As a fan of MJ, I love the man's brilliance. As a fan of MJ, I am touched by his exelleence. Last night, I went to the movies to bask in the glory of GOD's gift to the world that was and is Michael Jackson. The movie depics MJ what would have been MJ last "curtain call" as he called it, and it shows just how in charge and in tune he was with his craft.

There were certain instances in the movie where he would be direction the musicians on how and what key to play in, he would direct the dancers when to come in and at what level they should show up, and he show the humility of a man who was more in touch with GOD than most of us today. Almost after every instance where he would correct someone, he would say "with love." When ever someone did something that he like or that was done correctly he would say "GOD Bless you." It is that humbleness and that beauty that separated MJ from any and every entertainer that is, was or ever will be.

Hon Min Louis Farrakhan's lecture titled The Crucifixion of Michael Jackson, he made a statement about a conversation he had with MJ:

In a conversation with Brother Michael, when he was in deep depression, I said, “Michael, out of our pain came our creative genius. If it were not for the pain of slavery, we wouldn't have Spirituals. Nor would we have Blues or Gospel. All of that came from our pain.” I said, “Let your pain, Michael, serve your creative genius.”

Michael wanted to fight the powers that were controlling him and trying to steal his legacy. He was a wise young man. What you don't understand about the enemy is that when they fear you, the first thing they must do is destroy your reputation. Then, destroy your wealth. And if you're still alive, they say Black people can have him, because he's no more; has no more money. The enemy says: “He's a broken man. You can have him now.”

See, Michael was much more than a man of “song and dance.” Michael was a heart that beat for the love of humanity. I love this brother. And I feel a deep sense of personal loss.

There are going to be those who feel that this was a slap in the face of MJ. Being that he was such a perfectionist and a consonant professional, seeing his rehersal footage people may say that is not what he would have wanted. Yet, I feel, this is exactly what he wanted. For the people he loved the most, his fans, to see him at age 50 being to hang with individuals half his age, being in total control of every situation in the production, and showing ALL his haters that he still has it. I encourage everyone who is/was one of his fans or maybe just an admirer, to go see the film. Although, it is a bitter sweet movie, it just highlights the almighty GOD broke the mode when he make our brother...RIP KING OF POP MICHAEL JACKSON..

Check out funny man, up and coming star, comdian Just Hires new skit "Michael Jackson on Maury Show- Paternity Episode!!!" Straight HILARIOUS....peep the vid.....




-Justin Hires
twitter.com/JustinHires
facebook.com/JustinHires
myspace.com/JustinHires
youtube.com/JustJustinTV
www.JustJustinTV.com

I don't know how I feel about this one. Hampton University, an HBCU, crowned its first White Miss Hampton University and it is getting mixed reviews from students on campus.....shout out to WorldStarHipHop for the vid....



Wavy.com also had an article telling more of the story of how this happened....

HAMPTON, Va. - Nikole Churchill was crowned Miss Hampton University, but many students on campus are upset at the judges' choice. Churchill of Hawaii became the competition's first "non-black" winner and while some say race is the underlying problem students have with the win, others say that accusation is way off the mark.

Go to Hampton University's website and you'll see "respect" listed number one under its code of conduct. The school requires "an appreciation for other cultures," but on October 9, that "appreciation," for some, seemed to go out the door as the Miss HU crown went on Nikole Churchill's head.

"Since some people are specifically mentioning her race, I think that's a step in the wrong direction," says Misha Lawrence, Hampton University Junior Class President....

We have either seen or heard about Kanye West's infamous Taylor Swift incident at the VMA's this year. There were reports that he would take some time out to gather himself and try and get his life together. According to HipHopWired, Kanye is heading to the east..India that is....

The word is after the Taylor Swift-gate Ye was going to take some time off. Then came news of Kayne backing out of the highly anticipated Fame Kills Tour with Lady Gaga and the never ending photo ops with Amber Rose.

Now Kayne is reportedly spending a month at a Hindu retreat in India.

