The Race Problem in America Can't be Ignored! Today even though things are better for black people, the repercussions of slavery and the ensuing racism are still felt.

I watched parts of Senator Obama's speech on race and his Pastor yesterday. Kudos to the Senator for speaking out on what he thought was wrong. But I also give him kudos for not abandoning Pastor Wright. He has been part of his life for 20 years.

I was watching Fox News last night and was appalled at the level of hate and fear mongering that Bill O'Reilly, Greta van Susteren, and Sean Hannity were spewing. Hannity even said that in his heart Obama wa anti-semitic! How does he know what is in anyones heart? The three should have gotten out their Grand Wizard cone hats and worn them.

They accused Senator Obama of being a racist for failing to denounce his Pastor. They asked, "Is this the type of man we want to run our country".

I can't condone Pastor Wright for saying D-word America. But some of what he said is true whether we want to admit it or not. Hillary Clinton will never know what it really is to be a black man in America. When they wrote in the Constitution that "All Men are created equal" They did mean only white men were created equal. Remember women weren't even allowed to vote and blacks were considered animals. The proof is that in the slave masters holdings he listed the slaves with his horses, pigs and other property.

Then O'Reilly even had the nerve to condemn black churches and ask what's going on in them. Need I remind these bigots that Black Churches were formed because white churches wouldn't let blacks in!

Senator Obama, spoke of hearing his own white grandmother using the N-word. His father is a black African Kenyan and his mother white so in America Obama is Black! No question about that. Let's remember that in the USA it was said that if you had a drop of black blood in you then you're black! So many white looking black people were forced to 'Pass' in order to live a decent life in America.

It should be mandatory for everyone in the USA to get a DNA test and find out their real ancestry! A lot of people who think they are 'white' would find that they are black uder that old code! Even Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren might find they had a black ancestor. I remember watching a show in which a white college professor took a DNA test. It indicated that he had a West African ancestor. He was 1/8th black. He said he went to ask his mother about it and she told him not to talk about it.

There's a lot more that I can say but for now, I am glad the Sen. Obama spoke about race. The issue needs to be addressed in this election.

The killer truck

The backwheels where the poor man met his fate
A policeman measures the distance between where he was struck and where it stopped. Note the trail of blood and flesh.
Front view of the truck
Flesh and blood was under that sheet. I almost threw up when the cop lifted it!
Where the truck stopped. The truck is registered in Maine.

This morning a Harvard University Graduate student was run over by a big rig truck on its way to Shaw's Supermarket at MIT. The incident happened at the intersection of Masscahusetts Ave. and Western Ave. The student died at 12:20pm today and has been identified as 28 year old Isaac Meyers.

I was on my way to work this morning when I came upon this horrific scene. I took the above photos. I talked to some people who witnessed what happened. They said that Meyers was in the crosswalk when the back wheels of the truck struck him and dragged him to the next crosswalk where it came to a halt only after people flagged the driver down!

The police were measuring the scene and I saw blood, human meat and bone spread on the street. People said that Meyers was still alive when he was put in the ambulance but it did not look good.

Seriously, that crosswalk where Meyers was hit is DANGEROUS! Yes, people are allowed to cross and cars are allowed to turn right at the same time. So many times I have seen impatient drivers nearly run over people. They even honk at people in the crosswalk to hurry up. They even have no pity on the elderly or those pushing baby strollers! Sometimes the cars speed in front of you or behind you. I cross there almost everyday, its a horrible crosswalk.

This is the second horrific accident in Central Square I remember over the past years. In the last one, a woman was riding her bike when the driver of a parked car opened its door. She ran into the bike door and got thrown into the path of an oncoming MBTA bus and was crushed to death. She was riding in the bike lane.

So, today I ask will it take the death of this young man, to allow people to cross the street in Central Square safely?

Rest in Peace Issac Meyers.

From ippmedia.com

US Govt eases travel conditions for Tanzanian

2008-03-11

By Lydia Shekighenda

The American Embassy in Dar es Salaam has announced the softening of conditions for Tanzanians seeking to travel to the United States. Robert Hannan, the embassy`s First Secretary and Consul, said yesterday they would now be issuing entry visas to any and all prospective travellers establishing their eligibility.

In remarks at roundtable talks with journalists, he said the embassy would provide prompt and responsive service by reducing the waiting time for visa interviews, online scheduling and application for longer visas in a bid to reduce bureaucracy.

`Our country encourages legitimate visitors and students. We are doing everything possible to help applicants fulfil their mission,`` explained the consul, adding that they were out to cut the time for waiting for interviews to two days.

Elaborating on the new arrangement, Hannan said visa applicants would be able to schedule their appointments with the embassy directly on-line. He said Tanzania had reached an agreement with the US on the extension of visa validities from three months to one year.

``Frequent travellers need to apply for new visas less often?More Tanzanians are travelling to America each year; we expect to issue over 5,000 visas this year. This is great news for both countries,`` he noted further. Hannan said the most popular

Photo from Mzee wa Sumo blog

In Tanzania, most children don't have the luxury of playing in fancy playgrounds, or with nice toys from Toys R Us. They play with empty bottles, lids, things you might consider trash. Here some Tanzanian children turn a cocunut tree trunk into a jungle jim. It looks its on the edge of a cemetary.

TODAY IS March 8th, 2008, is

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Lyrics to Helen Reddy's song (1972)

I AM WOMAN!

I am woman, hear me roar

In numbers too big to ignore

And I know too much to go back an' pretend'

cause I've heard it all before

And I've been down there on the floor

No one's ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS

Oh yes I am wise

But it's wisdom born of pain

Yes, I've paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to, I can do anything

I am strong (strong)

I am invincible (invincible)

I am woman

You can bend but never break me'

cause it only serves to make me

More determined to achieve my final goal

And I come back even stronger

Not a novice any longer'

cause you've deepened

the conviction in my soul

CHORUS

I am woman watch me grow

See me standing toe to toe

As I spread my lovin' arms across the land

But I'm still an embryo

With a long long way to go

Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise

But it's wisdom born of pain

Yes, I've paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to I can face anything

I am strong (strong)

I am invincible (invincible)

I am woman

Oh, I am woman

I am invincible

I am strong

FADE

I am woman

I am invincible

I am strong

I am woman

BETTY NYAKU-WHAT A WOMAN!

BETTY Nyaku, a resident of Ullepi sub-county in Arua, Uganda looks after 13orphans. Frank Mugabi tells us how she has managed to build one happy familyof people from different backgrounds In the thickets of Ullepi sub-county in Arua district stood a four-year-oldboy.

