Keepin It Gangsta

Many of us have grown up in one of the many hoods in America. In these neighborhoods or "Hoods" there are many widely held beliefs that are never held up to the light of the truth. One such belief is the "Keeping it Gangsta" mantra that you hear on subways, on the streets, in barbershops, night clubs, etc. Basically anywhere there are young black men. Let’s look at some of the beliefs of those that "Keep it Gangsta" and how their actions are not only far from "Gangsta", but reveals a deep self hate that is hard to ignore.

In America the word "Gangsta" is most commonly associated with the Italian Mafia, aka "Organized Crime". Many rappers have named themselves after Italian American gangsters. "Capone", "Irv Gotti" "Three Six Mafia" "Junior Mafia", are a few examples.

The real Mafia has their own set of rules and here are a couple of them. First, they will try very hard not to commit crime in their own neighborhood while they are involved in illegal activities to earn a living. Second, they also believe that women and children are off limits when it comes to their criminal activity. One way to insure a quick death from this green earth is to try and sustain criminal activity in a mob run neighborhood.

Third, they also believe in taking care of family first. Most Italian American gangsters believe in being married and raising a family. Fourth, Mob guys have been very successful using their money from illegal and criminal activity to invest in legitimate business. Fifth, Mafia organizations believe in placing their members on a ladder of power just like the military with those at the top having more power than those at the bottom.

These real gangstas usually do not run their criminal operations out of their own neighborhoods, daring anyone from law enforcement to the residents to do something about it. Let’s see how the "Keeping it Gangsta" crowd measures up.

So is it safe to assume that those in the Hood that "Keep it Gangsta" do not commit crimes in their own neighborhood? That they exclude women and children from their criminal activity? That for all their negatives, they at least take care of family first?

The truth is the only place the "Keeping it Gangsta" crowd commits crimes is in their own neighborhoods. Selling drugs, robbery, murder, and assault all goes on in the very same "hood" these so-called "gangstas" live in. They prey on their own people, afraid to even dream of committing their misdeeds in a white neighborhood. That would be truly gangsta.

This is why "black on black crime" is out of control in the hoods of this country. All the so-called gangstas are afraid to take their show on the road and see how it plays out. White people love to point out that black men are always killing other black men. They commit crimes against their own people all the time. Their actions simply destroy their neighborhoods.

How about protecting the women and children from the nasty under belly of their criminal activity? Innocent women and children are killed by stray gun fire daily in the hood. Women are also left to raise children on their own. The majority of women in the hood almost never becomes a wife and almost always becomes a “baby momma”. Too many kids in the hood are abandoned and left fatherless because “baby daddy” is either a dead beat dad, in jail, or six feet under.

The Italian Americans in the Mafia believe in family and try their best to raise their children in a home with a wife. This is a home that they will one day own after paying off the mortgage. Too many “Keeping it Gangsta” brothers never own a home and are either renters or living with Mom. Owning a home has always been one of the best investments a person could make in America because the value over time will increase and the property can be passed on to loved ones when one dies.

How often do we see illegal money in the hood being invested in legal businesses that really add value to the community. The last time it was checked, most of the businesses in the hood were owned by people that do not live in the hood and do not look like the guys that are "Keepin it Gangsta".

When did "Keepin it Gangsta" come to mean that you are a gangsta because no one tells you what to do? This was actually stated by Lil Wayne in a documentary about the rapper. This statement does not pass the truth test. Gangstas do what they are told to do all the time. There is a hierarchy in the the world of organized crime with one person at the top of every Mafia family.

This one person is the only one person in the organization that does not answer to anybody. He also got to where he is by being extremely good at doing what he was told to do. To not follow orders and do what one wants to do in the Mafia is a good way to get fitted for a pair of custom made cement boots.

One thing the "Keepin it Gangsta" crowd does have in common with the Italian Mafia is that they both believe in the "don’t snitch, stop snitching" or "don’t be a rat" mantra. The difference is the Mafia believes in not ratting out other mobsters that are committing crimes in other people’s neighborhoods.

The "Keeping it Gangsta" crowd believes in not "snitching" on those that are murdering and assaulting our brothers, beating our mothers, sisters and daughters, and selling drugs in their own neighborhoods, and killing our children with stray gun fire. The Mafia believes in keeping quiet about crimes that destroys other people’s neighborhoods while the “Keeping it Gangsta” guys believe in keeping quiet about crimes that are destroying their own neighborhoods.

Let’s be clear about one thing. Anyone can sit down, keep their mouth shut, and not speak out. It takes a tough guy to stand up and speak out when he realizes that it is his own people and community that is almost always on the losing end of the do not snitch policy in the hood.

What are the contributions of the "keep it gangsta" giants? Crimes in the hood almost never get solved because too many tough guy deaf mute witnesses are "Keeping it Gangsta".

It is interesting that in almost every instance, the silence and or actions of the "Keeepin it Gangsta" crowd hurts people who look like and face the same struggles as him. All of his anger, hatred and bitterness are directed toward people who look like him. If the “Keepin it Gangsta” brothers really want to be mobsters, then they should try to be like the Italian American Mafia by owning profitable bussinesses while also supporting their families and building up their communities.

Do The lobbyists Own Health Care Reform?

Health Care reform appears to be headed for passage. The Senate and House must now come together to negotiate and combine their separate bills into one. At this moment, it appears that the Public Option is out. The same is true for reimporting drugs from places like Canada which would lower drug prices in America. The proposal to lower the age limit for those who could access Medicare is also out at this time.

Many people are saying that it is better to have a flawed bill instead of no bill at all. The argument goes that a flawed bill will be fixed just like Social Security was fixed over the years. Social Security was basically for orphans and widows and basically excluded African Americans in the beginning. The counterargument is that politicians said the same thing about No Child Left Behind which was very flawed when it passed. Many said that it would also be fixed and resources would be allocated with time. This has not happened and most politicians today see it as a disaster.

With all of the lobbyists working to defeat real Health Care reform and the money spent in the process, it is clear that this group has major influence over the government in America.

From start to finish, the insurance and drug industries -- and their army of lobbyists had control over the process that resulted in a bill that is reform in name only at this point. A study by Northwestern University's Medill News Service and the Center for Responsive Politics found that 13 former congressmen and 166 Congressional staffers were actively engaged in lobbying their former colleagues on the bill. The companies they were working for -- some 338 of them -- spent $635 million on lobbying.

New Credit Card Rate has 79.9 Percent Rate

It's no mistake. This credit card's interest rate is 79.9 percent. Stay away from this credit card at all cost. If your credit is not the best, there are other options that will not empty your pockets in fees.

