Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are not heavily promoted in the metro Detroit area. However, Alcorn State University (ASU) is aiming to change that.

As part of a national tour with stops in several major cities including Atlanta and Memphis, ASU President Dr. M. Christopher Brown will speak to alumni and other community leaders and stakeholders to encourage their support of the university on Sept. 6.

Based in Claibourne County, MS, ASU offers academic programs leading to associate, bachelor’s, master’s and specialist degrees. Founded in 1871, ASU started with eight faculty members and 179 enrolled students. To date, the school has more than 800 faculty and staff members and an enrollment of more than 3,000 students.

HBCUs, traditionally based in the South, have played a significant role in the education of Blacks. Many of the schools were established in the 1800s when Blacks were not encouraged or allowed to be educated. Michigan was home to one HBCU – Lewis College of Business – which closed in 2006 after losing its accreditation. Now, there are nearly 100 HBCUs in the nation, out of nearly 4,500 colleges and universities, according to the US Department of Education.

Local ASU graduates see Brown’s visit as an opportunity to raise awareness of their alma mater.

“Dr. Brown is doing a national tour of local alumni chapters around the country to share his vision of Alcorn and to talk about how the enrollment has increased, the new programs that are being developed, changes in the athletic department and the new non-resident tuition reduction program for incoming students starting next fall,” said Anthony Neal, president of the Detroit Alumni Chapter of Alcorn State University.

Brown, the school’s 18th president, is the first to be younger than 40. Under Brown’s leadership since 2010, ASU has broadened its academic offerings and launched a capital fundraising campaign. One of the changes that have caused more of an uproar is the hiring of Jay Hopson, as the football coach. In the school’s 141-year history, Hopson is the first white man to lead the football team – a position that has been traditionally held by Blacks. Additionally, ASU was the first school to receive the Luther Vandross and Mary Ida Vandross scholarship, which awards students for attending any HBCU across the country.

Additionally, the HBCU Center for Media Advocacy named ASU “HBCU of the Year” for its accomplishments in comprehensive research, establishing community outreach initiatives and for student engagement and retention.

Neal, a 1991 ASU graduate, said the chapter aims for Brown’s visit to encourage more metro Detroit families to consider ASU as a school of choice.

“We are looking to have a people take a double look at Alcorn State as a choice of higher education,” Neal said. “For a president to go outside in the community and talk to people says that he is in touch with the people and that he cares about the needs and trying to reach the community.”

Sean Rouse, president and founder of the Detroit-based Historically Black College and University Network, said there is a need to engage the community in the education and experience offered at HBCUs.

“For the student who needs a more close-knit, family environment, going to an HBCU may help them,” Rouse said. “People often overlook what is offered. We want students to consider them and to keep them as an option when considering colleges.

“We want to boost enrollment at HBCUs and come together as alum of the schools so we can connect and raise more awareness in the Detroit area. You don’t often hear too much about them here and we are looking to change that.”

For more information about Alcorn State University, visit www.alcorn.edu or call (601) 877-6100.

The federal trial of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is set to begin Thursday, September 6. After years of scandal and made for t.v. drama, federal prosecutors will present their case against not only the former mayor, but his father Bernard Kilpatrick, his good friend Bobby Ferguson, and former water director Victor Mercado. The four men are facing numerous charges including bribery, extortion, and running a criminal enterprise.

According to the feds, contractors looking to do business with the city were forced by Kilpatrick and Mercado to subcontract with Ferguson who owns construction and demolition companies. In addition, it is alleged that other contractors siphoned money from three non-profit organizations to Kilpatrick and company. Federal prosecutors have worked diligently gathering evidence, which include, thousands of text messages, wiretap recordings and a plethora of witnesses.

President Barack Obama and his daughters, Malia, left, and Sasha, watch on television as First Lady Michelle Obama takes the stage to deliver her speech at the Democratic National Convention, in the Treaty Room of the White House, Tuesday night, Sept. 4, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

As First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., White House photographer Pete Souza released a photo showing her husband, President Barack Obama, with his arms around their daughters while they excitedly watched her from the White House. 

