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Oscars Indicate Hollywood May Be Calling Blacks by Lapacazo Sandoval

March 4, 2014

Sunday's Oscars Indicate Hollywood May Be Calling Blacks
By Lapacazo Sandoval

oscars2

Oscar®-winner Steve McQueen, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and Spike Lee pose together at the Governor's Ball following the live ABC Telecast of The Oscars® from the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood March 2.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Time is now. If there ever was a time for African Americans interested in the motion picture industry to make a move, that time has apparently come. 

This is not suggesting the existence of a post-racial America (or a post-racial Hollywood) or that it will be easy because you are African-American.  Make no mistake, the film business is a tough business.  But if you’ve got what it takes, are passionate and persistent enough to tough it out in the face of rejection and persevere, you can make it. 

This is the implication from recent years; including Sunday night’s Academy Awards – that aspiring African-American filmmakers should dream big and go for it.  Hollywood appears to be calling for diversity and has opened its doors - gradually. 

Here are a few key factors: During the first 54 years of the Oscars, which began in 1929, only three African-American actors had received the Academy Award by 1983.  Those winners were Hattie McDaniel as Best Supporting Actress for “Gone With the Wind” in 1939, Sydney Poitier as Best Actor for “Lilies of the Field” in 1964, and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Best Supporting Actor for “An Officer and a Gentlemen” in 1983. 

Over the next 30 years, there were 11 more Oscars awarded to African-American actors which include Whoopie Goldberg, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jennifer Hudson, Octavia Spencer, Forest Whitaker, Mo’Nique and Jamie Foxx.

The 86th Annual Academy Awards this year saw yet another Oscar presented to Lupita Nyong’o for her role as Best Supporting Actress in the film “12 Years a Slave,” which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  The film's director, Steve McQueen, made history becoming the first black producer ever to win the coveted Best Picture award for this film. The word “Black” is used here rather than African-American because Steve McQueen is British and Lupita Nyong’o is African from Kenya. 

This year’s Oscar Ceremony made history again by introducing to the world its new president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is the first African-American to serve as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.  In a recent interview, Isaacs said, “I am glad to be president during this year’s season.”  

A seasoned veteran in the movie business, Isaacs over the years has held every position on the Academy’s Board of Governors.  In the film business since 1977, Isaacs is well aware of the challenges facing African-American filmmakers historically.  As such, she has made diversity a priority for the Academy.  Isaacs explains, “We’ve been making strides at the Academy to make it more inclusive.  To open up our ranks.  To recognize different voices from around the world, including America, because there are different stories to be told.” 

Isaacs feels that education is critical to the success of the Academy meeting its goals. “We really want to educate young people to the range of opportunities in the motion picture business,” says Isaacs.  Academy programs include Team Oscar, The Student Academy Awards, and the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship.

It is the cumulative struggle of many African-American artists and others over many years that has produced a new, more equitable Hollywood system.  Diversity is a broad term which seeks to be inclusive of all people, not just African Americans.  “We are looking for the best and the brightest,” says Academy president Isaacs.

After winning Best Picture for “12 Years a Slave,” the film’s producer Brad Pitt perhaps made the best case for diversity when he said, “At the end of the day, we just hope that this film remains a gentle reminder that we're all equal.  We all want the same.  We want dignity and opportunity for ourselves and our family, and that another's freedom is every bit as important as our own; and that's it, and that's everything.”

Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper' Initiative : Has He Come Full Circle? By Hazel Trice Edney

March 3, 2014

Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper' Initiative : Has He Come Full Circle?

By Hazel Trice Edney

my brothers keeper group

President Obama prepares for what he says will be a focus on men and boys of color "for the rest of my presidency".

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Barack Obama appears to be finally making good on a long-standing promise that he made to Black leaders the evening before his first election. That promise was to try to “change this community.”

Political observers have gasped at the frankness of his speech last week announcing the new “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative to strengthen America’s Black men and boys by forming a task force that will make recommendations on the investment of millions of dollars into organizations that serve men and boys of color. The initiatives will be financed by foundations and organizations already targeting this population.

“This is an issue of national importance - it's as important as any issue that I work on.  It's an issue that goes to the very heart of why I ran for President - because if America stands for anything, it stands for the idea of opportunity for everybody; the notion that no matter who you are, or where you came from, or the circumstances into which you are born, if you work hard, if you take responsibility, then you can make it in this country,” Obama said. “And that’s the idea behind everything that I’ll do this year, and for the rest of my presidency.  Because at a time when the economy is growing, we’ve got to make sure that every American shares in that growth, not just a few.”

Given grumbling from some that President Obama hasn’t done enough specifically for the African-Americans who elected him, some political observers have now facetiously questioned whether he has finally become “The Black President”.

Actually, President Obama’s announcement appears strategically – and safely - placed within the second term of his presidency. On Nov. 3, 2008, the eve of his first election, he said the following words to key Black leaders in an exclusive telephone conference:


“Everyone under the sound of my voice understands the struggles we face. Everyone understands the fierce urgency of now. You all know what’s at stake in this election.” Obama then listed a string of issues disparately faced by African-Americans, including the struggle to recruit good teachers, the struggle against under-funded schools, double-digit jobless rates and having to work two and three jobs to make ends meet. Those issues mirror the issues outlined in his introduction to “My Brother’s Keeper” last week.

“I mention these issues because this community, our community, the African-American community, during these challenging times, suffers more than most in this country,” he said in the 2008 call. “Double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, stagnant wages, our kids are more likely to drop out, more likely to be in jail, more likely to die. We’re going to have to do better. And if we continue the momentum we’ve seen across this country over the last several weeks, we can do better…I’m convinced that not only are we going to change this country, but we’re going to change this community,” he said.

Now that Obama has been re-elected, some believe such programs as “My Brother’s Keeper” the “Promise Zones” announced in January, and his recent White House meeting with Black leaders represent his coming full circle on that election-eve promise.

“The Lawyers’ Committee commends President Obama for following through on his commitment to take  bold and necessary actions in addressing decades-long issues facing communities of color, and for taking an inter-agency approach in tackling disparities and challenges in education, employment, health and nutrition, and related issues, particularly affecting African American and Hispanic boys and young men,” said Lawyers’ Committee President and Executive Director Barbara Arnwine, who was present at the White House during last week’s announcement.  “Creating pathways to success and fostering collaborative business and community relationships are indeed vital to this process.”

Accolades are being heard from grassroots to Congress. “This unprecedented initiative will bring organizations together across public and private sectors to support young men of color in effective and innovative ways,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia L. Fudge. “Statistics show that African-American males have a greater risk of being in categories that prevent them from realizing their full potential, such as having higher incarceration and dropout rates. But we know this is neither due to a lack of ability nor a lack of will, but a lack of opportunity and support.”

With an audience of dozens of African-American and Latino teens behind him and an East Room audience of mostly men in front of him, Obama outlined what “My Brother’s Keeper” will do.

“After months of conversation with a wide range of people, we’ve pulled together private philanthropies and businesses, mayors, state and local leaders, faith leaders, nonprofits, all who are committed to creating more pathways to success.  And we’re committed to building on what works,” he said.

In a nutshell, foundations will invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years into programs that work to impact key areas of social development, such as “early child development and school readiness, parenting and parent engagement, 3rd grade literacy, educational opportunity and school discipline reform, interactions with the criminal justice system ladders to jobs and economic opportunity and healthy families and communities.”.

Among the foundations, represented at the East Room announcement were The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The California Endowment, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Open Society Foundations, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Kapor Center for Social Impact.

The President pointed to statistics to illustrate the need for the initiative:

  • “If you’re African American, there’s about a one in two chance you grow up without a father in your house…If you’re Latino, you have about a one in four chance.  We know that boys who grow up without a father are more likely to be poor, more likely to underperform in school.”
  • “As a Black student, you are far less likely than a White student to be able to read proficiently by the time you are in 4th grade.  By the time you reach high school, you’re far more likely to have been suspended or expelled.  There’s a higher chance you end up in the criminal justice system, and a far higher chance that you are the victim of a violent crime.  
  • Fewer young black and Latino men participate in the labor force compared to young white men.  And all of this translates into higher unemployment rates and poverty rates as adults.”

Obama concluded, “And the worst part is we’ve become numb to these statistics.  We're not surprised by them.  We take them as the norm.  We just assume this is an inevitable part of American life, instead of the outrage that it is.  That's how we think about it.  It's like a cultural backdrop for us - in movies and television.  We just assume, of course, it's going to be like that.  But these statistics should break our hearts.  And they should compel us to act.”

 

St. Paul's College May Be Auctioned by Jeremy M. Lazarus

March 2, 2014

St. Paul's College May Be Auctioned
Historic Institution joins small stream of HBCUS that ended operations in recent years.
By Jeremy M. Lazarus

st. pauls college

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Neither the Episcopal Church nor the state are prepared to ride to the rescue of historic but largely empty Saint Paul’s College in Brunswick County. That’s why the private school’s property in the county seat of Lawrenceville could soon be auctioned off under a plan approved by the college’s board.

Saint Paul’s has a proud history. Episcopal Archdeacon James Solomon Russell founded the school in 1888 to serve black people being denied an education by white supremacists. After struggling in recent years, the hardpressed college officially closed its doors to students last June after 125 years — joining a small stream of historically Black schools like Morris Brown in Atlanta that have ended operations.

The board has hired Richmond-based Motley Auction and Realty Group to offer the property on a sealed-bid basis. Motley has announced that the college’s property would be offered in two blocks — the 183-acre campus with 35 buildings and a separate 400-acre of tract of farmable land. However, a date to start accepting bids has yet to be set, according to Motley.

There had been hopes that Saint Paul’s affiliation with the Episcopal Church could bring a flood of new dollars. However, the denomination has told the school it would be unable to finance a fresh start, according to the current president of Saint Paul’s, Millard D. “Pete” Stith.

“We have gone to the national church, which has generously provided some financial help,” Stith said, notably about $160,000 in three chunks in the past year to help with current expenses.

But he said church officials have told him the denomination “doesn’t have the kind of money that would be needed” to revive the school. “They are supportive and encouraging, but that’s the best they can do.”

“We operate on a shoestring,” said the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia that includes Brunswick County and a member of the board of Saint Paul’s.

He called it a myth that either the diocese or the Episcopal Church “has the financial ability to bail out a college” because some members of its congregations are prosperous. “The majority of funds go to the congregations,” he said.

The bishop, who joined the board in 2009 after his election to his current office, said the school faced problems long before he arrived because of risky and wrong financial decisions. More importantly, he said, the school never created a vision for change for supporters and Episcopal congregations “to rally around. Saint Paul’s has a great legacy of service. But we can’t save the past. What’s needed is a vision for the future, and that has been lacking.”

Stith also has seen his hopes of a possible state interest rebuffed. Former Gov. Bob McDonnell had more interest in providing $11 million for creating a slavery memorial site in Richmond than in spending $5 million to revive Saint Paul’s and Gov. Terry McAuliffe appears to hold the same position. Stith lobbied Midlothian Sen. John C. Watkins and other legislators seeking to at least get language in the state budget to allow the secretary of education to explore a use for the campus. “The language was not included,” said Stith, who previously spent 26 years as a deputy county manager for Chesterfield County.

The board also has been unable to find a public or private university or other institution interested in taking over the college’s buildings. Stith said he anticipates Motley would begin to accept bids shortly and that the board would meet in the next two months or so to review them.

He said the board is interested in at least having the campus continue to have an educational purpose, if possible. He said the board could reject bids from parties it does not consider compatible, he said. However, Stith the board can only be so choosey because the money to keep limited operations going is expected to run out in June. He said he has kept about 22 people on staff, including four security guards, two maintenance people and eight employees of a day care that is still open on the campus.

The college has some major creditors who need to be paid, he said. That includes a bank that is owed $1.2 million on the college’s student union and could foreclose on the building if the loan is not paid. Also, the college owes about $1.4 million on borrowings to support its pension plan that has to be repaid.

GOP Obamacare Fix Would Harm, Not Help, Says Budget Analysis by Zenitha Prince

March 2, 2014

GOP Obamacare Fix Would Harm, Not Help, Says Budget Analysis
Deficit Would Deepen, Fewer Uninsured Would be Covered

By Zenitha Prince
obamacarelogofull2

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A Republican-sponsored “fix” for Obamacare would do more harm than good, an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has concluded.

The Save American Workers Act (H.R. 2575) would change the definition of full-time employment from 30 hours per week to 40 hours per week to reduce the number of employers subject to penalties for not offering any or adequate health insurance for their employees.

Under the Affordable Care Act, companies with 50 or more full-time employees are liable to fines of $2,000 to $3,000 per employee for failing to offer insurance to those workers clocking 30 hours or more a week.

Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.), the bill’s chief sponsor, said during a legislative markup of the proposed measure earlier this month that the 30-hour provision has placed an estimated 2.6 million hourly workers nationwide at-risk for having their working hours cut to 29 hours a week or less.

“These workers aren’t worried about losing hours because they need something to do to pass the time,” said Young, according to a video recording of his remarks. “These are Americans who depend on those hours to support their families. It isn’t just their hours, but also their wages, that are disappearing. An employee seeing their hours cut from 39 hours to 29 hours will lose an entire week’s paycheck over the course of a month. An employee going from 35 hours to 29 hours is essentially receiving a 17 percent pay cut, courtesy of Obamacare.”

But the CBO report concluded that the GOP “solution” would actually cause more problems: It would raise the deficit, increase the number of uninsured Americans, funnel more people into government insurance programs and affect more persons.

About 1 million fewer people would receive employment-based coverage under this legislation, and between 500,000 and 1 million more people would have to obtain coverage through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or government-run health insurance exchanges, the report predicted.

The number of uninsured Americans would increase by about 50,000 under the proposed revision. H.R. 2575 would also increase budget deficits by $25.4 billion over a five-year period and by $73.7 billion over the 10-year period from 2015-2024.

The report speculated that the proposed revision of the law, if enacted, could prompt some employers to reduce employees’ hours to below 40 hours a week, and, “because many more workers work 40 hours per week (or slightly more) than work 30 hours per week (or slightly more), the changes made by H.R. 2575 could affect many more workers than are affected under current law.”

Black History Month Hashtag Viewed as Disgraceful by Brelaun Douglas

Feb. 25, 2014

Editor's Note: Editors and Publishers: This story contains a derivative of the N-word.

Black History Month Hashtag Viewed as Disgraceful
By Brelaun Douglas

eddiejones
This photo was a part of the memes that trended on social media during Black History Month.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Search this hashtag: #FirstN*ggaTo- on one of the popular media sites such as Instagram or Twitter and be prepared for a Black History Month shock.

Posts have flooded the internet and social media sites with fictional - and even stereotypical - messages pertaining to the African-American community. Such posts include, but are not limited to, a picture of a baby named Lester J. Green being attributed as the first Black kid to have a light bill in his name; a young man, Claude Malvoux, relaxing in a chair being attributed as the first Black man to extend his break 30 minutes; and “Eddie Jones” as being the first Black man to say “lemme hold sumn.”

Ironically, the controversial memes are often being posted by African-Americans. The question that comes into play here is are these memes funny or offensive? Do they degrade Black History Month - and Black history overall - or do they bring a lighter balance to the standard Black history learnings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X, and Harriet Tubman?

“There is nothing positive here,” concludes Sylvia Y. Cyrus, executive director of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Cyrus affirms that this month is a “very important celebration of American history and provides the opportunity for Americans to celebrate the contributions of Blacks.”

ASALH, founded by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson 99 years ago, prides itself for “celebrating Black history 365 days a year”. During Black History Month, the organization holds several major events, including an annual luncheon that seats thousands and a program at the White House.

Black History Month began in 1926 as only a week. Created by Dr. Woodson, often called the “Father of Black History” Negro History Week was meant to highlight the achievements and contributions of African Americans during a time when they were purposely written out of the history books. It was first held during the second week of February and soon became recognized and celebrated across the United States. In 1976, President Ford broadened Negro History Week to cover the entire month of February and Black History Month was born.

But, in the advent of social media, the traditionally serious nature of the month is sometimes undermined for comedic or conversational purposes. Therefore, California comedian Marcus Parker is torn between whether the memes are funny or insulting.

“As a comedian, I get the humor. As a comedian I can live in that world,” he says. “It’s a double edged sword. It would be funnier coming from a comedian, but coming from young Black kids, it shows that they don’t get the gist of what Black History Month is about. ”

To Parker, the month is a time for honoring Blacks and their contributions to history. But he feels that it may not be taken as seriously as it was in the past - and he is “more saddened than mad at these memes, especially since it is more Black people than others posting them.”

U.C. Riverside freshman Cameron Fulton still feels that Black History Month is important and serious. He sees it as a time to celebrate the “people that fought for you” because “without their fight, we probably wouldn’t be here” living the freer lives that we live. Fulton is not sure if it is mainly Black people posting these memes, but regardless of the person’s race he finds it overall disrespectful.

“You don’t know what a person went through, so why when we are celebrating things that they did would you disrespect their fight?” he questions.

Ajah Love, a sophomore at Cal poly San Luis Obispo, agrees with Fulton and finds the memes disgraceful. “When I first saw it I thought it was going to be something insightful and that it was going to be a piece of history every day for the month, but it wasn’t” she criticizes. She asserts that Black history “is not a joke” and that “it’s time that’s deserved.”

She feels that more importance should be placed back upon it with events being held and getting people  involved in the history and that “people are going out of their way” to find something stereotypical for these memes. Instead of using these memes, “Find something meaningful and be grateful,” she asserts.

Director of Howard University’s School of Communication’s honors program, Dr. Audrey Byrd, takes the memes as a sign. “It makes me think all more the importance of using this month to look at who we are and what we have accomplished,” she proclaims. To Byrd the memes show someone who is unknowledgeable of Black culture and views them as “a mark of ignorance.”

Cyrus not only finds the images to be sad and unfortunate but evidence of the lack of knowledge of Black history.  “Only when we know our history well enough,” she declares, “will we be able to rally against those who will alter our image and do this to it.”

 

 

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