Your Black Attorneys

Supreme Court Tells California Prisons to Release Nearly 1/3 of It’s Inmates

2011-05-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

This landmark Supreme Court Ruling can change the face of American justice.

Race-Baiting by NBC? White Females Claim Black Athletes Raped Them

2011-05-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

Two white female students claim that black athletes raped them. But the way the story is presented is racially-disturbing.

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Survey: 3/4 of African Americans have a relative who has served time in Prison

2011-05-11T07:32:00.001-07:00

Startling statistics as reported by Dr. Boyce Watkins, who is leading an initiative to fight against mass incarceration.

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Technorati Tags: dr boyce watkins,mass incarceration,black scholars,african american scholars,black politics,african american politics

Duchess Harris: Why Shirley Sherrod Should Be President

2011-05-11T06:34:00.001-07:00

A scholar, Duchess Harris, explains the dynamics of race in America with an exciting new book.

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Technorati Tags: miriam harris,duchess harris,shirley sherrod,black politics,african american politics,black scholars,african american scholars

Pastor Onslow Ross: A Crook or a Victim?

2011-05-09T11:21:00.001-07:00

Is this pastor a crook or a victim? Why he got 10 years in prison.

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Technorati Tags: pastor onslow ross,black preachers,african american preachers

Michael Jackson’s Mother Discusses Michael’s Death on The Today Show

2011-05-04T09:43:00.001-07:00

Your Black World reports

Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine was on The Today Show discussing her son’s death and the man accused of killing him, Dr. Conrad Murray. Mrs. Jackson feels that Dr. Murray was “negligent” and she’s obviously very upset with him.

Mrs. Jackson has been in court every day during the preliminary trial of Dr. Murray. She also feels that a maximum sentence of four years for Murray’s crime is not harsh enough. Finally, Mrs. Jackson says that her son being accused of molestation is one of the “biggest lies ever told,” and noted that Jackson’s original accuser has since confessed that he made it all up so that his father could “get rich.”

You can watch the video below or by clicking on this link.

Please join the Your Black World Coalition by visiting YourBlackWorld.com

Technorati Tags: Katherine Jackson,michael jackson,dr. conrad murray,black news,african american news,black celebrities,african american celebrities

Michelle Obama Doing the Dougie and the Running Man all in the Name of Fitness

2011-05-04T09:29:00.001-07:00

Your Black World Reports

Notice how Michelle Obama purses her lips as she does all the latest dances in the name of fitness. Yes, it appears that she is a black woman.

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President Obama’s Approval Rating Jumps 11 Percent

2011-05-04T09:05:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action

Life is good in the White House this week, as a recent CBS/New York Times poll shows that President Obama’s approval rating jumped a startling 11 points this month. As of this week, 57 percent of Americans say they approve of the way President Obama is handling his job, a stark increase from the 46 percent number just one month ago.

There are two elephants in the room which caused the president’s sudden increase in popularity. The first was the surprising series of attacks from Donald Trump, which led to even moderate members of the media referring to Trump as a racist. The second was the president’s recent killing of Osama bin Laden, ending a 10-year chase to find the man believed to have masterminded the attacks on September 11, 2001.

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Technorati Tags: black politics,african american politics

Kenya Bell: The Basketball Wife of Charlie Bell Explains the Whole Stabbing Allegation in a Statement

2011-05-04T05:59:00.001-07:00

Your Black World Reports

Kenya Bell, formerly Miss Michigan USA and wife of NBA player Charlie Bell, released a statement about the allegations that she stabbed her husband with a box cutter earlier this week. In her statement, Bell had this to say:

"It is with regret that I have to issue a public statement regarding my marriage. For some time now my husband and I have been going through the process of getting a divorce. Like many couples, our relationship has deteriorated over time. Throughout this process I have always considered the interests of our children to be front and center. Unfortunately this private matter has spilled from one court to another, where I expect to be vindicated. For my family's sake I would ask that our privacy be respected. Thank-you, Kenya Bell"

Matthew Norwood, Bell’s attorney said that Kenya is denying that the incident took place as it’s been reported in media. "She's looking forward to vindicating herself," he said. "It's sad. If anybody knows Mrs. Bell, they know that this isn't who she is...It's not the way it's been portrayed."

Ms. Bell was arraigned in Genesee District Court Monday and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. She was also charged with domestic violence.

