EthnicMajority

(Huffington Post) Blacks will have more money to spend on goods and services, according to a recent report.

The State of the African-American Consumer Report found that black buying power is projected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, The Louisiana Weekly reports.

The study, which focuses on black spending, media habits and consumer trends, reported an increase in the amount of blacks attending college or earning a degree to 44 percent for men and 53 percent for women. It also found an increase in the number of African American households earning $75,000 or higher by almost 64 percent.

"By sharing, for example, that African Americans over-index in several key areas, including television viewing and mobile phone usage," said Susan Whiting, vice chair of information and analytics company Nielsen. "We've provided a better picture of where the African American community can leverage that buying power to help their communities."

Full story…

(Huffington Post) Slowly, the entertainment industry is taking notice that Latinos are a demographic force to be taken seriously.

In baby steps, tiny foot-dragging steps, Hollywood seems to be moving away from the days when the principal roles available to Latinos were either those of the sultry femme fatale or the dark-haired, language-mangling villain.

For Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas, their star power has delivered them to the point where their heavily-accented voices alone are being relied on to carry a film.

Case in point: "Puss in Boots," the sixth collaboration by the Mexican and Spanish heartthrobs, premiers in the United States Friday. It is their first animated film together.

Full story…

(BET) Another historic Black-owned newspaper has let some of its own go.

The executive editor, news editor and other staffers of the Chicago Defender were laid off this week as one of the nation’s oldest Black-owned newspaper tries to stay afloat.

The newspaper is months behind on its rent and, in response, was forced to lay off six of its staff. Of those given pink slips were the only two editors left of the diminished staff of 18 and an accounts receivables staffer. Additionally, the paper’s only photographer was moved from full- to part-time.

“We’re facing the same struggles as everyone else,” publisher and president Michael House told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The 106-year-old weekly isn’t the only African-American newspaper trying to stay afloat. The New York Amsterdam News  suffered a drop in circulation of 44 percent in just one year, from 2009 to 2010.

Full story…

(Tri-State Defender) While it may be a stretch to say that Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington is single-handedly luring a new mass of African Americans to the nation’s pastime, the conversation is legit.

Washington’s passionate and extremely effective leadership has caught the attention of many within the African-American community who may not have followed baseball in the past, or sports overall, for that matter.
 

One of two African-Americans managing a Major League Baseball team, Washington has the Rangers in the World Series for the second straight year. If Texas were to win, Washington would join Cito Gaston (Toronto, 1992, 1993) as the only African Americans to skipper a World Series champion.

“I have had much respect on how the Rangers have given Mr. Washington the great opportunity within the Rangers organization,” said Rangers’ fan Tamara Johnson. “His back story, along with some of the other players living testimonies, reminds me that your life off the field is just as important as your life on the field.”

Full story…

(Kansas City Star) It's rare that a week goes by where I don't catch an old episode of "The Cosby Show."

I talk about the Huxtables a lot. During "The Cosby Show's" eight-year run, it was one of the most-watched shows on television, breaking stereotypes as it introduced America to the black, educated, upper-middle class.

I used to talk about it because of the main characters' careers. Cliff is a successful doctor, and Clair is a big-time lawyer. The couple taught their kids the importance of education and culture. To say it had a big effect on me is an understatement.

But more and more, I find myself watching the show because I appreciate the relationship between Cliff and Clair. You just don't see black marriage on television anymore unless you're watching old episodes of "My Wife and Kids," "Everybody Hates Chris" or "Good Times." Oh wait, I guess there's "The Cleveland Show," the lone black family on network television. And they're animated. It's sad.

Full story…

(Huffington Post) If Latinos don't understand the roots of their culture, how can they preserve it? Although the explanation might sound a bit more academic at times, that concern is driving scholars at the Dominican Studies Institute of the City College of New York to develop new digital technology for studying Spanish writings from the Americas' colonial era.

Their prototype is called the Spanish Paleography Digital Teaching and Learning Tool.

"It is a tool that will revolutionize the history and contribute to the strengthening of Hispanic cultural identity in the United States," said Ramona Hernandez, director of the institute. She said the online program will facilitate the study of four centuries of written Spanish, beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World and continuing through the formation of Hispanic society and "the founding of the countries we know as the Americas."

Full story…

(FoxNews) The NFL’s decision to pick Arizona this week to host the Super Bowl in 2015 has outraged some Hispanic activists who had organized a boycott of the state after a controversial immigration law passed last year.

“In light of Arizona’s hate-based legislation, the action taken by the NFL serves as an endorsement of the state’s abhorrent actions against the Latino and migrant communities,” said Margaret Moran, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest Hispanic civil rights group in the country.

“Instead of supporting efforts that would encourage stakeholders and community leaders to build alliances and re-direct state politics away from hate-based legislation, the NFL has chosen to prove an economic shot in the arm to state that will only continue to oppress an already disadvantaged community.”

Full story…

(AP) Now that the National Football League has a record number of head coaches who are black and Hispanic, can Fortune 500 companies borrow from the league's diversity playbook and see similar results among corporate executives?

Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, thinks so. He is urging corporate America to adopt a version of the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate when filling head coach and general manager positions.

Currently, seven NFL coaches are black and one is Hispanic. Five general managers are minorities. In 2003, when the rule was implemented, there were three African American NFL head coaches.

Unlike the NFL rule, which is mandatory for teams, Johnson is asking companies to voluntarily adopt a version of the rule.

In Johnson's version, which he calls the RLJ Rule, companies would include at least two African Americans among interviewees for positions of vice president and above and interview at least two black firms when searching for vendor and supplier services contractors.

Full story…

(Adotas) Hulu and Univision signed a multi-year content agreement that will bring all sorts of Spanish-launguage content (telenovelas, comedies, variety shows) from Univision’s network of networks to Hulu and Hulu Plus. When content appears later this year, it will include current prime-time programming. So who among you advertisers were interested in targeting the Hispanic community? All of you?

Full story…

(Sampan) The first of November will signify the end of a long journey and the beginning of a new one for Vienne Cheung. Exactly one year to the day, Cheung left her position as Executive Director of ASPIRE to embark on the daunting, yet exciting quest to fulfill her passion for fashion. Hence, the birth of VienneMilano – the first luxury hosiery brand and online boutique in the USA devoted exclusively to thigh high stockings that are made in Italy – which officially launches on November 1.

Born in Hong Kong and having immigrated to Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of six, Cheung originally wanted to become a teacher. However, her parents persuaded her to study art at college instead, leading her into a position as the Creative Director for Furniture Fan right out of school. But Cheung wanted to do more and subsequently enrolled in business school.

“No matter where you are in the creative world,” Cheung said, “You need to business know-how in order to succeed.”

After completing business school, her newly-acquired business savvy ignited an affinity toward project management. “I like [the whole process] from marketing to seeing the product out there,” Cheung said.

Full story…