John Hope Franklin

Duke University historian John Hope Franklin has won the 2006 John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity, a lifetime achievement award worth $1 million.The award, announced today by the Library of Congress, also was given to Yu Ying-shih, retired professor of Asian studies and history at Princeton University.Franklin, 91, was recognized for his pioneering work that examined how African-Americans shaped the nation. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, in a statement about Franklin, said: "The transformation he has helped bring about in how we think about American history and society will stand as his lasting intellectual legacy."Franklin's landmark survey of black history, "From Slavery to Freedom," was published in 1947 and has introduced hundreds of thousands of students to the African-American experience.In 1997, Franklin was appointed by President Clinton to lead a national discussion on race.http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/510691.html

Rest in Peace

My love and best wishes go out to your families.

The Souls of Black Folk

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. . . . One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." --W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Today in Black History

November 16

1873
W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues, is born in Florence, AL. He will compose numerous hits such as "St. Louis Blues" and "Memphis Blues".
1941
Composer and organist Edward Margetson is honored by the Schubert Music Society at the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
1981
Pam Johnson is named publisher of the Ithaca Journal (NY), becoming the first Black woman to run a daily newspaper
2000
Coca Cola settles race discrimination case to approximately 2,000 African American workers for $193 million in compensation. This is the biggest settlement in the history of USA Coca Cola.
2000
Civil Rights activist Hosea Williams dies from prostate cancer at the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA. He was a top lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who continued the battle for civil rights long after King's death.

Police Brutality Video found On YouTube

A witness shot a video of police beating a suspect. He took the video to the local police department and no one there did anything about it... so the witness put it on you tube.

The Link to the video.

Today in Black History

November 14

Booker T. Washington died, 1856 - 1915

Background

Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator and author. He was one of the dominant figures in African American history in the United States from 1890 to 1915.
Washington was born into slavery to a white, slave owner father and a black, slave mother in Franklin County, Virginia. He learned to read and write while working at manual labor jobs. At the age of sixteen, he went to Hampton, Virginia to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, now Hampton University, to train as a teacher. In 1881, he was named as the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He was granted an honorary Masters of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1896 and an honorary Doctorate degree from Dartmouth College in 1901. Washington played a very prominent role in black politics.

Blatantly Racist

This is a story out of Baltimore MD. where a frat themed their Halloween party "Halloween In the Hood", you can read on but continuing on they called Baltimore an "HIV pit" and encouraged people to come dressed in "bling bling..." They even had the nerve to put a dark-skinned pirate hanging out front of the house in a noose.


The article:

BALTIMORE, Md. -- A John's Hopkins University fraternity has been barred from holding any more functions on campus after a controversial Halloween party was held this weekend.
JHU suspended all activities at the Sigma Chi fraternity during an investigation into the house's conduct last Saturday.
Angry students labeled that fraternity racist as they protested for hours along Charles Street in Baltimore Monday.
The protests were in reaction to an e-mail invitation to the fraternity house Saturday night. It referenced the party's theme: Halloween in the hood.
The e-mail called Baltimore an "HIV pit" and encouraged people to come dressed in "bling bling, ice ice."
The fraternity also had a dark-haired, stuffed pirate hanging from a noose out front of the house.
"I was appalled," said Christina Chapman, president of the Black Student Union.
"It's just very racist. There's no way you can be productive on this campus and come together as students and do things like this that they know are offensive and that they know are historically hurtful, considering black people were historically lynched in this country," Chapman said.
While the students protested, the university launched an investigation.
The fraternity declined to comment to WBAL TV 11 News.
"This should not be happening in a university community. There ought not to be an appeal to racial stereotypes as part of a party or advertisement for a party. It just shouldn't happen," said Dennis O'Shea, a spokesman for the university.
"Two of the students also went inside. There were students who said they were dressed in hood attire and slave attire. There was someone in a wife beater and overalls and barefoot with a straw hat impersonating a slave," Chapman said.
"The fact that this happened is a real shame. I hope that it won't overshadow the efforts of the kids who are really trying to reach out to each other around here," O'Shea said.


