Google will be offering $10,000 a year to students planning on attending 4-year universities in fields related to computer science and computer engineering.

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Black Web 2.0 Reports:

Applicants should demonstrate leadership and a commitment to and passion for computer science and technology through involvement in their community. In addition, applicants should have a strong academic record, be from an underrepresented group in computer science and demonstrate financial need.

Winners will receive $10,000 each year for up to four years.

To apply for this scholarship and find more like this offered from Google go to their online application page. The Generation Google Scholarship is due on February 20, 2012.

Read More At Black Web 2.0

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Like the rest of America, I was distraught over the death of the great Don Cornelius, creator of the legendary show, “Soul Train.”  There will never be another one like him, for he truly changed the black entertainment landscape for all eternity.   I thought about Cornelius for a bit this morning and wanted to share five things that black people can learn from the master of soul:

1) How to start and build a business: Soul Train was not a show that some big corporation gave to Don Cornelius. It was his baby. Don started off in Chicago with a hot local show and eventually took the show to national syndication.  He saw a void in entertainment and filled it.  He carried his dream to the national level and now his vision remains a perpetual piece of black entertainment history.   Most of us have dreams, but most of those dreams die. Find your dream, learn how to create your dream and then put your heart into building that dream.  You’ll be amazed at what you can do.

2) Edu-tainment really does work when its done properly: Soul Train did what BET’s 106& Park should have done – it entertained black people while encouraging us to develop our minds.   I recall seeing the video of a 19-year old Rev. Al Sharpton on the show, and another with Jesse Jackson sporting the coolest afro I’d ever seen.  Don understood the importance of maintaining a double bottom line of social responsibility and corporate profitability, and he earned his millions conscientiously.

3) The value of creating your own platforms: Most black entertainers are excellent at performing their craft, but know very little about the business models that bring their work to a wider audience.   Rather than hoping that some other show would grant media space for black entertainers, brother Don took matters into his own hands. As a result, scores of black superstars were born who never would have existed otherwise.  That’s what you call making something out of nothing.

4) Black is always beautiful: The on-going theme on Soul Train was “blackness.”  Cornelius always kept it authentic. The show allowed us to be cool, funky, intelligent, progressive, wild and creative without being endlessly scrutinized by the descendants of our historical oppressors.  Don used his opportunity as a chance to tell all of us that we can be special if we choose to be, and for that, I’ll always be grateful.

5) The power of Ujamaa: Ujamaa is the concept of unity, working together and supporting one another, especially in the area of economics.  When we created our Ujamaa initiative to support black-owned businesses, we were inspired by the  likes of Don Cornelius, whose show got off the ground via sponsorship from the Johnson Products Company, a black-owned enterprise. By conjoining black consumers with black  businesses and black entertainment, Cornelius was able to create one of the greatest economic and entertainment empires in black American history.  There’s no limit to what we can do when we work together.

Goodbye Don Cornelius, you were oh so special to all of us.  You were the guardian of our collective soul, and a piece of that soul will be carried with you into heaven.  May you always rest in peace.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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While discussing his win over Newt Gingrich, Romney brought up the issue of poor people, saying, “[I'm] not concerned about the very poor” [because they have an] “ample safety net.” Driving his point home, Romney added, “You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus.”

What is Romney focusing on? The middle class, “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” he said. “We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich. They’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

According to the NY Times, poverty in this country is at its highest level at 46.2 million Americans living below the poverty line. Just last year, 2.6 million people joined the ranks of poverty in this country. To contextualize these numbers some more, these current poverty levels are the highest the Census Bureau has ever recorded poverty in this country in 52 years.

With Romney being worth $200 million, he has already been criticized for being out of touch with the majority of Americans, but with the poverty ranks of this country swelling to such levels, one really has to wonder what a president like Romney would do for this country and its indigent population.

More pointedly, with African Americans having the highest unemployment levels in the nation at 15.8 percent and having taken the hardest hit to home ownership with the subprime lending fiasco, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Romney for president means he is clearly “not focused” on Black people.

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In the letter Jourdan Anderson offers a smart retort to P.H. Anderson’s request that he come back and work for his former slave master in Tennessee.

Here are some excerpts from the letter:

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

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Don Cornelius, the former host and creator of the famed show Soul Train apparently committed suicide last night from a gunshot wound to the head. His body was found by police at 4am this morning and officials say his wounds were self-inflicted. He was pronounced dead before reaching the hospital. Cornelius most recently appeared at the 2009 BET Awards to present The O’Jays with the 2009 BET Lifetime Achievement Award. He was best known for his deep and smooth voice which was a staple on his “Soul Train.”

Our hearts go out Don Cornelius’ family and friends during this trying time… R.I.P. Don Cornelius

Adams was charged with two counts of child endangerment after her two daughters were found roaming the streets near their grandmother’s house.

The New York Daily News reports:

Two-year-old Dominae and Diani, 3, were found in front of the Bay View Houses about 2:40 p.m. Police say their mother, Dalisha Adams, abandoned them. The single mom was busted about 11 p.m. – more than four hours after the head-scratching Facebook post.

Adams, 26, was awaiting arraignment late Monday on two counts of child endangerment.

There was no signs of abuse, although neighbors said Adams often cursed at the kids and gave them a tongue-lashing hours before they were ditched.

Read More At The New York Daily News

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From NBC Chicago: Publisher John H. Johnson, who created Ebony and Jet magazines, will be honored on this year’s Black Heritage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

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A Tuesday ceremony is planned in Johnson’s hometown of Arkansas City, where he lived until moving to Chicago with his family at age 15.

Johnson founded Johnson Publishing Co. on a $500 loan using his mother’s furniture as collateral. At the time, he was working as a clerk at a black-owned life insurance company.

He created Ebony in 1945 with a press run of 25,000 copies. Its circulation topped 1.6 million at the time of Johnson’s death in 2005 at the age of 87. Johnson also founded the newsweekly Jet in 1951.

For more on this story, go to theGrio.

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Iverson was sued by Aydin & Company Jewelers back in 2010, after not taking care of a whopping $375,000 bill he incurred at the retailer.  Since Iverson never responded to the lawsuit, the courts then issued a default judgment in favor of the jeweler to cover the cost of the bling, interest, and court and attorney’s fees.  Ignoring the bill only resulted in the judge allowing the jeweler to tap into the 11-time NBA Allstar’s Wells Fargo accounts.

The last time Iverson played was for the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2009-2010 season, but he left after only playing a few months and missing five games due to some mysterious health issues that had afflicted his then-4-year-old daughter.

As to whether or not Aydin & Company will get their monies from the man who was once given the esteemed title of being the 5th greatest NBA shooting guard of all time by ESPN, it is yet to be seen.  In 2010, it was widely reported that Iverson was flat broke and deep in debt.  There was talk that a relative who had loaned Iverson money went as far as to contact NBA teams for a contract for him so that the debt would be repaid.

In August of last year, Iverson was also sued for a reported $2.5 million by a man who claimed that he was assaulted by one of the player’s body guards in a 2009 bar fight.  A federal judge, however, dismissed the case based on insufficient evidence.

The most damaging news of all, though, came from an article that was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer back in March 2010.  The columnist alleged that according to reliable sources, Iverson would “either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.”  The writer went on to state that Iverson had been banned by major casinos in Detroit and in Atlantic City.  He also alleged that Iverson’s wife had filed for divorce and sought sole custody of their five children in addition to alimony, child support, and a share of their assets.

Although, the latter did come to pass last December, Iverson’s estranged wife, Tawanna, claimed that her husband failed to pay child support and was instead spending extravagantly.  She accused Iverson of withdrawing large amounts of money, including $20,000 to buy jewelry from the account that she had been using to pay rent and to maintain a home for their children.

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During his speech, the President touched on the economy and jobs, but focused primarily on rising tuition costs and college affordability. His proposed initiatives had the crowd very enthusiastic. To see his speech and the out line of his new initiatives click here.

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