bbs 05-7-13.indd

W e d n e s d a y s
“come to the edge ... and fly”
ISSN: 1550-3739
Issue 84 [July 13 - 19, 2005]
www.blackberryspeak.com
For The Supreme Court Nominees:
‘Hey, Don’t forget the Black Man’
Table of Contents page 2
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News
Table of Contents
NEWS
* For Supreme Court Nominees: ‘Hey,
don’t forget the Black Man’
* The Supreme Court Nomination Process
* With Other Newz (current news blurbs)
IN OUR DIASPORA
BUSINESS
* Kobe, Boycotts, Hirings, Partnerships, ...
SPORTS
* The WNBA: These women got the
game
* ‘Sport Commentary
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
* It ain’t all hip hop: Musical gems of
2005
* Luther Vandross: The link to his hits
* Film & Theater: The Color of Money:
No Longer Black & White
* Television: Gay is Red for Some, But
definitely Green for others
* Books: African American women
are blowing up again this year
HEALTH & BODY
* News: Black Drug Gouges, Nigerian
sickle cell, Children’s Insurance, New
Aids restrictions, ...
PEOPLE & NON PROFITS
* Retirees & Baby Boomers Want to
Give Back
LIFESTYLE
* We Speak: “In Search of Family”
by Jane Ragland. Part 5 of 6.
TRAVEL
THE INTIMATE YOU
* the idaberry commentary: ‘Wait, Just
Whisper in My Ear: Ying Yang is Bang
Bang
LIFE ENRICHMENT
* “My AHA Moment”
* ‘Snapped’ by Cheryl Rainey - ‘Sometimes sistahs got a reason’
* ‘Living’ by Ronique
SPIRITUALITY
* The Strength of Brokenness
* Books & Prayer
RELIGIOUS NEWS
* Islam is a Religion of Peace
* Religions working together against
Terror & Violence
COLOR COMMENTARY
For Supreme Court Nominees:
‘Hey, Don’t forget the Black Man’
When one sees the list of potential replacements for Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, the usual sticks out - old white males.
Old white males who will be appointed by an old white male
after confirmation by even older white males, with only a few
exceptions. One Hispanic prominently mentioned, although
opposed by conservative right groups, is Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales. Two African-Americans mentioned include the No. 2 person at the Justice Department for much
of President Bush’s first term, Larry Thompson, and recently
approved after much controversy and a threat of filibuster,
Judge Janice Brown.
Reality check.
No Hispanic has ever been nominated to be, so of course
has never been, a Supreme Court Justice. With two African-American Supreme Court Justices, Thurgood Marshall,
and presently Clarence Thomas, it is more likely than not a
Hispanic would get the nod over another African American.
Oh, please. You know we all count like this. Also consider
that one, George, Jr. likes to prove he’s ‘his own man’ and
not just daddy’s little bail out boy, which is a natural reaction
for sons who bear their father’s moniker, two, that his father
outsmarted all the liberals and especially African Americans
when he nominated the least black man (Thomas) to replace the most respected black man (Marshall), and three,
Bush has already put African Americans in key White House
positions (hello, Rice & Powell & Thompson).
Nevertheless, until the nomination is locked, stocked, and
barreled through Congress, it’s a wide open game. And if
you don’t put a man (or woman) on the floor, your team will
never score points, or be considered. Here are the two African Americans Bush may consider, if you don’t read Yahoo
News or MSNBC, and their chances.
Judge Janice Brown: Considered not black
enough by blacks, and a conservative
dream by the right, Brown’s bio has been
splayed across the pages for months as she
fought to become a federal appeals court
judge. Although her name is mentioned as
a possibility, it is highly unlikely Bush would
nominate her again and risk a filibuster or
nuclear option. So let’s skip straight to ...
Larry Thompson - A former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, as Bush’s Deputy
Attorney General, Thompson was keenly
involved with Bush’s post 9-11 decisions,
from the Patriot Act, to Homeland Security, to the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq. As head of the Justice Department’s
corporate crime task force he went after scandal laden En-
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2
News
ron, Worldcom, Healthsouth, and their
corporate officers. Thomas also was
a member of that well-oiled legal team
that got Justice Thomas confirmed, he
suggested that Anita Hill suffered from
erotomania, an abnormality related to
sexual delusion. Thompson also fought
diligently against drug trafficking while
a U.S. Attorney in Atlanta. A precursor
to Bill Cosby, in 1987, Thompson said
black on black crime was not as much a
problem of racism as it was the failure of
values and institutions in the black community. In 1991 he took ‘black leaders’
to task for preaching the “politics of despair” whereby government assistance
is advocated as a way for blacks to over
their problems. He suggested the problems of “drug use, lack of respect for the
law, kids having children too soon and
fathers who were not taking their responsibility seriously” were being ignored.
He was one of the highest-ranking African Americans in the Bush administration and if appointed to the court, would
be the third African American justice.
Despite his conservative stance, Thompson is respected by Democrats because
he doesn’t wear that bad on his shoulder, and African Americans, because
he’s fair. If Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA),
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary is correct in his assessment that Bush may
go outside the judiciary for the appointment, Thompson’s stock will go way
way up.
Another name we float for judicial consideration, Georgia Supreme Court Justice
Leah Sears. Acceptable to some Republicans, she was recently appointed
a justice by Republican governor Sonny
Perdue, Sears would also appease the
critical South vote.
Who the ultimate nominee will be is unknown. What is for certain, however, is
although Bush is in his second term with
little to lose, Congressional players up for
reelection in 2006 or considering a bid
for the 2008 presidency, will lift the game
playing and rhetoric to interesting levels.
Sources for Larry Thompson: Manhattan Institute Organization, Washington Post, New
York Times.
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“[T]he Senate should resist, if not refuse to
confirm
Supreme
Court nominees who
refuse to
answer
questions
on fundamental
issues.
In voting on
whether
or not to
confirm
a nominee,
senators
should not
have to
gamble or
guess
about a candidate’s
philosophy, but should be able to judge on the
basis of the candidate’s expressed views.”
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), present Chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, in his 2000 book, ‘Passion for
The Supreme Court nomination process
The President of the United States and generally, senior White House staff, put together a “short list” of candidates. Under Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, the Senate will provide advice and consent to
a judicial nomination. The President or White House
staff will then meet with key Senators, particularly those
on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and possibly the
majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate
to discuss the potential nominees, receive other names
for consideration, and discuss possible challenges facing any specific nominee or the process in general.
The candidate list is shortened and White House staff
then analyze the candidates past judicial decisions,
writings, speeches, employment history, and other information to develop a profile and to identify any potential obstacles to their successful confirmation.
Once a nomination is made, it is assigned to the Judiciary Committee who holds a public hearing, then takes
a vote on whether to report the nomination to the full
Senate for debate and vote. A majority vote of the Senate is required to confirm a nominee.
