Earlier this spring, Katie Washington was one of three finalists vying to become the University of Notre Dame’s senior class valedictorian. When it was her turn to be interviewed by the selection committee, she told members that the honor wasn’t on her radar four years ago when she arrived on campus.

“I let them know that I came to Notre Dame with the hope of pushing myself to my fullest potential,” said Washington, 21. “I just wanted to do well on every assignment and every exam. I wanted to be the best I could be every day because I’d been given a great opportunity to be here.”

Her hard work has paid off.

On Sunday, Washington will become the first black valedictorian in Notre Dame’s 168-year history. In the fall, she will begin an eight-year joint M.D.-Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University in its medical scientist training program. She has been awarded a full scholarship, worth about $500,000, plus a stipend to help cover housing and living expenses.

“I’m so humbled by it,” said Washington, a biological sciences major with a 4.0 grade point average. She also already has co-authored a major research paper. The subject: How mosquitoes that carry dengue and yellow fever transmit infection and disease in Haiti

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I hate to look at things like the tsunami from a few years ago, or the erathquake in Haiti now and try to find something to complain about, but this time it’s a little more personal to me because these are black people.

My issues is this..where are the black rescue workers? This is not an argument of discrimination towards blacks, this is me asking the question , where are all the black hero’s in this disaster? I see white firefighters, white doctors and nurses, loving white families who are adopting Haitian orphans, and white rescue workers doing all the heroics for the people of Haiti. Sure every now and then I will see the face of a black nurse from Harlem, or a black doctor here and there, but overall, the majority of the effort is coming from whites, which I am VERY grateful for.

And, just in case you were wondering if I am trying to blame the media for not showing blacks rescuers on purpose, you’d be wrong. This is something that has always bugged me about African-American people, MY people. On paper, as a group we do almost nothing for the poor an sick of the world. White rapper Asher Roth came out months ago to publicly shame “Black Rappers For Showing Off & Neglecting Africa“, and you know what, HE’S RIGHT!  It is almost always whites who take the lead and put the blood, sweat and tears into doing whatever possible for the needy of the world.

I understand the economics for many African-Americans aren’t the same for whites, but why does it always seem to be white people running clinics, and orphanages in poor black and latin countries? They hold fundraisers, telethons, charity events, and put themselves directly in the front lines in some of the worst places a person can live just to help people they don’t know. Let’s face it, we know that in our black culture here in the US, we put more effort into our rims, shoes and hair weaves than Africa and the poor of this world. A sista can drop $1,000 on a lace front wig, but not consider to  donate $10 to the Red Cross. Of course this doesn’t apply to all of us, but you know deep down inside what I mean.

I’m not taking anything away from the blacks who do volunteer their time and effort to causes they care about. I know there are several community organizers and local activists in many black and Hispanic communities that devote their lives to helping their people.  So the real question is why don’t blacks commit to helping the poor and sick of Africa and other devastated countries like so many whites do? Can it all be about money? I doubt it. I think more than anything this recent disaster in Haiti should inspire more African-Americans to become firemen, rescue pilots, doctors and whatever field of training that gives more flexibility for situations just like this. It would be nice to see black people included in the rescue of their own people and all races of people who face this kind of nightmare. It would be great if more blacks took an interest in adopting the orphaned children of Haiti, and Africa.

I remember making  jokes about the “trend” of white people with money who adopt Asian babies. To me I always thought it was sweet and the right thing to do overall, but I really would feel for Asian people who had to see their race of children being raised by rich white people. I always felt sympathy for those who had to see it become what I felt was some kind of exotic tend to impress people.

Well guess what? Now it’s happening to us. I see more and more black children being adopted by whites and now that the shoe is on the other foot I feel nothing but support and love for the whites who decide to adopt black children. Nobody else seems to want them, especially us black folks, so why not?  I would rather see more blacks adopt black children purely for the sake of numbers. Black children are less likely to be adopted than any other race in the United States alone, far less in other countries. So if a white couple decides they want to open their home and hearts to black children I support that right. I also feel the same for gays , who are embracing mixed adoptions as quickly as their heterosexual counterparts.

I don’t even think we as a people even think to consider adoption when all other options aren’t possible. Is the concept of shelling out thousands of dollars to much to handle for something blacks feel can be naturally done for free? Do black women who are not able to have children feel like they would rather go childless than adopt a black orphan ?

When you see white people taking the initiative in catastrophes like the Haitian earthquake, it gives the appearance to the world that black people are incapable of  taking care of their own. Barack Obama is black , but he is one man, and we cannot lay all the responsibility of charity  and awareness on Obama, Oprah and Wyclef  Jean. More black celebrities, athletes, business leaders and families who can afford it should start investing in helping the world outside of their neighborhood.  Stop leaving it all up to the whites of the world and start including our culture and people in a more diverse world stage that has nothing to do with sports or music. It seems to be the only time blacks are seen for anything internationally is for needing help, and it’s always whites there to do it.

The rescue was captured on camera. As you’ll see below, Kiki’s older sister, Sabrina, was pulled out first. Seven-year-old Kiki comes out next, looking a bit dazed. However, after seeing the crowd, the survivor immediately smiles and extends his arms in triumph. A photographer from the New York Post described the scene and the crowd’s reaction.

After so much heartbreak and tragedy, this was a rescue that inspired the masses. When asked why he smiled so broadly, Kiki responded, “I smiled because I was free, I smiled because I was alive.”

After being treated for their injuries and dehydration, the two children were reunited with their parents. No doubt the children were happy. In time they’ll understand just how happy they’d made everyone else.

Watch the incredible moment below, and learn how you can donate to Haiti here.

In many ways, Lou Jing is a typical young woman from Shanghai. Pretty and confident, she speaks Mandarin heavily accented with the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect and browses the malls of this huge city for the latest fashions.

But there is one thing that distinguishes this 20-year-old from her peers, something that has made her the unwitting focus of an intense public debate about what exactly it means to be Chinese: the color of her skin. Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met, the theater student rocketed into the public consciousness last month when she took part in an American Idol–esque TV show, Go! Oriental Angel. (See pictures of modern Shanghai.)

The marketing gurus for the series could hardly have dreamed of a better promotional gimmick when they started to investigate the backgrounds of the dozens of pop-star wannabes to root out the competitors’ mushy stories of triumph over adversity that are a well-worn staple of the genre. Here was a tale guaranteed to attract eyeballs: a girl of mixed race, brought up by a single Chinese mother, struggling to gain acceptance in a deeply conservative, some would say racist, society.

The strategy worked — perhaps too well. In August, Lou’s appearance on the show not only boosted viewer numbers but also sparked an intense nationwide debate about the essential meaning of being Chinese. Over the past month on Internet chat rooms, where modern China’s sensitive issues are thrashed out by netizens long before they reach the heavily censored mainstream media, Lou’s ethnicity has been the subject of a relentless barrage of criticism, some of it crudely racist. Many think she should not have been allowed to compete on a Chinese show, or at least not selected to represent Shanghai in the national competition. She doesn’t have fair skin, which is one of the most important factors for Chinese beauty. What’s more, her mother and her biological father were never married; morally, the argument goes, this kind of behavior shouldn’t be publicized, so she shouldn’t have been put on TV as a young “idol.”

As recently as the 1970s, foreigners were largely barred from living in China, let alone marrying a local. China does not easily accept mixed-race children as true-blooded Chinese: as soon as a child is born, the parents are required to register with the authorities as to which of the 56 government-approved ethnic groups their child belongs; there are no mixed-race categories. Lou feels she is very much Chinese. “When I meet somebody for the first time, they’d often ask me how I can speak Chinese so well, and I tell them, ‘Because I’m a Chinese — of course I can speak my mother tongue well,’ ” Lou says defiantly. “I don’t like to be treated differently.”

As China undergoes an astonishing demographic shift and more foreigners make their homes in the Middle Kingdom, Lou is by no means the only one being treated differently. Recent decades have seen a surge in the number of mixed-race couples. According to the data offered by Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, from 1994 to 2008, each year there have been about 3,000 more mixed-race marriages in Shanghai. But as the children of that first generation of mixed-race marriages come of age, their moves to gain acceptance in society — like Lou’s participation in the TV show — have exposed a deep-running vein of xenophobia in Chinese society. Last year, Ding Hui, a young man of African-Chinese ethnicity, caused a stir when he was called up to the national volleyball team, prompting much soul-searching about whether the athlete should be allowed to represent China alongside pure-blooded Chinese competitors. Eventually, Ding Hui did go on to play for the national team.

“As China continues to open up, this kind of phenomenon will become ever more prevalent,” says David Zweig, a professor of humanities and social sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “This is part of the process of internationalization, but we can only hope that Chinese people, including netizens and the people whose views tend towards extremism, can come to accept that there are many mixed-race people, both in China and worldwide.”

As for Lou, she found the whole experience more than a little disturbing. She did well in the show, ranking in the top 30 contestants before she was eliminated. Now she’s back to her normal life as a college junior — with a little new insight into her home. “Through this competition, it’s really scary to find out how the color of my skin can cause such a big controversy.”

As Forbes described in a 2005 article, Michael Jackon’s 1984 Victory tour was directly responsible for Kraft purchasing Foxboro Stadium in 1988, a transaction that eventually led to him being able to buy the team in 1994.

In 1988 Kraft and a partner put up $25 million to buy the Foxboro stadium from the Sullivan family, besting a $16 million offer from the Pats’ owner, Kiam. (Kraft would buy out his 50-50 partner for a small premium five years later.) [Former Patriots owner, and current Foxboro Stadium owner] Charles Sullivan had used the stadium as collateral to fund [Michael Jackson's] Victory Tour back in 1984. Overleveraged, Sullivan went bankrupt and was forced to sell the arena. To this day Kraft’s collection of photos and mementos includes a poster from the ill-fated tour.

This is very sad day for me , my niece, and I am sure for billions of people on the planet. A few hours ago I was taking a nap and my niece calls me hysterically crying. I thought someone in my family passed, I kept telling her to calm down and tell me what was wrong and she blurted out , “It’s Michael, Michael Jackson is dead!!!” . My niece isn’t someone who cries easily she is 30 years old (2 years younger than me ) and normally has emotions in check, but this was a huge blow. As you can imagine, this is gonna be very traumatic for the BILLIONS of fans of this legendary man. For all those haters who made his life hell, I am sure your happy right now. For the rest of us who loved and admired him, just play his music, watch is videos, and keep him in your hearts every time you dance….

Story & Photos From MSNBC.com

Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center, NBC News has confirmed.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told the L.A. Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his home and CPR was performed.

TMZ.com reported that he may have suffered cardiac arrest.

Jackson had been due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits included “Thriller” and “Billie Jean,” had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

He lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation.

There were concerns about Jackson’s health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

A life in music

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael — first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6.

 
  
 
They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released “Thriller” in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature “moonwalk” dance move while performing “Billie Jean” during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999. The couple never lived together.

Jackson has three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

Here are some videos..R.I.P.

Jackson 5 Home Videos On SOul Train

Michael Jackson Master Dancer

Who Is It

Who Is It – Michael Jackson

Rock with you

Rock With You – Michael Jackson

One of my faves, “Stranger In Moscow”

Stranger In Moscow – Michael Jackson

She walked past students laughing, gossiping, napping and combing one another’s hair. Past a cellphone blaring rap songs. And past a substitute teacher sitting in a near-daze.Quietly, the 18-year-old settled into an empty table, flipped open her physics book and focused. Nothing mattered now except homework.

“No wonder you’re going to Harvard,” a girl teased her.

Around here, Khadijah is known as “Harvard girl,” the “smart girl” and the girl with the contagious smile who landed at Jefferson High School only 18 months ago.What students don’t know is that she is also a homeless girl.

As long as she can remember, Khadijah has floated from shelters to motels to armories along the West Coast with her mother. She has attended 12 schools in 12 years; lived out of garbage bags among pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Every morning, she upheld her dignity, making sure she didn’t smell or look disheveled.

On the streets, she learned how to hunt for their next meal, plot the next bus route and help choose a secure place to sleep — survival skills she applied with passion to her education.

Only a few mentors and Harvard officials know her background. She never wanted other students to know her secret — not until her plane left for the East Coast hours after her Friday evening graduation.

“I was so proud of being smart I never wanted people to say, ‘You got the easy way out because you’re homeless,’ ” she said. “I never saw it as an excuse.”

A drive to succeed

“I have felt the anger at having to catch up in school . . . being bullied because they knew I was poor, different, and read too much,” she wrote in her college essays. “I knew that if I wanted to become a smart, successful scholar, I should talk to other smart people.”

Khadijah was in third grade when she first realized the power of test scores, placing in the 99th percentile on a state exam. Her teachers marked the 9-year-old as gifted, a special category that Khadijah, even at that early age, vowed to keep.

“I still remember that exact number,” Khadijah said. “It meant only 0.01 students tested better than I did.”

In the years that followed, her mother, Chantwuan Williams, pulled her out of school eight more times. When shelters closed, money ran out or her mother didn’t feel safe, they packed what little they carried and boarded buses to find housing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange County, staying for months, at most, in one place.

She finished only half of fourth grade, half of fifth and skipped sixth. Seventh grade was split between Los Angeles and San Diego. Eighth grade consisted of two weeks in San Bernardino.

At every stop, Khadijah pushed to keep herself in each school’s gifted program. She read nutrition charts, newspapers and four to five books a month, anything to transport her mind away from the chaos and the sour smell.

At school, she was the outsider. At the shelter, she was often bullied. “You ain’t college-bound,” the pimps barked. “You live in skid row!”

In 10th grade, Khadijah realized that if she wanted to succeed, she couldn’t do it alone. She began to reach out to organizations and mentors: the Upward Bound Program, Higher Edge L.A., Experience Berkeley and South Central Scholars; teachers, counselors and college alumni networks. They helped her enroll in summer community college classes, gave her access to computers and scholarship applications and taught her about networking.

When she enrolled in the fall of her junior year at Jefferson High School, she was determined to stay put, regardless of where her mother moved. Graduation was not far off and she needed strong college letters of recommendation from teachers who were familiar with her work. Read the rest of the story fom the latimes.com

Clinton, who as president took part in MLB’s ceremony retiring Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 uniform number in 1997, spoke at a luncheon honoring Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali and entertainer Bill Cosby for the trio’s contributions to civil rights and charitable works.

The former president told a crowd of about 1,400 at the Duke Energy Convention Center that despite such racial progress as the election of Barack Obama as president, problems remain that disproportionately hit minorities. Clinton cited unemployment, the mortgage crisis, high cost of college, and access to health care among continuing issues.

“A lot of people might be tempted to believe that the struggle — which both produced these three giants of sports and comedy and gave them the power to help so many others — that struggle for racial equality is over,” Clinton said.

“But I really came here to say if you want to honor Hank Aaron and Muhammad Ali and Bill Cosby, you must first recognize that this struggle is nowhere near over,” he said.

The luncheon was among events leading to Saturday night’s first regular-season Civil Rights Game, between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds.

Ali, whose long battle with Parkinson’s disease has limited his physical activity, remained seated as fellow former boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard presented him his award. Ali looked it over as his wife, Lonnie, spoke on his behalf.

Cosby had the crowd roaring during his acceptance speech, and urged the audience to make sure new generations know what Ali, Aaron and others had to overcome to be successful, and that there is more to be overcome.

“This is not a time to rest,” Cosby said.

Teams wore throwback jerseys from 1964, the year that the Civil Rights Act was passed outlawing racial segregation. Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who became a star in Cincinnati before being traded to Baltimore after the 1965 season, threw a ceremonial first pitch to Reds Hall of Famer Tony Perez.

Ali wore a Reds jersey and raised his right hand slightly, acknowledging the crowd, as he was driven along the warning track for his grand entrance to Great American Ball Park. He was helped to a chair along the first base line to watch the pregame ceremonies, which included videoboard tributes to all three.

Aaron was particularly touched by the events. He told reporters before the game that Cincinnati has always been special to him.

“My connection with Cincinnati goes back a long, long ways,” said Aaron, who tied Babe Ruth’s previous home run record of 714 at now-demolished Riverfront Stadium in 1974. “This is a tremendous day for me, not only to get the Beacon Award but to be back in Cincinnati.”

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Aaron was deeply touched by the award.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as emotional as he was today,” Selig said.

Major League Baseball was pleased with the weekend, which took the Civil Rights Game onto a much bigger stage for the first time.

“We’re very proud of this event,” Selig said. “It’s come a long, long way in a short period of time.”

___

AP Sports Writer Joe Kay in Cincinnati contributed to this report.

A medical researcher in Jacksonville, Florida has developed a new stitching technique that could possibly transform surgical procedures around the world. Perhaps the most fascinating detail is the researcher is a 14-year-old high school freshman.

Tony Hansberry II has created a new way to sew up hysterectomy patients in efforts to reduce the risks of post surgical complications and simplify the delicate procedure for less experienced surgeons, reports Jacksonville News. So far, the young man has only performed the surgery on dummies but has managed to fascinate the medical community enough to peak the interests of seasoned surgeons. On April 24 Hansberry presented his findings in the University of Florida’s medical auditorium packed with board-certified physicians, with established practices older than Hansberry, eager to see what medical phenomenon awaits.

“I just want to help people and be respected, knowing that I can save lives,” Hansberry said. He insists his extraordinary achievements are simply stepping stones to his aspirations of becoming a University of Florida-trained neurosurgeon.