Essay 512

Check out the AP story below. A MultiCultClassics response follows immediately…

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Black-Oriented TV Has More Fast-Food Ads

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO - There are far more ads for fast food and snacks on black-oriented TV than on channels with more general programming, researchers report in a provocative study that suggests a link to high obesity rates in black children.

The results come from a study that lasted just one week in the summer. Commercials on Black Entertainment Television, the nation's first black-targeted cable channel, were compared with ads during afternoon and evening shows on the WB network and Disney Channel.

Of the nearly 1,100 ads, more than half were for fast food and drinks, such as sodas.

About 66 percent of the fast-food ads were on BET, compared with 34 percent on WB and none on Disney. For drinks, 82 percent were on BET, 11 percent on WB and 6 percent on Disney; and for snacks, 60 percent were on BET, none on WB and 40 percent on Disney.

The study in a pediatric medical journal accompanies separate research: a study indicating kids consume an extra 167 calories, often from advertised foods, for every hour of TV they watch; and a report suggesting even preschoolers get fat from watching more than two hours of daily TV.

The articles appear in April’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on media and children’s health released Monday.

The studies clearly illustrate “that the media have disturbing potential to negatively affect many aspects of children's healthy development,” Amy Jordan of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania wrote in a journal editorial.

“Such evidence offers increasing support for the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that children older than 2 years spend no more than two hours per day with screen media, preferably educational screen media,” Jordan said.

Still, Jordan said the ads study doesn’t prove that a disproportionate number of commercials for unhealthy foods causes black kids to become overweight, and said more research is needed “to more convincingly directly tie exposure to effects.”

Obesity affects about 18 percent of black children, compared with about 14 percent of white youngsters, according to 2001-02 data. The rate was almost 20 percent for Hispanics. New estimates coming later this week are expected to show the numbers have increased for both blacks and whites.

BET spokesman Michael Lewellen said BET’s target audience is blacks aged 18 to 34 and said its programming “does not target children.” He also questioned the study’s methods since the researchers included ads shown during prime time, “when virtually all networks target adults.”

The researchers examined ads shown from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. for one week last July. Programming generally was music videos on BET; cartoons and talk shows on WB; and cartoons and kid-oriented shows, including “That’s So Raven” and “Kim Possible” on Disney. The same programming is offered during the school year, said Corliss Wilson Outley, a University of Minnesota researcher and the lead author.

While Disney is not an advertiser-supported channel, the researchers counted company-announced sponsors of Disney programs as commercials. McDonald’s Corp. was the leading fast-food advertiser.

Outley said black children are an attractive target for fast-food companies because many live in neighborhoods with easier access to fast food than healthier food.

The goal is to “get kids hooked at a very early age” so they become lifelong customers, she said.

McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman called the study “a bit misguided” and said McDonald’s doesn't single out black children.

“Our marketing strategy encompasses young people as well as adults and we do that through various media and marketing strategies that cross all demographics,” Whitman said.

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It sure would be cool to concoct a conspiracy theory on this issue. Then again, the truth more than likely leads to plenty of outrageous revelations.

Are fast food advertisers preying on Black kids? Not any more than they’re targeting other youth segments. Hell, they’re probably directing fewer messages to Black kids than other youth segments.

So why does there appear to be a disproportionate amount of junk food being aimed at Black kids? It may have to do with advertisers in general. Despite the fact that Black audiences have been wooed for decades, the majority of brands still do not create special segmented efforts. It seems like the few folks dedicated to building relationships with Blacks are the big clients with money to spare — that is, Mickey D’s, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, etc.

Fast feeders are not zeroing in on Black kids. It’s just that they’re almost the ONLY ones advertising to the segment. And the truth is, these brands allocate a minority of their budgets against this minority group. You’d be hard-pressed to find a kid-focused Ronald McDonald commercial running on BET.

But wait, it gets trickier. One reason why Ronald McDonald rarely appears on BET is because Mickey D’s prefers to support minority media with stuff produced by its minority agencies. We could debate if the Golden Arches really believes in Black consumers, or if they’re simply meeting corporate quotas and diversity initiatives by employing minority agencies. But let’s not go there right now.

Of course, there’s a Catch-22. Big advertisers can’t satisfy diversity initiatives via their mass market agencies, as those shops continue to be woefully White.

Sure, there are societal and economic forces at play too. Many minority communities have limited access to mass market food options. Plus, the poorer neighborhoods (and even the middle-class places during our times of recession) have limited budgets. So Mickey D’s, Burger King and KFC become the suppliers of choice by virtue of being the sole choice. But we digress.

Most folks agree there is a growing problem with obesity and bad nutrition in America. Could advertisers like Mickey D’s do a better job of showing concern and responsibility for their customers’ well-being? Probably. Are these companies conspiring to harm Blacks? Probably not.

At least not any more than they’re harming the entire global community.

Essay 511

Burger King touts the new French Toast Sandwich.

The headline reads: Pardon our French, but DAAAMN!

Pardon our English, but this ad is SHEEEEEEEIT!

Essay 510

I Hate Monday MultiCultClassics Monologues…

• Looks like everyone wants to smell like Puffy. Sean Combs’ new fragrance, Unforgivable, has been the top seller since its February 10 launch. The brand initially sparked controversy with its risqué ads, some of which were rejected by certain stores and publications. Based on the image above, things don’t seem any more lurid than anything else in the category.

• Mickey D’s is allegedly bracing for backlash from the upcoming movie titled, “Chew On This.” The flick is based on Eric Schossler’s best-selling book, “Fast Food Nation” — which presents an unflattering portrait of the practices of McDonald’s and other fast feeders. “McDonald’s is concerned because the film can take creative license and people can perceive those licenses with direct associations to McDonald’s,” said one expert familiar with the situation. Or maybe they’re concerned that the public will see the truth. Funny, Mickey D’s didn’t seem so concerned over “Super Size Me.” There’s something Filet-O-Fishy about this scenario.

• The New York Times reported New York City is losing a dramatic number of its Black citizens. Figures showed there were 30,000 fewer Black residents in 2004 than in 2000. While White New Yorkers tend to migrate to the suburbs, Blacks leave the area entirely. “This suggests that the Black movement out of New York City is much more of an evacuation than the movement for Whites,” said one demographer studying the moving patterns. Or maybe folks are just fed up with the Knicks.

• Nikkole Denson (pictured below), director of business development for Starbucks Entertainment, is feeling the love from Hollywood studios. Now that the coffeemaker is getting into movie promotion, all the studio bigwigs want to get a piece of the action. The Los Angeles Times reported Denson plans to back “uplifting, inspirational stories … most likely from independent companies … or studio specialty divisions.” Starbucks seems the perfect partner for movies — like theaters, the coffee place offers endlessly long lines and wildly overpriced concessions.

Essay 509

Alleged Rape at Duke Plays to Stereotypes
By ALLEN G. BREED, AP

DURHAM, N.C. (April 2) — The case seems to fit the stereotypes so perfectly. The accused rapists are white, the woman is black.

The men go to Duke University, the expensive private college with the championship sports teams and big TV deals. The woman studies across town at chronically underfunded and oft-overshadowed North Carolina Central University.

The men are lacrosse jocks, many of them recruited from tony Northern prep schools. She's a 27-year-old divorced mother of two who went to the Duke students’ house to do some exotic dancing and make a little extra money.

It’s so easy to see the incident at the shabby university-owned house — just a mile from the iconic Gothic Duke Chapel — in terms of powerlessness and privilege, town and gown, black and white. Many on campus and in the streets of this gritty working-class vertex of the famed Research Triangle are framing it just that way.

But not everybody is comfortable with that.

“I think along with the awfulness of the incident has come a real desire to condemn a lot of the Duke students because they are people of privilege, maybe,” Durham resident Paul Montgomery, who is white, said as he stood outside the Trinity Park house where the party occurred. “I just hope people kind of take into account that there is … more than meets the eye.”

The white, three-bedroom house with the crumbling black shutters sits on the edge of Walltown, a predominantly black and poor neighborhood outside the school's low stone wall where many residents still refer to Duke as “the plantation.”

On the night of March 13, a black woman made a tearful call to 911 to complain that a white man from the house at 610 N. Buchanan Boulevard — which was being leased by three lacrosse team members — had shouted a racial slur at her and a friend. She told police that someone had recently defaced a neighborhood car with the letters “KKK.”

“I’m just so angry I didn’t know who to call,” the woman sobbed in impotent rage. “They didn’t harm me in any way, but I just feel so completely offended, I can’t even believe it.”

