You know what – No.

RNC chairman candidate defends ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ song

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How much does this suck?

White House Family Values: Where Are the Boys?

h/t Renee

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Rest in Peace, Eartha Kitt

NEW YORK (AP) – A family friend says Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died. She was 81.

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Oh – hi….

So… I’ve been gone.

It was the end of the semester with massive grading out the wazoo, then I got sick, and on top of being sick had to deal with unsavory commenters which was making me rethink this whole blogging and so I was writing posts in my head and reading the amazing stuff so many of you are writing and now… it’s time to hang out and do the holiday thing.

Have a happy holly merry jolly whatever you celebrate – I’ll be back soon.

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SPEAK! Album

From Sudy

Speak! is a women of color led media collective and in the summer months of 2008, they created a CD compilation of spoken word, poetry, and song. This is the first self-named album.

With womyn contributors from all over the country, Speak! is a testament of struggle, hope, and love. Many of the contributors are in the Radical Women of Color blogosphere and will be familiar names to you. Instead of just reading their work, you’ll be able to hear their voices.

I can guarantee you will have the same reaction as to when I heard them speak, I was mesmerized.

Proceeds of this album will go toward funding mothers and/or financially restricted activists wanting to attend the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI this July. This is our own grassroots organizing at its finest with financial assistance from the AMC. We collaborated and conference called for months and here it is, ready for your purchasing.

In addition to these moving testaments, there will be a zine, featuring more of our work and a curriculum available to further process the meaning of each piece for yourself, education, or a group discussion. The possibilities are endless.

You get all of this for less than $20, you can order one for yourself or buy a gift card for friend which can be redeemed to buy the CD. Stay on your toes and look for more information come January 1, 2009. Only 200 copies are available.

Forward this promo vid widely and to the ends of your contact list. See the link here.

Much love.

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Friday night video – The Mean Kitty Song

I had a cat just like this once… the best little kitty in the world.

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Obama selects cabinet

h/t PostBourgie

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Death of Black Student in Mississippi Raises Suspicions

Via Ruby Sales at Spirit House:

Dear Friends,

Heads up on a story that I am working on! A seventeen year old Black high school football star, Billey Joe Johnson, headed to college with a pocket full of scholarships to schools throughout the South and in Oregon, was stopped by a police for a traffic violation. The police alleges that when he went to check Billey’s license, he heard a gunshot. He returned to Billey’s car and found him slumped over the seat. According to policeman, Billey shot himself with a shotgun. I have tried to get more information. It is closed and, a tight lid surrounds this shooting! If you know anyone in the Gulf Coast region or in a position in Mississippi to get facts, please let me know. I have also spoken to a local woman who went to scene of incident. She is highly suspicious the official story.

Update: 9:15pm. I have spoken with a member of the Johnson Family, and he told me that the family including the parents have not yet seen Billey’s body. The police claimed that they were sending the body to Jackson, Mississippi to be examined by coroner. As a matter of fact when the parents went to the scene of the incident,. The police refused to let the parents see their son. The parents want justice. They need us to get this story out in the media. Please note that the police called the coaches, not the parents, to identify the body even though they came to the scene and requested to see the body.

THE OFFICIAL STORY
“The police said: “George County High School star running back Billey Joe Johnson died Monday from a single shotgun blast after a deputy stopped his car and was preparing to conduct a check of Johnson’s driver’s license. They go on to say: “According to the George County Sheriff’s Department, Johnson was stopped on Mississippi 26 in the city limits of Lucedale. The deputy was in his patrol vehicle about to conduct the license check when he heard the gunshot. He saw the victim lying on the ground by the driver’s side door of Johnson’s vehicle. A shotgun was lying on the 17 year old. Johnson’s football coaches were called to the scene to help identify the body.” http://www.sunherald.com/newsupdates/story/1002213.html or see Mississippi Press Register.

This is highly suspicious. They did not let the family see the body for eight hours. Already White reporters have started a whispering campaign against Billey by declaring that he was mentally ill. Of course, they all said they were sharing an off the record comment. I quickly responded that if high school officials thought him to be manic depressive, surely they got him help! Silence. Feels like slander/coverup. I am waiting for a call back from a Black preacher in George County.

Lets spread the word. Say no to a coverup!

Sincerely,
Ruby Sales

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“Please forward to everyone you know!!!”

I don’t get very many mass emails of the paranoid propaganda type forwarded to me, and when I do, I generally roll my eyes as I hit the delete key. Occasionally one of those emails lands in my box courtesy of someone that I either care about, think should know better, or both. In those cases, I’ll run the text of the story through Snopes or Urban Legends, and then forward evidence of the fake-ness of the story to the person who sent it to me. All that to say, I don’t give them a lot of thought, and when I have to think about it, I move on pretty quickly. For instance, a couple of weeks ago one of my students forwarded an email that has been going around for several years, having to do with the supposed rude and condescending response of a major network executive to a viewer who had complained about the “homosexual agenda” in a program. After running the email through snopes, I learned that the email was indeed genuine, but it was not from an executive, nor was it the official position of the network. I sent the information back to the student, the student issued a sheepish “sorry,” passed the info on to the rest of the people she forwarded it to and we were done.

Because I don’t traffic in nut-wingery, at least not that of the rightwing kind (yeah, I’ll cop to a little leftwing nut-wingery from time to time) I knew about the vicious anti-Obama emails flooding in-boxes across America only via hearsay and on the occasional blog. I knew they were out there, and I knew they were harmful, but I really didn’t think about them, you know? I was more concerned about the things that were being said on radio and television, what was happening at conventions and conferences and later on, at campaign rallies.

The other night I went to a meeting at my church. After the meeting, while most of us were out in the hallway bundling up to go home, one of the older (white) women in our congregation came over to talk to me. She is a sweet old woman, probably in her seventies. She recently read something I wrote that was published in real life, under my real name, about the campaign, the election and it’s aftermath.

The woman told me, kind of shamefacedly, that she had not voted. I was a little surprised. Then she went on to tell me that she was afraid. She was afraid of Obama, she said, because she had gotten so many emails offering “proof” that he was a Muslim and a terrorist. She was afraid of what was going to happen to the country if Obama won the election. She did keep assuring me that it wasn’t because he was black… it was the Muslim part that got her. And I want to believe her truth

Now, I knew this stuff was out there… I mean, it’s the whole reason the emails were flying around, along with all the other propoganda – the buttons, the waffle mix, the “satiric” magazine covers. But here I was face to face with a person I knew … telling me about the fear and confusion that had been placed in her. I don’t know if the people sending the emails to her were people she knew or not; in some ways it doesn’t matter. But it other ways it does, very much so. It means that someone was deliberately taking advantage of her because of her age, at the very least. And they got away with it – they frightened a woman who, because she is a citizen of this country has every right to vote – but they deliberately frightened her and effectively silenced her. She did not cast a vote for the person they wanted … she just didn’t vote at all. How many, many others did not vote for that reason? And, as my example above illustrates, it’s not just the elderly that get pulled into believing something just because they got it in an email from a friend.

And it makes me angry all over again – not at her, but at those who would not only disparage fellow human beings – an individual, on the one hand – fair game, I guess some would say – politics being what it is; but also entire groups of people – black men in particular, people of color in general, Muslims. That tactic was evident to anyone paying a marginal bit of attention – accuse him (or anyone) of being a Muslim; that will take away any measure of trust.

As I finish this post, I note that the Supreme Court has rejected the appeal over Obama’s citizenship… another wildfire internet rumor. I guess that’s something.

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Posting This As ‘Good Girl’ …Because That’s What The Instructions Say

Music Meme – lifted from here.

• Put your IPod or MP3 player on shuffle.
• For each question, press the next button to get your answer
• YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
• Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from.

Not tagging because I’m disobedient like that…. but play along if you like (and let me know).

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Superwoman (Alicia Keyes)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Pullin’ Back the Reins (k.d. lang)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Choux Pastry Heart (Corrine Bailey Rae)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
I Need You (Alicia Keyes)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Three Days (k.d. lang)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Trail of Broken Hearts (k.d. lang)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Work in Progress (Growing Pains) (Mary J. Blige)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Mr. Radio (Chrisette Michele)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
A Little More You (Little Big House)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Mama Knew Love (Anthony Hamilton)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Float (Anthony Hamilton)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Be and Be Not Afraid (Tracy Chapman)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Stay the Night (Mariah Carey)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Change (Tracy Chapman)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
The Air That I Breathe (k.d. lang)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Blood and Fire (Indigo Girls)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Promise Me (Luther Vandross)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Golden (Chrisette Michele)

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Luck in My Eyes (k.d. lang)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
My Old Addition (k.d. lang)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Here and Now (Luther Vandross)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
So Amazing (Luther Vandross)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
It’s Like That (Mariah Carey)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Better Love (Luther Vandross)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
I’m Fine (Patty Larkin)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
The Joker (k.d. lang)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens (Anthony Hamilton)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Good Girl (Chrisette Michele)

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