Sistas and bruthas, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). In light of this month, I’m posting a couple of blog links that speak to this topic in the context of the black community.
Document the Silence blog- HOW DO YOU KEEP A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ALIVE: WHY WE CAN’T WAIT
Sable Verity blog- TABOO: RAPE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY
Ephphatha blog- NO! THE RAPE DOCUMENTARY
Herschel Walker has been in the press quite a bit lately in light of his new book, “Breaking Free”, and disclosing the fact that he has dissociative identity disorder (AKA multiple personality disorder). I’m attaching the NY Times article about him which includes that his announcement has been greeted with both praise and ridicule.
What are your thoughts? I am changing my position, since my original post, and choosing to support him until otherwise proven. As I reflected, I realized that Herschel is taking a giant step by going public with his personal struggles. In the meantime, I’ll be holding out until August when the book is released and also his likely appearance on Oprah (if that hasn’t happened already).
Check out the NY Times article. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/sports/football/20walker.html?ref=football
Know what your peeps are saying. Here’s some links to AfrAm-centric blogs on the topic.
http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/04/15/walker-makes-shocking-revelations/
One of my college alum friends co-owns A II Z Naturals in Cleveland, OH. It is a natural hair care salon. I posted a link to the salon site on my Black Stylists and Barbers page, but if you’re too lazy, you can click here: http://www.aiiznaturals.com/.
Here are the products used at the salon (taken directly from their page)
The products used at A II Z Naturals Ltd include, but are not limited to: Avalon Organics, Organic Root Stimulator, Carol’s Daughter, Aveda, Burts Bees, GNLD, His and Her hair Goods, and Madina Essential Oils and African Shea Butter. We will sell human and synthetic hair products and some supplies to provide the highest quality products using ingredients that will never compromise the health of our clients’ hair. We are committed to delivering these products, training, and services in a clean and professional environment.
Check their site out for more details.
An interview, stylist trial, and product reviews coming soon…
Poor Obama can’t catch a break anywhere…That’s what you get when you try to break into the largest old boys network…The White House. Take your licks like a good boy and hope that Black America won’t hang you on a cross like Jesus after all is said and done…Meanwhile, tell Hillary all that glitters ain’t gold. If she manages to win the democratic nomination, the repubs will be all over her like Monica was on her husband’s magic stick (ooh! no she didn’t!).
While Obama gets chastised about the use of the word “bitter”, I was wondering about the same word in a totally different situation (how’s that for a clumsy segue?)…
I randomly got copied on some email from the breeder of the doggie I bought. She was replying to someone who was questioning her decision to name one of her dogs “Sambo”. She said it was an affectionate term and not intended to be racist. All the while, the message is not to me or for me, I’m just copied on her reply.
What the hell? Why is she even copying me? I bought my dog almost 2 yrs ago. Granted she’s a little (ok a LOT) whacko, but what can I expect from someone that breeds really tiny dogs for a living in some tiny remote town in Ohio?
Did she want me to weigh in on her situation? I have enough unsolicited drama dropped in my lap on the regular and have no interest in joining hers.
I’m even conflicted now if I should ever recommend her business or if I should ever consider getting another dog from her.
What do you think about this whole scenario?
I caught a glimpse of the last couple of seconds of the Miss USA pageant last night. Just enough to see the winner was black and catch moment where she does the pageant shocked face look.
Crystle Stewart (another “negrotization” of a name…lovin’ it!), I extend my congratulations and hope you find a cure for cancer and of course…world peace! Jus’ kiddin’. All jokes aside, it is nice to see some brown win. I’m clicking around the missusa.com site and Crystle’s page includes quite the racy photo. Don’t even try to tell me this is a high fashion shot. It’s a little borderline to me. She looks like one of those Victoria’s Secret models gone wild and not a Miss USA contestant. I guess the pageant really is trying to take on a new edgy appearance for real.
