Black Folkz Think!

BFT Discussion: Black Folks Raise Your Kids So That They Don't Do This

2010-07-28T12:33:00.001-07:00

BFT Family Member, Mr. Stax shared a youtube video on the BFT Fan Page on Facebook. I checked the video out and it is appalling. Dads, more than ever, it is time you step back in to your children's lives. Your children need your love and wisdom. Mamas...it is time to be good role models. I am not talking to all parents but I am talking to the ones letting their children self-destruct. We can't be too proud to ask for help in raising our youth. You remember that saying "It takes village to raise your kids"? We need to adopt that philosphy again, at least in my opinion.

The video below shows nudity and strong language. I am so appalled at these girls and the people who are putting on this video. Please invest in your children by showing them there is another way. Show them that there is a whole world out there and that they don't have to use sex to get what they want because when they get the material thing they are seeking, it is temporary. They may also get something that is permanent like AIDS, which is something that they can get rid of. Then what? What will they do? Life is about decisions. If you are not educated or open to new possibilities, then it will show in the decisions that you make. Trust me...I have been there and still going through that.

BFT Books: New Book From Mary B. Morrison Hitting Bookshelves on 7/27/10

2010-07-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

BFT Remembers: Al Goodman of Ray, Goodman and Brown

2010-07-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that group member Al Goodman of the legendary Ray, Goodman and Brown has died on July 26, 2010. At press time, the cause of death has not been determined.

Goodman was also part of the group The Moments where the song "Love on a Two Way Street". As part of Ray, Goodman and Brown, he made such hits as "Special Lady" and "Take it to Limit". Al Goodman and his talents will be truly misssed.

BFT Sports: Terrell Owens Is Going To the Bengals

2010-07-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

BFT Music Spotlight: "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Kem

2010-07-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

BFT Music Spotlight: What's Not To Love" by Dwele

2010-07-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

President Obama Will Appear On The View As The First Sitting President On A Daytime Talk Show

2010-07-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

BFT Bookshelf: Message From A Mistess By Niobia Bryant

2010-07-26T14:07:00.001-07:00

Smokey Fontaine: On The Road- Louisiana

2010-07-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Smokey Fontaine goes On The Road to Louisiana to explore African-American life post the spill for NewsOne.com.

BFT Discussion: Is America Ready To Discuss Racism In America?

2010-07-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

After reviewing this clip and countless other clips and watching the news, is it time to discuss racism again here in the United States? Is the definition of racism being blurred? Does everyone understand what racism really is? What are your thoughts on all of this?

BFT Salutes: Deonte Bridges

2010-07-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

Deonte Bridges moved the audience with his Valedictorian speech before fellow graduates, faculty, staff and parents at Booker T. Washington High School's graduation ceremony on May 28, 2010, at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center

Below Booker T. Washington graduate Deonte Bridges discusses how his valedictorian speech became a YouTube sensation.

BFT Remembers: "Roc" Star Carl Gordon

2010-07-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

We have recently learned that actor Carl Gordon passed away at his home in Jetersville, VA at the age of 78. It is reported in the New York Times that Gordon died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Below is part of the New York Times article on Gordon:

To television viewers, Mr. Gordon was best known as the patriarch on “Roc,” a situation comedy about a working-class black family in Baltimore, broadcast on the Fox network for three seasons starting in 1991. In a highly unusual move, Seasons 2 and 3 were televised live, an approach to sitcoms that had been attempted rarely if at all since the 1950s.

The show starred Charles S. Dutton as Roc Emerson, a sanitation worker, and Mr. Gordon as his proud, irascible father, Andrew. So proud was Andrew Emerson that he seeded the family home with pictures of Malcolm X and maintained that a certain member of the Boston Celtics was far too good a basketball player to be a white man:

“Larry Bird was born and bred in Harlem,” Andrew declared in one episode. “His real name is Abdul Mustafa.”

On Broadway, Mr. Gordon originated the part of Doaker, the upright uncle in “The Piano Lesson” (1990), by August Wilson, one of two Pulitzer Prize-winning installments in the playwright’s 10-part cycle about black life. He reprised the role in the television adaptation, broadcast on CBS in 1995.

Rufus Carl Gordon Jr. was born on Jan. 20, 1932, in Goochland, Va.; he later jettisoned the “Rufus.” When he was a child his family moved to Brooklyn, where he grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. As a young man he spent four years in the Air Force, serving as an airplane mechanic during the Korean War.

Afterward, Mr. Gordon attended Brooklyn College but left to work before graduating. By his late 30s he had reached a low point. He was twice divorced and seemed consigned to unfulfilling jobs, including sheet-metal worker and department store stockroom clerk.

One night, as he recounted in interviews afterward, Mr. Gordon fell to his knees, weeping. “Lord, tell me what I need to do,” he said. From somewhere within him, an answer arose: “Try acting.”

To Mr. Gordon, the idea seemed preposterous: he had never considered acting and had barely been to the theater. But who was he to question the Lord? Before long, he had enrolled in the Gene Frankel Theater Workshop.

There, as The New York Times later wrote, Mr. Gordon was the oldest student, the only African-American and the only one without a college degree. But little by little, audition by audition, he built a career.

Mr. Gordon’s other screen work includes the film “The Brother From Another Planet” (1984), directed by John Sayles, and guest roles on “Law & Order” and “ER.”

Among his other Broadway credits are the musical “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” (1971), with book, music and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles, and a 2003 revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” by Mr. Wilson, starring Mr. Dutton and Whoopi Goldberg. He also appeared in many productions by the Negro Ensemble Company.

Mr. Gordon is survived by his third wife, Jacqueline Alston-Gordon; a son, Rufus Carl III; five daughters, Gloria Gurley and Candise, Demethress, Yvette and Jasmine Gordon; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

When “Roc” went live, interviewers asked Mr. ordon and his cast mates if they were daunted by the prospect. Not at all, they said, for most, like him, were veterans of the stage.

“It feels good,” Mr. Gordon told The Chicago Sun-Times in 1992. “It’s like going back to Broadway.”

President Obama's Weekly Address: Moving Forward On The Economy Vs. Moving Backward

2010-07-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

BFT Gospel Music: He Saw The Best In Me by Marvin Sapp is #1 On The Billboard Charts

2010-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

BFT Music Spotlight: There Goes My Baby by Usher Is #1 on Billboard R&B Chart

2010-07-21T22:38:00.001-07:00

BFT News: What Wall Street Reform Means For You

2010-07-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

BFT News: Black Farmers Still Waiting for $1.2 Billion Dollar Settlement

2010-07-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Fatherhood: A Promise to WINTER

2010-07-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

BFT Comedy: Mike Epps To Launch New Series

2010-07-19T23:57:00.000-07:00

Comedian Derrick Ellis' New Book

2010-07-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

Brothers Gonna Work It Out by Morpheus

2010-07-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

BFT Discussion: Do Guys Prefer Skinny Women vs. Chubby Women?

2010-07-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Do guys prefer skinny women vs. chubby women?

Below is Paul Carrick Brunson's response from One Degree From Me:

President Obama on BP Oil Spill Situation

2010-07-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

President Obama's Weekly Address: Filibustering Recovery & Obstructing Progress

2010-07-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Shanel Cooper-Sykes: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

2010-07-18T13:45:00.000-07:00