As we come to the conclusion of Black History Month, I was asked by a buddy to take a look at Target’s “Dare.Dream.Do.” Black History Month ad campaign.
It got me thinking.
As you know, if you watch TV, February commercials are particularly filled with images of happy, successful black folk enjoying all manner of vehicles, foodstuffs, cleaning products–always cleaning products–personal hygiene concoctions and financial instruments. I love it, I just wish February and the NAACP Image Awards weren’t such a “black commercial” ghetto. I would like to see more of …

Yes, the tragedy in Haiti is epic and the suffering is immeasurable.

A need that no one seems to be addressing is the inevitable and immediate need for blood and blood plasma. This is one humanitarian gesture that requires a little more than a text message or a checkbook. It will take 20 min of your time and the use of your arm to save lives. The tragic H.I.V. epidemic in Haiti only exacerbates the problem thus making the need for individual sacrifice of critical importance.
If you …

Displaying more dignity and grace than most anyone else could have mustered under the circumstances, Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, offered a precise explanation of history to address the odious comments Pat Robertson made yesterday while men, women and children lay trapped in agony.

I am absolutely sick of people defending hate filled oratory.
Trent Lott’s comments “weren’t said with malice”.
Rush Limbaugh’s “just trying to rile people up”.
Both words and deeds count.
Think about it.

People.
There’s trouble in our ‘hood.

Our neighbors are bleeding.
Our neighbors need our help.

Please do whatever you can.
Here’s what you can do:
Salvation Army – Haiti Earthquake Relief

American Red Cross – Haiti Earthquake – Red Cross Sends Aid and is seeking volunteers to go. Can you do it?
Via blackperspective.net:
Yobachi Boswell writes: “Food For The Poor is the organization I donated through in 2008, and I was happy with them.” At Yobachi’s urging I, too, donated to Food for the Poor in 2008 and the follow-up was very good.
Yele Haiti is Wyclef Jean’s …

Please, can you explain to me why the word “Negro” is still being used in casual discussion in 2010? (…2008 to be precise…)

Most importantly, please explain to me, after so much interracial dialogue, why some white people cannot distinguish between racial ignorance and racial hatred?
Trent Lott’s comments on longing for a segregated America = Racial Hatred
Harry Reid’s word choice in his description of Barack Obama’s acceptability to white voters = Racial Ignorance
Disturbing racial ignorance, but not surprising. [Added 5:45a]
I watched racially stunted and ever-stubborn Joe Scarborough refuse …

So it turns out that HP’s face tracking webcams only work with white folks. Bwahahahaha. “Technology is colorblind” in your face. Check it out via Current.com:

Make sure you watch until near the end. Turns out “Black Desi” has a surprise for his wife to boot.
HP responds:
“We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” …

Ain’t it annoying that sometimes what we love the most causes us the most discomfort?
So two of the things I love the most are blogging and lifting really heavy weights in the gym. *sigh*
Apparently, this combination has caused deep tendinitis in my right wrist and tennis elbow on my right arm. My doctor calls it “right de quervains tenosynovitis” – such a pretty name for pain.

So, I’m in a arm/wrist/thumb brace full-time for the next 7 days and overnight and while on the computer after that.
Please know that …

By Andrew Padula
A couple of days after the election last year, I attended a foreign policy seminar in downtown D.C. I had really been looking forward to this opportunity to rub elbows with international political and business leaders while enjoying one heck of a free lunch buffet. Unfortunately, the most memorable part of this day was my commute on the pride of our nation’s rail system, the Washington Metro. Three or four stops had passed by on my trip home. I was sitting quietly by myself …

For the most part, my reaction to the Tiger trouser snake scandal has been a ‘Kanye shrug’. I certainly wouldn’t want the absolute worst moments of my marriage all over the tabloids. On the other hand, I conduct myself in such a way that even the worst moments wouldn’t be particularly interesting or considered outrageous by anyone other than my hubby.
I am perplexed as to why Gatorade hasn’t dropped Tiger Woods endorsement deal yet. But then again, it is an energy drink. I guess it all makes then since at …

If you only got your information about Taser from it’s several Facebook pages or blog, you would think that there was universal enthusiasm for this 50,000 volt forced compliance weapon. The glowing praise expressed in chatty accolades would be appropriate to discussions of the latest iphone iteration or Droid functionality.
Lingering on Taser Facebook pages, you’d think that it wasn’t very often that Taser related deaths related occur. And when they do happen? You could be persuaded that it’s always the fault of some drug addicted or genetically challenged skell whose …

Please join me and dozens of other concerned bloggers, passionate to stop the abuse of Tasers. Already this year, there have been 50 Taser related deaths.

One of my colleagues calls Taser deaths “extrajudicial execution”: judge, jury and executioner all rolled up into a handheld 50,000 volt electric apparatus that’s considered “non-lethal”.
There’s a lot of talk these days about the glory of our American democracy. And its ideals are glorious. But when the pillar of our justice system is cracked the whole damn dream is shaky.
I hope you’ll join us.

We have Nina Turner, a black politician, being caricatured as Aunt Jemima in a black newspaper, the Call & Post. Why? Because she disagreed with them on some legislation. Unacceptable in my opinion and the good news is, I think, most black folks are fed up with this kind of silencing tactic as well.

Read my full article over at Aol’s BlackSpin. Here’s an excerpt:
The decision by Call & Post, owned by Don King, to call-out Nina Turner by portraying her as the subservient, smiling, always-white-people pleasing Aunt Jemima, because she …

Blond, white and beaming, Tareq And Michaele Salahi breezed into the first White House State Dinner of the Obama presidency. The Salahis hadn’t made it onto on any guest lists, hadn’t gone through any of the usual background checks beforehand and apparently didn’t even pretend to have done these things. Instead, they were just smiley, dressed “appropriately” for the festive occasion and walked right in.
When I heard “White House party crashers” story for the first time, I wondered two things:
1. What if the Salahis are terrorists and have …

Maurice Clemmons, alleged assassin, child rapist and repeatedly convicted felon is still on the loose as of now. Clemmons ambush murder of four police officers starting the day at a coffee shop, is one of those street level crimes that tears at the thin fabric of human decency in which most of us seek comfort. Maurice Clemmons apparently went hunting for police officers to kill. And Clemmons is alleged to have told acquaintances as much. He reportedly said to them, “Watch the the news tomorrow. I’m going to kill some …

Being an honest, yet enthusiastic American requires the ability to consistently integrate the pretty, mythic narratives that our nation holds dear with the always more complicated and often very ugly truth of our American story. Like my experience of George Washington’s birthday, some American Indians refer to the Thanksgiving I celebrate as a National Day of Mourning. And with good reason.
Far away from the fables we learned as schoolchildren, the truth is that Pilgrim “settlers” came onto a land that had already been “settled”: corn planted, fields cleared, seeds …