'They Did Their Part - Now Do Yours' - Color of Change's Voter Resource Guide

With a few days to go until the 2012 election, check out ColorOfChange's Voter Resource Guide so that you can properly fend off voter suppression and exercise one of your most important civil rights on November 6.  

White Men Can Jump According To The All White Starting Roster for the Minnesota Timberwolves

According to a story in the Minnesota Star Tribune, the starting lineup for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is rather pale. Critics are describing it as an "all white starting line-up."  

SBW thinks those critics should ask the team's Puerto Rican players if they identify as white.

To be frank, the majority of NBA players are black. The Star Tribune reports that only a quarter of all players are non-black. Which means, three-quarters of all NBA players are black, so for the Minnesota Timberwolves to have a starting line-up with nary a black player, makes critics wonder about the motives behind its roster. 

 

The team has fifteen players and five of them are black. Critics of the current starting line up believe it was planned to appease the majority white fan base located in Minnesota.  However, team officials adamantly deny the basis for such an action. To be accurate, only five members of the starting line-up are white Americans. The five remaining team members are Puerto Rican and European. 

Read more here and here.

'MLK Was a Republican' Billboards Lead to Controversy

Billboards in Dallas, Texas read:

“Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. VOTE REPUBLICAN!” 

They have been strategically placed above Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

Creator Claver Kamau-Imani, founder of RagingElephants.org said “The use of Dr. King, because of him being an icon in the community, we feel would be most effective. That’s why we used it. We have the documentation to back the claims we’re making on the billboard.”

His organization seeks to convince African Americans who typically vote Democrat to switch to the Republican Party. 

Politifact reports that this claim is false. 
 

Regardless, what's with the politicization of this Civil Rights Movement icon any way?

Read more here. 

 

Who Paid For The 'Voter Fraud Is A Felony' Billboards?

After investigation, the Einhorn Family Foundation revealed it paid for the billboards warning low income Wisconsin residents that 'Voter Fraud Is A Felony'. The Foundation anonymously purchased the billboards from Clear Channel Outdoor advertising. After the billboards were taken down due to nationwide protest, many wondered who was this 'private family foundation' that had targeted low-income minority communities in the Milwaukee area. 

The Einhorn Family Foundation released a statement:     

“Stephen and Nancy Einhorn placed these billboards as a public service because voter fraud —whether by Republicans or Democrats — undermines our democratic process. By reminding people of the possible consequences of illegal voting, we hope to help the upcoming election be decided by legally registered voters.”

You can read more about the investigation here. 

Study Shows CPR Less Likely in Poor, Black Neighborhoods

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that people who suffer cardiac arrest in white, wealthy neighborhoods are two times as likely to receive CPR than those who reside in black, low-income neighborhoods.

"If you drop in a neighborhood that is 80 percent white with a median income over $40,000 a year, you have a 55 percent chance of getting CPR. If you drop in a poor, black neighborhood you have a 35 percent chance," says the study's author Dr. Comilla Sasson, an emergency room physician at the University of Colorado Hospital.

She found a direct relationship between neighborhood race and income in whether a bystander will administer life-saving CPR. One living in a low-income African American neighbor is 50 percent less likely to receive CPR than if they reside in a high-income, non-Black neighborhood. 

Neighborhoods aside, Latinos and Blacks are 30 percent less likely than their white counterparts to receive CPR from a bystander. 


Read more about the study here.

Have Black Americans Progressed As Much As We Think?

In "Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress" sociologist Becky Pettit examines the growing trend of Black men incarcerated by age 20.

"Our initial efforts implied that more young, black, low-skill men had been to prison than were alive."

She found that sociologists and census-takers usually undercount inmates and former inmates, which skews statistics about Black progress. Without those, she argues that the strides African Americans have made in employment, education, voting participation, and wages have been overstated. 

Some of Petit's findings include:

"Among male high school dropouts born between 1975 and 1979, 68 percent of Blacks (compared with 28 percent of whites) had been imprisoned at some point by 2009, and 37 percent of Blacks (compared with 12 percent of whites) were incarcerated that year. 

