Young black males say they're energized by Obama's example

KALAMAZOO -- Keith Berry is in the midst of pulling his life together, and he gives some of the credit to President Barack Obama.

As a 19-year-old African-American, Berry said, he identifies with Obama's adolescence and sees him as a model on how to reform.


"He went through a lot of struggles when he was younger -- hanging out with the wrong crowd, smoking things he shouldn't been smoking," Berry said. "I have a lot of struggles in my life, too. But he turned his life around by putting his head into books, just like I want to do. ... It's, like, stop trying to be a thug, making bad choices."

After some troubles with school and the law, Berry is now finishing his high school studies at Kalamazoo's Phoenix High School and also is taking classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Berry's story is not that unusual, local black leaders say. In the same way that rap stars and NBA stars have reshaped American culture, so Obama's status as a cultural icon seems to be redefining the way teenagers in general and black teens in particular see the world -- and themselves.

It is a phenomenon that is both powerful and gratifying, black leaders say.

"I see kids walking down the street wearing Barack shirts and hats," said Tim Terrentine, executive director of the Douglass Community Center. "They see him as cool, a guy with style. He listens to the same music as they do -- you've got a president of the United States with Jay-Z on his iPod."

"When he speaks to us, we feel like we know him," says Tony Redden, 18, a senior at Phoenix.

Yet along with cool and charisma, Obama represents a host of positive images for young, black Americans: his success through education; his commitment to his wife and family; his message about the importance of hard work, self-discipline and making one's own luck.

What's moere, Terrentine and others say, the rallying of white Americans around Obama makes black teens feel less marginalized in a nation where negative racial stereotypes still abound.

"He sends the message that leadership is not about birthright or skin color," Terrentine says. "Kids know Barack was elected by America -- not just black America, but all of America. So while it's a reality that (if you're black) things are definitely stacked against you, it doesn't have to stop you."

Mark Hill, principal of Phoenix, an alternative high school where black males make up a disproportionate part of the student body, says that Obama's name comes up constantly among his students and that "without a doubt" they see him as a role model.

Suddenly, Hill said, teens who long dismissed the value of school are reconsidering.
Hill said one of his teachers recently described how her students got engrossed in a class discussion about how they could improve their reading skills. "The teacher said she'd never seen this before, the kids initiating a discussion like that," he said.

"If we don't capitalize on this as adults, shame on us," Hill said.

Teens Who Murder Over Loss of Phones, Video Games

Daniel Petric, top left, Marshall Sosby, bottom left, and Jermea Simmons, right, have all been either accused or convicted of murder after having their cell phones or video games taken away.

When a 13-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., girl decided to exact revenge on the grandmother who took away her cell phone, authorities say she planned carefully.


(ABC/AP Photo/Adrian Police Department)Jermea Simmons allegedly waited a week, then packed her clothes, doused her house with lighter fluid and set it ablaze while 10 members of her family slept inside, including her 8-year-old sister who suffers from cerebral palsy. Her step-grandfather didn't make it out alive.

"I thought I was close to her," said her grandmother, Gennie Fairfax, who escaped the June 2007 fire. "I wasn't angry. I was distraught. I didn't understand it."

Simmons is one of an increasing number of teens who have made headlines for apparently resorting to violence in the face of losing their beloved computers, video games and cell phones. It's a type of violence that shocks generations that came of age before the home electronics revolution, but not the experts who study today's kids.

From the Michigan teen who reportedly shot both of his parents over a cell phone last year to the Ohio teen convicted last month of killing his mother over a video game, experts say a small subset of young people are ill-equipped to balance their electronic life with the real world.

When their whole world is wrapped up in text messaging or video games, being cut off leaves them frantic.

Peter Sheras, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, said there's no hard evidence that points to why this sort of extreme violence has become the reaction for some teens as it's a fairly new phenomenon.

Teens, in general, often carry a lot of anger and "incredible levels of frustration as they are trying to flex their muscles," Sheras said.

Today's teenagers are also so wrapped up in virtual communication, he said, that they are not as equipped to handle inter-personal relationships. Combine that with a media and Internet culture that seems obsessed with extreme behavior, such as the well-publicized beatings posted on YouTube.com, and "we've almost institutionalized rage as a positive behavior," he said.

"These kids have no sense of perspective," said Parry Aftab, an Internet privacy and security lawyer and founder of WiredSafety.org. "If you hit them where it matters ... they will react."

Simmons has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Vincent Fairfax, according to local news reports, and her case has been transferred to family court. Gennie Fairfax said she has not yet apologized for the fire.

"I don't hate her, but I think what she did was wrong," Fairfax said.

The fire, she said, appeared to have been set at the door of Jermea's uncle, Darran Booker. It then swept through the house, destroying all the family's belongings. Fairfax said the alarm above her bedroom door never went off and she suspects her granddaughter may have disabled it beforehand.

"She was angry," she said. "I wouldn't wish it on nobody."

