The Case of the Scott Sisters

It's really time for afrospear bloogers, the national office of the NAACP, and the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights to take a look at, research, investigate and advocate for a new trial and immediate release of the Scott Sisters.

As reported in Newsweek, the blog  Counterpunch.com highlighted a story called “How an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May End in a Death Sentence: The Terrible Case of Jamie Scott.” The writers of the piece, James Ridgeway and Jean Casella, both write for Mother Jones and published the piece for Solitary Watch, a new project in collaboration with Washington and Lee University Law School’s V3 clinic, which will focus on the issues surrounding the rise of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. More HERE

















Solitary Watch’s Web material describes how “Solitary confinement has grown dramatically in the past two decades. Today, at least 25,000 prisoners are being held in long-term lockdown in the nation’s 'supermax' facilities; some 50,000 to 80,000 more are held in isolation in 'administrative segregation' or 'special housing' units at other facilities. In other words, on any given day, as many as 100,000 people are living in solitary confinement in America’s prisons.” They link to the New Yorker piece in which writer Atul Gawande explores whether solitary confinement should be classified as torture.


The case of Jamie Scott and her sister Gladys, which Ridgeway and Casella explore, revolves around a 1993 armed robbery, in which—according to their story—approximately $11 was stolen and no one was injured. Both sisters, who were 22 and 19 at the time, young mothers with no criminal records, are now currently serving life sentences in Mississippi where Gov. Haley Barbour's tough record on pardons doesn’t bode well for Jamie. She spent 23 days in solitary confinement last fall and is currently suffering from kidney failure (thus the reference to the "death sentence"). The piece explores her health care under the private prison contractor Wexford, which has faced negligence lawsuits in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.  Read more of the article HERE

No Such thing As A Black President

A new generation of African-American leaders, like President Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick seem to be moving away from the identity politics of their predecessors. But that has many in the black community feeling that a historic opportunity to address urban issues is slipping away... Let's talk about how there is no such thing as a black President, Read more of the Liz Halloran article at NPR  as she talks about how Black Leaders Ask: Where's Our President?

Let's talk about this issue of the Black President, black disempowerment, Black President and White Mask, tonight...on the Political Slugfest at 11:00 PM, "if you can handle the truth."

Black Man in Chicago - Tasered Whiile Black

Even with more training, another black man Tasered While Black. Federal Government and US tax payers fund taser torture in America

AAPP says: File this under Federally Funded Taser Torture in America. 

For the first time, an officer in each beat car will carry a Taser. Tactical officers and specialized units like the Mobile Strike Force will get them, too, thanks to $514,000 in federal funding from the Obama administration. More HERE

As reported by Dr. Boyce Watkins founder of the Your Black World Coalition a Chicago man died early Wednesday morning after being subdued by police with a taser during a traffic stop. Jaesun Ingles, a 31-year old, was pronounced dead at MetroSouth Hospital in Blue Island at 12:31 am, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. The autopsy has been inconclusive.

Midlothian Police Lt. Harold Kaufman stated that the police used the taser to subdue Ingles.

He then had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital. He was pulled over at 11 pm Tuesday night for several traffic violations, according to police.

The officer who pulled Ingles over smelled marijuana and found a small amount of it during a search. Officers claim that when they tried to arrest Ingles, he ran behind some local businesses and tried to swallow a plastic bag believed to have contained the drugs.

The police further state that after they caught up to Ingles on foot, he continued to resist arrest and was hit with a taser. That is when he had trouble breathing and emergency personnel were called. Kaufman did not know how many times Ingles was tasered and would not reveal department protocol for tasering situations. The public integrity unit is looking into the incident.

Police claim that several officers were injured in trying to subdue Ingles. One received treatment for a sprained wrist and injured shoulder, one for a knee injury and another for an injury to his right hand. Ingles was on parole for two Ohio convictions and was being supervised by Illinois corrections officials.  More HERE

Read more on this death at Tasered While Black, Electronic Village and The Huffington Post.

