Happy Sunday, Everyone! We conclude this Sade Week with 2 of my favorites.
PEARLS
BY YOUR SIDE
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Black Girls Rock!
Flickr Photos
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Potus Takes Oath of Office
Flotus & Daughters at Great Wall of China
My Brothers Keeper
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AFRO PUFFS
Most Adorable Shoe Stealer
Six Little Babies
Fatherhood
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Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
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3Chics Action Alert
Lets Make It Happen
3 Chics Trio
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REALITY Blog Award
Recent Comments
Top Posts
Guard The Change
Vote 4 Democrats
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Go to the polls
President Barack Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama
Obama Love
Your Vote Matters
President Obama & Bo
The Obama Family
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Presidential hug
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https://twitter.com/JennLi123/status/505593135989542912/photo/1
When white friends don’t believe what blacks go through, they’re not friends
I am not delusional, so please don’t be incredulous
By Mary C. Curtis September 9
I still remember it perfectly, more than 10 years later. It’s terrifying to be stopped in your car and approached by first one and then two more white police officers with their hands resting on their holstered guns. I kept my hands in plain sight on the wheel while they inspected my license and registration. On second thought, I recall thinking during the 15-minute stop, perhaps the scruffy sweats and baseball cap that were perfect for my spin class weren’t the best choices when you’re African American and you’ve just bought a red car. (Why didn’t I pick the gray Camry?) I was given a written warning about running a stop sign that I’d actually stopped at, but I knew better than to argue.
“Forty-five percent of blacks say they have experienced racial discrimination by the police at some point in their lives; virtually no whites say they have,” according to a recent New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll. (I’m shocked the 45 percent figure isn’t higher, considering the stories African Americans tell each other all the time.) So when I share the trauma of that particular incident and so many like it – fraught interactions that may have involved a son (stopped driving a nice car in our nice neighborhood), nephew or friend – I expect, first of all, that I will be believed.
Yet whites are, frequently, disappointingly, incredulous. Very often a “friend’s” reaction that goes something like this: “I don’t think a police officer would stop anyone for no reason at all.” Or: “You must have done something suspicious.” Or my favorite: “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I am not some child coming home with some tall tale, and I am certainly not a delusional liar.
I don’t expect much. Just nodding and acknowledging my words would be enough. Instead, jumping in to explain what must have really happened before I can finish a sentence means that – whether you realize it or not – you’ve shattered an important bond and traveled the distance from friend to acquaintance. I smile, make a mental note, and change the subject, realizing that with this person, topics from now on will be limited to rating entrées at the latest neighborhood bistro or judging whether the new Scorsese film shows the master back in top form.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/09/09/when-white-friends-dont-believe-what-blacks-go-through-theyre-not-friends/
T&L comment on George and his fiance…hilarious.
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George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin at the Celebrity Fight Night in Italy Gala
Posted on September 12, 2014
They’re disgustingly perfect. Let’s find flaws and focus on them.
Hey, there’s a reason we call you Bitter Kittens. Now, let’s get to it. We want to hear some bitterness.
http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/09/george-clooney-and-amal-alamuddin-at-the-celebrity-fight-night-in-italy-gala/
Racial discrimination & resignation of Dr. Misee Harris – An Open Letter to media
Posted on Sep 12, 2014
(On Thursday, September 4, 2014, Dr. Misee Harris, best known to the media as the “Black Bachelorette” hopeful, was forced to resign from her dental practice where she was beloved by both staff and patients. The reason for her resignation was over a clash of ethics involving her outspoken social media support of the late Michael Brown and the unrest in Ferguson, MO.. Here is Misee’s recollection of yesterday’s disturbing events in her own words, as recorded by her partner, Emmy-winning producer, Chris Silber…)
On Thursday, September 4th, Dr. Misee Harris (the Black Bachelorette) was called into an unannounced meeting at the dental practice where she has worked as a Pediatric Dentist and was recently offered a partnership in the practice. Dr. Harris, the sole African American dentist in the practice, has worked tirelessly with underprivileged young patients on Medicaid to ensure their smiles remain healthy, and the quality of Dr. Harris’s work has never been called into question. Once in the meeting, Dr. Harris was ambushed and presented with screenshots from her private Facebook page. Being that Misee had blocked work colleagues from accessing her account, it was explained to Misee that a doctor who is a partner at the office, and who led the meeting, had been having a friend spy on Misee’s Facebook page. Screenshots were taken of Misee’s Facebook posts and were sent to the doctor who led the meeting. Misee was then told that some of her Facebook posts about recent racial issues in America were “unprofessional.” The biggest bone of contention to the partners was a cartoon (see graphic below) related to the recent police murders of several innocent African-Americans across the nation. The partner held up the picture and asked Misee “Do you think we (meaning Misee’s white colleagues) are all like this?”
Dr. Misee Harris composed herself and asked the partner if she had any idea what was going on in black America, namely regarding the murder of Michael Brown. The partner did not know the name Mike Brown, nor did she seem to understand Misee’s outrage at being attacked for her personal views. Dr. Harris’s racial discrimination concerns voiced on her personal and private Facebook page was meant solely for the eyes of her friends and family whom Misee thought she could trust. Misee was then told flat out that she would have to choose between her “style of social media communication” and her job as a pediatric dentist in their practice.
Misee felt unable to continue working under such conditions and decided to quit the dental practice on the spot, much to the dismay of her bosses. They assumed Misee would simply promise to stop voicing her opinions on social media about racial injustice. In a nutshell, Dr. Misee Harris feels she has been discriminated against as the sole African-American member of her now former dental practice. Dr. Harris believes she has been pushed out of her job for simply being a black woman in America.