Fairfax had raised Jermea and her siblings since the teen was 5 years old. Fairfax said she was teaching her granddaughter to cook and to braid hair. She'd had her phone taken away before as punishment.

"If I had to do it all over again, she would never get a cell phone," Fairfax said.

Fairfax said her granddaughter would use the phone to talk to boys and, sometimes, to pick fights with other girls at school. When Fairfax took away Jermea's phone for the last time, she also yanked her access to the teenager's MySpace account after finding out she'd been talking to adults "about things she shouldn't have been."

"No kids should be on MySpace at that age," she added.

Aftab said parents all too often take the easy way out and choose to placate their kids with more games and electronics, rather than take a chance at disciplining them. If computers or cell phones or video games interfere with day-to-day life, she said, that's a red flag that something is wrong.

DAVID DUKE LASHES OUT AGAINST MICHAEL STEELE: Former klansman calls new GOP leader 'black racist' and 'Obama Jr.'

Former KKK grand wizard David Duke, who once ran for governor of Louisiana, has called the newly appointed chairman of the Republican Party a "black racist," reports WDSU.com.

On Friday, GOP leaders voted former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele into the party's leadership post. Steele is the first African-American to hold that position.

Duke described those who supported the move as "traitorous," and cited Steele's positions on gun control, affirmative action and the death penalty in a sometimes rambling condemnation posted on his personal Web site.

"I think the insanity of nominating 'Mr. Amnesty' John McCain and now this black racist will lead to insurgency in the Republican ranks," Duke said. He further referred to Steele as "Obama Jr." and a "servile dog of Israel."

Duke has been largely off the mainstream political radar for years and no longer lives in Louisiana, He remains politically active, speaking largely to a fractional segment of the spectrum, WDSU.com report

WATCHDOG GROUP WANTS BLACKS TO BOYCOTT EBAY: African-Americans and Catholics urged to join forces against racist e-commerce sites.

Just days after the inauguration of America's first black president, Barack Obama, and first Catholic vice-president, Joseph Biden, eBay is hosting items some say is offensive to both groups, and most of the nation.

Items for sale include "coon" songs, a piece of piano music entitled "n-----" blues, anti-Catholic post cards and tracts from the Ku Klux Klan, and even the bones of Catholic saints.

"As America moves into a new era of race relations, we find eBay catering to those stuck in the worst part of our country's past," said Thomas J. Serafin, president of the International Crusade for Holy Relics (ICHR) and the Apostolate for Holy Relics (AHR).

Serafin has been fighting eBay's offensive sales for nearly a decade. Most recently the AHR sent a representative to address an international meeting of diplomats in Washington, DC. There members of the International Catholic Diplomatic Society of St. Gabriel from around the world were briefed on some of the abuses commonly found on eBay.

"African Americans and Catholics now have members in the two highest profile positions in the United States," said Serafin, "and if eBay won't respect us, perhaps they will respect us when we take our dollars elsewhere. It is beyond belief to think that a high tech company like this can't run a software program to police its own site. That couldn't eat into the profit margin that much, so we are left to wonder if it's just a matter of a lack of respect."

Among the most offensive items for sale today are item numbers:

170298113528 - a KKK statue - with hood and robes.
180323423536 - An anti-Catholic post-card published by the Klan
18032342367 - A second anti-Catholic post-care featuring the pope as a pig
350158062162 - A piece of music entitled "Here's to the Klan, the 100% American Song"
270336116202 - A piece of music entitled "A Little Coon's Prayer"
200297337939 - A piece of music entitled "Coon Town's Vacation"
290292378206 - A piano roll entitled "(N-word) Blues"
160311722350 - A piece of the bones of St. John Bosco, a 19th century Italian saint

Visit www.ichrusa.com for more information.

Churches AROUND THE COUNTRY Pray For Obama's Success!!!

INDIANOLA, Miss. - On the first Sunday after Barack Obama was sworn in, congregants at black churches throughout the Mississippi Delta prayed for his success, but cautioned that change would likely come slowly.

"We have not arrived simply because we have a black president," said Bill Steen, 57, a church deacon and son of a sharecropper, who lives in a neighborhood of rutted streets and tumbledown houses.

"What I like about him is that he is realistic, and will select people who can help bring change from anywhere he can," said Shirley Hamilton, 66, a retired school administrator. "But we have big issues," she conceded.

Here in the "Black Belt," the Southern cradle of black America, historical patterns of poverty, substandard schools and other social ills temper hopes that the election of an African-American president can swiftly end the nation's racial inequities.



The Rev. David Matthews, 88, who attended Morehouse College with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., says many social challenges taken up by his old school colleagues still plague Delta residents despite Mississippi having more black elected officials than any other state.

"We can't just depend on the fact that we have black elected officials," said Matthews, pastor of Indianola's Bell Grove Baptist Church. "A black president can't do it alone but can help us a whole lot if we are willing to do for ourselves."

