by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, MSNBC’s TheGrio.com and AOL Black Voices 

Dick’s Sporting Goods recently made a decision that is bad for business. Taking one of the boldest, and perhaps silliest, stands of any corporation in recent memory, Dick’s decided not to sell Michael Vick jerseys in any of their stores.

Perhaps they earned a few dog-loving customers, but they lost the support of any shareholder who cares about making money. It’s one thing for lynch mobs to embrace vigilantism, but another for a corporation to engage in the same irrational behavior. Vick paid his debt to society; it’s time to move on with our lives.

The top brass at the Nike Corporation are smarter than the management at Dick’s Sporting Goods, but they too understand the need to stay away from Michael Vick, at least for right now. When asked to respond to rumors that Vick had signed a deal with Nike, the company gave an immediate and resounding "no." After the Nike denial, Michael Vick’s agent, Joel Segal, had to backpedal faster than an NFL defensive back to kill any indication that his client has re-signed with the "big swoosh." However, the confidence with which the signing was announced indicates that the relationship might be deeper than we think.

The truth is that I don’t believe a single word of the Nike dismissal. Like the big egos in Beyonce’s song, Nike’s swoosh is " too big, too wide, too strong" for them to sit idly by as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL makes his return to the game. Nike executives have seen Vick grace the cover of Xbox games and sports magazines and often refer to him as the man who "revolutionized the quarterback position." They know that Vick is not washed up, and that some of his best years may still be ahead of him.

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Dr Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World coalition.

Visit Your Black World for additional Black News and Information!

from AOL Black Voices, Your Black World 

In the first book published by her New York-based Resilience Multimedia, Sheila Rule delivers much-needed information to a segment of society that has long been ignored: the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. In ‘Think Outside The Cell: An Entrepreneur’s Guide for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated’ by Joseph Robinson, readers learn vital information, including how to overcome obstacles that convicted felons face while trying to reenter society and find work.
Rule, who worked at The New York Times for 30 years before her recent retirement, was spurred to start her publishing company after writing to the incarcerated as a volunteer for the Riverside Church Prison Ministry. With funding from the Ford Foundation, she plans to publish next year the ‘Think Outside the Cell’ book series featuring real-life stories by the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and their families. Rule takes time to talk about the book with AOL Black Voices.
AOL Black Voices: How did you come up with the idea for the book?
Sheila Rule: Joe’s book has been published amid renewed efforts to help the formerly incarcerated-who are disproportionately black and Latino-successfully reenter society. But Joe believes that the reentry programs being developed, while commendable, too often focus on finding jobs in a nation where, according to a Princeton University study, it is easier for a white person with a felony conviction to get a job than for a black person who has never been arrested. Joe believes that "Think Outside the Cell" presents a largely unexplored option-entrepreneurship-that can help give men and women leaving prison a realistic second chance

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about Dr. Boyce Watkins

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  Teddy was a lion for civil rights

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:30 AM on 08/26/2009

  OPINION – In a multitude of areas including housing, income, and civil rights for African-Americans and all minorities, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has been on the front lines.

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  Cocktail of unethical behavior and incompetence killed MJ

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:15 AM on 08/25/2009

  OPINION – It was Dr. Conrad Murray’s cocktail of unethical behavior and extreme incompetence which ultimately killed the most well known entertainer in history…

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  Felix the Cat flap signals era of racial paranoia

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:30 AM on 08/20/2009

  In an article for the Financial Times, Ferguson compared President Barack Obama to Felix the Cat, stating that Obama, like the cat, is "black and lucky."

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  The return of the prodigal quarterback

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  6:40 AM on 08/14/2009

  OPINION — I was as shocked as the rest of America to hear that Michael Vick has been signed by the Philadelphia Eagles. Although I’ve always supported Vick’s human right to fairness…

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  NCAA treating black athletes like second-class citizens

  By Dr. Boyce Watkins

  8:50 AM on 08/11/2009

  The revolution has been televised. I always knew it would be, since African American athletes have always been center stage in the NCAA’s multi-billion dollar money machine…

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That wasn’t always the case. The cover of her new book, ‘Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat,’ tells it all. Jagged black scribbles cross out a childhood photo, which is set against the backdrop of a stark yellow cover. But the most striking image, also on the cover, is of two fingers-the index and middle fingers-both used to induce vomiting by sticking down the throat.

