Hi this is George Cook of www.letstalkhonestly.com I just wanted to let you all know about my interview with radio host Tony Brown. Mr. Brown is the man who broke thwe story of Baron Pikes a black man who was tasered to death in Winnfield La.

Wealth is not always how much you make or save, but the peace of mind acquired through the understanding of our world, our attitude towards it, and our attitude towards each other.  One of the most ignorant and closed-minded entity ever formed by man is the Church.  They always used their misunderstanding of the Bible to satisfy their greed.  It is amazing that the Church that once believed that the earth was the center of the universe, actually admitted to its ignorance in 1992.  Now, they believe in aliens.  How wonderful!!!!  

The United States of America needs to start having a HEALTHY dialogue about Race and what it means to be various races in this country. As it is, we only have dialogue (not necessarily HEALTHY dialogue either) when someone says something to offend a racial group (usually they are offending African Americans or Latinos). What seems to go unnoticed is the fact that these discussions that arise out of some perceived grievance don’t help alleviate the problems. In my opinion, they tend to exacerbate the problems, making any future healthy dialogue less feasible in the future. How are we, as Americans, supposed to begin eliminating some racial stereotypes when we can’t talk about it rationally?

More over the bump. . .

Sen. Barack Obama's speech Sunday, January 20 at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church has been diaried extensively (here, here, and here) and deservedly so; it is a not-to-be-missed 33 minutes regardless of which candidate you support.

As I reflected on his theme of unity as "the great need of the hour", and how this relates to the many problems and challenges that face our country and our world, it occurred to me that unity of purpose is like a foundation on which all of our other efforts must be built.  As he said in the speech, "it is where we begin".

On the same day that Obama gave his soaring speech in the Atlanta church where Dr. King had preached, his theme was echoed in a smaller service held in the gym at the Good Pine Middle School in Jena, Louisiana.  Follow me over the flip...

From the Drum Major Institute's 2007 Year In Review. A look back at the numbers that paint a picture of our nation in 2007.

Minimum number of hazardous children's toys recalled by Mattel in August 2007: 9,500,000

Number of employees on the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2007: 420

Number of CPSC staff who currently inspect toys, according to the New York Times: 1

Number of CPSC staff eliminated by the Bush administration's 2008 budget: 19

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.

In response to the recent March on the Justice Department pointing out that prosecutions of Hate Crimes have dropped 71% to it's lowest point in the last 10 years - Hannity decided to show his true colors, again.

This coverage was provided by CNN.

But naturally this doesn't much matter to Sean Hannity who ignores each and every one of the incredible abuses in cases like The Jena 6, because he'd rather justify the initial charge of attempted murder for what was essentially a schoolyard brawl and whine about those Poor Victimized Duke Boys.  Nice.

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.

You've heard this story a million times the past five years -- the establishment sucks and is ineffective, young netroots upstart does good, gets attacked by sucky and ineffective establishment groups.

This time, it's the MoveOn-style Color of Change, which serves as a sort of MoveOn.org for black issues. After raising $200,000 for the Jena 6, it came under fire from more establishment African Americans, including radio host Michael Baisden:

Just weeks after some 20,000 demonstrators protested what they decried as unequal justice aimed at six black teenagers in the Louisiana town of Jena, controversy is growing over the accounting and disbursing of at least $500,000 donated to pay for the teenagers’ legal defense.

Parents of the “Jena 6″ teenagers have refused to publicly account for how they are spending a large portion of the cash, estimated at up to $250,000, that resides in a bank account they control.

Michael Baisden, a nationally syndicated black radio host who is leading a major fundraising drive on behalf of the Jena 6, has declined to reveal how much he has collected. Attorneys for the first defendant to go to trial, Mychal Bell, say they have yet to receive any money from him.

[...]

Only one national civil rights group, Color of Change, has fully disclosed how the $212,000 it collected for the Jena 6 via a massive Internet campaign has been distributed. The grassroots group, which has nearly 400,000 members, has posted images of cancelled checks and other signed documents on its website showing that all but $1,230 was paid out in October in roughly equal amounts to attorneys for the Jena youths.

Yet that transparency did not halt acrimony over the fundraising from breaking into public view on Baisden’s popular radio show this week, when Baisden invited Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, to accuse Color of Change founder James Rucker of misapplying the donated funds.

Jones offered no evidence for his assertion. But Baisden told his listeners that Rucker “sounds shady to me,” before promoting his own fundraiser, scheduled for this weekend, which aims to collect at least $1 million for the Jena 6 and other black defendants across the country.

In reality, Color of Change has fully accounted for the donations and even posted scans of the cancelled checks as proof. Faced with this, the Baisden show added a "correction" buried deep in a message board on its website -- nothing on the show's homepage or on the air, of course.

Meanwhile, we've gotten a look at the growing power of the African American netroots:

NAACP: 500,000 members, almost $20,000 raised for Jena 6, 0% of funds disbursed to families and lawyers to date

Color of Change: 400,000 members, over $200,000 raised for Jena 6, 100% of funds disbursed to date

What's more, check out what the NAACP is doing with its money:

A spokesman for the NAACP, which collected nearly $20,000, including a $10,000 check from musician David Bowie, said it is winding down its Jena 6 fund and preparing to distribute the remaining cash to the attorneys for the six youths after deducting some of its own organizing expenses.

"Deducting some of its own organizing expenses"? Nice. The African American Political Pundit isn't pleased:

Well, Well, The NAACP has collected over $20,000 for the Jena 6 defendants, and plans to "deduct" money for organizing expenses. Yes, the NAACP, is collecting money on behalf of black folk, and cutting itself in with a piece of the money given by David Bowie and others for the legal defense of the six young black men [...]

I guess the NAACP needs to take from the rich and steal from the poor.

Looks like another gate in desperate need of crashing.

Just to let you know i was there at 6am and held a position along the barriers / rails for my friends the Edwards supporters.

Yes i support Obama. However, i know we both have a strong connection to work together.

The "spirits above" blessed those who were honest and stayed legal.

Here's the direct way.

It starts today

From the Christian Science Monitor: Craig Franklin wrote a story published today that claims to dispel myths about Jena. He claims he can do this since, in his words:

I live in Jena. My wife has taught at Jena High School for many years. And most important, I am probably the only reporter who has covered these events from the very beginning.

To be fair, he makes one point that holds up:

Myth 3: Nooses Were a Hate Crime. Although many believe the three white students should have been prosecuted for a hate crime for hanging the nooses, the incident did not meet the legal criteria for a federal hate crime. It also did not meet the standard for Louisiana's hate-crime statute, and though widely condemned by all officials, there was no crime to charge the youths with.

But he doesn't tell the whole story ... more below the fold.

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.

This is my first diary but not my first posting online.  This diary grew out of a response I made on a message board regarding Betty Baye's last column.  She was writing about standing up to institutional racism (the disproportionate representation of black men in the prison system) and taking the fight to the courts.  The message boards then went on and on about how they felt Ms. Baye was wrong because it implied that she hadn't considered that black men had broken laws and were being punished.

A round up of stories today about opportunity in America, pulled from a variety of nonprofits, race and immigration blogs, and mainstream media outlets.  Cross posted at State of Opportunity, a blog about human rights and the American Dream.