The grass so high and thick the boy could not see which direction totake. "I was young and I do not remember what happened, but I have been told thatI was found crying with swollen eyes.

The people who were taking care of me left me and disappeared in the thickets as we grazed cattle," says Ronald Candia. "I had thought that was the end of the world, but God sent Maama Betty Nyaku just in time to rescue me.

She took me to her place and made me one of herchildren. She gave me food, clothing and now education." Nyaku narrates: "I had gone to collect firewood. It all felt as if some invisible power was telling me to venture further into the bush and pick aspecially reserved gift for myself."

Suddenly, Nyaku heard a child crying. She says she first ignored it,thinking if truly it was a cry then that child had to be with an adult, who was collecting wood. "The cry persisted and, although I was frightened, Imoved closer. What I saw was shocking - a little boy of about four years, all by himself in the thickets. His eyes were swollen because of crying,"she says, adding that she picked the boy and, fortunately, when she took himhome, her husband welcomed the idea of keeping the child until a relativeturned up looking for him.

That was about 10 years ago. To date, no one has turned up looking for the boy. Instead, Nyaku, who is in her late 50s, has had the number of abandoned children and orphans in her custody increase.

This turned Nyaku from being a mere housewife into a woman who struggled to sustain her family and support needy children. She named the boy Ronald Candia (Candia is Lugbara word for 'in trouble'). Nyaku later learnt that Candia had actually been abandoned by his guardians who were normadic pastoralists from western Uganda. They had been in the area to graze cattle and when the dry season set in, they moved away. "I think I had become a burden to them. My parents had died and left me in their care. Because they moved from place to place, they found it difficultto take care of me," Candia says.

He says Nyaku took him to Kati Primary School, one of the best schools in the neighbourhood. He is now in S.2 at Ullepi Secondary School. Another boy Nyaku saved is Bosco Adriko, 23. "I was only 10 years old when my father died. After his death, things athome became bad and I decided to go away. I walked to Arua town where Istayed on the streets. It was there that Mama Betty found me and took me toher home."

Nyaku says she had gone to buy seeds when she saw a boy crying helplessly."I asked him what the matter was and he told me he was an orphan and had nowhere to go." More tragedy strikes In 2005, Nyaku lost her eldest son to AIDS.

As if that was not bad enoughthe deceased's wife disappeared, leaving her six children, five of whom werealready in school. Nyaku took them in. Today, Nyaku looks after 13 orphans. In 2006, her husband Michael Edoni, who is a retired teacher and partiall yblind, was crippled in a motor accident. This left Nyaku the solebread-winner for the family.

One happy family Nyaku's home is in the remote village of Muni in Arua district. "In thishomestead, all of us live in harmony as a real family. The boys have theirown house and the girls theirs," she says. Although they are in a rural setting, the children are provided with all thebasic necessities and none of them is left wanting.

Several granaries filled with different foodstuffs are found in the backyard, a sign of food security. "She is our mother. She gives us everything and treats us like her own children," one of the children says. Stuck, but pushing on Two of the orphans completed Senior Four, but they are still at home due tolack of fees.

Fiona Anguparu, another of the orphans who is in Primary Six at Kati Primary School is afraid her future could be bleak. "I may fail to join secondary school, like my brothers, because of lack o fschool fees. So, I might never realise my dream of becoming a universityprofessor," Anguparu says. Others share the same fears. A sack of cassava for fees Nyaku says her only source of livelihood has been a five-acre piece o ffarmland. "

We grow cassava, millet and groundnuts for sale. Part of the money goes into paying school fees and buying scholastic materials," she narrates. Sometimes, the school authorities allow Nyaku to settle school dues in kind.A 40-50kg sack of cassava flour is equivalent to one term's dues. The children also sell mangoes to raise school fees.

However, sometimes they are sent away from school due to lack of school fees, which has affected their performance. "We want to study so that we can have a better life and also be able to carefor those in need as Maama Nyaku has done for us," said Bosco Adriko.

In Ullepi sub-county Nyaku is known for her big heart. The sub-county chief,Elijah Matua, said orphans and vulnerable people are a big challenge to thelocal authorities. "We have been trying to cater for these groups of people in our budget, but the lack of resources has impeded our efforts to implement the plans," Matua noted.

He commended Nyaku for taking care of the orphans despite her minimal income. "It takes a big heart to love and share with the needy and Nyaku is a good example.

"Beverley Nambozo Sengiyunva
In charge of Communication and NetworkingThe East African Sub-regional Support Initiative for The Advancement ofWomen (EASSI)
Plot 87 Bukoto-Ntinda Road
P. O. BOX 24965,
Kampala Uganda
Tel: 256-414-285163, 285194
Fax: 256-414-285306E-mail: nambozo
< title="mailto:e@eassi.org" href="mailto:e%40eassi.org">e@eassi.org> @eassi.orgeassi@eassi.org

HOW TO FIGHT ROGUE DEBT COLLECTORS

By Jen HaleyCNN

(CNN) -- If you've faced a financial catastrophe -- an illness or job layoff -- and you've fallen behind on some bills, you're well aware that debt collectors are eager to collect those payments.

Some debt collectors are crossing the line into illegality according to some consumer groups.

But some collectors go over the line, threatening to have the person arrested, making improper bank withdrawals, intimidating people and making harassing phone calls.

In one case a collector threatened to call a woman's place of work "until she lost her job," according to the National Consumer Law Center.

In another case, a collector threatened to send the police to the person's workplace to arrest them, said Joe Ridout of Consumer Action.

The Better Business Bureau received a complaint about a debt collector contacting someone's grandmother four-to-five times a day, using threats like, "if she dies, then her life insurance can pay this debt off."

John Fugate, a Texas consumer attorney relates a story about a rogue debt collector. The debt collector told the "9-year-old child of my college friend, who is the victim of identity theft, that they were going to take her mommy away forever."

Complaints about debt collection agencies are on the rise. The Federal Trade Commission said they received more complaints against debt collectors than against any other industry for at least the past three years. And for the past five years, complaints are up about 43 percent according to the Better Business Bureau.

Some of the most common complaints from consumers include collectors using vulgar language, trying to collect more than they're owed, sharing the consumer's debt information with friends and family or trying to collect extra fees, like late fees or court costs.

That's not to say all debt collectors are resorting to these illegal tactics. ACA International is one of the largest credit and collection industry trade groups and it maintains a code of ethics that prohibits this kind of behavior.

