LOVING STORY TO AIR ON HBO

In what became a landmark case because of  an interracial couple with the last name of Loving, in June 1967, the courts unanimously declared Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 unconstitutional and ended all race-based marriage bans in the U.S. A film about the case will be on HBO on February 14. Watch for it!

Initial Thoughts on the Classy DC Escorts Indictment

A regular reader of my blogs alerted me to the Classy DC Escorts indictment a couple of days ago. I have no idea if they were “classy” or not, but that was the main agency name, and it operated out of Washington DC and in a list of states, including New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland. The defendants are facing federal racketeering charges and various additional counts including:

Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering

Conspiracy to Travel/Use Interstate Facilities in Aid of Racketeering Enterprises

Use and Carry a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence

Money Laundering

Forfeiture (of course)

Thanks to a Scribd and a helpful party, you can read the entire indictment here:

USA v. Akuiyibo et al.

My first thought is that some people believe they are immune from prosecution no matter what they do. These people have been under federal investigation since June of 2009, long after the DC Madam case and trial and Jeane Palfrey's subsequent suicide, though sometimes I have my doubts as to whether it was a suicide or not. That, of course, is another story for another day. This group felt they were immune though, a mistake made all too often by too many.

Of course there are unindicted co-conspirators (UCC) in the case, some known and some unknown to the grand jury that handed down the indictment. Though the indictment states that there was violence involved, it's hard to tell how true this is. It is possible that whoever carried the gun had been threatened or robbed in past, so I'll wait to make a judgment call on that.

What they did do is operate in multiple states, but then Washington DC is the District of Columbia (federal of course) so it has always been no man's land in my eyes no matter how much of a major hub it is.

According to what I read of the indictment, I do not believe that Classy DC Escorts accepted credit cards, or at least they are not indicted in relation to this. It looks like they did accept PayPal and Green Dot Money cards or rather had the escorts paying fees with Green Dot cards. Note to the nice guy elsewhere that insisted using Green Dot was okay: Told ya so (I know you remember!).

According to the escort business gossip tree, confidential informants and unindicted co-conspirators from the case have been seeking work in New Orleans and Washington DC area from other escort agencies over the last week. Let's imagine that they will be in other cities calling services for work soon, if not already. The gossip tree reveals that each has identities on TER, EROS and Big Doggie, but it seems that their targets are wide awake. They're apparently trying their very best to drag others into this fiasco. Word to the wise...

I know that the next question people will have for me relates to client lists. I have no answer yet and time will tell, but we can almost assume the worst. I will post more on the Classy DC Escorts indictment and case as information is released.

Read the article in the Washington Examiner for more information:

6 Face Racketeering charges in $4 million D.C. Prostitution Ring

Edit @11pm on January 31 to add: Totally stunned at the number of people seeking info on the Classy DC Escorts situation - more than with Miami Companions and High Class NY in past. Message received and I will look closer at this case and situation and post in a couple of days.

Edit to add on 19 March 2012 @5pm EST: I have added a few documents to my Updates page that is found here: Updates

One document in particular that is interesting is: Asuen Discovery Agreement Order

Check the Updates page weekly for additional documents.

Respectful Terms

"Some other race" and "Two or More Races" are government terms for Multiracial. Why is respectful terminology so hard to use by the government? Did you remember when "Asian" was "Oriental"? When "Black" was "Colored"? How about when "Alaskan" Native was "Alaska Native." Huh? That's right. The congressional representatives from Alaska asked the Office of Management and Budget to drop the "n," on Alaskan so they did. It would be just as easy to use respectful terminology to identify as multiracial. What do you think?

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN STORY

Census: Few among Arizona’s tribes claimed to be multiracial

WASHINGTON – The number of American Indians who claimed to be multiracial jumped sharply over the last decade, but not so much in Arizona, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.
The bureau said the total number of American Indian or Alaska Natives grew from 4.1 million in 2000 to 5.2 million in 2010, a 27 percent increase. Of those, 2.3 million people, or 44 percent of the total, claimed to be Indian and at least one other race, the report said.

