by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, Your Black World 

I did a recent CNN appearance along with the actor Hill Harper and Dr. Alvin Poussaint at Harvard University. The series was a one-year anniversary segment featuring political issues within the African American community. for the entire week, the primary focus was on the impact that President Barack Obama has had onAfrican American men. Given that I’ve been a black man for quite a while now, I found this conversation topic particularly interesting, so getting to speak to Richelle Carey again wasn’t the only perk of doing the job that day.

It must be made clear that the president should not be expected to save the entire world in one swoop. His job is difficult, and he can’t give everyone what they want all the time. But to the extent that President Obama has been positioned to trump pre-existing black leadership (remember that some say we now live in a post-racial America), one can argue that President Obama’s rantings in black churches come with some degree of accountability from the Oval Office. Obama has spoken at NAACP meetings, telling black men to take responsibility for our families (as if none of us do) and to engage in more personal responsibility (as if we don’t do that already). Such tough talk should be backed by meaningful policy, since structural incentives play a dominant role in the ultimate choice of the individual. For example, when companies get tax incentives to invest in new projects, they almost always do.

Click to read.

approval among white Americans has fallen to 39 percent since taking office in January, Gallup Daily poll results indicated.

Overall, Obama’s approval rating slipped below 50 percent for the first time in his presidency, a 16 percentage point drop since the 66 percent average he enjoyed during his first full week in office, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said of its results released Tuesday.

Support among blacks for Obama averaged 93 percent during his time in office, and has been at or above 90 percent since he was sworn in, accounting for the reason Obama’s support among non-white respondents didn’t drop as much, Gallup said.

click to read.

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, Howard University 

With the release of her new book Going Rogue: An American Life, former Alaskan Governor and Republican party VP nominee Sarah Palin is once again being given a spotlight she does not deserve. Under normal circumstances Palin would have drifted into obscurity by now; a political has-been who never was. Instead, a sub-par politician with no substantial constituency; no command of relevant issues, and no solutions to substantive problems, is being given air and face time as though she really matters. The simple reality that few are willing to articulate is, if she were not relatively attractive, of European ancestry and a woman, Sarah Palin would be day old bread.

Former Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) did not select Palin as his running mate because she was a “rogue”, innovator, or had demonstrated intellectual heft. McCain simply pandered to the Conservative Right, tried to siphon off some of the disgruntled Senator Clinton supporters, and gave America more of the same ole’ politics. From that point until now, Sarah Palin has continually tried to reinvent herself, but continues to give Americans more of the same; “all sizzle and no steak”.

Click to read.

By Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

I was intrigued by recent reports that the Ku Klux Klan had a rally on the Ole Miss Campus recently. It might surprise you to know that I am essentially unconcerned by their presence on campus. Don’t get me wrong, Klansmen are incredibly ignorant. Also, we cannot deny their historical reign of terror over people of color in America. But I can also give you a list of reasons that we should stop paying attention to the KKK.

1) They thrive off of attention: The KKK has very little power. They don’t do very much anymore, and even in this rally, it appears that there were only a few members present. The truth is that the klan only has power because we give it attention. They are like a grease fire: The more water you put on it, the more it grows. But if you starve the fire of oxygen, it eventually dies out. The klan must be starved of attention, and then they will go away. They only remain relevant because we want them to be.

Click to read.

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Black Planet 

I love speaking with Rev. Jesse Jackson.  He walks and talks like a man who has seen and heard nearly everything.  Our civil rights leaders are social hubs through which many members of our society must travel in order to reach their destinations.   You can’t call yourself a black man and not know the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Rev. Jackson took things a step further by stating recently at a Congressional Black Caucus function that,”You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.”

RELATED: Jesse Jackson Says To CBC You Can’t Be Black And Be Against Health Care

This comment was aimed at Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, the only member of theCongressional Black Caucus who does not support health care reform.   What is most interesting about Jackson’s comment is that he is right, but not quite.  You can certainly argue that Davis’ lack of support for the plan implies  that his interests are not in line with the majority of African Americans in this country:  Most of them love Barack Obama and are willing to support anything that he supports.  The other sad truth is that health care reform is so complicated that most Americans don’t have a clue about what’s going on.   In that regard, we can argue that it is difficult for Davis to say that he represents the black community when he votes in a direction that is not correlated with the majority of African Americans in the state of Alabama.

Click to read.

by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

My mother raised me to believe that black men are supposed to stand up for black women. Heather Ellis is the woman who now faces 15-years in prison for an incident deriving from her being accused of cutting line at a Walmart. Based on my knowledge of the Heather Ellis case (and seeing the Walmart surveillance video that has not yet been released to the public), it seems difficult to argue in favor of a conviction.

I accompanied Dr. Christopher Metzler (Georgetown University), Dr. Wilmer Leon(Howard University), King Downing (Attorney with the Sean Bell Justice Project) and Elliot Millner (Legal Advisor for the Your Black World Coalition) to Kennett, MO. The trip was long, but rewarding. You can visit TheHeatherEllisCase.com to read more about the rally and how it all happened. The town shut down and took notice because they’d never seen black people come together to fight for their rights, at least not in that way.

There are some who seem to believe that if Heather cut the line, cursed at the cashier or kicked one of the officers, she should go to prison (The officer’s allegations can’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and don’t appear on any video that I’ve seen. Police reports here have questionable credibility, since King Downing has data which shows that the Kennett police are systematically biased when arresting and convicting black defendants). But after witnessing egregious and illegal behavior on the part of many non-black college students for the past 16 years (ever been to a campus frat party?), it’s interesting that most of them are let go with a slap on the wrist, but some think it’s ok to send a black woman to prison over a minor incident. If I came to most universities (including my own), had a raid on a fraternity house and chose to send students to prison over whatever contraband I found, there would be outrage.

click to read.

By

Dr. Elaina George, MD

The health care reform bill (HR 3962) that just passed the House of Representatives is bad on so many levels it is difficult explain. As it stands, it will destroy both the doctor patient relationship and change the practice of medicine as we know it.

We have one of the finest health care systems in the world. It has been built on a foundation of choice. Doctors were free to choose the care that they deemed necessary to treat their patients, and patients were free to seek the medical care of their choice. Initially, the foundation was shaken by the rise of the managed care system with capitation. However, over the past 10 years, capitated plans which limit access to specialists have given way to the rise in power of insurance companies. They have used their anti-trust exemption to craft a system that has used monopoly to increase profits on the backs of both doctors and patients.

Click to read.

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

When I heard that black Columbia University professor Lionel McIntyre punched out a white university employee, I was obviously taken aback. I was even more intrigued by the fact that the two were having a heated conversation about white privilege when the alleged punch took place. Given that the fight was in a bar, I immediately thought about the Jamie Foxx excuse: "blame it on the alcohol." My goddaughter is an athlete at Columbia, but I had no idea that Columbia University professors could be so athletic in their free time. Although professor McIntyre’s actions are obviously inexcusable, the truth is that our actions "under the influence" tell a deeper story about our psyches, so there is more to this incident than meets the eye.

1) Call me crazy, but I understand how Lionel McIntyre felt. I would never punch out anyone from the frustration I’ve felt when dealing with white privilege, but then again, that is probably why I chose not to drink alcohol, since I am genuinely concerned about how I might react to the stinging pain of consistent racism. What is also true is that although some black scholars are afraid to admit it, many of us have felt incredibly angry and irritated by the arrogant nature of white privilege within academia. It’s not that black scholars dislike their white colleagues, it’s that many of us are tired of being thought of as second-class citizens. If any black Ph.D. student or professor says they haven’t thought about jumping over someone’s desk and "whooping ass" at least once, they’re telling a lie. Some of us hold in the frustration until we die of heart disease. Some of us submit ourselves to the system and become groveling Sambos, while many black scholars simply leave academia altogether. Either way, there is as much frustration for black scholars in America as there is within nearly every other profession dominated by whites. So as the comedian Chris Rock once said in a skit about O.J. Simpson, "I’m not saying he should have done it, but I understand."

Click to read more.

A history lesson that asked black elementary students to act like slaves has sparked protests from parents and teachers at a North Carolina school Wednesday.

During a field trip to Latta Plantation, three students from Rea View Elementary in Waxhaw were chosen by tour guide Ian Campbell to wear bags and mimic picking cotton while their white classmates looked on, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported Friday.

Many of the teachers and parents from the elementary school said they plan on writing the leaders of the plantation regarding the racially insensitive history lesson.

Click to read.

Should we be concerned about this?  Our rally is in Kennett, MO on November 16 at 11 am.

Visit www.TheHeatherEllisCase.com for more information.