President Obama My Brothers Keeper Video: The Potential Of Boys Of Color

President Obama reaffirms the potential of boys of color in a My Brothers Keeper PSA that aired during the MTV Movie Awards. Watch the inspiring video below. Learn more about the My Brother's Keeper Alliance at http://www.mbkalliance.org/

Don't forget, Sanders voted for 1994 crime bill which destroyed African American communities

Don't forget, Sanders voted for 1994 crime bill which destroyed African American communities

By George L. Cook III EMAIL

In the interest of full disclosure I am a Hillary Clinton supporter. So now that we have that out of the way...

Yes, Bill Clinton's 1994 Crime Bill devastated many black families with its mandatory sentencing requirements. Yes, Hillary Clinton spoke out for the law as the First Lady. There is no disputing either point. But what also can't be disputed is that Sen. Bernie Sanders, unlike Hillary Clinton, voted for omnibus crime bill.

Listening to those pundits and Sanders supporters attacking Hillary Clinton over her use of the term "superpredator", you would never know that Sanders voted for the bill as that is often conveniently ignored. (Now to be fair Sanders himself has addressed this issue and fought to get the death penalty component changed to life imprisonment.) Sanders voted to send people to jail for unfairly long sentences whereas Hillary Clinton could not. There is a huge distinction there.

Here are various sources to prove that Sanders voted for the crime bill.

The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/12/1994-crime-bill-haunts-clinton-and-sanders-as-criminal-justice-reform-rises-to-top-in-democratic-contest/

The Federalist: http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/03/bernie-sanders-voted-for-criminal-justice-measures-hes-denouncing/

And for those who may think that I am cherry picking sources to back up my writing, here is a post on Sanders own campaign website: https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-voted-for-1994-crime-bill-to-support-assault-weapons-ban-violence-against-women-provisions/

There is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the 1994 crime bill, but as one who didn't write or vote for the bill, Hillary should get the least of that blame.

BET Networks Acquires Soul Train

BET Networks, a division of Viacom (Nasdaq:VIAB, VIA), today announced it has acquired Soul Train from InterMedia Partners and The Yucaipa Companies. The acquisition, which brings together two quintessential African American brands, represents an investment in an iconic franchise that uniquely lends itself to providing fans with a wide range of experiences across multiple platforms, beyond the television programs that audiences have enjoyed for decades. The transaction serves to further strengthen BET’s investment in content and underlines the network’s leadership in music-related content.

Owning Soul Train’s intellectual property will allow BET to further build on the success of the Soul Train Awards, which BET re-launched in 2009, and strengthens the network’s commitment to original content. The assets acquired include one of the largest libraries of African American, music-oriented content in the world, including over 1,100 television episodes and 40 television specials. Beyond television, BET will grow the ways in which audiences of all ages are able to interact with this iconic brand, creating a host of ancillary revenue opportunities ranging from live events to consumer products.

“BET Networks is honored to have acquired a brand with such a rich history and unique content that is forever relevant to all segments of our audience,” commented Richard Gay, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Operations at BET Networks. “With a Broadway play and a concert tour as examples of opportunities in the works, we look forward to finding engaging and smart ways to grow the brand while preserving its heritage and legacy in music, dance and fashion.”

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.

View source version on businesswire.com:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160404006149/en/

Contact:

BET Networks
Terrece Walker, 212-205-3264

New Book: Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

National Book Award winner James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown after receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth. His surprising journey illuminates not only our understanding of this immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated soul genius but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s legacy.

Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown’s rough-and-tumble life, through McBride’s lens, is an unsettling metaphor for American life: the tension between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history: the country town where Brown’s family and thousands of others were displaced by America’s largest nuclear power bomb-making facility; a South Carolina field where a long-forgotten cousin recounts, in the dead of night, a fuller history of Brown’s sharecropping childhood, which until now has been a mystery. McBride seeks out the American expatriate in England who co-created the James Brown sound, visits the trusted right-hand manager who worked with Brown for forty-one years, and interviews Brown’s most influential nonmusical creation, his “adopted son,” the Reverend Al Sharpton. He describes the stirring visit of Michael Jackson to the Augusta, Georgia, funeral home where the King of Pop sat up all night with the body of his musical godfather, spends hours talking with Brown’s first wife, and lays bare the Dickensian legal contest over James Brown’s estate, a fight that has consumed careers; prevented any money from reaching the poor schoolchildren in Georgia and South Carolina, as instructed in his will; cost Brown’s estate millions in legal fees; and left James Brown’s body to lie for more than eight years in a gilded coffin in his daughter’s yard in South Carolina.

James McBride is one of the most distinctive and electric literary voices in America today, and part of the pleasure of his narrative is being in his presence, coming to understand Brown through McBride’s own insights as a black musician with Southern roots. Kill ’Em and Leave is a song unearthing and celebrating James Brown’s great legacy: the cultural landscape of America today.

BUY THE BOOK

My issue with the "Why don't more black kids play baseball" conversation

Baseball season has started, so that means that it's time for the "Why don't more black kids play baseball conversation". One element of this conversation always bugged me because it plays right into stereotypes about black fathers. Listen to my thoughts in the video below.

Baseball season has started, so that means that it's time for the "Why don't more black kids play baseball conversation"...

Posted by George L. Cook III on Friday, April 8, 2016