Jul 10, 2020 | 2020 Election, Being Black, Black Lives Matter, Elections, Feminism, Government, Politics, Something. To. Say.
Time for a Black Female Veep
Hello Everybody. I have something to say about vice presidential candidates. Is it time now for a black woman to be chosen to run? You’re damned right it is.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced that he will choose a woman as his running mate. But given today’s tense racial climate, many are urging Biden to make the woman he chooses, a black one.
Lucky for Biden, he has a rich array of smart and experienced black women to choose from: Look at them. Senator Kamala Harris, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, Stacy Abrams, who ran for governor of Georgia, and Val Demings, a former police chief and now Florida Congresswoman. Impressive women. No Sarah Palin in this group.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, who lost her bid for president and probably wanted that vice-presidential spot, has gone on record saying Biden should pick a woman of color. Black women voters have been among Biden’s strongest supporters and nothing would make them happier than to have one of their own on the presidential ballot in November.
Biden’s decision will be made soon. Will he, or won’t he? More and more people say he should.
Until next time.
May 14, 2020 | Being Black, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say.
It’s Still Racist America
Hello Everybody. I have something to say about the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.
Since we’ve all been staying home to escape the coronavirus, we have been lulled into a stupor thinking about little but the impact of the virus. But recently there was a rude awakening when the news media started covering the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.
The unarmed black man was shot and killed by two heavily armed white men back in February in Brunswick, Georgia. But it wasn’t covered by national news. It finally came to light recently when a phone video was released that showed the awful, cold-blooded and senseless shooting. Arbery had just been jogging when he was gunned down.
This was a new one for black men in America—jogging while black. We’ve heard about driving while black, walking and shopping while black. But jogging? And the white men who are now charged with doing the shooting were still walking around, no serious investigation, no arrests, no prosecution.
But national outrage forced local authorities to arrest the men and make pronouncements that justice will prevail.
I pray that will be true. For a short period of time, we forgot that this was still America…that racism persists…and black men can be killed for nothing. Pandemic or not.
See you next time.
Feb 13, 2020 | Bad Behavior, Being Black, Something. To. Say., The Media
Snoop Dogg vs. Gayle King
Hello Everybody. I have something to say about the Snoop Dogg/Gayle King controversy.
Although, I don’t know Gayle King, I consider her a sister because we were both black female TV journalists. As a host of CBS This Morning, Gayle is one of the highest-ranking women in network television. But the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant made the worlds of Gayle King and rapper Snoop Dogg, collide.
Gayle did her job and asked a guest on her show, all kinds of questions about Kobe, including one about sexual assault charges that were dropped against him in 2003. It’s a question I would have asked. Well, Snoop Dogg, who was Kobe’s friend, saw that part of the interview and he went off.
He made a profane video, calling Gayle a “funky dog-head bitch,” for hurting Kobe’s reputation. He warned her to back off, and said, “before we come and get you.” Social media was flooded with posts supporting Snoop and hating on Gayle.
Gayle had a rough time. She fears for her life and has been traveling with bodyguards. A journalist viciously attacked by a rapper for simply doing her job.
A week after Snoop Dogg left Gayle blowing in the wind, he apologized, saying he over-reacted and didn’t mean to disrespect her. But the damage had been done. But I’m not so sure he’s really sorry for what he did.
He says after they had a talk, his Momma made him do it.
See you next time.
Jun 3, 2019 | Being Black, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say. |
Hello: I have something to say about the Chicago shootings and murders.
I grew up on the southside of Chicago, just like Michelle Obama. But now, some of the streets I walked as a child have been dripping with blood. My kind of town is the murder capital among America’s big cities. Every weekend we can hear shocking statistics on the number of shootings and killings, which will get undoubtedly get worse during the warm weather.
The murder rate has gone down over the past two years, but last year there were still 555 people shot dead. The Chicago police say the violence is due to gang warfare. But a study by the University of Illinois says the high number of homicides is due to race and poverty
You can visit Chicago and see all the sights and conduct business and never see or hear anything related to the murders. That’s because the crimes are confined to a few scattered neighborhoods on the southside and westside of the city. The residents are mostly black and mostly poor. The shootings are not happening on the Gold Coast, or the enclaves of luxury condos and expensive shopping, or the quiet white ethnic neighborhoods on the northside.
Do I believe that if the victims were white, more would have been done to stop the killing? Yes, I do. Do I believe the problem persists because 75 percent of the victims are black? Yes, I believe that too. It seems black lives still don’t matter that much in Chicago.
