Detroit's Collapse Is Speaking Volumns About The State of African Americans & The US As A Whole!

Imagine for a moment that every single person living in the city of San Jose, Calif., plus an additional 150,000 or so, just up and left. Vanished. Poof. Gone. Leaving their homes, business buildings and factories behind.

That is, in effect, what has happened to the city of Detroit, according to 2010 U.S. Census data. The city that boasted 1.8 million residents in 1950, and was the nation's economic engine for most of the 20th century, now is home to 714,000 people, a population loss of 1.1 million - with a 25 percent drop in the last decade alone.

Video: Detroit Is Dying

It's an unprecedented collapse of a major American city. It's not as if the population was dropping nationwide; it's going up. Just not in Detroit. It's closest "outmigration" rival is Chicago, a five-hour drive to the west, which has lost about 964,000 people since 1950 but still holds about 2.7 million people, down 25 percent from its peak of 3.62 million in 1950.

Blacks Are Leaving Major Cities In Droves, Headed South

In Detroit, the loss amounts to a staggering 60 percent of the city's peak population. It is now smaller than Charlotte, N.C., and Fort Worth. More people have left Detroit than live in San Francisco; more people have left in the last decade than live in St. Petersburg, Fla. If a similar collapse happened to San Francisco or San Diego or Denver or Dallas, there would be national cries for intervention. Detroit we treat like a crash on the freeway: something to gawk at, then forget while we blame auto executives - the driver - for their follies and ignore the injured passengers.

The collapse of Detroit has roots in intentional de-industrialization by the Big Three automakers, which in the 1950s began aggressively spider-webbing operations across the nation to produce cars closer to regional markets, and to reduce labor costs by investing in less labor-friendly places than union-heavy Detroit.

Racism plays a significant role too. Detroit's white flight exploded in the 1950s and '60s, after courts struck down local and federal policies that had allowed segregated housing. That was followed by middle-class flight as crime endemic to high-poverty, high-unemployment neighborhoods began spreading. As people of all races have fled the city, its vast socioeconomic problems become even more distilled, more pronounced.

Disgraced Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Doesn't Get It

One in three Detroiters, triple the national rate, lived below the federal poverty line in 2007 - before the economic crisis and auto industry bankruptcies and bailouts - making Detroit the poorest of the nation's big cities. Detroit's per capita 2009 income was estimated at $15,310, compared with a national rate of $27,041. And that was when the population was estimated to be more than 900,000.

As a nation, and as a mature society, what are we going to do about Detroit?

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New Report Finds More African Americans Using Self-Created Blogs & Digital Content, Social Networking For News & Information

Higher Percentage Of Blacks Rely on Television News

"African Americans are more likely to have created their own web content — by blogging, microblogging and social networking — than whites or Hispanics," according to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's State of the News Media 2011 report.

As sites like The Grio, MediaTakeOut, Black Report, EUR Web and Field Negro have demonstrated, "Almost a quarter (22%) of blacks created or worked on their own online journal or blog, compared to 14% for whites and 13% for Hispanics. African Americans also use social or professional online networking sites in greater proportions than whites. In May 2010, some 71% of African Americans said they used online networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, compared with 58% of whites."

In another finding, "An overwhelming 86% of African Americans turn to TV for most of their news, compared to 64% of white respondents and 66% of Hispanics. Most African American media outlets either began or planned to upgrade their digital enterprises in an effort to reach new audiences. But beyond that, it was a mixed year for the sector," the report said.

Among other findings:

• The digital divide between whites and other ethnic groups is narrowing. A number of different indicators show African Americans and Hispanics turning to the internet in higher percentages than in years past.

• Despite its popularity, most African Americans do not use radio to receive news. Only 9% of African Americans used radio to get most of their news, according to a December 2010 Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey. Twice as many whites (18%) got most of their news from the radio and 12% of Hispanics did the same."

• "An estimated 71% of African Americans use the internet, according to a Pew Internet & American Life survey conducted in May 2010. This still trails whites (80%) and Hispanics (82%), but closes the gap more. . . . data show young African Americans’ time spent on the internet has almost caught up to time watching television."

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Never Mind Charlie Sheen Getting Fired, Why Are The Academy Awards So Anti-Diversity?

(The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Board of Governors)

Oscar Still Isn't Ready For It's Close-up

Dear Governors,

A picture speaks a thousand words and the photos on your website of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Board of Governors makes it clear that the leadership of the most prestigious award in the world of film, the Oscar, is not reflective of the world wide audience it serves and certainly not the United States of America.

There are 43 photos of the Governors for 2010-2011.[1] Only 6 of these are women. Based on the 2010 U.S. Census, women are more than 50% of the U.S. population.[2] Why are women only 14% of your board? Minorities now comprise 35% of the population, yet there is no minority representation on your board. Specifically, African Americans are 12.4% of the population and 0% of your board. And, Hispanics/Latinos represent 15.8% of the population yet 0% of your board.

Every news organization has been forecasting the fact that the minority population is going to bypass the white population by 2050. Even Nielsen Media Research is predicting a shift in the film and television market as the population becomes more multi-ethnic. According to Nielsen, more than half of families with children are expected to be multi-cultural by 2025. By 2050, that number is anticipated to be greater than 60 percent.[3]

Why are you ignoring the reality?

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For African-Americans Interested In The Online Space, This Is Your Urban New Media Wrap-Up For January 2011

The Game’ Is a Winner, Helped by BET Loyalists

“The Game,” a sitcom about pro football players’ relationships with women, puttered along in obscurity for three years on the CW network. The season it was canceled, it attracted only 1.9 million viewers an episode. Then it was resurrected with two new episodes last Tuesday on the cable channel BET, which picked up the program and resumed production as part of an effort to add scripted shows to its schedule. The response from BET viewers was “jaw-dropping.” The first two episodes of the new season averaged 7.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched sitcom ever on cable television.

