USA Radical Black

Claudia Schiffer’s woman in black provokes fashion race row

By Simon Cable from Mail Online – re-posted by Admin at USA Radical Black
Last updated at 1:13 AM on 4th June 2010  – A special thanks to M. Renee, San Fransisco, CA.

Claudia Schiffer has been accused of racial insensitivity after appearing on a magazine cover made up as a black woman.

The 39-year-old supermodel wore dark foundation and an afro wig in the shots taken by celebrated fashion designer and photographer Karl Lagerfeld.

His images, taken two years ago for a Dom Perignon advertising campaign, were among six shots of Miss Schiffer used by German fashion bible Stern Fotografie to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer in the pose for a 2007 Dom Perignon campaign shot by Karl Lagerfeld, which has caused a fashion race row

But Shevelle Rhule, fashion editor at black lifestyle magazine Pride, said the images of Miss Schiffer were tasteless. Read More »

Founder of BET Sheila Johnson ‘ashamed’ of channel

Originally posted in The St. Louis American – re-posted by Admin at USA Radical Black
(IBNN NEWS/May 23, 2010) – Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television alongside her ex-husband Bob Johnson, was asked by The Daily Beast blog what she thought about her groundbreaking network since selling it to Viacom in 2000 for $1.3 billion.

“Don’t even get me started,” says the 60-year-old Johnson, who has since divorced and remarried. “I don’t watch it. I suggest to my kids [a twentysomething daughter and a college-age son] that they don’t watch it… I’m ashamed of it, if you want to know the truth.” Read More »

For Black America, 2010 Looks a Lot Like the 1970s

by Tara Kyle March 29, 2010 08:20 AM (PT) Topics: Race And Ethnicity

When the National Urban League released its annual State of Black America report last week, its message had the unpleasant flavor of familiarity.

At a D.C. press conference, vice president of research Dr. Valerie Rawlston Wilson read directly from the League’s inaugural 1976 report, citing an urgent need for job creation.

“There is a sense of déja vu, particularly back in 1975 when the economy dipped and declined,” the League’s president and CEO Marc H. Morial told The Root.

Back in the mid-70s, when an oil crisis prompted the last great recession, the poverty rate among African Americans hovered above 30 percent. Over the course of that decade, the number of African Americans living in extremely poor inner-city neighborhoods grew by 164 percent, in contrast to just 24 percent for whites. (By comparison, the African American poverty rate was about 25 percent in 2008, before the worst of the recession took hold, according to the Census Bureau.)

In 2009, black unemployment neared 15 percent, compared to nine percent of whites. That’s far above the 1990s low of seven percent. It’s also nearly four times higher than Morial’s target rate of four percent.

Not only are African Americans disproportionately impacted by unemployment, but they also make up a disproportionate share of people out of work from six months or upwards of a year, according to a March report by Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. Read More »

Open Letter to Mr. Gary Cunningham and Kevin Walker of the Northwest Area Foundation, Headwaters Foundation and State Representative Bobby Jo Champion (D-MN/58B) – “Where Does Black Leadership begin in Minnesota?”

On Saturday, November 21, 2009 an African American Leadership Forum will be held at General Mills starting at 7 a.m. -  the group of hand-picked, like-minded participants will insure that Black Minnesotans will achieve the same status-quo engagement while non-profit “fat cats” receive funding that never makes it past the agencies doors.

In the case of the now lack-luster Northway Community Trust who granted an out-of-town agency $50,000 for a survey of businesses on Broadway Avenue who never delivered a report – is one of the examples of Northwest Area Foundations “community engagements.”

The following email was sent to Northwest Area Foundations Gary Cunningham and President Kevin Walker:

Dear Mr. Cunningham and others,

I am writing to express my disdain for being lied to by you and the Foundation you represent regarding the African-American Leadership Forum tomorrow (11/21) at General Mills.

Northwest Area Foundation continues to overlook the community members who strive for social change aggressively and who are outspoken about social issues, when we are the people fighting in the trenches on a daily basis.  You promised in previous emails sent directly to me, that you would invite me and Mr. Edwards to this “leadership” meeting for a chance to dialog and observe the process.

Today, I spoke with Alfred Babington-Johnson from the Stairstep Foundation and Trista Harris from Headwaters Foundation and “hand-picked” participants to attend a “leadership forum” to be held on Saturday, November 21, 2009 starting at 7 a.m. and once again, you have overlooked inviting major activists in the Twin Cities and people who could create real change.

By working with those you feel comfortable with, lends itself to collusion, corruption and no results to no successful measurable outcome for the community. Read More »

MLK Breakfast Part II: Go Ahead “Celebrate,” while your having breakfast…2 Million Black Households With Children Face Hunger

Source: Feeding America

Again the community is pimped, played and starved.

1.8 million Black Households with children are food insecure – Black households with children experiencing very low food security up 92%

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported yesterday that almost one in four children living in the United States are food insecure. According to the 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States, there is a striking disparity in the prevalence of food insecurity among black children. Nearly two million black households with children were food insecure at least some time during the year, an increase of 25 percent over 2007. In 2008, there were 3.76 million non-Hispanic white households with children that were food insecure. The study also revealed that 146,000 black households with children — a 92 percent increase over 2007 — experienced very low food security, meaning that the food intake of one or more of the household children was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money.

This marks the largest increase in food insecurity rates among African-American households with children since the USDA has been collecting data. Very low food insecurity for non-Hispanic whites rose 35 percent during the same period.

“Importantly, these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more children of varying ethnicity struggling with hunger than this report states,” said Vicki Escara, president and CEO of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. “It is an outrage that one in four children in this nation lives on the brink of hunger and doesn’t have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food.”

The new data reinforces recent findings from a research study conducted by Feeding America reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country. Conducted in September, the Feeding America study shows that more than half of its network food banks reported seeing more children as clients.

“This study reveals particularly tragic realities facing many black families with children. We know that inadequate nutrition in children often delays their cognitive development and cannot be restored later in life,” said Escarra. “Feeding America will continue to focus on expanding programs to hungry and at-risk kids to ensure that our future engines of economic growth are strong adults.

“Feeding America’s 200 food banks continue to work on the front lines feeding more than 25 million people each year, through our country’s food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency feeding centers — more than 63,000 agencies in total,” said Escarra. “These establishments, many of which are grass root and faith based centers operated solely by volunteers, serve as an oasis for the more than 4 million people who seek relief weekly to help feed themselves and their families. Emergency food assistance is a critical link in the nation’s response chain to help people through times of crisis.”

Escarra observes, “Our network food banks are calling us every day, telling us that demand for emergency food is higher than it has ever been in our history. Feeding America will continue to work closely with our partners at USDA to ensure that the public and charitable sectors are keeping pace — as best we can — with the dramatically increasing needs for food assistance.”