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Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Takes Issue With President Bush’s Black History Month Remarks and White House Appearance With Al Sharpton President George W. Bush used an annual White House ceremony recognizing Black History Month to denounce displays of nooses and jokes about lynching. The president’s remarks grew out of concern over increased reports of racial tensions. President Bush recognized several prominent black Americans and introduced Rev. Al Sharpton. The following is Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson’s statement about what transpired at the White House ceremony: “President Bush is a decent man and I voted for him twice, but I am disappointed...

In 2003, the NFL adopted a policy introduced by its diversity committee that aimed at increasing minority representation in head coaching positions. Named after its creator, Pittsburgh Steelers owner, Dan Rooney, the "Rooney Rule" requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate before filling head coaching vacancies. Not only has minority coach representation increased from 2 to 6 since 2002, but this past month, for the first time ever, a black coach, Tony Dungy, won the Super Bowl. Analysts say that without the Rooney Rule, things like this would not happen. Following this, Rooney and his Steelers introduced Mike...

Black History Month: Come February, the now-familiar observance seems to inspire ever more — and ever more random — celebrations. The players are both big and small. Multinational corporations mount billboard campaigns, while community centers hold fashion shows and tourist spots highlight their connection to black history. But does saturation equal success? While the concept of Black History Month has been widely embraced in pop culture, it means some of the nation's most bitter history also is getting watered down into cliches or irrelevance. Some events have no historical tie-in at all — they're merely topics of interest to African-Americans....

A poll of almost 10,000 Americans conducted in January shows there is no consensus on the topic of Black History Month. The survey, conducted by MSN and Zogby International, found that 43 percent of Americans believe setting one month of the year to focus on a racially defined observance is a token gesture, while 39 percent say that is an opportunity to raise awareness of African-American history and accomplishments (18 percent are not sure). Is it, as one scholar wrote in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, "simply a guilt-driven public relations scam to pacify blacks who otherwise receive...

(CBS4) COCONUT CREEK Investigators say Kevin Mair, 25, of Plantation walked into his classroom Friday morning at Atlantic Technical Center in Coconut Creek using a cane and wearing the types of headphones used in a gun range. Surveillance tape was released by the police showing the suspect approaching one person and that person doubling over. They say he became agitated and displeased about the lack of black history courses being taught. (February is Black History Month.) The teacher asked Mair to leave and called for staff assistance. Broward school spokesman, Keith Bromery, said the student – who is an adult...

The statue crowning the U.S. Capitol is called "Freedom." Yet it was a black slave who figured out how to coax apart the 19½-foot, 15,000-pound plaster statue so it could be cast in bronze and rejoined atop the dome. Slaves, in fact, helped build much of the building and grounds of Congress, their owners earning $5 per month for their work. Ed Hotaling, a retired TV reporter in Washington, was among the first to widely publicize this in a report in 2000. Following Hotaling's lead, a task force is planning a permanent memorial to the hundreds of slaves who helped...

Parents will be surprised -- at times shocked -- to learn that leading colleges and universities have used the February Black History Month to lash out angrily at whites, to spread socialist ideas, and to honor the Black Panthers, according to a statement released by the Young America's Foundation. They claim that missing from many Black History Month campus activities were positive messages and discussions about the accomplishments that blacks have made in business, education, government, and science. They also complain that "too few black conservative speakers, such as Ward Connerly, Walter Williams, and Star Parker, were invited to provide...

Someone left a Boston Globe at work today and I noticed it in passing the table. There it was. The feature article of Section B: "Unsung Veterans." It is a particularly nasty piece (even for the Marxist Trust Babies at the Globe), briefly profiling four black veterans of the US military. We learn that the first served in WW II as an Army captain, and allegedly was told by his commanding officer that the colonel was familiar with the needs of blacks because the colonel had raised blacks on his plantation. The second was a Navy machinist's mate who did...

Parents will be surprised — at times shocked — to learn that leading colleges and universities have used the February Black History Month to lash out angrily at whites, to spread socialist ideas, and to honor the Black Panthers, according to a statement released by the Young America's Foundation. They claim that missing from many Black History Month campus activities were positive messages and discussions about the accomplishments that blacks have made in business, education, government, and science. They also complain that "too few black conservative speakers, such as Ward Connerly, Walter Williams, and Star Parker, were invited to provide...

Soldiers Celebrate Black History Month in Iraq U.S. soldiers assigned to the 96th Aviation Support commemorate Black History Month with a program of songs, Spiritual dance and poetry. By U.S. Army Spc Waine D. Haley 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, Feb. 21, 2006 — National Black History Month does not stop at our nation’s border -- the celebration flows all the way to Iraq. During this year’s observance of Black History Month, the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, held a celebration commemorating the accomplishments and contributions...

A Florida city has barred three paintings from a city hall display celebrating Black History Month because they contain small references to the Christian faith. Officials at the city of Deltona, Fla., say hanging the colorful photos by artist Lloyd Marcus would be tantamount to the town favoring a specific religion. Marcus' paintings were to be part of an employee-organized display in the lobby of Deltona City Hall, but acting city manager Roland Blossom nixed the art, reported the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Black History Month Becoming Obsolete? Racism Results in High Rate of Abortion among African-Americans By Terry VanderheydenWASHINGTON, February 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – February is Black History Month in the US, but at least one organization is questioning whether there will be any African-Americans to commemorate the event, as abortion is preferentially committed against the group.One analyst argues that the discrepancy can be traced back to the racist foundation of America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. Author Juluette Bartlett Pack, in her essay, A Historical View of Eugenics and Its Role in Abortion in Black America, states, “I argue that there...

Some students at William Paterson University Thursday said they could see a correlation between the behavior of some students on campus and what a visiting professor called "post-traumatic slave syndrome." Joy DeGruy Leary, an assistant professor of social work at Portland State University, presented more than a decade of research to a crowd of some 100 people at and concluded that generations of black families have been traumatized by the lingering effects of slavery. Her talk was the first in a series of Black History Month programs at the school. Leary said she often hears blacks say that "good hair,"...

A call for advice. Me and my immediate family are white. My young daughter is about to get her first bit of instruction/indoctrination in "African-American History Month" next week, and I'm worried. My daughter knows nothing of race. The neighbor kids she plays with are black and Mexican, and we have several black family members by marriage who she loves dearly. She sees the difference in skin color the same as a difference in hair or eye color -- absolutely meaningless. This is fortunate because I do have a zero-tolerance policy on racism. So, the problem. I'm worried the BHM...

Monday, December 19, 2005 Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson author of "SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America" will appear on "CNN Live" with Kyra Phillips today at 3 p.m. ET / 12 noon PT.Rev. Peterson will discuss whether Black History Month is really necessary as brought up by Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman last night on CBS's "60 Minutes." In the interview, Freeman called Black History Month "ridiculous" adding that "Black history is American history." Due to the nature of live television schedules and times are subject to change.

Actor Morgan Freeman has a solution to the problem of racism – "Stop talking about it!" In a CBS News' 60 Minutes profile of the Oscar-winning actor scheduled to air tonight, Freeman tells Mike Wallace labels like "white" and "black" are an obstacle to defeating racism. "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," he says. "I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You wouldn't say, 'Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm saying?"...

Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."

NEW YORK - Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." Black History Month has roots in historian Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week, which he designated in 1926 as the second week in February to mark the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Woodson said he hoped the week could one day be eliminated...

Freeman calls black history month ‘ridiculous’ Oscar-winning actor says ‘black history is American history’ The Associated Press Updated: 2:46 p.m. ET Dec. 15, 2005 NEW YORK - Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous." "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." Black History Month has roots in historian Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week, which he designated in 1926 as the second...

The College Republicans at Maine's Bowdoin College invited former US Congressional candidate and current Republican Winston-Salem (NC) City Councilman Vernon Johnson to campus as part of their observance of Black History Month. They weren't ready for the firestorm that followed.The co-president of Bowdoin's College Democrats, Alex Cornell du Houx, appeared on Monday's Michael Medved Show to defend his statements as published in the Bowdoin Orient.Many found the rhetoric put forward by the College Republicans offensive and unwarranted. The claim, taken from Vernon Robinson's website, that "The Only Thing he has in Common with Jesse Jackson is a good TAN," [sic]...