Minorities and Home Ownership

Continuing on our theme of financial education and economic empowerment, its extremely important to understand the fundamentals of wealth creation. Our founding fathers, in addition to granting every citizen the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, also envisioned the owners of capital and wealth to be those who owned land. You can see the influence land ownership has played in American history. Large family estates became townships and later into commerical centers that we consider cities. We've come to view home ownership as an important stepping stone to acheiving the American Dream, however I view homeownership as the first step to financial independence and wealth creation.

The American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI) was signed into law on December 16, 2003. The American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act authorizes up to $200 million annually for fiscal years 2004 - 2007. ADDI will provide funds to all fifty states and to local participating jurisdictions that have a population of at least 150,000 or will receive an allocation of at least $50,000 under the ADDI formula. ADDI will be administered as a part of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a formula grant program.

To be eligible for ADDI assistance, individuals must be first-time homebuyers interested in purchasing single family housing. A first-time homebuyer is defined as an individual and his or her spouse who have not owned a home during the three-year period prior to the purchase of a home with ADDI assistance. ADDI funds may be used to purchase one- to four- family housing, condominium unit, cooperative unit, or manufactured housing. Additionally, individuals who qualify for ADDI assistance must have incomes not exceeding 80% of area median income.

In the United States, buying a home is the key to achieving the American Dream. Forty-two percent of the net worth of all households consists of equity in their homes - that means for most Americans, their homes are their single largest asset. Homeownership provides families with the means to invest in education, business opportunities, retirement and resources for the next generation.When the federal government stepped in to make it possible for most Americans to finance the purchase of their own home, they essentially paved the way for millions of average white Americans to begin their own wealth-building. But the policies they endorsed made it very difficult for minorities to attain the same resources and opportunities, resulting in deeply segregated communities and an enormous wealth gap between whites and nonwhites that persists to this day. In 1995, the median white family had over 8 times the net worth of the median Black family. The gap is even greater for Latinos - the median white household has over 12 times the wealth of the median Latino family.Race, wealth and life opportunities are intertwined in the United States. Today, white and nonwhite communities are still "separate and unequal" and the gap continues to grow, long after the Civil Rights era. Wealth, and the opportunities it affords, is passed down through successive generations. Along with it, Americans have also inherited a legacy of inequality that continues to shape the future. Segregation and the wealth gap between whites and nonwhites did not arise on their own. And because they are so deeply entrenched in the institutions that structure our society, they will not fade away by simply outlawing discriminatory policies.

Diversity Inc.

Who We AreDiversityInc Media, LLC publishes DiversityInc, the magazine and DiversityInc.com. DiversityInc.com includes the leading diversity career center for professionals and a benchmarking practice.

Content is the core of our business. DiversityInc's editorial mission is to provide education and clarity on the business benefits of diversity. Our original content is written by our team of nine full-time, experienced journalists, located in our home office in New Brunswick, N.J. and our bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. It is exclusive to DiversityInc and is not syndicated.

DiversityInc.com launched in 1998. We publish original content to our Web site every business day. As of June 2005, we have more than 350,000 registered users and send a free e-mail newsletter to more than 170,000 people, six days per week to registrants who have opted into our service. We serve over 1.3 million individual sessions per month. Most of our news content plus our Career Center and the Diversity Resource Guide are available for free.

DiversityInc magazine
Launched in November 2002, DiversityInc magazine is published nine times a year and has a circulation rate base of 150,000 and is ABC audited. We will add a tenth issue for 2006.
Subscribers to DiversityInc receive the magazine and have full access to the Web site. We also publish a digital edition of the magazine.

Philanthropy and AlliancesDiversityInc contributes generously and has alliances with several diversity-related charities and non-profit organizations, including INROADS, NAMIC (National Association of Minorities in Cable), WBENC (Women's Business Enterprise National Council), New Jersey City University (an HSI), HACE, LISTA, The Jackie Robinson Foundation, Rainbow/PUSH, The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Asian Women in Business, HBCU Connect, Bennett College for Women and The National Association of Asian American Professionals. Over the past 12 months, DiversityInc has donated more than $1,000,000 in funds, advertising and services. In addition, over the past four years, DiversityInc has sponsored 15 semesters of college tuition for deserving interns.

