No BET Protest For Me Today : (

I will have to join my sisters and brothers next week to protest at the home of Debra Lee. Just as I was preparing to go, I got a call from one of our clients who needed attention and my husband is out somewhere in the Atlantic deep sea fishing. He is the one who usually deals with the clients, but I put on my manager hat and stood in for him and everyone is happy, except for me. I guess somebody has to make the money lol. It is now after 3:00 and I know the protesters are probably gone by now so I won't even attempt now to make the 45 min long subway ride. But next week, I will be there with bells on! Pastor Coates, you are the man!

Why I Stood Proudly Today With Blkseagoat

Just for last Sunday, I joined the DC sub culture of the Washington Redskin Fans. It was my first professional football game and honestly, it was a bit different for me to be surrounded by so many Caucasian people at an event in the original Chocolate City. And it became clear pretty quickly, that white people take their football extremely seriously. The same people that you see in suits and ties during the week, were out there dressed in Redskins garb drinking beer, hooping, hollering and acting a fool. I think having a ticket to a pro football game kind of gives you that right to do that and I ain't mad at 'em. Whatever floats your boat. So when you're in Rome you do as the Romans do, and me and mine (without the beer, we are just naturally loud), acted a fool too. We were initially obvious newcomers to the community as we had to be the only people in the stadium with no Redskins gear on and all of us even my husband, the extrovert, were a little unsure about pro football game etiquette. But we soon became acclimated and everyone, including my nine year old, was singing "Hail To The Redskins" and chanting, "You Suck" to the Philadelphia Eagles (yes grown folks were yelling that). So all was well and we were having a great time. And then it happened! At first I couldn't believe it, I thought the sound guy must have made a mistake because surely they were not playing the actual song "Superman Dat Ho" over the loudspeaker. Surely someone would realize the error and quickly cut it off and apologize to the crowd. But nooo ! Fed Ex Stadium and the Washington Redskins played that song in all it's glory for everyone, including my nine year old, to hear. I watched the response of the people around me. A couple of African American kids jumped up to do the dance, people cheered all around us and then there was this particular group of white guys in the row behind us. They seemed to sneer and jeer while this song was playing. I can still see the sneer on this one guy's face because just for a few seconds we made eye contact. If I close my eyes right now, his face is as plain as day. His expression said to me, "It's not my daughter these guys are calling hos it's your daughters. And if you don't care, I certainly don't care. Bring on the hos!" I took a mental stand at that moment. It became quite clear to me what Reverend Coates and the enoughisenoughcampaign.com is all about. I understood Gina's whataboutourdaughters.blogspot.com outrage concerning the Dunbar Village travesty and her disgust at the silence about the assaults on women and children of color. I looked at my innocent nine year old who knew how I felt about the song but who still could not conceal her delight in them playing it. She doesn't have a clue about the demeaning, disgusting lyrics and that is the subtle way our children are romanced by the blatant degradation of our women. I understood at that moment that my daughter is not a ho and not a bitch and it is about time I stood up for her and the attack on her by the entertainment industry. At that moment I also understood that it was my duty as an African American woman to protest our "leaders" silence about the hate crimes inflcited upon our women. I had a cause to fight for. Does the name Stepha Henry mean anything to you? Probably not! As far as I know she is still missing, or course nobody reports about her so I don't know for sure. So today I participated in my first demonstration ever and I stood proudly beside Blkseagoat of http://blacksapience.blogspot.com/ and stood for me, my daughter, your daughter, our Moms, our sisters, our aunts, our grandmothers and every woman who has had enough. Blkseagoat had signs for us and had information about Dunbar Village for us to pass out. We yelled about our daughters and about hate crimes against women. We were a part of history today and I am grateful to Blkseagoat for having the guts and the desire to get the permit that allowed us to speak for change. Immediately, it made a difference in at least one little girl's life. My daughter was excited to hear that, today, I stood for her. She may not fully understand why but she knew it was good. Hopefully, in the long term, we will make a difference in the treatment of women of color everywhere. So tomorrow, I will join Reverend Coates for the first time and take my daughter with me to march against BET and their exploitation of African Americans. My daughter will march tomorrow for a change for your daughters and for your sons. And shame to the Washington Redskins and Fed Ex Field for exploiting and sanctioning the degradation of women. Did I mention that they played that song twice?