The over the top interest rate is how First Premier Bank, a subprime credit card issuer, is skirting new regulations intended to curb abusive practices in the industry. It's a strategy other subprime card issuers could start adopting to get around the new rules. - Read Story

Free After 23 Years In Prison

Another innocent man is free from jail in Texas. Ernest Sonnier was released on Friday, August 7TH, 2009 after DNA testing implicated two different men in the 1986 rape for which Sonnier was convicted. Sonnier has spent twenty-three years in prison, always maintaining his innocence.

The release of Ernest Sonnier is just the latest case that highlights the ongoing problem of wrongful convictions in Texas. - Read Story

Free After 14 years In Jail

After spending 14 years in North Carolina prison for the rape of two teenagers, Joseph Abbitt became a free man again on Septemeber 3, 2009 because DNA evidence has now proved him innocent of rape.

In 1991, two sisters were preparing for school when someone broke into their home and raped them both. The girls believed that the intruder was a man who lived 2 doors down, and then picked Joseph out of a photo lineup. Abbitt was convicted in 1995 even though he had been working at the time of the attack.

In late 2008, with the help of the innocence center, Abbitt was granted DNA testing on remaining evidence. After two rounds of testing, Abbitt was excluded. - Read Story

Free After 35 Years in Jail

James Bain used a cell phone from Florida for the first time Thursday, December 17Th, 2009 calling his elderly mother to tell her he had been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Mobile devices didn't exist in 1974, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.

Neither did the sophisticated DNA testing that officials more recently used to determine he could not have been the rapist. - Read Story

Free After 28 Years in Jail

An Arizona man is free after serving 28 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

On Tuesday, December 15TH, 2009 a judge in Washington, D.C. ordered the immediate release of 58-year-old Donald Eugene Gates after DNA testing showed he was innocent of the rape and murder of a young woman.

Gates was released from a federal prison in Tucson. He left the facility with $75, winter clothes and a bus ticket to Ohio, which is where he is originally from.

The work of a Federal Bureau of Investigation forensic analyst involved in the rape and murder investigation has now been called into question. - Read Story

Baltimore Mayor Found Guilty Of Taking Gift Cards

This is another political learning moment for all past, current, and future politicians. If this is your line of work, you must know the laws. Too many capable people who have managed to be elected by the people and come into power find themselves on the wrong side of the law over small amounts of money.

Baltimore's mayor was convicted Tuesday on a single charge she took gift cards intended for the city's poor. Although Sheila Dixon was acquitted of a felony theft charge, her conviction could force her from office.

Jurors deliberated more than six days after hearing the Democrat accused of using or keeping $630 worth of gift cards. She allegedly solicited most of the cards from a wealthy developer and then bought electronics at Best Buy, clothes at Old Navy and knickknacks at Target.

I am not sure why, but so many of these politicians being found guilty of financial transgressions have to do with a contractor or development - hint.

Microsoft's Poland Ad Eliminates Brother

In August of 2009, a black man was replaced with a white man in a Microsoft online advertisement intended for use in Poland. An Asian man in the ad apparently made the cut, and appeared in both the Polish and stateside versions of the ad.

But the ad's creator(s) missed one small detail. The Asian guy miraculously survived, but only a small portion of the black guy remains. They forgot to Photoshop out his hand.

Engadget reports that the ad has been taken down.

Black Couple Removed From Movie Poster

In the UK, the Couples Retreat movie poster was changed to reflect an all white marketing poster.

The studio said it regretted causing offense and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries... A Universal spokesman said the revised advert aimed 'to simplify the poster to actors who are most recognisable in international markets'.

10 Year Old Will Not Pledge Allegiance To Country

The Arkansas Times reports on Will Phillips, an elementary school student who refuses to say the pledge of allegiance in school because of discrimination against gay people:

"I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer," Will said. "I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all."

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, a retired educator from the district, who knew Will's mother and grandmother. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He did it again the next day, and the next day.


A columnist for the Arkansas News has stood up for Phillips against his angry substitute teacher. Predictably, fellow students have taunted the kid and called him a "gaywad," but he says he doesn't see his quiet act of protest ending any time soon.

As we all know, there is often honor in doing what one believes in right, just even when it is at odds with the majority.

8th Grader Suspended For Haircut

The AP reported that in Hamilton, OH a young Cincinnati Bengals fan has been penalized for clipping. Dustin Reader got the NFL team's stripes and "B" insignia cut into his hair as a tribute to the team's good season. When he showed up to school in the southwest Ohio city of Hamilton on Monday, officials put the eighth-grader into in-school suspension. The school said its code of conduct prohibits extreme and distracting hairstyles.

Reader's parents and barber said they don't understand why the haircut is out of bounds. His father said his son just wants to show pride in the 6-2 Bengals.

School officials said he will continue to do his studies away from other students until the hair grows back or he changes the style.

The Way Some In China View Blacks

Some will argue that the more things change the more things will stay the same. While life in America and in Africa has improved for many people of color, the changes have not come to enough people to change the way many in the world including some in China view Black people.

While President Obama made his first trip to China, many in China will have an opportunity to think about their feeling about racial discrimination in their own country and around the world.

Hung Huang, a Beijing-based fashion magazine publisher and host of "Straight Talk," a nightly current affairs talk show shares some interesting views believed held by some in China. "The Chinese worshiped the West, and for Chinese people, 'the West' is white people."

Hung, 48, said her generation was "taught world history in a way that black people were oppressed, they were slaves, and we haven't seen any sign of success since. The African countries are still poor, and blacks [in America] still live in inner cities." Hung noted that Chinese racial prejudices extend to the country's own minority groups, including Tibetans and Uighurs -- or anyone who is not ethnically Han Chinese.

The view of African Americans as poor and oppressed fits into the official narrative of the United States as a place of glaring inequalities. China's most recent annual report on the United States' human rights record in 2008, released in February, made no mention of Obama's historic election. But it said, "In the United States, racial discrimination prevails in every aspect of social life."

"Black people and other minorities live at the bottom of the American society," the report said. "There is serious racial hostility in the United States."

NBA Owner Settles Racial Discrimination Housing Lawsuit

The AP reported that the Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations by the government that he refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and to families with children, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The Justice Department sued Sterling in August 2006 for allegations of housing discrimination in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. Other defendants were Sterling's wife, Rochelle, and the Sterling Family Trust.

The defendants allegedly made statements to employees indicating that African-Americans and Hispanics were not desirable tenants.

In addition to the pro basketball Clippers, Sterling owns and manages 119 apartment buildings with over 5,000 apartment units in Los Angeles County.

"The magnitude of this settlement should send a message to all landlords that we will vigorously pursue violations of the Fair Housing Act," Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, said in a statement. 31

The settlement, which also covers two related lawsuits by former tenants at one of the Sterling properties, now will be considered by a federal judge. Under the settlement, Sterling and the other defendants would pay a $100,000 civil penalty to the government and would pay $2.625 million into a fund to pay monetary damages to tenants who were harmed.

