The Black Informant

Excerpt from a Nina Mae McKinney fansite

“Nina Mae was indeed “The First Black Movie Star,” the first black actress in starring roles who appeared in over 30 films (more than Horne or Dandridge), some films are considered lost, some are not as available to the public. Her achievements in films was not only being the first Black movie star and actress in Hollywood, but also the first Black actress in starring roles in British films, television, and documentaries. Nina was also the first Black woman performer to become famous in her own country–the U.S., then went on to become a success in Europe, and became one of the most famous Black internationally-known entertainers. Nina Mae didn’t have to leave the U.S. to find glory like many of her contemporaries because when Nina Mae was in the U.S. she was a star, and during her tenure in Europe, she became a superstar.” (more…)

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The only movie I have seen her act is the movie “Hallelujah!” where she played a floozy-type that woos the affections of a country preacher who is about a sneeze away from needing salvation for his own soul. According to my mom, I believe she was about 15 years old when she did this film.

(northjersey.com) “New-home sales in the United States rose more than forecast in December, showing that the real estate market is improving following its biggest slump since 1990.

The 4.8 percent increase represented an annual pace of 1.12 million new homes, the most since April, from a 1.069 million rate the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday in Washington. For all of last year, sales dropped 17 percent, the biggest decline in 16 years, to 1.061 million, from a record-high 1.283 million in 2005.

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In New Jersey, most new-home buyers are already homeowners, and when they ran into trouble selling their current homes, many backed off from buying, O’Keefe said. “Both housing construction and new-home sales are slow here because our resale market remains lethargic,” he said.

In 2007, builders are expected to construct 27,000 new housing units in New Jersey, down from an estimated 33,000 in 2006, O’Keefe said.

Buyers were lured back into the market after builders cut prices and sweetened incentives.

Combined with more jobs, rising incomes and still-cheap mortgage rates, the sales increase may give companies such as Lennar Corp. reason to be more optimistic on the outlook for this year.” (source)

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Out here in California, new home builders are almost to the point of paying folks to purchase their standing inventory. What I bolded in the above passage is perhaps the main reason why potential new home buyers have been backing off the market.

>>>To all of my single readers, this is a good time to purchase a home–even if you use it as investment property. Rates are still reasonably low and as I just mentioned, you will have the upper hand with your negotiations. Don’t sleep!! <<<

**UPDATED! SCROLL TO BOTTOM OF POST** 

(gazette.net) “Prince George’s County’s recent economic prosperity could be jeopardized unless African-American males, who make up a sizable portion of the future workforce, make greater strides in academic achievement, business advocates and educators say.

African-American males make up 39 percent of the county’s public school population, or nearly 52,000 students, and they have among the lowest rates of academic achievement.

These advocates say black boys need more focused support from the school system to be effective workers when they graduate from high school or are ready to attend college.

‘‘We are going to start seeing ourselves regressing [economically] if we don’t ensure African-American males are being educated in a way that would make them productive and effective members of the workforce and society in general,” said Orlan Johnson, a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Maryland.

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On the High School Assessments, which are required by state law for graduation, black males passed at lower rates than black females and almost every other racial subgroup.

Of African-American males who took the algebra exam in the 2006 school year, for example, only 37.7 percent passed, almost 10 percent fewer than African American females.

Asian males passed the exam 71 percent of the time, and white males passed it 74.9 percent of the time.

While these rates of passing are low for black males, they have increased over the past four years and showed their largest increase in the 2006 school year.

Johnson said that if poor performance of African American males in school continued, it could mean that county businesses could have to go outside the state to bring in workers to compensate.” (source)

Here you have what is considered the wealthiest county for Black folks in the nation, however our young men are still under performing in public schools while other races appear to be fairing well. While poverty and racism has been the standard reasons given for this trend, I think that we can rule those out here.

I’ll be quiet here for a moment and let some of you respond to this one.