“It is as though the partners at my former dental practice believe that a black person who has made it to success in a white-dominated field like dentistry is expected to show gratitude and humility, and to ‘act white,’” expresses a devastated Dr. Harris.
http://blackgirlnerds.com/racial-discrimination-resignation-dr-misee-harris-open-letter-media/
https://twitter.com/Fabulousity89/status/511283730384953344/photo/1
Man’s family disputes police version of shooting
Sep. 14, 2014 5:29 PM EDT
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (AP) — The family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police in Utah is disputing investigators’ statements that he was shot after he lunged at officers with a sword and that race played no role in the shooting.
Randall Edwards, an attorney for the family of Darrien Hunt, said an independent autopsy requested by the family shows Hunt was shot “numerous times, all from the rear” in Saratoga Springs, about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City.
“This is consistent with statements made by witnesses on the scene, who report that Darrien was shot to death while running away from police,” Edwards said in a statement released Saturday night. “It would appear difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile these facts with a story that Darrien was lunging toward the officers when he was shot.”
Police say they were called Wednesday morning to investigate a “suspicious” man walking near businesses while carrying a “samurai-type sword.”
Utah County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Taylor did not immediately return phone calls Sunday.
But Taylor, in a brief statement issued Saturday, said: “When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot. There is currently no indication that race played any role in the confrontation between Mr. Hunt and the police officers.”
Hunt’s mother, Susan Hunt, told the Deseret News she believes her son would not have been shot had he been white. She is white and his father is black.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/mans-family-disputes-police-version-shooting
https://twitter.com/KennettDems/status/507126689122770944/photo/1
https://twitter.com/BEAUTIFULPlCS/status/511229205007564800/photo/1
https://twitter.com/DRMAction/status/511279193343410176/photo/1
Box Office: ‘No Good Deed’ Tops ‘Dolphin Tale 2′ With $24.5 Million
7 hours ago | Variety – Film News | See recent Variety – Film News news »
“No Good Deed” topped the box office this weekend and helped reinvigorate a floundering domestic movie business.
The Sony/Screen Gems thriller took in $24.5 million from 2,175 theaters, easily beating expectations. Going into the weekend, analysts expected the home invasion thriller to hover around $20 million. Females made up the bulk of the audience, taking up 60% of the seats in theaters, and 41% of ticket-buyers were under 30 years old.
“It’s not a full reversal of the weakness at the box office, but it’s a step in the right direction,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “It’s good to see new films enter the marketplace and do all right.”
“No Good Deed’s” success is a feather in the cap of stars Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, both of whom actively hawked the film on social media.
“They absolutely elevated it,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures’ president of worldwide distribution.
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni57748630/
Hollywood’s Gary Webb Movie and the Message that Big Media Couldn’t Kill
Posted by Al Giordano – September 10, 2014 at 4:59 pm
By Al Giordano
Gary Webb reached out to me in 2001 at a time when lesser lights were ready and willing to see me thrown under a bus.
I had been sued for libel by a billionaire narco-banker in the New York Supreme Court, threatened by a New York Times bureau chief that he’d ruin me over the same story, and told by Manhattan attorneys that I had to come up with a $50,000 down payment to defend Narco News and me when I didn’t have the $100 I would need for my next rent payment in Mexico. This online newspaper was less than a year old. Its top donor had gotten spooked by the lawsuit and, like some other colleagues, slipped into the shadows. My world was suddenly dark and the walls seemed to close in all around me.
Gary’s email arrived quite by surprise. I knew about his Dark Alliance series, five years prior, documenting the CIA’s trafficking of cocaine to fund paramilitary squads in Central America. I also knew he had been pummeled by corporate media and had lost his job over it. “They’re trying to turn you into me,” he said, “but you can win because you don’t have a boss who can sell you out.” Gary mentioned that he was negotiating a movie deal for the Dark Alliance book – and a major motion picture titled Kill the Messenger is coming out, finally, next month, ten years after Gary’s death – and offered to donate to our defense once he inked the contract. He then penned a letter to our readers that brought an immediate $10,000 into that defense fund.
Gary gave me, on that day, something
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/5047/hollywood-s-gary-webb-movie-and-message-big-media-couldn-t-kill
Honor Student Inexplicably Beaten by Police “I Awoke Spitting My Teeth Out On the Ground”
By Yolanda Spivey
BLOOMINGTON IL- On June 29th 2013, Gabriella Calhoun’s life changed forever. The night was warm and clear, and after partying with friends, Gabriella and her friends decided to go to their local neighborhood Denny’s to get a late night meal. Gabby is an honor student at Wiley College. She finished high school a year early and went to college a year before the rest of her cohort.
Sitting on the left side of Denny’s so they can have a view of the parking lot, her crew of 17, all high school graduates, witnessed a fight between two girls. As the group of college bound students were ordering their drinks, the cops were called.
When officers arrived on the scene, they entered the Denny’s and approached Gabriella’s table and asked if they had anything to do with the fight. A friend, who shall remain nameless, told the officers that they were not involved with the fight at all at which the cops left and went back outside.
The two girls who were fighting outside were allowed to go into the Denny’s to “clean themselves up.” One girl was previously maced by a police officer in the parking lot for acting unruly. When the two girls saw each other inside of Denny’s, they started to fight again. The cops rushed into the restaurant to break the fight up.
As the cops tried to clear Denny’s, they again approached Gabriella’s table, at which a close friend of hers told the cops they were not involved with the party that was fighting. The cops grabbed the nameless young man, (he wants his name protected out of fear of retaliation), and escorted him out of Denny’s. Gabriella followed them and grabbed his side. As she exited the Denny’s she felt a grip on her neck and arm and says that out of reaction, she tried to pull away.
