While surfing the Internet the other day I came across an interesting article out of Miami. The article was about  Quartavious Davis, a 20 year-old African American male who was convicted of “participating in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010” when he was 18 years-old.

According to the article, Davis was made the fall guy in these robberies.  Although he was not identified as the ring leader, his five accomplices in these crimes made deals with the prosecution. His accomplices “testified against him, saying he carried a gun” during their seven armed robberies at fast-food restaurants, a Walgreens pharmacy and other commercial establishments in the Miami area, and “discharged it at a dog that chased them after one of their burglaries. But Davis was not convicted of hurting anyone physically, including the dog.”

What floored me when I read this article was the sentence he received—1,941 months – almost 162 years – in prison without the possibility of parole. He did not shoot or kill the dog and he did not shoot or kill a human being, so why is he now sitting in the Federal Detention Center in Miami for the rest of his life? He was not the ringleader and the witness, who one of Davis’s accomplices testified that Davis got into an OK Corral style shootout with outside of a Wendy’s, could not positively identify Davis as the person firing the gun.  So, why has this young black man’s life been cut short with such an egregious sentence and why hasn’t someone like Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton stepped forward to help right this wrong?

It’s apparent that Florida is not an African American friendly state, especially as it relates to the justice system.  It seems in Florida African Americans get the shortest end of the stick when it comes to the law. Justitia, aka Lady Justice, is really blind.  Or should I say legal lynchings of African Americans are alive and well in Florida and across America.

Let’s take the case of Marissa Alexander. The 31 year-old African-American mother of three was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a pistol twice into the air while trying to ward off an attack by her abusive husband who, reportedly, was trying to kill her. She was convicted of aggravated assault, which is a felony, and given the mandatory sentence for anyone who fires a gun in commission of a felony. In her defense, her attorneys tried to employ the “stand your ground law,” the same law that George Zimmerman has been allowed to hide behind in his shooting, or should I say killing, of Trayvon Martin. But the district attorney said since Alexander left during the argument, went outside into her garage got a gun and returned to confront her abuser, who by the way had been arrested before for domestic violence, that the “stand your ground law” did not apply. The prosecutor argued that Alexander acted in anger and the judge agreed.

How is what George Zimmerman did any different than what Alexander did?  Zimmerman was instructed to stay in his car until police arrived.  However, he chose to ignore those instructions, got out of his car, stalked, accosted, shot and killed someone.  In basketball terms, he initiated the contact. On the other hand Alexander gets the book thrown at her for refusing to take an “ass beating.”  Heaven forbid she had shot and killed the abuser in self defense. She would probably be on death row now.

Where is the justice for Marissa Alexander and Quartavious Davis? Where is the United States Justice Department and why is it silent on these matters?  Oh, I forgot, the Republicans in Congress are trying to legally lynch another black man—the United States Attorney General Eric Holder, director of the United States Justice Department.

The taunting and bullying of a 68 year-old grandmother, Karen Klein, by Greece, NY, middle school students has once again opened the eyes of the country to the lack of civility in our society.

Sure, they’ve offered empty apologies and token gestures because they are embarrassed and hope and/or believe that by saying “I’m sorry” legal action will not be taken against them. But what do their actions say about us as a society? What does it say about the parents of these students?

“The truth is it all begins at home. Yes, society is partially to blame. But, more than anything, it’s all about what’s going on at home. It’s the way parents raise their kids and teach them about respect,” one poster wrote on the Today Show website.

In a report on the Today Show about the incident, Child and Family Psychologist Jennifer Hartstein said what is needed is a “kindness curriculum.” What is needed is a civility curriculum and not just for children but parents as well.

Technology has become a doubled edged sword for our society. We have become desensitized by cell phones, television, the computer, Internet and other forms of today’s modern technology. We no longer speak to people; we “text” or “email.” We no longer socially interact and meet and greet people; we “friend” them on superficial mediums like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace.  With these mediums we don’t have to be kind or civil. We’ve become cowards who hide behind “usernames” and “ handles.” The result:  millions watch in anger and horror as 12, 13 and 14 year olds verbally and physically assault a senior citizen for no apparent reason other than just to be mean and vicious or because they can.

