Despite the fact that my blog audience has no interest whatsoever in telecommunications law, I will continue my coverage of Bob Johnson’s attempt to force the federal government to give him an unfair business advantage to launch a 24-hour minority sharecropping infomercial channel called “Urban Television.” I knew I was boring y’all, but my inner blogging voice said “Blog on. Blog on and see what the end’s gonna beee.”
Even in the face of a wall of support from the Black Elite Establishment, I pressed on towards the mark. My previous posts on this subject:
Alas, I have been rewarded for being the FIRST person of color to go on record saying that Urban Television is a SHAM!!! SHAM!!! S to the H to the A to the ME – SHAME!. I am no longer alone.
Right about now, the NABJ, NAACP, National Bar Association and Rainbow PUSH et al ..wish that they had held out for more than a two piece, a biscuit, and promises of rainbows and ponies from Bob Johnson. If they had not traded their unqualified support for Bob Johnson, skirting existing law to have the American taxpayers grant him a competitive advantage by FORCING cable outlets to carry his new infomercial channel, they MIGHT have been able to get something more than dinner.
But NO, he took them to dinner and they lined up behind his application with Ion media before the FCC. NONE of these supposedly “Black” or African American- interest organizations paused for even a single second to contemplate what the granting of this license would do to existing multicultural channels trying to get off the ground as BET once did. None of them paused to ask if media ownership is really “DIVERSE” if the same Black man owns, or controls EVERYTHING. None of them paused to ask what would happen to stations like The Africa Channel, Gospel Music Channel, or SiTV. None of them paused to consider what would happen to TV ONE which in its short lifetime has prodcued programming lightyears better than the multimedia crack cocaine offered over at BET.
I thought I was the only one that said “Umm hey, this looks like a naked attempt to crush all other multicultural cable channels in existence with the assistance of the FCC.” Well the scam that Bob Johnson and his enablers at the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, the International Black Broadcasters Association, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the NAACP, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, National Bar Association, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Video Access Alliance, and NABJ has blown up in their faces.
First community broadcasters destroyed the myth that minority groups were lined up in support of Bob Johnson’s infomercial channel. Now TV One finally got a clue and decided that Bob Johnson is trying shank them in the carotid artery. TV One sent comments to the FCC in opposition to Johnson’s infomercial minority sharecropping channel. So what did Bob Johnson do? He threw a fit!
According to Journalisms:
TV One, the joint cable venture between Comcast and Radio One that targets African American adults, is opposing a proposal for a new network by Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television.
In response, Johnson sent a letter to TV One’s CEO, Alfred Liggins III, saying that “your argument that Urban Television would ‘have a devastating impact’ on TV One is totally without merit and absolutely self-serving.“Journalisms
HOld my mule! Hoooold my mule! Happy Friday folks, the foolishness runneth ova! Did Bob Johnson have the AUDACITY to call any other Black person on planet Earth self serving? Oh and Mr. Prince threw in this flashback of a quote by the rocket scientist currently running the NABJ.
Johnson won the support of the National Association of Black Journalists and other supporters after a Dec. 23 luncheon meeting with Johnson at a Washington restaurant. “We’re trying to expand the footprint of African American ownership,” NABJ President Barbara Ciara told Journal-isms then.Journalisms
Hmm your are trying to “expand” minority ownership by handing Bob Johnson a shank to drive into the necks of all the other multicutural channels CURRENTLY IN EXISTENCE??? Not too bright. For those who say i am too harsh, au contrair mon petit readers! If Barbara Ciara was so concerned about expanding the footprint of African American ownership, she would have obtained legally enforceable gurantees from Johnson OR have made her support contingent on certain safeguards being put in place to insure Johnson keeps his promises. They didn’t do that. Bob Johnson splurged by taking the Black Elite Establishment out to dinner and in exchange they offered him their birthright. Where have we heard about THAT before?:
“…When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Genesis 25:29-34).
Hmm I wonder if Bob Johnson served any lentil stew at that dinner.
I tried to tell y’all that this Urban Television Ion Media deal was foul. I told you it was completely and totally blogable, but there I was all by my lonesome sounding the alarm. Bob Johnson has never done an altruistic thing in his life, why on earth would people think that he would start now.
So I am pulling out the popcorn because this is getting interesting. If this ever gets a public hearing I am SOOOOO there! Road TRIP! Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!
