Dunbar Village Two Months Later...Janjaweed in America.. A Matter of "Homeland Security"- Newark Update

If a Dunbar Village-esq crime happened in your neighborhood, how would that change the way you live your life?

How would that change the way you allowed your children to live their lives?

The latest from West Palm Beach ( It is official, these people are a tad bit off!)

Magnolia Park Rape Update ("Hurry Up! Me Next!")
Remember that second rape involving a group of Black teens less than a mile and less than a month after the Dunbar Village gang rape? The one where the rapist's friends stood by yelling "Hurry Up! Me next!" Well they arrested a second suspect....a 15 year old seventh grader. Now I know I went to school a long time ago, but at fifteen, I was beginning either ninth or tenth grade, but that is another story. Earth to West Palm Beach... "Y'all got a problem"

Back to Dunbar Village
First, the editorial writers have been busy, doing absolutely nothing but offering general words of advice, but nothing so rash as to actually demand specific action like say... install the donated air conditioners and fix the dayum street lights so the residents can see what is lurking in the shadows at night. Mayor Lois Frankel has had her "eyes on Dunbar Village since 2003," well hell if this is the results of attentiveness, I hate to see the parts of the city that were off of her RADAR.

Officials Tour Dunbar Village ( What took so long... it's only been over TWO MONTHS?). See Video here. I think they are trying to make a point, but they end up making another. You be the judge. Speak on it.

Some people apparently are planning to fight any plans to demolish Dunbar Village. Apparently unairconditioned 50 year-old barracks-style living is too difficult to part with. I don't have a problem with nostalgia and historic architecture, but WTH?

[L]ongtime residents from the 1960s and '70s, as well as County Commissioner Addie Greene, promised to fight any demolition plans, saying a chapter of local history would be wiped out.

"Why couldn't this become a model project and other people could come and see what could be done with older buildings?" said Bettye Dawson, who lived in Dunbar Village from 1957 to 1962. She noted that the housing authority offices in the community, and the landscaping around those offices, look very nice....Security cameras are more than a month from being installed. (SOURCE)

THEY DON'T EVEN LIVE THERE ANYMORE! Again, corralling a group of poor folks in a concentrated area so that they can be abandoned again is IMMORAL and CRUEL! Relying on the good intentions of political leadership is what got you here in the first place. The best protection for poor folks is to live in the middle of people who aren't. Why? Because when my street lamp goes out, I call the city. If the city doesn't fix it in the timely manner, I call the city manager, if they are crazy enough not to get it done, I call my council member and the Mayor, if that is not enough, I call Eyewitness News to do a story on my broken street lamp. ( insert whatever problem you have in place of the street lamp).

The West Palm Beach Police Chief is till engendering confidence in her law enforcement abilities... you know the one that had 15 murders in one year in Dunbar Village, rampant property crime and assaults and 717 police calls in a single year from a housing project with only 334 residents? yeah that police chief:

Police Chief Delsa Bush says they've been extremely fortunate to make any arrest, let alone four, in a case of this nature where the arrests must be based on evidence not eyewitnesses or statements. (SOURCE)

Seriously, when is the FBI going to get involved( I explain possible reasons the feds could get involved if they wanted to later in this post.) Did I mention that chief Delsa sees no need to have more than a $1,000 reward in this case? Did I also mention that she is going to solve a rape case based on DNA alone? Hmm, um what law enforcement manual is that police technique from? What if some of the attackers didn't leave recoverable DNA? What if they wore a condom as described in earlier news articles? What is the DNA was too degraded or was corrupted by the cleaning solvent the attackers threw on the victims? If you don't recover DNA does that mean the crime did not occur? Well apparently so because doing actual police work and investigation instead of convictions via mail order are too much work for Delsa:

"I'm not even sure 10 people were involved," Chief Bush said Tuesday in an interview with members of The Post Editorial Board. Nor, Chief Bush said, is a reward beyond the $1,000 offered by CrimeStoppers necessary: "We're going to solve this case solely on the DNA evidence, and we have a lot of that." SOURCE

I don't think Delsa could solve 2+2 based on her public comments. BTW Delsa, the answer is not 5.

Apparently their US Representative is saying the US Congress might be increasing funding to public housing although with West Palm Beach's track record at this point I don't know if all the funding in the world could right everything that is so very wrong.U.S. REP. RON KLEIN,

What Bloggers Are Saying
This story has legs, it might be slow moving, but it is still moving and spreading and everyday more people learn about this horror.

Mother Talkers finally heard about the story and she states why she is thankful not to be poor and points out the ridiculousness of building high rise condo towers while a portion of your town rots.

Soul Preaching asks that in the wake of the reaction to Dunbar Village, Can God Count on the Black Preacher? Um that would be NO based on results.


So in light of everything that is "happening" in West Palm Beach, I would like to offer some "observations" perhaps even a critique or two as I am prone to do. If you live in West Palm Beach, now would be the time that you stopped reading this post if you are "tender hearted" and have a heaping pile of civic pride.

Hmm,

Lots of movement, if not progress, seems to be occurring in West Palm Beach. I fear, however, that all this "movement" is all style and no substance. So perhaps we should clarify some things for the good folks in WPB, especially the political class because I become more and more distressed with each passing day of idiocy being generated from WPB. Pure unadulterated FOOLISHNESS!

1. Dunbar Village was a crime against humanity, not some petty theft of a bicycle. So what does that mean? It means that although the crime happened in West Palm Beach in a place called Dunbar Village, all of civil society has a vested interest in making sure that the conditions that facilitated this crime are stamped out and dealt with NOW, not when you get around to it. In other words this crime doesn't just belong to you and your city and its apparently petty psychotic politics. Whether you realize it or not, the eyes of the world of on you...AND y'all are looking ridiculously bad right about now. We can't afford to let you screw this up, despite your best efforts.

2. Clearly intervention from the State of Florida is required. Local government has broken down. Civil society is at risk for us all. You can't have roving militaristic gangs running around committing crimes against humanity as a matter of course. You had two rapes with one month and one mile of each other involving an attack on middle aged Black women by a group of teens. Around these parts we called that a PATTERN. One that has to be stamped out. This mentality of lawlessness and a disregard for human life and the laws of nature must be met swiftly and forcefully. The perpetrators must be dealt with unmercifully so as to attempt to dissuade potential future perpetrators.

3. The Federal government needs to get involved if the State of Florida will not. Now if reports are true that this was in retaliation for the victim reporting crime, I think a case can be made that this whole series of events qualifies as an organized criminal enterprise. Second, the victim was clearly targeted based on her gender- HATE CRIME and possibly her national origin- HATE CRIME! The United States government has a extremely vested interest in making sure that militaristic sexual violence is an aberration, not a standard intimidation tactic used by the criminal underworld on United States. The danger that this kind of attack poses to "HOMELAND SECURITY" is greater or equal to any threat posed by foreign terrorists. This gang rape was a terrorist act. You have civilians targeted for the purpose of intimidation and/or Retaliation. You got an entire neighborhood paralyzed in fear. Folks scared to leave their homes. Law enforcement out gunned and apparently outwitted(That would be YOU Delsa!).

4. What kind of civil society will we have if the freedom of movement for women and girls is restricted because little Dunbar Villages start popping up all over the country? Not possible? Well the conditions that lead to Dunbar Village exist all over the place. You think West Palm beach is the only place in America where they have piled all the poor people in one enclave and then turned their backs on them and left them to fend for themselves while the City of West Palm Beach built a 164 MILLION DOLLAR office building and recently approved 40 MILLION DOLLAR tourist promenade while the people of Dunbar Village were left to live without any working street lamps, no AC, and no security patrol. Despite the fact that it was a hotbed of crime? If a Dunbar Village-esq crime happened in your neighborhood, how would that change the way you live your life? How would that change the way you allowed your children to live their lives? Folks, that is what is at stake here; OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE! This didn't just happen to two people, it happened to us all so we have every right to maintain a vested interest in how we as a civilized society deal with this madness.

5. If ever there was something to be POLITICAL, how local and state leaders deal with this disaster should be POLITICAL. What the hell is government for if it is not shared defense? The primary function of local and state government are public safety and keeping the peace. What is more unsafe or warlike than something like Dunbar Village. So what does that mean? That means that before you build another promonade, or approve building permits, or send the mayor to some fancy conference in San Francisco, you have to handle civil order in your town. If you are not taking care of the minimal responsibilities of government, then we really don't need any politicians do we? SO hell yeah make Dunbar Village political. I mean making it non political is what got these people stuck in hell on earth in the first place. DUnbar Village should be SO POLITICAL that any politician not addressing this issue head on ought to be drummed out of office

6. We ain't going anywhere. Sorry, Mayor Frankel and West Palm Beach, you won't be able to run out the clock and hope that we forget about the horrors of Dunbar Village so you can print out some new tourism brochures. IF necessary, the city of West Palm Beach can become synonymous with Dunbar Village. Keep ignoring the public outcry by doing absolutely nothing and you might as well plant a sign right outside the city limits that reads "Welcome to West Palm Beach Florida- Home of the Dunbar Village Gang Rape." We really are not playing with y'all. Everyday, we become more sophisticated advocates and we are prepared to unleash a multimedia can of whoop @$$ if necessary. Unrelenting. Imagine every week waking up to wonder what multimedia send up we have prepared to alert the world about the foolishness in your city?