And ethical debt collectors are necessary. According to a study cited by the company, the collection industry saved the average American household $351 in 2005. That is how much money households would have spent if businesses were forced to raise prices to cover bad debt. The bottom line here is that if you owe money, you should make every effort to pay off the debt.

But you still need to know your rights. "Most people are not aware of their rights. And unfortunately debt collectors take advantage of that fact," says Joe Ridout of Consumer Action.
Here's some expert advice on how to fight back against unethical collectors. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly. This doesn't mean you won't have to pay your legitimate debt. But here are some basic rights:

A debt collector cannot call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree.

You cannot be contacted at work if the collector knows your employer disapproves.

If you don't want to hear from a debt collector, write a letter telling them to stop. By law, they have to. Remember, the debt won't go away and you can still be sued.

The debt collector can contact your attorney -- if you have one. If not, your friends and family can be asked about how to get in touch with you.

A debt collector can't misrepresent the amount of your debt.

A debt collector also cannot use profane or threatening language

Debt collectors can't say that they will put a lien on your property or file a lawsuit unless the agency really means to do that and it's legal.

Collectors can't legally claim federal benefits, such as Social Security or your retirement accounts, like your IRA or 401(k).

Once you're contacted by phone, you have the right to get a notice that outlines your debt, whom you owe money to, and what action to take if you don't owe the money. Keep in mind that a debt collector can collect a debt owed by an ex-spouse. If the debt was incurred while you married, you may be liable for the debt after a divorce even if the divorce papers state your spouse is responsible for paying off the debt.

If you've been contacted by a debt collector, but you don't think you owe a debt, you must write a return letter stating that the debt is not yours within 30 days. Once a collector receives your letter, they should send you proof of the debt, such as a copy of the bill. Don't be coerced into paying a debt you don't owe. If you do pay just to get rid of the debt collectors, it's an admission of guilt, and it will have a negative impact on your credit score.

Keep in mind that some debt has an expiration date. There is a limit to how long collectors can legally collect your debt. Generally this limit - called the statute of limitations - can range from three to 15 years according to Ridout. Check with your state's attorney general's office to find out the limit in your state. You can find out who to contact at www.naag.org.

Sometimes debt collectors will try to collect on this old debt called zombie debt because it never goes away. Make sure you don't accept a new credit offer from a creditor you never repaid. Once that creditor renews your credit relationship, the clock starts ticking all over again on your state's statute of limitations.

If you think you've been treated unfairly by a debt collector, take action. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at 877-FTC-HELP or go to www.ftc.gov. You should also contact your state attorney general's office.

You also have the right to sue a debt collector in state or federal court within a year of the date the law is violated. A victory will allow you to recover money for the damages you suffered plus an additional amount up to $1,000. A group may also sue a collector and for damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the collector's net worth, whichever is less.

And the federal government plays by slightly different rules. In 1996, Congress passed the Debt Collection Improvement Act which allows the government to take a portion of federal retirement, federal salary and Social Security benefit checks to cover non-tax debts owed to the government.

There are some debts that you can't get rid of. If you don't pay your federal student loans for example, debt collectors can garnish your Social Security wages and prevent you from renewing any state licenses according to Mark Kantrowitz of Finaid.org. Debt collectors can even dip into your tax refund. Other debts like past-due child support and federal tax liens tend to stick with you.

The sign says is Swahili:

THIS WATER IS FREE

The Tap was opened/launched by the Kigogo Ward Councillor, M.H.R. Chengula

This was photographed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania by Muhidini Issa Michuzi

In Africa villages were burned, its people were captured and then enslaved. In this case they were forced to work for the colonialists! Here is a photo of Nwembe Village in Kenya being burned! It was taken around 1915.

It pretty much represents how slaves were captured and shipped to new lands. Villages and crops were burned and those who could hid in the bush and often starved to death. Slavery was one of man's greatest atrocities.

A very interesting history of Tanzanians slave

Exodus of the Zigula (“Somali Bantu”) Max Dashu, Suppressed Histories Archives

Many scholars think that the ancestral Bantu cultures were matrilineal. Even today some cultures retain mother-right traditions, in the “matrilineal Bantu belt" of south-central Africa. (The term Bantu means, loosely "the people," like so many aboriginal names, putting a humanizing prefix before the being-radical Ntu; it long predates the racist usage of the apartheid government in South Africa.)

A little-known historical pocket from this cultural line was forcibly transported into northeastern Africa. Omani slave-traders based in the Sultanate of Zanzibar carried off people from Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi, and shipped many of them for sale in the slave markets of Somalia. Tens of thousands of these southern Africans ended up laboring on plantations in south Somalia.

The major groups are the Zigula (or Zigua) and Shanbara. Zigula oral history says they escaped slavery as a group and thus preserved their language. They scorn the Shanbara who no longer speak a Bantu language, only accented Somali.

This group claims descent from “five original brothers who belonged to east African groups such as the Yao, Makua, Nyasa, Nyamwesi and others.” [Declich: online] They became farmers of the Juba and Shebeli rivers in Somalia: Shabelle, Shidle, Makanne, Eyle, Elay Baydabo.

The great hero of Zigula oral history is Wanankhucha, a mganga diviner and prophetess. She organized the escape of large numbers of Zigula people from slavery and led them to freedom in the mid-1800s. They say that her visions and power as a diviner enabled her to guide her fleeing people out of danger. She is also credited with building unity of the emancipated people by “organising repeated performances of traditional Zigula songs.”

Their goal was to return to Tanzania, but Wanankhucha's group of refugees faced great dangers in their migration, including the possibility of being reenslaved on their way through Kenya. So they settled in the lower Juba valley in southern Somalia, after Wanankhucha decided that an earthquake there was a sign.

The so-called Bantu Somali were conquered by the Oromo and later by Somali pastoralists. Some Zigula farmers adopted pastoral people who intruded on their country, after a period of clashes. There were also foragers called Bon, and various low-caste groups, either despised professions or descendants of slaves. The slaves often lost their original family names, and were left with slaveholder’s names. The pattern was pastoralists styled as nobles, and farmers as slaves or ex-slaves, so that all farmers came to be considered “freed slaves.”

All the non-elite groups got lumped together as Bantu. Italian colonialists reinforced this categorization and deepened it by forced labor conscription to their plantations, such as the Bertello farming contract. They refused to accept ethnic distinctions, outside of “pure Somalis.” “You are all Mushunguli Mayasid (Bantu).” (from a word meaning Zigula person) The Italians enlisted Somali pastoralists to round up people from farming groups to perform forced labor.