Career CenterDiversityInc's Career Center is the most active career center for diverse professionals. Traffic to the career center is dependent on our on-line publication as well as our external on-line advertising. Both active and passive job seekers are frequent visitors to the Career Center. More than 90% of the resumes in our database list an undergraduate degree, more than 40% have a post-graduate degree. Our Career Center is also the exclusive diversity solution for The New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Tampa Tribune and The Richmond Times Dispatch. These leading employment advertising vehicles up sell their customers to DiversityInc's Career Center to provide them the best possible diversity results.

DiversityInc Media, LLC is privately owned. It was founded by Foulis Peacock and Luke Visconti. We are a "bootstrapped" company, with no outside investors, no corporate debt and four years of audited books. Peacock and Visconti have been business partners for 12 years; DiversityInc is their sole business.

Take that step: College Financial Aid Resources

As the world economy continues to globalize its apparent in order to achieve upward mobility in our society, you must be educated. G.E.D.'s are no longer enough to afford a middle class lifestyle, you need a college degree. Most people I speak to stand on two sides of the issues, those who can afford it go to school, and those who can't are forced to attend vocational institutions. Being that I attended a university, I'm imparital to advocating a university education and I can't really comment on the vocation education. Although statistics show that college enrollment is at an all-time high and shows no signs of decreasing any time soon. It doesn't take a genius to observe on any university campus the lack of black and hispanic males who are enrolled in the university. I can attest that minority women and white women are the lead beneficiaries of affirmative action, due to the fact that if you eliminated most university athletic departments, the percentage of minority male enrollment would plumet.

I don't believe in going to university expecting a huge paycheck at the end of the road, due to the fact that most college graduates still have a difficult time finding employment. I would argue that college graduates can leverage the degree in salary negotiations for a higher salary base .
I know most young people don't have a clue about what they want to do with their lives, much less go to school for, however just having the degree forces your employer to consede a higher compensation rate which benefits the student. Increasingly, employers are looking at a wide variety of degrees in the hiring process.

What I find it appalling the percentage of black and latino men in prision out numbers the number of men of color attending our countries' higher education institutions. Lets wake up and get our people to school.

Grants / Scholarships/ Information

Gates Millennium ScholarsThe Gates Millenium Scholars program was founded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and is intended to increase the number of African-Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asian Pacific Americans and Hispanic Americans enrolling in and completing undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The program is open to high school seniors, college sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as graduate students in mathematics, science, computer science, engineering, education, or library science. Requirements include a minimum GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. 1,000 new students will be supported each year. For more information, call 1-877-690-4677 or visit the GMSP web site. Additional information is also available through the United Negro College Fund, the American Indian College Fund, and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

NACME, Inc.NACME is the nation's largest privately funded source of scholarships for minority engineering students. NACME supports more than 1,500 minority engineering students nationwide. Scholarship amounts range from $2,500 to full scholarships and may include summer internships, research projects, career workshops and other opportunities. NACME scholarships are available to African American, Latino and Native American students. NACME, Inc.3 West 35th StreetNew York, NY 10001-2204Phone: 1-212-279-2626 x.218Fax: 1-212-629-5178

United Negro College Fund
http://www.uncf.org/

University and Colleges
Penn State http://www.psu.edu/dept/admissions/
Michigan http://www.umich.edu/admis_ugrad.html
Florida State http://admissions.fsu.edu/
Miami http://www.miami.edu
Georgetown http://www.georgetown.edu/home/prospect.html
Howard http://www.howard.edu/
Florida A&M http://www.famu.edu/a&m.php?page=pstudents/secondtier
Houston http://www.uh.edu/enroll/admis/
Morehouse http://www.morehouse.edu/admissions/index.html
UCLA http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/
University of Texas http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/
Temple http://www.temple.edu/undergrad/
Johns Hopkins http://apply.jhu.edu/
Bowie State University http://www.bowiestate.edu
Cortland SUNY http://www.cortland.edu/admissions/
Boston University http://www.bu.edu/admissions/
Texas Southern University http://www.tsu.edu/

THE ILLEST WEB RADIO SHOW (Worldwide Show)

Its funny how life works out. I attended Penn State and during my stay I ran into a lot of hip-hop promoters, deejays, artists, producers, etc. In any case I was at my favorite website www.str8hiphop.com and saw the new web radio show by non-other than DJ Opal, one of the dopest mixers I've ever heard period. Mike Jax and Opal had a show on college radio that was simply filthy. Now the cuttincrew is back in full effect. A member of the shadyville deejay's Opal will not dissappoint. Check him out and show him love, let him know what you want to listen to and get your shoutouts heard all over the world. Hit em up. (Let em know we sent ya).
Web radio link: www.str8hiphop.com

DJ OPAL! is one of the hottest urban DJ's in the northeast at this time, represented through cuttin crew productions/party radio 107.5fm Germany & radio dinamate 101.2fm Russia. He has over twenty years of experience and has established himself as a genuine asset to the scene.
Playing in various venues across the northeast with his versatile mixing style has created a huge impact, DJ OPAL! Has left an impressive mark at each event he has been involved with. Currently Playing at various venues in the northeast, whilst also establishing various successful residences.

Along with demonstrating fantastic club skills, DJ OPAL! has also built up a large audience with his radio show “Tha World Wide Show.” Which he first started on Radio Dinamate 101.2 fm, then creating another outlet on Party Radio 107.5fm where he holds down a primetime 8-10pm Saturday slot but still has the freedom to keep his taste at the forefront of the show. Playing all the current and up and coming urban jointz, whilst also previewing new talent incorporating competitions and give-aways plus interacting with the listening audience each week.
Influenced by some of the most influential dj's in the game from past to present includes Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money, DJ Aladdin, Afrika Bambatta, Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Caz, and Jam Master Jay to new school trail blazers A-Trak, The X-Men, 5th Platoon, & Beat Junkies. This has created a big impact on how DJ OPAL! selects his mixes when in nightclubs, radio, and in production methods adding new with the old and creating an interesting mash-up which has his followers coming back time and time again to re live this unique experience.
DJ OPAL! is always looking on how to take the dj game one step further and as he states "there are a lot of great dj's with not a drop of business knowledge, and this separates a dj from being successful in the game or being lumped in the pot with everyone else". This business savvy approach to the entertainment business has created new ventures including an upstart company along with business associate Mike jax entitled The Cuttin Crew.com which will bring many opportunities to the table within the Philadelphia area and beyond.


http://www.thecuttincrew.com/
1-302.383.9485
djopal@hotmail.com

A Great Day In Harlem

A Great Day in Harlem or Harlem 1958 is a 1958 black and white group portrait of 57 jazz musicians photographed on a Harlem street.Art Kane, a freelance photographer working for Esquire magazine, took the picture at around 10 a.m. in the summer of 1958. The musicians had gathered on 126th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem, New York City.

nahright.com

My man hit me up and we show love here at the Chronicle so definately check duke out at www.nahright.com


Here is a sample of what your find:

"Who had the better year? Both labels had some big records as well as some high profile flops (cough, cough, Yayo, ahem, Bleek). If we’re talking numbers, I think Interscope has it when you add up the combined sales of Game and 50’s album. However, this is Nah Right and we don’t talk numbers. So album for album and song for song who wins? As much as I want Jay to win and 50 to lose, Def Jam was on the R&B tip a little too hard for my taste in 2005. Especially when they have completed albums from people like Redman and Ghostface that they act like they don’t want to release. On the other hand, 50’s album was trash and he wouldn’t let Styles P drop. To tell you the truth, the only decent records to come out of Interscope this year in my opinion were Be and The Documentary. The only albums from Def Jam that I really enjoyed were the Kanyeezy and the Beanie joints. Now that I’m thinking about it, these two labels that are supposed to be the two powerhouses of the Hip Hop majors, aren’t making very much good music at all are they? What do you think, am I buggin’ or did neither of these labels win this year? "

L. Londell McMillan: A Profile of Success

Attorney and Entrepreneur Age: 37
Passion drives McMillan to the halls of justice everyday, "advocating for change within an industry that has made $65 billion, largely off the backs of our talent," says the negotiator and litigator, who co-founded the Artist Empowerment Coalition to promote artists' rights. McMillan's high-profile clients, such as Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack, represent a billion client brand value. He negotiated the $120 million deal when Prince changed his name to a symbol. Instrumental in the formation of the WNBA, he lobbied the NBA on behalf of star athletes to create the franchise and handles intellectual property issues for The New York Times. Currently in expansion, The McMillan Firm & NorthStar Business Enterprises Inc. is a full service enterprise, where business and law meet politics and media.

L. Londell McMillan President and C.E.O, L. Londell McMillan, P.C. and NorthStar Business Enterprises L. Londell McMillan is President and C.E.O. of L. Londell McMillan, P.C. and NorthStar Business Enterprises, Inc. where he specializes in business, entertainment, and sports law and business operations. Mr. McMillan was the recipient of the prestigious MBBA Haywood W. Burns, Lawyer of the Year Award 2001.

Before founding his own businesses on January 15, 1997, Mr. McMillan established himself as a leading entertainment lawyer with the law firm of Gold, Farrell & Marks. During Mr. McMillan's earlier years as an attorney, he practiced corporate law at the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P., where he counseled multi-media communication companies (i.e., Time-Warner Cable and The Discovery Channel) as well as private and publicly-held corporations and financial institutions. Prior to that he worked with Athletes and Artists, Inc. as a sports agent, while attending college and law school.

Mr. McMillan was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn; he is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical high school (Class of 1983), the School for Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University (B.S. 1987) and New York University School of Law (J.D. 1990). Mr. McMillan is an honors graduate and Academic All American mentioned student-athlete who played for four years on the Cornell University football team. While in law school, Mr. McMillan was the Northeast Regional Director of the National Black Law Students Association. He is admitted to practice law in the States of New York and Connecticut. Mr. McMillan serves on the Alumni Counsel of Cornell Board of Trustees at Cornell University. In December 1989, Mr. McMillan was one of the founders of the New York City Minority Roundtable for large, corporate law firms.

A champion of human and artists' rights, Mr. McMillan is General Counsel and co-founder for the Artist Empowerment Coalition (AEC) a non-profit coalition of artists, musicians, performers, songwriters, consumers and community advocates formed to utilize the gift and creation of music, art and culture to make the world a better place, as well as promote changes in the relationships between artists and the companies that exploit, market and distribute their creative work. Mr. McMillan has appeared on television and radio programs as well as participated in numerous forums and government hearings regarding business and economic development, juvenile justice and the business of sports and entertainment. Mr. McMillan is also the author of "An Overview of the Wide World of Entertainment & Sports Law" and co-author of "Transactions and Aggregation of Capitol Resources for Financial Empowerment and Self- Determination," published in National Bar Association Magazine. ...L. Londell McMillan Attorney, L. Londell McMillan PC

Texas Football Takes Home the Hardware

Longhorns have magical evening in OrlandoVince Young won the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards, Michael Huff won the Thorpe Award, while Huff, Jonathan Scott and Rod Wright were honored as WCFF All-Americans at The Home Depot 2005 ESPN College Football Awards. (pictured: Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Michael Huff)

str8hiphop.com (THE BEST HIP-HOP SITE)

Most folks would agree the game of hip-hop is full of has been and wanna be's. Very few have the dedication and focus to guide a business through the den of lions that is a trademark of hip-hop. Like other businesses the moguls of hip-hop agree that the future is online and no website is better positioned to make a serious move to the limelight than str8hiphop.com. Founded by a AMG Entertainment CEO H Dollar, str8hiphop.com is the one stop for any hip-hop afficionado. Although others offer cookie cutter commerical music samples, no site introduces the public to more independent artists and producers while hitting you with the latest exclusives from artists such as: 50 Cent, Nas, D-Block, Dip Set, Slim Thug. http://www.str8hiphop.net/
I really like the fact that while you can read interviews from mainstream artists in any urban magazine, str8hiphop showcases the hottest independent artists in hip-hop. Case in point is the V.A burglar himself, Nickelus F. Check out his latest mixtape mixed by DJ Rerok.

