The North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Department has released a Master Plan Initiative regarding development in Southern Dallas County.  This is not the same thing as the Master Plan that Dallas County Commissioners were attempting to institute some months back.  Below is a statement by The Allen Group, one of the main developers in Southern Dallas' Inland Port.   The Allen Group has been asked to provide its position statement concerning the NCTCOG’S CONCEPT of a new S. Dallas County Master Planning Initiative as set forth in the NCTCOG’s PowerPoint Presentation below.   North Central Texas Council of Governments PowerPoint Presentation. The Allen Group SUPPORTS THE NCTCOG’S CONCEPT of the new S. Dallas County Master Planning Initiative as follows:       Consistent with the NCTCOG’s PowerPoint Presentation below, TAG’s position is that the Planning Initiative should: focus solely upon roads, water, sewer, and storm water;   be coordinated and directed by  representatives of ALL of the entities with land use development authority, and who have land impacted by the Plan, on all oversight committees or similar bodies that will make decisions that will impact the cities and/or land within their jurisdictions;   include, without change, previously adopted comprehensive plans whether initiated by Cities or landowners, developers, business owners, etc. ...

By Genma Holmes of Genma Speaks Watching movies and barbecuing is how my family spends most Sunday afternoons. This past Sunday, I broke a cardinal rule and watched the BET Awards for the first time. My kids convinced me that it would be great since it was billed as a tribute to Michael Jackson and his humanitarian endeavors. However, the show that was promoted was not the show I watched. The BET Awards was a chaotic three hour black-a-thon fiasco. How things begin is an indication of where things will end. Watching CNN’s anchorman Don Lemon giving shouts out on the red carpet was the start of the calamity that went downhill fast. To add to the circus atmosphere that was forming outside, Joe Jackson, MJ’s father and belt wielding former manager, was on the red carpet promoting his new record label. Huh? I know grief is expressed in different ways but this was a drastic departure from tears and sadness that is normally shown. He sounded more like an old school promoter for Denise LaSalle than a father who had lost a son two days prior. But what do I know. I never watched the show and I did not know if this ...

BY KRISTIN OF BECAUSE I SAID SO The Supreme Court has decided to reverse a decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals which included Judge Sonia Sotomayor. I have yet to read the entire ruling but I find myself wondering about the ramifications the ruling will have on the New Haven community. It is my understanding that New Haven is predominately a minority community and will now be served by few minorities in positions of authority. I know of many people who came from areas where authority figures did not look like them. I know first hand how feelings of mistrust will pervade the neighborhood and do very little to bridge a widening gulf. After reading the original ruling I agreed with the ruling in which Judge Areterton arrived. I can say with all honesty I am happy the New Haven 20 will receive the promotions they deserve. I will also say I am very apprehensive about the future of affirmative action. It is my personal belief that though we have come along way affirmative action is very much needed to ensure a diverse environment,especially on college campuses. For many minorities affirmative action is our Legacy admission. It will be interseting to ...

Paul Quinn College is not dead, but the grim reaper is walking out the door and headed in that direction. While most of us were following the developments in the death of Michael Jackson, a local story has gotten somewhat lost in the mix. Paul Quinn lost its accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools after two years on probation. During those two years, President Michael Sorrell has instituted a number of fresh approaches to try to save the school, but the Southern Association says it's not enough.  Sorrell and Paul Quinn have appealed the decision. Michael Davis of Dallas Progress makes a great point on why the accreditation is so important. "Because students at an unaccredited school can't get financial aid" says Davis in a recent post about Paul Quinn. I've got three questions for people reading this post. #1 Do you care whether or not Paul Quinn is able to survive? #2 If you answered yes, have you ever donated money (even $5) to Paul Quinn? #3 If you answered yes, have you donated to P.Q. in the last year? It all boils down to ...

