No Shame Day, July 1st/National Minority Health Month July

This was my favorite story from No Shame Day celebrated annually on July 1st to call attention to the need for mental health treatment, especially for people of color. We are shamed into believing that there's no need to seek treatment for our mental health and that's a HUGE disservice to our community. Do not let social stigmas keep you down! God can do all things, and you best believe when there's a problem, God also sees to it that there's a way to address it. You can't always pray away your "issues". Remember James 2:14-take steps to seek help if need be! Enjoy this testimony from homegirl Brokey McPoverty(not her real name lol)

America Has Lost A Generation of Black Boys

Who are young black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities? Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys?

By Phillip Jackson

There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young black men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death.

Most young black men in the United States don't graduate from high school. Only 39% of black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2010 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. In Chicago, only 3 our of 100 Black boys who attend Chicago Public Schools graduate from college.  In San Francisco, only one of 100 black males qualify to attend a public California university.  

Young black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young black men don't succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation's criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.

Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are about 1.1 million black men in prisons and jails in the United States, more than there are people incarcerated in the entire rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with black male children as young as nine and ten years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education..

The rest of the world is watching and following the lead of America. Other countries including England, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and South Africa are adopting American social policies that encourage the incarceration and destruction of young black men. This is leading to a world-wide catastrophe. But still, there is no adequate response from the American or global black community.

Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys. We do little while the future lives of black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before, and if, they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young black men and has become part of this destructive process.

Who are young black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities? Who is going to anchor strong families in the black community? Who will young black boys emulate as they grow into men? Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the black people in America?

The list of those who have failed young black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our black churches, our black leaders, and even our parents. Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:

Short term 
1) Teach all black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education.
2) Provide positive role models for black boys.
3) Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.
4) Ensure that black boys have a strong spiritual base.
5) Control the negative media influences on black boys.
6) Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.

Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.
2) Help connect black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.
3) Create high expectations and help black boys live into those high expectations.
4) Build a positive peer culture for black boys.
5) Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.
6) Teach black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning. 

NYPD data: Whites much more likely to be carrying drugs and guns than minorities

By Stephen C. Webster
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 14:08 EDT

 

• 1851

   
• 
• 

The report’s summary, first spotted by Think Progress, puts this striking divide in no unclear terms, explaining:In a detailed analysis (PDF) of publicly available New York Police Department data on crime in 2012, the New York Office of the Public Advocate revealed Wednesday that white people were much more likely to be carrying drugs and guns than minorities, despite making up a tiny fraction of individuals police subjected to so-called “stop-and-frisk” searches.

• The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded a weapon was half that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered a weapon in one out every 49 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 71 stops of Latinos and 93 stops of African Americans to find a weapon.
• The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded contraband was one-third less than that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered contraband in one out every 43 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 57 stops of Latinos and 61 stops of African Americans to find contraband.
• Despite the overall reduction in stops, the proportion involving black and Latino New Yorkers has remained unchanged. They continue to constitute 84 percent of all stops, despite comprising only 54 percent of the general population. And the innocence rates remain at the same level as 2011 – at nearly 89 percent.

In a separate analysis by the New York Civil Liberties Union (PDF), also published Wednesday, the group revealed that out of 532,911 stop-and-frisk searches in 2012, just 729 guns were found. By contrast, over 5,000 people were arrested for private marijuana possession, which was decriminalized city-wide in 1977. However, possessing marijuana within public view is an arrest-level offense, leading many officers to demand people empty their pockets during stop-and-frisk searches thereby upping the criminal penalties for simple possession.

As a result of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s insistence upon rampant stop-and-frisk searches, marijuana possession arrests have skyrocketed under his tenure. He attempted a fix last year by announcing that all lower level marijuana offenses would be dealt a ticket instead of a night in jail, in the absence of a law Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is pushing that would decriminalize possession across New York state.

“In the last decade since Michael Bloomberg became mayor, the NYPD has made 400,038 lowest level marijuana possession arrests at a cost of $600 million dollars,” a 2012 report by the Drug Policy Alliance explains. “Nearly 350,000 of the marijuana possession arrests made under Bloomberg are of overwhelmingly young Black and Latino men, despite the fact that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young Blacks and Latinos.”

A class action lawsuit filed over the search practice concluded Tuesday in a New York courtroom with city attorneys arguing that even with numbers like these, there’s no evidence of racial discrimination. Clinton-appointed District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin — who said Sunday she is inclined to “treat the government as only one more litigant” without any “deference” to their authority — is expected to issue a ruling on the matter in the coming weeks.
——

[Photo: New York police officer on horseback. Stuart Monk / Shutterstock.com.]

Melanie Fiona = Real Talent

Via SoulBounce:

On Tuesday, May 21, 2013, The Notorious B.I.G. would've celebrated his 41st birthday. There were many tributes to the fallen rapper across the Internet, but one that stood out for me was from singer and apparent hip-hop head Melanie Fiona. Instead of the doing the typical social network shout out, Melanie opted to recreate BIG's classic remix to "One More Chance" using nothing but her voice, GarageBand and hours of her time. The results are simply stunning. As Melanie sings through the opening verse and first hook backed by a chorus of only her, you begin to see just how talented the Toronto native really is. But of course, we already knew all that. My only wish is that Melanie would inject the personality and talent we all know she has (and which she exhibits here) into her future musical endeavors. Peep Melanie working her magic below.