Indianola, the cotton-growing hometown of bluesman B.B. King, which has been shedding population since the fields were mechanized in the 1950s, lost one of its last major employers in 2001, when an equipment factory shut down.

Kenneth Johnson, a University of New Hampshire demographer who studies patterns of poverty, said Obama faces sharp income inequities in many of the same communities that were impoverished when President Lyndon Johnson called for a war on poverty in 1964.

A map of United States counties where child poverty has remained above 20 percent since at least 1970 forms an almost unbroken line that cuts through the heart of the Black Belt, Southern states whose slave and sharecropping economies left them with disproportionately large numbers of blacks with few skills and little education.

In Sunflower County, Miss., which is home to Indianola, 43.3 percent of black families live in poverty, compared with 7 percent of white families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (In Nassau, 8.8 percent of black families and 2.2 percent of white families live in poverty, according to the Census. In Suffolk, 8.1 percent of black families and 3.1 percent of white families live in poverty.)

"When you look at the maps, the communities with persistent poverty are the same communities Bobby Kennedy visited when he was running for president 40 years ago," Johnson said, referring to Kennedy's 1967 tour of the Mississippi Delta.

The Rev. Jesse King, a local high school teacher who is president of the NAACP in neighboring Washington County, said despite the hopes raised among many African-Americans by Obama's election, many of the most vexing problems facing impoverished communities would take years to budge even if Obama were able to focus on them exclusively.

But King said watching Obama's yearlong surge toward the presidency has cultivated among his students a growing belief that merit can bring success.

"It happened for Obama. His children actually live in the White House," King said. "It inspires our students."

BOONDOCKS SHOCKER!!! CARTOON'S CREATOR CLAIMS THAT BARACK OBAMA ISN'T BLACK … AND THAT HE'S PESSIMISTIC ABOUT BARACK'S LEADERSHIP!!!

Yesterday was one of the GREATEST DAYS in American history for Black people. But some folk just couldn’t let the day go by without talking slick about Obama.

We expected to see a long list of black pseudo-intellectuals come out of the woodwork trying to sound smart by criticizing Barack. But we figured that they’d hold off a few days before doing so.

We must have underestimated the amount of hateration that some folk have. Here’s what Aaron McGruder said about Obama:

Excerpt taken from the Palladium-Item, and Indiana paper:
On the eve of President Barack Obama's inauguration, McGruder is "cautiously pessimistic" about the presidency.

"I don't think you're going to see any dramatic change from Barack Obama," said McGruder, who wore a "Boondocks" T-shirt over a black long-sleeve shirt and jeans. "I'm hoping he proves me completely wrong."

On the topic of race and ethnicity, McGruder said that to him, Obama is not black because he is not a descendant of a slave.

"The person who is one of us in the White House is Michelle Obama and her momma," McGruder said.

That is one sad man …. Sad and ignorant…

Ya Think: 80% of People Stopped In NYC are BLACK or LATINO!

The NYPD is on pace to stop and question a record half a million citizens this year - about 80% of them black or Latino, a new report says.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, citing NYPD data obtained in a suit, said the vast majority of those stopped and questioned in 2005 through June 2008 weren't charged with any crime.

In 2007, for instance, the last complete year of data, cops arrested only 5.8% of the 472,096 people they stopped (27,632).

"The New York City Police Department continues to prey on African-American and Latino communities in New York City,"Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said.

The center obtained half of the 2008 data but projected that 543,982 people will be stopped in the entire year if the NYPD maintained its pace.

Cops made fewer than 400,000 stops in 2005.

"The problem actually is getting worse," CCR lawyer Darius Charneysaid.

Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, said the number of minorities who were singled out under the policy is consistent with overall descriptions by race provided by victims and surviving witnesses of crime.

He pointed to a RAND Corp. study that found no racial profiling in its examination, "and warned against the kind of simplistic comparisons made by the center."

"Their assertions do not constitute a study of the data, but a restatement of accusations in its lawsuit," he added.

St. John's University student David Ourlicht, 21, sees it differently. He was stopped on the street three times by cops - once at gunpoint - and never charged with a crime.

The Manhattanite, who is half black and half white, was among 1 million people snagged in the NYPD's stop-and-frisk net since 2005, data released Thursday show.

"It's something that I have to deal with every day," Ourlicht said. "I can't trust the people that are supposed to protect me and that's scary." With Benjamin Lesser

tmoore@nydailynews.com

MEDICAL REPORT: STD's ARE ON THE RISE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY!

Blacks were disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infection rates in 2007, including chlamydia rates that reached a record high and syphilis rates that increased for the seventh consecutive year, according to a CDC report released on Tuesday, Reuters Health reports (Dunham, Reuters Health, 1/13).

The report found 1.1 million chlamydia diagnoses were reported in 2007. The chlamydia rate was 370 reported cases per 100,000 people in 2007 -- a 7.5% increase since 2006.

