The Black Informant

Forget the successes, keep ‘em on the hook

NAACP should acknowledge TV gains
By BRIAN LOWRY

(variety.com) “HERE’S A NOVEL THOUGHT: Before the NAACP launches another campaign against television’s perceived ills, would it set the cause back to pause and savor the group’s recent victories?

Apparently so. Because after fatuously contending that Michael Richards’ comedy club tirade is “a symptom of a much bigger problem” and emblematic of “an underlying current of racism in America,” the NAACP scheduled, then canceled, an event this week to assail the TV industry for insufficient minority representation.

Certainly, TV still exhibits its share of shortcomings regarding race, but the NAACP chose a dubious time to level such criticism against television, coming in the midst of a very good fall for people of color based on those symbolic measures where the medium ultimately wields the greatest influence.”

[…]

“THE NAACP has singled out low employment levels within TV’s executive and producing ranks as its next potential crusade, while the Rev. Jesse Jackson pithily lambasted news for being “all day, all night, all white.”

Whatever the raw numerical data, though, once again, the symbolic advances are hard to overlook. As a prime example, consider producer Shonda Rhimes, an African-American, who presides over TV’s hottest series in “Grey’s Anatomy” — a program that effortlessly displays a thoroughly diverse universe.”

[…]

“Because there are never enough entertainment jobs to go around, the business’s insular nature makes breaking down barriers difficult — one of the hard realities of any closely knit club where merit can be subjective, and nepotism and connections frequently dictate who receives keys to the kingdom. As a consequence, the NAACP and other lobbying organs have every reason to keep reminding industry honchos to cast a wider net than the children of golf buddies and those they encounter at private-school PTA meetings.

Lobbying groups diminish their moral authority, however, when they appear unwilling to acknowledge when real strides are made, including those programs that convey messages about our ability to live and work together.” (more…)

====

Unfortunately folks like Jesse Jackson and the NAACP in this day and age exists only to convince America that Black folks are just one crack of a whip away from rejoining Chicken George and Khunta back in the cotton fields of the South. Why comment further here?

Honoring the “Man in Black”

Here are one of those successes

(blacktalentnews.com) “Will Smith was honored in an emotional tribute last Sunday at the Waldorf-Astoria for the Museum of Moving Image Tribute. Tributes by Smith’s friends and colleagues included Queen Latifah, Alfonso Ribeiro and Jamie Foxx.

Wife Jada Pinkett Smith broke down in tears onstage as she gave an emotional speech about her husband and what he has meant in her life. She said, “This is a man that taught a little girl in Baltimore that she could have the world. Smith’s son Jaden, who stars alongside his dad in new movie “The Pursuit Of Happyness,” joked about working with his father: “You were a real good actor but I taught you everything you know.”

In addition to screening a montage of memorable moment’s from Smith’s career, Derek Luke, Bill Pullman, Eva Mendes, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Tamara Tunie, Cedric the Entertainer, Bridget Moynahan, Chevy Chase, Michael Mann, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Guare and actress Stockard Channing were also on hand to say a few words about working with Smith.

The tribute to Smith was taped and will premiere on Bravo in January 2007.” (more…)

======

Being born and raised in the Philly area myself, I can’t tell you how proud I am of this guy. While folks were cracking on him for not being “hard enough” in the world of hip hop, his carrer has outlasted many of his critics with no sign of slowing down.

Blog: Debt Hater - Getting out of debt and into my dreams!

Check this sistah out as she discusses her journey out of debt.

I’m loving it! I’m loving it!
[Link]

You know you’re stank when…

(wbir.com) Flatulence brought 99 passengers on an American Airlines flight to an unscheduled visit to Nashville early Monday morning.

[…]

The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition. (more…)

You see, what she should have done was to #1. Crack it, #2. Walk away, #3. Come back to her seat and act as though someone else did it.

Not that I have done it or anything :)!

What would YOU do? (Homelessness)

This is another one of those issues that proven to be an easy political ping pong ball with no real AND LASTING solutions. I am at a point right now where every time I hear a politician exclaim that he/she is going to end homelessness, I just want to gag. Why? Because just about every honest person knows that politics in of itself is not a proven vehicle to take on such a task. We just like to hear such declarations because we want to believe that we are not as shallow as the next person. After all, who would vote AGAINST such a task? This mentality has proven to be just as effective as a person eating a whole pizza with the works and finishing it off with a diet soda thinking that they has made some improvement to their health.

