African-American student stabbed in Russia. A boycott?

An African-American exchange student has been stabbed by unknown assailants in a southern Russian city in an attack officials say may have been racially motivated. Time for a boycott?

The strange part is that the mother of the victim didn't knew anything about Russia's racial crimes. I wonder if the student exchange organisation, the American Field Service, alerted the student for Russia.

The American Field Service had to know that ex-Sovjet Union countries have huge problems with racial crimes . For East Germany a German official warned black Soccer World Cup visitors to avoid rural towns and villages outside Berlin, in the formerly communist eastern part of the country. And in Poland a Dutch rapper stabbed three Polish visitors in a disco because they made racist remarks.

Maybe it's about time black artists boycott those Neo-Nazi regions in Europe. It reminds of a Israeli politician who, during a visit in Germany, bluntly asked the German Jewish community: "What are you doing here?"

Read African-American student stabbed in Russia

British David Lammy MP talks about Obama

David Lammy MP interviewed by Viv Ahmun, one of the Directors of Equanomics UK. This interview took place at the recent Barack Obama Ripple Effect Conference in London. Lammy talks about Obama, black men in Britain and the new black agenda.
Read: Media organisation Globalfaction

Jesse Jackson talks about Obama in Black Britain

Black UK opened the Obama Age with a civil right leader Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson toured the UK as key speaker for Equanomics UK. Equanomics UK is an organisation who want to achieve economic and racial equality by addressing and eradicating the structural inequalities and disproportionate socio-economic impacts of poverty experienced by BME communities across the country.
Read: Operation black vote

What does Obama’s triumph mean for black Germans?

In Germany black people are also celebrating “their” president-elect. But what does Obama’s triumph mean for Black Germans? A report from an Afro-Obama party.
Read We are President!

What does Obama mean for Afro-Brazilians?

In Europe you don't here very much about Afro-Brazilians. So if you want to know how a Brazilian-American feels about Obama,
read: xica bahia

An interesting Brazilian Blog on Obama is Obama Brasileiro

Afro-Brazilian Mayra Avellar wins Children's Peace Prize

Archbishop Desmond Tutu awared the 2008 Children's Peace Prize 2008 to 17-year-old Mayra Avellar Neves who grew up in a Rio de Janeiro slum where drug wars raged. Gunfire often prevented children from attending school, sometimes for months at a time. Mayra organised a protest march for school childrenRead: Student protest in the slums

British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng: Black men need role models

Leading fashion designer Ozwald Boateng is a national role model for the UK REACH program. REACH is a programme for Black boys and young Black men

A British Government report has said that black boys in the country are desperately short of good and positive role models, and therefore, end up being on the fringes of society.

According to a report in The Times, black boys tend to emulate role models who glamorise violence such as P. Diddy, Megaman and other rap stars, rather than role models worth emulating like of Sir Trevor McDonald or Nelson Mandela.

The independent Reach report, written for ministers by 20 leading experts in education and youth justice, called for a new generation of role models of black lawyers, doctors, teachers, ...
Read: REACH

Michelle Obama breaks black stereotypes

In the CCN interview Newsweek correspondent Allison Samuels explains what Michelle Obama means to black woman. She also wrote a story on the subject. 'What Michelle Means to Us'. A story on how Michelle Obama will change the world's image of African-American women—and the way they see themselves.
Read: What Michelle Means to Us

French film 'Entre les murs' and the stereotype blacks

I've watched the trailer of the award winning (Cannes) flick 'Entre les murs' (The Class). It's a story about a French language teacher in a multicultural inner city high school classroom in Paris. One of the action parts of the film is a young black kid who explodes in a class room, because he's being touched. But that boy looks so much like the stereotype black kid at risk in a ghetto school in the US. I've seen these scenes before.

The critics claim this is not your standard classic white-hero-on-a-black-school-film, but it’s more. It has to do with inspirational teaching.

