Can Education Close the Economy and Employment Gap in America in 2013-2014?

Lenny McAllister discusses the need to improve American education results starting this school year to secure national security and improve the economy on “NightTalk: Get to the Point”

PITTSBURGH (Sept 5, 2014) – (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel)

“We all tell our young people the same thing: get a good education, study hard in school…but what good does that really do? Let’s be real: it’s all about the bottom line – with our economy and our finances.”

 

Catch Lenny’s “Starting Point” concerning the urgency to improve America’s education system in order to close the economic and employment gaps we’re facing on the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel by clicking the picture above or by clicking HERE

 

Starting Point (August 29) – The Rise of ISIS: The JV Team Threatening the Big Boys

President Obama begins to make his case for increased intervention and action to confront the militant group ISIS in both Syria and Iraq.

 

PITTSBURGH (August 29, 2014) – (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel)

“Don’t look now, Mr. President, but the JV team is looking to give everyone a run for their money – and their sovereignty.”

 

Catch Lenny’s “Starting Point” concerning America’s newest threat on the world scene – ISIS – after the beheadings of 2 Americans. This commentary starts of the latest edition of “NightTalk: Get to the Point” on the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel by clicking the picture above or by clicking HERE

ICYMI: “Black Folks and the Great Outdoors” (August 27, 2014)

Author Carolyn Finney joined Roland Martin and the panel Wednesday on “NewsOne Now” to discuss her book, “Black Face, White Space: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors.” Finney explained African Americans have always been involved with the environment and environmental issues. (Photo courtesy News One Now / TV One).

 

WASHINGTON, DC (August 27, 2014) Author Carolyn Finney joined Roland Martin and his panelists George Curry, Lauren Victoria Burke, and Lenny McAllister Wednesday on “NewsOne Now” to discuss her book, “Black Face, White Space: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors.” Finney explained African Americans have always been involved with the environment and environmental issues. McAllister and others comment on the importance appreciation for the environment has on world outlook as well as career and future prospects.

 

Watch their conversation courtesy of News One Now / TV One by clicking the picture or by clicking HERE.

 

Ferguson and the Reflection of the Legacy of Our Original Sin – and Obstacle (August 22 2014)

“Until we come to grips with the current racial disparities in perception, interaction, employment, and societal matters, we’ll meet on the streets once again in the near future…for another rounds of protests over the same resolvable issues.”

PITTSBURGH (August 22, 2014) – (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel)

“One year after the controversial not-guilty verdict freeing George Zimmerman after the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin…Ferugson, Missouri exploded after the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown…Many Americans hit the streets to protest the latest controversial death, just as they did last summer. Sadly, the protests this time echo the concerns not just for one life, but for a startling trend.

“In New York City, Eric Garnder was asphyxiated…in California, a highway patrol man was caught punching a disoriented, older black woman in the face during a pedestrian encounter…there is also the questionable shooting death of Ezell Ford at the hands of the LAPD.

“In Colorado in 2012, a killer with semi-automatic weapons makes it out of a movie theater – alive – after shooting dozens in cold-blood. In Ohio this year, a man dies in the toy section of Wal-mart with a toy gun in his hand – shot in cold blood by an officer that has a questionable past concerning justifiable homicide while on the police force. Cliven Bundy could stand off against the united states government with armed neighbors at his side. Marissa Alexander – a survivor of domestic violence – is in jail right now for arming herself against a man that previously beat her to the point of hospitalization.

“What’s the state of race relations in America, especially when police shootings of Blacks seems to be going in the wrong direction despite crime statistics generally heading in the right direction? Perhaps the questions we should be asking include: how come innocent until proven guilty applies to some citizens, while guilty until proven innocent – repeatedly – is the norm for other citizens? When some loudly proclaim citizens rights against the government, are they also actively defending the civil rights of black youth…when encountering the police? And why do we think that we can devalue each other as American citizens – and then expect Vladmir Putin, kim Jong-un, and ISIS to respect us as the military and moral leader of the world?”

Catch Lenny’s “Starting Point” concerning America’s reflections and reactions to Ferguson and other incidents of racial tension on the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel by clicking the picture above or by clicking HERE

American Exceptionalism and Global Leadership (August 1 2014)

“All (of these recent) events have some begging the question: is the United Stats of America still the sole superpower – and should we be?”

