Advertisers Flee Michael Savage's Ultra-Conservative Radio Schpeel

In a move that's sure to dampen Ann Coulter's day, five more high-profile advertisers have pulled their support of nationally syndicated radio program Savage Nation.

Host Michael Savage is being actively targeted by a group of organizations united in their outrage at the controversial talk show host's comments against Muslims and other groups.

Michael Savage pictured above

It's not the first time Savage's bigotry has landed him in hot water with the media companies that bankroll his vicious tirades. He made headlines in 2003 when he teed off against a male homosexual caller on his talk show on MSNBC, suggesting to the man: "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig." He was subsequently fired by MSNBC.

But his homophobic verbal attack was tame compared to the bizarre, rambling tirade he unleashed against Muslims on October 29, 2007. Visit the Website NOSAVAGE.ORG to hear a recording of the segment or see PDF's of the printed transcripts. It's hard to listen to it and remember companies pay him to be on the air.

Savage has become a victim of his own hate as companies including the makers of well-known brands such as Icy Hot, Selsun Blue, TurboTax and even GEICO are siding with a coordinated effort to hold the horrifying hate-monger accountable for his divisive spew.

Groups such as Hate Hurts America and the Interfaith Community have aligned to demand that advertisers sever their association with Savage's nationally-ranked syndicated program. Wal-Mart, AT&T and Sprint Nextel are just a few of the companies that have moved to distance themselves from Savage.

Savage's cartoonish Website promotes a range of ultra right-wing causes, but to me the bigger issue is who is actually tuning into this program to listen to this ignorant, un-American drivel?

What sort of Neanderthal media executive green-lights a pathetic moron like Savage in the first place?

ADL: Skinhead Activity Rises in US & Around the Globe

With much of the daily national media spotlight focused on the current elections, the state of the US economy and the details of Brittney Spears' bizarre personal life I really haven't seen that much television, radio or print media coverage concerning the February 7, 2008 report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that warns of a rise in neo-Nazi/racist skinhead activity in every state in America.

The report cites at least 110 newly formed skinhead groups which have taken advantage of frustrated, disenfranchised white youth who are easily sucked into the flurry of racist skinhead Websites around which much of this activity centers.

Lack of jobs with benefits, stagnant wages for working & middle class citizens, fear of immigration and a rapidly changing culture in America are just some of the factors contributing to this rise in hate crimes. The report notes there have been at least 83 reported criminal incidents over the past several years, including 17 involving murder, attempted murder and manslaughter.

Case in point: In January, 2008 29 year-old Thomas Verducci was charged with shooting 30 year-old Jose Corona in the head in a Vallejo, California bar in January 2007. Verducci is an alleged member of the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia (FAIM) a loosely organized skinhead group based in northern California near the San Francisco area.

Websites like the ADL's Skinhead Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Intelligence Project offer some of the most extensive analysis of hate crimes and groups who espouse racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-government and anti-gay ideologies and agendas.

The only way these groups and their activities are going to move beyond a blip on the media radar is through exposure of, and dialog about these groups and their violent anti-American activities. It affects our culturegeist and it's not just happening in some isolated working class community in California, or Florida, or New Jersey - it's happening right now where you live.

That's not the America the founders envisioned, it's not the America hundreds of thousands of Americans have died defending and certainly not the America that is going to move forward into the 21st century.

Neo Nazis Suspected in German Arson-Fire That Kills 9

Investigators in Ludwigshafen, Germany are trying to determine if a group of neo nazis (pictured left, German Skinhead rally, 2000) are responsible for setting a suspicious blaze that consumed the interior of a building that housed Turkish immigrants on Sunday, February 3rd.

At least nine people, including five children, were killed in the fire and another 60 injured. Prior to the fire "Hass", the German word for hate, was scrawled next to the door of the building on at least two different occasions.

A photographer captured a dramatic photo of a couple dropping their infant Onur four stories down to a policeman in a desperate effort to save the baby from the smoke and flames - the infant survived the fall.

Sadly German officials and citizens have been dealing with the uncomfortable question of how to stem the tide of facism and white supremacy for years. This latest incident underscores a global rise in hate crime activity against minority groups. Given the state of the economy it's not surprising to see disenfranchised youth venting their frustrations on innocent people that cannot defend themselves.

It's not limited to young men with shaved heads and engineer boots either, Turkish, African and other immigrant groups often deal with subtle race-based discrimination in areas such as housing and access to decent medical care.

Spikes in hate crime activity always take place in times when jobs are scarce and opportunities limited. The signature of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan has always been violent, cowardly attacks on innocent people. Check out the link to the Southern Poverty Law Center in the upper left to get the latest on hate activity in the US.

Rebel Fighting In Chad's Capital Underscores Destabilization & French Government's Global Influence

A surprise attack coordinated by three rebel groups in Chad is threatening to further erode stability in a region already being crippled by violence and government unrest.

Despite the attacks on Saturday, president Idriss Deby (pictured left) remains ensconced inside the palace in N'djamena and in control of government troops which used tanks and helicopter gunships as part of sweeping counterattacks on rebel positions on Sunday.

Africa is wracked by internal conflicts at present, the rise in violence in Kenya and now Chad will only delay the deployment of UN troops and has the potential to drag Sudan into the conflict.

The French government, the former colonial power in the region, maintains a force of about 1,200 troops and sent 300 more to bolster their presence; but they are there largely to protect French diplomats and other private citizens. The attack comes a minor setback for a French government seeking to expand and strengthen the role of it's military around the globe.

Africa is just a complete mess right now and nothing is going to change until there is an authoritative body in place equipped, funded, authorized and staffed to deal with regional flare ups of violence.

Wesley Snipes Outed as Member of the 'Tax Denial' Movement

Actor Wesley Snipes has vanquished the un-dead, faced down the Yakuza and was cleared of two felony fraud and conspiracy charges and three misdemeanor charges for failing to file returns or pay taxes. He will face the gavel for three more misdemeanor tax charges.

In a series of reportedly rambling letters defining his position, Snipes claimed, among other things that he is a "nontaxpayer" by law.

An article posted by David Cay Johnston on the nytimes.com Website listed some details of arguments included by Snipes in a 600-page document he submitted to the court, including a rather interesting defense that is apparently common to tax deniers, Johnston wrote:

"Mr. Snipes also complained that the I.R.S. violated his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection because it would not help him establish what he said was his rightful status as a legal nontaxpayer."

