BV Black Spin

Health Care Reform: Join The War Room Fight Now and Beat The Tea-Baggers

Sheryl H. Salomon — 2009-11-06T16:52:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, Health Care Debate

(Left: Robert Williams joined the 'Rally Against Insurance Corporations' on Sept. 22, 2009 in Miami, FL. Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images. )

Despite pessimism by some leaders in Congress, health care reform still has a chance to pass before the year is out. That's why the tea-baggers have been making so much noise this week at the Capitol, where the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a health care reform bill as early as Saturday, Nov. 7. They want to kill the legislation and end any chance of universal health care.

So how about you? Are you willing to let that happen, despite the fact that black people are less likely to have health insurance and on average spend a higher percentage of their income on health care? "Most African Americans and others know someone who has died unnecessarily due to our broken health care system," says NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous. "We need heath care reform that provides access to affordable comprehensive health insurance coverage for all Americans, and that can't be done without a strong public option."

If you agree you can make your voice heard on health care reform without heading down to D.C. -- in fact, without leaving your home. The NAACP has joined forces with the National Urban League, National Council of Black Mayors, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, and others under the banner of the Black Leadership Forum, to create a telephone hot line that will connect you directly with your elected official's office. Call 1-866-783-2462 this weekend, and follow the instructions to be connected with your lawmaker's office. Then tell them that you want health care reform with a public option passed before year's end. If you'd rather do it online, visit the NAACP's 880 Campaign web site.

The black organizations have also created a "war room" on K Street in Washington, DC, with phone banks to get the word out about the hotline and the need to speak out now. Among those in the war room this week were Rep. Barbara Lee (D, California).

"Grass roots mobilization helped elect the first African American to the presidency of the United States of America," says Lee. "Grass roots activism will help...ensure that America has, as our policy, that health care is a basic civil right and not a privilege." Hear more of what Lee had to say above, in a video provided to Black Voices by the NAACP.

In the video below, Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus, shares why he's in the war room.

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Northwestern Students in Blackface

Carmen Dixon — 2009-11-06T14:40:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Blackface shows up so frequently these days, you'd think it's become a contemptible fad. Recently, this Jim Crow relic has been spotted in cartoons on high fashion pages, 'Mad Men' and 'Tyra.' Who can keep track?

So is it any wonder that two white Northwestern University student athletes would jump at the chance to hop on this trend by donning blackface as Halloween costumes? Click here to see photos.

One of the students involved in the incident reportedly dressed as Bob Marley, painting his entire body black and wearing a shirt with the word "Jamaica." The second student dressed as a black woman with a tennis racket.

Both are believed to be student-athletes, according to the Daily Northwestern. Student reactions have been mixed, with some suggesting the campus culture allows insensitivity because of the low-minority population. Source: Northwestern Blackface Costumes Inspire Protest - NBC Chicago

What were these crazy kids thinking? Or not thinking? Who knows. But I see a big double standard here. Celebrities seem to get away with offensive behavior, while the regular Joes get the "racial insensitivity" hammer dropped right on their head. I'm not defending ignorance, but I think your proximity to celebrity shouldn't get you a pass on proper behavior.

And while I'm on this subject, is it just here in Los Angeles or did you notice more white folks than usual sporting huge Afro wigs on Halloween night? At first I was a little peeved, then just confused. I don't understand it. I'd be cool if white women (and men) chose to adorn themselves in Afros as a preferred style in everyday life, much like many black women wear straight wigs or weaves. What does it mean, though, to adorn hair mimicking my natural texture as a "hilarious" costume?

After all, I can say without hesitation that I have never, ever, considered leaving the house looking like an escapee from the cast of the Wayans' 'White Chicks.' Can't see it.

But if I did don a blond wig, paint my skin white, call myself Becky and repeat stereotypical Valley girl phrases such as "omigawd" or "that is sooo awwwsumm" how would white people I passed on the street respond?

And if they were offended, should I feel entitled to tell them to just "lighten up" or "get a sense of humor"?

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Historian Makes Black Kids Act Out Slavery in Front of White Peers

Abena Agyeman-Fisher — 2009-11-06T13:54:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Opinion

There is a bit of an uproar in Charlotte, N.C., as parents, teachers and the local NAACP are livid over a civil war lesson that supposedly went wrong during a Rea View Elementary school class trip to Latta Plantation on Wednesday.

According to WSOCTV.com, Ian Campbell, a black historian, had three black students, already a racial minority in their class, model cotton-picking slaves, with bags around their necks, in front of their peers.

Kojo Nantambu, president of the NAACP in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, is one of many who believes the demonstration was both insensitive and poorly executed:

There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery. Because that's still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct.

Campbell, though, begs to differ. As a historian of 15 years, he argues that he has had kids partake in demonstrations before, and this is the first time there has been a complaint. Campbell also believes he is being historically accurate:

I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 -- even before that period. ... I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct.

Nantambu, however, argues that the method of selecting all-black students to recreate that portion of history is problematic:

Even if the black children had volunteered, I probably would have tried to use all of the children. That would have made all the children feel equal in the experience.

With both parents and teachers writing letters to the plantation to communicate their disdain, Campbell now plans to reform his approach:

I'm going to start asking for volunteers instead of calling people from the audience. I think that would make it a lot easier that way if someone is afraid of public speaking or getting up in front of peers it wouldn't embarrass them.

I actually agree with Campbell's insistence of driving home history with a hands-on experience. Most people learn best when they can take part in an exercise that allows one to "relive" the experience. Often, kids and parents alike bemoan the lack of creativity as well as the didactic manner in which information is taught to students.

Campbell is obviously trying to impress upon kids who visit his plantation how challenging it must have been for slaves to have subsisted during slavery. His attempt to encourage students to embody the realities of their ancestors is noteworthy. Where Campbell got it wrong, though, was context.

Making the few black students act out antebellum roles in front of their white peers had to be both embarrassing and humiliating for those involved. We may be 145 years removed from slavery, but as Nantambu said, that pain, that memory, lives. Perhaps it will take another 145 years for African Americans to say that they are definitively removed from slavery. Unfortunately for Campbell, we aren't there yet, so the idea of being singled out in front of white kids to act out compromising and submissive roles was narrow-minded in the least. Nantambu had it right when he said that Campbell should have had the sensitivity to select white students as well in order to broaden the experience.