That same night, a woman says she and a partner went there expecting to entertain a bachelor party of five, but that they soon found themselves surrounded by more than 40 drunken men barking racial slurs.

“We started to cry,” she told The News & Observer of Raleigh. “We were so scared.”

She told police she and her friend left the house. Jason Bissey was smoking a cigarette on the front porch next door and said he heard some of the party demand a refund.

He heard one shout, “Hey bitch! Thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt.”

Someone from the house apologized and coaxed the women back inside. It was then, the woman says, that she was dragged into a bathroom and raped, beaten and choked for a half hour.

Police say medical evidence is consistent with a sexual assault. Officers recovered the woman’s makeup bag, cell phone and identification from the house — as well as four red-polished fingernails she says were broken off during the struggle.

A judge ordered 46 members of the team to submit DNA samples. Because the woman says her attackers were white, the squad’s lone black member was not tested.

People on and off campus were outraged that it took police nearly three days to search the house. They were even more incensed that it took two weeks for the university to make the decision to suspend the team's season.

Protesters have marched almost daily, banging pots and pans outside the white house and demonstrating in front of Provost Peter Lange’s home. Signs alternately condemning and supporting the players have appeared and disappeared from the players’ now-vacant house.

The team captains issued a statement Wednesday expressing “sincere regret over the lapse in judgment in having the party.” But they say the DNA tests will prove “that any allegation that a sexual assault or rape occurred is totally and transparently false.”

Durham is a fairly racially balanced city; blacks and whites each comprise about 45 percent of the population. But Duke does not mirror the community at large — only 11 percent of the 6,244 undergraduates are black.

The economic chasm between the university and the town is also large. It costs about $44,000 to attend Duke — $3,000 more than the mean household income in Durham, and about $34,000 more than the in-state cost of attending North Carolina Central.

Slightly more than half of Duke’s lacrosse team came from private schools, including the lone Durham native, but assistant sports information director Art Chase said many receive some form of financial aid.

Duke says it wants to be a good neighbor. University President Richard Brodhead said the school recently bought the house on Buchanan Boulevard and 14 others because of complaints of raucous parties and uncivil behavior.

“When we decided to purchase these properties, it was our intention to turn them around and sell them to single families, to do something good for the neighborhoods,” he said last week.

Duke does have a history of outreach in Walltown and the larger community.

Durham native Maya Jackson remembers fondly how Duke students would come to her elementary school to help out.

But the 23-year-old junior sociology major at NCCU also acknowledged that there has always been “an air” about Dukies.

“Some of them came off as snooty,” said Jackson, who is black. “That can be said the same for Central students … It just comes off a little bit stronger when it involves Duke students.”

Said Rayone Bland, a black divinity student at Duke: “There is really a sense of, ‘I’m entitled to do what I want to do.’ It’s kind of like the staff and judicial affairs and everyone is just here kind of to keep the country club running and to keep everyone happy. So there’s really not any accountability, I don’t think, for students.

“So being told ‘No’ for the first time, I mean, is mind-blowing for them.”

All over town, there is a sense that battle lines have been drawn. One afternoon, Jeff Shaw, 20, a sophomore from Winston-Salem, sported a brand-new Duke lacrosse T-shirt he bought to show his support for friends on the team.

“I feel like it’s Duke and Durham against these people” on the team, he says.

On Wednesday, several hundred people gathered on the East Campus for a “Take Back the Night” march from the student union to Duke Chapel. The annual protest was planned months ago, but recent events gave it a special urgency.

As Flannery Hysjulien waited for the rally to begin, she bent low in front of a garbage can and stared at a flier plastered there. It bore the heading “PLEASE COME FORWARD” — and the names and pictures of nearly the entire lacrosse team.

The 25-year-old Durham native, a white student in social work at the University of North Carolina in nearby Chapel Hill, says she has watched Duke try to build bridges with the community. She says it is a difficult task only complicated by this latest incident.

“I really think there is a feeling that this connects to a history of racism in Durham and discrimination in Durham that is still very much felt by residents of Durham,” says Hysjulien, who was on campus for the march. “I think we’re a city that remains quite divided, although we're attempting to become a more unified community.”

As the crowd massed, a white man with a bullhorn leaned out of a nearby dorm window and shouted, “The lacrosse team is innocent.” Another walked across the quad, pumping his fist and shouting hoarsely, “They’re innocent.”

Freshman Addison Nuding stood on the grass divide with his Frisbee and bemoaned the rush to judgment — on both sides.

“With a school of this prestige, I think that we’re always going to be the target,” says the 19-year-old wrestler from Reading, Pa., a white whose friends on the lacrosse team have assured him no rape occurred that night. “It’s an easy target.”

Jeannine Carpenter, 30, who is studying linguistics at Duke, doesn’t think the incident should reflect on the Duke community as a whole. But for many people, the white Ph.D candidate knows it inevitably will.

“There’s a stereotype of white Duke privilege that can’t always be denied,” she says. “I think that there’s always historical truth in stereotypes. Whether it’s present day or not is definitely a question.”

AP writer Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this report.

Essay 508

Late-breaking news on daylight-saving time with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The immigration-related protests continue, with the latest big one taking place on the Brooklyn Bridge (pictured above). “There is no victory yet,” said one organizer of the event. “We have many more changes we need to get. We have to fight.” That’s an interesting comment, given that immigration issues seem to have inspired more passion and unity than the war debates.

• A new poll showed a slim majority of Americans support giving illegal immigrants an opportunity to receive some kind of legal status to remain the U.S. — with two-thirds recognizing immigrants fill jobs most folks don’t want. It’s funny that institutions like The Minuteman Project use volunteers to stop people from doing work nobody else wants.

• Rev. Jesse Jackson teamed with Rev. Al Sharpton to lead a protest on Saturday, demanding displaced New Orleans citizens have the right to vote in upcoming elections. Bill Cosby joined the event, urging folks to rebuild New Orleans without the murders and drugs that have always tainted the city. Leave it to Cosby to reprimand while others rally.

• The New York Post continues hating on Naomi Campbell, reporting that the temperamental supermodel spat on a security guard at a Madison Square Garden concert last fall. Campbell is currently facing accusations of hurling a phone at an assistant. Campbell released a statement that read, “[The accuser] is sadly mistaken if she thinks she can extract money from me by concocting lies by recycling old stories.” She then flew to South Africa to promote a children’s charity event with Nelson Mandela. Kids, keep the cell phones away from Miss Campbell.

• Marion “Suge” Knight failed to appear at a court-mandated debt hearing. Opposing lawyers are seeking to have the rap mogul held in contempt and even jailed for the no-show. Knight’s lawyer declined to comment, proclaiming, “We try our cases in the court and not in the press.” Not convinced someone like Knight deals with cases in the court or in the press.

• The Los Angeles Times reports that Black churches across the country are organizing to combat the obesity epidemic, which has been a definite problem in the Black community. Churches are designing programs to educate folks about nutrition and exercise. “Our body is the temple of the Lord,” said one Los Angeles pastor. “We have to revere our temple.” Somebody preach it to Mo’Nique.

• Three Ohio teachers were suspended after supervising a bus trip where students engaged in a lurid game of “Truth or Dare.” The players allegedly flashed passing motorists and girls put money down their shirts for boys to fish for — plus, one girl performed oral sex on a boy. Things probably got really interesting when kids started singing, “100 bottles of beer on the wall.”

Essay 507

No way to treat a lady with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Should performers like Mimi Marks (pictured above) be categorized alongside strippers and other adult entertainers? Marks, incidentally, is a female impersonator. And now an alderman in Chicago is seeking to remove such artists from the zoning mandates that restrict adult entertainment. “If somebody walks on stage and they’re a female acting as a male, what part of that is so objectionable? It’s commonly accepted as mainstream entertainment. It’s an artistic form now,” argued the alderman. “There’s not the fear surrounding it that there was 40 or 50 years ago.” Right, these cabarets may soon replace Chuck E. Cheese as the venue of choice for family fun.

• Yanni won’t be charged with domestic battery after all. The musician was arrested last month for allegedly beating up his girlfriend. But nothing could be proven, and the cops were forced to admit, “Essentially, it came down to a ‘he said, she said.’” Which means Yanni is free to assault the public with his lame music.

• Rep. Cynthia McKinney argued her altercation with a Capitol Police officer started due to the cop “inappropriately touching and stopping” her after she walked past a security point. Her lawyer proclaimed, “Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of average Americans across this country, is, too, a victim of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin.” McKinney held a press conference, flanked by artists-turned-activists Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover. Yeah, that’s pretty much the picture of an average American.

