HOUSTON (Akiit.com) — A school district suspended a police officer as it investigates his distribution of a “Ghetto Handbook” and the three-month lapse before top district officials were informed of it.

The eight-page booklet, subtitled “Wucha dun did now?”, was handed out to about 15 Houston Independent School District police officers at a May meeting, district spokesman Terry Abbott said. Officials declined to identify the officer who handed them out, but said he had been ordered to attend diversity training.

A supervisor immediately collected the booklets, Abbott said, but district officials said they didn’t learn about the incident until someone complained to the district’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office in mid-August.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) DEBATING capital punishment at an Ivy League university a few years ago, I was confronted with the claim that since death sentences are more often meted out in cases where the victim is white, the death penalty must be racially biased. It’s a spurious argument, I replied. Whites commit fewer than half of all murders in the United States, yet more whites than blacks are sentenced to death and more whites than blacks are executed each year. If there is racial bias in the system, it clearly isn’t in favor of whites.

But if you choose to focus on the race of victims, I added, remember that nearly all black homicide is intraracial - more than nine out of 10 black murder victims in the United States are killed by black murderers. So applying the death penalty in more cases where the victim is black would mean sending more black men to death row.

After the debate, a young black woman accosted me indignantly. Ninety-plus percent of black blood is shed by black hands? What about all the victims of white supremacists? Hadn’t I heard of lynching? Hadn’t I heard of James Byrd, who died so horribly in Jasper, Texas? When I assured her that Byrd’s murder by whites was utterly untypical of most black homicide, she was dubious.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Why do we constantly listen to music that insults our intelligence? Why do we watch television shows that degrade the human race? This generation, for some unforeseen reason, is interested in topics that are entertaining yet embarrassing to society.

I watched R. Kelly’s popular hip-hop soap opera “Trapped in the Closet” and was completely disgusted at his use of cynical entertainment.

For those of you who are not familiar with this disgrace to hip-hop culture, it revolves around the over-usage of adultery and deception. Since the recent release of Chapters 13 through 22 in the series, many people still watch the misfortunes of several people who are connected in the plot.

Since the entire story line is focused on adultery, the characters do not have to concentrate on real acting skills, because the attention is on the cheating and lying.

This wastes production time and money is because it makes African-American adults look like lying, cheating and unprosperous people.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Al Sharpton and hip-hop artist David Banner have been in a war of words in regard to the civil rights’ activist call to ban what he considers obscene or vulgar words from the music genre. Like most hip-hop artists, Banner has come back with his own choice words about Mr. Sharpton and others who are seemingly trying to take away his bread and butter.

Reverend Sharpton is not the first black leader to speak out and criticize the music about its disregard for decency and respect, particularly towards women. Oprah did the same earlier this year and was blasted publicly by 50 Cent, Ludicrous, Ice Cube and virtually every rapper for not having hip-hop artists on her show. It is Oprah’s show and she has the right to say she doesn’t agree with the way women are portrayed in hip-hop. Why would she broadcast what she considers offensive material?

She, like so many other African American leaders, has issues with the negative images of hip-hop. Why is this so hard to believe? Is there some unspoken rule saying blacks cannot criticize other blacks without be labeled a traitor or not black enough?
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Chicago, IL Incident at arts fest further explains African-American wage study

Brothers want to work. But for many of them, especially ex-felons, recovering addicts and high school dropouts, there are significant barriers to employment. Even educated brothers with names like Javon instead of Jonathan can have a hard time finding a job.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, when it comes to employment, African Americans are doing “worse” than others, and are “faring worse” than they did in the 1990s.

With bleak prospects, a lot of young black men take their chances in the underground drug trade. They make that choice even though they know they are likely to end up like modern-day slaves, churning out products for private industries for pennies a day.

But another group of black men who are following in the path of their enterprising ancestors - the brothers who turned bootleg barbershops into barber colleges — haven’t given up.

I ran into such men on Sunday, when a friend and I visited the African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park. The fest stretched from about 51st and Cottage Grove to about 54th Street.
Read The Full Story…