UNC Scholar Outraged Over Exclusion of Black Professors

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

Dr. M. Cookie Newsom

is the Director for Diversity Education and Assessment at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a trouble maker and an angry black woman, which is likely going to cause her serious problems with her colleagues (we talked yesterday about how being angry can get a black person into serious trouble). Dr. Newsom, however, has good reason to be angry. In a recent interview with Diverse issues in Higher Education, Dr. Newsom stated in plain language that most major universities are not serious about diversifying their faculty and that this hurts all students, especially students of color.
"The dismal truth is academe doesn’t really want a racially-diverse faculty," Newsom said during a faculty diversity presentation at the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) annual national conference in Washington, D.C. "It’s totally a myth."

Dr. Newson based her conclusions on statistics and data she collected which shows that most major universities are good at documenting plans to increase faculty diversity, but most of it’s nothing but lip service.

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Three Black College Students Shot Execution Style Three Yrs Ago - Killer Sentenced

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, The Institute for Black Public Policy

Nearly three years ago, two black college students and a friend were murdered in a schoolyard in Newark, NJ. Monday, a jury returned guilty verdicts for three of the murders and one attempted murder after deliberating for less than a day.
Rodolfo Godinez, a 26-year old gang member and native of Nicaragua, was convicted of all charges against him, including multiple counts of robbery, weapons possession and conspiracy. He can get up to 30 years to life for each murder count, and the sentences can be given out consecutively.
"This man will never see the light of day," said Robert D. Laurino, the acting Essex County prosecutor.
Sentencing for Godinez is set for July 8. His lawyer, Roy Greenman, said,"Obviously, there will be an appeal on a number of grounds," but he declined to state the grounds on which he'd be filing.
The prosecution did not assert that Godinez was the one who hacked at the victims with a machete or shot each of them execution-style, in the back of the head. He was argued, however, to be the one who summoned the other gang members to the schoolyard on the night when the murders took place. The murders were particularly chilling because all four of the victims were "good kids" with no criminal history and educational plans for the future.

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Julianne Malveaux Questions the Kagan Nomination

I was among the many who were disappointed that President Barack Obama did not nominate an African American woman to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. After all, there are six white men, two women, one Latina and one white, and a nominal African American man on the Court.  Why not an African American woman?
The Black Women's Roundtable, led by Melanie Campbell, was so disappointed that they shared their concerns with the President in a letter that spoke both to the contributions African American women have made and the qualifications of a few good women that President Obama should have considered before nominating Ms. Kagan to the nation's highest court.

I won't even speak on what I perceive as some of the shortcomings of the Kagan nomination.  The Solicitor General has earned the support of some colleagues that I fully respect, such as Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree.  At the same time, we have to pause at the fact that her definition of diversity is ideological diversity, not racial and ethnic diversity, and that she seemed to make Harvard a more welcome place for conservatives, if not for African American faculty.

 

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Julianne Malveaux Message to the Graduates

 

If you ever attended a National Council of Negro Women event, you ended up singing "This Little Light of Mine" at the end of the event. It was Dr. Dorothy Irene Height's favorite song, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine". The civil rights pioneer, Fannie Lou Hamer, also loved to sing "This Little Light of Mine", and it is easy to see why. The song encompasses humility and empowerment, the recognition that each light is little, but that in choosing to allow it to shine, to amplify, it can be great. Dr. Maya Angelou wrote, "Fannie Lou Hamer knew that she was one woman and only one woman. However, she knew she was an American and as an American she had a light to shine on the darkness of racism. It was a little light, but she aimed it directly at the gloom of ignorance."

Dr. Dorothy Height and Fannie Lou Hamer embraced their light and shone it at our nation's deficiencies. On Saturday, I asked the 80 women who graduated from Bennett College how they might allow their light to shine. In so many ways, this is the issue that confronts young people, and indeed the issue that confronts us all. What is our passion? How will we transmit it? How will we let our light shine?

In the weeks since Dr. Dorothy Height's death I have been thinking of the many ways she let her light shine. She shone light on issues of equal pay, workplace inequities, global issues of gender inequity, health disparities, and other issues. And by her very presence she tackled racism, sexism, classism, and ageism, refusing to be marginalized because she was nearly one hundred years old. She didn't elbow her way to the table, but in her dignity she insisted on space. By just coming to work every day, well after the retirement age of 65, she shone her light on the capabilities of older Americans. She didn't just shine her light, she was incandescent.

