Black Voices Blogs

Black Progress In America

Jeff Douglas — 2008-07-22T22:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Black History 365

How do you measure progress in the Black community? Well, we've come a long way baby, that's for sure.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: "All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."

But we should neither be pessimistic nor ignore the progress and huge steps forward African Americans have made in the last 25 years alone.

As CNN explores what it's like to be Black In America, Black Voices asked "How did we get here?" We came up with 10 examples of Black progress in America. Next, we'll look at the problems we still face as a community.

Check out the list and tell us how you think we have progressed?

10 Ways Black People Have Progressed

The new generation of African Americans going in to ownership and entrepreneurial routes are well equipped and more knowledgeable than ever before. Despite many obstacles unparalleled to other races many African American have perceived to receive equality and the right to ownership since the ending of slavery. Now in the 21st century we are able to see how their successes and potential to become business moguls and CEOs of major companies.

History was made At the 74th Academy Awards(R) in 2002 when Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win Best Actress. She also gave one of the most memorable acceptance speeches of her life that gave thanks to all those powerful black females that had came before her. This was not a moment in her life to be remembered but a witness that women of color are be. Denzel Washington continuing the path of Greatness when he was awarded Best Actor for Training Day after Sidney Poitier, the first African-American male to win Best Actor 39 years ago, was awarded an honorary award. These two men are examples of how much we have came along in history and in entertainment. And now that they have opened the door for a new generation to enter and blow even more borders for the future.

2. In recent years there has been a glimpse that black education rates are on the rise. School teachers have been becoming the main influence for students to excel in test scores for reading, writing skills, math, and social sciences. Now that teachers are receiving more respect for their hard work, society is noticing that they are the gateway for their children's future.

Digital divide Narrowed

hip-Hop Culture Takes Over

6. Williams Sisters/Michael Jordan

As Barack Obama continues his path to the White House to become the first African American for the President of The United States of America history is being made every step he takes closer. It was monumental when Barack defeated Hillary Clinton as the leader of the Democratic Party for the election but as

Women Empowerment

Condoleeza Rice - Secretary of State Colin Powell being the top military person in America
As the first black female to be in such a hig position in politics, Condeleeza is a women in charge of being president Bush's right hand and has been very influential in the advancement of black women in the U.S. government.

Join the Black In America Discussion in Community
+ Black Journalist in America? Where??
+ CNN's Black In America

+ Reactions to the CNN Documentary

Headlines from CNN's Special Report
+ Behind The Scenes: Inside San Quentin's Prison University Project
+ At 112, Artist Still Going Strong
+ Black In America: Resources
+ CNN Presents: Black In America Parent Discussion Guide
+ Black Community Denied Water For Decades, Jury Says

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NBA Great Could Take Over Detroit, Kwame's Job

Madison J. Gray — 2008-07-22T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Kwame Kilpatrick

There's a long list of things you can read about that would further update you on the saga of embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the alleged freaky tales caught on text, the demand by half the city for him to resign, not to mention the foundation he's managed to build despite the trouble he's been in for practically his entire tenure in City Hall.

But the most interesting to me is no longer Kilpatrick, but an older, wiser industrialist who also happens to belong to the NBA Hall of Fame. ...

Dave Bing, a former Detroit Pistons' guard who was elected one of the NBA's Greatest Players of All Time, who grew to be one of the city's most important businessmen after launching Bing Steel, is now giving thought to running for mayor himself next year.

And who could blame him? The city is going through so much turmoil right now, what with not only the mayoral crisis, but the auto industry eating itself alive, the housing crisis getting so bad there that the West Side neighborhood I grew up in has damn near every other home sitting empty, impossible to sell. Really, if he did run, what does he have to lose?

While talking to Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley, Bing said something that really struck me:

The unfortunate thing for those of us who are strong supporters of the city is that it becomes more and more difficult to circle the wagons and be protective," he said. "It's just a matter of time for those people, regardless of how much they love the city, to find options to move, and we could see an outpouring of whatever middle class we still have here, and that's a death knell because we've lost so much of our middle class. You can't just have all poor people and think the city's going to do well. And that's what happening right now. We've got to change that.

Very profound.

This kind of thinking shows that there are black people in a black city who think progressively. I happen to know that there are a LOT of Detroiters who think like this, and understand why any urban area needs a substantial middle class in order to survive.

Is Bing the man to create this kind of change? I don't know, I mean, this is a working man's town and social democracy has been an important component of Detroit's culture for many years. So it would take Bing not only understanding the American worker, but helping him or her to develop the skill set needed to compete in the 21st century global economy.

