Michelle, the weeMichelle’s and Barack have resigned from Trinity United Church, and I can say I blame them all that much for doing it after the comments from the pulpit over the past week:

The resignation comes days after the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a visiting Catholic priest, mocked Obama’s Democratic rival during a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois.In the video, Pfleger wipes his eyes with a handkerchief and suggests that Sen. Hillary Clinton wept because she thought that as a white person and the wife of a former president, she was entitled to the presidency.”And then, out of nowhere, came ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama,’ ” Pfleger said “And [Clinton] said, ‘Oh, damn, where did you come from? I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a black man stealing my show!’ ” cnn.com

If I was held responsible for every word that came out of someone else’s mouth and they continued to say stuff that kept me constantly embroiled in controversy, I’d bounce too.

Barack Obama has resigned his 20 year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and more recent fiery remarks at the church by another minister. MSNBC

Monroe Anderson passed on the story to reporters according to Roland Martin.

Not only that, but the members of the church have been catching Hell ( pardon the pun) as well. This is America, people have the right to worship or not worship the God or Goddess of their choice without their congregation being descended upon by outsiders taking notes.

My pastor, the Rev. Dr. A. Larm Clock Sr., just sent me an email extending an invitation for Michelle the weeMichelle’s and Barack to join us each Sunday at Bedside Baptist Church. Bedside Baptist is the first church in the country to have an award winning distance education Sunday School program. Just kidding Mama, I will be at 8:00 service bright and early tmr!

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by Rev. A. Larm Clock, Sr. are not necessarily my own or the Lord Almighty’s for that matter.

In addition to the Democrats finally reserving the Florida and Michigan Delegate situation, they are going halfsies and awarding each delegate from those states a half vote. I haven’t had time to digest the numbers yet.

What About Our Daughters has received credentials to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We are asking for your support in making sure that the voices, stories, and perspectives of African American women and girls are woven into the fabric of this historic event!Please consider donating by clicking our donate button in the sidebar.

She was the pregnant Black woman who was allegedly tortured over a series of months by a group of six people. Notice that although most of her alleged torturers were White, no members of the Civil Rights Industrial Complex are rushing to bring more attention to her tragic death you won’t hear any outcry for a hate crimes designation despite the fact they burned almost 3/4 of her body to the point that her skin was peeling off and used her for target practice… WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALIVE! Why? because two of her attackers are Black males and thus she is “technically” a victim of Black on Black crime and y’all know Black on Black crime is NOT PART OF THEIR MISSION

They said her housemates shot her with BBs and torched what few clothes she had, so she walked around naked, they testified Wednesday.When her body was found Jan. 31 in the basement, deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body _ her face, chest, arms and feet _ and left her severely dehydrated, police have said. Many of her wounds were infected.The coroner’s jury concluded that Dixon died of an accumulation of injuries over time. Her unborn child, delivered stillborn during Dixon’s autopsy, died because the mother did, the jury ruled.Dixon’s year-old boy weighed just 15 pounds (6.8 kilos) when taken into state custody after his mother’s death, police have said. SOURCE

Please let Dorothy be resting in peace because Lord knows her last days spent on earth were a living HELL.

Disability Advocates Plan Memorial for Victim of Torture, Killing

For Immediate Release:

End Violence Against People with Disabilities Now!
Disability Rights Activists to Gather in Alton, Illinois

(Chicago) On Saturday, May 31, disability rights advocates from Illinois and the St. Louis, Missouri, area will gather in Alton for a community memorial in the name of Dorothy Dixon, a 29-year-old woman
with a developmental disability who was found dead due to domestic violence at the end of January. The memorial, organized by Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA), will be hosted at 11 am CST
at IMPACT Center for Independent Living at 2735 E. Broadway in Alton. The service will end with a procession to the house where Ms. Dixon died.

The story of Ms. Dixon’s slow death over two months, allegedly at the hands of her housemates, shocked the disability community. Alton police found over 20 objects allegedly used to torture her, and at her death she was found cold and half naked, wearing only a sweater. She was six months pregnant at the time. Police believe the motive for her death may have been domestic conflict concerning her monthly
SSI disability check. At least one of her six alleged abusers also has a developmental disability; four are age 18 or younger. Ms. Dixon’s surviving child weighed 15 pounds at the time, aged one.