I have also come to the conclusion that in many cases, the homeless in America exist only to satisfy the lack of self-worth in the lives of people who have managed to keep their head above water. Like the diet soda/pizza scenario, we foolishly toss our pocket change into the hands of the homeless thinking that 50 cents, a dollar, whatever is going to push them one step closer out of their predicament. Why is it that in wealthy cities like San Francisco or Santa Monica, CA the homeless population has not decreased in decades? Because the folks in these cities (and other like them) know that despite “pocket change” benevolence or increased government programs, there are deeper issues that need to be addressed.

For me, BlackInformant.com is an online journal of my thoughts that I am compiling for posterity sake. When I am dead and gone, I want my kids to know just how dear ol’ dad thought on the issues of my day. Not only that, I want to establish for them some kind of roadmap to develop effective solutions for their generations. Just as I did with the post-Katrina situation (which I am unable to find at this time. it might have been lost when I switched hosting services. I’ll continue to look for it. In the meantime, this is about as close as I am going to get.), I would like propose the following scenerio to you:

You have just been elected the mayor of a small town with a mixed demographic of low/middle class citizens. One of the biggest problems facing the town that you will be representing is homelessness. How would YOU fix that situation?

This is a simple exercise that I challenge myself on a regular basis on a variety of issues. It’s easy to criticize government for not doing enough, but have YOU ever thought about a real solution to this issue?

In about a day or so I will post my two-cents on this issue. Some you may agree with, some you may not. Regardless, it will at least give you an opportunity to share your two cents on this issue as well. While none of us have all the answers, what we compile in this simple exercise will hopefully reflect an effective plan that someone out there can implement.

Peter William Cassey and the Phoenixonian Institute - some history

“Aware of the desire of black Californians for education, Cassey founded the Phoenixonian Institute in San Jose in 1861 (also known as St. Philip’s Mission School for Negroes). At a time when no other California high school, public or private, was open to African American students, and few secondary schools were established to train white students, the Phoenixonian Institute stood as a symbol of the quest by African Americans for educational opportunity. The Phoenixonian Institute became the first black secondary school in the western United States.

The Institute received statewide support from African Americans. The 1865 statewide Colored Convention meeting in Sacramento, for example, passed a resolution to tax each African American in the state one dollar per year to support the Institute. The Episcopal Diocese of California provided funds through 1865. The San Jose School Board provided additional supported from 1865 through 1874 through an agreement with the Institute to matriculate all black students who applied for admission to the regular public school system. Students were also charged tuition and board which ranged from $16 to $20 a month.” (learn more...)

Additional information: “Phoenixonian Institute Site“

Caribbean migration into the U.S. - some history

(inmotionaame.org) The significant growth of the Caribbean community in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century is easily explained by the increasing economic hardship and disenchantment in the British West Indies and the simultaneous expansion of the U.S. economy with its relatively high wages and growing employment opportunities.

The British Caribbean experienced a catastrophic decline in its sugar industry. The British colonies found themselves unable to compete against cane sugar from Cuba and Brazil and against sugar beets produced in Europe. Between 1840 and 1900 the price of Jamaican sugar dropped almost 80 percent. The number of sugar estates on the island fell from 670 in 1836 to just 74 by 1910, drastically reducing the number of workers employed in the industry. Though banana cultivation expanded rapidly, it could never make up for the shortfall created by the collapse of the sugar economy. (learn more…)

AIDS and the black communtiy

“Is AIDS a ‘gay’ disease?”

After viewing the recent BET special on AIDS in Black America, I think most people honestly would answer “yes” and “no”. While HIV/AIDS is not limited to the homosexual community, according to this documentary same-sex encounters (encounters that take place in the prison system) have proven to be a prime source of the outbreak in the Black community. Despite the fact that AIDS has made its way through the heterosexual community, there is a greater danger to men who had/have engaged in male anal sex. So while AIDS cannot be truly called a “gay” disease, the primary form of sex in that community has proven responsible for the growing wave of this disease in our community.
Once many of these men leave prison, they engage in heterosexual relationships — passing this dreaded disease from woman to woman. These women, in turn pass it along via other heterosexual relationships. “Dirty” needles used by drug addicts is also another way AIDS is spread throughout our community.