By the time they turn 18, one in four black children will have experienced the imprisonment of a parent. 

More young black dropouts are in prison or jail than have paying jobs. Black men are more likely to go to prison than to graduate with a four-year college degree or complete military service. Black dropouts are more likely to spend at least a year in prison than to get married."

Dr. Petit concludes: "Decades of penal expansion coupled with the concentration of incarceration among men, blacks and those with low levels of education have generated a statistical portrait that overstates the educational and economic progress and political engagement of African-Americans.”

Read more here. 

No Me Gusta: Save The Tetas But What About The Women?

According to the National Cancer Institute, 226,870 women have been diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. 39,510 died last year.  

A Chilean ad agency released a PSA called "Por Amor a Las Tetas" ("For The Love of Breasts") which features sweaty exercising breasts, breasts on the ones and twos, soapy breasts in the shower, breasts quieting crying babies, breasts being fondled, and even breasts bouncing through the city. 

Wonder why we say 'breasts' instead of 'women' doing theses activities? Because, if you view the PSA, you might think that women aren't even involved. There are no faces of any of the owners of these bouncing bosoms in the entire ad. The only face is that of the crying infant before the magical mammaries come to the rescue. 

The tagline:

Si tanto nos gustan, deberiamos cuidarlas. Incentiva a mujer a hacerse un examen de mamas.

Translation - If we like them so much, we should take care of them. Make a woman get a breast exam.

While this isn't a rarity (See "I Heart Boobies" and "Save the Boobs"), it is no less ridiculous.

And as Buzzfeed correctly points out, this is how a PSA featuring nude breasts should be done. (The Scottish government sponsored this ad, which was the first to feature full nude breasts.) 

Watch the PSA and read more here. 

176 Ballot Measures Nationwide on Election Day

In addition to presidential, congressional, state, and municipal candidates, American voters have a total of 176 ballot initiatives to decide. Alabama voters will determine whether to remove language regarding school segregation from the state constitution. Californians are voting on whether to end the death penalty in favor of automatic life without a chance of parole and whether to increase the penalty for sex traffickers. Voters in Maine may overturn the state ban on same sex marriage and Maryland voters are voting on whether to allow same sex marriage in the state. In Minnesota, voters may add an amendment to the state constitution which would require all voters to present photo identification in order to vote. On the ballot in North Dakota is an amendment that would remove the authority to require a poll tax from the state constitution and on the ballot in Oklahoma is a measure to ban affirmative action in all state programs. 

Read the entire list here.

'The Butler' - More Than Just a White House Employee

A film about a former White House butler who served eight presidents struggled to get financial backers, until director Lee Daniels (Precious) approached wealthy African Americans for financing.

The film is inspired by Wil Haygood's Washington Post article about the life of Eugene Allen who served in the White House from 1952 to 1986. This butler was privy to much of the nation's recent history such as JFK's death, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Now that the film has its financial backers, it also has a list of big-name actors taking lead roles, and many taking reduced pay because they believe in this African American period drama.

Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, The Great Debators), stars as Cecil Gaines in the role of the butler, and his wife Gloria Gaines is portrayed by Oprah Winfrey (Beloved). Other butlers are played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Jerry Maguire) and Lenny Kravitz (Precious). 

Robin Williams, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Liev Shriver, and James Marsden play presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon B. Johnson, and John F. Kennedy, respectively. Their wives are played by Melissa Leo, Jane Fonda, and Minka Kelly.

Mariah Carey (Butterfly), Terrence Howard (Crash), Vanessa Redgrave (Julie), and Yaya DaCosta (America's Next Top Model), play smaller roles. Quincy Jones pens the original music for the film.

Look for the fall 2013 release of 'The Butler.'

Read more.

Distributing Domestic Violence Via Camera Phones

Domestic violence used to occur behind closed doors, but technology like video bloggers, Twitter, camera phones, and TMZ create a culture almost used to seeing these depictions. 

Access to this violence didn't begin with those horrible photos of Rihanna after she was attacked by that hoodlum Chris Brown, or when football player and Dancing with the Stars alum, Chad Johnson headed-butted his wife Evelyn Lozada.

