Kwame is still a mess and Carlita just looks medicated or something. Watching this I felt extremely uncomfortable and bad for her. I have spoken with others that say she chose this life. I don’t care about Kwame, but if we can put aside out sanctimony, I wonder for real why some women make the decisions that they do about their relationships with men.
Something deeper than == Low self esteem or stupidity. We’ve seen lots of cases on this blog about women introducing men into their lives who go on to abuse and kill their children. So putting aside out Kwame rage for a moment. Why stay? Why hold his hand? Why share in his public burden?
Um Carlita it ain’t between the three of yall if he used his position as mayor and city resources to cover up his scandalous ways.
Are there some things worth preserving? Just wondering. No judgement. Is it something more than selfish and neediness? What of Christine Beatty? Why settle for a piece of a man? Share some wisdom people!
On Friday, Jan. 25, WAOD posted the article “What would Jesus do…about BET,” breaking news about a letter (press release) praising Black Entertainment Television for evolving and “standing up for freedom of expression.” The communique was signed by high-profile preachers and leaders of prominent religious groups, and disseminated by Rev. Ronal Tune, a consultant affiliated with The Carroway Group, a PR firm employed by BET. In that post, and the others that followed, we asked how holy men and women devoted to the uplift of the black community–leaders like Father Michael Pfleger, who little more than six months ago purchased billboards around Chicago decrying misogyny in rap music, and Bishop Vashti Mackenzie, an advocate for black women–could in good conscience align themselves with BET.
The letter seemed like a bold slap in the face to black people and women in particular. Here were our leaders praising BET for tossing crumbs to the black community, while continuing to kill our people every day through a celebration of violence, materialism and misogyny. It couldn’t be true that our community’s religious leaders have such disdain for us. Could it? Rev. Tune says:
I’m shocked at the assumptions made in this post so I have e-mailed all of clergy on the letter to make them aware of it. Perhaps they will respond to your statements individually. I spoke to Rev. Haynes after I received a call from Enough is Enough and it appears that he was under the impression that there was a different letter being referred to in his conversation with whoever called him. When I told him it was the same letter that he received from me, he said there wasn’t a problem. I assure you, that every person on this letter regarding the BET Honor Show read it prior to release and knew their name was on it.
Meanwhile, the offending letter was stricken from Rev. Tune’s Clergy Strategic Alliances Web site. (Now folks ought to know that you can’t erase stuff from the Internet so quickly.Here it is.) Gina and Shecodes called and e-mailed the signatories of the BET letter.
Dr. Cynthia Hale quickly responded, assuring that we were all on the same side, that the leaders who signed the offending letter meant to congratulate BET Honors Award honorees only and that they were unaware of BET’s duplicity. Dr. Hale promised to speak to all pastors involved and get back to us.
On Tuesday of this week, Dr. Iva Carruthers responded to WAOD’s inquiries through the site’s comments sections, saying in part:
Yes, we share the concerns about misogyny and the degrading and disempowering media images and messaging—both blatant and subtle—not just by BET, but in all American media. So yes, I signed the letter and I was not at all deceived.
It is unclear how Carruthers‘ “concerns about misogyny and degrading and disempowering media images” squares with lauding BET for standing up for “freedom of expression,” or how praising the channel’s “willingness to listen to viewers” with community activists‘ experience that BET is anything but willing to listen and respond.
No other leader has bothered to respond to WAOD’s inquiries. Not one. And we are waiting.
It has been little more than 48 hours, excluding weekends, since WAOD broke this story. Now we know these religious bigwigs are busy, but if you were a community leader, would you let your name stand associated with BET on a site devoted to ending the war against black women–a site that receives thousands of hits a day and is listed as one of the Web’s most influential sites on Technorati. I wouldn’t. Unless, of course, I supported the channel and its content.
The way I see it, silence = endorsement. If by Friday–one week after WAOD’s initial post–this Web site’s readers have not heard from the religious leaders that signed the BET letter, then we all know where we stand. Don’t we?
As you know on earlier this week, we reported on a blog which placed a picture of Dr. Maya Angelou under the caption “Ho Sit Down”. I also talked about this yesterday on National Public Radio. Verizon and T Mobile were advertising on the site.
You know our philosophy, you can put out whatever vile offensive stuff you want, I just don’t want to pay for it. As both a Verizon and T Mobile customer, I don’t want my monthly fees going to give money to produce something calling any Black woman a ho. Verizon is pulling their ads from THAT SITE.If you find that entertaining, fine, then you pay a subscriber fee and you pay to be entertained.
