Is Michael Eric Dyson being critical Obama, loving him, hating him, or holding him accountable? Dyson has joined a chorus of individuals in the black community asking for the President to show some love to his community. Click the image to watch his interview!
Life was looking good for Omar Edwards up to the point of encountering a man rummaging through his vehicle in Manhattan's East Harlem neighborhood on the night of May 28.
A month prior the 25-year-old police rookie had married the mother of his children, 1 1/2-year-old Xavier and 7-month-old Keanua. Wearing street clothes, he had just gotten off work at a job he had wanted to do since he was a child. Perhaps it seemed like things couldn't get any better. In truth, they never would.
He was in street clothes as he walked toward his car parked about a block away on Second Ave. between E. 124th and E. 125th St., where he saw Miguel Goitia rummaging through the vehicle. The driver's side window was busted out.SOURCE: NY Daily News.
Edwards grabbed Goitia, who managed to slip out of his sweater and escape Edwards' grip, Kelly said.
Gun drawn, Edwards gave chase.
At the same time, three plainclothes officers in an unmarked car saw Edwards running down the street. The car made a U-turn, and one of the officers, a white cop with more than four years on the job, got out and fired six shots - hitting Edwards twice, once in the left arm and once in the chest, [New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond] Kelly said.
Edwards did not fire his weapon.
As he lay handcuffed on the ground, cops cut off his shirt to reveal a Police Academy T-shirt and found NYPD shield No. 12734 in his pants pocket.
You think the Human Beat Box was the best ever? Think again. Check out this SICK girl from Canada throwing down in ways that have never been seen on the internet.
click the image to watch the video:
*On this weekend’s "Our World with Black Enterprise," director Spike Lee sits down with host Ed Gordon for a no holds barred interview rife with the artist’s trademark frankness.
Taped live at the 14th annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, Lee discusses his concern about the image of blacks in the media, and weighs in with his thoughts on contemporaries John Singleton and Tyler Perry. [See details below.]
"Our World with Black Enterprise" will air its exclusive interview with Spike Lee on Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31 on syndicated stations across the country.
Highlights include:
On his films being labeled “controversial”:
Click to read more.
Check out this Tupac Impersonator. Real or not so real? Click the image to watch!
The frantic search for Bonnie Sweeten and her 9-year-old daughter - which began after she called 911 Tuesday to report that they had been kidnapped in Bucks County - ended yesterday at Walt Disney World.
Sweeten, 38, and daughter Julia Rakoczy were taken into custody at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa about 8:40 p.m., the FBI said. Sweeten was being held by authorities in Orange County, Fla., and her daughter was safe.
Sweeten will be extradited to Bucks County, where she faces charges of making a false report and identity theft, both misdemeanors. The investigation is continuing into possible theft charges, said Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry.
Julia Rakoczy's biological father, Anthony Rakoczy, of Feasterville, will go to Florida today to pick her up, Henry said.
Over the last week, Sweeten withdrew $12,000 from several bank accounts and used a coworker's driver's license to travel, Henry said.
Between 60 and 80 percent of athletic departments' revenue in Division IA of the National Collegiate Athletic Association comes from "activities that can be described as commercial," according to a studyissued Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office.
While athletic officials have long tried to describe their activities as fundamentally similar to the rest of their institutions, the Congressional report suggests otherwise. It finds that the proportion of commercial revenue is seven to eight times that for the rest of the institutions' activities. As a result, athletics programs may have "crossed the line from educational to commercial endeavors," the Congressional review found. (Outside of the NCAA's top division, it found significant, but much reduced commercial revenue -- 20 to 30 percent in the rest of Division I).
"Removing the major tax preferences currently available to university athletic departments would be unlikely to significantly alter the nature of those programs or garner much tax revenue even if the sports programs were classified, for tax purposes, as engaging in unrelated commercial activity," the report says. "As long as athletic departments remained a part of the larger nonprofit or public university, schools would have considerable opportunity to shift revenue, costs, or both between their taxed and untaxed sectors, rendering efforts to tax that unrelated income largely ineffective. Changing the tax treatment of income from certain sources, such as corporate sponsorships or royalties from sales of branded merchandise, would be more likely to affect only the most commercial teams; it would also create less opportunity for shifting revenue or costs."