link

Knowledge is Power

Recently there is a new artist out of Saint Louis that goes by the name JIBBS. Jibbs debut single "Chain hang low" has a history that most people are not aware of. The particular nursery rhyme that the song mimics is "Ears Hang Low" The history behind this song is that during the civil war Confederate soldiers would remove certain body parts (primarily ears and testicles) from the deceased corpses of freed slaves who were fighting as Northern (Yankee) soldiers after their battles. These "trinkets" were then placed on a rope necklace and worn as a trophy piece. As the lyrics to the nursery rhyme state "do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro... etc" "Can you throw them over your shoulder like a (Continental) soldier". This word (Continental) took this nursery rhyme from racist jargon to playful melody. The word that filled this space was (Confederate) as in Confederate soldier. Other nursery rhymes have done the same i.e. Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Moe catch a Ni**er by his toe. Not Tiger. My question to young people black and white is that "Does knowing the history of the nursery rhyme change your opinion of the New single by Jibbs. " Personally knowing this myself I can't stand to hear the song. It seems to advertise our ignorance as a people. I wrote this note to inform people of this. Knowledge is power and Ignorance IS NOT BLISS; its SUICIDE if you don't know.

Tyson Foods Denies Discrimination

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Top U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN - news) has denied claims of racial discrimination after being sued over two black employees who complained about the posting of a "Whites Only" sign on a bathroom at a poultry plant in Ashland, Alabama. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Tyson on Thursday, saying two black employees were disciplined after complaining about the sign."We're surprised and disappointed by this legal action and firmly believe the charges are without merit," the company said in a statement posted on Friday on its Web site.In a press release on Thursday, the EEOC said the two black employees were subjected to disciplinary action by Tyson management, including suspensions, after they complained about the segregated bathroom.The EEOC said it filed suit only after attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.The suit alleges that Tyson discriminated against Henry Adams, Leon Walker and other black employees by establishing and maintaining a locked bathroom, which on occasion had signs posted on it stating "Out of Order" and "Whites Only."Tyson said it had been cooperating with the federal agency in its investigation and said the company was "shocked" by the agency's decision to file a lawsuit."Our company has zero tolerance for discrimination in the workplace," Tyson said, adding that the presence of such a sign would be a violation of corporate policy.Tyson said the Ashland plant employs about 300 people."A company's commitment to equal opportunity is measured by more than the existence of written policies and diversity training," said Charles Guerrier, regional attorney for the agency's district office in Birmingham, Alabama, in the statement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050813/bs_nm/food_tyson_dc

Groundbreaking Today

Today thanks to Bill Clinton and other democrats the groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial is under way. It is so sad it took nearly 40 years for something like this to get built.

This is a link to CNN where there is video of speeches by Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Clinton and Gospel Praise.
Unfortunately the "w" is in this video. He says the memorial will be located between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorial.


Video: King memorial breaks ground

Today in Black History

November 2nd


1903
Business and civic leader, Maggie L Walker, opens the St Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, VA,



Background
Maggie Lena Walker (July 15, 1867-December 15, 1934) was an American teacher, businesswoman, and banker. She was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States. As a leader her successes and vision offered tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, she also became an example for persons with disabilities. Her restored and furnished home in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia is a National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.


1875
Democrats suppressed Black vote by fraud and violence and carried Mississippi election. "The Mississippi Plan" staged riots, political assassinations, massacres and social and economic intimidation was used later to overthrow Reconstruction governments in South Carolina and Louisiana.





Background


The Mississippi Plan of 1875 was devised by the Democratic Party to violently overthrow the Republican Party by organized violence in order to redeem the state of Mississippi. The Mississippi Plan was also adopted by Democrats in South Carolina and Louisiana.
Following the end of the American Civil War, blacks found themselves emancipated from the bonds of slavery, and, with the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, were allowed to vote. The consequences of this were far-reaching and almost immediate. Blacks flooded the polls, and in Mississippi's 1874 election the Republican Party carried a 30,000 majority in what had been, in pre-Civil War years, a Democrat stronghold.

