american black

Getting Black Kids Involved In the Video Game Industry

Everyone loves video games, even Black folks. But their are very few of us in the Video Game Industry.

Joseph Saulter, CEO of Entertainment Arts Research, is trying to change that with a new program.

Saulter is cofounding the Urban Video Game Academy in June. The free, five-week program in Baltimore will teach 50 African-American high-school students Game Programming 101. Shorter versions of the academy will launch in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The idea is not only to boost minorities' ranks in the industry, but to get gamers to look up from their screens and learn some math.

The UVGA brainchild icludes not only Joseph Saulter, [who is also professor of the game technology curriculum at American Intercontinental University (AiU)]; Mario Armstrong, TV and National Public Radio (NPR) digital technology guru; and Roderick Woodruff, president and co-founder of AAGAMER.com.

George Bush's Africa Policy and Who's Not Paying Attention

I've been cruising the Black Republican websites and I see very few of them are talking about the meeting between Condoleezza Rice, "senior" White House officials and members of the black clergy on developing U.S policy in Africa.

Could it be they saw it for the sham it was?

The high-level session occurred the same day that the all-Democratic Congressional Black Caucus conducted a long-planned outreach meeting with 200 Black pastors from across the country seeking to solidify bonds between the Democrats and religious leaders. Could it be the State Department meeting was an effort to upstage the Black caucus?

Instead of dealing with the real problems facing Africa, like the genocidal wars and the AIDS epidemic, all they really focused on was care for orphans with AIDS. Noble but c'mon, it smells of an attempt to use the Black Churches to get more Black support but to really do nothing to help the continent long-term.

DuaneSmith says all this and more but better than I did here. And check out the LA Times article for more info. Just don't look at the Black Republican sites 'cuz, as usual, most of them aren't paying attention to what's happening to Black folks anyway...

AB Four (Prince, Babies, And A Solution To The Mississippi Problem)

We all know about Africa's precious resources are being exploited  by the West. What isn't widely known is the exploitation going on today. Not of national resources, but human resources. Black Looks explains it all.

Ashley Burwelll will graduate from Northern Vance High School today with honors. Next, she will head to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a full scholarship. Unlike the typical college freshman, Burwell will have a little something extra with her in Chapel Hill - her 18-month-old son Traejon. Read her story.

Carve out a new state in the Delta region.  Call it New Africa, as a tribute to the Africans on whose backs the South was built.

Editorial writer and former music critic Eric Deggans wonders this: Could Prince get a recording contract in 2005?

Welcome to the New Age...Same As The Old Age

Wall Street has won. This is the age of greed and selfishness. As proof I offer you Lawrence Lessig's comments at a recent conference in South Africa on Copyrights.

I said that while I had no problem at all with people paying to listen to music, or novels, we had to be extremely sensitive to the way price might block the spread of knowledge. And that for academic and scientific work, the best model for producing and spreading knowledge might not be one that meters each use. Professors should be paid. But let that be their compensation, and let the knowledge they produce spread widely.

Yet there was a general view at the conference that this was wrong. That we hurt developing nations, for example, if we give them knowledge for free. They should have to pay for the truths we create. It weakens them, the argument went, if they can just take what we have discovered. Better to encourage their industry of science than to destroy it by simply spreading the truths that science here has created.

The rational of the majority at this conference baffles me. They have no problem passing out cell phones to African nations so foreign companies can profit but see no need for them to understand the technology they leaped-frogged over. It really pisses me off, but read some more of Lessig...

My Open Letter To Arianna Huffington

Dear Arianna,

I dig you. You were right about the SUVs. I'm sure there are many people who wished they would have listened to you when they have to fill up their tanks.

You were right about the War In Iraq. Ask the mothers of most soldiers.

You were right about California.

But what I really like about you is that you have guts. Strong, cute women with accents, brains , and a shitload of money are rare. I applaud you.

But lets talk about your latest venture, The Huffington Post.

I love the concept. We liberals need a site like it. And having a bunch of celebrities behind you is a good idea. You are right again. But some changes have to made.

1. Bloggers are what will make your site a success. If we like it all the media bashing won't matter. We are the media now. So PLEASE make it that we can comment on the original posts. We had to wait until the former Reprise guy to responded to hand Hillary Rosen her head. Make all your celebrities take the risk of instant attack. People will dig it.

2. You may want to give some of your celebrity bloggers a single topic. Elaine and the SNL guy was a waste. I know they were trying to be short and edgy and funny but leave that to really funny folks like Larry David. I can't beleive it took 2 people to write that!

3.There are too many celebrities. Weed that shit down to a few a day. It's noisy. And the world is already too noisy. Let 3 speak a day and let them fight for entry. It'll make their writing better.

Other than that I think it's cool. The news is good. The look is beautiful (like you!) and it's gives us liberals a nice little boost.

Here's my prediction. You will be bashed by the media  but everyone will read it. Kinda like the NYT. A few months from now everyone will realize you were right (again!) but no one will say anything or give you credit. Except me.

xoxox
PrinceC

P.S.- Will you adopt me?