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Black Men and Black Women In Prison Keeps Growing

1 in 9 black men 1 in 15 Hispanic men and 1 in 100 white men in the United States is in prison recent Pew Report finds.

In my opinion, prisons are today's plantations and most inmates are the slaves. The judicial system and the corporations that profit from prisons are the new slave masters. After reading the article below, tell us what you think.

Prison spending ballooned from $11 billion to $49 billion in 2 decades

NEW YORK /AP- For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America’s rank as the world’s No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.

Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it’s more than any other nation.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

The steadily growing inmate population “is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime,” the report said.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are pressuring many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft on crime.

Kansas, Texas act to slow growth
“We’re seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets,” she said in an interview. “They want to be tough on crime. They want to be a law-and-order state. But they also want to save money, and they want to be effective.”

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states that have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. They are making greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

“The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens,” the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

“We need to be smarter,” said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. “We’re not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes. But we’re also probably incarcerating people who don’t need to be.”

Largest increase in Kentucky
According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state’s crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state’s inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The report was compiled by the Pew Center’s Public Safety Performance Project, which is working with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

“Getting tough on criminals has gotten tough on taxpayers,” said the project’s director, Adam Gelb.

According to the report, the average annual cost per prisoner was $23,876, with Rhode Island spending the most ($44,860) and Louisiana the least ($13,009). It said California — which faces a $16 billion budget shortfall — spent $8.8 billion on corrections last year, while Texas, which has slightly more inmates, was a distant second with spending of $3.3 billion.

On average, states spend 6.8 percent of their general fund dollars on corrections, the report said. Oregon had the highest spending rate, at 10.9 percent; Alabama the lowest at 2.6 percent.

Four states — Vermont, Michigan, Oregon and Connecticut — now spend more on corrections than they do on higher education, the report said.

“These sad facts reflect a very distorted set of national priorities,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, referring to the full report. “Perhaps, if we adequately invested in our children and in education, kids who now grow up to be criminals could become productive workers and taxpayers.”

Tough sentencing laws cited
The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect an increase in the nation’s overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as “three-strikes” laws, that result in longer prison stays.

“For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling,” the report said. “While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.”

The racial disparity for women also is stark. One of every 355 white women aged 35 to 39 is behind bars, compared with one of every 100 black women in that age group.

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails. That’s out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which round out the Top 10.

The U.S. also is among the world leaders in capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, its 53 executions in 2006 were exceeded only by China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan.

What Can Be Done To Help Black Inmates Who Are Returning To The Community?

It Appears The US Would Rather Build More Prisons Instead Of Jobs

2nd Chance Act Of 2007

Discrimination Complaints Rise 9%, Pregnancy Bias Claims Hit Record High

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received a total of 82,792 private sector discrimination complaints in fiscal year 2007, the highest volume of incoming charges since 2002 and the largest annual increase (9 percent) since the early 1990s, the agency reported.

The data also show that the EEOC recovered $345 million in monetary relief for job bias victims.

According to the EEOC's data for fiscal year 2007, allegations of discrimination based on race, retaliation, and sex were the most frequently filed charges, continuing a long-term trend. Additionally, nearly all major charge categories showed double digit percentage increases from the prior year--a rare occurrence. The agency says that jump in complaints may be due to a combination of factors, including greater awareness of the law, changing economic conditions, and increased diversity and demographic shifts in the labor force.

Last year, for the first time, retaliation was the second highest charge category (behind race), surpassing sex-based charges in total filings with EEOC offices nationwide. Historically, race has been the most frequently filed charge since the EEOC became operational in 1965. In addition to the statutory bases of discrimination, charges filed with the EEOC and state and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (combined) also trended upward for the high visibility issues of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment.

During fiscal year 2007, pregnancy-bias complaints surged to a record high level of 5,587, up 14 percent from the prior fiscal year's record of 4,901. Sexual harassment filings increased for the first time since fiscal year 2000, numbering 12,510--up 4 percent from the prior fiscal year's total of 12,025. Additionally, a record 16 percent of sexual harassment charges were filed by men, up from 9 percent in the early 1990s.

