"OPRAH'S ENCOUNTER WITH RACISM"

STILL THE IMMIGRANT

                                          SADE - TRACK (9)  IMMIGRANT (c)2000

                                                                 OPRAH


Oprah's Encounter With Racism Results In Apology From Swiss Tourism Office
By JOHN HEILPRIN 08/09/13 05:35 PM ET EDT   


GENEVA — Switzerland is a glamorous playground of the rich and famous, filled with glitterati from princes to movie stars. It's also a land with a sometimes uneasy relationship with foreigners – especially when they aren't white.

Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey says she ran into Swiss racism when a clerk at Trois Pommes, a pricey Zurich boutique, refused to show her a $38,000 handbag, telling one of the world's richest women that she wouldn't be able to afford it. Winfrey earned $77 million in the year ending in June, according to Forbes magazine.

"She said: `No, no, no, you don't want to see that one. You want to see this one. Because that one will cost too much; you will not be able to afford that,'" Winfrey, appearing on the U.S. television program "Entertainment Tonight," quoted the clerk as saying. "And I said, `Well, I did really want to see that one.' And she refused to get it."

She brought up the incident during an interview about her new movie, "Lee Daniels' The Butler," which opens next week and focuses on civil rights and race relations in the U.S. She was asked to open up about her own experiences with discrimination.

Swiss tourism officials and the boutique owner were quick to offer apologies Friday.

"We are very sorry for what happened to her, of course, because we think all of our guests and clients should be treated respectfully, in a professional way," Daniela Baer, a spokeswoman for the Swiss tourism office, told The Associated Press.

The tourism office also posted an apology on Twitter, saying, "This person acted terribly wrong."

The newspaper Blick described the bag as a crocodile-leather Tom Ford design named for actress Jennifer Aniston, a fan of the American designer. It quoted Goetz as saying the bag was priced at 35,000 Swiss francs.

Boutique owner Trudie Goetz told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that she believed the incident was a misunderstanding when the store clerk, who is mainly an Italian speaker, explained how expensive the bag was.


People like Sade, 2Pac, Ice Cub and The Roots been singing about this very same thing, but only us poor blacks seem to be listening.  Yet, these are the one's that have forgotten that they are still black no matter where they go are who table they may be sitting at for the moment it is always funny when they are reminded and shocked to learn that the color of their money may have changed but their color remained black.  Don't you think?  Let's talk about this fall at THINKINK OUT LOUD, Hosted By E. L. PLEASANT

VICTIMS OF HATE CRIMES

                                   REMEMBERING RAMARLEY GRAHAM

 

Richard Haste, NYPD Cop Who Shot And Killed Ramarley Graham, Won't Be Re-Indicted
Posted: 08/08/2013 9:30 am EDT  |  Updated: 08/08/2013 10:58 am EDT


A NYPD officer won't be charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed Bronx teen, a grand jury voted Wednesday.

ABC reports the jury decided there wasn't enough evidence to re-indict Officer Richard Haste in the death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham. Haste had been indicted by a different grand jury last year, but a judge threw out that indictment, citing a mistake by the assistant district attorney.

Cops chased Graham into his grandmother's Bronx apartment in February of 2012. They did not have a warrant to enter the apartment.

Acting on incorrect information that Graham was carrying a gun, Haste shot and killed the teen while he was attempting to flush marijuana down the toilet.

The family of the slain teen was quick to condemn the jury's decision. In a post to her Facebook wall, Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, wrote:

Dear Ramarley’s Friends, Families and supporters,
I was just informed that "Murderer" Richard Haste will NOT BE RE-INDICTED. I cannot believe the system is allowing Richard Haste who KILLED MY SON in the bathroom of his own home to go home to his family and able to look into their faces and smile. The justice system is making the same mistake again. I am in a state of shock that with all the evidence put in front of the Grand Jury, they had the nerve to let my sons killer off scotch free. However, I am not surprise of their actions because as dating back to almost 20 years ago they (COPS) were murdering our BLACK AND LATINO families and getting away with it. How can we protect our kids when they have to not only watch out for others of their peers wanting to hurt them but to also watch out for police officers who can cold bloodily kill them without any impunity.

