A new study has reported some startling findings on cell phone usage in America. Although it examines cell phone usage across the nation, it pointed out that African-Americans and Latinos outpace whites in their use of data applications on handheld devices, continuing a trend we first identified in 2009.
Conducted by the Pew foundation, the Pew internet and American Life Project Noted that minority Americans lead the way when it comes to mobile access with almost two-thirds of African-Americans (64%) being wireless internet users. In addition, African Americans are significantly more likely to own a cell phone than white’s counterparts (87% of blacks own a cell phone, compared with 80% of whites). In total,
Findings also indicate that although the internet is a wealth of information, that when compared to whites, researchers have noticed signs of segregation online and display trends that show blacks and Latinos may be using their increased Web access more for entertainment than empowerment. Forty-one percent of blacks use their phones for e-mail, compared with 30 percent of whites. The figures for using social media like Facebook via phone were 36 percent for Latinos, 33 percent for blacks and 19 percent for whites.
Another study conducted by the Nielsen Company using cell phone bills found found that the average African-American uses 1,331 talk minutes a month. The average white person, on the other hand, only goes through 647. The Caucasians aren't making up this difference through texting either, as they text an average of 566 messages a month, to blacks' 780. Moreover African-Americans are slightly more likely than whites to have a cell phone, but not a land line.
Jamaican Musician David Minott is asked millions of African Americans to go without using their cell phones for 24 hours during his “Our Silence Speaks Volumes: the Black Out” campaign. His desire was to get people of color to turn off their cell phones for 24 hours starting on the first day of Black History Month, Feb. 1.
Yep, thats where wer have come. Wonder what Tim Berners-Lee would think now,he first proposed the World Wide Web more than 20 years ago. And just think, I was in college and school when their was no desktop computer, cell phone or even internet. I bet some folks even think it is impossible to live without such. Just think I sued to read books, listen to records and actually remembered telephone numbers.
I agree the enternet is good, but we also loose a lot. No wonder my students can't formulate sentences with correct subject verb agreement or attend to a page for more than 10 seconds. The convience of the internet has dumbed us down, for we mainly use it to be entertained, when in fact we have serious work left to do.
yet it’s now difficult to even imagine ordinary life without it
Showing posts with label African American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African American. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Who is the real madoff: African Americnas Still Display Scant Signs of Economic Improvement
By definition, to improve is to enhance in value or quality — to make better. Yet more than 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, there is still no noticeable improvement in the quality of life in the African American community.
A new report suggests that a large corpus of the African American community has made very little progress when compared to whites over the past few decades. According to a survey given to African American adults, seven out of 10 adults view today as very tough times for their children and perceive poor black youth as falling further behind. Yet, unlike adults, two out of three African American youth perceive current times as being “very good or OK.”
In addition to survey data, the report also provides economic data on opportunity trends. Four out of ten black children are born into poverty compared to less than one in ten for whites. Less than 40 percent live with two parents versus 75 percent for whites. African American children are statistically more likely to die before their first birthday or become obese in school.
More startling is the finding that 85 percent of African American children in the fourth grade cannot read or do math at their grade level, and almost half eventually drop out of school. A young African American male born over the past decade has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
It is essential that we remember that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was more than a dreamer; he was a catalyst. We cannot think we have it made, since the numbers show us otherwise.
In 2010 the unemployment, underemployment and hidden unemployment rate for black 16 to 29-year-olds was 40 percent and 43 percent for black males. The large number of young black adults not working full-time jobs will severely limit their future employability, earnings and ability to support their families.
It was Dr. King who said, "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps."
A new report suggests that a large corpus of the African American community has made very little progress when compared to whites over the past few decades. According to a survey given to African American adults, seven out of 10 adults view today as very tough times for their children and perceive poor black youth as falling further behind. Yet, unlike adults, two out of three African American youth perceive current times as being “very good or OK.”
In addition to survey data, the report also provides economic data on opportunity trends. Four out of ten black children are born into poverty compared to less than one in ten for whites. Less than 40 percent live with two parents versus 75 percent for whites. African American children are statistically more likely to die before their first birthday or become obese in school.
More startling is the finding that 85 percent of African American children in the fourth grade cannot read or do math at their grade level, and almost half eventually drop out of school. A young African American male born over the past decade has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
It is essential that we remember that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was more than a dreamer; he was a catalyst. We cannot think we have it made, since the numbers show us otherwise.
In 2010 the unemployment, underemployment and hidden unemployment rate for black 16 to 29-year-olds was 40 percent and 43 percent for black males. The large number of young black adults not working full-time jobs will severely limit their future employability, earnings and ability to support their families.
It was Dr. King who said, "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps."