Goodness, barely 72 hours left in Black History Month and the US Military tries to sneak this one under the wire. Thank goodness I did my weekly search for stories about Black women otherwise this would have slipped our notice. Often the face of the World War II generation is a White one, Rosie the Riveter or Private Ryan . . . at least if you watch the movies. We all know about the Tuskegee Airmen, but have you ever heard of “Six-Triple Eight”(6888th) Central Postal Battalion? They were the first all-African-American, all-female unit to serve overseas in World War II:
They were responsible for redirecting mail to more than seven million people — all U.S. armed forces in the European Theater of Operations, including Army, Navy, Marine Corps, civilians and Red Cross workers.
As Army units quickly moved throughout Western Europe and into Germany, a massive mail snag occurred because of a manpower shortage.
Soldiers continued to move, fighting battles across the continent, but weren’t getting their mail. Morale began to drop.
That’s when the Army turned to the “Six-Triple-Eight”
When Dixon and the other women arrived at a warehouse in early 1945, they found the building had no heat.CNN.com
You ought to head over to CNN.com to read about their working conditions and the massiveness of their task.
Well the Military finally got around to honoring these Black women. Granted at least one of them had to live to be 101 years-old to be recognized.
During the war, nearly 1,000 women from the “Six-Triple Eight” Central Postal Battalion moved mountains of mail for millions of American service members and civilians that clogged warehouses in England and France.
Their service to their country had been overlooked for years, starting with when they returned to the United States from assignments overseas.
“There was no parade,” said Mary Crawford Ragland. “We just came home.” …..For Alyce Dixon, 101, it was worth the wait. “They asked me because I’m one of the oldest survivors, and I can still talk,” she said with a smile……CNN.com
Apparently the Army was more “progressive” than the Navy back then:
During the war, the Army’s attitude toward African American women appears to have been more progressive than the Navy’s. The Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) excluded black women for almost the entire conflict, officials said. Washington Post
Y’all might want to head over to the Washington Post website and leave a comment when I put this up last night, there were no comments. Oops, the cat’s out of the bag, I pre-file my posts sometimes
I saw this over at Sandra Rose, but I’ve got $20 that says there is someone older involved. However, the “journalists” in the video say that they never recall a case like this.
According to paperwork from her initial appearance in court, Tye recruited at least three victims, one of whom was 14 years old, to work for her as prostitutes.
At least one of the victims did not want to become a prostitute; however, police said Tye convinced her by telling her about easy money…also told one of the victims that working for her was better than working for a male pimp because Tye would not beat up the victim, according to court paperwork.
“We have two girls who are, in essence, pimps,” said Phoenix Police Sgt. Andy Hill, “and they ran their own brothel.”Additionally, Tye told a victim’s mother that the victim was her prostitute and threatened the mother over the phone, police said. Other men believed to be associated with Tye also called the victim’s home and threatened her father. SOURCE
We’ve actually featured a story similar to this where a 13 year old recruited another 13 year old to be a stripper and prostitute in Dallas. Another case where a 26 year old woman recruited a 12 year old girl to strip. So it isn’t unheard of. .. Unfortunately
You sow stripper and pimp culture, you reap stripper and pimp culture. But its all fun and games until your child gets lured into sexual exploitation.
According to Sandra Rose, Jamaica is banning sexually explicit and violent songs on the radio. Folks aren’t going to be able to even broadcast the bleeped out version of the songs. Wow!:
The ban went into effect on Feb. 6. It covers all songs meant to promote the act of “daggering,” a dance move that simulates sexual intercourse. The ban includes music played on both radio and television. DJs have no leeway in the ban because the songs can’t be played even if the lewd lyrics are bleeped. AHN
We used to have something similar in this country. Back in the day we had a regulatory agency that enforced community standards on the public airwaves, but they went away…I think they were called the FCC or something like that.
Did you call South Carolina State today? Did you get viocemail or a live human being? If you get a live human being, do ask if they are having the world’s longest staff meeting.
Chris Brown is being convicted and character assassinated in the media and we don’t even know what Rihanna did yet,” Banner said. Necole B*tchie
OH look who has an album coming out… or not. We’ve previously addresses David Banner on this blog. He’s a low record selling, highly educated buffoon who sold his soul to the Devil for 40 pieces of aluminum foil. In fact, after viewing his live performance at a Congressional hearing about images in media, We labeled Banner, Who’s “slave name” is Levell Crump, “Manchild Levell Crump”.
