South African 'Idol' yet to crown black winner after six seasons

The Grio

The hopefuls squeal as they're told that they're through to the next round. The judges squabble over which singers were off-key -- and which were pitch-perfect. Emotional video introductions tell the story of the contestant's 'journey' -- complete with schmaltzy slow-mo's and backing tracks.

You could be watching American Idol. Even the set and opening titles are familiar. But while Idols -- the South African reincarnation of the international franchise -- looks just like all the other foreign versions of the show, it doesn't quite look like South Africa. After six seasons of the program, it has yet to crown a black winner.

"White people vote for white people and black people get the short end of the stick", Mara Louw, one of the show's judges is reported to have told a newspaper after the end of the last run.

Click here to view a slideshow of black breakout stars on American Idol

Louw was speaking about the controversial grand finale, involving L'loyd Cele, a black pastor from Durban with a typically brutal upbringing in the slums of Apartheid South Africa. "As a child, some mornings you'd wake up and find someone dead right outside your house with a burning tire around their neck," he said of his childhood.

His competitor was a white performer -- Elvis Blue, a music teacher. Blue won -- even though many said that the black finalist was the greater talent.

Of course, it's all in the ear of the beholder. But some cynics have argued that because of Cele's skin-color, he didn't stand a chance -- even in a country which is 80 percent black.

"I don't know if that was the reason that I didn't win... I do have a lot of white fans, but it's a strange thing. I really don't know" he told theGrio.com. "We do have a problem. South Africa desires to be a place of liberation. It's a beautiful country -- I love this country... But we're still stuck in the race issue -- we're still stuck in the Apartheid era."

Just like American Idol, Idols requires viewers to call expensive phone lines to register their votes. So, the theory goes, it is left to a disproportionate number of wealthier white people to select the winner. Whatever people say publicly about racial harmony, do private polls on reality shows give an insight into what people are really thinking about other races?

"There are many factors that people take into consideration when voting: Yes, one will be talent but one will be race. You're in denial if you think it doesn't. We don't know for sure - but I'd bet me right kidney that it does", says Eusebius McKaiser -- a social commentator, radio host and black South African.

"In South Africa, one of the aspects of our daily reality is that we are more racially aware than your average person in the US or the UK -- even when we vote on TV shows. How can a society that has had such racial fury not have the issue of race come into people's perceptions on a show like this? And it's not just a white thing -- it's a general thing. Black voters latch on to black talent too."

"We tend to vote for people who look like us and sound like us. You want people who come from your background to succeed."

"But it's not necessarily racism. It's 'racial affinity'. If I prefer the black guy it doesn't mean that I need to go and see the shrink because of my attitudes to white people. The black contestant's biography speaks to me. I buy into that. I can identify with him - and yes he does look like me."

Aware of the racial affinity that black youngsters might have with him, L'loyd Cele is attempting to become a black role model for the youth of post-Apartheid South Africa: He has resisted raging about the result, or becoming a symbol of racial division. Instead, his first album, entitled 'One' will be a celebration of racial unity.

"We've got 11 tracks. Five songs are R&B, we have another four that are rock, some are a mixture of both. One is even written in Zulu. It's really about having different types of song, but calling it "One"... We have inspirational songs about living together and working together".

Meanwhile, the producers of Idols have just started filming the auditions for season seven. Soon, the judges' road-show will travel to Soweto -- the impoverished black township near Johannesburg which is said to be the spiritual heart of the black struggle for freedom. Seventeen years after the first multi-racial elections signaled the end of Apartheid, a very different mass vote has the potential to create a new black superstar. It would be celebrated as a significant step -- a journey not just for the contestant, but for all of South Africa.

Georgia's black population outgrows other minorities in state

By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY

USA TODAY


ATLANTA — Georgia's population grew by 18% over the last decade, a trend driven by African-American migration to a state whose capital has long been known nationally as "the Black Mecca."


The state added 1.5 million people over the past decade for a total of 9,687,653, according to new Census data. Georgia's black population growth — 579,335 — was greater than either the Hispanic (418,462) or white (285,259) population growth, says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. "Georgia is just a major magnet for African Americans, both high-skilled and low-skilled," he says. "For cultural reasons and for economic reasons, the black migration to the state is significant."


GEORGIA: Local county, city data
CENSUS NUMBERS: Interactive map shows your state, county, locality


Atlanta itself has actually grown whiter in the past decade while its suburbs have gotten blacker, according to Frey's analysis. Atlanta's population in 1990 was 67% black and 30% white; the suburbs were 71% white and 25% African American. By the end of the decade, non-Hispanic whites made up 39% of the city and 53% of the suburbs while blacks were 51% of the city and 31% of the suburbs.


