links for 2011-02-23

**TRIGGER WARNING**
"'Well several people I know who had never mentioned the issue of childhood sexual abuse before said, ‘But Shantrelle, this happens to black boys, too!’ And I had to say, ‘I’m curating this exhibit, and it’s about black girls. If other people want to curate another exhibit about black boys, they can do that.' The fact is: I will never demonize black men, under any circumstances. I grew up in a family full of incredible black fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins, and I know the types of issues and oppression [black men] deal with, like being harassed by the police and being [sexually] abused themselves. But we still have to hold black men who abuse black girls accountable for that abuse.'"

"The student who filed the complaint, Arlene Johnson, said in her own e-mail to the AP that she's happy that Wattier is retiring, adding that it shows that his actions toward her were 'disrespectful.'"

"In response to soaring food prices that are hurting the poor in India, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister KV Thomas has proposed curbing lavish weddings to reduce food wastage. According to Reuters, Thomas wants to introduce a bill limiting the amount of food served to guests, because he claims 15% of India's food grains are wasted at such events. 'We believe we can preserve food grains for the poor and needy of this country by restricting its use at such extravagant and luxurious social functions,' said Thomas."

"Chinatown has long had a dense infrastructure to help new immigrants find their footing. Without leaving East Broadway, a fisherman fresh from a Chinese village could get a job washing dishes in Arlington, Va.; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; or Flushing, Queens. He could also find a bus to take him there, and an apartment to share with six other men from his hometown. And while waiting for all that to be arranged, he could visit a doctor, consult a lawyer, take in a bootleg movie and slurp a lunch of noodle soup."

"Even as more customers turn to online banking, said Kathleen Engel, a law professor at Suffolk University in Boston, the presence of brick-and-mortar branches encourages 'a culture of savings,' beginning with passbook accounts for children and visits to the local bank. 'If we lose branch banking in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, banks stop being central to the culture in those communities,' said Ms. Engel, author of a new book, 'The Subprime Virus: Reckless Credit, Regulatory Failure and Next Steps.'”

I understand the slant in this post–the man runs a pre-paid card company–but it's interesting to see Black women with children and no post high-school education characterized like this when they're usually negatively stereotyped.–AJP "What jumps out is how the group that is most over-represented for using alternative online banking comprises African American mothers with no college and incomes below $30k. People adopting online financial services are ahead of the curve. And people adopting newer, alternative services are true early adopters. In the high-tech world where I've spent my career, ahead-of-the-curve early adopters rarely fit this profile.

"This group represents what Visa characterizes as strivers. People may be under-banked, but they're motivated to find newer, better ways to manage their finances. It's too soon to say who the oncoming five percent of under-banked people will be, but they can look to strivers for inspiration."