There has been a lot of speculation about some of the choices Kanye West has been making in his life since the death of his mother in 2007 due to complications during surgery. Some say the 32 year old Ye has lost his way.

It seems West is taking some time out now for a religious retreat to reassess his life at a Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, a small coastal town in South India. According to an inside source he sees his life going in the wrong direction and feels badly about the VMA's incident.

I knew Kanye was headed for a sabbatical when I heard the Beyonce "Ego" Remix featuring the Chi-town rapper. These lyrics made me think he was headed for disaster.

Now im standing next to Jay who standing next to B
Could've been anywhere in the world but you're here with me
That's good for my ego, ha ha, me and my ego
And he go everywhere we go
My ego is my imaginary friend
He was with me when I was only imagining
I had dreams of the league,
one day I'd play Kobe or walk up to Puff
and he would really know me.
Couldn't let the dream killers kill my self-esteem.
Or use the arrogance as the steam that power my dreams and my ego

Continue

Over the last few years, there has been a biding war sort of speak for the right to play legendary comedic figure Richard Pryor. First we heard Mike Epps, then it may have been Eddie Murphy, but now it seems like it is confirmed that Marlon Wayans gets the nod.

According to website HelloBeautiful, we finally get to see Pryor's life on the big screen...

You read right ladies and gents!!!! According to EW.com, Marlon Wayans has been slated to play the late, great funnyman Richard Pryor in the upcoming biopic, Richard Pryor: Is It Some thing I Said?

Last year, the rumor was that Eddie Murphy was said be in the works as Pryor, but things changed after the production company was switched.

Read more details below:

Sources tell EW.com that Wayans fought for the role, blowing the producers away with a 13- min screen test where he “transforms into Pryor.” The movie depicts Pryor’s controversial brand of comedy and his battle with drugs and is currently budgeted at $20 million. Chris Rock, Pryor’s widow Jennifer Lee Pryor and Mark Gordon are also lined up to produce. Producers are still working out the terms of Wayans’ deal, and other major aspects of the overall project have not been finalized. Sony did not respond to requests for comment.

The movie is rumored to be written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls).

Will you go see the movie?

Check out celebs bring the best of the best to life!

In case you might have missed it, yesterday Pres Barack Obama was awarded one of the highest honors in the land, The Nobel Peace Prize. What you also might not have heard was all of the haterism going around the country because of brother's victory.

I went to MSN.com yesterday and one of the posts that was up said "Does Obama Deserve The Nober Peace Prize". Other conservatives are bashing him and just plain upset that he of all people, a Black President, would be endowed with this honor. According to NewsOne, more people are hating on our president....

Erick Erickson, the managing editor of RedState.com, the largest online community of conservative activists and the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill said:

I did not realize the Nobel Peace Prize had an affirmative action quota for it, but that is the only thing I can think of for this news. There is no way Barack Obama earned it in the nominations period.

Another report from NewsOne(originally from the HuffingtonPost) cites that Arizona residents are praypainting "kill obama" slogans throughout the city......

From HuffingtonPost.com:

“Kill Obama” was spray painted in purple on campaign signs at two locations in Cave Creek, a suburb of Phoenix, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).

“This is a complete disgrace and gross act towards our president,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, “My deputies are looking into all avenues of the incident, and it is a top priority.”

Neither campaign sign is connected to national politics. One supports a measure that would allow Walmart to open a location in Cave Creek. The other supports a school budget increase to lower class sizes for kindergarten through third grade.

According to MCSO, there are currently no known suspects or witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call MCSO at 602-876-1011.

The Phoenix area has had a run of high-profile racist incidents recently. Last weekend, an interracial couple was gunned down while walking through a park last weekend after a stranger with a shaved head and tattoos asked the African-American man why he was “with a white woman.” Residents of Fountain Hills, another Phoenix suburb, were terrorized recently by racist vandalism that included anti-Semitic and pro-KKK imagery.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which regularly tracks hate groups as part of its mission, says hate groups are growing in Arizona. Two national Nazi events are scheduled to be held in the Phoenix area in the coming weeks: a national Nazi festival in Tonopah in October and a national neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement rally in early November. And a national Neo-Nazi festival is scheduled to be held in Tonopah, another suburb of Phoenix, on October 24th.

