Entries from October 2009 ↓

In our last post before the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, Katie Couric interviews Sapphire who explains the impetus for writing PUSH. Irrespective of how I feel about the HORRIBLE marketing for the movie “Precious,” this is a fascinating interview between Katie Couric and Sapphire. For once, a publicist sends me something that lives up to the hype. Sapphire answers many of my questions.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
From the publicist:

Sapphire speaks about how her novel “Push” became the inspiration for the new movie “Precious,” and her skepticism when she was first approached by the director, Lee Daniels.
Sapphire speaks about casting Gabourey Sidibe as the lead actress in the new movie “Precious,” which was based on her novel “Push,” and what she was looking for during the interview process.
Author Sapphire speaks to Katie Couric about what she hopes people will learn from the main character of the movie “Precious,” and why she thinks the film will have universal appeal.

Their discussion is wide ranging and you will learn more than Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry, or Oprah will want to focus on. This made me a bit more likely to see the film, but the needle is currently on “wait to DVD.” Precious is a composite character based on Sapphire’s experience as a teacher and advocate.

Dearest readers, I received an urgent email “urging” me to inform you about an article in a paper I’ve never heard of. I pray that this person is NOT a WAOD reader and that they just stumbled across the Black Ops email account by accident. Because if they were a WAOD reader, they would know that this is HORRIBLE activism.  TRULY WRETCHED. I offer it only as an example of what NOT to do! My comments are in red.

Mind you, this person sent this to EVERY Black media outlet in the country.

Washington DC Newspaper Sends an Open Solicitation to its Readers ( 80,000+)to Frequent an All Females’ Dorm at Howard University for a “Good Time” at the “Booty Wall” [I guess this is supposed to be some kind of "press release"]

Washington, DC (October 27, 2009) – Erika Niedowski , The Washington City Paper’s Assistant Managing Editor, published a sexist, racist and injurious article, “Who Needs Howard’s Homecoming When There’s the Booty Wall,” that victimized Howard University’s freshmen female students. {DO any students even know this took place?}

Ms. Niedowski, a 1995 Georgetown University graduate  and Pulitzer Prize nominee [How'd she end up at the Washington City Paper?], made the following appeal to the newspapers’ readers: “do not attend the homecoming events at Howard…there’s always the “Booty Wall” for a good time, available year-round if you don’t mind the cold.”

Her article implied that freshmen females [I hate it when people refer to Black women and girls as "females"](college teenagers) at Howard sit on a “Booty Wall” (which Ms. Niedowski provides direction to and gives the name of the females’ dorm) waiting to be picked-up by males students or, as Ms. Niedowski quoted from an anonymous teenager’s blog, “old ass broke n*g#@!.” http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/10/21/who-needs-howards-homecoming-when-theres-the-booty-wall/#comments [way to promote the offending material so they'll get more impressions]

The Washington City Paper’s reckless journalism has infringed upon female students’ rights and jeopardized their safety by openly inviting perverts to lurk on Howard’s campus and prey upon young women.

After receiving what Ms. Niedowski called, “nothing short of a wrath in the comments section” from infuriated readers[52 comments, 23 of which were from the same two people so not qualify as eventful, just write a post about Zahara Jolie Pitts Hair and see how many comments you get. ] and a call from Howard University’s student newspaper, The Hilltop, she published a second article on October 22, 2009. In this article she stated that her unsubstantiated, derogatory claims have been substantiated by The Hilltop’s student editor’s acknowledgement that some college guys do refer to wall outside the all females dorm as the “booty wall.” [all of this is true, male Howard students ARE referring to this as the booty wall. She didn't lie]http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/10/22/a-howard-university-student-editor-on-the-booty-wall/# [way to promote the Washington City Paper AGAIN in case your audience missed the first link]

On October 23, 2009, The Hilltop published a response to The Washington City Paper’s article; the blogger, who Ms. Niedowski quoted verbatim, said the blog was strictly satirical and Ms. Niedowski never contacted him. [Calling total BS on your excusing the "blogger". Pam you lost ALL credibility when you made excuses for the person who CREATED the original Booty Wall post because he's a young Black MALE]The Hilltop criticized the article and decried, “students and alumni alike have spoken out in anger against a story published in The Washington City Paper entitled “Who Needs Howard’s Homecoming When There’s the “Booty Wall”? http://www.thehilltoponline.com/local-media-discover-howard-s-booty-wall-outrage-alumni-1.2034860#

