Retired Maj. Nancy C. Leftenant-Colon addresses the audience with Brig. Gen. Stayce D. Harris during the 38th Annual Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., convention Aug. 7 in Las Vegas.

Historic promotion evokes reflection, bridges generations

8/17/2009 - LAS VEGAS (AFNS)– The Air Force’s highest ranking black female aviator held off on making history — ceremoniously, anyway — so she could share the occasion with her heroes, military trailblazers in their own right.

Though Brig. Gen. Stayce D. Harris officially donned her first star in April, she synchronized the pin-on ceremony with the 38th Annual Tuskegee Airmen Inc., convention here Aug. 7 as homage to the famed black aviators who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Ala., and helped assure U.S. victory during World War II.

“Two words describe me this evening: blessed and grateful,” said General Harris, the Pentagon-based assistant to the U.S. Africa Command commander. Read on…

World Beat Drum & Dance Workshop

Presented by

Karuna & Marie Warren of the

NEW WORLD DRUMMERS & DANCERS

Saturday, November 14, 2009

*(clash with NAACP business meeting)

Drum Workshop: 12:00 – 1:30

Dance Workshop: 2:00-3:30

Granada Center700 1st Street

(Shuvani Belly Dance Studio / Fitness for Women)

ADULTS & YOUTH (12 years and up)

Beginning & Intermediate Levels

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: $10.00 ADULTS – $5.00 YOUTH

For questions call: 575 644-4933

Sponsored by the NAACP of Otero County,

Shuvani Belly Dance Studio,

and the New World Drummers

Michael Kimmel argues that it is in men’s interest to work for gender equality.

© New Internationalist

Over the past three generations, women’s lives have been utterly and completely transformed – in politics, the military, the workplace, professions and education. But during that time, the ideology of masculinity has remained relatively intact. The notions we have about what it means to be a man remain locked in a pattern set decades ago, when the world looked very different. The single greatest obstacle to women’s equality today remains the behaviour and attitudes of men.

In the mid-1970s, an American psychologist offered what he called the four basic rules of masculinity:

1 No Sissy Stuff. Masculinity is based on the relentless repudiation of the feminine.

2 Be a Big Wheel. Masculinity is measured by the size of your paycheck, and marked by wealth, power and status. As a US bumper sticker put it: ‘He who has the most toys when he dies, wins.’ Read on…

June 20th marks the next Juneteenth celebration at the Alamogordo Public Library. from 11:00 to 2:00 and everyone is invited to attend.

Our theme this year is in a salute to  Native Americans.  We have commitments from native singers, dancers, and speakers. We have also invited, as we do each year, our neighbors from  the Mescalero Apache Reservation, who in turn have always invited the Alamogordo community to attend their Coming of Age Ceremony,  held every year on the first week of July.

This post will be updated as new information  is made available.

Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000
Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center

The number of hate groups operating in the United States continued to rise in 2008 and has grown by 54 percent since 2000 – an increase fueled last year by immigration fears, a failing economy and the successful campaign of Barack Obama, according to the “Year in Hate” issue of the SPLC’s Intelligence Report released today.

The SPLC identified 926 hate groups active in 2008, up more than 4 percent from the 888 groups in 2007 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000. A list and interactive, state-by-state map of these groups can be viewed here. Read on…

Eric Holder and the Whitewashing of Racism
Counterpunch
By TIM WISE

It was all too predictable that Attorney General Eric Holder would be attacked for his recent remarks about race in America. To suggest that the nation is still haunted by the specter of racism is unacceptable it seems, especially since, with the election of President Obama, we have ostensibly entered the “post-racial” era.

But in truth, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer deserves criticism more for what he didn’t say than for what he did. Read on…