"When I dare to be powerful, when I use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid" - Audre Lorde
PROTESTERS TO GREET R. KELLY ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT DURING D.C. CONCERT AT DAR CONSTITUTION HAL
WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 20, 2009 - When popular R& B crooner R. Kelly hits the stage at the DAR Constitution Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday night he may hit a sour note with a group of protesters fed up with his racy lyrics that they say objectify and degrade black women and girls. Some concerned citizens of the Washington, DC metro area have their own song to sing to Mr. Kelly: stop objectifying and degrading black women and girls.
“R. Kelly is no stranger to controversy. He is most infamously known for being tried and acquitted for several felony child molestation and child pornography charges. He’s also known for very sexually suggestive lyrics and continues to degrade black women and girls by making his music.” says Vicki Bleus, a protest organizer.
The purpose of this protest is to call attention to the fact R. Kelly’s sexually suggestive lyrics disrespect black women and girls. The protest organizers believe that silent demonstration is one of the most effective methods for voicing opposition to the continued victimization of black women and girls by popular music. “The hypersexualization of the black feminine aesthetic is based on revolting and destructive stereotypes that originated with the institution of slavery”, adds Shane Johnson, a local blogger-turned-community activist. “As a man I find R. Kelly’s music dehumanizing and disgusting. Instead of lifting black women and girls up, he is complicit in their continued objectification.”
The protest will occur each night of the concert on November 24 and 25, 2009. Protesters will assemble with picket signs at 5:45 pm and will remain outside of the concert hall until 10:30 pm. The Protest will take place on the 17th Street NW sidewalk bordering the main entrance of the DAR Constitution Hall.
“This protest is a call to arms for anyone who cares about black women. This was a crime against humanity and I am surprised at the level of apathy and lack of outrage from our self-appointed black leaders.” said Johnson.
For more information, please contact Shane Johnson at sbjatlanta@yahoo.com.
So it been a few months since my last post and ironically the 2 year anniversary of a Counter Protest I launched in response to Al-Sharpton's do-nothingness about the Dunbar Village Rape tragedy. The theme of the protest was so much bigger than Al's fat ass though. I, like many of you who read this blog (or used to but stopped because I haven't written anything in AGES), became infuriated with how the self-appointed coalition of black leaders (used loosely) are no where to be found when it comes to protect the lives of black women. Equally important is the fact that black leaders and theblack community in general are even more absent than normal when the victimizers of black women are black men. In fact, many black women vociferously defend the actions of those implicit in their degradation, humiliation, and dehumanization.
The protest only drew a modest group of supporters, but they were there nonetheless. It received national coverage and began a conversation that some black folks had been having in the blogosphere, but that had not quite been acknowledge by the greater mass of the black collective. For the amount of people we had and the nationwide coverage, I'd call that a success.
To that end I find it necessary to take to the streets once again next week. For many of you who have forgotten, serial child rapist and pedophile, Robert Kelly BKA R. Kelly will be in Washington, DC in concert. I haven't forgotten and niether should anyone else that this is the same man who brought us "Half on a Baby", "Feeling on yo' Booty", JEEP, and others like it. He is the same man who raped Aaliyah Houghton, pissed on a 14 year-old girl and was acquitted for those charges because of the silliness that exists in Chicago. If he had done any of that stuff to even ONE white girl, he'd be under a jail. Even black people would consider him a deviant because black folks have a tendency to treat white victims with the same deference as white people do... but I digress.
The fact remains that this protest is about the same thing and I'll be out there even if I have to be alone. Someone has to call attention to the fact that black folks need to drop a DAISY CUTTER on R. Kelly and industry that supports and compels him to continue making music. I have decided that the someone will be me. I'll post the assembly instructions and status updates here. In the meantime, if you care about black women and girls, DO SOMETHING!