Blkseagoat just forwarded this letter from Verizon Wireless.
Hi Shane,
I got your voicemail and here is the response: It is never our intention to offend anyone with our advertising and we have strict guidelines in place to prevent our ads from appearing on sites that are offensive. We are in the process of removing the site from our list of advertising outlets and are working to remove the ads. We are also reviewing our process to determine what happened and to ensure that mistakes like this don’t happen again.
Brenda B Raney Verizon Wireless
What about T-Mobile? KEEP CALLING T-MOBILE T Mobile Corporate: 800-318-9270 (PDT) STOP FUNDING FOOLISHNESS!
Click on the image to hear my comments about Maxine Waters, the Dr. Maya Angelou situation on ******, my interview with Jesse Jackson and we also got in a word about Dr. Iva “C Note” Carruthers.
This segment was rushed because we got bumped so that they could interview Maxine Waters so I was rushing through, but as always the NPR sound engineering magic manages to make me not sound like Minnie Mouse.
Last Friday, I posted a story on a missing family from Detroit on my blog. At the time, Latisha Rutledge (22) and her two kids were missing for two weeks.
Family members said a pregnant mother from Detroit and her two small children ages 4 and 2 have not been seen in nearly two weeks. They were supposed to board a Greyhound bus in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. headed to Downtown Detroit, but no one has seen them since they were spotted at the bus station.
Latisha Rutledge, 22, is eight and a half months pregnant, and her baby is due any day.
Family members said she may have already given birth.
Latisha had been living with her uncle in Florida for a couple months trying to get her life together but it did not work out for her. So, on January 11th, 2007 her uncle dropped Latisha and her children off at the Greyhound bus station in Florida. They were to arrive in Detroit two days later on January 13th but they never made it.
Rutledge’s mother is frightened and frustrated, and said her daughter has no money.
Greyhound does not require photo identification at all its terminals so there is no way to know if Rutledge even boarded the bus.
Greyhound said it can not release passenger information unless law enforcement request it.
Rutledge’s mother Marsella Satchel said she has not been able to file a missing persons police report yet, because police told her she must contact every hospital in Fort Lauderdale and Detroit before it can be filed.
I was very upset after hearing this story and knew that something had to be done about it. It was just too fishy. It wasn’t just the lack of description on the woman and children that bothered me. I was more bothered by how the case was being handled. I had so many questions:
Was being pregnant and having two children under the age of 5 not enough reason for the police to start a search? Is it required to contact every single hospital in the city if the missing person is possibly injured or ready to give birth? Is that some kind of new (and silly in my opinion) policy? Did anybody at the bus station see anything? Better yet, how can you possibly miss seeing a whole family board or not board a bus? Were there security cameras around the station? What is going on??
Desperate for answers, I did whatever I could the last few days to help find them. I tried everything from contacting police stations and the Greyhound bus station to looking online for a Myspace or Facebook profile.
Finally this morning, I decided to go straight to the source: the newspaper that published the article. I would’ve done this first but the article did not have an author or a contact number at the end like most articles. So I thought it was better to do a little research on my own. For about 4 hours, I tried to get in contact with the new station. I had to resort to an online form after realizing I wasn’t getting any answers.
But this afternoon I got the answer that I was waiting to hear. The managing editor informed me via email that Latisha Rutledge and her children were located safe and sound! She added “She just failed to contact her loved ones”. I was glad to hear the good news but I requested an update on the story.
You’d think if you have time to send an email back to me, you’d also have time to update a story! People were all up in arms about this (and probably still is) and you can’t write one simple sentence about Latisha and her kids? *sighs* I don’t know what to say about all this but I’m glad they are safe.
Bossip has always been edgy, but this foolishness right here is ridiculous. They have a picture of Dr. Maya Angelou underneath a caption called “Ho Sit Down”. They have been consistently critical and mocking of anyone supporting Hillary Clinton labeling certain people sellouts and “ho’s”, including calling Hillary Clinton a “Ho” They claim that they aren’t calling HER a “Ho”, but what other conclusion could you come to? Wait… is that a T-mobile ad I see?