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Trump Feeling the Heat from Numerous Massive Boycotts

2011-05-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

From Newsone.com

When Donald Trump began his race-baiting political game by demanding that President Obama release his long form birth certificate, many of my friends vowed from that moment on to start their own personal boycotts of “The Apprentice,” and every other Donald Trump enterprise. Now they are far from alone. This week things really heated up as powerful media players have demanded that NBC and its advertisers reign in Trump’s behavior, or risk alienating millions of consumers.

Talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell, whose show “The Last Word” appears on NBC sister station MSNBC, has called out the network for having “created a monster,” stating that “NBC can no longer stand idly by, not for one more day” while Donald Trump persists in encouraging destructive divisions among the American electorate for his own benefit.

Popular liberal blog Daily Kos has taken things a step further, calling on everyone in America to “boycott all things Trump,” thereby putting the necessary pressure on The Donald to permanently shut him down. Regarding Donald’s salacious speechifying, Daily Kos states:

This is not only a grievous insult to our President, it is a grievous insult to African Americans, it is a grievous insult to all people of color. Furthermore, this is a grievous insult to all of us who believe in a country of solidarity. A country where ‘WE THE PEOPLE are joined together to form a more perfect UNION where we can come together to work and build and share and pray and live and die together.

We are the “Party of Us”! Not the “Party of Me, Me, Me”. We are the “Party of US” not the party that Donald Trump represents with their insatiable greed justified by the macabre Ayn Rand.

The time has come to stand up and be counted. Let us Boycott all things Trump. […]

Through the good efforts of our community, here is a list of advertisers. Call and write and ask them if they support the racist, insulting views of Donald Trump and that you will not buy their products and tell others not to buy their products as long as they support the Racist Trump.

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Detroiters Protest NAACP Giving Award to Confederate flag-waving Kid Rock

2011-05-01T21:37:00.001-07:00

Your Black World Reports

A group of protesters met outside the Cobo Center in Detroit to protest the NAACP’s decision to give an award to Kid Rock, an entertainer who flies the Confederate Flag during his concerts. Adolph Mongo, head of Detroiters for Progress, spoke to the group.

"Do you know what that flag stands for? It stands for hatred, bigotry, racism, murder," he said.

NAACP President Wendell Anthony defended giving an award to Rock.

"We're not lifting up the flag. We're lifting up a gentleman who has worked very hard to be a beacon for Detroit," Anthony said. "We believe in protests -- we're the NAACP, we fight for it -- and if it's righteous, we'll even join with you."

Dr. Boyce Watkins at YourBlackWorld.com expressed his concerns with the NAACP decision, asking, “would the Jewish Anti-Defamation League give an award to a man who put a swastika on stage during his performance? I think not.”

Dr. Watkins then goes on to say that this is yet another example of the NAACP sacrificing its values in order to raise money. A recent survey conducted by Your Black World found that 41% of the black respondents do not feel that the NAACP is being run efficiently. This incident leads some to question the relevance of a civil rights organization that is not empowered enough to challenge the use of the Confederate Flag, arguably the most recognized symbol of racism in American history.

To join the Your Black World Coalition, please visit YourBlackWorld.com.

Accused NFL Star Albert Haynesworth: “I Don’t Even Like Black Girls”

2011-05-01T05:36:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action

It looks like Washington Redskins star Albert Haynesworth is having even more problems beyond the ones that led to the Redskins taking him off the field. Haynesworth has been accused of fondling a young waitress at the W Hotel. The government offered him a plea bargain, but he’s not taking it.

The prosecution sent a letter to Haynesworth’s attorneys offering to drop the sexual abuse charge against Haynesworth if he would agree to plead guilty to one count of simple sexual assault. His attorneys have turned down the offer and said they look forward to their day in court.

Haynesworth’s attorney, A. Scott Bolden, said that he feels the government’s case is very weak.

"All of the very inflated and beefed-up facts that the W employees have put together, to make fit nicely with the government case, the government has to prove those allegations now," Bolden said.

According to court papers, Haynesworth was at the W for a birthday party. The woman accusing him is a full-time college student working in the VIP area. The woman was clearing tables and Haynesworth wanted her to take his credit card. According to the woman, her hands were full, but the player kept pushing his card toward her, tapping her on her arms and shoulders.

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KeyShia Cole’s Mother Arrested for Drugs

2011-04-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

Frankie Lons, the mother of superstar Keyshia Cole, was arrested for "misdemeanor possession of drug-related materials" and "probation violation." Frankie is the star of Celebrity Rehab. Wow.

