With its power-to-the-individual approach, the new media world promises anyone with a laptop the possibility of a publishing empire. But, as some black bloggers are finding out, the new media world is a lot like the old one: racially segregated, with many prominent black voices still fighting to be heard.
Some bloggers felt insulted this month when the Democratic National Committee selected 55 state-oriented blogs to cover its convention in Denver; critics said few featured African American voices. The DNC said race wasn't considered in its selection from 400 applicants. Officials were more interested in the sites' audience size and how much chatter about local issues appeared on them. The DNC answered critics Thursday by adding several sites led by African Americans to its general blogger pool.
But some critics say the DNC situation is indicative of a larger media divide. It's a division in which stories like the racially motivated beating in Jena, La., last year lingered for months on black blogs and talk radio before the mainstream press picked up the issue.
That coverage gap is partly what inspired Gina McCauley to help organize the first Blogging While Brown conference this summer in Atlanta. The most popular online community conferences - like the Netroots Nation confab that grew out of the Daily Kos blog - tend to be predominantly white gatherings.
"The progressive blogosphere is segregated," said McCauley, whose What About Our Daughters blog was accepted to the DNC's blogger pool. Essence magazine named McCauley one of its 25 most influential people last year alongside Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and filmmaker Tyler Perry. "Black bloggers link to other black bloggers, and progressive white bloggers link to other white progressive bloggers," she said.
"I don't know why that is," said Gina Cooper, executive director of the Netroots Nation conference. After last year's second annual convention, she expressed her frustration about the lack of diversity. Netroots Nation is offering scholarships this year, and Cooper is seeking other ways to make the gathering inclusive.
Black TV News Channel
Obama's presidential campaign might have raised the visibility of black voices and stories in the mainstream media, but it has not, according to some, quenched the thirst for them.
That's why former Oklahoma GOP Rep. J.C. Watts - a onetime CNN commentator - is planning to start a 24-hour cable news network devoted to African American issues and perspectives. Comcast plans to add the Black Television News Channel to its cable packages in cities with large African American populations, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Washington and Atlanta, sometime in mid-2009.
"The mainstream press by and large likes to see African Americans through a certain prism, and it is a small and cordoned-off prism," Watts said. "Most institutions are like that. They see the African American community as an afterthought. But we are much more than drugs and crime."
While there are many Spanish-language entertainment offerings and outlets for Spanish-language news on TV, Watts feels that African Americans are an underserved market, particularly for news. Black Entertainment Television (BET), the largest cable network aimed at an African American audience, canceled its nightly news program three years ago.
Watts envisions 14 hours each day of original news and talk programming on his network. So what type of stories would BTNC pursue? Watts said he went to a gathering of 125 prominent African American equity fund managers a few years ago, people who invested billions of dollars internationally. He envisioned them not only as potential investors in his network, but as individuals whose stories rarely get told in the mainstream press.
"We are an economic story, a political story and, yes, when we need to be, a story about drugs and crime," Watts said. He declined to say how much he would need to raise to fund the network.
Should Watts succeed, he'd be one of only a few black media heads in the country.
Low media representation
While black people comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, they own no daily newspapers and only 0.6 percent of full-power television stations and 3 percent of the radio stations. Only 5 percent of reporters at U.S. daily newspapers were African American in 2007, and the number of black-owned newspapers is dropping, as is their combined circulation.
Some of the African American reporters who remain in the ever-shrinking print newsrooms were miffed last week when former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro responded to a question about sexism in the presidential campaign by pointing to black journalists and their perceived bias in favor of Obama.
"You know all the surrogates that they had out there from the black journalists," Ferraro told Fox News. "Have you read (African American New York Times columnist) Bob Herbert recently in the past six months? There wasn't one column that had anything decent to say about Hillary." The same Herbert wrote a column about the "the dark persistence of misogyny in America" in January.
Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said: "African American journalists find themselves fighting for a seat at the table with every major presidential election, but now comes the taint of bigotry with the recent remarks of Geraldine Ferraro, who suggested black journalists were no more than a mouthpiece for the Obama campaign because we share the same skin tone. Has she forgotten that Obama is half white?"
Some African Americans see an easier chance to have their voices heard in the online world, and black voices there are growing not only in number but in influence. Last September, Wayne Hicks' Electronic Village blog ranked 75 black blogs on his monthly list; now he charts more than 1,250.
Hicks, who heads a nonprofit foundation, also is a member of AfroSpear, a collective of 140 blogs that focus on the black experience and gather momentum behind social justice issues like the racially charged incident involving a beating in Jena, La. Then there's San Francisco's ColorofChange.org, which envisions itself as the "black MoveOn." It has grown from 100,000 members to 417,000 over the past year, many of whom joined the organization after it publicized the Jena incident and pressured the Congressional Black Caucus to oppose Fox News' plans to host a presidential debate.
Growth in perspectives
"I'd say that the new black voices are much more organic than those of the past. They don't need to emanate from the pulpit in order to be heard, or to inform, or to galvanize people from across the nation," said Avis Jones-DeWeever, director of the National Council of Negro Women's Research, Public Policy and Information Center. "These voices epitomize the next evolution of black political activism."
There's a difference in the types of stories that black and mainstream media cover, McCauley said. While some in the mainstream might analyze the influence of large media corporations on the Internet, black bloggers might focus on shows produced by Viacom-owned TV networks like VH1's "Flavor of Love" and question the cartoonish depiction of African Americans.
And when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton mentioned Robert F. Kennedy's June 1968 assassination while defending her decision to continue her presidential campaign, "a lot of the mainstream media covered it as a statement unto itself," said Hicks. "But in the black community it was part of a pattern." He, like others, noted that Clinton made her statement four days after the Roswell (Ga.) Beacon put a photo of Obama on its front page with the crosshairs of a rifle scope over him, and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made a joke about somebody aiming a gun at Obama during a speech to the National Rifle Association.
"The mainstream media had a reason to look at black voices in the media because of the Obama campaign," Hicks said. "But these voices have always been out there."
Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 31, 2008
South Africa Death Toll Reaches 62
South Africa - Police say the death toll from attacks on foreigners across South Africa over the past three weeks has risen to 62.
National police spokeswoman Sally de Beer also says that 670 people were injured.
The previous death toll was 56, but some of the injured have died in hospitals. The increase was announced Saturday.
Relative calm has returned, but tens of thousands of foreigners are still displaced and too scared to return to the communities that chased them out.
Zimbabwean authorities had promised to take home 1,000 Zimbabweans on Saturday but this did not happen.
from AP
National police spokeswoman Sally de Beer also says that 670 people were injured.
The previous death toll was 56, but some of the injured have died in hospitals. The increase was announced Saturday.
Relative calm has returned, but tens of thousands of foreigners are still displaced and too scared to return to the communities that chased them out.
Zimbabwean authorities had promised to take home 1,000 Zimbabweans on Saturday but this did not happen.
from AP
Rev. Al Sharpton Bikes for Sean Bell Cause
The Rev. Al Sharpton joined a Critical Mass bike ride through the city Friday night in yet another protest over the Sean Bell verdict.
"Whether you're fat or skinny, gay or straight, we are all Sean Bell. We are all riding for justice," he told the crowd in Union Square to enthusiastic applause.
Standing at Sharpton's side were Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell's father, William, and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel.
After his remarks, Sharpton jumped on a bike and headed west on 14th St. with other cyclists while motorcycle cops watched closely.
Bell's father drew laughter from those around him, saying, "Justice is nice, but I just wanted to see Rev. Al ride a bike."
Three city police detectives were acquitted in April in the fatal shooting of Bell, 23, on Nov. 25, 2006, his wedding day.
Sharpton has staged many of the protests to pressure federal officials to try the Bell detectives on civil rights charges.
Critical Mass is a loosely organized monthly bike ride promoting alternative forms of transportation and other causes.
By Caitlin Millat and Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
"Whether you're fat or skinny, gay or straight, we are all Sean Bell. We are all riding for justice," he told the crowd in Union Square to enthusiastic applause.
Standing at Sharpton's side were Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell's father, William, and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel.
After his remarks, Sharpton jumped on a bike and headed west on 14th St. with other cyclists while motorcycle cops watched closely.
Bell's father drew laughter from those around him, saying, "Justice is nice, but I just wanted to see Rev. Al ride a bike."
Three city police detectives were acquitted in April in the fatal shooting of Bell, 23, on Nov. 25, 2006, his wedding day.
Sharpton has staged many of the protests to pressure federal officials to try the Bell detectives on civil rights charges.
Critical Mass is a loosely organized monthly bike ride promoting alternative forms of transportation and other causes.
By Caitlin Millat and Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
50 Cent's Long Island Home Gutted by 'Suspicious' Fire
A fire ripped through a Dix Hills, New York, home owned by rapper 50 Cent early Friday morning (May 30), completely gutting the house and sending six people — among them, the rapper's 10-year-old son, Marquise, and the child's mother, 50's ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins — to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Both were treated and released.
The fire broke out at about 5 a.m., according to fire officials, and it took personnel from five departments to get the conflagration under control.
Dix Hills Fire Department Chief Larry Feld told MTV News the blaze was "definitely suspicious." When pressed for details, Feld said, "I would say there is a strong possibility that it is suspicious because of the rapid movement of the fire, the volume of the fire that we had upon arrival, and the intensity. When I arrived — and I got there early — the whole first floor and second floor was engulfed, and the home was totally gutted.
"Let's put it this way," he continued, "this wasn't your ordinary fire."
A statement released Friday by 50's rep reads: "Informed this morning while filming a new motion picture on location in Louisiana, [50 Cent] expressed deep concern over this fire at his property. He is extremely thankful that everyone including his son, Marquise, escaped the burning house safely. He is confident that authorities will be conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and is eager to review their findings."
Feld said arson investigators were called out to the scene, and will be looking into what caused the inferno. He said 50 Cent is not a suspect at this time.
However, on Friday afternoon, TMZ.com posted a video clip showing Tompkins surrounded by a crush of news cameras and reporters as she lashes out at 50 Cent, describing him as "obsessed" with her and claiming that he'd recently threatened her life.
"If he can't have me, no one can," Tompkins said. "He said that he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does. This is what he did." The site also reported that Paul Catsandonis, a lawyer for Tompkins, said Friday that Tompkins heard "someone" come into the house approximately an hour before the fire broke out.
Brett Kimmel, an attorney for 50 Cent, said Tompkins' allegations are untrue, and that "any suggestion that [50] had anything whatsoever to do with the fire at his home is outrageous and offensive."
Tompkins also claimed the rapper has made no effort to contact his son: "He has made no contact to even see how his son is doing."
The rapper's son and his mother had been living in the house, and one eyewitness told Newsday that Tompkins was seen standing outside the home — barefoot, in a bathrobe — watching as the flames consumed the residence.
Early last month, 50 Cent attempted to evict Tompkins and Marquise from the home unless she began paying him rent, Kimmel told MTV News on Friday. Suffolk County Housing Court Judge Stephen Hackeling granted 50's motion to evict, Kimmel said, and gave Tompkins until April 30 to vacate the premises. Tompkins — who has claimed 50 bought the house for her and Marquise — retaliated, filing a lawsuit against 50 Cent in Manhattan's State Supreme Court. The judge in that case temporarily stayed Hackeling's decision, pending further discovery into the allegations in her suit; the ruling allowed Tompkins and her son to remain in the house. Kimmel said he has filed a motion to lift the stay, which will be heard June 10.
Tompkins' suit, for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, claims the rapper promised to put all or part of the house in her name, according to Newsday. 50 Cent purchased the home in January 2007 for a reported $1.4 million; it's reportedly one of the largest dwellings in Dix Hills.
TMZ.com reported Friday that, earlier this week, following a long day of depositions at Tompkins' attorney's office, someone in 50 Cent's entourage "trashed" the office. A police report was filed, but no charges were brought.
The news follows on the heels of the arrest earlier this week of one of 50's employees. According to Newsday, 27-year-old Dwayne McKenzie was arrested on Tuesday at the rapper's Farmington, Connecticut, home. According to police, McKenzie choked a woman and struck her with a belt during an argument on 50's property, and was charged with assault, strangulation, breach of peace and unlawful restraint.
from mtv.com
The fire broke out at about 5 a.m., according to fire officials, and it took personnel from five departments to get the conflagration under control.
Dix Hills Fire Department Chief Larry Feld told MTV News the blaze was "definitely suspicious." When pressed for details, Feld said, "I would say there is a strong possibility that it is suspicious because of the rapid movement of the fire, the volume of the fire that we had upon arrival, and the intensity. When I arrived — and I got there early — the whole first floor and second floor was engulfed, and the home was totally gutted.
"Let's put it this way," he continued, "this wasn't your ordinary fire."
A statement released Friday by 50's rep reads: "Informed this morning while filming a new motion picture on location in Louisiana, [50 Cent] expressed deep concern over this fire at his property. He is extremely thankful that everyone including his son, Marquise, escaped the burning house safely. He is confident that authorities will be conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and is eager to review their findings."
Feld said arson investigators were called out to the scene, and will be looking into what caused the inferno. He said 50 Cent is not a suspect at this time.
However, on Friday afternoon, TMZ.com posted a video clip showing Tompkins surrounded by a crush of news cameras and reporters as she lashes out at 50 Cent, describing him as "obsessed" with her and claiming that he'd recently threatened her life.
"If he can't have me, no one can," Tompkins said. "He said that he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does. This is what he did." The site also reported that Paul Catsandonis, a lawyer for Tompkins, said Friday that Tompkins heard "someone" come into the house approximately an hour before the fire broke out.
Brett Kimmel, an attorney for 50 Cent, said Tompkins' allegations are untrue, and that "any suggestion that [50] had anything whatsoever to do with the fire at his home is outrageous and offensive."
Tompkins also claimed the rapper has made no effort to contact his son: "He has made no contact to even see how his son is doing."
The rapper's son and his mother had been living in the house, and one eyewitness told Newsday that Tompkins was seen standing outside the home — barefoot, in a bathrobe — watching as the flames consumed the residence.
Early last month, 50 Cent attempted to evict Tompkins and Marquise from the home unless she began paying him rent, Kimmel told MTV News on Friday. Suffolk County Housing Court Judge Stephen Hackeling granted 50's motion to evict, Kimmel said, and gave Tompkins until April 30 to vacate the premises. Tompkins — who has claimed 50 bought the house for her and Marquise — retaliated, filing a lawsuit against 50 Cent in Manhattan's State Supreme Court. The judge in that case temporarily stayed Hackeling's decision, pending further discovery into the allegations in her suit; the ruling allowed Tompkins and her son to remain in the house. Kimmel said he has filed a motion to lift the stay, which will be heard June 10.
Tompkins' suit, for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, claims the rapper promised to put all or part of the house in her name, according to Newsday. 50 Cent purchased the home in January 2007 for a reported $1.4 million; it's reportedly one of the largest dwellings in Dix Hills.
TMZ.com reported Friday that, earlier this week, following a long day of depositions at Tompkins' attorney's office, someone in 50 Cent's entourage "trashed" the office. A police report was filed, but no charges were brought.
The news follows on the heels of the arrest earlier this week of one of 50's employees. According to Newsday, 27-year-old Dwayne McKenzie was arrested on Tuesday at the rapper's Farmington, Connecticut, home. According to police, McKenzie choked a woman and struck her with a belt during an argument on 50's property, and was charged with assault, strangulation, breach of peace and unlawful restraint.
from mtv.com
Friday, May 30, 2008
Africa, Japan Pledge to Tackle Food Crisis
African leaders, Japan and development organizations agreed Friday that there is an urgent need to boost agricultural productivity in Africa and pledged to tackle the widespread impact of soaring food prices.
Participants closing a three-day African development conference said they aim to double rice production in Africa in 10 years and expand irrigated land by 20 percent in five years. They called for more research into drought-resistant crops and for Africa to tap into the agricultural prowess of countries like Japan.
African leaders said they welcomed Japan's plan to establish a $10 billion program to help developing countries modernize their industries and address climate change.
"The Conference took place against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Africa determined to take responsibility for and to assert ownership over its own destiny: and an Africa increasingly confident and capable, itself, of determining that destiny," they said in a joint declaration.
Participants outlined three priority areas for the next five years: stimulating economic growth, ensuring "human security" and addressing environmental issues.
They promised to improve roads and power facilities, promote private-sector trade and investment, expand health care and education, and develop an effective framework beyond 2012 on climate change.
The parties praised Africa's increasing political stability, improved governance, strong economic growth of 5 percent a year and rising levels of foreign direct investment.
Still, they recognized that the continent faces serious hurdles such as "widespread poverty and unemployment in rural and urban areas coupled with rapid population growth."
The parties urged the Group of Eight nations, whose leaders will convene in northern Japan in July, to honor their previous commitments to Africa and strengthen coordination with the continent.
Hosted by Japan, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, began in 1993 and has been held every five years since then. This week's gathering was its largest yet, drawing some 2,500 delegates from 50 African countries, international organizations and other governments.
By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA for AP
Participants closing a three-day African development conference said they aim to double rice production in Africa in 10 years and expand irrigated land by 20 percent in five years. They called for more research into drought-resistant crops and for Africa to tap into the agricultural prowess of countries like Japan.
African leaders said they welcomed Japan's plan to establish a $10 billion program to help developing countries modernize their industries and address climate change.
"The Conference took place against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Africa determined to take responsibility for and to assert ownership over its own destiny: and an Africa increasingly confident and capable, itself, of determining that destiny," they said in a joint declaration.
Participants outlined three priority areas for the next five years: stimulating economic growth, ensuring "human security" and addressing environmental issues.
They promised to improve roads and power facilities, promote private-sector trade and investment, expand health care and education, and develop an effective framework beyond 2012 on climate change.
The parties praised Africa's increasing political stability, improved governance, strong economic growth of 5 percent a year and rising levels of foreign direct investment.
Still, they recognized that the continent faces serious hurdles such as "widespread poverty and unemployment in rural and urban areas coupled with rapid population growth."
The parties urged the Group of Eight nations, whose leaders will convene in northern Japan in July, to honor their previous commitments to Africa and strengthen coordination with the continent.
Hosted by Japan, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, began in 1993 and has been held every five years since then. This week's gathering was its largest yet, drawing some 2,500 delegates from 50 African countries, international organizations and other governments.
By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA for AP
Sharpton: Bell Protests to Reach Critical Mass
Friday Night’s commute could be hell on wheels.
The Rev. Al Sharpton has enlisted the help of hundreds of bicyclists to stage a traffic “slowdown” tomorrow — around the time many New Yorkers are heading home for the weekend — to protest the Sean Bell trial verdict.
Critical Mass, a loosely-organized group that does monthly bike rides to promote alternative forms of transportation and other causes, will meet at Union Square at 7 p.m. and fan out through Manhattan from there, organizers said.
“I believe they approached us about registering their disapproval of the verdict,” a Sharpton aide said.
Bell’s fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, is expected to be there when the riders take off, though it’s not clear whether she too will be riding.
Police are familiar with Critical Mass.
In March, cops ticketed dozens of riders and arrested three of them after the group thumbed its nose at the city’s requirement that groups of more than 50 bicyclists obtain a permit.
Earlier this month, hundreds of Bell supporters tried to shut the city down by blocking bridge and tunnel entrances to protest the acquittal of three cops who killed Bell in a 50-bullet barrage on his wedding day
Police arrested Sharpton as well as Paultre Bell and the two survivors of the Bell shooting, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
They and more than 200 other protesters were charged with disorderly conduct.
Sharpton staged the protest to pressure the feds to try the Bell detectives on civil rights charges.
Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, who were acquitted on April 25, have since been hit with NYPD disciplinary charges.
Even though they were acquitted, the trio remain on modified duty - stripped of their guns and badges.
BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and CORKY SIEMASZKO
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
The Rev. Al Sharpton has enlisted the help of hundreds of bicyclists to stage a traffic “slowdown” tomorrow — around the time many New Yorkers are heading home for the weekend — to protest the Sean Bell trial verdict.
Critical Mass, a loosely-organized group that does monthly bike rides to promote alternative forms of transportation and other causes, will meet at Union Square at 7 p.m. and fan out through Manhattan from there, organizers said.
“I believe they approached us about registering their disapproval of the verdict,” a Sharpton aide said.
Bell’s fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, is expected to be there when the riders take off, though it’s not clear whether she too will be riding.
Police are familiar with Critical Mass.
In March, cops ticketed dozens of riders and arrested three of them after the group thumbed its nose at the city’s requirement that groups of more than 50 bicyclists obtain a permit.
Earlier this month, hundreds of Bell supporters tried to shut the city down by blocking bridge and tunnel entrances to protest the acquittal of three cops who killed Bell in a 50-bullet barrage on his wedding day
Police arrested Sharpton as well as Paultre Bell and the two survivors of the Bell shooting, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
They and more than 200 other protesters were charged with disorderly conduct.
Sharpton staged the protest to pressure the feds to try the Bell detectives on civil rights charges.
Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, who were acquitted on April 25, have since been hit with NYPD disciplinary charges.
Even though they were acquitted, the trio remain on modified duty - stripped of their guns and badges.
BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and CORKY SIEMASZKO
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
British Baptists Apologize for Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
A delegation of British Baptists apologized Tuesday for Britain's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, saying it repented for the scourge that claimed millions of lives and shaped the Caribbean's history.
We have heard the pain of our hurting brothers and sisters and we have heard God
speaking to us. We repent of the hurt we have caused,» Jonathan Edwards, general
secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said in the capital of the former British colony.
The Baptist group passed a resolution atoning for Britain's trans-Atlantic slave trade in November 2007. The British Baptists arrived in Jamaica last week, first apologizing to islanders for the slave trade Sunday at a church in St. James parish.
The Rev. Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union and leader of the Jamaica Council of Churches, said the public penitence was welcome.
«This is by no means the journey's end, but the apology is certainly a giant step,» said Johnson, adding the Caribbean island of 2.8 million people is home to some 120,000 Baptists.
In March 2007, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his deep sorrow on the 200th anniversary of the law that ended the slave trade, but did not make a direct apology.
Enacted on March 25, 1807, Britain's Slave Trade Act prohibited British ships from transporting slaves, although Britain did not abolish slavery in its overseas territories until 1833.
Slaves in Jamaica and across the Caribbean were forced to work on plantations, harvesting sugar, tobacco and spices.
AP
We have heard the pain of our hurting brothers and sisters and we have heard God
speaking to us. We repent of the hurt we have caused,» Jonathan Edwards, general
secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said in the capital of the former British colony.
The Baptist group passed a resolution atoning for Britain's trans-Atlantic slave trade in November 2007. The British Baptists arrived in Jamaica last week, first apologizing to islanders for the slave trade Sunday at a church in St. James parish.
The Rev. Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union and leader of the Jamaica Council of Churches, said the public penitence was welcome.
«This is by no means the journey's end, but the apology is certainly a giant step,» said Johnson, adding the Caribbean island of 2.8 million people is home to some 120,000 Baptists.
In March 2007, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his deep sorrow on the 200th anniversary of the law that ended the slave trade, but did not make a direct apology.
Enacted on March 25, 1807, Britain's Slave Trade Act prohibited British ships from transporting slaves, although Britain did not abolish slavery in its overseas territories until 1833.
Slaves in Jamaica and across the Caribbean were forced to work on plantations, harvesting sugar, tobacco and spices.
AP
'Jena Six' Judge Recusal Motion to Be Heard
Judge Thomas Yeager of the 9th Judicial District Court is scheduled to hear a motion today to remove the judge slated to preside over the remaining cases of the "Jena Six" defendants.
As of Thursday, the hearing was scheduled to affect the only remaining juvenile defendant, Jesse Ray Beard. But attorneys for the other four remaining defendants have asked that the cases be consolidated and that all of the motions to recuse 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. go before Yeager today.
In documents filed at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in connection with the cases, Beard's attorney, David Utter, wrote that Mauffray has "made numerous statements, on numerous occasions, in different procedural postures, to numerous individuals, which make clear he has pre-judged not only Jesse Ray's guilt, but the disposition for Jesse Ray as well."
When reached Wednesday, Utter said he hoped the documents would speak for themselves and declined to comment further about the case, saying it was a juvenile matter.
In the motion, Utter cited a number of specific incidents in which he contends Mauffray made prejudicial statements about Beard or the other defendants by making such statements as "(Beard's) constant misconduct," that the Jena Six were troublemakers, Robert Bailey Jr. was the "real brains behind the group, if you can call it that," and "I'm going to put (Beard) in secure care."
A court official said there isn't an attorney representing Mauffray in this matter and that judges aren't permitted by judicial rules to comment publicly about ongoing cases.
Earlier this year, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered Yeager to preside over Friday's hearing. Mauffray denied motions to recuse himself after attorneys for the five defendants raised the motion. In Beard's case, after initially denying the motion citing untimeliness, he reversed himself, referring the case to the Supreme Court for appointment of another judge to hear the motion.
Beard, Bailey, Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw were all arrested and initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit that crime in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, attack on fellow Jena High School student Justin Barker.
In the following months, the charges against all of the teens were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime. Bell pleaded guilty on Dec. 3 to second-degree battery during a juvenile court proceeding after initially being convicted as an adult of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. Those adult convictions were reversed by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, and the case was sent to juvenile court.
Allegations
In the motion, Utter cited several instances with direct quotes of what he says he and others heard Mauffray say. These allegations may come up during today's hearing, during which Mauffray may testify.
Here are some of the allegations from the motion:
On Aug. 29, Mauffray told Utter about Beard's prior delinquent behavior and said there were a number of assaults and batteries in which he hadn't been charged. He talked about a Dec. 25, 2005, incident in which Mauffray said Beard and another Jena Six defendant assaulted a boy and girl in a car and that Beard punched the girl in the face.
Utter said the defense team's investigation has determined that Beard assaulted no one during that incident. Mauffray also told Utter that Barker was lucky he didn't "bleed to death," but Utter pointed out that no one contends that Barker was ever at risk for that.
That same August day, Mauffray also told Utter and two others that the "Jena Six and some other 'boys' were real trouble makers and that since the arrest and incarceration of the Jena Six things have 'really quieted down' in Jena." He said Beard was a "follower" and that the "real brains behind the group, if you can call it that," was Bailey.
On March 6, Mauffray told "everyone, 'I've been involved in all of (Beard's) other cases' and asked, 'Do you know when (Beard) started his career? ... I know other things too, because I have been involved in his other cases. I read about things while he's on probation. I read about his constant misconduct."
That same day, when told that Beard wanted to go to a strict boarding school at his own expense as a consequence for alleged probation violations and the Office of Youth Development (OYD) supported the placement, Mauffray "balked." He said, "I'm going to put him in secure care. ... Every day that goes by that I can't get my hands on him -- every day until he is 21 -- is a lost chance to teach him."
By Abbey Brown --thetowntalk.com
As of Thursday, the hearing was scheduled to affect the only remaining juvenile defendant, Jesse Ray Beard. But attorneys for the other four remaining defendants have asked that the cases be consolidated and that all of the motions to recuse 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. go before Yeager today.
In documents filed at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in connection with the cases, Beard's attorney, David Utter, wrote that Mauffray has "made numerous statements, on numerous occasions, in different procedural postures, to numerous individuals, which make clear he has pre-judged not only Jesse Ray's guilt, but the disposition for Jesse Ray as well."
When reached Wednesday, Utter said he hoped the documents would speak for themselves and declined to comment further about the case, saying it was a juvenile matter.
In the motion, Utter cited a number of specific incidents in which he contends Mauffray made prejudicial statements about Beard or the other defendants by making such statements as "(Beard's) constant misconduct," that the Jena Six were troublemakers, Robert Bailey Jr. was the "real brains behind the group, if you can call it that," and "I'm going to put (Beard) in secure care."
A court official said there isn't an attorney representing Mauffray in this matter and that judges aren't permitted by judicial rules to comment publicly about ongoing cases.
Earlier this year, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered Yeager to preside over Friday's hearing. Mauffray denied motions to recuse himself after attorneys for the five defendants raised the motion. In Beard's case, after initially denying the motion citing untimeliness, he reversed himself, referring the case to the Supreme Court for appointment of another judge to hear the motion.
Beard, Bailey, Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw were all arrested and initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit that crime in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, attack on fellow Jena High School student Justin Barker.
In the following months, the charges against all of the teens were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime. Bell pleaded guilty on Dec. 3 to second-degree battery during a juvenile court proceeding after initially being convicted as an adult of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. Those adult convictions were reversed by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, and the case was sent to juvenile court.
Allegations
In the motion, Utter cited several instances with direct quotes of what he says he and others heard Mauffray say. These allegations may come up during today's hearing, during which Mauffray may testify.
Here are some of the allegations from the motion:
On Aug. 29, Mauffray told Utter about Beard's prior delinquent behavior and said there were a number of assaults and batteries in which he hadn't been charged. He talked about a Dec. 25, 2005, incident in which Mauffray said Beard and another Jena Six defendant assaulted a boy and girl in a car and that Beard punched the girl in the face.
Utter said the defense team's investigation has determined that Beard assaulted no one during that incident. Mauffray also told Utter that Barker was lucky he didn't "bleed to death," but Utter pointed out that no one contends that Barker was ever at risk for that.
That same August day, Mauffray also told Utter and two others that the "Jena Six and some other 'boys' were real trouble makers and that since the arrest and incarceration of the Jena Six things have 'really quieted down' in Jena." He said Beard was a "follower" and that the "real brains behind the group, if you can call it that," was Bailey.
On March 6, Mauffray told "everyone, 'I've been involved in all of (Beard's) other cases' and asked, 'Do you know when (Beard) started his career? ... I know other things too, because I have been involved in his other cases. I read about things while he's on probation. I read about his constant misconduct."
That same day, when told that Beard wanted to go to a strict boarding school at his own expense as a consequence for alleged probation violations and the Office of Youth Development (OYD) supported the placement, Mauffray "balked." He said, "I'm going to put him in secure care. ... Every day that goes by that I can't get my hands on him -- every day until he is 21 -- is a lost chance to teach him."
By Abbey Brown --thetowntalk.com
Thursday, May 29, 2008
More Blacks Are Competing in Advanced Placement Programs, But the Racial Scoring Gap Is Widening
The number of blacks taking academically challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school has surged in recent years. The bad news is that the racial scoring gap on Advanced Placement tests continues to be large and in fact has increased in recent years.
Over the past 20 years there has been a major increase in the number of black students who are taking challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school. College admissions officers are impressed with the records of students who make the extra effort and take the grading risk in AP courses. Now, presented with a transcript that shows a student has faced up to these rigorous programs of study, admissions officers often confer a deserved advantage in the admissions process to students of all races who enroll in AP programs.
Important, too, is that many colleges and universities in the United States give college course credits to college-bound students who have received a high score on AP exams. Countering the huge and escalating costs of higher education, AP credits may enable black students to graduate a full semester early. This produces solid savings in the overall costs of earning a college degree. Thus, in addition to leading to the admission of more blacks to stronger academic institutions, the AP test opportunity is important for African-American college students who, because of huge racial wealth and income inequalities, are likely to be at a distinct disadvantage compared to whites in their ability to pay for college.
Here is some further background on the history of the Advanced Placement program. In 1952 the Ford Foundation noticed that the very brightest high school students were studying precisely the same material as students in many entry-level college courses. As a result, the foundation developed the concept of advanced placement. Through its Fund for the Advancement of Education, the Ford Foundation began to produce an AP curriculum. In the fall of 1954, when The College Board assumed control of the AP program, seven pilot high schools in cooperation with 12 participating colleges began offering Advanced Placement classes.
Today, AP courses are offered at more than 16,400 of the nation’s high schools. Curriculum and course outlines are developed for The College Board by college faculty members after an elaborate process of surveying the content of courses in similar subjects at more than 200 colleges nationwide. Course descriptions, teacher guides, publications, and online teleconferences are made available by The College Board to high school teachers to help them prepare their students for the AP examinations.
A half-century ago, in 1956, the first AP exams in 10 separate academic disciplines were administered by The College Board. That year about 1,000 students took approximately 2,000 AP tests. (High school students may take any number of AP exams in different subjects.) In 2007, 698,182 American students took nearly 2 million AP exams in 37 different subjects. The College Board validates the results of its exams by giving the same tests to a selection of college students who are taking similar courses. The College Board then compares the grades received by the college students to the results achieved by the AP high school students. AP exams are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 5 on the AP exam is equivalent to receiving a grade of A in a similar college course. An AP test score of 4 is equivalent to a college grade of B and so on down the line. Students scoring 3 or above on the AP test are deemed qualified to receive college credit.
Over the past two decades there has been a huge increase in the number of black students who are taking challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school. In 1985 there were only 2,768 black students taking Advanced Placement courses in the United States. At that time blacks made up just one percent of the more than 270,000 AP students. By 1990 black participation in AP programs had more than doubled. That year black students took some 6,800 AP exams.
Over the next five years the number of blacks enrolled in AP courses more than quadrupled. In 1997 blacks took 34,514 AP exams, up more than fivefold from 1990. By 2007 the number of AP exams taken by black students had jumped to 113,590, nearly 17 times as many exams that were taken by black students in 1990. In 2007 there were 51,423 black students who participated in the AP program. Therefore, each black student took, on average, 2.2 AP tests. From 2006 to 2007, there was a 20 percent increase in the number of AP examinations taken by black students.
The good news is that in 2007 blacks took 5.8 percent of all AP examinations administered in the United States. But despite this major progress, blacks still lag far behind whites in participation in the AP program. The AP shortfall is revealed in the fact that blacks now make up 11 percent of all SAT test takers and more than 14 percent of all high school students in the nation.
Barriers to African-American Participation
Traditionally, most participants in the AP program have been concentrated in the high schools in affluent, predominantly white suburbs of major cities. Also, in many racially integrated high schools, large numbers of black students have not been sufficiently prepared to take on the AP curriculum. In many instances black students have been tracked into vocational training instead of college preparatory classes. Unfortunately, many teachers, guidance counselors, and school administrators continue to hold a racist mindset that black students are not capable of coping with the rigorous curriculum of the AP program.
Influenced for many years by widespread opinion that they have substandard academic abilities, black students in many instances do not consider enrolling in the AP program. Also, at some schools black students who might wish to pursue an AP curriculum may face anti-intellectual peer pressure that makes young blacks feel that in pursuing Advanced Placement they are selling out their race or “acting white.”
Another barrier to black participation in the AP program is the $84 fee for taking an exam in each subject area. A student looking to gain significant college credits may be forced to pay $400 or more to take the necessary AP tests. The College Board does offer a $22 fee reduction for needy students. However, even a lower exam fee may put the cost of the tests out of reach for many black families. Several states offer additional financial aid for Advanced Placement students.
Comparing Black and White Participation in the Advanced Placement Program
For both blacks and whites, English literature, American history, English language, and calculus were the most popular AP courses. Blacks were 9 percent of all students who took the AP test in French literature. This was the highest participation percentage for blacks on any of the 37 AP tests. Blacks were also at least 7 percent of all test takers in the subject areas of English literature, English language, and world history.
The lowest level of black participation occurred in the Spanish literature test. Only 86 black students nationwide took the AP test in Spanish literature in 2007. They were just 0.7 percent of all test takers in this subject. Blacks were also less than 2 percent of all AP test takers in the subject areas of electrical and magnetic physics, computer science, Italian, and Japanese.
Recent increases in black participation in the AP program is encouraging. But even better news is that of the 113,590 AP exams taken by black students in 2007, qualifying grades were received on 28,809 tests. It is encouraging too that a much larger number of black high school students are achieving success in college-level courses.
However, black students’ performance on AP tests still remains far below that of white students. And with a greater pool of black students taking AP examinations in recent years, the racial scoring gap on AP tests has increased.
Racial Comparisons in Advanced Placement Scores
Nationwide, the mean AP score for white students was 2.95; for blacks it was 1.91. This means that the average black score is a full letter grade below the average white score. This gap has widened slightly in the past several years.
In 2007, of the 1,198,053 AP exams taken by white students, a qualifying grade of 3 or above was achieved on 62 percent of the tests. Blacks received qualifying grades of 3 or above on only 25.4 percent of the AP exams that they took. Thus, whites were more than twice as likely as blacks to receive a qualifying grade. Over the past three years, as the number of black test takers has increased, the percentage of all black test takers receiving qualifying grades dropped from 29.2 percent to 25.4 percent.
At the very highest level of AP test scores, the black-white scoring gap is even greater. Some 13.2 percent of white test takers received a score of 5, equivalent to a college grade of A. Only 2.6 percent of black test takers received a score of 5. Blacks, who as we stated earlier took 5.8 percent of all AP tests, made up only 2.6 percent of all students who became eligible for college credit and only 1.2 percent of all students with the highest score of 5.
Black Performance on Particular Advanced Placement Tests
In order to gauge black student success on AP exams, we constructed two tables. First, we compared the total number of black test takers to the number of blacks who received a qualifying grade of 3 or above. Nationwide, as stated earlier, 25.4 percent of all black test takers received a grade of 3 or above. But there was a wide discrepancy in this success ratio for black students on the different subject tests.
Blacks had their greatest success rates on the French language and French literature tests. More than half of all black test takers received a score of 3 or higher.
It is encouraging to report that one of the AP courses in which blacks achieved the most success was one of the two calculus tests. More than 52 percent of all black students who took this AP exam received a score of 3 or above. But more than 80 percent of all white students who took this AP calculus examination received a qualifying grade.
Blacks also fared well on the studio art design tests. More than half of all black students who took these two tests received a qualifying grade of 3 or above. A majority of all black test takers received qualifying grades on the German test and one of the two Latin tests.
On the studio art drawing AP test, 48.7 percent of black students received a qualifying grade. This is the only AP course where there is no examination. Students are graded by an assessment of their drawing portfolios. More than 71 percent of white students received a grade of 3 or above on their drawing portfolio.
At the other end of the spectrum, only 457 of the 2,614 black students, or 17.5 percent, who took the AP environmental science test received a qualifying score of 3 or above. Less than 25 percent of all black students succeeded in qualifying for college credit in the subject areas of macroeconomics, physics, English language, statistics, U.S. history, English literature, U.S. government and politics, chemistry, microeconomics, Spanish, and the more widely taken of the two computer science tests.
The Black-White Scoring Gap on Advanced Placement Examinations
Another way of rating black student performance on AP exams is to compare black scores to white students’ scores on the various subject tests. Overall, the mean score for whites on all AP tests was 2.95. As stated, the mean score for blacks on all AP tests was 1.04 point lower at 1.91. The largest black-white scoring gap was on one of the two computer science tests. On that exam, the mean white score of 3.07 was 1.42 points higher than the mean black score of 1.65. The black-white scoring gap was also at least 1.00 point (equivalent to a full letter grade in a corresponding college level course) on 15 other AP examinations.
The mean black score on the French test was 2.69 compared to the mean white score of 2.65. This was the only AP examination where the mean black score was higher than the mean score for whites.
On AP tests in foreign languages, blacks, compared to whites, generally do much better than they do on most other AP exams. There are several possible explanations. One explanation for black students’ success on the French AP test may be that there are large groups of African-American students with a heritage from islands in the French West Indies, West Africa, or French-speaking areas of Louisiana. Similarly, black students whose parents emigrated from Cuba or the Dominican Republic may have a firm background in the Spanish language. However, neither of these possibilities would explain the success of black students on the German, Italian, Japanese, or Latin AP exams.
We suggest that in foreign languages students of all races tend to enter their studies with little or no head start and with very little or no rudimentary knowledge of the subject matter. Unlike the study of math or reading, factors such as cultural biases, preschool and elementary school activities, parental reading habits, ownership of a home computer, etc., have less effect at the starting gate in the study of a foreign language. This would explain at least in part why black and white students score at relatively similar levels on tests in foreign language subjects.
It is good news that blacks are increasingly taking on the challenges of the Advanced Placement program. But, as is the case on other standardized tests, the AP test results show that black students are not as well prepared as white students for these tests. In fact, as increasing numbers of black students enter the AP test-taking pool, it may be expected that the racial gap in AP test scores will increase in the years ahead.
for full reort visit http://www.jbhe.com/features/59_apscoringgap.html
Over the past 20 years there has been a major increase in the number of black students who are taking challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school. College admissions officers are impressed with the records of students who make the extra effort and take the grading risk in AP courses. Now, presented with a transcript that shows a student has faced up to these rigorous programs of study, admissions officers often confer a deserved advantage in the admissions process to students of all races who enroll in AP programs.
Important, too, is that many colleges and universities in the United States give college course credits to college-bound students who have received a high score on AP exams. Countering the huge and escalating costs of higher education, AP credits may enable black students to graduate a full semester early. This produces solid savings in the overall costs of earning a college degree. Thus, in addition to leading to the admission of more blacks to stronger academic institutions, the AP test opportunity is important for African-American college students who, because of huge racial wealth and income inequalities, are likely to be at a distinct disadvantage compared to whites in their ability to pay for college.
Here is some further background on the history of the Advanced Placement program. In 1952 the Ford Foundation noticed that the very brightest high school students were studying precisely the same material as students in many entry-level college courses. As a result, the foundation developed the concept of advanced placement. Through its Fund for the Advancement of Education, the Ford Foundation began to produce an AP curriculum. In the fall of 1954, when The College Board assumed control of the AP program, seven pilot high schools in cooperation with 12 participating colleges began offering Advanced Placement classes.
Today, AP courses are offered at more than 16,400 of the nation’s high schools. Curriculum and course outlines are developed for The College Board by college faculty members after an elaborate process of surveying the content of courses in similar subjects at more than 200 colleges nationwide. Course descriptions, teacher guides, publications, and online teleconferences are made available by The College Board to high school teachers to help them prepare their students for the AP examinations.
A half-century ago, in 1956, the first AP exams in 10 separate academic disciplines were administered by The College Board. That year about 1,000 students took approximately 2,000 AP tests. (High school students may take any number of AP exams in different subjects.) In 2007, 698,182 American students took nearly 2 million AP exams in 37 different subjects. The College Board validates the results of its exams by giving the same tests to a selection of college students who are taking similar courses. The College Board then compares the grades received by the college students to the results achieved by the AP high school students. AP exams are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 5 on the AP exam is equivalent to receiving a grade of A in a similar college course. An AP test score of 4 is equivalent to a college grade of B and so on down the line. Students scoring 3 or above on the AP test are deemed qualified to receive college credit.
Over the past two decades there has been a huge increase in the number of black students who are taking challenging Advanced Placement courses in high school. In 1985 there were only 2,768 black students taking Advanced Placement courses in the United States. At that time blacks made up just one percent of the more than 270,000 AP students. By 1990 black participation in AP programs had more than doubled. That year black students took some 6,800 AP exams.
Over the next five years the number of blacks enrolled in AP courses more than quadrupled. In 1997 blacks took 34,514 AP exams, up more than fivefold from 1990. By 2007 the number of AP exams taken by black students had jumped to 113,590, nearly 17 times as many exams that were taken by black students in 1990. In 2007 there were 51,423 black students who participated in the AP program. Therefore, each black student took, on average, 2.2 AP tests. From 2006 to 2007, there was a 20 percent increase in the number of AP examinations taken by black students.
The good news is that in 2007 blacks took 5.8 percent of all AP examinations administered in the United States. But despite this major progress, blacks still lag far behind whites in participation in the AP program. The AP shortfall is revealed in the fact that blacks now make up 11 percent of all SAT test takers and more than 14 percent of all high school students in the nation.
Barriers to African-American Participation
Traditionally, most participants in the AP program have been concentrated in the high schools in affluent, predominantly white suburbs of major cities. Also, in many racially integrated high schools, large numbers of black students have not been sufficiently prepared to take on the AP curriculum. In many instances black students have been tracked into vocational training instead of college preparatory classes. Unfortunately, many teachers, guidance counselors, and school administrators continue to hold a racist mindset that black students are not capable of coping with the rigorous curriculum of the AP program.
Influenced for many years by widespread opinion that they have substandard academic abilities, black students in many instances do not consider enrolling in the AP program. Also, at some schools black students who might wish to pursue an AP curriculum may face anti-intellectual peer pressure that makes young blacks feel that in pursuing Advanced Placement they are selling out their race or “acting white.”
Another barrier to black participation in the AP program is the $84 fee for taking an exam in each subject area. A student looking to gain significant college credits may be forced to pay $400 or more to take the necessary AP tests. The College Board does offer a $22 fee reduction for needy students. However, even a lower exam fee may put the cost of the tests out of reach for many black families. Several states offer additional financial aid for Advanced Placement students.
Comparing Black and White Participation in the Advanced Placement Program
For both blacks and whites, English literature, American history, English language, and calculus were the most popular AP courses. Blacks were 9 percent of all students who took the AP test in French literature. This was the highest participation percentage for blacks on any of the 37 AP tests. Blacks were also at least 7 percent of all test takers in the subject areas of English literature, English language, and world history.
The lowest level of black participation occurred in the Spanish literature test. Only 86 black students nationwide took the AP test in Spanish literature in 2007. They were just 0.7 percent of all test takers in this subject. Blacks were also less than 2 percent of all AP test takers in the subject areas of electrical and magnetic physics, computer science, Italian, and Japanese.
Recent increases in black participation in the AP program is encouraging. But even better news is that of the 113,590 AP exams taken by black students in 2007, qualifying grades were received on 28,809 tests. It is encouraging too that a much larger number of black high school students are achieving success in college-level courses.
However, black students’ performance on AP tests still remains far below that of white students. And with a greater pool of black students taking AP examinations in recent years, the racial scoring gap on AP tests has increased.
Racial Comparisons in Advanced Placement Scores
Nationwide, the mean AP score for white students was 2.95; for blacks it was 1.91. This means that the average black score is a full letter grade below the average white score. This gap has widened slightly in the past several years.
In 2007, of the 1,198,053 AP exams taken by white students, a qualifying grade of 3 or above was achieved on 62 percent of the tests. Blacks received qualifying grades of 3 or above on only 25.4 percent of the AP exams that they took. Thus, whites were more than twice as likely as blacks to receive a qualifying grade. Over the past three years, as the number of black test takers has increased, the percentage of all black test takers receiving qualifying grades dropped from 29.2 percent to 25.4 percent.
At the very highest level of AP test scores, the black-white scoring gap is even greater. Some 13.2 percent of white test takers received a score of 5, equivalent to a college grade of A. Only 2.6 percent of black test takers received a score of 5. Blacks, who as we stated earlier took 5.8 percent of all AP tests, made up only 2.6 percent of all students who became eligible for college credit and only 1.2 percent of all students with the highest score of 5.
Black Performance on Particular Advanced Placement Tests
In order to gauge black student success on AP exams, we constructed two tables. First, we compared the total number of black test takers to the number of blacks who received a qualifying grade of 3 or above. Nationwide, as stated earlier, 25.4 percent of all black test takers received a grade of 3 or above. But there was a wide discrepancy in this success ratio for black students on the different subject tests.
Blacks had their greatest success rates on the French language and French literature tests. More than half of all black test takers received a score of 3 or higher.
It is encouraging to report that one of the AP courses in which blacks achieved the most success was one of the two calculus tests. More than 52 percent of all black students who took this AP exam received a score of 3 or above. But more than 80 percent of all white students who took this AP calculus examination received a qualifying grade.
Blacks also fared well on the studio art design tests. More than half of all black students who took these two tests received a qualifying grade of 3 or above. A majority of all black test takers received qualifying grades on the German test and one of the two Latin tests.
On the studio art drawing AP test, 48.7 percent of black students received a qualifying grade. This is the only AP course where there is no examination. Students are graded by an assessment of their drawing portfolios. More than 71 percent of white students received a grade of 3 or above on their drawing portfolio.
At the other end of the spectrum, only 457 of the 2,614 black students, or 17.5 percent, who took the AP environmental science test received a qualifying score of 3 or above. Less than 25 percent of all black students succeeded in qualifying for college credit in the subject areas of macroeconomics, physics, English language, statistics, U.S. history, English literature, U.S. government and politics, chemistry, microeconomics, Spanish, and the more widely taken of the two computer science tests.
The Black-White Scoring Gap on Advanced Placement Examinations
Another way of rating black student performance on AP exams is to compare black scores to white students’ scores on the various subject tests. Overall, the mean score for whites on all AP tests was 2.95. As stated, the mean score for blacks on all AP tests was 1.04 point lower at 1.91. The largest black-white scoring gap was on one of the two computer science tests. On that exam, the mean white score of 3.07 was 1.42 points higher than the mean black score of 1.65. The black-white scoring gap was also at least 1.00 point (equivalent to a full letter grade in a corresponding college level course) on 15 other AP examinations.
The mean black score on the French test was 2.69 compared to the mean white score of 2.65. This was the only AP examination where the mean black score was higher than the mean score for whites.
On AP tests in foreign languages, blacks, compared to whites, generally do much better than they do on most other AP exams. There are several possible explanations. One explanation for black students’ success on the French AP test may be that there are large groups of African-American students with a heritage from islands in the French West Indies, West Africa, or French-speaking areas of Louisiana. Similarly, black students whose parents emigrated from Cuba or the Dominican Republic may have a firm background in the Spanish language. However, neither of these possibilities would explain the success of black students on the German, Italian, Japanese, or Latin AP exams.
We suggest that in foreign languages students of all races tend to enter their studies with little or no head start and with very little or no rudimentary knowledge of the subject matter. Unlike the study of math or reading, factors such as cultural biases, preschool and elementary school activities, parental reading habits, ownership of a home computer, etc., have less effect at the starting gate in the study of a foreign language. This would explain at least in part why black and white students score at relatively similar levels on tests in foreign language subjects.
It is good news that blacks are increasingly taking on the challenges of the Advanced Placement program. But, as is the case on other standardized tests, the AP test results show that black students are not as well prepared as white students for these tests. In fact, as increasing numbers of black students enter the AP test-taking pool, it may be expected that the racial gap in AP test scores will increase in the years ahead.
for full reort visit http://www.jbhe.com/features/59_apscoringgap.html
More Blacks are Competing in Advanced Placement Programs
Rapper T.I. is turning his legal woes into an eight-episode MTV documentary series. Ish Entertainment will follow the hip-hop star while he performs more than 1,000 hours of community service before starting a one-year prison sentence on weapons charges next spring, according an Atlantic spokesperson.
Cameras already chronicled T.I.'s release from house arrest, and shooting will continue this summer, leading up to his return to jail in early 2009.
The show, produced by Michael Hirschorn and Stella Stolper and executive produced by T.I. and partner Jason Geter, will air on MTV some time soon after that.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested last October just hours before he was to be honored at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. The rapper, who had previous convictions, was charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
The rapper is currently working on a new album, "Paper Trail," due Aug. 12. The first single, "No Matter What," is No. 19 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart this week.
from billboard.com
Cameras already chronicled T.I.'s release from house arrest, and shooting will continue this summer, leading up to his return to jail in early 2009.
The show, produced by Michael Hirschorn and Stella Stolper and executive produced by T.I. and partner Jason Geter, will air on MTV some time soon after that.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested last October just hours before he was to be honored at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. The rapper, who had previous convictions, was charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
The rapper is currently working on a new album, "Paper Trail," due Aug. 12. The first single, "No Matter What," is No. 19 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart this week.
from billboard.com
Britain's Black Filmmakers Headed for Hollywood
Britain’s best black and Asian filmmaking talents are to be honoured by the UK Film Council...
SOME OF Britain’s best black and Asian filmmaking talents are to be honoured by the UK Film Council, in a programme called Breakthrough Brits.
The initiative is designed to celebrate British film making talent on the brink of international success, and encourage newcomers.
Florence Ayisi, a 45-year-old documentary writer and producer who has explored various subjects, including alternative representations of Africa, expressed her delight at being honoured.
“It’s a fantastic honour, a real testament to the fact that people want access to the kind of stories that I want to tell, and I'm delighted to be recognised for my work,” she said.
Also honoured is director John Giwa Amu, 30, whose film Little White Lies gained six BAFTA Cymru nominations, spoke of his joy at being included in the programme.
“It’s a huge honour to be part of this list. I was like a little kid when I made it on the list because its such an important thing to be part off,” he exclaimed.
The programme will culminate in a special showcase event in Los Angeles next month, where honourees will be presented to an audience of some of Hollywood’s most influential industry figures.
Honourees will also be guests at the Hollywood Black Film Festival, which attracts some of Hollywood’s most prominent executives agents, producers and directors.
Ayisi and Amu, both from Cardiff, are excited about the opportunity.
“Going to Hollywood, the home of motion picture, is a dream come true. Being on this list has opened doors for me and I didn’t think in my wildest dream that I would be in Hollywood,” Ayisi gushed.
Amu says that the opportunity to meet key movers and shakers in the industry will allow his projects to be developed.
“I want to go out there and secure finance for my films. I already have meetings set up with HBO,” he revealed.
Despite the opportunities available to this year’s honourees, Amu feels that more needs to be done to elevate the status of the work of black filmmakers.
“It is a very hard industry and it’s difficult to break into, but this is a positive step.”
BY Maxine Myers for voice-online.co.uk
SOME OF Britain’s best black and Asian filmmaking talents are to be honoured by the UK Film Council, in a programme called Breakthrough Brits.
The initiative is designed to celebrate British film making talent on the brink of international success, and encourage newcomers.
Florence Ayisi, a 45-year-old documentary writer and producer who has explored various subjects, including alternative representations of Africa, expressed her delight at being honoured.
“It’s a fantastic honour, a real testament to the fact that people want access to the kind of stories that I want to tell, and I'm delighted to be recognised for my work,” she said.
Also honoured is director John Giwa Amu, 30, whose film Little White Lies gained six BAFTA Cymru nominations, spoke of his joy at being included in the programme.
“It’s a huge honour to be part of this list. I was like a little kid when I made it on the list because its such an important thing to be part off,” he exclaimed.