I went to the Times site and checked out the PDF text of Snipes' anti-tax defense. All I can say is that I can see where the US Attorney in the case dismissed the actor's massive document as "gibberish". It's extensive, meticulous in detail and ALL of 600 pages; a law degree or familiarity with the intricacies of the US Tax Code would be helpful.

I've heard of anti-government movements, "patriots", KKK, evolved weekend warrior types who brandish the Constitution and Bible in one hand and a really big hand gun in the other. But this was the first time I ever heard of a movement of Americans who actually believe that the IRS collects income tax illegally by manipulating Americans with the fine print of the tax laws.

Apparently we've all been "bamboozled" into paying income tax since it was enacted by the Federal Government, which, to them, is in itself an evil institution. Anywayyyyy...

Seriously though, who wouldn't want to pay less or even NO taxes? But I'm not sure where I stand on the tax denial movement. Check it out for yourself, here's a link to a site that gives you somewhat of a feel for the thinking behind the those who feel they don't owe Uncle Sam a dime.

In my limited experience, movements such as this one inevitably attract the same type of mindset that is sympathetic with theories supporting racial superiority, divisive, antiquated thinking and belief in a God who apparently populated the planet with a whole bunch of people he didn't really like.

Whatever works for you Wes.

Warren Tompkins: The Man Behind Mitt Romney

This afternoon I listened to a radio interview with former Mass. Governor and perpetual GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on WNYC.

In recent weeks he's displayed an open contempt for his chief opponent Senator John McCain (was thrice-married Rudy Giuliani ever really a serious threat to be the candidate of the party that frowns upon the use of stem cells and a woman's right to choose?)

On the 6:30pm EST broadcast of the NBC Evening News, it was reported that Romney just announced he'll spend millions to air more television ads in key states in advance of next week's Super Tuesday primary.

Personally I give him props for remaining pretty even-keeled in the midst of the many
"flare-up" attacks on his membership in the Mormon Church. He's going to face some tough battles in the southern states and Bible Belt regions where his association with the Mormon Church makes many members of the conservative Christian voter base uneasy.

It worried Romney enough to hire GOP low-ball political strategist Warren Tompkins. Tompkins is a disciple of former GOP Chairman Lee Atwater, who famously created the notorious Willy Horton TV ads to slam Democratic presidential candidate Mike Dukakis.

Atwater helped to evolve the fine art of playing upon negative racial stereotypes and ingrained cultural fears in order to manipulate white voters.

Tompkins demonstrated a mastery of Lord Vader's teachings when he resorted to ordering campaign volunteers to pepper white South Carolina voter's telephones and car windshields with overtly false and racist attacks against political opponents to score his own pathetic version of Willie Horton.

He's a real piece of work, straight out of the Jack Abramoff School of political strategy.

Whatever else we think about Romney, it says quite a bit about his character that he depends on someone like Warren Tompkins to run the strategy that will earn him the nod for the GOP presidential candidacy.

Attorney Richard Barret Organizes Racist March Against Jena 6 on MLK's Birthday

Not everyone was honoring the legacy of Dr. King last week. Racist nut-bag and self-described "corporate transformation expert" Richard Barret (pictured left) organized a rag-tag march of approximately 30 gun toting, confederate flag waving fringe Ku Klux Klan Members, skinheads, neo-Nazis and an assortment of "white leftists" who strode from the LaSalle Parish Courthouse to Jena High School; which has been the focus of so much media attention since white students hung a noose in a tree to protest black students sitting under it.

Barret is the founder of the Nationalist Party, a small white supremacist group based in Mississippi. His followers toted nooses, shouted racist chants and listened to Barret's compelling story of how the group was founded in a chicken coop in Forsythe County, Georgia. We can only wonder what kind of "law" this demented purveyor of hate and bigotry practices.

This is actually just a small fraction of the hate activity going on in the US during January, to see more just click on the link in the upper right-hand side of the blog to check out the Southern Poverty Law Center Website. Their Hatewatch does an excellent job of monitoring the slew of anti-semites, racists and white supremacist who infect our nation like a disease.

Aylwim B. Lewis to Step Down as President/CEO of Sears

It's been a rough year for the corporate sector in many ways. I blogged about Stan O'Neal's ouster from Merill Lynch back in late fall and it hasn't really gotten any better for executives of any race in corporate America. The sub-prime fallout has meant less access to capital stifling growth and hiring, grumbling investors and quite a few layoffs and firings.

It's not all that surprising that Sears CEO Aylwin B. Lewis announced he'll be stepping down as of February 2nd. Lewis (pictured at left) was a former CEO of Kmart and assumed the presidency of Sears Holdings after Sears & Roebuck & Co. merged with Kmart in 2005.

He oversaw some organizational changes and instituted sort of a throwback approach by salvaging things like the erstwhile Sears Catalog and the old blue light specials. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to energize the two US retail giants in the face of competitors like Wal-Mart and Target and a slew of online retailers.

I note it because it still means a lot to have a man of color at the head of an organization the size of Sears and Kmart - regardless of the company's decreasing market share and sagging profitability those brands are embedded in the American psyche.

It definitely reflects some positive things about the slow evolution of the corporate culture.

But there are definitely still a range of issues, some subtle some not, that will require time, effort and dialog to address as our society evolves to move past the entrenched race-based bias that currently characterizes the overall corporate atmosphere.

As a young female co-worker of color confided to me this afternoon; there are very complex issues of socialization and perception that create cultural currents and eddies that can be difficult for minorities to negotiate.

The culturally isolating atmosphere and lack of diversity can contribute to feelings of marginalization - and it can be hard to try and reach out to someone of a different race about matters you aren't sure will translate.

Our culturegeist is unquestionably shifting towards a more diverse makeup that is more reflective of the people that compromise today's America; but the change sometimes moves at a pace that makes it difficult to discern just how it has really evolved.

Each person of color in the corporate atmosphere must, in his or her own way, learn to master the subtleties necessary to move in synch with the currents of the professional environment.

And at times, I think it's important take the chance that someone of a different religious background or race or ethnicity will engage in one of those conversations that don't take place often enough in the corporate environment.

Those conversations, the one's that DON'T come easy, are often the ones that advance our perceptions of ourselves and teach those with the courage to reach out and engage in the dialog.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. observed; "Sometimes faith is taking the first step, even if you can't see the whole staircase."

Ann Coulter Wannabe Kelly Tilghman Back in the Booth

Tiger Woods & Kelly Tilghman

No doubt the sound of the PGAs collective sigh of relief was heard clear through to Whispering Pines as Tiger Woods took his third straight Buick Open over the weekend.

It's probably fair to say the sheen is off, and the media spotlight squarely on the golf industry recently in the wake of golf commentator Kelly Tilghman's (pictured left) jaw-dropping off the cuff remarks.