I guess the reason why I am bringing all of this up is because I believe that there are two parts to this problem that must be addressed appropriately. #1 - While the sexual preference of an individual is their own business, the extreme dangers of anal sex must be addressed. This is why on a practical level, handing our condoms is simply not a sure bet when dealing with anal sex. More »

New documentary proposal for Spike Lee:”When the Crime Continued”

First the news…

(usatoday.com) “Crime, that old menace of the old New Orleans, is back, and it’s bedeviling a city trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. There have been 147 people killed in New Orleans this year, police say, down from 204 by this time in 2005. But the city’s population is about half what it was before Katrina flooded 80% of the city, forcing an almost-complete evacuation.

That means New Orleanians are murdering each other at a rate of 73.5 murders per 100,000 residents. That figure is above that of the nation’s most murderous city — Compton, Calif., whose rate was 67 murders per 100,000 people in 2005, according to the latest FBI statistics.

Because many traditionally violent areas flooded and remain nearly empty, crime has moved to upscale, high-traffic areas such as the Marigny, the French Quarter and Uptown, leaving residents with one more reason to question their decision to remain in the city.”

[…]

The post-Katrina crime wave began in earnest in June, when five teenagers were found shot to death in a sport-utility vehicle. That’s when the state police and the National Guard returned to the city to patrol the city’s flood-ravaged and sparsely populated streets, freeing up local police to concentrate on the more populated areas. They were to remain only through December, but Riley said this week he will ask Gov. Kathleen Blanco to leave them in the city for at least another six months.

Riley estimates that 80% of the criminals that operated in New Orleans before Katrina have returned to the city. But simply policing traditional hotspots doesn’t work anymore, Riley says. Violence in high-traffic areas such as the French Quarter makes residents jittery and draws national attention. (more…)

======

I truly believe that there are good people down in N.O. who are tired of this crap that has been going on for decades. Some of the loudest mouths out there that claimed to speak for these people during Katrina are proving once again (through their silence) that they care NOTHING for these people and their city.

Crack Rap

(insidebayarea.com) COCAINE AND HIP-HOP share a long history but over the last few years, there’s been a surge in coke-themed songs and artists — aka crack rap.

The roots of this fad date back to 2002, with the critical and commercial success of both Scarface’s “The Fix” and especially the Clipse’s “Lord Willin’.” While Scarface spoke mostly on the necessary evils of drug dealing, the Clipse’s Pusha T and Malice gleefully glorified hustling as the way into wealth rather than path out of poverty. Their songs were cartoonishly outrageous, even by Tony Montana-standards, as they co-opted children’s rhymes into coke boasts and dropped punchlines about yayo-smuggling grandmothers.

[…]

However, what’s being promoted isn’t nihilism, despite appearances otherwise: It’s crack as a metaphor for power. Drugs are deeply symbolic in our culture — not just hip-hop but American pop life — of escape, pleasure, obsession and despair. For a young cadre of rappers trying to one-up their peers, coke has resonated as their signifier for mastery and control. If hip-hop respects nothing else, it’s the idea that simple things can move minds and bodies, whether that power is found in a gun trigger, a raised fist, a mic grip or, now, trapped in a glass vial.

Topically, the trend has to exhaust itself eventually — in theory at least. When it does, what will future generations think of this crack rap era? Will they see it as a colorful fad, like polka dots and pastels from the late’80s? Or will they curiously wonder how it is that as fans and artists alike, we stared at the dystopia of cocaine culture and reacted, not with concern or horror, but with rapt fascination and celebration instead? (more…)

Film: The Boys of Baraka

“Devon, Montrey, Richard, and Romesh are just at that age – 12 and 13 years old – when boys start to become men. But in their hometown of Baltimore, one of the country’s most poverty-stricken cities for inner-city residents, African-American boys have a very high chance of being incarcerated or killed before they reach adulthood. The boys are offered an amazing opportunity in the form of the Baraka school, a project founded to break the cycle of violence through an innovative education program that literally removed young boys from low-performing public schools and unstable home environments. They travel with their classmates to rural Kenya in East Africa, where a teacher-student ratio of one to five, a strict disciplinary program and a comprehensive curriculum form the core of their new educational program. “The Boys of Baraka” follows along with their journey, and examines each boy’s transformation during this remarkable time.” (source)

Related links:

The Boys of Baraka (homepage)

D. M. Brown Productions
A young man all about change

“We know better than you!”

