Prof. Ronald Walters Dies at 72 Years Old

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

I woke up today to find that the sun would shine a little bit less brightly than it did the day before. The first email I read was one telling me that Ronald Walters, a noted black Political Scientist at The University of Maryland, had died. He was 72 years old.

Dr. Walters was the director of the African American Leadership Institute. He was also the Campaign Manager for the presidential run of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984. I knew Ron as a mentor and friend. He was also on the faculty here at Syracuse University at one point in his career, long before my own. He was one of the most respectable and accomplished black scholars I've ever met, and he was appreciated by nearly everyone. His advice on leadership, activism and black empowerment was second to none.

I reached out to a few friends to get their takes on Professor Walters and many of them were very happy to reply. They were saddened to see the end of Ron's life and career, but most of them understood the urgency of continuing his meaningful work. I haven't been able to catch up with Rev. Jesse Jackson yet, but I'll be on his show Sunday morning. Ron and I have been on Rev. Jackson's show together in the past, and few people were impacted more by Dr. Walters than Rev. Jackson himself.

 

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Dwight Howard and His Baby Mama Drama Never Seem to Stop

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

One of my favorite films of all-time was "War of the Roses," starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. In the film, a divorced couple starts down a dangerous and hilarious path of mutual destruction, where the goal of each is to make the other person's life miserable. At the end of the movie, both parties find that while it was their goal to destroy the other person, they actually ended up destroying themselves. Just for the record, each character dies at the end.

I think about "War of the Roses" when I see the custody battle between NBA star Dwight Howard and his ex-wife, Royce Reed. Of course I don't expect anyone to end up dead, but it's already clear that Royce and Dwight have made each other's lives as miserable as possible. Royce recently called the cops after Dwight picked up her son from daycare at a time when he was not scheduled to do so. Before that, Dwight had filed a lawsuit against Royce for referring to him as a "douchebag" on the TV show, "Basketball Wives.

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Dr. Boyce Watkins Says Reggie Bush Should Give the Heisman Back

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

Anyone even remotely familiar with the sports world is well aware of reports that former USC star Reggie Bush is at risk of having his Heisman Trophy taken away from him. The return of the Heisman would likely be related to NCAA violations that allegedly took place within the USC program during the time when Bush played for them. Bush didn't speak in detail on the issue when he was asked about it.
"At this point, it's kind of out of my hands," Bush said Wednesday after practice with the New Orleans Saints.
Bush would not confirm or deny whether he spoke with the Heisman Trophy Trust about losing the award. Executive Director Robert Whalen said that no decision has yet been made.

 

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Should Black Athletes Boycott the Heisman Trophy?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

 

When I read about the possibility that Reggie Bush may have his Heisman Trophy taken, I became irritated beyond imagination.  ”Here we go again,” I thought.  “Another self-righteous group of hoity-toity NCAA administrators making value judgments about the character of black male athletes.”
If they can’t defeat them on the field, the game is then to create artificially contrived mechanisms for evaluating the worth of the athlete from a morality standpoint.  The problem for the NCAA, however, is that when it comes to ethics, they have no room to claim the moral high ground.  In fact, you might say they are crooks.

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Actress Regina King Goes Boondocks Over Hollywood Racism

Since the Emmy ceremony, I have been going back and forth about whether or not I should compose this letter. I try hard in my daily life not to engage in uncomfortable situations regarding race. But sometimes it's very difficult to find other reasons that better explain why certain events play out the way they do. It is impossible for me to ignore the published statistics regarding the number of people of color mentioned, celebrated or honored in the history of the televised Emmys. Up to and including this year, there have been only 53 non-white actorsnominated for Emmys out of nearly 1,000 possible nominations in the top four acting categories for drama and comedy.

