- Created on 23 May 2013
Sergio Garcia: His Racist Fried Chicken Comment
Golfer Sergio Garcia (pictured left) made a racial remark about Tiger Woods (pictured right) during the European Tour awards dinner, and after initially saying he would not apologize for his comments, Garcia ended up apologizing, according to a NY Daily News report.
On Tuesday night, when Sergio Garcia was asked if he plans on hosting Woods for dinner at next month’s U.S. Open, Garcia responded, “We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.”
Soon after, Garcia apologized for his controversial comments: “I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during The European Tour Players’ Awards dinner. I answered a question that was clearly made toward me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner.”
Unfortunately, the recent jab is just another in a series of back and forths between the golfing stars — who haven’t been the best of friends. Earlier this month at the Players Championship in Florida, Garcia accused Woods of creating a distraction in the gallery while he was taking a shot.
The two had words after the incident.
In a press conference a day before Garcia’s remarks when Woods was asked if he planned to resolve his issues with Garcia, he gave a succinct “No.”
Responding to Woods’ comment earlier Tuesday at his pre-tournament press conference, Garcia didn’t mince words. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “That’s what he’s like. He called me a whiner. He’s probably right. But that’s also probably the first thing he’s told you guys that’s true in 15 years. I know what he’s like. You guys are finding out.”
Garcia also said that he wouldn’t bother calling Woods to settle anything.
“First of all, I don’t have his number. And secondly, I did nothing wrong and don’t have anything to say to him. And he wouldn’t pick up the phone anyway. But that’s OK. I don’t need him as a friend. I don’t need him in my life to be happy and that’s fine. It’s as simple as that. Like I have always said, I try to be as truthful as possible. Tiger doesn’t make a difference to my life. And I know that I don’t make a difference to his life.”
But on Wednesday, Garcia ended up backpedaling, apologizing for his inappropriate words, at a press conference:
“I want to extend a sincere apology,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I obviously was caught off guard by the question but don’t get me wrong, I understand that my answer was totally stupid and out of place and I can’t say sorry enough about that.
“Finally, most importantly, I want to apologize to Tiger and anybody I could have offended by the comment I made and just say I feel sick about it. I’m truly, truly sorry and hope we can kind of settle things down and hopefully move on.”
Woods finally responded to Garcia’s remarks via Twitter, writing: The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate,” Woods tweeted, adding, “I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.
During the press conference, when Garcia was asked whether his comments were racist, he said he didn’t mean it that way, “No, not at all. It wasn’t meant that way. Like I said before I was caught off guard with what seemed to be a funny question and tried to give a funny answer that came out totally wrong and I want to make sure that everybody knows I’m very very sorry and that I cannot apologize enough times.”
Source: News One
- Created on 09 May 2013
Texas Southern University Choir and Orchestra in a special Mother’s Day concert
Texas Southern University Choir and Orchestra
Rev. Krista Alston and Pleasant Gift M.B. Church, 4526 S. Greenwood in Chicago, invites all to a special Mother’s Day service featuring the Texas Southern University Choir and Orchestra. The choir will perform beautiful arrangements and share various instrumental and piano soloists, operatic arias and art song repertoire during the 11am service.
The church is home to Chicago’s iconic Jennifer Hudson who was a member of the choir directed by her cousin and DuSable High School music teacher, Shari Nichols Sweat. The choir’s itinerary will take them around the city to Kenwood High School on Monday morning and later an afternoon performance at King College Prep High School. The day’s performance will conclude downtown at Columbia College, 6:30 pm hosted by Fernando Jones, blues educator.
The Mother’s Day concert is open to the public.
Also, happy birthday to promoter Edward Floyd who is experiencing health challenges and in need of your prayers for healing.
Effie Rolfe is an author, media personality and motivational speaker. Contact her online at www.effierolfe.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/effiedrolfe
- Created on 06 May 2013
Obama dares graduates to reject cynical voices
Culture-_Obama_Ohio_State_commencement.jpgPresident Barack Obama arrives at the Ohio State University spring commencement in the Ohio Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2013, in Columbus, Ohio. Obama is the third sitting president to give the commencement speech at Ohio State University. At left is Annie Leibovitz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A year to the day after kicking off his victorious re-election campaign on this college campus, President Barack Obama returned to Ohio State University and told graduates that only through vigorous participation in their democracy can they right an ill-functioning government and break through relentless cynicism about the nation's future.
"I dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to dream bigger," Obama said.
In a sunbaked stadium filled with more than 57,000 students, friends and relatives, Obama lamented an American political system that gets consumed by "small things" and works for the benefit of society's elite. He called graduates to duty to "accomplish great things," like rebuilding a still-feeble economy and fighting poverty and climate change.
"Only you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be," Obama told more than 10,000 cap-and-gown-clad graduates gathered for the rite of passage. "But it requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship."
The visit to Ohio State — the first of three commencement addresses Obama will give this season — was a homecoming of sorts for Obama, who has visited the campus five times over little more than a year, starting with his first official campaign rally here last May. He made many more stops elsewhere in Ohio as he and Republican Mitt Romney dueled for the Buckeye State, and its 18 electoral votes were pivotal to Obama's victories in both 2008 and 2012.
There was little direct mention of party politics Sunday, but ample allusion to the partisan battles that cramped many of Obama's legislative efforts in his first term and have continued unabated into his second.