Reported gonorrhea diagnoses -- which peaked in the 1970s at one million and then declined until a few years ago -- totaled 355,991, or 119 reported cases per 100,000 people in 2007. The rate was similar to that reported in 2006.

The syphilis rate continued to rise in 2007, as it has since 2000, with 11,466 diagnoses reported, or 3.8 cases per 100,000 people. This marks a 15% increase from 2006 (Engel, Los Angeles Times, 1/14).

Black women ages 15 to 19 have the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea. Gonorrhea rates for blacks overall were 19 times higher than for whites, according to the report. Blacks make up 12% of the U.S. population, but account for about 70% of gonorrhea cases and nearly 50% of chlamydia and syphilis cases, the report said (Reuters Health, 1/13). Minorities have been disproportionately affected by STIs in previous year reports, with American Indians Alaska Natives and Hispanics at a lesser extent, according to the Times.

Public health officials said the disparities can be attributed to several factors, including socioeconomic and cultural issues, lack of access to health care and distrust of the health care system.

John Douglas, director of CDC's Division of STI Prevention, said that the increase in reported chlamydia cases could be attributed to better detection and an increase in testing, especially among women. In addition, providers are now using a more sensitive test to screen for the infection. However, health officials believe that the reported number of chlamydia diagnoses might not be the true number of infections -- which they predict could be closer to three million -- because so many infections go unidentified (Los Angeles Times, 1/14).

Deadly Fashion: Senegalese Women Bleaching Skin To Look White!

To see the effects of racism based on skin color most clearly, one should go to the developing world.


In Senegal, bleaching your skin is seen as a way to get ahead.
In richer countries people are increasingly comfortable, and successful, regardless of their natural skin color, but in many African countries like Senegal, trying to change one's skin color is still seen as a way to get ahead.

"Some Senegalese women," Emilie, a student at Dakar University, told ABC News, "are trying to look like the white girls they see on television."

From ads on highway billboards, to little stands in marketplaces, skin bleaching products are almost everywhere.

They sell well, despite what public health officials say are grave risks of using them, including cancer.

The cheapest creams cost around $5 per tube, a small fortune in Senegal, and they are also among the most dangerous.

At a market in Dakar, a young hairdresser who was unwilling to reveal her name told ABC News she had used the creams. "It's more beautiful to have lighter skin. A bit lighter, it's a bit better," she said.

Check Out Video Below:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6613718

Oh No They Didn't: 16 Year Mouths Off At A McDonald's And Gets A Beat Down

This happened yesterday in L.A. A grown man beat up a 16 year old girl because she was complaining that he cut her in line....

I don't condone this AT ALL, but sometimes it's better to be quiet...

Young African-American Males Face Mental Health Crisis; Experts Call For New Treatment Strategies and Better Access to Care

ATLANTA, Sept 09, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Studies Find Dramatic Increase in Suicides among Adolescent African-American Males
A significant increase in mental illness and behavioral problems among adolescent African-American males demonstrates the need for new approaches to treatment and better understanding of the complex challenges facing these youths, according to a policy paper issued by Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, an advocacy group based at Morehouse School of Medicine.
The paper, titled "The Secret Epidemic: Exploring the Mental Health Crisis Affecting Adolescent African-American Males," outlines data indicating that mental health problems are rising among members of this at-risk group, their access to treatment facilities is relatively low and treatment strategies must be revamped to address the socioeconomic issues that confront them.
"Our research found that many young black males are treatable, but they are going undiagnosed because of failures in America's health-care system," said Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell, Director of Community Voices, a nonprofit seeking to improve health services and access to health care. "Our entire society feels the impact of this failure. Suicides and homicides have increased for this group, and the residual effect is impacting communities across the country. This problem must be addressed."
Dr. Claire Xanthos, a health services research specialist, wrote the paper, which cites studies showing that black males ages 15-19 die from homicide at 46 times the rate of their white counterparts and that from 1980 to 1995, the suicide rate for black adolescents rose from 5.6 to 13 per 100,000 of the population.
Xanthos writes that "these figures should not be surprising since adolescent African-American males in contemporary American society face major challenges to their psychological development and well-being. In addition to dealing with the physical, mental and emotional issues typically experienced during adolescence, adolescent African-American males are confronted with unique social and environmental stressors. They must frequently cope with racism and its associated stressors, including family stressors, educational stressors, and urban stressors."
Moreover, the paper notes that:
-- Racism can affect mental health by reducing socioeconomic status, diminishing access to desirable resources and contributing to poor living conditions.
-- When positive adult male role models are absent, many black youths turn to their peers for help in forming a male identity, an adaptation that often means absorbing negative influences.
-- Urban stress is an important factor in the psychological development of young black males because many live in deprived and dangerous neighborhoods where they are exposed to violence.
-- Significant problems are also encountered by black males who grow up in predominantly white, middle-class communities where they feel distanced from the white youths and also from blacks from poorer communities.
Citing these problems, the paper makes a plea for better access to mental health treatment for young black males, noting that they currently often confront a "confusing maze" when trying to get help.
The paper notes that when young black youths do find treatment, depression is often overlooked because their symptoms often differ from white youths'. For cultural and social reasons, black youths often express suicidal feelings through somatic complaints rather than sadness or depression.
Moreover, the paper calls for more "bicultural" training for young black males. Such training would better prepare them to follow proper behavior in school and the workplace, while also working with young black males to get them ready to deal with the discrimination they are likely to face. Also cited is the need for a significant increase in the number of black therapists available to work with African-American youths.
Dr. Treadwell said it is essential that new policies be implemented to address the social and environmental factors that create poor mental health outcomes for young black males.
"We must increase the capacity of America's mental health system to help resolve the problems faced by young black males," she said. "There must be more research in this area, and more people of color must be trained and hired to help this at-risk group."
Contact:
Alicia Ingram
404.493.1724

