From CNN site

A gay rights group accuses comedian D.L. Hughley and “The View” co-host Sherri Shepherd of perpetuating “dangerous myths” about African American gay and bisexual men.

In a June 22 episode, Hughley and the hosts of the daytime ABC show were discussing an FDA rule that bans gay men from donating blood because of HIV. During the discussion, Hughley said, “When you look at the prevalence of HIV in the African-American community, it’s primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down low.”

Shepherd described that the “down low is black men who’ve been going out. They are having sex with men and they’re not telling their girlfriends or their wives that they’re gay…” and added that it’s “very prevalent.” Watch the video here

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Black AIDS Institute and the National Black Justice Coalition said the two were “blaming African American gay and bisexual men for increased HIV rates among straight African American women.”  They published a full page advertisement in Variety magazine this week urging ABC and “The View” to make an on-air correction.  The groups commended “The View” for tackling tough issues, but said it’s important to provide accurate information.

ABC responded with this statement to CNN: “ On June 22, during a discussion about blood donation and the transmission of HIV/AIDS, a guest moderator on the show expressed his interpretation of data about one way the virus can be transmitted.  The topic of HIV/AIDS has been raised many times over the show’s 13 years, with many voices and opinions contributing to a conversation that we expect to continue as long as The View is on the air.”

The down low has been a widely reported phenomenon in the media and remains a controversial issue.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the most common methods of transmission for black women living with HIV/AIDS is high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use.  The agency states: “The phenomenon of men on the down low has gained much attention in recent years; however, there are no data to confirm or refute publicized accounts of HIV risk behavior associated with these men.”

While African Americans represent about 12 percent of the U.S. population, they make up nearly half of the 1.1 million HIV/AIDS cases.

So a little after 9:00pm est, twitter, facebook and blogs bubbled over with information all about the man of the hour…Raul Gonzalez Blanco… ok, ok, Lebron James….Seconds after his annoucement, twitter went hot full of jokes i.e.  I’m gonna watch #lebrondecision tonite just in case Kanye interrupts to remind us that Jordan was the best basketball player ever and FB comments i.e. wut a dumb decision lebron they just tryin to take my LAKERS out of the ship but that aint gonna happen..we still gonna get our 3peat!!! Anywhoo… it was no Michael Jackson internet shut down… but I am wondering what the spikes in communication were… Oh and for all of you who might of went to sleep early? The full story is below check out the video too, Cleveland reaction:

N.B.A.’s Season of Suspense Ends as James Chooses Heat

From the New York Times

By HOWARD BECK

Cleveland Reaction:

Alright BlackIntel fam…. So I just need to sound off real quick again. Yesterday morning I’m going through my gossip sites as usual to get my fill of negrodum and useless information that always fun to come across..and I see Jay Z have the nerve to talk about boycotting the BET awards because Chris Brown is performing. Now let me be clear here, I do not, absolutely do not condone violence against women… However I think Jay Z got some nerve ridding on Chris Brown. I think CB learned his lesson both financially and morally. It might of took a minute for it to sink in, but he was “brought to justice”… now lets look at Jay Z…. this man moli-whopped a female in the face( on film who knows what he did off camera)… and where is the outrage… I didn’t hear a boycott Jay Z campaign, nobody threw his CD’s in the trash and cancel his tour dates… All this makes me wonder, is the only reason we cared about CB hitting Rih is because it was Ri not because he hit a woman in general? Let me know what ya’ll think folks?  And for those who didn’t see the drama as of yet… behold the videos below

Written by Nakia White

Lately, it seems that relationship issues have been in the forefront of everything: the news, magazines, blogs, and self help books. We have been inundated with celebrity cheating scandals, divorce, messy break ups, and the never ending curse of the American Black Woman who is doomed to stay single forever *cue Halle Berry’s endless rotation of failed relationships*

The issues of the single Black woman never really bothered me. Yes, I’m single. No, there are no options in sight. But I’ve always looked at life as there being more to it than marriage and birthing babies. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t mind landing a tall, strong chocolate drop of a man who fears God, kills spiders, doesn’t snore, and knows how to cook shrimp fettuccine, but if that doesn’t come, it isn’t the end of the world for me.

