Book Outs Hip Hop's Secret Gay World

The cover of 'Hiding in Hip Hop,' written by Terrance Dean.

In what could be described as a follow-up to the much-hyped (and in some corners, much-reviled) On the Down Low, Terrance Dean's Hiding in Hip Hop outs the music industry's secret gay subculture. Here's more from a Newsweek review:

And though Dean's intention was never to out anybody, he provides just enough information for readers to go crazy searching Google. There's a New York R&B singer who often opened for Jay-Z, caught the ears of Death Row Records and has worked on Broadway. A member of a rap group that changed hip-hop with its "philosophical rhymes over hard-core beats" who then went solo to achieve chart-topping success, eventually landing the lead in a movie. (He's also married.) "Men who have secret love affairs have separate homes and apartments, and separate phones strictly for their romantic flings," writes Dean. "No one ever suspects a thing, and they go to great lengths to keep it that way."

Are you surprised by Dean's claims? What impact, if any, will this book have?

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: gays and lesbians | hip hop | on the down low

12:44 PM ET | 05-20-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Living in the 'Burbs Taking a Toll on Kids' Health?

iStockphoto.com

Is childhood obesity becoming a bigger problem than teen smoking, alcohol and drug abuse or reckless driving? That's the surprising finding of a survey referenced in a Washington Post article about the rising numbers of overweight suburban kids.

On the face of it, children in the suburbs have every advantage. They live in communities with well-funded parks systems and sports leagues and are more likely to come from affluent and better-educated families than their urban counterparts.

Yet suburbia's kids keep getting fatter, too.

Experts say the reasons are varied. Overworked parents don't cook healthy meals regularly. They let their children spend too many hours watching TV or being strapped in car seats. Crowded youth leagues might fight over field times, but many kids are left alone after school with nothing to do.

Is this an issue you face in your home? How do you manage to instill the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle?

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: childhood obesity | overweight

12:26 PM ET | 05-20-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Can't Find a Good School for Your Kids? Buy One!

Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith (left) attend the 'Pursuit Of Happyness' premiere in Rome, Italy.

Elisabetta Villa, Getty Images

What does Will Smith do when he can't find a decent school for his kids? He buys them their own.

The actor recently paid $889,000 to lease Indian Hills High School in Calabasas, Calif., after failing to find a decent educational program for his two young children. Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have been home schooling their brood until now. According to People:

"We started home-schooling our children probably six years ago," he said. "We found about eight or nine other parents that home-school, so we put them together. ... There's just very powerful educational concepts that we believe in, and we feel like 'I want to design the system that revolutionizes public education.' "

In 2005, Jada Pinkett-Smith told Essence that the decision behind home-schooling came from their dissatisfaction with current models of education.

"The school system in this country -- public and private -- is designed for the industrial age," she said. "We're in a technological age. We don't want our kids to memorize. We want them to learn."

Parents just don't understand, huh Will?

While most people will find it difficult to provide their kids with a school of their own, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be involved with your child's education. Have you raised kids through the public school system? Share your survival stories, tips, and opinions.

-- Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: Jaden Smith | Will Smith

6:11 PM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Insert the Caption: Obama Greets 75,000 Supporters

Ahead of tomorrow's Oregon primary, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, greet a record crowd of 75,000 at Waterfront Park in Portland, Ore.

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

You know what to do. Insert the caption!

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Barack Obama | Oregon

6:03 PM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Simone and ... Simone: The Great Nina and Daughter

Nina Simone

File

Last week, we spoke with singer Simone (whose legal name is Lisa Simone Kelly) about her first album, Simone on Simone.

Her mother is the inimitable Nina Simone, a woman who traveled from the segregated South to concert halls and stages around the world, and finally left the United States in disgust over what she saw as naked racism.

Her daughter, Simone, said she was fierce "from the rooter to the tooter" -- a woman who never marched to anyone else's beat.

Simone's new album is a tribute to her mother, the legendary singer Nina Simone.

Koch Record

But her beat lives on. Her work is now remixed by hip electronica DJs and sampled by hip hop artists including Talib Kweli ("Sinnerman") and Common featuring Kanye West ("Misunderstood").

And you'll still hear the originals of plenty of her songs, from "Young Gifted and Black" to "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (which was part of a famous, languidly sensual, Chanel No. 5 advertisement).

And Nina Simone also sang a very different kind of song... "Mississippi Goddam," which she wrote to protest the tragedies of the civil rights era, including the murder of four girls in the church bombing in Birmingham.

Simone told us a bit about her mother's journey in singing "Missippi Goddamn," a portion of the interview we could not include on air. Take a listen by clicking the link above.

Of course, in addition to to Nina Simone, her daughter Simone is a talent in her own right ... as her new album reveals.

-- Farai Chideya

Tags: Nina Simone | Simone

4:02 PM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Fabulous Series on Detention of Immigrants

Every now and then, you have to give your props to other journalists who are doing great work.

In this case, I want to highlight a series on the detention of immigrants fighting deportation. Some get asylum. Some get deported. And some, the articles argue, die from poor medical care.

As America fights over the issue of undocumented/illegal immigration, detention remains a less known area ... and the Washington Post has done quite a job of investigative reporting. I expect this to be nominated for a Pulitzer next go round ...

-- Farai Chideya

Tags: Washington Post | immigration

3:57 PM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Is Michelle Obama Fair Game for the GOP?

Barack Obama stands with his wife, Michelle, during a primary results rally in Raleigh, N.C.

With an attack ad running in Tennessee that questions Michelle Obama's patriotism, Barack Obama is hitting back. On today's Good Morning America, Obama called the GOP ad "low class."

"The GOP, should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record," Obama said. "If they think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful because that I find unacceptable, the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family."

Is it fair for political opposition to question or "attack" a candidate's spouse?

-- Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: Barack Obama | Election 2008 | GOP | Republicans | attack ad | low class political ad | michelle obama

2:52 PM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

NAACP Names New President

Courtesy NAACP

The NAACP has found its new leader. And instead of picking a "politician, minister or civil rights icon," the group has chosen 35-year-old "lifelong activist" Ben Jealous.

The AP has more:

Jealous was born in Pacific Grove, Calif., and educated at Columbia University and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

He has worked as a community organizer for the NAACP; as managing editor of a black newspaper in Mississippi; executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the country's largest group of black community newspapers; and as director of Amnesty International's U.S. Human Rights Program.

Since 2005, Jealous has served as president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, a private institution that supports civil and human rights advocacy.

Despite his own successes, Jealous said blacks in America still have a hard row to hoe, and that the gains of recent decades have created a false sense of progress.

What do you think of the NAACP's decision? What should Pres. Jealous do to maintain the organization's relevance?

From Today's Show:
NAACP Names New President
Can New Leader Jump Start the NAACP?

Flashback:
Julian Bond vs. Kevin Powell: What's Next for Civil Rights Movement?

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Ben Jealous | NAACP | new NAACP president

11:33 AM ET | 05-19-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

White Valedictorian a Matter of Pride or Validation?

Amid news of Morehouse College graduating its first white valedictorian, this week, we have a submission from blogger Kyle "Scoop" Yeldell. Yeldell, a Morehouse graduate and writer for Finditt.com, takes issue with what he calls the "media attention and slant to [valedictorian Joshua Packwood's] success."

Kyle "Scoop" Yeldell

Spike, Martin, Samuel, shoot, even Mukasa could be the face of dear old Morehouse.

It's been circulating that for the first time in Morehouse's 141-year history that she has a white valedictorian.

Joshua Packwood is a valedictorian that had a holistic college and social experience, one who excelled in the classroom both and abroad. Josh earned the right to be both valedictorian and wear the title "Morehouse Man."

However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution titled their article on him with a preposterous question: Is he the face of Morehouse College?

Continue reading "White Valedictorian a Matter of Pride or Validation?" »

-- Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Joshua Packwood | Morehouse College | Morehouse valedictorian | first white valedictorian

12:32 PM ET | 05-16-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Rev. Jesse Jackson Requests Secret Service Files

US civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks at a press conference on relief aid in Haiti

Thony Belizaire, Getty Images

Members of the United States Secret Service are under investigation after racist and sexually charged e-mails recently surfaced. One in particular, which references two-time presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, has the civil rights leader upset. According to CBS:

"Rev. Jackson's dealings with the Secret Service date back to his two campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s. He actually asked for and was assigned protective details before other candidates back then.

The Secret Service e-mail, obtained from a court filing in Washington, was titled "The Righteous Reverend," and jokes about the deaths of Jackson and his wife when a missile strikes their plane. The e-mail ends with, it "certainly wouldn't be a great loss and probably wouldn't be an accident either."

Jackson is requesting to read every correspondence that concerned him and his family, dating back to the 1980s. While the most damaging e-mails found had nothing to do with the elder Jackson, his son, U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), isn't convinced this was a one-time event.

"The Secret Service is charged with investigating threats, not initiating them. This gives you some sense, some insight, into what may be taking place there," he said. "The Congress of the United States has oversight responsibilities and we're going to be looking very carefully at what's going on there."

Should Barack Obama be worried about the level of protection he receives from the Secret Service? One lapse in Obama's security at a Dallas event left some wondering.

-- Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: Jackson angry racist emails | Jesse Jackson | Rev. Jesse Jackson | Secret Service racism | U.S. Secret Service | racism

5:26 PM ET | 05-15-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post