Yolanda Adams comes to Prince Georges Community College to promote healthy living and eating on Saturday, March 20th.

Enjoy music, fun, and find out lots of information on how to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Prince George’s Community College
Novak Gym
12 noon

Don’t be so quick to judge others for what they do.
We are quick to put other people down when we don’t know what they are going through and unless that is you, you don’t know how you would respond.
Anytime someone has a misfortune you don’t have to publicly discuss it.

Courtesy of Niecy Davis

The NAACP elected a health care executive as its youngest board chairman Saturday, continuing a youth movement for the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.  Roslyn M. Brock, 44, was chosen to succeed Julian Bond. She had been vice chairman since 2001 and a member of the NAACP for 25 years.

Brock works for Bon Secours Health Systems in Maryland as vice president for advocacy and government relations, and spent 10 years working on health issues for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She joins Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 37-year-old CEO of the NAACP, as leader of the 500,000-member organization.

Brock said she plans to focus on pushing for policy changes to eliminate inequality, strengthening the relationship between the national and local NAACP branches and holding people accountable.

“It’s not always what someone is doing to us, but what we are doing for ourselves,” Brock said in an interview.

The departure of Bond, 70, after 10 years as board chairman marks a turning point for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Pepole.

Bond came of age in the segregated South, helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and was on the front lines of the protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws. He is a symbol and icon of “the movement,” which was a defining experience for older generations.

Click here to read more…

VIA:  ShaniDavis.Com

Shani Davis was born on Friday, August 13, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by his mother on the city’s south side, he started roller-skating at local rinks at age two. By age three Shani was darting around the roller rink so fast that skate guards would chase him just to ask him to slow down. Seeming to become bored with roller-skating, at age six a coach suggested that Shani switch to ice skating. Shortly thereafter, his mother started working for an attorney, Fred Benjamin, whose son happened to be involved in speed skating at an elite level. It was at that time that Benjamin suggested that Shani give speed skating a try.

Shani joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and within two months started competing locally. Though immediately taking to ice, at competitions Shani was generally more interested in running around with his competitors and playing video games than he was with competing. Nevertheless, by age 8 he was winning regional age-group competitions and began to hear about the Olympic ideal from his Northbrook competitors and friends. Shani’s mother encouraged him to participate and, in an effort to build his endurance, woke him most mornings to run a mile on a track close to their home. As there were — and still are — no speed skating clubs in inner city Chicago, at age 10 Shani and his mother moved to the far north side of the city to be closer to the Evanston rink.

Click here to read more on Shani Davis…

Watch Shani’s video blog dated 2/13/10:

2006 World Cup Interview:

VIA: TYLERPERRY.COM

Tyler Perry is by all means, a Renaissance man.  He’s an actor, director, screenwriter, producer and author.  He is a true American success story.

Tyler Perry’s inspirational journey from the hard streets of New Orleans to the heights of Hollywood’s A-list is the stuff of American legend.  Born into poverty and raised in a household scarred by abuse, Tyler fought from a young age to find the strength, faith and perseverance that would later form the foundations of his much-acclaimed plays, films, books and shows.It was a simple piece of advice from Oprah Winfrey that set Tyler’s career in motion.

Encouraged to keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences, Tyler began writing a series of soul-searching letters to himself-letters full of pain, forgiveness, and, in time, a healing catharsis.  The letters inspired a musical, I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED, and in 1992 Tyler gathered his life’s savings and set off for Atlanta in hopes of staging it for sold out crowds.  He spent all the money but the people never came, and Tyler once again came face to face with the poverty that had plagued his youth.  He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and his car but his faith-in God and, in turn, himself-only got stronger.  He forged a powerful relationship with the church, and he kept writing.