This type of violence occurred behind closed doors for probably as long as doors existed, but the difference between then and now is viewers' access to the violence and viewers' ability to chime in, to "like," and comment about these harrowing acts.

Remember after the 2012 Grammy's, when some of Chris Brown's fans invited him to beat them too? (SBW is engaged in a Two Person Boycott against Chris Brown).

@sarahleighlove

I'd let Chris Brown beat me up anytime ;) #womanbeater

@ilySunnyLove

Chris brown can beat me any dayyyyy damn he's so sexy

Recently, two videos have been circulating the Internet that feature men striking black women. A camera phone video that has garnered the name "The Uppercut," shows a Cleveland bus driver arguing with a female passenger. Witnesses to the violence claim, 25 year old Shi'dea Lane, struck and spit on the driver Artis Hughes, who responded by punching her in the face and physically throwing her off of the bus.

Another video shows 19-year-old Def Jam rapper, Lil Reese arguing with a woman in her home when he threatens to shoot her. After she calls him the b-word and the n-word, he punches her in the face until she falls down. He then proceeds to kick her, drag her about the floor, and stomp on her body. He claims the the video is years old and was posted by "haters." She says it occurred last year and the violence all began when she asked him to leave her home.

Is our culture becoming desensitized to these acts? Why are some people defending and cheering these men on?

Read more.

Most Americans Have Racial Prejudice Against Blacks, New Poll Shows

A recent AP poll shows that most Americans harbor prejudice against Blacks.

It found 51 percent of Americans show explicit anti-Black views and 56 percent show implicit anti-Black views. Anti-Latino sentiment has increased as well. Conducted by researchers at Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan, it found that racial prejudice has increased since 2008. 

Professor Jelani Cobb (a SBW fav), among other experts on race, was not surprised. "We have this false idea that there is uniformity in progress and that things change in one big step. That is not the way history has worked. When we've seen progress, we've also seen backlash," he said. Read more about the study here. 

Secret Service Visits Man Who Hung Obama Effigy at His California Home

This week, the Secret Service visited Moreno Valley native Eddie Million.  Million had hung an effigy of President Obama from a tree in his yard.  The police visited on Monday. The Men in Black visited on Tuesday. Million said he just wanted to display "something spooky. A noose is scary. It's Halloween." In retrospect he said, "This is just a misunderstanding. This is all getting out of proportion. It's down. It's gone. We didn't want to hurt the president. It was just for a party. It was not meant to offend anybody. It was just supposed to be a decoration." We hope the Secret Service has instilled some sense into Mr. Million.  More here.

Just in Time For Halloween: Cloud Atlas Says Yellowface is Okay in 2012

Just in time for Halloween --

Cloud Atlas is here.

Released Friday, the adaptation of David Mitchell's novel is directed by Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run) and The Wachoskis (Matrix Trilogy). The story moves across countries as well as centuries and is quite futuristic as one would expect from this group of filmmakers. Film critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the most ambitious films ever made." 

And, as they should, the filmmakers have come under fire for making their white actors up in yellowface. 

The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, and Jim Sturgess.

It also features actual Asian actresses Doona Bae and Xun Zhou as well as actual Black actors Keith David and David Gyasi. 

One of the most controversial segments of the film takes place in South Korea in 2144. Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, and James D'Arcy were made up to play Asian characters.

Founding president of the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans (MANAA), Guy Aoki, said, "It's an artistically ambitious approach to film-making. Unfortunately it reflects the same old racial pecking order that the entertainment industry has been practicing for years. Every major male character in the Korean story is played by non-Asian actors in really bad yellowface makeup. The Asian-Americans at the [preview] screening burst out laughing because [Weaving] looked terrible – like a Vulcan on Star Trek."

He continues:

“Cloud Atlas missed a great opportunity. The Korea story’s protagonist is an Asian man—an action hero who defies the odds and holds off armies of attackers… It would have been a great, stereotype-busting role for an Asian American actor to play, as Asian American men aren’t allowed to be dynamic or heroic very often.”

