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Uommentary
THE OUTSIDER...... LOOKING INSIDE
So are the
R '
epublicans
behind this?
enina thise
Sources close to The Outsider have given an inside look
at things. They are bringing to our attention that the
Republican Party Chairman Dave Barber sits on the
Housing Authority Board. They also have alleged that Mr.
Barbee never does anything unless it has some type of
political motive behind it. With that being said, it was not
a problem for him to push to put the people out of Gilbert
Manor and move in the students of MCG instead. * This
could possibly give him the opportunity to position more
of his kind of voters in that area. Also, possibly with redis
tricting in the air, it may move just enough people to Bar
bara Sims™ district down the street to loop in MCG. It’s
funny how all of that would somehow come together to
unfold just right for them. Now the only thing we have to
figure our now is what part would play out in favor to help
Mr. Tarver — since he is both the attorney for the Housing
Authority and the Senator for the district
The views expressed are the views of th
Ouutsider.......Looking Inside and do not necessarily repre
ent the views of the publisher .
What is Home Ownership?
Wealth building and the
accumulation of assets
plays a major role in the
quality of life and the eco
nomic empowerment of
our communities. While
creating one’s own finan
cial security has long been
considered part of achiev
ing the American Dream,
so%ms the prospect of own
ing one’s own home. In
lig%l( of this and recent
news of the housing mar
ket, the definition of
homeownership should be
re-examined.
A lot of the creative
financing has gone far
beyond prudence and real
ity.
Recently, 1 counseled a
cousin of mine who had
just finessed himself and
his wife into a million dol
lar home off their modest
salaries. | explained to him
that the &0 thousand
equity in the home was his
actual net worth. The
$950 thousand home value
Basketball: “Trying to sound black’
Continued from page 4A
ence’ when she a speech
on March 4 in g'lm.Alaba
ma, to commemorate the 1965
‘Bloody Sunday' civil rights
march. McGuirk added that
Clinton “will have cornrows
with [Sen. Barack] Obama
IL] is over.” Earlier in the pro
gram, in reference to Clintons
speech, McGuirk had said,
‘Bitch is be i
m’%&m
dctralxps(lirmndwill be ‘giving
stgns speeches.
'lT\eCr'psamu:rll.‘i:sAngda—
and everything else was
being off set by the mort
gage and the ridiculous
terms. A pink slip from
one of their jobs; unfore
seen illness, etc. could
quickly bring them to dis
aster. Be careful because
you are “rolling the dice”.
They weren't playing by
the rules and bad tKings do
happen.
In light of recent news
regarding impending
doom in the housing mar
ket due to the failure of
dozens of subprime lenders
over the past several
months, it will be impor
tant to keep in mind who
are the real victims of this
crisis. Have borrowers that
knowingly took out mort
gages a%ovc their means
truly been . victimized?
While owning one’s own
home has long been con
sidered the American
Dream, the definition of
homeownership should be
re-examined.
based street gang,
“Later, host Don Imus
brought up McGuirks prior
impersonations of African-
American poet Maya Angelou
asking, “Wlho was that
woman you used to do, the
poet? ... We used to get in all
that trouble every time youd do
her” As McGuirk launched
into the impersonation, Imus
said, ‘1 dont need any more
columns. Come on.” But Imus
did not stop McGuirk, who
delivered his impression in
verse:
McGUIRK: Whitey
plucked you from the jungle
AUGUSTA FOCUS
BLACKONOMICS By James Clingman
Hey Detroit! What’s up with that?
When | read about the newly
proposed Black “Entertain
ment Distria” in Detroit |
immediately thotht about the
roposed Bla Business
Elcfim prog:wd by Claud
Anderson a few years ago. You
remember, the one that was
deemed “divisive” and “racist.”
As | continued to read the arti
de in the Detroit Free Press,
ttled, “African-inspired Par
adise Valley plannc(f for area -
Entertainment h‘(‘)fi)ed for dis
trict,” by John Gallagher, I was
amazed at how quickly this
project came about «mj, how
wcl{ received it was by the City
administration. Hmmm.
Don't get me wrong, Detroit. |
am not suggesting an either-or
scenario here. A Black enter
ainment district is fine. My
question is: Why has it taken so
long to bring a Black business
district on-line in Detroit, and
why was it acceptable, it seems,
for some to call it racist and sep
aratist? Why arent those same
folks calling the Black enter
tainment district racist?