Ms. Niedowski and The Washington City Paper continue to incite anger and disrespect its readers’ deeply expressed concerns. [um again, I only saw 52 comments after almost a week of the post being up, I kid you not when I say we've gotten that many in a day when speaking about hair ]The October 22, 2009, article titled, A Howard University Student Editor on the “Booty Wall” was linked to an adult escort site. When questioned about the link, Ms Niedowski insensitively replied to a commenter, “to contact “Larry Libido” at Washington DC Escort News” and, on October 24, 2009, she advertised a “Booty Wall Clocks” for sale (scroll to the end of the page to the last comment). http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/10/22/a-howard-university-student-editor-on-the-booty-wall/#

Herein lies the problem— The Washington City Paper’s irresponsible and sensationalized journalism has the potential to cause injury and harm to innocent and unsuspecting young African American women that have been depicted, not as college students, but as sex objects for The Washington City Paper ‘s and “Larry Libido’s” readers to marginalize and solicit.[Yes, but who did the depicting, the Washington City Paper or the Male Howard Student that Wrote the Original post?]

Please contact The Washington City Paper at 202-332-2100 and its new owner, Atalaya Capital Management at, 212-257-8165 to express your concerns and outrage. Contact Ms. Johnson at 202-***-****for comments or additional information. [oh, Ms. Johnson, I think you've said ENOUGH!]

Well first. What the heck is the Washington City Paper? Two, the offending post only got a whopping 52 comments. Three, if I didn’t know better, I would think that this email came from Erika Niedowski herself. Fourth, any entity that would elevate Ms. Niedowski to a managing editor position is hardly going to be moved by my readers calling to let them know we’re offended by their intentionally offensive writing. This is some Al Sharpton, Ben Jealous, Skip Gates non-directional outrage foolishness.

Black women we can’t afford to be this strategically obtuse.

Last but not least, if you read the ORIGINAL article about this -WHO STARTED THIS FOOLISHNESS??? It was a purportedly Black MALE student at Howard who crowed about said “Booty Wall.” So why are we worried about “Larry Libido” when its clear the men on campus have already objectified Black women? They’ve already been victimized by their fellow male students, yet Ms. Johnson gives these little trolls a pass.

In other words right about now Erika is playing 1000 different kinds of mind games with you. She’s openly mocking you, and your reward is to work as her publicist for FREE? So what exactly do you want, and what are you going to do if you don’t get it? Instead of calling up people who WANTED to offend you in the first place, why not call up WTOP who is advertising on their site?

Why aren’t you calling for the expulsion of Omari Evans, the Howard University student that runs the website that introduced the world to the Bison Booty Wall?

Evans, who contends that he wrote his initial post strictly for satirical purposes said that he would not have been upset if the author of the story would have contacted him first. . .

The post Evans alludes to is one he made on HU Reaction under the “Bisonpedia” section, a section dedicated to giving a student’s insight into the isms of the Mecca. The entry, entited “Bisonpedia: The Booty Wall,” talks about what exactly the Booty Wall is, what purpose it serves, and the Booty Wall through the years.

The post concludes saying, “ALL HOWARD UNIVERSITY ALUMNI KNOW ABOUT THE BOOTY WALL…If an alum does not know about the Booty Wall, then you should ask for their diploma.” Hilltop

SO is it that we’re upset Black women are being objectified, or the fact that White people noticed?

Notice Black women that the one who started all of this  according to the Hilltop was Omari Evans, a male Howard Student.

Pam, I suggest you get on the horn about Mr. Omari Evans diminishing the value of your hard earned tuition money. Oh yeah, you might enjoy Omari’s chronicle about how he obtained an EBT card, that’s FOOD STAMPS for the DC bourgeoisie, thanks to some helpful instructions left on campus.

