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Brava!!!
(What a fabulous way to hit 100 posts on this blog!) ---- Dear Friends: I am one of the contributors to the anthology Be A Father to Your Child, which focuses on encouraging healthy fatherhood development in the black community. We felt it necessary to issue the following statement and petition in response to the recent verdict in R. Kelly's child pornography trial. Please read and, if you agree, sign and forward this to your networks. Sincerely, Jelani Cobb *Statement of Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women* Six years have gone by since we first heard the allegations that R. Kelly had filmed himself having sex with an underage girl. During that time we have seen the videotape being hawked on street corners in Black communities, as if the dehumanization of one of our own was not at stake. We have seen entertainers rally around him and watched his career reach new heights despite the grave possibility that he had molested and urinated on a 13-year old girl. We saw African Americans purchase millions of his records despite the long history of such charges swirling around the singer. Worst of all, we have witnessed the sad vision of Black people cheering his acquittal with a fervor usually reserved for community heroes and shaken our heads at the stunning lack of outrage over the verdict in the broader Black community. Over these years, justice has been delayed and it has been denied. Perhaps a jury can accept R. Kelly's absurd defense and find "reasonable doubt" despite the fact that the film was shot in his home and featured a man who was identical to him. Perhaps they doubted that the young woman in the courtroom was, in fact, the same person featured in the ten year old video. But there is no doubt about this: some young Black woman was filmed being degraded and exploited by a much older Black man, some daughter of our community was left unprotected, and somewhere another Black woman is being molested, abused or raped and our callous handling of this case will make it that much more difficult for her to come forward and be believed. And each of us is responsible for it. We have proudly seen the community take to the streets in defense of Black men who have been the victims of police violence or racist attacks, but that righteous outrage only highlights the silence surrounding this verdict. We believe that our judgment has been clouded by celebrity-worship; we believe that we are a community in crisis and that our addiction to sexism has reached such an extreme that many of us cannot even recognize child molestation when we see it. We recognize the absolute necessity for Black men to speak in a single, unified voice and state something that should be absolutely obvious: that the women of our community are full human beings, that we cannot and will not tolerate the poisonous hatred of women that has already damaged our families, relationships and culture. We believe that our daughters are precious and they deserve our protection. We believe that Black men must take responsibility for our contributions to this terrible state of affairs and make an effort to change our lives and our communities. This is about more than R. Kelly's claims to innocence. *It is about our survival as a community*. Until we believe that our daughters, sisters, mothers, wives and friends are worthy of justice, until we believe that rape, domestic violence and the casual sexism that permeates our culture are absolutely unacceptable, until we recognize that the first priority of any community is the protection of its young, we will remain in this tragic dead-end. We ask that you: o Sign your name if you are a Black male who supports this statement: http://www.petitiononline.com/rkelly/petition.html o Forward this statement to your entire network and ask other Black males to sign as well o Make a personal pledge to never support R. Kelly again in any form or fashion, unless he publicly apologizes for his behavior and gets help for his long-standing sexual conduct, in his private life and in his music o Make a commitment in your own life to never to hit, beat, molest, rape, or exploit Black females in any way and, if you have, to take ownership for your behavior, seek emotional and spiritual help, and, over time, become a voice against all forms of Black female exploitation o Challenge other Black males, no matter their age, class or educational background, or status in life, if they engage in behavior and language that is exploitative and or disrespectful to Black females in any way. If you say nothing, you become just as guilty. o Learn to listen to the voices, concerns, needs, criticisms, and challenges of Black females, because they are our equals, and because in listening we will learn a new and different kind of Black manhood We support the work of scholars, activists and organizations that are helping to redefine Black manhood in healthy ways. Additional resources are listed below. Books: Who's Gonna Take the Weight, Kevin Powell New Black Man, Mark Anthony Neal Deals with the Devil and Other Reasons to Riot, Pearl Cleage Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality, Rudolph Byrd and Beverly Guy-Sheftall Films: I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America, by Byron Hurt Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, by Byron Hurt NO! The Rape Documentary, by Aishah Simmons Organizations The 2025 Campaign: www.2025bmb.org Men Stopping Violence: www.menstoppingviolence.org uttered by a black girl at 10:22 AM. | 1 comments
