Black Education: Cambridge Police missed that class

When I heard the news about Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s arrest, I immediately recalled meeting the great professor at Bryant College, now a University, in the fall of 1993. Then, I was quickly enamored by his wit, ability to command a room, and for a man that stands all but 5-feet 7-inches tall, he was a BIG man in the sense of intellect and compassion.

I could only imagine and wondered out loud what it was that Mr. Gates, Jr. did that would warrant him being arrested by Cambridge Police? When I heard the news that one of his neighbors, and I use the word "neighbor" loosely, called the Cambridge Police Department to report a possible break-in taking place at a house in Cambridge.

I truly wonder, what would I have done, had I been questioned by police offers while standing in my house having just returned from an overseas trip?

As I prepare to watch Black In America 2 tomorrow night, I think the issue of "profiling" is thrust into the frontal lobe when many think that because the United States of America has a bi-racial President, there no longer is a need to discuss racism, sexism, or any other "ism" that exists.

The entire issue should make great dinner time conversation and certainly the City of Cambridge has some damage control to be done.

LSU Fans & Racism

If you're a Black person that is contemplating moving to New Orleans, this will certainly make you think twice about moving there and certainly not a place that you'd

like to raise a family. (Editor's Note: I have lived in New Orleans and have family that reside in the city.)

Listen to the responses of these LSU fans as they answer the question regarding the Government demolishing projects in the City of New

Orleans and their thoughts on subsidized housing.

Black History Month Ad rubs folks the wrong way

Acme Markets’ recent Black History Month circular has sparked quite the debate. The company has run the advertisement for seven years and says there has never been an issue before, but the ad is now being called racist.

Products advertised include corn bread, collard greens and grape soda. The Delaware chapter of the NAACP says more than 100 people have complained that the products perpetuate stereotypes: “It’s racist, it’s insensitive, it’s not culturally correct. Don’t assume that to celebrate Black History Month that we must have corn bread. Whoever put this ad together thought it’d be a good joke,” said Delaware NAACP President Cecil C. Wilson who demands Acme run a full-page apology in “all of Delaware’s newspapers”.

In a statement from Acme, the company said the advertisement was designed to highlight Black History Month and many of the items are products supplied through the company’s “supplier diversity program”.

“For example, Glory Foods, an African American-owned manufacturer, is featured with four of its products because it is our way of supporting and strengthening their brand with added exposure during the month of February,” the statement said.

Wilson also said Acme shouldn’t be discounting any foods specifically because it’s Black History Month. In Colonial times, slave owners would discard the remains of butchered hogs, and slaves would cook and season those parts, such as chitterlings and feet, into delicacies. The Acme ad took on a similar theme, Wilson said, by discounting Acme soda and maple syrup instead of the brand-name counterparts.

“This whole thing is cheapo,” he said. “All the products on sale are typically low-grade products that they have to clean off the shelves. I don’t know what their motive is, but it still reeks with suspicion.”

Black History Month

It took me 8-days to decide whether or not I was going to write
something, about the fact that it's Black History Month.

I've known Black History Month, which began as Negro History Week in
1926, by Carter G. Woodson, since I was 4-years old. Growing up in a
largely Black community, it struck me as comical that I was learning
about what Blacks had faced in the South and even what the slaves had
faced in the Virgin Islands.

It wasn't until I was in the third grade that it started to make sense
and I began to appreciate the contributions by so many determined and
selfless Black people. Still, I was perplexed because there were so
many contributions made by White, Yellow and other folks, that I
struggled to understand why another person would look down on another
human being for being 'different'? It took alot of explaining from my
parents and grand parents, who were born in 1920, in the British
Virgin Islands.

Still, today, some argue that Black History Month should become a
thing of the past, because the United States have elected the first
Black President.

Some see Black History Month or as officially proclaimed by President
Obama on Feb. 2,"National African-American History Month.". Obama
called for," all people of the United States to observe this month
with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs that raise
awareness and appreciation of African-American history."

Black History Month has become a fixture in schools, but do we still
need it today?

Some would argue that Black History Month should be eliminated because
it does nothing more than promote division, because of the stain of
guilt that many Whites feel. Does this hinder people's growth of
accepting differences and having frank conversations about them? Some
would say that it does.

