tagged w/ African American
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"Black Children Are an Endangered Species."
That statement hangs in the air here, with the image of a frightened black child, on 80 billboards of various sizes in the African American neighborhoods of metro Atlanta.
The signs started appearing in late January and are expected to start coming down at the end of March.
In late February The New York Times drew national attention by running a story on the billboards. Following that, on March 9, the pro-choice web site RH Reality Check held a telephone news conference to refute the charges that abortion clinics were targeting black women.
Since then reproductive rights groups have been sending warning cries that anti-choice activists are distorting and exploiting statistics to make inroads into the African American community.
Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice-president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says the people behind the campaign are out to destroy Planned Parenthoods within the African American community. If they succeed in Georgia, says Cullins, they'll use the same tactic nationwide.
http://www.womensenews.org/story/abortion/100323/atlanta-ads-black-abortions-may-go-national"Black Children Are an Endangered Species."
That statement hangs in the... more
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Cultural relativism might be easier in theory than in practice. Take the case of Melville Herskovits, a Jewish-American anthropologist of Slovak extraction who broke new ground in the definition and analysis of African-American culture. In the film HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS, intellectuals and historians discuss the vast impact and heated debate Herskovits continues to inspire around our modern perception of cultural identity.
Herskovits was the first prominent white intellectual to declare that black culture in America was “not pathological,” but rather inherently African, and that it had to be viewed within that context.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3818/146/45/112416286368/n112416286368_2623523_1271193.jpgCultural relativism might be easier in theory than in practice. Take the case of... more
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Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Obama's mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that "the land of the free" has finally made good on its promise of equality. There's an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized, or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs, and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.
Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/new-jim-crow-war-on-drugs
http://images.indiebound.com/037/581/9781595581037.jpgEver since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to... more
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Vampires are in.
True Blood, the Charlaine Harris-adapted stories of waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her love affair with small town vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer) has garnered enough success for Showtime to have ordered a third season. (Even with Evan Rachel Wood’s cancerous performance.)
The CW has been raising the dead for years: Superman as a television property via Smallville, the concepts of Melrose Place and 90210, Tyra Banks — but Tyra and her ty-rades still weren’t enough undead for the network. New to the line-up is The Vampire Diaries (cast pictured), probably starring some newcomer’s pecs and the bust of a blonde.
Oh, and there’s Twilight’s Robert Pattinson – you know, that kid from Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire? Maybe you’ve seen him in that.
The vampire has been a longtime mainstay of pop culture, exuding sex appeal and terror, and the comics world has been no stranger to blood suckers. Just ask my Dad.
I remember feeling very connected to him when we’d go comic shopping on Saturdays. He’d pick me up, we’d go to the local flea market (I’m from Ohio) and he’d buy me the comics I wanted, even getting a few of his own. I’d have my stack of X-Men — and my father would purchase issue after issue of Vampirella.
Vampirella, vampire warrior: born either of Draculon, a vampire planet, or of a division of Hell. The character’s backstory has changed in her forty-year tenure as comicdom’s sexiest vampire.
The Vampirella issues soon grew to the height of my father’s Playboy collection, and I realized that my comic collecting was held in a very different regard than my father’s. I continued to get my stack of X-Men; my father continued to get Vampirella’s stack.
Read more at http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2009/10/05/classic-comic-character-vampirella-reinvented-now-african-american/Vampires are in.
True Blood, the Charlaine Harris-adapted stories of waitress... more
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Vietnam veteran Ronald Price considers himself snubbed by Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rejected for inclusion in its Black History Month displays "For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots," a four-hour documentary in which a Who's Who of Hollywood is enlisted to document the history of blacks in the military.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/2069433,CST-NWS-walmart25.articleVietnam veteran Ronald Price considers himself snubbed by Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart Stores... more
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Poet and Speaker Kirk Nugent tells how he broke free from the 'work for everyone but myself' syndrome.Poet and Speaker Kirk Nugent tells how he broke free from the 'work for everyone... more
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February 20, 2010 7:17 p.m. EST
New York (CNN) -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the oldest civil rights groups in the nation, announced the successor to Chairman Julian Bond on Saturday as the organization strives to prove its relevance and influence to a new generation.
NAACP Vice Chair Roslyn Brock was selected to fill the seat left by Bond, a civil rights leader who has held the post since 1998. Brock, 44, is the youngest person to ever serve in the position.
Brock has worked with the organization for more than 25 years in various roles, including as a youth board member and president of its Youth and College State Conference, according to the NAACP. She is also a vice president at Bon Secours Health Systems in Marriottsville, Maryland.
"We're looking at a generational shift in our communities," Brock said in a statement posted on the NAACP Web site.
