by Dr. Boyce Watkins
I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard this audio, in which Creflo Dollar appears to be arguing that if you don’t tithe, you should be put in front of a firing squad. I did some research and found media outlets reporting the video, and I can only hope that he doesn’t truly believe this.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Dr. Artemesia Stanberry has been relentless in fighting to free her cousin, Rodney K. Stanberry, who appears to be in prison for crimes he did not commit. I first heard about the case from Dr. Wilmer Leon, as we were headed to Missouri last year to rally on behalf of Heather Ellis, a college student threatened with 15 years in prison for cutting in line at a Wal-Mart.
When I first heard about Rodney's case, I couldn't believe my ears. From what Dr. Leon was telling me, it sounded like a case of lazy police work, where officers didn't want to go through the efforts of going all the way to New York to find the true killers. Additionally, like so many others affected by our racially-skewed criminal justice system, Rodney K. Stanberry ended up in prison because he was the most convenient person to incarcerate. This is particularly true in Alabama, a state where the modern prison system has powerful links to slavery.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Football superstar Michael Vick initially made plans to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But it's just been announced that Vick is not going to appear on the show, citing personal and professional conflicts that have made the appearance impossible.
"Mike postponed the taping because of the timing of the interview for personal and professional reasons," said Michael Vick's spokesman Chris Shigas. "He does not have a reschedule date at this time."
Some speculate that Vick may have canceled because other groups have been sending emails and letters to the Oprah Winfrey Show, asking that the voices of Vick's critics be heard. One of Vick's strongest critics has been Richard Hunter, a stand-up comedian who also adopted one of Vick's dogs. Hunter claims that he and others who agree with him have been harassing Oprah's producers since it was announced that Michael Vick might appear on the show.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
CBS Los Angeles is now reporting new evidence that officers within the Los Angeles Police Department may have played a role in the death of the rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G (aka Biggie Smalls).
Wallace was murdered March 9th, 1997. According to witnesses, a lone gunman in the driver's seat of a black Chevy Impala pulled up to the truck where Wallace was sitting in the passenger seat and opened fire. Wallace died shortly thereafter.
The Wallace family filed suit against the LAPD in 2005, bringing forth additional evidence that was not considered, implicating LAPD officers that they believe were involved in the death of Christopher Wallace. The two officers under suspicion are David Mack and Rafael Perez. Both Perez and Mack are in prison now for unrelated crimes, Mack for bank robbery and Perez for stealing cocaine.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
It's nearly impossible for something I hear on television to wake me up in my sleep. Some exceptions might be the start of a nuclear war or the voice of Beyonce Knowles. But this morning, I heard a voice that yanked me out of La-La land faster than you could say, "Whatchu talkin about Willis?"
Sports commentator Dick Vitale was on the ESPN Show, "Mike & Mike in the Morning" talking about the possibilities regarding the trade of NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony. The hosts were discussing the rumor that Anthony may copy LeBron James and join forces with two other superstars headed to the same team.
In reference to his frustration about the idea of men like Anthony choosing their own fate in spite of the fact that NBA Commissioner David Stern objects to their behavior, Vitale said that such moves were like "Inmates controlling the asylum."
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
This weekend, Professor Cornel West gave a strong endorsement to Carol Moseley Braun in a heated and controversial race to become the next mayor of Chicago. West didn't have very many good things to say about Moseley Braun's leading opponent, Rahm Emanuel. He referred to Emanuel as an outsider and a candidate who is beholden to big business interests in the city and across America.
"I believe a Rahm Emanuel victory would be a slap in the face," West said. "I'm here to support poor and working people - specifically black Chicago."
One of the problems for Moseley Braun, however, is that the media is focused as much on her remarks about Emanuel as they are about the Cornel West endorsement. When she spoke, Moseley Braun made reference to a movie called "The Producers," which satirized the life of Adolph Hitler.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse university – Scholarship in Action
Hip Hop News 24-7 recently interviewed the rapper J-Kwon about his interesting child support situation. During an interview with Miss Georgia, J-Kwon informed listeners that he'd been paying $2,500 per month in child support for seven years for a child that was eventually determined to not be his.