I think I’ll retire at the end of the year since I think we’ve officially jumped the shark when we have to type both Larry Libido AND Booty Wall in the same post. All we need is the lyrics to a Plies “song” and we’ll have a trifecta of chicanery and foolishness. . Some Black women are bound and determined to remain ignorant! So file this under “Um, so what are you going to do about it now?” and “WWASD=What Would Al Sharpton DO?”

I guess we’ll call this a retroactive Good News Tuesday since it came in yesterday. In yesterday’s post about a Newsweek story featuring the murders of 10 Black women in North Carolina I mused:

But before you go to the left on Nancy, how much have you heard from the Tom Joyner Morining Show, Monique, Tavis Smiley, AL Sharpton, Michael Baisden, Warren Baby Hair Ballentine about this case? I don’t listen or watch any of their offering so I don’t know if they covered it or not, but I doubt it. Tell Kathey Hughes to drop one of her performance rights “educational commercials” to run a report about this. WAOD

As is our policy around here, anytime someone who I have criticized in a post offers a coherent response, we bump it up to post-level so that the response will go out on all of the various feeds. So yesterday someone from REACH Media indicated that the Tom Joyner Morning Show HAS covered this story and will continue to update this story.

Also, I have a correction to the story regarding the 10 missing young black women in North Carolina on your other blog “What About Our Daughters” today.  The Tom Joyner Morning Show absolutely covered that tragic story a while ago during our “Inside Her Story” segment weeks ago.  We also check for any updates frequently.

2nd email.

This is such a tragedy and I don’t want people to think we ignored it. It’s never our intention to miss anything that affects our community significantly.  We try to stay on top of these types of issues and make sure our audience is aware.  Really we do.

So there you have it, the Tom Joyner Morning Show HAS covered this story. I stand corrected.

Comments are off as you can comment in the original post.

Someone from REACH media contacted me to let me know that the Tom Joyner Morning Show has highlighted this case

“Also, I have a correction to the story regarding the 10 missing young black women in North Carolina on your other blog “What About Our Daughters” today.  The Tom Joyner Morning Show absolutely covered that tragic story a while ago during our “Inside Her Story” segment weeks ago.  We also check for any updates frequently. “

Hat Tip to WAOD reader Honorée Fanonne Jeffers from the blog Phillis Remastered (http://phillisremastered.wordpress.com)

We’ve already covered this story on this blog when we highlighted the EXTRAORDINARY steps that Black women in North Carolina were taking to attempt to find the killers/ kidnappers of their missing family members.

Action Oriented Citizens Place Billboards About Missing Black Women

They were fundraising to purchase billboards on the side of a highway.

Now Newsweek is telling their story and asking why the rest of the coutnry doesn’t know that there is a serial killer in North Carolna killing Black women. Most interesting is when they discuss Nancy Grace’s decision to bump this story from her show. As you know, Nancy Grace is the pied piper of missing and murdered women and children.

But the national media did show some interest in the story after it was revealed that five women were murdered in or around the town. “Nancy Grace called and wanted to have some of us on her show, but before it aired there was a white woman from Georgia that went missing. The Nancy Grace show was canceled,” Knight says. HLN network, which broadcasts Nancy Grace, confirmed that Knight was booked for the show, which was ultimately canceled to profile the disappearance of Kristi Cornwell, a white woman from Blairsville, Ga., who went missing during an evening walk. Representatives from Nancy Grace told NEWSWEEK, “The booking was changed due to news that was breaking that day,” and emphasized the change had nothing to do with the race of the victim. News Week

Sorry Nancy, you need more people. Your show is a parade of missing person’s cases, I want to see some STATS. BTW Anderson 360 covered the case so I guess CNN thought that was enough, but I don’t think so.

18 million[sic] Black folks and their” play cousins” handed over their eyeballs to CNN for their “Black in America” series, you mean to tell me they can’t give these missing Black women 180 seconds? on CNN Headline News? That’s 18 seconds a piece.

Here is the link to the Nancy Grace feedback form.

But before you go to the left on Nancy, how much have you heard from the Tom Joyner Morining Show, Monique, Tavis Smiley, AL Sharpton, Michael Baisden, Warren Baby Hair Ballentine about this case? I don’t listen or watch any of their offering so I don’t know if they covered it or not, but I doubt it. Tell Kathey Hughes to drop one of her performance rights “educational commercials” to run a report about this.