Which were made live on the air.

As she and on-air partner Nick Faldo joked about how younger golfers could beat Woods, Faldo suggested they should "gang up on him".

After some casual chuckles Tilghman suggested they should "lynch him in a back alley".

The Golf Channel returned her to the booth over the weekend faster than you can say Don Imus.

Last Monday Erik Sass wrote a sharp commentary on Media Post's MediaDailyNews online about the blow-back from Tilghman's blundering on-air revelation of the finer aspects of her charmed South Carolina-Country Club upbringing.

Tilghman doesn't just look like the prototype-perky American blond, this budding Ann Coulter disciple is the real deal.

The North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina native grew up a tom-boy with four brothers and their parents managed the Gator Hole Golf Course for 22 years - her old man was even the Mayor.

Heiress & philanthropist Doris Duke

It strikes me as ironic that young Kelly was talented enough to score a golf scholarship to Duke University, founded of course by the immensely wealthy Duke family, who made part of their vast fortune on the backs of black slave labor imported from Africa to work the huge tobacco plantations that allowed heiress Doris Duke to live a lavish lifestyle that makes Paris Hilton seem like a brain surgeon's tacky mall-rat daughter from Long Island.

Kelly was hard-working and smart enough to find her way into the television booth as a golf commentator; so one wonders how she could have grown up in the midst of the south and not have a clue about the impact of lynching on the black southern psyche?

She was raised a relative stone's throw from the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, the entry point for thousands upon thousands of African slaves destined for a nightmarish never-ending existence of enforced labor and brutality.

How could she grow up in that culture and not know how beyond insensitive it would be to even INSINUATE that the only way for a white golfer to prevent a talented black golfer like Tiger Woods would be to "lynch him in a back alley." ?

It's not even "aww we were just having cocktails on the deck" funny, it's just plain ignorant; it's offensive.

It suggests a great deal about the mentality that Kelly and her brothers grew up with down in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It suggests the constantly perky Kelly knows exactly what lynching is.

It suggests, that in a moment when her guard was down and she was sharing a laugh with someone who looked like her - she let something foul and offensive slip out.

It's out there and the feedback is still being felt across the media spectrum; on the net, most definitely in print (did you see the swinging noose in the cover of GolfWeek? editor David Seanor was fired..) and indeed on television. Kelly's back in her booth job, but the sheen is off this daughter of the old south because she shared something about herself with millions of Americans. Something we didn't like. Something that ruffles the culturegeist.

Something that has made many people look at her in a new light, as we're reminded that indeed, beauty is only skin deep.

Obama Wins Big in South Carolina

Senator Barack Obama capped a tough two weeks of political warfare as he took on blistering character assaults from Democratic rival Senator Hillary Clinton, former president Bill Clinton and even cheap shots from well-known African-American pundits of media and intelligentsia to take the South Carolina primary in commanding fashion and a comfortable share of the delegates.

Preliminary counts showing he beat Clinton 55% to 27% are reflections of a couple things. It shows he did better among women than he did in New Hampshire and also that a large number of black voters got behind him not just as 'the black candidate' but as the person best equipped to represent the Democratic party in the 2008 elections.

It also shows a high percentage of voter turnout across the state and also possible blow-back from Bill Clinton's persistent attacks and Hillary Clinton's disastrous, rambling public assertions that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. couldn't have had the impact on civil rights in America in the 1960's without Lyndon Johnson and Congress as a means to try and contrast her experience and Obama's central themes of change and hope.

Personally I think many voters or all races felt Hillary made a clumsy attempt to pull out race and use it to shore up the political momentum she gained in New Hampshire following the beating she took back in Iowa. I also suspect Hillary put too much confidence in Bill Clinton's appeal among black voters; I mean what the hell does an endorsement from former New York Mayor David Dinkins do for Clinton?

It comes off as a desperate attempt to try and reach out to black South Carolina voters than it does an honest assessment of what voters of color around the nation really think about Hillary Clinton .

I certainly admire Dinkins but what he thinks about the candidates is totally irrelevant to me and many other African-American voters as fas as this race is concerned; Bush has destroyed this country's credibility abroad, allowed the fabric of our national identity to whither and divided the people over his determination to wage a war for a resource is likely going to run out by 2050.

Dinkins soft-tossed Hillary the endorsement out of loyalty because he owed Bill Clinton, not because she's the best candidate.

The numbers also reflect many voters fears that Hillary carries too much political baggage and that Bill Clinton back in the White House will hamstring Democratic efforts to retake the White House in 2008 rather than help.

Police Shooting of Black Off-Duty Police Officer in White Plains Raises Spector of Giuliani-Safir Regime

It's been seven years since an undercover NYPD officer shot and killed Haitian-American security guard Patrick Dorismond (pictured left) inside a Manhattan bar but his death still looms over the culturegeist and a city and region wracked by a slew of police shootings of innocent victims of color.

Yes, it's not even February and it's already happened to another innocent man of color, this time to an off-duty police officer trying to help out a stranger he didn't even know.

On Friday afternoon 23 year-old off-duty Mount Vernon, New York police officer Christopher Ridley was driving in downtown White Plains when he stopped to break up an altercation between two homeless men.

According to witnesses, Ridley exited his vehicle and chased one of the men involved with the fight, a homeless man known locally as "Twin" before getting into a physical confrontation.

At some point his gun fell to the ground and went off, hitting concrete; details are still not fully clear but two White Plains officers, responding to the shot and the scene, shot and killed Ridley after he was asked to the drop the gun. Two witnesses to the fight and the shooting told reporters Ridley might have been dazed from the chase and fight and didn't hear the police commands.

As a male African-American and a resident of New York City it's hard to process the outrage you feel inside when members of the police department routinely make the fatal decision to use excessive force in cases and incidents where men with dark skin are involved.

Whether it's Westchester, Long Island, White Plains or any of the five boroughs of New York City, police officers in the New York region seem far more pre-disposed to the use of deadly force against black and Latino suspects.

The color of a man (or boy's) skin seems to be far more important than innocence or guilt; to say nothing of his being an active member of law enforcement.

It wasn't that long ago that the city reeled under the senseless shooting of security guard Patrick Dorismond (pictured above). It was 2000 and the NYPD under Rudy Giuliani's regime seemed at times to have free reign to treat minorities like targets on a range.

Dorismond became the fourth unarmed black suspect to be shot and killed by NYPD officers
in the opening months of 2000.