What happened next was unimaginable. According to her friends, Gabriella was hit in the face with a night stick by a female officer and was knocked unconscious. When Gabriella finally gained consciousness, the Wiley College Student said, “I awoke spitting my teeth out on the ground.”
http://www.yourblackworld.net/honor-student-inexplicably-beaten-by-police-i-awoke-spitting-my-teeth-out-on-the-ground/
https://twitter.com/CandaceTX/status/509739827680391168/photo/1
Wow. Whoever that person is, I hope it haunts he/she until the day they are buried six feet in the ground.
Kasai™ @Kahsai
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Dear @HillaryClinton I dare you take credit for anything PBO fought hard and risked presidency to pass..If you do.You lost my vote. Period!
4:12 PM – 14 Sep 2014
Are Liberal Jewish Voters a Thing of the Past?
By JOSEPH BERGER
SEPT. 13, 2014
FOR generations, American Jews, and particularly Jewish New Yorkers, have largely been identified as ardent liberals.
Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe formed a substantial core of early 20th-century progressives and socialists. More recently, 70 percent of Jews voted for President Obama in 2012, about the same as Hispanics, and were exceeded in their enthusiasm mainly by African-Americans.
But that liberal image is poised to change.
A 2012 demographic study by UJA-Federation of New York found that 60 percent of Jewish children in the New York City area — the Jewish center of the United States — live in Orthodox homes, which suggests that in a generation a majority of the city’s one million Jews may be classified as Orthodox. A sizable percentage of those children happen to be Hasidim, the group that has fueled Orthodox growth with its astonishing fecundity. (Seven or eight children per family is common and one Hasidic woman, Yitta Schwartz, had about 2,000 living descendants when she died in 2010.)
Given the far more conservative Hasidic and other Orthodox stances on issues like abortion, the role of women and Middle East politics, that population boom is transforming the traditional Jewish profile in New York.
Most Americans, including most assimilated and secular Jews, know little about the Hasidim and keep their distance from what they see as an anachronistic way of life underscored by the austere and concealing clothes they wear. Yet Hasidim need to be better understood, not just because of their numbers but also because of their tendency to vote in blocs according to the wishes of a sect’s grand rabbi, who often makes his choices based on pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.
Politicians are already paying attention. The top city and state officials have hired Hasidic or other Orthodox advisers, choosing to court that vote more aggressively over the more diffuse traditional Jewish vote. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deputy director for intergovernmental affairs is Avi Fink, an Orthodox resident of Queens. Letitia James, the public advocate, employs Yoel Lefkowitz, a Satmar Hasid from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as a community outreach coordinator.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/sunday-review/are-liberal-jewish-voters-a-thing-of-the-past.html?_r=0
Kareem Jackson PICKED it off and tacked on 3 more. Whoo Hoo!
17-0. Go, Texans!
America’s Unspoken Education Issue: Black Kids Need Black Teachers
A new historical account is just the latest reminder that relying on white teachers to save black students has never been enough.
By: Melinda D. Anderson
Posted: Sept. 9 2014 3:00 AM
“Hiring more white teachers is not the best way to improve education for students, particularly students of color.” This recent commentary by a black student from New Orleans in the Washington Post predictably aroused the ire of readers who accused the young man of reverse racism, playing the race card and divisiveness.
That’s no surprise. Race is the third rail of education. Touch it and get scorched. But when it comes to the need for more teachers of color—and, conversely, the idea that placing black students with white teachers isn’t a fix-all—overwhelming research and historical evidence say that this is where our attention needs to be.
The idea that racial diversity in classrooms has automatic benefits is a proven myth when it comes to black educational achievement. Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, wide disparities exist between students of color and white students across all aspects of public education. According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, black students trail white classmates on every academic criterion and marker of school quality, while black youths far exceed white classmates in suspensions, expulsions and arrests.
The numbers are stark and straightforward: Educational attainment is greatly influenced by race. But these bleak statistics don’t tell the full story of the impact of race on educational outcomes.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_teacher_wars_book_provides_more_evidence_that_teachers_of_color_matter.html
Why Nubian Skin Lingerie Matters for Women of Color
When today’s black and brown girls grow up, maybe they won’t remember when “nude” lingerie didn’t take their color into consideration.
By: Keli Goff
Posted: Sept. 9 2014 3:00 AM
At the end of a summer when unarmed black men seem to have become, increasingly, routine targets of law enforcement, it would be easy to overstate the significance of an advance for people of color in the world of fashion. But with the caveat that this obviously isn’t the most pressing news of the day, it still bears mentioning that the launch of a new apparel line reminds us that there are many different ways that we make incremental progress in society, and this time it appears to involve lingerie.
Yes, you read that right. I said lingerie.
It was recently announced that Nubian Skin is launching a line of lingerie that matches the wide range of skin tones of women of color. This may not seem like a big deal to everyone, but for millions of women of color, it is. Lingerie can be a lot like makeup, in that finding a brand that is both comfortable and complimentary is considered essential for the average woman but has long been tough to do for the average woman of color.
For years, major makeup brands didn’t make products that matched our skin tones. And inspired by the popularity of the Ebony Fashion Fair show, in 1973 the founders of Ebony magazine launched Fashion Fair Cosmetics, one of the first lines designed for and marketed to women of color. Similarly, supermodel-turned-supermogul Iman has acknowledged that part of the inspiration for her makeup line comes from the challenges she faced early in her modeling career to find products that matched her skin tone.