Thanks to WAOD readers for keeping me up to date with things. Last week when I called the court they said the defense team had asked for a continuance in the case of Michelle Riley, the suspected ringleader in the brutal torture of Dorothy Dixon, a mentally disabled Black woman with a “child like” mind who was tortured for months while Riley pocket Dorothy’s disablity check. Dorothy was burned stabbed beaten and the coroner dislodged numerous bb pellets from her body during her autopsy… her captors had apparently used Dorothy Dixon’s body for target practice.

Well the AP is reporting that Michelle Riley has pleaded guilty. I first learned of this from WAOD reader, Spinster and then from my Twitter familia, Fortitude1913 from the blog,  Hit Me Back:

Michelle Riley, 37, pleaded guilty in Madison County, Ill., to first-degree murder in the death of Dorothy Dixon, 29. She faces between 30 and 45 years in prison; a sentencing date has not been set. AP

Unfortunately, Riley’s 14 year-old son escaped with PROBATION! So he’s currently out walking around doing God knows what. PROBATION? That’s a travesty of justice a a clear danger to public safety.

We still don’t know how it is Dorothy Dixon’s relatives and the State of Illinois let this poor woman fall through the cracks. Nor can we explain why this case was completely ignored by Black media, except for ESSENCE magazine. I have to give ESSENCE credit, they will set aside some pages to cover crimes against Black women and girls.  So much for the “importance” of Black radio to keep the community “informed.”

If you are African American and your child goes missing, chances are your child’s story will not make it to NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN or FOX. LIKEWISE your child’s story won’t make it to the Tom Joyner Morning Show or Tavis Smiley’s Radio Twitter TV Smoke Signal. You will join the ranks of parents with missing children, 33% of which are African American, whose children do NOT get media coverage. But there are a number of people online whose entire platforms are dedicated to highlighting Black people who are missing. One of those platforms is Black and Missing.

Deidre over at Black and Missing but not Forgotten is a crime blogger a specialty which requires covering all of the stories of missing and murdered Black people that get buried beneath an avalanche of Real Housewives of Atlanta sightings.  Its not an easy task. I know I have a limit to the number of crime stories I can cover without taking a break, but Deidre has worked tirelessly on behalf of Missing, Murdered and Found Black people and she’s asking for help.

I don’t usually do this, but I need your help. As some of you may know (If you added Black and Missing on Facebook – a link is provided on the sidebar), I will be going back to school SP 10 for my Bachelor of Biology with a concentration in Forensic Science. This will allow me to go further with my blog by going behind the scenes and working directly with missing and unindentified persons. I hope to work in a crime lab by the time I’m done so that I can more quickly help locate missing persons as I post about them.

Some of you also know, that I have a 8 month old daughter. She is the reason for me keeping up with this blog and also the reason for this post. I need your help in paying for her tuition at daycare. Right now I am short on funds, having to pay my own tuition and other bills. If you would like to donate, I created a paypal button below. You can also donate if you just like the blog and would like me to keep going with it. Black and Missing but not Forgotten

You can go to Deidre’s site if you are interested in making a donation.

In this time where many of you are likely experiencing economic hardships of many varieties, life may get in the way of you blogging. There is NOTHING wrong with walking away, you can always come back. For example, I turned the day to day operations at Michelle Obama Watch over to someone else. Appointing a managing editor was one of the best decisions I made. I will likely NEVER return in a management role over there unless she leaves. I love it!

In November I’ll be walking away from the internet ( except Twitter, its a great procrastination tool) for National Novel Writing Month.

The best memory I have from Blogging While Brown 2009 was at the end when a trio of students from my blogging boot camp came up to me to tell me that they were going to take my suggestion and start a group blog instead of going it alone. We’ve reached a point in the blogosphere when some of you might consider doing more than “collaborating” you might want to consider outright consolidation.

All this being said, the reason I was able to do this was because I met my managing editor in person on multiple occasions and had an opportunity to work with her on unrelated projects. That built up a requisite level of trust.

So in sum, do NOT try to do it all. Infrastructure is going to be our “watch word” for 2010. Once you’ve built it, how do you maintain it?

