by Charing Ball

There is an interesting theory behind what caused the most recent East Coast earthquake, which is that when people, mostly black, first heard the rumor that Will and Jada Smith had separated, the energy and vibration from the collective groaning caused the earth’s fault planes to shift. Of course, this is only a joke but judging by the near apocalyptic reaction some folks were having to the rumored split, I am willing to give this joke some attention.

As a society we have this weird thing of relating to celebrities and their triumphs, mistakes and pain more easily than to our own friends and neighbors. I took notice of this occurrence again on Sunday night when Beyonce announced her pregnancy live on the VMA’s red carpet. I wasn’t watching the program; I was doing dishes and mopping up water, which leaked from the ceiling during Hurricane Irene. However, my Facebook page lit up with stories about the announcement, along with congratulatory well-wishes, questions about the due date and long threads about what they should name the baby. One person in my network even reported that she had shed tears upon hearing the news. My own reaction to the news was much more simplistic, “Oh that’s nice. I hope her baby is healthy.”  Then I went back to mopping the floor.

Immediately after Beyonce and Jigga Man tied the knot, there was constant speculation about when we might expect a bun in the oven. “When?! When?! When are they going to have a baby??!” Seriously, people were asking the question before Beyonce and Jay even had a chance to consummate their marriage. And when Beyonce finally addressed the speculation in an interview that a baby wouldn’t be in her cards – not in the near future anyway – folks responded with outrage and made charges that she was being selfish for denying herself, and more importantly, the world an off-spring.  Like, why else would anyone get married if it’s not to procreate, right?

The tide has obviously turned for them. Many of the same folks, who once chastised Beyonce for waiting for motherhood, are rushing to sing the praises of how the couple, but more specifically Beyonce, “did it the right way.”  You know, the correct order of things: dating, marriage and then the kid. Never mind that her better half is a 41 year old man, who still grabs his crotch out in public and wears his hat turned backwards. But more to the point, this whole “look at the positive role Bey is setting for young women” conversation, which is now happening around the blogosphere, reeks of Slore-shaming.

Beneath the celebratory “she did it the right way” discussion is an underlining message, which seeks to shame and stigmatize women, who for whatever reason, go in on motherhood alone. Some bloggers see Beyonce’s pregnancy as some sort of triumph over single women, who have gotten pregnant before or outside of marriage. And as such, Beyonce’s baby bump and wedding ring have now become kindling to further flame the existence of these unwed women, who by virtue of their singledom, are obviously failures at motherhood and are incapable of rearing a child with morals and values worthy of society.

(Palm Beach Post) — A simple thing like taking your child to school can be a jumping-off point in becoming more active in a student’s education, said Ron Leonard, president of the Black Educators Caucus of Palm Beach County.  That’s why, when school starts Monday, he’s hoping to see a lot of fathers queuing up in front of the entrance to schools across the county.  The caucus has signed Palm Beach County on to participate in the Million Father March, a national initiative that urges fathers, grandfathers and other male role models to take their kids to the first day of school.

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(Washington Post) — A socially conservative group has apologized for including a passage about slavery in a pledge it asked the Republican candidates to sign as a prerequisite for the group’s endorsement in the presidential race.  Rep. Michele Bachmann had been the first GOP hopeful to sign “The Marriage Vow,” which included in the introduction a section that lamented that “the Institution of Marriage in America is in great crisis.”  One piece of evidence it offered was the claim that a black person born into slavery “was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American president.”

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In a recent article in The Washington Post, Colbert I. King ponders the idea of celebrating Black History Month at a time when we’re continuing to witness the disintegration of the Black family. “When Black History Month was celebrated in 1950, according to State University of New York research, 77.7 percent of black families had two parents,” he wrote. “As of January 2010, according to the Census Bureau, the share of two-parent families among African Americans had fallen to 38 percent.”

Although the number of two-parent households has fallen across the board since changes in the work force and the economy have made it more feasible for households to rely on one income, the image of the single black mother stands out as a common reality as compared to other ethnicities. In a way, it has become the norm and what is expected.

King uses data from the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, to illustrate the connection between the short and long-term effect of single parent families on offspring.