I am a reasonable and sensible man. I consider myself pretty patient and sometimes very forgiving. However, when I reach my limit things don't stay so pretty. You see I use to have a pretty short fuse that used to get me into TONS of trouble. I learned to control that fuse for the most part because explosive anger takes away from one's credibility and demonstrates to outsiders that I can't control myself.
Today is one of those days where my anger will be evident in this blog post. I hope Al Shaprton has a heart attack and a stroke all at the same time. He is a useless, piece-of-shit, civil rights era reject, and isn't worth the flesh his sorry ass is printed on! Today, yes TODAY that fat bastard will be in West Palm Beach, Florida to advocate for the RAPISTS involved in the Dunbar Village Rape Case. To be fair, he'll also be in West Palm Beach filing a lawsuit to prevent the State of Florida from holding their Democratic Primary.
What disgusts me most about Al Sharpton and his "chitlin eating ilk" is their hypocrisy. After my counter protest of Sharpton and his Hate Crimes March in Washington, DC, I had been contacted by a resident of Dunbar Village, Ms. Citoya Greenwood. Ms. Greenwood thanked me for bringing more attention to DV and also wanted some assistance in planning a community town hall meeting to address the needs of the residents of Dunbar Village.
For those who are still unaware, DV is a hell hole on earth. It is the place where 12 black male teenagers forcibly entered the apartment of a 35 year old Single mother and her 12 year old son. It is the place where these junior sociopaths raped, tortured, and sodomized this woman for three hours. It is the place where her son was beaten, tortured, and mutilated and forced to have sex with his mother at gun point by these 12 little bastards. For months, not a single black "leader" or social justice group did anything to assist the victim and her son. It was not until bloggers like Symphony at Essential Presence, Gina at Whataboutourdaughters?, and Professor Tracey at Aunt Jemimas Revenge started blogging about this tragedy that MSM began talking about it. The rape occured on June 18, 2007. Where were you when it happened? Did you hear about it?
Fast forward to November 2007. I learn that the Pompadoured, Do-Nothing, Hypocrite himself, Al Sharpton would be in DC chiding the government for it less than stellar record on prosecuting hate crimes. This would set the stage for a confrontation that would ask him and his supporters, "Why the hell are you STILL silent?" There would be 5 of us and countless stories in several national newspapers. You would have thought that the publicity surrounding the ineptness of our black leaders would have shamed them into doing something to actually HELP the residents of Dunbar, but no. They greeted our protests with the usual response, "I didn't know" or " Well no one asked me" as if these opportunists EVER need an invitation to be media whores. Did the Jena 6 or Genarlow have to ASK anyone to get involved? Still, Al in fact was a liar. He had been invited to Dunbar on several occasions and for every invite he spurned or simply ignored the request.
It was not until Ms. Greenwood had contacted him directly, while he was in West Palm Beach for a completely separate event, that he and his NAN reps decided to tour the housing project. He had promised to be a part of the community Town Hall meeting (its dates were changed multiple times to accommodate HIS schedule) and he had even promised to spend the night in Dunbar Village just to get a feel for what the residents had been dealing with for years. He failed to show for the meeting and canceled 1 hour BEFORE he was supposed to show up citing inclement weather and travel conditions. No flights from NY to FL had been canceled. He simply failed to show. Ms Greenwood spent two months organizing and planning this meeting. She contacted elected officials, community groups, legal aid groups, and HUD officials. She single handedly brought them all together and Rev. Al PROMISED to be there. After all, the meeting was to convene on a Tuesday evening because that was the only time HE would be free.
He failed to show and Ms. Greenwood was forced to make this announcement to her community. She is now being harassed by other residents, Laurel Robinson, HUD Director for West Palm Beach, and has become a target because she chose to be a voice for the marginalized.
Reverend Al COULD NOT show up for Citoya, the rape victim, or the residents of Dunbar Village, but he can show up to ADVOCATE for RAPISTS! What kind of FUCKERY is that?!?!?!
