This week we will explore the music of the talented duo of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, and Simpson in the Bronx, New York. Afterwards, his family relocated to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he became a member of Christ Temple Baptist Church. While there, he sang with a group called The Hammond Singers, (named after the founding minister, James Hammond). Later, Nickolas attended and graduated from Willow Run High School in Ypsilanti, Michigan before pursuing his professional career where he would ultimately meet his wife, Valerie Simpson. They met at Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church in 1964. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined an aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Joshie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label, where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap (“Never Had It So Good”), Maxine Brown (“One Step At A Time”), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio’s songs, “Let’s Go Get Stoned”, gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year, Ashford & Simpson joined Motown, where their best-known songs included “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “You’re All I Need To Get By”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, and “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”. Ashford and Simpson wrote many other hit songs, including Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” (1978) and Teddy Pendergrass’s “Is It Still Good to You?”. As performers, Ashford & Simpson’s best-known duets are “Solid (As a Rock)” (1984 US and 1985 UK) and “Found a Cure” (1979). The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. Ashford and Simpson were also recipients of The Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1999, and ASCAP’s highest honor, the Founder’s Award, which they received in 1996.[4][5]
Songwriters
The duo essentially had two careers: one as a successful writing and producing team and the other as singers and performers themselves. They started their career in the mid-1960s, writing for artists such as The 5th Dimension (“California Soul”), Aretha Franklin (“Cry Like A Baby”), and Ray Charles (“Let’s Go Get Stoned” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor”). Their work with Charles brought them to the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy.
Upon joining the Motown staff in 1966, Ashford & Simpson were paired with the vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and they wrote and/or produced all but one of the late-1960s Gaye/Terrell singles, including hits such as the original version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need to Get By”. According to Gaye in the book Divided Soul, Simpson did most of the vocals on the last album he did with Terrell, Easy, as a way for Terrell’s family to have additional income as she was battling an ultimately fatal brain tumor. Though Louvain Demps, singer of The Andantes, has stated that she saw Terrell recording the album, Simpson is quoted as saying, in a book written by Terrell’s sister Ludie Montgomery, what they saw was her singing the guide tracks for the album, which were later replaced by Tammi’s own vocals.
Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all the songs on three 1970s albums for former Supreme Diana Ross, including her first solo album Diana Ross (“Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”[6] and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”), Surrender (“Remember Me”), and The Boss. All three albums were critically acclaimed with “Diana Ross” her 1970 album debut and “The Boss” being certified platinum and “Surrender” certified Gold.
Other Motown artists whom Ashford & Simpson worked with include Gladys Knight & The Pips (“Didn’t You Know You’d Have to Cry Sometime”,(after Motown they worked with Gladys Knight & the Pips and wrote and produced – “Landlord”, “Bourgie, Bourgie”, and “Taste of Bitter Love”), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (“Who’s Gonna Take the Blame”), The Marvelettes (“Destination:Anywhere”), The Supremes (“Some Things You Never Get Used To”), and The Dynamic Superiors (“Shoe, Shoe Shine”).
Other artists with whom Ashford & Simpson had hits were Teddy Pendergrass (“Is It Still Good to You”), The Brothers Johnson (“Ride-O-Rocket”), Chaka Khan, both on her own (“I’m Every Woman” and “Clouds”), and with Rufus (“Keep It Comin'” and “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Maybe”).
Performers
Ashford & Simpson’s career as recording artists began in the early 1960s as part of the gospel group The Followers, with whom they recorded the album Gospel Meeting (on Forum Circle), later issued as Meetin’ The Followers (on Roulette Records). The LP contains their vocals and also four Ashford compositions. In 1964, they recorded “I’ll Find You”, as “Valerie & Nick”. That was followed by several obscure singles recorded by Ashford on the Glover, Verve and ABC labels, such as “It Ain’t Like That” (later recorded by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas), “California Soul”, and “Dead End Kids”, backed by his own version of “Let’s Go Get Stoned”. After concentrating on working with other artists, Simpson was the featured soloist on the songs “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “What’s Going On” on the Quincy Jones albums Gula Matari in 1970, and its follow-up, Smackwater Jack. Simpson subsequently recorded two solo LPs for Motown: Valerie Simpson Exposed in 1971, and, the following year, Valerie Simpson, which included the single “Silly, Wasn’t I”, which was later sampled on 50 Cent’s “Best Friend” from the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The song was also sampled by 9th Wonder on Murs’s “Silly Girl” in the album Murray’s Revenge. Ashford & Simpson were featured singing selections from Simpson’s solo albums on the PBS TV show Soul!, hosted by Ellis Haizlip in 1971. In 1973, they left Motown after the albums Simpson recorded for the label received poor promotion and the company refused to release an album of the duo recording a collection of their most famous songs for other artists.