"We have a 48 year old President in the White House, an NAACP President who was 35 at the time of his election, and a 44 year old Board Chair. The wisdom of those who stood the test of time got us to this point, and the youth will lead the future success of our movement."
Brock's perspective -- that of a younger leader -- will help move the 101-year-old organization forward, said Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
"I think it's a great decision by the board because it changes the leadership intergenerationally," Berry told CNN on Saturday."Her views will respect those of a post-protest, civil rights generation."
The sit-ins and marches demanding racial equality have been replaced with social tussles disproportionately affecting non-white communities. Such issues include unemployment, foreclosures and incarceration rates, and Brock will have to address those in moving the NAACP forward, Berry said.
"They've got to focus on the problems that people at the grass roots have," she said.
Brock made history in February 2001 when she was unanimously elected vice chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors at the age of 35, making her the youngest and first women to get the job.
"She's very different from Julian. But the fact that she's younger, vibrant, very dynamic -- I think it's great," said historian Patricia A. Sullivan, whose book, "Raise Every Voice," chronicled the history of the NAACP. "It's an important position, and I think having someone like her in that position says something."
Bond, a stalwart of the Civil Rights Movement, helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known for its student sit-ins in the early 1960s, and served as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He served in both houses of the Georgia Legislature, totaling two decades in office, before later leading the NAACP as chairman.
The 70-year-old civil rights leader had indicated he was ready to leave the organization in 2008, but stayed on in 2009 as the NAACP celebrated its 100th anniversary.
At the time, there was talk about whether the organization was still relevant in what some observers called a "post-racial" United States. John McWhorter, a linguist and conservative political commentator, spelled it out in a February 2009 column titled, "If the NAACP ceased to exist tomorrow, would it have a significant effect on black America?"
For Bond, the answer was obvious.
"We have for the first time a black man who can open the doors to Air Force One, but we now know his children couldn't go to a pool in Philadelphia," Bond told CNN in July, referring to a decision by a suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, swim club to revoke privileges of a largely minority day care center last year.
"So, as long as this disparity exists, we're not the national association for the advancement of one colored person, we want all colored people to advance," he continued. "And for us, people come in all colors -- black, brown, yellow, everything. We want everyone to advance, everyone to progress, and until that's true, the NAACP is going to be here."
And to ensure it will be here, the organization has showcased youthful leaders among its ranks -- most notably tapping Benjamin Todd Jealous as its president in 2008. At 35, Jealous was the youngest ever to hold the post at the NAACP.
Berry, who now teaches history at the University of Pennsylvania, was on the NAACP search committee at the time.
"The organization is clearly doing what every organization should do -- they should renew their leadership and reach out to the next generation," Berry said Friday. "Otherwise, they'll die."
In his speech on the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, President Barack Obama said "the pain of discrimination is still felt in America" among African-Americans, Latinos and Muslim Americans.
"Even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folks -- we know that too many barriers still remain," he said.
CNN's Samira Simone and Khadijah Rentas contributed to this report.February 20, 2010 7:17 p.m. EST
New York (CNN) -- The National Association for the... more
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A film about 19th Century French author Alexandre Dumas has sparked a row after a white actor was chosen to portray the novelist, who was of African origin.
The celebrated but fair-skinned screen star, Gerard Depardieu, had to darken his skin and wear a curly wig to play the part in L'Autre Dumas.
Critics argue the French movie industry has deliberately undermined the 19th Century novelist's ethnicity.
They say a mixed-race actor should have been chosen to play the national hero.
The directors may have France's favourite actor playing France's favourite author, but while Gerard Depardieu is white, Alexandre Dumas was mixed race.
The casting of a white man in the new film's title role has sparked a racism row
'Shocking and insulting'
Patrick Lozes, President of the Council of Black Associations of France, feels that Dumas' African heritage has been deliberately suppressed for the big screen.
"It's very shocking and it is insulting.
"It is a way of saying that we don't have any black actor who has the talent to play Alexander Dumas, which of course is not true."
Dumas was the grandson of a Haitian slave and often referred to himself as a negro.
Historian Claude Schopp says although his books were revered by his contemporaries, he was often mocked for his colour.
"In caricatures or in sketches he was always presented with big lips, with Afro hair, as a sort of monster."
The film's directors insist they simply chose an actor who could match Dumas's vibrancy.
And although he may not share the author's ethnicity, who better, they say, than the larger-than-life actor Depardieu to portray such a colourful personality?A film about 19th Century French author Alexandre Dumas has sparked a row after a... more
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Whenever any host on MS-NBC refers to critics of Barack Obama as racist, just keep this link handy. Chris Matthews offers up this revealing non-sequitur as praise for Obama’s “appearance” of post-racial qualities in a manner that echoes Harry Reid’s strange praise revealed in the book Game Change. I’ve puzzled over this comment since I saw in on Twitter last night in the aftermath of the State of the Union address. Exactly what does it mean that Matthews “forgot he was black” in connection to his praise of Obama’s leadership?