WIth that said, Bing does make a good point about Kilpatrick needing to split. On Wednesday the controversy gets deeper with a judge deciding which lawyer gets to represent the city. What this means is that this scandal has reached a point where the city government is spending boatloads of taxpayer dollars over freaky text messages.

Even I have to ask: why would he put the city through this?

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Barack In Iraq - Talk Before Action

Faye Anderson — 2008-07-22T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama, Iraq War

The Iraqi government rolled out the red carpet for Barack Obama on his first trip to the war zone in more than two years. Obama was tight-lipped about his meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, saying only:

I have had a wonderful visit so far and excellent conversations, but we have several more meetings over the next two days and at that point, I'll give you a general assessment. ...

Maliki had a lot to say to Der Spiegel magazine. He reportedly endorsed Obama's 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. Maliki has since said there was a "transcription error"; he wants the U.S. out by the end of 2010.

Fine, call it a timetable, timeline, "time horizon," timeout. If Obama is elected President, he should embrace the plan proposed during an earlier unpopular war - declare victory and get the hell out.

Obama hopes his swing through the Middle East and Europe will burnish his national security and foreign policy credentials. The major television network anchors and correspondents are fawning tripping over each other, but the unprecedented media coverage may turn off the very voters he needs to reach.

A new Rasmussen poll found that 78 percent of Republicans believe reporters are trying to help Obama win the election. No surprise there since "liberal media bias" is a GOP talking point.

Surprisingly, 21 percent of Democrats think the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama. Still, it's no big deal. But it's a very big deal that 50 percent of "unaffiliated" voters - swing voters - think the traditional media are giving Obama preferential treatment. Swing voters will take with a grain of salt favorable coverage of Obama's interaction with military commanders and foreign leaders.

A recent New York Times-CBS News poll found that only 57 percent of white voters think it's "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that Obama would be an effective commander-in-chief. So, good news out of Iraq may not allay the doubts of the 40 percent of white voters who say it's "not too likely" or "not at all likely."

They say there's no such thing as bad press but too much press may be giving Obama some outside help he doesn't need.

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Soledad O'Brien on CNN's 'Black In America'

Angela Bronner — 2008-07-21T16:50:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin

By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien spent more than a year tracking the stories of black men and women from all walks of life in America for the groundbreaking documentary series 'Black In America.'

This week premieres 'Black in America: The Black Woman & Family' (Wednesday, July 23 at 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.) and 'Black in America: The Black Man' (Thursday, July 24 at 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.)

O'Brien speaks candidly with BlackVoices.com about the series.

I know this was probably envisioned and put together some time ago, but why now?

About 18 months ago I was brought in because [CNN] had been exploring stories on Black Americans and how to do them and it became clear that it needed to be more of a documentary, it wasn't a number of 2 or 3 minute stories, you just couldn't do it justice. And then we were looking at Martin Luther King's assassination and so when people ask, why now? Well, literally it's the 40th anniversary of the assassination. And so the real answer to why now is because our three parts were: part one, King's assassination and this is the 40th anniversary year. [Parts two and three look at being black in America since that time.]

We had no idea 18 months ago when we began, we had no idea that Barack Obama would have the prominence that he has, we had no idea that so many race issues would be capturing the nation's attention.

I think that there's an interest in conversation about race in this country that has spurred people to speak more straightforward about these issues -- in good ways and some in bad ways. You know some of the dialogue and debate over Jena 6 has been people shouting at each other but there's certainly a lot of discussion about race out of Jena 6. The Sean Bell shooting, again, the same thing. That has led a lot of people to talk about race, and police brutality and justice and incarceration in ways that we never predicted two years out.

What was the most surprising, heartening, happy, sad, encouraging thing you found -- was there something or an interview that really struck an emotional chord with you?

I think what was surprising was some of the consistency of the stories that people told, two things, one was the conversation they had with their 11-year old or 12 year old sons about what happens when they got pulled over by the police. Literally no matter if you were a Hollywood millionaire or you were in dire poverty in Detroit. 'Here's how you survive if a cop pulls you over.' That was pretty shocking because you would do one interview and then you'd do another and by the fourth or fifth you realized that even if you weren't talking to people about that issue, you'd realize wow, there's this redundancy this verbatim conversation that's happening in the black community across all socioeconomic levels that white people do not have.

You [also] asked about what was encouraging....What was very interesting to me was to see the sheer number of people who could be doing so many other things.