The facts of the case enraged New Yorkers of all races and religions. Undercover members of the NYPD, finishing up a night of marijuana arrests approached Dorismond, a innocent Haitian - American working as a security guard, and asked him if he had any pot.

Dorismond became angry at the question, a scuffle started and seconds later he was shot and killed by the undercover officers.

The incident came on the heels of the acquittal of the officers charged in the brutal killing of Amadou Diallou and Giuliani, already under fire along with police commissioner Howard Safir for their handling of some of the most high- profile and controversial killings by NYPD officers in the city's history, almost tripped over himself trying to side with the PBA and the accused officers.

Without having the complete facts of the case Giuliani leapt to the defense of the officers and shocked people by ordering the NYPD to release details from Dorismond's arrest to the press; including a 13 year-old juvenile arrest that had been sealed by the court.

Giuliani did his best to trash Dorismond's name and slander his character in a desperate attempt to justify his killing at the hands of over-zealous, stressed-out NYPD officers; even insisting to reporters that the innocent victim was "no alter boy". It was later revealed that not only had Dorismond in fact BEEN a Catholic alter boy (Hello? Haitian-American??) he'd served in the same Catholic church Giuliani attended as a child.

Among the former-Mayor's more absurd responses in defense of his actions?

"(Y)ou cannot libel a dead a dead person." And my personal favorite, "(..the assertion that) Mr. Dorismond has spent a good deal of his life punching people is a fact."

The 81 year-old Mahattan DA Robert Morgenthau, ever the loyalist, demonstrated just how completely out of step he really is with the scope and repercussions of police violence against minorities and public opinion on the matter by announcing that no charges would be brought against any of the officers involved with Dorsmond's shooting.

Just another in a slew of cases where an innocent minority was shot and killed by police - and no charges were brought against ANYONE.

As the city waits for the facts in the Ridley case to emerge, the only sense of reassurance is that Giuliani's weak performance in the Republican primary/caucus has him on the verge of being eliminated from the GOP presidential race - so t least we don't have to worry about this divisive, racist, pontificating hypocrite getting too close to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Have Working Class Americans Become a Commodity?

Brunch and PBS go so well together after sleeping in on a cold January Saturday. As I prepped my three-egg spinach, cheddar & onion omelet I watched a pretty interesting discussion on "To the Contrary", a Channel 13 program currently in it 15th season that examines issues from a diverse range of perspectives.

Bonnie Erbe brings an extensive resume of national reporting experience to her role as host of this weekly program; the first of its kind to feature analysis of news and other important issues from an all-female panel.

One of the segments centered on the plight of a young Asian-American woman; one of millions of Americans working two different jobs that offer no benefits, no 401k and no opportunity to build the kind of stability that will offer financial stability and a real future.

What is the fabric of our nation going to look like with so many people working all the time but not saving anything? The stats are pretty grim for those working jobs that pay minimum wage.

The Economic Policy Institute has some fairly alarming statistics about the minimum wage on their Website. Right now the president is talking about a massive economic stimulus package as the government looks to hold off a recession - what will that really mean for those that work jobs that don't allow them to save anything, let alone create equity like stock, bonds or that ultimate image of the American Dream, a home?

Are we really morphing into a nation that offers opportunities for prosperity to some and not all? Is that the mark of a world power?

The Race Heats Up

As the race for the Democratic presidential candidates to snag critical delegates heats up in South Carolina, the tone of the debate has been cranked up to a whole new level. It's becoming clear that race is becoming more of a factor as both Democratic front-runners are increasingly becoming more divided along racial lines.

During last night's debate Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton clashed for over ten minutes over the Clinton's repeated attacks on inconsistencies in Obama's voting record in the Senate and his current position as a presidential candidate.

At one point they both traded cheap shots; Obama calling Clinton out for sitting on the board of Wal Mart while she was a lawyer; and Clinton accusing Obama of having worked for a campaign contributor who is alleged to be tied to legal improprieties.

The tension is showing. In Greenwood, South Carolina, Obama snapped at New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny who confronted him on the effects the Clinton attacks are having on his campaign.

I've been impressed with Obama's campaign. If he becomes the nation's next president, his race is going to impact his presidency in a variety of ways. There's no question he's going to have to mature as a politician very quickly.

Bill and Hillary Clinton are savvy politicians with a wealth of experience in the global political arena. They also come to this race with truckloads of credibility among African- Americans including myself. They're going to use any weapon in their arsenal including Obama's relative inexperience and race.

The sooner he learns to counteract these strategies and stray on message, the more effective his campaign is going to be. Indeed race and ethnicity are going to be an integral part of the 2008 election, in the end Obama's message of racial unity is going to have more widespread appeal amongst American voters - but it has to have as much intensity as the politics of division, it has to have more to reflect the will of the culturegeist who are weary of the road to the White House being lined with appeals to ingrained racial fears and cultural ignorance.

We're a better nation than that.

C-Span Economic Discussion on MLK's Birthday

Amaad Rivera of United for a Fair Economy was a guest on C-SPAN this morning during a really interesting discussion about the impact of race upon economic status in America.

Rivera is one of the most eloquent and insightful speakers I've seen talking about raising awareness of inherent inequities and imbalances in the US economic system that penalize and financially marginalize hard-working tax-paying Americans of all races.

The non-profit UFE is one of the groups trying to stem the growing wealth divide in this nation and seeks to restore economic stability and opportunity for for all Americans.

He's the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative Leader of UFE and a co-author of the January, 2008 "Foreclosed" Report available in a PDF version

C-Span continues to offer up serious and substantive analysis of relevant issues and the highest quality of television journalism. An appropriate format on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Blacks & Jews Together: A Complex Alliance?

"Blacks and Jews Unite" - The headline instantly brought to mind hopeful images of reconciliation. Like the undated photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (pictured left) marching with Jewish leaders.

Of all places it was in the pages of the frequently reactionary and sometimes cartoonishly conservative New York Post that I caught site of a headline that sent me to my computer to blog. Massive props to assemblyman Dov Hikind stepped up to the plate and showed leadership as an American, as a leader as a man who understands the importance of reconciliation and synergy between different communities.

The need for a more coherent joint response from Jews and African-Americans is immediate in the face of rising incidents of racism and anti-semitism across the Tri-State region.

Just recently New York's local CBS affiliate WCBS Channel 2 broadcast an extremely disturbing report about hundreds of headstones being toppled over in the PoileZedek Jewish Cemetery in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The Jewish Press reports that hate crimes against African Americans and Jewish citizens have increased by 25% in the New York. Are we moving backwards?