It makes sense that filmmakers wanted continuity in actors as they hop from scene to scene but filmmakers spent $100 million on the project and could have found some Asian and Asian American actors to play these roles. If they wanted to. 

The last time we checked, yellowface was was not okay. Blackface is not acceptable. Brownface and Redface are unacceptable. The latter three have largely been phased out of mainstream film. It is sad to think that Hollywood still lags behind the enlightenment curve in regard to treating Asian Americans will that same respect.

Two person boycott.  

More about this sad attempt at racebending here.

And a special note to all of you considering the use of face paint for the upcoming Halloween festivities. The only face painting that is acceptable is painting your face orange if you are dressing as a pumpkin or painting your face green if you are a witch. (Think: Mask, yes - blackface, no.) But other than that, if you are white/Black/etc. you probably shouldn't paint your face to try to match the color of another race. (Rule of thumb: You can paint your face, just not the color of another race.) But if you do, expect the shunning. And maybe a shift kick to some part of your body. SBW obviously doesn't support violence but we've seen it happen before.

You've been warned.   

Lowering the Women's Basketball Rim - Good Idea?

Legendary women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma of the University of Connecticut, has suggested that  the NCAA lower the rim. He has led the Huskies' to seven national championships so he probably knows what he's talking about. 

He thinks this will generate more interest in the game and will account for the natural biological height differences between men and women. Auriemma says that the average male player is 6'5" but the average female player is only 5'11".   

He believes that the adjustments made in lowering the net for women's volleyball can serve as a model for basketball.


“What makes fans not want to watch women’s basketball is that some of the players can’t shoot and they miss layups and that forces the game to slow down. How do help improve that? Lower the rim [from 10 feet]. Do you think the average fan knows that the net is lower in women’s volleyball than men’s volleyball? It’s about seven inches shorter, so the women have the chance for the same kind of success at the net [as the men].”

He suggests lowering the rim seven inches or more in basketball too.

“Let’s lower the rim seven inches, let’s say 7.2 inches to honor Title IX. If you lower it, the average fan likely wouldn’t even notice it. Now there would be fewer missed layups because the players are actually at the rim [when they shoot]. Shooting percentages go up. There would be more tip-ins.”

Auriemma says he will make a proposal in the spring to the NCAA rules committee.   

Good idea?

Read more here and here. 

Pass Gas in Class: Go Directly to Jail - Black Students Incarcerated in East Mississippi

When we were in high school, no one was jailed for dress code violations or for going to the bathroom without permission.

However, in east Mississippi authorities arrest students who commit relatively minor infractions.  

According to a federal lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Meridian and Lauderdale County, students of color and disabled children are disproportionately targeted. The lawsuit claims that these students were regularly jailed. The Department is suing the city of Meridian, Lauderdale County, the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services, and two Lauderdale County Youth Court judges.

Where do these students go?

Perhaps to the local juvenile hall?

No.

The county's policies allow police to ship students 80 miles to a juvenile detention center sans legal representation or probable cause. And after that, they were placed on probation without proper legal representation. 

ALLOWABLE reasons for incarceration included:

• Dress code infractions such as wearing the wrong color socks or undershirt, or for having shirts untucked
• Tardies
• Flatulence in class
• Using vulgar language
• Yelling at teachers
• Going to the bathroom or leaving the classroom without permission

In the school district, 86% of its 6,000 students are Black and 12% are white. From 2006-2009, all students handed over to the legal system or expelled were Black. 96% of all students who were suspended were Black. 

Shame, shame, East Mississippi.  

You can read more here.

Why Are There So Few Journalists of Color Writing Front-Page Political Stories?

Not only is there a lack of diversity in the visual representation of Black Americans on television news programs but, according to a new analysis by 4th Estate, this trend exists among major newspapers as well. Almost all of the journalists writing front-page stories for major papers are white. More specifically, white reporters write 93% of front-page articles about the election. Blacks write less than 3 percent, with Asian Americans writing 3.3 percent, and Latinos writing 0.7 percent.

Read more here.

'Pull 'Em Up' Campaign Collects Belts For Young People

A few weeks ago, while frequenting the classy establishment that is the Red Lobster, I sat by the lobster tank awaiting my shrimp platter.

