By Angela Winters
NOT ENOUGH TOP BLACK G-MEN
The Amsterdam News, a black newspaper has an article about the lack of African Americans in top G-man roles.
Blacks Lag Behind Whites in Top - Level City Government Jobs.
To keep it real, writer Clover Hope focused on cities with a high level
of minority citizens. As a former Corporate Diversity Professional,
I've learned that the number of minority employees a company has means
basically nothing, because leadership, and the track to it, is what
counts.
Equity is different from city to city because
representation shouldn't be based on population; it should be based on
available talent pool. There really isn't any excuse for a company or a
government agency in a city like New York, Washington D.C. or Chicago
to have sorry numbers, because the available pool of experienced,
educated blacks in the workforce is pretty large. I would expect
government, in particular, to have better numbers than this because the
numbers of blacks that have had time to rise in the ranks are larger
than in most corporate industries like investment banking, etc.
GANG HEARINGS ON C-SPAN?
Deborah Mathis of Black America Web has a question.
If Congress Can Have Hearings on Steroids, Where are the Hearings on Gangs?.
Look, we all know that these hearings are nothing more than
grandstanding; an opportunity for members of Congress to beat their
chest and make it appear as if they are actually trying to change the
world instead of taking two hour lunches with lobbyists three days a
week. They never really result in anything and no one really expects
them to. All the more reason, I would think, for them to want to hold a
hearing on gangs. They can point fingers and get on their soap boxes
with no intention of actually coming up with a solution or making a
change.
But who would they call to The Hill to point their
fingers at? The gang culture thrives because of so much that is wrong
in society and they are the "society makers" or so they seem to claim
they are. Well, so much for that.
SELLING THE CULTURE
Hadji Williams, author of
Knock The Hustle, writes an article for Pop & Politics explaining
How Blackness Became Universal,
about the marketing of blackness by whites. Whites buy the parts of the
culture they like, ignoring anything they don't and bypassing all the
blood, sweat and tears. He touches on Hip Hop as a prime example of how
whites have taken the culture and are selling back to us and profiting.
Hadji didn't mention anything about this, but it made me think
of the role these moguls play in affecting communities. They don't
think about it, because they go home to their white kids and don't see
the big deal. They don't understand that Hip Hop effects black kids in
different ways than their own. But is that really their responsibility?
Because not only do black kids not have enough in their life to
contradict the message in the music, much of what they have actually
reinforces it. I drove by a car in Dallas last week and it was bumping
a DMX song, uncensored and completely graphic. In the car was a black
man looking about 30 and a little black boy about 10; both bopping
their heads. My father didn't let us play that music in the house, in
the car, or anywhere else he might possibly hear it. He knew he
couldn't control what we listened to outside of the house, but it was
clear from him, as our moral guide, that this was going down, and that
made a difference.
Likewise, most white kids live in a daily
culture that contradicts what is in the music and that is how it
remains nothing more than music/entertainment for them. Music is music,
but good parenting trumps everything.
I write for P&P too. They have some great articles. GO ILLINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