Yes, David Banner is just as looney in person as he was on the video and yes, his suit was too tight. But he gives to charity so that makes it all okay! Another behind the scenes perspective, David Banner’s testimony send Blackberries CRAZY. Half the room was like WTH? I was giving play by play and had everybody around me rolling. Just imagine THIS BLOG, LIVE! WAOD September 27, 2007
Mr. Crump has a thriving hustle speaking at various colleges and universities touting himself as a philanthropist and a graduate of TWO universities. He can’t make hit music so he’s touring college campuses robbing young Black women of their hard earned tuition money when university groups fall for his speaker agency’s false advertising. What makes Manchild Crump’s shenanigan’s all the more vile and disgusting is he knows better. He is a college graduate and has every advantage handed to him. He made a business decision that mysogyny and the glorification of violence were good business. He made a choice. So now he tours the country sucking up valuable education dollars making intentionally wild statements to generate controversy in the guise of “keeping it real.”
So according to Necole B*tchie and a South Carolina newspaper, Mr. Crump, who is an established Black woman-hating manchild had the audacity to equate Black women perming their hair to Black on Black crime:
In a question-and-answer session, Banner challenged black women in attendance to explain why they perm and straighten their hair. In response came the defense that “hair perming” is equated with being able to get a decent job as a professional and not being viewed as a threat by bosses who are usually of a different race.
“This is what I mean when I say black people don’t love themselves,” Banner said. “Perming your hair is a clear example of ‘black-on-black crime’ and media control. Black-on-black crime is not just a black person committing a violent act against another black person.Necole B*tchie
In addition to this statement, Mr. Crump offered his perspective on intimate partner violence, one of the leading killers of Black women ages 15-24:
Chris Brown is being convicted and character assassinated in the media and we don’t even know what Rihanna did yet,” Banner said.
I am extremely disappointed that the article didn’t indicate that the young Black men and women in the audience didn’t leap from their seats and storm the stage. Now is your chance to do what THEY should have done. Have a conversation with those responsible for this abomination.
Banner’s appearance kicked off the second annual Hip-Hop Symposium, sponsored by the Miller F. Whittaker Library in collaboration with the Campus Activity Board’s “Awakening Lecture Series.” SOURCE
Throw a Stone, Pick Up the Phone
So today’s challenge is for you to call and have a conversation with Mr. Pryatt, the organizer of this debacle and point out how absolutely foolish Mr. Pryatt was to invite Mr. Crump to speak about Black on Black crime in light of Mr Crump’s well documented history promoting “no snitching,” the illegal purchase of firearms by felons, and apparently believing it is okay for men to brutalize pixie-sized Black women. Here is his number: Sherman Pyatt, coordinator of collection development, at the Miller F. Whittaker Library at (803) 536-7045.
You can’t do anything about Mr. Crump having already received his honorarium, but you can castigate Sherman Pryatt sufficiently to decrease the likelihood that he will ever be so foolish with South Carolina State University funds in the future. You would think someone working at a library would actually READ about the people he invites to speak.
You might also contact the people responsible for running this institution of higher education. I have already sent my letter to the president of the university and his executive assistant.
Dr. George E. Cooper
President
300 College Street, NE
Campus P.O. Box 7008
803-536-7013 (office)
803-533-3622 (fax) president@scsu.edu
Dr. Valerie Fields
Interim Vice President for Student Services
300 College Street, NE
Campus P.O. Box 7574
803-536-8190 (office)
803-516-4706 (fax) vfields1@scsu.edu
Ms. Fran Boyd
Director of University Events
300 College Street, NE
Campus P.O. Box 7008
803-536-8531 (office)
803-533-3622 (fax) Fboyd1@scsu.edu
Come on, Oprah. You’re from Mississippi, girl. I don’t mind what you do as a black leader, but if you’re not going to take up for black people, then don’t criticize them. You don’t have to talk about us — stick to your books. When you talked about us, you didn’t put T.I., Nelly and Snoop on there. You put Common on there, and Common don’t call women bitches and ho’s, so you’re not talking about him, so he shouldn’t have to defend something he does not do. Manchild Crump
Don’t bother commenting if you didn’t bother to call and leave an angry voice mail message or send emails. If you would like to review a draft of my letter to the President of South Carolina State, you can find it here. You can pass on the letter by hitting the “Share This” button listed below.