In 1974, Ashford & Simpson married after resuming their career as a duo with the Warner Bros. album Gimme Something Real released in 1973. In 1974, they followed up with “I wanna be selfish” and in 1976 “Come as you are” was released. 1977 saw the release of two albums – “So So satisfied” and “Send it”. This was followed by the hit singles “Send it”, “Don’t Cost You Nothin'” (1977), “It Seems to Hang On” (1978), “Is It Still Good to Ya” (1978), “Found a Cure” (1979), “Street Corner” (1982), and their biggest hit, “Solid (As a Rock)”, released in 1984.
In 1978, they were featured as vocalists, along with Chaka Khan, on the hit single “Stuff Like That” from Quincy Jones’ Sounds… And Stuff Like That album and contributed to the writing of the soundtrack to The Wiz.
Simpson appeared (with Melba Moore) as part of the “Blood, Sweat & Tears Soul Chorus” on the band’s Al Kooper-led debut album on Columbia Records, Child Is Father to the Man.
On his own, Ashford (along with Frank Wilson), produced the hit “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”, which Diana Ross & the Supremes recorded in collaboration with the Temptations in 1968. He also appeared in the movie New Jack City (1991), as Reverend Oates, an ordained minister who was part of Nino Brown’s entourage.
Simpson’s brothers were in the record business as well: Ray Simpson replaced Victor Willis in the Village People and their brother Jimmy Simpson produced the group GQ (which had big hits with “Disco Nights” and “I Do Love You”), and was in great demand as a mixing engineer during the disco era.
https://twitter.com/joshuadubois/status/481211394587516931/photo/1
GRIFTERS…
the ENTIRE LOT of them
She wasn’t looking for a bailout, but then again, she got one..
IN BANKRUPTCY COURT
and, then, there’s the little matter of her husband getting UNEMPLOYMENT…
but, the REST of us are ‘moochers’.
The unmitigated GALL of these sociopaths.
……………………………..
In Mississippi, Jenny Beth Martin and Tea Party Patriots try to prove their worth
……………………………………………
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/jenny-beth-martin-and-tea-party-patriots-work-to-unseat-the-establishment-in-mississippi/2014/06/22/5f58f7fc-f8a2-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html
You’re right, Rikyrah, Martin and her husband are grifters extraordinaire. It’s because of people like them that I’m ashamed of having been born and raised in GA and that I’m still living here. A writer shared the same information about Martin in the Atlanta Journal Constitution last month, and you should have seen the RWers who came out to defend her, her husband, and cousin. These idjits tend to talk about takers, but they miss the takers in their own political party. They supported Nathan Deal in 2010 when it was revealed that was in debt to the tune of millions and couldn’t lay claim to being a real fiscal conservative. He’s been an ethically-challenged governor since 2010. We, the taxpayers, have paid $3,000,000, and counting, to cover ethics allegations/charges against him. As long as nuts and grifters like Deal and the Martins say they’re Christians, anti-gay, and are pro-life, they can get away with almost anything here in GA.
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/481199451797999616/photo/1
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/481205778893000704/photo/1
The Boomerang Kids Won’t Leave
By Adam Davidson, New York Times Magazine – June 23, 2014
Annie Kasinecz has two different ways of explaining why, at age 27, she still lives with her mom. In the first version — the optimistic one — she says that she is doing the sensible thing by living rent-free as she plans her next career move. After graduating from Loyola University Chicago, Kasinecz struggled to support herself in the midst of the recession, working a series of unsatisfying jobs — selling ads at the soon-to-be bankrupt Sun-Times, bagging groceries at Whole Foods, bartending — in order to pay down her student loans. But she inevitably grew frustrated with each job and found herself stuck in one financial mess after another. Now that she’s back in her high-school bedroom, perhaps she can finally focus on her long-term goals.
But in the second version — the bleaker one — Kasinecz admits that she fears that her mom’s house in Downers Grove, Ill., half an hour west of the city, has become a crutch. She has been living in that old bedroom for four years and is nowhere closer to figuring out what she’s going to do with her career. “Everyone tells me to just pick something,” she says, “but I don’t know what to pick.”