Detroit’s proposed Paradise
Valley Business and Entertain
ment District, as it is called, is
being lauded by the Down
town Development Authority
and the Mayor alike. Unlike
the initial concept of a Black
Business Endave, now called
Maroon City, which was
demonized by many, some of
whom were and are Black
themselves, and subliminally
connected to Hiders Mein
Kampf, there are no detractors
on [l‘I)C entertainment district.
Everybody knows Black people
Does taking out a loan
with no equity and artifi
cially low mortgage pay
ments for the first two
years make a borrower a
homeowner? Not after
those payments balloon
soon after, potentially
adding hundreds of dollars
each month in principal.
We are likely to see the
number of foreclosures rise
bver the coming months as
more and more of these
loans re-adjust to market
interest rates, especially
once you consider the fact
that 13 percent of out
standing mortgage debr is
in subprime loans, accord
ing to the Consumer Fed
eration of America.
Who will end up getting
burned by these exotic
mortgages and exploitative
loans? Several answers
could be offered to this
question, but the correct
choice may not be readily
apparent. Borrowers who
took out loans well above
for to many years
Took away your pride, your
dignity, and your spears...
With freedom came new woes
Into whitey's wordd you was
rudely cast So wake up now
and go o work? You can kiss
my big black [butt]”
It's ime to wake up and insist
that MSNBC, which daims to
be a repurable television net
work, and CBS, the programis
distributer, remove such raving
idiots from the airwaves. If
company officals refuse, we
should refuse o watch their
network or support their spon
sors. You can e-mail MSNBC
love to sing, dance, tell jokes,
and have a litde something o
drink at the same time. Wcfi)vc
to be entertained and we spend
a deal of money in that
ingl::t‘ . But do we consider
the difir{rencc between the local
economic impact of an enter
tainment district and that of a
manufacturing, distribution,
warehousing, and retail districe?
Again, we can and should have
both, but why the disparity,
espea;lgr in Detroit, Chocolate
City itself, when it comes to the
City's positive reaction to enter
tainment and the negative reac
tion to the Powernomics Busi
ness Plan? Is it that entertain
ment is safe for the real powers
that-be in Detroit? Its accept
able to party but unacccptafile
to build vertically integrated
businesses? The artide points
out that Paradise Valley is an
“African-inspired district simi
lar to Greektown and Mexican
town.” Say what? Ina city com
prising 85% Blacks, the com
arison is made to an already
Euilt and thriving array of com
munities owned and controlled
by non-Black ethnic groups! As
I said, “Whats up with that,
Detroit?”
Additionally, the article
points out that, “The idea for
an African-inspired entertain
ment district grew out of the
more ‘divisive African Town
concept debated by City
Coundl in 2004. When that
concept drew criticism as too
exdusionary and possibly dis
criminatory, [George] Jagfion's
(President of the Betmit Eco
nomic Growth Corp) group
their means to purchase
houses they knowingly
could not afford will be
forced to move out of their
houses. This is unfortu
. nate; however their negli
gent borrowing affects the
real victims in this tragedy:
responsible, hardworking
people who continue to
rent while saving any extra
income to make an ade
quate down payment that
will earn them a more
manageable 30 year fixed
rate mortgage.
The amount of money
these responsible renters
must save continues to be
driven up. As the number
of defaults on the sub
prime side continue to rise
lenders will be more hesi
tant to approve loans to
first time or other poten
tally high risk borrowers.
One way to assuage the
lenders™ risk aversion is to
require more money up
Sec Ownership, page 8A
at viewerservices@msnbc.com
or write them at MSNBC TV,
One MSNBC Plaza, Secaucus,
NJ. 07094. Telephone
201/583-5000. By allowing
Imus o pollute the airwaves,
MSNBC and CBS Radio are
the entities acting like hos.
George E. Curry, former eds
tor-in-chief of Emerge magazine
and the NNPA News Service, is
a keynote speaker, modemator; and
media coach. He can be reached
at george@georgecurry.com or
through his Web site,
wwgeorgecurry.com.
took over planning with a
pledge to make the idea more
indusive and more practica
ble.” It is simply amazing to me
that its always Black people
who are busy trying to make
our projects “industve,” while
we are being exduded from
everyone elses projects.
Here in Cincinnau, which is
nearly 50% Black, we are going
through much the same thing
when it comes to indusion.
Black people are careful not to
ruffle any feathers by being to
forward and pointing out the
lack of our infiion inasl bil
lion project on the Ohio River
front. Some Black Cincinna
tans are working tirelessly to
make sure there is indusion for
“everyone,” especially other so-
Gl"eg, “minorities? [zu the five
white men initially put in
charge ofne}:oti;uing the devel
opment deal for the project are
not leading the cfia e for
indusion. In faa, thevrhad to
be dragged kicking and scream
ing in order to get a couple of
Black guys ;ufdcd to their
working group.
We are such nice, retiring,
shy, unimposing, quiet, dodile,
reticent, and accommodating
ple; its no wonder other
ms treat us the way they do.
We are always looking out for
everyone else and paying litde
or no attention to the needs of
our people. We give deterence
to others and subjugate our
selves. Even in cities where we
dominate in population, we
still take a backseat to other
folks in their quest for econom
ic empowerment, on our backs
|etter to the Editor
Imus was wrong, now what about us?
How hypocritical of
prominent African Amer
icans to berate radio per
sonality Don Imus for
speaking disparagingly
about Black women
when Black male rappers
do the same thing all the
time. As a Black woman
who defends Black wom
anhood, | appreciate it
when anyone comes to
the defense of Black
muliebrity. But | am
puzzled.
Imus refers to the Rut
gers women’s basketball
team as “nappy-headed
hoes,” and Al Sharpton,
Jesse Jackson, and other
spotlight-hungry Blacks
become filled with indig
nation and protestation.
Imus appears on Sharp
ton’s radio talk show to
apologize, and Sharpton
courageously lets his
guest know that nothing
short of Imus’ termina
tion will serve as accept
able recompense for the
crime. Others picket the
NBC studious in New
York to protest Imus’
mere two-week suspen
sion. Supposedly, other
protests are in the works.
I am puzzled because
millions of musical
sound bites are sold every
week that are filled with
worse descriptions of
Black women than the
words Imus used—and
no one, save a handful of
ardent feminist voices,
launches a concerted
protest against it. A peek
at the lyrics of some of
rap music’s megastars—
Snoop Dogg. Dr. Dre, 50
Cent, and T. 1., to name a
few—reveals that these
April 12, 2007
much of the time, and accept
their rules of engagement
rather than csmblishing and
upholding our own.
Detroit, in my opinion, you
have the greatest opportunity
to show the rest of us the way
toward true economic free
dom, cooperation, and interde
pendence among Black people.
Go onand devefop your enter
rainment district, but please
follow through on Maroon
City as well. hn.lginc the jobs
you could “own’ as James
Brown advised us to do. Imag
ine the anallary industries you
could positively affect through
lmnuflncturing. rnxc.\\'ing.
reclamation, recycling, ware
housing, transportation, main
tenance, distribution, and
retail, just to name a few.
Right about now, | would
think Detroit, of all places,
would embrace as much own
ership and control of wealth
roducing industries as it can.
Kx/irh the demise of the auto
mobile industry | would think
Detroiters would be jumping
at the opportunities prcs‘cmcs
not only l}w entertainment but
by a thriving vibrant business
district, called Maroon City,
which will employ tens of
thousands of Black people and
create entrepreneurial opportu
nities for J\ou\’ands more. In
addition to Detroit being able
to say, “Party over here!” you
could also be shouting to the
world, “Business over here!”
Cmon, Detroit. Show us the
way (0 true economic empow
erment. Build Maroon City
100!
men demean Black
women in ways even
Imus is too savvy to do in
public. And yet—no call
from Rev. Sharpton or
Jesse for the heads of
these traitors.
[n one of Dre’s songs,
the word “hoe” is syn
onymous with “Black
woman~ and he declares
that a Black woman is
not worthy enough to
become a housewife (i.e.,
to marry). In another
song, he tells a woman,
“Ackrite b—h. When I
see you in the spot, you
just ackrite, youknahm
sayin? When | yank you
by the f—ckn perm don't
be lookin at a n— crazy.
Just get with the digits
and be the f—k out,
youknahmsayin?”
In & hix song, Tl
thinks he’s giving a com
pliment to the object of
his affection when he
tells her, “In a crowd full
of hoes | would notice yo
a—." What he’s really
saying to the young
Black woman is not that
she isn't a “hoe,” but that
she is a noticeable “hoe.”
In his music, 50 Cent
laments the fact that
everywhere he goes he’s
“surrounded by hoes,”
and he takes a whack at
the often voluptuous
forms of Black women by
vehemently declaring
how much he hates “fat
b—s.” Then he has the
nerve to say, ‘lf a b—
don'’t like me, somethin’
wrong with the b—.”
Snoop Dogg uses the
“B” word some 24 times
Sec Wrong, page 8A
5A