"You have the young, white, single professional who's willing to take a new job in the city, live in a condo or apartment, and walk or take the bus to work," says Doug Bachtel, a demographer at the University of Georgia. "The growth of the African-American population in the suburbs is due to changing policies associated with housing discrimination. It's not a matter of race, it's social class. There are some gated black communities in (suburban) Cobb County."


The state's five biggest cities each posted gains; Atlanta grew 0.8% to 420,003; Augusta 0.4% to 200,549; Columbus 1.9% to 189,885; Savannah 3.6% to 136,286, and Athens-Clarke County 15% to 116,714.


Georgia's five biggest counties, four of them in metro Atlanta, were led by perennial growth engine Gwinnett, which set the pace with a 37% jump to 805,321.  Some areas saw sharp declines. "There is a significant amount of out-migration because of a loss of job opportunities," says Bachtel. "The recession has exacerbated that."

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Technological changes may lead to "reading divide"

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, March 17 | Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:00pm EDT

(Reuters Life!) - The rapid rise of e-books could lead to a "reading divide" as those unable to afford the new technology are left behind, even as U.S. reading and writing skills decline still further.

At particular threat are African-American communities where many students are already falling behind their majority peers in terms of literacy, said award-winning writer Marita Golden -- and this despite the growing ranks of noted African-American writers, such as Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.

"My biggest concern is that the technology will continue to widen the gap," she told Reuters. "It won't just be the digital divide but also a reading divide if reading becomes an activity that's now dependent on technology.

"If reading becomes dependent on technology that must be purchased, then I think we may see the literacy divide persist and even widen."

Years of discussion on the future of books amid the sweeping technological changes, along with a desire to make sure black writers were included in that discussion, prompted Golden to pull together her recent book, "The Word," in which African-American writers talk about how reading shaped their lives for the better.

Edward P. Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Known World," said he felt that "reading and writing are the foundations for becoming a better person and having a better life." Others said how reading about lives like their own helped validate their experiences and give them confidence.

In this sense technology, such as e-readers, can be both a blessing and a curse in terms of literacy, Golden said, with some readers who might have been intimidated by the number of pages in a traditional book eagerly reading on an e-reader.

In addition, with the U.S. African-American community owning more mobile phones and BlackBerries than the white community, potential exists to tap into a broad market, she added.

"But the problem is that you can either download games or download books, and we don't know what people are going to download," she said.

Despite undergoing some struggles with the idea of the new technology, Golden said that the need to emphasize the basics remains more important than ever.

"On the one hand, you have all these great writers -- there's been just a flowering, explosion of African-American writers over the last 20-30 years -- side-by-side with an increasing dropout rate among black students, and a sense that more and more black students are being left behind," she said.

"And I think that for those of us who are passionate about reading and writing in the face of the technological changes and this nagging, persistent problem, we have to really advocate for just the basic importance of reading and writing -- whether you're reading on a Kindle, or whatever."

(Editing by Steve Addison)

L.A. County judge admonished for making Ku Klux Klan remark in case involving African Americans

A Los Angeles County criminal judge who made a remark referencing the Ku Klux Klan in a case involving two African American defendants was publicly admonished Wednesday by a state agency overseeing judges' discipline.

Judge Harvey Giss of the San Fernando courthouse made the comments last July during an off-the-record discussion with attorneys about a possible plea agreement in the case, according to the state Commission on Judicial Performance.

DOCUMENT: Read the public admonishment

Neither of the defendants were present, but a family member was in the courtroom, according to the commission. Giss told the commission he remarked that the only thing that would make the defendants agree to a plea was for the judge to "come out in a white sheet and a pointy white hat," according to the panel's statement of facts.

Two days later, when the defense asked the judge to recuse himself because of the remark, Giss conceded that he had made a "bad statement" but said, "People don't have a sense of humor anymore," according to the statement of facts.

Giss, a former deputy district attorney who has been on the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench since April 2001, eventually withdrew from the case.

The commission concluded that the judge’s comments constituted failure to refrain from speech that could be perceived as bias or prejudice, failure to be dignified and courteous to litigants and lawyers, and failure to avoid impropriety.

"Judge Giss should have known that his insensitive courtroom reference to a history of violence towards persons of the defendants' ancestry, whether intended to make a valid point regarding his role as a judge or in jest, was offensive and inappropriate," the commission found.