Before I head out the door for National Novel Writing Month, I wanted to give you a Dorothy Dixon update.  As you know I asked you to call the local paper in Edwardsville, IL to let them know you were interested in having them covering the story of this disabled Black woman that was tortured to death by her caregivers.  Thank you for doing that.

I followed up the court date by calling the Circuit Court Clerk’s office to get an update on the trial of suspected ring leader Michelle Riley and Judy Woods. Riley’s defense attorney filed yet another motion for continuance. I am now working to get my hands on a copy of the motions for continuance to figure out why after almost two years the court keeps granting a delay?

So the new date to watch is December 7, 2009, but I have the feeling that without any push from the public for a swift prosecution, we could be going well into 2010. With this trial. I have not given up on getting someone to be in that courtroom. I thought I had run out of time with the October 13th setting, but we’ve been given a 6-week reprieve so I’ll keep looking.

In today’s post, you will read information that the lazy news media will not report about the latest saga in the Megan Williams story. I have no idea what happened in this case, but I clearly know more than Dugald McConnell, (TOM BREEN or MATT LEINGANG).

I am reposting comments that were left on this blog months ago, as well as emails you have not seen. Once you have read these for yourself, form your own opinions as to the credibility of those pushing this current version of the story.

Mr Byron Potts, Megan’s attorney said she’s not speaking and provided his explanation, but a review of the archives of this blog will reveal that Megan’s handlers have been planning this for months and they provided insights into their possible motivations. In fact someone purporting to be Megan spelled out what her objective was back in June. It wasn’t to set the accused and convicted free, but to send her father/stepfather/foster father to jail and write a book because she didn’t receive any of the proceeds of the money that was donated to her.

By now you’ve read the Associated Press version (prepared by Dugald McConnell ) of Megan Williams recanting her torture allegations. This was Rev. Sharpton’s response:

Sharpton said, “If they are being held under false information and she misled authorities, and if the authorities went solely on her testimony, then they should be released.” But he added, “If there are other circumstances around the recanting, we should know what they are.” CNN.com

Well Gee, Rev. Al, you were part of the team that dragged her from her hospital bed to a podium two years ago, shouldn’t you do a little investigation into these “circumstances.” Did you ask what those “circumstances” are? I have no doubt that if these same individuals reached out to ME, they also attempted to reach out to Rev. Sharpton. And to Mr. Byron Potts, the “attorney” did you know that Megan’s current care givers are MIFFED because Carmen Williams left Megan penniless? I mean when did Megan’s current handler contact you, because they started hounding me back in June 2009.

Rev. Al, let me present you with some additional “circumstances” since journalism as we know it is in the toilet, and investigative journalism fell in the grave with Ed Bradley, I wanted to provide you with some additional background in this case, courtesy of the blog comment’s section.

From the begginning of this case, I felt Megan Williams was being exploited by those closest to her. In fact you can listen to me confront one of the original exploiters on my podcast in 2007 ( Along with Shecodes & Black Achievement):

For WEEKS I have been asking who was looking out for Megan Williams and so have some other bloggers.. When I say looking out for her, I mean HER, the human being, not HER, the symbol. On November 2nd on Essential Presence, I even asked if it was possible to have a guardian or trustee appointed and was curious as to why that had not been done considering the money being donated and some of the decisions Carmen has been making. WAOD November , 2009

Megan’s current regime of handlers announced MONTHS ago on this blog, and in annoying emails to me that they were going to be making this announcement on October 21st. My surprise is only in that they found a lawyer to act as their spokesperson and that the AP reprinted the story with no additional investigation. Here are some of the comments that popped up in June. And those wondering why they came to this blog, its actually quite common in criminal cases we cover to have people leave comments months or years after we’ve posted about a story. Happens all the time, I just don’t typically highlight these comments.

