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

(earthtimes.or) SANFORD, Fla., July 28 A 7-year-old Florida boy accidentally swallowed his "grill -- a decorative mental mouthpiece popular in the hip-hop culture, it was reported Saturday. Bobby Tedesco's mother, Dawn, bought the grill for him at a flea market in Sanford, Orlando TV station WKMG reported Saturday. When it fell off his teeth and began choking him, his mother tried to clear his throat. He swallowed it and was rushed to ...More

Anthony Asadullah Samad writes: In a materialistic world, what is the most valuable thing you can give your young boys? Nope, it’s not money -- they’ll spend it on rims and shoes. Nope, it’s not “bling” -- they’ll only create a false illusion of wealth that, in the end, they’ll pawn. Nope, not video games -- it only makes them fat and lazy (but they’ll have strong thumbs). How about a ...More

(hattiesburgamerican.com) Hispanic-owned restaurants and bars in Mississippi increased roughly from 44 in 1997 to 101 in 2002, said Lee Wentela, chief of the Economic Census Branch. Sales at those firms went from $8.6 million to $32.4 million – a 277 percent increase – in the same period. Nationally, Hispanic-owned establishments grew 38 percent. The $32.4 million is about 15 percent of the $213 million in reported earnings for Hispanic-owned businesses in ...More

Last week I received a call from a very good friend of mine. After we caught up on life and family he told me about a young man that both he and I helped mentor some years back. He proceeded to tell me that this young man (who has only been married for a few years to a very beautiful wife) has been contemplating divorce. In fact, his wife had ...More

My mom called us this morning to tell us to check it out. I will not go into all the details of this show until tomorrow. But f.y.i. the real highlight of the show were the three guests who talked about the topic of "Blacks and money". Nothing new (especially to readers of this site), but it can't be talked about enough. I think it comes on later this evening on ...More

J. Lee Grady writes: Just when I thought we charismatics had finally taken enough abuse from the egomaniac ministers in our midst, I’ve learned that some of our leaders are taking things to a new extreme. We’ve moved beyond the red carpets, limousines and entourages of the 1990s. A new strain of the celebrity virus is spreading in large segments of the church. One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to ...More

We are making them dance to "Thriller". Filipino Inmates Do "Thriller" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H6mmTvDUdA] Shame on us! lol! More

(marketplacemoney.publicradio.org) At a strip mall in the Watts section of Los Angeles, there's a supermarket, a grocery store and a public library. The community is predominately African American, and the average yearly house hold income here is under 18,000. What's missing from this shopping center is a bank. Instead, there are two check-cashing businesses in the strip mall. No surprise really. The Ford Foundation reports that there are 22,000 Payday loan shops ...More

Since the days of the Cosby show of the 80's, I have lost a lot of interest in about 99% of sitcoms--especially the family-based ones. One of the things that I liked about the Cosby show was that the father (Bill Cosby) was not a weak punk whose wife is the only one with both the brains and maturity in the household. John Amos' character in Good Times was also ...More

(BLACK PR WIRE) Soccer continues to slowly and quietly grow in the African-American community. Until just a few years ago, in the U.S. in particular, the game of soccer remained popular in the Suburbs, mainly among Anglo, middle-class Americans; ergo the term "soccer moms". Today, however, soccer (similar to basketball) is one of the biggest sports being played in U.S. neighborhoods, and (world-wide) by professional athletes. While it's not uncommon to ...More

This is why I think Black folks suspicion of the medical field is rooted more than just the Tuskegee experiments. Sorry, Grandma may be old, but she had some sense! From website (link): Each year, more than 9.6 million adverse drug reactions occur in older Americans. The referenced study found that 37% of these adverse reactions were not reported to the doctor, presumably because patients did not realize the reactions were due to ...More

(latimes.com) Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who was elected to represent some of the county's poorest neighborhoods, is living in a gated Brentwood home, despite laws requiring her to reside in the predominantly South Los Angeles district she serves. In an interview with The Times two weeks ago, Burke said it was only on weekends and special occasions that she used her Brentwood home — a 4,000-square-foot residence with ...More

(northjersey.com) PATERSON -- Someone stole 1,000 gallons of water from Daisy Valdivia's backyard. And they didn't spill a drop. Valdivia woke Wednesday morning to find that her family's inflatable pool, hip high and 10 feet in diameter and filled with water, was stolen from her backyard in the middle of the night. There is no evidence that the water was poured out, pumped out, evaporated or drunk. "I've never heard of a ...More