New Survey Takes A Snapshot Of The View From Black America : Code Switch

A new poll of African Americans found optimism about the future despite the economy and unemployment, which have hit blacks especially hard. (It also had some interesting findings about the way men and women feel about long-term relationships — and they’re probably not what you’d expect.)

Experts say the Great Recession is erasing slow but steady economic gains made by blacks in recent decades. The foreclosure crisis is having a particularly devastating impact, they say, erasing years of racial progress. (via Racial Gap In Homeownership Widens In U.S. Slump : NPR)

Graphic Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Graphic Credit: Alyson Hurt/NPR

tballardbrown:

Carl Van Vechten took a series of portraits of African Americans with gorgeous textiles. This one is of the singer Eartha Kitt.

Read the article about his exhibit at Yale: http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/livingportraits.html

(Source: 456aprilmayjune)

OK, so reading this made me do some googling about Slash. I didn’t know he had such an interesting background. The More You Know. — Tanya

eclecticalexandria:

Ola Hudson (1946-2009) Fashion Designer; Mother of Slash,British-American musician and songwriter.

I don’t see how any African American, with any inkling of history, can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” Michael Irvin said, according to OUT magazine.

— 

Michael Irvin Appears on Out Magazine Cover

In the magazine, the Dallas Cowboys’ Hall of Fame wide receiver discusses his love for his brother Vaughn, who is gay. He also pledges to support gay athletes who choose to come out of the closet.

“When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100 percent support.”

The issue of homophobia in the black community is one that then-Sen. Obama spoke to during a visit to Ebenezer Baptist Church in January 2008 …

“If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community. We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them.”

…and that CNN Anchor Don Lemon was criticized for commenting on when he decided recently to reveal he was gay…

“It’s quite different for an African-American male,” Lemon told The New York Times. “It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.”

All food for thought. — Tanya