Michelle Obama Watch uttered by a black girl at 11:20 AM. | 0 comments
Plus... I really do love my cat. A lot. Her name is Nia (NEE-ya). She will be three in July. She is something like a silver gray tabby, but she's a little more brown than that and has some spots instead of stripes. She was one white paw, and has pretty big ears. I've been trying to mythologize who her ancestors were and we both agree she is egyptian.  She has an affinity for expensive bags and scarves and likes to lay on them. She turns up her nose on regular cat food and demands organic (its my fault, i raised her this way). She likes to try to help me clean up by sweeping with her paw when i drop something on the floor. She talks to birds in the window by making a sound like a chirp. She's super affectionate, and often goes to sleep on my tummy. If she thinks I am oversleeping, she will wake me up by making a whole lot of racket on the otherside of my bedroom door. ...yeah she can't sleep in bed with me at night because she's a shed monster. She's really talkative this time of year. (In true cancerian form she's moody... or maybe its cuz she's a cat... whatever) Since I tend to have more guests in the summer she loves to love on them. She easily gets overstimulated and cant handle too many people at once. She gets super excited and plays rough at that point. She likes to have full on conversations with my mother who calls her Nia-poo or Nee-poo depending on how many syllabus she feels like saying at the moment. ...yes that is her on the big momma chair in the post on storms. Yes, she is in my avatar image as well. (I was sooo seiss when I saw that they had a cat with Nia's coloring as an option.) You can email her at niapoo [-at-] gmail [-dot-] com. Yes. I am a black woman. And I LOVE my pet. I love my pet CAT for that matter. Its always been a thing for Black people to talk about how much we don't really care for animals all that much. Thats not very afro-centric to me. Not to mention this idea that we don't like untamed nature. (Forests and fields and such.) Now I'm a little prissy. I give you that. But I'm not animal hater, nor am I someone who can't take a hike or pee in the bushes without freaking out. I guess it is the little bit of cuntry in me, but I also think its ludicrous to assume black people cannot connect to the world without an apparatus of some kind. What we don't do is choose animals over human brothers and sisters when we have the opportunity (i.e. The Jena 6, Meagan WIlliams, New Jersey 4 vs. Mike Vick). The way white folks have clamored over Vick's treatment of animals, but could not get off of their asses on issues that affects the very lives of Black children... um yeah not the business. But let me be clear. Mike Vick was dead ass wrong. Dead. Ass. Wrong. He deserved a financial ass whoopin or maybe a night in jail, but white folks wanted him skinned and his flesh boiled for lye. Not my feeling at all. However, there are some humans over whom I'd choose my cat any day. Bush is an example. On second thought... the list is quite long. I would write it here but that would just be distasteful.  Nia. At the time of this post. uttered by a black girl at 9:42 PM. | 4 comments
I've had this fracture for a few weeks now. Close to a month. And in true SWB fashion, I ignored it. Thought it was a little temporary pain like when one stubs ones toe. This stubbing involved a 60 lb bag, a cheap rolling contraption and a flight of stairs. BLAM!! On my wittle weft foot. Last monday I went to the doctor to ask what was going on with this foot. It seemed like there was a bone that wouldn't pop into place. She told me about myself, and the cheap old navy flip flops I was wearing. I am now dealing with the pain no doubt exacerbated by ignoring it. I have a little bandage and a little limp and a lot of fucking nerve because I still want to walk to work and such. I thought I'd gotten past this... Labels: strongblackwoman uttered by a black girl at 1:30 AM. | 0 comments
I have to contain myself for a few reasons: 1. I love the book which... by the way... I can't find it. Note to self.. never offer anyone your book to borrow. 2. It is directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, the Constant Gardener etc.) 3. There is a woman president (played by Sandra Oh). 4. When movies attempt to figure what a future leader will look like it is always a little interesting. Especially with the presidential candidates being Obama and McCaine it will be interesting how the "white sickness" will be read. I read this book with a group a black women (at Spelman) and we all immediately saw race in this idea of the white sickness. How could we not? Think Moby Dick, Fight Club issues of whiteness. Morgan Freeman is in this film as well. Yeah... the sole negro. You see it? Or don't you? How exciting!!!! I'm a lil apprehensive because: 1. It is not set in Portugal as originally intended. 2. The reviews are somewhat iffy. 3. The trailer looks like it will live up to the reviews. Take a look for yourselves: uttered by a black girl at 12:17 AM. | 2 comments
