If you have been watching any news at all, there is almost no way you could not have heard about the Iowa caucuses.  It’s the first lap in the horserace for each political party’s picking of a presidential candidate.  However, one thing is clear to me — Iowa is INCREDIBLY white.  But, what is is not is TOTALLY white.

You see politicians up and down the highways and byways of Iowa, stopping at every little town along the way to speak to whoever will listen.  But, it seems that the candidates are avoiding one place in particular, Des Moines’ inner city.  Yes, Iowa has ‘hoods, too.

This seems particulary damning for Democrats who claim to be a party of inclusion.  It seems to me that they are avoiding talking about some very serious issues affecting black people in Iowa.  For example:

Iowa’s black population, which hovers around 2%, accounts for approximately 24% of the prison population meaning Iowa has the highest rate of incarceration of African-Americans in the country. According to the 2000 census, black households in Iowa have median incomes 36.8% less than the overall median income. And, says Ford, Iowa has the highest rate for expulsions and suspensions of African-American students in the nation.

James Brown once sung, “Santa Claus, go straight to the ghetto.”  Well, I’ll rephrase it to say, “(Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards), go straight to the ghetto / You know that I know that you will see / Cause’ that was once me.”

Like I’ve stated, if a candidate wants my vote, they need to show me, as a black person, what they intend to do for me.  Stories like this indicate that they are not off to good starts.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I’m not going to lie — a brother has read more than a few issues of Essence magazine. Come on…I know that I’m not the only one. I guess that really speaks to the power of this publication. It’s not just a magazine that has been relevant to black women; it’s also a magazine that has been relevant to black people.

In no small part, this has been due to the efforts of publications director Susan Taylor. Now, after 37 years at Essence, Ms. Taylor is stepping down. She will now focus her time on the Essence Cares Foundation, a organization that encourages black adults to help with the mentoring of at-risk black kids.

I’m sure that a lot of readers will miss the picture of the sister with the braids and broad smile when they open the cover of the magazine but, to know that she is leaving to head up such a great organization should be of consolation to loyal readers.

Congratulations, Ms. Taylor. You are a true media icon.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I’ve often stated that I get insulted when prosecutors say that, when they have a black defendant, they want to weed black people off juries to avoid our going soft on them. In other words, they insinuate that white jurors are never biased and always make fair judgements in regards to black defendants.

54-year-0ld John White was recently convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old. White, who could receive up to 15 years in prison, claims he was defending his family and the person he shot, Daniel Cicciaro Jr, was part of a “lynch mob” that had formed outside of the White household to confront his son.

So, after 4 days of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict but, now, one juror is speaking out:

Juror Francois Larche, who is white, said he and another juror changed their votes after enduring “a lot of psychological tactics” from fellow jurors during an unusual weekend session ordered by the judge over jurors’ protests.

“It was a huge burden to bear,” Larche, 46, told the New York Post in Monday’s editions. He added, “I took a lot of heat.”

…

Judge Barbara Kahn said the jury would have to return on Sunday if they didn’t reach a decision. Larche told the Post the judge told them a mistrial would burden the families and the next jury.

“I thought about my family and the families of the other jurors,” Larche said. “It was not worth it in the end.”

After reading this, I am left to ask if a jury saw a middle-aged white male who had shot a 17-year-old black male, who the former had said gathered with a “lynch mob” to attack the man’s son would they 1) even had to deliberate 4 days to let the man go or, to be fair, 2) at least not let their concerns about quickly wrapping up a case get in the way of fair and honest deliberations?

In either scenario, I would be inclined to say “no”.

Popularity: 20% [?]

This is something that should cause us, as black people, to seriously consider issues of health.

A mutation BCRA1 gene is known to increase the likelihood of breast cancer in women. A study was recently done that look at the prevalence of this mutation and the results were enough to raise some eyebrows. The study looked at women of different ethnicities with breast cancer. What it was looking for was the percentage of women with breast cancer who also had this mutation. In Hispanic women, 3.5 percent of patients had this mutation. 8.3 percent of Ashkenazi Jewish women had this mutation. 2.2 percent of non-Hispanic white women and 0.5 percent of Asian-American women also had this mutation.

