Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Black Commentators Speak – 12/23/09

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Dr. Boyce Watkins: Where Eric Holder Needs to Do His Homework

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

 

Elliot Millner brought it to my attention that Attorney General Eric Holder has been apparently spending a lot of time with Bill Cosby these days. In a recent speech at a black church in Queens, NY, Holder took a page out of the Barack Obama Campaign Catalog and chose to win favors with the black middle class by recklessly bashing away at absentee fathers and returning to the whole "ya'll just need to grow up and be more responsible" argument that allows any politician to explain away a blatant disregard for meaningful public policy. Rather than talking about things that we can do as a society to take our collective foot off the necks of black men, he chose to say that black men are choosing to put the foot on their own necks.
Elliot Millner, who is also in the legal profession, intelligently said the things that I am sure Eric Holder wanted to say. But unlike Holder, Millner is not constrained by the political shackles that come with being an appointed leader in a society that makes a habit of oppressing, destroying and marginalizing black men.
In his speech, Holder said that, "It should simply be unacceptable for a man to have a child and then not play an integral part in the raising and nurturing of the child."
That quote is a nice way of reflecting on the obvious. It's sort of like saying, "It should be unacceptable for a black man to become the Attorney General of the United States and not play an integral part in helping other black men overcome the blatantly racist and destructive justice system over which you preside."

Click to read.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Has Tiger Been “OJ Simpsonized”

Tiger Woods has slipped from Obama to OJ

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, Your Black World 

Tiger Woods is a black athlete. He isn't "Caublinasian," mixed or any other ethnicity. He is, officially, a black man - especially after being reduced to being an adulterer who sleeps with porn stars. At least that's what guests on the Joy Behar Show seem to think.

During a recent episode, a guest on the show, Karith Foster, was asked what she thought about Tiger's recent indiscretions. In response to the question, the comedian said (without cracking a smile) that Tiger is "acting like a black athlete now."

I was shocked to hear these words come out of the mouth of any person, let alone an African-American woman. Dr. Deborah Stroman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the first person to bring the comments to my attention. She and I both agreed that the statement was an outrageous, irresponsible choice of words, and the host should have challenged her immediately. But Foster's comments might be telling, given that she once relegated herself to being the token black sidekick of a man (Don Imus) famous for referring to black women as "nappy headed hoes." Foster was fired not too long after being hired, which reminds us of the complications that come from making deals with the devil just to keep a job in media.

Needless to say, I was disappointed with Ms. Foster's remarks. I also found it quite ironic that no one went out of their way to compare Woods with other black men when he was the clean cut soldier boy with the billion dollar smile. At that time, he was considered the exception to the rule, something that all of America could easily embrace. Some have decided to associate the "black male" side of Tiger with the seedy character who has emerged over the past two weeks. Such comparisons are insulting to good black men everywhere. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that not every American shares the opinion of Karith Foster.

Let's be clear, Tiger Woods is not seedy, nor is he perfect. In reality, he is simply human. The problem is that we were all led to believe that he was super human, so the Tiger we are seeing today appears sub-human. Tiger Woods was the original Barack Obama, a man who injected hope into the psyches of sports fans everywhere, as we were all inspired to see a man with a brown face whipping the greatest golfers in history. Even to this day, Tiger is usually the only man of color on the golf course, and he is almost always the most dominant.

It will be interesting to see how the world processes Tiger's recent mistakes. It is not inconceivable that Tiger could be "OJ Simpsonized" by this incident, especially if additional dirt is leaked to the public. If you recall, OJ was also an athlete who'd been given permission to spend a significant amount of time with white women before the murder took place. After his trial, however, he was considered to be the most morally depleted man in America.

 

Click to read.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Students Speak up About Dr. Boyce’s Controversy with Syracuse University

Watkins, a finance professor at SU, is ignored by the administration.

By Naresh Vissa

In January 2007, college student Heather Ellis and her cousin stood in two lines at Wal-Mart. They agreed that the first to reach a register would combine the items for purchase. When the African-American Ellis gave her cousin the groceries, bystanders behind complained that she had cut. After some verbal exchanges, Ellis walked to her car and found the police waiting to arrest her. She tried her best to resist and suffered numerous cuts and bruises in the process.