The Complexity of the Adrian Peterson Expectation

So this week in sports, the NBA playoffs dominate the headlines. No doubt the quest for a repeat by the Miami Heat is being closely watched as they are led by their polarizing leader and sheer dominant force of basketball nature, a.k.a. LeBron James. After destroying the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, the Heat took on their eastern-conference rival, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are led by, uh, by, well a cast of players I would say. Typically, their leader would be Derrick Rose, but he's out right now after suffering a torn ACL last year during the playoffs. That's where I segue into Adrian Peterson...

In December 2011, Peterson, an all-pro running back for the Minnesota Vikings tore his anterior cruciate ligament (acl) during a game against the Washington Redskins. Now, in human terms an acl tear/injury will have you rehabbing and out of action for at least 7-12 months. Closer to 11 or 12 is typical. An athlete in supreme condition usually does it in 9-10 months, but will still be tentative playing, landing, cutting or accelerating on that knee. Peterson not only rehabbed his knee in 8 months, but he was back for week 1 of the NFL and fell just short of breaking the single-season record for rushing by 9 yards! Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards! This is an amazing feat, to say the least. Most mere mortals are lucky to have full range again after such a devastating injury, and Peterson displayed other-worldly healing status in his triumphant return to the gridiron. Now herein lies the rub for Derrick Rose...

Peterson has now set the bar for his fellow star athletes. That bar is not just to return in a shorter than expected time frame, but to return and be absolutely phenomenal. This is where we find Derrick Rose being unfairly targeted and described in more colorful terms as a "chicken" for not playing yet. Though Rose has been cleared by physicians for close to two months now, he has stated in numerous ways that he doesn't feel ready to play in a game just yet. At 24, no one in their right mind would rush Rose back if he doesn't feel as if he's ready-but that's just it, these fans couldn't be in their right minds to have such high expectations. Especially for someone with this kind of injury, with that kind of expectation-or pedigree of athleticism. Many memes have been floated around the twittersphere mocking Rose's decision to wait.

  

   

Rose finds himself as a victim of the "Adrian Peterson Expectation". Majority of the fans berating Rose for not playing yet are way out of line. The Bulls played well enough in his absence to make the second-round of the playoffs to face the Miami Heat, but apparently that's not enough. People don't see the silver lining in this loss of Rose this season. Not only have the Bulls played well in his absence, but they have been riddled with injuries to their other top players besides Rose and still beat Miami, in Miami in game 1!

Rose states: "There's no pressure at all. I haven't had any pressure from anyone – not in the organization, not from my teammates," he said. "They know I'm put everything I have into trying to come back as fast as possible. But just trying to be smart with the whole situation and just take my time. “It’s definitely hard. I know this will be over with pretty soon. Who knows when it's going to stop? I can't get down on myself."

I'm glad Rose has teammates that don't question his decision or relative indecision at this point. That would serve no point and not further their cause. What if Rose comes back against his better judgment and hurts himself or plays horribly and disrupts team chemistry? Those very same people challenging or questioning his tenacity will be shouting that he shouldn't have returned.

The whole point is, those couch-potatoes or "arm-chair quarterbacks" should trust that this young man who's been nothing but humble and a beacon of hope for the city he grew up in is doing what he feels is best. No two people react to the same situation exactly alike. Our expectations of others can sometimes be other-worldly, or ones that we would never hold or want ourselves held up to. So take a step back before you criticize Rose's decision to not play this year, his future could have possibly been on the line. The one thing that Derrick needs to listen to right now is his knee.

I for one, am glad he's deciding to tune everyone else's opinion out.

Artist Spotlight: Luke James I.O.U.

Every now and then you get someone who comes across the R&B landscape with a kind of voice or talent that hasn't been seen/heard in awhile. I think Luke James has that kind of voice. Though he's actually been around for a little while, he's just now receiving the kind of press that has his name ringing bells musically. Here is the single "I.O.U." accompanied by great visuals as well. Nowadays it seems as if artists don't tell stories in their music videos anymore to compliment the song, so this is a refreshing change. Check it out.

The Evolution of America's Racism

Straight Up: Let's get real -- and start talking -- about the anti-black prejudice that infects the U.S. By: Lawrence D. Bobo | Posted: March 13, 2013 at 4:29 PM

 

Police act out proper stop-and-frisk procedures in new NYPD training. (Daily News archive/Getty Images)