The programme will culminate in a special showcase event in Los Angeles next month, where honourees will be presented to an audience of some of Hollywood’s most influential industry figures.
Honourees will also be guests at the Hollywood Black Film Festival, which attracts some of Hollywood’s most prominent executives agents, producers and directors.
Ayisi and Amu, both from Cardiff, are excited about the opportunity.
“Going to Hollywood, the home of motion picture, is a dream come true. Being on this list has opened doors for me and I didn’t think in my wildest dream that I would be in Hollywood,” Ayisi gushed.
Amu says that the opportunity to meet key movers and shakers in the industry will allow his projects to be developed.
“I want to go out there and secure finance for my films. I already have meetings set up with HBO,” he revealed.
Despite the opportunities available to this year’s honourees, Amu feels that more needs to be done to elevate the status of the work of black filmmakers.
“It is a very hard industry and it’s difficult to break into, but this is a positive step.”
BY Maxine Myers for voice-online.co.uk
Rappers Create Sean Bell Track for Charity
Members of the Hip-Hop community are uniting to pay tribute to Sean Bell in song, just weeks after three New York City detectives were acquitted of fatally shooting the 23-year-old.
Producer/rapper Swizz Beatz, Talib Kweli, Cassidy, Drag-On, Maino and Styles P. are featured on the track, titled “Stand Up (A Sean Bell Tribute).”
"Stand Up," which debuted on AllHipHop.com today (May 28), will also be available for purchase for .99 cents in the iTunes music store, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Sean Bell Benefit Fund.
“I don't usually listen to Hip-Hop but I can understand where they are coming from as far as what their words say,” Sean Bell’s mother Mrs. Valerie Bell told AllHipHop.com. “We aren't going to take it any more and I'm with them on that because enough is enough. I'm glad that they are involved so they can be heard mainly to the youth, the young children and young adults.”
Plans for the tribute song were carried out by Grind House Studios co-owner Grady Spivey, who executive produced the single, along with Georgina Prentice.
The Heat Makers-produced song, which features a sample of Lyfe Jennings’ “Cry,” comes amid public outrage over the April 25 acquittal of detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Bell.
The third detective, Marc Cooper, was cleared of reckless endangerment.
Bell died in November 2006, in a 50-bullet barrage on the night before his wedding.
According to reports, Oliver fired 31 shots as two of Bells friends were wounded in the incident, which took place at the Kalua strip club in Queens, NY.
Although 50 bullets were fired by five officers, only three were charged.
No gun was found near Bell or his friends.
Citywide protests over the acquittals were held earlier this month.
Hundreds of protestors and demonstrators were arrested as they called on the federal government to look into the case.
“There’s nothing in [the song] that’s fabricated,” added Mr. William Bell, Sean Bell’s father. “We appreciate them making this song. Like my wife said, it's good for the young ones to understand what's going on instead of always hiding behind the scenes and hoping it doesn't happen to them.”
Last week the officers and four others were hit with departmental charges and a full disciplinary hearing is scheduled.
The Justice Department is currently debating whether or not to charge the officers with civil rights violations.
By Chris Richburg from allhiphop.com
Producer/rapper Swizz Beatz, Talib Kweli, Cassidy, Drag-On, Maino and Styles P. are featured on the track, titled “Stand Up (A Sean Bell Tribute).”
"Stand Up," which debuted on AllHipHop.com today (May 28), will also be available for purchase for .99 cents in the iTunes music store, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Sean Bell Benefit Fund.
“I don't usually listen to Hip-Hop but I can understand where they are coming from as far as what their words say,” Sean Bell’s mother Mrs. Valerie Bell told AllHipHop.com. “We aren't going to take it any more and I'm with them on that because enough is enough. I'm glad that they are involved so they can be heard mainly to the youth, the young children and young adults.”
Plans for the tribute song were carried out by Grind House Studios co-owner Grady Spivey, who executive produced the single, along with Georgina Prentice.
The Heat Makers-produced song, which features a sample of Lyfe Jennings’ “Cry,” comes amid public outrage over the April 25 acquittal of detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Bell.
The third detective, Marc Cooper, was cleared of reckless endangerment.
Bell died in November 2006, in a 50-bullet barrage on the night before his wedding.
According to reports, Oliver fired 31 shots as two of Bells friends were wounded in the incident, which took place at the Kalua strip club in Queens, NY.
Although 50 bullets were fired by five officers, only three were charged.
No gun was found near Bell or his friends.
Citywide protests over the acquittals were held earlier this month.
Hundreds of protestors and demonstrators were arrested as they called on the federal government to look into the case.
“There’s nothing in [the song] that’s fabricated,” added Mr. William Bell, Sean Bell’s father. “We appreciate them making this song. Like my wife said, it's good for the young ones to understand what's going on instead of always hiding behind the scenes and hoping it doesn't happen to them.”
Last week the officers and four others were hit with departmental charges and a full disciplinary hearing is scheduled.
The Justice Department is currently debating whether or not to charge the officers with civil rights violations.
By Chris Richburg from allhiphop.com
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Vetoes Resolution Seeking Ouster
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has vetoed a resolution calling for his own ouster, hinting to the City Council that he intends a bruising battle over members' double-barreled effort to force him from office.
In a 10-page letter sent Tuesday vetoing a resolution asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove him, Kilpatrick warned that ousting an elected official is "irresponsible" and deprives voters of their rights. The city charter doesn't allow him to veto the resolution calling for the start of impeachment-like proceedings next month, but Kilpatrick called the move "legally deficient."
Kilpatrick's letter, drafted by the Law Department, claims the council can only remove him if he was convicted of a felony or "lacked qualifications" to serve in office.
The argument is "brainless," said William Goodman, an attorney hired by the City Council to investigate the $8.4 million text-message scandal that has engulfed City Hall since January. The city charter clearly supports both actions, Goodman said.
It wasn't immediately clear late Tuesday if Kilpatrick's action carried any weight. Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm, declined comment. Some observers called it more saber rattling than a serious effort to derail the council's efforts, since state law only requires the governor receive a sworn statement from one person to begin considering removal of officials.
Council may have to re-vote
Still, it's possible the council would have to re-vote on its request to contact Granholm, and it's unclear whether the panel could summon six votes to override a veto. Members voted 5-4 on May 13 to ask Granholm for help and launch forfeiture proceedings against the mayor.
Doing so is "contrary to the board's past actions to uphold home rule," wrote Kilpatrick, who faces perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the scandal. His letter cited well-known resentments among Detroiters about outside interference, including the temporary state takeover of the Detroit Public Schools board, attempts by lawmakers to seize the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and the dissolution of the Detroit Recorder's Court.
Kilpatrick also warned that the City Council's decision to ask the governor to intervene also could put their jobs at risk in the future.
"Council's Removal Resolution is an end run around home rule, which ultimately may set the stage to deprive the People of the City of Detroit of their right to choose and retain its elected leaders and local control over policy matters that impact its citizens," he wrote.
Eric Foster, a political consultant, described the letter as an appeal to Kilpatrick's core backers.
"This is all about posturing and appealing to his supporters," said Foster, director of business and political strategy of the Detroit-based Urban Consulting Group. "He is playing to the same crowd he did when he was in election mode and that is to play the 'us vs. them' card."
Before the council even acted, Granholm had received at least one plea from a citizen to remove Kilpatrick. Also, the charter gives the council the power to pass resolutions that can't be vetoed by the mayor, according to Jeff Blaine, who from 1994-96 was executive director of the commission that produced Detroit's current charter.
"There are many things council can do -- like investigations -- that can't be overridden," Blaine said.
James Canning, a spokesman for Kilpatrick, said the mayor has no other immediate plans to address the council's actions.
"The veto message speaks for itself," Canning said.
But Kilpatrick argued that the council "by an apparent misapplication and misinterpretation" believes it can oust him for other alleged charter violations. It can't, but the council's strategy could backfire and lead to ousters of council members or other elected officials in the future, according to the letter..
"There is more at stake, here, than the recent events between the City Council and me," Kilpatrick's letter read.
Earlier Tuesday, the council began cobbling together the bare-bones of what the forfeiture proceeding would look like after meeting with Goodman.
The quasi-judicial process would involve witnesses, evidence and arguments, with council eventually rendering a decision much like a jury in a civil proceeding.
Kenyatta pushes changes
Also, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said he sees merit in Detroit changing into a city manager form of government -- with the mayor having less control over city functions -- and plans to pursue the possibility next year by advocating a rewrite of the city's charter.
"We've seen the effect of a strong mayor form of government," Kenyatta said. "We've seen what abuse of power has done to this city."
Kenyatta said he plans on pushing for the convening of a charter commission, whose members would rewrite the city charter. Voters would have to authorize the rewrite and then approve the changes. The last revision to the charter was in 1997.
"It's worth looking into ... if not a city manager, then a weaker mayor (form of government)," Kenyatta said.
San Jose, Calif., with about 930,000 citizens, is the only major U.S. city that has a manager and not a strong mayor system of government.
Kenyatta also wants the city charter changed to give the City Council more oversight of Detroit's corporation counsel.
The council has squabbled with city attorneys since the text message scandal broke in January. Members complain city attorneys misled them into approving an $8.4 million settlement with fired Detroit Police officers. The council wasn't told the deal kept secret text messages allegedly exchanged between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, that contradicted testimony during a civil trial last year.
Beatty also faces perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office charges.
The next court date involving Kilpatrick and Beatty's criminal charges is June 3, when lawyers will argue about keeping the text messages secret. Kilpatrick and Beatty have claimed that although some messages already have been publicized, the prosecutor has obtained copies of a total of 625,000 and they should remain private under federal law.
The judge overseeing preliminary stages of criminal proceedings will allow The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press to argue for release of the messages at the June 3 hearing, but in an opinion placed in the court's file on Tuesday 36th District Judge Ronald Giles denied the newspaper's efforts to keep the hearings themselves open to the public.
David Josar and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
In a 10-page letter sent Tuesday vetoing a resolution asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove him, Kilpatrick warned that ousting an elected official is "irresponsible" and deprives voters of their rights. The city charter doesn't allow him to veto the resolution calling for the start of impeachment-like proceedings next month, but Kilpatrick called the move "legally deficient."
Kilpatrick's letter, drafted by the Law Department, claims the council can only remove him if he was convicted of a felony or "lacked qualifications" to serve in office.
The argument is "brainless," said William Goodman, an attorney hired by the City Council to investigate the $8.4 million text-message scandal that has engulfed City Hall since January. The city charter clearly supports both actions, Goodman said.
It wasn't immediately clear late Tuesday if Kilpatrick's action carried any weight. Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm, declined comment. Some observers called it more saber rattling than a serious effort to derail the council's efforts, since state law only requires the governor receive a sworn statement from one person to begin considering removal of officials.
Council may have to re-vote
Still, it's possible the council would have to re-vote on its request to contact Granholm, and it's unclear whether the panel could summon six votes to override a veto. Members voted 5-4 on May 13 to ask Granholm for help and launch forfeiture proceedings against the mayor.
Doing so is "contrary to the board's past actions to uphold home rule," wrote Kilpatrick, who faces perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the scandal. His letter cited well-known resentments among Detroiters about outside interference, including the temporary state takeover of the Detroit Public Schools board, attempts by lawmakers to seize the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and the dissolution of the Detroit Recorder's Court.
Kilpatrick also warned that the City Council's decision to ask the governor to intervene also could put their jobs at risk in the future.
"Council's Removal Resolution is an end run around home rule, which ultimately may set the stage to deprive the People of the City of Detroit of their right to choose and retain its elected leaders and local control over policy matters that impact its citizens," he wrote.
Eric Foster, a political consultant, described the letter as an appeal to Kilpatrick's core backers.
"This is all about posturing and appealing to his supporters," said Foster, director of business and political strategy of the Detroit-based Urban Consulting Group. "He is playing to the same crowd he did when he was in election mode and that is to play the 'us vs. them' card."
Before the council even acted, Granholm had received at least one plea from a citizen to remove Kilpatrick. Also, the charter gives the council the power to pass resolutions that can't be vetoed by the mayor, according to Jeff Blaine, who from 1994-96 was executive director of the commission that produced Detroit's current charter.
"There are many things council can do -- like investigations -- that can't be overridden," Blaine said.
James Canning, a spokesman for Kilpatrick, said the mayor has no other immediate plans to address the council's actions.
"The veto message speaks for itself," Canning said.
But Kilpatrick argued that the council "by an apparent misapplication and misinterpretation" believes it can oust him for other alleged charter violations. It can't, but the council's strategy could backfire and lead to ousters of council members or other elected officials in the future, according to the letter..
"There is more at stake, here, than the recent events between the City Council and me," Kilpatrick's letter read.
Earlier Tuesday, the council began cobbling together the bare-bones of what the forfeiture proceeding would look like after meeting with Goodman.
The quasi-judicial process would involve witnesses, evidence and arguments, with council eventually rendering a decision much like a jury in a civil proceeding.
Kenyatta pushes changes
Also, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said he sees merit in Detroit changing into a city manager form of government -- with the mayor having less control over city functions -- and plans to pursue the possibility next year by advocating a rewrite of the city's charter.
"We've seen the effect of a strong mayor form of government," Kenyatta said. "We've seen what abuse of power has done to this city."
Kenyatta said he plans on pushing for the convening of a charter commission, whose members would rewrite the city charter. Voters would have to authorize the rewrite and then approve the changes. The last revision to the charter was in 1997.
"It's worth looking into ... if not a city manager, then a weaker mayor (form of government)," Kenyatta said.
San Jose, Calif., with about 930,000 citizens, is the only major U.S. city that has a manager and not a strong mayor system of government.
Kenyatta also wants the city charter changed to give the City Council more oversight of Detroit's corporation counsel.
The council has squabbled with city attorneys since the text message scandal broke in January. Members complain city attorneys misled them into approving an $8.4 million settlement with fired Detroit Police officers. The council wasn't told the deal kept secret text messages allegedly exchanged between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, that contradicted testimony during a civil trial last year.
Beatty also faces perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office charges.
The next court date involving Kilpatrick and Beatty's criminal charges is June 3, when lawyers will argue about keeping the text messages secret. Kilpatrick and Beatty have claimed that although some messages already have been publicized, the prosecutor has obtained copies of a total of 625,000 and they should remain private under federal law.
The judge overseeing preliminary stages of criminal proceedings will allow The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press to argue for release of the messages at the June 3 hearing, but in an opinion placed in the court's file on Tuesday 36th District Judge Ronald Giles denied the newspaper's efforts to keep the hearings themselves open to the public.
David Josar and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Japan Pledges to Help Africa Double Rice Production
Japan promised African leaders Wednesday that it would step up aid and investment and use its expertise to help double rice production to ease the burden of soaring food prices.
A three-day summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is seen as a bid by Japan to expand its clout in Africa, where China has been rapidly sealing political alliances and business deals.
Fifty-two African nations are taking part in the summit, 40 of them represented by senior leaders -- including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who faced criticism for going abroad amid anti-immigrant violence at home.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda opened the conference by pledging to double aid by 2012 and offering four billion dollars in low-interest loans to develop infrastructure.
Amid spiralling food prices that have triggered unrest in some parts of the world, Fukuda also promised to devote Japanese technology to help Africa double rice production over the next 10 years from the current 14 million tonnes.
"If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is to open a new page entitled 'the century of African growth,'" Fukuda said.
"In the future, Africa will become a powerful engine driving the growth of the world," he said.
World Bank president Rob Zoellick also gave an upbeat assessment of Africa's potential.
"I believe Africa can become a new pole of global growth, just as we have seen over the last 15 years China and India and others have become complementary poles of growth to the developed countries," Zoellick said.
The summit, called the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), comes little more than a month before Japan hosts the annual Group of Eight summit of the world's top industrial powers.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, current chairman of the African Union, expressed hope that TICAD would help ensure that the G8 summit fulfilled its commitments to Africa.
"Besides the increase in (aid), which is highly appreciated, TICAD needs to go further. What remains to be seen is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan," he said.
Fukuda said Japan would send a delegation to Africa in the coming months to step up investment.
He also announced a 2.5 billion-dollar Africa fund for Japanese businesses, making their investments in the continent less risky.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said that despite rising growth, Africa "is still faced with a number of challenges."
"These include those occasioned by globalisation, rising food and fuel prices and failure to gain access to new markets and inadequate direct foreign investment," he said.
UNICEF chief Ann Veneman warned that the food crisis threatened to set back improvements in nutrition for the continent's children.
The food crisis has "increased the risk of malnutrition and has the potential of reversing important health gains," she said.
Rock star and activist Bono praised the pledges on infrastructure and investment, saying it showed Fukuda's "sharp understanding of Africa's drive towards self-sufficiency," although he also called for money to be earmarked for AIDS sufferers.
"It is possible, between now and the G8, to turn well-meaning rhetoric into well-funded actions. But if not, a cynical impression will be left," Bono said.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, holds the TICAD summits every five years. But it has looked with alarm as emerging economies, notably China, expand their reach in Africa.
China, which is hungry for African minerals and other resources, has held its own three-yearly African development conferences since 2000, while India held its first-ever summit with 14 African countries last month.
Beijing has been heavily criticised in the West for not linking its aid to democracy or human rights. It has also been a major backer of Sudan, which the United States accuses of genocide in its crackdown in Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir used his opening address to demand international pressure on Chad, renewing charges that the neighbouring country backed a rebel incursion on Khartoum this month.
by Kyoko Hasegawa for AFP
A three-day summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is seen as a bid by Japan to expand its clout in Africa, where China has been rapidly sealing political alliances and business deals.
Fifty-two African nations are taking part in the summit, 40 of them represented by senior leaders -- including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who faced criticism for going abroad amid anti-immigrant violence at home.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda opened the conference by pledging to double aid by 2012 and offering four billion dollars in low-interest loans to develop infrastructure.
Amid spiralling food prices that have triggered unrest in some parts of the world, Fukuda also promised to devote Japanese technology to help Africa double rice production over the next 10 years from the current 14 million tonnes.
"If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is to open a new page entitled 'the century of African growth,'" Fukuda said.
"In the future, Africa will become a powerful engine driving the growth of the world," he said.
World Bank president Rob Zoellick also gave an upbeat assessment of Africa's potential.
"I believe Africa can become a new pole of global growth, just as we have seen over the last 15 years China and India and others have become complementary poles of growth to the developed countries," Zoellick said.
The summit, called the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), comes little more than a month before Japan hosts the annual Group of Eight summit of the world's top industrial powers.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, current chairman of the African Union, expressed hope that TICAD would help ensure that the G8 summit fulfilled its commitments to Africa.
"Besides the increase in (aid), which is highly appreciated, TICAD needs to go further. What remains to be seen is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan," he said.
Fukuda said Japan would send a delegation to Africa in the coming months to step up investment.
He also announced a 2.5 billion-dollar Africa fund for Japanese businesses, making their investments in the continent less risky.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said that despite rising growth, Africa "is still faced with a number of challenges."
"These include those occasioned by globalisation, rising food and fuel prices and failure to gain access to new markets and inadequate direct foreign investment," he said.
UNICEF chief Ann Veneman warned that the food crisis threatened to set back improvements in nutrition for the continent's children.
The food crisis has "increased the risk of malnutrition and has the potential of reversing important health gains," she said.
Rock star and activist Bono praised the pledges on infrastructure and investment, saying it showed Fukuda's "sharp understanding of Africa's drive towards self-sufficiency," although he also called for money to be earmarked for AIDS sufferers.
"It is possible, between now and the G8, to turn well-meaning rhetoric into well-funded actions. But if not, a cynical impression will be left," Bono said.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, holds the TICAD summits every five years. But it has looked with alarm as emerging economies, notably China, expand their reach in Africa.
China, which is hungry for African minerals and other resources, has held its own three-yearly African development conferences since 2000, while India held its first-ever summit with 14 African countries last month.
Beijing has been heavily criticised in the West for not linking its aid to democracy or human rights. It has also been a major backer of Sudan, which the United States accuses of genocide in its crackdown in Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir used his opening address to demand international pressure on Chad, renewing charges that the neighbouring country backed a rebel incursion on Khartoum this month.
by Kyoko Hasegawa for AFP
Graduation Rates, Gender Disparity Causing Concern at HBCUs
Graduation Rates, Gender Disparity Causing Concern PDF Print E-mail
By Eboni Farmer -- Black College Wire
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in 2007 Howard University had a graduation rate of 60 percent, up two points from the rate the journal reported in 2006.
That rate, for those graduating within six years, is 16 points above the national average graduation rate of 44 percent for blacks nationally.
The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education calls the 44 percent graduation rate "dismally low."
Howard is one of only seven HBCUs, which include Fisk University and Claflin University, that graduate more than half of their students.
Alvin Thornton, Howard's Associate Provost of Academic Affairs, said Howard graduates 50 percent of its students within four years, a rate that he says the university is working to increase.
Thornton said that one of the key components in increasing the graduation rates at Howard is when students first step foot on campus during orientation.
"Students have to have clear understanding of the academic process at a university when they get here," Thornton said.
Thornton stressed the importance of students balancing life outside of the classroom which in many cases is a defining factor on whether or not they will graduate.
In addition to balancing extracurricular activities, Thornton said the university's financial aid office is encouraged to stretch every dollar to ensure that financial instability will not prevent students from graduating.
One area that Howard is paying close attention to is its male students. Thornton said that the board requires regular reporting on the male student matriculation, retention and graduation rates.
David Richardson, a graduate with a degree in political science, said it took longer than the four-years he expected to graduate in but that didn't deter him from his ultimate goal.
"It took me an extra year," Richardson said. "It wouldn't matter if it took me another year as long as I didn't give up and kept reaching for my goal."
Richardson is among the increasing number of black males who earn their bachelors degree from a college or university.
The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education holds data from 1990 to 2007 showed that the black male graduation rate increased from 28 percent to 37 percent.
Still, black women at Howard and universities and colleges across the country are surpassing Black males in large percentages. In 2007 black women had a graduation of rate of 48 percent an 11 point difference to black men.
Having taught for over 30 years, Thornton understands the importance of reaching out to male students so that they matriculate at higher rates.
"I don't think that males approach the academic arena with the same sophistication as women do," Thornton said.
Thornton said from his experience men do not seek counseling or advising from professors or advisors with the same rigor that he has seen women do.
"As professors and advisors its our job to make sure we are engaging with him to the same degree we are with females," Thornton said.
He also said that male athletes tend to graduate at higher rates than males who do not participate in sports programs.
"It could be because they are in a more disciplined setting or because they get tutoring on a consistent basis,"Thornton said.
The university is conducting a study, the Black Male Student Initiative, which will scientifically evaluate why males in high school are able to produce the SAT scores and GPA scores but miss the mark when they enter college.
Among HBCUs, Spelman College has the highest graduation of blacks with 78 percent, but the college does not top the overall list of schools with the highest black student graduation rate . Although Harvard University has a small black enrollment, it tops the list with 96 percent, with Yale trailing at 94 percent.
Thornton cited their selection process.
" Students who are accepted into institutions like Harvard and Yale usually come from backgrounds that show that they will be successful and graduate at high rates," Thornton said.
In addition, Thornton said that students who attend universities with very large endowments usually have substantial financial assistance.
" Getting our students to graduate at rates of 90 percent and higher would only make our institution greater than . . . it already is," Thornton said.
Eboni Farmer writes for The Hilltop, tHoward University's student newspaper, which originally published this article.
By Eboni Farmer -- Black College Wire
By Eboni Farmer -- Black College Wire
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in 2007 Howard University had a graduation rate of 60 percent, up two points from the rate the journal reported in 2006.
That rate, for those graduating within six years, is 16 points above the national average graduation rate of 44 percent for blacks nationally.
The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education calls the 44 percent graduation rate "dismally low."
Howard is one of only seven HBCUs, which include Fisk University and Claflin University, that graduate more than half of their students.
Alvin Thornton, Howard's Associate Provost of Academic Affairs, said Howard graduates 50 percent of its students within four years, a rate that he says the university is working to increase.
Thornton said that one of the key components in increasing the graduation rates at Howard is when students first step foot on campus during orientation.
"Students have to have clear understanding of the academic process at a university when they get here," Thornton said.
Thornton stressed the importance of students balancing life outside of the classroom which in many cases is a defining factor on whether or not they will graduate.
In addition to balancing extracurricular activities, Thornton said the university's financial aid office is encouraged to stretch every dollar to ensure that financial instability will not prevent students from graduating.
One area that Howard is paying close attention to is its male students. Thornton said that the board requires regular reporting on the male student matriculation, retention and graduation rates.
David Richardson, a graduate with a degree in political science, said it took longer than the four-years he expected to graduate in but that didn't deter him from his ultimate goal.
"It took me an extra year," Richardson said. "It wouldn't matter if it took me another year as long as I didn't give up and kept reaching for my goal."
Richardson is among the increasing number of black males who earn their bachelors degree from a college or university.
The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education holds data from 1990 to 2007 showed that the black male graduation rate increased from 28 percent to 37 percent.
Still, black women at Howard and universities and colleges across the country are surpassing Black males in large percentages. In 2007 black women had a graduation of rate of 48 percent an 11 point difference to black men.
Having taught for over 30 years, Thornton understands the importance of reaching out to male students so that they matriculate at higher rates.
"I don't think that males approach the academic arena with the same sophistication as women do," Thornton said.
Thornton said from his experience men do not seek counseling or advising from professors or advisors with the same rigor that he has seen women do.
"As professors and advisors its our job to make sure we are engaging with him to the same degree we are with females," Thornton said.
He also said that male athletes tend to graduate at higher rates than males who do not participate in sports programs.
"It could be because they are in a more disciplined setting or because they get tutoring on a consistent basis,"Thornton said.
The university is conducting a study, the Black Male Student Initiative, which will scientifically evaluate why males in high school are able to produce the SAT scores and GPA scores but miss the mark when they enter college.
Among HBCUs, Spelman College has the highest graduation of blacks with 78 percent, but the college does not top the overall list of schools with the highest black student graduation rate . Although Harvard University has a small black enrollment, it tops the list with 96 percent, with Yale trailing at 94 percent.
Thornton cited their selection process.
" Students who are accepted into institutions like Harvard and Yale usually come from backgrounds that show that they will be successful and graduate at high rates," Thornton said.
In addition, Thornton said that students who attend universities with very large endowments usually have substantial financial assistance.
" Getting our students to graduate at rates of 90 percent and higher would only make our institution greater than . . . it already is," Thornton said.
Eboni Farmer writes for The Hilltop, tHoward University's student newspaper, which originally published this article.
By Eboni Farmer -- Black College Wire
Support Group Helps African-American Fathers
Christian Davis hasn't forgotten the hurt of mourning an absent father.
"I said I would never let my child feel the way I felt," says Davis, a 24-year-old single dad. "With my friends, I do try to get that point across, that you should be with your kids. It does make a difference."
Still, resolve alone can't always meet the demands of a rambunctious 3-year-old.
That's way Davis was grateful to find Supporting Father Involvement, a Contra Costa County program that provides counseling and other services for African-American parents.
Funded by a $1 million state grant, the effort builds from a simple premise: Involved dads improve children's lives.
"Scientists and researchers have really focused only on mothers, attachment theory and the like, but the evidence shows us how important dads really are," said Lawrence Ferber, a clinical psychologist and group leader for the project.
About half of African-American children live in homes without fathers, studies show.
But targeted interventions show promise in changing that, by building parenting skills and reducing the stress and depression that tear apart parents and erode family ties.
Based on pilot projects in other counties, Supporting Father Involvement focuses on 11-week support groups where fathers can discuss the realities of raising children in urban areas.
"It's a lot of real gut-level stuff," Ferber said. "It could be 'I didn't have enough food,' or 'I
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don't know what to do'; 'my kids needs to go to the doctor,' or 'I'm trying to be on the right track because I don't want to go back to jail.'"
Recruiters find families at grocery stores, playgrounds and social service programs. Many are lured by a $400 stipend, paid in increments. "People come for the money "... but once they get here, they find out what it's worth," Ferber said.
Sessions, held in Richmond, begin with dinner, and always include child care.
Some fathers attend with their wives. Others come with ex-girlfriends. A few bring grandmothers or other relatives.
Davis, who lives in Richmond, enrolled with his aunt, who helps care for his daughter.
"I'm a new father, and I just wanted to get as much information as I possibly can," Davis said. "It's not easy by yourself."
He dotes on 3-year-old Amani, but knows he needs to learn about discipline.
"I'll be honest: If she cries, she gets what she wants," he admits. "It's hard for me to say no."
Parents discuss their own childhoods, assessing which things they want to replicate or avoid, said group leader Tracy Ward.
"We talk a lot about what's going on in the community, with the shootings and violence ... how hard it is telling your kid, you can't walk around the corner now, it's not safe.
"A lot of them want to get out of here, but financially they just can't. A lot of the dads are really beating themselves up because they can't leave and they want to. They feel like their kids should be able to go outside and play."
For up to 18 months, program graduates can get help from case managers with jobs, food, housing and other services. Many remain friends, and even swap baby-sitting.
As parents of seven, Anterious and Sonya Ellis deemed the support groups a welcome break.
"I had been kind of talking about counseling, and they said they had day care here, too," said Anterious, 34. "When you have seven kids, you don't get out much."
By their second session, they were full of praise.
"I'm just optimistic," Anterious said. "We were able to enjoy ourselves, and we haven't argued as much this week."
"It's always about the kids," added Sonya, 38. "Once you have kids you forget that you need couple time."
Aaron Lee, 26, who graduated from the program last year, said he went in committed to being a good father.
"Kids are so precious and so beautiful," said Lee, whose own father was shot and killed when he was 5. "Every time I look at my daughter and my son, it just brings something out in me that I never thought was there."
But talking to other parents helped Lee see how to find time for his 13-month-old daughter, Areanna, even when he walks in the door exhausted from his job at a recycling company. He also learned to manage his money.
"It feels good, when you need diapers, and you have the funds to go in and buy diapers. Or milk. Or food."
Lee is working to secure more visits with his son, 2-year-old Aaron Jr., who lives with Lee's former girlfriend.
Seeking a safer neighborhood, Lee and Areanna's mother moved last fall from North Richmond to Vallejo. Lee makes a point to help care for Areanna's daily needs, changing diapers, spooning peaches into her mouth, replacing the tiny shoes she constantly pulls off.
"When I see her smile, especially when I hear her call me 'Da-da,' when I'm home, and she comes crawling up to me so fast — that's something special."
By Sara Steffens
Contra Costa Times
"I said I would never let my child feel the way I felt," says Davis, a 24-year-old single dad. "With my friends, I do try to get that point across, that you should be with your kids. It does make a difference."
Still, resolve alone can't always meet the demands of a rambunctious 3-year-old.
That's way Davis was grateful to find Supporting Father Involvement, a Contra Costa County program that provides counseling and other services for African-American parents.
Funded by a $1 million state grant, the effort builds from a simple premise: Involved dads improve children's lives.
"Scientists and researchers have really focused only on mothers, attachment theory and the like, but the evidence shows us how important dads really are," said Lawrence Ferber, a clinical psychologist and group leader for the project.
About half of African-American children live in homes without fathers, studies show.
But targeted interventions show promise in changing that, by building parenting skills and reducing the stress and depression that tear apart parents and erode family ties.
Based on pilot projects in other counties, Supporting Father Involvement focuses on 11-week support groups where fathers can discuss the realities of raising children in urban areas.
"It's a lot of real gut-level stuff," Ferber said. "It could be 'I didn't have enough food,' or 'I
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don't know what to do'; 'my kids needs to go to the doctor,' or 'I'm trying to be on the right track because I don't want to go back to jail.'"
Recruiters find families at grocery stores, playgrounds and social service programs. Many are lured by a $400 stipend, paid in increments. "People come for the money "... but once they get here, they find out what it's worth," Ferber said.
Sessions, held in Richmond, begin with dinner, and always include child care.
Some fathers attend with their wives. Others come with ex-girlfriends. A few bring grandmothers or other relatives.
Davis, who lives in Richmond, enrolled with his aunt, who helps care for his daughter.
"I'm a new father, and I just wanted to get as much information as I possibly can," Davis said. "It's not easy by yourself."
He dotes on 3-year-old Amani, but knows he needs to learn about discipline.
"I'll be honest: If she cries, she gets what she wants," he admits. "It's hard for me to say no."
Parents discuss their own childhoods, assessing which things they want to replicate or avoid, said group leader Tracy Ward.
"We talk a lot about what's going on in the community, with the shootings and violence ... how hard it is telling your kid, you can't walk around the corner now, it's not safe.
"A lot of them want to get out of here, but financially they just can't. A lot of the dads are really beating themselves up because they can't leave and they want to. They feel like their kids should be able to go outside and play."
For up to 18 months, program graduates can get help from case managers with jobs, food, housing and other services. Many remain friends, and even swap baby-sitting.
As parents of seven, Anterious and Sonya Ellis deemed the support groups a welcome break.
"I had been kind of talking about counseling, and they said they had day care here, too," said Anterious, 34. "When you have seven kids, you don't get out much."
By their second session, they were full of praise.
"I'm just optimistic," Anterious said. "We were able to enjoy ourselves, and we haven't argued as much this week."
"It's always about the kids," added Sonya, 38. "Once you have kids you forget that you need couple time."
Aaron Lee, 26, who graduated from the program last year, said he went in committed to being a good father.
"Kids are so precious and so beautiful," said Lee, whose own father was shot and killed when he was 5. "Every time I look at my daughter and my son, it just brings something out in me that I never thought was there."
But talking to other parents helped Lee see how to find time for his 13-month-old daughter, Areanna, even when he walks in the door exhausted from his job at a recycling company. He also learned to manage his money.
"It feels good, when you need diapers, and you have the funds to go in and buy diapers. Or milk. Or food."
Lee is working to secure more visits with his son, 2-year-old Aaron Jr., who lives with Lee's former girlfriend.
Seeking a safer neighborhood, Lee and Areanna's mother moved last fall from North Richmond to Vallejo. Lee makes a point to help care for Areanna's daily needs, changing diapers, spooning peaches into her mouth, replacing the tiny shoes she constantly pulls off.
"When I see her smile, especially when I hear her call me 'Da-da,' when I'm home, and she comes crawling up to me so fast — that's something special."
By Sara Steffens
Contra Costa Times
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Racial Tensions Heat Up in a Brooklyn Neighborhood
Seventeen years after race riots left the streets of one New York City neighborhood bloodied, tensions are rising again there between Orthodox Jews and blacks.
First, a black man was badly beaten. Weeks later, a Jewish teenager said he was attacked by two young blacks while riding his bicycle, and angry Jewish residents took to the streets with signs saying "Jewish blood is not cheap!" and "Every Jew a .22."
And along the way, the district attorney accused an Orthodox Jewish street patrol of vigilantism and compared the group to street gangs like the Bloods and Crips.
The strife has revived painful memories of the 1991 riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood called Crown Heights, which is home to about 15,000 Orthodox Jews and more than 130,000 blacks.
As summer approaches, leaders from both sides are braced for trouble.
"One small incident could escalate into something beyond our grasp," warned Richard Green, head of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, a group he said inspires the races "to interact instead of react."
The group was started after the 1991 riots that exploded after a black child was accidentally struck by a station wagon in the motorcade of a Jewish spiritual leader. The 7-year-old boy, who was pinned under the vehicle, later died of his injuries. In the ensuing unrest, which lasted three days, a rabbinical student was mortally stabbed by a black mob.
To quell fears of new unrest, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly visited Crown Heights earlier this month and stepped up police patrols. Officers also are perched atop a tower, keeping 24-hour watch over the world headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement.
"It's a very delicate situation in Crown Heights, a bubble of tension," said Geoffrey Davis, a longtime black resident.
District Attorney Charles Hynes has convened a grand jury to probe the April 14 assault on Andrew Charles, a 20-year-old son of a police detective. He told police that a man on a bicycle sprayed him with mace while another man stepped out of an SUV, struck him with a wooden object and drove off.
Police have released a photograph of a 25-year-old member of the local street patrol group, the Shmira, who is wanted for questioning in what Hynes calls "an unprovoked attack."
Police suspect the attack followed reports that black youths had pelted neighborhood homes with rocks. In May, residents say stones were hurled at a school bus carrying Jewish children.
Charles' mother is accusing police of having "a double standard," noting that they've made no arrest in her son's case while two black teenagers were quickly charged with beating and robbing a Jewish 16-year-old riding his bicycle several weeks ago.
"My son's suspect is still at large almost a month after he was brutally assaulted!" said Charles' mother, Wendy Craigg.
The prosecutor's office said it could not discuss the details of a case under investigation.
Members of the Shmira, which means "to watch" in Hebrew, are quick to show that they protect both blacks and Jews.
In early May, a Jewish man standing in front of the Lubavitcher headquarters was surrounded by four black men who confronted him, cutting his hand. The Shmira chased down the four and called police, according to Yossi Stern, Shmira's director.
In another recent incident, Stern said, a young black woman leaving the subway was confronted by a knife-wielding man who forced her into an apartment building, where he tried to remove her clothing. Her screams were heard by a resident of the building — a Shmira member who pursued the assailant and called 911.
But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that the Shmira "does not cooperate with police like other community watch groups who are our eyes and ears." He said the group has not supplied police officials with the names of its members, as do other such groups in the city.
Still, the current tensions don't even begin to approach 1991 levels.
Reported crimes in the precinct that includes Crown Heights have dropped steadily since then — 77 percent in the past 15 years.
And Green says community residents now have an outlet: Various groups like his formed after the riots to encourage common activities, from sports to the arts, while bridging differences to avert future clashes.
"Race relations are absolutely better than in the '90s, when we were like two ships passing in the night, picking up each other's radar," said Green, 60, a Crown Heights resident and history professor at the City University of New York.
by By VERENA DOBNIK –from AP
First, a black man was badly beaten. Weeks later, a Jewish teenager said he was attacked by two young blacks while riding his bicycle, and angry Jewish residents took to the streets with signs saying "Jewish blood is not cheap!" and "Every Jew a .22."
And along the way, the district attorney accused an Orthodox Jewish street patrol of vigilantism and compared the group to street gangs like the Bloods and Crips.
The strife has revived painful memories of the 1991 riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood called Crown Heights, which is home to about 15,000 Orthodox Jews and more than 130,000 blacks.
As summer approaches, leaders from both sides are braced for trouble.
"One small incident could escalate into something beyond our grasp," warned Richard Green, head of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, a group he said inspires the races "to interact instead of react."
The group was started after the 1991 riots that exploded after a black child was accidentally struck by a station wagon in the motorcade of a Jewish spiritual leader. The 7-year-old boy, who was pinned under the vehicle, later died of his injuries. In the ensuing unrest, which lasted three days, a rabbinical student was mortally stabbed by a black mob.
To quell fears of new unrest, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly visited Crown Heights earlier this month and stepped up police patrols. Officers also are perched atop a tower, keeping 24-hour watch over the world headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement.
"It's a very delicate situation in Crown Heights, a bubble of tension," said Geoffrey Davis, a longtime black resident.
District Attorney Charles Hynes has convened a grand jury to probe the April 14 assault on Andrew Charles, a 20-year-old son of a police detective. He told police that a man on a bicycle sprayed him with mace while another man stepped out of an SUV, struck him with a wooden object and drove off.
Police have released a photograph of a 25-year-old member of the local street patrol group, the Shmira, who is wanted for questioning in what Hynes calls "an unprovoked attack."
Police suspect the attack followed reports that black youths had pelted neighborhood homes with rocks. In May, residents say stones were hurled at a school bus carrying Jewish children.
Charles' mother is accusing police of having "a double standard," noting that they've made no arrest in her son's case while two black teenagers were quickly charged with beating and robbing a Jewish 16-year-old riding his bicycle several weeks ago.
"My son's suspect is still at large almost a month after he was brutally assaulted!" said Charles' mother, Wendy Craigg.
The prosecutor's office said it could not discuss the details of a case under investigation.
Members of the Shmira, which means "to watch" in Hebrew, are quick to show that they protect both blacks and Jews.
In early May, a Jewish man standing in front of the Lubavitcher headquarters was surrounded by four black men who confronted him, cutting his hand. The Shmira chased down the four and called police, according to Yossi Stern, Shmira's director.
In another recent incident, Stern said, a young black woman leaving the subway was confronted by a knife-wielding man who forced her into an apartment building, where he tried to remove her clothing. Her screams were heard by a resident of the building — a Shmira member who pursued the assailant and called 911.
But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that the Shmira "does not cooperate with police like other community watch groups who are our eyes and ears." He said the group has not supplied police officials with the names of its members, as do other such groups in the city.
Still, the current tensions don't even begin to approach 1991 levels.
Reported crimes in the precinct that includes Crown Heights have dropped steadily since then — 77 percent in the past 15 years.
And Green says community residents now have an outlet: Various groups like his formed after the riots to encourage common activities, from sports to the arts, while bridging differences to avert future clashes.
"Race relations are absolutely better than in the '90s, when we were like two ships passing in the night, picking up each other's radar," said Green, 60, a Crown Heights resident and history professor at the City University of New York.
by By VERENA DOBNIK –from AP
UN Peacekeepers 'Abusing Children'
Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.
After research in Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity proposed an international watchdog be set up.
Save the Children said it had sacked three workers for breaching its codes, and called on others to do the same.
The three men were all dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 - which the charity said was a sackable offence even though not illegal.
The UN has said it welcomes the charity's report, which it will study closely.
Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.
No support
A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.
'Elizabeth' tells the BBC about her abuse
"They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing," she said.
"I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding."
No action has been taken against the soldiers.
The report also found that aid workers have been sexually abusing boys and girls.
"In recent years, some important commitments have been made by the UN, the wider international community and by humanitarian and aid agencies to act on this problem," said Save the Children UK chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.
"However, all humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on."
After research involving hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity said better reporting mechanisms needed to be introduced to deal with what it called "endemic failures" in responding to reported cases of abuse.
It also said efforts should be made to strengthen worldwide child protection systems.
Heather Kerr, Save the Children's Ivory Coast country director, says little is being done to support the victims.
"It's a minority of people but they are using their power to sexually exploit children and children that don't have the voice to report about this.
"They are suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence."
Save the Children says the international community has promised a policy of zero-tolerance to child sexual abuse, but that this is not being followed up by action on the ground.
A UN spokesman, Nick Birnback, said that it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" within an organisation that has up to 200,000 personnel serving around the world.
"What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he told the BBC.
BBC
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.
After research in Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity proposed an international watchdog be set up.
Save the Children said it had sacked three workers for breaching its codes, and called on others to do the same.
The three men were all dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 - which the charity said was a sackable offence even though not illegal.
The UN has said it welcomes the charity's report, which it will study closely.
Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.
No support
A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.
'Elizabeth' tells the BBC about her abuse
"They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing," she said.
"I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding."
No action has been taken against the soldiers.
The report also found that aid workers have been sexually abusing boys and girls.
"In recent years, some important commitments have been made by the UN, the wider international community and by humanitarian and aid agencies to act on this problem," said Save the Children UK chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.
"However, all humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on."
After research involving hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity said better reporting mechanisms needed to be introduced to deal with what it called "endemic failures" in responding to reported cases of abuse.
It also said efforts should be made to strengthen worldwide child protection systems.
Heather Kerr, Save the Children's Ivory Coast country director, says little is being done to support the victims.
"It's a minority of people but they are using their power to sexually exploit children and children that don't have the voice to report about this.
"They are suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence."
Save the Children says the international community has promised a policy of zero-tolerance to child sexual abuse, but that this is not being followed up by action on the ground.
A UN spokesman, Nick Birnback, said that it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" within an organisation that has up to 200,000 personnel serving around the world.
"What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he told the BBC.
BBC
African Models, Designers Promote Peace in Kenya
Scores of top African designers and models held a show in Nairobi National Park at the weekend to raise money for victims of Kenya's post-election violence and show a different face to their continent.
The "Fashion for Peace" event drew mainly West and East African models onto a catwalk in a marquee under the moonlight on savannah usually known for its lions and rhinos.
"Fashion for Peace will not change the world, although it does aim at changing people's negative perceptions of Kenya and Africa in other countries," organizers said in a statement.
"And it is a call for peace."
Proceeds from the show were to go to some of the roughly 300,000 Kenyans uprooted from their homes in fighting after a disputed December election. More than 1,300 people died.
Kenyan former model and fashion commentator Waridi Schrobsdroff took to the stage in white for peace.
"Kenyans can really make things happen when they put their hands together," she told Reuters before the show started.
After cocktails at sunset on Saturday, the catwalk shows took place during a gala dinner for about 1,000 guests.
For some, the show of opulence grated.
"I don't know how this will connect to someone who lives down in the slums," said young Kenyan musician Benson Mutua, sipping a glass of champagne next to his Danish wife.
"But if the money accumulated from the people who attended the fashion is taken to the people in the slums, and something relating to peace is done, then it's ok."
Most victims of the violence in January and February were poor Kenyans, living in Nairobi slums -- some just a couple of kilometers from the park -- and impoverished rural areas.
Most people at the show were delighted that a positive image of Kenya was being shown again at last.
"It is great that fashion can be held in the name of peace. Fashion is always a good thing that brings people together and this show has really demonstrated that," said model Lisa Pitkin.
"The fact international designers came here is a good sign, definitely a move forward from where we were two months ago."
Most models wore traditional African dress on the catwalk.
The two-hour show was one of a series of high-profile events -- including a photo-shoot by British businessmen in the Masai Mara game park -- intended to restore Kenya's image after one of the most traumatic episodes in its post-independence history.
Kenyans were horrified after the election when images of machete-wielding mobs and gun-toting policemen were beamed around the world, scaring off tourists and worrying investors.
By Aweys Yusuf from reuters.com
The "Fashion for Peace" event drew mainly West and East African models onto a catwalk in a marquee under the moonlight on savannah usually known for its lions and rhinos.
"Fashion for Peace will not change the world, although it does aim at changing people's negative perceptions of Kenya and Africa in other countries," organizers said in a statement.
"And it is a call for peace."
Proceeds from the show were to go to some of the roughly 300,000 Kenyans uprooted from their homes in fighting after a disputed December election. More than 1,300 people died.
Kenyan former model and fashion commentator Waridi Schrobsdroff took to the stage in white for peace.
"Kenyans can really make things happen when they put their hands together," she told Reuters before the show started.
After cocktails at sunset on Saturday, the catwalk shows took place during a gala dinner for about 1,000 guests.
For some, the show of opulence grated.
"I don't know how this will connect to someone who lives down in the slums," said young Kenyan musician Benson Mutua, sipping a glass of champagne next to his Danish wife.
"But if the money accumulated from the people who attended the fashion is taken to the people in the slums, and something relating to peace is done, then it's ok."
Most victims of the violence in January and February were poor Kenyans, living in Nairobi slums -- some just a couple of kilometers from the park -- and impoverished rural areas.
Most people at the show were delighted that a positive image of Kenya was being shown again at last.
"It is great that fashion can be held in the name of peace. Fashion is always a good thing that brings people together and this show has really demonstrated that," said model Lisa Pitkin.
"The fact international designers came here is a good sign, definitely a move forward from where we were two months ago."
Most models wore traditional African dress on the catwalk.
The two-hour show was one of a series of high-profile events -- including a photo-shoot by British businessmen in the Masai Mara game park -- intended to restore Kenya's image after one of the most traumatic episodes in its post-independence history.
Kenyans were horrified after the election when images of machete-wielding mobs and gun-toting policemen were beamed around the world, scaring off tourists and worrying investors.
By Aweys Yusuf from reuters.com
Usher: 'Fatherhood Changes Everything'
According to Diamond-Selling R&B artist Usher, fatherhood has changed his life.
The “Love In This Club” singer recently sat down for an interview with Emmy Award winning talk show host Ellen Degeneres on Friday where he discussed his new album, relationship with Tameka Foster and his son Usher Raymond V.
"He is my reason for living," the singer tells Ellen of his 6-month old son, Usher Raymond V, with wife Tameka. "[Aside from] my wife, obviously, for helping me have him."
The “Here I Stand” singer went on to say "She's built up ... the foundation of who I am. I want to see more men standing with their women. I want to see more men be open and honest about where they are in life."
"As an African-American, to be there for my child is so important when there are so many young African-American kids without their fathers. I just want him to grow up to be as wise as he can possibly be, kind and open hearted. [Fatherhood] changes everything about me."
By Njai Joszor
from singersroom.com
The “Love In This Club” singer recently sat down for an interview with Emmy Award winning talk show host Ellen Degeneres on Friday where he discussed his new album, relationship with Tameka Foster and his son Usher Raymond V.
"He is my reason for living," the singer tells Ellen of his 6-month old son, Usher Raymond V, with wife Tameka. "[Aside from] my wife, obviously, for helping me have him."
The “Here I Stand” singer went on to say "She's built up ... the foundation of who I am. I want to see more men standing with their women. I want to see more men be open and honest about where they are in life."
"As an African-American, to be there for my child is so important when there are so many young African-American kids without their fathers. I just want him to grow up to be as wise as he can possibly be, kind and open hearted. [Fatherhood] changes everything about me."
By Njai Joszor
from singersroom.com
Monday, May 26, 2008
Forget the BBQs, Remember Baghdad
I can still see the faces of some of the men and women in the United States armed forces serving in Iraq. Some were smiling, some grimacing, most stared with piercing eyes from behind black shades. Many were hues of brown, most were white. They all deserve to be remembered.
It was October 2003. I was working on democracy initiatives with the U.S. Agency for International Development and had been sent to Iraq to help coordinate the first elections to be held after the invasion. Like other members of the U.S. government, I was living in the infamous Green Zone, the heavily guarded four-square-mile center of international presence in Baghdad. It was close quarters, relatively speaking, and I became acquainted with a few soldiers. In all of my years working with the government, I had had multiple interactions with the military, but it was in Iraq that I first internalized the lives, experience and service of American soldiers in a very personal way.
Our encounters were filled with surprises. Over meals in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, I learned mundane facts like their ages—19, 21, 26, 42, 48—and was stunned by the extremes. They shared with me pictures of families and the cell phone number to Pizza Ali's, along with instructions on how to safely retrieve an ordered pizza at Assassin's Gate, a primary point of entry into the Green Zone. We all counted the days until our return home. I kept my opposition to the war to myself.
Hotel Al-Rasheed, where I was staying, was bombed in the early morning after my first night in the Green Zone. After that startling welcome, rocket-propelled grenades periodically blasted parts of the protected area. And it was during those tense moments of crisis that I gained a real perspective on the American soldier. I witnessed selflessness, care, valor and, in some instances, fear. American soldiers protected me, along with many others.
Since leaving Baghdad, I have scoured photos, read announcements and listened to news reports, ravenously searching for information on the soldiers I befriended during my time there. I often ponder their fates, and wonder which of them are still alive.
We have lost more than 4,000 Americans in the war in Iraq. Over 30,000 have been wounded in action since the start of U.S. military operations there. Fatalities related to the war in Afghanistan now stand at just under 500.
Memorial Day for me is no longer about the beginning of summer, a day off, barbecues and swimming pool openings. It has become a day to put all of my efforts into ensuring that the faces of those soldiers I met nearly five years ago remain forever vivid in my memory.
We have become a nation divided by those who watch a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines and their families who face a sixth year of sacrifice. It is a time to honor their sacrifices with more than a thank you, a parade, or even a flag on our porch.
As we begin the remembrance this Memorial Day of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in wars both past and present, we should reflect on policies that will make a living memorial for generations to come.
There are any number of legislative initiatives in which we can be involved to advocate for the health and well-being of members of our military abroad and at home. One area worthy of support is the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, otherwise known as the New GI Bill (S.22), and sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). The bill seeks to build on the opportunity that was given to our WWII veterans, who are often referred to as the "greatest generation," by expanding educational and training benefits to service members.
Let us resolve to ask our members of Congress to support this bill, which would allow members of a new generation to fulfill their potential after they have completed their service. As the brave return, let us give them a memorial that will live as one of America's accomplishments.
Let us never forget them or their service to our nation.
Sundaa Bridgett Jones is director of the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.
From theroot.com
It was October 2003. I was working on democracy initiatives with the U.S. Agency for International Development and had been sent to Iraq to help coordinate the first elections to be held after the invasion. Like other members of the U.S. government, I was living in the infamous Green Zone, the heavily guarded four-square-mile center of international presence in Baghdad. It was close quarters, relatively speaking, and I became acquainted with a few soldiers. In all of my years working with the government, I had had multiple interactions with the military, but it was in Iraq that I first internalized the lives, experience and service of American soldiers in a very personal way.
Our encounters were filled with surprises. Over meals in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, I learned mundane facts like their ages—19, 21, 26, 42, 48—and was stunned by the extremes. They shared with me pictures of families and the cell phone number to Pizza Ali's, along with instructions on how to safely retrieve an ordered pizza at Assassin's Gate, a primary point of entry into the Green Zone. We all counted the days until our return home. I kept my opposition to the war to myself.
Hotel Al-Rasheed, where I was staying, was bombed in the early morning after my first night in the Green Zone. After that startling welcome, rocket-propelled grenades periodically blasted parts of the protected area. And it was during those tense moments of crisis that I gained a real perspective on the American soldier. I witnessed selflessness, care, valor and, in some instances, fear. American soldiers protected me, along with many others.
Since leaving Baghdad, I have scoured photos, read announcements and listened to news reports, ravenously searching for information on the soldiers I befriended during my time there. I often ponder their fates, and wonder which of them are still alive.
We have lost more than 4,000 Americans in the war in Iraq. Over 30,000 have been wounded in action since the start of U.S. military operations there. Fatalities related to the war in Afghanistan now stand at just under 500.
Memorial Day for me is no longer about the beginning of summer, a day off, barbecues and swimming pool openings. It has become a day to put all of my efforts into ensuring that the faces of those soldiers I met nearly five years ago remain forever vivid in my memory.