SCLC faces uncertain future, Who stole the money?

Well look at this... As reported by many news sources, including 11 Alive news, When she was elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference last October 30th, Bernice King promised to restore the civil rights group her father helped found and that he lead until his death. "The time has come to do as my father urged and organize our strength into compelling power," she said. But four months later, she has yet to take office and a leadership battle that has simmered below the surface for months finally boiled to the surface Saturday. More HERE




It appears that Bernice King has stepped into something crazy at the SCLC. Errin Haines over at Associated Press is reporting on four months after Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter was elected president of the civil rights group he co-founded, the organization is in a tailspin and she is silent on why she hasn't taken the helm.


Get this, Errin Haines reports the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has been fractured by infighting and a federal investigation. Agents recently raided the Ohio chapter's headquarters and the home of the SCLC's national chairman, who faces accusations of financial mismanagement. In Georgia, Fulton County prosecutors have also launched a formal investigation into the Atlanta-based organization's financial affairs.


Through it all, errin reports, the Rev. Bernice King — who was elected SCLC president Oct. 29 — has said nothing. She has yet to take over, and the interim president she is replacing has already left.


Well, "J. Edgar Hoover is in his grave, shouting and celebrating," said Tyrone Brooks, a Georgia state representative and longtime SCLC member, invoking the name of the FBI director who kept tabs on the SCLC for years. "The organization he tried to destroy is now being destroyed by the very people who claim to love it and love the legacy of Dr. King."

AAPP: I agree - I wonder like a number of black bloggers, Who's really keeping it real?

To some observers, the youngest King would do well to keep her distance from the SCLC's current woes. "No new president should come in with this kind of mess," said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, a friend of the King family who worked for the SCLC under its longest-serving president, the Rev. Joseph Lowery. Read More HERE


African American Political Pundit says: "Why does this go on with black organizations? Why is there no accountability in the black community? Why are so many of our black politicians, social service agencies, and the black church becoming so corrupt? Why are so many black church groups and black church organizations stealing money in the name of GOD?  You know what I'm talking about folkls. As an example, the time in which the president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc., the nation's largest black religious organization, was convicted of racketeering and grand theft, including charges that he had stolen money that was donated to a fund to rebuild black churches destroyed by arson. More HERE


It also reminds Monica Conyers
 



 

 
and let's not forget about former Baltimore Mayor Shelia "debit card" Dixon.
 
I guess we know why so few American black women are holding elected office, particularly in Congress. According to The Root.com, there were 11 black women in Congress in 1992; today there are 13. Pretty slow progress in 18 years. More HERE

Cross posted on Opinion Editorial.com

Howard Stern has crush on Gabourey Sidibe

Howard Stern is a rich yet, stupid, bigoted, sorry, idiotic, cowardly, bastard! He does not know how to say his freaky ass has a sexual crush on Gabourey Sidibe. What is it about white men and their sexual to attack what they like? Like Anti-gay Republican Senator Roy Ashburn -- the man who was arrested last week on a DUI charge after visiting Sacramento gay bar Faces -- confirming he is, in fact, a homosexual.

As reported by the Hufffington Post, this ass wipe unleashed a vicious attack on Gabourey Sidibe on his Sirius satellite show on Monday. Check out what Howard "drag queen" Stern had to say:
"There's the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie," he said. "She should have gotten the Best Actress award because she's never going to have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in?"

He and co-host Robin Quivers went on to discuss the impossibility of Gabby finding any work in Hollywood after 'Precious.'

"And Oprah's lying and saying you're going to have a brilliant career," said Robin.

"Oprah's another liar, a filthy liar," said Stern. "She's telling an enormous woman the size of a planet that she's going to have a career."


AAPP says: OK, so the girl needs to be on the biggest loser, but guess what I hope she meets that horses ass Stern in an elevator and body crushes the sick stupid bastard.

Many black politicians are cretin and need to be called out!

It's time for afrospear political bloggers to step in the gap, and start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out. Start reporting on these politicians who could care less about the politicial and economic empowerment of black folks.