What do you think?

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AARP Supports the President on Health Care Reform

Jeff Mays — 2009-11-06T11:34:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights

The debate over health care in this country is all wrong. The question being debated should be how are we going to provide coverage for millions of uninsured Americans, not if we should do so.

It's ironic that the richest country in the history of mankind lets millions of people walk around without decent health coverage and allows millions more to be denied because of preexisting conditions, while insurance companies rake in billions of dollars.

That's why news that President Barack Obama has gained the support of the AARP, an organization that advocates for older Americans, and the American Medical Association, which represents doctors, is welcome.

"I urge Congress to listen to the AARP, listen to the AMA and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans," Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, the New York Times reported. "We are closer to passing this reform than ever before."

Under the bill, 36 million uninsured Americans would be extended health coverage by expanding Medicaid. Those of middle income without coverage would be extended subsidies and have an opportunity to purchase coverage
through a federally run program.

For African Americans, improving the health care system is a life-and-death proposal. The NAACP has launched the 880 Campaign to support passage of the health care bill. The name 880 comes from the fact that half of the 880,000 deaths of black people could have been prevented if we had the same mortality rate as white Americans, according to the American Journal of Public Health. In addition, the NAACP reports that:

Children born to black women are more than twice as likely to die within their first year of life than children born to white women. People of color are more likely to suffer and die from diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Uninsured Americans are more likely to use the emergency room for preventative care and routine checkups, forcing longer wait times and costing states and taxpayers more.

African Americans also need to take steps to improve our own health, such as educating ourselves about the diseases that kill us and establishing habits such as exercising and eating healthier. Proper health care, though, is a big part of the solution.

According to the New York Times:

The House bill would require individuals to buy insurance and all but the smallest employers to offer health coverage to workers. It also would provide subsidies to help purchase insurance and would eliminate the industry's exemption from federal antitrust laws. ... The House and Senate bills both include a government-run public insurance option that Obama and supporters say would create competition in the insurance market.

But even as Obama was announcing his new AARP support, protesters, led by Republican lawmakers, were in front of the Capitol injecting pure nonsense into the debate.

The crowd waved signs reading, "No Socialistic Health Care," "Sweeping Away Socialism One Democrat at a Time," "Politicians Lie, Patients Die," "You lie!" and "All lies," the New York Times reported.

I've got news for those protesters: Once we hit 65, we all jump on the "socialized medicine" of Medicare. Without it, our senior citizens would be sick and impoverished. Republicans, such as Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole and Barry Goldwater all said that the passage of Medicare in 1965 would lead to socialism despite the fact that one of the biggest needs for the bill was the unwillingness of private insurers to cover the elderly.

It's been 34 years since the passage of Medicare. The last time I checked, this was not a "socialist country." Now, we are in a similar situation, where the private health care industry is not adequately covering Americans. Why not protest the way the insurance industry treats Americans? Why not make the changes necessary to improve the health care system for us all?

The debate shouldn't be about if all Americans deserve decent coverage; it should be about how we are going to provide it.

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News Blast: Oprah Removes Bebe Winans From Lineup, Obama to Extend Unemployment

Abena Agyeman-Fisher — 2009-11-06T10:40:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Oprah Removes Bebe Winans From Show
Oprah has removed Bebe Winans from her upcoming karoake show after she caught a rash of criticism for appearing to have a domestic-violence double standard. Because the daytime talk show diva was so vociferous in her stance against pop star Chris Brown, she was forced to announced that Winans would not appear on the show until charges against him were dropped. [Examiner.com]

Obama to Extend Unemployment and Tax Credit
President Barack Obama will sign a bill today that will extend both jobless benefits for another 20 weeks and the $8,000 home-buying tax credit. [AP]

Estelle, Ludacris Honor Otis Redding
London-born Estelle and rapper-actor Ludacris held a two-hour tribute to soul singer Otis Redding last night in Atlanta. Redding is known for such hits as 'Try a Little Tenderness' and 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.' [Yahoo News]

More News Blast

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Fort Hood Shootings: What's Religion Got to Do With It?

Carmen Dixon — 2009-11-06T07:15:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in yesterday's Fort Hood massacre, is alive and reported in stable condition. The death toll in the Fort Hood shootings has now risen to 13, and 30 are listed as wounded.

Shortly after the shootings yesterday, cable news anchors began to report that the suspect had a "Muslim-sounding name." I immediately felt a sense of dread not only for those killed and wounded -- or the possibility that this assault was an organized terrorist act -- but also for all of the Muslim Americans who might find themselves having to defend their allegiance to America due to the act of one man.

So is Hasan a "spree killer," "a terrorist" or just a lonely, angry soldier who "snapped," despite being a U.S. Army psychiatrist specializing in helping others deal with traumatic stress? We don't know. It's still too early in the investigation to slap a simple label on this crime.

But as more information emerges about Hasan's mind-set and worldview, the military is going to have hard questions to answer about why someone as disgruntled and conflicted as Hasan was permitted to continue to serve as an officer in the United State's military:

Hasan had come to the attention of federal law enforcement officials at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The official said investigators were trying to confirm that Hasan was the author of the postings, one of which was a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades. One of the officials said federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize seizure of Hasan's computer. Source: 'Horrific' rampage stuns Army's Fort Hood - USA Today

Here is the excerpt attributed to Hasan:

If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard, that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair.

The same can be said for the kamikazee in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes in to ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland.

You can call them crazy if you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best. Source: NidalHasan - Scribd

Questions will be asked regarding why the feds didn't contact the military sooner. Or maybe they did, and we just don't know about it yet. But one thing is clear, even if Hasan was motivated by politics, he showed warning signs of breaking, and he did not get the mental health care intervention that may have altered the course of yesterday's events.

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Are Black Congresspeople Being Blacklisted?

Madison J. Gray — 2009-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Opinion, Politics, Race and Civil Rights

Wait a minute now. Unless I'm reading it wrong, it looks like racial profiling has jumped from the 'hood to Capitol Hill.

According to a Politico article, the House Ethics Committee is actively investigating seven African American lawmakers under full-scale ethics probes, but not a single white person serving in Congress is under the same kind of scrutiny.

