Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Percy Julian synthesized physostigmine for treatment of glaucoma; and synthesized cortisone for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Percy Julian is also noted for inventing a fire-extinguishing foam for gasoline and oil fires.
(con't.)
Born in Montgomery, Alabama and one of six children, Percy Julian had little schooling. At that time, Montgomery provided limited public education for Blacks. However, Percy Julian entered DePauw University as a "sub-freshman" and graduated in 1920 as class valedictorian. Percy Julian then taught chemistry at Fisk University, and in 1923, earned a master's degree from Harvard University. In 1931, Percy Julian received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna.
[...]
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater had this to say about Percy Julian:
"Those who had earlier sought to keep their slaves in chains were well aware of the threat education posed to their 'peculiar' institution. Consider what happened to the grandfather of Dr. Percy Julian, the great Black research chemist who, over his lifetime, was awarded 105 patents--among them a treatment for glaucoma and a low-cost process to produce cortisone
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Read more
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Another black child is handcuffed for a meltdown in class. Blame zero-tolerance policies.
The Root: When Temper Tantrums Become Criminal.
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Salecia Johnson cannot sleep at night. According to her mother, Constance Ruff, the 6-year-old wakes up repeatedly through the night screaming, "They're coming to get me!" Last week the kindergartner was handcuffed and arrested by police at Creekside Elementary School in Milledgeville, Ga., and taken to the police station for having a temper tantrum after school officials called the authorities. She is traumatized.
This is not the first time a kindergartner has been arrested for a temper tantrum. In 2005 in Pinellas County, Fla., another little African-American girl, J'aiesha Scott, had a temper tantrum after a jelly-bean-counting game ended. She was taken to the principal's office, where three police officers came in after the tantrum was over. They pulled her up out of her seat and forced her arms behind her and then handcuffed the little girl. She was left in the back of a police cruiser for hours while she cried for her mommy.
It has happened again. Another little African-American girl has been treated like a criminal. There are countless other children of color who suffer similar trauma at the hands of adults in schools.
Salecia, like J'aeisha, has had an early ride on what we call the schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track. They, like millions of other children in this country, are victims of the school-to-prison pipeline -- a system of zero-tolerance policies in schools across the nation that takes an unyielding approach to student discipline and in which children of color are punished more often and more severely for minor misbehavior than their white peers. It is a system in which common sense becomes irrelevant as intolerance reigns and the consequences are high: academic failure, criminal charges and damage to the psyche.
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Salecia Johnson (WMAZ-TV)
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Colorism written in black and white. TMZ: Acura Casting Call: 'Not Too Dark' Blacks
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When assigning blame for the preference for light over dark skin, we normally blame it on "society" and "Hollywood" in general terms.
And then there are stories like this, where it's all written out, in black and white.
TMZ reports that the casting-call document for the Acura commercial with Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno that aired during the Super Bowl included specific complexion requirements for the role of the African-American car dealer. In short, "only light-skinned blacks need apply."
According to the casting doc, the role of African American car dealer would be played by a "Nice looking, friendly, Not too dark" African American car dealer.
We just got hold of the document from an African American actor who didn't fit the profile, and who's pissed.
We made lots of calls, trying to find out why "dark" African Americans weren't right for the role. Someone associated with casting the commercial tells us ... one of the reasons for the "not too dark" restriction was because lighting and special effects would get tricky.
We made calls to Acura but no one got back to us.
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Speachless.... ColorLines: Racist Cake-Cutting Scandal: Afro-Swedes Call for Action, Artist Speaks
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A Swedish organization promoting the rights of people of African origin on Tuesday called for the minister to resign for participating in a “tasteless, racist spectacle” that’s made international headlines.
“According to Moderna Museet, the cake eating party was intended to highlight the problem of female circumcision, but how this is supposed to be done with a cake depicting a racist caricature of a black woman … is unclear,” said Kitimbwa Sabuni, head of the African Swedish National Association.
The artist is speaking out and says this is all a misunderstanding.
“A lot of people saw the images online and took them out of context and they accused me and the culture minister to be racist,” the artist Makode Linde said in a video interview with Al Jazeera. He says he’s criticizing aspects of just this subject and think “the people who have been upset about the art piece or about the images they;ve seen I think is all misunderstood the intention or agenda of me as an artist.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the museum emphasized that it was against “any form or racism” and that the event featuring the controversial installation was organized by the Swedish Artists’ National Organisation (KRO) to highlight “the fight against censorship and for freedom of expression”.
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Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has said his main goal is now to "liberate" the people of South Sudan from its rulers following recent border clashes. BBC: Sudan president seeks to 'liberate' South Sudan.
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Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has said his main goal is now to "liberate" the people of South Sudan from its rulers following recent border clashes. The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has ruled South Sudan since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.
President Bashir described the SPLM as "insects" that needed to be eliminated.
Fighting between the two countries has now spread to another area, further adding to fears of all-out war.
