young voices

A Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist Completes Her Census Form

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:45:13 -0800

My mailbox was among the 120 million stuffed with census forms this week, and I have to say, I wasn't pleased.

I have no problem sharing all of my information on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Buzz. I post pictures, list my birthday, share my thoughts and link to my family members' pages because I can pretend that I have some sort of control over what is done with the information that I share.

(I say "pretend" because a look at some of the privacy policies of these social media sites is downright scary.)

Having said all of that, the minute that the Government (capital G) starts asking me for information, I clam up.

And even when the Government says that it really really really needs my information to make life better for me and to distribute resources in my community more equitably, I really really really clam up.

What's at stake

While the census package itself is small (the Census Bureau reminds us that it's only 10 questions this year), the implications are huge.

About $400 billion in federal funds are at stake and could impact funding for, among other things, hospitals, schools and roads. The data collected from the census is used to determine the number of congressional seats for each state and to redraw state and local legislative blocs.

And while there are a number of census resisters who say that they are not going to complete their forms, the census count has been in existence since 1790 and is mandated by Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution: "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

So, like jury duty, whether we want to uphold our civic obligations or not, we kind of have to deal with it at some point. We either fill out the form and pop it in the mail or someone from the Census Bureau will knock on our door several times to get the questions answered.

Nothing to it, but to do it

With all of that in mind, I was encouraged by the Census Bureau's repeated claims that the survey would be "10 short questions" which would take me only 10 minutes to complete. No big deal, I thought.

But that's true only if you live alone. Person 1 answers 10 questions. For persons 2-8, there are seven additional questions for each. And for persons 9-12, there are four additional questions for each. So, although it is a 10-question survey, if you have a lot of people in your home, you could answer up to 75 questions.

Not a deterrent. Just a fact.

Anyway. I had been procrastinating since I received my form in the mail the other day because, in case you hadn't noticed from the title of this post, I'm a bit of a paranoid conspiracy theorist (never mind what I post to Facebook or Twitter).

But today, my city officials said that Los Angeles lost $206 million in federal funding for government programs because of the undercount of L.A. residents in the 2000 census.

Of course, I didn't want to be the reason that Los Angeles lost federal money.

So I put aside all of my fears about privacy infringement and that nagging feeling that the census survey goes beyond the constitutional mandate when it asks me about my race, age and sex.

I just told myself, "Stop being paranoid! You fill out taxes. The Government (capital G) already has all of your information if it wanted to track you down for resisting the draft, like it did after World War I, or place you in an internment camp, like it did during World War II. Just focus on the roads, congressional seats and hospitals."

I took out a blue pen and started filling in the form...

Question 1: "How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2010?"

Cool. No problems there. Isn't this what a census is all about? I'm going to be just fine.

Question 2: "Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?"

I'm in good shape after all. What was I so worried about?

Question 3: "Is this house, apartment, or mobile home - owned by you or someone in this household with a mortgage or loan? Owned by you or someone in this household free and clear (without a mortgage or loan)? Rented? Occupied without payment of rent?"

How about 'none of your business?!' What does this have to do with roads, congressional seats and hospitals?

Deep breath. Deep breath. Article 1, Section 2. Answer it. Move on.

Question 4: "What is your telephone number?"

How often do I give out my telephone number? Some of my family members do not have my telephone number! And I'm supposed to put it on this census form?! Am I violating the law if I put my Google Voice number here? I am certainly not going to put my home phone number. Or, heaven forbid, my cell phone number!

Google Voice number it is. I hope I'm not going to jail.

Home stretch

Question(s) 5 (name), 6 (sex), 7 (age and date of birth) and 8 (Hispanic, Latin, or Spanish origin) all seemed innocuous enough for a Government form.

That's all on my tax forms already. Check. Check. Check. And check.

Question 9: "What is [your] race?"

Hmmmm. Maybe I'm numb to the implications of this question because I find that "race" is a bunch of meaningless and made-up garbage for forms just like these. Check.

Believe it or not, I actually didn't panic again until I got to Question 2 for Person 2 (technically, Question 12. I told you there were more than 10 questions): "How is this person related to Person 1?"

Wait one minute! Not only am I giving you detailed information on each person in the house, I now have to tell you how I'm related to them? You really need to know whether or not I'm married to my partner? Maybe you should just log into my Facebook account and see for yourself! Do you want my Twitter password while we're at it?

It obviously took me more than 10 minutes to complete the form.

Sigh of relief

My civic duty is complete. I have not cost the city of Los Angeles or the State of California any federal dollars, I am going to get my improved roads, equitably proportioned congressional seats and first-class hospitals. And I suppose that I'm not going to be monitored by the Government based on the information that I shared on the form.

But if I get any strange calls on my Google Voice number, I will know why.

Did you complete your census form already? What do you think about the form, the questions on the form and the census itself? Share your thoughts with us below.

The New Jim Crow

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:25:33 -0800

This post was first published at TomDispatch.

BY MICHELLE ALEXANDER

Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.

Obama's mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that "the land of the free" has finally made good on its promise of equality. There's an implicit, yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.

Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.

Most people don't like it when I say this. It makes them angry. In the "era of colorblindness," there's a nearly fanatical desire to cling to the myth that we as a nation have "moved beyond" race. Here are a few facts that run counter to that triumphant racial narrative:

* There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.

* As of 2004, more African American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote on the basis of race.

* A black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than a black child born during slavery. The recent disintegration of the African American family is due in large part to the mass imprisonment of black fathers.

* If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas have been labeled felons for life. (In the Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80%.) These men are part of a growing undercaste -- not class, caste -- permanently relegated, by law, to a second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits, much as their grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era.

Excuses for the Lockdown

There is, of course, a colorblind explanation for all this: crime rates. Our prison population has exploded from about 300,000 to more than 2 million in a few short decades, it is said, because of rampant crime. We're told that the reason so many black and brown men find themselves behind bars and ushered into a permanent, second-class status is because they happen to be the bad guys.

The uncomfortable truth, however, is that crime rates do not explain the sudden and dramatic mass incarceration of African Americans during the past 30 years. Crime rates have fluctuated over the last few decades -- they are currently at historical lows -- but imprisonment rates have consistently soared. Quintupled, in fact. And the vast majority of that increase is due to the War on Drugs. Drug offenses alone account for about two-thirds of the increase in the federal inmate population and more than half of the increase in the state prison population.

The drug war has been brutal -- complete with SWAT teams, tanks, bazookas, grenade launchers and sweeps of entire neighborhoods -- but those who live in white communities have little clue to the devastation wrought. This war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies consistently show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. In fact, some studies indicate that white youth are significantly more likely to engage in illegal drug dealing than black youth. Any notion that drug use among African Americans is more severe or dangerous is belied by the data. White youth, for example, have about three times the number of drug-related visits to the emergency room as their African American counterparts.

That is not what you would guess, though, when entering our nation's prisons and jails, overflowing as they are with black and brown drug offenders. In some states, African Americans comprise 80%-90% of all drug offenders sent to prison.

This is the point at which I am typically interrupted and reminded that black men have higher rates of violent crime. That's why the drug war is waged in poor communities of color and not middle-class suburbs. Drug warriors are trying to get rid of those drug kingpins and violent offenders who make ghetto communities a living hell. It has nothing to do with race; it's all about violent crime.

Again, not so. President Ronald Reagan officially declared the current drug war in 1982, when drug crime was declining, not rising. From the outset, the war had little to do with drug crime and nearly everything to do with racial politics. The drug war was part of a grand and highly successful Republican Party strategy of using racially-coded political appeals on issues of crime and welfare to attract poor and working class white voters who were resentful of, and threatened by, desegregation, busing and affirmative action. In the words of H.R. Haldeman, President Richard Nixon's White House Chief of Staff: "[T]he whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to."

A few years after the drug war was announced, crack cocaine hit the streets of inner-city communities. The Reagan administration seized on this development with glee, hiring staff who were to be responsible for publicizing inner-city crack babies, crack mothers, crack whores and drug-related violence. The goal was to make inner-city crack abuse and violence a media sensation, bolstering public support for the drug war which, it was hoped, would lead Congress to devote millions of dollars in additional funding to it.

The plan worked like a charm. For more than a decade, black drug dealers and users would be regulars in newspaper stories and would saturate the evening TV news. Congress and state legislatures nationwide would devote billions of dollars to the drug war and pass harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes -- sentences longer than murderers receive in many countries.

Democrats began competing with Republicans to prove that they could be even tougher on the dark-skinned pariahs. In President Bill Clinton's boastful words, "I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I'm soft on crime." The facts bear him out. Clinton's "tough on crime" policies resulted in the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history. But Clinton was not satisfied with exploding prison populations. He and the "new Democrats" championed legislation banning drug felons from public housing (no matter how minor the offense) and denying them basic public benefits, including food stamps, for life. Discrimination in virtually every aspect of political, economic and social life is now perfectly legal, if you've been labeled a felon.

Facing Facts

But what about all those violent criminals and drug kingpins? Isn't the drug war waged in ghetto communities because that's where the violent offenders can be found? The answer is yes: in made-for-TV movies. In real life, the answer is no.

The drug war has never been focused on rooting out drug kingpins or violent offenders. Federal funding flows to those agencies that increase dramatically the volume of drug arrests, not the agencies most successful in bringing down the bosses. What gets rewarded in this war is sheer numbers of drug arrests. To make matters worse, federal drug forfeiture laws allow state and local law enforcement agencies to keep for their own use 80% of the cash, cars and homes seized from drug suspects, thus granting law enforcement a direct monetary interest in the profitability of the drug market.

The results have been predictable: people of color rounded up en masse for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses. In 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, only one out of five for sales. Most people in state prison have no history of violence or even of significant selling activity. In fact, during the 1990s -- the period of the most dramatic expansion of the drug war -- nearly 80% of the increase in drug arrests was for marijuana possession, a drug generally considered less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and at least as prevalent in middle-class white communities as in the inner city.

In this way, a new racial undercaste has been created in an astonishingly short period of time, a new Jim Crow system. Millions of people of color are now saddled with criminal records and legally denied the very rights that their parents and grandparents fought for and, in some cases, died for.

Affirmative action, though, has put a happy face on this racial reality. Seeing black people graduate from Harvard and Yale and become CEOs or corporate lawyers -- not to mention president of the United States -- causes us all to marvel at what a long way we've come.
Recent data shows, though, that much of black progress is a myth. In many respects, African Americans are doing no better than they were when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and uprisings swept inner cities across America. Nearly a quarter of African Americans live below the poverty line today, approximately the same percentage as in 1968. The black child poverty rate is actually higher now than it was then. Unemployment rates in black communities rival those in Third World countries. And that's with affirmative action!

When we pull back the curtain and take a look at what our "colorblind" society creates without affirmative action, we see a familiar social, political, and economic structure -- the structure of racial caste. The entrance into this new caste system can be found at the prison gate.

This is not Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. This is not the promised land. The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.

Michelle Alexander is the author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and the former director of the Racial Justice Project of the ACLU in Northern California. She currently holds a joint appointment with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

Inside North Korea

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:56:11 -0800

A recent post on the blog boing boing drew my attention to two collections of photos on Boston.com depicting North Korea. The first set, shot by Eric Lafforgue, in 2008 shows the goings-on in and around Pyongyang for the communist regime's 60th anniversary. The second set are more recent, released earlier this year by the state's official news agency, and showing leader Kim Jong Il inspecting various sites around the country.

The two sets of photos provide a stark contrast to each other, one depicting the dilapidated apartment buildings and empty roads of the capital, the other, meticulously-staged shots of productive factories and well-stocked shops, Dear Leader presiding over it all with a patriarch's eye.

Lafforgue's vision of a country in ruins, juxtaposed against the perfectly-formed rows of mass games participants and soldiers, says much about the suffering of the North Korean people, as do his captions. This one, for example, on the state of the country's roads, "The only cars you can see sometimes on highways are military ones, and most of them are stopped by the side of road, broken down. Or you can also see brand new Mercedes cars belonging to the North Korean officials passing by at very high speeds."

Even though it is the worst kind of uphill battle, the struggle to free North Korea from the grip of Kim's regime continues outside the country. People like Kim Seong Min of Free North Korea Radio continue attempting to cut through the propaganda.

Jobs Bill

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:03:07 -0800

Tavis weighs in on the jobs bill and shares his frustration with the holdup in Congress to get it passed.

