Your Black News: Guest List for the National Black Leadership Forum in NYC

Host: Tom Joyner- Host, “Tom Joyner Morning Show”

Moderator: Roland Martin- TV- ONE’s “Washington Watch” / Political Commentator

Leadership Roundtable

Rev. Al Sharpton- President, National Action Network

Marc Morial- CEO, National Urban League

Ben Jealous- President &CEO, NAACP

Dr. Elsie Scott- President and CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) in Washington, D.C.

Angela Sailor- Coalitions Director, Republican National Committee

Lezli Baskerville- - President & CEO, NAFEO- America’s Black Colleges and Universities

Congressman James Clyburn

Discussion Panel

Moderator: Roland Martin- TV- ONE’s “Washington Watch” / Political Commentator

Warren Ballentine- Host, “The Warren Ballentine Show”

Dr. Boyce Watkins- Assistant Professor, Finance- Syracuse University

Dr. Charles Ogletree- Professor, Harvard Law School

Jeff Johnson- BET Personality/ Political Motivator

Chuck D- Recording Artist

Judge Greg Mathis- Judge and Star of Court TV Series “The Judge Mathis Show”

Reverend Doctor Frederick D. Haynes III-

Senior Pastor, Friendship West Baptist Church, Dallas Texas

Michael Eric Dyson- Professor, Georgetown University/ Author

Hermene Hartman- President/CEO, Hartman Publishing Group, INC.

LaKimba B. DeSadier- Executive Director, The National Black Caucus of State Legislators

** Michael Blake- Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement& Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs

** Danny Bakewell

Blacks Far More likely to be Incarcerated than Whites

This data was gathered from the prison initiative and shows that there is more racism in the US prison system than there was in South Africa During Apartheid:

 

Incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment

by Peter Wagner
Updated June 28, 2005

On June 30, 2004, there were 2,131,180 people in U.S. prisons and jails. That's a rise of 2.3% during the 12 previous months. Federal prisons are growing almost 5 times faster than state prison populations.

As of June 30, 2004, the U.S. incarceration rate was 726 per 100,000 residents. But when you break down the statistics you see that incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment.

U.S. incarceration rates by race, June 30, 2004

Gender is an important "filter" on the who goes to prison or jail:

Look at just the males by race, and the incarceration rates become even more frightening

If you look at males aged 25-29 and by race, you can see what is going on even clearer

Or you can make some international comparisons

South Africa under Apartheid was internationally condemned as a racist society. What does it mean that the leader of the "free world" locks up its Black men at a rate 5.8 times higher than the most openly racist country in the world?

Statistics as of June 30, 2004 from Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2004, Tables 14; except for the race rate statistics which are calculated from Table 13 and Census Bureau population estimates. South Africa figures from Marc Mauer, Americans Behind Bars: The International Use of Incarceration. All references to Blacks and Whites are for what the Bureau of Justice Statistics and U.S. Census refer to as "non-Hispanic Blacks" and "non-Hispanic Whites".)

News: Tavis Smiley Accused of Helping Wells Fargo Milk Black People

 

from AOL Black Voices, Your Black World 

Did Tavis Smiley help Wells Fargo herd black people into subprime loans? Yes, according to information contained in a lawsuit filed recently by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The suit alleges that Smiley was the hook used to draw in potential customers for subprime mortgages.
You might be familiar with the "Wealth Building" seminars that Wells Fargo conducted beginning in the year 2000. Smiley was the headline speaker at these events, held in Baltimore; Chicago; Richmond, Va.; and San Francisco. The seminars were advertised aggressively in black media and aimed directly at black communities. They were a huge success. Often, standing room only audiences would hear Smiley speak about how he mostly disliked banks while strongly urging attendees to invest in real estate as a sound strategy to build wealth. ...

Click to read.

When Is Racial Profiling Not Racial Profiling?

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

When is racial profiling not racial profiling? When the facts or circumstances fail to fit the accepted definition.