We have become a nation divided by those who watch a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines and their families who face a sixth year of sacrifice. It is a time to honor their sacrifices with more than a thank you, a parade, or even a flag on our porch.
As we begin the remembrance this Memorial Day of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in wars both past and present, we should reflect on policies that will make a living memorial for generations to come.
There are any number of legislative initiatives in which we can be involved to advocate for the health and well-being of members of our military abroad and at home. One area worthy of support is the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, otherwise known as the New GI Bill (S.22), and sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). The bill seeks to build on the opportunity that was given to our WWII veterans, who are often referred to as the "greatest generation," by expanding educational and training benefits to service members.
Let us resolve to ask our members of Congress to support this bill, which would allow members of a new generation to fulfill their potential after they have completed their service. As the brave return, let us give them a memorial that will live as one of America's accomplishments.
Let us never forget them or their service to our nation.
Sundaa Bridgett Jones is director of the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.
From theroot.com
New England Blacks in Philanthropy to Host Conference
Amid the drama of local and national economic turmoil, New England Blacks in Philanthropy (NEBIP) will host the 2008 New England conference, "Black Philanthropy - Building Stronger Communities," in Boston. The conference will be June 22-24, at John Hancock Hall, with the purpose of examining, encouraging and promoting Black philanthropy as a means of economic empowerment and civic engagement.
Kelley Chunn, media & marketing consultant to New England Blacks in Philanthropy, told Celebrity News Service that several well-known attendees will be at the conference including: Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President of Spelman College; Dr. James P. Comer, MD, Professor, Yale University; and Gail Snowden, Philanthropist and NEBIP 2008 Honoree.
Chunn told CNS she anticipates the highlight of the conference to be, "the recognition of Gail Snowden, formerly of Bank of America, for her philanthropic endeavors."
Bithiah Carter, President of New England Blacks in Philanthropy, told CNS, "NEBIP is excited to create this environment of learning, examination and strategy building for the philanthropic community. Although NEBIP is a newly formed organization, it is critical to start the conversation of how we create a framework for more inclusive philanthropic practices as we move forward."
The conference will convene foundation and corporate grant makers, philanthropists, community leaders, and trustees and is open to all. Also welcome are Black researchers and consultants who study Black issues.
Chunn told CNS that the conference has been able to accomplish a great deal in the past including, "How to allocate more than one billion in funding to non-profits." She added that they were also able to "increase the numbers of people of color in senior level grant making positions."
Founded in 2006, New England Blacks in Philanthropy was created to inform and transform the practice of philanthropy in Black communities. The transformation that NEBIP seeks is to create a straight line of sight from philanthropic grant making practice to self-sufficiency for the Black community.
Sponsors for the conference so far include: The Boston Foundation; the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and State Street Foundation; Schott Foundation for Public Educator and Greater Worcester Community Foundation.
Other supporters include: the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley; Associated Grant Makers; Schott Foundation for Public Education; Bank of America; The Hyams Foundation; and Third Sector New England.
Jan Westmark - Celebrity News Service
Kelley Chunn, media & marketing consultant to New England Blacks in Philanthropy, told Celebrity News Service that several well-known attendees will be at the conference including: Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President of Spelman College; Dr. James P. Comer, MD, Professor, Yale University; and Gail Snowden, Philanthropist and NEBIP 2008 Honoree.
Chunn told CNS she anticipates the highlight of the conference to be, "the recognition of Gail Snowden, formerly of Bank of America, for her philanthropic endeavors."
Bithiah Carter, President of New England Blacks in Philanthropy, told CNS, "NEBIP is excited to create this environment of learning, examination and strategy building for the philanthropic community. Although NEBIP is a newly formed organization, it is critical to start the conversation of how we create a framework for more inclusive philanthropic practices as we move forward."
The conference will convene foundation and corporate grant makers, philanthropists, community leaders, and trustees and is open to all. Also welcome are Black researchers and consultants who study Black issues.
Chunn told CNS that the conference has been able to accomplish a great deal in the past including, "How to allocate more than one billion in funding to non-profits." She added that they were also able to "increase the numbers of people of color in senior level grant making positions."
Founded in 2006, New England Blacks in Philanthropy was created to inform and transform the practice of philanthropy in Black communities. The transformation that NEBIP seeks is to create a straight line of sight from philanthropic grant making practice to self-sufficiency for the Black community.
Sponsors for the conference so far include: The Boston Foundation; the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and State Street Foundation; Schott Foundation for Public Educator and Greater Worcester Community Foundation.
Other supporters include: the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley; Associated Grant Makers; Schott Foundation for Public Education; Bank of America; The Hyams Foundation; and Third Sector New England.
Jan Westmark - Celebrity News Service
Jay-Z and Usher Record Duet about Marriage
Jay-Z and Usher are celebrating the joys of being married to their respective wives in a new duet titled "Best Thing."
"Of course, with the talk of both of us now being newlyweds, there is a question as to why, and is it real?" Usher told MTV Base of the song, which is produced by Janet Jackson's beau Jermaine Dupri. "Well, if you hear that [song], you'll understand what [Jay-Z] meant when he says, 'Seeds becomes plants/ Boys become men/ You've got to grow up, not down.'"
The song opens with Jay-Z speaking of a bachelor who doesn't think marriage is for him: "Can't give a ring up/ I couldn't give a f---, how could I give a finger?/ Let alone half baths and closets/ So claustrophobic, in fear of close objects."
Usher, meanwhile, playing an unfaithful boyfriend, sings: "Listen, is there any chance that you remember me being any more than just a horrible man? And would you consider pullin' this trigger and taking a second shot at romance?/ Oh baby, I want the days when you were my girl and I was your man/ Know I took you for granted/ But it wasn't until now I see how much I miss you."
Jay-Z, 38, married Beyoncé Knowles, 26, in April. Usher, 29, married stylist Tameka Foster, 38, last August.
"Of course, with the talk of both of us now being newlyweds, there is a question as to why, and is it real?" Usher told MTV Base of the song, which is produced by Janet Jackson's beau Jermaine Dupri. "Well, if you hear that [song], you'll understand what [Jay-Z] meant when he says, 'Seeds becomes plants/ Boys become men/ You've got to grow up, not down.'"
The song opens with Jay-Z speaking of a bachelor who doesn't think marriage is for him: "Can't give a ring up/ I couldn't give a f---, how could I give a finger?/ Let alone half baths and closets/ So claustrophobic, in fear of close objects."
Usher, meanwhile, playing an unfaithful boyfriend, sings: "Listen, is there any chance that you remember me being any more than just a horrible man? And would you consider pullin' this trigger and taking a second shot at romance?/ Oh baby, I want the days when you were my girl and I was your man/ Know I took you for granted/ But it wasn't until now I see how much I miss you."
Jay-Z, 38, married Beyoncé Knowles, 26, in April. Usher, 29, married stylist Tameka Foster, 38, last August.
Zimbabwe's Mugabe Threatens to Expel US Ambassador
President Robert Mugabe threatened Sunday to expel the U.S. ambassador for providing advice to the opposition opponent in the upcoming presidential runoff.
Mugabe, speaking at the formal launch of his campaign for the June 27 runoff, said Ambassador James McGee had publicly urged opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe to lead his embattled supporters. Tsvangirai returned Saturday after more than six weeks abroad.
"As long as he carries on doing that, I will kick him out of the country," Mugabe said of McGee, a Vietnam War veteran. "I don't care if he fought in Vietnam. This is Zimbabwe, not an extension of America."
Mugabe also ridiculed claims the opposition leader was the target of a military assassination plot.
"Tsvangirai is running around telling people I want to kill him," Mugabe said. "I don't even have a bow and arrow."
Independent human rights groups, McGee and other diplomats say opposition supporters have been beaten and killed by government and ruling party thugs to ensure the 84-year-old Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, wins the runoff. Mugabe trailed Tsvangirai in the first round on March 29.
Tsvangirai left soon after the first vote to warn the world about impending violence. He first tried to return May 17, but canceled the trip after his party said he was the target of a military assassination plot. Tsvangirai has survived at least three attempts on his life.
"For too long, Zimbabwe has been isolated, first from the international community and now from the African community, due to the policies of intolerance and repression imposed upon us by Robert Mugabe," Tsvangirai said in a statement Sunday. "For too, long we have suffered under the burden of economic hardship and poverty as a result of misguided policies."
Sunday, Mugabe returned to his theme of portraying Tsvangirai as a stooge of the West, charges the opposition rejects.
"We have an enemy who wants us to go back to be ruled by the whites," Mugabe said.
He claimed former colonial ruler Britain and the United States had celebrated the opposition's showing in the initial round of voting. In addition to Tsvangirai coming first in a field of four in the presidential race, his Movement for Democratic Change won control of parliament — the first time Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost parliament since independence.
"You saw the joy the British had, the Americans had, you saw them celebrating as if Zimbabweans are an extension of Britain and America," Mugabe said Sunday.
"Some of you want to sell your country for candy, like children," Mugabe told state television viewers in a country where inflation has spiraled to the point many people cannot afford basic necessities. The economic crisis was a major concern for voters in March.
"What we know is a family is having problems and we should unite as a family against outsiders," Mugabe said Sunday.
Along with the formal launch of Mugabe's campaign came a new look for his posters. Rather than stern-faced with a raised fist as in March, new posters show him fist raised, but smiling along with the slogan: "100 percent empowerment, total independence."
By ANGUS SHAW from AP
Mugabe, speaking at the formal launch of his campaign for the June 27 runoff, said Ambassador James McGee had publicly urged opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe to lead his embattled supporters. Tsvangirai returned Saturday after more than six weeks abroad.
"As long as he carries on doing that, I will kick him out of the country," Mugabe said of McGee, a Vietnam War veteran. "I don't care if he fought in Vietnam. This is Zimbabwe, not an extension of America."
Mugabe also ridiculed claims the opposition leader was the target of a military assassination plot.
"Tsvangirai is running around telling people I want to kill him," Mugabe said. "I don't even have a bow and arrow."
Independent human rights groups, McGee and other diplomats say opposition supporters have been beaten and killed by government and ruling party thugs to ensure the 84-year-old Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, wins the runoff. Mugabe trailed Tsvangirai in the first round on March 29.
Tsvangirai left soon after the first vote to warn the world about impending violence. He first tried to return May 17, but canceled the trip after his party said he was the target of a military assassination plot. Tsvangirai has survived at least three attempts on his life.
"For too long, Zimbabwe has been isolated, first from the international community and now from the African community, due to the policies of intolerance and repression imposed upon us by Robert Mugabe," Tsvangirai said in a statement Sunday. "For too, long we have suffered under the burden of economic hardship and poverty as a result of misguided policies."
Sunday, Mugabe returned to his theme of portraying Tsvangirai as a stooge of the West, charges the opposition rejects.
"We have an enemy who wants us to go back to be ruled by the whites," Mugabe said.
He claimed former colonial ruler Britain and the United States had celebrated the opposition's showing in the initial round of voting. In addition to Tsvangirai coming first in a field of four in the presidential race, his Movement for Democratic Change won control of parliament — the first time Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost parliament since independence.
"You saw the joy the British had, the Americans had, you saw them celebrating as if Zimbabweans are an extension of Britain and America," Mugabe said Sunday.
"Some of you want to sell your country for candy, like children," Mugabe told state television viewers in a country where inflation has spiraled to the point many people cannot afford basic necessities. The economic crisis was a major concern for voters in March.
"What we know is a family is having problems and we should unite as a family against outsiders," Mugabe said Sunday.
Along with the formal launch of Mugabe's campaign came a new look for his posters. Rather than stern-faced with a raised fist as in March, new posters show him fist raised, but smiling along with the slogan: "100 percent empowerment, total independence."
By ANGUS SHAW from AP
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Gathering Honors African American Soldiers from Civil War
More than a century after Thomas E. Platner died, a dozen sets of hands clasped around his grave to honor a life that never made it into the history books.
"Thomas E. Platner," called out Megan L. Roberts of Rochester, a freshman at the University of Rochester, "You were just 17 when on March 10, 1853, you answered like a man."
Believed to be a soldier in the United States Colored Troops, long-ago Rochester resident Platner was buried at Riverside Cemetery on Lake Avenue, but his headstone wasn't discovered until 2007 by Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery.
Saturday morning, members of the Rochester-Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission gathered the reverent beside Platner's grave for the fourth annual commemoration of black Civil War soldiers.
About a dozen onlookers held their hats and flags as five men and one woman in navy blue uniforms marched through the cemetery and fired replica rifles to honor Platner and the thousands of other African-American soldiers who fought for their own freedom.
"These guys sacrificed a lot so those of us who are African American can live large today," said Mel Reid, a Washington D.C. resident who travels the country in his Navy cap and white gloves to remind Americans of the oft-forgotten Colored Troops. "When we put on this uniform, it's a way to say 'Thank you' to someone who kind of got lost in history."
As an added 'Thank you' to Cathy Williams, an African-American slave who disguised herself as a man to serve as a Buffalo Soldier, Rochester resident Lillie Hurst pulled her hair back and slid on knee-high boots. A veteran stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., Hurst said she wanted to learn about the long history of military women who also are glossed over in Civil War stories.
These reminders of the forgotten pieces of history are lessons for the future, said Rochester resident Marie Parsons.
"We are a nation of minorities," she said. "We need to honor the people that are part of American heritage that we don't often think of."
Justina Wang from Democrat and Chronicle
"Thomas E. Platner," called out Megan L. Roberts of Rochester, a freshman at the University of Rochester, "You were just 17 when on March 10, 1853, you answered like a man."
Believed to be a soldier in the United States Colored Troops, long-ago Rochester resident Platner was buried at Riverside Cemetery on Lake Avenue, but his headstone wasn't discovered until 2007 by Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery.
Saturday morning, members of the Rochester-Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission gathered the reverent beside Platner's grave for the fourth annual commemoration of black Civil War soldiers.
About a dozen onlookers held their hats and flags as five men and one woman in navy blue uniforms marched through the cemetery and fired replica rifles to honor Platner and the thousands of other African-American soldiers who fought for their own freedom.
"These guys sacrificed a lot so those of us who are African American can live large today," said Mel Reid, a Washington D.C. resident who travels the country in his Navy cap and white gloves to remind Americans of the oft-forgotten Colored Troops. "When we put on this uniform, it's a way to say 'Thank you' to someone who kind of got lost in history."
As an added 'Thank you' to Cathy Williams, an African-American slave who disguised herself as a man to serve as a Buffalo Soldier, Rochester resident Lillie Hurst pulled her hair back and slid on knee-high boots. A veteran stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., Hurst said she wanted to learn about the long history of military women who also are glossed over in Civil War stories.
These reminders of the forgotten pieces of history are lessons for the future, said Rochester resident Marie Parsons.
"We are a nation of minorities," she said. "We need to honor the people that are part of American heritage that we don't often think of."
Justina Wang from Democrat and Chronicle
SEIU Elects First Black Woman President
Service Employees International Union Local 1000, the largest state employee union, has elected an African American woman as its president, the first to hold the position.
Yvonne Walker, a legal secretary at the Department of Justice in Sacramento, was elected in statewide mail balloting, the results of which were announced Thursday. Walker served as vice president for bargaining of Local 1000 for the past three years.
Walker succeeds Jim Hard, who did not seek re-election as president but was elected vice president for organizing and representation. Cora Okumura was elected vice president, and secretary-treasurer Kathleen Collins was elected vice president of bargaining.
Walker was elected with 44 percent of the vote. Coming in second was Donna Snodgrass, vice president of the California State Employees Association (29 percent) and third was Ken Hamidi, a compliance representative for the Franchise Tax Board (26 percent).
Local 1000 represents state employees from a wide variety of departments, but not peace officers, prison guards, firefighters, attorneys, physicians and other specialists.
The newly elected officers assume office on July 1.
Local 1000's contract with the state expires on June 30. Negotiations began on Tuesday.
from sfgate.com
Yvonne Walker, a legal secretary at the Department of Justice in Sacramento, was elected in statewide mail balloting, the results of which were announced Thursday. Walker served as vice president for bargaining of Local 1000 for the past three years.
Walker succeeds Jim Hard, who did not seek re-election as president but was elected vice president for organizing and representation. Cora Okumura was elected vice president, and secretary-treasurer Kathleen Collins was elected vice president of bargaining.
Walker was elected with 44 percent of the vote. Coming in second was Donna Snodgrass, vice president of the California State Employees Association (29 percent) and third was Ken Hamidi, a compliance representative for the Franchise Tax Board (26 percent).
Local 1000 represents state employees from a wide variety of departments, but not peace officers, prison guards, firefighters, attorneys, physicians and other specialists.
The newly elected officers assume office on July 1.
Local 1000's contract with the state expires on June 30. Negotiations began on Tuesday.
from sfgate.com
National Slavery Museum Faces Deadline
The U.S. National Slavery Museum has asked Fredericksburg officials for a one-year extension of the deadline for beginning construction on the facility.
The museum currently has until Aug. 1 to start building under a special-use permit approved by the City Council two years ago.
The permit was requested because the proposed museum's design calls for a height that exceeds normal limits for that portion of the city. The extra height is to accommodate the mast of a replica slave ship planned as the museum's centerpiece.
Vonita W. Foster, executive director for the museum, sent her request to the city Planning Department on May 16, the same day museum founder L. Douglas Wilder announced he would not seek re-election as Richmond mayor.
Wilder's term expires at the end of the year. The Free Lance-Star requested an interview last week with Wilder, but his press secretary said he was unavailable for the rest of the week.
The newspaper had asked to speak to Wilder about whether he plans to devote all or some of his time to the museum once he finishes his term and whether he still plans to build a visitors center on the museum land by year's end, as he told The New York Times in March.
Wilder, the nation's first black governor and the grandson of slaves, was inspired to build the museum during a trip to Goree Island in West Africa while governor.
In 2001, he chose Fredericksburg as the site for the museum. It is to be built on a 38-acre tract overlooking the Rappahannock River and within the Celebrate Virginia tourism and retail development. The Silver Cos., the developer of Celebrate Virginia, donated the land.
Construction on the museum has not begun and no application for a building permit or site work had been filed as of Friday, according to city officials.
The request for an extension of the special-use permit deadline must be considered by the Planning Com-mission. Its recommendation goes to the City Council for a final decision.
Planning Director Ray Ocel estimated it would take more than a month for the process to run its course.
By PAMELA GOULD
from the free lance star
The museum currently has until Aug. 1 to start building under a special-use permit approved by the City Council two years ago.
The permit was requested because the proposed museum's design calls for a height that exceeds normal limits for that portion of the city. The extra height is to accommodate the mast of a replica slave ship planned as the museum's centerpiece.
Vonita W. Foster, executive director for the museum, sent her request to the city Planning Department on May 16, the same day museum founder L. Douglas Wilder announced he would not seek re-election as Richmond mayor.
Wilder's term expires at the end of the year. The Free Lance-Star requested an interview last week with Wilder, but his press secretary said he was unavailable for the rest of the week.
The newspaper had asked to speak to Wilder about whether he plans to devote all or some of his time to the museum once he finishes his term and whether he still plans to build a visitors center on the museum land by year's end, as he told The New York Times in March.
Wilder, the nation's first black governor and the grandson of slaves, was inspired to build the museum during a trip to Goree Island in West Africa while governor.
In 2001, he chose Fredericksburg as the site for the museum. It is to be built on a 38-acre tract overlooking the Rappahannock River and within the Celebrate Virginia tourism and retail development. The Silver Cos., the developer of Celebrate Virginia, donated the land.
Construction on the museum has not begun and no application for a building permit or site work had been filed as of Friday, according to city officials.
The request for an extension of the special-use permit deadline must be considered by the Planning Com-mission. Its recommendation goes to the City Council for a final decision.
Planning Director Ray Ocel estimated it would take more than a month for the process to run its course.
By PAMELA GOULD
from the free lance star
South Africa Wages Intensified War on AIDS
The abused and orphaned children in Pastor Julius Bonani's church are the face of an AIDS epidemic that is killing nearly 1,000 South Africans a day and infecting even more.
And yet, the 18 children who live in Bonani's heartbreak home, in a shanty town filled with dust and despair, also personify a tortuous journey toward hope in the country most affected by the AIDS crisis. After a decade of denial under a president who has disputed the cause of AIDS and a health minister who thinks garlic is a remedy, there is growing political will to tackle the crisis.
The challenges are overwhelming. An estimated 5.4 million of South Africa's 48 million people have the virus — the highest total of any country. But after years of pressure from activists, South Africa now boasts the world's biggest AIDS treatment program.
The number of people receiving therapy has more than tripled in just two years, from 143,000 in March 2006 to 456,000 at the end of February, according to government statistics. That's still only half the estimated 900,000 who have developed full-blown AIDS and need treatment, but a national plan launched a year ago aims to provide care and treatment to 80 percent by 2011 and halving the number of new infections.
Some 40,000 children nationwide are receiving AIDS drugs, including the 18 in Bonani's church — children such as Thandiswa, who was found sucking at the wizened breast of her dying mother, her dead twin at her side. And Abina, who still bears the scars of cigarettes her drunken father extinguished on her skin in fury that she had HIV. And Siphosethu, who was abandoned just after birth, smothered in rags, crawling with ants and reeking of festering sores.
They are being transformed into bubbly, bossy 6-year-old Thandiswa; giggling, wriggling Abina; and Siphosethu, whose name means "our gift." They are given their medicine every day with a helping of porridge and a big dollop of love.
"Not one child in our care has died," says Bonani, with a smile. "We are so very, very proud of them."
Bonani and his wife, Lulama, who have looked after their 13-year-old HIV-positive grandson since their own daughter died of AIDS, hope the children in their care will be the last generation infected with HIV through their mother's womb or breast milk.
More than 90 percent of pregnant women with HIV in the Western Cape province around Cape Town now receive drugs to prevent the virus from passing to their unborn children. But in poorer areas like the rural Eastern Cape, the number of women on medication is nearer half.
Health professionals and activists say the biggest test of the government's commitment will be what it does to reduce mother-to-child transmission.
Mortality rates for women and young children are higher now than they were in 1990, before the end of apartheid, according to a study by the Medical Research Council, which said South Africa was one of only 12 countries suffering such increases.
The report, titled "Every Death Counts," said at least 260 mothers, newborns and children under 5 die every day in South Africa, with HIV, AIDS and related infections like tuberculosis and pneumonia responsible for about two-thirds of the deaths.
After four years of delay, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in February issued guidelines that comply with World Health Organization recommendations: Doctors should give two drugs, nevirapine and AZT, to pregnant women, not just nevirapine, because the dual therapy is much more effective than the single drug. It is now up to individual provinces to implement the new strategy.
The Western Cape didn't wait for the official go-ahead. It broke free of the national health ministry's straitjacket in 2004 and prescribed both drugs, slashing mother-to-child transmission to less than 5 percent — compared with more than 20 percent in some other provinces.
Gauteng, home of Johannesburg and the most populous province, and KwaZulu-Natal, the worst affected, started using both drugs at the start of April. KwaZulu-Natal authorities say they hoped to cut the rate of mother-to-child transmission from the current 32 percent to about 10 percent.
Francois Venter, a doctor who heads the Southern African Clinicians Society, said the dual therapy guidelines had "rejuvenated" prevention efforts. "There's quite a vibe about clinics trying to do better than each other," he said. "People are getting excited about trying to fix the problem."
But doctors often have to battle bureaucracy. A clinic in rural KwaZulu-Natal suspended two doctors for giving women dual therapy ahead of its local authorization and other "misdemeanors." The health chief in the province, which is also suffering sky-high rates of TB which feeds off AIDS, makes no secret of her dislike of conventional treatment.
Much of the blame for South Africa's AIDS disaster is laid at the door of its health minister, Tshabalala-Msimang, and President Thabo Mbeki, who gained notoriety after he came to office in 1999 by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS.
Mbeki for years supported Tshabalala-Msimang, dubbed "Dr. Garlic" for her mistrust of AIDS drugs and her espousal of garlic, olive oil and lemon. Instead, he axed her respected deputy, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, whom he accused of being insubordinate, but who was a driving force behind the new AIDS strategy launched last year.
Mbeki has said nothing to indicate he has reversed his position on the causes of AIDS, and Tshabalala-Msimang continues to advocate nutritional remedies, although she now extols the virtues of the new national campaign.
"The sustained and expanded national response to HIV and AIDS is beginning to pay some dividends," she wrote in the foreword of a report to the U.N. General Assembly.
Events may simply be overtaking the controversies. Mbeki has only one more year in office. His deputy heads the revamped South African National AIDS Council and has mended fences with activists, and the Treasury has announced a massive increase in spending on HIV.
Jacob Zuma, who is first in line to succeed Mbeki as president, says taming the epidemic is a top priority.
But there is a snag. Zuma was in 2006 acquitted of rape in a trial in which he confessed to having knowingly had unprotected sex with the woman, who had the AIDS virus. His defense: He showered afterward, believing it reduced the risk of infection. He has since apologized and AIDS activists hope he will try to silence his critics by getting tough on AIDS.
Prevention is the weakest link in South Africa's shaky chain.
The Human Sciences Research Council estimated that there were 1,500 new infections per day in 2005.
"For every two people put on treatment, five get infected. It's just unbelievable. You are chasing the tail the whole time," exclaims Venter, the doctor. "Prevention is just a disaster zone."
South Africa is not alone. Major initiatives like the WHO's "3 by 5" campaign, which aimed to put 3 million people worldwide on AIDS drugs by 2005, and much of the Bush administration's AIDS funding, are criticized by experts for focusing on treatment rather than building up the health system, condom distribution or HIV testing.
Male circumcision is the only new tool in the prevention armory. But unlike other African health ministers, Tshabalala-Msimang is skeptical. She says there is not enough information available about its effect on AIDS infection — this despite its endorsement by WHO and UNAIDS, based on "extensive and convincing" evidence that the procedure cuts the risk for infection for men by about 60 percent.
The government says education campaigns among the young are beginning to pay off. The prevalence rate among girls aged 15 to 19 fell to 13.5 percent in 2006, down from 16 percent two years previously.
South Africa still lacks extensive public anti-AIDS publicity, too many of its men still shun condoms, and the biggest obstacle remains the stigma associated with the virus. But Bonani believes that, too, is beginning to change, at least in his community.
When Bonani first took in AIDS orphans, his church congregation vanished. One of his workers was accused of being a witch. But now AIDS is discussed openly in the community, he said, and his congregation is back up to 70, of whom 17 have revealed they have the virus.
"It took them three years to come back and to rebuild the trust," Bonani says, smiling. "Now they apologize, and they accept us."
By CLARE NULLIS for AP
And yet, the 18 children who live in Bonani's heartbreak home, in a shanty town filled with dust and despair, also personify a tortuous journey toward hope in the country most affected by the AIDS crisis. After a decade of denial under a president who has disputed the cause of AIDS and a health minister who thinks garlic is a remedy, there is growing political will to tackle the crisis.
The challenges are overwhelming. An estimated 5.4 million of South Africa's 48 million people have the virus — the highest total of any country. But after years of pressure from activists, South Africa now boasts the world's biggest AIDS treatment program.
The number of people receiving therapy has more than tripled in just two years, from 143,000 in March 2006 to 456,000 at the end of February, according to government statistics. That's still only half the estimated 900,000 who have developed full-blown AIDS and need treatment, but a national plan launched a year ago aims to provide care and treatment to 80 percent by 2011 and halving the number of new infections.
Some 40,000 children nationwide are receiving AIDS drugs, including the 18 in Bonani's church — children such as Thandiswa, who was found sucking at the wizened breast of her dying mother, her dead twin at her side. And Abina, who still bears the scars of cigarettes her drunken father extinguished on her skin in fury that she had HIV. And Siphosethu, who was abandoned just after birth, smothered in rags, crawling with ants and reeking of festering sores.
They are being transformed into bubbly, bossy 6-year-old Thandiswa; giggling, wriggling Abina; and Siphosethu, whose name means "our gift." They are given their medicine every day with a helping of porridge and a big dollop of love.
"Not one child in our care has died," says Bonani, with a smile. "We are so very, very proud of them."
Bonani and his wife, Lulama, who have looked after their 13-year-old HIV-positive grandson since their own daughter died of AIDS, hope the children in their care will be the last generation infected with HIV through their mother's womb or breast milk.
More than 90 percent of pregnant women with HIV in the Western Cape province around Cape Town now receive drugs to prevent the virus from passing to their unborn children. But in poorer areas like the rural Eastern Cape, the number of women on medication is nearer half.
Health professionals and activists say the biggest test of the government's commitment will be what it does to reduce mother-to-child transmission.
Mortality rates for women and young children are higher now than they were in 1990, before the end of apartheid, according to a study by the Medical Research Council, which said South Africa was one of only 12 countries suffering such increases.
The report, titled "Every Death Counts," said at least 260 mothers, newborns and children under 5 die every day in South Africa, with HIV, AIDS and related infections like tuberculosis and pneumonia responsible for about two-thirds of the deaths.
After four years of delay, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in February issued guidelines that comply with World Health Organization recommendations: Doctors should give two drugs, nevirapine and AZT, to pregnant women, not just nevirapine, because the dual therapy is much more effective than the single drug. It is now up to individual provinces to implement the new strategy.
The Western Cape didn't wait for the official go-ahead. It broke free of the national health ministry's straitjacket in 2004 and prescribed both drugs, slashing mother-to-child transmission to less than 5 percent — compared with more than 20 percent in some other provinces.
Gauteng, home of Johannesburg and the most populous province, and KwaZulu-Natal, the worst affected, started using both drugs at the start of April. KwaZulu-Natal authorities say they hoped to cut the rate of mother-to-child transmission from the current 32 percent to about 10 percent.
Francois Venter, a doctor who heads the Southern African Clinicians Society, said the dual therapy guidelines had "rejuvenated" prevention efforts. "There's quite a vibe about clinics trying to do better than each other," he said. "People are getting excited about trying to fix the problem."
But doctors often have to battle bureaucracy. A clinic in rural KwaZulu-Natal suspended two doctors for giving women dual therapy ahead of its local authorization and other "misdemeanors." The health chief in the province, which is also suffering sky-high rates of TB which feeds off AIDS, makes no secret of her dislike of conventional treatment.
Much of the blame for South Africa's AIDS disaster is laid at the door of its health minister, Tshabalala-Msimang, and President Thabo Mbeki, who gained notoriety after he came to office in 1999 by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS.
Mbeki for years supported Tshabalala-Msimang, dubbed "Dr. Garlic" for her mistrust of AIDS drugs and her espousal of garlic, olive oil and lemon. Instead, he axed her respected deputy, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, whom he accused of being insubordinate, but who was a driving force behind the new AIDS strategy launched last year.
Mbeki has said nothing to indicate he has reversed his position on the causes of AIDS, and Tshabalala-Msimang continues to advocate nutritional remedies, although she now extols the virtues of the new national campaign.
"The sustained and expanded national response to HIV and AIDS is beginning to pay some dividends," she wrote in the foreword of a report to the U.N. General Assembly.
Events may simply be overtaking the controversies. Mbeki has only one more year in office. His deputy heads the revamped South African National AIDS Council and has mended fences with activists, and the Treasury has announced a massive increase in spending on HIV.
Jacob Zuma, who is first in line to succeed Mbeki as president, says taming the epidemic is a top priority.
But there is a snag. Zuma was in 2006 acquitted of rape in a trial in which he confessed to having knowingly had unprotected sex with the woman, who had the AIDS virus. His defense: He showered afterward, believing it reduced the risk of infection. He has since apologized and AIDS activists hope he will try to silence his critics by getting tough on AIDS.
Prevention is the weakest link in South Africa's shaky chain.
The Human Sciences Research Council estimated that there were 1,500 new infections per day in 2005.
"For every two people put on treatment, five get infected. It's just unbelievable. You are chasing the tail the whole time," exclaims Venter, the doctor. "Prevention is just a disaster zone."
South Africa is not alone. Major initiatives like the WHO's "3 by 5" campaign, which aimed to put 3 million people worldwide on AIDS drugs by 2005, and much of the Bush administration's AIDS funding, are criticized by experts for focusing on treatment rather than building up the health system, condom distribution or HIV testing.
Male circumcision is the only new tool in the prevention armory. But unlike other African health ministers, Tshabalala-Msimang is skeptical. She says there is not enough information available about its effect on AIDS infection — this despite its endorsement by WHO and UNAIDS, based on "extensive and convincing" evidence that the procedure cuts the risk for infection for men by about 60 percent.
The government says education campaigns among the young are beginning to pay off. The prevalence rate among girls aged 15 to 19 fell to 13.5 percent in 2006, down from 16 percent two years previously.
South Africa still lacks extensive public anti-AIDS publicity, too many of its men still shun condoms, and the biggest obstacle remains the stigma associated with the virus. But Bonani believes that, too, is beginning to change, at least in his community.
When Bonani first took in AIDS orphans, his church congregation vanished. One of his workers was accused of being a witch. But now AIDS is discussed openly in the community, he said, and his congregation is back up to 70, of whom 17 have revealed they have the virus.
"It took them three years to come back and to rebuild the trust," Bonani says, smiling. "Now they apologize, and they accept us."
By CLARE NULLIS for AP
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Black Spending Power Tops $630 Billion
When it comes to reaching people of color, the winds of change have shifted slowly in the advertising industry. However, there has been an increase in the number of black faces in television and print ads in recent years. The change was due to economic reality rather than altruism. Read more on how advertisers are responding to the steadily increasing economic clout of the African American consumer.
When it comes to reaching people of color, the winds of change have shifted slowly in the advertising industry. However, there has been an increase in the number of black faces in television and print ads in recent years. The change was due to economic reality rather than altruism. While companies continue to increase their budgets for advertising to black consumers, the numbers could stand to rise given the fact that blacks were underrepresented for so long when it came to ad spending. Two recent studies underscore that sentiment, pegging black spending power at between $631 billion and $688 billion. It's no wonder that marketers are taking notice.
The University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth recently released “The Multicultural Economy 2003,” in which black buying power is estimated to be around $688 billion -- twice as much as 2001. Projections show that the buying power of African Americans is likely to increase by 169.5% to $921 billion by the year 2008. To come up with the numbers, the Selig Center estimated total disposable income of black Americans, not just salaries and wages.
“More than $1.5 billion is being spent on advertising targeting African Americans by national advertisers,” says Ken Smikle, president of Chicago-based research and information company Target Market News. “Marketers are getting more and more intelligent every day. They're finally realizing the power and financial clout of the African American market, but they're still in the planning mode -- still in the mode of trying to understand the opportunity,” says Bob McNeil, founder and president of IMAGES USA (No. 12 on the BE ADVERTISING AGENCIES list with $24.5 million in billings).
During the 10 years that Target Market News has been publishing its annual study, “The Buying Power of Black America,” Smikle has seen a steady increase in the amount of money black households have available to spend. The latest “Buying Power” report found that black households had $631 billion in earned income in 2002, up 4.8% from $602 billion in 2001. That number is almost twice as much as the $324 billion in earnings black households had in 1995. The figures were based on salaries and wages of members of black households.
Because there is no scientifically accepted formula for computing buying power, the numbers reached by different studies tend to differ somewhat, but most take into consideration the amount of income people have available to spend excluding lines of credit and loans.
Regardless of which study is cited, "[Income earned by African Americans] is nearly $600 billion,” says Bernard E. Anderson, Whitney M. Young Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and member of the BE Board of Economists. “Black people's spending represents the margin of profitability for a number of consumer products [i.e. telephone services, electricity and natural gas, children's apparel, footwear]. African Americans have the capacity to use their spending power to influence corporate decisions on employment, investment, and purchasing practices that would benefit the black community, including black businesses." (The BE Board of Economists measures black economic power as total money income.)
The Selig study notes several forces that have contributed to an increase in buying power over the past few decades: population growth, inflation, increased job opportunities, and an increase in the number of African Americans starting their own businesses. According to The Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises, which was conducted by the Census Bureau in 2001, the number of black firms grew four times faster than all U.S. firms.
This power has in turn given blacks more leverage both economically and politically. “When we are in times that are so-called liberal or politically advantageous to our advancement, our incomes have shown the greatest increase,” explains Smikle. “One of the indicators of how well we're doing and how important that growth is to African Americans can be seen in the increase of dollars contributed to political organizations, political parties, and political candidates,” he continues.
Smikle also points to Russell Simmons' threatened PepsiCo Inc. boycott (after the company pulled an advertisement featuring rapper Ludacris) as proof of how seriously companies take the importance of black spending power and political and economic clout. The boycott was averted (see PepsiCo Boycott Averted) after PepsiCo agreed to donate millions to youth organizations around the U.S.
By Tamara E. Holmes from Black Enterprise
When it comes to reaching people of color, the winds of change have shifted slowly in the advertising industry. However, there has been an increase in the number of black faces in television and print ads in recent years. The change was due to economic reality rather than altruism. While companies continue to increase their budgets for advertising to black consumers, the numbers could stand to rise given the fact that blacks were underrepresented for so long when it came to ad spending. Two recent studies underscore that sentiment, pegging black spending power at between $631 billion and $688 billion. It's no wonder that marketers are taking notice.
The University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth recently released “The Multicultural Economy 2003,” in which black buying power is estimated to be around $688 billion -- twice as much as 2001. Projections show that the buying power of African Americans is likely to increase by 169.5% to $921 billion by the year 2008. To come up with the numbers, the Selig Center estimated total disposable income of black Americans, not just salaries and wages.
“More than $1.5 billion is being spent on advertising targeting African Americans by national advertisers,” says Ken Smikle, president of Chicago-based research and information company Target Market News. “Marketers are getting more and more intelligent every day. They're finally realizing the power and financial clout of the African American market, but they're still in the planning mode -- still in the mode of trying to understand the opportunity,” says Bob McNeil, founder and president of IMAGES USA (No. 12 on the BE ADVERTISING AGENCIES list with $24.5 million in billings).
During the 10 years that Target Market News has been publishing its annual study, “The Buying Power of Black America,” Smikle has seen a steady increase in the amount of money black households have available to spend. The latest “Buying Power” report found that black households had $631 billion in earned income in 2002, up 4.8% from $602 billion in 2001. That number is almost twice as much as the $324 billion in earnings black households had in 1995. The figures were based on salaries and wages of members of black households.
Because there is no scientifically accepted formula for computing buying power, the numbers reached by different studies tend to differ somewhat, but most take into consideration the amount of income people have available to spend excluding lines of credit and loans.
Regardless of which study is cited, "[Income earned by African Americans] is nearly $600 billion,” says Bernard E. Anderson, Whitney M. Young Professor of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and member of the BE Board of Economists. “Black people's spending represents the margin of profitability for a number of consumer products [i.e. telephone services, electricity and natural gas, children's apparel, footwear]. African Americans have the capacity to use their spending power to influence corporate decisions on employment, investment, and purchasing practices that would benefit the black community, including black businesses." (The BE Board of Economists measures black economic power as total money income.)
The Selig study notes several forces that have contributed to an increase in buying power over the past few decades: population growth, inflation, increased job opportunities, and an increase in the number of African Americans starting their own businesses. According to The Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises, which was conducted by the Census Bureau in 2001, the number of black firms grew four times faster than all U.S. firms.
This power has in turn given blacks more leverage both economically and politically. “When we are in times that are so-called liberal or politically advantageous to our advancement, our incomes have shown the greatest increase,” explains Smikle. “One of the indicators of how well we're doing and how important that growth is to African Americans can be seen in the increase of dollars contributed to political organizations, political parties, and political candidates,” he continues.
Smikle also points to Russell Simmons' threatened PepsiCo Inc. boycott (after the company pulled an advertisement featuring rapper Ludacris) as proof of how seriously companies take the importance of black spending power and political and economic clout. The boycott was averted (see PepsiCo Boycott Averted) after PepsiCo agreed to donate millions to youth organizations around the U.S.
By Tamara E. Holmes from Black Enterprise
Sudan Oil Region Fighting Could Displace 90,000
Up to 90,000 people could be displaced by fighting in Sudan's bitterly contested oil region of Abyei where the United Nations is racing against time to provide aid relief and prevent a return to civil war.
Two rounds of heavy fighting between government soldiers and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) have largely obliterated Abyei's once bustling main town of mud huts that was home to 30,000 people two weeks ago.
The market, once the hub of trade and social life, is charred and flattened. Buildings have been reduced to skeletons and burnt-out vehicles are abandoned to the dust.
On the horizon, smoke coils into the air from isolated fires. In the silence of the ghost town, people loot what they can with apparent impunity as Sudan government soldiers look on.
Viewing the centre of town from the back of a UN armoured personnel carrier under heavy protection from a Zambian peacekeeping contingent, Ashraf (eds: correct) Qazi, the special representative of the UN chief to Sudan, likened Abyei to hell.
"We have been to the centre of Abyei and it doesn't exist any more. It's totally charred. It's totally devastated. And it's an absolute human tragedy and it is something that must never happen again," he told reporters.
Casualty figures are unclear. The army, loyal to the central government in Khartoum, says 22 of its soldiers were killed and 45 wounded in the worst fighting on Tuesday, which followed clashes last week.
Medics at a clinic in Agok farther south, where UN agencies and aid workers are concentrating emergency relief efforts, said they treated 135 wounded -- all but one from the SPLA.
The fighting is the worst crisis to beset the three-year peace accord that ended Africa's longest running civil war between north and south Sudan, since the south walked out of the national unity government for two months last year.
UN-chaired committees grouping leaders of northern and southern Sudan, tasked with smoothing over difficulties in implementing the peace agreement, have not met since the latest fighting on Tuesday.
"That's what we're resolved in right now. Trying to ensure that this situation doesn't deteriorate further and doesn't spark off something much bigger," Qazi said.
"That is a risk," he conceded.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) gave the south six years of regional autonomy and participation in a national unity government until a 2011 referendum on independence.
Abyei, on the border between north and south, was accorded special status. But half way through the six-year transition period, Abyei has still never been governed by a functioning joint administration as stipulated.
In 2011, the area will hold a separate referendum on whether to retain its special administrative status in the north or join the south.
"We can see that with any one issue, with Abyei in particular, if violence flares up it could easily spread to other areas and easily threaten the whole CPA," said Qazi.
"We are working intensively with the two sides to overcome this crisis. And we will continue to do so."
Aid workers fear that a deterioration in Abyei -- where the estimated half-a-billion dollar oil wealth is at the heart of the dispute between Sudan's Arab north and Christian and animist south -- could displace many more people than initially feared.
"We could have up to 90,000 people on the move," Abyei UN resident coordinator Jason Matus, now in Agok, briefed Qazi.
"We are in a race against time," said Andy Pendleton, the head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in southern Sudan.
Heavy rains are scheduled to start in around two weeks. After that, water-borne diseases could spread unless people have adequate shelter, food and adequately dug latrines.
Sudan's military has controlled Abyei since the latest fighting saw the SPLA redeploy farther south. The town is supposed to be patrolled jointly and the expulsion of the SPLA has sparked fears of renewed violence.
"If we are out of Abyei and they (the Arabs) are in, then we know there will be fighting," said Mam Thuc, a widow with 10 children, speaking in Agok.
Her husband was killed in the violence after the family, displaced by the civil war, returned home.
"We were supposed to come and settle. We were IDPs (internally displaced people) from Khartoum. We came back and within six months this happened," said Thuc, clinging to the hand of her youngest child.
by Jennie Matthew from AFP
Two rounds of heavy fighting between government soldiers and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) have largely obliterated Abyei's once bustling main town of mud huts that was home to 30,000 people two weeks ago.
The market, once the hub of trade and social life, is charred and flattened. Buildings have been reduced to skeletons and burnt-out vehicles are abandoned to the dust.
On the horizon, smoke coils into the air from isolated fires. In the silence of the ghost town, people loot what they can with apparent impunity as Sudan government soldiers look on.
Viewing the centre of town from the back of a UN armoured personnel carrier under heavy protection from a Zambian peacekeeping contingent, Ashraf (eds: correct) Qazi, the special representative of the UN chief to Sudan, likened Abyei to hell.
"We have been to the centre of Abyei and it doesn't exist any more. It's totally charred. It's totally devastated. And it's an absolute human tragedy and it is something that must never happen again," he told reporters.
Casualty figures are unclear. The army, loyal to the central government in Khartoum, says 22 of its soldiers were killed and 45 wounded in the worst fighting on Tuesday, which followed clashes last week.
Medics at a clinic in Agok farther south, where UN agencies and aid workers are concentrating emergency relief efforts, said they treated 135 wounded -- all but one from the SPLA.
The fighting is the worst crisis to beset the three-year peace accord that ended Africa's longest running civil war between north and south Sudan, since the south walked out of the national unity government for two months last year.
UN-chaired committees grouping leaders of northern and southern Sudan, tasked with smoothing over difficulties in implementing the peace agreement, have not met since the latest fighting on Tuesday.
"That's what we're resolved in right now. Trying to ensure that this situation doesn't deteriorate further and doesn't spark off something much bigger," Qazi said.
"That is a risk," he conceded.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) gave the south six years of regional autonomy and participation in a national unity government until a 2011 referendum on independence.
Abyei, on the border between north and south, was accorded special status. But half way through the six-year transition period, Abyei has still never been governed by a functioning joint administration as stipulated.
In 2011, the area will hold a separate referendum on whether to retain its special administrative status in the north or join the south.
"We can see that with any one issue, with Abyei in particular, if violence flares up it could easily spread to other areas and easily threaten the whole CPA," said Qazi.
"We are working intensively with the two sides to overcome this crisis. And we will continue to do so."
Aid workers fear that a deterioration in Abyei -- where the estimated half-a-billion dollar oil wealth is at the heart of the dispute between Sudan's Arab north and Christian and animist south -- could displace many more people than initially feared.
"We could have up to 90,000 people on the move," Abyei UN resident coordinator Jason Matus, now in Agok, briefed Qazi.
"We are in a race against time," said Andy Pendleton, the head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in southern Sudan.
Heavy rains are scheduled to start in around two weeks. After that, water-borne diseases could spread unless people have adequate shelter, food and adequately dug latrines.
Sudan's military has controlled Abyei since the latest fighting saw the SPLA redeploy farther south. The town is supposed to be patrolled jointly and the expulsion of the SPLA has sparked fears of renewed violence.
"If we are out of Abyei and they (the Arabs) are in, then we know there will be fighting," said Mam Thuc, a widow with 10 children, speaking in Agok.
Her husband was killed in the violence after the family, displaced by the civil war, returned home.
"We were supposed to come and settle. We were IDPs (internally displaced people) from Khartoum. We came back and within six months this happened," said Thuc, clinging to the hand of her youngest child.
by Jennie Matthew from AFP
Hip-Hop Pioneer 'Slick Rick' Pardoned by Governor
Pioneering rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters, who spent more than five years in prison on a 1991 attempted murder conviction and faced threats of deportation years after rehabilitating his life, was granted a full and unconditional pardon Friday by New York Gov. David Paterson.
Walters, 43, has been under threat of being sent back to his native United Kingdom, although he has lived in the United States since he was a child. In a statement, he expressed gratitude to Paterson and his lawyers, and hoped that he could finally put the turmoil behind him.
"This has been a long and difficult road and I am happy for this to be settled once and for all," Walters said. "I look forward to enjoying this time with my family and friends and to continue leading an honest and productive life."
In announcing the decision, Paterson noted Walters' commitment to helping young people.
The eye patch-wearing star behind '80s rap classics like "La-Di-Da-Di" and "Children's Story" was a successful rapper when he was convicted of shooting his cousin and another man in 1991. Both survived.
Although he had completed probation requirements in the attempted murder case and resumed his musical career, he was arrested again in June 2002. Immigration agents stopped him after he returned to Miami from a weeklong Caribbean cruise where he was a featured performer.
The arrest was on a 1997 Immigration and Naturalization Service warrant that had not been pursued earlier, and he spent 17 months in jail, despite calls for Walters' release from such luminaries as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Will Smith and Chris Rock.
A federal judge eventually ruled in October 2003 that the Bureau of Immigration Appeals denied Walters' due process when it issued the warrant, but Homeland Security officials pressed forward in the case. In 2006, Walters told The Associated Press he was simply going to keep working and play out his appeals.
"If you were in my shoes, how would you look at life?" he said then. "You'd ride life out, too. Anger would just make life not enjoyable, you know what I mean?"
The Democratic governor noted that Walters is now a rap artist and landlord in the Bronx who has not had any other criminal problems since his release from prison and has volunteered at youth outreach programs to counsel against violence.
"Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years," Paterson said. "I urge federal immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children."
By MICHAEL GORMLEY for AP
Walters, 43, has been under threat of being sent back to his native United Kingdom, although he has lived in the United States since he was a child. In a statement, he expressed gratitude to Paterson and his lawyers, and hoped that he could finally put the turmoil behind him.
"This has been a long and difficult road and I am happy for this to be settled once and for all," Walters said. "I look forward to enjoying this time with my family and friends and to continue leading an honest and productive life."
In announcing the decision, Paterson noted Walters' commitment to helping young people.
The eye patch-wearing star behind '80s rap classics like "La-Di-Da-Di" and "Children's Story" was a successful rapper when he was convicted of shooting his cousin and another man in 1991. Both survived.
Although he had completed probation requirements in the attempted murder case and resumed his musical career, he was arrested again in June 2002. Immigration agents stopped him after he returned to Miami from a weeklong Caribbean cruise where he was a featured performer.
The arrest was on a 1997 Immigration and Naturalization Service warrant that had not been pursued earlier, and he spent 17 months in jail, despite calls for Walters' release from such luminaries as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Will Smith and Chris Rock.
A federal judge eventually ruled in October 2003 that the Bureau of Immigration Appeals denied Walters' due process when it issued the warrant, but Homeland Security officials pressed forward in the case. In 2006, Walters told The Associated Press he was simply going to keep working and play out his appeals.
"If you were in my shoes, how would you look at life?" he said then. "You'd ride life out, too. Anger would just make life not enjoyable, you know what I mean?"
The Democratic governor noted that Walters is now a rap artist and landlord in the Bronx who has not had any other criminal problems since his release from prison and has volunteered at youth outreach programs to counsel against violence.
"Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years," Paterson said. "I urge federal immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children."
By MICHAEL GORMLEY for AP
Noose Displays Illegal
New York Gov. David A. Paterson signed into law a bill that makes displaying a noose illegal. Nooses used as threats are now considered a felony crime punishable up to four years imprisonment. New York, where Paterson is the first African American governor, joins a handful of states looking to crack down on growing incidences of noose hangings.
“It is sad that in these modern times there remains a need to address the problem of individuals who use nooses as a means of threat and intimidation,” Paterson said in a statement. “But it is a reality, and if we ignore it, we would be derelict in our duty. The Legislature has given voice to the revulsion that such incidents inspire in all of us.”
Noose hangings have been widespread since last year’s Jena 6 incident in which six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana were arrested and charged in the assault of a white teenager after numerous racial altercations, including the hanging of several nooses from a tree on school grounds. Since fall 2007, Newark, New Jersey-based publisher Diversity Inc. has recorded 78 noose incidents through its Noose Watch, which tracks cases reported to authorities across the country.
The heightened attention the noose has garnered since the Jena 6 case makes this an ideal time for legislators across the country to call for laws that recognize the act as a hate crime, says Louisiana State Rep. Rickey Hardy. He introduced a bill in March that would make displaying a noose a hate crime punishable in Louisiana by a fine of up to $15,000 and 15 years of prison “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Hardy says. “We cannot continue to promote racism in our own country.”
In Connecticut earlier this month, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed into law a bill prohibiting the use of a noose for intimidation purposes, though the law allows its use in other cases, such as “in a Halloween display or a theatrical production,” according to a released statement.
“Connecticut simply will not tolerate bigotry or racism,” Rell said. “Let this bill send that message loud and clear. Using a noose—a symbol of the racially motivated lynchings during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century—to intimidate anyone because of their race or any other characteristic is a repugnant and cowardly act.”
The success that states are having passing anti-noose laws, as well as heightened media attention to such incidences are good signs that the country is ready to confront a symbol of its racist history, in particular the legacy of lynching, in which thousands of African Americans were hung, Hardy says. “Any type of crime toward one’s race, one’s sexual preference, creed or gender is a form of hate,” Hardy says. “We must do everything to eradicate hate crimes and violence.”
By Tamara E. Holmes from Black Enterprise.com
“It is sad that in these modern times there remains a need to address the problem of individuals who use nooses as a means of threat and intimidation,” Paterson said in a statement. “But it is a reality, and if we ignore it, we would be derelict in our duty. The Legislature has given voice to the revulsion that such incidents inspire in all of us.”
Noose hangings have been widespread since last year’s Jena 6 incident in which six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana were arrested and charged in the assault of a white teenager after numerous racial altercations, including the hanging of several nooses from a tree on school grounds. Since fall 2007, Newark, New Jersey-based publisher Diversity Inc. has recorded 78 noose incidents through its Noose Watch, which tracks cases reported to authorities across the country.
The heightened attention the noose has garnered since the Jena 6 case makes this an ideal time for legislators across the country to call for laws that recognize the act as a hate crime, says Louisiana State Rep. Rickey Hardy. He introduced a bill in March that would make displaying a noose a hate crime punishable in Louisiana by a fine of up to $15,000 and 15 years of prison “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Hardy says. “We cannot continue to promote racism in our own country.”
In Connecticut earlier this month, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed into law a bill prohibiting the use of a noose for intimidation purposes, though the law allows its use in other cases, such as “in a Halloween display or a theatrical production,” according to a released statement.
“Connecticut simply will not tolerate bigotry or racism,” Rell said. “Let this bill send that message loud and clear. Using a noose—a symbol of the racially motivated lynchings during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century—to intimidate anyone because of their race or any other characteristic is a repugnant and cowardly act.”