I went to few a Websites and was quite surprised at the tone of conversation going amongst Jewish New Yorkers; I'm talking conversation threads where people who are hostile to Hinkindd's initiative are basically saying, what's the point of even trying to have a dialogue with black folk, they're all anti-semites?

I've spoken with two of friends of mine who are Jewish; they suggest the threads I'm reading are extremists and do not represent the mainstream views of most Jews in America.

Indian Cricket Player Harbhajan Singh Suspended for Racist Remarks Against Australian Player

The BBC reported that Harbhajan Singh (pictured left) , a member of the Indian cricket team was found guilty of calling Australian cricket player Andrew Symonds a "monkey" during a recent match between the two teams.

Referee Mike Proctor found Singh guilty after a four-hour official hearing. Symonds is the only non-white player on the Australian team, which beat India by 122 runs.

This is not the first time Indian cricket players and fans have vented their frustrations by using racial slurs and gestures against the 32 year-old Symonds, who as born to West Indian parents in England. Singh's suspension comes on the heels of four Indian fans being banned from a one day international match in Mumbai (Bombay) back in October.

Photographs submitted to officials showed fans using monkey gestures when Symonds came up to bat, both Symonds and Australian team captain Ricky Ponting have lodged complaints of gestures and monkey chants by Indians fans in earlier matches - charges Indian cricket officials dismissed as a "cultural misunderstanding".

Singh is no stranger to controversy, besides his offensive on-field behavior he was sharply criticized by Sikh leaders in January 2006 for removing the traditional head-covering worn by Sikh men in an ad for Royal Stag Whiskey.

While the actions of a few fans certainly do not reflect the views of all Indians, on more than one occasion I have personally experienced subtle and overt prejudiced behavior by men of Indian descent driving cabs or working in bodegas here in New York.

Racism is infectious and I think some Indians, who themselves experienced prejudice because of their status in India's notorious caste system, sometimes project their resentment on African Americans in this nation as they all too quickly absorb the negative perceptions that result from the entrenched racism in this country.

New Year, Ethnic Tensions Spiraling Out of Control as New Challenges for Democracy in Kenya Arise

As the new year unfolds political turmoil in Kenya is making this relatively prosperous and peaceful African nation the scene of mounting violence that has left at least 120 dead in the wake of the recent presidential elections that many international observers are calling questionable and some nations including the US are calling bogus.

Pictured above: Opposition candidate Raila Odinga, left and incumbent president Mwai Kibaki at right

The story is getting wide coverage across the media spectrum, it was featured on the major network broadcast news, NPR, WCBS, The News Hour on Thirteen - and of course the BBC seems to be providing the most thorough and exhaustive coverage I've seen.

Of immediate concern are the violent clashes that are taking place between supporters of the incumbent who was declared president Mwai Kibaki - mostly members of the Kikuyu tribe; and backers of the main opposition candidate Raila Odinga who is backed by members of the Luo tribe.

While the election results have already undermined the authority of the Kenyan government, the rising ethnic tensions divided precariously along political lines are raising serious security concerns for this nation known for a stable, productive economy and a healthy tourism industry worth $1.5 Billion (US) by some estimates.

The African Union already has it's hands full with the situation in Darfur as well as regions such as Ethiopia and Somalia where Al Qaeda-backed Muslim Extremists are still major concerns. The situation in Kenya is in many ways, the first test of 2008 for the governments that are going to have to cooperate to instill at least a sense of legitimacy to the African Union.

African leaders as well as the international community must combine efforts and available resources to ensure that racial and ethnic violence between the Kikuyu and Luo tribe members does not spin out of control and threaten stability in the region.

Women in War - Andree "DeDee" de Jongh

Few citizens were more courageous, inventive and important to the World War II resistance effort than Countess Andree "DeDee" de Jongh member of the Belgian Resistance and organizer of the Comet Line. (picture above, 1941)

Kudos to the Magazine Section of the New York Times Website for yesterday's excellent story about Ms. de Jongh written by Sara Corbett. Too often the majority of war movies and historical documentaries or news serials produced throughout the 20th century tend to emphasize the roles of generals, admirals, captains and everyday soldiers immersed in the infinite particulars of the business of warfare.

For the most part the media has tended to portray war as man's business. Despite the wide range of critical roles woman of many nations have played in both World Wars, it's the men we tend to see on the wide screen or the television - too often the stories of people like Andree "DeDee" de Jongh sit quietly in the shadows of the spotlights of history.

In one form or another, intelligence, counter-insurgency, sabotage and guerrilla warfare have been a part of war since mankind first engaged in this unique endeavor.

Members of the resistance from various countries throughout the European theater of operations during World War II played essential roles in most if not all the major battles fought between the Allies and the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France and the Japanese Empire.

"DeDee" de Jongh, then a 24-year-old nurse helped to organize the Comet Line, a 600-mile long secret route of safe-houses, churches, dangerous railway trips and smugglers paths developed in cooperation with many citizens from Belgium, France, Spain and other countries to escort downed allied pilots, escaped POWS's and others to safety in Spain and England.

She risked her life to help those who fought to destroy the armies of the Third Reich and a madman who led a nation to murder millions to fulfill a warped vision of an "Aryan" society built on mythical ideals of racial superiority. She helped over 400 Allies escape to safety during the war, personally escorting 118 of them herself. Her father Paul de Jongh was betrayed by a traitor in the resistance movement and eventually executed by the Gestapo.

Ms. de Jongh herself was later betrayed and captured in a farmhouse as she was escorting allied men to safety. She was interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo who eventually let her go after she confessed to being the organizer of the Comet Line - they did not believe her.

Those who looked at her 100 pound frame and dismissed her as an 18 year-old school girl truly didn't understand the power of her character; you can't judge a book by it's cover - our vision and our choices and actions shape the reality we see.

Andree Eugenie Adrienne "DeDee" de Jongh's amazing life is proof positive of that, when she left this life back in October, 2007 she left the world and our collective culturegeist a better place.

If you want to learn more details about the Comet Line and the soldiers involved check out www.belgiumww2.info

Eggs & National Public Radio

Few things go better with a leisurely winter Sunday brunch than eggs and NPR radio.

Early this afternoon there was an excellent interview with Gene Roberts, former national editor for The New York Times and co-author of The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of America.

In this 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning book (for history) he and co-author Hank Kilbanoff, a twenty-year veteran of The Philadelphia Inquirer, look back on their experiences as newspaper journalists at the forefront of the coverage of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's and 1960's.

Jeanette McVicker wrote a really sharp review of the book on the H-Net Website. As she observes, this book is a timely release given the extent to which media is now so intertwined in the lives of so many people.