Yet even today, if you’re a black woman with a richer skin tone, finding suitable makeup choices remains a struggle. During my The Root interview with Yaba Blay on the subject of the cultural impact of Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Blay said, “If Lupita gets signed by a L’Oréal or CoverGirl, I can finally look forward to some foundation that matches my skin color.” (Nyong’o has since been signed as a spokeswoman for Lancôme.)
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/nubian_skin_lingerie_gives_women_of_color_options.html
Arian Foster! Texans rockin & rollin! 14-0
Look at this shyt
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https://twitter.com/philiprucker/status/511255784706289666
OH.NO.THIS.BITCH.DIDN’T.
Harkin must have Hillary’s so-called OBAMACARE fingerprints confused with Bubba’s administration and her FAILED attempts @ healthcare legislation.
These folks are beyond DELUSIONAL
Ta-Nehisi Coates Tops The Root 100 List of Black Influencers
The Root 100 2014: The African Americans 45 years old and younger who are responsible for the year’s most significant moments and themes.
By: The Root Staff
Posted: Sept. 10 2014 1:34 AM
Who are today’s standout black leaders, innovators and culture shapers? Who are the most influential African Americans 45 and under?
To answer these tough questions, The Root looked back at the year’s most significant moments and themes and asked, “Who made this happen?” As we have each year since 2009, we scrutinized the more than 500 nominees submitted by our readers, measuring how many people their work reached and rating the substance of their contributions. The result: The Root 100 2014 ranking of the most influential African Americans.
Some of our 100 honorees had widely recognized achievements in their fields, while others worked doggedly behind the scenes. What connects them is that they not only had standout years but also showed promise for shaping the future.
Our top-ranked honoree is Ta-Nehisi Coates. His cover story for The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations,” single-handedly reinvigorated the debate surrounding compensation for what he called the “multicentury plunder of black people in America.” Coates laid out a bulletproof argument that “until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” America listened—or, more accurately, read: The piece set a single-day record for traffic to Atlantic.com and sold out on newsstands, delivering a resounding message that the black experience is not to be ignored. Coates’ reporting here, combined with the ongoing analysis he offered at his blog, reminded us never to settle for anything less than a clear-eyed, fact-based understanding of the forces that shape the lives of African Americans.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_root_100_2014_introducing_the_honorees.html
Yeah, I’ve been reading Coates since he first started blogging in his pre-Atlantic days. He’s an eloquent writer and a clear thinker, very gifted. He deserves the recognition.
For Those Still Saying ‘Don’t Judge Ray Rice’: Get Your Head Checked
She Matters: His defenders are just as bad as the “stop snitching” crowd.
By: Demetria L. Lucas
Posted: Sept. 8 2014 12:22 PM
Earlier this year, just after Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his fiancee, Janay Palmer, were arrested and charged with domestic assault over Valentine’s Day weekend, his lawyer described the incident as “a very minor physical altercation.”
TMZ quickly debunked that claim, releasing exclusive footage of Rice dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of a casino elevator. The rumor was that Rice had delivered the knockout blow, and somewhere there was footage from inside the elevator.
That casino, Revel in Atlantic City, closed its doors less than a week ago. I guess some staffer decided that since he or she was out of a job, it was time for a payday. This morning, TMZ released disturbing video footage of Rice attacking his then-fiancee, now-wife, in the elevator.
It’s worse than most imagined. Rice appears to slap her, and when she attempts to defend herself, he punches her in the face. As she falls, she hits her head on the elevator railing and lies motionless on the floor. As disturbing as the slap and punch, Rice callously ignores her limp body, seemingly unbothered until the elevator door opens. He drags Palmer’s body partially off the elevator and kicks her to wake her up. Eventually other people approach to find out what’s going on, and Palmer begins to regain consciousness.
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I’m also genuinely scared for Janay Rice, who married her attacker one month after he knocked her out cold, dragged her body and kicked her. In February, when this story originally broke, I wrote an article wondering where the concern for her was. The big chatter—then and now—was speculation about the impact this situation would have on Ray Rice’s career or on the Ravens or the NFL. But the victim was and is getting lost, again, except in speculation about whether it was Ray Rice’s money that made her marry him. That’s nosy, not concern.
So I wonder, again, to Janay Rice: “You OK, sis?” Ray Rice is now her husband, but we all know that people don’t change with “I do.” A wedding ceremony isn’t a baptism, and abusers don’t miraculously change into decent men at the altar. A woman from my Ask.fm, who has been in Janay’s position, just wrote in to share her story:
I cried when I saw the Ray Rice video because my ex-husband used to knock me the [f–k] out and I played it off … thinking he was misunderstood and would change before we got married. He also continued to beat on me after the wedding … until my jaw has been permanently shifted. Please, ladies, please. They don’t change … but you will. Your body, your bones, your heart and your soul. Even when he was kicking me and beating me, I fighted [sic] to see the humanity in him, til I realized he didn’t have one to keep hurting me—the woman he claimed he’d die for … but was on his way to killing me. Please … run!
Janay could be in for a long, painful life, if Ray doesn’t kill her first—which doesn’t seem so far-fetched, given the violence shown, and his lack of concern about her well-being, in the video.
Pray for Janay Rice. Please.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/ray_rice_domestic_violence_video_stop_coming_to_his_defense.html
Before Social Media, Black Celebs Could Avoid the Ray Rice Treatment
If social media had been around in Dr. Dre’s heyday, he might have been subjected to the Ray Rice treatment.