People with disabilities, especially those with developmental disabilities, are historically more likely to become victims of physical violence, as well as emotional and financial abuse. Women and people who are LGBTQ are also more likely to become victims of violence. FRIDA and our allies are determined not to let this incident pass without bringing attention to the broader issues of violence damaging our community.

While Centers for Independent Living and grassroots groups like our ally, ADAPT, advocate for home and community-based supports so people with disabilities can live in the community, we need those supports to be safe supports. Our community needs better tools to protect ourselves from violence. “No one knows what it’s like to go through that unless it’s being done to you,” says Veronica Martinez of
FRIDA. “If someone was planning to do that to me, I would like to be prepared.”

Feminist Response in Disability Activism
115 W. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60610
Contact: Monica Heffner, (312) 404-6021
www.ourfrida.org

Previous Post:

Happy Easter!— May the Killers of Dorothy Dixon, 29 , Rot in Jail and then Rot in Hell!!

YAY! WAOD readers will have a bird’s eye view to history being made with all the behind the scene’s trimmings we like to bring!

We don’t do fund raisers on the daily or even quarterly/semiannual basis around here, but we’re talking four days possibly 6 days of hotel, plus air travel etc. That won’t be cheap. If you want to help out, please consider donating today.

Here is the press release from the DNCC

Bloggers to Receive Unprecedented Access, Connect Diverse Communities to Historic Event Progressive Community to Provide Additional Workspace, Resources for Bloggers During Convention Week

DENVER – As part of its continuing commitment to engage a broad spectrum of audiences in new and creative ways, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today announced that a record number of blogs have been credentialed as members of the media for the 2008 Democratic National Convention at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. These blogs will help ensure that communities across the country are connected to the Convention through the eyes and ears of a growing, diverse group of online voices.

Organizers also announced that blogs credentialed by the DNCC will have access to a dedicated “Blogger Lounge” inside the Pepsi Center, equipped with televisions, technology resources and workspace to facilitate their reporting. All bloggers will have access to the Convention floor, press briefing areas, caucus meetings, filing centers and other auxiliary events open to members of the media.

“Since we began planning, one goal has been at the core of all our efforts: to engage as many communities as possible in the Convention experience. We’re excited to provide bloggers with the opportunity to be the eyes and ears of so many at this Convention,” said Aaron Myers, Director of Online Communications for the DNCC. “Today, we are shattering the standard we set just four years ago, when the 2004 Democratic Convention was the first to credential blogs. This year, we will more than triple the number of blogs credentialed to witness history in the making.”
The credentialed blogs represent a large and diverse collection of voices and perspectives. The pool includes blogs covering national, state and local politics and those representing a variety of groups including the African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American and LGBT communities. Blogs focusing on youth issues, women’s issues, labor issues, disability issues as well as those focusing on the environment and communities of faith will also be credentialed among many others.

In addition to resources provided to credentialed bloggers, the DNCC is working with ProgressNow, The Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado, DailyKos and The Wright Group to finalize plans for the “Big Tent” – a headquarters away from home for hundreds of progressive bloggers, netroots organizers and non-profit representatives from across the country. The facility, just a few blocks from the Pepsi Center, will provide additional workspace for journalists and bloggers as well as a main stage with events and entertainment that will be open to the public during Convention week.

“We are proud to cooperate with the DNCC to ensure that for the first time, so many citizen journalists will have the tools and access they need to cover a national Convention,” said Bobby Clark, Deputy Director of ProgressNow. “The progressive movement really is a ‘Big Tent’, and we think this unique event will be a huge hit with bloggers, non-profit leaders, and even some members of the professional media.”

In 2004, the DNCC credentialed about 30 blogs to cover the Convention in Boston – the first Convention to credential bloggers. Recently, the DNCC announced that 55 blogs focused on state and local politics were selected to be members of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps. Altogether, the DNCC will credential more than 120 blogs for the Convention and many more individuals will blog the Convention via credentials issued through the U.S. Congressional Press Galleries.

