Perry County, Tennessee decreased their unemployment rate by at least 3% by following a New deal model. Started by FDR during the Great Depression, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) put thousands of people to work building bridges, parks, and highways while also employing writers and artists. The WPA was particularly successful in rural areas…

No wonder why Perry County is following its example.

In using welfare money from the stimulus package, Perry County was able to subsidize 300 new and diverse jobs. Jobs were created for both adults and students, in areas such as transportation, hotel work, and even mural painting.

Just as in the thirties, Perry County is seeing the benefits of such employment…And not simply in the numbers. Although their employment rate has increased, the benefits are displayed throughout the county. From new art work created by young people employed by local artists to an increase in hotel bookings, the advantages are giving the county new hope. As stated by recently employed Scott Kimble, “This job here is not a permanent fix…We still need some kind of industry to look and come into Perry County. But for right now we’ve got hope, and when you’ve got hope, you’ve got a way.”

So a president, a cop, and a professor walk into a bar…

Wasn’t last night’s meeting sort of a like the beginning of one of those old ethnic jokes. Ok not a joke, more like a weird analogy that is supposed to have some type of deeper moral meaning, except you can’t really tell what it is because all of the participants are intoxicated.

Usually those jokes end with the least powerful ethnic person, (usually the darkest skinned person) with a proverbial piece of pie on their face. But in this scenario the least powerful person was a white police officer! Talk about a change. (Did you see that they tried to balance the equation out by bringing Vice President Joe Biden into the discussion. )

I’m glad President Obama had the guts to talk about this issue. But if we are really going to solve the lingering oppression that continues to impact society we are going to have tackle this issue systematically. Structural racism is embedded in America’s DNA. Beers in the White House garden just ain’t going to cut it.

I know that it will be a tough conversation, but I think most Americans are ready to be grown ups about it. Well, maybe not Glenn Beck.

Check out what the League’s Khari Mosley had to say about this issue. He was interviewed by a Pittsburgh television station about Gates’ arrest, and he had some very insightful (some would say controversial) comments.

Ok, maybe not. But here is a pic from Obama’s “Beer Summit” with Harvard Professor Skip Gates and Officer James Crowley.

Hopefully these guys can all get along. Check back tomorrow for an update.

So this site is supposed to focus on civic engagement and political issues,  but let’s keep it real, music has always been our soundtrack for change. After all, where would the world be without the music of artists like Nina Simone, Bob Marley or even Michael Jackson.  Music sort of helps us get through the day, ya know what I mean?

Speaking of soundtracks, a funny thing happened yesterday when I was listening to T.I.’s album King.  By the time TIP got to the second verse of “Live in the Sky” I realized that the song was my favorite on the album.  After thinking about it for a couple of minutes, I decided that most times my favorite jam on every album is the proverbial “R.I.P. Dead Homies” song ( you know, the song where rappers pay respect to their fallen loved ones).  Unlike when MCs talk about their expanding bank accounts or sexual conquests,  rappers just can’t fake emotion when they talk about the pain of death.  I guess it’s sort of like the blues.

So this morning I decided to put together a list of the Top 5 “R.I.P Dead Homies” songs currently on my iPod. More after the jump.

Read the full story

After months of debate, backbiting, and deal making, it finally looks like Congress is ready to start dealing with the health care crisis. Bout time they started acting like grown ups.

I’m still trying to figure out what happened yesterday, but it looks like no one is really happy with the deal. Seems like there was a lot of back room negotiating.

Check out this insightful article I found at OurFuture.org. It breaks down the all moving pieces of the health care fight. Check back for an update about this important piece of legislation.

Say what you want about Colin Powell, but he sure is a straight shooter. You can sort of see why many of America’s loudest opponents worked with him when he was Secretary of State. You can tell he handles himself with a hell of a lot of integrity and transparency. Of course, it’s prolly easy to be so calm and collective when you’ve spent most of you career with an arsenal of F-22s on speed dial.

I really enjoyed Larry King’s interview last night. Powell kept is super real on a gang of issues including “Skip Gates Gate”, Afghanistan and the Obama administration. But the thing I liked most was that he expressed his very strong opinions without being disrespectful. He even stayed above the fray when Larry asked him about Rush Limbaugh’s ridiculously awkward critiques.

My favorite part was when he talked about his humble beginnings in NYC. Have you ever read his biography “My American Journey“? Powell’s story is pretty inspiring.