Beginning in 1948, the American Bar Association has
evaluated candidates for the federal bench, including
nominees for the Supreme Court, for their professional
competence, judicial temperament, and integrity, after which a rating of “well qualified,” “qualified,” or “not
qualified” is given. During his first term in office, President Bush informed the ABA that they would no longer
be provided with the names of judicial candidates prior
to their nomination. Nevertheless, once the name is
made public, the ABA still provides the Senate and the
public with an evaluation.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
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In Our Diaspora
News
W
ith O t h e r N e w z
If it helps the children, but limits the adults who help
the children, what should be done? Brian Parnell, a
white social worker from California, filed a federal civil rights
complaint against The National Association of Black Social
Workers after they refused him admission to their April conference in New Orleans. According to Parnell, the group’s
Executive Director, Sandra Wheeler, basically told him his
whiteness would inhibit the black participants from speaking
freely. The tax exempt group’s bylaws also state the organization is for blacks. Parnell works in the San Francisco
area where 70% of the children in foster care are black.
Right Nation ...... So why did it disband after 1972? ‘Hit
me Baby’ isn’t the only thing going retro. Black Democrats
who formed the National Black Political Assembly in 1972
to establish a Black political agenda, say it’s time for baby
to go back, back to Gary, IN where they met 33 years ago.
Said Bill Lucy, the president and cofounder of the Coalition
of Black Trade Unionists, to the Final Call, “I think, without
question, the overwhelming majority of the Black voters still
favor the Democratic Party and its Democratic policy platform. But I think that the fact of the matter is that we’ve got
to have an agenda of our own that we will impress on the
party as if to formulate its platform. We can’t keep having
knee-jerk reactions.” An exact date to meet has not been
set, but is expected to be held in March 2006. Final Call
...... Getting back to the admission of whites, Maryland’s
Governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr. is still involved in a flap after
he held a fundraiser at a golf club that critics say does not
have any black members. Flapping with him is his African
American lieutenant governor who is expected to run for
Governor, Michael Steele, who told the Baltimore Sun it
wasn’t an issue for him because he doesn’t play golf. In his
defense, Ehrlich said several Democrats, who he would not
name because they may not have known about the club’s
membership, also held fundraisers at Elkridge Club. The
Club has no formal restrictions against African Americans,
did not release its membership list, but said several African
Americans had played golf and eaten at the club. We presume the latter did not occur in a kitchen ...... Which explains why the Philadelphia school system is requiring
students to take African American history. At the RainbowPush Coalition meeting in Chicago, Minister Louis Farrakhan told the attendees that a new educational paradigm
was needed - “It’s natural that we would choose education
over incarceration, but is the present form of education another form of incarceration?” With an educational system
that has taught students that white is better, it is imperative
that a new educational philosophy be built that frees us all
“from that ravages of racism, sexism and all the other ‘isms’
that have impeded human development. Final Call
NYC’s Haitians face new nightmare
- kidnapping. According to the New
York Daily News, in Haiti “since Aristide’s government
was toppled last
year, violence has
claimed more than
700 lives and there
are six to 10 reported kidnappings
a day.” With one of
the largest Haitian
populations in the
U.S., New York City finds more often
than not, its residents are the ones
asked for large sums of money in order for their family members to be returned safely. Felix Augustin, Haiti’s
counsel general to New York, told the
Daily News that there is little he can
do except contact the Haitian police
...... According to editorial page editor
for the Atlanta Journal Constitution,
Cynthia Tucker, the problem in Zimbabwe is it’s leadership is bankrupt. In the past week Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe expanded
his urban razing to include ‘illegal’ garages, cottages, and chicken coops
in order to provide new homes to
‘deserving Zimbabweans’ ...... In the
Ivory Coast, 3 years of civil war have
taken their toll as thousands have not
only lost loved ones, homes or businesses, some have even lost the documentation to prove they exist, which
would hopefully allow them to vote in
upcoming elections. And although
the independent election commission
has said they will issue polling cards
to help ease voting problems, the
commission itself hasn’t been formed
because of political squabbling.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
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Business
M
inding O u r B i z n e s s
The News
We all know about dwb’s (driving while black). According to a Black Enterprise survey, 56% of us are regularly saan’ed (shopping as a Negro),
while 46% have felt unwelcome in a store. Overall, 88% say discrimination
is still a problem ...... Like the airline industry, Mickey D’s believes an updated employee uniform will keep their customers coming back, so they’re
interested in seeing designs from Sean John (P. Diddy), Phat Farm (Russell
Simmons), and others. Hey Mick, Simmons is a well known vegan, which
explains his polite ‘thanks, but no thanks’ ...... Kobe is again the darling of
Madison Ave., the people who tell us what we should be thinking and then
pretend it’s what we said. Dropped after he was charged with sexual assault, which was later dropped itself, KB’s new Nike ad appears in Sports
Illustrated. No word on whether former Kobe partner Sprite, whose ads
center around hip hop, feel KB has enough street cred to pull back their audience. A Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault spokesperson told USA
Today It would be a great inspiration to those young people if the endorsers
were not only accomplished athletes, but also had a reputation for positive
and ethical conduct.” ...... While the Essence Music Festival fared well over
the Independence holiday weekend, the New Orleans Local Organizing
Committee request to festival attendees to boycott the French Quarter in
protest of recent racial incidents was not as successful. According to KATCTV New Orleans, bar and restaurant owners reported that if anything, business may have been up from recent years ...... U.S. workers under the age
of 55, use at least 2 hours a day
to do nonbusiness
related activities such as surf the Internet and socialize
with coworkers at a cost of $759 billion. Older workers
waste 30 minutes a day. Replacing
older workers with
younger help to save a buck has
truly paid off ...... Tribune Broadcasting, Allbritton Communications, and
Fox Television, concerned with the high
fault rates among African Americans, Hispanics and large households, have signed on to support
the FAIR Ratings Act (for fairness, accuracy, inclusivity and responsiveness) which would force
Nielsen Media Research to subject their people meters to accreditation by the
MRC, which sets minimum standards for rating accuracy. Nielsen’s people meters
have been attacked, then supported by various ethnic groups who claim their television interests are not represented in the surveys. Mediaweek
Employment/Business partnerships:
* Rose McKinney-James Joins the MGM Mirage board
* Actor Morgan Freeman and Intel join forces for digital entertainment company
* Former American Idol Kimberly Clark partners with women’s plus-size retailer Lane Bryant to
appear in fall and holiday print ads and make personal appearances. Locke signed with Ford Models’ 12-plus division in February.
* Former Houston mayor, Lee P. Brown, and Kase L. Lawal, chairman and chief executive officer of CAMAC International Inc., signed an agreement to acquire an approximately 21% interest
in Unity National Bank, the only African-American owned bank in the state of Texas.
Lawsuits:
* 11 Black employees have filed suit against Walgreens for racial discrimination.
* 10 shoppers file suit against Wal-Mart claiming their were targeted as shoplifters based on their race.
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BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
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Sports
For the little press it’s gotten this
season, one can count the ESPN
highlights on one hand, one might
think the WNBA, if not defunct, has
joined the NHL in a lockout. But
with new owners like the Washington Mystic’s Sheila Johnson, the
WNBA’s first black and first female
owner, and continued star presence from Houston Comet’s Sheryl
Swoopes, the WNBA is thriving and
selling tickets. In the first All-Star
game in two years (the 2004 game
was canceled due to the Olympics), we got a chance to see some
of the best of the best in women’s
basketball who proved experience
still brings pleasure.
Yolanda Griffith. In her
3rd year with the Sacramento Monarchs, Griffith
joined the 3,000 career
points club this year, and
is posting her largest
points per game, 18.8,
this year.