President Obama Meets with Participants in the 1968 Sanitation Strike

2011-04-29T13:18:00.001-07:00

“The President invited the living participants in the Memphis Sanitation Strike to honor their courage, and their fight on behalf of all workers for safe conditions, respect in the workplace and a better life for themselves and their families. As workers across the country continue to face challenges to their rights, the issues for which these men fought continue to be relevant and the President remains committed to the causes for which they marched.” – from the White House

GOP Rep Says Black People Don’t Work as Hard as Whites and Expect the State to Take Care of them

2011-04-28T18:48:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com – Scholarship in Action

Republican State Rep from Oklahoma Sally Kern seems to think that black people don’t work as hard as whites and that we are more likely to go to prison because we think the government will take care of us.

“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that's tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don't want to study as hard in school? I've taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them."

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A Judge Lifts the NFL Lockout

2011-04-28T06:45:00.001-07:00

*A federal judge has sided with NFL players and granted their request for a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout imposed by team owners.

The ruling gives the players an early victory in their fight with NFL owners over a new collective bargaining agreement in the $9-billion business.

Should You Need a License to Braid Hair? A Woman Files a Lawsuit Over the Issue

2011-04-28T06:27:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action

Jestina Clayton is a woman in Utah who is originally from Sierra Leone in West Africa. She does African braiding part-time in order to make extra money. She is now being confronted with the loss of significant income, since a law in the state of Utah claims that you must have a full cosmetology license in order to braid hair.

Clayton filed suit this week in the court of law. She is being backed by the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based organization that helps people like Clayton challenge unjust laws.

“African hair braiding is safe, and you shouldn’t need the government’s permission to practice this trade,” said Paul Avelar, her attorney. “Both the federal and Utah constitutions protect every individual’s right to earn an honest living in their chosen occupation free from pointless government interference. When the government imposes unreasonable regulations, as it has done here, courts must protect the individuals’ rights. No one should have to hire a lawyer or lobbyist just to braid hair.”

Clayton said that she’d originally called the Cosmetology Board to determine if a license was necessary for her to braid hair.

“They told me I did not need a cosmetology license as long as I was not using chemicals,” she said.

After someone reported her business, she is now faced with the daunting cost of trying to get the license, which can be as high as $18,000 and require 2,000 hours of coursework.

“Licensing laws are a convenient cover for protecting a regulated industry from competition,” explained Tim Keller, executive director of IJ-Arizona. “By forcing hair braiders to get an expensive license, cosmetology schools are
guaranteed tuition-paying students and licensed cosmetologists are protected from competition, forcing consumers to pay more.”

This case is an important one for Ms. Clayton to fight, because hair care is an important industry for slews of black women all across America. Additionally, black women should be insulted by the fact that the hair care industry that they put billions of dollars into is controlled by people who are not black. Ms. Clayton is right to fight fire with fire by taking this case to court, and other black hair care providers would be wise to take note to learn how to gain a greater stake in the industry that drains money out of the pockets of black women everywhere.

My God daughter went to “hair school” after she graduated from high school. Although I’d voted for her to attend college, I eventually embraced the idea and started doing my research. Once I found out about the massive amounts of money being spent by black women in this industry, I encouraged my God daughter to accompany her hair stylist training with a few lessons on entrepreneurship. This would hopefully position her to be able to independently provide for her family in an industry that is not going to disappear any time soon. Many black women would rather starve than to let their hair go south, so the money will likely be flowing in perpetuity.

The point in all this is to say that we’ve got to be more creative in how we live our lives. Black people have long been free, but we still haven’t learned how to be independent. As long as we’re depending on others outside our community to provide us with the things we need (especially jobs), we will always remain vulnerable.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Denver Broncos Player Jason Hunter Stabbed by His Girlfriend

2011-04-28T05:50:00.001-07:00

Your Black World Reports

Jason Hunter of the Denver Broncos was stabbed by his girlfriend Wednesday morning, according to police. Hunter is currently in stable condition.

"There case is still being investigated, so there are a lot of details we don't have yet," Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said.

No further information about the incident has been released. Police are not saying if Hunter’s girlfriend is under arrest. Hunter has been in the NFL for five years and has played for the Detroit Lions and Greenbay Packers in addition to the Denver Broncos.

Just a few days ago, another NFL player, Brandon Marshall of the Miami Dolphins, was also stabbed by his wife.

