HOPE and VICTORY

"It's all about the fans," he said. "It's all about who they want to see because they generate the dollars, they're going to watch the game, so they're going to vote for their favorite players and that's probably how it should be." Chis Bosh Recently Tracy McGrady was placed on the trading block after coming back from a career threatening micro fracture procedure. After hyper-limited playing playing time allotted to his playing ( 5 to 7 minutes) it became clear that Tracy felt that his rehabilitation progress had transcended management's reasoning for not giving him more time on the court. In short order, the situation led to McGrady requesting to be traded and the management and coach hastily agreeing to do so. Today his career is in limbo based on the reasoning (or unreasoning) of letting Tracy go in spite of his illustrious career stats (saving no Championships rings) and yet to be proven potential with the Houston Rockets. It's not t...

U.S. journalists are seizing on the tragedy in Haiti in a non-stop barrage of reporting, providing endless updates on a devastating earthquake that has killed an estimated 45-50,000 people. Coverage of the quake is accompanied by detailed updates of the suffering of those involved, in addition to assurances that the U.S. government (and private donors) is doing all it can to help those in dire need. This framework comports well with American journalists’ self-image– reflexively accepted – that the U.S. promotes the global good through altruism and humanitarianism. .. Anthony Dimaggio Katrina was a trial run of ghastly proportions, yet it may turn out to be small potatoes as neo -conservatives are ever ready larger landscapes. If the visuals don't tell the story of how human tragedy plays a large role in the relentless scour for certain people (from CNN to Pat Roberts to Rush Limbaugh and other co-conspirators) to demolish any moral ground of human suffering, I'm possibly livin...

Without divulging any confidential processes in a personal protest against unfair employment practices against a local company that is a member of a international, fortune 500 powerhouse, I'm hoping that cultural competence wins the day. I have a Latino representative who seems to be proficient in administering the protocol that new intakes must suffer. Matter of fact, he seems like a nice guy. Many blacks who speak about the commonality of minorities in the fight for justice simply don't talk (enough) about the many potential stratification of indifference found between different minorities. In conversations I encounter all the time arguments like 'minorities should bind together, fight together, and forget about any potential schisms in cultural philosophy, realities, preferences. All minorities, no matter what there moral or racist codes may be, all of us are in the same bag, being discriminated against. "Dr. King never would have tolerated another minority not reco...

America's Most Admired Companies 2008 Top 20 Most Admired Companies To create the top 20, Fortune and its survey partners at Hay Group asked the experts -- in this case, more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries -- to select the 10 companies they admire most. This year's winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength -- and their employees know it. The whole class was excited to be going to the movies on class time. Of course it was an epic, lasting over 3 hours in time. 'Gone with the Wind' became an instant classic in 1939 and still carrys its weight as our junior high school of the sixties got to witness its mammoth proportions in cinematic production and a tall tale that had the backdrop of slavery in the land of freedom known as the United States of America. This microcosm of how the how people acted in the 1800s in the face of living in a culture identified by masters and servants living on grand plantations and preoccupie...

After reading a very opinionated article by a sportswriter (and he joins many of Vick haters) who seems to be protesting the honoring of Michael Vick by his teammates when they selected him as the recipient of the prestigious 'Ed Block Courage Award', I became incensed. Today, the Eagles announced that Michael Vick was the 2009 winner of the Ed Block Courage Award , an honor given to a player who shows courage in the face of adversity. Vick's teammates voted for the award, thus demonstrating how tone-deaf and out-of-touch NFL players are with reality... Criss Chase , Yahoo Sports, 12/23/09 What is the Courage award about? Ed Block Courage Award Foundation Web site ): Each year, the Ed Block Courage Awards honors those National Football League players who exemplify commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Recipients are selected by their teammates for team effort, as well as individual performance.The Ed Block Courage Award recipient symbolizes professiona...

In 2008, about one out of every 198 people in the U.S. was incarcerated in a federal or state prison. Communities of color continue to be grossly over-represented in jails and prisons, as the multitude of systemic and social reasons for this disparity have not been adequately addressed. Although the DOJ report found that the number of African-Americans in prison fell by 18,400 since 2000, the number of incarcerated Hispanics has increased, and black men are still 6.5 times more likely, and Hispanic men 2.5 times more likely, to be in prison than white men. "While the decrease in the number of incarcerated African Americans is notable, it is only a small reduction in the disproportionate imprisonment rates that impact communities of color," added Velázquez. "These shameful racial disparities undermine the credibility of our system of justice in the United States and should be a matter of urgent concern for policymakers and legislators." For a more in-depth analysis...

Too bad the news out of Baltimore is not good. Its first elected female Mayor, who happens to be African American, has been found guilty on embezzlement charges. It was a charge amongst several others, but the others were dropped, and there is still one that is coming up. To say the least, the guilty charge handed out by a jury of her peers (Most African Americans) were on a petty act of stealing a petty $500 in gift certificates. But the legal consensus seems to be that its not 'how much' but on the principle that it was taken illegally. What does this has to do with 'women saviors'? Well it depends on the context that you are coming from. Let's take a second to explore the backdrop in a city that is about 65% African American. For the most part, it is comprised of a minority within a minority which are African American men who have qualitatively and quantitatively failed--miserably--thanks to an indifferent system. They've fallen, not necessarily due exclusive...