Watch the Racist comments By Chris Matthews...VIDEO...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/the-real-racist-msnbc%e2%80%99s-chris-matthews-%e2%80%98i-forgot-he-was-black-tonight%e2%80%99-video/Whenever any host on MS-NBC refers to critics of Barack Obama as racist, just keep... more
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Black rights activist T. West of AfriSynergy Productions warns that people need to be aware of the tragedy in Haiti being exploited by nefarious groups for their own gain, including Israel, who have admittedly stolen organs from dead Palestinians in the past.Black rights activist T. West of AfriSynergy Productions warns that people need to be... more
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Destruction in New Orleans and now Haiti can be paralleled in this documentary made about Katrina in 2005. Find out what the title means by watching the pod.Destruction in New Orleans and now Haiti can be paralleled in this documentary made... more
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Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) apologized Saturday for referring to President Obama in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign as “light-skinned” and as having “no Negro dialect.”
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” Reid said in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans, for my improper comments.”
Majority Leader Reid apologizes to Obama for 2008 racist remarks Full story and VIDEO!!!...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/sen-harry-reid-called-obama-the-n-word-but-hey-its-ok-hes-a-democrat-right/Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) apologized Saturday for referring to... more
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Spike lee verse's Tyler Perry... two black film makers with very different styles. To those who keep a pulse on the film industry it is known that there is a little feud brewing between these two film makers, and the heart of the dispute lies in content... Spike lee once again takes shoots at Tyler Perry in a recent interview. Looks like creative beef does not only apply to rappers... Watch The video by clicking the link below.
http://www.waneenterprises.com/news/364
http://www.waneenterprises.comSpike lee verse's Tyler Perry... two black film makers with very different... more
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President Barack Obama has been forced to defend himself against accusations that he has not done enough for black people in America.
Danny Glover, the activist film actor, told The Daily Beast website recently: “I think the Obama administration has followed the same playbook, to a large extent, almost verbatim, as the Bush administration. I don’t see anything different.”
John Conyers, the Republican chairman of the House judiciary committee, told a newspaper that Mr Obama “was getting bad advice from clowns”, criticised him for the poor handling of the closure of Guantánamo Bay and for “bowing down” to the “nutty Right-wing” over health care reform.
Mr Obama hit back yesterday saying that: “This notion, somehow, that because there wasn’t a transformation overnight that we’ve been neglectful is just not accurate,”President Barack Obama has been forced to defend himself against accusations that he... more
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More Latinos and African Americans Value Higher Education
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8a7fe1338492a2613c91bf44eba6983c
A higher percentage of Latinos and African Americans in California value college education as a necessary path to success in today’s work world, compared to their Asian and white counterparts, according to a recent survey.
Last week, the Public Policy Institute of California released its latest report, “Californians & Higher Education,” which reflects a spectrum of perspectives on California’s higher education among different ethnic groups. PPIC polled 2,502 adults in five languages – English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
read more at
www.NewAmericaMedia.orgMore Latinos and African Americans Value Higher Education... more
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The 'progressive' towns constantly listed as our best role models also lack racial diversity, finds Aaron Renn. Why has no one called them on it?
Among the media and academia and within planning circles, there's a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and midsize cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis and Denver.
In particular, Portland is held up as a paradigm, with its urban growth boundary, extensive transit system, excellent cycling culture and a pro-density policy. These cities are frequently contrasted with those of the Rust Belt and South, which are found wanting, often even by locals, as "cool" urban places.
But look closely at these exemplars, and a curious fact emerges. If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – places no one expects the average U.S. city to be able to imitate – you will find that the "progressive" cities aren't red or blue, but another color entirely: white.
In fact, not one of these "progressive" cities even reaches the national average for percentage of African-Americans in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group.
The progressive paragon of Portland is the whitest on the list, with an African-American population less than half the national average. It is America's ultimate White City. The contrast with other, supposedly less advanced cities is stark.
It is not just a regional thing, either. Even look just within the state of Texas, where Austin is held up as a bastion of right thinking urbanism next to sprawlvilles like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
While Austin is far more diverse than a place like Portland, it is still much whiter than other major Texas cities, comparable only to Fort Worth. And while its African-American population lags the national average, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston both exceed it.
This raises troubling questions about these cities.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-renn_22edi.State.Edition1.1691580.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bd/AustinTexasCongressView.jpgThe 'progressive' towns constantly listed as our best role models also lack... more
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Oprah last day is coming. Put my Mom on suicide watch.
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