One thing that has stuck out to me in numerous face to face discussions and blogs about Black women and their propensity to being alone, is the claim from men that we are too picky. We want a man to dress a certain way, speak a certain way, drive a certain kind of car, and be involved in certain organizations. I feel like I am drowning in male proclamations that Black women are either too bourgie or too educated, which causes us to X out a number of Black men who may be good guys but don’t have the credentials that we’d prefer (Chilli’s ridiculous list of “must haves” comes to mind; Star Jones had a list too and look where it got her). A male friend of mine once said to me that “… many women are blocking their blessings, because instead of looking at a man’s heart, they’re looking at his wallet or his accomplishments.” According to some men, our standards are just too damn high.

I can admit to not being strict to the “He has to have gone to college, make X amount of dollars and drive such and such car” criteria, but I completely understand why a woman would prefer a degree wielding, professional, money making man. Times may be changing but most of us were still raised to seek a husband who will be able to provide for a family. It makes perfect sense to me that women want a strong protector and provider as potential husband and father of their future children.

What I can not understand, however, is a woman shouting from the rooftops that her man must be willing to take out her cornrows, oil her scalp, and help her wash her hair or her wig.

Let me explain.

Last month, Nightline aired the special “Face off” style debate, moderated by Vicky Mabrey, titled “Why Can’t A Successful Black Women Find a Man?” They assembled a random panel of self proclaimed experts and representatives, which included Steve Harvey and Hill Harper, both authors of relationship self help books focusing on Black couples; Jacque Reid, journalist and VERY desperate star of Vh1’s reality show “Let’s Talk About Pep”, and Sherri Shepherd, comedienne and current host of “The View” on ABC.

During this ground breaking discussion, Sherri Shepherd revealed to the 600 people in the audience in Atlanta, and viewers throughout the country, that she wants a man who will help her take out her cornrows and wash her wigs and her hair when she is tired.

Say what now, Sherri?

“I don’t think my standards are too high. I don’t think I’m asking for… um… anything that’s too out of the realm of reality… I would like a man that I can come home at night and say ‘ahhhh’, sit in your arms and you tell me it’s gonna be ok. I would like a man that’ll wash my wig. If you see my wig is dirty, can you wash my wig? Can you take the cornrows out of my hair?”

I laughed out loud when Sherri said this because she is a comedienne after all, and the real discussion had yet to begin, but I cringed when she said it again, this time on the panel while in the midst of the serious discussion of what women are looking for. I also grimaced when Jacque cosigned and the other women in the audience replied with a ferocious round of applause.

“No, I dont think our standards are too high. We should be looking for what we are [looking for]. For me, I’m like gosh, a man who loves God, a man that loves his family, a man that gets along with his mother, a man that can support me as I will support him…I got a five year old little boy, so a man that can come in and add to my son’s life, a man that doesn’t mind seeing me take my wig off and helping me take the cornrows out my hair. Is that too picky?”

When Jimi Izrael, another panelist and the author of The Denzel Principle, responded with a resounding “Yes!”, Sherri revealed that she was not joking.

“That ’s the most intimate part of what I do. Yes, my girlfriends will help me, but if I’m sitting at home with my man, maybe instead of playing the Xbox all day and I’ll play with you sometimes, I’ll play football with you, and you can help me take the cornrows out of my hair. I don’t see anything wrong with that kind of partnership.”<!–

Men who help us wash and style our hair? Is this what Black women want?

Now, I’m usually a ride or die feminista but after hearing this, the first thing that came to mind was “Oh Lawd, we gon’ be single forever!”

