While Martellus Bennett is touting the stereotypical "Black Olympics," former Florida State University safety Myron Rolle is turning his dreams into reality. Rolle and his family have announced plans to build the Myron L. Rolle Medical Clinic and Sports Complex in Steventon, Exuma in the Bahamas, where his parents are from. According to media reports, the complex will provide free health services to the residents of Exuma and a state-of-the-art wellness and training facilities for athletes and visitors to Exuma. Rolle, who plans to enter the NFL Draft in 2010 to pursue a professional football career, will leave for England shortly, where he'll earn a Masters degree in Medical Anthropology from Oxford University. His actions are admirable and should be applauded. If there were more people who chose to give back to their communities, then the world would be in a better shape.

"It's really pertinent, because the people of Exuma, if there is something really serious happening to them, medically, at night especially, and they have to catch a flight to Nassau, the main island, it's very inconvenient, and a lot of people can't afford that flight," Rolle said, in a telephone interview this afternoon after his ceremony. "A lot of times that may be the difference between their life being saved or not, that time gap. So I think this is going to be a special project."

There are only two doctors on the island right now, and Rolle said he has had a vision to build a hospital or clinic in the area since he was much younger. There's still some red tape he has to go through, but expects the dream to be realized in the next two or three years. The first priority is the clinic, and then they'll start on an eight-lane track with a field turf interior. There will also be a fitness alumni center adjacent to the clinic.

"That's pretty much so if I want to come or some of my NFL buddies want to come and work out in Exuma, it's another option, another alternative for the high school and junior high kids who run track," he said. "It's pretty exciting. Track is definitely a big sport in the Bahamas. There are a lot of young athletes who are doing very well and succeeding in Exuma, so this is another arena for them to do that."

He's already been guaranteed five acres of land, and has a lot of support from the island administrator. The project will be executed in conjunction with the Bahamas Ministry of Health and the Florida State University College of Medicine, based in the United States. During the program, FSU medical students and doctors will travel to the Bahamas and provide free medical care and supplies to Exumians. The program will be funded through the Myron L. Rolle Foundation. Source: ESPN

I wish more of our African American men and women could take a page out of his book. "I didn't feel I needed a lot of capital as far as money is concerned to get any of this started. All I needed was a big heart, a passion, motivation and drive, and the right people around me," he said. That pretty much sums it all up. If each person took up a cause that they believe in, whether it is to help an at-risk child to read, or to volunteer at a battered-women's shelter, or to be a mentor to a young boy or girl for example, the results would be beyond our wildest imagination. Myron Rolle is the ultimate servant-leader and he is worthy of being emulated -- a true role model in every sense of the word!

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Jason Merritt/Getty Images

It's ironic that as Ryan Seacrest and other counterparts ink megadeals to return to American Idol's ninth season, Paula Abdul's manager, David Sonenberg, is saying that his client will ditch the FOX show unless producers change their tune. Really Paula? AI depends on you for so much! He told the The Los Angeles Times that she has yet to receive a proposal for her return. The new season is set to premiere in January. Er, Paula, maybe this stalemate is a hint that your presence does not help the show's ratings and your antics are just a wee bit too much to stomach.

"I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful," he added of the holdup. "I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that [Idol production companies Fremantle and 19 Entertainment] haven't stepped up and said what they want to do."According to Sonenberg, who began managing the star in June, he told the network Abdul would "love to be on the show," but has not heard back as to any sort of proposal.

"She's not a happy camper as a result of what's going on. She's hurt. She's angry," Sonenberg said. "I think at this point we're going to be considering everything, including some kind of a competition show. She has tremendous ideas for a whole variety of shows." Source: US Magazine

Last week, Idol's Ryan Seacrest inked a three-year, $45 million deal to continue on as host, tripling his previous salary of slightly less than $5 million per seaso, while judge Randy Jackson is signed onto the series through 2011. Simon Cowell asked to be paid in excess of $100 million a season. Let's see how this plays out. I scarcely think people will lose sleep or the show's ratings suffer if Paula Adbul doesn't return for the new season.

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The Defense Department has confirmed that Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, has been captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The DOD released his name one day after a video surfaced in which he is heard saying he was "scared I won't be able to go home. The Pentagon statement said his status was listed as whereabouts unknown on July 1 and was changed to missing-captured on July 3. He is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

The soldier in the video had his head shaved and was seen with the start of a beard. He was sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video one captor held the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number were clearly visible. He was shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged.