Overall, black women, right now, only comprise 1.3 percent of cancer patients with this mutation. However, among those diagnosed before age 35, 16.7 percent of those studied had the mutation. This clearly shows that there is real risk, of which black folks should be concerned.

This study also highlights the reality of medical racism. Consider the words of the following two researchers:

“Traditionally, studies have focused on white women,” said Esther John, a research scientist at the cancer center and lead author of the study. “There is a great need to study racial minorities in the United States.”

Although testing for the BRCA1 mutation has been available for a decade, it has not been applied much to minority populations, said Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade, professor of medicine and human genetics at the University of Chicago.

“A lot of young women die of breast cancer because they’re not even aware that lump in their breast could be cancer,” said Olopade, who wrote an editorial accompanying the paper in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. “If you know you’re at high risk, you’ll get that evaluated.”

Honestly, the first woman I ever knew with breast cancer was a white woman who I considered the salt of the earth. So, at least viscerally, I know the toll this disease can take on women and their families (Note: men can develop breast cancer, too, and we need to be diligent, as well). However, it is clear that the research of this disease needs to be better funded and more comprehensive to be more inclusive of patients of all colors.

Popularity: 28% [?]

I have another question — why do some black folks line up so quickly?

You see, I have a real problem with this falling in line so many black Democrats do. I have yet to hear from either of these candidates what they will do for black America but, black congressional leadership is all too quickly jumping behind one or the other.

So, the endorsements are flying. Clinton and Obama each have 15 endorsements from CBC members. John Edwards has 3.

With all due respect, what is black America getting for these endorsements or are they just in it for what they will gain personally?

Over the last few presidential election cycles, I have found myself asking this question more and more. These elections are clearly critical but, any leverage we, as black folks, have seems to be given away freely in exchange for the “privilege” of cheering on a candidate. Those days are long over for me.

As the song goes, “what have you done for me (or in this case, us) lately?”

Thanks to black politicians like the CBC, these candidates may never have to answer such questions.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Just in time for Christmas, George Bush again proves that, while wasting hundreds of billions in Iraq, he thinks that spending money helping kids at home is too expensive:

The Bush administration yesterday eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.

The new rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is expected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts.

Lawmakers this week passed legislation to place a six-month moratorium on Medicaid implementing the rule change, but President Bush had not signed the bill.

A wide range of medical services, such as speech and physical therapy, are furnished to students in schools. Medicaid, the government’s health insurance program for the poor, will continue to pay for those services for low-income children.
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But the new rule will restrict when schools can bill the federal government for clerical work associated with providing health care. For example, schools can no longer expect Medicaid reimbursement for planning student immunizations. Schools also will not get paid for transporting students getting speech or physical therapy to school or back home.

So, while Republicans bemoan the fake “war on Christmas” and claim that people are forgetting the meaning of the holiday, here’s a prime example of what the holiday is not about and smacks of the very antithesis of what Jesus was about.

So much for good will toward men or, in this case, children.

Popularity: 28% [?]

One thing that the Bush era brought us was a big push for government-funded abstinence-only education. Ironically enough, what we also saw was a rise in teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. You see, some kids, not wanting to be caught buying condoms (or just not knowing how to use them properly), still wanted to have sex, resulting in pregnancy. Even worse, some kids were left to believe that oral and anal sex were real sex so, they engaged in these activities and contracted venereal diseases.

Now that the numbers are more clear on this, a lot of states are waking up and either opting out of the funding or saying they’ll take the money but teach abstinence as a part a more comprehensive sex education program. They see the numbers and it’s clear — teaching abstinence only and kids abstaining do not appear to go hand-in-hand.