#2 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.10.09 at 10:59 pm

megan williams lived in columbus ohio will as her sister shayla williams far as carmen williams is no longer here i do apologise to hear that but the kidnapp is all wrong the location was at 216 stockton st. no rat dogg human poo no christa it is a twisted truth believe me i know get back thanks
#3 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.28.09 at 11:20 am

will i guess nobody tryin to work with me and megan williams about getting the truth out it isgoing to happen god will see o that on oct.21 2009 we are having another march rally but it will be in columbus ohio this time iit s alled th twisted truth of megan williams yes here is the contact number 614 **** feel free to call anytime the truth will come out thanks
#4 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 07.08.09 at 9:20 pm

will we are holding a march and rally oct.21 2009 downtown columbus THE TWISTED TRUTH OF MEGAN WILLIAMS JUSTICE WAS NOT SERVE FULLING IT IS MORE TO ITFOR INFORMATION GET BACK PLEASE THANKS

I started receiving many comments like these. I deleted the initial batch, but when they posted that Carmen Williams died, I confirmed their assertions with a Google search and posted the following post: What Ever Happened to Megan Williams? Carmen Williams Died last week.

Here is one of the comments I deleted, but before I sent it to the big blog trash can in the sky, my gut said I at least ought to save it and the IP info so I did. I am posting it now because I think it sheds some light on the possible motivations behind this current “episode”:

NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL
http://WWW.MYSPACE.COMNAMARRAHSEAGAL | NAMARRAHSEAGAL@AOL.COM | 71.79.*****[I am happy to provide the full IP and telephone info to a law enforcement agency upon request, but as a general practice I don't publicly post this information on the blog.]

YOU CAN CONTACT US AT 614 **** IT IS A TWISTED TRUTH OF MEGAN WILLIAMS THE WORLD NEED TO KNOW MEGAN DID NOT SEE NO MONIES IT IS MORE TO THE TORTUER IN LOGAN COUNTY W,VA SHE GOT PICK UP AT 216 STOCKTON ST NOT DUNBAR NO RAT DOG HUMAN POO ETC. MEGAN BEEN IN COLUMBUS OHIO FOR A YEAR WILL AS HER SISTER SHAYLA WILLIAMS PLEASE GET IN TOUCH A.S.A.P PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW

From Y’all Pray For Megan Williams:Four Ring Circus Adds 5th Ring, 2009/06/07 at 10:55 PM
2009/06/07 Approve | Spam | Delete

NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL
http://WWW.MYSPACE.COMNAMARRAHSEAGAL | NAMARRAHSEAGAL@AOL.COM | 71********

MEGAN WILLIAMS BEEN IN COLUMBUS OHIO OVER 6 MONTHS DUE TO CARMEN WILLIAMS HAD ATTACT HER IN PIZZA HUT MEGAN WILLIAMS WAS NOT PICK UP IN DUMBAR SHE WAS PICK UP AT 216 STOCKTON ST CHARLESTON W.VA YOU CAN CONTACT MEGAN WILLIAMS I ALSO HAVE SHAYLA WILLIAMS THEY BOTH DOING WELL AND HAPPY IT IS SAD WHAT HAPPEN TO CARMEN WILLIAMS NUMBER IS 614-**** OR 614-*****THANK MUCH

From Megan Williams Rally: Prosecutor, NAACP(*cough*), local ministers adivise NO- New Black Panther Party and Carmen Say “Whatever”, 2009/06/07 at 9:03 PM

I’ve been doing this for a while and have been approached by everyone from rape victims to mothers in the middle of UGLY child custody battles. They never made it to the blog and for numerous reasons, I steer well clear of folks CLEARLY IN THE NEED OF COMPETENT LEGAL COUNSEL. This interaction had THREE RING CIRCUS written all over it, but I addressed it in a post because I had serious concerns about Megan William’s well being. The person now in control of her was appeared to be exploiting her. After I posted this post asking what happened to Megan, this blog received a flurry of comments from someone claiming to be Megan’s caregiver and someone claiming to be Megan herself. Most made it through, I deleted several. Mind you, these comments started prior to June 11th.

#15 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.11.09 at 9:26 am

yes that is what i said mean thus is the twisted truth of megan williams she got taken from 216 stocktom st. no rat dogg human poo no christa no hot water no gun i got phone threats from carmen williams soon as i got both sisiters in columbus ohio her husband matthrew williams also abuse megan yes i got kids i got five daugthers i even got phone threats from cy manning shayla williams s babies dad he dogg shayla it is alot to it then people think so get back please do not jugde me help me thanks

#17 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.15.09 at 1:52 pm

yes that is what i am sayin carmen williams and mattrew williams spend all megan s money up and mattrew williams do know went down in sep, 2007 ordeal about megan willia missing and she do have a little sister shayla williams they both ben abnus but no more said mrs.seagal i am out for justice people need to know the real truth please get back thanks

In this comment, the commenter purports to be Megan Williams.