In 1998 his perseverance paid off and a promoter booked I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED for a limited run at a local church-turned-theatre.  This time the community came out in droves, and soon the musical moved to Atlanta’s prestigious Fox Theatre.  Tyler Perry never looked back.I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED was a poignant story of failure and redemption, and it resounded with urban audiences who identified with its themes and exalted in its spirit.  In Tyler they’d found a voice for their longings, and an outlet for their entertainment, and so began an incredible run of eight plays in as many years, including WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED!, a celebrated collaboration with the prominent Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes.

But if audiences were buoyed by Tyler’s faith, they were bowled over by his humor.  No way around it: the man was plain funny.  Nowhere was this more in evidence than in 2000’s I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF, which marked the first appearance of the now-legendary Madea.  A God-fearing, gun-toting, pot-smoking, loud-mouthed grandmother, Madea was played by Perry himself.  Madea was such a resounding success, she soon spawned a series of plays-MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION (2002), MADEA’S CLASS REUNION (2003) and MADEA GOES TO JAIL (2005)- and set the stage for Tyler’s jump to the big screen.

In early 2005, Tyler’s first feature film, DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN, debuted at #1 nationwide.  By the end of its first weekend in theatres, two things had happened: the film had earned $22 million, and Tyler Perry-writer, actor, and producer-had become a superstar.  Tyler’s ensuing films, MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION, DADDY LITTLE GIRLS, WHY DID I GET MARRIED?, MEET THE BROWNS, and THE FAMILY THAT PREYS have all met with massive critical and commercial success, delighting audiences across America and around the world.  His most recent film, MADEA GOES TO JAIL, spent two weeks at the top of the box office and ultimately went on to gross more than $90 million.2006 saw the publication of Tyler’s first book, DON’T MAKE A BLACK WOMAN TAKE OFF HER EARRINGS: MADEA’S UNINHIBITED COMMENTARIES ON LIFE AND LOVE, which shot to the top of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and remained there for eight weeks.  It went on to claim Quill Book Awards for both “Humor” and “Book of the Year” (an unheard-of feat for a first-time author), and spread Tyler Perry’s unique brand of inspirational entertainment to a devoted new audience.   It is a brand that is quickly becoming an empire.

Read Tyler’s entire bio and more at TylerPerry.com.

Enjoy this interview with Tyler as he speaks with CBN about his rise to fame, relationships and marriage.

VIA:  TheGrio.Com

The Hysterectomy is one of the most invasive procedures in the medical practice, and Tony Hansberry  has invented  a device that will do the post surgery stitching with minimal chances of complications or harm.  Sounds like something a seasoned physician developed, but it’s actually something a 15-year-old high school student named Tony Hansberry invented. People in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida are calling him the “next Charles Drew.”

Hansberry is a student at Darnell Cookman School of Medical Arts, referred to as the first medical magnet school in the country with an integrated medical curriculum. He came under the tutelage of Bruce Nappi, the director of the University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) in the summer of 2008. From his experience there, he developed a project that showed how to reduce surgical time for hysterectomies. It only won him second prize in his school’s science fair, but it caught the attention of University of Florida physicians who invited him to present his project alongside theirs during a medical education event.

Click here to read more on this extraordinary student…

VIA CNN:

(CNN) — If we are to address seriously the economic devastation in black communities across the nation, we have to put aside, once and for all, the idea that President Obama has a special obligation to African-Americans.

Obama has said repeatedly that he can’t be the president of black America; he is the president of all Americans. We should take him at his word.

But to be president of all Americans involves recognizing the extraordinary differences that make up our nation. These differences are not only cultural, racial and ethnic; they also involve differences in quality of life and in access to opportunity — disparities that have long histories in the United States.

Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton’s classic work, “American Apartheid,” charts this history in the housing sector. And William Julius Wilson’s important books, especially “When Work Disappears,” give us a sense of the complexities surrounding black communities and unemployment.

Politicians talk about the needs of Main Street in contrast to the recent bailout of Wall Street. But Main Street is often divided by railroad tracks or highways that separate different sides of town. If Obama is going to address the problems of Main Street, he must understand that it isn’t some idyllic space where all live and suffer equally and together.

I am sure the president recognizes this. And I understand that he can’t be cornered into some troublesome game of identity politics. Partisan camps would have a field day.

But it is one thing to say that Obama must be the president of all Americans; it is another to say, because of that, African-Americans cannot demand specific policies that will relieve their suffering.

Americans are being ravaged by this economic recession. Joblessness plagues black communities. The Economic Policy Institute projects that African-American unemployment will reach 17.2 percent, a 25-year high.

In several states, such as Michigan, Alabama, and Illinois, the EPI projects unemployment rates for African-Americans will climb above 20 percent.

Health care disparities ensure a shorter life expectancy for African-Americans. The housing crisis has foreclosed the dreams of many.

More black children are growing up poor. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 35 percent of black children live in poverty. In the 10 most populated states, “rates of child poverty among black children range from 26 percent in California to 51 percent in Ohio.”

It is not enough to offer policies to lift all boats; the buoyancy of some ensures their survival. Others are sinking at alarming rates. African-Americans must cry out. Those cries cannot take the form of the rhetoric of old. “Freedom Now” doesn’t work. Nor do angry demands for “Black Power” seem appropriate.

Talk of justice is always relevant. What black communities need are just and targeted policies to address the Great Depression they face.

The president’s recent black leadership summit doesn’t help matters much. Inviting a few black leaders to the White House does not alone constitute a substantive engagement with the problems of black communities. In fact, it only reproduces a bad form of custodial politics — where a small cadre of individuals broker on behalf of the supposed interests of all black communities.

Something much more substantial is desperately needed. The irony in all of this is that Obama and many other black leaders are asking African-Americans to trust that he is working diligently on their behalf without any tangible evidence. That trust rests on the assumption that as the first black president he would in fact have the interests of black communities at heart.

But this is precisely the view that we are urged to reject. In fact, we must give up this idea and work publicly to demand policy ideas from the administration and to secure legislation from Congress that will improve the circumstances of African-American citizens.

The president is right. He is the president of all Americans. I trust that he understands what these words really mean.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Source

VIA REUTERS:

DETROIT/TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota will shut down production at two of its U.S. assembly plants for a total of at least 11 days as it grapples with slower sales after a wave of safety recalls.

The shutdowns, announced on Tuesday, will affect Toyota’s San Antonio, Texas, and Georgetown, Kentucky, plants and represent the second time the world’s largest automaker has had to cut North American output because of a product safety crisis that has cost it sales and damaged its reputation.

Toyota Motor Corp faces a sales decline in the United States, its biggest and usually most profitable market, after the recall of more than 8.5 million cars worldwide since late 2009 for three separate defects.

Separately, U.S. safety regulators said on Monday the number of reported fatalities linked to unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles had risen to 34, with a recent jump in complaints accounting for more than a third of the total.

Since January 27, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has added reports of nine crashes from 2005 to 2010 to its complaint database, alleging 13 fatalities and 10 injuries.

Like other major automakers, Toyota books revenue when it produces vehicles and ships them to dealers. By cutting output, it is choosing to take the hit to its sales in order to keep inventories of unsold vehicles from rising.

Toyota’s U.S. sales dropped 16 percent in January to the lowest level in more than a decade after the company suspended sales of about half of its inventory of vehicles due to accelerator problems.

A further sharp decline is expected for February since Toyota dealers expect that repairs to inventory will take most of the month to complete.

JPMorgan Securities auto analyst Kohei Takahashi said Toyota’s end-January inventory was not excessively high at 79 days’ supply of sales, and said the automaker would manage production to prevent inventory from spiking.

“Although it has already restarted production of models subject to recalls in North America, such production is being undertaken in lockstep with the prevailing sales conditions,” Takahashi wrote in a report to clients.

Toyota’s San Antonio plant, which makes the Tundra pickup truck, will be closed during a week in March and a second week in April, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said in an email.

That time will be used to install equipment in the plant to produce the smaller Tacoma pickup truck, he said. Tacoma production will be shifted from the Fremont, California, plant that Toyota previously announced would be shuttered.

Previously, Toyota planned to use weekends to install the Tacoma production equipment without disrupting Tundra output, Goss said.

Toyota’s Georgetown plant, the automaker’s largest assembly plant in North America, will be shut down on February 26. The plant could also be idled for a few additional days in March, Goss said.

It was not immediately clear how much production would be lost because of the plant shutdowns.

The planned plant closures were first reported by Japan’s Chunichi Shimbun newspaper. It said Toyota had decided to close the Georgetown plant, which makes the Camry sedan, for a total of four days.

During the first week of February, Toyota halted North American production of eight models covered by a recall for potentially sticky accelerator pedals.

That production halt covered six plants in the United States and Canada, including Georgetown. Output at the plants resumed on February 8, as planned.

Toyota’s U.S. executives told dealers on Monday they were planning an aggressive marketing and incentive program for March to prevent consumers switching to other brands.

Steps being considered include a $1,000 rebate in addition to the $1,000 cash incentive being paid to returning Toyota customers as a loyalty reward, according to one person briefed on the still-developing plans.

Other options under consideration include a free maintenance program — including oil changes — or an expanded warranty program that matches the 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty offered by Hyundai Motor Co, the source said.

Earlier this month, Toyota estimated it lost 100,000 vehicles sales globally in the financial year to March 31 due to the recalls. It said it had no projections for the year beginning in April.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda and quality chief Shinichi Sasaki are scheduled to hold a briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday on the progress of the recall of the Prius for a glitch in the braking system.

Source

HOUSTON, Feb 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr., the first African American to walk in space, and ExxonMobil announced today that more than 1,500 middle school students will participate in free science camps this summer.

The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps will be hosted in 30 universities across the country. The announcement came on the 15th anniversary of Dr. Harris’ historic space walk on Feb. 9, 1995 while aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

“Much in my life has changed since that historic day, but one constant is my passion to make a difference with today’s students, especially kids who have similar backgrounds to mine,” Harris said. “This year’s summer science camps will give students a chance to learn about mathematics and science, more about themselves and about life on a college campus. Most importantly, campers learn that they have the power to achieve their dreams whatever they may be.”

Click here to read more…

Click here for more information on the Science Summer Camps…

Check out this video of the shuttle launch that Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. was on:

VIA POLITICS DAILY:

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll paints a picture of a disaffected American public but President Obama, despite his lower approval ratings, fares better on its report card than the Republicans.

Sixty-two percent believe the country is on the wrong track while 33 percent saying it is on the right track, with 5 percent undecided. That is the highest “wrong track” figure in recent months.

Eighty-three percent rate the economy as fairly or very bad. Thirty-one percent still blame the Bush administration, 7 percent say it’s Obama’s fault, 23 percent blame Wall Street and financial institutions and 13 percent finger Congress.

Eighty-one percent say they only trust government some of the time or not at all to do what’s right for the country. That’s a result similar to a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier today.

Sixty percent of those polled say Obama understands the problems of people like themselves while 37 percent do not. By comparison, Americans say by 54 percent to 42 percent that Democrats do not understand their problems and by 62 percent to 35 percent that Republicans do not.

Sixty-two percent believe Obama is trying to work with Republicans while the same percentage believe Republicans are not trying to work with Obama. Seven out of 10 of those surveyed believe Obama and Republicans should compromise more with each other. Fifty-six percent blame Obama and Congress equally for the gridlock on health care reform, with 37 percent putting the onus on Congress and only 5 percent on Obama.

Eighty-one percent say it is time to give new people a chance when it comes to electing the new Congress in this year’s midterm elections.

Fifty-seven percent view Republicans unfavorably while 51 percent see Democrats in a negative light.

By 44 percent to 27 percent, Americans believe Democrats are more likely to improve health care than the Republicans, but 42 percent say Republicans are more likely to ensure a strong economy compared to 37 percent who say that about the Democrats.

Source