Yes, I said it, many of these black cretin politicians are half wit, imbeciles and idiots ... this past week is a case study in why so many black politicians are idiots, and why so many people, particularly black folks are so angry with black politicians and the practice of politics in black communities. 

Let's talk about how black politicians are idiots, and how their counterparts are just as stupid. The Washington Post has a great report on some of this black political idiots.  How about once highly respected Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), one of the longest-serving and most powerful members of Congress, who was forced to give up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee (a leave of absence, he caMany black politicians are cretin and need to be called outlled it).  As WaPo reports, he was caught in a swirl of allegations involving unpaid taxes and accepting company-underwritten trips, Rangel finally stepped aside to avoid a potentially embarrassing vote against him by his colleagues. His case is far from over.

Oh, and let's not forget New York Gov. David Paterson (D) fought to hang on to his office amid rising indignation and calls for his resignation over reports that he intervened in a domestic abuse allegation lodged against one of his highest-ranking aides. 

How about that Republican leader who has another embarrassment of his own, as reported by WaPo, there was a controversial Republican National Committee fundraising presentation that was first surfaced by Politico's Ben Smith. The PowerPoint presentation included a slide with the title "The Evil Empire." 

The slide depicted President Obama as the Joker (with a caption that read, "socialism"), 

Speaking of cretin black politicans in the U.S. how about Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers.

According to The Detriot Free Press, Federal prosecutors have recommended that former Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers receive at least 46-57 months in prison for her role in the Synagro sludge-hauling scandal. get this, Conyers, who also sat on a city pension board, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn. She faces up to five years in prison as part of her guilty plea. Voters may be ready for real change in Washington....

But she is not the only black politician disgarcing black folks recently. How about Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford (D-AL) who as arrested on December 1, 2008 by the FBI on a 101 count indictment alleging conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme.


 



Her former chief of staff, Sam Riddle, went to trial last month in connection with the Synagro allegations and other alleged bribery and extortion schemes. During the trial, which ended in a hung jury, prosecutors played many intercepted phone calls of conversations between Conyers and Riddle and Conyers and Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson, who is serving five years in prison. Conyers cast the tiebreaking vote on city council for a $1.2-billion contract with Synagro in November 2007. Read more HERE

Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for his role in a bribery scheme during his tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission.

U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler issued the sentence Friday morning in a federal courtroom in Tuscaloosa, telling Langford, "This isn't pleasant for me or you."

Langford declined to make a statement before the sentencing, but did tell the judge, "I'm sorry this has occurred." The judge sentenced Langford to 180 months in prison, plus three years supervised release afterwards.  Langford must also pay restitution and back taxes.

Prosecutors then asked the judge to send Langford to prison immediately instead of giving him 30 days to report to prison because, "Langford showed no remorse." Judge Coogler decided against that recommendation and gave Langford 30 days to report to prison (April 5th.)  However, in the interim, Langford will be required to wear an electronic monitoring anklet, must report to his probation officer twice a week, and cannot go outside of Jefferson County. Federal prosecutors had asked Judge Coogler to sentence Langford to between 24 and 30 years in prison. Langford's attorney, Michael Rasmussen, objected Friday morning, restating the opinions he filed Thursday and asking the judge for mercy.  "Let Langford come out before he's 70 and overcome by health problems," Rasmussen said. "Don't let him rot in prison."   More HERE

Let's not forget about Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon (D-MD) was indicted on 12 counts of perjury, theft and misconduct in office (January 2009)

Not to be out-done, remember Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D-MI) with his Chief-of-Staff  Christine Beatty, fired two police officers for investigating claims that Kilpatrick had used his security unit to cover up their extramarital affair and lied about it under oath. Both pled guilty and were sentenced to 4 months in prison with 5 years probation. (2008)

Or how about in my home state of Massachusetts, former State Senator Diane Wilkerson (D-MA) who was video taped by the FBI stuffing bribe money into her bra. Also charged with tax evasion (1997), ethics violations (2001) and perjury (2005). She resigned the Senate in November 2008, but still faces charges.

