Naomi Campbell attacks companies for ‘dropping’ black models in recession
Article originally from the Telegraph.co.uk (Digital Publisher of the year).
We (people of color), have the power to control spending habits in the country. We can make advertisers, television stations, and brand names respect our dollars. In other words, “If you don’t see Black, put it back!” IBNN was made aware of this article by Ms. Michelle Renee of San Francisco, California.
(Photo: Sisters “Missing in Action.”)
Reprinted with permission.
The 39-year-old supermodel, who is a close friend of Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister’s wife, claims that major companies are refusing to use non-white women to promote their products.
“This year, we have gone back all the way that we had advanced,” she says. “I don’t see any black woman, or of any other race, in big advertising campaigns.“
Campbell, who was born in London to a mother of Caribbean descent, refers to the publication last year of a special edition of Italian Vogue dedicated to non-white models.
“That made some noise, but, unfortunately, we are the same as before,” she says. “People, in the panic of the recession, don’t dare to put a girl of colour in their campaign, full stop. Nor of any other race. It’s a shame. It’s very sad.“
The model, who is a friend of Nelson Mandela, has won support from Bruce Oldfield, the designer of the wedding dress worn by Samantha Cameron, the wife of the Tory leader. Read more
Allegations of Fraud: Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, who’s running the shop?
In a letter sent to Vincent Brown Trucking from the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) compliance officer Leslie Woyee stating that his company has been ‘listed’ as participating in the contract “2009 Construction of Sidewalks –District 2 & 3 Project” with a request for an activity report, Mr. Brown is at odds with what’s going on.
The general contractor is Concrete Idea, Inc. – phone calls of inquiry have not been returned to IBNN.
Mr. Brown tells IBNN that he has no contract with the City of Minneapolis for the above mentioned project and doesn’t understand why he’s getting this letter. Brown goes on to say, “I am certified as a minority-owned business. The City of Minneapolis has not given me any information about my “supposed inclusion” on this contract. Somethings wrong.”
IBNN contacted to Ms. Woyee at the MDCR to inform her about the letter and the possible mistake, she told IBNN, “Could you please return the letter to me?”
After further investigation, the MDCR should have never sent this letter to Mr. Brown, nor it been produced by Ms. Woyee. A source outside of the MDCR who wishes to remain unidentified, told IBNN that this particular contract needs to be looked at for possible and alleged fraud issues by the contractor and the MDCR compliance unit management.
Below is the letter sent to Mr. Brown:
If this letter is one of many that go out from the MDCR to vendors working on city contracts. the question we have is, “Why the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights doesn’t have procedures in place to catch mistakes like this – if it is a mistake…or done to cover up some other misguided funds.”
On the other hand, a full investigation must be sought to find out why Vincent Brown Trucking was sent this letter – but also to backtrack the dollars paid-out to find who is responsible for listing this non-participating vendor on a city contract.
More to come…
Lawyer Organizes Lynch Mob & Uses Machine Guns, Dogs & Tanks To Hunt Down A Black Man Where The Lynching Of Emmett Till Took Place – “On Thursday, August 20, 2009,” WTF?
A True Story Submitted to IBNN by: W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News , the home of 21st Century citizen journalism!
“Nowhere in the civilized worlds save the United States of America, do men, possessing all civil and political power, go out in bands of 50 to 5,000 to hunt down, shoot, hang or burn to death an individual unarmed and absolutely powerless.”
~Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Mississippi God Damn…Again
Mississippi Burning…Again
Ghosts Of Mississippi Ain’t Dead…
Nearly 54 years after the traumatic lynching of Emmett Till which shocked the nation and galvanized the Modern American Civil Rights Movement, the son of one of the lawyers who defended Till’s murderers organizes another lynch mob in Tallahatchie County out for blood…
This isn’t a Hollywood movie…Nor is this Wilmington, NC, 1898; Elaine, Arkansas, 1919; Tulsa, Ok, 1921; Rosewood, Fl, 1923…This happened Thursday, August 20, 2009 in Sumner, Ms, in Tallahatchie County…Yes the same county where a young Black boy named Emmett Till met his doom/destiny some 54 years ago this week…This time a young Black man named William Pittman,28 years old, of Tutwiler, MS, was the target of an unauthorized manhunt by a law official and his posse of “deputized” gun toting thugs…
Sometime Thursday, August 20, 2009, Pittman & his friend McKeel Scott (at the time of this writing his whereabouts is still unknown) were accused by John Whitten III, the District Attorney of Tallahatchie County, of burglarizing the home of a neighbor and quite possible a relative…According to several sources, the boys were not actually caught in anybody’s home at that time, but were still accused. This supposed act infuriated Mr. Whitten, whose father, John Whitten Jr., was the defense attorney for the killers of Emmett Till (the brothers J.W. Milam & Roy Bryant), and so instead of going through the proper channels he decided to seek his own brand of vigilante justice, southern style.
He organized a militia of what could best be described as a lynch mob. Some of these men were actual law enforcement officers while others such as the case of an unidentified white maintenance man from Tutwiler, MS, simply wore a police uniform and was given a police car along with plenty of booze, guns and ammunition. Even the K-9 unit from the Department of Corrections at the notorious Parchman State Penitentiary was alerted for this mission. In addition to the man, fire and canine power, Whitten deployed two military tanks for the purpose of hunting down Mr. William Pittman as well.
Around 5pm on Thursday evening, William Pittman was Public Enemy # 1 of the Magnolia State as far as Whitten was concerned. Whitten proceeded to chase Pittman with his posse of dogs, firepower and tanks for what seem to be several hours and a hauntingly surreal event for anybody who witnessed the spectacle…As bullets and missiles were whistling all around him, William Pittman had the presence of mind to run into a field and drop to the ground to cover himself in mud and grass.
Not knowing where Pittman was hiding with the only visible evidence being footprints that seemed to lead to nowhere, by this time the would-be executioners, literally drunken with sadistic power as well as large quantities of alcohol, out of frustration of not being able to find the wily Pittman, began to shoot wildly into and around the field with their 50 caliber machine guns, assault rifles and tanks.
Read more
“You guys have a Black President, what more do you want?” From Abe to Barack, racism continues and nothing has “Changed”
by Donald W.R. Allen, II – editor in chief of the Independent Business News Network
More than 50 years ago, Malcolm X said, “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
Too many mainstream radio, television and print media outlets in the Twin Cities, actively deny residents the opportunity to see, hear and read news about the local minority-ethnic population.
News and information racism – a form of structural, systemic racism, manifests itself in the form of a virtual blackout in terms of reporting on events that take place day-to-day in the local population of color. In other words, “White News,” appears be the only “Right News.”
On Friday, August 21, 2009 a press conference was held in north Minneapolis to discuss an upcoming engagement with local activists overseeing the remodeling of foreclosed homes. The problem? Minnesota’s “trusted news source” never showed up. Nothing new!
When Blacks or other people of color call press conferences, the local media does not seem to feel moved or obligated to cover events of this nature.
This week in the Twin Cities, no minority-ethnic news item could possibly top Brett Favre becoming a Minnesota Viking. While newsrooms hurried to get crews to the Viking training camp, the minority-ethnic population of the Twin Cities became the shadow of concern, again – no news is good news?
On Friday August 21, 2009, the Barnes and Noble stores at the Mall of America and at the Galleria decided that a published black author, who was a star athlete at the University of Minnesota, and is today a highly-regarded motivational speaker, was not an appropriate candidate for a book signing at their stores because of their customer base.
When IBNN called the Mall of America branch of the company, customer relations manager Mike Sedki told us, “The author you speak of is not a good fit for the MOA. Our guests are from all over the world – they wouldn’t be interested in the author or his book. We want authors like Marie Osmond and Buzz Aldridge at this store.”
If you want to clean the bathrooms, there’s always a place for minorities at the Mall of America.
Despite the election of a black man as president, news distribution outlets continue to overlook, bypass, and hoodwink the minority-ethnic community, by failing to consider their news to be “news that’s fit to print.”
It’s like, “You guys got a Black President, what more do you want?”
In 2009, Black males are still most often portrayed as a menace to society. Black females appear routinely as hoes or sex objects, and the mainstream media has done little to show the American public that those stereotypes are incorrect.
Soledad O’Brian’s highly touted “Black in America” CNN mini-series is a patronizing, simplistic portrait of the American-American community, that appeals to the voyeuristic curiosity of the liberal White audience, but has no real substance or meaning. The show should be called “Black in America (Made for Whites).”
As an article from Science Daily (July 17, 2008) reports, “Watching the news should make you more informed, but it also may be making you more likely to stereotype. . . . In a pair of recently published studies, [one] professor found that the more people watched local or network news, the more likely they were to draw on negative stereotypes about blacks.” (*University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2008, July 17). Negative Perception of Blacks Rises with more News Watching, Studies Say.)
Of course, if a Black man shoots himself in a night club and gets two years in jail –that’s news.
If a Black man commits a heinous crime, it’s on at 5, 6 and 10.
Other than the above examples, Blacks in the media are almost non-existent.
As another article from The Ohio State Research News titled, “African Americans Still Nearly Invisible in Media,” states, “While African Americans have made inroads into some parts of American society, they are still nearly invisible in many parts of the news media and the entertainment industry. . . . Rudolph Alexander, Jr., professor of social work, argues in a newly revised book that the media often ignores African Americans in stories of both heroes and victims, even when they are an integral part of the narrative. (From the book, “Racism, African Americans, and Social Justice, (Rowman and Littlefield, 2nd edition, 2005)
Black leaders in the Twin Cities and the broader US must address this ongoing disparity in coverage of a population that in 2025 is estimated to be the “majority” in the United States. (NY Times, “In a Generation, Minorities May Be the U.S. Majority,” by Sam Roberts, published on August 13, 2008)
“Will the roles be reversed?
Will White America protest against the minority mainstream media for overlooking them?
For now, the mainstream media must be held accountable for the slice of “white cake” that they call news. Furthermore, mainstream media must broadcast and report on issues in the minority-ethnic community with “unconditional coverage.”
Now that’s love!
Deleted without being read – Twin Cities Mainstream Media forgets about the minority ethnic community when it comes to News We Can All Use
“Black crime, they’ll cover it all the time. A Black man with a business, they run with a quickness!” …IBNN
by Donald W.R. Allen, II editor in Chief – IBNN (Join our group on Facebook, “African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media)
In 2008 I had the opportunity to attend the annual dinner of a local non-profit, at the downtown Minneapolis Hilton Hotel. The keynote speaker was an author, educator, and political pundit affiliated with the Democratic Party – and an all-round great speaker. At the time, Donna Brazile had not personally endorsed Hilary or Barack, and rumors spread that at this dinner, she might just make such announcement. This woman, Donna Brazile, an icon in her own right, had made news just by coming to Minneapolis, or so I thought… (I also thought that she’d make a great Republican!)
The only problem was this – only one Twin Cities mainstream media outlet showed up to cover the event.
Yet across the street from the downtown Hilton Hotel sat one of Minnesota’s hottest television media properties.
Curious, I decided to walk over to this fine establishment to find out why there was no coverage of the event featuring Donna Brazile.
Ring…Ring…Ring… A voice from the speaker said, “Can I help you with something?” I said, “Yes, my name is Don and I was attending an event across the street at the Hilton and it just so happens that Donna Brazile is the keynote speaker. Are you guys planning to cover it?” Read more
Google News Alert for Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights: FBI looking into Minneapolis Police Department after beating
… Civil rights laws. In addition, Dolan has referred the case to the department’s internal affairs and training units for a review of arrest procedures…
Al Flowers, DFL Mayoral candidate, has been on the front line talking about police brutality and misconduct for years. This time is no exception. In a statement from the Al Flowers for Mayor campaign, Mr. Flowers makes the following statement:
“Whether it is the case of Fong Lee, or Minneapolis police officers accused of raping 17 year-old girl, or Daryl Jenkins, we need reform now in the Minneapolis Police Department and we need a new administration to show leadership in that reform.”
Flowers criticizes the current mayor to being “too busy running for Governor” to be addressing this issue. The current mayor is rumored to be a potential DFL Gubernatorial Candidate. Flowers states, “I am asking that all citizens to ask for healing and pray for Mr. Jenkins and his family.”
# # #
North Minneapolis Businessman and Ward 5 Candidate, Lennie Chism states, “The attacks on Black men in north Minneapolis have to be addressed with Chief Dolan. We must have intelligent dialog with the Minneapolis Police Department, the community and local agencies to stop the unnecessary killing and beatings of African-American men in our community.
Furthermore, the current Ward 5 City Councilman has not sealed cohesion between the groups, rather being in favor of stating statistics of crime being “lower.” If you live or work in north Minneapolis, you know that’s not the case.”
# # #
This brings into question another City of Minneapolis department.
Will the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights get involved with these cases? The MDCR Investigative Unit has sat quiet – the current beating of a Black man is a violation of his civil rights, yet no official statement from the City’s guardians of civil rights…
Read more information about this topic: Read more
Prohibited Activities – We’re Watching…
Election year 2008 was very interesting. Several non-profit organizations approached candidates to ask for support of their agendas. Clearly, this was a direct violation of IRS 501(c)(3) procedures and rules. Much like the congregation at a local church (in 2008) being asked to support the Minneapolis Public Schools Referendum – “The Minneapolis Public Schools are going broke and need your assistance.” Still with the Referendum passed, children of color are no better in Minneapolis Public Schools then a year ago. Of course, the “students” and classes probably won’t see that money until the 2010-2011 school year. Lets watch the test scores or Yearly Average Progress, pass or fail?
Non-profit organizations in 2008 blatantly solicited candidates support for their issues and platforms.
In the Twin Cities forums were controlled by the League of Women Voters, and community hubs like Jordan New Life Hub would get a small grant or stipend to hold the forum with a representative from the LWV hosting and moderating the debate…I was there, and informed of the obvious set-up. KSTP-TV Channel 5 has never gotten back to us on how much they received if any for last year’s series of debates sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
All I know is that Mr. Stanley Hubbard, Jr. would not support the GOP Endorsed 5 Congressional District candidate telling me at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, “It’s not the right time.” Well, slip happens!
We had phone calls by non-profit presidents to community members asking for support of particular candidates, some that were employees of the non-profit organization. Is this really okay?
On Sunday, July 26, 2009 – we had a local politician make up his own rules. (More to come later.)
What will it take for non-profit agencies in the Twin Cities to learn a valuable lesson about non-partisanship? Will it take a loss of a tax exempt status?
A new “watchdog” is on the scene, The Nationwide Republican Opportunity Council of America (NROCA) – (ACORN spelled backwards.) The NROCA will not allow an inch in partisanship with any candidate, no matter what party him/her are associated with.
Irony…
So that we’re clean on the rules, the following information applies to 501(c)(3) organizations.
Advocacy of candidates: The IRS prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from engaging in either the expressed or implied advocacy of particular candidates. Express advocacy exists when a statement or publication encourages the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. Implied advocacy exists when a communication does not clearly identify the candidate to vote for or against, but instead makes statements such as “Remember, vote Democrat.”
Non-profits concerned about specific issues are allowed to use an election to get increased exposure for their issues. They also are allowed to work to get their positions on issues included in political party platforms. While nonprofits are free to publicize their issues, they are not allowed to directly solicit candidates to support such issues.
Although the IRS says it allows 501(c)(3) organizations to deal with moral, social, or economic issues during election years, nonprofits are not allowed to engage in political intervention by using “code words” (e.g. Go Democrats, Bad Republicans, anti-gun) in communications that are timed to help or hurt the election chances of any candidate.
…So non-profit organizations, when you get that “star struck, I’ve seen a celebrity” look in your eye – look at the rules, more importantly, look at your community, especially in north Minneapolis – you’ve seen nothing….
White Cop Walks In Killing Of Black Officer
“When will the conversation about race begin again? America has turned its back to the politics and events of race, color and status – only to yell “foul” if you’re a professor at an Ivy League University.” …IBNN
by JORDAN C. ALSTON August 15, 2009, 10:32am – Originally posted on Hip Hop Wired.com 
Racial tensions in the nation are at heights that have not been seen in decades. Be it North or South, hatred knows no barriers, with the point being brought home recently by none other than those tasked with protecting the masses. Officers of the law have long been at odds with members of minority communities, usually due to them using less than altruistic means to brandish their own form of cowboy-esque law enforcement procedures reminiscent of their predecessors from a bygone era.
Even still, racially motivated incidents from within their ranks are often never reported, creating a public front that would have a gullible citizenry believe that the only color police officers car about is blue emblazoned with a smidgeon of gold. In spite of that effort, recent activities have exhibited otherwise, as a racially charged case of cop-on-cop violence has ended with the scales of justice seemingly tipped in the favor of the melanin deficient aggressor.
On May 28th, Officer Omar Edwards was shot and killed while pursuing a man that he believed was responsible for breaking into his car. His murderer, Andrew Dunton, was none other than a fellow “brother” in blue. Stories by officers that witnessed the incident say Dunton yelled “Police. Don’t move. Drop the gun. Drop the gun” before opening fire on Edwards. Edwards was off-duty at the time and Dunton was in plain clothes.
Accounts after that detail vary, as a New York grand jury decided to settle on a version that had Edwards make eye contact with Dunton while “pointing” his gun toward him, a move which purportedly prompted the white officer to unleash six shots into the junior officer. The eye contact between the two officers led to the jury’s decision that will see no criminal action taken against officer Dunton, giving better incite into their decision that they deemed no criminal wrongdoing was committed.
The decision made in regard to the four-year NYPD vet came as less than shocking to members of the Black community, with Marquez Claxton of the Black Law Enforcement Alliance choosing to publicly decry its often too common similarity to other polarized, racially induced incidents.
“Well, first and foremost, it disturbingly predictable,” said Marquez to New York’s ABC affiliate. “Once again, we cannot have complete confidence in a process that relies so heavily on a relationship between the police department and the DA offices.”
The decision handed down by the grand jury finally allows for the NYPD to conduct an administrative review of the case, allowing them get Officer Dunton’s account of what happened on that infamous day in May.
Officer Edwards was a 25-year-old newlywed who left behind a wife and two young children.
Politics and Blacks
By Walter E. Williams -Bio
Originally Posted in Townhall.com
President Barack Obama won an unprecedented 96 percent of the black vote. That’s not much of a news story since blacks typically give their votes to the Democratic candidate. Blacks are probably the most politically loyal people in the nation and it is almost taken as gospel, at least among civil rights organizations and black and white liberals, that the only way black people can make socioeconomic progress is through the politics of race and special government programs. However, such a vision can be subjected to empirical evidence.
In 1940, when blacks were politically impotent, their poverty rate was 87 percent. By 1960, before blacks achieved much political power, it fell to 47 percent. During that interval, in various skilled trades, the incomes of blacks relative to whites more than doubled. Before 1960, there were no anti-poverty programs or affirmative action programs that can explain an economic advance that exceeded any other 20-year interval, though there were Truman and Eisenhower administration attacks on some of the gross forms of racial discrimination. A significant chunk of black progress occurred simply through migration from rural areas in the South to big Northern cities. Between 1960 and 1980, black poverty fell roughly 17 percent and continued falling to today’s 24 percent. The decline in black poverty between 1960 and 1980 might have simply been a continuation of a trend starting much earlier and cannot be attributed solely to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, President Johnson’s War on Poverty, or Richard Nixon’s affirmative action.
Most of the major problems that many black people face are not amendable to political solutions and government anti-poverty programs. Let’s look at some. In 1940, 86 percent of black children were born inside marriage, and the illegitimacy rate among blacks was about 15 percent. Today, only 35 percent of black children are born inside marriage, and the illegitimacy rate hovers around 70 percent. Today’s breakdown of the black family is unprecedented. It began in the 1960s with the War on Poverty and the harebrained ideas of the welfare state. In the mid-1960s, Daniel Moynihan sounded the alarm about the breakdown in the black family in his book “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” At that time black illegitimacy was 26 percent. Moynihan said, “(A)t the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of the Negro society is the deterioration of the Negro family.” He added, “The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past generation in the United States.” Moynihan’s observations were greeted with charges of racism and blaming the victim. By the way, the welfare state is an equal opportunity family destroyer. Today’s illegitimacy rate among whites, at nearly 30 percent, is higher than it was among blacks in the 1960s when Moynihan sounded the alarm. In Sweden, the mother of the welfare state, illegitimacy is 54 percent. Read more
Gee, thanks Congressman Ellison?
While the area around Congressman Ellison’s office in north Minneapolis takes catastrophic losses in employment, foreclosures, AIDS/HIV, Educational Opportunities and other issues that affect a poor community, Congressman Ellison moves right along, without seeing the obvious. “Could height be an issue?” The video below is and example of what the people of Minnesota’s 5th CD should have been doing long ago.
Minding my own business while checking Google Alerts, I came across an alert from 5th Congressional Districts Representative – Congressman Keith Ellison (dated Friday, February 27, 2009) in the form of a press release.
It read: “Washington, D.C. – Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minneapolis) announced that the House of Representatives approved federal funding this week for fifteen important projects in the Fifth District Congressional District. Senate approval is expected this next week before sending it to President Obama for his signature.”
The bill, H.R. 1105 includes bill funding at the request of Congressman Ellison for the following projects:
- $20 million for Central Corridor – The Central Corridor is a light rail project connecting downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.
- $534,000 for Southwest Transit – The Southwest Transit is a proposed 14-mile light rail transit line from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. Read more
IBNNNEW- North Minneapolis: NAACP President “Uncovers” two of the North side seven and an estimated $4 million dollars Donald Allen
- Apology to the North Minneapolis Community. We don’t have leaders, we have self-appointed spokespersons Donald Allen
- The Death of North Minneapolis… Donald Allen
- IBNN Exclusive Report: Youth with weapon attempts to enter funeral of Alisha “Lele” Neely (Captured on Film) Donald Allen
- WCCO 4 (CBS) Television fails in journalistic integrity with “edited and spliced” tape of the Minneapolis Police Beating of Ira Stafford…rating F- Donald Allen
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