Anybody who has a penchant for racism cases should expecially be infurieated after reading this story.

This incident took place back in January of this year. While on the Fox News website, I came across a online video interview of this man.

At last fall’s annual activities fair, Marine reservist Matt Sanchez, GS ‘07, got into an argument with several members of the International Socialist Organization and later filed a harassment complaint against three students.

More than three months later, the administration responded with a letter apologizing for the incident but took no disciplinary action. Realizing that he would get no public response from Columbia, Sanchez took his story to the press last week in an interview with FOX News.

[…]

On Club Day, Zach Zill, CC ‘06, Monique Dols, GS ‘06, and Jonah Birch, CC ‘05, approached the table for the Columbia Military Society-a Student Governing Board-recognized group for Columbia students in Fordham’s ROTC program-because they heard it was being used for ROTC recruitment, which is not allowed on campus.

“We went there to voice our disagreement with the fact that they were there and pick up some of their fliers,” Dols said.

Sanchez stopped by the table soon after and entered the debate. In the course of the argument, Zill asserted that the military “uses minorities as cannon fodder,” Sanchez said.

“My last name is Sanchez. I’m Puerto Rican. I’m a minority. Zach Zill is blonde and blue-eyed. I said, ‘Look, I’m a minority. I know I enlisted; I don’t feel like I’m being used at all,’” Sanchez said. “[Zill] said, ‘Well, you’re too stupid to know that you’re being used.’”

Mark Xue, CC ‘06, a Marine officer candidate and president of the society, was also at the table and confirmed Sanchez’s accusations.

“They were telling him that he was stupid and ignorant, that he was being brainwashed and used for being a minority in the military,” Xue said. “Regardless of what you think about military recruiters, those comments were racially motivated.”

[…]

“Here you have a military veteran, a Hispanic man, who’s being targeted because of his racial status, and nothing happens. It disappears into the University framework,” Xue said. (more…)

In the interview, Sanchez mentioned that the main folks that were up in his face calling him “ignorant” were white.

What I find particularly amazing with this story is how the usual suspects in the “racism alert” crowd are willing to excuse this type of behaviour from whites. Had this been under different circumstances, boycotts and press conferences would be order of the day.

Man, its gotz to be the shoes

“Welcome to the #1 internet footwear community Myairshoes.com. Our mission is to bring our visitors release dates and news about their favorite shoes. Information about Air Jordans Sneakers, Nike Air Force Ones, Reebok Shoes, Adidas Shoes, Converse Sneakers, and more can be found here.”

While I stopped keeping track of sneakers after the release of the first Air Jordans back in the day, this blog gives you the low-down on the latest sneakers that will hit the market. There is no selling on the site.

Another one of our babies is missing (12/03/06)

SHAQUAN LABRACK GRASTY
Case Type: Missing
DOB: Aug 6, 1992
Sex: Male
Missing Date: Sep 26, 2006
Race: Black
Age Now: 14
Height: 5′9″ (175 cm)
Missing City: DANVILLE
Weight: 130 lbs (59 kg)
Missing State : VA Hair Color: Black
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: USVAVA06-409
Circumstances: Shaquan was last seen wearing a yellow stripped shirt, blue jeans and had a black backpack.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
Virginia Missing Children’s Clearinghouse
1-800-822-4453
Danville Police Department (434)799-6510

The memories that come to mind when you drive

While driving this afternoon, for whatever reason this movie came to mind. I remember seeing this back in the day when it made it to the rerun circuit. Here is a synopsis of this film along with the actual trailer. Talk about cheese??

Yes, I will be pulling from this analogy in future postings .

“Dr. Max Kirshner (Ray Milland) is a bigoted doctor, confined to a wheelchair and dying of terminal cancer. Despite this, Kirshner conducts secret experiments in his basement (where else?) laboratory and has succeeded in transplanting the head of a gorilla onto the body of another gorilla. The two-headed ape escapes and causes havoc in a local grocery, but the creature is sedated after if finds solace in a banana. Kirshner is able to remove the gorilla’s original head, allowing the other head to fully function with the new body, and he now wants to put his head onto a healthy human. Since his crippled, cancer-ridden body is expiring quickly, the operation must be done at once.