By: Danielle C. Belton
Posted: Sept. 10 2014 12:40 PM
Everyone wants to forgive the favorite child, the prodigal son, the hometown hero. It’s why, despite the overwhelming evidence, suspended Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice still has his online defenders. It’s why it took a video on TMZ to get the NFL to do the right thing.
The mindset?
Everyone knows who he is, but who is his wife, Janay Rice, to a football-worshipping, forgiving fan? Could she run a combine? Was she wearing a jersey? If not, then she could be chalked up as someone in the way of someone else’s football season—an inconvenience, a sideshow. And that’s what she would have become if it weren’t for TMZ and Twitter.
Because historically, if a black celebrity did some dirt—abused a spouse, become involved with someone underage—a lot of people didn’t hear about it. In the past, the white, mainstream press didn’t cover what was going on with the black jet set no matter how many albums were sold or how many movies were released. And the black press wasn’t much better. Celebrities held a lot of power, choosing to deny future access if black-owned publications attempted to report on and get at the heart of their demons.
But if we’d had the robust social media community that we have now, there are more than a few black celebs who probably wouldn’t have escaped the scrutiny that Ray Rice now faces.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/black_celebs_who_avoided_the_ray_rice_treatment.html
Sociall media is the new form of journalism, whether folks like or not. And yes, Rice’s is going to get a smackdown for his beatdown of Janay in that elevator. You play, you pay, black, white, green, or yellow.
Who Was the 1st Black Rhodes Scholar?
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Also the “dean of the Harlem Renaissance,” he’s only now being laid to rest.
By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Posted: Sept. 8 2014 3:00 AM
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage.
Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 90: How did the shattering of the color barrier for the Rhodes Scholarships forever change the black arts movement?
A few weeks ago, I received an intriguing email from George R. Keys Jr., a lawyer in Washington, D.C. Keys told me about a plan to inter the remains of the first black Rhodes Scholar at a special ceremony to be held at the historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington at 11 a.m. on Sept. 13—this coming Saturday! I was moved but also dumbfounded. Not because the first black Rhodes Scholar isn’t deserving of an august burial—far from it. It was because I knew he had shattered that particular ceiling all the way back in 1907.
One of my Harvard heroes, Alain LeRoy Locke was an exquisitely brilliant black intellectual who, after an enviable career in higher education and the arts, died less than a month after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. In other words, 60 years ago!
You may know of Locke as the “dean of the Harlem Renaissance,” and for good reason. He was an impresario of taste and erudition who, at the height of the Jazz Age, chronicled the flowering of the black arts movement. He also was, perhaps, the most visible gay intellectual of his generation. And no one among Locke’s contemporaries was a truer champion of young, unknown writers.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/09/who_was_the_first_black_rhodes_scholar.html
Explaining the Underwhelming Reaction When Black Women’s Nude Pics Are Stolen
Too fat? Too sexy? There’s always a weak explanation when black women like Rihanna and Jill Scott are treated as unworthy of protection. Throughout this country’s history, there always has been.
By: David J. Leonard
Posted: Sept. 8 2014 10:38 AM
The following is a sampling of headlines about the recent theft and illegal release of alleged nude photos of celebrities:
“Jennifer Lawrence, Others Aren’t Just Hacking Victims”
“Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence’s Hacked Photos to Be in Art Show”
“Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lawrence Allegedly Targets of Massive Celebrity Hacking, FBI Has Launched Investigation”
“Celebrities’ Leaked Nude Photos: Master List Printed, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, Rihanna, More Names on It”
“Nude Photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Ariana Grande, Kirsten Dunst Leaked Online”
In them, and the hundreds of headlines like them, a theme emerges: white female victimhood. It’s in the choice of subjects, the words themselves and photos that accompany the various online reports. Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton are presented as the faces and bodies of these types of violations.
The flip side of these headlines and the less obvious theme is this: that black women are undeserving of protection; that when their privacy is criminally violated, it isn’t such a scandal. After all, Lawrence and Upton aren’t the only ones who have been violated in this way. Jill Scott and Rihanna have, too.
If you didn’t know, that’s because the “leaks” and “hacks” related to black female victims were scarcely covered in comparison with those of their white counterparts. A Google News search for celebrities’ names combined with “leaked,” while an informal measure, further confirms the spotlight on white female victims. Lawrence and Upton have, by far, the most results (22,700,000 and 126,000, respectively); Rihanna and Scott trail behind with 39,100 and 8,760, respectively.
There’s a disparity not just in the amount of news but in the amount of analysis and outrage when the victims are black. As the Washington Post’s Justin Moyer put it in his analysis of the leaks of recent weeks (Lawrence, Upton and Scott), “White feminists ignore Jill Scott.”
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/leaked_nudes_why_the_reaction_to_black_women_s_is_underwhelming.html
The Octoroon: A Tragic Mulatto Enslaved by 1 Drop
Image of the Week: A sculpture addresses the ramifications for those who were mixed-race.
By: Image of the Black Archive & Library
Posted: Sept. 9 2014 3:00 AM
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
Though it would hardly seem likely at first glance, this pallid image of slavery directly addresses the condition of black bondage. To all appearances, the young woman seen here represents a white captive. Except for her chains, she could pass for a conventional likeness of Venus, the classical goddess of love. As indicated by the inscription on the base of the statue, she is instead an octoroon—that is, an exceptionally light-skinned person of mixed race, technically defined as one-eighth black and the rest white.
