Universalsoul Circus Introduces Young Black Children to Sex Trafficking
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 7:00AM The Blogmother Dear Black folks,
Pimps are sex traffickers. Violent sex traffickers. Prostitutes who are trafficked are human sex slaves. Now I know that after watching years of urban music videos and having hip hop artists embrace "pimps" like Bishop Don Majic Juan many of you have concluded that pimps are just colorful characters you portray on Halloween or at the "Hustlers Ball," but pimps are not cartoon characters, they are real, and they brutalize women and girls and pass them around like property. THEREFORE...PIMPS have NO PLACE in entertainment TARGETING CHILDREN!
A metro Atlanta mother said she took her children to the circus and was outraged by a skit that portrayed strippers, pimps and other adult themes.
Kristen Brown told Channel 2’s Eric Philips she took her 5- and 8-year-old children to the Universoul Circus Sunday night and was stunned by the final act.
“There are ladies pretending to strip, men throwing money at her, then a pimp comes on the stage and the woman’s boyfriend sells her to him and the pimp slaps her when she refuses to cooperate,” Brown said. “They’re pretending to smoke marijuana and sniff cocaine.”
A circus spokesman defended the act, saying it has a message. “Our show is about positive messages and sometimes to get to those high you have to go to those lows,” said circus spokesman Hank Ernest. SOURCE
Hank Ernest, you are an unmitigated fool! Circuses are marketed to children and you should have enough sense to know that drug use and prostitution are not appropriate subject matter for this audience.
Now they justify this by having the woman in the skit give her life to Christ at the end... hmmm errrm ummmm erraaa... hmm, Jesus managed to make it through the entire new Testament teaching via parables and never once, even when dealing with actual prostitutes, did he have a parable where he made is rain on some skrippers. Mustard seeds, sheep, fig trees, talents, weeds, sowers, ten virgins, but no pimps. Somewhere Satan is laughing at this ignorance being promoted in the name of the Lord.
Hat tip to Roslyn for posting this to the facebook page. Make sure you watch the video on the news website because some folks in Atlanta are two eggs short of an omelet.
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Correction: MOST folks in Atlanta are two eggs short of an omelet. I swear to God if I don't get out of this replica of Sodom and Gomorrah soon I'm going to start praying for hellfire. Whole damned town needs to be turned into a pillar of salt.
Wow...when I went to a Universoul Circus show in elementary school, I certainly don't remember that!!
But hey, I don't what's happening with my city these days...it's re-damn-diculous...thank goodness I decided to go to college out of state.
Wow!
I took my child to see this circus last year and although we enjoyed it, I had a "PETA" moment. We were sitting close to where they brought the animals in to perform. While the tigers were waiting to come on stage, I looked at them and their eyes were glazed over and all of their teeth were removed, except the fangs for show, and they were declawed. They looked so pitiful. I know that it is necessary to drug the animals so they can perform, but it really broke my heart. I began to re-think the "benefits" of stripping a wild animal of his dignity just for our own entertainment. Becuase of my conflicted feelings, I have not taken my child to any circus since then.
Now after hearing about this act, I will NOT support the Universoul Circus. This whole thing is SO unnecessary. Why would someone deem it appropriate to promote adult themes at a circus? I mean, seriously??!! And the whole justification that "the woman turns her life over to Christ at the end" really burns my butt for several reasons:
1. What does the CIRCUS have to do with Christ or the church?
2. I'm tired of people hiding behind Jesus in order to promote foolish mess. If they were just trying to promote a "positive" message of forgiveness and redemption, then why not simply show a young person stealing somethng, get reprimanded then give their to Christ?
3. Why does the WOMAN have to turn her life over to Christ, and not the MEN who abused her? That's blaming the men's behavior on her.
4. Why even GO THERE with prostitutes, pimps and hustlers in the FIRST place? You don't see Ringling Brothers doing that nonsense. What is the facsicnation that some black folks seem to have with this underbelly and why do they feel the need to glorify it?
5. And to hell with the "disclaimer" tacked on to the show. Skits of ths nature have no place in a show that is designed to be family-friendly and to entertain children.
I could go on, but I'm done for now.
What in the world does a stripper's salvation have to do with a circus intended for family entertainment?
Sometimes there are no words. Is "Universoul" just another way of saying "ghetto"?