The complete list of blogs credentialed to date can be found at DemConvention.com/credentialed-blogs.

Join me at Blogging While Brown, the first international conference for bloggers of color. To learn more about registration, workshops, sponsorships, and workshop presenters, go to www.bloggingwhilebrown.com

UPDATE: About 30 seconds after I put up this post, I received this message from the DNCC:

Congratulations. The Democratic Convention staff has completed its review of blog credential applications and I’m writing to let you know that your blog will be credentialed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

WAOD is headed to the convention! Hit up that PayPal button. The more you give, the better your coverage and for those familiar with my live blogging, we offer you details that cannot be matched by CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News combined. I’m a blogger’s blogger.

Praise of Our Live blogging From Jack and Jill Politics

After reviewing their ridiculously good coverage, I need to give a phat shout to What About Our Daughters (WAOD). Even if you watched the live web stream, their perspective is unique and valuable. Jack and Jill Politics.

Look MAMA! Okay now back to the original post.

Original Post
For the past two weeks there has been tremendous controversy surrounding the state blogger corp of the Democratic National Convention. The DNCC is issuing an unprecedented amount of blogging credentials to cover the convention in August in Denver Colorado. There were two pools that were available. The state blogger pool is the pool of bloggers who cover individual state politics and they will be seated with the delegation from each state/ territory. They will have a seat on the floor of the convention. The other pool of blogging credentials is the general pool. That pool is supposed to be comprised of blogs covering national politics or blogs, like this one, addressing unique or niche audiences. I applied for the general pool along with most African American bloggers who applied. The general pool has not been announce as of this post, but I suspect it will come out tomorrow

Well about two weeks ago, the list of the state blogging corp was released and there do not appear to be any Black run blogs on the list or for that matter Hispanic, Asian or Native American. As you can imagine that touched off some controversy about inclusion and diversity. While others have been quite outspoken on the issue publicly. I always maintained that we should obtain additional information before wilding out. My position is that if I get a credential I get one, if not, that is fine, I just wanted some African American political bloggers to have access to the floor if they wanted. IT was the principal of the matter.

Some people did not take my advice and all you-know-what broke loose with folks talking about Black bloggers being put at the back of the bus, comparing the state blogger pool selection to “Jim Crow,” and apartheid. The problem with that is Black folks hold leadership positions all up under and through the Democratic National Convention planning Committee. The CEO of the entire 60 Million dollar operation is a Black woman. Plus, there are excellent arguments about diversity, inclusion, access, media monopolies, and economics that could be made to lobby for the inclusion of more bloggers of color without opening you up to the criticism that you were whining. I always felt this could be solved with a dialog. (See how much I’ve grown Mama!) Not because I am “chicken” or an Uncle Tomasina, House Negress as I have been called in the past two weeks for my election not to pull out a sledge hammer to deal with every issue or obstacle I encounter, but because this was a glaring oversight that could be corrected. So I decided to elect not to run around screaming like a chicken with my head cut off and spent my time reaching out to people who could give me more information and who might be in a position to do something about this.

So tonight on the Black Women’s Roundtable at 8:30PM CST we will be speaking to the Director of Press Relations for the Democratic National Convention Committee. I don’t believe he has spoken publicly about this issue prior to tonight. He is making himself available for questions about what happened and possible solutions to fix this.

So don’t rely on secondhand information, get your information from the source tonight at 8:30Pm CST on the Black Women’s Roundtable.

Background:
My call from the DNCC on blogger credentials for the Denver convention – Pam’s House Blend

Yes, I have heard your whining about the lack of podcasts for the last couple of weeks, but even Oprah Winfrey gets a vacation. We’re back tonight with a action filled podcast scheduled. We are only going to be on for ONE HOUR!!! Period! That is it! To listen live, you can go to The Black Women’s Roundtable over at Blog Talk Radio.

We have a lot of ground to cover. Our first guest will be former Congressman, JC Watts. He is the founder of The Black Television News Channel is a 24 hours news Black Television News Channel (BTNC), the nation’s only African-American news network, scheduled to launch in 2009, in places such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Baltimore.