To read more, continue on to The Washington Post

Black relationships have been under study and research for the past 35 years. Many African-American studies at university and colleges study the evolution of the relationships among Black families in comparison to other cultures. There are differences between races and much of it has to do with the cultural behaviors of each group. However, there have been effects to the Black familial dynamics with the emerging trend caused by special interest groups and other macro causes in America. These effects have been caused by Women’s Rights groups and the increase of the economic power of the Black group. The effects not only affect the woman, it also affects the man and children. How?

With the perceived economic independence to women came a laundry list of problems. First, let’s determine economic independence. For one, economic independence is not simply getting income. Economic independence is sustainability through philosophical beliefs and financial intelligence. Women getting jobs developed an apathetic attitude in Black women towards Black men, causing many relationship break-ups. “I don’t need a man” has become a new and popular slogan among “independent women.” Their independence is seen as having their own income. Quite frankly, getting additional income into the home is a great emergence in our families, but not clearly understanding what income should be used for, not allowing it to affect the intrinsic relationship with family and not realizing that income isn’t wealth is where the danger lies. Income is basically the opportunity to create wealth. Not knowing the difference and using wealth to spend, instead of using it to build, then using our “wealth positions” to determine how we spend is dividing the family.

However, the affects of women involved in economic activity has also misled some Black men. Men don’t work as hard to build wealth and keep marital and dating relationships in tact since they know a woman can fend for herself. Recreation has become more attractive to the man and he too has developed a sense of apathy.

My plea isn’t to remove women from the workplace it is to get us to see beyond the surface of simply getting income. We should really maintain our focus on keeping true to strong family principles that are not tethered by a woman’s income; keep in mind, determining one’s net worth, has nothing to do with income. We are finding more latchkey children leaving their homes in the morning and returning to the homes after school with no adult supervision. We find there are an exponentially increasing number of child support payments instead of live-in dads. We are finding that more men are carelessly impregnating women, knowing women can survive without their intimate assistance.

How do we reverse the “Black Fallout?” We must get the message across that income is only a vessel to a destination. It is only a means to an ends. It is temporary, sporadic and inconsistent. Tying our family legacies to what incomes exist and at what levels, diminish our overall community’s worth, our progress and the future mindset of our Black children; which, by the way, sends a message of disaster if we continue to proceed staying the course!

Devin Robinson is an economics professor in Atlanta, GA and author of Blacks: From the Plantation to the Prison and Rebuilding the Black Infrastructure: Making America a Colorless Nation. He can be reached at devin@devinrobinson.com.

(DailyComet.com) — Bill Cosby used his trademark humor and storytelling style to chide hundreds gathered Saturday at the Essence Music Festival’s empowerment seminars into talking to their children about real life and, in the process, keeping it simple. “We’ve got to lay it out for them,” Cosby said when asked about how to help cut the rate of teen pregnancies in America. “Let’s tell them about life. You’re 14 and having sex. OK. So, what kind of job do you have?”

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By Tarice L.S. Gray

Kevin Powell, 44, has been a reality television star on MTV, celebrated journalist with Vibe Magazine, public speaker and activist, and now he wants to add Congressman to his resume.  He is currently in a hotly contested political race running to represent his beloved Brooklyn, New York, in the  U.S. Congress.  Powell talked with us about his political aspirations, his life’s mission and the challenges that informed his insight on the African-American community.

What are the issues that most concern you? Why are you running?

I am running on 26 years of doing political and community work. That’s what I’m running on. I’ve [delivered] services to constituents for a long time without the title honestly and that comes from working the schools, having been an educator, working on after school programs for kids here in Brooklyn. I’ve been active around issues of affordable housing. I’ve been dealing with the issues of health and wellness. In urban city areas unfortunately we have high levels of HIV/AIDS, obesity and the list goes on and on and on.

We work with a lot of people looking for jobs, job training, and people who have been in prison. We have a full campaign platform on our website KevinPowell.net that covers everything from the environment to education, jobs, job training, the economy, and how we can get out of these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on a real basic level -  it’s not just about legislation because we know that’s a glacier process at best. If you have a staff and office space and access to resources there are basic things you can have on a community level. There are folks in our community that don’t even know where to go for basic health services. That should be a function of a public servant to be a resource and bridge to information.

Many people were first introduced to you on the television on MTV’s The Real World. Since then, they’ve been able to follow you as a poet,  public speaker, writer, educator, and activist. You ran for Congress before in 2008. Why are you determined to add politician to your resume?

