(Akiit.com) Cleveland - The achievement gap separating black boys from just about everyone else springs from a powerful, anti-education culture rising in the black community, a local black think tank argues in a new report.

Parents who undervalue education, and a mass media that peppers youth with the quick, shallow rewards of hip-hop lifestyle, are steering alarming numbers of boys down a dead-end path, PolicyBridge contends.

The report calls for public recognition of a phenomenon crippling the black community and the civic will to fight it. It’s to be released Wednesday via mailings to civic leaders and on the group’s Web site, policy-bridge.org

“In our community, family culture has changed, and street culture has changed,” said Randell McShepard, 42, an executive at RPM International and the secretary of PolicyBridge. “But the headline now is, ‘Those changes are dragging down the education system.’ ”
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Ike Turner spent a night in jail after he was arrested on a 1989 narcotics warrant that turned out to be invalid, police said.

The 75-year-old musician and ex-husband of Tina Turner was spotted on Interstate 405 in the San Fernando Valley about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Police officers saw his 2002 silver Mercedes-Benz S-50 doing more than 80 mph and straddling lanes, Officer April Harding said Thursday.

The car was stopped after it left the freeway and officers ran a check for warrants, which is routine, Harding said.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) The applause was loud and sustained virtually every moment that Yolanda King was on stage performing her one-woman theatrical performance. The audience beamed with love, joy and most importantly appreciation for her. This writer did too as I sat spellbound in the first row of the Los Angeles church where King performed. The occasion was the annual King Day celebration last year held at a popular Los Angeles church.

The audience didn’t embrace and idolize King solely because she was the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of those in the audience weren’t even born when King was alive. And the applause for her wasn’t solely out of a misty nostalgia for the civil rights movement. Most there had no first hand knowledge or involvement in the civil rights battles four decades. No, their applause and respect was for her, and her moving on stage recapture of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice as well as the triumphs of the civil rights movement. The ir sustained applause was also given out of deep appreciation for her impassioned crusade to keep Dr. King’s dream alive by actively opposing Bush’s wasteful and ruinous Iraq war, championing women and gay rights, and fighting for economic justice for the poor.

In between her theatrical skits, she would pause take a deep breath, and in measured but passionate tones remind the audience that King’s dream still was unfulfilled. She in turn prodded, cajoled, and implored the audience that the best way to keep her father’s dream alive was to be active fighters for peace and social justice.
Read The Full Story…

Group Proposes Mentors, Single-Sex Classrooms

(Akiit.com) Maryland - A new report by a statewide task force that paints a grim picture of how African American male students are faring in Maryland’s public schools and universities recommends strengthening mentor programs, encouraging more black men to be teachers and providing more academic support for those who need it.

Two of the more controversial proposals are suggestions to place troubled students at black-majority high schools into single-sex classes and to encourage nonviolent offenders to be mentors to students.

Black students make up 38 percent of the state’s public school population, with the percentage much higher in some regions. In Prince George’s County, for example, the amount is more than 75 percent, and in Charles County, it’s about 46 percent.

The Task Force on the Education of Maryland’s African-American Males found that 10 years after a similar group chaired by then-Del. Elijah E. Cummings (D) studied the issue and offered recommendations for change, little progress has been made.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Wyclef Jean, Steve Harvey, Biz Markie, Doug E. Fresh and a host of other performers have joined forces to support the “50 Million Pound Challenge,” designed to address obesity in the black community and help millions of African Americans lose weight.

Spearheaded by celebrity physician Dr. Ian Smith of VH-1’s Celebrity Fit Club fame and sponsored by State Farm Insurance, The Challenge is a new initiative designed to help African Americans lose weight and take control of their personal health, while fighting off weight-related diseases that affect the black community.

“No matter who you are or where you come from, we all need to take time to take care of our health,” Wyclef Jean said. “The Challenge is giving us a great opportunity to look out for our health and look out for each other. It’s helping us make the choices we know we need to make. We all have the power to lead healthier, longer lives. Let’s not waste a moment. We owe it to our loved ones. We owe it to ourselves. If we pull together, we can make a tremendous difference.”
Read The Full Story…