Kirshner talks his colleague, Dr. Philip Desmond (Roger Perry from the “Count Yorga” films) into conducting the operation, and now a donor must be found. A call is made to death row, and Jack Moss (Rosey Grier), a beefy black man sentenced to the chair for a crime he didn’t commit, volunteers in order to buy him time to prove his innocence. After the transplant is completed, Kirshner wakes up to the surprise of his life (”Is this some kind of a joke?”), but is able to except it, knowing his head can later be transplanted onto a more fitting body (white). Moss on the other hand freaks out and escapes.

Now on the run with the loud-mouthed whitey affixed to his shoulder, he forces another doctor, Fred Williams (Don Marshall of “Land of the Giants” fame) to drive them away from the police who are in high pursuit of them. Williams had earlier been turned down for a position at Kirshner’s hospital since he is black, so he’s perfectly content to help Moss. After running on foot for a while, Moss takes a motorcyclist’s bike with Dr. Williams straddling behind him as they ride recklessly. What ensues is an action-packed but much too lengthy car chase involving inept policemen–like something you’d see in a Hal Needham film.

Though played pretty straight, much of what makes the film so amusing is the lively banter between Milland and Grier. Milland often shouts lines that would make Archie Bunker blush, and by the time they get to Grier’s girlfriend’s house for refuge, he says thing like, “What are we having for dessert, watermelon?” when subjected to soul food, and “Is that all you people ever think about?” when they consider making love in the presence of his flustered head. You do have to wonder what was going through Milland’s head as he was reciting dialog while resting his chin on the shoulder of a 300 pound ex-football player?” (source)

New blog: Black Male Appreciation

From the “About” page:

“My name is richard jones, and Kami, an outstanding member of the Circle of Sisters Book Club in Kalamazoo, Michigan, inspired me to start this blog, not because Black males are the only people that matter, but because it matters a great deal what society thinks of Black males and what Black males think of themselves.

So much bad news about Black males is reported by the media and repeated by the masses that it’s easy for anyone, including Black males themselves, to get the false impression that nearly all of us are deadbeat dads, career criminals, abusive partners, or just downright lazy and uneducated.

For the sake of progress and to protect our individual and collective psyches, we must combat such “war imaging” and protest every instance and institution through which such negative images are used to demean and delimit Black males.

Most Black males are good brothers bringing forth good things from the good treasures of their hearts. Black Male Appreciation is all about encouraging these brothers to “keep on keepin’ on” and spreading the good news about all the good that they do. (more…)

====

Check out the link today

Western Black History

(tribune-chronicle.com) WARREN — Many African Americans were pioneers of the Old West and some became important and well-known cowboys and cowgirls.

Warren residents Cliff and Lillie Johnson spent time researching African American cowboys and cowgirls earlier this year for a program for Wild West Days at the Warren SCOPE Center.

The Johnsons spoke this week at the Kirk Club meeting held at the First Presbyterian Church.

‘‘There were some African Americans who help make the Wild West very wild,’’ Cliff Johnson said.

Lillie, a retired music teacher for Warren schools, and Cliff, a retired principal at Warren Western Reserve High School, said they were able to find interesting individuals who contributed to the settling of the West and helped with establishing schools and churches and being part of the rodeos.

‘‘This was extremely educational for me. I discovered many famous African Americans who were explorers, fur traders, soldiers, cavalry members and also among the first homesteaders,’’ he said.

Cliff said many African Americans left the South and headed West for opportunities such as farming, mining, publishing newspapers, owning hotels, and being involved in the cattle drives (more..)

======

Western Black history is by far one of my favorite subjects to study. There is a wealth of information there that gives a more complete picture of Blacks here in America. While many would want you to believe that we went from slave ships, to the plantation to Jim Crow south, many Black folks met with great wealth and success in pockets throughout the west. I am particularly fascinated by the numbers of towns that were founded by us. Contrary to popular belief, racism wasn’t the only reason why many of these towns met abrupt ends. I’ll try to provide you with some links I have gathered on this topic later today.

Black Americans needed in blood drives

The donation rates in other cities with substantial African-American populations also are low, according to American Red Cross statistics. In Los Angeles, the rate is 0.6 percent; in Philadelphia the rate is 1.9 percent; and in Washington, D.C., it is 1.1 percent.