The 30-year-old channel had never had such high ratings for a series. “Just over the moon” is how Debra L. Lee, the chief executive and chairwoman of BET Networks, described her reaction. “It proves that cable is competitive,” she said. How does a show quadruple its audience? Ms. Lee credits a smart marketing plan, fan bases on Facebook and Twitter, and frequent showings on BET of repeat episodes in the past year, which ginned up interest in the new episodes.

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For Minorities, New 'Digital Divide' Seen

When the personal computer revolution began decades ago, Latinos and blacks were much less likely to use one of the marvelous new machines. Then, when the Internet began to change life as we know it, these groups had less access to the Web and slower online connections — placing them on the wrong side of the "digital divide."

Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, Latinos and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.

But now some see a new "digital divide" emerging — with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology. It's tough to fill out a job application on a cellphone, for example. Researchers have noticed signs of segregation online that perpetuate divisions in the physical world. And blacks and Latinos may be using their increased Web access more for entertainment than empowerment.

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Dr. King's Facebook Page Vandalized With Racist Images

A Facebook page that appears to be run by the Martin Luther King Center has been vandalized by individuals or a group of people who are determined to populate the page with disturbing racial imagery. Images using the N-word are displayed all over the page, along with other hurtful pictures, including a black man having sex with a bucket of chicken.

It is not clear who is responsible for maintaining the page or moderating the images, but the KingCenter.org website is listed as the group that owns the page.

Details...

Will The Strings Attached To Comcast/NBC Deal Be Effective?

Both the FCC and the Justice Department have effectively cleared the way for Comcast (aka, that cable company from Philadelphia) to own a majority of NBC Universal, but the regulators did so with several strings attached to the deal. Among the regulations outlined by the FCC and the Justice Dept., are:

*Comcast/NBC must license its programming to online distributors that have obtained distribution agreements with one of NBCU's peers.

*Comcast can't do anything that would unduly limit content owners' abilities to freely negotiate creative arrangements with Comcast competitors.

*The Comcast/NBC Voltron is not allowed to "retaliate against any broadcast network, affiliate, cable programmer, production studio or content provider for licensing content to Comcast competitors."

*Comcast must relinquish its management rights in Hulu, which is a joint venture of NBC, Fox and ABC, "so Comcast cannot use NBCU's partial ownership of Hulu to diminish its competitive significance."

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If You’re Not Networking, You’re Not Social

Social media isn't isolating us as we tap on our laptops, smartphones and tablets; rather, we're becoming "hypersocial" in our virtual, avatar-populated environment, suggests researcher and author S. Craig Watkins. Rather than gathering in, say, the bowling alleys that were social hubs in the 1950s, we Wii-bowl with companions nearly anywhere on the globe.

Author of "The Young and The Digital," a book about today's so-called digital natives, Watkins rejects some researchers' laments that technology isolates us, noting that multiplayer online games cultivate friendships across long distances, and Facebook helps childhood friends keep in content when they move geographically. "There's nowhere we can't connect to our friends and our network," he says.

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Black People And The Internet - What's Up?

African Americans are more likely than whites to access the Internet by mobile phone, and they are twice as likely to use Twitter. Mobile devices have expanded access to the Internet, but they also limit the experience. NPR's Renee Montagne talks with IT consultant Anjuan Simmons about Internet trends among blacks.

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Isidra Person-Lynn Relaunches 'Sunday Morning Live' On Blogtalkradio

Media expert Isidra Person-Lynn has taken to the Internet to provide news, information and entertainment from a African American perspective on her new online Blogtalkradio show 'Sunday Morning Live'. Person-Lynn, a University of Southern California graduate who went on to become a celebrated public affairs radio personality on Los Angeles station 103.9 FM KACE, has also created a frequently updated blog for the weekly program.

Person-Lynn is clearly filling a void in the talk arena, as traditional black radio broadcast stations are opting to play more music and reducing their focus on spotlighting local issues in African American populated communities.

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African Americans Discuss Their Online Media Strategy On Black Enterprise's Our World

Author Earl Ofari Hutchinson Revisits The LA Watts Riots, 45 Years Later!

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

My friend and I watched looters gleefully make mad dashes into the corner grocery store. Their arms bulged with liquor bottles and cigarette cartons. Suddenly, my friend shouted out as if he was speaking to an audience: “Maybe now they’ll see how rotten they treat us.” The “they” was the white man. My friend’s words were angry and bitter.

Yet, underneath, there was a subtext of hope that the mass orgy of death and destruction that engulfed our neighborhood during the harrowing five days and nights of the Watts riots in August 1965 might improve things for blacks. Over the years, when I returned to the block I lived on during the riots, I often thought of his bitter yet hopeful words.

Forty-five years after the riots, those words remain just that: hopeful. The streets that my friend and I were shooed down by the police and the National Guard 45 years ago look as if time has stood still.

They are dotted with the same fast food restaurants, beauty shops, liquor stores, and mom-and-pop grocery stores. The main street near the block I lived on then is just as unkempt, pothole-ridden and trash littered. All the homes and stores in the area are all hermetically sealed with iron bars, security gates and burglar alarms.

Forty-five years ago, many of us were poor and trapped in a segregated neighborhood. But we knew, trusted and looked out for our neighbors. We could walk the streets at night, and felt secure in our homes. That day is long past.

On the 25th and 40th anniversary of the Watts riots, I hosted and participated in symposiums in Watts on the meaning and significance of the riots to Los Angeles and the nation. The participants were from community groups that worked in Watts, its residents, and elected officials. They were virtually unanimous that conditions were frozen in time, and that the government and businesses had failed miserably to keep their promises to remake Watts.