7. This whole situation from your neglect before the incident, to the apathy of your residents during and immediately after the crime to the current foolishness you political leaders are engaging in as they jockey to divert blame is RIDICULOUS and it is unacceptable. This circus might be acceptable to West Palm Beach residents, but not to the rest of the world.

You see, West Palm Beach, this is bigger than you so your typical petty myopic solutions are poorly unsuited to solve this problem so I suggest you try something new. Why not start with taking personal responsibility for you failures as political leaders to be good stewards for all of the residents of West Palm Beach. How about being man and/or woman enough to admit you could have done better but didn't. How about admitting that enough has not bee done. How about asking for the help that you so badly need. AND I AIN'T TALKING ABOUT A GRANT FROM HUD....I am talking about assistance from state and federal law enforcement. Because afterall, what happened in June in a place called Dunbar Village was a CRIME...A crime against all of humanity. One that we will NEVER FORGET!

View our Dunbar Village PSA in the sidebar. We will be unveiling an extra special multimedia treat next week. We've only just begun. As far as I am concerned, this is a battle for civilization and the only option is victory.

UPDATE: Speaking of militaristic rapes and killings, the lone survicor of the execution style killings in Newark, NJ has a victim's assistance fund:
Natasha Aeriel, shooting victim and sole survivor of the brutal Ivy Hill slaying, needs your help.

This week, Mayor Cory Booker announced an assistance fund has been established in her name:

"the fund that is seeking donations to support the recovery of Natasha Aeriel, the survivor of the August 4 shooting incident in Ivy Hill, which took the lives of three young Newark residents and left her badly wounded.

More info in the comments.
Don't just talk about it. Be about it!

Essential Presence's Video on Dunbar Village Makes the News

WAOD Guest Contributor, Symphony from Essential Presence was on the local news in West Palm Beach, Florida. They featured her YouTube video on the evening news. She's been on top of this Dunbar Village story in an up close and personal way. GO over to Essential Presence and check her out. See the YouTube Clip that started it all.

Hurricane Katrina and Running From Rita - The importance of the Black family.

What About Our Daughters? isn't my first blog. One of my earliest attempts at blogging was called The Great Migration. I have since deleted it, and I regret that I did because it was a blog I used to keep my family and friends up to date on the mass displacement of an entire United States city in a span of days.

I compared what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to The Great Migration

Perhaps Hurricane Katrina was the initial wakeup call that put me on the path to eventually starting this blog. Hurricane Katrina was a supernatural display of how fragile civil society is. It was a reminder that if everything went to hell in a handbasket, you really can't count on the government to bail you out. You need family. Family matters. The government that is the police, the courts, social services, and all the entities that we've come to rely on... the government is one electrical outage from total absolute collapse. And when it crumbles as it did in the case of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, you have to rely on friends and family.

Family may send you $50 to get a tank of gas or ferry you out of harm's way. Family may give you a place to stay when all the hotel rooms are full. Family feeds you, with no assistance from red cross. And family has your back when all hell is breaking loose and the police are no where to be found. Family forages for food when you have been left to die by local, state, and federal government. Family will try to come rescue you even though they know they can't swim, but are willing to die trying.... Because you're family.

I've told y'all before that I gave up on taking charge of anything since undergrad, but I was so outraged by Katrina that I opened up my tightly clasped pocket book and donated money and when Katrina evacuees got flown in to the town where I was station, near the south Texas border, I organized a drive to get them African American haircare products. No it wasn't clothing or shoes, but it was what they needed since many of the folks donating weren't African American. The vast majority weren't. I knew how hard it was for me to find my stuff and I had a car and money. It was not much, but it was my small part.

A few weeks later, my entire family in Texas was on the road at the same time running from Hurricane Rita. The biggest fear I had at the time was ending up like those people in Katrina, separated from Family with no way to find them. Not knowing if they were okay, if they were hungry, if they were out of gas, if they were in a shelter.

The Governor of Texas called for an evacuation of every coastal city between the South Teas border and the Louisiana coast. I was by myself in South Texas, My sisters and their families were in the Houston area and my parents.... well they ended up directly in the path of the storm.

You couldn't find a hotel room in Texas during the Rita Evacuation. I would have paid any price to keep myself and my family out of a Red Cross shelter, but my money was no good. There was over 24 hours of traffic between me and my family who headed north to Dallas. It took them almost 24 hours to make what would normally be a 4 hour trip. They were three cars strong and the encountered shot gun toting sheriff's deputies along the evacuation route through East Texas, no restrooms, and traffic that moved at 1 mile an hour in the hot Texas heat.

I used text messages to keep in contact with everyone because the phone service was non existent. My Daddy didn't even know his phone could accept text msgs.

I was directed to go to Nuevo Laredo across the Mexican border because that was the only place with hotel rooms. I took a pass and decided I would rather ride out a Cat 5 in my compact car than to take myself into Nuevo Laredo with my Texas tags by myself. I lucked out and got a hotel room on South Padre Island south of the storm. Hurricanes do not go backwards. The rest of my family ended up in DFW with various relatives.

My hometown ended up taking a direct hit from Hurricane Rita, but luckily, the worst damage any family member experienced was loose shingles and a refrigerator that was damaged beyond repair after holding meat in it for two weeks without electricity. The county kept them form their homes for two weeks.

So I know lots of people learned lots of things and discovered many things about themselves, this country, their families and human nature two years ago. But the thing I will always remember is how vulnerable we all really are and how fragile civil society is. When everything else collapses around you. In your hour of greatest need, I hope you have a strong family to do what the government won't be able to.

As we watch the Black family disintegrate in front of our very eyes. Where being a baby's mama is the mantra of the day and the Black community is rife with an epidemic of half siblings and broken homes and a slave child had a greater chance of being born in a two parent household than a child born today, I hope people remember today that the glue that holds civil society together is family and if you don't have that, you have to rely on the kindness of strangers and the government. Katrina should have told you that if you rely on the government for anything when you really need it...... you are going to be sorely disappointed.

Really we need to stop the foolishness. P.S. If you don't have a disaster preparedness kit, you are a fool. Get one today no matter where you live.

Second Dunbar Village PSA Ready to Go- Have At It.

I pulled an all-nighter and still couldn't master getting the audio to go along with the slides. I know I caught one typo, but I am too tired to go back and fix it. With 79 slides, I am sure that there are others. REMIX it to your heart's content and share it with friends and member of the League of the Immorally Indifferent.

Here is Symphony's first video on Dunbar Village. It is getting attention in West Palm Beach.


If we let these "leaders" get away with ignoring this issue, you can expect Dunbar Villages to pop up in a town and suburb near you. The cost of silence is too high. Le me see if I can get in two hours sleep.

Ending Immoral Indifference to Dunbar Village Hate Crime - The Multimedia Battle Begins!

A multimedia onslaught is about to be unleashed. This foolishness is ridiculous! Enough already. Get Ready. Get Ready. Get Ready!
Symphony and I are hard at work! More coming tomorrow morning. If I can learn how to do video editing, so can you. Prepare a clip of your own.

What The Heck is in the Water in West Palm Beach, FL and Where the Heck is Governor Charlie Crist on Dunbar Village

“I was so scared,” the woman told WPTV. “Some of them had sex with me twice, some of them had sex with me three times. They’re beating me up. They make me do those things over and over. The man with the big gun, he put the gun inside of me.” (SOURCE)

Head over to Essential Presence to read the latest foolishness out of West Palm Beach Mayor, Lois Frankel and what happened when some folks got a hold of a YouTube video done by WAOD Contributor, Symphony. More YouTube videos are on the way.


We're not the only ones EXASPERATED by what IS NOT going on in West Palm Beach Florida. All hell is breaking loose in West Palm Beach and I say IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!!

We are going on three months since the violent gang rape in West Palm Beach Florida
and to date AT LEAST SIX of the TEN rapists are still running around and you wouldn't know if from the response from the government officials in Florida.

Lois Frankel, the Mayor of West Palm Beach has other priorities. Read Lois Frankel is Demented and Dumb.

Governor Charlie Crist is MIA....You can contact Governor Charlie Crist at (850) 488-7146. REALLY... SIX violent militaristic rapists on the loose and there is no law enforcement manhunt? WTF??

Where is the manhunt?
Where is the involvement of state law enforcement?
Where is the FBI? This was a hate crime where the hell are they?
Where is the national news media?

I've stopped asking about BLACK LEADERSHIP.... we know they are immorally indifferent.

It is time to raise PURE UNADULTERATED HELL!