South Sudan seized the Heglig oil field - generally recognised as Sudanese territory - eight days ago. On Tuesday fighting broke out north of Aweil in South Sudan, about 100 miles (160km) west of Heglig.
If the President acts on his words, Sudan and South Sudan are at war.
The essential messages - that he intends to get rid of the SPLM, and what started in Heglig can only finish in Juba or Khartoum - can mean only this. President Bashir may calculate that in difficult economic times he needs an external enemy to unite the nation behind.
But the Sudanese Armed Forces are already overstretched. They haven't been able to fully overcome rebellions in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, and they also failed to hold onto Heglig.
South Sudan is also less well equipped militarily than Sudan, and shutting down its oil resources deprived it of 98% of its revenue.
All out war would be disastrous for both, but that is the direction they are heading. The South Sudanese military said 22 soldiers had been killed, with casualties on both sides.
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It's so curious that this phrase -- which just happens to be a derogatory term for African Americans in addition to being a literary reference meaning "something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself" -- seems to have fallen out of common usage just about completely ... except when it comes to Republicans who criticize the first black president. Black Voices: Bachmann: Obama's Waving a Tar Baby .
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This is just about waving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem," said Bachmann in an interview with the conservative blog The Shark Tank. "I have never seen a more irresponsible president who is infantile in the way that he continually blames everyone else for his failure to first diagnose the problem and second to address the problem."
"Tar baby," coming from the doll made of tar trapping Br'er Rabbit in an Uncle Remus story, is defined as "something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself" but also has been defined as a derogatory term for African-Americans.
The term has sparked controversy in the past.
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) apologized to Obama in 2011 for saying that being associated with his policies would be like "touching a tar baby."
More distantly, then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) apologized, via a spokesman, for using the term to describe Boston's much-maligned Big Dig highway project.
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New data on retired people and economic security bring bad news about older people of color in the United States. Most elderly retired Hispanic, African-American and Asians have no economic security, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by a D.C. nonprofit group. Reuters: Elderly People of Color Struggling Economically.
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Single retired people need between $19,000 to $25,000 a year to cover costs and couples need from $29,000 to $39,000, depending on their health and housing situation, according to the Elder Economic Security Standard Index, which calculates the economic security of older people.
But only about a quarter of older Hispanic, African American and Asian adults have retirement incomes within those ranges research from the non-profit group Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) showed.
"With many people of color working in low wage jobs, they are unable to save for retirement, leading to overwhelming numbers of older African American, Hispanic or Asian Americans who are able to cover their most basic expenses as they age," said Donna Addkison, the president and CEO of Washington DC-based WOW, which promotes policies to help women and low-income families.
An analysis by WOW of U.S. Census Bureau data shows that 52 percent of elderly households report incomes that do not provide economic security to cover costs for housing, food, transportation, healthcare and miscellaneous expenses.
For Hispanic retirees the number rises to 76 percent, followed by 74 percent for African Americans and 65 percent for Asians.
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When juries are selected from all-white jury pools in Florida, black defendants are convicted 16 percent more than white defendants, according to a recent Duke University study. Black Voices: Florida All-White Juries Convict Blacks More Than Whites.
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That gap in comparative conviction rates is nearly eliminated when there’s at least one black person in the jury pool, the study also reported.
Looking at the effects of race, gender, and age had on jury pools and conviction rates, Duke researchers examined more than 700 non-capital felony cases in Sarasota and Lake counties in Florida from 2000-2010.
The jury pool is randomly selected from eligible residents who are summoned for jury duty that day. The jury pool is made up of 27 members from which attorneys selected six juror plus alternates.
The study was published Tuesday at the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Senior author Patrick Bayer, chairman of Duke’s Economics Department, explained:
“I think this is the first strong and convincing evidence that the racial composition of the jury pool actually has a major effect on trial outcomes.
Our Sixth Amendment right to a trial by a fair and impartial jury of our peers is a bedrock of the criminal justice system in the U.S., and yet, despite the importance of that right, there’s been very little systematic analysis of how the composition of juries actually affects trial outcomes, how the rules that we have in place for selecting juries impact those outcomes.”
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Florida Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., ruled on Friday morning that he would allow George Zimmerman to be released on $150,000 bond as he awaits trial in the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. Talking Points Memo: Judge Allows George Zimmerman To Be Freed On $150,000 Bond.
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The judge also ruled that Zimmerman would have to submit to electronic monitoring after his release. Lester said Zimmerman would not be released on Friday, but he could be released after authorities were able to coordinate the conditions.
Zimmerman was also ordered to have no contact with Martin’s family, to abstain from alcohol and have no contact with any firearms during his release.
The judge left it up to Florida prosecutors about whether Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state during his release.
Zimmerman’s attorney had asked for his client to be released on $15,000 bond. Prosecutors asked that Zimmerman be held in jail without bond or else released only on $1 million bond.
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George Zimmerman at court hearing last week. (Gary Green/Pool)
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The Front Porch is now open!
Grab a seat and get a plate! If you are new-introduce yourself and join in.
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