The riots were largely a reaction to racial injustices suffered by black Americans in Los Angeles, including those related to jobs and discrimination. But Tommy Jacquette, executive director of the Watts Summer Festival, asserted that Watts was still the same Watts that he grew up in. Jacquette, until his death in 2009, each year commemorated the deaths of those killed by police during the riots. He called them martyrs.

Since the riots, the Watts Labor Community Action Committee has operated an array of job, education and housing programs in Watts. But its executive director Tim Watkins has been frustrated by chronic funding shortfalls, city and state budget cutbacks, and the refusal of major industry and retail businesses to commit to development in the area.

In the decades after the riots, the L.A. Watts and the many Wattses of America were written off as vast wastelands of violence and despair. Many banks and corporations, as well as government officials, reneged on their promises to fund and build top-notch stores, make more home and business loans, and provide massive funding for job and social service programs in such poor black, inner city areas.


Business leaders still have horrific visions of their banks and stores going up in smoke or being hopelessly plagued by criminal violence.

The National Urban League in its annual State of Black America reports grimly note that blacks have lost ground in income, education, healthcare, and their treatment in the criminal justice system compared to whites. They are more likely than any other group in America to be victimized by crime and violence.

Five years ago, the L.A. chapter of the National Urban League and the United Way issued an unprecedented report on the State of Black L.A. The report called the conditions in Watts and South L.A. dismal. Blacks have higher school drop-out rates, greater homelessness, die younger and in greater numbers, are more likely to be jailed and serve longer sentences, and are far and away more likely to be victims of racial hate crimes than any other group in L.A. County. The report has not been updated, but even the most cursory drive through the area shows nothing has changed.

The only significant social change in Watts is the ethnic demographic shift. Forty-five years ago, the area was predominantly black; it is now predominantly Latino, with growing numbers of Cambodian, Vietnamese and Filipino residents.

The fast changing demographics have at times imploded in inter-ethnic battles between blacks and Latinos over jobs, housing and schools. There have also been deadly clashes within the L.A. county jails. Black flight has also drastically diminished black political strength in Los Angeles and statewide.

In the past decade, the number of blacks in the California legislature has shrunk, and there is the real possibility that blacks could lose one, possibly two, of their three city council seats in the next few years.

Watts is no longer the national and world symbol of American urban racial destruction, neglect and despair. But the poverty, violence and neglect that made it that symbol is still very much there.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts a nationally broadcast political affairs radio talk show on Pacifica and KTYM Radio Los Angeles.

Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter

300,000 Dead Haitians Later, Billions Have Been Pledged But Little Spent In Haiti Recovery Effort

Young Haitian Girls, Trying To Maintain Normalcy
(photo by Leslie Alessandro)

Three months after donors at a U.S.-sponsored conference pledged more than $5.3 billion to rebuild Haiti, just a small fraction of the money has been disbursed and a special reconstruction commission has barely started to function, according to U.N. and aid officials.

U.S. lawmakers and international aid officials have expressed mounting concern about the slow recovery in the hemisphere's poorest country, where about 230,000 people died (Associated Press puts the number at around 300,000) and about 2 million were displaced in January's earthquake.

Despite ambitious plans to "build back better," as U.N. and American officials have promised, the reconstruction has been hobbled by a lack of coordination and cash and a virtually incapacitated Haitian government, officials and experts say.

The United States has not yet disbursed a penny of the roughly $900 million it pledged for reconstruction this year, according to the U.N. Web site www.haitispecialenvoy.org. Although the U.S. government has spent hundreds of millions on short-term emergency aid, the rest of the funds are in a supplemental budget bill that has been held up in Congress by an unrelated dispute over state aid.

"There are worrisome signs that the rebuilding process in Haiti has stalled," said a recent report issued by Sen. John F. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Indeed, about 180 million square feet of rubble is still piled where it sat after the Jan. 12 quake, according to U.N. estimates; only 5,000 of the 125,000 temporary shelters promised by the international community have been built.

To be sure, there have been some successes: the provision of thousands of tents, as well as clean water, food and medical care for more than 1 million people. There have been no widespread outbreaks of disease.

U.S. officials point out that even a successful reconstruction after a disaster can take years. They noted that it took about eight months to set up an international reconstruction commission in the Indonesian region of Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. But Indonesia's government had far more money and expertise, and its capital wasn't destroyed, experts say.

"The Haitian government is not really capable of providing the kind of leadership that is required here, unlike the Indonesian government," said Robert Perito, a Haiti specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Already weak before the quake, the Haitian government lost 30 percent of its public employees in the disaster, as well as many of its buildings and sources of tax revenue, officials say.

The March 31 donors' conference at the United Nations was supposed to launch Haiti on the path to recovery. Its president, Rene Preval, unveiled an ambitious plan to rebuild infrastructure and decentralize jobs and homes away from the overcrowded capital.

A centerpiece of the plan was to be the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which would coordinate donor aid with the Haitian government's plans and monitor for fraud. U.S. officials saw the commission, which was to be co-chaired by former President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and staffed with technical experts, as a sort of stand-in for the shattered government.

But Preval was slow to warm to the commission, U.S. officials say, and it took weeks to get Haitian government approval and assemble a staff. The commission's board has held only one meeting, on June 17, at which it approved $31 million in projects.

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Who Needs America's Next Top Model? Essence Magazine's Nataya Smalls Pivots And Hits Her Stride

Tyra's Loss, Is Our Gain

For Norfolk, Virginia native Nataya Smalls, the real competition has just begun.

"Not as many places hire African-American models, so I know it's going to be hard," she said. "I'm going to have to work 10 times harder than other girls."

Smalls, 20, was declared the winner of the "Essence It Girl" Model Search Contest after a grueling competition process that began in February.

Smalls auditioned for Essence after her original plans fell through.

"I was actually supposed to try out for 'America's Next Top Model' the same day," she said. "Then my friend, who was supposed to drive me, couldn't go."