You can listen to me describe the violent gang rape in Dunbar Village by clicking on the media player above.

Satan's Lawyers to Bishop Tommy "The Hit Man" Weeks..... "Stop Slandering Our Client or Else!"

Two days after his alleged brutal attack on his wife, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, Bishop Tommy " The Hit Man" Weeks lay blame for choking, kicking and stomping on his 5'2 wife squarely at the feet of the Devil:

Weeks, wearing a dark suit and his customary bow tie, blamed the devil for the accusation that has him facing two felony charges. He didn't, however, offer any specifics before introducing a guest minister who preached in his stead, then exiting the room. (SOURCE)

The Devil, also known as Satan, is not taking Week's accusations laying down and has sought legal counsel. In a telephone interview from his office at Black Exploitation Television headquarters in Washington, DC, Satan seemed perplexed as to why yet another preacher was blaming him for acting a dayum fool.

"I mean, really, is it necessary to drag me into it every time one of these preachers messes up or catches a case? I didn't grab his hands and wrap them around his wife's neck and I didn't force him to kick her while she was down on the asphalt. What happened to Free Will?"

Satan says that at the time of the attack on Bynum, he was otherwise occupied.

" I was making up the Spring programming schedule for BET at the time of the attack. I wasn't anywhere near the Renaissance hotel. " While Satan has faced similar accusations in the past, he decided to seek legal counsel in the present case because of the role Bishop Week's purports to play in the Kingdom of God.

" Now here is a guy that has been telling everyone who will listen that he is on the Lord's side. Now all of a sudden he goes batshyt crazy and it is all "The Devil's" fault. I'm not having it!"

To Bynum, Satan, a Bible scholar himself directs her to the book of Job." Folks are with you when the chips are up, but at the first sign of real trouble, all these church attendees start yelling "Curse God and Die!"

Satan is trying to continue with his normal routine in light of yet another accusation that he has meddled in the lives of Preachers of the Word. He's been cooking up an entire new slate of television shows designed to set Black American back about 150 years each.

Satan saves his harshest criticisms for Bishop Tommy"The Hit Man" Weeks, " He needs to MAN UP and grow a pair. Take responsibility for what you did! That was all YOU! Hell, even Michael Vick didn't try to blame me for his situation!"

WARNING: The above may contain sarcastic language and imagery not mean to be taken literally. Yes, I did have too much time on my hands on my day off.


UPDATE: Juanita Bynum taped a pre-recorded response to the Devil Bishop Weeks and the boo birds that are chirping. They don't call her a Prophetess for nothing. It comes towards the end of the clip. Hat Tip to Why Black Women Are Angry.

What Black (and other)Bloggers are Saying About Juanita Bynum's Assault -(WWJB) What Would Jesus Blog

Folks, it is time for another "What Black Bloggers are Saying" post. I do these periodically when a subject crops up that all of us seem to have a post on.

Weeks sparked thunderous applause and cheers when he asked members to tell those seated next to them: “We’ve got certain things going on right now, but I refuse to stop coming to the house God built.” (SOURCE), Tommy "The Hit Man"Weeks speaking with his congregation, TWO days after surrendering for beating the crap out of his wife Juanita Bynum.

According to The Mo' Kelly Report, Bishop Tommy " The Hit Man" Weeks was back in the pulpit on Sunday. Reason #1235 that I am a devout member of Bedside Baptist Church, lead by Pastor A. Larm Clock, Sr. "Church Folk" are a MESS. Now settle down "church folk" from what I can remember from studying the Good Book, the lord has an extra special crispy reward for folks who appoint themselves as High Priests without being called and lead their flock astray. Now if IIIII had been a member of his church, I would have taken it back to the old school and stood up in church and said "I demand that the pastor vacate the pulpit until his criminal case is resolved!" But that's some ole school Deacon stuff, these young deacons and trustees ain't got it in 'em for a good old fashioned church fight! AAAh those were the times! But I digress.

Before I provide more links to other bloggers, let me comment on about some things I am observing from blog posts and the comments sections related to Juanita Bynum. As expected folks are taking the fact that this 5'2 woman was allegedly choked, kicked and stomped into the ground by a 6 foot man as some type of sign that her teachings were flawed, fraudulent, or a hypocritical. My response is, so what if she was flawed, a fraud, or a hypocrite? I don't know whether she is or she isn't. Does it justify a beat down like that? DO you really think that domestic violence is some kind of karmic retribution for prior bad acts? Need I remind some of you "church folks" that even Jesus was beaten!

Being the recipient of a beating does not make you inherently unworthy of preaching the gospel nor does it make you a hypocrite( other things do, but not this). Even though I am a devout member of Bedside Baptist Church where we are lead by the Honorable Rev. A. Larm Clock, Sr., I literally grew up in a church house Sunday through Monday, even vacationed with "church folk" so I knew that these comments were coming.

I don't know if she is a false prophet, but then again, I don't follow mortals. So it does not matter if she is a false prophet. I know that preachers are human not gods and ultimately I am responsible for my own salvation. I take everything with a grain of truth and if there ain't a bible verse to back it up, it ain't gospel. So attack Juanita Bynum for her teachings, or because of the clothes she wore, or the lifestyle she lived, but please abandon this whole thread of "SHE GOT WHAT SHE DESERVED" because you don't like her ministry........ It just ain't Christian! The Devil is laughing at all of y'all right now. He did his work, the "church folk" will do the rest.

The MILLION DOLLAR WEDDING

Second, ALOT of people are almost chortling with glee that this happened in light of Juanita's 1 MILLION DOLLAR wedding. Now y'all know I am "her royal cheapness." I could throw any of y'all a wedding for less than $1,000. It would be nice too. The reception would feature peanuts, mints and fraupe ( punch made out of sherbet and gingerale/7UP/sprite). Your cake would be done by Sam's Club ( do not sleep on the Sam's Club cake. they even give you cake stands). If you wanted to take it out to $1,500, We could offer some chicken nugget platters from Chic-Fil-A, my official party caterer ( don't sleep on the nugget platter. ) No need for plates or cutlery, some napkins and toothpicks would do just fine.

But let's address this million dollar wedding for a number of reasons. First, you don't have to wait until you get married to throw yourself a party. If Oprah had been the victim of a beat down, would we be talking about all of the lavish parties she threw for herself? No! So it isn't just that Juanita Bynum threw a big lavish wedding is it? It is almost as if we are saying that a Black woman shouldn't expect too much out of marriage. OF course he is crazy, of course y'all gone get a divorce, of course he'll cheat, of course he'll break his vows, why on earth would any woman be so audacious as to celebrate the start of what she thinks is going to be a wonderful life? How dare a woman be so outrageous as to throw herself a lavish celebration of finding what she had been praying to the Almighty for? I remember the day I got my bar results in the mail. Talk about catching the Holy Spirit, dancing and speaking in tongues. BWHAHA! I scared the crap out of my roommate.

National Gina Appreciation Day.
Each year I celebrate National Gina Appreciation Day otherwise known as my birthday. Now whenever I tell people about this important national holiday that they have never heard of, they laugh and then they ask when is it? But yes, I have thrown myself a birthday party before, in fact, I have already sent out the initial save the date e-mail to family and friends for National Gina Appreciation Day 2007: The Life, the Laughter, the Legend.

My birthdays were always a big deal growing up in a big family where everybody's birthday was a big production by my family's standards ( I inherited my cheapness). Because I was an itinerant child who was constantly in some kind of trouble, my birthday celebrations were always a barometer of how much my parents loved or didn't love me ( I didn't say that was reasonable, but remember I was a mere child). Even now I will get fidgety if the clock is headed towards 11:59PM and I still haven't heard for each one of my immediate family members on my big day. I'm still bitter about the year my Daddy stacked a bunch of OREO cookies in a pile and put a candle on top and said "happy birthday" I am still looking for my dayum cake!. Or who can forget the Christmas when I got a Nintendo 64 and I was so happy until my Daddy told me that I would have gotten the Nintendo on my birthday if I hadn't been so dayum bad around the time of my birthday! Don't feel bad for me, I bring that OREO party and that Christmas up about three times a year almost 20 years later. So yes, I have some "birthday" issues.

Anyway, on National Gina Appreciation Day, I pry open my normally tightly clamped pocketbook and go all out. This year's celebration will feature a pony(a stuffed one), the cake of my dreams ( Italian cream meets carrot cake meets Vanilla Wafer cake- ambitious but possible), several Chic-Fil-A nugget platters and a pinata. I will challenge my nephew to a game of pin the tail on the donkey and Twister. We'll play Taboo, and maybe this year I will splurge and have some fraupe. I will purchase my own gifts, pick my own menu and am currently considering whether to have a life-sized cut out of me wearing a tiara so that guests can take a picture with my likeness.

