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One Of Many! Black 9/11 Survivor Speaks On Bin Laden’s Death

WOL DC News — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:00:56 +0000

CONNECTICUT — Many of the 9/11 victims we know and hear about are white. But there are plenty of African Americans ones and a Connecticut station was able tog et a hold of one.

Melvin Esdaile of North Haven thinks about that September 11th day every day of his life, but on this day he is reflecting on the journey.

The memory that sticks with Esdaile as he was going down 25 smoke filled flights of stairs in tower one is that firefighters were passing him going up.

Tea Party Leaders Respond To Rep. Waters “Go To Hell” Comments

WOL DC News — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:08:47 +0000

Tea Party leaders issued a response to controversial remarks made by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) over the weekend. According to party leaders, “it’s time for a new-NEW era of civility.”

“We’ve had Democrats calling American citizens ‘terrorists’ and ‘hostage takers,’ and now an elected Democratic representative says that we can ‘go straight to hell,’” Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin leaders of the Tea Party Patriots said in a statement.

The president and all leaders of the Democratic Party, who have called for civility in the past, are neglecting to censure their own. Is civility only required from their opponents?

Lawyer Of Strauss-Kahn Accusser Denies Extortion Claims

WOL DC News — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:31:53 +0000

NEW YORK–The lawyer of the hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault denied claims on Friday that he demanded money to secure her silence.

“The allegation against me is absolutely false,” Kenneth Thompson, lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, told the New York Daily News.

The attacks against Diallo are designed to distract the public’s attention from the fact that Strauss-Kahn violently attacked and sexually assaulted an innocent woman, Thompson said.

The report claims Thompson approached Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers after prosecutors first raised questions in June about her credibility – including that the West African immigrant lied on her asylum application about being gang raped in her native Guinea.

Have Tensions Faded 20 Years After Black-Jewish Race Riots?

WOL DC News — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:22:52 +0000

Twenty years ago today, rioting in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn shed light on state of black-Jewish relations in a city where both communities vie for influential shares of everything from political influence to real estate.

A once power alliance that helped institute dramatic change during the Civil Right Era took an abrupt turn on Aug. 19, 1991 after the motorcade of an influential Rabbi veered onto the sidewalk and killed a young black boy. The incident sparked a violent response from black residents, who attacked and killed a Hassidic Jewish student.

In the aftermath, leaders from both communities accused the other of racially motivated hate, further inflaming the tenuous ties.

It was a time when the legendary clashes between black community activists and Jewish defense groups received widespread attention, as charges of black anti-Semitism came from the Jewish community, as well as calls to repudiate black leaders. Figures such as Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and City College professor Leonard Jeffries had faced scrutiny for comments that had offended members of the Jewish community.

The Grio revisit the riots 20 years later with an insightful editorial.

Video Game Puts Mic In The Hands Of Rap Wanna-Be’s

WOL DC News — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:02:11 +0000

Hip-hop is officially entering the karaoke gaming market, allowing rap wanna-be’s to emulate their favorite stars in a new video game.

Def Jam Rapstar, a hip-hop version of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero we be released on XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii in early October.

Rapstar features hits from artist like Nelly and Diddy, as well as letting players spit their own verses over beats made by popular producers.

Jet Magazine Adds Opinion To Compete With Web

WOL DC News — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:06:30 +0000

Jet magazine is undergoing a makeover. Johnson Publishing Co., the publisher of Jet and Ebony magazine, recently announced that Jet magazine will begin adding opinion and perspective pieces to the magazine. In addition to opinion pieces, Johnson also plans a cover-to-cover redesign of the magazine in the future.

While Jet’s presence is less dominant in the Internet age, things are looking up for the publication. According to ohnson CEO Desiree Rogers circulation has increased 7.6 percent in 2011.

Decrepit Bronx Park Transformed Into Buffalo Soldier Memorial

WOL DC News — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:09:31 +0000

Two members of the famous Buffalo Soldiers were honored yesterday in the South Bronx when a renovated park was named after them.

Officially renamed the Charlton Thompson Memorial Garden, the once neglected park’s renovations were a six-year effort by veterans who wanted to honor the two Bronx heroes for their sacrifice.

Army Sgt. Cornelius Charlton and Army Pfc. William Thompson both served in the 24th Infantry Regiment, the famous Buffalo Soldiers, the last segregated outfit during the Korean War.

Both posthumously received the Medal of Honor.

Black NY Firefighter Says N-Word Used Frequently By White Colleagues

WOL DC News — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:08:37 +0000

NEW YORK — The former president of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization for Black firefighters in New York City, recounted numerous incidents of racial discrimination, saying Black firefighters were”effectively ostracized” by their white colleagues, yesterday in a discrimination trial agaisnt New York City’s Fire Department.

Paul Washington, 49, described rampant use of the N-word and detailed the startling low number of Blacks who are chosen to be New York firefighters. New York’s population is 26% Black, but only 3% of firefighters are Black, Washington told the court.

The New York Fire Department is so racism-riddled that just weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, someone defaced a flyer honoring the Black Bravest who died, an FDNY captain testified Monday.

Building Your Credit Score

WOL DC News — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:08:42 +0000

Every successful financial plan needs to have clean credit and a high FICO score. If we are to see more home and business ownership having good credit is the first step towards accomplishing this goal. Too many times I have personally seen many opportunities missed because we have not taken the time to “clean” our credit.

Knowing how to improve your FICO score is one of the most important factors in clearing up your credit. A FICO score is a three-digit number that determines the interest you will pay on your credit cards, home mortgage, and even determine whether you will get that new apartment. FICO, the Fair Isaac Corporation, single handedly created this three-digit number that will soon become the dictator of your livelihood in many ways. There are five elements of the FICO score. They are listed below along with their weight of importance.

Record of making timely bill payments………………………………………35%
Total balance on your credit cards and other loans compared to your total credit limit……………………………………………………………………..30%
Length of credit history………………………………..……………………15%
New accounts, recent loan applications, and credit inquiries..……………….10%
Mixture of credit cards and loans…………………………………….………10%

Pay Your Bills on Time: Always pay your bills on time. There are no excuses for late payments. As soon as I receive a bill, I pay it immediately. It was a very difficult habit to establish, because instinct says to throw it on the dresser under a pile of other envelopes and avoid it like the plague. Another bill paying strategy is to designate a day of the month where you do nothing but pay bills. No matter what you are doing, stop and pay your bills. The only downfall to this is that sometimes if you happen to miss that day, it leaves room for procrastination. If the fixed monthly cycle is your preferred strategy, designating two days a month might be more appropriate.

Better still, just pay as they come. One missed payment of a bill can lower your FICO score by 50 – 100 points. If you miss a month of payments a 700 FICO score can easily be 526. I understand that many times it seems as if the best solution towards bills that you cannot afford to pay is to act as if they do not exist, but it is these negative habits that we allow to persist that are severely hindering the economic growth of our community. I challenge you to be responsible to each bill that comes into your home. We all have had times when we have fell behind or have missed a payment…myself included. It is how we recover from these moments to diligently create positive habits that will transcend to other areas of our lives. Responsibility and accountability are principles that we all need to practice in paying bills and to ensure a solid infrastructure of the upcoming economic empowerment movement.

The Debt-to-Credit-Limit Ratio: Your debt-to-credit-limit (D/C) ratio is an important issue as well. Let’s just say you have a $3,000 balance on a credit card and a total credit limit of $6,000. Your D/C would be 50% ($3,000/$6,000). This is an important number that accounts for a high percentage of your FICO score (30%). Continuing with the above example, if you pay off a $1,000 balance on one of your cards (let’s call it Card A), with a credit limit of $2,500, I would advise you to NOT cancel Card A. Here is why. If you cancel Card A, your credit limit will decrease from $6,000 to $3,500 (remember you had a $2,500 limit on the card). Since you just paid $1,000 of your total balance owed, your new balance owed decreased from $3,000 to $2,000. Your new D/C ratio would now be 57% ($2,000/$3,500), which increased from 50%. The end result of your presumably responsible behavior of bill payment and debt reduction would be an increase in your debt-to-credit-limit ratio and a decrease in your FICO score. The best move when paying off the credit card balance would be to simply cut up your card, and leave the credit line open unless there is an annual fee. There is no sense in wasting $50 to$70 a year on a card you will never use.

The Length of Your Credit History: Your credit history is very important as well. If you must cancel a card, make sure you cancel the newest ones first. The Fair Isaac Corporation can use more points of data to determine your FICO score the longer your credit lines have been open. Protect those cards you have with the longest history. If you must cancel a card, cancel one card then wait a month. At the end of the month, wait and see if your score was negatively affected. If it wasn’t, do the same for each additional card you want to cancel.

New Accounts/ Card-to-Loan Mixture: For 4 and 5, you want to be careful not for apply for too many cards at once. This sends a red flag to lenders. Steer clear of too many retail cards as well. When you are at the sales counter at Sears, it can be very tempting to allow the checkout employee to coerce you into a savings card that will open the door to “extreme savings”. In the book The Millionaire Next Door, the authors Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko mention the most popular credit cards of millionaires. The top five credit cards of millionaire household members, and the percent of millionaires who own these cards, are:

Visa (59%)
MasterCard (56%)
Sears (43%)
J.C. Penny’s (30.4%)
American Express Gold (28.6%)

The truly wealthy realize the lack of need for these retail credit card traps. They use cards responsibly and with caution so as not to accumulate unnecessary, overpriced debt.

Lenders like to see a good mix of installment loans (i.e., monthly car notes, monthly mortgage notes) along with your credit cards. Installment loans show just how reliable one can be, especially if payments have been made for an extended period of time, as well as in a timely fashion.

So now that you know what goes into a good FICO score it is time to start the road to building up your score. When you buy your new Toyota you want to be sure you have the best rates on your car loan don’t you? Start today!

Ryan Mack, Author of Living in the Village and President of Optimum Capital Management, LLC

Read all of the Your Money In The Black posts here, including:

Seven Tips For Families During The Financial Crisis

NYU Pays Worker $210K After Boss Called Him “Monkey, Gorilla”

WOL DC News — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:27:01 +0000

New York University paid an African worker $210,000 in a settlement suit after his supervisor called him a “monkey” and a “gorilla.”

“Do you want a banana?” NYU employee Osei Agyemang was asked by his boss at NYU’s Bobst Library. According to Agyemang, his boss taunted him with such racially inflammatory remarks for nearly two years.

The harassment stopped only after Agyemang requested to be transfered.

The boss mocked the immigrant’s accent as “gibberish,” while telling him “go back to your cage” and “go back to the jungle,” according to a September 2010 suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.