But Arizona saw relatively higher numbers of people claiming to be Indian only.
“There’s a common trend in the state of Arizona that is different from other states,” said Mellor Willie, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council.

“That will definitely have an effect when you’re working with raw federal policy that has to meet the needs of all Indian people,” Willie said. “Tribes have to take that into consideration, especially the tribes in Arizona.”
The Census Bureau said the Navajo Nation, which has a significant presence in Arizona, had the largest number of single-race members of any tribal group in the country, with 287,000 of the tribe’s 332,129 people claiming to be single-race. That means just 13 percent of Navajo claim to be multiracial.
Nationally, four of the five reservations reporting the highest numbers of single-race members were in Arizona: the Navajo were followed by Fort Apache, San Carlos and Gila River tribes.
The Census also reported that 78 percent of all
American Indians lived outside of tribal lands in 2010.

Simon Boyce, deputy director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, said the tribe has seen a widespread move off the reservation. The tribal administration is trying to create more opportunities to keep people on the land.

That shift away from tribal lands is frightening for the Navajo, he said, which is why news of an overall population increase is welcome.

“I think you really need to be concerned about how many people are leaving the reservation and what that means not only for the Navajo – Navajo culture and Navajo identity – but also what it means for the surrounding areas,” Boyce said. “They’re becoming separated from their land, separated from their identity, and separated from their Navajo culture.”

Panelists who spoke Wednesday on the release of the data at the National Museum of the American Indian said the shifting number can have real impact.

Malia Vilegas, director of the Policy Resource Center for the National Congress of American Indians, said it could affect federal and state funding, which is based on population counts, as well as community planning and education.

“Small differences in counts can make large differences,” she said.

Willie said later that because so much of Arizona is tribal land, the Census data could shape federal and state funding and policy decisions, as well as policies of counties and municipalities on the border of tribal lands.
Colin Kippen, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, expressed concern about federal money that is distributed to states for Native American education. He said the money “gets washed” and does not reach the people it is intended for.

“Better data would really help us to highlight the fact that this … is occurring,” Kippen said.
The panel of advocates cautioned that the Census numbers should not be considered alone, but should be looked at along with censuses being developed by tribes and other information.
“This is only a snapshot,” Willie said of the Census figures.

Kippen said the numbers can continue to tell the “absolutely crucial … story of the Indian population, but tribes need to be careful with how they move forward from there.
“They have provided us with the tip of the iceberg,” Kippen said of the federal data
 Wednesday, Jan. 25By Victoria Pelham
Cronkite News

Paul Bergrin Prosecutors are Judge Shopping

Federal prosecutors in Newark want to have it their way and swap the fair and impartial US District Judge William J. Martini for a more prosecution friendly judge that helps in the quest to railroad Paul Bergrin. Hopefully the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals will send them the message that this ain't Burger King and they can't have it their way.

So which specific judge do prosecutors want on the Paul Bergrin trials in the future? Perhaps one that will be happy about receiving a Christmas card from an AUSA while deciding how to rule in relation to the next trial, shut-up about it, and rule it their way. They need a wink and nod judge at this point if the laughable evidence from the last trial bears any similarity to evidence in future trials. The main question that I have is: Who are the contenders for the position?

This is an odd group of federal prosecutors. They claimed solid evidence in the last trial, but produced only a lengthy parade of convicted felons exchanging testimony for sentence reductions and jailhouse informants that witnessed nothing at all seeking the same. If the evidence is solid then prosecutors should have nothing to fear; however, that is the main problem with the last trial: Prosecutors refuse to admit they had no actual evidence of anything. As if each actually believes every word stated by each so-called witness. As if! That in itself is laughable, or they're all dumb as dirt. Which is it? Of course there's the other possibility... that the convicted felons were each instructed and coached on wording prior to testimony, even though it was a big fail.

As it turns out, Lawrence Lustberg has really come through for Paul Bergrin. I owe the man an apology as I really do not know what transpired in that other case I mentioned in a previous post. Just because a defendant is not guilty and takes a plea deal doesn't mean that it had anything at all to do with the attorney. Perhaps it was a simple case of the price is right.