Essay 506

The essay below appeared in The Chicago Sun-Times…

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Don’t overlook diversity when it’s time to pick a college

April 1, 2006

BY PETE NELSON

At the University of Illinois at Chicago, like most universities around the country, we are nearing the end of our recruiting season for next year’s new students. Applicants and parents are anxiously awaiting the legendary “big, fat envelope” to appear as acceptance letters begin hitting the mail.

For weeks now I have been in the thick of it with kids preparing to take the leap from high school to college. My recruiting pitch includes the strengths of our computer science department such as our world-renowned faculty, excellent teaching, advanced computing laboratories and the benefits of going to school in the center of Chicago.

Students ask a wide variety of questions such as, “Will I get to take CS [computer science] courses in my first semester?” and “Is vegetarian food available in the student dining halls?” (The answer to both questions is yes.) The most common question I hear from parents is, “Will my son/daughter be able to get a good job after graduation?” Happily, the answer to this question is also “yes.”

One of the unspoken beauties of an urban university like UIC is that many of our students are the first in their families to crack into higher education, which makes the recruiting conversations with students and parents particularly rewarding. Often, these students are also first-generation Americans.

A few days ago I left a recruiting open house to lecture to my junior-level public speaking course for computer science majors to help develop the communication skills they’ll need in the workplace. Students make speeches and presentations to the class, starting usually with non-technical subjects or personal experiences. I’ve taught this course a few times and have always enjoyed listening to students talk about their diverse backgrounds. For example, this semester I have students of seemingly every race and religion from Chicago, the suburbs and Downstate. The class also includes immigrants or first-generation Americans from Bosnia, China, England, India, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey and Vietnam.

I am awestruck by the great multicultural salad bowl I have the privilege to teach in, and the wonderful opportunities it provides students and professors to learn from one another.

Interested in Google’s China censoring controversy? Turn to the Chinese student on your left to get a first-hand report! Questions about the Danish cartoon riots? Discuss it with the first-generation Pakistani student on your right! Curious about various opinions regarding the Hamas election? Talk to the Israeli student in front of you, and then turn around and speak with the Syrian student behind you! Having trouble appreciating what you have? Listen to the hardscrabble story from your Bosnian classmate.

Regrettably, even our multicultural and diverse university does not strongly pitch diversity when recruiting students (though we certainly do to politicians and funding agencies). Perhaps this is because we sense that students and parents do not have diversity high on their priority list, or even on their list at all. However, the truth is that who you learn with is very critical to the quality and depth of your educational experience. Building friendships and learning with a diverse set of classmates makes for a very rich university experience. It may not always be comfortable or easy, but for the most part, I see very warm, positive relationships develop among our students. Perhaps it is easier to fit in and be yourself when everyone is different.

With increased economic globalization, we face many problems that can only be solved by having a better understanding of each other. With this in mind, I hope students and parents will consider the long-overlooked factor of student diversity as they finalize their college plans for next fall.

Pete Nelson is a professor and head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Essay 505

A diversity of protests with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The New York Post states that Naomi Campbell (pictured above) allegedly sought to cover up her assault of a worker (see Essay 504). After reportedly bashing the worker’s head with a cell phone, Campbell tried to convince the bleeding employee not to go to a hospital. Although the supermodel was charged with second-degree assault, Campbell protests the event never happened. “I really think someone else is going to be killed. [Campbell’s] out of control,” an ex-employee said on condition of anonymity. “She’s unpredictable and a dangerous person.” Well, she’s got killer looks.

• A New York hip-hop clothing store is sparking controversy with its t-shirts depicting Sesame Street characters as thugs. Bert’s got a 40, Ernie’s packing heat, Big Bird’s wearing a doo-rag and Oscar the Grouch is giving you the finger. “With all the crime that’s going on, this is some negativity we don’t need,” said a radio talk show host protesting the clothes. “Let’s not glorify it.” Besides, does Oscar even have a middle finger?

• Student protests over immigration continue to erupt across the nation. The rallies remain peaceful yet spirited. But the protestors span all ages. In Woodridge, Virginia, a kindergarten student was sent home for wearing a t-shirt that read, “Latinos Forever.” The school principal feared the design would be disruptive. The kid’s mother asked, “How is [a T-shirt] going to disrupt a kindergarten class?” Depends if the Sesame Street characters make a stance on immigration issues.

• A high school in Colorado is seeking to calm the immigration protests by banning students from displaying flags from the U.S. and other nations. Student disruptions had included kids angrily waving U.S. and Mexican flags in each other’s faces. “When [an incident] involves the American flag and its abuse in vilifying other people, we simply will not tolerate it,” the principal said. “[Students] were using the symbol derisively as misguided patriotism.” This is probably true, as most U.S. students probably don’t even know where Mexico is.

• Verizon was fined in Washington, D.C. for its ad campaign that defaced public property. The work featured chalk messages stenciled on sidewalks, promoting the company’s Yellow Pages service. “We take this kind of thing pretty seriously. Litter, graffiti, posters … anything that defaces, clutters or dirties the city and makes it less welcoming and less hospitable is really anathema,” a city official said. Actually, most of Verizon’s advertising could be categorized as stuff that defaces, clutters or dirties the city.

Essay 504

Model behavior in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Supermodel and diva extraordinaire Naomi Campbell (pictured above) has been charged with assaulting her housekeeper with a telephone. It’s the second time Campbell has been accused of violently reaching out and touching someone with a phone — it was her weapon of choice on an assistant in 1998. Maybe Naomi should consider Ear Bud technology.

• A new study found that praying for heart-bypass patients has no effect on their recovery. Unless your prayers for a really good surgeon are answered.

• Recent studies indicate Blacks are making progress in bridging The Digital Divide. A Pew national survey indicated 61 percent of Blacks use the Internet today — versus only 23 percent in 1998. Then again, many folks contend The Digital Divide is really just The Poverty Divide.

• A Rastafarian charged that UPS wouldn’t hire him because of his beard, although the shipping company denies the accusations. What Can Brown Do For You? Probably not much if you’re a bearded Black.

Essay 503

Acting cagey with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Ohio couple accused of locking their 11 adoptive children in cages filed an appeal to regain custody of the kids (see Essay 488). The couple’s lawyer said, “Even if the court upholds the abuse finding, we are claiming that the grant of permanent custody (to Huron County) was improper and that the judge could have and should have considered a wider range of remedies other than stripping the Gravelles of all if their parental rights.” Yeah, the judge could have designated the Gravelles home as a petting zoo.

• General Motors Corp. held Black Tuesday after all, firing hundreds of white-collar executives. The automaker wouldn’t release specifics, but reports claim nearly 500 people were laid off. “It’s critical for GM to get through the reductions as quickly as possible. This has been a distraction to the employees since November,” one management expert said. “The longer this gets dragged out, the greater the chance there is that the most valued employees will walk out the door on their own and GM will have difficulties attracting new employees.” Oh, it seems like GM offers plenty of other incentives for prospective candidates to stay the hell away.

• A former diversity manager for Honda is suing after being fired for allegedly complaining about racial discrimination at the company. She had protested repeatedly over instances she deemed discriminatory, until the company fired her. Guess Honda believes in firing a diverse group of employees.

• Referring to the issues of immigration, President Bush recently remarked, “There are people doing jobs Americans will not do. … Many people who have come into our country are helping our economy grow. That’s just a fact of life.” Which is essentially what Mexican President Vicente Fox said months ago — although Bush avoided the unflattering references to Blacks.

Essay 502

Busted, busters and broke with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Victor Willis, the original Village People cop, was arrested Sunday after being on the run for five months (see Essay 361). He was charged with drug possession and providing false identification to the arresting officer. An ex-fake cop giving bogus ID to a real cop is such a twisted paradox.

• The Prime Minister of Italy declared he wants to prevent his homeland from becoming a “multiethnic, multicultural country. ... We want to open [our borders] to foreigners who flee countries where their lives or liberties are at risk.” He also said, “We don’t want to welcome all those who come here to bring about damage and danger to Italian citizens.” Guess Victor Willis should stay away.

• The National Urban League released a survey showing Blacks are failing to make economic progress in numerous areas versus Whites. “The economic status of African-Americans is getting worse,” Urban League President Marc Morial said. “If things are stagnant in a growing economy ... then we’ve got to say that progress is seriously lacking. ... America is not America when millions of our citizens are still viewed as a fraction of a person.” And it’s not like folks could just pack up and move to Italy.

