Jawn:
 A slang term, originated in Philadelphia and extending into the suburbs of the Delaware Valley and southern New Jersey, to describe any person, places or things whose appropriate word could not be recalled by the brain at that particular time.
(For example: Bob, I'mma get one of those jawns from that Spanish jawn, who lives by the jawn in Germantown. )

The Jawn:Philly's Unsigned Talent, 2001-2007:
A dope book, written by Damon C. Williams, which acts as an anthology for Philly's underground music, arts and entertainment industry.

When I first saw links about The Jawn being passed around Facebook, I was more than a little intrigued. It is a very well known fact that the city of Brotherly Love is home to one of the most vibrant and well-documented musical heritages, producing such legendary artists as Patti LaBelle, Chubby Checker, John Coltrane, Will "Fresh Prince" Smith (and DJ Jazzy Jeff) and the whole Philly Sound movement (courtesy of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff).

As such, it totally made sense that a book be written to highlight the city's thriving underground scene, which continues to churn out future legends such as Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Meek Mills, Kindred and the Family Soul, among many, many others.

While The Jawn is Williams' first published book, he is no stranger to the city's music and art scene. A native Philadelphian and former journalist for the Philadelphia Daily News, Williams has spent nearly a decade interviewing hundreds of artists, whose work have contributed greatly to the local urban culture. It's part of the reason why The Jawn serves as a important anthology as it not only features many of his published articles and interviews but also exposes the world to the unsigned and/or underground hype still brewing in the city.

Check out Damon C. Williams interview below:

Currently, there are more than 9.8 million people worldwide being held in penal institutions, with almost half of them being housed in prisons (city, state and federal) in the United States alone. 

This country's obsession and thirst for  tougher state and federal crime laws and sentencing - even for the most victim-less of offenses (such as drug abuse) - has exposed a tear in America's self-declared status as the beacon of democracy and freedom.  Moreover, our extraordinary rate of incarceration has become very big business for  the prison system as well as corporations, looking to tap into a cheap and easily silenced labor force. It's a point, which has been and continues to be very well documented by Bob Sloan at The Daily Kos.

Because we live in a nation that believes that anyone convicted of a crime deserves whatever punishment they receive, we allow - if not condone - egregious violations of various human and labor rights to happen right under our noses. And it's not just what happens behind the bars but also the grave injustices, which occur to a person upon his or her release from the penitentiary system. Poorly executed transitional measures such as the  parole and probation system as well as the various felon-exclusionary laws have had a counterproductive effect on ex-offenders. And in some ways, have contributed largely to recidivism.

But not everyone is willing to turn a blind eye. In fact, Sheneese Starr, one of the founders of the In Your Face Movement, a Harlem, NY-based grassroots group,  is leading the charge to enlighten Americans to the effects that the Industrial Prison Complex has had on not only the prisoners inside, but also their families and the community as a whole.  Next month, Starr along with other members of the the In Your Face Movement will be walking from Harlem, NYC to Washington D.C. - yes, I did say WALKING - in hopes of inspiring others to take action.

Listen to her full interview with PP&T below:

If you are interested in learning more about the In Your Face Movement or the upcoming Walk to Washington, you can find them here and here.

It's been about a month and a half since I wrote a piece for The Atlanta Post, giving my take on Tucker Carlson's comments about Mike Vick and I'm still getting emails from angry folks asking me "How Could You Write That?"  It gets a little annoying at times but, whatever. Thanks for reading!

Two days ago, I received this video (see below) from a reader named Jim, who I assume wants to show me just how Vick is still, " a despicable human being."

Right. Got it. Actually, no not really.

I guess the appropriate response to this "journalist" would have been for Vick  to get down on his knees, clasped his hands together and beg the "journalist" as well as every other person he has has upset for forgiveness. *shrug*

Meanwhile, Waka Flocka Flame has just been signed on as a spokesperson for PETA in its "Ink not Mink" campaign. And PETA, among other animal rights groups, continues to compare black slavery of the past to the treatment of animals today.

Recently, I read a story about how screening rates for the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia are significantly higher in the United States among young black and Hispanic women than among young white women, which might explain why black and Hispanic women have higher reported rates of the disease.

The article, suggested that these racial differences between infection rates and screenings rates are not an isolated occurrence:

"For some common conditions like breast cancer, white women are more likely to receive a screening test like mammography," the study's first author, Dr. Sarah E. Wiehe, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a university news release. "For chlamydia infections -- which are highly stigmatized STDs -- white women are less likely, while minority women are more likely, to receive screening," she noted."

I thought that this was interesting as it suggests that the so-called infection rate statistics may have less to do with the actual frequency of infection among a particular racial group but more to do with a provider of a health service itself.  

It got me thinking about an interview I had done a while back (like a year ago) with Brian Robinson and  Emanuel Stanley, founding members of the Tuskegee North Advocacy Group, or TNAG, a non-profit organization established to education folks about what they feel was the willful negligence in the reporting of STDs infection rates within in the black community.

In October 2009, TNAG filed a lawsuit (under Tuskegee North Advocacy Group of Delaware Valley) in federal court against The Center for Disease Control (CDC), the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Public Health Management Corporation and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, alleging civil rights violations for not telling patients that they had been infected with gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexual transmitted diseases. The patients, alleged TNAG, were from mostly the African American community in Philadelphia - hence the Tuskegee [syphilis experiment] reference.