At some point you begin to realize your life purpose and you act on it.  My life’s purpose has always been to be someone who lives as fully as possible.

I’ve been a political activist since I was 18 years old, since I walked on to Rutgers University’s campus  in 1984 and got turned on to the anti-Apartheid movement. It was the year Reverend Jesse Jackson ran for President of the United States which was just as exciting to us then as Barack Obama was in 2008.

For years, I’ve worked in so many different types of political organizations. A lot of people didn’t know that because I never made it a point to broadcast it. Even at Vibe [magazine] we were organizing against what we thought were unfair hiring practices. We organized about the  fact that the first 14, 15 covers of the magazine were not shot by a single person of color.  My nature as a teenager has always been to be political. This is not anything new, it’s simply a new journey.

According to the new MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll nearly 60% of voters would not re-elect their Congressional representative. Good news for you as a challenger but how do you intend to avoid the trappings of Washington?

Number one, I have a reputation in this community. You should see the response we get from people. I always say ‘we’ because it’s a team of people. We are legitimate leaders in this community, we’re not out here talking a lot of stuff and not doing anything. We really do deliver consistent services to people and we really do connect people with resources. Number two, I’m not doing this for money.  I’m doing it because I want to have access to more resources that help more people in this borough that I love and will spend the rest of my life in.

And last, part of the reason people become really corrupt is the power of incumbency. Once you get in, you could stay there for 15, 20 years. My opponent has been there, and there are such levels of voter apathy and lack of awareness in our country that most people don’t know who their Congress person is and so these folks can just get by. I’m term limiting myself. I say to everyone I only plan on being in Congress for 10 to 12 years and then I’m going to step away.

You have to come in with a different kind of spirit, you have to come in with a different kind of mindset and I’m not coming in with some idealistic ‘I’m going to change Congress, I’m going to change Washington.’  No, I’m coming from the understanding of how ridiculously bureaucratic the whole system is and how a lot of folks are losing their imagination because they become disconnected from the people. I can’t imagine being inaccessible to people. I give my e-mail address, and my cell phone number and my home number.  I’m not going to change just because I’m a Congress person – that’s not going to happen.

I’m thinking about borrowing pages from people like Bobby Kennedy. Before he was assassinated, he helped create the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation with other community leaders. It was the very first community development corporation in this country. That’s the stuff you can do as a Congress person if you have an imagination, if you have any vision, or a game plan.

Congressional campaign cost big money. Politics and money go hand in hand as candidates have to raise funds to compete. When it comes to fundraising, how do balance between the elite supporter and the every man?

Shakespeare said ‘ to thine own self be true.’  As long as you are true to who you are, as long as you are very clear that you simply are raising money whether it be five dollars from persons in the community or if it’s $2400 from Chris Rock or Julius Peppers from the Chicago Bears, or a thousand dollars from the President of MTV networks,  everyone is treated equally.

That’s what makes us different from other campaigns. I don’t consider myself a politician, I consider myself a public servant and so I’m not going to cater to someone just because they wrote some big check to the campaign. They’re going to get the same amount of attention as the person that makes the five dollar donation.

Stepping into Congress as an African-American is significant. We have President Barack Obama but the majority of government leadership is still white. The Congressional Black Caucus is there but it has lost and may lose  some more of its members. How significant is the Caucus and would you be involved in helping to preserve it?

They do the most with empowering younger leadership and developing leadership, but we’ve got to be brutally honest, the civil rights movement is dead. It’s been very dead for a long, long time, and I actually believe that we need to come up with new terminology. It’s not the 20th century anymore, it’s the 21st century. Most people in our community, and I try not to do generalizations, have no idea what these organizations do. They have no idea what they’re about. I wrote an essay for Ebony magazine for the April issue called an “Open letter to Black America” I talk about the fact there is not an agenda for Black America. There has not been an agenda for a very long time.

So I say that to say, it’s not whether or not the CBC is relevant, I mean of course I’m going to be a member as a person of African descent, but I’m also going to join the Progressive Caucus as well, which is a progressive coalition of multi-cultural folks because there’s no way I’m going to be a part of any organization where I feel like they’re still using the language of 30 years ago.

I know the CBC well and I’ve gone to the conferences pretty much every year for the last 10 years or so. It’s no different then a lot of organizations where we come together, we talk about the same issues over and over again. We often times put way too many people on the panels, who talk too long and talk too much and often and, except for a few shining examples, there’s no practical solutions being put forth.