Lisa Leslie.
She
soars, she dunks,
she’s Super Leslie who in 8 years
with the WNBA’s
Los
Angeles
Sparks continues
to prove this center has game.
Did you see her
All Star game
dunk with 17
seconds left
in the game?
The first player to reach the 3,000 points plateau, Leslie commentates for ESPN and was
a member of the 1996 and 2000 Olympic
gold medal teams.
Sheryl
Swoopes.
Plagued by injuries in
prior years, Swoopes
at 34, is still not an elder stateswoman of
the game. She is, however, as the top
vote getting in the West, this year’s All
Star MVP, as predicted by her 8 year
old son Jordan. She’s led the league
in steals and defensive plays. And in
8 years with the Houston Comets she
can still run the floor and post up like
the pro she is. Did we mention she is
one of the hottest female athletes in
any sport?
Ta m i k a
Catchings. The
3rd pick in
the 2001
draft, the
former
Te n n e s see Lady
Vol is one of only two Lady Vols to score 2,000+ points
and pull down 1,000 rebounds. As a member of the
Indiana Fever some feel Catchings has yet to live up
to her hype, but with an average of 5 defensive, and
8 overall rebounds per game, she’s fever pitched to
finally win that Defensive MVP award this year.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
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6
Sports
Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
We need sports to endure the world’s violence
Burwell appropriately begins by reminding us we
hold sports up to standards expected of no one and
nothing else. From raising our kids, to saving the
economics of our communities, and giving us heroes, we also expect sports to, like the old Calgon
commercial, ‘take us away.’ Take us away, within
a 3 hour time span, from the existence of our
everyday lives where there’s terror and horror
and stresses that remind us of our own mortality and limitations. Yes, we ask too much of
sports Burwell says, but yet, sports continues
to meet our burdens. More important, it is
a terrain where differences which normally
pull us apart, disappear as we find common
ground in the competitiveness of the spirit
of sports. So whether it’s 7-7 or 9-11 or
Munich, Burwell quotes the late St. Louis
sportscaster Jack Buck, ‘the games will
surely resume, sooner rather than later.’
Lynne Duke, Washington Post
Mr. Coffee: How a Baseball Scion Put Down
Roots In Africa, and Grew a Very Rich
Blend
“When I was younger, my dad didn’t let me
play on the national level because he didn’t
want me to be out there and exposed ... to
you guys, basically.”
Jeffrey Jordan, eldest son of former Chicago
Bull Michael Jordan, speaking to reporters at
the Nike All-America Camp in Indianapolis
Jack Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle
Baseball’s conscience finally gets his due
Communist ties obscured Walnut Creek retiree’s
success fighting racism in the sport
“As virtually everyone knows, Jackie Robinson,
the Negro Leagues star who joined the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1947, broke the color ban in baseball.
But few Americans know that it was Walnut Creek
resident Lester Rodney -- working as reporter,
columnist and sports editor for the Daily Worker,
the New York Communist Party newspaper -who prepared the ground, repeatedly referring to
the ban as “un-American” and “the crime of the
big leagues.” And from that introduction Epstein
brings us a part of civil rights history few know or
remember because, he believes, Rodney was a
communist shunned not only by some of his fellow
journalists, but also Robinson who was anti-communist. Nevertheless Rodney’s relentless columns
excoriating baseball owners to integrate, publishing complimentary quotes about African American
ballplayers from MLB players such as Joe DiMaggio, and which were published in black weeklies
kept the spotlight on baseball’s racial disparities.
Now 94, Rodney adds to his list of honors an induction into the Shrine of the Eternals, MLB’s alternative Hall of Fame, where he joins other baseball
notables as Curt Flood, whose lawsuit challenging
baseball’s reserve clause set the stage for today’s
free agency.
David Robinson was a Stanford student and a Harlem home builder. Now he is a coffee grower on
his Tanzanian farm in Africa. And he will always be,
Duke points out, not David Robinson, the former
NBA star, but David Robinson, son of the former
MLB star, Jackie Robinson. Which helps to explain
how he became an activist of African American and
Africa ideals, to lift ‘the race, as folks used to say
in his father’s day,’ and followed those ideals back
to his roots after his brother Jackie Jr., “addicted to
heroin while serving in Vietnam, ... died in an automobile accident, while driving David’s car” in 1971.
As part of the cooperative Mshikamano Farmers
Group, Robinson is the groups’ marketing manager, and has placed their coffees in Atlanta and New
York. Selecting a wife from the Wanyamwezi tribe, Robinson has been married for 15 years, and sired seven
children. More importantly, he uses the family name to
forge ties between two countries of people divided by
slavery but still with perseverance to move on.
Click Ad to Shop
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BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
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Art & Entertainment
Music
1951-2005
Luther
Rapper
‘Lil Kim, who
wore more clothing to
court in one outfit than she
ever did in all her concert perThat voice
formances ... together, is sentenced
will never
to 366 days in prison and fined $50,000 for
lying to a grand jury investing a shooting outside
be silent.
New York’s Hot 97. Despite the public humiliation of Pamela Anderson when her private sex video was released,
rapper Eve, like Paris Hilton before, learned nada, as her sex
MP3’s of complete cuts
video with her then boyfriend of two years and a ‘sexual toy’
from 10 of Luther’s albums
hit the Internet, before she objected, so was then offered to the
Star. R. Kelly, who has had his own sexual woes, takes heat to a
Fahrenheit level with TP.3 Reloaded’s five-part serial drama Trapped
in the Closet, a soap opera drama of the ricochet effect of infidelity that
is riveting and butt funny, sometimes at the same time. And Bobby Brown,
whose wife Whitney Houston let’s us know they have a very active sex life,
which is good since they want another baby, gives Bravo their largest series
debut numbers ever, with his reality show “Being Bobby Brown.” Even Miss
Cleo couldn’t have foreseen that.
In a week where the news was dominated by Live 8 and G 8 African aid, and terrorists bombing London, for the black music scene, the selling, being, and engaging in
sex was #1 box office, as evidenced when a quick survey of 9 people proved only 2
knew a mistrial was declared in the Notorious Big civil trial. For those without ‘know’
the civil trial judge found the respondent (the city of L.A. via the LAPD) intentionally
withheld critical evidence from the plaintiffs, the Wallace family, which is a big ‘no no.’
It’s also a no no if some other 2005 musical gems go unnoticed.
Jazz: Sunshine Man, by Roy Ayers.
He dominated the musical scene in the 70’s with ‘Everybody Loves
the Sunshine,’ and that is the first cut on Ayer’s latest album. Smooth,
mellow, with a Courvoisier voice, every cut
r e minds you there is ‘gold in ‘dem ‘dar hills.’
Blues: Give Me Time, by Eddie Shaw
She looks like Whoopie which explains why
‘keeps it down home and real’ with songs like “Bull Shit Blues,”
Your Love,” and “Try Me One More Time.” Her voice is raw and
most acoustically pleasing, but the sincerity and pain she conveys
note makes this CD a pleasing post escapade after a long Satur-
S h a w
“I Need
not
the
with each
day night.
