View From the Bench - Jena Louisiana Revisited There has been a lot on the net and the blog world regarding the case of six African-American youth in Jena, Louisiana known as The Jena Six.  I've written about it here as well, but I thought it would be good to hear Dallas Municipal Judge C. Victor Lander's perspective on the subject.  Judge Lander was a huge part in the freedom fight for Tyrone Brown. By C. Victor Lander Additional information has been sought about the young brothers known as the Jena 6 and the situation in our neighboring state of Louisiana.  Inasmuch as one of the young men of the Jena 6 is scheduled to be sentenced in just a few days, inasmuch as the only way to try to save this young brother is for the public to get involved, and inasmuch as the public of Dallas is not only uninvolved, it is totally uninformed, I thought I would share with you a few more items of interest about this case.  I am NOT going to let you forget this. First and foremost, much of my information on this case comes from the Rev. Alan ...

Dallas based 3i Construction, along with  MYCON General Contractors, Inc., of McKinney, have been selected for the construction of the first two spec warehouse/distribution buildings in the Dallas Logistics Hub.  The Hub is a 6,000 acre logistics park located in Southern Dallas County. 3i Construction, LLC, a Dallas based minority owned general contractor has been retained for the construction of DLH Building 2, a 192,850 square foot warehouse building.   In addition to being selected as the lead on DLH Building 2, 3i Construction has also been selected to provide additional construction services for The Hub's DLH Building 1. 3i Construction, the first African-American construction management firm to construct a $10 million facility for the Dallas Independent School District, has expanded its business to include the construction of stadiums, educational facilities, financial institutions, as well as religious buildings, restaurants, airports and fire stations.   The Allen Group is developing the Dallas Logistics Hub, which is the largest new logistics park under development in North America.  The site is master-planned for the development of 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail uses. To see the press release regarding this announcement click here . 

What About Our Daughters reports that BET has changed the name of their upcoming show from Hot Ghetto Mess to We Got To Do Better.  Not only have they dropped the name, but they also dropped the logo.  Take a look at WAOD's update here. See BET's new decription of the show here.

On the Paul Quinn College website , Interim President Michael J. Sorrell has posted a letter to students making them aware of a number changes at the school (see Mr. Sorrell's letter to the students here).  Item number one will probably draw the most attention: 1. Dress Code:  It is our mission to educate and better prepare our students for successful professional careers.  To that end, beginning in the Fall we are implementing a business casual dress code for the campus. Between the hours of 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday-Thursday, students will no longer be allowed to wear jeans, gym shoes, flip flops, pajama bottoms, shorts, sweatshirts, sweatsuits, halter tops, or shirts without collars outside of their dormitories.  Students who fail to adhere to this policy will not be (1) allowed to attend class or (2) served in the cafeteria.  The only exception to this rule is on Fridays.  Fridays will be "Paul Quinn Pride Days."  Students will be permitted to wear jeans and shorts if they are wearing Greek or school paraphernalia.  We are in the process of collecting clothing items in order to assist our students who may not have the necessary items to comply with this change.  If ...

A look at some of the other news going on in the blogosphere and beyond. Rufus Shaw of DallasBlog.com chronicles infighting between Black City Council officials and a DART Board Member . Pegasus News was sold to Seattle based Fisher Communications.  Mike Davis of Dallas Progress received a BIG D Award from D Magazine.  Eddie Griffin updates the mess with Hot Ghetto Mess.  Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star has a take on the Michael Vick Situation .

Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards was in Dallas as the Keynote Speaker for the Young Democrats of America convention, and he didn't disappoint the faithful. Edwards got right down to business, claiming early on in his speech, "We have to end this war in Iraq," which obviously was well received by the convention delegates. He said that it is the responsibility of Congress to force President Bush to end the war.  If they don't force him, Edwards said, it won't end. He spent time on his campaign theme of Two America's.  He said that one side of America is represented by the "very rich" and the other is "everybody else." Edwards went on to speak about some of the ideas that he has to make America better were he President.  Besides ending the war, he said the first day that he was President of the United States, he would close down Guantanamo Bay, which drew a huge applause from the crowd. He went on to say that he would restore America as a country that is worthy to be followed.  A good first step, he said, would be to stop the genocide in Western Sudan and Darfur.  According to Edwards ...

I sat in on a couple of the training sessions that the Young Democrats were running today.  The first one I sat in on was Getting Votes From Facebook, which was run by Gary Moody who is Executive Director of the Young Democrats of Arkansas .  For those who are not familiar, Facebook is a social networking site that started out for college students, but has branched out to businesses, high schools and organizations.   The Arkansas Democrats have dedicated an intern in their office specifically to Facebook (and MySpace) initiatives.  Mr. Moody asked the 40 or so participants in the session whether or not they had a facebook account and all but three raised their hands - 4 if you count me. Moody encouraged all the Young Democrats to leverage Facebook for all the contacts that are available to them. Many of the participants where already using the site to attract and retain members.

After the service project was complete, the group was addressed by General Wesley Clark.  The standing room only crowd greeted Clark with a rousing ovation.  In his speech Gen. Clark said that the country is engaged in five wars; three of them hot and two of them cold.  The three hot wars he spoke of were Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terrorism (not Terror as the President calls it).  The Cold Wars he was referring to were North Korea and Iran.   Clark said that the military in Iraq needs more strategy rather than more troops. He suggests that part of that strategy should include "talking to people that you don't agree with," like Iran and Syria.  He directed the audience to a website he works with called StopIranWar.com Clark ended his speech by challenging the Young Democrats to contact their elected officials to get them chart a new course for the War in Iraq.  He said they should be proud to be part of a party of Values, Freedom, and Security. 

Delegates here at the convention put together backpacks filled with school supplies for the families of soldiers serving in the U.S. Military.  The project was a joint effort between the Young Democrats of America and Operation Homefront. Karla Ayala, President of the Texas Chapter of Operation Homefront, was present and told those assembled about their mission.  She spoke of how the group was founded by military spouses and veterans after September 11th.  They assist military spouses and families with with everything from home and auto repairs to urgent financial assistance and emotional support.                           General Wesley Clark also participated, going from station to station to fill a backpack.  Democrats Work was also heavily involved with the project.

Well I made it.  I have my press credential and I'm ready to roll.  There's already been a big disappointment (for me) as John Edwards as been rescheduled from 1:15 to 7 tonight A couple of early observations: #1   These people are really young.  I mean a man of early (mid) 30's like myself feels like an old man up in here. #2   It's a very diverse gathering.  You see people of all "shades and colors", as well as older people also.   #3   I've already seen a lot of the prototypical Democratic causes represented i.e. a pro-choice booth, a clean water booth, a table for Mikal Watt's U.S. Senate run, and others.   The service project is about to get started, I'll get back to you in a bit. Shawn