One of the people we profiled, a surgeon Dr. Cooper, Carnell Cooper in Baltimore, he's a trauma surgeon so basically all he does is remove bullets from young black men. And after he works his 15 hour shift, he then goes and counsels these young men, sits down by their bedside and tells them, 'You know I can get you out of the game. What do you want? Your GED, a job, what do you need?' And he started a foundation in '99 called Violence Intervention Project and he helps these kids, because they're all kids, mostly 18 year old boys, 19 and 20. There are so many people who are doing things like that that really don't have to and so I find that incredibly encouraging because it's recognition that there's a huge problem and the only really way to fix it is us. The only way to fix your own community is to fix your own community. That has been very encouraging.

Obama vs. McCain - The Issues

Foregin Policy

Obama supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions; Expand our diplomatic presence, strengthen NATO and make Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority; Fight global poverty and seek new partnerships in Asia

McCain plans to fight violent Islamic extremists and terrorist tactics; increase the size of the military; sanctions on Russia until Putin exits Chechnya; Urge Japan to open economy to ensure Asian recovery; No diplomatic or trade relations with Cuba, Iran or North Korea; solidarity with U.S. allies.

Gay Marriage

Obama says "Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman." He wants states to decide this and supports legal benefits for same-sex partners.

McCain says he opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, wants individual states to decide the issue. Supports legal benefits for same-sex partners.

Enviornment and Climate Change

Obama's plan calls for a reduced carbon emissions 80 ppercent by 2050; invest in a clean energy future; support next generation biofuels; and set a path to oil independence.

McCain calls for climate policy built on scientifically-sound evidence; mandatory emission reduction targets; facilitate international efforts.

Immigration

Obama's plan for immigration calls for securing boarders; must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants; Bring people out of the shadows and work with Mexico; cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

McCain's plan for immigration includes deporting some of the 2 million illegal immigrants who committed crimes; Certify border is secure; only then allow guest workers; McCain stands against amnesty plans for illegal citizens; Comprehensive reform requires temporary worker program.

The War

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. He has called for no permanent bases in Iraq; Obama plans to make it clear to the Iraqi government and military that the U.S. is leaving.

McCain's plan for Iraq includes succeeding before leaving. He wants to put international pressure on Syria and Iran for aiding in the aided and abetted the violence in Iraq;
improve Iraq's economy.

Education

Obama's education plan includs reforming No Child Left Behind; Address the dropout crisis; recruit, train and tetain better teachers; make the first $4,000 of a college education
completely free throught tax credits.

McCain's plan states if a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools; place parents and children at the center of the education process; create a school systems based on competition and not low standards.

Health Care

Obama's plan call for coverage of uninsured Americans through a national health plan with affordable premiums. Obama has also called for a National Health Insurance Exchange act as a watchdog group to reform the private insurance market; Mandatory coverage of children and better
organized state heal care plans.

McCain's health care plan is focused to reduce spending and extenting more health care options to those who are typically uninsured. His plan calls for pushing Health savings Accounts; work with states to establish a guaranteed access plan.

Economy

Obama's plan for the economy included middle-class tax relief; Creating green jobs; protect homeownership and crack down on mortgage fraud. end predatory credit card practices.

McCain's Plan for the economy includes eliminating broken and wasteful government programs; a middle-class tax cut; Social Security reform; lower trade barriers.

Those two stories have a common thread which goes across class. I haven't seen the documentary yet but I kind of assumed that a lot of things would be kind of past race and moving towards class division in the black community. It sounds like what you found was that there are still many commonalities around race.

I don't think that's true. You know some people say to me 'Are we post-racial?' And I'm like, 'No and I don't think we want to be -- I mean at least I don't want to be.' People have said to me, "Wouldn't it be great the day when no one sees color?" No, I mean why? What's wrong with seeing color? I think what people don't want is all of the negative repercussions with being colorblind. I mean I never thought seeing color was a bad thing. I always considered a back handed faux compliment was "I don't even think of you as black." That's like the worst compliment. "Oh you speak so well I don't think of you as black" I mean what does that even mean? I like the color I am and I'm proud of my color, and I'm proud of my parents' colors so I'm good with it, why are you not good with it? I don't think things need to be post-racial I think what we need is equality and a sense of understanding.

Do you think there is a disconnect between Barack Obama and black America?