Spoken Word: WDIA: History, The Music, The Legend
The first black radio station in the US, located in Memphis, TN, this CD is the
‘Goodwill Station’s’ historical compilation of black life from the late ‘40’s. Includes
Rufus Thomas - Pink Pussy Cat Wine, Honey Boy Thomas - MLK Poem, and
Lynn White - Cheatin’ in the Next Room, along with show jingles
R&B: The Message, Grandmaster Flash,
“Don’t push me, cause I’m close to the edge. I’m trying not to loose
my head. It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder, How I
keep from going under” ...
was Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message.” That song, along with “It’s Nasty,” “Scorpio,”
and four other cuts, reminds us why some folks will never go out of style.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
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8
Art & Entertainment
Film & Theater
The Color of Money: No Longer Black and White
New York Times
While television makes breakthroughs with gay TV, the New York Times notes African American progress in Hollywood. No, there is still discrimination and opportunities closed to African Americans, but,
said John Ridley, an African-American filmmaker who is writing and producing a “Barbershop” television series for Showtime Networks to the Times, “People look at Hollywood and
say, ‘I wish it was changing here or there.’ But if I’d come in the business 10 years earlier, I
wouldn’t be where I am today.” And where we are this month - 20th Century Fox’s “Fanatastic Four,” which took the top box office spot its debut weekend, was directed by African
American Tim Story (“Barbershop), and white director Craig Brewer
directs “Hustle & Flow,” a hip-hop inspired picture from Paramount
Classics and MTV Films, featuring a largely black cast and Terrence
Howard portraying a sympathetic pimp who wants to be a rapper.
The road hasn’t been easy (Hollywood actually wanted to change
Howard’s character to something more politically correct, like a postman) and “none of the
big hits anchored by African-Americans this year were carried by women.” But marketing
the film characters’ similarities to an ethnically diverse audience has shown ‘the money’ to
Hollywood, and given common ground to us all.
Television
Gay is Red for some, but definitely Green for others
The 2004 reelection of George
Bush, Jr. as president was strongly
propelled by ‘Red’ states proclaiming no to same-sex marriages, and
over a dozen passing statutes prohibiting such. For some, it was a
referendum backlash against that
promiscuous card carrying ACLU
liberals in Hollywood. Well, Red
states, Hollywood got your message and further surmised since
the election was oh so close, and
the vitriol oh so high, ‘why, mixing
this red and blue produces some
serious green.’ Meet LOGO and
“The Herndon Davis Reports.”
LOGO
is the
newest
cable
channel from
MTV Networks. Planned with more
than 200 lesbian and gay films,
an ongoing documentary series,
newscasts tailored for a gay and
9
lesbian audience, and quality original shows and specials, LOGO is
dedicated to a positive and honest
reflection of gay America, and can
appeal to and inform all lifestyles.
Programming includes Round Trip
Ticket - a globe-trotting travel magazine series that ditches the usual
sites and well-worn paths to seek
out entertaining and little-known
alternatives. Paragraph 175 addresses an often overlooked consequence of the Nazi regime and
documents the resilient and unspeakably cruel stories of the few
remaining gay survivors of the
holocaust, while the movie Flawless, starring Robert DeNiro, tells
the story of tolerance and acceptance through Walt Koontz (Robert DeNiro), a bitter, homophobic
security guard who after suffering
a paralyzing stroke, receives singing lessons from his drag queen
neighbor Rusty (Philip Seymour
Hoffman) for singing lessons.
The Herndon Davis Reports, hosted by its creator and namesake, is
a one-hour long, black gay/lesbian
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
focused, empowerment news program. A cross between the Chris
Matthews Show (MSNBC) and the
Oprah Winfrey Show, this new nationally syndicated show aggressively
tackles
a variety of
socioe c o nomic
a n d
political
issues
impacting the
gay/lesbian community, but from a distinctly black gay/lesbian affirming
perspective. Herndon Davis, is a
black and openly gay author and
lecturer. In 2004, he self-published
the spiritual empowerment book,
Black, Gay & Christian, which
challenged the status quo of homophobia within the black church
as well as its scriptural interpretation of biblical text surrounding
homosexuality. HDR broadcasts
on DirecTV channel 227 and Comcast Cable TV101 in Southern California.
blackberryspeak.com
Art & Entertainment
Books
1992: ‘We Did Get Along,
... and Very very Well’
by A. Renee’ West
Okay, so it was the summer of
the Rodney King riots, something of which I don’t make light
since I lived in L.A.. But the
surrealness of watching familiar buildings burn, including my
law office, while Muslims sold
bean pies on Crenshaw as the
National Guard sat on tanks
with their fingers on the trigger,
was also combined with an unlikely ‘is this really happening’
‘dag, Black women got it going
on’ ‘it’s finally being recognized
that we can read’ event - three
novels written by black women
were in the top 10 books Los
Angelenos couldn’t get enough.
Terry McMillan’s “Waiting to
Exhale” was #1, Alice Walker’s
“Possessing the Secret of Joy”
was #6, and Toni Morrison’s
“Jazz” came in at #8. I personally read all 3, although two I
couldn’t get past page 3.
Now, all 3 of these women, plus
two of our other premier female
African American writers, have
must read summer fare.
The Interruption of
Everything, Terry
McMillan (Viking
Adult)
McMillan has proven lately that her books are her
life. The Interruption of Everything, may prove more fortuitous
than McMillan knew.
Marilyn
Grimes, forty-four, wife and mother of three, has made a career of
deferring her dreams to build a
suburban California home and lifestyle with her workaholic husband,
Leon. She also troubleshoots for
her grown kids, cares for her livein mother-in-law (and elderly poo-
dle, Snuffy), keeps tabs on her
girlfriends Paulette and Bunny
and her own aging mother and
foster sister— and holds down a
part- time job. Now with nothing
to feed her passion and too too
much on her plate, she’s ready to
jump. She’s just not sure where,
but in the end proves the detour
is the path and living life “by the
numbers” never quite adds up.
72 Hour Hold,
Bebe
Moore
C a m p b e l l
(Knopf Publishing Group)
Keri Whitmore’s
daughter is bipolar and getting worse. No longer
is Trini the bright and beautiful
young girl she once was, but there
is hope. As Trini turns 18 she begins a successful, albeit shortterm, new treatment. Campbell
guides us through the stigmas of
mental illness in the black community, the challenges of dealing
with the medical and insurance
systems, and the 72 hour involuntary hold a facility can do, while
introducing us to characters like
her ex-husband,
who can’t handle
Trina’s illness.
Babylon Sisters,
Pearl
Cleage
(Ballantine
Books, Inc.)
Catherine Sanderson has it all:
a fulfilling career, the home, and
Phoebe, a beautiful, intelligent
daughter on her way to Smith
College who is old enough to ask
‘who’s this baby’s daddy.’ And not
untypical, her father, B.J. Johnson, a renowned newspaper correspondent - the only man Catherine has ever loved - doesn’t
even know about Phoebe. Back
from Africa, though, he seeks
Catherine’s help in cracking a
story about a female slavery ring
operating right on the streets of
Atlanta. Add Miss Mandeville, a
housekeeper turned tycoon, and
her slick trick sidekick Sam, who
want Catherine to staff her housekeeping business, but seem way
too interested in Catherine’s connection to B.J., and a could have
been trite novel
turns explosive.
