Dr. Debby Stroman Asks if Higher Ed Should be a right or a Privilege

by Dr. Deborah Stroman

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Get Real! That’s my kind response to the critics of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) recent academic reform policy that eliminates the minimum SAT and ACT scores for admission. This well-thought out and crafted course of action finally gives colleges the academic freedom and independence to do what they do best – make decisions as to which students they want on their particular campus. Not the NCAA, the athletic leagues, or any other sport-related governing body has the right to tell an academic institution who is most deserving of the opportunity to sit in their classrooms and learn. Although our country promotes a spirit of education for all, the reality is that higher education is for the privileged. And those with the financial resources receive more access and resources. With a wink and a nod though, the student-athlete can oftentimes bypass this necessity if one possesses the talent to throw a tight spiral or shoot a silky-smooth jumper.

Click to read more.

Black Scholar Speaks on Gates Case

With the Gates fiasco, the rosy glow has faded

AP Photo, Cambridge Police Department

by Dr. Peniel E. Joseph

My first reaction to watching the unfolding Saga of Skip Gates's Cambridge Arrest was that America's postracial bubble, like its recent economic troubles, was about to pop. The fact that some observers had never bought into the story of a race-free America purged of its past sins by a watershed presidential election had done little to diminish either that narrative's moral resonance or political weight.

Since America's racial disparities remain as deep-rooted after Barack Obama's election as they were before, it was only a matter of time until the myth of postracism exploded in our collective national face. That they would rear their ugly head in the form of an intellectual and racial cause célèbre is fitting, since black scholars and activists have been engaged in a robust debate over the meaning of race in the Age of Obama.

Suddenly Obama's recent declaration before the NAACP—that American blacks have come farther than at any other time in our country's history—seems suspect, our national progress undone by the fact that Gates's predicament has become a metaphor for the nation's legacy of racial discrimination.

Click to read more.

Dr Boyce: Players Finally Sue the NCAA

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

Syracuse University

I've written extensively about the NCAA and what I perceive to be their consistent efforts to exploit the black community. They spend millions on public service announcements to protect their deception, but eventually the athletes and the public are going to wise up to what they are doing. The truth is that college athletes should be paid for the same reasons that any actor in a Hollywood blockbuster film would expect to receive compensation. The problem is that the families of athletes don't quite know how to organize and fight for their power. So, when I read about the recentlawsuit against the NCAA for allegedly misusing the images of athletes for videogames, I was a very happy man.

Let me break it down for you:

Based on my 16-years of experience as a college professor (I currently teach atSyracuse University, a school that earns millions off black families every year), collegiate athletics is not, in my opinion, about amateurism and it's not about education. It's about making money. Period. Many athletes are admitted to college every year and they would not be granted admission were it not for their ability to play sports and make money for the campus. Making money is not a problem, but the problem comes with the fact that universities do not share this revenue with the families of the players.

Click to read more.

Black News: Harvard Prof Henry Louis Gates Arrested

Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African & African American Studies, was arrested July 16 on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Gates, 58, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard’s main campus is located, was arrested after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a report on the Cambridge Police Department’s Web site. Cambridge police officials declined to comment and said the case was under investigation by Office of the Middlesex District Attorney. A call to the DA’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

 

Click to read.

President Obama’s New Pick for Surgeon General: Dr. Regina Benjamin

President Barack Obama nominated an Alabama country doctor who has three times resurrected her clinic in a fishing village after disasters to be U.S. Surgeon General on Monday and help him advocate for healthcare reform.

Dr. Regina Benjamin promised to advocate for Obama’s healthcare agenda as “America’s doctor” if she gets the job as chief public spokesperson on health issues, saying her own family and patients have been victims of the failing U.S. system.

“Through floods and fire and severe want, Regina Benjamin has refused to give up. Her patients have refused to give up,” Obama said in a White House Rose Garden announcement.

U.S. surgeons general in the past have issued influential reports on topics including smoking, AIDS and mental health. Benjamin said she not only wanted to serve in the traditional role of surgeon general, encouraging healthy habits, but press to make medical care more easily available.

