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The Curry Report
July 2, 2011
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In This Issue
Ostracizing Black Leaders Who Criticize Obama
Study: Young Males of Color Likely to end up Jobless, Imprisoned or Dead
Economic Recovery a Longer Struggle for Blacks and Hispanics
London's poor facing squeeze amid housing-benefit cuts
Chinese Workers in Africa Who Marry Locals Face Puzzled Reception at Home
African trip resurrects criticism of president on African issues
TD Jakes Should Stop Defending Bishop Eddie Long
BART, Oscar Grant's Mother Settle: $1.3 Millio
NC forced sterilization victims voice grief, pain; governor calls defunct program 'atrocious'
Class,not race, a divider for many in D.C
Actually, It Really Is About Race
'HistoryMakers' are Still Making History
Ostracizing Black Leaders Who Criticize Obama
Curry Headshot  

 

 

By George E. Curry

NNPA Columnist

 

The Bible is filled with characters who started out on shaky ground - Paul, David and Solomon, among them - before being transformed into epic figures.  But it seems that Black leaders who dare to criticize President Obama don't get second chances. Instead, they are the object of widespread ridicule and condemnation.

 

I spent some time last week with two such leaders - Cornel West and Jesse Jackson - at the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) national convention in Chicago. Although their standing among African-Americans has slipped, their analysis of where Blacks have been and need to go is as incisive as ever.

 

Neither Jackson nor West should be viewed in isolation. The Black community does not want to hear anything bad about Barack Obama, even if it's true. If a White president had been as dismissive of African-Americans' interests as Obama has been, Blacks would have been ready to march on the White House. As Michael Eric Dyson says, "This president runs from race like a Black man runs from a cop."

 

Even so, Blacks treat him like royalty.

 

My friend Roland Martin is quick to insist that guests on his television program refer to the man who occupies the White House as President Obama. I refuse to play this game. Obama - yes, I said it - is a president, not head of some monarchy.  I have called Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush by their last names. I am not going to say President Obama every time I refer to him.  Sometimes he is President Obama, sometimes he is Obama. I refuse to treat him like King Obama.

 

The problem with West and Jackson is their critiques, however valid, were wrapped in language that was offensive to many African-Americans. To call Obama the Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs - a term most people hadn't heard since their last high school civics class - is over the edge in this instance. Don't get me wrong: there are some Black Anglo-Saxons who deserve to be called mascots and worse - and I've called them that. But Obama is not in that category.

 

When I gave Cornel West a chance to soften his description of the president during

Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Cornel West (6/24/2011)
Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Cornel West (6/24/2011)

between him and Al Sharpton, he declined. He could have said, "I stand by everything I said about the president but not how I said it." That would have gone a long way toward refocusing the discussion on real issues, not the Al Sharpton-Cornel West sideshow.   

 

In Jesse Jackson's case, he has been largely excommunicated from the race for a comment that reeked of envy. After an interview on Fox News in 2008, he told a fellow guest that he wanted to cut Obama's private parts off. He also used the N-word in a conversation that he did not know was being picked up by the microphones.

 

Jackson later apologized, saying his comments were "hurtful and wrong." By then, however, the damage had been done. At the time, Obama was making a credible bid to become president of the United States. And Blacks did not want to hear anything disparaging about the man who went on to win the nation's highest elected office. Many, if not most, Blacks haven't forgiven Jackson for his crude remarks.

 

Notwithstanding Jackson's expressed desire to dismember Obama or West's deeply personal attack on the president, each made valid critiques of President Obama. Jackson was correct to point out that sometimes Obama speaks down to African-Americans. That is particularly true when he lectures Blacks on moral responsibility but does not make similar speeches to White audiences. Cornel West is correct in stating that the administration does not pay enough attention to the needs of the poor and African-Americans.

 

Despite overwhelming evidence of disproportionate Black suffering during this recession, Obama refuses to target the specific needs of African-Americans.  His response is: "It's a mistake to start thinking in terms of particular ethnic segments of the United States rather than to think that we are all in this together and we are all going to get out of this together."

 

Yet, it was not a mistake to address the specific needs of Wall Street.  He can speak to the specific agenda of gays and lesbians without it being considered a mistake. It was not a mistake in Obama's mind to speak to the specific needs of the automobile industry. It was not a mistake to speak to the special interests of banks. But when it comes to the needs of African-Americans, we are supposed to wait for progress to trickle down to and upon us.

 

Yes, he is president of all of America. But all of America includes Black America.

 

The sad reality is that most civil rights leaders have given Obama a pass. If the unemployment rates and economic gap had widened under a White president, Al Sharpton would have been in the streets chanting, "No Justice, No Peace." Instead, the ultimate outsider has become the ultimate insider, defending the administration with the vigor of a cabinet member.

 

As a group, today's collection of civil rights leaders are ineffectual and out of touch. For example, with all of the problems facing us, the NAACP chose to spend part of its limited national, state and local resources to make sure Black motorcycle riders were not discriminated against on the Memorial Day weekend in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

 

We have far more serious issues facing Black America. And we need the voices and analysis of all of our national leaders, even after they have put their foot in their mouth.  

 

 

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

 

 

     

 

  

Study: Young Males of Color Likely to end up Jobless, Imprisoned or Dead

Black boys 

 

By George E. Curry

TheDefendersOnline.com

June 22, 2011

 

Fifty-one percent of Hispanic male high school graduates ages 15-24 and 45 percent of African-American males in that category will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead, according to a study issued this week by the College Board's Advocacy & Policy Center.

 

"Collectively, the pathway data show that more than 51 percent of Hispanic males, 45 percent of African American males, 42 percent of Native American males and 33 percent of Asian American males ages 15-24 will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead,"  concluded a report titled, "The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress." (PDF)

 

READ MORE 

 

Economic Recovery a Longer Struggle for Blacks and Hispanics

 Job applicants (Black men)

 

 

As the "mancession" peters out, the "race-cession" is still going strong

 

By Danielle Kurtzleben

� US News

June 28, 2011

 

At the height of the economic crisis, while Americans learned lingo like "credit default swaps" and "liars' loans," another new word crept into the national vocabulary: "mancession." This term was coined to describe a wave of job losses that disproportionately affected men. Now, while data show that the employment gap has closed considerably, major gaps remain between racial and ethnic groups. Even as recovery creeps along, it may be time to ask if the United States is in the grips of a "race-cession."



 READ MORE

 

London's poor facing squeeze amid housing-benefit cuts

British flag  

  

By Anthony Faiola

� Washington Post

June 20, 2011

 

LONDON - The choice of the London A-list, St. John's Wood is a neighborhood of ethereal wealth, its leafy avenues lined with the ample mansions of Paul McCartney, Ewan McGregor and Kate Moss. And yet, they share the most unlikely neighbors - the Kastrati family.

 

Poor immigrants struggling to survive in one of the world's most expensive cities, the family of four nevertheless lives in a sunny, two-bedroom flat in an enclave of urban privilege. Their benefactor: the British government, which covers 85 percent of their $3,600-a-month rent through welfare benefits giving tens of thousands of low-income earners access to even the best neighborhoods. But the clock on such subsidized London lifestyles is suddenly running out.

 

The Conservative-led government is rolling out Britain's most sweeping welfare reform since the 1940s, taking aim at the ballooning bills in cities such as London, where a few families receive as much as $160,000 a year to ensure economic diversity and quality housing for the poor in some of the priciest districts in the world. Yet as benefits are rolled back, academics are warning of a major side effect: an exodus of the poor from central London in numbers not seen since the demolition of soot-caked Dickensian slums in the 19th century.

 

READ MORE 

 


Chinese Workers in Africa Who Marry Locals Face Puzzled Reception at HomeChinese African wives

 

By Damien Ma

� The Atlantic

June 20, 2011

 

This isn't my normal focus, but I found this dispatch from the good people at ChinaSmack amusing. The post is replete with photos and ruminates on the growing phenomenon of Chinese men marrying African women, as Chinese presence in Africa continues to expand. Here is what it had to say:

 

Chinese women marrying blacks is no longer something rare, whereas in comparison men very rarely dare to bring black girls back home to China. I won't say anything and go ahead and post the photos.

 

In my neighborhood is a Chinese engineer who returned from Angola, and his wife is a black girl. However, she's one of those very pretty high-end black girls. She's very slender and not one of those fat auntie types. Her skin also isn't the kind of oily/greasy black but rather black-brownish and more brown. They have two children, about five or six years old, twin boys.

 

READ MORE 

 

African trip resurrects criticism of president on African issues

Obama Headshot


 


 

By Krissah Thompson

� Washington Post

June 18, 2011

 

First lady Michelle Obama's upcoming five-day goodwill tour to sub-Saharan Africa, designed to highlight HIV/AIDS projects and inspire young adults there, is billed by the White House as an important next step in the administration's outreach to the continent.

 

But the trip also has resurrected criticism among a vocal subset of Africa advocates - including President Obama supporters - who say they are disappointed that the first American president with African roots has not personally focused more on the region.

 

Critics cite changes to a HIV/AIDS program advanced during the Bush administration, the relatively limited time Obama has spent on the continent as president and their belief that Africa has become less significant in U.S. foreign policy.

