Tag Archives: Race Relations

2008 Election, Politics, Race Relations

First Annual Black Republican Forum

August 23, 2008 Ross

Founded and co-sponsored by the Women’s National Republican Club’s American Forum Series and the National Black Republican Association. The 2008 Black Republican Forum was held on August 6, 2008 and was broadcast on C-SPAN on August 19, 2008. It will be re-aired on Friday and Saturday on C-SPAN but can be viewed online at the links below. The Keynote Speaker was NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann who gave an inspirational speech on Race and the Presidential Election.

Session 2 has not been aired yet, which explains why it is not included in the links below. Session 2 is not yet available.

National Black Republican Association | Women’s National Republican Club | Black Republican Forum

Race Relations

Citizens Fighting Crime

July 26, 2008 Ross

Nine months after a noble attempt to reverse violent crime in Philadelphia, organizers of 10,000 Men on the Street are taking another look at how to turn things around. The movement did produce 200 volunteers willing to help, but there was no enthusiasm to do Guardian Angel-type foot patrols in the worst neighborhoods.

That’s not the response organizers had hoped for after an impressive turnout at a rally last October that received lots of media attention.

Organizers now say funding and logistical problems hampered the project. They also underestimated the desire of volunteers to patrol the mean streets.

But all is not lost.

A survey of 2,000 potential volunteers said they were interested in serving as role models with troubled youth, as opposed to confronting armed and dangerous thugs on street corners.

Organizers are shifting focus from confrontation to the more conventional tack of mentoring and being role models for the kids with the goal, of course, to steer the kids in the right direction before they become a statistic. The assessment of the program so far is that some progress is better than no progress.

Mentoring the kids is half of the problem. Dissolution of the family unit, or no family at all, is the other.

related link: Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial

2008 Election, Media, Politics, Race Relations

Jesse Jackson Shows His True Color

July 17, 2008 Ross

Stocks tumble in the race industry. Jesse Jackson’s stock that is. Affectionately called America’s beloved race pimp, the good Rev. Jackson took issue with first-term Sen. Barack Obama’s speech to a Black audience. It was a speech that was much the same as what Bill Cosby had said years ago. Fox has not released the transcript, but did say Jackson’s comment had to do with Obama telling them ‘how to behave.’

According to Fox, Jackson was referring to the audience in using the N-word. Jackson, like any entrepreneur, is seeing a rookie threaten his market share in the race business by making him irrelevant. And when you consider that Jackson is out for Jackson, and not Blacks, something like ‘Listen to him, he’s telling those n_____s how to behave’ would be a believable statement coming from Rev. Jackson.

One can’t rule out some personal animosity where Obama is concerned either. Obama, as far as we know, has not had a love child outside of his marriage like Rev. Jackson. In that respect, Obama is head and shoulders above Jackson.

About a year ago, Jesse Jackson and the NAACP buried the N-word in a mock funeral in Detroit. Now Rev. Jackson has resurrected it. But will he get the same treatment as Don Imus, Michael Richards, or George Allen?

Fox news showed great editorial restraint in not publishing the transcript. Their rationale is they can get the news out of the recording, which is Jackson’s hypocrisy and contempt for Blacks, without having to release the recording or the transcript.

Who thinks that the New York Times would have chosen that route if the offender was a republican, white or black? My guess is that there wouldn’t be anything else on the news until the guy was driven out of his job, if not charged with a hate crime. Or both.

Media, Pensacola, Race Relations

Nation's Best 'Black' Newspaper

July 4, 2008 Ross

Actually, the award is the ‘Best Newspaper,’ not the best Black newspaper. But I didn’t title it, E & P did. The relevance of the ‘Black’ aspect of it is the National Newspaper Publishers Association, known as The Black Press Of America. The NNPA is a 67-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers from across the United States. From Editor & Publisher . . .

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), has bestowed 10 honors, including the John B. Russwurm Award for “Best Newspaper,” to the Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest continuously running black newspaper. This is the seventh time in the last 12 years that the Philadelphia Tribune has won the “Best Newspaper” award.

Among the awards the Philly Tribune received is Best Editorial for this piece from Sunday editor Mike Bruton titled ‘End The Chaos: Start Snitching.’

With the city’s crime problem and explosive murder rate, Mr. Bruton hit the nail on the head with this one. We could benefit from his message right here in Pensacola. And everywhere for that matter.

2008 Election, Politics, Race Relations

Congressional Black Caucus Likes Nunn Or Edwards

June 20, 2008 Ross

Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, (D-MI), who heads The Congressional Black Caucus, met with Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) campaign to offer their recommendations for Obama’s vice presidential pick. They like John Edwards and Sam Nunn. Others supposedly under consideration are two women, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, and a cast of characters from the failed politics of the past like Al Gore, Joe Biden, John Murtha, and Chris Dodd.

Interesting choice by the CBC. Edwards is attractive to the slip and fall lawyers, Nunn is attractive to those ‘bitter clingers.’ And two women, not Hillary and with less baggage, attractive to women. No minorities under consideration? What was the CBC thinking?

link: Obama team weighs Nunn, Edwards as running mates

Media, Pensacola, Politics, Race Relations

Red Cross Needs Help

June 16, 2008 Ross

They are out of money and in need of volunteers who can spend a few weeks with them to help the flood victims in the heartland. For the flood relief program, they’ve only raised $3.2 million and have spend $15 million of borrowed money.

Ken Cromer/Red Cross Disaster Services: ‘A lot of the people that are able to go for two and three weeks, they’re retired.. They have the time available now to go out and make a difference. Plus a lot of them, they saw what happened here in Ivan and the help that they received and it helps them go out and help other people.’ The Red Cross is still looking for dozens of volunteers to help, especially as the flooding continues south into Oklahoma And Texas.

I think we know where all the money went.

The shortage in the organization’s only domestic disaster relief fund comes as it continues flood relief efforts in soaked Iowa and ramps up its work downstream in Illinois and Missouri as more flooding is expected there. Officials said the Red Cross has 2,500 workers on the ground, 89 percent of them volunteers. Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services, said the fund has been depleted over the past few years in the absence of large-scale disasters that bring attention to the relevance of the Red Cross.

This disaster seems to me to be a lot worse than what happened in New Orleans after Katrina passed. So why is it that there is not some publicity for help for these victims? Is the media too lazy to find the victims to tell the story? I don’t see Democrats in Washington jumping in front of TV cameras yelling at Bush. It is as if they are ignoring the victims because they don’t see a political advantage in trying to help them. Don’t they care about middle America? Where is the outrage, the 24/7 call for help? Where’s Hollywood in all this? Why the relative silence in the face of such a widespread tragedy? Or is the aid getting to the people, all evacuees have a roof over their head, and there’s nothing to be gained by accusing Bush of totally improving FEMA? But I haven’t seen any such stories. Like I said, you probably wouldn’t anyway. You have to ask yourself, what’s different here?

Politics, Race Relations, Uncategorized

John Langston, African-American Hero, Republican

May 19, 2008 Ross

On this day in 1870, African-American law professor John Langston delivered an influential speech praising the civil rights policies of Republican President Ulysses Grant. Langston (R-VA) would later serve as a diplomat in the Grant administration and then be elected to a term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This and more history of the GOP that you won’t find in history books in government schools can be found at Michael Zak’s Grand Old Partisan blog. He also wrote the book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party, on the history of the GOP.

Pensacola, Race Relations, Uncategorized

Kids Killing Kids, In Pensacola?

May 3, 2008 Ross

Kids killing kids goes on in small cities too, like right here in Pensacola, Florida, for example. Philadelphia has been dealing with a record murder rate this year, mostly kids, mostly black. Such was the case last night in Pensacola outside a teen dance.

There are at least two mothers who wish this had never happened. And, had the juvenile justice system not broken down, what happened last night might not have happened at all.

The investigation will hopefully lead to who pulled the trigger among the 16 and 17 year olds present. Whoever the perp(s) turns out to be, the investigation will prompt some questions outside of what happened last night. Like these, did any of the youths held for suspicion of murder have a criminal record? If so, were any of them subsequently found to be in violation of probation? If so, were any of them given a new probation instead of being returned to jail where, obviously, he could not have been downtown last night? According to a source close to the investigation, the answer to all three of these questions is YES.

Philadelphia has a plan, borne out of desperation perhaps, but it deals with the problem where it exists. On the streets and with the kids. This is more than a law enforcement problem, this is a societal problem of broken families and broken hope, where being bad is cool. Can Pensacola put 100 men on the street to save a generation in trouble? How about 10? The community must stand up to the challenge.

Immigration, Race Relations, Uncategorized

'Speak English' Sign OK, Geno's Steaks Prevails

March 21, 2008 Ross 1 Comment

Joey Vento, owner of Geno’s in South Philadelphia, Joey Vento of Gino's Steaks won his day in court yesterday, when the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations lost their case to force Vento to remove a sign from his window. The Commission on Human Relations claimed the sign was discriminatory in some inane way.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday. In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno’s Steaks telling customers, “This is America: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,'” do not violate the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

Big victory for Joey Vento and freedom of speech. Shame on the City of Philadelphia for their ‘politically correct police gone wild’ show. The city should, but won’t, reimburse Vento for his legal expenses.

Although this looks like a victory, it’s more like a Victory In Name Only. VINO. So over a glass of Chianti, realize that the PC police are still out there. Says Debbie Schlussel . . .

But, in fact, it’s no victory at all. That Vento and his restaurant were hauled before a government commission and told what they could and couldn’t say, is already a defeat. That he was forced to defend himself and that statement, in the very first place, is a stunning defeat. And that one of three commissioners on this Philadelphia city commission voted against Vento is a huge defeat. Vento was only “victorious” by one vote.

2008 Election, MRIOTD, Politics, Race Relations, Uncategorized

aSide Order

March 19, 2008 Ross

Are you as shocked as this white guy to learn what goes on in some, I hope very very few, black churches on Sunday? From Barack Obama’s former minister and still ‘spiritual leader’ spewing political and racial hatred, to a church in Harlem that tore Obama to shreds, from the pulpit. Is is painful to hear. I don’t care if you read The Lord’s Prayer on Sunday and spew that political and racial hatred, it doesn’t qualify to be the tax exempt entity it is supposed to be. Question is, how is it that THESE churches still have tax exempt status? Not to mention how damaging it is to the life and spirit of generations of black children being exposed to this kind of hatred.

Always on top of things Brian Ross of ABC News, finds that Hillary was in the White House on ‘blue dress day.’ But Brian, where’s the cigar?

Stuff White People Like. Hilarious blog. Covers many subjects that might answer some questions about white people. Helpful information for people of all races.

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