That’s the problem with black organizations no matter what they are. People want action, they don’t want a lot of talk. I don’t know how much energy I’m going to put in CBC other than my membership in terms of supporting the organization.

What I’m interested in is the work in Brooklyn with the folks that I work with because we are about making things happen.  We will continue to bang our heads against the walls trying to fix organizations that, in my opinion, can’t be fixed at this point.  When we talk about our leadership or lack thereof we need to start telling the truth about our organizations. It’s not disrespectful, it’s honest.

The fact that millions of people in this country are dying of AIDS and there’s no national black response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic except for the Black AIDS Institute out of L.A. That’s problematic to me. All these black males, and a growing number of black females, who are going to prison every single year, that’s problematic. It’s problematic [in relation to what's] happening to black male/female relationships.

These are very serious issues that I’m talking about and I’m not with all the marching and rallying and summits. What I propose is to deal with it in six ways: spiritually, politically, culturally, economically, and two areas black folks don’t like to talk about, health and mental wellness. It’s got to be a holistic approach to our people. If it’s not holistic we will continue to be stuck. And I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t like to be stuck. I like to move forward and I like to see our people move forward.

By Tarice L.S. Gray

Kevin Powell, 44, has been a reality television star on MTV, celebrated journalist with Vibe Magazine, public speaker and activist, and now he wants to add Congressman to his resume.  He is currently in a hotly contested political race running to represent his beloved Brooklyn, New York, in the  U.S. Congress.  Powell talked with us about his political aspirations, his life’s mission and the challenges that informed his insight on the African-American community.

What are the issues that most concern you? Why are you running?

I am running on 26 years of doing political and community work. That’s what I’m running on. I’ve [delivered] services to constituents for a long time without the title honestly and that comes from working the schools, having been an educator, working on after school programs for kids here in Brooklyn. I’ve been active around issues of affordable housing. I’ve been dealing with the issues of health and wellness. In urban city areas unfortunately we have high levels of HIV/AIDS, obesity and the list goes on and on and on.

We work with a lot of people looking for jobs, job training, and people who have been in prison. We have a full campaign platform on our website KevinPowell.net that covers everything from the environment to education, jobs, job training, the economy, and how we can get out of these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on a real basic level -  it’s not just about legislation because we know that’s a glacier process at best. If you have a staff and office space and access to resources there are basic things you can have on a community level. There are folks in our community that don’t even know where to go for basic health services. That should be a function of a public servant to be a resource and bridge to information.

Many people were first introduced to you on the television on MTV’s The Real World. Since then, they’ve been able to follow you as a poet,  public speaker, writer, educator, and activist. You ran for Congress before in 2008. Why are you determined to add politician to your resume?

At some point you begin to realize your life purpose and you act on it.  My life’s purpose has always been to be someone who lives as fully as possible.

I’ve been a political activist since I was 18 years old, since I walked on to Rutgers University’s campus  in 1984 and got turned on to the anti-Apartheid movement. It was the year Reverend Jesse Jackson ran for President of the United States which was just as exciting to us then as Barack Obama was in 2008.

For years, I’ve worked in so many different types of political organizations. A lot of people didn’t know that because I never made it a point to broadcast it. Even at Vibe [magazine] we were organizing against what we thought were unfair hiring practices. We organized about the  fact that the first 14, 15 covers of the magazine were not shot by a single person of color.  My nature as a teenager has always been to be political. This is not anything new, it’s simply a new journey.

According to the new MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll nearly 60% of voters would not re-elect their Congressional representative. Good news for you as a challenger but how do you intend to avoid the trappings of Washington?

Number one, I have a reputation in this community. You should see the response we get from people. I always say ‘we’ because it’s a team of people. We are legitimate leaders in this community, we’re not out here talking a lot of stuff and not doing anything. We really do deliver consistent services to people and we really do connect people with resources. Number two, I’m not doing this for money.  I’m doing it because I want to have access to more resources that help more people in this borough that I love and will spend the rest of my life in.

And last, part of the reason people become really corrupt is the power of incumbency. Once you get in, you could stay there for 15, 20 years. My opponent has been there, and there are such levels of voter apathy and lack of awareness in our country that most people don’t know who their Congress person is and so these folks can just get by. I’m term limiting myself. I say to everyone I only plan on being in Congress for 10 to 12 years and then I’m going to step away.

