by Raynard Jackson, May 12, 2011

Last night Michelle Obama hosted an “Evening of Poetry” at the White House.  She invited an eclectic group of poets to recite their poetry.  But, Fox News and right wing radio has singled out one performer—the Grammy award winning rapper Common—to be on the receiving end of their ire.

I don’t listen to his music, but from talking with friends who know him, he seems to be a nice enough guy and is very talented!  But, he has one song about shooting a policeman, therefore conservative media objected to him being invited to the White House.

These conservatives are now making the argument, that since Common was invited to the White House, President and Ms. Obama, must agree with his lyrics.  Anyone with a brain knows this is idiotic, but welcome to the world of right wing media.

The Obama’s have a right to invite whomever they choose to the White House.

You can’t take a single or few events in a person’s life and let that be the definitive narrative of his life.  For example, Michael Vick should not have his whole life defined by his run it with the law if he continues to exemplify the level of maturity he has in the past year.  We all make mistakes.

Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., hails from Chicago, IL.  He had a middle class upbringing and attended Florida A & M University where he studied business.  He has earned two Grammys (best R & B song in 2003 for “Love of My Life and best rap performance by a duo or group in 2007 for “Southside”).

Though an unabashed liberal, he has dedicated himself to trying to make a positive difference in the lives of the youth.  For this, he should be commended!

What I find amazing about right wing media is they seem to be for free speech—as long as they agree with what you are saying.

If they were consistent with their feigned outrage over Common, then I could accept their views.  But, I find their outrage very inconsistent and very selective.  They make it seem as though Obama is the only president to associate with an entertainer who have expressed some controversial things.

Where was their outrage over former president Ronald Reagan’s tribute to Bruce Springsteen?

On September 19, 1984, Reagan was at a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey and he said, “America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts…it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire…New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.”  Springsteen is best known for his monster hit song “Born in the U.S.A.”  But, on this same album is a song titled “Working On The Highway.”  The song is about a man who has sex with an underage girl and is subsequently arrested by the police and convicted in a court of law.  Here are a few of the words:

“I saved up my money and I put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn’t have much to say
“Son can’t you see that she’s just a little girl
She don’t know nothing about this cruel cruel world”

We lit out down to Florida we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black and white (police car)
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang (jail)
Me and the warden go swinging on the Charlotte County road gang

Working on the highway…

President Nixon invited racist Elvis Presley to the White House.  Presley spent a lifetime letting people know how he felt about Blacks!

President Carter invited the legendary group, Crosby, Stills, & Nash to visit him in the White House.  According to their own biography, “One of us, and I will not say who, lit a joint in the Oval Office just to be able to say he’d done it, you know?”

The other irony is that a lot of these same conservatives claim very publically their friendship to entertainers whose lyrics are no different than those they criticize Common for.

Sarah Palin is a huge fan of rocker, Ted Nugent.  Here are the words to one of his songs, “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang.”

That Nadine, what a teenage queen…She lookin’ so clean, especi’lly down in between…She’s so sweet when she yanks on my meat.”  Is this the type of “family values” Palin has in mind?

Last year Elton John was reportedly paid $1 million to perform at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding reception.  John is the same person who referred to Christians as “Jesus Freaks” in his hit song “Tiny Dancer.”

When right wing media begin to show their moral outrage evenly, then and only then, can I support their feigned righteous indignation.  But, until then, they should remain quiet and focus on the more pressing issues facing our country.

They should also show some respect for the office of the president.  This should be a common courtesy!

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm.  He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine (www.excellstyle.com) & U.S. Africa Magazine (www.usafricaonline.com).

Read more on Common > http://www.hiphopreport.net/news/2008/11/08/barack-inspires-common/

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The Emergency Fund, included in last year’s Recovery Act, has enabled states to create subsidized jobs for large numbers of low-income individuals who otherwise would be unemployed; more than 30 states are using the fund to create and preserve about 160,000 jobs (see map, below). The fund has also helped small businesses by defraying one of their key costs — employee wages —thereby enabling many firms to add staff they otherwise could not afford. In addition, the fund has strengthened overall consumer demand by enabling states to respond to the growing need among very poor parents and children for basic cash assistance and short-term, non-recurring needs.[2]

The fund is set to set to expire, however, on September 30, at a time when unemployment will still be very high and increasing numbers of individuals will have exhausted their unemployment benefits. States are already planning to start dismantling their subsidized jobs programs in anticipation of this withdrawal of federal financial help. If Congress fails to extend the fund, many of the 160,000 jobs it has helped create will be lost, and the additional subsidized jobs that small firms would create if additional funding were available will fail to materialize.

The fund’s expiration would also pose problems for small businesses. If firms participating in the program have not recovered enough to afford the wage costs, they will have to reduce staffing, and the individuals they hired with the help of the subsidy will again be unemployed. This would be a setback both for the economic recovery and for small firms participating in the program.

How the Subsidized Jobs Programs Work

Under the TANF Emergency Fund, each state — and in some states, each county or region — can design its own model of how subsidized job placements work, and states are using a range of models. This has enabled states and local areas to design their subsidized job programs in ways that best fit the needs of local businesses and communities.

Many states subsidize all, or nearly all, of the cost of the wages, while other states use a more modest, partial subsidy or one that declines over a period of months. Most commonly, states subsidize job placements that last six months; a few are shorter, and some are longer. States also have flexibility to determine who can qualify for a subsidized job. States need not limit participation to families receiving cash assistance, and a number of states are targeting a broader group of low-income unemployed parents, including those who are receiving — or exhausting — unemployment benefits. In all cases, the individual employer decides whom to hire, ensuring that firms are able to hire people who are a good fit for them.

How the TANF Emergency Fund Helps Small Businesses

Subsidizing all or much of an employee’s wage costs for a period of time is of particular help to small businesses that are not certain when they will be able to fully support the costs of hiring new workers. Although some TANF subsidized jobs programs require employers to hire the individual at the end of the subsidy period, others do not or simply encourage employers to do so. Either arrangement may actually be more beneficial to some small employers than the measures included in the jobs bill President Obama signed on March 18, which provides a temporary Social Security payroll tax suspension (equal to 6.2 percent of wages) through the end of the year and a $1,000 tax credit if the firm retains the new employee for a year.

The President observed when signing the legislation, “There is a lot more we need to do to spur hiring in the private sector and bring about a full economic recovery.” Extending the TANF Emergency Fund is one such step that can be especially beneficial to small businesses. The fund has helped small firms in three ways:

• Promoting business expansion. The recession has required many small firms to put expansion plans on hold. By reducing a portion of the costs (and therefore the risk) associated with expanding, the fund has allowed some small businesses to proceed with planned expansions. For example, Tennessee’s subsidized employment program enabled a pastry business to increase production, which in turn allowed the firm to expand its distribution area and purchase a packaging machine to increase its efficiency. This expansion proved successful; the firm found new customers — and the firm now plans to hire all of the workers it hired through the TANF subsidized jobs program as regular employees.
• Rehiring laid-off employees. Small businesses hit hard by the recession often lack sufficient reserves to keep valued employees during periods of weak demand for their products or services. The TANF Emergency Fund has allowed some small businesses to rehire laid-off employees sooner than they had planned. For example, a small rental company in rural Ohio was able to hire back an employee who had been laid off for an extended period and would otherwise have remained laid off. This employer is planning to keep the employee on staff after the three-month subsidy ends, in anticipation of a seasonal increase in business after the winter.
• Supporting new business start-ups. Starting a new business can be difficult during a period of weak demand because the risk of failure is much greater. This is unfortunate because new businesses are essential to the long-term economic viability of communities that have faced significant job losses before and during the recession. Some of these communities have been able to use the TANF Emergency Fund to attract new firms and to help businesses that are just starting to increase their chances of success. For example, a small city in Ohio worked with local business organizations to put together a package of incentives to encourage a new employer to move to the city. One of the incentives was TANF wage subsidies for new hires.

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The entire senior class at Chicago’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation.

Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at an all-school assembly at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men in Englewood this morning to congratulate them. It’s the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006.

Huberman applauded the seniors for making CPS shine.

“All of you in the senior class have shown that what matters is perseverance, what matters is focus, what matters is having a dream and following that dream,” Huberman said.

The school enforces a strict uniform of black blazers, khaki pants and red ties — with one exception. After a student receives the news he was accepted into college, he swaps his red tie for a red and gold one at an assembly.

The last 13 students received their college ties today, to thunderous applause.

Ask Rayvaughn Hines what college he was accepted to and he’ll answer with a question.

“Do you want me to name them all?”

For the 18-year-old from Back of the Yards, college was merely a concept–never a goal–growing up. Even within the last three years, he questioned if school, let alone college, was for him. Now, the senior is headed to the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. next fall.

Hines remembers the moment he put on his red and gold tie.

“I wanted to take my time because I was just so proud of myself,” he said. “I wanted everyone to see me put it on.”

The achievement might not merit a mayoral visit at one of the city’s elite, selective enrollment high schools. But Urban Prep, a charter school that enrolls using a lottery in one of the city’s more troubled neighborhoods, faced difficult odds. Only 4 percent of this year’s senior class read at grade level as freshmen, according to Tim King, the school’s CEO.

“I never had a doubt that we would achieve this goal,” King said. “Every single person we hired knew from the day one that this is what we do: We get our kids into college.”

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Friday, March 26, 2010
Ritz Theatre & LaVilla Museum
829 North Davis Street at
5 p.m.

Guest Panelists
Senator Anthony C. “Tony” Hill, Florida District 1
Dr. Pritchy Smith, Professor, University of North Florida
Rev. Kevin Thorpe, Faith Missionary Baptist Church, Gainesville, FL
Ms. Ann Whitney, Office of Humanities, Florida Department of Education

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The Jacksonville Community Engagement Group, an informal organization of about 80 corporate, elected and education leaders looking to improve the education of black males in Jacksonville, sponsored the event.

Perry’s school has been featured on CNN and BET for sending all graduates to college.

He addressed a litany of issues Saturday: Improving black children’s manners and dress, taking deadbeat fathers to task, and asking for “warning labels” to be placed on schools with underachieving test scores.

Educators too easily blame families and communities for the academic performance of their students, Perry said.

“We know good schools can mitigate the impact of poverty and race and gender,” he said. “We know that when you send a child to a good school, children learn.”

He said parents and community members have the wrong priorities because they’ve put sports and their child’s “sneaker budget” above education and tutoring.

“You know that there are raggedy schools here in Jacksonville,” he said. “And you let them stay open, and you let the teachers keep getting paid, keep getting their annual raises.”

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