African American Faculty Being Shut Out of Universities

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

Dr. M. Cookie Newsom

is the Director for Diversity Education and Assessment at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a trouble maker and an angry black woman, which is likely going to cause her serious problems with her colleagues (we talked yesterday about how being angry can get a black person into serious trouble). Dr. Newsom, however, has good reason to be angry. In a recent interview with Diverse issues in Higher Education, Dr. Newsom stated in plain language that most major universities are not serious about diversifying their faculty and that this hurts all students, especially students of color.
"The dismal truth is academe doesn’t really want a racially-diverse faculty," Newsom said during a faculty diversity presentation at the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) annual national conference in Washington, D.C. "It’s totally a myth."

Dr. Newson based her conclusions on statistics and data she collected which shows that most major universities are good at documenting plans to increase faculty diversity, but most of it’s nothing but lip service.

Click to read more.

Julianne Malveaux Explains the Economy

by Dr Julianne Malveaux

Our economy generated about 431,000 jobs last month. Good news? Only if you don't count the fact that more than 400,000 of the jobs were temporary jobs connected to collecting data for the Census. Those jobs won't last for long and when the dust clears the current 9.7 percent unemployment rate, down from 9.9 percent a month ago, is likely to rise again.

Still, those who are desperate for good news are clinging to the fact that there are more jobs out there. What they don't understand is that people are looking for something more than a few months of work here and there. Nearly seven million Americans have been out of work for more than half a year. What has this done to their finances?

Of course the situation is worse for African Americans, even though black unemployment dropped from 16.5 to 15.5 percent last month. The 15.5 percent is a modest estimate of what is really happening. The U6 number in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation report includes discouraged workers, those working part time that really want full time work and others peripherally connected to the labor market. That number dropped last month from 17.1 to 16.6 percent for the overall population. While the BLS does not report the number for African Americans, using the same relationships, the African American U6 number is at least 25.6 percent. That means that one in four African Americans is jobless!

Click to read.

African American Bloggers on Newsone.com - 3/11/10

Rev. Al Sharpton

Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), Rev Sharpton is one of most-renowned civil rights leaders in the country. Pres Obama called him “the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden."

RSS

Dr. Boyce Watkins

The Bottom Line

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Black American Money." For more information, please visit www.YourBlackWorld.com.

RSS

RK Byers

Rich's Rant

Novelist, screenwriter and edtor RK Byers has spent a career speaking his mind on all topics from sports to news. His work has appeared in consumer publications including The Source and GIANT.

RSS

Elon James White

This Week In Blackness

"This Week in Blackness" is a satirical look at race, politics and pop-culture in a so-called “post-racial” America.

RSS

Warren Ballentine

Radio host Warren Ballentine, "The People's Attorney," will provide you with all the legal and financial advice you need to keep up in today’s fast-paced world. Visit his website at www.thetruthfighters.com.

The Latest from Dr. Wilmer Leon on TheGrio.com – 3/2/10

• 

  Obama's health care reform efforts stymied by politics of prejudice

  By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

  9:01 AM on 03/03/2010

  OPINION - At the heart of this debate is partisan politics, inept leadership and racial prejudice...

  > READ MORE

• 

  CPAC reveals Republican identity crisis

  By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

  9:02 AM on 02/22/2010

  OPINION - After watching the videos and reading the speeches one can clearly see a GOP that is at war with itself in terms of ideology and imagery...

  > READ MORE

• 

  'The dream' is still a dream

  By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

  12:06 PM on 01/18/2010

  OPINION - What many fail to realize is that Dr. King was no dreamer. He was a prophet and a true revolutionary...

  > READ MORE

Professor Gates Plans To Meet With Officer Again Over Beers

 

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The officer who arrested a top African-American professor said talks over beers Thursday evening at the White House were productive and the two men plan to meet again.

Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. sat around a patio table with President Obama and Vice President Biden, drank beer, munched on snacks and talked about the arrest that has sparked debate about racial profiling and police procedures.

"It was a private discussion. It was a frank discussion," Crowley said of the meeting, but would not divulge specifics except to say that no one apologized.

click here to read more

"Black Financial Expert Boyce Watkins on Credit Reports"

By Dr. Boyce Watkins
http://www.drboycefinance.com/


Where do Credit Scores come from?

Unlike babies, credit scores do not come from a financial stork. There are 3 major credit bureaus in the United States: Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. Companies subscribe to their services to obtain information about you to decide if you are credit worthy or not. Under the old system, the credit scores ranged from 375 to 900. Under the new VantageScore system, they range from 501 to 990. The new system is more consistent among various credit bureaus, so you don’t end up with scores that go all over the place.

How can I get a copy of my report?

I personally go to a site called Myfico.com, where you can order reports from all 3 bureaus or just one. You can also go to freecreditreport.com (you know, the site with the really funny commercials). The law says that you are entitled to at least one free credit report every year. Also, if you are denied credit for any reason, you can write the bureaus, sending along a copy of the rejection letter, and request a copy of your credit report. If you choose to pay for your report, it will likely cost you about $8 dollars.


What factors go into calculating a credit score?

The factors that go into calculating a credit score are a little vague and it’s protected like the recipe for KFC chicken. While the formula is well-guarded, we do have some guidelines on what factors are theoretically used to determine whether or not someone should loan money to you.

The factors are broken into what they call “The Four C’s of Credit”: Character, collateral, capacity, capital and conditions.

Character is their way of trying to decide if you are a good person or not. I don’t agree with this, since having bad credit does not make you a bad person. It just makes you a person who does not have a good track record when it comes to borrowing money.

Capacity is represented mostly by your income level and how much money you’re expected to earn in the future.

Capital is noted by the amount of cash you have in reserves and other liquid assets at your disposal. If you have capital, that means you can withstand a short-term decline in income and still make payments.

Conditions are reflected by the environment in which you live. It might include the state of the economy, your line of work and other external factors that might impact your credit report. For example, during the liquidity crisis in America, conditions for lending are very, very bad.

Now you know where credit scores come from. You probably have more questions, since there is a lot of ground to cover. To get more information, please feel free to learn along with me and my students by visiting http://www.drboycefinance.com/.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, ESPN, BET and CBS. For more information, please visit http://www.boycewatkins.com/