Today What About Our Daughters is participating in HAPPY BLACK GIRL DAY! Happy Black Girl Day is the brainchild of Sister Toldja. You can read the official rules of HAPPY BLACK GIRL DAY at her blog, The Beautiful Struggler. I can’t wait for the Happy Black Girl Day greeting cards, floral arrangements, fire works display. Here is my first entry. This week I am one HAPPY BLACK GIRL!
I received a picture mail Monday that merely said “She’s there.” The accompanying photo was of a white house. No, not “A” White House, but THE WHITE HOUSE.
She’s there? Yes, She’s there. Yes, after months of starts and stops and setbacks and detours she was there. SQUEEE! YAY! uh uhhhh! Shut UP! She’s there? Yes, she’s there! No way! WAAAY!
On Monday Michelle Obama Watch dispatched our Washington Correspondent, Nisa, to the White House to report on the International Women’s Day celebration hosted by our First Lady and the President of the United States. On Tuesday she reported from the Smithsonian Museum of American Historywhere the First Lady was handing over her inaugural gown. And none of it would have been possible if I hadn’t been willing to let go of the steering wheel. I now have EVIDENCE that I can build something, release it, and it will grow without me micromanaging. Which is a good thing because I’m building a lot of stuff these days.
Last year, after my doctor gave me the side eye regarding my blood pressure, I was forced to give some things up, including control by trying to do too much. So I handed over the management of Michelle Obama Watch, the blog, to someone else.
This Black girl is happy that she found the fabulousness that is the Managing Editor of Michelle Obama Watch, Aminah Hanan. You should be happy that since Aminah has had things well under control since she took over, I have been freed to focus on developing television and movie projects. The first is a spin off of Michelle Obama Watch, the blog called Our East Wing, the television show.
For the past four months I’ve been taking courses in video and television production. I know how to white balance an HD camera. I know what an ND filter is. I don’t quite know what aperture is, but I know how to adjust it to get the look I want. I’ve learned about audio and mixers and The Grand Master. I’ve been certified to produce in a 2 camera studio and next month I’ll train to get certified in the three camera studio. Dolly shots, and panning, medium and long, warm vs. cool, keying, character generation are now part of the ever evolving vocabulary and skill set.
Four months ago, I looked in on the studio control room and it looked like they were flying the space shuttle. Well now, I know how to fly too. I was the star pupil in my class! Okay, well there were only two people in the class, but I was still the star I reserved a studio at the end of the month to hold auditions to select the hosts of the show. I have to know how everything works before I can direct other people, but as soon has I get the hang of everything, I’m handing it off and moving on to the next project. And that’s just the beginning.
So I’m happy that we are amassing a growing body of evidence that one day we will live in a world where millions of Black women will be defining their images for themselves by producing their own content. One blog post at a time, one correspondent at a time, one television show at a time. You now have the evidence. Why not step out on faith?
Happy Black Girl Day!
PS. Sign up for Script Frenzy today. Its the competition to write a 90-page screen or stage play in 30 days. I’m already outlining It starts April 1st. I hope to have at least 6 readers participating with me.
PPS. If you want to get me a Happy Black Girl Day Present, you can get me a Panasonic GH1 :)… for the aspiring filmmaker
ON Wednesday I urged those readers who wished to voice their objection regarding Toure’s comments about Black women being systematically raped during slavery, to call MSNBC President Phill Griffin and complain. Afterall, Toure has listed MSNBC on his Twitter account and MSNBC has chastened employees for being unruly on Twitter in the past.
Well I called the MSNBC President’s Office and talked to the same woman TWICE. Although Toure has not removed his affiliation with MSNBC, he has scrubbed his confession and admission that he was emotionally unstable and used impaired judgement. But of course he left up his jokes about Black women being raped during slavery. He appears to admit that he brought up the systematic rape and torture of Black women during slavery as some type of act of vengeance. You won’t see any of this on his twitter account now because he deleted it. Luckily for you… I took a screen capture and have all of the deleted tweets. I was actually trying to take an image of his bio section with his MSNBC affiliation, but who knew that he would go back and edit his tweet stream?
Which brings up another point. I’m just a lowly blogger, but don’t “professional” “journalists”- which Toure purports to be- have ethics? Isn’t it a no no to LIE about your writing and blame it on an imaginary cousin taking over your Blackberry? Isn’t it a LIE to confess and then erase the confession? This has Jayson Blair written all over it.
I’ve already called twice. Do your part and call MSNBC President Phil Griffin at 212-664-4444. When the receptionist answers just say matter of factly “Phil Griffin’s Office”. Sound bored. A young woman will answer the phone. At which point you can ask her:
Whether MSNBC will discuss Toure’s twitter hijinks and treat him the same way they treated David Shuster?
Will MSNBC continue to allow Toure to include their network’s name on his account?
Have they discussed this matter with him at all?
Will they issue a public statement regarding this matter in the same way that they issued a statement regarding David Shuster’s “inappropriate” interaction with James O’Keefe?
Will Keith Olberman consider naming Toure his Worst Person of the Week?
She took down my email address, but I still haven’t heard back. Luckily for her, I can blog about this for the next three months.
Now that he’s scrubbed his Twitter page, I’m far more interested in this because he’s hiding something. Probably from his confused self.