 

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Dr. Boyce Watkins on Black Planet's NewsOne.com

DR. BOYCE: Kentucky’s Five Superstars Should Go Get Paid

By Dr. Boyce Watkins April 8, 2010 1:35 pm

Read more about DR. BOYCE: Kentucky’s Five Superstars Should Go Get Paid

TAGS: black athletes, education, NCAA

DR. BOYCE: Why Aren’t Black Men Graduating From College?

By Dr. Boyce Watkins April 7, 2010 3:00 pm

Read more about DR. BOYCE: Why Aren’t Black Men Graduating From College?

TAGS: black men, education, HBCUs

 

DR. BOYCE: Obama Needs To Fix The Black Jobs Situation

By Dr. Boyce Watkins April 5, 2010 9:57 am

Read more about DR. BOYCE: Obama Needs To Fix The Black Jobs Situation

TAGS: economy, unemployment

 

DR. BOYCE: Slavery Was Never Completely Abolished – Seriously

By Dr. Boyce Watkins April 1, 2010 12:10 pm

Read more about DR. BOYCE: Slavery Was Never Completely Abolished – Seriously

TAGS: Prison System, slavery

DR. BOYCE: Barack Obama Is Not Buckwheat, Is He?

By Dr. Boyce Watkins March 26, 2010 11:55 am

Read more about DR. BOYCE: Barack Obama Is Not Buckwheat, Is He?

TAGS: Barack Obama

Why Black Men Aren't Graduating from College

 

Last week, the American Council on Education issued a report on the state of black males in the higher education system.  The report reveals some interesting and disturbing trends.  It turns out that black men are graduating from college at a rate which lags significantly behind other ethnic groups. When determining graduation probabilities over a six-year period, black males were found to have a graduation rate of 35 percent.   This compares with rates of 59 percent, 46 percent and 45 percent for white males, hispanic males and black women, respectively.  In other words, black men are a little more than half as likely to finish college when compared to their white male counterparts.

I have been a black man for my entire life now, and I’ve taught at the college level for the past 17 years.  So, perhaps I can shed some light on the nature of these problems and how we might work to solve them.  Some of the factors are institutional and some are cultural, so prepare to be offended by at least one of the things I have to say:

RELATED: Why Aren’t Minorities Graduating From College?

1) Most American universities refuse to hire or retain African American professors, including many HBCUs: If your professors look like you, you are more likely to relate to that individual and enjoy the class.  When I went to The University of Kentucky, Indiana University and The Ohio State University (where I earned my PhD), I didn’t see one single professor who looked like me (and I took A LOT of classes).  This made for an incredibly awkward and damn near traumatic educational experience.  When I first noticed institutions like Morehouse College presenting images of black males in the front of the classroom, I was envious after realizing what I’d been missing.  Rather than finding excuses for firing or not hiring black professors, most universities would be well-advised to stop lying to themselves and become serious about diversity.  Yes, black professors are out there to hire if you are looking for them, but many academic departments find a reason to believe that they are not qualified.  Just look at the experiences of myself, Cornell West and Michael Eric Dyson as cases in point.  Each of us has received significant resistance in our careers because our work is connected to the black community. Our stories are just the tip of the iceberg, since there are thousands of black professors who’ve gone through the exact same experience when dealing with the entrenched racism of academia.  Many HBCUs are not immune to this trend, as most of them don’t have very many African American professors (Don’t believe me?  Go to the Computer Science Department or Business School at any random HBCU and count the number of African American professors).

 

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Al Sharpton, Boyce Watkins, Tom Joyner Meet with Obama Administration in NYC on 4/17

APRIL 14-17 SHERATON NEW YORK HOTEL & TOWERS, NYC

New York, New York – Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network (NAN) will host its annual national conference from April 14^th - 17^th at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City. This four-day event will convene hundreds of delegates and prominent leaders in civil rights, business, politics, labor, entertainment and the religious community from around the country to address key issues impacting people of color. Among some of the confirmed notable participants are United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Housing Shawn Donovan, Michael Steele, Chairman of The Republican National Party, Dr. Bill Cosby, Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP, Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, Tom Joyner, Roland Martin, Michael Eric Dyson, and many other high profile attendees.