To be clear, the report came from the Office of Congressional Ethics, which is a quasi-independent agency. There are as many as 23 Democrats and six Republicans named, but only Maxine Waters (pictured above), Laura Richardson (D-Calif.), Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) are the subject of all-out investigations.

Several of the allegations involve the use of corporate funds to pay for lawmakers' trips to the Caribbean. All of those accused deny any wrongdoing.

Now, I'm not saying that hands caught in the cookie jar shouldn't be smacked. Goodness knows former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) had to go after getting busted with $90,000 in his freezer, which was intended as a bribe for a Nigerian official. It does seem funny, though, that the only people whose investigations have gone this far are black representatives.

What's worse is the the Office of Congressional Ethics was actually created by Democrats to weed out any questionables within their ranks. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) came up with the idea after the Jack Abramoff scandal.

There really shouldn't be a problem with keeping a watchdog's eye on lawmakers, since our pennies go to pay for everything they do and then some. At the same time, though, I've got to question whether these folks are being punished for being corrupt -- there is still a question as to whether it was wrong for a corporation to sponsor trips to the Caribbean, and Rangel hasn't been found guilty yet of not paying his taxes -- or if it has something to do with their support of the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act and the repealing of mandatory minimum sentencing effort.

A major issue is that there aren't enough voters aware about what's happening to make a fuss, but I dare say it's an insidious way to neutralize empowerment within the black community. Take away political clout and what do you have?

Don't get me wrong, corruption is corruption, but I'll be less skeptical of what's going on when I'm seeing that it's not just black folks who are thrown into the fire for bad behavior.

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NY1's Dominic Carter Keeps Having a Bad Week

Boyce Watkins, PhD — 2009-11-05T13:23:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Opinion, Politics

Somebody's having a really tough week. After dealing with wife-beating allegations, being hammered in the media and getting kicked off the air, NY1's celebrated and humiliated journalist Dominic Carter has found himself in yet another controversy.

The story goes like this:

Reports say that on a Delta Airlines flight to Kansas City, Carter bent over to tie his shoes and "accidentally" bumped into a flight attendant. This led to the enraged attendant stating, "This man deliberately slammed in to me. I want him off the plane!" According to reports, Carter voluntarily removed himself from the plane. It is not clear whether he would have had to leave regardless.

How this happened and who did what is not completely clear. Personally, I've flown on a lot of airplanes, and it seems to me that you have to work pretty hard to get the flight attendant to have you removed. There are others, though, who claim that the flight attendant recognized Carter and might have been biased because of his wife-beating allegations. Who knows?

There are also additional reports by the New York Post (not a source I enjoy referencing, given that it is owned by the people who run FOX News) that Carter's wife, Marilyn, disappeared and ran away from him while they were in a hotel in Kansas City. Does any of this remind you of the scene where Tina Turner ran away from Ike in their hotel room in 'What's Love Got to Do With It?'

Well, Carter's wife seems to be quite loyal to him. After bashing him on the police report detailing her beating incident, she then recanted her entire story, making herself look silly in the process. True love is when you will embarrass yourself to protect someone who may not deserve to be protected. By denying her initial claims, Carter's wife has effectively muted her ability to be taken seriously the next time she wants police to believe that her husband whacked her upside the head.

What's worse about Mrs. Carter's "change of heart and memory" is that she blamed her attack on a mysterious day laborer whose name she doesn't remember. Okay, now you've made me a little upset. Do you know how many times random black men have been falsely accused of crimes they didn't commit? Please don't start doing the same thing to the Latino community. I am not here to say that Mrs. Carter's story isn't accurate, because she might be telling the truth by admitting that she was lying (imagine that: a liar who is expected to have credibility when they claim they are telling the truth later). Perhaps it is possible that some random day laborer is the one who gave her the bruises on the night she claimed her husband kicked and choked her, but if she's going to be a liar, then she should at least be a creative liar. "The random Hispanic man did it" is simply not acceptable.

I hope that Dominic gets his life together. I can't imagine the stress he and his family are under, and the greatest victim is his 21-year-old daughter Courtney, who called Kansas City police to tell them that her parents have "domestic violence issues." If you can't get it together for yourselves, then please stop torturing your children. They shouldn't be victimized by such selfish and immature behavior.

To listen to Marilyn Carter's original 911 call, click the image below:

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and the 2007 Black Speaker of the Year. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.

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News Blast: Friends, Family of D.C. Sniper Victims Consider Execution, Rodell Vereen Jailed for Bestiality

Abena Agyeman-Fisher — 2009-11-05T10:35:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Friends, Family of Sniper Victims Consider Attending Execution
With Washington, D.C., sniper John Allen Muhammad's execution set for Nov. 10, relatives and friends of his victims discuss what the execution means to them and whether they will be present for Muhammad's last breath. [ABC News]

Essence Lays Off Web Team
After hiring a staff to redesign its Web site -- which launched last week -- Essence magazine laid off its entire Web team yesterday with the exception of three people. [Journalsticks]

Man Jailed for Bestiality
Rodell Vereen was sentenced to three years for performing sexual acts with a horse, which were caught on video. This is his second offense in two years with the same horse, and he was ordered by a judge to seek counseling. [The Griot]

Pastors Ask Residents for DNA Samples
Today, Cleveland pastors asked community members to provide DNA samples to the coroner to help identify the 10 bodies found at serial killer Anthony Sowell's home. [New York Times]

Gay Activists Blame Negative Ads, Obama for Election Loss
Gay rights leaders are blaming their Tuesday loss in Maine on "scare-mongering ads" and President Obama, saying his voice could have made all the difference in the close race on gay marriage. [AP]

More News Blasts

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Anthony Sowell Thrived Because of Indifference

Jeff Mays — 2009-11-04T17:30:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights

All of the signs pointed to the fact that something was horribly wrong in Anthony Sowell's Cleveland neighborhood.

Police waited more than a month before heading to the home of the convicted sex offender after a woman accused him of rape. A terrible odor that many neighbors said smelled like decaying flesh hung in the air for more than a year. Neighbors reported seeing a scraped and bruised woman fall from Sowell's second floor window.

That's not all.

Sowell, 50, walked around smelling so rancid that a store owner opened his front and back doors when he entered to buy beer. Meanwhile, parole officers arrived regularly at Sowell's home to check in on him as required by law but didn't notice anything askew.

"I'm not going to point fingers, but at the end of the day, someone clearly dropped the ball," Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

So when officers finally decided to investigate the horrendous smell coming from Sowell's home and found two decaying bodies upstairs, nobody should have been surprised. Authorities have since discovered the remains of 11 African American women, most of whom had been strangled.

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Anthony Sowell Case

Convicted rapist Anthony Sowell lived among 10 corpses was ordered held without bond as investigators prepared to begin tearing apart walls inside the house in search of more evidence or bodies.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office

WireImage.com

BlackVoices.com

Cornel West Photos

Dr. Cornel West seen on the streets of Manhattan on October 14, 2009 in New York City. Celebrity Sightings In New York City - October 14, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States October 14, 2009 Photo by Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com To license this image (58642639), contact WireImage.com

Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com

(L-R) Authors David Ritz, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West pose at "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" book signing at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove on October 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Cornel West "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" Book Signing Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove Los Angeles, CA United States October 7, 2009 Photo by Arnold Turner/WireImage.com To license this image (58592615), contact WireImage.com

Arnold Turner/WireImage.com

(L-R) Authors Cornel West, David Ritz and Tavis Smiley arrive at the "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" book signing at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove on October 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Cornel West "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" Book Signing Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove Los Angeles, CA United States October 7, 2009 Photo by Arnold Turner/WireImage.com To license this image (58592588), contact WireImage.com

Arnold Turner/WireImage.com

Author Cornel West speaks to guests at "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" book signing at Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove on October 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Cornel West "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud" Book Signing Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove Los Angeles, CA United States October 7, 2009 Photo by Arnold Turner/WireImage.com To license this image (58592532), contact WireImage.com

Arnold Turner/WireImage.com

Cornel West discusses the themes of love and service at the Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud book signing, Wednesday Oct. 7, 2009 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)

Biographer David Ritz, left, Tavis Smiley, top, and Dr. Cornel West are in attendance at the "BROTHER WEST: Living and Loving Out Loud" book signing, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)

Journalist Tavis Smiley, actor Sidney Poitier and professor Cornel West arrive at "Crowns" Los Angeles Opening Night at The Ebony Repertory Theatre on May 8, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. "Crowns" Los Angeles Opening Night The Ebony Repertory Theatre Los Angeles, CA United States May 8, 2009 Photo by Tiffany Rose/WireImage.com To license this image (57391960), contact WireImage.com

Tiffany Rose/WireImage.com

NEW YORK - MAY 05: Dr. Cornel West attends Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 5, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Cornel West

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A 53-year-old woman named Tonia Carmichael was the first victim to be identified today. Her family reported her missing almost a year ago.

Reed is right. Lots of people dropped the ball, including officials like him. I wonder how many complaints Sowell's neighbors filed with the police about the dreadful stench coming from his home.

Sowell pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted rape of a woman who was three months pregnant in 1989 and served 15 years in prison. I can't believe police didn't think that someone who choked a pregnant woman could not graduate to murder.

This is what Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said about Sowell after his arrest: "He had an insatiable appetite to fill."

Police didn't act that way.

Sowell has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder for the first discovered bodies. So far, authorities have determined that six of the victims were strangled.

The woman who claims Sowell raped her also said she was strangled unconscious with an extension cord before being raped.

As police excavate Sowell's home in search of other potential victims, they also need to reexamine how they deal with sexual predators and missing people. If this were a white neighborhood, I wonder if more extensive efforts wouldn't have been taken to identify the odor.

I'm amazed that 10 people could go missing for weeks, months and years without authorities launching a search to find out what happened. The missing persons cases that make the most news are usually white middle-class women, such as Natalee Holloway or Elizabeth Smart, even though FBI statistics show that people of color make up 40 percent of those reported missing, a highly disproportionate number.

"It's mind-boggling when it comes to missing persons of color that we don't get the attention," Derrica Wilson, CEO and founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, told AOL Black Voices in an interview. "It bothers me that law enforcement did not take action before this was discovered."

Wilson, who also works as a law enforcement officer, wondered how police could have visited Sowell's home on numerous occasions and not noticed the smell of death; some thought the odor was coming from a neighborhood sausage shop.

"That stench, there is nothing like it. You should be able to distinguish between dead human and animal flesh. Not to mention, he was a convicted violent rapist. Being a law enforcement officer, I question what happened when police went to that home," said Wilson.

Now, the families of some women who have been reported missing in Sowell's neighborhood are coming forward. One of them, Kyana Hunt, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that her mother, 43-year-old Nancy Cobbs, lived one block from Sowell and has been missing for seven months.

"She always comes home. It's not just like her to disappear," Hunt said.

Now, it's up to the community to do what should have been done before this tragedy and demand accountability from authorities. Reports of missing people should be taken seriously, regardless of the color of the person missing. Complaints from neighbors about the same issue for years should be thoroughly investigated.

"How can we be better keepers for our communities? It takes a village. It takes everyone in the community to follow up," Wilson said.

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Black Africans Want to Leave Home

Paul Shepard — 2009-11-04T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Opinion, Race and Civil Rights

As a black American who grew up in touch with his culture, I couldn't wait to visit Africa when I was growing up. But the best I could do during my college years was to minor in Southern African studies while attending Rutgers University as a journalism major.

Soon afterward, however, I made a trip to Senegal and Gambia and fell in love with what I saw. The people, the colors, the foods and the kinship made it clear to me that the relationship between black people here and black Africans was special.

Then I covered the election of Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first black president in 1994, and although those days were dangerous and security was far from certain, the beauty of Africa was reinforced during my 30 days in South Africa.

That is why I read with some sadness the results of an interesting international survey examining migration patterns across the world.

Residents of sub-Saharan African countries were the most likely to want to move abroad permanently, according to the Gallup polls conducted in 135 countries between 2007 and this year.

Nearly 4 out of 10 sub-Saharan Africans, more than 160 million people, said they would like to leave Africa and stake their claim in a new country if given the chance.

North Africa and the Middle East were the next least-popular sections of the world among its people. There, 23 percent of residents said they would like to leave and move permanently.

Next on the list was Europe, where 19 percent of residents said they would like to leave and never return.

The most popular destination for people seeking to leave their home countries was the United States, followed by Britain, Canada and France.

Does anyone else see a pattern in all of these figures?

Africa was blessed with some of the most fertile land, greatest mineral wealth and physical beauty in the world. Yet nearly half of black Africans would pick up stakes and leave if given the opportunity. Sad.

I'm sure the history of white colonialism in Africa has a lot to do with creating the conditions that so many are seeking to leave behind, but I'm sure the continent's history of brutal despotic political leadership, some of whom have pocketed their nation's wealth to the detriment of their people, is also to blame.

But I know one thing is certain when I read these figures:

I'm sad.

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Atlanta Mayoral Race Heads to Runoff

Carmen Dixon — 2009-11-04T11:45:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics

Unusually low voter turnout and results along racial lines are two factors that kept both Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed from large majority wins. Norwood received 46 percent of the vote and Reed 36 percent. Despite a robust lead in the polls, Independent candidate Norwood carried the white vote but was unable to motivate enough votes in several key black neighborhoods to take the race from Reed. So now, despite exhausted campaign coffers, the two will gear up immediately for a runoff election to be held on Dec. 1.

Mary Norwood swept predominately white precincts of the city Tuesday and also found support in key black precincts, while former state senator Kasim Reed dominated his base in southwest Atlanta and had a strong showing in predominately black areas of northwest and west Atlanta. Source: Racial lines define results, AJC.com

Reporters and academics closely watching the Atlanta mayoral race up say black candidates have rejected any direct attempts to push Norwood's race as a relevant discussion point. Will that change as the race tightens?

Reed, who counts as fans the rapper Ludacris and much of Atlanta's civil rights power base, did capture much of the vote on the largely black Southwest side. But Norwood, a former radio executive and neighborhood booster, made surprisingly deep inroads in to the black community, and she is viewed by many as a gung-ho proponent of rich and poor neighborhoods alike.

A milestone came in August, when a memo penned by two Clark Atlanta University professors brought race into the campaign by pointing out the importance of keeping blacks in control of city hall.

While the candidates disavowed the memo - Ms. Borders, the city council president, notably said, "The color of skin of our next mayor is not the issue" - it still marked a turning point in the campaign.

The racial dynamics are likely to intensify now. Indeed, racial rhetoric has dominated Atlanta runoffs going back to 1973, when Maynard Jackson became the city's first black mayor five years after Martin Luther King Jr. - Atlanta's favorite son - was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

By running ads depicting Norwood as a Republican in disguise, Reed has already used coded references to race. Norwood has also subtly "racialized" the campaign, using, for example, obviously black voices in radio ads, says Oglethorpe University professor Kendra King. Source: Atlanta mayoral race 2009 results are murky on race in politics - csmonitor.com

Last night, both candidates spoke of continuing "high-minded" campaigns. We'll watch what happens as Dec. 1 gets closer.

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News Blast: Republicans Win in Major States, Maine Votes Against Gay Marriage

Abena Agyeman-Fisher — 2009-11-04T11:10:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Republicans Win in 2 Major States
The Republicans won out last night in the closely watched races of Virginia and New Jersey. Independents are said to have made all of the difference electing Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey, both major wins for the GOP. [AP]

Maine Votes Against Gay Marriage
In Maine, voters rejected legalizing gay marriage. Gay marriage campaigners thought they'd win out in the moderate, independent-minded state, but to their chagrin, they lost again. [Yahoo News]

Four More Bodies Found
Straight out of a horror film, authorities have found additional bodies and a skull wrapped in paper at the home of convicted rapist Anthony Sowell. Authorities originally identified the decomposing bodies of six black women in the home--all but one strangulated to death. Yesterday, they found four more bodies buried in his backyard. [USA Today]

Atlanta Candidates Set to Run Again
In Atlanta, Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood will have one more round of elections on Dec. 1. Norwood led comfortably throughout election night but was unable to gain the 50 percent support needed to win the race. Reed was a strong second at 37 percent. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

More News Blast

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NJ, VA and More Election Results: Democrats Take it on the Chin

Madison J. Gray — 2009-11-04T09:41:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama

Exactly a year ago, we were jumping up and down with excitement that we had elected the first African American president. Not only that, the Republicans had their butts whipped during the congressional races. All was right with the world: Bush was on his way out and Reagan was finally dead.

Not so fast: The empire strikes back (cue John Williams' 'Imperial March').

Last night, voters in two major population centers, important ones for Democrats, rejected Democratic candidates in favor of the Republican lower-taxes-smaller-government rhetoric that never comes to fruition.

Gov. John Corzine waged a major battle in New Jersey, but high debt and taxes persuaded voters to kick him to the curb for Republican challenger Chris Christie (pictured above), despite the fact that Corzine's GOP predecessor, Christie Whitman, put the party in the doghouse in the first place. Meanwhile in Virginia, Republican front runner Robert McDonnell took the governor's office back from the Democrats after beating R. Creigh Deeds.

Now the GOP is hitting the airwaves, claiming that Republicans shot back at President Obama, and that his agenda and the 2010 congressional races are all in jeopardy. FOX News will probably declare America a right-wing theocracy and order the sterilization of all minorities. But the truth is, the right wing didn't take anything back. The Republican wins were the result of a lag in voter turnout.

Last year in the presidential election, President Obama took 1.9 million votes in Virginia. This year, McDonnell won the governorship with 1.1 million votes. Similarly, 2.2 million people voted for Obama in New Jersey last year, but last night, just over a million people voted for Corzine. So when you do the math, there was a significant drop in these two important governor's races.

The Democrats failed to convince voters to go to the polls and get behind them. But it's not the end of the world for Obama. He's there for at least three more years. The rest of the Democratic Party, though, needs to do everything, and I mean everything, it can to make sure Democratic voters get their butts in gear next November, because rest assured, these guys now think that GOP grandbabymomma Sarah Palin is a shoo-in for the 2012 presidential election.

Meanwhile, in municipal elections, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg just edged past challenger Bill Thompson for a third term. This was one most of us could have predicted, but I'm glad the race ended as tightly as it did with Bloomberg taking only 51 percent of the vote. The reason it was so close is because New Yorkers resented the billionaire-turned-politician usurping rule of law and circumventing the city's election term limits to run again. That set a bad precedent and could mean future politicians would trample all over voters' rights.

