African-American Story Tales Go

"Yes" this month is National Black Music Month or as some call it African-American Music Appreciation Month in which all music by black Americans is celebrated.

In June of 1979, it was designated by President Jimmy Carter as National Black Music Month. On May 31, 2011 President Barack Obama declared it as African-American Music Appreciation Month and asked that all of the United States observe this month by being a part of "appropriate" activities and programs that will raise awareness and foster appreciation of music which is composed, arranged, or performed by African Americans.

As we all ready know, this is the month that you will be hearing about concert and television series featuring legendary as well as aspiring music artists and musicians. For instance, TV One will be airing movies, music and television episodes all June celebrating Black Music Month starting Saturday, June 4.

Some of the programming that will be aired on TV One will include The Fighting Temptations movie, Beyoncé I Am Yours. . . Live From Las Vegas, TV One Night Only: Live From the Essence Music Festival, Unsung marathon, In the Mix, Chaka Khan: Live in Malibu, Lady Sings the Blues, The Jacksons: An American Dream, Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle, Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert and more.

Labels such as Capitol/EMI will be releasing a new digital compilation, "The Soul Of Capitol Records: Rare & Well-Done (Vol. 1)" to celebrate Black Month Music Month.

Dr. Tiffany S. Russell was written, illustrated, narrated and scored by an all African-American team. It was also developed by Black-owned Diverse Mobile. With Atlanta radio personality Jamal Ahmad narrating and hip hop artist and producer c’beyohn on the tracks, don’t expect a traditional story. The book takes children on a colorful and interactive musical journey and includes the soulful lyrics of Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind, and Fire and Marvin Gaye. The reason? To creatively teach children the meaning of determination, kindness and love.

"Music has a way of uniting people and can teach important lessons," says Dr. Russell. "I have a 3-year-old son who will come of age at a time that is digitally oriented and musically creative. It is important to me that I meaningfully contribute to the media that he and other children consume and A Song for Miles is the beginning of this contribution."

A Song for Miles went on sale at the Apple AppStore on June 1, the beginning of Black Music Month. It can be downloaded on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for $4.99.

New Deal

As the many Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans also had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination, and segregation.

Many leading New Dealers, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ickes, Aubrey Williams, and John Flores Sr. worked to ensure blacks received at least 10% of welfare assistance payments. There was no attempt whatsoever to end segregation, or to increase black rights in the South. Roosevelt appointed an unprecedented number of blacks to second-level positions in his administration; these appointees were collectively called the Black Cabinet. Roosevelt and Hopkins worked with several big city mayors to encourage the transition of black political organizations from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party from 1934 to 1936, most notably in Chicago. The black community responded favorably, so that by 1936 the majority who voted (usually in the North) were voting Democratic. This was a sharp realignment from 1932, when most African Americans voted the Republican ticket. New Deal policies helped establish a political alliance between blacks and the Democratic Party that survives into the 21st century.

The WPA, NYA, and CCC relief programs allocated 10% of their budgets to blacks (who comprised about 10% of the total population, and 20% of the poor). They operated separate all-black units with the same pay and conditions as white units.

However, these benefits were small in comparison to the economic and political advantages that whites received. Social Security was denied to blacks, and most unions excluded blacks from joining. Enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in the South was virtually impossible, especially since most blacks worked in hospitality and agricultural sectors.

Why Is Black Unemployment So Stubbornly High

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its unemployment data for the month of May. The unemployment rate for the African American community went up from 16.1 percent to 16.2 percent. Black males, who already had the highest unemployment rate of any ethnic/gender category, saw their joblessness rise from an astounding 17 percent last month to 17.5 percent this month.

While white unemployment has declined since May of last year (8.5 percent to 8.0 percent), black unemployment has risen (15.3 percent to 16.2 percent). Black teenagers also saw their unemployment rate rise over the last year (38.4 percent to 40.7 percent). White teens, on the other hand, had a sharp decline in their unemployment rate (25.1 percent to 20.7 percent).

These astonishing numbers take us back to the statement made two years ago by President Barack Obama with regard to black unemployment. When journalist April Ryan did a wonderful job of pushing the black unemployment issue to the president, the baffling talking point of the Obama Administration was that “the rising tide will lift all boats,” implying that engaging in policy for the entire country would magically heal the effects of racial inequality in the job market. The translation was: “Sure black people gave us 18 percent of our votes, but you don’t deserve more than two percent of our time.”

The problem for the Obama Administration is that the “rising tide” logic might make sense on water, but it doesn’t add up in the real world. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like Trickle Down Economics, endorsed by the Reagan Administration nearly 30 years go. Economic trickles don’t work between the rich and the poor and they certainly don’t work on matters of race. This truth has been established repeatedly with the worsening unemployment numbers we keep seeing every single month.

First, there’s the bitter debate taking place on Capitol Hill over raising the nation’s debt ceiling and reducing its deficit. In addition to having a damaging effect on the country’s credit rating, Cleaver warned, the partisan fight is weakening the overall desire of employers to fill vacant positions or create new jobs.

“There also are some sociological reasons. When you graduate from Prairie View, where I attended college, and you’re competing for a job with somebody who graduated from Harvard, they’re going to give the job to the Harvard guy, even though the guy from Prairie View may be more competent,” Cleaver said.

In addition, he noted, discrimination continues to play a role in persistent Black unemployment, despite the fact that many people would choose to deny it.

“One of the worst things that’s happening in America right now is that sane people with IQs above 100 are denying that discrimination is still a factor in American life,” he said. “Even when you compare African-American college graduates with non-African-American college graduates, the African-Americans still have a higher unemployment rate. I don’t know how you camouflage that.“

Still, Cleaver noted, Blacks also need to be mindful of how important education is in improving one’s job prospects, and lamented the high high-school dropout rate among African-Americans. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis also cited lack of education as one of the primary factors driving up Black unemployment rates and said that her department will release a report next week that supports the premise.

“What’s so important is that if people have better skills, more education and training, the likelihood of them getting employed is at a much higher rate,” she said. “So achievement in terms of access to higher education and being able to get certificates in different job categories is still the bottom line for the African-American community.

Desiree Rogers

Desirée Glapion Rogers, born June 16, 1959  is an American business executive who is the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company. In November 2008 she was selected by Barack Obama's office as the White House Social Secretary for the incoming administration, the first person of African American descent to serve in this function. On February 26, 2010, the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reported that she planned to step down. Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot, former chief of staff to the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Smoot was the Obama presidential campaign chief fund-raiser. On August 10, 2010, Rogers was named CEO of Johnson Publishing Company.

Career

After graduate school, Rogers moved to Chicago, Illinois and began working for AT&T. Soon thereafter, she became an executive for restaurant and real estate developer Larry Levy.

In 1990, Rogers was appointed by Republican Governor Jim Edgar, to run the Illinois State Lottery, a $2 billion state agency. She led the agency until 1997. During her tenure, Rogers worked extensively with over 8000 retailers to increase the sale of instant ticket products from 300 million to over 600 million. Rogers attended the 1992 Republican National Convention as an alternate delegate.

Beginning in 1997, Rogers worked as vice-president of corporate communications for Peoples Energy (PE), which is now a natural gas subsidiary of the Integrys Energy Group. In 2000 she was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, then to Senior Vice President of Customer Service. She advanced to Vice President of Corporate Communications. In September 2001, she became senior vice-president of the overall corporation and its utility subsidiaries.

In 2003 Rogers was named to the board of Equity Residential, a $15 billion residential real estate investment trust (REIT).

In 2002, Rogers attended the Harvard Kennedy School Women and Power Program. This program was designed for senior women executives, particularly private sector executives who have demonstrated an interest in public leadership.

In July 2004 Rogers was selected as president of both Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, the two utility subsidiaries of PE. She was the first female African-American to hold those posts. It was a time when the company faced major challenges, implementing an overall restructuring of critical business functions to meet financial targets while increasing customer satisfaction. As PEs president, Rogers improved response times at the customer service center, converted paper records of inspection results to an electronic system, and eliminated a massive backlog of home gas meter inspections.

In April 2006, the Illinois Commerce Commission launched an investigation to see if employees falsified safety reports on some of its gas pipes. State inspectors found that about 40% of the pipes had inadequate corrosion protection. More seriously, at about 10% of the locations where PE had provided positive test results, the inspectors could not find any monitoring equipment to take a reading, raising questions about whether false results had been recorded. Rogers determined the extent of the corrosion-testing problems, installed a new training and auditing regimen, and hired quality-control employees to check compliance work. To date, no leaks have been found.

Peoples Energy was bought by Wisconsin-based WPS Resources Corporation in July 2006. The merged companies became the Integrys Energy Group in the first quarter of 2007. Rogers initially stayed on as President of Peoples Energy, the gas subsidiaries of the new holding company.

In July 2008 Rogers joined Allstate Financial, a business unit of The Allstate Corporation, to run a new social networking initiative of the company. The initiative would connect middle-market consumers with other like-minded consumers of the enterprise. She became a member of Allstate Financial's Executive Committee.

In late 1999 Rogers and three other minority women quit the board of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art to protest what they regarded as a slow pace on diversity issues. They were the only female minority members among the museum's 63 trustees.

Rogers is a board member of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois the Northwestern Memorial Foundation and The Polk Foundation.

Rogers is Vice-Chairman of the Lincoln Park Zoo and serves on the executive committee of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Previously, she served as the Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Children's Museum. Rogers is also a major contributor to fund-raisers to help Chicago win its bid for the 2016 Olympics, to which she donated more than US$100,000.

Biography

Rogers was born on June 16, 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the daughter of the late Roy Glapion and his wife Joyce. Her father was the former director of sports for the New Orleans Public Schools and a member of the New Orleans City Council. Her mother ran day-care centers. She has one brother, Roy A. Glapion, a businessman who is active in civic life in New Orleans. Rogers is a descendant of Voudou priestess Marie Laveau Glapion.

Rogers graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans in 1977. She earned a Bachelor's degree in political science from Wellesley College in 1981. Rogers earned a MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.

After graduate school, Rogers married John W. Rogers, Jr. and moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she began her career. They have one daughter together. They are divorced.

Rogers was named twice as queen of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, a Mardi Gras krewe dating back to 1916. She was first queen in 1988. Her father was instrumental in leading the krewe from a dwindling band of fewer than 100 black men in the early 1970s to a robust, financially healthy and racially integrated krewe by the 1990s. Glapion served variously as finance chairman, president and chairman of the Zulu board. In 2000 Rogers reprised the reign in honor of her father, who died in 1999. Rogers' mother, Joyce Glapion, now retired, was also active in Carnival.

Life after The White House

After her stint as Social Secretary, Rogers was appointed the chief executive officer of the Johnson Publishing Company, overseeing publication of Ebony and Jet magazines.

White House gatecrash incident

Rogers was in the center of the controversy surrounding Tareq and Michaele Salahi, where the couple was able to enter, uninvited, a November 2009 state dinner hosted by President Obama in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Secret Service ultimately took the blame for the failure after Democratic-majority members of the House Committee on Homeland Security voted against issuing Rogers a subpoena. According to The Washington Post, details of the dinner planning meeting between Rogers's office and Secret Service personnel are "being guarded by the Obama administration as a virtual state secret.

Desiree Rogers gives keys to her success

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The chief executive of black publishing giant Johnson Publishing Co., in Birmingham today to speak at a business luncheon, says companies must be willing to adapt to succeed in today's economic climate.

Desiree Rogers, who has been credited with helping revitalize Johnson's magazine empire since taking the helm at the Chicago company a year ago, said businesses struggling to recover from the recent economic downturn must be willing to re-invent themselves.

"The world around us is changing so quickly. The ability to change with the times is the key to success," said Rogers, who made a dramatic career move last year, transitioning from 14 months as the first black social secretary at the White House to becoming chief executive at Johnson Publishing.

Rogers is in Birmingham as luncheon keynote speaker for the Birmingham Business Alliance's African American Business Council's 25th Annual Luncheon. The event takes place at noon today at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center on U.S. 280.

At the luncheon, the African American Business Council will name its 2011 Minority/Women Breakout Business of the Year and Start-Up Business of the Year. A limited number of $40 luncheon tickets may be available at the door, BBA spokeswoman Brannon Dawkins said.

Alicia White of JMA Realty, chairwoman of the African American Business Council, said Rogers' talk about how she helped turn around Johnson Publishing will be timely for business attendees. The company's Ebony and Jet magazines, staples in the black community for more than six decades, had struggled with readership and advertising losses over the past few years.

Addressing a crowd of guests at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center, the former White House social secretary said at the top of her list was stressing the importance of realizing that the nation as a whole is experiencing a period of transition. That philosophy helped Rogers gain understanding about her role while serving at the White House in 2008.

“We were trying to work together to move the White House in a direction it had never been before,” said the New Orleans native.

Rogers had to learn to build events and a White House atmosphere that reflected the Obamas while holding true to its traditions, she said.

“We are rebuilding the future and looking at things in new and different ways,” she said.

Rogers joined Johnson Publishing Co. in August 2010 after initially serving as a consultant to the company. Before joining the company, the Harvard Business School graduate spent 15 months as the country’s first African-American to hold the White House social secretary position.

The African-American Business Council is a part of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Chief William Jeffrey

Chief William Jeffrey was a hereditary Tsimshian Chief, First Nations activist and carver born near Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia, Canada, in 1899. He attended residential school from 1914 to 1917. Though he desired to be a lawyer, his status as a First Nations person and government policy at the time prevented him from attending college for any profession other than the clergy.

In 1930 he co-founded the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia. "The NBBC advocated improvements to the level of education among Aboriginal peoples, greater recognition in law of their hunting, fishing and logging rights, and the decriminalization of the potlatch."(Treaty Talks in British Columbia: Negotiating a Mutually Beneficial Future p.25) In 1940 he appeared in the House of Commons to further those aims, also delivering the message:

Without any consultation with us, you took away our land and put us on reservations. You gave us religion, and its clergymen burned our totem poles, saying we worshiped them. This was not so, for they were our memorials and our landmarks. You have removed them and stolen our land. You gave us the Bible—there is nothing wrong with the Bible—but you misused it and did not follow it yourselves.

—Awake, September 22, 1984

In 1953, attracted by the message of "peace and justice to peoples of all races, nationalities, creeds and colors," Chief William Jeffrey left behind his political pursuits to become a minister of Jehovah's Witnesses.

In 1960 he began carving totem poles and replicas of totem poles, joining a movement to revive the practice of Northwest Coast art once banned in British Columbia. Many of his poles still stand in Prince Rupert and even Adelaide Australia.

Chief Jeffrey was a native speaker of Smalgyax, a Tsimshian language. He also spoke English and Chinook Jargon.

Why is the NAACP fighting African Americans

N.A.A.C.P. on Friday defended its involvement in a lawsuit to block 20 charter schools from opening in public school buildings this fall, saying it was trying to halt city plans to create what it considered a two-tiered education system.

About 50 people, including many Harlem political leaders, staged a rally on Lenox Avenue outside the offices of the Success Charter Network, one of the city’s largest charter school networks.

The rally was meant to counter a rally in front of the State Office Building in Harlem last week. That gathering drew about 2,500 parents and students, who came from charter schools around the city to demand that the N.A.A.C.P. withdraw its support from the lawsuit.

The suit, filed by the city’s teachers’ union, would prevent 20 charter schools from opening and expanding in September inside of traditional public school buildings. The process, known as co-location, allows charter schools to move into public school buildings and share their facilities.

Critics of the N.A.A.C.P. have contended that it was betraying charter school parents — most of whom are black or Hispanic — in order to stand by United Federation of Teachers, a longtime ally.

But the N.A.A.C.P. and its supporters said the chief executive of the Success Charter Network, Eva S. Moskowitz, had unfairly singled out the group, arranging the rally last week, as well as a barrage of calls and complaints challenging the N.A.A.C.P.’s commitment to its African-American base.

Hazel N. Dukes, the president of the N.A.A.C.P. New York State Conference, said Friday’s rally intended to set the record straight about the organization’s intentions.

We didn’t come today to fight charters,” she said. “We came today to fight for a quality education for all children.

Harlem residents gathered last month to urge the NAACP to drop a lawsuit it had filed with the teachers union against the New York City Department of Education. That lawsuit seeks to stop the closure of 22 bad schools as well as the placement of several charter schools in district school space. The lawsuit essentially could lead to the closing of several high-performing charter schools that primarily serve black children in Harlem. Seeing this threat, thousands of parents took to the street against those who would deny their child a good education — even if that meant marching against the NAACP.

In response, an NAACP spokesman says that the group supports alternative schools but doesn’t want the city to neglect its public schools. But wait a minute. Charter schools are public schools. What the NAACP seems intent on preserving is the “system” of New York public schools that has failed kids in Harlem for far too many years. System preservation has emerged as the common refrain from those fighting expanding charter schools and quality educational options for parents. Preserving such a system in its current form would ensure that thousands of low-income minority children fail to get the education they deserve. Ironically, the NAACP has become the protector of the status quo it once fought.

As an African American growing up in the ’60s, I revered the NAACP. I will never forget when my mother took me to a NAACP-League of Women Voters rally at Butler University in Indianapolis, my hometown. My mother was active in both groups, which, at that time, were protesting the presence of Alabama Gov. George Wallace on Butler’s campus. Wallace was an avowed segregationist who famously stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama to block the entrance of its first black student, James Meredith. Only 7 at the time, I distinctly remember carrying a sign that I pointed in Wallace’s face. I don’t recall what the sign said, but I knew he didn’t want boys like me to get an education. As the police pushed me aside, my mother and her fellow protesters praised me for marching like a man for equal rights. Later, when my parents sat me down to give me my own NAACP membership card, I was proud beyond words.

I reflected on that time when I saw a photo of young black students at the Harlem march against the NAACP. I could see myself in one of those photos — a boy standing with his mom, holding a sign and making a statement in support of his future. I couldn’t help but see the irony: me marching with the NAACP against Wallace, and today’s children marching against the NAACP. It just shows that black parents will fight for the progress and quality education that their kids deserve — no matter who is standing in the way.

The writer, a former member of the D.C. Council, serves as board chair for the Black Alliance for Educational Options and Democrats for Education Reform.

Cain’s popularity reflects change in Republican Party

Among the many striking features of Georgia-based radio talk show host Herman Cain's presidential announcement speech in Atlanta on May 21, the most surreal was to hear an African-American in front of a heavily white audience of hard-core conservatives, at a site within shouting distance of the Martin Luther King Center, end his remarks by declaring, "When Herman Cain is president, we will finally be able to say, 'Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, America is free at last.'" Cain's decision to appropriate those famous words from King's "I Have a Dream" speech is in many ways characteristic of the man himself and the kind of campaign he's been running. But give him credit: Outperforming Tim Pawlenty in many recent polls, running tied for second in Tuesday's latest PPP poll of Iowa, Cain is surging on the backs of the Tea Party faithful. He is nothing if not audacious, and his popularity is due in large part to the fact that he has come to embody some of the more dubious but emotionally central claims of the Tea Party Movement.

The first thing Cain has going for his fan-base is his biography. He's a successful business executive who saved at least one company, Godfather's Pizza. He made his bones on the national political stage by attacking the Clinton Health Reform plan in 1994. And after liquidating his business holdings, he became a motivational speaker and author, with many opportunities to hone his communications skills. Following his one, unsuccessful race for office — a surprisingly strong showing that resulted in a runoff loss to now-Senator Johnny Isakson — Cain worked his way into the world of conservative talk radio under the tutelage of the veteran quasi-libertarian gabber Neal Boortz, who has a big national audience. He soon got his own syndicated show, in which he identified himself with one of the most durable conservative pet rocks, the Fair Tax proposal (a flat consumption tax that would theoretically replace federal income and payroll taxes). And unlike other pols who have since tried to ingratiate themselves with the movement, Cain was a big Tea Party proponent from day one, quickly becoming a fixture at Tea Party events in Georgia.

Now, the door is open for people who come from all different types of backgrounds," she said. "I think people in the Republican party are seeing that the time for change is now."

Cain recently released an official campaign music video where he does not shy away from the race issue. He says he left the "Democrat plantation" years ago, and he uses his family's history to make the case for his country.

"My great-great-grand parents were slaves," he says, "and now I'm running for president of the United States. Is this a great country or what?"

Shorter said Republicans have been trying to make the argument that their party - which President Abraham Lincoln belonged to - is the original party of the emancipators, which makes Cain's message even more appealing.

"I think the story of transformation is a pretty powerful one," she said.

Recent polling suggests Cain may be a serious contender for the nomination. A May 26 Gallup poll shows 8 percent of Republicans support Cain's nomination, which puts him at fifth among potential candidates, and he received the highest favorable rating among all candidates in a separate poll. Robert Browning, associate professor of political science, said the general discontent with politicians is likely helping Cain, who has never held elected office.

"I think the fact that he's an outsider helps," he said. "This seems to be the year of the outsider."

Despite relatively strong poll numbers, Cain is recognized by fewer than 40 percent of all Republican voters. If he is going to win the nomination, which Browning called a "very long shot," this number will need to improve. Browning said the reason Cain may have a chance is because no frontrunner has emerged for the nomination.

"Without money and a lot events, that's a slow path," he said. "But there's no frontrunner yet so he can get some more exposure from debates and from these candidate appearances that get picked up in the media.

John Edwards denies federal charges

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — John Edwards admits he has "done wrong" and but is denying he broke the law. Federal prosecutors have charged him with using $925,000 in under-the-table campaign contributions to hide his mistress during his 2008 run for president. Edwards was indicted on six felony charges that he violated campaign finance laws.

Do these payments amount to contributions to the Edwards campaign? The Justice Department says they do because “public revelation of the affair and pregnancy would destroy his candidacy.” But Mr. Edwards’ campaign lawyer says that, had anyone bothered to ask her advice at the time, she would not have considered the payments to constitute campaign contributions. Scott Thomas, a former Federal Election Commission chairman retained by the Edwards legal team, said that in his view, “these payments would not be considered to be either campaign contributions or campaign expenditures within the meaning of the campaign finance laws” and that, if the matter came before the FEC, it “would conclude that these payments did not constitute a violation of the law, even as a civil matter,” no less a criminal one.

There is no question that I have done wrong, and I take full responsibility for having done wrong," the former North Carolina senator told a throng of reporters Friday afternoon after emerging from the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem, N.C. "I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I have caused to others. But I did not break the law, and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law. Thank you all very much."

Edwards, whose daughter Cate, 29, stood behind him, did not take questions. Nor did he mention his wife, Elizabeth, who had incurable cancer when he began his affair. She died in December.

It is unclear what penalties Edwards might face if convicted, although the maximum for each count is five years, plus a $250,000 fine.

"As this indictment shows," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer in a statement, "we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election law.

According to the indictment, the result of a grand jury investigation that lasted more than two years, Edwards solicited and accepted approximately $725,000 from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, the 100-year-old banking heiress who is identified as "Person B," and more than $200,000 from the late Fred Baron, his national campaign finance chairman, identified as "Person D." Edwards, the indictment said, "failed to disclose these illegal contributions" to the Federal Election Commission.

Edwards' former aide, Andrew Young, was a key witness. He helped solicit the money, falsely claimed he was the father of Hunter's child, took his wife and three children into hiding with Hunter, and ultimately became an object of derision for his role.

Young was blamed for the scandal by Elizabeth Edwards. In a telephone interview in March 2010, as she wrote a new epilogue for her book "Resilience," Elizabeth Edwards said she believed that Young had orchestrated the cover-up, and had approached Mellon for the money. "I don't think they will indict anybody," she said. "I don't think there was a criminal offense here, unless it's fraud against Bunny Mellon."

She said her husband continued to maintain that he had had a one-night stand with Hunter and did not admit he fathered Quinn, now 3, until the couple was in therapy in summer 2009. The Edwardses separated in January 2010, days after John Edwards admitted publicly that he was the child's father.

Two months later, Elizabeth Edwards said she was still angry with her husband, but added, "I am completely at peace."

On Friday, Young's attorney, David Geneson, said that Young feels "vindicated."

Last year, Young wrote a book about the Edwards scandal, "The Politician." The indictment mirrors the tale he told. "The story is accurate," Geneson said. "The government has corroborated it." (In a separate case that is pending, Young is being sued for privacy invasion by Hunter, who is demanding the return of a purported sex tape she made with Edwards.)

New Black Panther Party

New Black Panther Party (NBPP), whose formal name is the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, is a U.S.-based black political organization founded in Dallas, Texas in 1989. Despite its name, NBPP is not an official successor to the Black Panther Party. Members of the original Black Panther Party have insisted that the newer party is illegitimate and have strongly objected that there "is no new Black Panther Party. The Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center classify the New Black Panthers as a hate group.

When former Nation of Islam (NOI) minister Khalid Abdul Muhammad became the national chairman of the NBPP from the late 1990s until his death in 2001, the group attracted many breakaway members of the NOI. The NBPP is currently led by Malik Zulu Shabazz; it upholds Khalid Abdul Muhammad as the de facto father of the movement.

In April 2010, Malik Zulu Shabazz appointed French Black supremacist leader Stellio Capo Chichi as the representative of the movement in France. Capo Chichi has been holding the position of head of the francophone branch of NBPP.

Philosophy, ideology, and criticism

The New Black Panther Party identifies with the original Black Panther Party and claims to uphold its legacy. It also says that many others see the organization similarly. The NBPP is largely seen by both the general public and by prominent members of the original party as illegitimate. Huey Newton Foundation members, containing a significant number of the original party's leaders, once successfully sued the group; their ultimate objective in doing so — to prevent the NBPP from using the Panther name — appears to have been unsuccessful. In response to the suit, Aaron Michaels branded the original Panthers "has-been wannabe Panthers", adding: "Nobody can tell us who we can call ourselves.

Although the NBPP says it sees capitalism as the fundamental problem with the world and "revolution" as the solution, the new party does not draw its influences from Marxism or Maoism as the original party did. Instead, it promotes the Kawaida theory of Maulana Karenga, which includes black unity, collective action, and cooperative economics. The NBPP says it fights the oppression of black and brown people and that its members are on top of current issues facing black communities across the world. Also, it notes that not all its members are NOI, though the group acknowledges universal "spirituality" practices within the organization.

Over time, many groups subscribing to varying degrees of radicalism have called for the "right to self-determination" for black people, particularly US blacks. Critics of the NBPP say that the group's politics represent a dangerous departure from the original intent of black nationalism; specifically, that they are starkly anti-white, and also anti-Semitic. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the NBPP as a "black racist" hate group. Even the mildest critics of the organization have said that the NBPP's provocative brand of black supremacy undermines other civil rights efforts.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a NBPP critic, has noted Muhammad's statement that "there are no good crackers, and if you find one, kill him before he changes.

Background

In 1987 Michael McGee, an alderman in Milwaukee, threatened to disrupt white events throughout the city unless more jobs were created for black people. He held a "state of the inner city" press conference in 1990 at City Hall to announce the creation of the Black Panther Militia. Aaron Michaels, a community activist and radio producer, was inspired to establish the New Black Panther Party.

Michaels rose to widespread attention for the first time when he called on blacks to use shotguns and rifles in Philadelphia to protest against the chairman of a school board who had been taped calling black students "little niggers. In 1998, the attorney Khalid Abdul Muhammad brought the organization into the national spotlight when he led the group to intervene in response to the 1998 murder of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. He also made the NBPP well-known for their vehement school board disruptions and public appearances.

Southern Poverty Law Center

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization. It is internationally known for legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that promote tolerance. The SPLC classifies as hate groups organizations that denigrate or assault entire groups of people for attributes that are beyond their control.

In 1971, Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. founded the SPLC as a civil rights law firm based in Montgomery, Alabama. Civil rights leader Julian Bond soon joined Dees and Levin and served as president of the board between 1971 and 1979.The SPLC's litigating strategy involved filing civil suits for damages on behalf of the victims of hate group harassment, threats, and violence with the goal of financially depleting the responsible groups and individuals. While it originally focused on damages done by the Klan and other white supremacists, throughout the years the SPLC has become involved in other civil rights causes, among them, cases concerned with institutional racial segregation and discrimination, the mistreatment of aliens, and the separation of church and state.

The SPLC does not accept government funds, or charge its clients legal fees, or share in the court-awarded judgments to them. Its programs have been supported by successful fund raising efforts which have also helped it to build substantial monetary reserves. Both its fund raising appeals and its accumulation of reserves have been subject to controversy.

Finances

The SPLC's activities including litigation are supported by fundraising efforts, and it does not accept any fees or share in legal judgments awarded to clients it represents in court. Starting in 1974, the SPLC set aside money for its endowment because it was "convinced that the day (would) come when nonprofit groups (would) no longer be able to rely on support through mail because of posting and printing costs." The SPLC has received criticism for perceived disproportionate endowment reserves and misleading fundraising practices. In 1994 the Montgomery Advertiser ran a series alleging the SPLC was financially mismanaged and employed misleading fundraising practices. In response Joe Levin stated: "The Advertiser's lack of interest in the center's programs and its obsessive interest in the center's financial affairs and Mr. Dees' personal life makes it obvious to me that the Advertiser simply wants to smear the center and Mr. Dees. The series was a finalist for but did not win a 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism. In 1996 USA Today called the SPLC "the nation's richest civil rights organization", with $68 million in assets at the time. Commentators Alexander Cockburn writing in The Nation and Ken Silverstein writing in Harper's Magazine have been sharply critical of the SPLC's fundraising appeals and finances.

SPLC stated that during 2008 it spent about 69% of total expenses on program services, and that at the end of 2008 the endowment stood at $156.2 million. The SPLC's fundraising methods are somewhat unconventional and critics accuse it of leveraging fear to solicit donations, and say that top officials in the SPLC are paid very high salaries. According to Charity Navigator, SPLC's 2008 outlays fell into the following categories: program expenses of 68.0%, administrative expenses of 14.3%, and fundraising expenses of 17.6%. In October 2010 the SPLC reported its endowment at $216.2 million.

History

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. in 1971 as a law firm to handle anti-discrimination cases in the United States. SPLC's first president was Julian Bond who served as president until 1979 and remains on its board of directors. In 1979 the Center brought the first of its many cases against various Ku Klux Klan type organizations. In 1981 the Center began its Klanwatch project to monitor the activities of the KKK. That project, now called Hatewatch, has now been expanded to include seven other types of hate organizations.

In July 1983, the center's office was firebombed, destroying the building and records. In February 1985 Klan members and a Klan sympathizer pleaded guilty to federal and state charges related to the fire. At the trial Klansmen Joe M. Garner and Roy T. Downs Jr. along with Charles Bailey pleaded guilty to conspiring to intimidate oppress and threaten members of black organizations represented by SPLC."According to Dees over 30 people have been jailed in connection with plots to kill him or blow up the center.

In 1984 Dees became an assassination target of The Order, a revolutionary white supremacist group, for his work with the SPLC. Another target, radio host Alan Berg, was killed by the group outside his Colorado home.

In 1987, SPLC won a case against the United Klans of America for the lynching of Michael Donald, a black teenager in Mobile, Alabama. The SPLC used an unprecedented legal strategy of holding an organization responsible for the crimes of individual members to help produce a $7 million judgment for the victim's mother. The verdict bankrupted the United Klans of America and resulted in its national headquarters being sold for about $52,000 to help satisfy the judgment. In 1987 five members of a Klan off-shoot, the White Patriot Party, were indicted for stealing military weaponry and plotting to kill Dees.

Hate group listings

Main article: List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center is named as a resource on the Federal Bureau of Investigation web page on hate crimes. The SPLC maintains a list of hate groups defined as groups that "...have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics." It says that hate group activities may include speeches, marches, rallies, meetings, publishing, leafleting, and criminal acts such as violence. It says not all groups listed by the SPLC engage in criminal activity.

The SPLC reported that 926 hate groups were active in the United States in 2008, up from 888 in 2007. These included:

186 separate Ku Klux Klan (KKK) groups with 52 websites

196 neo-Nazi groups with 89 websites

111 White nationalist groups with 190 websites

98 White power skinhead groups with 25 websites

39 Christian Identity groups with 37 websites

93 neo-Confederate groups with 25 websites

113 black separatist groups with 40 websites

159 Patriot movement groups

90 general hate groups subdivided into anti-gay, anti-immigrant, Holocaust denial, racist music, radical traditionalist Catholic groups, and other groups espousing a variety of hateful doctrines, which maintained another 172 hate websites. Only organizations active in 2008 were counted, excluding those that appear to exist only on the Internet. In addition, SPLC reported there were 159 Patriot movement groups active in the United States in 2008, up from 131 in 2007, with at least one such group in every state. They maintain 141 websites.

Slavery in Canada

Slavery in what now comprises Canada existed into the 1830s, when slavery was officially abolished. Some slaves were of African descent, while others were aboriginal (typically called panis, likely a corruption of Pawnee). Slavery which was practised within Canada's current geography, was practised primarily by Aboriginal groups. While there was never any significant Canadian trade in African slaves, native nations frequently enslaved their rivals and a very modest number (sometimes none in a number of years) were purchased by colonial administrators (rarely by settlers) until 1833, when the slave trade was abolished across the British Empire.

A few dozen African slaves were forcibly brought as chattel by Europeans to New France, Acadie and the later British North America (see Chattel slavery), during the 17th century. But Large-scale plantation slavery of the sort that existed in most European colonies in the Americas, from New York to Brazil, never existed in colonial Canada or Newfoundland because the economies were not based on plantation agriculture. The largest industries were based upon the exploitation of natural resources, such as the fur trade. So, while some Canadian slaves performed agricultural labour, most were domestic house servants.

Because early Canada's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade was so minor, the history of slavery in Canada is often overshadowed by the more tumultuous slavery practiced elsewhere in the Americas - most famously in the American South, and infamously in the colonial Caribbean. Afua Cooper states that slavery is, "Canada's best kept secret, locked within the National closet.

Under British rule

Black slaves lived in the British regions of Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries — 104 were listed in a 1767 census of Nova Scotia, but their numbers were small until the United Empire Loyalist influx after 1783. As white Loyalists fled the new American Republic, they took with them about 2000 black slaves: 1200 to the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), 300 to Lower Canada (Quebec), and 500 to Upper Canada (Ontario). The Imperial Act of 1790 assured prospective immigrants that their slaves would remain their property. As under French rule, Loyalist slaves were held in small numbers and were employed as domestic servants, farm hands, and skilled artisans.

The 1763 Treaty of Paris made no reference to slavery in Canada, nor does the Quebec Act of 1774 or the Treaty of Paris of 1783 -- either to ban it or to permit it.

Canadian First Nations owned or traded in slaves. Shawnee, Potawatomi, and other western tribes imported slaves from Ohio and Kentucky and sold them to Canadian settlers. Thayendenaga (chief Joseph Brant) used blacks he had captured during the American Revolution to build Brant House at Burlington Beach and a second home near Brantford. In all, Brant owned about forty black slaves.

The system of gang labor, and its consequent institutions of control and brutality, did not develop in Canada as it did in the USA. Because they did not appear to pose a threat to their masters, slaves were permitted to learn to read and write, Christian conversion was encouraged, and their marriages were recognized by law.

Under French rule

In 1628 the first recorded slave in Canada was brought by a British Convoy to New France. Olivier le Jeune was the name given to the boy originally from Madagascar. His given name resonates with the Code Noir. Although loosely established, the Code Noir forced baptisms and decreed the conversion of all slaves to Catholicism.

By 1688, New France's population was 11,562 people, made up primarily of fur traders, missionaries, and farmers settled along the St. Lawrence Valley. To help overcome its severe shortage of servants and laborers, King Louis XIV granted New France's petition to import black slaves from West Africa. While slavery was prohibited in France, it was permitted in its colonies as a means of providing the massive labour force needed to clear land, construct buildings and (in the Caribbean colonies) work sugar plantation. New France soon established its own 'Code Noir,' defining the control and management of slaves. The Code in 1685 set the pattern for policing slavery. It required that all slaves be instructed as Catholics and not as Protestants. It concentrated on defining the condition of slavery, and established harsh controls. Slaves had virtually no rights, though the Code did enjoin masters to take care of the sick and old. The blacks were usually called "servants," and the harsh gang system was not used. Death rates among slaves was high.

Research

Historian Marcel Trudel has documented 4,092 recorded slaves throughout Canadian history, of which 2,692 were Aboriginal peoples, owned by the French, and 1,400 blacks owned by the British, together owned by approximately 1,400 masters. Trudel also noted 31 marriages took place between French colonists and Aboriginal slaves.

Slavery in Pre-Columbian America

Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica the most common forms of slavery were those of prisoners-of-war and debtors. People unable to pay back a debt could be sentenced to work as a slave to the person owed until the debt was worked off. Warfare was important to the Maya society, because raids on surrounding areas provided the victims required for human sacrifice, as well as slaves for the construction of temples. Most victims of human sacrifice were prisoners of war or slaves. According to Aztec writings, as many as 84,000 people were sacrificed at a temple inauguration in 1487. Slavery was not usually hereditary; children of slaves were born free. In the Inca Empire, workers were subject to a mita in lieu of taxes which they paid by working for the government. Each ayllu, or extended family, would decide which family member to send to do the work. It is unclear if this labor draft or corvée counts as slavery. The Spanish adopted this system, particularly for their silver mines in Bolivia.

Other slave-owning societies and tribes of the New World were, for example, the Tehuelche of Patagonia, the Comanche of Texas, the Caribs of Dominica, the Tupinambá of Brazil, the fishing societies, such as the Yurok, that lived along the coast from what is now Alaska to California, the Pawnee and Klamath. Many of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, such as the Haida and Tlingit, were traditionally known as fierce warriors and slave-traders, raiding as far as California. Slavery was hereditary, the slaves being prisoners of war. Among some Pacific Northwest tribes about a quarter of the population were slaves. One slave narrative was composed by an Englishman, John R. Jewitt, who had been taken alive when his ship was captured in 1802; his memoir provides a detailed look at life as a slave, and asserts that a large number were held.

Slave trade

Caribbean initially provided England's most important and lucrative colonies, but not before several attempts at colonisation failed. An attempt to establish a colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years, and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies in St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) also rapidly folded, but settlements were successfully established in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628). The colonies soon adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by the Portuguese in Brazil, which depended on slave labour, and—at first—Dutch ships, to sell the slaves and buy the sugar. To ensure that the increasingly healthy profits of this trade remained in English hands, Parliament decreed in 1651 that only English ships would be able to ply their trade in English colonies. This led to hostilities with the United Dutch Provinces—a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars—which would eventually strengthen England's position in the Americas at the expense of the Dutch. In 1655, England annexed the island of Jamaica from the Spanish, and in 1666 succeeded in colonising the Bahamas.

England's first permanent settlement in the Americas was founded in 1607 in Jamestown, led by Captain John Smith and managed by the Virginia Company. Bermuda was claimed by England after the 1609 shipwreck there of the Company's flagship and in 1615 was turned over to the newly formed Somers Isles Company. The Virginia Company's charter was revoked in 1624 and direct control of Virginia was assumed by the crown, thereby founding the Colony of Virginia. The Newfoundland Company was created in 1610 with the aim of creating a permanent settlement on Newfoundland, but was largely unsuccessful. In 1620, Plymouth was founded as a haven for puritan religious separatists, later known as the Pilgrims.Fleeing from religious persecution would become the motive of many English would-be colonists to risk the arduous trans-Atlantic voyage: Maryland was founded as a haven for Roman Catholics (1634), Rhode Island (1636) as a colony tolerant of all religions and Connecticut (1639) for Congregationalists. The Province of Carolina was founded in 1663. With the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, England gained control of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, renaming it New York. This was formalised in negotiations following the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in exchange for Suriname. In 1681, the colony of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn. The American colonies were less financially successful than those of the Caribbean, but had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far larger numbers of English emigrants who preferred their temperate climates.