The success that states are having passing anti-noose laws, as well as heightened media attention to such incidences are good signs that the country is ready to confront a symbol of its racist history, in particular the legacy of lynching, in which thousands of African Americans were hung, Hardy says. “Any type of crime toward one’s race, one’s sexual preference, creed or gender is a form of hate,” Hardy says. “We must do everything to eradicate hate crimes and violence.”
By Tamara E. Holmes from Black Enterprise.com
Friday, May 23, 2008
Nigeria Violence Means Soaring US Gas Prices
Violence in oil-rich southern Nigeria is having a ripple effect thousands of miles away -- at gas stations in the United States.
One reason for record high gas prices, analysts say, is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States.
The attacks are relatively small, but the fallout is substantial.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the United States climbed to $3.831 on Thursday -- the 16th consecutive day of a price increase and the 15th consecutive record high, according to AAA.
While analysts cite various factors in various countries for the increases, the price could keep going up with more attacks on pipelines in Nigeria, which accounts for one of every 10 barrels of oil that arrives in the United States.
"Anytime a pipeline is affected, anytime any production gets shut down, you see oil prices jump up one or two dollars a barrel just because there is no slack in the system," said Jim LeCamp, a senior vice president with RBC Wealth Management, which manages assets for wealthy clients worldwide.
Exxon and Shell are two of several companies that had been extracting 2 million barrels of oil a day in Nigeria. Yet a rebel group's attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut overall production by roughly 10 percent -- meaning 200,000 fewer barrels of oil on some days.
That decrease in production comes at a time of increased demand from oil-hungry regions such as China, Russia and Latin America.
"Anytime there's a disruption there, it really affects the system," LeCamp said.
The disruptions in Nigeria began around the beginning of 2006, when the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta started to target foreign oil companies.
The rebel group hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the Niger Delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
The group -- known by its acronym, MEND -- has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment.
MEND wrote President Bush last month to admit that it attacked two oil pipelines -- and to ask former President Carter to mediate its dispute with the central government over the distribution of oil wealth.
"The ripple effect of this attack will touch your economy and people one way or the other, and (we) hope we now have your attention," the letter said.
The Nigerian government has proposed a peace summit to find a solution to the region's problems, but an immediate resolution does not appear in sight.
From Christian Purefoy
CNN
One reason for record high gas prices, analysts say, is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States.
The attacks are relatively small, but the fallout is substantial.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the United States climbed to $3.831 on Thursday -- the 16th consecutive day of a price increase and the 15th consecutive record high, according to AAA.
While analysts cite various factors in various countries for the increases, the price could keep going up with more attacks on pipelines in Nigeria, which accounts for one of every 10 barrels of oil that arrives in the United States.
"Anytime a pipeline is affected, anytime any production gets shut down, you see oil prices jump up one or two dollars a barrel just because there is no slack in the system," said Jim LeCamp, a senior vice president with RBC Wealth Management, which manages assets for wealthy clients worldwide.
Exxon and Shell are two of several companies that had been extracting 2 million barrels of oil a day in Nigeria. Yet a rebel group's attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut overall production by roughly 10 percent -- meaning 200,000 fewer barrels of oil on some days.
That decrease in production comes at a time of increased demand from oil-hungry regions such as China, Russia and Latin America.
"Anytime there's a disruption there, it really affects the system," LeCamp said.
The disruptions in Nigeria began around the beginning of 2006, when the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta started to target foreign oil companies.
The rebel group hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the Niger Delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
The group -- known by its acronym, MEND -- has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment.
MEND wrote President Bush last month to admit that it attacked two oil pipelines -- and to ask former President Carter to mediate its dispute with the central government over the distribution of oil wealth.
"The ripple effect of this attack will touch your economy and people one way or the other, and (we) hope we now have your attention," the letter said.
The Nigerian government has proposed a peace summit to find a solution to the region's problems, but an immediate resolution does not appear in sight.
From Christian Purefoy
CNN
Last Surviving Brown v. Board Plaintiff Dies
The last surviving plaintiff in Topeka's Brown v. Board of Education case, which led to the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in public schools, has died at 88.
Zelma Henderson died Tuesday in Topeka, six weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Her son, Donald, said she wasn't physically imposing, but when she was passionate about something, "She was just fire."
In 1950, Henderson signed onto the litigation on behalf of her children challenging Topeka's segregated schools. In all, 13 black parents in Topeka, including the Rev. Oliver Brown, took part in the federal case.
The plaintiffs lost in U.S. District Court, but the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, along with similar cases from Virginia, South Carolina and Delaware.
The high court's unanimous ruling overturning school segregation came on May 17, 1954.
As a child in the 1920s and '30s, Henderson had attended desegregated schools in the western Kansas town of Oakley. She was disgusted when she learned her own children would be required to attend segregated schools in Topeka.
Her children were forced to attend a school that was 10 blocks farther away from their home than a whites-only school.
"I wanted my children to know all races like I did," Zelma Henderson told The Associated Press in 2004. "It means a lot to a person's outlook on life. No inferiority complex at all, that's what I wanted for my children as far as race was concerned."
The Brown v. Board National Historic Site is now operated by the National Park Service in a formerly segregated school building.
"Her passing is a rather large milestone in the history of the case and that period of our history," said Dennis Vasquez, superintendent of the historic site. "It puts it in more of a historical perspective because there are no longer any living plaintiffs in the Topeka case."
From AP
Zelma Henderson died Tuesday in Topeka, six weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Her son, Donald, said she wasn't physically imposing, but when she was passionate about something, "She was just fire."
In 1950, Henderson signed onto the litigation on behalf of her children challenging Topeka's segregated schools. In all, 13 black parents in Topeka, including the Rev. Oliver Brown, took part in the federal case.
The plaintiffs lost in U.S. District Court, but the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, along with similar cases from Virginia, South Carolina and Delaware.
The high court's unanimous ruling overturning school segregation came on May 17, 1954.
As a child in the 1920s and '30s, Henderson had attended desegregated schools in the western Kansas town of Oakley. She was disgusted when she learned her own children would be required to attend segregated schools in Topeka.
Her children were forced to attend a school that was 10 blocks farther away from their home than a whites-only school.
"I wanted my children to know all races like I did," Zelma Henderson told The Associated Press in 2004. "It means a lot to a person's outlook on life. No inferiority complex at all, that's what I wanted for my children as far as race was concerned."
The Brown v. Board National Historic Site is now operated by the National Park Service in a formerly segregated school building.
"Her passing is a rather large milestone in the history of the case and that period of our history," said Dennis Vasquez, superintendent of the historic site. "It puts it in more of a historical perspective because there are no longer any living plaintiffs in the Topeka case."
From AP
BET features New Black Gay Pride Section on Its Web Site
The BET web site has launched a new feature section for the summer Black Gay Pride season.
The special feature section, promoted on the main page of the web site, includes a section on "who's who" in the Black LGBT community, a list of common myths and misconceptions, information on HIV, a history quiz, a list of black gay pride events, and information about a new book called Hiding In Hip Hop by Terrance Dean.
The feature also includes a section on "slanguage" and advice for straight women on how to tell if your man is gay.
The special feature section, promoted on the main page of the web site, includes a section on "who's who" in the Black LGBT community, a list of common myths and misconceptions, information on HIV, a history quiz, a list of black gay pride events, and information about a new book called Hiding In Hip Hop by Terrance Dean.
The feature also includes a section on "slanguage" and advice for straight women on how to tell if your man is gay.
First 'Black and Brown Solidarity' Conference Bridges Gaps
There is a widely held notion that Blacks and Latinos do not get along. Impact studies show racial divides in some high schools in Los Angeles and small disruptions of gang violence in Virginia. Even some media analysts insist this will have an effect on the Democratic presidential campaign.
In an to attempt dispel those notions, the grassroots organization Grupo Afro Descendiente (GAD) held its first ever Black and Brown Solidarity week.
“This is the first year we have had Afro-Latinos come together. People have been searching for a way to connect and form as a coalition.
We wanted a way to calm the tension between both groups,” said GAD president Aisha Brown.
One of the most unlikely events to bridge the gap is chess, a game which requires the most intellectual individual to perform at a supreme level. One of the biggest events to end the week was the Third Annual Bum Rush the Boards Chess Tournament sponsored by Words, Beats and Life held at Lincoln Middle School on Sat. May 17th.
“We highlight different icons from history, and show their personal strategic struggle. It’s also a good way to learn from them. We can align our self in life to be able to wear the crown,” said Urban Arts Academy Director Goldie Deane.
Each figure on the chess board represented an important Black, Spanish, or Native American. From the struggles of Malcolm X, and Harriett Tubman, a clear message was sent to the students - they can achieve anything regardless of where they start in life
“The game is about strategy, not about the duration. If you have the ability to see the board, no matter how old or young, you can take anybody out,” said Lemal Lassitte, also known as “Life,” who is the head of a group called the “Young Knights” from Georgia. They consider themselves to be a brash group of Hip-Hop chess players who are not bashful about their talents.
“It’s more than playing chess. We’re trying to show these young brothers how to apply the strategy in life,” said Seven Bomer.
While the tournament continued, additional activities designed to encourage youth participation and interaction included workshops in art, dance, shoe design and disc-jockey training.
“We wanted to show all the people a range of programs besides just chess, which is why we added the arts and craft classes. It also gives people a different side of what we are about,” said Visual Arts Teacher Courtney Powell.
The Black and Brown solidarity week also included an interfaith service, Dynamics of Cultural Diversity, International Unity, a Black and Brown Town hall meeting and a film screening of “Cuba: An African Odyssey and Uniting Culture.”
One of the major issues discussed throughout the day was the so-called “Black Denial,” a phrase used to describe Afro-Latinos’ way of choosing to distance themselves from the Black culture.
“A lot of Latinos never interacted with Black’s in their country, so it is always a common misunderstanding between both, and one we wish to change through the proper education,” Brown said. “Ultimately, we want to come together and own our business and regenerate wealth through our own generations by doing something positive.”
By Odell B. Ruffin - Washington Informer Staff Writer
In an to attempt dispel those notions, the grassroots organization Grupo Afro Descendiente (GAD) held its first ever Black and Brown Solidarity week.
“This is the first year we have had Afro-Latinos come together. People have been searching for a way to connect and form as a coalition.
We wanted a way to calm the tension between both groups,” said GAD president Aisha Brown.
One of the most unlikely events to bridge the gap is chess, a game which requires the most intellectual individual to perform at a supreme level. One of the biggest events to end the week was the Third Annual Bum Rush the Boards Chess Tournament sponsored by Words, Beats and Life held at Lincoln Middle School on Sat. May 17th.
“We highlight different icons from history, and show their personal strategic struggle. It’s also a good way to learn from them. We can align our self in life to be able to wear the crown,” said Urban Arts Academy Director Goldie Deane.
Each figure on the chess board represented an important Black, Spanish, or Native American. From the struggles of Malcolm X, and Harriett Tubman, a clear message was sent to the students - they can achieve anything regardless of where they start in life
“The game is about strategy, not about the duration. If you have the ability to see the board, no matter how old or young, you can take anybody out,” said Lemal Lassitte, also known as “Life,” who is the head of a group called the “Young Knights” from Georgia. They consider themselves to be a brash group of Hip-Hop chess players who are not bashful about their talents.
“It’s more than playing chess. We’re trying to show these young brothers how to apply the strategy in life,” said Seven Bomer.
While the tournament continued, additional activities designed to encourage youth participation and interaction included workshops in art, dance, shoe design and disc-jockey training.
“We wanted to show all the people a range of programs besides just chess, which is why we added the arts and craft classes. It also gives people a different side of what we are about,” said Visual Arts Teacher Courtney Powell.
The Black and Brown solidarity week also included an interfaith service, Dynamics of Cultural Diversity, International Unity, a Black and Brown Town hall meeting and a film screening of “Cuba: An African Odyssey and Uniting Culture.”
One of the major issues discussed throughout the day was the so-called “Black Denial,” a phrase used to describe Afro-Latinos’ way of choosing to distance themselves from the Black culture.
“A lot of Latinos never interacted with Black’s in their country, so it is always a common misunderstanding between both, and one we wish to change through the proper education,” Brown said. “Ultimately, we want to come together and own our business and regenerate wealth through our own generations by doing something positive.”
By Odell B. Ruffin - Washington Informer Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Black Men Answer Leaders' Call to Action
Inspired by a mobilization effort in Philadelphia, leaders of Baltimore's African-American community vowed Wednesday to recruit at least 5,000 black men to bring positive change to their communities.
The goal is to reduce the city's rates of violence, high school dropouts and absentee fathers. More than 50 men representing churches, educational institutions and civic groups gathered at Calverton Elementary/Middle School in West Baltimore to announce the initiative.
The group will meet on Father's Day, June 15, at the Baltimore Convention Center, where there will be opportunities for men to sign up as volunteers with more than 100 community organizations. Several service providers will be on hand to offer men whatever assistance they need to be productive residents, be it job training or substance abuse withdrawal. Plans for follow-up meetings are in the works to maintain the momentum generated in the next few weeks.
The initiative is modeled after 10,000 Men Philly, an assembly held in October. Former state Sen. Larry Young is credited with the idea of replicating the Philadelphia program in Baltimore. Organizers said they are trying to recruit 5,000 men because Baltimore is about half the size of Philadelphia.
Many recruits will be steered to volunteer in the Baltimore school system. Last month, in the wake of high-profile instances of violence in and around Baltimore schools, city schools chief Andres Alonso issued a public call for 500 volunteers. About 700 people have signed up, and Alonso said Wednesday that the system has doubled its goal, to 1,000. The system will conduct background checks and pair volunteers with school assignments over the summer.
"We all stand on the shoulders of others," Alonso said at Wednesday's news conference. He said the community needs more "shoulders for kids to stand on."
Alonso has long said that a widespread community mobilization around Baltimore's children is needed to transform failing public schools, and Wednesday he and school board Chairman Brian D. Morris said the call to action is what the city needs.
"A community that is afraid of its children is doomed for failure," Morris said, referring to a recent outcry by Canton residents who don't want a new school in their neighborhood. On the other hand, he said, a community that is prepared to "sow a seed" in the lives of its children is "destined for greatness."
Wednesday's news conference attracted a diverse group of black men who have joined together, from former Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm to former drug kingpin Melvin "Little Melvin" Williams. Dozens of them gathered around a podium with a sign that said "Our Community, Our Responsibility." A spokesman for a group of ex-offenders said they, too, want to help improve Baltimore by sharing lessons learned with the younger generation.
The event was held at a school that has seen violence inside and outside its walls in recent weeks. Calverton was on lockdown multiple times in April after a police officer and a high school student were shot in the neighborhood. And earlier this month, a 13-year-old boy was charged with attempting to rape a staff member after he and another boy broke into the school on a Sunday.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., chairman of the Greater Baltimore Urban League, said that the men who are mobilizing are "not satisfied with just being dissatisfied."
"I have never been so proud of my community as I am now," he said.
By Sara Neufeld | Baltimore Sun reporter
The goal is to reduce the city's rates of violence, high school dropouts and absentee fathers. More than 50 men representing churches, educational institutions and civic groups gathered at Calverton Elementary/Middle School in West Baltimore to announce the initiative.
The group will meet on Father's Day, June 15, at the Baltimore Convention Center, where there will be opportunities for men to sign up as volunteers with more than 100 community organizations. Several service providers will be on hand to offer men whatever assistance they need to be productive residents, be it job training or substance abuse withdrawal. Plans for follow-up meetings are in the works to maintain the momentum generated in the next few weeks.
The initiative is modeled after 10,000 Men Philly, an assembly held in October. Former state Sen. Larry Young is credited with the idea of replicating the Philadelphia program in Baltimore. Organizers said they are trying to recruit 5,000 men because Baltimore is about half the size of Philadelphia.
Many recruits will be steered to volunteer in the Baltimore school system. Last month, in the wake of high-profile instances of violence in and around Baltimore schools, city schools chief Andres Alonso issued a public call for 500 volunteers. About 700 people have signed up, and Alonso said Wednesday that the system has doubled its goal, to 1,000. The system will conduct background checks and pair volunteers with school assignments over the summer.
"We all stand on the shoulders of others," Alonso said at Wednesday's news conference. He said the community needs more "shoulders for kids to stand on."
Alonso has long said that a widespread community mobilization around Baltimore's children is needed to transform failing public schools, and Wednesday he and school board Chairman Brian D. Morris said the call to action is what the city needs.
"A community that is afraid of its children is doomed for failure," Morris said, referring to a recent outcry by Canton residents who don't want a new school in their neighborhood. On the other hand, he said, a community that is prepared to "sow a seed" in the lives of its children is "destined for greatness."
Wednesday's news conference attracted a diverse group of black men who have joined together, from former Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm to former drug kingpin Melvin "Little Melvin" Williams. Dozens of them gathered around a podium with a sign that said "Our Community, Our Responsibility." A spokesman for a group of ex-offenders said they, too, want to help improve Baltimore by sharing lessons learned with the younger generation.
The event was held at a school that has seen violence inside and outside its walls in recent weeks. Calverton was on lockdown multiple times in April after a police officer and a high school student were shot in the neighborhood. And earlier this month, a 13-year-old boy was charged with attempting to rape a staff member after he and another boy broke into the school on a Sunday.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., chairman of the Greater Baltimore Urban League, said that the men who are mobilizing are "not satisfied with just being dissatisfied."
"I have never been so proud of my community as I am now," he said.
By Sara Neufeld | Baltimore Sun reporter
Civil Rights School on List of 11 Endangered Sites
An elementary school at the center of a civil rights battle, a hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and a hangar that once housed U.S. Navy dirigibles are on this year's National Trust for Historic Preservation's endangered list.
The 11 sites represent the country's architectural, cultural and natural heritage, and "reflect extraordinary periods of American history," National Trust Director Richard Moe said.
The sites were chosen from about 70 nominees by the member-supported nonprofit group. Founded in 1949, it aims to protect significant buildings and locales, now protected under the 1966 Historic Preservation Act.
Of the roughly 200 places listed by the organization in the past 20 years, the National Trust says only six have been lost.
Moe said the list is designed to raise awareness.
"The 11 represent the different kinds of historic places in different parts of the country. It's a representative list," said Moe, who leads the organization of nearly 300,000 members.
Endangerment doesn't necessarily mean the building is in the potential path of a bulldozer, according to Moe. Lack of funding can be just as serious, as the case of the California state parks demonstrates.
The sites are listed in alphabetical order:
Boyd Theater, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Art Deco movie palace known as the Sameric was closed in 2002 and is for sale. A local group, Friends of the Boyd, is trying to save the 1928 theater, the last of its kind in Philadelphia. Only a few elaborate theaters from that era have survived, and the Boyd was the only one built in the downtown area. Moe said a "sympathetic developer" could restore the theater.
California's park system
The largest state park system in the United States suffers from chronic underfunding, including $1.2 billion worth of deferred maintenance, the National Trust said. The problem is worsening because of California's budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted a budget proposal this year that would have closed 48 parks, but the National Trust said the revised budget restored $11.8 million of the $13.3 million in cuts he requested.
Current funds cover only 40 percent of maintenance and operations, which means irreplaceable historic and cultural resources remain endangered, the National Trust said. The system includes 278 parks, 1.5 million acres and 295 miles of ocean front. Many parks house historic buildings such as the 1820s-era Franciscan La Purisima Mission complex near Lompoc.
Charity Hospital and adjacent neighborhood, New Orleans, Louisiana
Charity Hospital, once the main trauma center for southeastern Louisiana, was closed after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005. The building was declared unsalvageable, according to Donald R. Smithburg, chief executive of Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, which operates university hospitals. There are plans to demolish nearly 200 homes in the Mid-City neighborhood to accommodate construction of two new hospitals. Alternate locations for the new hospitals are available, and Charity Hospital could be rehabilitated, according to the National Trust.
Great Falls Portage, Great Falls, Montana
This National Historic Landmark is one of the best-preserved landscapes along the Lewis and Clark Trail, but a massive coal-fired power plant is planned in the area. "Development abutting the Great Falls Portage, an undeveloped rural area under panoramic blue Montana skies, will irreparably harm the cultural and visual landscape," the National Trust said
Hangar One, Moffett Field, Santa Clara County, California
The hangar was built in 1932 to house U.S. Navy dirigibles. It is a cavernous, 200-foot-tall, dome-shaped structure sitting on more than 8 acres. A 2003 inspection revealed carcinogenic PCBs leaking from the hangar's metallic exterior, the National Trust said. PCBs were widely used in electrical transformers. The Navy transferred Hangar One to NASA in 1992. Although the Navy remains responsible for environmental remediation, it is not required to preserve the building.
Lower East Side, New York
The Lower East Side in southeast Manhattan was home for immigrants and the working class in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it is becoming gentrified. Development threatens historic churches, theaters, schools and tenements, "a unique architectural type which, by the sheer numbers who lived in such a building, had an impact on more Americans than any other form of urban housing," the National Trust said.
Michigan Avenue Streetwall, Chicago, Illinois
This 12-block stretch of historic buildings along Michigan Avenue between 11th and Randolph Streets dates back to the early 1880s. The streetwall is a collection of notable buildings by architects including Adler & Sullivan, Louis Sullivan, D. H. Burnham and Holabird & Roche, the National Trust said. Although the stretch was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002, the National Trust says its historic character is threatened by the inappropriate addition of large-scale towers that retain only small portions of the original buildings or their facades.
Peace Bridge Neighborhood, Buffalo, New York
The bridge and neighborhood, which has homes and buildings dating to the 1850s, includes two parks on the National Register of Historic Places that are part of Frederick Law Olmsted's park system. The Public Bridge Authority proposes to expand the bridge and build a 45-acre plaza that would destroy more than 100 homes and businesses, many of which are eligible for inclusion on the National Register, the National Trust said. According to the organization, the PBA has refused to "properly consider" other sites.
The Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas, Texas
When the Statler Hilton opened in downtown Dallas in 1956, it was considered the most modern hotel in the country. Today, the vacant building sits on a desirable parcel of real estate. The Statler Hilton faces pressure from encroaching development that may lead to demolition. The National Trust says a sympathetic developer is needed to restore and reopen the hotel.
Sumner Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas
Sumner was the centerpiece of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. The court's decision that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" helped launch the civil rights movement by declaring school segregation unconstitutional.
Vizcaya and the Bonnet House, Florida
The development of out-of-scale buildings and corresponding zoning changes will ruin the vistas surrounding Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami and the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, the National Trust said. Such development could set a precedent for high-rise structures, it added.
By Debra Krajnak
CNN
The 11 sites represent the country's architectural, cultural and natural heritage, and "reflect extraordinary periods of American history," National Trust Director Richard Moe said.
The sites were chosen from about 70 nominees by the member-supported nonprofit group. Founded in 1949, it aims to protect significant buildings and locales, now protected under the 1966 Historic Preservation Act.
Of the roughly 200 places listed by the organization in the past 20 years, the National Trust says only six have been lost.
Moe said the list is designed to raise awareness.
"The 11 represent the different kinds of historic places in different parts of the country. It's a representative list," said Moe, who leads the organization of nearly 300,000 members.
Endangerment doesn't necessarily mean the building is in the potential path of a bulldozer, according to Moe. Lack of funding can be just as serious, as the case of the California state parks demonstrates.
The sites are listed in alphabetical order:
Boyd Theater, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Art Deco movie palace known as the Sameric was closed in 2002 and is for sale. A local group, Friends of the Boyd, is trying to save the 1928 theater, the last of its kind in Philadelphia. Only a few elaborate theaters from that era have survived, and the Boyd was the only one built in the downtown area. Moe said a "sympathetic developer" could restore the theater.
California's park system
The largest state park system in the United States suffers from chronic underfunding, including $1.2 billion worth of deferred maintenance, the National Trust said. The problem is worsening because of California's budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted a budget proposal this year that would have closed 48 parks, but the National Trust said the revised budget restored $11.8 million of the $13.3 million in cuts he requested.
Current funds cover only 40 percent of maintenance and operations, which means irreplaceable historic and cultural resources remain endangered, the National Trust said. The system includes 278 parks, 1.5 million acres and 295 miles of ocean front. Many parks house historic buildings such as the 1820s-era Franciscan La Purisima Mission complex near Lompoc.
Charity Hospital and adjacent neighborhood, New Orleans, Louisiana
Charity Hospital, once the main trauma center for southeastern Louisiana, was closed after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005. The building was declared unsalvageable, according to Donald R. Smithburg, chief executive of Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, which operates university hospitals. There are plans to demolish nearly 200 homes in the Mid-City neighborhood to accommodate construction of two new hospitals. Alternate locations for the new hospitals are available, and Charity Hospital could be rehabilitated, according to the National Trust.
Great Falls Portage, Great Falls, Montana
This National Historic Landmark is one of the best-preserved landscapes along the Lewis and Clark Trail, but a massive coal-fired power plant is planned in the area. "Development abutting the Great Falls Portage, an undeveloped rural area under panoramic blue Montana skies, will irreparably harm the cultural and visual landscape," the National Trust said
Hangar One, Moffett Field, Santa Clara County, California
The hangar was built in 1932 to house U.S. Navy dirigibles. It is a cavernous, 200-foot-tall, dome-shaped structure sitting on more than 8 acres. A 2003 inspection revealed carcinogenic PCBs leaking from the hangar's metallic exterior, the National Trust said. PCBs were widely used in electrical transformers. The Navy transferred Hangar One to NASA in 1992. Although the Navy remains responsible for environmental remediation, it is not required to preserve the building.
Lower East Side, New York
The Lower East Side in southeast Manhattan was home for immigrants and the working class in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it is becoming gentrified. Development threatens historic churches, theaters, schools and tenements, "a unique architectural type which, by the sheer numbers who lived in such a building, had an impact on more Americans than any other form of urban housing," the National Trust said.
Michigan Avenue Streetwall, Chicago, Illinois
This 12-block stretch of historic buildings along Michigan Avenue between 11th and Randolph Streets dates back to the early 1880s. The streetwall is a collection of notable buildings by architects including Adler & Sullivan, Louis Sullivan, D. H. Burnham and Holabird & Roche, the National Trust said. Although the stretch was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002, the National Trust says its historic character is threatened by the inappropriate addition of large-scale towers that retain only small portions of the original buildings or their facades.
Peace Bridge Neighborhood, Buffalo, New York
The bridge and neighborhood, which has homes and buildings dating to the 1850s, includes two parks on the National Register of Historic Places that are part of Frederick Law Olmsted's park system. The Public Bridge Authority proposes to expand the bridge and build a 45-acre plaza that would destroy more than 100 homes and businesses, many of which are eligible for inclusion on the National Register, the National Trust said. According to the organization, the PBA has refused to "properly consider" other sites.
The Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas, Texas
When the Statler Hilton opened in downtown Dallas in 1956, it was considered the most modern hotel in the country. Today, the vacant building sits on a desirable parcel of real estate. The Statler Hilton faces pressure from encroaching development that may lead to demolition. The National Trust says a sympathetic developer is needed to restore and reopen the hotel.
Sumner Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas
Sumner was the centerpiece of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. The court's decision that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" helped launch the civil rights movement by declaring school segregation unconstitutional.
Vizcaya and the Bonnet House, Florida
The development of out-of-scale buildings and corresponding zoning changes will ruin the vistas surrounding Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami and the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, the National Trust said. Such development could set a precedent for high-rise structures, it added.
By Debra Krajnak
CNN
Zimbabwe Inflation Now Over 1 Million Percent
Weary Zimbabweans are facing a new wave of price increases that will put many basic goods even further out of their reach: A loaf of bread now costs what 12 new cars did a decade ago.
Independent finance houses said in an assessment Tuesday that annual inflation rose this month to 1,063,572 percent based on prices of a basket of basic foodstuffs. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about 5 million percent by October.
As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars.
And fresh price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.
The economy was on shop clerk Jessica Rukuni's mind as she left the public swimming pool in downtown Harare's central park with three disappointed children. She found the new admission price of 100 million Zimbabwe dollars — 30 U.S. cents — out of reach.
"The point is that it's far too much for most people who don't get U.S. dollars," she said.
Her income is the equivalent of about one U.S. dollar a day, and her family has one basic meal daily.
The collapsing economy was a major concern of voters who dealt longtime President Robert Mugabe a defeat in March 29 elections. His challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, topped the poll but did not win the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff. The two face each other in a second round June 27.
Mugabe was to officially launch his runoff campaign with a rally at his party's headquarters in Harare on Sunday, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
The opposition's campaigning has been hampered by violence blamed on Mugabe's government and party. The opposition claims Tsvangirai is the target of a government assassination plot and he has been out of Zimbabwe since shortly after the March 29 first round. He plans to return to Zimbabwe to campaign for the runoff once security measures are in place, his aides have said.
Mugabe, speaking as he reviewed graduating police cadets Wednesday, said the opposition was fanning violence. Independent observers have said that while there have been some retaliatory attacks by the opposition, the vast majority of the attacks have been carried out by Mugabe supporters.
Mugabe accuses the United States, the European Union and especially former colonial ruler Britain of using their economic influence to back his opponents and bring about his ouster. He has severed ties with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial organizations.
Zimbabwe's official annual inflation was given by the government as 165,000 percent in February, already by far the highest in the world. The government has not updated that — the state statistical service has said there were not enough goods in the shortages-stricken shops to calculate new figures.
The economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector following the often violent seizures of farmland from whites. Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists.
"The crunch is going to come when local money is eroded to the point it is no longer acceptable" in commercial activities or as earnings, especially by longtime ruler Mugabe's loyalists, said independent Harare economist John Robertson.
Already, more transactions are being done in U.S. dollars, both openly and in secret.
Manufacturing industries, running at below 30 percent of their capacity, reported growing absenteeism by workers facing soaring commuter bus fares.
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
Independent finance houses said in an assessment Tuesday that annual inflation rose this month to 1,063,572 percent based on prices of a basket of basic foodstuffs. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about 5 million percent by October.
As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars.
And fresh price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.
The economy was on shop clerk Jessica Rukuni's mind as she left the public swimming pool in downtown Harare's central park with three disappointed children. She found the new admission price of 100 million Zimbabwe dollars — 30 U.S. cents — out of reach.
"The point is that it's far too much for most people who don't get U.S. dollars," she said.
Her income is the equivalent of about one U.S. dollar a day, and her family has one basic meal daily.
The collapsing economy was a major concern of voters who dealt longtime President Robert Mugabe a defeat in March 29 elections. His challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, topped the poll but did not win the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff. The two face each other in a second round June 27.
Mugabe was to officially launch his runoff campaign with a rally at his party's headquarters in Harare on Sunday, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
The opposition's campaigning has been hampered by violence blamed on Mugabe's government and party. The opposition claims Tsvangirai is the target of a government assassination plot and he has been out of Zimbabwe since shortly after the March 29 first round. He plans to return to Zimbabwe to campaign for the runoff once security measures are in place, his aides have said.
Mugabe, speaking as he reviewed graduating police cadets Wednesday, said the opposition was fanning violence. Independent observers have said that while there have been some retaliatory attacks by the opposition, the vast majority of the attacks have been carried out by Mugabe supporters.
Mugabe accuses the United States, the European Union and especially former colonial ruler Britain of using their economic influence to back his opponents and bring about his ouster. He has severed ties with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial organizations.
Zimbabwe's official annual inflation was given by the government as 165,000 percent in February, already by far the highest in the world. The government has not updated that — the state statistical service has said there were not enough goods in the shortages-stricken shops to calculate new figures.
The economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector following the often violent seizures of farmland from whites. Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists.
"The crunch is going to come when local money is eroded to the point it is no longer acceptable" in commercial activities or as earnings, especially by longtime ruler Mugabe's loyalists, said independent Harare economist John Robertson.
Already, more transactions are being done in U.S. dollars, both openly and in secret.
Manufacturing industries, running at below 30 percent of their capacity, reported growing absenteeism by workers facing soaring commuter bus fares.
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
Black Men Less Likely to Choose Stomach Aorta Surgery
Black men are less likely than white men to have elective surgery to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms, a new study shows.
Researchers analyzed Medicare data on men 65 and older who had elective or urgent repairs between 2001 and 2003 to come to this conclusion.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm occurs when there's a ballooning or swelling in a segment of the aorta, the large artery that supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis and legs. Elective surgery can be done before symptoms appear, while urgent surgery is done when an aneurysm ruptures, leaks, expands rapidly, or symptoms such as pain develop.
This study found that black men had elective surgery less than one third as often as white men (42.4 vs. 147.8 per 100,000 men) and urgent surgery about half as often (26.1 vs. 50.5 per 100,000 men).
After the researchers adjusted for that fact that black men develop abdominal aortic aneurysms at less than half the rate of white men, the researchers concluded that black men were about 27 percent less likely than white men to have elective surgery, but about 30 percent more likely to have urgent surgery.
Socioeconomic status is one of the possible reasons for the disparity, the study authors said.
"Although all of the patients in this study are Medicare beneficiaries, there may be substantial racial differences in comprehensiveness of Medicare benefits, supplemental insurance status and the ability to pay for health-care expenses not covered by Medicare," wrote Dr. Chad T. Wilson and colleagues. Wilson was with the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., but is now with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
They also said black patients may not be treated the same as white patients. Doctors may be less likely to screen black patients as often because they're less likely to develop aortic aneurysms, or black patients may not be offered surgery for aneurysms the same size and structure as those of white patients.
"What seems clear is that the racial disparity in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair rate is not simply because of differences in disease prevalence," the authors concluded. "The fact that black men seem to need more urgent abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs than white men given their disease prevalence suggests that the racial disparity in the use of elective repair merits further investigation."
The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Surgery.
from USnews.com
Researchers analyzed Medicare data on men 65 and older who had elective or urgent repairs between 2001 and 2003 to come to this conclusion.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm occurs when there's a ballooning or swelling in a segment of the aorta, the large artery that supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis and legs. Elective surgery can be done before symptoms appear, while urgent surgery is done when an aneurysm ruptures, leaks, expands rapidly, or symptoms such as pain develop.
This study found that black men had elective surgery less than one third as often as white men (42.4 vs. 147.8 per 100,000 men) and urgent surgery about half as often (26.1 vs. 50.5 per 100,000 men).
After the researchers adjusted for that fact that black men develop abdominal aortic aneurysms at less than half the rate of white men, the researchers concluded that black men were about 27 percent less likely than white men to have elective surgery, but about 30 percent more likely to have urgent surgery.
Socioeconomic status is one of the possible reasons for the disparity, the study authors said.
"Although all of the patients in this study are Medicare beneficiaries, there may be substantial racial differences in comprehensiveness of Medicare benefits, supplemental insurance status and the ability to pay for health-care expenses not covered by Medicare," wrote Dr. Chad T. Wilson and colleagues. Wilson was with the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., but is now with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
They also said black patients may not be treated the same as white patients. Doctors may be less likely to screen black patients as often because they're less likely to develop aortic aneurysms, or black patients may not be offered surgery for aneurysms the same size and structure as those of white patients.
"What seems clear is that the racial disparity in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair rate is not simply because of differences in disease prevalence," the authors concluded. "The fact that black men seem to need more urgent abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs than white men given their disease prevalence suggests that the racial disparity in the use of elective repair merits further investigation."
The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Surgery.
from USnews.com
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Wyclef Launches New Haiti Initiative
Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean launched a new initiative to help his impoverished homeland on Tuesday following last month's deadly food riots.
The initiative is aimed at raising $48 million over the next six months to fund expanded food distribution, job creation and assistance for farmers in the poorest country in the Americas.
Dubbed "Together For Haiti" it is backed by the World Food Program, the Pan American Development Foundation and Yele Haiti, Jean's charitable foundation for Haiti.
"We have come together to launch this new initiative because I believe we can do more and better for Haiti when we act together," Jean told a Manhattan news conference.
"We are not only interested in feeding people in response to the current crisis, but we want to offer them an alternative that can help them in a sustainable way," he said.
"Together For Haiti" plans to employ 1,800 people a day in poor areas, distribute food to 1.5 million people and provide fertilizers to 55,000 farmers. Grants will also be given to 9,000 families to support the development of micro-enterprises.
"We want to give them the opportunity to set up a small business which they can live on instead of assisting them every time there is a crisis," Jean told Reuters.
He was accompanied at the news conference by aid officials and by fellow musician and social activist Paul Simon, who promised support.
At least six people were killed during a week of violent protests last month against rising food and fuel costs in Haiti, where most people scrape by on less than $2 per day.
By Joseph Guyler Delva from reuters
The initiative is aimed at raising $48 million over the next six months to fund expanded food distribution, job creation and assistance for farmers in the poorest country in the Americas.
Dubbed "Together For Haiti" it is backed by the World Food Program, the Pan American Development Foundation and Yele Haiti, Jean's charitable foundation for Haiti.
"We have come together to launch this new initiative because I believe we can do more and better for Haiti when we act together," Jean told a Manhattan news conference.
"We are not only interested in feeding people in response to the current crisis, but we want to offer them an alternative that can help them in a sustainable way," he said.
"Together For Haiti" plans to employ 1,800 people a day in poor areas, distribute food to 1.5 million people and provide fertilizers to 55,000 farmers. Grants will also be given to 9,000 families to support the development of micro-enterprises.
"We want to give them the opportunity to set up a small business which they can live on instead of assisting them every time there is a crisis," Jean told Reuters.
He was accompanied at the news conference by aid officials and by fellow musician and social activist Paul Simon, who promised support.
At least six people were killed during a week of violent protests last month against rising food and fuel costs in Haiti, where most people scrape by on less than $2 per day.
By Joseph Guyler Delva from reuters
NY Police Charge Seven Officers in Groom Shooting
Seven New York police officers involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding night are facing internal disciplinary action, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.
All seven men are due to face hearings, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.
A month ago a New York state judge cleared two officers of manslaughter and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, who was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006.
Those three officers -- Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper -- were all served with administrative charges in 2007 that mirrored the criminal charges, Browne said.
Gary Napoli, the commanding officer on the night of the shooting, faces charges for failing to supervise the operation, Browne said. Michael Carey, who fired three shots, is charged with firing his gun outside department guidelines.
Two crime scene detectives, Sergeant Hugh McNeil and Detective Robert Knapp, were charged for their actions in the aftermath of the shooting.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, highly critical of the police and influential in New York's black community, called the move "a step in the right direction" but expressed regret that none of the officers had lost their jobs.
"There must be no tolerance for crime but also no tolerance for police misconduct and the New York Police Department must send a strong, firm signal that that is the case," Sharpton said in a statement.
The Justice Department, federal prosecutors and the FBI are now reviewing the case and could take legal action if investigators suspect a violation of federal civil rights laws.
On the night of the shooting, Isnora, the undercover officer who fired first, followed Bell and his two friends to Bell's car believing they went to fetch a gun to settle a dispute at the club. He opened fire after being grazed by the car as Bell attempted to drive away.
The other officers reached Bell's car after the initial confrontation and said they believed Isnora was being fired at from inside the vehicle.
The eight-week trial centered on whether the detectives had reason to believe they faced imminent danger and whether they made it clear to Bell and the two survivors that they were police officers.
State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman, who heard the case after the detectives waived their right to a jury trial, gave credibility to the detectives' statements that they believed they were in danger.
"Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums," Cooperman said at the time.
By Edith Honan from reuters
All seven men are due to face hearings, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.
A month ago a New York state judge cleared two officers of manslaughter and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, who was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006.
Those three officers -- Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper -- were all served with administrative charges in 2007 that mirrored the criminal charges, Browne said.
Gary Napoli, the commanding officer on the night of the shooting, faces charges for failing to supervise the operation, Browne said. Michael Carey, who fired three shots, is charged with firing his gun outside department guidelines.
Two crime scene detectives, Sergeant Hugh McNeil and Detective Robert Knapp, were charged for their actions in the aftermath of the shooting.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, highly critical of the police and influential in New York's black community, called the move "a step in the right direction" but expressed regret that none of the officers had lost their jobs.
"There must be no tolerance for crime but also no tolerance for police misconduct and the New York Police Department must send a strong, firm signal that that is the case," Sharpton said in a statement.
The Justice Department, federal prosecutors and the FBI are now reviewing the case and could take legal action if investigators suspect a violation of federal civil rights laws.
On the night of the shooting, Isnora, the undercover officer who fired first, followed Bell and his two friends to Bell's car believing they went to fetch a gun to settle a dispute at the club. He opened fire after being grazed by the car as Bell attempted to drive away.
The other officers reached Bell's car after the initial confrontation and said they believed Isnora was being fired at from inside the vehicle.
The eight-week trial centered on whether the detectives had reason to believe they faced imminent danger and whether they made it clear to Bell and the two survivors that they were police officers.
State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman, who heard the case after the detectives waived their right to a jury trial, gave credibility to the detectives' statements that they believed they were in danger.
"Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums," Cooperman said at the time.
By Edith Honan from reuters
Nigeria Orders Recovery of $1.9 Billion from Exxon Shell
President Umaru Yar'Adua has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., or NNPC, to take immediate steps to recover over $1.9 billion from Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), an official spokesman said Tuesday.
Olusegun Adeniyi, presidential adviser on communication, told Dow Jones Newswires the money was due to the federal government under the production sharing contracts for the Bonga and Erha offshore oil fields.
The two fields account for 20% of the country's oil production, a statement by Nigeria's presidential office said. Over $1.26 billion is being claimed for the Shell-operated Bonga only, according to details released in the statement.
Adeniyi said a federal government committee conducted an investigation on some production sharing contracts over a specified period and discovered shortfalls in payments to the government, and said the sum is made up of $850 million from Bonga and $646 million from Erha.
Adeniyi said there is also a directive that the sum of $414 million accruable to the NNPC and to the government from Bonga gas sales should be recovered.
He said the government has also directed all future government gas sale agreements should account for natural gas liquids to ensure the government derives maximum economic benefits from them. Adeniyi said this position is to be adopted in the renegotiation of all existing production sharing contracts.
Shell wouldn't comment, while Exxon weren't immediately available for comment.
Bonga is the first deepwater project for Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co., Ltd., or Snepco, in Nigeria for Nigeria itself. It produces over 200,000 barrels a day. Gas from Bonga is piped to the Nigeria liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny Island.
Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd., or EEPNL, an affiliate of ExxonMobil operates the Erha deepwater oil field located approximately 97 kilometers offshore Nigeria in 1,200 meters of water.
It is EEPNL`s first operated production from Nigeria's deepwater Block 209. Erha is expected to produce up to 150,000 barrels a day. It began operation in 2006.
CNN Money
Olusegun Adeniyi, presidential adviser on communication, told Dow Jones Newswires the money was due to the federal government under the production sharing contracts for the Bonga and Erha offshore oil fields.
The two fields account for 20% of the country's oil production, a statement by Nigeria's presidential office said. Over $1.26 billion is being claimed for the Shell-operated Bonga only, according to details released in the statement.
Adeniyi said a federal government committee conducted an investigation on some production sharing contracts over a specified period and discovered shortfalls in payments to the government, and said the sum is made up of $850 million from Bonga and $646 million from Erha.
Adeniyi said there is also a directive that the sum of $414 million accruable to the NNPC and to the government from Bonga gas sales should be recovered.
He said the government has also directed all future government gas sale agreements should account for natural gas liquids to ensure the government derives maximum economic benefits from them. Adeniyi said this position is to be adopted in the renegotiation of all existing production sharing contracts.
Shell wouldn't comment, while Exxon weren't immediately available for comment.
Bonga is the first deepwater project for Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co., Ltd., or Snepco, in Nigeria for Nigeria itself. It produces over 200,000 barrels a day. Gas from Bonga is piped to the Nigeria liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny Island.
Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd., or EEPNL, an affiliate of ExxonMobil operates the Erha deepwater oil field located approximately 97 kilometers offshore Nigeria in 1,200 meters of water.
It is EEPNL`s first operated production from Nigeria's deepwater Block 209. Erha is expected to produce up to 150,000 barrels a day. It began operation in 2006.
CNN Money
Children Starving, Again, in Ethiopia
This year's poor rains have nearly killed Bizunesh.
The 3-year-old weighs less than 10 pounds. Her long limbs, weak and folded like a praying mantis, cannot carry even her slight weight. She cannot speak. She doesn't want to eat. Health officials say she is permanently stunted.
Bizunesh — whose name, sadly, means "plentiful" — is one of untold numbers of children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia.
"She should be bigger than this," said her mother Zewdunesh Feltam, rocking the listless child. "Before there was maize, different kinds of food. But now there is nothing ... I beg for milk from my neighbors."
The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition — and called the current crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."
The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains — nearly double the number who needed help last year. An additional 5 million of Ethiopia's 80 million people receive aid each year because they never have enough food, whether harvests are good or not.
In Shanto, a southwestern agricultural area that grows sweet potatoes, recent rains arrived too late to save the harvest.
The crisis here is vivid. A feeding center run by the Irish charity GOAL has admitted 73 starving children in the past month.
Some, like Bizunesh, are frail and skeletal. Others, like 4-year-old Eyob Tadesse, have grossly swollen limbs in a sign of extreme malnutrition.
Eyob, whose mother said he used to be a lively, talkative child, sat in a stupor, unable to speak, not moving even to brush away the flies that swarmed over his face. The sunny room humid with a recent, too late, rain shower was made gloomy by an eerie silence despite being full of sick children. Chronic malnutrition can affect children for life, stunting their growth, brain development and immune systems, which leaves them vulnerable to a host of illnesses.
Many mothers said their families were trying to survive on a gluey, chewy bread made of the root of the "false banana" plant — one of many wild or so-called famine foods that Ethiopians depend on in times of trouble.
It's not known how many children have died or are starving now. Local and international aid and health workers say between 10 and nearly 20 percent of Ethiopia's children are malnourished — 15 percent is considered a critical situation. In 2006, Ethiopia had 13.4 million children under age 5, according to UNICEF.
Samuel Akale, a nutritionist with the government's disaster prevention agency, said the hunger will get worse. "The number of severely malnourished will increase, and then they'll die."
WFP officials say the drought has affected six of Ethiopia's nine regions, stretching from Tigray in the north to the vast and dry Somali region in the south, though not every part of each region is affected.
Spokesman Greg Beals said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is preparing an appeal for additional tens of millions of dollars.
"This is a real crisis that needs to be addressed," he said.
Ethiopia is a country with a history of hunger. It's food problems drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed some 1 million people. Pictures of stick-thin children like Bizunesh were broadcast onto television sets around the world.
This year's crisis is far less severe. But drought and chronic hunger persist in Ethiopia, a Horn of Africa nation known for its coffee, a major export. In 2003, droughts led 13.2 million people to seek emergency food aid. Drought in 2000 left more than 10 million needing emergency food.
Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land, and agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports. But many also go hungry because of government policies. Ethiopia's government buys all crops from farmers at fixed low prices. And the government owns all the land, so it cannot be used as collateral for loans.
Aid agencies say emergency intervention is not enough and are appealing for more money to support regular feeding programs.
"What we're doing at the moment is waiting until children get severely malnourished, taking them into the feeding program, getting them back to a level of moderate malnutrition and then watching them cycle back," said Hatty Newhouse, a nutrition adviser from GOAL.
There are fears that the next harvest also will fail.
"We are crying with the mothers and the children," said Akale, the nutritionist.
By ANITA POWELL from AP
The 3-year-old weighs less than 10 pounds. Her long limbs, weak and folded like a praying mantis, cannot carry even her slight weight. She cannot speak. She doesn't want to eat. Health officials say she is permanently stunted.
Bizunesh — whose name, sadly, means "plentiful" — is one of untold numbers of children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia.
"She should be bigger than this," said her mother Zewdunesh Feltam, rocking the listless child. "Before there was maize, different kinds of food. But now there is nothing ... I beg for milk from my neighbors."
The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition — and called the current crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."
The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains — nearly double the number who needed help last year. An additional 5 million of Ethiopia's 80 million people receive aid each year because they never have enough food, whether harvests are good or not.
In Shanto, a southwestern agricultural area that grows sweet potatoes, recent rains arrived too late to save the harvest.
The crisis here is vivid. A feeding center run by the Irish charity GOAL has admitted 73 starving children in the past month.
Some, like Bizunesh, are frail and skeletal. Others, like 4-year-old Eyob Tadesse, have grossly swollen limbs in a sign of extreme malnutrition.
Eyob, whose mother said he used to be a lively, talkative child, sat in a stupor, unable to speak, not moving even to brush away the flies that swarmed over his face. The sunny room humid with a recent, too late, rain shower was made gloomy by an eerie silence despite being full of sick children. Chronic malnutrition can affect children for life, stunting their growth, brain development and immune systems, which leaves them vulnerable to a host of illnesses.
Many mothers said their families were trying to survive on a gluey, chewy bread made of the root of the "false banana" plant — one of many wild or so-called famine foods that Ethiopians depend on in times of trouble.
It's not known how many children have died or are starving now. Local and international aid and health workers say between 10 and nearly 20 percent of Ethiopia's children are malnourished — 15 percent is considered a critical situation. In 2006, Ethiopia had 13.4 million children under age 5, according to UNICEF.
Samuel Akale, a nutritionist with the government's disaster prevention agency, said the hunger will get worse. "The number of severely malnourished will increase, and then they'll die."
WFP officials say the drought has affected six of Ethiopia's nine regions, stretching from Tigray in the north to the vast and dry Somali region in the south, though not every part of each region is affected.
Spokesman Greg Beals said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is preparing an appeal for additional tens of millions of dollars.
"This is a real crisis that needs to be addressed," he said.
Ethiopia is a country with a history of hunger. It's food problems drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed some 1 million people. Pictures of stick-thin children like Bizunesh were broadcast onto television sets around the world.
This year's crisis is far less severe. But drought and chronic hunger persist in Ethiopia, a Horn of Africa nation known for its coffee, a major export. In 2003, droughts led 13.2 million people to seek emergency food aid. Drought in 2000 left more than 10 million needing emergency food.
Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land, and agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports. But many also go hungry because of government policies. Ethiopia's government buys all crops from farmers at fixed low prices. And the government owns all the land, so it cannot be used as collateral for loans.
Aid agencies say emergency intervention is not enough and are appealing for more money to support regular feeding programs.
"What we're doing at the moment is waiting until children get severely malnourished, taking them into the feeding program, getting them back to a level of moderate malnutrition and then watching them cycle back," said Hatty Newhouse, a nutrition adviser from GOAL.
There are fears that the next harvest also will fail.
"We are crying with the mothers and the children," said Akale, the nutritionist.
By ANITA POWELL from AP
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Four Philadelphia Police Fired Over Filmed Beating
Four Philadelphia police officers were fired and four others demoted or suspended after a video showed them beating three suspects after a drug-related shooting, the city's police chief said on Monday.
The eight officers were among 18 who surrounded a car in North Philadelphia on May 5 after a shooting between two groups of men during police surveillance of a suspected drug-dealing operation.
Some of the officers were seen in a 67-second video dragging the suspects out of the car and kicking and punching them while they lay on the ground.
The incident, captured by a television news helicopter, came two days after the murder of a police sergeant during a robbery, the third Philadelphia officer killed in the line of duty in the past two years.
"We do have a group of officers whose actions were outside department policy and procedure," Commissioner Charles Ramsey told a news conference.
After a two-week examination of the video, an internal police investigation determined the officers used "indiscriminate force" against the suspects, who are now in custody for their alleged role in the drug-related shooting.
One officer was seen kicking a suspect in the head, while another appeared to use an object in his hand to hit the head of another suspect, Ramsey said. A third officer "kicked one suspect twice as he lay on the ground."
The officers may yet face criminal charges by Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, whose office is examining the video. The FBI is also reviewing the video, Ramsey said.
Asked to explain his officers' violent behavior, Ramsey said he could not know what they were thinking, but speculated they may have been affected by the emotional aftermath of the murder of their colleague two days earlier.
Asked to explain his officers' violent behavior, Ramsey said he could not know what they were thinking, but speculated they may have been affected by the emotional aftermath of the murder of their colleague two days earlier.
By Jon Hurdle from reuters.com
The eight officers were among 18 who surrounded a car in North Philadelphia on May 5 after a shooting between two groups of men during police surveillance of a suspected drug-dealing operation.
Some of the officers were seen in a 67-second video dragging the suspects out of the car and kicking and punching them while they lay on the ground.
The incident, captured by a television news helicopter, came two days after the murder of a police sergeant during a robbery, the third Philadelphia officer killed in the line of duty in the past two years.
"We do have a group of officers whose actions were outside department policy and procedure," Commissioner Charles Ramsey told a news conference.
After a two-week examination of the video, an internal police investigation determined the officers used "indiscriminate force" against the suspects, who are now in custody for their alleged role in the drug-related shooting.
One officer was seen kicking a suspect in the head, while another appeared to use an object in his hand to hit the head of another suspect, Ramsey said. A third officer "kicked one suspect twice as he lay on the ground."
The officers may yet face criminal charges by Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, whose office is examining the video. The FBI is also reviewing the video, Ramsey said.
Asked to explain his officers' violent behavior, Ramsey said he could not know what they were thinking, but speculated they may have been affected by the emotional aftermath of the murder of their colleague two days earlier.
Asked to explain his officers' violent behavior, Ramsey said he could not know what they were thinking, but speculated they may have been affected by the emotional aftermath of the murder of their colleague two days earlier.
By Jon Hurdle from reuters.com
Changing Face of Historically Black Colleges
Two things set Joshua Packwood apart from his 520 other classmates who graduated Sunday from Morehouse College -- his GPA and his race.
Packwood is the first white valedictorian in the 141-year history of the Atlanta college and the only white member of his class.
While Packwood was one of a handful of nonblack students at Morehouse, he is part of a greater trend toward diversifying historically black schools.
