Monday, May 14, 2018
Against the Odds
An excerpt from the AP -
Against the odds: 3 black doctors detail journey to success
By CHEVEL JOHNSON
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — One used to deal drugs on the streets of New Orleans. Another grew up in Chicago with two drug-addicted parents. A third survived the tough streets of New York and Washington, D.C., where he once stared down the barrel of a gun.
All three young black men became board-certified doctors.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pierre Johnson, Maxime Madhere and Joe Semien Jr. said they knew the odds were stacked against them when they entered Xavier University of Louisiana in 1998 with hopes of becoming doctors. Black men make up a small percentage of doctors in America, and they knew getting through college and medical school wouldn’t be easy.
Their early lives, college struggles, and victories are chronicled in “Pulse of Perseverance: Three Black Doctors on Their Journey to Success.” They said they wrote the book to show African-American boys that athletes and entertainers aren’t the only examples of black achievement and success.
https://apnews.com/d28276d9a22048c88861bb637a557c02
Against the odds: 3 black doctors detail journey to success
By CHEVEL JOHNSON
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — One used to deal drugs on the streets of New Orleans. Another grew up in Chicago with two drug-addicted parents. A third survived the tough streets of New York and Washington, D.C., where he once stared down the barrel of a gun.
All three young black men became board-certified doctors.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pierre Johnson, Maxime Madhere and Joe Semien Jr. said they knew the odds were stacked against them when they entered Xavier University of Louisiana in 1998 with hopes of becoming doctors. Black men make up a small percentage of doctors in America, and they knew getting through college and medical school wouldn’t be easy.
Their early lives, college struggles, and victories are chronicled in “Pulse of Perseverance: Three Black Doctors on Their Journey to Success.” They said they wrote the book to show African-American boys that athletes and entertainers aren’t the only examples of black achievement and success.
https://apnews.com/d28276d9a22048c88861bb637a557c02
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Responding to Racism
An excerpt from the Root -
Black Oakland Electric Slides on Racism by Throwing Big Ass Cookout in Park Where White Lady Called Cops
By Angela Helm
What’s the best way to deal with pervasive, persistent and blood-pressure rising racism on the daily, as well as give a big fat fuck you to gentrification and the criminalization of black folks? Why throw a cookout, of course!
In a pointed response to a recent incident where a white woman thought it her civic duty to call the police on a few black couples using a grill in a public park, the melanated masses of Oakland threw their own party at that very same site, Lake Merritt Park.
Check out the video at the link below.
https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/black-oakland-electric-slides-on-racism-by-throwing-big-1825981027
Black Oakland Electric Slides on Racism by Throwing Big Ass Cookout in Park Where White Lady Called Cops
By Angela Helm
What’s the best way to deal with pervasive, persistent and blood-pressure rising racism on the daily, as well as give a big fat fuck you to gentrification and the criminalization of black folks? Why throw a cookout, of course!
In a pointed response to a recent incident where a white woman thought it her civic duty to call the police on a few black couples using a grill in a public park, the melanated masses of Oakland threw their own party at that very same site, Lake Merritt Park.
Check out the video at the link below.
https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/black-oakland-electric-slides-on-racism-by-throwing-big-1825981027
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Black in America
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212262518343741&set=a.1153550404558.2023283.1401614751&type=3
HBCU Love
An excerpt form the Huffington Post -
What If We Loved Real HBCUs As Much As We Love Beyoncé’s?
By Taryn Finley
After one semester at my beloved HBCU, I recognized what I was missing when looking at my identity. Pre-Howard, I was conditioned to always juxtapose my blackness against the concept of whiteness, not fully understanding how powerful it is to appreciate my background outside the context of oppression. That limited me to a very narrow and monolithic view of what blackness can be.
Contrary to popular belief, HBCUs do prepare students for the real world, and they do a damn good job at it.
But black colleges show their students the beauty and expansiveness that blackness already is on its own. For me and others who shared this mindset, Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, NCAT, Hampton, Fisk and any of the more than 100 other HBCUs are pivotal. Not only do they center blackness in academia (even my math classes would turn into black history lessons at times), but they also provide spaces for their students to be fully embraced by faculty and their peers alike, fostering a sense of community and mentorship.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-finley-hbcu-beyonce_us_5ae0d38de4b04aa23f1eb5e3
What If We Loved Real HBCUs As Much As We Love Beyoncé’s?
By Taryn Finley
After one semester at my beloved HBCU, I recognized what I was missing when looking at my identity. Pre-Howard, I was conditioned to always juxtapose my blackness against the concept of whiteness, not fully understanding how powerful it is to appreciate my background outside the context of oppression. That limited me to a very narrow and monolithic view of what blackness can be.