JACKSON SPEAKS

In a candid interview with the editors of Essence, Jesse Jackson speaks on his remarks about Sen. Barack Obama, the role he’ll play at the upcoming Democratic National Convention and why he’s still relevant.
Contrary to recent reports, Jackson will be in attendance at the convention, but he’ll be there as an Obama supporter and nothing more. “I have spoken at the last six Democratic conventions, so I wanted to certainly make room for more speakers and broader participation,” he said.
ESSENCE.COM: Many younger African-Americans have been complaining that the old guard civil rights leaders focus too much on African-Americans as victims rather than moving the race forward. What do you think about this point of view?JACKSON: This “old guard, new guard” is an unhealthy division. Politics must be inter-generational. You need Barack on the one hand to talk, you need Charlie Rangel, chair of House Ways & Means [Committee], and John Conyers, chair of our House Judiciary [Committee]. In politics you grow by adding and multiplying, not by subtracting and dividing. So “old guard vs. new guard” is not a healthy combination. The reality is that we achieved the right to vote, we achieved freedom, but we didn’t achieve equality, and that is the remaining civil rights work.
ESSENCE.COM: The rapper Nas and writer Kevin Powell, who is running for Congress in Brooklyn, have said that you particularly, and other civil rights leaders, are no longer relevant and need to step aside. How do you remain relevant to this newer generation?JACKSON: The reality is that if you’re running for Congress, you need the votes of senior citizens. You need the votes of churches. You are not getting in Congress on a youth vote. That’s not the mass that you need to win a congressional seat. You need an intergenerational, multicultural coalition. And that experience cannot be thrown away. In Dr. King’s time, Dr. King was 34, but he reached out to A. Philip Randolph. It took both A. Philip Randolph and Dr. King in tandem to make the March on Washington take place.
ESSENCE.COM: We’ve seen you champion African-American issues and fight against injustice. Many people simply want to know, when you mentioned the N-word in your off-air remarks about Obama last month—why? They want you to tell them, as an African-American, why did that happen?JACKSON: It should not have happened. What was private talk became public controversy, and I am embarrassed by that. There is no virtue in that kind of talk, and it should always be discouraged. My appeal even then was that responsibility is a significant message, but our needs require real government intervention and private sector incentives to address the issues of unemployment, building affordable housing and making education more affordable, which really was my point. It was a very painful period for me to have gone through that. The good news is that it’s behind us now.
ESSENCE.COM: Have you talked to Obama about it?JACKSON: Yes. As a matter of fact, he sent me a welcome to the convention and made credentials available to me. We’ve gone on to the next stage.
ESSENCE.COM: As Senator Obama moves forward in the campaign, do you have any words of advice for him?JACKSON: I think we have an outstanding candidate. We have the burden now to fully register and vote. There are still maybe 6 to 8 million Blacks unregistered who should not miss this hour, this opportunity. Now that we have a who, let’s focus on the what. What is an urban policy that can begin a renewed commitment to educate our children and to employ adults and provide public health care? These are the issues he has embraced. We have a candidate who has a good grasp of the issues that matter. But the burden is upon us now to maximize registration and output. Read the interview in its entirety.

Tonight On TV: Soledad O'Brien on CNN's 'Black In America'

Another reminder about tonight's program:

NN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien spent more than a year tracking the stories of black men and women from all walks of life in America for the groundbreaking documentary series 'Black In America.'

This week premieres 'Black in America: The Black Woman & Family' (Wednesday, July 23 at 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.) and 'Black in America: The Black Man' (Thursday, July 24 at 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.)

O'Brien speaks candidly with BlackVoices.com about the series.


I know this was probably envisioned and put together some time ago, but why now?

About 18 months ago I was brought in because [CNN] had been exploring stories on Black Americans and how to do them and it became clear that it needed to be more of a documentary, it wasn't a number of 2 or 3 minute stories, you just couldn't do it justice. And then we were looking at Martin Luther King's assassination and so when people ask, why now? Well, literally it's the 40th anniversary of the assassination. And so the real answer to why now is because our three parts were: part one, King's assassination and this is the 40th anniversary year. [Parts two and three look at being black in America since that time.]

We had no idea 18 months ago when we began, we had no idea that Barack Obama would have the prominence that he has, we had no idea that so many race issues would be capturing the nation's attention.

I think that there's an interest in conversation about race in this country that has spurred people to speak more straightforward about these issues -- in good ways and some in bad ways. You know some of the dialogue and debate over Jena 6 has been people shouting at each other but there's certainly a lot of discussion about race out of Jena 6. The Sean Bell shooting, again, the same thing. That has led a lot of people to talk about race, and police brutality and justice and incarceration in ways that we never predicted two years out.

What was the most surprising, heartening, happy, sad, encouraging thing you found -- was there something or an interview that really struck an emotional chord with you?

I think what was surprising was some of the consistency of the stories that people told, two things, one was the conversation they had with their 11-year old or 12 year old sons about what happens when they got pulled over by the police. Literally no matter if you were a Hollywood millionaire or you were in dire poverty in Detroit. 'Here's how you survive if a cop pulls you over.' That was pretty shocking because you would do one interview and then you'd do another and by the fourth or fifth you realized that even if you weren't talking to people about that issue, you'd realize wow, there's this redundancy this verbatim conversation that's happening in the black community across all socioeconomic levels that white people do not have.

You [also] asked about what was encouraging....What was very interesting to me was to see the sheer number of people who could be doing so many other things.

One of the people we profiled, a surgeon Dr. Cooper, Carnell Cooper in Baltimore, he's a trauma surgeon so basically all he does is remove bullets from young black men. And after he works his 15 hour shift, he then goes and counsels these young men, sits down by their bedside and tells them, 'You know I can get you out of the game. What do you want? Your GED, a job, what do you need?' And he started a foundation in '99 called Violence Intervention Project and he helps these kids, because they're all kids, mostly 18 year old boys, 19 and 20. There are so many people who are doing things like that that really don't have to and so I find that incredibly encouraging because it's recognition that there's a huge problem and the only really way to fix it is us. The only way to fix your own community is to fix your own community. That has been very encouraging.
Those two stories have a common thread which goes across class. I haven't seen the documentary yet but I kind of assumed that a lot of things would be kind of past race and moving towards class division in the black community. It sounds like what you found was that there are still many commonalities around race.

I don't think that's true. You know some people say to me 'Are we post-racial?' And I'm like, 'No and I don't think we want to be -- I mean at least I don't want to be.' People have said to me, "Wouldn't it be great the day when no one sees color?" No, I mean why? What's wrong with seeing color? I think what people don't want is all of the negative repercussions with being colorblind. I mean I never thought seeing color was a bad thing. I always considered a back handed faux compliment was "I don't even think of you as black." That's like the worst compliment. "Oh you speak so well I don't think of you as black" I mean what does that even mean? I like the color I am and I'm proud of my color, and I'm proud of my parents' colors so I'm good with it, why are you not good with it? I don't think things need to be post-racial I think what we need is equality and a sense of understanding.

Do you think there is a disconnect between Barack Obama and black America?

I don't. I don't think so at all. I mean if you're asking my opinion I don't think so at all. I think Barack Obama is the fruition of a lot of people's work and a lot of people's dreams over the last 40 years. I mean we heard that consistently when we were doing our reporting so I think Barack Obama is part of black America and there is no disconnect. I'm sure he's disconnected from some parts of black America and I'm sure some parts of black America are disconnected from other parts of black America. But Barack Obama is as much a part of black America as me with my light skin; my dad's white and my mom's black, as my cousin who grew up in Guyana and her children are here. We're black America and it's a very wide picture that includes a lot of people. Not in our documentary necessarily where we tried to keep sort of a narrow focus but black America is a lot of things. I always hesitate when people like to try and figure who's in and who's out because it's not helpful and it's not realistic. Black America includes a lot of people.


Would you say that 'Black in America' was made for black people or for white people?

As a journalist, I never see stories that way. I would go to New Orleans all the time and people would say, "Oh this is great you're telling our story for us." I really wasn't, I was really just reporting on what I saw. So you hope if you're a good storyteller you can capture it for everybody. My goal was just to make sure that the interviews cut to the core, they got to the point that we didn't dance around things that everybody would want to talk about that. I truly never thought, "Let me ask this question because I really need white people to know this," and that's not how I approach any story, ever. I just think if you have good people and you do good interviews and you have those moments in the interview that draw everybody in because you're grabbing them by their throats and their hearts then you've succeeded. I hope everybody watches it.

Whites May Exaggerate Black-Hispanic Tensions

PRINCETON, NJ -- Fewer than half of white adults in the United States -- contrasted with 60% of Hispanics and two-thirds of blacks -- believe good relations exist between U.S. blacks and Hispanics.



