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On a Chicago sports radio show, Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced “Sha-shef-ski”) has come out swinging at the critical remarks made by Jalen Rose about the school in an ESPN documentary. Krzyzewski says the comments were “very insulting to everyone here at Duke.”
In his ESPN Films documentary, “The Fab Five,” Rose said African American basketball players recruited by Duke in the early 90s were “Uncle Toms.”
In the documentary that aired March 13, Rose – an ESPN analyst and executive producer of the film – said:
“I hated Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms.”
“Obviously, that was a poor choice of words and very insulting to everyone here at Duke but especially, not just our African-American players, but any African-American students,” Krzyzewski said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 in Chicago Tuesday. “When you judge within a race, you start judging, like you put categories as to who you are. I think that’s just the wrong thing to do.”
Krzyzewski also revealed that one of the Fab Five could have ended up at Duke.
“We were very successful against them and, to be quite frank with you, we recruited Chris Webber,” he said. “I didn’t recruit Jalen Rose because we had Grant Hill and I’m happy with that. We didn’t look at the other, Juwan Howard [because] we knew he wasn’t going to come to Duke. The other two kids we didn’t think were the caliber that could play as well as Thomas Hill and Brian Davis and Billy McCaffery. They’re good kids. They were good kids.”
CHICAGO – More than 700 people have died from cholera in Haiti in an epidemic that might have been prevented had international agencies heeded warnings from aid workers, asserted the Rev. Claude Joseph Pressoir, a director of the Chicago-based Remember the Children aid organization.
Pressoir and her husband, Robert, also a minister, traveled to Haiti following the devastating earthquake Jan. 12 that leveled parts of that country, killed at least 300,000 people, left 300,000 amputees and more than a million homeless under tent cities. In addition to the deaths, 9,000 people are being treated for symptoms of the disease. Remember the Children provides shelter, food and medicines to children in Haiti.
“I warned the government to take immediate preventive health care measures during a television interview one day after the earthquake,” Pressoir said. “I urged them to take necessary steps to clean water, implement a sanitation system and to provide nutrition assistance and vaccinations.
“It seems that very little was done toward prevention and now more than 544 people have died. These are deaths that perhaps could have been prevented,” she said. “There has been a lack of coordination, a lack of planning, a lack of caring.
“The international community has been tremendous in its response and aid to Haiti and for that we are very thankful,” Pressoir said, “but we have a sense that there is no one in charge, that agencies are not talking to each other or to Haitians, that desperately needed supplies are sitting in warehouses month after month because of government ineptitude and corruption by some workers.
“Ten months after the quake, we still are talking about the magnitude and the volume of the disaster, the death toll and the devastation. If we had applied some preventive measure, tried to add some structure, even one day or one week at a time, we would have had some effective results by now.”
A fundamental problem, she said, is failure by the United Nations, as the lead international organization, to effectively network with grassroots organizations and the people most affected by the quake, especially those living in slums.
“There seems to be a large number of agencies from the U.N. and other countries involved but not many Haitian-run organizations have been given opportunities to network or partake of the global resources and funds given.
“We know the country, we know the culture,” she said. “They are not empowering us to do the work. They should give us resources as Haitian nationals to deal directly with our people to boost the effectiveness of the relief effort. We speak the language, know the hearts of the people, understand their mentality and their thought process.
“Instead, we find ourselves in a state of economic slavery. The way the things are being done, it’s like we are in bondage. Those in control are not giving us the means or the structure we need to create,” Pressoir added. “Like Denzel Washington said: ‘We can not rebuild for the Haitians; we have to do it with the Haitians.’ There is lack of communication between the different social strata in Haiti, lack of unity and togetherness of purpose, vision and bonding in the process of rebuilding.
“I say to the international community: Even though you have the economic upper hand, it is still our land. It is still our people. Why don’t you go through us to do the work? Why do you want to do it yourself when you don’t even know the land?”
Nonprofit organizations have made a lot of mistakes because of this, she said. “There are instances where mistakes have been made in handling and processing hundreds of relief containers because they are not handled by Haitian nationals who know and could shortcut the customs process.
“This has caused many containers of rice, beans, medicine to expire before they are released from customs, truly a huge waste of resources and goods so greatly needed and expected by the people,” Pressoir said.
Added the Rev. Robert Pressoir: “We have 8 million people. Give them training, award the rebuilding contracts to Haitian-owned companies, which is a great way to increase employment and bring more resources into Haitian hands instead of favoring foreign companies. You see Dominican companies, American companies doing the rebuilding, getting the big contracts. That is not right. If you really desire to create opportunities, hire Haitians, deal with Haitian-owned and run companies with a component for training and management accountability. We must rebuild the economy. Why not teach the young people, train them to use equipment so they have skills that will be useful not only now but in the future?
“The international community has contributed a lot to Haiti,” Robert Pressoir said. “It has been doing great work and I believe it is genuine in its compassion and love for Haiti but we are making an appeal: that the international agencies work closer with Haitian nationals in Haiti at all levels – administrative, medical, nutritional, agricultural and educational – and instead of just telling us what to do, work together with us,” he said.
“We need things to function better. We want to be more effective. We have a lot of people who depend on us and we want to be able to help them and give them hope,” Robert Pressoir said. “We have hundreds of children waiting for Remember the Children to get better, to get a better location to house them so that they can have a better life.
Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Jr. speaks for the first time about the state of her marriage to Chicago-area Congressman. Sandi Jackson says she was mortified and in agony over finding out her husband had an affair with a bikini model. The Jacksons have two children and have been married since 1991. Sandi says she went through bouts of sleepless nights and she was losing her hair. Sandi is an alderman in Chicago. She says Jesse, Jr. told her about the affair two years ago, and they have undergone marital and spiritual counseling. The Jacksons are looking to expand their political ambitions. Both are interested in running for mayor in Chicago. Sandi says despite the pain, she is standing by her man. Jesse, Jr. was involved with Giovanna Huidobro, a bikini model and cocktail waitress. As of press time, there has been no public comment from Jesse, Jr., Huidobro or Jesse’s dad the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has had problems with extramarital affairs himself.
Stedman Graham was born on March 6, 1951 in Whitesboro, NJ, a community founded in 1901 by a group of prominent African-Americans which included Booker T. Washington and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Stedman attended Middle Township High School where the 6’6? phenom starred on the varsity basketball team.
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Hardin-Simmons University, he played professionally in Europe for a few years before returning to the U.S. to work on his Master’s in Education from Ball State.
An enduring, high-profile relationship with Oprah Winfrey has perhaps overshadowed the long list of business and charitable accomplishments accumulated over the course of Mr. Graham’s impressive career as Chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates, a management and marketing consulting firm specializing in the corporate and educational fields.
A prolific writer, he is also the author of ten books, two of which became NY Times bestsellers. And he has taught at several colleges, including a course on leadership at the University of Illinois and one on strategic management at Northwestern.
Most importantly, Mr. Graham has exhibited a lifelong commitment to community via Athletes Against Drugs (AAD), a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 which remains dedicated to developing leadership in underserved youth through scholarships and education. Recently, Stedman talked to me about his work with AAD and other projects.
Isaiah Mustafa, the former NFL player whose fame skyrocketed as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” has just been cast opposite Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in Warner Bros. upcoming comedy “Horrible Bosses.”
The film follows three friends who conspire to murder their awful bosses for standing in the way of their happiness. Mustafa will portray a police officer.
“It’s a smaller role, but who wouldn’t want to be in one of these funny, irreverent comedies?” Mustafa tells the Hollywood Reporter. “The cast is great. I’m playing a cop because I play these authoritative characters well. I don’t know exactly who I’m in the scene with — maybe Jennifer Aniston.”
The casting in “Horrible Bosses” follows parts in Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” as well as an upcoming guest spot on NBC’s action-comedy “Chuck.”
All this comes on the heels of Nielsen data indicating that sales of Old Spice body products are up a monumental 107% in the past month as a result of his Emmy-nominated spots, and the Old Spice YouTube channels have been viewed more than 58 million times.
Mustafa’s second ad for the company premiered in recent weeks, and it could be his last.
“As far as commercials, I don’t think there are any more lined up,” he says. “They could always change their mind and want more. I signed on to be their spokesperson for a year, so I still have a few months left.”
The entire senior class at Chicago’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation. Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at an all-school assembly at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men in Englewood this morning to congratulate them. It’s the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006. Huberman applauded the seniors for making CPS shine. “All of you in the senior class have shown that what matters is perseverance, what matters is focus, what matters is having a dream and following that dream,” Huberman said. The school enforces a strict uniform of black blazers, khaki pants and red ties — with one exception. After a student receives the news he was accepted into college, he swaps his red tie for a red and gold one at an assembly.
See article in full here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/happynews/ct-met-urban-prep-college-20100305,0,3299917.story
The woman who launched the careers of some of the most heralded gospel legends, the original Gospel Caravans–the late Rev. James Cleveland, Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews and Dorothy Norwood — Albertina Walker has passed away.
Known as the beloved “Queen of Gospel,” Chicago-born Walker took the advice of her friend Mahalia Jackson and founded the legendary Caravans that evolved into worldwide acclaim in the 1950s. The evergreen “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” became one of their greatest hits.
In early September this year rumors of her death were widespread online, but Walker was in fact hospitalized for respiratory distress and later underwent a Tracheotomy surgery that was reportedly successful.
From the ICU at a Chicago hospital, while connected to a ventilator, she assured her fans via Facebook on September 4:
“I am still here no matter what you have heard.”
On September 17, Walker posted a message on www.albertinawalker.com stating:
“I praise God for my life, strength and good reports as I rest comfortably at this time. Keep me lifted in prayer as I know God is not through with me yet.”
Walker’s respiratory ailments were well known within the gospel industry as under the physical circumstances she remained relatively active as an artist. Due to the love for the music that gave her a name and faith in the God she sang about, she couldn’t be stopped.
She appeared wheel chair assisted with an aspirator at major industry events such as The Stellars and GMWA in recent years and touring with the Caravans for their 2006 reunion recording, “Paved the Way.”
As of 4:30 a.m. on October 8, Walker is no longer with us.
Her indomitable spirit lives on in a half a century’s worth of rich music recorded on 71 albums. Like all of the original members of the Caravans Ms. Walker pursued a solo career. As the poster child for Chicago-styled gospel, her songs, with their declarative tone and straight forward messages, became the meat of the Black Church experience. Songs such as “I’ve Got A Feeling Everything Will Be Alright,” “Jesus Will Fix It,” “Please Be Patient With Me,” and “I Can Go To God In Prayer” are all time-tested classics.