Blackinformant.com – African-American culture, news commentary, politics

Nelly and his family suffered a loss on Thursday [March 24] morning when the rapper's sister, Jacqueline Donahue, 31, passed away. Donahue was diagnosed with leukemia in March 2001, and in 2003 she founding the Jes Us 4 Jackie Foundation in 2003 to raise awareness about bone-marrow and stem-cell transplants, according to MTV News. Nelly, who had organized bone marrow drives to help find a transplant for his sister, cancelled ...More

This is the conclusion of a judge in Chicago who recently ruled that the 89-point requirement was a bit too high of a mark for minorities to reach: A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Chicago discriminated against African-American applicants who took a 1995 firefighter entrance exam, ending a long chapter in a seven-year legal battle. The lawsuit alleged that the exam's 89-point cutoff for well-qualified applicants would produce a smaller percentage of ...More

I’ve just about had enough of reading about how African-American women, no matter what the treatment, are worse off than Cacausian women when dealing with diseases even if they are treated…somehow, they are worse off! (How would that work for someone like me who is both black and white?) [more...] More

Minority neighborhoods in Durham and elsewhere in North Carolina have three times the number of payday lenders as white neighborhoods of the same size -- even taking into account income, age and gender, a Durham organization reported Tuesday. The lenders, which give short-term, high-interest loans to cash-strapped borrowers, are widening the income gap between black and white families and pulling people into "debt traps," Mark Pearce, president of the Center or ...More

Like many of you, I have heard just about all angles concerning the justification of Wal-Mart's existence. The one thing that is largely missing from this ongoing debate is black folks. I think that Wal-Mart for black folks is more of a blessing to the community than anything else. Low prices and jobs are always a good thing for a community in need of both. I know that is a very ...More

Mississippi will honor four martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement who died violent deaths as the victims of hate crimes. Emmett Till, the 14-year-old who was beaten to death in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a White woman, and the three civil rights advocates who traveled to Mississippi to urge Blacks to vote in 1964 and were later found dead, will be remembered and honored by having highways in ...More

So is that true? Are a good majority of the African American basketball players that Dr. Lapchick’s study points out only see the short term solution of escaping poverty by trying to use a college career as a stepping stone to the three letter league or is Coach Brown, myself and others just that far sighted and do not see the overall picture ourselves? I ponder the question because I’m ...More

REDBY, Minn. Mar 22, 2005 — The suspect in the worst U.S. school shooting since Columbine smiled and waved as he gunned down five students, a teacher and a guard, asking one of his victims whether he believed in God, witnesses said. The teen's grandfather and his grandfather's wife also were found dead, and the boy killed himself. Some of the victims were shot at close range, medical officials said. Reggie Graves, ...More

The director of IBM's Almaden Research Center is constructing a replica of a 1965 Cobra in his Morgan Hill garage. Dean plans to outfit the hot rod with a video camera and a laptop to record a journey across the country. While the project may sound ambitious, it's not a big deal for Dean, who holds nearly 40 patents, including three for the IBM personal computer. (emphasis mine) ...``Until recently, we haven't ...More

When I attended the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference in Dallas last year, there was all of this talk about getting involved in the political process and providing funding to campaigns. I stood up and said, "Stop saying what should happen and just do it. There are 1,000 folks in this room who have the ability to give $1,000 each to a political campaign or political action committee. That's $1 million. ...More

JACKSON - Margaret Burden of Tupelo, who wants to work as a professional hair braider, sees more economic opportunity for black women. Christina Barnes of Hazlehurst, who's undergone formal training to become a nail technician, sees more children dropping out of school. They have vastly different interpretations of the same bill that passed the Mississippi Senate on Wednesday. The bill would require professional hair braiders to register with the state Board of Health ...More

Currently I am on the road, so as I mentioned a couple of days ago, blogging will be somewhat brief on this site until Monday or so. In the meantime, I had some extra time on my hands (and a wireless connection :) ) to do a couple of posts and add some very interesting links to the menu to your right. Take care!! -------- It is estimated that 40 percent of ...More

Scientists are now looking at some of the chemicals in underarm hygiene products to see if there's any basis for these concerns. Parabens are one group of chemicals being studied. These chemicals are used to preserve foods, medicines, and cosmetics, and they're commonly found in underarm hygiene products. In past studies done in test tubes and animals, scientists found that parabens behaved like weak forms of the hormone estrogen. Parabens prompted ...More