Ms. Stewart completed her degree in Consumer Science and Merchandising at the University of Houston. She founded and runs her business “Inside/Out” which aids young women in building self-esteem and volunteers with many organizations in the community. She won a silver medal in the relay at Jr. Olympics and is a fourth generation educator. (source: http://www.missusa.com/missusa/index.html)
What the hell is “in the relay at Jr. Olympics”? Have you ever heard of a track and field event called “the relay”? I hope that’s not a subliminal racist moment. Can’t you picture some snobby old white lady in lots of jewelry and huge reading glasses saying, “You know how the negroes run the relay. They’re so good at sports.” And why does America care? She’s 26 years old. Jr. Olympics is something you do through high school. I hope she doesn’t have to dig that deep to fill up her resume.
Ok, I was hoping to be positive and celebrate a black Miss USA, but I can’t stop drinking from the hatorade fountain and resisting my gag reflex that comes with talking about pageants.
Go Crystle! Yeah you! Is that better?
This pageant will get my attention when a beautiful, dark skinned, weave-free, nappy headed sista who has all the accolades to boot wins…hell, I’ll even settle for a runner up. i’m reading this is the 2nd black Miss USA in a row, but wasn’t there some scandal with the originally crowned Miss USA last year?
Ok, I need a power nap before working my insane schedule.
I was tipped off to this documentary from reading Aunt Jemima’s Revenge blog. I’m posting this as an fyi for those who’d like to catch it while it’s airing on HBO. I enjoy documentaries, and this one looks powerful. I’ll post again once I get myself to see it (looks like one that you have to have your head right before watching it)
UPDATE 4/17: I’ve seen the documentary and am absolutely speechless and deeply saddened. It is impossible to have your “head right”, as I alluded to originally, and be able to watch this documentary and not be affected. This is not just rape (as if that isn’t enough), this is rape with barbaric brutality. I’ll stop there and let you see for yourself.
Break out your box of kleenex ladies AND gents and prepare to be enlightened, angered, powerless, and then angered all over again…Kudos to HBO for airing this, and let this be another striking call to action by America.
And before you Americans jump on your holy high horse and refer to these people as savages, just wait until the stories start trickling in about the atrocities we’ve committed in Iraq in the name of peacekeeping. Need I remind you of Abu Ghraib?
Great work Lisa Jackson!
There are many sources to read more about the situation in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Here’s just an article link to get you started: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/23/news/genocide.php and for the IRC.
Click here for a list of show times. You will now find it on On Demand as well.
(excerpt from HBO.com…Synopsis)
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this documentary feature explores the shocking plight of women and girls caught in the sexual crossfire as this giant African nation enters its second decade of internal conflict. Since 1998, a brutal war has ravaged the DRC, killing over 4 million people. Over the same time, tens of thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers – both from foreign militias and the Congolese army that is supposed to protect them. Emmy®-winning filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson, herself a survivor of gang rape, travels deep inside the DRC to understand what is happening and why. Her resultant film features interviews with survivors, activists, peacekeepers, physicians and, most chillingly, two groups of rapists who are soldiers of the Congolese Army. Above all, it highlights first-person accounts of dozens of rape survivors, who recount their stories with pulverizing honesty and immediacy. Heart-wrenching in its portrayal of the grotesque realities of life in Congo, the film also provides inspiring examples of resiliency, courage and grace, while serving as a call to action for anyone with a conscience.
UPDATE 4/25/08: Here is a link to get you started on the history in the DRC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1076399.stm
hopefully this will get you motivated to learn more about what has been happening there. Let’s keep the dialog rolling.
I ran into this site tonight and think I might keep this one in rotation. I’m going to give it a few weeks and update this post with my verdict. In the meantime, check it out and let me know what you think.
Stingy mofoes! Just kiddin’. 
As I get a kick out of catching up with my old college buddies online this past week, I got back to thinking when was the last time I sent a check to Morgan State? If you went to an HBCU, when was the last time you sent a check to your alma mater? I know Tom Joyner has drawn attention to it. A few years back, when the MEAC conference playoffs moved to Raleigh, I began to get more involved with the local alumni chapter. It was then that I was reminded how little we give back to our HBCUs. I think Morgan was even sending letters out sharing how little money they receive from alumni.
