While conducting research on Michael Vick’s latest act of judgment, or the lack thereof, I found topics of news stories contradictory in nature.

First, there were reports that the NFL is going to punish him for the results of his latest party.  Then, there were the stories of why he should be in Philadelphia.  All of the reports I read were written between July 1st and July 18th.

What are these contradictory reports saying to the young people keeping up with Vick’s stories?  In my opinion, it’s telling them that it’s OK for athletes to get into trouble because they are probably still going to have a job anyway.  Nice paying jobs.  And,they can pay their way out of trouble.

Hell, what is it saying to Vick?  This dude has already been in trouble, served his time, and is wrapped up in mess again.

I have three thoughts or questions about Mr. Vick:

1. Why would he throw a public admission party? I’m questioning his ability to think rationally.
2. What type of people does he has in his life that would allow him to throw such a party knowing that his name is already tarnished?  These are not real friends.
3. Why is Vick not willing to let his past go?  This is the root of all his evil.
4. When will this guy learn?

These are just my thoughts on Michael Vick.  I’m not hating on this man by any means.  However, I do have a problem with the contradictory messages that are being sent to young people as a result of his bad judgment and his continuing career.

I don’t want him fired because he has to eat, but he also needs to know that insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.  As long as Vick continues to hang around the same people he did prior to the NFL, and think the same way he did in his early years, his name is going to continue to be associated with mess.

When is he going to learn?

Double Standard in Speech

Why are black people who speak on obvious racial differences considered militant? Yet white people who speak their ignorance of racial differences (on so many levels) are practicing freedom of speech.

Double Standard in Speech & Race

It is my opinion that no matter how educated, how cultured or how well spoken a black person is, he or she will always be considered a nigger or Negro to the white people who control America as evidenced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. According to Mr. Reid, President Obama had a good chance for his current  position because he is a “light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”  (And Negro is so 1960s, by the way.)

Would the statement about President Obama’s “dialect” had been made if Obama was not African American?

Did anybody say anything about former Prez. George Dub-ya’s inability to construct, let alone speak, an intelligent sentence in any dialect?

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Before any of the federal agencies come after me for this blog post, please note that I am not into politics; I can just spot bulls**t when I see or hear it.  And  if you are employed by the government, I am certain that you feel it more than I do.

America is chock full of double standards.

We’re the land of the free, yet slavery existed for over 400 years.  In Arizona, Latinos have to present proof that they are legal residents of the United States.

Being a country lead by men, women still cannot do what the opposite sex can do based on their lower status in society.

Non-white people can pretty much forget about justice in this country.

Unless you have lots of money, your best bet is to stay out of the legal system regardless of your color.

Why am I on this topic?  Because the playing field in American society will NEVER be even no matter how much people accomplish and progress.  The media play a major role in making sure that white people maintain their “superior” status in society by portraying all other races, nationalities, and colors “less than.”  This is done through misrepresentation, under-representation, or no representation.

Don’t believe me?  Read The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki.

The authors reported on page 53 that “the continued power of prototypical thinking that considers whites the normal, and prototypical, human.”  They gave the example of how Time and Newsweek magazines used anonymous white images for their cover topics.  There were a total of 30 such covers over a three year period. The only black people that made the covers during this period were famous – Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey.

Television is horrible.  Just look at all of the reports about crimes in black communities on network news.  All black people are not bad.  However, anybody watching network news would get that impression.  The tragedy of the situation is that the negative images are all viewers have to go on because there are very few positive images about black people – period.  There are even fewer stories about bad things happening in non-black communities.

And “urban” radio is the devil’s playground with all of the songs about sexual acts, violence and disrespect to women.  They don’t have all of that on other stations.  I don’t listen to those stations, but I know women are not disrespected on that level, if at all.

To close, I just wanted to share my thoughts about the double standards in America.  Unfortunately, media portrayals do not help at all.  They create divisions instead of understanding.  While these topics may not be discussed on mainstream media, you can voice your thoughts about double standards in America here on As NOT Seen on TV.

I have yet to run across the progressive African Americans that made it to the World’s Fair in history books (I’m still in my early stages).  However, Ethel Worthington, the Great Aunt of artistic genius, Kenneth Worthington,was the first black woman to display art at the Columbia Exposition.  This artist and photographer made fine China.  She did everything from start to finish – fired it; glazed it; and painted it.  That’s talent!