Or how about Georgia Congressman David Scott (D-GA) who has expended $52,000 to $344,000 to himself, friends, family and business from campaigns every election cycle since 2002. Shortly after the 2006 election, he was served with an IRS tax lien for over $153,000.

Yes, It's time for black political bloggers and blogtalkradio host to start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out.  

Now that we learn that everyone is getting paid with taxpayer money except black folks, maybe it's time to call a number of black politicans out. 

But that's just my opinion what do you think?

RIP - Ron Banks

Ron Banks, singer and founder of Detroit R&B/ soul act The Dramatics, died in his home yesterday. He was 58 years old. The falsetto crooner, who formed the Dramatics in 1962, is believed to have died from a “massive heart attack,” according to Motown Alumni Association president Billy Wilson. 

RIP Ron Banks

Here is a news report I missed while not blogging regularly. More HERE

 

Ok, I must have missed this one, years ago.LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Luther Ingram, the R&B singer/songwriter best known for his passionate turn on the 1972 hit "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to be Right," has died. He was 69.

Ingram succumbed to kidney disease in St. Louis Monday. He had undergone a kidney transplant several years ago.

Born in Jackson, Tenn., Ingram moved to New York in 1966 to record with producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Relocating to Memphis two years later, Ingram began scoring a string of hits on the Koko label. The label was owned by producer Johnny Baylor and distributed by Stax, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Ingram became one of Stax's chart mainstays. Notching his first top 10 R&B hit in 1970, "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)," he enjoyed his biggest showing (No. 1 R&B; No. 3 pop) with "(If Loving You Is Wrong)..."

Subsequent R&B hits include "Ill Be Your Shelter (In Time of Storm)" and "Always." Ingram, who also wrote the Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself" with Sir Mack Rice, later recorded for Profile in the mid-1980s. More HERE

Belated RIP
AAPP

Blacks better off under slavery?

Blacks were better off under slaves?  Asked today by a conservative blogger about the role of race in the hyper-partisan, talk-radio-addled atmosphere in Washington, Republican Rep. Trent Franks took the opportunity to say that he thinks African Americans were better off under slavery.  Check out the video (below) some excerpts:



Slavery “is a crushing mark on America’s soul,” the Arizonan tells Mike Stark. “And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery. And I think, ‘What does it take to get us to wake up?’”

Mayor Adrian Fenty, His Disgrace May Be Catching Up With Him

Recently The Washington Post ran a report on how black folks in Washington, DC don't support Mayor Adrian Fenty. I agree with their analysis and data.

Now here is an great article, and about a man who may just run for Mayor of washington, DC. Don Peebles appears to be just what Washington, DC needs. Check out this article from The Washington, DC "City Paper" on how Non-Candidate Don Peebles Goes Deliciously Negative on Fenty

Posted by Mike DeBonis 

This much is clear: If developer R. Donahue Peebles runs for mayor (and it doesn't seem to be a very big if), that vein in Adrian Fenty's forehead will be doing a lot of popping.

Last night, as a guest of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations, Peebles delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a mayoral stump speech. In his remarks before a friendly crowd, Peebles lambasted Fenty's record, attacking the incumbent on education, crime, and economic development. And, at times, he got rather personal.

Notably, Peebles delivered his strident remarks minutes after D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray occupied the podium inside the old council chambers at One Judiciary Square. While Gray decried divisions in the city and got quite animated about D.C. voting rights, he did not challenge the current leadership of the city as directly as Peebles did. (Keep in mind that Gray was there to deliver brief comments before installing the organization's new officers.)

It would be unfair to compare and contrast the would-be candidates, but one thing's clear to LL: Peebles has the taste for the political jugular that Gray does not.