The Justice Department's previous record settlement for discrimination in the area of rental housing was $2.2 million in a 1996 case.

Sterling spokesman Robert Platt had no immeduate comment.

Can You Sue If Framed By A Prosecutor

This story was reported on NPR.com. It is too important not to share the entire article because this situation could happen to any of us.

Do prosecutors have total immunity from lawsuits for anything they do, including framing someone for murder? That is the question the justices of the Supreme Court face Wednesday.

On one side of the case being argued are Iowa prosecutors who contend "there is no freestanding right not to be framed." They are backed by the Obama administration, 28 states and every major prosecutors organization in the country.

On the other side are two black men — Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee — men who served 25 years in prison before evidence long hidden in police files resulted in them being freed.


Harrington, McGhee And The Principal Witness

Back in 1977, Harrington, captain of his Omaha high school football team, was applying to college and being recruited for a possible scholarship at Yale.

Then he and McGhee were arrested for the murder of a retired police officer in neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the state line.

The principal witness was 16-year-old Kevin Hughes, who had a criminal record, and after being arrested in a stolen car, first fingered two other men, one of whom turned out to have been in jail on the night of the crime.

After his first stories didn't pan out, Hughes implicated Harrington and McGhee, but his eyewitness account was riddled with errors.

He initially got the site of the shooting wrong and the weapon. He said the murder was committed with a handgun, then said a 20-gauge shotgun and finally a 12-gauge shotgun.

He also failed a polygraph test. According to lawyers for Harrington and McGhee, the Council Bluffs police and prosecutors knew all this and more. But they went ahead and indicted the two men, winning convictions before an all-white jury.

'Living A Nightmare'

Former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement will tell the Supreme Court that in 1977, Council Bluffs was an almost all-white community, and that politics and race played a part in the prosecutor's decisions.

The county prosecutor, David Richter, had been appointed to his post and was facing his first election, observes Clement. "He has an unsolved murder, something that is hardly standard fare in Council Bluffs, Iowa," he says. "He had the perfect suspects, if he could tag the murder to a couple of young African-American teenagers from across the state line."

Harrington couldn't believe what was happening to him. He says he was "living a nightmare."

Convicted two days after his 19th birthday, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"When I walked into that front door and that gate closed behind me," Harrington says of his first day in prison, "it was so humiliating that all I could do was cry. I cried all night."

In prison, Harrington assumed a tough alter ego he called "T.J." and did everything he could to survive.

Harrington struck up a friendship with the prison barber, who petitioned for the police records in his case. According to defense lawyers, those records not only disclosed how police and prosecutors had coached Hughes until his story matched the facts, and how other witnesses were coerced into lying, but that the records also showed that police and prosecutors had withheld evidence that pointed to another suspect.

They had identified a white man named Charles Gates, who had been seen with a shotgun near the scene of the crime. Gates, the brother-in-law of a Council Bluffs Fire Department captain, was interviewed and failed a polygraph. But prosecutors and police abandoned their interest in him in favor of Harrington, who was not even offered a polygraph.

"So the bottom line," says Clement, "is essentially that police and prosecutors together at some point in this case stopped looking for the real killer, the real suspect and decided it would be far easier to get an eyewitness account that said to a moral certainty that the two African-American youths from across the state line have committed this crime. "

Total Immunity?

But even after 25 years in prison, Harrington never gave up. In 2003, armed with the newly disclosed police records, he petitioned the Iowa Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction as well as McGhee's, and concluded that the star witness was a "liar and perjurer." Since then, all the witnesses have recanted.

McGhee, Harrington's co-defendant, agreed to a plea deal in exchange for time served. Harrington refused any deal, and prosecutors dropped all charges against him. Under Iowa law, for all practical purposes, there is no way for the men to recover compensation for their 25 years of hard time. So they sued the prosecutors and the police under a federal civil rights law for violation of their constitutional rights.

The Council Bluffs prosecution team, while still maintaining that Harrington and McGhee are guilty, contends that even if the men were in fact framed, prosecutors, under established Supreme Court precedent, have total immunity from being sued.

The Supreme Court has indeed said that prosecutors are immune from suit for anything they do at trial. But in this case, Harrington and McGhee maintain that before anyone being charged, prosecutors gathered evidence alongside police, interviewed witnesses and knew the testimony they were assembling was false.

The prosecutors counter that there is "no freestanding constitutional right not to be framed." Stephen Sanders, the lawyer for the prosecutors, will tell the Supreme Court on Wednesday that there is no way to separate evidence gathered before trial from the trial itself. Even if a prosecutor files charges against a person knowing that there is no evidence of his guilt, says Sanders, "that's an absolutely immunized activity."

Whatever constitutional wrongs were suffered by Harrington and McGhee, he says, they were the result of their conviction at trial, not the investigation that preceded the trial. Without the trial, he contends, Harrington and McGhee "are simply unable to point to any deprivation of liberty that they suffered from the fabrication itself."

Uphill Climb

Not so, says Clement, the lawyer for Harrington and McGhee. The prosecutorial immunity at trial doesn't wash back and launder a frame at the investigative stage, he says.

Clement notes that the Supreme Court has given immunity to prosecutors only after an indictment takes place. Before that, Clement contends, prosecutors have the same limited immunity that police have — namely, they can be sued if they violate clearly established constitutional rights. And in this case, he says, by the time the indictment took place, "the prosecutors were already up to their necks in this conspiracy ... to frame someone for the crime they didn't commit. That violates the Constitution any way you look at it."

While the justice of this argument may be easy to grasp, Clement has an uphill climb before the Supreme Court. There are good reasons for prosecutorial immunity. Prosecutors at every level of government worry that allowing any lawsuit, ever, would provoke a flood of lawsuits, and that prosecutorial independence would be compromised, with district attorneys shading their decisions for fear of being sued.

California Lawmaker Resigns Over Taped Sex Talk

Mike Duvall, a Republican assemblyman from Yorba Linda, issued a statement announcing his resignation. the 54-year-old Duvall, who is married with two adult children, "received a 100 percent rating from a conservative advocacy group for his votes on legislation considered pro-family."

It has been reported that he was bragging about his sexual exploits while sitting near an open mike in a hearing room. Sources have stated that the two women to whom he referred worked as lobbyists.

Duvall used considerable graphic language and talks about his affair with a woman "19 years younger." The OC reported that the woman was a lobbyist for Sempra Energy. Duvall was vice chair of the Committee on Utilities and Commerce.

This is obviously a teachable moment for all current or future politicians.

Milton Milan of Camden Sentenced to 7 Years

Milan became Camden's first Hispanic mayor on July 1, 1997, a relative political newcomer who convinced voters he could turn the city around. His sentencing comes with the city still in a financial crisis and the state considering a takeover of government operations.

During his first term as mayor, he was indicted on a 19-count corruption case, and convicted on 14 of those counts, among them:

*laundered $65,000 in drug money
*staged a break-in with his former business partner to collect insurance money illegally
*accepted $30,000 to $50,000 in bribes from the Mafia
*used campaign money to pay for a vacation to Puerto Rico
*received two vehicles and thousands of dollars in free work on his home from city contractors
*authorized the shakedown of a $5,000 political contribution from the city's public defender

Politicians of color are in a position to make a difference even if it is small, and this opportunity should never be squandered because of personal interest that can ultimately remove them from office. In the case of Milan, one has to think about the decisions they make before they even go into politics since they can come back to bite them.

Louisiana Congressman Convicted In Freezer Cash Case

A jury in suburban Washington has convicted a former Louisiana congressman on 11 of 16 counts including bribery in a case in which agents found $90,000 in his freezer.

Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat who had represented parts of New Orleans, was accused of accepting more than $400,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for brokering business deals in Africa. He was convicted of charges including bribery, racketeering, and money laundering.

The defense argued that Jefferson was acting as a private business consultant in brokering the deals and that his actions did not constitute bribery under federal law.

Politicians of color are in a position to make a difference even if it is small, and this opportunity should never be squandered because of personal interest that can ultimately remove them from office.

Obama Not Supporting Public Option?

The U.S. Senate is preparing a vote on health care reform which includes a public option. It is being reported that President Obama is not supporting the public option which is strange because he is on record saying that the public option is the best way to bring competition to the health care insurance industry and ultimately lower costs for Americans.

It has been reported that the Obama administration is concerned the votes are not available for the bill with a public option. They are instead quietly pushing for a trigger that would include a public option only if the industry does not meet specific targets.

The intellectual father of the public option, Yale Professor Jacob Hacker, told Huffington Post that the trigger proposal is a betrayal.

"The trigger is an inside-the-beltway sleight of hand that would protect private insurers from the real competition that a strong public health insurance option would create," he said in an e-mail. "It is unworkable in the current Senate bills, unwise as public policy, and unwanted by the substantial majority of Americans who say they want a straight-up public option."

Brothers Connected members and family would benefit greatly from lower health insurance costs as well as more access. The public option would go a long way in dealing with the health care disparities faced by people of color when compared to white Americans.

Rape Victim Denied Health Insurance

Christina Turner was drugged and raped by two men in 2002. After taking anti-HIV drugs prescribed by her doctor as a preventative measure, Turner was denied health insurance. The HIV drugs, Turner was told, raised too many health questions for her insurer.

As health insurance reform nears passage, it's stories like this that remind us why we need health care insurance reform in America. The executives and managers of this industry have brought it upon themselves with their practices which never have been accepted in a Developed Society like America.

Only Black Family On The Titanic

Eighty-eight years after the biggest ship disaster in history, and three years after release of the Titanic movie, the story of the only Black man to perish in the 1912 disaster is being revealed, thanks to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, host to the largest Titanic exhibit ever, and the Titanic Historical Society.

Laroche, who was born in Cap Haiten, Haiti, on May 26, 1889, came from a powerful family--Laroche's uncle, Dessalines M. Cincinnatus Leconte, was president of Haiti. The Laroches had been prosperous since the 17th century when a French captain named Laroche (in Haiti on military duty) married a young Haitian girl.

At the age of 15, Laroche left Haiti to study engineering in Beauvais, France. Several years later, while visiting nearby Villejuif, he met Juliette Lafargue, the 22-year-old daughter of a local wine seller. Although impressed by the handsome young Laroche, Lafargue's father, a widower, did not allow Laroche to marry his daughter until 1908, after he received his engineering degree.

A long way from his privileged lifestyle of Haiti, Laroche found France to be bleak and oppressive. Although Laroche was a cultured gentleman who spoke English and French fluently, and had an engineering degree, he couldn't find a job because of his color. "It was a great disappointment to him that having earned his engineering degree in France he could not find employment there," Geller says. "No matter how qualified he was, the blackness of his skin kept him from securing a position that paid his worth."

Laroche's family was growing and there were no opportunities for him to support them. The couple's first daughter, Simonne, was born a year into the marriage, and their second daughter, Louise, was prematurely the following year and was sickly. They were living in Lafargue's home, and the mounting medical bills for baby Louise were draining the wine seller's profits.

Laroche, a proud and hardworking man, grew tired of having to rely on his father-in-law's generosity and decided to return to Haiti, where he would be guaranteed work in engineering. Juliette Laroche was initially skeptical about abandoning her elderly father, but soon decided the move would be best for the family, especially for their ailing daughter. The family's plan to travel to Haiti was hastened, however, by the news that Juliette Laroche was pregnant once again.

According to historian Geller, Laroche's mother was so overwhelmed that her son was coming home with his new family that she purchased tickets on the French liner La France as a homecoming gift. When the couple realized that their children would not be permitted to dine with them on the liner, they exchanged their La France tickets for second-class reservations on the Titanic, which was the largest and most lavish ship built prior to that date. The style of the decor on the vessel ranged from Italian Renaissance to Georgian, and the cost of a first-class parlor suite was $4,350, equivalent to $50,000 today.

The Laroche family boarded the "palace of the sea" on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, at Cherbourg, France, for the scheduled five-day crossing to New York.

Never before had the richest people in the world flaunted their wealth so prominently. The first-class passengers constituted the creme de la creme of Anglo-American society. Collectively they were worth over $500 million, with the richest man on board, John Jacob Astor, having a net worth of $30 million alone. The second-class passengers were the middle-class business leaders and managers of the community; and third-class passengers (or steerage as they were called) were primarily English, Irish and Middle Eastern immigrants in search of a better life in America.

New Years Eve Watch Night Services

Many of you who live or grew up in Black communities in the United States have probably heard of "Watch Night Services," the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year's Eve.

The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. To 10 p.m. And ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year. Some folks come to church first, before going out to celebrate. For others, church is the only New Year's Eve event. Like many others, I always assumed that Watch Night was a fairly standard Christian religious service -- made a bit more Afro centric because that's what happens when elements of Christianity become linked with the Black Church. Still, it seemed that predominately White Christian churches did not include Watch Night services on their calendars, but focused instead on Christmas Eve programs.
In fact, there were instances where clergy in mainline denominations wondered aloud about the propriety of linking religious services with a secular holiday like New Year's Eve.

However, there is a reason for the importance of New Year's Eve services in African American congregations.
The Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as "Freedom's Eve." On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free .

When the news was received, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God. Black folks have gathered in churches annually on New Year's Eve ever since, praising God for bringing us safely through another year.

It's been more than 100 years since that first Freedom's Eve and many of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night, but tradition still brings many of us together at this time every year.

Fourteen Year Old Develops New Surgery Procedure

An African American teenager named Tony Hansberry II is only in ninth grade, and he has developed a new technique for sewing up hysterectomy patients. The technique for patients after hysterectomies stands to reduce the risk of complications and simplify the tricky procedure for less-seasoned surgeons. - Read Story

From Foster Care To A Million Plus In Scholarships

Derrius Quarles is an example of how we can overcome adversity and not allow our personal story to impact us negatively. It is possible to become more than your circumstances dictate if you desire more from life. As long as people are willing to work hard, study hard, play hard, and not allow temporary setbacks to become long term obstacles, people will have a very good chance to have the best life possible.

CBS did a story on this young man and they reported that he received $1,150,000 in college scholarship money to be exact. Quarles is a graduate of Kenwood High School who was offered $755,000 from nearly a dozen colleges, which he turned down. He accepted $355,000 in scholarships and will now attend Morehouse College. He earned all of this while being a ward of the state.

"My father was killed in this city when I was four years old and I was taken away from my mother shortly after that. My mother had a drug problem," he said.

To say he has succeeded against huge odds is almost an understatement. Quarles credits his success to his determination to go to college, his ability to accept his past, and not use it as an excuse. - Read Story


In life, there will always be exceptions from the norm. How to make this kind of story the norm instead of the exception is what Brothers Connected and its community is determined to figure out.

People of Color Denied Refinancing At Higher Rates

New federal data shows that last year blacks were nearly twice as likely to be denied when applying to refinance a home mortgage as whites. About 61 percent of refinance applications from black borrowers were denied, an eight percent increase from 2007. Less than a third of whites were denied.

About half of all refinance applications from Hispanic borrowers were denied, a slight increase from last year. Whites, on the other hand, saw their denial rates drop two percent, federal data gleaned from lenders under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act shows.

Credit scores are being targeted as the main culprit as well as other factors. Everyone should keep in mind that many minorities were also given subprime mortgage loans which are typically for people with below average credit histories even when they had pretty good credit histories and could have qualified for prime mortgages.

The goal is to determine how minorities can live from year to year in a way that allows them to have credit scores and credit histories that qualifies them for mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and other loans without having to pay more than other Americans.

America's Economic Transformation

What changed in the early 1970s to reverse the great postwar income convergence? Charles Hugh Smith writes a great article explaining how a number of factors come into play, some more important than others. Three factors stand out: globalization, the emergence of a financial economy, and changes in government policy. He goes into each one of the three factors in very clear detail. - Read The Story

Middle Class Under Assault?

While the wealthy in America have increased their wealth over the years, the middle class have experienced stagnant wages along with big increases in expenses. It is easy to find people who are on both sides of this argument, but many indicators appear to point to the fact that the middle class is barely managing instead of thriving.

According to Charles Hugh Smith, here is how Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel that is monitoring the TARP bailout funds given to banks, jumped into the debate on the topic. In an interview with The Washington Post, she said: "I believe that the middle class is under terrific assault."An astute political player, she added: "And I don't want to play this as a capitalism issue." Actually, capitalism has quite a bit to do with the squeezing of the middle class -- but so do other factors, including government policy and deep structural changes in the global economy.

Here is more of Warren's statement on the subject, which provides a good sense of where middle class families stand today.

When we compare middle class families today with their parents a generation ago, we have basically flat earnings -- a fully employed male today earns on average about $800 less, adjusted for inflation, than a fully employed male earned a generation ago. The only way that families could increase their household income was to put a second earner into the workforce, and, of course that's now flattened out because there aren't any more people to put into the workforce. So you've got, effectively, flat income in this time period, with rising core expenses: housing; health insurance; child care; transportation, now that it takes two cars to get everywhere, two jobs to support; and taxes . . . families are spending a lot more on what you describe as the basic expenses.

Wall Street Is On Fire Again

The folks on Wall Street know how to make money even after showing the world that they can also lose money. Thanks to the Federal Reserve, Federal Government, and the U.S. Taxpayer, Wall Street has been able to socialize losses and privatize profits.

Wall Strret and Big banks have received the bulk of the bailout money. A short while ago, people were wondering if the end to Wall Street as we know was near. Firms like Goldman Sachs are now preparing to pay bonuses of approximately 23 billion at the end of the year. Other firms are showing profits that are bigger than ever.

Charles Hugh Smith reports that The 1970s saw the first beginnings of a loosening of financial regulations and the growth of credit and financial "innovations," such as securitization and derivatives. Capital increasingly fled real production for finance, which became the key profit-center of corporate America. GM didn't make money manufacturing autos; they made money selling loans to buy their cars. General Electric made more with its GECC finance arm than it did selling light bulbs and generators.

As a result, where finance and banking once generated a mere six percent of total U.S. corporate profits, by the height of the housing bubble in 2006 it was churning out 45 percent of all corporate profits. Indeed, U.S. "financial services and innovations" were the most heralded exports of the nation.

45 percent makes sense when one tries to understand why big banks and the top Wall Street firms are considered too big to fail.

Will The U.S. Recession End?

According to Mike Whitney, working people are not being crushed by accident, but according to plan. It is the way the system is supposed to work. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke knows that sustained demand requires higher wages and a vital middle class.

A careful reading of the FRBSF’s Economic Letter shows why the economy will not bounce back. It is mathematically impossible. We’ve reached peak credit; consumers have to deleverage and patch their balance sheets. Household wealth has slipped $14 trillion since the crisis began. Home equity has dropped to 41% (a new low) and joblessness is on the rise. By 2011, Duetsche Bank AG predicts that 48 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage will be underwater. As the equity position of homeowners deteriorates, banks will further tighten credit and foreclosures will mushroom.

Going forward, it seems probable that many U.S. households will reduce their debt. If accomplished through increased saving, the deleveraging process could result in a substantial and prolonged slowdown in consumer spending relative to pre-recession growth rates.” (”U.S. Household Deleveraging and Future Consumption Growth, by Reuven Glick and Kevin J. Lansing, FRBSF Economic Letter”)

The executive board of the IMF does not share Wall Street’s rosy view of the future, which is why it issued a memo that stated:
“Directors observed that the crisis will have important implications for the role of the United States in the global economy. The U.S. consumer is unlikely to play the role of global “buyer of last resort”— other regions will need to play an increased role in supporting global growth.”

Here’s an excerpt from a recent Don Monkerud article that sums it all up:
“During eight years of the Bush Administration, the 400 richest Americans, who now own more than the bottom 150 million Americans, increased their net worth by $700 billion. In 2005, the top one percent claimed 22 percent of the national income, while the top ten percent took half of the total income, the largest share since 1928
Over 40 percent of GNP comes from Fortune 500 companies. According to the World Institute for Development Economics Research, the 500 largest conglomerates in the U.S. “control over two-thirds of the business resources, employ two-thirds of the industrial workers, account for 60 percent of the sales, and collect over 70 percent of the profits.”
… In 1955, IRS records indicated the 400 richest people in the country were worth an average $12.6 million, adjusted for inflation. In 2006, the 400 richest increased their average to $263 million, representing an epochal shift of wealth upward in the U.S.” “Wealth Inequality destroys US Ideals”

One In Five At School Are Homeless

The Daily news has reported that 1 out of every 5 students at PS 636 located in Brooklyn, NY are homeless. Fortunately, the school was able to hold on to a grant from the Federal government that allows some students to attend an after school program until 6 PM. This is fortunate because they obviously need the after school program and many schools are being asked to scale back on these programs due to the deep recession the country is experiencing. - Read Story

The real issue is why are these kind of stories typically written about minority students one decade after another decade. What changes need to take place in the communities and within the families for these poor students so that they do not become adults that are reading about students of color in the same situation 25 years from today?

Sometimes it really seems as though the more things change, the more they stay the same. For example, not many people would have imagined that is 2005, the United States would have an African American President if they were asked 25 years ago; however, African Americans and Latinos were at the bottom of the economic ladder in this country in 1984 as well as 2009.

Big Baby Denied Health Care

Rocky Mountain Health Plans denied the family of baby, Alex Lange health care because the the child is too fat. This is a baby that is only feeding on breast milk. This is a true story. - Read More

Reversing Credit Card Fees

It is very easy to pay a whopping $50 to 75 a month for missing a credit card payment or being even one day late with the payment. It is difficult to justify sending a company one's hard earned money for these reasons. This is simply giving money away that most people need for other monthly expenses.

The late fee and finance charges can really add up quickly if one does not pay attention. There is one way to have these fees reversed at times. If you have not received your credit card statement in the mail for whatever reason, the credit card company cannot expect you to make the payment on time.

They want their money so they are willing to send out another statement that was not received. This situation is typically one of the best opportunities to ask and receive a reversal of late fees and finance charges from a customer service representative.

Christian Coalition Settles Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

In early 2002, The Christian Coalition settled a racial discrimination lawsuit. A federal court sealed terms of the lawsuit settlement, but The Washington Times reported Jan. 3 that "sources involved in the negotiations" said the African-American employees who brought the suit will receive $325,000 and in return agree not to talk about the case publicly.

Twelve black employees sued the Coalition last February, charging a pattern of racial discrimination at the organization's headquarters in Washington, D.C. The workers said they were told to use the back door, excluded from weekly prayer meetings, denied health care, overtime pay, and made to eat lunch in a segregated, substandard facility it has been reported.

This was a very powerful social and political group during the years when President Clinton was in office. It has also been reported that the organization has lost much of its power over the years.

Hoosier Lottery Settles Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

In May 2009, The Hoosier Lottery settled a lawsuit filed by 8 fired African American employees. The settlement was 2.75 million dollars. The settlement will be paid with lottery proceeds. - Read Story

Racial Discrimination Obviously Goes Both Ways

Governor Patterson of New York was sued by a Senate photographer who claimed that he lost his job so an African American can be hired. The state settled the case for 300k. - Read Story

Many people will say that this should not be an issue and the lawsuit should have been thrown out because this kind of situation has been happening to Blacks and other people of color in this country for too long. The truth is that the law is the law and what is right from wrong is very clear.

Kodak Settles Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

Kodak agreed in July 2009 that they will pay more than $21 million to settle a pair of racial discrimination lawsuits filed by current and former African-American employees. The lawsuits were filed in 2004 and 2007 by an African-American group of Kodak workers accusing Kodak of discriminating against African-American workers when it came to job hiring, pay and promotions. - Read Story

Cop Beats Special Education Student

An Illinois cop was caught on tape beating a special education student. This incident started because the student did not have his shirt tucked in his pants. - See Video

This video clearly shows the abuse of power that takes place at times. Fortunately for this student, there is video to back up his claims of abuse at the hands of the officer.

Subprime Mortgages Can Be Very Risky

Subprime mortgages became very one of the main reasons that America has experienced a real estate crisis. Subprime lending (near-prime, non-prime, or second-chance lending) in finance means making loans that are in the riskiest category of consumer loans. These loans can dramatically increase in how much a borrower has to pay monthly to a lender. These increases can easily become difficult for a borrower to handle and the borrower could place himself at risk of losing their home (if it is a subprime mortgage loan).

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2006 that 61% of all borrowers receiving subprime mortgages had credit scores high enough to qualify for prime conventional loans. During the current real estate crisis, too many people of color (African Americans and Latinos) received these very expensive subprime loans when they qualified for lower cost conventional mortgage and auto loans. This group of Americans also lead the rest of Americans in losing their home through foreclosure.

Subprime borrowers show data on their credit reports associated with higher default rates, including limited debt experience, excessive debt, a history of missed payments, failures to pay debts, and recorded bankruptcies. How does a person know when they qualify for a lower cost prime loan when the loan officer makes more money selling subprime loans to clients and the officer is all about the money. Too many of these loan officers were more concerned with the money they made and did not care about finding the best, lowest cost loan for their clients.

This is one of those areas where government regulation is needed. However, if the government in charge decides to look the other way or simply give the regulators limited authority and funding to regulate, many people can be bamboozled into accepting higher cost subprime loans. This is exactly what happened which helped create one of the greatest real estate and financial meltdowns in the history of America.

Prime loans go to borrowers with a credit score above 620 (credit scores are between 350 and 850 in the US). Since brothers typically do not own the banks and lending companies making loans, there should be a way for brothers connected to at a minimum share information about how the loan business works. This could assist many brothers and their families when receiving loans that are the best for them giving their credit history and financial situation.

Fathers and Gangs

In Chicago recently, a 16 year old honor student was killed. The teenager, Derrion Albert was supposedly walking to a bus stop when he got swept up in a mob street fighting. The young man was beaten to death and it was all captured on video. What motivates teenagers to use a 2 by 4, fists, and feet to beat another individual?

It would be interesting to find out how many of the kids involved in this death of a teenager are being raised by their fathers, and how many of the fathers are gainfully employed. Out of all the fathers that are gainfully employed, how many are trying their hardest to keep their children active in after school activities that add value to their lives. Keeping youngsters busy is one of the best ways to lower the risks of them finding trouble.

Derrion was obviously at the wrong place at the wrong time because all reports to this point say that he was not a target. We cannot say the same for the other teenagers who decided to go after him in such a brutal way.

There are too many children in the America's school system dying every year. Many of the kids involved in the killings are involved in gangs, drugs, and guns. Too many of them are not employed and have given up on school. Unfortunately, following the wrong path and making one bad decision in life after another is normal for them. It would be interesting in knowing exactly how the lives of these kids would be different if their fathers where involved in their life in a loving and nurturing way and the fathers were also gainfully employed.

President Obama, Professor Gates, and Kanye West

President Obama recently weighed in on the Kanye West and Taylor Swift MTV awards show situation. He basically called Kanye a Jackass for his stunt while Taylor was receiving and accepting her award.

What is interesting is that it became a big, negative media story in many parts of the country when President Obama weighed in on the Professor Gates arrest. President Obama mentioned that the police officers acted stupidly for going to Gates home to check out a call they received about unknown men possibly breaking into the house and ultimately arresting Gates who owns the home.

After the backlash from the media and many Americans for criticizing the police, President Obama decided to have a beer summit at the White House with himself, the arresting officer, and Professor Gates. The President goes further in judging Kanye West and there is no backlash whatsoever from the media or Americans.

Many people want to know if the police are above criticizing or was the situation with Professor Gates being arrested at his own home a grey area which is why so many folks jumped on the President for becoming involved in a local policing issue.

Although Kanye West did not do the right thing the night Taylor Swift won her award, he realized his mistake and publicly stated so. As humans, there is good in realizing an error in judgement and admitting it.

Previous Little River Golf Club Owner Settles Racial Lawsuit

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), had charged that the previous owner of the Little River Golf Club located in Charthage, NC unlawfully discharged six African-American employees because of their race and national origin.

In August 2009, a racial discrimination suit filed against the previous owner of Little River Golf Club has been settled out of court.

According to the regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District office, Lynette A. Barnes said that "it is an unfortunate reality that some employers are willing to discriminate against one racial or cultural group in favor of another. Employers must remember that people of all races and colors are entitled to equal treatment in the workplace." - Read Story

Nike Settles Racial Discrimination Lawsuit for 7.6 Million

In July 2007, The Nike Company reached a $7.6 million settlement in a class-action race discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of 400 black employees of the company's Chicago Niketown store.

The lawsuit, filed in 2003, claimed managers at the retail store used
racial slurs to refer to black workers and customers. They also said
the store segregated black employees into lower-paying jobs as
stockroom workers and cashiers rather than giving them lucrative sales
jobs. - Read Story

Kroger Settles Discrimination Suit for $16 Million

In June 2008, the grocery chain Kroger Co. agreed to pay $16 million to settle a racial discrimination and harassment lawsuit.

The suit claimed that Kroger blocks the promotions of black employees and pays them less than white workers. - Read Story

Coca-Cola Settles Racial Bias Case

In the largest settlement ever in a racial discrimination case, the Coca-Cola Company agreed in November 2000 to pay more than $156 million to resolve a federal lawsuit brought by black employees. Read Story

FedEx Settles Racial Discrimination Suit

In April 2007, The package delivery company FedEx said that it had agreed to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit against its express unit, FedEx Express, for $53.5 million. - Read Story

L'Oreal Found Guilty Of Racial Discrimination

L'Oreal, the French cosmetics company was told by France's highest court in June 2009, that they had used a policy that was illegal under the French employment law. The company was found guilty of racial discrimination for considering black, Arab and Asian women unworthy of selling its shampoo.

The court was told that the word went out to hire sales people the colors of the French flag which are red, white, and blue. The expression is widely recognized in the French recruitment world as a code for white French people born to white French parents.Read Story

Life Expectancy for African Americans in New Orleans Rivals some Third World Countries

A Portrait of LOUISIANA: Louisiana Human Development Report 2009, shows that Louisiana ranks 49th among U.S. states and Washington, D.C. on the American Human Development Index, with wide disparities within the state. This new study examines disparities by parish, race, and gender in Louisiana, and calls for action to address the acute human vulnerability that persists today, four years after Hurricane Katrina.

It is hard to understand why in America today, there are cities where there are African Americans that have a life expectancy rate that is lower than some third world nations.

The average life span for African-Americans in Louisiana today (72.2 years) is shorter than that of Colombians, Vietnamese and Venezuelans. The average life span of an African-American in New Orleans is 69.3 years, nearly as low as life expectancy in North Korea.

Teen Births Highest in Southern Bible Belt States

A new study by LiveScience.com states that states in the U.S. that have the most conservative religious beliefs tend to have more teenagers giving birth every year than teenagers living in other states.


States With Highest Teen Birth Rates:

Mississippi
New Mexico
Texas
Arkansas
Arizona
Oklahoma
Nevada
Tennessee
Kentucky
Georgia

Most Conservatively Religious States:

Mississippi
Alabama
South Carolina
Tennessee
Louisiana
Utah
Arkansas
North Carolina
Kentucky
Oklahoma

Lockheed to Pay 2.5 Million in Racial Discrimination Case

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced on January 2, 2008 that its largest settlement for an individual racial discrimination case for $2.5 million is against Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, MD. - Read Story

U.S. Only Number 37 in Ranking

Here is a rankng by country of the world health systems according to the World Health Organization. The main message from this report is that the health and well-being of people around the world depend critically on the performance of the health systems that serve them. There were several performance indicators used to measure health systems in the 190 member states

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Morino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austalia
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
51 Dominican Republic
52 Tunisia
53 Jamaica
54 Venezuela
55 Albania
56 Seychelles
57 Paraguay
58 South Korea
59 Senegal
60 Philippines
61 Mexico
62 Slovakia
63 Egypt
64 Kazakhstan
65 Uruguay
66 Hungary
67 Trinidad and Tobago
68 Saint Lucia
69 Belize
70 Turkey
71 Nicaragua
72 Belarus
73 Lithuania
74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
75 Argentina
76 Sri Lanka
77 Estonia
78 Guatemala
79 Ukraine
80 Solomon Islands
81 Algeria
82 Palau
83 Jordan
84 Mauritius
85 Grenada
86 Antigua and Barbuda
87 Libya
88 Bangladesh
89 Macedonia
90 Bosnia-Herzegovina
91 Lebanon
92 Indonesia
93 Iran
94 Bahamas
95 Panama
96 Fiji
97 Benin
98 Nauru
99 Romania
100 Saint Kitts and Nevis
101 Moldova
102 Bulgaria
103 Iraq
104 Armenia
105 Latvia
106 Yugoslavia
107 Cook Islands
108 Syria
109 Azerbaijan
110 Suriname
111 Ecuador
112 India
113 Cape Verde
114 Georgia
115 El Salvador
116 Tonga
117 Uzbekistan
118 Comoros
119 Samoa
120 Yemen
121 Niue
122 Pakistan
123 Micronesia
124 Bhutan
125 Brazil
126 Bolivia
127 Vanuatu
128 Guyana
129 Peru
130 Russia
131 Honduras
132 Burkina Faso
133 Sao Tome and Principe
134 Sudan
135 Ghana
136 Tuvalu
137 Ivory Coast
138 Haiti
139 Gabon
140 Kenya
141 Marshall Islands
142 Kiribati
143 Burundi
144 China
145 Mongolia
146 Gambia
147 Maldives
148 Papua New Guinea
149 Uganda
150 Nepal
151 Kyrgystan
152 Togo
153 Turkmenistan
154 Tajikistan
155 Zimbabwe
156 Tanzania
157 Djibouti
158 Eritrea
159 Madagascar
160 Vietnam
161 Guinea
162 Mauritania
163 Mali
164 Cameroon
165 Laos
166 Congo
167 North Korea
168 Namibia
169 Botswana
170 Niger
171 Equatorial Guinea
172 Rwanda
173 Afghanistan
174 Cambodia
175 South Africa
176 Guinea-Bissau
177 Swaziland
178 Chad
179 Somalia
180 Ethiopia
181 Angola
182 Zambia
183 Lesotho
184 Mozambique
185 Malawi
186 Liberia
187 Nigeria
188 Democratic Republic of the Congo
189 Central African Republic
190 Myanmar

High Health Insurance Costs

Almost everyone in America knows that health insurance reform is necessary in the country. The costs of health insurance continues to rise annually at rates that are much higher than the rate of inflation. As a matter of fact, according to the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008 Annual Survey on Employee Health Benefits, health insurance costs have increased more than 100 percent over the last 10 years.

American paychecks are not rising anywhere near as quickly, and Americans are struggling to keep up with big increases in health insurance costs. Companies are also finding it more of a challenge to pay for the health insurance costs of their employees.

There are many companies that do not provide coverage to their employees today because they simply cannot afford it. The same Annual Survey on Employee Health Benefits study showed that an average family of four has to pay about $13,000 annually to health insurance companies for coverage. The employer usually pays about 70 percent or $9,100 and the employee pays the remaining 30 percent or $3,900 on average.


Why is America the only industrial country in the world that does not offer universal healthare coverage to all of its residents? This is hard to understand for a couple reasons. First, America is the wealthiest nation in the world so we know that America can afford it if other countries can. Second, according to the World Health Organization, America is ranked 37 on the list of countries providing health care. One of the reasons Americans spend more than any other country on health care is due to all the paid to the middle man (health insurance companies), and Americans do not even receive the best value for their money based on the number 37 ranking



When we think about health insurance companies, we have to remember that they are simply middle men that do not make or manufacture anything. So Americans have to ask why should these middlemen reap billions of dollars in profits which is making everyday healthcare costs very expensive and life a struggle for the average American. The more money Americans have to pay for health insurance, the less they have for other basic needs that are also a priority.



Health is so important to life that Americans should ask why they should lose health care coverage if they lose a job or change a job and cannot afford to pay for coverage until the new job's coverage begins. The thought of losing health care coverage is also stressful and unsettling. Americans should not have to feel this was about something so critical to living when they live in the wealthiest country in the world.

Trespassing

Everyone wants to feel safe in their communinty. In the name of safety, are brothers ready to give up some of their rights as a resident of a community. Would you believe that there are some brothers who have been arrested and/or received a trespassing ticket as a resident of a particular housing complex.

This issue has been raised by retired NYPD detective Carlton Berkley who is currently running for a City Council in District 9. Mr. Berkley is also a co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.

Trespassing in one's own community is another issue where most residents do not understand the law, and how best to respond when approached by a police officer regarding this issue. Many people in this situation simply believe that the officer does not have the right to ask them to move along. Without knowing the law and possibly responding to a police officer as though they are simply singling you out can lead to tension laced dialogue with an officer. This kind of dialogue has often times placed a person in the officer's mind within the crossing the line category. This is one of the ways that brother's find themselves arrested.

If only brothers knew and understood the law, life between brothers and the police would not have to lead to an arrest for matters that are not serious or criminal when the are first approached by an officer.

Gates and the Police

Most of are now aware of the arrest of the African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his own home recently. Even the President who calls Gates a friend has spoken publicly about this unfortunate but very common incident for many of us.

Why do Latinos and African Americans seem to be the ones in the news because they were arrested when they believe it was not warranted? Professor Gates was basically arrested in his own home for disorderly conduct. Was the actions of the professor illegal which warranted his arrest?

Most of us do not know all the details of this case, but we do know that all the charges were dropped quickly. It would assist everyone interested in this case if they knew exactly what was disorderly conduct in Cambridge, MA. According to an article written by Adam Winkler in the Huffingtonpost, there are clear decisions of the Massachusetts courts holding that a person who berates an officer, even during an arrest, is not guilty of disorderly conduct. And yet that is exactly what Gates was arrested for. Is this the main reason why the charges were dropped?

Unfortunately, many of us in this situation do not have our case dropped, and we have to go through the stressful, costly, and agonizing process of going to court along with being arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted, and booked. If only we knew what the law and rules were when it comes to dealing with the police.

Some police have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to dealing with civilians. Other police officers almost expect a certain amount of back talk from civilians depending on the situation. Some of these officers believe that they need to have thick skin to be successful in their policing work. Other officers feel that different situations do not bring out the best attitude in civilians and understand to a certain extent when civilians are emotional, agitated, upset, nasty, stressed, or even lippy.

Since there is no hard rule to understand and follow, many of us find our self in a situation where the officer thinks that we have crossed the line and decides to arrest us. It would be very easy to say that whenever dealing with the police, it would be best to stay cool, answer all their questions, and do not ask questions. Although this approach may not have you cross the line with an officer, you certainly will feel as though you have no constitutional rights which you can exercise when dealing with the police.

We have to realize that whenever a police officer is left to decide based on his own personality, tolerance level, and perspective about a situation or person, we will never be quite sure where the line is drawn and how to walk up to it without crossing it if desired. Would a simple and standard warning from the police that is clear and everyone understands solve this problem?

We Are All Connected

In our world, we are all connected. When we see someone we don't know, but looks like us, we still greet them with a "Nod," a "How ya doin," or a "Wassup." Why is it that this comes so natural for so many of us?

One reason is the reality that we are all connected together. Connected together by bonds that far outweigh our differences. Bonds that can be visual, spiritual or emotional.

Brothers Connected is the start of a journey that began a long time ago. It is an opportunity for Brothers to share thoughts, feelings, and experiences that have kept us connected generation after generation. Common experiences that will add value to each one of us, our families, our communities, and our future.

Our Future is now because we are Brothers Connected.

Banning Interracial Marriage In 1967

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