• A recent poll of legal immigrants showed the majority “believe anti-immigration sentiment is growing and [they] are alarmed by the tone of the debate over reform.” Another example of science stating the painfully obvious.

Essay 501

Bikers, borders and boogie on a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The NAACP settled their lawsuit with a restaurant chain that closed down during a Black biker rally three years ago in Myrtle Beach (see Essay 49). The suit charged that Black bikers were treated differently than White bikers who had held another rally a week earlier. The restaurant will pay $125,000 and agree to remain open during future rallies. The restaurant’s management should also be forced to watch Biker Boyz.

• The New York Times reported that immigration continues to grow as an election issue. The government has offered solutions like work permits and other programs. Others argue illegal immigrants should be arrested versus coddled. During a debate, one candidate snapped, “You cannot need the workers during the day, then go and hunt them at night.” A typical day in the U.S.? Actually, the story was detailing the situation in Italy.

• Dancing in the streets is not always a good thing. Philadelphia Eagles player Dhani Makalani Jones was arrested in Miami Beach for doing just that. The starting linebacker and a female companion were obstructing traffic with their moves, according to police. Maybe Jones hopes to replace NFL great Jerry Rice on “Dancing With The Stars.”

Essay 500

Hooray for a Hollywood MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Robert Blake recently claimed he wanted to act and even dance (see Essay 483). Now he says he can’t pay up to $1.7 million in taxes he owes. Sounds like a lot of song and dance.

• Boxer James “The Harlem Hammer” Butler will allegedly admit to killing sportswriter Sam Kellerman — but Butler insists it wasn’t murder. Kellerman was bludgeoned to death with a hammer last October. Guess it was a home improvement chore gone horribly awry.

• Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker behind “Super Size Me,” came off like a Super Size moron while speaking at a high school health fair. Spurlock dissed McDonald's employees, cracked about the “retarded kids in the back wearing helmets” and remarked on teachers smoking weed. Spurlock proclaimed, “The greatest lesson those kids learned today was the importance of free speech.” Plus, award-winning filmmakers are sometimes assholes.

Essay 499

Borderline confusion with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Christian Science Monitor reported on the paradoxes of immigration facing officials in the U.S. Senate. An 18-member Senate Judiciary Committee is stumbling toward consensus over new tactics for immigration reform. “Today’s immigration policy is almost founded on lies,” said the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “It presupposes lying by almost everyone involved.” In that case, our elected officials are the perfect lying experts to handle the situation.

• The Washington Post broke down some of the key legislation and proposals relating to immigration.

House-passed legislation

> Requires employers to verify the legal status of employees. It subjects employers to criminal penalties of a year or more in prison. It also sets civil fines of up to $50,000 for each illegal hire.

> Does not include a guest-worker program.

Proposal of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)

> Requires employers to verify legal status of employees. An employer who has knowingly hired more than 10 illegal workers in one year could face up to 10 years in prison.

> Expands guest-worker program, authorizing immigrants to work for three years. They may reapply for another three years, then must return home for a year before again applying to the program.

Proposal of Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)

> Allows undocumented immigrants to stay in the country for six years under temporary work visas if they pay a $1,000 fine and pass background checks. They can later apply for permanent residence and citizenship if they pay an additional $1,000, are proficient in English and civics, and pay all back taxes.

> Allows 400,000 new guest workers into the country each year. It permits immigrants to stay in the country for up to six years under temporary work visas. Applicants would have to pass criminal and security background checks, pay a $500 application fee, and undergo a medical examination.

Still awaiting proposals from The Minuteman Project.

• Hispanic companies in the U.S. are growing at three times the national rate. Reports show Hispanic-owned businesses hit about 1.6 million in 2002, up 31 percent from five years earlier. “The Hispanic consumer market is exploding,” said Michael Barrera, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “That means that a lot of Hispanic businesses are going to benefit from that.” And a lot of Minutemen are going to be really pissed off.

Essay 498

A ground-breaking MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wesley Brown (pictured above) entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1945 and ultimately became the first Black graduate. Now 60 years later, Brown attended a ground-breaking ceremony for a building bearing his name. “Somebody asked me once, did I ever think of quitting,” Brown recalled. “I said, ‘Yes. Every day.’” Fortunately, he persevered to stand as an icon deserving praise and respect. Every day.

• Folks continue the nationwide marches to protest immigration issues. Los Angeles saw over 500,000 marchers on Saturday. Denver drew 50,000 on Saturday too, while Phoenix witnessed 20,000 on Friday. “We construct your schools. We cook your food,” rapper Jorge Ruiz said at a Dallas rally. “We are the motor of this nation, but people don’t see us. Blacks and Whites, they had their revolution. They had their Martin Luther King. Now it is time for us.” Not sure anyone wants a rapper cooking our food.

• The Los Angeles Times reported the snack business supplying movie theatres has been suffering in recent years. Industry experts blame the declining moviegoer crowds. “Our sales are going down pretty directly with attendance,” said one company executive. Or maybe customers are tired of paying $20 for a box of Gummi Bears.

Essay 497

The following appeared in The Chicago Sun-Times…

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Black Power talked revolution
March 26, 2006
BY CHRISTOPHER BENSON AND CLARENCE LANG

‘Black power’ has always been a sort of socio-political Rorschach. We have seen in it what we have wanted to see. That is apparent from recent headlines that show many detractors still associate the black power movement with unfocused rage, lawlessness and urban rebellion.

As the Chicago City Council wrestles with a proposal to rename a portion of West Monroe “Chairman Fred Hampton Way,” there are significant points that are not likely to be made. Cut through the defiant poses and the fiery rhetoric, and you find something truly surprising. Black power might have spoken the language of revolution, but for the most part pursued a strategy of reform.

Yet, despite two generations of thoughtful analysis and scholarship, many commentators still draw sharp contrasts between black power and what was presumed to be a nonviolent, largely Southern civil rights struggle led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Oversimplifying black power in this way obscures the common ground that both periods of the civil rights movement occupy. It ignores the actual content of black power programs and overlooks the way in which black power, in fact, grew out of the successes and failures of civil rights activism itself.

Born of disillusionment

In a way, the civil rights movement prepared the ground upon which the black power movement was built. In a way, the civil rights movement was always about black power.

What is the true meaning of black power? What did it accomplish? How does it challenge us in moving forward, together? These are among the issues to be considered this week at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where scholars, writers and activists are assembling for a national conference on black power.

The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom had powerfully articulated black demands for full citizenship. By 1965, the movement had yielded remarkable victories, notably the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.

But arrests, beatings, church bombings and murders had created restlessness among young activists. And they became more vocal in their criticism of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, at best unreliable allies. Meanwhile, industrial flight, black youth unemployment, police abuses and other urban crises had sparked black rebellions.

Thus, when Willie Ricks and Stokely Carmichael popularized “black power” in 1966, they expressed the frustrations and idealism of a generation disillusioned by American liberalism, drawn to black nationalism and moved by Third World freedom struggles.

Yet, black power was something of a blank slate, lacking real definition. It was broad enough to embrace a wide range of initiatives. There were the Panther-style free children’s breakfast programs, health clinics and legal services, as well as some of the earliest neighborhood watch programs -- armed Panthers who monitored police abuses. Black power programs ran the gamut from the spectacular to the mundane: efforts to secure land reparations and welfare rights and dignity for public housing tenants.

But the same vagueness that made black power a broadly effective force also made it threatening to white middle America, able to fill in the blank with a media-enhanced frame of violent confrontation. The militant rhetoric of spokesmen such as Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and Eldridge Cleaver, set against the backdrop of recurring urban revolts, only heightened that anxiety.

On balance, however, black power’s achievements have been moderate.

Black power helped democratize higher education. It dramatically expanded the ranks of African-American students at historically white universities where, among other things, they successfully campaigned for black studies curricula. The result has been a couple of generations of scholars -- people such as former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver, a Yale-trained lawyer who teaches at both Yale and Emory Universities -- and critical-thinking graduates, such as Aaron McGruder, creator of the influential and irreverent “Boondocks” cartoon and TV series.

Many white students, drawn by an interest in the experiences of racial minorities, also have become loyal constituents of black studies courses, preparing themselves to take on the future challenges of a diverse society.

Transformed the work force

In other instances, black power became bloc power. In Chicago, African Americans, outraged over the deaths of Hampton and Clark, voted Hanrahan out of office. Years later, they voted Harold Washington in. And black business people and professionals provided critical seed money for Barack Obama’s successful Senate run.