So today ends my blogcation. And quite frankly I don’t really feel like blogging. Sometimes you’re just speechless, like when you see an organization that purports to speak for people like you. An organization with a LONG history of fighting negative portrayals of Black folks hand out awards to people who make their money promoting coonery of the highest order. And THAT”s just the people who WON an award. These people nominated a FUNERAL service for an award! These people nominated a song about drinking excessively, engaging in various sex acts and blaming it on the al al al al al alcohol. These people nominated Steve Harvey for a literature award… Strike that, he won! Continue reading →
I’m still on blogcation, but this was too good to have some of you not know about. Tavis Smiley and Al Sharpton had a CATFIGHT yesterday on national radio. None of it was about what you think its about, but if you would like to hear the dueling hissy fits or discuss it, you can do so on the WAOD Network. The blogcation continues.
I have been instructed to ho go an undisclosed location to work on a project and folks are being quite insistent about it. So as planned, I’m on blogcation for the month of February. No blogging here at WAOD. That means no comments either.
I’ll still be tweeting as it is a great procrastination tool. You can follow me on Twitter. Its Black History Month so I’m sure there will be oodles and oodles of items for me to give a 140 – character commentary about.
You can also start your own discussions with other WAOD community members over at the WAOD Network- “Where WAOD Readers Have Their Say”. Charlotte and timetokeepitreal just started threads about side hustles and a “positive” story about Black women and their daughters in the Washington Post. Although all new members now have to be approved. You can also follow our progress on the Couch to 5K program.
Hopefully those of you involved in creative pursuits will use this time to buckle down and build some “unsexy” infrastructure. Its not as exciting and the instant feedback on blog posts, but its necessary. My goal is to comeback in March with a *bang.*
“If his status ain’t hood I ain’t checkin for him Betta Be street if he lookin’ at me” – Beyonce’ & ‘em.
Apparently some are SHOCKED that I am not a fan of Beyonce and her drug dealing husband and am NOT delighted that one of the most venerable news organizations left would be doing a feature on her carefully manufactured public persona. My response, Have you read this blog? Continue reading →
Hat tip to CW who just relaunched Black Women Deserve Better. Black women can you feel that? That is the sound of Harriet Tubman, Barbara Jordan, and Shirley Chisholm tap dancing for joy that our generation of Black women might have finally gotten a freaking clue! All around the blogosphere I see Black women evolving and expanding their platforms. Taking dead aim at traditional media and the THOUGHT PRISONS that are holding us back. The push back against the War on Black Women is coming on many fronts from many directions as it should. I’m so excited that Kadija has written The Sojourner’s Passport don’t know what it says, but am excited that she went through the process. Because once one or two of us figure something out, we have the wisdom and the knowledge to share with others. Continue reading →
Pretty pretty please after you send me that purple pony we talked about, can you please send me a man with four different babies by four different women! Can I please have a man who abandoned me and my child for seven years!
If he’d asked her, Glass would’ve married Whitney when she found out she was pregnant. But it didn’t go that way: Many of his friends and advisers were warning him to be careful. . . . Two months after Casaan was born, Whitney was traded to the Denver Nuggets, leaving Glass to raise their son by herself. Even when Whitney returned to Washington the following year, he had limited contact with Casaan. “There was a lot of strain,” Glass says. . . .Eventually the couple’s relationship deteriorated completely: They stopped speaking for four years. Whitney went on to have three more sons with other women. Glass adopted a teenage boy whose parents passed away and had another son of her own.
Oh my sisters! If y’all wait long enough maybe just maybe after your baby daddy hauls off and goes and has three other illegitimate children after abandoning you and your child , you too can have a glorious 500 guest wedding too! Continue reading →
As I told the folks who are a part of the What About Our Daughters Network, I will be engaging in a major infrastructure project in February and will be away from the blog. But don’t worry, you can still discuss the latest and the greatest at the forums on the WAOD Network. Continue reading →
On this day that the nation celebrates freedom fighting and non violent resistance, we pay homage to the brave Black folks in Williamsburg County, SC who fought back against race-based discrimination and outright lunacy on the part of school district employees. Dr. King would be very proud!
This is a watershed legal moment. A Civil Rights statue has been used to sue a school for intraracial raced-based harassment. In this case, as many of us have experienced, young Black children were harassed by their classmates for “Acting White.”
COLUMBIA, SC — Two Williamsburg County students and members of their family have reached a $150,000 settlement in what may be the first Title VI lawsuit based on claims of intra-racial discrimination in South Carolina public schools. Lawrence “Larry” Kobrovsky, a Charleston attorney who focuses his practice on constitutional law and school issues, said the parties settled after a female student’s claims of sexual and racial harassment at a Salters school went to trial in U.S. District Court in Florence. The suit was one of two against the Williamsburg County School District and school officials. The other suit, filed on behalf of the student’s uncle, was dismissed.
Both students were members of an African-American family that shared a home in rural Williamsburg County. Both attended public schools at the time of the alleged harassment.
The trial lasted two days, but the case never went to the jury. SOURCE
It didn’t go to a jury because the school district decided to settle AFTER the girl’s uncle testified, but the fact that it made it past summary judgement means that tormented Black students now have a powerful weapon against school districts that turn a blind eye to the underachievement police. I have a dream today!
I reserved a studio at the end of the month to hold auditions to select the hosts of the show. I have to know how everything works before I can direct other people, but as soon has I get the hang of everything, I’m handing it off and moving on to the next project. And that’s just the beginning.
