Interestingly enough, both the president’s detractors and his supporters will seize on the same soundbite from his address to the 2013 graduating class at Morehouse College.

In the speech, he basically makes two requests of the Morehouse graduating seniors – 1) In the Morehouse tradition, continue to expect more of yourself and 2) “inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves.”

President Obama’s Full Address

Fair enough.  The soundbite that supporters and detractors of Obama have and will zero in on is: “We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. Growing up, I made a few myself. And I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down.”

I am fairly convinced now that President Obama can not speak to an all or mostly black audience without generating some variation of diametrically opposed reactions.

Excuses, excuses…

Some have said that this is Obama appeasing his (not present) white audience by once again chastising black men for not being boot-strappy enough; others will say that he is too willing to excuse structural and institutional racism and inequality even as he claims that “we’ve got no time for excuses.”

Supporters will claim that this is one of the most personal speeches that the president has ever given and they will laud his truth-telling and willingness to state the tough-love realities for black men.

I suspect the 2013 graduates of Morehouse College were mostly happy to have the POTUS as their commencement speaker – even if some of them align themselves with his critics.

The president’s recitation of “excuses” seems to resonate beyond this particular speech and may be more aptly

President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and the Cabinet in July 2012. Some African Americans are angry or disappointed that the President has brought so few black people into leadership in his administration – fewer than brought by his two predecessors Clinton and Bush.

indicative of how some of Obama’s critics (on the left) now see his presidency – emptied of its promise and too often excused by black folks and many in the media for under-performing on politics and policy issues dear to progressives. As a part of his rhetorical strategy to situate himself as an insider (with respect to the Morehouse community), President Obama recited the following:

“Excuses are tools of the incompetent, used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness….

But more and more black folk are growing weary of the excuses made by and for this administration in the face of diminished resources, high unemployment, and limited access to economic opportunity in the black community.

Read the full opinion piece here.

Read more Breaking News here.

Cleveland’s WEWS-TV issued an apology on Thursday after the local news station reported on Charles Ramsey’s criminal record.

Ramsey was one of two neighbors who helped Amanda Berry, who had been kidnapped for 10 years, and two other women escape from captivity earlier this week. While he was hailed a hero for his role, his presence on TV was mocked and even auto-tuned. Al Sharpton defended Ramsey. “He kicks in a door to rescue those women and some are criticizing his diction?” Sharpton said of Ramsey.

Soon after his TV debut, reports surfaced about Ramsey’s record, one that reportedly included convictions for domestic violence. Multiple outlets, including WEWS, reported on Ramsey’s criminal past.

After facing backlash from viewers, WEWS apologized in a post on the station’s Facebook page.

TO OUR READERS & FOLLOWERS: We heard you. Wednesday night, we made a poor judgment call in posting a story about Charles Ramsey’s criminal record and how he’s since reformed. While the story was factually sound, the timing of it and publication of such information was not in good taste, and we regret it. Your comments prompted us to quickly remove the story from our website and Facebook page, but we know we can’t erase what we’ve already done. Ramsey is a hero for his actions, and we recognize that. Thank you so much for your feedback.

Read the original article Here

Read more Breaking News Here

This African penned a letter powerful enough to lead to freedom.

From the time when they first landed in Florida in the early 1500s, African Americans did their best to run away from the inhumane conditions of slavery. Over the course of slavery in the United States between 1513 and 1865, tens of thousands of people

Job ben Solomon, 1733, by William Hoare.                          Oil on canvas.
Qatar Museums Authority/Orientalist Museum,              Doha, Qata

managed to escape, first south from the Carolinas and Georgia to the haven afforded by Spanish Florida before 1763, and later,north from the Southern colonies and states across the Mason-Dixon Line. More than a hundred of these “fugitive slaves,” as they were called, even wrote or dictated books about their deliverance from bondage, detailing how they were able to escape. While each escape was something of a miracle, some of the methods that they used are astonishing.