So, as I type this on the 8th day in the month of February of the year
2009, I still am perplexed by the question, "Do we need to continue to
celebrate Black History Month?" I do believe that we must know our
history and not run from it, and that goes for the Black, White,
Yellow and Brown. We are, after all, One Nation Under A Groove!

Politics: McCain supporter wearing racist t-shirt

There are no words to describe the ignorance that this t-shirt wearing racist is espousing.

Student's 'Fat Lips' comment out of line

While it's hard for me to read this type of comment coming from a "future leader of America", it comes as no surprise because I certainly have heard worse at some of Colleges right here in Worcester. Who said higher education educated?

The Chronicle of Higher Education

College Republicans Get Black Eye Over 'Fat Lips' Comment

The executive director of Pennsylvania’s College Republicans resigned last week over a controversy involving his online posting about Barack Obama’s lips, reports The Morning Call, in Allentown, Pa.

Adam LaDuca, a senior at Kutztown University, wrote on his Facebook page that Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, was “nothing more than a dumbass with a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)”

John Morgan, who writes the Pennyslvania Progressive blog, pasted those comments on his Web site in August, as well as Mr. LaDuca’s remarks that the civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was a hypocrite.

On Friday the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans posted a statement announcing that Mr. LaDuca had apologized to the group and had resigned his post.

“We’ve encountered a small bump in the road, and we plan to move forward with tradition and integrity,” said the statement from the co-chairman, Michael Ubbens, a senior at at Susquehanna University.

Here are some of the comments made:

Comments

1. I hope this story opens the eyes of a handful of you who claim to be conservatives or Republicans but who post silly, immature, or illiterate comments here. Especially in this overwhelmingly liberal community, you have a responsibility to represent opposition views carefully and with integrity and respect.
   — S. Britchky Sep 8, 03:13 PM #
2. Where on earth could this guy have picked up the idea that Republicans would tolerate the politics of disparagement and smear?
   — BertW Sep 8, 03:53 PM #
3. I hope this opens the eyes of more than a handful that many who hide among the ranks of conservative republicans are simply thinly veiled racists.
   Sad to think that this young man is more than halfway to a university degree and yet remains so ignorant and closed-minded. Criticize Obama if you like, but do it intelligently and with an understanding that he most certainly is no “dumbass” – I cringe at the prospect of this young man (and tens of thousands like him) voting to select our next leader!
   — rbuck Sep 8, 03:53 PM #
4. While no conservative, I hardly think this student is representative of conservatives. Let’s not wag the finger too quickly around the room.
   — not all conservatives are ... whatever. Sep 8, 04:09 PM #
5. Perhaps not. But it is almost equally disturbing that another Republican student leader, Mr. Ubbens, thinks that such a flagrantly racist and ignorant comment was merely “a small bump in the road.” I guess it depends on your road.
   — Rob Sep 8, 04:20 PM #
6. There may be plenty wrong with Obama, but he is hardly dumb. Admission to Harvard Law School is as competitive as it gets, the work is extremely demanding, and Obama was first (or close to it) in the large class.
   — Californian Sep 8, 04:21 PM #
7. LaDuca’s comments are blatantly racist and unacceptable. However, I do not believe this incident should be used as an attack on the character of all members of the Pennsylvania College Republicans. Such an accusation is sure to arise soon enough in the liberal media. Clearly though, the executive board of the PA College Republicans find these racist remarks just as deplorable as others at any point on the political and social spectrum. To discredit the executive board and other members of the PA College Republicans based on the remarks of one chauvinistic individual associated with the group seems to imply an ulterior political motive against the Republican Party as a whole. In such a case, those making the argument merely seek to gain political ground whereas the racist comments of LaDuca become nothing more than a secondary concern. Such is the downfall of the “sticking-up-for-the-little-guy” mentality when these instances of prejudice are used as a means to some political end.
   — E. Nancy Sep 8, 04:27 PM #
8. As much as I read this story with glee because the conservative author of a racist comment was appropriately chastised, I must admit that “stupid” is not a characteristic reserved for either political persuasion.
   — Al Sep 8, 04:38 PM #
9. Consider the source — Kudzutown University! Poor kid must have been tired of climbing the vines and being irrelevant.
   — Nokeke Sep 8, 04:40 PM #
10. Of course, not all Republicans are bigots, but with the steady realignment that has been occurring since about 1960, virtually all bigots are Republicans, and they form a significant share of that party’s base. Did anyone observe this year’s Republican National Convention? That a College Republican would be caught exhibiting such bigotry and poor taste is not earth shaking.
    — case hardened Sep 8, 04:44 PM #
11. I believe one who makes a statement that “virtually all bigots are Republicans” is surely out of touch. There is only one demographic I am aware of that is voting over 95% for one of this year’s presidential candidates because of his race, and they’re not in the Republican party. I’m afraid there are bad apples in both baskets.
    — OJ Sep 8, 04:53 PM #
12. What’s that OJ? You can document that whites have never voted for whites in this or any other election?
    — perplexed Sep 8, 05:06 PM #
13. If Mr. Obama is a “dumbass,” that doesn’t put a flattering light on Mr. McCain, who graduated from the US Naval Academy fourth from the bottom of his class, not to mention Ms. Palin, who attended five colleges in six years to obtain her degree. So, I think we can leave estimations of intellect out of the discussion and concentrate on the candidates’ proposed policies.
    — heavyd in sc Sep 8, 05:14 PM #
14. OJ-so it’s safe to infer from your comments that blacks are bad apples because they are voting for Obama, or they are bigots because they are voting for him. You should be more prudent in making this argument in public—your own bigotry is oozing like pussing sore
    — zing Sep 8, 05:14 PM #
15. I once had a professor who referred to Jesse Helms as having horns and a pointed tail. Did all Democrats think of him (Helms) in such a manner? Of course, nothing could or did happen to the tenured prof. Yep, it happens on both sides.
    Also, OJ is correct and it it is a given that African Americans vote 90% for Democratic candidates.
    — Cicero Sep 8, 05:28 PM #
16. LaDuca’s comments are deplorable. Absolutely. And I’m glad to see them being roundly condemned.
    It is telling, however, that the condemnation of bias was hard to find last week when it was Sarah Palin who was its victim right here in these blogs.