I just pray that GOD keeps this man alive long enough for us to see if he can do some real change...

Other opinions on Obama Peace Prize....

Thrilled!:

President Shimon Peres of Israel, sent a letter to President Obama on Friday morning, saying: “Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such a profound impact. You provided the entire humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination, and a feeling that there is a lord in heaven and believers on earth.”

Supportive but Skeptical:

Nils Butenschon, director of the Norwegian Center for Human Rights at the University of Oslo and a well-known human rights champion in Norway, went so far as to say the committee has risked the authority of the peace prize by awarding it to Mr. Obama before he has accomplished much of substance.

“It seems premature to me,” Mr. Butenschon said. “I think the committee should be very careful with the integrity of the prize, and in this case I don’t think we are in a position to really evaluate the full impact of what this candidate has achieved. Sometimes of course the prize is awarded to people who are in the process of making history, so to speak, but in this case I think it is too early to know that.”

Completely Against:

Khaled Al-Batsh, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad in Gaza, condemned the award, saying it “shows these prizes are political, not governed by the principles of credibility, values and morals,” Reuters reported. “Why should Obama be given a peace prize while his country owns the largest nuclear arsenal on earth and his soldiers continue to shed innocent blood in Iraq and Afghanistan?”

Congratulations to Pres Barack Obama for being awarded one of the highest honors in these United States, the Nobel Peace Prize. It was reported that Mr. Obama got the call early this morning and it was said that he was "Surprised and Humbled" and the honor of recieving the Nobel Peace Prize. Shout out to NyTimes for more on the story...

WASHINGTON — President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” a stunning honor that came less than nine months after he made United States history by becoming the country’s first African-American president.

The award, announced in Oslo by the Nobel Committee while much of official Washington — including the president — was still asleep, cited in particular the president’s efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

“He has created a new international climate,” the committee said.

For Mr. Obama, one of the nation’s youngest presidents, the award is an extraordinary recognition that puts him in the company of world leaders such as Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who won for helping to bring an end to the cold war, and Nelson Mandela, who sought an end to apartheid. But it is also a potential political liability at home; already, Republicans are criticizing the president, contending he won more for his “star power” than his actual achievements.

The news shocked people in Oslo — where an audible gasp escaped the audience when the decision was announced — and in Washington, where top advisers to Mr. Obama said they had no idea it was coming. The president was awakened shortly before 6 a.m. by his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, who delivered the news.

“There has been no discussion, nothing at all,” said Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, in a brief early morning telephone interview.

Also be ready for all the haters that are going to something to say against this decision. I have already heard reports that plenty of people are saying he does not deserve such an honor and that he has done nothing in peace efforts. All I know is that GOD does not make mistakes, so either he did do something or he is going to do something...Peep the vid for more...

Chris Rock, whose Bad Hair Day movie is set for a release this weekend, is being sued by Regina Kimbal claiming that she had the idea originally. Shout out to NewsOne for the article.....

Chris Rock is having a bad “Hair” day.

A Los Angeles woman is suing the Brooklyn-bred comic for $5 million, claiming Rock stole her concept for his upcoming documentary, “Good Hair,” reports RadarOnline.com.

Opening Friday, “Good Hair” features such celebrities as rappers Ice-T and Eve, actress Kerry Washington and the Rev. Al Sharpton talking about African-American hairstyles.

In the suit, filed this week in L.A., Regina Kimball stated that she showed her 2005 documentary, “My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage,” to Rock on the set of his “Everyone Hates Chris” sitcom two years ago.

Original Source

I know there are people, both black and white, who have either heard of the Hon Elijah Muhammad, heard or his teachings, heard from his top pupil Hon Min Louis Farrakhan or heard or seen his tapes. I have heard of him all of my life. From a lil boy not knowing what I was listing to, to an grown man trying to understand the depth of his wisdom. Most don't really understand his mission. Most don't really understand why people follow him like they do. What people should understand, is that he is one of the most important factors in this thing we call religion.

