BV Black Spin

Young Mom's Body Found in Bed Frame of a Hotel Room

Boyce Watkins, PhD — 2010-03-20T09:15:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Sony Millbrook was a mother of five children. Her body was found stuffed in a hotel room bed frame, where she and her children were staying. The hotel was a Budget Lodge in Mason, Tennessee. Her child's father, LaKeith Moody, was also staying with her at the time of her disappearance.

Millbrook's family reported the young woman missing on January 27th, when she didn't pick her children up from school

"On that day, the hotel locked the room out because of lack of payment," Major Joe Scott with the Memphis Police Department said.

After locking the room, the hotel staff put Millbrook's belongings in storage and cleaned the room. All the while, her body was under a bed in room 222 as a total of five different guests stayed in the room before the body was found.

"Hotel staff reported to management there's something wrong in this room," said Scott, but it was obviously ignored.

As in many such cases, eyes of suspicion were placed on the father of Millbrook's children, who was under an order of protection to stay away from her. The father, Moody, was missing for a few weeks during Millbrook's disappearance until he was arrested for driving Millbrook's car.

"He had recently gotten out of jail and was staying with her at the Budget Lodge," Scott said.

Moody is the only person of interest in the case thus far, and was one of the last to see Millbrook before her disappearance. He is currently in jail on an unrelated warrant, accused of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.

The saddest part of the story about Sony Millbrook is that her children no longer have their mother. They are going to be scarred for life over an incident that might have been avoided. I am not sure of the nature of Millbrook's relationship with Moody, but there is a good chance that it was a violent one.

According to HelpGuide.org, here are some signs that you might be in an abusive relationship:
Does your partner:

Have a bad and unpredictable temper?

Hurt you, or threaten to hurt or kill you?

Threaten to take your children away or harm them?

Threaten to commit suicide if you leave?

Force you to have sex?

Destroy your belongings?

If you find yourself on the receiving end of abusive behavior, don't tolerate it any further. Get the help you need. The domestic violence hot line is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Also, here are some quick tips on getting out of an abusive relationship:

1) Call for help: Call 911 if you feel you are in danger. Wait until your partner leaves for several hours and then hire movers or find friends to help you get out. Request police presence if necessary.

2) Don't tell your partner where you are staying: If you feel that your partner might be prone to violence, then you may want to consider staying at a domestic violence shelter.

3) Tell your friends and family: If your receptionist knows what's going on, he/she can divert calls your partner may make to your job. Your best friend can keep you busy on the weekends. Your mother can invite you to dinner on your anniversary to help take your mind off things.

4) Stay away from your partner: You may still love the person you're leaving, but you've got to realize that love shouldn't hurt. The more you communicate, the more you open the doors for attachment and poor decisions.

5) Document the abuse: If you have hospital records, 911 calls, witnesses and specific dates and times, this can help you in divorce or custody proceedings. Remember: others may not believe your stories of abuse, so you have to make sure there's evidence.

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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What Are Your Urban Legends?

Jam Donaldson — 2010-03-19T12:29:00+00:00

In this day of the Internet, we are used to elaborate rumors, scams and misinformation that spread across the world instantly with the click of a mouse.

In the course of a day you will hear that Kelly Rowland is Matthew Knowles' daughter, Ciara is really a man or (insert any rapper here) is broke.

But remember when we were growing up? Forget the Internet, we had our own BNN.

Rumors, gossip and innuendo were spread through stories on the playground or on three-way calls with your friends. We were all so certain they were absolutely true.

The most outlandish of statements was usually followed by "it's true, it was on '60 Minutes,'" "it was on 'Oprah'" or "it was on 20/20." And although you never knew of anyone who actually SAW anything on one of these shows, you were officially convinced and went on to spread the story further. I was reminiscing with a friend about some of the urban urban legends that existed back in the day and had great laugh.

With the help of some friends, I compiled this list and you can add your own. Enjoy.

Doug E. Fresh was a devil worshipper. Evidence: ("Six minutes, six minutes, Six Minutes) (Oh my God, Is it real?)

TROOP jackets were made by a White Supremacist Group and TROOP stood for True Rulers Of Oppressed People.

Snapple was designed to make black men sterile.

McDonald's added crack to the French fries so you would become addicted.

Depending on the day, Liz Claiborne or Tommy Hilfiger or Calvin Klein appeared on "Oprah" and said they didn't make clothes for black people. In one particularly detailed version of the story, Oprah immediately leaves the stage to change her clothes, because she was wearing clothes made by that designer.

Those Crown Air Fresheners people used to have in their cars were made by the Grand Wizard of the KKK. Or alternatively, they were owned by the Latin Kings gang, and if you had one in your car, you would be shot by angry gangsters.

Big Daddy Kane died of AIDS.

Night Doctors were doctors that killed black men. If you went in to their office, you would never come out. Their victims were deliberately murdered, so that their sexual organs could be used to manufacture aphrodisiacs. (This dates back to slavery and is speculated to be at the root of many black folks' fear of doctors.)

"The Matrix" was written by a black woman, Sophia Stewart, who then sued and won her case.

The King Alfred Plan was a CIA-led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent. It dictated cordoning off black people in to concentration camps in the event of a major racial incident.

If you flash your high beams at a car when their lights are off, you will be shot. This is part of a gang initiation.

What are YOUR Urban Urban Legends?

peace people.

