The Curry Report

May 30, 2011

SPREAD THE INTELLECTUAL WEALTH - If you are enjoying my weekly newsletter, please forward it to your friends and invite them to sign up for their own copy. All they need to do is scroll down and fill in their e-mail address in the "Join Our Mailing List" box on the right.

In This Issue

Demonizing the Poor for being Poor

The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic

Cornel West v. Barack Obama

Settlement reached in Eddie Long case

Professor Faces Removal Over 'Black Women Less Attractive' Claim

Study: Whites say they are racism victims

Black-White Life Expectancy Gap Expands

Now African Americans are trying to trace THEIR Irish roots

Don Barden set milestones as African-American businessman

Gil Scott-Heron dies at 62; singer and poet 'set the template' for rap music

Demonizing the Poor for being Poor

By George E. Curry

NNPA Columnist

In the 1960s, we had the War on Poverty. In 2011, we're now seeing a War on People Who Live in Poverty.

One of the most callous examples of this occurred on - you guessed it - Fox News. Charles Payne, in a business segment, acknowledged that anti-poverty programs, food stamps and unemployment insurance were "good programs" but then went on to attack recipients of those programs.

"I think the real narrative here, though, is that people aren't embarrassed by it," Payne said. "People aren't ashamed by it. In other words, there was a time when people were embarrassed to be on food stamps; there was a time when people were embarrassed to be on unemployment for six months, let alone demanding to be on for more than two years...No longer is the man being told to look in the mirror and cast down a judgment on himself; it's someone else's fault. So food stamps, unemployment, all this stuff, is something that they probably earned in some indirect way."

The host of the business show, Stuart Varney, called food stamps, Medicaid and the Earned Income Tax Credit "a form of welfare, income redistribution" benefiting people with an "entitlement mentality."

Varney and Payne, in effect, dismissed the findings by the National Bureau of Economic Research that showed that such programs keep 1 in 6 Americans out of poverty, mostly the elderly, the disabled and the working poor. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, without those programs, the poverty rate would double.

As states continue to struggle to balance their budgets, as required by their constitutions, some state lawmakers are directing their anger at the poor.

In Kentucky, a Republican state representative has introduced a bill that, if passed, would require random drug testing for all adults receiving welfare, food stamps or Medicaid.

Rep. Lonnie Napier of Lancaster, Ky. introduced Kentucky House Bill 208 that would immediately terminate benefits to recipients who fail a drug test. He told the Huffington Post, "This program is gonna save us a lot of money, because there's gonna be a lot of people showing up on illegal drugs and they will lose their assistance."

There is no evidence that people benefiting from anti-poverty programs are any more prone to becoming drug addicts than those who do not receive such aid. Professor Harold Pollack of the University of Chicago pointed out that Michigan implemented a mandatory drug testing program 10 years ago at three of its welfare offices. Of the 258 welfare applicants tested, only 21 tested positive for illegal drugs. Of the 21 failing, 18 tested positive for marijuana.

Newt Gingrich, who is testing the GOP presidential waters, has tried to indirectly inject race into his campaign. Speaking to a group of Republicans in his home state of Georgia, he said: "President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history."

When asked about the comment on Meet the Press, Gingrich denied his comment contained racial overtones. He asserted, "...I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist."

Perhaps not overtly, but certainly covertly. That point was not lost on Adam Serwer of the Washington Post.

"I don't think Gingrich lacks the sophistication to understand how it sounds when he calls for poll tests and refers to the first black president as 'the food stamp president,'" Serwer wrote. "...He gets to play the victim of a politically correct world where liberals try to stifle all criticism of Obama by characterizing any such criticism as racism. His dogwhistle is thus amplified by enraged liberals, while conservatives get to play up their own form of racial grievance politics."

Nearly 12 percent of Americans are beneficiaries of the Food Stamp program - 28 percent of Blacks, 15 percent of Latinos and 8 percent of Whites.

Recipients, who are at or below the poverty line, are given a plastic card to purchase food, seeds and food plants. The card cannot be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco, paper goods or pet food. Despite those restrictions, the users of food stamps are still used as a political football.

"If people buy fresh vegetables or other relatively expensive though nutritious foods, they are considered to be living high on the hog at the taxpayers' expense," the New York Times observed in 2009. "But if they buy cheap foods like hot dogs they are criticized for poor health habits."

Many people who were quick to criticize the Food Stamp program in the past are now embracing it after they have lost their job. More than 36 million people are food stamp recipients, with an addditional 15 million eligible for enrollment.

"This is the most urgent time for our feeding program in our lifetime, with the exception of the Depression," Under Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Concannon told the New York Times. "It's time for us to face up to the fact that in this country of plenty, there are hungry people."

And those hungry people - many of them facing unemployment for the first time in their adult life - should not be stigmatized by candidates for public office seeking to score cheap political points.

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him atwww.twitter.com/currygeorge.

The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic

By Chris Hedges

May 16, 2011

The moral philosopher Cornel West, if Barack Obama's ascent to power was a morality play, would be the voice of conscience. Rahm Emanuel, a cynical product of the Chicago political machine, would be Satan. Emanuel in the first scene of the play would dangle power, privilege, fame and money before Obama. West would warn Obama that the quality of a life is defined by its moral commitment, that his legacy will be determined by his willingness to defy the cruel assault by the corporate state and the financial elite against the poor and working men and women, and that justice must never be sacrificed on the altar of power.

Perhaps there was never much of a struggle in Obama's heart. Perhaps West only provided a moral veneer.

Cornel West v. Barack Obama

Melissa Harris-Perry

Malissa Harris-Perry

By Melissa Harris-Perry

May 17, 2011

Professor Cornel West is President Obama's silenced, disregarded, disrespected moral conscience, according to Chris Hedges's recent Truthdig column, "The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West went Ballistic." In a self-aggrandizing, victimology sermon deceptively wrapped in the discourse of prophetic witness, Professor West offers thin criticism of President Obama and stunning insight into the delicate ego of the self-appointed black leadership class that has been largely supplanted in recent years.

West begins with a bit of historical revision. West suggests that the president discarded him without provocation after he offered the Obama for America campaign his loyal service and prayers. But anyone with a casual knowledge of this rift knows it began during the Democratic primary, not after the election. It began, not with a puffed-up president but when Cornel West's "dear brother" Tavis Smiley threw a public tantrum because Senator Obama refused to attend Smiley's annual State of Black America.

Settlement reached in Eddie Long case

Eddie Long t-shirt

By Sheila M. Poole and Christian Boone

May 27, 2011

Some current and former members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church expressed relief Thursday that sexual misconduct lawsuits against the church and its prominent leader, Bishop Eddie Long, have been resolved.

Attorneys involved in the four lawsuits against Long, the LongFellows Youth Academy and the 25,000-member Lithonia megachurch said the case had been settled but declined to comment further. The case is expected to be dismissed "with prejudice" -- meaning the defendant cannot be sued by the plaintiffs again in the same alleged offense -- by close of business Friday, said Barbara Marschalk, who represents New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and LongFellows Youth Academy.

Professor Faces Removal Over 'Black Women Less Attractive' Claim

By Ujala Sehgal

May 21, 2011

Readers of popular magazine Psychology Today were in for a grim surprise when they stumbled across the latest post by London School of Economics' evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa, titled "Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?"

The article, based on data from a separate study on subjective ratings of physical attractiveness, made the following points (among others):

It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others... Nor can the race difference in intelligence [...] account for the race difference in physical attractiveness among women.

Whites now believe that racial progress is linked to a new inequality - at their expense

By Stephanie Pappas

May 25, 2011

Despite ongoing racial disparities in America, whites believe they are victims of racism more than blacks, a new study finds.

According to the researchers, the study contradicts the notion of a "post-racial" society ushered in by President Barack Obama's election.

"It's a pretty surprising finding when you think of the wide range of disparities that still exist in society, most of which show black Americans with worse outcomes than whites in areas such as income, home ownership, health and employment," study researcher Samuel Sommers, a psychologist at Tufts University, said in a statement.

Black-White Life Expectancy Gap Expands, Recession May Be To Blame

By Janell Ross

May 24, 2011

For nearly two decades, the expected life spans of black and white Americans steadily narrowed, offering a hopeful indication of both racial progress and medical success: Everyone was living longer, and the gap was closing.

Then came 2009. For all Americans, the average life expectancy again nudged up for the year, reaching 78 years and two months according to preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control. But black Americans saw no improvement in life expectancy, remaining at 74 years and three months.

Now African Americans are trying to trace THEIR Irish roots after being inspired by Barack Obama

ByTurtie Bunbury

May 24, 2011

Since Barack U.S. President Barack Obama's connection with Ireland emerged, genealogical firms have been fielding large numbers of queries from African Americans.

A leading academic recently revealed that Irish immigrants and African Americans married more than other ethnic groups in the U.S. in the 19th century.

Don Barden set
milestones as
African-American
businessman

Don Barden

By John Gallagher

May 20, 2011

Whatever troubles beset his later years,
Don Barden's place in business history is
firmly rooted in two unassailable
accomplishments: He was the first African
American to own a Las Vegas casino and
the first to own a major cable TV franchise.

Those were milestones in a career that saw
Barden rise from humble beginnings to
control an empire worth more than $400
million in annual revenues. All the while, he
inspired others to believe in themselves
and work for their dreams.

Barden died Thursday morning at the
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in
Detroit. He was 67 and had been fighting
lung cancer.

Gil Scott-Heron dies at 62; singer and poet 'set the template' for rap music

He combined social and political commentary with spoken words and musical grooves in 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' and other songs.

By Richard Cromelin

May 29, 2011

Gil Scott-Heron, a singer, songwriter, poet and author whose social commentary and combination of spoken words with musical grooves are widely cited as a seminal influence on rap music, died Friday. He was 62.

The Associated Press reported that a friend, Doris C. Nolan, who answered the telephone number listed for Scott-Heron's Manhattan recording company, said he died at St. Luke's Hospital in New York after becoming sick upon returning from a trip to Europe.

Scott-Heron, who recorded and performed prolifically from the early 1970s until the mid-'80s before being derailed by drug addiction, was a vital link between the percussive polemics of New York's the Last Poets of the 1960s and such politically charged hip-hop forces as Public Enemy and Talib Kweli.

"Gil set the template, it's as simple as that," Public Enemy's leader Chuck D said in an interview Saturday. "He set the template for being able to put some sort of rhythm and opinion and expressive thought and a sense of voice and musicality together....