Today marks the day of his birth, Oct 7. I want those who are hearing his name for the first time and others who have heard his name many times, to take some time to get to know and understand his importance.....check Noi.org for more about The Hon Elijah Muhammad....

Thirty-four years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was born on or about Oct. 7, 1897 in Sandersville, Georgia. The exact date of his birth remains unknown because record keeping in rural Georgia for the descendants of slaves was not kept current, according to historians and family members. Nevertheless, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said his birth took place some time in the first or second week of October in 1897 and set forth Oct. 7th as the anniversary date of his birth.

Indeed, life in the rural South at the turn of the century was quite hard. Poverty and survival were at war with each other. Elijah Poole, the son of a minister, and whose parents, William (later named Wali) and Marie Poole, had 12 other children, had to quit school after barely finishing the third grade to work in the fields as a sharecropper so his family could eat.

Just before the roaring twenties came in, Elijah Poole married the former Clara Evans, also of Georgia. They had eight children, Emmanuel, Ethel, Lottie, Nathaniel, Herbert, Elijah, Jr., Wallace and Akbar.

In April 1923, Elijah Poole moved his young family from Macon, Georgia, where he worked for the Southern Railroad Company and the Cherokee Brick Company to Detroit, Mich. Black families, like the Pooles, were leaving the south, at that time, in search of better economic and social circumstances. Detroit was a bustling upwardly mobile city with its burgeoning auto industry.

The stock market crash in 1929 was the gateway to economic misery that sparked the fuel of the "Great Depression" of the 1930s. Moreover, America's racial situation continued its downward spiral. Lynchings, race riots and other forms of terrorism against Blacks continued unabated. But Detroit, with its huge population of 1.5 million people including 250,000 thousand Blacks, was beginning to see changes in its social scene.

During the 1950s, Mr. Muhammad promoted Min. Malcolm X to the post of National Spokesman, and began to syndicate his weekly newspaper column, "Mr. Muhammad Speaks," in Black newspapers across the country. Membership was increasing when, in 1955, Minister Louis Farrakhan, then Louis Walcott, an entertainer, enrolled in the Nation of Islam after hearing Mr. Muhammad deliver a speech in Chicago.

Persecution of the Muslims continued. Members and mosques continued to be attacked by whites in Monroe, La., Los Angeles, Calif., and Flint, Mich., among others. Publicity in the white owned and operated media began to circulate anti-Nation of Islam propaganda on a large scale. By the early 1960s, the Readers Digest magazine described Mr. Muhammad as the most powerful Black man in America. In Washington, D.C., Mr. Muhammad delivered his historic Uline Arena address and was afforded presidential treatment, receiving a personal police escort.

Subsequently, television commentator Mike Wallace, in conjunction with Louis Lomax, a Black journalist, aired the documentary, "The Hate That Hate Produced," on a local New York City station. The documentary misrepresents the message of the Nation of Islam, calling it a hate teaching. James Baldwin, a famous Black author, released the book, "The Fire Next Time," based largely upon his interview with Mr. Muhammad. At the same time, white political leaders such as Senator Al Gore Sr., began to denounce the Nation of Islam and hold hearings on alleged "un-American" activities. Minister Louis Farrakhan and the ministers of Islam defended the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam against these attacks in mass media in their public speeches, written editorials and other public relations thrusts.

"I want you to pay good attention to his preaching. His preaching is a bearing of witness to me and what God has given to me," he declared. "This is one of the strongest national preachers that I have in the bounds of North America. Everywhere you hear him, listen to him. Everywhere you see him, look at him. Everywhere he advises you to go, go. Everywhere he advises you to stay from, stay from. For we are thankful to Allah for this great helper of mine, Min. Farrakhan." (Another rousing round of applause ensued). "He's not a proud man," he said. "He's a very humble man. If he can carry you across the lake without dropping you in; he don't say when you get on the other side, 'You see what I have done?' He tells you, 'You see what Allah has done.' He doesn't take it upon himself. He's a mighty fine preacher. We hear him every week, and I say continue to hear our Min. Farrakhan. I thank you."