Maybe I have a warped opinion on the matter since I’ve had a former flame assist in taking out my braids. He also willingly helped me wash and condition my hair. The result was a first class ticket on the Hot Mess Express.

Yeah, it sounds great, and romantical and visions of Janet Jackson in her “Again” video may dance through your head, but unless your man has gone to cosmetology school or your hair is cut into a Caesar, he won’t really know HOW to wash your hair. There will be water everywhere, wet clothes, shampoo in your eyes, hair in your mouth… not a good situation. Trust me, ladies. If you’re too tired to wash your own hair, either do it yourself or go to the salon.

But even if he kinda sorta knows what he is doing, why is this a requirement for a relationship?  Your mate is supposed to be your mate… not your beautician or stylist. This is one area where I think some women go a little bit overboard. Let your man be a MAN.

Let me type that again:  LET YOUR MAN BE A MAN.

It burns my soul to the core to say it but in this case, Harvey, Harper, and Izrael are damn right. Some of us are too picky for our own good.

I think a lot of us get caught up into wanting our men to do things with us that should be reserved for other women.

“Wash my hair!”
“Come with me to see ‘Sex in the City 2′ during opening weekend!”
“Read this new Terry McMillan book so we can discuss it.”
“Watch this old episode of ‘Girlfriends’ when Joan and Toni end their friendship.”
“Come shopping with me.”
“Help me paint my nails!”

And if he doesn’t do those things, he’s not a good man, doesn’t love you, never does the things you want to do, never wants to compromise, and doesn’t want to build a successful relationship.

The real problem is that you, yes, YOU, either need a girlfriend or two…or three (or a gay male friend) who can engage in these activities with you, or you’re a control freak who doesn’t want your guy out of your sight.

In the first scenario, my suggestion is to get some friends. Get to know your new coworker, call up an old pal from your college years, reach out to someone your age who attends your church or is a member of one of your social organizations, or schedule lunch with one of your neighbors.

In the second scenario, I say…I have no idea what to say actually. Stop being controlling, maybe? Lighten up. Get counseling. Let go and let God. And learn that those kind of demands will wear down the strongest of men and eventually you’ll have no choice but to do it alone because he’ll be gone.

Now, if your man is offering to help with your hair, similar beauty regimens, or any other outrageous request that you have asked of him, then by all means, embrace it. But forcing something like that on to someone who would rather watch the Magic beat the Hawks, or play Madden, or barbecue in the front yard on a sunny day, is simply ridiculous. Men like to do manly things and I highly doubt that washing your hair is anywhere on his list.

Personally, if my future husband ever asks if he can help me with my hair, I’m going to suggest he go outside and be a man: “Go chop down a tree!” “Paint the roof!” “Wrestle a deer!” because he is obviously bored and needs something to do with his hands. My hair will not be on the agenda.

What say you: Are Black women really this picky? Do we need to lower our standards and re-evaluate our expectations just a tad?

UC Davis Campus

From the Advocate.com website By Kenneth Harvey

In response to recent racist and homophobic incidents on multiple University of California campuses, school administrators have proposed changes in admissions policies to boost enrollment of minorities, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Meeting in San Francisco, the University of California board of regents spent two hours Wednesday discussing the situations on several campuses, including the use of a racial epithet on a student television show at UC San Diego, swastikas that were spray-painted and carved into several locations across the UC Davis. campus and an an anti-gay slogan spray-painted on the UC Davis gay and lesbian center.

University of California leaders apologized to black UCSD students for recent racial incidents.

“It is the absence of inclusion that frees hatred, that frees bigotry, that allows it to go unchallenged. That’s our biggest problem,” regent Eddie Island said.

UC system president Mark Yudof acknowledged the recent “Compton Cookout” incident highlighted the issue of low enrollment of African-American students on the campus.

Yudof said he wanted all UC campuses to adopt an admissions process he deemed a “holistic” review, in which applicants’ test scores and high school grades are considered in the context of their life experiences and personal accomplishments.