 

Click to read.

Dr Boyce Watkins Speaks on Lil Wayne and More

Dr Boyce: Lil Wayne Is Willing to Murder Newborn Babies?

E-MAIL|SHARE

• I spent the weekend in New York City doing all the things that a father dreams of doing with his ... Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV Black Spin | Comments (38)

Nicole Spence Moves Beyond her Wendy Williams Experience

E-MAIL|SHARE

• I've had the chance to interact with Wendy Williams on a regular basis over the past 3 years. ... Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV Black Spin | Comments (1)

Dr Boyce Money: Would You Date Someone Who Has Been Laid Off?

E-MAIL|SHARE

• Would you date someone who doesn't have a job? Many of us would at least think twice about it. ... Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV on Money | Comments (20)

Dr Boyce: Bill Cosby's Book Made Money, But Did He Forget Something?

E-MAIL|SHARE

• Meet Delores Jones. Delores is a talented radio show host and women's empowerment speaker out of ... Read More
• Posted by Boyce Watkins, PhD in BV on Money | Comments (66)

Research Study: Black Men and HIV – Big Problems

A small survey of young black men from the South who tested positive for H.I.V. in their teens and early 20s found that most had engaged in risky sexual behaviors but thought it unlikely they would be infected, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

More than half of the 29 gay or bisexual men surveyed said they had engaged in unprotected anal sex in the year before they were infected and had had sex with slightly older men, the survey found. Both are risky behaviors, yet the vast majority of the young men said they had not thought that they would ever be infected.

Young black gay and bisexual men are becoming infected with H.I.V. at alarming rates, particularly in the South, and health officials are trying to analyze their risk factors in order to refine education and intervention strategies.

“We need to make sure that H.I.V. infection does not become a rite of passage for young black men who have sex with men,” said Dr. Alexandra Oster, one of the authors of the survey published last week in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

After the Mississippi State Department of Health notified the C.D.C. in late 2007 that the number of new H.I.V. diagnoses had spiked at a sexually transmitted disease clinic serving Jackson, Miss., , the agencies teamed up to do the survey. The number of newly diagnosed H.I.V. cases among all black men in the Jackson area had increased 20 percent between 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, but infections among those ages 17 to 25 had jumped 45 percent.

Click to Read.

University Wants a Boarding School for Black Males

Kentucky State University could open a boarding school aimed at preparing African American males for college as soon as 2010, according to President Mary Sias.

High school students would live in campus dorms, with their own teachers and an on-site principal. They would have access to KSU facilities and dual credit courses, bridging them into college life.

The plan is part of an effort to increase the number of black men who earn postsecondary degrees, Sias told The State Journal.

“We believe it’s a good way to save those students, and actually stop many black males from dropping out,” she said.

 

Click to read

Where do Black Bloggers Go?

 

Your Black World

Your Black Money

Your Black Woman

Your Black News

Your Black Politics

Your Black Health

AOL Black Voices

The Grio

Technorati Tags: black bloggers,black news,african american news,african american bloggers

Black News: DEA Getting involved with Jackson Death

The will and the wake.

Amid the frenzy of confusing and conflicting information that has followed the death of Michael Jackson, Wednesday began with clarity on two fronts. The day ended, however, with more questions than answers.

A federal law enforcement official said Wednesday night that the Drug Enforcement Administration had joined Jackson's death investigation, once again fanning speculation that drugs may have been involved in the pop icon's passing.

Earlier in the day, the Jackson family said they would not hold a public or private viewing of his body at Neverland Ranch, as had been reported. They didn't indicate where else or when such a ceremony would be held.

And though Jackson's will, made public Wednesday, placed his entire estate in a family trust, the document that described the trust was not filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"He was such an enigma in life, why would we expect him to be anything different in death?" said Antoni Devon, a Jackson fan who huddled with other music lovers at a makeshift memorial for the singer outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Click to read more.