Elsewhere, black power transformed our work force, providing jobs in skilled trades, manufacturing, municipal employment, utility companies, and other well-paying areas of the economy that historically had not hired or upgraded African Americans. And then there are the media, where black voices are heard, not nearly enough, but heard nonetheless, in front of the camera and on the front page and -- even more important -- behind the scenes, where decisions are made about the framing and presentation of stories and perspectives, such as this essay.

Because of black power, “Negroes” became “black” and showed the world its beauty. Arts and entertainment have been forever changed by the reclamation of African-derived culture, and the development of a black-centered ethos. The contemporary black cinema of filmmakers Spike Lee, Julie Dash, Haile Gerima and John Singleton owe their success to the breakthrough films of the 1970s. Black power influenced the works of recording artists as diverse as James Brown, Nina Simone and Roy Ayers, as well as the politically potent lyrics of hip-hop artists such as Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, the Coup, Common, Nas and Kanye West.

Rap moguls such as P. Diddy and Jay-Z can link their music entrepreneurial success to the franchise opportunities wrested from corporate America in the late 1960s. On this score, even Richard Nixon -- who oversaw the violent repression of groups like the Panthers -- could endorse black power. True, he called it “black capitalism,” but the programs of affirmative action and minority business set-asides that began with his administration were, at least in part, about giving segments of black America a stake in the system.

Beyond its specific effects on African Americans, black power inspired others, helping to propel a sweeping “rights revolution” among other people of color, as well as white women, gays and lesbians, environmentalists, war veterans and the disabled.

The real fundamental aspects of the black power movement -- self-determination, self-definition, self-expression -- were all expressions of fully engaged citizenship. It was about inclusion and participation. black power advocates were the trustbusters of their day. They were talking about breaking up monopolies of power. And giving up exclusivity must have seemed like a radical thing to people who had never had to consider living in a pluralistic society.

That is why, whether the Chicago City Council votes up or down on Chairman Fred Hampton Way, there already has been a victory of sorts. Fred Hampton is on the agenda, placed there by an African-American alderman, Madeline Haithcock. And agenda-setting is an act of power.

It is time to consider the continuing challenge of black power -- a challenge to both black and white America.
For African Americans, the challenge is in determining how to resolve the unfinished business and unexpected outcomes of the past.

Expanded the middle class

Ironically, one of black power’s most lasting legacies, the growth of a contemporary black professional middle class, fragile though it is, has led to deepening class conflict among African Americans today. Indeed, the post-civil rights/black power black middle class has developed alongside an expanding black urban working-class poor (the so-called underclass) devastated by economic dislocation. Internal black class tensions, arising amid gentrification projects in places such as New York’s Harlem and Chicago’s Bronzeville, challenge the assumptions of a common African-American interest that underlay many black power programs of the 1960s and '70s.

At colleges and universities, ethnic studies programs, and faculty and students of color, have weathered hostility and legal challenges, challenges that likely will intensify.

On the political front, two generations of black mayors have had to contend with the effects of industrial flight, weak tax bases, a federal government in retreat from urban policy, and the siphoning of economic resources to surrounding suburbs. Likewise, black electoral influence has been thwarted by lawsuits against majority-minority voting districts and, as illustrated in the 2000 presidential election, outright disfranchisement. For an entire nation, the popular vote for president did not count because of votes that were not counted in Florida.

For whites, then, the challenge still is in realizing that, at the end of the day, there is nothing to fear but everything to gain from a true appreciation of black power and its promise of collaborative progress. After all, it’s not about hostile takeovers. Black power is not a zero-sum game. Ultimately, it is about making this country a truly democratic space by creating more opportunity for everyone to meaningfully participate.

At its heart, deep in its soul, black power has always been about power sharing.

Christopher Benson is associate professor of African-American studies and journalism, and Clarence Lang is assistant professor of African-American studies and history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Essay 496

The woman above (Patricia Gatling) is out to change the advertising industry. The story below appeared on Adage.com last Friday…

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HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR REPRIMANDS AD INDUSTRY
Offers Some Praise, But Says Not Enough Being Done
March 24, 2006

By Lisa Sanders

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The head of New York City’s Human Rights Commission both praised and reprimanded the advertising industry in a public forum yesterday morning.

Patricia Gatling, who is leading the investigation into minority hiring practices on Madison Avenue, praised the industry for being “extremely open” to talking about ways to improve minority hiring. About the possibility of reaching an agreement, she said, “We’re closer than we were one year ago,” adding that, “I don’t think the industry is opposed to some kind of oversight.” But she also took issue with agencies’ explanation for the low numbers of minority employees. “Their reply is ‘I can’t find anyone.’ Well, for 40 years, you should have been able to find someone.”

Ms. Gatling made her comments during a presentation on the preliminary budget hearings for fiscal 2007 before the City Council’s Committee on Civil Rights, which oversees the Commission. Larry Seabrook, chair of the committee, led the hearings.

Long history

The latter comment referenced an analysis completed in June 1978 by the Commission on Human Rights that found only 5% of the industry’s workforce in 1967 comprised black and Hispanic workers, at a time when the metropolitan-area labor force was about 25% minority. The report also said that agencies “in the New York area had consistently failed to employ blacks, Puerto Ricans and other minority groups overall, and especially in professional and executive positions.”

Numerous agencies at the time expressed concern over the situation revealed by their employment statistics, and volunteered to establish in-house affirmative action programs to increase minority representation of their workforces, according to the report. However, subsequent follow-up by the Commission revealed only meager results, so that by 1973, the Commission took enforcement action. Three agencies eventually signed conciliation agreements, which resulted in the agencies implementing commission-approved procedures intended to produce a positive change in hiring.

During an interview with Advertising Age after the hearings, Ms. Gatling refused to provide numbers on agencies’ current minority employment, due to the ongoing investigation.

But she did offer advice of sorts to the ad industry, in relaying her own experience in creating more diverse workforces. Years ago, as First Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, Brooklyn, Ms. Gatling led a program designed to both increase the number of minority applicants and improve retention levels. To build a pool of candidates, she traveled all over the country and interviewed thousands of people, spending more than $100,000 in the process. “I had to determine what was out there. Sometimes you find candidates in unlikely places.”

And that, she said, is “the exact same way to do it with the advertising industry.”

Holding on to talent

Finding and hiring minorities is only the first part of the process required to diversify a workforce, Ms. Gatling said. It also requires implementing mentoring programs to help retain candidates while they’re employed. “If you see people who look like you in places of power,” she said, “you think it can happen. I know the ad agencies don’t have [those programs].” A final crucial component is getting support from the top of the organization.

“The DA told me he wanted half of the office to be people of color,” she recalled. When she began, the DA’s workforce had less than 10% people of color as assistants, and when she left, she’d reached the goal, she said.

Even as talks between her office and ad agencies’ attorneys continue, both the Commissioner and Councilman Seabrook made clear their intention to move forward with plans to hold public hearings on the matter at the end of April.

Ms. Gatling said during her presentation before Councilman Seabrook that she wants to press on a couple of issues. One is the question of where agencies have looked to find candidates; another is whether the jobs posted are “real” opportunities. “These people are paid billions of dollars a year by companies like Time Warner and Coca-Cola that pride themselves on diversity. I would like to see them explain to their clients why they are not diverse.”

“The only way to deal with this issue of discrimination is to confront it head on,” said Councilman Seabrook. “Ad agencies shouldn’t be talking about not having hearings. That’s not the American way.”

Essay 495

Getting fired up with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• General Motors white-collar employees are anticipating a “Black Tuesday” — with rumors estimating 500 to 1,200 job cuts. The Washington Post, interviewing an anonymous GM employee, reported “the conference rooms at [the employee’s] office have been booked by human resources for Tuesday. [The employee] said that about one month ago, GM detailed severance packages. Workers will receive one month of severance for each year of service at the automaker, up to a maximum of 15 months. ‘It’s a mess there at work. Everyone is so worried, walking around wondering what’s going to happen.’” Talk about An American Revolution.

• The Washington Post also reported minorities in Washington will make up the majority within the next decade. There are already more minorities than Whites among residents under 40, and experts predict the numbers will continue to grow — ultimately affecting the area’s politics, economy and social persona. A demographer said, “Schools, young adult clubs, politics and the dating scene in D.C. will be increasingly multiethnic, creating a sharp contrast with the old, White establishment and the Black-dominated minority population of the past.” Perhaps we should consider renaming the President’s pad to “The Non-White House.”

• Controversial immigration legislation inspired rallies and protests across the nation on Friday. Students staged school walkouts. Employees organized work stoppages. And placards proclaimed, “Don’t panic, we’re Hispanic” and “We have a dream, too.” Somebody better tell Congress about the new majority coming to Washington.

Essay 494

Is it the shoes? No, it’s a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Just sue it. A group of current and former Black employees at Niketown in Chicago filed a racial discrimination lawsuit in 2003 that has now been given class-action status. The charges include:

- Segregating Blacks into lower-paying stockroom and cashier positions.

- Denying opportunities for promotions to sales positions by failing to post job openings.

- Hiring Blacks into part-time rather than full-time positions that received benefits, such as health insurance and paid vacation.

- Subjecting Black employees to searches when leaving the store, while Caucasian employees were free from such searches. Work rules regarding attendance, sick leave and employee discounts also were unequally applied, the suit said.

No word if Mars Blackmon will be asked to provide testimony.

• Civil rights leader Andrew Young has been raising eyebrows with his public support of Wal-Mart. Young was hired by the mega-retailer as a “corporate cheerleader,” appearing at store openings to dance with clerks and posing for pictures at company-sponsored events. A professor of Black studies at Georgia State University griped, “What [Young’s] doing is providing credibility and legitimacy for some of these corporations that have policies that just reinforce inequality.” Or maybe he’s just hoping to appear in a Wal-Mart commercial with Queen Latifah and Destiny’s Child.

• Kanab, a predominately Mormon town in Utah, sparked controversy with a resolution recently passed by its City Council. The resolution rules in favor of the “natural family” led by a working dad, a stay-at-home mom and a “full quiver of children.” Critics argue the measure smacks of homophobia and sexism. To deflect negative publicity, the City Council could hire Andrew Young to dance with them.

• Thousands marched in a Milwaukee protest titled, “A Day Without Latinos.” The rally sought to bring attention to Congress’ efforts targeting undocumented workers. The Minuteman Project will probably hold a counter-protest titled, “A Country Without Latinos.”

Essay 493

Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to provide odd sound bites. Now she’s making Biblical references over immigration issues. Reacting to a bill designed to make unlawful presence in this country a felony, the senator said, “It is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures … because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself.” It wasn’t clear if she meant Jesus Christ or Jesus the undocumented immigrant from Mexico.

Essay 492

A St. Louis radio talk-show host was fired for allegedly accidentally using a racial slur in reference to Condoleezza Rice. While discussing Rice potentially becoming Commissioner of the NFL, the host remarked, “She’s been chancellor of Stanford… She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.” While radio station bigwigs believe the slip was an honest mistake, they canned the man anyway following listeners’ complaints. The host later told reporters, “It was my dream job.” Then he probably launched into an offensive parody of Dr. King’s famous speech.

Essay 491

The essay below appeared in Screen Magazine, a Midwest publication focused on advertising commercial production. The MultiCultClassics response directly follows…

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Revolving Door 03.20.06
By Dan Patton

Swallow a spoonful of the Great American Melting Pot. You taste steak, ribs, jalapeños, potatoes, pierogis, chop suey, baklava and curry. Metaphorically, a great dish. Realistically, these flavors are best kept apart. People of different cultures also clash, but in America, like the melting pot suggests, we get along. Except for those within New York City ad agencies, according to City Councilman Larry Seabrook. Calling their ethnic makeup, “an embarrassment for a diverse city,” AdAge reports that he’s ready “to subpoena industry executives for a grilling on the subject.”

His criticism reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the industry. Advertising relies on creativity and creativity is colorblind. Agencies hire anyone who can persuade consumers, regardless of color, creed, religion or sexual orientation. They don’t even care about standard business appearance. Indeed, the stereotype of a creative director is an unshaven, long-haired stoner.

But in a larger sense, his intentions are perfect. Advertising seeks to influence 18-to-35-year-olds who define their lifestyles through music and fashion - trends often generated by ethnic minorities. Advertising motivates white America to buy the stuff like it’s going out of style, until it eventually goes out of style. Then some new craze in Houston or Atlanta starts the whole thing all over again. Throughout the process, advertising gets fat atop the economic food chain while bottom-feeding off the cultural melting pot, and the top-earning executives seem to always be white.

Such exploitation has been around since Elvis and the Stones filled arenas by sounding black when, in fact, they were not. It exists today in the so-called tribute album to Sly Stone, “Different Strokes by Different Folks.” Hyped at the Grammys by a shameless cast of mostly white musicians, it came off like an after-dinner variety show in a suburb with a really clean Denny’s. Even the title itself seems derived from a sitcom about a bumbling, lovable white guy who generously adopts two poor black kids.

Advertising agencies are not to blame for these unequal opportunities in America, nor do they seek to perpetuate them. But they should create advantages for those who endure them. Like the blues and old-school that preceded hip-hop and oversized hoodies, another great tradition is evolving somewhere in the dense inner-cities and depressed hollows of America – a tradition born from pure innovation and a profound lack of resources. By increasing the diversity of those who will inevitably turn this tradition into a marketing trend, we’ll all have an easier time swallowing.

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The writer’s column title reads, “Revolving Door.” Appropriately enough, the perspectives present a revolving door of clichés and passive bias.

Patton is probably a decent person with contemporary attitudes. But his statements warrant discussion and dissection.

First, the term “Great American Melting Pot” is a crock. While U.S. communities are more diverse now than in the past, we still tend toward tribalism and cliques. Like “Star Trek: The Next Generation” characters facing the Borg, Americans ultimately refuse to be assimilated. Don’t believe the hype to the contrary.

If there’s “a fundamental misunderstanding about the industry,” it’s that we’re not as progressive as our work. The lack of diversity is a fundamental problem that we continue to ignore. Creativity is colorblind. But creative department leaders with hiring power are not. Long-haired stoners are revered — provided the long hair isn’t an afro or any other non-Caucasian strand.

“Agencies hire anyone who can persuade consumers, regardless of color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.” So how come even organizations like the AAF and 4A’s bemoan the low number of minorities on Madison Avenue? Why do these groups desperately seek ways to recruit and retain people who aren’t White?

“Advertising agencies are not to blame for these unequal opportunities in America, nor do they seek to perpetuate them.” Says who? If you’re an industry that has failed to integrate for countless decades — even when the clients you serve and the consumers you target have made deliberate, measurable strides — how can you possibly deny blame? Let’s not forget that advertising agency leaders have made public commitments to change, yet never delivered on their promises.

While Patton inevitably professes support for diversity, his action plans are void of tangible directives. Which makes his argument a little hard to swallow.

Essay 490

Crime and drugs in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Los Angeles Times reported gang-related homicides in Compton dropped from 22 in early 2005 to 3 this year, thanks to doubling the police force in the area. One potential problem: police don’t intend to keep the added staff in the long run. “Will resources eventually be removed from Compton? Yes, they will,” said Sheriff's Capt. Mike Ford. “But I am not going to advertise it to gang members.” Uh, you just did, officer.

• The Los Angeles Times also reported the LAPD failed to meet goals for promoting women, Blacks and Hispanics. The goals are required by a 1992 consent decree. Guess Compton homicides and minority promotions have both dropped.

• The new drug considered to be the next big thing for Blacks with heart troubles has bombed for pharmaceutical company Nitromed, leading to the resignation of two executives who strongly backed the product. Guess their hearts just weren’t into it.

Essay 489

Clarence Page weighs in on the recent New York Times report (see Essay 486)…

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Disconnected black youth plight worsens

Clarence Page
March 22, 2006

WASHINGTON -- In an ideal world the rising tide of economic recovery would lift everyone’s boat, as John F. Kennedy used to say. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, where the boom that began a decade ago has left one demographic group, in particular, stuck on the bottom of the economic lake: undereducated black males.

So says a body of new studies by poverty experts from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and other major universities and think tanks. The experts have taken a closer look at the condition of those who are the least connected to attentive parenting, neighborhood role models and good schools that most of us take for granted.

Among the findings: The percentage of young, jobless black males increased over the past two decades, with only slight upticks during economic peaks.

By including those who were jailed or not actively seeking work, two groups normally left out of federal unemployment statistics, researchers found the real jobless rate for black male high school dropouts in their 20s soared to 65 percent in 2000. Four years later, that portion jumped to 72 percent, compared with only 34 percent of white dropouts and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.

Incarceration rates for poorly educated blacks also climbed to historic highs in the 1990s, filling up the nation's boom in newly constructed prisons, despite the decade’s declines in crime rates.

Among black dropouts in their late 20s, for example, Steven Raphael of the University of California at Berkeley, writing in “Black Males Left Behind,” found more in prison on a given day (34 percent) in 2000 than working (30 percent).

He and other researchers in that book, edited by Ronald B. Mincy, a Columbia University professor of social work, found contributing factors include employers’ preferences for immigrants over native-born workers, especially black males, a lack of available jobs and welfare reforms that put more undereducated black women than their black male counterparts into the workforce.

Even America’s increasingly high-tech military is shutting its doors to high school dropouts, Hugh Price, former head of the National Urban League, observes in his introduction to another new book, “Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men,” by Peter Edelman, a former poverty adviser to President Bill Clinton; Harry J. Holtzer, a Georgetown University public policy professor; and the late Senate welfare adviser Paul Offner.

“Reconnecting” is the key word here. It describes an alienation that distinguishes many poorly educated black youths from earlier urban-poor generations. Too many once-thriving black neighborhoods now are less likely than comparable white or Latino neighborhoods to offer jobs, intact families or older men who have jobs.

Gone too are many of the adult role models who were able and willing to plant the visions of hope, discipline, academic achievement and self-reliance in hungry minds.

“We’re pumping out boys with no honest alternative,” Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of “Dropouts in America,” said in an interview with The New York Times, “and of course their neighborhoods offer many other alternatives.”

Those “other” alternatives include a gangster culture, reinforced by the worst aspects of popular hip-hop culture, that channels the ambitions of too many youngsters into the criminal world.

What can be done? A lot. And as one conservative reformer, Ron Haskins, a former welfare policy adviser to President Bush, observes in “Black Males Left Behind,” you don’t have to be a bleeding-heart liberal to believe that government has an important role to play in helping the disadvantaged, in partnership with the private sector and armies of concerned volunteers. “One reason for maintaining optimism is that so few serious attempts to help poor fathers have been made,” Haskins writes.

Unfortunately, as the authors of “Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men” observe, “young black men are the least popular group in America with politicians.” Until the winds of political concern for the poor change for the better, the work of reconnecting disadvantaged youths to “honest alternatives” is left largely to unsung heroes who donate their time and money to mentoring programs and other local efforts.

As an organizer of one group, the National Organization of Concerned Black Men, founded by five black Philadelphia police officers in the 1970s, told me last year, “Our kids have a lot of critics. What they really need are role models.”

True. They also need some national leaders who are as eager to provide honest alternatives as they have been to build prisons.

Essay 488

You’ve come a long way, baby, for a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• It’s great to be a woman in Jamaica, mon. The March 30 naming of Portia Simpson-Miller as the country’s first female prime minister signals new progress. Women currently comprise 50 percent of the workforce, and they’re making strides in upper management positions. 70 percent of the university students are female, with 80-90 percent numbers in law schools. “The Jamaican matriarch is the center of our society,” said a university official. “Women here have long been leaders in their homes, churches and communities — and now they are becoming the engineers, computer programmers, architects and, yes, prime ministers of our future. It is the natural next step.”

• It’s great to be a woman in Australia, mate. Women continue to shrink the pay gap down under by making 91 cents to a man’s dollar — far ahead of U.S. women at 79 cents. However, new labor laws about to go into effect may change things for the worse. “This whole historical system that’s been in place for over 100 years is about to be wiped out,’ said a union official. “Women are going to be the big losers because of where they are located in the economy. Low-paid people are simply going to fall behind.” Hey, sounds like they’re emulating the U.S. Everybody come back to Jamaica!

• The Ohio couple charged with housing 11 adopted kids in cages lost their custody battle. “They love their children. They want them back. They are truly devastated,” said the couple’s lawyer. In the meantime, they can probably convert the bedrooms into an animal shelter.

• Crest Pro Health mouthwash is in a legal battle with Listerine, charging Listerine lied to dentists about the effectiveness of its own mouthwash. Closing arguments will be made with minty fresh breath.

• Gatorade is in a legal battle with Powerade, charging Powerade is running false advertising that claims superiority over Gatorade. Closing arguments will be made after brutal, sweaty athletic competitions.

• Incarcerated rapper Jamaal “Shyne” Barrow must continue to stew over potential recording-contract deals because the judge has recused himself from the case. Apparently, the judge confessed a family member had dealings with one of Shyne’s lawyers. Then again, is it possible these days to find a legal expert who isn’t at least indirectly linked to criminal cases involving rappers?

Essay 487

Mary Mitchell responds to the New York Times report (see Essay 486)…

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Excuses for troubled young men only go so far
March 21, 2006
BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

A front-page story in Monday’s New York Times about the plight of young black men will irritate a lot of policymakers. According to new studies by professors at three of the nation's top universities, uneducated young black men are worse off than any other group. In fact, in urban cities, young black males might as well be growing up in the South during the era of segregation and sharecropping:

“Only half of African-American men ages 16-24 who are not in school are working;

“Roughly one-third of young African-American men are in jail or prison, or on parole or probation, at any time; and

“Ten percent of young African-American men and 9 percent of young Hispanic men are disconnected from school and work for a year or more.”

Although all unskilled workers are having a tough time, young black men are at the bottom of the pile. For instance, by 2004, about 50 percent of black men in their 20s who lacked a college degree were jobless, and 72 percent of high school dropouts were unemployed.

These young black men are no longer labeled endangered as they were in the ‘90s. They are now considered “disconnected from the mainstream.”

One bad corner to the next

“Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men,” the studies by Peter Edelman, Harry J. Holzer and the late Paul Offner offer up public policies to address the plight of these “disadvantaged” men, many of whom are African-American or Hispanic.

Though I know some of these young men were neglected by dysfunctional parents, went to bad schools and had some tough breaks, the ongoing scrutiny of young black males is frustrating. It doesn’t take sociologists from Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown universities to see what the future holds for uneducated African-American males: These young men are going to drift from one bad corner to another.

Although experts have been sounding the alarm and urging policymakers to invest in programs for nearly 20 years, conditions have gone from bad to worse.

For instance, in the New York Times article, the reporter interviewed 28-year-old Curtis E. Brannon of Baltimore. Brannon dropped out of high school his sophomore year to sell drugs, and fathered four children with three different women before going to jail.

Now back in the neighborhood, Brannon lives with his girlfriend and her four children. Brannon’s excuse for him slamming the doors to a future was he was “with the street life.” Now he says he wants to get himself together. But at whose expense?

Little sympathy

Few people will want to see their tax dollars go to dig the wayward out of holes when most low-income people are barely scratching out a life.

Violent crime associated with the drug trade has made it difficult to be compassionate toward young men who are selling drugs. I think I know why this shameful situation exists, but I still resent it.

“A lot of the country will have the same reaction you had,” said Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, and co-author of the report.

“It’s very hard to have sympathy for these young men. They’re unwed fathers. They have high crime rates. But I think a lot of the behavior is a response to changing conditions in the labor market. Good jobs started disappearing for these young men. Whatever skill gaps they had became more profound. They felt themselves fall further behind. In response, they saw their legal job deteriorating and [illegal] job opportunities getting better.”

Plans for change

In order to help reverse this negative trend, the authors suggest that government invest in programs such as the Job Corps, Youth Service Corps and Career Academies, and develop community-wide education and training systems. They are also calling on the U.S. Department of Labor to create a new program to support employer-provided apprenticeships and internships, and a re-evaluation of charter schools, and programs blending high school and community college.

Holzer pointed out that many of the men who come out of prison come out owing enormous child support debts.

“If these men start paying child support, maybe we can forgive some of the arrears and they can get some earned income tax credit,” he said.

“I understand that these guys need to take responsibility, but there also needs to be more opportunity for these folks,” said Holzer. “The schools are lousy. The neighborhoods are lousy. They start a hard life at a very early age. We need to invest resources in changing that.”

Still, it bothers me that people talk about young black men as if they aren’t capable of self-control.

Earning a high school diploma is the very least we should accept from young black males. And we must hammer the message -- at home, at school, at church -- that it is immoral to father children that you cannot support.

Studies and programs are fine.

But young black males don’t need programs as much as they need a plan.

Essay 486

The New York Times presented a sobering report on Black men in America. Among the findings of recent studies:

> The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990’s. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20’s were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20’s were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.

> Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990’s and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20’s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30’s, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.

> In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.

Click on the essay title above to read the full story.