Update: Call T Mobile and Verizon and ask them to stop using your money to call Dr. Angelou a “Ho”. Because that is what they are doing. When you advertise on a site, you are paying to produce its content. So T Mobile and Verizon paid for this Foolishness right here! Stop Funding Foolishness T Mobile Corporate: 800-318-9270 (PDT)
Verizon Communications Corporate Headquarters 140 West Street New York, NY 10007
Telephone: 800-621-9900 Or if you are a blogger who wants to do a post, this guy is the media relations person for “branding issues” Jim Smith Director Media Relations (908) 559-3477
Last week we gave Christine Beatty, the Chief of Staff to perpetually scandal-plagued Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the Wagging Finger of Shame Award. Ms. Beatty shared the award with Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Not because they both lied under oath, but because they chronicled their affair in embarrassing detail in 14,000 txt msgs on city-issued Blackberries.
Some people said “why is this news?”. It is news because the arrogance and decision-making these two engaged in while carrying out the affair and again while covering it up led to the City of Detroit, already in a financial pinch, to hand out 9 MILLION Dollars to two wrongfully terminated police officers. What the verdict meant was that even without knowing about these 14,000 text messages, the jury didn’t believe Ms. Beatty or the Mayor of Detroit. The jury thought they were both liars, and it turns out they were right.
This is also a WAOD story because of all of the Black women who are now in the spotlight as a result of the textual healing going on. And now, the cast of characters in ….
“AS DETROIT TURNS”
Christine Beatty, the Gifted Paramour and Protector Ms. Beatty, despite her utter complete stupidity in the world of personal relationships is a very bright woman who has run successful, successive election campaigns for Kilpatrick. If you knew what a mess Kwame was, you would recognize how gifted this woman is as a political strategist. I give her some credit for having the self awareness to do what Kwame will not do, resign. Or maybe she is just resigning to help out her love. Who cares. Once again, she did the smartest thing she could do. I’d hire her. I just wouldn’t let her have a Blackberry..or email…or pen and paper…or anything with which she could memorialize her thoughts or ideas. Carlita Kilpatrick, the Devoted and Betrayed Spouse Carlita Kilpatrick, the mayor’s wife is certainly at the center of this mess. Right now she appears to be behaving in character. She’s come out and done a kiss for the cameras and appears to be standing by her man, but how will she react to reports that just last week, Kwame was cuddled up in an Asheville, NC resort getting couples massages and eating chocolate covered strawberries with someone other than Carlita. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the Doting Mother and Chief Enabler Carolyn Cheeks Kilptrick, Kwame’s everloving and enabling mother. Mothers are supposed to love their children unconditionally so I understand Kwame’s mama repeatedly coming to her baby’s rescue. But her Baby invoked her name, his aunt, his wife and all the other “strong women in his life” while lying on the witness stand abut whether he was having relations with Ms. Beatty. Mama Kilpatrick, he used you to cover his dirt. Check out Mama Kilpatrick defending her baby. Hysterical!!!! IF YOU NEVER CLICK ANOTHER LINK ON THIS BLOG, YOU MUST WATCH THE FOOTAGE OF MAMA KILPATRICK!
Mother’s are supposed to love their male children, but Mama Kilpatrick needs to take lil’ Kwame to the woodshed. Not for being a tramp and a trollop and causing untold anguish to her grand babies, not for dishonoring the family name, not for being arrogant with the use of money, goods and services he has access to as the Mayor of Detroit, but she need to pull out a green switch for documenting his utter complete stupidity. Mama Kilpatrick, you child is gifted, but he is indeed spoiled and your constantly enabling isn’t helping.
Kim Worthy, the Prosecutor Kym Worthy, many of you have heard of Kym from back in the days when she was an ADA. She went on to be a judge and now she is the Wayne County Prosecutor. She is investigating whether Beatty and Kilpatrick committed perjury among other things. Kwame called her days before the story broke (out of the blue- they are not close) and said he promised to be neutral in her upcoming race for reelection. I don’t know if he was trying to pacify her in anticipation of any investigation or not, but in her appearance on Friday, I think she took just the right tone. She’s in charge. There will be an investigation. She will be making the call. She won’t be influences by “anyone or anything.” Um Kwame, I think she was talking to you. Look out.
Toni Morrison Endorses Obama
On another note, Toni Morrison endorsed Barack Obama in one of the most eloquent endorsements I have ever read. I ain’t an Obama stan, but she put forth a good articulation for why some folks might be. A better explanation than the Obama acolytes who routinely visit this blog with vague ramblings and accusations. She ain’t Toni Morrison for nothing. I am still mad she started this “Bill Clinton is a Black man” foolishness.