Instead, Smalls went to New York City for the Essence audition after hearing about it on former supermodel and 'America's Next Top Model' host Tyra Banks,' website. Smalls, who had previously tried out for "America's Next Top Model," said the Essence audition process was much different.

"For 'America's Next Top Model,' they just lined us up in a big group," she said. "Essence was different. It was a lot more intimate. It was more about you. They took us in one at a time and actually looked at each girl."

Five finalists, including Smalls, were then selected to participate in a "modeling boot camp" that aired on Essence's website in a documentary series called "Making of an It Girl."

Essence named Smalls as the contest winner on June 14. She has since received a one-year contract with Elite Model Management and will appear in Essence Magazine's Fall Fashion issue this September.

Essence Communications Inc. was founded in 1968 as a media company dedicated to African-American women. Based in New York City, the company promotes a brand "Where Black Women Come First." Essence Magazine, first published in 1970, features lifestyle and fashion information intended especially for African-American women.

The "Essence It Girl" Model Search Contest intended to address a lack of diversity on runways throughout the modeling world. Collaborating with Elite Model Management, Essence launched the search for an African-American "It Girl" to inject some racial diversity into a fashion industry predominantly comprised of Caucasian models.

"I actually saw this documentary a few days ago about how there is a lack of African-American models," Smalls said. "I think it's great that Essence and Elite are reaching out to African-American girls. I thought, 'Wow, I'm going to be making it more diverse.'"

Smalls always knew she wanted to work in the fashion industry. Growing up with nine siblings, the current Norwalk Community College student learned how to stand out in a crowd from an early age.

"I've always wanted to pursue modeling," she said. "I've done local fashion shows and stuff like that."

Beyond a photoshoot for the September issue of Essence Magazine, Smalls is not sure where her modeling contract will lead. She does know that as the Essence contest winner, she can be an important advocate for increasing diversity in the fashion industry.

"A lot of darker-skinned girls want to be lighter," she said. "I'm darker-skinned, so I hope that makes other girls more confident."

While her dream job would be to model for Victoria's Secret, Smalls has no intentions of leaving her education behind. She plans to maintain her Norwalk roots by earning a business marketing degree from NCC.

"I'm going to be registering for my classes for next semester pretty soon," she said. "I'm definitely going to continue school."

By KATE MARCAL - Hour Staff Writer

Leimert Park Book Fair Celebrates What's Good About Black L.A.

Harmony Bailey, 5, sings along to a children’s song performed for youngsters.

Oscar winner Lou Gossett Jr. is among the celebrities and authors on hand at the fair, which featured fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children's literature by 150 African American writers.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

Strolling down an aisle with hands clasped behind his back at the fourth annual Leimert Park Village Book Fair, Otis Wright noticed significant changes in the event as it unfolded Saturday in a neighborhood known as the cultural heartbeat of black Los Angeles.

Like similar literary festivals across the nation, the fair featured fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children's literature by 150 African American writers, as well as readings, panel discussions and performances by singers, including a Lena Horne impersonator. The thousands of visitors who turned out had plenty of opportunities to meet authors and celebrities such as Oscar winner Lou Gossett Jr.

But Wright, 72, a real estate broker and minister who has lived in the Leimert Park Village area for 55 years, was particularly pleased by what he described as "progress: more people, a younger crowd this year, and lots more children. I like that."

Nearby, 9-year-year-old Jada Salazar was exploring rows of long tables where dozens of independent authors were showing off their self-published efforts.

"It's so inspiring that as soon as I get home I am going to write something about it," said Salazar, vice president of the student body at Saturn Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. "I'm going to write about all the authors selling books and the people singing on stage."

The festival was founded in 2007 by Cynthia E. Exum and Associates in partnership with Los Angeles Councilman Bernard C. Parks, whose district includes the southwest Los Angeles neighborhood rich with Art Deco apartments and office buildings, Afrocentric boutiques and shops such as Eso Won Books.

In a kick-off activity Saturday, Parks presided over the unveiling of a 44-cent U.S. postage stamp honoring Oscar Micheaux, the son of former slaves who went on to write, produce and direct 44 feature-length films between 1919 and 1948.

"This festival can be appreciated on many levels," Parks said. "It is a celebration of the written word and presents role models from famous actors to little-known artists just starting to make their mark. It is also an economic stimulus because the crowds of book-lovers spill over into local shops and restaurants — and it's getting bigger."

Invited authors included Dr. Scot Brown, author of "Fighting for US: Maulana Karenga, the US Organization, and Black Cultural Nationalism," Douglas A. Blackmon, author of "Slavery by Another Name," and fashion consultant Daisy Lewellyn, author of "In Style with the Queen of Effortless Chic."

On a panel about a collection of scholarly essays titled "Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities," Paul Robinson, director of the Medical Geographic Information Systems Laboratory at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, presented a history of Los Angeles from its founding in 1781 by Spaniards of mostly African descent to the first decade of the 2000s, a time when the cultural fabric of American-born blacks is being challenged by new immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa.

These new immigrants share the same living spaces, he said, but have different cultural backgrounds and social identities.

Leimert Park is a microcosm of those changes. Developed in the late 1920s, the neighborhood was restricted to whites and known for its golf courses and several airstrips. Howard Hughes learned to fly there. The area began attracting African American musicians and artists in the wake of the 1965 Watts riots.

The Leimert Park Village shopping district features Jamaican shops and restaurants and Southern-style eateries offering live jazz music. The bustling neighborhood surrounding the intersection of West 43rd Place and Degnan Boulevard celebrates Kwanzaa and Christmas and is the last stop on the annual parade honoring Martin Luther King Jr.


Noted philanthropists Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, whose extensive collection of art, books and manuscripts chronicle the African American experience from 1632 to the present, know the area well.