One in five people in their 20s and early 30s is currently living with his or her parents. And 60 percent of all young adults receive financial support from them. That’s a significant increase from a generation ago, when only one in 10 young adults moved back home and few received financial support. The common explanation for the shift is that people born in the late 1980s and early 1990s came of age amid several unfortunate and overlapping economic trends. Those who graduated college as the housing market and financial system were imploding faced the highest debt burden of any graduating class in history. Nearly 45 percent of 25-year-olds, for instance, have outstanding loans, with an average debt above $20,000. (Kasinecz still has about $60,000 to go.) And more than half of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, meaning they make substandard wages in jobs that don’t require a college degree. According to Lisa B. Kahn, an economist at Yale University, the negative impact of graduating into a recession never fully disappears. Even 20 years later, the people who graduated into the recession of the early ’80s were making substantially less money than people lucky enough to have graduated a few years afterward, when the economy was booming.
Some may hope that the boomerang generation represents an unfortunate but temporary blip — that the class of 2015 will be able to land great jobs out of college, and that they’ll reach financial independence soon after reaching the drinking age. But the latest recession was only part of the boomerang generation’s problem. In reality, it simply amplified a trend that had been growing stealthily for more than 30 years. Since 1980, the U.S. economy has been destabilized by a series of systemic changes — the growth of foreign trade, rapid advances in technology, changes to the tax code, among others — that have affected all workers but particularly those just embarking on their careers. In 1968, for instance, a vast majority of 20-somethings were living independent lives; more than half were married. But over the past 30 years, the onset of sustainable economic independence has been steadily receding. By 2007, before the recession even began, fewer than one in four young adults were married, and 34 percent relied on their parents for rent.
These boomerang kids are not a temporary phenomenon. They appear to be part of a new and permanent life stage. More than that, they represent a much larger anxiety-provoking but also potentially thrilling economic evolution that is affecting all of us. It’s so new, in fact, that most boomerang kids and their parents are still struggling to make sense of it. Is living with your parents a sign, as it once was, of failure? Or is it a practical, long-term financial move? This was the question that the photographer Damon Casarez, who is 26, asked when he moved in with his parents after graduating from art school. So he started searching for other boomerang kids, using tools like Craigslist. The result is this photo essay. And the answer to whether boomeranging is a good or a bad thing depends, as Kasinecz noted, on how you look at it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/magazine/its-official-the-boomerang-kids-wont-leave.html
Detroit activists call for UN help as city shuts off water for thousands
City’s water utility keeps raising rates as it falls further into debt; nearly half of customers are behind on payments
June 22, 2014 12:51PM ET
Detroit has too much of some things – stray dogs, abandoned houses – and not enough of others, such as residents who pay their water bills.
The latest sign of Detroit’s decline came from the city’s water department, when it said in March it would begin shutting off water for up to 3,000 homes and businesses a week in an attempt to stop the utility from sliding even further into debt.
The announcement sparked outrage among activists groups, who say the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is going after the city’s most vulnerable citizens to shore up its bottom line.
Now those groups have called on the United Nations to intervene. In a letter sent to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation last week, local nonprofit Detroit People’s Water Board, Food and Water Watch and Canada-based Blue Planet Project pleaded for the world body to weigh in on the shutoffs.
“What we see is a violation of the human right to water,” said Meera Karunananthan, an international campaigner with the Blue Planet Project. “The U.S. has international obligations in terms of people’s right to water, and this is a blatant violation of that right. We’re hoping the U.N. will put pressure on the federal government and the state of Michigan to do something about it.”
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/22/detroit-water-un.html
Male Faculty Are Making A Lot More Than Female Faculty At Some Of The Best Colleges
Posted: 06/23/2014 2:29 pm EDT Updated: 17 minutes ago
Several of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country pay male faculty on average about $40,000 more than their female colleagues, according to a new analysis by data website FindTheBest.
Four Ivy League institutions — the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Princeton and Harvard — were among the 10 schools with 50 or more faculty members that had the greatest wage gap between men and women. Duke, the University of Chicago and Northwestern ranked in the top 10 as well.
The biggest wage gap among those larger schools was found at Rockefeller University, which paid male faculty nearly $48,000 more than female faculty. New York Law School came in second with a $44,000 male-female salary difference.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/23/male-female-faculty-salaries_n_5521422.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000056
Who Says Obama Can’t Lead?
