(Akiit.com) The NAACP recognizes that when it comes to forming ideas and establishing norms, nothing is more influential than the images and concepts delivered into our lives on a daily basis by radio, television, film and the Internet. Those that are given access to the public through mainstream media must be put on notice that they have everything to lose by spewing racist ideas and rants. In addition, we equally recognize the need for balance within the African American community in regards to what music, film, and media we deem acceptable in our community.

The STOP Campaign is an initiative of the NAACP Youth & College Division that seeks to “STOP” the demeaning images of African Americans in the media, particularly with respect to the portrayal of African American women. Images reflected in songs like “I Was Getting Some…” and music videos that show half-dressed women being objectified by men.

In addition, due to the overwhelming number of racially disrespectful incidents that have occurred recently, the STOP Campaign is urgently necessary. Some of these recent incidents include:

Don Imus, radio talk show host, referring to the Rutgers University’s Women’s Basketball Team as “nappy headed hoes”.

Television actor Michael Richards goes on a tirade using the n-word at a comedy club in Los Angeles.

Racial incidents on college campuses such as Clemson University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Connecticut, University of Texas-Austin and Texas A&M University where white students dressed in stereotypical African American images and wore black face makeup.

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WASHINGTON (Akiit.com) - National Urban League President Marc Morial, in NUL’s annual State of Black America address, this week, describes the underachievement of Black males as being among America’s greatest crisis.

“This state of underachievement, with its devastating and far-reaching ramifications, is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today,” Morial says in his report, “The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male,” a 260-page document, released this week. “It’s a problem with a major rippling effect. Not only does it impact individual Black men. It also hurts their families and communities. It’s not just a problem for the African-American community. It’s a problem for everyone in this nation.”

The SOBA report, an annual measurement of Black progress, outlines egregious statistics:

Black men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as White men and make only 74 percent as much a year.

Black men are more than six times as likely than White men to be incarcerated and their average jail sentences tend to be 10 months longer than those of White men.

At the end of 2001, 16.5 percent of the Black male population had been to prison compared to 7.7 percent of Hispanic and 2.7 percent of White men.

Young Black males between the ages of 15 and 34 years are nine times more likely to be killed by firearms and nearly eight times as likely to suffer from AIDS.

Of single parent Black households in 2005, only 12 percent were led by men.

More than two-thirds of Black children live in one-parent households in 2005, the majority headed by women.

More than 42 percent of female-headed Black households with children were poor, compared to slightly more than 9 percent of married Black households.

“The absence of the Black man in the Black family will only lead to greater poverty for our community as a whole,” states Morial. “It helps exacerbate the disparities already existing between minorities and Whites in the United States.”

The SOBA report includes op-eds by author, speaker and educator Michael Eric Dyson, and national child advocate Marian Wright Edelman. It also includes essays by NAACP Legal Defense Fund General Counsel Theodore Shaw and noted researcher Silas Lee as well as a foreword by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Black America is like two stories, states Obama, a leading Democratic candidate for president whom many view as a symbol of success. But, his forward tells two sides.
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(Akiit.com) Demeaning images of black women didn’t begin with those conjured by the words of disgraced shock jock Don Imus.

There’s the rap music industry — the new focus of public ire — and a decades-long history of black men dressing in drag to portray loud, offensive and usually dark-skinned and obese black women.

On television, Flip Wilson’s sassy Geraldine Jones had audiences laughing in the ’70s. In the ’90s, there was Jamie Foxx’s cockeyed, man-chasing Wanda Wayne on “In Living Color” and Martin Lawrence’s sarcastic, ghetto-fabulous Sheneneh Jenkins on his sitcom “Martin.”

In recent years, the silver screen has brought negative stereotypical images of black women to a wider audience. Mr. Lawrence has played Big Momma twice in movies named after the stubborn, feisty matriarch, and Eddie Murphy’s latest black female impersonation is the super-sized, mean-spirited Rasputia in “Norbit.”
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(Akiit.com) Pittsburgh’s black newspaper, which reaches households in neighborhoods where gun violence happens often, is keeping a running tally of people killed in the city and county — to send a harsh message.

The message is as layered as the problem is complex, says New Pittsburgh Courier publisher Rod Doss. But the dominant point is clear in the project’s title: “Under Attack by Us.”

The weekly newspaper’s last count, published April 4, listed 30 homicide victims through March 31 — 24 of them black people, and 22 of those, men. Most were killed by black men.

“It’s looking internally at what’s going on in our communities, and trying to get a handle on the fact that we no longer can point fingers elsewhere and put blame elsewhere. These are attacks on us by us,” Doss said.

“We need to be just as outraged over these statistics as we would if it were a white policeman who shot a black man Downtown.”

A brazen Downtown shooting during morning rush hour Thursday magnifies the problem by reinforcing old stereotypes that black people should be feared, he said. The victim, shot seven times, is black; he survived. Police said the shooter was a black man with dreadlocks.
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Democratic House member represented Southern California district

(Akiit.com) WASHINGTON - Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, a seven-term congresswoman from southern California, died early Sunday of cancer. She was 68.

Millender-McDonald died at her home in Carson, said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen.

The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness. McQueen couldn’t immediately provide details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had, but said she had been receiving hospice care.

“Juanita Millender-McDonald was a trailblazer, always advocating for the full participation of all Americans in the success and prosperity of our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “The dignity with which she faced her illness was an indication of the determination with which she always served the people of her district.”

Millender-McDonald represented a heavily Democratic southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach and parts of Los Angeles.

“She was a champion for the consumer and fought injustice wherever she saw it. She always valued public service and served her state and nation with grace and honor,” said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, who served with her in the California state Legislature.

Millender-McDonald is the second member of Congress to die this year of cancer. Republican Rep. Charles Norwood Jr. of Georgia died in February after battling cancer and lung disease.

“Many of us are very saddened by her death, and in some respects stunned by it,” said state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has worked with Millender-McDonald in different capacities for more than two decades. “She knew about the issues of justice and injustice, and carried that banner wherever she went.”
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