Desensitization to Crime, Apathy, and No Snitching ... Unless There's a Monetary Reward

This morning I decided to take a stab at riding the Metrobus because I had to attend a meeting with a branch of the DC governement. After stopping at Starbucks for my usual Venti bull's eye (regular coffee with 3 shots of espresso), I boarded a bus heading in the direction of my final destination and overheard several people talking about the rash of weekend violence that claimed the life a 13 year-old in Washington, DC.

Now to put this child's senseless death into context and to discuss what I overheard, I think it's woth mentioning that the neighborhood in which the shooting occurred has been designated as a NSZ.

NSZs or Neighborhood Safety Zones are implemented in Washington, DC by the Police Department. Checkpoints are set up around a perimeter of the NSZ and police require all vehicular traffic to stop, identify their purpose for being in the neighborhood, and require drivers to have valid identification. In true DC reactionary, knee-jerk fashion the NSZ was implemented in a neighborhood that police had forgotten about until the rate of gun-related homicides began to increase exponentially. As a result the NSZs were announced, the residents of the NSZ complained and are suing the city (with the assistance of the ACLU) for violating their Civil and Constitutional rights.

I'm ambivalent about the efficacy of the NSZs because of a variety of factors, but since I do not live in a NSZ (yet... DC is GHETTO... all of it!), I can't necessarily sicount them completely.

As I listened intently to the conversations occurring during my semi-short bus ride I became enraged and then disgusted and then ashamed and then mortified. Apparently, people in DC are so accustomed to crime and lawlessness that fear isn't keeping them from engaging in crime prevention and community policing; apathy and opportunism are.

The 13 year-old boy was killed during a drive-by shooting in which his 23 year old cousing was the target. The 13 year old was visitng from Mobile , AL and was staying with his great-grandmother during her initial chemotherapy to treat her cancer. His mother was also shot but was not critically or seriously injured.

The animals who killed this 13 year old approached the grown cousin and said " wassup" then began to rain gunfire on the man on the boy. When the smoke cleared, the boy was fatally shot and the grown man still alive. The killers were never apprehended and the 23 year old isn't talking to police too much. a 50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the punks responsible for the shooting and apparently that's not enough for the people on the bus to be motivated to "snitch" on someone.

Much to my chagrin, the excerpts below are parts of a conversation that burned in my mind as I began to think about writing this post.

Overheard:

"Chile Fiddy Thowsin!?!?! (with expression of incredulity for emphasis)" , "Dat ain't no munney ta git me tawlkin! Ah needs about Two hunnid befo' ah snitch!"

I looked in the direction of the man stupid enough to actually utter such nonsense and my facial expression radiated my disavowal, disapproval, and disbelief. As if random acts of murder, rape, and violence aren't enough, people now have to have an incentive to take pride in their community and actively engage in crime prevention.

Overheard:

"Yeah, Ah know whut you sayin' cuz my cuzzin was kilt ovah in Muhrilyn and dey ain't git nobody ta tawlk unteel dat munny got right."

I sighed as the conversation had just gone from bad to much worse. At this point the bus driver chimed in.

Overheard (from the bus driver):

"Well, Ah grew up in da hood, but Ah'm a big ole' SNITCH and Ah need dat fiddy thow! Ah wish ah knew sumthin'! Hell, I'll tell on you anyway if you doin' sumthin' wrong! Ah werk too hard to be scared in mah own damn house! Damn that!"

I SMILED. Then I began to join the conversation. I asked the man why a 13 year-old's life isn't priceless and why ANY reward money is necessary for anyone to do the right thing in the first place. He responded by telling me that he was just keeping it real and that he didn't want to be a snitch. I got off of the bus because I had reached my destinantion although I missed my stop because I was running my mouth.

It's okay for him to be an opportunist though and the sad thing about this whole sordid conversation was the fact that many people on the bus, all of whom were black, nodded in solidarity. Then I thought to myself, Is this why our communities and families remain broken? Have we become so jaded by crime that in order for us to do anything about it we have to expect some type of monetary compensation?