I wanted to share the contents of an email sent out by Color of Change Director of Grassroots Mobilization, James Rucker, to their massive member list regarding the plea of "No Contest" by the defendants in the "Jena 6" case late last week. Color of Change was at the forefront of the internet movement to secure justice for the young men back in 2007. I've had a chance to correspond with James and meet some of the Color of Change staff.  They are utilizing 21st century tools to combat injustices that have persisted for generations.  It's cool to see that they haven't just rested on their involvement in Hurricane Katrina justice and with the Jena 6, but continue to stay engaged, even taking the fight to Fox News.  They remain relevant and functional as many such organizations have the tendency to fall off into the abyss of irrelevancy.  Kudos to C of C. Dear Shawn, Friday, nearly two years after more than 320,000 of you stood up to protect them from Jim Crow justice, the Jena 6--Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell--are all now free to move ahead with their lives. We ...

Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video" mce_href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a> It was sad discussing the passing of Michael Jackson on CNNcom/Live today, but it was made easier by seeing two friendly faces on the screen with me.  Those were Carmen D. of All About Race, and Lola Adesioye from TheGriot.com. Here's the 15 or so minutes that we discussed our thoughts on the King of Pop, what his music meant to the world, and how the discussion has played out since his death.

Here's a message that I received from the Dallas Business Journal regarding yesterday's post on their 40 under Forty Awards. Dear Shawn, We couldn’t agree with you more about the need to highlight talent in our community that’s often overlooked by the general media, and we’re glad that Dallas South is doing just that. We share in your vision, and that’s why last year the Dallas Business Journal launched two programs – the Minority Business Leader Awards and the Women in Business Awards – both of which recognize outstanding achievements by entrepreneurs and corporate executives. But our commitment to covering the diverse talent that makes up our business community would be disingenuous if it were limited to these award programs. It’s not: We want to cover news about successful and innovative business leaders — no matter their ethnicity or gender — daily online at dallasbusinessjournal.com, weekly in our Friday print edition — all year long. That’s why we’ve reached out to many minority and women organizations like the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, the African Chamber of Commerce, DFW Minority Business Council , Women’s Business Council-Southwest and others to build partnerships. Thank you for highlighting this issue. We encourage your readers to ...

On Friday at 11 AM Central, I will be on CNN Live (online) where we will talk about the life, death, and legacy of Michael Jackson. Central. We were originally scheduled to talk about CNN's Black in America, but the topic obviously changed after the tragic news regarding the King of Pop. Click here or the link above to go to the site.

The Old School Friday theme is week is Michael Jackson, in remembrance. I will never forget how I learned of Michael Jackson's death. It will be embedded in my mind like the day I learned of Tupac's death, or when I found out that Mike Tyson had been knocked out by Buster Douglass. My wife and I were out and about and I pulled over at a service station to get a couple of Icees. We were listening to the radio (The Ticket), and they were reporting sketchy details of someone having a heart attack, but we couldn't figure out who they were talking about. Just before I got out of the car they said it was Michael Jackson. We both kind of shook our heads and I left and entered the store. When I got back to the car, she looked at me and said "he's dead." The news was just that fast yesterday, it's just a surreal sort of thing. For someone my age - I was around 9 when Thriller was released- Michael Jackson is sort of the beginning of our musical consciousness. I was at the age where we put MJ Jackets in ...

I find it odd that the Dallas Business Journal has compiled a list for their 40 under Forty Award that has zero African-American Males and zero African-American Females. I wasn't able to get my hands on a physical copy of the journal which dropped yesterday (sold out), but I did click on all 40 names listed which included pictures, and there was no (visible) African-American representation on the list. I find it interesting that D CEO has executive Gail Warrior-Lawrence (Warrior Group) on this month's cover for their Super Entrepreneurs issue. Warrior doesn't look a day over 30, but I'm not revealing her age. The point is there are black business people out there to highlight in such a way. Maybe DBJ is holding out some of their good young candidates for the Minority Business Leader Awards. I can't tell you, I'm just reporting what I saw when I clicked on the award winners. According to the Dallas Biz Journal Website, they are already looking for solicitations for next year's list. Here's the call as it appears on the site: In 2010, the Dallas Business Journal will once again seek highly accomplished executives and entrepreneurs under the age ...