Top News of the Week!

Post date: Dec 24, 2012 7:49:21 PM

Top Black News of the Week

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Robert L. Johnson Calls on President Barack Obama to Renew His Commitment to Close The Employment Gap Between Blacks and Whites By Using 'RLJ Rule' To Increase Opportunities For African Americans

-- December 14th Washington Post Article Proves Alarming Disparity in Employment Between Black Americans and White Americans --

Bethesda, MD (December 18, 2012) -- Robert L. Johnson, chairman of The RLJ Companies and founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) today calls on President Barack Obama to renew his commitment in addressing the employment gap between African Americans and White Americans, by encouraging U.S. corporations to adopt the RLJ Rule to address the overwhelming gap in unemployment.

Last December, Johnson met with President Obama, who voiced his support of the RLJ Rule during a meeting at the White House assembled by Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver and a number of Black business owners to address the critical and timely needs of African American employment. Once learning about the RLJ Rule, President Obama thought this was also something his Jobs Council could support.

The RLJ Rule (1) encourages companies to voluntarily implement a plan to interview a minimum of two qualified minority candidates for every job opening at the vice president level and above; and, (2) companies would interview at least two qualified minority-owned firms for vendor supplier/services contracts before awarding a new company contract to a vendor. The RLJ Rule is an adaptation of the National Football League's (NFL) Rooney Rule, which afforded minority candidates seeking head-coaching or general manager positions within the League to be considered before a final hiring decision.

In response to a recent Washington Post article, Black Jobless Rate is Twice That of Whites, (written by Michael A. Fletcher, published December 14, 2012) Johnson has once again called on the need for corporate American to adopt a more aggressive and enhanced employment strategy that will help to eliminate the disparity in employment between African Americans and White Americans.

"We as Black Americans are facing a fiscal cliff of our own in the disparity of unemployment," said Johnson. "In my lifetime, Black unemployment has always been twice that of White Americans. This is an unjustified disparity that must not be allowed to continue unless we are willing to accept once again a nation that is economically separate and unequal."

Consider these alarming facts from the article:

"The African American jobless rate is about twice that of whites, a disparity that has barely budged since the government began tracking the data in 1972. In last week's jobs report, the black unemployment rate was 13.2 percent, while the white rate stood at 6.8 percent.

Discrimination has long been seen as the primary reason for this disparity, which is evident among workers from engineers to laborers. But fresh research has led scholars to conclude that African Americans also suffer in the labor market from having weaker social networks than other groups.

The racial gap in the unemployment rate defies educational attainment and occupational endeavor. African Americans with at least a bachelor's degree had a 7.1 percent jobless rate in 2011, while the white rate was 3.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Similarly, black workers with only a high school education had a jobless rate of 15.5 percent, while similarly educated white workers had an unemployment rate of 8.4 percent.

Black workers in computer and mathematical occupations - which job-training officials say are hard to fill - had an 8.1 percent jobless rate last year, while for whites the rate was 4.1 percent. Among construction workers, who were hard hit by the recession, the black jobless rate was 30.4 percent, compared with 15.3 percent for whites.

'The 2-to-1 gap in the unemployment rate is one of the most pronounced signs of the presence of discrimination in our society,' said William A. Darity, a professor at Duke University. 'That disparity, I think, is an index of discrimination.'"

Commenting on the above facts and the conclusion of Duke University Professor, William A. Darity, Johnson said, "The RLJ Rule, if embraced by all U.S. companies large and small, can point the way as President Obama noted in his 2011 remarks at Osawatomie, Kansas, that 'In America we are greater together – when everyone engages in fair play and everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does their fair share... everyone in America gets a fair shot at success.'"

By encouraging companies to voluntary adopt the RLJ Rule is not to suggest quotas or that companies hire any minority who is not qualified. The RLJ Rule, if implemented properly, is designed to further enhance a company's already established commitment to diversity and inclusion.

"If companies voluntarily implement the RLJ Rule they can further their commitment to reduce the employment disparity among African Americans, and in doing so, we can demonstrate the fact that talented African-Americans, if given the opportunity, can succeed at the highest levels, and we will close the employment gap and between Black and White Americans."

To date, the RLJ Rule has been endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus; the National Urban League, led by Marc Morial; and the U.S. Black Chamber, Inc. led by Ron Busby.