Here is Ms. Ethel featured on the front page of the Pullman Porter’s Review in October of 1916. She went on to sell and display art work at Chicago Marshall Fields Store on State Street in Chicago.

In my previous post Lack of Black in Chicago 1893… or Chicago 2016, I shared that black people were not allowed or welcomed at the 1893 World’s Fair.  That wasn’t totally true.  Generally speaking, that was consensus.  There were a couple exceptions.

Some African Americans were invited because they represented stereotypes, not progress, in the black race.  Nancy Green was one such person.  This 57-year-old former slave was hired to become a live advertisement for Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix.  You’re probably thinking, “What’s wrong with that?  At least she’s working.”  On the surface, that may seem like a positive thing.  However, her image was that of a stereotypical plantation mammy with her large jovial size and bandanna.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, she entertained audiences by telling stories of plantation life while flipping pancakes.

The authors of The Reason Why the Colored American is not in The World’s Columbian Exposition noted that Ms. Green’s performance was a hit.  This is not surprising.  Historically speaking, black people have been sources of entertainment and mockery for white people.  Nothing much has changed.  Today, many of the shows starring black people are comedies or the characters are in low-wage or stereotypical roles.  The positive, progression ones are totally exceptions.  However, I will give credit to the media for trying to do a little better.  Just a little bit.

Anyway, I did a little research after reading about Nancy Green, and learned that Aunt Jemima was brought alive once again at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. “They hired Anna Robinson, described as a large, gregarious woman with the face of an angel. She traveled the country promoting Aunt Jemima until her death in 1951.” Still, the mammy image lived on.

The company did not change the mammy image until 1989 which was over 100 years after bringing Aunt Jemima to life.  The bandana was replaced with pearl earrings and a more respectable appearance.  I contacted the company to find out why it took over 100 years to change the image; they have yet to get back to me.

There were Black people at the fair. Unfortunately, those hired for entertainment purposes and not progress were the norm rather than the exception.

I was sharing information about my blog post, Lack of Black at Chicago’s World’s Fair in 1893…and Chicago 2016, with a buddy and had the following thought.

Washington Park is not very far from Jackson Park, the location of the 1893 World’s Fair.  Do you think Mayor Daley and his crew was trying to re-create White City on the South Side all over again?

White City was another name for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition based  on the materials used to construct the buildings.  However, White City was a double entredre.  While it really refered to the materials of the buildings; it became known for the preferred color of the planning committee, staff, and attendees.

Anyway, my answer would be YES.

With the gentrification going on in some of the poorer communities which tend to be home to minorities, and some of the more not-so-obvious things happening, I am certain there is a plan in place to change the color of the South Side. Planning the Olympics would have just made it whiter much faster.

These topics and more would never be seen or discussed on TV.

Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority is officially my second favorite book.  Tom Burrell is a Marketing Communications expert; therefore, he knows first hand about the power of images and messages.  I am totally mesmerized by what I’ve read so far, and I just got into the first chapter.  I’m loving this book for several reasons.

First, it discusses the different ways African Americans are being told that they are inferior.  Apparently, these messages started during slave days, and people today are still receiving these messages.  But the reception is quite different.  In fact, technology is creating more advanced ways to instill messages of inferiority.

Second, it is giving me oodles of materials for As NOT Seen on TV.  Thanks Tom!

Lastly, it is actually giving me the courage to speak on this topic which is why I created As Not Seen on TV.  While it is my goal was to highlight media practices, I now have a place to start with consistent topics.  It is also my prayer to get people of different cultures, genders, religions, etc. to provide accurate information about images and messages shared by the media.

At some point, I will be comparing information shared in Brainwashed with The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson.

Know what that means? I should be a freakin’ genius by the time I’m done.  Also, I hope  to be reprogrammed from messages I’ve digest before the end of the year.  It’s going to be a challenge to undo what has taken over 30 years to do, but I’m on a mission to make it happen.

Check out Brainwaished by Tom Burrell today!  It will blow your mind while changing your mind (hopefully.)

From Marcie Hill: This story is being re-published with a few revisions because it is a topic that is really on my heart right now.

I am going to go on a limb here to discuss something that we will probably NEVER see on TV – the cost of educating a child versus the cost to incarcerate one in Chicago and Illinois. All of the research I conducted for this story was done in 2008, so some of the information may be a little outdated. The information was obtained from the Chicago Public Schools and Illinois Department of Corrections.

Chicago High School Students

During the FY 2007-2008, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) spent $10,555 operating expenditure per pupil and $9,488 per capital tuition. While I don’t fully understand the per capita tuition (although I could ask), this $10,000 pales in comparison to the money Illinois state spends on juvenile detention.

Things to keep in mind as you read:
1. The average age of detained youth in Illinois is between 16 and 17 years of age.
2. Some of the facilities are overcrowded.
3. With all of the money that is being spent, is correction really going on?

Illinois Youth Center Chicago
Opened: July 1999
Capacity: 130
Level 3: Minimum-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 104
Total Average Daily Population: 104
Average Age: 17
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $76,095.00

IYC-Chicago is located on the west side of the city and is a leased property that occupies the third floor of a rehabbed warehouse building. The facility houses approximately 100 male youth per day. There are approximately 97 employees at the center. The institution also serves as a drop-off center for all juvenile parole violators in District 1. Transitional programming has been supplemented by federal grants that will allow the facility to contract for re-entry services. These services assist youth in their return and progress back into the community. Violence intervention programs have included Schwab “In My Shoes” presentations that discuss the impact of gang activity. Former gang members confined to wheelchairs as a result of gang-related gunfire talk to youth about their lives before and after tragic life-altering incidents in an effort to warn youth about their high-risk lifestyles.

Illinois Youth Center Harrisburg
Opened: July 1983
Capacity: 276
Level 4: Multiple-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 316
Total Average Daily Population: 316
Average Age: 17
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $52,545.00
Overcrowded

Illinois Youth Center-Harrisburg serves as one of the secure medium-security Level 2 institutions for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice currently housing an average daily population of 326 male offenders. IYC-Harrisburg provides a broad range of services to youth incarcerated at the facility. These services include remedial, secondary and college level education courses, a GED program, library services, vocational training, guidance and work training programs. Diagnostic and evaluative services and special education programs are also provided.

Illinois Youth Center Joliet
Opened: April 1959
Capacity: 344
Level 1: Maximum-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 230
Total Average Daily Population: 230
Average Age: 17
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $56,351.00

The Illinois Youth Center-Joliet remains focused on providing a safe and secure working and living environment for all staff and youth. As today’s society experiences increases in violent behavior, chemical dependency and a failure of our traditional institution to adequately guide young people, youths come to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice with a greater history of violence and an increased need for intervention. Youth who obtain their GED are given specific job assignments. Youth are enrolled in school immediately upon arrival to the facility.

Illinois Youth Center Kewanee
Opened: November 2001
Capacity: 180
Level 2: Medium-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 260
Total Average Daily Population: 260
Average Age: 17
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $96,087.00
Overcrowded

Opened in November 2001, Illinois Youth Center-Kewanee is a secure medium-security facility that houses youthful male offenders. IYC-Kewanee has five 60-cell housing units. The facility includes a Medical Unit with six infirmary beds, eight crisis cells. The Education Department has 18 general education classrooms and three vocational classrooms. IYC-Kewanee is designated as a special treatment facility, focusing on treatment for youth with severe mental health issues, substance abuse problems and sex offenders. A wide range of intensive treatment programs are in place to address these issues, including psychiatric, medical care and counseling services provided 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Academic, vocational, recreational, religious and volunteer programs support these services.

Illinois Youth Center Murphysboro
Opened: April 1997
Capacity: 156
Level 2: Medium-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 75
Total Average Daily Population: 75
Average Age: 17
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $84,403.00

As IYC-Murphysboro is the state’s only juvenile boot camp, its mission remains clear: to prepare youth for positive, successful lives by developing self-discipline, teamwork, self-esteem and self-worth as individuals. To accomplish this, staff consistently strives to provide a military-style environment that encourages cadets to reach a higher point in their lives. Cadets begin the eye-opening experience of participating in the boot camp program at 5:30 a.m. each morning and continue the fully programmed day until 9 p.m., seven days a week. It takes many staff, volunteers and mentors to fill those 16-hour days. Education continues to be central to all programming at IYC-Murphysboro.