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Black Unemployment Reaches Depression Levels in Many Major Cities

2011-04-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

by Janell Ross, Huffington Post

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the decade leading up to the Great Recession, Wanda Nolan grew accustomed to steady progress.

From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner. She finished college and then got an MBA. Even after the recession unfolded in late 2007, her degrees and her familiarity with the business world lent her a sense of immunity to the forces ravaging much of the American economy. Nolan was an exemplar of the African American middle class and the increasingly professional ranks of the so-called New South.

But in September 2008, everything changed.

A bank human resources officer called her into a private conference room. “All I heard was, ‘Your position has been eliminated,’” says Nolan, 37, who, despite being one of the more than 13 million officially unemployed Americans, still spends most days in her self-styled banker’s uniform of pearls and pants and practical flats. “My mind started racing.”

More than two years later, Nolan is still looking for a job and feeling increasingly anxious about a future that once felt assured. Her life has devolved from a model of middle class African American upward mobility into an example of a disturbing trend: She is among the 15.5 percent of African Americans out of work and still looking for a job.

For economists, that number may sound awful, but it’s not surprising. The nation’s overall unemployment rate sits at 8.8 percent and the rate among white Americans is at 7.9 percent. For a variety of reasons -- ranging from levels of education and continuing discrimination to the relatively young age of black workers -- black unemployment tends to run twice the rate for whites. Yet since the Great Recession, joblessness has remained so critically elevated among African Americans that it is challenging longstanding ideas about what it takes to find work in the modern-day economy.

Millions of people like Nolan, who have precisely followed the oft-dictated recipe for economic success -- work hard, get an education, seek advancement -- are slipping backward. Even as they apply for jobs and accept the prospect of a future with less job security and lower pay, they remain stalled in unemployment.

Trading down has become a painful truth for much of working America, but this truth becomes particularly stark when seen through the prism of race. Only 12 percent of all Americans are black, but working-age black Americans comprise nearly 21 percent of the nation’s unemployed, according to federal data. The growing contrast between prospects for white and black job-seekers challenges a cherished American notion: the availability of opportunity and upward mobility for all.

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Richelle Carey on CNN Discusses the Case of Tanya McDowell (Video)

2011-04-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: tonya mcdowell,tanya mcdowell,richelle carey

Students Fight to Save HBCU in Louisiana

2011-04-27T11:18:00.001-07:00

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Eye-level watermarks, gutted buildings and rows of mobile classrooms linger as reminders of the flooding from Hurricane Katrina that nearly wiped out Southern University at New Orleans in 2005.

Now the predominantly African-American university faces what students and administrators view as a new threat: Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposal to consolidate the school with the nearby, mostly white University of New Orleans.

"It will be the death of SUNO," student government vice president Ellis Brent Jr. said recently as he worked on a letter-writing campaign in hopes of killing the idea in an upcoming legislative session.

Jindal's proposal renews a politically and racially charged argument that pops up periodically in the roughly 20 states that have public, four-year institutions known as historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs.

"Every time the economy tanks, and certainly, right now, these are dire economic times, understandably governments and legislatures look for ways of cutting costs while maintaining and increasing a level of educational excellence," said Lezli Baskerville, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. "We certainly applaud and salute that.

"The challenge comes when there are broad and diverse options and the first option appears to be 'let's look at submerging HBCUs into the historically white college and university system.'"

Jindal is adamant. "It makes no sense to have colleges blocks apart, neither one of them with graduation rates we can accept," he said Tuesday at his weekly legislative news conference in Baton Rouge. At the same time, more than 200 SUNO supporters were gathering on the Capitol steps to protest the merger.

Students have filed a complaint with the Department of Justice over the merger, saying the state has discriminated against minority students, the faculty senate president said Tuesday. Spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa confirmed Tuesday that the Justice Department has received the complaint.
A 2009 proposal in Georgia to merge two mostly black colleges with mostly white institutions failed. The following year, the Georgia NAACP sued the state for alleged systematic underfunding of black colleges. A 2010 proposal by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour would have merged three historically black universities — Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley state — but it went nowhere.

