What's Wrong with Dave Chappelle?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

What's the deal with Dave Chappelle? According to TMZ, Chapelle was reportingly acting strange on a private jet, so much so that the jet had to make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh. Their source is stating that the flight was headed from New Jersey to Ohio and that Chappelle "freaked out" refusing to put on his seatbelt.

The source also says that Chappelle repeatedly walked into the cockpit, asking the pilot how much longer the flight would be, and even grabbed the pilot's arms. That is when it was allegedly determined that Chappelle was a safety risk, and the flight was grounded.
TMZ then claims that after landing, Chappelle checked into a hotel. However, sources at the hotel are claiming that Dave told the employees that he wanted to rent a car to go back to Ohio, but that he didn't remember where he lived.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Dave Chappelle, one of the most talented and privileged comedians in America. He had the world at his feet, with a hit show and a $50 million contract to do what he does best. It does appear, however, that there is something inside Chappelle that simply can't handle fame.

 

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Hip Hop Artist Fat Joe Detained in Alleged Rape

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

The rapper Fat Joe was detained by police Sunday night after he and his entourage were accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Madison, Wisconsin. According to TMZ, the woman is 33-years old and claims the assault occurred in a Cadillac Limousine after a concert at the Orpheum Theater.

Fat Joe (a.k.a.Joseph Antonio Cartagena) and his entourage were held for questioning, but he was released and not arrested. The details of the case are still being sorted out in the investigation. Relative to most artists, Fat Joe doesn't get into very much trouble. The 39-year old married father of two has not, to my knowledge been accused of any sexual assault, so I'd be surprised if he waited this long to get started. He has been arrested in some of the typical rapper non-sense in the past: In 1998, he and the deceased rapper Big Pun were arrested for assaulting a man with a baseball bat and stealing his gold chain. I'm not even going to try to explain that one.

 

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Police Brutality Caught on Tape?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I am not quite sure what to make of the ruffled YouTube video that is now scouring the web out of Paterson, New Jersey. In the video, the woman filming, who mentions that her mother works in the sheriff's office, is taping a New Jersey police officer holding a black man to the ground. The man clearly has his hands behind his back and appears to be restrained.

As the woman videos the incident from a distance, the officer inexplicably grabs the man, turns him around and puts pepper spray into his eyes. He appears to do it twice.

 

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Dr. Boyce on AOL Black Voices - 4/4/10

Tiger Woods Will Have 90 Bodyguards Protecting Him from Mistresses

• Tiger Woods is coming back to the Masters, but he won't be coming alone. London's Daily Mail has ... Read More
• By Dr. Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 4th 2010 11:21PM | Comments (0)

Kobe Bryant Signs 3-Year, $90 million dollar Contract Extension

• Kobe Bryant is already filthy rich. Now, he's filthy-stinking rich. Friday, Bryant signed a 3-year, ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 4th 2010 7:30PM | Comments (1)

US Prisons More Racist than South Africa During Apartheid

• Many people throughout the world believe that South Africa during apartheid was one of the most ... Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 4th 2010 6:12PM | Comments (8)

Your Black News - 3/14/10

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  Lesbian sgt. discharged after police outed her to Air Force

  By theGrio

  8:04 AM on 03/14/2010

  OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) - Jene Newsome played by the rules as an Air Force sergeant: She never told anyone in the military she was a lesbian...

  > MORE

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  African-American named nation's only female HS football coach

  By theGrio

  7:28 AM on 03/13/2010

  VIDEO - A petite, unassuming young science teacher made history when she became what's believed to be the only female high school head football coach in the country ...

  > MORE

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  Democrats look to resurrect ambitious college aid plan

  By theGrio

  6:49 PM on 03/12/2010

  WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional Democrats want a stalled overhaul of college aid programs to get strapped onto a fast-track health care bill ...

  > MORE

• 

  Yemen terror suspect worked at five US nuke sites

  By theGrio

  3:15 PM on 03/12/2010

  HADDONFIELD, NJ (AP) - Before he was rounded up in a sweep of suspected al-Qaida terrorists in Yemen, Sharif Mobley was a laborer at five nuclear plant complexes...

  > MORE

• 

  Abandoned 6-year-old escapes locked school bus

  By theGrio

  12:50 PM on 03/12/2010

  VIDEO - First-grader Tevin Smith said he fell asleep during the ride home from Estabrook Elementary in Ypsilanti, Michigan and woke up to find the bus parked in a bus yard...

  > MORE

Dr. Boyce: KKK Rally at Ole Miss University

By Dr. Boyce Watkins 

I was intrigued by recent reports that the Ku Klux Klan had a rally on the Ole Miss Campus recently. It might surprise you to know that I am essentially unconcerned by their presence on campus. Don't get me wrong, Klansmen are incredibly ignorant. Also, we cannot deny their historical reign of terror over people of color in America. But I can also give you a list of reasons that we should stop paying attention to the KKK.

1) They thrive off of attention: The KKK has very little power. They don't do very much anymore, and even in this rally, it appears that there were only a few members present. The truth is that the klan only has power because we give it attention. They are like a grease fire: The more water you put on it, the more it grows. But if you starve the fire of oxygen, it eventually dies out. The klan must be starved of attention, and then they will go away. They only remain relevant because we want them to be.

 

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Dr Boyce: Gender Testing Not Always About Race

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

MSNBC’s TheGrio.com

6:20 PM on 09/10/2009

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University 

The world is now talking about Caster Semenya, the South African athlete who has been subjected to gender testing after dominating the field in the 800-meter run at the 2009 World Championships. Recent reports by the Daily Mail of London and the Sydney Morning Herald of Australia state that the test has revealed that Semenya "is a hermaphrodite with no womb or ovaries." Some have argued that Semenya was the target of the investigation because she is black, but I am not sure if I am on board with that presumption.

If the reports are true, I am not surprised. Race issues to the side, I too found myself wondering if I was seeing things, as I watched Semenya thump her chest in victory and speak with a voice that could bring Barry White back from the grave. I was disturbed, but open-minded, for I considered Semenya's case to be an opportunity to explore cultural variations in gender perception.
Another use of the word "race" applies when analyzing Semenya's time in her race of choice, the 800-meter run. Not only did this 18-year old come out of nowhere to run a time which instantly dominates the world's most highly trained 800 meter runners (1:55.45), but her time was nowhere near the world record (1:53.28), set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia in 1983. Like Semenya, Kratochvilova could easily be mistaken for a man.

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TWO TEENS GOES TO JAIL

BALTIMORE, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Two teenagers and an adult were charged in the beating of a 76-year-old black man in Baltimore, an incident police said has racial overtones.

Charged as adults were Emmanuel Miller, 16, and Zachary Watson, 17, who, along with Calvin Lockner, 28, face charges of attempted murder, assault and harassing a person because of race or religion, CNN reported Friday.

The victim, James Privott, was in critical condition Thursday, but making progress, a Baltimore police spokeswoman said. Doctors told police he sustained a possible fractured eye orbital bone and had serious head trauma, court documents said.

Technorati Tags: teens,jail,baltimore,black gossip

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New HIV Strain Discovered In Cameroon Woman

WASHINGTON – A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in a woman from the African nation of Cameroon. It differs from the three known strains of human immunodeficiency virus and appears to be closely related to a form of simian virus recently discovered in wild gorillas, researchers report in Monday's edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The finding "highlights the continuing need to watch closely for the emergence for new HIV variants, particularly in western central Africa," said the researchers, led by Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen, France.

 

The three previously known HIV strains are related to the simian virus that occurs in chimpanzees.

The most likely explanation for the new find is gorilla-to-human transmission, Plantier's team said. But they added they cannot rule out the possibility that the new strain started in chimpanzees and moved into gorillas and then humans, or moved directly from chimpanzees to both gorillas and humans.

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