(Image: Getty)

• Conrad Murray Believes Jackson Lied About Medical History

Less than a week after Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson, the doctor is claiming he was duped by the late singer. Murray said in an interview broadcast Thursday Jackson lied to him about his medical history and never stated he had an addiction problem.

“I would hate to put blame on Michael as an individual,” Dr. Conrad Murray told the Today show in the interview done days before the doctor’s conviction.

“I only wish maybe in our dealings with each other he would have been more forthcoming and honest,” he said.

The cardiologist said Jackson was deceptive by not disclosing his full medical history. He told interviewer Savannah Guthrie that he “did not have a clue” that Jackson had an addiction problem.

Murray was convicted on Monday for supplying the insomnia-plagued performer with the powerful anesthetic Propofol. He refused to testify at the trial.

Read more at The Grio…

• Wall Street Rebounds After a Tough Day

U.S. stocks rose Thursday after taking a steep plunge the previous day amid news of Europe’s debt crisis.

Merck raised its dividend and Cisco reported strong earnings, reinforcing the view that while problems in Europe were still on investors’ minds, there were signs of strength in corporate America.

Read more at Yahoo! News…

• NAACP Loses a Longtime Hero

The NAACP mourns the loss of longtime civil rights activist and former Detroit NAACP leader Arthur Johnson. He passed away from Parkinson’s disease and was laid to rest on Saturday—his 86^th birthday.

Born in Georgia, Johnson began his fight for civil rights early in his career. The educator was recruited by the NAACP to serve as executive secretary for its Detroit branch, serving in that capacity for nearly 15 years.  Almost two decades later, Johnson returned to a leadership position with that same branch and served as president.

“Arthur Johnson was a true pioneer of the civil rights movement,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous.  ”His contributions to the NAACP and the city of Detroit are immeasurable.  He will be missed.”

Derrick Bell walking with a group of Harvard law students (Image: Getty)

Another iconic figure was lost Wednesday. Derrick Bell, the first tenured Black professor at Harvard Law School, died yesterday of carcinoid cancer, according to the New York Times.

Professor Bell made a name for himself early on in his law career. He was recruited by late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to join the NAACP Legal Defense Fund where he oversaw 300 school-desegregation cases.  Bell went on to serve as deputy director of the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, according to The HistoryMakers.

Known for standing firm in his beliefs, no matter what the consequences were, the Pittsburgh-native gave up a Harvard Law School professorship to protest the school’s unjust hiring practices and left the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department after being told he would have to forgo his membership in the NAACP.

The pioneer of critical race theory penned Race, Racism and American Law (originally published in 1973) and Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992). He released his memoir Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth in 2002.

He leaves behind his wife, Janet Dewart Bell, and three sons:  Derrick Albert Bell III, Douglas Dubois Bell, and Carter Robeson Bell; two sisters Janet Bell and Constance Bell and a brother, Charles Bell.

Florida governor Rick Scott has just signed a bill into law that will require recipients of welfare to take a drug test when applying for aid (Image: Thinkstock)

• New Florida Law Requires Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients

The Republican governor of Florida has just signed a bill into law that will require recipients of welfare to take a drug test when applying for aid. The law went into effect on July 1, and requires applicants to pay for the test. If an applicant tests positive for drugs, a family member can receive their benefits to distribute to any dependent children. If welfare recipients pass, they can apply to have the cost of the drug test reimbursed.

Governor Rick Scott approved the law, which will affect 113,000 adults, as a means to prevent tax dollars from being wasted by drug users, who he also hopes will be discouraged from using by the measure.  Are these arguments logical, or is it unfair to test people for drugs just because they seek government help?

Read more at The Atlanta Post…

• Fewer Americans File for Bankruptcy

After steadily climbing for several years, the number of Americans filing for bankruptcy is on the decline, though that is not necessarily an indicator of an improving economy.

The number of bankruptcy filings in June was 120,623, or an average of 5,483 a day, a drop of 6.2 percent from May, when filings totaled 122,775, or 5,846 a day, according to a report from Epiq Systems, which tracks bankruptcy filings.

Read more at the New York Times…

• NAACP ‘Deeply Concerned’ By CNN Lineup

In a recent press release, the NAACP expressed its profound disappointment in CNN’s newly announced news lineup, which features no African Americans in prime time slots as anchors or hosts.