Everyone has their favorite slave narratives, as the genre of books is called. My own short list includes the stories of Henry Brown, William and Ellen Craft and Frederick Douglass. In 1838 Frederick Douglass donned a sailor’s uniform, sewn by his soon-to-be wife, who was free, and rode a train from Baltimore to Philadelphia disguised as a free man using papers he had obtained from a free black seaman. In 1848 Ellen Craft, who had a very light complexion, did a double cross-dress as white man and, accompanied by her dark-complexioned husband, rode to freedom on a train ride from Macon, Ga., to Philadelphia, masked as master and slave. A year later Henry “Box” Brown actually had himself nailed into a wooden, claustrophobic, coffin-like box, and then shipped from slavery in Richmond to freedom in Philadelphia.

But the oddest way that a slave escaped from slavery, to me, without a doubt, is the story of Ayuba.

Ayuba wrote his way out of slavery. As incredible as this may seem, this is literally true. The man who came to be known in England as “Job ben Solomon” was born Ayuba Suleiman Jallo (or, in French, “Diallo”) into a prominent family in Bundu, an independent, precolonial country located in current-day Senegal….

Find out how Ayuba did it – and how he was involved in the slave trade – here.

Read Breaking News here.

The fact that this was written by black journalist is even more perplexing to me.

Eric Deggans, TV and media critic, penned an op-ed for NPR titled On ‘Hicksploitation’ And Other White Stereotypes Seen On TV, in which he essentially laments what he sees as a double standard when it comes to TV shows that emphasize and exploit stereotypes of white people versus those that do the same of black people.

Honey Boo Boo and Mom. “What many forget is that it can be just as easy to stereotype white, working-class folks, and just as hard to scrub those stereotypes off your TV screen,” says Eric Deegans.

In the piece, to argue his point, he cites shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Jersey Shore, Mob Wives and others, as examples of TV programming that exploit stereotypes of white people, and compares them to All My Babies’ Mamas - the Oxygen network reality TV series that drew protest and was eventually buried….

I certainly wouldn’t disagree with him on how problematic exploiting stereotypes in mass media can be. Although, as author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said, the problem with stereotypes isn’t that they are wrong, but that they are INCOMPLETE!

I LOVE that quote!

And that’s where Mr Deggans and I part ways. The reason he gives for why he thinks shows stereotyping white people haven’t seen similar protests as those stereotyping black people, ignores one very important fact. And that is, referencing Adichie’s quote above, in mass media, there is, and has always been, a far more COMPLETErepresentation of white people. Black people simply haven’t had that luxury. Since the invention of the medium that is television (and let’s throw in cinema as well), America (and really the world) has been inundated with a wealth of VARIED representations of white people on screen. For every Honey Boo Boo, there are scores of other kinds of depictions of white people of all classes, on TV and in film. And these images dominate our screens, and have done so for a century, and continue to do so….

Read the complete article here.

Read more Breaking News here.

How much street cred is too much?

The body of Emmett Till at his funeral shows the mutilation and torture he underwent at the hands of his lynchers in Mississippi in 1955. Photo credit: Chicago Defender

The family took issue with vulgar lyrics referring to Till that were performed by Lil Wayne on a remix of “Karate Chop,” by the rapper Future. In an interview with the Web site AllHipHop.com in April, the family said it would put pressure on the brand, which is part of the PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo, to drop the artist; Mountain Dew did so on Friday….

Last week Lil Wayne, whose given name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., issued a letter to the Till family in which he acknowledged how his “contribution to a fellow artist’s song has deeply offended your family.”

Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images
Lil Wayne lost an endorsement deal with Mountain Dew after Emmett Till’s family complained about a lyric he wrote.

He continued, “As a father myself, I cannot imagine the pain that your family has had to endure.”

The family was not satisfied with that response and instead called for a meeting with executives at PepsiCo. At the same time, a publicist for the family said, they found an additional way to pressure Mountain Dew: to bring to public attention an offensive Mountain Dew video ad created by the hip-hop producer and rap artist known as Tyler, the Creator, that featured a battered white waitress, bandaged and on crutches, trying to identify her assailant from a lineup that included African-American men and a goat.

That ad prompted a flurry of media attention, and Mountain Dew pulled the ad on Wednesday. Two days later it severed its relationship with Lil Wayne….