Faced with increased competition from historically white schools, and in some cases legal requirements to diversify their student bodies, historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, are actively recruiting white, Hispanic and Asian students.
Packwood, a 23-year-old economics major from Kansas City, Mo., earned a 4.0 grade point average and soon will begin work at Goldman Sachs, the New York-based investment firm.
He was offered a full ride to Columbia University but chose instead to attend Morehouse, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., and the only remaining all-male historically black college in the United States.
"I've been forced to see the world in a different perspective that I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else," he told The Associated Press. "None of the Ivies, no matter how large their enrollment is, no matter how many Nobel laureates they have on their faculty … none of them could've provided me with the perspective I have now."
The National Center for Education Statistics tracked students, by race, attending historically black schools from 1976 to 2001 and recorded an increase in nonblack students attending the schools over that time.
In 1976, 9.5 percent of students were white. Twenty-five years later, in 2001, 12 percent of students enrolled at historically black institutions were white. Percentages of Hispanic students in that same time increased from 1.5 percent to 2.3 percent, and Asian/Pacific Islanders from 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent.
A total of about 285,000 students attend HBCUs every year.
The trend toward more diverse student bodies can be attributed to both black schools' active recruitment of nonblack students and incentives such as scholarships, smaller class sizes and cheaper tuitions than white schools, said Lezli Baskerville, president of the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, an advocacy group for the country's 118 HBCUs.
"There are institutions that are seeking out diverse students and there are diverse students actively seeking out these institutions," Baskerville said.
"Some states have ordered historically black and historically white institutions to take affirmative steps towards more diversity. Others are taking steps towards diversity on their own," she said. "Many nontraditional students are drawn to HBCUs because these institutions are known for being especially successful in graduating students in a more nurturing environment with smaller classes."
She said many nonblack students are drawn to HBCUs for another reason -- they are cheaper.
"Private historically black schools cost on average $10,000 less than their white counterparts," Baskerville said.
About half of all historically black schools are public and states that require them to actively seek out more diverse students.
"There are several states that have required public HBCUs and other institutions to take further steps to obtain diversity. It is puzzling because these schools were established as bastions for students who had been locked out of other schools. They are bastions of equal opportunity. There are no recorded instances where nonblack students have been turned away from HBCUs because of their race. Nevertheless, they are required to take affirmative steps towards diversity," she said.
Twenty years ago, there were no white students at Alcorn State University, a historically black school outside Lorman, Miss. Today, about 5 percent of students are not black, according to Napoleon Moses, vice president for academic affairs.
"We're in southwest Mississippi and our state is almost equally divided between African-Americans and whites. We wanted to be a university for everyone, competing with all the other schools in the region. Our competition is not just from the HBCUs, but Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU and Tulane," Moses said.
Alcorn State was required to diversify, under state and federal desegregation laws, its student body. The school has recently been recruiting white students from overseas, particularly Russia. Moses said even with the legal pressure it is good business to recruit nonblack students.
Packwood was not recruited by Morehouse, but applied on his own, said Elise Durham, a college spokesperson. White students' reasons for attending historically black schools reflect many of the reasons the schools say they should want to come.
Megan Wallace, 30, was one of several white students who last year attended Howard University Law School.
She transferred out of Howard, she said, only because she wanted to move from Washington, D.C., to New York City and called her time at Howard a "phenomenal experience."
"My classmates accepted me for who I was, and I never felt it was really weird that I was there," she said.
Wallace cited a strong sense of community, a commitment to social justice and more economical tuition as the reasons she believed black and nonblack students are drawn to HBCUs.
At Morehouse, students debated what it meant for the school that the best student in a class of 520 people was a white kid.
"There was a debate on campus," said Carl Ringgold, 18, who recently finished his freshman year and served with Packwood in the student government association. "You heard both sides of the story. There are some people who don't like that he is valedictorian for whatever reasons, but most of those reasons come down to him being white. Outside of that they don't have many other reasons."
Ringgold, an English and sociology major, added, "I think it's better that we embrace it, rather that look down at it. He's valedictorian for one reason: He earned it."
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN from abcnews.com
Packwood is the first white valedictorian in the 141-year history of the Atlanta college and the only white member of his class.
While Packwood was one of a handful of nonblack students at Morehouse, he is part of a greater trend toward diversifying historically black schools.
Faced with increased competition from historically white schools, and in some cases legal requirements to diversify their student bodies, historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, are actively recruiting white, Hispanic and Asian students.
Packwood, a 23-year-old economics major from Kansas City, Mo., earned a 4.0 grade point average and soon will begin work at Goldman Sachs, the New York-based investment firm.
He was offered a full ride to Columbia University but chose instead to attend Morehouse, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., and the only remaining all-male historically black college in the United States.
"I've been forced to see the world in a different perspective that I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else," he told The Associated Press. "None of the Ivies, no matter how large their enrollment is, no matter how many Nobel laureates they have on their faculty … none of them could've provided me with the perspective I have now."
The National Center for Education Statistics tracked students, by race, attending historically black schools from 1976 to 2001 and recorded an increase in nonblack students attending the schools over that time.
In 1976, 9.5 percent of students were white. Twenty-five years later, in 2001, 12 percent of students enrolled at historically black institutions were white. Percentages of Hispanic students in that same time increased from 1.5 percent to 2.3 percent, and Asian/Pacific Islanders from 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent.
A total of about 285,000 students attend HBCUs every year.
The trend toward more diverse student bodies can be attributed to both black schools' active recruitment of nonblack students and incentives such as scholarships, smaller class sizes and cheaper tuitions than white schools, said Lezli Baskerville, president of the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, an advocacy group for the country's 118 HBCUs.
"There are institutions that are seeking out diverse students and there are diverse students actively seeking out these institutions," Baskerville said.
"Some states have ordered historically black and historically white institutions to take affirmative steps towards more diversity. Others are taking steps towards diversity on their own," she said. "Many nontraditional students are drawn to HBCUs because these institutions are known for being especially successful in graduating students in a more nurturing environment with smaller classes."
She said many nonblack students are drawn to HBCUs for another reason -- they are cheaper.
"Private historically black schools cost on average $10,000 less than their white counterparts," Baskerville said.
About half of all historically black schools are public and states that require them to actively seek out more diverse students.
"There are several states that have required public HBCUs and other institutions to take further steps to obtain diversity. It is puzzling because these schools were established as bastions for students who had been locked out of other schools. They are bastions of equal opportunity. There are no recorded instances where nonblack students have been turned away from HBCUs because of their race. Nevertheless, they are required to take affirmative steps towards diversity," she said.
Twenty years ago, there were no white students at Alcorn State University, a historically black school outside Lorman, Miss. Today, about 5 percent of students are not black, according to Napoleon Moses, vice president for academic affairs.
"We're in southwest Mississippi and our state is almost equally divided between African-Americans and whites. We wanted to be a university for everyone, competing with all the other schools in the region. Our competition is not just from the HBCUs, but Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU and Tulane," Moses said.
Alcorn State was required to diversify, under state and federal desegregation laws, its student body. The school has recently been recruiting white students from overseas, particularly Russia. Moses said even with the legal pressure it is good business to recruit nonblack students.
Packwood was not recruited by Morehouse, but applied on his own, said Elise Durham, a college spokesperson. White students' reasons for attending historically black schools reflect many of the reasons the schools say they should want to come.
Megan Wallace, 30, was one of several white students who last year attended Howard University Law School.
She transferred out of Howard, she said, only because she wanted to move from Washington, D.C., to New York City and called her time at Howard a "phenomenal experience."
"My classmates accepted me for who I was, and I never felt it was really weird that I was there," she said.
Wallace cited a strong sense of community, a commitment to social justice and more economical tuition as the reasons she believed black and nonblack students are drawn to HBCUs.
At Morehouse, students debated what it meant for the school that the best student in a class of 520 people was a white kid.
"There was a debate on campus," said Carl Ringgold, 18, who recently finished his freshman year and served with Packwood in the student government association. "You heard both sides of the story. There are some people who don't like that he is valedictorian for whatever reasons, but most of those reasons come down to him being white. Outside of that they don't have many other reasons."
Ringgold, an English and sociology major, added, "I think it's better that we embrace it, rather that look down at it. He's valedictorian for one reason: He earned it."
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN from abcnews.com
Food Tax Cuts, Export Bans Not Sustainable for Africa
Tax cuts and export bans are not a sustainable strategy against rising food prices in Africa and could instead hinder the fight against poverty, delegates at a West African regional summit said on Monday.
Rocketing prices for staples such as rice and millet, driven by a global surge in the cost of major cereals and oil, have triggered riots and protests across West Africa, the poorest part of the world's least developed continent.
Governments have scrambled to curb food exports, ease taxes on imports and increase subsidies for basic staples to try to make food more affordable for their struggling populations.
But experts at a meeting of trade, agriculture and finance ministers from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) warned that such measures could prove counter-productive in the long term.
"African countries have been struggling to mitigate the impact of the crisis through fiscal and other measures that are clearly unsustainable," Said Djinnit, U.N. Special Representative for West Africa, told the meeting in Abuja.
"This is a matter of serious concern that is posing a new threat to the peace, security and stability of the continent in addition to further compromising the efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals," he said.
The U.N. Millennium Development Goals aim to halve global poverty by 2015.
A panel of experts which reported to the ECOWAS meeting warned that export restrictions -- meant to ensure food supplies reach needy local communities -- could cause production to drop and hinder the wider goal of regional integration.
It also said that easing taxes on basic foodstuffs was not affordable for some countries in the long term, and could lead to a drop in public spending in other areas.
"It may also, in the medium term, heighten dependence on the outside world and above all, deepen tastes for foreign foods," the experts said.
FARMING NEGLECTED
Some development officials say too much aid for Africa has been focused on good governance initiatives in recent years instead of on developing rural economies. Some nations which were once net food exporters now rely on expensive imports.
The head of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said last month that between 2003 and 2005, $1.3 billion was spent on governance initiatives in the world's poorest countries against just $12 million on agricultural aid.
Rapid urbanisation in countries such as Senegal, where the younger generation has largely abandoned agriculture in favour of finding work in the cities, has also taken a toll.
"There are clearly external factors to the crisis. But there are also internal factors to African countries that have contributed to the marginalisation of the agricultural sector," Djinnit told the meeting in Abuja.
"These combined factors contribute to create a paradoxical situation where in many African countries, people consume what they do not produce and produce what they do not consume."
The experts' report called for ECOWAS member states to take a raft of immediate measures including the lifting of export bans, easier access to financing for farmers, and programmes to promote the cultivation of food meant for local consumption.
It also called on development partners to set up a support fund to help reduce hunger and urged donors and governments to allocate more of their budgets to agriculture.
By Camillus Eboh for reuters
Rocketing prices for staples such as rice and millet, driven by a global surge in the cost of major cereals and oil, have triggered riots and protests across West Africa, the poorest part of the world's least developed continent.
Governments have scrambled to curb food exports, ease taxes on imports and increase subsidies for basic staples to try to make food more affordable for their struggling populations.
But experts at a meeting of trade, agriculture and finance ministers from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) warned that such measures could prove counter-productive in the long term.
"African countries have been struggling to mitigate the impact of the crisis through fiscal and other measures that are clearly unsustainable," Said Djinnit, U.N. Special Representative for West Africa, told the meeting in Abuja.
"This is a matter of serious concern that is posing a new threat to the peace, security and stability of the continent in addition to further compromising the efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals," he said.
The U.N. Millennium Development Goals aim to halve global poverty by 2015.
A panel of experts which reported to the ECOWAS meeting warned that export restrictions -- meant to ensure food supplies reach needy local communities -- could cause production to drop and hinder the wider goal of regional integration.
It also said that easing taxes on basic foodstuffs was not affordable for some countries in the long term, and could lead to a drop in public spending in other areas.
"It may also, in the medium term, heighten dependence on the outside world and above all, deepen tastes for foreign foods," the experts said.
FARMING NEGLECTED
Some development officials say too much aid for Africa has been focused on good governance initiatives in recent years instead of on developing rural economies. Some nations which were once net food exporters now rely on expensive imports.
The head of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said last month that between 2003 and 2005, $1.3 billion was spent on governance initiatives in the world's poorest countries against just $12 million on agricultural aid.
Rapid urbanisation in countries such as Senegal, where the younger generation has largely abandoned agriculture in favour of finding work in the cities, has also taken a toll.
"There are clearly external factors to the crisis. But there are also internal factors to African countries that have contributed to the marginalisation of the agricultural sector," Djinnit told the meeting in Abuja.
"These combined factors contribute to create a paradoxical situation where in many African countries, people consume what they do not produce and produce what they do not consume."
The experts' report called for ECOWAS member states to take a raft of immediate measures including the lifting of export bans, easier access to financing for farmers, and programmes to promote the cultivation of food meant for local consumption.
It also called on development partners to set up a support fund to help reduce hunger and urged donors and governments to allocate more of their budgets to agriculture.
By Camillus Eboh for reuters
Self-Employment Gains Favor with Minorities
A growing number of black, Indian, Hispanic and women baby boomers are walking away from corporate jobs and taking their skills, experience and pay to launch new businesses.
The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau show the total number of black-owned businesses, for example, totaled 6,941 in 2002 in the Cincinnati metropolitan statistical area, up nearly 47 percent from 1997.
During the same time, the number of women-owned firms rose about 28 percent, to 40,008, while Hispanic-owned firms jumped 65 percent, to 1,238. Butler County in Ohio, Bracken County in Kentucky, and Franklin County in Indiana were added to the 2002 data.
Moreover, the percentage of self-employed people between ages 55 and 65 climbed 33 percent last year from 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There are now at least 3 million entrepreneurs 55 and older, up one-third from 2000, according to the labor bureau.
"The number of baby boomers starting their own businesses is surging," says Kathy Keller, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group AARP Ohio.
As more companies are downsizing and outsourcing jobs, more veteran minority professionals are choosing self-employment as an option to generate income, says Rea Waldon, senior vice president of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati's Economic Empowerment Center.
She said many baby boomers are taking severance packages and using them to start their own businesses, or are investing in other businesses as silent partners.
"Some of these baby boomers might also start their own businesses because of their age and changing personal values," Waldon said.
Majid Dosani, owner of ACE Products LLC, started his company in 2001 in his basement while working as an engineer for a local environmental engineering firm.
ACE Products is a Blue Ash-based office-supply company that sells more than 50,000 items, including office and printing supplies and business machines.
Dosani landed a contract in 2003 to provide office supplies to Cincinnati Public Schools as part of its supplier diversity program. He invested between $5,000 and $10,000 to open his Blue Ash location that year and left his corporate job in 2004 after 17 years.
Dosani, 50, says changing his lifestyle to run the business was among his biggest challenges.
Though he had to learn the office-supply business quickly, Dosani says the challenge of doing something different has made the gamble worth it. His store is expected to post sales of over $1.5 million this year, up from about $1 million last year, he said.
But like other baby boomers, Dosani has no plans to retire soon, though his income is higher now than when he had a corporate job.
He plans to stay in business until he can put his children - ages 17, 14 and 11 - through college.
"It will be at least another 10 years before I retire, but the good thing is I'm enjoying what I do," Dosani says.
Brenda J. England, owner of England's Elegant Attire, initially opened the business in 1996 and operated it part time while working as an associate engineer at Procter & Gamble Co.
She left P&G in 2000 after 25 years to expand her business.
England's business has grown from being a formal-wear consignment shop in North College Hill to a bridal and formal-wear business in Northgate Mall in Colerain Township.
Her current store is 3,900 square feet - about twice as big as her previous store - and it offers many more services, she said.
England, 58, says her time at P&G gave her the income, multi-tasking ability and people skills to run her own business.
She estimates she has invested about $20,000 of her own money into the business.
"The corporate experience gave me the assertiveness I needed to be an entrepreneur," England says.
While more minorities are becoming entrepreneurs, they still face barriers and challenges as new businesses owners, the Urban League's Waldon says.
She listed access to capital, being able to land projects, and failure to solicit managerial support and resources outside of the businesses among the biggest challenges.
"Those are real challenges for many minority entrepreneurs because they are cornerstones for growing your business," she says.
BY JEFF MCKINNEY from Cincinnati Enquirer
The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau show the total number of black-owned businesses, for example, totaled 6,941 in 2002 in the Cincinnati metropolitan statistical area, up nearly 47 percent from 1997.
During the same time, the number of women-owned firms rose about 28 percent, to 40,008, while Hispanic-owned firms jumped 65 percent, to 1,238. Butler County in Ohio, Bracken County in Kentucky, and Franklin County in Indiana were added to the 2002 data.
Moreover, the percentage of self-employed people between ages 55 and 65 climbed 33 percent last year from 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There are now at least 3 million entrepreneurs 55 and older, up one-third from 2000, according to the labor bureau.
"The number of baby boomers starting their own businesses is surging," says Kathy Keller, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group AARP Ohio.
As more companies are downsizing and outsourcing jobs, more veteran minority professionals are choosing self-employment as an option to generate income, says Rea Waldon, senior vice president of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati's Economic Empowerment Center.
She said many baby boomers are taking severance packages and using them to start their own businesses, or are investing in other businesses as silent partners.
"Some of these baby boomers might also start their own businesses because of their age and changing personal values," Waldon said.
Majid Dosani, owner of ACE Products LLC, started his company in 2001 in his basement while working as an engineer for a local environmental engineering firm.
ACE Products is a Blue Ash-based office-supply company that sells more than 50,000 items, including office and printing supplies and business machines.
Dosani landed a contract in 2003 to provide office supplies to Cincinnati Public Schools as part of its supplier diversity program. He invested between $5,000 and $10,000 to open his Blue Ash location that year and left his corporate job in 2004 after 17 years.
Dosani, 50, says changing his lifestyle to run the business was among his biggest challenges.
Though he had to learn the office-supply business quickly, Dosani says the challenge of doing something different has made the gamble worth it. His store is expected to post sales of over $1.5 million this year, up from about $1 million last year, he said.
But like other baby boomers, Dosani has no plans to retire soon, though his income is higher now than when he had a corporate job.
He plans to stay in business until he can put his children - ages 17, 14 and 11 - through college.
"It will be at least another 10 years before I retire, but the good thing is I'm enjoying what I do," Dosani says.
Brenda J. England, owner of England's Elegant Attire, initially opened the business in 1996 and operated it part time while working as an associate engineer at Procter & Gamble Co.
She left P&G in 2000 after 25 years to expand her business.
England's business has grown from being a formal-wear consignment shop in North College Hill to a bridal and formal-wear business in Northgate Mall in Colerain Township.
Her current store is 3,900 square feet - about twice as big as her previous store - and it offers many more services, she said.
England, 58, says her time at P&G gave her the income, multi-tasking ability and people skills to run her own business.
She estimates she has invested about $20,000 of her own money into the business.
"The corporate experience gave me the assertiveness I needed to be an entrepreneur," England says.
While more minorities are becoming entrepreneurs, they still face barriers and challenges as new businesses owners, the Urban League's Waldon says.
She listed access to capital, being able to land projects, and failure to solicit managerial support and resources outside of the businesses among the biggest challenges.
"Those are real challenges for many minority entrepreneurs because they are cornerstones for growing your business," she says.
BY JEFF MCKINNEY from Cincinnati Enquirer
Monday, May 19, 2008
Celebration of Malcolm X's Birthday
In celebration of Malcolm X's birthday, May 19, the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, Michigan, will host a day of engaging and exciting activities for all ages, exploring Malcolm X: The Life and Language of Liberation.
The morning begins with a live broadcast from the Museum with WGPR Detroit's Mason Radio, highlighting the mood and the music of a significant era in American history.
Programming also includes, "In the Words of Malcolm," an oratorical contest as well as an enlightening conversation with Professor James Small of the Black Studies Department, City College of The City University of New York.
As a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (O.A.A.U.) and Imam (minister) of the Muslim Mosque Incorporated, both founded by Malcolm X, Professor Small gives a first hand account of his life's experiences during the tumultuous 1960s.
In honor of Malcolm's legacy, Rodnell Collins, nephew of Malcolm X is speaking in Dallas, Texas about the life and times of Malcolm X and is also sharing his Foundation's newly released official portrait of Malcolm.
eurweb.com
The morning begins with a live broadcast from the Museum with WGPR Detroit's Mason Radio, highlighting the mood and the music of a significant era in American history.
Programming also includes, "In the Words of Malcolm," an oratorical contest as well as an enlightening conversation with Professor James Small of the Black Studies Department, City College of The City University of New York.
As a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (O.A.A.U.) and Imam (minister) of the Muslim Mosque Incorporated, both founded by Malcolm X, Professor Small gives a first hand account of his life's experiences during the tumultuous 1960s.
In honor of Malcolm's legacy, Rodnell Collins, nephew of Malcolm X is speaking in Dallas, Texas about the life and times of Malcolm X and is also sharing his Foundation's newly released official portrait of Malcolm.
eurweb.com
National Black Chamber of Commerce Launches Paris Chapter
The National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc., the largest Black business association in the world, has launched its newly established Paris affiliate.
The French African Diaspora Chamber of Commerce has evolved from a study and collaboration of French activists. Its mission will be consistent with the NBCC and together they will create a progressive Strategic Plan that will develop Black entrepreneurship throughout France and Francophone nations, says Harry C. Alford, NBCC co-founder, president and CEO.
“This is quite a milestone. Indeed, it is one of the proudest moments in our 15 year history”, says Alford. “We are going to share our successes and best practices. This chamber is hitting the ground running at full speed.”
France has very little business ownership amongst its Black population of approximately 8 million. There is no official census of race in France and that has culminated in social-economic tension over the years.
In 2005 Black residents rioted throughout the nation which was considered a “wake-up call”. Blacks in France are not invisible. They indeed exist and their issues need representation.
In response, Patrick Lozes and a team of other motivated Black French citizens began an exhaustive search for an answer to this situation. They studied the National Urban League, NAACP, Operation Push and other American associations that address the race issue.
In conclusion, they decided that a national chamber of commerce would become the right vehicle.
“We looked at France for the longest but just couldn’t fine the right people until now”, says Kay DeBow, co-founder and Executive Vice President for the NBCC. “After a few meetings and visits we became quite convinced that the time has come.”
Lozes has big plans.
“We need a Black press, political power and radio/television production. Our neighborhoods need to be populated with businesses that are owned by us so that we can recycle our dollars and build wealth. It is our destiny to help and interact with the Francophone nations throughout the Black Diaspora particularly Africa. Realizing economic vitality will address all the social ills – crime, poor health, education levels, etc. If we do this correctly, France will be much better from our efforts”.
“I am so proud of Patrick. Having done this in the United States I know it is no cake walk. There is much stress, heavy lifting and sleepless nights but the struggle is necessary. If you can endure the struggle the success will come and make it all so worthwhile. It is indeed God’s work”, says Alford.
Those members joining the national office of the NBCC for the Installation are:
California Black Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater New Orleans Black Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Multi-Cultural Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce, TALKhouse Magazine, Christine’s Coffee and Fashionably Yours.
blackpressusa.com
The French African Diaspora Chamber of Commerce has evolved from a study and collaboration of French activists. Its mission will be consistent with the NBCC and together they will create a progressive Strategic Plan that will develop Black entrepreneurship throughout France and Francophone nations, says Harry C. Alford, NBCC co-founder, president and CEO.
“This is quite a milestone. Indeed, it is one of the proudest moments in our 15 year history”, says Alford. “We are going to share our successes and best practices. This chamber is hitting the ground running at full speed.”
France has very little business ownership amongst its Black population of approximately 8 million. There is no official census of race in France and that has culminated in social-economic tension over the years.
In 2005 Black residents rioted throughout the nation which was considered a “wake-up call”. Blacks in France are not invisible. They indeed exist and their issues need representation.
In response, Patrick Lozes and a team of other motivated Black French citizens began an exhaustive search for an answer to this situation. They studied the National Urban League, NAACP, Operation Push and other American associations that address the race issue.
In conclusion, they decided that a national chamber of commerce would become the right vehicle.
“We looked at France for the longest but just couldn’t fine the right people until now”, says Kay DeBow, co-founder and Executive Vice President for the NBCC. “After a few meetings and visits we became quite convinced that the time has come.”
Lozes has big plans.
“We need a Black press, political power and radio/television production. Our neighborhoods need to be populated with businesses that are owned by us so that we can recycle our dollars and build wealth. It is our destiny to help and interact with the Francophone nations throughout the Black Diaspora particularly Africa. Realizing economic vitality will address all the social ills – crime, poor health, education levels, etc. If we do this correctly, France will be much better from our efforts”.
“I am so proud of Patrick. Having done this in the United States I know it is no cake walk. There is much stress, heavy lifting and sleepless nights but the struggle is necessary. If you can endure the struggle the success will come and make it all so worthwhile. It is indeed God’s work”, says Alford.
Those members joining the national office of the NBCC for the Installation are:
California Black Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater New Orleans Black Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Multi-Cultural Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce, TALKhouse Magazine, Christine’s Coffee and Fashionably Yours.
blackpressusa.com
Thousands Flee South Africa Attacks
Some 6,000 people have fled a wave of attacks on foreigners in South Africa, which has left at least 22 dead, aid workers say.
"This is a classic refugee situation," Rachel Cohen from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told the BBC.
Many of those who have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls are Zimbabweans, who have fled violence and poverty at home.
Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says the immigrants have become a scapegoat for social problems, such as unemployment, crime and a lack of housing.
Mobs of South Africans continue to roam around some townships near Johannesburg, looking for foreigners and looting their shops.
Over the weekend, correspondents say central Johannesburg resembled a war-zone, as armed police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse angry crowds.
"If we go back into the streets, they're going to kill us there," one Zimbabwean man seeking sanctuary in a police station told the BBC.
Some Zimbabweans say they will go home, despite the political violence there, rather than face attacks in South Africa.
The front page of several South African newspapers on Monday shows a horrific image of a man being burnt to death.
The police say they have made more than 200 arrests for crimes including murder, rape and robbery.
"We're not talking about xenophobia, we're talking about criminality," said police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
He said police reservists and officers from other regions had been called in to help quell the violence, reports the AP news agency.
'State of emergency'
A church where about 1,000 Zimbabweans have been taking refuge was attacked.
Bishop Paul Veryn of the Central Methodist Church which was attacked told SABC radio: "We consider that the situation is getting so serious that the police can no longer control it."
He called for a state of emergency to be declared to halt the violence.
MSF spokesman Eric Goemaere said: "This reminds me of a refugee situation. I have treated bullet wounds, beaten people, rape victims, and the people are terrified."
The xenophobic attacks began a week ago in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, before spreading to the city centre and across the Gauteng region.
President Thabo Mbeki said he would set up a panel of experts to investigate the violence.
The leader of the governing African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, has also condemned the attacks.
"We cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia," he told a conference in Pretoria.
But the Human Rights Commission on Monday accused the government of not doing enough to address the underlying problems.
"There has been poor leadership in this country as far as these issues are concerned," HRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane told public radio.
He pointed out that there was a wave of attacks on foreigners in the late 1990s, before the situation eased in following years.
Since the end of apartheid, migrants from across Africa have gone to South Africa, attracted by its relative prosperity.
from BBC news
"This is a classic refugee situation," Rachel Cohen from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told the BBC.
Many of those who have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls are Zimbabweans, who have fled violence and poverty at home.
Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says the immigrants have become a scapegoat for social problems, such as unemployment, crime and a lack of housing.
Mobs of South Africans continue to roam around some townships near Johannesburg, looking for foreigners and looting their shops.
Over the weekend, correspondents say central Johannesburg resembled a war-zone, as armed police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse angry crowds.
"If we go back into the streets, they're going to kill us there," one Zimbabwean man seeking sanctuary in a police station told the BBC.
Some Zimbabweans say they will go home, despite the political violence there, rather than face attacks in South Africa.
The front page of several South African newspapers on Monday shows a horrific image of a man being burnt to death.
The police say they have made more than 200 arrests for crimes including murder, rape and robbery.
"We're not talking about xenophobia, we're talking about criminality," said police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
He said police reservists and officers from other regions had been called in to help quell the violence, reports the AP news agency.
'State of emergency'
A church where about 1,000 Zimbabweans have been taking refuge was attacked.
Bishop Paul Veryn of the Central Methodist Church which was attacked told SABC radio: "We consider that the situation is getting so serious that the police can no longer control it."
He called for a state of emergency to be declared to halt the violence.
MSF spokesman Eric Goemaere said: "This reminds me of a refugee situation. I have treated bullet wounds, beaten people, rape victims, and the people are terrified."
The xenophobic attacks began a week ago in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, before spreading to the city centre and across the Gauteng region.
President Thabo Mbeki said he would set up a panel of experts to investigate the violence.
The leader of the governing African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, has also condemned the attacks.
"We cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia," he told a conference in Pretoria.
But the Human Rights Commission on Monday accused the government of not doing enough to address the underlying problems.
"There has been poor leadership in this country as far as these issues are concerned," HRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane told public radio.
He pointed out that there was a wave of attacks on foreigners in the late 1990s, before the situation eased in following years.
Since the end of apartheid, migrants from across Africa have gone to South Africa, attracted by its relative prosperity.
from BBC news
Black Males Are Ill-Served by the 'stud' Stereotype
Last semester one of my students dropped by for an office visit and, to my great surprise and annoyance, sex came up, again and again.
Yes, sex. Like when, sensing his restlessness and wistfulness, I asked him how he finds "peace" so that he can achieve a state of mind conducive to studying. (Even though he was failing my class, it was clear to me that he has a great deal of ability and academic promise.) He responded that he likes to drive around in his car, watch sport competitions "and I like sex."
Then, as I listened to the student degrade women - all the while trying to keep the revulsion I felt to a minimum - I couldn't help but wonder why this student felt so comfortable as he sat there talking to me - his professor whom he barely knew - about his personal sex life. Nothing I did to re-direct the conversation toward something having to do with how to improve his dismal classroom performance worked.
In thinking about this conversation, I began to recognize that sitting alongside this student's woman-hating diatribe was a deep, almost overwhelming, longing for a human connection that is meaningful and sustaining.
One of the main problems, however, is that he has mentally degenerated to a "hustler" state where meaningful relationships are especially difficult to establish and maintain. He doesn't "trust" women, they are "hoodrats" who "betray" him, they "won't act right," yet he readily admits that neither does he. But my student couldn't think analytically about how his behavior contributes to his inability to attain that which he so deeply desires.
Also troubling, I thought, is the way that sex in this culture - especially among people my student's age - has become so pornographic in concept. So many young men attempt to experience mere sensation without any thought toward humanistic concerns. Sadly, many of them mistakenly think a so-called "no-strings-attached, feel-good" sexual relationship is exactly what they want.
More to the point, I had to question why this society continues to be so fixated on making black men the sexual "animals" of this culture. This society has always conceptualized black males in demeaning physical terms - the stud with unlimited sexual prowess, for example - and so much so that many of these young men seem to have internalized a warped sense of their own humanity.
As another one of my male psychology students put it during a classroom discussion on gender issues (after which several of my female students thoroughly castigated him), "It's just sex."
Just sex? Sex is one of the most intimate acts two human beings can engage in - an unveiling of the soul and spirit, as well as the mind and body. It is this notion that "it's just sex" that has so many people confused and unhappy.
People are so wrapped up in their wants and desires, that, ironically, they don't understand the basic needs attached to those desires. The fact is, many people lack a sound analysis of sexuality and feelings, but black males are encouraged by the American culture to forgo such analysis, and, we must insist upon asking why this continues to be the case and what is the psychological and social cost to these young men?
I ended the meeting with my student by trying to get him to "analyze" his situation, and as is my way, I gave him some "vocabulary words" to look up and define. The list of words? "Barbaric," "savage," "animalistic", "primitive" and "Neanderthal." I figured if he wanted to continue operating on the level he seemed to be advocating, why not "keep it real" for him and clue him in to how others may evaluate his "game."
He balked, demurred, and (thankfully) appeared quite insulted when I handed him the list. "'Barbaric,' 'savage'ɬ" he faltered. "What?"
"Here, take the words."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
He threw his head back and sent forth a hearty, but clearly embarrassed, laugh. "OK, I'll look them up."
A breakthrough? I hope so.
Rhonda Sherrod of Huntsville Times
Yes, sex. Like when, sensing his restlessness and wistfulness, I asked him how he finds "peace" so that he can achieve a state of mind conducive to studying. (Even though he was failing my class, it was clear to me that he has a great deal of ability and academic promise.) He responded that he likes to drive around in his car, watch sport competitions "and I like sex."
Then, as I listened to the student degrade women - all the while trying to keep the revulsion I felt to a minimum - I couldn't help but wonder why this student felt so comfortable as he sat there talking to me - his professor whom he barely knew - about his personal sex life. Nothing I did to re-direct the conversation toward something having to do with how to improve his dismal classroom performance worked.
In thinking about this conversation, I began to recognize that sitting alongside this student's woman-hating diatribe was a deep, almost overwhelming, longing for a human connection that is meaningful and sustaining.
One of the main problems, however, is that he has mentally degenerated to a "hustler" state where meaningful relationships are especially difficult to establish and maintain. He doesn't "trust" women, they are "hoodrats" who "betray" him, they "won't act right," yet he readily admits that neither does he. But my student couldn't think analytically about how his behavior contributes to his inability to attain that which he so deeply desires.
Also troubling, I thought, is the way that sex in this culture - especially among people my student's age - has become so pornographic in concept. So many young men attempt to experience mere sensation without any thought toward humanistic concerns. Sadly, many of them mistakenly think a so-called "no-strings-attached, feel-good" sexual relationship is exactly what they want.
More to the point, I had to question why this society continues to be so fixated on making black men the sexual "animals" of this culture. This society has always conceptualized black males in demeaning physical terms - the stud with unlimited sexual prowess, for example - and so much so that many of these young men seem to have internalized a warped sense of their own humanity.
As another one of my male psychology students put it during a classroom discussion on gender issues (after which several of my female students thoroughly castigated him), "It's just sex."
Just sex? Sex is one of the most intimate acts two human beings can engage in - an unveiling of the soul and spirit, as well as the mind and body. It is this notion that "it's just sex" that has so many people confused and unhappy.
People are so wrapped up in their wants and desires, that, ironically, they don't understand the basic needs attached to those desires. The fact is, many people lack a sound analysis of sexuality and feelings, but black males are encouraged by the American culture to forgo such analysis, and, we must insist upon asking why this continues to be the case and what is the psychological and social cost to these young men?
I ended the meeting with my student by trying to get him to "analyze" his situation, and as is my way, I gave him some "vocabulary words" to look up and define. The list of words? "Barbaric," "savage," "animalistic", "primitive" and "Neanderthal." I figured if he wanted to continue operating on the level he seemed to be advocating, why not "keep it real" for him and clue him in to how others may evaluate his "game."
He balked, demurred, and (thankfully) appeared quite insulted when I handed him the list. "'Barbaric,' 'savage'ɬ" he faltered. "What?"
"Here, take the words."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
He threw his head back and sent forth a hearty, but clearly embarrassed, laugh. "OK, I'll look them up."
A breakthrough? I hope so.
Rhonda Sherrod of Huntsville Times
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Congressional Black Caucus Members Going to Haiti
A Congressional Black Caucus delegation, led by the CBC Chairwoman Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI), will travel to Haiti Friday for a one-day visit as part of the group's ongoing effort to bring attention to the plight of starving Haitians.
During their visit, lawmakers are hoping to see firsthand the effects of rising food prices in Haiti, and whether aid is reaching those who need it the most.
Last month, frustrated Haitians took to the streets in deadly protests over rising food prices. In response, Haiti's Senate fired Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis, accusing him of mismanaging the economy.
Lawmakers also plan to meet with President Réne Préval, who is still struggling to replace Alexis and put a functioning government in place after the lower house of parliament rejected his first nominee, Inter-American Development Bank official and agronomist Ericq Pierre.
The CBC visit comes just two days after the House passed a bill to help Haiti. Along with $40 billion in farm subsidies, the legislation provides a boost to Haiti's textile industry by extending the current Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE) to 10 years, and allowing Haiti to use more fabrics from China and Asia in its exports to the United States.
On Thursday, the senate also approved the bill.
from miami herald.com
During their visit, lawmakers are hoping to see firsthand the effects of rising food prices in Haiti, and whether aid is reaching those who need it the most.
Last month, frustrated Haitians took to the streets in deadly protests over rising food prices. In response, Haiti's Senate fired Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis, accusing him of mismanaging the economy.
Lawmakers also plan to meet with President Réne Préval, who is still struggling to replace Alexis and put a functioning government in place after the lower house of parliament rejected his first nominee, Inter-American Development Bank official and agronomist Ericq Pierre.
The CBC visit comes just two days after the House passed a bill to help Haiti. Along with $40 billion in farm subsidies, the legislation provides a boost to Haiti's textile industry by extending the current Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE) to 10 years, and allowing Haiti to use more fabrics from China and Asia in its exports to the United States.
On Thursday, the senate also approved the bill.
from miami herald.com
African Countries Move to Bio-Farming
Growing enough food to alleviate shortages in African countries is not easy, but an agro-ecologist in Ethiopia thinks he has the answer: bio-farming. The technique uses animal waste products to produce energy and fertilizer, which grows feed, that the animals eat, producing meat as well as new waste. The African Union recently endorsed the concept, and countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique, Mauritius and Kenya are already committed to big bio-farming projects. VOA's Pete Heinlein visited a model bio farm in Addis Ababa and has this report.
Giant kale, spectacular spinach, beautiful beef, medicinal plants, fabulous flowers, and all at prices most African families can afford. A dream? Well, it is a dream Ethiopian agro-ecologist Getachew Tikubet had a few years back. And after a lot of trial and error, he has an elaborate, holistic plan. It starts with cow dung.
"This Jersey breed produces about 11 kilograms of dung and about 10 liters of urine per day," Getachew said.
Getachew says that dung and urine can provide all the fertilizer and energy needs for a family of eight, if the family puts them in a container called a biogas digester. The cost is nominal.
"Within the digester, anaerobic fermentation takes place. As a result of the anaerobic fermentation, methane gas is produced, and this is one of the things that fascinate the farmers," he added. "They just can't believe this. Dung, urine being changed to this kind of flame."
But cooking gas is not the half of it. Getachew has demonstrated to 25,000 Ethiopian farmers how they can use the fertilizer from the biogas digester to produce enough food to feed themselves and have enough left over to take to market. He says they understand.
Farmers immediately see that all the components are right at their fingertips, most at no cost.
"We have people, we have livestock. We have plants. We have the soil. We have insects and we have various organisms and solar energy as a component," Getachew says.
By combining western technology with local traditions, Getachew has persuaded Ethiopia, the African Union, and several American universities and donors such as the World Bank that his idea works from the bottom up [by making farmers self-sufficient].
"So it starts from the soil. Some grow and the plants grow, some go to market. The produce -- some go back into the system, and then the animals take the feed, and the milk, meat again goes to the market. Their excreta goes back into the system. So by doing this, we complete the cycle," he adds.
The cycle begins again with a new generation. Getachew is planting seeds in farmers of the future at a school he operates at the bio farm. Children as young as five years-old learn not just lessons from books, but the concept of saving the land that they and their children will inherit.
By Peter Heinlein and Addis Ababa for Voice for America
Giant kale, spectacular spinach, beautiful beef, medicinal plants, fabulous flowers, and all at prices most African families can afford. A dream? Well, it is a dream Ethiopian agro-ecologist Getachew Tikubet had a few years back. And after a lot of trial and error, he has an elaborate, holistic plan. It starts with cow dung.
"This Jersey breed produces about 11 kilograms of dung and about 10 liters of urine per day," Getachew said.
Getachew says that dung and urine can provide all the fertilizer and energy needs for a family of eight, if the family puts them in a container called a biogas digester. The cost is nominal.
"Within the digester, anaerobic fermentation takes place. As a result of the anaerobic fermentation, methane gas is produced, and this is one of the things that fascinate the farmers," he added. "They just can't believe this. Dung, urine being changed to this kind of flame."
But cooking gas is not the half of it. Getachew has demonstrated to 25,000 Ethiopian farmers how they can use the fertilizer from the biogas digester to produce enough food to feed themselves and have enough left over to take to market. He says they understand.
Farmers immediately see that all the components are right at their fingertips, most at no cost.
"We have people, we have livestock. We have plants. We have the soil. We have insects and we have various organisms and solar energy as a component," Getachew says.
By combining western technology with local traditions, Getachew has persuaded Ethiopia, the African Union, and several American universities and donors such as the World Bank that his idea works from the bottom up [by making farmers self-sufficient].
"So it starts from the soil. Some grow and the plants grow, some go to market. The produce -- some go back into the system, and then the animals take the feed, and the milk, meat again goes to the market. Their excreta goes back into the system. So by doing this, we complete the cycle," he adds.
The cycle begins again with a new generation. Getachew is planting seeds in farmers of the future at a school he operates at the bio farm. Children as young as five years-old learn not just lessons from books, but the concept of saving the land that they and their children will inherit.
By Peter Heinlein and Addis Ababa for Voice for America
Cash Incentive Programs Boost Black Pupils
WHEN a group of New York schools published their latest test results for reading and maths, Cynthia Baptiste had 218 reasons to celebrate. After working hard throughout the year, the 13-year-old Brooklyn student had earned $218 (£111) from an incentive programme that is helping to transform the anguished debate about racial difference in America.
Baptiste’s class at the predominantly black Family academy in Brooklyn is part of an intriguing project aimed at encouraging African-American and other disadvantaged students to try harder at school. Its broader goal is to narrow the notorious gap between black and white education in America, where the average 17-year-old black student has the academic skills of a 14-year-old white pupil.
The programme is the brain-child of one of America’s most intriguing academics: Roland Fryer, a 30-year-old African-American professor at Harvard whose father was convicted of sexual assault, whose great-aunt went to jail for dealing cocaine and who once thought of becoming a drug dealer himself.
As New York’s recently appointed chief education “equality officer”, Fryer is searching for an educational breakthrough that will put an end to more than 40 years of failed experiments, barbed antagonism and lingering racism that has continued to afflict the black community since the segregation era ended with the civil rights act of 1964.
Even as Barack Obama aspires to become America’s first black president, the African-American community remains painfully divided over the causes and possible cures of not only a damaging education gap but a social and moral crisis: black men are seven times more likely than whites to go to prison; two out of three black babies are born out of wedlock; the proportion of black men with jobs fell from 74% to 69% last year.
Can all these problems still be blamed on the familiar evils of white discrimination? Or are black people themselves responsible for the miseries so many of them face?
Some of the answers may lie in the progress of Baptiste and her classmates, who can earn up to £255 a year from their grades in a series of 10 tests. The programme includes about 6,000 poor black and Hispanic children among the 1.1m students in the New York school system.
Critics have complained that by offering children cash if they get good grades, Fryer is merely replacing teaching with bribery. The scheme is still in its first year, but previously sceptical teachers have already begun to report marked improvements in their children’s attendance and attention.
“I have to say that my first reaction when I heard of this project was, ‘I can’t believe they are doing this’,” said Sheila Richards, the principal of the Brooklyn school. “I’m old school – I worked hard for good grades and no one ever gave me money.”
Yet Richards has seen a “very good” increase in her students’ grades and is thrilled that many of them are choosing to open bank accounts to save their earnings. “It’s more than just an incentive,” she said. “It has taught them the value of saving.”
The education initiative has pushed Fryer to the forefront of a national debate that has previously owed more to emotional political bias than scientific rigour. On Fryer’s left is the black “ghettocracy”, the angry old guard of black liberation. Led by rabble-rousing preachers such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jack-son, it tends to blame everything on racism or white malice.
On his right is the “Afristocracy”, the conservative black elite led by Bill Cosby, one of America’s most popular comedians, who has repeatedly taken black youths to task for being stupid, ill-mannered slackers. “They think they’re hip,” Cosby once said. “They can’t read, they can’t write, they are laughing and giggling and they’re going nowhere.”
Fryer, who became an assistant Harvard professor at 27, belongs to neither of those groups. He claims never to have voted and does not support Obama or any other presidential candidate. “I don’t do politics; I’m a scientist,” he told me.
He defended his incentives as a crucial tool in encouraging black students who receive scant support at home. “Yes, of course learning for learning’s sake sounds great in theory,” he said. “And it works very well for kids who come from affluent families. They only need to look around the family dinner table to see the value of education.”
Fryer argued that many well-to-do parents routinely offer their children incentives, from pocket money dependent on good grades to new cars for graduation. Little of that is available to black families with an average household income of $32,400 (about £16,500) a year.
Fryer readily acknowledges it is a big leap from small-scale New York incentive programmes to nationwide community solutions. Yet he is convinced that education has become “the fundamental civil rights battle of the 21st century”.
More high-school diplomas for black students should inexorably lead to more university degrees, better jobs, less despair, less crime and ultimately an end to what Larry Elder, a black conservative columnist, has dubbed the community’s BMW syndrome - “bitching, moaning, whining” about supposed discrimination.
In a recent book, Stupid Black Men - named after those who blame everything on whites - Elder noted that “crying racism takes less effort than exploring why black children underperform compared to their white and Asian counterparts”.
The columnist accused black leaders of being “stuck in a time-warped, decades-old fight . . . the battle against racism takes precedence over personal responsibility, hard work, pursuing an education”.
Fryer’s research had previously focused on some of the most contentious aspects of race in America, notably the oft-repeated assertion that black intelligence is genetically inferior to that of whites. He tackled that issue by studying one-year-old babies of both races and found that they displayed no significant mental differences, suggesting that the intelligence gap is nurtured and not natural.
He then studied the damaging claim that black schoolchildren tend to shun academic endeavour because they regard it as “acting white” - traditionally a contemptible offence for blacks.
When Fryer found that blacks with good grades had fewer friends than mediocre performers, he concluded that highflying blacks were indeed being ostracised. Not the least of his aims for New York schools is to persuade black students that hard work should be encouraged, not mocked. Fryer escaped his drug-dealing relatives, won a sports scholarship to the University of Texas and discovered that he was good at studying.
Other young black community leaders have been trying to bring about similar shifts in attitude. A few miles from Manhattan, Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, has been presiding for more than a year over an eye-catching attempt to transform one of America’s most blighted black-majority cities.
Newark sits only a few miles from Manhattan on what should be some of the most valuable property in America. Yet rows of houses are derelict, shop fronts are boarded up and poverty is endemic.
Booker, 39, has wooed corporate investment, beefed up his police force and introduced a range of what have been dubbed “postracial” reforms. The homicide rate seems to be falling and this summer Newark will even introduce etiquette classes for black people who want to learn table manners.
Yet in some quarters Booker is regarded as a “sell-out”. Martin Kilson, another black professor from Harvard, described him as “a black Trojan horse . . . an errand-boy black politician for [the] conservative Republican power-class”.
Similar accusations may lie in wait for Obama, who has already been criticised by black radicals for “not being black enough”. He has tried in his presidential campaign to present himself asa candidate for all Americans, not just blacks.
Fryer has met Obama and considers him a “nice man”, but he noted last week that he had heard few proposals from any of the presidential candidates for dealing specifically with African-American problems. “I listened to the debates,” he said. “There was nothing on black students who don’t read as well as whites. There was nothing on the fact there are more black men in prison than in college.”
Tony Allen-Mills for Timesonline.co.uk
Baptiste’s class at the predominantly black Family academy in Brooklyn is part of an intriguing project aimed at encouraging African-American and other disadvantaged students to try harder at school. Its broader goal is to narrow the notorious gap between black and white education in America, where the average 17-year-old black student has the academic skills of a 14-year-old white pupil.
The programme is the brain-child of one of America’s most intriguing academics: Roland Fryer, a 30-year-old African-American professor at Harvard whose father was convicted of sexual assault, whose great-aunt went to jail for dealing cocaine and who once thought of becoming a drug dealer himself.
As New York’s recently appointed chief education “equality officer”, Fryer is searching for an educational breakthrough that will put an end to more than 40 years of failed experiments, barbed antagonism and lingering racism that has continued to afflict the black community since the segregation era ended with the civil rights act of 1964.
Even as Barack Obama aspires to become America’s first black president, the African-American community remains painfully divided over the causes and possible cures of not only a damaging education gap but a social and moral crisis: black men are seven times more likely than whites to go to prison; two out of three black babies are born out of wedlock; the proportion of black men with jobs fell from 74% to 69% last year.
Can all these problems still be blamed on the familiar evils of white discrimination? Or are black people themselves responsible for the miseries so many of them face?
Some of the answers may lie in the progress of Baptiste and her classmates, who can earn up to £255 a year from their grades in a series of 10 tests. The programme includes about 6,000 poor black and Hispanic children among the 1.1m students in the New York school system.
Critics have complained that by offering children cash if they get good grades, Fryer is merely replacing teaching with bribery. The scheme is still in its first year, but previously sceptical teachers have already begun to report marked improvements in their children’s attendance and attention.
“I have to say that my first reaction when I heard of this project was, ‘I can’t believe they are doing this’,” said Sheila Richards, the principal of the Brooklyn school. “I’m old school – I worked hard for good grades and no one ever gave me money.”
Yet Richards has seen a “very good” increase in her students’ grades and is thrilled that many of them are choosing to open bank accounts to save their earnings. “It’s more than just an incentive,” she said. “It has taught them the value of saving.”
The education initiative has pushed Fryer to the forefront of a national debate that has previously owed more to emotional political bias than scientific rigour. On Fryer’s left is the black “ghettocracy”, the angry old guard of black liberation. Led by rabble-rousing preachers such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jack-son, it tends to blame everything on racism or white malice.
On his right is the “Afristocracy”, the conservative black elite led by Bill Cosby, one of America’s most popular comedians, who has repeatedly taken black youths to task for being stupid, ill-mannered slackers. “They think they’re hip,” Cosby once said. “They can’t read, they can’t write, they are laughing and giggling and they’re going nowhere.”
Fryer, who became an assistant Harvard professor at 27, belongs to neither of those groups. He claims never to have voted and does not support Obama or any other presidential candidate. “I don’t do politics; I’m a scientist,” he told me.
He defended his incentives as a crucial tool in encouraging black students who receive scant support at home. “Yes, of course learning for learning’s sake sounds great in theory,” he said. “And it works very well for kids who come from affluent families. They only need to look around the family dinner table to see the value of education.”
Fryer argued that many well-to-do parents routinely offer their children incentives, from pocket money dependent on good grades to new cars for graduation. Little of that is available to black families with an average household income of $32,400 (about £16,500) a year.
Fryer readily acknowledges it is a big leap from small-scale New York incentive programmes to nationwide community solutions. Yet he is convinced that education has become “the fundamental civil rights battle of the 21st century”.
More high-school diplomas for black students should inexorably lead to more university degrees, better jobs, less despair, less crime and ultimately an end to what Larry Elder, a black conservative columnist, has dubbed the community’s BMW syndrome - “bitching, moaning, whining” about supposed discrimination.
In a recent book, Stupid Black Men - named after those who blame everything on whites - Elder noted that “crying racism takes less effort than exploring why black children underperform compared to their white and Asian counterparts”.
The columnist accused black leaders of being “stuck in a time-warped, decades-old fight . . . the battle against racism takes precedence over personal responsibility, hard work, pursuing an education”.
Fryer’s research had previously focused on some of the most contentious aspects of race in America, notably the oft-repeated assertion that black intelligence is genetically inferior to that of whites. He tackled that issue by studying one-year-old babies of both races and found that they displayed no significant mental differences, suggesting that the intelligence gap is nurtured and not natural.
He then studied the damaging claim that black schoolchildren tend to shun academic endeavour because they regard it as “acting white” - traditionally a contemptible offence for blacks.
When Fryer found that blacks with good grades had fewer friends than mediocre performers, he concluded that highflying blacks were indeed being ostracised. Not the least of his aims for New York schools is to persuade black students that hard work should be encouraged, not mocked. Fryer escaped his drug-dealing relatives, won a sports scholarship to the University of Texas and discovered that he was good at studying.
Other young black community leaders have been trying to bring about similar shifts in attitude. A few miles from Manhattan, Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, has been presiding for more than a year over an eye-catching attempt to transform one of America’s most blighted black-majority cities.
Newark sits only a few miles from Manhattan on what should be some of the most valuable property in America. Yet rows of houses are derelict, shop fronts are boarded up and poverty is endemic.
Booker, 39, has wooed corporate investment, beefed up his police force and introduced a range of what have been dubbed “postracial” reforms. The homicide rate seems to be falling and this summer Newark will even introduce etiquette classes for black people who want to learn table manners.
Yet in some quarters Booker is regarded as a “sell-out”. Martin Kilson, another black professor from Harvard, described him as “a black Trojan horse . . . an errand-boy black politician for [the] conservative Republican power-class”.
Similar accusations may lie in wait for Obama, who has already been criticised by black radicals for “not being black enough”. He has tried in his presidential campaign to present himself asa candidate for all Americans, not just blacks.
Fryer has met Obama and considers him a “nice man”, but he noted last week that he had heard few proposals from any of the presidential candidates for dealing specifically with African-American problems. “I listened to the debates,” he said. “There was nothing on black students who don’t read as well as whites. There was nothing on the fact there are more black men in prison than in college.”
Tony Allen-Mills for Timesonline.co.uk
'Why Are Black Men Killing Each Other?'
Growing up in Newtowne 20 in the 1980s, Kobie Kiambu Parker saw a lot of things that children shouldn't have to see: People shooting dice outside his apartment, blood and violence in the stairwells, drug dealers on the streets.
Through it all, Mr. Parker credited his mother, Claudia, for making sure he studied and focused on his education, and for helping him stay out of trouble on the streets where some of his classmates were.
At the time, he was looked down upon for not hanging out on corners, he recalled in an interview last week.
"When you don't do that, you're kind of the oddball," he said.