I don't. I don't think so at all. I mean if you're asking my opinion I don't think so at all. I think Barack Obama is the fruition of a lot of people's work and a lot of people's dreams over the last 40 years. I mean we heard that consistently when we were doing our reporting so I think Barack Obama is part of black America and there is no disconnect. I'm sure he's disconnected from some parts of black America and I'm sure some parts of black America are disconnected from other parts of black America. But Barack Obama is as much a part of black America as me with my light skin; my dad's white and my mom's black, as my cousin who grew up in Guyana and her children are here. We're black America and it's a very wide picture that includes a lot of people. Not in our documentary necessarily where we tried to keep sort of a narrow focus but black America is a lot of things. I always hesitate when people like to try and figure who's in and who's out because it's not helpful and it's not realistic. Black America includes a lot of people.

Would you say that 'Black in America' was made for black people or for white people?

As a journalist, I never see stories that way. I would go to New Orleans all the time and people would say, "Oh this is great you're telling our story for us." I really wasn't, I was really just reporting on what I saw. So you hope if you're a good storyteller you can capture it for everybody. My goal was just to make sure that the interviews cut to the core, they got to the point that we didn't dance around things that everybody would want to talk about that. I truly never thought, "Let me ask this question because I really need white people to know this," and that's not how I approach any story, ever. I just think if you have good people and you do good interviews and you have those moments in the interview that draw everybody in because you're grabbing them by their throats and their hearts then you've succeeded. I hope everybody watches it.

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Disney's Frog Princess Lays an Egg

Carmen Dixon — 2008-07-21T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Race and Civil Rights

For the most part I'm the first one to push back against "political correctness." I think ideas need to be expressed honestly and then we all know what we're dealing with.

But when it comes to children, I am all for books, toys, TV shows and movies projecting the best in human nature. Kids will have to deal with the crappy stuff, like diminished expectations because of their skin color, soon enough.

With that in mind, Disney seems to have been a little tone deaf in its inaugural effort to feature a black princess. According to reports Maddy, some say it sounds too much like Mammy, originally the Frog Princess, was slated to have been a maid to a young white insufferable debutante in the 1920's.

What the hell??? What kind of role model is that for girls? For little black girls?!?! ...

Although I support and honor the long legacy of hard work of domestic workers, I hardly believe such difficult physical labor is the stuff that contemporary dreams are made of. Don't even come at me with Cinderella. That fairy tale was spun decades ago; this is a new day.

But now the film studio finds itself fending off a chorus of accusations of racial stereotyping in its forthcoming big-budget cartoon, The Princess and The Frog: An American Fairy Tale, which marks a return to hand-drawn animation.

A musical set in 1920s New Orleans, the film was supposed to feature Maddy, a black chambermaid working for a spoilt, white Southern debutante. Maddy was to be helped by a voodoo priestess fairy godmother to win the heart of a white prince, after he rescued her from the clutches of a voodoo magician.

Disney's original storyboard is believed to have been torn up after criticism that the lead character was a clichéd subservient role with echoes of slavery, and whose name sounded too much like "Mammy" - a unwelcome reminder of America's Deep South before the civil rights movement swept away segregation. Disney's 'subservient' black princess animates film critics, Arifa Akbar

Disney has gone back to the drawing board and the initial information sounds promising. The princess' new name is Tiana, no voodoo is involved in her triumphs. I'll wait and see.

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Harlem On My Mind

Faye Anderson — 2008-07-21T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Harlem Book Fair. While the event "ain't no cure for the summertime blues" (read: hot and humid weather), it was a refreshing distraction from the endless presidential campaign.

The panel discussions included a tribute to James Baldwin, featuring Herb Boyd, Quincy Troupe and Amiri Baraka. Baldwin is one of my literary heroes. His fearless truth-telling and commitment to racial justice partly inspired my lifelong political activism.

As the panelists observed, Baldwin returned from Paris to be a witness to the struggle for civil rights.

Baraka said:For me, the voices of the civil rights movement were Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Jimmy Baldwin.

The discussion on today's civil rights agenda was moderated by Anthony Samad, author of "50 Years After Brown: The State of Black Equality In America." There was a generational divide between Keli Goff and Edgar J. Ridley.

Goff, author of "Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence," acknowledged the post-civil rights frame is debatable in light of the unfinished business of the civil rights movement. While noting there is "still extreme inequality," she believes the civil rights agenda "is no longer limited along color lines; there are class barriers."

Goff said the new civil rights agenda should include education, health care, human rights and quality of life issues.

Ridley is from the civil rights generation. For him, it's all about race:

The United States is still a big plantation. Racism is still the number one problem. It's not a class problem, it's a race problem.

Goff and Ridley agreed that the notion of a "post-racial" America is just that, a notion. Ridley observed:

You have to be deaf, dumb and blind to believe in post-racial.

As an aside, I want to make note that Anthony is my second choice to be the Next Commentator on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show." OK, let's keep it real - a distant second.

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Random Urban Static: Spoken Word Poetry Power

Carmen Dixon — 2008-07-19T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin

The most talented spoken word artists, or "rhymecologists," proffer clever, vocabulary acrobatics as observations about the way we live in the world. They spit unexpected couplings, laying them down, end to end, from the beginning to the send. They lay bare naked truth for you to hear and see and feel.

The tightest lyrics provoke thought, pain and laughter. And when the performance is over your mind and heart are worked out from riding the gymnastic gyrations of verbal uneven parallel bars.

'GV7 Random Urban Static' is a documentary I watched over the past few nights. It sits you down, up close and personal with 15 spoken word artists and lets you listen and watch as they open up about the creative process and what compels them to rhyme.

It's a sincere chronicle. But the most engaging moments of the film feature the artists themselves reciting their work. Hearing artists talk about art or the "artistic process" narrows the power of the rhymes for me. Because the more I hear about the artist's personal story, and about his or her own conflicted inner dialogue, the more I am taken out of the moment and have straggling remnants of back story floating around in my head as I watch them perform.

Not a big deal. After five minutes of Bridget Gray, I am transported right back to all the possibility of verbal creativity.

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Forgotten Soul Music: Part 2

Madison J. Gray — 2008-07-19T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Black History 365

Okay, I'm feeling it again.

I keep listening to a lot of really poor excuses for R&B music on the radio, which seems to deliberately hide excellent Soul music and Hip Hop as if we, the listening public, are too stupid to know what good music is. When program directors realize they are being challenged by other media, I hope they will realize that playing the same 15 songs over and over again causes people to tune out.

This time, rather than dealing with news topics, it's gotta be Soul music once more, so excuse me while I bring out my inner Frankie Crocker. The last time I did this a few months ago, it went over well and lots of people told me they got up and danced when they hear the tunes I selected.

So here are some more beginning with this wonderful 1968 duet from the late Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, two people who absolutely made love with their voices, and who both died tragically, far too early. Younger folks will be familiar with the cover by Method Man and Mary J. Blige. ...

Okay, maybe Frankie Crocker would not have played Jimi Hendrix, which was a major complaint of his back in the day, that he couldn't get any airplay on black radio. But looking back in retrospect, there's no denying the soul in this brother's guitar rifts. This is a classic performance of his at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, just a few months before his untimely death.

The same year, Sly and the Family Stone came out with this good-weed-on-Friday-night anthem. I consider this to be the beginning of the funk era in Soul music. At this point, R&B evolved from how the record companies told artists to present themselves into a kaleidoscope of images and ideals, invoking a new black identity and paralleling the prevailing black attitude of the times.

It's my feeling that no Soul music collection is complete without Stevie Wonder. Now, this is a rare groove from him, but still a classic. He's got such a large catalog that it's really hard to figure out where to start. So here's one of my personal favorites of his from 1972.

Most people recognize the brilliant composing duo of Daryl Hall and John Oates as what is called "blue-eyed soul." That means white artists who do R&B music. There have always been plenty from Carly Simon to Teena Marie to Simply Red. This 1973 song, I think, set the standard for breakup ballads.

Let's slow it down for a bit. It took Ronald Isley years to convince record companies to put he and his brothers' faces on their album covers. When they did, their songs had proven to be much bigger hits than they ever had been when they started out in the 1950s. By 1974, there was no question that they shared the top of the Soul world with the best out there. This beautiful cover of Todd Rungren's piece makes it clear.

I don't know why this joint does not get more airplay, even on so-called "old school" stations. To me it's the beautiful Minnie Riperton's signature piece, which came out five years before her untimely death in 1979.

Real quick, go upstairs to the attic, open up the trunk, throw on the double stitched hip huggers (you know you still have them) and then hit play below. This rare 1975 groove from the Crown Heights Affair took over every lock-popping competition in every city when it was hot.

I don't know what it is about the year 1976 that made music so good. Did every songwriter feel like they needed a bicentennial moment? Anyway, peep this float theme from Denise Williams.

Then dig my favorite from the Car Wash soundtrack. You may take it for granted, but this is one hell of a composition.

And finally, this is probably the best overall musical performance from the Jacksons. It came out on their first album after completely breaking with Motown, dropping the "5" from their name. This was also the beginning of Michael's emerging as an adult superstar. You can see that in their short lived CBS variety show. Say what you will about the gloved one, but make no mistake: He is the greatest entertainer of all time.

Honestly, Earth Wind & Fire deserves its own blog posting. Another band with a rich, rich catalogue that begins in the late 1960s. The reason they are so powerful is because they continued to reinvent themselves. Their art was as much concept as it was music and you didn't just listen to EWF, you experienced them. Their megaconcerts were a true spectacle that proves music videos never really enhanced the record industry.

You all know their classics, but for now, let's spin you with this 1977 flavor which, of course has Phillip Bailey's magical vocals.

Back in the 70s, my brothers and their friends were high-schoolers, while I was in elementary school. I remember listening to their music, watching their cavalier, badass attitudes, emulating their street slang and waiting for the day I could be that cool. But these were the coolest M.F.s in the neighborhood, took no shit, dressed suave as all get out, and had all the girls jocking. This 1977 groove is one of their theme songs.

Man, there is one individual who it pains me that I can't use here. But he does not allow his material to be used online. It's a big controversy and it hurts no one but him and it makes it clear that he's at odds with his legion of devoted fans. In fact, if you go to his website, you get nothing but a black screen. Since he doesn't want a web presence, then I'm not even going to mention his name. Hopefully, his messed up attitude will change, and we will be able to enjoy his music online, in the stores or however we choose to get it.

Let's skip up to 1979. Patrice Rushen is currently regarded as one of the world's best jazz pianists. But back in the 70s, when she was in her 20s with those sexy braids, you couldn't buy better lovemaking music.

By the early 1980s, everyone had heard of New York's Studio 54. But as a rule in the Big Apple, anything everyone has heard about is automatically corny and square. The real joint was the Paradise Garage, which featured resident DJ, the late Larry Levan, who is regarded as the founder of modern club turntablism.

One of his favorites (as well as those who showed up in droves on gay night) was this Loose Joints jam from 1980, which has since been remixed into a classic house music tune.

While we're at it, peep this rare 1983 groove from Status IV, another club classic for back when dress codes, perfect hair and actually knowing how to dance was an unadulterated standard at any lounge.

Look, I know most people will disagree with me on this, but I've got to include this one on my list. To me, this 1985 beat from the Fat Boys is the single best rap composition of all time. Lyrics and semi-silly video notwithstanding, the flow is as nice as anything you'll ever hear, the beat is dope, and it is designed for both mixing and dancing. An all around great song from a time when Hip Hop was fun.

Full disclosure here: Sade is more than my favorite artist. She is more than a singer/composer. She is more than a woman. She is more than a goddess. Frankly, I feel unworthy to type her name on this blog. But I must share her with you in order to somehow please my mistress. I was at this concert and I saw her give the begging crowd a live rendition of this 1988 audible nectar.

Another one many will disagree with me on, but Michel'le, currently known as Mrs. Suge Knight, should have been what Mary J. Blige became. I remember her album stayed in rotation on most urban radio for two straight years, and a slow dance favorite was this 1990 tune, which was backed by an in-their-heyday N.W.A.

In 1997, the film Love Jones was a date movie turned instant cult hit that solidified in American pop culture a phenomenon that it is now about to elect to the White House: educated black people. Part of its wonder was a sountrack that introduced Soul artists that did not seem commercial. Arguably, the most memorable track from it is from Dionne Farris.

Listen, I'd better quit this before someone sues me for copyright infringement. But before I go, I want to sweep you into the new millennium with an artist who does not get the props she deserves, but you really should go see her live if you get the chance because Vivian Green is one of the best live talents in the industry today.

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Michelle Walks All Over GOP Targets

Faye Anderson — 2008-07-18T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama

It is open season on Michelle Obama, the New Yorker's "Angry Black Woman" in combat boots.

A while back, the Tennessee Republican Party got all shook up when Michelle made a campaign appearance in Nashville. In advance of her campaign trip to Seattle, highlighted some bad apples in their welcome video.
Barack Obama has again asked folks to lay off his wife. In an interview with Glamour magazine, Obama said:

It's infuriating, but it's not surprising, because let's face it: What happened was that the conservative press-Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk-went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way...and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans. And I've said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn't sign up for this.

Like it or not, Michelle is fair game. So she should put on some fashionable boots and borrow a phrase from Nancy Sinatra:

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

With Obama leading John McCain in the polls, on Jan. 20, 2009, Michelle might be able to say, "Are you ready boots? Start walking down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House."

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Super Bowl Champ's Tales of Troubles, Triumphs

Jeff Douglas — 2008-07-18T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Sports

New York Giants star receiver David Tyree visited our friends over at NPR News & Notes studios to talk about his miracle Super Bowl catch, but also the serious subject of his past.

That includes an arrest for selling marijuana -- and his subsequent spiritual rebirth, which has carried him all the way to the top.

Sure, you've heard the tale of athletes getting in trouble and turning their lives around, but this one is really worth tuning into. Watch the video after the jump. ...

More from News & Notes
+ James L. Taylor: Voting For Barack Obama

+ Responding To Your Letters

+ Inside Jazz Hot Spots Around The Nation
+ Chante Moore: P. Diddy Stole My Hit Song For J.Lo

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'The View' On The N-Word - Dry Your Eyes Elizabeth

Carmen Dixon — 2008-07-18T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Television

I believe Elizabeth Hasselbeck's tears this week on "The View" were sincere. I believe she seeks racial harmony in our country and so do I. Further, it's my hunch that hundreds of thousands of people, many of them white, were nodding along as she expressed her passionate belief that the constant use of the 'n-word' in pop culture makes it more difficult to get to a better, more racially understanding society.

I think she's right. I hate the 'n-word' when anybody uses it. But let me be very clear about my opinion on all of this. ...

Anyone who thinks the move toward racial equality and harmony in this country rests on who uses or does not use the 'n-word' does not even begin to comprehend the kind of gut wrenching self examination and barrier blasting work it will take to build a color neutral society in America.

From "The View"

"We live in a world where pop culture uses that term and we're trying to get to a place where we feel like we're in the same place," Elisabeth said. "How are we supposed to then...move forward if we keep using terms that bring back such pain?"

"I can tell you how, here's how we do it, you listen and say 'Okay, this is how we're using this word and this is why we do it,' and you have to say, 'I understand that, but let's find a new way to move forward,'" Whoopi fired back.
"We don't live in different worlds,"

Elisabeth insisted, "We live in the same world."

However, Whoopi fiercely disagreed with her co-host, saying, "We do live in different worlds, it's just that way. It is Elisabeth."

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. Jackson apologized Wednesday for comments he made about Barack Obama's speeches in black churches during what he thought was a private.

"It was very private," Jackson said. A spokesman for the Obama campaign said that the Illinois senator accepts Jackson's apology. Jackson's son, however, was less kind. "I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements," Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said. Here, Jackson and Obama share a lighter moment in Illinois last month.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Obama Wednesday after comments he made about the presidential candidate were picked up on an open microphone. After a Fox News interview on Sunday, Jackson said, "Barack, he's talking down to black people."

Skip Peterson, AP

In this Feb. 5, 2008 file photo, Rev. Jesse Jackson holds a campaign sign for Obama, D-Ill., in Chicago. Jackson said Wednesday, July 9, 2008 he's "very sorry" for comments he made about Obama during what he thought was a private conversation with a reporter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Yes Elizabeth, there is a double standard. A black person will not be penalized for using the 'n-word,' and a white person will.

But why does that matter? My perpetually unanswered question to all of the white people who make this complaint is why in the world would any racially sensitive white person want to use the 'n-word'? Why does this particular double standard tick you off so much?

I hate the 'n-word.' I don't use it. My family: me, my mom and my grandmother, sat down together and decided not to use that word. And we didn't and we don't. I have asked black people not to use it in my presence. I have strongly urged white people who wanted my friendship to stop using it altogether, even with other black people who condone it. And I've encouraged them to ask the same of their white friends. But I don't believe in banning words. You can't enforce it anyway.

I feel Elizabeth's pain. Honest talk about race is painful stuff. But as I say to myself many, many times everyday: the only way out is through.

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Ohio Black Folk - Like Water for Chocolate

Madison J. Gray — 2008-07-17T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin

This is one that needs to be pumped up and put in the mainstream like the Jena 6.

It is hard to believe that a black community in Zanesville, Ohio, have been denied access to public water, but that is what a U.S. District Court ruled recently, winning a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Residents of Coal Run, a black neighborhood in the town of 25,000 had to leave their homes, as if it were the 1920s, and go get their water.

According to this article from TIME.com, racism by neglect -- which to me is some of the most insidious -- has reared its ugly head. ...

According to the suit, the community had repeatedly requested water service since 1956, the year the city built a water main that ended just short of the neighborhood, and had watched as the East Muskingum Water Authority built new water lines and increased county water efforts in surrounding areas while their requests went unanswered.

