(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.

(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)—The big story about the NAACP convention meeting in Kansas City was whether President Obama would come or not. But I think that Ben Jealous hit the right nerve in his opening speech to the convention when he delivered a report that the organization had put together from a series of meetings in affected communities in the Gulf area where the oil spill occurred.

The report found that minorities have been locked out of contracts for cleanup and other kinds of work and are routinely given the lowest-paying jobs; people are at risk of losing their houses and businesses because work has dried up; many of these communities were hit by Katrina and Rita and have not recovered; fumes and pollution are a serious problem and workers are often not given the correct protective clothing. Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, also spoke at the convention and backed up the findings in the report and vowed to work with communities to produce clean water, clean land.