BREAK THE SILENCE ~ Don’t Live with the Pain of Abuse

It is absolutely disturbing to know that ABUSE (of any kind, at any age and any gender), is happening so frequently, at a rate that is more astounding than we can possibly imagine.  When we hear about sexual assaults, we immediately think of men raping women; however, that is not always the case.  Apparently, women raping women is not as uncommon as one would think; it’s just not reported as often ~ particularly ones that involve young girls.  Young girls are having their innocence stolen at a very young age by grown women who prey on them, and unfortunately, not a word is spoken about it because the girls are too embarassed, fearful, ashamed and feel at fault that they brought this on themselves, to such an extent, that they stay silent about the harm that has been done to them.  As Oprah states,  ”as often is the case, child abuse, sexual abuse happens right within the family, right within the confines of people you know.”   Children are usullay threatened that there will be severe consequences if they tell, which is a HUGE reason why they stay silent about the assault.

By now, most of you have heard the “breaking news” about the incident at The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, that was opened up outside Johannesburg on Jan. 2, 2007 with celebrities such as Tina Turner and Spike Lee in attendance, as well as former President Nelson Mandela. 

“Tiny Virginia Makopo, 27, faces 13 charges of indecent assault, assault and criminal injury committed against at least six students aged 13-15 and a 23-year-old at the school. Makopo, who said she was innocent, was freed on bail Monday.”

Oprah has already received so much criticism since they day she spoke about her dream of opening up such a lavish academy.  People have complained that she opened up the academy to African children, as oppose to American children.  Parents have complained that the rules were so strict and somewhat similar to prison, etc.  This incident will only give those same pessimistic people more ammunition to talk negatively about her and the academy, which is not at all what she needs right now.  She needs support from those of us who believe in her and know that her intentions for opening up this academy in the first place, was to assist as many disadvantaged girls as she possibly could, who come from deprived backgrounds, to give them a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid.

The incident at Oprah’s academy is far from being an isolated one.  Sexual assaults by women are getting progrssively worse and these child predators tend to get away with it because people have difficulty believing that women assaulting women or young girls can be as traumatic as men assaulting women or young girls.  Law enforcement officials and even Judges, are guilty of this as well and until we start to take these matters seriously and know that we have a responsibility to these innocent children and that we’re wasting precious time making a mockery out of real life situations, they will continue to get away with it and our children, who desperately need our help, will stay silent about it.

“She Stole My Voice ~ A Documetary about Lesbian Rape” is a really good eye opener for those who aren’t familiar with these type of assaults, and/or to hear testimonies from many women who experienced it.  It is definitely a must read for everyone!  Raising awareness and educating ourselves on these sort of topics will help us break the silence.

 

The Perfect Storm for Raging Blazes ~ Up in Smoke!

Bone dry brush, hot & furious Santa Ana Winds reaching up to 100 MPH and Arsonists, seem to be the “Perfect Storm” for raging blazes in California, year after year after year!  More than 1500 homes have burned to an ash; 8500 more are still an immediate threat; mandatory evacuations are in force, hundreds of thousands of acres have been destroyed; MANY people have been left homeless and have to seek churches, schools, stadiums, The American Red Cross and other sources for shelter, food and clothing (at the very least).

What’s really disturbing, is witnessing nonchalant people carelessly flickering cigarettes out of their car windows, as if they are clueless to what is going on around us!  There should be a law for such stupidity!  Supposedly, the authorities have caught one or two arson suspects.  However, they are not yet sure if these men are linked to the 15 wild fires that caused such a horrible mess.  A $70,000 reward is being offered for information resulting in an arrest for this case.

Rumor has it that Hurricane Katrina victims (who are still suffering from their massive destruction ’til this day) are not very happy with how quickly the Government responded to the fires in California; yet, when the levies broke, they did not receive the same treatment.  The response was slow and delayed, far too many lives were claimed, an abundance amount of people had to do without ANY support (no food, no shelter, no clothing, no supplies, no way out and no idea when help would come to rescue them).  According to the Officials, “Unlike many of the poor neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Katrina, some of California’s hardest-hit areas were filled with upscale homes, with easy access and wide streets. Authorities used reverse 911 calls to warn residents to get out.”  We can absolutely understand the frustration and outrage of the Hurricane Katrina victims and can only imagine what they are still going through.  When putting yourselves in their situation, how well does this scenario sit with you?