Democrats will notminate President Obama fro a second term in North Carolina this week. 

In 2008, we witnessed a new era of political reality never before imagined in the history of presidential politics and the world at large.

Never before thought of since the first slaves were brought from Africa to America that one day a man name Barack Obama with a Black father from Kenya would become president of the United States, sending a powerful lesson for centuries to come.

Although there were significant attempts by major Black leaders like Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm of New York’s 12th Congressional District and civil rights leader Rev Jesse L. Jackson Sr., who both ran for prersident and made strong showings in primary results and delegate counts.

Chisholm in her 1972 presidential bid won 152 delegates after competing in 12 states, winning Louisiana, Mississippi and New Jersey primaries.

Jackson in his second presidential bid in 1988 won 11 states capturing 6.8 million votes to the surprise of the media and skeptics.

Though they did not win, the candidacies of Chisholm and Jackson were pillars for any Black candidate to set their sights higher on the presidency with the audacity of hope as did Obama.

But beyond the color line, the 2008 victory changed the way the world viewed America under President Obama because it was a seismic shift.

What did not change in America is how some in the Republican Party viewed Obama during the last four years and how his presidency has come under unbelievably serious attack and scrutiny from the opposition.

This week in Charlotte, North Carolina, the majority of Black voters are joining in the chorus “four more years” as the Democratic Party nominates Obama for a second term.

To be clear, this year’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte is not just any kind of political gathering. It has an added significance, more than the Republican National Convention because of the special candidacy of Obama and how that has been informed by the force of history that has led African-Americans in this long pilgrimage for political and socioeconomic empowerment.

It is a pilgrimage that is shared by other minority groups, including Latinos who also, like African-Americans, are still seeking affirmation in the words of the Declaration of Independence that “All men are created equal.”

We cannot dismiss the importance the Black vote will play in November because it has been the most potent force for Democratic politics, sending Democrats to the White House.

Because of President Obama’s significant policy achievements, such as the Affordable Care Act which will have tremendous impact on improving the health of Blacks, the saving of the auto industry in Detroit, an industry that helped built the Black middle class, coupled with the campaign to de-legitimize his presidency, Black voters are expected to show up at the polls to prove the skeptics wrong.

The stakes are high for Black voters this year because for the first time they will be expected to cast a referendum on a man who not only inherited a bad economy and tried to salvage it, but also a man who has been forced to re-confirm that he was American even as he sat as president in the White House.

Black voters will be required to make a statement with their vote that they did not approve of the attacks that have been unleashed on this presidency while calling out the double standard in how other previous presidents received more respectable receptions even at their lowest points.

This election is also about pricking the nation’s conscience in terms of how the first Black president has been racially scourged, rebuked, repudiated and called a liar in the halls of Congress while Republican leaders allowed the extreme views of race-mongers like Donald Trump to be representative of their party.

It is not just about the vision of two men, President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, it is also about how honest men and women and those who are students of history are willing to judge the competence of Obama and Romney on their merits.

Romney has not opened up to Black voters, nor has he attempted to engage them in a dialogue. His appearance before the NAACP was a slap on the face and did not portray him as a serious thinker or someone who understands the essence of a multicultural society.

When he told the NAACP audience he was going to end Obama’s signature health care law without offering his own health prescriptions to address the health care crisis in the Black community as well as other communities, it was like someone showing up to your house and ask to cut the lights off.

Because Romney has failed to dialogue with Black voters on the most important issues that affect them, the Obama campaign is their only option.

Because Romney played to the birther stereotype when he said in Commerce Township last week that no one’s asked to see his birth certificate, a backdoor mockery of President Obama whose birth certificate has been the focus of some extreme right wing politics, he has left Black voters with no choice.

If the Romney campaign were serious about the Black vote it would have been the focus of serious outreach just as they do with other communities.

Thus in November, voters will be asked to either affirm that “all men are created equal” or confirm that in fact a minority in this country — that has been so upset with the election of the first African-American president, and the Republican leaders who vowed in a meeting on Obama’s inauguration to make him fail — can sway the opinion of those with goodwill and conscience.