Illinois Youth Center Pere Marquette
Opened: March 1963
Level 3: Minimum-Security Juvenile Female

IYC- Pere Marquette is a level three, medium security female facility with an open campus. IYC-Pere Marquette is the first juvenile facility totally dedicated to a modified therapeutic community treatment model, with a focus on regionalizing admissions based on commitment county. IYC-Pere Marquette does not house any special offender population. Youth benefit from more intense intervention and treatment-oriented programming that will ensure them an opportunity for a structured and disciplined setting to educate them in positive life building skills.

Illinois Youth Center St. Charles
Opened: December 1904
Capacity: 318
Level 2: Medium-Security Juvenile Male
Average Daily Population: 328
Total Average Daily Population: 328
Average Age: 16
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $56,163.00
Overcrowded

The Illinois Youth Center-St. Charles is a Level 2 medium-security facility. It is unique as an institution because in addition to the general population program, the facility processes the majority of all male offenders committed to IDOC. The type of offender assigned to this facility may have an overall designation of high, medium or low escape risk. He will be classified as either high or medium security risk based on his committing offense and criminal history, size, age, level of aggressiveness and security threat group (STG) orientation. Offenders with all classes of crimes are assigned here.

Illinois Youth Center Warrenville
Opened: January 1973
Capacity: 86
Level 4: Multiple-Security Juvenile Female
Average Daily Population: 78
Total Average Daily Population: 78
Average Age: 16
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $80,365.00

IYC-Warrenville serves a juvenile female population with multi-service needs. The center provides GED and high school diploma academic services, an in-patient substance abuse treatment program, vocational programs, mental health services, medical services, clinical services, leisure time activities, parenting education, assessments and family reunification programming. The average age of the juvenile females at the center is 16.3 years.

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As you can see, millions of dollars are spent on incarcerating instead of educating children in Chicago and Illinois.  If a fraction of the money that was spent on locking up a child was used to effectively educate, this article would not had been written.  But, since the education system is set up to fail our children, the incarceration rate will continue to grow along with profits of the prison system.  This is a topic that would probably never be seen on TV.

I did a Google search for sex to find images for a story for another blog. Why were there no black people??  WTF??

I was not looking for sexual intercourse, I was looking for images similar to the ones below.

What?  Black people are not capable of real intimacy? Or, is it assumed that we are hyper-sexual individuals?  Or, do they not look at us as human beings when it comes to sex?

Whatever.  Let me go to my story about 30-Something Married 10 Years or More to find real couples’ stories about partnerships and real intimacy.

Credits: The following images were obtained from a Google image search

At the Tracing the Civil Right Movement 1848 – 1968 exhibit at The DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, there is a photo of a black male slave performing for white soldiers.  Essentially, he was their entertainment; probably not by choice.

As I saw this exhibit, I had to wonder: is this how media conglomerates and white audiences view black people today? Not as real people with real problems and feelings; but as entertainment and amusement?

I ask this because when I do watch television, there are very few black people on my screen. (I feel that all minorities are under-represented by the media, but I’m not of those races and ethnicities, and therefore cannot speak for them).  However, when African Americans are shown, they are in the most stereotypical and horrible roles.

Contrary to what is seen on TV, we are real people with real problems and feelings.  Almost all shows starring African Americans are comedies, even when story lines contain serious issues.  WTF?  Do they not think we are capable of good dramas that do not include stereotypical messages and portrayals?  Can black people live “normal” (whatever that means) lives on TV and in movies?  Can there not be hip hop music and booty shaking in the background to make people think that we are all musically inclined?  And, we are all not “ghetto”;  we are all not poor; and we do have morals and values.

Another interesting observation about media practices is that when they attempts to show African Americans in a positive light, underlying messages are almost always negative or stereotypical.  I don’t have any examples right now, but I’ll be sure to share when I see them.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my wonderment on how media conglomerates and white audiences view black people today.  Do they see us as real people with real problems and feelings or as entertainment and amusement?