Black youth could be boon for Kerry

If John Kerry is able to overcome all of the polls showing that he is lagging behind George W. Bush, he might want to give a big shout out to Russell Simmons, P. Diddy and the other entertainers and activists who have been targeting young voters, especially African Americans, this election season.

When the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released their presidential election poll last week, most of the stories focused on the fact that Bush is polling at double the percentage of black votes he received in 2000, which was a paltry 9 percent. The fact that 18 percent of African Americans are behind the president, namely because of his faith-based initiative and …