The message is clear people. Negroes like Al want us to believe that Black people LOVE criminals. If we didn't, why are NATIONAL organizations so quick to run to the defense of violent black offenders and rapists? Why are black female victims ignored in MSM, while black male perps get TONS of media coverage followed by a rationalization spin doctoring that excuses their crimes?
Former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver published the world famous manifesto Soul On Ice in 1968, many consider this work a classic political text. I do not. While I acknowledge the power in Cleaver's words, the text is also infamous for Cleaver's admission of being a rapist. Cleaver attempts to justify his rapes of white women as a strike back at the white man and a way to recover his black manhood, as he states about his rapes ["an insurrectionary act. It delighted me that I was defying and trampling upon the white man's law ... defiling his women."]
As frightening and problematic as that explanation is, Cleaver admits to "practicing on black girls in the ghetto" first. Cleaver never served a day in prison for his assaults on black women, in fact he would become a celebrated black leader during the Black Power movement, a voice of the people, black people. I have always been troubled by this glaring double standard image of Cleaver and the Black Power movement. Forty years later, black women as rape victims, murder victims are considered even less valuable than they were in 1968. We are expendable. And it is not just because white people have devalued the lives of black women, we have, the black community. We make excuses for black men who hurt and kill, for black men who hurt and kill their own people.
On my blog, I have covered the gang-rape at Dunbar Village in West Palm Beach, the slaying of an entire deputy sheriff's family by her own son in Atlanta, the murder of Nailah Franklin in Chicago, the senseless murders of black women and children on Hovey Street in Indianapolis and on Lester Street in Memphis. All these cases have received more detailed attention on black-owned blogs than on the mainstream media. Our so-called black leadership, the Al Sharptons, the Jesse Jacksons, the Tavis Smileys, the Cornell Wests, including black presidential candidate Barack Obama have been woefully silent and hopelessly inadequate at making any of these cases have any sense of importance in terms of getting a resolution or some sense of justice. The overall black community has been outraged and saddened at these cases, but not enough to last more than a few days, no lasting impression. Once the bodies get buried, our collective interest wanes. We just seem to wait for the next case.
All these cases represent one black woman gang-raped, her black son beaten and terrorized, six black women and six black children murdered. I do not discount the value of the 2 black men that were murdered as well, but a running total of 12 to 2 in less than a year is shocking. When one considers that the suspects in all these cases are black men, one must feel a deep sense of unsettling despair about these cases. Where is the collective black outrage? Black folks mobilized and marched with passion for the quite frankly, extremely unworthy Jena 6 group, but have been virtually dead silent about the black women and children that have been battered, raped, and murdered, then discarded like paper cups when the picnic is finished.
Recently, the two high profile murders of a Auburn University student, Lauren Burk and a UNC Chapel Hill student, Eve Carson received the lion's share of media attention as is the habit when young and privileged white women are murdered, I was reminded again of the scant attention that black women regardless of age, social or economic background that are missing or murdered ever receive. When confronted with the fact that the alleged murderers of these women are black men, I was reminded of Eldridge Cleaver. I wondered if these same black men that murdered white women so callously and senselessly, what were they doing in the black communities where they came from? How many of their own people had they victimized before they moved on to harming people that would attract the attention to mobilize the police to stop them? How much "practice" had they had in our community before they moved on to white communities?
White people will make no excuses in these cases. They will accept nothing less than the highest level of prosecution under the law. Not just because the murderer was black, they demand the same when the murderer is white, they will demand justice because one of their own has been senselessly murdered, for no good reason at all. Where are the Megan's Law and the Polly Klass' laws for black children? Jerry Lee Lewis career was destroyed when he married his 13 year old cousin, but black folks celebrate R. Kelly for his sexual relationships with underage girls. Why does this man still have a career? Do you actually think white people would have waited this long for such a clear case of pornography, underage sex and statutory rape to be prosecuted if R. Kelly was white or his victim was?