Today, Ellis should be in medical school. Instead, she has pled guilty to charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors.

The case was covered by CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, Good Morning America, The Today Show and every major black media outlet in America. Even more importantly, Syracuse University is connected to it, but hasn’t issued any statements. As a producer of two radio shows, I myself find it embarrassing that I discovered Ellis through a press release pitch e-mail I received.

At the forefront of all the outrage is Whitman School of Management Finance Professor Dr. Boyce Watkins, but it’s not getting any attention from SU administrators.

“I’ve come to accept the fact that the University is not appreciative of my work,” Watkins said. “It’s part of their tradition when it comes to progressive black scholars. If I’d learned to sit down and shut up, I might be treated better. Quiet Negroes do quite well in academia.”

Click to read.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Opinion: Barack Obama and Black Men - Has He Done His Job?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

I did a recent CNN appearance along with the actor Hill Harper and Dr. Alvin Poussaint at Harvard University. The series was a one-year anniversary segment featuring political issues within the African American community. for the entire week, the primary focus was on the impact that President Barack Obama has had onAfrican American men. Given that I've been a black man for quite a while now, I found this conversation topic particularly interesting, so getting to speak to Richelle Carey again wasn't the only perk of doing the job that day.


It must be made clear that the president should not be expected to save the entire world in one swoop. His job is difficult, and he can't give everyone what they want all the time. But to the extent that President Obama has been positioned to trump pre-existing black leadership (remember that some say we now live in a post-racial America), one can argue that President Obama's rantings in black churches come with some degree of accountability from the Oval Office. Obama has spoken at NAACP meetings, telling black men to take responsibility for our families (as if none of us do) and to engage in more personal responsibility (as if we don't do that already). Such tough talk should be backed by meaningful policy, since structural incentives play a dominant role in the ultimate choice of the individual. For example, when companies get tax incentives to invest in new projects, they almost always do.

Click to read.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

News: Dr. Boyce Watkins on Black Planet – 11/22/09

OPINION: Depression in the Black Community – Why it is a Serious Problem

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 22, 2009 8:27 am

OPINION: Depression in the Black Community – Why it is a Serious Problem

Read more about OPINION: Depression in the Black Community – Why it is a Serious Problem

TAGS: african american doctors, african american news, black doctors, black news, depression in the black community

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OPINION: Heather Ellis Finally Tells Her Story & Why I Believe Her

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 21, 2009 11:20 pm

OPINION: Heather Ellis Finally Tells Her Story & Why I Believe Her

Read more about OPINION: Heather Ellis Finally Tells Her Story & Why I Believe Her

TAGS: african american news, black news, Heather Ellis, heather ellis case

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OPINION: Heather Ellis Reaches Plea Deal, But I’ve Still Got Questions

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 20, 2009 9:18 pm

OPINION: Heather Ellis Reaches Plea Deal, But I’ve Still Got Questions

Read more about OPINION: Heather Ellis Reaches Plea Deal, But I’ve Still Got Questions

TAGS: heather, Heather Ellis, heather ellis case, heather ellis plea

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OPINION: Jesse Jackson Was Right About Artur Davis … Sort Of

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 20, 2009 12:56 pm

OPINION: Jesse Jackson Was Right About Artur Davis … Sort Of

Read more about OPINION: Jesse Jackson Was Right About Artur Davis … Sort Of

TAGS: artur davis, black politics, Congressional Black Caucus, Jesse Jackson

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OPINION: How We Can Work Toward Justice For Heather Ellis

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 13, 2009 5:05 pm

OPINION: How We Can Work Toward Justice For Heather Ellis

Read more about OPINION: How We Can Work Toward Justice For Heather Ellis

TAGS: justice system, Missouri, Wal-Mart

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OPINION: We Should Mind Our Own Business In Chris Brown Vs. Rihanna

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 8, 2009 11:35 am

OPINION: We Should Mind Our Own Business In Chris Brown Vs. Rihanna

Read more about OPINION: We Should Mind Our Own Business In Chris Brown Vs. Rihanna