Many of the nation’s HBCUs report disturbingly low levels of alumni contributions, a fact that no doubt contributes to the financial strife experienced by so many of these institutions. Strong financial support from alumni builds strong endowments, and swapping 50,000 dollars in loans for 50,000 in scholarship funds during at students’ undergraduate years could mean a return of 4 to 5 times that amount in future donations.
Not surprisingly, it has been those institutions with the strongest endowments and the highest levels of alumni contribution that have taken the lead in eliminating student loan debt, Harvard and Princeton among them. In the end, however, It will be those schools with the lowest levels of alumni contribution and the least secure financial profiles that will gain the most from instituting these enhanced aid programs. A focus on eliminating student debt will transform the opportunities availble to graduates from HBCUs and other institutions that serve economically diverse student populations. (source: http://blackoncampus.com/category/hbcus/)
Money talks. Money builds buildings, improves college ratings, funds students, funds programs. My hubby kicks my ass about it every year and often sends money on my behalf as he sends his annual contribution to his undergraduate school. Honestly, I think my issue is trust. I want to know that my little check is going to land in the right spot. So, I usually give and specify to give the funds directly to a student organization (usually NSBE for me).
So I’m challenging myself and you all to take a minute to write a check to your HBCU this coming week. They got us where we are today, and we should be grateful.
I ran across this on The Black Informant’s website.
Ancestry.co.uk has posted 3 million names of slaves held across the British Empire in the early 19th century, putting hundreds of thousands of pages of searchable information online to help slaves’ descendants research their past…
read the rest of this post here.
Do you think this is fair? Everyone on the 4×400 and 4×100 relay teams were stripped of their Olympic gold and bronze medals won in 2000. I have to say Marion Jones just broke my heart when I heard her admission to steroids use last year after all that speculation. She pulled a Bill Clinton on us. We loved her, and she essentially sipped that Coca-Cola can like Bill Clinton did during those impeachment hearings and wooed us into believing her.
Now Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, and Andrea Anderson from the 4×400 relay as well as Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry, and Passion Richardson (black folks…gotta love our creative genius when it comes to names…) from the 4×100 relay are all being ordered to return their medals. As expected, the girls are fighting back, but I’m not sure they have a case. I guess this also includes
Technically, I think this is fair. I’ve played sports most of my life and I understand that those women are pissed off at the outcome, but think of the others who lost their dream because someone broke the rules. It pains me personally, as a gal with Guyanese roots, to let the Jamaicans take the gold in the 4×400 (ya, i said it…what!) and…eh…the French get the bronze in the 4×100 which is neither here nor there for me.
My goodness! The hours of tireless training these women spent to be at the top of your game. Their thrill of victory is now yanked and replaced with the agony of defeat. Marion Jones better not drop the soap in prison or be caught in a dark alley when she gets out, cuz I know there’s gotta be a hit out on her ass.
read more about it here: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/other_sports/general/view.bg?articleid=1086225&format=text
…Before I go, what was up with that ass backwards torch carrying in Cali yesterday? I get why it happened, to some degree (I need to read up on the latest), but it was painful watching the media anchors stumble for words and cameras set along the parade route not taken.
I say “ass” a lot in this post…oh well…ASS! Aaaah! That’s better. It’s out of my system.
One of my sisters forwarded this to me and I thought I’d post it. Spike doesn’t break it down to anything super deep, but I playfully like his rationale. If I were him, that’s all the logic I’d need.
…btw, I officially turned “black” after seeing Do The Right Thing during the summer of 1989 (I’m assuming ’89 as I recall the words to that Public Enemy song). Memories… I saw it with some friends down at the movie theater that used to be in downtown Baltimore, nearish to Harborplace. I know it’s long since been shut down…Seriously though, that movie was definitely a defining moment for me.
Check out the short interview below…
Spike Lee: Hillary, ‘Massuh Clinton’ ‘would lie on a stack of Bibles’
The filmmaker Spike Lee, in New York Magazine, weighs in on the presidential race:
What do you think of Obama?