#18 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.15.09 at 6:13 pm

hi this is megan williams i do have a sister and she is 21 years old carmen got what she deserve now she cannot hurt me nolonger,now it’s matthew williams turn to face the consequences because him and carmen williams both spent my money and i did not get a dime of it so he deserves punishment time in prison carmen is the reason why i got stabbed and i think the whole world nationwide needs to know ifnoone listens to me and my mom valencia daniels then we will make our own noise. and do a movie and write our own book. carmen williams and matthew williams knew they were wrong. everybody thinks im going to feel sorry for carmen williams im not i don’t care carmen’s a bitch then she dies noone can change my feelings the way i feel i do not care!

There was more

#22 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 06.26.09 at 1:00 pm

YES IT IS NA-MAR-RAH SEAGAL AND MEGAN WILLIAMS LETTING PEOPLE KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPEN IN SEPT. 2007 YES ITIS REALLY MEGAN WILLIAMS WE DO WANT THE TRUE STORY TO GET OUT WE WILL NOT GIVE UP THIS NA-MAR-RAH SEAGAL HI EVEYONE THIS I MEGAN WILIAMS LETTING YOU KNOW I NOW LIVE IN COLUMBUS OHIO WITH MY NEW MOM IT HAS BEEN A YEAR JUNE 23. 2009 MY SISTER SHAYLA WILLIAMS ALSO LIVES WITH ME IT HAS BEEN A YEAR APRIL 10 2009. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET CARMEN WILLIMS SENT TO PRISON AS WELL AS MATTHEW WILLIAMS, ETC. THANKS MUCH
#23 NA-MAR=RAH SEAGAL on 07.08.09 at 10:08 pm

will it is really megan wiliams,na-mar-rah seagal so there is another way of doing it i will try to send pictures like i said i will try but megan williams got taken from 216 stockton st. with the help of others so come on out and hear the truth i mean the truth so come out hear the truth get back thanks

Here is one that came through the contact form after I posted about Carmen William’s death.

Name Na-Mar-Seagal Seagal
Company N/A
Email Namarrahseagal@aol.com
Contact Purpose Feedback
Subject THE TWISTED TRUTH OF MEGAN WILLIAMS
Description THIS IS REALLY ME AND MEGAN WILLIAMS YOU HAVE MY NUMBER AND EMAIL I ASSUME SO YOU CAN REACH ME WHENEVER YOU WANT TO VERIFY OR HEAR WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY THANKS IN ADVANCE

NAMARRAH SEAGAL

My feeling then as it is now was that Al Sharpton, the local NAACP and Malik Shabazz exploited her and then threw her away. I wasn’t going to assist in exploiting her again. If she indeed wanted to recant, the appropriate way to do that, would have been to contact the DA and the defense attorney’s not a blog. This current episode isn’t about recanting. its about the fact that once Sharpton and Shabazz threw Megan Williams in the trash, she became dependent on someone whose motivations I question, and that’s about the MILDEST description I can muster. .

You can go back and review the earlier blog posts for yourself and search the site for the commentor’s name. It should pull up all of their comments.

So you knew months ago that they were planning to announce that Megan was recanting her story today. Why are you now surprised that unscrupulous attention-seekers are doing what they said they would do? Further more I question the intelligence and sanity of the person who left these comments. But more important, what exactly are the motivations of someone who would sit on a recantation for MONTHS? Why would they set up a publicity event and publicize it as if this was a movie premier? Furthermore, what kind of caregiver, not to mention someone purporting to be an attorney, marches a disabled woman straight into a thicket of criminal liability in such a high profile manner?

As a blogger, I am always cynical about someone SEEKING my attention for the sole purpose of getting attention.I condemned Carmen Williams two years ago for dragging the news media in the hospital room while Megan’s flesh was still oozing from gangrene (“Who is Looking Out for Megan Williams? I’m Starting to Wonder)“. I ridiculed and mocked the circus created my Al Sharpton, the local NAACP, and Malik Shabazz (Y’all Pray For Megan Williams:Four Ring Circus Adds 5th Ring See also Megan Williams Update: Three Ring Circus Adds Fourth Ring).