The one thing that does make me happy about this is the approach they took to addressing this problem. Rather than a bunch of pointless marches featuring the blackness patrol and people selling t-shirts at demonstrations, the people in the community collaborated with an organization who would listen to their direct needs, took it to court, fought it tooth and nail, and now the people have running water.

This, brothers and sisters, is the future of civil rights. The day of PR posturing, colorful public speeches, and university professors who act like they can explain everything there is to know about black people to television audiences is over.

People get results through the work of organizational and legal channels. That's how it's done. That's what Martin Luther King was working on when he died.

I'm hoping this approach will be the new thought process going forward as the "old guard" of Civil Rights leadership makes way, not for the "new guard" but for the "you and me" guard.

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Jesse Jackson's Foot-In-Mouth Disease

Branden Cobb — 2008-07-17T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections

It seems that Fox News is taking advantage of its recording of Jesse Jackson during the commercial break again -- this time revealing that the elder civil rights leader has let the n- word slip while criticizing Democratic-presidential-nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama, Fox News confirmed Wednesday.

Not that anyone should be surprised that the network is capitalizing on Jackson. It is the same one that labeled Michelle Obama a "Baby Mama," even though she was married when her children were born. It's also the one that let host Bill O'Reilly lead the charge for Pepsi to drop Rapper Ludacris as a spokesperson because he found his lyrics offensive; the list of it's infractions against blacks goes on and on. Yet, somehow Jackson thought they would treat him fairly, with kid gloves, and respect his privacy. ...

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Skip Peterson, AP

The major drawback from his statements is that one of the few chances African Americans get to have their say on an "unfriendly" network, it is overshadowed by Jackson's tirade.

"Do As I Say Not As I Do"

Jackson's remarks are a classic case of "Do As I Do, Not As I Say." After all, he is the same man who called for a ban on that very same word citing its negative connotation to blacks. Unlike some, he didn't want to eliminate it just from the vocabulary of whites or entertainers, he wanted us to stop using hate speech. Okay, he did add a footnote; not to use the word in public. Perhaps, he felt that by using the word in a rant about a man, of whom he is clearly jealous, that it was acceptable. But, if that was the case, then why didn't he mention his use of it during his series of apologizes when confronted about the first flap off air, stemming from the same interview.

"Keep Doing What You're Doing, You'll Keep Getting What You are Getting"

A former presidential hopeful himself, Jackson already came under fire this month for his crude off-air comment in which he said he would mutilate Obama, in what he thought was a private conversation during a taping of the same "Fox & Friends" news show. Of course, we all now know that his off camera remarks are out in the public light. His own son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. called his initial comments unnecessary and politically motivated; begging the question, is the senior Jackson even relevant in today's political realm?

At the time, Jackson explained he was simply angered by the way Obama has been addressing blacks, especially black men, about parental responsibility. He claims Obama's rhetoric is harsh, blunt, even critical of black people when he really needs to be attacking overall issue of urban disparity.

However, looking at society as a whole is how African Americans have often approached forcing change in the African American community and we all know how well that has worked. Black marriage is down, our children are increasingly uneducated and we are still struggling financially as a community. So, has that tactic worked? Perhaps, Obama's idea of change and his directness are exactly what blacks need right now.

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Jackson Caught on Tape - The Remix

Faye Anderson — 2008-07-17T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson

A week ago, FOX News' Bill O'Reilly aired part of a videotape of Rev. Jesse Jackson trashing Barack Obama. O'Reilly said the network "held back some of Jackson's comments because they weren't relevant."

There was no holding back the "weasel" who O'Reilly said "leaked it out to the Internet":

Barack ... he's talking down to black people ... telling ni****s how to behave.

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Skip Peterson, AP

With rumors swirling, O'Reilly went on "Studio B" to "get it all out so everyone knows."

Jackson has issued another fulsome apology, this time in a statement from Madrid, where he is traveling:

I am deeply saddened and distressed by the pain and sorrow that I have caused as a result of my hurtful words. I apologize again to Senator Barrack Obama, Michelle Obama, their children as well as to the American public. There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me. I also pray that we, as a nation, can move on to address the real issues that affect the American people.

For a lot of black folks, Jesse's mess is the issue. They want him to move on. He was nuts to think his use of the N-word would not come out sooner or later. Jackson's rank hypocrisy irredeemably damages the dwindling influence he has in the African American community.

Polls show the racial waters are roiling. Any interjection of race into the presidential campaign dampens Obama's appeal to white voters whose support he needs to win in November.

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