Now to some of you it may seem arrogant to throw my own celebration of me, I don't care haters! I ain't waiting till I get married ( or not) to throw myself a big ole party. Maybe some of y'all wedding-hungry folks should just put yourself out of your misery now and throw the wedding without the groom. Print up invitations, register at Target, hire a caterer and a band and celebrate you right now. Lord knows if you wait and throw yourself a big ole wedding, folks are going to be ticking off the minutes until you end up just like Juanita Bynum. In the moment of what may very well be the most humiliating and devastating betrayal of her life, having people throw the fact that she wanted to throw a big celebration on her wedding day back into her face as if she was too uppity for dreaming too big. Sisters be careful with jumping on the "her wedding was too big" bandwagon. If you have the money and ain't going into debt to do it, go all out now, and don't wait for the wedding!

So let's see what other bloggers are saying.

The Mo'Kelly Report, one of my faves is wondering why some of these male preachers aren't speaking out about domestic violence or wishing Juanita well publicly I commented on his blog that maybe they are honoring her wish to keep the matter "private" or maybe Bishop Weeks knows some of their dirty laundry and they fear him putting them and THEIR domestic situations on blast. Mo' ain't buying it. It is a hilarious post about what Mo would do if he saw his pastor laying hands on his wife int he church parking lot.

Sugar N Spice speculates on whether Juanita DID or SAID something to set Bishop Tommy "The Hit Man" Weeks off! The post is called Juanita Bynum Beat Down: More Lessons than She ever Taught. It borders on blaming the victim, but it is an interesting conversation about when to walk away from a confrontation. I am convinced that if he did all this, he didn't need a reason. He probably just saved his prior beating for behind closed doors. UPDATE: SUGAR REPLIES -

"Hey! Hey! Trust that I did not intend to imply that Ms. Bynum did anything to deserve the beating that her husband dished out. At all! I'm merely stating the obvious. He didn't just all of a sudden become crazy on that fateful night. She knew he was crazy from the offset and trying to meet in a public place to avoid another beat down is not a good strategy. She should have just left him and sent his butt the divorce papers....then, discussed it in court or in mediation." Sugar from Sugar N Spice.

The iPinions Journal is engaged in a full blown case of shadenfraude in a post called "Fall From Grace of Another Preacher" At least they cop to enjoying the fall out.

After all, as charisma goes, Weeks is to Hillary (Clinton) as Bynum is to Bill. But the analogy ends there. Because, in every other respect, all indications are that Bynum was utterly devoted to and supportive of Weeks. Unfortunately, she could not help the way her inspiring holistic message overshadowed his pedestrian evangelistic hucksterism.

Can you say DAYUM? and yes, iPinions goes into the rumblings I has mentioned in an earlier post.

The Religion News Blog is Reporting that Tommy "The Hit Man" Weeks is blaming de ebil Devil for making him beat the crap out of his wife. You HAVE to read the reactions from the "church folk" attending the service yesterday. Now need I remind them that even Jesus had to roll up in the temple acting up and turning over tables to throw the money changers out of the temple ( I wasn't kidding about my Mama being a Sunday School teacher... Can you imagine having me as a student? BWHAHA!) What does the Good Book say.... Instead of cheering and applauding, y'all shoulda been turning over some offering plates yesterday SHEEPLE!

Halima over at the Black Women's IR Circle ( yeah, I'm linking to it SUE ME and call me names members of the Anti-Black Women's Bloggers Cabal who target all who dare to link to certain blogs by Black women( you know who you are. Your secret is out!)) Folks y'all think I am radical. Go read her thoughts on these "church folk" taking the Good Bishop back into their bosom, our obsession with marriage and relationships with men in general.

Princess Dominique has several posts on Juanita Bynum, but she has a breakdown about the details of that wedding that is on everybody's lips.

At Office Stuffer, there is even a post on what the Juanita Bynum Attack can teach office workers. Everybody is getting in on this thing. It is an interesting read. Going to work is dangerous! DAYUM! I'm glad I have today off.

Even folks in Japan are talking about Juanita. The Rising Son of Nihon give a potential take from a Japanese perspective.

Aisha Music, goes into TMZ's idiotic ( as usual) reporting of the Bynum incident. I ain't linking to TMZ, but you can read Aisha's take. TMZ went all over the line and made this seem like it was something from a Saturday Night Live Sketch. No, TMZ that was a real life Black woman that got brutalized by her devoted spouse in a parking lot.

What About Our Daughters? Guest Contributor, Content Black Woman, is breaking it down over at Why Black Women Are Angry. She is the first to report that Bishop Eddie Long has broken the embargo of silence from Black male preachers and addressed Bynum's attack in his Sunday service. Content also Talks about what all this may mean to some babes in Christ who are trying to make sense of the foolishness. For those of you who are not connoisseurs of Christian entertainment, you may not know that another well-known female televangelist, Paula White announced that she and her husband Randy are separating. Now I don't think this is a coincidence that Paula and Randy announced this during the Bynum fallout, but Content breaks down about folks who may be confused about what has happened to Juanita and Paula's marriages. It is a really food post about gender dynamics in the church. On Saturday, she predicted what would be said in pulpits around America about Juanita and Paula in a post called Easy Like Sunday.

HAS YouTube Pulled Your Bynum or Weeks Clips?? FIGHT BACK!

FIGHT 'EM on it. Contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Juanita Bynum and her husband are public figures. Video related to sermons they may have preached or even portions of other preachers commenting on the Bynum incident in a public place ( IE THE PULPIT THIS PAST SUNDAY) Probably fall within the realm of what is called "fair use."

If YouTube pulled your clip, you can respond and try to have it put back up. TBN, Eddie Long, Juanita and Tommy "The Hit Man" Weeks may control their churches, but on the internet nobody can muzzle a story. You should have known the "church folk" would be trying to keep stuff under the wraps. Give it up already! What is done in the dark will surely come to light.

Whether you are quoting someone on your blog, inserting clips of CNN into your own video news report, or using a song sample in a musical parody, your free speech often depends on incorporating and referencing other people's creations as part of your own. The courts call this "fair use", and strong legal precedents exist to protect the limited use of copyrighted material in your work when you do so for expressive purposes.

Unfortunately, copyright owners often object to these uses, and may look for ways to take them offline via the legal system. A copyright cease-and-desist letter to your webhost or ISP may be all it takes to make your online speech disappear from the Internet — even when the legal claims are transparently bogus. Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Do these church folk really want to start a "holy war" with bloggers? Trying to hide your dirt, just makes it worse. I actually was going to stop posting about Juanita Bynum today, but this campaign to erase YouTube clips is noteworthy and affects us all. Somebody had better start saving these clips to hard drives before they are all gone. There is definitely an organized campaign at work to hide video. SMH?

8 Stages of Genocide.... Sisters Which One Are We On? (This OUGHT to Scare Black Women)

Okay, we had our diversion for the day, let us get back to business.

For genocide and crimes against humanity to occur, the dehumanization of the potential victims must first take place. Perpetrators of such crimes often use art as a tool to help them accomplish their goals. Indeed, without the intense propagandistic effort of the National Socialists to demonize Jews, Africans, Roma, the ill, and others they deemed "undesirable," the genocidal intentions of Hitler and the Nazi party may not have been realized. SOURCE

I am often criticized for focusing on popular culture and mass media. " Aren't there more important things to do than worry about Rappers?" Each time one of these people say this to me I think " This fool is completely ignorant of human nature and human history."

It is no JOKING matter anytime you use instruments of mass media to target an identifiable group of people for dehumanization. I have been working on my first book, Defunding the War on Black Women, and in doing the research, some of the things that are happening to Black women have already happened to other groups in the past.

I found this site that lists the 8 Stages of Genocide and the similarities are frightening. Read it and tell me we have not made it to at least Stage 3 and hell Dunbar Village looks like Stage 4 to me.

SO when I say Defund the War on Black Women, I ain't joking. This isn't funny at all. Don't let other people convince you that the systematic dehumanization of Black women in popular is no big deal. Don't let them convince you that there are more important things to worry about when we have major African American publications referring to Black women who are the victims of horrific crimes as "hookers." What is more important than the survival of future generations of Black women and girls? And yes, there are some fates worse than death.

Let that Marinate! Speak on it.

Open Weekend Thread: They Don't Call Her A Prophetess for Nothing-Access Your Power

Y'all know I am a devout member of Bedside Baptist Church where our Pastor is the Honorable Rev. Dr. A. Larm Clock, Sr., but I was going through YouTube to look at the Juanita Bynum clips and I came across this one and I was like "man, she was talking to us." She ain't perfect, but the message is powerful. "You can't make the right decisions when you are a slave to your emotions" Whew don't I know it. I'm working on that though. Have y'all noticed any improvement? See how calm I was about the little wrinkle that popped up this week? Cool as a cucumber (comparatively speaking). She goes off on a tangent at minute number 4, but the first four are good. Don't be a dreamer folks!

"This is the hour that you have to get it right and get it right now."

I'm taking the weekend off. The guest columnists will moderate the comments. Enjoy. I have to finish this book y'all. We ain't got time to wait.