By Bill Scher – June 23, 2014
Last week, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found President Obama tying his record low approval rating of 41 percent. NBC’s Chuck Todd, referring to another poll result showing that 54 percent of Americans “no longer feel that he is able to lead the country and get the job done,” told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” “Essentially the public is saying, ‘Your presidency is over.’”
Similarly, political analyst Charlie Cook, citing Gallup survey data, wrote in National Journal, “There was a point when voters hit the mute button and stopped listening to George H.W. Bush and then to his son George W. Bush. We now seem to have reached that point with Obama.”
But one morsel from the NBC/WSJ poll didn’t fit that narrative: 67 percent of respondents are in favor of the president’s newly announced regulations “to set strict carbon dioxide emission limits on existing coal-fired power plants.” And when the pollsters re-asked the question, after presenting supporting and opposing arguments, including charges of “fewer jobs” and “higher prices,” approval held with a healthy 53 percent to 39 percent margin.
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/06/23/who_says_obama_cant_lead__123074.html#ixzz35UQVr6o2
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/481129346972024833/photo/1
Charles Rangel’s last tango
…On Sunday evening, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement that President Barack Obama wouldn’t be endorsing anyone.
He shrugged off Obama’s refusal to support him. “I’m not running to be a part of the president’s Cabinet. I’m running to be a leader of the United States House of Representatives,” he said.
Behind the scenes, though, Rangel’s allies have been pressing the
White House for an endorsement. One Congressional Black Caucus member said the group had asked several Obama aides, including chief of staff Denis McDonough, for the president to publicly support Rangel. The White House, this member said, had never responded to the request.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/charles-rangel-new-york-2014-primary-108160_Page2.html#ixzz35ULTnijM
Go sit your ass down somewhere, Charlie.
PLEASE
He should learn to keep his foot out of mouth sometimes.
I.JUST.CAN’T.
https://twitter.com/costareports/status/480367324289957888/photo/1
NO.TIME.FOR.FOOLISH.NEGROES.
Morning Plum: GOP’s problems on immigration aren’t going away
By Greg Sargent June 23 at 9:46 AM
The political skirmishing continues around the crisis unfolding at the border, and it has produced a kind of I-told-you-so satisfaction among foes of immigration reform. But it’s premature: the big picture remains that the GOP’s problems on the issue are not going away.
First, let’s state clearly that the White House initially mishandled the crisis. Administration officials leaned too hard into the idea that the kids were fleeing because of violence. They were too slow to acknowledge that the very real perception that kids can stay here — which is the result of holes in existing immigration law — is a key cause of the surge in migrations. The pressure is now intense on the administration to expedite deportations while simultaneously keeping the proceedings humane and legally sound, and the potential for further screw-ups is high.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/06/23/morning-plum-gops-problems-on-immigration-arent-going-away/
Jeb Bush Denounces Obama Rule To Hold For-Profit Colleges Accountable For Burying Students In Debt
By David Halperin
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) last week denounced President Obama’s proposed “gainful employment” rule, which is aimed at holding accountable those career education programs that take taxpayer dollars but consistently leave their students with overwhelming debt. According to a post on Twitter by the trade association of for-profit colleges, APSCU, Bush on Wednesday told that organization’s annual convention in Las Vegas, “The new [gainful employment] regs are a sledgehammer to the entire field of higher education.”
Bush, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, has styled himself a champion of K-12 education policy reforms, and just two days earlier, Bush, addressing K-12 issues, had tweeted that “strong accountability policies yield rising student achievement.” But in the context of higher education, Bush seems less interested in hold poorly performing schools accountable. While APSCU’s name — which stands for Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities — stresses the free-market image it wants to project, the biggest for-profit colleges receive about 86 percent of their revenue from taxpayer dollars.
Given their strong dependence on federal dollars, it’s not surprising that for-profit colleges are large donors to candidates for federal office, and the industry made a major investment in in the 2012 campaign of Mitt Romney, who strongly endorsed for-profit higher education on the campaign trail. Any potential 2016 presidential candidate might be attracted to the financial largesse of APSCU’s members.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/jeb-bush-denounces-obama-rule-hold-profit-colleges-accountable-burying-students-debt/
https://twitter.com/feministajones/status/481093245603049474
where’s the BLACK BABY DADDY?
there you go.
This here’s some real bullshit. I have absolutely NOTHING against single mothers, but this pic right here screams STEREOTYPE. Just another slick way to tear BLACK FAMILIES APART.
https://twitter.com/NoShock/status/481098392450654209/photo/1
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Good Morning 3Chics!
I love me some Valerie Simpson. Looking forward to you sharing with me their vast library. Have a good day all.
Hi Tyren. Now you know Rikyrah’s gonna BRING.IT.
Think Like A Man Too’ opens No.1 box office with $30M
by Jake Coyle, Associated Press | June 23, 2014 at 9:33 AM
The Las Vegas ensemble comedy “Think Like a Man Too” topped a slow weekend at the summer box office with $30 million, besting blockbuster holdovers from last week and Clint Eastwood’s new Four Seasons musical “Jersey Boys.”
The Kevin Hart sequel “Think Like a Man Too” narrowly edged out “22 Jump Street,” which earned $29 million in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday. The DreamWorks animated film “How to Train Your Dragon 2″ slid to third with $25.3 million.
The top three films are all sequels that moved into the big box-office summer season following surprise hit originals released in the springtime.
Moving into summer’s bigger competition actually diminished Sony Screen Gems’ “Think Like a Man Too.” The first film, also directed by Tim Story and starring mostly the same ensemble led by Hart, opened with $33.6 million in April 2012.
http://thegrio.com/2014/06/23/think-like-a-man-too-opens-no-1-box-office-with-30m/
Terrible!
And the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act a year ago because they would not acknowledge this.
According to the Robert’s court, racism is over.
https://twitter.com/CNNMoney/status/481036481428193281/photo/1
https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/480372619171364865/photo/1
https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/480040543008088064/photo/1
https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/480026047766089728/photo/1
https://twitter.com/nycjim/status/481036497831723008/photo/1
How Congress Brought the Measles Back
By SARAH DESPRES June 22, 2014
In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a stunning declaration: Measles — a disease that once infected 3 million to 4 million Americans each year, and killed 500 of them — had been eliminated in the United States. It was a victory decades in the making, the product of a highly effective vaccine and a strong public health system.
But today, measles is back. Just this month, the CDC reported more cases in the country in the first six months of 2014 — 477 — than during that same period in any year since 1994.
Public health has taken a giant, 20-year step back, and we have Congress to thank.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/congress-the-measles-108161.html#ixzz35TCQOecI
Jenny McCarthy “ANTI-VACCINES” and the HOME-SCHOOLING BUNCH
YEAH, I SAID IT
UPDATED: As Detroit Free Press does week-long exposé of charter schools, National Heritage Academies buys up all its ad space
By Eclectablog on June 23, 2014
The Detroit Free Press is running a spectacular, week-long series on charter schools in Michigan and the woeful lack of oversight and accountability our state exercises when it comes to charters. While some states have outright bans on for-profit schools, 61% of Michigan charter schools are run by for-profit corporations and over a third are in the bottom 25% of academic performance.
One of the main players in the for-profit charter business is National Heritage Academies, Michigan’s largest for-profit school management company. In response to this incredible journalism by the Detroit Free Press, they have purchased pretty much all of the ad space on the front page of the Free Press website this morning. Here’s a screenshot:
http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/06/as-detroit-free-press-does-week-long-expose-of-charter-schools-national-heritage-academies-buys-up-all-its-ad-space.html
Yep, perfectly ok for Clive Bundy and CO to march around wielding guns!
For Scott Walker, jobs count may be bigger headache than John Doe
Gov. Walker’s rockiest week since the recall culminated with the release Thursday of documents containing allegations by prosecutors that he was part of “a criminal scheme” to bypass state election laws.
But the story that in the long run may represent a more fundamental political challenge for the governor was the batch of new jobs figures also out Thursday painting an unflattering picture of Walker’s first three years in office.
Wisconsin ranked 35 of 50 states in private-sector job growth between 2010 and 2013, trailing all its closest Midwest neighbors — even Illinois, the state the governor has repeatedly bashed for having a hostile business climate.
This wasn’t just another mundane jobs report. It contained the most accurate and thorough pre-election portrait we’re going to get of how Wisconsin’s job performance compares with that of other states during Walker’s first term.
Between these two “bad news” stories for Walker last week, the allegations about illegal campaign coordination were a lot more sensational. They made national headlines, thanks to Walker’s status as a possible 2016 presidential candidate. They raise real issues about how campaigns are financed. But where they lead is anyone’s guess. No actual charges have been filed. The legal questions are complex and fiercely disputed. And the investigation is tied up in court and may never be completed.