I wonder why the main characters in the film are black and white and not ‘Magrebs’, wich would be more in line with the French reality. Maybe it’s because the multicultural line-up is more in line with US. That's why France submited the film for a nomination for an Oscar in the Best foreign language film category.

Most interesting detail. The film is based on the book of writer and teacher François Bégaudeau. He plays himself the film.

Read: Entre les murs - French winner at Cannes finally hits the big screen

Former Dutch black businesswoman of the year has been found homeless

The former black businesswoman of 2001 who later functioned as alderwoman of the city of Rotterdam has been found homeless
Rabella de Faria's homelessness was discovered after she checked herself in at a local night shelter.
She has lived on the streets most of this year but was now staying with friends.
De downfall of the De Faria, who is born in Surinam, started after a career as alderwomen. She was alderwomen for security and public health on behalf of the Leefbaar Rotterdam party between 2002 and 2004. Leefbaar Rotterdam is a party with a strong anti-Islam agenda. The party was founded by Pim Fortuyn, a politician who was later murdered by a left wing activist. Rabella de Faria's career came to an end when she was forced to resign.

Read: Mogul-turned-politician now homeless

UK singer Estelle attacks white soul music

In March 2008 singer and songwriter Estelle, attacked the British music industry and white soul music. In an interview she expressed her grief by singling out Adele and Duffy, she said: "I'm not mad at them, but I'm wondering - how the hell is there not a single black person in the press singing soul? Adele ain't soul. She sounds like she heard some Aretha records once, and she's got a deeper voice - that don't mean she's soul. That don't mean nothing to me in the grand scheme of my life as a black person. As a songwriter, I get what they do. As a black person, I'm like: you're telling me this is my music? Fuck that!" Afterwards she said her remarks where completed blown out of proportion. But the Black Music Congress in the UK organized a debat about the topic. In their press release for the debate they highlighted racism and lack of commitment by the big record companies in developing and marketing British black music talent. They highlighted the fact that white artists such as Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen sell black music. Interesting where the questions in the debate. What if the overwhelming white population of Britain prefer black music performed by white artists? And also, as the record companies are commercial entities, why should they invest in African British talent when they believe that these artists seldom sell? But I think the future of black soul looks grim. Jazz used to be the exclusive domain of black people the US, nowadays the scene is packed with white musicians from Europe. Even black people call jazz ‘the white man’s music’. And look what happened to rock! And Hip Hop? Even that will stop, at least for black people. I am afraid that in twenty years time black Soul music will just be on the topics list of our annual black history month. Read:>Estelle Weighs in on 'Blue-Eyed' Soul in the UK, Brings Sass

New career? Become a community organizer like Obama

Looking for a Presidential career? Become a community organizer like Obama. Obama was a community organizer in Chicago from 1985 to 1988 before he became Senator. But what's a community organizer and what did Obama learned from the job?
Community organizing is a process by which people living in proximity to each other are brought together by an organization to act in their common self-interest. In the poor Chicago South side Obama’s used techniques as demanding summer jobs, pushing for an after-school program. And try convincing the city to spend more on this or that.
After loosing a fight over asbestos Obama gained a new perspective. A fellow community worker recalled: "The solution, Obama felt, was to find a way to political power of his own. He was constantly thinking about his path to significance and power." He rememberd him saying, "I need to go there [Harvard Law School] to find out more about power. How do powerful people think? What kind of networks do they have? How do they connect to each other?”
Read: What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer?
Obama's Community Roots

French 'Barack Obama' still a dream says black french minister Rama Yada

France's only black minister,Rama Yade, has said her country will never elect its own Barack Obama under the current ageing, white political elite. Yade warned it would remain a pipe dream until mainstream parties opened up and introduced affirmative action. "Just look at the French National Assembly, the Senate, the circles of power... the time for allowing a new elite to emerge is well overdue,"said the secretary of state for human rights and foreign affairs in an interview with the Telegraph.
Read: French 'Barack Obama' still a dream says country's lone black minister