Essay 485

I hate Monday’s MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Illinois politicians are criticizing the use of comedian Bernie Mac in upcoming Lottery commercials. Mac will receive $500,000 to appear in two commercials — which is a pretty standard payment for celebrity endorsements. But the lawmakers appear to be ignorant of such deals. “It certainly makes me pause when I hear those kind of numbers for the little amount of work he’s doing,” said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock). “It seems to me we could probably be getting similar results for substantially less advertising.” Another politician griped, “Giving money to rich Hollywood actors, I don’t think that’s a good way to spend taxpayer money… We should be replenishing our pension systems.” Or maybe questioning the salaries of elected officials.

• Wal-Mart announced plans to hire about 150,000 employees in China over the next five years. No word if they’ll change their name to The Great Wal-Mart of China.

• Dell Inc. announced plans to double the amount of employees in India to 20,000 over the next three years. No word if they’ll change their name to New Dellhi.

• The man who robbed and beat civil rights icon Rosa Parks in 1994 apologized from his prison cell. “I will go down in history as the man who robbed Rosa Parks,” the felon said. “I’m sorry that she died. I was hoping to get out in time to tell her I was sorry.” Would someone please tell this sorry fool he’s far exceeded his 15th minute of infamy?

• A Mescalero Apache family is suing the producers of “Into The West” because a stylist cut their daughter’s hair without showing sensitivity to tribal customs. The suit charges the stylist cut her hair “to make her look more ‘Indian’ and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage.” The Mescalero tradition forbids cutting girls’ hair at certain ages, actually requiring their hair to reach their waist for sacred ceremonies. The suit seeks $325,000 in total damages. There’s definitely a bad scalping joke here.

• Illinois School District 65 will vote on launching a controversial initiative to introduce Afrocentric curriculum at two elementary schools where nearly 50 percent of the students are Black. Critics argue the project would ultimately segregate kids. But one school board official countered, “Everything in the whole society validates white children… But there is not one classroom, one school, one program in the whole district that focuses on African-American children. It’s a stain on our community.” Sometimes removing tough stains requires separating whites and coloreds.

Essay 483

From rap to rent to renewal to religion in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Notorious B.I.G.’s fans will have a tougher time enjoying the late rapper’s “Ready To Die” album. A federal judge has forbidden all future sales of the music because the title track ripped off an Ohio Players tune without permission. Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment were found guilty of illegally using the music, with a jury awarding $4.2 million in damages. Ironically, if the verdict survives the inevitable appeal process, the ultimate result will be a rise in law-breaking activity as folks seek pirate copies.

• Pilots have been rocking to rap tunes at Miami International Airport, thanks to frequency snafus from a pirate radio station broadcasting hip-hop music. Not sure you want to be on a plane making its descent while the pilot’s headsets are blaring “Ready To Die.”

• A women’s group picketing R. Kelly’s University of Texas concert appears to have been ignored (see Essay 472). The artist performed with little concern for respecting the group’s efforts, opting to freely present his typically sexual and lurid act. “Get a hobby; it’s just music!” one concertgoer yelled at the protesters. “Sometimes I don’t know where the brother is coming from,” another fan said. “But I don’t care what those girls outside [the protesters] say — I like his music.” Michael Jackson is (a very pale) green with envy right now.

• The Miami Herald reported the rise of advertising offering rent for sex. Men propose free room and board in exchange for minor chores and regular intercourse. A women’s rights group expert said, “Advertisements soliciting women for sex in exchange for housing are offensive and disturbing. They are an indicator of how much work still needs to be done to eradicate institutional inequities and harmful attitudes toward women that persist.” It’s also an indicator of the lurid popularity of Craigslist.

• A story from the Associated Press debated the role food companies play in the obesity epidemic. Some argue it’s a matter of personal choice versus the scheming of corporations. “You don't have the collusion or the cover-up you had in smoking,” said James Tillotson, a business and food policy professor at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition. “We want to blame somebody, but the thing is, we’re all a part of it.” Then again, aren’t these the same arguments Big Tobacco has always made in its defense? Plus, is it a coincidence that the epidemic increased after Philip Morris merged with Kraft Foods? Just a few paranoid thoughts.

• Robert Blake is reportedly planning to make a comeback, according to an interview on the one-year anniversary of his acquittal from charges of murdering his ex-wife. “I’ve woken up some nights and wanted to drive till the car goes off a cliff,” Blake admitted. “And an hour later, poetry is coming to me. I want to go act. I want to go teach. I want to dance.” Not unless ABC introduces a new show called Dancing with the Acquitted Stars.

• The separation between church and state is blurring, thanks to the growing issues of immigration. The debate has already starred elected politicians. The new participant in recent months is the Roman Catholic Church. While politicians and church leaders have teamed up on things like abortion and same-sex marriage in the past, immigration is a whole different story. Conservative critics offered barbs that include blasting church leaders “for invoking God when arguing for a blanket amnesty” for illegal immigrants. Others argued, “This is the left wing of the Catholic Church — these are the frustrated social workers.” Church leaders countered with, “This is a justice issue… We feel you have to take care of people.”

Essay 484

The poem below appeared in The Chicago Tribune and was inspired by the shooting death of Starkesia Marie Reed (pictured above). Click on the essay title to learn more.

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Why are we fighting to live if we’re living to die?

By Shontanette Brinson
8th grade
March 19, 2006

Why are we fighting to live if we’re living to die?

Why are we fighting for love if it only makes us cry?

Why are we fighting for gangs when all our colors are the same?

Why are we dying with no one to blame?

Why are we killing for all the wrong reasons?

Why are we dying every day, every month, every season?

Why are we worried that Daddy isn’t coming home?

Why are so many children left in this world alone?

Why can’t we go outside and play?

Why is Mommy worried that one of us may get hit with a stray?

What is the reason Daddy isn’t coming home today?

Why do we have to sleep on the floor at night?

Why do we hurt and fight?

Can we all stand together and make all wrong right?

Why do people bring babies in the world like this?

Why did that bullet have to hit Starkesia? Why didn’t it miss?

Why does money make the world go around?

Why when we die we get put in the ground?

Why does it seem as our life changes in so many ways?

Why does it feel as we are living in our last days?

Why does this gang get into it with that gang?

When everyone lives in the same community and has the same things?

Why doesn’t death scare me anymore?

Because death is a game and has reached its final score.

Why is it that when a person dies a baby is born?

Or is it that the person comes back reformed.

Why is it that we are focused on the good and never expect the bad?

Why after we laugh, we cry?

Why are we fighting to live if we’re living to die?

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Shontanette Brinson is an 8th grader at Vernon Johns Community Academy. She likes to write poetry and listen to music. She was friends with Starkesia Reed and Siretha White and said she was inspired by Tupac Shakur’s “Runnin’ (Dying to Live)” to write this poem.

Essay 482

Volkswagen is taking down outdoor billboards that offended Hispanics. The ads presented the headline: Turbo-Cojones. In English, cojones means daring and bravado. In Spanish, it mostly means testicles.

The billboards were produced by a Miami-based agency — but not Crispin Porter Bogusky. The culprit is CreativeOndemanD, a Hispanic-focused shop.

“We wanted something that broke out of the mold and carried the connotation of being strong and gutsy,” said creative director Daniel Marrero. “This is a word adapted in the American vernacular. We never thought it would be an issue.”

Talk about taking a shot in the cojones.

Essay 481

Legal battles and other games in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich won his battle to ban junk food in elementary and middle schools (see Essay 479), but his fight to restrict sales of violent and sexually explicit video games was less successful. In fact, the ultimate legal costs — estimated as high as $1 million — may be passed along to taxpayers. Citizens will probably deal with their depression by scarfing Doritos while playing Grand Theft Auto.

• Michael Jackson met the legal deadline for paying $300,000 in back wages to Neverland employees. But then he terminated most of the workers on Thursday. “It is public knowledge that Mr. Jackson currently resides in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain,” a spokeswoman said. “He therefore decided to close his house and reduce his work force.” Hey, it don't matter if you’re Black or White — except if you’re not in the Black.

• Rev. Jesse Jackson is speaking out about the upcoming elections in New Orleans, demanding that officials halt the process unless measures are taken to accommodate displaced voters. Assistant Atty. Gen. William Moschella conceded, “…The state may well have done more under the circumstances.” Seems like the statement of choice for everyone involved in the Hurricane Katrina response.

• South Park is in an all-out war with Scientologists (see Essay 470), as an episode dissing Tom Cruise was suddenly pulled from the schedule. Rumors claim Cruise demanded the censoring of the show. “So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!” the cartoon’s creators shot back. “You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!” Look for the next counterstrike to come from John Travolta.