In his first broadcast network interview about the Shirley Sherrod controversy, President Barack Obama says he’s called on his aides and Cabinet members to practice a more patient, deliberative style of governance so that this kind of rush-to-judgment won’t happen again.

After phoning the ousted Agriculture Department official personally on Thursday and expressing his regret, Obama told ABC News he believes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack acted too quickly in firing the veteran federal worker over remarks she made to an NAACP audience that were edited by a conservative blogger to make her appear racist.

“He jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles,” stated Obama.

The president said he has instructed “my team” to make sure “that we’re focusing on doing the right thing instead of what looks to be politically necessary at that very moment. We have to take our time and think these issues through.” [Scroll down to watch video.]

The White House on Thursday morning played a one-way game of telephone tag with the fired Sherrod, even as she hop-scotched from network to network saying it was time she heard from Obama.

When the president finally reached her, he passed along “his regrets” for her horrible week, the White House said, and urged her to accept Vilsack’s offer to return to his department in a new post dealing with racial discrimination complaints.

“One of the things I shared with Ms. Sherrod was the fact that the stories that she was telling about her own biases and overcoming them, those were actually good lessons for all of us to learn, because we all have our own biases,” Obama said. “I wrote this in my own book.”

“There was times when I had stereotypes, both blacks and whites, that you had to work through, and you had to admit to yourself,” he said. “We should acknowledge the enormous progress that we’ve made since the time Shirley Sherrod was a child in the Jim Crow South. I’m sitting here as a testament to this myself, as president.”

Asked if the words “I’m sorry” were ever said to her by the president, she told CNN Friday: “He didn’t say I’m sorry in those words. And I really didn’t want to hear the president of the United States say I’m sorry to Shirley Sherrod. Just by simply calling me, I felt it was in a way saying ‘I’m sorry.’ He didn’t have to do it.” Source

After all, he’s one (if not the only?) tea party-backed congressional candidate who’s African-American. If the tea party is racist, then West’s own tea party activism would make him racist against himself. Obviously, this calls for an Allen West clarification-by-blog:

Military scholar Col. Charles D. Allen (Army, Ret.) on how the late Vernon Baker and other black Medal of Honor winners finally got the recognition they deserved.

by Col. Charles D. Allen

An evening TV news broadcast caught my attention this week and since then I have followed the reports of the death of Vernon Baker. Mr. Baker, an African American who served in World War II in the segregated units of the U.S. Army, died after 90 years of very full life. He enlisted in the Army prior to the start of WWII and was commissioned through its officer candidate school in January 1943.

In 1945, he was assigned to the C Company, 370th Regiment in the 92nd Infantry “Buffalo Soldiers” Division, which was the only all-black infantry division (black enlisted soldiers with mainly white officers) to fight in Europe during WWII.

On April 5-6, 1945, Lieutenant Baker’s actions in combat against enemy forces at Viareggio, Italy earned him a combat citation of the Distinguished Service Cross. Baker continued to serve his nation in uniform until 1965 when he retired as First Sergeant.

Read the rest of this article on the Washington Post.

From NAACP

After the passing of this week’s resolution to encourage Tea Party leaders to repudiate racism within their ranks, the NAACP has received a number of death threats at local units and chapters around the country. The following chilling voice message was left at the NAACP’s Hollywood Bureau.

To Listen To The Voice Message Click Here

A classic RUN DMC record  said they all want to be down with the king, but tonight only one team in the NBA will have that honor.

It looks like I was wrong. LeBron is joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach to play for the Miami Heat.

When asked what he thought the fan reaction in Ohio will be James said his real friends would love him for who he is and that Akron will always be home.

Pat Riley will not be the coach.

More details as they emerge.

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Author Stewart Buck has a new book, “Acting White: The Ironic Legacy Of Desegregation” in which he claims that integration has had a negative affect on African-American education.Richard Thompson Ford at Slate wrote this about the book:

It was desegregation that destroyed thriving black schools where black faculty were role models and nurtured excellence among black students. In the most compelling chapter of Acting White, Buck describes that process and the anguished reactions of the black students, teachers, and communities that had come to depend on the rich educational and social resource in their midst.

Buck draws on empirical studies that suggest a correlation between integrated schools and social disapproval of academic success among black students. He also cites the history of desegregation’s effect on black communities and interviews with black students to back up a largely compelling—and thoroughly disturbing—story. Desegregation introduced integrated schools where most of the teachers and administrators were white and where, because of generations of educational inequality, most of the best students were white. Black students bused into predominantly white schools faced hostility and contempt from white students. They encountered the soft prejudice of low expectations from racist teachers who assumed blacks weren’t capable and from liberals who coddled them. Academic tracking shunted black students into dead-end remedial education.

Even though LeBron James going to Chicago with Carlos Boozer would make them the most formidable team in the Eastern Conference, if not the league, I don’t see it happening. As T.I. pointed out, there is that nagging Michael Jordan legacy that I think will keep him out of a Bulls uniform. And if Chris Bosh thought James was going to Chicago he’d have followed him there in my humble opinion.

If James were going to Miami I think he would have announced it along with Wade and Bosh so I don’t think he’s going there, as exciting as it would be.

So that leaves The Nets, Knicks and his current team The Cavaliers. The Nets have some nice pieces but I just don’t see him leaving a market like Cleveland to go to a stepchild market like Jersey. Apologies to all the kids from Brooklyn to Teaneck but a new stadium and a Jay-Z co-sign aren’t quite enough without another big name on the squad. And last I checked Jay-Z’s jump shot was suspect.

So that only leaves The Knicks, who have a commitment from Amar’e Stoudemire and staying in Cleveland for Bill Gates money.

So here are five things LeBron should do in either scenario:

If He Goes To New York…

1) Get Jay-Z To reshoot a remix video for “Empire State of Mind” at the new Yankee Stadium but promise not to rap. Just stand there and hold up the Dynasty sign bro.

2) Get Spike Lee to shoot a sequel to “He Got Game” and have him recast Rosario Dawson’s part with Rosa Acosta.

3) Finally compete in the Slam Dunk competition. Somebody has to take over for Nate Robinson and it sure won’t be Chris Duhon.
4) Make peace with Mike D’Antoni and Danilo Gallinari for dropping 52 points on them in February by going to The Feast Of San Gennaro in September. The fried dough is the shiznit.

5. Win a damn championship.

However, if he stays with the Cavaliers he should…

1) Become a guest cartoon on The Cleveland Show (just stay away from his dad). At least folks will tune in to watch him in prime time.
2) Make Delonte West disappear. I’m sure David Blayne has a box (or a magic guitar case) you can use.

3) Get Chilli’s homegirl to help your mom find a nice man.

4) Have a sit down with Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone so they can prepare you for life as a great player that never won a championship.
5) Take up Betty White on her offer.

Black-and-white posters of Oscar Grant’s smiling face are plastered on many downtown shop windows, especially on 17th Street, which suffered the most damage after riots broke out to protest the deadly police shooting that killed the 22-year-old butcher’s apprentice on New Year’s Day last year.

As the trial of former police officer Johannes Mehserle, accused of killing Oscar Grant, draws to an end, with a verdict anticipated as early as this week, city authorities advised small businesses to stock up on plywood, board their windows, and follow Twitter updates from the Oakland police in anticipation of more civil unrest.

Kathy Cho, owner of a small business called Showcase Wigs, said she pasted the sign reading “Justice needed for Oscar Grant!” on her storefront hoping that it would keep protestors from smashing her windows if another riot occurred.

“The Oakland downtown area … is full of restaurants run by new immigrants, stores run by minority entrepreneurs and mom-and-pop stores,” said Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President Joseph Haraburda. “These were the worst affected in the previous riots. They usually find it much harder to recover from such damages.”

Oakland authorities are urging business owners to place deadbolt locks on outside doors, ensure their closed-circuit TV cameras are in working condition, and park vehicles away from the business district on the day a verdict might be reached.

Grant, an unarmed black youth, was shot in the back by Mehserle, a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer, on a subway platform Jan 1, 2009. More than 120 people were arrested in the riots that occurred six days after the shooting.

READ MORE….

The Rev. Al Sharpton will visit an Indianapolis church July 11 to hold a prayer service and address the Brandon Johnson excessive force case.

Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, will be at Eastern Star Church, 5750 E. 30th St., at 7 p.m.