Given the shenanigans that happen within the Black Church, a CIRCUS is probably not much different, but I am sure that's not the statement the skit creator was trying to make.
I saw the wsbtv video and the people they interviewed were probably some of the most idiotic I have ever seen. One WOMAN thought that the whole skit was okay "because they brough it back around to Christ".
I never went to a Universoul Circus and now I have eveen more of a reason NEVER to go.
The Universal Soul Circus? All I can say is just "WOW!"
What a shame, some of us have come to a low, low, low level. :(
This is performed in youth ministries all over the U.S. ... looks familiar...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCq1bkeDAGA&feature=related
My goodness. Minus the part about PETA, MommieDearest expressed my sentiments EXACTLY. Thanks. ;-)
That's absolutely disgusting. That circus won't ever get my support; thanks for the heads up. Other cities ought to be alerted about this; who'd knowingly want to support sex trafficking and the glorification of it?
Atlanta has become quite..... special in recent years. Good thing I changed my mind about living there once it starting becoming..... special. :-|
I can agree completely with the comments posted above. About the animal treatment, (We saw the same things about them--very sad), the using of (pimping ) Jesus to promote their gospel gimmicks fakery, and the way so many people are flocking to this and giving it high praise?
I continue to see standards being lowered and re-defined in order to Not grow and face the truths about so many things.
We went with our daughters school group to this a few years ago when it came this way..Hated it!!!
What you are reporting on here does Not surprise us At All!
It was a HOT ghetto nasty mess when we went. I am not sure what kind of 'families' they cater to, but no doubt we are Not that kind of family!
The gyrating, and grinding of the performers, the LOUD tacky house/rap music they played, the way they called all these children out of the stands to come "participate' -dance hoochie-style and like Grown-ups, was Not Cool, Good or expected at all.
All those children lacked was a pole and to start stripping!
it was absolutely unacceptable to us! We left as the noise they called music was too much for us and one of our daughters who is special needs. We all had ringing in our ears for hours afterward.
They have a mixed message of their brand of religion and then did a flip-mode and got raunchy???
@Spinster:
Please get out of my head! You are SO right. I've been calling Atlanta "special" for years now. And the Atlanta airport takes "special" to a whole nother level. LOL!!
But back to the post, I am saddened, but not surprised, that there are people who see nothing wrong with the skit nor its placement in a family-friendly venue. *sigh*....
Thank you for this post! I'm so happy that there are other people that understand why this is wrong on so many levels. I blogged about this to in support of the mother who spoke up about it on the news. Love your site! Hate that I had to find it based on this mess, but glad I did.
Are we, African Americans, supposed to be so dysfunctional now that even a circus feels that it needs to give us a supposed moral lesson?
Anyway, as they say common sense isn't common and it's obvious these circus people don't have any.
WOW! People took their kids expecting to see a circus and instead saw a mini Tyler Perry movie. I go to this circus almost every year. What do pimps & strippers have to do with a circus that I'm taking a 4 and 7 year old to? They never did this in the past. The only questionable thing would be letting young girls and grown women in the ring to do a soul train line which would some how turn into a "drop it low" contest. I'm done with the soulcirus.
This is an issue for me as well, and I've never taken him to a circus for this reason. But he seemed so fascinated by the acrobats and such I thought it would be okay. I'm so glad I saw that news story.
OMG *shudders*
I'm a Christian but what does a morality play have to do with a circus? I thought it would be about lions and tigers and bears and high-flying acrobats. And while it might be "real life" and a message that brought it back to Jesus it sounds too graphic for an audiance you know will have young children in it. There are age-appropriate ways to present a message on everything from sex education to sin and redemption and there are ways to portray morality without having it be overtly religious, but I digress. If they just had to do something why not a play about a clown who steals bikes or something and learns the error of his ways? Something kids might actually have experienced or be tempted to do.
But I already know the answers. Our community has just sunk so low and lowered our standards so much that we see what used to be profane and common place. Why not portray pimps, whores and drug use? Too many take it for granted that all of our children come from backgrounds where this is normal. Isn't being black and keeping it real defined by being dysfunctional now? Why not use this as long as you "bring it back to Jesus"? Why not rap about killing and rape and treating women and coveting money as long as you "first give honor to God" when you accept your grammy awards.
Dang BSG "you be goin in"
I'm glad my church isn't like that or I'd be offended at what you said.Unfortunately I have to agree with you.