Jobs, on the other hand, are an enduring, bread-and-butter political issue everyone can understand.
“The jobs issue is still going to be around in November,” pollster Charles Franklin says. “The two sides have competing arguments about it. And we know voters care about the economy and care about jobs.”
Unfortunately for the governor, waging a competitive re-election fight against Democrat Mary Burke, the data on job growth in Wisconsin keep providing his opponents with political ammunition.
Here are some takeaways from last week’s report from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the government’s most reliable source of employment data and the one the governor himself has endorsed as the authoritative measure of job trends at the state level:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/264113781.html
Mellody Hobson’s Call For ‘Color Bravery’; Recalls Being Mistaken For the Help [WATCH]
May 27, 2014
By EURweb.com
Success doesn’t stop racism and bigotry.
Just ask any successful black person or person of color.
Businesswoman Melanie Hobson (also the wife of George Lucas) could attest to this
http://youtu.be/oKtALHe3Y9Q
http://blackamericaweb.com/2014/05/27/mellody-hobsons-call-for-color-bravery/
Yep saw this earlier. Didn’t Bill Clinton say, there was a time when PBO would be bringing them coffee?
Black Celebs With Blue, Green & Hazel Eyes
http://blackamericaweb.com/playlist/black-celebs-with-blue-green-hazel-eyes/item/128983/
Happy Juneteenth! Celebrating Celebrities From Texas
http://blackamericaweb.com/playlist/happy-juneteenth-celebrating-celebrities-from-texas/item/260126/
Celebs Who Used to Be Really Hot
http://blackamericaweb.com/playlist/celebs-who-use-to-be-really-hot/item/258148/
Black Hollywood’s Hottest Hippies
http://blackamericaweb.com/playlist/black-hollywoods-hottest-hippies/item/259066/
L.A. Barbers To Use $8.5 Million Grant To Screen Black Men For Hypertension
Jun 21, 2014 By NewsOne Staff
Barbershops are central to the narrative of Black manhood in the United States.
It is where jokes are cracked, friends are made, issues debated, and, soon, where blood pressure will be tested.
According to the Daily Breeze, Dr. Ronald G. Victor, the head of Cedars-Sinai’s hypertension center, will use a $8.5 million grant to help train Black barbers to check men for high blood pressure.
“Uncontrolled hypertension is one of the biggest health problems
facing the African-American community today,” said Victor, the Burns and Allen Chair in Cardiology Research. “Hypertension is called the silent killer because there are no symptoms. We need to find a way to reach out to the community and prevent the serious complications caused by high blood pressure because all too often, by the time a patient finds out they have the condition, the heart and kidneys already have been damaged.”
http://blackamericaweb.com/2014/06/21/l-a-barbers-to-use-8-5-million-grant-to-screen-black-men-for-hypertension/
Texas Pols Want Mass Graves Investigated
After researchers exhumed 52 graves of what they suspect are undocumented immigrants in Falfurrias, Texas, state lawmakers have called for an investigation. Lori Baker, an anthropologist at Baylor University, and her students cannot tell exactly how many are buried in the mass grave because the remains are so intermingled. Multiple corpses fill the same body bag, and some bones were in trash bags, while others bones were just dumped in the mass grave. Brooks County officials say that for many years the funeral home Funeraria del Angel Howard-Williams has been paid to handle the burials of undocumented immigrants.
One set of bones was buried in a bag bearing the logo of the home’s parent company. Hundreds of undocumented immigrants have died in Brooks County in recent years, often of dehydration as they travel 30 miles or more in 100-plus-degree heat to avoid border the patrol. “There is no doubt that a crime has taken place,” said state Rep. Terry Canales, who is calling for an investigation into the mass graves. “We need to send the message to the world that in our state, we do not stain the honor of loved ones who have passed away.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/06/23/texas-pols-want-mass-graves-investigated.html
https://twitter.com/maximumplum/status/480935022279417856/photo/1
https://twitter.com/metapostasy/status/480932252251992064/photo/1
https://twitter.com/lisaemi/status/480933443530788865/photo/1
https://twitter.com/darth/status/480931541619453952/photo/1
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/480930988319838208/photo/1
LOL These pics are hilarious!
Yes, they are really cute.
https://twitter.com/HumanAfrica/status/477779677189136384/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone. Happy MUN-dane! :-)
I’m really looking forward to Ashford & Simpson week. YAY
Good morning!