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Here is some additional information on PG county and their school system. More and more I am finding this topic very interesting because I have been wanting to get more information about PG in general.

PG County (Wikipedia)

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As of 2006 the district has an enrollment of almost 134,000 students and is the second largest school district in Maryland (after Montgomery County) and the 18th largest school district in the nation. PGCPS operates 137 elementary schools, 32 middle schools, and 23 high schools with nine special centers and two vocational centers, and serves students in Grades Pre-K through 12th grade employing over 17,000 people. The school system is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education. The FY2006 budget for PGCPS is almost $1.4 billion United States dollars. This is an increase of over $100 million from the previous year. PGCPS has a per pupil expenditure lower than surrounding school districts in the Washington, DC-area, at $8,612.

The district is headed by a superintendent, currently referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO). Howard A. Burnett, the former chief human resources officer of the school district, was interim replacement CEO through April, 2006. Dr. John E. Deasy took office on May 1, 2006. Dr. Deasy was the former superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

In terms of racial demographics, African-Americans make up the majority of the systems students at 74.35% followed by 13.60% Hispanic, 6.14% non-Hispanic white, 2.85% Asian, and 0.52% Native American. (click here for more information)

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School District Summary - Prince George’s County

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The Achievement Gap: The Role for Families and Communities

Dr. Leroy Tompkins is the Chief Accountability Officer for the Prince George’s County Public Schools.

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With Few Public Options, Competition to Get Into Top High School Programs Is Fierce

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Turning to Busing

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And here is a forum I found where a Black teacher from Georgia is asking about PG and the school system. You should read the responses!!

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For the record, I can’t stand American Idol. But for whatever reason, my wife has me hooked on it this season. One thing I have noticed, the DVR is a Black family’s best friend. I say that because as you know, we have this thing where we like to talk back to the screen thinking that the people on the other side can actually hear us. The DVR allow you to pause the show, tell somebody off or give instruction, then you can just un-pause and enjoy the rest of the show. The pause button is used a lot for American Idol in our house.

Man, the people that have been trying out so far really have some problems. I mean, really, REALLY deep problems. And then, after proving to the world that they couldn’t carry a tune even if it was on a sheet of paper, THEY GET MAD at the judges!

Okay, let me hit the pause button fo’ min!!!

The other day I heard on the news that “some” (notice they never tell you who) people out there have been complaining that perhaps the judges are being too harsh on these contestants. What is more harsh: being told by a few judges that you can’t sing or being told day in and day out by folks all around the world that you suck?

This show always leaves me wondering if there is anybody out there willing to tell these po’ babies that they really need some professional help–not with singing.

Well, come to our house and we will be glad to do it!

un-pause!

For all the ’70’s babies out there, this has to be a blast from the past for you. Guess what? The Johnson Publishing Company now has the Ebony Jr. website. (check it out)

As long as they keep to the formula they used back in the day, I can see this becoming a favorite choice for reading in this generation of young kids.

We’re getting old, y’all!

I remember last year hearing and reading about fellow Black Americans who embarked on a personal crusade to trace their roots back to Africa. As a history buff myself, on many levels I found this to be very exciting. Even in my own family we have been able to retrieve bits and pieces of our family tree dating back to the Civil war.

Any historian who is worth their salt will tell you that the vast majority of Blacks (excluding first generation Africans) in this country are not 100% full-blooded decedents of the first Africans brought to this country for slavery. This means that the average Black person that you see on the street has a mixture of other races within their family linage. Just a casual study of the post-slavery era migration of Blacks will reveal that although Blacks (like other races) tend to stay within their group, it was not uncommon to see intermarriage taking place with native Americans, South Americans, Jews and Europeans.

Now let’s be real here–if you have a dark skin tone your natural proclivity is to identify with your African roots. But does this also mean that you deny or downplay your other roots? Being able to tell someone what African tribe or village your roots originate is great, but it does not tell the whole story. For many Black people, it has become the assumed fact that if you have any traces of white in your bloodline, you can be sure that it was due to rape. On the other hand, the mixture of other races is considered okay. I want my kids to know their WHOLE story, not just the portions that accommodate my personal biases. By withholding this detailed information, I am imprinting into their consciousness the same ideological boundaries that were created under Jim Crow.