Peebles read from a prepared text (available below). His particular spin on the rags-to-riches story---grandson of hotel doorman becomes hotel owner---won him applause and grunts of approval from the crowd. He got even more applause when he started his broadsides at the Fenty record---noting that murders went down last year, but only "for the first time...since Adrian Fenty walked into office" and playing down rises in school test scores as modest. Like Gray, he indulged in the old "tale of two cities" line, which launched him into the meat of his attack, skewering Fenty for "economic neglect" and closing social-service offices while unemployment is at an all-time high. In another ripped-from-the-headlines riff, Peebles decried the overcrowding at the city's youth detention center.

On the night of the State of the Union address, Pebbles also deployed a classic SotU tactic, quoting a resident named Renarda House to testify to the plight of the city. Her testimony: "Fenty is not in touch at all with this community." (House appeared not to be on the premises.)

That segued into another Peebles crowd-whipper---the recent CoStar tax-abatement deal: "I wonder how Adrian Fenty would feel, how he would explain to her and the hundreds of others, how he chose to close two service centers to save $1 million while at the same very time, he flew back from a junket from Las Vegas, Nevada, and sat in first-class next to the owner of a company called CoStar and cut a deal to give him $7 million to move his business from Bethesda, Maryland, to Washington, D.C.---a deal that would not create one new job, not spark any new economic development in our community."

After wrapping up his prepared comments, things got really interesting.

After one woman in the audience of several dozen rose to urge him to run, Peebles, citing his mother-in-law's terminal cancer, said he wasn't running "at this particular time." He added: "I do intend, whether I'm a candidate or someone else is, to help support change in the city."

With that, the Fenty slams notched into high gear. For one: "I don't dislike Adrian Fenty. I mean, you know, he's probably a good athlete. But I am angry at the job that he's done as mayor and the level of disrespect and the lack of compassion."

On his economic development record: "I, at 27 years old, with $20,000 in the bank have built more buildings in Ward 8 than Adrian Fenty with $9 billion in the bank."

Peebles went on to call him "vindictive" and retaliatory toward those who don't support his political campaigns. He pivoted to address a key ant-Peebles talking point: "People have been going around telling the media that I'm just trying to buy the mayor's race. But I want to answer that for those of the media that are here: I am. I'm gonna buy it back and give it to you." Big applause for that one.

And then things got personal, apropos of the Cora Masters Barry eviction saga. As predicted, the Fenty administration's attempt to oust the estranged wife of Marion Barry from her space at a city-funded tennis center became prime campaign fodder, prompting this vein-popper: "Does he think he's gonna be mayor forever? One day his wife will be the former first lady. Then I realized he probably doesn't have much respect for her." Yikes.

And that, of course, gave way to Fenty's related snub of civil rights icon Dorothy Height and poet Maya Angelou, who wanted a meeting with Hizzoner in order to stump for Cora. "Who the hell does he think he is?....If it weren't for Dorothy Height, he wouldn't be running the city; he'd probably be working at the cleaners."

In closing, Peebles alluded to the parks contracting mess and a well-worn reference to old Howard Beale: "The reality is, I hope you all understand, Adrian Fenty doesn't care....We have got to say enough is enough...stand up and say, 'I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!'" Read more here

Senator Harry Reid's Vegas Integration Lies

Well it looks like Senator Harry Reid is at it again. you remember how I commented about the NAACP giving Senator Reid an "A" in Congress report card | more HERE and HERE. Well, it appears that Senator Reid is spreading a bit of "little white lies" this time with regard to his role in the integration of the Vegas Strip. 




Get this as reported by Steven Friess at AOL News, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who last month apologized for privately praising President Barack Obama's lack of a "Negro dialect," posted a Black History Month essay on his Web site Monday in which he takes credit for racial integration in Las Vegas.

One problem: Some local black leaders and historians don't remember him having had a significant role in that effort and the senator himself made no reference to it in his 2008 memoir.

President Barack Obama, right, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

President Barack Obama, right, participates in a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the Coliseum at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, in this May 2009 file photo. Obama will head to Las Vegas for a Democratic Party fundraiser and events Friday for Reid after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., in Denver.