I found out via email blast that Rhianna’s photo had been released. You can do your own dirty work and find out where. Although I doubt there is a gossip blog that hasn’t posted the pics at this point.
I think its a terrible invasion of her privacy at this point and time. Domestic violence is ABSOLUTELY A PUBLIC ISSUE. Anytime someone touches your body without consent, there is a legitimate state interest in the matter. This isn’t about them never being released. It isn’t about Rihanna having any reason to be embarrassed by her wounds. Its about timing. Could we have not let her bruises fade before we gawked at the damage? Could we have waited for the criminal process to commence?
Chris Brown is safely ensconced in the bosom of his Mama and Preacha’. Rihanna has been stripped bare for all the world to gawk at and I doubt her injuries have healed.
If I hear one more fake celebrity say they’re “praying” for the both of them. Or “there’s two sides”to every story, I’ll scream. These same fake celebrities are the first ones to hop on someone’s red carpet to snap a photo as they walk into a fundraiser for domestic violence awareness.
I’ll continue to wait for the public statements by law enforcement and prosecutors because if they have kept this quiet for this long, they are working this case. They wouldn’t invest this kind of time in a case if they weren’t trying to throw him UNDER the jail.
Regarding Chris Brown’s career… of course it’s not over. Sure maybe the teeny bopper set might be through with him, but since when has a violent criminal history foreclosed a successful music career for a Black Male artist? I’m sure he will be singing on hooks in about 3 months.
Each Wednesday we like to take a break from foolishness and chicanery to highlight people who are doing their part to combat the War on Black Women and girls. Once again, we are highlighting someone for being creative.
This week, I am highlighting someone who I think is one of my friends on Facebook, otherwise I shouldn’t be getting their messages . Her name is Vivki Frederick and she has some association with urbanrascals.com. I clicked on the link and it took me to a Youtube trailer of series called “Super Jane.” Its a live action / animation series featuring a 9 year old African American girl named Keke in the lead. She’s a super heroine. Jade Turgel is the Director
Blogs and comments are great, but the battle for the hearts minds and souls of young Black people is going to be waged by people who can pair their values with creativity. The Regime has no problem being creative. We need to be creative too.
As always if you have a What About Solutions suggestion, send it in.
I remember posting about Karen Bass’ ascension to the the role of Speaker of the California State Assembly. I bet she’s wondering whether or not this was a promotion. Apparently California is on the verge of fiscal collapse. This weekend, she had to lock members of the legislature inside the capitol grounds. :
After months of negotiations led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state leaders were only able to garner two of the three GOP votes needed for passage of the package in the state Senate. Lawmakers were locked in the Capitol starting at 5 p.m. Saturday as leaders sought to squeeze out the last vote.
Legislators and their staffs spent the night in their Capitol offices while sergeants-at-arms reportedly confiscated car keys so lawmakers couldn’t leave the premises. Source
They’re shutting down state offices every other Friday. They are holding on to people’s tax refunds. I wonder how long before folks pick up pitch forks and torches:
The state of California — its deficits ballooning, its lawmakers intransigent and its governor apparently free of allies or influence — appears headed off the fiscal rails.
Since the fall, when lawmakers began trying to attack the gaps in the $143 billion budget that their earlier plan had not addressed, the state has fallen into deeper financial straits, with more bad news coming daily from Sacramento. The state, nearly out of cash, has laid off scores of workers and put hundreds more on unpaid furloughs. It has stopped paying counties and issuing income tax refunds and halted thousands of infrastructure projects.
After negotiating nonstop from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night on a series of budget bills that would have closed a projected $41 billion deficit, state lawmakers failed to get enough votes to close the deal and adjourned. They returned to the capital late Monday morning only to adjourn until the afternoon, though it was far from clear whether they would be able to reach a deal. NY Times
I especially loved this video of the California Senate Pro Tem belittling his Republican colleagues. I wonder why they can’t get those two extra votes.
If you live in the following states, you might want to be calling your kinfolks to see if they can give you shelter as you flee: California, Kansas, Michigan. Run while you still can.