Colonization was heaped upon colonization, because the Italians also used gender divisions to defuse “Bantu” men’s resistance to their own exploitation as members of oppressed ethnic groups. “Men to be conscripted into forced labor were given the right to choose any woman they wanted as a wife, without her consent or that of her relatives.”

These men were freed from the obligation to pay bridewealth for the non-consensual wives, and fathers were threatened with conscription, for themselves or their sons, unless they surrendered their daughters. This strategy seems to have been effective, since, as people from the Juba region told Francesca Declich, “without the company of a woman most young men would have run away from conscription.

In Tanzania, East Africa wearing khanga cloth is part of our culture. We have khangas celebrating every event. This is a speacial design created for President Bush's visit to Tanzania this month 2/08.

The President will be welcomed by multitudes of Tanzanian women wearing these.

Photo from Michuzi Blog

This is a common scene in Tanzania... a python crossing the road! Yes, I have seen several in the neighborhood that used to live in on the University of Dar es Salaam campus. One would come out of the bush eat a chicken then go back in the bush! Urg!

WHY?

Why do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?

Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke?

Why do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters?

Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage?

Why do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight?

Why do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'?

Why do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering?

EVER WONDER .... Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin ?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the person who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle)...in other words, send it to everyone. We all need to smile every once in a while.

SUPERBOWL RIVALRY!

Will the New England Patriots crush the New York Giants in the Superbowl tomorrow? We shall see.

Kelly Telighman should be Disciplined!

I don't know if I agree with Rev. Al Sharpton's call for Golf Channel lady, Kelly Tilghman to be fired, but I definitely believe she should be disciplined. The Golf Channel has suspended her for two weeks.

Kelly Tilghman is a play-by-play announcer for The Golf Channel. She has apologized for her on-air remark during last week's Mercedes Championship PGA tour event in which she said today’s young players should “lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley.”

If she just said the word lynched, maybe she could be forgiven for not understanding its meaning. But she said specifically that Tiger should be taken to a back alley and lynched. She knew what she was talking about and that is unacceptable.

Remember Don Imus called the Rutgers Basketball Team,"Nappy Headed Ho's" and got fired!

Yes, that is a severe insult in the black community and its roots go back to slavery.

Thousands upon thousands of blacks have been lynched over the years in the USA. They have been lynched for being sucessful, educated, looking at a white woman, not getting off the sidewalk to let a white person pass, talking up to a white person etc. Just browse the internet and you will see and read what lynching is.

Tiger Woods says that he is not offended. Well he is welathy and probably hasn't endured the sever racism that other blacks have. Also maybe because of his mixed heritage he feels that he would not be lynched anyway. But in the America we know, he is still a black man and should be offended.

I hope that Kelly Tilghman will educate herself on black history during the time she has off from her job. She can watch ROOTS, Mandingo, the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Aftershock Beyond the Civil War and other films. Then seen if she can bring herself to make such a comment again.

For more information read:

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=32622&cat=6\

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/2912.cfm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/10/tilghman.woods/?iref=mpstoryview

The Actors' Prayer

by Richard Bischoff

Oh Great Director-in-the-Sky

Do you ever look down and wonder why?

I flip them burgers night and day;

Sell appliances to make ends meet;

Hand out flyers on the street.

Help my dream come to fruition;

Let me win just one audition!

It doesn't have to be for major bucks;

But hey God, sometimes, my life sucks!

Residuals sure would mean a lot;

I'd pay back all these bill's I've got,

Buy human food instead of Spam,

Buy new clothes instead of second hand.

I'm not looking for mass adoration;

Just a little less humiliation.

And a new set of headshots so I don't look so fat...

Oh and by the way:

Would you like fries with that?

There is a new film version of

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

coming to ABC soon!

http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/araisininthesun/?hs308=email

This is a legendary love story:

Harry Tyson Moore and Harriette Simms Moore

Harry and Harriette Moore are a relatively unknown yet pioneering couple that helped pave the way for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The two met in 1925 while Harry, 20, was teaching elementary school in Cocoa, Florida, and Harriette, 23, formerly a teacher herself, was selling insurance. The two quickly fell in love and were married within a year.

Both strong-willed and compassionate people, the Moores raised a family (they had two daughters) while organizing the first Brevard County Chapter of the NAACP in 1934, championing such causes as equal pay for black teachers. With the support of legendary African-American attorney Thurgood Marshall, the Moore couple became key allies in the movement.
By 1941, Harry was the president of the Florida chapter of the NAACP, and his new level of activism took him into the dangerous arena of lynchings and police brutality.

At first, Harry's involvement was confined to letters to government officials, but he quickly began launching his own investigations. Many believed this is what precipitated the attack in 1951 on Christmas Day -- also the Moores' 25th anniversary -- when a bomb exploded in their bedroom.

Harry died before he reached the hospital; Harriette passed away nine days later from her injuries. Though authorities believe that the Ku Klux Klan was involved, the murders have never been solved.

For more great historical love stories visit:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/12/03/great.love.affairs/index.html

"Peace will come and be with you always."
--Joseph Rael, 2007

You are invited to participate in a small act that will have an enormous effect in moving the world toward peace.

Beloved Native American visionary Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) has created a peace blessing and asked that it be shared with people all over the world. Joseph created this blessing -- a Song of Peace -- to bring inner harmony and serenity to every individual who listens to it, knowing that the vibrations of peace radiating from many individuals will inevitably spread to bring peace and harmony to the whole planet.

Please listen to Joseph's Song of Peace at this link http://www.josephrael.com/peace.htm and also forward this email to your circle of family and friends.

A number of us plan to listen to Joseph's peace song every day between now and the Winter Solstice, December 22, 2007. You are invited to join us! This small act really can change the world, just as a little stone dropped in a pond creates ripples that eventually spread through the water touching every part of the shore.

In keeping with one of Joseph’s long standing traditions, we will be lighting candles and bonfires for peace on the 7th day of every month, beginning this month. We’ll also update you with new messages from Joseph on the 7th of each month. If you would like to receive these messages, reply to the Song of Peace list-keeper at peace@counciloakbooks.com
May peace come and be with you always!