Y'all pray for Juanita Bynum..... oh yeah and Bishop Weeks too ( I guess).

"He is extremely sad over the events that have taken place," said Edward Garland, another attorney representing Weeks. "I think there is hope on his part that the relationship can get past these difficult moments. (SOURCE)

Um, Nah, just her. "These difficult moments"?? WTH? Choking punching and kicking YOUR WIFE is not a difficult moment. I swear to goodness if they have some kind of reconciliation testimony.......... Let that marinate and then Speak on it!

Thank You State Farm, New Balance, and Walt Disney for Caring About OUR Daughters!

A commentator pointed out that we need to thank these powerful advertisers for smacking some sense into the folks over at XXLmag.com who thought it would be cute and funny to refer to the victim of the Dunbar Village gang rape as "some hooker down in Florida." Now when we called and e-mailed XXL and Harris Publications, they scoffed at us, actually, they ignored us completely. I was still in shock that they would stoop so low. I am still coming to terms with the fact that there are powerful media organizations filled with men and women who hate and despise Black women. I know I know. some of you came to that realization years ago, but I, like many African American women always thought in terms of hatred being directed at us in purely racial terms. It is like a new awakening to realize that there are people within my community who hate women and get to further their agenda through mass media and they are getting rich off of their hatred. BECAUSE WE LET THEM

The truth is that a lot of folks are getting away with their hatred of women because they are Black so no one calls them on it.

Now we can also blame advertisers for being lazy with their brand and oversimplifying the African American community by thinking that if they aim at a "Black" publication or TELEVISION NETWORK that they are a) reaching African Americans and b) those media executives aren't doing anything to offend the advertiser's target audience.

Well they are wrong on both accounts. I don't know what malarky some of these "multicultural" ad agencies are selling these huge corporations, but FYI, I think they are wasting alot of their ad dollars and aren't reaching their target audience. I think they are satisfying some sense of guilt about not providing ad dollars to Black media companies, so they open their check books so Black Enterprise can give them a good "diversity" rating, but they don't hold these Black media companies to the same standards when it comes to discrimination, degredation and outright hate speech.

But today all of you who called New Balance, State Farm, and Disney, need to call or write back and thank them for intervening on our behalf. Should they have been more careful in the first place, yes, but unlike our own people who ignored us ( you know I am going to stop using the term "my people"- cause some of these folk ain't!), these advertisers took immediate action and they should be applauded for it. Now not only is the offending column gone but so are the other that did such things as applaud the beating of Black women

The sad truth is that Black women's greatest allies in fighting back in the War on Black Women will not be civil rights organizations or women's groups, or even Black "leaders." It looks like our greatest allies are going to be advertisers so lets try to cultivate good relations with these folk, we don't only want to contact them to complain and we would much rather be able to jot over an FYI e-mail than put them on blast. I don't care how we DEFUND the War on Black Women as long as it gets done.

Those of you who have been with us from the beginning know that we are learning as we go. Some strategies work more effectively than others, but we're 3 and 0 when it comes to contacting advertisers. Every time we do, something happens and it happens FAST.

Tell these folks Thank You and send some snail mail to the CEOs while you are at it.
STOP FUNDING FOOLISHNESS!

Juanita Bynum Attacked By Husband ( Severely!)

Say it ain't so. I had heard rumblings of trouble and I have some issues with the Prophetess, but I will never forget "No More Sheets," every Black woman, heck every woman, ought to have that DVD. I ain't gone say anything untoward, right now. Just send up a prayer for her. Sisters you KNOW she had some warning signs. Trust your instincts..... and then go get a CHL. The lord helps those who help themselves. These "preachers" I tell ya'. You have got to watch 'em. What is even more fascinating is the response from "church folk."

I know my "work" is skewing my perspective, but DAYUM! It feels like open season on us. I would like to take a moment out to send Kudos to the bellhop, for intervening and coming to this woman's aid when the man who was supposed to love, honor and cherish her brutally attacked her. Let that marinate! Speak on it.

If you have never heard of the Prophetess, and yes she has her critics ( I can be one on occasion), here is a clip of her during happier times. I don't know of a more charismatic female public speaker. YouTube has a sampling of her work, but here is one of my favorites. She is counseling a couple at a conference. Hilarious!

And one of her more memorable clips to a survivor of a sexual assault. Really, they gave Iyanla a TV show, but Iyanla doesn't have anything on Juanita when she is ON.

Even though I have "issues" with "church folk" and am a devout member of Bedside Baptist Church, led by Pastor A. Larm Clock, Sr., there is still nothing more entertaining than TBN when Juanita Bynum is hosting "Praise The Lord" I am going to be watching the listings for her next appearance. That testimony is going to be Must See TV. Please. PLEASE.

WARNING: Do not leave proselytizing comments. Don't leave comments about my church attendance of late, I put in 18 years of going to church Sunday through Monday, I've earned plenty of comp time. Trust that I can go toe to toe with you. Nobody knows "church folk" better than moi. Besides, my Mama is already on the case.

Power Speaks to Power. It's Time Black Women Reclaimed Ours-New Balance, Disney, State Farm Weigh IN

"We have this image of the civil rights movement being very spiritual,
very nonviolent,"which bears little resemblance to what actually happened. We tell each other the stories we want to hear." As an example, Tyson cited recent obituaries about civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks that credited her "tired feet" as the reason she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, not that she was a trained civil rights worker who also worked with the NAACP.

"We just want to hear about a tired old lady," Tyson said. "We want the whole thing to be resolved in 22 minutes plus commercials ... a kind of 'just add water' redemption story."(SOURCE)

My critics, and there are many, would like to make this all about some crazy angry Black lady on the internet. If you're not angry too, then you haven't been paying attention. SO I wear the label of "ANGRY BLACK WOMAN" as a badge of honor.

To the extent that the boo birds believe that, great, all the better to have the enemies of Black women underestimate the gathering storm about to be unleashed on them. Not by me, but by every Black woman and the men who love and care about them who are beginning to realize that we aren't so helpless to the whims of the Entertainment Industrial Complex and its stepchildren the Misogyny Industrial Complex and the Hip Hop Industrial Complex. The folks that have commoditiezed the denigration of Black women and sold it to the masses with the subsidies of corporate America.

Will we be able to cut off all of the money? Nope, there will always be people who want to pay for vile disgusting garbage. Look at the porn industry. What we can do is drive it from the mainstream by reminding corporations that Black women are in the majority. We lead the majority of the households in this country and are the gatekeepers of what comes into Black households. If we don't control the pocketbook, chances are we have great influence over those that do and it is time for us to stop being coy about that.

Coy? yes coy. This has been staring us in the face for at least a decade, but nobody wanted to mention it unless it was in the context of a magazine article talking about how horrible it is that Black women outnumber Black men. We have to be the only group of people for whom being in the majority is a bad thing. To hear Essence magazine tell it, due to our majority status, we are all going to die old, childless, alone to be eaten by nine cats.

For whatever reason, our parent's generation stood by while folks got rich while offering Black women and girls up as sacrificial lambs. When challenged on it, they ran for cover behind the First Amendment,"society" and their old whipping boy, "poverty." I suspect that in an effort to maintain "UNITY," our parent's generation decided that chucking Black girls and women over the side of the boat was a noble sacrifice so that urban entrepreneurs could get rich.

What has that sacrifice gotten us? 70% of us are single. A slave child had a greater chance of growing up with a Father than a child born in 2007. HIV AIDS is one of the leading killers of Black women. IF we get cancer, we're more likely to die from it, and the rate of violence against black women is astounding.

It is time to stop playing with these people and start exercising the Power of the Purse.

What do we have to lose? They already are calling us angry-black-man-hating-feminazi-bitches ( at least that is what I get in the inbox) for standing up and asking politely to cease the foolishness.

What do we have to lose? We're being ravaged by HIV-AIDS, Violence, disparate health care, and a propaganda machine that says that we are nothing more than the sum of our parts which can jiggle and shake and rub all over some man.

Today, once again, you got a small glimpse of our power as Black women. Accounting for the fact that offices on the East coast start humming at around 9:00AM, it took 4 hours to stop the foolishness over at XXL.com once advertisers got involved. It took about 8 hours to get the ads off of the website of THAT NETWORK promoting THAT SHOW so we are improving. On yesterday, when we asked politely that they consider not calling the Dunbar Village gang rape victim "some hooker down in Florida." They ignored us. Then all of a sudden a couple of Big Corporations get on the phone to their ad agencies and viola *poof* the post and others promoting such things ads beating Black women are gone too.

People like to say "spiritual" things like "speak truth to power." Well that sounds all well and good, but the TRUTH is that "POWER speaks to POWER". As Black women and the men who love and care for us, begin to exercise their power as consumers to demand that these big corporations stop funding foolishness. In other words... WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THIS CRAP.