[…]

Traditionally African-American communities donate blood, as well as organs, at a lower rate than the rest of the population.

Studies have found that is caused by a distrust of the medical system due to a history of being discriminated against in access to health care as well as the ramifications of the U.S. government’s “Tuskegee Experiment,” where 399 black men infected with syphilis were never treated nor told what was wrong with them.

A 2002 article in the medical journal “Transfusion” found that African-Americans were 60 percent to 80 percent less likely to donate blood than white males.

The lack of donors in Detroit has created a kind of perfect storm of a blood shortage for local African-Americans.

Type O blood is already in great need because it’s the universal blood type, but in Detroit, more type O is needed because of the substantial African-American population.

LaShawn Wilson’s daughter, Reneta, 12, is treated regularly for sickle cell anemia.

“I do all I can to get my family members to be blood donors,” said Wilson, who works as a nurse’s assistant. “I think if people knew how much they could help by doing this, there wouldn’t be a shortage.” (more…)

At think that at a certain point the Tuskegee Experiment excuse is going to have to be buried. I have read other medical studies that cite the same reason behind why Blacks do not get check ups. Neither should we settle for the “lack of access to blood drive facilities” line as many of these drives are held in Black churches in the inner city.

The incarceration rate continues to rise

(abcnews.com) According to a new Justice Department report, 7 million men and women, or 3 percent of the U.S population, are currently incarcerated, on probation or on parole — a new record that makes the United States the world leader in incarceration.

[…]

The rate of incarceration for minorities is especially high. According to the criminologists, the incarceration rate for African-American males is eight times higher than that of white males. A 2005 Justice Department report found that 60 percent of state and federal inmates were black or Hispanic.

That racial disparity can have a big influence on the U.S. political process. Many states have laws that forbid convicted felons from voting, or mandate a period of years after release from incarceration before reinstating voting rights.

In Kentucky, for example, almost 25 percent of African-American males in the state are barred from voting because of criminal records. According to the Kentucky League of Women Voters, Kentucky, Florida and Virginia permanently bar all individuals with felony convictions from voting. (more…)

The article continues by citing that the emergence of crack cocaine is a main factor behind the imprisonment of so many of our Black men.

This is one of this issues that I continue to think long and hard for an immediate fix. The Libertarian ideology suggests that if we were to legalize drugs, folks would no longer have to use crime to get access to what we consider “street” drugs.

While the logic makes a lot of sense to me, the growing movement in this country for a “free” health care system similar to Canada defuses the legalization route. Legalization may cause a slight decrease in recreational drug sales (because now you can get it anywhere), but for the millions who have been addicted over the years — Lawsuits and Legislation.

Lawsuits over faulty drugs would be at an all-time high. Political activists would play a huge role in this lawsuit culture as campaign after campaign would make a big deal about how drug manufacturers make these drugs addictive (think tobacco companies). Legislation to cover these addicts under universal health care would be birthed as folks would take the “their drug addiction is America’s fault” approach. As a result, billions more would be spent in more government programs that already have a dismal success rate when compared to private charities.

**Updated**

The only solution that I see is not a quick one. The whole drug issue (those that are in prison for selling it) is not just about economics as many would have you to believe. It also speaks to the void that millions of these young men and women are trying to fill in there lives. Trying to convince a young man or woman that the long term value of a minimum wage job goes much further than a hustle that earned them thousands of dollars a week is no small task. Teaching values that appreciate hard work are best fostered in a stable home environment. While the extended family, concerned neighbors, teachers, religious institutions play the strong secondary, it is the home life of these individuals that serves as the bedrock of values reinforcement.

The Catholic church will have a whole lot to answer for

(breitbart.com) The nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese said Friday it has agreed to pay $60 million to settle 45 lawsuits alleging sex abuse by priests.

The cases were among more than 500 pending against the archdiocese.

“I pray that the settlement of the initial group of cases will help the victims involved to move forward with their lives and to build a brighter future for themselves and their families,” Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a news release.

Negotiations for the settlement of the uninsured cases have been in progress for at least a year.

The payout is the largest in California since 2004, when the Diocese of Orange agreed to spend $100 million to settle 90 abuse claims. It is also one of the largest in the nation since the clergy abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002. (more…)

This is really, really bad.