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Health Care Vote: John Boccieri Will Vote for Health Care

Paul Shepard — 2010-03-19T11:23:00+00:00

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

With a historic vote to remake the nation's health care landscape planned for Sunday, it appears President Barack Obama is inching closer to a victory on the most important initiative of his young presidency.

On Friday, Rep. John Boccieri (pictured above), an Ohio Democrat, became the latest House member to switch his vote in favor of the 10-year, $940-billion legislation that will bring health care coverage to 30-million uncovered Americans.

So after more than a year of partisan wrangling, deal-making, name-calling and bare-knuckle politicking, President Obama and House Democrats are on the verge of a major victory for health care reform.

Boccieri said in a press conference on Capitol Hill that while the legislation isn't perfect, the 39,000 people in his Canton-area district who don't have health insurance deserve coverage.

Boccieri's vote switch follows that of two other Democratic House members, Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee and Betsy Markey of Colorado, who also announced they will vote for the package Sunday, after voting against the earlier version in November.

With Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich already stating his intention to vote in support of the proposal, it is clear that for the first time in months, with other Democrats positioned to change their earlier no votes, momentum on Capitol Hill is moving in favor of Obama and passage of the bill.

This is good news for America:

The final version of the health care overhaul bill will reduce federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which is non-partisan.

It will provide coverage to 32-million uninsured Americans and expand Medicaid insurance for the poor.

The bottom line is that while the legislation isn't perfect, it is better than doing nothing, which is what Republicans have wanted all along in opposing the bill.

President Obama has negotiated in good faith throughout the process. In fact, his efforts to make the bill more palatable to the GOP by removing the "public option" nearly cost him the liberal Democratic support he needs for passage.

If this process has shown us anything, it is that nothing is certain until the final votes are counted, but the changes of President Obama getting the 216 votes he needs on Sunday now look good.

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9- and- 11-Year-Old Siblings Deliver Mom's Baby

Ruth Manuel-Logan — 2010-03-19T10:13:00+00:00

Filed under: News

When Alana Sanders, 36, suddenly went in to labor while standing in her bathroom at her Fremont, Calif., home, she had only her children Jabari, 9, and his sister Faith, 11, to help her. ... And help they did! The precocious duo didn't freak out at the sight of blood, they kept calm and relied on 911 to guide them through the process.

"My mom started screaming and then she started bleeding all over her body and then the baby came, so I called 9-1-1 for an ambulance," Jabari said yesterday. "Then my sister told my mom to lie down."

According to Faith, the 911 dispatcher instructed her on exactly what to do in order to help her mom with the delivery. After mom Alana gave birth, the dispatcher told the young child to tie a piece of yarn or string around the umbilical cord six inches from the baby's body, and she did so precisely. Faith did not even get squeamish when she also had to wipe the baby off with a clean towel.

Proud Dad Geoffrey, 35, who was at work when his wife gave birth unexpectantly says that he is very proud of his children. He also says that the kids are "much brighter than their age." Their other daughter, 2-year-old Janelle, was also not home at the time.

Alana was really taken aback by the fact that her children did not fight once during what had to be a scary ordeal for them.

The 911 dispatcher praised the brave pint-sized team for a job well done as the paramedics arrived.

The kids, on the other hand, thought the experience was pretty awesome. "Usually nothing happens every day," Faith said. "It's the same-old, same-old." Her brother Jabari thought the delivery was "cool and weird."

Alana is just grateful that her healthy 9 pound, 4 ounce baby boy Joseph was delivered safely and that her amazing children were present to lend a much-needed hand.

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News Blast: Bob Johnson Hands Bobcats to Jordan, Man Proposes to Girlfriend on NJ Transit Bus

Abena Agyeman-Fisher — 2010-03-19T09:53:00+00:00

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

Bob Johnson Hands Bobcats to Jordan
On Wednesday, the rest of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcat owners approved Michael Jordan's ownership of the team, making Jordan the first former-NBA player to own a basketball team. Jordan purchased the team for $275 million from Bob Johnson, the first African American to be majority owner of a NBA team. Yesterday night, Johnson handed the team over to Jordan in a ceremony that was open to the public. Afterward, Jordan fielded questions, regarding his new ownership and how he plans to steer the Bobcats on to a path of success. The Bobcats are ranked 22nd out of 30 teams in attendance and are known for their poor performances. Jordan, of course, plans to turn all of that around. [NBA.com]

Toni Morrison Apart of Upcoming Literary Event
Toni Morrison will be among the writers featured at the sixth annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City. Other writers featured are Salman Rushdie, Richard Price and Sherman Alexie. Writers will read and discuss their work from April 26th to May 2nd. [CBS News]

Two More Democrats Pledge Support to Health Care Overhaul
President Barack Obama may finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief after the health care vote takes place on Sunday. Till then, though, the President has been giving a number of speeches throughout the country, shoring up support from both the public and Congressional Democrats. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and first-term Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo. are the latest Democrats to pledge their support to the cause, solidifying the goal of passing health care reform this weekend. [AP]

Man Proposes to Girlfriend on NJ Transit Bus
On Thursday, a college student proposed to his girlfriend, also a student, on a NJ Transit bus parked at Port Authority in N.Y. Adam Frohlinger said he chose the bus, adorned with flowers and decorations, for his proposal, because he knew fiancee Leora Feigenbaum would never expect it. The couple are planning an August wedding. [Washington Post]

More News Blasts

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Haiti Debt on the Verge of being Canceled

Carmen Dixon — 2010-03-19T09:35:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics

When Pat Robertson claimed that Haiti's tumultuous history was the result of "a pact with the Devil" long ago, he was right in a way. Following history's only slave revolt that resulted in the liberation of a nation, Haiti accepted a deal with France to pay "an odious" tax in exchange for her continued "freedom." Was France the "Devil" Robertson was speaking of?