Playing My Mother’s Blues, Valerie Wilson Wesley
(HarperCollins
Publishers)
Dani Carter was seven, her sister, Rose, seventeen, when their
mother Maria abandoned her family for a tragic ending love affair.
Decades later, while her sister
Rose pretends their mother didn’t
exist, and her father paints her as
the Devil, Dani uses an affair to
emotionally escape her loveless
marriage, which propels her to ask
- exactly who was her mother?
Finding Maria, now calling herself
Mariah, answers some questions,
but raises many more as Dani
seeks to know what could possibly drive a mother to sacrifice what
was dearest to her heart.
Can’t
Get
Enough, Connie
Briscoe (Doubleday & Company,
Incorporated)
The sequel to Briscoe’s P.G. County,
Barbara Bentley, the grand dame of
P.G. County, tentatively abandons
the alcohol that served to soften
the edges of her marriage to her
bimbo-loving millionaire husband,
Bradford. Sober a year, a part-time
job as a real estate agent and the
unexpected attentions of a handsome young colleague have done
wonders for her ego. Meanwhile
Jolene, Bradford’s ambitious, conniving ex-mistress, can’t get him to
comment, after Jolene’s husband
Patrick leaves her for Pearl. Did
we mention African princess Candice has an unstable lover?
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
blackberryspeak.com
10
Health & Body
Headlines
* Black Heart Drug Outpriced for Market.
BiDil, NitroMed’s new heart drug for blacks,
will sell for $1.80 a pill, a price much higher
than analysts had expected and nearly double
the cost of other heart-failure drugs which are
not race related. For those with no prescription drug coverage, BiDil will be
available for $25
a month, while
poor
patients
without drug coverage will get the
drug free. Not
good
enough,
says some black
physicians and
medical groups
which supported
the drug’s approval by the FDA. Since a doctor must send
in forms to qualify a patient for a free or low
cost, too many may fall within that insurance
quagmire of ‘slow approval’ or ‘under evaluation.’ Since BiDil is a combination of two generic drugs which costs under 25 cents a day,
some heart specialists have indicated they
will experiment with higher and lower doses
or split generic pills to achieve similar results.
New York Times
* Cash Crunch Threatens
Federal Children’s Insurance.
According to the Congressional
Research Service, depending
on whether demand is low or
high, six to 14 states will use up
their share of federal money for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program which covers poor children during the 2006 budget year
and 12 to 20 during 2007. Sen. Ted Kennedy,
D-MA will sponsor a bill to add the allocated,
but unspent, $1 billion which reverted back to
the treasury on Sept. 30. USA Today
People & Nonprofits
Retirees and Baby Boomers Want to Give
Back Seattle Times
F
ew question the excellent qualifications new NAACP Volunteerism has been an integral part of this
country’s success. Teenagers are
Candy Stripers. Adults become
student mentors, and retirees use
SCORE to pass on entrepreneurship greatness. With 76
million babies born between 1946 and 1964, the Civic Ventures of San Francisco and The MetLife Foundation — researchers from Princeton Survey Research Associates International, surveyed 1000 ethnically diverse baby boomers
(BB’s).
1
. BB’s will not end their work life just because the workforce says they’re ‘age undesirable.’ However, most plan
to work in fields different from their careers and do “work
that improves their communities and gives their lives more
purpose.”
2
. More women than men (50 percent to 28 percent) want
the opportunity to help people in need; 70 percent of
women said it’s very important that their job in retirement
provide a sense of purpose (compared to 48 percent of
men).
3
4
. African Americans are more altruistic than whites (63
to 47%)
. BB’s aren’t all work and no fun. Over 50% want time
for relaxation, travel and grandchildren and expect their
workplace to accommodate flexibility.
* Nigerians have sickle cell. In the
throes of an HIV/AIDS epidemic,
the Sickle Cell Foundation of Nigeria says its disease must be added
to the country’s list of health threats.
About 30 million Nigerians are carriers of sickle cell disease, while 2.4 million
suffer from the disease. Yahoo News
* Domestic NGO’s get new AIDS restrictions. Any organization operating overseas
must now sign a pledge opposing sex trafficking and prostitution in order to receive federal
funds. Although passed by a bipartisan Congress, some groups feel the legislation will
negatively affect the trust they’ve set up with
certain patients and thus defeat their success.
Others fear funding will be cut off if foreign organizations with which they work do not agree
to the pledge. CNN Florida Court upholds
11
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
blackberryspeak.com
Travel
“We sPEAK ...”
In Search of Family
Welcome to Montreal
by Ann Brown
by Jane Rag-
land
Fifth of a
Six Part
Series
George
Walton!
George
Walton! I
reopened
my telep h o n e
Sevilla Lowe-Brown
Merritt Cyrus
book immediately,
to search for Philly Waltons, and there it was – a
George Walton resided in West Philly. In February
1994 we were in the midst of a blizzard, so I knew
he had to be home. I called the number listed, praying silently it was a good number. He answered the
phone and my mouth went dry. I introduced myself, telling him quickly that I wasn’t selling anything,
just checking my genealogy, and asking him to bear
with me for a few minutes.
Anxious, I gave him the information I had acquired, then
waited. He laughed. Then he
said, “Yes, I’m your mother’s
cousin George”. Oh my!
He knew my mother well and
was saddened to hear she
was no longer with us. He
told me all of my Aunt’s and
Uncle’s names, verifying the
facts I’d already collected.
Jane Ragland
Then, much to my delight, he
gave me Cousin Frances’ number. He said I had
to call her because ‘she knew everything about everybody.’ After saying goodbye to George I quickly
dialed France’s number. We were in a blizzard remember! I was giving her something to do!
My excitement levels had gone through the roof,
so when Frances answered the phone I blurted everything out. To my delight, she was a wonderfully
friendly, agreeable, knowledgeable person! She
answered every question I had. She told me the
names of our Great-great grandparents, maternal
and paternal. We talked for hours. (Still do).
Next Week – ‘Success’
Jane Ragland is Secretary to her large family, maintaining their bond through emails, letters and a family
Web site; http://mybrownfamilywebsite.com, which she
created and maintains. In her professional life, Jane is
a new author, and creates personalized portrait sculptures, busts and masks from pictures of her clients using
mixed media. raglandjs@msn.com
It
wasn’t my first visit
to Montreal, but it
was turning out to
be the strangest.
At Doval (or Pierre
Elliott
Trudeau
International) Airport, my boyfriend
and I step into an
elevator and see
scrawled on the
door “Filthy Arabs Go Home.” I try to wipe it off but can’t.
I ink over it.
After hopping a bus and then the Metro into the Latin
Quarter, Montreal’s Greenwich Village, it’s still too early
to check into our hotel so we foot it to the main drag (St.
Catherine St.) to sightsee and get food. Two policemen
stop us and ask for ID. There’s been a luggage theft and
we look suspicious - since it was so early in the morning.
“Suspicious?” I ask. “You’re lucky,” was the response: “I
am speaking in English. I could address you in French.”
We prove our innocence.
Finding a 24-hour McDonalds we take a booth. In the
next booth we see a man shoot up drugs in full view of
the staff and diners. Oh yeah, Montreal has a needle
exchange program. But this is a bit much. Disgusted,
we leave and try the mall across the street that is just
opening. Eureka, breakfast, a table, and calm. Until a
restaurant worker starts cleaning our table -- while we’re
eating. When my boyfriend tells him to stop, he says
something in French and storms off. A few seconds later the manager comes over. According to him we have
either called the worker a “terrorist” or he called us one.