Great African/Jamican Americans

SNCC Activist Ekwueme Michael Thelwell: "People Fought, Died And Bled for the Right to Vote"Listen to Segment Download Show mp3 Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript

Former field secretary of SNCC, professor Ekwueme Michael Thelwell speaks on the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act at the Grassroots Radio Conference in Northampton, Massachusetts. He discusses today's struggle around strengthening provisions to the act and the role of grassroots media. [includes rush transcript]

On Saturday, the 40th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Amy Goodman spoke with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, the Jamaican-born novelist and Professor of Afro American studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He was also the former field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). While working for SNCC in Washington DC, Thelwell recruited volunteers for the 1964 Freedom Summer campaign in Mississippi, which sent volunteers into the state to register African-American voters.

Thelwell's many accomplishments include his publication “Ready for Revolution,” a compilation of the memoirs of Stokely Carmichael, (Kwame Toure) chair of SNCC and honorary prime minister of the Black Panther Party. Thelwell is also the author of the novel, “The Harder They Come.” Amy Goodman interviewed Thelwell at the 10th annual Grassroots Radio Conference, attended by hundreds of media activists from across the country.

Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Former Field Secretary of SNCC.

Will Black Voting Rights Expire in 2007?

Netlore Archive: False email rumor claims that the right of African Americans to vote is set to expire in 2007 along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Another Internet hoax made headlines recently as the media got wind of the reaction among black Americans to a widely-forwarded email message claiming that their voting rights will vanish in the year 2007. Similar rumors have circulated since the mid-1990s.
The message currently raising concerns reads as follows:

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN!!!!
We are quickly approaching the 21st Century and I was wondering if anyone out there knew what the significance of the year 2007 is to Black America? Did you know that our right to vote will expire in the year 2007? Seriously! The Voters Rights Act signed in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson was just an ACT.
It was not made a law. In 1982 Ronald Reagan amended the Voters Rights Act for only another 25 years. Which means that in the year 2007 we could lose the right to vote!
Does anyone realize that Blacks/African Americans are the only group of people who still require PERMISSION under the United States Constitution to vote?!
In the year 2007 Congress will once again convene to decide whether or not Blacks should retain the right to vote (crazy, but true). In order for this to be passed, 38 states will have to approve an extension.
In my opinion and many others, this is ludicrous! Not only should the extension be approved, but ... this Act must be made a law. Our right to vote should no longer be up for discussion, review and/or evaluation.
We must contact our Congress persons, Senators, Alderpersons, etc., to put a stop to this! As bona fide citizens of the United States, we cannot "drop the ball" on this one!
We have come too far to let government make us take such a huge step backward. So please, let us push forward to continue to build the momentum towards gaining equality. Please pass this onto others, as I am sure that many more individuals are not aware of this.
[ READ FULL TEXT ]

NOTE: A latter-day version of this message attributes authorship to Camille Cosby, wife of comedian Bill Cosby. She did not write it.

The kernel of truth in the text is that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is indeed set to expire unless it is renewed by Congress before 2007. The rest of it is false. The basic right of all American citizens to vote, regardless of race, is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and can't expire with the Voting Rights Act.

The NAACP addressed this issue in a statement quoted in the November 19, 1998 issue of the Internet Tourbus:

African American voting rights were granted by the Fifteenth Amendment, which was passed immediately after the Civil War. Expiration of the Voting Rights Act will not terminate the rights granted under the Fifteenth Amendment.
The U.S. Department of Justice concurs. In its "Voting Rights Act Clarification" dated April 2, 1998, it states:

The basic prohibition against discrimination in voting contained in the Fifteenth amendment and in the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007 — it does not expire at all; it is permanent.
The confusion arises from the apparent assumption that it's the Voting Rights Act alone which guarantees suffrage to minorities. In reality, all the Act does is keep in place a set of so-called "extraordinary remedies" meant to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment at state and local levels, where, in defiance of federal law, obstacles to the voting rights of black people were still in place in some parts of the country as of the early 1960s. These remedies, designed specifically to address problems that existed at the time, were never meant to be permanent, which is why the Voting Rights Act comes up for renewal every 25 years.

It's difficult to determine exactly where and when the rumor that African Americans' voting rights will expire in 2007 got started, though Internet discussions of the topic in 1997 made reference to the issue being raised on Tom Joyner's radio talk show. One Usenet posting dated January 21, 1997 is clearly a precursor of the text now circulating.