What does Jesse Jackson think of former President Bill Clinton’s controversial recent attempt to paint BarackObama as the Jackson of 2008? A black blogger, our own warrior princess Gina, was the first to get the scoop from Jackson himself.
Gina, on assignment for Essence magazine, recently spoke with Jackson, who is in India as the country marks the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. In addition to getting the former presidential candidate’s thoughts on Clinton’s remarks, Gina also spoke to him about many of the issues raised here on What About Our Daughters and on the Black Women’s Roundtable. Can a black candidate transcend race? Will African Americans automatically be better off under a black president? Will we see a black woman candidate win multiple primaries and caucuses in our life times? Why is the civil rights industrial complex so lukewarm about BarackObama?
Whew! That was a close call. I was afraid I was go to an undisclosed location if he didn’t pull South Carolina out.
The real story was that Black women voters took center stage for the first time in recent memory in the coverage leading up to South Carolina. This should have been a moment of glory, but somehow Black women got boiled down to their reproductive organs and their skin. It wasn’t just the white progressive blogosphere and media joining in on the foolishness which at its core assumed we had no brains. That we were less than. Caricatures, simple-minded and child-like. No, it wasn’t just White media.
All of the commentors and pontificators who said that if black women didn’t vote for Obama, they were self-hating, race traitors who had deep seeded issues with Black men can now rest easy. For those who were using Obama’s South Carolina results as some kind of litmus test for how much Black women love Black men you have your answer. Who knew that Black women’s loyalty to their race was conditional? I must have missed that memo, but for the past three months ever since I asked a simple question (Why should Black women vote for candidate X)- we’ve been besieged by overzealous Obama acolytes questioning our “loyalty.”
I found it laughable from the beginning that folks ( one black male blogger in particular) basically declared that any Black woman who didn’t vote for Obama was child like and self-hating. One male guest on the podcast said that any Black woman who didn’t vote for Obama was “lost.”Your comments about Black women’s “loyalty” over the past four months have been sexist, racist, and downright ignorant. Black is who we are, not something we are trying to be and our loyalty isn’t conditional on voting the way that a few myopic, fascist Black folks declare we must. This conditional loyalty some ignorant folks tried to inject into the discussion is laughable considering that Black women are raising almost 70% of Black children in this country ALONE. Loyalty Litmus test my arse.
There is no more loyal group of women on the PLANET than Black women, however, we aren’t just reproductive organs and skin. We also have brains. Occasionally we use them. You wouldn’t know that from the news coverage. With all the countless TV shots from barbershops and beauty shops you would think that all the Black folks in South Carolina lived there.
Four years from now, I hope that Black women, who the news media have shallowly dissected for months inside the beauty shops of South Carolina, have an agenda and ask for something in return from candidates. Yes, I believe that public SERVANT means exactly what it says. If we have this much voting power, we should wield it instead of letting mainstream media declare what our choices are. And we ought to be free to have a discussion about politics without the Black Thought Police descending declaring that our “thoughts” are impermissible. The idea that I can’t ask a question (Why should Black women vote for candidate X) because of the color of my skin is morally repugnant. If anything Black folks need to be asking more questions and not fewer and anyone who wants to police your thoughts and ruminations is the traitorous one- an enemy of free thought and undemocratic and that is why we should all continue to stand up to them wherever they rear their ugly heads and rebuke their foolishness loudly and consistently.
Here is a round up of the analysis of the voting patterns of Black women. We’re getting the credit now that Barack Obama won, but TRUST that if he had not, we would also be getting the BLAME and I would be fending off the Black Thought Police and men with low self-esteem living vicariously through Barack Obama- If you are using our votes as a litmus test for our love then something is wrong:
So to have someone acknowledge, in such a matter of fact way — and with the nodding assent of her white, male and female peers on set — that we black women not only have a stake in this primary, but also may be the deciding factor, was an incredible departure from the status quo, whether few who are not us noticed it or not.,
Black women had a historic choice to make in Saturday’s Democratic presidential primary: vote for a woman or an African-American? Gender or race?Nearly all black women surveyed by exit pollsters picked a candidate of their race, giving Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois an overwhelming share of their support.
When faced with a choice between Clinton and Obama, what do black women do? Do they vote their race? Do they vote their gender? All the reporters want to know…What? Huh? They talk about the issues? If only somebody would listen.
You can’t turn on a 24-hour news channel or your nightly news this week without seeing a feature on African-American women voters. It makes sense, being that the South Carolina Democratic primary is only one day away and African-American women will make up approximately one-third of the voters.
The angle in these news features is virtually identical. The commentators wonder and marvel at the extraordinarily difficult choice for African-American women in this primary — will we vote for the woman candidate or the African-American candidate? Reporters have been busying themselves traveling to crowded beauty shops all over the state to answer this question.
Well the count is in…. and Sen Barack Obama handily won the South Carolina primary! This is very good news for black women, mostly because it keeps the Democratic nomination from becoming a coronation ceremony. When there is still a question about who will ultimately get the nomination, all candidates are forced to listen closely to the voters (isn’t it a shame that they have to be forced into it?)
Amy Holmes took a camera crew to a women’s hair salon (Oh! My Nappy Hair studio) in Los Angeles and asked them what they thought of the Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. It sounds like Obama has a lot of fans, Edwards is gaining momentum and Hillary is in trouble. (Contains yet more footage of Black women getting their hair done)
Reporters have gone into hair salons, and shopping centers and interviewed black women on the question; Will they vote for a black man, or a white woman and how are they dealing with this dilemma? I believe the question to be seriously insulting to black women – it presumes that they can not vote based on the candidate’s position on issues, but will decide solely on race or gender. Am I the only one that finds this repugnant?
NOPE! You aren’t the only one that found it all repugnant.
Looks like someone is starting a pack to target black voters…
A group called PowerPAC has filed two reports with the Federal Election Committee in the past week revealing that the group spent $43,000 for phone banking efforts in California on Obama’s behalf, and another $16,000 for fliers and newspaper ads in publications targeting African American voters.
It must be unprecedented—clergy kneeling at the altar of Viacom, shouting praise to a purveyor of bouncing booties, big pimpin’ and a bounty of bling.
In an announcement allegedly signed by representatives of major religious bodies, such as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the New York Theological Seminary and the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., Clergy Strategic Alliances (CSA) gushed:
We would like to congratulate BET and Debra Lee on presenting the inaugural BET Honors Awards, dedicated to recognizing the achievements and contributions of distinguished African-American leaders in their fields. As the leading network for programming in the African-American community, viewers are able to see the diversity of the Black experience expressed in various art forms ranging from music and movies to gospel and current events. Over the years, we have seen BET evolve and change, and while we might not always agree with every step they make, they have always shown a willingness to listen to their viewers, and adjust accordingly.
As religious leaders, we are encouraged by BET’s enthusiasm to engage in dialogue with those of us who have expressed concerns over some of their programming. BET has responded to these concerns by bringing its viewers new shows such as Exalted and Sunday Best, but we all know that real change takes time. We are excited about what the future holds for BET, and will continue to nurture our relationship with the network and its leadership in their efforts to provide new and innovative quality programming to our community. SOURCE
One new awards show and a sprinkling of gospel make BET a source of “new and innovative quality programming” that shows the diversity of the black experience?
You might argue that BET is no worse than its paler Viacom brethren—MTV and VH-1. And you might be right. But I have yet to see a group of community-minded holy men and women endorse either of those channels based on their one or two offerings of social value. But BET gets a hug and a cookie for airing Exalted and Sunday Best. I guess a little shoutin’ on Sunday morning erases a multitude of weekday sin—sin like materialistic excess, degradation of women, the sexual hijinks of the College Hill interns, the bumping and grinding of Hell Date, the g-strings and arched backs of the bet.com “B-girls,” the crassness of “Read a *&%%* Book,” the celebrated violence of American Gangster 2.
The CSA Web site says:
At CSA our goal is to equip pastors and congregations with the skills necessary to build power and improve their communities.
If that is the Clergy Strategic Alliance’s mission, then an alliance with BET ain’t so strategic.
Black women—the backbone of the church, the most faithful in the flock—are demeaned every day through BET programming, their children fed a steady diet of shucking, jiving and filth. Why aren’t these religious leaders standing with the women who pack the pews on Sunday, the church mothers who cook the repast, the ladies on the fellowship committee? Why aren’t they standing with ordinary black folks who are trying to raise their children in a world dominated by BET’s values or lack thereof?
Gina asked me to remind you all that this isn’t the first time a group of clergy members got together to try to stifle a movement led by ordinary people. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous letter from the Birmingham jail was written in response to a similar alliance of clergy willing to accept crumbs instead of justice.