 

READ MORE 

 

TD Jakes Should Stop Defending Bishop Eddie Long

Eddie Long t-shirt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bishop Eddie Long 

 

 

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

NewsOne.com

June 22, 2011

 

Some have been waiting for Bishop T.D. Jakes to speak up on the scandal involving the other southern mega-pastor down the road, Bishop Eddie Long. Jakes recently commented on Long's case, stating that Christians should simply pray for Long because they don't have the right to do much of anything else.

 

Long was accused of sexual coercion by four young men in his care at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. A lawsuit was filed, which Bishop Long settled for an undisclosed amount of money. It was reported that Long paid $25 million for the settlement and has chosen to keep the details of the case quiet.

 

At The Potter's House in Dallas, Jakes said "Christians should just pray," for Long.

 

"When all this is over, one thing is for sure - somebody, if not everybody in it, is going to need the blood [of Jesus Christ]."

Not only does Jakes say that Christians should pray for Long, he says that they don't have the authority to do anything else.

 

READ MORE 

BART, Oscar Grant's Mother Settle: $1.3 Million

 

By Demian Bulwa

� San Francisco Chronicle

June 29, 2011

 

OAKLAND -- BART agreed Tuesday to pay $1.3 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the mother of Oscar Grant, the unarmed train rider who was shot in the back by a transit agency police officer on New Year's Day 2009, attorneys said.

The deal with Wanda Johnson, which includes no admission of fault by BART or any of the officers she sued, was reached at a settlement conference in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

It closes another chapter in a case that prompted protests and vandalism, ushered in reforms on the BART police force and led to the involuntary manslaughter conviction of former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, who was recently released after serving half of a two-year prison term.

 

http://newsone.com/newsone-original/boycewatkins/td-jakes-defending-eddie-long/ 

 

 
NC forced sterilization victims voice grief, pain; governor calls defunct program 'atrocious'

    Sterialization  

   

� Associated Press

June 22, 2011

 

RALEIGH, N.C. - There is nothing the state of North Carolina can do, Elaine Riddick says, to make up for forcing her to be sterilized when she was 14 years old.

 

"They cut me open like I was a hog," the woman who now lives in Atlanta said at a Wednesday hearing in Raleigh held by a panel working to determine compensation for thousands of victims of the state's defunct eugenics program. "My heart bleeds every single day. I'm crushed. What can they do for me?"

 

Riddick, 57, was one of 13 people who spoke at the meeting, and one of nearly 3,000 living victims of the program, which was shuttered in 1977, three years after the last sterilization was performed. The public hearing is part of a process unprecedented not just in North Carolina, but nationally. About a half dozen other states have joined North Carolina in apologizing for past eugenics programs, but none of the others have put together a plan to compensate victims of involuntary sterilization.

 

"It's hard for me to accept or understand or even try to figure out why these kinds of atrocious acts could be carried out in this country," said Gov. Beverly Perdue, who appointed the Eugenics Task Force that convened Wednesday's hearing.

 

READ MORE 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class,not race, a divider for many in D.C.

 Congress


By Chris L. Jenkins, Theola Labbe-DeBose and Peyton M. Craighill

� Washington Post

June 19, 2011

 

Most District residents - black and white - see socioeconomic class, not race, as the primary source of a stark divide in the city, according to a new poll by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

 

And when it comes to their outlook on the city, their own neighborhoods and certain aspects of the economy, higher- income African Americans have more in common with similarly wealthy whites than with lower-income blacks.

 

 READ MORE 

 

Actually, It Really Is About Race

Washington Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Michael Schaffer

� City Paper

Jun. 20, 2011

 

Experts agree: Washington's urban divisions are about dollars, not ethnicity.

 

So declares today's Washington Post: "Class, not race, a divider for many in D.C.," announces the headline above a report on a lengthy Post poll of city residents.  That's not just the copy desk's take, either. In the survey of 1,342 Washingtonians, 56 percent identify income as the main cause of division, compared to just 11 percent who cite race.

 

Unfortunately, the rest of the data suggests that both the headline and the 56 percent of Washingtonians surveyed are wrong.

 

READ MORE 

 

'HistoryMakers' are Still Making History

TheHistoryMakers

 

 

 

 

 

 

By George E. Curry

NNPA Columnist

 

When I was a student at Druid High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala. during the early 1960s, I always looked forward to Career Day. Our principal, Mr. MacDonald Hughes, had high hopes for students in my all-Black high school and he made sure we had high expectations of ourselves. It was a simple concept: Former students who had made a name for themselves were invited back to their alma mater on Career Day to show students that people from their school and neighborhoods had attained success despite having grown up in America's version of apartheid. The point was that if these former Druid Dragons could make it, so could the students who followed in their footsteps.

 

READ MORE  

 

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