Yes, if the evidence in the next trial has any similarity at all to the evidence of the last trial, well, federal prosecutors do need to judge shop. I consider Judge Martini to be impartial and even feel that he sided with prosecutors on certain points. There are judges that would have acquitted Paul Bergrin and not just discussed it and considered it. The truth is that there should have been an acquittal on all counts. The simple fact is that there was no evidence.

So now we all wait for the ruling from the appeals court and eventually find out if federal prosecutors get to have it their way. Sore losers that they are, it is unlikely to stop at the appeals court if they do not get the opportunity to judge shop. This group has it in for Paul Bergrin, obviously, as they've already made too many deals with the devils (many of them) in this pursuit. The only remaining question is how far will they go?

I think they want a show trial.

Source article by Jason Grant with The Star-Ledger:

Alleging bias, federal prosecutors want judge removed in Bergrin murder trial

Census Releases Data on Multiracial American Indian Population

Almost half of American Indians and Alaska Natives identify with multiple races, representing a group that grew by 39 percent over a decade, according to U.S. Census data released Wednesday.

Of the 5.2 million people counted as Natives in 2010, nearly 2.3 million reported being Native in combination with one or more of six other race categories, showcasing a growing diversity among Natives. Those who added black, white or both as a personal identifier made up 84 percent of the multiracial group.

Tribal officials and organizations look to Census data for funding, to plan communities, to foster solidarity among tribes and for accountability from federal agencies that have a trust responsibility with tribal members.
The bump in the multiracial group from 1.6 million in 2000 to nearly 2.3 million in 2010 was higher than that of those who reported being solely of Native descent.

"When information comes out and is available for our tribes and tribal communities, we have a lot of issues going back to identity," said Mellor Willie, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council. "Who is Indian?"

The Census figures, released during a presentation at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., also include people living in the United States who consider themselves indigenous to Central and South America. Tribal officials say it's the best snapshot of Native people available, but the data National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Director Malia Villegas presents statistics of Native American and Alaska native population, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.

Amber Ebarb, with the National Congress of American Indians' Policy Research Center, said the data also is used to track trends among states and regions, determine the mobility patterns of Natives and figure out how best to deliver services to Natives or conduct outreach.

"It's kind of a function of geography," she said. "There's this trend where single-race American Indians live in tribal communities and multi-race Natives live farther."

The Blackfeet Nation in Montana had the highest proportion of people who reported being part of more than one racial group or tribe at 74 percent. Among Alaska Native groups, the Tlingit-Haida had the highest proportion of mixed-race Natives at 42 percent.

The number of Natives identifying with at least one other race increased in all but three states from 2000 to 2010, according to the Census.

Some tribes were less diverse. Of the 34,000 people who identify as Yup'ik, an Alaska Native tribe, 29,000 said they were affiliated with no other race. The Navajo Nation, whose reservation stretches into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, had the highest proportion of people who identified as Native and nothing else at 86 percent of its 332,000 population, Census officials said.

The Navajo Nation comes in second in population behind the Cherokee's 819,000 population, 65 percent of whom identify with another race.

Census Director Robert Groves said the bureau has projected that the overall Native population will increase to 6.8 million in 2030 and about 8.6 million in 2050. Both multiracial Natives and Natives alone grew at a rate higher from 2000 to 2010 than the U.S. population at large.

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. January 25, 2012 (AP)

The Megaupload Indictment: A Discussion

My stand against SOPA and PIPA has little connection to my thoughts on the Megaupload indictment and arrests currently in the news. I mean let's not pretend that these people believe information should be free or have some other admirable agenda because this is clearly not the case.

Kim Dotcom, or whatever he calls himself today, had a mansion with heavy security and a Rolls Royce to start with here. I, on the other hand, have an old vehicle in disrepair and exist in a small apartment. I literally have nothing much. Meanwhile, Kim and his cohorts had links for free uploads of my Blueprint books on their megasite where they sold subscriptions and advertising and lived extremely high. Not just high living, but to extremes – make sure to note that. In every sense of the word, these people were greedy pigs, worse than any of the Occupy targets.