The soldier gave his name, age and hometown on the video, which was released on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban. He said the date was July 14 and that he was captured when he lagged behind on a patrol.

On July 2, the U.S. military said an American soldier had disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and was believed to have been taken prisoner. Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went missing in eastern Paktika province near the border with Pakistan from an American base. The region is known to be Taliban-infested. Source: Philly.com

I hope the U.S. government will secure his release quickly and that he will be reunited with his family soon. U.S. troops had reportedly distributed two flyers in the area where the soldier disappeared. One of them asked for information on the missing soldier and offered a $25,000 reward for his return. The other reportedly said "please return our soldier safely" or "we will hunt you."

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Will the untimely passing of Michael Jackson resurrect the singing career of the Jackson brothers? Four Jackson brothers, members of the hit-making quintet led by Michael Jackson until his solo career skyrocketed, have been in negotiations with AEG Live about performing at the O2 Arena in London. They want to take over some of the dates the venue had earmarked for Michael Jackson's 50 comeback concerts, the Los Angeles Times has reported.

The quintet broke up in 1984. But there are outward signs that Michael's death has brought the brothers closer together and may result in the rebirth of the Jacksons on the stage. On Friday, promoters for Jamaica's star-studded music festival Reggae Sumfest announced that three members of the group -- Tito, Randy and Jackie Jackson -- had been confirmed as attendees at a concert next weekend. The announcement said that a fourth member, Marlon Jackson, "may also join." Jermaine Jackson will be in Austria that weekend at the 2009 Save the World Awards, where he will accept a posthumous humanitarian award for Michael.

As sad as this sounds, Michael Jackson will be worth more in death, literally and figuratively, than in life. I suspect his brothers will make more money now than they have ever made previously.

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Either Katherine Jackson, mother of the late King of Pop, is being manipulated or she just doesn't understand what's at stake. According to TMZ, attorneys Londell McMillan and Burt Levitch, who represent Mrs. Jackson personally, have filed legal papers on Friday asking a judge to rule if she can object to the appointment of the executors, John Branca and John McClain, named in Michael Jackson's will and still collect the money he left her. Huh? You will recall that her son left her 40 percent of his estate, so why start a fire where there's no need for one?

At issue is the "no contest" clause in the will, which means that anyone who files objections to the will automatically gets no money. McMillan and Levitch want to know if the "no contest" clause would apply if Katherine only objects to the executors Michael chose. I guess, since she's getting such a big chunk of his estate, that should be enough to keep her happy, so why the dust-up about the executors? This is a prime example of Mrs. Jackson not understanding the implications of mounting such a legal challenge and another reason why she was not chosen by her son to be the executor of his estate.

Stay tuned. There is more to come in this soap opera.

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Another elected official has been caught sending racist emails. According to the Merced Sun-Star, Atwater (Calif.) City Councilman Gary Frago has sent at least a half-dozen e-mails to city staff and other prominent community members containing racist jokes aimed at President Barack Obama, his wife and black people in general. Some of the emails, sent from October 2008 to February 2009, compared President Obama to O. J. Simpson and others suggested that "nigger rigs" should now be called "presidential solutions." Get this, the most hurtful email was reportedly sent on January 15 and read: "Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic." Wow. That's just mean-spirited and down right racist. Mr. Frago admitted sending the e-mails, but showed no regret. He told the Sun-Star,"If they're from me, then I sent them," he said. "I have no disrespect for the president or anybody, they weren't meant in any bad way or harm." Really? They seem racist to me and the last thing an "ELECTED" official needs to engage is in race baiting.

The list of people who either sent or received the e-mails reads like a who's who of Atwater community and political leadership, including a county supervisor, a former police chief, a city manager, a former city council member, a former president of a veterans group, a former grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, among others. All the jokes that Frago sent originated from others, the e-mails show. Those who could be identified were Bob Rieger, a retired Atwater city works employee; Michael McIntyre, a Merced resident; and Lee Aldridge, a retired Air Force colonel in Alabama. Most of the recipients said they do not recall receiving the e-mails and several of the senders either do not remember sending them or claim they were not meant to be harmful.

While recent racial barriers have been broken -- such as the election of a black president -- and most outright racial and prejudice is not acceptable in public, local civil rights activists and others believe the e-mails illustrate the racism that lingers behind some doors assumed to be closed in Atwater and America.

Frago, 63, who was the city's first paid firefighter and has been on the City Council since 2000, said the e-mails were not meant to harm anyone. He has nothing against black people or the president, he said."I don't see where there's a story, I'm not the only one that does it," he said. "I didn't originate them, they came to me and I just passed them on." Source: Merced Sun-Star

You may not be able to control everything that comes into your email inbox to some degree, but you can delete racist emails and not forward them to all your friends. This is just hateful and it is a sad commentary on where we are as a people on race issues. The scourge of racism is still ingrained in our society and it is a tragedy. How can the United States set itself on a pedestal as the leader of the free world, but yet we have such hate mongering and race baiting still occurring everyday? Pat Buchanan has called Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist, an Affirmative Action baby, unpublished, among other hurtful things he has said about this woman. In the grand scheme of things, this is a sad commentary. Councilman Frago should resign from his position, given the fact that he is unrepentant for his actions. There is no room in an elected office for such behavior.

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My late maternal grandmother always said, "if you have nothing good to say, it's better to just say nothing." This is so appropriate for Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett, who just said he was "just having fun" when he filmed an offensive YouTube video about "Black Olympics." He also reportedly said that he doesn't expect the episode to warrant discipline from the Cowboys. I first learned about this offensive video when Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock let loose on athlete and his brother, Michael, who is a rookie for the Seattle Seahawks. The two men competed eating fried chicken and watermelon and drinking Kool-Aid.

Bennett told the Michael Irvin radio show on Monday that he didn't intend to offend others, but doesn't think the video was racially insensitive. "I don't really think it's offensive," Bennett told Irvin. "It depends on your sense of humor and how you look at things. We were just having fun and it was very funny for me and my brothers, when I look at it I just can't stop laughing. If someone takes offense, I apologize. That wasn't my intention. It was just us having fun."

Bennett told Irvin he would not have a problem with a white person acting out something like the "Black Olympics." There's white comedians that do stuff like that all the time," he said. "I think it's funny to attack stereotypes. It's funny how people just put people in a certain light and say that's what all the people do of a certain race or particular person, so it's fun to attack those stereotypes." Source: USA Today

What you do in the privacy of your own home is your prerogative, but when it is put on YouTube, for example, then it becomes a real problem. The video was offensive and in poor taste. How can we ever expect to be taken seriously as a people when we go around perpetuating the same negative stereotypes that upset us to no end when a white person utters those same offensive words or caricatures us in that manner? Come on. Surely we can do better than this.

Martellus Bennett isn't the only one who should draw anger, his brother is just as complicit in this as he is. For the record, Martellus Bennett is no stranger to a YouTube controversy. The Cowboys already fined Bennett once for releasing a profanity-filled rap video on YouTube, but the fine was later reduced. It's amazing that the Cowboys could come out swinging against him with the profanity-laced video, but remain silent on the stereotypical and offensive video.

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Can we all ever learn to get along? Black or white. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Guardian Civic League, an association of black officers, has sued the Philadelphia Police Department in federal court for allowing its officers to post "blatantly racist and offensive" content on Domelights.com, a site devoted to law enforcement topics. The suit says Domelights.com, which bills itself as "the voice of the good guys," was founded by a Philadelphia police sergeant who uses the screen name "McQ" and "encourages the racially offensive conduct."

The association also sued McQ and the 10-year-old Web site, which is a forum where officers discuss crime news, police gossip, current events and other topics, often in profane and humorous rants. The group's attorney, Brian Mildenberg, said that black officers had long reviled the site and that complaints had been been lodged with current and past police administrations to no avail.

Even the word domelights, which normally refers to the police lights on top of cruisers, has taken on an "insulting connotation" among black officers, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit cites several posts, including one showing slain white officers next to black suspects and the headline "Guns Don't Kill People, Dangerous Minorities Do." Mildenberg said white officers post and moderate the forums while on duty and on department computers, creating "a racially hostile environment."

"It's the same thing as you can't hang racist material in the workplace," he said.
The lawsuit does not identify McQ, but his Domelights profile contains the name Fred McQuiggan. In 2004, McQuiggan wrote a letter to the editor published in The Inquirer that included his Domelights e-mail address. Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, confirmed that McQuiggan was on active duty and worked at Police Headquarters but said he did not know whether McQuiggan was involved with Domelights. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

There is freedom of speech, but shouldn't law enforcement policy stipulate that its members should avoid engaging in racially offensive speech or conduct in the public? I know that someone can post a derogatory comment on the forum under a nickname, but shouldn't there be some limits? Why hasn't this police officer been disciplined for this website, if it has been proven that it belongs to him? I would never tolerate racial comments on my blog from anyone. I block their IP and email addresses so that they cannot comment.

The class-action suit was filed on behalf of 2,300 black Philadelphia police officers and asks the court to order the Police Department to ban officers from operating Domelights or posting racially insensitive material. It seeks an unspecified amount for damages. The Philadelphia NAACP and the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers have also joined the civic league as plaintiffs.

Read the lawsuit (PDF) Warning: Contents are offensive

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The dead has arisen. Well, ex-senator Zell Miller suddenly popped up only to criticize President Obama. He told a group of mostly Republican lawmakers at the American Legislative Exchange Council, that the Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff "needs to put Gorilla Glue on Obama's chair to keep him in the Oval Office. Er, Zell, all Presidents travel overseas. It's called diplomacy, which he seems to know nothing about.

"Our globe-trotting president needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting around," said Miller, a Democrat well known for zinging his own party.

He had more to add to his rant. He also said during his speech, that President Obama's decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay was "nuts" and likened the federal stimulus package to a Paris Hilton spending spree. Right Zell, the stimulus package is just like a Paris Hilton shopping spree! Please.

Democratic State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, who leads the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said in a media interview that he wasn't bothered by Miller's comment, but that it came a few years too late. "It would have been much more appropriate that he suggest that Karl Rove used some Gorilla Glue on George Bush and Dick Cheney," said the Atlanta Democrat.

You will recall that Zell Miller sold out the Democratic Party in 2004 when he took the podium at the Republican National Convention and accused his party of being soft on national security. I wouldn't say he's racist. He's just plain rude. He won praise from Georgia's black leaders during his two terms in office for appointing minorities to high-ranking positions, including his naming of Leah Ward Sears to the state Supreme Court. She later became the first black female to serve as chief judge of any state's top court.

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Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) continues to prove that he is not only a racist, but a blooming idiot too. During the Sotomayor hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee he said that he was looking forward to doing "that crack cocaine thing" with Senator Patrick Leahy and Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. What, what?

Sessions said "Mr. Henderson, It's good to work with you. Senator Leahy and I are talking during these hearings, we're going to do that crack cocaine thing that you and I have talked about before."

After an awkward pause, Henderson laughed to himself and said, "Thank you, Senator, I appreciate that." While the Senate gallery laughed, and witnesses including NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former FBI director Louis Freeh snickered, Sessions sputtered, "Let me correct the record." Sessions explained: "I misspoke. We're going to reduce the burden of penalties in some of the crack cocaine cases and make them fair." Source: Huffington Post

So much for shock and awe! There is a thing called tact, which Senator Sessions has proven throughout the confirmation hearings and actually in previous years, he knows nothing about.

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Mechelle McNair, wife of slain former NFL quarterback Steve McNair, has been granted permission by Davidson County Probate Judge Randy Kennedy, to oversee his estate since he did not have a will. Judge Kennedy gave her 60 days to file an inventory of her late husband's assets. In court documents, she said she did not know how much he was worth, but documents contend that it is "of sufficient size to be administered."

You will recall that McNair was shot to death by his girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, who later shot herself to death. Nashville police have ruled it a murder-suicide.

Mechelle McNair listed herself and her two sons, Tyler and Trenton McNair, as the heirs to the estate. McNair also has two other sons from a previous relationship. I am surprised that this man didn't have a will. You would think his lawyer(s) would see to it that he had one in place.

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Well Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) got a dose of her own medicine from Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. He tore into her for what he said were "condescending" and "God awful" racial statements at a hearing. He took strong exception to her referencing a NAACP report favoring climate change legislation during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which Boxer is the chairwoman.

"Madam chair, that is condescending to me," Alford said. "I'm the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and you're trying to put up some other black group to pit against me."

Boxer defended including the report, however, saying the report reflects a "diversity" of support behind climate change legislation facing the Senate. "If this gentleman were here, he would be proud he's being quoted," Boxer said in defense of the NAACP support.

Alford, however, struck back against Boxer, accusing her of "getting racial" in the climate change debate. "All that's condescending, and I don't like it. It's racial. I take offense to it. As an African-American and a veteran of this country, I take offense to that," he said. "You're quoting some other black man — why don't you quote some other Asian or some other… You're getting racial here." "You're speaking on behalf of the black community?" Alford asked. "Why are you doing the colored people association's study with the black Chamber of Commerce?"

He finally concluded:

"We've been looking at energy policy since 1996. And we are referring to the experts, regardless of their color. And for someone to tell me, an African-American, college-education veteran of the United States Army, that I must contend with some other "black group" and put aside everything else in here — This has NOTHING to do with the NAACP, and really has nothing to do with the National Black Chamber of Commerce. We're talking about energy. And that — that road the chair went down, I think is God awful." Source: The Hill

He certainly laid into her! Good for him. This woman has been pushing the envelope for far too long! Of course, I don't want to rock the boat, but I have been very vocal about black beauty pageants and the fact that they are not needed in our society as we strive for a post-racial America. I have to ask the same question about a Black Chamber of Commerce. What if we had a White Chamber of Commerce? How would that be received? I suspect many would be very irate about such an organization. What say you?

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My oldest son went to the midnight release of the latest Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," with his friends and he gave it four out of five stars. I have never been one to join the Harry Potter craze and I certainly never viewed it through racial lens. I came across an article in the Washington Post, written by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite and entitled "Harry Potter: Wizards and Racism," that focuses on the racial prejudices in the film. Ms. Thistlethwaite states that the use of "Half-Blood" in the title of the film/book specifically refers to racial mixing. She states that in Wizard society (like in human society), persons of mixed race heritage are often the subject of explicit racist prejudice. "Mud-bloods!" is another term for those who share the "blood" of both wizards and Muggles (humans).

Here's Rowling's point on "half-bloods." Wizards may do magic, but prejudice does not magically disappear in their society. Racist prejudice bedevils both wizard and human society. Rowling's use of the term "half-blood" to vividly evoke the damaging effects of racial prejudice in the life of some of her key characters must be highlighted, especially this week. This is the same week where the American people have been treated to the unseemly spectacle of conservative politicians using "racism" as a club to beat up Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic American woman nominated to the United States Supreme Court. These attacks on her, as illustrated but not limited to Senator Sessions' remarks, illustrate that her questioners have no insight into their own racial formation, and deformation, in a white-dominant American society.

I highly recommend that several of these Senators go see the Harry Potter film--and better yet, read the books where the racial prejudice by some in the wizarding community is horribly illustrated. "Generations of purebloods, wizards all--more than you can say, I don't doubt...a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle," says a Wizard racist whose negative attitudes toward racial pluralism have fatal and near fatal consequences for both Wizards and Muggles alike in the film and in the book.
The coming of age theme would not hurt the Senators either. My first reaction to seeing these wonderful young people and how they have grown from film to film was "wow!" They're gorgeous. And then there's dating. There's "snogging" (kissing) and there is a growing maturity about their responsibilities as young adults in what is effectively a war--and like young people living with war in Iraq or Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world, they see more death than anyone, especially a young person, should have to experience. Source: The Washington Post

After reading this, I had to ask my son if he saw the racism that the author is referring to? Of course, he said no, but I do see the point Ms. Thistlethwaite is making. We have a responsibility to eradicate our racial prejudices and misconceptions about people because of their ethnic or racial background. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Can we go back to the days when when we went to the movies, we did that just for fun and not worry about being politically correct? So, my parting question to you is do you think J. K. Rowling is sending a message of racial intolerance in her books?

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President Barack Obama will, no doubt, be criticized by environmentalists for his latest decision to allow logging in the Tongass National Forest. His administration has approved the sale of timber in the nation's largest temperate rain forest, which is home to both endangered species and native Alaskan tribes. Alaskan Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich both supported the administration's decision to allow the timber sale, saying that it would provide jobs to the area's underemployed loggers. Personally, I think logging in national forests is destructive.

According to The Wilderness Society:

American taxpayers have not only watched as the Tongass has been picked apart by road building and logging, they've paid for the privilege. The tab extends beyond $750 million over 20 years. In a single year alone, the Forest Service spent $36 million on the Tongass timber program and got back in revenues only $1 million. Subsidies for logging roads account for nearly half of timber program costs annually.

I think the rain forest should be left as it is. What are your thoughts on the President's decision?

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