I’m riding my man Obama. I think he’s a visionary. Actually, Barack told me the first date he took Michelle to was Do the Right Thing. I said, “Thank God I made it. Otherwise you would have taken her to Soul Man. Michelle would have been like, ‘What’s wrong with this brother?’?”Does this mean you’re down on the Clintons?
The Clintons, man, they would lie on a stack of Bibles. Snipers? That’s not misspeaking; that’s some pure bulls***. I voted for Clinton twice, but that’s over with. These old black politicians say, “Ooh, Massuh Clinton was good to us, massuh hired a lot of us, massuh was good!” Hoo! Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins—they have to understand this is a new day. People ain’t feelin’ that stuff. It’s like a tide, and the people who get in the way are just gonna get swept out into the ocean.
The King of Love is Dead as Nina Simone called it in her song written after learning about MLK’s death.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uy8cyVWU2A&hl=en]
Let’s go full circle here…
Nov 23, 1963 interview with MLK regarding the death of John F. Kennedy
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/k5WYW8SBQk8&hl=en]
April 3, 1968 MLK speaks to city workers in Memphis, giving his famous (and my favorite) Mountaintop speech, less than 24 hours before he shot and killed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/o0FiCxZKuv8&hl=en]
April 4, 1968 Bobby Kennedy speaks about MLK’s death
Amid the tragedy of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, April 4, 1968, an extraordinary moment in U.S. political history occurred as Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, broke the news of King’s death to a large gathering of African Americans in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert Kennedy in his bid to get the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. Just after he arrived by plane at Indianapolis, Kennedy was told of King’s death. He was advised by police against making the campaign stop which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto. But Kennedy insisted on going.
He arrived to find the people in an upbeat mood, anticipating the excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the platform, and realizing they did not know, broke the news. (from historyplace.com)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/n1F-rg26ZZw&hl=en]
Just 2 months later, almost to the very day, Bobby Kennedy was killed.
Last night, a co-worker invited me to see Katt Williams at Veterans Memorial in Columbus. I obliged since it’s essentially the weekend for me and excited to get out of the house for the eve. Whoo chile! The crowd itself could rival Katt in terms of entertainment. I was excited and shocked to have my first sighting of the Ohio ghetto crowd. Ghetto! I mean tore up from the floor up! It was beautiful. Big butts in tight jeans, rhinestones, gold tones, stacked hair, boots, shiny bags. The men, too! Those damn velour blazers folks keep sportin’ like they think they’re Heff (Hugh Heffner) himself.
I don’t believe this many folk could surface from Columbus itself, so I can only imagine they came from the corn fields. Yep, Springfield, Chillicothe, Circleville, Reynoldsburg… They dismounted their tractors, jumped into their gigantic pickup trucks, and had a night out with the family. I must say there were no crying babies, though. I guess folks have just enough sense to know this was probably not a kids crowd, or the opportunity to drink and act a fool was enough to have them hunt down a babysitter for the night.
Now, throw in a bar, the fact that the show started at 8pm, and Katt didn’t take the stage until after 10pm, and you can only imagine the night we had. One guy had enough time to get so drunk that he got on Katt regarding a joke. He stumbled out of the audience, down the aisle, and towards the stage yelling something like “talk to a real nigga!” Needless to say, nobody was claiming him, he was booed by the audience, Katt had a field day with him before asking security to escort him out. Escorting took the form of him facing the stage stumbling backwards back up the aisle as security kept herding him back. And he was STILL mouthing off “talk to a real nigga!” Whoo! Y’all missed out. Or maybe you didn’t. You gotta post if you were there for this spectacle. All on a Wednesday night, people! Don’t these folks have to go to work tomorrow, or they all like me working weekend nights?
Katt was good. The opening act right before him was good, too, but she was on too long. Was it worth 70 bucks (taxes, tags, and title…you know how ticketmaster be pimpin’ us)? Probably not. The people watching? Priceless!
Awesome political t-shirts! I own a few myself.
Black Gives Back
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