The media plays such a huge role in shaping the mass-perception of race and culture, our culturegiest, it is essential to examine how the media has and does cover events and stories that impact race and culture in today's world.

Books like this will help us in taking the next step in the journey towards an evolution of how we see ourselves in a world in which the mainstream still gives such tremendous importance to factors like skin color, religion, sex, economic status and country of origin.

Looking back on history and how we analyze our own coverage of the events that shape our lives is critical to our efforts to positively shape the future.

H-Net shows a list price of $30.00 but I just found a used copy of it on Amazon.com for $13.24 including shipping; once I get it and read it I'll check back in with my own review. To be sure I talk, but I also walk.

Decontstructing the Snitch

Bringing healing to our nation's collective culturegeist depends in part on the fair application of a judicial system that is efficient and thorough. The prosecution often turns to the testimony of witnesses in order to try and get to the truth, depending on which side you're on you might see such a witness as a here doing a civic duty or a snitch.

Someone considered a snitch isn't automatically someone of low or questionable character, like Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, pictured above left, the former tobacco executive who revealed secret information about tobacco production at Brown & Williamson that forever changed the way people look at cigarettes and the industry that manufactures them.

In some cases snitches are people of exceptional courage who risk everything for the sake of the truth.

The recent murder of veteran journalist Chauncey Bailey, 57 (pictured above right) by a 19 year-old gunman employed by Your Black Muslim Bakery, a Los Angeles organization linked to fraud, violence and a range of other crimes and the subject of an expose by Bailey. Other journalists, including Chris Thompson have accused Your Black Muslim Bakery of being a cult headed by the infamous Bey family.

But there's been a strange tendency in some African American communities to vilify any residents who cooperate with the police in the investigations of crimes committed in or around neighborhoods disproportionately affected by crime.

It stems in part from years of mistrust and fractured relationships between police and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect. Or sometimes it's merely a case of an organization striking back at those deemed to have challenged its authority or status by "snitching" against it.

Sadly, in the absence of sufficient accessible male role models, many young black kids from these communities often look to the example set by hip-hop and rap artists who often treat "snitches" with scorn and contempt in their music. In some cases it's like a neighborhood "code" of sorts; you don't rat out people from your 'hood to the police.

That's not confined to communities of color either, the same code applied to many immigrant neighborhoods in US cities before 1900.

On this morning's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC radio, one of the guests was writer Ethan Brown, the author of a new book called Snitch: Informants, Cooperators and the Corruption of Justice

You can get it on Amazon.com for under 20 bucks. He examines some very interesting aspects of the snitch phenom, including the fact that thugs and criminals use it to intimidate witnesses so they can continue criminal activities in these communities.

A former NYPD LT called in to say narcotics officers have to use snitches to prosecute drug cases and emphasized that snitches must be registered with the police and monitored carefully; and they cannot have violent criminal histories.

I was the victim of an ID theft situation a few years ago by a man named Warren Evan Johnson, click this link to a 2005 press release by the New Jersey Attorney General's office. Johnson, 34 at the time, was part of a ring of people who bilked the the state of New Jersey's Unemployment Insurance program for almost $120,000.

Police from Middlesex County would not help me because Evan had agreed to testify on behalf of the state against the others involved in the unemployment indictment. The things he did to me and others who were victims of of his brazen ID theft violations were essentially shielded by the protective cloak of the snitch.

I knew Evan Johnson. As a person he was a compulsive liar, a ruthless thief and the type who would do just about anything if there were some way for him to get an angle or make a buck off of someone else's misfortune. Evan had no conscience whatsoever.

I can't indict the judicial system's use of snitches but I know Evan Johnson was a liar who would say anything prosecutors told him to say in order to save his own ass; that's the type of person the system needs in order to prosecute criminals?

Will Race Impact the NH Primary?

It's cold throughout much of the country but the Iowa and New Hampshire Caucuses are heating up. I've done my own informal poll of sorts, asking people how they feel about Barack Obama's race influencing voter's likelihood of voting for him for president.

For instance I asked a friend from Fishkill, New York. He's a 46 year old white guy who sells printers and other office technology to large government organizations. He's a registered Republican, travels frequently across the Northeast US and is totally disillusioned with the Bush Administration and the GOP, especially their entrance into and conduct of the war in Iraq.

He told me he's not intoxicated with with any one candidate, but that right now Obama seems to be delivering the message that makes the most sense to him. He said Obama's race wouldn't affect his decision to vote for him. Like many I've spoken with, they respect Hillary but don't trust her and definitely don't like her.

Tonight I watched an interesting political discussion on The News Hour on Channel Thirteen with some poll experts. One was from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, if you get tired of the media pundits telling you what the polls are saying, go to the UNHSC Website, they've got some pretty interesting poll information in PDF if you want to look at the data in more detail.

"The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here"

The motto of the Republic of Liberia seems at odds with a nation wrestling to find ways to integrate thousands of child soldiers into mainstream society; children permanently scarred by decades of civil wars and regional conflicts with neighboring nations.


On December 14th New York Times reporter Ellen Barry wrote an article examining the incredible trans-Atlantic solution Staten Island resident Musu Sirleaf took to try and shield her teenage son Augustus Massalee from the violence, poverty and lack of economic opportunities available to young African-American males living in the isolated Park Hill section of Staten Island.

In a story that sheds light on the complexity and scope of both the damage inflicted upon and the hope created by the culturegeist, Barry looks at Ms. Sirleaf's controversial decision to send her own son back to live with her relatives in the same war-torn African nation she herself fled as a refugee.

My sister Lisa forwarded me the article and like many who read it my first question was how could a mother send her son back to live in an African country ravaged by a brutal civil war for over 14 years without telling him?

Ellen Barry's article contains some startling insights into the everyday realities of life for young boys of color born into communities like Park Hill. Is Ms. Sirleaf's choice typical?

Certainly not, in fact there are some who might find her decision extreme, even bordering on dangerous or draconian. But if it is tough love, it is a piercing snapshot - a sad testimony of just how serious the levels of violence, drug trafficking and gang violence have become in countless communities across America.

Think about it. Here's a West African nation founded before the Civil War and Emancipation took place in the United States.

Freed slaves from America were populating Liberia as early as 1822; determined to escape the government-enforced laws which kept millions of slaves of African descent in a state of indentured servitude.

Flash forward about 185 years - the violence in the streets of Park Hill, Staten Island, New York is so bad a working mother sends her teenage son to live in this West African nation gripped by civil war.