For more information about Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow), go to http://www.josephrael.org

In & Out of Time

A Poem by Maya Angelou

The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance...
our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out of time.
When the first stone looked up at the blazing sun
and the first tree struggled up from the forest floor
I had always loved you more.
You freed your braids...
gave your hair to the breeze.
It hummed like a hive of honey bees.
I reached in the mass for the sweet honey comb there....
Mmmm...God how I love your hair.
You saw me bludgeoned by circumstance.
Lost, injured, hurt by chance.
I screamed to the heavens....loudly screamed....
Trying to change our nightmares to dreams...
The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out
in and out
in and out
of time.

TRAILER FOR BONGOLAND II

A new film by Josiah Kibira, called Bongoland II will be coming out soon.

Please visit Kibira Films website for more information:

http://www.kibirafilms.com/index.html

EID MUBARAK

On these nights when prayers are accepted without any doubt, I wanted Allah to bless you and so I prayed for all of you and beg that if you remember than you will pray for me and my dear ones.

Each and everyone one of us are going through tough times right now, but Allah is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith. Dua is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to make dua for one another.

I pray to Allah: Allah (S.W.T) , I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and those that I care deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them Your love and power in this holy month of Ramadaan. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace. Where there is need, I ask you to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their comings. And most of all make it easy for them in this month of fasting.

EID MUBARAK

First memorial to black victims of Nazi genocide

Michael Leidig in Vienna
Sunday September 16, 2007
The Observer

In the vast, agonising mosaic of the Holocaust, Mahjub bin Adam Mohamed was simply one more piece, one of millions of the Nazis' victims lost to obscurity without a funeral or a grave.

Now bin Adam is to make history in Germany by becoming the first black person to be given a memorial in his adopted country as an individual victim of the genocide of the Third Reich. A Stolperstein - a bronze 'stumbling block' - will be erected on the ground outside the house in Berlin where he lived.

The memorial will be placed so that pedestrians have to step around it, and its aim is to stop future generations from thinking of the Holocaust in terms of anonymous, faceless numbers. Until now the markers have been almost exclusively established at Jewish homes, but bin Adam's Stolperstein will serve as a reminder of other minorities, the black people, the disabled, homosexuals, gypsies, communists, political dissenters and Jehovah's Witnesses, who were also murdered under Hitler's regime.

The Stolperstein is a project conceived by Cologne-based artist Gunter Demnig. He plans to create a total of 12,000 markers outside houses, giving the name of the person or persons who lived there and the date on which they were taken to a concentration camp. Munich is the only city to have so far refused to have the markers, saying that they would encourage anti-Semitism.

Bin Adam, who was born in Tanzania, joined the then colonial German East Africa services when he was 10 years old and served with the army. He emigrated to Berlin in 1929, where he immediately got into trouble with the authorities by walking into the Foreign Ministry and demanding his outstanding service pay.

Although his request was refused, he decided to stay, working as a waiter in hotels and taking small parts in films. He had roles in more than 20 movies with stars such as Zarah Leander, Hans Albers and Willy Birgel, even after the war broke out. He also taught Swahili at the Oriental Workshop.

He married a German woman, Maria Schwander, and they had three children - Adam, Annemarie and Bodo - but his family struggled to make ends meet because of his excesses, which included numerous affairs that resulted in several illegitimate children. He was still in dispute with the authorities over money for his time in the armed forces when he was arrested in 1941, charged with the crime of 'miscegenation' - racial intermarriage - and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he died in November 1944.

The plaque, which will stand outside his former home on Brunnenstrasse in Berlin's Mitte district, comes with the release of a book about him, Truthful Till Death, by Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst. The book focuses attention on the persecution of black people under the Third Reich, which included forced sterilisation and, ultimately, extermination.

By the start of the 20th century, Germany had extensive colonies in Africa and it is often claimed that German doctors carried out genetic experiments on East Africans. After the First World War, France occupied the German Rhineland, deploying colonial African soldiers as the occupying force. The result was hundreds of children born to German women by African soldiers who then became a target for Hitler. In Mein Kampf, he referred to them as 'Rhineland Bastards'.

By 1937, every identified mixed-race child in the Rhineland had been forcibly sterilised, often without anaesthetic. By the outbreak of war most black people had fled. The few who remained were exterminated.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2170159,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

I received this via e-mail:

Even Dogs Pray.

If a dog has time to pray what is wrong with us?

100 Ways To Be Happy

1. Never put yourself last.
2. Always own a pair of old, faded jeans.
3. Count your blessings every day.
4. When you extend a helping hand to one person, be careful not to kick someone else in the teeth.
5. Acknowledge your successes along with your downfalls.
6. Burn the candle that has been in storage for the last two years.
7. Strive for progress, not perfection.
8. Remember, the voice telling you that you cannot do something is always lying.
9. At least once a day sit and do nothing.
10. Don't close your heart so tightly against life's pain that you shut out life's blessings.
11. Celebrate all your birthdays no matter how old you get.
12. Examine your life for limitations and ask yourself why you put them there.
13. Plant a tree, pull weeds, or get your hands dirty.
14. Diminish your wants instead of increasing your needs.
15. Cry when you feel like it.
16. Rejoice in other people's triumphs.
17. Don't wait for someone else to laugh or express joy.
18. Forgive yourself for any mistake you make, no matter how big or small.
19. Keep good company.
20. Never take a pill for a pain you need to feel.
21. Use your enthusiasm to put yourself in forward gear and give yourself a spark to move ahead.
22. Look in the eyes of the ones you love when you are talking to them.
23. Remember that one is a whole number.
24. Walk in a summer rain shower without an umbrella.
25. Do a kind deed for someone else.
26. Keep your eyes and ears open to get the messages you need from people and events in your daily life.
27. Be patient.
28. Eat something green.
29. Change what you can and leave the rest alone.
30. Walk hand and hand with truth.
31. Make laughter and joy a greater part of your life than anger and grief.
32. Embrace solitude instead of running from it.
33. Be zealous, not jealous.
34. Forgive anyone you've been holding a grudge against.
35. Slow down and enjoy the present.
36. Walk in others' shoes before judging them.
37. Send yourself a kind message.
38. Remind yourself that the company you keep is a reflection of what you think of yourself.
39. Go on a picnic.
40. Accept your fears, no matter how crazy they seem.
41. Don't let other people's opinions shape who you are.
42. Say a prayer.
43. Never attribute your accomplishments to luck or chance.
44. Know when to say no.
45. Look at the positive side of negative situation.
46. Remember that you are a spiritual being in a physical body.
47. Avoid seeking out other people for constant approval, because it make them the master and you the slave.
48. Go fly a kite.
49. Avoid fads and bandwagons.
50. Accept the things you cannot change.
51. Look inside instead of outside yourself for answers to life's problems.
52. Remember that all feelings are okay.
53. Shield yourself from bad influences.
54. Stand up for what you believe in.
55. Respect the wishes of others when they say no.
56. Seize every moment and live it fully.
57. Give away or sell anything you haven't used in the past five years.
58. Never downgrade yourself.
59. Take responsibility for what you think, feel, and do.
60. Pamper yourself.
61. Never say or do anything abusive to a child.
62. Let yourself be God powered instead of flying solo.
63. Volunteer to help someone in need.
64. Refrain from overindulging in food, drink, and work
65. Finish unfinished business.
66. Be spontaneous.
67. Find a constructive outlet for your anger.
68. Think about abundance instead of lack, because whatever you think about expands.
69. Think of yourself as a survivor, not a victim.
70. Cuddle an animal.
71. Be open to life.
72. See success as something you already have, not something you must attain.
73. Experience the splendor and awe of a sunset.
74. When you score a base hit, don't wish it were a home run.
75. Learn to be in the present moment.
76. Instead of believing in miracles, depend on them.
77. Take a child to the circus.
78. Change your attitude and your whole life will change.
79. Never turn your power over to another person.
80. When your heart is at odds with your head, follow your heart.
81. Always remember that the past is gone forever and the future never comes.
82. Live your life according to what is right for you.
83. Acknowledge your imperfections.
84. Plant a tree and watch it grow.
85. See "friend" instead of "enemy" on the face of strangers.
86. Watch an army of ants build their houses and cities and carry food ten times their weight.
87. Believe in something bigger than yourself.
88. Let the playful child within you come out.
89. Make haste slowly.
90. Work through your problems step by step and one day at a time.
91. Accept compliments from others so you can see the truth about yourself.
92. Sit on the lawn without worrying about grass stains.
93. Don't condemn yourself for your imperfections.
94. Do a humility check periodically by loving the truth about yourself.
95. Tell someone you appreciate them.
96. Never live your life according to what is right for someone else.
97. Talk less and listen more.
98. Admit your wrongdoing and forgive yourself for it.
99. Thrive on inner peace instead of on crises.
100. Affirm all the good things about yourself.

Here is the trailer from Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War.

I play one of the ex-Slaves/ Field Hands in it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818080/

This rock formation can be seen from the city of Mwanza in Tanzania. It is in Lake Victoria, which is Africa's largest lake.

Photo from MichuziJr. Blog

Above is a photo of tourists admiring a baboon eating popcorn in Ngorongoro National park in Tanzania, East Africa.

The tourists look amazed but for us who grew up in Tanzania seeing monkeys was a normal thing. In fact they moved in packs and were a nusiance. A few times my kitchen was invaded by monkeys looking for food.

Well, I used to head down the road everyday to catch a bus to work. There was a pack of monkey baboons that used to hang out in trees and make a lot of noise. Their leader was a huge baboon with a big blue butt. So my dog Savimbi, used to escort me down the road and would bark at those noisy monkeys to try and scare them away. Most of the time it worked but blue butt would bark back at him from the tree. I guess blue butt finally got annoyed with Savimbi. Savimbi was under the tree barking at blue butt and blue butt jumped down on Savimbi and rode him a bit like a cowboy riding a horse, all the time Savimbi was crying in fear. Well Savimbi never bothered those monkeys again.

Boston Actress Ellen Becker-Gray

I met Ellen when we were extras on the set ofthe new film 21. We have stayed in touch and Ellen is great always updating us on auditons, casting calls, acting tips, etc. Ellen and her husband Rob, have devoted their lives to acting and its paying off. They have worked in numerous films and TV shows shot in the New England area and New York.

Congratulations Ellen on your win. I know one day you will be holding an Oscar

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Here is some more information on Ellen.

http://www.townonline.com/marblehead/entertainment/x1376439883

Former Marblehead resident and teacher, Ellen Becker-Gray, was selected to receive the Best Actress award for her role in the film, “A Writer’s Moon,” an entry in the Providence, R.I. “2007 48-Hour Film Project.” The awards ceremony was held at the historic Columbus Theatre as part of the closing events of the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

The 48-Hour Film Project is a national competition in which teams of filmmakers are assigned a genre, a character, a prop and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements — from writing and shooting to editing and adding music. Filmmakers competed to create the best short film during 48 hours.

This national project that started in 2001 attracted more than 1,200 films and 17,000 participants in 2006.

Becker-Gray grew up in Marblehead. A kindergarten teacher in the town’s public schools from 1985 to 2005, she took early retirement to focus on her career as a performer. She is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, Screen Actor’s Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Becker-Gray is married to former Marblehead resident Rob Gray, who is also active in the industry. They met 27 years ago when they were involved in the Marblehead Little Theatre.

Found this on DEAR ABBY today!

WHAT A FOOL!!!!
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DEAR ABBY: I'm a 32-year-old female who has been having an affair during the last year with my 59-year-old married boss. I am madly in love with him and divorced my husband eight months ago to marry him.
He promised to divorce his wife, but so far there is no sign of divorce. I'm beginning to think I'm a big fool. What do you think? -- HOT TO TROT IN BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

DEAR HOT TO TROT: I agree

Living Tanzanian Legend Bi Kidude

Taarab Legend Siti Binti Saad 1880-1950

Dishonoring the Markers of Cultural Heritage

By Salma Maulidi

Salmasmlidi@yahoo.com

The Zanzibar Arts and Music Council (BASAZA) recently held a festival at the famous Ngome Kongwe amphitheatre to mark the life of a legend of Taarab music Sitti binti Saad whose melodious voice and sonnets revolutionized Taarab and public speech.

The event held almost a week after the Festival of the Dhow Countries, ZIFF, attracted far less local and international participants. The audience comprised of Zanzibaris living abroad, home for the holidays, as well as small number of tourists. At the official level the Deputy Minister for Culture Hon. Mahmoud T. Kombo graced the event accompanied by his wife. The Mayor of Zanzibar Town was also present and was joined by Hon. Mohammed Seif Khatib, the Union Minister for Sports and Culture and also a patron in the Zanzibar Media Corporation part sponsors of the event.

For about three hours the musical world of Sitti Binti Saad was recreated. The arrangement of singers and songs very much reflected the Taarab experience of the times with female singers concealing their faces, as they sang, with the back flap of their buibui pulled over their face. The covering restored respectability considering that women singing in a Taarab ensemble defied local public- private sensitivities of the time. However, when a woman had a voice such as Siti’s, such conventions could be relaxed to allow the high and mighty to indulge in a spectacular acoustic sensation in the languages of the time- Kiswahili, Arabic and Hindi.

I felt a great sense of sadness watching the event as soon after ZIFF I would not have imagined that only a handful of locals would attend an event to recognize the life and music of a Taarab legend who was and continues to be a cultural ambassador of her region. Surely, Siti’s audacity on the Taarab stage did not only prove defining for upcoming female Taarab singers but to local artists generally. After all she made it possible for any ‘commoner’ to claim the stage (or airwaves) to wide acclaim and enjoy super star status hitherto impossible by virtue of their social positioning.

In my view, the low turnout is a reflection of a deeper malaise in our cultural appreciation as well as in how we view and value local talents and productions. To contextualize what I mean I wish to demonstrate using the example of Fatuma binti Baraka popularly known as Bi. Kidude, one of the singers who paid tribute to Siti binti Saad. Bi. Kidude, well in her nineties, gave a thunderous performance. Her song lasted over ten minutes and unlike much younger singers, who also sang at the event, her voice did not falter. She sang verses in both Kiswahili and Arabic clearly, loudly and rhythmically.

There was a small mishap when trying to fold the song: poor communication between the lead instrumentalist and the singer resulted in the latter missing the cue to end the song. In all fairness, Bi. Kidude tried to make contact on two occasions but no one paid her adequate attention. Thus, as a true performer that she is, she instinctively saved the situation by continuing with the verse to its completion rather than end prematuarely eliciting laughter from the crowd.

While this laughter was innocent and prompted by what was happening on the stage it is not isolated. Numerous conversations and observations indicate that a section of the general populace do not see Bi. Kidude as the cultural icon that she is but as a kituko (an anomaly). The reaction she elicits from the crowd therefore tends to be a mix of pleasure and scorn: generally, there is more kumsanifu than there is genuine praise. Many do not see the entertainer but want to be entertained at her expense. Her age and liberal personality is the basis of ridicule she attracts.

Now well into her nineties she can be anyone’s great grandmother but she chooses to continue with her passion performing with rigour and keeping her spirit alive instead of leading a reclusive existence acting out the social expectation of her age and sex. Bi. Kidude does not conform to any standard of social expectation: she refuses to be defined by any one. Her rebellion makes people uncomfortable and rather than accept or respect her choice, they would rather dismiss her behaviour as a rowdy (or spoiled) old woman’s ‘antics’. At most she is something you put on a show to amuse the crowd and in many cases you try to create a situation where she will act up and live up to public expectation of irrational behaviour. There is little attempt to appreciate that at her age she is sharper and more in touch than people half her age. But because the assumption is to view old people as senile and unstable many relate to her as such.

Bi. Kidude is a cultural attraction who has not only marketed Zanzibar internationally, the way Siti Binti Saad did before her, but as a performer who continues to inform a cultural form across generations. She epitomizes a living tradition with all its greatness and contradictions. At another level she is testament to the official and public neglect our cultural heritage endures surviving by the sheer will and dedication of individuals who single handedly develop and fund it with imagination and love. And what do the likes of Bi. Kidude get for their service? Scorn, jeers and periodic tributes?

How can it be that a cultural icon revered internationally is negatively perceived locally? How could it be that a figure of Bi. Kidude’s caliber is not supported and her dignity protected. Indeed, allegations abound about how scrupulous individuals and promoters use her to market their business ventures with very little credit or benefit to her. This was clear when she recently performed in the closing of the women’s panorama.

I was aghast by how a throng of local and international photographers descended on the center stage, as she performed, sticking long and short camera lenses up her face, denying her the space to perform her art as they tried to capture her from different angles. It mattered little to them that we were in a middle of a sacred function. The message from their actions was clear: Bi. Kidude was an attraction and everyone wanted a piece of her but at what cost to her? To us? To what she represents?

The Late Honourable Amina Chifupa (above), was the youngest member of the Tanzanian Parliament ever. She passed away last week at the age of 26, leaving Tanzanians in shock and feeling a sense of loss because she proved she had so much potential as a leader in such a short time.

Amina Chifupa – A Dream Deferred

Hers was a mission – a revolutionary mission
Hers was a dream – a liberating dream

Each generation, said Fanon, must discover its mission
Then, it must fulfill it
Or, else, betrays it

Amina had discovered a mission
With the passion of youth, she aimed to fulfill it
But, alas, now it remains a mission postponed!

How long shall we deter the zeal of youth?
How long shall the wisdom of age let things just go?
How long oh daughters and sons of the soil?

Like Brother King, Sister Amina had a dream
Her dream is not dead
It only remains a dream deferred

But, as Hughes asks, “what happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?”

Chambi Chachage
Base for African Studies Enhancement (BASE)

c/o P. O. Box 4460

Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania

I got this as an e-mail:

*******************************************************************

Last Night ...

As I lay on my bed, thinking about you, I feel this strong urge to grab you and squeeze you, because I can't forget last night. You came to meunexpectedly during the balmy and calm night, and what happened in mybed still leaves a tingling sensation in me.

You appeared from nowhere and shamelessly, without any reservations,youlaid on my naked body...you sensed my indifference, so you appliedyour hungry mouth to me without any guilt or humiliation, and you drove menear crazy while you drained me.

Finally I went to sleep.Today when I woke up, you were gone, I searched for you but to noavail,only the sheets bore witness to last night's events. My body still bears faint marks of your enthusiastic ravishing, making it harder toforget you.

Tonight I will remain awake waiting for you... you f***ing mosquito.

(photo from Michuzi Blog)

CURRENT EAST AFRICAN PRESIDENTS

These are the current East African Presidents.

From Left to right, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Pierre Nkurunzinza of Burundi and President Mwani Kibaki of Kenya.

WOMEN OVER AGE 30

Andy Rooney said:As I grow in age, I value women who are over 30 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

- A woman over 30 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

- If a woman over 30 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it's usually something more interesting.

- A woman over 30 knows herself well enough to be assured in whom she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 30 give a hoot what you might think about her or what she's doing.

- Women over 30 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. (or at Church - DC) Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

- Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

- A woman over 30 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women.

- Women over 30 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.

- Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 30. They always know.

- A woman over 30 looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 30 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

- Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one! You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

- Yes, we praise women over 30 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 30, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.

- Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free". Here's an update for you.Nowadays 80% women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage.

What do these three have in common?

We all went to the Tanzania School of Journalism (at different times) and we all worked for Tanzania's government owned English language newspaper, Daily News. We all now live in the USA.

Here we were celebrating Lady Diana Kibodya's 50th Birthday, at a grand party held in Springfield, Massachusetts on June 16th.

Lady Diane is a originally from South Africa. She fled her native country following the Soweto uprising, she witnessed the murder of her schoolmate 13 year old Hector Pietersen by whte racist police in Apartheid South Africa. She then fled by foot with other shcoolmates to Swaziland and ended up in Uganda and later Tanzania where she met her husband Isaac Kibodya.

Lady Diane has four children and a grandson. All were present at the party along with many friends and colleagues from around the world.

I got this in an e-mail, but I agree with what is said.

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Michelle Obama Comes Under Attack?


Many of us are noticing that there is really and truly an attack on the value, worth, and importance of Black women in the lives of prominent men. It has gotten so bold that Angelina Jolie is playing a Black woman, 70 percent of Black women are living without spouses, the vast majority of our children are growing up in a single mother household, sixty percent of Black men who earn over $100,000 annually are married to non-Black women, and now a group of White people have created, produced, and distributed a music video that insults Presidential hopeful's Black wife, Michelle Obama; who is now the newest Black women to come under attack to soon be unmated.

Before anyone writes me to tell me the ever-popular notion that supports a cowardly and ignorant point of view that "it doesn't matter", I'm here to tell you that it better matter quick because the attack on Black women or shall I say, "Nappy Headed Hos" is moving full speed ahead.

Yesterday, while watching Fox News, there was a story about a group of college White students who are posing as Barack Obama supporters that produced a music video called "I Got a Crush on Obama" featuring a sexy White chick lip singing because she was recruited from Craiglist.com to act in a music video.

Apparently, the Jewish looking female vocalist just wasn't sexy enough to persuade a response from the public or to get Barack Obama's attention they had to use a dummy to pull off this mind-twisting insult.

This video hails Mr. Obama as some type of sex symbol Mandingo that is swooning White women and White people with his sexiness and not his intellect nor his integrity. Forget that Mr. Obama is running for the most powerful job in the world, the Presidency of the United States of America, and put aside that he has a Law Degree from Harvard University and was the only Black President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, plus voted in as the ONLY Black Senator in the United States Senate among many other notable accomplishments has now been reduced down to being the object of White women's sexual desire.

The scantily dressed White woman with the name of "Obama" on her butt must be to let Barack-ster recognize that she and the producers are aware that Black men like asses, or just in case, he's a tits man, her blouse is tight, especially around the breast area. Furthermore, there is zero mention of Michelle Obama nor his two Black daughters as if they don't even exists, or soon won't, because he is now on White women's radar.

You see, I've been watching Barack Obama and I was very interested in how he was going to handle the Don Imus incident; he came to Black woman's calling by saying "Don Imus should be fired" and then his ranking fell about 10 percentage points. I guess he was suppose to appease Whites by not taking offense that an old White man called a group of innocent Black female college students playing in a championship tournament, "hard-core hos" and "nappy headed hos". I never once heard Anna Nicole Smith or Paris Hilton being called "hos" of any type, especially "stringy headed hos", even though it is widely known that those White women have been very public exhibiting "whorish" behavior.

Of course, any President, despite his race or gender, must be a President for all American citizens, it's nice to know that a Black man running for President has enough sense and pride to realize that to insult innocent Black women on the purity that they are simply Black females is a slap and insult to all Black women, young, old, rich, poor, educated or uneducated. And to think some Whites have stopped supporting him due to him taking a stand that protects the image of his wife and his children is somehow less American, lets me know that racism is alive, growing, and inevitable hungry to keep Black inferiority THE status quo.

And to add insult to injury, the group of 4 White people appearing on Fox News who produced this raunchy, insulting, and belittling video had the nerve to act like the video was made out of love for Mr. Obama and would actually help him win the office of Presidency. I guess the diminishing of Black female worth is so low that during the interview not one of them mentioned Michele Obama at all, just a scroll across the screen as an after thought wondered how she would feel.

Maybe Fox News received my many emails complaining about the insult to Mrs. Obama. Then, there was the question asked if Hillary Clinton was behind this video to discredit Mr. Obama, and one of the producers responded with a slippery and shady "no comment" paraphrase.

Now sistahs of the Black Woman's Movement, (if you haven't signed up, please do so today because we are in phase one of gathering up the troops—tell all your friends), we must not get upset with Barack Obama over yet another White woman chasing after a Black man of prominence, he had absolutely nothing to do with the creation and distribution of this degrading video. As a matter of fact, Mr. Obama's camp has made no comment, but was urged to contact the producers and praise them for insulting his wife and his prestige. What the heck? You see, there are trick bags all over the place and this is just some bait to see if Barack-ster would be weak and dumb enough to insult his family by being flattered with such filth and attention diverting plots that he would praise a fake singing sex-pot that was hired to perform a duty. I'm not even sure the actress hired is a real Obama supporter.

Lastly, check out this comment that I received from youtube, "if Obama is a true black man he would dump his colored girl wife and shack up with a blonde lady".

Black men are getting clowned all the time due to their continual abandonment of Black women, because you know only a TRUE racist would use the word "colored" to describe today's Black woman.

Black women must be on the same page with understanding what is feeding our epidemic singleness. Furthermore, I'm receiving comments after comments about non-Black women stealing Black men from Black women—it has truly gotten way out of hand.

If you don't' believe me, then visit my website: www.BlackWomenNeedL oveToo.com and watch a clip from the movie Jungle Fever from 1991 and tell me that we have NOT participated in the "it doesn't matter" syndrome for far too long. It's past time for us to stand up for our rights to be loved, honored, and cherished just as much as any other woman.

Learn what we can do about it in my book, Black Women Need Love, Too! available on amazon.com and if a bookstore near you doesn't have any copies on their shelves, ask them to order it—Black Women Need Love, Too! is not only a book, but an important message that needs to be spread worldwide.

ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK, BLACK WOMEN NEED LOVE, TOO! AND TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO THE SAME BECAUSE NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNTIL WE CHANGE IT.

www.BlackWomenNeedL oveToo.com

Don't forget what happened to Harold Ford when the "call me" commercial was let loose, he was a gonner--bye bye Senate!
www.BlackWomenNeedL oveToo.com