically saying, “You know that’s a great idea Cash Money, I really feel ya dawg but the thing is that Booties, Hoes and Bitches sold two million copies last time and our projections show that the people who follow you, they want more booties, extra hoes and many more bitches so we’re thinking that that would be a great album title for your next release.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Time to Hold Fraternities and Sororities Accountable
Since Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906 the nine major black fraternities (Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma, Iota Phi Theta, Omega Psi Phi) and sororities (Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta. Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho) have been trailblazers, at the forefront of the fight against racism and at the forefront of the fight for African American empowerment. But over 100 years after their founding, are these organizations still doing the work that they set out to do?
To the extent that individuals have criticized these organizations from without they've attacked their membership practices--more specifically the practice of hazing. Almost all of the "Divine Nine" have had to deal with not only hazing allegations, but hazing related deaths over the past few decades.
But more recently members have severely criticized their organizations for their financial practices.
Most recently a case filed by a member is wending its way through the Nebraska courts alleging that the executive board of Alpha Kappa Alpha gave its International President an illegal stipend in the amount of $250,000, in violation of its Constitution and Bylaws, and without consulting the membership.
The case has not been decided, and the sorority is countersuing the plaintiff. However, this is not the first time in recent years that allegations of financial impropriety have been made against one of the "Divine Nine".
Obama Afraid to Publicly Acknowledge Michael Jackson?
President Barack Obama has written to the family of Michael Jackson rather than making a public statement, his senior adviser said Sunday.
Appearing on the NBC program "Meet the Press," Obama adviser David Axelrod said Obama believes Jackson was "an important and magnificent performer" who made an undeniable impact on music and entertainment.
Asked why Obama had yet to speak publicly about Jackson's sudden death last week at age 50, Axelrod said: "The president has written the family and has shared his feelings with the family."
"He felt that was the appropriate way to go," Axelrod said.
Posted by BallerGirl on Your Black Celebrities, at 11:02 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, June 28, 2009
Black News: Pastor Prays for Obama to Die?
From the Baltimore Afro-American:
A well-known minister of a denomination that once supported slavery and is firmly against a woman’s right to an abortion said recently that he is praying for President Obama to die.
The Rev. Wiley Drake, a former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Fox News Radio earlier this month that he was practicing “imprecatory prayer” or seeking a divine curse that would cause the president to die.
“If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death,” Drake said in an interview with Fox’s Alan Colmes, according to the Associated Press.
www.yourblacknews.blogspot.com
Black News: Obama Says Almost Nothing about Jackson’s Death
Al Sharpton said it best: "Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color. Way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama, Michael did with music what they later did in sports, in politics and in television."
If there is such a thing as 'post-racial', Jackson was probably the first and most visible international post-racial figure that this country has ever produced. He made history uniting not only Americans, but the world through his music, much in the same way Obama has done with his campaign.
It's surprising therefore, that a day after the news of Michael Jackson's death and with the nation deep in mourning, President Obama has not personally acknowledged a man who helped paved the way for his election.
Although the president released a brief statement through his press secretary Robert Gibbs on Friday afternoon, much was left unsaid. He was characteristically cautious, aiming to strike a political balance when he called Michael Jackson a "spectacular performer" whose life was "sad and tragic."
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Black News: The Latest from The Grio
The 'Mikaeel' Jackson you didn't know?
7:02 AM on 06/27/2009
A music legend. An icon. A controversial figure. Media outlets around the world have widely reported on Jackson's travels in and out of countries, his suffering and recovering from various rumored illnesses, even informing the public about his visits to bookstores and antique shops. But there is one topic the mainstream...
theGRIO SPEAKS
President of National Action Network
Let's remember what Michael did for us
7:51 AM on 06/27/2009
It was the mid-1970s. The nation was fresh off the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War was...
Deputy Editor
On Michael Jackson, Obama is tone deaf
4:47 PM on 06/26/2009
Al Sharpton said it best: "Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color. Way before Tiger Woods, way before...
Head of Cardiology at the Harlem Hospital Center
Michael Jackson and the truth about cardiac arrest
2:10 PM on 06/26/2009
Michael Jackson is dead at 50 from cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest simply means that the heart has stopped pumping, which...
Author of 'Kiss The Sky' and journalist
Michael Jackson and the American imagination
9:47 AM on 06/26/2009
(AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File) Just months after our President proved that you can be born black in America and achieve...
Political Analyst & Writer
Michael Jackson's death: a 'bad' dream
9:45 AM on 06/26/2009
How ironic. Between the economy and the weather -- seemingly endless rain that has robbed us of half our summer...
Business commentator
Fewer blacks are in the black
9:44 AM on 06/26/2009
Debt. Everyone has some these days. From our own federal government (the current federal deficit is a whopping $11.3 Trillion)...
Sister of Troy Davis and anti-death penalty activist
Troy Davis' sister speaks: Death row's invisible victims
8:54 AM on 06/25/2009
My name is Martina Correia and I am on Death Row in Georgia. No I have not murdered anybody, never...
Author and Finance Professor at Syracuse University
Obama's not good enough on black unemployment
8:33 AM on 06/25/2009
In America, there are essentially two types of power: Political power and economic power. African Americans, relatively speaking, have always...
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NAACP President & CEO
Demand justice for Troy Davis
8:18 AM on 06/24/2009
In Georgia, a man named Troy Davis sits on Death Row despite unassailable evidence pointing to his innocence. It is...
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ACLU: Mich. zero-tolerance law unfair to black students
9:50 AM on 06/27/2009
Schools are not using enough discretion under Michigan's zero-tolerance expulsion law and are disproportionately kicking out black students who ultimately end up behind bars, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Filipino 'Thriller' dancing inmates stage a tribute to Michael
7:29 AM on 06/27/2009
The Filipino inmates who shot to global fame with a Youtube video recreating the "Thriller" dance swayed and stomped again Saturday in a behind-bars tribute to their idol, Michael Jackson. After being told of Jackson's death Thursday in Los Angeles, the 1,500 inmates...
Five members of Jena Six plead no contest
5:58 PM on 06/26/2009
Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won't serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration...
Audio of emergency call for Michael Jackson released
2:45 PM on 06/26/2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An emergency caller from Michael Jackson's home says he wasn't breathing or responding to efforts to revive him. The Los Angeles Fire Department released the emergency call Friday. The caller reported that Jackson was on a...
Jackson's music flying off the shelves
By theGrio
12:44 PM on 06/26/2009
Michael Jackson's music is flying off store shelves. Gloria Washington loaded up on Jackson's hits at Best Buy hours after his death. "I'm devastated. I'm totally devastated. I'm a true Michael Jackson fan," said Washington. "I was there at his...
Hundreds gather outside Jackson's boyhood home in Gary, IN
By theGrio
11:44 AM on 06/26/2009
Residents of Gary, Indiana are mourning the loss of their most famous native son. Hundreds gathered outside of Michael Jackson's boyhood home as news of his passing spread through the town where his musical career began. Jackson died in Los...
The King of Pop is dead
9:51 AM on 06/26/2009
Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop" who once moonwalked above the music world, died Thursday as he prepared for a comeback bid to vanquish nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial calamity. He was 50. Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills...
Kid saves Superman
By theGrio
9:24 AM on 06/26/2009
Hakeem is a student at P.S. 36 in Brooklyn. He hopes to one day become a doctor, but in the meantime he's happy to be a hero to a super-hero. "Hakeem saves Superman by pushing the kryptonite into the crevice...
Fans remember Michael
By theGrio
8:49 AM on 06/26/2009
All over the country people are remembering, and celebrating the life of music icon Michael Jackson. In Los Angeles mourners gathered all over the city as news spread about the pop star's sudden death. In Jackson's hometown of Gary, Indiana is was a mix of grief and celebration...
Jermaine Jackson speaks on behalf of family
By theGrio
10:00 PM on 06/25/2009
Michael Jackson's family has issued their first statement on the passing of the entertainment legend. Jackson's older brother Jermaine spoke briefly to reporters at UCLA Medical Center on Thursday, just hours after Michael's passing. "This is hard," he said tearfully...
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