In an apparent reference to his failed push on gun control, he bemoaned that a small minority in Congress find excuses to oppose things that most Americans support.
"This is a joyous occasion, so let me put it charitably: I think it's fair to say our democracy isn't working as well as we know it can," Obama said.
Invoking the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the economic recession, Obama said this generation had been tested beyond what their parents could have imagined. But he said young Americans have responded with a deep commitment to service and a conviction that they can improve their surroundings. He urged graduates to run for office, start a business or join a cause, contending that the health of their democracy "requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship."
"You've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems," Obama said. "You should reject these voices. Because what these suggest is that somehow our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham with which we can't be trusted."
Among the 10,143 students receiving diplomas at this sprawling state university Sunday were 130 veterans, including the first class to benefit from the new GI Bill that Congress passed after 9/11, university officials said.
Ohio State also bestowed an honorary doctorate on Obama, applauding his "unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose." Also honored was photographer Annie Leibovitz, whose images of Obama and his family have become iconic reflections on the nation's first black president.
Obama's other two commencement speeches this season will be later in May at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and at Morehouse College, an all-male school in Atlanta.
- Created on 08 May 2013
PepsiCo agrees to meet with Till family, Sharpton
Rev. Al Sharpton
NEW YORK — PepsiCo Inc. officials will meet Wednesday with members of Emmett Till's family and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Sharpton continued to press for the meeting last week after the company's partnerships with Lil Wayne and Tyler, the Creator, of Odd Future to promote Mountain Dew sparked controversies.
PepsiCo and Lil Wayne have since parted over creative differences after the rapper's offensive lyrics related to the civil rights icon Till. The company also pulled a commercial directed by Tyler that angered anti-violence and civil rights advocates.
The meeting to be held at PepisCo headquarters in Purchase comes as an outcry over offensive lyrics increases. Reebok recently ended its partnership with Rick Ross for similar reasons.
Sharpton said last week that corporations have a civic responsibility when deciding who they partner with.
Wayne had sent the Till family a letter offering empathy and saying that he would not reference Till or the family in his music, particularly in an inappropriate manner.
But the Till family said the letter fell short of an apology.
"It's mindboggling to me that they partnered with him in the first place," said the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., a Till cousin and witness to his abduction. "Major corporations should scrutinize who they endorse, don't let greed or money determine who you sponsor."
Rev. Al Sharpton, who had been working with the Till family to arrange a meeting with Lil Wayne and PepsiCo officials, said in a telephone interview that he hopes the decision ultimately is less about punishing individual rappers and more a cultural "teaching moment."
"Otherwise we're just waiting on the next train crash instead of trying to really resolve our problem and learn from these experiences and set a tone in the country that's healthy for everybody," he said.
The controversy erupted after Wayne made the reference to Till on Future's song "Karate Chop" earlier this year. He refers to a violent sexual act on a woman and says he wants to do as much damage as was done to Till.
The Black teen from Chicago was in Mississippi visiting family in 1955 when he was killed, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. He was beaten, had his eyes gouged out and was shot in the head before his assailants tied a cotton gin fan to his body with barbed wire and tossed it into a river.
Two white men, including the woman's husband, were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Till's body was recovered and returned to Chicago where his mother, Mamie Till, insisted on having an open casket at his funeral. The pictures of his battered body helped push civil rights into the cultural conversation.
Music and media industry executive Paul Porter, who comments on music issues on his website RapRehab.com, said he thought PepsiCo's decision was an effort by the company "to do the right thing now."
- Created on 02 May 2013
Thursday marks National Day of Prayer
Youth Pastor Torrey Barrett of Life Center Church of God in Christ, left, and Tavis Grant, pastor of Greater First Church in East Chicago, Ind., right, led a prayer vigil outside King College Prep High School in the days following Hadiya Pendleton's Jan. 29, 2013 shooting death. She was a student at the high school. Thursday, May 2, 2013 is National Prayer Day and faith leaders and supporters are calling on people to pray for youth and society, as a whole. Defender/Rhonda Gillespie
“When you pray, everything will be all right…in despair, I know He’ll be right there. Just have faith when you pray” are lyrics written by the late Bishop Walter Hawkins and recorded in 1979 by the golden voice of now-award-winning gospel recording artist Tramaine Hawkins.
Today is the National Day of Prayer. If there were ever a time we desperately needed to bow our heads and our hearts on one accord for our families, nations and everything that concerns us it’s right now.
I believe that a lack of prayer is tantamount to attempting to operate a machine without the owner’s manual or an instruction guide and without it you are inevitably lost.
Not only is prayer defined as worship and adoration of God, but it also refers to an earnest request or petition. On this National Day of Prayer, take a second to say a prayer for the safety and healing of Chicago. Also, pray for the safety and education of our children as well as an end to violence. Your prayer does not have to be long and elaborate, rather a simple, earnest request with the belief that it is going to happen. You can whisper a prayer, read a prayer or you can sing a prayer as long as you take time to pray.
Let’s join hearts and make an earnest request for love, peace and blessings upon our families, leaders, sisters and brothers around the globe. Let’s believe that God will hear our petition and the changes in us and through us will manifest into a better world for all of us.
Effie Rolfe is a Chicago Defender columnist, author, media consultant, radio personality and motivational speaker. Contact her online at www.EffieRolfe.com, on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/EffiedRolfe and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/MsEffieRolfe
