Since Planned Parenthood is the focus of an inquiry spearheaded by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), in efforts to determine if public money was illegally spent on funding abortions, the life-saving partnership between the bastions of women’s health has been nullified.

Coincidentially, conservative Karen Handel, who lost a gubernational race in Georgia in 2010 running on a strict anti-abortion and anti-Planned Parenthood platform, was recently named Komen’s vice-president. In her campaign blog, Handle made her position clear:

I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

While Barbara Walter consistently stated that “federal funds are not used to fund abortions at Planned Parenthood” and Whoopi Goldberg insisting that the “the investigation is false,” Elisabeth Hasselback stayed true to conservative form, stating:

If it was political and if Susan G. Komen would never be associated with someone because they are the nation’s largest provider of abortions, then why would they have ever have partnered with them over the years and years and years?”

See The View debate below:

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“I don’t think there’s a better time than African-American History month to consider the tremendous progress we’ve made through the sacrifices of so many, or a better time to recommit to the challenges we face right now,” said Obama in a video to his supporters.

It is expected that the Democrats would work to shore up their Black base right before the president’s bid for re-election. The dampened enthusiasm among Black voters who are facing 15.8 percent unemployment and rapidly declining wealth levels is also expected. The Black unemployment number is more than double that of white Americans, which stands at 7.5 percent. Throughout the Obama presidency, White unemployment has improved, while Black unemployment has gotten markedly worse.

Ironically, the “African Americans for Obama” website says that the president has been fighting “to restore economic security that has been eroding for American families for a decade.”

President Obama won 96 percent of the Black vote in 2008. His approval rating today stands at 91 percent. The black community continues to be the strongest and most loyal base of the Obama Administration.

Political commentator, Yvette Carnell, has something to say about the issue:

“I have no problem with Obama targeting African-American voters. None. He needs us and he knows it,” said Carnell. “What I do have a problem with, however, is how most of the targeting begins during campaign season and ends on election day. We’re more than just a voting bloc. We’re real citizens with real needs, needs which I hope the President begins to acknowledge and address.”

Columbia University Professor Christopher Emdin doesn’t agree with Carnell’s assessment.

“I do not believe the ‘frustration and dampened enthusiasm’ cited within Af-American communities is as pervasive as we are led to believe. With that being said, these facts do not negate the fact that these communities are dealing with serious issues related to education and poverty,” said Dr. Emdin. “I do not believe that Obama’s campaigning in Af-American communities is reflective of some ulterior agenda to “use them when he needs them.  It very well may be an effort to make a shift to explicitly focus on the needs of this community.”

The pending re-election of Barack Obama has put Black voters in a quandary. While many would agree that conditions have worsened for the Black community under Obama, the Republican Party provides no reasonable alternatives. In many cases, Black people have become the political orphans of America:

You can either live with the parents who abuse you or live with the child molester down the street. While one fate is clearly worse than the other, there is no end to the pain in sight.

It is actually logical for the Obama Administration to keep Black voters on the back-burner. When a group gives you 91 percent approval and asks for nothing in return, there is almost no political incentive to do anything for them. This calculation likely played a role in the statement that the “rising tide will lift all boats” made three years ago, when the president was asked about inequality in wealth and unemployment. The “lift all boats” policy was a clear and miserable failure, for most economic experts can tell you that racial inequality is not going to fix itself without targeted economic policy.

Right now, in the Black community, there are at least two types of people: those who are suffering and those who are not. The suffering group consists of the poor, unemployed, and those who live under the thumb of the criminal justice system. The rest of us have jobs, food to eat and are not impacted directly by mass incarceration. If you’re in the second group, it’s difficult to find fault with the Obama Administration, for a Black president grants the symbolic comfort that comes along with the “Mama I Made It” syndrome that justifies the trade-offs many of us make for the sake of economic and social progress in a White supremacist society.  Being the first Black president is the granddaddy of all “proud mama” moments, so there are millions willing to forgive nearly any short-coming of the Obama White House to maintain access to the throne.

For those who care about the poor, there is almost no redemption when the president barely mentions poverty in his speeches.  For the unemployed, it’s hard to imagine how your life will get better by supporting an administration that helped white folks find jobs while letting the Black numbers reach levels approaching those of the Great Depression. For those suffering with the effects of mass incarceration, it’s hard to get excited about a president who has not directly confronted the debilitating effects of the drug war, which has destroyed millions of families and an entire generation of children.  All of these issues indicate a state of emergency in the Black community; but thus far, we’ve only given White Americans the right to express dissatisfaction with their condition.

The implicit African American slogan for the Democratic Party is “You should just stop complaining, because the Republicans are even worse than we are.” The threat of political punishment is clearly enough to secure the Black vote without doing a thing. But at the same time, the Black political orphans of America do have a choice. WEB Dubois, when faced with few quality political options 50 years ago, simply said that he refused to vote at all.  Rather than behaving like a teenage girl who shares her body with the first man who buys her a cheeseburger, Dubois advocated for the idea that we save our votes for politicians who have truly worked to earn them.

After a mass holdout from conscientious Black voters, perhaps the Democrats will then strive to honestly earn the Black vote instead of simply telling us that they are not as horrible as the Republicans.  It should not be taboo to request that Black voters have enough self-respect to demand that all politicians give priority to the issues that lead to our suffering. There are no victims, just volunteers, and we don’t have to be political orphans forever.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here,

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Like the rest of America, I was distraught over the death of the great Don Cornelius, creator of the legendary show, “Soul Train.”  There will never be another one like him, for he truly changed the black entertainment landscape for all eternity.   I thought about Cornelius for a bit this morning and wanted to share five things that black people can learn from the master of soul:

1) How to start and build a business: Soul Train was not a show that some big corporation gave to Don Cornelius. It was his baby. Don started off in Chicago with a hot local show and eventually took the show to national syndication.  He saw a void in entertainment and filled it.  He carried his dream to the national level and now his vision remains a perpetual piece of black entertainment history.   Most of us have dreams, but most of those dreams die. Find your dream, learn how to create your dream and then put your heart into building that dream.  You’ll be amazed at what you can do.

2) Edu-tainment really does work when its done properly: Soul Train did what BET’s 106& Park should have done – it entertained black people while encouraging us to develop our minds.   I recall seeing the video of a 19-year old Rev. Al Sharpton on the show, and another with Jesse Jackson sporting the coolest afro I’d ever seen.  Don understood the importance of maintaining a double bottom line of social responsibility and corporate profitability, and he earned his millions conscientiously.

3) The value of creating your own platforms: Most black entertainers are excellent at performing their craft, but know very little about the business models that bring their work to a wider audience.   Rather than hoping that some other show would grant media space for black entertainers, brother Don took matters into his own hands. As a result, scores of black superstars were born who never would have existed otherwise.  That’s what you call making something out of nothing.

4) Black is always beautiful: The on-going theme on Soul Train was “blackness.”  Cornelius always kept it authentic. The show allowed us to be cool, funky, intelligent, progressive, wild and creative without being endlessly scrutinized by the descendants of our historical oppressors.  Don used his opportunity as a chance to tell all of us that we can be special if we choose to be, and for that, I’ll always be grateful.

5) The power of Ujamaa: Ujamaa is the concept of unity, working together and supporting one another, especially in the area of economics.  When we created our Ujamaa initiative to support black-owned businesses, we were inspired by the  likes of Don Cornelius, whose show got off the ground via sponsorship from the Johnson Products Company, a black-owned enterprise. By conjoining black consumers with black  businesses and black entertainment, Cornelius was able to create one of the greatest economic and entertainment empires in black American history.  There’s no limit to what we can do when we work together.

Goodbye Don Cornelius, you were oh so special to all of us.  You were the guardian of our collective soul, and a piece of that soul will be carried with you into heaven.  May you always rest in peace.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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The bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 will continue to exist for years, says a report issued Thursday by Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout. Some bailout programs, such as the effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing mortgage payments, will last as late as 2017, costing the government an additional $51 billion or so.

The gyrating stock market has slowed the Treasury Department’s efforts to sell off its stakes in 458 bailed-out companies, the report says. They include insurer American International Group Inc., General Motors Co. and Ally Financial Inc.

If Treasury plans to sell its stock in the three companies at or above the price where taxpayers would break even on their investment – $28.73 a share for AIG, $53.98 for GM – it may take a long time for the market to rebound to that level, the report says. AIG’s shares closed Wednesday at $25.31, while GM ended at $24.92. Ally isn’t publicly traded.

It will also be challenging for the government to get out of the 458 companies as the market remains volatile and banks struggle keep afloat in the tough economy, it says.

Congress authorized $700 billion for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, and $413.4 billion was paid out. So far the government has recovered about $318 billion. The bailout is called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

“TARP is not over,” Romero said in a statement. She said her office will maintain its commitment to protect taxpayers for the duration of the program.

Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson said the department “has made substantial progress winding down TARP and has already recovered more than 77 percent of the funds disbursed for the program, through repayments and other income.”

“We’ll continue to balance the important goals of exiting our investments as soon as practicable and maximizing value for taxpayers,” Anderson said.

The government has unwound its investments in four of the companies that received the most aid: Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Chrysler Group LLC and Chrysler Financial, the automaker’s old lending arm.

On Wednesday, Treasury announced that it had sold the final batch of securities under its $368 million Small Business Administration loan program under TARP.

In Romero’s quarterly report to Congress, she said her office has uncovered and prevented fraud related to TARP. Investigations by her office have resulted in criminal charges against 10 people and three convictions, the report notes.

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“The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up” to vote, Gingrich said. The former Georgia congressman, who is considering seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.

“The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. . . . We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich said, drawing cheers from the crowd of more than 100.

“Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that’s true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English,” he said.

Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education Coalition, which supports bilingual education, said: “The tone of his comments were very hateful. Spanish is spoken by many individuals who do not live in the ghetto.”

Zamora said research has shown “that bilingual education is the best method of teaching English to non-English speakers.” Spanish speakers, he said, know they need to learn English. “There’s no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants, among native-born citizens. Everyone wants to learn English because it’s what you need to thrive in this country.”

In the past, Gingrich has supported making English the nation’s official language. He has also said that all U.S. children should learn English and that other languages should be secondary in schools.

In 1995, he said that bilingualism poses “long-term dangers to the fabric of our nation” and that “allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous.”

Bilingual education programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while mastering English.

In elections, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages.

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Tonight at 9pm EST, Obama is expected to focus on the economy. Obviously. But, more specifically, he is reportedly going to deal with economic inequity.

As with all State of the Union addresses, they are often tailored to the times in which that are delivered. The Huffington Post outlined some memorable themes from previous speeches.

Last year’s address was a call for unity in the wake of the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

“We will move forward together or not at all,” said Obama. He advocated for investments in education, technology and transportation while calling for deficit reduction. “We do big things,” closed Obama. “The idea of America endures.”

In 2010, Obama used his address as a rallying call:

In 2010, with the White House and the Democratic Party reeling from the surprise loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat to Scott Brown – which threw the chance of passing health care reform in doubt — Obama declared “I don’t quit” but acknowledged that “change has not come fast enough.” During the speech, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito shook his head in disagreement when Obama assailed the Citizens United decision on campaign finance.

In his first State of the Union address, he focused on the economy that refused to improve:

In March 2009, Obama delivered his first State of the Union amid an economic catastrophe. He called for increased financial regulation, more investments in health care, energy and education. “Tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” he said.

It seems like Obama may have to look back on that speech he made some four years ago because the economy is still in bad shape. Perhaps, the Republican Party will remind us of this fact in the traditional partisan rebuttal following his speech.

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What would we celebrate on “Malcolm X Day?” Toure give us some of the principles we’d celebrate:

Malcolm’s not a static intellectual figure — his mind journeyed throughout his life, he held firm to his principles but was also strong enough to re-evaluate his beliefs and change when he deemed change is right. He was far from a flip-flopper who moved because it was politically expedient — and thankfully not an intellectual mule who refused to change when he uncovered new information and perspectives. Malcolm was intelligent and bold enough to be open-minded. His courage to be a truth seeker is part of what we’d celebrate — his willingness to reconsider his principles, to be protean, to challenge himself and be willing to grow and thus embody the transformative potential of American life. We would celebrate not just his willingness to journey but also his journey itself, which concludes with militancy being defeated by humanism and with racial hatred being defeated by globalism and multiracial acceptance.

Of course, when you think of Malcolm, you’ll be reminded of the “blue-eyed devil” quotes. But look at it this way:

This misunderstands several things. King was, at a time, considered dangerous and was hated too and, more importantly, Malcolm merely proposed that oppressed people had a right to armed self-defense — an inherently American principle. King, who preached steadfast non-violence, represents America as it wishes it were, while Malcolm symbolizes America as it is. Malcolm never equated self-defense with violence for its own sake and he never fomented violence. He was wiretapped and followed inside and outside the United States by the FBI, the CIA and the NYPD for years and years — if he had incited violence, even in a private conversation at home, he would surely have landed in legal trouble.

Do you agree with Toure? Go to Time Magazine to read his full article and give us your thoughts below. The article is also on our NewsOne Facebook page where we will also engage your thoughts.

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After Obama sang the first part of Green’s “Lets Stay Together,” “I’m so in love with you,” the crowd broke out in cheers. Obama would say “those guys didn’t think I would do it” and referenced the Apollo character who would chase bad performers off stage saying “the sandman did not come out.”

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As expected, Cornel West joined Tavis as one of the panelists for the event.  West is a long-time political partner in crime with Smiley, and in spite of any criticism they might have received for their challenges to the Obama Administration, you must give them both credit for being lone voices in the woods on the important issue of poverty.  With 40 percent of Black children living below the poverty line, African Americans cannot allow the political elite of Washington to fool us into forgetting about those who are suffering the most.

One thing that seems to keep Tavis in power is that even when Black people are tired of hearing from him, there’s always a group of powerful white folks who love him to death.  Joining Dr. West on the panel were financial guru Suze Orman and filmmaker Michael Moore, both of whom had something to say about the issue.

Orman is certainly a well-branded financial expert, but not an expert on poverty.  Ryan Mack’s objection to Orman’s seemingly exploitative debit card serves as additional evidence that Orman was only on the panel because she’s famous.  There’s not much in Suze’s track record to confirm, on any level, that she cares one bit about Black people or poverty. She should have been replaced by someone who has a history of actually giving a damn.

Tavis’ efforts on poverty are being applauded by some, including Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College for Women:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hated poverty. He described it as ‘an abomination greater than cannibalism.’ Tavis stands on the shoulders of Dr. King in his fight against poverty, and I commend him for his efforts.

Over the last two months, the Obama Administration has received credit for the fact that the unemployment data for the entire nation has improved.  During the same time period, Black unemployment has actually gotten worse.  This is the headline that the Obama Administration does not want you to see, but it’s the only headline that any of us need to see as it pertains to our people.

One of the challenges that Tavis and Cornel are set to face in their fight against poverty is that America is not a country that is wired to take care of the poor.  Capitalist societies are structured to focus almost exclusively on maximizing shareholder wealth, even if it is at the expense of workers, customers, and the environment.  Also, the distorted values of our society have led us to a place where we seem to believe that greed is good and that there’s no reason to care about our fellow man.

Washington has given up on its fight against poverty, and I’m not optimistic that they will ever escape the grasp of corporate greed.  Now that the Supreme Court has told political leaders that corporations can feed their coffers in excess, we’re going to see our society crippled by economic inequality unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.  Income inequality could ultimately come to destroy America as we know it, and no one in Washington seems to care.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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