Two weeks ago, 3-year-old Jaquan Reed was fatally shot on Chicago, Illinois', West Side.
Men participate in the Million Father March to support children going to school.
While the case shook the city, such shootings involving children are no longer rare in the Windy City. Within the current academic year, 36 Chicago-area students were killed.
Essence.com spoke to Phillip Jackson, a well-known political activist in the city and also founder of Black Star Project, a Chicago-based community outreach group, about what is being done to end the senseless shootings involving children.
The following is an edited version of that interview:
ESSENCE: There have been so many shootings and deaths. Please tell us what's happening in Chicago? ESSENCE: Xerox names Ursula Burns CEO
Phillip Jackson: This is a national catastrophe that is happening while we as a country do nothing. We're asking for national attention. This is a pandemic. We will not be able to solve this problem in Chicago unless they can solve this same problem in Houston [Texas] and other cities. 
Watch our panelists talk about the growing violence in Chicago »
ESSENCE: The nation's first black president is from Chicago. And you still do not feel like there is enough attention placed on this problem?
The 4-year-old daughter of boxer Mike Tyson died at a hospital Tuesday, a day after her neck apparently got caught in a treadmill cord at her Phoenix home, police said.
Exodus Tyson was pronounced dead just before noon, police Sgt. Andy Hill said. She had been on life support and police have said their investigation showed her injury on Monday was a "tragic accident."
"There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus," the family said in a statement. "We ask you now to please respect our need at this very difficult time for privacy to grieve and try to help each other heal."
Police said Exodus either slipped or put her head in the loop of a cord hanging under the console. Her 7-year-old brother found her and told their mother. She took Exodus off the cord, called 911 and tried to revive her.
Rapper T.I., who was sentenced to a 366-day prison sentence in March, reported Tuesday to a federal prison complex in Forrest City, Arkansas, according to CNN affiliate WSB-TV.
T.I., left, performed to a packed crowd Sunday, days before he was to start a prison term.
The rapper -- whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr. -- was required to be at the prison before noon local time to begin serving his sentence on federal weapons charges.
According to news reports, officers from Forrest City and the prison set up a roadblock along Arkansas Highway 1 about one-tenth of a mile from the complex. Reporters were not allowed any closer to the prison.
T.I. threw himself a going-away party Sunday night at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, before a packed house. During Sunday's concert -- called "T.I.'s Final Goodbye Bash" -- the 28-year-old Grammy winner reiterated a message that's become familiar in recent weeks: He wants others to learn from his mistakes.
"I'm doing the best I can to get out there, man, and put something positive on these young kids, man," T.I.said during the show. "I try my best. I need y'all help, though."
The rapper played to a sell-out crowd of 16,000 people, said Kenan Woods, a spokesman for the arena. T.I. played through much of his catalog, including the hits "Whatever You Like," "Live Your Life" and the Grammy-winning "Swagga Like Us," Woods said.
Boxer Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter is on life support after she was found with her neck on a treadmill cable Monday.
Phoenix Police Sgt. Andy Hill said the "tragic accident" happened at Tyson's Phoenix home when the girl's 7-year-old brother found her on a treadmill with her neck on a cable attached to the exercise machine.
WPHI Radio in Philadelphia (100.3 “The Beat”), one of the leading urban radio stations in Philadelphia, now has “Charlamagne Tha God” as their morning host. Charlamagne has teamed up with Syracuse Professor Dr. Boyce Watkins to bring commentary every Thursday at 8:48 am. Dr Boyce and Charlamagne will discuss issues of the week, money, hip hop, and general Black social commentary. Charlamagne was once the co-host of “The Wendy Williams Experience”, which had 11 million listeners nation-wide. Dr. Boyce Watkins is one of the most highly sought after Black intellectuals in the world, making regular appearances on CNN, BET, CBS and more. He is also the resident scholar for AOL Black Voices the most popular Black News website in America, with 114,000 readers per day. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
Dr. Billy Hawkins, University of Georgia
A typical error Black academics make is to believe that the academy is open and accepting of new ideas and insights. They initially welcome us with open arms, but we soon find out that the shelf life of this welcome is brief and that their minds were never really open and accepting. I have come to think of it in terms of the structural deficiencies and inability of these institutions to sincerely assimilate fresh new perspectives and energies into their paradigms. Therefore, in the context of the phrase “new wine in old wineskins” the evolutionary Messiah, Jesus Christ, informs of the perils of progressive thinking within an archaic system.
Dr. Boyce Watkins lack of tenure at the University of Syracuse speaks to this issue and to the broader issue of how Predominantly White Institutions are conservative and myopic in their agendas, curricula, and missions than they are progressive and bastions of forward-thinkers. The tenure process has always worked as a mechanism to temper and corral the radical embers that spark change from the status quo and challenge previous preconceive notions. Inherent in the tenure and promotion process are prescriptions for appropriate behavior and academic inquiry. Speaking truth to power is not one of the prescriptions rewarded in this process, especially if you are a Black professor.
Posted May 20th 2009 5:07PM by Dr. Boyce Watkins, PhD
Filed under: Money Talks
God bless Michael Vick. The man finally gets to go home, after spending 21 months in prison for the whole dogfighting situation. I was sickened by what happened to Vick for many reasons, starting with the fact that I think Michael was incredibly stupid for doing what he did. There, I said it.
Now that we all agree that killing dogs is a bad thing, let's get to the real deal. First, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who go out and kill animals every year. So, the idea that this man was a monster for what he did is a bit overboard. Yes, killing Fluffy or Fido is certainly tougher to stomach than shooting Bambi in the woods, but the truth is that most of us are hypocritical for portraying Vick as a monster. Secondly, the idea that this man should lose his entire career because of a silly mistake he made at the age of 27 is ridiculous. So, I want to give a shout-out to my respected homeboy Roland Martin for supporting Michael Vick's right to make a living.
I wanted to chime in on the financial side of the Vick case and share 5 things that I personally learned from the Michael Vick situation. I busted my butt trying to defend Michael Vick on CNN, so I figured that I may as well take this full circle by ensuring that we all learn from his silly behavior. Our most valuable lessons usually come from our most costly mistakes, so with all that he has learned, Michael Vick should be a professor by now.
1) You never have an endless supply of money, even when you think you do. Do you remember when you got your first job and would get that $150 dollar check? Didn't it make you feel powerful, as if the money would last forever?
Continue reading Your Money with Dr. Boyce: Michael Vick's Lessons on Money
Despite several reports, rapper T.I. is still on track to spend approximately one year in prison when he enters the Forrest City Federal Correctional Complex’s low security facility next week.
Following a report by the Associated Press on Sunday (May 17), news spread across the internet and throughout the entertainment industry that the Atlanta entertainer would only serve two months of the 366-day sentence handed down in March in connection with his October 2007 arrest. The reduced sentence was due to a credit for the 305 days of home confinement T.I.
However, Charysse Alexander, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia told MTV.com today that the credit has nothing to do with T.I.’s prison sentence.
The rapper, born Clifford Harris, could see 15% of his sentence taken off for good behavior, reducing his sentence to 311 days.
The credit for home confinement will be applied to the 365 days of house arrest the rapper was set to serve after he completes his prison term, Alexander added.
In an interview with the Associate Press, Forrest City spokesperson R.D. Weeks indicated that when T.I. joins the other 1,500 inmates currently being held at the facility, he will most likely be treated like any other prisoner.
The rapper will still be required to turn himself in at the end of the month. Paperwork filed in his federal court case shows he has until noon on May 26 to report for his sentence.
Unless a custody or security concern is observed, he will be placed in general population, will share a double-bunked cell with another prisoner, and will have access to all inmate activities, including the recreation yard and counseling.
The "King of the South" will reportedly complete two music videos before beginning his stay. Tip's rep told XXL that the Atlanta rap giant has already shot one video and will shoot another clip for "Don't Forget," his duet with Mary J. Blige on Thursday (May 21) in Los Angeles. Both new songs will appear on the re-issue to T.I.'s multi-platinum selling album Paper Trail. While there is no official release date as of yet, they are hoping to drop the album sometime this August.
Click to read
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Posted By Jazzie to Your Black Gossip: The Official Source of Black Celebrity Gossip at 5/20/2009 08:26:00 AM
SANTA MONICA, CA (AP) -- Snoop Dogg is off the hook in a case in which he was accused of beating up a fan who came on stage during a concert he did in 2005 near Seattle.
A jury in Santa Monica, California cleared him of civil assault and battery claims. The panel did find that the man, Richard Monroe Jr., suffered serious injuries during the concert and awarded him nearly a half-million dollars in damages. But those damages are to be paid by a record label, another performer and others involved in the concert.
Monroe had sought $22 million from Snoop and others in his lawsuit. But the jury found Snoop didn't personally owe Monroe anything.
As I state on the video introduction for YourBlackWorld.com, “There is no one way to be black”. This statement implies that even those in our family who don’t agree with my position have a right to express their opinions. Such is the essence of freedom of thought, which requires discipline for us to maintain (even I get tempted to discount opinions that seem misguided, as I am learning and growing myself). At any rate, I want to give a very sincere “thank you” to those who’ve sent emails in support of my tenure situation at Syracuse. Again, I must re-emphasize the following:
1) DO NOT feel sorry for me….I am fine. I’ve never depended on some random university to pay my bills, as we should realize that it is not in the interest of our community’s “national security” to rely on our historical oppressors to provide things that we critically need (the easiest way to control another man is for that man to know that you are the reason his children get to eat every day). I built my business interests because I wanted to be a truly independent Black man and a serious scholar. Academic bureaucracy sometimes gets in the way of true scholarship, the same way that the pettiness of church affairs can get in the way of truly serving God….hence, Jesus is killed in public with many so-called pastors cheering on his murder. I will never be as great as Jesus, but I firmly believe in the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” I truly believe that Jesus would do his best to do what’s right, he would stand up for the weak and he would speak for those who have no voice. That is what I try to do every day of my life.
2) This issue is NOT ABOUT ME. I am not fighting for my own tenure, for I’ve never needed tenure to validate me as a scholar. Rather, this fight is for all of the Black scholars around the nation who are being denied tenure on unfair grounds. It is for our children, who have a right to learn from Black professors without having to take African American studies as a major. It is to break the chains off of our most brilliant Black scholars, who are locked away in their offices writing research papers that no one is ever going to read, all because they’ve been threatened with severe punishment if they choose to use their intellect to solve critical problems in the Black community. I encourage you to do an accountability request from your alma maters and ask them why they seem to only find good Black basketball players, but can’t find any “qualified” Black faculty (using fundamentally flawed measures of the term “qualified”….you’d be amazed at what some others consider to be qualified). Our children deserve to be educated by Black people too (I’ve never had a Black professor in any class I took in 13 years of post-secondary education. It shouldn’t be that difficult).
3) I am not angry with Syracuse University. While I do not agree with their decision, the truth is that many in America are socially conditioned to be frightened by uncompromising and outspoken African American men. I am from the south, so I am used to the disease of racism. So, Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s reaction to me is no different from the reaction that the university had to Jim Brown when he was here many years ago. I knew what I was getting myself into, as my reading about the lives of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harry Edwards and others allowed me to see, in advance, how White America was going to react to the Dr. Boyce Watkins brand of scholarship. Even when you try to speak in love, simply standing up for Black people in a forthright way leads others to place you as an enemy of the establishment….that’s why Dr. King was murdered. But remember: had it not been for the sacrifices of others, I would not be here. Now it’s time for me to make my sacrifice for our children. I truly believe this is going to be the best year of my entire life, and I am sincerely looking forward to it.
Thank you and God bless you for all of your support. Your comments are below….names have been removed to protect your privacy.
v Dear Dr. Boyce:
Hang in there. Also, why don't you send this (or a similar missive) to Vice President Joseph Biden, a prestigious
interesting to see if he responds. Keep up the good work. Thanks for your voice.
v Sorry to read this. We need to find a way to harness the "leveraging power" of Black collegiate athletes." Also, can "Letters to the Editor" be sent to the student newspaper?
v Brother,
I sit here at work and read and am I saddened – I am not as sure as to what, and how I feel. However, I know that great things are in store for you things that only the divine being can and will provide and that
For me it was a shocker and I did not know the correct procedures and steps to take- in a working environment and no one told me how to deal with this issue at work. So, I was left out in the cold by my own peers………and I will not go on. I know for a fact that prayers work wonders – and wonders never cease. I look at it like this sometimes in life in order to go forward, you have to take a step back, maybe not too far back, maybe you could and was making great waves at Syracuse- Tsunamis even, and people fear what they know not of most.
You are what people fear an educated black man! You may be down but not out, and Syracuse and all the people in powers that be who sit in their ivory towers will see you rise instead of fall, and they will look back and said “ I wish….. If only I knew…. If only I had spoken up……
On
By Dr. Christopher J. Metzler
A recent New York Times/CBS poll concluded that race relations are improving in the wake of the election of President Obama. According to the survey, about 66 percent of Americans said that race relations are generally good compared with 53 percent in July of last year. Fifty-nine percent of African-Americans – along with 65 percent of whites – now characterize the relationship between Blacks and Whites in America as ‘good,’ The New York Times proclaimed with glee, “Barack Obama’s presidency seems to be altering the public perception of race relations in the United States.” The Huffington Post also chimed in claiming that “Obama’s race relations effect is real.”
It seems that the single event of the election of President Obama has erased America’s racial transgressions in one fell swoop and has improved the relationship between Blacks and Whites overnight. The problem, however, is not relations between Blacks and Whites; there is no evidence yet that the election of President Obama has had more than a symbolic (but important) effect on America’s still unresolved and conflicted relationship with race.
Obama’s election has not changed the fact that in this economic downturn, Black unemployment is at approximately 15 percent while White unemployment is at approximately eight percent. Since his election, racial profiling has not stopped, the educational achievement gap between Blacks and Whites has not narrowed. In addition, the President did not attend, nor did he send a delegation to the World Racism conference in Geneva. Thus, it can be argued that Obama’s election has had nothing but a symbolic effect on race. The difficulty with this argument is that it suffers from the same flaw in logic that is inherent in the New York Times/CBS News poll.
First, the question in the poll was about race relations. That is, the interpersonal relationship between Blacks and Whites. But, the issue is not race relations, it is whether the President will use his bully pulpit to eradicate the substantive racial inequalities that afflict Blacks in America. Much like he will use it to bring peace to the Middle East.
Click to read more on our Black Scholars Blog.
Joshua Brandon Norris is expected to graduate soon and become a Morehouse Man, with all its prestige. At 22, he’s had a good run during his time at Morehouse College. He drove a Hummer, co-owned a fashion store at Perimeter Mall and owns a stylish $450,000 townhouse.
He also shot another student.
Across the country, Frank Rashad Johnson, the victim, attends Sacramento City College and lives with his mother, trying to save money. He, too, wanted to be a Morehouse Man.
“My great-uncle was a classmate of Martin Luther King’s,” Johnson said. “It has a long history of exemplary students and good men. It was my dream school.”
But all that fell apart when he was shot three times outside a school-related Halloween party near Atlantic Station in 2007. Police reports say Norris was kicked out of a nightclub, had words with Johnson after bumping into him outside, then shot the fellow Morehouse student during a struggle in the street.
Completing a Morehouse degree is vital to Norris. Fulton County Judge Marvin Arrington ordered him to do so after he pleaded no contest to a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The deal calls for six years of probation and comes with first-offender status —- meaning Norris’ record will be wiped clean if he stays out of trouble.
“You’re getting the break of your life,” Arrington said during the Jan. 27 hearing.
The arrangement constitutes a bizarre twist of fate for Johnson.
“I sit at home, still recovering from my wound, painfully aware my Morehouse dreams have become a nightmare,” Johnson wrote to Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard after hearing about the deal. “My victimizer (and almost murderer) received a closeted, secretive, back-door slap on the wrist and is now back at Morehouse, moving forward with his educational aspirations without having paid any price for his crime.”
Ever wonder when the day will come when rappers are not trying to bling with diamonds they spent their rent money to buy or balling in rented cars that will be towed away right after the video shoot is over? What about the day when Hip Hop artists take stands in their communities for something powerful, like fighting against racial oppression or for the respect of Black women? Well, Kansas City has an artist who embodies all of this in an unapologetic fashion.
His name is Vigalantee, and his goal is to get hip hop artists to stop (in his words) "Bojangling" for chump change. He lives for the street, fights for the poor and runs his own business in a highly profitable fashion. He takes the word "hustle" to a whole different level and is teaching artists how to change the game in their favor. AOL Black Voices had a chance to talk with Vigalantee about his work.
What is your name and where are you from?
Roger M. Suggs, aka Vigalantee. I am from Kansas City, Kansas.
You seem to feel that Hip Hop needs a transformation, what kind of transformation is that? Also, you are the creator of the "No Jangle Movement". What is that?
Black Fortune 500 CEOs with a "babyface" appearance are more likely to lead companies with higher revenues and prestige than black CEOs who look more mature, an upcoming study says.
In contrast with research showing that white executives are hindered by babyface characteristics, a disarming appearance can help black CEOs by counteracting the stigma that black men are threatening, according to the study from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
The study is scheduled to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.
A babyface is characterized by combinations of attributes, including a round face, full cheeks, larger forehead, small nose, large ears and full lips, the study says.
Decades of research has shown that people believe babyfaced adults to be more trustworthy, and respond to them with greater patience, sensitivity and compassion, according to Robert Livingston, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of organizations and management at Kellogg.
In the study, a group of 21 college students was shown photographs of 40 current and past CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Eleven of the students were white, 10 were Asian and 10 were female.
Of the 40 CEOs, 10 were black (only 10 blacks have ever led Fortune 500 companies). For every black CEO, a current or former white CEO from the same company was included. Another 10 CEOs were white women, and 10 white male CEOs were chosen at random.
Participants rated each photo on scale of 1-4 for "babyfaceness," leadership competence and personal warmth.
A Florida man has been charged with first-degree murder after authorities say he threw a 3-month-old boy out of a moving car on a Tampa interstate.
Police say infant Emanuel Murray died after his mother's ex-boyfriend threw him from a car on a Florida interstate.
Richard Anthony McTear Jr., 21, was arrested Tuesday, hours after a confrontation at his former girlfriend's apartment in which he snatched the child, the Hillsborough County sheriff's office said.
A passing motorist found Emanuel Wesley Murray's body on the interstate. An autopsy determined the child died of blunt trauma to the head, the county medical examiner's office said.
Video on CNN affiliate WFLA TV showed McTear being led out of a Tampa police squad car after his arrest. He ducked his head as TV cameras surrounded him on his walk into a police building.
When asked by reporters if he had thrown the child out of the car window, McTear answered, "It's a dirty game. A dirty game."
McTear is not related to the child, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.
Police had been called to his former girlfriend's apartment about 3:15 a.m. The mother, Jasmine Bedwell, 18, told investigators that McTear had hit her several times and threatened "to kill the both of y'all," the sheriff's department said in a statement announcing the charges.
McTear threw a car seat containing the child across the room during the fight, causing the boy to fall onto the apartment's concrete floor, investigators said. He then picked up the boy and drove off in his blue Chevrolet Impala, throwing the child out while on the interstate, the sheriff's department said.
The child's body was found around 4:30 a.m.
