Los Angeles Black Business Expo

Network joins Urban League, Master P, Russell
Simmons for telethon; Joyner launches
relief fund.

      *Black Entertainment Television will air a two-part four-hour telethon next Friday to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which has decimated the Gulf region and left thousands dead, more than a million people without power, thousands of stranded victims without food and water, and the submerged city of New Orleans in complete and total chaos.
      BET will partner with the National Urban League and the American Red Cross for a telethon to be held from 7:30 to 10 p.m. ET on Sept. 9 featuring Wynton Marsalis, hip-hop entrepreneurs Russell Simmons and Percy "Master P" Miller, Warner Music Group executive Kevin Liles, Chris Rock, David Banner, Juvenile and the chairman and founder of Essence Communications, Ed
Lewis. A special benefit episode of “106 & Park: BET’S Top 10 Live” will precede the telethon at 6 p.m. ET.
     Marc Morial, the president and chief executive officer of the Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans, tells Forbes
magazine that their quick response is due in part to the close ties many of the leaders have to New Orleans. Marsalis and Master
P are natives of the Big Easy, while Lewis has close ties to the area because his company stages the Essence Music Festival
in the city each year.
      Morial says he contacted BET about staging a relief effort after receiving a large amount of phone calls from people asking
what they could do to help. By the time he reached out to the network’s CEO, Debra Lee, she had already been in contact with
BET’s founder and outgoing chief executive Robert Johnson about organizing a fundraiser.    "We need to do something," Johnson
told Lee.
      Many of the victims of the storm are poor and black, Michele Moore, a spokeswoman at The Urban League noted to Forbes, adding that everyone involved in the effort felt it was their obligation to provide leadership. "We think the response will just keep growing," she said.

      *Meanwhile, syndicated morning radio host Tom Joyner on Thursday announced the creation of the BlackAmericaWeb.com
Relief Fund, formed in association with his online community BlackAmericaWeb.com, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and parent company REACH Media to assist people who are helping those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
This story continues at EURweb.com:
http://eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=22137
From www.Slate.com

Lost in the Flood
Why no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage?
By Jack Shafer MORE

Paraphrasing: Holy Name and The Church of the Transfiguration in Los Angeles' Crenshaw district plans to sponsor a collection for storm victims Sunday, as will First African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Brotherhood Crusade. Click Here for complete LA Times Article

Master P said of his relief effort: “My family has set out to save and rebuild our neighborhoods and help our inner-city
brothers and sisters who have lost everything in this disaster. Those in need and those who wish to donate can call our hotline at 888.886.7377 and speak to someone who can help. The line will be up and running today. For more information please
go to www.teamrescueone.com.

From Luther Williams, Black College Row:

From:	"Laura J Burton Odem"
To:	"Luther Williams"

Subject:	Spelman College Accommodations of New Orleans Students
Date:	Thu, 01 Sep 2005 22:18:35 +0000

Luther: Kudos to Jackson State University for helping the Tulane University displaced students before they went to Atlanta's Georgia Tech University. I saw an interview on TV with one of the students who was displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. She said that they were housed in the gymnasium at Jackson State before the left for Atlanta.

See info below for guest student program at Spelman. LJO

Spelman College Accommodations of New Orleans Students
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 19:08:44 +0000

FYI, here's the contact info for anyone with questions or concerns...

To: Spelman College Faculty & Staff

Subject: Accommodations of New Orleans Students

Greetings Colleagues
This is just a quick note to thank each of you who has referred students who were attending colleges now closed due to the impact of the hurricane, to our offices.
We are taking applications from any student who wants to enroll as a guest student, and working with student financial services, student accounts, housing, advising and other offices to make their transition to Spelman as smooth and stress-free as possible. At this point, the numbers are relatively small, maybe 30 or 35 actual applications, most of which are from Xavier or Dillard. But, as word gets out, that number may increase. Please, if you know of a student interested in joining us for the semester, please have her call me at any of the numbers below. While right now, students may think that they want to transfer into Spelman rather than come as a guest, we think it best that they make that decision when things calm down. Again, I thank you for your patience, assistance and support.
Arlene

Arlene Wesley Cash
Vice President for Enrollment Management
Spelman College
350 Spelman Lane SW, Box 2025
Atlanta, GA 30314-4399
404.270.5186 (office)

Editor's Note: This is from my friend who is a doctor in Houston. I can hear the frustration in her voice. She rarely emails so this came from deep in the heart:

Has the news coverage there documented the real devastation of this hurricane....its ongoing impact on human lives and the extent of need???

Hardly anyone in Houston doesn't know someone who hasn't been impacted, obviously from all walks of life. There is such a large % of people from Louisiana that have migrated to Houston/Texas over the past 50 - 60+ past years that so many Houstonians have roots there (including my mate's family as her mother is from Louisiana, but not New Orleans).

