Oprah does it again

In all the rush and bustle of news about this celebrity doing something stupid, or the media failing in it's mission to the public there are stories that we all miss or fail to recognize. For me that means that there is an item that I intended to write about that I completely about.

In this case it is Oprah Winfrey and what she did at the end of the year. It was a Christmas gift, the likes of which provides more than just money or an material item it provides the chance at a better life. And it's something I think deserves more attention.

In Atlanta, the one of the poorest neighborhoods is a private school run by Ron Clark. This is the teacher who wrote the New York Times best selling book The Essential 55, and opened the Ron Clark Academy. That Academy provides students with in-class computers, a dark rook, a 2-story library, a recording studio, a dance studio and digital recorders. In effect it stimulates the students minds and imaginations with the technology of today and the opportunity to use it. But that isn't cheap.

The school, which was created in part from the proceeds of Ron Clark's book sales, requires a tuition from the parents of those children accepted. The portion of tuition parents pay is miniscule compared to the actual cost, and from the 350 applications for the 50 seats available in the school low and middle income families find it worth the money. That means there is a huge deficit.

Clark makes up that difference in raising donations for the school. It's a daily job that goes on every night after the school day has finished. And the commitment he has shown has helped to bring in funds. And Oprah stepped up as well. She provided the school with a donation that will allow 26 children to attend the school for 1 year. That's $365,000. More importantly that is a child learning.

There is no question that Oprah is dedicated to many causes, chief among them is education. Besides the money for the Ron Clark Academy, she has donated $4 million on education alone last year. That alone equals or exceeds tons of entertainers, celebrities, politicians, and businesses. And as such I think it deserves to be mentioned. Even if I am getting to it after the fact, by my own fault.

I wish more celebrities could be like this. I certainly wish there were more teachers like Ron Clark. Because if we don't invest in our children then we fail to invest in our future.

A rapper with charity: T.I. and Thanksgiving in Atlanta

I have a problem. As is well known to long-time readers of my blogs, I don't like gangsta rap. I find the music to be repetitive, pro-violence, pro-drug, pro-illiteracy, pro-death. I find the entertainers to be some of the worst examples of what (primarily but not exclusively) Black men are and can be. In general I believe that gangsta rappers deserve to be locked-up in a jail cell like the felons they are and/or wish to be seen as.

That being said, long-time readers also know that I love it when celebrities and entertainers go out of their way to make a donation or hold an event that benefits those of us in need. I am especially pleased when that entertainer or celebrity is Black. And I hate it when the major news media ignores or demeans the act of generosity with negative news that is not relevant to the charity.

I think you can see where this is going.

T.I., Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta. He was there with 22.000 friends that day. And not one gunshot went off, nor did any woman lose her clothes while shaking her ass for a camera. I have to say this because of the extensive history of T.I. breaking the law, involvement in fights, illegal gun possession and other such acts.

This was not a rap event. This was charity. And it was an apparently record-breaking act of giving, though not the first time this rapper has done so.

This Thanksgiving Clifford Harris raised $100,000 for Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, and did so in 2 hours. He followed this up with volunteering to help serve the 22,000 people that were fed at the Atlanta Brave's Turner field.

This had nothing to do with the various community service requirements that T.I. has had to serve for his multiple violations of law. He did it because for all his faults he believes in charity. Such can be seen from his history of giving.

He has helped with Hurricane Katrina relief, worked with troubled youths at Paulding Detention Center, provided scholarships for single parent families at Boys and Girls Clubs, and giving away 200 bicycles to neighborhood children in the Boys and Girls Club in Atlanta. For all the things I don't like about the rapper, I must commend his acts of charity (the ones he has done without court order).

So here I am commending the charity of a rapper that deserves to be lauded for his selfless acts. Yet I am severely at odds with his history of violence and breaking the law, and the music he performs.

Perhaps this is an example that even the most insulting, crude and ignorant of people have redeeming qualities. Perhaps I am too harsh a judge of things that I find offensive and detrimental. Perhaps Clifford Harris Jr. is growing up and becoming a man; not in terms of his age or ability to father children but in terms of his actions in society.

Whatever the case, I am glad to hear of and mention the good work that was done for so many this Thanksgiving.

Tyler Perry helping more families than Congress right now

I have often said that the major news media gives short shrift to celebrities and entertainers that are doing the right thing. With all the media swirling around the mortgage bailout plans, you might think that all other news has been thrown to the wayside but that would be untrue.

A casual look in the search engines finds that there is plenty of news on celebrities. There is news on Meg Ryan and her divorce. There is news about whether Miley Cyrus will stay or leave Hanna Montana. There is even a focus on Isis King, the first transgendered model in the ridiculous and brain-cell depleting America’s Next Top Model.

Not a single one of those ‘news’ items are worth the time to read more than the headline.

But what you haven’t heard, what isn’t rushing across the internet or the cable news networks is a simple bit of good. Yes, a celebrity is actually helping regular people. Just because it felt like the right thing to do.

The celebrity in this case is the renown Tyler Perry. In case you are unfamiliar with this acclaimed director, actor, movie writer, producer and playwright I’ll give you a bit of help. He created Diary of a Mad Black Woman which he may be best known for. He is also responsible for Tyler Perry's House of Payne. If you are unfamiliar with either of these it may be because all of Perry’s work focuses and stars predominately Black actors and actresses.

Tyler Perry grew up with abuse as a child, he has been homeless, he dropped out of school at 16 but went back for his GED. His book Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life was number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List. He has released 5 films (his 6th just hit theaters) that have made $187 million dollars just in the U.S.

Tyler Perry is a success by virtually any standard you chose to mark him by.

And he went out and donated 2 weeks worth of food for 1,000 families today. He is actively helping families in Atlanta that are struggling and hungry. And the major news media seem to not care.

The people at Hosea Feed the Hungry and the Homeless care center certainly are happy to have received this huge gift. I cannot fathom how families in need in Atlanta are not happy as well. But it seems that the major news media aren’t happy reporting a successful Black man directly helping people in a way that virtually every politician refuses or is incapable of doing.

Keep an eye out though. I guarantee that the second a Black entertainer is arrested, or does something stupid, regardless of the financial woe of the day you will see it on the national news. Miley Cyrus on a drunken binge will get a side note, but say a rapper getting arrested will upfront news. Yet improving the lives of 1,000 families is a minor footnote.

It makes me sick. Especially when polls show that some 48% of White Americans think Blacks are violent, or that 38% think Blacks are lazy. Tyler Perry, and many other African American celebrities, proves that the stereotypes that survive and plague this nation right now are wrong. But you wouldn’t know it from the major media.

If you want to be a bank robber - 3.25.2008.1

Have you ever needed money and dreamt of robbing a bank for the money? Maybe you needed an operation for your family, or your kids were hungry. Maybe you don't like working. Maybe you just wanted to go to the mall and get your hair and nails done. And if you were blonde, white and young, you could.

I’m speaking of the affectionately named “Barbie Bandits” out of Atlanta. About 1 year ago I wrote on the robbery these 2 young girls committed, stealing $11,000 from Bank of America – giggling all the way. They were caught after casually leaving the bank, spending money and then going to the mall the next day and discussing the robbery with a hairdresser.

For this crime, one girl was given the harsh penalty of 10 years probation, the other 2 years in jail and 8 years probation. Let my heart be still. Keep in mind that this was an inside job, one of their accomplices was a Black man. He received 10 years.

Now if you think this is appropriate, note that a bank robber in Surprise Arizona – who walked away with no money – had a 5 ½ hour manhunt after him. He was Hispanic/Latino and 41. Another man Paul Carman, of unnamed race, age 31 robbed Citizens Bank of $3,500 was arrested 8 ½ hours after the robbery. He is charged with robbery, theft and receiving stolen property.

There were no cute nicknames for the male robbers. There were no casual attempts at catching the men. No delay was spared in searching for them. And the charges were both multiple and likely to involve everything but probation. Of course they were not blonde, young and White girls.

My problem? That this is another example of the skewed enforcement of the law that occurs. Senator Obama may not have wanted to say it, but Rev. Wright was alluding to it. And White Americans receive the advantage without thinking about it. If you are White you have an advantage at every step even while you break the law. And I can’t get the same treatment even if I deserve it.

The “typical White person” in America probably won’t see the problem with the young girls getting probation. They were dumb, and were not violent in their actions. They have lives in front of them. They deserve the chance to get their lives on track. Such are the comments that might be said.

Yet I have never heard such comments made of African Americans or people of color when a crime is committed. Nor have I seen a similar criminal penalty handed out. It reminds me of the Delorean fiasco. He was caught with a kilo of cocaine. Only because there were huge sums of money devoted to finding an entrapment by the DEA, did he avoid jail. Of course the general consensus of the country was, ‘He couldn’t have done that?!’ But if I was similarly entrapped do you honestly think I’d get the same monetary and public support? Do you think I’d have avoided a huge jail term?

If you can even hesitate in your answer then you know the answer is that I’d be in jail for a decade or more. The same thing would happen if I were involved in a robbery like the ‘Barbie Bandits’, as the Black male in this case received.

How can any American be aghast at the comments of Rev. Wright, Rev. Al Sharpton, or any other African American while our legal system skews the legal punishment of Whites right in our faces? And the media conveniently avoids coverage of these events in favor of negative portrayals of people of color? Avoiding questionable or downright barbaric events like Megan Williams torture, rape and kidnapping, or the murder of Sean Bell and others.

I love my country, but I hate the schism in legal enforcement and the presumption of guilt I face because of the color of my skin. This ‘Barbie’ case just highlights the facts. It is in no way an extreme as I have seen in the news.

These women are criminals. They broke federal laws, and committed high crimes. They flaunted their crimes and were laughing about the crime. Were they not idiots, who knows how long they would have gotten away with their actions, since there was no manhunt as every other similar case has. And as a deterrent to other young, White girls and boys they received probation while the African American received 10 years. What message do you think is being made?

So the next time you need money, especially if you are in the South and specifically if you are in Cobb County, rob a bank. That is if you are White with blonde hair. Being a girl is a bonus too. Because the time is easily worth the crime, if you are White it seems.