“I want a system that is less mechanical and takes a serious look at a range of talents and skills and history, and takes into account poverty,” Yudof said.

Holistic review is permitted at UCSD; however, Yudof said he wants the system to be required at all nine UC undergraduate campuses. UCLA and UC Berkeley use the approach frequently, while UC San Diego and other campuses use a more rigid formula that focuses less on the personal accomplishments of a student.

This change would require approval by the system-wide faculty senate, something that will be discussed in a few months, officials said

_______

University of California President Mark Yudof condemned recent incidents of campus intolerance during a March 24 special session of the U.C. Board of Regents in San Francisco.

“What we have witnessed in recent weeks are quite simply the worst acts of racism, intolerance and incivility I’ve seen on college campuses in recent years,” Yudof said. “There are no excuses for the behavior we witnessed.”

Yudof and the regents, meeting at the UCSF Mission Bay campus, discussed for approximately three hours ways to prevent ethnically and racially charged incidents like those that have occurred recently at U.C. Davis, U.C. San Diego and U.C. Irvine. They didn’t take any action, but promised to act soon.

Over the past two months, six swastikas have been discovered on the U.C. Davis campus — on a residence hall bulletin board, on the dorm room door of Jewish student and in public spaces.

“It breaks my heart to report the acts of hatred and intolerance committed on the Davis campus,” U.C. Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said during the session, “a campus that is widely known for its exceptional civility.”

Katehi commended the U.C. Davis Police Department for its quick response and said campus authorities are “vigorously investigating” the incidents with the FBI.

At U.C. San Diego, a student hung a rope that resembled a noose in the campus’ main library, and fraternity students held an off-campus party called the “Compton Cookout” to mock Black History Month, according to NBC’s San Diego affiliate.

On the U.C. Irvine campus recently, hundreds of protesters converged on the administration building in support of 11 students who were arrested for disrupting a speech last month by Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador for the United States.

The protest, convened by the Muslim Student Union and several other campus groups, was met by a counter demonstration of about 60 people organized by local Jewish student groups.

At the March 24 meeting, a subtle line was drawn between the “ghetto” parties and swastikas soundly deplored by students, chancellors and regents alike, and the heckling of Oren at Irvine, which some speakers felt fell into the category of protected free speech.

“We stand in solidarity with the Irvine 11,” declared Victor Sanchez, president of the U.C. Student Association, in his opening words to the regents during the meeting.

Regent Sherry Lansing challenged U.C. Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake on the topic, asking whether Oren had been permitted to finish his speech. He had, Drake said, noting the history of Muslim-Jewish tensions at the university.

In his address to the regents, Drake underlined his deep dismay at the heckling of the Israeli ambassador, saying it crossed the line from free speech into “intolerable behavior.”

“Issues related to the Middle East conflict play themselves out on our campuses,” Drake said. “No matter which side you’re on, people benefit from learning tolerance and listening respectfully.”

Throughout the meeting, which streamed live online and was viewed at times by more than 800 people, regents offered their apologies to the students who were in attendance, and suggested ways to promote diversity on all U.C. campuses.

So Tiger makes a return to golf and the advertising world all in one week. Below is the Today Show’s report on the commercial and the uproar…but I’m a little more concern that Tiger is playing at a golf course that doesn’t allow women more than the actual commercial. What are ya’ll thoughts?

Actress Mo’Nique’s Oscar-victory and setback

Precious

From the District Chronicles Website by: Nikeema Kadary /Contributing writer

NNPA columnist Julianne Malveaux doesn’t begrudge comedienne, talk show host and actress Mo’Nique’s victory at the 82nd Oscars this month.  But Mo’Nique and other African-American women’s characters in films rile her. She writes in her current column that “Mo’Nique’s victory is her laudable personal success, but a Black community setback.”