The same cycles born of greed, fear, violence and moral apathy that permitted the tolerance of an institution like slavery in the United States until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 - these cycles continue today, in areas of both Liberia and America.

The nation of Liberia was founded along the west coast of Africa by former slaves from the Caribbean and America with a government modeled after the US Constitution in 1847.

Liberia's troubled history is replete with examples of economic exploitation of human and natural resources and government overthrows; today the country's newly elected president, the first female African head of state in modern African history Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf faces a daunting task.

Has the nation simply written off communities like Park Hill?

We're sending US troops to defend democracy in foreign nation? Who's helping the residents of our nation's poorest urban communities enjoy the fruits of democracy?

If we're not careful the gap between socio-economic realities in this nation is going to become so great, we're going to find ourselves a nation that isn't one nation under God at all.

Dr. King - Spiritual Freestyling for Mahalia?

(Photo by Bob Adelman)

I got a spiritual chill tonight while I was watching the Tavist Smiley show on Channel Thirteen this evening and one of his guests was the noted photographer Bob Adelman.

The photographer talked with Tavist about some of the famous photographs he took during the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960's; many of them chronicled in a book called Mine Eyes Have Seen.

Like the photo (pictured left), which was taken by Adelman in Birmingham, Alabama in May of 1963.

It shows black protesters being hosed by members of the Birmingham Police.

Adelman worked with civil rights groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in an effort to use photography to document the struggle for justice and equality in the south.

One of his most interesting stories concerned the infamous black and white photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the famous address he gave in front of the Lincoln Monument in Washington, DC.

Photographer Bob Adelman

Adelman (pictured left) managed to inch his way forward through the massive crowds gathered on the Mall where he shot 3 rolls of film; the most famous photo shows Dr. King as he reaches the apex of the "I Have a Dream Speech".

According to Adelman, after King was at the podium for some time speaking, at about 12 minutes into the speech, he paused as the crowd applause swelled and a woman loudly urged Dr. King, "Tell 'Em about the dream Martin!"

The woman was none other than unparalleled gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who later sang a stirring rendition of "How I Got Over" after King's speech.

Adelman says that in response to  Jackson's urging, Dr. King reached up and removed the sheets of paper with his speech written on them and put them into his pocket.

He then proceeded into the uplifting and hair-raising "I Have a Dream" portion of the speech which is recognized as the apex of the speech; none of it was scripted.

Something about the moment Adeleman described struck me as so profound, so powerful; so full of hope and healing.

I wondered to myself, had Dr. King shared this vision with Mahalia Jackson before the speech? Did he plan to share it with the crowd that day?

What a conversation that must have been. Words like that can only come from the deepest of spiritual places.

Did those words just spill out of his heart?

Watch the speech:

FCC Changes Could Impact Minority Ownership of Radio & Television Stations

Monitoring the way the media reports on issues related to race and culture is one of the main reasons I started this blog. With so many Americans logging on, tuning in, downloading, uploading and sharing content these days - the media plays a pivotal role in how our collective culturegeist, the very nature of our cultural and racial identity is shaped.

Last night I stayed up to watch some of the testimony of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners (Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate pictured above)as they were grilled on C-SPan in front of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in preparation for a scheduled December 18th vote on proposed rule changes to the cross-ownership ban the commissioners argue Congress grants them the right to alter in light of the evolution of today's media environment.

Making it easier for large media organizations to own more media outlets isn't exactly looking to the interest of diversity of ownership in media and a number of people feel the FCC is rushing to vote on this before getting feedback from those who would be most impacted.

If you're not familiar with the FCC and what they do, take some time to get at least a cursory understanding of their role and oversight responsibilities. It's important that all Americans do.

Who was at the table testifying? FCC Chairman Kevin Martin; FCC Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell; and Deborah Taylor Tate, FCC commissioner and chairman of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service.

I watched the prepared statements delivered by Deborah Taylor Tate and and Robert McDowell. Both Republican Commissioners also got teary-eyed and nostalgic as they thanked outgoing US Senator Trent Lott for his years of service in a gush of emotion. My take was that they both spent an exceedingly long time waxing philosophic about how much media has changed, repeating themselves with lists of iPods, podcasts, digital cable, network television etc.

Each of us knows about the plethora of choices we all have in the way we consume media - my sense is they came off as trying to side-step the big issues. Essentially and I'm not an expert, the FCC is granted the authority to make adjustments in rules that govern who can own media outlets.

So if, for example there are too few companies controlling the majority of media outlets, the FCC can make it more difficult for a company to own newspapers, radio stations and television stations in the same city or market. But they can also do the opposite.

The FCC flat out refused to delay the vote scheduled for next week when Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked them to do so.

Many public advocate and media watchdog groups are concerned that relaxing the restrictions imposed by the FCC on companies wanting to own different media outlets in a given city, region or market is going to hurt the chances for companies primarily controlled or owned by minorities or women to bid for, or obtain licenses to operate television and radio stations in the US.

I'm not suggesting that Tribune or Fox doesn't have a right to own a variety of stations and cable channels, but there is also an inherent and compelling interest in making sure that there is some degree of diversity amongst the make up of the executives who own and control the companies that create and distribute the content that Americans access.

You can check out the videotaped testimony of the FCC Commissioners and the Q&A by the members of the Senate Committee on C-Span for yourself and form your own conclusion.

Ebony Magazine Axes 3 Top Executives

As a quick follow up to my post-Thanksgiving blog on Ebony Magazine's recent cover story on Michael Jackson, the following article published on the Folio Website on November 27th details an executive shake-up at the magazine in the wake of slumping ad revenue figures. The dip in ad sales at Ebony and Jet are being felt by magazine publishers all over the US but the magazine isn't helping itself by offering up 'puff pieces' like the Jackson article.

My criticism stems from a belief that Jackson has shaped the nation's culturegeist in innumerable ways through the impact of his music which changed MTV and paved the way for Hip Hop and rap music to become a part of the mainstream entertainment industry. Read below:

Three Top Execs Fired at Johnson Publishing
Ebony and Jet publisher looks to stem advertising slide.
By Jason Fell 11/27/2007

Three top-level executives were laid off Monday from the Johnson Publishing Company, publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines.

The departure of those executives--Jeff Burns, Ebony senior vice president and associate publisher; Ebony senior vice president and Midwest advertising director Dennis Boston; and Barbara Rudd, Ebony vice president and Western advertising director--was confirmed by the publisher.

On the heels of the layoffs, Nijole S. Yutkowitz was named vice president and group advertising director for Ebony and Jet. Yutkowitz formerly served as national advertising director for Jet.