Enter stage left -   

A man my age, Black, under thirty, with pants on the ground. Well, they were slightly above the ground but not by much. My mom, the elderly Black people in the lobby, and I gave him 'the look.'


One of the elderly patrons told him to pull up his pants and cover his drawers.

He apologized and I went off for my Cheddar Bay Biscuits. 

Not to sound like an old twenty-something but times have changed. I know it was Red Lobster but when I was growing up, we knew better than to expose our underpants in public. And if that even happened, a parent, grandparent, or stranger would remind us and demand that we get it together. (I even had a teacher who would make the boys wear hot pink string in lieu of belts if they wore their pants below their waists. It worked.)  

Unfortunately, the grandparents who grew up during the 30s and 40s won't be there to tell Millennials to "pull 'em up." 

What's going to happen then?

Cut to -

The Take Charge Foundation's 'Pull 'Em Up' campaign seeks to encourage young men to pull up their pants and take pride in their appearance. Based in Prince George's County, Maryland, it is holding a month-long belt drive with a goal of collecting 500 by November so that it can pass them out to high school students in the county schools.

Executive Director Jerrod Mustaf says, "We're trying to change the culture, step by step. The first step is to get the attention of young people and their parents. We're not going to accept or tolerate young men with their pants sagging. It's disrespectful, and they're not going to be hired for any jobs. We want to modify the culture of young people who believe it's cool to wear sagging pants."  

But this program is more than just a belt donation project.

The Foundation serves young people adjudicated through the Prince George's County court system. Most youth in the program are between age 14 and 18. It offers mentoring, life-skills, job readiness, parenting enhancement, crisis intervention, and gang prevention classes. 

Legislators in some states have taken efforts to criminalize sagging pants, including those in Alabama, Indiana, Florida, and Tennessee. Penalties that range from fines and jail time up to 6 months are on the books.  And yes, they have enforced these policies.

A little ridiculous if you ask us. We're sure these legislators have no better things to do except to legislate low-slung pants. Programs like 'Pull 'Em Up' actually seek to teach and reform instead of criminalize. Maybe this is asking too much of legislators who are elected by being "tough on crime" but we expect better. 

More here.

Palin Says POTUS' Benghazi Response Was a "Shuck and Jive"

Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin described President Obama's statements about the Benghazi 9/11/12 attack as a 'shuck and jive.'

She wrote on Facebook: "Obama's Shuck and Jive Ends With Benghazi Lies."

Some, including CNN's Roland Martin, called this racist. And SBW thinks that some people would be correct.

Read about it here.

CNN Reports: Women Vote With Their Hormones - Why Even Let Women Vote At All?

"While the campaigns eagerly pursue female voters, there’s something that may raise the chances for both presidential candidates that’s totally out of their control: women’s ovulation cycles. You read that right. New research suggests that hormones may influence female voting choices differently, depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship. Please continue reading with caution. Although the study will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Science, several political scientists who read the study have expressed skepticism about its conclusions."

CNN should have left it at that.

My fav live from the article: The study's author Kristina Durante says "When women are ovulating, they “feel sexier,” and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality." 
  
More here. 

UPDATE: CNN pulled the story because "some elements of the story did not meet the editorial standards of CNN."

'The House I Live In' Tackles The War on Drugs

"As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. Beyond simple misguided policy, The House I Live In examines how political and economic corruption have fueled the war for forty years, despite persistent evidence of its moral, economic, and practical failures."

The House I Live In explores the failed War on Drugs. 

Well, failed in terms of lowering durg use, drug crimes, and crimes overall. But successful if you are a politician seeking to be "tough on crime". 

After all, there are 2.3 million people incarcerated. That's more than those in any industrialized country. 

The film won the 2012 Grand Prize Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. 

Director Eugene Jarecki, also directed Why We Fight, which won the Jury Prize for Documentary in 2005. On The Daily Show, Jarecki said the drug war was blocking much of the progress brought on by the Civil Rights Movement. 