This is more than just someone seeking to govern the country. It is also a test for the true character of those who have been keeping silent while the ugly politics of Barry Goldwater reignite themselves today.

It is time for Black voters and those who believe that the country is more than the sum total of the extreme views that have no place in serious political discourse take a stand for posterity. The world is watching.

Bankole Thompson is editor of the Michigan Chronicle. An authority on the Obama presidency he is the author of a six-part book series on the Obama presidency. His book “Obama and Black Loyalty,” published in 2010, follows his recent book, “Obama and Christian Loyalty” with a foreward by Bob Weiner, former White House spokesman. Thompson is a political news analyst at WDET-101.9FM (NPR affiliate) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” Sunday evening roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York and simulcast in New Jersey and Connecticut. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DETROIT (WWJ) - Students enrolled in 15 new Education Achievement Authority schools will have to get used to a longer school year.

Class began September 4 and will end in early August at the Detroit schools selected by the state as part of a pilot program.

"We're in school the majority of the year because there's no point in taking time off," said Dr. Donnie Davis, principal of the new Mumford High.

"Our kids are in a race. It's a competition. When they graduate from high school, they're competing with everybody else in the world to get into college. When they get into college they're competing  with everybody else in the world to get a job," he said.

Davis also believes it's important for parents not to give their children the impression that an education doesn't have to be a high priority.

Davis said kids will notice other changes as well.  The EAA schools use a student-centered approach, meaning students progress at different levels in subjects including basic math and algebra.

"I think it's criminal for us to push you forward when you actually don't know the content. And it (student-focused learning) makes your diploma, once you graduate from high school, actually mean something; you have mastered the content," said Davis. "This diploma means you know everything we said you're supposed to know by the state of Michigan and you are ready for college."

The EEA was created by Governor Rick Snyder last year to identify the lowest-performing schools in Detroit and across the state, and then work to improve them.

Along with Mumford, the other 14 schools selected for the pilot program include Central Collegiate Academy, Denby High School, Ford High School, Pershing High School, Southeastern High School, Brenda Scott Elementary, Burns Elementary, Law Academy, Mary M. Bethune Elementary, Murphy Elementary, Nolan Elementary, Phoenix Elementary, Stewart Elementary and Trix Elementary.

The state plans, in the future, the expand the program statewide.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/09/04/shorter-summer-break-for-kids-at-15-detroit-schools/

DETROIT (WWJ) - A longtime Detroit City Councilman wants Mayor Dave Bing removed from office.

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta is urging his colleagues to look at removing Bing from office over actions taken in the Health and Workforce Development departments, and the administration's failure to respond to the alleged violation.

"I think the mayor truly is in violation of the charter and may be forfeiting his office based upon that," Kenyatta told WWJ's Vickie Thomas. "I think that we seriously need to look at the procedures going forward to address the violations in the charter."

One of the specific charter violations Kenyatta cites is taking $30,000 from the Health Department and putting that money into a bank account for a private non-profit institute charged with running the department.

Through spokeswoman Naomi Patton, the mayor's office said they acknowledged the mistake and returned the money the next day. But Kenyatta says that's not good enough.

"That's like someone comes in and robs a bank and then when they say 'Oh, I saw your picture on TV, you robbed a bank,' and you go back the next day and you put the money back. Well, the crime has already been committed," said Kenyatta.

Patton said Bing does not believe he has violated the charter in any way.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/09/05/councilman-calls-for-detroit-mayors-removal-from-office-after-violation/

HARPER WOODS, Mich. (WWJ) – Police in Harper Woods are investigating a shooting outside of a Harper Woods bar.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots ring out just after 1 a.m. Tuesday near Charlie's Woods Saloon on Kelly Road, north of Moross. Police believe only one man was shot despite several rounds striking an area business and at least one home. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital by bar patrons before police arrived. The victim's identity, nor his condition, have been released.

Anyone with information is asked to call Harper Woods Police or CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-SPEAKUP.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/09/04/man-shot-outside-harper-woods-bar/