Okay, 9-11 was four years ago, and my French is terrible, but I was speaking English, that ain’t that bad. I
can’t speak for the restaurant worker.
By the time we can check into our hotel, I’m ready go
home. Luckily, the Four Points by Sheraton Montreal
Centre-Ville wants us to try its new Sheraton Sweet
Sleeper Bed, with a custom-designed top mattress with
super soft bedding, and feather down and hypoallergenic pillows. I am too too tired so I don’t protest. Anyway,
there’s always hope that things will look better when I
wake up on another side of this comfy bed.
Tip: Looking for a Montreal hotel away from the fracas? Stay
at the quaint 48-room boutique Hotel Place D’Armes in Old
Montreal, which gives you your own personalized business
cards with the direct phone number to your room. You also
get complimentary java, cappuccino and espresso any time,
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
blackberryspeak.com
12
The Intimate You
W
the idaberry commentary
ait, Just Whisper
in My Ear:
Ying Yang is
Bang Bang
Place the scene wherever you like to get it on
or where you want to get it on (remember, some
public displays of affection hold danger) ...
and you’re left with 30 lines of, exhale, hot searing heat.
The lyrics to the Ying
Yang Twins song
“Wait (The Whisper)
are emailed to me at least five times a week.
That is four more than the Michael Jackson
jokes and five less than ‘Did you see Destiny’s Child’s BET Awards lap dance?’ And
like with most hip hop songs, I’ll admit, until
I saw the lyrics, I heard but did not heed the
words. I’ll also admit, like with most hip hop
songs, I could have been satisfied the rest of
my life if I’d never seen the words. But it is a
hot topic of conversation.
My girlfriends cannot wait to tell me how
disgusting the song is. ‘If a man came up
on me talking like that, he’d never get some, let
alone any.”
My male friends quickly let me know they think the
song is disgusting too ... while their tone feels me
out to know, ‘Do I really think it’s disgusting? Am I
a gamer? Just how freaky do you be woman?
And since I got into an interesting discussion with
a close male friend who seemed to doubt the sincerity of my take on the song, let me put pen to
paper to hold me accountable for my words.
To my girlfriends, y’all need to stop lying. To my
male friends, let me give you some truth. Men
want a lady in the streets and a freak in the bed.
Women want a man in the streets and a freaky
lover who loves them in the bed. So no, overall
‘The Whisper Song’ does not bother me.
Yes, the words are pathetically tired and crass,
but work them with me ...
... Replace either of the twins, Lord knows we
have to do that, or the image of that one jeri curl
Negro that’s always in the club, with the object of
your desire. If you don’t have a man in or coming
in your life, Taye Diggs or LL will suffice.
Drop the repetitive need of the man to display
the ‘brilliance’ of his 2nd brain, although I’m inclined to believe anyone who does this not only
has one brain, or none, what he does have
probably isn’t worth a play, splay, or display.
Drop all references to thumbs, bats, and cats,
of any form.
13
Women like heat. Men like
women unabashedly unafraid of
the power of that heat.
“Hey how you doin lil mama?
lemme whisper in your ear
Tell you sumthing that you
might like to hear
You got a sexy ass body
and your ass look soft
Mind if i touch it? and see
if its soft”
... he says to you as his lips
slowly nuzzle the soft curves of
your neck.
“Naw i’m jus playin’ lets
just say i can
i’m known to be a real nasty
A n d
man
And they say a closed mouth don’t get fed
So i don’t mind asking for your head”
... he shyly says, more a question than a sureness of
fact. In his eyes you see the twinkle he gets at the
mere sight of you. A sly smile plays over his face as
the tip of his tongue plays peek a boo across his lips.
“we need to make our way to the bed”
... and the kitchen counter, and the couch, and the
stairs, you think, as he majestically finishes out the
song’s lyrics.
Now tell me that visualization is not hot, and loud.
Of course, not every hip hop song can be reduced
so eloquently. Sweat dropping off the balls. Sorry, it
doesn’t work for me. Maybe because, contrary to what
some may think, I truly don’t have any balls, brass,
plastic, or otherwise. But what I do have, like most
of us, when truth is told, is imagination, which when
coupled with hip hop like this gets the ‘creative’ juices
flowing. Exhale.
Hip hop has a deserved rap for the misogynation of
women. But before we throw the baby out with the
bath water because baby talks trash, let’s honestly
lay out our honesty with ourselves, and each other.
Who knows, we just might find it brings us mutual
satisfaction.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
blackberryspeak.com
S
napped!!
There’s
a
show on Oxygen called
‘Snapped’
about women who kill
their husbands. I’ve only
watched it a few times and am not particularly fond of it, but I have to say if I had been
on the jury for Betty Broderick or Clara Harris, the jury, not them, would have been hung,
although not literally. And before you snap,
know that I am not advocating for anyone
to break the law, or not be punished if they
do. Just know that since extenuating circumstances are taken into account in the sentencing phase, we must recognize that sometimes a sister (they’re not Sistahs!) is pushed
to do, what a sister needs to do. In these two
cases, these women were pushed off a cliff
… without a parachute.
Take Betty. She waited tables to put her husband through law school. As he established
his practice, she played the dutiful, supportive wife. When he became successful, she
continued to put his needs first. When he
decided to dump her he not only tried to hide
their assets and leave her broke, he flaunted
his new young chickie as he lived high on the
hog. Betty Broderick shot her ex and his new
wife while they were sleeping.
In Clara Harris’ case her husband’s mistress
was her, not his, employee. Yes ladies, Clara
was literally paying a woman to screw her
husband. Dag. And when she caught them
coming out of a hotel room holding hands,
her husband played her. Shooed her away
like she was a stray dog. Clara Harris ran
over her husband not once, not twice, but
three times.
Right now a woman somewhere is reading
this and nodding, ‘Uh huh.’
Being screwed in and of itself isn’t enough to
justify a woman going Lorena Bobbitt. And
with the shortage of available brothers, women, let’s not kill men ‘just cause they pissed
us off.’ But brothers, be clear. Add some extenuating circumstances and we will snap!
So, the next time you hear a woman has
swung a bat in her sleep or mistaken the accelerator for the brake, think long and hard
how you would feel once you hear her circumstances ...
Snap. Snap, snap. Snap, snap.