Monday, August 30, 2010
no snitiching - the new crack
Drug abuse and addiction have historically been a major problem in minority communities, in particular the African American community. Now, we are confronted with a new addictive behavior that is reminiscent of the impact that crack once held in our neighborhoods. This new addiction is not a substance but a problem behavior that can be coined "no snitching."
On Wednesday, July 28, a 13-year-old boy was gunned down while riding his bike in Chicago. According to witnesses, the gunman stood over the youngster's body and continued to fire into his bleeding body. The victim was an eighth grader named Robert Freeman. The doctor found 22 bullets in the boy's body.
Although detectives have spent days interviewing witnesses, no one has yet provided them with information regarding the murder. Even the appeal of the family, especially from the mother, has yet to produce any leads or suspects — despite the fact that according to reports, there were dozens of youths outside on the street when the murder took place. This is similar to the tragic death of Derrion Albert, the honors student who was beaten to death while walking home from school. No one spoke to police or "snitched" in that case either, and if it were not for cell phone videos, the individuals who were caught would not have been, and to this date, other suspects still have not been apprehended.
Historically, African Americans have a sordid history with law enforcement and aren’t too enthusiastic about working with police. This history was rooted in law enforcement allowing lynch mobs to have their way with black men, mainly in the South during the days of Jim Crow, Reconstruction and segregation. But today what is the excuse?
The truth is that what we see in Chicago and Memphis, Tenn., and many other urban areas around the country is that black youth are murdering each other at a rate that far outpaces anything a bad seed cop could ever do. The idiots who promote this violent ethos — although it is often stated that music doesn't influence kids — are often from the music industry. Rappers who call themselves by names such as Noriega, Al Capone, Rick Ross, and Killa Cam along with a host of others with the name Killa or gangster in their names, do hold some of the blame. Not to mention the many who wear their gang affiliation as a badge of honor, as if it is a college diploma. Some artist have made songs promoting silence in criminal matters, including “Snitches” by Master P and Snoop Dogg and “Snitch” by Lil Wayne. Even NBA star Carmelo Anthony played a role in a video supporting the "don't snitch" movement. And we all remember Busta Rhymes' silence in the death of Israel Ramirez.
Yes, it is true, not snitching is the new crack in our communities and may be leading to the unsolved deaths of our most valuable assets — our youth. It is not snitching if you are simply telling the truth. What is the logic of not telling who murdered a child if you witnessed the killing? Nothing, for only punks and cowards are afraid to tell the truth.
On Wednesday, July 28, a 13-year-old boy was gunned down while riding his bike in Chicago. According to witnesses, the gunman stood over the youngster's body and continued to fire into his bleeding body. The victim was an eighth grader named Robert Freeman. The doctor found 22 bullets in the boy's body.
Although detectives have spent days interviewing witnesses, no one has yet provided them with information regarding the murder. Even the appeal of the family, especially from the mother, has yet to produce any leads or suspects — despite the fact that according to reports, there were dozens of youths outside on the street when the murder took place. This is similar to the tragic death of Derrion Albert, the honors student who was beaten to death while walking home from school. No one spoke to police or "snitched" in that case either, and if it were not for cell phone videos, the individuals who were caught would not have been, and to this date, other suspects still have not been apprehended.
Historically, African Americans have a sordid history with law enforcement and aren’t too enthusiastic about working with police. This history was rooted in law enforcement allowing lynch mobs to have their way with black men, mainly in the South during the days of Jim Crow, Reconstruction and segregation. But today what is the excuse?
The truth is that what we see in Chicago and Memphis, Tenn., and many other urban areas around the country is that black youth are murdering each other at a rate that far outpaces anything a bad seed cop could ever do. The idiots who promote this violent ethos — although it is often stated that music doesn't influence kids — are often from the music industry. Rappers who call themselves by names such as Noriega, Al Capone, Rick Ross, and Killa Cam along with a host of others with the name Killa or gangster in their names, do hold some of the blame. Not to mention the many who wear their gang affiliation as a badge of honor, as if it is a college diploma. Some artist have made songs promoting silence in criminal matters, including “Snitches” by Master P and Snoop Dogg and “Snitch” by Lil Wayne. Even NBA star Carmelo Anthony played a role in a video supporting the "don't snitch" movement. And we all remember Busta Rhymes' silence in the death of Israel Ramirez.
Yes, it is true, not snitching is the new crack in our communities and may be leading to the unsolved deaths of our most valuable assets — our youth. It is not snitching if you are simply telling the truth. What is the logic of not telling who murdered a child if you witnessed the killing? Nothing, for only punks and cowards are afraid to tell the truth.
Friday, August 20, 2010
How Obama’s Election Drove the GOP Insane
It is not hard to find hard-core criticism floating through the air like pollen regarding our nation’s first African American president. Some of which is deserved, most of which is not and is simply, colloquially speaking, hating. The overwhelming corpus of which comes from Republicans on the far and middle right.
