Zuma Retains ANC Leadership

Jacob Zuma re-elected head of ANC

Jacob Zuma

South Africa's populist but often criticized president has been re-elected head of the ruling party, which makes him likely to win another term as the nation's leader in 2014. Delegates of the African National Congress voted overwhelmingly for five more years of Jacob Zuma.  Read more here:  http://www.voanews.com/content/south-africas-zuma-retains-anc-leadership/1567060.html

I'm Black and I'm Proud...Racial Pride in the African-American Community

"Our study provides empirical evidence that the longstanding practice in the African American community of cultivating racial pride and preparing children to face racial bias in society should be considered among appropriate and beneficial practices in parenting Black children"  
Ming-Te Wang

I've been working on leadership development curriculum that includes identity development, specifically racial identity development in youth. As a precursor to this, I plan to launch a racial identity series here on this blog in the spring.

Interesting enough, I ran across an article today online published on medicalxpress.com, "Can instilling racial pride in black teens lead to better educational outcomes?" The article talks about a University of Pittsburgh study published this fall in the journal Child Development. Titled "Parental Racial Socialization as a Moderator of the Effects of Racial Discrimination on Educational Success Among African American Adolescents," the research article shows that when African American parents use racial socialization—talking to their children or engaging in activities that promote feelings of racial knowledge, pride, and connection—it offsets racial discrimination's potentially negative impact on students' academic development. They plan to carry out the same study among Latino and Asian communities as well. Read the entire article here: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-instilling-racial-pride-black-teens.html

John Mahama declared winners of Ghana's Presidential Election

John Mahama, President of Ghana

Today's Ghana election results were announced.  John Mahama was declared the President of Ghana  Mahama took office in July after the unexpected death of President John Atta Mills.

John Dramani Mahama (/məˈhɑːmə/; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who has been President of Ghana since July 2012. He was the Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012, and he took office as President on 24 July 2012 following the death of his predecessor, President John Atta Mills. He was re-elected in December 2012 following an election tainted by opposition claims of widespread fraud on the part of the Election Commission. A respected communications expert, historian, and writer, Mahama was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2009 and Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001.

John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills

John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician, a legal scholar and a tax expert who was President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the ruling party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2008 election. He was vice-president from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry Rawlings, and stood unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He is the first Ghanaian Head of State to die in office.






http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20661599
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=258960

Official election results from ghanaweb.com:

African-American Voters...More Than a Fluke

“In 2008, for the first time in our history, African Americans voted at the same rate as white voters. We spent the next four years hearing that that high turnout was a fluke. “Experts” told us we would lose our enthusiasm. We’d be daunted by new voting laws. We’d want to protest marriage equality. We’d think our votes don’t count.

Those “experts” were wrong. African Americans turned out to vote in record numbers on Election Day, many of us waiting in long lines and going through plenty of red tape to do so.”

Read the entire article here: http://flaglerlive.com/47602/black-turnout/


Watch Dick Morris' explanation (about 1 min 45 sec in the video) on how demographics have changed...Oh and Jon Stewart's take on Morris is comical as well...

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It seems that many of the conservative responses to why the President won this election was not that people voted, but that now their vote matters because demographics have permanently changed?

What do you think?

I personally spoke with several young African-Americans who were eligible to vote for the first time and and voted and realized how their vote mattered.  The fact is, people gave their lives for the right to vote for all Americans and it would be foolish to waste it.  Now if we can extend this imperative to vote to the interim elections as well.

Congratulations President Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

 
Today we congratulation President Barack Obama on winning a second presidential term.  Our prayers go up to God to provide wisdom, clarity, strength and protection for him and his family.