Log on to Noi.org for more about the historical sojourn of Hon Elijah Muhammad....peep the vid below for one of his rare interviews....

I don't know about ya'll, but I have been a fan of magazine since I was a shorty. Especialy, magazines where black issues were being discussed in way that black people and people going through that struggle could relate to.

This recession thing has really hit the print business hard. Magazines and newspapers are being shut down one by one. Not just print that is bad, but print that had a huge fan base and was extremely relevant. Magazines like KING and VIBE were among the most recent, and now you can add JET & EBONY to that list of gone but not forgotten. Shout out to theROOT.com for the story...

When word spread recently that the venerable magazines Ebony and Jet were up for sale, a palpable sense of depression could be felt throughout some segments of black America.

This sense of depression would generally reside among those born before 1960, or at least those whose sympathies lie with the pre-‘60 crowd. For a certain generation of African Americans, Ebony and Jet were as integral to blackness as Murray’s “Superior Hair Dressing Pomade,” a “Deuce and a Quarter” and funeral home hand-fans featuring the holy triumvirate of MLK, JFK and RFK. And now, once again, like Motown and BET before it, a black media empire is being put on the auction block. Considering that Ebony and Jet were in existence before Motown and well before BET, the depression is perhaps that much stronger this time around.

The depressed among us worry that the potential sale of another black media property to perhaps a large non-black corporate media conglomerate signals the continued erosion of black capitalism in the post-civil rights era. These economic black nationalists bemoan the loss of something they consider their own. While such feelings speak to a certain sense of racial pride, those who hold such ideas personify the definition of Old School in the worst possible way. The fact is, Ebony and Jet have not been relevant for a long time, and neither have their supporters.

For those with a contemporary mind-set who have grown up either mocking the datedness of Ebony and Jet or not even being particularly aware of them, the potential sale carries much less significance. If anything, some might have even breathed an it’s-about-time sigh of relief. I know I did.

Yet for those who grew up in an era either stuck in segregation or its immediate aftermath, Ebony and Jet were much-needed national publications that confirmed the humanity of black existence when other mainstream publications ignored it. Like black banks, black insurance companies and black colleges, Ebony and Jet served a vital purpose in an era quite unlike the present, spreading all the relevant black news that other publications deemed unfit to print.

There was no better proof of that role than in Jet’s publication of the infamous Emmitt Till photos in 1955. Their publication brought attention to the racial terrorism that ruled the South and helped to bolster the burgeoning civil rights movement. I remember once going through a box of old Ebony and Jet magazines that my mother kept. This would have been in the ’70s. As I rummaged through this archive of black history, I became transfixed upon seeing for the first time the surreal photos of Till’s mutilated head. At the time, I was about the same age as he was when he was brutally murdered. Though I was not born when that occurred, the magazine photos helped connect me with the larger historical narrative around race and blackness that I was only starting to understand.

We all know the comedian Mo'NIQUE from the Queens of Comedy, BET show host, countless funny movie and just Mo'NIQUE being Mo'NIQUE. According to NewsOne, she may be the first Black Woman to be on late night tv.....

Mo’Nique, the bold, charismatic comedian and actress, can pinpoint exactly when she started to fall out of love with late-night television.

It happened in the spring of 1994, when Arsenio Hall, the man who broke the genre’s color barrier, walked away from his popular syndicated show.

“When Arsenio left late-night, so did I,” she recalls. “I just hated to see him go. When you watch television, you want to see people who look like you.”

Starting tonight, Mo’Nique will do her part to make that happen by hosting her own hour-long blend of talk and variety. “The Mo’Nique Show” is set to air Monday through Friday on BET, and she’s promising it will be a blast.

“We want you to feel good. It’s a party, baby,” she purrs. “When you’re done watching, you’re going to go to bed with a smile on your face. We’re setting you up to have the sweetest dreams possible.”