More than two decades after rebellious former slaves vanquished troops from Napoleon's army here in 1803, France's King Charles X made the fledgling republic of Haiti an offer it couldn't refuse.

In 1825, as the king's warships cruised just over the horizon from the Haitian capital, a French emissary demanded 150 million gold francs in exchange for recognizing the new republic.
The implicit alternative was invasion and re-enslavement.

It was a huge sum, about five times Haiti's annual export revenue. Haiti's then-president reluctantly agreed, taking on a crushing debt. Source: Impoverished Haiti pins hopes for future on a very old debt, WSJ via 'Odious Debts'

Finally, Haiti may be poised to resolve it's crippling international debt.

The Obama administration says it is near an agreement with other nations to cancel the $447 million that Haiti owes to the Inter-American Development Bank.

Treasury Department officials said Thursday that a deal would likely be struck this weekend to cancel Haiti's debt to the bank, which serves as a major source of development loans for Latin America and the Caribbean.

One of the Treasury officials who briefed reporters Thursday said that the administration is working for an agreement at IADB meetings that would not only cancel Haiti's IADB debt but would also to lead to Haiti receiving grants from the bank that would not have to be repaid. Source: Obama administration says near deal on Haiti debt, AP

Haiti estimates that it will need $11.5 billion to rebuild. This $447-million debt cancellation and the $450 million pledged by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, following the earthquake, would be a step in the right direction. International donors recently pledged an additional $3.8 billion dollars over 18 months.

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The Rev. Al Sharpton is Becoming Obama White House Insider

Ericka Blount Danois — 2010-03-18T16:32:00+00:00

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

There has been much reported on the disagreement between Tavis Smiley and The Rev. Al Sharpton about whether the White House should adopt a "black agenda," and focus on issues that specifically address the Black community.

President Obama has turned to Sharpton in recent weeks to answer increasingly public criticism in the Black community over his economic policies and subtle approach to addressing race. Sharpton has been to the White House five times since Obama took office, most recently this month as part of a small group meeting with economics advisor Lawrence Summers.

There are signs that Sharpton will play a role in mobilizing the black community in this fall's midterm elections. According to the Wall Street Journal, Democratic National Committee Chairman, Timothy Kaine, conferred with Sharpton about going to black churches and neighborhoods to mobilize voters.

There has been criticism of Sharpton's "relationship," with the White House, most predictably by conservatives, but also by some Black leaders who resent Sharpton being annointed as representation for the whole of the black community by some. White House officials demur, saying that Sharpton is one of "many leaders we continue to speak with on the issues of the day."

Professor Cornel West said in an interview that Sharpton risked becoming a "symbolic insider," whose views would be trumped by White House support for economic policies geared toward boosting Wall Street and away from Sharpton's grassroots constituency.

But Sharpton has been broadening his horizons, so to speak, most clearly symbolized by his work with uber-conservative Newt Gingrich. He and Gingrich toured schools in several cities last year with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to promote programs to close the racial achievement gap.

Why should White House conversations with anyone about issues affecting the Black community be an issue?

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Cory Booker and Newark Respond to Conan O'Brien with Major Drug Arrest

Boyce Watkins, PhD — 2010-03-18T14:54:00+00:00

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

Last year, comedian Conan O'Brien got into an interesting and fun back and forth with Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker. In one of his funniest jabs at the mayor, O'Brien stated that Booker's health care plan for Newark residents was a bus ticket out of the city.

Well, Booker might be getting the last laugh, as the mayor has been credited for working hard to clean out the city. Booker's police force has made 149 drug-related arrests this year, capped off with an arrest of 28 people Monday morning. The latest in this sequence of events was the end of a six-month investigation, where seven guns and $15,000 dollars in cash were confiscated. There were also $28,000 dollars worth of drugs at the scene.

Conan didn't mean harm with his jokes about Newark, and he ended his string of laughs by donating $100,000 dollars to the city. Good for him and good for Booker. I was impressed with the fact that Booker took O'Brien's jokes so well and made the most out of the situation. He showed more humor and humanity than most politicians.

On a more serious note, many of us are well-aware that Newark, New Jersey is considered one of the most dangerous cities in America. This fact was highlighted with the execution-style slayings of three youth on their way to college back in 2007. Obviously, drug sales are a driving force behind the crime in this community, as in many other cities across America.

It is my hope that rather than attempting to gain positive headlines for arresting scores of black youth, Booker and his team are really working to find the source of the drug problem in Newark. My father was in law enforcement, and one thing I couldn't help but notice was that there was typically a great deal of wheel churning on drug arrests. The goal was to simply incarcerate citizens, without having the courage to make major arrests to stop the flow of drugs into the city. When it comes to stopping drug sales, a high quantity of arrests will get the headlines, but it's the quality that matters. I hope Booker's administration is arresting the right people.

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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Jobs Bill Won't Help Blacks

Jeff Mays — 2010-03-18T13:34:00+00:00

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

Black folks won't benefit from a just-passed $18 billion jobs bill, says Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland.

Because the bill largely consists of tax breaks for small businesses, Cummings said African-Americans won't be affected.

"The problem in the African-American community I don't think will be helped a lot by that bill," Cummings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.

According to The Hill:

The main provision of the bill is a new tax break for small businesses that hire new workers. The measure provides $13 billion to fund the tax break, which exempts small firms from paying the Social Security payroll tax on each new worker and also provides a small firm with a $1,000 tax credit for each new worker who stays on for a year. "We have found a way to hire workers, help businesses that hire them with tax cuts and keep it budget-neutral," said to New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer .

Cummings is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. The group of black legislators has accused President Obama of ignoring the needs of African Americans, 98 percent of whom support the president according to some polls, especially when it comes to unemployment. The unemployment rate for African Americans was 15.8 percent compared to 9.7 percent nationally. The unemployment rate for Black men is17.8 percent with 1.4 million out of work. That is astronomical, sickening and probably much higher.

Cummings said he is still in favor of the bill but will be pushing hard for pending legislation that "focuses on impoverished communities and helps retrain workers," The Hill writes.

Cummings is both right and wrong.

Blacks will benefit if more businesses begin hiring. I'm sure African Americans will get some of those jobs that small businesses may offer because of the tax breaks.

Blacks also use the highways. The jobs legislation would allow states low cost federal bonds for highway construction and repair. Hopefully, we will be in line for at least a few of those jobs as well.

However, the CBC is right to keep the pressure on Obama about ways in which he can help African-Americans. President Obama has said that he can't push legislation just for Blacks because he is president of all Americans, but he can support legislation that addresses issues that largely affect African-Americans.

Let's be clear. If there was a piece of legislation that was needed to rectify a wrong done to African Americans or address an issue that was mainly affecting the Black community, Obama should support the change. The same could be said of a problem specific to any group of Americans.

As I wrote earlier, I'd rather that President Obama have a long list of accomplishments that helped African-Americans when he leaves office as opposed to a long list of bloviating speeches. Doesn't the African-American community get enough lip service?

Things like prison sentencing disparities predominately affect Black and Latinos but poor whites are probably also affected. The same thing applies with the retraining of workers. or health care reform. How many unemployed factory workers in Middle America need to find another skill because their car manufacturing jobs may never come back?

African-Americans have given away their support to politicians for too long. We should demand attention for those issues that affect us most. However, we aren't the only ones struggling with a lot of these issues. I wish more people in this country realized that.

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It's Good to be King: African Teen King Rules Over 2 Million Ugandans

Ruth Manuel-Logan — 2010-03-18T12:11:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Profiles

At the tender age of 17, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, (His name is quite a mouthful) is the youngest monarch in the world. The boy king rules over 2 million subjects in Tooro, one of Uganda's kingdoms.

King Oyo loves the Twilight book series and films, rap music, soccer, traditional dancing and hanging with his friends at school. He is just a regular kid who would like to be ordinary, but can't. In 1995, a crown was placed on his head a month after his father, King David Patrick Olimi Kaboyo II, died of a sudden heart attack at age 49. A year after the king's death, the then toddler was recoronated which resulted in days of celebrations. At one point, the child grew weary of his heavy lion-skin crown, snatched it off and ran crying into the arms of his mommy.

Since then, the young boy has navigated his royal duties with the help of his queen mother, Best Kemigisa, a prime minister, board of regents and a variety of parish councilmen. The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni and Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi are also on hand to give King Oyo advice on matters of the state. In the Toro kingdom, it is forbidden for women to take the royal reigns, so the queen mother and older sister were not even considered as possible replacements after the death of King Patrick.

At age eighteen, King Oyo will be the only one making the tough decisions and hopefully, he'll be able to meet any challenge head on. The six-foot-tall king tells CNN, "It's a huge responsibility," he says, "but I have a lot of support from my mother, my sister and others, so I know I can do it."

The Batooroo tribe makes up most of Toro's population. Historically, the poor region that makes up present day Uganda, had five kingdoms; Bunyoro, Ankole, Toro, Buganda and Busoga. The latter was created by the British colonial administration.

As king, the teen oversees fund-raising efforts for community education and health projects. He also spearheads cultural events. At the top of his busy agenda is managing the tax dollars given to his region by Uganda.

The 12th king of Tooro lives part time in a palace high on a hill in a rural area called Fort Portal. He has another palace that is located in the citified Ugandan capital of Kampala where he goes to school. Constantly surrounded by phalanx of security, the young boy loves the fact that his friends at school treat him as an equal.

At his other palace, King Oyo claims he hates seeing older people kissing his feet when he stands before them. He tells CNN, "I still find it a little uncomfortable when people bow, especially the older ones," says the king. "My friends at school (could not) care less that I'm a king. They like me for who I am, not for what I am. At times, I'll have things I want to do, but I can't just get up and do them like ordinary teenagers do," he says. "I can't always do what I want because I have obligations."

King Oyo has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders but there are many who feel his youthful enthusiasm could only take the country to greater heights. Ruhweza Remigious, 34, a carpenter who lives in a mud hut across from the palace in Fort Portal tells CNN: "Most Africans are led by older people who don't do anything. He is young and eager, and we hope he will give us a better life and modernize our infrastructures."

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States Rights' Advocates Look to Cripple Health Care Reform

Paul Shepard — 2010-03-18T11:07:00+00:00

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

It isn't even the law of the land yet. Health care reform, President Obama's most ambitious policy initiative since taking office, won't become law unless Congressional Democrats put aside their differences and support the legislation in a crucial vote later this week.

But that fact isn't stopping some individual states from preparing legal strategies to gut the effectiveness of Obama's health care reform package - just in case it becomes law.

In Idaho, Republican Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed a law that that forced the state's attorney general to sue the federal government for requiring people to buy health insurance.

Under the health care reform package, Americans will be required to purchase health insurance coverage.

The bad news for the president is that 37 other states, under the banner of protecting their states rights, are considering similar legislation that would significantly weaken the proposed health care reform legislation.

If you are over the age of 45, you have probably heard the term "states-rights" before and know what it means. And it should make us all a tiny bit little nervous.

The states rights banner was used by southern states to fight the Emancipation Proclamation.

And just think about the grainy, black and white film footage from the 1960's of little black children trying to go to school and black civil rights workers attempting to register to vote. And think about the local white officials standing in the school doorway barring the students from attending class or blasting the black voters with water hoses to keep them from registering to vote.

That was the states-rights argument in action.

The states-right argument was used by southern states opposed to civil rights legislation in the 1960's.

The lawmakers in Idaho and other states considering the anti-health care reform legislation can't be called racist like the states rights advocates of the 1960s. But they are just as short-sighted and misguided as their 1960's states rights counterparts.

They are willing to waste public money on a useless crusade against the federal government. Only the lawyers will get rich.

Luckily for us all, in virtually all cases, the sovereignty of the federal government and the laws it created crushed the states rights blather in the 1960s and federal civil rights legislation became the law of the land.

The same outcome is a certainty if states attempt to water down health care reform legislation with their own laws and regulations.

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Slimy Insurer Who Targeted HIV Patients Ordered to Pay $10 Million

Jam Donaldson — 2010-03-18T11:06:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights, Health Care Debate

Just when you think health insurance companies can't get any more shady, Fortis/Assurant Health drops a young man after he is diagnosed with HIV. I wonder what the teabaggers have to say about this?

According to Reuters:

In May, 2002, Jerome Mitchell, a 17-year old college freshman from rural South Carolina, learned he had contracted HIV. The news, of course, was devastating, but Mitchell believed that he had one thing going for him: On his own initiative, in anticipation of his first year in college, he had purchased his own health insurance.

Shortly after his diagnosis, however, his insurance company, Fortis, revoked his policy. Mitchell was told that without further treatment his HIV would become full-blown AIDS within a year or two and he would most likely die within two years after that.

But Fortis, now known as Assurant Health, ignored his attorney's letters, as they had earlier inquiries from a case worker at a local clinic who was helping him. So Mitchell sued. So he hired an attorney -- not because he wanted to sue anyone; on the contrary, the shy African-American teenager expected his insurance was canceled by mistake and would be reinstated once he set the company straight.

In September 2009, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the lower court's verdict, although the court reduced the amount to be paid him to $10 million. In 2004, a jury in Florence County, South Carolina, ordered Assurant Health, part of Assurant Inc, to pay Mitchell $15 million for wrongly revoking his health insurance policy.

By winning the verdict against Fortis, Mitchell not only obtained a measure of justice for himself; he also helped expose wrongdoing on the part of Fortis that could have repercussions for the entire health insurance industry.
Previously undisclosed records from Mitchell's case reveal that Fortis had a company policy of targeting policyholders with HIV. A computer program and algorithm targeted every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, as the company searched for any pretext to revoke their policy. As was the case with Mitchell, their insurance policies often were canceled on erroneous information, the flimsiest of evidence, or for no good reason at all, according to the court documents and interviews with state and federal investigators...

Read the full story here.

Kudos to this young man for not only being responsible and getting health insurance but for taking on the insurance industry and winning.

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Paterson's Staff Continues to Jump Ship

Paul Shepard — 2010-03-18T10:52:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama

Like rats jumping off a sinking ship, the press secretary of New York Gov. David Paterson became the latest top official in his administration to leave office.

It seems a day can't go by without Paterson's name making headlines for something other than running the state.

Press Secretary Marissa Shorenstein resigned saying she could not longer do her job effectively due to the recent scandal over whether Paterson improperly tried to protect one of his top aides, David Johnson, from a physical abuse charge brought by Johnson's ex-girlfriend Sherr-una Booker.

A published report said Shorenstein called the accuser at Paterson's instruction but wasn't able to contact her. She termed her call to the alleged victim "unwitting involvement" in the case and said she performed her duties professionally.

A special counsel is investigating whether anyone in the administration, including Paterson, improperly contacted the woman.

Shorenstein joins Paterson's deputy public safety secretary, his state police superintendent, and his communications director who have all quit in the past three weeks over the scandal.

Paterson is also facing ethics charges that he solicited free tickets to a New York Yankees World Series game.

While Paterson, who has denied wrongdoing, has already announced that he will take President Obama's advice and not run for election, one has to wonder if he will resign if aides continue to leave his side.

Public opinion polls in New York have shown a majority want Paterson to finish out his term. But as the domestic abuse scandal continues to mushroom and Paterson's ethical problems continue to overshadow the state's deep fiscal problems, one has to wonder how patient New Yorkers will remain with their lame-duck leader.

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Big Brother Is Watching-- At Work

Ericka Blount Danois — 2010-03-18T10:32:00+00:00

Filed under: News

For anyone who has watched the series Undercover Boss, they know that Big Brother doesn't just come in the form of some lurking, unnamed government entity watching your every move through the fuzz on your television. More than likely, it's your slightly balding, middle-aged boss making sure that you're not filing your nails on company time. As technology improves, so does the diversity of methods used to track your every move on the job.

With social media, employers can monitor your posts, view your pages and take snapshots. Last year, 2 percent of employers said they terminated workers for content posted on personal social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace; 1 percent lost their jobs due to videos posted on sites such as YouTube.

According to an article in USA Today, a quarter of companies said they fired employees for e-mail policy violations in 2009, up from 14 percent in 2001, according to an American Management Association/ePolicy Institute poll. And 4 percent of companies said they've had IM-related terminations - double the 2 percent in 2006.

Managers use technological advances to capture workers' computer keystrokes, monitor the websites they frequent, and even track their whereabouts through GPS-enabled cellphones. Some companies have gone as far as using webcams and minuscule video cameras to secretly record employees' movements.One reason for all the spying is financial pressure. Everyone is trying to get leaner and meaner, and monitoring employee productivity is one way to do it. The other reason is that it's easier than ever. It used to be difficult and expensive to monitor employees, and now, it's easy and cheap.

Employers no longer have to hire a pricey private investigator to install a complicated video system or computer-use tracking devices. Now, they can easily buy software and tiny worker-tracking cameras at a local electronics store or through Internet retailers.

Smarsh, one of many firms that offers technology to monitor, archive and search employee e-mails, IMs, Twitter posts and text-messages, services about 10,000 U.S. workplaces.

That means employers can track which websites workers visit, the instant messages they send to co-workers, even e-mails sent through personal accounts - such as Gmail - while employees are logged onto the company network or using company-owned equipment such as a laptop.

Do you think that employer snooping is a violation of privacy or a necessary evil to prevent people goofing off on company time?

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Did Desiree Rogers Get the White House Boot for Being a Grinch?

Ruth Manuel-Logan — 2010-03-18T09:46:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama

First there was the 'gate-crashers' scandal that revolved around a crafty, star-struck pair--Tareq and Michaele Salahi--who 'snuck' into President Obama's first state dinner last November. Who did fingers eventually point at? Desiree Rogers.

Then there were the Vogue magazine photos, the Wall Street Journal cover, the front and center spot during Fashion Week in New York City, blah, blah, blah.... Then, no Christmas cards to some of Obama's biggest fundraisers--Gasp!

According to Politico.com, there is now speculation, that Rogers allegedly failed to send Christmas cards to the Obama supporters who are major players with mega bucks. Roger's card faux pas was quite possibly the last straw. According to a White House source, who disclosed the card incident to Politico, the "donors rose up, and that was another reason Desiree got pushed out."

Political watchdogs are predicting that Roger's merryless slight might indeed have implications that won't be pretty.

Really?

According to an analysis by Politico, only 15-- or just 10 percent-- of the 150 biggest fundraisers for the Obama campaign gave the maximum $30,400 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) last year.

The idea that the absence of a yuletide greeting from the White House might make the remaining elite DNC supporters hold back on donating doesn't make sense.

The 'brand promoter' has left the building. On to bigger and better, Desiree!

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Haiti 'Orphans' taken by American Missionaries Reunited with Parents

Carmen Dixon — 2010-03-18T09:20:00+00:00

Filed under: News

All except one of the Haitian children whisked away from their parents by American Baptist missionaries, have now been reunited with their families. Although the Idaho based group initially told officials that all of the children they had gathered were orphans, it soon came to light that 33 of the children had parents who voluntarily gave up their children to the Americans. The Americans had promised a healthy, safe life for the children in an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. That orphanage did not exist.

Joyful parents on Wednesday recovered the children that they gave to American missionaries about six weeks ago.

The 33 children had been living at the SOS Orphanage on Port-au-Prince's outskirts since police stopped a group of 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries from taking them across the Dominican border Jan. 29 following Haiti's devastating earthquake.
Orphanage officials said all but one of the children were given back to 22 families. A remaining child, whose age and gender were not given, is awaiting further verification of her parents' identities. Source: Haiti parents take back kids given to missionaries, AP

Haitian social services has instituted a thorough verification process which delayed family reunification.

The children had been underfed and some were incontinent from stress, the orphanage said. On Wednesday they were dressed in their Sunday best to return home with parents who had given them away to foreigners a month and a half before.

Many will go back to living under bed sheets or in tin shacks because their parents homes were destroyed by the quake. Some children and orphanage workers cried as they left. The parents, who have had some contact with the children in recent weeks, wore broad smiles.

Each family was given about $260 along with food and blankets. The orphanage has also been providing counseling to the children, who they fear will feel rejected, and to parents about the dangers of child trafficking, Nielsen said. Source: Haiti parents take back kids given to missionaries, AP

In the days following the 8.8 earthquake, these Haitian parents were told by an influential local minister, who worked with the American Baptists to find children to take away, that fatal disease was imminent. He encouraged them to hand their children over to the Americans.

Laura Silsby, the Idaho group leader, now faces additional charges added by a judge last week.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said all(of the American missionaries) could still be called to trial, and last week levied a new charge against Silsby based on allegations she had tried to take a different group of children to the border days earlier.

He heard new testimony Wednesday from the police commissioner who arrested the group at the border crossing. Source

Parents expressed joy at being reunited with their children.

Florence Avrilier, 32, recovered an 8-year-old boy she had given away. She said she kept her 12-year-old daughter because the missionaries told her they only wanted children younger than 10.

"I'm very happy. I had no hope I would ever get my son back again. This has been a very heartbreaking time for me," she said, putting her arm around the boy. Source

I wonder if those missionaries, so desperate to help Haitian children, will still work with the established charities to do just that?

