KFAI-FM: WAVE Project – “Is a Spoonful of Integration enough for the rest of us?” Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 6 p.m.

“By listening and watching local media, you would think that Valentines Day was the only event going on in the month of February. With CNN’s special, featuring Soledad O’Brien’s “Black in America 2,” – a watered down version of what it’s like to be Black America is skewed for a White audience, it misses the mark at every turn. The issues for those who are forward thinkers are jobs, economic development and education. Tune in KFAI on Sunday for the real State of the Union about Black America.”

Minneapolis, MN Feb. 12 / IBNN/ — Tune in Sunday, February 14, 2010 to KFAI-FM Radio at 90.3FM (Minneapolis) & 106.7 (St. Paul), 6 p.m.-7 p.m. to KFAI’s Wave Project. This program will feature Springboard Economic Development Corporation’s CEO Lennie Chism; Don Allen, the editor and chief of The Independent Business News Network and USA Radical Black with along with Kelechi Jaavaid, better known as KJ the comedian, will be live on KFAI to discuss the topic “ Is a Spoonful of Integration enough for the rest of us? That is the remaining 37 Million African Americans in the United States.

You can also tune in nationally by going to www.kfai.org for the live streaming broadcast.

On Sunday February 14, 2010, from 6-7 p.m. KFAI Radio 90.3 FM (Minneapolis) and 106.7 (St. Paul) will air an exclusive segment on race relations and generational progress produced by Lennie Chism, Executive Director of Springboard Economic Development Corporation.  Chism’s program, titled A Spoonful of Integration is Not Enough for the Rest of Us explores the Civil Rights Movement through music pinpointing cultural anthems such as “We Shall Overcome” to Tupac’s Ghetto Gospel” as indications of change.

Chism says, “My motivation was to get people to critically look at the 1947 integration of baseball and begin to ask whether integration helped.  I wanted to show how integration was not as successful as people thought.  Thanks to integration, The Negro League was completely dismantled by 1963, blacks went from running leagues and teams to just being players.  Jobs and industry were lost because of integration for blacks.  Hence, A Spoonful of Integration is Not Enough for the Rest of Us,” Chism explains.  Chism adds, “However when you look at the music industry, that has been dominated by African-Americans for years, with absolutely no desire to integrate, there are countless success stories, hip-hop culture did not bow down, sell out nor attempt to assimilate.”

Chism believes the struggle for Civil Rights continues in the current day hip-hop movement. “I chose to end the segment with Tupac because he is one of the greatest street lobbyists ever,” explains Chism.  “He spoke of another culture that the establishment would want to see removed. But in reality that culture became an industry that is creating jobs and a new wealthy class of African-Americans.”

Chism hopes multiple generations tune in for the special program, special guests include Donald Allen editor in chief of two international read controversial blogs and Kelechi Jaavid, local comedian to lighten the air.

Donald Allen, a blogger, Republican and outspoken critic of Minneapolis’ political processes and non-profit watchdog as it relates to communities of color and the delivery of services states, “This is an opportunity to mention names, agencies and politicians who for the most part are more celebrity-based then actually making sure the community is healed. This is an opportunity to let America know that agencies like the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minneapolis Urban League and the NAACP have lost their mojo.”

Tune in on Sunday, the revolution continues.

Instant Blackness with a ticket and a name badge at the General Mills Foundation’s – MLK Breakfast 2010

The closer we get to the beginning of 2010, and the possibility of Corporate America getting closer to “Blackness” in anticipation of Martin Luther King’s birthday and Black History Month, there are important questions that we must ask ourselves. Why has Black America let the commemoration of our history and achievements slip into the hands of White commercialization?

By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/IBNN

In 1961, my birth certificate said I was born a Negro. In 2009, given the existence of a playing field that is only semi-level—and even that, only for certain blacks- black Americans as a whole are still in the “Realm of Negroism.”

On January 18 2010, General Mills Foundation and the United Negro College Fund will present the 20th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Breakfast.

The Breakfast “is an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of service of Dr. King and create an imperative to live out his legacy today in our homes, our communities and our world,” according to the MLK Breakfast website.

But wait. Next question.

Just what is Dr. King’s legacy? And how can we claim to honor this legacy, with no real engagement with the urgent issues that affect people of color every day?

Dr. King’s legacy cannot be lived and made real today over breakfast and tea, but requires grassroots organizing, protest, and activism. To fully understand this fact, we must look at the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement was at a peak from 1955-1965. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing basic civil rights for all Americans, regardless of race, after nearly a decade of nonviolent protests and marches, ranging from the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycotts to the student-led sit-ins of the 1960s to the huge March on Washington in 1963.

We must realize that Dr. Martin Luther King’s words and actions were considered radical at the time. They gained popularity because he spoke Truth to the People of the United States. Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Today, Black America has become mute and non-confrontational. Read more

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