on the radio

I’m sure you’ve heard or even said these statements: “All Black men are either gay or in jail.” “Black men prefer to date outside their race, because they think all black women are gold diggers and ho’s.” The list goes on and on. But ask yourself, are those myths really the truth?! Director, Janks Morton, joins us to discuss his powerful DVD documentary, “What Black Men Think.”

 

Schedule
2/13/2008 9:00 PM - One Ain’t Enough

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO KAM

THE TOP 5 BLACK DOCUMENTARIES OF 2007

 

WHAT BLACK MEN THINK

BANISHED

DESERT BAYOU

THE HIP-HOP PROJECT

BASTARDS OF THE PARTY

See all other categories and ratings here

KAM WILLIAMS

Voted Best Male Entertainment Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2006, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S. and Canada. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son. Please visit his website for the latest reviews of Films, Books and outstanding Interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest Stars

(WEBSITE)

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

So I had the chance to do a wonderful in-studio radio interview with Dr. Wilmer Leon of Channel 169 “The Power”  XM Satellite Radio this past weekend. And in an off air discussion, we talked about our fathers, challenges to the Black Community, as well as my favorite topic, Socio-Political Activism. I had a great opportunity to explain my views to a caller on “tactical vs. Strategic” activism, and how the two need to work hand in hand to achieve long term goals of any group. So again off air, Dr. Leon asked me the question “what do you want (to do)?” Over the next several days I will be closing out the “year in review” with some P.O.A.’s (plans of action) and what the tactical and Strategic effects would be each. So first up I’ll give a teaser, and knowing my thoughts on the census bureau, guess what you think my recommendation might be?

CLINTON IS AS BLACK AS BARACK?

If only I were allowed to cuss (just a little bit) in public forums…but dang andrew, dang.

THE CONFUSION IS IN THE ILLUSION

I love that Quote by Don King, yep that Don King. The following is a great article from 1999 by Ebony/Jet Reporter discussing the ever illusive “Perfect Man”, I think there is even was even a movie by the same title…reminds me of another quote by a preacher I once new…There is no perfection in this world, but obviously he missed that memo from hollywood. I wonder if Hollywierd could put together a movie titled “The perfect Woman”

  

  

  

For Brothers Only - Brief Article

Ebony,  Feb, 1999  by Kevin Chappell

It happened the other day, while waiting in line at the movies. I overheard three Sisters in front of me discussing the type of man they wanted to marry. One said the man she would spend the rest of her life with would have a face like Denzel, a body like Tyson and money like Jordan. The second one added that her man had to have Babyface’s romanticism, Puff Daddy’s style, and Bishop T.D. Jakes’ conviction. The third one added that her man had to have all of that, plus Grant Hill’s politeness and Cosby’s humor.In the end, they all agreed that the man who would win them over had to be the perfect man–funny, fashionable, cute, rich, religious, romantic, respectful–and “love me for me, or I’m not wasting my time,” one Sister said.It was obvious that each of these women truly believed she was deserving of the perfect man and would eventually find him. It was just a matter of weeding though the Rodmans to find the Jordans, the Fat Alberts to find the Cosbys, the babies and the daddies to find the Babyfaces and the Puff Daddys. But in the end, the tireless search would be worth it, because this man–this perfect man–would love her as she had never been loved before, and take her away from a world filled with the want-to-be players and perpetrating men who make up the ’90s dating scene–men who are the antithesis of perfect.At one point during their conversation, I wanted to interrupt and tell them that their skewed expectations were probably the reason none of them had a movie date. And unless they had a face like Halle, legs like Tina, curves like Bingham, could cook like mama and age like Lena, then they, by their own high standards, were faulty.

I’m sure all men–from the Brother waiting tables who was slighted by a Sister because she felt he wasn’t worth her time to the Brother at the train station who was overlooked by a Sister who figured he couldn’t give her the finer things in life–have wanted to express the same sentiment, but were either afraid to say it or thought it futile to do so.

Indeed, these three Sisters aren’t the only ones on a quest for The World’s Best Brother. There are many women–too many women–on the same mission impossible. They suffer from what Gladys described years ago as a “love overboard” high, a habitual yearning for unattainable men, an all-out longing for catches they have no hope of ever reeling in. With many women, the more unattainable a man is–be it a movie star, singer, athlete, wealthy businessman or a married man–the more desirable he is and the more he is deemed perfect.

For some Sisters, holding out for the perfect man gives them such a rush that even if they manage to hook a “Mr. Perfect,” their fixation will not be cured. Soon, he too will wear thin, and be thrown back. She will misinterpret his sensitivity as softness, his spirituality as oddness, his money as his cure-all, his romanticism as an attempt to hide something. She will call him a “smotherer,” or say that he was “too nice,” or just plain “too perfect”–and will never be able to fully explain exactly what was wrong with him, only that “something just wasn’t right.”

You see, these women aren’t really in love with the perfect man–they are in love with the idea of loving the perfect man. For them, the idea provides a stress-free mind excursion, the automatic go-ahead to quickly dismiss average Brothers who can’t live up to their high expectations. Because many women are so focused on finding a particular type of man, they don’t feel a need to “waste” time–or even a smile–on the Brother waiting tables or the one at the train station.

In the end, the “love overboard” high clouds a Sister’s ability to understand that the true goal of a relationship is not the search but the find. It’s not about looking for the perfect man and weeding out the average Brothers. It’s about finding perfection in the average Brother and bringing out the best in him–and allowing him to bring out the best in her. It’s about finding a diamond in the rough, taking her mind off cruise control and challenging herself to work as hard as she’s ever worked to see if a man with potential could actually be her potential Prince Charming.

When more Sisters open up and stop looking for “love overboard” and start looking for love on board, only then will they come to understand that the average Brother can also be the perfect Brother.

And the best thing about it: She won’t have to piece him together while she stands in line at the movies with two other dateless Sisters. Because her dream guy–perfect imperfections and all–will be there by her side.

I CAN’T KEEP UP

So I’m doing tons of media these days, and don’t get a chance to post every single appearance. But I had an exceptional experience today With Deborah Rowe of WLS in chcago! Thanks to you and your audience for an engaging hour!

Saturday on Deborah Rowe

Find out what men really want when the director and producer of the documentary, What Black Men Think, Janks Morton joins Deborah this Saturday at noon!

COMING SOON!

So I found the best and most economical way to start podcasting (for those of you soliciting me to start publishing audio of lectures)…I need to learn the ins and outs of the system and how to put up audio, as well as have featured guests from time to time (once a quarter if I’m lucky), but this will continue to expand the mdeia rich environment that is “What Black Men Think”

 

Details to follow in the new year!

AND I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE…

This was sent to me and I thought it was going to undermind my claim to fame as “the only black guy crzay enough to look for the truth”…turns out I’m still on pretty solid ground (the author is white) and reaches the same conclusions, 5 years ago! bravo Mr. Murray, bravo!

Behind Books, Not Bars
By Iain Murray : 02 Sep 2002

Last week, the Justice Policy Institute released a study that examined how states’ spending on corrections and higher education respectively had diverged over the last twenty years. The report particularly highlighted the effect of the relative changes on the male African American community. Indeed, the subhead of the press release ran “More African American Men Incarcerated Than Enrolled In College,” going on to say that “in 2000, there were an estimated 791,600 African American men in prison and jail, and 603,000 in higher education.” There are several problems with this characterization: the figures are incorrect, the comparison is misleading and the result is what is obviously an unintended reinforcement of a negative stereotype that is damaging to African American men. To begin with the figures, the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ publication “Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2000″ does indeed estimate 791,600 African Americans in prison or jail at that time. However, the figures for African-American college enrollment, derived from the National Center for Education Statistics, look very different from the figures issued by the Census Bureau, which are used in the official government “data book,” the Statistical Abstract. Those figures show a total of 804,000 African-American males over the age of 17 enrolled in college in October 2000. It is unclear why there is such a vast difference, but the Census Bureau data is almost certainly more up-to-date, deriving as it does from the annual Current Population Survey. Moreover, it is misleading to compare the number of African American men who are incarcerated with the simple number of college students. It is a simple fact that a man can go to prison at any age, but is far more likely to be in college between the ages of 18 and 24 than at any other time in his life. The more meaningful comparison here is to look at how many men of college age are enrolled in college or under custodial supervision. When the figures are broken down by age, a much different picture emerges, one that is much less helpful to the Justice Policy Institute’s case. There were 469,000 African American males between the ages of 18 and 24 who were enrolled in college in 2000, compared to 180,000 in prison or jail. An African American male of college age is therefore over two and a half times as likely to be in college than in prison. That is a significant difference. What is perhaps most annoying about the way the Justice Policy Institute chose to present its figures is that it helps perpetuate the stereotype that a young African American male is likely to be a troublemaker or a jailbird. In fact, as a careful look at the figures shows, he is much more likely to be carrying books than a gun. Tremendous advances have been made in crime reduction in the African American community (the rate at which African Americans commit murder has halved since 1990), which should not be hidden by presentation of statistics that, however well intentioned, show that community in a negative light. Moreover, by focusing on the respective numbers of African American males in college as opposed to prison or jail, the study ignores the huge differential in the numbers for females. There are 747,000 African American women aged 18-24 enrolled in college, but only 9,000 in prison or jail. Less than a decade ago, in 1994, there were only 561,000 African American women enrolled in college. That represents a 33 percent increase in only 6 years, despite the relative reductions in State education expenditure highlighted by the Justice Policy Institute. It also means that there is a total of 1,216,000 young African Americans in college, as opposed to 189,000 in custody. That is a huge disparity which should be very good news. It seems likely, as the New York Times was careful to point out in its coverage of the story, that the relative increase in incarceration spending by the States in the ’80s and ’90s was fueled not by a desire to invest more in the war on drugs by locking up young black males than in their education, but by an actual increase in violent crime. Thankfully, that phase seems to be over. We should be happy that today’s young African Americans of both sexes are far more likely to be listening to an economics lecturer than to the barked orders of a corrections officer.

MICHAEL MEDVED APPEARANCE TODAY

What a wonderful host, and I can not tell you how refreshing it was to do a show where the interviewer has not only taken the time to screen the film (these guys are sooo busy, and 90 minutes is a lot to ask of their time) but to have committed so much of the details of the film into a wonderful Q&A session made my heart smile. And while we may not see eye to eye on every causative factor behind the premises put forth in the film, I told him on air “he gets me” and a crazy as I may be for taking on these issues, with the support of national media like Mr. Medved, I get truly inspired to keep advancing the message…Thank You Michael!

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

It’s time we woke up to the truth
by Booker T Hodges
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 11/14/2007

Finally, Booker T has returned to the strip. I am doing all right. I missed some things, but not others.

During my absence, I learned that you’d better do what you do for God and not man, because people really don’t care about you personally, for the most part. God leads me in all that I do.

This new column will differ from the former [“Hodges Investigative Team”] in that I am a little more educated, and the focus will be on uplifting our people. I decided to change the name of the column to “Wake Up” because, God willing, this column will hopefully wake some people up.

In this column I will discuss an excellent film by Janks Morton titled What Black Men Think. This film focuses on disproving many of the common negative stereotypes about Black men, and it moved me so much because, as educated as I am, it exposed my own negative perceptions regarding brothas.

I want you to ask yourself the following questions: Are there more Black men in college or in prison? What percentage of brothas pay their court-ordered child support? What percentage of brothas marry White women? What is the number-one killer of Black people?

These questions and their answers will be discussed at the end of the column.

The movie discusses what happened to us after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Before I move on, I want people to know that we were not always in the shape that we are in today. At the time of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, 82 percent of Black households included a mother and father, and 40 percent of those homes were business owners.

Today, that is not the case. The sex, drugs and rock-and-roll lifestyle didn’t work for us. We worked so hard to get the legislation passed, and then we gave up. The movie discusses how we went from depending on ourselves to depending on others, mainly the government. How many of our leaders continually get on TV and write columns begging the government for something?

Look, people — the government is not the solution to our problems. The movie discusses how welfare programs help break up our families. They penalized women for having a man in the house. The created the entitlement mentality.

Many thought that they didn’t have to do anything because the government was going to take care of them. How many people do you know who depend on the government for everything? I always say that if you have to live at the will of the government, you are in trouble.

Dr. Shelby Steele said in the movie, “The idea that Blacks are victims of a racist America has been extremely profitable for a tiny group of Black leaders.” He goes on to say, “They extract money from White guilt, and that money never gets to the people.”

I couldn’t help but think of the PEACE Foundation when I heard this quote. Their former leader is legendary for playing on White guilt for money. I have not forgotten the Big House, nor should you.
The movie also discusses how many studies have been done on Black men. There is no other group of human individuals who have been studied more than Black men in the history of the existence of Planet Earth.
Armstrong Williams, who I disagree with on many issues, said, “When are we going to see a study done about White Catholic priests having sex with young boys in the church? You never will, because there’s no money in that.”

That’s why I don’t understand the need for a University of Minnesota research center in the heart of the ’hood. How much more research is needed on us? All they want to do with their research is spread more negative statistics about us and make money while continuing to assault us mentally. Desperate actions are often the result of an irrational mind.

The answers to the questions

There are more Black men in college than in prison. There were 473,000 brothas in college between the ages of 18-24, compared to 106,000 in prison. That’s a 4:1 ratio.

67 3 percent of Black men pay their child support, compared to 64.7 percent of White men. 5.3 percent of Black men marry White women.

The number-one killer of Black people is (omitted), killing 363,024 of us in 2005. Heart disease comes in a distant second, killing 77,732 of us in 2005.

If you ask many people these questions, I assure you their answers will be different than the truth. Go buy the movie — it’s time to wake up. This column will focus on the positive aspects of our community and hopefully change the false image that we have of ourselves.