Basis of Complaint	FY 2007	FY 2006	Percentage Increase/Historical Comparison
Race	30,510	27,238	Up 12% to highest level since FY 1994
Retaliation	26,663	22,555	Up 18% to record high level, double since FY 1992
Sex/Gender	24,826	23,247	Up 7% to highest level since FY 2002
Age	19,103	16,548	Up 15%, largest annual increase since FY 2002
Disability	17,734	15,575	Up 14% to highest level since FY 1998
National Origin	9,369	8,327	Up 12%, above 9,000 for second time ever
Religion	2,880	2,541	Up 13% to record high level, double since FY 1992
Total Complaints	82,792	75,768	Up 9%, largest annual increase since FY 1993

Will I Am -We Are The Ones

The singer, whose music video featuring celebrities speaking a Barack Obama speech in New Hampshire became a YouTube sensation, is back with a follow-up that debuted today. This one sets to music a campaign crowd chanting "Obama, Obama!" and shows a series of celebs and voters talking about what they hope an Obama presidency would bring -- a cleaner environment, a united country, etc. Others join in the chant, inadvertently providing fodder, perhaps, for critics who say the enthusiasm for the Illinois senator verges on cult-like. The video features several Hispanic voters and celebrities, including comedian George Lopez, when Latino voters could swing the crucial Texas contest on Tuesday. The video is titled "We Are The Ones" and comes from will.i.am, the frontman for the Black Eyed Peas.

Hate Groups in America Surging: New Southern Poverty Law Center Report

Marin Luther King Speech

I had a friend of mind send this to me. Its was too cute and insighful not to post. It shows the tremendous potential lying inside all of Gods children when they are given the guidence and opportunity to shine. MLK Oratory 1st Place: Perri Jones Jones of Dodson Elementary won first place in the annual speaking competition honoring Dr. King. Video by Adam Ariganello. Jan. 18, 2008

Black Teen Girls Have The Highest Incidence Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases

At least one in four teenage American girls has a sexually transmitted disease, suggests a first-of-its-kind federal study that startled some adolescent-health experts.

Read carefully and listen to the NPR report below to find out why Black Teens are disproportionately effected and what we can do to save our children. As a father, I know it is my responsibility to be proactive in advising and warning my kids.  All parents must do the same.

Some doctors said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only sex education and teens' own sense of invulnerabilty. Because some sexually transmitted infections can cause infertility and cancer, U.S. health officials called for better screening, vaccination and prevention.

Only about half of the girls in the study acknowledged having sex. Some teens define sex as only intercourse, yet other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some diseases.

Among those who admitted having sex, the rate was even more disturbing — 40 percent had an STD.

"This is pretty shocking," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center's Children's Hospital in New York.

"To talk about abstinence is not a bad thing," but teen girls — and boys too — need to be informed about how to protect themselves if they do have sex, Alderman said.

The overall STD rate among the 838 girls in the study was 26 percent, which translates to more than 3 million girls nationwide, researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. They released the results Tuesday at an STD prevention conference in Chicago.

"Those numbers are certainly alarming," said sex education expert Nora Gelperin, who works with a teen-written Web site called sexetc.org. She said they reflect "the sad state of sex education in our country."

"Sexuality is still a very taboo subject in our society," she said. "Teens tell us that they can't make decisions in the dark and that adults aren't properly preparing them to make responsible decisions."

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the study shows that "the national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure, and teenage girls are paying the real price."

Similar claims were made last year when the government announced the teen birth rate rose between 2005 and 2006, the first increase in 15 years.

The new study by CDC researcher Dr. Sara Forhan relied on slightly older data. It is an analysis of nationally representative records on girls ages 14 to 19 who participated in a 2003-04 government health survey.

The teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and genital herpes, 2 percent.

Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's division of STD prevention, said the results are the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent girls. He said the data, now a few years old, likely reflect current prevalence rates.

Disease rates were significantly higher among black girls — nearly half had at least one STD, versus 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-Americans.

HPV, the cancer-causing virus, can also cause genital warts but often has no symptoms. A vaccine targeting several HPV strains recently became available, but Douglas said it probably hasn't yet had much impact on HPV prevalence rates in teen girls.

The CDC recommends the three-dose HPV vaccine for girls ages 11-12 and catch-up shots for ages 13-26.

Chlamydia, which often has no symptoms but can lead to infertility, can be treated with antibiotics. The CDC recommends annual chlamydia screening for all sexually active women under age 25. Trichomoniasis, also treatable with antibiotics, can cause abnormal discharge and painful urination. Genital herpes can cause blisters but often has no symptoms. It's not curable but medicine can help.

The CDC's Dr. Kevin Fenton said given the dangers of some STDs, "screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among our highest public health priorities."

Douglas said screening tests are underused in part because many teens don't think they're at risk, but also, some doctors mistakenly think: "Sexually transmitted diseases don't happen to the kinds of patients I see."

Teens need to hear the dual message that STDs can be prevented by abstinence and condoms, said Dr. Ellen Kruger, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.

"You've got to hammer at them," with appropriate information at each stage of teen development to make sure it sinks in, she said.

She said there are a lot of myths out there, too — many sexually active teens think the withdrawal method will protect them, or that douching with Coca-Cola will kill STD germs.

Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine, said some doctors hesitate to discuss STDs with teen patients or offer screening because of confidentiality concerns, knowing parents would have to be told of the results.

Blythe, who heads an American Academy of Pediatrics committee on adolescence, noted that the academy supports confidential teen screening

The headlines would lead you to believe that African American girls are more promiscuous, but the Center For Disease Contol points to an equality to health care as being the primary cause. Listen to what the CDC and teens have to:http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=88140117&m=88140090   After listening click your back arrow to come back to this site.

Obamas Church: Obama speaks about racism and the Black Church.

By Eric Hinton. Date Posted: March 18, 2008 At DiversityInc

National media scrutiny of comments made by The Rev. Jeremiah Wright caused Sen. Barack Obama to deliver a watershed speech today on race in America. Although he was critical of his pastor's incendiary rhetoric, Obama stated emphatically that Wright's comments need to be taken in context of the civil-rights battles of his generation and with comprehension of the fiery oratory style of Black pastors.

"For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white coworkers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings," Obama said. He added, "And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Rev. Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races." Obama has been a member of Wright's church for two decades.

The minister married Obama and his wife, Michelle, and baptized their two daughters. Obama said if all he knew of Wright was the YouTube videos of his anti-war comments that have been circulating, "there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way," he said. "But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man." Obama emphasized that even people we love sometimes do or say things with which we don't agree. "I can no more disown him than I can disown the Black community," Obama said. "I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother--a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of Black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Others who understand the dynamics and history of the Black church have said in the last few days that this fuss over Wright's comments is overblown. Many, from Democratic strategist Donna Brazile to renowned Harlem Rev. Calvin Butts, have asserted that Wright's rhetoric, while controversial, is almost standard fare in terms of the tone emanating from the pulpits of many Black churches across the nation every Sunday. "The strength of the language is questionable.

However, the prophetic tradition of the African-American church has been such that we have had to criticize the nation that we love so dearly in order to win our human and civil rights," said Butts, leader of Harlem's historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, in an interview with CBS Early Morning News. "The shock rhetoric is not unusual in pulpits--Black or white but certainly in the Black community--because people have to have the point driven home. They have to have it made vivid and sometimes the language can be awfully powerful." Brazile, who served as the campaign manager of the 2000 presidential campaign of former Vice President Al Gore and is now a regular contributor and political commentator on CNN's "The Situation Room," concurred, calling Wright one of the more moderate Black preachers she's come across. "Just go to a church down the block from my house and I see women coming with their hats on the other side of their head because they have been lifted up," Brazile said.

The Rev. Gil Caldwell, a New Jersey civil-rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said there's a historic ignorance of the why and the how of the Black church outside of the African-American community. "It's church that exists simply because of the reticence and the racism of the white church and I think you need to put the Black church into that context," he said.

"I think all of us would use different words than Jeremiah Wright, but I am not surprised by this kind of speaking." While not agreeing with the specifics of Wright's statements, Caldwell said the nation has to be able to handle a critical assessment. "He critiqued the war on Iraq. That has been coming at us from pulpits all over. I think we have to assume some culpability as a nation for some of our misdeeds throughout the world. I think it is important for us as a nation to be mature enough to accept self-criticism from men like Jeremiah Wright whose patriotism I think is not in question," said Caldwell. "It reminds me of the critique of Martin Luther King who at first was called a communist because he spoke about against the war in Vietnam. There is often resistance to that kind of prophetic speaking."

In a 2001 column for The Chicago Sun-Times, noted author and radio host Michael Eric Dyson said this of Wright: "Wright's prophetic stance on social issues … is more necessary now than ever. Huge segments of the church, including the Black church, have been seduced by the materialistic gospel of prosperity that obscures critical attention to the bread-and-butter issues that define the Black church's raison d'être: social justice, racial equality and spiritual vitality, themes Wright has relentlessly and fearlessly embraced. May he live long to preach the gospel and uplift our people."

Was Reverend Wright Wrong?

National Public Radio helps to shed light on what Black Liberation Theology is all about.  After listening, click the back arrow to come back to this site.

(Click The Link Below.)

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=88512189&m=88512151

Is Jesus Black?-Listen To The Biblical Proof.

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters." (Rev. 1:14 and 1:15)

"His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." (Daniel 10:6)

If You Are Ready  For The Biblical Truth...Listen Carefully to all 6 Parts.

The facts are outlined in a very systematic intelligent Way- Part 1

Part 2 Outlines Unquestionable Biblical Proof

Further Biblical Proof- Part 3

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Only Racists Would Deny The Truth! #4

The Scientific Facts Are Overwhelming. #5

In the first place, there is indeed a physical description of the risen, glorified and exalted Jesus in Revelation chapter one, verses 12 to 18. The language is understandably full of similes and metaphors but careful examination of such descriptions as: "feet like bronze" and "white, woolly hair" suggest that Jesus had coloured skin and hair of possibly Negroid texture. This fact alone does not prove the ethnic origin or physical appearances of the Christ.

However, there are other biblical evidences of his possible ethnic origin. The most convincing proof of the Negroid ethnic origin of Jesus is found in the Bible genealogies and Israelitish history. Matthew chapter 1, verses 1-17, painstakingly traces the ancestors of Jesus back to Kings Solomon and David and to the harlot Rahab, all of whom are previously mentioned in the Pentateuch, Kings and Chronicles as being of Hamitic/African descent.

With a little diligent study of the Bible texts, using concordances and Greek and Hebrew word studies and other references, the average Jamaican churchgoer can see clearly that the Bible does present a Jesus of African origins.  Another point to ponder is that when Jesus was about two or three years old and King Herod wanted to kill him, God commanded his parents to hide him in Africa. In Egypt, to be exact. Could a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus hide well among dark-skinned Africans? Those theologians and clergymen who want to counter this point try to break off Egypt from Africa and even claim that prominent church fathers like St. Augustine were Caucasians even though they were born and raised in Africa.

The above exerpt was written by

Reverend Stoddart About The Physical Features of Jesus .

The History Channel Scientifically Proves That Adam And Eve Were Black #6

 

Phil Donahue Deals With The Facts Of Black Jesus In This 5 Part Interview -Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5 The Color Of The Cross Movie

Lebron James As King Kong? Vogue Magazine Cover

There is a great deal of criticism aimed at Lebron James for allowing himself to be used to fulfill the same old sterotype of the angry, aggressive, over sexed black male and at Vogue Magazine for using this negative image to sell magazines. Vogue defends itself from this, by saying that Lebron is the first black man it has ever chosen to be on its cover. The critics say that Lebron looks like King Kong. Others, including Lebron, say people are over reacting. Compare the pictures and tell us what you think.

Secretary of State Rice On Race

I find it interesting how angry and indignant some white politicians and news commentators get when ever African Americans, regardlesss of their position or stature, bring up the historical issue of race and inequality in this country. Usually, most immediately raise the question of your being un American for even criticizing America's past or present deeds. In this case, Lou Dobbs, who clearly believes, like many white males that they are the true, real, rightful Americans and it is unpatriotic for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice to even talk about race. Besides, she doesn't even wear and American Flag pin like every real American, right Dobbs.