For any one interested in being featured on str8hiphop.com email the Russell Simmons of the internet at str8hiphop@gmail.com Attn: H Dollar

In addition to offering music exclusives, str8hiphop also breaks the latest news in hiphop through its instant messenger feature: AOL IM Str8hiphopnews

For those on myspace.com add str8hiphop to your friends list at: http://www.myspace.com/wwwstr8hiphopcom

I personally recommend str8hiphop to those who enjoy being the first to hear and read the latest in hiphop and if you don't know, now you know.

Melvin Sparks: A Man and His Guitar

I had the great pleasure of meeting Melvin Sparks and I can attest to his dedication to his music. Growing up I remember hearing tales of traveling musicians living gig to gig and doing it for nothing more than the sheer thrill of getting on a stage and rocking the crowd. Close your eyes and you can almost see a dimly lit room with cigarette smoke dancing in the air. No Mr. Sparks ain't your contemporary urban musician, more concerned about his/her latest music video. Nope, Melvin Sparks paid his dues playing along the likes of Little Richard and countless other legends in jazz & blues. If he isn't busy playing a gig, Melvin is a regular guy who enjoys the valuable things in life: family, music, and football. So if you got a minute or two and want to hear some great acid jazz check out Melvin at his website and if he's coming to a town near you don't miss it, you'll be sorry if you do.

His albums available for purchase (sound clips available)
http://melvinsparks.com/store.htm

PERFORMING IN NEW YORK CHECK HIM OUT !!!!!

Sun., 12/11/05MELVIN SPARKS BANDLucille's @ BB KingsNew York, NY
Sun., 12/18/05MELVIN SPARKS BANDLucille's @ BB KingsNew York, NY
http://www.calsnet.com/melvinsparks

BIO
http://melvinsparks.com/bio.htm

America's Most Powerful Black Executive

Stanley O'Neal RANK: 1 Age: 50
One of the first black students to integrate Atlanta's West Fulton High School, O'Neal has risen to what's arguably the most powerful position at the quintessential Wall Street firmAs president of Merrill’s U.S. Private Client Group, O’Neal oversees sixteen thousand brokers — or financial advisors, as he calls them — in eight hundred branch offices. Also an EVP and a member of the Merrill Lynch Executive Management Committee, O’Neal is one of the firm’s top officers and is frequently mentioned as being on the shortlist to be the next chairman of the 150-year-old firm.

“My father told me I wasn’t cut out for farm work,” says O’Neal, whose easy smile and relaxed demeanor almost belie his stature in the pinstriped, power-brokering world of Wall Street. “I never took it as an insult.” Seated in a conference room with an expansive view of the Hudson River, O’Neal recalls that work was hard to come by in Wedowee, population 750, and the options, particularly if you were poor and black, were limited. O’Neal’s mother worked as a “domestic,” cleaning houses, and when he wasn’t harvesting crops with his three younger siblings, he sold and delivered newspapers.

As it turned out, his father wasn’t cut out for farming either, and when O’Neal was 12, his family moved to a housing project in Atlanta, where his father eventually landed a job at a General Motors factory in Doraville. Stan O’Neal attended the General Motors Institute (which later became Kettering University), a co-op program where he alternated between studying engineering and industrial administration and working in the Doraville plant. O’Neal, the first in his family to finish college, says of his undergraduate days, “I really didn’t have an understanding of the world or any role models, but I had a strong desire to learn, and I think that is what pulled me through.” After graduating in the top 20 percent of his class, O’Neal returned to Doraville, working as a supervisor at the GM facility. When he was accepted at HBS, GM gave him a no-strings-attached scholarship.
“I was naive, but I was also undaunted,” says O’Neal of his arrival at Soldiers Field — his first trip to Boston. “I had never had a set of peers like that. They were an extremely sophisticated group who knew about the world, and they really motivated me.” One of only a few African Americans in his class, O’Neal says simply: “Not a lot of people looked like me.”
That was also the case in the treasurer’s office at GM in New York, which he joined after graduating with honors from HBS. After eight years with GM — including a stint as treasurer of GM España in Madrid — O’Neal had cultivated an “appetite for the deals business.” So when Merrill Lynch came knocking, he gladly opened the door, accepting a position as VP of the firm’s high-yield business. “I knew it was a great fit for me,” he says.
During the fifteen years he has worked at Merrill, O’Neal has proved himself again and again, moving from various positions in different divisions of the firm — financial services, global capital markets, investor strategies, corporate and institutional clients, and corporate services. In 1998, Merrill chairman and CEO David H. Komansky (107th AMP) asked him if he’d consider being CFO. “This was an opportunity to see the whole firm comprehensively,” observes O’Neal, who accepted the offer despite never having looked at Merrill’s balance sheet and knowing that insiders considered the CFO position a thankless assignment. “I’m a sucker for learning opportunities,” he adds, “and this was one I couldn’t pass up.”

Merrill Lynch Website
http://www.ml.com/index.asp?id=7695_15125

Merrill Lynch Career Site
http://www.ml.com/index.asp?id=7695_8199

The love of my life..Quincy Alexander  

Bush Tax Cuts Impacts Minorities

Much has been said about the president and his foreign policy mishaps however to really judge this administration and their domestic agenda look no further then Bush's tax cuts. Having friends who work for major Wall Street firms, its no secret that the top 15% bare a tremendous amount of the income tax burden however if you look at who is impacted directly by the tax cuts you would have to say minorities and the lower income bracket. I'm no communist however their must be a balance and an national forum to discuss our national budget and ever growing deficit. I would rather us increase taxes for the top earners and have that money directed to programs such as education, and health care and cut back on defense spending.

• 'No workers have really benefited from President Bush's tax policies, but Blacks and Latinos have suffered disproportionately,' said Gloribell Mota, a bilingual education specialist at UFE.
• 'President Bush's Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, far from delivering on the promises made to create 5.5 million new jobs, has carved out a new low in job recovery after a recession,' said Scott Klinger, who also co-authored the report and is director of UFE's tax policy group. 'The president's tax-cutting policy is a failure in this regard, and we need to recognize it as such.'

Check out this article I found it to be a great conversation starter.
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/national.cfm?ArticleID=3123

Red Cross Bolsters Minority Outreach (Katrina)

The human tragedy of Hurricane Katrina continues to unfold as much of Americans continue with their day to day activites. As most volunteer organizations continue to due an outstanding job given the resources and lack of training they recieve, an interesting article in the Washington Post concerning the Red Cross and its ability to recruit minorities caught my attention. Being a minority, its rare that I see volunteer organizations at our schools or churches but this article was several interesting points:

• According to the organization's most recent survey, 5 percent of its volunteers are black, 2 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are of Asian origin. Recent data show that black people make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, Hispanics about 14 percent and Asians about 4 percent.
• "We've got to build a lot of bridges to these [minority] organizations," she said. "We need to take this window of opportunity and open it as wide as we can and invite in as many people as we can."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400886_2.html?nav=rss_email/components

Reggie Bush High School Highlights (Video Link)

Oh my!!!! Reggie Bush is next in line when mentioning the greatest RB's of all time. (Payton, Smith, LT, Bush) I was able to find this highlight while surfing last night and as you can see Bush was breaking ankles back in high school.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=4ecea5e16e76efd639aacefcc7d02c1da5a76483

USC-UT In Rose Bowl

Its finally done. The most anticipated match-up in decades is set to unfold. USC and Texas, both 12-0, have been ranked 1-2 all season.

"This game is what everyone wants to see," USC star Reggie Bush said. "It's what we want to see. We want to see the best team. You aren't the best until you beat the best.

My money is on the Longhorns, but it definately anyone's guess who will bring back the Sears Championship trophy. HOOK EM HORNS!!!

Checking In

The Mara Salvatrucha (Translated from Spanish)
She is the greater gang of El Salvador, agglutinates approximately to 70% of all the gang members of the country. It has very certain own characteristics. It was created in California by Salvadoran emigrants, like answer to the already existing gangs. The name of Mara Salvatrucha: The word "mara", is used in El Salvador with the meaning of rebellious people. "Safe", of Salvadoran. And finally, "trout", comes to mean ready or espabilado. In the zone of Los Angeles, the Mara Salvatrucha adopted number 13, since this zone is controlled by the Mexican Mafia, or 13. San Francisco is territory of Our Family, or the 14, for that reason in the north of California the MS took number 14. As much the Mexican Mafia as Our Family, is organizations whom they control to all the Latin gangs from the jails of his respective territories. So the Mara Salvatrucha is divided in two, MS 13 in the south of California, and MS 14 in the north. Members of MS 13 during a riot in a Salvadoran penitentiary center. When finalizing the Salvadoran civil war, the judges of the zone of Los Angeles begin to deport to gang members from return to El Salvador. Of this form, MS 13 settles with force in the country, whereas the presence of MS 14 is minimum. Along with MS 13, also arrives at El Salvador Street 18, the most powerful gang of Los Angeles. The war which they maintained these gangs in the streets of Los Angeles, translada immediately to El Salvador. The confrontations between members of the same gang are very common. In order to enter MS 13, the aspiring to gang member must "be jumped", the brincamiento consists of fighting with three members of the gang, during 13 seconds, and holding with value. In case that the future gang member is of complexión very hard, he will have to fight against five. The important thing is that it suffers during the fight, thus to demonstrate its value. It is not obligatory to tattoo, but the immense majority of the gang members is it, with allusive tattoos to the property to the gang. In some cases the tattoos become in very visible places, like the face or the forehead. This must to that the gang member is proud of his property to the gang.
Each clica of the Mara Salvatrucha has its own territory. This territory is signalized with painted allusive in the walls, normally these painted make reference to the Mara Salvatrucha, the clica, the died gang members, and in general to aesthetic the typical gang member. The gang members of each clica worry to maintain these graffittis, or placazos, avoiding that the rival gang members soil them. When a clica obtains that their "placazos" are clean in their district, it considers itself that he is strong.

NOT GUILTY... Murder Inc Verdict Stuns Media

Not guilty. Irv Lorenzo, Chris Lorenzo, and Murder Inc. Records have all been found not guilty on charges of money-laundering and conspiracy to commit money-laundering. The jury deliberated for two days, and the verdict came at 6 p.m., just at the court was getting ready to close for the night and the journalists were starting to grumble that we'd have to come back to the courthouse one more fucking day. We'd all sat there the whole day, perking up our ears whenever word would come back that the jury had asked to see this or that piece of evidence but otherwise burying ourselves in newspapers or chatting with the funny, hardbitten female court officer. On the other side of the aisle, people seemed more bored than worried. The Lorenzo brothers sank back into their chairs or paced around, and 7 Aurelius and the Lorenzo family and all the assorted friends and hangers-on who'd been there for the whole trial muttered to each other and did their best to pass the time.
Everything changed when the court officer walked into the room at the end of the day and said, "Counsel, we have a verdict." I had my iPod on at the time, but the reporter next to me said that there'd been an audible gasp in the room. There was a palpable sense of electricity in the room; everyone moved to the edge of their seats. The jury walked in silently, the judge asked for the verdict, and juror #1, a middle-aged Latino guy with a thick accent, read out "not guilty" six times. The first time, a sob went up in the room. People were crying, hugging each other, waiting for the jury to leave so they could really cheer. When they did, Irv jumped up on the barrier separating the audience from the court area and hugged everyone he could. "I wanted to stage-dive, man," I heard him tell someone a few minutes later. "They took my life for three years," he told reporters. "I just want it back." Ja Rule, who hadn't been in the courtroom today but must've been nearby, ran in and hugged him a few minutes later. Word came from the jury's quarters that the jury had asked to see Irv and Chris and their mother. "Jurors wanted to hug Irv, hug Chris," said Irv's lawyer, Gerald Lefcourt, a few minutes later. "They feel totally connected to these two young men. Family members are crying. Jurors are crying." I somehow ended up in the elevator riding down with Irv and Chris and Ja and the defense lawyers, and Irv was yelling about how he'd never even been in trouble for jaywalking in his life, how he'd never faced a judge or a jury, how his legs went all crooked when they announced the verdict. Running down the hallway, Ja was yelling, "Three years! Now it's time to go to work!"
Outside the courtroom, cameras went off like strobe lights, and Irv grabbed Lefcourt and Chris's lawyer, Gerald Shargel keeping his arms around them while reporters and cameras crowded around. Irv was yelling about how they should give him a medal for all the people he's helped, how the prosecution had tried to turn innocent text-messages into something horrible simply because he was friends with Irv, how he was going to go to the studio with Ja and make some music.
And look, I'm not at all a fan of the music Irv has made, and I was skeptical going into the trial. But right now I like them, and I feel privileged to have been there when they won. The trial was a media circus, of course, and I was part of that. There was all this stuff about John Ragin's 50 Cent testimony, about which rap stars showed up what days, about Supreme's history of violence. But here's the basic story: the prosecution relied on unconvincing and incomplete evidence, attempting to put two music guys in prison for twenty years because they were friends with a bad guy (and because they gave him money, though it certainly looks like that was legal), and it didn't work. If Irv and Chris didn't have the money for dazzling defense lawyers like Lefcourt and Shargel, maybe they would've been convicted. But then, if they didn't have that money, they wouldn't have been tried for money-laundering in the first place. They've been under investigation for three years, a time period, I'm just realizing now, that almost exactly coincides with the rise of 50 Cent and the decline in popularity of Murder Inc., and now it's over. They're free. Maybe they'll rise again and Murder Inc. will become the commercial force it once was now that this distraction is over. I doubt it, but that doesn't matter right now. But they should've won, and they did win. "The jury bridged the cultural divide," said Lefcourt. I can't say it any better.

Southwest Yonkers

Yonkers bordering the New York City borough of the Bronx and just 2 miles (3 km) north of Manhattan at the closest point of each, is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind Rochester), with a population of 196,086 (according to the 2000 census). A July 1, 2002 estimate showed the city's population to be 197,234; the population dropped down to 197,126 according to the 2004 estimate, perhaps due to sluggish economic growth and high costs of living. It is by far the largest city in Westchester County. Younger residents have termed the city "the sixth borough" as well as "the backyard of The Bronx", referring to Yonkers' location on the New York City border resulting in a somewhat urban character not commonly associated with suburbia.

Southwestern Yonkers: This inner-city part of Yonkers is commonly regarded as dirty, poor, and crime-ridden, southwestern Yonkers is the area predominantly responsible for the Yonkers' somewhat negative reputation. Relatively speaking, this area is not actually as dangerous nor as impoverished as many believe. While main drags like South Broadway are certainly less than upscale, there are residential neighborhoods right off South Broadway which feature residential streets of million-dollar plus, turn of the century mansions, much like in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. However, blighted sections do exist as well, especially around Getty Square (Broadway & Main Street, also called "Ghetto Square" by some residents), which serves the focal point of downtown Yonkers. Just recently many new multi million dollar luxury apartment buildings were being built along the Hudson. A new monument park, the renovation of the only Victorian age pier, a new library, and many new projects to revitalize downtown Yonkers. Unlike the east side of Yonkers, this area is predominantly black and Hispanic demographically.

Its A New Day

Hey people, lets start off this journal by telling you a little about myself. I'm a 25 yr. old dad with an interest in seeing this world come together through the wonderful power of the internet. As a proud member of the Nittany Lion family, thats (Penn State University) for all the non Big Ten readers, my academic interest include: economics, political science and sociology. Specifically, this blog will focus on the issues of race, politics, urban America and issues directly affecting the next generation of black and hispanic men in this country. We'll take a look at issues such as post college depression, bilingual education, the media's portrayal of colored men and crime. I invite all of you to contribute and leave your comments regarding any of the topics discussed. Thanks for checking out my little corner of cyberspace. I hope you enjoy.