According to a March 1, 2012, article in AARP Magazine by Sara Hacala, a certified etiquette and protocol consultant, “the societal and financial costs of incivility are astronomical — impacting our homes and relationships, schools, economy, health care and government.” The article also alludes to a report that concluded that bad behavior may be the “new normal”

The behavior of these students clearly reveals a breakdown in family values. With the breakdown in family values and the emergence of the “me” first mentality the need for civility is greater now than ever before.

“It is becoming apparent that with the dominance of the new technologies in the development and socialization of citizens in our material oriented culture that progressive expansion of citizens for social responsibility and civic participation is being left to chance. Civility training throughout communities on a grand scale is needed as a counteracting power to bad habits of mind and behavior,” says Dr. Lewis King, the Scholar-in-Residence of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Foundation, who is recognized by his peers as one of the world’s greatest minds capable of translating thought into social action.“The action of civility must be intentional. If we are to preserve that which is fundamentally human, we must intentionally engage in conscious and deliberate action to teach and inculcate social responsibility into people at all ages and levels in society.”

Reversing the current course of incivility must become a top priority in our society. If we do not begin to develop programming in schools, government and the workplace that focus on civility, then  rudeness, impoliteness, discourtesy, and disrespect will become the norm, throwing  mankind back to the time it walked on all fours.

What is the difference between Gabriel Aubry and Allison Matthis, other than the fact that Aubry is male and Matthis is female? For those of you who don’t know who these two people are: Gabriel Aubry is Halle Berry’s ex-boyfriend/lover who she has a child with and Allison Matthis is the ex-girlfriend/lover of Miami Heat star Chris Bosh, with whom he has a child. Both couples (if you can call them that) are embroiled in bitter custody issues.

I pose this question because on Monday a Los Angeles judge ordered Halle Berry to pay Aubry, the father of her child, $20,000.00 a month in child support, despite the fact that Aubry has not been granted sole custody of the couple’s four year-old daughter Nahla. On the other hand, Chris Bosh pays Allison Matthis only $2,500.00 a month for their daughter Trinity.  What’s wrong with this picture?

According to the website Celebritynetworth.com, Berry’s net worth is $70 million.  She reportedly earns $16 million per year.  Bosh’s estimated net worth as a professional basketball player, according to Celebritynetworth.com, is $50-60 million with an annual salary of $16 million. Both Bosh and Berry’s earnings are nearly the same and yet, Berry has been ordered to pay Aubrey, who by the way, is the number one top earning male model, according to the UK’s newspaper Telegraph, eight times more than what Bosh is paying Matthis.

A recent post on yourblackworld.net says, according to the state guidelines, a person in Bosh’s status, … should be paying around $30,000 monthly in child support.

So, what entitles Aubry, whose net worth, according to Celebritynetworth.com is $4.5 million, to receive $20,000.00 a month while an unemployed construction worker is entitled to only $2,500? It’s as clear as black and white.

According to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the response to Robin Robert’s announcement that she was suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a rare syndrome also known as preleukemia, and needed a bone marrow transplant, has been tremendous.  “Good Morning America” broadcast that registration with the National Marrow Donor Program had gone up 1000 percent in the two days following the Robert’s announcement.

“In a typical day the registry receives 200 to 300 registrations.  In the 48 hours following the Robin Robert’s announcement 3,500 people joined,” said Kirsten Lesak-Greenberg of the National Marrow Donor Program’s (NMDP) Be The Match Registry.

I signed up with the National Marrow Donor Program four years ago. I was in the Baldwin Hills Shopping Mall in Los Angeles and there was a health fair going on.  A nice, young  African-American man approached me and asked if I would sign up.  It’s a very easy, simple process.  It was just a swab of the inside of the cheek with a q-tip.  There was no cost and I was finished in about five minutes.   If memory serves me right, this occurred about a month or so after I had watched the local news and learned about the plight of a beautiful young black girl who desperately needed a bone marrow transplant. I also remembered that back in 1996 former California Angels (now Los Angeles Angels) star Rod Carew’s daughter needed a bone marrow transplant.  Unfortunately, she was unlucky and a match was never found. She died at the ripe young age of 18.

There are a total of 10 million donors registered with the National Marrow Donor Program’s (NMDP) Be The Match Registry. Of that 10 million, there are only, only 685,000 African Americans, about 7 percent compared to 6.8 million white donors or 71 percent. This means that African Americans receive transplants from the National Marrow Registry at a rate of about 3 to 4 percent of the time compared to a rate of 85 to 88 percent for Caucasians. The numbers for Native Hawaiian and Native American/Alaskans are even more dismal.

Since Robert’s is African American, I contacted the National Bone Marrow Program to find out how many African Americans had signed up since her announcement.  Lesak-Greenberg informed me that out of the 3500 only 386, or about 11 percent, African Americans signed up within the four days following the Robert’s announcement.

Bone marrow is a substance that manufactures blood components. Just like with blood transfusions, the donor marrow must be the same type as the recipient’s, however marrow typing is much more complicated. Only about 30 percent of the people who need marrow transplants receive donations from a relative, usually a brother or sister. That means the remaining 70 percent of recipients must rely on finding an unrelated person with similar marrow. The likelihood of finding a match is much higher within a person’s own ethnic group, the NMDP Be The Match Registry says.

“African Americans have a greater overall genetic diversity also known as genetic admixture than other populations. According to population researchers at Penn State University the average African American is 17-18% white. This conclusion came from a study using DNA samples from groups of African Americans throughout the US, West Africa, and Europe. Although not as large, most Black Americans are said to have Native American ancestry as well. This admixture from three continents makes it more difficult to match donors and patients. This is because it will take more possible donors than the norm to find the same number of matches as other population groups. For example ten African American patients will have a lower success rate finding matches in a pool of African American donors than ten Nigerian patients would if were to search a Nigerian pool of donors of the same size,” reports BlackBoneMarrow.com.

In other words, more people of African descent are urgently needed on the marrow registry so that more lives can be saved.

A bone marrow transplant is considered the only real “cure” for some 60 different illnesses including forms of leukemia, sickle cell, lymphoma, and aplastic anemia.

July is National African American Bone Marrow Awareness Month. I urge every African American to step up and sign up.  Join me, Shaquille O’Neal and T-Boz and become a bone marrow donor. Don’t wait until tragedy strikes and you or a family member finds themselves in a similar situation. Anyone can join the registry online at BeTheMatch.org or in person at any community organization sponsoring a bone marrow drive. All that is required is that you be between the ages of 18-60, be in good health and be willing to donate to anyone in need.

If you’re worried about the cost of tissue testing, don’t.  All or part of a volunteer’s tissue typing cost may be covered by a patient’s family, community group, corporation, or a group sponsoring a donor recruitment drive. Furthermore, any money paid to cover costs is tax-deductible. Additionally, some states have required private insurance companies to cover donor screening tests. All medical costs for the donation procedure are covered by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which operates the Be The Match Registry, or by the patient’s medical insurance, as are travel expenses and other non-medical costs. The only costs to the donor might be time taken off from work.

According to the NMDP, Adults may be asked to donate in one of two ways:

• About 76 percent of the time, a patient’s doctor requests a PBSC donation, a non-surgical, outpatient procedure similar to donating platelets or plasma.
• About 24 percent of the time, a patient’s doctor requests marrow, a surgical, outpatient procedure that takes place at a hospital. General or regional anesthesia is always used.

Robin Roberts is luckier than most African Americans in this situation. She has a sister who is a match. But there are many African Americans out there in need of a bone marrow match and they are in need of it now. Just visit BlackBoneMarrow.com

Think about becoming a bone marrow donor this way.  When you get to the pearly gates and St. Peter asks “what did YOU do during your time on earth?” You can stick out your chest, paste on a big wide grin and proudly proclaim, “I gave the gift of life.”

(Author’s note: I do hope that this post will receive and or generate as many responses and as much attention that my post entitled: Rappers Spawning A Generation of Unemployable Black Males. It’s very important.)

I was reading Dr. Boyce Watkins’ article entitled “Russell Simmons Defends Gwyneth’s Use of the N-Word….Don’t Do it Man” and two paragraphs in the article really jumped out at me:

“The difficult reality that Russell and other proud “n*ggas” in commercialized hip-hop must face is the fact that their music does little to elevate the masses, and only serves to make black boys think that it’s cool to stay high and drunk, have sex with everything that moves, kill each other on the street, disrespect black women and waste their money popping bottles at the club.

“The mouth full of gold teeth, tattoos up your neck and ten gold chains are nothing short of comedic exaggerations of the black male as a hyper-aggressive animal who will eat and murder other black men on sight.”

These two paragraphs really stuck out because it made me think about an article I read about high unemployment among African American men. According to the latest report from the United States Department of Labor, unemployment among African American men 20 years and older is 14.2 percent and 35.8 percent for black teenagers 16-19, higher than any other ethnic group.  After reading Dr. Watkins’ article it doesn’t take much to understand why?  And yet some want to blame President Obama.

Who wants to hire a black man who stays high and drunk, walks around in saggy pants with his underwear showing, can’t get to work on time because he’s up all night having sex with everything that moves, is hanging out on the streets all night looking to shoot or stab someone or popping bottles at the club.

Who wants to hire someone who greets customers and/or co-workers with a mouth full of gold teeth, a dozen different tattoos crawling up the side of their neck (the only possible piece of clothing he could wear to work would be a turtleneck sweater) and ten gold chains and a gigantic cross dangling down their chest?

This is not an exaggeration because on a daily basis I see young and some not so young black men walking around in saggy pants with their underwear showing and dirty t-shirts. I have gone into markets and complained to managers about young black men who work in the store and you are able to see their underwear because of the sagging pants.

I saw a poll recently on the Mississippi Business Journal website which asked the question, “which is more indecent: (1) saggy pants, (2) plumber pants, (3) low-hanging belly, (4) cleavage or (5) tight exercise pants.”  The results were as follows:  saggy pants, 31%, plumber pants, 25%, low-hanging belly, 17%, cleavage, 15% and tight exercise pants, 12%.  Although the poll is not considered a scientific one, it does reflect the thoughts and beliefs of those who participated in the poll.  Since it was a poll conducted on a business journal website it is safe to say business owners  and professional  businessmen and women participated. In other words people who do the hiring.

For 30 pieces of silver the likes of Kanye West, Russell  Simmons, Jay Z and other rappers have done exactly what Dr. Boyce said, “sold out the black community” by promoting the very worst that the black community has to offer,” which has had a rippling effect and contributed to spawning an entire generation of unemployable black males.

I venture to ask how many shopping malls and centers, supermarkets, etc. have Kanye West, Russell Simmons and Jay Z built with the millions they’ve made from these young “n*ggas” to put these same young “n*ggas” to work? Or should I ask how many Reed’s Jewelry Stores, which hawk Simmons’ high end jewelry, have hired any of these sagging in the pants young unemployed black men? I would guess, none.

According to the latest report released by the United States Department of Labor, the overall unemployment in America was 8.2 percent for the month of May. For the African American community the news is even bleaker. The report revealed that unemployment in the African American community sits at 13.6 percent, substantially higher than any other ethnic group.

Everyone wants to point the finger at President Obama.  It seems that Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West have made it their life’s mission over the past four years to blame President Obama for all of the ills in the black community. But before I throw my President under the bus, I want to offer a little food for thought and hopefully get a good conversation going.

When you point the finger at someone else it always seems to be pointing back at you.  So, if the African American community is pointing the finger at President Obama for not getting jobs, notice that that thumb is pointing back at us. While we’re blaming the President we should really start looking at ourselves.  The reality is that unemployment in the black community has been an issue since Lincoln freed the slaves. But I digress.

A fellow writer and I were talking one day and she pointed something out to me.  She said, “have you noticed that all of the black elected officials (in the Los Angeles area) have white communication’s/ press deputies.” After she said this to me I began to pay attention.

When Karen Bass was first elected to the California State Assembly she had a black communications/press deputy. I can’t remember her name, but after about a year this young black woman left and went to work for a hospital.  Bass did not replace her with another African American, although there were qualified Black writers out there. Bass replaced her with a white female. This white female press deputy stayed with her until Bass won her Congressional seat.  Of course, this young white lady had no problems finding another position because immediately after leaving Bass she surfaced several months later as the press deputy for L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel.   After Bass won her congressional seat her first hire for the Los Angeles communications/press deputy position was a young Caucasian man.

I telephoned L.A. Councilman Bernard Park’s office, one day, to obtain some information and I was referred to the communications/press deputy who was also a Caucasian male. A position he held up until several weeks ago when he was replaced by a young girl who, from my knowledge, is not African American. Both Caucasian males, like the Caucasian female who worked for Bass, did not miss a beat and have since moved on to greener pastures.

The reason I point this out is because I know several qualified black writers who could serve as press deputies who are unemployed and have been for a while,  have excellent writing skills, the professionalism, the media contacts and are familiar with the districts of these politicians to have filled the positions from the onset.

One day, I was speaking with the publisher of one of the local black newspapers in Los Angeles and learned that his office manager is Hispanic and the person who distributes his newspaper is Hispanic.  While driving down the streets of Los Angeles one afternoon I looked over to find a Hispanic male driving the van for the Los Angeles Sentinel, which touts itself as being the largest black-owned newspaper in the west.

Let’s take a look at the Los Angeles fast food industry for example. Visit any McDonalds, Carl’s Jr., or Jack-In-the-Box, even the one’s owned by African Americans and you will find the managers are generally Hispanic. Once a Hispanic manager is in place the majority of the employees suddenly all become Hispanic, even at the black-owned fast food franchises.

I ask you to think and think hard on the next few questions.  Have you ever seen a black bank teller at an Asian-owned bank?  Have you ever seen a black cook in a Mexican or Asian restaurant?   Have you ever seen a Hispanic waiter or cook in a soul food restaurant?  Have you ever seen a Caucasian bank teller at a black-owned bank?

I’m aware that there are supposed to be laws against employment discrimination due to race, but do you mean to tell me that in the majority of fast food restaurants in Los Angeles, where over 90 percent of the workforce is Hispanic, the owner or manager cannot find one black person qualified to flip a burger?  Do you mean to tell me that Black fast food restaurant owners cannot find or hire one black manager or ensure that the workforce at their restaurants are 50-50? There is not one Chinese restaurant that can find a black cook who can prepare Chinese food or a Mexican restaurant that can find a black cook to make Mexican food?

Let’s go a step further. Almost none of the top black professional athletes have black agents. I must give kudos to Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers because his agent is former Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher  Dave Stewart, who is black and played in the 1980’s and went on to work in management as assistant general manager with the Blue Jays , before becoming an agent.  Stewart negotiated Kemp’s eight-year, $160 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the biggest in franchise history.  According to an ESPN article, in the 2007 NFL draft 14 out of the first 15 players selected were African-Americans, but only one — Gaines Adams of Clemson — selected an African-American agent. I guess it’s true what my friend the late Howard Ransom use to say, “the white man’s ice is always colder.” But I digress again.

So, what is my point?  The point is Blacks won’t even hire blacks, so how can we blame the president  or expect someone else to hire us when our own kind won’t hire us.

The bottom line is that integration has proven to be a double-edged sword for the Black community.  We relinquished everything to assimilate into white America.  During the times of segregation and Jim Crow, as ironic as it may seem, we thrived in business because we had no choice. We had black banks (St. Luke Penny Savings, etc) black-owned pharmacies, black-owned insurance companies, cleaners, markets, etc., and we hired each other.  Today, in this day and age of “diversity,” which I call “new age acceptable segregation,” the black community owns nothing while other ethnic groups thrive because they support each other in their business endeavors. They hire each other, they do business with each other, they recycle their dollars into their communities and take our money out of our community; while, we are still slaves on the white man’s plantation looking for him to hire or take care of us; still looking for someone else to be responsible for us.  But why should the white man or anyone else hire us, when we won’t even hire each other.

I wish Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West would revise their agendas and begin to focus on black business owners, black professional athletes, entertainers, etc ., who have the resources to help put black Americans to work but choose to hire Whites, Asians and others to do the same job that an African American could do. If Caucasians, Asians, Hispanics, and Middle Easterners do not have to follow the rules when it comes to hiring, then why should Black folks.  It’s time we started holding our own accountable and taking care of our own.

This week (June 10) marks the 49^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy.  The purpose of the law was to abolish wage disparity based on sex, and yet here we are almost 50 years later and women still earn less than men.

According to a White House Report, women earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. And, of course, the gap is even larger for African American women who earn only 64 cents on the dollar and Latino women who earn 56 cents on the dollar.

A 2012 analysis of occupation and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that men out-earned women in 19 of the 20 most common occupations for women, last year, and in 19 of the 29 most common occupations for men. A 2007 study by the American Association of University Women found a 12 percent difference in the earnings of male and female college graduates 10 years after graduation.  Furthermore, the older a woman gets the wore things get. According to one report, in the last five years before retirement, the annual wage gap jumped to more than $14,000. By age 65 the average woman will have lost more than $430,000.00

This just isn’t fair.  A woman should receive the same amount of pay for work as a man if she is doing the same amount of work.

“This is more than just about fairness.  Women are the breadwinners for a lot of families and if they are making less than men do for the same work families are going to have to get back with less money for childcare, tuition and rent. Small businesses have fewer customers, everybody suffers,” said President Barack Obama, who today (June 5) sent the Paycheck Fairness Act to the Senate.

The Paycheck Fairness Act legislation would have ensured that employers who pay a man more than a woman for performing the same job must show that the disparity is not based on gender and instead show that any pay differences are legitimately job related and a business necessity. It also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees, who discuss salary information with their co-workers, and it would strengthen the available remedy to include compensatory damages and under certain limited circumstances punitive damages, bringing equal pay laws into line with other non-discrimination laws.

Unfortunately, the Paycheck Fairness Act has stalled in the Senate because of bi-partisan bull.  A total of 60 votes were needed for passage; however the legislation failed to pass the Senate by a vote of 52-47. It’s obvious that the male dominated Senate believes all women should remain “pregnant and barefooted in the kitchen.”  This is a slap in the face of every woman in America, even the wives of these same overpaid politicians, who are living high on the female, as well as male, taxpayer’s money.

Now, I don’t know how you feel about President Obama, but every red-blooded American female should be standing behind him on this one; whether you are a Tea-partyer, Democrat, Republican, Conservative-whatever.

Now many naysayers are going to say this is an election year political ploy, especially in light of the dismal jobs report that were just released. So what if it is?  It is still unfair that in the year 2012, the 21^st Century, women still earn less than men for doing the same work.

In 2010 there were more than 23 million working mothers.  So when women earn less it means less for their families’ day-to-day needs such as childcare, groceries and the mortgage.  And for African American women it is doubly devastating, especially when you take into consideration that 29 percent of African American households are headed by women (1 in every 3 households) compared to 7.8, 9.0, and 10.5 percent, respectively for non-Hispanic Asian, non-Hispanic White, and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander women. Additionally, African American men reportedly make up 40.2 percent of the prison population leaving African American women to carry the load of taking care of the household.

The women of America (Black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Gentile, Christian, etc) should rise up and really make their voices heard in this upcoming election.  We should vote out any politician who opposed this legislation—be they Democrat or Republican.

Women of America, remember the hand that rocks the cradle “rules” the world.

Nineteen year old Sloane Stephens continued her phenomenal run at the French Open on Friday with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over France’s Mathilde Johansson. It was Stephen’s first ever appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier, the main show court, and she looked quite at home.  Stephens controlled the match from beginning to end showing a lot of variety in her game as well as maturity.

“It was amazing to play out there. I played a French girl so it was a little tough because of the crowd but it was fun.  I had a good time and I’m excited to be in the second week,” she said.

Stephens was focused in her play showing, a lot of control and consistency in her shots, a very important factor when playing on clay.

“I’ve worked on it a lot recently and I think that has helped me a lot to stay calm on the court and not get too frustrated. On clay you have to be so patient and you can’t get crazy because then it’s all going downhill,” she said.

Although not brought up on clay, Stephens finds playing on the red ground up bricks “fun .”

“You’re moving, you’re doing all kinds of stuff.  I don’t know why I like it but it’s just fun for me,” Stephens said in her post game interview with Chris Evert.

Stephens is now in the round of sixteen and the second week of play. Her next opponent is the reigning U.S. Open Champion Samantha Stosur on Sunday.

Currently ranked 70 in the world, Stephen’s performance has so far garnered her 280 ranking points and next week she will move into the number 50 spot making her America’s number 3 behind Serena Williams and Christina McHale.  It also improves her chances of playing in the 2012 Olympics.

Don’t forget Sloane is still trying to get 50,000 followers on her twitter account, so show the sister some love and follow her on twitter You can also find out more about this extraordinary young lady at her website.

Nineteen year-old Sloane Stephens rolled into the third round at the French Open Wednesday with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 second round whipping of fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

On reaching the third round of a major Stephens stated, in the post match interview, “It’s awesome. It feels really nice and I’m really excited.”

Ranked 79 in the world, Stephens opened the tournament, the second major of the tennis season, with a hard fought 6-4, 7(8)-6 battle against 37 ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Her next opponent is France’s Mathilde Johansson, who is ranked 95 in the world.

This is Stephens’ best appearance to date at the French Open and her purse so far is just over $60,000 for making it to the third round. Her purse will jump to $103,300 with a victory over Johansson and advancement into the round of 16. (Let’s go Sloane!!!!)

Stephens is on a roll and came into Paris with loads of confidence, coming off her best performance at a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tier level event.  She made it all of the way into the semifinals of last week’s Internationaux de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France, before falling to former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone.

Of her performance last week Stephens said, “It was a good week… It was an overwhelming week, actually. My first semifinal, which was a great result,” the 19 year-old Florida native said following the 7-6, 6-1 loss to Schiavone.

Stephens added $10,200.00 to her coffers, her biggest payday, prior to her performance this week, with her semifinal appearance.

The very personable Stephens was propelled into the limelight two years ago when her father, a  former professional football player-John Stephens, was killed in a car accident just before the start of the 2009 U.S. Open.  Stephens attended her father’s funeral in Louisiana and remained in the U.S. Open going on to make it to the third round.

Stephens made headlines again at last year’s U.S. Open when she reached the third round before losing to former 2008 French Open champ Ana Ivanovic. At the Australian Open in January she advanced to the second round and lost a hard fought 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 battle to two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

You can catch Stephen’s phenomenal run by watching the French Open on the tennis channel and other sports channels.  And by the way, Sloane is trying to get 50,000 followers on her twitter account, so show the sister some love and follow her on twitter . You can also find out more about this extraordinary young lady at her website. www.sloanestephens.com

I recently moved back to my hometown of Jackson, MS., and while listening to the conversations betweenc my sister and some of her friends I was amazed at how many times they said the word “nigger” or should I say “nigga.”  So, one day I secretly placed my tape recorder in a strategic position while my sister and her friends were watching a basketball game.  It recorded them using the word “nigger” (“nigga”) more than 25 times, in less than an hour.  Just about every sentence contained the word “nigger” (“nigga”).  “That ‘nigger’ (‘nigga’) can’t shoot,” “Shoot the ball ‘nigger’ (‘nigga’),” “Come on ‘nigger’ (‘nigga’) etc.”  Every other player was a “nigger” (“nigga”). After a while, it started to grate on my nerves.

Having lived in Los Angeles for so many years, I have become culturally sensitive.  My black L.A. friends and I have occasionally used the word “nigger” (“nigga”) among ourselves in conversation with no more than two or three of us present at a time or no more than once or twice during the entire conversation; but not to such an  extent that every other word leaving our mouths is “nigger” (“nigga”).  Maybe it’s a southern thing, but I doubt it. I noticed that while having a conversation with a highly educated, upscale elderly southern African American woman— her husband was a highly respected pharmacist and she a librarian—she used the word “nigger” (“nigga”) very freely in her description of her neighbor.

So, why am I writing about this?  To make a point, I guess, or maybe to get feedback or the opinion of others.  I don’t know, but I felt compelled to address the subject of the word “nigger” (“nigga”) and its use in the African American community and language. Let’s just say I think we, as a people, need to open dialogue to address the use of the word that we obviously hold so dear to our hearts.

How can we, African Americans/Blacks, get so up in arms when someone of another race, be it Caucasian, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, etc., uses the word “nigger” (“nigga) but find it okay to use when we speak among ourselves? Is that a dichotomy? When Dr. Laura said the word “nigger” (“nigga”) 11 times over the KABC airwaves in Los Angeles, the NAACP and the African American community, at large, called for the poor woman’s head on a platter. You would have thought she was John the Baptist. And it resulted in her losing her job.

So, I ask, why is the word “nigger” (“nigga”) our sacred word? Are we the only people who are allowed to use it? Or should I ask why are we the only race allowed to use it freely and in public? Of course we know other ethnic groups use it in private – that’s probably why Dr. Laura had her Freudian slip.  Maybe she was too comfortable and forgot she was on air and not in the comfort of her own home with her friends.

Why is it okay for us to use a word that when used by someone else is the ultimate in degradation for us as a people—a word that we consider to be so degrading when spoken by someone from another race?  Do Jews call each other “kike” in everyday conversation?  Do Chinese Americans refer to each other as “chink” in day to day conversation? Do Puerto Ricans refer to each other as “spik” as they watch soccer games? Do Italian-Americans call each other “wop” or “dago?  Please be advised that I am not anti-Semitic or anything like that, nor am I trying to insult anyone. I’m just trying to make a point. So please, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federation, Simon Wiesenthal Foundation, Asian and Italian American leaders don’t come after me. I apologize for the use of these words and I mean no harm.  I’m trying to get a message across to the African American community and hopefully, find some answers.

I would really like to hear from someone in the Jewish, Puerto Rican and Italian-American communities to find out if there is such a derogatory word in your communities that is used to describe people from your ethnic group that is bantered about so freely during day to day conversations.

“Nigger” (nigga”) is the slang for Negro; the term whites called us before we became black and then African Americans (my next article is going to be on the labeling of Black America). I remember as a child growing up in Jackson, MS., watching the late Senator John Stennis on television talking about the “niggras.”  We would get hopping mad and say he was too lazy to pronounce Negro or that he really wanted to say “nigger” or “nigga.”

If I’m not mistaken, didn’t slave owners refer to us as “niggers,” “niggas,” “niggras” and “darkies?”  So, why do we as a people have such self loathing and hatred that we would identify each other in the same way that the slave owner did?  Is this a subliminal carry over from the days of slavery?   If this is so, then this is proof positive that slavery is still impacting the African American community today and Willie Lynch is still alive and kicking in Black America.