Contrary to popular belief, HBCUs do prepare students for the real world, and they do a damn good job at it.
But black colleges show their students the beauty and expansiveness that blackness already is on its own. For me and others who shared this mindset, Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, NCAT, Hampton, Fisk and any of the more than 100 other HBCUs are pivotal. Not only do they center blackness in academia (even my math classes would turn into black history lessons at times), but they also provide spaces for their students to be fully embraced by faculty and their peers alike, fostering a sense of community and mentorship.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-finley-hbcu-beyonce_us_5ae0d38de4b04aa23f1eb5e3
Deja Vu
An excerpt from Slate -
The Privilege of 911
White people should call the police less. Minorities should be able to call them more.
By HENRY GRABAR and MARK JOSEPH STERN
On Tuesday, a white graduate student at Yale called the police to report that one of her black classmates was napping in a dorm common area. The ensuing encounter between the police and the student, Lolade Siyonbola, who is getting a master’s degree in African studies, was captured in a video that has drawn national attention to the case.
It’s the latest in a string of recent incidents in which white Americans have called the police on their black neighbors for nothing at all: In Philadelphia, it was Starbucks while black. In Rialto, California, Airbnb while black. And in New Haven, Connecticut, trying to pull an all-nighter while black.
At the core of each incident is white Americans’ deep suspicion and mistrust of their black neighbors. The most infamous example of this dynamic occurred in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012, when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman called the police on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before stalking him, confronting him, and killing him. (The Sanford Police Department told Zimmerman not to follow Martin; Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted on charges of second-degree murder.) But more mundane displays of this regularly play out on forums like NextDoor, a website for neighborhood news and activism where interest gravitates, tabloid-style, towards perceived disorder and its perpetrators.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/in-america-calling-911-is-still-a-privilege-of-being-white.html
The Privilege of 911
White people should call the police less. Minorities should be able to call them more.
By HENRY GRABAR and MARK JOSEPH STERN
On Tuesday, a white graduate student at Yale called the police to report that one of her black classmates was napping in a dorm common area. The ensuing encounter between the police and the student, Lolade Siyonbola, who is getting a master’s degree in African studies, was captured in a video that has drawn national attention to the case.
It’s the latest in a string of recent incidents in which white Americans have called the police on their black neighbors for nothing at all: In Philadelphia, it was Starbucks while black. In Rialto, California, Airbnb while black. And in New Haven, Connecticut, trying to pull an all-nighter while black.
At the core of each incident is white Americans’ deep suspicion and mistrust of their black neighbors. The most infamous example of this dynamic occurred in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012, when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman called the police on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before stalking him, confronting him, and killing him. (The Sanford Police Department told Zimmerman not to follow Martin; Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted on charges of second-degree murder.) But more mundane displays of this regularly play out on forums like NextDoor, a website for neighborhood news and activism where interest gravitates, tabloid-style, towards perceived disorder and its perpetrators.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/in-america-calling-911-is-still-a-privilege-of-being-white.html
"Why Not You?"
An excerpt from People -
Melissa McCarthy Says These 3 Words from Her Parents Changed the Course of Her Life
By ALE RUSSIAN
The Life of the Party actress, 47, admits in PEOPLE’s latest cover story that her mother Sandy and her father Mike’s honesty when it came to their support shaped the way she looks at life. In fact, a three-word phrase they would repeat still rings true to her.
“‘Why not you?’ is an unbelievably great sentiment to give to a kid,” McCarthy tells PEOPLE in the new issue out Friday. “Not entitlement but instead: Work your butt off, and you have a decent chance at this. ‘Why not you?’ is an undervalued way of thinking.”
http://people.com/movies/melissa-mccarthy-says-these-3-words-from-her-parents-changed-the-course-of-her-life/
Melissa McCarthy Says These 3 Words from Her Parents Changed the Course of Her Life
By ALE RUSSIAN
The Life of the Party actress, 47, admits in PEOPLE’s latest cover story that her mother Sandy and her father Mike’s honesty when it came to their support shaped the way she looks at life. In fact, a three-word phrase they would repeat still rings true to her.
“‘Why not you?’ is an unbelievably great sentiment to give to a kid,” McCarthy tells PEOPLE in the new issue out Friday. “Not entitlement but instead: Work your butt off, and you have a decent chance at this. ‘Why not you?’ is an undervalued way of thinking.”
http://people.com/movies/melissa-mccarthy-says-these-3-words-from-her-parents-changed-the-course-of-her-life/
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