If a group of greedy executives and street hustlers combined with the apathy of our parent's generation was able to create this mess, a group of determined, ticked off folks can clean it up. Count on the the hateration to begin spewing they'll say things like, "there are more important things to do." or " You can't win, why bother?" or "Y'all trying to keep a brother down." Don't you think Black folks was calling Rosa Parks a trouble maker back in the day. Don't you think folks cast shade on Dr. King? You don't think a bunch of Black folks were sitting at home watching the March on Washington calling the marchers crazy? And just you wait. Let us have a few more sucesses and then you'll hear calls for the "Big U" - "Let's meet." " Let's touch and agree." because lord knows that the world will crumble into tiny pieces if Black people had a public disagreement!

Black Women and Girls Not Newsworthy? Change Their Minds
We don't need middle men or ambulance chasing preachers. We just need to find the money and shut it down. Tired of Television networks acting as if Black women aren't raped, kidnapped and murdered? Fine, pick one and then systematically call each and every advertiser asking them about the editorial decisions of these 24 hour news channels that can't manage to find 2:40 to talk about the fact that the State of Florida has 6 violent gang rapists running around on the loose and the Governor and Mayor don't give a rip. If we can't rely on the good intentions of the editorial decision-makers at these news channels, then correct this lapse with policy. They've decided that Black women and girls aren't newsworthy, see if messing with their paper changes their minds?

We have too much Money to be begging anybody for anything. Ignore us at your own risk. So here is what went down today.

Y'all have a sense of deja vu? Less than 8 hours and the offending article is gone and to my knowledge. New Balance and State Farm have both pulled their ads from XXL.com. We didn't need Rev. Al or Jesse or the NAACP NAARCP( National Association for the Advancement of Rich Colored People.)
New Balance Statement

"Through a Google Network advertising buy for our NB Zip launch earlier
this month, our online banners rotated through the XXL Magazine website as
well as many other sports and entertainment category websites. We
immediately suspended the Google Network buy this morning when we were made
aware of the situation. We take our mission of corporate social
responsibility seriously."

Amy Vreeland
Corporate Communications Manager

State Farm didn't send an official statements, but I got e-mails from them.

[T]hey are working to pull our ads.It isn't our intention to offend with our advertising, so I appreciate your brining this to our attention.
Kristin

DISNEY WEIGHS IN:

Thank you for your letter about the ad for "Lincoln Heights" on XXLmag.com.
> We are pulling it from that website.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Annie Fort
> VP, Media Relations
> ABC Family

I can't even find Byron/ Boil's old articles where he did such things as extol the virtues of beating Black women. But the column where XXL.com referred to the Dunbar Village gang rape victim as "some hooker down in Florida" can't be found, but I am sure it is still lurking around there somewhere. Oh yeah, I forgot. We got a screen capture so it is around for future use if that woman wants to sue Harris Publications for libel per se.

Here is the XXL.com columnist's explanation for calling her "some hooker down in Florida."
Bol Says:

August 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I can’t read any of your posts anymore. Please explain to your readers why you would go out of your way to degrade the two rape victims in Florida? Seriously, why?
Man, if I knew that was all it would take, I would’ve done that shit a long time ago!
And since you asked, the truth of the matter is that I didn’t read up on the rape case. I just saw it mentioned on her site.
Any time I see “gang rape,” my mind immediately goes to “group sex gone awry.” The thing is, I’m pretty sure that usually is the case.

WOW. Just. WOW. Yet, they give this guy a column to spew his hatred. SO the question is this... Are we going to continue to let these fools put burning crosses on our front lawns, or are we going to exercise our POWER to rip it out of the ground and throw it back at them.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson


Don't I know it.Stop Funding Foolishness!

Black Women, That Burning Cross on Your Front Lawn Was Brought to You By .......Corporate America

New details in the Dunbar Village gang rape come out in court. You thought it couldn't get worse? The attackers were looking for a lighter to set the mother and son on fire. They couldn't find one.

I grew up in east Texas. I didn’t grow up reading about hatred. I lived it. I grew up surrounded by “sunset towns“. For those of you not from my neck of the woods, a “sunset town” is one you don’t let the sun set with you still in it if you are Black. They even had signs instructing Black folks when they needed to be gone except they did not call you “Black”. I drove through them and had to compete in sports on the playing fields of these sunset towns. Even today, if I have to roll through one, I make sure I am well below the speed limit and throw up a silent prayer that I don’t get a flat until I get across the bridge.

So as you can imagine, I got a very early introduction to the concept that there are people out there who will beat and kill me just because I am Black. Our mere existence offends them. I was about 12 years-old when Loyal Garner Jr., died down the road in Hemphill, TX. He managed to beat himself to death in a jail cell according to the grand jury. Yeah he managed to beat himself so badly according to my Aunt at the time ”they beat him so badly his brain was coming out of his head .” Every time I drive through Hemphill, my head hurts thinking about it.

On Christmas Day, 1987, Loyal Garner Jr., a black truck driver and father of six, was pulled over by a white police chief and jailed without charge in Hemphill, a small town in east Texas. Two days later Garner, who had never been arrested before, died in a nearby hospital from massive head injuries. Garner was bludgeoned with a blackjack for asking permission to call his wife. (SOURCE)

Up the road in another direction is Jasper, TX, where James Byrd was murdered.

Even though you know that there are people out there that hate you. It is always somewhat jarring to see that hatred displayed in a tangible way but for some reason when the hatred comes from a White person, we stand up and take arms, but when that hatred comes from another Black person, we write it off.

And so I bring you the story of another Black man who died near me in east Texas. His name was Bill Simpson.

In 1993, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development got it into their heads that they were going to desegregate one of these “sunset towns” by moving Black people into public housing projects. That went over real well. Klan members and neo nazis from all over the country rolled into town. This was the 90’s not the 60’s

Bill Simpson was one of the first Black people to move into Vidor, TX under this plan, his name will probably stay with me for the rest of my life as it still does almost 15 years later. You see Bill Simpson was a local celebrity because he was one of the Black folks crazy enough to be willing to move into Vidor. He was very memorable. He was a bear of a man. He was 7 feet and 300 pounds. For six months he endured the Klan, the taunts and the threats on his life and the harassment of the sunset town, then he left and went back to a nearby town that at the time was 38% Black.

Bill Simpson, who in March became the second black person to move to Vidor in recent times, is also leaving. "It's gotten to the point where my nerves have been on edge," said Mr. Simpson, who at 7 feet and 300 pounds, has never been physically threatened but is tired of the harassment. "I don't want to worry who's going to do something and what they're going to do, when it's going to happen, where it's going to happen." (SOURCE)

USA TODAY has more about the failed attempt at desegregation.

Cry for help. Simpson later submitted an affidavit to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development claiming that a neighbor named Edith Marie Johnson regularly hurled obscenities, racial taunts and threats at him. She pleaded guilty in April to a charge that she had slurred Simpson and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service. Simpson also wrote that he had "been called 'nigger' by people in Vidor more times than I can count." And in a letter to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, he declared: "I must raise my voice in a cry for help. ... I fear for my own life and well-being." His only black neighbors, Brenda Lanus and Alexis Selders, were challenged by some local whites, and a group of teenagers paraded through the project screaming, "Get those niggers." Soon enough, all the blacks moved out. (SOURCE)

Hours after Bill Simpson left Vidor, TX, he was dead. He was shot while walking on the street in his old neighborhood. Some African American gang members asked him for a quarter ( as was their practice back then) . When Bill Simpson said he didn’t have one, they shot him in cold blood. HOURS LATER!

Is he any less dead because his killers look like us instead of a White person? Does the burning cross sitting in your front lawn burn brighter because a White person stuck it there?

So how is a burning cross in the front lawn any different than a magazine which delights in the fact that it’s columnists openly proclaim that they “Hate Black Women.” They are both tangible manifestations of hatred.

The difference is that when a Black magazine puts on a tangible display of hatred, it does so with the help of corporate sponsors like New Balance Shoes. New Balance is currently sponsoring a magazine website whose columnist called the victim of the Dunbar Village gang rape “some hooker down in Florida.” This statement comes from a columnist whose claim to fame is that he hates Black women. Would they get away with saying that they hate White, Hispanic or Asian women or men for that matter?

Mind you that New Balance says that they value “Responsible Corporate Leadership”

Would New Balance be able to get away with sponsoring a hate rally or cross burning? Um No. So why are they getting away with sponsoring a website that delights in declaring that it hates Black women?

Because we let them get away with funding this foolishness. So what are we going to do about it? This contact information is thanks to Symphony over at Essential Presence.

