'In The Black': A Financial How-To With African Americans In Mind

AaronW. Smith, a financial planner and author, recently wrote a book "In The Black: Live Faithfully, Prosper Financially" that he said address African Americans in a Christian context, but one need not be of a particular religion or race to benefit from it.

Retirement planning is his overarching theme, and he uses African Americans from all walks of life grappling with retirement issues to illustrate the breadth of challenges faced by individuals today. To guard his clients' privacy he has changed names and biographical details.
"Some of these individuals have been impacted by the income disparity and credit discrimination that impedes financial security for many African Americans," he writes. But not all. What they do have in common is a need for a plan to help them remain financially secure after retirement.
With an estimated 9 million black Baby Boomers preparing to retire and leave the workforce, "Many are panicking about not having enough money to live on for the rest of their lives," Smith writes.Smith's nine steps start with exercises to help you define and prioritize your values then set practical goals. "Our values guide our financial actions," he writes.

He counsels: "Use your good instincts to figure out the best way to teach the art of living beneath one's means." This is significant to pass along. It "can change the lives of future generations." Not just African Americans, but every Americans.

How can "White-Washing" be allowed in 2009?

On December 9th 2008, the lead roles were cast for M Night Shyamalan's upcoming film The Last Airbender and all of them were originally cast as white actors.
The Nickelodeon show "Avatar: The Last Airbender," on which this film is based, featured Asian characters in a fantasy setting inspired and informed by a variety of Asian cultures. The characters fight with East Asian martial arts, have Asian features, dress in clothing from Asian cultures, and write with Chinese characters. The cast and setting were a refreshing departure from predominantly white American media, and were a large part of the show's appeal as well as an inspiration to many Asian American children.
Fans have been up in arms. Not just Avatar fans, but also folks who generally don't like to see racist nonsense perpetuated in the movies. And let's face it, that's what this is.
Up to now, Paramount hasn't done a hell of a lot of the calm the ran rebellion, posting all sorts of ridiculous casting calls and basically ignoring East West Players and MANAA's calls for a more diverse and inclusive cast. Then, of course, there's cast member Jackson Rathbone's idiotic comments about cutting his hair and getting a tan.
The folks at Racebending have set up a YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/racebending) where fans who object to the whitewashed casting of The Last Airbender can post video messages telling producers (and America) why they won't be going to see this movie. They're taking it to the streets! With real, actual people speaking out.
Meanwhile, Viacom (parent company of Paramount), has decided to exercise its supreme authority over the internet universe by shutting down the Racebending.com protest effort's Zazzle store, claiming all but one of the products "contained content in violation of Viacom's intellectual property rights" -- not just images, but words.
So, please do something, voice out your concern and sign the petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/racebend/petition.html

U.S. National Guard Spanish TV Commercial In English Cable Networks

I was watching TV yesterday and started to realize something that really stood out, not necessarily in a positive way from a diversity perspective.
I realized that I don't understand the U.S. National Guard TV ads that was running on USA and LifeTime TV. Because the ads are all in Spanish even though all the programs are in English. I am sure I have not switch channels.
I know I may not be saying something that is politically correct here. But if I am in search of an American Dream, I will think that this dream ought to be in English, rather than in Spanish.
So, what's wrong here??
Is it true that in desparate need to try to grab one specific market, you can alienate the others?
In this specific case for National Guard, I will say "YES". At least for me, the commercial not only is not talking to me or those who don't know Spanish, it actually scare me and my family who are watching TV with me.

We Can All Learn A Few Diversity Lessons From The Starship Enterprise

Since its television beginnings during the racially turbulent 1960s, “Star Trek” and its franchise that followed — 11 films and a record five spinoffs — has been a reflection of creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of a diverse world.
Multiethnic characters, portrayed by an equally diverse cast, have been Starfleet officers and the villains they faced.

We Can All Learn A Few Diversity Lessons rom the Starship Enterprise

We Can All Learn A Few versity lessons from the Starship Enterprise

We Can All Learn A Few dversity lessons from the Starship Enterprise

Hispanic Audience Grows Online

According to comScore, the Hispanic online population is now 11 percent of the total American market and in the last year has significantly outpaced the rest of the market. Hispanic users, tending to be younger, have gravitated to community and entertainment sites.
Despite the gains, which exceed the group’s population growth, Hispanics are still underrepresented online. In July 2007, Hispanics, as the largest minority group, accounted for 15.1 percent of the United States population.
A Scarborough Research report from March corroborated the findings, suggesting that in part because of the group’s high percentage of 18-to-34-year-olds, Hispanic adults are 21 percent more likely to download media content online than American adults in general, and use advanced features on cellphones at higher rates. Even compared with overall youth demographics, “there’s more of a skew” toward community and entertainment sites among Hispanics.

DiversityInc.com - Surprising New Statistics On Asians In The U.S.

DiversityInc.com released an article on Asian Americans based on newsly released Census data.
I was really intrigued by the headline "Surprising New Statistics ...", yet when I read the article, there were nothing surprising if you really know the multicultural market. I was a bit disappointed because I expect more from an organization who pride itself for its knowlege on diversity. Maybe it's purposely written for those who have no idea about Asian Americans. Anyway, here're the highlights:
- There are 15.2 million Asian Americans living in the United States. Asian Americans make up 5 percent of the U.S. population
- The Asian-American population grew 2.9 percent between 2006 and 2007
- Nearly one-third of Asian Americans living in the United States reside in California, making it the state with the largest Asian-American population, with the largest numerical increase from 2006 to 2007. New York has the second-largest Asian-American population
- Asian Americans make up 55 percent of Hawaii's population. Asian Americans make up 14 percent of California's population and 8 percent of New Jersey's and Washington state's populations
- Asians are the largest racial group in Hawaii and Vermont
- Chinese Americans are the largest Asian American group, at 3.5 million. Filipinos are the second-largest Asian group at 3 million, followed by Koreans (1.6 million) and Japanese (1.2 million)
And I bet the real underlying reason for writing this article is because of the "Asian Pacific American Heritage Month"!