Black people should be outraged that black murderers are allowed to "practice" in our neighborhoods first, before they move on. Black people should be outraged that convicted murderer Jessie Dotson was released from prison, only to commit multiple murders of his own family members just two months after his release.
Yet, we won't be, we will make excuses. We will talk about what these black men didn't have and how they didn't get what they needed. We will blame white people, we will blame the prison system, the educational system, we will blame television, music, and movies, we will even blame the victims themselves, but we will most certainly refuse to hold the murderers 100% accountable. We will refuse to call for justice and demand that these predators be locked up and the key to their freedom forever destroyed. And that makes absolutely no sense at all.
It doesn't matter if black men feel trapped by their personal circumstances and the only people available to hurt and destroy are black women and children, you don't have the right to murder people. It doesn't matter how dire your life, no matter how much you are struggling, you have no right to murder people. It doesn't matter if you suffered racism or any kind of discrimination, you have no right to murder people. No matter how hungry you get, no matter how desperate you get, you have no right to take someone's life. That is what is supposed to separate us, human beings from wild animals.
We really need to stop wondering why black women and children that go missing or turn up murdered get scant attention in the white-owned mainstream media, we, us, black people have made it a standard practice in our own communities. The black community repeatedly fails to openly and honestly discuss and confront domestic violence, rape, incest, or sexual abuse in our own communities, but we expect white people to care about black victims of these types of crimes when we do not.
The black community continuously asks and expects black women to hold black families together in the most trying and difficult circumstances without the assistance of the majority of black men and then have the nerve to ask black women to be the most forgiving and understanding victims in the universe when the perpetrators are black men. We are always expected to blindly support black men no matter what they do to us, no matter how they fail us, and never ask any questions, but do black women receive the same kind of unconditional support and protection? I think not, the Soul On Ice Effect has become standard practice in the black community.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive... using text messages and the CHURCH!
It was reported yesterday in the Detroit Free Press that the Dishonorable Kwame Kilpatrick, Mayor of the Motor City, that he would be making an address about his affair with longtime aide, Christine Beatty. Although Ms. Beatty has resigned, sources in the Mayor's administration have confirmed that Kwame's pimp speech will be nothing more than an apology for getting caught.
Now get this, Elder J. Drew Sheard, an official of the Church Of God In Christ-the world's largest pentecostal religious body, will host the philandering mayor at his church, the Greater Immanuel Institutional COGIC. Apparently the church will be empty and will make the perfect backdrop for a mayor who is trying to save face after getting caught with his hands in Christine Beatty's coochie jar.
While I realize that Christian principles compel christians to forgive infinitely, I have to wonder, what kind of example is Pastor Sheard setting by allowing this womanizer to use the church as a vehicle to justify Kwame's adultery, corruption, and perjury?
I was under the impression that COGIC was hell bent on holiness and as the bible states "shunning the very appearance of evil". Guess I was wrong. I guess I'm also wrong about citing hypocrisy in Drew Sheard's support of the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004. In an effort to protect the "sanctity" of marriage, COGIC issued a proclamation condemning gay marriage. Now I have my own reason for not supporting the religious sacrament of marriage and I think that the societal benefits and legal protections conferred on married couples should be available to all people regardless of their marital status. How then can Drew Sheard support the sanctity of marriage while approving of the actions of a serial adulterer and a LIAR?
So because Kwame will make his speech from a church, I suppose that will be grounds for making this all go away. Just say sorry and EVERYTHING will be alright. I wish the residents of Detroit well, but you guys are incredibly stupid for supporting this fool, as well as the one who pastors him. Perhaps Elder Sheard's time would be better spent on counseling Kwame about keeping his dick in his pants.
O.K. , it's been far too long since I've posted something that gets back to the reason I created this blog. Initially, my intention was too focus on how black people have lost their minds as a collective. At some point, I segued into "BLKSeaGoat: the Mini-Series" as a means of venting, but now that has to change. Today's post will be a lengthy one, but I need to know something: Why are Black Leaders so damn trifling?!?