Among the highlights will include the annual Keepers of the Dream Awards on Wednesday, April 15^th honoring those who are committed to furthering the ideals and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event will be hosted by Tamron Hall, MSNBC and honorees include Wyclef Jean, humanitarian and world-renown musical artist, Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal, Mariah Carey, Award-Winning Actress and internationally acclaimed Singer, Dr. Robert M. Franklin, President of Morehouse College, Kimberly Davis, President of JPMorgan Chase Foundation and more. There will be a special keynote address by Dr. Bill Cosby.

The National Action Network convention will include discussions about health care policy in the wake of the historic passage of the President’s Health Care Reform Bill, Media and whether the press is covering issues fairly that involve people of color, education as a civil rights issue and combating the racial achievement gap, labor and employment, the state of the Black Church and assessment of the public response to African-American achievement, issues crucial to young professionals, and much more.

A major convention highlight will be leadership forum entitled: Measuring the Movement: Black Leadership’s 12-Month Action Plan featuring Black leaders of constituencies across the country who will assess where we are and what they and their respective organizations will pledge to do over a 12-month time-frame to further critical issues impacting people of color including, but not limited to, education reform, unemployment, health care and more. The event will air on TV One, MSNBC, C-Span and other forums, and the collective will discuss the real problems and how we will not only hold the President and Administration of the United States accountable, but how we will hold ourselves accountable and tangibly measure our movement over a 12-month period to enact change. The event will be hosted by Tom Joyner and Roland Martin and will be co- hosted by Boyce Watkins, Assistant Professor of Finance, Syracuse University and Warren Ballentine from "The Warren Ballentine Show." Among the featured panelists will be Reverend Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network, Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League, Congressman James Clyburn, Dr. Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School professor, Dr. Elsie Scott, President and CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), Jeff Johnson, BET Personality, Ben Jealous, President & CEO, NAACP, Michael Eric Dyson, recording artist Chuck D, Angela Sailor, Coalitions Director for the Republican National Committee, and others.

A complete schedule of NAN’s annual national convention is below and updates will be posted regularly on NAN’s website www.Nationalactionnetwork.net. For press credentials please contact Rachel Noerdlinger, President of Noerdlinger Media (646) 981-5903 or rachel@noerdlingermedia.com.

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Kansas City To Close Half Its Schools

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.

Administrators say the closures are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. The Kansas City school board narrowly approved the plan to close 29 out of 61 schools Wednesday night at a meeting packed with angry parents. The schools will close at the end of the school year.

Although other districts nationwide are considering closures as the recession ravages their budgets, Kansas City's plan is striking. In rapidly shrinking Detroit, 29 schools closed before classes began this fall, but that still left the district with 172 schools. Most other districts are closing just one or two schools.

Emotional board member Duane Kelly told the crowd of more than 200 people Wednesday night, "This is the most painful vote I have ever cast" in 10 years on the board. Some chanted for the removal of the superintendent, while one woman asked the crowd, "Is anyone else ready to homeschool their children?"

 

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Black Player Told He's too smart for the NFL

Most NFL coaches and executives would be ecstatic if Myron Rolle was their son or their daughter’s date.

Rolle played at FSU for three years.
(Dave Martin/AP Photo)

Drafting him is another matter.

Welcome to proof of the NFL adage: You want players to be smart, just not too smart. Rolle is an example of a gifted, driven, accomplished young man. He’s a guy who could survive and thrive without playing mankind’s version of demolition derby.

Rolle is a man with otions and that makes NFL types, some of whom would be teaching P.E. in high school if not for the pro game, very uneasy.

“We’ll have to find out how committed he is,” an NFC assistant coach said, echoing the sentiment of five other NFL types leading up to this weekend’s scouting combine. “Committed” is a euphemism for desire, care, passion and whatever other combination of emotions goes into wanting to play football enough to make it a career.

Trainer Tom Shaw, who has worked with Rolle for the past year, understands the process very well. Having trained the likes ofPeyton Manning(notes), Chris Johnson and Deion Sanders, a total of 118 former first-round picks and nine straight Super Bowl Most Valuable Players before this year, Shaw hears the criticism and shakes his head.

“I hear all the negative things that he has too many things going on in his life,” Shaw said. “But if [the NFL] is saying that Myron Rolle is a bad example, that’s a joke. … Myron is what you want all these kids to be. Every one of these kids should want to be Myron Rolle.