About The RLJ Companies:

The RLJ Companies, founded by Robert L. Johnson, is an innovative business network that provides strategic investments in a diverse portfolio of companies. Within The RLJ Companies portfolio, Johnson owns or holds interests in businesses operating in hotel real estate investment trust; private equity; financial services; asset management; insurance services; automobile dealerships; sports and entertainment; and video lottery terminal (VLT) gaming. The RLJ Companies is headquartered in Bethesda, MD, with affiliate operations in Charlotte, NC; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; San Juan, PR; and Monrovia, Liberia. Prior to founding The RLJ Companies, Johnson was founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET). For additional information, please visit: www.rljcompanies.com. For Media Inquiries contact: Traci Otey Blunt 240-744-7858 or press@rljcompanies.com .

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Monday, December 17, 2012

Singer Trey Songz Arrested For Throwing "Wad of Cash" at Woman's Face

28-year-old singer Trey Songz (real name Tremaine Neverson) was recently arrested for reportedly throwing a "wad of cash" at a woman that hit her in the face. Apparently, she took a picture of him while they were at his album release party in the VIP section of a club in Queens, New York. Songz then grabbed her phone and tried to delete the picture, could not figure out how to work her phone, and then threw the money at her. The woman, Donna McIntosh-Inoe, said, "He chucked a wad of cash at me. I didn’t even know I had a bruise on my face until after I left the club. I had to walk around a whole week with a black eye."

What do you think?

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On International Migrants Day, Black Voices Call For Immigration Reform With Racial Equity

-- National network of grassroots groups brings more black voices to immigrant rights debate --

Nationwide (December 17, 2012) -- In recognition of International Migrants Day on December 18, 2012, the BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK, a national network of African American and black immigrant organizations announce its collaboration to uplift black voices in the immigrant rights debate. The network cites the need for an understanding of racial justice as a key principle for immigration reform and for the contemporary struggle for racial equity for all people of color.

The BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK (BIN) was conceived through the efforts of Oakland-based organization Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the Chicago-based Center for New Community's Which Way Forward (WWF) Program, and American Friend Services Committee's Third World Coalition (TWC) with particular help from their Northeast Regional offices. They began their efforts in 2009 and have now grown to involve over 20 organizations nationally and several hundred black participants in a variety of convenings and advocacy efforts over the years.

The observance of International Migrants Day is significant to the BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK'S analysis of how globalization has changed the political and economic landscape - in the United States of America and throughout the world. Various international policies, wars, corporate greed and environmental conditions ultimately displace millions of people and force them to migrate to other countries in order to survive.

The BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK recognizes that often times the same types of oppressive laws and culture that historically, and currently disenfranchises African American communities is gaining momentum and finding more fuel through its attack on immigrant communities in the United States. The coded language that is often hate-filled, coupled with anti-immigrant racial profiling laws, such as Alabama's HB 56, and other practices encourages violence that threatens both African American communities and immigrants of color. Sadly these laws and practices do not comply with United Nations Human Rights Conventions such as those protecting the Rights of Migrants or the Convention to End all forms of Racial Discrimination.

In its quest for racial justice, BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK (BIN), has also observed that current immigration policies and practices discriminate based on race and class. This discriminatory practice adversely impact immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and other Afro-Latinos in the Americas. To this end BIN promotes the leadership of black immigrant and African American leaders in the struggle for immigrant rights to ensure that as Comprehensive Immigration Reform is being debated - black concerns are not further marginalized.

Trina Jackson of Network for Immigrants and African Americans in Solidarity, based in Boston, MA explains, "Our challenge as a movement is to turn the common ancestry and the common struggles of African Americans and black immigrants into concerted advocacy and a common action agenda benefiting all of our communities."

The network is rapidly expanding as organizations and individuals across the nation realize that black communities care about immigration. And more importantly that black communities are always undeniably impacted by immigration. From re-framing the notion that "immigrants are stealing jobs" to educating black communities about the ways in which corporations and governments are pitting our communities against one another to weaken our power. BIN is poised to have these important educational conversations about race as well as work on policy initiatives that will benefit black communities.

Some of the organizations represented in BIN's membership include the Highlander Research and Education Center, Families for Freedom, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Priority African Network, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Casa de Maryland, Center for New Community and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Its leadership structure includes a national steering committee and a host of working groups, including a group specifically focused on Family Reunification Visas for Haitians and a working group focused on Education and Training.

The Black Immigration Network (BIN) is a kinship of organizations and individuals connecting, training and building towards policy and cultural shifts for a racial justice and migrant rights agenda. BIN's vision is that people of African descent unite for racial justice and migrant rights to achieve social, economic and political power.

You can learn more about the network by visiting: www.blackimmigration.net