The neighborhood, a public housing development built in 1971, was pretty rough when he lived there and was considered to be the worst in Annapolis at the time, he said. Their parents kept Mr. Parker and his siblings inside because it just wasn't safe to go out.
"That was the place nobody wanted to go," he recalled.
Now Mr. Parker is a filmmaker working on a project about black culture in a white world. The 34-year-old Prince George's County resident will return to his roots today to talk about crime in a community forum called "Why are black men killing each other?"In his view, the reasons are varied. Some of them are internal, including lack of self esteem and lack of education or marketable skills that make employment challenging. Some reasons come from the outside.
Media portrayals of black people and a lack of black male role models in many children's lives also have a large impact.
Black men are told, indirectly, that they are worthless, Mr. Parker said, and to some people, that makes it OK to kill another "worthless" person.
Drugs also are a cause. People who think they're worthless often drop out of school, leading them to have difficulty getting legitimate jobs, he explained.
"(They think) 'What am I to do but sell drugs?" he said. "It's a trap ... People don't see any other way out of public housing."
Mr. Parker's stepfather, Mose Calloway, also had a huge impact on his life. Mr. Calloway was a police officer in Annapolis and was a constant part of Mr. Parker's life from a young age, even before Mr. Calloway and his mother married.
"I was very fortunate," he said, noting that in many black families today, there is no father present.
On a recent return to his old neighborhood, he saw some of the people who had lived there when he was young, and some are still standing on street corners.
He wants black people to take accountability for their actions and to work to improve their own community.
"If you know who shot someone down the street, and you don't tell the police, how are you helping the community?" he asked.
Black communities need to pull together and help to create jobs for their own people in their own communities, he said, giving them worthwhile and profitable jobs outside the drug market.
"When are we going to help each other?" he asked.
He also believes successful black men need to mentor the younger generation and provide positive role models for kids and teens.
"It's the responsibility of black people to get the community straight," he said.
The forum today will also discuss disease in the black community, education and the influence of media on young black people.
"It's not going to change anything overnight," Mr. Parker said of the forum, but he said that, hopefully, opening an honest discussion about problems is a way to start moving toward a change.
Mr. Parker's film, "Ink Spot on Canvas," will premiere in Silver Spring and other cities nationwide in September.
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer for hometownannapolis.com
Through it all, Mr. Parker credited his mother, Claudia, for making sure he studied and focused on his education, and for helping him stay out of trouble on the streets where some of his classmates were.
At the time, he was looked down upon for not hanging out on corners, he recalled in an interview last week.
"When you don't do that, you're kind of the oddball," he said.
The neighborhood, a public housing development built in 1971, was pretty rough when he lived there and was considered to be the worst in Annapolis at the time, he said. Their parents kept Mr. Parker and his siblings inside because it just wasn't safe to go out.
"That was the place nobody wanted to go," he recalled.
Now Mr. Parker is a filmmaker working on a project about black culture in a white world. The 34-year-old Prince George's County resident will return to his roots today to talk about crime in a community forum called "Why are black men killing each other?"In his view, the reasons are varied. Some of them are internal, including lack of self esteem and lack of education or marketable skills that make employment challenging. Some reasons come from the outside.
Media portrayals of black people and a lack of black male role models in many children's lives also have a large impact.
Black men are told, indirectly, that they are worthless, Mr. Parker said, and to some people, that makes it OK to kill another "worthless" person.
Drugs also are a cause. People who think they're worthless often drop out of school, leading them to have difficulty getting legitimate jobs, he explained.
"(They think) 'What am I to do but sell drugs?" he said. "It's a trap ... People don't see any other way out of public housing."
Mr. Parker's stepfather, Mose Calloway, also had a huge impact on his life. Mr. Calloway was a police officer in Annapolis and was a constant part of Mr. Parker's life from a young age, even before Mr. Calloway and his mother married.
"I was very fortunate," he said, noting that in many black families today, there is no father present.
On a recent return to his old neighborhood, he saw some of the people who had lived there when he was young, and some are still standing on street corners.
He wants black people to take accountability for their actions and to work to improve their own community.
"If you know who shot someone down the street, and you don't tell the police, how are you helping the community?" he asked.
Black communities need to pull together and help to create jobs for their own people in their own communities, he said, giving them worthwhile and profitable jobs outside the drug market.
"When are we going to help each other?" he asked.
He also believes successful black men need to mentor the younger generation and provide positive role models for kids and teens.
"It's the responsibility of black people to get the community straight," he said.
The forum today will also discuss disease in the black community, education and the influence of media on young black people.
"It's not going to change anything overnight," Mr. Parker said of the forum, but he said that, hopefully, opening an honest discussion about problems is a way to start moving toward a change.
Mr. Parker's film, "Ink Spot on Canvas," will premiere in Silver Spring and other cities nationwide in September.
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer for hometownannapolis.com
Saturday, May 17, 2008
In a First, African American Woman Leads California Assembly
Democrat Karen Bass has been sworn in as speaker of the California Assembly, the first African American woman to hold that position since the Legislature was created 159 years ago.
The 54-year-old former community activist is the 67th speaker. She succeeds fellow Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nunez, who is leaving as a result of term limits.
"California is a giant in crisis — and now it is up to us to solve that crisis. It is up to us to take the fear out of California’s future," she said in her remarks.
In a Q&A with the Sacramento Bee, Bass said fixing the state's budget is her top priority. As one of the so-called Big Five, she'll try to broker agreements on the budget and other major policy issues.
She'll waste no time grappling with perennial budget problems. Tomorrow, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger releases a revised spending plan for the next fiscal year that features a deficit that might be as high as $20 billion.
"We have to decide how we will come together to mobilize the incredible assets and resources at this state's command to solve the budget crisis," Bass said. "Members, we have to respond to the current economic crisis the same way we would a natural disaster. We have to toss aside the boxes we put ourselves in and the labels we place on others and come together to get the job done.
"I believe part of that job has got to involve looking at the big picture and really examining California’s overall economic structure. Most importantly, we have to ask the question of whether a tax structure that was established in the 1930s is sufficient to meet the needs of Californians in 2008. ..."
from USA Today
The 54-year-old former community activist is the 67th speaker. She succeeds fellow Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nunez, who is leaving as a result of term limits.
"California is a giant in crisis — and now it is up to us to solve that crisis. It is up to us to take the fear out of California’s future," she said in her remarks.
In a Q&A with the Sacramento Bee, Bass said fixing the state's budget is her top priority. As one of the so-called Big Five, she'll try to broker agreements on the budget and other major policy issues.
She'll waste no time grappling with perennial budget problems. Tomorrow, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger releases a revised spending plan for the next fiscal year that features a deficit that might be as high as $20 billion.
"We have to decide how we will come together to mobilize the incredible assets and resources at this state's command to solve the budget crisis," Bass said. "Members, we have to respond to the current economic crisis the same way we would a natural disaster. We have to toss aside the boxes we put ourselves in and the labels we place on others and come together to get the job done.
"I believe part of that job has got to involve looking at the big picture and really examining California’s overall economic structure. Most importantly, we have to ask the question of whether a tax structure that was established in the 1930s is sufficient to meet the needs of Californians in 2008. ..."
from USA Today
NAACP Picks Activist as New President
The NAACP board of directors has chosen Ben Jealous, a 35-year-old former news executive and lifelong activist, as the organization's next president and the youngest in its 99-year history.
The 64-member board met and voted in Baltimore and plans to formally announce its decision on Saturday at a noon press conference.
NAACP national spokesman Richard J. McIntire confirmed the vote with The Associated Press early Saturday after the 8-hour closed door meeting.
Though he is not a politician, minister or civil rights icon, in Jealous the organization gets a young but connected leader familiar with black leadership and social justice issues. He takes the helm as the NAACP's 17th president just months before the organization's centennial anniversary, as the group grapples with dwindling membership and looks to boost its coffers.
"There are a small number of groups to whom all black people in this country owe a debt of gratitude, and the NAACP is one of them," Jealous told The Associated Press in a telephone interview before the vote. "There is work that is undone ... the need continues and our children continue to be at great risk in this country."
Jealous succeeds Bruce Gordon, who resigned abruptly in March 2007. Gordon left after 19 months, citing clashes with board members over management style and the NAACP's mission as his reasons for leaving. Dennis Courtland Hayes had been serving as interim president and chief executive officer.
Jealous was born in Pacific Grove, Calif., and educated at Columbia University and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He has worked as a community organizer for the NAACP; as managing editor of a black newspaper in Mississippi; executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the country's largest group of black community newspapers; and as director of Amnesty International's U.S. Human Rights Program.
Since 2005, Jealous has served as president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, a private institution that supports civil and human rights advocacy.
Despite his own successes, Jealous said blacks in America still have a hard row to hoe, and that the gains of recent decades have created a false sense of progress.
"Those of us who are 45 and younger were told, 'The struggle has been won. Go out and flourish. Don't worry about the movement,'" he said.
The NAACP was founded in 1909 by an interracial coalition who battled segregation and lynching and helped win some of the nation's biggest civil rights victories. But in the wake of racial advances, membership has dwindled and the organization has run a deficit.
Jealous said having the energy of a 35-year-old will be an asset to the organization.
"It means having somebody who is impatient and outraged that race is still a factor in our society," he said.
His plans for the group include ensuring high voter turnout among blacks in the November election and pushing civil rights.
Jealous said he is eager to work with similar groups to push his agenda.
"This is the century when white people will become a minority in this country," he said. "What that means is right now, we need to have a clear picture of where we're headed and work together diligently with Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and progressive white groups as if our collective future depends on it. I'm committed to that."
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer
The 64-member board met and voted in Baltimore and plans to formally announce its decision on Saturday at a noon press conference.
NAACP national spokesman Richard J. McIntire confirmed the vote with The Associated Press early Saturday after the 8-hour closed door meeting.
Though he is not a politician, minister or civil rights icon, in Jealous the organization gets a young but connected leader familiar with black leadership and social justice issues. He takes the helm as the NAACP's 17th president just months before the organization's centennial anniversary, as the group grapples with dwindling membership and looks to boost its coffers.
"There are a small number of groups to whom all black people in this country owe a debt of gratitude, and the NAACP is one of them," Jealous told The Associated Press in a telephone interview before the vote. "There is work that is undone ... the need continues and our children continue to be at great risk in this country."
Jealous succeeds Bruce Gordon, who resigned abruptly in March 2007. Gordon left after 19 months, citing clashes with board members over management style and the NAACP's mission as his reasons for leaving. Dennis Courtland Hayes had been serving as interim president and chief executive officer.
Jealous was born in Pacific Grove, Calif., and educated at Columbia University and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He has worked as a community organizer for the NAACP; as managing editor of a black newspaper in Mississippi; executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the country's largest group of black community newspapers; and as director of Amnesty International's U.S. Human Rights Program.
Since 2005, Jealous has served as president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, a private institution that supports civil and human rights advocacy.
Despite his own successes, Jealous said blacks in America still have a hard row to hoe, and that the gains of recent decades have created a false sense of progress.
"Those of us who are 45 and younger were told, 'The struggle has been won. Go out and flourish. Don't worry about the movement,'" he said.
The NAACP was founded in 1909 by an interracial coalition who battled segregation and lynching and helped win some of the nation's biggest civil rights victories. But in the wake of racial advances, membership has dwindled and the organization has run a deficit.
Jealous said having the energy of a 35-year-old will be an asset to the organization.
"It means having somebody who is impatient and outraged that race is still a factor in our society," he said.
His plans for the group include ensuring high voter turnout among blacks in the November election and pushing civil rights.
Jealous said he is eager to work with similar groups to push his agenda.
"This is the century when white people will become a minority in this country," he said. "What that means is right now, we need to have a clear picture of where we're headed and work together diligently with Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and progressive white groups as if our collective future depends on it. I'm committed to that."
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer
Brothers Seek Path Out of Poverty in Brazil Film
A tough yet touching Brazilian drama follows four brothers in Sao Paulo who turn to football, religion and crime as they try to escape the poverty and monotony of life in the slums.
Unlike other acclaimed Brazilian dramas set in impoverished ghettos of the big cities, directors Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas did not want to make violence and crime central themes, although they linger just beneath the surface.
"Linha De Passe" (Line of Passage) is one of 22 films in the main competition at the Cannes film festival and one of four from South America.
"We didn't want to make a film on drug traffickers or police in down-and-out areas," Salles told reporters after a press screening of the movie.
"We wanted to make a film that clearly showed that violence was being turned down as an option," he added.
"A lot of Brazilian films depict characters who opt for violence, yet 99 percent of young people in Brazil are trying to make it in life, like what you see in the film."
Salles, best known for his 2004 hit "The Motorcycle Diaries," based the brothers' experiences on true stories and used first-time feature film actors in most of the roles in a bid to make the picture feel as youthful as possible.
NO FATHER FIGURE
The absence of a father in the family means the mother of Denis, Dinho, Dario and Reginaldo takes on the burden of household chores, made more difficult by the fact that she is pregnant with a fifth child.
Denis, the eldest sibling, is a motorcycle courier barely making a living speeding through the streets. Reginaldo, the youngest, is obsessed with buses, and finds brief liberation when he steals a bus and takes to the road.
Dinho seeks solace in religion, attending an evangelical church where he suffers a crisis of faith, while Dario turns to that "other" religion, soccer, although he is deemed too old to succeed despite being just 18.
Their interweaving tales are set in a soulless, urban world of run-down slums, traffic jams, dark courtyards, and endless vistas of skyscrapers.
"Sao Paulo is a huge city," said Thomas, who likened it to "the city at the end of the world."
"It has no escape like in Rio. Rio is an incredibly big and dramatic city also, but you have the sea, you have the landscape, you have the sense of redemption in the city."
"Linha de Passe" is the second Brazilian film to screen in the main competition after "Blindness," by Fernando Meirelles, opened the 2008 Cannes film festival on Wednesday.
By Mike Collett-White from Reuters
Unlike other acclaimed Brazilian dramas set in impoverished ghettos of the big cities, directors Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas did not want to make violence and crime central themes, although they linger just beneath the surface.
"Linha De Passe" (Line of Passage) is one of 22 films in the main competition at the Cannes film festival and one of four from South America.
"We didn't want to make a film on drug traffickers or police in down-and-out areas," Salles told reporters after a press screening of the movie.
"We wanted to make a film that clearly showed that violence was being turned down as an option," he added.
"A lot of Brazilian films depict characters who opt for violence, yet 99 percent of young people in Brazil are trying to make it in life, like what you see in the film."
Salles, best known for his 2004 hit "The Motorcycle Diaries," based the brothers' experiences on true stories and used first-time feature film actors in most of the roles in a bid to make the picture feel as youthful as possible.
NO FATHER FIGURE
The absence of a father in the family means the mother of Denis, Dinho, Dario and Reginaldo takes on the burden of household chores, made more difficult by the fact that she is pregnant with a fifth child.
Denis, the eldest sibling, is a motorcycle courier barely making a living speeding through the streets. Reginaldo, the youngest, is obsessed with buses, and finds brief liberation when he steals a bus and takes to the road.
Dinho seeks solace in religion, attending an evangelical church where he suffers a crisis of faith, while Dario turns to that "other" religion, soccer, although he is deemed too old to succeed despite being just 18.
Their interweaving tales are set in a soulless, urban world of run-down slums, traffic jams, dark courtyards, and endless vistas of skyscrapers.
"Sao Paulo is a huge city," said Thomas, who likened it to "the city at the end of the world."
"It has no escape like in Rio. Rio is an incredibly big and dramatic city also, but you have the sea, you have the landscape, you have the sense of redemption in the city."
"Linha de Passe" is the second Brazilian film to screen in the main competition after "Blindness," by Fernando Meirelles, opened the 2008 Cannes film festival on Wednesday.
By Mike Collett-White from Reuters
Radio One, Inc. Announces Annual Shareholders Meeting
Radio One, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROIAK - News and ROIA - News), will hold its annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, May 28 2008, at 9:30 a.m. EDT at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC. Access to live audio and replay of the conference call will also be available on Radio One's corporate website at www.radio-one.com. The replay will be made available on the website for seven calendar days following the call.
Radio One, Inc. (www.radio-one.com) is one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners. On a pro forma basis, after closing the sale of our Los Angeles station, Radio One will own and/or operate 53 radio stations located in 16 urban markets in the United States. Additionally, Radio One owns Magazine One, Inc. (d/b/a Giant Magazine) (www.giantmag.com), interests in TV One, LLC (www.tvoneonline.com), a cable/satellite network programming primarily to African-Americans, Reach Media, Inc. (www.blackamericaweb.com), owner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and other businesses associated with Tom Joyner, and Community Connect Inc., an on-line social-networking company, which operates a number of branded websites, including BlackPlanet, MiGente and AsianAvenue.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements represent management's current expectations and are based upon information available to Radio One at the time of this release. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Radio One's control, that may cause the actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Radio One does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
--Press Release--
Radio One, Inc. (www.radio-one.com) is one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners. On a pro forma basis, after closing the sale of our Los Angeles station, Radio One will own and/or operate 53 radio stations located in 16 urban markets in the United States. Additionally, Radio One owns Magazine One, Inc. (d/b/a Giant Magazine) (www.giantmag.com), interests in TV One, LLC (www.tvoneonline.com), a cable/satellite network programming primarily to African-Americans, Reach Media, Inc. (www.blackamericaweb.com), owner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and other businesses associated with Tom Joyner, and Community Connect Inc., an on-line social-networking company, which operates a number of branded websites, including BlackPlanet, MiGente and AsianAvenue.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements represent management's current expectations and are based upon information available to Radio One at the time of this release. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Radio One's control, that may cause the actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Radio One does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
--Press Release--
T.I. & Girlfriend Tiny Welcome Baby Boy Into The World
Rapper T.I. and his girlfriend Tameka "Tiny" Cottle welcome their second son into the world early Friday morning (May 16).
According to People.com, the rapper's (real name: Clifford Harris) son, named Major Harris, was born shortly after midnight.
He weighed in at 5 lbs., and 15 oz.
"God has blessed us with another miracle," T.I. said.
Tiny made the announcement of the pregnancy on her MySpace page in January.
It's the couple's second child. They have a three-year-old son named King.
From Ballerstatus.com
Words by Liz "Red" Thomas
According to People.com, the rapper's (real name: Clifford Harris) son, named Major Harris, was born shortly after midnight.
He weighed in at 5 lbs., and 15 oz.
"God has blessed us with another miracle," T.I. said.
Tiny made the announcement of the pregnancy on her MySpace page in January.
It's the couple's second child. They have a three-year-old son named King.
From Ballerstatus.com
Words by Liz "Red" Thomas
Friday, May 16, 2008
Angola Surpasses Nigeria as Top Africa Oil Producer
Angola became Africa's largest oil producer last month, OPEC said on Thursday, as unrest sharply cut Nigerian output.
Angola, one of OPEC's newest members, claimed the top spot for the first time pumping 1.873 million barrels per day in April, 55,000 bpd more than Nigeria.
While Angola has gradually increased its production with new offshore oilfields, Nigeria has been plagued by persistent supply disruptions.
Production in Nigeria, Africa's top producer since 1978 on an annual basis, tumbled by as much as 1.36 million bpd in late April or more than 40 percent of its installed output capacity.
Militant groups have been on a violent campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta since 2006 to press for greater local control over oil revenues and development for the impoverished region, where they say five decades of oil extraction have polluted the land and water, and enriched corrupt politicians.
Most analysts believe Nigeria will retake the top position this month as much of its shut-in production has been restored.
Some 800,000 bpd has since come back online after Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its union workers reached an agreement to end an eight-day strike.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) also said on Tuesday it has brought back some of its shut-in production, repairing two of four Bonny Light oil facilities damaged by militant attacks.
from reuters.com
Angola, one of OPEC's newest members, claimed the top spot for the first time pumping 1.873 million barrels per day in April, 55,000 bpd more than Nigeria.
While Angola has gradually increased its production with new offshore oilfields, Nigeria has been plagued by persistent supply disruptions.
Production in Nigeria, Africa's top producer since 1978 on an annual basis, tumbled by as much as 1.36 million bpd in late April or more than 40 percent of its installed output capacity.
Militant groups have been on a violent campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta since 2006 to press for greater local control over oil revenues and development for the impoverished region, where they say five decades of oil extraction have polluted the land and water, and enriched corrupt politicians.
Most analysts believe Nigeria will retake the top position this month as much of its shut-in production has been restored.
Some 800,000 bpd has since come back online after Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its union workers reached an agreement to end an eight-day strike.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) also said on Tuesday it has brought back some of its shut-in production, repairing two of four Bonny Light oil facilities damaged by militant attacks.
from reuters.com
'Black Art' Draws New Collectors, Better Prices
Landscapes are the images that come to mind in the work of artist Richard Mayhew. The New York-born expressionist credits that to his part African American, part Native American roots.
“It’s a dual commitment to nature,’’ he says. “The land is very important to both cultures in terms of stimulation and spiritual sensitivity, and it’s very important to me.’’
Mayhew’s work was on display at the recent National Black Fine Arts Show, an annual event. Detroit based G.R. N’Namdi, the oldest Black-owned abstract art gallery in the U.S., represents Mayhew’s work. In 2003, his piece ‘’Sanctuary’’ sold for $6,000. It’s now listed at $25,000 dollars.
Collectors and dealers who gathered at the mid-February show in New York are making note of the new and higher prices; though many works of Black art are still available at a low price, the value days aren’t here to stay.
“It’s a function of African-American art being ignored for a long time,’’ said Melissa Azzi of the Chicago-based Lusenhop Gallery. “Relatively speaking, African-American art has been extremely undervalued.’’
She likes to attribute the lack of appreciation to the attitudes of traditional art collectors. “More confrontational works tended to be ignored,’’ Azzi said. “But now institutions and collectors are a bit more comfortable looking back and taking note.’’
In particular, movements of the 1960s and 70s that wove political and social commentary into their artistic vision, such as the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AFRI-COBRA), are getting a second look.
Azzi pointed to Wadsworth Jarrell’s 1972 portrait of socialist organizer Angela Davis, “Revolutionary,’’ as an example. In that piece, Jarrell depicts Davis in a moment of impassioned speech, using a collage of social slogans to form the scene. “Struggle,’’ “Resist,’’ “Have To,’’ “Given My Heart,’’ and other textual messages radiate from the focal point—Davis’ head. The bright Kool-aid colors employed help place “Revolutionary’’ in its cultural frame. The piece has doubled in value over the past year, but, at $2,000 , it’s still modestly priced.
And new interest is not confined to African-American art alone. The Ghanaian artist Tafa, now a resident of Harlem, New York, has seen attitudes evolve first-hand.
“More and more people are appreciating Black art, definitely,’’ he said. “It used to be under-represented, but now it gets attention both here [the U.S.] and there [Europe].’’
In late January, the London-based Bonhams became the first non-South African auction house to have a sale dedicated exclusively to South African art. The sale brought in 1,422,528 pounds, with Irma Stern’s works ‘’The Tomato Picker’’ and ‘’Portrait of a West African Girl’’ fetching the top prices -- 186,000 and 138,000 pounds, respectively.
Both sale prices were more than 50,000 pounds above their pre-auction estimated prices. In 2006, Bonhams sold a self-portrait by South African artist Gerard Sekoto for more than nine times its estimate. That portrait of Sekoto, a pioneer of urban Black art and social realism, fetched 123,000 pounds.
In the U.S., the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art opened a new exhibit devoted exclusively to African art. The exhibit, titled ‘’Tradition as Innovation’’, opened in January of this year. Whereas the typical exhibit emphasises the influence African art had over modern artists who broke with tradition, such as Picasso, ‘’Tradition as Innovation’’ presents African art in its own context.
At the Black Fine Arts Show in New York, Mark Small, owner of the Colorado-based Golden Galleries, was quick to point out the involvement of the youth in the scene. ‘’All the time I see members of the younger generation recognizing African American artists that, throughout most of their career, have remained largely unknown. That’s really great to see,’’ he said.
Many of those older artists trained in the city of Chicago. There, two pioneering schools gave African American artists an opportunity to study when few others would: the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the South Side Community Art Centre. The city subsequently became a hub, and many significant artists, including Wadsworth Jarrell, spent at least one year studying there. The works they produced marked a turning point in the history of Black art.
Today, the growing interest in Black art may mark another.
By Lance Steagall for Michigan Citizen
“It’s a dual commitment to nature,’’ he says. “The land is very important to both cultures in terms of stimulation and spiritual sensitivity, and it’s very important to me.’’
Mayhew’s work was on display at the recent National Black Fine Arts Show, an annual event. Detroit based G.R. N’Namdi, the oldest Black-owned abstract art gallery in the U.S., represents Mayhew’s work. In 2003, his piece ‘’Sanctuary’’ sold for $6,000. It’s now listed at $25,000 dollars.
Collectors and dealers who gathered at the mid-February show in New York are making note of the new and higher prices; though many works of Black art are still available at a low price, the value days aren’t here to stay.
“It’s a function of African-American art being ignored for a long time,’’ said Melissa Azzi of the Chicago-based Lusenhop Gallery. “Relatively speaking, African-American art has been extremely undervalued.’’
She likes to attribute the lack of appreciation to the attitudes of traditional art collectors. “More confrontational works tended to be ignored,’’ Azzi said. “But now institutions and collectors are a bit more comfortable looking back and taking note.’’
In particular, movements of the 1960s and 70s that wove political and social commentary into their artistic vision, such as the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AFRI-COBRA), are getting a second look.
Azzi pointed to Wadsworth Jarrell’s 1972 portrait of socialist organizer Angela Davis, “Revolutionary,’’ as an example. In that piece, Jarrell depicts Davis in a moment of impassioned speech, using a collage of social slogans to form the scene. “Struggle,’’ “Resist,’’ “Have To,’’ “Given My Heart,’’ and other textual messages radiate from the focal point—Davis’ head. The bright Kool-aid colors employed help place “Revolutionary’’ in its cultural frame. The piece has doubled in value over the past year, but, at $2,000 , it’s still modestly priced.
And new interest is not confined to African-American art alone. The Ghanaian artist Tafa, now a resident of Harlem, New York, has seen attitudes evolve first-hand.
“More and more people are appreciating Black art, definitely,’’ he said. “It used to be under-represented, but now it gets attention both here [the U.S.] and there [Europe].’’
In late January, the London-based Bonhams became the first non-South African auction house to have a sale dedicated exclusively to South African art. The sale brought in 1,422,528 pounds, with Irma Stern’s works ‘’The Tomato Picker’’ and ‘’Portrait of a West African Girl’’ fetching the top prices -- 186,000 and 138,000 pounds, respectively.
Both sale prices were more than 50,000 pounds above their pre-auction estimated prices. In 2006, Bonhams sold a self-portrait by South African artist Gerard Sekoto for more than nine times its estimate. That portrait of Sekoto, a pioneer of urban Black art and social realism, fetched 123,000 pounds.
In the U.S., the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art opened a new exhibit devoted exclusively to African art. The exhibit, titled ‘’Tradition as Innovation’’, opened in January of this year. Whereas the typical exhibit emphasises the influence African art had over modern artists who broke with tradition, such as Picasso, ‘’Tradition as Innovation’’ presents African art in its own context.
At the Black Fine Arts Show in New York, Mark Small, owner of the Colorado-based Golden Galleries, was quick to point out the involvement of the youth in the scene. ‘’All the time I see members of the younger generation recognizing African American artists that, throughout most of their career, have remained largely unknown. That’s really great to see,’’ he said.
Many of those older artists trained in the city of Chicago. There, two pioneering schools gave African American artists an opportunity to study when few others would: the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the South Side Community Art Centre. The city subsequently became a hub, and many significant artists, including Wadsworth Jarrell, spent at least one year studying there. The works they produced marked a turning point in the history of Black art.
Today, the growing interest in Black art may mark another.
By Lance Steagall for Michigan Citizen
Zimbabwe Run-Off Election Set for June 27
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe acknowledged Friday he had suffered an electoral disaster in losing a first round against arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai, as the date for a run-off was fixed for June 27.
In his first detailed comments since losing a joint presidential and parliamentary election on March 29, Africa's oldest leader lambasted his party and also accused the opposition of embarking on a campaign of terror.
Tsvangirai meanwhile said he was confident of winning the run-off and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said he would return home on Saturday to begin a final push for power after more than a month out of the country.
The 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, won 43.2 percent of votes against 47.9 percent for Tsvangirai in the first round and in theory is now the underdog.
With his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party having also lost control of parliament, Mugabe made no attempt to disguise his fury at the outcome as he addressed its central committee.
"Although the presidential result did not yield an outright winner it was indeed disastrous," he said.
"Fundamentally we went to the election completely unprepared, unorganised ... As leaders we all share the blame, from the national level to that of branch chairman.
"Nevertheless we are set for a second round, for the run-off which must now decide the winner."
The period since election day has been marked by increased violence and the opposition says more than 30 of its supporters have died at the hands of Mugabe followers.
In a report this week, the senior UN representative in Zimbabwe said while both parties had been guilty of attacks, ZANU-PF were the main perpetrators.
However Mugabe blamed the opposition, accusing its supporters of "visiting terror on villages and (ZANU-PF) party supporters".
"The MDC and its supporters are playing a very dangerous game. They should know they cannot win that kind of war which they have carried to rural constituencies in the hope of destabilising our supporters."
Tsvangirai said he wanted to return home as a show of solidarity with supporters who have been targeted by Mugabe's followers.
"It is because of these people that I must return to Zimbabwe, to be with our people, to lift them out of this darkness that pervades their lives," he said in a speech on a visit to Northern Ireland.
Tsvangirai said the violence would not prevent him from winning the run-off.
"Mugabe lost that first round, 57 percent of the people who cast their vote did not vote for him.
"I am so confident that in spite of the violence, come the second round they will reconfirm that rejection."
MDC spokesmen said Tsvangirai would return Saturday and immediately kick off his run-off campaign.
He would first address MDC lawmakers in Harare before heading to the main southern city of Bulawayo to address a rally.
"The rally in Bulawayo will mark the beginning of nationwide rallies in which he will be seeing victims of political violence as well as thanking the nation for voting for change on March 29," MDC director of information Luke Tamborinyoka told AFP.
Tsvangirai, who only reluctantly agreed to take part in the run-off as he believes he passed the 50 percent threshold in the first round, has previously demanded the ballot be held by May 23 in line with the electoral law.
However the electoral commission confirmed on Friday that the deadline would be missed and instead set the run-off for the end of next month.
In a notice placed in an extraordinary government gazette, the commission announced that "a poll shall be taken on Friday, June 27, 2008, for the purpose of electing a person to the office of president."
Seen as a post-colonial success story in the first decade-and-a-half after independence, Zimbabwe's economy has been in freefall since 2000 when the 84-year-old Mugabe embarked on a land reform programme which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.
Eighty percent of the workforce is unemployed while the official inflation rate in February stood at 165,000 percent -- the highest in the world.
by Godfrey Marawanyika for AFP
In his first detailed comments since losing a joint presidential and parliamentary election on March 29, Africa's oldest leader lambasted his party and also accused the opposition of embarking on a campaign of terror.
Tsvangirai meanwhile said he was confident of winning the run-off and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said he would return home on Saturday to begin a final push for power after more than a month out of the country.
The 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, won 43.2 percent of votes against 47.9 percent for Tsvangirai in the first round and in theory is now the underdog.
With his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party having also lost control of parliament, Mugabe made no attempt to disguise his fury at the outcome as he addressed its central committee.
"Although the presidential result did not yield an outright winner it was indeed disastrous," he said.
"Fundamentally we went to the election completely unprepared, unorganised ... As leaders we all share the blame, from the national level to that of branch chairman.
"Nevertheless we are set for a second round, for the run-off which must now decide the winner."
The period since election day has been marked by increased violence and the opposition says more than 30 of its supporters have died at the hands of Mugabe followers.
In a report this week, the senior UN representative in Zimbabwe said while both parties had been guilty of attacks, ZANU-PF were the main perpetrators.
However Mugabe blamed the opposition, accusing its supporters of "visiting terror on villages and (ZANU-PF) party supporters".
"The MDC and its supporters are playing a very dangerous game. They should know they cannot win that kind of war which they have carried to rural constituencies in the hope of destabilising our supporters."
Tsvangirai said he wanted to return home as a show of solidarity with supporters who have been targeted by Mugabe's followers.
"It is because of these people that I must return to Zimbabwe, to be with our people, to lift them out of this darkness that pervades their lives," he said in a speech on a visit to Northern Ireland.
Tsvangirai said the violence would not prevent him from winning the run-off.
"Mugabe lost that first round, 57 percent of the people who cast their vote did not vote for him.
"I am so confident that in spite of the violence, come the second round they will reconfirm that rejection."
MDC spokesmen said Tsvangirai would return Saturday and immediately kick off his run-off campaign.
He would first address MDC lawmakers in Harare before heading to the main southern city of Bulawayo to address a rally.
"The rally in Bulawayo will mark the beginning of nationwide rallies in which he will be seeing victims of political violence as well as thanking the nation for voting for change on March 29," MDC director of information Luke Tamborinyoka told AFP.
Tsvangirai, who only reluctantly agreed to take part in the run-off as he believes he passed the 50 percent threshold in the first round, has previously demanded the ballot be held by May 23 in line with the electoral law.
However the electoral commission confirmed on Friday that the deadline would be missed and instead set the run-off for the end of next month.
In a notice placed in an extraordinary government gazette, the commission announced that "a poll shall be taken on Friday, June 27, 2008, for the purpose of electing a person to the office of president."
Seen as a post-colonial success story in the first decade-and-a-half after independence, Zimbabwe's economy has been in freefall since 2000 when the 84-year-old Mugabe embarked on a land reform programme which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.
Eighty percent of the workforce is unemployed while the official inflation rate in February stood at 165,000 percent -- the highest in the world.
by Godfrey Marawanyika for AFP
Kilpatrick Enacts Policy to Limit Access to the Text Messages
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has implemented a new policy designed to classify text messages sent on city-funded devices as private and exempt from rules governing the city’s electronic communications system policy.
Previous city policy stated that all messages sent via the city’s electronic communications system were city property, a policy that gained interest after revelations that Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff exchanged damaging text messages showing they lied under oath during a whistle-blower trial. The previous policy contradicted the argument of Kilpatrick and city lawyers that the text messages were private.
The new policy, obtained by the Free Press, took effect April 15 through a directive signed by Kilpatrick. However, it was distributed to city employees last night.
“This policy does not include telephones, text messaging devices and pagers, which are given to employees for their personal and business use,” the policy says. “State and federal laws protect communications made over telephone lines and through the use of messaging devices.”
Kilpatrick’s criminal defense attorneys, representing him in the eight felony charges that stemmed from the text message scandal, have argued the messages never should have been released by the provider, SkyTel, to the plaintiff’s attorney in the whistle-blower case because of state and federal laws.
City policy classifying text messages as not city property, however, could be trumped by a court that rules they must be disclosed under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning wrote in an e-mail in response to a request for comment, "City policies are always subject to review and update."
Zachary Gorchow Free Press Staff Writer
Previous city policy stated that all messages sent via the city’s electronic communications system were city property, a policy that gained interest after revelations that Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff exchanged damaging text messages showing they lied under oath during a whistle-blower trial. The previous policy contradicted the argument of Kilpatrick and city lawyers that the text messages were private.
The new policy, obtained by the Free Press, took effect April 15 through a directive signed by Kilpatrick. However, it was distributed to city employees last night.
“This policy does not include telephones, text messaging devices and pagers, which are given to employees for their personal and business use,” the policy says. “State and federal laws protect communications made over telephone lines and through the use of messaging devices.”
Kilpatrick’s criminal defense attorneys, representing him in the eight felony charges that stemmed from the text message scandal, have argued the messages never should have been released by the provider, SkyTel, to the plaintiff’s attorney in the whistle-blower case because of state and federal laws.
City policy classifying text messages as not city property, however, could be trumped by a court that rules they must be disclosed under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning wrote in an e-mail in response to a request for comment, "City policies are always subject to review and update."
Zachary Gorchow Free Press Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Witnesses Say Kenya Police Emptying Refugee Camp
Kenyan officials backed by armed police are forcing thousands of Kenyans displaced by postelection violence to leave a refugee camp, a resident and an international aid worker said Wednesday.
The head of Doctors Without Borders, Remi Carrier, said local officials accompanied by armed police officers were going from tent to tent Wednesday in a camp housing 9,000 people in the western town of Kitale, and ordering people to leave in a matter of hours.
"The police have removed my tent ... put it in the road," said 42-year-old farmer Ronald Barasa.
Barasa said officials would not listen when he explained that he, his pregnant wife and five young children had nowhere to go. They were squatters on a farm and fear attack if they return, he said. The family left after seeing a neighbor's young son shot dead in front of them.
"They say we must leave this camp," Barasa said. "They say they don't want to see anybody because Kibaki says we must go home," he said.
The reference was to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The government began encouraging people last week to leave camps, offering them transport and food, but officials said the exercise was voluntary.
Barasa said his wife was at first reluctant to leave. But she changed her mind when she saw a district official beat another woman to the ground with a log when she questioned the order. The woman curled up in the mud as the official rained blows on her for nearly five minutes, said Carrier, the head of Doctors Without Borders.
Barasa said that, after the beating, which was witnessed by hundreds of people in the camp, the woman was hauled away by police.
Carrier said many of the camp's inhabitants have nowhere to go, and even those recuperating from surgery are being told they must leave.
Thousands of houses and businesses were torched and about 600,000 people were forced from their homes in violence following Kenya's disputed Dec. 27 elections. Clashes took an ethnic turn, and tribes with long-held land and political grievances began attacking each other.
After months of peace talks, Kibaki and former opposition leader Raila Odinga formed a unity government last month.
The government is anxious for displaced farmers to return home and plant crops during the rainy season, which already has started. Kenya faces a severe shortfall of the staple corn, just as world prices are skyrocketing, because many farmers' homes and fields were burnt in the violence.
Last week the government launched an operation to help the displaced get home. But many interviewed by The Associated Press said they fear more attacks if they return. Others who left camps swiftly have returned, saying they found inadequate food, shelter and security.
At the Kitale camp, Carrier said many people were considering fleeing to neighboring Uganda.
"They are saying if we can't be displaced in our own country, we will be refugees in Uganda," he said.
More than 2,400 Kenyan refugees are living at a camp in northwestern Uganda and countless others are staying with friends or relatives there. Given a choice last week to move to a permanent refugee camp or return home, only 323 chose to return to Kenya.
Stephen Ndichu, a father of three, said he would never go back, because a mob had attacked him with machetes and left him for dead.
"I can never go back after what I've experienced. I saw someone skinned alive. There is too much hate," he said. "These politicians have reached agreement before but it didn't last. Why will it last this time?"
By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Writer
The head of Doctors Without Borders, Remi Carrier, said local officials accompanied by armed police officers were going from tent to tent Wednesday in a camp housing 9,000 people in the western town of Kitale, and ordering people to leave in a matter of hours.
"The police have removed my tent ... put it in the road," said 42-year-old farmer Ronald Barasa.
Barasa said officials would not listen when he explained that he, his pregnant wife and five young children had nowhere to go. They were squatters on a farm and fear attack if they return, he said. The family left after seeing a neighbor's young son shot dead in front of them.
"They say we must leave this camp," Barasa said. "They say they don't want to see anybody because Kibaki says we must go home," he said.
The reference was to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The government began encouraging people last week to leave camps, offering them transport and food, but officials said the exercise was voluntary.
Barasa said his wife was at first reluctant to leave. But she changed her mind when she saw a district official beat another woman to the ground with a log when she questioned the order. The woman curled up in the mud as the official rained blows on her for nearly five minutes, said Carrier, the head of Doctors Without Borders.
Barasa said that, after the beating, which was witnessed by hundreds of people in the camp, the woman was hauled away by police.
Carrier said many of the camp's inhabitants have nowhere to go, and even those recuperating from surgery are being told they must leave.
Thousands of houses and businesses were torched and about 600,000 people were forced from their homes in violence following Kenya's disputed Dec. 27 elections. Clashes took an ethnic turn, and tribes with long-held land and political grievances began attacking each other.
After months of peace talks, Kibaki and former opposition leader Raila Odinga formed a unity government last month.
The government is anxious for displaced farmers to return home and plant crops during the rainy season, which already has started. Kenya faces a severe shortfall of the staple corn, just as world prices are skyrocketing, because many farmers' homes and fields were burnt in the violence.
Last week the government launched an operation to help the displaced get home. But many interviewed by The Associated Press said they fear more attacks if they return. Others who left camps swiftly have returned, saying they found inadequate food, shelter and security.
At the Kitale camp, Carrier said many people were considering fleeing to neighboring Uganda.
"They are saying if we can't be displaced in our own country, we will be refugees in Uganda," he said.
More than 2,400 Kenyan refugees are living at a camp in northwestern Uganda and countless others are staying with friends or relatives there. Given a choice last week to move to a permanent refugee camp or return home, only 323 chose to return to Kenya.
Stephen Ndichu, a father of three, said he would never go back, because a mob had attacked him with machetes and left him for dead.
"I can never go back after what I've experienced. I saw someone skinned alive. There is too much hate," he said. "These politicians have reached agreement before but it didn't last. Why will it last this time?"
By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Writer
50 Cent Reportedly Negotiating $300 Million Deal With News Corp.
As the saying goes, the rich just get richer.
50 Cent, the man who made a reported $200 million from his deal with Vitamin Water, is now said to be in negotiations with the Rupert Murdoch founded News Corp for a reported $300 million.
According to ThisIs50.com, the deal would go into effect in 2009, in which News Corp would take a large stake in all aspects of the 50 Cent brand -- including music, books, concerts, and his G-Unit label.
The deal would help launch the company's MySpace Records, as 50 and his G-Unit roster would move under the label's umbrella.
Sources say half the deal will be in stock, in which 50 Cent would become one of the largest shareholders of News Corp.
Also under the deal, 50's online community, ThisIs50.com, would be acquired by News Corp, his touring would be marketed through and sold via the company, and would also include a G-Unit book deal, and music publishing for 50 and the artists under his label.
While the deal is still in the works, it is not expected to be finalized until next year, after the rapper fulfills his contract requirements with Interscope Records.
From Ballerstatus.com
50 Cent, the man who made a reported $200 million from his deal with Vitamin Water, is now said to be in negotiations with the Rupert Murdoch founded News Corp for a reported $300 million.
According to ThisIs50.com, the deal would go into effect in 2009, in which News Corp would take a large stake in all aspects of the 50 Cent brand -- including music, books, concerts, and his G-Unit label.
The deal would help launch the company's MySpace Records, as 50 and his G-Unit roster would move under the label's umbrella.
Sources say half the deal will be in stock, in which 50 Cent would become one of the largest shareholders of News Corp.
Also under the deal, 50's online community, ThisIs50.com, would be acquired by News Corp, his touring would be marketed through and sold via the company, and would also include a G-Unit book deal, and music publishing for 50 and the artists under his label.
While the deal is still in the works, it is not expected to be finalized until next year, after the rapper fulfills his contract requirements with Interscope Records.
From Ballerstatus.com
Blacks No Longer Minority in Brazil
Blacks will outnumber whites in Brazil this year for the first time since slavery was abolished, but the income gap between the two groups may take another 50 years to bridge, according to a government study released Tuesday.
The government's Applied Institute of Economic Research said Brazil, which has the world's second-largest black population after Nigeria, is decades away from racial equality despite public policies aimed at decreasing the gap.
Blacks generally earn 50 percent to 70 percent less than whites, and hold only 3.5 percent of management positions at Brazil's 500 largest companies, according to the labor-union statistics institute Diesse.
A 2004 study by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro found the income gap between whites and blacks in Brazil was wider than in apartheid-era South Africa.
"Black people end up not having the access to an education that will allow them to climb to meet opportunities. And when there is an opening, they aren't always capable of competing for it," said Diesse director Clemente Ganz Lucio.
In recent years, Brazil has created a system of quotas at public universities that has bridged the gap somewhat. But quotas are complicated in Brazil because of the high degree of mixing between races, and some critics say light-skinned people are taking spots reserved for blacks.
The fight against slavery "was one of Brazil's most beautiful struggles ever, but it didn't include measures to ensure the civil rights of the black population," said Edson Santos, Brazil's minister of racial equality. "Blacks left the slave quarters to live in the slums."
The government study was released Tuesday to coincide with the 120th anniversary of abolition in Brazil. In 1888, Brazil became the last country in the Western hemisphere to end slavery.
In 1890, blacks were estimated to make up 56 percent of Brazil's population, but that number dropped to 36 percent in 1940, according to the study. In 1976, when the Brazilian Statistics Institute began keeping reliable data on race, 57 percent of Brazil's 185 million people were white, and 40 percent were black or mixed-race.
The Institute of Economic Research said the percentage of blacks would top 50 percent again later this year.
AP
The government's Applied Institute of Economic Research said Brazil, which has the world's second-largest black population after Nigeria, is decades away from racial equality despite public policies aimed at decreasing the gap.
Blacks generally earn 50 percent to 70 percent less than whites, and hold only 3.5 percent of management positions at Brazil's 500 largest companies, according to the labor-union statistics institute Diesse.
A 2004 study by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro found the income gap between whites and blacks in Brazil was wider than in apartheid-era South Africa.
"Black people end up not having the access to an education that will allow them to climb to meet opportunities. And when there is an opening, they aren't always capable of competing for it," said Diesse director Clemente Ganz Lucio.
In recent years, Brazil has created a system of quotas at public universities that has bridged the gap somewhat. But quotas are complicated in Brazil because of the high degree of mixing between races, and some critics say light-skinned people are taking spots reserved for blacks.
The fight against slavery "was one of Brazil's most beautiful struggles ever, but it didn't include measures to ensure the civil rights of the black population," said Edson Santos, Brazil's minister of racial equality. "Blacks left the slave quarters to live in the slums."
The government study was released Tuesday to coincide with the 120th anniversary of abolition in Brazil. In 1888, Brazil became the last country in the Western hemisphere to end slavery.
In 1890, blacks were estimated to make up 56 percent of Brazil's population, but that number dropped to 36 percent in 1940, according to the study. In 1976, when the Brazilian Statistics Institute began keeping reliable data on race, 57 percent of Brazil's 185 million people were white, and 40 percent were black or mixed-race.
The Institute of Economic Research said the percentage of blacks would top 50 percent again later this year.
AP
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Zimbabwe Violence Could Reach Crisis Levels: UN
The UN warned on Tuesday that post-election violence in Zimbabwe was rising to near crisis levels ahead of a planned presidential run-off, with opposition supporters bearing the brunt of attacks.
As opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai prepared to return home to contest the election against President Robert Mugabe, his hopes the ballot would be held later this month in a peaceful atmosphere appeared to be wishful thinking.
With Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change claiming 32 of its supporters have been killed since voting on March 29, the United Nations resident representative in Zimbabwe said most of the violence was directed against followers of the opposition, although the MDC was not blameless.
"There is an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly but not exclusively on rural supporters of the MDC," Agustino Zacarias told reporters, adding that there were "indications that the level of violence is escalating ... and could reach crisis levels."
Announcing plans to return home this week, Tsvangirai said at a news conference on Saturday that he would only participate in the run-off if there was a complete end to unrest.
He also called for a revamp of the electoral commission and the deployment of international peacekeepers and foreign observers, but these demands have been brushed aside by the government.
"The United Nations country team urges all political leaders across the political divide to unequivocally renounce politically-motivated violence," added Zacarias, a Mozambican diplomat.
Keen to see evidence of the attacks on opposition supporters with their own eyes, a group of Western ambassadors visited a number of hospitals on Tuesday where they chatted with victims.
"I think it is absolutely urgent that the entire world knows what's happening in Zimbabwe," US Ambassador James McGee told an AFP correspondent accompanying the diplomats.
On a visit to one of the hospitals, McGee became embroiled in a stand-off with four armed police who tried to prevent him from leaving the grounds before relenting.
"If on two occasions, you are questioned for nearly two hours by security officials, yes, it is harassment," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington, adding the incident was "indicative of the kind of atmosphere in Zimbabwe right now."
The post-election tension has been mounting by the day, with an opposition lawmaker and the country's two most senior trade unionists among those who are currently in custody.
Despite complaining of violent intimidation against its supporters, the MDC insisted Tsvangirai would be home by the weekend and will address an opposition rally on Sunday to kickstart his campaign to unseat Mugabe.
"We are certainly going back this weekend. We may even be back before then," his spokesman George Sibotshiwe told AFP.
The United States has called for Mugabe's government to guarantee the safety of Tsvangirai -- who is threatened by a treason charge and was badly beaten in police custody in March last year -- when he arrives back in Harare.
The authorities should allow in international media as well as provide "some type of security and guarantees for Morgan Tsvangirai's safety," Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters.
Results from the first-round presidential poll were delayed by the electoral commission for five weeks and no date has been given for the run-off even though the law says it should take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced.
Mugabe, in power since the country's independence in 1980, lost by 43.2 percent to 47.9 percent to Tsvangirai in the first presidential poll.
A one-time regional role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in meltdown since the start of a land reform programme at the turn of the decade which saw thousands of white-owned farms seized.
Inflation now stands at over 165,000 percent, unemployment at more than 80 percent and even basics such as cooking oil and bread are in scarce supply.
by Fanuel Jongwe from Yahoo news
As opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai prepared to return home to contest the election against President Robert Mugabe, his hopes the ballot would be held later this month in a peaceful atmosphere appeared to be wishful thinking.
With Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change claiming 32 of its supporters have been killed since voting on March 29, the United Nations resident representative in Zimbabwe said most of the violence was directed against followers of the opposition, although the MDC was not blameless.
"There is an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly but not exclusively on rural supporters of the MDC," Agustino Zacarias told reporters, adding that there were "indications that the level of violence is escalating ... and could reach crisis levels."
Announcing plans to return home this week, Tsvangirai said at a news conference on Saturday that he would only participate in the run-off if there was a complete end to unrest.
He also called for a revamp of the electoral commission and the deployment of international peacekeepers and foreign observers, but these demands have been brushed aside by the government.
"The United Nations country team urges all political leaders across the political divide to unequivocally renounce politically-motivated violence," added Zacarias, a Mozambican diplomat.
Keen to see evidence of the attacks on opposition supporters with their own eyes, a group of Western ambassadors visited a number of hospitals on Tuesday where they chatted with victims.
"I think it is absolutely urgent that the entire world knows what's happening in Zimbabwe," US Ambassador James McGee told an AFP correspondent accompanying the diplomats.
On a visit to one of the hospitals, McGee became embroiled in a stand-off with four armed police who tried to prevent him from leaving the grounds before relenting.
"If on two occasions, you are questioned for nearly two hours by security officials, yes, it is harassment," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington, adding the incident was "indicative of the kind of atmosphere in Zimbabwe right now."
The post-election tension has been mounting by the day, with an opposition lawmaker and the country's two most senior trade unionists among those who are currently in custody.
Despite complaining of violent intimidation against its supporters, the MDC insisted Tsvangirai would be home by the weekend and will address an opposition rally on Sunday to kickstart his campaign to unseat Mugabe.
"We are certainly going back this weekend. We may even be back before then," his spokesman George Sibotshiwe told AFP.
The United States has called for Mugabe's government to guarantee the safety of Tsvangirai -- who is threatened by a treason charge and was badly beaten in police custody in March last year -- when he arrives back in Harare.
The authorities should allow in international media as well as provide "some type of security and guarantees for Morgan Tsvangirai's safety," Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters.
Results from the first-round presidential poll were delayed by the electoral commission for five weeks and no date has been given for the run-off even though the law says it should take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced.
Mugabe, in power since the country's independence in 1980, lost by 43.2 percent to 47.9 percent to Tsvangirai in the first presidential poll.
A one-time regional role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in meltdown since the start of a land reform programme at the turn of the decade which saw thousands of white-owned farms seized.
Inflation now stands at over 165,000 percent, unemployment at more than 80 percent and even basics such as cooking oil and bread are in scarce supply.
by Fanuel Jongwe from Yahoo news
Radio One to Sell Ads for AllHipHop.com
Broadcasting company Radio One has struck a deal to sell ads on hip-hop news site AllHipHop.com.
The agreement spans five years and gives Interactive One, Radio One's digital division, exclusive access to AllHipHop's ad inventory. AllHipHop boasts five million monthly users.
Advertisers running ads on AllHipHop will also have access to Radio One's system, availing opportunities to broaden the reach of their messages as Radio One expands the breadth of its ad network reach.
Radio One has made a number of recent moves to increase its African-American audience. Last month it bought social network operator Community Connect and launched NewsOne.com, an African-American news site.
from marketingvox.com
The agreement spans five years and gives Interactive One, Radio One's digital division, exclusive access to AllHipHop's ad inventory. AllHipHop boasts five million monthly users.
Advertisers running ads on AllHipHop will also have access to Radio One's system, availing opportunities to broaden the reach of their messages as Radio One expands the breadth of its ad network reach.
Radio One has made a number of recent moves to increase its African-American audience. Last month it bought social network operator Community Connect and launched NewsOne.com, an African-American news site.
from marketingvox.com
Campaign Workers Stung by Racist Incidents
In the factory town of Muncie, Ind., in the days before the state's primary, Danielle Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Barack Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it — anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.
"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,'" recalled Ross, a onetime university student who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed and unreported.
Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.
The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive. "The last year has only reinforced Sen. Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest," officials said in a statement.
But some of Obama's young campaign workers are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting a cruel reaction.
On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face.
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."
Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,'" recalled Ross, a onetime university student who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed and unreported.
Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.
The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive. "The last year has only reinforced Sen. Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest," officials said in a statement.
But some of Obama's young campaign workers are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting a cruel reaction.
On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face.
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."
Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Africa Fastest Growing Market for Telecom
Africa has been the fastest growing market worldwide for communication technology in the past three years and will emerge as an important market for the industry, according to the head of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
"African information and communication technologies industry is an exciting place to be. Market liberalization continues and most countries have established regulatory bodies to ensure a fair, competitive and enabling environment, Hamadoun Tour, Secretary-General of the ITU said yesterday.
The secretary-general was speaking at the opening of a major trade fair "ITU Telecom Africa" in Cairo inaugurated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Around 200 companies from 45 countries are exhibiting products at the trade fair which has attracted some 70 heads of international companies and 50 government ministers. ITU Telecom Africa runs till Wednesday.
An ITU report released on Monday said growth in Africa's mobile telephone sector had "defied all predictions".
Africa had 65 million new subscribers in 2007 alone and mobile phone penetration has risen from just one in 50 people in 2000 to one third of the population today. Mobile phone use is now more evenly distributed across the continent, the report said.
At the beginning of the century, South Africa accounted for over half of all Africa's subscribers, but by last year almost 85 per cent were in other countries of the continent.
"African information and communication technologies industry is an exciting place to be. Market liberalization continues and most countries have established regulatory bodies to ensure a fair, competitive and enabling environment, Hamadoun Tour, Secretary-General of the ITU said yesterday.
The secretary-general was speaking at the opening of a major trade fair "ITU Telecom Africa" in Cairo inaugurated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Around 200 companies from 45 countries are exhibiting products at the trade fair which has attracted some 70 heads of international companies and 50 government ministers. ITU Telecom Africa runs till Wednesday.
An ITU report released on Monday said growth in Africa's mobile telephone sector had "defied all predictions".
Africa had 65 million new subscribers in 2007 alone and mobile phone penetration has risen from just one in 50 people in 2000 to one third of the population today. Mobile phone use is now more evenly distributed across the continent, the report said.
At the beginning of the century, South Africa accounted for over half of all Africa's subscribers, but by last year almost 85 per cent were in other countries of the continent.
Two Top Execs Leave Radio One
Two top executives are leaving black media giant Radio One, as the company continues to struggle.
Alejandro A. Clabiorne, vice president of marketing for the company, has given his notice and Lee Michaels, national program director for Syndication One News/Talk, has already left, three sources tell Redding News Review.
Neither Clabiorne nor Michaels could be reached for comment.
Their departures come as the company last week also lost another one of its key employees, talk radio star Joe Madison. Madison, who is ranked one of the top 20 talk radio show hosts in the nation and a recipient of Talkers magazine's Freedom of Speech Award, will now be working directly for rival XM 169 The Power starting in June.
Alejandro A. Clabiorne, vice president of marketing for the company, has given his notice and Lee Michaels, national program director for Syndication One News/Talk, has already left, three sources tell Redding News Review.
Neither Clabiorne nor Michaels could be reached for comment.
Their departures come as the company last week also lost another one of its key employees, talk radio star Joe Madison. Madison, who is ranked one of the top 20 talk radio show hosts in the nation and a recipient of Talkers magazine's Freedom of Speech Award, will now be working directly for rival XM 169 The Power starting in June.
Battling to Take Death Out of Birth in Africa
Lying on a sagging mattress and wincing slightly, Anna Lado laughs at the idea that she should have been afraid of giving birth to her first child, now lying in a crib near her in a hospital in south Sudan. "It's natural," she smiles.
But in fact, she received a life-saving caesarean in the capital Juba's teaching hospital: a relatively rare operation in south Sudan where one in 50 women die in childbirth, the world's highest maternal mortality rate.
In this vast expanse of dusty scrubland where around 10 million people live, the return of peace after Africa's longest civil war has exposed the dire state of the healthcare system.
A 2005 peace deal ended two decades of conflict between the south and the north that claimed around 2 million lives and was fought over ethnicity, religion and oil. The conflict is separate from the continuing violence in Darfur in the west.
Under the deal, the semi-autonomous south will have a chance to vote for independence in 2011. Meanwhile, authorities must try to rebuild a devastated land that has few paved roads, chaotic laws, rudimentary services but large oil fields.
Last June, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said south Sudan had the highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the world, at 2,030 per 100,000 births. That compares to a rate of 509 deaths per 100,000 births in the north.
U.N. officials say at the last count there were nine fully trained midwives in south Sudan, seven of those in the capital. The UNFPA says only around 5 per cent of women in south Sudan deliver in an institution.
At the Juba teaching hospital, wide-eyed babies are weighed in a harness and then passed through a jostling sea of mothers. "It's shocking because most of those women just represent those who get to facilities, how many more did not reach them?" said Magda Armah, who works for UNFPA.
Festo Juma, the hospital's chief administrator and only obstetrician, looks exhausted as he describes his caseload. He is between operations and is wearing white Wellington boots and green scrubs, with a facemask dangling around his neck. "In the rural areas, the situation is very much worse. The main cause (of the high death rate) is the complete absence of obstetric services in three-quarters of the south," he said.
South Sudan is by no means unique in Africa, but the severity of its situation stands out: Until recently, there was only one delivery bed in Juba hospital. A new theatre with four delivery beds, a blood bank and beds for 150 patients, plus a nursery, are about to open.
In April, a new report by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said African countries had made the least progress among developing nations towards a U.N. goal of cutting infant and maternal mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
MALAWI'S EXAMPLE
The White Ribbon Alliance -- an international organization to promote safe motherhood with members in 91 countries -- says African women have a 1 in 16 chance of dying from a pregnancy, compared with 1 in 1,400 in Europe.
"These are needless and preventable deaths. This is not a strange illness that requires science to find a cure. We know what to do but the political will to put resources into this and to prioritize it is missing," said Brigid McConville, the director of White Ribbon Alliance in London.
Armah agrees on the need for investment. "There needs to be a massive injection of funds into the training of skilled birth attendants and we need the infrastructure," she said. UNFPA is working with the Juba hospital to open a blood bank and mini-lab.
UNFPA also plans to inform women about pregnancy care. "People don't know that women have a right to reproductive healthcare," Armah said.
Thousands of miles to the south of Sudan, in the sliver-like country of Malawi, the importance of grassroots education to fight maternal mortality has been recognized.
UNFPA says that nearly 2 percent of live births in Malawi result in the death of the mother: that's 16 deaths a day from pregnancy or childbirth complications.
But a community in Dedza district, just outside the capital Lilongwe, is trying to change that. In less than two years, Chitowo community, working with UNFPA, has reduced maternal deaths to seven from 33. "This has been possible because as a village we formed committees to encourage pregnant mothers to go for antenatal (care), monitor newborns, distribute bed nets and set up rules to follow on hygiene," said village chief Adamson Mwangwazu. "We also fine those who deliver at home instead of in a health centre ... We no longer lose a child or a mother like we used to."
This example is being copied in other communities in what is being dubbed Malawi's health revolution -- albeit a revolution that is limited in scope because of the stranglehold that HIV/AIDS has on the country.
YOUNG ARE DYING
Through its local partners in Malawi, White Ribbon Alliance has enlisted the police's help in picking up pregnant women who are walking long distances to try to get to a clinic.
The group is also working with the ministry of health to find ways of retaining health staff in rural communities, by providing housing, power, schools and security.
McConville says cutting the maternal mortality rate will benefit everyone, and not only because women hold communities together and, in many places, do much of the farming work.
"If you get it right for mothers, you've got the health staff in place in the community, you've got the referral system to the next level, you've got the operating theatre, the anesthetist, the electricity and communications. All of this will benefit a man with a broken leg or a child with a respiratory illness."
In south Sudan, Festo Juma's biggest immediate problem is lack of supplies and staff. He says he has been unable to persuade southern doctors working in Khartoum to return. "Even here (in Juba), three quarters of the midwives are village midwives, with no proper sense of emergency or knowledge of how to deal with problems," he said. Continued...
In the hospital, about 40 women die in labor each year, mostly because they arrive in a perilous state. The babies who survive face their own battles: 135 out of 1,000 children in south Sudan die before they reach five years old, according to a government and U.N. survey.
And early marriage and pregnancy means teenagers are among those dying in childbirth. "Of every 1,000 pregnancies, 200 are adolescents," Armah said. "The young are dying."
from reuters.com
But in fact, she received a life-saving caesarean in the capital Juba's teaching hospital: a relatively rare operation in south Sudan where one in 50 women die in childbirth, the world's highest maternal mortality rate.
In this vast expanse of dusty scrubland where around 10 million people live, the return of peace after Africa's longest civil war has exposed the dire state of the healthcare system.
A 2005 peace deal ended two decades of conflict between the south and the north that claimed around 2 million lives and was fought over ethnicity, religion and oil. The conflict is separate from the continuing violence in Darfur in the west.
Under the deal, the semi-autonomous south will have a chance to vote for independence in 2011. Meanwhile, authorities must try to rebuild a devastated land that has few paved roads, chaotic laws, rudimentary services but large oil fields.
Last June, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said south Sudan had the highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the world, at 2,030 per 100,000 births. That compares to a rate of 509 deaths per 100,000 births in the north.
U.N. officials say at the last count there were nine fully trained midwives in south Sudan, seven of those in the capital. The UNFPA says only around 5 per cent of women in south Sudan deliver in an institution.
At the Juba teaching hospital, wide-eyed babies are weighed in a harness and then passed through a jostling sea of mothers. "It's shocking because most of those women just represent those who get to facilities, how many more did not reach them?" said Magda Armah, who works for UNFPA.
Festo Juma, the hospital's chief administrator and only obstetrician, looks exhausted as he describes his caseload. He is between operations and is wearing white Wellington boots and green scrubs, with a facemask dangling around his neck. "In the rural areas, the situation is very much worse. The main cause (of the high death rate) is the complete absence of obstetric services in three-quarters of the south," he said.
South Sudan is by no means unique in Africa, but the severity of its situation stands out: Until recently, there was only one delivery bed in Juba hospital. A new theatre with four delivery beds, a blood bank and beds for 150 patients, plus a nursery, are about to open.
In April, a new report by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said African countries had made the least progress among developing nations towards a U.N. goal of cutting infant and maternal mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
MALAWI'S EXAMPLE
The White Ribbon Alliance -- an international organization to promote safe motherhood with members in 91 countries -- says African women have a 1 in 16 chance of dying from a pregnancy, compared with 1 in 1,400 in Europe.
"These are needless and preventable deaths. This is not a strange illness that requires science to find a cure. We know what to do but the political will to put resources into this and to prioritize it is missing," said Brigid McConville, the director of White Ribbon Alliance in London.
Armah agrees on the need for investment. "There needs to be a massive injection of funds into the training of skilled birth attendants and we need the infrastructure," she said. UNFPA is working with the Juba hospital to open a blood bank and mini-lab.
UNFPA also plans to inform women about pregnancy care. "People don't know that women have a right to reproductive healthcare," Armah said.
Thousands of miles to the south of Sudan, in the sliver-like country of Malawi, the importance of grassroots education to fight maternal mortality has been recognized.
UNFPA says that nearly 2 percent of live births in Malawi result in the death of the mother: that's 16 deaths a day from pregnancy or childbirth complications.
But a community in Dedza district, just outside the capital Lilongwe, is trying to change that. In less than two years, Chitowo community, working with UNFPA, has reduced maternal deaths to seven from 33. "This has been possible because as a village we formed committees to encourage pregnant mothers to go for antenatal (care), monitor newborns, distribute bed nets and set up rules to follow on hygiene," said village chief Adamson Mwangwazu. "We also fine those who deliver at home instead of in a health centre ... We no longer lose a child or a mother like we used to."
This example is being copied in other communities in what is being dubbed Malawi's health revolution -- albeit a revolution that is limited in scope because of the stranglehold that HIV/AIDS has on the country.
YOUNG ARE DYING
Through its local partners in Malawi, White Ribbon Alliance has enlisted the police's help in picking up pregnant women who are walking long distances to try to get to a clinic.
The group is also working with the ministry of health to find ways of retaining health staff in rural communities, by providing housing, power, schools and security.
McConville says cutting the maternal mortality rate will benefit everyone, and not only because women hold communities together and, in many places, do much of the farming work.
"If you get it right for mothers, you've got the health staff in place in the community, you've got the referral system to the next level, you've got the operating theatre, the anesthetist, the electricity and communications. All of this will benefit a man with a broken leg or a child with a respiratory illness."
In south Sudan, Festo Juma's biggest immediate problem is lack of supplies and staff. He says he has been unable to persuade southern doctors working in Khartoum to return. "Even here (in Juba), three quarters of the midwives are village midwives, with no proper sense of emergency or knowledge of how to deal with problems," he said. Continued...
In the hospital, about 40 women die in labor each year, mostly because they arrive in a perilous state. The babies who survive face their own battles: 135 out of 1,000 children in south Sudan die before they reach five years old, according to a government and U.N. survey.
And early marriage and pregnancy means teenagers are among those dying in childbirth. "Of every 1,000 pregnancies, 200 are adolescents," Armah said. "The young are dying."
from reuters.com
Monday, May 12, 2008
NYPD Disciplines Officer Who Stopped Black Police Commander
A white police officer was disciplined for acting "in a discourteous manner" when he confronted a black motorist who turned out to be one of the highest-ranking commanders in the New York City Police Department, an agency spokesman said Saturday.
Chief Douglas Zeigler, the head of the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau and the highest uniformed black officer on the force, was off duty and sitting in his department-issued sport utility vehicle on a street in the borough of Queens on May 2 when two white police officers approached.
The encounter turned testy, and one of the officers tried to wrest open Zeigler's door, even after the three-star chief had identified himself, police spokesman Paul Browne said.
"He dealt with the chief in a discourteous manner, which is unacceptable," Browne said.
He did not provide details of why the officers decided to question Zeigler. The New York Daily News reported Saturday that Zeigler was parked near a fire hydrant and that one of the plainclothed officers spotted Zeigler's service weapon inside the vehicle. Browne said he could not confirm whether the officers saw a gun.
He did not specify what discipline was taken by the department. The News said the officer was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on modified duty Friday.
The incident was reported as police are being criticized for stopping and frisking record numbers of pedestrians — about 145,000 in the first quarter of this year. The majority were black or Hispanic.
Zeigler has headed the Community Affairs Bureau since January 2006. His wife, Neldra Zeigler, is the NYPD's deputy commissioner for equal employment opportunity.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been leading demonstrations in the city to protest the acquittal of three police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed man as he left his bachelor party, took note of the Zeigler incident while speaking at his weekly rally in Harlem.
"You can't make this stuff up!" he said. "The problem isn't that they didn't recognize him. It is that they don't recognize our rights!"
Also, a New York man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was taunted and falsely arrested by police officers after they learned that he had the same name as a West African immigrant shot to death by other officers in 1999.
Amadou Diallo said a group of officers confronted him over a broken headlight in February, then searched his vehicle for weapons.
Once the officers learned his name, it became "a source of much amusement, laughing and inappropriate joking amongst the officers, with crude and disgusting comments," Diallo's lawyer said in the suit.
Amadou Diallo was also the name of an unarmed immigrant killed in 1999 when four plainclothed officers, apparently mistakenly thinking he was reaching for a gun, fired 41 rounds in the doorway of a Bronx apartment building. The officers in that case were also acquitted of criminal charges.
From AP
Chief Douglas Zeigler, the head of the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau and the highest uniformed black officer on the force, was off duty and sitting in his department-issued sport utility vehicle on a street in the borough of Queens on May 2 when two white police officers approached.
The encounter turned testy, and one of the officers tried to wrest open Zeigler's door, even after the three-star chief had identified himself, police spokesman Paul Browne said.
"He dealt with the chief in a discourteous manner, which is unacceptable," Browne said.
He did not provide details of why the officers decided to question Zeigler. The New York Daily News reported Saturday that Zeigler was parked near a fire hydrant and that one of the plainclothed officers spotted Zeigler's service weapon inside the vehicle. Browne said he could not confirm whether the officers saw a gun.
He did not specify what discipline was taken by the department. The News said the officer was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on modified duty Friday.
The incident was reported as police are being criticized for stopping and frisking record numbers of pedestrians — about 145,000 in the first quarter of this year. The majority were black or Hispanic.
Zeigler has headed the Community Affairs Bureau since January 2006. His wife, Neldra Zeigler, is the NYPD's deputy commissioner for equal employment opportunity.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been leading demonstrations in the city to protest the acquittal of three police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed man as he left his bachelor party, took note of the Zeigler incident while speaking at his weekly rally in Harlem.
"You can't make this stuff up!" he said. "The problem isn't that they didn't recognize him. It is that they don't recognize our rights!"
Also, a New York man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was taunted and falsely arrested by police officers after they learned that he had the same name as a West African immigrant shot to death by other officers in 1999.
Amadou Diallo said a group of officers confronted him over a broken headlight in February, then searched his vehicle for weapons.
Once the officers learned his name, it became "a source of much amusement, laughing and inappropriate joking amongst the officers, with crude and disgusting comments," Diallo's lawyer said in the suit.
Amadou Diallo was also the name of an unarmed immigrant killed in 1999 when four plainclothed officers, apparently mistakenly thinking he was reaching for a gun, fired 41 rounds in the doorway of a Bronx apartment building. The officers in that case were also acquitted of criminal charges.
From AP
Missouri Turns Back Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative
A petition to ban race and gender-based affirmative action in Missouri has failed to gather enough valid signatures. It's a second set-back for California businessman Ward Connerly's campaign to get the issue on the November ballot in five states, in what he was calling "Super Tuesday for Equal Rights."
In recent years, voters in California, Washington and Michigan have all passed similar initiatives prohibiting state agencies from using race and gender as factors in hiring, college admissions and scholarships. Kansas City Urban League president Gwen Grant was a part of a coalition which sent hundreds of canvassers out to follow the people gathering signatures to present opposing information.
GRANT: We have become more sophisticated in how to challenge Connerly's initiatives and we got out in front of them as soon as we heard they were coming.
Tim Asher, who led the campaign, says they had a late start because the ballot language was challenged by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
TAPE: ASHER: With the limited amount of time, we feel like that was a tremendous show of support by the people of Missouri and why we've decided to go ahead and come back in 2010 and give them the opportunity to give them a call.
A similar campaign in Oklahoma also withdrew its petition last month. Proponents of affirmative action limits are still collecting signatures in Nebraska and Arizona. Colorado's initiative made it on the ballot, but the validity of some signatures are being contested.
Sylvia Maria Gross for KCUR News
In recent years, voters in California, Washington and Michigan have all passed similar initiatives prohibiting state agencies from using race and gender as factors in hiring, college admissions and scholarships. Kansas City Urban League president Gwen Grant was a part of a coalition which sent hundreds of canvassers out to follow the people gathering signatures to present opposing information.
GRANT: We have become more sophisticated in how to challenge Connerly's initiatives and we got out in front of them as soon as we heard they were coming.
Tim Asher, who led the campaign, says they had a late start because the ballot language was challenged by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
TAPE: ASHER: With the limited amount of time, we feel like that was a tremendous show of support by the people of Missouri and why we've decided to go ahead and come back in 2010 and give them the opportunity to give them a call.
A similar campaign in Oklahoma also withdrew its petition last month. Proponents of affirmative action limits are still collecting signatures in Nebraska and Arizona. Colorado's initiative made it on the ballot, but the validity of some signatures are being contested.
Sylvia Maria Gross for KCUR News
Investment Banks Turn to Africa in Effort to Boost Profits
As investment banks continue to feel the effects of the credit crunch in the West, some are looking to Africa as the latest emerging market opportunity to boost flagging profits.
Banking powerhouses including Citigroup and JP Morgan operate in sub-Saharan Africa, but last week Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital (RenCap) showed signs of things to come as it bought stakes in brokerages in Ghana and Zambia.
The group called Africa "strategically important" and said the investments in New World Investments in Ghana and Pangaea/EMI Securities in Zambia gave the group an opportunity "to play a role in the exciting development of both countries' financial markets and their importance in the region as a whole".
It said: "Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, is expanding rapidly. There are world class businesses, just without world scale. They need banking services." So far, few have invested in local operations on the ground, with only Standard Bank of South Africa buying IBTC in Nigeria.
RenCap, however, has signalled its intentions to target the region by moving one of its most senior bankers, Andrew Cornthwaite, to oversee its existing operation in Nigeria.
Mr Cornthwaite, also head of RenCap's global investment banking, said: "As the financial centre of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is already experiencing rapid and sustainable economic growth, with an increasingly liquid and dynamic capital market. This growth and development is poised to continue for several years."
Sub-Saharan Africa is gaining in importance for financial firms as the economies develop, often based on oil and gas discoveries such as in Nigeria and Ghana. The latter is also trying to position itself as the financial gateway to West Africa. Other countries interesting the banks include Kenya and Angola.
Companies have been slow to target the region because of a perception of political risk, uncertainty and a lack of Western resources and investment banks.
Mr Cornthwaite said: "The situation is similar to our experience in Russia 15 years ago. There is a business opportunity here, and if you've seen the movie before, you're in a better position to capitalise," he said.
He continued: "The Nig-erian market turns over $200m (£100m) a day. We wouldn't be there unless we thought it would hit $1bn in the next five years."
Companies are looking to investment banks to provide debt and equity capital market operations, and increasingly mergers and acquisition advice, especially as the fragmented banking market consolidates.
Mr Cornthwaite said: "The sophistication is good in most of the existing African brokerages, although not all are up to international standard. I'm suitably impressed."
Few international firms have invested on the ground. Both Citi and JP Morgan operate on a "fly in, fly out" basis. "There's not a flight I take, which doesn't have bankers coming into Africa, but they're always out that night," Mr Cornthwaite said. He added that international competitors had been slow to target the region but were likely to target it within five years.
By Nick Clark from the Independent.co.uk
Banking powerhouses including Citigroup and JP Morgan operate in sub-Saharan Africa, but last week Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital (RenCap) showed signs of things to come as it bought stakes in brokerages in Ghana and Zambia.
The group called Africa "strategically important" and said the investments in New World Investments in Ghana and Pangaea/EMI Securities in Zambia gave the group an opportunity "to play a role in the exciting development of both countries' financial markets and their importance in the region as a whole".
It said: "Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, is expanding rapidly. There are world class businesses, just without world scale. They need banking services." So far, few have invested in local operations on the ground, with only Standard Bank of South Africa buying IBTC in Nigeria.
RenCap, however, has signalled its intentions to target the region by moving one of its most senior bankers, Andrew Cornthwaite, to oversee its existing operation in Nigeria.
Mr Cornthwaite, also head of RenCap's global investment banking, said: "As the financial centre of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is already experiencing rapid and sustainable economic growth, with an increasingly liquid and dynamic capital market. This growth and development is poised to continue for several years."
Sub-Saharan Africa is gaining in importance for financial firms as the economies develop, often based on oil and gas discoveries such as in Nigeria and Ghana. The latter is also trying to position itself as the financial gateway to West Africa. Other countries interesting the banks include Kenya and Angola.
Companies have been slow to target the region because of a perception of political risk, uncertainty and a lack of Western resources and investment banks.
Mr Cornthwaite said: "The situation is similar to our experience in Russia 15 years ago. There is a business opportunity here, and if you've seen the movie before, you're in a better position to capitalise," he said.
He continued: "The Nig-erian market turns over $200m (£100m) a day. We wouldn't be there unless we thought it would hit $1bn in the next five years."
Companies are looking to investment banks to provide debt and equity capital market operations, and increasingly mergers and acquisition advice, especially as the fragmented banking market consolidates.
Mr Cornthwaite said: "The sophistication is good in most of the existing African brokerages, although not all are up to international standard. I'm suitably impressed."
Few international firms have invested on the ground. Both Citi and JP Morgan operate on a "fly in, fly out" basis. "There's not a flight I take, which doesn't have bankers coming into Africa, but they're always out that night," Mr Cornthwaite said. He added that international competitors had been slow to target the region but were likely to target it within five years.
By Nick Clark from the Independent.co.uk
Sunday, May 11, 2008
On Mother's Day 'Grandma' Gets the Highest Honors
Bob “Butterbean” Love paused briefly, his voice breaking as he wept softly over the phone.
“Oh my grandmother!” recalled the former NBA star of the Chicago Bulls in an interview with the NNPA News Service. One of the renowned HBCU basketball players and coaches recently featured in the critically acclaimed documentary, “Black Magic”, the Chicago resident and native of Louisiana told how his grandmother, Ella Hunter, was used by God to impact his life.
Gathering himself, he continued the story of having run away from an abusive stepfather, who had beaten him with a belt buckle. He was an 8-year-old, who stuttered pervasively. One day he broke away amidst one of his stepfather’s beatings and fled to his grandmother’s house.
“I told her what happened and I was stuttering and so my stepfather came over the next day to get me. My grandmother stood behind the door with an ax hammer and my stepfather said, ‘Is that boy here? Send that boy out here.’
“My grandmother came out [into] the yard with the ax hammer cocked back. She said, ‘Don’t you ever come by this house again and don’t you ever touch this boy again.”
Love pressed through tearful pauses to continue the story.
“She told him, she would hit him up side his head with the ax hammer if he ever came around to touch me, you know…That changed my life…Every time I did
something good…my grandmother gave me a hug and a kiss…and a pat on the head.
As a boy, I would always want to do good things in the neighborhood. I would help old people with their yard. I would rake their yard and the other old ladies would tell her what I did.
My grandmother would give me the juiciest kiss you ever had and a big
ole hug and would always tell me I was a good boy.”
In that one brief story about Ella Hunter, the grandmother who raised him, Bob Love expressed the respect and affection that thousands of Black people around the nation feel
about those heroic mothers and grandmothers whose abiding love encouraged them to excel through the trials of life.
In the African-American family, it is not unusual to have multi-generational upbringings by mothers, grandmothers, aunts and even older sisters. The U. S. Census Bureau reports that of the 4.5 million children who lived in grandparent-headed households in
2000, they were most often children in African-American families.
Therefore, whether through the Jim Crow of the civil rights movement or the oppressive hardships of today, on Mother’s Day, it will often be “Grandma” – or memories of her - who will get top honors.
For Mobile, Ala. native Kiona Daniels, the honor-giving started last Sunday.
“Grandma, you know that you are my heart and that I love you unconditionally.
People often say, ‘God bless you for taking care of your grandmother’, but I’m the one who is blessed. There’s no charge, no debt that I feel for being in your life. I thank God for birthing me and planting me to be a part of your family,” she told her grandmother, Ella Daniels, during a surprise 93rd birthday celebration and special honor as the eldest member at Dominion Church of Washington, D.C.
Kiona Daniels, now deputy press secretary in the Capitol Hill office of U. S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), recalled for the church’s congregation the impact on her life as she was raised in a household with her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother.
“Because of that, I have a foundation and a cornerstone of strength, virtue, long-living and life vitality,” she said.
When Daniels was only 16, her mother was killed in a car accident. Her grandmother, Ella, took over the mothering. “I have never known not knowing the Lord because of my grandmother,” she said.
The impact of a matriarch upon the life of a man and of a woman may differ. Yet, they can be equally inspirational during difficult times.
For both Love, the basketball player, and Daniels the legislative aid, their Grandma Ellas made all the difference.
“I thank you for being my mother when I lost my mom,” Daniels told her grandmother. “For showing me what a woman is supposed to be like, what she looks like, her stature, her beauty, her grace, her intelligence, all that a woman encompasses and on top of that more importantly what a woman of God encompasses.”
Love, whose mother had him as a teenager, says they have a wonderful relationship and he does not blame her for how he was treated by her husband - his stepfather from whom he fled.
However, on this Mother’s Day, Love – now a motivational speaker - credits the discipline and the Christian upbringing of his grandmother for changing the course of his life.
Now laughing, he tells a happier story of overcoming the hard times.
“I would come home from school crying all the time because I stuttered so bad and the kids at school would laugh at me all day long, you know and I was scared of school all the time. My grandmother would meet me at the front gate with her hat on and her apron…she would ask me, ‘What’s wrong?’ I would tell her, ‘Grandmother, the kids at school made fun of me. They laughed at me all day long.’
“She would try to make me feel good and always gave me words of encouragement, to make me never give up. She’ll always tell me, ‘Robert Earl, son, let me tell you something.
There is only one perfect person who ever walked on this earth and that’s our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Everyone has a handicap and everyone has a disability and what you have to do, son, is you gotta hold on to your dreams. You gotta have a dream.’ And those words have carried me through high school, college, all my life.”
Tisha Y. Lewis and Hazel Trice Edney from blackpressusa.com
“Oh my grandmother!” recalled the former NBA star of the Chicago Bulls in an interview with the NNPA News Service. One of the renowned HBCU basketball players and coaches recently featured in the critically acclaimed documentary, “Black Magic”, the Chicago resident and native of Louisiana told how his grandmother, Ella Hunter, was used by God to impact his life.
Gathering himself, he continued the story of having run away from an abusive stepfather, who had beaten him with a belt buckle. He was an 8-year-old, who stuttered pervasively. One day he broke away amidst one of his stepfather’s beatings and fled to his grandmother’s house.
“I told her what happened and I was stuttering and so my stepfather came over the next day to get me. My grandmother stood behind the door with an ax hammer and my stepfather said, ‘Is that boy here? Send that boy out here.’
“My grandmother came out [into] the yard with the ax hammer cocked back. She said, ‘Don’t you ever come by this house again and don’t you ever touch this boy again.”
Love pressed through tearful pauses to continue the story.
“She told him, she would hit him up side his head with the ax hammer if he ever came around to touch me, you know…That changed my life…Every time I did
something good…my grandmother gave me a hug and a kiss…and a pat on the head.
As a boy, I would always want to do good things in the neighborhood. I would help old people with their yard. I would rake their yard and the other old ladies would tell her what I did.
My grandmother would give me the juiciest kiss you ever had and a big
ole hug and would always tell me I was a good boy.”
In that one brief story about Ella Hunter, the grandmother who raised him, Bob Love expressed the respect and affection that thousands of Black people around the nation feel
about those heroic mothers and grandmothers whose abiding love encouraged them to excel through the trials of life.
In the African-American family, it is not unusual to have multi-generational upbringings by mothers, grandmothers, aunts and even older sisters. The U. S. Census Bureau reports that of the 4.5 million children who lived in grandparent-headed households in
2000, they were most often children in African-American families.
Therefore, whether through the Jim Crow of the civil rights movement or the oppressive hardships of today, on Mother’s Day, it will often be “Grandma” – or memories of her - who will get top honors.
For Mobile, Ala. native Kiona Daniels, the honor-giving started last Sunday.
“Grandma, you know that you are my heart and that I love you unconditionally.
People often say, ‘God bless you for taking care of your grandmother’, but I’m the one who is blessed. There’s no charge, no debt that I feel for being in your life. I thank God for birthing me and planting me to be a part of your family,” she told her grandmother, Ella Daniels, during a surprise 93rd birthday celebration and special honor as the eldest member at Dominion Church of Washington, D.C.
Kiona Daniels, now deputy press secretary in the Capitol Hill office of U. S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), recalled for the church’s congregation the impact on her life as she was raised in a household with her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother.
“Because of that, I have a foundation and a cornerstone of strength, virtue, long-living and life vitality,” she said.
When Daniels was only 16, her mother was killed in a car accident. Her grandmother, Ella, took over the mothering. “I have never known not knowing the Lord because of my grandmother,” she said.
The impact of a matriarch upon the life of a man and of a woman may differ. Yet, they can be equally inspirational during difficult times.
For both Love, the basketball player, and Daniels the legislative aid, their Grandma Ellas made all the difference.
“I thank you for being my mother when I lost my mom,” Daniels told her grandmother. “For showing me what a woman is supposed to be like, what she looks like, her stature, her beauty, her grace, her intelligence, all that a woman encompasses and on top of that more importantly what a woman of God encompasses.”
Love, whose mother had him as a teenager, says they have a wonderful relationship and he does not blame her for how he was treated by her husband - his stepfather from whom he fled.
However, on this Mother’s Day, Love – now a motivational speaker - credits the discipline and the Christian upbringing of his grandmother for changing the course of his life.
Now laughing, he tells a happier story of overcoming the hard times.
“I would come home from school crying all the time because I stuttered so bad and the kids at school would laugh at me all day long, you know and I was scared of school all the time. My grandmother would meet me at the front gate with her hat on and her apron…she would ask me, ‘What’s wrong?’ I would tell her, ‘Grandmother, the kids at school made fun of me. They laughed at me all day long.’
“She would try to make me feel good and always gave me words of encouragement, to make me never give up. She’ll always tell me, ‘Robert Earl, son, let me tell you something.
There is only one perfect person who ever walked on this earth and that’s our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Everyone has a handicap and everyone has a disability and what you have to do, son, is you gotta hold on to your dreams. You gotta have a dream.’ And those words have carried me through high school, college, all my life.”
Tisha Y. Lewis and Hazel Trice Edney from blackpressusa.com
Ne-Yo Talks Hip-Hop, Mother's Day
R&B superstar Ne-Yo, who is currently riding the Billboard Hot 100 charts with rapper Plies on the single "Bust It Baby Pt. II,” will treat a select group of mothers to a private concert and brunch on Sunday (May 11), in celebration of Mother’s Day.
The singer, who is preparing his forth coming third album, Year of the Gentleman, hopes to live up to the release’s title with the Ne-Yo’s Mother’s Day Brunch Serenade in the Castleberry Hill section of Atlanta, for 60 metro-Atlanta foster and single mothers.
The event is being hosted by Ne-Yo’s charity organization The Compound Foundation, McDonalds, and Hip-Hop/R&B station V-103 (WVEE-FM).
“I made an assessment of what I personally view this industry as, today," Ne-Yo told AllHipHop.com. "I want to bring the integrity back to the game, from the look to the essence. If you take things back to the days of Nat King Cole and/or the Rat Pack [Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin], you couldn't call yourself an entertainer, unless you were a special type. Your suit had to be dressed, your tie had to be pressed and your shoes [had to] be shined up."
The guests of honor at Ne-Yo’s Mother’s Day Brunch Serenade are a mix of exemplary women chosen by the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ standards, who have demonstrated a positive record of service to children in Georgia.
"This group seldom gets the attention that they deserve, because they are not troubled, they are just good mothers," said Ne-Yo, who was raised by a single mother. "They wake up each morning and go about the day’s activities selflessly, sometimes forsaking their own needs. We hope to bring attention to state of the foster care system in America and to honor mothers that deserve recognition."
A select number are mom’s are also guests of the Ronald McDonald House in Atlanta while their children are receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.
The mothers will also be joined by winners of a week-long contest held by V-103 on-air jock Porsche Foxx, who will also host the brunch.
"Nowadays, you look at rappers and you look at R&B singers and you can't tell the difference,” Ne-Yo told AllHipHop.com. “I'm not saying that clothes make the man, because that's not always true. But I do know that a gentleman knows the importance of dressing for the occasion.”
Ne-Yo’s new album Year of the Gentleman is due in stores June 24.
By Tai Saint Louis from allhiphop.com
The singer, who is preparing his forth coming third album, Year of the Gentleman, hopes to live up to the release’s title with the Ne-Yo’s Mother’s Day Brunch Serenade in the Castleberry Hill section of Atlanta, for 60 metro-Atlanta foster and single mothers.
The event is being hosted by Ne-Yo’s charity organization The Compound Foundation, McDonalds, and Hip-Hop/R&B station V-103 (WVEE-FM).
“I made an assessment of what I personally view this industry as, today," Ne-Yo told AllHipHop.com. "I want to bring the integrity back to the game, from the look to the essence. If you take things back to the days of Nat King Cole and/or the Rat Pack [Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin], you couldn't call yourself an entertainer, unless you were a special type. Your suit had to be dressed, your tie had to be pressed and your shoes [had to] be shined up."
The guests of honor at Ne-Yo’s Mother’s Day Brunch Serenade are a mix of exemplary women chosen by the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ standards, who have demonstrated a positive record of service to children in Georgia.
"This group seldom gets the attention that they deserve, because they are not troubled, they are just good mothers," said Ne-Yo, who was raised by a single mother. "They wake up each morning and go about the day’s activities selflessly, sometimes forsaking their own needs. We hope to bring attention to state of the foster care system in America and to honor mothers that deserve recognition."
A select number are mom’s are also guests of the Ronald McDonald House in Atlanta while their children are receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.
The mothers will also be joined by winners of a week-long contest held by V-103 on-air jock Porsche Foxx, who will also host the brunch.
"Nowadays, you look at rappers and you look at R&B singers and you can't tell the difference,” Ne-Yo told AllHipHop.com. “I'm not saying that clothes make the man, because that's not always true. But I do know that a gentleman knows the importance of dressing for the occasion.”
Ne-Yo’s new album Year of the Gentleman is due in stores June 24.
By Tai Saint Louis from allhiphop.com
Unique Program Makes Teachers Out of Moms
Ten years ago, Latina mothers were actively participating in a thriving parent mentor program in Chicago’s north side community of Logan Square. They were trained and placed in classrooms to help a teacher for about two hours a day.
While motivated mothers were doing good work in the local schools with no intention of leaving, for certified classroom teachers it was a revolving door. So new teachers had to be hired to replace them, but the newcomers too had no long-term plans to stay.
Alarmed by what was happening, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) members thought to themselves: Why can’t these mothers become teachers themselves?
This question eventually led to the creation of Grow Your Own (GYO), a unique teacher-training program that has spread across the state of Illinois, with plans to train 1,000 teachers by 2016.
GYO’s goal is not to simply staff the classroom but produce teachers who understand the students’ needs and their background.
The GYO model not only has a far reaching impact on its public school students but also on those who are currently being trained to teach them, the majority of whom are low-income women from Chicago’s African-American and Latino communities. The program offers free tuition, tutoring and a strong support system for its teacher candidates. By training parent advocates to become teachers, they are lifting families out of poverty and into economic stability.
Patricia Lopez was a parent mentor and tutor for years before getting her associate’s degree in early childhood education and working as a teacher’s assistant in bilingual classrooms. Today, she is working full time as a teacher’s assistant at New Field Elementary School, while also attending evening and weekend school through the Grow Your Own program. She is working to get a bachelor’s degree, as well as a teacher’s certification.
A petite woman with bright eyes and a wide smile, she moves swiftly between the school’s second and third grade classes, pulling out kids who need help. They chat with her excitedly as she takes them to a table tucked away in the corner of the hallway. All the classrooms she works in are bilingual, with Spanish being the first language of the students.
Lopez’s dream is to be a classroom teacher for the first or second grade. She has no aspirations to become a principal. “I want to teach,” she says. “I want to give the children self-confidence and pride in themselves and their cultures. I want them to know that they are smart and have bright futures.”
Downstairs in the same school, teacher assistant Margo Silva is working in a specialized classroom made up of a small group of autistic kids aged three to five. Most of the children don’t speak, so she has them communicate by holding up small images. “I like the challenge of working with autistic children,” says Silva, an African American married to a Puerto Rican. “When I started, I read up everything I could on autism.”
Like Lopez, she is training to become a fully certified teacher through the GYO program. “I want to work with troubled kids,” she says.
Lopez not only works and goes to school, but is also very active in her church, and is on the board of the local housing development council.
Lopez and Silva have many things in common, and their stories mirror those of many who are enrolled in the program. Over 80 percent of GYO students are women, with nearly 88 percent of them either Latina or African American.
For Lopez, her biggest challenge has been balancing her ambitions with her husband’s reluctance about her going to school. He is well respected at the factory where he works as a supervisor, she says, but never had the chance to be educated himself.
And in college, she is self-conscious about not being able to speak English too well. She prefers being with other women in the GYO program. She is working hard at improving her English language skills.
Silva’s challenge is her health. A kidney condition forced her to be on dialysis for three years. After recovering, she began doubting her memory. And so even though she had an associate’s degree in early childhood education, she was trying to find a program that would allow her to “start from the beginning,” with English 101 and math 101.
The schools she approached didn’t fill her needs, and she was too shy to explain to them her past illness. Now, in the GYO program, her confidence has grown. She is beginning to realize that “I know more than I thought I did.”
GYO has grown statewide. It is funded by the state and is therefore subject to budgetary stresses and strains. Even though the program has strong legislative support, it is currently hampered for want of funding. Last year there was no budget increase, so no new candidates were added to the program.
There are currently 567 students on its rolls. This summer, a total of seven teachers will have been trained through the program.
The full extent of their impact on the schools will not be known until the first batch of students have been in schools at least a few years. GYO academic advisor and tutor Morgan Halstead, is doing her doctoral dissertation at the University of Illinois, Chicago, on GYO.
Halstead expects the program to have a significantly positive impact on the personal lives of the mothers who become teachers.
“They will make three to four times more than they make now,” she says. Assistant teachers will make two to three times more.
At home, these teachers in training often find themselves facing a role reversal, says Halstead. Daughters and mothers sit together and help each other with their respective homework.
And there will be a wider impact as well. A child’s success in school is determined less by race or class than it is by the mother’s education level. The better educated the mother is, the more likely is the child to be motivated in school.
New America Media, News Report, Carolyn Ji Jong Goossen
While motivated mothers were doing good work in the local schools with no intention of leaving, for certified classroom teachers it was a revolving door. So new teachers had to be hired to replace them, but the newcomers too had no long-term plans to stay.
Alarmed by what was happening, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) members thought to themselves: Why can’t these mothers become teachers themselves?
This question eventually led to the creation of Grow Your Own (GYO), a unique teacher-training program that has spread across the state of Illinois, with plans to train 1,000 teachers by 2016.
GYO’s goal is not to simply staff the classroom but produce teachers who understand the students’ needs and their background.
The GYO model not only has a far reaching impact on its public school students but also on those who are currently being trained to teach them, the majority of whom are low-income women from Chicago’s African-American and Latino communities. The program offers free tuition, tutoring and a strong support system for its teacher candidates. By training parent advocates to become teachers, they are lifting families out of poverty and into economic stability.
Patricia Lopez was a parent mentor and tutor for years before getting her associate’s degree in early childhood education and working as a teacher’s assistant in bilingual classrooms. Today, she is working full time as a teacher’s assistant at New Field Elementary School, while also attending evening and weekend school through the Grow Your Own program. She is working to get a bachelor’s degree, as well as a teacher’s certification.
A petite woman with bright eyes and a wide smile, she moves swiftly between the school’s second and third grade classes, pulling out kids who need help. They chat with her excitedly as she takes them to a table tucked away in the corner of the hallway. All the classrooms she works in are bilingual, with Spanish being the first language of the students.
Lopez’s dream is to be a classroom teacher for the first or second grade. She has no aspirations to become a principal. “I want to teach,” she says. “I want to give the children self-confidence and pride in themselves and their cultures. I want them to know that they are smart and have bright futures.”
Downstairs in the same school, teacher assistant Margo Silva is working in a specialized classroom made up of a small group of autistic kids aged three to five. Most of the children don’t speak, so she has them communicate by holding up small images. “I like the challenge of working with autistic children,” says Silva, an African American married to a Puerto Rican. “When I started, I read up everything I could on autism.”
Like Lopez, she is training to become a fully certified teacher through the GYO program. “I want to work with troubled kids,” she says.
Lopez not only works and goes to school, but is also very active in her church, and is on the board of the local housing development council.
Lopez and Silva have many things in common, and their stories mirror those of many who are enrolled in the program. Over 80 percent of GYO students are women, with nearly 88 percent of them either Latina or African American.
For Lopez, her biggest challenge has been balancing her ambitions with her husband’s reluctance about her going to school. He is well respected at the factory where he works as a supervisor, she says, but never had the chance to be educated himself.
And in college, she is self-conscious about not being able to speak English too well. She prefers being with other women in the GYO program. She is working hard at improving her English language skills.
Silva’s challenge is her health. A kidney condition forced her to be on dialysis for three years. After recovering, she began doubting her memory. And so even though she had an associate’s degree in early childhood education, she was trying to find a program that would allow her to “start from the beginning,” with English 101 and math 101.
The schools she approached didn’t fill her needs, and she was too shy to explain to them her past illness. Now, in the GYO program, her confidence has grown. She is beginning to realize that “I know more than I thought I did.”
GYO has grown statewide. It is funded by the state and is therefore subject to budgetary stresses and strains. Even though the program has strong legislative support, it is currently hampered for want of funding. Last year there was no budget increase, so no new candidates were added to the program.
There are currently 567 students on its rolls. This summer, a total of seven teachers will have been trained through the program.
The full extent of their impact on the schools will not be known until the first batch of students have been in schools at least a few years. GYO academic advisor and tutor Morgan Halstead, is doing her doctoral dissertation at the University of Illinois, Chicago, on GYO.
Halstead expects the program to have a significantly positive impact on the personal lives of the mothers who become teachers.
“They will make three to four times more than they make now,” she says. Assistant teachers will make two to three times more.
At home, these teachers in training often find themselves facing a role reversal, says Halstead. Daughters and mothers sit together and help each other with their respective homework.
And there will be a wider impact as well. A child’s success in school is determined less by race or class than it is by the mother’s education level. The better educated the mother is, the more likely is the child to be motivated in school.
New America Media, News Report, Carolyn Ji Jong Goossen
Sharpton Plans Another NYC Protest Over Police Shooting
A day after his carefully orchestrated protests briefly blocked rush-hour traffic, the Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday promised to stage another mass protest over three police detectives' acquittals in the 50-bullet killing of an unarmed man.
The next protest is planned somewhere in New York City within seven to 10 days, said Charlie King, acting national director of Sharpton's National Action Network. He said no other details would be released until next week.
"Yesterday was the beginning of a long and sustained campaign of civil disobedience," King said.
Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting, the slain man's fiancee and more than 200 other demonstrators were arrested Wednesday after they blocked traffic at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Holland Tunnel and other major transportation arteries.
The protests were aimed at getting the U.S. attorney's office to pursue civil rights charges against the undercover detectives, who were acquitted of wrongdoing in the shooting last month in state court. Federal prosecutors are reviewing the case but declined to comment Thursday.
Sharpton and relatives of the slain man, Sean Bell, planned to meet privately Thursday with Gov. David Paterson to press for a state law requiring independent prosecutors to investigate police shootings, King said.
Bell was gunned down as he and two friends left his bachelor party at a Queens strip club on his wedding day in November 2006. The shooting stirred outrage and complaints about police conduct. One officer fired 31 bullets, emptying and reloading his gun.
The officers said they believed Bell and his friends were about to get a gun; no firearm was found. Bell's friends, who were seriously wounded, say the police shot without warning, which the officers deny.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said his department is considering disciplinary action against the detectives.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, were released about four hours after their arrests on disorderly conduct charges.
King said Sharpton was pleased with Wednesday's protest but envisioned still larger demonstrations to come.
"We thought that, as the first and significant step on this issue, it went extremely well," King said.
By JENNIFER PELTZ from AP
The next protest is planned somewhere in New York City within seven to 10 days, said Charlie King, acting national director of Sharpton's National Action Network. He said no other details would be released until next week.
"Yesterday was the beginning of a long and sustained campaign of civil disobedience," King said.
Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting, the slain man's fiancee and more than 200 other demonstrators were arrested Wednesday after they blocked traffic at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Holland Tunnel and other major transportation arteries.
The protests were aimed at getting the U.S. attorney's office to pursue civil rights charges against the undercover detectives, who were acquitted of wrongdoing in the shooting last month in state court. Federal prosecutors are reviewing the case but declined to comment Thursday.
Sharpton and relatives of the slain man, Sean Bell, planned to meet privately Thursday with Gov. David Paterson to press for a state law requiring independent prosecutors to investigate police shootings, King said.
Bell was gunned down as he and two friends left his bachelor party at a Queens strip club on his wedding day in November 2006. The shooting stirred outrage and complaints about police conduct. One officer fired 31 bullets, emptying and reloading his gun.
The officers said they believed Bell and his friends were about to get a gun; no firearm was found. Bell's friends, who were seriously wounded, say the police shot without warning, which the officers deny.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said his department is considering disciplinary action against the detectives.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, were released about four hours after their arrests on disorderly conduct charges.
King said Sharpton was pleased with Wednesday's protest but envisioned still larger demonstrations to come.
"We thought that, as the first and significant step on this issue, it went extremely well," King said.
By JENNIFER PELTZ from AP
Zimbabwe Braces for New Elections Amid Crackdown
Zimbabwe braced Sunday for the return home of the country's opposition leader who has vowed to face veteran president Robert Mugabe in a runoff election despite the risk of more violence.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, is expected in Harare in the next few days after leaving the country in early April amid spiralling post-election violence directed at his party.
Zimbabwean doctors, trade unions and teachers have reported beatings and intimidation by government-backed militias since the first ballot on March 29 and the authorities have rounded up a number of high-profile opponents.
Sunday brought news that 56 opposition activists in a farming town northeast of Harare had been arrested on charges of public violence, according to an opposition lawyer.
A spokesman for Tsvangirai, who is threatened by treason accusations in his homeland, said Sunday the leader would look for security assurances from the 14-member regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"We cannot anticipate what the regime is going to do, but we are going back to Zimbabwe," George Sibotshiwe told AFP.
Before Saturday, Tsvangirai had refused to say whether he would take part in the runoff -- even though failure to do so would have handed victory to Mugabe.
He warned that his decision to contest the election against Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, risked provoking "more violence, more gloom, more betrayal."
He set a series of conditions for his participation in the poll, including the presence of international peacekeepers, election monitors, free media and an end to violence to ensure a fair vote.
Sibotshiwe said that the opposition had met with Angola's president on Saturday to urge him to send regional SADC peacekeepers for the as yet unscheduled second round.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, believed to be close to Mugabe, is the head of the security committee of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) which has the ability to deploy peacekeepers in the region.
The White House gave strong backing to the idea of election and UN human rights monitors in Zimbabwe for the poll, which Tsvangirai wants before May 23 in accordance with Zimbabwean law.
"If this is going to be a successful runoff, obviously that's the first thing that has to happen: opposition leaders and their supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Saturday.
The ruling government was quick to dismiss the idea of outside interference in the election on Saturday, with few believing the conditions will or could be be met.
No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the first ballot and a team from the SADC was widely criticised for giving it a largely clean bill of health.
Tsvangirai also had strong criticism for Zimbabwe's electoral commission (ZEC) and said that failure to hold the second round of voting by May 23, as required under Zimbabwean law, risked rendering the election process illegitimate.
Results from the first round were delayed by the ZEC for five weeks and no date has been given for the second-round runoff despite the legal requirement for it to take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced.
First-round results were published on May 2 -- showing Tsvangirai beat Mugabe by 47.9 to 43.2 percent -- but ZEC officials have hinted that a second round could take up to a year to organise.
Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader and a former liberation fighter, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Once seen as a post-colonial success story, Zimbabwe has been in economic meltdown since 2000 when Mugabe embarked on a programme of land reforms which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.
from AP
Morgan Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, is expected in Harare in the next few days after leaving the country in early April amid spiralling post-election violence directed at his party.
Zimbabwean doctors, trade unions and teachers have reported beatings and intimidation by government-backed militias since the first ballot on March 29 and the authorities have rounded up a number of high-profile opponents.
Sunday brought news that 56 opposition activists in a farming town northeast of Harare had been arrested on charges of public violence, according to an opposition lawyer.
A spokesman for Tsvangirai, who is threatened by treason accusations in his homeland, said Sunday the leader would look for security assurances from the 14-member regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"We cannot anticipate what the regime is going to do, but we are going back to Zimbabwe," George Sibotshiwe told AFP.
Before Saturday, Tsvangirai had refused to say whether he would take part in the runoff -- even though failure to do so would have handed victory to Mugabe.
He warned that his decision to contest the election against Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, risked provoking "more violence, more gloom, more betrayal."
He set a series of conditions for his participation in the poll, including the presence of international peacekeepers, election monitors, free media and an end to violence to ensure a fair vote.
Sibotshiwe said that the opposition had met with Angola's president on Saturday to urge him to send regional SADC peacekeepers for the as yet unscheduled second round.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, believed to be close to Mugabe, is the head of the security committee of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) which has the ability to deploy peacekeepers in the region.
The White House gave strong backing to the idea of election and UN human rights monitors in Zimbabwe for the poll, which Tsvangirai wants before May 23 in accordance with Zimbabwean law.
"If this is going to be a successful runoff, obviously that's the first thing that has to happen: opposition leaders and their supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Saturday.
The ruling government was quick to dismiss the idea of outside interference in the election on Saturday, with few believing the conditions will or could be be met.
No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the first ballot and a team from the SADC was widely criticised for giving it a largely clean bill of health.
Tsvangirai also had strong criticism for Zimbabwe's electoral commission (ZEC) and said that failure to hold the second round of voting by May 23, as required under Zimbabwean law, risked rendering the election process illegitimate.
Results from the first round were delayed by the ZEC for five weeks and no date has been given for the second-round runoff despite the legal requirement for it to take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced.
First-round results were published on May 2 -- showing Tsvangirai beat Mugabe by 47.9 to 43.2 percent -- but ZEC officials have hinted that a second round could take up to a year to organise.
Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader and a former liberation fighter, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Once seen as a post-colonial success story, Zimbabwe has been in economic meltdown since 2000 when Mugabe embarked on a programme of land reforms which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.
from AP
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Howard University Trustees Appoint New President
After a vigorous eight-month search, Howard University’s Board of Trustees has selected Sidney A. Ribeau as the institution’s 16th president in a unanimous decision.
“I am excited by the opportunity to serve this historic institution,” Ribeau said in a press release. “Howard is a remarkable university, a truly international university and one that has made significant contributions.” Ribeau has been President of Bowling Green State University in Ohio for 13 years.
Trustee Richard D. Parsons, chairman of the Board of Time Warner, Inc., co-chaired the Howard University Search Committee along with former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
“Ribeau brings to Howard a complete academic resume having served as professor, dean and vice president,” Parsons said in the release. “He has built a well-rounded and impressive resume as a scholar and academic leader in higher education and has a solid record as an effective fundraiser”.