In 1999, the Oxford American Dictionary (OAD) provided a definition of racial profiling for the first time. “Racial profiling: an alleged police policy of stopping and searching vehicles driven by people from particular racial groups.” In 2005 the ACLU provided the broader definition as follows, "Racial Profiling" refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Criminal profiling, generally, as practiced by police, is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be associated with crime… Racial profiling does not refer to the act of a law enforcement agent pursuing a suspect in which the specific description of the suspect includes race or ethnicity in combination with other identifying factors.” Intent is a key element in evaluating this circumstance. It does not appear by any of the facts as stated that Sgt. Crowley focused on, targeted or arrested Dr. Gates based upon his race (human), ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

One unfortunate outcome of the Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. arrest in Cambridge, MA has been a rush to judgment by many who should know better. To immediately place Dr. Gates’ unfortunate arrest into the category of “racial profiling” does a great disservice to the volumes of cases that fit the accepted definition.

Sgt. Crowley was not passing by Dr. Gates’ home and upon seeing a Black man in a White neighborhood decided to investigate this seemingly strange occurrence. Sgt. Crowley was responding to a reported breaking and entering at Dr. Gate’s residence. Most police officers will tell you, safety first; better to be tried by twelve than carried by six. Sgt. Crowley’s primary concern was to ensure that there were no perpetrators on the scene and that the gentleman that he encountered (Dr. Gates) had every right to be there. It is also important to have some understanding of police procedure in these types of situations before passing judgment on what transpired.

At one point Dr. Gates is alleged to have said to Sgt. Crowley that he (Crowley) had no idea who he was messing with. Is it possible that this question may provide some insight into how this circumstance escalated to the point that it did? It is incumbent upon all citizens, no matter what their status or station in life to obey the legitimate commands of the police. One must never underestimate the blindness that attends arrogance.

Many are appalled that our beloved Skip Gates could be arrested in his own home and charged with disorderly conduct. According to Dr. Gates, "It never would have happened - imagine a white professor, a distinguished white professor at Harvard, walking around with a cane, going into his own house, being harassed or stopped by the police. It would never happen." That’s probably true, but is race really the reason why?

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the producer/host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program "On With Leon" and a Teaching Associate in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, DC. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email wjl3us@yahoo.com.

© 2009 InfoWave Communications LLC.

Kevin Powell: Violence Against Women Must Stop

Writer’s note:

Given all the hype and controversy around Chris Brown’s alleged beating of Rihanna, I feel compelled to post this essay I originally wrote in late 2007, so that some of us can have an honest jump off point to discuss male violence against females, to discuss the need for ownership of past pains and traumas, to discuss the critical importance of therapy and healing. Let us pray for Rihanna, first and foremost, because no one deserves to be beaten, or beaten up. No one. And let us also pray that Chris Brown gets the help he needs by way of long-term counseling and alternative definitions of manhood rooted in nonviolence, real love, and, alas, real peace. And let us not forget that Rihanna and Chris Brown happen to be major pop stars, hence all the media coverage, blogs, etc. Violence against women and girls happen every single day on this planet without any notice from most of us. Until we begin to address that hard fact, until we all, males and females alike, make a commitment to ending the conditions that create that destructive behavior in the first place, it will not end any time soon. There will be more Rihannas and more Chris Browns.

In my recent travels and political and community work and speeches around the country, it became so very obvious that many American males are unaware of the monumental problems of domestic violence and sexual assault, against women and girls, in our nation. This seems as good a time as any to address this urgent and overlooked issue. Why is it that so few of us actually think about violence against women and girls, or think that it’s our problem? Why do we go on believing it’s all good, even as our sisters, our mothers, and our daughters suffer and a growing number of us participate in the brutality of berating, beating, or killing our female counterparts?

Click to read more.

 

 

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Barack Obama Stimulus Plan Finally Passes Senate

The U.S. Senate gave final approval Friday to a $787 billion recovery package that President Obama hopes will help boost an economy in freefall with a combination of government spending and tax cuts and credits.