(Jason Reed/Reuters)

There is more, In the essay, which was also published as an opinion piece for the black-issues Web site The Grio under Harry Reid's byline, the Senate majority leader wrote: "I worked hard during my time in local politics in Nevada to integrate the Las Vegas strip [sic] and the gaming industry."

Yet Joe Neal, a former Democratic state senator who was a key figure in the civil rights movement in Nevada, was baffled by the claim. For one thing, Reid was only 20 when a famous 1960 meeting between casino owners, progressive government officials and NAACP leaders resulted in an accord to integrate Las Vegas casinos for customers.

The Nevada Legislature passed a civil rights act in 1965, but Reid did not become a member of that body until his 1966 election as an assemblyman. And a federal court decree in 1971 that set quotas for the hiring of minority casino workers was negotiated by the U.S. Department of Justice and handed down just months after he was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers responded to questions about the claim with a one-sentence e-mail: "He and Mike O'Callaghan worked together as governor and lieutenant governor to apply pressure on business leaders to integrate the industry." Reid served as lieutenant governor under O'Callaghan for one term, from 1971 to 1974, before leaving the post for his first, unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.

When pressed for specifics, Summers pointed to a Politico piece from June 2008 in which Reid told a journalist he helped negotiate the 1971 settlement that required casinos to begin hiring blacks in hotel casino jobs other than as maids and porters.

"I don't recall him being involved in any of that," said Neal, the first black state senator and first black gubernatorial nominee from a major party when the Democrat lost in 2002. He attended several meetings related to the federal settlement and was heavily involved as the state's top elected black official. "I don't think he would have an involvement" in the federal court decree.

Historians who have studied the era were similarly uncertain to what Reid referred. A 2004 doctoral dissertation [pdf] by sociologist Jeffrey J. Sallaz specifically examined the outcome of that federal decree and didn't reference either O'Callaghan or Reid. Instead, Sallaz laid out the history as a tussle between federal authorities and casino executives.
Read the whole article HERE.

NAACP Generational Shift with Roslyn Brock at Helm

Finally, as reported by By Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post, The NAACP hands over reins to a new chairman | I have written my own response and congratulations... more HERE

As reported by The Washington Post, The NAACP selected health-care administrator Roslyn Brock as its chairman on Saturday, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization. For the first time in the NAACP's history, both its president and chairman are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation.

Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who, at 37, is the youngest president in the NAACP's history. 

The shift comes as the association seeks to regain the influence of its heyday during the civil rights movement, and Brock said her goal is to expand the NAACP's base beyond its stagnant chapter membership and narrow its focus on a few specific civil rights issues: education, health care, economic empowerment, criminal justice and civic engagement.

Roslyn M. Brock, who joined the civil rights organization in college, succeeds Julian Bond, left. (Helayne Seidman For The Washington Post)

AAPP says: All of you know how I feel about the NAACP. I have been a critic of the NAACP for some time, yet at the same time I have scene glimmers of HOPE. I've talked about how the naacp is still facing a battle over its future. More Here about - my second take

It's interesting that I (along with other bloggers) just recently discussed how the NAACP gave Senator Reid an A in Congress report card | more HERE and HERE 

Yes, I have been critical of how Three Negros (stooges) meet with Obama at White House without an agenda, plan, strategy, out program in place. On this blog I have followed the NAACP for some time. I have pointed out, like so many other black folks how NAACP is out of touch! As an example, giving Harry Reid a grade "A" as a Senator.

Now we learn the NAACP selected health-care administrator Roslyn M. Brock as its chairman on Saturday, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization.  

AAPP: This is good News!

As reported by By Krissah Thompson over at The Washington Post, For the first time in the NAACP's history, both its president and chairman are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation. 

Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who, at 37, is the youngest president in the NAACP's history. 

The shift comes as the association seeks to regain the influence of its heyday during the civil rights movement, and Brock said her goal is to expand the NAACP's base beyond its stagnant chapter membership and narrow its focus on a few specific civil rights issues: education, health care, economic empowerment, criminal justice and civic engagement.