That’s a rousing mission statement, indeed. But Mo’Nique won’t be the only one looking to bring a fresh look to a late-night scene long ruled by white guys. Also adding some color are Wanda Sykes and George Lopez, who launch their own programs in early November.

Far as far back as I came remember, every pope has been a old, white and um did I mention old. According to BlackVoices, we might have a chance to get a brother in there, well an African brother....

VATICAN CITY — A prominent African cardinal says there's no reason why the next pope can't be black.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is playing an important part in a three-week meeting at the Vatican on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa.

At a news conference Monday, Turkson was asked whether he thought the time was right for a black pope, particularly following the election of President Barack Obama.

Turkson replied: "Why not?" He argued that every man who agrees to be ordained a priest has to be willing to be a pope.

He noted that, with Obama and the previous U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, there have been several blacks in positions of global leadership.

He said "If God would wish to see a black man also as pope, thanks be to God."

Reagan Gomez! We know her from tv shows, KING magazine and other ways that shows off her beauty, but now its time we she shows off her mind. Recently, she said down to write an emotional blog on GlobalGrind.com about an emotional topic...

**Global Grind Exclusive**

So, watching the video of Derrion Albert getting killed on the street got me thinking….Are our young Black men an "endangered species"? I’ve heard that before. But now that I’m a mother, it takes on a whole new meaning. And if that’s the case, who or what, is the cause of the downfall? Sadly, I think we all know the answer to that question.

A lot of people woke up the day after the election and saw that, their problems were the same. And with the rise of unemployment, and the cost of everything going up, and the staggering number of single mothers, we’re seeing the end result. Our kids are pissed off and frustrated. Momma is working 2 and 3 jobs, struggling to keep it together, and kids are left on their own. This isn’t a new problem. We know this. But the fact that this took place, in Chicago, says a lot. But then again, crime in Chicago is nothing new. Before, or after the election.

I’m a mom now. My daughter is two. No parent ever wants to get the call that Derrion’s mom, and countless other mothers have gotten. My father is a forensic pathologist for the city of Philadelphia (another high crime city), and murder is such a real problem in our community. Do we know who started the fight? Does it matter? I know what I saw on the tape. When you’re in that rage, it’s all, emotional. You just wanna fight the closest thing to you. And most of the time, it’s someone who looks just like you. And guess what? They’re going through the same thing you’re going through. I feel like, we, as a society, put so much pressure on women in general. Especially, BLACK and HISPANIC women. But when it comes to single mothers, are we doing enough? I don’t know if Derrion’s mom was a single mom, but I know the numbers. Are we doing enough??

Is Derrion going to be the “Neda” to the plight of the young black man in America? The countless other “Derrions” have gone unnoticed. When do we do our part? And what exactly does that entail? I don’t know. But while we continue to blog about the latest “Phat Ass” or latest “Celeb Jump Off” more and more mothers are getting that call.

I want to commend Nas for blogging about this. Maybe now it’s time for more "Black Celebrity Men" to do the same. I know a lot of them reach out and give back. Probably more than we know.

But is it time to do more? And should it be their responsibility? I don’t know. But I do know, if you’re the parent of a teenage black or brown male, you can use all of the help you can get, making sure your child makes it to adulthood. Yes, this is America. Obama is in office. We tell our kids, they can be whatever they want to be with hard work, and determination. We tell our kids, they can make anything happen. We tell our kids they can solve all of the world’s problems. Maybe it’s time, our kids start telling us the same thing.

Beauty & Brains....

Jesse Jackson and Minister Louis Farrakhan are attending the funeral of a Chicago teen beaten to death on his way home from school. Shout out to GlobalGrind for the story...

CHICAGO — Civil rights Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan are attending the funeral of a Chicago teen beaten to death on his way home from school.

Farrakhan on Saturday called 16-year-old Derrion Albert "a special young man." Jackson said "children deserve safe passage to school."

Officials say Albert was walking to a bus stop after school when a group of teens attacked him during a street fight late last month.