However, I can assure you that this will not end like any other. I will not go away and fold my arms while my son is asking that I get justice for the injustice that was done to him. I being a person from the Island always see crimes happening around me but I never thought that one day I will have to endure the hurt and pain of loosing my son to not only another civilian but by someone that was sworn in by the law to protect and serve. REALLY??? Who are they here to Protect and Serve?

As I mentioned in a previous email, that I will take it to the highest. I will make sure Richard Haste pays for his crime. I will be gathering at the DA's Office at 198 East 161st Street, Bronx, NY tomorrow at 1:00pm sharp to announce my disgust and outrage of not only the system but the people behind the system.

Everybody, from mayor Bloomberg who's fighting the Inspector General oversight to Ray Kelly who keeps his cops skeletons in his closet to Pat Lynch who's the DEVIL behind his Blue Wall Code of Silence to Stuart London who defends COPS WHO MURDERS INNOCENT PEOPLE OF COLOR to walk free and finally JUSTICE Stephen Barrett who sits on the bench behind a motto that says "In God We Trust" but instead trust his comrades. When will our innocent kids get justice?

Graham's death led to large rallies in the Bronx outside the NYPD's 47th Precinct, where protesters decried the department's use of stop and frisk.

Graham's name today is often uttered in the same breath as Amadou Diallo, Kimani Gray, and other black and Latino men living in New York City who were shot and killed by police. His story is also often compared to that of Trayvon Martin's

 

  

HENRY LOUIS GATES

HAS ONE OF OUR PRAYERS BEEN ANSWERD, FOR ILLITERACY AND RACISM ARE CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH?

                                                          HENRY LOUIS GATES

Henry Louis Gates To Produce Black History Documentary For PBS
By FRAZIER MOORE 08/07/13 05:58 PM ET EDT   



BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — After a tragedy like the Trayvon Martin killing, calls routinely arise for a conversation about race .But Henry Louis Gates thinks the more direct way for structural change is through schools and their curriculum.

That's what he's hoping will happen with "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross," a six-hour PBS documentary series that traces 500 years of black history.

"To tell the whole sweep of African-American history – no one's tried to do that. That was what we were crazy enough to do," Gates said in an interview on Wednesday.

He hopes the series will find its way into the nation's schools as well as its living rooms, and acquaint audiences of all ages – both black and white – with black history, about which he says both races are equally ignorant.

"How can I help with the conversation about race? Schools are tools for the formation of citizenship. My target is the school curriculum: getting an integrated story told," he said.

An author, Harvard scholar, social critic and filmmaker, Gates has produced such past documentary series as "Wonders of the African World" and "Finding Your Roots."

In this latest project, he reaches back to the beginning – which turns out to be about a century earlier than many accounts of black history in the New World.

"The very first African to come to North America was a free man accompanying Ponce de Leon who arrived in Florida in 1513, more than a century before the first 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1620," Gates said. "Nobody was talking about those first 107 years of African-American history."

Gates has also tried to get the inside story that he says has commonly eluded historians.

"I've always been struck by the quality of conversations in a black beauty parlor or a black barber shop, as opposed to what black officials say or what black teachers write in a textbook," Gates said, "because we edit ourselves.

"I wanted to get the subjects in the film to speak to me as we would speak to each other behind closed doors."

Gates said that between 1501 and 1866, 388,000 slaves were brought from Africa to the United States, with 42 million of their descendants alive today.

"We want to tell about the world they created, how they survived, and how they eventually thrived," he said. "This isn't the history of George Washington, it's the history of his slave, Harry Washington. This isn't the story of `American Bandstand,' it's the story of `Soul Train.'"

"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" premieres October 22.


Online:

http://www.pbs.org

"DAILY SHOW" PROVES THAT RACE IS, INDEED, STILL A TRICKY SUBJECT

RACE MATTERS

'Daily Show' Proves That Race Is, Indeed, Still A Tricky Subject (VIDEO)

On Tuesday's "Daily Show," correspondents Samantha Bee and Jessica Williams set out upon a noble mission: To take part in the national conversation on race by talking to groups of black people and white people about their impressions on race.