He will be our guest at the top of the show for the first 15 minutes or so and then at the beginning of the 8:30 portion of our show, we MAAAY have another guest on to talk about a current uproar in the Black blogosphere. When I have confirmation of the appearance, I will let you know, but for ou political junkies, keep your eyes peeled.

Other possible Topics: Michelle Obama, DaddyDontWantMe.com, and whatever else pops up

One Hour Only

Callin Number 676-478-4750 or Join us in the chatroom.

WARNING to worker bees, the links to DaddyDontwantme.com will redirect you to a site called Sorry@$$babydaddies.com

… and now another edition of….. Parenting Tips From The Childless(PTFTC)…

Black women have a right to be angry, sad, depressed, happy, euphoric, indifferent, amused. Black women have the right to the full range of human emotions. They have a right to express those emotions and their pain. I am not anti expression, but I have to draw a line when you draw your children into your emotional catharsis. It is wrong to place the burdens of an adult on the shoulders of children.

A reader sent me an article about the work of DaddyDontWantMe.com. The email apparently thinks the site is a good thing and the title of the email was “Single Mom Gives Voice to Others” or something like that. It was Memorial Day weekend so I took a gander at DaddyDontWantMe.com which redirected me to a site called Sorry@$babydaddies.com. Now the site goes after men of all races, but of course WE are amply represented and the sites founder is an African American women.

Now I know all these new fangled Mamas are raising their children according to “Kim Porter’s Childrearing by Court Order,” but it is WRONG to involve your children in your very personal drama with their father. He may be a no count, shiftless, promiscuous, irresponsible, feckless, sluggard, but he is still THEIR FATHER. They will still love him, even if he is unworthy of that love and if I had a mother raging against my father like the women on this site, I would keep that love and affection for my father to myself if I was smart.

I am sure that the women on DaddyDontWantMe.com aka Sorry@$babydaddies.com have no problem letting their children believe that a morbidly obese White man in a red suit will climb down a chimney to leave Christmas presents under the tree, why not let them believe in the myth that their father is a decent human being for as long as possible. If they are saying this stuff about their children’s fathers online, you KNOW they are saying this around and to their children in real life. “But Gina! I don’t say bad things around my children!!” — I don’t believe you.

Here is a sampling of the posts under the “Suspected Deadbeat” tab on DaddyDontWantMe.com aka sorry@$babydaddies.com I am removing the names because we don’t know that any of these allegations are true and I question the mental health of anyone who would want to post this info on the internet.

[name removed] is the epitomy of a sorry ass baby daddy. He has eight other kids from different baby momas and out of all of the kids my baby lives in the same city and he doesn’t do anything for her. So sad! Not for my daughter though simply because I am a strong sista that has turned my life around meaning I am married to a wonderful man now that loves my children unconditionally, I am a success within itself meaning I don’t sit around and worry about what this black man does not do. Sorry@$$babydaddies.com

That is verbatim. Now my question is… what is worse than choosing to have a child by a man who is irresponsible and selfish? Choosing a man who you already KNEW was irresponsible and selfish. IT should have been no surprise that this man wasn’t going to be responsible for the life of your child if you already had substantial evidence to the contrary with the other 7. She says doesn’t have time to sit around an worry about this man, but she had time to post that on the internet. Here is another one:

[name removed] is 38, unemployed and living with his father and stepmom… what a loser! LADIES BEWARE! He will seem charming and smooth, but trust me it’s a trap! David is a sorry ass baby daddy because he wants a woman to take care of him and he wants to use her for her money, then when he thinks he has you, he will become violent and abusive.DaddyDontWantMe.com

Again, why would you have a child by a man who could not even take care of HIMSELF and is violent?? If he is a loser, what does that make you? “But Gina, I didn’t know”… well then you didn’t do due diligence. Who you choose to be the father of your children is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. And another one:

My child has some medical problems that come from his side, and four of his other children also have the same health problems. [name removed] if you are reading this get fixed so you won’t have 12 kids Instead of {7} and stop smoking weed, you can take that weed money and pay some child support.Well it’s now two years later and still nothing, He has about 9 kids now and still will not get fixed.DaddyDontWantMe.com