 

PITTSBURGH (August 1, 2014) – (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel)

“There was an inspiring young politician that not only caught the imagination of the nation with soaring rhetoric, but he also captured the hopes of the international community along the way. That led to a stop in Norway to pick up a Nobel peace prize before his first year as president was complete. Yet, old man Obama has to wonder about the promise of the earliest days of his administration, back at a time when there was a belief that new leadership in the white house could broker new partnerships and strengthen existing ones – all for the sake of world peace. Now, it seems every corner of the world is riddled with bullets, bombs, and the brink of all-out war.

“These events beg the question: is the United States of America still the sole superpower on earth – and should we be? Should there be one strong nation that ends up serving as the police of the world? Is fixing issues aboard really brokering peace for us at home, or is it just sticking our nose in places where it simply doesn’t belong? American Exceptionalism not only includes the pursuit of happiness and the protection of God-given rights for our citizens. It also includes the courage, the ethics, and the leadership to lead a world…during World War II and the threat of communism and nuclear annihilation in the 1980s.”

 

Catch Lenny’s “Starting Point” concerning America’s current role in world affairs on the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel by clicking the picture above or by clicking HERE

 

Never a Wasted Moment Nor a Lost Generation

Those such as Dr. King came from humble beginnings and the toil of Jim Crow to create a new American reality. The same can occur with this generation of youth – even now.

NEW YORK CITY/ PITTSBURGH (July 31, 2014) – (Courtesy Global Grind)

 

“Earlier this week, I had a chance to be witness to something profound for both a family and for my hometown.

 

“It was humbling to see the City of Pittsburgh give a proclamation to one of the men that I looked up to and respected my whole life – Dr. Morris E. Turner, Sr. Sadly, it was given posthumously, accepted on his behalf by those that I have known from my earliest memories.

 

“And, yes, every exercise of recognition, condolence, or celebration that I watch them graciously accept hurts me deeply, seeing the pain of loss that they are dealing with. However, the one thing that keeps me without tears is knowing this: his life was a proclamation – one that is sorely needed as a resonating example in today’s Black America and throughout the nation.

 

“Dr. Turner – son of Barney, GA and a man that improved Pittsburgh – was a member of a “lost generation” of African-Americans. Yet, one look at what he did from such humble beginnings shows why we must forge on. As the kin of 20^th century sharecroppers, he excelled in school past family poverty. As the victim of segregation, he entered college at a very early age, never acting as a “victim”. As a combatant against racism, he became a medical doctor, a professor, a small business owner, and a renowned member of his adoptive city when social mores frowned against this. As an American that Jim Crow cast aside as one of a “lost generation” of poor Black people from the rural south, he proudly and humbly found success and inspired thousands.

 

“Isn’t that the type of one-generational turnaround that we need in today’s urban America, particularly with many of our “lost generation” Black youth?”

 

Read this article in its entirety on Global Grind.com:

 

http://globalgrind.com/2014/07/31/never-a-wasted-moment-nor-a-lost-generation-by-lenny-mcallister-blog/

Same-Sex Marriage: Civil Rights or Religious Oppression (May 30, 2014)

Host Lenny McAllister tackles the question of same-sex marriage as Pennsylvania strikes down its restriction against legal same-sex marriages in Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy Golden Sky Media)

 

“There are so many layers to this issue. For example, is being against gay marriage necessarily being against gay Americans or those living an alternative lifestyle? Is defending traditional, monogamous marriage as a believer…bigotry against others, even in light of the First Amendment, Leviticus, Romans, and Corinthians? Can civil unions be the separate but equal that actually works in America – and should it even be an option considering the 60 year anniversary of striking down another separate but equal ruling? Is saying that gay marriage is the civil rights issue of our times accurate or offensive?”

 

Lenny McAllister tackles this issue during this segment on “NightTalk: Get to the Point” To watch the video, please click the picture above or go here

 

 

 

The McAllister Minute: #BringBackOurGirls (May 14, 2014)

The First Lady echoes the sentiments of millions in response to the crisis caused by Boko Haram in Africa.

 

Catch Lenny’s latest edition of “The McAllister Minute”, found on the American Urban Radio Network by clicking here:

 

http://www.aurn.com/webex.php?itemID=5163&categoryID=

Sorry: Race (Still) Matters…

The more some tell us that we must ignore race in order to beat racism, the more we see that racism continues to infect a weakened America (photo from November 2010 article, Essence Magazine)

NEW YORK CITY/ PITTSBURGH (May 1, 2014) – (Courtesy Global Grind)

 

“I remember having an opportunity to discuss the issue of race in America a few years back as the only (outspoken) political conservative in the room during a recorded conversation for another leading publication. I sat among a fascinating group of accomplished individuals, ones that I differed with in many regards, from life experiences to political perspectives.