They are coauthors of "The Kinsey Collection," a 155-page coffee-table edition that Bernard Kinsey said "is more about the African American experience in terms of 'How we overcame' than 'Isn't it awful?' "

Surveying the passersby, many of them with children in tow, Kinsey smiled and said, "I love what I see here today. This is the soul of the African American experience in Los Angeles. We are privileged to be a part of it."

The Smithsonian Institute: October 15, 2010 - May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC

With items dating to 1632, The Kinsey Collection exhibition will spotlight moments in African American history through rare books, sculptures, paintings, manuscripts and vintage photographs. Among the featured art will be works by such major African American artists as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Artis Lane, Jacob Lawrence, and Henry O. Tanner. From rare slave holder documents to glimpses into private 18th- and 19th-century lives, The Kinsey Collection reflects the richness of the African American experience.

Organized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Where Are The Black Television Shows???

Roles For Minority Actors Have Increased, Yet We're Still MIA

By John Consoli

ALSO READ: "Hollywood's White Summer: Where's the Diversity?"

The broadcast networks have made great strides in recent years by diversifying the faces we see on primetime TV, a momentum that carries into new and returning shows on the 2010-11 schedule.

But it’s a scattershot success. At the moment, the number of scripted, live-action shows on broadcast television with all-black (or predominantly minority, for that matter) casts is exactly zero.

If you take into account reality series, "you might actually be able to make the case that there are more African-Americans on broadcast TV than ever before," longtime media agency research guru Steve Sternberg told TheWrap.

Just not all on the same screen.

"Black people are starved for shows which not only feature lots of black actors but that put black culture front and center in a way they enjoy," veteran TV critic Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, told TheWrap.

The irony is in the past three decades, when a lack of minorities on TV was a measurable problem, programs with an African-American focus were in abundance: “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford & Son,” “Good Times,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “A Different World,” “Family Matters,” “Martin,” “Living Single,” "The Hughleys," “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Everybody Hates Chris” … the list goes on and on.

Only NBC’s “Cosby” was a true crossover phenomenon – but each had a measure of success to illustrate that black shows have a place on the networks.

And ad-supported cable doesn't fare much better, with TBS – which premiered “Are We There Yet (cast photo below, right)” on Wednesday night – standing head and shoulders above everyone in the genre.

To its credit, Fox put on two new shows with all-black casts last year, the only network to do so. "Brothers," a live-action sitcom, failed in the ratings almost out of the gate and was quickly canceled. The animated "The Cleveland Show," which was renewed on Thursday for a third season just as it finished its first run, has been a success in part because it meshed inside Fox's Sunday animation block.

The show has averaged a solid 3.1 18-49 rating and 6.3 million viewers per episode, but was helped by its Seth McFarlane pedigree. And even in that show, some of the main voice actors, including the voice for lead character, are not black.

Fox has been able to cash in on "The Cleveland Show" where it couldn't with "Brothers." in part, because "Cleveland" airs within an animation block and the pieces flow well into and out of each other. “Brothers” did not have as compatible a lead-in or lead-out.

So why not put an all-black sitcom within a white sitcom block?

"They probably don't think a black-cast comedy would fit in with the audience flow of white-cast comedies, but I'd like to see more black-cast comedies," says Sternberg, who spent years doing show research and analyzing the programming landscape for media agency Magna.

Again, not to single out Fox, it did air "The Bernie Mac Show" for several years when many of the other broadcast networks were not airing any shows with primarily black casts.

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Comcast NBC Merger - Plantation Politics?

(Left to right) Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep Maxine Waters, Chairman John Conyers, a staff assistant, Rep. Louie Gohmert and Rep. Judy Chu

U.S. Congressional Hearing Blasts Comcast

By Yussuf J. Simmonds
LA Sentinel Managing Editor

It was a field hearing of the Congressional Committee on the Judiciary, which was chaired by Representative John Conyers (MI-14) along with Representatives Judy Chu (CA-32), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Louie Gohmert (TX-1) and Maxine Waters (CA-35). Its specific purpose was to solicit input from the community and members of the media on the pending merger of Comcast and NBC/Universal.

There were 12 witnesses slated to testify and when they were finished, the results seemed equally divided on whether or not the merger should go through.

Chairman Conyers said, "This is a hearing, not a formal discussion. It is a historic moment in the economic life of this country." He introduced each member of the panel, welcomed the witnesses and the guests. Then each panel member in turned spoke briefly about what each expected to result from the hearing.

Rep. Gohmert mentioned that the DOJ (Department of Justice) review of the merger is in the public interest and is "the main purpose we're here today."

Rep. Waters was the host since the hearing was held in her district, in addition, she has been on point in seeing that the pending merger is right for the community, for business and that her constituents will be treated fairly and respectfully. She welcomed the panel, the witnesses and the invited guests to the forum.

"DOJ is conducting a labor intensive review," she said, because the media statistics as they relate to minorities, are frightening. "Our due diligence is to further investigate and understand the implications this massive merger could have on our already heavily-consolidated media market and demand transparency. Comcast is in 39 states."

Rep. Cohen started off with some light humor about the stars that Tennessee gave to Los Angeles and loaned to the nation, then said, "I'm here to listen and hear what Comcast is doing."

Rep. Chu stated firmly, "The primary issue is diversity. The lack of diversity in television is not representative of the nation's changing demographics." According to her, the panel was interested in how the issue of diversity will be addressed.

The lineup of witnesses consisted of who's-who in the media and the subject of diversity in the media was front-and-center, as it related primarily to Comcast, the potential purchaser of NBC/Universal, who, if the merger is approved, will be the dominant force in the new company, and in the American media.