Texas has declared a state of emergency...Housing the massive influx of people is a major problem...all shelters are full, including the makeshift quarters in our Astrodome and, additional makeshift shelters are trying to be started. There is now an internet resource database where anyone in the metropolitan area with a room, couch, etc that can take in individuals or families, can list their accommodations and the network is matching individuals to accommodations. Collections are being taken up left and right either for known individuals, facilities or nonprofit groups such as the Red Cross etc. Our professional sports teams are stepping up to the plate as not only is the Astrodome being put to use, but the Toyota Center (basketball) and is being used as drop-off center to coordinate tangible donations (clothes, etc), to coordinate job resources. The medical community has been mobilized with many volunteering
time to assist and triage health needs of individuals arriving at
shelters.

A telephone databank/resource is being set up so that family
members/friends etc can try to locate one another as so many families members have been separated and do not know the whereabouts of loved ones.

There are still people stranded in attics/rooftops in New Orleans...not to mention those in shelters or wandering streets with no means to evacuate the city. The entire city of New Orleans must be evacuated. Bodies are strewn on street corners as rescue workers are overwhelmed helping the living. Panic/Violence is breaking out as many desperate people
have not had food or water since Monday....and yes looting and criminal activity is also adding to the misery. People are being bused out of the city but there are not enough buses and for those that are there desperation is mounting; maintaining an orderly process for desperate people is difficult. The death toll will continue to rise, not only for those already dead and not yet counted but also for those who many not survive this process...health risks continue to mount.

For those who either chose to (or had the means to) heed the evacuation order early (before the flood hit on Monday) many are here in Houston with only a few days clothing supply and little money (none anticipated the flood, and only expected to be gone a few days)....resources are running out...and these are the lucky ones who got out early. Greater metropolitan Houston is opening its heart to our neighbors/extended family...school districts are opening their doors to the children...many
activities are free to Louisiana residents...jobs are being offered.
Millions of dollars have already been raised and the efforts are continuing as we recognize there are both short and long term needs...

WILL THERE BE ANYTHING LEFT FOR THESE LA RESIDENTS TO GO BACK TO
(Family...a home...a job...???) Many say that New Orleans as we have known it....may never again exist.

With flood waters containing decaying bodies, toxic chemical,
etc....there is a real current and long term health risk.

THIS TRAGEDY IS FAR FROM OVER....

OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND WALLETS......DONATE TO WHATEVER RELIEF EFFORTS ARE COLLECTING FUNDS TO ASSIST THE HURRICANE VICTIMS....THE RED CROSS
EFFORTS HERE HAVE BEEN AMAZING...BUT THEY ARE JUST ONE OF MANY....

FORWARD THIS TO WHOMEVER YOU CAN..... My heart is so heavy at this moment...There are individuals living in New Orleans who I have yet to hear from to know of their well being....and the personal stories I hear from those arriving just tears at you. IF EVER AN E-MAIL CHAIN WAS
NEEDED.................................................

No sound this time. Only pictures. Our chief photographer Michael Riddick, Net. Profiles was again on the frontlines taking the shots for the rest of us. By all accounts, Minister Tony Muhammad, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and the LAPD are all calling for calm after this obvious trauma to the Minister's face when he was thrown in jail recently during a protest, ironically about police abuse.

Inner City dwellers, there is no question that tensions are rising. So thick, we can stab them with a knife, and as business owners we need to be very concerned. Why? Because when L.A. Burns, it is business that takes the hit.

I can't remember any homes burning although there were probably some but my husband found the tape he and our five sons shot back in 1992 and it was an eye opener. I remembered I was in the radio station reporting the news on KACE and thinking my kids were home safe with my husband, only to find out he had loaded the boys into the station wagon and had the oldest shooting the worst mayhem they had ever seen in their lives.

As we watched the tape, there was Broadway Federal, flames still licking through its lobby, and countless other businesses just level by fire. The one that hurt the most was the Aquarian Bookshop which was the oldest black owned bookstore...reduced to rubble. Every shop owner--including Korean, White and Jewish shop owners had scribbled "Black Owned" on their store fronts (even E.Z. Wiggins handwrote a sign and stuck it on KACE's front door) but that preemptive strike was ignored by too many.

And here we are again in 2005, with feelings like '65 or '92. There is a lot to be said about what happened the other day which resulted in Minister Tony Muhammad of the Nation of Islam to wind up with such trauma to his face. Did the police overreact? Did the community? Did Minister Tony? It is hard because most of us who weren't there, especially those who weren't eye witnesses in lockup, cannot say for sure. We can only trust that which we know. We have seen evidence of the work of Minister Tony Muhammad, his restraint when dealing with trying issues, his willingness to address community concerns that others who are outspoken gloss over. We know how tough the job has got to be of paramedics and police officers who were responding the night before to the shooting of Nahum Beaird, 21, on a Hyde Park Street.

Jacquie Stephens at KJLH's L.A. Speaks Out had the Minister and the Mayor on her show morning. A copy of that tape would be very informative.

Which ever way you fall on the issue, one thing is certain, as business owners WE MUST TRY AND DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO NOT HAVE ANOTHER UPRISING. Look around you and roll up your sleeves. There is a way.

Let's Talk About It: Click here for our Forum.

It Looks Like August will be Hotter than July! By: Omari Bakari Now that more people are becoming outraged at L.A.’s two very distinct problems of police killings and gang terrorism, one being predicated on the other, the community 40 years after the Watts riot is once again getting restless. (Read More)