Less weight gain found among African-American women in dense urban areas

(Boston) - Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) Slone Epidemiology Center have found that African-American women who live in more densely populated urban areas gain less weight than those in more sprawling auto-oriented areas. The results, which appear in the current issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, were based on data collected in the Black Women's Health Study, an ongoing study of the health of 59,000 African American women conducted by the researchers since 1995.

While studies conducted at a single point in time have found higher levels of obesity among residents of sprawling areas compared to residents of more urban areas, there has been little information on this topic from studies that have followed residents over time.

The researchers assessed the association of women's residential environments with weight change and the incidence of obesity during a six year period of follow-up in the Black Women's Health Study. They focused on nearly 18,000 women who lived in the New York, Chicago or Los Angeles metropolitan areas. The women's residential neighborhoods were characterized by an "urbanicity score"— considered dense urban neighborhoods.

They found that both six year weight gain and the incidence of obesity were lower among women who had high urbanicity scores as compared to those with low scores. Women who lived in suburban or rural neighborhoods were considered to have low urbanicity scores.

According to the researchers, a previous study of these women, found those who lived in denser neighborhoods walked more than women in more sprawling areas. "Policies that encourage more dense and urban residential development may have a positive role to play in addressing the obesity epidemic," said lead author Patricia Coogan, MPH, D Sc, a senior epidemiologist at the Slone Center and an associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health.

###

Funding for this study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson compares NFL owners' treatment of players to 'modern-day slavery' in an online interview

http://www.twincities.com

Players 'getting robbed,' Viking says in interview

By Jeremy Fowler
jfowler@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 03/16/2011 09:24:58 AM CDT

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson compared NFL owners' treatment of players to "modern-day slavery," according to an online interview published Tuesday by Yahoo! Sports.

Yahoo's Doug Farrar, who conducted the interview Friday with Peterson, removed that comment from the story later Tuesday, explaining on Twitter that he wants to give Peterson the chance to provide context.

Peterson, who is known to be thoughtful when speaking with the local media in Minnesota, is in Africa with other NFL players on a goodwill trip and unavailable for immediate comment.

NFL owners and players couldn't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement last week after more than two weeks of federal mediation. Shortly before the players union

decertified, Peterson spoke to Yahoo to promote a recent appearance on the online reality show "Double Take." The NFL declared a lockout when the CBA expired.

"The players are getting robbed. They are," Peterson told Yahoo. "The owners are making so much money off of us to begin with. I don't know that I want to quote myself on that."

When discussing other players feeling the same way, Peterson said: "It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money. ... The owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey, without us, there's no football.' "

Peterson is set to make $10.72 million in base salary in 2011.

The Vikings declined to comment. Peterson's agent, Ben Dogra, supported his client in a statement Tuesday night.

"I think anybody that knows Adrian knows that Adrian is a very strong-willed and passionate individual," Dogra said. "The game means an awful lot to him. People should not just take his statements per se word by word. It's a difficult time. He would love to play.

"I'm sure that everybody would love to see football continue in the NFL, and I'm sure at some point it will get resolved. But Adrian, that's what makes him great. He's soft-spoken, but if he has something on his mind he'll speak it. But I think nobody should really look at those words and take them out of context."

Green Bay Packers running back Ryan Grant took exception to Peterson's comment, writing on Twitter: "Their is unfortunately actually still slavery existing in our world. Literal modern day slavery. That was a very misinformed statement."

Added Grant: "But I understand what point he was trying to make. I just feel like he should have been advised a little differently."

Saints fullback Heath Evans said he agrees with most of the Twitter responses about Peterson, which have been mostly negative.

"We are all blessed to even strap a helmet on in this league!" Evans tweeted.

Study: Racial Disparity in Graduation Rates Rose

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A study released Monday shows growing disparity between graduation rates for white and black players at schools in the men's NCAA basketball tournament.

An annual report by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found a 2 percent overall graduation rate increase to 66 percent for Division I players, but showed the rates for white players is increasing at a higher rate.

The gap has grown from 22 percent in 2009 to a current level of 32 percent. White players show a 91 percent graduation rate, which is up 7 percent. Black players have a graduation rate at 59 percent, up 3 percent from last year's study. This is the third straight year the gap has increased.

Richard Lapchick, the institute director and primary author of the study, said the gap makes it hard to celebrate the overall progress.

"To say that it's troubling is an understatement," Lapchick said. "It is a staggering gap, but I think you've seen an increased percentage among African-American athletes over the years because of the (Academic Progress Rate) thresholds. Losing scholarships is a big lever there. But I think now you have to raise the expectation level of the rates."