“The reason I say he’s going to be a 10-year veteran is he’s a guy who is going to out-work everybody. He’s not just going to rest on his athletic ability.”

Click to read by clicking on this link: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-committedrolle022510&prov

Dr. Boyce Watkins - U. Missouri Cotton Ball Racism Raises Questions

by Dr Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

One of my friends, Dr. Tommy Whittler, is a very talented and prominent Psychologist.  Dr. Whittler once told me that when he was training rats in the lab, he would sometimes become frustrated with the fact that the rats would not do what he believed he’d trained them to do.  His mentor would always correct him with a reminder that when the rats do things that deviate from his intended outcome, it was likely due to the fact that he may not have done his job properly.  His mentor would say to him, “There is no such thing as a dumb rat.  There are only dumb trainers.”  Dr. Whittler went on to become an outstanding scholar because he learned how to properly critique his own behavior.

While human beings are certainly not lab rats, a similar analogy can be applied to college professors working with their students.  Sometimes, college students do things that disappoint us:  Some choose to drink till they puke every weekend and become lifelong alcoholics.  They might commit violent acts against each other, sometimes as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.  Some choose to engage in irresponsible sexual choices and end up with venereal diseases and unplanned pregnancies.  Also, they sometimes say or do things that are terribly ignorant, racist and insensitive.

Read more by clicking the link below

http://newsone.com/nation/boycewatkins/dr-boyce-some-u-missouri-students-want-us-picking-cotton/

 

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Dr. Boyce Watkins Critiques the NCAA

by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

I was invited this week to speak to the Stanford University NAACP about whether or not college athletes should be paid.  When I am asked whether I think college athletes should be compensated for their labor, I simply respond to the question with another question:  “Why shouldn’t they get paid?  Did they not earn the money?  Is someone else earning money from their labor? Is the labor of the athlete essential to the revenue-generating process?”  Answers to these questions help us to understand how insane it is that athletes earn billions of dollars for coaches, but aren’t entitled to any of that money for themselves.  I’ve seen race horses get better deals than that.

Click to read.

 

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Rhode Island School Firing: Was it Justified?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

 

You don't have to go to college to know that America's educational system is as embarrassing as our bloated, expensive health care system. Such wide-scale dysfunction inevitably undermines the integrity of America's competitive future. The only thing more frightening than what we see today is the realization that the products of this system will eventually control the wealthiest, most powerful country on earth.

Some would argue that only radical change will improve the problems in our schools. Apparently, Frances Gallo, Superintendent of the Central Falls Rhode Island Public School System, got the memo. In a shocking move that has received national attention, Gallo instantly fired 93 teachers and other staff from Central Falls High school, a failing school with a 48 percent graduation rate.

The move was cheered by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who said that school administrators are "showing courage and doing the right thing for kids." The decision also got the militant attention of teachers unions everywhere, who some believe to be standing in the way of education reform. As expected, many union leaders thought the move was outrageous, insensitive and hurtful to the student body.

Superintendent Gallo didn't have to use the "nuclear option" on Central Falls High School. She actually had four options provided to her by the Obama administration. She could have closed the school down completely or had it taken over by a charter school. She also could have "transformed" the school, with longer days and other demands placed on faculty and staff. Instead, she went with the "turnaround" option, giving her the authority to boot teachers out at her discretion.

Click to read.

Prof. Boyce Watkins Addresses Stanford University NAACP

From Your Black World

Dr. Boyce Watkins, faculty affiliate at The College Sport Research Institute, is going to speak to the Stanford NAACP on Wednesday, March 3.  The topic of the conversation will be “Does the NCAA Represent an Opportunity or Exploitation?”

Dr. Watkins is one of the leading authorities on NCAA compensation.  He has advocated for college athletes to be paid, and founded the group ALARM: The Athlete Liberation and Academic Reform Movement.  He is also the founder of the Your Black World Coalition, with 60,000 members nation-wide.

Dr. Boyce Speaks on Russell Simmons

by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons seems to feel that banks are not treating the poor in a proper fashion. This week, in a rant on his site, “The Global Grind,” Simmons had this to say:
“They trick customers into doing things that are not good for them through lack of transparency, and surprise them with new fees when they can least afford it. I’m learning an important lesson about ethics or lack of ethics in this industry. In fact, I’m fighting with a bank right now that doesn’t know what kind of ass whipping they are going to get when I expose them for the abusive practices and exuberant fees they are charging the poor. What they are doing is trying to double their already outrageously high fees in exchange for providing absolutely nothing to my customers.”
Simmons went on to try to create a “movement” by adding a call to action:

“Let’s start the biggest public discussion ever about how banks treat us and expose these banks for their unequal treatment and unconscionable conduct. The time is now.”

 

Click to read.

Dr Boyce Watkins: Where Eric Holder Got it Wrong

by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

Elliot Millner brought it to my attention that Attorney General Eric Holder has been apparently spending a lot of time with Bill Cosby these days. In a recent speech at a black church in Queens, NY, Holder took a page out of the Barack Obama Campaign Catalog and chose to win favors with the black middle class by recklessly bashing away at absentee fathers and returning to the whole "ya'll just need to grow up and be more responsible" argument that allows any politician to explain away a blatant disregard for meaningful public policy. Rather than talking about things that we can do as a society to take our collective foot off the necks of black men, he chose to say that black men are choosing to put the foot on their own necks.
Elliot Millner, who is also in the legal profession, intelligently said the things that I am sure Eric Holder wanted to say. But unlike Holder, Millner is not constrained by the political shackles that come with being an appointed leader in a society that makes a habit of oppressing, destroying and marginalizing black men.
In his speech, Holder said that, "It should simply be unacceptable for a man to have a child and then not play an integral part in the raising and nurturing of the child."
That quote is a nice way of reflecting on the obvious. It's sort of like saying, "It should be unacceptable for a black man to become the Attorney General of the United States and not play an integral part in helping other black men overcome the blatantly racist and destructive justice system over which you preside."

Click to read.

Dr. Boyce: Black Kids Told to Pick Cotton in front of white classmates

by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

I received a call the today from CNN for an appearance on Headline News with the amazing Richelle Carey. The story happened a couple of weeks ago, but it took me aback and I thought I would quickly share it with the AOL BV family. During a field trip to a former plantation in Charlotte, NC, the tour guide wanted to show the kids what slavery was like. So, he asked the black children to pick cotton while their white classmates stood around and watched. When the CNN producer (a nice woman named Ebony) told me about the story, I had to do a Gary Coleman imitation: "What choo talking bout Ebony?"
Beyond the obvious, this case is disturbing on a multitude of levels. But CNN has asked me to help make this case into a teachable moment. I love finding life lessons in everything, so here are some quick thoughts:

1) The tour guide who did this clearly wasn't thinking: If you want the children to empathize with slavery, why not have them ALL pretend to be slaves? If you have the black children pretending to be slaves and the white kids pretending to be their masters, you are only teaching the white kids to be slave masters and the black kids to be their property.
2) Look at this through the mind of a child: I remember a child in elementary school saying to me, "I wish slavery was still around, because I could then tell you what to do." Those were the same words that Walter Currie's classmate said to him beforespraying him with gasoline and setting him on fire. Those were also the words that one child said to another on the bus ride home from the plantation that day in North Carolina. Do you see a trend here? While we as adults might see the educational value in our remarks, children might see it in an entirely different way.

Click to read.

Presidential Pursuits: Golf – The Great Equalizer

 

by Dr. Deborah Stroman

The latest brouhaha over President Obama’s whereabouts now includes his golf endeavors. A seemingly innocent respite away from the White House arrows and darts has turned into a diatribe over women’s equality, inclusion, and diversity. And you thought golf was a boring game for old men! Ha!

The story began with a news report, which is debatable in its own right of being news, that described Pres. Obama’s recent golf outing with one of his senior leaders, Melody Barnes. Ms. Barnes, the nation’s chief domestic policy adviser to the president, was pictured sharply dressed lugging her golf bag. Golf is generally played in groups of four so the interest increased when it was determined that she was joining or barging in on the president’s regular team of men. Oh my! Katy bar the door!