This is more than obvious — so obvious, in fact, that many on the right have manifested behaviors reflective of the tenets espoused by Freud when he discussed defense mechanisms.
From extreme projection (in which a person lacks consciousness of their own thoughts and ascribes those unconscious thoughts to others), to denial (refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening), everything this segment of the political spectrum says is targeted towards Obama. Now some would say it is politics as usual, but I disagree with that assertion.
Recently, right-wing radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham stated that first lady Michelle Obama's Whitehouse garden was a "left-wing plot."
Glenn Beck, in a similar vein, speaking about the outfit the first lady wore to her visit to the Gulf, described it as an "outrage."
It is difficult to empirically understand such comments since they have nothing to do with the real political issues at hand. It can simply be reduced to behavioral neuroses that are rooted in America's steep tradition of racial vilification, which traditionally manifests in personal attacks and demonization.
The reality is that the GOP is out of ideas, and rather than thinking about solving the nation's problems, would rather stoke over-the-top paranoia, which if history is any indication, often results in violence. Just ask anyone who had dogs released on them, water from a fire hose sprayed on them, or anyone with a family member hung from a tree or dragged from a truck.
Insanity is a serious and debilitating condition that disrupts one's capacity to function within the legal limits of society, which results in both a deranged mind and (too) many times, a tragic outcome.
This is more than obvious — so obvious, in fact, that many on the right have manifested behaviors reflective of the tenets espoused by Freud when he discussed defense mechanisms.
From extreme projection (in which a person lacks consciousness of their own thoughts and ascribes those unconscious thoughts to others), to denial (refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening), everything this segment of the political spectrum says is targeted towards Obama. Now some would say it is politics as usual, but I disagree with that assertion.
Recently, right-wing radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham stated that first lady Michelle Obama's Whitehouse garden was a "left-wing plot."
Glenn Beck, in a similar vein, speaking about the outfit the first lady wore to her visit to the Gulf, described it as an "outrage."
It is difficult to empirically understand such comments since they have nothing to do with the real political issues at hand. It can simply be reduced to behavioral neuroses that are rooted in America's steep tradition of racial vilification, which traditionally manifests in personal attacks and demonization.
The reality is that the GOP is out of ideas, and rather than thinking about solving the nation's problems, would rather stoke over-the-top paranoia, which if history is any indication, often results in violence. Just ask anyone who had dogs released on them, water from a fire hose sprayed on them, or anyone with a family member hung from a tree or dragged from a truck.
Insanity is a serious and debilitating condition that disrupts one's capacity to function within the legal limits of society, which results in both a deranged mind and (too) many times, a tragic outcome.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
fck boy goes to college
Many of you know that I am an appreciative person and as so, often write about blessings and how people take their blessings for granted. As well, you know I have a vehement disdain for types of folks I have labeled to be Fck Boys. This past Monday, LSU head coach Les Miles suspended Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux for an indefinite period. Again using coach speak, it was for violating unspecified team rules. Perrilloux was a big reason why LSU went to the BCS championship game in January.In the past, Perrilloux has missed mandatory team meetings. One, in which he was the only one not in attendance, was during the week after LSU won the national championship. Although there is nothing wrong to miss a few classes to attend ones father’s funeral, but being responsible suggest that you would inform your coach and teachers of such.
This is Perrilloux’s third team suspension. Last year he did not make the trip to Alabama after he was alleged to have been apart of a fight in a Baton Rouge bar. Then there was the time he attempted to use his older brother’s driving license to gain admittance to a Casino in Baton Rouge.
Add to this, that Perrilloux is being watched by federal authorities as being allegedly involved in a federal counterfeiting ring. Now this behavior is from a person that was looked at s being one of the nation’s top high school quarterback prospects in 2005.
It is hard for me to see how a person given so much, after earning such through athletic performance, could take his opportunity, to maybe even a future professional career worth tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the greatest reward of earning a college degree. It makes no sense how one can go to a solid university, not attend class, and worse not expect that he should attended class when he is own scholarship. Guess this is what thugging will get you. I aint know they had libraries in Casino’s.
Now I know it may be hard to be an African American Quarterback at LSU or in the state for that matter. But that is no excuse. Still he has squandered a major blessing.
In division 1 football, 50 percent of scholarship athletes are African American, but less than half of that number graduate or finish. Ryan, you were given a valuable opportunity and a blessing. Do you know how many folks are struggling to send their kids to school, or how many students have to take loans or work two jobs to pay for tuition? Does he know some folks dying in Iraq and other places just because they want money for college? You had a gift a blessing, and what do you do? You squander it like a fck boy as opposed to taking advantage of it as a man. Maybe you should have gone to Mississippi State, cause like Sylvester Croom said; “I will not send a young African American student athelete into the world unprepared, if they come here, they are going to class.
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