Are some blacks becoming a "black bourgeoisie?"

Are some blacks controlling the wealth and power within the black community and turning its back on its own people?

Are many members of black America adopting the values, standards and ideals of the white middle class, and are trying to distance themselves from the black poor?

In the 1960s, federal entitlement programs, civil rights legislation, equal opportunity statutes and affirmative action programs broke the open barriers of legal segregation. The path to universities and corporations for some blacks was now wide open. More blacks than ever did what their parents only dreamed of – they fled blighted inner-city areas in droves. The new frontier, business where the dollar is made and where significant wealth and resources are at stake.

But, is there a widening rift between the black haves and the black have-nots that has been blurred by racism, ignored by blacks and hidden from white society?

Is black wealth, like white wealth, now concentrated in fewer hands.

A study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project, Shows Progress Toward School Desegregation Peaked in Late 1980s. That is a half-century after the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of American education, schools are almost as segregated as they were when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

The report said that a massive migration of black families toward the suburbs is producing "hundreds of new segregated and unequal schools and frustrating the dream of middle-class minority families."

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test report, by the 12th grade, on average, black students (in the United States) are four years behind those who are white or Asain.

The "NAEP" test report not only average scores for each racial or ethnic group; they also place each individual test-taker in one of four different "achievement levels." The bottom is labeled below basic, which is reserved for students unable to display even "partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills."

In five of the seven subjects tested, a majority of black twelfth graders perform Below Basic. In math, the figure is almost seven out of ten, in science more than three out of four.

While this gap may not be hidden from public, black leaders have been inhibited from describing the problem in its full dimensions. But closing the skills gap is the answer to real racial equality in American society.

What, in fact, are black leaders doing with what they aggregate?

State of Black America: Access to positions of power and prestige – and to well-paying jobs in general – are limited because blacks typically leave high school with an eighth-grade education

The status of blacks today is different than it was a half century ago, when almost 90 percent of blacks lived in poverty. By now more than 40 percent of blacks describe themselves as middle class, and a third live in suburbs. College attendance rates are as high although a high percentage drop out before getting a four-year degree.

African-Americans are CEOs and occupy lofty positions in the federal government. But all is not well.

The most discouraging news of all is that which has been barely discussed by black leaders: the appalling racial gap in academic achievement in the K-12 years. Without an education, black children are slaves to the world they live in.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision struck down legalized school segregation to give equal educational access to African Americans and other minorities. But, today's major American educational issue still involves race.

Blacks have no choice but to prepare its young

At least three black men ascended in the aftermath of civil rights movement to become CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and an additional 275 or more senior black executives are now no less than three steps away from the CEO. They've attended the nation's most prestigious schools, learned how to navigate the highest reaches of the systems, and they have thrived.

But, for all their great wealth and enormous resources, It appears most sucessful blacks remain absent from the struggle of educating our young.

Recently, Kmart Holding Corp. chose Aylwin Lewis to improve the giant retailer's image and operation. Lewis joins Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, Richard Parsons of Time Warner, Ken Chenault of American Express and Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae as the only African American chief executives heading top publicly trading companies in the U.S.

Corporations today say they do look to a talent pool largely comprising minorities and women for their senior and middle managers. But the level of education and the caliber of schools blacks attended are not equal, and the competition for market share is so ferocious that companies must recruit the best talent.

George W. Bush appealed to Americans' best instincts when he declared that no child should be left behind. But?

All agree that every child in America should have the same opportunity to reach his or her full potential regardless of the color of skin, gender or the income level of the child's parents. But, the president's plan has set up millions of vulnerable kids for failure, leaving black youth with another dose of mostly symbolic politics.

The education reform accountability system based on annual testing in grades three through eight that financially sanctions schools that do not show quick improvement, will do a great deal of additional damage to the children in America's most-troubled public schools. It is wrong to expect schools to succeed virtually overnight when so little is done to attack inequalities in education.

How can he expect the poorest children, who face every disadvantage, to do as well as those who have every advantage? Given Bush's spending priorities there is little left to finance his efforts to leave no child behind.

Further, by the time students enter the third grade, when the Bush testing plan would kick in, much already has been determined about whether individual children will succeed or struggle academically.

America's schools must be accountable to the children being educated in them and to their parents. But making high-stakes annual tests the sole determinant for students and their schools, and imposing major costs on those who fail, is counterproductive.

Assessment should measure, not drive, education reform. Why force schools to spend thousands on consultants to teach test-taking strategies instead of substantive learning?

The magic that can happen between a creative teacher and engaged students is too often lost in schools driven by test preparation.

Some Say: "Be your own boss to avoid a racist one"

The median net worth of an African American household is about $6,000, while white households wield 14 times as much wealth: more than $88,000. The disastrous details are contained in a report on wealth disparities by the Pew Hispanic Center, "The Wealth of Hispanic Households: 1996 to 2002."

African American losses appear near-permanent, the result of the deindustrialization of the United Statess - the destruction of the Black blue-collar workforce.

There are some black leaders who took the position that the racial wealth disparity was due to the misbehavior of black youth. But, black youth have attempted to work within the framework of democracy. However, they're not accepting the media's distortion of success (the tremendous earning power of black athletes and entertainers).

Today's black youth's entrepreneurship has captured the momentum that once filtered through the civil rights movement a generation ago.

Numbers tell the story. A Marion Kaufman Foundation study found that black males between the ages of 25 and 35 (with some graduate work) are more likely to start businesses than any other men in that age range. That is, Blacks are 50% more likely than whites or Hispanics to experiment with entrepreneurship, up 17% a year, according to the Milken Institute, an economic think tank in California.

Today's Social Movement

The driving force behind the "Civil Rights Movement" is a deep belief that social injustices need corrected. Although traditional civil rights organizations have made efforts to reach out to young blacks there appears to be a deep chasm of disrepect separating the two groups.

Some young blacks see traditional civil rights organizations as out of step and uninformed. They have an appreciation for Martin Luther King, Jr., the NAACP, Selma, and the like, but are striving to find their own place.

That is, today's generation, organized by its own language, style of dress, music and mindset, want to move on.

Young blacks see traditional civil rights organizations stuck in the 1960s, still talking that same rhetoric and thinking that same contemplation. But the rhetoric of the 1960's just doesn't advance the cause anymore.

Today's black youth don't want to wait for change. They want to directly address the "root cause" of their problems - issues that are unfortunately still evolving. That is, a dream deferred is a dream denied.

It can be a violent, tattooed messenger such as 50 cents or even Eminem. It can even be the ease of "joining" internet activism with a simple email. Their message is clear: "they won't be controlled by a small coterie of corporations paying the bills." With rap music, graffiti art, the internet, and the multicultural growth of hip-hop, young blacks are now better able to navigate a complicated world. They have an underground community where they can be heard and where they know they have an audience. This is part of a larger transformation of society as demonstrate by the recent "Dean for President" scare.

That is, as was the case in 1963 when Martin Luther King marched on Washington, much of America is now quite prepared to agree with today's youth. There's really no counter-argument. People of all races are suffering. Common-folk now realized they're being exploited by the wealthy and powerful, and how political power is purchased by big corporations.

But, as was the case with the Declaration of Independence and Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech, today's youth movement carries the flattery of high expectations: a colorbind society; a right to earn a living in a lawful occupation; a right to privacy and space sufficient for rearing a family; and satisfaction that you can shut off from what's going in the world with a click of the mouse.

Today's young are striving to find their place. Unfortunately, it's a place currently occupied by others. Leaving them for no other choice but the military where merit appears to matter more than race. 22 percent of new enlistees are African American, compared to 13 percent of comparable civilians.

Half or more blacks are getting left behind...

According to a report from two nonpartisan groups, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard and the Urban Institute, there is a hidden crisis masked in the United Staes Department of Education regulations issued under the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act that allow schools, districts, and states to all but eliminate graduation rate accountability for minority subgroups.

The report advises that the minority high school graduation rate crisis in America is masked by the widespread circulation of misleading and inaccurate reporting of dropout and graduation rates.

According to the report, while 75 percent of white students graduated from high school in 2001, only 50 percent of all black students got a high school diploma in the same year. The low minority graduation rates are found in all parts of the Country. Pennsylvania was one of the 10 worst states overall for blacks to graduate from high school. Only 46 percent of black Pennsylvania students as compared to a 81 percent white graduated in 2001.

The issue: The drop out rate in use today misleads the public into thinking that most students are earning diplomas. The reality is that there is little, or no, state or federal oversight of dropout and graduation rate reports for accuracy.

The implications of the hidden minority dropout crisis in America are far reaching and devastating for individuals, communities and the economic vitality of this country.

Separate schools for whites and blacks fuel the low graduation rate problem also. In every state, districts with high minority concentrations had lower graduation rates than districts where whites were the majority. This suggests that the growing segregation in public schools will likely contribute further to even lower minority graduation rates.

The vast majority of intensely segregated minority schools (90 to 100 percent minority) face conditions of concentrated poverty, which are powerfully related to unequal educational opportunity. In fact, in many districts where court-ordered desegregation was ended in the past decades, there has been a major increase in segregation. Additionally, although American public schools are now only 60 percent white nationwide and nearly one fourth of U.S. schools are in states with a majority of nonwhite students, except in the South and Southwest, most white students have little contact with students of color.

Pennsylvania is listed as the sixth most segregated state, judging by the percentage of blacks in shcools where 90 to 100 percent of the students are of color.

LOCAL NEWS

Pennsylvania a Battleground

In 2000, the Keystone State went to Al Gore, 51 percent to 46 percent. In the last three presidential elections, Democratic candidates have won reflecting how the state has tended to trend slightly Democratic in recent statewide balloting.

A state with an intensifying class conflict among voters. Blue-collar voters stuck between an old industrial economy and a modern technological economy.

The state's Democratic electorate is more socially conservative than the nation's. Polls also show the war on terror scarcely registers with voters here, even though Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge was their governor.

The same goes for social issues. Economic concerns overwhelm all others.

President George W. Bush will contest the state. It was one of the states he hoped to carry in 2000.

Pennsylvania has the nation's second highest concentration of seniors, and the proportions of whites, Catholics, the elderly and rural dwellers are greater among Pennsylvania Democrats than among Democrats nationally.

The real area that will be contested will be the suburban counties around Philadelphia. They are Republican, but in the last three presidential elections, Democratic candidates won them.

There is also the old coal country, northeastern and north-central Pennsylvania.

The state is bookended by Philadelphia (home to 40 percent of the state's Democratic voters, including booming suburbs that are rare growth engines in a state stuck near the bottom in population and job gains) and Pittsburgh (bypassed by prosperity, the long-depressed steel and mining communities of the heavily Democratic southwest), the fifth and nineteenth largest cities of the country. It also has huge heartland (the rural and small-town middle of the state), that consists of many Republican voters.

A divide that Democratic consultant James Carville famously described as "Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between."

SPORTS

A wave of younger athletes uniquely qualified are signing on with professional sports teams.

LeBron James,
is a can't-miss opportunity and a limitless potential money-making franchise.

He's the 19-year-old prodigy and now the hottest commodity driving NBA merchandise sales at record numbers and road attendance to soaring highs.

A No. 1 draft pick right out of high school, with endorsement deals of more than $100 million, he quickly became the savior for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Goodwin brothers, Aaron and Eric, his agents (offices in Seattle and Oakland, California) devised a marketing program for Lebron concentrating on larger brands (Nike and Sprite) to help him learn the business of sports (credibility and accountability), to keep him focused on performing well.

LeBron and the Goodwins plan to build a career that is as lucrative both on and off the court. Most importantly, LeBron is a guy who wants to learn as much as he possibly can.

The Cavs needed a LeBron and he has certainly helped.

LeBron has the top-selling jersey in the NBA and is No. 2 overall in all of professional sports, second only to Michael Vick.

The radio network and television network as far as affiliates has tripled in size (15 million people). In addition to becoming a regional team, Cleveland has become a national team based on the media following, and in some respects an international team.

His new shoe, the Air Zoom Generation, retails for $110. A limited run of 45,000 shoes decked out with his personal LJ23 logo was an instant sellout.

The Sporting News lists LeBron as the 28th most powerful figure in sports in the magazine's 14th annual "Power 100 rankings."

He represents a next generation: there's the LeBron Hummer; his own Nike clothing line, LJ23; and a Sprite deal with the Coca-Cola Co.

He has personal Web site, complete with a journal and, of course, a LeBron game and chat room.

Freddy Adu, at 14, the youngest player ever signed

Freddy Adu, is represented by the same agency that negotiates for national team coach Bruce Arena and forward Landon Donovan.

SportsNet, LLC, whose principals are Richard Motzkin and Dan Segal, also helped Adu inked an endorsement deal with Nike. The Washington Post reported the contract was worth $1 million.

Adu was born in Ghana, immigrated to the United States in 1997, and received U.S. citizenship in February 2003.

He's a soccer prodigy who was pursued by European teams, but in the end signed a four year contract (with the option of two more) with the D.C. United of the MLS for a reported $250,000 a year. Adu is described as an electrifying goal-scorer with remarkable speed, vision and ball skills that could become a dominant male soccer icon.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Holdin' It Down for B2K!"

B2K's apparent "rock," J-Boog (Jarrell Houston), told BET that he refuses to be "raped" by management! Lil' Fizz (Dreux Frederic) and Raz-B (De'mario Thornton) must agree because the group of three almost immediately executed a business partnership agreement with Commodities Management Exchange, Inc. ("CMX").

Disagreements with Omarion (Omari Grandberry) and The Ultimate Group ("T.U.G."), a management company owned by Chris Stokes, fueled the breakup. Rumors have been speculating a breakup for some time now.

B2K's 15 minutes of fame began when the Los Angeles' teens were discovered at an Epic Records showcase. The heartthrobs showed off irresistible vocal harmonies and complex dance routines capturing the interest of Epic executives.

The group has received a bevy of awards, nominations and accolades including American Music Awards, MTV, BET, Billboard Music and Soul Train Award wins and nominations.

A Screen Gems film, "You Got Served" recently opened in U.S. theaters featuring together all four of original members of the group.

The apparent problem may be Omarion's belief that he has showcased acting talent with the lead role. He told BET "Everybody just wanted to grow up and go their separate ways and do their thing individually." Chris Stokes says he will continue to manage Omarion.

In the summer of 2001, B2K first opened as an act for Lil' Bow Wow, and appeared in the young rapper's video for the hit "Ghetto Girls." Next they were featured on numerous teen magazine covers.

In early 2002, the group entered into the mainstream with their debut single, "Uh Huh." The single's success garnered much attention for their self-titled debut album that almost immediately followed.

The debut album enlisted a roster of hot producers, including C. "Tricky" Stewart (Blu Cantrell, Usher), who produced the smooth and magnetic single "Uh Huh," and Atlanta's all-persuasive hitmaker Jermaine Dupri (Kriss Kross, Xscape, Da Brat, TLC, Mariah Carey, Lil' Bow Wow), who tightened up the track "Last Boyfriend" into a stylish hip-hop-meets-soul jam.

In attempt to exploit as much as possible from their 15 minutes of fame two more albums: Pandemonium! (which also involved the work of hip-hop's A-list producers, P. Diddy and R. Kelly) and the holiday collection Santa Hooked Me Up were released in 2002.

Although the boys of the new millennium scored their biggest hit with the song "Bump, Bump Bump" featuring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, which topped Billboard's Hot 100 in April 2003, overexposure may now be insurmountable for their latest release a soundtrack to "You Got Served."

"You Got Served"

A highly energetic dance drama.

Writer/director Christopher Stokes' film is about competitive street dancing and the rumbling thunder of hip-hop dance-offs. Perfect for the fickle world of teen culture.

Letting the kids just do their thing with tightly choreographed routines the movie sends a message about respect. Stokes gets right to business, opening the movie in the midst of a battle of two dance crews who are topping each other's moves.

It covers just about everything, crime lords, "big momma" type grandmothers, and tragedy. You have best friends trying to break into show business, but on the side they work as couriers for a villainous drug dealer.

Elgin (Marques Houston of IMX) and David (Omarion of B2K) are the leaders of the best dance crew in the area.

When another town's top group challenges them to a battle, David and Elgin along with their buddies (Raz B, J Boog and Lil' Fizz of B2K) must create and perfect the most cutting edge moves (handsprings, head-spins and upside-down one-armed poses) in order to remain on top.

The stakes are raised as friends double-cross each other and true motives are revealed. When the biggest battle comes to town, David and Elgin must work past their differences to prove that they are still the best crew on the streets. Jennifer Freeman, Meagan Good and Steve Harvey co-star.

Christopher Stokes (directed "House Party 4)" offers 93 minutes of plenty of great dance footage that is a "must see" for teen girls. Yes it's corny, but it's also refreshingly wholesome (rated PG-13).

BUSINESS NEWS

One-Sided Contracts

Basic Music Industry Facts:

(1) Copyrighted Song v. Copyrighted Sound Recording. Understanding the difference is crucial to understanding any record deal or songwriting contract placed in front of you. Copyright law recognizes a separate copyright in the song and in each of the sound recordings.

Typically, the songwriter or music publisher owns the copyright to the song, and the record company owns the copyright in the sound recording. To sample a song you need a license from both the music publisher and record company.

(2) If you and your friends formed a band which performs for money, you've formed a business. If the band doesn't select a category for itself, it is automatically a general partnership. A written agreement isn't required.

If you are the first to use that name in a commercial context in a particular geographic area, you also have a trademark on the band name. Registration with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office isn't necessary but recommended.

(3) Royalty rate is meaningless unless viewed in the context of the deductions your record company takes before paying you. Deductions (money spent on your career)can very significantly for one company to the next. A negotiated cut-off date, gradual reduction over time and/or final payment exit strategy can place a limit on post-management commissions. You will retain a new personal manager and you don't want to find yourself paying a commission to two managers.