TAGS: Chris Brown, domestic violence, Rihanna

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OPINION: The Racial Ignorance Of Barack Obama’s Financial “Gurus”

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 5, 2009 10:54 am

OPINION: The Racial Ignorance Of Barack Obama’s Financial “Gurus”

Read more about OPINION: The Racial Ignorance Of Barack Obama’s Financial “Gurus”

TAGS: ben bernanke, poverty, wealth

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OPINION: 5 Things President Obama Can Do For Black Men

By Dr. Boyce Watkins November 2, 2009 10:30 am

OPINION: 5 Things President Obama Can Do For Black Men

Read more about OPINION: 5 Things President Obama Can Do For Black Men

TAGS: Barack Obama, black men, education, prisons

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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Obama’s Fed Chairman Makes Racially Embarrassing Remarks

by Dr Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, Your Black World 

I've always had mixed feelings about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. I feel that he is better than the previous chairman, Alan Greenspan, but the Fed Chairmanship (like the presidency) is almost never given to the right man. Just the fact that it is almost always given to a man is problematic enough, and the truth is that only white men need apply for the job.
Well, when you are limited in your option pool for the top job, bad leadership and flat out ignorance can sometimes be the result. While Fed Chairman Bernanke might know some nuts and bolts about economics, he appears to be shockingly misinformed about economic disparities between blacks and whites. His embarrassing and highly inappropriate statements at Morehouse College serve as a significant case in point.
In a recent interview at Morehouse, the Fed Chairman was asked what he felt to be the reason for the wealth gap between blacks and whites. In response, Bernanke said that the gap was due to a lack of "financial literacy" and "financial education" on the part of African Americans. That's all he mentioned.

click to read.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Dr Boyce Watkins: The NCAA Destroys Black Families

NCAA

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Black Planet 


I am not a fan of the NCAA, a sports league that earns money on the par of the NFL and NBA, but has somehow decided that they don’t have to properly compensate their employees or give them standard rights to negotiation. What’s worse is that the NCAA does tremendous harm to the African American community, sucking up kids with hoop dreams and destroying their futures with inferior educations.

When I recently read that the NCAA may be hiring a black president (Dr. Bernard Franklin), the only thing I could say is “whoopty-damn-doo.” While some of us might be tempted to applaud such an achievement, we must fully understand that the disease of racism is sometimes delivered through the hands of a black overseer.

RELATED: OPINION: Ivy League Can Teach NCAA About Coach Diversity

Dr. Franklin, while running around the country applauding his organization for giving one opportunity to one black person, should probably think of the thousands of African American families being used up by the very system he has been trained to manage. The NCAA is, without question, one of the most exploitative regimes in the history of America, right next to slavery and the prison system. Billions are earned each year off the backs of African American families, while the league has worked together with Congress to create a nexus of regulations that keep the athlete and his/her family from getting a piece of the economic pie.

Click to read.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Black News: MediaMatters.org Steps in on the Heather Ellis, KKK Case

Racial injustice rears its ugly head again, this time in rural Missouri, where heavy-handed prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff is threatening to impose a lengthy prison sentence on a woman after an altercation at a local Wal-Mart almost three years ago.

In January 2007, 20-year-old Heather Ellis, then a student at Xavier University, and her cousin David went to a Wal-Mart in Kennett, Missouri, near the Tennessee border, in an area commonly known as the Missouri Bootheel.  Kennett, in rural and conservative Dunklin County, which boasts that it seceded from the Union during the Civil War, is overwhelmingly white.

At the check-out line, the pair split up in order to find the shortest line.  When Ellis left her line to join her cousin at a shorter line, customers complained and a store employee accused her of cutting, at which point an argument ensued and a manager notified a security guard, an off-duty Kennett Police officer.  The situation escalated from there:

In the Ellis version, she was shoved by another customer, had her items pushed aside by the clerk and then was short-changed when she finally was checked out. The police affidavit contends, at numerous times, Ellis became belligerent, loud, abusive and cursing when she was told to leave by the store's assistant manager. Summoned by a frantic phone call from her son, as the pair walked out to the parking lot, [Ellis' aunt] Blackmon says she arrived in time to witness her niece being brutalized by police during attempts to place her in a squad car.