But when Bee (who is white) is placed in a black focus group, and Williams (who is black) interviews a white group, we see pretty quickly that such a dynamic offers up some pretty startling revelations on how we feel about race behind closed doors.

 "The Daily Show" skewer the idea that racism can be solved by simple conversation.






RACE HAS ALWAYS MATTERED, TO WHO IS GOING TO CLEAN THE COMMODE TO  WHO IS GOING TO BE THE ONE SITTING BEHIND THE DESK.  WE ONLY PRETEND THAT IT DON'T, JUST TO SAY IT'S A STEP MOVING FORWARD.  GUESS WHAT?  WE AS BLACKS BELIEVE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES TELLING US SO AND THEY WOULDN'T LIE WOULD THEY?  HELL THEY HAVE BEEN TAKING CARE OF US SINCE BIRTH.  WHEN EVER WE GET A POSITION IT IS ALWAYS NOTED AS HISTORY MAKING, THEY SAY THINGS LIKE, "THE FIRST BLACK PERSON," TO WHAT EVER THE CASE MAY BE THAT IT TOOK THIS LONG TO ACHIEVE.  WHITE PEOPLE ARE BORN AND BREAD TO BE RACISTS PERIOD.

STILL DON'T BELIEVE ME?  SHORTLY AFTER EBONY RELEASED THE STATEMENT THAT THEY WERE ISSUING THEIR SEPTEMBER COVERS WITH PROUD BLACK FATHERS, "SAVE OUR SONS," THIS IS THE RESPONSE THEY RECEIVED FROM WHITE AMERICA.


The bigoted responses were endless, and quite ridiculous. For example, one commenter said: "Join the movement? You must mean blame all other races for black society's problems... How about you raise your kids better and not hand them over to the streets, jayz, lil wayne or pacman jones.. Stop selling drugs go to school no more pimping women." And another one who had this to say: "Trayvon could only dream of having better parents that would have taught him to be a young man instead of a hoodlum."

THE NUMBER ONE THING THAT WHITE AMERICA FEAR IS US COMING TOGETHER AS A RACE, ALL THESE YEARS YOU SHOULD HAVE FIGURE THAT OUT BY NOW.  KEEPING US APART AND FIGHTING AMONG OURSELVES HAS ALWAYS BEEN THEIR AGENDA, ISN'T THAT HOW YOU WIN A WAR?  THEY FLOODED OUR NEIGHBORHOODS WITH DRUGS AND SET BACK AND WATCHED.  SO YES WE CAN TALK ABOUT RACE AMONG OURSELVES AS WE  ALWAYS HAVE.

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT SOME MORE THIS FALL WITH YOUR HOST E. L. PLEASANT FROM THINKING OUT LOUD

THE TONIGHT SHOW with Jay Leno President Obama On Trayvon Martin

NOT A CRIMINAL

SYLVIA JACKSON

 

Sylvia Jackson of the Woman's Safe House joined a national rally movement in protest of the George Zimmerman verdict across the street from the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse on 10th Street at Walnut Street on July 20, answering a call from the National Action Network.

 

 

WE ALL KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG AND WE ALL BLEED THE SAME COLOR,
THEREFORE THE MISS INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW AND WHAT IS MORALLY RIGHT SUPERSEDE WHAT IS WRITTEN WHEN JUSTICE IS SOUGHT.  IN THIS CASE IT WASN'T BECAUSE RACE WILL ALWAYS BE THE DECIDING FACTOR.  YES WORLD IT IS ABOUT RACE/COLOR AND NOT JUST A CHILD BECAUSE IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE OF US AND HAVE....

