Keny Gamble,Berry Gordy,Leon Huff & Al Bell

Gretchen Cook-Anderson and Angela Patterson

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum

Mardi Gras Indians

Book of The Week

Brazil Indigenous leader

UnityFirst.com News

---Historic Motown/Philly Sound/Stax gathering---
Thanks to Philadelphia International Records, the architects of R&B/Soul – Motown founder Berry Gordy, Philadelphia International Records founders Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff and Stax Records founder Al Bell – came together for the first time ever for a gathering of music legends that amazed industry insiders and classic soul lovers. Gordy, Gamble, Huff and Bell are responsible for countless hits recorded by many of the world's top artists including (Motown) The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye; (Philadelphia International Records) The O'Jays, Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls and Billy Paul; and (Stax Records) Isaac Hayes, Al Green, Otis Redding and the Staple Singers. Prolific songwriter and renowned Motown artist Smokey Robinson made a surprise appearance at the gathering. Audience members learned that it was Smokey Robinson who encouraged Berry Gordy to create Motown while hearing humorous memory-lane sidebars including one about how nervous Gamble was when he picked up Robinson from the Philadelphia International Airport less than a week after obtaining his driver’s license. The entire discussion remained saturated by a reoccurring theme of shared admiration and respect for Motown founder Berry Gordy, whom Gamble, Huff and Bell each credited with having set the stage for their success. "He’s the godfather and the chairman and if it weren't for him none of us would be here," said Bell. "He served as our model," said Gamble. "He was our inspiration," said Huff. Added Smokey Robinson: "Berry Gordy taught me how to write a song." R&B crooner Gerald Levert encouraged today's songwriters, producers and artists to "bring back to the industry the camaraderie" that Gordy, Gamble, Huff and Bell exhibited at the forum. Levert noted that although the four icons were steering three separate record labels at one time and were in essence competing for music sales, "they still shared a bond with one another at the end of the day."

---African American women launch beverage company---
Gretchen Cook-Anderson, a public relations executive and writer, and Angela Patterson, MD, FAAP, a double board-certified neonatologist/perinatologist and pediatrician, recently launched their new company, Saphia Lifestyle Beverages (SLB) LLC. The company simultaneously launched the Saphia line of low-calorie, naturally flavored, nutrient-enriched water beverages aimed at the niche market of pregnant women, nursing mothers and hopeful mothers-to-be. Saphia Water is the first beverage to target both the hydration and dietary needs of expectant and nursing mothers.The Saphia Water line was created specifically to respond to obstetricians' universal recommendation that expectant mothers drink the equivalent of at least eight, eight-ounce glasses of water daily, as well as increase their consumption of specific vitamins and minerals. Saphia Water is currently available in three flavors, BlissBerry, PacifyinglyPeach and LovinglyLemon, with additional flavors on the horizon.

---"New Orleans Black Mardi Gras Indians: Exploring a Community Tradition from an Insider's View"---Visit the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C. It has extended its exhibition "New Orleans Black Mardi Gras Indians: Exploring a Community Tradition from an Insider's View" until Oct. 15. This exhibition features selected portraits of Mardi Gras Black Indians and their unique masking traditions by New Orleans photographer J. Nash Porter. Also on view from the museum's collection are Mardi Gras Indian suits. Video recollections from costume makers and maskers offer a glimpse into this rich community cultural tradition. The Anacostia Community Museum, is located at 1901 Fort Place S.E. For more information, call (202) 633-4820.

---African-American Houstonians leery of disaster preparedness---Most African Americans are worried about how the city of Houston will cope with a disaster according to a new poll conducted by the Political Science Department at Texas Southern University's Barbara Jordan/Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed said the city is "somewhat" or "poorly prepared" to handle disaster-related emergencies. Fifty-five percent believe the government uses disasters as an excuse to remove poor and minority people from their neighborhoods to redevelop those areas for the wealthy. Fully 56 percent said they don't trust the government to tell the truth about disasters. If a hurricane struck, nearly eight out of 10 African Americans said they would count on God to protect them from harm. Almost nine of out 10 believe that God would provide for them if they lost their home or resources during a storm.

---Will global competition destroy the American middle class?---Across the country, a growing number of Americans fear that they could be replaced by someone from a developing country. Recent polls indicate that millions of Americans are preoccupied with the outsourcing of American jobs and the threat of global economic competition. From board rooms to class rooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere. Thomas Friedman's recent New York Times Bestselling book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, asserts that the international economic playing field is now more level than it has ever been. As popular as the book may be, Friedman's theories on globalization have brought critics out in droves. "The world isn't flat as a result of globalization," says Peter Fingar, noted business expert and author of Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation (MK Press, 2006). "The world is tilted in favor of a fierce new breed of competitors." These competitors exploit three billion low-paid workers in China, India and the former Soviet Union, countries that have recently adopted capitalism. "These fierce new competitors are ready to engage you, your company, and your kids in extreme competition," says Fingar. "They play hardball and dominate their industries. They'll go to the ends of the earth to employ factory workers for nine cents an hour and PhDs in science and technology for $20,000 a year. This global search for low-cost labor has already begun to damage, and may even cripple, America's middle class."

---Listen to the indigenous people to save the Amazon---
Saving the vast forests and waterways of the Amazon can only be done by listening closely to the indigenous people who have lived in harmony with the "Heart of the Planet", declared leaders of the great monotheistic religions. Shown in the photo, this indigenous holy man blessed the waters of the Amazon and the holy men from the west who sailed into the waterways with the Religion, Science and Environment symposium. The spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew told scientists, environmentalists, parliamentarians and dignitaries from other faiths that the indigenous people of the Amazon Basin had lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years and can offer ways of utilizing the world's largest forest system without harming it.Noting "we are guilty of relentless waste", the Patriarch declared “we have violated the sacred covenant between ourselves, our world, and our God,” saying it was time to incorporate elements from indigenous cultures "to restore our broken relationship with nature". Lelei LeLaulu, president of the development agency Counterpart International, traveling with the Religion, Science and Environment symposium "Amazon: Source of Life" said the other religious leaders reminded people of faith that it was a sin against Creation to damage nature and urged them to support all those working to protect the mighty Amazon from further devastation by man.