"As we move forward, our greatest challenge really is to hone our message to make it relevant," said Brock, who joined the NAACP as a freshman in college. "We have to recognize and to own that we can't be all things to all people, and that there are new players in the space that we operate in who may be able to do some things better than we can."

Brock and Jealous, who was named president two years ago, are tasked with finding a way to reignite what they call the association's "front-line" activism. Jealous said both see their mission as no less pressing than the struggles faced by African Americans in other eras. 

AAPP says: Hmmm.... Here is my previous comments on the naacp 100 years... what next?

"We are the so-called children of the dream," Jealous said. "We were told that everything was fair and all we had to do was work hard. That worked well for many of us, but all of us realize that we are a part of a generation that is both the most murdered in the country and the most incarcerated on the planet."

Both Brock and Jealous said they want to see the NAACP catch up with technological advancements in social activism. Smaller, younger groups have built robust online activism networks. Jealous began last year to increase the NAACP's online presence, with live streaming of video and online campaigns in support of health-care reform and other issues.

AAPP says: I agree with one of the professors, quoted in the Washington Post article, "The jury is still out on the relevance of the NAACP, but this is definitely a step in the right direction," said Andra Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University. "The biggest structural challenge [facing the NAACP] is in an era where there is codified equality and you have a black president, you have to figure out what a civil rights agenda looks like. No one has figured that out."

I also agree with the responder to a recent blog post, regarding the NAACP's meeting with Barack Obama recently, when he wrote: 

"Looks like The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion traveled all the way to Washington, in the middle of a snow storm, just to get one hour with The Wizard Obama. Even Dorthy knew it would be a waste of time...that's why she stayed home. They could have gotten better results with a phone call. Many Blacks said it would be a "cold day in hell" before Obama would spend ONE day addressing our issues... they were wrong....it just took a cold day in Washington, and less than one hour to address our issues."  More HERE

As Krissah Thompson at The Washington Post, noted, although it had been a force in winning major civil rights battles for decades, the NAACP has been criticized in recent years for not remaining relevant. The average age of its 64-member board of directors is 58. Read more HERE

 

With all this said, we wish her the best in her new role....

Three Negros (stooges) Meet With Obama at White House

The Three Stooges of Negro Opinion met at the White House with President Barack Obama today.

Two of the of the three "black like me, 'light skinned Obama type negro' men of negro opinion and somewhat negro dialect" met privately with Obama for about an hour saying they pushed for aid in urban and rural areas with large numbers of hurting "minorities." Media outlets like CNN, continue to build these folks up, as Black spokes people, saying "Wednesday as President Obama huddled with key African-American leaders at the White House."  Who elected these three self serving negro clowns black leaders?

These 3 Top negro hustlers of the civil rights memories of days long gone, included Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network (a paper tiger organization based out of NY) and National Urban League president Marc Morial, and thier new side kick NACCP chief negro in charge Benjamin Todd Jealous, spoke with members of a media that was non exsistent outside the West Wing of the White House following their meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington.

Al Sharpton and the other two stooges went to the White House to talk about the pain of black folks, in order to gain favor from the Obama administration for their pet projects. This after the negro NAACP organization called the NAACP just finished giving a letter A of support to America's Senate bigot.

Sharpton and the other stooges met with President Obama, urging him to remember their communities when it comes to the pending jobs bill and other pieces of economic legislation."We expect to be included in the process," Sharpton said, just as business and union leaders are. Obama's other negro guests: Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, and Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League made up the three stooges.

Dorothy Height, chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women, had to cancel because of the weather.

AAPP says: There appears to be something drastically wrong with the Obama administration refusing to address poverty and the black community. Maybe Doug Wilder is right. i have been saying it for some time myself, The White House of "not listening to the people" I also urge Barack Obama to fire his senior aides. It seems that his staff only see red.

The president needs to address low-income workers who have been hit the hardest by the jobs crisis, instead of addressing America's affluent. the President needs to talk with real people, and not these fake three stooges he met with today. Maybe he can get it on his schedule.