This latest effort comes as Louisiana faces a $1.6 billion budget shortfall and it's being pushed by a governor with high approval ratings and no announced opposition so far as he campaigns for re-election in the fall. Still, it will require a hard-to-get two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate and has strong opposition from the Democratic Party, black lawmakers and much of the New Orleans political establishment, including Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

Jindal insists his proposal is about improving education, not saving money. Unveiled in January, it comes a little more than five years after both campuses were badly damaged when levees breached during Katrina and much of the city flooded. Lower post-Katrina enrollment and low graduation rates plague both schools, especially SUNO, where the percentage of students who graduate within six years is less than 8 percent.
A SUNO-UNO consolidation proposal adopted in March by Louisiana's top higher education board, the Board of Regents, involved something less than a full-blown merger. Based on a consultant's recommendation, it called for creation of a "University of Greater New Orleans" encompassing a consolidated administrative system running both an "urban research university" with tougher admission standards and a "Metropolitan University" having, in the consultants' words "a special role (and obligation) in serving the African-American citizens of the Greater New Orleans Region." It also

would keep the schools with separate academic officers and accreditations.

Last week, Jindal floor leaders introduced a bill calling for a more sweeping consolidation, with one accreditation and one academic chief.

Either recommendation removes SUNO from the governance of the Baton Rouge-based, historically black Southern University System. Students and administrators are uneasy about SUNO leaving the Southern fold and they question whether the consolidated university would truly serve the needs of New Orleans' black students.

"SUNO's mission is driven by the fact that it's part of the Southern University System," Ron Mason, president of the system, said.

Talk of SUNO's low graduation rate irritates SUNO administrators.

"It's directly impacted by Katrina," chancellor Victor Ukpolo, said during a recent news conference. The percentage is affected, he said, by the fact that the campus shut down after the August 29, 2005, storm and many students quit or transferred rather than wait for resumption of classes the following January.

Still, supporters of the merger point out that SUNO's six-year rate is the lowest in the state — much lower than that at UNO, around 21 percent, which was also hit hard by the storm.
"What they're not telling you is that, because the students here are older, work harder and have many life challenges, it takes them nine years to graduate," Mason said in a separate interview.

Anthony Jeanmarie agrees.

"Most people do not go to SUNO for four years. That's not going to happen," said Jeanmarie, a 35-year-old SUNO student. "If your life is complicated in any form or fashion and you want to go to a university, then SUNO is your place."
And Jeanmarie's life is complicated. A married, African-American father of three who preaches at a New Orleans church and was recently laid off from his job at a state Medicaid office, he finished high school at 16, but was a teenage father by the time he entered college. He said poor grades got him suspended from SUNO but he returned three years ago to major in psychology.

"Give this university a chance," he said, arguing that recently adopted higher admission standards are expected to increase graduation rates, and noting that enrollment is bouncing back.
National education officials will be watching.

During a recent visit to New Orleans, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was careful to say he does not know details of the current proposal and couldn't comment specifically on it. He made clear, however, that HBCUs are an important part of the Obama administration's efforts to increase the number of people getting college degrees.

"A disproportionate number of students going to HBCUs are first-generation college-goers," Duncan said. "When they have these opportunities, it doesn't just change their life, it changes the life of their family for generations to come."

There is trepidation about the proposal, too, on UNO's campus, where enrollment is more than 11,000. Student Government Association President John Mineo said students there are concerned about the uncertainty involved as the consolidation debate heats up.

UNO currently is without a chancellor and the search for a new leader was suspended recently amid uncertainty over the merger proposal. Some students worry that they may be affected by tougher requirements will be adopted at ta new, hybrid university, And, he said UNO students he has talked to don't think a merger should be forced if SUNO students are opposed.

"I don't think race is an issue," he said. "SUNO students feel like they're losing their identity and UNO students feel like they're losing theirs too."
___
Associated Press writers Melinda Deslatte and Molly Davis in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

Rapper Jim Jones Arraigned for Suspended License

2011-04-27T07:10:00.001-07:00

From the Associated Press

Rapper Jim Jones has made a return to a venue he'd rather avoid: a New York City courthouse.

"I'm trying to stay out of this place!" the hip-hop artist said with a smile as he left court after his arraignment Tuesday on charges of driving with a suspended license. In 2009, he pleaded guilty in the same courthouse to a misdemeanor assault charge for a punching a friend of R&B star Ne-Yo in a Louis Vuitton store.

Jones, who had one of the top-selling rap songs of 2007 with "We Fly High," was pulled over while driving a Bentley around noon March 30. Police found his license had been suspended over an unpaid ticket, according to a court document.

He told police he was en route to a video shoot and had a license, prosecutors said Tuesday. His lawyer, Marianne E. Bertuna, said the rapper believed his license was in good standing.

He's free without bail and due back in court in June. The top charge against him is a misdemeanor; he didn't enter a plea.

