In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father’s killer.
Jay Cocks (story), Jay Cocks (screenplay), and 2 more credits »
What will America do with 36 million Black Americans now that there is no more cotton to pick? Even in states like Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, Black people are not involved in the planting, growing or harvesting of cotton. This is now done by White and Latino men and women who drive machines that plant and pick the cotton, as millions of Black men of working age stand idle on street corners. For Black people in America, there is no more cotton to pick.
Black people were brought to America as slaves to pick cotton, tobacco and sugar cane. America‘s dilemma today is: what to do with 36 million Black American descendants of slaves who were shipped to American shores 400 years ago for their economic value yet whose heirs today have lost that value? While America might have once considered shipping Black Americans back to Africa, that is no longer a practical or palatable option.
So America has a serious problem that demands a solution. What will America do with 36 million Black Americans who have lost their value to the American economy? As the world moves towards science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM), fewer than fifty percent of Black boys graduate from high school in the United States. Many of those who graduate are given diplomas that qualify them for low-wage jobs or no jobs at all, street-corner hustling, incarceration and violent death. At best, the majority of Black students in America get an education that prepares them to only pick cotton – if there were cotton for them to pick.
According to an October 2010 Research Update to The Crisis Deepens 2009, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development, the Black male (ages 16 to 64) joblessness rate (53.3%) is the highest ever recorded among working-age black males in Milwaukee – the second highest American city jobless rate after Detroit (59.5%). Other metropolitan cities at incomprehensible levels include Buffalo, 52.3%; Cleveland, 52.3%; Chicago, 50.3% and Pittsburgh, 50.3%. Additionally, a December 2010 policy brief, Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest by Community Service Society of New York shows only 25% of young Black men in New York City between 16 and 24 years of age have a job.
While Black America laments the disastrously low employment rate of Black males, hundreds of thousands of foreign H-1B Visa workers (primarily but not exclusively in the high-tech industry) are imported to the U.S. to take jobs paying $100,000 a year and more. At the same time, many Black males in America who want to work will not be able to get jobs sweeping streets, cleaning toilets or picking cotton.
Our Northern cities have tired of their Black populations, and America is now “getting out of the Black people business.” Neighborhoods that used to be “Black Belts,” like Harlem in New York City, Bronzeville in Chicago and much of Washington, D.C., have gone upscale, and, as a result, most Blacks cannot afford to live there. So it is back to the South for many of them. This time, however, they will not be allowed to even pick cotton because there’s no more cotton for Black Americans to pick.
If Black America is to survive (and there is no assurance), these are the five keys to fixing our economic and social problems:
1) Rebuild the Black family. Every major problem in the Black community, including poor education, massive unemployment, senseless violence, hyper-incarceration, lost spirituality, low-quality housing options and high mortality rates, can be traced to the disintegration of the Black family.
2) Provide Black boys with strong, positive Black men as mentors, role models and, particularly, a connection to their fathers. Black boys, like any other children, will imitate and become what they see. It is critical that Black children see strong, positive Black men.
3) Control the negative peer culture and electronic media that mold many Black boys and men into violent, irresponsible and uncaring human beings. Either Black people will control the media that we consume or the media will control us.
4) Understand that for the rest of our existence, Black people will live in a “STEMM” world, a world based on Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine (STEMM). If we are to survive, it will be because we understand and master “STEMM.” We must teach Black children accordingly.
5) Control our economic fate by mastering the principles of entrepreneurship, business, management, finance, accounting, manufacturing, saving, investing, banking and tithing, and by teaching these principles to our children.
This is the way, and the only way, to solve the problems of Black people in America. Unless we, Black people, quickly respond to the changes in our world, even our cousins on the continent of Africa will not want us. And we will truly be “a lost tribe” wandering the world without a home. We must realize that we live in an “Educate or Die” society and an “Educate or Die” world! There is no middle ground. There is no more cotton to pick!
Release Date
:2003
Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult human who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa’s naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City (and human culture) as only an elf can. When Walter’s relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.