Despite the many counties that have been affected, the crops that have been damaged, the 500,000 people who were evacuated, etc., we have a LOT to be thankful for:  Under the circumstances, we should be thankful that very few people were injured and not many lives were claimed; We should be thankful that we are pulling together to support one another, as we should in any disastrous situation ~ a great example of UNITY;  We should be thankful for the Fire Fighters who take their jobs seriously and work relentlessly around the clock for our safety;  We should be thankful for receiving immediate attention and for being assisted by herds of people who care and this is a time to remember that we should never take for granted, the things and the people that can so easily be taken away from us, at any given moment and change our lives forever.

Read the full story here:

Here is some additional footage from CNN and Fox News covering the wild fires:

CNN Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzIboywhgU
Fox 6 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvbRgAVIzVg

 

DON’T DROP THAT CAKE! (Black Teenage Girl Arrested for NOT Picking up Cake Crumbs)

What Next?  The stories just keep coming.  Jena 6, Megan Williams, now this!  Telling a teenager to pick-up a cake they dropped is appropriate; BUT, slamming her to the table, handcuffing her, breaking her wrist/arm, calling her “nappy head,”  wrestling the teenage boy who caught it all on film – TOTALLY uncalled for!!!

 

We don’t like to always pull the “race card,” but, if it isn’t about race than what is it about?!?!?  This is one of those scenes that just doesn’t make sense and these sort of scenarios will continue to have the black communities outraged.  Can’t wait to see how the campus officer is going to get out of this.  We’re sure he has some sort of rationale — yeah right!

 

“Black People Don’t Read!”

This is an article we ran across on the Michael Baisden Show.  As one African-American gentlemen points out:  “The sad thing about this article is that the essence of it is true. The truth hurts.  I just hope this sets more Black people in motion towards making real progress.  Chris Rock, a Black comedian, even joked that Blacks don’t read.”

Help prove them wrong!  Read and pass on.  Change your life!

For those of you who heard it, this is the article Dee Lee, CFP of Harvard Financial Educators, was reading one morning on a New York radio station.  For those of you who didn’t hear it, this is very deep.  This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote it.

“THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery.   Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS.

Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once said, “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.” We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).

Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it.  Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed.  They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.

They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business.  Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them “Status” or that they have achieved their Dream.

They are fools!  The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities.

With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike.  (Tommy Hilfiger has even jeered them, saying he doesn’t want their money, and look at how the fools spend more with him than ever before!).  They’ll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.

SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them.  One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture.  A “Talented Tenth” he called it.  He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that has achieved some “form” of success.

However, that segment missed the fullness of his work.  They didn’t read that the “Talented Tenth” was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented Ninety Percent in achieving a better life.  Instead, that segment has created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner.

They will never achieve what we have.  Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance.  When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal.  Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community.

They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best speakers, not to the best doers.  Is there no end to their selfishness?  They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM).

They do not understand that they are no better than each other because of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but one or two pay checks away from poverty.  All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.

Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are “helping” their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels.  By the way, don’t worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, ‘THEY DON’T READ!!!!”

(Prove them wrong. Please pass this on! After Reading it…)

That’s it. That’s what “Whites” think of “Blacks”. What do you think?

 

Opportunity Never Knocked on My Door ~ “Knock, Knock! Who’s There?”

“Knock, knock!  Who’s there?”  Opportunity; Opportunity who?  Opportunity of a lifetime.  I don’t think so!  We’re not living in a fantasy world.  One of my Mother’s favorite and personal quotes was “Opportunity aint gonna knock on your door, so quit waiting around like it’s coming soon and go out and find it!”  She always wanted us to excel in all that we could, so she made it a point to push us and push us to do better than she ever did. 