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President Obama Releases His Official Birth Certificate

2011-04-27T07:03:00.001-07:00

Your Black World reports

President Barack Obama has officially released the long form of his birth certificate in response to the questions about whether or not he was born in the United States. Originally, the president had only released the short form copy, which led to speculation that he was born abroad.

The “Birther Movement,” built around trying to prove that President Obama was born elsewhere, has grown and even Donald Trump has gone on a major media campaign to publicly question President Obama’s birthplace. Trump’s campaign has been called racist, and the White House has referred to the Birther Movement as a “political sideshow” that does little to add to meaningful debate.

CNN recently aired an investigation that they claim puts the birth certificate controversy to rest. In the series, the network goes to Hawaii to carefully examine the birth certification process, and they also dig to find newspaper announcements of President Obama’s birth. A recent survey showed that roughly one-fourth of all Americans didn’t believe that President Obama was born in the United States. The majority of the non-believers were Republican.

President Obama Picks a New Defense Secretary

2011-04-27T05:29:00.001-07:00

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will name CIA Director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, a senior defense official and another U.S. official said Wednesday.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, will be named to replace Panetta as CIA director, a senior defense official said.

Panetta took over at the CIA in February 2009.

Panetta, 72, was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton between 1994 and 1997. Previously he was director of the Office of Management and Budget. The California Democrat served in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.

Before coming to the CIA, he spent 10 years co-directing a public policy institute with his wife, Sylvia.

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Tonya McDowell Heads to Court Today – 4/27/11

2011-04-27T05:02:00.001-07:00

NORWALK, Conn. -- A homeless single mother arrested for allegedly enrolling her son in the wrong school district is set to make her first court appearance Wednesday morning in Norwalk Superior Court.

Prosecutors say Tonya McDowell, 33, stole more than $15,000 worth of education by using her babysitter's Norwalk address to enroll her 6-year-old at Brookside Elementary School.

McDowell told police she was living in her van and sleeping at a Norwalk shelter, or staying at a friend's Bridgeport apartment when she enrolled her son in Norwalk last September.

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To support Tonya McDowell’s case, please visit the YBW Virtual Command Center at EqualEducationNow.com

NAACP Signs On to Help in Tonya McDowell

2011-04-26T13:50:00.001-07:00

PRESS RELEASE:

(For Immediate Release)

CONTACT PERSON: Scot X. Esdaile: tel. 203-668-4562

WHAT: Press Conference

Where: Crosland Attorney-Law Firm

1150 Summer Street, Stamford CT – (for directions call

(203) 921-1782

When: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.

Why: See below

The Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches announces that Attorney Darnell Crosland will represent Tonya McDowell as her attorney.

Ms. McDowell, a homeless woman, was charged in Norwalk with first degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first degree larceny for allegedly stealing $15,000 from the City of Norwalk. The CT NAACP State Conference will hold a press conference this evening at 6:30 p.m. at Attorney Darnell Crosland’s Law Office with Ms. Tonya McDowell to discuss the defense of the case.

Attorney Darnell Crosland is the Chairman of the CT NAACP Legal Redress Committee and 2nd Vice President of the Norwalk NAACP Branch.

The CT NAACP will partner with Gwen Samuels, President of Connecticut Parents Union, to mobilize community support for Ms. McDowell.

Technorati Tags: tonya mcdowell,tanya mcdowell

NBC: School Says They Weren’t Responsible for Charging Tonya McDowell

2011-04-26T10:05:00.001-07:00

From NBC Connecticut

A homeless, unemployed mom from Bridgeport has gained a lot of attention after she was arrested for sending her 6-year-old son to school, and now the school is saying they did not go after her.

Tanya McDowell, 33, has been accused of stealing $15,686 worth of education for her son from Norwalk when they were staying in Bridgeport.

McDowell told police she was living in a van and occasionally sleeping at a Norwalk shelter or a friend's Bridgeport apartment when she enrolled her 6-year-old son at Norwalk's Brookside Elementary.

He attended the school from September 2010 until Jan. 14, 2011, according to Norwalk Public Schools.

Police began investigating in January, after the Norwalk Housing Authority filed a complaint that McDowell had registered her son at Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, even though she had been living in an apartment on Priscilla Street in Bridgeport.

On Jan. 11, McDowell testified in housing court that she lived in Bridgeport and never said she was homeless, according to Norwalk Schools officials. She moved her son to Bridgeport schools sometime before Jan. 19 and Bridgeport reached out to Norwalk for the boy’s previous school information, according to Norwalk school officials.