In a telephone interview [the Reverend Al] Sharpton said he had also been in contact with Lil Wayne’s management. He described the issue as a “teaching moment” for both the brand and the artist.

“The fact is that a lot of these young artists do not understand these civil rights issues, do not understand history and what it is that people are offended by,” he said. “The corporations become insensitive because they are profit-driven and have no regard for what’s going on in our communities.”

Read the full article here.

Read more Breaking News here.

Kiera Wilmot, 16 years old, has been an exemplary student, so why was she expelled from high school after a science experiment exploded, fortunately hurting no one?

By now you’ve probably heard about Kiera Wilmot, the 16-year-old Florida girl who botched a science experiment with a plastic bottle and toilet cleaner. The bottle ended up exploding, and though no one was hurt and no property damaged, Kiera was expelled from high school and is now being prosecuted as an adult for discharging a weapon on school grounds. She had an exemplary behavioral record up until that point.

Kiera is, as one might expect, black. The notion of a white girl getting hauled off to jail for a harmless expression of intellectual curiosity is dubious, to say the least. And though the rise of “zero tolerance” policies in American schools should theoretically be race-neutral, that’s not the reality. According to the Dignity in Schools campaign, “students of color… are more likely to be suspended and expelled than their peers for the same behavior” and “African American students [are] 3.5 times as likely to be expelled” as whites. What happened to Kiera Wilmot is part of a broader story about racial disparities in our criminal justice system….

Am I accusing Glotfelty of conscious racial bias? Nope. Self-awareness isn’t the issue here. And maybe she has good reasons for treating these two cases differently. Hey, Taylor was 13 instead of 16; perhaps that makes all the difference in her eyes. But I can’t shake the feeling that these two stories would have unfolded quite differently if the races of the children had been reversed. Somehow the white Kiera Wilmot would have had her story end with an adult touching her shoulder saying “I’m just glad you’re alright.” And the black Taylor Richardson would have heard platitudes about “taking responsibility” while being led away in handcuffs….

Read the full article here.

Read more Breaking News here.

Chicago voters waiting in line on Nov. 6, 2012 (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.

Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press.

Census data and exit polling show that whites and blacks will remain the two largest racial groups of eligible voters for the next decade. Last year’s heavy black turnout came despite [Editor's Note: or perhaps because of...?] concerns about the effect of new voter-identification laws on minority voting, outweighed by the desire to re-elect the first black president….

In the 2012 presidential election, many conservative political groups attempted to impose voter identification laws designed to make it difficult or impossible to vote for minorities, the elderly, students, and the poor.

Overall, the findings represent a tipping point for blacks, who for much of America’s history were disenfranchised and then effectively barred from voting until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

But the numbers also offer a cautionary note to both Democrats and Republicans after Obama won in November with a historically low percentage of white supporters….

The 2012 data suggest Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate, unable to motivate white voters let alone attract significant black or Latino support. Obama’s personal appeal and the slowly improving economy helped overcome doubts and spur record levels of minority voters in a way that may not be easily replicated for Democrats soon.

Romney would have erased Obama’s nearly 5 million-vote victory margin and narrowly won the popular vote if voters had turned out as they did in 2004, according to Frey’s analysis. Then, white turnout was slightly higher and black voting lower.

Read the full article here.

Read more Breaking News here.

The magnitude of NBA player Jason Collins’ coming out today cannot be overestimated. He breaks a barrier that we’ve been waiting for someone to plunge through: a major league sports player saying “I’m gay” while still playing and at the height of his career. We’ve seen former major league football players and others come out after retirement, but until now, no one has dared say it while still playing major league sports…

The locker room, we’ve been told, couldn’t handle it. Straight players wouldn’t be able to accept knowing of a gay player in their midst. Just this past January, NFL player Chris Culliver drove that ugly message home when he said in a radio interview that gay players shouldn’t even think about coming out. Asked whether there are any gay players on the 49ers, Culliver said, “Nah. We don’t got no gay people on the team. You know, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. … Can’t be… can’t… uh… be in the locker room.” Asked if gay players should stay closeted while playing professionally, Culliver responded, “Yeah, you gotta, you gotta come out 10 years later after that.”