Until next time.
Dec 30, 2011 | Being Black |
Add mine to the plethora of Top Ten lists that inundate us at every year’s end. Mine is different. It looks at men and women of African-descent, who unwittingly gave the image of black people a boost or a bust.
Topping my winners and losers is the inimitable, would-be President of the United States HERMAN CAIN. I knew he wasn’t about anything for my people because he was running as a Tea Party Republican. My God. The sex allegations, his annoying “9-9-9” mantra, his international insult to the nation he called, “Uz-beki-beki-stan-stan,” his song of praise to pizza, his brain freeze on Libya, and ending his farewell to the campaign with a quote from the “Pokémon” movie. All of these gaffes had me laughing in stitches until I realized that what America was seeing was a black buffoon. Thank you, Mr. Cain for nothing and I hope Gloria “whupped yo’ ass.”
Leave it to women to give us pride. The Nobel Peace Prize was conferred on two Liberians: ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF, the first woman elected head of state of any country on the African continent; and LEYMAH GBOWEE, a peace activist credited with helping to end the civil war in Liberia and for promoting women’s rights. After spending a good deal of time in Africa, I always felt the women in African countries would be their salvation.
Still on a good note, what about J.R. MARTINEZ winning ABC’s popular “Dancing With the Stars?” I was so proud that the Iraqi war veteran beat out all the contestants, despite having suffered burns over 40 percent of his body, including his badly scarred face, which some could find disturbing. What Martinez had going for him were dancing ability, a warm personality and a desire to win, no matter what. An exploding IED didn’t stop him nor could Ricki Lake.
Far be it from me to deny a black man a show on a cable news channel but the REV. AL SHARPTON? He has been hosting his “POLITICSNATION” on MSNBC for several months, but face it: if he were a white man, a white woman, a black woman or some other black man, he would be fired. Television host he is not. The Rev. Al struggles with the teleprompter, stumbles on his words and he doesn’t talk to the audience but barks at it like an agitated beagle. One night Sharpton showed some documents with black marker covering up large portions of the text. He said the papers had been “didacted,” not redacted. Again and again he used variations of “didaction.” Sorry to say, he’s an embarrassment. Surely, there’s someone else.
One of them could have been RUSS MITCHELL or T.J. HOLMES. CBS lost the multi-talented Mitchell, who for years anchored the “Early Show” news, the Weekend editions of that show and the Evening News. He apparently didn’t figure into plans for revamped CBS news programming, so he left to become anchor of a local station in Cleveland. T.J. left CNN certainly disgusted by his twin woes…being stuck on weekends and the never-ending wait to be given a promotion by CNN. Now he is off to BET where he is slated to play a major role in bringing serious news to the Black Entertainment network. Here’s wishing them both success. I expect they will continue to bring distinction to the television news industry.
The much-ballyhooed OPRAH WINFREY Network (OWN) seems to be headed for a bust. The Queen of Daytime TV, who was just about Queen of America, started her network a year ago, this coming January 1st. It was a tough year. Everything Oprah touches does not turn to gold. Her loyal fans did not tune in. Ratings were so low that Discovery Communications invested a quarter of a billion dollars into the fledgling network. Winfrey acknowledged that, “mistakes were made.” She’s optimistic about 2012 when she plans to produce and broadcast programs, which take her “on the road.” But OWN left a chink in Oprah’s formidable armor.
Emerson College in Boston, where I teach journalism, made history by naming its first black president, DR. LEE PELTON. The Board of Trustees appointed the Harvard-educated former president of Portland, Oregon’s Willamette University, to perhaps settle some scores. Before he arrived there had been two years of campus turmoil over the paucity of faculty members of color and the threat of lawsuits by two black professors who were denied tenure. Pelton started the job last July and is beginning to win over those who had doubts about the scholarship of black faculty and students.
Last, but not least, PRESIDENT OBAMA. It’s been a year of pounding from the right, recalcitrance by the Republican-dominated House, grindingly slow economic recovery, and prospects of a tough re-election campaign. But he has managed to keep a “cool hand.” He killed Osama bin Laden and several other Al Qaeda leaders. He brought our troops home from Iraq. The Republicans blinked and passed his bill continuing middle class tax breaks and extended unemployment benefits. So, he didn’t accomplish all he promised but admit it: he’s done a helluva lot under the circumstances. Thank you, Mr. President for giving not just black Americans, but all Americans a much-needed boost.
Have a healthy and Happy New Year.
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