Al Sharpton’s brother even BUM RUSHED my “Good News” podcast to try to persuade me that Megan wasn’t being used and exploited. I had pretty critical of the cast of characters surrounding Megan in 2007.

REBROADCAST Thursday, December 20, 2007 was supposed to be the Good News Edition of our show where we had nothing but good news, however, we had severe technical difficulties for the first 30 minutes and when we finally got going the first caller wanted to talk about Megan Williams. It was the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of The Ordinary People Society, who happens to be the brother of Rev. Al Sharpton, and was one of tfe organizers of a rally that I criticized on my blog, What About Our Daughters. Blog Talk Radio

You can hear how tired I sounded back then. Its a long show, so download it on i-tunes and listen to it on the way to work. The biggest mistake this prosecutor EVER made was backing down from seeking a guardian for Megan Williams.

So when yet another attention-seeker started blowing up my inbox to announce a big event in October, I ignored it and will continue to do so. Its amazing how many people forget that Megan is mentally disabled and dependent on her care givers.

Was Megan telling the truth two years ago or is she telling the truth now? I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that she’s a mentally disabled woman that is being passed around like a rag doll and exploited. I said two years ago she was being exploited. I said two months ago, she’s being exploited. I’m saying today, she’s being exploited.

So chat away. I’m only posting on this so you can stop emailing me as if this is news. They told y’all MONTHS ago, they were going to do this. So I’m asking the same question I asked two years ago, who is looking out for Megan Williams?

This thing will unfold in its own way on its own pace, but perhaps this offers all of you some additional information to decipher through the madness. You have 48-72 hours to comment as I will be closing up shop on Friday for National Novel Writing Month ( no the irony isn’t lost on me that the truth can be stranger than fiction.) and cutting all ties to the internet.

Well noone submitted any good news this week for Good News Tuesday (shocking!), so I had to go digging from some, and that’s not easy. If you type “Black women” into a Google News Search you basically get grim statistics and articles about how unmarrigable Black women are. No seriously try it for yourself.

So this week’s GNT features an organization doing good work on behalf of Black women. That’s the good news! So this week, we’re featuring Black Women for Wellness out of California. You can learn more on their site.

Black Women for Wellness’ Mission

• Black Women for Wellness believes in preventing illness through education, self-empowerment, mutual support, rites of passage, and celebrations based on traditions created by Africans around the world.

• Black Women for Wellness is building a healthy community by looking within to cultivate motivation, strength, and dedication.

Respect, Black Women For Wellness’s Annual Conference on Reproductive Health

They are holding a free conference on October 29th.

What: On October 29, 2009 BWW will hold a one-day symposium in Los Angeles, bringing together public health advocates, scholars, grassroots leadership  and community organizations to discuss the status of African American and Black women’s health. This day will include coalition building for addressing health disparity experienced by Black women and girls with  a strategy session to achieve cultural competency in care education and services.

When: October 29, 2009 @ 10:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m.

Where: California Science Center
700 Exposition Park Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90037

How: To sign up for the conference register online HERE, by October 23rd

Black Women for Wellness works to end the historical patterns and practices of institutional racism and dangerous lifestyle patterns that perpetuate illness and disease in out communities.

Dear Lord NO! They’ve gotten to my favorite elementary school chorus. We’ve previously featured PS 22 and their fantabulous choir teacher Mr. B.

The PS22 Chorus was formed in the year 2000. We are an ever-changing group of 5th graders from a public elementary school in Staten Island, New York. We are NOT a school for the arts or a magnet program.

They’ve covered just about everybody. Well now you can add another song to their repertoire “Run This Town” by Beyonce’s drug dealing husband. NOOOOOO! There was just something odd about mixing their child-like innocence with Jay-Z, Kanya, and Rihanna. But then again I became aware of them because they covered Tori Amos’ Flying Duchman. That ain’t Sesame Street.

Song choice notwithstanding its amazing to see kids excited about learning. Here is some more background on this YouTube sensation: