The Black Women Bloggers campaign, that was joined by myself and other fellows, has declared a position of satisfaction in that the NAACP and Al Sharpton have refrained from using their advocacy powers to try and set the alleged Dunbar rapist free; particularly with NAACP Florida State President Nweze going to prosecutors to enquire about capturing the other suspects.
West Palm Beach Chapter President Maude Ford Lee still has never retracted her statement that keeping brutal rapist locked up is “unconscionable”. Nonetheless, she was rained in by superiors in the organization, and has ceased and desisted from active rapist advocacy.
In my last post on this subject Thursday, regarding the NAACP, I asked “Seriously, are these Mofo’s crazy? Have they lost their cotton-pickin minds?”.
After listening to the Black Women’s Roundtable podcast later that night; I’m convinced that the answer is yes.
Host Gina McCauley had on at the top of the hour Florida State President Adora Nweze and National Communication’s Director Robert McIntyre, for 30 minutes.
It was an exercise in hedging and ridiculous pretense about what issues are and are not in their scope; still not explaining why freeing rapists is in their scope. Mrs. Nweze kept talking about no “intent to ignore the victims”; but the problem is where is the active intent to help the victims?
Director McIntyre was as arrogant as he can be. He kept spinning, talking about how the NAACP’s history should let everyone know where they stand; but history has absolutely nothing to do with the position the NAACP is taking in this particular case. When directly asked did he favor the Dunbar suspect getting bail, McIntyre skirted the actual question responding that they “have a right to bail”; which no asked him to give us a lecture on legal rights, but for his and the NAACP’s position on this particular case. He even went as far as to say if they get bail “so be it”.
I guess that’s the NAACP’s position on unleashing brutal rapists on our community, “so be it”!
In response to the performance of his representative on the podcast I called Julian Bond’s office (Chairman of the National NAACP) Friday, and when the operator transferred me I was sent to the voice mail of a Mrs. Brice who said that I’d reached the legal department and office of Julian Bond. So I left my message for him there.
My message went something like this:
“Hi, My name is Yobachi Boswell with the Afrosphere Action Coalition. I’m calling to ask the Chairman and wanted to know why the NAACP is allowing its West Palm Beach branch to coddle rapists; and why it’s not taking an active stance in favor of the Dunbar Village victims?
The communications director, Mr. McIntyre, was on Gina McCauley’s podcast last night, and he refused to take a positive position in favor of the Dunbar Village victims because he says that’s out of the NAACP’s scope.
For her part, Mrs Nweze has at least apologized on a number of occasions this past week showing some humility, compasssion and contriteness on behalf of the organization. But every other official in the organization at every level, and the organizations actions (or inactions) belie this one individuals words of apology:
1. Maude Ford Lee is still the President of the West Palm Beach Branch and she hasn’t retracted one word of what she’s said or has done to try and free rapists.
2. Richard McIntyre posture remains one of having been a complete ass and totally unconcerned and incompationate
3. The NAACP has not at any level yet made a positive statement on behalf of the Dunbar Village victims
4. The NAACP hasn’t done one thing to help the victims of this horrendous attack in particular, nor to help the people living in the concentration camp of Dunbar Village in general
All of the above is completely unsatisfactory.
So for my part, I’m calling Maude Ford Lee Monday and asking her why she still supports rapists and wants them free to pillage the community. And I’m also going to send a fax or postal letter to Chairman Bond, Communications Director McIntyre and Florida President Nweze making these points in more detail.
Also, Frank Cerabino of the Palm Beach Post called in to the podcast Thursday. Cerabino was at the press conference last month where the NAACP called for bail for the alleged rapists. I called in and asked him about Mrs. Nweze’s claim that the NAACP didn’t produce the flyer handed out there; but he notes there were only a couple of dozen people there who were not reporters, there’s no way the NAACP could have not known it was being passed out, the NAACP didn’t disavow it, and the positions they took from the podium while standing with the alleged rapist parents were consistent with the flyers.
MLK has been commoditized into a neat little package; his dream widdled down to a 2 minute sound bite of the end of one speech. His real legacy hidden from the eyes of history, so that one may only know it if you actually search for it.
They’re marching in Memphis today for King’s 40 year Assassination Anniversary. I was supposed to go, but I have personal things to take care of at home that kept me from make the 3 hour drive across the state from Nashville.
My man Shawn Williams at DallasSouthblog got an interview with CNN reporter Soledad O’brien, that you need to check out about the piece that aired last night called The King Assassination:Witness to Murder. It’s apart of their four month series Black In America [this series ought to be interesting to say the least].
But amongst all the MLK loving jibber jabber we’ll hear today, I again wonder, what of his true dream…the full dream?
We don’t hear about Martin’s peace dream and his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence anti-war speech where he declared “A time comes when silence is betrayal. And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.” Apropos words that would apply equivelently at this moment.
We don’t hear about his economic justice dream where he said “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
What about his Black Power dream? Oh, Martin L. King was antithetical to Black Power? That’s not what he said:
“Black Power, in its broad and positive meaning, is a call to black people to amass the political and economic strength to achieve their legitimate goals. No one can deny that the Negro is in dire need of this kind of legitimate power…“Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice.”
Anyway, as far as the march today in Memphis; I won’t make it to that; but I’ve gone to the National Civil Rights Musem. It consist of two buildings, one is the Lorraine Motel itself, where he was shot. You actually can go up to the room he stayed in, and you look through the door way which is glass covered, and the room has props made up to look how he left the room. Then you can look out the window over the balcony where he was shot, and get their eye view at the moment. They didn’t let us regular folk out on the balcony like they did Soledad in the pic above.
There’s also a walk through an amazing exhibit of Civil Rights history where you wear head phones and you get narration depending on what exhibit you’re in front of. When I last went 5 years ago, I was presently surprised to have the voices of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis come into my head phones and take me through the exhibit.
I recommend a visit by all.
For more info on the full Measure of King besides the links to analysis and speeches that I provided in the text, you can also go to:
It’s not too late. You still have time to raise your voice for your freedom
Watch my youtube video about the Protect America Act
Then please call your your house rep, but more importantly, all of the House leadership; and let them know you’ll support them in finally standing up to George Bush and all of the liberty shredding Republicans and Democrats.
House Democratic Leadersip:
Nancy Pelosi - House Speaker 202-225-4965
Steny Hoyer - Majority Leader 202-225-3130
James Clyburn - Majority Whip 202-225-3315
John Conyers - Judiciary Chair 202-225-5126
Sylvester Reyes - Intelligence Chair 202-225-4831
General Switch Board for the House of Representatives, where you can get anyones number 202-224-3121
House website:www.house.gov/ (can find anyones website to get emails and other contact info).
Here are the email address of the five principle house leaders. The first two are Speaker Pelosi’s, then Judiciary Chair Conyers, Majority Leader Hoyer, Intelligence Chair Reyes, and Majority Whip Clyburn
My interiew, Friday before last with Babyface as published in this weeks Nashville Pride (well, minus some of the multimedia stuff that you obvioulsy can’t put in a hardcopy newspaper)
There’s one thing that artist like Whitney Houston, Karen White, Boyz II Men, Bobby Brown, and Tony Braxton have in common – multiple hit records written and or produced by Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds.
There were times in the early 90s where when you thought of certain artist, you automatically thought of Babyface; as his signature graced many a classic soul record to be. With musical partner such as Darryl Simons and L.A. Reid, he crafted a name for himself as the man to go see for quality hit music, and continues a nearly 3 decade long legacy of hit making, this all the while crafting his own multi-platinum recording career.
I’m a child of the 80s, and like others of our multi-talented multi-musical icons such as Prince and Michael Jackson, Babyface is approaching decade number 5. But Babyface’s road to legend was not as direct as the 2 aforementioned.
He didn’t have his first solo hit song nor album until his 30s. He emerged out of Indianapolis with funk and soul Manchild in the 70s, scoring a modest hit with “Especially for You” in 1977. As the band disbanded at the end of the decade, the multi-musician, Babyface found new success as a songwriter and arranger.
In 1983 he scored his first major songwriting hit “Slow Jam” for Midnight Star and then in 1987 giving temporary resurgence to 70s/early 80s soul group the Whispers by penning “Rock Steady”.
By this time he had formed the R&B group The Deele which included L.A. Ried on the drums. They hit pay dirt throughout the 80s with such songs as “Body Talk” “Shoot ‘Em Up Movies” and “Two Occasions”
The Song “Two Occasions” I thought was cleverly referenced in Mariah Carey’s 2005 hit “We Belong Together” singing “and then I hear Babyface, I only think of you as breaking my hear”. If you 80s R&B you get, if not, it’s okay.
[Check out Babyface on the keyboards in his Beddazler outfit and open shirt – ha ha ha]
After writing and producing some 70 top 10 hit, and releasing 7 solo studio albums of original music, Babyface brings us “Playlist”. Babyface is now touring in support of the project.
“Playlist” was released in late 2007 and contains 8 classic folk-rock songs from Edmunds youth, along with two new personal pieces.
Fret not though; if your looking to be wooed by appeals to “The Cool In You” or flattery of your “Whip Appeal”, Babyface will not only be playing the joints on his new release; but a wide array of his classic material. I checked with his tour promoter Adensia Dowers to be sure.
The reinterpreted tracks on “Playlist” include “Wonderful Tonight” (Eric Clapton); “Shower the People” and “Fire and Rain” (James Taylor); “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan); “Please Come To Boston” (Dave Loggins); “Longer” (Dan Fogelberg); “Time in a Bottle” (Jim Croce), and “Diary” (Bread).
Edmonds told me via phone last Friday that this “record was done from songs that inspired me to play guitar.” He speaks of the fond memories he has of this play list of some of his personal favorites. I asked him would it be fair to classify this album as an acoustic album, and he agreed.
While one may find this type of folk-rock a departure from Babyface’s R&B style; as he notes, “Playlist” follows the sound tradition of one of his biggest solo hits, “When Will I See You Again”, an acoustic gem. And why would we be surprised that a multi-instrumental musician who has produced music from the likes of Gladys Knight to TLC to Madonna to Fall Out Boy would have both the desire and capacity to musically expand his wings onto broader horizons. “I like all kinds of music” he told me, “I think everyone else should too”.
The album also contains two new songs, “Not Going Nowhere” and “The Solider Song”. The first is a heart felt reassuring tune for his children regarding his stance in their lives despite divorce from their mother, and the second inspired by a friend’s child serving in Iraq.
Babyface told me that L.A. Reid, who is the Chairman Island Def Jam Music Group, wanted him to have new music on the album, while Edmonds himself didn’t initially plan to. He said he didn’t want to just do ballads; but something inspiring, in tune with the rest of the album. “You can’t just sit down and write a classic” he explained, “so I just wanted to do something that was meaningful to me”.
I wanted to know how he comes about songwriting, by sitting down and just writing something, or do things just come by inspirations (a requisite question for all great song writes), “both ways” he responded. Sometimes it comes from inspiration, and sometimes “I just sit down to write for that purpose right then”.
Oh, and as for L.A. Reid, the two band mates turned golden goose production team, turned successful co-label owners of LaFace Records are working together again….well, sort of. As stated above Reid is Chairman Island Def Jam Music. In having brought Babyface to the label Edmunds says Reid convinced him it would be a good situation because “it’s great to have someone who believes in your music”. Who could be a greater believe than Reid who was there for much of the magic.
But if you’re hoping to see the combo bang out new tracks together, it’s not happening. Babyface says he’s broached Reid about producing together again over the last couple of years, but that Reid has no desire to get back into producing.
You can listen and watch clips of his new music from “Playlist” at Babyfacemusic.com
I spoke yesterday on what Michelle meant to convey when talking about being proud of her country for the first time in her adult life, in this NPR interview.
But really it’s irrelevant what she said or meant one way or the other.
Here’s Bill O’Reilly’s response to her comment:
“I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels—that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever—then that’s legit.”
Wait a minute; you’re saying this is not a flawed country. You’re saying that America is as Godly perfection?
Anyway, moving past the nonsense of that premise; this guy has the gal to say its “legit” to lynch her if her opinion is not to his liking. I guess he’s going to be really upset when he finds out she was allowed to learn how to read.
This is easily far worse than what Imus said. Still, I can’t muster any outrage though, because it’s so expected and par for the course coming from O’Reilly, it’s kind of like being surprised that a baby pooped its diaper.
Maybe Kelly and Bill can be co-grand marshals for the lynch party parade.
Well for one, I was back on NPR’s News and Notes today.
I’m miffed because I asked the engineer if he could hear me from the position I was sitting and distance from the mic, and he told “yeah”. I thought it was obvious that I meant could he hear me well. I clearly don’t come across as loud and my voice as full as the other participants. Had I known I need to be closer, I would have. Different mics are different, and different sound systems intake audio differently; but whatever, you live and you learn.
I’m also annoyed that we didn’t talk about the FISA warrentless wiretapping as I was told that we would. That was the main thing I wanted to talk about.
We talked about the fake Barack Plagiarism controversy (waste of time in my opinion), Michelle’s statement about being proud for the first time in her adult life, the impact of Black Blogs (I got in an Afrospear shout out) and the 25th anniversary album for Thriller.
Also
In an article that came out early in the month By Raquel Christie, The American Journalism Review interviewed and quoted, among others, a number of Black Bloggers, all who are members of the Afrospear.
Double Whammy
How the Media Missed the Jena Story - Twice
I think her title and subtitle are to intimate that the media missed the story initially by not covering it, then by not getting it right when they did.
Funny, I believe she still didn’t get it right for a number of reason, that I will not go into now; but maybe I’ll do a review of it at some point.
What annoys me personally is that she interviewed me for 45 minutes, then did not use one word of the interview in the piece. Even right before the piece ran, one of the editors was doing fact checking and called me to confirm quotes, then only quoted me visa via the press release I and Zoe of the UltraViolet Underground wrote, that I quoted for a post.
So she quoted me, quoting me. I’m glad that portion of the press release was actually a part of it that I wrote, and that I wrote alone. Would have been kind of messed up if I’d gotten credit for what Zoe wrote or something.
Thanks for running up my cell phone bill for nothing!
Damn right I’m complaining, this is all valid stuff to complain about.
So the House democrats are pretending to have some back bone so far. I watched a Pelosi press confrence last night, and she’s striking the right tone, and making the right arguments about why they don’t have to rush re-authorization of the Protect America Act despite tomorrow nights expiration (because the underlining FISA bill still provides warrants, and warrants already issued still apply) and about Bush fear mongering again.
But we’ve heard tough talk and posturing from Pelosi, Reed, and this Congress a number of times over the past couple of years, only to have them eventually bow and give Bush exactly what he wants.
I discuss this in more detail in my podcast
The Embedded Player Isn’t Working, so you can either listen to it on the sidebar, or you can go directly to the source and listen to it on my Utterz page: www.utterz.com/~h-Yobachi/v-circle/r-1/profile.php
Nancy Pelosi - House Speaker 202-225-4965
Steny Hoyer - Majority Leader 202-225-3130
James Clyburn - Majority Whip 202-225-3315
General Switch Board for the House of Representatives, where you can
get anyones number 202-224-3121
Yesterday the march towards the police state became stronger. Not only did the Senate, with much democratic approval, in a vote that only had 29 Senators out of 100 opposing the bill; not only did they approve warrantless eavesdropping on Americans in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, it gives retroactive immunity to corporations who broke the law by handing over our customer information to the government.
First of all, what is FISA?
FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It was set up in 1978 to create a secret court to provide warrents so that surrvalance operations would not be made public and tip off the targets; yet maintained the Constitutional dictates that law enforcement go to the judicial branch with probable cause to be able to search people (which is what spying is in the most intimate way).
Today it’s being taken up by the House and must be stopped. Listen to my podcast about the issue:
GO HERE TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE . There is a box in the top left corner where you can put in your zip and go straight to your Reps page to get his/her contact info.
I pointed out in this post last week that “Everything that Bush did in the last 8 years was almost completely with the cooperation of democrats – EVERYTHING”:
* The majority of dems voted for the UnPatriot Act
* The majority of dems voted to reauthorize the UnPatriot (including Obama)
* The majority of senate dems voted for the war in Iraq
* The democrat controlled congress voted to approve increased warrant-less spying: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080302296.html and scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/will-the-democrats-sell-out-america-on-fisa-spy-bill-vote-again/
* The majority of senate democrats still voted to continue funding the war even though they were elected to end it
* Department of Homeland Insecurity – the Dems only voted against a particular version because they were quibbling over the hiring and firing of civil servants; but it was democrats who initially proposed the department and they supported the creation of the department; this same department who’s initial directives included having citizens spy on one another and report to the FBI.
So in as much as we have a “police state” or “dictatorship” or however most of us who are against Bush’s usurping of power want to phrase it; the democrats have been complicit in handing power to the scepter of King George the Second.
I’m proposing a bold power play; one that for me though, is a no brainier.
Hillary Clinton employed a race baiting southern strategy to polarize the electorate and marginalize Barack Obama as just the Black candidate in order to cause a white backlash that would guarantee her a majority of the vote.
We have documented this race baiting strategy here, here , here, and here. The evidence is ample.
If Hillary Clinton and company can do what she did to Black people, especially in the face of the rousing support our community has given the Clinton’s, and we still turn around and reward her for it with our votes; we will be sending a clear message that we don’t demand respect, and that we will not hold politicians accountable for how they treat us, so anything goes.
A message will be sent with our vote one way or the other. I say the message should be no, we are not going to take it. We’re not going to be disrespected, disregarded, mistreated and humiliated and still come back begging at the table of the democrats. No, you can not treat us any kind of way and still get our support. And yes, you will be held accountable to the Black community no matter what party name you wear.
You may say “we have to vote for the Democrat, it’ll be worse with a Republican” — so what! You’re worried about whether or not you get some more crumbs when you could be getting the whole enchilada if you ever exercise any power. If you have to forgo the crumbs for a season to finally eat good, then a little more pain for the moment is better than continuous lesser pain forever.
The ideal that you don’t suffer something in order to get something more is not only wrong, it’s plain cowardly, and cowards don’t win. It’s absolutely equivalent to refusing to do rehab on an injury since the rehab hurts more than the injury; and staying injured and in pain for the rest of your life, rather than take more pain for a short time so you can be healed and pain free for the rest of your life. Look at what happens to people who refuse to suffer the short-term pain of doing their rehab.
Fredrick Douglas said “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”
If the status quo benefits them, what motivation do they ever have to change?
We have to have new policies, and new strategies derived from those policies.
Old time Negro spirituals are fine; but old time Negro thinking is not. Doing the same thing continuously and expecting different results is insanity. Accepting our political plight in the world as is, is cowardly.
“Oh white man, we’ll bow for any crumb you see fit to give us.”
Old time thinking and methods might have been good for their day; but it’s a new day with new realities that must be confronted effectively.
The ideal here is to leverage power. If we have the power to keep them out of the white house and we do that, then they have to come to us to regain power; and they will absolutely always want to regain power. We then become power brokers.
Fredrick Douglas also said “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Fredrick Douglas has continually been proven right for over 100 years.
Martin Luther King understood the paramount necessity to leveraging power:
“Black Power, in its broad and positive meaning, is a call to black people to amass the political and economic strength to achieve their legitimate goals. No one can deny that the Negro is in dire need of this kind of legitimate power. Indeed, one of the great problems that the Negro confronts is his lack of power. From the old plantations of the South to the newer ghettos of the North, the Negro has been confined to a life of voicelessness and powerlessness. …The plantation and the ghetto were created by those who had power both to confine those who had no power and to perpetuate their powerlessness. The problem of transforming the ghetto is, therefore, a problem of power – a confrontation between the forces of power demanding change and the forces of power dedicated to preserving the status quo.” “Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. …What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. …There is nothing essentially wrong with power. The problem is that in America power is unequally distributed.” (Where Do We Go, p. 36-37).
Y’all don’t know nothin’ bout Black Power Martin Luther King do you, you just know I Have Dream Martin Luther King. Read more on Black Power King here
I’m not done with the words of the Icons yet.
Malcolm X exposed the lie of the Democrat benefit to the Black man 40 years ago; the same lie that persist now, that make Blacks anxious at the thought of pulling away from them. Though Malcolm demonstrated in his time their half-assing; then how much more should they not disregard us now when for 40 more years we’ve supported them no matter what?:
The time when White people can come in our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political leaders to tell us what to do and what not to do, is long gone [to bad that was incorrect wishful thinking, but it should be the truth]…
We must understand the politics of our community, and we must know what politics is supposed to produce. We must know what politics play in our lives; and until we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone who doesn’t have the good of our community in their heart. It was the black man’s vote that put the present administration in Washington , D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington , D.C. , that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that. And your and my leaders have the audacity to run around clapping their hands and talk about how much progress we’re making. And what a good president we have…
In this present administration they have in the House of Representatives 257 Democrats to only 177 Republicans. They control two-thirds of the House vote. Why can’t they pass something that will help you and me? In the Senate, there are 67 senators who are of the Democratic Party. Only 33 of them are Republicans. Why, the Democrats have got the government sewed up, and you’re the one who sewed it up for them. And what have they given you for it? Four years in office, and just now getting around to some civil-rights legislation. Just now, after everything else is gone, out of the way, they’re going to sit down now and play with you all summer long—the same old giant con game that they call filibuster. All those are in cahoots together. Don’t you ever think they’re not in cahoots together…But they’re playing that old con game. One of them makes believe he’s for you, and he’s got it fixed where the other one is so tight against you, he never has to keep his promise.
So it’s time in 1964 to wake up. And when you see them coming up with that kind of conspiracy, let them know your eyes are open. And let them know you—something else that’s wide open too. It’s got to be the ballot or the bullet. The ballot or the bullet.
Hi, my name is D. Yobachi Boswell. I’m a writer, spoken word poet, hip hop artist, social activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee.
I created this site to give new voice to socio-political issues that are in need of thoughtful consideration and addressing. I would like to take an academic – and in line with my personality –snarky look at various issues facing the black community both here in the States, and those affecting the global African Diaspora.
Thank you for visiting and please contribute with your thoughts and ideals.
Go to the following link to comment on the podcast messages. Click on the title of the message you want in order to comment: http://www.utterz.com/~h-Yobachi/list.php
Or you can comment to the post which the podcast may refer to.
