i am

My photo
harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Trump withdraws traditional White House Visit to NBA Champion Golden State Warriors

president donald trump, in a tweet on saturday morning, withdrew an invitation to the white house for the 2017 nba champion golden state warriors. traditionally, championship professional sports teams visit for various annual ceremonies.

trump tweeted, "going to the white house is considered a great honor for a championship team. stephen curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn."

curry and nba finals most valuable player kevin durant publicly admitted they wouldn't go to the white house. durant said he "has no respect for the man in office right now." warriors coach steve kerr has also expressed his disdain with the current administration's polices in the media.

the warriors today released a statement, "while we intended to meet as a team at the first opportunity we had this morning to collaboratively discuss a potential visit to the white house, we accept that president trump has made it clear that we are not invited. we believe there is nothing more american than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them."

the statement says, "we're disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt we would be important to raise. in lieu of a visit to the white house, we have decided that we'll constructively use our trip to the nation's capital in february to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion - the values we embrace as an organization."       

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Racial Disparities in Youth Incarceration 2015

according to data collected from the department of justice in october 2015, black youth were more than five times as likely to be committed or detained compared to white youth. racial disparities have long plagued juvenile justice systems nationwide, and the new data shows the problem is worse.

in october 2015 about 1,800 residential treatment centers, detention centers, training schools, and juvenile jails and prisons held 48,043 youth. 44% were black - yet blacks comprise 16% of all youth in america. black youth are likelier to be in custody than white youth in every state but hawaii.

nationally, the youth rate of incarceration was 152 per 100,000. black youth placement rate was 433 per 100,000 and white youth placement rate was 86 per 100,000. overall, the racial disparity between black and white youth in custody increased 22% since 2001. racial disparities grew in 37 states and decreased in 13 states.  

black youth are at least 10 times as likely to be held in placement as white youth in six states: connecticut, delaware, minnesota, montana, new jersey and wisconsin. racial disparities in five states doubled: connecticut, delaware, maryland, montana and wisconsin. three states decreased their racial disparities by at least half: new hampshire, vermont and west virginia.

2017 WNBA Season Awards

listed below are the winners of the 2017 season awards for the wbba:

peak performer, scoring - britney griner, phoenix mercury
peak performer, rebounding - jonquel jones, connecticut sun
peak performer, assists - courtney vandersloot, chicago sky

sixth woman of the year - sugar rodgers, new york liberty
most improved player - jonquel jones, connecticut sun

coach of the year - curt miller, connecticut sun
executive of the year - curt miller, connecticut sun  

dawn staley community leadership - ivory latta, washington mystics

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Charles Oakley Sues Knicks Owner James Dolan, Madison Square Garden and MSG Networks

former new york knicks all-star forward charles oakley filed a legal civil suit on tuesday in the u.s. district court southern district of new york. oakley is responding to his highly-publicized altercation with madison square garden security guards in february 2017. 

the suit names embattled knicks owner james dolan, madison square garden and msg networks as defendants. the suit also identifies dolan as "one person who could not abide by mr. oakley's refusal to meekly submit to people in positions of power."

additionally, oakley accuses dolan of "a history of mistreating former employees." but his lawsuit does acknowledge dolan "inherited" control of the team from his father after oakley's time playing with the knicks. 

oakley was physically removed from the garden during a knicks game with the los angeles clippers, arrested and subsequently banned from the world's most famous arena. dolan, himself a recovering alcoholic, publicly suggested oakley had an alcohol problem and anger management issues.

the suit also says, "as if their public mistreatment of mr. oakley was not embarrassing and shameful enough, over the ensuing days defendants dolan and msg launched a coordinated and defamatory public relations campaign." oakley seeks "all monetary and/or economic damages incurred as a result of defendants' unlawful actions in the lawsuit."


Monday, September 11, 2017

Sloane Stephens and Rafael Nadal Win 2017 US Open Singles Titles

american sloane stephens dominated american madison keys 6-3, 6-0 on saturday to win the 2017 u.s. open singles championship in new york. stephens collected $3.7 million for capturing her first major singles title in her first major singles final.  

stephens, 24, warmly embraced her compatriot and close friend keys at the net after match point. about the hefty paycheck, she later joked, "i should just retire now. i told maddie i'm never going to be able to top this. i mean, talk about a comeback." she missed 11 months due to foot surgery.

the 83rd ranked stephens is only the second unseeded women to win the tournament since the open era began in 1968. she beat five seeded players along the way. her 2017 record since losing first round matches at wimbledon and washington is 15-2, and her ranking, which plummeted to #943 last year, will be #17 on monday. 

this was only the second time in the open era two women made their grand slam final debuts against each other in new york. the first two women to achieve that feat were serena and venus williams in 2002. all four women are black - a powerful cultural dynamic in a historically lily-white sport.

rafael nadal of spain defeated kevin anderson of south africa 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on sunday to win the 2017 u.s. open singles championship in new york. nadal collected $3.7 million in capturing his third career u.s. open title and 16th major singles crown.

the world #1 struggled in 2015 and 2016 with knee and wrist injuries, but played in three grand slam finals this year. nadal lost the australian open to roger federer, dominated stan wawrinka for a record 10th french open and beat anderson, 31, the lowest-ranked (#28) u.s. open finalist since 1973.

"i always accepted all the challenges that my career present to me. the good news and the negative news, i accepted in the same way, in a very natural way. i am a person that i don't have much ups and downs. when i am in a negative moment, i don't go very down. when i am in a positive moment, probably like now, i don't believe that i am that good," nadal said.

not since pete sampras at wimbledon in 2000 had a man won a grand slam title without facing any opponent ranked in the top 20. five top 10 players withdrew due to injuries; as such, nadal, 31, did not have to face past defending champions andy murray, novak djokovic and stan wawrinka. federer lost to juan martin del potro in the quarterfinals, and nadal beat him in the semifinals.