And another one:

[name removed] (29), currently resides in Cedar Rapids, IA. He currently has 4 children. He will not get a job because he obviously doesn’t want to pay child support. My daughter with him he has never seen and she is almost 1 years old. He also has never spent 1 cent on her and only claims her when it is condusive to him and his surroundings. He gets all these dumb ass white girls to put everything in their names so he can’t have any of his belongings taken from him for child support. He doesn’t have a drivers license either. He messes with multiple girls at once. He thinks he is going to become a rapper like most other black males. DaddyDontWantMe.com

Now that is just a sampling, you can read the rest on your own. The posts include photos, locations and full names and some SADLY even include photographs of the UNWANTED children. The primary complaint appears to be lack of financial support, but in what way does calling the man a sorry @$$ baby daddy increase the likelihood of them commencing financial support of their children? The thing about shame is that it only works on people who have the ability to be embarrassed. IF you got 8 kids with 8 different women, there is little this man is likely to be embarrassed about, otherwise he would have been embarrassed about not taking care of child #1

Now the site does have a section for “Real Dads”, but off the bat I had a WTH moment when I read the first entry of what is supposed to be positive:

Hi my name is[name removed] and i am a senior at University of California Santa Barbara. I’d just like to update my story since reciving the DNA test results, [name removed] has completely taken on his role as an active father going as far as putting our child on his medical insureance providing for our child the best that he can and just making and effort. Sorryassbabydaddies.com

I pasted that word for word. Now first, maybe I am old fashioned, but I can’t imagine telling the world that I had to establish my child’s parentage via DNA. Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell anybody. But to put our pictures up there too? Is this what we have come to? Are we supposed to be euphoric that a brother agreed to take a DNA test? That is a success story?

The site also included this fascinating documentary of Black 8th graders talking about what it means to grow up without their fathers. Fascinating, but a part of me cringes wondering if this should have happened in a non therapeutic setting.
SorryAssBabyDaddies.com

Then there is this video that I think is supposed to be a PSA about child support and the actress claims to have been successful at hiding her 15-year rage, but I am sorry, I don’t think you can hide that kind of thing from a child:

But Gina! THEY NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! Really? You think the kids won’t eventually figure this out. Whether you believe it or not, even when children know their parents are wrong, the kids still love them and children often feel responsible when the family is having difficulty, they wonder what their role is in the mess and typically take the blame on their own shoulders. The world will let your child know soon enough that their father is a sorry individual.

And to this labeling of your own child as “Unwanted” that is what probably ticked me off the most. Do you think your child does not know that they were unwanted? Really, if Daddy hasn’t shown up in years. Some of these children aren’t even out of diapers yet, and their own mothers not only view them as “unwanted,” but they have publicly labeled their children as such and put their pictures and video of the children up on the internet so the world can gawk at the children of two very selfish individuals. Trust me, if their own mothers think the kids are unwanted, I believe that they are sending that message to their children.

One day those kids are going to grow up and the world will tell them that they are wanted if only they will do X,Y,Z. IF you label your daughter as unwanted, don’t be surprised if she falls for the first boy wearing some TAG body spray who tells her that he wants her. If your child is unwanted, don’t be surprised if they turn to some mind altering substance so that they won’t feel the pain of being unwanted. If your child is unwanted they are likely not to value their own lives and thus might not value the lives of others.

Black women HEAL THYSELF! It is okay to be angry, but after 15 years you should have figured out a more productive outlet for that anger other than your Children’s father and you could have found a healthier tool to use in your healing process other than your own children. IF the child support laws aren’t working, then lobby for reform.

HOWEVER- GOVERNMENT WAS NEVER MEANT TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE EXERCISE OF GOOD JUDGMENT BY INDIVIDUALS – When you rely on the government for anything, you will be disappointed so it isn’t shocking that when you rely on court orders to provide for your children, you are going to experience a less than optimal result. Government wasn’t intended to take the place of character or morality.

Please stop labeling your children as unwanted. Please stop having your children play any role in your quest for retribution against their fathers. It is not the children’s fault that they have two narcissistic, selfish people as parents. I know y’all haven been reading all those ESSENCE magazine articles featuring Kim Porter’s Childrearing by Court Order, and watching episodes of Maury Povich, but this is soooo not right on too many levels.

This concludes this edition of Parenting Tips from the Childless. What say you?

You know some days I feel like Neo in the movie, The Matrix. You take that red pill one day and see the world as you have never seen it before. Not that we don’t have our share of chronicling Satan’s handiwork, but this just was so sad to think about .. Aid workers and “peaces keepers who are supposed to be HUMANITARIAN soliciting sexual favors for food:

Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in a report released Tuesday….CNN

There is no panacea, but I’ve realized that the only way women and girls anywhere can truly be free is be financially independent. That doesn’t mean rich, but in many places in the world, that means being able to eat on occasion. $2.80 and some chocolate. and I was complaining about $3 gas.
IF this story makes you angry or sad and you feel an overwhelming urge to DO something, you might want to investigate groups like Heifer International. They don’t just come in and give aid and leave the local community begging for more, they work on sustainable development with microloans and microbusinesses that allow women to be entrepreneurs so that they can end the cycle of abject poverty that leaves their children vulnerable to this kind of exploitation in exchange for food.

“You have to admit that the sensationalist image snagged a lot more readers though. unrepentant.BTW I took that image down long before anyone realized it. I figured I’d take it down as soon a I hit a certain number of comments.I still think that it was entirely appropriate, historically accurate and politically relevant.Besides, it was an ILLUSTRATION, a FICTION not a PHOTO. I still don’t get what all the uproar was about mainly because only one person bothered to really articulate their feelings.”

One Citizen from Daily Kos, creator of Michelle Obama Torture Depiction

Oh he has no idea how much attention his “sensationalist” image has garnered. Since we first posted about this post at the “progressive” liberal blog Daily Kos , the creator of the Michelle Obama torture depiction is still blissfully ignorant of the widening horror and anger he is evoking in the Black community. CLUELESS! DOn’t you LOVE the benefits of “privilege.” You get to read about the horrors of lynching and make collages depicting it. How nice it must be to be “progressive.” Feel free to share with him how deluded he is because he is under the impression that its only right wing Republicans who have a problem with this image.

Perhaps y’all can educate him about using the torture of Black woman as his tool to be “sensationalist.”(I can hear strains from the movie “Deliverance” playing in the background as he came up with his “clever” depiciton) Maybe y’all can impress upon him the fact that the systemic torture, killing, intimidation and oppression of Black people is NOT SENSATIONAL!

Nearly five thousand men and women were lynched in the American South in the years between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement. These black men and women were not slaves. They were hardworking, taxpaying citizens of America who had been granted the right to vote and given equal protection of the law in the American Constitution. Yet they were viciously murdered for tiny infractions of a racist social code. These gruesome murders were carefully constructed to impact the entire community. The lynch mob not only killed its victim, it stripped whole communities of any sense of security, protection, or predictability… That such a horrifying imaging of Michelle could be deployed in her so-called-defense made me sad, angry and really very scared. Melissa Harris-Lacewell, The Root

Ask our parents and grandparents how “sensationalist” lynching or the threat of lynching was? I don’t even have the patience to deal with this level of ignorance. He has the luxury of reveling in how clever he was because I doubt he or his grand parents or great parents experienced or had to live under the fear of being kidnapped hung from a tree, branded with a branding iron and set on fire among other horrors.

Now he is saying he regrets taking the picture down.

For all that hoopla, not on came up with any argument against the actual words on the graphic. One Citizen from Daily Kos on his Michelle Obama Torture Depiction

This One Citizen is a prime example of what often goes wrong with people who believe that they are “progressive” liberals, they think their self declaration as “liberals” makes them immune from being ignorant, racist, and misogynist. Support for Barack Obama is not your “Get Out of Being Racist Free Card!” Being labeled an “Uppity Liberal” has no parity with being lynched.

I’ve been swamped lately, but your fellow WAOD readers are staying on top of the War on Black women and girls in this country in my stead. Here is a tip: If it is something you want me to pay attention to, don’t send a 15 page letter, I have too much email to read all that. Get to the point in two sentences or less. Don’t just send the link, tell me why you think the story relates to the work we do.

Duke Rape Case Update:
Duke Student Newspaper Calls HBCU “worthless”for Conferring Degree to the Accuser in the Duke Rape Case [Hat Tip WAOD Reader CW]

I just wanted to draw your attention to an article recently published in the Duke Daily Chronicle, written by a white former student, about how North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, is a worthless school because they recently graduated the young lady who accused the Duke Lacrosse Players of rape. Duke Chronicle

Another Black Woman Assaulted:

18 year-Shot Because She Rebuffed Advances [Hat Tip WAOD Reader Sue] Read Story.

BET on NPR:
NPR has been on a tear with its coverage of the Parent’s Television Council’s report, “The Rap on Rap”. Here is nother segment from the show Tell Me More. [Hat Tip WAOD Reader Venetta]

GOOD NEWS:
Y’all know I love the GOOD NEWS! Thanks to WAOD reader Katherine for passing along this info about Norma Merrick Sklarek[Hat Tip WAOD Reader Kathering]

2008 AIA President Marshall Purnell, FAIA, the first African American to hold that position raised his voice in support of Sklarek, “She made me possible,” Purnell said. “She is mentally the strongest person in this profession that I know. Everywhere she went she was first.” AIA Board member Anthony Costello, FAIA, called Sklarek the “Rosa Parks of Architecture.”

Sklarek’s career has been marked by breaking barriers and expectations of what an African-American woman could do. She was the first African-American woman to graduate from Columbia University in 1950 with a BArch, as well as becoming the first registered African-American female architect in the entire nation. In 1980, she became the first African-American female Fellow of the AIA. Five years later, she was at the head of the first architecture firm to be formed and managed by an African-American woman—Siegel, Sklarek, Diamond.

Congrats Ms. Sklarek

Update on Romona Moore Post

If you are aware of cases where a crime has been committed against a Black woman that has been underreported in comparison with that of another woman, pass it on, with a link and a brief explanation. Do not send a three page explanation. In one hundred words or less, explain the back story behind the link. Put RM in the subject line so I can pull you email out of all the new letters people have signed me up to receive without my permission.

UPDATE(5/25): The creator of this foolishness has responded to critics. If you thought this image was a demonstration of his absolute ignorance, wait until you read his response to criticism.

What was going to your mind when you imagined a Michelle Obama being hung from a tree right before being branded with a hot branding iron that reads “Uppity Liberal?” How did you fix your mind to convince yourself that putting this image up was a smart or persuasive thing to do
No your eyes are not deceiving you, that is Michelle Obama’s photoshopped face in that photo. A DailyKos diarist named ONECITIZEN created this. I get the point they were trying to make, Michelle Obama is being criticized by the GOP for numerous things, but really what was going to your mind when you imagined Michelle Obama being tortured by the Klan? SECURITY CALLING SECURITY! To be clear, REPUBLICANS did not create this,a liberal “progressive” blogger created this foolishness.

You can see the original screen capture from Dailykos by going here. It has since been taken down by the site’s owner, but not before 155 people commented on the lunacy.

Barack Obama finally stepped up and told folks to leave his wife alone this week, about three months after the “proud of my country” flap where I quite frankly didn’t think he defended her enough. In fact, I think he kind of left her hanging OUT THERE.
To recap, this is what Michelle said

Here is Michelle explaining her comments in further detail

First we have Bill O’ Reilly trying to “decide” if he is going to “lynch” Michelle. Now this foolishness.

Dear liberal “progressive” bloggers, you don’t have to create fictionalized depictions of Black women being tortured. How about you spend some time talking about the Black women in this country that are ACTUALLY being tortured. Not in Africa or Asia, or South America, but right here in THIS country. Romona Moore, Ebony Dorsey, Daniyah Jackson, Dunbar Village, and Dorothy Dixon among many others.

I have the feeling we’ll have our hands full just covering Michelle Obama incidents just like this Dailykos foolishness all summer long.

Hat Tip to WAOD Reader RB who never fails to raise my blood pressure with her email tips.