EthnicMajority

(Wall Street Journal) The Chinese-American rapper, best known to U.S. hip-hop fans for his freestyle contest wins on BET that led to a deal with the Ruff Ryders record label in 2001, has always specialized in a style of rap that showcases clever wordplay—in English.

Two years after he moved to Hong Kong, the city his parents left for the U.S., Jin’s rhyming skills in Chinese are improving steadily, he has a fresh concept album with a Singaporean hitmaker out this summer and he’s building a burgeoning acting career, with a prominent role in a film about the early life of Bruce Lee due out in November.

The 28-year-old Jin, whose full name is Jin Ah-Yeung, was born in Miami and as a teenager moved to New York, where his rap career blossomed after he won seven straight Freestyle Friday competitions on BET’s “106 & Park,” putting him in the show’s Hall of Fame. He won crowds over not just with quick, clever rhymes but also with blunt, irreverent nods to his race—a novelty his opponents frequently mocked.

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(NewsBusters) If you thought media coverage of the Aug. 28 “Restoring Honor” rally hosted in Washington D.C. by Fox News host Glenn Beck seemed like just another attack on conservatives, you’re not alone. As noted by the Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher, much of the coverage had a common thread: describing the crowd as “overwhelmingly white.”

While the term was certainly used in coverage of Beck’s rally, it’s not a new label. “Overwhelmingly white” is a prime example of the media’s groupthink on Beck, Tea Parties, and the conservative movement in general. Virtually every major “mainstream” media outlet has used the phrase in just the past year to describe conservative events.

But even as the media criticize Tea Party and other conservative rallies for an apparent lack of diversity, they struggle to bring minority voices into their own operations.

All three broadcast networks have described the Tea Parties as “overwhelmingly white.” So have CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the Agence France Presse, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Journal and US News & World Report. Many of those organizations are the very ones the news industry discusses as having failed to make diversity goals for staff.

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(Washington Post) Antoine Dodson’s angry, head-shaking TV interview about an attempted rape against his younger sister in her bed has turned into a chart-topping iTunes song and YouTube hit and made the 24-year-old Alabama college student an Internet sensation.

“So y’all need to hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband, ’cause they raping everybody out here,” the song’s catchy refrain goes.

Dodson plans to use the money from the “Bed Intruder Song” selling for $1.29 a download and T-shirt sales to move his family out of the Lincoln Park housing project where they say the attack happened. But in an era when a viral video clip can rocket anyone to stardom, some suggest that Dodson and his family are being used and that his online rant plays to racial stereotypes.

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(The Hill) African-Americans and Hispanics talk and text on mobile phones significantly more than their white counterparts, according to the Nielsen Company.

The results correlate with an earlier Pew survey that found minorities are more likely to use their smartphones to access the Web than whites. The latest data shows minorities are generally more likely to use mobile devices to communicate, meaning any proposals targeting wireless communications may disproportionately affect black and Hispanic Americans.

African-Americans talk on their cell phones an average of 1,300 minutes per month, more than twice the 647 minutes averaged by whites. Hispanics were next, at 826 minutes per month, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders at 692 minutes per month. Blacks and Hispanics were also the most like to send and receive text messages, averaging 780 and 767 per month respectively.

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(NY Times) While broadband adoption for Americans finally slowed over all last year after double-digit growth each of the previous five years, with two-thirds now connected, usage among African-Americans jumped 22 percent this year over 2009, according to a Pew report.

In every major category, from job opportunities to acquiring health information, more African-American and Hispanic adults regard lack of broadband access as “a major disadvantage” than whites do. Nearly half of African-Americans believe expanding broadband access should be a top government priority, compared with just under two-fifths of whites.

The average broadband user pays $41.18 monthly for service. About one in five adults never use the Internet, with roughly half of nonusers citing its irrelevance to their lives. Three in five say they would need assistance to go online.

“Although the rise in home broadband usage among African-Americans seems surprising in light of the current recession,” said Aaron Smith, senior research specialist at Pew, the fact that a greater percentage of African-Americans say lack of broadband access is a disadvantage. particularly for obtaining career information, “speaks to a recognition within the African-American community that digital connectivity is essential, even — and perhaps especially — during hard economic times.” TEDDY WAYNE

(Radio Survivor) Radio One, the nation’s biggest African American oriented radio network, has endorsed the proposed Comcast/NBC Universal merger, now being evaluated by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

Its CEO Alfred Liggins III praised Comcast for helping Radio One develop its TV One cable channel.

“The result is that today, as one of the nation’s two major African-American-oriented channels (and the only one owned by African-Americans), our network now reaches more than 50 million homes via cable and satellite and has an audience with enormous race, gender and generational diversity.

In addition to supporting TV One, Comcast has a history of giving diverse voices a megaphone. The company assisted in launching African-American-owned channels like Hip Hop on Demand, the Africa Channel and Crossings and boasts an unrivaled package of 50 Spanish language channels and 150 titles available on-demand. The newly formed company plans to build on this track record in a number of exciting ways.”

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(E! Online) Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s habit of spouting incendiary remarks continues.

The controversial talk-radio host apologized for using the N-word during a rant on Tuesday’s program in which she went off on an African-American caller, accusing her of being overly sensitive to racism.

“Yesterday, I did the wrong thing,” Schlessinger said in comments at the opening of Wednesday’s show. “I didn’t intend to hurt people, but I did. And that makes it the wrong thing to have done.”

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(USA Today) Broadband adoption in the home is slowing in the U.S. That’s what the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project is saying in a fascinating report that is just out.

Sixty-six percent of American adults now have a broadband Internet connection at home, the report says, little changed from the 63% mark recorded a year ago. That follows years of double-digit growth.

What’s more, Pew says that most demographic groups had flat to modest broadband adoption growth over the last year with one major exception: 56% of the African-American community now have broadband connections in the home, compared to 46% in 2009.

There are a variety of reasons why African-Americans are bucking the trend, starting with the notion that the group was starting out from a smaller base of users. But Pew’s Senior Research Specialist Aaron Smith, the author of the report, also thinks African- Americans are now more likely to own cellphones, use the mobile Web and social media apps, and that Internet providers themselves may be more aggressive in targeting populations with historically lower adoption rates.

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(Orlando Sentinel) Hispanic-American adults drink less than the average American (46.1 percent versus 55.2 percent), according to a new survey.

The group also use drugs less (6.6 versus 7.9 percent) but are slightly more likely to binge drink (26.3 versus 24.5 percent).

Substance use is lower in Hispanics even when income is taken into account.

Hispanic-Americans in poverty drink less (31.1 versus 39.8 percent), do drugs less (5.9 percent versus 11.7), and binge drink less (21.3 versus 25.2) than other Americans in poverty, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

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(NY Daily News) Ozzie Guillen is at it again.

The Chicago White Sox manager is stirring up controversy with his mouth again, this time for his comments on the way Major League Baseball teams treat Asian players in comparison to Latino players.

“Don’t take this wrong, but they take advantage of us. We bring a Japanese player and they are very good and they bring all these privileges to them,” said Guillen, who is of Venezuelan descent. “We bring a Dominican kid…go to the minor leagues, good luck. Good luck. And it’s always going to be like that.”

Guillen specifically targeted the hiring of translators for Asian players.

“I say, ‘why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don’t have a Spanish one?’ I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don’t?” said Guillen.

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