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
Tel: 800-253-7463
Online Contact
Or the corporate Communications Manager amy.vreeland@newbalance.com

*Entourage Soundtrack
HBO and Atlantic Records are owned by Time Warner
Time Warner Inc Headquarters (NY)
212.484.8000

Edward Adler
Executive Vice President
Corporate Communications
(212) 484-6630 (direct line)
Edward.adler@timewarner.com

Keith Cocozza
Executive Director
Corporate Communications
Keith.cocozza@timewarner.com

Richard Plepler
Executive Vice President
Phone 212.512.1960

Quentin Schaffer
Senior Vice President
HBO, Corporate Communications
Phone 212.512.1329


*Ad for ABC Family's Lincoln Heights.
ABC and all its subsidiaries are owned by Walt Disney Company
Disney/ ABC
ABC (818) 569-7500 Mon-Fri (8am-6pm)

Disney CEO/President Robert A. Iger
Email: robert.a.iger@disney.com

Zenia Mucha
Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications, The Walt Disney Company
Zenia.mucha@disney.com
(818) 560-5300

Kevin Brockman
Senior Vice President, Communications, Disney-ABC Television Group
Asst. David Johnson
PHONE: (818) 460-6655

Hope Hartman
Vice President, Media Relations, ABC Entertainment
Assistant: Edwin Escobar
PHONE: (818) 460-6360
Hope.C.Hartman@abc.com


*Ziploc
SC Johnson
Phone: 1.800.494.4855
Online Contact

Media Contact: Nancy Van Dis
262-260-3620
NMVanDis@scj.com

Media Contact: Petrell Ozbay
262-260-2114
PMozbay@scj.com

How long are Black women going to allow corporate sponsorship of the burning crosses sitting in our front yards?

XXL Magazine calls Dunbar Village Victim "some hooker down in Florida"

UPDATE: More gruesome details regarding the Dunbar Village gang rape came out in court today. Read more here. and six of these bastards are still running around.

Welcome XXL Readers Despite the fact that our efforts related to THAT SHOW haven't been posted about on this blog for almost a month and we've moved on from a certain D-List comedian. Folks are still writing about it and apparently they have been on vacation since May or something. Now, in an effort to attack me and this blog (like I care), this XXL writer has called the Dunbar Village victim a "Hooker"

She’s also been involved with the protests against rap music that have stemmed from the Don Imus incident as well as the protests against the comedian DL Hughley, who had the sheer balls to suggest that the Rutgers University women’s basketball team were some of the ugliest women he’d ever seen in his life. That fucking racist. Based on a cursory perusal of her blog, it looks her latest mission involves protesting media outlets that haven’t devoted enough coverage to the gang rape of a black woman by about 20 black men somewhere down in Florida.

I don’t know about the rest of you fruits, but I hope she’s successful in this effort. Raping a woman is just wrong, and I thought she brought up a good point in comparing the media coverage of this incident to the coverage of the execution-style killings of four college students in New Jersey. What’s worse, that some hooker down in Florida is out $300, or that four college students in New Jersey are no longer living? If you answered the latter, I wonder about your solidarity with the black race (read a black woman’s ego). (SOURCE)

First, I never compared the media coverage of the Newark murders to the media coverage of Dunbar Village. I applauded the actions of Mayor Corey Booker and Governor James Corzine when compared to West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel and Governor Charlie Crist. I was just as saddened and horrified and have talked about the lack of attention by civil rights organization to violent crimes against Black people.

Second, hate on me all you want, but this woman in Dunbar Village was not a hooker. She was a 35 year old single mother who was selling Avon and delivering phone books to pay the rent when ten Black males invaded her home and gang raped her for three hours and beat her son. While the mother and son were screaming, her neighbors didn't bother to call the police. The attackers forced this mother to perform oral sex on her 12 year-old son and then poured cleaning solution on them as they laid naked in the tub, blinding the son and burning the mother's skin. This woman was not a hooker and you are going to BURN IN HELL for referring to her as one in an attempt to attack me. You can read about this horrible crime here. Yeah, they really hate us that they can't have compassion for what happened to this woman.

Again, I have never called for an apology from DL. I haven't tried to shut down any of his shows. All I have ever said is that I respectfully disagree and that his First Amendment defense of his foolishness.

I will not apologize for standing up and saying that the days of using African American women as sacrificial lambs should be over. This isn't about censorship, this is about a) pushing back against images and messages that have gone unchallenged for too long and b) refusing to subsidize things that demean and degrade Black women.

DL and his Hip Hop brethren have the right to say whatever vile and disgusting things they want, I just don't want to have to pay for it by purchasing the goos and services of companies who do.

I don't even have the heart today to respond to the fact that this bastard called the Dunbar Village victim a "hooker." Wow. I thought folks were exaggerating and being melodramatic, but some folks REALLY have an enduring hatred of Black women. It is just always shocking to see it in print.

I don’t expect Harris Publications(Phone: 212-807-7100), publisher of XXL to be compassionate or be a good corporate citizen or not hate and despise Black women, their business model does not allow it, but they could at least try to be accurate about a vicious hate crime.

All I ask is that their editors review the known facts related to the Dunbar Village gang rape and determine whether it is appropriate for one of their columnists to refer to this 35 year-old single mother who was raped and sodomized for three hours by ten men and boys while they beat her child and later forced her to perform a sex act on her 12 year old son as “some hooker down in Florida.”

Essential Presence Blog Holding Government Officials in Florida Accountable for Dunbar Village

Go over to Essential Presence to keep up with her first hand accounts of the foolishness that is the local and state government involved with Dunbar Village, the site of a horrific gang rape. This crime was predictable. HUD even had surveys indicating that the residents, the vast majority felt unsafe for years. Mayor Lois Frankel has the audacity to try to lead a conference on municipal government and she can't run her own city and prevent anarchy.

Symphony over at Essential Presence has actually been talking with local officials. Check it out. This isn't going away.

the De-Thuggification of the American Mainstream- "Keeping it Real", "Stop Snitching", and Black WOmen Could Learn Alot from PETA

(source). Folks, this stuff ain't cute anymore. So you folks in Philly need to get your placards together and roll on over to Miller Dodge. Pimps are sex traffickers and abusers of women and girls. Why would Daimler Chrysler let their products be associated with this foolishness. We let this mess happen..... But on to the post.

Is our long national nightmare over? Are we watching the De-Thuggification of the American Mainstream? A girl can dream can’t she?

Folks, the “keeping it real” invitation issued by the NBA and the NFL has officially been rescinded. You can expect more clamping down from these behemoths dominated by rich folks who, unlike Black America, aren’t willing to let “thug culture” take them down with it. The NFL and NBA no longer want to be “down” and all those grown men who play a game for a living had better get a clue really soon. “keeping it real” has gotten REALLY OLD. If you don’t get a reality check real fast, you might end up real broke!

“No Snitching” - Apparently Vick’s Boys Didn’t Get the Memo
First, we’ve seen clear evidence that the “STOP SNITCHING” phenomenon can be crushed like a bug if prosecutors get creative. *POOF* went the “stop snitching” when every single one of Michael Vick‘s “boys” started talking. (Looking at you Carmelo Anthony) It wasn’t the dog fighting charges that got Vick to cop a plea, it was the imminent threat that they were going to throw in some RICO charges on top of what he was already facing and perhaps the idea that even after serving time in federal prison, he’ll still have some years left on his professional football career. Plus do you really want to sit through a trial where live witnesses are describing all the vicious way you could torture and kill our furry friends? Who the hell would cheer for you after what you did to Lassie and Old Yella. Ray Lewis could recover from being "involved" in a murder, but violating our family friends, what little kid with a pet at home is going to want to wear your jersey? Did I mention he might have to give back a $20 Million signing bonus if he get suspended form the league. OUCH. But We’re keeping it real. One year will do little to change his perspective. When he gets out somebody will want to sign him, if the NFL will let 'em.

As much money as hip hop culture might have brought in by expanding the audience, the NBA and NFL finally seem to have realized that Thug Culture and “keeping it real” ain’t the best image when you trying to sell expensive tickets and boxes to mainstream America. Being antisocial, anti authority, anti woman, pro pimp, pro prison, pro drugs, pro violence really ain’t marketable beyond those truly embracing the “lifestyle.” So stay tuned . You can expect the corn rows and the ubiquitous visible tattoos to go next once the folks with the endorsement deals decide they want to “go another way.” Hopefully someone will tap them on the shoulder and indicate that that might want to marry one of their Baby's Mamas as well ( Looking at you Labron)

“Keeping it Real” is messing with the NFL and the NBA’s paper and they ain’t having it. Maybe we should take a hint from them and start imposing more economic sanctions on folks acting a dayum fool. Shut our pocketbooks closed and WATCH what happens. Don’t worry about Michael Vick, his agent is already scripting his redemption story, I wonder if Vick will walk out of prison wearing a crocheted poncho a la Martha Stewart? It better not be made out of animal products or PETA is going to get at cha' boy again.

Believe you me, if “keeping it real” gets kicked out of professional sports, you can bet that “Keeping it real” could soon go the way of bell bottoms, high topped fades and Hammer pants. A girl can dream can’t she?

What Black Women Might Learn From People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Speaking of PETA, can they adopt us or something? The next time I get criticized for speaking in defense of Black women and girls I am going to ask, What Would PETA Do? You see PETA is unapologetic in it’s defense of animals. It doesn’t appear to worry about hurting carnivores’ feelings. Its not really concerned with charges of racism or worry about being divisive, it doesn’t back down and it is not afraid to act a fool if necessary.