Maybe I am excited/worried/confused about tonight's (last nights no?) breaking news. Obama has won the candidacy. I watched the speech. I watched him wax poetic about his grandmother, about Hillary Clinton, about John McCain. Then I saw him go on about his stances that are much aligned with mine: healthcare, new energy, the war on Iraq. There were moments when I cried because the speech writers intended it that way. By the end I was sobbing, and it had nothing to do with speech writers. As the commentators began their blustering dialogues (This is all one can do after Obama's speeches. They are impeccable, and he has drawn from an oratory tradition made to make souls weep and chakras spin.) I watched him. More accurately, I watched Michelle. I watched her get on stage. I watched her wave to the crowd. I watched her say "I love you" in Obama's year. I watched him look down and away. He waves, she waves. I watched him turn to her, look her in the eyes, and say "thank you..." and something else hidden by her cheek. I imagine its something tender and moving. I watched him say "Let's go." I saw her being helped by him down the stage. A white man with a heavy build holds her hand. I noticed the shiny black belt cinching her tiny waist. I watched her like this because on my heart was Cynthia McKinney, and a host of other Black women. In my ear was the voice of my mother, urging me like she's never urged me to do anything in my life, to vote for this man. In the other ear were the voices of radical elders... urging with my own mind... the rightness of a third party. The importance of it. A black woman is running for president, and another black woman is running for first lady. I looked at both of them, I looked at him. And I cried. Mostly because I am confused. I want to believe everything he said. I want to believe that he will never again have to disavow another Black leader, although to disavow one's preacher is enough. He had to... he had to right? Right. I want to believe it all matters anyway. I want to believe him because I know my vote will be in the right direction if I do not vote for him, but I know if anything is right in this world--he will win. And I want to believe in him. So I steadied my eyes on Michelle, and my heart on Cynthia. And the past two years became vivid: Dunbar Village, The New Jersey Four, Megan Williams, Tynehsa Stewart, The Duke Rape Case, The Rutgers Basketball team. My own black girl/woman self. Something's gotta move. Some woman, some black woman, will be in the white house. And if worth her salt, she will be unable to sleep too. Labels: black girls, black women, election 2008, Obama, politics uttered by a black girl at 1:19 AM. | 1 comments
I’m angry. If this blog could be my voice right now it would be screaming. Long howls. Long and hard and at the end of them would be tears. Sobs. Anger and not knowing what to do, anger and not knowing what to do. Anger. Not knowing what to do. We live in a police state. We live in a racist, classist police state that wishes to terrorize people of color and the poor. This is what happened. The police broke into my aunt’s house. In fact they broke into almost every house on her street in Baltimore. They broke into my aunt’s house. My mother’s sister’s house. My cousins, my little cousins (who are much taller than me but I am older so they are little to me) live there. One of them is only a pre-teen has been sleeping in her mother’s bed since. They broke the door down. (No-Knock, no doubt…) Went through her things, her food, took her laptop (which she uses for work). Took the computers that belonged to everyone on the block. Found no drugs, no dead bodies, none of the nonsense their bogus warrants promised them they would. They disrespected her home. Put my cousin in handcuffs, took him away in their car. Took his friend, who has become, in some ways a member of the family and holding him on bogus charges. I must reiterate their warrants were also bogus. My aunt works with youth. These police knocked down doors up and down this residential street, breaking children's beds, breaking to shambles, people's front doors. Humiliating them. Terrorizing the children. No probable cause. None. Less a crooked cop covering real offenders and terrorizing innocent citizens. I cant say anything more but to retell the story. I have no words, just anger. I need to read Audre Lorde’s "Uses of Anger." I can’t, my eyes wont hold straight… long enough… I can’t sleep tonight. I can’t. Just one long howl in my spirit. My hands shake from anger. So I give you Gill Scott: uttered by a black girl at 9:54 PM. | 2 comments
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