Sen. Sherrod Brown speaks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at right on the Senate floor Friday.

Approved earlier by the House, the plan -- which went through multiple permutations as it bounced back and forth on Capitol Hill over the past week -- now goes to Obama's desk, where he plans to sign it into law by Presidents Day.

Spending in the package includes about $120 billion for infrastructure -- new projects repairing bridges, roads, government buildings and the like -- more than $100 billion for education and $30 billion on energy-related projects that Obama says will create "green jobs."

More than $212 billion goes to tax breaks for individuals and businesses, and another $267 billion is in direct spending like food stamps and unemployment benefits.

The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the plan will create between 1 million and 3 million jobs.

Most individuals will get a $400 tax credit, and couples will get $800.

The vote by the Senate took several hours longer than a simple roll call of its 100 members generally would. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, attended a wake for his mother until about 8 p.m. Friday.

Voting began about 5:30 p.m. Then, the Senate chamber sat nearly empty until Brown arrived to vote about five hours later.

He was flown from Ohio to Washington on a plane provided by the White House, which said no commercial flights were available that would have allowed Brown to cast a vote and return to Ohio in time for his mother's funeral Saturday.

Click to read

 

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18-year old Black Male Perspective on Mainstream Media

Most would agree that FOX News, Rupert Murdoch’s crumbling empire, has not been exactly fair to Black people over the years. In fact, it has, whenever possible, vehemently attacked whoever it perceived to be an important factor in Black America. At any given opportunity, its multi-millionaire hosts have encouraged, entertained and enlisted the support of pundits who openly detest Black people, and feel undaunted in speaking out publicly about it. Occasionally, when the fruits seem too ripe to withstand, the hosts themselves, caught in the hysteria of race-intoxication, spill out their guts about their disdain for Black humanity.

An example of this occurred in September 2007, when FOX News’ top-rated host, Bill O’Reilly, narrated a recent encounter he had at a Black Harlem Restaurant - Sylvia’s. As O’Reilly claims, this experience was life-changing, because “there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship.” O’Reilly later continued: “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea’.” The host, undisciplined by the network, would thereafter suggest that not only were his words misconstrued, but he deserves an apology from his detractors, because their nitpicking plays a part in stalling ongoing racial progress.

 

Click to read.

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Obama Stimulus, Black Love, Black Politics – Click to Watch

African American Scholar Boyce Watkins and Madeline Talk Black Politics

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Black Professor Fuming Over Soulja Boy's Statement

Your Black Scholar: African American Centered Media May Face Problems Due To Economy

SAN FRANCISCO – After 16 years and 700 issues under its current publisher, the San Francisco Bay View printed its last issue in July. The biweekly, a political newspaper covering the African-American community, has weathered many storms, said publisher Mary Ratcliff, but nothing as bad as the foreclosure crisis.

The newspaper received a good chunk of its revenue from ads – mostly from national advertisers and local hospitals groups, nonprofits and city government agencies, rather than from small businesses – but the amount didn’t cover its expenses. The couple refinanced their home loan to get enough cash flow to keep the newspaper afloat. The scheme worked during the real estate bubble, but was disastrous amid the subprime loan crisis.

“We lost [our] property in a foreclosure auction a week ago yesterday,” Ratcliff said. She and her husband lived in a multi-unit building and also rented out three storefronts, which allowed them to make the monthly payments on the loan.

As a last resort, Ratcliff said they may move to Texas. “My husband has property from his parents…it has timber and ranch land…he doesn’t want to go [to Texas]. He wants to stay in San Francisco and so do I,” she said. 

For now, she’s publishing stories on the San Francisco Bay View’s Web site.

In Southern California, the KoreAm Journal, a monthly magazine covering the Korean-American experience for 18 years, recently published an open letter to readers pleading for new subscribers and donations to keep the magazine afloat. They’ve lost about a third of their advertising.

Continued: