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Black Youth Project

LARGEST EVER NATIONAL YOUTH SURVEY ILLUMINATES THE ATTITUDES, EXPERIENCES, HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS OF YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS

The Black Youth Project, under the direction of Dr. Cathy Cohen of the University of Chicago, today unveiled the findings of a comprehensive survey of the experiences and attitudes of young African Americans. The national survey questioned 1,590 African American, White and Hispanic young people, ages 15-25, on everything from pre-marital sex to their beliefs about the “color-blind” society. The data present one of the most complete pictures to date of a generation that finds itself in the center of many of the country’s political and social debates.

Click to hear the Black Youth Project audio press conference

Click here to see the report

Wilson released after two years behind bars for teen sex conviction

Genarlow Wilson was released from prison Friday, after spending more than two years behind bars for a teen sex conviction.

"I've got a new life," Genarlow Wilson tells reporters after being released Friday.

"At times I dealt with adversity ... my family and myself, we finally get to deal with happiness now," Wilson said, with his mother and sister at his side.

The Georgia Supreme Court earlier Friday ordered that he be released, ruling 4-3 that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.

Wilson, 21, was convicted in 2005 of having oral sex with a consenting 15-year-old girl when he was 17.

Wilson said he first heard about the possibility he'd be freed Friday when someone told him word was out on the radio.

"I'd seen it coming, but I didn't exactly know when," he said. "I'd just stopped trying to figure the courts out and stopped trying to put a date on it."click here to read article

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Justice Department considers probe of racial bias allegations

"The fact is there is a cancer in Jena and we tried to treat it with aspirin and good wishes and hope. The reality is that it requires a radical solution

By Howard Witt Tribune senior correspondent
October 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Under pointed questioning from Democratic House members who decried the lack of federal intervention in the racially charged Jena 6 case, U.S. Justice Department officials revealed Tuesday that they are weighing an investigation into allegations of systemic bias in the administration of justice in the small, mostly white Louisiana town of Jena.U.S. Atty. Donald Washington also said for the first time that the hanging of nooses from a shade tree in the Jena High School courtyard in September, 2006, by three white students -- a warning to stay away from the tree directed at black students that triggered months of interracial fights in the town -- constituted a federal hate crime. However, he said federal authorities opted not to prosecute the case because of the ages of the white youths involved.Jena school officials dismissed the noose incident as a youthful prank and issued brief suspensions to the white students involved, angering black residents of the town.
"Yes, hanging a noose under these circumstances is a hate crime," Washington, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, told a House Judiciary Committee hearing convened to examine the Jena case. "If these acts had been committed by others who were not juveniles, this would have been a federal hate crime, and we would have moved forward."But during the four-hour hearing, boycotted by most Republican members of the House panel, many African-American committee members said they remained dissatisfied with the reluctance of Justice Department officials to intervene more forcefully in what they regard as the excessive prosecution of six black Jena students for a Dec. 4 attack on a white student.The white student was knocked unconscious and treated and released at a hospital, but LaSalle Parish District Atty. Reed Walters initially charged the blacks with attempted murder. After outcry about the case, Walters reduced the charges.But Walters' refusal to charge other whites in the town who attacked blacks with similar crimes prompted national civil rights leaders, joined by more than 20,000 demonstrators who marched through Jena on Sept. 20, to assert that the town's justice system was biased."Shame on you!" Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) shouted at Washington. "Mr. Washington, tell me why you did not intervene. Six broken lives could have been prevented if you had taken action."'Child of the '60s' defends steps"I was also offended" by the noose incident, Washington replied. "I too am an African-American. I am a child of the '60s, of the desegregation era. ... But at the end of the day, there are only certain things that the United States attorney can do."Events surrounding the prosecution of the first of the Jena 6 defendants to go to trial, Mychal Bell, 17, have drawn scrutiny from civil rights leaders and members of Congress.Walters first prosecuted Bell as an adult on aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy charges in June. But a Louisiana appellate court vacated that conviction in September, ruling that Walters and LaSalle Parish District Judge J.P. Mauffray had improperly tried Bell as an adult.The appellate court then compelled Mauffray to release Bell, who had been jailed for nearly 10 months on the charges, on bail on Sept. 27. But two weeks later, Mauffray sent Bell back to jail, sentencing him to 18 months on four prior juvenile convictions for simple battery and criminal destruction of property."As we all know, it is illegal under the guarantees of our Constitution and our laws to have one standard of justice for white citizens and another, harsher one for African-American citizens," Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in opening the hearing. "We come to this hearing inquiring as to how we can correct this situation in our nation."Several representatives and witnesses noted copycat noose incidents that have occurred in New York, Maryland, Louisiana and Illinois in recent weeks and suggested that they were proliferating because of inaction by the Justice Department in Jena."What happened in Jena is not isolated," Charles Ogletree Jr., a Harvard University law professor and civil rights expert, told the committee. "The fact is there is a cancer in Jena and we tried to treat it with aspirin and good wishes and hope. The reality is that it requires a radical solution."A Justice Department official told the hearing that conciliators from the department's civil rights division had visited Jena in recent months and that officials were considering whether further action is warranted."The Department of Justice is aware that there are requests to investigate the judicial system in Jena," Lisa Krigsten, an official of the civil rights division, told lawmakers. "At this time, the Justice Department is gathering information and reviewing that information and taking that request very seriously."Added Washington: "If we can prove that charging decisions [by Walters] were made in a racially discriminatory manner, that leads to the strong possibility that we can move forward."That is what happened in Jena, according to Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.Did whites get 'a pass'?"In Jena, it seems as if black children were hammered and white children were given a pass or a slap on the wrist," Cohen said at Tuesday's hearing.Walters has denied in previous public statements that race was involved in his prosecution of the Jena 6. Conyers said he had invited Walters to testify but that the district attorney had declined.But another Jena resident did appear. Rev. Brian Moran, coordinator of the Jena branch of the NAACP, told House members that his town remains bitterly divided across racial lines."Throughout Jena's history, there have always been two systems of justice, one for blacks and one for whites," Moran said. "That is simply un-American, and we believe it is no longer acceptable."

The Blackest Sheep?

Could Cheney be inherently good? Obama evil?

Lynne Cheney told MSNBC yesterday that her husband and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama are eighth cousins.

A month ago, the Chicago Sun-Times said the two very different politicians are "ninth cousins once removed."

The Sun-Times based that conclusion on this connection:

Obama is related to Cheney through Mareen Duvall, a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mareen and Susannah Duvall were Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents and Cheney's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

We can't get our mind around all this. Anybody out there who can bring some expertise to this "important" news so that we can figure out what sort of cousins they are?

Meanwhile, Obama spokesman Bill Burton says of the apparent Obama-Cheney kinship that, "every family has a black sheep." Will he be charged by the political correctness police?

GrRIMM SENTENCES:

A 1993 shooting left Carey paralyzed. Jay was killed. The two had just been offered a contract with Atlantic Records, but after the attack, the record company backed off. In his wheelchair, Carey returned to the same "good/bad" life he had as a child. He sold drugs and produced music. The glimpse he gives of drug dealing rings truer than any I've read. "[A] lot of movies. . . make it sound really dangerous, exciting and glamorous . . . but for the most part, it's just another job. . . . [A]nd it can get crazy boring." Images show his alarm clock at 5:46 a.m., then Carey packaging the drugs.

"Sentences" is a cautionary tale. However, aside from Carey's lyrical honesty (which is miles above most confessional literature), what makes the book stand out is that it's about playing both sides of the track, which Carey did and which is a far more common, far more human way to go. He fully understood both choices and shows us the reality of both. Carey wanted to be the bad boy and the great artist. The two worlds imploded, but the man survived. *
For the full LA Times article click here

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What is Hardcore

Lyrics 'What's Hardcore?'I put a pen to the paper, this time as visual as possible, guns blast at the hospital,the walls are white washed with tin rooftops, to show love you lick two shots, it's dangerous man, journalists hire gunmen there's violent women, kids trust no one cause fire burnt them, refugees die in boats, headed for peace,is anyone scared of death here' Not in the least,I walk by the old lady selling coconuts under the tree, life is cheap here but wisdom is free, the beach boys hang on the side, leaning with pride,scam artists and gangsters fiendin to fight, I walk with three kids that can't wait to meet Godlately, that's Bucktooth, Mohamed and Crybaby,what they do everyday just to eat lord have mercy,strapped with an AK and they blood thirsty...So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.We begin our day by the way of the gun, rocket propelled grenades blow you away if you front,we got no police ambulance or fire fighters,we start riots by burning car tires,they looting, and everybody start shooting,bullshit politicians talking bout solutions, but it's all talk, you can't go half a block with a road block, you don't pay at the road block you get your throat shot,and each road block is set up by these gangsters,and different gangsters go by different standards,for example, the evening is a no go, unless you wanna wear a bullet like a logo,in the day you should never take the alleyway,the only thing that validates you is the AK,they chew on Jad it's sorta like coco leafs,and there ain't no police...So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.I'm a spit these verses cause I feel annoyed,and I'm not gonna quit till I fill the void,if I rhyme about home and got descriptive,I'd make Fifty Cent look like Limp Biskit,it's true, and don't make me rhyme about you,I'm from where the kids is addicted to glue,get ready, he got a good grip on the machete,make rappers say they do it for love like R-Kelly,it's HARD, harder than Harlem and Compton intertwined,harder than harboring Bin Laden and rewind,"to that earlier part when I was kinda like"we begin our day by the way of the gun,rocket propelled grenades blow you away if you front,we got no police ambulances or fire fighters,we start riots by burning car tires,they looting, and everybody starting shooting...So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore?Hmm.So what's hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.

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Hip Hop & Public Safety

Source: Davey D Hip Hop Blog

Legendary Hip Hop star KRS One blew up the spot the other week at the FCC hearings in Chicago. It was a contentious session where Chicago's Hip Hop community made their presence felt. Here in this clip provided by Freepress.. KRS drops serious science about the imbalanced power dynamics that exists between rappers and radio station owners.

He also called for the attendees to not just hold hearings but to actually walk out and surround Chicago Hip Hop station WGCI which he helped put on the map by starting a Hip Hop show called Rap Down with the late legendary Chicago icon DJ Pinkhouse back in the early 90s. KRS notes that despite the postivite efforts he puts forth he can no longer get any of material played on that station.

KRS wraps up his remarks by explaining that radio stations like WGCI and other big businesses have criminalized Hip Hop with its continuous negative presentations. This has caused a public safety issue because police officers and others listen to the radio and come away beliving the falsehoods. This in turn leads to increase profiling of all Hip Hoppers and Black people in general.

KRS gets major props for taking time out to attend the hearings even though he was in town just to do a concert.

Here is the link to those remarks just in case the audio player is not working.

Click here

SUCCESS : DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?

By Cheryl Clausen

Do you know you want to succeed, but at this moment you don’t have any idea how you will do that? You belong to the same group as the vast majority of people. You think something looks good so you follow that path for a while, and then things just begin to fall apart and you feel like you’re back at square one. It’s frustrating, tiring, and it erodes your self-confidence. You can get off this path and make obtaining success easier.

Success is a big journey a life-long journey, and you want to think about it that way. The reason the things you’ve tried in the past didn’t work out was because you weren’t thinking long-term. Begin with the end the ultimate outcome that you want, and the “how” will come later. You can’t develop a plan to succeed when you don’t fully understand what success means to you in all aspects of your life. You need to think about this in enough detail that you can envision a typical day in your life when you’re successful.

Knowing the ultimate outcome will help you to avoid some of the pitfalls. Knowing the ultimate outcome you want will help you to know what you’re looking for. There a places you can go where they allow you to dig for gem stones. You pay a certain amount and you get to keep the stones you dig up. Now if you were to visit one of these places you could go with certain intentions or objectives. You might just want to see what happens to turn up and just dig for a little while turning in your rocks and seeing if you got anything of value. You might also have the objective of finding at least one stone that’s value exceeded the fee you paid to dig for gemstones. Because you know the ultimate result you want, a gemstone whose value is greater than the fee to dig, you would go to the library to learn what various gemstones look like in their natural state. Now as you dig for stones you’ll be able to recognize what they are, and you can then even begin to focus on a specific gemstone. If you did that can you imagine that you would be more likely to find a valuable gemstone than if you went and just did some random digging? It’s a whole lot easier to find something when you know what you’re looking for. It also helps when you know how what you’re looking for fits into your overall plans making it easier to get the ultimate result you want.

Have you noticed that big success is always tied in one way or another to specialized knowledge? You aren’t necessarily the person who has to have that specialized knowledge. But you do need to know how to organize that knowledge, and put it to use in a way that supports your plan for success. In fact, great success can be had simply from compiling and presenting specialized knowledge into a more user friendly format. You can even take the specialized knowledge of others and identify a new way to use that knowledge to solve an existing problem. You may also need those with specialized knowledge acting on your behalf supporting the various functions you need to get to success.

Know what you’re looking for by knowing the end result you want. Start to rough out your plan for how you could get that. From your rough plan begin to identify your action steps and search for the resources you’ll need to put your plans into action. Once you know exactly what you’re looking for it’s a whole lot easier to find it.

Want to develop your path for success? Success Model.

Ready to get unstuck and get going? Start here.

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Success and Imagination

Whatever your dream, there’s always someone out there who can help you with the background and understanding you are looking for. We have resources from around the globe on an assortment of topics that can help with tools, methods and more. If there’s a specific topic you are interested in, or if you have a particular area of expertise, please let us know.
SUCCESS AND YOUR IMAGINATION By Michael Obi
Do you realize that in order to succeed in any of life’s endeavor, you need to use your imagination? You have to start imagining things. If you really wish to succeed begin here and now to imagine that. Imagination can be described as “the workshop or the laboratory of all man’s plans”. Desire is the very first principle of success discussed in an earlier article. Yet for that success to actualize and materialize, you need to use your imagination. This is in consonance with the popular saying that “whatever the mind of man conceives and believes, it can achieve”. This quotation has been referred to in other articles I wrote.
So, if you badly want to succeed, begin to imagine and begin to believe that which you have imagined. I have often maintained that the expression “seeing is believing” should be changed to read “believing is seeing”. I want you to begin to think of the various technological inventions that have taken place in this age of ours; and that includes space travel. There was a time when space travel was featured only on cartoons or in fiction movies. Today, all this has become reality because man has imagined things and successfully materialized these things. He has been able to use his imagination to maximum effect.
It is creative imagination that is being referred to here. Those who rely on creative imagination are the ones who are most likely to make the big discoveries and bring about innovation. They generally make things happen in this world, as it is often said. To make maximum use of your imagination, you need to be aware of your intuitive feelings. These feelings are sometimes referred to as the sixth sense by experts in psychology and spiritualism, a topic I wrote about in my book and hope to develop further in another article.
To develop your imaginative and creative powers, you need to practice frequently, and there are simple methods devised to achieve this in my book. Did you know that the secret of great leaders of industry, business, finance, music and other fields of human endeavor, is the ability to use their imagination effectively? Only those who can imagine can create and when you create you have no competition because you produce something new and spectacular. This is why the copyright law of every country in the world protects your invention and your interest. For instance, my philosophy and book which I labeled “Success Through Mind Power” are the products of my imagination. Think today, what wonderful new thing your imagination can bring to you.
Many people in life are prisoners of their own imagination. They are so full of fear to use their imagination that they would not consider new or big ideas. They get caught in their own rut and refuse to make the necessary changes to take them to the next level in life. Thus, they do not achieve the success they only dream about. So if you want to make outstanding progress in life, you must break out of your rut and begin to use your imagination creatively.
It is good to heed this warning; any thought that is registered strongly in your mind is acted upon, though it might not be immediate. The seed is sown through your imagination. Remember your mind is like a garden where you can plant weeds or sweet roses. Your garden does not discriminate. The mental weeds are the major fears of poverty, failure and ill health or death. These weeds are so dangerous that they can strangle excellent ideas by blocking your imagination.
Finally, remember that your mind has been described by one psychologist as a camera picturing whatever thought or ambition fed to it by you. Mix your thought of success with strong positive feelings and the means to achieve your goal will manifest physically. Knowing how best to do this is the basis of my philosophy and book Success through Mind Power, which is very popular at the prestigious National war College in Abuja, Nigeria, where the author has been a guest lecturer of long standing. A copy of the book is available at the website http://www.mindpowersuccess.com

Ethiopia's New Millennium

By ANITA POWELL Associated Press WriterADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia Sep 11, 2007 (AP)

Seven years after the rest of the world, Ethiopia celebrated the third millennium Tuesday those with money shelling out for a gala concert headlined by the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas and others gathering in quieter, candlelit observances. Ethiopia's government, which follows the Coptic calendar instead of the more common Gregorian, spruced up the capital for months before the festivities, moving homeless people to the countryside and poisoning stray dogs that roamed the streets.

While many in this impoverished country complained about the money spent for the celebration, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi predicted it would usher in better times.
"A thousand years from now, when Ethiopians gather to welcome the fourth millennium, they will say that the eve of the third millennium was the beginning of the end of the dark ages in Ethiopia," Meles said at a multimillion-dollar concert hall built for the occasion.
Ethiopia, which captured attention in the 1980s with a civil war and famine that killed as many as 1 million people, remains among the world's poorest nations and suffers chronic food shortages that affect hundreds of thousands every year.

Many people dismissed Meles' description of the holiday as an "Ethiopian renaissance," saying their celebrations would be subdued because of a tense political situation, a conflict with separatist Muslims in the Ogaden region and Ethiopian involvement in Somalia's war.
"The average people, they have nothing," said Kiddy Tesera, a 40-year-old who nevertheless was out in the capital celebrating. "It's the millennium," she said.
But she disdained the appearance by the American singers Black Eyed Peas, which followed a cultural and musical festival at the new concert hall and cost $170 a seat two months' pay for an average Ethiopian. "For me, it's not worth it," she said.
Yoself Passew, a shoe shiner, had no party plans but said he hopes the new millennium will bring him gainful employment.
"In the future I will have a job, that is my hope," said Yoself, 25. "The future will be bright

Officials at the Millennium Secretariat noted some festivities were free, notably several cultural events at a stadium in Addis Ababa and at a field just northeast of the city center. The concert also was broadcast live on television and on a big screen at the stadium, which holds more than 15,000 people.Officials at the Millennium Secretariat noted some festivities were free, notably several cultural events at a stadium in Addis Ababa and at a field just northeast of the city center. The concert also was broadcast live on television and on a big screen at the stadium, which holds more than 15,000 people.

Call Me Mister

The mission of the Call Me MISTER National Initiative is to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader, more diverse background, particularly among the State’s lowest performing elementary schools. Student participants are largely selected from among under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at-risk communities.

The project provides:
Tuition assistance through Loan Forgiveness programs for admitted students pursuing approved programs of study in teacher education at participating colleges.
An academic support system to help assure their success.
A cohort system for social and cultural support.

“Call Me MISTER” was developed by some of our State’s visionary educational leaders who sincerely believe we can build a better tomorrow by getting you involved today.The Call Me MISTER program is a collaboration between Clemson University and other leading edge colleges and universities to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader more diverse background particularly among the lowest performing public elementary and middle schools. Student participants are largely selected from among under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at-risk communities.

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