People play golf for one (or a combination) of three reasons: exercise, sport competition, and business. The days of ill dressed overweight men with tires around their waists, who huff and puff on cigars as they tee off are long gone. In fact, it is now a fashion faux pas to dress less than professional (gym clothes are not welcome) and to smoke during a round. Sir Tiger changed the game in many ways and one of the most important is his devotion to fitness. His workout regiment to be the best golfer in the world motivates all ages to get in shape to improve their game. Avid golfers and wanna-bees are seeking Pilates, yoga, stretching, strength and core training customized golf programs to reduce the number of swings to get that little white ball in the hole. And now walking the golf course is more popular, so a stop at the gym or a jog around the neighborhood is no longer necessary. Exercise by strolling through a meticulously manicured lawn decorated with exotic foliage and 18 tee boxes -- Yes!

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Dr. Boyce: What to Make of the NCAA’s Possible Black President

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Black Planet 

I am not a fan of the NCAA, a sports league that earns money on the par of the NFL and NBA, but has somehow decided that they don’t have to properly compensate their employees or give them standard rights to negotiation. What’s worse is that the NCAA does tremendous harm to the African American community, sucking up kids with hoop dreams and destroying their futures with inferior educations.

When I recently read that the NCAA may be hiring a black president (Dr. Bernard Franklin), the only thing I could say is “whoopty-damn-doo.” While some of us might be tempted to applaud such an achievement, we must fully understand that the disease of racism is sometimes delivered through the hands of a black overseer.

RELATED: OPINION: Ivy League Can Teach NCAA About Coach Diversity

Dr. Franklin, while running around the country applauding his organization for giving one opportunity to one black person, should probably think of the thousands of African American families being used up by the very system he has been trained to manage. The NCAA is, without question, one of the most exploitative regimes in the history of America, right next to slavery and the prison system. Billions are earned each year off the backs of African American families, while the league has worked together with Congress to create a nexus of regulations that keep the athlete and his/her family from getting a piece of the economic pie.

Click to read.

NCAA May Select a Black President

• NCAA senior vice-president Dr. Bernard Franklin (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

By the end of this week, the NCAA may start the process of joining the rest of the country in making history. Nearly a year after American voters elected the nation's first black president, the association that runs college sports may be poised to select the first black man to run one of the country's major sports organizations.

The NCAA's Executive Committee is slated to meet this Thursday at the organization's headquarters in Indianapolis, and is expected to choose a firm to help in its search to find a successor to Myles Brand, the former president, who died last month.

Among the contenders is Dr. Bernard Franklin, a former president of four schools, most notably Virginia Union. Franklin, who was hired for the NCAA by Brand, currently serves as the organization's executive vice president for membership and student-athlete affairs.

Franklin's ascendance would not only zoom the NCAA past the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA in terms of moving an African-American into a chief executive post, but would send a powerful message to university and college presidents, who could desperately use it. (It bears noting that African-American James Frank, of Lincoln University, previously served as the NCAA's president. However, that title was given to elected officials from individual schools, while the post of executive director went to the full-time chief executive officer.)

You have a much better chance of finding subtlety in a Tyler Perry movie than you do of spotting an African-American football coach or athletic director - often two of the most powerful positions on a college campus - at the nation's biggest colleges.

click to read.

New Book: Thinking outside the Cell

In the first book published by her New York-based Resilience Multimedia, Sheila Rule delivers much-needed information to a segment of society that has long been ignored: the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. In 'Think Outside The Cell: An Entrepreneur's Guide for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated' by Joseph Robinson, readers learn vital information, including how to overcome obstacles that convicted felons face while trying to reenter society and find work.
Rule, who worked at The New York Times for 30 years before her recent retirement, was spurred to start her publishing company after writing to the incarcerated as a volunteer for the Riverside Church Prison Ministry. With funding from the Ford Foundation, she plans to publish next year the 'Think Outside the Cell' book series featuring real-life stories by the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and their families. Rule takes time to talk about the book with AOL Black Voices.
AOL Black Voices: How did you come up with the idea for the book?
Sheila Rule: Joe's book has been published amid renewed efforts to help the formerly incarcerated-who are disproportionately black and Latino-successfully reenter society. But Joe believes that the reentry programs being developed, while commendable, too often focus on finding jobs in a nation where, according to a Princeton University study, it is easier for a white person with a felony conviction to get a job than for a black person who has never been arrested. Joe believes that "Think Outside the Cell" presents a largely unexplored option-entrepreneurship-that can help give men and women leaving prison a realistic second chance

 

Click to read.