Blacks are clearly the most upbeat of the three groups about the state of black-Hispanic relations, as only 29% of blacks, compared with 36% of Hispanics and 43% of whites, say relations are bad. But Hispanics are significantly more positive than whites.

These findings are from the 2008 installment of Gallup's Minority Rights and Relations survey, conducted each June since 2001. This year's survey, fielded June 5 to July 6, includes interviews with 608 blacks and 502 Hispanics, and includes Spanish-language interviewing with nearly a quarter of the Hispanic sample. The black and Hispanic samples are weighted so they are correctly represented in the national totals.

The 2008 Gallup results are not new. For each of the past eight years, whites have had a substantially worse opinion than have blacks of black-Hispanic relations. And for most of this period, whites have had a more negative view than Hispanics.


Gallup's race-relations question asks all Americans to rate relations between blacks and Hispanics as either "very good," "somewhat good," "somewhat bad," or "very bad." Because of the relatively less positive perspective of whites, just 49% of Americans as a whole believe these relations are good, while 40% perceive them to be bad. This makes black-Hispanic relations the worst rated of the four racial/ethnic pairings measured in the survey.

Eighty-one percent of Americans see whites and Asians as getting along well, while about two-thirds of Americans consider both white-black and white-Hispanic relations positive.

The issue has obvious importance this election year, with Barack Obama soon to become the nation's first black on the ballot as a major-party candidate for president. Obama had difficulty carrying the Hispanic vote in the Democratic primaries earlier this year -- something that led to considerable media speculation about black-Hispanic animosity as the cause -- but Gallup polling has shown him solidly beating Republican John McCain among Hispanics throughout the campaign.

Just focusing on Hispanic Democrats (who favored Hillary Clinton over Obama, 52% to 44% for the nomination in Gallup Poll Daily tracking throughout May), 84% in May said they would vote for Clinton in a Clinton vs. McCain matchup in November, compared with 80% who said they would vote for Obama if the choice were Obama vs. McCain.

Hispanics preferred Clinton over Obama for the Democratic nomination, but they were not so opposed to Obama (or the idea of electing a black president) that they were willing to vote for McCain in the general election.

Bottom Line

The generally positive review of black-Hispanic relations in Gallup polling among members of the two leading U.S. minority groups contrasts with considerable media speculation about the impact of Hispanic animosity toward blacks in this year's primary elections.

Some of that commentary has speculated that the trend is getting worse as the Hispanic population grows and starts to outnumber blacks in some neighborhoods and entire cities. Others posit that older Hispanics are more likely than the younger generation to harbor biases and resentments against blacks.

In a January 2008 New York Times article titled, "In Obama's Pursuit of Latinos, Race Plays Role," the authors write, "Mr. Obama confronts a history of often uneasy and competitive relations between blacks and Hispanics, particularly as they have jockeyed for influence in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. 'Many Latinos are not ready for a person of color,' Natasha Carrillo, 20, of East Los Angeles, said. 'I don't think many Latinos will vote for Obama. There's always been tension in the black and Latino communities. There's still that strong ethnic division. I helped organize citizenship drives, and those who I've talked to support Clinton.'"

While black-Hispanic animosity may exist and could even have been a factor in some state caucuses or primaries, the Gallup data indicates it is not overwhelmingly obvious to members of either group. Whites are much more likely to believe the two are in conflict.

N.J. Councilman Starts Crusade Against Saggy Pants

PATERSON, N.J. (CBS) ― Instead of "stick 'em up," it will be more like "pull 'em up" now that fashion police in New Jersey have started a crackdown on baggy pants.

It's happening in Paterson, where city officials want to put the kibosh on this form of fashion.

Bart Johnson says wearing his pants low in a fashion statement, but one councilman is saying pull it up. He's even crafted a proposal to ban "baggy pants."

Teenagers and even little ones and women are sporting the fashion. The "saggy" or "baggy" look, where pants are pulled down and boxers are exposed seems to be all the rage these days.

Well, at least for some.

"I don't know. I'm not used to wearing my pants to my waist," college student LaToya Williams said.

Another young person quickly tried to justify the look to CBS 2 HD.

"My shirt's over it … it shows the nice belt interior," the boy boasted.

High school student Mikhail Josephs said the look is more than a fashion statement.

"When you sag your pants it can be either freedom of expression or rebellion," Josephs said.

Councilman Anthony Davis tells teenagers to pull it up every day, and soon he'll be introducing a proposal that would make walking around like this in Paterson subject to fine under the city's indecency law.

"We're tired of seeing your behind," Davis said. "We don't want to see your back side. We don't need to see your underwear. We don't need to see your drawers. Wear your pants."

Some teens we spoke to were all for "baggin'" the sagging look.

"Sometimes you don't have the cleanest underwear on," Rayshon Johnson said.