They want to add clauses to the personal conduct policy of the NFL regarding animal cruelty. Um PETA, can y’all add a clause in there for women as well, our advocacy organizations are busy having brunches and conventions and throwing awards to honor themselves, they can’t really be bothered to think of something ingenious such as altering the contracts of all professional athletes to basically say that if you keep engaging in violent acts against God’s creatures off the field, we are going to gank yo’ check.

"PETA is again calling on the NFL to add cruelty to animals - in all its forms - to its personal conduct policy. This case has clearly shown that NFL fans are just as outraged by cruelty to animals as they are by any of the other anti-social behaviors outlined in the policy."(Source)

Viva la PETA! Sisters are y’all taking notes? Money talks. Stop Funding Foolishness!

National "End Mayor Lois Frankel's Foolishness" Day - Her performance in the Aftermath of Dunbar Village Way Past Poor

Read this timely editorial pointing out the vast differences in how two mayors and two governors reacted to different two brutal attacks; Newark and Dunbar Village. Then pick of the phone and call these folks. If you want to know what to ask the Governor of Florida, you can read this post, or go to this letter.

Contact: Governor Charlie Crist, 850-488-7146
Contact: Lois Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach. 561-822-7146

Lois Frankel, the Mayor of West Palm Beach has an agenda and that agenda is not helping the residents of Dunbar Village, the home of a vicious gang rape of a 35 year old Black woman and her 12 year old son culminating in the mother being forced to perform a sex act on her own child at gun point. They both screamed for 3 hours and not a single neighbor came to their aid or called 911. Two weeks later another African American woman was attacked outside in the open mere steps from her apartment less than a mile from Dunbar Village. Did I mention that the police in this case didn't bother to alert the media of the attack on the 42 year-old woman for two weeks while the six teens involved roamed free?

Immediately following the news reports of the Dunbar Village gang rape, the POLICE of West Palm Beach didn't notify the media to alert the public that ten gang rapists were roaming around, it was a scared neighbor at Dunbar Village that called. The Mayor didn't go on the air in an attempt to apprehend the 10 rapists. OH NO, because actually getting ten violent rapists off the street is just too boring for Lois Frankel. NO, she used the Dunbar Village gang rape to attack the federal government for turning down a $165,000 grant to the City of West Palm Beach. So instead of asking for assistance a la Corey Booker or most other Mayors faced with a group of dangerous criminals at large, Mayor Frankel decides to use her brief national platform to attack the feds for not giving her enough money and waging war in Iraq, now we can all fight about the War and spending and all that jazz, but with so many other critics and platforms speaking about THAT, wouldn't it have been a more judicious use of her platform to try to aid the victim, by highlighting the victim's assistance fund?

After the hideous gang rape and assault at Dunbar Village, Mayor Frankel appeared on CNN and blamed the Iraq expenditures for the problems at Dunbar Village. The conditions at Dunbar did not develop overnight. They took many years to take shape. Why has the public never heard from Mayor Frankel on the conditions at Dunbar during her term as mayor? (SOURCE)

Wouldn't it have been a good time to ask for assistance in hunting down the ten brutal rapists roaming West Palm Beach?

Folks this is what I would call the makings of a disturbing pattern. But you wouldn't know that based on the way the governmental leadership in Florida was behaving. Mind you ten people participated in the gang rape at Dunbar Village.... hmmm ten roaming rapists in one city, I would think that that would be cause for a big ole' press conference to warn residents. But alas, this is West Palm Beach, Florida and they have the misfortune of having Lois Frankel as their mayor.

Now I remind you that while Dunbar Village was descending into chaos, Mayor Frankel sunk $164 MILLION on building a state of the art office tower and filling it with fine furnishings.

Among other things, Mayor Lois Frankel will be remembered for her pet project, the $154 million City Center complex that will stand as a monument to bureaucrat furnishings and parking-garage design.(SOURCE)

This is during a period of time that she is lamenting that the federal government wasn't giving her $165,000 for a security guard. Perhaps as one editorial suggested, Mayor Frankel and the city leadership could have considered modest salary decreases to make sure that the residents of Dunbar Village didn't live in a self-described Hell on Earth. Read my take on Lois Frankel's lack of initiative and creativity in coming up with a measley $165,000 when in my own city, a local animal shelter managed to raise $200,000 in three weeks when the air conditioning went out in the middle of summer. All the money was raised through private donations.

Now that the federal government appears more than willing to hand over money to improve the lives of the people who live in that area of West Palm Beach, Florida:

With public pressure, it finally may be possible to win millions of dollars from the federal government or find city or private money to tear down the entire public housing project at once, city leaders said. After the rape, calls and e-mails from across the country came into the city, asking what was being done to help the victims.

"Dunbar Village is in the news, and people want to help, so maybe we can do it quicker," Mayor Lois Frankel said. "If we can figure out where to move 300 people, then we can do something quicker than a row at a time."(SOURCE)

However, this is Lois Frankel we are dealing with. Now, Lois Frankel is balking at paying to have the grant application prepared.

Will the city help the housing authority with $100,000 to hire a consultant and apply by November for a federal grant of more than $20''million to overhaul Dunbar? Mayor Frankel's open to "discussing" it, but, she said, it's "a lot of money."(SOURCE)

HUH?

"I have a deep, passionate belief that Dunbar Village should be razed and something much safer, more decent should be put in its place," Frankel said. But, she added, this crime could have happened anywhere. SOURCE

First you run around blaming the federal government for lack of funding, now they seem prepared to hand over tens of millions of dollars and you are too cheap to pay a consultant or lack the initiative to appeal to a professional to donate their time or ask the Governor to lend you a state grant writer for a month?See what more important items West Palm beach is spending their money on.

But let us get back to the original point, the apprehension of the all of the gang rapists, atleast a half dozen remain at large.

Frankel says she's had Dunbar on her radar ever since she took office in 2003 and applied for a $30 million grant to tear it down and build a mixed community with both public and work-force housing. The grant was turned down and then the program was cut, she said. SOURCE

That should scare the crap out of you if you. It was on her RADAR since 2003? Well how did all this crime happen?

Now mind you almost 650 calls to police came from Dunbar Village alone in one year. Tt was home to 15 murders and numerous assaults and property crimes, but even with this wonderful track record from law enforcement, Mayor Frankel says this:

Said Mayor Lois Frankel through a spokesman: "We have a great police force ... and we plan to keep it that way." (Source)

Oh really? a great police force for whom? Certainly not the residents of Dunbar Village.

In my sole interaction with Mayor Frankel after she allegedly fired the police spokesperson for the bad press she had recieved from the Dunbar Village case, she completely all my concerns other than making sure I knew the police spokesperson was fired due to budget cuts.

I said....

I recently saw an article that indicated that you fired Ted White
because of bad press your city received as a result of the Dunbar
Village gang rape. I also read that while those citizens in Dunbar
Village were living in Hell on Earth, you spearheaded the construction
of a 164 Million Dollar office building and parking garage, yet you
blame the federal government for a lack of funding to protect the
citizens of your city.

When do you plan to take responsibility for what happened on your
watch as Mayor of West Palm Beach and stop blaming others because you
elected to spend money on office furniture instead of human beings?

Mayor Frankel responded......

Pleased be informed that Mr. Ted White was not fired because of "bad" publicity. His position was cut from the city budget due to restrictions put on us by the state legislature. That decision was made prior to the awful crime at Dunbar Village.

LJF

You can e-mail her at lfrankel@wpb.org.

Mayor Frankel, this wasn't just an "awful crime", it was a hate crime, a crime against humanity, a crime that violated a sacred bond between a mother and child, a brutal vicious attack, during which the neighbors ignored 3 hours of screaming from both of the victims and then failed to render aid when the attack was over. Then to be swiftly followed by a very similar crime involving a gang attack on a 42-year old woman OUTSIDE in the open? At which point to do start to take seriously that you have a serious problem, worth of serious leadership?

Let's pause for a moment to consider the fact that there is a city in this country where gangs of teens have raped two middle-aged Black women within a mile of each other only weeks apart. Now due to the horrifying militaristic nature of the crimes, both because of the actual crimes committed, the ages and behavior of the assailants during and the community's response after, most sane political subdivisions would think "Perhaps we have a problem?"

Well apparently West Palm Beach, Florida isn't one of those political subdivisions. It is now time for the State of Florida and step in to protect the residents of West Palm Beach, Florida as their local elected leadership appears unwilling or unable to perform a fundamental function of local and state government, protect the public.

Charlie Crist needs to step in, Lois Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida. She is overwhelmed and under skilled to address the anarchy that ensued on her watch.

Please take time to contact the Governor and ask him to intervene in West Palm Beach, its poor Black residents are also citizens of the State of Florida. Read my letter to the Governor

Governor Crist's Office

(850) 488-7146