Cell phone video footage shows Albert being kicked and hit with splintered railroad ties. Four teens are charged in his death.

President Barack Obama has said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who once led Chicago Public Schools, will travel to Chicago to talk with local officials.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CHICAGO (AP) — Civil rights leaders, including NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous, are expected to attend the funeral of a 16-year-old Chicago teen whose beating death was captured on camera.

The funeral service for Derrion Albert will be held Saturday on Chicago's South Side. He was fatally beaten by a group of teens outside a community center late last month.

Cell phone video footage taken by a bystander shows a group kicking and hitting Albert with railroad ties after he left school.

Four teens have been charged in the death. They're being held without bond.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is also expected to speak at the funeral.

When read this post I was...well...kinda speachless. I mean who would have thought that there would be a web browser specifically targeted and man for black folks. I mean this is crazy....shout out to NewsOne for the story....

Blackbird, the custom browser for African-Americans that debuted in 2008, launched a new version for Mac computers today. Previously available only for PCs, the browser already has a quarter of a million users.

Blackbird aims to offer a distinctively Black internet experience, and provides one-click access to a number of destinations of interest to its audience. The browser, which is built on top of the Mozilla Firefox interface, integrates email and social networking, points users toward Black-oriented news and video websites, and can optimize Google searches so that Black websites are pushed to the top of the results. It also includes job-searching tools and links to community service initiatives.

The Blackbird browser is free, supported by sponsors and advertising revenues.

Blackbird Official Site...

Just when the news tells you this so-called recession is getting better, reality check...its not. It was recently reported that Detroit city morgues were being piled up on account that people are unable to pay for their loved ones funerals. Shout out to NewsOne for the story....

At 1300 E. Warren St., you can smell the plight of Detroit.

Inside the Wayne County morgue in midtown Detroit, 67 bodies are piled up, unclaimed, in the freezing temperatures. Neither the families nor the county can afford to bury the corpses. So they stack up inside the freezer.

Albert Samuels, chief investigator for the morgue, said he has never seen anything like it during his 13 years on the job. “Some people don’t come forward even though they know the people are here,” said the former Detroit cop. “They don’t have the money.”

Lifelong Detroit residents Darrell and Cheryl Vickers understand this firsthand. On a chilly September morning they had to visit the freezer to identify the body of Darrell’s aunt, Nancy Graham — and say their goodbyes.

The couple, already financially strained, don’t have the $695 needed to cremate her. Other family members, mostly in Florida, don’t have the means to contribute, either. In fact, when Darrell’s grandmother passed recently, his father paid for the cremation on a credit card — at 21% interest.

So the Vickers had to leave their aunt behind. Body number 67.

“It’s devastating to a family not to be able to take care of their own,” said Darrell. “But there’s really no way to come up with that kind of cash in today’s society. There’s just no way.”

Check out the vid...

I don't know about ya'll but it seems like more young men are dying these days. After a fight between schools happened in NY, gun fire erupted and a child was chased down and gunned down. Look something has to be done, in the past month there have been way too many young people dying at the hands of guns. For real, we need to stop and enjoy life and not end it. STOP THE KILLING....shout out to bossip for the story...

A 13-year-old was killed and another teen…… was wounded in gunfire in front of a Queens car wash Friday, police and witnesses said. Kevin Miller was felled by a bullet to the head in the Cambria Heights shootout around 3 p.m., police said. “It was like ‘pop, pop,’” said Tete Alexandre, 18, who was working at a nearby McDonald’s when the shots were fired.

“He was on the floor, bleeding from his head,” she said of Miller. The gunfire erupted at Linden and Springfield Blvds., moments after a group of kids was fighting in the area, witnesses said. The shots hit a 17-year-old in the leg. As Miller walked away, a man ran up with a gun, said a witness who did not want to give her name. “He ran after him and shot him right in the head,” she said.