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Yahoo News Writes about The Tonya McDowell and Kelley Williams-Bolar Cases

2011-04-25T20:29:00.001-07:00

From Yahoo News

Education activists are rallying around a homeless woman who may face jail time for enrolling her son in kindergarten under a friend's address. Supporters say the woman's story is yet another dismaying example of inequality in the U.S. education system.

Tanya McDowell, a homeless single mother from Bridgeport, is charged with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for signing up her 5-year-old son to attend nearby Norwalk schools under the address of a friend. (Her son went to the school for four months. Her friend has been evicted from public housing for letting McDowell use her address.) McDowell may face up to 20 years in prison and a $15,000 fine if convicted.

Gwen Samuel, a Connecticut education activist, is organizing a press conference to try to get the charges dropped and raise awareness about parents who are criminally prosecuted, rather than dealt with individually by the school district, for using false addresses.

She says she expects a few hundred people to show up at Norwalk superior court at 9 a.m. Wednesday, including Kelley Williams-Bolar (pictured), the Akron, Ohio-based mom who made national news in January, when she was jailed for using her father's address to send her kids to a better-performing school. Bolar's story ignited a debate about inequalities in the public education system, where poorer parents must send their kids to poorer schools because much of the funding is on the local level.

"This will continue to happen--this will set a precedent and districts will be like, 'OK I found a new way to get my money back, let's go after them,'" Samuel tells The Lookout.

Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse university professor and activist, tells The Lookout that Williams-Bolar heard about McDowell's case and wanted to support her. "Kelley called me and said, 'I can't believe they're doing this to her, how can I help?'" She's now on her way to Connecticut, and her trip is paid for by Samuel's newly founded non-profit Connecticut Parents Union.

"First it happens to Kelley, then it happens to Tanya--they both happen to be poor black mothers trying to find a way to provide a better life for their children," Watkins said.

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Technorati Tags: kelley williams-bolar,tonya mcdowell,black politics,african american politics

Quick YBW Note: The Obama Family Enjoys Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T13:03:00.001-07:00

The Obamas celebrate Easter Sunday at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Jalen Rose Didn’t Seem to Know that He was Under Arrest

2011-04-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World

It appears that Jalen Rose of ESPN (and the Fab Five at Michigan) wasn’t aware that he was being arrested when he was stopped for DUI. Here is a transcript of Jalen’s interaction with the police officer in the back of a squad car on the night he was arrested for drunk driving:

Jalen: "So what are we doing right now?"
Cop: "We're gonna go to the police station right now."
Jalen: "To do what?"
Cop: "You're under arrest."
Jalen: "For what, sir?"
Cop: "For drunk driving."
Jalen: "But I wasn't really drinking."
Cop: "Um, okay."

Obviously, one can clearly see that Jalen and the officer are not on the same page. Also, given that the evidence seems to show that his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit, it’s clear that Jalen needed to be in that police car. I am with the officer in that neither of us believe Jalen’s initial assertion that he hadn’t had anything to drink that night. He failed several sobriety tests and smelled of alcohol, so I believe he was drunk driving.

With that said, I’ve made it clear in the past that Jalen Rose deserves a shot at redemption. I don’t think he should have been cut from the ESPN lineup, and the good has outweighed the bad in his broadcasting career. The problem for Jalen, though, is that he hasn’t learned one of the fundamental rules for outspoken black men in America: Keep your sh*t together, for the haters are always watching.

Jalen has taken some bold steps lately, being one of the few prominent black public figures to write about the fact that college athletes should be paid. Both Jalen and I put pieces up on the Huffington Post about this important topic around the same time. While I felt that Jalen wasn’t asking for enough (he requested stipends for athletes of about $2,000 per semester), I was happy to finally see a prominent black male athlete speak publicly on a topic that so many will only grumble about in private.

The thing about Jalen (who was also in the middle of controversy after calling the black Duke University basketball players “UncleToms”) is that a black man can’t run his mouth that much in public and then “get caught slippin.” The fact that Jalen was arrested for DUI only gives his enemies fuel for their fire of disdain toward him as they are surely working to discredit him. It is for that reason that I am saddened by his arrest.