So why does Anonymous run to their defense by knocking down various government websites and threatening more havoc? Please feel free to explain if you have a clue.

This post is prompted by an article that I just read: Megaupload site wants assets back, to fight charges

Newsflash to Kim whatshisname: We have forfeiture laws in the US and that ain't happenin'. The money you made selling the property of hard-working, and often poor, people was never yours to begin with and you won't be getting it back.

Once the DOJ gets its hooks in your banks accounts and starts scouting for assets, you'll have nothing much at all – just like me. Usually that also translates to all defendants ending-up with attorneys from the Federal Public Defenders Office, so expect to fight like the rest of the people dude. There won't be $millions to hand to top-notch attorneys and buy your way out; it doesn't work like that at all. Your days as a greedy jerk with a license to steal are over.

Sure, there's the argument that many of the freeloaders that downloaded movies, books, and music from Megaupload would not have purchased any of the products anyway, but if even one out of 100 did, then people like me could possibly survive and continue to produce content. No doubt in my mind that independent musicians and authors have suffered the most by the actions of this greedy gang and the others still out there.

Having stated all of that, I do not advocate life imprisonment (or any prison) for any criminal activity that doesn't involve violence or the serious and actual threat of violence. I don't want to see these greedy thieves go to prison at all. I would rather that each learned how so many of their victims have to live – firsthand.

Former Melbourne Cop Frank Carter: Revisiting the Cases

There have been numerous searches for information on Frank Carter, the former Melbourne PD officer fired long ago and now pursuing a civil suit in federal court, recently that have arrived at this blog. I figure that I may as well oblige the reading public and post an update and my synopsis of the entire situation. Have I changed my mind about Carter? I will let you decide.

To establish my own mindset you need only read through this blog. I really do not trust cops and for the most part, I do not like cops. If you have read many of my posts, this should be obvious to you. However, I also do not like selective and/or malicious prosecutions. I am not so sure that Frank Carter's story is either, but they did hang him out to dry and fail to follow through. They did end his career even though he still has his law enforcement certification. Who in the hell would hire the guy? (no one I hope)

In my opinion, prosecutors failed to follow through on prosecuting Frank Carter because to do so would open a monstrous can of worms, which is also why the judge on the criminal case refused to allow certain evidence in the case against him. What can of worms am I referring to? Ha – the many, many prosecutions and plea deals that were made as a result of Carter's legally insufficient (i.e. illegal) traffic stops and vehicle searches. They would have to deal with hundreds of appeals and civil suits as opposed to dealing with lone cop Carter. That is my opinion and you may do with it what you wish.

Was Frank Carter a Bad Cop?

Well absolutely – there is nothing good about a cop that uses creative reasoning (i.e. lies and/or falsifies information on reports) to make a traffic stop and then again to search a vehicle. We still have a Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution in this country, however diminished it is today.

I have encountered many cops similar to Carter over the years and my son has encountered many exactly like Carter in his many traffic stops in the State of Florida, most being in Brevard County. I know who Frank Carter really is, but I also know that he was allowed to proceed as he saw fit for far too many years. Face it – this guy should never have had a 20+ year career with the Melbourne Police Department to use as leverage in his quest for $millions today.

Maybe, just maybe, Frank Carter has experienced a revelation of sorts and secretly knows that his many illegal traffic stops and vehicle searches over the years were wrong and illegal. Maybe he has learned a lesson that he will never forget. We can only hope so.

Carter's civil suit that was filed in federal court in Orlando is now in mediation. Lucky him as he gets cop-friendly federal judge Anne Conway – she dismissed my civil suit against bad cops after having a luncheon with former Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary (a defendant in my suit) less than a week earlier. Coincidence? Maybe, but I doubt it.

I do not believe that Carter will get $millions as he so desires, but I do believe that there will be a settlement soon. And really, Carter needs the money to pay the many creditors that have filed suits against him. His life stopped when he was arrested and so did his ability to pay bills apparently as there are 10+ suits against him. We use the name “Frank Carter” but his actual name is Francis Carter, so if you were searching for information and didn't locate it, that may be why.

