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Making Black History work

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:30:00 MST

Each year, we dedicate 28 days to learning about our culture. Corporations, cities and organizations dedicate funds to promoting Black History, and they should.
After all, many southern governments and corporations benefitted from our forefathers’ forced labor as slaves. And the most damaging thing about American slavery for Blacks was the attempt to wipe out our sense of identity.

African American News&Issues endorses Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:30:00 MST

The African American News&Issues endorses Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for re-election to the 18th Congressional District. Jackson Lee has been good for our community for many reasons and we need to return her as our voice in Washington.

Congresswoman Jackson Lee has been at the forefront of bringing jobs and federal funds to her district and the general Houston area. Jackson Lee has won 125 grants totaling $351,000 from the federal stimulus bill for Congressional District 18. This is the fourth-largest amount of funds brought to a district by a Texas Member of Congress.

Publisher's New Analysis- Don’t drop your guards; it ain’t over yet

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:30:00 MST

As Black History Month comes to a close, I thought it might be time for a reminder that it’s not time to drop our guards. We have had the privilege of watching history unfold as Barack Hussein Obama was installed as the first Black president of the United States. Many thought we had finally overcome. But it’s not time to burn our picket signs. It ain’t over, yet.

Publisher's New Analysis- The benefit of our labor and sacrifice

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:00:00 MST

The success of African-Americans cannot be compared to any other race of people in America. Nor can our struggles, although we are not the only ones to suffer from racism and oppression. Native Americans, once portrayed as savages, were deceived, defeated and their land was stolen from them. And those who were not killed were swept into reservation camps where many still live. Those reservations are the equivalent of the 40 acres and a mule, freed slaves were promised in the Reconstruction Era.

Throughout the years, Native Americans have worked hard to gain control of their reservations and make them lucrative. Treaties they made with the U. S. government many years ago allowed them to preserve their language and tribal culture. In many ways, they have achieved what Pan-Africans have only dreamed of and the government helped them to do it.

In Texas, Mexican ranchers were killed and their land stolen from them by the now respected Texas Rangers. That is, after the land we now know as Texas was stolen from Mexico. For centuries they have served as under paid servants on land that once belonged to them. They were ridiculed and mocked by the other students.

I know who I am and I am not ashamed

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:00:00 MST

My father’s birth certificate says he is a “Negro.” My birth certificate says I am “Colored.” My daughter’s says she is “African-American.” My grandson’s says he is “Black.” We have four generations from the same bloodline, but we are identified with four different words to describe the same ethnicity.

I don’t mind being called “Colored,” or that my daddy was a “Negro.” But some people want to get rid of these words. They are offended by them. They do not realize that each word tells a story about our history. Each word tells us who we are and what we have gone through to get where we are.

Publisher's New Analysis- Don’t get caught up in my words; hear my message

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:30:00 MST

Recently, the Democrats in Washington, D.C. got a big surprise. The power balance shifted and they lost their super majority when Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown took the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat in the Senate. People thought that since Sen. Kennedy, a Democrat, had the seat for 46 years, Democrat Martha Coakley would be a shoe in. They were wrong.

The analysis is that people in Massachusetts, and people everywhere, are worried about the economy and they don’t feel the Democrats in Washington are really listening to them. But President Obama says they’ve got the message. They’re listening now. The key would have been to start listening sooner. But the Democrats assumed they already knew what the people wanted.

Listening is important. As one of my employees was describing what it was like to work for me, she commented on my “colorful language,” saying that, if a person can look past it, they will see someone who is fair and who cares about people. She was right.

PUBLISHER’S NEWS ANALYSIS: Was Haiti’s earthquake an act of God?

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:30:00 MST

“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

These words are inscribed on the Statute of Liberty, just 2,000 feet from the New York harbor. Now, in all fairness, these are not words penned by the American government. The French, inspired by the America’s idea of liberty, tolerance and acceptance, erected this statue, and inscribed these words as a gift to the land of dreams. But America has stood by them for centuries. But not for all. Not for Haitians.

Publisher's New Analysis- “Idiot’s Guide to Dummies”

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:30:00 MST

According to a CNN report, the government could have disrupted an al Qaeda plot to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day, but failed to identify Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab as a potential bomber. The report said it was due to the inability of the intelligence community to “connect the dots” in putting all the pieces of information and analysis together.” I wondered about this because, after 9-11, personal experience showed that African-American travellers were searched more thoroughly than middle easterners, although we had nothing to do with the World Trade Center disaster.

I chalked that one up to a dummy mentality, such as when an employer told of an employee he once hired who had spent 10 minutes watering silk plants. They allowed her to do it twice, once because they couldn’t believe she was really doing it and the second time because they had employees who had missed it the first time.

Publisher's News Analysis: Laying it out on the table

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:00:00 MST

There has been a whole lot of controversy about Houston’s new mayor, Annise Parker. The question has not been about her ability to serve, but about her moral right to do so. No, she hasn’t been caught stealing, extorting money or exchanging favors.

The uproar is about whom she chooses to love. What has always been a very private issue has now become public. So let’s lay it all on the table.

Recently, I openly endorsed Parker during her bid for mayor and I have received some flack about it. But I don’t mind the backlash. I have always believed that if you are not willing to stand for something, you will fall for anything.

We as Blacks have got to begin to take a stand and demand more for our people and ourselves and we have to stop worrying about the race, gender or sexual preference of the one who is willing to give us what we need.

Publisher's News Analysis: A Brother in the White House

no@spam.com (Roy Douglas Malonson) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:30:00 MST

We got a brother in the White House. Whether Republican or Democrat, male or female, this was a victory for all Blacks, a moment of pride. President Barack Hussein Obama became the first Black president of the United States.
Finally, America would see what we already knew and what others have been afraid of. The Black man is the most powerful man in the world. And given the chance, we can outperform anyone we’re up against.
It’s been proven time and time again. Look at Tiger Woods in golf and Venus and Serena Williams in tennis. They dominated a field that many Whites said Blacks were not intelligent enough to master. Look at Oprah Winfrey in media. The minute she hit syndication, she swallowed up Phil Donahue, the biggest talk show host around at the time.