Why is it that black folks version of what is healthy and good still looks and feels like evil many times?
Most circuses pride themselves on being good,wholesome entertainment for the family.
Church is sposed ta' be good for the soul not for the exploitation and abuse of the members.
Church is sposed ta' teach, and hold the members to, a higher standard of living not convince them that sin is okay as long as it done in the church or as long as they're male.
Why is everything that is sposed ta' be good looking just as bad as rap video's and black exploitation films?
smh.This just ain't sposed ta' be y'all.
Good luck Roslyn, I hope you find a beautiful new home for your family.Reasonably priced too!Positive vibes.
No one should have to endure Atlanta.
I've been to Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus many times, and this would NEVER fly with that circus company. WTH was Universoul (what a joke) Circus thinking? Oh wait, it wasn't. Well, never been and never will go to it.
MommieDearest - the airport too? SMH.
"No one should have to endure Atlanta." --Truth P. >> Ain't that the truth.
OKAY. Never been to the SOULCIRCUS...and never will. However my biggest side-eye is for the concept that the woman has to be lead back to Jesus but not the pimps & drug dealers...or maybe I have been reading wrong and all the morally bankrupt folks in the skit find Jesus. Finally I can say I am not surprised. Sadly Black America has embraced vulgarity and lack of social responsibility as a sign that one is keeping it real. The more out of the norm, the more nasty and trifling the more Black it appears to be...and that's okay. There is no longer barriers of behavior between the Black adult world and Black children. This is why you see pics posted on blogs of Black women posing half naked while standing in front of a mirror with a cell phone and just off to the side is standing a child. No barriers, no sense of decency or standards. It's sick and it's sad.
I've taken my kids to this circus several times. It has always been pleasant save for some of the performers dancing in a somewhat sexual way (pelvic thrusting). I have never seen this pimp performance. This is disapointing that ghetto seediness must always eventually make its way into anything we create to serve our culture/subculture. Our "goodwill" of embracing our lower class often backfires by allowing the lower class to define our culture, thus thrusting ghetto pathology into everyone's lives.
Jaime P. Said:
Our "goodwill" of embracing our lower class often backfires by allowing the lower class to define our culture, thus thrusting ghetto pathology into everyone's lives."
I agree.
Wow. Jamie P. That sums up so much, not just about this mess but what has happened to the definition of black (African-American) culture over the past two decades.
Forgot to add, thanks Gina for reminding us of the insidious way this filth invades our culture. I had to have Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher to remind me of the foul origins of the word "pimp." (Hey, even a blind hog finds and acorn now and then.) I'd taken to use it to describe the way I promote my books. We have to be ever-vigilant because the barbarians are no longer at the gate, they're well inside and have taken over anything we could possibly call civilized.
I think that it is time for black folks to see pimps for what they really are and that is slave owners. When a woman is told she has to turn so many tricks a night or there will be serious consequences and is told that if she runs they will hurt her family that is slavery. We are always talking about the evils of slavery but yet we tolerate these slave owners right in our neighborhood and nobody says a damn thing.
I live in Chicago and I took my child to the Universoul circus a couple of years ago. There were no pimp acts but there was some pelvic thrusting and dancing by male performers that reminded of what you might expect in a strip club. I think it's possible that some of the male performers are/were strippers. I don't think I'll be taking my daughter again as the act made me uncomfortable at times.
My parents took me to this particular circus when I was a kid and I don't remember all the bumping and grinding going on then either.
I don't know why anyone would be shocked. Its not like the kids don't know about this stuff in the first place. Ask any teacher across the US. Kids talk about stripping, drugs, guns, in kindergarten, like its an everyday affair. Parents need to get off there high horse and get real! These kids need to know now what is bad conduct and good conduct. Don't get oh Holy than thou! Get Real! Heck, I don't see parents getting outraged when Beyonce's single ladies came out with her half naked. Neither have I seen parents turn off the morning radio shows, when driving to school. They sing and cuss those vial languages in school. These are Kinders- 4-5 years old. I know, cause they sing the songs right into the classroom. I have seen an entire elementary school class sing the "Halle Berry" rap song. 5-6 years old with the dances. Let Universoul Circus tell the truth. This must get out, the message must come across to young kids, now more than ever. It makes me sick to my stomach that parents don't think their kids know whats really going on. Trust me, that sheltering stuff is only fooling you, and not the child.
You know I have a SERIOUS problem with Harrold/Jamie P. (and YES, I'll call you by your former name FOREVER AND ALWAYS on this site). After showing up and acting a fool, getting called out for it, and then trying to SILENTLY switch up your screen name, now you're trying to place nice? NOW you have a conscience for the exploitation of black women? For what? For who? So when you say something shady the next time, people may think twice about your motivations? I won't.
I would maybe kinda sorta (but not really) have respected you had you KEPT your original moniker and SAID you were wrong instead of changing it to go with your new worldview on black women.
Back to the post at hand... yeah, I'm NOT surprised that the pimps/charlatans/drug dealers never had to go find the lord to get right. I had the option to see the Universoul Circus a few years ago, and passed on it b/c I realized I actually didn't trust a lot of black entertainment venues to not have some shadiness to appease the general population at that point. I'm glad I kept my money.
Justin, newsflash...
PARENTS ARE SUPPOSED TO SHELTER THEIR KIDS. That's why its called parenting. And ALL kids are not hearing this stuff. I can tell you for sure that the Halle Berry song wouldn't have been allowed to be sung in many a public school I could point to. Some parents did get outraged by the "Single Ladies" song, it made GMA. But if you can't see the difference between a pop star singing "Put A Ring on It", with a dance routine referencing Fosse, vs. a CHILDREN'S circus with a "Come to Jesus" pimpology play, then... ain't no need to talk no' mo'.
(the word in that context is vile by the way).
Justin said "Let Universoul Circus tell the truth. This must get out, the message must come across to young kids, now more than ever. It makes me sick to my stomach that parents don't think their kids know whats really going on.
Why does my 4 and 7 year old need to see a message on pimps/johns/hookers when the only thing they want to see are some elephants, cotton candy, tigers & clowns? What if Barnum and Baily did a skip with a young lady in the circus ring getting an abortion and showing a butchered bloody baby. Do 4 year olds need to be told the truth about that? There is a time and place for such things and a circus is not the place to be trying to so call "teach" about pimps. It's bad enough my sons are in the back seat singing Black & Yellow, Black & Yellow after seeing the video in the barbershop. I don't need them play "pimp slapping" each other.
I don't know what children you know Justin, but my kid is not being raised in a crackhouse. He wouldn't know Beyonce if I ran her over in a Wal-Mart parking lot. We are very careful who he listens to and/or sees on the TV/radio. He's six years old for crying out loud. His television viewing is limited to PBS and carefully screened movies we netflix. There is no singing and cussing on the radio when I take my son to school because we listen to npr. We own very little music that's not 30-40 years old and mostly listen to jazz, classic rock or old school R&B. And nobody at my son's school is singing this foolishness. I know because I'm there nearly as much as he is. The most recent songs he learned in music class we "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "This Little Light of Mine." I teach my child good conduct and certainly don't need some nonsense circus to do do.
I rebuke this argument of "these kids have already heard this." I rebuke it in the name of sanity and human decency. Most black people are raising their children to be decent human beings. This affinity we have for being "down" with those who aren't is absolute insanity and I'm not having it.
@Roslyn: "Most black people are raising their children to be decent human beings. This affinity we have for being "down" with those who aren't is absolute insanity and I'm not having it."
I totally agree. I've never been to the universoul circus and now I really have no reason to go. It's just beyond shocking. Black people have completely allowed foolishness, low-class values and behavior to override common sense. There is nothing wrong with having standards, nothing wrong with having expectations and holding people accountable for their actions. THAT is what makes a community a community and our consistenand conscious refusal to do better is why Black folk is in the dire straits they are in. Enough with this ghetto mess.
Often times people cite the whole "redemption" idea or "informing the masses" notion when trying to justify what is in truth a romanticizing of low class behavior. The romanticizing of such behavior is widespread has made its way to the black middle class. A good book to read is "Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class".
DailyLattes,
I realize that I don't know you and that we only interact on WAOD, but I absolutely LOVE your wit. LOL.
That Hank Earnest guy reminds me of the BET executive from the Boondocks, he even looks like him.
Folks, I'm happy I didn't go to this performance and all those who did should have asked for a refund. We have to say no to the people who are making money at the expense of the mental, intelllectual and emotional well-being of our children. Let's stand together and be ready to say, "Take it away from here. It's not my life or my child's." We are being used and taken for fools.