They symbolize bulimia, which is characterized by binge eating and purging either by throwing up, laxative abuse or over exercising. A compulsion, it is usually done to numb feelings of anxiety or pain, experts say.

“My childhood picture is crossed out because it’s about my self-loathing phase,” she says in a reflective voice in a telephone conversation from her home in Los Angeles. “The two fingers, well, they are about bulimia. It resonates for me.”

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Dr Wilmer Leon and Dr. Robert Brown discuss how to cope with the stress of a changing environment.  Click here to listen!

by Dr. Byron Price, Texas Southern University

On his website, President Obama offers us a “seat at the table,” which is the equivalent of citizens offering policy prescriptions to his administration. This unprecedented effort to increase citizen participation in the policy making process has the added benefit of simultaneously empowering citizens in a way that our government has not done and has to be what the campaign meant by “change we can believe in.” The criticism of whom he has appointed misses the mark concerning what I believe his change mantra signifies. Since the president appears to be open to unsolicited advice, I offer the following criminal justice recommendations and justification for these suggestions.
President Obama and the 111th Congress should consider ending drug prohibition.
“Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76% of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons; many thousands dying each year from drug overdoses that have more to do with prohibitionist policies than the drugs themselves, and tens of thousands more needlessly infected with AIDS and Hepatitis C because those same policies undermine and block responsible public-health policies.”

As the preceding paragraph illustrates, “The War on Drugs” has been a dismal failure and has gifted nonviolent African Americans offenders, especially males a permanent handicap—a lifetime of limited opportunities. The collateral consequences of a drug conviction which limit African Americans opportunities are:
The denial of financial aid and work study .
Felony Disenfranchisement.
Lifetime ban on cash benefits and food stamps.
Lifetime ban on public housing.
Termination of parental rights and ban from becoming adoptive or foster parents.
Remove the felony conviction question on applications of employment.

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by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

OK, was I confused when I found out that Tiny and Toya (TI’s “baby mama” and Lil Wayne’s ex-wife, respectively) were being given a reality show on BET? Yeah, I was a little surprised. If only I could find a way to become a high profile baby mama — that seems to be the way to go. With my being a man, I guess that might be difficult to accomplish. All jokes aside, I watched this show with tremendous curiosity, as I think we can all learn from observing the thought patterns of those who live behind the scenes of our favorite celebs. Part of me feels sorry for both of these women, who seem to be desperately fighting their way out of the massive shadows being cast by the powerful men in their lives. Even the daughters of TI and Lil Weezy are trying to get their own reality show. Maybe they too are feeling the weight of their daddies’ collective fame. Why don’t we just give a reality show to the family dog? Now that would be hot!

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BV Newswire has learned, exclusively, that filmmaker Will Packer has designs to adapt Steve Harvey’s best-selling book ‘Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man’ for the big screen.
An official announcement isn’t expected to be serviced to film industry media until next week, but the mastermind behind black blockbusters such as ‘Stomp The Yard’ and ‘Obsessed’ and Screen Gems have reportedly acquired the film rights to the Amistad/Harper Collins book, which has been atop the New York Times Best Sellers list for the past six months.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Harvey, a first-time author, told BlackVoices.com about the book’s meteoric success back in February. “It really has to be some amount of favor from God, because I have no experience at writing a book,” he continued. “It ain’t like I’ve been there, done that. It’s got to be favor from God. It’s gotta be something that he has planned for me bigger than I could see, because I just wanted to write a book so the women on my show could quit asking me to write a book.”

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Dr Wilmer Leon interviews Suzanne Simons about her book “Master of War: Blackwater USA’s Erik Prince and the Business of War”.  Click here to listen!

Drs. Mack Jones, Robert Smith and Wilmer Leon do an in-depth analysis of President Obama’s speech to the NAACP.  Click here to listen!