Sports columnist, social commentator, bad writer extraordinaire Mitch Albom says the woman who accused the Duke lacrosse players of rape should be arrested. Albom says the three accused, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, will suffer for the rest of their lives for this slander.

I’d like to follow them when they apply for a job, and the company interviewing them has a staff meeting and someone in that staff meeting says, “Maybe we should stay away from this guy. After all, that whole rape thing …”

Now these guys may not be guilty but let’s not pretend the Duke lacrosse players are innocent. Drinking excessively, paying women to dance and perform lewd sexual acts? Like whoa!

I am not a fan of Kobe Bryant but look what happened to him? Where was Mitch Albom’s call to arrest that young woman?

A grandmother’s eyes beamed with pride Friday night at the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Northwest Detroit as she watched her grandson belt out a beautiful song. She bobbed her head along and silently clapped as she sat near the edge of her seat waiting to be the first to stand and clap after he finished. I smiled and admired her support. In a later scene when it came time for him to dance she nudged me and whispered, “Now my baby is a singer, not a dancer”, we both laughed.
Fortunately, as I glanced around the room she wasn’t the only family member glowing with pride in the dark playhouse.
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After a long political battle, the council overwhelmingly approved the mayor’s proposed takeover of the city’s struggling public schools system.

No. This didn’t happen in Detroit. This school takeover may occur in the nation’s first official Chocolate City - Washington D.C.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan would make the school system a cabinet level agency managed by the mayor and a schools chancellor. A Department of Education would watch over other aspects of the system, and the Board of Education would be reduced to a policy-setting role. Fenty’s proposal faces a second council vote, and if it passes, would be submitted to Congress for final approval.

According to the Washington Times, “the mayor has touted the takeover as a way to effect change in a school system suffering from declining enrollment and low test scores.”

Sound familiar?
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Circuit City is sinking to a new low.

Last week the nation’s second largest electronics retailer announced that it would fire 3500 of its sales and IT professionals and replace them with lower paid employees. Laid off workers can get their jobs back if they are willing to take the lower wages.

From AP:

The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company’s total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said.

This is cold blooded. It sets a dangerous precident that may well backfire. I certainly won’t be shopping at a Circuit City any time soon.

It is not uncommon for new workers to make less than more experienced employees, but firing good workers because they make too much?

What incentive do job seekers have to take a position at Circuit City? They may well find themselves on the clearance shelves someday.

Yahoo/AP News

The rice company is reviving the beloved Uncle Ben “character.” And in 2007, Ben has moved out of the kitchen and into the boardroom. He is chairman and he is providing “grains of wisdom” to all of you rice eaters. 

Madison Ave. decided Ben (who still has no last name) was an under-utilized branding opportunity. And wanted to revive the image of Uncle Ben in his new position as chairman.

And herein lies the question: Is it possible to erase the history of racism and discrimination by giving a brother a new suit and a job? What if his name is still Uncle Ben?

65 year- old Detroit artist/activist Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts was allegedly assaulted by an employee of Epicurus restaurant, 111 West Warren in Detroit on Feb. 28 for attempting to use the restroom.

According to Ibn, when he asked to use the facilities he was told to leave. Then he was told the bathroom was broken. When someone exited the restaurant - demonstrating that it was in service after all - Pitts rushed in and locked the door.

In a statement Ibn says the employee jerked open the door. “He started hitting and kicking me, then grabbing me around my shoulders and dragged me out of the washroom into the restaurant area, calling me foul names and slinging me towards the door.”

To see a video of Pitts telling his story on YouTube click HERE: “Listen to Ibn”.

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It wasn’t a surprise when Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that he has been looking for ways to establish more charter and private schools in the city.

The mayor has made no secret of his desire to control the city’s educational system. Since dominion over Detroit Public Schools (DPS) was denied, Kilpatrick has decided he will help others build the schools he wants to see. This goes hand in hand with the mayor’s privatization crusade where he has worked to turn over the reins of many city departments and services to private corporations.

Though DPS schools targeted for closure received a temporary stay of execution from the school board, the closure plan is not dead yet. Board members told the Detroit News that they will bring a revised plan back to the table in a couple of weeks.