But, guess what — when kids are given more information, not less, they tend to delay engaging in sexual intercourse. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracked these statistics, helped kids under the age of 15 make much better decisions regarding sex:

Earlier last month, a study lead by Douglas Kirby of the ETR Associates revealed that two thirds of 48 comprehensive sex education programs have had a good impact on teenagers. They delayed the initiation of sex, reduced its frequency and the number of sexual partners.

“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.

On the other hand, other studies made in November as well, have said that these abstinence programs have little effect on the teenage sexual behavior, because, as the report discovered, 47 percent of high school students have engaged in sex at least once and 63 percent have said that they have sex during the spring semester of their senior year.

This time, researchers found that teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15 and girls who had formal sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before the age 15. The researchers also discovered that sex education reduced by 91 percent the risk that African-American females in school would have sex before age 15.

Like I tell people when asked about my opinions on sexual education — I plan on telling my son everything I can in an age-appropriate way. I plan on telling him what my mother told me –my preference is that he abstain but, if he gives in to temptation, I want him to make sure that he uses protection because pregnancy and disease are real possibilities. I plan on doing so because I love my son so much that I am willing to be real with him on the issue of sex.

Popularity: 34% [?]

In July, 20,000 supporters of the Jena 6 descended on Jena, Lousiana. Their goal, as I understood it, was not to get the young men off the hook but, their goal was, instead, to make sure that they received equal justice under the law.

So, if you attract anyone who supports black people, you will also attract those who vehemently oppose equal rights for black people.

Enter the Nationalist Movement. This organization is now suing Jena because the town is putting stipulations on a Martin Luther King Day march they want to hold in the town. Specifically, the leadership of Jena doesn’t want the group to march with guns, wants them to change their parade route and is asking that they post a bond.

Let’s be real. The group chose that date to arouse the ire of black folks and may actually be hoping for a confrontation. We saw it here, in Cincinnati, Ohio, when the KKK would put a cross up in the city square during the Christmas season. The city council here enacted similar measures to discourage this hate group.

Furthermore, the rally in July, despite the 20,000 people there, saw no arrests or vandalism. However, with a group like the Nationalist Movement and their rhetoric, who knows what to expect?

I imagine that, in the next few weeks, we’ll hear more about this so, we’ll see if this racist group gets their demands met.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Once again, home foreclosures are up. The California-based company Realtytrac monitors trends in the mortgage industry and have concluded that, nationwide, home foreclosures in November increased by 68% over the previous November’s filings.

In November 2006, 120,334 foreclosures were filed. In November 2007, there were 201,950 foreclosure filings.

This meant that, for November, this was a rate of 1 foreclosure for every 617 households, which is a pretty substantial number.

This trend is not likely to reverse soon so, we will continue to see news about families across America, a disproportionate number of them black and brown, losing their homes.

Popularity: 17% [?]

While these are just anecdotes and not polling data, this may give an indication to what Barack Obama, as the “black candidate” may see on the ground in Iowa. With the primaries right around the corner, questions of race are popping up.

Partly humorous/partly tragic, these examples show us just where we are as a country, even within a political party that claims to have a “big tent” philosophy where all are welcome (okay, I never believed that, either).

For example, at a gathering for John Edwards, Edwards fields a question from a member of the audience who questions if Obama were to be the president, would it open the doors to power for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Oprah Winfrey. I won’t even go into why I find this both stupid and offensive. But, suffice it to say, the white paranoia regarding Jackson and Sharpton was worn a decade ago. Now, it’s just threadbare.

The next example speaks more to what I call the “I have a friend theory.” Another person at a prior Edwards gathering stated that she doesn’t have a problem voting for a black person. Then she went on to say “(b)ut you hear a lot the other way; we’re pretty white around here, you know.” In other words, although she could vote for a black person, she “has friend” whose prejudices would prevent them from doing so.

Honestly, this is no surprise. As black people, we are keenly aware of how some folks (including some black folks) have a problem with black people being in positions of power. Well, in a few weeks, we’ll see what being a black candidate in Iowa means.

Popularity: 17% [?]