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NFL Announcer Makes Terrible Comments about Hurricane Katrina

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

NFL Hall of Famer Dan Hampton has a great deal to apologize for this week. During a broadcast of an NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, Hampton thought it would be funny to bring up that little thing called Hurricane Katrina. Making reference to the fact that the Vikings needed to show up with their A-game, Hampton said, "The Vikings need to go down there and hit that town like Katrina."
Bad move buddy, bad move.
There isn't much to say about Dan Hampton other than the obvious. It didn't take him long to realize that it might be inappropriate to make jokes about an event that led to the death and displacement of tens of thousands of people. Hurricane Katrina affected real lives in a very real way, and Hampton needs to understand that. Additionally, invoking Katrina into the fantasy world of professional football is only productive to the extent that the success of the Saints has helped to heal the hearts of New Orleans residents who've lost everything. So, if you can't bring Hurricane Katrina up in a positive and uplifting way, please don't bring it up as a joke.

 

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Danny Granger of Team USA Says Europeans Smell Like Dead Donkeys

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

If I were an old man responsible for managing Team USA's public image, I would be cursing Twitter every day of the week. Apparently, giving young, bold athletes instant access to media was a cruel joke orchestrated by both fate and Mother Nature. At any rate, the latest athlete to embarrass himself with his Twitter account was Danny Granger. Making reference to the fact that deodorant is not as popular in Europe as it is in the United States, Granger said that Europeans smell like "dead donkeys." Here are his exact words:
"i'm dying over here ..how come nobody in europe wears deodorant? guess they didn't get the memo – smellin like dead donkey..no joke"

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Officials Grow Alarmed by Detroit Homicide Rate for Black Males

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

African American males in Detroit between the ages of 15 and 24 are dying at a rate that is roughly seven times higher than the rest of the Detroit population. If they were dying at the same rate as everyone else, there would be one death every three weeks. Instead, there are two black men dying every single week.
This has set off alarm bells within the Detroit Police Department, which has taken heavy criticism for its policing of the black community. Their most recent embarrassment was the shooting of seven-year old Aiyana Jones during a police raid. But the Chief of Police, Ralph Godbee Jr., is concerned about black men killing one another.

 

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Lawrence Taylor May Not Have Had Sex with the Teen

Lawrence Taylor Didn't Have Sex with Teen: Source

• A source is telling the New York Post that the teen prostitute who allegedly got together with ... Read More
• By Dr. Boyce Watkins, PhD on May 15th 2010 3:35PM | Comments (0)

Why LeBron James Will and Should Leave Cleveland

• I love the city of Cleveland. I also feel bad for the city, since there isn't much to cheer for ... Read More
• By Dr. Boyce Watkins, PhD on May 15th 2010 10:29AM | Comments (5)

5 Ways African-Americans Can Use Technology for Empowerment

• From Politic365 - "1. Immerse yourself within the flow of information. Identify a few news websites ... Read More
• By Lucette Jefferson on May 15th 2010 6:00AM | Comments (2)

Black Women Speak Out About SCOTUS Appointment

• From Politic 365: The announcement of Elena Kagan could not really be called a surprise, since the ... Read More
• By Lucette Jefferson on May 15th 2010 6:00AM | Comments (6)

Lena Horne and the Hollywood Shuffle

• From The Root: Long before her recent death at 92, Lena Horne had become a recluse, living alone ... Read More
• By Lucette Jefferson on May 15th 2010 6:00AM | Comments (1)

Beyonce: 'Single Ladies' Dance Causes Uproar Amongst Parents

• Beyonce's 2008 hit 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)' spawned a string of video remakes that had ... Read More
• By Brennan Williams on May 14th 2010 6:24PM | Comments (29)

Dr. Boyce Watkins on AOL – 2/27/10

Tea Party Leader Calls Obama a "Half White Racist"

• Mark Williams, one of the tour partners for the Tea Party Express, called President Barack Obama ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Feb 27th 2010 11:14AM | Comments (0)

Rep. Charles Rangel of CBC to Be Admonished for Ethics Violations

• Rep. Charles Rangel will be admonished by the House Ethics Committee for violating regulations on ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Feb 26th 2010 11:47AM | Comments (3)

Biggie Smalls Estate Sued for Not Releasing Video Footage

• A movie production company claims that it paid $30,000 dollars for footage of the late Christopher ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Feb 26th 2010 10:47AM | Comments (0)

White Sorority Wins Step Competition, Then Told "Not Quite"

• When the women of Zeta Tau Alpha won the Sprite Step Off national competition last week, they ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Feb 26th 2010 10:08AM | Comments (107)

Brothers Speak: Charlamagne Tha God on Dr. King’s Dream

 

Expand Your Reality - Expand your reality to the point where you pursue what you love doing and excel at it. Involve yourself in high-energy levels of trust, optimism, appreciation, reverence, joy, and love when you engage in every activity in your life.