The artist goes on to say that he was jailed for not making the child support payments, which derailed his entire career, killing his ability to earn income. He also said that when it was determined that he wasn't the child's father, the courts provided no remedies whatsoever for him to retrieve the tens of thousands of dollars he'd paid over a seven-year period.
J-Kwon is now saying that he plans to start a foundation for fathers who are having their rights violated by the child support system. I support his initiative, because many of us forget about the millions of fathers out there who are doing all they can to have access to their kids and trying to do the right thing, but are left alienated by deceptive mothers and a court system that would rather see a man in jail than with his own children.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
The movie we all expected to see years ago is finally being brought to the big screen. Antoine Fuqua has committed himself to bringing the late Tupac Shakur back from the dead with a soon-to-be-released biopic about the life of the legendary rapper.
Tupac Shakur is nothing less than the most respected hip-hop artist in history, primarily because he lived an incredibly memorable life. His greatest claim to fame during life was his album "All Eyez on Me," which was one of the first to produce a double CD with a long list of hits. Only "Thriller" by Michael Jackson and "Straight Outta Compton" could compare in terms of an album's impact on an entire generation.
Some seem to feel that Tupac's career was just taking off when he died at the age of 25. He was just starting to come into his own as an actor, and he ended up releasing more songs as a dead man than most artists ever release during life. With everything that's come out of the studio since Tupac's untimely death, it appears that he was planning for several years of virtually unprecedented artistic productivity.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons has released an interesting new book entitled, "Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All." Simmons appears to have decided to share his keys to wealth with the world, addressing a community where wealth accumulation continues to be one of our greatest and most lasting mysteries.
I thought that Simmons' approach to the book was interesting. Reflecting his Buddhist background, Simmons said, "Its about making people focused and free and not fearful. So they can get up and give in the morning. Instead of waking up and thinking what you're gonna get, wake up and thing what your're gonna give. That's a different mindset. That's the mindset the we have to be in to not only be successful but to be happy."
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
As the son of a preacher, I know how to avoid sacrilegious statements when I see them. I don't use God's name in vain, and I don't make nasty jokes about Jesus. But if hip-hop had a bible, it would start with the commandment that "Thou shalt not compare any living rapper to the great Biggie and Pac."
If you even briefly mention that any artist in America comes close to "the great ones," you are quickly slapped with a "shut yo mouth" by hip-hop heads who tell you that you're out of your damn mind. There is no living artist, at least not under the age of 30, who dares compare himself to Biggie and Pac, who've effectively become the God and Jesus of the hip-hop world.
Let's be clear: these artists were legendary in their talent level and deserve massive amounts of respect. But the idea that they are better than every hip-hop artist since is likely due to our stunning capacity to practically worship dead artists rather than a truly fair comparison of musical impact. Since Tupac Shakur died, he has been transformed into a visionary and a saint, when the truth is that he could be just as trifling as Lil Wayne, TI and the other artists who are living today. I was a huge fan of both Biggie and Pac when they were alive. I listened to Pac every morning before heading to campus, and I bumped Biggie when I rolled in my hooptie. They were like Burger King and McDonalds or Coke and Pepsi: two dominant versions of virtually the same product (gangsta rap). I never chose one over the other, because both of them were great.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
I watched a video the other day about a woman named Jazz Ison Sinkfield and couldn't help but laugh. For some reason, Jazz thought it would be a good idea to start growing her fingernails for almost a quarter of a century without ever cutting them. Now, the woman is stuck with a set of peculiar monstrosities hanging from both of her hands that keep her from typing on a computer, tying her own shoes and perhaps even wiping her own behind. I'm not necessarily one to judge another human being so harshly, but I found it most interesting that Jazz truly believes that other women are jealous of her fingernails.
Jazz is not the only person in our community who has gathered a set of habits that some might consider to be a "ghetto fab." I am not sure where all of these habits come from, and when I see them, I try to process things without becoming a hater. But when I put it all together, I can't help but quote someone whom I disagree with regularly by the name of Bill Cosby, who once made this simple comment: "Come on people."