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Ron Paul's Racist Newsletter Shows Problems in Republican Party

Boyce Watkins, PhD — 2010-03-18T01:37:00+00:00

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

I remember when I was a college student at The University of Kentucky writing in the campus paper. Most of the white students at this conservative school in the south pretty much hated my guts. I didn't mind that, since the pain of growing up as a black man in the state of Kentucky left a scar so deep that it significantly thickened my psychological skin. One of the articles I wrote linked the Republican Party to racism in America. The editor of the campus paper, a conservative who loved to paint me as a raging liberal (I am honestly not all that liberal), titled the column, "Republicans are Racist: Guilty by Association."

While I didn't agree with the editor's assertion that guilt by association should matter to any of us, he may have had a point. The truth is that even guilt by association can get us into serious trouble. The case of former Republican Presidential hopeful Ron Paul is one that reminds us that the Republicans are having a great deal of trouble shaking their perceived connection to the very worst parts of America. The release of Paul's newsletter from the 1990s only makes matters worse, as the newsletter presents a goldmine of incredibly racist statements and accusations that would make Rush Limbaugh blush.

Some of the most interesting statements in the newsletter are presented below:

"Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for that pro-communist philanderer Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressman. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day."

"Just after a basketball game ended on June 14, blacks poured into the streets of Chicago in celebration. How to celebrate? How else? They broke the windows of stores to loot, even breaking through protective steel shutters with crowbars to steal everything in sight."

"If you live in a major city, you've probably already heard about the newest threat to your life and limb, and your family: carjacking. It is the hip-hop thing to do among the urban youth who play unsuspecting whites like pianos."

In addition to making outlandish statements about people of color, Paul presents other interesting information, such as a poll in which he claims that only 5% of African Americans have sensible political opinions. He also mentioned that "if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."

To say that Ron Paul's newsletter is ignorant would be an understatement. Also, it is my greatest hope that this revelation is enough to ensure that the Republicans do not give him serious consideration for the presidency. What is most interesting, however, is that Paul's newsletter brings an ironic and almost refreshing sense of honesty into our conversation about race in America. Paul's statements are not as scary as the fact that there are millions of Americans who agree with him. Many whites have equally "interesting" beliefs about African Americans, which lead to a serious disrespect of our humanity. We are seen as fleet-footed car-jackers who love R&B music, rather than a heterogeneous group of Americans who have the same flaws and capabilities as anyone else. The goal is not to believe that all black people are good: The goal is to know that we are normal.

I am not sure what ridiculous story Ron Paul's advisers are going to come up with to try to explain this one away. But the truth is that you probably won't see Paul making a serious run for the presidency, and that is a good thing for America.

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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Is a Black Harvard Student an Accessory to Murder, or Just Caught Up in One?

Madison J. Gray — 2010-03-17T23:05:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights

From the "I'm still skeptical" file:

Why is it that the only black people we've heard about when it comes to Harvard University are people who get arrested?

First, Henry Louis Gates gets pinched for basically telling a cop off while in his own home. Now, there's a more serious case involving a senior from Harlem who has been charged in connection with a drug-related homicide on the Ivy League school's campus.

Brittany Smith, 22, has been indicted as an accessory to the cover up of the 2009 murder of Justin Cosby from Cambridge, Mass. She pleaded not guilty to the six charges against her. Police say Smith, who was denied her diploma, was the girlfriend of Jabari Copney, one of three men being questioned in the case.

She's accused of giving Copney the key card to her dorm where he, Blayn Jiggets, 19, and Jason Aquino, 23, planned to rob Cosby in a drug shakedown, police said. The robbery went awry, resulting in Cosby's death. After the shooting, she allegedly hid the firearm under a friend's bed and lied to authorities about it.
Prosecutors say Smith cooperated with police at first, but was really planning to get the weapon herself in order to give it to Copney so that he could destroy it. They also said she lied when questioned about her knowledge of Copney and Jiggets being involved in the drug robbery of two Yale University students.

This is where the DA's case begins to smell funny.

It's not that Cosby's family doesn't deserve justice for their son's killing. After all, he died over just four ounces of weed. But when you read the court docket, the prosecutor's case seems circumstantial at best. It does not say who told police that she hid the gun, or if the source was an anonymous tip. It does not say where they got the information that she aided the assailant's getaway in a cab. It does say she used the cabbie's phone to call them down to the cab, but doesn't mention any phone records of the call.

The docket seems to build a better case against Copney, Jiggets and Aquino, who has since been cleared of murder charges, but also faces accessory charges. The other two are facing murder charges, but pleaded not guilty. None of the three are Harvard students.

The D.A. has also linked Smith's friend Chanequa Campbell with the crime, but it is not clear exactly why, although the school also denied her the honor of graduating as well. Still, Campbell has not been charged with anything, nor has she been pinned with possession of drugs, a weapon, or accused of aiding and abetting the alleged perpetrators. She just happened to know Smith. That's it. Apparently, that's enough to get you kicked out of Harvard.

Smith has maintained her innocence all along, and has said she's being treated this way simply because of where she's from and how she looks. That may or may not be true, but I don't see how the prosecutor is going to hold a case against her without more concrete evidence to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

She may well be guilty, and she may well be lying, but there seems to be nothing material in the case the points to the guilt of anyone but the three assailants. That Smith is an accessory simply seems to be a shaky argument.

So, this case is an unclear mess, and as far as I can see, a case of Harvard and the Cambridge Police (once again) covering their asses on a botched police action.

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Blacks and Irish Missed an Opportunity to Work Together

Jeff Mays — 2010-03-17T15:01:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights

I'm looking out the window of my apartment in Harlem, and I don't see too many folks walking around wearing green. St. Patrick's Day is not the most celebrated holiday in the African-American community, but as author Noel Ignatiev points out in an interesting piece on The Root, Black and Irish had a lot in common but failed to coalesce around their common interests.

Like Blacks, the Irish were oppressed when they came to this country. Blacks were in slavery, but the Irish were also given dirty, dangerous jobs and confined to the lowest rungs of society. They sometimes were given jobs that slave masters thought were not worth risking a slave for. At first, there was a somewhat forced relationship at the bottom of America's melting pot.

Ignatiev writes:

(Irish) commonly found themselves thrown together with free Negroes. Blacks and the Irish fought each other and the police, socialized and occasionally intermarried, and developed a common culture of the lowly. They also both suffered the scorn of those better situated. Along with Jim Crow and Jim Dandy, the drunken, belligerent and foolish Patrick and Bridget were stock characters on the early stage. In antebellum America, it was speculated that if racial amalgamation was ever to take place, it would begin between those two groups. As we know, things turned out otherwise.

In 1841, 60,000 Irish in Ireland issued an address to their compatriots in America, calling upon them to join with the abolitionists in the struggle against slavery. Six months after the address, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison wrote what may be the saddest words ever written about the Irish Diaspora: "Even to this hour, not a single Irishman has come forward, either publicly or privately, to express his approval of the address, or to avow his determination to abide by its sentiments."

Instead, Irish began to fight freed Blacks over jobs on the waterfront and in the factories. The Irish did not support the abolition of slavery. Ignatiev, the author of "How the Irish Became White," argues that Black and Irish fought over jobs, because the labor market was artificially altered by the presence of slavery.

"Some have pointed to competition for jobs as the cause of Irish animosity toward blacks. But in the wage system, all workers compete for jobs. It is not free competition that leads to enduring animosity, but its absence. The competition among Irish and black laborers failed to lead to unity because it did not take place under normal labor market conditions but was distorted by the color line. However much the Irish were oppressed as a race in Ireland and exploited as workers in America, once landed in Boston, New York or Philadelphia, they enjoyed one marked advantage over refugees from Southern slavery: No one was chasing them with dogs," Ignatiev writes.

Race was used to divide two groups of people who should have been on the same side. Imagine the force and speed with which social change could have been achieved in this country if people of the same class had joined together to fight for changes that would benefit all. Instead of fighting for a place at the table, Blacks and Irish bickered over the scraps.
The same thing is happening in this country today. Debates about health care reform, taxes, schools and the equitable distribution of wealth always comes back to race: Blacks are in favor of some sort of health care reform, because we are lazy and used to handouts, the racist thinking goes.

In his piece, Ignatiev writes about an Irish-American caller to a radio show who asked: "If we made it, why couldn't they?"

"What most appalled me about his question--more than the willful ignorance it showed of how the white-skin privilege system had operated--was his belief that he had "made it," Ignatiev writes.

Many working-class whites have the same issues as African Americans. Forty-six million Americans do not have health care, yet a story on this site about a black woman whose family said she died from pulmonary hypertension-because she could not afford insurance-brought about the inevitable, ignorant comments:

"She probably was too fat like most blacks," some wrote on these message boards.

Pulmonary hypertension is not necessarily related to weight.

"She should have gotten a better job so that she had health insurance," others wrote. How many millions of Americans go to work every day at back-breaking jobs but don't have decent health care?

I know for sure that African Americans are not the only people suffering from our broken health care system - the astronomical costs of going to college, the inability to save for retirement, the ridiculous disparity in wealth. Imagine what would happen if we threw those racial stereotypes aside and united to get things done based on our common needs.

It sounds corny, but if that happened, we could make the world green with envy.

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Dennis Kucinich Health Care: Reform Gains Important Vote

Paul Shepard — 2010-03-17T14:14:00+00:00

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

President Barack Obama's charm initiative in Ohio earlier this week won a huge prize on Wednesday as fence-sitting Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced he will change his vote to support health care reform in the crucial upcoming congressional vote.

Kucinich's announcement gives Obama a key vote, and he will likely need others to secure victory on his most sought-after policy initiative to date.

While Obama can't open any champagne bottles just yet, he should be feeling much better as he engages in a last-minute tour this week to rescue health care reform legislation from its death bed.

A liberal representing a Cleveland congressional district, Kucinich voted against the health care reform bill in November, because it did not contain a "public option" for government-regulated health care to compete with private plans.

Kucinich said he has doubts about the bill but decided to support it as "a civil right," after speaking with President Obama at the Ohio rally. The visit was designed to put pressure on Democrats in the House who may go against the proposal in a vote expected later this week.

With Republicans united against the package and some Democrats up for election in November worried about supporting the measure, which has polled poorly, the vote is expected to be decided by a few votes either way.

If each of the voting members of the House who supported the legislation in November vote the same same way this week, the measure will pass with the needed 216 votes. However, several Democrats who voted "yes" in November have voiced concerns over abortion-related language in the newest version of the proposal.

While polls have shown a majority of Americans are against the current proposal, the same polls show that Americans overwhelmingly believe something needs to be done about the current health care system.

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