Cheryl A. Rainey is an Entrepreneur,
Motivational Speaker and Life Coach
speakercoach@sbcglobal.net
Life Enrichment
A
H
A
from
erica
I haven’t been feeling good physically [I’ve had horrible
stomach aches and...um...other stuff but I’ll spare you
the details] but mentally I’m doing great. I go through
these phases...this cycle. Last week was depressed,
blah, self-pity, self-loathing, gloomy, sour, despondent,
and on and on. Not a pretty sight. This week is cheery,
motivated, productive, confident, positive, generous,
loving, self-assured and you get the picture. Such extremes. Up and down and up and down. I have this cute
little book from Urban Outfitters [love that store!] called
“How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness”. I came across page 28 and had what
Oprah would call an “aha!” moment. There are two pictures. One of a little embroidered bear and then on the
opposite page is the back of the embroidery with all the
thread criss-crossing and dangling everywhere. It says “
Life may be compared to a piece of embroidery of which,
during half of our time, we get a sight of the right side,
and during the other half, the wrong. The wrong side
is not as pretty...but it is more instructive; it shows the
way in which the threads have been worked together to
make the pattern.” So every few weeks I am just looking at the wrong side for a while. Everything looks ugly
and flawed and chaotic and I don’t like it. But during that
time is when I question myself and really analyze what
I’m doing with my life. I just don’t do that in the most
productive way. I get really down on myself. But those
are the times when I drive home in the dark and just
think and think and think and think. Those are the times
I crawl inside myself and forget about the world and try
to figure me out. Then I crawl back out and look at the
right side. The side where things make more sense. The
side that is pretty and enjoyable. The side where I take
notice of the world and try to find my place in it. The
time when I do yoga and clean and organize and read
self help books and inspirational quotes. The time when
I try to do nice things for people and motivate myself to
be a better person. I get a little burst of energy...of life. I
guess swinging back and forth isn’t so bad. It’s a good
balance maybe. Not quite Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde but I
am the devil and the angel sitting on my own shoulders.
One week I am doubting myself and kicking myself and
the next week I am patting myself on the back and thinking, “go me!”. Maybe it’s not exactly stable but it keeps
me in check in a way. I’m blessed that I have a patient
and loving husband even though I know I must drive
him crazy sometimes. I have a lot to be thankful for and
sometimes I forget that. There are so many trivial things
that I get wrapped up in when I’m “looking at the wrong
side” and I’m trying to figure out a way to reduce the
negative crap. Because really there are only a handful
of things that are GENUINELY important in my life and I
don’t want to lose sight of them.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
blackberryspeak.com
14
Life Enrichment
Living
by Ronique
I woke up this morning feeling
rather good. When I opened
my eyes there appeared white
cotton fluffs scattered in the
sky....................There standing tall, brown trunks
with stems branching to form a Green Giant.
................................. I started to think about my
life.................. Those moments I laughed, cried,
became angry, scared, and lost touch with reality. ...........How about the day I danced on the
dance floor and everybody watched as I popped,
dropped, and shook. .................. Or, the moment I told someone I hated him or her and became angry at the world....................................
The past moments I lost a loved one or received
a punch from someone’s fist, or words. Or, the
day I felt pretty because I really looked in the
mirror....................................What about the past
times I was too nervous to face mankind. How
about the day I had a boost of confidence because
I realized my capabilities...............Beauty lemonade woman.....my mom comforted me when I was
sad. And, dad oh daddies’ little girl, who else did
I get my workaholic tendencies from......................
When I needed someone to talk to besides my
parents, I can’t forget that person who opened
their ear to listen to me go overboard and exaggerate about life problems. ..................Can forget
those college days. Too much fast food and partying. The first time I received my new car. .............
No more catching the bus for me ......... What
about the moments I regret........................I should
have not performed that act.
Life Wisdoms...
This one thing we know is true ...
- there is always someone
willing to rain on your parade, as they stand under
your umbrella.
Kick ‘em to the curb.
While I know myself as a creation
of God, I am also obligated to
realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are
also God’s creation.
Maya Angelou
I don’t believe
that life is
supposed to
make you feel
good, or to make you
feel miserable either.
Life is just supposed
to make you feel.
Gloria Naylor
One of the nicest realizations that I’ve
come to over the past two years is
that I’m finally learning to love all my
selves.
Wista Johnson, editor
Remembering the past fills me with memories
that gave me strength, wisdom, and perseverance
to progress in life. The past has made me who I
am ... today. I can not change it. I learn from it. To
handle with care the new situations that come my
way.
So today I let go of past grudges, anger, vengeance, sadness, and troubles. Today I grow
a little bit more. Today I come more into my full
being where light becomes brighter and doubt
becomes belief. Today I forgive myself. Today I
notice how life takes you through stagnate stages
but near the end of the road it all comes together.
Today I know I will one day look back on and say
I am glad I went, did, and done. Went on with my
life. Did some positive changing in my life. Was
done with the past.
These random thoughts are brought to
you by:
“Tired of being down on myself.”
15
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Not every friendship is
for a lifetime. Some
are for reasons,
while others last a
season. Do not be
afraid to recognize a
friendship for what it is,
and move
on.
blackberryspeak.com
Spirituality
“A History of God: The 4000 Year Quest for
Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
by Karen Armstrong
As soon as they became recognizably human, men and women - in their hunger to
understand their own
presence on earth
and the mysteries
within and around
them - began to worship gods. Karen
Armstrong’s masterly
and illuminating book
explores the ways in
which the idea and
experience of God
evolved among the
monotheists - Jews,
Christians and Muslims. Weaving a multicolored fabric of historical, philosophical, intellectual and social developments and insights, Armstrong
shows how, at various times through the
centuries, each of the monotheistic religions has held a subtly different concept of
God. At the same time she draws our attention to the basic and profound similarities
among them, making it clear that in all of
them God has been and is experienced intensely, passionately and often - especially
in the West - traumatically. Some monotheists have seen darkness, desolation and
terror, where others have seen light and
transfiguration; the reasons for these inherent differences are examined, and the
people behind them are brought to life. We
look first at the gradual move away from the
pagan gods to the full-fledged monotheism
of the Jews during the exile in Babylon.
Next considered is the development of parallel, yet different, perceptions and beliefs
among Christians and Muslims. The book
then moves “generationally” through time
to examine the God of the philosophers
and mystics in all three traditions, the God
of the Reformation, the God of the Enlightenment and finally the nineteenth- and
twentieth-century challenges of skeptics
and atheists, as well as the fiercely reductive faith of the fundamentalists of our own
day. Armstrong suggests that any particular
idea of God must - if it is to survive - work
for the people who develop it, and that
ideas of God change when they cease to
be effective. She argues that the concept of
a personal God who behaves like a larger
version of ourselves was suited to mankind
at a certain stage but no longer works for
an increasing number of believers.
Prayer for Grace
There is no one, O my Lord, who can deal bountifully with
me to whom I can turn my face, and none who can have
compassion on me that I may crave his mercy.
Cast me not out, I implore Thee, of the presence of Thy
grace, neither do Thou withhold from me the outpourings of
Thy generosity and bounty.
Ordain for me, O my Lord, what Thou hast ordained for them
that love Thee, and write down for me what Thou hast written down for Thy chosen ones.
My gaze hath, at all times, been fixed on the horizon of Thy
gracious providence, and mine eyes bent upon the court of
Thy tender mercies.
Do with me as beseemeth Thee.
No God is there but Thee, the God of power, the God of
glory, Whose help is implored by all men.
- Baha’i
The Strength of Brokenness
by Os Hillman
The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. ~ 1 Samuel 2:4
There is an oxymoron throughout the Bible. It says that brokenness is strength. How can this be? How can brokenness
be strength? In order to use men and women to their fullest
extent, the Lord has to break His servants so that they might
have a new kind of strength that is not human in origin. It is
strength in spirit that is born only through brokenness.
Paul was broken on the Damascus road. Peter was broken
after Jesus was taken prisoner. Jacob was broken at Peniel.
David was broken after his sin with Bathsheba. The list could
go on of those the Lord had to break in different ways before
they could be used in the Kingdom.
When we are broken, we see the frailty of human strength
and come to grips with the reality that we can do nothing in
our own strength. Then, new strength emerges that God uses
mightily. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Do not fear brokenness, for it may be the missing ingredient to
a life that emerges with a new kind of strength and experience
not known before. Pray for a broken and contrite heart that
God can bless.
Excerpted with permission from the book TGIF Today God Is First,
by Os Hillman, copyright 2003, Reprinted by permission. For free
daily email subscription to TGIF Today God Is First , visit www.todaygodisfirst.com or www.marketplaceleaders.org
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
blackberryspeak.com
16
Religious News
Merryl Wyn Davies, Sunday Herald
Islam is a religion of peace... But how do we
convince you?
“After each atrocity, the Muslim community holds
it breath and waits for the backlash,” says Davies.
Terrorism is associated with Muslims. All Muslims.
Worse, after each atrocity, society expects Muslims
to condemn the acts of the extremists, as if, says
Davies, any natural human reaction would not be
condemnation. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant
and Davies provides historical examples. She also
points out that Muslims must take responsibility for
ensuring Islam shows it is a peaceful and tolerant
religion. “There is little point endlessly complaining
about how misunderstood we are when by sheer
thoughtlessness some of the good and decent people talk and behave in ways that confirm the very
prejudices and stereotypes we object to... the traditional language of religion we use and the way we
operate invokes images of war and defiance, emphasizes exclusivity, and prejudicially stereotypes nonMuslims. A mark, Davis wisely points out, that is not
exclusive to Islam. All religions must acknowledge
that invoketion of words like soldier and ‘marching to
war’ although meant to move us to a path of peace,
are also words terrorists invoke for their own brutal
ends. Davies concludes that terrorists will not win
when Muslims choose that they won’t, and make the
rest of the world listen.
Religions Working together Against
Terror and Violence
After 9-11 at the request of the United Nations, the World
Conference on Religion and Peace invited two people
from each country in the world and representatives of
each religion to participate in a symposium to consider
the responses religions can make to rejecting terrorism
and promoting peace with justice. A synopsis of observations made by Gary D. Bouma. How many do we fit?
1. Each religion at its core promotes love, compassion
and universal justice not only for its own adherents but
for the whole world.
2. Each religion contains elements who do not promote
love, compassion and universal justice but rather exclusiveness, hatred and distrust of those with whom they
disagree and the use of coercion and violence to influence the world or change it according to their vision.
These elements may promote themselves as being the
purest form of their respective religions. Their views
however are not consistent with those of the founders of
their religion, nor a careful reading of their Scriptures.
3. Religiously legitimated anger, hatred and violence often arise from social and economic injustice and frustration with persistent and growing injustice.
4. The call for religions to promote ‘universal’ values is
a promotion of the values found in the core of each religion, not the religion itself.
5. When wounded by terrorism or warfare, ultimately the
only way forward is to forgive and find ways to live together in peace, even though it is extremely hard for the
wounded to hear. You cannot wash out blood with blood,
eventually you must make peace with your enemies.
6. Key observations about religion and dialogue:
a. All religious traditions are dynamic - more like rivers
than buildings.
b. Each religion is complex and multi-vocal.
c. Religious traditions are constantly changing in their
relationships with each other.
d. There is no dialogue between cultures or religions,
only persons and groups.
e. The aim of dialogue is not consensus, or conversion
but understanding that enables relationship between
those who remain different and retain their integrity.
f. Dialogue will involve the voices of those who seek to
understand. These may not be the loudest voices.
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7. Religions promote peace with ...
a. Dialogue, talk, and being with each other.
b. There can be no lasting settlement in the Middle East,
particularly between Israel and Palestine, that does not
address the religious issues involved. Jerusalem is sacred to at least the three Abrahamic religions.
c. We must heal our past. There are wrongs, there is
injustice. Repentance and reconciliation are key to the
future.
d. Groups and organizations that cut across our differences provide opportunities for us to work together while
remaining different.
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005]
blackberryspeak.com
Color Commentary
Great Columns
Michael Tremoglie, FrontPageMagazine.com
Racism’s Young White Victims
Only blacks can be the victims of racist behavior because they do not control the institutions that were
created and grown from discrimination and continue
to perpetuate it to maintain their existence. Such was
the thought of Marxist Herbert Marcuse. Such is the
thought, according to Tremoglie, of Philadelphia’s media, police, and school district whose failure to deal with
the racial harassment of two white students, Justin and
Destiny, by black students propelled their mother, Shannon Berthiaume, to ram her minivan into the school’s
front door. At this point she got the system’s attention
- she was arrested and lost custody of her kids. Tremoglie opines if the ethnicity had been reversed, the school
district would have done more than offer the students
and transfer. The story would have been a front page
serial for the city’s papers. And the police would have
had no need to arrest Mrs. Berthiaume. As support for
his argument Tremoglie points out that a few years ago,
the city was all over the white mother who acted as a
lookout while her neighbors vandalized the home of
their new black neighbors. Tremoglie concludes that,
“It is ironic that the very kids she was trying to protect,
from being victims of racial hate crimes, are now in
the custody of the same Philadelphia city officials who
did nothing to protect them from racial hatred.”
Anthony Asadullah Samad, Black Commentator
Knowing The Difference Between A Conscious
Black, A Negro and A Ni**a: Our Progress Depends On It
“How is it that we can have so many Blacks doing well,
yet have communities that are not progressing?” Because we don’t recognize who we are, and what many
of us do, to counteract progress,” says Samad, and
that’s why we have conscious blacks, Negroes, and
ni**as. Conscious blacks make conscious choices
about their behavior because they “understand that
personal respect is tied to how others perceive the
race.” Negroes so disconnect from being black they
are only who society tells them they are. Ni**gas exploit their circumstances to ‘keep it real’ with the end result being an unreality as it perpetuates negative stereotypes of blacks. Samad concludes that until there are more conscious blacks acting in the best interest of the
black community than there are Negroes or Ni**gas, the black community will continue to take regressive, and
not progressive, steps.
David Person, Huntsville Times
Even today, civility counts
“F the president,” said a bumper sticker, and Person concludes this crosses a line way past just a division of political parties or liberals and conservatives. And Person knows from whence he speaks. In
his 19 years in the media, he admits he’s said a few uncivil things he wishes he could take back. He’s
also been involved in some very animated debates, but the right to disagree does not give anyone carte
blanche to be uncivil, or in the case of the bumper sticker, “give the ultimate diss to another human
being while disparaging the most important office in our country and even the world.” Liberal leaning
Person shares that during his four years on-air with conservative Brent Woodall they rarely agreed on
the issues, but they did listen and respect each other’s right to their opinion. This is civility. And this
civility has allowed them to this day to continue to listen and share even though they no longer live in the
same city or work in the same booth. And that’s Person’s fear, the lack of civility shown by liberals and
conservatives as they draw their lines in the sand will make it all the more difficult for us to “live together
and make our nation work.”
BlackBerrySpeak Urban News Magazine, Issue 84 [ Wednesday, July 13 - 19, 2005 ]
blackberryspeak.com
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