The condition was reached by gradual degrees of miscegenation, or racial mixing, until the complexion of an individual often became indistinguishable from a person of “pure” white ancestry. In race-conscious societies, the prospect of racial mixture could threaten the precarious stability of the dominant order. The position of the octoroon along the edge of this fragile divide afforded some degree of maneuverability, often termed “passing.” Before the abolition of slavery, however, such light-skinned mulattoes faced the even more likely prospect of a life in bondage.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/09/blacks_in_western_art_sculpture_addresses_the_ramifications_for_those_who.html?wpisrc=obinsite
JJ Watt! Go, Texans!
What we gone do! What we gone do!
What!
What we gone do! What we gone do!
BEAT’EM!
Go Texans
Go Texans!
Birthday girl Malia Obama gets a car for sweet 16 … but no driver’s license
Malia celebrated her birthday on Friday, the Fourth of July, as rapper Pitbull performed on the White House lawn
She’ll have to wait another year before she can drive on her own thanks to Washington driving rules
‘Ladies and gentlemen in DC, watch out!’ said her mother, First Lady Michelle Obama
By Daily Mail Reporter
Published: 08:17 EST, 6 July 2014 | Updated: 05:37 EST, 7 July 2014
First daughter Malia Obama received a brand new car for her sweet 16 birthday on Friday, according to sources close to the first family, but unfortunately for her she won’t be able to drive it alone for at least another year.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2682234/Birthday-girl-Malia-Obama-gets-car-sweet-16-no-drivers-license.html#ixzz3DKCVnAoY
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Maybe My Weird Version of Blackness Isn’t That Weird
My Thing Is: I didn’t feel as if I fit in anywhere—until I created an Afrofuturism-inspired blog, and realized that people who think the way I do have been around since the beginning of time.
By: Sherese Francis
Posted: Sept. 8 2014 3:00 AM
Growing up, I always thought I was weird. Even my own mother said so. I was a nerdy black girl who was quiet, shy and introverted; who struggled to find out who I was and to be comfortable in my own skin. For years I felt I had to put on masks of identities that didn’t fit me completely or reflect the way I saw myself. I felt alienated from the expectations of a fundamentalist-Christian identity, a black-church identity, a hip-hop-based cultural identity and other popular forms of identity associated with blackness.
What does it mean to feel as if you don’t quite fit into the spaces that define blackness and what many people believe it is supposed to be? You try to find or construct places for you to belong. That’s how my passion for writing blossomed. With words I could, at least quietly, let out the thoughts in my head. I could safely explore my inclination to push boundaries and question who we are, why we are, and why we like or believe the things we do.
However, I still searched for all the elements I needed to help piece myself together as a black woman. I knew I was attracted to things that were viewed by many to be outside the typical definitions of blackness—like rock music, speculative fiction, and spiritual and philosophical ideas beyond Christianity—but I didn’t know how to declare or define those spaces for myself yet.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/weird_blackness_how_my_blog_helped_me_make_sense_of_my_identity.html?wpisrc=obinsite
Watch: What Are the 50 Greatest Black TV Shows of All Time?
Before readers of The Root get to vote, watch The Root staff debate which shows should make the ballot.
By: The Root Staff
Posted: Sept. 13 2014 3:00 AM
On Monday The Root will give readers the chance to vote for the greatest black TV shows of all time. For the next three weeks, readers will choose from a roster of shows—from comedies to dramas, old and new—that captured the collective experiences of being black in America. The top 50 shows that readers choose will be announced in early October.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_greatest_black_tv_shows_of_all_time_the_debate_begins.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr%3Acontent%26
Travis is at it again
…………………
Tavis Smiley Knocks President Obama Again
The political commentator said blacks have lost ground in every single leading economic category during his terms as president.
By: Lynette Holloway
Posted: Sept. 14 2014 10:34 AM
Tavis Smiley, known for his unrelenting criticism of Barack Obama, recently told the Huffington Post that his commentary is rooted in holding the president accountable as the nation’s leader.
“As Cornel West and I said many years ago; I respect the president, I will protect the president against white supremacist attacks or anything else he’s unfairly targeted for,” he told HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill. “So you’re respecting, you’re protecting, but you’re correcting when he’s wrong. Not because he’s Barack Obama, but because he’s the president.”
Smiley went on to express concern about the current state of African Americans under Obama’s leadership.
“But the data is going to indicate—I said this before and I’m not happy about this, I don’t celebrate this,” Smiley told Hill. “I don’t say it as a way of demonizing the president or casting an aspersion on him – but the data is going to indicate that black people lost ground in every single leading economic category during the Obama years.”
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2014/09/tavis_smiley_knocks_president_barack_obama_again.html?wpisrc=mostpopular
BITTER, BITTER, TAVIS. Go to HELL.
Tavis is off.
Shame on ABC and CNN for exploiting Foley tragedy
By zizi2 50 Comments
This past week saw American corporate media at one of its criminally shameful worst. And there is gross competition for how low they can go. Brian Ross of ABC news led the pack in exploiting the grief of James Foley’s family to push utterly offensive nonsense that the White House was derelict in pursuing efforts to rescue James Foley from the grip of the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL/IS). At the heart of this spurious attack is the media’s sensational headline that Foley’s mother claims that the Obama administration threatened them with prosecution if they paid ransom money to the militants to secure their son’s release.
****
Bam! That framing was all that was needed to shift focus away from the heinous actions of the militants, to the virulent and cynically profitable blame-Obama-for-any-and-all-horror-that-happens-in-the-world syndrome in our political zeitgeist. And like clockwork, the rest of the media, politicians, and many commentators were baited and hooked by this media scam, including, I’m sorry to say, the Foley family itself.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/09/14/shame-on-abc-and-cnn-for-exploiting-foley-tragedy/#comment-1136730
My tv has been off for weeks now. There is NO media, just shameful, DISGRACEFUL HACKS for pay. Outraged at how Foley’s mom is fallinf for this fuckery.