Information was collected by the NCAA from member institutions for the study. The institute reviewed the six-year graduation rates of each school's freshman class that enrolled in 2003-04, then calculated a four-class average. Princeton was not included in the overall graduation rate figure because it, like other Ivy League schools, doesn't report graduation rates.

Only five schools (Boston University, Northern Colorado, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, North Carolina-Ashville) have graduation rates for black players that were higher than their figures for white players.

The NCAA created the APR in 2004 to improve graduation rates, disciplining schools in the form of lost scholarships when they don't meet the NCAA standard for academic performance. Teams that score below 925 — equal to a graduation rate of 50 percent— can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships. Poor performance over time could lead to harsher penalties.

Lapchick said he would like to see the NCAA standard go up to 60 percent. Only 10 teams in this year's tournament show APRs below 925, with 41 teams with an APR of 950 or higher and 36 teams with an APR of 960 or higher.

"I think that would help also put pressure on athletes, including African-American basketball players, and the schools will have to be more accountable to make sure they have the opportunity to be successful in finishing their degrees," Lapchick said.

A report on the teams competing in the women's NCAA tournament will be released Tuesday.

Is biracial the new beauty ideal? Survey says yes

(Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage for GQ)

http://www.thegrio.com

There was a time when Marilyn Monroe and Christie Brinkley represented the epitome of mainstream American beauty. A recent survey conducted by the beauty magazine Allure says that is no longer true. Instead, according to 64 percent of those surveyed for the "What's Beautiful Now: The Allure American Beauty Survey," mixed race women are now considered most attractive.

Twenty years ago Allure conducted a similar survey so the magazine compared its findings then to the those from the recent study and according to Real Style Network, "[t]hey found that our tastes are changing and where once blonde hair and blue eyes were the epitome of beauty, now we embrace dark hair, curves and dark skin."

Click here to view a slideshow of non-black stars with 'ethnic' assets

Now it goes without saying that white people dominated the more than 2,000 men and women surveyed. So, more correctly, the study reflects the beauty ideals of white people and not Americans of all races. But the findings, while encouraging, can also be misleading.

Yes, today Halle Berry, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys regularly top mainstream top beauty lists. And, for the most part, black and white Americans are in total agreement that these three women are especially beautiful. So, in that sense, black and white Americans demonstrate similar tastes in beauty. What isn't noted is that while these three women would not be mistaken for white they do conform to more Caucasian ideals of beauty, with all three women possessing lighter skin and more delicate features.

On the flipside, Denzel Washington, who is now lauded for his looks by both black and white American media, is a browner hue. Kerry Washington may be considered a beauty in some mainstream circles but she rarely tops lists by black or white media as being among the most beautiful. It's not a stretch to say that Washington probably would not win out over Halle Berry or Beyoncé even among her most adoring fans.

Similarly, Naomi Campbell has been a top model for years but yet rarely tops any mainstream American most beautiful lists. In fact, few brown skin women ever do. Even historically, African-American women who have been hailed for their beauty in the mainstream generally tend to have lighter skin. Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge immediately come to mind.

As Beyoncé, who has two African-American parents, has increasingly been acknowledged for her beauty, there have been allegations that her skin has become even fairer. In 2008, numerous media outlets like MTV.com ran stories about the apparent lightening of her skin in her L'Oreal ads. L'Oreal denied the allegations.

Interestingly, there are some in the Latino community who have noted that current American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez's looks became noticeably more Caucasian looking as her stardom expanded. One glance at her style evolution by Cosmopolitan appears to support that claim. So those standards of beauty also nag other communities of color.

Within the African-American community, what are our standards of beauty? Have they changed considerably in the last two decades? Are they that much different than those of the mainstream? Judging by rap videos now as opposed to the 1990s, the women have become increasingly more biracial looking. In 2000, Denene Millner, then a staff writer for the New York Daily News, wrote "Blackout Dark-skin women have been banished to the background in rap videos."

"It seems clear that the 'Not-Quites' -- women of color who don't quite look black -- are the rappers' delights," wrote Millner. "They're the ones who get invited to the mansions, the beaches, the bathtubs, the beds."

Recently some of Lil Wayne's lyrics where he specifically announces his preference for a "redbone" chick as in "Every Girl" have come under fire. But when it comes to those standards of beauty he is not the only black man with such preferences. Look at past editions of black men's magazines like King and women who are fair skin do tend to dominate. Darker skin women in those types of magazines tend to appear more exotic and often their Latino, Native American or various other heritages is emphasized.

Yes, the United States and the world are both becoming increasingly more mixed racially and so it can be argued that that's why more African-Americans and other women of color are topping such lists. The National Policy Institute actually released a report in 2008 that globally the white population is set to plummet to a single digit number by 2060 so obviously some attitudes have to adjust. The question, however, is: are those age-old beauty standards that have dominated for decades being appropriated to allow women of color in?

In other words, are the women of color who appear more Caucasian rewarded for their beauty over those women who are more representative of their racial and ethnic groups? After all, despite the increasing diversity, white people still dominate the industries that set the agenda for beauty in this country and in many parts of the world. So, while the Allure survey is interesting, attitudes regarding what's beautiful may not have come as far as the survey suggests. When it comes to what's considered beautiful in the mainstream, we still have a long way to go.

Dwyane Wade sets strong example for black dads…

ThyBlackMan.com
(ThyBlackMan.com) If the African-American community is going to throw a Holy Ghost party because Dwyane Wade has decided to do what the overwhelming majority of black men refuse to do — take full responsibility and custody of his two sons — then I’m afraid the crisis of absentee fatherhood, perhaps the single biggest contributor to the disproportionate number of black men in prison compared to whites, still isn’t resonating as it should.


A U.S. Census Bureau Report issued last Oct., revealed that while blacks make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, in 2006 41 percent of the nation’s  2 million inmates were black. I’m willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of them grew up without a father active in their lives.

On Monday, the image of a smiling Wade and his sons, eight and three, respectively, was all over the Internet. Over the last two years, an image of Wade’s ex-wife, Siohvaughn, has emerged as a woman who physically abused the NBA superstar. She accused Wade of passing on to her a sexually transmitted disease, not spending enough time with their children, and of adultery.

Upon winning custody, Wade, named the 2007“Father of the Year” by the National Father’s Day Committee, reiterated that he wanted his boys to have a healthy relationship with their mother, who was awarded alternate weekends with the boys in Miami.

“My life changed in a huge way,” a relieved Wade said. “Mentally, I’ve been preparing for it for over a year now. To me, it’s bigger than that. For me, it shows a lot of people that you need to fight to be in your kids’ lives sometimes. You fight until you can’t fight any more. That’s all I was trying to be, a father in my kids’ lives.”

Unfortunately, the reality in the African-American community is that this type of thinking by black men is almost an alien notion if we are to believe most studies on the absentee black dad.

Revel in Wade doing what he should do; what he feels is his natural duty, what any real man should feel compelled to do the moment his child springs forth from its mother’s womb. But viewing this as some sort of civil rights benchmark is almost as foolish as cheering the not-guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson case while ignoring the freshly minted black convicts who that same day in 1995 flooded into penitentiaries across the nation, 90 percent of them — and that’s probably on the low end — for crimes committed in their own neighborhoods, against their own people.

Consider, if you will, a report released last October by the Council of Great City Schools that addresses the crisis some called leaders would prefer to call “dirty laundry” rather than what it is actually bordering on: self-inflicted genocide.

*Seventy percent of all African-American children are born to unwed mothers.

*Black children are three times more likely than whites to live in a single-parent home.

*In 2008, black males were imprisoned at a rate six-and-a-half times higher than white males.

*By the time they reach their mid-30s, a majority of black men without a high school diploma has spent time in prison.

Not for one second do I discount the role of racial and economic injustices that have helped to decimate the black community decade after decade after decade. Nor am I ignoring the ongoing deterioration of the public school system in the big cities and the poor rural south that are so dominated by black faces.

But in this depressed economy, isn’t it at least common sense to suggest that if there ever were a time for black families to coalesce that time is right here and right now?
This deplorable state hasn’t been orchestrated solely under the conduction of black men. No, he often has a willing accomplice in the black women. Too often, the black woman makes it impossible for her mate — already marginalized from the time he exits the front door until he comes home — to find rest in her bosom. There are thousands of extraordinary black men who desperately want to do right for their children.

But make no mistake about it, there are just as many black women who embody the monstrous matriarch from Precious, if not in the way she was played by Mo’Nique than in other abominable incarnations, making life with her under the same roof unbearable.

When a horrifically bad team plays better than expected but still winds up on the losing end of a game, sportswriters, searching for a storyline, like to suggest to the coach of the scrubs that this was a moral victory. And oftentimes the coach, wanting to blunt the pangs of yet another loss, will follow along with the mindless narrative.

He’ll take the easy way out.

Wade didn’t. Applaud him.

But don’t think for one minute that he is the rule and not the exception.

Written by John Mitchell

Official website; http://twitter.com/jmitch65