Hey Mr. president, This is not the change I voted for. At this point, this independent,   would never vote for you again.

Want to talk about this issue and these three stooges, and what they are up to?  Is this just a disguise to get some money for their organizations? Are they just really planning to support Obama because Americans are not supporting his support the rich policies?

Join us tonight on BlogTalkRadio's most popular blog talk radio program, "If you can handle the truth."Join in the conversation tonight on Blog Talk Radio 

NAACP Gives Score of A To Bigoted Senator Harry Reid

According to Krissah Thompson at The Washington Post even after the racial firestorm last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scored an A on the latest report card from the NAACP. 

AAPP: The NAACP should rename itself SAMBOS!

AAPP: Surprise, Surprise! "The NAACP is still smiling and saying "Yes Um Boss," to the soon to be "all white Senate" who are full of southern and northern bigots, who have done little of nothing over the past 40 years to address poverty in America, or any real issues impacting the black communities across America."   



 No they rather give out silly report cards and bogus "best negro" image awards.





 



The Fact of the matter is the subprime mortgage crisis will cause African-Americans to experience wealth losses of between $72 billion and $93 billion over its duration. For people of color in general, the racial bias of subprime mortgage lenders accounts for nearly double the wealth losses for people of color as for whites. This all happened while Harry Reid was in office. I guess the NAACP does not understand that Black America is getting foreclosed on, and are losing between $72-93 Billion dollars, while they are giving out A's out like there is no tomorrow. 

Recession

AAPP says: The National office of the NAACP should do more to address the real crisis impacting black America, rather than providing report cards in support of color aroused, bigoted Senators who's votes mean nothing if black folks are stilling losing their homes, unemployed at rates of 35-50% for some segments, and have the highest cancer, AIDS, Breast Cancer, and infant mortality rates. 

OK back to the Washington post article, according to the Washington Post, the Nevada Democrat may have gotten in trouble for his pre-election comments describing President Obama as "light-skinned" with no "Negro accent," but his voting record was something the 100-year-old civil rights group cheered in its report card of the first session of the 111th Congress released Thursday. 

The association ranked each member of Congress on support of NAACP's policy positions based on 21 key votes cast last year in the Senate and 25 votes in the House. Fifty-nine percent of senators and 47 percent of House members received an A, and 29 percent of senators and 34 percent of House members received an F. 

On the whole, Democrats were far more likely to get high marks than Republicans. The exception were centrist Blue Dog Democrats, many of whom received Cs and Ds.  

AAPP says: I would like to know what Harry Reid has done to address the root causes of black men’s difficulties in the labor market, including high rates of incarceration, limited education, and discrimination. What has Harry Reid done to ensure that all communities have fair access to jobs? What has Harry Reid actually done to reduce inequities and promote equal opportunity in the labor market and promote access to meaningful employment opportunities for black men and women? 

That's What I would like to know NAACP? The fact of the matter Harry Reid is no, LBJ. Harry Reid is no Edward M. Kennedy! 


The fact is, as reported by Arthur Perlo, between one quarter and one third of all working-age African Americans are unemployed. Three quarters of Black teens are unemployed. What has Senator Reid done?

For African American men of prime working age (25-54) it is estimated the "real" jobless rate at 26 percent. For African American teens (16-19), "real" unemployment is 74 percent. Even for white teens it is 52 percent!  What has Senator Reid done? Read more HERE  

Read more on how the youthful NAACP President Benjamin Jealous is turning into just another NAACP hack and look alike of Julian Bond and other old school NAACP president's who think the best strategy for the NAACP is to continue to act like 2010 Steppin Fetchit's.

I guess blogger Rippa is right, black leader, from the NAACP to Barack Obama are saying, we are on our own!  

The NAACP has given Alabama gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis a 'B', the lowest grade among Congressional Black Caucus members, for this past year: Davis, 42, barely got a grade of “B”  More HERE. Oh what a tangled web, we have negroes all around us...