Mine has been off for over a year.
Lately, I have been watching DVD’s of David E. Talbert’s musical plays.
Elba and Henson’s No Good Deed Box Office Hit
The film is likely to beat earnings expectations by at least $7 million.
By: Lynette Holloway
Posted: Sept. 14 2014 12:09 PM
No Good Deed, starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, topped the box office Friday and could beat earnings expectations by at least $7 million, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The crime thriller from British director Sam Miller raked in an estimated $8.8 million Friday from 2,175 locations, the entertainment site reports. It could earn up to $25 million by the time the weekend is over. That would be good for a film that was roundly panned by critics and cost an estimated $13 million to make.
Elba, a four-time Emmy nominee, plays an ex-con named Colin. He knocks on the door of Terri, played by Henson, a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee, on a stormy night shortly after her husband leaves home. He asks for help, saying his car broke down and that he left his cell phone at home. The taut drama unfolds as the audience becomes aware that he is a dangerous man in this tale of home invasion.
The film is expected to surge past Dolphin Tale 2, which brought in $4.3 million from more than 3,600 locations and cost roughly $36 million to produce, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/idris_elba_s_no_good_deed_box_office_hit.html?wpisrc=see_also_article
LOL The plot sounds like something straight out of an old “Lifetime Movie,” but I just might see this one purely because of Idris and Taraji!
Koch Foundation Proposal to College: Teach Our Curriculum, Get Millions
September 12, 2014
by Dave Levinthal
This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, DC.
In 2007, when the Charles Koch Foundation considered giving millions of dollars to Florida State University’s economics department, the offer came with strings attached.
First, the curriculum it funded must align with the libertarian, deregulatory economic philosophy of Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist and Republican political bankroller.
Second, the Charles Koch Foundation would at least partially control which faculty members Florida State University hired.
And third, Bruce Benson, a prominent libertarian economic theorist and Florida State University economics department chairman, must stay on another three years as department chairman — even though he told his wife he’d step down in 2009 after one three-year term.
The Charles Koch Foundation expressed a willingness to give Florida State an extra $105,000 to keep Benson — a self-described “libertarian anarchist” who asserts that every government function he’s studied “can be, has been, or is being produced better by the private sector” — in place.
“As we all know, there are no free lunches. Everything comes with costs,” Benson at the time wrote to economics department colleagues in an internal memorandum. “They want to expose students to what they believe are vital concepts about the benefits of the market and the dangers of government failure, and they want to support and mentor students who share their views. Therefore, they are trying to convince us to hire faculty who will provide that exposure and mentoring.”
Benson concluded, “If we are not willing to hire such faculty, they are not willing to fund us.”
Such details are contained in 16 pages of previously unpublished emails and memos obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/12/koch-foundation-proposal-to-college-teach-our-curriculum-get-millions/
Sanford’s Ex-Fiancée: Our Break-Up Is About Politics, Not His Divorce
ByCaitlin MacNealPublishedSeptember 14, 2014, 10:03 AM EDT 12469 views
Rep. Mark Sanford’s (R-SC) former fiancée had no idea that he was going to announce their break-up in a Facebook post, and said the engagement ended because she “was not useful to him anymore.”
While he was governor of South Carolina, Sanford admitted to having an affair with Maria Belen Chapur. He then left his wife, Jenny Sanford, and and later got engaged to Chapur.
Back in office representing South Carolina in Congress, Sanford in Friday Facebook post announced the end of their engagement and provided a lengthy description of his legal woes and child custody battles with his ex-wife.
The Facebook post caught Chapur off guard, and she told the New York Times Saturday that she found out about it through the news.
She also explained the events leading up to her break-up with Sanford. She told the Times that Sanford has asked to postpone the engagement until his son was 18 and the custody battles wouldn’t matter as much anymore.
“I’ve already been five years waiting and two years since the engagement,” she said, and explained that she couldn’t stay with him and postpone the wedding.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanford-fiancee-facebook-post?utm_content=bufferda3d5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I got NOTHING for these two folks. NOTHING.
Rollllll Tiiiide! Gig ’em, Aggies!
Uh oh……here we go :)
http://wvtm.images.worldnow.com/images/23385490_SA.jpg
Tee-hee! Would have said War Eagle but they (Auburn) didn’t play this week.
LOL!
I was looking for you last night. I saw them. :)
That young Kenny Hill is showing what he has, huh? Also Coach Sumlin was born in Alabama. Also I am proud of Bama’s Blake Sims. If I had been coach I would have let Sims play the whole game.
Cops’ deadly identity problem: How police officers’ military uniforms affect their mental state:
New scientific research suggests the effect of militarized dress on cops is more profound than imagined. Here’s why”
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/12/cops_deadly_identity_problem_how_police_officers_military_uniforms_affect_their_mental_state/
Seniors should be concerned about state taking over Medicare
09/13/2014 12:05 AM
Some GOP state lawmakers are upset that the Johnson County Commission on Aging plans to publish an article critical of the state’s plan to assume control of Medicare. Tough. They shouldn’t have supported the reckless proposal. Against the protests of senior groups, the Legislature voted last session to join a health care compact that would allow states, subject to congressional approval, to opt out of all federal laws regarding health care, including Medicare. The states would then receive the federal funding in block grants to use on their own state-managed programs. The lawmakers contend that this wouldn’t be a threat to Medicare because they would be required to spend the money on health care and they have no plans to alter Medicare benefits, the Kansas Health Institute News Servicereported. But the state has “creatively” redirected other federal funds, such as welfare. Why should it be trusted? And given the rocky rollout of KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, why should seniors be confident that the state can properly manage Medicare? Lawmakers can’t even answer basic questions about the portability of a Kansas-based Medicare program.
http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/now-consider-this/article2094325.html
MEDIA ALERT:
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Airs September 14, 2014 at 8pm. Check local listings
THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative This seven-part, fourteen hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962.