They included Paul Madison (NBC/Universal); Samuel Kang (Greenlining Institute); Alfred Liggins III, (Radio/TV One); Stanley Washington (National Coalition of African American Owned Media); Jim Weitkamp (Communications Workers of America); Will Griffin (Hip Hop on Demand); Allen Hammond (Santa Clara University School of Law); Alex Nogales (National Hispanic Media Coalition); Kathryn Galan (National Association of Latino Independent Producers); Darnell Hunt (UCLA); Frank Washington (Tower of Babel, LLC); and Suzanne de Passe, (de Passe Jones Entertainment).

As the executive vice president of diversity at NBCU, Madison told the panel of her 21-year relationship at NBC what the impact and benefits of the merger will have on diversity. As an advocate for the merger, she went on to say that Comcast is committed to investing in NBCU to support and enhance both the quality and the quantity of NBCU's content for consumers to enjoy.

Next was Kang; he was very caustic in his remarks about the merger in general and Comcast in particular. He stated that consumers will be harmed by a merger that creates a media Goliath with too much market control. "If Comcast's acquisition of NBC is approved, the transaction will create a behemoth that would control content production and content distribution at an unprecedented level." He followed up citing facts, dates, figures and statistics. After he was through, the audience applauded.

By contrast Liggins welcomed the merger and stated, "There are some critics of the Comcast/NBCU deal who argue that 'big is bad' and insist that this combination cannot possibly be good for those concerned about diversity or competition in media." He blasted the notion that his company is not 'minority owned' because of his ratio of ownership, and compared it with the ownership ratios of Fox, Viacom and Microsoft. Ending with, "Based upon my eight-year relationship with Comcast, I can offer a personal testament to Comcast's commitment to TV diversity."

It seemed like a seesaw--one for and one against. The next speaker, NCAAOM's Stan Washington, blasted the merger as inherently bad for African Americans saying, "African Americans are not interested in living on a Comcast plantation." His statement included, "African Americans media owners are deeply concerned about the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal because this critical merger threatens to entrench the status-quo that keeps African Americans owned cable networks from being able to secure distribution to the Comcast platform. The lack of African American owned media companies in broadcast and cable networks in the U.S., simply put by an FCC commissioner, 'is a national disgrace.'"

According to Griffin: "Comcast has the best infrastructure of inclusion to build upon in the media industry." He likened the corporate family structure to the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemming affair, "If it's in your DNA, you might as well embrace it."

Many of the remaining speakers including Hammond and Hunt gave data and statistics from their academic research. The final speaker, Suzanne de Passe was the only music executive and film producer present and she stated in some ways, "we've gone backwards." Recalling a comment about her western mini television series, 'Lonesome Dove,' one critic said of her, "What is a Black woman doing producing a western."

After all the speakers were through, Rep. Waters focused on the issue of diversity in the present NBC shows on TV. In addition to Madison whom she questioned directly, there were two other NBC associates there, and together they responded to some of Waters' poignant questioning.

The direction of the questions were the numbers of producers and regulars on various television shows in a effort to highlight that if diversity is lacking in the present, it would probably escalate in the future. Waters also called on de Passe to buttress her case against some of NBC's diversity in programming and minority participation in decision-making positions.

Then a parallel was drawn from the recent massive corporations that were too big to fail and the government had to step in to bail them out. When placed against that backdrop, the pending Comcast-NBCU merger becomes economically frightening notwithstanding the other concerns, dispelling the notion: 'bigger is not always better.'

The Sentinel reached out to Madison to be able to understand more clearly her position as the spokesperson for Comcast-NBCU merger. "The brief issue surrounding the merger has to include the concern about diversity and that is ranging from not just the NBC Universal and Comcast team, but I think that we are seeing that played out as far as Congress is concern, because the questions around diversity in this industry, in this entire profession has been a big concern for many years now," she said.

"What we're trying to address is not something specific just about our companies but it's specific about the entertainment industry. And what we put on the table as our commitment begins to make a dent in a long-standing legacy in this industry," she continued, "I don't think you can find any other company that has put more commitments on the table that would advance diversity in the entertainment industry than NBC Universal and Comcast."

In reference to Rep. Waters intense questioning about lack of diversity in programming, Madison responded, "What you saw was the Congresswoman was going through a list of shows that we had just announced in our Fall lineup. What I learned yesterday is that one of the shows that she asked specifically about, we are still staffing those shows; this is a process that is presently in flux."

About the absence of Comcast at the hearing, Madison stated that in February, the chairman of Comcast, Brian Roberts, and the CEO of NBC, spent five hours testifying before the full committee. "At that time there were a wide range of questions that was put to them by many members of the full committee. The questions, as far as we were concerned, had largely to do with diversity and with the process of developing our shows."

Finally, in regards to advertising with the African American media and companies, Madison said that Comcast-NBCU consider that a part of its commitment to improving its overall position on diversity.

Rep. Waters and 68 of her colleagues asked the FCC to conduct public hearings around the country on the merger. The FCC recently announced that it will conduct a public meeting in Chicago in July. Congresswoman Waters considers this a promising start to what she hopes will become a series of public hearings, for which FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps have expressed support.

"The field hearing was important, and the testimony was informative, but many questions still must be answered, especially by Comcast, which chose not to testify," said Rep. Waters. "That is why additional Congressional and formal FCC public hearings in D.C. and around the country are imperative: American consumers need to have all their questions answered as we prepare for one of the largest media mergers in this country's history. I want to thank Chairman Conyers for holding this hearing in Los Angeles, and also to thank my colleagues and the panelists for their participation as well. More events like this are necessary so that we all understand the merger's impact on diversity and consumer costs."

Beautiful Black Baby With Blue Eyes

WOW, Look At This!

According to recent studies, the chances of an African-American baby with blue eyes being born are 1 in a million.

There are “brown” people with light eyes, usually light brown, green or gray. A baby with all the physical characteristics of the afro-American race with blue eyes, however, is almost impossible.