Wyatt Cenac is a comedy person. That means he tells jokes in exchange for laughs. He’s won fancy TV awards doing comedy person things as a writer and performer on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” On one particular night, he personed comedy in front of a live audience in New York City and filmed the whole thing. This is a hilarious full-length special following the world premiere on Comedy Central and filmed in conjunction with the CD release.
This 2011 stand-up comedy film finds funnyman Wyatt Cenac (THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART) toplining a routine before a live audience in Manhattan.
With his signature wide-eyed humor and treasure trove of voices Godfrey asks the questions that plague the depths of our being. Why do people duck in the rain and protect just one ear? What if guido bouncers ran the TSA? Filmed live at New York City’s Gramercy Theatre, Godfrey brings the house down in this uncensored and extended special, with over 30 minutes of unseen material!
Welcome to the long awaited second series of How To Make It In America. The popular HBO series that follows the lives of Ben Epstein (Bryan Greenberg) and his friend Cam Calderon (Victor Rasuk) as they try to succeed in New York City’s fashion scene.
Synopsis: Ben and Cam return to NYC from a successful trip to Tokyo full of optimism – and with duffle bags of hoodies for a CRISP pop-up store event. Back from her soul-searching globe-trot, Rachel realizes she still has feelings for Ben, but discovers heʼs seeing Julie. Rene puts up a head-turning Rasta Monsta billboard that incenses his girlfriend; Domingo expands his business beyond dog-walking.
Sylvia Robinson, the singer, songwriter and record producer who formed the Sugar Hill Gang and made the first commercially successful rap recording, died early Thursday morning at a hospital in New Jersey. She was 75.
Ms. Robinson had a notable career as a rhythm and blues singer long before she and her husband, Joe Robinson, formed Sugar Hill Records in 1979 and served as the midwives for a musical genre that came to dominate pop music.
She sang with Mickey Baker as part of the duo Mickey & Sylvia in the 1950s and had several hits, including “Love Is Strange,” which was a No. 1 R&B song in 1956. She also had a solo hit, under the name Sylvia, in spring of 1973 with her own composition “Pillow Talk.”
But Ms. Robinson was revered as “the mother of hip-hop” for her decision to record the nascent art form known as rapping, which had developed at clubs and dance parties in New York City in the 1970s. In 1979, the label Ms. Robinson and her husband had founded, All Platinum, was awash in lawsuits and losing money.
Facing financial ruin, Ms. Robinson got an inspiration when she heard people rapping over the instrumental breaks in disco songs at a party in Harlem. Using her son as a talent scout, she found three young rappers from the New York City area – Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike and Master Gee – and persuaded them to record improvised raps as the Sugar Hill Gang over a rhythm track adapted from Chic’s “Good Times.” The record was called “Rapper’s Delight” and reached No. 4 on the R&B charts, proving rap was a viable art form and opening the gates for other hip-hop artists.
Ms. Robinson later signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, recording their seminal 1982 hit, “The Message,” the groundbreaking rap about ghetto life that became one of the most powerful and controversial songs of its time and presaged the gangsta rap movement of later years.
Vast swathes of the U.S. countryside are emptying and communities becoming ghost towns as rural America now only accounts for just 16 per cent of the population.
The 2010 census results suggest that by 2050 many of these areas could shrink to virtually nothing as businesses collapse and schools close.
This dramatic population implosion is the culmination of a century of migration to cities, as in 1910 the share of rural America was at 72 per cent.
In 1950 the countryside remained home to a majority of Americans, amid post-World War II economic expansion and the baby boom.
However, once busy areas have been abandoned, in South Dakota for example, the town of Scenic is up for sale for $799,000 as today just eight people live there.
‘Some of the most isolated rural areas face a major uphill battle, with a broad area of the country emptying out,’ said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau, a research group in Washington, D.C.
‘Many rural areas can’t attract workers because there aren’t any jobs, and businesses won’t relocate there because there aren’t enough qualified workers. So they are caught in a downward spiral.’