"It's disgusting," Lohina Uddin said. "[I think they are revealing] a little too much."

"I don't allow it," one parent added.

But others fear a dress code in an urban area could lead to profiling by police and that government shouldn't be telling people what to wear.

"We should be able to dress the way we want," Antoin Davis proclaimed.

Some say freedom to wear what they want and how they want is a long time coming.

"When I was growing up my mom didn't like what I wore," one woman said.

Cities have had a difficult time pushing through the baggy pants pans. In Irvington, N.J., a councilwoman recently had to pull her proposal after facing legal questions.

Today's & Yesterday's Foolywang: Yung Berg

Yung Berg apologizes....for what, you may ask? Check out the apology then read below for the foolywang moment...

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Basically this "genious" made statements on Lip Service Satellite Radio Show, which simply stated, Yung Berg doesn’t like “dark butts”:

"I’m kinda racist… I don’t really like dark butts too much… It’s rare that I do dark butts. Like really rare… It’s like, no darker than me. No darker than me. I love the pool test…. If you can be like ‘Yo, baby. I met you in the club. Let’s go back to my house. Jump in the pool exactly like you are.’–And you don’t come looking better wet than you were before you got in the pool then that’s not a good look. Any girls that use brown gel to lay down her baby hair is not poppin"

Pathetic. It’s fine to have a preference, but his lil slip of the mouth was uncalled for. Women get demeaned all the time in hiphop, but separating them by skin tone is a new low. It’s nothing new (dark skin vs light skin), but indeed a new low. A pool test???,,,,give me a break. Oh well young bug..j boog whatever yo name is-Your career is a wrap, but it’s never too late to enroll in jr. college…Good luck with that...

Dr. King's Nightmare

The King Family (from left): Martin Luther King III stands with his sister Yolanda, brother Dexter, mother Coretta Scott King, and sister Bernice during a news conference in February in which the family asked that James Earl Ray be brought to trial for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. (AP Photo/Alan Mothner)

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III are suing Dexter King, alleging he took "substantial funds" from the Estate of Coretta Scott King and put them in his personal piggy bank for his own use. They're crying fraud.

Bernice and Martin III have demanded a jury trial in Fulton County, Georgia.

Coretta died in 2006. The Kings had four children. Yolanda died last year. So the three surviving kids are fighting over money.

By the way, Bernice and Martin III are being repped by Johnny Cochran's law firm. The late J.C. was also one of the biggest civil rights forces in the U.S. of A.

STATE OF THE RACE: HARD TIMES @ DOUGLASS HIGH

Check out this clip for the new HBO documentary “Hard Times At Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card”, which is set to premiere on Monday, June 23rd. The documentary follows students and teachers at Baltimore’s Frederick Douglass High School, once full of successful alumni including Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. The film raises awareness to the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act, focusing on the brutal inequalities of American minority education:

“Douglass principal Isabelle Grant oversees a staff of teachers that is two-thirds non-certified, while many are substitutes unqualified to teach their subject areas. Threatened with sanctions, or even closing, unless student scores improve in annual standardized tests, the faculty tries to find workable solutions to chronic problems of attendance, lateness and apathy among students, many of whom come from poor backgrounds and broken homes, and lack the most basic reading and math skills.

Check out clips of the film HERE and be sure to catch it on HBO when it premieres Monday…

Today's Foolywang: Another Offensive Obama T-Shirt

The website Zazzle via Toiletees have a whole page devouted to anti Obama Shirts. This one in particular is super offensive with Obama’s face on Tupac’s body with an Uzi pointed at him. Why don’t people understand that you can not joke like this. The other shirts which poke fun at him using cocaine fine fair game. But all presidents used drugs before. But this one is entirely too far. Other shirts which says there goes the neighborhood just use racial stereotypes to drive a wedge into race relations and doesn’t help the advancement of this nation. Please send your e-mails to this website and demand that they take down these shirts.

1-888-8ZAZZLE (1-888-892-9953) (US)
Or (408) 983-2800

I just got off the phone with the company who basically told me that there was nothing they can do about the issue. Regardless of how offensive it may be.

The Assassination of Barack Obama: Freedom of expression or racism?

The Assassination of Barack Obama: Freedom of expression or racism? A controversial art exhibit was raided and shut down before it could be viewed in NYC yesterday.According to the NY Times blog: Cityroom, Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, 'The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama'.The artist thought his racist views were protected under the Constitution because he was expressing himself through his art. Wrong.Not 30 minutes after Arboleda set up the gallery across the street from the New York Times building, police, feds and secret service swooped in to shut the art exhibit down. While police covered the offensive storefront window with brown paper, Arboleda was led away in handcuffs to be 'interrogated'.Arboleda, 27, learned the hard way that freedom has its limits. Later, in an interview, he said: 'It's art. It's not supposed to be harmful. It's about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.' He added, 'It's about the media.'