Politics: Obama's Speech

Read the thoughts of Megan35 who shared her thoughts with Worcester Is MAJOR:

Yesterday at the National Constitution Center here in Philadelphia, Barack Obama challenged all of us to get past the "racial stalemate we've been stuck in" in America, as he addressed racial polarization and specifically, the remarks of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He was eloquent and delivered a timely message - timely not merely in the sense of salvaging his campaign after the Rev. Wright's militant rhetoric, but timely because he faced down the insidious nature of racism and race relations in America, when it's politically safe to ignore these deep-rooted issues.

Talking about the Reverend's remarks: "These comments were not only wrong but divisive - divisive at a time when we need unity, racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems towards a terrorist threat, a falling economy, chronic healthcare crisis and potentially devastating climate change problems that are neither Black nor White, or Latino or Asian, but rather, problems that confront us all."

Saying that it would be easier to ignore the racial hostility, and safer to move on and hope the problems just go away, Barack continues: "We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue...as haboring some deep-seated bias. But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America, to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. The fact is, the comments that have been made, the issues that have surfaced in the last few weeks, reflect the complexitites of race in this country that we've never really worked through, a part of our Union that we have not yet made perfect, and if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like healthcare, or education, or the need to find jobs for every American."

It was a speech we can all benefit from hearing, and it reminds us that the only path to progress is through understanding ourselves and our pasts. In case you missed it, I hope you get a chance to hear what he has to say, regardless of your political preferences.

Barack Obama

N.W.C: N*GGER WETB*CK CH*NK

I haven't had an opportunity to see the live performance myself but I look forward to seeing it when they visit Roger Williams University (RI) on March 28th.

Watch the videos and check out the NWC website at www.nwclive.com:





N*W*C* Promotional:

Web Games: Missionaries and Cannibals

Can you believe such a racist game is available on Yahoo! Games?
Missionaries & Cannibals

Here are the rules:

Move all the missionaires and cannibals to the opposite shore.

Watch out, when there are more cannibals than missionaires on one side, the cannibals will eat the missionaries!