Black Athletes, Hip Hop and Handguns: What Up with That?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

Shaun Rogers, a Defensive Tackle for the Cleveland Browns, was fined $400,000 by the league for violating its personal conduct policy. Rogers was caught carrying a loaded gun inside an airport. The fine represents approximately 1/17th of his $6.9 million salary.
Some would say that Rogers got off easy, since it would have been no surprise to see him either suspended or sent to jail. The player was caught carrying a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his carry-on bag at Hopkins International Airport. There's no indication regarding whether or not he realized that TSA agents actually have the ability to see inside of someone's luggage with their x-ray machine. It's hard to imagine what he might have been thinking.

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Danny Granger of Team USA Says Europeans Smell Like Dead Donkeys

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

If I were an old man responsible for managing Team USA's public image, I would be cursing Twitter every day of the week. Apparently, giving young, bold athletes instant access to media was a cruel joke orchestrated by both fate and Mother Nature. At any rate, the latest athlete to embarrass himself with his Twitter account was Danny Granger. Making reference to the fact that deodorant is not as popular in Europe as it is in the United States, Granger said that Europeans smell like "dead donkeys." Here are his exact words:
"i'm dying over here ..how come nobody in europe wears deodorant? guess they didn't get the memo – smellin like dead donkey..no joke"

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Lorenzen Wright Death: Wife Recorded Leaving a Threatening Message

The personal assistant for recently murdered Lorenzen Wright, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks, says that she has a recorded voice mail message from Wright's ex-wife threatening to have him harmed. According to Wendy Wilson, Wright's assistant,Sherra Wright told Lorenzen "things like if she caught him with anyone else, she'd have him 'F'd up or whatever."
Wilson filed a report with Memphis police because she felt the calls were threatening to Wright. She also claims that Wright asked her to keep the tape in case something were to happen to him.
Sherra Wright's divorce attorney denies the allegations, saying that Wright's ex-wife was struggling to pay bills. "I just feel like Sherra Wright is being placed in a bad light," the attorney said to a local TV station,ABC24-WPTY. "She does not deserve it all. She's been an incredible mother and woman. And she's done her best to shield her children from financial difficulties."
After his divorce, Wright was ordered to pay $26,000 per month in child support and alimony. His ex-wife claims that he hadn't made a payment since November. One might doubt Wright's ability to pay his child support in light of the fact that he had two homes repossessed this year. The financial problems appear to be the cause of the alleged dispute between Wright and his ex-wife which occurred shortly before he was found dead.

 

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Florida State Player Faces Multiple Felonies

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

Nigel Carr was expected to start for the Florida State Seminoles at linebacker this season. Those plans are probably going to be altered, now that Carr faces a slew of felonies related to burglaries he allegedly committed this week.
According to Tallahassee police, Carr burglarized a parked SUV, stealing the victim's book bag that contained her purse and other valuables. Carr allegedly dumped the items into a nearby trash can and police say they found the victim's credit card on the floor board of a vehicle being driven by Carr.
Surprisingly, Carr is also a suspect in another car burglary on campus and faces charges from alleged marijuana possession. His career is in serious jeopardy and may likely be coming to an end.
I am not sure what the reasoning might be behind this alleged incident, assuming that the police version of the facts are accurate. Nearly any crime involving a college athlete on the weekend or at night makes me wonder if alcohol or drugs were involved. Carr's charges for marijuana possession lead me to suspect that this is a strong possibility. For some reason, we've fed our young people a set of beliefs that create a culture of substance abuse as a fundamental part of college life. As my daughter prepares for college, I make it clear to her that she should be strong enough to not follow the crowd. I am not one to tell her to refrain from alcohol consumption, but I let her know that college can be a blast without risking rape, illness, incarceration or death, which occurs each year in alcohol-related incidents across the country. While we can't say that substance abuse played a role in the Carr case, this point should be made nonetheless.

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LeBron James Chooses the Miami Heat

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

I hate to say "I told you so," but sometimes it's just kind of fun to brag a little bit. As I wrote the other day, LeBron James made his announcement tonight that he is going to join up with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade with the Miami Heat. The announcement wasn't a big surprise, since I presumed that LeBron would rather play with the greatest talent pool in the Eastern Conference rather than against it. There were some, however, who thought that teams like New York and New Jersey had a chance. No, they did not.
New York makes money and has a massive media market, but the Knicks have stained their organization's reputation by showing that they don't care much about winning. Overpaying mediocre players and not managing their team properly has made them appear as undesirable as the "Kentucky Celtics" were when Rick Pitino took over and tried to bring his entire college roster to the NBA with him.

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What do you do if your Mistress Jacks up your Credit cards?

AOL Black Voices

NFL star Reggie Wayne is finding out the hard way that giving your credit card number out to anyone may not be such a good idea. Wayne, who is married, is suing his ummm, girlfriend Natasha McKenzie. In the affidavit, Wayne is alleging that McKenzie did it big on Wayne's credit card without asking his permission.

As the story goes, McKenzie, who is 26 years old, just needed Wayne's credit card for a "few little things," like paying her cell phone bill and buying a plane ticket. She was allegedly going to buy the ticket to come and visit Wayne to spend "quality time" with him. To Reggie's surprise, Natasha and her friends "got a little jiggy" with the credit card and charged up $95,000 worth of "necessities." Actually, there were 333 necessities on her list, which is the number of charges she allegedly made to the account.

Reggie originally took the charges to police in April. He has had the uncomfortable challenge of keeping this information from his wife. McKenzie claims that Wayne knew about the charges all along, and that she is only being scapegoated because either his wife found out about her or he has moved on to another mistress. Either way, this entire situation is a little bit strange. Wayne is not the only athlete to be taken for big money as the result of an affair. Tiger Woods allegedly paid millions to keep some of his mistresses quiet.

 

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Black News, African American Issues - June 9, 2010

22-Year Old Pretending to be HS Student Faces 6 Felonies

• Have you ever fantasized about going back to high school and doing all the things you wish you'd ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 9th 2010 12:59PM | Comments (0)

Eminem's 'Recovery' Proves More Than Celebrity Rehab

• During Eminem's personal journey to sobriety, his fans braced themselves for its effects on his ... Read More
• By Amanda Bassa on Jun 9th 2010 12:00PM | Comments (0)

Dee Dee Myers: Obama Can't Get Angry Because He's Black

• Dee Dee Myers, former Press Secretary for the Clinton Administration, was in hot water recently ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 9th 2010 11:38AM | Comments (2)

BLACK MUSIC MONTH: 7 Pop/Rap CDs You Must Revisit

• We continue to salute Black Music Month by recognizing seven CDs in the pop, rap and rock genres by ... Read More
• By Jawn Murray on Jun 9th 2010 11:30AM | Comments (1)

Rihanna's Hair Stylist Explains Her New 'Matador Red' 'Do

• Master chameleon Rihanna surprised everyone by showing up with a bright red bowl-cut at Madrid's ... Read More
• By Katie Hintz-Zambrano on Jun 9th 2010 11:00AM | Comments (0)

Rihanna Sparkles, Jada Shines, Revamps & The Ultimate Dress - Around the Web

• Rihanna glitters on the cover of Elle RiRi talks black women and fashion (StyleList) Jade shines, ... Read More
• By Lucette Jefferson on Jun 9th 2010 10:55AM | Comments (0)

FBI Says Texas Man Called Al-Qaida His 'Brothers'

• It appears that one of the biggest threats to U.S. security in the coming years may be homegrown ... Read More
• By Jeff Mays on Jun 9th 2010 10:53AM | Comments (0)

Rampage Jackson, UFC Fighter, Justifies 'Gay' Comments

• Quinton "Rampage" Jackson recently lost his anticipated fight against Rashad Evans last month, but ... Read More
• By Quibian Salazar-Moreno on Jun 9th 2010 10:33AM | Comments (0)

DA: No DNA Evidence Found on 7-Year-Old Who Was Gang Raped

• New Jersey prosecutors stated in court documents Tuesday that there was no DNA evidence of ... Read More
• By Ruth Manuel-Logan on Jun 9th 2010 10:13AM | Comments (3)

Marc Lamont Hill Responds to Slim Thug's Take on Black Women

• When I recently read the open letter to the rapper Slim Thug (pictured above), written by ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 9th 2010 8:57AM | Comments (8)

Peace, Confidence and Bliss

• Your Affirmative Prayer for Wednesday, June 9, 2010: My awareness of my unity with Spirit ... Read More
• By Barry Johnson on Jun 9th 2010 12:34AM | Comments (5)

BP Using Massive PR and Internet Strategies to Deal with Spill

• If you are like President Barack Obama, who says that he's looking for "whose ass to kick" over the ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 8th 2010 10:55PM | Comments (2)

Eve: Lets Guard Down on VH1's 'Behind the Music'

• Eve Jihan Jeffers, who is most commonly known in the world of entertainment simply as Eve, isn't a ... Read More
• By Bridget Bland on Jun 8th 2010 7:26PM | Comments (0)

 

 

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Dr. Boyce Watkins

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How race haunts both Ron and Rand Paul

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Exclusive: Teen Prostitutes Can Prey on Athletes and Celebrities

by Dr. Boyce Watkins – The Institute for Black Public Policy

When I first heard about the recent rape allegation against former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor, I wasn't sure what to think. I can say that I was highly skeptical of his wife's claims that her husband was set up. But there was something inside that led me to wonder how in the world someone could argue that they accidentally ended up in a room with an underage girl or didn't know they were having sex with one. In New York state, even if you don't know you're with an underage woman, you are still held responsible in the end. So, without regard to the situation of Lawrence Taylor, I was simply curious about how all this works.
That led me to do some investigating to find out more about the dark world of teen prostitution, and the experiences of young women who enter into this seedy profession at such an early age.

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Tiger Woods: Giving a Press Conference at The Masters

Dr. Boyce Watkins

Golfing superstar Tiger Woods plans to speak to reporters at the Masters. This will be the first time Woods has taken on the broader media since his scandal in November, 2009 that earned him world-wide and unwanted attention. The press conference will be at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 5, according to a tentative interview schedule issued by Augusta National.
Typically, only moderately newsworthy golfers hold press conferences on Mondays. Woods would be the exception to the rule, possibly generating enough media attention to undermine the NCAA championship game, to be held later on that evening. This would also be an excellent way to maximize ratings for the Masters tournament to begin later during the week.
"Our focus that Monday will be on crowning the next national champion," NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said.
Golfing legend Arnold Palmer argues that Woods should be more open with reporters.

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