Having been battered by Hurricane Katrina, which dispersed African American families to the four corners of the country, many Black fishermen are now being threatened by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
 
The spill, caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, leaked about 12-19,000 barrels of oil a day into the ocean, according to figures from the United States Geological Survey. Considered the worst in U.S. history, took 88 days to stop.
 

A proposed merger between NBC Universal and Comcast has sparked a war of words between the cable giant and an organization that claims to represent Black media owners.
United States Rep. Maxine Waters recently grilled NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker about the network’s lack of diversity and questioned if the new company would do anything to improve diversity at the top.
Speaking in a press release, Waters said she was concerned about the effect consolidation and mergers would have on diversity in the television industry.

Talk to the average African American male teenager, and he’ll say he wants to grow up to be a rapper or professional athlete. Most of these youngsters dream of landing a big contract, moving out of the ‘hood and buying mama a house and Lexus.

However, recent figures might want to make them think twice. According to a Sports Illustrated article, 78 percent of NFL players file for bankruptcy two years after retirement. In addition, 60 percent of NBA players are broke after they finish playing.

A bright-eyed youngster comes to the city with a small suitcase and big dreams. He or she gets a record contract, has a couple of hits, buys a house in the hills, and then 10 years later, loses it all and files for bankruptcy.

This story is all too familiar. In fact, VH-1 built a series, “Behind the Music,” which essentially follows this formula. However, most people can reel off a long list of music stars who made it big, and then ended up losing it all because of poor financial management or bad business deals.