With the current economic crisis, rising unemployment and dwindling oil reserves, many people including President Obama are talking about developing a green economy. One Los Angeles school district is well on its way to training tomorrow’s green workers.
We have a special report.
Tippin’ hats to Tip … In response to T.I.’s prison sentence of one year and and a day, some of Hip Hop’s famous have sent warm-hearted goodbyes, saying that the down south rapper will be missed. “From I’m Serious to Paper Trail, T.I. (and T.I.P. for that matter) has shown incredible growth as an artist, businessman and a friend,” Bun B said in a statement to MTV News. T.I. is serving time in Atlanta for felony weapons charges that occured on the eve of the BET Hip Hop Awards.
Pete Wentz, move out of the way … The original guylined punk rocker is back — Billie Joe Armstrong and the rest of Green Day are returning with their eighth studio release 21st Century Breakdown, slated to drop on Friday, May 15. The long-awaited album will be their first full-length since 2004’s American Idiot, and is produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage). The first single, “Know Your Enemy,” hits digital vendors in April.
Grunge and P.O.S. can
mix …
America loses some soul this week … New Orleans bluesman Eddie Bo (79) and Motown’s Funk Brothers drummer Uriel Jones (74) died this week, two significant losses in the African American music community. Bo, whose death was confirmed by his booking agent Friday, suffered a “sudden massive heart attack,” while Jones relapsed from complications of a recent heart attack also, according to his sister-in-law. Eddie Bo was known mostly for his New Orleansesque hit single “Check Mr. Popeye,” while Uriel Jones was best known for his psychedelic touches on the Temptations’ “Cloud Nine,” and “I Can’t Get Next To You.”
T.I.’s gotta to go the pokey. Thankfully for the rapper, it’s a relatively short ride—just a year and a day, starting May 19, for a 2007 felony weapons charge. He’s made the most of his situation—his plea deal included a completion of 1,500 hours of community service, a $100,00 fine— and has taken his community service public with the MTV “Road to Redemption.” He also made 262 public appearances, helping to whittle a possible 10-year sentence to a mere single year sentence.
The judge, Charles Pannell Jr. of Northern Georgia District Court, praised T.I. Writes Eonline,
“I think this has been a great experiment. I hope this experience can lead to other experiments so others won’t make the same mistake at all. I congratulate you.”
Poor Gordon Brown, he’s having a helluva week. First he’s taken on
by the Governor of the Bank of England for overspending, and then he gets to sit uncomfortably as his guest, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, goes off on a racially charged, wince inducing tirade about the reason for the global financial mess:
‘This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.
‘Now they have demonstrated that they don’t know anything about economics.’
President Lula, head of Brazil’s main left-wing party, said that ‘no black man or woman, no indigenous person, no poor person’ had been in any way culpable for the global banking crisis.
‘I’m not acquainted with any black banker,’ he said. ‘The part of humanity that’s responsible should pay for the crisis.’ Source
Oh Lord. Reflexively, when I first read about this on twitter last night (via allahpundit), my American back went up. My internal dialogue reminded me in its most stern tone that this castigation was from the leader of one of the most racially segregated and stratified countries
on Earth. I am not surprised that Lula de Silva “doesn’t know any black bankers.â€
But then I had to ask myself, is there any part of his statement, no matter how racist in its expression, that is true?
The part that rings true to me is that wealthy, educated, privileged people most benefited from the explosion in asset valuation, corporate compensation and easy credit. Because I live a racially integrated, entrepreneurial life, I am surrounded by affluent people of all colors (poor too, but that is not the point here.) That diversity shapes my point of view. We all drank that champagne as it flowed from the cauldron of a deregulated environment that mixed greed with virtue. Greed was exalted and accepted as a motivational foundation for sustained growth. Now, our bar tab has come due. Not it all seems like a dream.
But the flip side is that it will be many of the same wealthy, educated people who profited from the hollow boom who will be needed to design the strategies to lead the way out of the financial mess. So let’s hold the blanket castigation for another day.
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More Carmen Dixon can be found on her blog, All About Race.
In the latest installment of its ‘What would you do?’
series, ABC News turns on its hidden cameras to show the world what racism, indifference, compassion and solidarity look like up close in the real world.
The setting for ‘Would you stop racism?’ is an upscale New York boutique. Actors portrayed a black woman verbally insulted and falsely accused of stealing by a white actress who plays a racist sales girl. The black actress is then patted down in rough style, and further insulted, by a white male portraying the security guard. We watch the actors’ every move. But, the hidden cameras are also capturing the reactions of the shop patrons. Watching the array of reactions is compelling and informative.
Many shoppers avert their eyes in discomfort, but just say nothing. Another woman is so troubled by the sales woman’s racist accusations and the scene playing out right beside her that she breaks down sobbing. These folks represent what happens when we feel helpless.
But when people feel empowered, they can go one of two ways. They become part of the solution or part of the problem. In one instance, the cameras caught the racist statements of a white man shopping with a companion. As the black actress is loudly defending herself, the white man says “I bet she’s played the black.” Why am I not surprised? But here’s the kicker. When John Quinones confronts the man outside the store, the man cops a sympathetic tone, completely distancing himself from what every viewer just heard (watched) him say. Later, a black man shopping with his wife and daughter protests loudly against the store personnel. He urges the young woman to contact officials and refuses to stay and shop.
But the moment that most moved me is the final one in the piece. A white woman is so disgusted with what she is hearing and seeing, she not only refuses to continue shopping but she inspires the other patrons to drop their purchases and storm out of the store. It is a beautiful moment—it will warm your heart.
Read more by Carmen Dixon on her blog, All About Race.