He conducted interviews with dealers, politicians, law enforcement, affected families, and the incarcerated in over 20 states. Among these is his childhood nannie and second mother, whose son was arrested for drug crimes and many other family members have been in and out of prison because of drug offenses. 

Jarecki told Ebony magazine, "The drug war shouldn’t be mentioned without the word fail in front of it so there is never any doubt. It’s a failure on every level. It’s up to us to put the issue to bed."

Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times said, "It's a film as profoundly sad as it is enraging and potentially galvanizing, and it's one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years."

Movie critic of all critics, Robert Ebert, gave the film 3 and a half stars, calling it a "shattering case against the War on Drugs."

The House I Live In is in limited theater release and SBW is sad we may have to wait until the DVD release to see it.  

San Francisco Travelodge Refused To Accept Credit Cards From Black Musicians

The manager of a San Francisco Travelodge refused to honor a reservation for a group of Black musicians.

Guitarist Leo Nocentelli, a 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee, Bill Dickens, a bass player for Stevie Wonder, and session drummer Felix "D-Kat" Pollard were refused lodging because of their race.

The hotel manager stated that it "didn't take credit cards from those people," and admitted that his reference to "those people" meant "Black people."

Rich Vogal, the lone white member of the group of musicians, was able to check-in earlier that day without hassle. 

Someone needs to tell Travelodge that it is 2012, and alert the company to the holding in the 1964 Supreme Court case, Hart of Atlanta Hotel Inc., vs. United States, where the Court found that private businesses could not deny public accommodations and discriminate on the basis of race.

Read more here.

Election Googling Reveals 'Interesting' Things About American Voters

The New York Times Campaign Stops blog analyzed many of the political Google searches, which revealed some interesting [to say the least] things about many voters.  

• 5,000 people a month ask about Mitt Romney's underwear
• "Paul Ryan Shirtless" is nine times more popular a search than "Paul Ryan budget"
  
• Red states are more likely to search for "Barack Hussein Obama" whereas blue states search more frequently for "Willard Mitt Romney"
• 1 in 100 searches for Obama on election day in 2008 also included "KKK" or "nigger"
• "Michelle Obama ugly" receives three times as many searches as "Michelle Obama beautiful"

Hmm...

Read the rest of the list here.

What's the Deal with 'Nude' Products Any Way?

Check out this interesting project and Pinterest by Professor Lisa Wade of Occidental College.  

Justice Kagan Believes President Obama Would Not Have Appointed Her to the Court If She Were Male

Elena Kagan told a group of law students at the University of Tennessee that she did not think President Obama would have appointed her as a Supreme Court Justice if she were not a woman.

And to tell you the truth, there were also things that I got because I was a woman. I mean I'm not sure I'd be sitting here.--Elena Kagan

Besides being a woman, Kagan is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. She clerked for Judge Abner J. Mikva of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall.

She was a tenured professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a published author on First Amendment protections. She served as the first woman Solicitor General of the United States. Somehow, Kagan also found the time to serve as the Dean of Harvard Law School.

Those credentials don't seem too bad. And unlike Clarence Thomas, there was no mention of her placing a pubic hair on a colleague's Coke during her Supreme Court confirmation process.

Read more.

'The White Chick Has a Problem With Her Biscuits'

A woman claims a McDonald's employee refused to serve her new biscuits because the employee is black and she is white. This story gets even more ridiculous.

Amber Gilleylen alleges that a Missouri McDonald's employee refused to get her a free order of biscuits after she complained about the quality of the breakfast bread. Gilleylen reports that the McDonald's employee then said, "the White chick has problem with her biscuits." Gilleylen refused a refund after her initial complaint, and instead wanted a free order of biscuits.

Gilleylen alleges that she experienced discrimination, emotional distress, and humiliation after the incident. She seeks punitive damages in a lawsuit against the company and its employees.

Read more here and here.

President Obama's Parenting Advice to Jay-Z Did Not Include Advice to Stop Using the B-word

During an interview with Cleveland's Z107.9, President Obama commented on his relationship with Jay-Z and Beyonce. 