This baby is 19 months old now and at 12 months, was given a full contract plus a life insurance policy with Paramount Pictures; look for him in movies, commercials and magazines very soon!

Can You Be Black And A Member of The Tea Party Movement? Stop Laughing, We're Serious!

Black Blogging Rockstars Provide Insight At The March 2010 SXSW

HBO Series 'Treme' Takes Us Inside The World of Black Jazz And Culture In A Post-Katrina New Orleans

Web And Print Publication Politico Will Cover A Black President, But Won't Hire Black People!

John F. Harris, Politico editor in chief, second from left, insists Politico is not as white and male as it looked on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

What Harris is basically saying is are you going to believe him, or your lying eyes???

Editor Says Camera Shots, Reputation Mislead - Watch the video and then you decide.

CNN took viewers Sunday to an editorial meeting at Politico, the buzz-creating Web-and-print operation that launched in Washington three years ago. For many journalists of color, what was striking was not what was said but who wasn't saying it.

"Did anyone catch CNN's Reliable Sources going inside the newsroom of Politico.com?"

Roland S. Martin, the CNN and TV One commentator, wrote to the National Association of Black Journalists e-mail list. "It was pathetic. All white folks at the table deciding the stories to cover. Not one African American or any other minority.

"I only saw one woman, and I swear she didn't say a word. They had her sitting next to the editor, and it was clear she was window dressing," said Martin, who is secretary of the association.

Another wrote Journal-isms, "I just watched with my significant other in absolute horror on CNN that POLITICO's morning 'top editors and reporters' meeting had not ONE female or ONE person of color. POLITICO has often been referred to as one of the top and influential DC publications. How is this possible when they seem to only represent the views of white men? How can they consider themselves 'new media' when they look just like the old media?"

Harris said Politico's recruiting efforts have 'made a diversity a focus.'John F. Harris, Politico co-founder and editor in chief, says the camera shots might have been misleading and that Politico is, in fact, committed to diversity.

"We are making strides that are gratifying to me, even as I have always considered this a long-term project," he said. "We have racial diversity in most of the most important positions in our newsroom — on the White House team, on our photo team, on the copy and production desks, and on our congressional team."

However, Harris told Journal-isms, "our corporate policies don't allow me to release numerical data."

Politico launched in January 2007, continue reading...

Black Congresswoman Diane Watson To Exit, Leaving House of Reps Seat Up For Grabs

Rep. Diane Watson, a prominent African American woman in Los Angeles and national politics for three decadecs, announced today she will retire from Congress at the end of the year.

Now, the race is on as to which black democratic candidate is best positioned to replace the increasingly Latino populated area.

State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is obviously the front runner will commander the safely Democratic seat, which has been held by a minority as far back as most can remember. Bass is the first black woman to hold the speaker's post in Sacramento, and she is leaving the Assembly at the end of 2010. Perfect timing!

Diane Edith Watson, 76, who started on the local level before going on to become a California state senator and a Micronesia US ambassador under President Bill Clinton, said she was stepping down to spend more time with her 100-year-old mother, who recently broke her hip.

Watson's claim to fame came in 1975 when she was elected the first black woman to serve on the Los Angeles Unified School District board. Her entry into the political arena came at a time of racial friction over mandatory school busing.

Many recall the bruising campaign she waged against her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, former Congresswoman and County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, that fractured the black middle class and saw various political camps stem from Burke's ultimate victory. Burke herself was on the losing end of a campaign to become the first woman and African American to serve as Attorney General of California.

Ironically, now San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is striving to accomplish that same goal this year.

Assemblywoman Bass issued a statement calling Watson a mentor and praising her for fighting for better schools and health care in the district, which covers a swath of Los Angeles County running from Culver City to the Hollywood section in Los Angeles.

Photos courtesy of Leroy Hamilton

Does Television Continue To Discrimate Based On Race? We Report, You Decide!

Black People Are Embracing Twitter And Facebook... Gangbangers Say We're Down With New Media Too!

What, You Think We Don't Know What's Up?

When a gang member was released from a US jail soon after his arrest for selling methamphetamine, friends and associates assumed he had cut a deal with authorities and become a police informant.

They sent a warning on Twitter that went like this: We have a snitch in our midst.

Unbeknownst to them, that tweet and the traffic it generated were being closely followed by investigators, who had been tracking the San Francisco Bay Area gang for months. Officials sat back and watched as others joined the conversation and left behind incriminating information.

Law enforcement officials in the US say gangs are making greater use of Twitter and Facebook, where they sometimes post information that helps agents identify gang associates and learn more about their organisations.

"You find out about people you never would have known about before," said Dean Johnston with the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, which helps police investigate gangs. "You build this little tree of people."

In the case involving the suspected informant, tweets alerted investigators to three other gang members who were ultimately arrested on drug charges.

Tech-savvy gangsters have long been at home in chatrooms and on websites like MySpace, but they appear to be gravitating toward Twitter and Facebook, where they can make threats, boast about crimes, share intelligence on rivals and network with people across the country.

"We are seeing a lot more of it," Johnston said. "They will even go out and brag about doing shootings."

In another California case involving a different gang, much of the information gathered by investigators came from members' Facebook accounts. Authorities expect to make arrests in the coming months.

"Once you get into a Facebook group, it's relatively easy," Johnston said. "You have a rolling commentary."

And gang members sometimes turn the tables, asking contacts across their extended networks for help identifying undercover police officers.

It's hard to know exactly how many gang members are turning to Twitter and Facebook. Many police agencies are reluctant to discuss the phenomenon for fear of revealing their investigative techniques.

Capt. Walt Myer, director of the Riverside County regional gang task force, said gang activity often "mirrors general society. When any kind of new technology comes along, they are going to use it."

