Community Awareness for Change Conference

President Obama

This Thursday, President Obama will be coming to speak in College Park, MD. Following his major address on health reform to Congress last week, we're at an important turning point in our push for real reform, and it's critical that we seize this moment.

So we're inviting folks like you to come and support him. Please join us -- here are the details:

What: Health Reform Rally with President Obama

Where: Comcast Center

1 Terrapin Trail

College Park, MD 20742

When: Thursday, September 17th

Doors Open: 9:00 a.m.

Start Time: 11:00 a.m.

Last fall, when Swiftboaters and special interests attacked President Obama, folks like you came to his defense. We knocked on doors, talked to neighbors, and made our voices heard.

Now, we need to do it again. This time, he's under attack by Washington insiders, insurance companies, and well-financed special interests who don't go a day without spreading lies and stirring up fear. We need to show that we're sick and tired of it, and that we're ready for real change, this year.

Join us on Thursday to stand up for President Obama and publicly show your support for the big changes that the President is fighting for and that this country needs.

Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis, so please arrive as early as possible.

'Roxanne's Revenge'

Rapper behind 'Roxanne's Revenge' gets Warner Music to pay for Ph.D

BY WALTER DAWKINS - nydailynews.com

Roxanne Shante was a young rap star. When the music stopped, she didn't miss a beat.

Roxanne's revenge was sweet indeed.

Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. - financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal.

"This is a story that needs to be told," Shante said. "I'm an example that you can be a teenage mom, come from the projects, and be raised by a single parent, and you can still come out of it a doctor."

Her prognosis wasn't as bright in the years after the '80s icon scored a smash hit at age 14: "Roxanne's Revenge," a razor-tongued response to rap group UTFO's mega-hit "Roxanne, Roxanne."

The 1984 single sold 250,000 copies in New York City alone, making Shante (born Lolita Gooden) hip hop's first female celebrity.

She blazed a trail followed by Lil' Kim, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah - although Shante didn't share their success.

After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered.

"Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies," she said. "And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking."

But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life.

She eventually cashed in, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 - all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle.

"They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn't have an exact reason why they were telling me no," Shante said.

She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college. The company declined to comment for this story.

Shante found an arm-twisting ally in Marguerita Grecco, the dean at Marymount Manhattan College. Shante showed her the contract, and the dean let her attend classes for free while pursuing the money.

"I told Dean Grecco that either I'm going to go here or go to the streets, so I need your help," Shante recalls. "She said, 'We're going to make them pay for this.'"

Grecco submitted and resubmitted the bills to the label, which finally agreed to honor the contract when Shante threatened to go public with the story.

Shante earned her doctorate in 2001, and launched an unconventional therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans - a group traditionally reluctant to seek mental health help.

"People put such a taboo on therapy, they feel it means they're going crazy," she explained. "No, it doesn't. It just means you need someone else to talk to."

Shante often incorporates hip-hop music into her sessions, encouraging her clients to unleash their inner MC and shout out exactly what's on their mind.

"They can't really let loose and enjoy life," she said. "So I just let them unlock those doors."

Shante, 38, is also active in the community. She offers $5,000 college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the nonprofit Hip Hop Association.

She also dispenses advice to young women in the music business via a MySpace page.

"I call it a warning service, so their dreams don't turn into nightmares," she said.

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Shante is a shining role model for the rap community. "Dr. Shante's life is inspiring," Simmons said. "She was a go-getter who rose from the struggle and went from hustling to teaching. She is a prime example that you can do anything, and everything is possible."

TOGETHER WE CAN

...."We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly...I can never be what I ought to be unless you are what you ought to be." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ******************************************

Learn more here - JUSTICE FOR ALL

http://www.ronsworldlife.com/

or, Create a Petition

Change.org

PLEASE COPY AND POST TO YOUR FRIENDS

TOGETHER WE CAN

PRAYING FOR THE FIELD OF EDUCATION IN U.S. SCHOOLS

It is incredible to learn that there are actually people in this country who have played into the wiles of Evil who have wrongfully accused President Obama of an inappropriate speech even BEFORE the speech had been made to American Schools. What I want to know is how can someone accuse another person of intending so say something BEFORE he has been able to say it. This sounds not only UnAmerican, and Un-Christian, but also un-intelligent and unfair. Some odeous people were ranting, crying, and shouting they would be removing their children from school -- which is always their right. Just go on and do it quietly and keep the foul stench of ignorance and unrighteousness to yourself, I say. Cacausian Presidents -- many before this African-American President == have spoken to America's students without fury. African-American's never have accused them of intended racism, nor socialism; so why are Cacausian's accusing this president of socialism and worse: politicism. Not one of them has been "forced" to display their entire speech in the press to convince the public that what they are saying is only words of encouragement. No fairly elected American President should have to go through that. But I commend our President that he has the humility to go on and do so to quell the evil-nature of the beast we are being confronted with. The rouse that a lesson plan that asks students to write how they would help the President is malicious. As a former teacher who assigned such topics (though usually students had their own options in my class), this is not only innocuous, but typical; and that it really is a question of how would students desire to help the country regardless of who the sitting president happens to be. It is similar to JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country", which was universally considered a highly patriotic statement.

What is more, we are hearing about a minister in his parish in Arizona who has openly said to his congregation that he wants President Obama dead and for his children to be fatherless. This is coming from a man who is supposedly "of the Cloth." Following that, one of his parishioners was seen at a Congressional meeting carrying an automatic rifle. What is this world coming to?!?!?!?!?!!! What are we teaching our children from our actions and words as parents, church, and community. The field of education must help our children make sense of all of this. Not by teaching politics, but in teaching intelligence, and how to read and think for themselves properly. . That is really the basis of it all.

Again, I beg of people all over this country to pray also against the Evil that is being dispersed through distractors and detractors in this country who are crying out against President Obama with false allegations, against a man who is in the uppermost position our nation, who only wants to encourage our nation's students to study and do well in school. So again, I ask the members of this site to come together in prayer in support of the person that God has allowed to be put in charge of this country at this moment in time. I have just heard a newscast that reports former First Lady Laura Bush has spoken out saying that she thinks President Obama is doing a good job, and is praising First Lady Michelle. I give her high commendations for this objective, Christian-like response of speaking out amid the evil-mongering of the Right, including those who are ill-advised of her own party. We need more Christians to speak out in righteous indignation against the discord that is going on through both parties in this country.

So I pray: Lord, God, help this nation to avert the tragedy of racism and divisiveness. Too many of us who believe in God and this nation's democratic principles are silent, when we should be either speaking out in grace and peace or in open prayer. Father, we all need Thee now more than ever! Show us the way for Thy Peace, Joy and Praise to exist righteously among the people of this land. Not arguing aimlessly in ignorance. We all need to study to show ourselves approved, workmen worthy in Thy sight. Father, help more of us who follow Thee rightly to have the courage to speak up and speak out in a peaceful, judicious manner against the evils that so easily beset us. For we know Thou are the God of Peace and not Confusion. Lord, we love Thee, we honor Thee and we adore Thee. And we will praise Thy name forever. Amen.

Come and help

Happy Monday!

Please join us at the DNC this week as we continue to phone bank for healthcare during this last, critical push!

TUESDAY: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpk434
WEDNESDAY: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpk43g
THURSDAY: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpk43l

We look forward to seeing you!
Thanks,
GB

GenerationObama-WashingtonDC