When one rolls through "the hood," they will usually see a few interesting things. First, we see the pants sagging down below the butt, with a brother who has to use one hand to constantly keep his pants from falling to the ground. You might then see someone else with tattoos up and down both arms, and maybe some additional tattoos on the neck. Actually face tattoos have become all the rage among rappers who don't seem to remember that these things are difficult to remove.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
Luisa Gil of Union City, NJ was arrested in Boston after swallowing a pound of cocaine. Authorities are holding her on $200,000 bail on a charge of Class B substance trafficking.
The 21-year old woman flew into Logan airport from the Dominican Republic. When authorities questioned her, her answers seemed suspicious. She then admitted to swallowing 50 pellets of compacted cocaine. The cocaine had been wrapped in condoms.
After hearing the woman tell her story, police took her to the hospital, where the dope was recovered. The drugs had a street value of $50,000. She was allegedly paid $2,000 to make the transfer of the drugs to the US.
Yes, we wonder how desperate people have to be in order to do something like this to earn money.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Two men opened fire after an argument occurred at an Omega Psi Phi fraternity house in Youngstown, Ohio this weekend. The two men shot multiple rounds into a crowd of people, killing a student and critically injuring a 17-year old with a head wound. The student who was killed was shot while trying to break the two disputing groups apart. The university said six of the injured were students.
The murder victim was 25-year old Jamail E. Johnson of Youngstown. Most of the 11 injured were shot in the foot. The men were arrested and charged with aggravated murder, shooting into a home, and felonious assault, according to Chief Jimmy Hughes of the Youngstown Police Department.
"These guys were in the location for a little while before the shooting occurred," he said. "Something happened that they became unhappy. They had some type of altercation."
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Nicki Minaj recently gloated over Lil Wayne’s sobriety since he got out of prison:
"He's like a new person," she said. "He's nicer, he's like more calm. I guess when you are not getting high you have to deal with reality and I think he likes his reality now."
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Millry, Ala., is a town where racial tensions have allegedly been running high for a very long time. The boiling point was hit recently, when a white father came to the town's high school and threatened one of the black players on the basketball team.
The infuriated parent told one of the boys that if any of them made contact with his daughter, he would "kill him and his black friends," at least that's what was reportedly told to Latisha Mitchell, the step-Mother of one of the players.
Mitchell claims that her son was only friends with the man's daughter and that they would text message each other. TheNAACP took notice of the man's racial threats, and the town is in an uproar. There is even conversation about the Ku Klux Klan planning a retaliation against local residents who held a meeting to discuss what had occurred.
Since the incident, the father has been banned from school property, but some parents are saying that the father should be arrested for his public threats.
Chad Holley is brutally beaten by police, although he’d clearly surrendered before the beating. Click here to see the video.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
It appears that the case of Kelley Williams-Bolar is getting the kind of traction that can make a difference. Since we first wrote about Kelley on AOL Black Voices, the entire nation has taken notice. Change.org and ColorofChange.org have launched petitions that have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures. Also, the story has gained national attention as a clear example of all that's wrong with the educational system in America.
In case you haven't seen the story, Kelley Williams-Bolar is the single mother of two who was sent to jail for sending her children to a school outside their district. In addition to being sent to jail, Williams-Bolar would have a felony record and not be able to ever teach again in the state of Ohio.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
One of my favorite on-air personalities is Charlamagne Tha God, one of the members of "The Breakfast Club" with Power 105.1 in New York City. Charlamagne was also the co-host of The Wendy Williams Experience, arguably the most popular radio show in New York at one point in time. I appeared on the show six times between 2006 and 2009 and it was a great experience each time.
Charlamagne is known for his raw, in-your-face and borderline insulting interview style, likely something he picked up from working with Wendy Williams for so long. I have no doubt that he's made a few enemies in the industry, but I also doubt that he gives a damn. The man fears no one, and neither did Wendy.