A while back, Gina McCauley coined a phrase, "immoral indifference" to describe Black Leadership's response to a brutal gang-rape that happened in Dunbar Village. A few month's ago I cross posted a piece by Professor Tracey of Aunt Jemima's Revenge about The Soul on Ice Effect on the lives of black women. While Professor Tracey's piece was specifically related to the lives of black women and children, it has implications and relevance to this discussion.

What a sad chapter we've reached in the annals of black life that makes us collectively, immorally indifferent to crime.

What would you do if you knew information about a crime?

AL SHARPTON and the NAACP WANT FREEDOM FOR RAPISTS (That way, they can rape again and kill you too!!)

So it seems that my anger fest has been capped with a cherry on top! The NAACP and Al Sharpton of the National Action Network stood with the families of the Dunbar Village RAPE SUSPECTS to host a press conference in protesting the treatment of the Rape Suspects. Sharpton compared the Dunbar Village teens to a set of white teens who raped some teenage girls in Boca Raton.

Sharpton and the NAACP support criminals. This of course is nothing new, but please remember these are the same organizations that were silent about the VICTIM of the Dunbar Village Rape. Where is the equity? Who's truly guilty of preferential treatment? Symphony of Essential Presence does a wonderful job discussing this bastard's latest bullshit rant.

What F@ckery is this? AL SHARPTON TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF DUNBAR VILLAGE RAPE SUSPECTS!!!

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?

I posted a piece that Professor Tracey wrote last Saturday about the Soul on Ice Effect and how it relates to the dehumanization of black women and children. READ IT!

I am drawing another line in the sand TODAY.

The Soul on Ice Effect - Why the Lives of Black Women and Children don't Matter by Professor Tracey

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.

Posted by Professor Tracey at 3:40 PM 5 comments Links to this post

Updates!!!

I see the week-in-review format has been working rather well on other blogs because it allows authors to string together completely unrelated stories in one post. Having been at a loss for words lately (totally ironic since I've been commenting on so many other blogs), I present to my readers, BLKSeaGoat's Weekly Round-Up!!! I'll try to post the good, bad, ugly, and WTF?, but not in necessarily in that order. I haven't come up with a clever name for my weekly recap and I am open to suggestions.

The Good Blogs

I have really been inspired by a number of bloggers who keep me wearing my thinking cap because of how awesome their writing skills are. If you good folks in the blogosphere haven't been to their sites already, you MUST visit Aunt Jemima's Revenge by Professor Tracey, Black Women Vote by SheCodes, and for inspiration and spiritual enlightenment, Character Corner, by AttorneyMom. I have been learning so much about so many things and I can credit reading these blogs for that. My writing skills are above average at best, but for some great thinking coupled with an exceptional use of language and mastery of grammar and mechanics, check them out PRONTO! Of course I am and will always be a fan of Whataboutourdaughters? and I thank Gina along with her readership for always being on alert and posting "news that I can use". I've also started reading some other authors, Torrance Stephens, Jasmyne Cannick, and Average Bro and I'll be getting around to all of you I see on a regular basis in the comments sections of the various blogs I enjoy.

New GIG!!

This week has been an interesting one for me. As I shared with SheCodes earlier this month, I will be transitioning into a new position with a new agency as I have been ready to move on for some time. What was so great about this new job is that my hiring manager CALLED me and basically made me an offer before the position was even available. I felt flattered and a little cocky (I have to be honest) because I was the FIRST person who came to her mind as this opening came in her department. She strongly encouraged me to submit my resume and vitae, provided me with some plausible arguments as to why I was her first choice, and recommended me with high expectations to her Executive Director. It was all so surreal that I still can't believe that things unfolded they that they did. I am glad though; I GOTS DA SKILLZ 2 PAY DA BILLZ... Okay, I know that wasn't even funny, but I am so excited!

My only regret is that I will miss the direct service aspect of my current position. However with my new job I'll be able to affect change on an even broader level; to me, my societal impact will be much more tangible than it was before.

Election updates

I am a Barack Obama supporter NOT a stan. I have rational reasons for supporting my candidate of choice as well as reasons for NOT supporting his opponent. While Sen. Clinton bested my candidate in Ohio, Texas, and R.I., he still leads in the delegate count. I have signed up to go volunteer in PA, the last great prize for the Democratic nominee unless FL and MI re-vote. I am still confident that Senator Obama can clinch this nomination and become president, but he really needs to start getting into Hillary's treasure trough of opposition research. Roland Martin stated it as plainly as possible: "make Hillary DEFINE her 35 years of experience." Future Mr. President, you have to do this if you expect HOPE for CHANGE to carry you to the Oval Office.

Hot Messes

As usual, Whataboutourdaughters? scoops a story that I would have otherwise ignored unless it was posted on their website. It seems that American Pop Culture's obsession with celebrity is so powerful that grown women will bear their naked asses on camera for the world to see, ONLY to get a date with an ugly ass mud duck inferior rapper. The contest, sponsored by Plies was called the "Bust it Baby" contest, after one of his songs about a woman he admires for her sexual prowess and penchant for casual sex. The video is NSFW and is incredibly disgusting. If watching women debase themselves in every way causes you to vomit uncontrollably, you may not want to view this video. I was so repulsed by it I created a PowerPoint response and posted it on YouTube.

Blackface Minstrel or Flattering Admirer?

Jasmyne Cannick has a bone to pick with infamous drag performer, Shirley Q. Liquor. For those of you who are unaware, SQL is a character of Charles Knipp, an obese, gay white man who performs his character in blackface. Shirley Q. Liquor is a malt-liquor chugging, promiscuous, multiple-baby-daddy-having, under-educated, poor, welfare check receiving, black woman with 19 children. Her spawn are named after food products, liquor beverages, and venereal diseases. SQL hails from the South and is the self-proclaimed "Queen of Dixie". Jasmyne has launched a campaign against SQL and Knipp in an effort to get Knipp's appearances canceled at various gay pride events and conventions. You can read more about the protest and campaign here.

Now, I have no problem with Jasmyne's position about SQL, but she actually JUSTIFIES why it's okay for black male drag performers to mar the image of black women, but scowls at the same performances being done by a white man. One cannot have it both ways. You can be upset at the media portrayal of black women regardless of the race of the person engaged in the stereotypical depictions. I signed to petition as a show of support, but I remain a bit ambivalent about Jasmyne's motivation for going ape shit on SQL. I wonder what the National Black Justice Coalition has to say about SQL? I wonder why White Gay America (there are many gay Americas) is so missive about SQL's brand of humor, but gets outraged when straight comedians use terms that are offensive to homosexuals?

R.I.P - 17 year old Simmie Williams was ambushed and gunned down for what many believe was his transgender identity. Feministe published a really great post on this tragic event .

Posting on the Regular (I promise)

I am going to start taking my blog more seriously. I know, I know, I've said that before, but I'll be freeing up my work schedule soon for some much needed blog time. I have TONS of things to write about and I'll be getting of my lazy behind to actually do more.

Wear RED... 10/31 the last day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month! This is dedicated to WOMEN.

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.

What the F#$%---?

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...

T h e E s s e n c e o f B e i n g P i s s e d!

This morning I read two stories with great interest: ESSENCE magazine's story on Dunbar Village (ironically not accessible on its website, although SEVERAL articles about the Jena 6 and Genarlow Wilson are... A MESS!!!) and an article in the AJC today, discussing a meeting of self-appointed, black "leaders" regarding yet, another useless march on Washington, DC. Yes, these stories were completely riveting. I will try to scan the Essence story and upload its url as a .pdf.

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.