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/
Looking forward to this. Ken Burns does what he does so well.
Thanks for the hat tip, Rikyrah.
AP Politics ✔ @AP_Politics
Follow
Vermont’s largest city now gets 100 percent of its power from renewable resources: http://apne.ws/1y2wZal
11:49 AM – 14 Sep 2014
Taj Magruder @TajMagruder
.@ReadyForHillary volunteers hard at work getting ready for #SteakFry2014 pic.twitter.com/pqRCZgEnxo
aspirational12 @aspirational12
Follow
@TajMagruder Will there be a voter registration drive for #2014 at that steakfry? @afaduln2 @ReadyForHillary
11:41 AM – 14 Sep 2014
LOL Steakfry for Hillary? for 2016? They’re not interested in voter registration for 2014, because they can’t get beyond 2008 loss.
She’s going to court those “hard working Americans” in 2016, just like she did in 2008. Good luck with that plan.
Pope marries 20 cohabiting couples in sign of papacy shift
Pope Francis has presided over the marriage of 20 couples at the Vatican, including some who were cohabiting, one of them with a child.
Pope Francis had asked to marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who represented modern couples.
It was the first papal marriage ceremony of its kind in 14 years.
The pope has expressed greater tolerance than his predecessor on many issues, including family values.
Sunday’s ceremony at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome comes three weeks before a meeting of Catholic bishops from around the world to examine church teachings on family matters.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29198491
https://twitter.com/NBCNewsPictures/status/510900017146896384/photo/1
1. Like they give a shyt about Black female unemployment.
2. No mention of Black unemployment always being higher than White folks
3. No mention of the PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS that were shed by GOP Governors, which disproportionately affected Black people.
4. No mention of the attack on Public School Teacher Unions, which attacks BLACK FEMALE TEACHERS.
But, nice try, NBC.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/511073278782222336/photo/1
NBC is pathetic.
Sorry dudes a&b dudettes, you can’t report on the EFFECTS without the CAUSES.
That’s how it works, MOFOs!
CONFUSED MY BLACK ASS!
Just more POLICE HARASSMENT OF BLACK FOLK!
https://twitter.com/micnews/status/510958057887920128/photo/1
This right here… it’s fucking CRIMINAL!
good Luck, Bernie
You’ve got mail, ladies.
Got it.
For you , SG2.
Thank you, lovely lady.
Where are the Kleenex?
My heart. My heart. *tears*
He has such a beautiful voice. Right on about the kleenex, but it must be terrifying for a nine year old to face an audience like that.
What talent!
But more than, he showed everyone how, amidst tears and fear, to pick oneself up and carry on to be all that one can be!!
*tears of empathy and joy*
Thre was a lot of love and support flowing to this little boy, from thousands of folks. It was almost too much for him to bear.
Yes, Ametia, it is a good reminder of how a community has the power to uplift and strengthen its members.
https://twitter.com/rodimusprime/status/511154930069950464/photo/1
WTF??
People pay money to watch this?
Fabulous!
It has energized me and will carry me through the week!
Her’e my favorite version:
The beat…the counter beat….the rhythm….WOW! (and that piano!)
Can you imagine how ALIVE I would be today if I had been raised on Gospel music!
Good thing my headphone cord was long enough for me to get on my feet and move to it :)
Thanks, Ametia, for giving me a double dose today….it will definitely last me through the week!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Sade week has been fabulous!
Voter fraud probe roils Ga. Senate
September 12, 2014, 11:13 am
Voter fraud probe roils Ga. Senate race
By Alexandra Jaffe
A group helmed by a major donor and policy adviser to Democratic Senate candidate Michele Nunn is under investigation by the Georgia secretary of State for alleged voter fraud.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) said in a memo, reported by WSB-TV, that his office has “received numerous complaints about voter applications submitted by the New Georgia Project,” an organization launched to register and turn out voters to the polls.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/217544-group-led-by-nunn-donor-and-adviser-under-investigation-for
No such thing as voter fraud…
this is all about voter suppression!
THANK YOU! Break it down, Rikyrah. See how the Hill… media phrase their LEDEs?
Here’s your Sunday comedy show
Posted by Jeanne Devon on Sunday, September 14, 2014
You Want the Palin Brawl? Here it is.
I’ve been asked countless times over the last couple days to weigh in on the Palin’s drunken rumpus that has now dominated the national news cycle. I’ve been begged. BEGGED. “You of all people!” “I’ve been waiting!” “Don’t let us down!”
Honestly, I would rather be rolled in French fry grease, sprinkled with sea salt and fed to the ravens. It may be the same reason I disdain tabloids, and rubbernecking accidents. But because I love you I will weigh in, in whatever manner there is left to weigh in on the Hindenburg that is the Palin family.
http://www.themudflats.net/archives/44433
LOL!
And they have a stretch limo Hummer on top of that!
Ha HA HA Wasilla Hillbillies, the lot of them.
Good Morning, Everyone!
Good morning! Happy Sunday, everyone.
Ametia, you killed it with Sade this week. I loved it.
Ray Rice & Adrain Peterson are the NEGRO POSTER BOYS for sport thuggery now, huh?
Waiting for the media to REPORT ON THIS: