WHO SAID THAT THERE WAS A SUCH THING AS WHITE SPORTS & BLACK SPORTS?... WELL, TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE LIARS!

When you think of swimming as a sport and not a recreational activity, BLACKS don't necessarily hit top of mind. Swimming is just not our sport, or is it? I never got with the notion of a sport belonging to one particular race. But I totally understand when they say things such as that, which is only a result of the limited number of BLACKS we see participating in whichever sport that is being referenced. With all of this said, BLACKS are moving well beyond basketball and football. Tiger Woods shot that whole notion down of golf not being a sport for BLACKS, Arthur, Serena and Venus shot that notion down about tennis not being a sport for BLACKS. Vonetta Flowers, the first BLACK athlete to win a gold medal in the winter olympics, when she won the inaugural women's bobsled event, shot that notion down about sports that invlove cold weather not being sports for BLACKS . Along with Garret Hines and Randy Jones, who were the first BLACK U.S. men to win medals in the winter olympics when they brought home the silver in the four-man bobsled competition. So this whole thing with WHITE SPORTS and BLACK SPORTS is becoming a thing of the past.

This past weekend Bronx born and Jersey bred, Cullen Jones, made history as one of four men on the USA's winning 4X100 freestyle relay team. They took the Gold with a world record time of 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds in a race that kept all viewers on the edge of thier seats. Jones, who almost drowned the first time he ever entered the pool, is now only the third BLACK person to qualify for the Olympics in swimming, Cullen Jones has also positioned himself as an advocate and ambassador of swimming for reluctant black children.

Jones is a graduate of North Carolina University, where he was an English major. He burst onto the international swimming scene at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia. In the summer of 2006, he became a professional swimmer after signing with Nike.

People such as Jones, are definitely redefining the meaning of BLACK sports. We (BLACKS) are a determined group of people, who can compete with the best of them, in any sport when prepared, and when given the opportunity.

WE REMEMBER BERNIE MAC FOR ALL THAT HE WAS: GREAT, HUMBLE & LOVING

"He opened his eyes on his own and looked at Rhonda. She called his name, and he opened his eyes and nodded to her. She smiled at him and told him, 'Don't leave me … 'I'm waiting for you to come back.' He shrugged his shoulders, and she said that's when she knew he was tired. He signaled to her that his body was tired."

Just like that, the KING OF COMEDY was no longer on this earth with us, and his last few days consisted of non-verbal communication. These are the actions of a man who was never known to be speechless, he always seemed to have words that could make anyone with a sense of humor laugh. No matter how bad your day was going, if you heard one of Bernie Mack's jokes, you could not help but to crack a smile or to let out laughter.

On Saturday, August 9, 2008 Bernie Mack, born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, passed away due to complications from pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital. Mack was 50 years old, and at a very young age he began to work his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side, where he lived with his mother and grandparents.

Through his comedy, his various other projects, and his commitment to his wife, daughter, granddaughter and other family members and friends, he lived his life to the fullest. God must have needed a really good laugh, to call him home so soon. He will truly be missed. My prayers go out to his family, friends and to all of his fans. His jokes and great personality will forever resonate in our hearts.

YEA THEY WHITENED HER...I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS...SEE IT FOR YOURSELF

I am quite sure that Beyonce Knowles had to approve this advertisement before it got to the public, and appraently she did not see anything wrong with it. L'Oreal, the cosmetic company in charge of this advertisement has been accused of "whitening" the singer's skin colour in a number of print ads for women's magazines in the United States.

What message does this send out? Is it not okay to be exactly who you are or to be BLACk and appear exactly as you are. The thing that makes me want to go to every newstand and tear these ads out is the message that it is sending to our children, not only our BLACK children, but to children in general. first, the chick is not even a dark skinned BLACK girl, she is fair skinned to begin with, why make her appear to be lighter than she already is.

The visual lightening in this advertisement made me, and I am sure millions of other BLACK people do a double take. At first glance, she looks WHITE. I was puzzled. L'Oreal is basically saying we want you on our ads to sell our product but we can't deal with the fact that you are BLACK, so we need to do some fixin up to your face. definitely a slap in the face to BLACKS.

The company releases a statement saying, "We highly value our relationship with Ms Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L'Oreal Paris altered Ms Knowles' features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color." Tell these lies to the next gullible person, because you are lying.

Knowles has worked with the cosmetics company since 2001. And if she approved this ad, she is just as much of a liar as L'Oreal and not to us, but to herself.

The ad is appearing in this month's Elle, Allure and Essence. I can not believe that the editors over at Essence would run this advertisement. So to refrain from saying something without knowing the facts, i'll just leave it at this. Do BLACK people even use L'Oreal hair products? I don't know, i'm just asking?

OUR ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS HUDSON & WHITAKER ARE NOW TOGETHER

Two of our very own Academy Award winners, Forrest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson are starring in Winged Creatures, a 2008 adaptation of Roy Freirich's novel, which carries the same name as the movie. While in the restaurant, the main charachters which also include, Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, and Josh Hutcherson, suddenly hear gunshots. Dakota Fanning, who plays Anne Hagen, hides under the table with her dad and best friend Jimmy Jasperson, played by Josh Hutcherson, while they watch the gunman shoot several people, including her father and then himself. Forrest Whitaker was one of the victims shot, but he lived.
There were five who survived this trauma, and throughout the movie they struggle to understand how to move on after this event. The reaminder of the movie, all of the actors cope with the situation in the restaurant that day, and how it has drastically changed thier lives.
Struggling to understand her father's death, Anne forms some sort of religious hysteria. Jimmy becomes mute, protecting a secret that he and Anne share until it nearly destroys him and his already fractured family. Charlie (Forrest Whitaker), who was grazed by a bullet and is a driving-school teacher, attempts to make his incredible luck work for him at the casino. Jennifer Hudson plays Kathy Archenault, Whitaker's daughter. Carla, played by Kate Beckinsale, the restaurant cashier, loses her ability to take care of herself and her infant son. Ron Abler, a psychologist, attempts to help the survivors but is met with suspicion and little response from any of them. Dr. Laraby, played by Guy Pearce, an ER physician who failed to save two of the shooting victims, turns to his wife as someone to 'save.' The movie follows these five traumatized people as they struggle to regain their trust in the ordinary world.

This movie is reminiscent of Academy-Award winning movie, Crash, a passion piece, where the charachters are brought together through living thier everyday lives. Through these characters' interactions, Crash seeks to depict and examine not only racial tension, but also the distance between strangers in general. This movie seems to depict some of the same messages, although we are living our own separate lives, certain events can lead us to realize that we are much closer than we would like to think.

Looks to be a HIT! Check out the movie trailer below.

DETROIT MAYOR KILPATRICK JAILED

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was jailed Thursday after a judge found that he violated terms of his bond by going to Canada last month, unauthorized. Kilpatrick, who is facing felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct of office, was freed on $75,000 bond.

Warren Evans, a Wayne County Sheriff said the mayor will be treated like any other high-profile inmate at the jail. He said that appropriate measures will be taken to ensure his security as well as that of other inmates at the facility.

The Detroit Mayor has been involved in a public scandal since January, when the Detroit Free Press reported he exchanged romantic text messages with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, indicating the two were involved in an affair. Kwame Kilpatrick's attorney Jim Parkman said an immediate appeal of the mayor's jailing is planned. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Friday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

See Full Story here

MORGAN FREEMAN IN A BAD CAR WRECK

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was in serious condition at a hospital in Tennessee, not too far from his home in northern Mississippi, after being in a car accident Sunday night. Freeman has suffered a broken left upper arm, other fractures and neck and shoulder injuries. The car that he was driving was owned by his passenger, a Memphis resident Demaris Meyer, whom Bill Luckett described as a mutual friend of his and Freeman's.

Bill Luckett, a friend and co-owner of a restaurant and blues club with Freeman said, "He's in good spirits, but he's in a lot of pain." A little after 11:30 Sunday night the paramedics removed Freeman and Meyerfrom the car and they were airlifted to the hospital, according to Angie Underwood, a Mississippi Highway Patrol spokeswoman.

Bill Rogers, who lives on the highway where the accident happened said that the vehichle flew about 45 feet before it alighted on its trunk. "The car was torn up so bad I couldn't tell what it was," he said.

Freeman is an Academey Award winning actor, film director and narrator. He won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2005 for his role in the gritty boxing film "Million Dollar Baby." He has been nominated for Oscars three other times, for the movies "Street Smart," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Shawshank Redemption."

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee and grew up in the Mississippi Delta region. He moved back to open the blues club and the restaurant in 2001. In a 2005 interview with CNN, he said returning to the area was "one of the smartest moves I've made in life."

Please pray for a speedy recovery for both, Freeman and Demaris Meyer, the friend whom he was driving with.

OBAMA IS NOT FOR SLAVERY REPARATIONS

Democratic presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, opposes giving reparations to descendants of slavery, he said Saturday in Illinois. Is he wrong for this? I dont think so, but of course he's at odds with some BLACK people. You and I both know that if we were to receive money and nothing else, that many of us would go broke shortly after. Ya'll know how we do, so please do not front; we'd be in the mall, on vacation, and doing everything that will give the money right back to them. Now dont get me wrong, we will have all intentions on starting our own businesses, paying for college education, building up our communitites, etc...but some how if we received monetary reparations and nothing else, we probably would still have a long way to go.

The point that I am making is that I doubt very seriously if a monetary reparation will give us the change that we need. Make higher education free to all BLACKS, take all the money that BLACKS would get and use it to fix each and every public school across the United States, fix the inner city communities...I could go on forever, but these are some of the things that will help to combat the legacy of slavery.

Senator Barack Obama agrees, he says, "I have said in the past -- and I'll repeat again -- that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed." And by the way, Senator Obama has held the same position on reparations since he ran for Senator back in 2004.

Over two dozen members of Congress are co-sponsors of legislation that will create a commission that would study reparations, a combination of programs and payments to make up for the damage done by slavery.

I'm anxious to see what will come out of this whole reparation ordeal.

WAKE UP PEOPLE OR WIN A FREE ONE WAY TICKET HERE...

Things are real out here people, I mean they are getting serious. HIV/AIDS is moving closer and closer to your bedroom each and every day. I am not for being all preachy, but just check this out. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) was about 16,000 estimates short on the number of new people infected with HIV each year. That is extremely scary. There are more new cases of Americans infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than previously believed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. This past year about 56,000 people became infected with HIV, which means that the CDC was 40% off, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.

CDC's previous estimates suggested that there were approximately 40,000 new people infected with HIV each year. CNN reports that the center's estimates used "limited data and less precise methods," which is now using technology that can determine when someone was infected with the virus.

The center says that this new technology can tell if someone has been infected with the virus in the last 5 months, which seems to be a great advancement in HIV/AIDS research.

I dont know about you, but the fact that 56,000 people in the United States contracted HIV scares the HELL out of me. Im not sure how many people out of this number are BLACK, but considreing the fact that in 2005 half of the people infected with HIV/AIDS were BLACK...you should be scared out of your mind.

I'm not here to judge anyone, so whether you are married, single, or dating... please go to Sam's, Costco, BJ's and buy an economy pact of condoms. Time on this side of the dirt is lovely right now, cherish it!