Succeeding Patrick Swygert, Ribeau will assume his role on August 1. The university began the search for a new president after Swygert announced his resignation April 27 of last year in the wake of cricticism from the university’s faculty senate.
Simone Brown, a junior from Detroit, said she was concerned about how much the new president will be getting paid. She said the facilities are not up-to-date and that some of the money being allocated for the current president’s salary could have gone towards renovating the school.
“When people are doing tours, everything looks nice from the outside, but then when you go in the inside, they don’t have what we need,” said Brown, an accounting major, referring to the technology and resources available for students.
Brown said she would like to see Howard’s new president encourage the alumni to donate to the school. Because government funding was cut back and tuition increased, the University has a dire need for funding, she said. The university has embarked upon a major fundraising effort, according to published reports and the office of communications.
Charreah Jackson, a 2007 Howard grad, said she was sad to see Swygert go and that she had always appreciated his leadership.Jackson, who was a staff member of student newspaper, The Hilltop, said that under Swygert's administration the staff “always had room to maneuver and get the story out.”
“I was glad to attend during his time at Howard,” Jackson said.
By Michelle D. Anderson -- Black College Wire
“I am excited by the opportunity to serve this historic institution,” Ribeau said in a press release. “Howard is a remarkable university, a truly international university and one that has made significant contributions.” Ribeau has been President of Bowling Green State University in Ohio for 13 years.
Trustee Richard D. Parsons, chairman of the Board of Time Warner, Inc., co-chaired the Howard University Search Committee along with former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
“Ribeau brings to Howard a complete academic resume having served as professor, dean and vice president,” Parsons said in the release. “He has built a well-rounded and impressive resume as a scholar and academic leader in higher education and has a solid record as an effective fundraiser”.
Succeeding Patrick Swygert, Ribeau will assume his role on August 1. The university began the search for a new president after Swygert announced his resignation April 27 of last year in the wake of cricticism from the university’s faculty senate.
Simone Brown, a junior from Detroit, said she was concerned about how much the new president will be getting paid. She said the facilities are not up-to-date and that some of the money being allocated for the current president’s salary could have gone towards renovating the school.
“When people are doing tours, everything looks nice from the outside, but then when you go in the inside, they don’t have what we need,” said Brown, an accounting major, referring to the technology and resources available for students.
Brown said she would like to see Howard’s new president encourage the alumni to donate to the school. Because government funding was cut back and tuition increased, the University has a dire need for funding, she said. The university has embarked upon a major fundraising effort, according to published reports and the office of communications.
Charreah Jackson, a 2007 Howard grad, said she was sad to see Swygert go and that she had always appreciated his leadership.Jackson, who was a staff member of student newspaper, The Hilltop, said that under Swygert's administration the staff “always had room to maneuver and get the story out.”
“I was glad to attend during his time at Howard,” Jackson said.
By Michelle D. Anderson -- Black College Wire
E-Mail Shows Racial Jokes by Secret Service Supervisors
Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents.
The filing includes 10 e-mail messages that were among documents the agency recently turned over to lawyers for the black agents as part of an increasingly bitter discrimination lawsuit. The messages were written mainly from 2003 through 2005, and were sent to and from e-mail accounts of at least 20 Secret Service supervisors.
The messages offer a glimpse into the darker recesses of an agency known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries but whose culture is regarded as one of the most insular in federal law enforcement.
The disclosure of the messages follows an incident last month in which a noose was found in a room used by a black instructor at a Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Md. Agency officials said that episode was under internal investigation.
Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said he would not comment directly on the e-mail but said the agency deplored racially insensitive jokes.
“We are deeply disappointed by any communication or action on the part of our employees that exhibits racial or other insensitivity,” Mr. Zahren said.
Mr. Zahren said the messages were the result of a search of 20 million electronic documents over 16 years. He said that an internal inquiry had been opened and that the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, had been alerted.
In some of the court documents, the senders of the e-mail messages are identified only by the jobs they currently occupy and the rank they held when the messages were sent. For example, an Oct. 9, 2003, message referring to a “Harlem Spelling Bee,” ridiculing black slang, was sent by Thomas Grupski, then assistant director for protective operations, who, according to the filing, now heads the Office of Government Liaison and Public Affairs.
A March 3, 2003, message describing Mr. Jackson as the “Righteous Reverend” was passed among several Secret Service supervisors. The message, about a missile striking an airplane in which Mr. Jackson and his wife were traveling, concludes, it “certainly wouldn’t be a great loss and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”
Another message contains what one Secret Service official said was a joke referring to interracial sex. The joke circulated in February and March 2003. It was sent, according to the lawsuit, by Donald White, who heads the Presidential Protective Detail, to Kurt Douglass, an agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Cincinnati.
The legal skirmishing in the discrimination suit has heated up in recent months, with Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson rebuking the Secret Service for failing to produce documents and for destroying relevant records and e-mail.
Judge Robinson had ordered the agency to turn over the documents by late March, but the e-mail disclosed in the court filing on Friday was not turned over to lawyers for the agents until late April.
E. Desmond Hogan, a lawyer for the black agents, said the agents were “shocked but not surprised by the late production of significant evidence of racism at high levels in the Secret Service.”
“The government’s delay,” Mr. Hogan said, “follows a pattern of the Secret Service stonewalling plaintiffs and ignoring court orders, depriving African-American agents of the fundamental evidence of race discrimination that is key to their claims.”
The lawsuit, which has dragged on through years of litigation, was filed in 2000 by 10 black agents who charged that they were unfairly denied promotions. The agency employs about 3,200 agents, about 10 percent of whom are black.
By DAVID JOHNSTON from New York Times
The filing includes 10 e-mail messages that were among documents the agency recently turned over to lawyers for the black agents as part of an increasingly bitter discrimination lawsuit. The messages were written mainly from 2003 through 2005, and were sent to and from e-mail accounts of at least 20 Secret Service supervisors.
The messages offer a glimpse into the darker recesses of an agency known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries but whose culture is regarded as one of the most insular in federal law enforcement.
The disclosure of the messages follows an incident last month in which a noose was found in a room used by a black instructor at a Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Md. Agency officials said that episode was under internal investigation.
Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said he would not comment directly on the e-mail but said the agency deplored racially insensitive jokes.
“We are deeply disappointed by any communication or action on the part of our employees that exhibits racial or other insensitivity,” Mr. Zahren said.
Mr. Zahren said the messages were the result of a search of 20 million electronic documents over 16 years. He said that an internal inquiry had been opened and that the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, had been alerted.
In some of the court documents, the senders of the e-mail messages are identified only by the jobs they currently occupy and the rank they held when the messages were sent. For example, an Oct. 9, 2003, message referring to a “Harlem Spelling Bee,” ridiculing black slang, was sent by Thomas Grupski, then assistant director for protective operations, who, according to the filing, now heads the Office of Government Liaison and Public Affairs.
A March 3, 2003, message describing Mr. Jackson as the “Righteous Reverend” was passed among several Secret Service supervisors. The message, about a missile striking an airplane in which Mr. Jackson and his wife were traveling, concludes, it “certainly wouldn’t be a great loss and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”
Another message contains what one Secret Service official said was a joke referring to interracial sex. The joke circulated in February and March 2003. It was sent, according to the lawsuit, by Donald White, who heads the Presidential Protective Detail, to Kurt Douglass, an agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Cincinnati.
The legal skirmishing in the discrimination suit has heated up in recent months, with Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson rebuking the Secret Service for failing to produce documents and for destroying relevant records and e-mail.
Judge Robinson had ordered the agency to turn over the documents by late March, but the e-mail disclosed in the court filing on Friday was not turned over to lawyers for the agents until late April.
E. Desmond Hogan, a lawyer for the black agents, said the agents were “shocked but not surprised by the late production of significant evidence of racism at high levels in the Secret Service.”
“The government’s delay,” Mr. Hogan said, “follows a pattern of the Secret Service stonewalling plaintiffs and ignoring court orders, depriving African-American agents of the fundamental evidence of race discrimination that is key to their claims.”
The lawsuit, which has dragged on through years of litigation, was filed in 2000 by 10 black agents who charged that they were unfairly denied promotions. The agency employs about 3,200 agents, about 10 percent of whom are black.
By DAVID JOHNSTON from New York Times
Nigeria Lifts Tax on Rice in Bid to Head Off Food Crisis
Nigeria on Wednesday announced it was suspending import duties and other taxes on rice while launching a raft of other measures to head off a food crisis in Africa's most populous nation.
The government said that it will not collect taxes on imported rice until the end of October at the earliest in a bid to curb rising prices on the staple food for many of Nigeria's 140 million people. It also said it would seek to bolster domestic rice production while increasing its stock of emergency stores.
Soaring fuel prices, growing demand from the burgeoning middle classes in India and China and poor weather have contributed to the jump in food prices worldwide, economists say. Africa has been particularly hard hit.
The government said it believed it could avert a food crisis in the country where most people live below the poverty line and struggle to feed their families.
"The federal government remains fully confident that its immediate, medium and long term strategies for national food security will achieve the desired results and alleviate the impact of the global food crisis on Nigerians," it said in a statement.
Like many poorer nations, Nigeria has struggled with spiraling prices for basic food items like grains, legumes and rice, which has seen a near doubling in its price in recent months.
Nigeria's national bakers' union has announced a strike to protest the rising costs of wheat flour and sugar, leaving stores shelves empty of bread. Nigeria is Africa's most-populous nation and the largest market on the world's poorest continent. Most people live on less than $2 per day and persistent food shortages could easily lead to civil unrest.
Protests and riots over rising food prices have already occurred in Somalia, Egypt, Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
The government said that it will not collect taxes on imported rice until the end of October at the earliest in a bid to curb rising prices on the staple food for many of Nigeria's 140 million people. It also said it would seek to bolster domestic rice production while increasing its stock of emergency stores.
Soaring fuel prices, growing demand from the burgeoning middle classes in India and China and poor weather have contributed to the jump in food prices worldwide, economists say. Africa has been particularly hard hit.
The government said it believed it could avert a food crisis in the country where most people live below the poverty line and struggle to feed their families.
"The federal government remains fully confident that its immediate, medium and long term strategies for national food security will achieve the desired results and alleviate the impact of the global food crisis on Nigerians," it said in a statement.
Like many poorer nations, Nigeria has struggled with spiraling prices for basic food items like grains, legumes and rice, which has seen a near doubling in its price in recent months.
Nigeria's national bakers' union has announced a strike to protest the rising costs of wheat flour and sugar, leaving stores shelves empty of bread. Nigeria is Africa's most-populous nation and the largest market on the world's poorest continent. Most people live on less than $2 per day and persistent food shortages could easily lead to civil unrest.
Protests and riots over rising food prices have already occurred in Somalia, Egypt, Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 9, 2008
Sharpton: Philly Beating 'Worse than Rodney King'
The Rev. Al Sharpton called a videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects in Philadelphia "worse than Rodney King," prompting the city's police commissioner to chide anyone "fanning flames ... from afar."
The civil rights activist made the comments Thursday as he interviewed the mother of one of the suspects on his radio show.
Thirteen police officers have been taken off street duty as police investigate the television news footage, according to Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman. The video shows officers kicking, punching and beating the three black men during a traffic stop Monday.
"I've not seen anything like that since Rodney King, and it's worse than Rodney King, and we cannot allow our community to be under siege," Sharpton said. "We've got to stop this nonsense in our community, acting like you got to be a certain level black to be treated within the law."
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said he does not believe the confrontation was racially motivated, but instead thinks that tensions in the wake of the weekend slaying of a fellow officer played a part.
The beating occurred at the same time as police were conducting an intense manhunt for a suspect in the slaying of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 39, who was killed responding to a bank robbery Saturday. He was the second city officer killed on the job in seven months.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Ramsey called the confrontation a "black eye" for the force and "an embarrassment to the entire department."
In an interview later in the day with The Associated Press, Ramsey said: "I know everybody's trying to make this into a racial thing. I don't believe it is."
"We just had a policeman murdered on Saturday ... and emotions are running high," he said.
"There's no excuse for it, but fanning flames, and making accusations from afar, is not in anybody's best interest," said Ramsey, who took over as commissioner in January after serving in the same role in Washington, D.C.
King, who is black, was videotaped being beaten by white Los Angeles police officers after he was stopped for speeding in 1991. Four officers were acquitted of most criminal charges in 1992, triggering rioting in Los Angeles and neighboring cities that left 55 people dead and caused $1 billion in property damage.
In the Philadelphia case, officers who stopped the car Monday night believed its occupants had been involved in a triple shooting a few blocks away. They included members of a narcotics unit working the area and patrol officers called in response to the shooting.
The three suspects , Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins, all of Philadelphia , were each charged with attempted murder and related counts in connection with the shooting, according to court records.
D. Scott Perrine, a lawyer representing the three suspects, has said his clients had nothing to do with the shooting, police had no reason to follow their car and the beating was unjustified.
Leomia Dyches complained to Sharpton on Thursday that she could not see her son when he was in the hospital.
Ramsey noted to the AP that he was in custody at the time, charged with attempted murder. All three suspects were treated at a hospital soon after the confrontation, Ramsey said, and they were being held Thursday in lieu of bail of $100,000 or more.
The commissioner pledged to send the department's preliminary investigation to the District Attorney's Office by next week. If prosecutors decline to file charges, he will deal with the officers involved internally, he said.
Ramsey said he did not know the race of all the officers on the scene , there were about 15 , but said that at least one sergeant involved is African-American.
The Internal Affairs unit is still working to enhance the tape and identify all of the officers in the footage, a department spokesman said.
Sharpton's remarks came a day after he was arrested along with hundreds of other demonstrators as he blocked traffic to protest the acquittal of three New York detectives who fatally shot an unarmed black man in on his wedding day.
Ramsey said the beating does not reflect the behavior of the whole Philadelphia department, and cast a shadow during a time that should have been focused on the period of mourning for Liczbinski, whose funeral will be held Friday.
Mayor Michael Nutter has also criticized the officers' behavior, calling it unacceptable.
MARYCLAIRE DALE for The Associated Press
The civil rights activist made the comments Thursday as he interviewed the mother of one of the suspects on his radio show.
Thirteen police officers have been taken off street duty as police investigate the television news footage, according to Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman. The video shows officers kicking, punching and beating the three black men during a traffic stop Monday.
"I've not seen anything like that since Rodney King, and it's worse than Rodney King, and we cannot allow our community to be under siege," Sharpton said. "We've got to stop this nonsense in our community, acting like you got to be a certain level black to be treated within the law."
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said he does not believe the confrontation was racially motivated, but instead thinks that tensions in the wake of the weekend slaying of a fellow officer played a part.
The beating occurred at the same time as police were conducting an intense manhunt for a suspect in the slaying of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 39, who was killed responding to a bank robbery Saturday. He was the second city officer killed on the job in seven months.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Ramsey called the confrontation a "black eye" for the force and "an embarrassment to the entire department."
In an interview later in the day with The Associated Press, Ramsey said: "I know everybody's trying to make this into a racial thing. I don't believe it is."
"We just had a policeman murdered on Saturday ... and emotions are running high," he said.
"There's no excuse for it, but fanning flames, and making accusations from afar, is not in anybody's best interest," said Ramsey, who took over as commissioner in January after serving in the same role in Washington, D.C.
King, who is black, was videotaped being beaten by white Los Angeles police officers after he was stopped for speeding in 1991. Four officers were acquitted of most criminal charges in 1992, triggering rioting in Los Angeles and neighboring cities that left 55 people dead and caused $1 billion in property damage.
In the Philadelphia case, officers who stopped the car Monday night believed its occupants had been involved in a triple shooting a few blocks away. They included members of a narcotics unit working the area and patrol officers called in response to the shooting.
The three suspects , Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins, all of Philadelphia , were each charged with attempted murder and related counts in connection with the shooting, according to court records.
D. Scott Perrine, a lawyer representing the three suspects, has said his clients had nothing to do with the shooting, police had no reason to follow their car and the beating was unjustified.
Leomia Dyches complained to Sharpton on Thursday that she could not see her son when he was in the hospital.
Ramsey noted to the AP that he was in custody at the time, charged with attempted murder. All three suspects were treated at a hospital soon after the confrontation, Ramsey said, and they were being held Thursday in lieu of bail of $100,000 or more.
The commissioner pledged to send the department's preliminary investigation to the District Attorney's Office by next week. If prosecutors decline to file charges, he will deal with the officers involved internally, he said.
Ramsey said he did not know the race of all the officers on the scene , there were about 15 , but said that at least one sergeant involved is African-American.
The Internal Affairs unit is still working to enhance the tape and identify all of the officers in the footage, a department spokesman said.
Sharpton's remarks came a day after he was arrested along with hundreds of other demonstrators as he blocked traffic to protest the acquittal of three New York detectives who fatally shot an unarmed black man in on his wedding day.
Ramsey said the beating does not reflect the behavior of the whole Philadelphia department, and cast a shadow during a time that should have been focused on the period of mourning for Liczbinski, whose funeral will be held Friday.
Mayor Michael Nutter has also criticized the officers' behavior, calling it unacceptable.
MARYCLAIRE DALE for The Associated Press
Radio One Posts Net Loss but Confident About Future Outlook
Radio One, which last month acquired a social networking company to expand its Internet presence, reported more losses Thursday from its radio-dominated businesses.
Lanham-based Radio One Inc. reported a net loss in the first quarter of $18.3 million. In the year ago period Radio One reported net income of $744,000. In the fourth quarter of 2007 Radio One reported a loss of $386 million.
Revenue in the latest period decreased 2 percent to $72.5 million versus the year-ago quarter. Radio One executives cited the decline in national radio advertising for the decline.
"During the quarter we invested in new on-air talent for our syndicated programs, notably Mo'Nique, and these investments should deliver future ratings and revenue growth," said Alfred Liggins III, chief executive officer of Radio One, in a statement. "Our internet investment and build-out continues on plan, augmented by the recent acquisition of Community Connect Inc. and the launch of Newsone.com, which will accelerate our path to profitability in the on-line space."
Radio One (NASDAQ: ROIA) owns and operates 53 radio stations in 16 markets, including four Baltimore stations: WERQ-FM 92Q Jams, WOLB-AM 1010, WWIN-AM 1440 and WWIN-FM Magic 95.9. Its stations primarily target African-American and urban listeners.
Radio One acquired social networking company Community Connect for $38 million in April.
From Baltimore Business Journal
Lanham-based Radio One Inc. reported a net loss in the first quarter of $18.3 million. In the year ago period Radio One reported net income of $744,000. In the fourth quarter of 2007 Radio One reported a loss of $386 million.
Revenue in the latest period decreased 2 percent to $72.5 million versus the year-ago quarter. Radio One executives cited the decline in national radio advertising for the decline.
"During the quarter we invested in new on-air talent for our syndicated programs, notably Mo'Nique, and these investments should deliver future ratings and revenue growth," said Alfred Liggins III, chief executive officer of Radio One, in a statement. "Our internet investment and build-out continues on plan, augmented by the recent acquisition of Community Connect Inc. and the launch of Newsone.com, which will accelerate our path to profitability in the on-line space."
Radio One (NASDAQ: ROIA) owns and operates 53 radio stations in 16 markets, including four Baltimore stations: WERQ-FM 92Q Jams, WOLB-AM 1010, WWIN-AM 1440 and WWIN-FM Magic 95.9. Its stations primarily target African-American and urban listeners.
Radio One acquired social networking company Community Connect for $38 million in April.
From Baltimore Business Journal
NY Gov. Paterson Meets with Bell’s Family and Sharpton
Gov. David A. Paterson met Thursday afternoon with the parents and fiancée of Sean Bell and with the Rev. Al Sharpton, saying afterward that he understood and respected the large-scale protests that occurred on Wednesday, resulting in 216 arrests, and also that he accepted a Queens judge’s decision to acquit three New York City police detectives charged in Mr. Bell’s shooting. Mr. Paterson said he would review proposals to require alcohol testing for police officers who fire their weapons and to review protocols governing undercover police work.
“I must commend the advocates, many of them, over 200 arrested, for participation in civil disobedience in a way that made their point without any excess activity,” Mr. Paterson said at a news conference at his Midtown Manhattan office after meeting with the Bell family. He said the advocates on behalf of Mr. Bell’s family had acted in “a completely professional way.”
Mr. Paterson met with Sean Bell’s parents, William and Valerie Bell, and his fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell. Earlier on Thursday, the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, and members of the team that prosecuted the three detectives met with Mr. Bell’s family. “The meeting was very cordial and, while there were expressions of frustration, Nicole Paultre-Bell and Mr. Bell’s parents thanked the district attorney’s office for their efforts in the case,” Kevin R. Ryan, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said in a statement.
Mr. Paterson, discussing the protests, stopped short of endorsing them:
The process of civil disobedience, by its definition and by its nature, inconveniences fellow residents, fellow citizens. That is the art of civil disobedience; it’s a disruption. No public servant can condone civil disobedience, because we represent all the people and we do not like to see any members of our society inconvenienced. Therefore, we would rather that this group have not gone to the extent that they did to demonstrate their issues. However, from the point of view of advocacy, which was very well explained to me by Valerie and Nicole and by Reverend Sharpton, the reason that the civil disobedience occurred, from their point of view, is because the other redress opportunities of society had failed them.
Legislation in the past, though it has in some respects set up new guidelines, did not stop that incident from occurring last year that claimed the life of Sean Bell. The meeting with different organizations, the protests in the past, the involvement of elected officials in the past, the calls for justice and peace by our clergy, could not stop that incident from occurring. And so they felt that they had no other choice but to take the action that they took. I respect the decision that they made to take that action.
Mr. Paterson noted that federal authorities had begun a criminal investigation into whether the officers violated Mr. Bell’s civil rights.
The governor expressed willingness to review and even adopt legislation governing undercover procedures. He said he understood that undercover officers may need to drink alcohol to protect their cover, but said he would look into proposals to require alcohol testing for officers who have fired their service weapons. “When a weapon is discharged and the victims of the attack were not carrying weapons, it would seem only right that we get a full understanding of what went on and test the police officers who discharged their weapons for alcohol,” he said.
The confusion over whether the detectives in fact identified themselves as police officers may also point to the need to “look at the process of undercover law enforcement,” Mr. Paterson said, adding that on the early morning of Nov. 25, 2006, “it must have been very confusing.”
Mr. Paterson said: “We are a society of laws and not people. Because of that we accept the verdict that was rendered by the jury. We may not agree with it, but we accept it.”
Mr. Sharpton, speaking on the Bell family’s behalf afterward, said, “Though we did not expect and did not get the governor to endorse civil disobedience, we did expect and did get his understanding of the desperation people have” when they have exercised their legal options.
Mr. Sharpton noted that the protests were entirely peaceful: “Not one brick has been thrown, not one window pane broken.”
Asked about the inconvenience experienced by drivers stuck in traffic as a result of the protests, Mr. Sharpton said: “We did not interfere with subways yesterday. We did it purposely on motorists because we wanted them to think as they were going home that all Sean Bell was doing that night was going home in a car.”
Mr. Sharpton has promised more acts of civil disobedience, but he said he would not use the governor’s office to announce such plans. “He has never violated my pulpit,” Mr. Sharpton said. “I won’t violate his governor’s chamber.”
The governor, who is known for his occasionally disarming candor, would not say what he thought should come out of the federal investigation. “I’m having enough trouble running the state,” he said, declining to offer advice to the investigators.
By Sewell Chan for The New York Times
“I must commend the advocates, many of them, over 200 arrested, for participation in civil disobedience in a way that made their point without any excess activity,” Mr. Paterson said at a news conference at his Midtown Manhattan office after meeting with the Bell family. He said the advocates on behalf of Mr. Bell’s family had acted in “a completely professional way.”
Mr. Paterson met with Sean Bell’s parents, William and Valerie Bell, and his fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell. Earlier on Thursday, the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, and members of the team that prosecuted the three detectives met with Mr. Bell’s family. “The meeting was very cordial and, while there were expressions of frustration, Nicole Paultre-Bell and Mr. Bell’s parents thanked the district attorney’s office for their efforts in the case,” Kevin R. Ryan, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said in a statement.
Mr. Paterson, discussing the protests, stopped short of endorsing them:
The process of civil disobedience, by its definition and by its nature, inconveniences fellow residents, fellow citizens. That is the art of civil disobedience; it’s a disruption. No public servant can condone civil disobedience, because we represent all the people and we do not like to see any members of our society inconvenienced. Therefore, we would rather that this group have not gone to the extent that they did to demonstrate their issues. However, from the point of view of advocacy, which was very well explained to me by Valerie and Nicole and by Reverend Sharpton, the reason that the civil disobedience occurred, from their point of view, is because the other redress opportunities of society had failed them.
Legislation in the past, though it has in some respects set up new guidelines, did not stop that incident from occurring last year that claimed the life of Sean Bell. The meeting with different organizations, the protests in the past, the involvement of elected officials in the past, the calls for justice and peace by our clergy, could not stop that incident from occurring. And so they felt that they had no other choice but to take the action that they took. I respect the decision that they made to take that action.
Mr. Paterson noted that federal authorities had begun a criminal investigation into whether the officers violated Mr. Bell’s civil rights.
The governor expressed willingness to review and even adopt legislation governing undercover procedures. He said he understood that undercover officers may need to drink alcohol to protect their cover, but said he would look into proposals to require alcohol testing for officers who have fired their service weapons. “When a weapon is discharged and the victims of the attack were not carrying weapons, it would seem only right that we get a full understanding of what went on and test the police officers who discharged their weapons for alcohol,” he said.
The confusion over whether the detectives in fact identified themselves as police officers may also point to the need to “look at the process of undercover law enforcement,” Mr. Paterson said, adding that on the early morning of Nov. 25, 2006, “it must have been very confusing.”
Mr. Paterson said: “We are a society of laws and not people. Because of that we accept the verdict that was rendered by the jury. We may not agree with it, but we accept it.”
Mr. Sharpton, speaking on the Bell family’s behalf afterward, said, “Though we did not expect and did not get the governor to endorse civil disobedience, we did expect and did get his understanding of the desperation people have” when they have exercised their legal options.
Mr. Sharpton noted that the protests were entirely peaceful: “Not one brick has been thrown, not one window pane broken.”
Asked about the inconvenience experienced by drivers stuck in traffic as a result of the protests, Mr. Sharpton said: “We did not interfere with subways yesterday. We did it purposely on motorists because we wanted them to think as they were going home that all Sean Bell was doing that night was going home in a car.”
Mr. Sharpton has promised more acts of civil disobedience, but he said he would not use the governor’s office to announce such plans. “He has never violated my pulpit,” Mr. Sharpton said. “I won’t violate his governor’s chamber.”
The governor, who is known for his occasionally disarming candor, would not say what he thought should come out of the federal investigation. “I’m having enough trouble running the state,” he said, declining to offer advice to the investigators.
By Sewell Chan for The New York Times
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Sharpton Arrested as Hundreds Protest NYC Police Shooting
The Rev. Al Sharpton was among dozens arrested Wednesday as demonstrators blocked traffic at the height of the evening rush hour to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day.
Police said 216 people were arrested, including Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's fiancee. They lined up and put their hands behind their backs as police arrested them on disorderly conduct charges.
Sharpton, the two survivors and the fiancee were released about four hours later, said Sharpton spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger.
The demonstrators prayed, sang and chanted slogans including "no justice, no peace" as they converged on six heavily used bridges and tunnels that carry traffic to and from Manhattan island. The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006.
The three officers were acquitted of state charges last month in a case that from the start ignited protests and spurred criticism of police tactics. One of the officers fired 31 shots, emptying his clip two times in a few short seconds.
Sharpton has said Wednesday's "pray-in" protest was a preview of potential future demonstrations designed to paralyze the city.
"We're going to keep coming until we get federal indictments. It's wrong," said Frank Rodriguez, a military veteran who brought a homemade model of the shooting scene to the Brooklyn Bridge rally, which began outside police headquarters in downtown Manhattan.
U.S. attorney spokesman Robert Nardoza said the case was under review, but he declined to comment further about a possible federal case.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell — who legally took his name after his death — linked arms as they blocked a street at the Brooklyn Bridge's base.
They were trailed by at least 200 demonstrators who kneeled in prayer in the road and counted to 50 in a reference to the barrage of gunfire that killed Bell.
The arrested protesters were expected to be issued tickets for misdemeanor offenses.
On the opposite side of lower Manhattan, an ethnically diverse crowd of about 80 demonstrators chanted, "We're fired up; we won't take it no more," and held hands as the Rev. James E. Booker Jr. blessed the crowd.
"Don't let Sean Bell's death be in vain," said Booker, pastor of St. John A.M.E. Church in Harlem.
After marching to the Holland Tunnel behind a "Stop the Brutality" banner, the protesters blocked two entrances to the tunnel as some sang the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Demonstrators who moved to the sidewalk applauded each time one of their fellow protesters was arrested.
Drivers mostly waited patiently. "I disagree with doing anything illegal, but, hey, this is what makes America great," said Aaron Hanson, a passenger in a car waiting to get into the tunnel. "If this is what people really need to do to make a statement, it's what they should do."
A few miles uptown, some protesters were arrested after blocking traffic into midtown Manhattan on the Queensboro Bridge, while about 200 people rallied near the entrance to the Triborough Bridge in Harlem.
A heavy police presence initially stood by during the demonstrations, allowing the protesters to march unimpeded to the bridges and tunnels where they stopped traffic. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had pledged to "make sure that everybody's rights are protected and that the law is obeyed."
The racially polarizing case has raised questions about police use of deadly force in minority communities. Bell was black, as are two of his friends who were wounded in the shooting; the officers were black, Hispanic and white.
Bell crossed paths with the undercover detectives as he was leaving his bachelor party with friends.
The officers testified they feared for their lives after Bell and his friends got into a testy exchange with another patron and appeared to be going to retrieve a gun; Bell's friends testified the detectives fired wildly and without warning at Bell's car. No gun was ever found.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday that the police department was continuing to examine the possibility of punishing the detectives.
By TOM HAYS and DAVID B. CARUSO from AP
Police said 216 people were arrested, including Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's fiancee. They lined up and put their hands behind their backs as police arrested them on disorderly conduct charges.
Sharpton, the two survivors and the fiancee were released about four hours later, said Sharpton spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger.
The demonstrators prayed, sang and chanted slogans including "no justice, no peace" as they converged on six heavily used bridges and tunnels that carry traffic to and from Manhattan island. The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006.
The three officers were acquitted of state charges last month in a case that from the start ignited protests and spurred criticism of police tactics. One of the officers fired 31 shots, emptying his clip two times in a few short seconds.
Sharpton has said Wednesday's "pray-in" protest was a preview of potential future demonstrations designed to paralyze the city.
"We're going to keep coming until we get federal indictments. It's wrong," said Frank Rodriguez, a military veteran who brought a homemade model of the shooting scene to the Brooklyn Bridge rally, which began outside police headquarters in downtown Manhattan.
U.S. attorney spokesman Robert Nardoza said the case was under review, but he declined to comment further about a possible federal case.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell — who legally took his name after his death — linked arms as they blocked a street at the Brooklyn Bridge's base.
They were trailed by at least 200 demonstrators who kneeled in prayer in the road and counted to 50 in a reference to the barrage of gunfire that killed Bell.
The arrested protesters were expected to be issued tickets for misdemeanor offenses.
On the opposite side of lower Manhattan, an ethnically diverse crowd of about 80 demonstrators chanted, "We're fired up; we won't take it no more," and held hands as the Rev. James E. Booker Jr. blessed the crowd.
"Don't let Sean Bell's death be in vain," said Booker, pastor of St. John A.M.E. Church in Harlem.
After marching to the Holland Tunnel behind a "Stop the Brutality" banner, the protesters blocked two entrances to the tunnel as some sang the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Demonstrators who moved to the sidewalk applauded each time one of their fellow protesters was arrested.
Drivers mostly waited patiently. "I disagree with doing anything illegal, but, hey, this is what makes America great," said Aaron Hanson, a passenger in a car waiting to get into the tunnel. "If this is what people really need to do to make a statement, it's what they should do."
A few miles uptown, some protesters were arrested after blocking traffic into midtown Manhattan on the Queensboro Bridge, while about 200 people rallied near the entrance to the Triborough Bridge in Harlem.
A heavy police presence initially stood by during the demonstrations, allowing the protesters to march unimpeded to the bridges and tunnels where they stopped traffic. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had pledged to "make sure that everybody's rights are protected and that the law is obeyed."
The racially polarizing case has raised questions about police use of deadly force in minority communities. Bell was black, as are two of his friends who were wounded in the shooting; the officers were black, Hispanic and white.
Bell crossed paths with the undercover detectives as he was leaving his bachelor party with friends.
The officers testified they feared for their lives after Bell and his friends got into a testy exchange with another patron and appeared to be going to retrieve a gun; Bell's friends testified the detectives fired wildly and without warning at Bell's car. No gun was ever found.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday that the police department was continuing to examine the possibility of punishing the detectives.
By TOM HAYS and DAVID B. CARUSO from AP
UN: Congo Factions Still Recruiting Child Fighters
Armed groups in Congo's violence-torn east have ignored pledges made this year to stop recruiting children to fight and to free minors already in their ranks, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Dozens of rebel movements and local militias signed up to a Jan. 23 peace accord with Congo's government meant to end a lingering decade-old conflict in North and South Kivu provinces.
However, daily ceasefire violations have rocked the plan and U.N. officials say armed groups have flouted their obligations to respect human rights and stop using child soldiers.
"This solemn engagement, which demanded nothing more than good will on the part of the leaders of these armed groups, is still far from being a reality," Kemal Saiki, spokesman for Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, told journalists.
UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, said it had reports of continuing recruitment by local Mai Mai militia, Tutsi insurgents, and Rwandan Hutu rebels in North Kivu.
"We believe recruiting is still taking place, without question," Jaya Murthy, UNICEF's spokesman for the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo, told Reuters.
"We've seen children used as porters, for espionage, and in some instances on the front line as child soldiers. Armed groups have targeted them in schools and markets," he said.
Recruitment and use of children under the age of 15 by armed groups is considered a war crime under international law.
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was seeking the arrest of Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda for conscripting children during a bloody ethnic conflict in the district of Ituri to the north of the Kivus.
Ntaganda is now the military chief of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's North Kivu-based Tutsi rebellion. Nkunda has yet to turn over his commander to authorities.
None of the groups accused of using child soldiers could be reached for comment on Wednesday.
STRUGGLING PEACE PLAN
The U.N.'s appeal for child soldiers to be handed over follows a surge in violence since late April due to fresh clashes involving Rwandan Hutu rebels.
At least 43 people were killed in fighting between Nkunda loyalists and the PARECO Mai Mai faction between April 20 and 28 in three villages around 100 km (64 miles) northwest of North Kivu's provincial capital Goma, MONUC said on Wednesday.
At least 16,000 villagers fled those and other clashes in the province over the same period.
North and South Kivu are still charged with racial tensions rooted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which helped trigger Congo's 1998-2003 war, and are home to over 1 million internal refugees.
Around half of those fled fighting between government soldiers, Tutsi fighters, Mai Mai, and Rwandan rebels in the year leading up to the signing of the January peace agreement.
A central aim of the accord was to guarantee peace and allow refugees to return home and rebuild their shattered lives.
However, camps in the troubled province have continued to grow, and the U.N. estimates around 75,000 refugees have fled violence since the deal was signed. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com) (Editing by Alistair Thomson and Mary Gabriel)
By Joe Bavier from Reuters
Dozens of rebel movements and local militias signed up to a Jan. 23 peace accord with Congo's government meant to end a lingering decade-old conflict in North and South Kivu provinces.
However, daily ceasefire violations have rocked the plan and U.N. officials say armed groups have flouted their obligations to respect human rights and stop using child soldiers.
"This solemn engagement, which demanded nothing more than good will on the part of the leaders of these armed groups, is still far from being a reality," Kemal Saiki, spokesman for Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, told journalists.
UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, said it had reports of continuing recruitment by local Mai Mai militia, Tutsi insurgents, and Rwandan Hutu rebels in North Kivu.
"We believe recruiting is still taking place, without question," Jaya Murthy, UNICEF's spokesman for the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo, told Reuters.
"We've seen children used as porters, for espionage, and in some instances on the front line as child soldiers. Armed groups have targeted them in schools and markets," he said.
Recruitment and use of children under the age of 15 by armed groups is considered a war crime under international law.
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was seeking the arrest of Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda for conscripting children during a bloody ethnic conflict in the district of Ituri to the north of the Kivus.
Ntaganda is now the military chief of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's North Kivu-based Tutsi rebellion. Nkunda has yet to turn over his commander to authorities.
None of the groups accused of using child soldiers could be reached for comment on Wednesday.
STRUGGLING PEACE PLAN
The U.N.'s appeal for child soldiers to be handed over follows a surge in violence since late April due to fresh clashes involving Rwandan Hutu rebels.
At least 43 people were killed in fighting between Nkunda loyalists and the PARECO Mai Mai faction between April 20 and 28 in three villages around 100 km (64 miles) northwest of North Kivu's provincial capital Goma, MONUC said on Wednesday.
At least 16,000 villagers fled those and other clashes in the province over the same period.
North and South Kivu are still charged with racial tensions rooted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which helped trigger Congo's 1998-2003 war, and are home to over 1 million internal refugees.
Around half of those fled fighting between government soldiers, Tutsi fighters, Mai Mai, and Rwandan rebels in the year leading up to the signing of the January peace agreement.
A central aim of the accord was to guarantee peace and allow refugees to return home and rebuild their shattered lives.
However, camps in the troubled province have continued to grow, and the U.N. estimates around 75,000 refugees have fled violence since the deal was signed. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com) (Editing by Alistair Thomson and Mary Gabriel)
By Joe Bavier from Reuters
NJ Black Legislators Worry about Budget Cuts
A group of legislators with enough sway to hold up the state budget expressed worry Wednesday that proposed cuts could make it harder for poor minorities to get health care and go to college.
The New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus said it agrees budget cuts are needed to help resolve state budget woes but questioned some of Gov. Jon S. Corzine's $2.7 billion in proposed cuts, most notably cuts in state aid to hospitals and for higher education.
"Where do we cut spending without destroying the lives of families or people who have nothing left but faith to carry them through the day or those who have very little income to provide for their children?" asked Sen. Ronald L. Rice, the caucus chairman.
The caucus includes five Senate and 10 Assembly members, all Democrats.
Democrats control the Senate 23-17 and the Assembly 48-32.
A new state budget must be adopted by July 1.
"We have more than enough to hold up things," said Rice, D-Essex. "It wouldn't be the first time, but we're not looking to do that. We're looking to make sure the message we're sending is part of the process."
Assemblyman Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, decried the higher education cuts.
"Many of the young people that we represent in our districts are going to be negatively impacted," Oliver said.
Rice said they will work to restore the cuts.
He said other concerns include school construction, affirmative action, prison release programs, economic development, housing and transportation.
"If the budget came up today, there's no doubt in my mind we would vote against the budget _ at least a majority if not all of us _ and that's why we're sending the signal that these are our concerns," Rice said.
By TOM HESTER Jr. | Associated Press Writer
The New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus said it agrees budget cuts are needed to help resolve state budget woes but questioned some of Gov. Jon S. Corzine's $2.7 billion in proposed cuts, most notably cuts in state aid to hospitals and for higher education.
"Where do we cut spending without destroying the lives of families or people who have nothing left but faith to carry them through the day or those who have very little income to provide for their children?" asked Sen. Ronald L. Rice, the caucus chairman.
The caucus includes five Senate and 10 Assembly members, all Democrats.
Democrats control the Senate 23-17 and the Assembly 48-32.
A new state budget must be adopted by July 1.
"We have more than enough to hold up things," said Rice, D-Essex. "It wouldn't be the first time, but we're not looking to do that. We're looking to make sure the message we're sending is part of the process."
Assemblyman Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, decried the higher education cuts.
"Many of the young people that we represent in our districts are going to be negatively impacted," Oliver said.
Rice said they will work to restore the cuts.
He said other concerns include school construction, affirmative action, prison release programs, economic development, housing and transportation.
"If the budget came up today, there's no doubt in my mind we would vote against the budget _ at least a majority if not all of us _ and that's why we're sending the signal that these are our concerns," Rice said.
By TOM HESTER Jr. | Associated Press Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008
Nicole Paultre Bell's First Interview Since Verdict
Paultre Bell talked to Essence.com for her first print interview since the disappointing verdict. Here she recalls the blow of having her hopes dashed, the taunting phone calls she has received—which may have originated from the Manhattan office of a prestigious police union—and why she says the struggle is only just beginning.
It was a trying week for Nicole Paultre Bell. The raw heartache of losing her fiancé, Sean Bell, in a storm of 50 police bullets on November 25, 2006—the day they were to have been married—surfaced all over again when a judge declared the three New York police detectives indicted in the shooting not guilty on all counts. Immediately after the verdict, Paultre Bell, 23, fled the courtroom in tears, her face crumpled in an expression of hurt and dismay. But since that Friday, April 25, the mother of two has shown that her fight for justice did not end in that Queens courtroom. She has met with members of Congress and national civil rights organizations to collectively lobby for federal charges against the officers, who were working undercover when they shot at the unarmed Bell. The U.S. Department of Justice has said it will investigate the case with the FBI.
Essence.com: What was going through your mind after the verdict?
Nicole Paultre Bell: When I heard the judge’s decision, I was devastated. I couldn’t believe that after everything we’ve been through and what happened to Sean, that there was no result. Basically the decision says that it was okay. I was just devastated.
Essence.com: Had you ever considered that it might go this way?
Paultre Bell: With all the different charges, and with everything that happened that night, in my eyes, there had to be something. I wasn’t expecting them to be found guilty of the highest charge. I knew it was not going to be exactly what I wanted. But I did not expect it to be nothing.
Essence.com: After the verdict was issued, your family went into an office at the courthouse. What was going on in there?
Paultre Bell: Everyone was trying to gather their thoughts. We just shared words of comfort and encouragement. We told each other that it wasn’t over and that we had to continue our fight for justice. Once we left court, we met up at the cemetery, where we paid our respects to Sean. We prayed. We cried. My older daughter Jada; she’s 5. She has a lot of questions. When I got home I didn’t have to tell her that something was wrong. I told her that they said no to justice, but I also told her that it wasn’t over.
Essence.com: One of the detectives, Marc Cooper, apologized to your family in a press conference after the verdict. Your response?
Paultre Bell: I did see their press conference. I can say that, as we were sitting in court every day, when I would look over at them, he would be the only one who looked remorseful. So I accepted his apology. I’m sad to say that’s the only apology we got from anyone on their side.
Essence.com: People all over the country are fired up and ready to take action against this ruling. What has it been like for you to see the emotional response from so many people?
Paultre Bell: It’s surreal. I never would have thought that my family and I would be at the center of something like this. It’s amazing to me when people come up to me and tell me how I have their support. It all gives me strength to keep going. Some celebrities have reached out too. Hillary Clinton called again. She let us know that she sent her condolences to me and Sean’s parents, and she said that she will fully support the Justice Department investigation. I also got a phone call from P. Diddy. He also extended his condolences and told me he was proud of how strong I stood and hung in there.
Essence.com: I understand you’ve received negative attention, like prank phone calls to your home.
Paultre Bell: We had several phone calls of someone laughing at us the day of the verdict. It was just awful, especially since I had just gotten right back from the cemetery. There were also e-mails sent to my Web site [nicolepaultrebell.com]. In one e-mail, the person said, “Sean got what he deserved. He was a perp.” One of the phone calls of someone laughing, we traced it to the Sergeants Benevolent Association [of New York City]. NYPD Internal Affairs let us know they’re investigating it. There was a statement put out by the head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, but they haven’t responded to me directly.
[SBA President Ed Mullins told Essence.com, “Personally I don’t believe it to be true. If it is true, we’ll deal with it appropriately if we can identify who actually made the call. I do know that there’s a website called spoofcom.net, where you can spin calls [change your caller ID to any number].” He said the organization will fully cooperate with any investigation. The NYPD Information Office confirmed that Internal Affairs is investigating the incident.]
Essence.com: Are you filing a civil suit next?
Paultre Bell: No, that will be the last thing that is done. Right now we’re hoping that when the Justice Department looks into this, I pray that they will show us justice. I’m not giving up. I’m prepared to be a part of any protests as well. This is round two. This happened to my family. So I’m going to stand strong and pray that justice is done.
Essence.com: You seem newly energized during this “round two.” Are you angry?
Paultre Bell: I was let down. It didn’t feel like that was the right decision. But I’m channeling my energy on acting to correct it. I have to stay positive. With all the negativity going on, I have to keep moving forward and keep looking toward something positive.
By Cynthia Gordy from Essence.com
It was a trying week for Nicole Paultre Bell. The raw heartache of losing her fiancé, Sean Bell, in a storm of 50 police bullets on November 25, 2006—the day they were to have been married—surfaced all over again when a judge declared the three New York police detectives indicted in the shooting not guilty on all counts. Immediately after the verdict, Paultre Bell, 23, fled the courtroom in tears, her face crumpled in an expression of hurt and dismay. But since that Friday, April 25, the mother of two has shown that her fight for justice did not end in that Queens courtroom. She has met with members of Congress and national civil rights organizations to collectively lobby for federal charges against the officers, who were working undercover when they shot at the unarmed Bell. The U.S. Department of Justice has said it will investigate the case with the FBI.
Essence.com: What was going through your mind after the verdict?
Nicole Paultre Bell: When I heard the judge’s decision, I was devastated. I couldn’t believe that after everything we’ve been through and what happened to Sean, that there was no result. Basically the decision says that it was okay. I was just devastated.
Essence.com: Had you ever considered that it might go this way?
Paultre Bell: With all the different charges, and with everything that happened that night, in my eyes, there had to be something. I wasn’t expecting them to be found guilty of the highest charge. I knew it was not going to be exactly what I wanted. But I did not expect it to be nothing.
Essence.com: After the verdict was issued, your family went into an office at the courthouse. What was going on in there?
Paultre Bell: Everyone was trying to gather their thoughts. We just shared words of comfort and encouragement. We told each other that it wasn’t over and that we had to continue our fight for justice. Once we left court, we met up at the cemetery, where we paid our respects to Sean. We prayed. We cried. My older daughter Jada; she’s 5. She has a lot of questions. When I got home I didn’t have to tell her that something was wrong. I told her that they said no to justice, but I also told her that it wasn’t over.
Essence.com: One of the detectives, Marc Cooper, apologized to your family in a press conference after the verdict. Your response?
Paultre Bell: I did see their press conference. I can say that, as we were sitting in court every day, when I would look over at them, he would be the only one who looked remorseful. So I accepted his apology. I’m sad to say that’s the only apology we got from anyone on their side.
Essence.com: People all over the country are fired up and ready to take action against this ruling. What has it been like for you to see the emotional response from so many people?
Paultre Bell: It’s surreal. I never would have thought that my family and I would be at the center of something like this. It’s amazing to me when people come up to me and tell me how I have their support. It all gives me strength to keep going. Some celebrities have reached out too. Hillary Clinton called again. She let us know that she sent her condolences to me and Sean’s parents, and she said that she will fully support the Justice Department investigation. I also got a phone call from P. Diddy. He also extended his condolences and told me he was proud of how strong I stood and hung in there.
Essence.com: I understand you’ve received negative attention, like prank phone calls to your home.
Paultre Bell: We had several phone calls of someone laughing at us the day of the verdict. It was just awful, especially since I had just gotten right back from the cemetery. There were also e-mails sent to my Web site [nicolepaultrebell.com]. In one e-mail, the person said, “Sean got what he deserved. He was a perp.” One of the phone calls of someone laughing, we traced it to the Sergeants Benevolent Association [of New York City]. NYPD Internal Affairs let us know they’re investigating it. There was a statement put out by the head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, but they haven’t responded to me directly.
[SBA President Ed Mullins told Essence.com, “Personally I don’t believe it to be true. If it is true, we’ll deal with it appropriately if we can identify who actually made the call. I do know that there’s a website called spoofcom.net, where you can spin calls [change your caller ID to any number].” He said the organization will fully cooperate with any investigation. The NYPD Information Office confirmed that Internal Affairs is investigating the incident.]
Essence.com: Are you filing a civil suit next?
Paultre Bell: No, that will be the last thing that is done. Right now we’re hoping that when the Justice Department looks into this, I pray that they will show us justice. I’m not giving up. I’m prepared to be a part of any protests as well. This is round two. This happened to my family. So I’m going to stand strong and pray that justice is done.
Essence.com: You seem newly energized during this “round two.” Are you angry?
Paultre Bell: I was let down. It didn’t feel like that was the right decision. But I’m channeling my energy on acting to correct it. I have to stay positive. With all the negativity going on, I have to keep moving forward and keep looking toward something positive.
By Cynthia Gordy from Essence.com
Foreclosure Crisis Hits Hard in Black Communities
Every day, 70 people in Orange County receive foreclosure notices on their homes.
On Saturday, six people showed up for a free foreclosure-prevention workshop sponsored by the city of Orlando.
"If they don't have the sense to show up and get out of trouble, something is very wrong," City Commissioner Daisy Lynum said at the workshop at the Northwest Community Center in Pine Hills. "I get a call every day regarding foreclosure."
The mortgage-foreclosure crisis cuts across all races and incomes, but it has an even more profound impact on the black community, where homeownership is lower and home equity serves as the main source of wealth in black families.
A recent study found that the wealth of black Americans is one-tenth that of whites, and when home equity is subtracted it shrinks to less than 1 percent. In metro Orlando, about 47 percent of blacks are homeowners, compared with 74 percent of whites.
"It has a deeper impact for African-Americans because property is a primary and historic basis of wealth. They don't have a business to pass to the next generation," Lynum said.
The study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the median net worth for blacks was $11,800, compared with $118,300 for whites. When home equity was subtracted, blacks had $300 in net assets while whites had $36,100.
"Wealth provides a more complete picture in terms of the ability to purchase education, move into a bigger home and provide a greater nest egg for retirement," said Christian Dorsey, outreach coordinator for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Dorsey said the median net worth of $300 reflects how many black families have low incomes, no savings, no life insurance policies, no retirement accounts and no investments, but may have loans, car payments and credit-card debt -- in effect a negative net worth.
The gap in wealth between black and white has grown larger, even while incomes of blacks are starting to catch up with whites. In 1992, black household wealth was 16 percent of white, but had fallen to 10 percent in 2004, Dorsey said.
That gap is likely to widen even more as the mortgage crisis costs black families their homes, said E. Lance McCarthy, CEO of the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League. The subprime loans that led to an increase in homeownership among blacks are now causing increased foreclosures in minority communities, he said.
"Subprime lending has been a mechanism for African-Americans to become homeowners. This was one way for African-Americans to gain some access to wealth," McCarthy said. "Now the reverse is going to happen."
Cora Fulmore sees it every day now as middle-class blacks -- managers, executives, business owners, accountants and educators -- seek help from her Mortgage and Credit Counseling Center in Winter Garden to save their homes.
"We see a lot of middle-class families more than ever in here who are faced with foreclosure. If their home is gone, that's a major part of their net worth," Fulmore said.
Add to the mortgage crisis the rising cost of living -- $4-a-gallon milk, and gasoline headed the same direction -- and the economic gains blacks have made in recent decades could well disappear.
"We have made some strides, but now it's going to be reversed," McCarthy said.
Jeff Kunerth-- Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
On Saturday, six people showed up for a free foreclosure-prevention workshop sponsored by the city of Orlando.
"If they don't have the sense to show up and get out of trouble, something is very wrong," City Commissioner Daisy Lynum said at the workshop at the Northwest Community Center in Pine Hills. "I get a call every day regarding foreclosure."
The mortgage-foreclosure crisis cuts across all races and incomes, but it has an even more profound impact on the black community, where homeownership is lower and home equity serves as the main source of wealth in black families.
A recent study found that the wealth of black Americans is one-tenth that of whites, and when home equity is subtracted it shrinks to less than 1 percent. In metro Orlando, about 47 percent of blacks are homeowners, compared with 74 percent of whites.
"It has a deeper impact for African-Americans because property is a primary and historic basis of wealth. They don't have a business to pass to the next generation," Lynum said.
The study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the median net worth for blacks was $11,800, compared with $118,300 for whites. When home equity was subtracted, blacks had $300 in net assets while whites had $36,100.
"Wealth provides a more complete picture in terms of the ability to purchase education, move into a bigger home and provide a greater nest egg for retirement," said Christian Dorsey, outreach coordinator for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Dorsey said the median net worth of $300 reflects how many black families have low incomes, no savings, no life insurance policies, no retirement accounts and no investments, but may have loans, car payments and credit-card debt -- in effect a negative net worth.
The gap in wealth between black and white has grown larger, even while incomes of blacks are starting to catch up with whites. In 1992, black household wealth was 16 percent of white, but had fallen to 10 percent in 2004, Dorsey said.
That gap is likely to widen even more as the mortgage crisis costs black families their homes, said E. Lance McCarthy, CEO of the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League. The subprime loans that led to an increase in homeownership among blacks are now causing increased foreclosures in minority communities, he said.
"Subprime lending has been a mechanism for African-Americans to become homeowners. This was one way for African-Americans to gain some access to wealth," McCarthy said. "Now the reverse is going to happen."
Cora Fulmore sees it every day now as middle-class blacks -- managers, executives, business owners, accountants and educators -- seek help from her Mortgage and Credit Counseling Center in Winter Garden to save their homes.
"We see a lot of middle-class families more than ever in here who are faced with foreclosure. If their home is gone, that's a major part of their net worth," Fulmore said.
Add to the mortgage crisis the rising cost of living -- $4-a-gallon milk, and gasoline headed the same direction -- and the economic gains blacks have made in recent decades could well disappear.
"We have made some strides, but now it's going to be reversed," McCarthy said.
Jeff Kunerth-- Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer