"Eight Americans who graduated from a Cuban medical school say they will put the education paid for by Fidel Castro's communist government to use in hospitals back home.

 

"Four New Yorkers, three Californians and a Minnesotan, all from minority backgrounds, have studied in Havana since April 2001, forming the first class of American graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine.

 

"One other American previously graduated from the school after transferring from a U.S. university, but the six women and two men graduating Tuesday were the first Americans to complete the entire six-year program since Castro offered the free medical training to U.S. students. The offer followed a meeting a delegation from the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus.

 

Usher and Tameka (ex-con) Foster

 *This is a big one. As reported, Usher and Tameka Foster were supposed to have jumped the broom today, but now the wedding has been called off.

    Earlier this week, blogs sites and the National Enquirer reported that Tameka Foster has a history of arrests.

First, on Mother's Day of all days, Usher fires his mother, who was his manager. 

Next, he hires an older woman who is an ex-con, with whom he had an affair.

Next, he announces his engagement to marry her.  Also, she is with child... Is it his or is it someone else's?

Now the wedding is called off. Will it be rescheduled?

I don't know what's been wrong with Usher boy lately but calling the wedding off is one of smartest move he's ever made in a while.

 

“It appears as if the change in show title was just a ruse and BET intends to continue to promote the website HotGhettoMess.com by having the host, Charlie Murphy use the phrase 'Hot Ghetto Mess' throughout the show.  This is unacceptable and is not what we agreed to,” McCauley said in a statement Wednesday before the show aired.

 

“Obviously, they didn’t re-record his opening segment,” said Eric Deggans, a telelvision critic for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. “I think they probably changed the graphics because I don’t remember seeing the logo from the Web site -- that Sambo-like character in the circle with the slash through it.”

 

Deggans told BlackAmericaWeb.com the show seemed disjointed and unfocused and he wondered whether the segments poking fun at the behavior of some white people were added after the controversy over the show began.

 

“There is less for people to complain about,” Deggans said, “but it seems like it blunted the focus of the show. Just as a piece of programming, I wasn’t that impressed.”

 

AP also gave the show a thumbs-down, saying it "offered lame video clips that circulated on sites like YouTube months ago, and commercials that wouldn't pass the cable-access test. To make clear the show wasn't trying to pick on black folk, there were also plenty of white faces, as in a clip of a redneck Olympics-style event. ... The show was racially balanced -- and equally unfunny -- on all levels."

 

“It was dreadful, disjointed,” McCauley said after the show aired. “The best thing we can do is never speak of this show again, and it will just die on its own.”

 

McCauley noted that nearly all of the commercials on the show were promos for other BET programs.

 

“We had one or two local commercials,” she said. “One for Time Warner and a car commercial.”

 

Jamilla (Jam) Donaldson, creator of the site and an executive producer of the series, told reporters last week at the Television Critics Association Press Tour that the site was intended to address negative images of black culture and to provoke discussion about ways to address problems in the black community.

 

“The Web site started in 2004 in response to negative images that were being perpetuated through e-mails, the Internet through photos, jokes, just the Internet in general,” Donaldson said. Adding, she began to wonder “how can I take these images, which are negative on their face, and use it in context in a way … so we can start some self-analysis.”

 

The site, she said, provided “context, a little bit of humor, commentary, music, statistics.”

 

The show, Donaldson told reporters on the press tour, “has exceeded my expectations, and I think everyone who watches the show will be pleasantly surprised. I think they will come away thinking about themselves, about their community.”

 

BET entertainment chief Reginald Hudlin accused reporters of jumping on the bandwagon to trash the network before they had seen the show.

 

“It’s unfortunate that they are making a presumption about a show they haven’t seen,” Hudlin said at a news conference during the press tour. “It’s not remotely like anything they presume.”

 

Reporters had not seen an advance copy of the show.
 
Hudlin did acknowledge, however, that the show was still in edits at the time of the press tour.

 

“The show isn’t finished yet,” he said. “We’re literally finishing it right now.”

 

Further, Hudlin said, he was concerned that reporters were so caught up in the flap over the show that they would overlook the slate of 15 news programs on BET’s schedule that he said would appeal to families, teenagers and adults.

 

“My fear is when you go back to your desk you’re going to care about one thing: ‘Hot Ghetto Mess.’ It will be a real misfortune," Hudlin said. "BET is doing what people as us to do ... We’re trying to be the responsible broadcasters people want us to be."

 

“We do a lot of shows taking a hard look at the black community and some of the things we think are wrong and some of the things we think are right,” Hudlin said. “Who better than BET to take a hard look at some of the problems in our community and encourage people to make a change?”

 

With “We Got To Do Better,” Hudlin said, “The intent of the show is no different than what Bill Cosby is going as he is going across the country lecturing, saying there are problems that we as a community need to address.”

 

Critics of the show, he said, don’t like the way the network addresses those issues.

 

“They say we want these issues presented in a dry, boring fashion that will be sure to turn off the people who need to hear it the most,” Hudlin said.

 

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the NAACP announced its Hollywood bureau would become consultants for the Game Show Network’s “Without Prejudice?” a weekly TV game show that gives people across the country a chance to engage in conversations about prejudice. The show airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on GSN.

 

“This is an opportunity for the NAACP to more fully engage in a discussion of prejudice and bigotry and to explain to a wider audience the bases for these ills and how we can rid society of them,” said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond. “We look forward to our participation and the success of this innovative series.”

 

The NAACP and GSN also announced plans to host an upcoming town hall meeting on race, diversity and prejudice.

 

Some who criticized the BET show before it aired said they were concerned “We Got To Do Better” might perpetuate the very stereotypes the producers sought to curb. Television critics and social commentators have noted that satire is a gambling proposition, and there’s always a great risk that viewers don’t get the message the show is trying to send. It was one of the issues comic actor Dave Chappelle cited in explaining why he walked away from his wildly popular “Chappelle's Show” on the Comedy Central network.

 

On Tuesday, after BET changed the show's name from "Hot Ghetto Mess" to "We Got to Do Better" was announced, McCauley said she would reserve judgment. On Wednesday morning, however, after learning that Murphy would use the phrase "Hot Ghetto Mess" throughout the show, McCauley released the statement saying her understanding had been the network was changing the show’s name to sever its relationship from Donaldson’s Web site. One of McCauley’s objections was that people exposed in unflattering ways on the site had their photos posted without their permission.

 

At the television writer's news conference, Donaldson said everyone shown on the television show agreed to have their images broadcast. Asked if the same rule applied to the site, Donaldson demurred and said her comments were restricted to the network program.

 

Wednesday night, McCauley said her campaign didn’t start out targeting BET. “I wasn’t focusing on BET at all," she said. "I wouldn’t have even been on BET.com at all if I wasn’t trying to hunt down D.L. Hughley for comments he made on the 'Tonight Show' with Jay Leno. I stumbled on ('Hot Ghetto Mess') and I dealt with what fell in my lap.”

 

In an April appearance on the late-night talk show, the comedian talked about the incident with Don Imus, the former WFAN radio and MSNBC talk show host, in which Imus referred to the women of Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” In his riff on Imus’ behavior, Hughley said, “He called them nappy-headed hos, and they weren’t hos. But there were some nappy-headed women on that team. Shut up. I’m gonna say it. I don’t give a damn if you all like it or not. You know it’s true. They were some of the ugliest women I’ve seen in my whole life.”

 

Hughley's new show on BET, "Socially Objectionable Behavior," airs before "We Got to Do Better."

 

McCauley said the changes made to “We Got To Do Better” to address the criticisms raised show people that advocacy works.

“Now that people can see what could be done," she said, "they can take it and apply it.”

 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic --Yara Matos sat still while long, shiny locks from China were fastened, bit by bit, to her coarse hair.

 

Not that Matos has anything against her natural curls, even though Dominicans call that pelo malo -- bad hair.

 

"If you're working in a bank, you don't want some barrio-looking hair. Straight hair looks elegant," the bank teller said. "It's not that as a person of color I want to look white. I want to look pretty."

 

And to many in the Dominican Republic, to look pretty is to look less black.

 

Dominican hairdressers are internationally known for the best hair-straightening techniques. Store shelves are lined with rows of skin whiteners, hair relaxers and extensions.

 

Racial identification here is thorny and complex, defined not so much by skin color but by the texture of your hair, the width of your nose and even the depth of your pocket. The richer, the "whiter." And, experts say, it is fueled by a rejection of anything black.

 

Is cancelling debt and doubling all aid to Africa the only sure way to address the continuing humanitarian crises or has experience shown that aid does not help the people who really need it, and the only solution is to pull out and let Africans re-build Africa themselves?  

 

For Venus Williams, From No. 23 to a Title

By JOHN BRANCH

WIMBLEDON, England, July 7 — Marion Bartoli hit the ball to the corners, aiming her two-handed forehands and deceptively quick backhands as far from Venus Williams as the lines on the court would allow. But the court was too small for Bartoli to have a chance. The 6-foot-1 Williams, with a lunging stride and long arms, seemed to reach them all.

 

In doing so Saturday, Williams won her fourth Wimbledon title, probably her unlikeliest, adding to the championships she won in 2000, 2001 and 2005.

 

With a Center Court crowd pulling for an upset, or at least a close match, Williams never allowed the hope to settle in. Her 6-4, 6-1 victory over the 18th-seeded Bartoli came with the same relative ease that Williams had in her three preceding two-set matches, in which she knocked out No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the fourth round, No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals.

Anyway Venus now joins some legendary tennis company. Winning her fourth Wimbledon title now means she has joined Martina Navratilova , Steffi Graf, and Billie Jean King in winning at least four Wimbledon titles in the Open era.

The second set felt more like a slow coronation for Williams, who became the fourth woman of the Open era, starting in 1968, to win four Wimbledon titles, joining Martina Navratilova (nine), Steffi Graf (seven) and Billie Jean King (six, two before the Open era). Navratilova and King watched from the royal box.

You go Venus!! Next stop, the U.S. Open :-)