How Do You Define YOUR Beauty?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:31:49 -0800

This is an excerpt from an article first published at BabyGirlz Magazine.

BY TRACI L. LEE

On a February 16, 2010 episode of The Tyra Show, there was a segment titled: "I'm 9 and I Hate my Face." There were several girls featured, but the caption belonged to a young African-American girl that felt un-pretty based on negative comments that had been made to her by someone she thought was her friend. To feel pretty, she said, her preference was to have lighter skin and lighter eyes because in that way, she'd get more attention from boys -- like her friends.

When I was 12, my "friend" and I were sitting on the stairs to our apartments. It was a nice sunny day and I was sitting a few stairs down from her -- yet facing her -- which meant, I was facing the sun. She looked at me and said, "You would be so pretty if you had light-colored eyes." That stung. She would go on to tell me that if my complexion was lighter, I would be pretty. Basically, my brown skin was not enough to qualify for "pretty." Wow. Two things that I could never change as I was born with both.

So, there it was, at the age of 12. If my own friends didn't think I was beautiful, I couldn't possibly be, right? Your friends know the most and tell you the truth about everything, right?

Not necessarily. Yet I believed it for years. For years, I died my hair because I believed that lighter-hued hair would give the facade of a shade not as dark as my own.

Then there were the boys. I thought I was in place to be Ronnie's girlfriend. We spent time together outside with everyone else. Me, often with his arm wrapped around my shoulder, or him, holding my hand -- nice moments. Until Angel moved into the neighborhood. Angel with the curly hair, light skin and green eyes. It was as though Ronnie never met me. His attention diverted to her...and there it remained. I was devastated. Further devastated when the same friend told me that, "He chose Angel because she has 'good hair' and those pretty eyes."

Those were defining moments in my life -- and moments that turned into years of me doubting that I was anywhere near pretty, beautiful, gorgeous -- or if I would ever graduate from "cute."

One day, I don't remember quite when it was, things changed. I stopped dying my hair and a real friend said to me, "So, you are finally happy with the way you look?"

I hadn't even realized. It was just something that kind of happened, I guess. I was happy when it did, but I can't, with all honesty, say the exact moment. I do know it made me think long and hard about that road I'd just traveled. At some point, without even knowing it, I embraced ME.

Traci L. Lee is Editor-in-Chief of BabyGirlz Magazine, an online resource for young girls of color. She has also written for Moms of Hue.

Is the War in Afghanistan Really a War of Necessity?

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:32 -0800

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan Monday on an unannounced visit and warned of hard days ahead as the U.S. implements a surge of 30,000 troops through the summer.

The U.S. military has been in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion and there are no plans to leave anytime soon, even as the U.S. scales back in Iraq.

The driving force behind and justification for staying in the fight in Afghanistan is that the Afghanistan war, from the beginning, was a war of necessity.

The conventional wisdom goes like this: The United States was attacked by al Qaeda terrorists, led by mastermind Osama bin Laden, who received support from and a safe haven in Afghanistan. We had to go after Osama bin Laden. We had to topple the Taliban. We are doing the right thing to protect ourselves and to fight for justice by continuing our military campaign there.

Here is an excerpt from a September 2001 article in The New York Times:

President Bush demanded tonight that Afghanistan's leaders immediately deliver Osama bin Laden and his network and close down every terrorist camp in the country or face military attack by the United States...''From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime,'' Mr. Bush said in a blunt warning that could encompass countries that the United States has previously identified as giving safe haven to terrorists, among them Iraq, Iran and Syria. The demands included an insistence that Americans be able to inspect every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan to ensure that they have been dismantled. The president declared that every nation must choose sides in the coming conflict against a terrorist network that he said involved thousands of people in more than 60 countries. He warned the nation to expect a long campaign that will be fought with the visible weapons of war and secret operations.

Even President Obama, who inherited the war from President Bush, said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, "The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense."

Well, here's food for thought.

In a recent conversation with Tavis, Phyllis Bennis -- writer, analyst and fellow at Washington D.C.'s Institute for Policy Studies and director of its New Internationalism Program -- challenges the notion that the war in Afghanistan was one of necessity:

I think it was a war of choice at the time of 9/11. The attacks of 9/11 are horrific - a horrific attack, a horrific crime, a crime against humanity, and there were options...What we heard from the beginning was, "We're going to go after these people and we're going to kill them." The problem was "these people" were already dead. None of the people who committed those terrible crimes were Afghans. They were Egyptians, they were Saudis. None of them lived in Afghanistan, they lived in Hamburg. None of them trained in Afghanistan, they trained in Florida. None of them went to flight school in Afghanistan; they went to flight school in Minnesota. So we went to war against a country across the world from us because we could, because it was something that looked like justice, when it was really about vengeance, it wasn't about justice, and it was designed, I think, to lay the political basis for the war that would come later - the war in Iraq. So it wasn't a war of necessity then and it certainly isn't a war of necessity now.

Bennis goes on to say that it was President Bush's paradigm of an international war on terror that got the U.S. into a military campaign in Afghanistan. She says, "as soon as you use that war framework, the paradigm of war means that only the military is going to be engaged."

Bennis adds, "What we're seeing now is that for every person we kill - we are killing civilians...What happens to their families? What do they start to think about these Americans that are killing them without any accountability? So it's not making us safer, it's putting us at much greater risk."

What do you think? Is Afghanistan really a war of necessity? Is Bennis right when she says that it was really about vengeance? Should the U.S. military still be there? Share your thoughts with us below.

Dr. King's Forgotten Agenda

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:15:52 -0800

When you think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you probably think of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. But what do you think about his "Beyond Vietnam" speech?

What's that? You've never heard of Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech?

Well, you're not alone.

On Wednesday, March 31, the second installment of Tavis Smiley Reports explores the forgotten agenda of Dr. King by examining the "Beyond Vietnam" speech that he delivered at New York's Riverside Church in 1967 and the subsequent loss of his popularity in the last year of his life.

The speech at Riverside not only joined the anti-war and civil rights movements, but it also included a searing indictment of U.S. foreign policy when Dr. King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."

Listen to the audio and read a transcript of the speech here. And be sure to tune in to "MLK: A Call to Conscience" on Wednesday, March 31.

Fighting For Google's Attention

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:30:11 -0800

You wake up on a typical weekday morning, get dressed for work and head out the door. You get to your office, log on to your computer and, before you know it, you're gliding through the World Wide Web.

This sounds typical for most Americans, but what if you're in Small City, USA and not one of the hot beds of wireless innovation like metropolitan cities throughout the country? You're likely to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, outside the realm of new technology along the information superhighway.

So when Google announced it was looking for a relatively small community to test out its new broadband services, Small City, USA started pulling out all the stops.

Just weeks ago, the city formerly known as Topeka, KS was renamed Google, Kansas. The idea behind the name change was to point out the city's technological desire to be a forerunner in Google's offer to provide broadband technology to nearly 50,000 to half a million homes.

Not to be outdone, the city of Duluth began garnering some attention as well. The city's mayor declared that all firstborn children would be named "Google Fiber" for boys and "Googlette Fiber" for girls. The city also created a YouTube parody of the mayoral proclamation and began receiving national attention for its efforts.

Several cities, including Seattle, WA, Palm Bay, FL and Ann Arbor, MI, are also interested in being chosen as the Google broadband city. Given the high stakes of the prize, it's only a matter of time before each city tries to outdo the other in the fight for Google's attention.

Google's new broadband system will offer nearly 100 times more speed than that of traditional broadband systems. An increase like that would mean the possibility of attracting new dollars to a winning city.

What makes this opportunity so extraordinary is that smaller cities typically get left behind when it comes to unique opportunities to flourish technologically. With this initiative, however, it seems that Small City, USA will finally get a leg up on its big city counterparts, and receive a larger slice of the digital pie.

Oscars 2010: Watch These Too

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:23:27 -0800

Monday's show features three interviews with three actors nominated for Oscars this year. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges are both nominated for their turns in Crazy Heart (best supporting actress and best actor), and Jeremy Renner for his breakout performance in The Hurt Locker (best actor). If you haven't seen either of these movies, do it. Before the ceremony, if possible, but really, seeing them any time in the future will do the trick.

If you've already seen the films (and good for you if you have), you'd be well-served to check out some of these fine actors' previous work. Here are my favorites:

Maggie Gyllenhaal: Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Opposite Will Ferrell in the most serious (and most noteworthy) performance of his career, Gyllenhaal shines as a tax-dodging bakery owner who brings out the humanity in Ferrell's life-sapped IRS adjuster. If you don't love Gyllenhaal already, you will after seeing this.

Jeff Bridges: The Big Lebowski (1998)
Throughout Bridges' 40-plus years as a Hollywood actor, he's had plenty of roles that will be remembered and discussed for years to come. As fantastic as he was in The Last Picture Show and The Fisher King however, Bridges will forever be known for his role as The Dude in the Coen brother's immortal cult classic, The Big Lebowski. Surrounded by a stellar cast, including Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Goodman and Julianne Moore, Bridges stands out as the White Russian-drinking burnout who comes into a bag full of cash, with hilarious consequences.

Jeremy Renner: Dahmer (2002)
While Renner came to the attention of most of the film-going public this year, his breakout role in the film industry was the chilling biopic of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It was his intense performance in this that brought him to the attention of Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow, who subsequently sought him out to star in her latest film. Listen to Renner talk about Dahmer and The Hurt Locker here.

Michael Jackson's Hat and Other Treasures

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:33:50 -0800

In five years, a new Smithsonian will open in Washington DC, adjacent to the Washington Monument. Among the treasures in its collection: leg irons from a slave ship, a powderhorn that once belonged to a Revolutionary War hero named Prince Simbo and Michael Jackson's hat. The museum, of course, is the long awaited (and long overdue) National Museum of African American History and Culture, and these are just a few of the things museum curator Lonnie Bunch has collected in his travels across the nation, in search of artifacts to tell the story of African American culture.

Bunch appeared on NPR's All Things Considered today to talk about the artifacts, as well as the museum itself, which is scheduled to open in 2015. According to a statement from Bunch on their Website, the museum's aim will be "to help all Americans see just how central African American history is for all of us." Furthermore, Bunch continues, "This is not a museum that celebrates black history solely for black Americans. Rather we see this history as America's history. NMAAHC will use African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American."

We Count!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:46:04 -0800

Tavis talks about the upcoming event in Chicago called We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda.

Depression's Upside

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:44:55 -0800

In a lengthy article in this week's New York Times Magazine, Jonah Lehrer presents a theory that will be of interest to anyone who suffers from depression (which, according to NIMH, is nearly 10% of the population) or knows someone who does.

In Lehrer's story, titled "Depression's Upside," he presents the idea that depression has persisted throughout human evolution because it actually helps people focus on their problems and motivates them to correct them. It's far more complicated than that, of course, and there is plenty of contrary opinion brought up in the article, but it does address a question that has been appearing more and more recently of late in articles discussing mental disorders. Why have things like depression not been weeded out by evolution, remaining widespread throughout humankind?

It must, Lehrer suggests, serve some greater purpose. He cites the case of Charles Darwin, who suffered from depression throughout his life. The condition, he says, made Darwin all that much more focused on his work, which was his only respite. Could it be that depression is actually good for something? As counterintuitive as it seems, Lehrer makes a strong case to the affirmative.

Michelle Obama Tackles Child Obesity

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:34:13 -0800

Former Arkansas governor turned talk show host Mike Huckabee sat down with First Lady Michelle Obama on the Fox Network. The two spoke on the alarming issue of childhood obesity, and for good reason.

Currently, statistics indicate the life expectancy of our youth may be shortened due to overwhelming numbers of unhealthy foods and a lack of nutrition and exercise in children across the country.

Determined to make a difference, Michelle Obama pledged to get the country's children healthy by launching a nationwide campaign, called "Let's Move." It's a health initiative designed to have a positive impact on children's lives.

For Mike Huckabee, embracing positive health initiatives arguably saved his life. Almost eight years ago, then-Gov. Huckabee began a serious health overhaul in his life, following a personal health scare and diabetes diagnosis from his physician. Since that time, he has been a great supporter of health initiatives for children and adults.

Both had plenty to talk about on the topic and are deeply committed to combating the health crises in our youth. Be sure to check out a clip from the show below. The program airs again this evening on the Fox Network.

Carly Simon's Secret Revealed! (Maybe)

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:32:21 -0800

Oh, wait... no, it's just more of the same.

Okay, so (as blogged about here before, by me) the famous singer-songwriter Carly Simon, a guest on the program and all around nice lady, has made what amounts to a second career in stoking the speculation around her hit song, "You're So Vain."

It's a little weird to me that people still care about this (myself included, strangest of all) but this week a new revelation in the Carly Simon/You're So Vain saga. On a remastered version of the song, Simon is said to whisper the name of her mystery man, backwards.

Are you ready? After 30 years of anticipation, the mystery man is: David Geffen.

Huh? No, wait. According to this, it might actually be Warren Beatty. Or Mick Jagger.

Curse you, Carly Simon! You've done it again! And here I was hoping we could all move on with our lives.

A Quiet End to Hummer

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:41:27 -0800

With GM's announcement last week that the deal to sell Hummer to an obscure Chinese machining company had fallen through, it looks like the iconic brand is destined for history's scrapheap.

Unlike Saab, another GM brand threatened with failure, which was snapped up by boutique sports car maker Spyker, it seems like no one wants to have Hummer at the party. Can't blame them, really. The cars have become a symbol of American hubris and arrogance, and completely fly in the face of current trends towards smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.

As car writer Dan Neil, who appeared on the show in 2008, put it in an LA Times column that year:
"A couple of years ago, I parked a Hummer H2, in all its blunt-trauma enormity, in front of a coffee shop in Santa Monica. When I returned I discovered a note written on a paper napkin under the windshield. "This thing is so stupid! Why don't you grow up?"

America just got the memo."

There is hope, however. At least one person has figured out a way to make a Hummer appealing again.

Your Thoughts on the Nation's Health Discussion

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:20:57 -0800

An historic seven-hour debate on the nation's healthcare took place in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum, along with several health policy experts and physicians, filled Blair House, to attend the unprecedented televised healthcare summit with President Obama.

Now that the debate has ended, what are your thoughts on the overall success of the meeting?

Were there any good ideas that came up? What issue did you feel didn't get enough coverage?

Do you think this meeting will serve to give the president political cover necessary to go back to Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats and develop a more moderate bill without the support of Republicans? Or, did this discussion help to find some more common ground between Democrats and Republicans?

Share your thoughts.

Choosing "Power Over Love:" Condoleezza Rice as "American Faust"

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:45:29 -0800

I am not a film critic. So I will not attempt a critique or review of the investigative documentary American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi, which has won awards on the festival circuit and is available for download online.

I happened upon the film because a former classmate of mine worked on the documentary and suggested that I take a look at it.

The film examines the stunning rise and arguable fall of Condoleezza Rice from her childhood in Alabama to her roles as national security advisor and secretary of state, and it argues that it was Rice herself who ordered the CIA to use torture techniques.

After viewing the film, which, among other things, follows Rice's ideological and political party shifts over the decades, I will say that I was left to wonder who Condoleezza Rice really is.

I was struck by the interview with Rice's ex-fiancé and former Denver Broncos wide receiver Rick Upchurch, who says that Rice, in deciding to break their wedding engagement and pursue a career in Washington, chose "power over love." That's one take on it, I suppose.

I found the film's exploration of Rice's days studying under the late scholar-diplomat Josef Korbel revelatory (especially considering the fact that Korbel was Madeleine Albright's father).

But the film's look at Rice's role in torture practices under the Bush administration was startling.

American Faust's director, Sebastian Doggart, has faced criticism as the film's interviews and evidence present a very unflattering -- and some have argued one-sided -- story about Rice.

One critic says that the film "devolves into the sort of uni-dimensional agitprop incapable of either changing or opening minds." Another says that the film is an "attempt at character assassination."

I will leave that discussion to those who care to discuss it and will leave Rice's legacy to history. I was more interested in finding out what Doggart learned from and hoped to gain with the film.

Here's our exchange:

THOMPSON: Rice's voice is such a significant part of your film through her speeches and television interviews. Was there an attempt to have a sit-down interview with her? What was the reaction from her camp?

DOGGART: Interviews with Rice feature heavily in the film, and she defends herself on every allegation put to her. Her voice is heard more than any other voice in the film. We acquired these interviews through archival sources, or, in the case of one segment at Stanford, filming her secretly. Some of these interviews have never been shown before. Sadly, I never got to sit down with Rice. We invited her on numerous occasions, but she didn't even respond to those overtures.

At the same time, she and her friends actively obstructed our attempts to make the film. Her supporters helped to trash a deal we had made with Discovery for funding; they denied us access to archival materials at Denver and Stanford Universities; and Rice even sent her agents to interrogate me in Washington DC. Later, a screening at Stanford was canceled at the last minute after Rice's supporters threatened the undergraduate head of the Stanford Film Society, telling her that she was jeopardizing her future at the University. Happily, Amnesty International stepped in and screened it. Despite not directly interviewing her, however, I feel the film gives her side of the story fairly.

THOMPSON: What surprised you the most in working on American Faust? What did you learn about Rice that you couldn't have imagined before producing this film?

DOGGART: Most surprising was how far away the general perception of Rice as a yes-woman to President Bush was to the truth. Rice was Bush's chief confidante, with deeper and more enduring influence even than Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove -- and thus responsible for much of the Bush legacy. In terms of the most surprising action, I really did not suspect when I began researching her that she was a torturer. But the reports were clear from Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's chief of staff, Richard Clarke, and others: it was NSA Rice, as chair of the Group of Principals, who selected and authorized torture techniques used in secret prisons around the world. In these 'black sites', CIA and third party interrogators tortured often innocent suspects, who had no rights or recourse to habeas corpus.

On various occasions, they were tortured not for information that they had, but for information that the interrogators wanted them to have, specifically for ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that could pump up the case for war with Iraq. Many suspects delivered this information to get the tormentors off their back. That's no surprise when you consider that the techniques used included, on the soft end, playing Britney Spears continuously and at top volume for two days, in a dark room, with strobe lights flashing; and, on the hard end, fingernail extraction, electrocution and, in the case of Binyam Mohamed, slicing into his penis and then pouring acid into the bleeding wound. Rice signed off on these techniques by instructing CIA Director George Tenet, "This is your baby, go do it."

All these methods are illegal: they are defined as criminal in the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments"; the 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibition of "outrages upon human dignity"; and the U.N. Convention against Torture, to which President Ronald Reagan -- Rice's role model -- signed up to in 1988. Moreover, her crimes need to be prosecuted. Because Article Six of the Constitution enshrines treaties as "the supreme law of the land", President Obama and his attorney general have an obligation to uphold them, and thus to arrest alleged war criminals, such as Rice, and prosecute them in Federal Court.

THOMPSON: I was most surprised and intrigued by the transformation from her Dr. Josef Korbel days to her Bush administration days and the Democrat-to-Republican-back-to-Democrat-then-back-to-Republican shifts in between. It left me wondering whether or not she held any strong ideological convictions. Did you feel the same way?

DOGGART: Rice's political and ideological trajectory is astoundingly mercurial. Her stated beliefs have changed according to the direction she wants her career to go in. This is partly demonstrated in her shifts back and forth between the parties, and what her biographer Marcus Mabry calls her about-turn from being a realist in the Korbel and Scowcroft school, to being an idealist in the neo-con school of Richard Perle and Dick Cheney.

What is more disturbing is that none of her stated values seem to be reflected in her actions. She adamantly claims to be a Christian; yet there's not much evidence in a belief in the Gospel of Peace, or the Christian principle of turning the other cheek in her political record. Her support of torture doesn't bear much resemblance to Christ's warning that "what you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me." Her regular distortion of the truth under oath -- carefully documented in the film -- is a transgression of the 9th commandment not to bear false witness. She claims to be acting in the national U.S. interest, yet her actions -- her vigorous support for the Iraq war, her advocacy for the value of Guantanamo, her contempt for the rule of law -- have acted as a recruitment call for many people who did not hate America before. The only principle she has followed consistently in her life is the pursuit of personal power.

THOMPSON: What message or idea do you hope people will walk away from American Faust with? What do you hope they will learn or understand about Rice from this film?

DOGGART: I hope people will see how power corrupts, and work to ensure it doesn't happen again, especially when it comes to trampling over the laws that make this country great, or to ensuring that torture never again happens with the blessing of the U.S. government.

THOMPSON: Do you believe that Rice will run for president? Will she be a Democrat or a Republican?

DOGGART: If she runs for president, she will certainly run as a Republican. Ever since she was tempted by the Hoover Institution to switch from Democrat to Republican, she has seen that her upwardly mobile career path is far smoother in the GOP. The GOP desperately needs Black women in their supposedly big tent, and, now that Obama is president, their presence is even more valued. She's certainly sharper and more experienced than Sarah Palin, and could grab a good chunk of female and African American voters away from the Democrats. She has her problems, not just the record of the Bush administration, which Republican historians can soon re-write, but a weakness in public speaking and a lack of passion for the cut-and-thrust of electoral politics. She's actually never been elected to any post ever; she's always been appointed by men who have spotted her value in advancing their own status. So I would think it's more likely she'd be a vice presidential candidate to, say, Mitt Romney.

Earned Citizenship

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:15:58 -0800

BY GABRIEL THOMPSON

The hardships that undocumented workers suffer, which I witnessed firsthand while reporting my book, has me thinking about a term that is frequently used in debates around immigration: "earned citizenship."

The phrase is meant to highlight the fact that immigration reform wouldn't just grant people amnesty, but force them to follow a path to citizenship that they must "earn" by paying fees, taking English classes, etc.

I understand the strategic purpose of highlighting this idea, but it still makes me want to punch the nearest wall.

The truth is that most undocumented immigrants have already demonstrated more chutzpah than people like me ever will, and have already sacrificed to the extent that the notion of making them "earn" anything is condescending.

(Watch Thompson's interview with Tavis.)

When I was at the poultry plant, many of my coworkers were Guatemalan immigrants. In brief, my life story: I grew up in the suburbs, moved to New York City, and like to read and write.

Their life story: fled a civil war in which many of their friends and family were killed. Arrived in Florida to pick tomatoes for years in an area where slave labor still flourishes. Now they spend eight hours a day doing the highly repetitive work of poultry processing, sometimes suffering from carpal tunnel and other ailments. Half of my English-speaking orientation crew had left the job within weeks; many of the Guatemalans I worked alongside had stuck with the work for years.

When I've gotten to know the individual stories of undocumented immigrants, the last thing on my mind is that they need to "earn" something more in order to prove they are willing to make sacrifices to live in this country. Instead, I think about how lucky I am to have had such an easy life, which was only made possible because some very determined Finns and Norwegians took a big risk a hundred years ago and got on a boat.

Of course, back then we didn't make my ancestors "earn" anything -- if they were white and had the gumption to make the dangerous trek, they were granted legal status -- so some things have certainly changed.

Gabriel Thompson is an award-winning investigative journalist, who, in 2005, traveled to Mexico to complete his book, There's No José Here. His latest book, Working in the Shadows, chronicles his year-long experiment working undercover in the immigrant workforce. Check out his new book and become a Facebook fan.

Don't Expect Televised Change

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:44:14 -0800

The White House has convened a summit to discuss the nation's troubling healthcare crisis for this Thursday on C-SPAN. President Obama, along with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, will be on hand to have an open and honest dialogue on reducing the rising healthcare premium costs, as well as finding a way to help the over 40 million Americans without healthcare receive coverage.

While I'm all for bipartisanship, I can't say that I'm expecting a great deal of change to come out of one meeting. Here are a few reasons why.

Think back to the summer of 2009. President Obama held a televised town hall meeting on the issue of healthcare, in primetime no less, and it didn't sway public opinion one bit.

Now, imagine that same conversation with a group of independent, career-minded politicians who have their own ideas and beliefs on what will work best for the country and you begin to see what a C-SPAN conversation would look like.

It does nothing to move the healthcare discussion forward and only gives detractors more time to prolong a bill from getting passed.

Secondly, having one televised conversation doesn't allow citizens the opportunity to see the politicians on a consistent enough basis to make an informed decision on how serious they are about any commitments or compromises they say they'll make.

In the final analysis, I think most voters would agree that the president deserves some props for actually doing what he said he would do as a candidate to air healthcare negotiations on TV. However, if this administration is serious about making health reform available with the full faith and support of the American citizens behind it, it will take more than a few hours on C-SPAN to do it.

Gil Scott-Heron's Triumphant Return

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:54:26 -0800

I've been a fan of Gil Scott-Heron for years, but to me, the pioneering spoken-word artist and precursor to modern hip-hop was just that, someone from a bygone era who contributed greatly to the evolution of music, then faded into history. I never could have imagined he would return--and more than that--return in absolutely top-notch form.

Scott-Heron didn't disappear from the musical landscape entirely, but after releasing 1994's "Spirits," which, along with one other album, was his only release since the early 1980s, he faded again from view. As it turns out, Scott-Heron spent much of the last 16 years in and out of prison and rehab.

Now, however, he's back, and after listening to "I'm New Here," his new album, is undeniably as good as ever. The album consists of Scott-Heron's signature spoken word style, backed by dark electronic beats. This is, at its heart, a blues album, but rather than raging at the world's injustices, he spends more time talking about the lessons he's learned from his own experiences (of which there are doubtless, many). Despite his shift in subject matter, however, his words remain as incisive as ever, his poetry as profound.

For someone like Scott-Heron, who has already contributed so much to the canon of American music, an album like this is more than a bonus, it's a gift.

You can listen to tracks from the album at Gilscottheron.net.

Troubled Sides

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:49:30 -0800

Recently, Americans were in an uproar after witnessing on video a 15-year-old girl being attacked by teenagers in a Washington transit tunnel.

The story made national headlines as citizens became outraged at the fact that security officers in the transit system did not step in to assist the girl during the conflict.

Following the attack, 15-year-old Aiesha Steward-Baker appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the incident. During the interview, she spoke about the betrayal she felt towards police and other security guards on duty in the Washington transit tunnel who didn't step in to break up the fight.

Olympic Security Services, the company contracted to provide security services for the city transit system, has decided, in light of the incident, to revise their policy of "observe and report" when an altercation arises. The company is now infusing more armed deputies into the transit system to make sure that safety is maintained.

Since that time, more information regarding Steward-Bakers past has come to the surface. Records indicate that she was involved in two prior cases of assault. In these cases, she was the alleged attacker and not the victim.

News of the 15-year-old's alleged attacks brings a new argument into the picture. On one hand, we see a young girl who, most would agree, should not have endured the type of beating she received while security was present.

On the other hand, there will be those who argue that if Steward-Baker's alleged acts of robbery and assault are in fact true, she may not, in the court of public opinion, deserve anything.

Most viewers of the video are likely to agree that no one should have to endure the type of beating that took place and that something should have been done to stop the attack.

The question now is whether or not Steward-Baker deserves to be compensated for any of it.

Question: In light of the new information, do you think Steward Baker deserves to be compensated for the ordeal she suffered, or is this a case of one girl simply receiving payback for the pain she has allegedly inflicted on others in her past?

See the video for yourself and decide.

Political Damage From The Stimulus

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:04:43 -0800

Last week marked the birthday of the controversial stimulus package that passed in Washington, D.C. last year

Amid harsh criticism from the public and members of the House, President Obama asserted that the stimulus dollars were absolutely necessary to prevent a depression throughout the country.

Several media sources have taken up the task of of tracking stimulus dollars to find out where exactly the money has gone and if those dollars have in fact created jobs. Most economists, along with a handful of Republicans, will tell you that the stimulus has created jobs, but there's still a lot of uncertainty about the program's success.

In recent remarks made by President Obama, he stated that the decision to pass stimulus legislation was not a politically convenient decision, rather one of necessity to the overall well being of the nation.

He could not have been more precise. Even though the stimulus dollars may have saved us from a depression, the major power brokers in this discussion are the voters. Their sense of anger or enthusiasm towards the stimulus package will determine the political landscape of the next several years. This is undoubtedly an area of great concern for the president.

Think about it. The Democrats will have an uphill battle ahead of them, heading into the 2010 midterm elections and the general election of 2012, should the anger of American citizens continue to erupt over the massive stimulus package and other policies that the public feels the Obama administration is failing in.

Personally, I think it's too early to tell what type of an impact the dollars will make. There's just no real way of taking $700 billion and transforming it into tens of thousands of jobs overnight. Voters however don't always vote in terms of rationale; they vote in terms of emotion.

To that end, if Democrats want to continue holding the seats they have in both the House and the Senate, they must continue to show Americans how the stimulus is actually helping them. Otherwise, the Obama administration risks severe political damage and will receive a vote of no confidence from the American people.

Question: Has the economic stimulus made a significant impact or is it too early to tell?

Share your thoughts.

President Obama and Race

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:20:18 -0800

Tavis discusses the question of whether or not President Obama is too tepid on race.

Black History Month Celebration

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:52:05 -0800

Tavis weighs in on the importance of Black History Month and its relevance today.

The Unpredictable Tracy Morgan

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:57:08 -0800

Tuesday's guest is TV funny man and stand-up comedian Tracy Morgan. Best known for his work on SNL and 30 Rock, Morgan is many things, but predictable is not one of them.

His character on 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan, is an eccentric but lovable comic whose crazy antics on the set of the fictional variety show TGS are matched only by the bizarre string of films he has starred in previously. Highlights include Who Dat Ninja and, my personal favorite, Honky Grandma be Trippin'. According to Tina Fey, a castmate at SNL and costar with him on 30 Rock, Morgan was one of the primary influences in getting 30 Rock off the ground. Indeed, the multi Emmy-winning show's appeal can be mostly divided between Morgan, Fey and Alec Baldwin.

Back in his SNL days, Morgan was known for characters like Brian Fellow, a simple and quick-tempered animal enthusiast who hosted his own Oprah-style animal talk show. And while he was always a hit on Saturday Night Live, some of Morgan's best, most unpredictable, work took place when he was playing himself.

Some of Morgan's notoriety stems from his appearances on local TV news shows, where, instead of promoting his next stand-up gig, he would take off his shirt and act crazy for the duration of the interview. Here's a taste:

Lately, however, in interviews to promote his book, I Am the New Black with the likes of NPR's Terry Gross and Esquire's Scott Raab, Morgan seems to have calmed down. While he's been sticking to more traditional talking points lately, he's no less funny than ever. More of the same is a reasonable expectation on Tuesday... but you never know.

Words of Wisdom for Valentine's Day

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:46:30 -0800

You know, I've heard people say that too much of anything is not good for you, baby. But I don't know about that. Neither did Barry White, who, no doubt, will be providing many people with a soundtrack this Valentine's Day.

Incidentally, Barry White didn't make Billboard's "Top 50 Sexiest Songs" list this year, but that changes nothing for me. For my money, there are few love songs that hold a candle to White's catalog. His voice could melt the polar icecaps, and his lyrics were timeless pop gems. Light a scented candle and enjoy the following:

Can Toyota Recover?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:01:40 -0800

Before the dismal news of the manufacturer's accelerator issues, Toyota, the international car giant, had made an impressive name for itself, working to make the brand's name synonymous with quality.

News of defective accelerator parts has called that quality into question recently, with the Toyota company issuing a massive recall on millions of vehicles.

In a year where auto sales of everything from hybrids to light trucks are expected to increase, Toyota could not have picked a worse time to have mishaps. You can just picture automakers like Ford and GM licking their chops to cash in on Toyota's calamity. Competitors are already offering deals to lure Toyota consumers to the other side.

Amid criticism of the company's defective parts, Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, apologized for the company's recent crisis.

The U.S. government however may be seeking more than apologies from Toyota. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood is also looking into the matter, stating the company could be facing some hefty civil penalties due to the fact that Toyota had to be "forced" to issue a recall.

While Toyoda worked to reassure customers that they are working feverishly to repair the faulty gas accelerators, he and his staff must also work to repair the damaged image of the company brand.

It appears Toyota could use a slight history lesson to get itself back on track. I'll provide one.

In 1963, Toyota was the 93rd largest non-American company in the world. In 1966, it moved up to number 47. From there, the company progressed significantly to become the number 3 auto manufacturer in the world. Theirs is a telling story of how a little known company can become great.

Toyota's success didn't occur overnight. It took dedication and persistence along with a commitment to quality. It seems to me that's the one ingredient that's been missing from Toyota for a while now.

Another reason behind Toyota's success was a man named W. Edwards Deming. The company hired him because of his theory of placing quality as a first priority in the automotive manufacturing process. His concept was then embraced by Toyota and further developed into what later became known as the Toyota Production System.

It was dedication to quality and ingenuity that kept consumers coming back to Toyota again and again, for decades.

Simply put, if Toyota has any chance of restoring their place as an industry giant, they need to restore the trust and confidence in consumers by getting back to the basics of putting quality first.

Is President Obama Too Tepid on Race?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:10:05 -0800

There has been discussion recently among black leaders and scholars about how President Obama, this nation's first African American president, is handling race.

What do you think? Has President Obama done "enough" for African Americans? And what is "enough?" Has the president been too tepid on race?

Please share your thoughts and opinions below, and they may be included in an upcoming video blog.

Take the Pronoun Test

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:29:47 -0800

BY DANIEL PINK

In the early 1990s, I had the good fortune to work for Robert B. Reich, then the U.S. Secretary of Labor. He taught me a simple (and free) tool for diagnosing the health of an organization.

When he visited companies and talked with employees, Reich listened carefully for the pronouns people used. Did employees refer to their companies as "they" or as "we"?

"They" suggested at least some amount of disengagement, and perhaps even alienation. "We" suggested the opposite -- that employees felt that they were part of something significant and meaningful.

(VIDEO: Two questions to help you find your inner motivation.)

If you're a boss -- of a handful of people, an entire organization, or even your local church group -- spend a few days listening to the people around you, not only in formal settings like meetings, but also in the hallways and at lunch. Then apply Reich's pronoun test.

Are you a "we" organization or a "they" organization? The difference matters.

As I mentioned to Tavis during our interview, all of us seek intrinsic motivation. The thing is, "we" can get it -- but "they" can't.

Daniel Pink is the author of several bestselling books that analyze business and workplace trends, and his articles appear in The New York Times and Wired, where he's a contributing editor. His latest book is Drive: The Suprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Jackson's Doctor in Court

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:36:22 -0800

Is Dr. Conrad Murray responsible for manslaughter?

Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor now known to the world, in part, as one of the last people to spend time with Michael Jackson, was in court recently.

He appeared before a judge and pled not guilty to charges stemming from the untimely death of the pop icon.

Reports indicate that a crowd of spectators were on the scene at the courthouse, some even calling him a murderer.

Unfortunately for Murray, he and his legal team are in for just this type of visceral anger as they prepare for trial in April.

With all of the media attention, and public perception of perceived guilt against Murray, will he receive a fair trial in California or anywhere else for that matter?

Is Conrad Murray truly guilty of wrongdoing?

The Storied Career of Garry Marshall

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:38:22 -0800

Director/producer/actor/Penny Marshall sibling Garry Marshall has been a player in Hollywood since Chaplin wore short pants, as they say. He is credited with creating Laverne and Shirley, Mork & Mindy and Happy Days, and producing Pretty Woman, among many other films.

Marshall will be Tavis' guest this Wednesday to discuss his new film, Valentine's Day, which stars a bevy of Hollywood bigshots, including Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher and Jessicas Alba and Biel. The movie looks like standard romantic comedy fare, a story about love conquering all, etc, the kind of thing men everywhere will be pressured into taking their wives/girlfriends to see on Valentine's night. Fluffy, enjoyable, benign. Fair enough.

What I'd like to hear Marshall talk about, however, is his incredible career producing films and TV shows. Alongside the hits under Marshall's name are numerous flops, mostly the kind of forgettable shows and films that are par for the course in a Hollywood career, but some so unabashedly awful as to be infamous in their own right. One of those is Me and the Chimp, which aired for a season in 1972, and is, according to Wikipedia, "considered by many to be one of the worst shows in the history of television." Then there's Makin' It, a short-lived series about a disco dancer who worked in an ice cream parlor in Passaic, NJ.

Marshall's mark on film and TV can't be disputed, but there are probably far fewer interesting things to say about Pretty Woman than there are about Me and the Chimp. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, either. As they say, that's show business.

Precious: A Question of Black and White

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:05:09 -0800

The film Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire was one of the breakout successes of 2009, taking home multiple awards at Sundance and Cannes and receiving six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

The film, which you already probably know is about an illiterate, obese black teenager who has been the victim of incest, was backed strongly by Oprah as having the potential to open viewers' eyes to the plight of underprivileged kids among us. "None of us who sees the movie can now walk through the world and allow the Preciouses of the world to be invisible," she told a group of journalists at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Similarly, critics have hailed the film as an uplifting masterpiece, despite the "almost unbearably" bleak situation of its main character, and a story that finds hope amid the worst imaginable kind of circumstances. One critic, however, sees it differently.

In a recent NY Times Op-Ed, Ishmael Reed, the prominent author, essayist and longtime UC Berkeley professor, suggests, in no uncertain terms, that Precious' success is due to its accessibility to white people.

"The blacks who are enraged by Precious have probably figured out that this film wasn't meant for them," he writes. Reed then goes on to cite the all-white governing board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the largely white community of film critics, and Oprah's vast white fan base as the prime reasons for the film's widespread success.

"Is the enthusiasm of such white audiences and awards committees based on their being comfortable with the stereotypes shown?" he asks, before presenting some compelling evidence to the affirmative, like the media's taste for stories that vilify black men, as opposed to the benign and caring white characters in the film.

Reed's argument is thin at times (does the murder of 300 blacks in the 1921 Tulsa riots really have anything to do with this? The movie Dangerous Minds has its share of racial gaffes, but it also wasn't nominated for any Oscars), but he does make some good points.

I wouldn't say this is any reason not to watch Precious, or that it doesn't deserve the raft of accolades it's accumulated, but it ought to give us all something to think about on Oscar night.

Haiti's Recovery

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:11:34 -0800

Tavis reflects on his conversation with Wyclef Jean and discusses the importance of not losing focus on Haiti.

Is Black History Month Still Relevant?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:15:21 -0800

Now that we are a few days into Black History Month, there has been some discussion (see here and here) about the relevance or irrelevance of the month-long celebration.

What do you think?

Is it still necessary to designate an entire month to celebrate Black History? Does the election of Barack Obama as president somehow mean that Americans have learned the lessons about African American contributions to this country?

And is Black History Month still relevant? Why or why not?

Please share your thoughts and opinions below, and they may be included in an upcoming video blog.

Patti Smith's "Just Kids"

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:33:39 -0800

Legendary punk-rock pioneer Patti Smith will be Tavis' guest this coming Friday to discuss her new memoir, Just Kids, which chronicles her relationship with her friend and collaborator, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Smith arrived in New York city from a small town in Southern New Jersey in 1967, and landed squarely in one of the richest artistic environments of the 20th century. One of the first people she met in the city was Robert Mapplethorpe. The two quickly became very close, and their relationship would endure through both artists' rise to fame, until Mapplethorpe's untimely death from AIDS in 1989.

In anticipation of Friday's segment, I checked out her recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. In it, Smith speaks candidly about her relationship with Mapplethorpe, her early days in New York and the remarkable people she's known and been influenced by, including Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

Here's a great clip of Smith in 1976 performing her song, "Horses" and her famous cover of Jimi Hendrix's hit, "Hey Joe."

What Do You Want Obama to Address in the State of the Union?

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:25:48 -0800

Ahead of Wednesday's State of the Union Address at 9 p.m. EST, we want to hear from you.

What is the one issue that you hope President Obama addresses Wednesday night?

Share your thoughts with us here, and come back after the speech to let us know what you thought of the address.

And if you still have more to say, YouTube has come up with a way to submit follow-up questions to the president at http://www.youtube.com/citizentube.

When the Cameras Stop Rolling

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:15:39 -0800

This post was first published at www.masonsays.com.

BY MASON JAMAL

Haiti, unfortunately, is no different from the others. Tragedy strikes and the media arrives in full occupying force. It's the story of the moment. Everyone cares. The information and images take up temporary residence in our collective conscience. Our hearts go out. But, invariably, so do the lights. The bulbs stop flashing. The cameras stop rolling. Heads stop talking. Then what? Do we look the other way, as usual, and forget about the people of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding provinces? Sadly enough, most of us will.

Prompted by the media, our attention and focus will turn elsewhere; this way folks - on to the next story. Meanwhile, the death toll will continue to soar and, for the survivors, so will the pain and suffering. Haiti is haunted by the reality that it will be a country of amputees for the foreseeable future, many of whom are orphaned children.

Relatively speaking, it wasn't nearly as horrific, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina provides a similar case study in media attention deficit disorder. Nearly 2,000 people died, and countless more were permanently relocated by the natural forces of the hurricane coupled with the economic forces of government neglect. For the poor, it's a one-two punch in the gut. And even though media coverage bubbled over at first, it eventually fizzled out. And with it so did public interest. If this is how American citizens were treated and nearly forgotten, can we really expect anything different in Haiti?

Pardon my cynicism, but human tragedy is big business for the news industry. It's not that members of the media don't have hearts. It's rather difficult not to, even for the most hardened journalist in a situation as catastrophic as this. But while this story has legs for now, they too will be amputated soon enough. And will the American public care as much then when the cameras stop rolling? Most won't. Just as we saw with the coverage of New Orleans and all the talk about how America will never be the same, this too shall be out of sight and out of mind. Then what?

Mason Jamal blogs for AOL Black Voices, as well as his own site, www.masonsays.com. You can also find him on Twitter @masonsays.

Political Change Takes Time

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:20:19 -0800

Recently, President Obama spoke before a crowd of supporters in Elyria, Ohio. He gave a rousing speech that left supporters enthusiastic and reassured them that they had a friend in the White House fighting for them.

While the firebrand style of speech making was well received in the crowd, Obama should have made mention of one more important thing: change takes time.

Events ranging from troop surges to tea parties, along with crippling unemployment figures, keep the Obama administration at odds with the American people.

The election of Republican Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts echoed that sentiment and, in a way, gave the White House a serious wake up call. In all fairness, no one can argue the past year has been easy for the Obama administration.

They were smart enough however to know they needed to start formalizing some sort of response to the growing frustration of Americans, but weren't quick enough in acknowledging that big change takes real patience.

If the president and his party are to have any chance of fulfilling a historic agenda, they must not only understand the plight of American people, but provide an honest assessment of what is needed to accomplish the tasks he was elected to fix. If he fails to do this, he risks losing the support that he desperately needs in order to see the country thrive again.

What Will it Take to Save Haiti?

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:57:41 -0800

The humanitarian response to the disaster in Haiti, which has seen 150,000 buried so far, is truly staggering. It reaffirms my faith in humanity to see the world pulling together to help the impoverished nation recover and rebuild from this catastrophe, with many millions donated to charities working on the island.

Throughout this historic effort to help the people of Haiti, with all of these millions flowing into the country, I can't help but wonder where it all will go. Food, medical supplies, clothing and shelter will account for a lot of it, but once such necessities are taken care of, what will be done with the rest?

It is my sincere hope, along with everyone else who gave money to help the Haitians through this disaster, that the country that will emerge from the earthquake's wreckage will be a better, more prosperous, more stable place than before. Whether this will be the case, however, remains to be seen.

In a recent NY Times op-ed, Mark Danner, author of Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War, shares this view, and begins to explain how Haiti became such an impoverished place to begin with. From the slave revolt that bought the country its freedom, to the crippling reparations it was forced to pay to France in order to keep it, to the long succession of corrupt leaders, sham elections, and failed foreign interventions that have so far failed to raise Haiti from its status as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Danner describes a place that has been oppressed for centuries.

Certainly, all of this aid to Haiti will help the nation regain its footing, but judging by the success of past efforts by well-meaning foreigners to stabilize the island and raise it from poverty, it will take more than money and good intentions to do so.

If Disaster Strikes, Would You "Loot?"

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:15:45 -0800

You might as well call me a "looter" now. Let's just get it out of the way.

Because I know that If I ever survive a natural disaster, have no place to escape to and find myself hungry, injured, traumatized from the loss of loved ones and without every possession I ever owned, including my city, I will go into a store and take food. I will also take candles, matches, batteries, a flashlight, blankets, first aid supplies and a pair of shoes.

And if I have a baby, add diapers, formula and baby aspirin to the list. I don't know. I think it might be called survival.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it got under my skin that some media outlets referred to the survivors as "looters." I remember waiting for the footage of the so-called looting. But what I saw, over and over, were images of people leaving a store with food or diapers.

And it's happening now with the survivors of the 7.0 magnitude quake (and the equally devastating aftershocks) in Haiti. These are a couple of the headlines: "Looting in the Open in Haiti;" "Aftershock Provokes More Panic, Looting in Haiti."

What do you think? Does it make sense for someone who doesn't have access to badly needed food, water or medical supplies to avoid taking the items out of moral conviction? Do you think the term "looters" should be used by the news media? And finally, if disaster strikes, what would you do? Share your thoughts below.

Small Business Finds Little Relief

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:50:53 -0800

Are you a small business owner?

Are you struggling to find capital to expand or even purchase the supplies necessary to stay in business?

If so, you're not alone. Citizens throughout the U.S. are still feeling the pinch of the global economic recession.

To make matters worse, new reports indicate some of the biggest banks on Wall Street have significantly decreased their lending for small businesses.

Banking giant JP Morgan has decreased its small business lending by over $800 million.

Throughout the industry, banks in November of 2009 pulled another $1 billion from small business lending.

As U.S. jobless claims continue to rise, many question how banks can run away from lending when small business is supposed to be the driving force of our economy. With news like this, it appears that the start of 2010 is bringing with it economic wounds of the past.

What problems or solutions aren't being addressed on behalf of American small business owners?

A "Jobless Recovery"

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:35:47 -0800

As the financial markets rebounded in 2009 President Obama signed an extension of emergency unemployment benefits and called for a summit on mounting job losses. With the jobless rate still at 10%, the experts, who predict that the jobless rate will only get worse through 2011, have dubbed this post-bailout period a "jobless recovery." But is it really a recovery if Main Street is still hurting?

Check out our Web-exclusive video on this topic and share your thoughts below.

Life in Mogadishu

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:25:07 -0800

This post is from Reese's travels to Somalia. The East African nation has been devastated by factional fighting that has lasted for two decades and has been without a functioning central government since 1991. About 1.5 million of Somalia's people are internally displaced.

BY JOHNATHAN REESE

The sun burned my skin through my t-shirt and the ocean wind was relentless. The beautiful white sands were thrown with each gust to batter me inside the bombed-out building that we called home.

I was worn after only two days in the world's most dangerous city - Mogadishu. Small arms and anti-aircraft fire were the sounds of nature. I'd never been in combat and had only recently fired a weapon, but these blasts quickly became background noise.

Just two days before, I had jumped off the ramp of an IL-76 Russian cargo plane at Mogadishu International Airport. A tall Somali greeted me, loaded my bags into a pick-up truck and carted me off to an abandoned building, sluggishly refurbished.

"It's not much, but we once lived in tents." he apologized.

I learned that he had once lived in Canada and the United States and was part of the Somali diaspora, (seemingly more far-reaching than the entire African diaspora). It was comforting that I'd already found someone that had at least known the world from which I came. Now I needed to learn his reality.

"Do you know the AK-47?" he asked as he handed me a rusty Beretta.

"Yes."

"It works the same," he said, referring to the Beretta. "This is for protection. If the insurgents penetrate the perimeter, take this and hide until real help comes."

Learning about Death and Tanks

In the morning the boss asked me to return the weapon. I handed it over. He explained that the camp was surrounded by 1,700 African Union troops, and there was no need to worry unless the tanks started up; that had never happened. The tall Somali's name was Abdulqaadir. I told him that the boss took my gun.

"He's a retired Marine. Maybe he knows something we don't."

"How do you deal with the fact that you can die at any time?" I asked.

"It's not up to me. Allah decides when you go, and you can only accept."

I wondered how one could accept death with such indifference.

......

A week passed and every night our team of eight sat down to watch "24" on DVD. The Somalis sipped tea, browsed the internet, and chewed khat. We watched at least two episodes a night.

Fighting was unusually heavy in the city one night. Some blasts were too close for comfort. I watched for a reaction from the team, but no one seemed to care. I continued to watch Jack Bauer when the next blast sent pieces of the ceiling crashing to the floor of the structure.

The mechanic was sent to switch off the generator.

We sat in complete darkness with only the glow of laptops to fill the void of the night. Each one slowly packed his laptop and tea cup and retired to his room. Suddenly the void was filled by the deep growl of a tank. I missed my Beretta. The tanks sped out of the compound destroying a concrete barrier. The boss had been asleep for an hour.

Since the tanks had first stormed out of the base there had been only twenty minutes of intense fighting, but it was now 3 a.m. and I hadn't closed my eyes (too busy planning my escape). In reality I was pinched between a violent society and a shark-infested ocean.

"An idle man is a wasted man ..."

I awoke in the morning. Life continued: we joked, we argued, we worked as if no one could have died the night before.

It was then that I opened the discussion with Abdulqaadir about why he returned to Somalia.

"Do you think you are here to help Somalia?" he asked.

"I know my personal effort won't make an immediate impact, but in the long run I guess every bit counts, right?"

"Absolutely not. These warlords disturb lives to make money, and they make too much to stop now. As long as no one intervenes, Somalia will continue this way. They are all rich, but now it comes to power. They could go to Europe or America, anywhere, and be satisfied. But they continue ... everyone has his time. It is you and only you that will become your demise."

He continued, "I don't want to die here. I am here because there is a job here. I risk my life for my family, but there is no risk really."

"How is there no risk?"

"The risk would be not to come here. Although mortars pound our camp, insurgents are only a kilometer away, I am providing for my family. An idle man is a wasted man. Everyone, everyday must seek their daily bread, no matter where or how."

Johnathan Reese is a contractor for a private company that focuses on nation-building, infrastructure and stability worldwide. He has been working in Somalia since 2008.

Tavis Talks to Hillary Clinton

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:55:42 -0800

Fans of Hillary Clinton are in for a treat next week, as Tavis kicks off his Tavis Smiley Reports series with an interview with the Secretary of State and former First Lady. Even if you didn't vote for Hillary in the 2008 election, there's going to be something for everyone as the two discuss U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration.

The special interview will air on January 27 but, until then, you can check out this cool promo video and find advance clips from the interview here.

The King of Calypso

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:43:21 -0800

Harry Belafonte returns to the show this week, for what is sure to be an engaging discussion of music, politics and world affairs.

Belafonte, apart from being one of the most successful African American pop stars of all time, has long been an outspoken activist and was an important figure in the civil rights movement.

His music, of course, is legendary. Here's a clip of a very young, and very cool Belafonte singing with Nat King Cole (and doubling on the drums!)

Is Airport Security Really Secure?

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:15:31 -0800

Airport security is serious business, given the threat of domestic and international terrorism around the globe. So why are there so many questionable occurrences still taking place in our airports?

The New York Times wrote a report outlining how an eight-year-old boy with a name similar to an individual on the U.S. no-fly-list is getting searched thoroughly at airport screening checks. Keep in mind that this is an eight-year-old kid and not a terrorist mastermind. Does this story sound a bit odd to you?

Unfortunately, it just so happens that occurrences like these aren't so odd after all.

One gentleman in Canada continued to get hassled extensively from U.S. officials every time he touched American soil. He too had a name that was similar to a suspect on the U.S. no-fly-list. What did he do to get the authorities off of his back?

The answer is all too easy; he formally changed his name and virtually had no more interference from U.S. security personnel. I have to say simply looking at a list to determine one's credibility to fly is probably not the best line of defense in ensuring safety at our nations airports.

While it's good that our Canadian neighbor no longer gets the evil eye in U.S. airports due to his name change, the glaring problem for the rest of us is the fact that if he can change his name so easily, anyone else can. Realistically speaking, if this so-called Canadian security threat simply dropped off of the radar due to a name change, what's to keep a real terrorist from succeeding in their plans?

Incidents like these are just the type of cases that should be immediately flagged for investigation. If not, I believe we leave ourselves open to further security breaches that may cost precious lives.

After reading the article, I was more alarmed than comforted and left with a huge question: Is the U.S. truly providing the best in security checks at our airports or are these discrepancies indicative of larger problems that exist?

Share your thoughts.

How You Can Help Quake Survivors in Haiti

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:22:56 -0800

If you have seen the images of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the city Tuesday, then you have probably been wondering what you can do to help.

Here is a brief round-up of ways you can assist.

1) The White House: If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, visit www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake, where you can learn more about how to contribute. Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at 1-888-407-4747.

2) American Red Cross: To help, you can make an unrestricted donation to the International Response Fund at www.redcross.org or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767). You can also help by texting "Haiti" to 90999 to send a $10 donation to the Red Cross, through an effort backed by the U.S. State Department. Funds will go to support American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

3) The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army is accepting monetary donations to assist in the effort via Online Credit Card Donations, 1-800-SAL-ARMY and postal mail at: The Salvation Army World Service Office, International Disaster Relief Fund, PO Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728. Designate donations "Haiti Earthquake."

4) Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières: You can give to Doctors Without Borders' Haiti Earthquake Response; for questions or assistance with your online donation, you can speak to Doctors Without Borders Donor Services at 1-212-763-5779 Monday-Friday from 9am - 5pm EST, or email them at donations@newyork.msf.org.

And if you want to get the skinny on any non-profit before you make a donation, check out Charity Navigator, an organization that evaluates charitable non-profits.

Will Fans Forgive McGwire?

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:37:08 -0800

Call me crazy, but these days, everyone's got something to hide; or in this case, something to come clean about. On Monday, it was baseball's Mark McGwire.

In an interview on the MLB network with Bob Costas, Mark McGwire came out about steroid use, admitting that he used them and other HGH substances, including during the season when he broke the sports home run record.

While the tears coming down McGwire's face appeared genuine, the biggest question folks like me walked away with is, "How sympathetic should he expect fans to be with a decade-late admission?"

Guys like McGwire leave folks skeptical of the accomplishments they achieve and tarnish the integrity of the sport they claim to love.

Athletes, for the most part, have never been the best role models to follow nor, in my opinion, will they ever be. These days, the level of suspicion towards professional athletes is high. For that reason, I don't think there's going to be a huge outpouring of support for McGwire, even though there are a small handful of people willing to embrace him.

Now, for the record, I respect the fact that Mr. McGwire came clean, seeing how most people would've kept quiet and taken that information to the grave.

McGwire was filled with emotion and, at times, tearful in speaking about his drug use. He's faced his demons and is ready to move on with his life, working as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

There's no doubt that McGwire's certainly ready to put his past behind him. I can't help but wonder if the fans and public will let him.

Twilebrities: Yet Another Thing I Don't Get About Twitter

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:08:59 -0800

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has a story on "America's Tweethearts," i.e., women who are popular on the social networking site Twitter. As far as I'm concerned, it might as well be called "Hot Women on Twitter" or "Twitter: A Place for People to Pay Even More Attention to the Inane Musings of Leggy Blondes than They Already Do Via MTV."

The article puts Twitter forward as yet another way in which people can self-promote in a world increasingly obsessed with self-promotion and celebrity (whatever that word means these days--it's increasingly unclear).

In typical Vanity Fair form, however, there is some indication that, while Twitter may be the next Facebook, this may all be just a little bit silly. Among the gems, "Facebook is just way too slow," says Stefanie Michaels, a twilebrity from Brentwood, California. "I can't deal with that kind of deep engagement." And, "Each day, these women speed easily across the Twitformation Superhighway on their iPhones and laptops, leaving droppings in their wake: "getting highlights before class," "I hrd u had fun!," "Wah, missing my twittr time!""

The most puzzling thing about this, however, is the amount of people who seem to care about said highlights or that whomever is missing their "twittr time!" updates without so much relevance or insight as bathroom wall graffiti. Among the women mentioned in the article, social strategist Julia Roy has 31,000 followers, publicist Sarah Evans has 33,000 followers and travel journalist Stefanie Michaels has a whopping 1.4 million (putting her, as the author puts it, "between Serena Williams and Denise Richards").

So, while Vanessa Grigoriadis, the author of the VF story, seems to agree that no one has quite figured out why we need Twitter in our lives, it's not hard to see that she understands why so many of us want it.

South Africa's Hidden Slave Trade

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:18:37 -0800

With the 2010 World Cup just months away, the eyes of the world are increasingly on South Africa, the continent's wealthiest country, which will soon play host to half-a-million soccer fans.

South Africa, while among the most stable and progressive of African Nations, has only been a democracy since 1994. While it has made huge strides, millions of its citizens live in abject poverty in shanty towns, and it has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world. Its government has also been marred by several revelations of widespread corruption.

As the World Cup nears, South Africa will come under increased scrutiny for these, among other issues. One recent example is a TIME magazine story focusing on widespread human trafficking.

In his story, E. Benjamin Skinner, a journalist and author who has spent the last eight years researching human trafficking around the world, exposes South Africa's thriving industry, one which, due to apparent indifference by the South African government, stands to benefit immensely from the influx of foreign visitors.

The article itself is worth reading, but here are a few of the most hard-hitting quotes.

"[In] the poorest district in Eastern Cape, one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, ninety-five percent of the residents...fall below the poverty line, more than a quarter have HIV, and most survive by clinging to government grants."

"At best, the South African government's response to child sex trafficking has been superficial or piecemeal; at worst, some officials have actually colluded with the traffickers."

"Despite more than a dozen international conventions banning slavery in the past 150 years, there are more slaves today than at any point in human history."

"...the U.S. currently spends more in a single day fighting drug trafficking than it does in an entire year fighting human trafficking."

The World Cup presents an enormous opportunity for South Africa to benefit from the world's attention and tourist dollars. However, it's also an opportunity to hold the nation accountable for its inattention to slavery.

Why Didn't We Connect the Dots?

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:16:42 -0800

President Obama recently announced that changes must be made in order to close the gaps in intelligence and avoid a failure like the one that occurred on Christmas Day with Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

The Obama White House also released a report recently citing several deficiencies on the part of U.S. intelligence communities. Upon reading the report, many would like to know, given the amount of information we had, why didn't officials connect the dots?

The U.S. intelligence community is supposed to have some of the best technology and some of the brightest individuals working for our nation. All of this, yet we managed to drop the ball. The problem is when we drop the ball, lives can be lost.

No one in the intelligence community will argue that they are ever given perfect information. What they can do, however, is work smarter and more collaboratively with other intelligence gathering agencies to ensure that when there is "actionable intelligence," we actually move on it.

Based on what we've seen, there was no glaring reason why information surrounding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab wasn't acted upon sooner. The fact that we didn't is what's most damning in this case -- at the very least, unsettling. I mean, seriously speaking, how confident should Americans feel knowing that with all of the tools and resources available to their government, cracks like this in the system still exist?

As Americans, we have learned some of the greatest lessons in our history at some of the gravest moments imaginable. This failed terrorist attempt was one tragedy that was averted, in part, by luck. The sobering thought that Americans, as well as The White House, have to face now is that we may not be so lucky next time.

Children Victims of Assault

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:15:38 -0800

Earlier this month, a report was released by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics which stated the startling fact that more than 12% of young people in detention centers are sexually assaulted. The report goes on to indicate that a staggering 80% of those who were abused said detention center staff were the attackers.

We should all be outraged at this level of behavior. Seriously people, at what point did we stop rehabilitating and start abusing children?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a time when the locking up of individuals was actually designed to rehabilitate them, in hopes that they could be reintroduced as contributing members of society?

These young people may have gotten placed in detention centers for any number of different reasons, but if the system is not working in some capacity to help these individuals move forward in their lives, rather than regress, we're in for a huge problem.

'Treme' - The Return of David Simon

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:31:06 -0800

It's been almost two years since the series finale of The Wire, David Simon's groundbreaking HBO drama about urban decay in Baltimore. Often called the best show on television while it was on (President Obama has said it was his favorite show), and still attracting fans via DVD, The Wire stands as a remarkable achievement in television, one that will not easily be matched.

Now, Simon is poised to return to HBO with a new series called Treme (tre-MAY), and this time his subject is New Orleans. Little is known about Treme, apart from the fact that the cable network ordered a 10-episode season from Simon last spring, and that it's set to premiere sometime in April.

Among the cast are Wire alumni Clarke Peters (Lester Fremon), Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland) and Kim Dickens (Deadwood's Joanie Stubbs).

Simon has remained remarkably tight-lipped about the project since its inception, giving few interviews on the subject. What is clear, however, is that Treme will not be another Katrina story, nor will it center on the French Quarter. "It's a metaphor for where we are in America right now," he told MSNBC last May, "We had to get inside New Orleans traditions. You can't do that from the French Quarter."

A media preview of Treme is reportedly scheduled for later this month, but until then, we have only our imaginations to rely on. However, if Treme does anything close for New Orleans what The Wire did for Baltimore, we are in for something very special.

Update: We have a trailer!

Five Things to Like about 'Jersey Shore'? Really?

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:07:00 -0800

Leave it to The New York Times, ever the interpreters of any Northeastern zeitgeist, to turn their critical eye to the last big meme of 2009.

As I blogged about recently, Jersey Shore is an MTV reality show starring a cast of absolutely appalling examples of humanity. It has drawn fire from an Italian American anti-defamation league, criticism from many cultured sorts and the rabid, car accident-like attention of the MTV-watching world.

This week, NYT weighs in, offering its two cents on the matter. Writer Neil Genzlinger, a Times entertainment critic and "actual resident of New Jersey," comes up with some decent arguments in favor of the show, including #2, "MAYBE 'JERSEY SHORE' WILL FINALLY KILL OFF THE KARDASHIANS," a sentiment this blogger can wholly endorse.

Whether you genuinely enjoy the show or just pretend not to, I don't think anybody out there actually believes these people are good examples for our youth -- our youth included. So, at least, we can all mock them together.

What I Won't Miss from 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:36:29 -0800

Believe it not, 2009 has finally come to an end. When asked about their feeling on 2009, most Americans said that it was a bad year for them.

I personally can't blame them. With stock portfolios on a roller coaster, national crises at every turn and a series of unfortunate events occurring this year, many people are happy to see the end of 2009 and the beginning of a more prosperous 2010.

In the spirit of letting things go and moving forward, I would like to share my top 5 moments that I hope not to see relived or addressed in 2010.

5. Any updates regarding John and Kate.

4. Any Twilight movie or book references of any sort.

3. The balloon boy stunt.

2. Joe Wilson screaming out "you lie" at the President of the United States.

1. High unemployment numbers in the U.S.

I chose these moments because each one of them in some way showcased disturbing behavior ranging from the serious lack of respect and civility in our government to people being overly obsessed about reality TV stars.

Now don't get me wrong. There were plenty of other debatable moments that folks don't want to see a repeat of in 2010. If you don't believe me, just catch an episode of VH1's That Really Happened in 2009.

Despite the challenges we all faced in 2009, let's just hope that after the ball dropped at midnight, we're all moving in a much better direction.

Family Genius

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:09:09 -0800

As we close out the year, many students are waiting to hear back from colleges and universities regarding one of the biggest decisions of their lives: where to attend school in the fall.

I remember the days I waited, going to the mailbox, hoping to hear I would be admitted to my college of choice.

While it's well known that many students dread waiting to hear back from the colleges and universities that they apply to, for one family in Connecticut it was well worth the wait.

Kenny, Martina, Ray and Carol Crouch, all four high school students at Danbury High School in Connecticut, received a special holiday gift -- four acceptance letters from Yale University.

Needless to say, this is one holiday season the Crouch family won't soon forget.

These promising young students, quadruplets no less, were raised by parents who instilled in them the importance of a good education and are certainly on their way to a very interesting future. The New York Times article featuring the four siblings' accomplishment spread like wildfire across chat rooms and Internet sites worldwide.

Just think about all of the studying, late nights, personal sacrifices and discipline these guys must have had in order to accomplish a feat like this. I think it's very cool and certainly worthy of praise.

The biggest challenge now for the students is whether or not to accept the offer. I can't say that's a bad trade for time well spent. To the Crouch siblings and family, congratulations on this extraordinary achievement. Folks all across the country are celebrating your success.

Is 'Jersey Shore' Racist?

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:59:10 -0800

It's worth watching the new reality show Jersey Shore, but only briefly, and only if you're not already depressed about the condition of humanity. The MTV program, which follows a group of fake-tan-sporting 20-somethings during a summer at New Jersey's infamous party zone, is a sobering reminder of just how ignorant, self-obsessed and awful people can be. It's also quite delicious.

Anyhow, UNICO, an organization responsible for policing the image of Italian Americans in popular culture (they came out vociferously against The Sopranos a few years back) has set its sights on Snooki, The Situation and the show's other dubiously-nicknamed characters, claiming that they are doing more than their part to tarnish the reputations of Italian Americans.

In the show, a group of self-proclaimed "guidos" and "guidettes" drink to excess, cheat on their boyfriends, obsess over their tans and generally act horrifically. UNICO sent a letter to MTV, highlighting their objections to the program, but so far it continues unabated.

So is Jersey Shore racist? I really don't think so. It's not as if they created these characters; they're just exploiting them for our entertainment. Which isn't probably the most morally rigorous thing to do, but it sure is fun to watch.

Keep Calm, Carry On

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:52:13 -0800

In terms of air travel, the outgoing decade will forever be remembered as the time when everything got much, much worse in the name of public safety. Certainly no one enjoyed airport screening before, but we all accepted walking through the metal detector as something necessary to keep anyone from hijacking the plane and flying it to some landlocked dictatorship, 1970s style. What's that? You need to wand my belt buckle and the rivets on my jeans? Please, feel free. As long as it keeps Alan Rickman and his ilk off the plane.

Then there was the jihad against liquids and gels (full tube of toothpaste? Sorry, into the bin. But for some reason giant bottles of contact lens solution were A-okay) that sent us all digging in our carry-ons for our little plastic satchels filled with travel-sized toiletries. Sure, it was inconvenient, but if you can disguise a bomb as a tube of toothpaste (only a full-sized one, of course, for some reason, half a dozen travel-sized tubes wouldn't do the trick), then it was in all of our best interests to keep them off planes, right?

Then, thanks to Richard Reed, air travelers across the land were all treated to the sight of feet, so many feet, shuffling across the airport carpet while their estranged shoes traveled through the x-ray machine. Sure, there's nothing dignified about it. Sure, nobody should ever have to look at a plane full of strangers' feet, but if it kept us safe; we were all for it.

Last week, however, just when we thought it couldn't get any more difficult to get on a plane, it somehow did. When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to kill a planeload of people headed to Detroit, only to have his bomb malfunction and be tackled by his fellow passengers, we entered a new era of in-flight scrutiny.

The Dutch are now using full-body scanners that had been banned previously because they allow TSA screeners to essentially see you naked. Canada has affected a temporary ban on carry-on baggage. (Sorry, travelers, you know all that other stuff we've been doing? Turns out it doesn't make much of a difference.)

Sadly, as far as air travel is concerned, it seems like it can still get much, much worse. We're all incredibly lucky that Abdulmutallab's bomb didn't go off, but he surely won't be the last one to try it, and until we're all zip-tied to our seats for the duration of the flight, we can expect air travel to get more difficult, and less dignified on a regular basis. And for the benefit of all, who can argue?

Horseback Riding in the Chilean Andes

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:42:25 -0800

This slideshow is about appreciating the beauty in life. That's it. And that's enough.

During my visit to Chile, I traveled an hour outside of Santiago to the Maipo Canyon of the Andes Mountains. I went horseback riding in the foothills and took in views of the Maipo River.

Rediscovering Neruda

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:12:27 -0800

On a recent trip to Chile, I visited Isla Negra and rediscovered the late poet, Nobel laureate and diplomat, Pablo Neruda. Neruda's oceanfront home in Isla Negra is one of three that he owned -- the others are in Santiago and Valparaiso. Neruda is buried at Isla Negra alongside the remains of his third wife, Matilde Urrutia.

And if you're not familiar with Neruda's work, the Chilean poet wrote moving words like this:

Transporting a 401(k)

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:28:33 -0800

Do you have a financial question? Ask Michelle Singletary

Q: I have a 401(k) from a previous job. The reason it's still there is because I don't know what to do with it. What should I do?

Portland, OR

A: You have a number of options with this leftover money. Here are some of those options:

50 Cent: The Difference between Reality and Art

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:56:08 -0800

Tavis' interview with the rapper 50 Cent airs tomorrow night (Tuesday). If you didn't get a chance to check it out the first time, I'd highly recommend you do so this week. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of his music, or even of hip-hop in general; in fact, it's just as interesting if you're not into rap.

On the program, 50 Cent (also known as Curtis Jackson) discusses his music, his film project and his rise from drug-slinging 12-year-old to multi-millionaire rap mogul. Along the way, he shares some of his philosophies for success, stories from his childhood and frustrations with the entertainment industry.

This comment stood out in particular:
"When I created Get Rich or Die Tryin' and we had the poster boards up, they saw me with a gun and they started protesting... I was like wow. Now it's so intense that I remember Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They had guns, you know, and James Bond's posters are like this. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like wow. This one is in my back like, and they had a problem with it. I had the baby in the front, and I thought I was capturing the protector at that point. Obviously, the message then was like, no, he really has that gun right now. You know what I mean?

They don't understand the difference between reality and art on some levels. I think the average person that's watching the film can identify with the difference between the two. If not, they'll be jumping off of buildings like Bruce Willis do it all the time, so why we ain't got more people jumping off of buildings? You know, it's obvious that they're not going out and doing exactly what they're seeing."

Jackson's comment about the difference between life and art is a particularly fraught one, especially where rap music is concerned. One can understand his frustration -- he's someone who has pulled himself out of poverty by his own intelligence and determination, and some people still see him as a common thug, someone who might actually be carrying a gun.

The difference here, in my mind, is quite apparent. When Brangelina take to the screen as hired assassins, the assumption is there from the start that they are actors playing roles. When 50 Cent, an artist who made his name by rapping about slinging drugs and violent crime, appears holding a gun, the distinction is far less clear.

Regardless of what kind of man Curtis Jackson is now, and no matter how legitimate his business, he is still associated with the violent image that got him where he was. It's curious to me that he finds it so surprising.

Downtown Santiago

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:01:41 -0800

On a recent trip to Chile, I visited La Moneda Presidential Palace, the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile in the capitol of Santiago.

Check out the photos from my visit. And for more on President Michelle Bachelet, check out my post about Chile's first woman president.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

A Woman President: I Can Dream, Can't I?

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:00:51 -0800

Ah. We came so close. So close to having a woman in the White House as President of the United States. For anyone who was excited about the idea of universal healthcare and of being able to hear the words "Madam President," Hillary Clinton was the first real chance.

But alas, the country got its first African American president (I am not complaining), and Clinton is now Secretary of State. Those who were disappointed that the United States wasn't getting its first woman president either got over it or began speculating that Clinton will run in 2016.

I had certainly moved on, until recently, when I visited Chile. Among my tourist stops in Santiago was a visit to the presidential palace where I got an earful about Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet and the nation's current and first-ever woman president, Michelle Bachelet.

I began swooning over some of her accomplishments since she took office in 2006. They were the very things that I had dreamed the United States would accomplish under a President Hillary Clinton. In one term, Bachelet:

- Appointed women ministers to half of her cabinet
- Instituted universal healthcare -- a policy that her predecessor began
- Extended pensions to homemakers (a first-time policy in Chile)
- Increased the budget of the national ministry for women
- Increased the number of free day-care centers.

But all is not rosy for Bachelet's party -- Concertacion. Voters are concerned about the economy, the country's education problems and the money that goes into the social programs that Bachelet has created or expanded.

And although Bachelet enjoys an 80% approval rating, she is limited to one term by the constitution. It looks as if her party's presidential candidate, Eduardo Frei, will not be able to eke out a victory over conservative opponent Sebastián Piñera. In the December elections Piñera received 44% of the vote to Frei's 30%. The run-off is January 17.

Either way, the "Bachelet Factor" has been significant for women in Chile and abroad. Even Hillary Clinton has been inspired by Bachelet's political career.

And, after my visit, I've decided to hold out hope that in the United States another Hillary Clinton will come along in my lifetime. Or that Hillary Clinton will come along again in my lifetime. I can dream, can't I?

Check back this week for more from my trip to Chile. And for more on Hillary Clinton, be sure to check out Tavis' hour-long primetime special about Secretary Hillary Clinton, which premieres Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

All Comedy or Part Truth?

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:21:54 -0800

We all know that getting a job can be one of the most challenging tasks there is. I wonder though, has it ever felt like this?

In the featured short, The Job, writer-director Jonathan Browning put his take on how jobs for even the most skilled laborers have become harder to get. The short has taken on a life of its own and has been seen across the globe.

There were so many layers to this scenario that I could barely keep myself from laughing.

Is this a fair depiction of how it feels to some people looking for work or is this just comedy?

Rihanna's Moving On

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:13:07 -0800

Rihanna, the R&B singer known for her 12-million-selling hit "Umbrella," as well as for being assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown, is ready to move on. At least, that's what she's telling a handful of select journalists in semi-exclusive interviews corresponding to the release of her new album, "Rated R" ("R" for Rihanna, presumably).

In her soft-focus interview in November with Diane Sawyer that aired on Good Morning America and 20/20, she talks about the assault, her desire to distance herself from Brown and the hope that she can use this experience to help other young women in similar situations to get help. Taken at face value, it's a positive statement on an issue that doesn't get nearly enough mainstream attention.

In this month's GQ, however, in which Rihanna appears topless on the cover, the interview tells a slightly different story. It makes reference to a violent song called "G4L" (short for Gangsta for Life) on the new album, and alludes to Rihanna's gun tattoo. Then there's her manager who hovers a few feet away from the singer and interrupts the interview any time talk of Chris Brown goes on too long. No doubt Rihanna does want to help other women who are struggling through abusive relationships, but the GQ story reveals just how trapped she seems to be between her public image and her private life.

More than anything, it seems, Rihanna wants to move on, get past this and resume what was already a meteoric rise to the top of the pop charts. Rihanna seems to have learned from her experience, but those lessons seem to be as much about the realities of domestic violence as the realities of being a celebrity.

A Gift for the Holidays

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:48:29 -0800

For those looking for some inspiration this holiday season, I've got the perfect program for you.

As I channel-surfed looking for something to watch on television around Christmas, I came across a program that really brought into perspective what we all can accomplish if we really put our minds to it.

The show is called Born Without Arms. The documentary features three individuals living their lives in an extraordinary way.

Being born without arms, Mark Goffeney, Nadia Miller and Jessica Cox take viewers inside their world, where each one of them is living extraordinarily in their own right.

Viewers watching the show won't focus on these individuals simply because they don't have arms. Instead, viewers will begin to see these individuals for who they are, rather than what they don't have.

Everything from driving a car, putting on makeup, to even brushing one's teeth will have a new meaning once you see it. What I enjoyed most about the film is that through the laughs and the lessons, the show leaves viewers with the sense that anyone can go beyond their circumstances to make the most out of life.

The show also demonstrates how true courage along with a passion for life can help anyone succeed, no matter what the obstacles.

The story of these individuals' lives is definitely a testament to what anyone can do when we focus on the blessings we do have, instead of the one's we don't.

Perspective like that my friends is a true gift for the holidays.

Born Without Arms airs on The Learning Channel for the next couple of weeks. Take the time to check it out and be sure to tell a friend.

Best of 2009: Prince

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:38:35 -0800

Prince is one of the most talented musicians working today, but the man behind the music is equally compelling as the music itself. In April, Tavis spoke to Prince in a rare one-on-one interview, in which the self-taught multi-instrumentalist discussed his upbringing, his influences and the secrets to his success.

Prince talks about teaching himself the piano, his relationship with Miles Davis, and the kinship he feels with the legendary boxer Jack Johnson. He also talks, for the first time ever publicly, about being epileptic as a child.

"...I was born epileptic and I used to have seizures when I was young. And my mother and father didn't know what to do or how to handle it, but they did the best they could with what little they had.

And my mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, "Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore," and she said, "Why?" And I said, "Because an angel told me so." Now, I don't remember saying it - that's just what she told me. And from that point on, I've been having to deal with a lot of things - getting teased a lot in school - and early in my career I tried to compensate for that by being as flashy as I could and as noisy as I could."

Check out the video of the second half of Prince's interview here.

Happy Holidays

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:03:23 -0800

Tavis wishes everyone a happy holiday season and discusses what's coming up in 2010.

Unloading Real Estate

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:21:21 -0800

Q: We purchased a house two years ago in Alabama, in anticipation of retirement in June 2010, when my husband turns 62. Currently, we also have a home in Illinois--our primary residence--which we haven't been able to sell. Now that retirement is near, we are panicking. The prospect of renting long distance horrifies us!

Financially, we can afford both homes with our current jobs. Loan modification has not worked for us due to our good financial standing. Our credit is excellent, and we've been thinking of walking away from the house, knowing that this will wreck our credit.

Is it better to stop making payments on the primary home in Illinois or just walk away from it? Are there any options available to us other than renting long distance?

Richton Park, IL

A: I am really sorry you can't sell your current home and move into retirement with the peace of mind I'm sure you deserve. But, if your credit is good, and has been, then don't start making decisions like someone who hasn't been financially responsible.

Don't just walk away from this problem. You have a legal and moral responsibility to try to find the best solution for you and your lender. Remember, you did sign a promissory note, meaning you gave your word to pay the mortgage.

So, I would encourage you to reconsider renting until the housing market regains some stability. Like you, I hate the idea of being a landlord. I was one for several years, and I didn't like it one little bit. But I kept my place until I could sell. It took some time, but I was eventually able to sell without having to bring money to the closing table.

Do you have a financial question? Ask Michelle Singletary

If you truly loathe the idea of renting, consult a good real estate agent in your area. Find one that is very experienced, and see what you can do to make your home more marketable. You may also be pricing your home too high. Many homeowners are still clinging to old home values. Times have changed, and you may not be able to get anywhere near what you would have sold your home for several years ago. If you are desperate to get to your retirement home, then price the home below what others are selling for in the area, even if it means you may not walk away with any equity return.

And, your last resort could be what's called a short sale, which is when the lender accepts less than the full mortgage amount, often forgiving the debt that's left. For example, if your mortgage is still $200,000, but you can only sell the home for $180,000, the lender will agree to the sale of the home for the $180,000.

You should also know that debt that is forgiven, or canceled, by a lender must be included as income on your tax return and is subject to tax. However, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act allows borrowers to exclude from their income certain canceled home loan debt on their principal residence.

You will still need a good real estate agent to help with a short sale, which is far better than just walking away from this obligation.

(Photo by TheTruthAbout)

Dems: Know What You're Voting on

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:51:45 -0800

For weeks, we've listened to lawmakers emphasize the importance of having reform in the healthcare system. Most Americans will agree that, despite various differences, some level of reform is needed.

What is most concerning is that the actual details of the bill won't be made known to Americans until after it is voted on. That could spell trouble for some Democrats.

Here's why: Should the legislation actually pass and most Americans find the plan dreadful, it could mean disaster for Democrats looking to run for reelection in 2010.

That fact alone actually gives Republicans a legitimate reason to stifle progress or filibuster a vote towards the massive bill. It allows them to take the lead in being America's advocate
for real reform.

Democrats seemed to have already lost the public option via Sen. Joe Lieberman's change of heart.

To avoid any more losses, my suggestion to Democrats would be to make sure to continue to communicate the needs of the bill, and find out what the details of the bill are so you don't find yourselves out of office next year.

Question: Is America moving in the right direction on healthcare?

Were You There?

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:37:21 -0800

On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his Beyond Vietnam speech at Riverside Church in New York City. Tavis is looking for personal stories, photos, and/or news articles of this historic moment for use in connection with an upcoming PBS special airing March 2010. If you were in the audience and are willing to share your story or materials, please get in touch by January 29, 2010.

A Safe Investment

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:03:48 -0800

Q: Just recently came into a lump sum of money. I would like to invest a portion into a safe investment that would have a significant return. Are CD's a safe investment?

Rodney A, Sacramento, CA

A: I want to divide this question up, because there's a lesson to be learned here about what it means to invest.

Let's take the first statement: "I would like to invest a portion [of the lump sum money] into a safe investment."

When you put your principal at risk, in return, you get to grow your money. That's why you invest--to make your money work for you. The more risk you take, the greater chance for you to make more money. However, if you can't afford to lose any of your principal, then don't invest, or find an investment with a lower risk, such as U.S. Treasury bonds. Your return won't be great, but you are assured to get your money back, plus a little interest.

Do you have a financial question? Ask Michelle Singletary

One more thing about investing: There is no such thing as a low risk, high return investment. Doesn't exist. And if someone tries to convince you that you can get a significant return for your money without taking a lot of risk, they are a low-down dirty liar.

So, my friend, there is no investment that is very safe that will yield you a significant return.

Finally, if you are concerned about the safety of your principal, it's probably best to put your money in CDs (certificates of deposit).

A CD is a special type of deposit account with a bank or thrift institution that typically offers a higher rate of interest than a regular savings account. Unlike other investments, CDs feature federal deposit insurance up to $250,000.

By buying CDs from FDIC-insured financial institutions, you get safety for your money, up to the insurance limit.

When you purchase a CD, you invest a fixed sum of money for a fixed period of time--six months, one year, five years--and, in exchange, the issuing bank pays you interest. When you cash in your CD, you receive the money you originally invested plus any accrued interest. If you cash in your CD before it matures, you may have to pay an early withdrawal penalty or forfeit a portion of the interest you earned.

To maximize what you earn in CDs, you could do what is called "CD Laddering." When you employ a CD laddering approach, you purchase multiple CDs with different maturity dates, which allows you to take advantage of higher interest rates tied to longer-term CDs. By buying different CDs with different maturity dates, you keep access to part of your money.

You can get help figuring out how to ladder your CDs at Bankrate.com, which provides free advice and CD ladder calculators for certificate of deposit portfolios.

Finally, Kin Hubbard, the American cartoonist and humorist said: "The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket."

There is no such thing as a "safe" investment. When you invest, you put your principal at risk. That's not to say you shouldn't invest and that there aren't some safer ways to invest. But, too many people get burned trying to invest without realizing there's a chance they could lose some, if not all, of their money.

The Best of 2009: Mickey Rourke

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:03:24 -0800

This year has seen its share of particularly great interviews on the show. Over the next few weeks, I'll be revisiting a few of my favorites.

On January 29, 2009, Tavis devoted the whole half-hour to his interview with former boxer and current actor Mickey Rourke. Rourke's comeback to Hollywood through his performance in The Wrestler was one of the most fascinating events of the last year, and his interview gives much insight into how and why that happened. Beyond that, Rourke goes deep into what caused the self-destruction of his first career as a leading man.

Among the memorable quotes from that interview is this one:

What happens as the time goes by...it's all about that old school stuff from the street, it's about pride and honor and respect, and you build up an armor. And I was proud of that armor. I was proud of the way, as a man, how I became. And I was very close with Tupac, and Tupac, that was the reason that 'Pac and I were very close, because it was that thing -- we carried that thing. But it was also I remember talking to him one time and saying, "You know, brother, we can't be that and this in this industry. We got to -- we can't be both hard men."

Check out the video of the interview here.

Sympathy for the Tiger

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:35:34 -0800

One of the most interesting things to come to light in the wake of Tiger Woods' epic besmirching is the reissue of a profile of him that appeared in GQ back in 1997. Then, Woods was a wide-eyed 21-year-old, accustomed to success, but new to world fame.

Charles P Pierce, the journalist who wrote the profile, portrays Woods as a bit of ass in his story, quoting him making racist jokes and generally acting like someone who doesn't know any better (but really should). Pierce's objective seems to have been taking Woods down a peg or two in the public eye, which, up to that point had widely held him as a kind of messiah. The article, which was the source of much embarrassment to the Woods camp when it came out, is now credited as the cause of Woods' notorious shyness around the media, and reticence (at least until now) to reveal details of his private life.

The article itself, in my opinion, is magazine journalism at its best. Far from the puff pieces that dominate the celebrity profile genre, especially with people as high-profile as Woods, it reveals him candidly and unflatteringly, as a very talented kid with an ego to match and a hell of a golf swing. Not the savior of golf. Not the bringer of racial equality to professional sports. Not the messiah.

Pierce's story stands out as a brilliant piece of journalism, but also a very unusual one. Despite the public's bloodlust for the sordid details of celebrities' personal lives, or perhaps because of it, it's incredibly rare to see such a candid portrayal of a celebrity. We demand a kind of godlike perfection from our idols (especially someone as meteorically successful as Woods) and when they turn out to be only human, we act shocked.

Tiger Woods is a man, a particularly gifted man, but a man nonetheless. If there were more stories like this one, the revelations of the last week would hardly seem like such earth-shattering news. Then, perhaps, we could concentrate on talking about things that really matter in the world. On second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea. What would I have to write about?