 

“Stephen A. Smith. Cheryl Underwood. Ivy League professor and author Dr. Tricia Rose. NAACP President Ben Jealous. Soledad O’Brien. The Rev. Al Sharpton.

 

“Even then, years after the election of the first African-American president of the United States and in the midst of political, economic, and social turbulence in America, there was one thing that we still -sadly – agreed upon:

 

“Race (Still) Matters in America.

 

“Stubborn unemployment disparities between Blacks and Whites – often when the qualifications are similar or the same – will not dissipate without a collective effort to close education and opportunity gaps. Education gaps will not close as long as children of minorities are more incapable statistically of escaping poor schools and generational poverty…And where I hold African-Americans accountable in some regards for our failure at times to maintain a sense of focus, persistence, and togetherness when it comes to taking bold but necessary steps to continue the fight against racism’s legacy in America, I also know that we cannot ignore the reality that this problem is not a matter of just one court decision’s undervaluing of social matters, one rancher’s disconnect with modern-day America, or one businessman’s repugnant viewpoints.

 

“It is clear: we must exude the political courage, the social investment, and the civic and spiritual understanding to confront and defeat one of the prime inhibitors to full American greatness in these modern times. We must embrace the impact that condoning racism or dismissing its entrenched role in many (yet not all) aspects of American life has on our ability to live up to our nation’s highest credos. We must position personal contributions and historic reflection properly in order to right the current course and elevate the current standard. We must accept that the system – although not as broken as it was 50 years ago – is not still functional, meaning that we must sacrifice, act, believe, and progress our nation past the worst of ourselves.”

 

Read this article in its entirety on Global Grind.com:

 

http://globalgrind.com/2014/05/01/sorry-race-still-matters-by-lenny-mcallister/

Affirmative Action: The Fiscally-Conservative Choice and An Inconvenient Truth

There’s a choice conservatives must make on Affirmative Action, one affecting the next 100 years: theoretic principles or pragmatic success

 

NEW YORK CITY/ PITTSBURGH (April 24, 2014) – (Courtesy Global Grind)

 

“Now that the dust has settled from Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action and the University of Michigan’s admissions process – especially as it is being viewed (again) as more of a political statement from a partisan-leaning court than a legal analysis from our highest court – I feel free to speak politically about this controversial legal decision.

 

“I know that this statement (and, thus, this reality) drives many hardcore conservatives nuts. Me saying this statement will elicit more calls that I am a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) or a “spy for the Democrats” that “race-baits”. I’m sure that this admission concerning Affirmative Action will not necessarily help my cache within Republican circles or my bottom line as a political commentator.

 

“That said, I care more about this nation and our future than I do about labels and popularity. So, therefore, here it goes…

 

“Fellow conservatives: whether you choose to admit it or not, affirmative action is the more conservative solution of the two in today’s America when choosing between an avenue for opportunity or a continuation of the economic implosion of our nation.

 

“Education is the gateway to the American Dream for the individual. Education is the weapon of choice in today’s geopolitical environment, one where wars are fought through technology, international trade, and economic pressures before the first bullet is fired. Whether it is through altruistic vision or self-serving patriotism, it is imperative that talents from all corners of our nation are discovered, embraced, and utilized immediately. With the rising costs of higher education and the increased obstacles in place due to the Great Recession, avenues of opportunity are vital to strengthen America to its peak ability at such a critical moment of history… Further, as a conservative, the choice goes past national sovereignty from a geopolitical perspective. America will not survive as a nanny-state country where a growing number of its residents are depending on government for financial support, whether that includes struggling families or businesses alike…If my conservative brethren want to reduce the cost of government and increase the role of the individual in the success of our communities as a whole (e.g., the “smaller government, bigger people” approach I have been noting) while regaining our esteem and prowess internationally, Affirmative Action cannot be hacked away at. It’s a simple choice: “pay” for the inconvenience of Affirmative Action for another 25-35 years (in the shadows of 100 years of Jim Crow policies that followed up the centuries-long institution of slavery) or risk paying for (literally) the devolving of America by way of the growth of the permanent underclass – a combination of economic, healthcare, and community realities often cemented by race.”

 

Read this article in its entirety on Global Grind.com:

http://globalgrind.com/2014/04/24/affirmative-action-the-fiscally-conservative-choice-an-inconvenient-truth-by-lenny-mcallister-blog/