But no matter what happens with Jalen Rose, we all know that college athletes and their families deserve a slice of the multi-billion dollar pie that the NCAA earns off the backs of black families across America. The coaches, administrators and commentators (mostly white men) making millions for their families while leaving black families in poverty is fundamentally wrong, and there’s nothing they can say to change that.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of ALARM, the Athlete Liberation Academic Reform Movement. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Meet Rocky Clark: His Insurance Company Has Left Him to Die

2011-04-25T06:37:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World – Scholarship in Action

The story of Rasul "Rocky" Clark is a cautionary tale to all the mothers who send their sons to the football field on Saturday afternoon. Ten years ago, Clark was living the dream of many African American males: he was one of the stars of his high school football team, playing the game as running back.
Rocky's dream came to an end with one hit too many. The player was paralyzed from the neck down, rendering him unable to move, walk, stand up, or use his arms for the rest of his life. He will never run down the field, experience sex, wash himself or even breath properly again. He has one lung, and his life expectancy dropped dramatically on the day of his horrible injury. In fact, part of the reason his family is now broke is because medical experts and insurance companies didn't expect him to last for even a decade.
Rocky just found out that his $5 million dollar insurance policy has reached the lifetime maximum, meaning that his insurer is not going to pay anymore of his expenses.

"I was told I'd be taken care of all of my life," said Clark, who is now 27 years old. "That was one thing that brought me comfort. I knew I'd be OK. Now it seems like I'm being penalized for living too long. That's how I see it."
Clark now has Medicaid, which is a far cry from the high quality coverage he had before. His situation has re-ignited the debate regarding lifetime caps of insurance companies and rising medical costs. The recent ban on lifetime limits included in health care reform came into effect after Clark's policy was created, meaning that he doesn't benefit from the change.

Clark's right lung has serious damage, so he is constantly faced with pneumonia and ends up in the hospital several times per year. His mother has fallen behind on the bills as she tries to find ways to pay for his medical coverage. She has not even paid her property taxes for the last two years.
When Clark's policy came to an end, his insurance company, Health Special Risk, Inc., sent him a two-sentence letter stating: "the maximum medical benefit under this policy has been processed and no further benefits are available."
The case of Rocky Clark should give all of us a moment of pause as the black community strives to send more of our boys onto the football field than into the classroom. We cheer for these kids like heroes at every game, and then laugh it off when the child has grades that are clearly inadequate. What's saddest is that the average NFL athlete has a career span that is less than four years long, meaning that even for our kids who get a chance to live out "the dream," their dream eventually turns into a nightmare.
The recent suicide of former NFL star Dave Duerson, who is suspected to have suffered tremendous brain damage from years on the football field, is another example of things that can go wrong from pushing our kids into such a barbaric sport. Rocky Clark's battle with insurance companies leads us to also wonder whether it makes sense for us to allow capitalist motivations to guide our health care systems. Human life should not be managed with a price tag.
Two things that the Rocky Clark situation tells me are that:
a) If I ever have more kids, they will NOT play football. The risks are just too great, and I don't want to see my child lying in a hospital bed all day, unable to stand up and live life. There are other ways to enjoy sports without getting pounded in the head all day long.
b) All the effort our kids put into practicing and playing sports would be better spent pushing for academic achievement.
While most athletes end up broke and unemployed, Rocky's doctors will never be broke, and neither will the attorneys representing many of the black males who end up in the criminal justice system. We've got to find a way to get in on the profitable side of this terrible game of American capitalism. Right now we're feeding ourselves the short end of the stick.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook,please click here.

TheRoot.com: Education Should Be A Right, Not a Crime

2011-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

by Helena Andrews, TheRoot.com

Start typing "mother arrested" into Google, and the Internet wastes no time filling in the rest: "for lying about her address." Not "for selling her daughters on Craigslist," "for feeding her sons drywall" or "for locking her kids in the basement like Boo Radley," but for trying to educate them beyond the borders of their block. In the United States of America, educating your children by any means necessary is a punishable offense.

Henry David Thoreau, the American father of civil disobedience philosophy, said, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." How many of the schools in "low income" (fewer tax dollars) communities look like prisons? So when the government is imprisoning poor children unjustly, it might make sense that mothers seeking justice end up in jail. If you live in crazy town.

Since January, two African-American women have been publicly shamed for sending their children to a school district that was better than the one in which they lived. Both Ohio mom Kelley Williams-Bolar and Connecticut's Tonya McDowell have been charged with larceny for fudging official school documents. "I did this for them, so there it is," said Williams-Bolar, who used her father's address to get her two daughters into a better public school. Together, Williams-Bolar and McDowell owe more than $45,000 in back tuition, according to court documents.

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Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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