-Dr. Wayne W. Dyer The Power of Intention

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a DREAM that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal. A DREAM that his four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He had a DREAM that one day the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. He hoped for a freedom that would allow blacks and whites to work together as well as pray together. He had a dream that one day we all would be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

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Black News: Elliot Millner Speaks on Gilbert Arenas Gun Charges

Elliot Millner, Legal Advisor for the YBW Coalition, had this to say about the gun charges for NBA Star, Gilbert Arenas:

“It is still very early in the criminal investigation of Gilbert Arenas, and many facts are still unclear, however Arenas could be in some trouble. First, Arenas has prior gun-related charges, having plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of illegally possessing a concealed weapon while in California in 2003. Also, Arenas not only has D.C. authorities to answer to, but possibly Virginia police as well, given that he transported his guns from Virginia into D.C. It has been mentioned that Arenas may not have had proper registration for the guns in question, and also may have lacked a concealed weapons permit. Virginia accepts concealed weapons permits from certain other states, so that could work in Arenas favor if he had a concealed license permit from another state. In addition, even in regards to registered guns, D.C. prohibits guns deemed to be particularly "unsafe", so if any of Arenas' guns fall in that category, it could lead to other charges. It has been reported that all of Arenas' handguns were unloaded, however we do not know if Arenas stored any bullets in his locker also, which could lead to more charges. Some commentators have discussed the idea of Arenas being charged with assault with a deadly weapon, however given the statements made by most who observed the incidents in question, I see that as highly unlikely. The act of Arenas removing the guns from the locker and placing them out in the open (even if unloaded) could be problematic for him as well.

Ultimately, we will know more about what charges Arenas may face in the next few weeks. It is a sad and ridiculous situation, that was completely avoidable with even a little bit of forethought."

Unarmed Black Man Shot in Church in the Back

Witnesses say the man was surrendering, but officials in Rockford, Ill., near Chicago dispute that version of events, saying that Mark Anthony Barmore grabbed for an officer's gun after they cornered him in the church.

 

This Aug. 25, 2009 photo shows onlookers, including Mark Anthony Barmore's father, Anthony Stevens, second from right, watching as police investigate the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Barmore, inside the Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church in Rockford, Ill. The NAACP is renewing a call for federal standards on police use of force after what it describes as the police killing of an unarmed man inside a church as day-care children watched. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Amy J. Correnti)

Both sides do agree, however, that Barmore fled when officers approached him in the church parking lot, which highlights the suspicion and fear that can poison relationships between police and minority communities across the country.

"There are no national standards for the use of force (or) training for use of force," Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday.

The issue "is not primarily about racism," Jealous said, citing the recent case of a 72-year-old white woman tasered by a white Texas officer during a traffic stop. "We want to make sure the standards are the most modern and appropriate ones possible."

The NAACP scheduled a rally Saturday in Rockford and a march Oct. 3. Jealous was planning to attend both; it would be his first march since taking the NAACP's helm a year ago.

The NAACP is seeking the reintroduction of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, first offered by John Conyers, D-Mich., in 2000. It was co-sponsored by 34 legislators but was never voted on by the full House.

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Terry Bowden’s Great Quote about Racism in College Football

Terry Bowden, former head football coach at Auburn University, had this to say about the NCAA’s lack of black coaches in college football:

“Many presidents won't hire black coaches because they are worried about how alumni and donors will react.”

He also makes this clear and interesting point when it comes to the NCAA’s lack of regard for hiring minority coaches:

“There are 117 colleges participating in Division I-A football and there are only three black head coaches. You don't have to be too smart to know how stupid this looks.

Let me lay it out for you:

 Fifty percent black athletes leads to 25 percent black assistant coaches leads to 3 percent black head coaches.

 Fifty percent white athletes leads to 75 percent white assistant coaches leads to 97 percent white head coaches.”

Eric Holder Was Wrong About Black Men

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

Elliot Millner brought it to my attention that Attorney General Eric Holder has been apparently spending a lot of time with Bill Cosby these days. In a recent speech at a black church in Queens, NY, Holder took a page out of the Barack Obama Campaign Catalog and chose to win favors with the black middle class by recklessly bashing away at absentee fathers and returning to the whole "ya'll just need to grow up and be more responsible" argument that allows any politician to explain away a blatant disregard for meaningful public policy. Rather than talking about things that we can do as a society to take our collective foot off the necks of black men, he chose to say that black men are choosing to put the foot on their own necks.
Elliot Millner, who is also in the legal profession, intelligently said the things that I am sure Eric Holder wanted to say. But unlike Holder, Millner is not constrained by the political shackles that come with being an appointed leader in a society that makes a habit of oppressing, destroying and marginalizing black men.
In his speech, Holder said that, "It should simply be unacceptable for a man to have a child and then not play an integral part in the raising and nurturing of the child."
That quote is a nice way of reflecting on the obvious. It's sort of like saying, "It should be unacceptable for a black man to become the Attorney General of the United States and not play an integral part in helping other black men overcome the blatantly racist and destructive justice system over which you preside."

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Dr Boyce Watkins: The “OJ Simpsonization” of Tiger Woods: Could it Possibly Happen?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

Tiger Woods is a black athlete. He isn't "Caublinasian," mixed or any other ethnicity. He is, officially, a black man - especially after being reduced to being an adulterer who sleeps with porn stars. At least that's what guests on the Joy Behar Show seem to think.

During a recent episode, a guest on the show, Karith Foster, was asked what she thought about Tiger's recent indiscretions. In response to the question, the comedian said (without cracking a smile) that Tiger is "acting like a black athlete now."

I was shocked to hear these words come out of the mouth of any person, let alone an African-American woman. Dr. Deborah Stroman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the first person to bring the comments to my attention. She and I both agreed that the statement was an outrageous, irresponsible choice of words, and the host should have challenged her immediately. But Foster's comments might be telling, given that she once relegated herself to being the token black sidekick of a man (Don Imus) famous for referring to black women as "nappy headed hoes." Foster was fired not too long after being hired, which reminds us of the complications that come from making deals with the devil just to keep a job in media.

Needless to say, I was disappointed with Ms. Foster's remarks. I also found it quite ironic that no one went out of their way to compare Woods with other black men when he was the clean cut soldier boy with the billion dollar smile. At that time, he was considered the exception to the rule, something that all of America could easily embrace. Some have decided to associate the "black male" side of Tiger with the seedy character who has emerged over the past two weeks. Such comparisons are insulting to good black men everywhere. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that not every American shares the opinion of Karith Foster.

Let's be clear, Tiger Woods is not seedy, nor is he perfect. In reality, he is simply human. The problem is that we were all led to believe that he was super human, so the Tiger we are seeing today appears sub-human. Tiger Woods was the original Barack Obama, a man who injected hope into the psyches of sports fans everywhere, as we were all inspired to see a man with a brown face whipping the greatest golfers in history. Even to this day, Tiger is usually the only man of color on the golf course, and he is almost always the most dominant.

It will be interesting to see how the world processes Tiger's recent mistakes. It is not inconceivable that Tiger could be "OJ Simpsonized" by this incident, especially if additional dirt is leaked to the public. If you recall, OJ was also an athlete who'd been given permission to spend a significant amount of time with white women before the murder took place. After his trial, however, he was considered to be the most morally depleted man in America.

 

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News: Tavis Smiley Gets Named Taken Off Building

A long-simmering disagreement between broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Texas Southern University ended Friday when the university's governing board agreed to strip Smiley's name from its communication school.

Smiley promised in 2004 to donate $1 million and to raise another $1 million for TSU. The school later created the Tavis Smiley School of Communication in his honor.

In return, Smiley made one $50,000 donation in mid-2005 and raised $250,000 from three corporate donors.

But he said Friday that he had intended to fulfill his personal $1 million pledge.

“Any institution that turns away a $1 million gift in this economy, I think ought to have good reason for doing that,” he said in a telephone interview.

He also said former university President Priscilla Slade offered to name the school for him before he pledged any money.

“I even made a joke, how much is this decision going to cost me?” he said. “She said, ‘This decision has already been made.'”

“It doesn't feel good,” he said of the board's decision. “My intentions were to help the students.”

 

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Black Men at War: Juan Williams Called an Uncle Tom

I have no idea why FOX News political commentator Juan Williams is defendingRush Limbaugh, perhaps the most divisive, hateful person in American media today. I'm not sure why Williams is letting FOX News use him in the same way Armstrong Williams has always trotted out to defend conservative issues. (It's hard out there for a journalist.)
However, I do know that he does not deserve to be told to "go back to the porch," as radio talk show host Warren Ballentine said during a debate about Limbaugh last week.
The comments were made by Ballentine during a discussion with Williams on the 'O'Reilly Factor' about Limbaugh being dropped from a bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams football team. Williams and Ballentine disagreed about whether the 'Barack the Magic Negro' song that Rush Limbaugh played was "racial."
BILL O'REILLY: The reason that Limbaugh is not going to be able to buy in to the NFL is because a bunch of made-up stuff became legend, and he got hammered.
WARREN BALLANTINE: Okay, we won't look at the made-up stuff. Let's look at him playing 'Barack the Magic Negro,' and we're going to say that's just funny, that's just a joke, that's not racial either. It is racial to real black people.

 

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News: Tom Joyner Pardons His Late Uncles for Murder

from TheGrio.com 

Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner holds up the signed pardon given to him from Samuel Glover, right, director of the South Carolina Dept. of Pardon, Probation and Parole, as Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., third from the right, smiles after a hearing Wednesday Oct. 14, 2009, in Columbia, S.C. A posthumous pardon was given to Joyners' great-uncles Thomas and Meeks Griffin, who were wrongly sent to the electric chair for the 1913 murder of a Confederate Army veteran.

(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Two great-uncles of syndicated radio host Tom Joyner, sent to the electric chair for the 1913 murder of a Confederate Army veteran, were unanimously pardoned Wednesday by South Carolina.

Officials believe the men are the first in the state to be posthumously pardoned in a capital murder case.

Black landowners Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed 94 years ago after a jury convicted them of killing 73-year-old John Lewis, a wealthy white veteran living in Blackstock, a Chester County town 40 miles north of Columbia. Two other black men were also put to death for the crime.

"This won't bring them back, but this will bring closure. I hope now that they rest in peace," Joyner said. "This is a good day."

Joyner, who lives in Dallas, and his attorney made a presentation to the state parole and probation board on Wednesday, then left the room while the board voted. Family members who flew in for the hearing included his wife and sons, of Dallas, and brother and his family, from Jackson, Miss.

Though he talks to roughly 8 million listeners on the radio daily, Joyner said facing the seven board members "scared me to death." When he was told how they voted, he said he waved his hands and hugged family members in a flood of relief and joy. He also called in to his radio show.

Joyner learned about his uncles' fate two years ago during filming of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2," which traced his lineage and 11 others' through the research of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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Question: Did Obama Deserve to win the Nobel Prize? Black Scholars Speak Up

Marvin Lynn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction
Faculty Affiliate, African American Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago

 

I think he deserves the award because, as they said, he has established a different tone in the world. Two years ago, America was despised around the world. This is not the case today. Of course people still have criticisms of our policies etc but our global neighbors hated Bush so much that it was making global travel a frightening experience for Americans. There has been a shift in how people see us. That is directly tied to President Obama's diplomatic stance on a variety of issues.

 

 

 

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon

Political Science Professor at Howard University

Host of “On with Leon” – Sirius/XM Satellite

 

This is an incredible personal accomplishment for the Obama's, a wonderful international recognition of the shift in American foreign policy, and a compliment to the intelligence of the American electorate The Nobel committee is acknowledging the positive shift away from the unilateral exclusionary foreign policy of the Bush 43' administration to the multilateral inclusionary foreign policy direction of the Obama administration. The illegal invasions of sovereign nations, torture, and the ignoring of ecological issues of the Bush 43' administration only brought instability and insecurity for America and the rest of the world. President Obama offers hope through honest diplomacy and open dialog. This is the true path towards peace and security for all.