(REAL TIMES MEDIA)—One of my favorite books is “40 Million Dollar Slaves” by William C. Rhoden, a sports columnist for The New York Times. The book lays out the long and sordid history of the African-American in sports and how, despite being increasingly well known and well paid, the Black professional athlete’s relationship with team ownership and leagues is still disturbingly similar to the old slave and share cropping relationships of the past. His essential argument was that despite the restrictions both racially and financially placed on African-American athletes in this country many of them can and SHOULD be doing more, if not socially and culturally, certainly by asserting themselves more in the very business that benefits from their bodies 10 times more than it pays them. So I must tell you, in the face of the public and social outcry against NBA star LeBron James last week I think Rhoden’s argument has been made manifest and I couldn’t be happier.

(NNPA)—The White male is very, very worried. His dominance in the world is no longer certain and there must be a way for him to devise a new system that can assure his economic and power advantage despite the rising populations of people of color, White women and the demands for a fair share of that economy and power. Blacks are now the majority in Brazil. Forty percent of all newborns in Germany are of Turkish descent. White French are dropping in population while Arabs and Blacks in that country have soaring populations. Gains in civil rights and political clout are starting to make a difference.

(NNPA)—If there were any doubts about whether LeBron James should have migrated from the cold winters of Cleveland to sunny Miami, they were removed when Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ majority owner, issued a scathing criticism of Cleveland’s “former hero” who demonstrated “cowardly betrayal” by deciding not to remain in Cleveland after becoming a free agent.

Gilbert’s open letter to fans was actually an open attack on James, who gave the franchise seven years to assemble an adequate support crew around him. When they failed, he opted to sign with the Miami Heat, where he will be paired with two All-Star teammates.

(NNPA)—“The hardship and suffering caused by unemployment penetrates every area of life. While politicians are tallying up the economic costs of unemployment, I wish they’d be more aware of the social and moral consequences…” —Eva Burrows,  the 13th General of the Salvation Army

It is unconscionable that the Senate has taken a 10-day July 4th recess after failing last week to pass a much-needed jobs bill. As a result, unemployment benefits for more than one million out of work Americans have now been terminated. The bill would have also extended tax cuts for small businesses, provided billions of dollars to states to prevent layoffs of state and local workers, extended Medicaid reimbursements for states and made available $1 billion for a youth summer jobs initiative. The filibuster by a coalition of the heartless, the careless and the unconcerned meant that on July 1, unemployment checks stopped for 1.2 million Americans.