President Obama gave Jay-Z some fatherly advice because they both have young daughters. The President encouraged the new father to take an active role in the life of his daughter. He told Z107.9, "I made sure that Jay-Z was helping Beyonce out [with the baby], and not leaving it all with Beyonce and the mother-in-law."

Read more.

But the President failed to encourage Jay-Z to refrain from referring to women as the b-word. After the birth of Jay-Z's daughter, Blue Ivy, a fake began to circulate online where it seemed Jay-Z vowed to stop using the b-word out of respect for his new daughter and all women. However, Jay-Z addressed the poem and declared his intent to keep degrading women.

SBW was not impressed with his response and penned an open letter to Jay-Z imploring him to honor his daughter with a change in vocabulary.

Read SBW 's open letter to Jay-Z.

'Voter Fraud is a Felony' Billboards Coming Down

After much controversy, more than 140 billboards warning Ohio and Wisconsin residents that 'Voter Fraud is a Felony' will finally be removed. The anonymous 'private family' sponsor of the billboards will have them removed in exchange for remaining anonymous. 

Clear Channel, the company that owned the billboards, donated 10 billboards in Ohio reading 'Voting is a Right. Not a Crime!'  

Perhaps one of the most ardent critics of the billboards was Cleveland City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland who said, "Needless to say I'm happy they will be taken down but I want to know who was behind this in the first place."

Agreed.

Read more here.

Man Arrested in Virginia for Destroying Voter Registration Forms

Republican consultant Colin Small has been arrested in Rockingham County, Virginia and charged with 8 election fraud felonies. He was employed by a private organization called Pinpoint to register Virginia voters and was working as a contractor for the Republican Party of Virginia. The police investigation began when a citizen complained about seeing voter registration forms in a dumpster behind a local business. In addition to the 8 felony charges for disclosing voter registration applications, Small has also been charged with one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice and four misdemeanor counts of destruction of voter registration applications.  

More here.   

Rep. John Lewis and Innonim Tell People to Vote Gangnam Style

Strong Black Woman of the Week: Bernette Johnson - Louisiana's First Black Chief Justice

Congratulations to Bernette Johnson, who will become Louisiana's first Black chief justice. After a racially-charged battle against her appointment, Johnson will begin leading the Louisiana Supreme Court early next year.

Learn more about her historic victory here.     

Disney's First Latina Princess? We Couldn't Tell

Sofia, Disney's first Latina princess debuted last night in 'Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess' on the Disney Channel. More specifically, she is "half-Enchancian and half-Galdizian," fictional ethnicities. Little Sofia is aimed at younger viewers between age 2 and 7. 

We all know that Latinas come in different hues, like all people of color. When Disney created its first Black princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog, producers went out of their way to draw her "to bear the traits of African American women." 

But with Sofia, Disney producers purposefully ignored mention of her Latina heritage. "We never actually call it out," said Vice President of Disney Junior original programming Joe D' Ambrosia.  

It kind of seems like Disney just threw this Latina feature in to market the movie to complete its multi-culti princess line but dropped it from the film's actual storyline.     

Among the critics of Disney's Sofia is Alex Nogales, President and CEO for the National Hispanic Media Coalition. "We need more heroes right now that are very identifiable. If you're going to promote this to the public, and Latinos in particular, do us a favor and make it a real Latina. Are they afraid that some people are not going to accept this princess because she is Latina? The more I think about it, the more bothered I get. I really would like to hear what the execs have to say. What are they afraid of?"  

Yes. They're afraid. D'Ambrosia said one of the reasons the filmmakers did not draw attention to Sofia's ethnicity because they wanted all little girls to be able to identify with her. Apparently, Disney was afraid that little girls across America would be unable to identify with a Latina princess with a little more melanin. So they made little Sofia as Anglo as possible.   

While it's nice to see a more diverse group of women in one of the most popular movie franchises, SBW objects to these being the only images of women Disney promotes as worthwhile. 

The official princesses include (in order) Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Jasmine (Aladdin), Pocahontas, Fa Mulan (Mulan), Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), and Rapunzel (Tangled). 