Perhaps the deeper question here is that how can we push for policies that enforce diversity when in many cases we are not willing to acknowledge the diversity within us?

Related post: Loving the jambalaya under my skin

I just came across this page that highlights many of the cases over the years where female teachers have engaged in sexual activity with male students. While this trend has been downplayed by the perception that young men are not as affected by this as young women, teachers having sex with their students is wrong PERIOD. For my Black readers, while it would be easy for us to dismiss this as a “white-only” problem because the vast majority of these cases involve Whites, remember that is happening on YOUR tax dollar. Plus, since this is an AMERICAN problem (something that my critics are quick to point out anytime I discuss negative issues in the Black community)  I figured that this is something worth bringing to their attention.

Related post: “Public school bureaucracy in print”

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“Here is a list of the teacher ’sexpidemic’ cases WND has documented where female teachers have been accused, or convicted, of assaulting students…” (more…)

When Koreans started moving in on the Black beauty supply industry, some of the major complaints have centered around customer service (This is something I talked extensively about in this post). Anyway, a reader just posted the following comment:

“I am in process of starting up my own beauty supply /party supply store. Can I get some good advice?  Also need some hair/party suppliers.”  (Cynthia Carter)

Help her design the perfect beauty supply store.

My wife is very good at leaving an assortment of magazines in our bathroom. Just the other day I came across an old Ebony magazine that feature Brian McKnight posing with his wife at the time and kids. The first thought that ran through my head was “Man, here this family was being portrayed as a family that had it all together.” And while this image remains immortalized on this magazine, sadly the marriage itself proved to be less than the image. Then I starting thinking about his kids and what they must think every time they see this picture on this magazine.

While I am quite sure that many of you may think by now that I am making a big deal about nothing and that divorce is “just another fact of life”, I am one those old fogies in the world that think differently. Hearing about someone getting divorced is news  I hope I will never get use to. While divorce is something that is quite common in our society, I believe that this is a trend that can be reversed. I mean, we can argue the trends and break it down by ethnicity or  class–that’s easy. How about highlighting the marriages that are working? With careful planing that includes the help of others who are not only married themselves, but are in love with their spouses and have been that way for AT LEAST 5 years (my personal rule of thumb), you will be increasing your chance of ensuring that your marriage is not another bad statistic. There is just nothing like hearing from people who have been been through it for years.

Here comes another one of my crazy ideas !

I think it would great if some of us married folks in the Black community got together and created a blog that highlighted the ups and downs of married life. I am emphasizing the Black community here only because I have not seen something like this created by us on the web. If something like that is out there, please let me know.

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ — What Philadelphia restaurant serves Oprah Winfrey’s favorite macaroni and cheese? Where did Muhammad Ali wish he had the opportunity to fight? What famous Philly legend does Eagles linebacker Dhani Jones admire?* Answers to these questions and many others are revealed on Philly Noir, the latest podcast tour on SoundAboutPhilly.com, a new site by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation featuring free dynamically mapped and completely customizable sound-seeing tours of Philadelphia. The fifth installment in the podcast series, Philly Noir concentrates on African-American culture and its role in the city’s past, present and future.

The tour is a fusion of Philly’s historic events, spiritual reflections, visual arts, soulful rhythms, legendary athletics and southern and Caribbean cuisine. Each of the 11 segments talks about a local venue that plays a pivotal part in the combined experience that makes up Philadelphia’s authentic flavor. The tour features distinctive and varied voices of business owners, pastors, musicians and everyday, in-the-know residents. (more…)

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Man, I do not want to hear somebody eating a cheesesteak, I want to eat it.

But seriously, this is a cool way to learn about a great (my home town ) city!