But now, here comes Jason Collins, telling Sports Illustrated, “I’m a 34-year-old center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” More than that, Collins says he’s delighted to rise to the occasion, seeing the enormous importance of doing so. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” he explained. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.”

That took a lot courage, and it will no doubt inspire many others, making it easier not only for the next player but for so many young people across America.

Read Full Article Here

Read More Breaking News Here

Four young victims of a deadly Alabama church bombing that marked one of the darkest moments of the civil rights movement are one step closer to receiving Congress’ highest civilian honor.

By a 420-0 vote, the House on Wednesday passed a measure that posthumously would award the Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair.

The girls were killed when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in September 1963. The measure will now be considered by the Senate.

The House effort was led by Alabama Reps. Terri Sewell, a Democrat, and Spencer Bachus, a Republican. The two represent Birmingham and presented Wednesday’s vote as a way to honor the legacy of the victims.

“It was there blood which was shed for the bounty that so many of us now enjoy,” Sewell said.

Bachus said the tragedy pushed the civil rights movement forward and honoring its victims was the correct way to commemorate their legacy.

While Congress has shown broad support for awarding the medal, the idea has split relatives of the four victims. Some are supportive but others are seeking financial compensation.

The sisters of two of the victims, Denise McNair and Carol Robertson, sat in the House gallery to watch the vote, with Sewell noting their presence after the vote and asking members to applaud them.

Relatives of Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley, also known as Cynthia Morris, have both said they do not want the congressional honor…

September will mark the 50th anniversary of the church bombing. Three KKK members were convicted years after the attack. Two are dead, with one is still in prison.

Read full article Here

View More Breaking News Here

By Edward Wyckoff Williams, theRoot.com

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (handout/Getty Images News); Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Glenn DePriest/Getty Images)

The American story has too long been told through a racial lens and always vis-à-vis “whiteness.” This is a dangerous premise — fortifying the principles of white supremacy, entirely incongruent with the nation’s democratic values. In no area is this problem more apparent than the American media — and news reporting in particular. The Constitution’s First Amendment protection of “freedom of the press” has morphed inexplicably into a safe haven in which stereotypes, falsehoods and outdated racial codes are protected under the law — allowing poisonous lies to masquerade as fact.

Last week the media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings led to numerous instances of misinformation being reported. In the wake of confusion following the events, there was a rush to judgment as many desperately searched for answers.

But a blatant display of Islamophobic rhetoric and racial profiling became a benchmark of many reports, proving what some had already suspected — that xenophobia and racially tinged, anti-Muslim sentiment have become tacitly accepted byproducts of post-Sept. 11 American society. Most disturbing was that these attitudes were readily articulated by standard-bearers of credible news outlets, whose profession it is to disseminate “facts” without bias.

The most widely (and embarrassingly) covered misstep occurred at CNN. Senior correspondent John King erroneously reported that the FBI had made an arrest and that the suspect was ”a dark-skinned male.” This led MSNBC’s Chris Hayes to ask, “What news value exists in the adjective ‘dark-skinned’?”

The response from the paper’s editor: “We stand by our story. The image was emailed to law enforcement agencies yesterday afternoon seeking information about these men, as our story reported. We did not identify them as suspects.”

King was widely criticized for a lack of due diligence and catering to latent racial animus. His words relieved those looking for an easy target to blame — namely Arabs from the Middle East or North Africa — and cast a shadow of doubt and suspicion upon every black and brown male in Boston’s metropolitan area.

Unsurprisingly, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly — an occasional “accidental” racist himself – came to King’s defense, claiming that it was an “honest mistake.” Meanwhile, the New York Post (a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.) ran a cover story with a photo of what appeared to be two nonwhite males, under the headline “Bag Men: Feds Seek These Two Pictured at Boston Marathon.”

The truth? Both were innocent — never implicated in the bombings. Salah Barhoun, whose face the Post distributed both in print and online, turned out to be a 17-year-old high school track star interested in running the marathon. Murdoch and the Post issued statements but no apology.

And the misconceptions weren’t limited to conservatives or the right wing….

Read the full article here.

Read more Breaking News here.