The older victim is in stable condition at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, sources said. The shooting occurred just blocks away from another killing hours earlier, police said. Cops found two men in a car on 205th St. around noon, each shot several times, police said. A 40-year-old man in the passenger seat was pronounced dead on the scene and the 35-year-old driver was in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital, police said. It was not clear if the vehicle was moving. No arrests have been made. “It’s devastating to see something like this happen,” Alexandre said. “Now people have to be scared to go home from school,” she said.

At this point, is when we need to come together. Stop the BS and lets save out babies....

See thats why I love Russell Simmons. While other black entertainers are afraid to publicly show their love for a man like Min Louis Farrakhan, not only does Russell show it, but he BLOGS about it. He has a blog, GlobalGrind.com, and after giving his home to the minister during his recent trip to New York, Russell wrote about his experience...

When we think of Minister Louis Farrakhan, we often think about the man who helped guide Muhammad Ali or the man who came up together in the Nation of Islam with Malcolm X. Do we ever think he's the man who helped hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of black people to love themselves? Well, we should.

When I grew up in Hollis, Queens there was a rehab, a mosque and a “Steak n' Take” on my corner, all of which where run by the Nation of Islam. There was also a heroin epidemic on that corner that was killing off our teenagers and young adults. Our parents would tell us that when we grow up we should make a choice to either join the army or "be a Muslim or something.” The Nation of Islam secured our housing projects, promoted dignity and transformed men with criminal pasts. Those men would then, in turn, raise refined, educated black children. Hard to dispute this. It took guys off the street and created a powerful, non-violent movement. The Nation of Islam has never been associated with any form of violence and always been about uplifting our communities and making a better future for black people. If you ask anyone from my generation, from any ghetto in this country, I promise you they have roughly the same experiences regarding the Nation's presence in their communities.

Certainly some of their preachers were fiery, especially in their pointing out the evils of white supremacy. They said some things in a way that was hard for most whites and some blacks to digest. For example, “THE WHITE MAN IS THE DEVIL.” We have to remember the c limate of the country during this time. It was an all out war and the Nation was not about to back-down. The Nation of Islam, which was started by Elijah Muhammad and a white man named, Master Fard Muhammad, always pointed out that one day we would all live in harmony. Although this still isn't quite true, their message under the leadership o f Minister Louis Farrakhan has evolved to fit the time.

It is true that some blacks are still not “free” and stuck in a slave mentality, due to the lingering affects of 400+ years of slavery. It is the recognition of this condition that the Nation continues its important work in ghettos across America, giving steady doses of spirituality or sense of higher self to many men and women who need it.

This past week, it was my honor to host the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at my apartment in NYC. He was joined by his sons Louis Jr., Mustapha and Joshua Farrakhan, along with their personal chef and at least 75 security personnel. It was quite a scene to see how they set up shop at my apartment. This was a week where I didn't miss my 6am prayer because I could hear them already awake and ready to start the day off right. This was a week where the word "Allah" was on the tip of everyone's tongue. And was a very special time when I got to hang with my “second dad” and my other brothers. We reminisced about the three marches where more than three million people marched on Wa shington. We talked about how we brought Snoop, Ice Cube and other LA rappers together with members of the east coast rap community and how he helped mediate the beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule and countless other instances where he was there to help hip hop. And of course we talked about his keynote address at the hip hop summit that created the Hip Hop Sum mit Action network. We even mentioned a subject that the Minister doesn't care to discuss, his legacy. He has talked about the oneness of god for years, about the sameness of all religion and all people. He has given his followers spiritual roadmaps to happiness on Earth his whole life. I want future generations to know him as I do, so I am working to have his thoughts on this subject made into a book. I believe that his memoirs are going to be one of the most interesting and inspiring autobiographies ever written.

So that is my goal.

If America can know his heart, it will inspire millions of Americans for generations to come. It will happen with or without me, but I just thought writing this would be a good karmic expression for me, and a chance to reflect on a very special few days in my life.

Russell Simmons

Family and friends believe 16-year-old Derrion Albert was beaten to death by other teens because he resisted joining a gang that was forming near Fenger High School on the Far South Side.-Huffington Post

Vid of the beating....