The Importance of Podcasts to the Black Community

 Well, it's  been a while since I've been in "summer mode" and taking advantage of the mild weather to get away from the computer. I'm still always looking for podcasts +  that are interesting to me and geared toward the upliftment, entertainment or information of our people. 

I usually download and burn these podcasts as mp3 files on a CD and listen to them on a portable CD player when I''m walking the dog or waiting in any "waiting room".

I listen to them on the car CD player if I'm stuck in traffic or on a long trip. Doing this, has cut my non-productive time drastically. I now find that an 8-hour trip is quite short, rush hour traffic is simply more time to listen to interesting and informative material created by Black folks for Black folks.

On the minus side, I have a tendency to be isolated in the world between my earphones and even get a little annoyed sometimes when a situation arises that calls for me to stop listening to my program. Of course, this is not serious because I know that I can always resume where I left off. The isolation however is of more concern to me so I am trying to reach out to others via this blog in the hopes that I can share what I discover and reciprocally learn about some things that I might not otherwise find. Comments, ideas and other input, even criticisms will be welcomed. We have such a great opportunity to develope our own media, on many levels and everything we need to get it started is at our fingertips.

 The different  subjects  and fields of interest are many and steadily growing. Whether it's music, a college course or lecture, politics, subjects of interest to Black women, erotica, interviews with prominent people in the community, local or national radio talkshow hosts,  international concerns, health issues, crime and much much more, it's being covered in many cases excellently and expertly by people in the Black community. 

 Even the amateur presentations offer an insight into places that "mass media" doesn't venture into, while at the same time giving us the opportunity to discover new talent and keep up with the attitudes and impressions of  youth and those on the fringes of our society.

 In closing , this blogger feels that we should use every resource at our disposal to expand the use of  the podcast, to introduce the podcast to the uninitiated and create a wide network of Black produced material with the idea of  keeping all of us in touch with the pulse and nerve endings  of the Black Community.  

Congo; 5 million deaths.

 Millions of Congolese die as mining companies extract precious metals.

Check out the story in The Black Agenda Report article entitled;

Congo: How Rich Whites Caused Five Million Blacks to Die

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                             Wake Up World

Police Who Murdered Sean Bell Fully Acquitted

Sean Bell and his fiancee Nicole Paultre

Sean Bell Shot down in cold blood.

Undercover cops fired at least 50 rounds of bullets into a car carrying Sean Bell and two of his friends as they left Bell's bachelor party in the Jamaica section of Queens.

Smarten Up with iTunes U

iTunes U is the place to look if you are motivated to learn but don't have money or time to go to classes. Maybe even if you do.

Just open iTunes, go to the iTunes Store and look down the column to the bottom and you'll see iTunes U. Click on this and you'll discover hundreds if of courses, lectures and seminars offered in audio and or video format by no fewer than 45 top colleges and universities and the list is growing daily. All for free. Just be careful not to exceed your download limit but that's between you and your service provider. That happened to me, so now I go to the library or a coffee shop with my laptop and download all I want, for free.

I go to sleep listening to courses. I burn CDs and listen when I'm in the car and I have a portable CD player that I use when I'm walking the dog or waiting at the clinic. Even long automobile trips are short as far as I'm concerned. (You'll notice I've made some changes. That's because I wrote this piece some years ago. I have an ipod now, but a tablet or iphone or any number of devices may be used at this point in time. The basic idea is still the same while the possibilities are even greater. With imagination, one or more people could get a group of youngsters  together and teach them any number of things.)

Also in iTunes and equally free and no less informative and or entertaining, are thousands and thousands of podcasts, covering more topics than you can even think of, so practise using their power search and before you know it you'll get the hang of it. The same goes for podcasts with regards to teaching young folks.

The only downside for me is the cost of AA batteries and that's been taken care of by buying bulk alkaline AA cells at Costco I'm told they're manufactured by a well known manufacturer of batteries and they last just as long so I believe it. It just keeps getting better, doesn't in? Now my devices all have rechargeable batteries. Who knows? Soon they may be solar, if they are not already.

The last lecture I listened to was called, "How Unequal Can America Get Before We Snap?"

by Robert Reich, UC Berkeley. I can't wait for the next one. (That "last lecture" at this time, was literally hundreds of lectures ago. Not to mention the hundreds of podcasts. On top of this my local library has made available thousands of audio/digital books that can be downloaded at high speed right onto my device. I readily use this service. If you're buying any of these device for your very young ones, be sure to train them early on to take full advantage of these resources.)

Early Release for Non Violent Prisoners

Early Release for Non Violent Prisoners.

  That should be a good thing right? After all it surely is an injustice that many of these folks were incarcerated because of unequal sentencing practices or even for not having enough money for a proper defence. 

 There is no doubt that the largest part of those unfairly sentenced will belong to visible minorities. Mandatory minimum sentences and unequal sentences for a smaller amount of crack cocaine versus a larger amount powder cocaine also contributed to the differences in sentences face by African Americans. We net also snared a few marijuana users who received long sentences in some states while other states charge people with misdemeanors.

 The US. Sentencing Commission voted to retroactively reduce the penalty for crack cocaine to become effective March 3, 2008. Now as we look around the net more and more institution are announcing plans to release non violent offenders early. I'm not going to start listing  them here it's easy enough to do a search online to come up with dozens of examples.

 Many people are concerned about the effect these releases will have on the crime rates in the communities these ex-offenders will be released to and rightfully so.

 I believe the people being released should get a fair chance and that includes some intervention on the part of the system that put them at a disadvantage in the first place.

The very minimum we should expect, is for the government bodies that will be saving substancial sums to take some of that money and place these people in drug rehabilitation  

and employment preparation programs at the very least. We should all make as much noise about this situation and create as much pressure as possible on our elected representatives ASAP especially since this is an election year.

Answer The Question, Fox News!!!

Foxguy
Uploaded by luvnews

Who was that masked man?

Sure looked an awful lot like our own Davey D

You go D!

Hip Hop History???

Hip Hop History 

 Here it is. Davey D's Hip Hop Corner has it all. News, views, reviews, interviews and points of views all about the art form known as "Hip Hop". If you want to know who's who and what's what regarding this phenomenon in the USA. then this sure looks like the place to be.  Davey D who's been well into Hip Hop for more than 3 decades, presents to us in the form of this web site, what is possibly the most comprehensive catalog of Hip Hop and it's adherents in existence.

  Did you say Hip Hop?  Well here it is you just have to see for yourself there's just too much going on for me to tell you. I will say I've listened to many Davey D interviews and I always learned something and had fun doing it too. Sometimes it left me feeling a little too agitated but hey! we need that too. This is one O.G. who is going to recommend this site even though I haven't seen it all. Enjoy it.

Breakdown FM w/ Davey D
 Take hundreds of insightful interviews, to say nothing of historical facts regarding Hip Hop, by those who were and are doing it couple that with the latest technology in the form of podcasting and there is nothing else for me to say because you can hear it all for yourself. I love it.

black looks

black looks - looks good. This blog is another African grassroots site, that concentrates on rights, dignity and quality of life. A quick glance a their categories index (just below) should give you an idea of the content. This blog leans towards women's issues but still covers many general topics that we are all concerned with. The archives go back to June 2004 so we are also able to get a nice perspective of their subject matter.

Podcast (rss) (4)
Poetry (rss) (59)
Poverty (rss) (9)
Quick Links (rss) (4)
Racism (rss) (120)
Refugees (rss) (19)
Religion (rss) (4)
Rice Watch (rss) (8)

I'm mainly interested in the podcasts which I give top marks for subject matter and quality sound. There is also a page of embedded videos that you should check out.

I'm sure there will be more coming. :-)

Pambazuka News

Pambazuka is an independent, progressive publication covering the news in many countries in Africa and the diaspora. It is overseen by Firoze Menji of Fahamu Networks for Social Justice, who has been careful not to become beholden to or dependent on big corporations.

The reportage is upbeat, and positively inspirational. The subject matter goes from the latest events in Kenya to, environmental justice in Nigeria, to Zimbabwe youth protest in London, as well as art therapy with children in Uganda, to get well soon comrade Castro and much more.

The site contains enlightening podcasts and videocasts with the promise of more to come.
For a real close look at pan African grassroots, Pambazuka is an excellent place to start.