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America America is an uplifting new collection of patriotic songs and a celebration of the heritage and history that we all share. In addition to nine songs that honor our nation and are works in the public domain, Winans has penned three new original songs- the first single “America America,” “We’re the United States of America,” and the poignant “Ultimate Sacrifice.” The latter is a moving tribute to our troops, acknowledging and thanking them for the personal sacrifices they make each day to protect our freedoms.  A video for the single, shot in New York City and Washington D.C., will be released in the coming weeks.

“The inspiration for AMERICA AMERICA is the time we are living in,” Winans explains.  “Sometimes, we forget that we are all Americans.  At sporting events, when the national anthem is sung, everyone stands – black, white, rich, poor – everyone.” –BeBe Winans

Best known as one-half of the celebrated gospel duo BeBe & CeCe Winans, siblings who are part of the Winans gospel music family royalty, BeBe Winans is also renown as a solo artist, who has worked with innumerable stars of the recording industry.  He is the winner of six Grammy Awards, Ten Dove awards, six Stellar Awards, and Three NAACP Awards, among his many accomplishments.  In addition to launching his own radio show-The BeBe Experience- in 2010, in the fall of 2011, Winans, along with sister CeCe, was honored with the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.  The duo’s 2010 album, Still, their first album as a duo in 15 years, is approaching Gold.  The album and singles together appeared on eight charts in total including #2 on the Gospel Album Artists chart; #3 on the Best Gospel Album chart, as well as Top 25 honors on both the Independent Albums chart and Adult R&B Songs chart. Still won two Grammy Awards in 2011. America America is BeBe Winans’ seventh solo release.  It is inspired by the challenges millions of Americans now face on a daily basis.  Throughout the album, Winans pours heart and soul into all-American classics including, “America the Beautiful,” “Lift Every Voice,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” “I have seen the power of music,” says Winans.  “If we all come together, we all win.  When our country is united, we find the path to success.”

Read:James Fortune Wants You To “Stay Encouraged.”[Exclusive Interview]

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Rapper Rick Ross has many people upset with the recent release of his song “Holy Ghost.” He has been criticized for twisting scriptures and using God  in the song as a means for committing sins.

The first verse of the song depicts Ross, a self-proclaimed Christian, relishing in the riches of sitting in his expensive Bugatti as he makes a drug deal. Proclaiming that being “dead broke” is the “root of all evil” instead of the love of money, he is attempting to dodge cops and asks for the Holy Ghost to intervene.

Head over to Elev8 for further details.

What do you think? Are his lyrics offensive?

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“He was glad that the president attended, but he felt that there were 364 days in a year to give a speech on your policies or campaign rhetoric,” said Gingrey spokeswoman Jen Talaber.

In a puzzling move, President Obama decided do a little blurring of church and state by enumerating the many ways that Christianity influences his economic policy:

If I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense. But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’ It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.”

Then, in a subtle jab at the current GOP front-runner, Mitt Romney, who — in addition to being Mormon — recently “mis-spoke” when saying that the “poor aren’t [his] concern,” Obama seemed to pull Romney’s religion card by suggesting that his own Christian values ensured that he cares about those in poverty:

“[It's] a biblical call to care for the poor and to follow the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute,’” said the president.

Oh, it get’s better. Obama, who has made it a point to surround himself with Wall Street heavyweights during his first term, such as Lawrence Summers, Michael Froman, Neal Wolin, William Daley and Tom Donilon — or as National Review writer, Kevin D. Williamson so brilliantly put it, B.H. Obama & Co. LLC: A Wall Street Cabinet Company — then said that his Wall Street policy followed the commandment of God:

“The Wall Street reform [I] championed makes the economy stronger for everyone and abides by God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself,” said Obama.

These remarks did not sit well with Gingrey. Going into further detail on what is sure to be viewed as another disrespectful action against the president — akin to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer losing her mind at pointing her finger in the president’s face like he was an errant school child –Talaber said that Gingrey was most upset at the president’s lack of reverence for the occasion:

“He was disappointed, because he wanted to know what was in the president’s heart, and not just rhetoric,” the spokeswoman said. “So he said that he decided to quietly get up and leave because he felt that it wasn’t the time or the place, and that the president didn’t seem to be aware of the meaning of the breakfast or why so many people came to hear him speak. He was offended by the very tone of the speech.”

I was too, Rep. Gingrey; though, I’m sure that my reasons have very little in common with yours.

My issue is that President Barack Obama has transparent pandering down to an exact science. Just in time for Black History Month, he managed to insult the intelligence of millions of Black Americans by concocting an end-zone campaign to ensure that the same voters he’s ignored for almost four years make it their mission to “Barack the Vote” in November. It’s amazing that he can’t specifically address the issues that plague our communities — because he’s the president for all Americans — yet, he has no problem specifically asking for our vote.

However it’s not just us; no “special interest group” is exempt.

He claims to be pro-choice, but then goes out of his way to symbolically sign an executive order in March of 2010 to show his unwavering support for the long-standing Hyde Amendment, which effectively bans the federal government from financing elective abortions.

He consistently shrugs his shoulder with that boyish grin when asked about his support of the legalization of same-sex marriages; veering hard to the right, the president repeatedly says that “he’s working on it.” In the mean time, as he continues to deny the LGBTQ community equal rights under the law, he was proud to eradicate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, effectively “allowing them” to fight and die for a country that finds suppression of their civil liberties “fair.”

President Obama is passionate about green energy. If we don’t hear anything else, rest assured that we will hear about green energy. Ironically, when the president had the opportunity to stand firmly behind the Environment Protection Agency and a regulation that would ensure a dramatic decrease in smog production, he caved to business and Republican protest and rejected the potentially life-saving measure. The American Lung Association was so disgusted that they threatened to pursue legal action against the current standards, which  were proposed by George W. Bush.

Noticing a theme here? Obviously, President Obama has perfected the art of the Beltway Two-Step as if he’s been dancing it his entire life. Still, in no arena is he as obviously awkward as when pouring on the hallelujahs. His blatant merger of church and state is the antithesis of words spoken earlier in his career when he spoke eloquently against the very idea.

In one of the most intelligent explorations into the hypocrisy and infeasibility contained within portions of the Bible, a little known speech given by a young Senator Obama at turns ridicules the Good Book (see: Leviticus, stoning and shellfish) and refers to religion as a hindrance to Democracy. He makes it clear that America is not a Christian nation, and that if it ever was, “it’s not anymore.” He quips that if Abraham (see: Genesis) had attempted to slash his son Isaac’s throat in modern society, at the very least, “police would be called and child and family services would be expected to take Isaac away from Abraham.” He convincingly makes the point that faith has no place in politics, because we do not share common spiritual eyesight, we can only share common laws. Most powerfully, he says that “religiously motivated [politicians] must translate their concerns into universal — not religious — values.

Where was that Obama at the Prayer Breakfast?

The president’s injection of personal faith into politics — when he so clearly stands against it — was about as bizarre as Sarah Palin being anointed by a witch-hunter who  asked Jesus to fund her campaign and as laughable as four GOP candidates, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, claiming that God led them all to run for president — he was clearly wrong about three of them because only Perry remains.

In Matthew 5:17,  Jesus says “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I didn’t come to destroy them, but to fulfill them.” Unfortunately, when it comes to conservative politics, Wall Street cronyism and now his politically advantageous blurring of church and state, that is one verse in the Bible that Obama obviously takes to heart.

He doesn’t seem to understand that not everyone is going to like him, but we should be able to respect him. I’m not referring to that generic “respect the office of the president,” I’m speaking of literally respecting him. He can’t continue to say that the sky is blue at 8:00 a.m around blue lovers, then tell yellow lovers that it’s actually a lovely shade of saffron at noon. He needs to find a position that he’s comfortable with and play it, regardless of who tries to tackle him; if he doesn’t, he will continue to be viewed as ineffective and untrustworthy by many people who worked tirelessly to get him elected in 2008.

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Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” Born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up when racism and discrimination was a norm in African American cultures. She made a name for herself in civil rights circles when she refused to obey a white bus driver and move to the back of the bus, so someone white could take her seat in the front of the bus. Parks’ act of defiance became a major player in the civil rights movement and caught the attention of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.

Click HERE to read Rosa Parks Bio

Below we take a look at the life of Rosa Parks through a timeline of the major events in her life…

1913 – This Rosa Parks timeline starts on February 4, 1913 when Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents were James McCauley, a carpenter and Schoolteacher Leona McCauley

1928 - She attends Booker T. Washington High School for ninth grade, but drops out when her grand mother becomes seriously ill and subsequently dies

1932 – December 18: Marries Raymond Parks, a barber, at 19.

1945 – WW2 ends and Rosa Parks receives her certificate for voting after three attempts

1946 – June 3: The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel

Aug 10: Race riots occur in Athens, Alabama

1949 - Rosa and her husband Raymond work with Montgomery branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP’s) programs. Rosa Parks acts as secretary and later a youth leader

1955 - August: Rosa Parks meets Martin Luther King

November 25: The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in buses and all waiting rooms involved in interstate travel
December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger. She is arrested, fingerprinted, jailed by police and fined $14.
December 5: She stands trial and is found guilty of breaking the segregation laws.
December 5: Martin Luther King becomes the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was organized due to protest against the incident involving Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott begins which will last 381 days.

1956 – January: Rosa Parks loses her job as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair

December 21: The Montgomery buses are desegregated and black passengers could legally take any seat on the city’s buses

1979 – Rosa Parks receives NAACP’s Spingarn Medal

1987 - Rosa founds the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with long time friend Elaine Eason Steele which offers guidance to young blacks

1992 – Rosa publishes her first book, “Rosa Parks My Story”

1998 - April 21: The Rosa Parks Museum and Library is opened at her arrest site in Montgomery, Alabama

September 2: The Rosa L. Parks Learning Center is opened. Rosa is also inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame

2003 - October 29: Rosa Parks is honored with the International Institute Heritage Hall of Fame Award. She is then diagnosed with progressive dementia.

2005 – October 24: Rosa Parks dies on in her Detroit home

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.” – Rosa Parks

#1-I Dreamt It Was Heaven- written by Leonce Gaiter

“Hanging Judge” Isaac C. Parker; Notorious half-black half-Indian outlaw Cherokee Bill; one-quarter Cherokee “gentlemen bandit” Henry Starr, relative of the notorious Belle Starr; and the worst of the lot—half-black, half-Indian Rufus Buck. These real-life historical figures collided during the fateful summer of 1895, when young Rufus Buck formed a gang of teens to drive whites from Indian Territory once and for all. His vicious rampage is legend. Learn more at http://buckrampage.com

Never Dead written by Jumata Jones
Emerson McGee has spent most of his life living with a secret, and the first-year law student’s menacing struggle with his sexuality is only the half of it. His wife, Danielle, has her own scars of adolescent heartache—which she thinly veils behind her façade as an upper-middle class princess. The newlywed’s cookie-cutter marriage is abruptly interrupted when they make a reluctant move into the quaint house Emerson inherited from his deceased grandmother. Unbeknownst to them, there’s already something else living there: A malevolent entity hell-bent on exposing its connection to Emerson and the tragic secret they share. While a mysterious narrator recounts the details of his abject life, the McGees’ vengeful poltergeist pulls Danielle deeper into a mystery that has haunted an impoverished ghetto in South Baton Rouge—aptly called “‘Da Bottom”—for nearly a decade, and spills into the provocative world of New Orleans hoodoo. Before its final scare, Never Dead concludes with a bloody twist the McGees never saw coming.

Make sure to tell us what you are reading.

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Graham, 19, was pursued by a team of police who had attempted to stop and question him.  Reportedly, police witnessed the youth adjusting the waistband of his pants on the street and immediately assumed he had a gun.  The youth, who had a prior arrest record for marijuana possession and burglary, ran from the officers who then gave chase.

The unarmed boy was tracked down by police in his residential second-floor apartment.  When Graham managed to make it inside his apartment, he reportedly ran inside the bathroom with two officers in hot pursuit.  A tussle ensued and one of the policeman fired a bullet from his .9 mm gun, hitting Graham in chest.  The name of the officer who did the shooting has not been released, but reports state that he is a 30-year-old, two-year veteran who has never been involved in a prior shooting.

According to sources, Graham was unarmed:

“He had some weed on with him,” a family friend told the Daily News. “It wasn’t a big deal. They shot him inside the house. … He didn’t have a gun.”

Police reports state that a small amount of marijuana was found in the bathroom and speculate that perhaps the teen had been trying to flush it down the toilet to avoid further arrest.

Graham was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.

Constance Malcolm, 39, who is Graham’s mother, witnessed the incident and is distraught over the death of her son.

“They chased him into the house.  Nobody deserves to be shot in their own home.”

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Since Planned Parenthood is the focus of an inquiry spearheaded by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), in efforts to determine if public money was illegally spent on funding abortions, the life-saving partnership between the bastions of women’s health has been nullified.

Coincidentially, conservative Karen Handel, who lost a gubernational race in Georgia in 2010 running on a strict anti-abortion and anti-Planned Parenthood platform, was recently named Komen’s vice-president. In her campaign blog, Handle made her position clear:

I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

While Barbara Walter consistently stated that “federal funds are not used to fund abortions at Planned Parenthood” and Whoopi Goldberg insisting that the “the investigation is false,” Elisabeth Hasselback stayed true to conservative form, stating:

If it was political and if Susan G. Komen would never be associated with someone because they are the nation’s largest provider of abortions, then why would they have ever have partnered with them over the years and years and years?”

See The View debate below:

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“I don’t think there’s a better time than African-American History month to consider the tremendous progress we’ve made through the sacrifices of so many, or a better time to recommit to the challenges we face right now,” said Obama in a video to his supporters.

It is expected that the Democrats would work to shore up their Black base right before the president’s bid for re-election. The dampened enthusiasm among Black voters who are facing 15.8 percent unemployment and rapidly declining wealth levels is also expected. The Black unemployment number is more than double that of white Americans, which stands at 7.5 percent. Throughout the Obama presidency, White unemployment has improved, while Black unemployment has gotten markedly worse.

Ironically, the “African Americans for Obama” website says that the president has been fighting “to restore economic security that has been eroding for American families for a decade.”

President Obama won 96 percent of the Black vote in 2008. His approval rating today stands at 91 percent. The black community continues to be the strongest and most loyal base of the Obama Administration.

Political commentator, Yvette Carnell, has something to say about the issue:

“I have no problem with Obama targeting African-American voters. None. He needs us and he knows it,” said Carnell. “What I do have a problem with, however, is how most of the targeting begins during campaign season and ends on election day. We’re more than just a voting bloc. We’re real citizens with real needs, needs which I hope the President begins to acknowledge and address.”

Columbia University Professor Christopher Emdin doesn’t agree with Carnell’s assessment.

“I do not believe the ‘frustration and dampened enthusiasm’ cited within Af-American communities is as pervasive as we are led to believe. With that being said, these facts do not negate the fact that these communities are dealing with serious issues related to education and poverty,” said Dr. Emdin. “I do not believe that Obama’s campaigning in Af-American communities is reflective of some ulterior agenda to “use them when he needs them.  It very well may be an effort to make a shift to explicitly focus on the needs of this community.”

The pending re-election of Barack Obama has put Black voters in a quandary. While many would agree that conditions have worsened for the Black community under Obama, the Republican Party provides no reasonable alternatives. In many cases, Black people have become the political orphans of America:

You can either live with the parents who abuse you or live with the child molester down the street. While one fate is clearly worse than the other, there is no end to the pain in sight.

It is actually logical for the Obama Administration to keep Black voters on the back-burner. When a group gives you 91 percent approval and asks for nothing in return, there is almost no political incentive to do anything for them. This calculation likely played a role in the statement that the “rising tide will lift all boats” made three years ago, when the president was asked about inequality in wealth and unemployment. The “lift all boats” policy was a clear and miserable failure, for most economic experts can tell you that racial inequality is not going to fix itself without targeted economic policy.

Right now, in the Black community, there are at least two types of people: those who are suffering and those who are not. The suffering group consists of the poor, unemployed, and those who live under the thumb of the criminal justice system. The rest of us have jobs, food to eat and are not impacted directly by mass incarceration. If you’re in the second group, it’s difficult to find fault with the Obama Administration, for a Black president grants the symbolic comfort that comes along with the “Mama I Made It” syndrome that justifies the trade-offs many of us make for the sake of economic and social progress in a White supremacist society.  Being the first Black president is the granddaddy of all “proud mama” moments, so there are millions willing to forgive nearly any short-coming of the Obama White House to maintain access to the throne.

For those who care about the poor, there is almost no redemption when the president barely mentions poverty in his speeches.  For the unemployed, it’s hard to imagine how your life will get better by supporting an administration that helped white folks find jobs while letting the Black numbers reach levels approaching those of the Great Depression. For those suffering with the effects of mass incarceration, it’s hard to get excited about a president who has not directly confronted the debilitating effects of the drug war, which has destroyed millions of families and an entire generation of children.  All of these issues indicate a state of emergency in the Black community; but thus far, we’ve only given White Americans the right to express dissatisfaction with their condition.

The implicit African American slogan for the Democratic Party is “You should just stop complaining, because the Republicans are even worse than we are.” The threat of political punishment is clearly enough to secure the Black vote without doing a thing. But at the same time, the Black political orphans of America do have a choice. WEB Dubois, when faced with few quality political options 50 years ago, simply said that he refused to vote at all.  Rather than behaving like a teenage girl who shares her body with the first man who buys her a cheeseburger, Dubois advocated for the idea that we save our votes for politicians who have truly worked to earn them.

After a mass holdout from conscientious Black voters, perhaps the Democrats will then strive to honestly earn the Black vote instead of simply telling us that they are not as horrible as the Republicans.  It should not be taboo to request that Black voters have enough self-respect to demand that all politicians give priority to the issues that lead to our suffering. There are no victims, just volunteers, and we don’t have to be political orphans forever.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here,

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