So congratulations, New Yorkers, for sending the message that no politician is bigger than democracy itself!

In Detroit, another rich guy-turned-politician, Dave Bing, had no problem defeating challenger Tom Barrow, who has run for mayor like 6 million times and never even came close. Bing, who is an NBA Hall-of-Famer and founder of Bing Steel, has his work cut out for him, though. The city is still running millions in debt, is facing very tough municipal cuts and dealing with an unemployment rate of between 23 and 35 percent, depending on who's counting.

But there is one silver lining for the Motor City (which I still like to refer to as "the crib"): Voters there also passed a referendum in which city council members will be elected by district rather than at-large. On the sneak tip, that is the first time in more than a century the city legislature has had this structure, and it is guaranteed to change the political landscape more than any Detroiter currently realizes.

Also, Detroit has elected its first openly gay city council president, former television journalist Charles Pugh. This says a lot about a town whose culture is weaved with churches, whose leaders preach fiery homophobic rhetoric. Perhaps "the D," with all it has been through over the past few years, is changing the way it thinks and will turn out to be the Renaissance City after all.

Finally, in a Buckhead vs. Bankhead nail-biter, Atlanta will have to wait another month to find out whether city councilwoman Mary Norwood or ex-state lawmaker Kasim Reed will become mayor. A win for Norwood would mark the first time the city would be run by a white mayor since before Maynard Jackson's election in 1973. To many it would also symbolically end a near-four-decade run of African American power, which transformed the city and arguably the surrounding southern United States.

And so ends the second act in a political opera filled with thrills and turns and romance and spaceships and droids. The next act comes next year, featuring Ewoks and Billy Dee Williams. Oh yeah, then there's the stupid prequels and stuff.

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Leo Frank, 96-Year-Old Lynching Still Relevant Today

Jeff Mays — 2009-11-03T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News

There are so many lessons to be taken from the story of Leo Frank: Good things don't happen when people stand by silently while injustice is committed; racism and xenophobia only lead to death and destruction; and facing our past is vital for a brighter future.

Frank was the Jewish manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta in 1913 when a 13-year-old girl named Mary Phagan was found raped and murdered in the basement. A black janitor, named Jim Conley, became the main witness against Frank. Evidence was not properly preserved or examined, and some pointed the finger at Conley, who the politically ambitious prosecutor said couldn't have done it because he wasn't bright enough to think up the scheme.

Frank was convicted and sentenced to death. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court but was denied. The governor, at the time, commuted Frank's death sentence to life in prison with the hope that the truth would come out. It was a decision that wrecked his political career.

Angry at the commutation, a gang of "respected" community leaders, including a former governor, a former mayor and a U.S. senator's son, abducted Frank from prison without resistance and lynched him. It is the only known case of a Jewish person being lynched on U.S. soil.

According to CNN, which recently aired a report on this intriguing case:

Considered one of the most sensational trials of the early 20th century, the Frank case seemed to press every hot-button issue of the time: North vs. South, black vs. white, Jew vs. Christian, industrial vs. agrarian.

Frank's lynching left Georgia's small Jewish community frightened. Many left the state; those who stayed kept a low profile. For decades, they only spoke of Frank in hushed tones. ...Georgia Jews remained quiet, so did those who were involved in Frank's killing, said Steve Oney of Los Angeles, California, who wrote the authoritative book 'And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank.' It would be about 80 years before members of the lynching party were publicly, and not just secretly, known.

Members of Phagan's and Frank's family also tried to deeply bury this secret.

"The story goes that no one in my family talked about it," Cathee Smithline, a 62-year-old great-niece of Frank, told CNN.

Over the years, there have been several books written and movies made about the incident. Now, the CNN report is shedding new light on the case.

What lessons can we apply today from this almost-100-year-old story? First, we must not let xenophobia and racism continue to grow in this country. During last year's presidential elections, some Americans believed President Obama was a Muslim (he's Christian). The accusation was hurled as if it were some sort of slur.

Frank was a northern Jewish man in the Deep South. Although he was a white man, he was different. Because he was different, that made him suspect.

The prosecutor was also so racist that he failed to think a black man was smart enough to commit such a crime and successfully cover it up. Talk about adding insult to injury. Usually, if a black man so much as looked at a white woman the wrong way back then it could end in a lynching. Depending on who you asked, Conley was being defined as unintelligent or a murderer. That was the extent of the expectations for a black man in the Deep South in 1913.

The second lesson is that we must all stand up against injustice and not wait on the so-called high and mighty to handle things. In Frank's case, and that of the thousands of black men who became strange fruit, the most respected members of society were the ones doing the lynching.

Fortunately, today, the work of organizations such as the Innocence Project are dedicated to helping the wrongly convicted. So far, the group has used DNA evidence to clear 245 men of crimes that landed them in jail for a significant amount of their lives. Seventy percent of those cleared are people of color, and I bet the overwhelming majority were poor. No one believed these people when they proclaimed their innocence, and a lack of money for a good lawyer and testing helped doom them to conviction.

Finally, in order to learn anything from these sort of incidents, people have to first know about them. It is our job to pass these stories along and discuss them in frank and open terms. Roy Barnes, the former governor of Georgia whose grandfather-in-law was one of the 25 men who helped lynched Frank, put it best:

"It's a terrible blot on our history," he told CNN. "How we keep it from happening again is to never forget."

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NJ Governor Race: Garden State Election Crucial for Obama

Paul Shepard — 2009-11-03T16:34:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama

New Jersey may be best known as rocker Bruce Springsteen's home state, but the Garden State's gubernatorial election is critical for President Barack Obama.

In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie has been running neck and neck with Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine (pictured above), the former Wall Street executive who has pumped $23 million of his own money into his campaign.

But while Corzine is using personal funds, he's relied on President Obama for personal juice. The president has told New Jersey voters that reelecting Corzine will help him implement his agenda during the rest of his term.

A rejection of Corzine would be viewed, in some part, as a rejection of Obama's agenda. That would be troublesome for the president, who has remained popular in the state.

The president has made several visits to New Jersey during the election season on behalf of Corzine. But evidence of the race's significance was brought home during a call earlier this week to my mother who lives in the northern New Jersey town of Teaneck. She was the proud recipient of not one but two "robocalls" from President Obama begging her to vote for Corzine.

In Virginia, another hotly contested governor's race pits Democrat Creigh Deeds against Republican Bob McDonnell and has also made headlines as a possible measure of Obama's popularity this election season.

Virginia, though, is a traditionally Republican-leaning state, and McDonnell has enjoyed a large lead most of the election season, so a loss there is perceived as less harmful to Obama.

The story is different in New Jersey, though, where Corzine enjoys the power of incumbency as well as the presence of third-party challenger Chris Daggett, who is believed to be taking some votes from Christie.

A Corzine loss in Jersey could well equal an Obama loss nationwide.

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Barack Obama: One Year Later, Off to a Good Start

Jeff Mays — 2009-11-03T15:05:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Health Care Debate

'Saturday Night Live' joked recently that President Barack Obama hadn't accomplished anything during his nearly one year in office.

"It's very clear what I've done so far, and that is nothing. Nada. Almost one year and nothing to show for it," said Fred Armisen, the comedian portraying the president.

A screen with several of the country's most pressing issues flashed in the background with "yes" and "no" check boxes next to the issue. On everything from closing Guantanamo Bay to getting out of Iraq to improving Afghanistan and health care reform, the "no" box was checked.

"Looking at this list, I'm seeing two big accomplishments: jack and squat," Armisen said to audience laughter.

I chuckled at the line, too, but clearly there are some people in this country who think that skit is true.

"I'm afraid I wasn't realistic," Pauline McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, told the New York Times in an article today about how some Iowa voters who supported President Obama in the important caucuses are now disappointed.

"I really thought there would be immediate change. ... Sometimes the Republicans are just as bad as Democrats. But it's politics as usual, and that's what I voted against."

It has been nearly one year since President Obama won election and there are still several intractable issues that he is dealing with. To say that he has not lived up to his promises so far, though, is no laughing matter.With a full two months to go until the one-year anniversary of his swearing in, Obama has made big leaps. He has appointed the first Latino Supreme Court justice, signed legislation that guarantees women equal pay and improved health care access for children.

"If we stopped today, this legislative session would have been one of the most productive in a generation -- if we just stopped. But we didn't want to stop," Obama said recently.

The main problem is that President Obama had impossibly high expectations and has faced increasingly hostile Republican opposition based more on politics than the good of the country. It is resistance for the sake of resistance.

"In terms of comparing the quality of any recent candidates for president, you'd have to go back to JFK to find anyone who has inspired the same level of awe," David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that focuses on issues affecting African Americans and people of color, told AOL Black Voices in an interview. "This is a person who has a great capacity to learn, understand and grow."

Given that awe, even some of the people who supported Obama are upset that more hasn't been accomplished. However, if you look at the issues that Obama has tackled, it's clear that he has made some progress.

One of those issues is the economy: President Obama managed to get a huge $787 billion stimulus bill passed at one of the worst times in this country's economic history.

"When he took office, the economy was the worst that it had been in 90 years. This wasn't just a downturn, but the worst downturn since the Great Depression," said Bositis. "With little help from Republicans, Obama got a big stimulus bill passed and put programs in place that are helping the economy."

I'm not totally pleased with the health care bills being bounced around Congress because the public option seems like it is teetering or will be watered down at best. If we look at the situation objectively, Obama has made more progress than any president in recent memory. Former President Bill Clinton failed at his attempts to reform our nation's health care system. Obama, though, has managed to turn the tide in his favor although it has been very ugly so far.

"He is making progress on health care reform, and there is a better than 50 percent chance that a bill will pass. No president has been able to do that in 50 years," said Bositis.

Most importantly, said Bositis, is that President Obama has been able to maintain public support while tackling difficult issues.

President Obama has received criticism from the right and left for not moving quickly enough on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The right wants him to send more troops to Afghanistan as quickly as possible, and the left wanted a complete withdrawal from Iraq by Jan. 21. President Obama has wisely decided that neither is a smart move.

But unlike his predecessor, who created the military morass that we are in, Obama has been able to maintain the public's confidence in his ability to govern and make the right decisions.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 53 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing. That's down from a high of more than 60 percent, but it shows the confidence in President Obama's ability to make good decisions. By the end of his term, even strong Bush supporters had abandoned any pretense that he was capable of making the right decisions.

One area where Obama might have done better is on issues affecting the gay community, said Bositis. President Obama has pledged to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military and has the support to do so but hasn't. He also hasn't moved on gay marriage and hasn't made much progress on immigration reform.

"Given his astounding victory, they thought he would just do it. Their attitude is: Either you're with us or against us. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem," said Bositis. "The problem is that he can't take his eyes off the ball on certain issues right now."

The economy is something that could not wait. Health care reform is probably one of the most important elements related to this country's long-term economic success. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also pressing. I think watchers on gay rights issues and immigration should continue to push the president to address his commitments quickly but in a constructive way.

Obama recently reiterated his plans to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." That was his way of saying, "Give me a minute. I just got here." He recently ended the travel and immigration ban for those with HIV/AIDS, and asylum may be opened for those fleeing spousal abuse. Let's keep the heat on President Obama, but not in a FOX-News-tea-party sort of way that hurts public discourse.

"After eight years of Bush, people want to see real progress. They want to see movement and action, or it gives them a sense of anxiety. Is he selling out or is he weak, they might ask," Bositis said.

It's always best to keep the pressure on politicians, lest they forget their promises. Let's see what's happening with Guantanamo or "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" 24 months after Obama's victory. For those feeling a little nervous, check out the 'Saturday Night Live' spoof and laugh away your anxiety.

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Competing Health Care Proposals in the House

Paul Shepard — 2009-11-03T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Health Care Debate

Call them the "dueling health care proposals" in the House.

In response to the Democrats' massive 1,990-page bill, designed to bring health care coverage to millions of uncovered Americans unveiled last week, House Republicans have drafted their own health care reform bill, which seems to protect the interests of big insurance companies more than the Democratic version.

Republicans standing up for big business: Big surprise!

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he expected to have the Democratic bill on the floor Friday or Saturday and would allow Republicans the opportunity to offer their alternative health care reform bill as an amendment to the Democratic measure.

The health care legislation is President Barack Obama's top legislative priority to reduce costs while increasing the number of Americans getting health coverage.

The Democratic bill is more sweeping in its changes and focuses on expanding coverage while requiring people to buy insurance with the aid of government payments, while the Republican bill is focused on lowering costs and doesn't require people to buy insurance.

Another difference between the bills is that the Democratic version prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, while the Republican version would allow insurers to continue denying coverage to some.

In another Republican provision that favors insurers, the GOP bill caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.

The Republican draft stands in stark contrast to the type of change President Obama has asked for in pushing health care reform. Luckily, Democrats enjoy a huge voting advantage in the House, so the Republican alternative should get a hearing by the lawmakers -- and little more.

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NY 1's Dominic Carter Off the Air

Boyce Watkins, PhD — 2009-11-03T12:03:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Opinion, Politics

The troubles of Dominic Carter, a prominent anchorman for New York 1 in New York City, seem to be getting larger by the second. After being charged with domestic violence for allegedly abusing his wife, Carter was fired by New York 1 after it was reported in the New York Daily News that he attempted to name-drop his way out of trouble.

According to the Daily News, Carter mentioned his relationship with New York's big shots, including Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, to persuade a judge to bury his domestic violence charge. Bad move, my friend.

Dominic Carter's situation brings several thoughts to mind, some in his favor, some not:

1) You fired him based on what you read in the New York Daily News? This firing reminds me of the unjust removal of Dr. Marc Lamont Hill from FOX News. In both cases, there does not appear to have been a hearing to determine if the allegations were true. There also does not appear to have been any attempt to understand the perspective of the journalists involved -- just a unilateral decision to undermine a professional's ability to feed his family. This is wrong, not because Carter is innocent (I have no idea), but because journalistic integrity demands that New York 1 do its homework. By firing Carter on the spot as a result of an article in another media outlet, New York 1 executives are showing the same lack of professionalism that they are accusing Carter of. Other reporters working for New York 1 should be put on notice regarding Carter's treatment and the lack of loyalty shown by their employer.

2) With Carter's wife, which story is it? According to media reports, Carter's wife, Marilyn, is now saying that she lied about being attacked by her husband. Now, most of us are smart enough to know that she might be lying about lying. There are thousands of cases in which abused women will lie their way in to a casket, protecting a man who eventually hurts them even worse than he did before. There is also the possibility, though, that she is telling the truth about lying the first time, since there are also women who will use domestic violence fairy tales to exact revenge on their lover. What is clear is that Marilyn Carter has undermined her own credibility by either lying now or lying in the past. Either way, she is a liar. If that's the case, then I am not sure Carter deserves to be fired or have his named dragged through the mud. We should find out the facts first.

3) What if Carter really is beating his wife? If Carter was indeed physically abusing his wife, then I have no respect for him. A man should never put his hands on a woman. It is my greatest hope that he has not allowed something as ridiculous as domestic violence to ruin an otherwise brilliant career in media. Similarly, love is quite complicated and situations can escalate out of control. When a relationship gets to the point of being violent, though, somebody needs to get the heck out.

4) What can we all learn from this? The first lesson is that irresponsible behavior always catches up with you. This is not to say that Carter should be a perfect man, but the truth is that if he is engaged in spousal abuse, there is simply no excuse for exhibiting such cowardly behavior. Second, if he found himself attempting to name-drop his way out of the same justice system that we all must endure, then he is no better than other unethical individuals who feel above the law. We must also remember, however, that we all make mistakes, and those mistakes get magnified for those on the largest stage. If Carter has a problem with domestic violence, I encourage him to get the help that he needs.

New York 1 should have displayed a bit more sympathy toward Carter's situation, if not a bit more loyalty. I am not sure if Carter's disrespectful treatment was due to his race, but I find it ironic that Rush Limbaugh can get addicted to drugs, Don Imus can refer to black women as "nappy headed hoes" and commentator Marv Albert can make a comeback after being charged with really freaky sexual assault. I'd be hopeful that a little name dropping would not be considered appropriate justification for ruining the career of a hard-working journalist. A commitment to journalistic integrity requires that you go deeper than an article in the New York Daily News before handing down such a harsh decision. To use the misguided words of President Obama (who also made a mistake by speaking strongly on an issue that he was not yet prepared to address), New York 1 "acted stupidly" in the dismissal of Dominic Carter. There's not much more to say than that.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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Atlanta Poised to Elect First White Mayor in 36 years: Polls

Carmen Dixon — 2009-11-02T15:55:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics

You'd expect Atlanta's leading mayoral candidate, Mary Norwood, to employ Barack Obama's campaign themes of "hope and change" to sway a largely democratic electorate. It appears to be working, as polls show Norwood's lead is solid.

But the fact that Norwood is white, running as an Independent and still leading has brought national attention to this race. Norwood's numbers reflect a city once abandoned by affluent whites undergoing a demographic shift. And the way this race is playing out has some members of Atlanta's black Democratic party political establishment feeling marginalized.

In a race testing racial harmony in Georgia's largest city, some veteran black power brokers say their hold on power is being undercut by their past successes running the city.

"We haven't always gotten the credit for that, no," said former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who oversaw the early days of the city's rebirth during the 1980s. "I brought in 1,100 companies from around the world -- $70 billion in private investment -- and generated more than a million new jobs. "But most people think that's automatic, that that would have happened anyway," he said with a laugh.

Black mayors have occupied city hall since 1973, but this year, a white city council member is leading in the polls, even though two black civic leaders urged black voters to unite against her. Source: White candidate scrambles vote, attitudes in Atlanta Race - Washington Times

But how much of a factor is race in this mayoral contest? No polls have pinned it down yet. But it would be naive to suppose that race is not a factor at all.

The Survey USA poll found Mrs. Norwood leading by a 6-to-1 margin among whites, Republicans and Independents. Mr. (Kasim) Reed, who has been endorsed by Mr. (Andrew)Young, leads among blacks, who made up 59 percent of the electorate in Survey USA's turnout model.

And in a major break with past elections, a separate Insider Advantage poll on Oct. 16 reported that Norwood was even leading among the city's black voters, with nearly one-third supporting her. Source: Washington Times

According to Atlanta political insiders, no one is sure about tomorrow's outcome.

What say YOU?

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