So the school board is determined to shutter at least 43 schools by 2008, and the mayor is working to build new schools that he can run like he wants to. What’s wrong with this picture?

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As I walked through Capitol Park on Griswold in downtown Detroit I heard a voice call out,
“Hey you”
“Hey you”

I turned and a finger was pointed at me and I pointed to myself and she said,
“Yes, you”
I made a u turn and walked towards the bus stop that I had passed only a few seconds before.
In my mind I was sure that she wanted to know why I was asking people questions and taking their photos. It’s not uncommon for me to hear those questions. However, once I made it inside the bus stop area I wasn’t prepared for what I would encounter.

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If you happen to have thumbed through a copy of our greater city’s “local” daily you’ll come across a story about activists in Detroit and boycotts. The usual characters of Minister Malik Shabazz and the Black Panther Nation and preachers are presented in the story but the difference is what it’s about.

The News story is about a council created to investigate and look into whether or not citizen boycotts are legitimate. The Public Protests Ratings Council founded by Rick Robertson is what the Detroit News decided to cover.

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We are pretty late on this Comerica-thing. After all, Comerica announced last week that it is moving its headquarters out of Detroit to Dallas, Texas. But that is mostly because of apathy.

Comerica has ceased lending in the innercity a long time ago. That is unless you are a politician who has power over billion dollar budgets. Remember former mayoral candidate Freman Hendrix’s million dollar loan on his home? (This is in a city where most can’t get their house appraised for more than $100,000.)

And hiring? Well that has been questionable too.

So forgive us if the Comerica announcment caused a tiny furor. However, we couldn’t help but notice an article on Texas’ electric grid. What they say about Texas is true. Everything is bigger in Texas including the energy gap. The states growth has outpaced the old system and we can expect power shortages starting in 2009.

With global warming and our energy hog habits…Michigan doesn’t look so bad after all.

Yo. I was doing my daily digital media perusal and came upon this photo of Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai.(The Taliban bombed a U.S. military base at Bagram this morning.)

But I was struck! Karzai looks like local Detroit city councilman Kwame Kenyatta. Kenyatta is on the left. Karzai is on the right.

I found a piece of art
It was alive
It was on the corner of Mack and Third within a famished corridor.
It was she
Somebody’s mother
Somebody’s daughter
Somebody’s granddaughter
What lured her to this corner? Standing in the cold begging for a nickel, a dime, a dollar or whatever you can provide. What story does she have to tell? (more…)

My congressman John Conyers stood before the nation on the heels of the 2006 election pushing for a full scale investigation of impeachable offenses by our current Commander and Chief George W. Bush. The whole month leading up to the election Conyers stood firm that a vote for the Democrats would be the 1st step in the impeachment of Bush.

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After you read about Rosa Parks for the umpteenth time and watch some PBS biography, Black history month is all over.

It’s so ironic that President’s Day also competes with Black History Month. Yet, President’s day warrants as much/if not more coverage in some media outlets.

At least the Black voiceover people who intone over corporate commercials “Celebrating 100 years of blah, blah” get work this time of year.

Minister Louis Farrakhan will be in Detroit Feb. 23rd to 25th for Saviour’s Day, the annual Nation of Islam Black History month celebration. He will be speaking at Ford Field.

Last week Detroit’s religious and political leaders–including Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, and Councilwoman Monica Conyers–gathered to welcome the Minister in what many believe will be his last public appearance.

Alas, some Detroit Free Press readers had some online comments–revealing their own deep-seated beliefs in free political speech, peace and self determination.

 ”Louis Farrahkan and his followers are an insult to all who believe in the equality of the races and gender equality. Thank God he is old and will be dead soon and will spend eternity in everlasting hell with all the other racist, Nazi trash in the world!!!”

 ”The leadership in Detroit is utterly a joke. No wonder the suburban areas don’t take Detroit seriously.”

“Once again, until the brain dead voters of Detroit actually want to have change and actually move Detroit forward, the like of Conyers and Kilpratrick will continue to consume the fat and leave Detroit worse for the wear.”

“Is this all we can get? Hell, even New Orleans is getting major conventions and its half under-water and looks like a war zone…”

Jeez…

Detroit Free Press, Saviour’s Day 2007