Check out the video if you missed it last night and let me know what you think.

“It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own,” states the original “Orphan” trailer. As someone who is adopted, my only response is SERIOUSLY??? People had to complain in order for Warner Bros. to realize that this was a bad idea? No one raised their hand during that board meeting and said, Hey, maybe this might be offensive?

I’m obviously not ashamed of being adopted so I have no problem mentioning it when relevant. However, EVERY time I mention it, I can depend on being asked one question. Do you know your real parents? Ughhhh. Anyone who is adopted will know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. I know that the question is not meant to be offensive, yet it somehow implies that the family I have now, on some level, is “fake.” Like I’ve been deprived a “real” family. (I have not.)

Though the question is innocent, it definitely exemplifies a stigma; a stigma that is undoubtedly supported by the “Orphan” trailer. The trailer blatantly suggests that adopted children are less lovable than one’s “own,” just as my parents are somehow not “real.” Though the trailer may not be intentionally offensive (hopefully), they undisputedly promote the idea that a family with adopted children is inferior to one with biological children.

Such a statement, especially in today’s society, is not just offensive, it’s simply wrong. Let’s face it, there is no longer one specific familial mold. Couples get divorced; children have step-parents, step-siblings, maybe even half-siblings. Some children have parents who never married in the first place. Others may have foster-parents, adoptive parents, maybe even same-sex parents….

Thus, instead of seeing this movie, I will simply rejoice in the fact that I was not adopted by people from Warner Bros., who, for whatever reason, would not have enough love for someone who doesn’t have their DNA.

Kudos to CNN for “Black in America 2″.

You get an A for effort and a gold star for correcting the lameness of the first installment. I even peeped a commercial for the upcoming “Latino in America”. Aside from them trying to educate the masses and convince everyone to empathize with our neighbors, let’s give CNN a round of applause for giving Soledad O’Brien something to do. It doesn’t hurt that her multi-racial background makes it more acceptable for her to tackle the issue of race. No one knows what she is. I’m sure she is going to ride this “… in America” thing until the wheels fall off or until Prez Obama is out of office and no one cares to talk about race anymore.

Sidenote: If you want to see an amazing documentary about Blacks in America watch ABC News’ Out of Control: AIDS in Black America. I love it when Terry Moran leaves Jesse Jackson dumbfounded.

While I was flipping the channel to purposely avoid watching “B.I.A. 2″, something occurred to me. I wasn’t interested in watching the series because I am black and I know what life is like for me. However, I would be inclined to watch a series on what it is to be “White in America”.

Read the full story

If you were around Greenwich Village anytime during the end of June, chances are you caught glimpses of flashy colors, costumes and rainbow flags. Gay Pride festivities in New York span an entire week, with parties, parades, rallies, and festivals to celebrate and commemorate a landmark event in gay rights.

This year’s “Pride Week” was awe-inspiring not only in terms of the celebrations put on by the LGBT community, but also in the wider political context of this year’s festivities– especially the parade. With marriage equality a pivotal topic of contention between the gay community and conservatives, this year’s festivities were decidedly more pointed at the issues gays still face, rather than fun and frivolity. It was a widespread hope amongst the gay community that this year’s parade would sway some of the silent or indecisive voices on the issue of gay equality in their favor. The hope for change was even stronger this year than most; adding to the weight of the event was the 40 year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which took place on June 28, 1969, and spawned the Gay Rights Movement in The Village. The riots were, at the time, the gay community’s only response to continued police harassment and raids of known gay bars. Read the full story

So I woke up this morning and found this awesome video of President Obama (at Bossip.com) doing his best Michael Jackson impression. Isn’t it fresh (like 1988) that the our prez has so much rhythm?

Ok, it’s not really Obama; it’s actually an impersonator at Comic Con. But you know that our President could secretly get down like MJ if he wanted to. But then again maybe I am giving him too much credit. After all, he was looking pretty stiff while doing the two step with Michelle during all those inauguration balls.

So I was just sent this link to yet another article about Skip Gates from one of my many unnamed sources. Apparently she, like me, thinks that the media’s attention on the whole fiasco is a bit overblown. Come on now, it’s not like this is the first time a brotha has been racially profiled in Cambridge. Of course it doesn’t help that President Obama made a half-assed statement the other night.

