Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video" mce_href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a> Thursday's Bloggers Bunch on CNN was interesting to say the least.  One of the bloggers on the show was Lurita Doan of EyesOnGov.com.  Lurita went out of her way to criticize the President, and Black folks seemingly, during our discussion of race.  I wanted to follow up to a couple of her points during the show, but I had no such luck.  I like it better when there are three guests on instead of four because we get a little more time to establish our points.  Let me know what you think.

There was little change in unemployment for the month of June, which went up to 9.5% from 9.4% in May. But 467,000 more jobs were lost during this period, up from 322,000 in May. In all, there are now 14.7 million unemployed Americans, an increase of 7.2 million since the start of the recession (Dec. 2007). The unemployment rate for African-Americans was 14.7% last month compared to 12.2% for Hispanics and 8.7% for whites. The African-American unemployment rate is down for the second straight month after reaching 15% in April. Unemployment for Black men is at 16.4%, down from a high of 17.2% in April. Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, June 2009 7.6 8.1 8.5 8.9 9.4 9.5 This does not include 2.2 million people who were marginally attached to the labor force last month. And of that number 793,000 are considered "discouraged workers", because they are not currently looking for work because they believe there are no jobs available. The other 1.4 million had not searched for work in the previous 4 weeks. Could Black men be the first to start steering out of the recession? From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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 ...

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.

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 ...

Multimedia training, scholarships and an organizational move to bolster journalists' group WASHINGTON, D.C. - June 23, 2009 - The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announces that the New York-based Ford Foundation has awarded the organization a grant of $150,000 to increase educational and training opportunities for journalists of color. The grant will be employed by NABJ in three core areas: to increase multimedia workshops and educational programs in 2009 and 2010; to create a professional scholarship program for recently laid-off members desiring professional training and networking opportunities at the NABJ Annual Convention & Career Fair; and to help facilitate NABJ's move to a new state-of-the-art facility at the Philip Merrill School of Journalism on the campus of the University of Maryland. "NABJ will greatly benefit from these funds in its unified effort to improve newsroom diversity and increase the competitiveness of black journalists across the country," said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. NABJ offers year-round webinars, teleconferences and regional conferences in addition to a broad spectrum of journalistic and communications programming over five days ...

I was forwarded  this  entry by colleague Bruce Dixon out of Atlanta, managing editor of Black Agenda Report.  Dixon writes about  unrest in Chicago regarding  fired black teachers.   Here is a large portion of the entry, but please read Dixon's article Chicago Teachers File Racial Discrimination Suit it its entirety. BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon "The fired teachers are disproportionately African American, and the newly hired teachers are not." In May, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared the Obama administration's intent to close and "turn around" 5,000 "underperforming" public schools in poorer neighborhoods across the country. Duncan's last job was CEO of Chicago's public schools where he shut down dozens of neighborhood schools, practically all in lower income areas, and dismissed thousands of committed and experienced teachers, the vast majority of them African American women. When the Chicago Teachers Union made no effort to reach out to parents, students or their communities, refused to organize teachers to oppose the wave of school shutdowns and privatizations, teachers organized what they call CORE, the Coalition of Rank & File Educators. CORE has now filed suit against the Chicago Board of Education, charging that the mass dismissal of hundreds of mostly black veteran teachers and their ...

Once again it's on! Blogging While Brown got rolling last night with a welcome reception where AT&T gave away a new iPhone. I had the opportunity to welcome our participants this morning and kick off the first session (5 minutes late, my bad) lead by Milt Hayes of Blacks Gone Geek. Milt is pictured with the image on this post. You can follow us on twitter at #bwb. We'd like to thank our sponsors, AT&T, BlogHer, Next Gen Web, Daily Kos, FreePress.net, & BlackPR.com

Bringing back a post from last year discussing Juneteenth.  Don't forget your red soda water. I remember growing up in good old Paris, Texas and one day realizing that there was an extra holiday on the calendar. I recall having a good understanding of Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th and Halloween, but all of a sudden around the age of seven or eight it was like Juneteenth came out of nowhere. What was Juneteenth? Initially I knew it as a day that black folks were supposed to take off work, eat barbecue, and drink red soda water. And that's pretty much what we did. I eventually learned that Juneteenth was a uniquely Texas holiday and meant more than just cutting out on the job. A Juneteenth newsletter I received from Cora Marshall Gallery does a good job summing up this unique tradition. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be, free." It took until June 19th, 1865, two and a half years later, for the news that slavery had been abolished to reach Galveston, Texas. Even so, this news inspired a ...

BY JASON JOHNSON Hi everyone. I would like you all to meet one of my JMJ Fitness Superstar clients, Kristin! You may know her from the blog Because I Said So, or as a contributor to Dallas South. She just completed an awesome personal fitness goal. I asked her 10 questions so you could get to know her and see why she is a superstar client! 1) JMJ: Kristin, you just completed a goal you set way back in February. Can you tell everyone what you just accomplished? K: I finished my first 10k in 1:27:40:55 in Boulder, Colorado. 2) JMJ: Have you always been a runner? Do you have a running background? K: I used to run every now and then but nothing like I have done recently. 3) JMJ: You also had a temporary injury set-back during your training. Can you tell us what happened and how it affected your training for the 10K? K: Training was going really well then I started experiencing knee problems which felt as if my leg was going to give out. I consulted with an Orthopedic and he diagnosed me with having Patellar Tracking Disorder. For roughly 4 weeks I was limited to upper body weights only and ...