You have to come in with a different kind of spirit, you have to come in with a different kind of mindset and I’m not coming in with some idealistic ‘I’m going to change Congress, I’m going to change Washington.’  No, I’m coming from the understanding of how ridiculously bureaucratic the whole system is and how a lot of folks are losing their imagination because they become disconnected from the people. I can’t imagine being inaccessible to people. I give my e-mail address, and my cell phone number and my home number.  I’m not going to change just because I’m a Congress person – that’s not going to happen.

I’m thinking about borrowing pages from people like Bobby Kennedy. Before he was assassinated, he helped create the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation with other community leaders. It was the very first community development corporation in this country. That’s the stuff you can do as a Congress person if you have an imagination, if you have any vision, or a game plan.

Congressional campaign cost big money. Politics and money go hand in hand as candidates have to raise funds to compete. When it comes to fundraising, how do balance between the elite supporter and the every man?

Shakespeare said ‘ to thine own self be true.’  As long as you are true to who you are, as long as you are very clear that you simply are raising money whether it be five dollars from persons in the community or if it’s $2400 from Chris Rock or Julius Peppers from the Chicago Bears, or a thousand dollars from the President of MTV networks,  everyone is treated equally.

That’s what makes us different from other campaigns. I don’t consider myself a politician, I consider myself a public servant and so I’m not going to cater to someone just because they wrote some big check to the campaign. They’re going to get the same amount of attention as the person that makes the five dollar donation.

Stepping into Congress as an African-American is significant. We have President Barack Obama but the majority of government leadership is still white. The Congressional Black Caucus is there but it has lost and may lose  some more of its members. How significant is the Caucus and would you be involved in helping to preserve it?

They do the most with empowering younger leadership and developing leadership, but we’ve got to be brutally honest, the civil rights movement is dead. It’s been very dead for a long, long time, and I actually believe that we need to come up with new terminology. It’s not the 20th century anymore, it’s the 21st century. Most people in our community, and I try not to do generalizations, have no idea what these organizations do. They have no idea what they’re about. I wrote an essay for Ebony magazine for the April issue called an “Open letter to Black America” I talk about the fact there is not an agenda for Black America. There has not been an agenda for a very long time.

So I say that to say, it’s not whether or not the CBC is relevant, I mean of course I’m going to be a member as a person of African descent, but I’m also going to join the Progressive Caucus as well, which is a progressive coalition of multi-cultural folks because there’s no way I’m going to be a part of any organization where I feel like they’re still using the language of 30 years ago.

I know the CBC well and I’ve gone to the conferences pretty much every year for the last 10 years or so. It’s no different then a lot of organizations where we come together, we talk about the same issues over and over again. We often times put way too many people on the panels, who talk too long and talk too much and often and, except for a few shining examples, there’s no practical solutions being put forth.

That’s the problem with black organizations no matter what they are. People want action, they don’t want a lot of talk. I don’t know how much energy I’m going to put in CBC other than my membership in terms of supporting the organization.

What I’m interested in is the work in Brooklyn with the folks that I work with because we are about making things happen.  We will continue to bang our heads against the walls trying to fix organizations that, in my opinion, can’t be fixed at this point.  When we talk about our leadership or lack thereof we need to start telling the truth about our organizations. It’s not disrespectful, it’s honest.

The fact that millions of people in this country are dying of AIDS and there’s no national black response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic except for the Black AIDS Institute out of L.A. That’s problematic to me. All these black males, and a growing number of black females, who are going to prison every single year, that’s problematic. It’s problematic [in relation to what's] happening to black male/female relationships.

These are very serious issues that I’m talking about and I’m not with all the marching and rallying and summits. What I propose is to deal with it in six ways: spiritually, politically, culturally, economically, and two areas black folks don’t like to talk about, health and mental wellness. It’s got to be a holistic approach to our people. If it’s not holistic we will continue to be stuck. And I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t like to be stuck. I like to move forward and I like to see our people move forward.

(thedailytell.com) — African history is deeply rooted in cultural traditions of communal life and mutual advancement. It seems that African-American family foundations share in this tradition of community support, according to a new study from the Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, written by a professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

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