Minority is now Majority...

There are now five states including Washington DC where minorities make up the majority of people living in the borders. The States and their percentages of minorities living within are listed below.

Hawaii --75 percent
New Mexico -- 58 percent
California -- 58 percent
Texas -- 53 percent
District of Columbia -- 67 percent

Read Full Story

Rooney Rule Soon To Include NFL GMs...

The Rooney Rule was adopted by the NFL in 2003 to mandate that minority candidates be interviewed for any and all vacant head coaching positions. The NFL and its owners are now in discussion to expand the rule to the general manager position.

Read the entire story here / Video on the rule

The Death of "The Voice of Black America"

On this day in 1967 Langston Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer at the age of 65. Nobody before or after Hughes has been able to capture the black experience like he did. With each poem, novel, play, and short story he wrote, a sense of pride was rekindled within black minds across the country and eventually the world.

"Let America Be America Again"

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

-Langston Hughes

Today In Black History...

On this date in 1948 Jamaican born Claude McKay passed away at the age of 59. The Harlem Renaissance poet and authour was the writer of the first best seller written by an African American Home To Harlem.

"If We Must Die"
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

- Claude McKay 1919

Post from a post... 20/20 Hip-Hop Special From 1981

Saw this over at RapRadar and had to share...

Spike Lee on Kobe Doin' Work...

Film director Spike Lee explains his vision behind the film "Kobe Doin' Work."

Somalia Facing Worst Drought in Decades...

Cattle have been dying from the lack of water, and this is contributing to nearly half the population suffering from malnutrition. Roughly 45% of the population is suffering from moderate malnutrition. Read the entire story at BBC.

The Boy Wonder...

On this date in 1950 Steveland Judkins was born in Saginaw,Michigan. The world would come to know him as Stevie Wonder. Blind from birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for the label. He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. His Songs in the Key of Life is considered his best album and one of the best ever regardless of genre.

Stevie Wonder

The Brown Bomber....

On this date in 1914 Joseph Louis Barrow was born in La Fayette, Alabama. The son of an Alabama sharecropper, great grandson of a slave, great great grandson of a white slave owner became the heavyweight champion of the world. Louis was champion of the world in an era when the heavyweight champion was, in the minds of many, the greatest man in the world. His championship reign, from 1937 until he retired in 1949, is the longest of any heavyweight.

Y.E.B. Birthday... Louis Farrakhan

On this date in 1933 Louis Farrakhan was born Louis Eugene Walcott in the Bronx, New York. He is currently the Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad. He is most famous for the million man march.

Nas - Louis Farrakhan

Ernie Barnes....1938-2009

Legendary Artist Ernie Barnes passed away last week on April 30th. He was a man who's work was more famous then his name. His national traveling “Beauty of the Ghetto” exhibition in the 1970s featured some of his timeless works as “Storyteller,” “High Aspirations” and “The Graduate.” His famous 1971 “Sugar Shack” dance scene appeared on the “Good Times” television show and on the Marvin Gaye album “I Want You.” I always said when I got my dream home, I would get my basement walls covered with a mural of his work. Please visit his website to learn more about this incredible man www.erniebarnes.com

WRTN...."Prime Time"...

In a day and age when its hard for athletes to stay healthy and excel at one sport, I would like to take a little time out to remember a man that did it at two. He simply went by "Prime Time". People often forget about how great of an athlete this guy really was. He was a lead off hitting, base stealing, defensive outfielder in the spring and the best corner in the NFL in the fall and winter. He was an All-State honoree in all baseball, football, basketball, and track. At Florida State Deion played football, baseball, and track. Sanders was a 3-time All American at corner while at FSU. He was also drafted by the Yankees during this the same time because of his defense and great base stealing ability.

After being drafted 5th in 1989 by the Atlanta Falcons, Deion would start a career in the NFL as the premier cornerback in the league. On his first career punt return, he returned it for a touchdown. While with the Falcons, Sanders was also acquired by the Atlanta Braves. With the Braves, Deion played in 2 World Series. Deion led the NL in triples in 1992 with 14. He was often told to pick one sport, but felt if he was blessed enough to play both, he was going to until he couldn't anymore. He would have his most productive season in 1997 with the Cincinnati Reds where he was second in the NL with 56 stolen bases.


After leaving the Falcons for the 49ers, Deion won his only Defensive Player of Year award in 1994. He would also help push the Niners over the hump as they won their first title that year since the end of the Joe Montana era. Deion would go on to leave after the season and join the Dallas Cowboys where he would win another title. At Dallas, Sanders was able to play both ways. That was something Sanders had always dreamed about but had not done so since his high school days. At the time Deion signed with the Cowboys, he was the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.


Sanders would go on to play one season with the Redskins in 2000 after leaving the Cowboys. He showed signs of his greatness, but could not produce at his usual elite level and retired after the season. After a 3 year retirement Sanders joined the Baltimore Ravens in 2004 at the age of 37. With the Ravens Deion was a nickel back and helped with the development of the young secondary.



Deion's ability on the field was just half of what made him "Prime Time". The term "swag" is so over used in today's society but if ever any player ever had some, it would be "Neon Deon". Deion was one of few football players to ever have a successful shoe line. His shoes were a must have and are still a hit as Nike continues to retro them.


Deion also had a rap cd "Prime Time", which went gold and hung out with the biggest entertainer of the time, MC Hammer. Deion Sanders will mostly be remembered by his famous "High-Stepping" into the end zone followed by his touchdown dance celebrations or his huge gold chains that he wore while on the field and the diamond. I will remember him for that and so much more. Deion made you want to look good while you played sports. I still see players today rocking bandannas and du-rags under their helmet or wearing multiple pairs of socks and wrist bands with no idea who made it "cool". He was fly, fresh, flashy, and phenomenal on the field. Deion still remains the only person ever to play in a Super Bowl and World Series. He is also the only person ever to hit a home run and score a touchdown within the same week. It has also been rumored for years that Deion ran 4.0 flat in the 40, but was never officially recorded.

These days Deion works on the NFL network as a analyst. Sanders currently stars in his own reality show -- Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love -- centered around him, his wife, and their five children, all of whom live in the small town of Prosper, Texas.

A Glimpse At Deion Dunking...


REMEMBER THIS...

Happy Cinco de Mayo...

On this date of Cinco de Mayo, here are some great Afro-Mexicans to get familiar with... Juan Garrido, Vicente Guerrero, Gaspar Yanga, Zamorita, and José María Morelos.

King James MVP of the NBA...

Maxwell - Pretty Wings (Video)

This is the first Single of Maxwell's forthcoming album BLACK