---Congressional Black Caucus to hold Presidential debates---
U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), announced that the CBC will host a series of four Presidential debates this year. The debates will be held in Detroit, Michigan, Los Angeles, California, and Jackson, Mississippi. A fourth debate will be held in either Baltimore, Maryland or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Caucus plans to hold the first debate during the Spring season. All of the major Democratic presidential candidates will be invited to participate. "We feel this is a tremendous opportunity for the candidates to reach out to African-Americans," Chairman Cummings said. "All too often, African-Americans are forgotten in the primary season because of the attention candidates pay to Iowa and New Hampshire. We respect the significance those states play in the nomination process, but unfortunately, their populations are not as diverse as the rest of the nation." This is the first time the Congressional Black Caucus has hosted a series of Presidential debates.

---Atlanta: Citizens Trust Bank closes acquisition of Citizens Federal Savings Bank---Citizens Trust Bank of Atlanta, Georgia (CTB) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Citizens Federal Savings Bank (CFS) of Birmingham, Alabama. The former CFS will now be known as Citizens Trust Bank Alabama Division. This acquisition combines two of the oldest and largest African American owned banking companies in the country. The combined company has assets of nearly $400 million and has operations in Birmingham and Eutaw, Alabama in addition to the existing CTB branches in metropolitan Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia.

---Black AIDS Institute reactions to AIDSVAX--
Following is a statement by Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute on AIDSVAX: "However promising this vaccine may look for Black people, it is a promise for tomorrow. AIDS is the number one killer of young Black men in the US because the interventions we already have don't reach enough African Americans. With or without an effective vaccine, that has to change. Today, we in the African-American community have work to do. We still have to focus on getting people tested, getting them informed, getting those who are infected treated, and getting everyone in our community involved. The possibility of a vaccine that works only for African-Americans should jumpstart Black America's involvement in the vaccine development and approval process." The Black AIDS Institute is the only black HIV/AIDS think tank in the United States. Its mission is to reduce the HIV/AIDS health disparities between people of African descent and other racial ethnic groups by mobilizing black institutions and individuals in efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in local communities.

---Uninsured Hispanics with limited English face barriers to health care---
Hispanics who speak primarily Spanish report poorer health status, are less likely to have a regular doctor, and are more likely to lack insurance and rely on public or community clinics for their health care than Hispanics who speak primarily English, whites, or African Americans, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund. Problems linked to lack of health insurance, such as difficulties gaining access to health care, are compounded for uninsured Hispanics whose primary language is Spanish: two-thirds (66 percent) do not have a regular doctor, compared with 37 percent of uninsured whites. In "Hispanic Patients' Double Burden: Lack of Health Insurance and Limited English," Michelle M. Doty, senior analyst at The Commonwealth Fund, highlights the increased difficulties Hispanics face in obtaining health care services and communicating with their doctors because of their high uninsured rates and language barriers.

---Ohio: Motorcycle Hall of Fame honors African American pioneer, Bessie Stringfield---The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, the premier museum on motorcycling in America, announces the opening of "Heroes of Harley-Davidson, presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance," an expansive new exhibit that chronicles 100 years of Harley-Davidson people, personalities and products.One of the hundreds of inspiring men and women whose stories come to life in this landmark exhibit is Bessie Stringfield, dubbed 'the Motorcycle Queen of Miami' by her hometown newspaper. As one of the first African American women to challenge both racial and gender barriers, Stringfield's story is especially inspiring as the nation celebrates both Black History Month and Women's History Month-and Harley-Davidson's century of heritage.Bessie Stringfield received her first motorcycle in 1927, at the age of 16. When she was 19, she set out on the first of eight solo cross-country tours on one of the 27 Harley-Davidsons she would own. She traversed all of America, including the segregated South. Living and riding in an era when most African-American women, in fact most women, were trapped in domestic roles, the audacious 4' 3" Stringfield was a true pioneer. Her strength, fierce independence and resilience more than compensated for her diminutive size, leading her to jobs that ranged from stunt rider to World War II civilian courier for the Army's motorcycle dispatch unit. Bessie Stringfield died in 1993 at the age of 82, after having spent 63 years on two wheels. She was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2002. "Heroes of Harley-Davidson, presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance" is open through December 2004. The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is located on the campus of the American Motorcyclist Association, just east of Columbus, Ohio. For more information, call (614) 856-2222.

---New book: Young, Gifted, and Black---
The issue of the educational achievement gap between Black and white students has increasingly become a hot button issue, with some scholars arguing that Black students lag behind for fear of "acting white," while others claim that Black students lack resources and support at home. Now in Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African-American Students, Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard III reframe the very nature of the debate by stressing the complex social identity issues that African-American children face in school and with regard to testing. In three linked but separate essays, Perry, Steele, and Hilliard explore how African-American students experience school in a society that has historically devalued their intellectual abilities. They call for a new understanding of the unique obstacles Black students face in American schools and point to a variety of educational practices that can mitigate those challenges and promote academic excellence.The problem is not that schools demand fluency in the dominant culture, she continues, the problem is that they demand this culture fluency as a prerequisite to skills development and intellectual competency. Students who are not fluent in the dominant cultural get early negative assessments about their academic abilities. In historically Black southern segregated schools, she notes, "developing academic competencies and fluency in mainstream culture were pursued as simultaneous rather than sequential processes.""Institutions that are culturally responsive and that systematically affirm, draw on, and use cultural formations of African Americans will produce exceptional academic results from African-American students," Perry writes. For more information on this book, send email to kdaneman@beacon.org.

---Islamic dress explained in national ad campaign---
An American Muslim woman describing why she wears modest Islamic attire will be featured in the third installment of a national advertising campaign designed to foster greater understanding of Islam and to counter what ad sponsors say is a rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, launched the year-long "Islam in America" campaign February 16. The text of the latest CAIR ad reads: "My name is Manal Omar. I've earned a Masters degree from Georgetown University, and I've won several national public-speaking awards. I'm a development researcher for an international corporation. I vote. I'm active in politics, and I belong to several civic organizations. I'm an American Muslim woman and I wear hijab."I choose to wear hijab -- a head scarf and modest attire -- because the practice is integral to my religious beliefs, and because I am proud to be a Muslim woman. In Islam, both women and men are encouraged to dress modestly, thereby allowing a person to be judged on the content of his or her character, and not on physical appearance. To me, hijab is a symbol of my confidence and self-respect."

----$2 million needed to save home of Frederick Douglass---
The home of famous 19th-century African-American abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass is threatened by nearly $2 million of unmet preservation needs, according to a new report released by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)."Congress has an opportunity here to preserve the home of Frederick Douglass, a man born into slavery who escaped to freedom and helped change the nation," said NPCA President Thomas Kiernan. "But urgent funding needs are putting the Douglass home-which stands as a reminder of the human yearning for freedom-at great risk. When we let historic sites like the Douglass house decay, we turn our backs to the very roots of our nation." According to NPCA's new State of the Parks report, the historic 1850s home is in need of immediate repair. The National Park Service lacks critical funding and staff to meet day-to-day needs and to protect Douglass' personal belongings and the integrity of the property. Frederick Douglass lived in his Washington, D.C., home from 1877 until his death in 1895. He was a leading voice in the anti-slavery movement as well as a famous writer, publisher, orator, statesman, and an advocate for women's rights. The National Park Service has cared for the Douglass home since 1962.

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