You won't have to miss 24 to catch Chris Owens’ TV show. At least for now.

Owens, a former Democratic Congressional Candidate and son of former Congressman Major Owens, is the host and executive producer of Inside the Congressional Black Caucus (iCBC, the lower case "i" is intentional and part of the show's logo) which was originally to premiere at 9 PM on Monday April 30 on the Black Family (BFC). That's the same time slot as 24, that addictive TV show that glorifies torture.

However, BFC is now being acquired by the Gospel Music Network and will cease programming next week.

But iCBC won't be homeless long. Owens is close to a deal with a cable property owned by one of the world's largest media companies.

Stay tuned for more info.

mole333 mentioned Chris Owens's TV show, Inside the Congressional Black Caucus (iCBC, the lower case "i" is part of the logo and intentional), in a December blog, but the launch was delayed until now.

iCBC airs Mondays 9 PM and Midnight Eastern Standard Time on the Black Family Channel (152 on Time Warner in NYC, see your local listings elsewhere). iCBC is scheduled to premiere on April 30 with footage of California Congressperson Maxine Waters and Michigan representative John Conyers and an interview with the Rev Jesse Jackson.

Chris Owens, the Harvard and Princeton educated son of former Brooklyn, NY Congressperson Major Owens and a 2006 Congressional Candidate himself in the frequently discussed in the Daily Gotham 11th CD race, is the co-host and executive producer. Chris isn't the only Owens with a TV career, brother Geoffrey played Elvin on the Cosby show.

iCBC is a joint production effort of the Black Educational Network (BEN, Which he co-founded) through iCBC Productions LLC and historically black college University of the District of Columbia, UDC). UDC is also provides production facilities for Washington DC Cable Channel 98.

Chris is also negotiating with ION Television, the new name for the Pax Network, and CoLoursTV to broadcast the show.

So Rudy Giuliani has "forgiven" Don Imus:

Embattled radio host Don Imus is getting support from many of the politicians and journalists who frequently grace his show - including presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. Despite many calls for the shock jock's resignation, Giuliani said he would again appear with Imus, and after talking to him on the phone he believes Imus "understands that he made a very, very big mistake."

"I take Don at his word that he understands the gravity of what he said," Giuliani told the Daily News. "He seems sincerely sorry about it and seems like someone who will endeavor not to do that again and I take him at his word."

Well, that didn't take long.

It's nice of Giuliani to absolve Imus on behalf of his fellow African-Americans. What's that? He's not? Well then, it's hard to see what business he has "forgiving" a repeat-offending racist like Imus, isn't it?

Of course, this is Rudy Giuliani, much of whose mayoralty was premised on channeling white resentment against blacks. The same Giuliani whose malicious reaction to the Diallo shooting only made a bad situation worse. The same Rudy Giuliani who inflamed racial tensions by trashing Patrick Dorismond after Dorismond had been shot and killed by the NYPD. The same Rudy Giuliani whose policy of divide et impera managed to get him re-elected with two-thirds of the white vote but only 20% of the black vote.

Giuliani forgives Imus. The cobra forgives the rattlesnake for its venom.

Errol Louis has a piece in today's Daily News worth quoting at length. The subject is, of course, L'Affaire Imus. Here's the link.

In this case, the college women slandered by Imus on national television and radio were the best of the best: high academic achievers at a school with tough standards, and hardworking, competitive athletes. Epiphanny Prince, a star freshman on the squad, is already a New York legend, scoring an unheard-of 113 points in a single high school game.

They did all anybody ever asked of them - they stayed out of trouble, got an education, worked hard and literally played by the rules. They deserved much more than to be dismissed as "nappy-headed ho's" before a national audience.

Imus also hit a raw nerve with his sneering contempt for black achievement, playing out the worst fear of many black professionals: that in the end, everything you ever learned or accomplished might end up counting for nothing, dismissed with a racist epithet by a group of chuckling, middle-aged white guys with power.

Exactly right. Your average racist believes (I suppose, and if there is an average) that blacks are, take your pick, lazy, stupid, ignorant, whatnot.

Except that these young women manifestly, clearly, eye-openingly, were not. Did it help them?

Of course not.

The City Board of Elections denied Independence Party candidate to replace the late John Lavelle representing Staten Island’s North Shore in the March 27 Special Election Kelvin Alexander’s bid to place his made up Family First line (Not to be confused with Working Families which supports Democratic opponent Matt Titone ) as an additional line on the ballot. The board ruled that 611 of the petition’s 1616 signatures were invalid, leaving him short of the 1100 he needed for that additional line.

Alexander, a Staten Island Democratic County Committee member, is running on the Independence line and potentially turning a potential easy Democratic win into an opportunity for Republican Rose Margarella because the party chose Titone over him. He is undecided if he’ll fight the ruling with the state Supreme Court.

Alexander has accused any challenge of his fabricated party petition as marginalizing minority voters. I find that a stretch since he’s already on the ballot as a better known party’s candidate.

I also need to clarify that I am supporting Titone in this race. I have donated money to Titone, campaigned with Matt and have a Titone sign on my front lawn. There are some comments on the Link TextStaten Island Advance’s SIlive political forum that take out of context my initial backing of Alexander in the Daily Gotham. Although I would have voted for Alexander in the first round of voting at the County Convention had I been allowed to participate, I would have switched to Titone in subsequent rounds. Also for the SIlivers who read my blog, I was not one of the January Committee additions thought loyal to Olivari. I was told I was added in June 2006 and still haven’t been named to the Committee and thus still can not vote in County matters.

As naive as it may seem, I still tend to assume that "the system" works more than it does not. So, as naive as it may seem, I was recently shaken by the words of several well-respected Black leaders and activists who condemned the New York City Police Department as being pretty much rotten to the core.

As a gay man who was damaged and corrupted by 40 years in the closet, I have no difficulty understanding the symptoms and manifestations of self-hatred, not to mention the pathetic and often-times frightening maneuvers used by self-haters to gain acceptance and invisibility among the so-called majority.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has challenged allegations of racism in the horrific Sean Bell shooting. Perhaps his most intriguing response has been to explain that the majority of police officers involved in the incident were in fact Black themselves. Kelly implies that it is illogical to accuse the NYPD of racism under such circumstances.

Some Black leaders have bitterly refuted this defense pointing out that the vast majority of "victims" of police shootings in this city are young African-American men. They contend that once an African-American puts on the NYPD uniform he ceases to be Black and in fact becomes Blue.

I tend to tune in Current TV in the morning. In between my wife's intense study of the Weather Channel and leaving for work, I switch on Current TV. Good mix of news and culture in a short attention span theater format. Often something particularly good will be on.

This morning I saw an interesting segment on the difficulty of an Asian/African-American interracial relationship. A Korean daughter runs into trouble with her parents when her mother discovers that she is dating a black man. Her mother freaks out, leading to an ongoing harangue trying to convince her daughter that she is betraying her race and doing something unnatural, while her daughter tries to convince her mother than 2006 in America is different than living in homogenous Korea.

Neither mother nor daughter dare tell the father what's going on. Presumably he doesn't watch Current TV, unless this is her way of telling him.

The segment ends with the statement that the daughter still hopes for understanding from her parents because she loves them.

Racism is universal. I can't say anywhere I have been seemed to be completely free of racism. How race is defined varies. The percentage of tolerant people in the culture varies. But there is always a core group of people who finds ways of defining "us" vs. "them" and who will be horrified every time one of "us" falls in love with one of "them."

I get this from Chris Owens' website. It is a message from Kevin Powell about the 50-day vigil for Sean Bell. The issue of excessive use of force by police towards black men has to be one that is discussed on liberal blogs like this one. And vigils like this deserve the attention of progressive groups, particularly if those progressive groups want to be of relevence to the black community. Here's Kevin Powell's message:

Good day, everyone!

This is Kevin Powell, Brooklyn, New York based writer and community activist. I was just out at the 50-day Sean Bell Vigil in Jamaica, Queens, New York, last night, across from the 103rd precinct. In spite of the rain, the Bell family, friends, and folks looking for basic justice were there. It was incredibly moving, and it made me think of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, as well as those four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. In both instances, it was just a few dedicated individuals and their very simple acts of civil disobedience which brought attention to very serious human and civil rights violations. They made sacrifices to their own comfort and their own safety, and changes did happen, as manifested in the Civil Rights Movement.

Continued...

I am quite pro-police. In fact, coming from California, I tend to think the cops should in general be more rigorous in enforcing laws. I have railed against Bloomberg for dicking around our cops during contract disputes and, as far as I am aware, the cops still don't have a current contract. During some protests I have carried a sign urging Bloomberg to give the NYPD and FDNY better pay. I was never raised anti-cop.

But when an unarmed man gets shot 50 times by the police, something is wrong.

Today was the March for Justice against excessive use of force by the NYPD against black men, most particularly Sean Bell.

Joy and I had aimed to join up with either the Democracy for NYC or the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats contingents, but arrived somewhat late and never met up with either. Instead we moved in at 59th St. and 5th Ave. where we could muscle our way in. We wound up just in front of the NAACP contingent.

Protesting with a small child is completely different than doing so alone. Most of my experience of the march was doing my best to avoid running into the people in front of me, preventing others from bumping into the stroller, feeding Jacob lunch and happily noticing when he fell asleep and how long he napped. So my experience was not typical.

It was on NBC News this morning, and The New York Times confirms it: another young black man got shot to death by the police.

A police officer fatally shot an armed 19-year-old during a struggle in the vestibule of a South Bronx apartment building last night, the police said. The police said that the officer fired five shots at the man, identified by his mother as Timur Person, and that at least one of them hit him in the chest.

A friend of Mr. Person’s who witnessed the shooting, Hector Suarez, said that Mr. Person had a gun tucked into his waistband. “They were punching and kicking him,” Mr. Suarez said. “All I kept hearing was: ‘Let go of the gun! Let go of the gun!’ ”[...]

Mr. Person’s mother, Allene Person, said that Mr. Person, her youngest child, was two days shy of his 20th birthday.

“I can’t cry,” she said, banging her palms against the chain-link fence outside the hospital. “I can’t get the tears. I’m too angry.”