Monday, June 28, 2010

The BlackLash Against BET

Dr. Boyce Watkins

Dr. Boyce Watkins

Author and Finance Professor at Syracuse University

Why there should be a black backlash against BET

10:43 AM on 06/28/2010

OPINION - Through the years, the BET Awards have become a staple of unhealthy and counter-productive broken black family fun...

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Son of Dallas Police Chief Allegedly Kills a Cop

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Suge Knight, Kanye West: Lawsuit, Guns and Money

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How Love and Money Mix and How You Can Do it the Right Way

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Black Single Mothers and Dating: What's It Really Like?

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Should Facebook Be Held Accountable for Murders by Members?

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Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Boyce Discuss the Plight of the Black Male

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Obama's Fatherhood.gov Commercial: Too Feminine for Black Men?

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BP Chooses a Black Man to Head its Claims Process

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Son of Dallas Police Chief Suspected in Killing a Cop




Saturday, June 19, 2010

Black Celebrity News - 6/19/10




Monday, June 14, 2010

Hip Hop: Female Artists Excluded from the Industry

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I met spoken-word hip hop artist Shanelle Walker when I went to give a speech atKentucky State University. Shanelle sent me a video of a rhyme she recited in honor of President Barack Obama. I was instantly floored by the performance, since I found her to be an incredibly powerful artist.
But Shanelle's performance led me to consider broader concerns, such as why there are so few women in the hip-hop industry. I remain confused that women are not given a chance to shine in a field dominated by men. While hip-hop has historically been the channel designed to give a voice to urban America, women have been effectively left out. While I've certainly spoken my piece on how hip hop needs to change, here are some reasons I believe women are missing:
1) The hypermasculinity of hip-hop: By becoming so masculine and sexualized, the music doesn't give women opportunities that don't involve a G-string. I look forward to the day when the culture is not driven by who gets shot the most and who does the best job of proving that he's a goon. That might actually lead to better music, since right now, many hip-hop artists come off like World Wrestling Entertainment characters. It's O.K. for an artist to also be a human-being.

 

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Black News - 6/14/10

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Slim Thug and Black Women: Financial Consequences of his Remarks

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New Gary Coleman Will Names Mystery Woman as Sole Heir

  • Maybe Gary Coleman is getting the last laugh after all. When I read that Coleman may have left a ... Read More
  • By Jeff Mays on Jun 14th 2010 10:54AM | Comments (0)

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Box Office Breakdown: Like Father, Like Son, Jaden Smith's 'Karate Kid' Delivers

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Financial Lovemaking: Diddy's Son Gets $360K Car - Too Much?

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Joe Jackson Blames Wife Katherine for Michael's Untimely Death

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2010 Tony Awards: Blacks Do Well On The Great White Way


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VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Juanita Bynum Performs 'Soul Cry'

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Completion and Excellence

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Completion and Excellence

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Slim Thug Attempts to Defend His Comments About Black Women

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NFL Player Reggie Wayne Sues Mistress for Charging Up Credit Card

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A Look At Mariah Carey Through the Years




Black News: Did Diddy's Son Get Too Much with the Expensive Car?

by Dr Boyce Watkins

Some of us turned our heads to the side when it was reported that the rapper and businessman Diddy gave his son Justin a $360,000 Maybach automobile for his 16th birthday. People asked me what I thought about this, since I've written a great deal on how to teach your kids about money, and I used a three letter acronym: TAH - "Tacky As Hayell."
I respect Diddy and I apologize for having to lean in on him for this one, but as S Tia Brown and I discuss in our latest episode of Financial Lovemaking, you can find ways to show your children love without spoiling them for the rest of the world. By giving his son such an extraordinary gift at such an early age, Diddy may have minimized his son's ability to conceptualize the value of working hard for his success or empathizing with those who are less fortunate. In other words, receiving such overdoses of dopamine at the age of 16 is a sure-fire recipe for depression later in life.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

NFL Player Sues Mistress for Credit Card Abuse

AOL Black Voices

NFL star Reggie Wayne is finding out the hard way that giving your credit card number out to anyone may not be such a good idea. Wayne, who is married, is suing his ummm, girlfriend Natasha McKenzie. In the affidavit, Wayne is alleging that McKenzie did it big on Wayne's credit card without asking his permission.


As the story goes, McKenzie, who is 26 years old, just needed Wayne's credit card for a "few little things," like paying her cell phone bill and buying a plane ticket. She was allegedly going to buy the ticket to come and visit Wayne to spend "quality time" with him. To Reggie's surprise, Natasha and her friends "got a little jiggy" with the credit card and charged up $95,000 worth of "necessities." Actually, there were 333 necessities on her list, which is the number of charges she allegedly made to the account.


Reggie originally took the charges to police in April. He has had the uncomfortable challenge of keeping this information from his wife. McKenzie claims that Wayne knew about the charges all along, and that she is only being scapegoated because either his wife found out about her or he has moved on to another mistress. Either way, this entire situation is a little bit strange. Wayne is not the only athlete to be taken for big money as the result of an affair. Tiger Woods allegedly paid millions to keep some of his mistresses quiet.

 

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Oscar Grant Case Missing Black Faces on Jury

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

On New Year's day of 2009, Oscar Grant was shot in Oakland, California. The shooter was a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer by the name of Johannes Mehserle. Grant was 22-years old at the time of his death, and the shooting was captured by cell phone cameras and disseminated throughout the Internet. Adding insult to injury, the Grant family just found that there will be no African American jurors in the trial of grant's shooter.


Jack Bryson, whose sons were with Grant the night he was killed, was angry about the jury selection.


"This is like a slap in the face," Bryson told The Associated Press. "This case came all the way to Los Angeles after the judge in Alameda County said they couldn't get a fair and impartial jury there.
"This is the best you can do, and you did this in two days. We could've stayed back in Oakland for this."

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Globe Magazine Angers Todd Bridges Over Coleman Pictures

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

There has been a great deal of public speculation of the role that Shannon Price,Gary Coleman's ex-wife, played in the actor's death. To make matters worse, some are wondering how The Globe Magazine got a hold of pictures of a dying Gary Coleman that are set to be released on Friday. Todd Bridges, who co-starred with Gary Coleman on the popular sit-com, "Diff'rent Strokes," was allowed to see the photos in advance of their being published. Bridges was not happy.

"It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. And I hope that whoever is responsible for this, and the people that are involved in this, people that are in the pictures, I hope they burn in hell," said Bridges, when appearing to discuss the issue on Entertainment Tonight.
What was most shocking was that even TMZ, a place known for the dirtiest of dirty celebrity gossip, refused to publish the photos. The Globe Magazine apparently has no such standard. A representative of Shannon Price has stated that Shannon is "very hurt by the pictures getting out there." But the problem for Price is that she is actually in the pictures that were taken.

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