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2A April 15, 2004 National World Rice embraces families of Sept.ll victims after contentious hearing WASHINGTON (AP) —When it was all over, after nearly three hours of some times contentious question ing before the 9-11 com mission, it was Condoleezza Rice who offered the first hugs. The national security adviser rose from the wit ness chair Thursday, April 8 and came to face to face with those who still have so many questions about why their loved ones had to die. Rice smiled and offered a few family members hand On the ‘Down-Low’ By KWELI 1. WRIGHT BET.com Staff Writer Just a few weeks ago, Star Jones, co-host of The View, and her fiancée, Al Reynolds, rejected reports that their whirlwind relationship and engagement was in trouble because of rumors about Reynolds’ sexual preference. ¢ e had one mm&m in a gay section of Fire Island and attended an all-male Hal loween party in his Speedos, ignited talk that Reynolds was on the “down-low” —a man who doesn't call himself gay or bisexual, but has sex with men, often behind the back of his wife or girlfriend. Jones and Reynolds dis missed the reports, saying they discussed their “person al histories” and, basically, that it was nobodys damn l . tfv, N & % ‘ Nielsen delays ‘people meter’ rollout in New York By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — After accusations that black and His panic viewers were being under counted, Nielsen Media 6 to delay its rollout of its new “people meter” television rating system. Nielsen insists its numbers are accurate, but agreed to the delay shakes, then reached out her arms to embrace a few more. Some politely thanked her for her testimony, but others wanted more. “Accountability, ma’am, accountability,” called out Carie Lemack, whose mother died on American Airlines Flight 11, the first hijacked plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. “I want the full truth.” Lemack said she was too flustered to remem business. Men on the “down-low” is nothing new. In the 19905, E. Lynn Harri§ popular books about bisexual African American men who lead double lives hit the stores. Today, the musical adapta tion of Harris' best-selling story of the same name, Noz A Day Goes By, continues to the African American com munity, which is far more than an issue of whether black men are deceiving black women. The issue of bisexual men and the potential for spread ing deadly disease, including H.LV/AIDS, is a major fear, especially considering the studies showing that African American women are more likely to contract AIDS via heterosexual sex. Government studies of 29 “out of respect and concern for how the community sees this,” said Susan Whiting, the compa ny's president and CEO. In tests of the new system, almost all of the most popular shows in black households dropped in the ratings, some up to 60 percent. Whiting announced the deci sion to put off Thursday’s scheduled launch until June 3at a news conference in U.S. Rep. AUGUSTA FOCUS ber what Rice said in response. ; Rosemary Dillard, whose husband died on the plane that hit the Pentagon, her self offered Rice a hug, say ing she wanted to “give her some support.” But even so, Dillard said she wasn’t com pletely satisfied with the answers Rice provided. “I don't know if we'll ever find out what genuinely happened,” Dillard said. Some of Rice’s answers, she said, were “political spin. states show that an African American woman is 23 times more likely to be infected with AIDS than a white woman. In addition, black women accounted for 71.8 percent of new H.LV. cases in women from 1999 through 2002. While the recent number of infections has stabilized, the incidence of picking up the ' discase through heterosexual sex has increased. Other studies suggest that some 30 percent of all African American bisexual males may have the HLV infection — and 90 percent of that number do not _know they are infected. In 2002, African Ameri cans — who comprise about 13 percent of the national population — accounted for 42 percent of those having AIDS, and more than half of those diagnosed with new infections. Researchers believe that the high incidence of blacks having sex with blacks only keeps the disease within an African American “sexual network.” Within this “network,” black women outnumber black men— the 2002 census data show there are 12.6 women 21 or older, com pared with 9.9 million black men. And on the heels of the Star Jones story, marriage rates in the African American com munity are dropping, which means folks are having more than one parter at the same time. ' Charles Rangels (D-N.Y) Harlem office. Rangel, who said he had just been made aware of the con cerns, said he and Nielsen would form a task force to study the issue. “T'm satisfied that at least I'll have the time to figure this out,” he said. Nielsen is'in the midst of a gradual rollout of its “people meter” in the nation's largest tel evision markets. We didn’t get the answers we wanted.” It was a notably different scene from two weeks ago, when family members spontaneously moved to embrace former Bush coun terterrorism aide Richard Clarke after his testimo ny, in which he apolo gized for the adminis tration’s failure to thwart the attack and criticized the govern ment’s failure to do more. ‘Color-ism’ still prevalent among African Americans %PHAZEL TRICE EDNEY ’A_Correspondent This is the first of two arti cles on how ones complexion still colors how many African-Americans view themselves and others in their community. : S AS NG To N (NNPA) - Atima Omara- Alwala had just left her office at the State Capitol in Richmond, Va. and was on her way to lunch when she heard a voice from a passing car scream, “Blackie!” It was the kind of insult that she has come to expect but not accept: A few years earlier, as a sophomore at the Universi ty of Virginia in Char lottesville, 40 miles away, she heard some guys in a passing car laugh as one yelled, “Darkiel” That anyone would stoop to that level of behavior was disappointing enough. But what made these insults doubly painful was that they were uttered by black men. “It’s not surprising any more. But it’s still some what painful,” Omara- Alwala admits. “I kind of wince or flinch on the inside. Even when I work in black communities, I'm always conscious that there might be some reason that I'll be picked on - not because of any fault in my personality — just the fact that 'm this complexion. And, of course, I'm no good \if ’m this complexion.” Currendy, 500 households in each big city record their view ing habits in a diary kept during four ratings “sweeps” months. The new system uses a larger sample — 800 households —and electronically records what peo ple are watching every day through a device connected to their TV. Nielsen already uses the “peo ple meters” to measure national ratings in an entirely different e 2 o y b M.; ‘ ‘ ':? R Condoleezza Rice Omara-Alwala’s complex ion is dark. She was born in Providence, R.I. to parents from Uganda in East Africa. C. Yveute Taylor, a psy chologist who counsels many women of color at the University of Virginia says stereotypes based on colos are novusnusual. . yfi“&m% stilff exist' and they are age old,” she says. “And they very likely will always be around. And the ramifications of them are myriad. Lots of people - women and men — struggle with the skin-tone issue.” Taylor argues that light skinned African-Americans are favored because they more closely resemble the white majority in the U.S,, which is depicted as the paragon of beauty in photo- (4 - :a . A /: ; o e: g R 3 Wi o e \ § o L b "‘ P b - ’ 8 f 1 M ! 1 E B R a 4 4 9 ] & | ! ks l ‘)r ) < - . | & s e . LL o e hoe / P g .. e v vy . WW . e .:(.:,:.fl‘: e ~ o &Pl Fo P> " T Bl el W R sy ; Photo by Hazel Edney/NNPA Danielle Smith proudiy displays her “Black is Beautiful” tattoo sample. Boston is the only city where the new local system is operat ing. Nielsen — which wants “people meters” in the 10 largest dties by 2006 -has similarly delayed launches in Chicago and Los Angeles. In Los Ange les, there were concerns the new sample did not have enough minority representation, Nielsen said. : That's not the case in New graphs, television commer cials and popular culture. She also traces it back to slavery and the favoritism the master showed toward light-skin slaves, some of whom he had sexually exploited against their will. Books, such as Delores hillips’ . Darkest, Child, f,’fifid il ;fiigfiu, addresses the issue of preju dice among people who have been the object of prejudice for years. She observes, “Attitudes of prej udice have been adopted by its victims. And the result ing struggle of those who are darker complected is a struggle, not only against outsiders, but against the closest of kin.”Omara- Alwala knows about that See Color page 10A York; Whiting claims the new sample better represents the city’s ethnic makeup than the group filling out diaries. However, during test runs of the new system, virtually all of the most popular programs in black households showed rat ings declines, some more than 60 percent, according to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who had urged the delay.