My Inspiration(s) For Today's Post
People, what the hell is going on with black leadership these days? In the past 15 years we have abandoned common sense and purpose for self-service and exploitation. We engage in fraud on the regular, blame it on white people, and then attempt to save face and our sullied reputations by "finding religion". We wallow in foolishness, arrogance, and victimology, then we spin our bad behavior by comparing ourselves to white people using goose-gander analogies.
Frankly, I don't really give a rat's shaved ass about what white people do because I expect so little out of them. They have controlled political and societal constructs for millenia and have done so to ensure that they are the perpetual recipients of all the goodies that follow thereafter. I'll state this bodly with confidence and bias: I HOLD BLACK PEOPLE TO A HIGHER STANDARD! So what if white people are inherently corrupt, black people had the moral high ground to justify why institutions like slavery, segregation, and racism were wrong. Now, it seems that as they playing field becomes more level and black people are starting to climb the upper echelons of leadership and achievement, we feel that we have license to act a damn fool and NOT be called out on it!
I stated at the beginning of this post that in the past 15 years we've gone crazy, but I'm not gonna go back that far-- I don't have to; let's have a sample of what I'm talking about, shall we?
Recently I am sure that many of you have heard about the shenanigans of Detroit's ghetto-assed mayor, Kwame "the Pimp" Kilpatrick. If you haven't, I'll bring you up to speed. It seems that the mayor of the Motor City and his COS, Christine Beatty used city funds to help finance some secret rendezvous. What's so wrong with that? Well, nothing if they both weren't married, and if they both hadn't been using their city issued Blackberries TO MEMORIALIZE their sexual escapades. To make matters worse, when rumors of their affair transformed into a 9 million dollar whistle blower lawsuit, they LIED under oath about doing the nasty. Kwame even pontificated about how noble his ghetto family was and how outraged he was at the suggestion that he and Christine were lovers. The text messages stated otherwise.
To add insult to injury, Kwame has been a corrupt mayor from Day ONE. Detroit is a dead city and the slew of chitterling eating black leadership has EVERYTHING to do with it. Kwame's mother, Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick is just as wretched as her stupid son for defending is silliness, but clearly hearkens back to her housing project roots with this passionate defense of her son. With an example like this is it any wonder why Detroit is a hell hole?
Jesus Loves Coochie and Spankings
Yes, I am probably walking a tightrope over the lake of fire by posting this, but I just got wind of the information. Thanks to my homegirl, DeenaJonesOne on youtube.com and her "Church Hurt Movement", I have discovered that Jesus LOVES coochie, spankings, and apparently Crystal Meth. It seems that Bishop Terry Hornbuckle of the Agape Fellowship Christian Church in Arlington, TX was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping and drugging 3 women, 2 of which were his parisioners, and one those women being a 17 year old girl.
But it doesn't stop there folks! Renee Hornbuckle, wife of Bishop Rapist, has assumed leadership of the church she founded with her husband (while he was screwing everything in sight) and decided to take both his salary and her salary (although she had done NOTHING to justify being paid by the church... unless you count supporting a rapist as her ministry) and combine it in to one fat salary to make about 16K a month. Not bad for a church on the brink of bankruptcy after being found liable in several civil lawsuits brought by the victims of Bishop Rapist.
Apparently Jesus finds spanking a naked buttocks quite scintillating, but not enough to do it himself. Jesus instead took the form of a paddle and placed himself in the hands of Bishop Sherman Allen, also of TX. Reverend Allen has been accused by at least 35 women of both physical and sexual abuse. True to cult leader fashion, Allen explained to the women that it was God's will for him to spank their asses and then "fill them" with his blessed penis. He is currently in the Bahamian ISLANDS no doubt hiding from people.
For more information about these and other sexual predators running wild in Jesus's Name, please visit bishop-accountability.org.
Now for the ICING on this Sordid Cake
Why do we support people like this? What will it take for black people to abandon these folks and admit that these types of people are pieces of shit... without assistance from "evil white people"? This seems to be a common theme in the black community and it's killing us. Why are we so enamored with Marion Barry, Sharpe James, Bill Campbell, Kwame, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Alcyee Hastings, William Jefferson and other black elected officials, that we are blinded by their serious lack of personal integrity and honesty? Why do we attend churches pastored by Rapists, Womanizers, Homophobes, and Money Hungry Hypocrites? When will we begin to hold black people accountable for their foolishness WITHOUT attributing it OR minimizing it to a diatribe about "the MAN"?
Some of us have sense, but for the most part, many of us are completely LOST.
Today is October 31, 2007. October, for many people who aren't aware, is Domestic Violence Awareness month. To read more about the commemoration please visit WAOD here. I am against domestic violence against any person regardless of their gender. However, since this month specifically addresses violence against women, I will observe this new custom. I will add another layer of specificity though; the focus of this posting will be black women. In the memory of black women who have remained silent while being victimized by, died from, survived domestic violence this poem by Laini Mataka of Washington, DC is for you.
T H E S T R O N G B L A C K W O M A N IS D E A D!
The strong black woman is dead The strong black woman is dead...on August 15, 1999 at 11:15 p.m. while struggling with the reality of being a human instead of a myth, the strong black woman passed away.
Medical sources say she died of natural causes, but those who knew her know she died from being silent when she should have been screaming, smiling when she should have been raging, from being sick and not wanting anyone to know because her pain might inconvenience them.
She died from an overdose of other people clinging to her when she didn't have enough energy for herself. She died from loving men who didn't love themselves, and only offer her a crippled reflection. She died from raising children alone and for not being able to do a complete job. She died from the lies her grandmother told her mother, and her mother told her about life, men and racism.
She died from being sexually abused as a child and having to take that truth everywhere she went, everyday of her life, exchanging the humiliation for guilt and back again.
She died from being battered by someone who claimed to love her. And she allowed the battering to go on, to show she loved him too.
She died from asphyxiation, coughing up blood from secrets she kept trying to burn away instead of allowing herself the kind of nervous breakdown she was entitled to, but only white girls could afford.
She died from being responsible, because she was the last rung on the ladder and there was no one under her she could dump on. The strong black woman is dead.
She died from the multiple births of her children she never really wanted, but was forced to have by the strangling morality of those around her. She died from being a mother at 15, a grandmother at 30 and an ancestor at 45.
She died from being dragged down and sat upon by un-evolved women posing as sisters. She died from pretending the life she was living was a Kodak moment instead of a 20th century, post slavery nightmare!
She died from tolerating Mr. pitiful just to have a man around the house. She died from lack of orgasms because she never learned what made her body happy and no one took the time to teach her, and sometimes when she found arms that were tender, she died because they belonged to the same gender.
She died from sacrificing herself for everybody and everything when what she really wanted to do was be a singer, a dancer, or some magnificent other.
She died from lies of omission because she didn't want to bring the black man down, she died from race memories of being snatched and raped, snatched and sold and snatched and bred, snatched and whipped and snatched and worked to death.
She died from tributes from her counterparts who should have been matching her efforts instead of showering her with dead words and empty songs, she died from myths that would not allow her to show weakness without being chastised by the lazy and the hazy.
She died from hiding her real feelings until they became hard and bitter enough to invade her womb and breast like angry tumors. She died from always lifting something from heavy boxes to refrigerators.
The strong black woman is dead.
She died from the punishments received from being honest about life, racism and men. She died from being called a bit-h for being verbal, a dyke for being assertive and a ***** for picking her own lovers. She died from never being enough of what men wanted, or being too much for the men she wanted.
She died from being too black and died again for not being black enough. She died from castration every time somebody thought of her as only a woman, or less than a man.
She died from being mis-informed about her mind, her body and the extent of her royal capabilities.
She died from knees pressed to close together because respect was never part of the foreplay that was being shoved at her.
She died from loneliness in birthing rooms and loneliness in abortion centers, she died of shock in courtrooms where she sat, alone, watching her children being legally lynched.
She died in bathrooms with her veins busting open with self-hatred and neglect. She died in her mind, fighting life, racism, and men while her body was carted away and stashed in a human warehouse for the spiritually mutilated, and sometimes when she refused to die, when she just refused to give in, she was killed by the lethal images of blonde hair, blue eyes and flat butts, rejected by the O.J.'s, the Quincy's and the Poitiers.
Sometimes, she was stomped to death by racism and sexism, executed by hi-tech ignorance while she carried the family in her belly, the community on her head, and the race on her back!
The strong silent, talking black woman is dead!!!!!!!!! Or is she still alive and kicking???????????? I know I'm still here.
I will be adding the names of DV victims to the end of this post and in the comments section to venerate them. I encourage you to do the same.
Okay, Okay... I've been gone for a minute, but now I'm back in the jump off... and I'm P-I-S-S-E-D! The highlight of my weekend was having dinner and drinks with two remarkable women with whom I will become long term friends... I know it. It was great to sit down and actually have an intellectual conversation punctuated by intense debate, wonderful humor, and just good clean FUN. We had decided to visit a black-owned Martini bar in DC and it was awesome!!! Now onto the not so good news...
So, let me give Essence kudos on being the first, major, national publication to take on the discussion of how America, both black and white devalues black womanhood. I found Francie Latour's report to be a thoughtful and insightful look at how we automatically deem black perpetrators as victims when they commit crimes...especially against black women. Where the hell was Essence magazine 4 or 5 months ago? Why did it take so long? Some of you who read this will respond that Essence is a lifestyle magazine for black women; therefore Essence has no obligation to report on topics like these. My response is that Essence, when it decided to publish stories related to the aforementioned causes, Essence obligated itself to publish the gruesome stories of Megan Williams and the Dunbar Village Rape Victim (for more info on Dunbar Village, please visit here).
Just the mere fact that these were two black women, who had been maliciously and brutally raped and tortured, should have made them relevant enough to be covered by Essence magazine--the voice of black women. Parity is certainly not one of Essence magazine's strengths. When I searched their website, I found 4 stories dedicated to the Jena 6, 3 to Genarlow Wilson, and 1 shared story related to the inherent dysfunction of our juvenile justice system. Now, after several bloggers have made it their mission to keep these stories in the front of our minds (although they don't have the benefit mainstream media coverage), Essence magazine has found it necessary to publish a story? Should we be celebrating because a magazine that touts its chief demographic are black women decided to do a story about black women? Groundbreaking concept; I bet that Peabody award is just itching to go to Essence. I could concoct a conspiracy theory that since Essence magazine, while being owned by Time-Warner is the BET of print media and doesn't really give a damn about black people, but that would be reaching...even for me. Enough with my soapboxing. The story is actually quite good and should be read.
Let's have another MARCH!!!
Wanna do something to feel relevant? Let's have another MARCH!!! You know how effective public gatherings can be, especially given the current political climate. Marches during the late 90's to the present have been the single, most successful tool to influence public perception and public policy since they were done during the Civil Rights Era. Federal Agencies have been rocked from their very foundations and laws have been changed by passive-aggressive. showbiz activism. NOT! So in today's AJC (although the article was published yesterday on the web), the usual suspects (or useless suspects) have announced plans to gather in Washington, DC to request Federal intervention to curb the increase in hate crimes. They will talk about noose hangings and how unfair the criminal justice system is to well, criminals. This is a worthwhile (worthless cause) and needs to be supported by black people and the white liberals who like to save us alike! Come one, come all to the march of Millennium!
Read the AJC story and then write me to curse me out for not thinking the way that you do. In the meantime, I'll be firing off a letter to Susan Taylor.