The 44-year-old Mo’Nique grabbed the Best Supporting Actress Award, for her portrayal of Mary Jones whom Malveaux describes as “a revolting and depraved mother” in the movie “Precious.”

“She took the material she was given and she worked it,” Malveaux writes.  ”She made Mary Jones a repulsive character with absolutely no redeeming social value.  I am simply frustrated that these are the only kinds of roles that Hollywood offers African-American women, the only kinds of roles that Oscar chooses to lift up. I am frustrated that some may consider Mary Jones’ bestiality as typical, not atypical of African-American women.”

Malveaux ticks off the negative roles other African-American women Oscar winners played to support her concern: Hattie McDaniel won for a role as a maid; Halle Berry played a sex-starved fool; Whoopi Goldberg played a medium in “Ghost” and Jennifer Hudson was cast as an angry singer.

“I would love to see someone green light the story of Madame C.J. Walker, our nations first Black woman millionaire,” she writes. “There is some glamour there, and some drama!

“In a contemporary context, why not tell the story of Cathy Liggins Hughes, the millionaire owner of Radio One who slept in her studio because she couldn’t afford rent and the cost of station operations. These are dramatic stories, but they fly in the face of the stereotypes that were replete in ‘Precious.’”

But Malveaux is hardly the only one angry about the roles, which have won Oscars for African- American women. “I don’t think it was a movie that needed to be made,” said 24-year-old Destiny Graham, a cashier at a DC-area Giant Food Store. “It made Black people look worse than we are depicted in the media and I refuse to support that.”

Nicole Brown, 36, is equally disturbed that African-American women win an Oscar, one of the most coveted awards in Hollywood, only when cast in demeaning roles.

“Every role that past Black Oscar winners and now Mo’Nique have won make Black women look weak or angry; it’s never a part that you are proud of,” said Brown a homemaker and mother of four.

Donald Bogle, film historian and author of six books concerning African-Americans in film and on television is equally unhappy with the demeaning roles Black women play in films. “I still feel conflicted about the roles African-American actors and actresses play in the movies,” said Bogle, whose books include the 1973 “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes Mammies, & Bucks.”

While Malveaux is glad for Mo’Nique’s victory, she said she “did not relish the “Precious” story of welfare pathology making it to the screen. “Why not more positive roles for African-American women?” she asks.

Hey folks, found this on the Chron site…. I thought it was….. well interesting… what do you all think?

Cocooned among dozens of other married black couples, Racquel McKee stood beside her husband — arms wrapped around his waist and eyes trained lovingly on his face — as he explained why their marriage has lasted 10 years.

“In all of the struggles I’ve been through, she’s always been there,” said Marcel McKee, 40. “It’s truly been a blessing.”

The parents of three boys vow that they’re together for the long haul.

“I had an example of what marriage was … what marriage should be with my grandparents,” McKee continued. “That’s how I always saw my marriage — something that’s until death do us part.”

A strikingly high 42 percent of black adults have never been married, compared with just 26 percent of all American adults.

The McKees were among 50 couples attending Celebrate Marriage Weekend on Saturday, organized by the Married Couples’ Ministry at Windsor Village United Methodist Church to coincide with Black Marriage Day Houston.

Since 2003, the national observance has been a time for couples to renew their vows and for marriage activists to shepherd more black people to wedded unions. A wellspring of exuberance called The Obama Effect emerged recently as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama became icons of contemporary and enduring black matrimony.

Troubling statistics

A Barack and Michelle Obama partnership is hardly the relationship reality for most black Americans.

The difference is most distinct for Americans in their early 30s. By that age, half of blacks have never married, compared with 31 percent or lower for other groups.

According to 2009 U.S. Census Bureau reports, black females ages 35 to 44 are the only American women in their child-bearing years with lower marriage rates than men of the same race or ethnicity. By their early 40s, 31 percent of black women have never been wives, whereas 9 percent of white women, 11 percent of Asian women and 12 percent of Hispanic women have never been married.

The outlook for the traditional family is also bleaker for black Texans, who have the state’s highest divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services figures.

So why aren’t black people getting or staying married?

Marriage advocates and relationship researchers in the Houston area say the answer has multiple layers.

“African-Americans are on the forefront of an overall retreat from marriage,” said Holly Heard, a Rice University sociology professor, who noted that income and education are “highly predictive” factors of matrimony. “African-Americans are more likely to be poor and less likely to have a college degree. There’s also some concern about [gender] ratios and fewer marriageable black men.”

Kenyatta Phelps, a Prairie View A&M University sociologist who studies dating among black adolescents, said there’s not enough research to fully explain declining marriage rates among black Americans. She cites several potential reasons: delayed marriage for all groups that’s more stark among black adults, more homosexual relationships and high rates of black male imprisonment.

She notes that woman far outnumber men at her rural, historically black university. In her social psychology research, she has found that black children have different socialization experiences and receive different cultural messages.

“A lot of African-American females are taught independence — and independence from men — until they have achieved success. African-American males are told success goes hand in hand with dating — at least those are the messages they are hearing. Data shows that white females are told success and family go hand in hand and success may take a backseat to family,” said Phelps, a single black woman in her mid-30s. “I personally think it’s a coping mechanism. African-American women are delving into opportunities for success to deal with not having a partner.”

Federal initiative

Following the lead of states, the federal government began the Healthy Marriage Initiative in 2002 to strengthen wedded unions and the decrease the likelihood of hardship experienced by children raised by single parents.

“Marriage is one of the most natural joinings of the human spirit that has ever been recognized on the Earth,” said Rev. W.S. Lee, a leader of Houston’s African-American Healthy Marriage Initiative.

“I’ve heard a lot of young people say: ‘I don’t want my adult life to be filled with the kind of pain and difficulty that I’ve seen in my family,’ so they shy away from that commitment,” Lee said. He and his wife of 43 years, Wilma, serve as marriage coaches with the group, an advisory committee to the Greater Houston Healthy Marriage Initiative. “We want people to make the decision with confidence because they know they have the skills that can help them form a healthy relationship that leads to marriage.”

In 2005, black Texans had a divorce rate – 21.9 percent – nearly double the rate for Hispanics, 11.4 percent. Sixteen percent of Anglos were divorced. In Texas and nationwide, two-thirds of black children are born to unmarried mothers. Nearly half of all Hispanic mothers are not married when they deliver, compared with one in four white Texas mothers, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Impoverished children

And in Texas, marriage doesn’t insulate children from poverty. In 2006, half of the state’s 3 million children from low-income families — 1.5 million — lived with married parents in urban areas like Houston, according to the American Community Survey. Most of the state’s impoverished black children, however, lived with a single parent and one-third of those adults had never married.

But on Saturday at Windsor Village’s Kingdom Builders’ Center, those attending the marriage retreat wore T-Shirts declaring “I love my husband” and “I love my wife.”

After the McKees shared their story, Bill Ashley said the goal wasn’t just staying together, but experiencing lasting, happy marriages.

“You have to invest in time with your spouse. Long after your children are gone, you are going to be with your spouse,” Ashley, who has been married for 39 years, said to rousing applause. “For those of you who have children, I encourage you: Spend some time with your spouse alone.”Who

Yo is this Kanye the reverse…but no outrage?

So I don’t know if anyone saw the oscars last night, however it seemed that a mic stealing moment happened ( video below). This time though, it was an older white woman who stole the mic from a Black man.  So now comes the next day…and I’m waiting for the fireworks…..But there seems to be little outrage for this moment…No president saying that the woman was an idiot, no vilifying in the media of the woman’s unsavory behavior, nada. So I ask the question to ya’ll readers out in web land, do you think there is a double standard out there or was this situation different than what happen with “Ye?