"I'd say we have gotten hundreds of calls on this over the past two years," South Carolina Representative James Clyburn of told reporters this week. "It's frustrating dealing with this hoax."
And I thought I was the only one who had days like that.

Affirmative Action: Vote NO!

On November 7th at the voting booth affirmative action will be on the ballot. It has been worded to say if you want the abolish it vote YES. Go to dontvote.com and find out the canidiates postion.

PURPOSE
Affirmative action began as a corrective measure[1] for governmental and social injustices against demographic groups that are said to have been subjected to prejudice in areas such as employment and education. The stated goal of Affirmative Action is to sufficiently counter past discrimination such that a strategy will no longer be necessary: the power elite will reflect the demographics of society at large.
Targeted groups may be characterized by race, gender, or ethnicity. In India, the focus has mostly been on undoing caste discrimination. In South Africa, the focus has been primarily race-based and, to a lesser extent, sex-based discrimination. When members of targeted groups are actively sought or preferred, the reason given is usually that this is necessary to compensate for advantages that other groups are said to have had (such as through institutional racism or institutional sexism or historical circumstances).
The theory is that a simple adoption of meritocratic principles along the lines of race-blindness or gender-blindness will not suffice to change the situation for several reasons:
Discrimination practices of the past preclude the acquisition of 'merit' by limiting access to educational opportunities and job experiences.
Ostensible measures of 'merit' may well be biased toward the same groups who are already empowered.
Regardless of overt principles, people already in positions of power are likely to hire people they already know, and/or people from similar backgrounds.

Statistics show African American men worse off

Black American men suffer far worse health than any other racial group in America. It is accepted that the reasons for this, although complex, include number of well known factors. These include racial discrimination, a lack of affordable health services, poor health education, cultural barriers, poverty, employment that does not carry health insurance, insufficient medical and social services catering for African American men, to name but a few.

African American Male Health Statistics:

African American men live 7.1 years less than other racial groups

They have higher death rates than women for all leading causes of death

They experience disproportionately higher death rates in all the leading causes of death40% of African American men die prematurely from cardiovascular disease as compared to 21% of white men

They have a higher incidence and a higher rate of death from oral cancerAfrican American men are 5 times more likely to die of HIV/AIDS

Other Health Statistics
44% of African American men are considered overweight24% are obese
African American men suffer more preventable oral diseases that are treatable
A higher incidence of diabetes and prostate cancerA high suicide rate. It is the 3rd leading cause of death in 15 to 24 year olds

Ten Leading Causes of death in the U.S.(2001) Blacks and African Americans
Cardiovascular Disease
Cancer
Stroke
Unintentional injuries
Diabetes
Homicide
HIV/AIDS
Chronic lower respiratory disease
Nephritis, Nephrotic syndrome and Nephrosis

SepticemiaSource: Health, U.S., 2003, Table 3
from About.com

Great African Americans

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was a civil rights activist and leader, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, scholar, and socialist. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95.
David Levering Lewis, his acclaimed biographer, wrote, "In the course of his long, turbulent career, W.E.B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism—scholarship, propaganda, integration, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity." [1]

Words to live by

"The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as humans." -- Malcolm X "Racism: the Cancer that is Destroying America", in Egyptian Gazette (August 25, 1964).

Word of the Day

prevaricate \prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\, intransitive verb:
To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.

Journalism has a similar obligation, particularly with men and women suddenly transferred to places of great power, who are often led to exaggerate and prevaricate, all in the name of a supposedly greater good.-- Stephen R. Graubard, "Presidents: The Power and the Mediocrity", New York Times, January 15, 1989

Today in Black History

November 1

First issue of Ebony magazine published by John H Johnson, 1945

WEB DuBois began publication of NAACP monthly magazine, "Crisis", 1910

Word of the Day

rapport \ra-POR; ruh-\, noun:
A relation, especially one characterized by sympathetic understanding, emotional affinity, or mutual trust.

He established a tremendous rapport with younger patients and routinely skipped classes and missed tests to take children to the circus or for rides in his convertible, often stopping for ice cream at Frank Monaco's drugstore on the South Side.-- James T. Fisher, Dr. America

Scott and Shackleton could not have been temperamentally more dissimilar and had virtually no rapport.-- Caroline Alexander, The Endurance