Ad Feedback Representatives from Twitter and Facebook say they regularly co-operate with police and supply information on account holders when presented with a search warrant. Neither company would discuss specifics.

Gang use of Twitter and Facebook still lags behind use of the much-older MySpace, which remains gang members' online venue of choice.

The Crips, Bloods, Florencia 13, MS-13 and other gangs have long used MySpace to display potentially incriminating photos and videos of people holding guns and making hand gestures. They also post messages about rivals.

Last week, officials in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, announced the arrest of 50 people in a crackdown of a Latino gang they say was engaged in drug sales and hate crimes against black residents. Prosecutors say some of the evidence was pulled from MySpace and YouTube, including rap videos taunting police with violent messages.

While some members are wising up to the police attention such postings can bring, gang information remains publicly viewable online.

Dozens of Facebook accounts are dedicated to the deadly MS-13 gang, with followers from around the globe. At one site, a video displays pictures of dead members of the rival 18th Street gang, and some users have left disrespectful comments.

The toughest part about tracking someone on Twitter is finding the alias or screen name they are posting under. And many tweets are nonsensical or pointless, so cutting through the clutter can be difficult.

"It's tricky," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy David Anguiano "If you find out what they go by, you are good to go."

Anguiano tracks the online activity of graffiti vandals - the so-called tagging crews that sometimes morph into gangs. They post tweets saying they are heading out to spray paint and sometimes post links to photographs of their work.

Often, they cannot resist bragging about their handiwork, and the electronic trail they leave is frequently used as evidence.

"They talk about it too much," Anguiano said. "You want the fame so you've got to go out there and talk about it. That's when your mouth gets you in trouble."

Source

Harlem Becoming Less Black Every Day - You Got A Problem With That?

672 Whites in 1990. Today It's Almost 14,000

For nearly a century, Harlem has been synonymous with black urban America. Given its magnetic and growing appeal to younger black professionals and its historic residential enclaves and cultural institutions, the neighborhood’s reputation as the capital of black America seems unlikely to change soon. With that said...

But the neighborhood is in the midst of a profound and accelerating shift. In greater Harlem, which runs river to river, and from East 96th Street and West 106th Street to West 155th Street, blacks are no longer a majority of the population — a shift that actually occurred a decade ago, but was largely overlooked.

By 2008, their share had declined to 4 in 10 residents. Since 2000, Harlem’s population has already grown more than in any decade since the 1940s, to 126,000 from 109,000, but its black population — about 77,000 in central Harlem and about twice that in greater Harlem — is smaller than at any time since the 1920s.

In 2008, 22 percent of the white households in Harlem had moved to their present homes within the previous year. By comparison, only 7 percent of the black households had.

“It was a combination of location and affordability,” said Laura Murray, a 31-year-old graduate student in medical anthropology at Columbia, who moved to Sugar Hill near City College about a year ago. “I feel a community here that I don’t feel in other parts of the city.”

Change has been even more pronounced in the narrow north-south corridor defined as central Harlem, which planners roughly define as north of 110th Street between Fifth and St. Nicholas Avenues.

There, blacks account for 6 in 10 residents, but native-born African-Americans born in the United States make up barely half of all residents. Since 2000, the proportion of whites living there has more than doubled, to more than one in 10 residents — the highest since the 1940s.

The Hispanic population, which was concentrated in East Harlem, is now at an all-time high in central Harlem, up 27 percent since 2000.

Harlem, said Michael Henry Adams, a historian of the neighborhood and a local resident, “is poised again at a point of pivotal transition.”

Harlem is hardly the only ethnic neighborhoods to have metamorphosed because of inroads by housing pioneers seeking bargains and more space — Little Italy, for instance, has been largely gobbled up by immigrants expanding the boundaries of Chinatown and by creeping gentrification from SoHo.

But Harlem has evolved uniquely.

Because so much of the community was devastated by demolition for urban renewal, arson and abandonment beginning in the 1960s, many newcomers have not so much dislodged existing residents as succeeded them. In the 1970s alone, the black population of central Harlem declined by more than 30 percent.

“This place was vacated,” said Howard Dodson, director of Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “Gentrification is about displacement.”
Meanwhile, the influx of non-Hispanic whites has escalated.

The 1990 census counted only 672 whites in central Harlem. By 2000, there were 2,200. The latest count, in 2008, recorded nearly 13,800.

“There’s a lot of new housing to allow people to come into the area without displacing people there,” said Joshua S. Bauchner, who moved to a Harlem town house in 2007 and is the only white member of Community Board 10 in central Harlem. “In Manhattan, there are only so many directions you can go. North to Harlem is one of the last options.”

In 1910, blacks constituted about 10 percent of central Harlem’s population. By 1930, the beginnings of the great migration from the South and the influx from downtown Manhattan neighborhoods where blacks were feeling less welcome transformed them into a 70 percent majority. Their share of the population (98 percent) and total numbers (233,000) peaked in 1950.

In 2008, according to the census, the 77,000 blacks in central Harlem amounted to 62 percent of the population.

In greater Harlem, the population peaked at 341,000 in 1950. The black share hit a high of 64 percent in 1970. In 2008, the comparable figures were 153,000 and 41 percent, respectively.
About 15 percent of Harlem’s black population is foreign-born, mostly from the Caribbean, with a growing proportion from Africa.

Some experts say the decline in the black population may be overstated because poorer people are typically undercounted by the census, and Harlem has a disproportionate number of poor people.

Others warn that proposed development and higher property values may force poor people out and say that when the city was the neighborhood’s leading landlord it should have increased ownership opportunities for Harlem residents .

“Gentrification — the buying up and rehabilitation of land and buildings, whether by families or developers, occupied or abandoned —means a rising rent tide for all, leading inevitably to displacement next door, down the block, or two streets away,” said Neil Smith, director of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

The story continues...