But despite Obama’s best attempts to try to back away from his earlier “cops acting stupidly” statement, the story just won’t die. Especially since Professor Gates is on a mission to pour gasoline on the fire. Check the Harvard professor’s latest statement found over at Ben Smith’s blog at Politico.

“Often we’re chosen for events for larger reasons, and I think I was chosen to be arrested in my own home so that I would start to devote my considerable resources toward a problem that plagues American society and plagues the criminal justice system –

Now I am all for Professor Gates using his influence to shape the nation’s discourse on race relations. I just hope that he takes a moment to chill out before he goes full throttle. Not only are there dozens of great organizations doing amazing work on this issue, but I am pretty sure he is not the best spokesperson for the racial profiling cause. After all, it’s not like he is the typical person getting harassed by the cops on a daily basis. I mean, the fact that he is so pissed about getting smacked by the gloves of racism highlights that he is a tad bit disconnected from the realities of urban America.

I mean, just last week hip-hop legend Paradise Gray was arrested while filming a nonviolent protest for a local community group in Pittsburgh. Long story short, this stuff happens every day.

So Professor Gates, if you are going to use your incredible privilege to influence the discussion about police brutality and racial profiling, please link up with the grassroots experts working on this issue. You aren’t the first brotha that’s been harassed and word to Frank Jude, you definitely won’t be the last.

I found this video at Nahright. Apparently Chicago based MC and on and off again Kayne buddy, Rhymefest attended a pro-Walmart rally yesterday. It seems that ‘Fest, whose real name is Che, was pissed that Chicago councilmen blocked the building of a Walmart on the Southside of the Windy City. Interesting. I have a lot to say about this, but I will leave it for another blog.

Shouts out to Rhymefest. Sometime back SOHH.com wanted to have me and him have a virtual debate via their blogs. It never happened, but I would have loved to have gone tit for tat with the guy that wrote “Jesus Walks.”

Read the full story

So I guess the cop that arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates had a distinguished record, and even taught racial tolerance classes. Apparently, he was even hand picked by a black police commissioner. It sorta seems like this guy might have not been that bad of dude.

Of course, his stellar track record doesn’t prevent him from being a bigot, but it seems like there is more to this story than racial profiling. It’s not like I’m a prognosticator, but I am wiling to bet that both of these celebrated dudes’ male egos got in the way. And I’m sure that race shaped their interaction, because race influences everything we do, but I am willing to bet that neither one of these guys had enough sense to let cooler heads prevail.

And I know that I will prolly take some flack for this, but I am of the opinion that you really just shouldn’t go popping off at cops. (And this is more of a “do as I say and not as do” statement because in the past I’ve had many heated interactions with cops while being profiled.) Typically, all that ever happens when you go off on the boys in blue (especially racist cops) is that you put yourself one step closer to getting got like Oscar Grant. (And I am not saying that Oscar Grant deserved to get shot, because apparently he was trying to cool his friends down that fateful night.) Yes, Professor Gates is one of the 21st century’s greatest minds, but that doesn’t mean that he is immune to catching a ‘tude when he is being racially profiled.

Of course, I don’t really know what happened, so I should just mind my own business, but I am willing to bet that Gates was extra salty when he was stopped at his front door; I know that I would be! He prolly just kept it too real when the officer approached him, and then quickly escalated to being pissed off when he realized that the cop didn’t care that he was a famous professor.

And I am sure that the more heated Gates got, the more intolerant the officer got.

But I could be wrong. I don’t really know what happened. I am just willing to bet that neither of these guys could be the bigger person and just chill out.

If you would like to learn more about how to interact with angry police officers check out the Ella Baker Center. Word to Van Jones, they have some excellent tips on how to deal with ‘the po po.”

I’m neither, but word to Madaam CJ Walker, I find this video pretty damn interesting. I haven’t seen all of CNN’s “Black in America” yet, but this makes me want to check it out. Did you see it? Whatchuthink?

We’re always hearing about how the human race harms the environment. Between flying on airplanes that emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide, cranking up the air conditioning during the summer and turning on every light in our homes so our neighbors think we’ve got a lot of friends over, Americans tend to burn a lot of energy.

But one person can’t make a HUGE difference, right? WRONG. Find out how your individual lifestyle and consumption habits affect our environment and what steps you can take to reduce your ecological footprint.

The quiz is actually REALLY fun and so easy to do but the answers are shocking. It surprised me how big my footprint is and made me realize I’ve gotta take better actions to take care of our planet!

How big is your footprint? Take the quiz to find out!