"We've decided to merge our advertising leadership to be more cohesive, especially to meet the changing landscape of the advertising world," Johnson spokesperson Wendy Parks told FOLIO:, noting that she does not expect any additional layoffs. When asked about the circumstances surrounding the individual layoffs, Parks declined to comment.

Burns, who was reached by phone Tuesday evening, said he was "shocked" by his sudden termination, and indicated that the three layoffs may indeed be connected. He said the decision came down from president and CEO Linda Johnson Rice, daughter of company founder John H. Johnson.

"The company is restructuring and slimming down, and trying to run mean and lean," Burns said. "They're trying to turn around the slide in advertising, which has of course affected the entire advertising industry." Through September, Ebony was down 8.7 percent in ad revenue ($46.5 million) and 10.3 percent in ad pages, when compared to the same period last year, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. Jet was down roughly six percent in both ad revenue and pages over the same period.

Burns said he had pioneered unconventional marketing campaigns during his tenure with Johnson, having helped create several signature event marketing programs including Ebony's annual Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications awards and Ebony's annual Hollywood in Harlem film festival. "If you're in a period when you're trying to increase and hold on to sales, you want your strongest, most creative sales representative on board to do just that," said Burns.

Neither Boston nor Rudd could immediately be reached for comment.

Mental Issues Afflict Thousands of Children Displaced by Katrina

Years after the nation watched in horror as thousands of people of all races struggled to deal with the after-effects of the coastal flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, the New York Times reported in Friday's paper that thousands of children who's families were uprooted and forced to move, are experiencing a range of mental and physical symptoms linked to the traumatic post-hurricane experiences.

From depression, behavioral changes, rashes and poor performance in school to suicide, the US Government's failure typified by FEMA's response in the day's immediately following the flooding is still claiming victims to this day.

A-Train Attack Camera Hound Identified

As the A-Train Attack gains momentum today's New York Post reports that the now notorious and shocking videotape was shot by 17-year old Kadejra Holmes of Harlem between the Rockaway Boulevard and Broadway Junction A-Train stops.

The young auteur learned her craft in TRUCE, (The Renaissance University for Community Education) which appears to be a city youth program that teaches filmmaking to Harlem kids.

The Post reports that efforts to confirm the authenticity of the film are currently underway.

A lot remains to be seen in this case, Holmes is due in court on December 11th after she was arrested on September 3rd along with another unidentified juvenile for an assault of a 24 year old woman on a J-Train.

Did she just happen to be there with her camera? Or was she involved? Was this staged?

Detective's MP3 Blunder Catches NYPD Red-Handed

I think the culturegeist is served by justice and fair enforcement of the laws. One of the most difficult issues about race in America relates to the glaring inequities in a legal system that disproportionately treats defendants of color differently.

Charges of excessive use of force or illegal tactics used by some members of the NYPD against black or Hispanic defendants in the arrest or interrogation phase are frequently dismissed as concocted accusations of racism. But tonight on the 11pm Channel 7 Eyewitness News broadcast an "Exclusive Report" aired about a bombshell revelation in a Bronx court.

An NYPD officer identified as Detective Christopher Perino has perjured himself in a court case after the defendant, Erik Crespo who was 17 at the time, revealed in court that he had an MP3 recording of the interrogation in which the detective clearly threatens to prevent the defendant from seeing a judge in an effort to coerce a confession about a gun apparently used in a shooting in an elevator on Christmas Day, 2005.

The recording was revealed by the defense only after Detective Perino testified falsely under oath that he had neither questioned the then-17 year-old alone repeatedly about the gun in question. Once the tape was revealed, the prosecution immediately tried to cut a deal with the defense according to defense attorney Mark DeMarco.

Details are hard to find online as I write this as the story doesn't appear to be on their 7 Online Website at the moment but I'm curious why Channel 7 presented it as an "Exclusive" as the story appeared in this morning's New York Post?

Maybe because the story is buried in an article on the bottom left-hand side of page 29 - an article about the plight of recently deceased hotel "Queen of Mean" Leona Helmsley's dog Trouble takes up 3/4 of page 19.

White Subway Passenger Beaten By Gang of Black Teenagers

I just finished watching a tape of a nasty blight on the country's culturegeist, I've blogged about people using video to capture racism on tape before, but for the first time since the truck driver Reginald Denney was pulled from the cab of his truck at an intersection in South Central during the LA riots and nearly beaten to death by a hysterical mob, the media is captivated with an image of an innocent white person being attacked by black people who appear to be out of control.

Once again, technology helps to lift up the proverbial rock and this time we are reminded that ignorant racist acts don't just happen to people of color.

By now the infamous video clip of an emotionally-charged group of, what appear to be, black teenagers on a New York City subway verbally accosting and then physically beating a lone white passenger is being seen on computer screens across the globe.

Among other Websites, TheSmokingGun.com has posted the video and generated an array of viscious, hate-filled commentary penned by intellectuals with charming screen names like "IH8Mexicans" (really...) who've unleashed a slew of racist commentary as a means to vent internalized prejudices and stereotypical generalizations.

But there are also some like me who are simply fed up. Someone on the SmokinGun.com observed correctly that if there was no videotape of the incident, and the guy had pulled out a gun and shot one or more of them - there would be a deafening outcry by some African-Americans and an obligatory press conference on the 6pm news by an indignant Al Sharpton.

Why don't I see more outrage from African-Americans like myself and others who are disgusted by what I see on the tape?

When someone like Bill Cosby or Jesse Jackson and other prominent African-American figures attempt to raise issues related to the public behavior of some young black girls and boys who are disproportionately products of economically disadvantaged urban areas, they're often attacked by members of the black community who accuse him of taking aim at an already maligned minority.

Chiding him (and others) for siding with the same people who see them as stereotypes; even less than human sometimes.

Too often African-Americans as a people shy away from the uncomfortable realities the extensive social problems produced by the institutionalized racism and prejudiced woven into the thread of this nation.

Some members of the black press ripped into Jesse Jackson some years ago when he confessed that he felt nervous walking the streets of Washington, DC alone at night when he saw large groups of young African-American males walking towards him.

Take a look at the video, when I watched it all I could think was; "What the hell is the matter with these kids?". Marginalized economically, products of a public education system that has failed them and apparently completely disconnected from the repercussions of their actions.

The only positive in this mess is that it was captured on tape and the footage is clear enough that the faces of some of them can be identified by the NYPD and MTA authorities; and the kids, as well as their parents will be identified. Until all Americans can have a constructive dialogue about incidents like this, it will continue to infect our collective culturegeist like a virus.