Also, here's our general objection to the princesses: 

Most of these princesses are passive. Now, we understand that's how princesses have been traditionally viewed. Sitting there and looking pretty. But why are all of the female characters from Disney movies lumped into the princess category? Some of them are strong, independent women who did more than sit there and look attractive.  Come on - Pocahontas saved John Smith! And Fa Mulan saved China! China! That's why Mulan is our favorite Disney character. 



Most of these other female characters did a whole lot of sleeping, hoping, and waiting for men to come and save them. Cinderella got new shoes. Sleeping Beauty took a nap. Rapunzel grew long blonde hair. Jasmine hung out with her pet tiger. And now Sofia learned how to be a lady-like princess, which is perfectly in line with the other passive princess Disney themes.  

Not that we have high expectations from Disney but a woman can hope, right? 
 
More here.  

UPDATE: After the controversy, Disney said the producer "misspoke" and Sofia is not Latina.  

Increase in Racial and Sexual Discrimination Charges on Capitol Hill

The Office of Compliance (OoC) recently reported that complaints of sexual and racial discrimination claims on Capitol Hill have increased twofold over the last five years.   

How much have the resulting settlements cost U.S. taxpayers? $461,366. Read more here. 

Race-Based Academic Goals - Seriously, Florida?

Florida's State Board of Education recently approved its strategic plan, which seeks to increase grade level achievement in K-12 students. 

Sounds like a good goal.

Spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education said the plan makes "realistic and attainable" expectations and does not lower them. "There is an achievement gap and we're working really hard to close that. Of course we want every student to be successful. But we do have to take into account their starting point."

Translation: the Board created different goals for different races. 

By 2018, the board seeks to dramatically improve math and reading scores.  

Reading goals are 82% proficiency for American Indians, 90% for Asians, 74% for Blacks, 81% for Latinos, 88% for whites, 72% for economically disadvantaged students, 72% for English language learners, and 78% for students with disabilities.  

Math goals are 81% for American Indians, 92% for Asians, 74% for Blacks, 80% for Latinos, 86% for white students, 78% for economically disadvantaged students, and 72% for students with disabilities.  

And, as expected, there have been many objections to the plan. 

Patrick Franklin, president of the Urban League of Palm Beach County, said, "All children should be held to high standards and for them to say that for African-Americans the goal is below other students is unacceptable."

Donna Korn, a member of the Broward School Board, said "All of our students face the same careers and if we allow them to have different levels of success, then they will falter." 

Former Governor Jeb Bush rejected this type of plan, arguing it would send the wrong message to Black and Latino students and instill that they were not as capable as other students.   

Incoming Florida House Democratic leader Perry Thurston said, "An appropriate vision should focus on improving student performances across the board instead of based on race and ethnicity. It is inappropriate to suggest, as the Board of Education has implied, that one race is academically inferior to another."

SBW agrees. This is a shame.

Will employers take these new standards into consideration? Under these standards, the Board of Education is perfectly fine with few Black and Latino students being able to pass tests, graduate high school and go on to college or trade school. And what about the Asian and American Indian students who need help but the group overall meets these goals? Will they get extra assistance? Probably not.  

Maybe the Board seeks to funnel these kids into low paying jobs right away.

We know it might be harder to create a system that seeks to make improvements across the board but it's possible. Why not seek to have all students reading and doing math at or above grade level? Sure it's difficult but what's the point of having a Board of Education if it does not seek to educate students? All students.  

More here.

Hillary Clinton Tells Women to Stop Whining

Hillary Clinton can't stand whining women. She told Marie Claire that woman need to quit complaining about being unhappy with their work and family life balance.

I can't stand whining.--Hillary Clinton

Clinton believes people need to take ownership of their life choices. If you choose to have a kid, then figure out how you're going to be a parent and work to support the child. While Clinton acknowledged that money gives people more options, she does not believe those without financial privilege should sit around complaining. 

"Some women are not comfortable working at the pace and intensity you have to work at in these jobs. … Other women don’t break a sweat. …They have four or five, six kids. They’re highly organized, they have very supportive networks,” Clinton told Marie Claire.

She also believes workplaces should be more flexible to enable women to juggle the care of children and aging parents.

Click here to read more.