 -- America is not yet done with the illness of racism, the electoral success of Barack Obama notwithstanding. Yet most white folks don't want to talk about or hear about race anymore. And a good many black folks fret that it is strategically wiser for us to let it alone for now.
I am uncomfortable with both prescriptions. Some underlying maladies, to be sure, do heal on their own. Despite its modern subtlety and complexity, however, the current strain of racism infecting the U.S. is unlikely to be self-healing.
Let's be honest: Our culture is still deeply suffused with anti-black bias, despite an African-American president in office. National surveys (pdf) continue to reveal commonly held stereotypes of African Americans as less hardworking and less intelligent than whites. Political resentments of blacks remain a centerpiece -- indeed, a genuine third rail -- of American domestic politics: Do anything to seriously activate these resentments, and you run the risk of immediate political electrocution. The last time we saw any major political figure come close to touching the rail, of activating these political resentments against blacks, occurred when Obama offered his off-the-cuff remarks about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root's editor-in-chief, by the Cambridge, Mass., police. 
The level of negative stereotypes and attitudes tapped in polls and surveys may only reveal the most easily observable symptoms of the illness. A number of powerful psychological experiments show the extent to which blackness for Americans is intimately tied to images of violence and danger. Indeed, one of the most depressing lines of research suggests a core underlining psychological association of blackness with apes, an ugly, old racist trope from the age of the Great Chain of Being, in which the African was seen as closer to primitive animals in the hierarchy of species (pdf).
To be sure, this whole issue of racism had a more straightforward quality in the past. We did not have to resort to complex surveys and experiments to reveal its depth. There used to be something loud and obvious and terrible about racism -- circumstances with some ironic virtues. A visible and openly declared enemy is so much more directly confronted than one that operates stealthily.
And that is the dilemma of racism in our times. We have hints, suggestions, indications, if you will, of racial bias all around us today. But it is typically unspoken, if not altogether invisible, much of the time. And where it's not invisible, there is often a plausible cover story that can be told as to why racially differential treatment was somehow justifiable or legitimate.
All of this makes waging the fight against racism much tougher. It is now quiet -- or rationalized on some nonracial grounds and thereby hidden in plain view -- and seemingly, as a consequence, perhaps not such a bad thing after all.
But it is a bad thing. Let's be clear: There is plenty of research showing that actual discrimination remains remarkably common. For example, one major study of low-skilled workers in New York found high rates of bias against black job applicants. Princeton sociologist Devah Pager and her colleagues showed that otherwise identical black job seekers were 50 percent less likely to achieve success in a job search (pdf) than their white counterparts.
The discrimination was so subtle that only a systematic experiment could reveal it. This was not the loud de jure discrimination of the era of "no blacks need apply," but instead today's quiet bias of "Oh, we already filled that position" or "We were actually looking for someone with more experience" or "Maybe you'd be better suited to this lower-paying job."


There are few things as sickening as the ongoing, well-known practice of stop-and-frisk policing in New York. Absent a deep-rooted culture of anti-black bias, which is racism, the practice would not be tolerated, given the radically disproportionate intrusion by state police power that it involves in identifiable minority communities.
Records for 2011 show almost 700,000 such incidents, with almost nine out of 10 incidents involving African Americans or Hispanics. In a city where blacks make up just under a quarter of the population, blacks constitute more than half of those so detained by police. Citywide polls show an enormous gap between blacks and whites in approval of the stop-and-frisk practice, with a substantial number of blacks, at 80 percent (and even a plurality of New York's whites: 48 percent), saying that the police are biased in favor of whites.
It is unclear whether the tactic has any meaningful impact on crime, but it is screamingly plain that it adds to racial tension and misunderstanding while deepening minority cynicism about the police. And so we get today's quiet bias of a major-city mayor and police commissioner defending a dubious practice of aggressive state intrusion into the lives of black and Hispanic youths on an astonishing scale.
This quiet bias is a routine feature of our national politics as well. We are all aware of how constrained President Obama is in terms of what he can say or do regarding race. I believe that the culture of racism still alive in the U.S. remains potent enough that Obama must, in fact, routinely accomplish a complex, three-part balancing act.
He must consistently rise above prevalent stereotypes of blacks as less capable and intelligent, thus always standing as the exception to the assumed rule. He must never be seen as openly advocating policies that run against the third rail of resentment against blacks as a sort of untouchable special-interest category in the body politic, who lack legitimate claims on the nation's resources. And he must do all this while somehow keeping African Americans and other people of color highly politically mobilized segments of his constituency.   
But make no mistake, racism remains a living and highly adaptive thing in our times. Yes, Jim Crow racism has effectively been defeated. An insidious quiet bias remains today, however. And in this guise, racism is still distorting American life. The late Stanford University historian George Fredrickson wrote in Racism: A Short History, "The legacy of past racism directed at blacks in the United States is more like a bacillus that we have failed to destroy, a live germ that not only continues to make some of us ill but retains the capacity to generate new strains of a disease for which we have no certain cure."
We will make little or no progress against this underlying illness by becoming complicit in ignoring the deep-rooted character of anti-black bias in our culture and in so many everyday practices and habits. Racism is a powerful word. Using it can quickly shut down a conversation. But such sensitivity cannot excuse silence in the face of a real problem and ongoing injustice.
For me, a key element of the continued quest for racial justice in America is the outing of today's "quiet bias." Like a patient told to take the full regimen of antibiotics or run the risk of the ailment coming back even more strongly in the future, we must remain ready to challenge racism no matter how discreetly or politely it presents itself.
Lawrence D. Bobo is the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University.