“The NAACP is deeply concerned with the lack of African American journalists in prime time news, both on cable and national network news shows,” NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said.

Read more at The Root…

• Alleged, Racial TSA Demand to Search Woman’s Hair

Laura Adiele wasn’t expecting any trouble when she put her hair up, packed her bags, and headed for Sea-Tac Airport to catch a flight to Texas.

She was quite surprised when she was pulled out of the security line after having gone through the Advance Imaging system and told she needed a pat-down.

“When I first heard her say, ‘We’re going to have to pat you down,’ I thought she was talking about my body. I was turning around and putting my arms out and she said, ‘No, we’re going to have to examine your hair,’ and I said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that today and you’re going to have to get security or your supervisor,’” said Adiele.

For video, and more, continue on to The Grio…

Groupon elected Ariel Investments President Mellody Hobson to its board of directors (Image: File)

• Groupon Brings Mellody Hobson Onboard

In wake of Groupon’s initial public offering, the online discount-offering company elected Ariel Investments President Mellody Hobson to its board of directors, announced the company yesterday.

“Mellody is an advocate for savvy consumer spending and educated business decisions,” said Andrew Mason, the chief-executive-officer of Groupon. “We expect her insights to be invaluable.”

Hobson will add her latest position onto an already full career plate, which includes financial contributor on Good Morning America, the consumer finance expert on the Tom Joyner‘s Money Mondays radio program, and Black Enterprise contributor, to name a few.

• NAACP Suit Is Latest Salvo in Fight Over Schools

As states grappled with ways to reinvigorate the public education system, charter schools were offered up as an attractive alternative: a way to break outside the mold and offer the kind of innovative learning environment and accountability for results that is more often associated with private schools.

Some critics fear that this alternative is now crowding out the public school system it was meant to supplement, creating a two-tiered system that leaves children in more traditional settings with fewer resources and options. That argument is the crux of a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the United Federation of Teachers against the New York City Department of Education. They charge the city with favoritism toward 18 charter schools that share space in public schools.

The suit, filed last month in New York State Supreme Court, claims that charter schools are getting more than their fair share of space within public school buildings and have better access to playgrounds, gyms and cafeterias. It also disputes the rationale for closing 22 failing schools, including 15 that were part last year by the UFT and the NAACP.

Read more at The Root…

• Diddy Settles Civil Suits Related to Club New York Shootings

In 1999, when Diddy was still known as “Puff Daddy” and dated J.Lo, Sean Combs was involved in an infamous shooting.  At the now defunct Club New York, Diddy, J.Lo and a large entourage had intended to celebrate the signing of the then-aspiring rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow. The night transformed from party to nightmare as a fight between this crew and clubgoer Matthew Allen resulted in three people being shot. The civil cases brought by these victims against Combs, Barrow and the former Times Square hot spot have finally come to a close, culminating in large monetary settlements for each victim.

Read more at The Atlanta Post…

• Twitter Could Put Promoted Tweets In Users’ Timelines

Twitter is considering placing its Promoted Tweets in consumers’ timelines and introducing Groupon-style offers, according to a report.

The Financial Times, citing “people with direct knowledge” of Twitter’s plans, reports that company executives plan to migrate Promoted Tweets from searches to users’ timelines, a move that is likely to irritate some users.

Read more at Mashable…

(Image: ThinkStock)

“Our biggest problem is us. We must own this issue,”  asserted Daryl Cobb, partner and vice president of  the Charter School Growth Fund as he challenged an audience of Black men and women to make a rock-solid commitment to fix America’s schools.  He was one of  five leading education reform advocates and experts on a panel I moderated at the 100 Black Men of America, Inc Conference in San Francisco this past weekend. All agreed thousands of urban public schools across the nation continue to fail millions of African American youth. Too many of these institutions churn out barely functional graduates or become dropout factories in which 60% or more of the freshman class don’t make it through four years to obtain a diploma.

Our nation has been wrestling with the deterioration of public education since I was a high school student some 30 years ago. In the late 1970s, the common refrain was “Johnny can’t read.”  We now gave large numbers of Jeromes, Tykishas and Juans who not only can’t read and calculate but won’t be employable for the 21st Century workplace.

Allan C. Golston, president, U.S. Program, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, confirmed that fact. After praising the 100 for creating a platform to tackle this massive problem, he then rattled off some rather alarming stats: Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found that Black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind White students and 48% of Black and 43% of Latino fourth- and eighth-graders score below the basic level in math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress versus 17% of Whites. Although American students of all races and both genders have underperformed when compared to their counterparts across the globe—15-year-olds rank 25th out of 30 developed nations in math and 24th out of 30 in science—the overall graduation rate for Black males stands at 47%. If national leaders had worked to close the racial gap among U.S. students during the 1980s and 1990s, Golston maintains, the nation’s GDP would have increased by as much as $525 billion. To buttress his point, President Obama has placed education reform through this administration’s “Race To The Top” program at the top of his agenda in bolstering the future competitiveness of American businesses.

Fixing our schools, however, has come with its share of controversy. The most newsworthy issues have been related to teachers’ union mandates in which tenured educators—even the most unproductive—cannot be readily dismissed by school districts as well as whether traditional schools or charter schools offer the most efficient and effective means of educating our children.  Take the response to recent action of the NAACP and United Federation of Teachers Union after the organizations filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court to stop the closure of 22 New York City public schools and block 20 charter schools from opening. As a result, hundreds of parents stormed the state office building in Harlem to demand the nation’s oldest civil rights group withdraw from the suit.

Golston says it will require “the best ideas, best energy and best investment” to reverse the trend. My panel proposed the following steps:

Continued on page 2

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• Identify the right solution.

Nia Phillips, chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Education”s Office of Innovation and Improvement, says her department fully evaluates the condition of schools. Under DOE”s School Improvement Grants programs, districts seeking federal funds to revive an institution must choose four options: 1) closing a school while ensuring students can attend a better one nearby; 2) restarting an institution that’s usually taken over by a charter operator; 3) promoting a turnaround by replacing a principal and significant portion of the staff; and 4) undergoing a transformation in which a new principal is installed and major reforms are implemented. Parents and community groups should scrutinize their schools in similar fashion to determine the best course of action..

• Develop your own school.

To close the academic achievement gap for black children, Peter Groff, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, advocates development of more high-performing institutions. In some cases, this move can be led by non-profit and religious organizations. To launch such schools, individuals need to become familiar with state laws and policies, identify a core funding source and work with a charter school management organization to gain authorization. Groff and Cobb serve as great resources for such efforts. For instance, Cobb manages two statewide funds with $45 million for charter school development and served as former CEO  and co-founder of Chicago’s Urban Prep Academies—a model institution with a 70% graduation rate and 100% college acceptance rate of its graduates. Phillips says individuals can access the federal Charter School Grant Program.

• Promote school choice.

Ebony Lee, senior program officer for the Gates Foundation, says parents and students need “multiple models, ” including innovative charter schools and top-performing magnet schools. Panelists also promoted homeschooling in which students are taught by parents or tutors as another viable option.

• Develop top teachers and administrators.

One key to quality education is attracting high-caliber talent. In fact, the Gates Foundation recently provided a $7.6 million grant to Education Pioneers, a national non-profit group, to  recruit and train more than 500 professionals and graduate students for leadership positions outside the classroom, positioning them in school districts, public charter organizations and state departments of education.  Even though unions have largely been resistant to teacher tenure reform, Lee says some local branches of the National Education Association have been receptive to “merit pay” models and programs that stress “educational effectiveness versus teacher longevity.”

• Let your voice be heard.

Kevin Chavous, chairman of the Black Alliance for Education Options, says community members “must show the courage to take a stand for the kids” whether it means becoming more politically involved, engaging in protests or connecting with influential supporters. That’s how Chavous, in part, was effective in pushing the charter school movement and funding the first federal scholarship program to allow 2,000 low-income children to attend private schools in the nation’s capital. Daryl Cobb warns such activism will likely ruffle government officials, school administrators and educators so “be willing to lose friends. We have to remember that this fight is not about adult agendas but the education of our kids.”

Television personality Sherri Shepherd had a lot to say about Bishop Eddie L. Long's settlement on The View (Image: File)

• Sherri Shepherd Addresses Bishop Eddie Long Settlement
  

Talk show host Sherri Shepherd held nothing back on The View when it came to discussing Bishop Eddie Long’s recent out-of-court settlement with the young men who accused the megachurch leader of sexual misconduct.

“If you are a man of faith, why would you settle out of court? If you have God and you have innocence, those are the two most powerful things you have,” said the comedienne turned TV personality. “David fought Goliath and he won. So you know what that tells me? That tells me there was something inappropriate going on.”

Watch what Shepherd had to say about the megachurch icon below:

 
• Civil Rights Leader Clara Luper Dies at 88

Oklahoma educator Clara Luper died Wednesday night at the age of 88, after succumbing to a long-battle with illness, confirmed family members.

Best known for her organization of the 1958 lunch counter sit-in that desegregated Katz Drug Stores in the Midwest—and ultimately all public restaurants, Luper essentially changed the course of race relations in this country. Roosevelt Milton, president emeritus of the NAACP’s Oklahoma City and Oklahoma chapters, recognized Luper as the last great civil rights icon in The Sooner State. “She was a very passionate and fearless person when it came to the NAACP mission,” said Milton.

Luper leaves behind two daughters, a son and grandchildren.

Watch the video to learn more about the civil rights pioneer’s legacy:

• The Complexity In Being Black And Critical Of President Obama

As absurd as it may seem, there is much complexity in being both Black and a critic of President Obama. As our nation’s first African American president, Obama carries a historical eminence in the Black community.

For most, he appears to be an untouched, can-do-no-wrong figure that represents the progression of a race. Many Blacks from the 1960s civil rights era never thought they would see the day the White House welcomes a man of color. Obama ran his campaign on change and hope, and many African Americans believed that change had finally arrived.

But behind the foggy mirrors, not much has changed for Black Americans. Ten percent of African American men remain incarcerated, Black youth are far behind their white counterparts in education, and the unemployment rate in the community is at a high of 16.2 percent.

Read more at NewsOne.com …

• Comic Book Character Static Returns

Black comic book fans can expect to see the return of a highly-popular teenager, Virgil Hawkins, better known as Static, from the comic book series Static Shock. The character was created by the late writer Dwayne McDuffie and artist John Paul Leon—both dedicated to implementing diversity within the comic book industry—while the duo worked at Milestone Media, the first major comic book imprint to feature minority lead characters.

The comic book is set to return with several new titles, including Legion Lost, written by Fabian Nicieza and sketched by Pete Woods; Teen Titans, created by Scott Lobdell and artists Brett Booth and Norman Rapmund, which will explore the team and its members: Kid Flash, Superboy, Red Robin, and Wonder Girl, and Hawk and Dove.

Static Shock will be written by John Rozum and Scott McDaniel.

Robinson's new book sparks debate on race

If you’re a political junkie, you’ve seen Eugene Robinson countless times on the tube. The Washington Post columnist, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for his take on Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign, can be found regularly providing his incisive political commentary on MSNBC programs such as Morning Joe and Hardball with Chris Matthews. Now, he has sparked debate with his recent book, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America (Doubleday; $24.95), in which he posits that decades of desegregation, affirmative action, immigration and interracial marriage has shattered the concept of a black monolith into four distinct groups: the Mainstream middle class; the Abandoned underclass; the Transcendent elite; and two newly Emergent groups—black immigrants and individuals of mixed-race heritage. Robinson wrote: “There was a time when there were agreed upon ‘black leaders,’ when there was a clear ‘black agenda,’ when we can talk confidently about ‘the state of black America’–but not anymore.”

BLACK ENTERPRISE Editor-In-Chief Derek T. Dingle spoke with Robinson about his premise and its future implications.

BLACK ENTERPRISE: What inspired you to write this book?

Eugene Robinson: A feeling that built up over time.  When we talk about black America we were not talking about black America as it is.  We were talking about black America as it was. In public policy discussions, it was all about this entity that I felt was not a single entity.  It was not one-size-fits-all. Then, I noticed back in 2007 when the Pew Research Center did a poll [that revealed] 37% of African-Americans believe that black Americans can no longer be considered a single race which I thought was a really weird but intriguing answer.  I didn’t know what it meant and I’m still not quite sure what that means specifically.  But, it was kind of unsettling, I thought.  So, that’s why I dove in.

I want to ask you some questions about each group.  First, the Mainstream middle class.  How has the Great Recession and jobless recovery disrupted this group?

Oh, it’s incredibly damaging. Every study I’ve found has found African Americans have been more vulnerable and more victimized by the Great Recession.  So, we’ve had some people fall down in that group.  We’ve had some people fall out of that group.

So some of the Mainstream are now a subgroup of the Abandoned?

I think so much depends on what happens with the economy. If the problems that we’re having now are truly structural and long term then the middle class, especially that black middle class, will not be as big as it was. If the economy were to come back strong I think that they might be the last hired back but they would eventually be hired back.

In the book, you discussed the need to create a Marshall Plan to revive communities of the Abandoned.  Given the push for congressional deficit reduction and the president’s proposed five- year domestic spending freeze, will such an agenda be embraced politically?

I said ‘ideally if we weren’t so constrained, what would we do?’  What we would do, and even then it would be hard, it would be intensive, holistic, working on multiple fronts because you can’t just say fix the schools.  You’ve got to fix the families and fix the infrastructure.  You’ve got to work on a lot of different areas. Is it possible to do that sort of Marshall Plan right now?  It’s not going to happen right now.  That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen but it’s not going to.

Is there a public/private solution?

I think it has to be.  I think you would find some sectors of corporate American eager to participate in that.  Corporate America likes to have consumers.  They like to have demand for what goods and services they’re producing. I think corporate America, at least when it wants to sell its products, it’s perfectly capable of understanding diversity and the demographics of the country and realizing that it’s not good to write-off a big segment of the population.

The Transcendent elite includes the Oprah Winfreys, Bob Johnsons and Ken Chenaults. Are we going to see an expansion of this group in the future?

I think it will be about the same.  The members are not huge so I’m not sure that there’s a big enough data set that you can talk about it scientifically.  One hopes the numbers, over time, increase.  The walks of life where you see them coming from, I think you could argue, has expanded.  So it’s not all about rich and successful athletes and entertainers, people in corporate America, in the media.  I would hope that list would expand.

What about the Emergent class of black immigrants. Will the second generation move into that Transcendent group?

That’s a good connection to make. The first generation is kind of underemployed but their kids have no hesitation to go into high-tech fields. I wonder if at some point we see the Microsofts and Googles of the world looking at creative and inventive places like Nigeria and South Africa. It is certainly conceivable that if you looked at this again 10 years or 15 years from now, you might say that the second generation did move into the Transcendent group in disproportionately large numbers. 

Are those of mixed heritage rejecting the traditional racial definitions based on the old “one-drop” premise?

Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson (Julia Ewan)

I think examining or questioning would be a better word for what I think some people are doing in terms of exploring their own identity.  But does it change how they’re viewed?  So far, not much.

So Obama is the first black president, not the first biracial president.

Exactly, if we were to check in again 30 or 40 years from now, we might have a different take on it.

What impact does this splintering effect have on collective political power and leadership?

I think in terms of collective political power, it’s hard to argue that there has been less of an electoral impact. That would be a different story if the Republican Party really made a play for black folks but it really hasn’t.  In terms of leadership, it does have an impact there because what’s the agenda? It’s not that the goals are mutually exclusive.  It’s just that they’re sometimes different. It does make things a bit more confused and a bit less unitary. I guess that’s one of the issues that confront traditional groups like the Urban League [and] the NAACP that have been, frankly, for a number of years really seemed kind of lost.  I think those groups are in their new leadership now that’s starting to sort of find its way.  But, the agenda used to be really clear back in the old days. It’s much less clear now.

What are the responsibilities of each group in driving workforce or supplier diversity?

I don’t think they’re with any group but I think they’re societal responsibilities. One is to make sure that diversity isn’t forgotten even as we go through the Great Recession, even as times are hard.  The other thing is to not always take the easy way. I’m going to look at the top graduate from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.  I think if I end up looking at a group of black kids who all grew up in suburban homes with high-income parents and the same kinds of experiences in this or that, that’s fine.  I’m not saying don’t hire those kids.  But, I’m saying that we can’t keep forgetting the Abandoned and working to identify and prepare kids who didn’t have those advantages. To the extent that affirmative action still exists, we aim it at people who most need it and that [should] be our principal focus.

For more of our news and politics coverage, see:

• WATCH: Exclusive interview with the nation’s CFO–Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
• President Obama’s plan to win the future
• Washington Report: House Republicans pass healthcare repeal

Wilson plots a plan of attack against HIV/AIDS

Chin up, Black America, not all the news surrounding HIV/AIDS in the African American community is bad. So says Phill Wilson, founder and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, the nation’s first and only think tank devoted to the eradication of HIV among Black populations.

Wilson, who sits on President Obama’s Advisory Council on AIDS and has been fighting for people of color to get their share of the financial pie via the administration’s first National AIDS Strategy, says a good chunk of the news concerning Black folks and the disease is actually good—an encouraging sign on World AIDS Day.

“For one thing, Black people are more mobilized than ever before,” says the 54-year-old activist, who has been HIV positive since 1985. “Five years ago not one major Black institution had an AIDS plan. Today, many, if not most, of the largest Black institutions—organizations like the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Council of Negro Women and 100 Black Men of America—do. Plus, 14 of them have a national director of HIV/AIDS, whose sole responsibility it is to work on stopping the spread of this disease.”

There are also several recent scientific findings that show significant promise. “A few months ago there was a study released on the development of a new vaginal gel made up of microbicides that could eventually stop the spread of HIV,” says Wilson. “Another study—released last month—showed the efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis, otherwise known as Prep, where people could potentially take a daily pill to keep themselves from becoming infected. And, this past summer scientists identified three new antibodies that could lead to the development of a vaccine.”

While the aforementioned medical developments are promising, there’s still a need for concern regarding the spread of the disease. “New HIV infections are not going down,” says Wilson, whose organization launched a nationwide campaign to test one million people over the next few years. “Black people continue to get diagnosed late which means they’re sicker when they are finally treated, and the meds are not as effective. And because they’ve been infected for awhile without knowing it, in all probability they have infected other people along the way.”

These are just a few reasons why Wilson insists the Obama Administration’s new healthcare plan is so critical for people of color. “It is more difficult for us to have access to medicine and treatment for the disease if we have no insurance,” he explains.

Ultimately, though, the responsibility for our wellness falls on us.

“Our HIV literacy as a group continues to be very low,” says Wilson. “We’re more likely to believe conspiracy theories and myths about HIV, which slows down our readiness to be tested, treated or involved in clinical trials.”

And the lack of knowledge is literally killing us. “Black Americans represent 50 percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States,” informs Wilson. “We are 50 percent of the new cases diagnosed each year, and 50 percent of the annual AIDS-related deaths in this country. We can change this simply by educating ourselves about the disease, having safe sex, getting tested and working to erase the stigma surrounding HIV. We have no other choice.”

See more from Wilson in the December 2010 issue of Black Enterprise magazine, on stands now.

Read more World AIDS Day related content from BE

• Hydeia Broadbent: “Living With AIDS is No Death Sentence”
• Alicia Keys Tweets Her Own Death For AIDS Awareness
• 6 Misconceptions Young People Have about HIV/AIDS

Time's 40 Under 40 Rising Stars of U.S. Politics list highlights those in the political and nonprofit arena making strides

Forging ahead to strengthen race relations in a tenuous political sphere and champion financial reform and aid for homeowners facing foreclosure, NAACP President Ben Jealous, 37, has a lot on his plate. But his work has not gone unnoticed. Jealous, the youngest president of the NAACP, was honored by Time magazine as one of the most influential people in politics, under the age of 40.

“It’s an acknowledgment of the hard work this organization is doing to move the country forward,” says Jealous. It also helps to bring attention to the organization’s goals including its march on the nation’s capitol, Oct. 2. The one nation march “At its heart, [the march] has been about bringing this country back so we can work together.”

The Oct. 25 print issue of Time features its 40 Under 40 Rising Stars of U.S. Politics list, highlighting those in the political and non-profit arena who are making strides. Wrote Time:

“[He] is steering the NAACP through an era marked by both the election of the first African-American President and rising racial tension, including a spat between the Tea Party movement and Jealous himself…”

A contentious “spat” that seems to be growing as the organiztion calls for the Tea Party to excel racists from its ranks. The NAACP received a mysterious package at its headquarters, Monday. While the organization could not confirm if it was a death threat, Jealous told Blackenterprise.com that the NAACP has been subject to intimidation tactics over the last few weeks.

The list also includes Mike Johnston, Colorado state senator and education advocate; Julian Castro, San Antonio Mayor, and Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, an organization dedicated to recruiting Democratic women to run for elected office.