[...]

Ellis was charged with disturbing the peace, trespassing, resisting arrest and two counts of assaulting a police officer. Yet, curiously after being described in the police affidavit as "completely out of control" during her arrest, she was released to the custody of her parents to receive medical attention only 45 minutes after being jailed. However, her arrest triggered a whole series of problems. Although she returned to school in Louisiana, two months later, an attorney hired by the family tried to talk Heather into taking a plea deal offered by powerful Dunklin County Prosecutor, Stephen Sokoloff.

 

Click to read.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Dr Boyce on Eddie Griffin, Vh-1 and “Going for Broke”

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, Your Black World, MSNBC’s TheGrio.com 

I had a lot of fun watching the new Vh-1 show, "Going for Broke," starring comedian Eddie Griffin. Griffin is one of the funniest comics in America, the comedian that Chris Tucker could have been (if he would simply stop disappearing between Jackie Chan movies).


On the show, Griffin gives insight into his personal life, which is both intriguing and disturbing. The show is called "Going for Broke" for a reason, because Eddie just might actually get there.
Here are some reasons that Eddie Griffin might actually become the broke celebrity that he is trying to become:


1) He spends like a damn fool. One of the easiest traps for an entertainer to fall into is the "infinite money trap." That's when the person thinks that they've got an endless supply of cash, giving them ability to spend whatever they want on whatever they want. Apparently Eddie may have fallen into this trap, since his Bentley was being repossessed in an early episode of the show. Eddie's conversation with his accountant was also revealing, as the words "all the accounts are empty" seemed to strike him hard. With all the success that Eddie Griffin has had, it is difficult to imagine that he would be completely broke. But the truth is that this kind of thing happens all the time.

Click to read.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dr Boyce on the Grio – 8/26/09

about Dr. Boyce Watkins

Dr Boyce Watkins Scholarship in Action – 8/27/09

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Black 'Lil Monkey' Dolls: A Very Bad Financial Move

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Education: 5 MORE Things College Students do to Ruin Their Lives

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Education: 5 Things College Students do to Ruin their Lives

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Rapper Makes a Song About Emmett Till

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Why Michael Vick's Return is a Good Thing

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Dr. Boyce Education: What College Students Should Not Be Doing in the Summer

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Financial Lovemaking 101: How The Wrong Marriage Can Destroy You

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Dr. Boyce: Four Political Viruses That Threaten Healthcare Reform

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Dr Boyce Money: Wells Fargo's Bad Relationship With the Black Community

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Love Gone Bad: Scorned Women Krazy Glue Man's Genitals

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Black Professors, Black Scholars and Intellectual Suicide

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Dr. Boyce Money: Soulja Boy's Bad Financial Advice

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Dr. Boyce: Why Everyone Should Go to College

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Financial Lovemaking: Tiny, Toya, Weezy and TIP

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Dr. Boyce: 'Jungle Monkey' Cop Sues City of Boston?

Dr. Boyce on AOL – 8/26/09

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Dr Boyce: How to Set Goals and Reach Them

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Why Allen Iverson Can't Get a Job

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Michael Jackson: Murder, Money, Medicine and Mayhem

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Dr. Boyce Money: Fox News, Glenn Beck Lose Advertisers

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Protecting Yourself When Dealing with Insurance Companies

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John Calipari Doesn't Care about Black People?

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Are Doctors to Blame for the High Cost of Healthcare? Not Quite

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Al Sharpton and Dr. Boyce Talk Barack Obama, Michael Vick

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Black Boy Kidnapped in Oakland: Some Questions I'd Love to Ask

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Costco Responds to the 'Lil Monkey' Black Doll Controversy

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BV on Money: Is the Economy Really Recovering?

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Financial Lovemaking: 2 More Links Between Sex and Money

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Financial Lovemaking: What Sex and Money Have in Common

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Dr. Boyce: Sgt. James Crowley Comes Back in the Public Eye

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Michael Vick, Money and the NFL: The Business Side of The Situation