Daughter Wins Case Against Predator Rapist Father

This story speaks for itself. There is no need for me to add a comment. Except high five to the daughter for exposing this low life.

Woman Wins $8M in Lawsuit Against Father
By JAY REEVES, APThu Nov 15, 7:27 PM EST
A judge ordered a prominent businessman to pay $8 million to his daughter, who claimed he sexually abused her for decades beginning when she was a preschooler and included a rape the night she was crowned homecoming queen.
Circuit Judge Helen Shores Lee ruled against Fred M. Blackmon of Montgomery, a vice president with Merrill Lynch & Co., in a civil lawsuit filed by Louise Plott.
Blackmon's attorneys argued unsuccessfully that many of Plott's claims were too wild to believe and unsupported by evidence. Among other things, she alleged that Blackmon repeatedly took her to orgies at a hotel as a young girl, once mailed her a dismembered thumb and a fetus, and forced her to participate in the stabbing death of a young man.
An attorney for Blackmon said Thursday his client was considering an appeal. Blackmon had testified his daughter's case against him was "an absolute lie."
"We're disappointed with the order. Our client has always denied wrongdoing," said defense lawyer Allen Hammer.
Attorneys for Plott, 35, said she felt vindicated by the judge's decision, released Nov. 6 but not previously reported. Plott had asked for a judgment of $32 million.
"Louise showed great determination throughout this case. She overcame incredible obstacles just to publicly confront her abuser," said a statement by her attorneys, James L. North and J. Timothy Francis.
The Associated Press's policy is not to name alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, but Plott told The AP in an interview Thursday that she hopes to help other victims of incest by letting her story be told publicly.
"I think there's an amazing misunderstanding that this does not go on, but it does," Plott said.
In a sworn statement, Plott recounted decades of abuse she said began in her bedroom of the family's home in Montgomery, where the Blackmons lived on one of the most exclusive streets in town.
Plott claimed Blackmon raped her the night she was named homecoming queen at her high school, and again the night before her first wedding. She recounted numerous other assaults, claiming she never reported any of the attacks for fear her father would harm her or, later, her three children.
Plott's attorneys acknowledged that some of her stories were "bizarre," but they argued that evidence showed some embellishments could be linked to mental problems from decades of abuse by Blackmon.
The judge heard 28 witnesses during a trial that was held without a jury in August. In her ruling, the judge said four therapists testified that Plott had symptoms that are common among victims of childhood sexual abuse, and that two experts who testified for Blackmon couldn't say whether Plott had been abused.
Blackmon is a one-time University of Alabama golfer who has received recognition for donating money to Crimson Tide athletics. He has served on church boards and is listed as president of a family foundation that has more than $1.2 million in assets and has given tens of thousands to charity.
Documents filed by the defense show Plott's mother, Bess Blackmon, and four siblings denied during testimony that they saw signs of abuse, but one of her sisters also described the allegations as "complicated." Plott claimed two of her brothers were forced as children to join in the sexual assaults by their father, an allegation both brothers denied.
Blackmon testified during the trial that he no longer loved Plott because of what he said were false allegations. He said he quit giving Plott an $8,000-a-month "allowance" after she contacted attorneys in January 2006 about a lawsuit.

My Hair Won The Battle!

Sandra Rose has a post today about a Glamour Magazine editor making the comment, "Just say no to the fro" when talking to a group of lawyers about hairstyles. Of course, she is now looking for a new job. That brought thoughts about my own hair. I currently wear it au natural. I get many comments all of the time about it and some people even touch it. So now my reply when asked about my hair is that, "My hair won the battle!"
I have tried perming it, s-curling it, blow drying it, setting it, wrapping it, geling it, mooseing it, cutting it down to a "butch" hairstyle, flat ironing it, curling ironing it, and practically burning it off with the stuff that Debbie Allen promoted years ago. But each time my hair rebelled with a vengeance. So now, I surrendered. I let my hair do it's own thing. And now it has grown considerably since I don't torture it with heat and chemicals. My hair is a happy victor!