Today the US Senate is voting on a proposal that would allow Americans to carry concealed weapons across state lines. While the proponents argue that the bill would strengthen the second amendment, the other side thinks that there is a boat load of problems with the legislation. They believe that the bill would not only weaken states’ rights, but also makes streets less safe. Click this fancy link to learn more about the fight that is going on right now in the Senate.

Those guys can duke it out about the bill, but I can tell you from personal experience that there are way too many guns on the streets of urban America. In fact, our own backyards are more deadly for Americans than the streets of Baghdad. Since the start of the the Iraq War there have been nearly 50,000 murders compared to the 4,300 American war related deaths. (I’m not promoting this statistic to minimize the impact of the war , because the truth is that some estimate that over 1,000,000 Iraqis have lost their life since we’ve entered into that sh*t show).

Seems to me that guns aren’t helping America’s violence epidemic. I mean, I don’t think we should limit folks’ 2nd Amendment rights. Word to John and Abigail Adams, it’s hard for me to imagine that the fathers of our country anticipated a day when our own communities would be this violent. But what do I know, I am just an organizer from Milwaukee.

BTW, I don’t really own a gun.

Update June 22, 2009 1:45: The gun amendment failed.

Last week Prez Obama stood before a packed audience and essentially preached to the choir. He spoke about the great accomplishments of the NAACP and how the organization ironically celebrated its 100^th anniversary the same year he became the country’s first (official) African American president.

Then he did something that was quite surprising. He addressed Black America, by name:

“We have to say to our children, ‘Yes, if you’re African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher’…’Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not.’ But that’s not a reason to get bad grades, that’s not a reason to cut class, that’s not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands and don’t you forget that.”

Read the full story

Check out this link to a great (and short) blog about the American Clean Energy Leadership Act that I found on Twitter (@bikobaker) . It’s a list of 5 important things you need to know about the climate bill.

Here is the one that stood out to me the most:

In a wide-ranging blog entry for The Huffington Post, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) compares the climate change fight to the moonshot, and (oddly) legislation that gave birth to satellite television. Markey insists the clean energy race is “more important for America to win (and, thankfully, easier)” than the moonshot. Buzz Aldrin may quibble with that last bit. (@samshiff)

(If you want to see the whole list you need to click here.)

Word to Al Gore, if you aren’t tuned into the discussion about the American Clean Energy Leadership Act you need to be. It’s not talked about a lot in the mainstream media, but the fight that is going on right now in the Senate could decide our future.

Check back to 99p for more updates about this important piece of policy.

I have to admit: the books I read when I was a kid never really touched on racial issues. With the exception of To Kill A Mockingbird, popular youth focused books that focus on social issues tend to be few and far between.

Surprisingly, the popularity of Harry Potter is providing opportunities for commentary on a wide variety of social issues: from “half-bloods” to teen sexuality and (spoiler alert?) Dumbledore’s homosexuality, beneath the guise of magic wands and Quidditch. Only once in a blue moon does this sort of pop culture subtlety in social commentary come into the mainstream, either in television, music, books or all of the above. Luckily for JK Rowling (and her audience), the HP Empire encompasses all of the above.

Check out more about this topic here: Washington Post: Harry Potter - Wizards and Racism

The unemployment rates you hear on the news are misleading. The overall unemployment rate is currently at a shocking high of 9.6%–but the ethnic breakdown of this figure is still more disturbing.

According to a study released July 15 by The Economic Policy Institute, minorities are significantly more likely to be jobless than their white counterparts. Part of this can be attributed to the recession, which has taken its toll on non-white communities the worst.

Yet even this cannot account for the shocking unemployment gap that exists. African-Americans typically suffer unemployment rates that are twice as high as their white peers, while Hispanics come in at 1.5% more than Whites. For example, currently in Alabama there is a 5.8% unemployment rate for whites while for African-Americans it jumps to 15.1%! In Louisiana, African-Americans were three times more likely to be jobless. And the same is true for Hispanics, who’s unemployment rates are suspected to be higher than reported (it is thought that many illegal aliens would have feared taking part in this study).

The bad news is that the unemployment gap between whites and minorities is increasing. The good news, however, is that there are tentative plans to improve the situation by imposing a small tax on stocks to create extra resources for job creation in these hard hit communities.

Find out more about the inequalities of unemployment rates, and how you can GET INVOLVED at http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56E83L20090716.