Voices In Color

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1988, Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved.

Rice Hails Obama Race Speech As "Important" For U.S.

Sometimes touted as a contender for the Republican vice-presidential slot, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has aired her thoughts on race in the United States, a prominent issue in the presidential election campaign.

Rice, the top ranking African-American in President George W. Bush's cabinet, told The Washington Times she had watched Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's major speech on race last week.

"I think it was important that he (Obama) gave it for a whole host of reasons," said Rice in a transcript of the interview released by the State Department on Friday.

Obama would be the first black U.S. president if he wins the Democratic nomination and beats Republican candidate John McCain in the November election to succeed Bush.

Obama's speech -- which he gave after a storm of criticism over racially charged sermons by the black pastor of his church -- spoke of a racial stalemate in the United States and a need to heal racial wounds.

While saying repeatedly she did not want to talk about the election campaign -- "I don't do politics" -- and also reiterating her lack of interest in the vice presidential slot, Rice said the United States had a hard time dealing with racial issues.

"There is a paradox for this country and a contradiction of this country and we still haven't resolved it," she said in a detailed reply to questions about Obama and race issues as a whole before next week's 40th anniversary of the slaying of civil rights leader Marin Luther King.

"But what I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them, and that's our legacy."

Read more: Yahoo! News

Obama Tells Clinton To Stay In The Game

Barack Obama has said he believes Hillary Clinton, his rival in the bitter race for the Democratic nomination, should keep running despite calls for her to step aside.

Senior Democrats have said they fear the battle between the pair will damage the party ahead of November's election.

The Republicans have already chosen their candidate, Vietnam veteran John McCain, meaning they can now present a united front.

Illinois Senator Mr Obama, asked about whether his rival should quit the race, said: "My attitude is Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants."

He said he did not agree with one of his supporters, Senator Patrick Leahy, who said earlier this week that Mrs Clinton cannot win the nomination and should therefore drop out.

Read more: Sky News

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1966, Bill Russell named head coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the first African American to coach an NBA team.

Clinton Rejects 'Ugly Perception' Campaign Used Race As A Tactic

Hillary Clinton describes her heated Democratic primary race with rival Barack Obama as one of the more "civil and positive" campaigns she has ever been involved in. And she's not kidding.

In the middle of Thursday's trip through North Carolina, Clinton strayed off the economic message that was the focus of speeches in Raleigh, Fayetteville and Winston-Salem to talk about race.

Clinton took 30 minutes in the middle of a hectic day for a conference call with members of the Trotter Group -- a national organization of black columnists.

In a statement before the question and answer session, she started on a high -- "the historic nature" of a contest between a woman and an African American.

She quickly got to the point -- which she clearly considers a low point -- the "ugly perception that my campaign has used race as a tactic."

"I categorically reject that," Clinton said.

When passions run high, there are "painful moments" in a campaign, she said. Some supporters of both candidates have "crossed a line."

Read more: The Charlotte Observer

Building A Beauty Regimen For Dark Skin

After she opened her Philadelphia dermatology practice, Susan C. Taylor began thinking a lot about the beauty regimens of women with dark skin.

Since then, Dr. Taylor, who is African-American, has become co-founding director of the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals in Manhattan and Chief Executive of Rx for Brown Skin, a skin-care line designed for Asian, Indian, Latino and black skin.

And for many years, she has applied her findings to her own daily regimen. As a student, she says, "I would get up in the morning and wash my face with soap, then fall into bed at night without washing again."

Now, she gently washes her face twice daily with her fingertips, rinses, and pats dry with a soft cotton towel. She tones and follows up with a moisturizer. "I started cleansing with gentle products and realized that my skin changed," she says.

It is important to avoid rubbing and scrubbing the skin, she notes. Brown skin is very easily irritated, and that can lead to lingering dark marks, discolorations and scars.

Read more: The Wall Street Journal

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1924, jazz singer Sarah Vaughn was born in Newark, New Jersey.

Dissension Arises At Fox News Over Treatment Of Obama

I will readily admit that I hate Fox News…

Critics of the Fox News Channel regularly complain that the network beats up on Democrats and takes comments out of context. Usually, though, those critics are not Fox anchors.

On Friday Chris Wallace, host of the weekend political talk show “Fox News Sunday,” took the hosts of “Fox & Friends” to task for their conversations about Senator Barack Obama’s comments about race. His complaint — which created both a tense moment and some must-see TV — was that his colleagues were taking those comments out of context.

On Tuesday, in a speech that dominated the week’s news, Mr. Obama referred his white grandmother, saying that she had felt nervous passing black men on the street. On Thursday, while trying to clarify his remarks, he called his grandmother a “typical white person.”

On Friday, the “Fox & Friends” hosts questioned whether Mr. Obama’s remarks about his grandmother had been offensive — a process that involved playing the “typical white person” quote over and over again — and two of the three hosts seemed to say that they were. Mr. Wallace came on during the third hour of the program to say that the hosts had too often clipped the quote and played it in isolation.

“It seems to me that two hours of Obama-bashing on this ‘typical white person’ remark is somewhat excessive, and frankly I think you’re somewhat distorting what Obama had to say,” Mr. Wallace said during his regularly scheduled segment on the normally lighthearted morning show.

At the end of the segment, Mr. Wallace tried to change the mood by saying, “Thanks guys, I still love you.” But the host, Steve Doocy, acted genuinely annoyed at being chastised, and told Mr. Wallace that if he still loved them, he had “an odd way of showing it.”

Read more: The New York Times

The Image Of Black Women In Entertainment

Where in the world are black women in today's entertainment? There is a significant dearth in quality images of African-American women in television and film. And no, Oprah's un-Godly success and stature doesn't diminish this truth.

It wasn't always like this. In 1968, Diahann Carroll starred in the ground breaking series "Julia." Heralded as being the first series to star a black woman in a non-stereotypical role, "Julia" produced 86 episodes and Carroll earned herself a golden globe.

In the 70s, Pam Grier played a character that went against the typical African American female archetype. In 1974, Grier starred as the title character in Foxy Brown, a sexy yet independent black woman who was capable of running down criminals and saving the day.

The 1980s and 90s saw the birth of the black upper-middle class in entertainment. In The Cosby Show, Claire Huxtable was the epitome of a strong, dignified, and highly intelligent black woman that rarely was seen on television before and has been noticeably absent since.

Though The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a fun, silly sitcom, the show had depictions of black females that were atypical of Hollywood entertainment. Whether it was Vivian Banks' strength and discipline in the first couple of seasons or Hillary Banks' ditzy, spoiled rich girl routine, America was witnessing a diverse spectrum of what the African American female is in this country.

But something has happened in Hollywood. A regression has occurred. Black women have been marginalized or altogether phased out in popular culture.

Read more: Starpulse.com

World's Wealthiest Blacks

Collectively Black Americans are the richest Blacks in the world. But, only two Black Americans can claim a nine-figure. Times are changing and Black Africans are making more money than African Americans and have made it onto Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest billionaires.

At the top of Forbes' list, Warren Buffett's $62 billion ranks him as the world's richest man. Of the world's 1125 wealthiest individuals, Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu ranks second with $60 billion. Despite being worth $58 billion, $2 billion more than last year, Microsoft's Bill Gates is now just the world's third-richest person.

Ethiopian-born Mohammed Al Amoudi is the richest Black person in the world with a total net worth of $9 billion. Al Amoudi is ranked 97th on the Forbes list and followed by billionaire Blacks such as Nigeria's Aliko Dangote ($3.3 billion), American Oprah Winfrey ($2.5 billion), London-based Sudanese Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim ($2.5 billion) and South African Patrice Motsepe ($2.4 billion). BET founder Robert Johnson's divorce dropped him to just a $1 billion fortune.

Read more: Insight News