I also feel that his many victims did not do all that each could do to push prosecutors into pursuing the case against Carter. How many put it on paper and swore to it? It's hard to tell, but not many in my opinion or prosecutors wouldn't be able to play hide-n-seek on the case. Maybe Dienecia Johnson was the only one and now she will suffer for it as she probably is already. Been there and done that with a different gang of bad cops. So if the other alleged victims didn't follow through, well, we can't blame Carter. Lucky him that they all lost their backbone somewhere long ago. It is clear that he still has his (backbone).

If you want to read my previous posts about Frank Carter, go to the label on this blog: Frank Carter

If you are interested in what specifically prompted Frank Carter's arrest to begin with, read: Carteria

The amended complaint in the current civil suit is here:

Francis Carter Amended Complaint August 2011

The latest filing in reference to mediation is here:

Francis Carter Mediation Notice 12 January 2012

This is a case that offered serious lessons for many, including Carter. Hopefully he moves on in life and is able to put his former career behind him. I would not be surprised if Carter opted to finish a bachelor's degree and go to law school as it is really the only area of law to pursue that will benefit him in the future. May he decide to actually study constitutional law, especially in relation to the Fourth Amendment.

Taking a Stand Against SOPA and PIPA

As a party that holds numerous copyright registrations and is in-process of registering additional material, my opinion should count when it comes to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). However, the response from Senator Bill Nelson (Florida) could easily be summarized as:

It's all good. We know what's best for you and you really don't know a damn thing about it. I'm going to vote where the money is and it is overwhelmingly in support of PIPA. So go bake a cake or do something useful.

A main issue that I have with the SOPA and PIPA legislation is that it gives our government agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) even more power than each already holds. As a copyright holder, I am more than capable of sending out a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice and have done so in past. I do not need or want the US government to have the ability to block the offending party's domains and initiate prosecution. Thanks, but no thanks – I'll pass.

As a blogger that often posts YouTube music videos I am also on the other side of that street and am well aware that the SOPA and PIPA legislation could serve as a platform to remove and/or block this blog, my other blogs, and my websites and prosecute me.

Any copyright holder of the music in a particular YouTube must only contact Google and request that it be removed or embedding be blocked. Many copyright holders do precisely that. I had a YouTube on my Blueprint Blog a couple of days ago that stated, “This content is not available in your country,” or something close to that when I returned to change it the following day. An example of embedding disabled is the Haddaway YouTube, “What is Love” found HERE. I love that video, but can't post it on this blog as it states, “embedding disabled by request”. So as you see, this is a simple solution for copyright holders.

So what in the hell is the Problem?

Well, the backers of the PIPA and SOPA legislation will slam you with all sorts of twisted reasoning about why we need these bills to pass, but the truth of the matter is that the laws will be abused and used to remove and/or block blogs such as this one. Consider what they managed to do with the PATRIOT Act long ago. As an early victim of the PATRIOT legislation passed in October of 2001, trust me when I tell you that they used it to eliminate the Fourth Amendment protections of many citizens. I was far from alone.

When the backers respond that this thesis of defense is all hype, just remember the PATRIOT Act, which I actually read shortly after it passed, unlike the dazed representatives that voted to pass it. Thanks, but I will pass on my government protecting me from pirates in other countries and anything else for that matter. They taught me long ago that they are the perpetrators, not the protectors.

As a writer with numerous registered copyrights, I am the alleged victim that they claim to help with this legislation and I want you to fight them all the way to the courthouse steps. Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress, and Boing Boing will be implementing a blackout of all websites at 12 midnight EST (Washington DC time) on 18 January, 2012. That is tonight at midnight and it will be in effect for 24 hours. Contact Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, and Bing and request that each support this blackout also!

Now, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, since I have published my viewpoint, I think I will go bake that fucking cake. Thanks for nothing as usual.

Before I leave here, just in case the legislation does pass at some point, you may want to know about the MAFIAA Fire Redirector: MAFIAA

For more information from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Setting the Record Straight on SOPA: Some Evidence-Based Analysis 

Is Hollywood 'whitewashing' Asian roles?

By Stephanie Siek, CNN

(CNN) - America’s embrace of Japanese pop culture, particularly manga and anime, hasn’t resulted in an embrace of Asian and Asian-American actors when those storylines go to Hollywood.

Two upcoming feature films based on Japanese material are already stirring controversy after rumors that white American actors will be cast as characters originally written as Japanese.

Tom Cruise is rumored to be in talks to play the lead role in the Warner Bros. adaptation of Japanese novel “All You Need is Kill,” replacing a Japanese main character. Warner Bros., which is owned by the same parent company as CNN, is also in the pre-production stages of making a live-action version of “Akira,” a graphic novel that was made into a landmark 1988 animated feature film in Japan. All of the actors rumored to be in consideration for the upcoming film’s main characters are white Americans, although casting calls invited actors of “any race” to audition.

That’s troubling to both the series’ devoted fans and advocates of diversity in casting.

Kent A. Ono, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the practice of casting white actors to play Asians and Asian-American characters has a long history in Hollywood. Until recent decades, this mostly took the form of white actors playing stereotypical representations of Asian characters, such as Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of I.Y. Yunioshi in 1961's “Breakfast at Tiffany’s," Rita Moreno as Tuptim and Yul Brynner as King Mongkut in the 1956 film "The King and I," and Katharine Hepburn as Jade Tan in 1944's "Dragon Seed."

In recent years, Ono said, Asian characters have been replaced with white American versions played by big-name Hollywood stars. It happened with films like the 1960 western, "The Magnificent Seven," which starred Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson, and was based on the influential 1954 Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa, "Seven Samurai." As Japanese manga and anime have grown more popular, it has happened in films like "Dragonball: Evolution" and "Speed Racer."

“Animation and anime are these interesting contexts, because casting directors, producers and directors can say, ‘Well, the anime character is fictional and not a real live body … and to cast them as another race is OK,’” Ono said.

The result is fewer opportunities for Asian and Asian-American actors who want a shot at a powerful role.
“Not only do Asian-American actors find this a displacement of their ability to work as laborers, as performers in these sort of roles – they also find this an affront to their identity, to their work to overcome racism and be seen as legitimate actors,” Ono said.

Racebending.com, an international grassroots organization founded in 2009, protests what it sees as the “whitewashing” of film roles and pushes for the fair representation of minorities in media. Spokesman Michael Le said that the increasing popularity of manga and anime titles means that movie producers are keen to cash in, but many don't see value in keeping the original Asian characters that made them popular.


“I remember 10 years ago, I could walk into [the comics aisle of] a Barnes and Noble and it would be all western comics, all DC and Marvel. Now I walk in and the Asian section is bigger than the western comics section,” Le said. “Asian culture is enormously popular and acceptable, but the people are not. The people are inconveniently the wrong race, and so whitewashing is a result.”

Le and other fans want the studios to avoid the debacle associated with the 2010 live-action film “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The M. Night Shamalyan production tanked with critics and fans after being dogged by controversy surrounding its casting. The "Avatar" animated television series, on which the movie was based, takes place in a fantasy world populated by four Asian- and Inuit-based cultures. But the actors for each of the lead roles were white, except one - the villain, played by “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel.

Racebending.com was formed to protest the production’s decision to “racebend” the characters – wordplay that alludes to the element “benders” from the "Avatar" series.

The Warner Bros.' planned live-action adaptation of “Akira” has fans watching closely. According to articles in The Hollywood Reporter and sci-fi blog i09.com, Garret Hedlund was being tapped to play the lead role of Shotaro Kaneda, with Kristen Stewart, Helena Bonham Carter and Ken Watanabe in talks to play other main roles. Except for Watanabe, who is Japanese, all are white.

An unnamed studio insider told the Hollywood Reporter for a January 5 story that preproduction had stopped due to issues related to script, budget and casting. Warner Bros. spokeswoman Jessica Zacholl said the studio had no comment regarding the holdup in production for “Akira” or any rumored casting decisions.
The original Japanese anime version of "Akira," made in 1988, is considered a pinnacle of Japanese animated film. The story revolves around a catastrophic explosion that destroys the city of Tokyo - an explosion which is first implied to be nuclear in origin, a reminder of fears about atomic destruction in Japan since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Fans of the manga and original movie question whether the nuances of a plot so deeply intertwined with Japanese history can survive a setting change to Manhattan.

CNN Red Chair Interview: Why Yul Kwon ditched law for TV
Jerry Beck is an animation historian and co-founder of Streamline Pictures, which brought the first screenings of the 1988 production to America. He said studios are underestimating their target market’s attachment to and understanding of Japanese connections to "Akira."

“It’s not just the story of what goes on there, but the story of culture,” Beck said. “I wish them luck, but it sort of cheapens the material. In a way it’s a universal story, but it’s also a very Asian or Japanese story.”
Joe Peacock, a writer and web designer who owns the worlds’ largest private collection of animation cels from the original “Akira” film, said shift anime characters into white characters “is annoying to the point of disrespect.” In disrespecting the source material, he said, the studios are alienating the fan base which could make the movie a success – including Peacock, whose devotion to the movie includes an award-winning "Akira" tattoo that covers his left arm.

“When your billboards are saying bad things about the project, you’ve done something wrong – and that’s all fans really are, is billboards or megaphones for the project,” Peacock said.

Fans are watching what happens with “All You Need is Kill,” too. The original novel focuses on the "Groundhog Day"-like travails of Keiji Kijira, a Japanese soldier in an international army fighting a war against aliens. The character dies, but always awakens to find it's the day before his death. He relives that day until he has amassed the skills and experience to prevent his own death.

In the movie version to be produced by Warner Bros., the character has a new identity – American Billy Cage – and the movie has a new title: “We Mortals Are.” Three of the four actors rumored to be under consideration for the role are white, with Tom Cruise as the speculative front-runner. Also rumored to be in talks were Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Keanu Reeves.
Zacholl said Warner Bros. had no comment about the castings and would not confirm or deny rumors of any decisions related to them.

But in a November 2010 interview with Comingsoon.net, director Doug Liman said the lead actors would be “totally American” instead of Japanese.

But a Racebending.com’s statement on the film points out that even in an American film, a “totally American” cast shouldn't necessarily be entirely white.

“Certainly changes will be made to the story in adaptations, such as setting a story in the United States instead of Japan," Racebending.com states. "What disappoints us is that when these adaptations are reset to America, they do not reflect the diversity of  the United States. Many people are of Asian descent but are also ‘totally American.’”

This article can also be found at:

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/13/is-hollywood-whitewashing-asian-roles/

MLK Day

A right delayed is a right denied.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Important Education Data!

Below are statistics from a Maryland newspaper in a story about state funding for schools. This reflects exactly what we have been working toward! 

     While enrollment numbers are down, school staff did report an increase in African-American and multiracial students.
     African-American students currently account for 52 percent of the school population, up from 51.5 last year.
    A new demographic, multiracial, also has had an increase in the school system making up for 5.3 percent of the schools’ population.

News Editors add Multiracial Category!

The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) is adding a multiracial category to its annual newsroom diversity survey. One of the goals of Project RACE has been to ensure that news coverage reflects the correct terminology, which would be "MULTIRACIAL"! 

Past Teen Project RACE president wins contest!

Allure Bridals

Looks like we have a clear winner! Congrats to Kayci + Josue who have taken the grand prize of our 'How Did He Propose' Sweepstakes!

Judge says Ethnic-Studies Program Violates Arizona Law

The Tucson school district’s Mexican American studies program violates state law, an Arizona administrative law judge ruled. The judge affirmed a prior decision by the state’s schools chief that the Tucson Unified School District’s program violates a law that aims to outlaw divisive ethnic studies classes.

In June, John Huppenthal, the state superintendent of public instruction, had deemed the program to be in violation of the law. That law, among other things, bans classes primarily designed for a particular ethnic group or that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people.” The judge's ruling could mean the demise of the program and those similar to it.