Finding a way out of the ghetto and the struggles that went with being poor was never easy, but the things that came easy were never our Mother’s concern.  She needed us to keep our heads held high and stand proud and feel strong about our accomplishments because she knew (and reminded us) that if we didn’t do it for ourselves, no one was going to do it for us. 

Our motivation to reach our highest potential came from exactly that.  Remembering what we were taught, learning our history as a “black people” and paying attention to what life dealt us and then turning things around for our benefit—In other words, learning to use what was meant to play against us, work for us. 

See, some people got it all twisted.  They think that if they lay back and wait for their time to shine, it will just come.  Instead, they should be “pounding the pavement” and making a strong effort to search for the many opportunities that are available to them, but realizing that it’s not theirs for the taking if they don’t act because there are always many others who are willing to take action and not let the opportunity slip by them (assuming it might not come back around). 

“Talk is cheap!”  Some people are Dreamers and others are Doers.  The dreamers typically DREAM BIG and they convince themselves that they will one day have their plans worked out in such a way that they will be set for life.  On the other hand, the doers ACT!  They don’t act later, they act FAST and they act NOW!  Because they are smart enough to know that if they don’t, an opportunity that is here now may be gone tomorrow.  As the saying goes, “why put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”  So don’t wait until opportunity knocks on your door.  Chances are . . . . . . It never will. 

 

“Who’s Really the Victim?”

How can I hide all of the pain I feel inside? 

How do I regain my self-respect – my pride?

Who can I trust when I’m reaching out for help? 

When it’s time to point the finger, I blame myself.

His behavior was an unjustifiable excuse! 

There was no reason for his sick tormented abuse! 

You raped my mind and body and put me to shame,

You took away the life I had inside.

You had NO RIGHT to burden me with your game,

And you’ll never have the right to steal my pride. 

“Forgive but don’t forget” is what they say,

Is only part of what makes me the woman I am today. 

Are you proud of what you’ve done? 

Do you feel that you have won?

Are you haunted by the unknown?

Have any doubts or fears of your own?

Confined to much invaded space?

Searching this world for some escape? 

ONE DAY YOU TOO SHALL BE RAPED! 

ONE DAY YOU TOO SHALL BE RAPED! 

You say you’ll never feel guilt and that you’ll never get caught in your chase,

But somehow you didn’t win this one, somehow you lost the race,

And the guilt you claim to never feel hits you everyday in the face.

I cried a silent tear every night;

I didn’t have the strength to put up a good fight,

It hurt to think that I had been betrayed;

By a heartless flesh a loving soul once made.

But the anger and frustration I felt before,

Is now released so that you can’t hurt me no more,

It’s a pity that you continued to try, but I refused to die, so instead of asking why,

I prayed for you and demanded back my life!

So tell me ~ Who’s Really the Victim?   

 

Assault on Megan Williams

We all know that there are people in this world who are ill-minded and full of hate and wicked intent.  However, when we actually have a visual of the victim and the victimizers, as well as a detailed description of what the predators did to their prey, it paints a very clear picture for us.  One that leaves us a little more angered, a lot more saddened and with an uneasy feeling at the pit of our stomachs because of the senslessness and selfishness behind the hate crime.  This could have happened to any one of us, our children, our neighbor, our family member or our friend.

Please read the following news.  This is another one of those stories that should have made headlines and did not.  Our eyes filled with tears once reading about Megan.  Our whole hearts go out to her and her family, who continue to suffer the aftermath of this horrific incident.  We are so very sorry that Megan was placed in a position to have to endure all that these heartless souls and inadequate human beings forced her to; but we are thankful that she was saved from any more harm and the victimizers are caught:

This happened in West Virginia, USA very recently and yesterday, Wednesday 9/12/07 Megan Williams was still being treated for this in the hospital.

She was Tortured and Raped for a whole week, by Six White individuals, Three males and Three Females Between the ages of 20 and 49.

CNN normally does not reveal sexual assault victims’ names. But Williams, who is hospitalized, and her mother, Carmen Williams, wanted her identity revealed.Police said Bobby Brewster raped Williams, forced her to lick blood and drink from a toilet, and told his mother to kill Williams if she tried to escape.  Authorities previously said Williams was also forced to eat rat and dog feces.  According to criminal complaints filed in the county, Williams was assaulted, stabbed in the left leg, choked with cords and beaten for at least a week. When she was found, big parts of her hair had also been torn off of her scalp.
Williams says that Alisha Burton 22 cut her ankle with a knife while saying, “That’s what we do to Niggers around here,” police records show.

“I don’t understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter,” Carmen Williams told The Associated Press on Tuesday from her daughter’s hospital room. “I didn’t know there were people like that out here.”Deputies received a tip and Saturday visited a home owned by Frankie Brewster in Big Creek, West Virginia.  As the deputies spoke with a woman on the front porch, “a female inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out, saying ‘Help me,’ “ according to a news release from the sheriff’s department.

“It’s something you’d expect to see in a horror movie, not in Logan County,” Abraham said. “She was subjected to unendurable torture down there.” The six are charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and battery. If convicted of kidnapping, a suspect could face a sentence of up to life in prison. The penalty for first-degree sexual assault is 15 to 35 years.  Abraham said he is seeking the maximum sentence on the kidnapping charges. In addition to the Brewsters, the suspects are Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, West Virginia; and George A. Messer, 27, Karen Burton, 46, and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, all of Chapmanville, West Virginia.
“They all have previous records and have been arrested numerous times,” Sheriff W.E. Hunter said Tuesday. “They are familiar to law enforcement.”
Frankie Brewster was charged with first-degree murder in 1994, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the death of an 84-year-old woman. She was released in 2000 after serving five years in prison, according to court records cited by the AP.
All of the six individuals that are involved in this case are accused of 108 different cases of crimes all combined.
All six were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, and all requested court-appointed attorneys, the AP reported.  Investigators are still looking for two other people suspected of driving Williams to the home, according to the AP.

Carmen Williams had not reported her daughter missing, saying Megan Williams often disappeared for weeks at a time.

Carmen Williams said she is “horrified” by her daughter’s injuries.
“She wakes up crying, and the first thing she hollers is ‘Mommy,’ ” she said.

Spread this article since the news stations are trying to keep this quiet. Send this information to all of the people you are able to send it to and tell the rest of the people you know by word of mouth, and tell them to do the same.

 

Ladies ~ DEMAND Your Respect! (Do NOT Politely Ask for It)

Listen up ladies!  Why has it all of a sudden become permissible to be called offensive names by men; to be degraded without defending ourselves; to allow our children to have access to booty- shakin’ videos, where women where as little clothing as possible, while guys are fully dressed right beside us and to sing along to lyrics and dance to music that demean women; to be seen for being good for only one thing – SEX! What the hell are we goin’ through???  Why are we promoting this?  When will it stop being OK?!?!

It is NOT acceptable that we (as women) succumb to behaviors that are inexcusably disrespectful and we will no longer tolerate being treated like anything less than QUEENS.  Men can only get away with what we, as women allow them to (THAT is the bottom line)!  We are letting them take control of our lives (the way we dress, the way we talk, the way we wear our hair, when we come and go, who we hang out with, how we present ourselves, etc).  Why do they deserve so much power over us?   

It is why we have degraded ourselves with wearing the skimpiest clothes we can find; it is why we listen to and dance so provocatively to the very music that demeans us; it is why we are okay with being talked down to in front of people or physically and/or verbally abused behind closed doors; it is why our children are learning that these behaviors are okay; it is the ONLY reason we do not put up a fight when there are “Dead Beat Fathers” in our children’s lives, or do not correct those that come into our lives and treat us like rugs, or better yet, like dirt. 

We allow ourselves to be considered a lesser class than Men and we REFUSE to take control of US!  This is utterly disappointing to the women who continue to make conscience decisions to do the right thing, KNOWING that we will always have young eyes watching and young ears listening to our every move.  It is absolutely, without a question, a NECESSITY that we come together and stand strong as a group, so that we can make it POSSIBLE to teach our children how to identify with love, respect, dignity, integrity and know what it means to feel like a “whole person.” 

If each of us were to get uninvolved with these lewd acts, men wouldn’t have any more say in the way society now views us, would they?  Take charge ladies!  THAT is what we were put here to do and NO, we are NOT asking!!!!! 

 

“What’s Goin’ On?”

Drop it low! Work it ho! Wind it slow, act like you know! Don’t be shy Bitch, rub them thighs! Make them titties bounce real high! Open wide!  No need to hide! Can I cum inside, yo’ slip and slide?!?! Take it off!  Damn you soft!  Come stay at my loft!  What time you off? Make it clap!  Sit on my lap!  That Bitch is fine, Nigga give me dap! Pop it!  Drop it!  Twirk it!  Work it!  Shake it! Break it!  Man, I can’t take it!

STOP! 

What’s goin’ on, brothas’?  We’re your African Queens,

You’re supposed to be our Kings and we’re your everything;

Instead, we’re Bitches, Hos and everything else in between,

What happened to the LOVE behind the songs you sing? 

We can’t turn on the tube, without flickin’ to a low-class video,

Our kids are watching Real Sex T.V., like it’s an “After School Show;”

And yes, I know, the Parents gotta have a little more control,

But who expects to see, “My Cock & Me”, at noon on HBO? 

Sistas please, I’m down with sexy,

But there’s a such thing as ‘in good taste,’

The women who work hard to make that statement,

Are feelin’ a bit disgraced;

Some of ya’ll really need to put yo’ clothes back on, 

‘Cause other than a small waist,

The cellulite thighs and flabby buns,

Is enough to make me rest my case. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before — sex sells,

And if people have a problem with what it entails,

They can change the channel and watch somethin’ else,

Some other program, a little more stale.

The point that’s never brought up somehow,

The thing that keeps parents pissed, is this –

Our kids learn by example and,

That fact continues somehow to be missed;

Making that bank must feel like bliss,

But our kids need more leaders at the top of their list. 

I know that some of you guys, feel that some of these girls,

Really need to be put on blast,

‘Cause they fast, they strippin’ to make that cash,

By more than shakin’ that ass.

But the real truth is, a lot of these girls,

They don’t like to be treated like dirt,

A role model? Please!  They don’t know nothin’ else,

They just do, what they know works.

They have mouths to feed and other needs,

And a lot be heavy on the mind,

By the time they pay bills — well, ya’ll know the deal,

They have to get back in the grind. 

So don’t put a sista down, you know how it be,

When poverty don’t wanna let go,

When you’re already at your lowest,

You don’t need no brotha, callin’ you a trick or a ho. 

Maybe you don’t know, what yo’ Mother had to do,

‘Cause welfare just wasn’t enough,

Bustin’ ass for Ms. Sally, or workin’ the streets,

Some choice, but we all had it rough.

So what will it take, we all make mistakes,

To repeat them, is truly insane,

What’s really goin’ on? As if we don’t know,

The answer is simple and plain.

 

Music is Supposed to Inspire (“Who You Callin’ a Bitch?!?!”)

Music is supposed to inspire us to reach higher; it’s supposed to make us feel good about ourselves, our family, our friends; it’s supposed to motivate us to do positive things, feel hopeful, relate to situations, show us a different way to express our emotions, get more out of life, love deeper and live happier.  It’s supposed to make us get up and dance and have a good time.  It is NOT supposed to make us wanna “grab a gat or a glok,” “slap or smack a ho” “fuck a bitch,” watch some “booty meat” shake or “kill a faggot!”  Is this what makes men powerful and prove their manhood in the hip-hop game?  Are girls, money and attacking gays & lesbians really all that male rappers are about?   

Seriously, we can’t even get a positive “read a book” message across to our children without being negative! On the only BET channel we have (which happens, by the way, to not be owned and operated by black people), but back to the subject at hand — Why are they repeatedly showing this video?  With equal importance, why is profanity and bouncing booties the only way to emphasize our point and get our children to pay attention?  We (as black people) are already portrayed in such a negative light, so why do we continue to promote ourselves in this manner?  While we understand and even commend this brotha (Bomani Armah) for the direction he had intended to go with this video, the message was taken to a level that isn’t anymore appropriate for our youth than is most of the mainstream rap we are trying hard to get away from. 

Don’t get us wrong — while we admit to lovin’ hip-hop and just as many of you have, we grew up listening to Old School Rap:  Eric B and Rakim, Doug E Fresh, Slick Rick, Run DMC, KRS-ONE, Public Enemy, Chubb Rock, MC Lyte, Salt -n- Pepa, Queen Latifah, Kurtis Blow, The Sugar Hill Gang, Whodini, Fat Boys, Roxanne Shante, The Real Roxanne, Kool Moe Dee (and on and on the list goes) – these are the artists that were grabbin’ the mic and rockin’ the crowd.  These are the artists that still get respect because they were about respect. 

Although we give props to those rap artists that are sticking to the plan and not forgetting the purpose of rap (aka hip-hop), there are far too MANY rap artists today that have taken hip-hop “Beyond Beats and Rhymes.”  They say hip-hop is a “man’s game.”  So if this is true, does “the game” give men the right to disrespect women?  Does “smackin’ a bitch or a ho,” wearing pants that sag, beefing up your bling, wearing flashy clothing, rollin’ on dubs, threatening the next brotha and sellin’ drugs define your masculinity?  Does Thug, Gangsta, Playa or Pimp equate to being promiscuous, give you street credibility in the hood and make you heterosexual?  Does being tough and strong; dominating and controlling; mean that you don’t have a soft spot and aren’t considered a “faggot” or a “pussy” in your masculine culture?   

We understand that it is necessary to have an outlet to vent about your pains and struggles; to let the world know about your challenges as MEN (or more particularly BLACK MEN) and to shed light on “living in the hood,”  poverty, the drug scene, the hustle, street knowledge, feelin’ disrespected, etc.  What we don’t understand is why haven’t rappers, or hip-hop artists taken that same energy, the same issues and the same focus and turn it into meaningful rap that doesn’t require lifestyle put downs, sexual assaults, offensive name calling and the like.  AND if rappers refuse to do that, why are we buying their music, why are radio stations rotating it, why are radio personalities playing it and why are stores selling it?  All you need anymore is a good beat and some degrading, senseless lyrics and you’ve got a hit!  Even the R&B genre has gotten out of control.   

What happened to the REAL MUSIC?  Music like Marvin Gaye; Earth, Wind & Fire; Patti Labelle; Stevie Wonder; The Isley Brothers; Luther Vandross; Barry White; Ray Charles; Al Green; Diana Ross; Aretha Franklin; The Ojays.  We need more artists like Jill Scott; Lauren Hill; Wyclef Jean; Mary J. Blige; Alicia Keys; Common; Will Smith; Arrested Development; India Arie; Lela James; Raheem Devaugn; Musiq Soul Child; Angie Stone; Erikah Badu; Kanye West; Jamie Foxx; The Roots; Mos Def; The Fugees; Black-Eyed Peas; Nas; Talib Kweli, De La Soul, EVE and LL Cool J (to name a few) – these are the real heavy hitters.  

We’re waiting for the REAL MEN to “step up to the plate”.  The men who do not condone music that hits a sore spot with women and gays & Lesbians, or promotes killing, or is rude and disrespectful in anyway, or exploits black people negatively, or is just down right ‘what the hell are they talkin’ about, turn that crap off, anybody can make music, I’d rather hear the old lady in church sing off key, painful to the ears music.’  Our hats are off to radio personalities like Michael Baisden and Steve Harvey, film makers like Byron Hurt, comedians like George Wilborn, political activists like Jasmyne A. Cannick and Keith Boykin and many more of the people who are speaking up, speaking out and aren’t afraid to put homophobic artists, such as Busta Rhymes, DMX, Emenem and Buju Banton on blast and all the many artists who demean women to the utmost power.  These are the men and women who are going above and beyond and “raising the bar” for all of America.   

Hip-Hop artists have to know that this is more than just “a game” they play ~ they are dealing with the lives of real people, with real feelings, with real situations, with real children and we don’t take kindly to your perverted ways, distorted minds, foul mouths and irresponsible lifestyle.  Those of us who are willing to take action and to change the game are multiplying very rapidly and before you know it — “game over.”