We really do an inordinate number of posts about the City of Detroit, but multiple readers sent me the latest shenanigans of Detroit Council President Monica Conyers. I don’t think anything can top “Textual Healing” but this comes close. President Conyers, purportedly mocked a fellow council member for being a high school drop out, hearing impaired and then allegedly said that he had cancer.
As you know, WAOD has endorse Monica Conyers to be the next mayor of Detroit. From WAOD Reader Latonya:
The latest kefluffle got started when Moco go into a discussion with a fellow council member:
Kenyatta said Conyers accused him of being disrespectful to women. “She said, ‘I needed to learn to talk to a woman,’ I said, ‘I do when I am talking to one.’”
Kenyatta said Conyers rattled off the rude comments after he told her he wanted to see her budget cut request in writing.
“She began to say I was dumb, stupid, couldn’t hear, had cancer and didn’t graduate from college,” said Kenyatta.
Conyers had to be restrained by her staff member and an officer assigned to protecting her, said Kenyatta.
“She was trying to walk up on me,” he said.
Conyers did not deny the insults, but released a statement saying that at no point during the meeting did she have to be restrained.
Conyers was not at work Wednesday but she did issue a memo to council members titled, “My Sincere Apology.”
“I would like to apologize for my response to your comments,” she said in the letter to the entire council.
Moco even made MSNBC. You MUST listen to the interview Moco did with Mix 92.3 with Uncut Online
. Some of the highlights:
“If it’s raining outside and it’s only raining in one spot, Monica Conyers made it happen,” she said of the media. “It’s always Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica. I guess they like my name.”
Conyers also gave her side of a loud argument with Kenyatta last week that began over proposed budget cuts and escalated into shouting in a City Hall hallway.
Conyers told Darcell that she couldn’t remember whether she insulted Kenyatta for having a GED or wearing a hearing aid, but said she was only inquiring about whether he was in failing health.
Conyers said the argument began when Kenyatta disrespected her, challenged her authority and turned his back on her while she was talking.
“Everyone wants to make Monica out to be this bad person, but I’m going to say this to Detroiters and I’m not going to say it again: I don’t care who it is or what it is, I’m going to defend myself,” Conyers told Darcell. “I love men. I have four brothers. My whole family is full of men … But I am not, I am not going to tolerate disrespect of women by men.”….”
“I feel some people are jealous,” Conyers said on the radio. “Some people wanted to be president. I didn’t ask to be there. That’s where they put me… Every day it’s always something, nitpicky, nitpicky, nitpicky. I’m learning because before that I would have these outbursts on the camera. Now it’s kind of leveled out. I’m dealing with it a little better. I recognize I was letting people push my buttons.”Detroit News
Wow, and we thought things would calm down once Kwame Kilpatrick went to the clink. He’s out by the way and might be moving to Texas. His Mama paid for his flight here:
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick paid for a private Lear jet to fly her son, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, to Dallas on Tuesday. “I was proud to pay for my son’s flight to being a new life in Texas,” she said in a statement released Wednesday, and first reported on WXYZ-TV. Detroit News
Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan would be so proud. (NOT!)
Apparently Madison Avenue can’t find any adoreably cute little Black girls to be in ads. They seem to believe that once God made the weeMichelle’s he threw away the mold. Now isn’t Madison Avenue in New york City? NYC is supposed to be the most diverse city in America. If you can’t find adoreable little Black girls in NYC, then you aren’t looking:
Madison Avenue is scrambling to adjust to a new era, when the most admired people in America are a black family. To reflect this reality, talent scouts are on the hunt for models who look like the Obama children, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10. “People are looking for girls who resemble them,” says Charlie Winfield, the head booker at FunnyFace Today. Tali Lev, an agent with the Gilla Roos agency, keeps links to her “Sasha” and “Malia” model lists on her desktop for easy access. “Photographers even want them for their portfolios.” Marlene Wallach, president of Wilhelmina Kids & Teens, says the First Daughters are tough subjects to match. “It’s a very specific age and a very specific ethnicity, so there aren’t that many girls that would necessarily fit the bill.” NY Magazine.
The fact that they would feel comfortable saying this openly just shows you how silly they are. HOWEVER it points out a common pitfall when African American’s acheive a certain amount of success, the foolish belief that they are the “exception”.The Black Snob was supposed to be starting a campaign about this.
