by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action
Donald Trump and Barack Obama will be in the same room tonight. The White House Correspondents dinner has Trump on the guest list, with President Obama delivering a stand up routine that pokes fun at himself and his presidency. While almost no topics are off limits during the dinner, Trump doesn’t expect the president to talk about him.
"I wouldn't think [Obama] would address me" during his speech, Trump said to ABC News.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action
Roman Caple is a senior at St. Augustine’s College. He was set to graduate this weekend until he was informed by the school that he wouldn’t be allowed to walk with his classmates. Caple says that his punishment was due to a Facebook post that allegedly "jeopardized the integrity of the college."
Caple argues that the reaction of school administrators came as a result of his posts following a tornado that hit Raleigh, NC two weeks ago. But he says that most of his comments were meant to be uplifting. One of his posts said the following:
"We all need to set our differences aside and help one another. Falcons we will continue to fly high because that's what we do. Help your neighbor, if need be, Falcons are one."
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action
If there were a royal wedding being held in Africa, would CNN spend an entire week covering it? If not, what does that say about race, if anything at all?
I couldn’t help but feel entirely disconnected from the ceremony that was being shown all over our television sets at the same time hundreds of people were being killed in an Alabama tornado. I kept wondering if the fantasy of the British fairytale had more relevance to news producers than the reality of death and devastation.
BOSTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's father was forced to leave Harvard University before completing his Ph.D. in economics because the school was concerned about his personal life and finances, according to newly public immigration records.
Harvard had asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to delay a request by Barack Hussein Obama Sr. to extend his stay in the U.S., "until they decided what action they could take in order to get rid of him," immigration official M.F. McKeon wrote in a June 1964 memo.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) -- President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn Tuscaloosa, Alabama, neighborhoods on Friday, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen.
The storms killed at least 316 people in six Southern states and left entire neighborhoods in ruins. Obama promised expedited federal aid to states affected by the tornadoes.
"We're going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild," he said.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
Like nearly every other black man in America, I’ve been taken aback by the manner through which Donald Trump has used racist code language to undermine the presidency of Barack Obama. After first wondering if he was born in the United States, Trump has made reference to Obama playing too much basketball to pay attention to the price of gas and even questioned whether or not he truly earned the grades necessary to get into the Harvard Law School.
By Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – the picture above (left) is from the press conference held for Father Pfleger in Chicago
I went to the press conference being held on behalf of Father Michael Pfleger, the respected Catholic Priest on the Southside of Chicago. In case you don’t know, Father Pfleger’s church, St. Sabina, is a predominantly black church and his members love him. He has served the South Side of Chicago with the kind of courage only shown by a true spiritual soldier. He has stood strong with mothers as their sons have died and has put himself in the middle of nearly every kind of devastation that plagues inner cities across America.
In this episode of Your Black Love, Deborrah Cooper and I ask whether or not black women have a preference for dating men that are not good for them.
Do you know a woman who dates one bad guy after another and then seems to spend all of her time whining about the fact that she can never find a good man? Yea, I have too. Well, it seems to me that, at some point, we must all have some degree of accountability for our relationship choices.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Some 320 websites and newspapers that belong to Associated Press Sports Editors slightly improved their racial hiring practices last year, according to a study released Wednesday, though they failed again to make any strides in gender hiring for key newsroom positions.
The report, released every two years by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, gave those outlets a C plus, up from a C in 2008, for racial hires and an F for gender hires in jobs including sports editor, columnist, reporter and copy editor.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action
I had to keep myself from getting sick when I turned on the TV this morning to see some random people walking down the street wearing clothes too expensive for nearly all of my friends to afford. I wondered why the world has become captivated and frozen over such a disgusting exercise of extravagance. So, I thought I would list at least four of the reasons that I won’t be watching the royal wedding:
1) Because I simply don’t care and neither do most of the people reading this article. It’s one wedding, for one couple across the world. I honestly just don’t get it.
Watch the video below to understand the nature of Fox News Racism. There’s a historical context to all of this, whether we’re talking about the Birther Movement, the Tea Party or any of the other activity coming from the Right Wing. Check it out below or click here to watch.
Twelve people were charged today in two separate drug smuggling schemes involving baggage handlers at Detroit Metro Airport who allegedly helped sneak in suitcases filled with marijuana and cocaine from Jamaica and Houston.
According to two criminal complaints unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Detroit, six individuals were charged with running a drug smuggling scheme between Jamaica and Detroit by using baggage employee codes and insider knowledge to get drugs past security.
The complaint alleges that Northwest/Delta Airlines baggage handlers at Detroit Metro Airport were in cahoots with airport employees in Jamaica who helped sneak the suitcases full of marijuana and cocaine into Detroit. The scheme was discovered on Jan. 23, 2010, when a federal agent learned about a drug seizure by Jamaican Customs involving roughly 53 pounds of marijuana. The drugs were in a suitcase headed for Detroit, which triggered an investigation that revealed an inside job.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action
Republican State Rep from Oklahoma Sally Kern seems to think that black people don’t work as hard as whites and that we are more likely to go to prison because we think the government will take care of us.
“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that's tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don't want to study as hard in school? I've taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them."
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by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
Today, I stood in the presence of a true soldier. I went to the hospital in Chicago to visit Rasul “Rocky” Clark, the young brother who was paralyzed 10 years ago in a football accident at the age of 16. Rocky was paralyzed from the neck down, only able to move his head and nothing else. His legs and arms are thinner than anything I’ve ever seen, he can barely breathe, and he’s dying right now because his insurance company decided to kill his policy.
Rocky’s mother, Annette, has stood by her son day-in and day-out every single day since the accident. She has a bed right next to him in the hospital and repeatedly told me that “I’m not gonna leave my baby.” Every normal day seems to be abnormally tragic, with nurses cleaning bacteria out of Rocky’s one remaining lung, and the young man quietly repeating the words, “Mama, I can’t breathe.”
by Frank Igwe – Your Black World
"Appeasement is like feeding the crocodile, hoping that it will eat you last.” -Winston Churchill
As Hitler’s Third Reich expanded across Europe, and leader after leader sought to placate and temper his appetite for war by surrendering territory in the hope for peace, Winston Churchill took a stand, and stated: "Appeasement is like feeding the crocodile, hoping that it will eat you last.”You see, Churchill understood a basic truth that has been around since the beginning of time: A bully will continue to be a bully, until you take a stand and fight. Hitler’s aggression was built on a platform of racial superiority, of dividing the world into “in-groups” and “out-groups”, the chosen and “the others”, slaves and slave masters. He may have succeeded in his quest for world domination, and global ethnic cleansing had it not been for one courageous leader who said, ENOUGH!
Your Black World Reports
It appears that Whoopi Goldberg has had enough. The host, who normally defends men accused of racism (i.e. Mel Gibson and Ted Danson), found herself highly offended by Donald Trump’s reference to President Obama playing basketball and then stating that Obama was not qualified to get into Harvard.
Your Black World Reports
On a recent appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, President Barack Obama was asked about the birth certificate issue. The president recently released his birth certificate to the public in order to squash growing controversy about his birthplace.
"Why did you wait so long, though?" Oprah asked. "When it first came up, were you thinking, I hope I was born here?"
*A federal judge has sided with NFL players and granted their request for a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout imposed by team owners.
The ruling gives the players an early victory in their fight with NFL owners over a new collective bargaining agreement in the $9-billion business.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
Jestina Clayton is a woman in Utah who is originally from Sierra Leone in West Africa. She does African braiding part-time in order to make extra money. She is now being confronted with the loss of significant income, since a law in the state of Utah claims that you must have a full cosmetology license in order to braid hair.
Clayton filed suit this week in the court of law. She is being backed by the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based organization that helps people like Clayton challenge unjust laws.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
If there were ever a human being who best embodied the words “What would Jesus do?” it would be Father Michael Pfleger out of Chicago. Father Pfleger has put it on the line for 30 years as the head of the St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the south side of Chicago. The church is predominantly black, but Father Pfleger connects with his parishioners as if they were his family.
by Janell Ross, Huffington Post
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the decade leading up to the Great Recession, Wanda Nolan grew accustomed to steady progress.
From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner. She finished college and then got an MBA. Even after the recession unfolded in late 2007, her degrees and her familiarity with the business world lent her a sense of immunity to the forces ravaging much of the American economy. Nolan was an exemplar of the African American middle class and the increasingly professional ranks of the so-called New South.
But in September 2008, everything changed.
A bank human resources officer called her into a private conference room. “All I heard was, ‘Your position has been eliminated,’” says Nolan, 37, who, despite being one of the more than 13 million officially unemployed Americans, still spends most days in her self-styled banker’s uniform of pearls and pants and practical flats. “My mind started racing.”
More than two years later, Nolan is still looking for a job and feeling increasingly anxious about a future that once felt assured. Her life has devolved from a model of middle class African American upward mobility into an example of a disturbing trend: She is among the 15.5 percent of African Americans out of work and still looking for a job.
For economists, that number may sound awful, but it’s not surprising. The nation’s overall unemployment rate sits at 8.8 percent and the rate among white Americans is at 7.9 percent. For a variety of reasons -- ranging from levels of education and continuing discrimination to the relatively young age of black workers -- black unemployment tends to run twice the rate for whites. Yet since the Great Recession, joblessness has remained so critically elevated among African Americans that it is challenging longstanding ideas about what it takes to find work in the modern-day economy.
Millions of people like Nolan, who have precisely followed the oft-dictated recipe for economic success -- work hard, get an education, seek advancement -- are slipping backward. Even as they apply for jobs and accept the prospect of a future with less job security and lower pay, they remain stalled in unemployment.
Trading down has become a painful truth for much of working America, but this truth becomes particularly stark when seen through the prism of race. Only 12 percent of all Americans are black, but working-age black Americans comprise nearly 21 percent of the nation’s unemployed, according to federal data. The growing contrast between prospects for white and black job-seekers challenges a cherished American notion: the availability of opportunity and upward mobility for all.
CHICAGO -- President Barack Obama flew home to Chicago on Wednesday to help his pal and supporter Oprah Winfrey close out her syndicated talk show with a "big get" – an interview with him.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, took turns answering Winfrey's questions during a taped interview at her studio, her first in 25 years with a sitting president and first lady.
Editor's note: Annette Bernhardt is policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project, a national advocacy group for the rights of lower-wage earners. She was lead researcher on NELP's recent report, "A Year of Unbalanced Growth: Industries, Wages, and the First 12 Months of Job Growth After the Great Recession."
(CNN) -- We are starved for signs that the economy is picking up. So when McDonald's threw its doors open to hire 50,000 workers nationwide, media networks scrambled to film applicants lining up across the country for that increasingly elusive piece of the American dream -- a job.
HARTFORD -- State lawmakers are wondering why a homeless Bridgeport woman is being prosecuted on felony charges for enrolling her son in a Norwalk school.
Rep. Bruce V. Morris, D-Norwalk, said Wednesday that since Tanya McDowell's 5-year-old son A.J. was withdrawn from Brookside Elementary School in January she should be held accountable for no more than half the $15,000 she has been charged with stealing.
Quote of the day: "The birthers are now going to have to change their name since the birth certificate has been release. Instead of being called 'the birthers,' they are now going to be called 'the after birthers," because they simply aren't going to quit." - Mark Thompson, host of “Make it Plain with Mark Thompson”
Please watch this PSA that shows the devastating impact of fatherless homes on the African American community. The video is incredibly powerful.
NORWALK, Conn. -- A homeless single mother who lives in her van pleaded not guilty Wednesday to stealing nearly $16,000 worth of education for her son by enrolling the kindergartener in her baby sitter's school district.
Tanya McDowell, 33, was arraigned in Norwalk, where she was arrested April 14 on felony charges of committing and attempting to commit first-degree larceny.
Prosecutors say McDowell used her baby sitter's address to enroll her son in Norwalk schools in the fall but should have registered the boy in nearby Bridgeport, a significantly poorer urban district and the location of her last permanent address.
Your Black World Reports
It looks like the phrase “Too legit to quit” doesn’t quite apply to Luther Campbell. The former leader of “2 Live Crew” has raised a reported $250 for his campaign to run for Mayor of Miami. Campbell was hoping that a recent fundraiser would bring him $5,000 to $10,000, but he was wrong. Campbell is now $150,000 behind the fourth-highest fundraiser, Jose "Pepe" Cancio.
Your Black World Reports
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg went on a tirade after finding out that the NYPD gave the rapper Sean “Diddy”Combs a police motorcade to make a $75,000 event in New Jersey. The mayor launched a probe into the incident, stating that it is unacceptable for anyone to receive police assistance with taxpayer dollars. Officers from NYPD internal affairs went to the Midtown South precinct to go through logs, records and work schedules to find out who was responsible for what happened. They are also reviewing videotapes from 35th Street and Times Square to find out more information.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
I watched Tyler Perry last night on the Mo’Nique Show on BET. It was an interesting interview, with Mo’Nique fawning over Tyler’s brilliance in the way you would expect an actress to kiss up to one of the most powerful filmmakers in the world. I fully expect that Mo’Nique will get some coveted roles in future Tyler Perry films.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
Tricia Fraser filed suit last Tuesday against a Texas-based pro-life group that used her daughter’s face on a billboard that ran in Harlem earlier this year. Beneath the face of her child were the words “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.”
In the lawsuit, Fraser claims that the use of her daughter’s image was “defamatory, unauthorized and offensive.” She also said that it was racist. The image was obtained legally, however, as Fraser had allowed her daughter to be photographed by a modeling agency.
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will name CIA Director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, a senior defense official and another U.S. official said Wednesday.
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, will be named to replace Panetta as CIA director, a senior defense official said.
Your Black World reports
Have you ever tried to get a loan, and felt that you weren’t being treated the same as if you were white? What about watching that promotion at work being given to the white guy down the hall when you were the one slaving night and day for 20 years? Well, this feeling is not uncommon. A recent survey at YourBlackWorld.com showed that nearly 90% of African Americans feel that they’ve experienced some kind of discrimination in the workplace. In spite of our having a black president and attorney general, new laws have not been introduced to help people of color fight discrimination in the workplace.
Another prominent type of discrimination is the racial bias in other kinds of financial decisions. Millions of black people were victims of predatory lending during the recent financial crisis, leading to a massive decline in black family wealth over the last decade. Additionally, the ability to build a business, get government contracts or do other things to create financial security for your family can be impacted by the color of your skin. Prof. Stephanie Yates Rauterkus at The University of Alabama Birmingham speaks on the topic in the video below.
Click here to watch the video
NORWALK, Conn. -- A homeless single mother arrested for allegedly enrolling her son in the wrong school district is set to make her first court appearance Wednesday morning in Norwalk Superior Court.
Prosecutors say Tonya McDowell, 33, stole more than $15,000 worth of education by using her babysitter's Norwalk address to enroll her 6-year-old at Brookside Elementary School.
McDowell told police she was living in her van and sleeping at a Norwalk shelter, or staying at a friend's Bridgeport apartment when she enrolled her son in Norwalk last September.
To support Tonya McDowell’s case, please visit the YBW Virtual Command Center at EqualEducationNow.com
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
To join our coalition for Rocky, please visit SaveRockyClark.com
I woke up thinking about a person I met just two weeks ago. I was thinking about this man because he is going to die unless we find a way to help him. He is paralyzed from the neck down, has one working lung and that lung has enough blood clots in it to kill him.
Meet Rasul “Rocky” Clark, a 27-year old man living in Illinois. Rocky was once a promising young high school athlete at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Il. His future came to a halt when he took a bad hit on the football field that left him with the inability to ever use his arms or legs again. As you can probably imagine, the earth-shattering transition from being a healthy 16-year old boy to becoming a quadriplegic is beyond daunting, and many of us could never recover from this kind of devastation.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
I just spoke with Kelley Williams-Bolar, the mother in Ohio who’d been arrested for sending her child to a school outside her district. Her goal had been to go to Connecticut this week to support Tonya McDowell, the second black mother in months to be prosecuted for the same offense. To our surprise, the judge in Kelley’s case, Patricia Cosgrove, denied Kelley the right to travel across state lines.
I find it interesting that this law-abiding mother, who simply wanted a better life for her children, finds herself forced to go through life with a probation hanging over her head, having her freedom restricted by judges and prosecutors who are determined to perpetuate the nightmare for Kelley and her family.
PRESS RELEASE:
(For Immediate Release)
CONTACT PERSON: Scot X. Esdaile: tel. 203-668-4562
WHAT: Press Conference
Where: Crosland Attorney-Law Firm
1150 Summer Street, Stamford CT – (for directions call
(203) 921-1782
When: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Why: See below
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
I can personally confirm that Donna Brazile, the well-respected Democratic strategist, is a really nice person. When I say a “nice person,” I mean really nice. Not, the fake, polite kind of “nice” that people use to reference those in power, but the honest-to-goodness “nice” that you get from a guy (me) who doesn’t care much about keeping famous or unethical friends.
Donna once did something very kind for my brother years ago, long before anyone knew who he was. I respect any big shot who is willing to help a young black man trying to achieve his goals. I don’t think Donna knew that my brother was related to me at the time, which makes her kindness all that more special.
Donna is on my mind, because she reached out to Your Black World the other day to give me some clarifying points about her meeting with Cornel West at Princeton University. I’ve written a bit about the meeting between Brazile and West, particularly as it pertains to the perception that the meeting was structured in response to the well-known blow up on MSNBC that occurred between Prof. West and Rev. Al Sharpton. In seeming contrast to my personal interpretation of the meeting, Ms. Brazile let me know that the meeting had been planned back in February and not in response to the events that took place on MSNBC. I’ll admit that even though I take Ms. Brazile at her word, it’s hard to imagine that she wasn’t happy to use this meeting as an opportunity to deal with Prof. West’s vehement opposition to the most recent activities of the Obama Administration.
With that said, Ms. Brazile also made a point that I found to be quite accurate and noteworthy.
"We have to have an inside, outside strategy. We have to do defense and offense,” she said. “The fact that Brother West is on the outside makes my job easier.”
This is the point that should be remembered by every Obama loyalist who somehow thinks we are helping the president by squashing anyone who is remotely critical of the administration. The fact is that by surrounding the Obama Administration with “yes” men and women, we are going to find our community ignored by political insiders who only give oil to the squeakiest wheel. So, by speaking up on behalf of the black community and making sure that our issues are placed firmly on the table of discussion, we are helping President Obama do his job better.
In the video conversation below, Dr. Wilmer Leon and I discuss the Brazile/West/Obama dynamic and what it means for black America. Enjoy!
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action
It appears that Donald Trump just won’t give up. In an interview this week with the Associated Press, “The Donald” said that President Obama was a poor student who didn’t deserve to be admitted to Harvard University. Trump doesn’t actually have proof of his assertions, but that’s never stopped him before.
"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" Trump said to the Associated Press. "I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records."
by Graham Cluley on October 11, 2010 | Comments (3)
FILED UNDER: Social networks, Spam
Earlier this year I blogged about how scammers were abusing Facebook users' curiousity about who might be viewing their profile. Surprise surprise, they're at it again.
Right now we're seeing messages spreading across Facebook claiming to have found a way to allow you to sneakily tell who has been looking at your profile. And it's no shock to see that many people are intrigued as to who might be checking them out online (maybe it's a secret admirer? or an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend? or a prospective employer?), and clicking on the link.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Huffington Post – Your Black World Coalition
When I heard about the case of Tonya McDowell, the homeless mother sent to jail for sending her 5-year-old son to the "wrong" school district, I immediately thought back to the case of Kelley Williams-Bolar not long ago. I wondered how the world has gone mad enough to somehow think that it should be against the law for mothers to find ways to get their children access to a high quality education.
As a result of this homeless single mother having the audacity to get her child into a good school, she is being charged with first-degree theft and also being asked to repay the $15,686 it allegedly cost to educate her child in the Norwalk, Conn. school district. No one cares that this family has no home. No one seems to care about what will happen if this child grows up without the only woman on earth wired to love him unconditionally. No one seems to care about the massive costs to the state of prosecuting this mother and eventually the child, as we deliberately trap them in an intergenerational cycle of poverty and criminal justice. All that seems to matter is that they keep this little boy out of their school.
From the Huffington Post
NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey’s success is, at least in part, due to her use of the techniques and language of a preacher, according to a new book from a Yale religion professor.
Winfrey became more than a daytime TV show host when she transformed herself into the equivalent of a religious icon, Yale professor Kathryn Lofton argues in her book Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, the New York Post reported in time for Good Friday.
"Gospel is a word that means 'good news’," Lofton, who claims to have studied nearly every episode of Winfrey’s show as well as her print publications, told the paper. "Oprah says that the good news is 'you'."
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World
It appears that Jalen Rose of ESPN (and the Fab Five at Michigan) wasn’t aware that he was being arrested when he was stopped for DUI. Here is a transcript of Jalen’s interaction with the police officer in the back of a squad car on the night he was arrested for drunk driving:
Jalen: "So what are we doing right now?"
Cop: "We're gonna go to the police station right now."
Jalen: "To do what?"
Cop: "You're under arrest."
Jalen: "For what, sir?"
Cop: "For drunk driving."
Jalen: "But I wasn't really drinking."
Cop: "Um, okay."
From Dr. Boyce Watkins
I just spoke this morning with Richelle Carey from CNN HLN. Richelle mentioned that she has a strong interest in the Tonya McDowell situation and wants to remain updated. I appreciate Richelle, for she has always been conscientious in her desire to keep the world aware of critical issues that face black people across the country.
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