THIS IS THINKING OUT LOUD RETURNING THIS FALL FROM E'SDROP PUBLISHING
HOSTED BY E. L. PLEASANT

EBONY "TRAYVON" COVERS

SILENT NO MORE

Ebony 'Trayvon' Covers: The Martins, Spike Lee, Boris Kodjoe, Dwyane Wade & Their Sons For September Issue (PHOTOS)
The Huffington Post  |  By Julee Wilson   
Posted: 08/06/2013 5:31 pm EDT  |  Updated: 08/06/2013 10:31 pm EDT


Ebony magazine is doing its part to honor the life of Trayvon Martin; to keep the conversation about race in America alive; and to explore “Stand Your Ground” laws with a special edition of its September issue.

The publication is rolling out four separate covers with the headline "We Are Trayvon," featuring the slain teenager's family, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin with their son Jahvaris Fulton, as well as director Spike Lee and his son Jackson, actor Boris Kodjoe and his son Nicolas and NBA star Dwyane Wade with his sons Zaire and Zion, all wearing grey hoodies.


The powerful images give way to an issue that includes an exclusive interview with Trayvon Martin’s parents and a piece with Lee, Kodjoe and Wade exploring how they approach the topic of racism with their sons. Readers will also find an article on racial profiling by Columbia University professor and HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill; a prayer of healing by Bishop T.D. Jakes; a poem for Trayvon Martin by Jill Scott and more.

“As a mother of a young Black boy, the tragedy of Travyon Martin affected me deeply,” said Ebony’s Editor-in-Chief Amy Barnett in a press release. “We simply cannot allow the conversations on this issue to come to a standstill. As the leading source for an authoritative perspective on the African-American community, at Ebony we are committed to serving as a hub for Black America to explore solutions, and to giving readers the information and tools they need to help ensure a bright future for all of our children.”

In conjunction with Ebony's five-part “Saving Our Sons” series, which launched in the May 2013 issue, the glossy is partnering with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans to host a series of town hall meetings across the country to discuss the state of Black boys. The program will run from November 2013 to December 2014 and commence at Morehouse College.

SEEKING THE TRUTH AND JUSTICE THIS FALL FROM E'SDROP PUBLISHING


THINKING OUT LOUD HOSTED BY E. L. PLEASANT

IT'S A COLD WORLD

 

 

IT WILL ALWAYS BE ABOUT RACE

 

 

“I am in no way shape, form, or fashion am trying to capitalize off of the latest series of events. These are my true feelings and my form of expression about it.” – Jeezy

As you know, George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges, leaving Trayvon’s family in a cold, cold place.

 

 

 

In a brief clip that aired on Monday's "Today," Oprah Winfrey compared the killing of Trayvon Martin to that of Emmett Till, the young black boy whose brutal murder helped fuel the civil rights movement.

It was one of her first public comments about the case, which has seen African Americans and whites sharply divided about whether George Zimmerman's acquittal was just.

"Trayvon Martin, parallel to Emmett Till," Oprah told The Grio's Chris Witherspoon. "Let me just tell you, in my mind, same thing. But you can get stuck in that and not allow yourself to move forward and to see how far we've come."

In a previous interview with Diane Sawyer, she said her new movie, "The Butler," could offer an answer to white people who were confused as to why African Americans were so outraged about Martin's death.


FAR TO MANY BLACKS LOVE TO SAY,  "HOW FAR WE HAVE GONE/COME." OVER 500 YEARS OF SLAVERY, 80 MORE YEARS AFTER BEING RELEASED AND 2013 WE ARE STILL CALLING EACH OTHER NIGGER.  WE ARE STILL BEING OPPRESSED, PUT IN JAIL, UNEQUAL PAY, AND STILL ENTERTAINING THE WHITE PEOPLE. THERE IS NO OTHER RACE OF PEOPLE HARMING US BUT THEM AND OURSELVES, ONLY TO END UP IN THE SAME PLACE.  WHEN YOU STILL DON'T OWN ANYTHING TO SHOW FOR IT,  WHAT CAN WE CLAIM HAS CHANGED?  WHEN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US  HAVE A PIECE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, ONLY THEN WILL THERE BE A SIGN OF CHANGE.

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT THIS FALL!  FROM E'SDROP PUBLISHING THINKING OUT LOUD, HOSTED BY E. L. PLEASANT