In 1670, King Charles II granted a charter to the Hudson's Bay Company, granting it a monopoly on the fur trade in what was then known as Rupert's Land, a vast stretch of territory that would later make up a large proportion of Canada. Forts and trading posts established by the Company were frequently the subject of attacks by the French, who had established their own fur trading colony in adjacent New France.

Two years later, the Royal African Company was inaugurated, receiving from King Charles a monopoly of the trade to supply slaves to the British colonies of the Caribbean. From the outset, slavery was the basis of the British Empire in the West Indies. Until the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Britain was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million African slaves to the Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic. To facilitate this trade, forts were established on the coast of West Africa, such as James Island, Accra and Bunce Island. In the British Caribbean, the percentage of the population of black people rose from 25 percent in 1650 to around 80 percent in 1780, and in the 13 Colonies from 10 percent to 40 percent over the same period (the majority in the southern colonies). For the slave traders, the trade was extremely profitable, and became a major economic mainstay for such western British cities as Bristol and Liverpool, which formed the third corner of the so-called triangular trade with Africa and the Americas. For the transported, harsh and unhygienic conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average mortality rate during the middle passage was one in seven.

In 1695, the Scottish parliament granted a charter to the Company of Scotland, which established a settlement in 1698 on the isthmus of Panama, with a view to building a canal there. Besieged by neighbouring Spanish colonists of New Granada, and afflicted by malaria, the colony was abandoned two years later. The Darien scheme was a financial disaster for Scotland—a quarter of Scottish capital  was lost in the enterprise—and ended Scottish hopes of establishing its own overseas empire. The episode also had major political consequences, persuading the governments of both England and Scotland of the merits of a union of countries, rather than just crowns. This occurred in 1707 with the Treaty of Union, establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Things Every Future Mogul Wishes Her Smartphone To Do

Purpose of life GPS: We’ve all been there. Call it confusion, a crisis of faith, what-have-you; but the road to moguldom can be rocky and full of questions, so wouldn’t it be great to have a fool-proof navigation system that not only gave you your life’s purpose but exact steps on how to achieve it – by quarter!? Less mystery, more more time, faster pot-of-gold access. Come on, you know you want this one.

#2 – Happily Ever After App – “an app that can find my perfect man and then set us up on a date”: Long exec or entrepreneurial hours, graduate studies and any other mogul-ish curricular activities may not leave much time for finding Prince Charming. Well, worry no more with the Happily Ever After App. Simply program your criteria, and the app magically brings finds “the one” and schedules the perfect date at the perfect time and ensures the perfect progression of the relationship. Call it, location meets navigation meets the Love Connection. The developer who perfects this would have more chips than even Zuckerberg, no?

Rechargeable Life Battery (to be refueled upon charge:) This is a popular one. Today’s diva is on the move and on the run. Who has time to stop and recharge, let alone remembering to bring an actual charger? Picture it, you’re just in the middle of negotiating that killer deal or getting the sales person to set aside the last pair of Louboutins in your size, and the phone runs out of energy. But if the device was actually capable of recharging itself, this is no longer a problem. It keeps going and going and going and going….

Jokers Weed-Out App: You know you’ve experienced this one before as you build your networking circle. Time spent on a business or personal acquaintance only to find out he/she is not really who he/she purports to be, is not serious or is otherwise incapable of being at the same level you are i.e. a joker. Waste no more time as this app would give off a subtle color alert similar to good old Frodo’s sword in Lord of the Rings when the Orcs are near. Life is just too challenging to deal with people who aren’t genuine. Get rid of them easily and accurately with the purchase of this magical app. Beware all jokers, early detection is here!

Perfect credit score app: ah, another perfect one particularly for African-American female moguls-in-training who just may be a bit sidetracked due to the double-digital unemployment rates affecting our demo. It’s simple Econ 101 that if the expenses equal more than the income, there is going to be trouble; and low credit scores can be a pesky thing on the road to success by virtue of the fact that the negative elements follow you around for at least 7 years. Get rid of them like Raid with the app that supernaturally goes behind the back-end of TransUnion and all those annoying organizations to fix your credit and help you out. Hey, a girl’s gotta have some kind of advantage out here, right?

Be on the internet while you’re on the phone..why only has AT&T mastered that?: That’s the question from another mogul, and a good one. Maybe you need to search something while you are on a pitch call that you didn’t anticipate? Yikes. Note to other carriers, this may not be such a tall magical wish after all, considering it’s already happening with your competitor

I wish my Smartphone was so smart that it did what I MEANT and not what I asked: Ah, those darn touch-screens. Sensitive and with a millimeter’s edge a wrong key is touched and precious milliseconds wasted for today’s busy diva. Yes, read my mind, Phone. It just may not be too much to ask. Talk about bio-engineering. Probably will have to come with a chip to be installed into the head via your local physician. Think of it as the ultimate bluetooth type of connection.

CEO search: So, you have the perfect idea for the perfect brand. Who wants to deal with the peons below the top? If you could just get to that CEO, it’s on. Thing is, his secretary filters all the calls to his office, and you want direct access. Voila. There’s an app for that! Think of it as an exclusive Yellow Pages on steroids. Just say the name into the phone and the private number of said-CEO pops up. Just remember that once you call, the reaction from said-CEO could probably not be controlled by this feature.

Auto bounce-back: Nothing ruins a mogul’s day more than going through her emails on her phone only to encounter ones that bring her down. Worry no more. With auto bounce-back, the phone intuitively knows which emails you might find disturbing, disappointing or otherwise negative; and just simply sends them right back to the originator before they even reach you. Keep that negative energy away so you can keep your vibe right.