The rural share is expected to drop further as the U.S. population balloons from 309 million to 400 million by 2050, leading even more people to crowd cities and suburbs and fill in the land around them.
Ghost town: Scenic South Dakota was once a thriving train stop, complete with a saloon, and two jails, but now all the businesses are closed and eight people live there
In 2010, the census found cities grew overall by 11 percent with the biggest gains in suburbs or small- or medium-sized cities.
In fact, of the 10 fastest-growing places, all were small cities incorporated into the suburbs of expanding metro areas, mostly in California, Arizona and Texas.
In all, the share of Americans living in suburbs has climbed to an all-time high of 51 percent.
Despite sharp declines in big cities in the Northeast and Midwest since 2000 due to the recession, U.S. cities increased their share by 3 percent to a third.
The data was supplemented with calculations by Robert Lang, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.
Packed: Washington D.C. will become an even bigger megalopolis, one of several that dominates the north-east of the U.S.
1 New York, New York 8,175,133
2 Los Angeles, California 3,792,621
3 Chicago, Illinois 2,695,598
4 Houston, Texas 2,099,451
5 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1,526,006
6 Phoenix Arizona, 1,445,632
7 San Antonio, Texas 1,327,407
8 San Diego, California 1,307,402
9 Dallas, Texas 1,197,816
10 San Jose, California 945,942
11 Jacksonville, Florida 821,784
12 Indianapolis, Indiana 820,445
13 San Francisco, California 805,235
14 Austin Texas, 790,390
15 Columbus, Ohio 787,033
In the census ‘rural’ is generally defined as non-metropolitan areas with fewer than 50,000 people.
‘These new patterns suggest that there will be a blurring of boundaries as regions expand well beyond official government-defined definitions,’ Mr Frey said.
‘People like to have it all – affordable housing in a smaller-town setting but in close proximity to jobs and big-city amenities such as specialised shopping, cultural events and major sports and entertainment venues.’
Areas areas like the Great Plains in the central U.S. and Appalachia in the East, along with parts of the South and Texas, could face the most significant population declines, demographers say.
These places suffered some of the biggest losses over the past decade as young adults left and the people who stayed got older, moving past childbearing years.
Rural towns are scrambling to attract new residents and stave off heavy funding cuts from financially strapped federal and state governments.
Delta Air Lines recently announced it would end flight service to 24 small airports, several of them in the Great Plains, and the U.S.
The U.S. Postal Service is mulling plans to close thousands of branches in mostly rural areas of the country.
Deserted: The closed Hott Spot Grill, along with a couple of other businesses that remain on Main Street is seen in the centre of Hugo, Colorado
Migrating: A coal truck drives out of downtown Welch, West Virginia, which is one of the worst hit states for losing its population
Many rural areas, the central Great Plains in particular, have been steadily losing population since the 1930s with few signs of the trend slowing in coming decades.
Among the struggling rural areas are vast stretches of West Virginia in Appalachia. Several of the state‘s counties over the past decade have lost large chunks of their population following the collapse of logging and coal-mining industries.
Private-Public Partnership Will Invest More than $120 Million in Educational, Employment, and Mentoring Initiatives across the Five Boroughs
Building on its long commitment to reverse systemic injustices in the United States, the Open Society Foundations today announced that it is joining a new initiative to address broad disparities facing black and Latino boys and men in New York City.
The partnership with New York City’s Young Men’s Initiative follows the Foundations’ successful effort to address injustice in the education system in Baltimore, begun in 1998, as well as a nationwide Campaign for Black Male Achievement.
“The Young Men’s Initiative is a sorely needed, comprehensive program that aims to transform the lives of New York’s most vulnerable children,” said George Soros, chairman of the Open Society Foundations. “I believe this will help make our city a stronger and better place and set an example for the rest of the country.”
Fewer than half of all African American boys finish high school and a mere 18 percent of black males aged 18 to 21 are enrolled in college. The three-year, $30 million investment by the Open Society Foundations will support a diverse set of programs-including those focusing on the “school-to-prison” pipeline.
“The problems facing young men of color in this city do not exist in a vacuum,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, board chair of U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations. “We cannot exclude and subjugate broad segments of our citizenry without damaging democracy and open society values for all, which is why the Open Society Foundations is joining in this effort.”011/
NSF certifies water filtration products & one of the pitchers it has certified is manufactured by ZeroWater. I’d heard a bit about their filters, being comparable to a reverse osmosis system, and when I started reading, I came across “TDS,” or total dissolved solids, for the first time.
According to ZeroWater, removing TDS is the primary reason to filter your water, and if you believe the meter that comes with their pitcher, ZeroWater—with its five-stage ion-exchange filter–can in fact get the TDS down to zero parts per million (average TDS in tap water is 127 parts per million). But what does it all mean? Is this really different from traditional pitcher filters? And are filters generally over-hyped? I called ZeroWater CEO Doug Kellam recently to find out.
Were you involved in the founding of ZeroWater?
The company has been around for several years. It began as family business. I’m a hired gun. They came up with the technology and tried all different ways of marketing it, which wasn’t very efficient. I came in three years ago and changed the way we were going to market.
So what was your marketing strategy and your way of connecting with consumers?
We had been developing a pitcher—a Brita-on-steroids type pitcher. So our approach was head-to-head. They’re a well-branded existing product, but they haven’t changed in about 20 years. It’s a classic better mousetrap strategy.
In your marketing material you talk about TDS—total dissolved solids I hadn’t heard of this before.
It’s always been there obviously. You don’t want to educate people on the technical side of [the contaminants] because it’s not needed. So you want to take the consumer approach. But if you talk to experts in water quality, they all know what TDS is. It’s just that stuff that you know is there that makes the water taste bad—it could be dangerous stuff or more mundane things like salt.
How do you measure it?
We have a water meter that comes with the filter. It’s a standard meter, but it measures to parts per million. The purpose is to measure the overall dissolved solids. If you do a side-by-side test and take average tap water and put a TDS meter in, you’ll get 220ppm reading. That’s typical. If you put it through a pitcher filter from one of our competitors—Brita or Pur–you’ll get it to 150 to 110, about half the TDS. If you run it through Zero, you’ll get all the measurable TDS out.
The way our filter works—we’re the only people who have a mixed bed of ion exchange resin—which deionizes the water. If you consult any expert source—which I’m not—there’s three ways to purify water: distillation, reverse osmosis and deionization or ion exchange. The bottom line for our filter is that there’s a deionization process that happens after it goes through the carbon filter.
Is the market for these filters more in places where the water quality is poor, or more where consumers are better educated?
We skim off the top of the people who are more tuned in with their water. The performance difference is night and day. So the people who really care are the ones that are buying us. Brita and others have done a really good job. It’s a well penetrated category. There’s a high level of awareness. It’s not a small niche group.
Would you say there’s much hype?
Sure. The question is, on any of these things, is it over-hyped or under-hyped. I come from a beverage business background and even in that industry, people are sensitive to it. The bottled water business is a business that’s not even needed. The water in the U.S. is perfectly safe. It’s not a third-world country. People are now used to spending money on water in the U.S.
But while some people hype it, it’s clearly a slow creep–the aging infrastructure in the U.S. We’re used to safe water, but I’ve seen how much it would cost to update our water systems in the U.S., and it’s like as much as the Iraq war. It’s something that probably won’t ever get the attention in Washington that it needs. In the process, things will keep getting older and older. One of the most active areas is New York City, where there’s a huge controversy about installing purification plants, and they already have some of the best water in the world. I don’t think our water will get as bad as China’s anytime soon, but I think you’ll see degradation.
The Environmental Working Group has been very active. Their last study was on chromium. They also did one on pharmaceuticals and one on fluoride. These are all controversial areas. Fluoride has done good things for kids’ teeth over the years, but it’s not even necessary anymore.
Some people hype it a little too far. You could argue on the chromium issue—was Erin Brockovich a trouble-maker, or was she saving a town? In my mind, if you have a known carcinogen, you probably ought to err on the side of safety.
Do most people buy filters for health reasons or to improve the taste?
Data shows that taste wins over health consistently, year after year. But health comes up not too far behind. I do, however, think that in the big picture, there’s these inseparable qualities to water—pure, health, taste. Generally, the more pure it is, the healthier and better tasting.
I called my water company recently, and they pretty much said there’s no reason to get my water tested for contaminants. I’m wondering what you think about how much we can trust the reports from the utilities.
That’s a touchy area. Generally you can trust them. They’re not out to get anybody. I live in the Chicago area, and there’s been some controversies here. Some small municipalities had some cover-ups. But largely it’s not an issue of trust. It’s an issue of how often do mistakes happen where something gets in the water that goes beyond EPA standards. And is the EPA doing the right thing?
If you read about chromium-6, the Environmental Working Group has lobbied Congress and the EPA to tighten the standards, saying that the current standards are too lax. California has significantly tightened their standards, and the EPA has agreed to re-look at the standard and will probably tighten it in the fall.
You claim that your pitcher is just as effective as reverse osmosis?
We don’t actually state that much in our packaging. These things are all subjective. But in terms of removing TDS, yes, it’s just as effective as RO. But generally, ion exchange against a large body of contaminants will do just as well as RO. There’s so many things that could be in your water. The point is that it’s far closer to RO than typical gravity filters.
What’s the next stage in water filtration?
At least in the U.S. there’s really not any emerging new technology. I think you’ll see people enter the category through pitcher filters—the easiest, cheapest category. But I think it’ll just go from a luxury to a requirement.
Since making his mark in NYC hip hop radio back in the early 2000s, Troi Torain, aka Star of the “Star and Buc Wild” morning show, has established himself as an individual in the truest sense, unafraid to speak his mind and share his views regardless of what other people think.
After making the move to Philadelphia’s WPHI-FM (100.3) back in November, Torain has brought an aggressive new message that some believe directly contrasts the culture he resides in. To put it simply, he wants the people in Philadelphia to start snitching. NBC Philly spoke to Star about the motivation behind his movement, his views on hip-hop and what he believes are the best solutions to the violence that has gripped the City of Brotherly Love.
Where did the idea for the “Start Snitching” movement come from?
We all have a moral compass, at least those of us who are sane. But there are people who are not sane, that’s just the reality of our existence. I wanted to take a stand for what I feel is right by way of witnessing the harsh realities of the world. I’m from a very beautiful suburb in New Jersey. I never really experienced drama or random shootings or anything to that effect. I had a great childhood. It wasn’t until the early 80s, when I was in my teens that I migrated out to New York for business. I was living in the eye of the tornado, Crown Heights, or “Riot Heights” as we referred to it. I witnessed senseless acts upon others. This is what over a period of time any rational person has to take notice to. Their just comes a point where you ask, ‘How do I address this? If it all?’ A sensible man, who I claim to be, has to stand up. And that’s it. I’m standing up.
What has the reaction to the movement been like from the hip hop community?
Mostly positive. I’m mostly interested in the reactions from hardworking tax paying, law abiding people. The hip-hop community needs guidance. I’m not really looking for the younger hip-hop generation to sanction what it is that I’m doing. Hip-hop, the culture and the music for the most part have been babies leading babies. I can’t look to a baby for approval of what I know to be right. I dumped on hip-hop for a lot of years and people know that about me. I didn’t grow up really even liking the music or the culture. It took me awhile to get to the point where I’m at now. I’m proud of how I grew up, I wouldn’t know how to take an a**whooping. Hip-hop to me is something that I had to come to terms with. It didn’t push itself upon me. But that’s the long story short. I’m not looking for hip-hop’s sanction. In fact I’m standing up and saying ‘Hey, you got this s*** twisted.’
Do you think people in the hip hop industry have the responsibility to really be leaders and put out messages like the one that you’re making?
I don’t know and I don’t give a s***. Most artists are storytellers and that’s a good thing. Whether they’re telling a story that they see or they interpret. I don’t care what goes through their thought process. Again, I’m not looking for them to sanction me. Its nice if they do. Russell Simmons has endorsed me on his facebook and twitter page. He and I are very cool with each other. Reverend Al Sharpton has supported me. But their responsibility I imagine is to their craft first. And I respect that. I’m not calling people out because they don’t want to stand up for what I believe to be right. So whether they do it, whether they don’t is not really my concern at this point. I’m not really looking for them to join me hand in hand or arm in arm. I’m simply here doing radio in Philly and I know this town from way back. Not only was I syndicated here in 2004, 2005 and 2006, but I know the history of the black Philly Mafia, the Hilltop Hustlers and Cheltenham back in the 70s. So for the people today who don’t know how Philly has evolved, and it has evolved, this is a beautiful town. Old City makes the Village in New York City look like a small version. So seeing all that makes any rational person say “Hey, you know what? This type of stuff can’t go on here.”
Many people say that the “stop snitching” movement is caused by a genuine distrust between the average citizen and the police. Because of that distrust, do you think those people are justified in not speaking to the authorities?
There has to be a point where you look to greener pastures. There has to be. If we were to sit and pick apart every little nook and cranny that has been a speed bump or a pitfall in the past it will prevent us from moving forward. You can’t focus on the negative. And there are many people who have no choice but to focus on the negative because they have been conditioned wrong. It’s not about living in fear. If you don’t know that there is something around the corner for you much better than what you already have now then maybe you need to be reconditioned. So on the microphone that’s what I try to do, within all the pounding of Young Money and all the other beautiful artists of today, I try to offer a little something with my limited knowledge.
Some people also say that “stop snitching” doesn’t really refer to innocent victims but instead to criminals who’ve been caught and decide to “snitch” on their partners in crime for a lesser sentence. What do you think of that argument?
I don’t give a f**k about the stop snitching movement. Everybody’s a snitch. Everybody who’s on youtube is a snitch to some degree. So what is snitching? Snitching has a long lineage of misconstrued double talk that tries to determine and tell other people what is “cool” or acceptable or what is a street code. If Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, who was laying people out, gave up John Gotti then what are you talking about? If you’re on the corner down in West Philly and you got cracks in your butt cheek, and you’re trying to define what snitching is, well the guy in Cosa Nostra, the Mafia, has already shown you what it is when it comes right down to it. If you’re on your mobile device and you’re at an event or an affair and you’re putting up on twitter who you’re there with and they haven’t told you that you can say you’re here with me, to some degree you’re snitching, you’re giving up information. I’m not concerned with that. I’m talking about homicides. Your girl, your aunt, somebody else’s sister, somebody’s hardworking taxpaying, law abiding, husband sitting in a bar, having a drink after he’s worked a hard week, getting shot in the neck. That’s what I’m talking about. Whatever animal shot him, I want that animal in a penitentiary. I don’t give a f*** about rehabilitating that animal. Just put him in the penitentiary and let other sharper minds worry about whether or not he needs to be rehabilitated or how if at all he needs to be pampered by the state. But for the rest of us who want to go to College, get an education, enjoy the beauty of America, we want something done. And that’s what “start snitching” is about.
Being in New York for so many years before coming to Philly, how does the crime in both cities compare?
Philly appears to be a little bit more graphic in their approach. I don’t know if it’s an allegiance to more insane violence, I hope not. But when you see 7-month pregnant women getting shot in the back, sitting on a porch, when you see people under the age of 10 getting shot that are playing at playgrounds, something’s wrong. Is it so much economics? Well, I say no, because black people have always been without in certain urban areas. But now you have other things to look forward to. You have a man of color in the White House, you have a beautiful first lady. He’s an intelligent man so clearly, there’s better examples then what there was years ago. So why do the crimes appear to be more graphic? I’m not saying that a murder in New York City is any less than a murder in Philly. But when you compare the numbers and the ratio of homicides within a short period of time, Philly’s ahead. 170 murders since January out of 1.4 million people in comparison to around 8 million people that are at 214 murders, its eyebrow raising to say the least.
As far as getting the movement out there, do you plan on working with Russell Simmons or Al Sharpton who both have shown you support?
Yes, those are great men. I’m working with everybody. I’m working with the police, and anybody else who wants to work with me via my platform. I’m going to be reaching out to other people, not just artists but people who I feel want to have a connection to what it is that is now on the table. This is on the table, this has picked up traction so fast that its even got me now realizing that not only is it the right place at the right time, but that I have to keep the momentum going and at the same time try to show other people that the margins need to be adjusted of what has been the “poorly acceptable past.”
Do you have any events planned as far as rallies or school visits?
I’m anxious to do all that. I’m anxious, ready, willing and able to do all that. We have a press conference that we’re trying to organize right now, hopefully at city hall next week. If not we’ll do it right out in the street. This is not just a mind state but also a reality and you have to take the chances. I’m listening to people who have had losses much greater than mine by way of biological children or family members. I’m trying to see how I can fit in where I’m needed. That’s important.
What’s your ultimate goal with this movement?
I would like to see it instilled in the minds and the hearts of the younger generations coming up that hopefully are a lot smarter, and I do believe that they are a lot smarter. That’s the goal. To instill better morals values and ethics in those minds and hearts. Because everybody who picked up a microphone who you may have thought was, and maybe is to some degree, a great artist, there’s still work that they can do and if they haven’t done it then hopefully the next generation will come up and say, ‘hey you know what? We’re not going to stand for this sh** and here’s a reason why we’re not going to stand for this ignorance.’ So it’s not really a personal goal or objective. So over all, I hope that the movement picks up more traction and the wheels spin a lot faster.
Everybody with any good sense is leaving Amerikkka… stay tuned
Madison Square Garden Entertainment President Jay Marciano has resigned from that position and will be named CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) Europe, sources told Billboard.biz. He will replace David Campbell, who left that position at AEG in February to become a top executive with Formula One racing.
Marciano, a veteran executive in the venue and live entertainment space, joined MSGE in March of 2005. As President of MSGE, Marciano oversaw bookings and productions at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, the Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, and the Chicago Theatre, among other projects, including the touring and residency productions of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and a $10 million renovation of the Beacon.
Marciano will relocate from New York to London, where he will run all of AEG’s European operations, including the O2 Arena, the top-grossing arena in the world for the past two years (a position long-held by the Garden).
Word?!? So yall just randomly decided that you were gonna round up some mobsters huh? So let me ask you this question, where are all the politicians in handcuffs?…And who is gonna pick up the trash in NY and North Jersey now?
The FBI calls it the biggest mafia round-up in New York history. More than 100 suspected mobsters are being arrested this morning in connection with numerous federal investigations into New York area mob groups.
FBI agents along with NYPD and State Police officers, and US Marshals were conducting raids that began in the early morning hours. Federal charges are expected to range from gambling to racketeering to murder.
Law-enforcement officials said members and associates of all five New York mafia families – as well as New Jersey’s DeCavalcante family – are among those being arrested.
The arrest operations stretch across the tri-state area with many of the suspects being processed in Brooklyn. Attorney General Eric Holder is flying up from Washington to take part in the official announcement. U.S. Attorneys Loretta Lynch, Preet Bharara along with FBI New York Director Janice Fedarcyk and NYPD Commissioner (more…)
A peek inside stores’ shopping data highlights regional preferences for certain colors and brands; Victoria’s real secret.
Luxury-spending data can tell us a lot about the state of the nation — and our own neighborhoods.
Take Detroit — not the city where one might expect to see the strongest recovery. Yet when American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP – News) looked at luxury spending in top and midsize cities around the country, Detroit led the list, with growth of 18% in the first quarter of 2010 from the year-earlier quarter. Lo and behold, Ford (NYSE: F – News) stock is up, too, suggesting that Detroit’s local investors are feeling more optimistic than they were when auto executives were driving hybrids down to Washington to beg for bailouts.
New York City, on the other hand, is still cutting back. Luxury spending was down 7.7% in the quarter. Atlanta was down the most at 18.2%.
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