Letter to NAN

this is the letter that i sent to NAN today @ revalmedia@yahoo.com. i will also call every naacp office on monday in the general vicinity of my residence. there are exactly four.

i won't continue to kick myself that i was too busy friday to get it done:-) i will just get it done.

feel free to join the efforts. thanks Shecodes for making it so easy to make a difference!


My name is focusedpurpose, and I host a blog entitled "focusedpurpose". I am part of blogging ring of black women, and our collective readership reaches several thousand women and men of color every day. Our readers have avidly followed the Dunbar Village incident.

Our readers are aware of the extreme reluctance that many black activists have displayed when asked to advocate for the apprehension of the remaining suspects. They are also highly incensed by Rev. Sharpton's recent statements that the few suspects that were apprehended are 'being treated unfairly'. Many people, including myself, are appalled at Rev. Sharpton's new stance, and are prepared to mobilize concerning this if Rev. Sharpton continues in this vein.

I am writing this email a good faith attempt to forestall an embarrassing backlash for Al Sharpton and the National Action Network. I am asking Rev. Sharpton to reverse his present direction, and to renounce all statements that might cause the authorities to believe that black people want these suspects released on bail.

I am appealing to you as a woman, as a black person, and as a fellow activist in the struggle, to exert pressure for the apprehension of the remaining suspects, and a speedy trial for all detainees involved.

Please give a long overdue show of concern for the safety of black women in West Palm Beach, FL.

In the Struggle,
focusedpurpose

do something...where you are...now

On Saturday, March 15th, - the 5th Anniversary of the U.S. War on Iraq
Join Thousands in Protest - Gather at Hollywood and Vine at 12 noon

End the War Now!

Bring the troops home - U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan Immediately and Unconditionally!!

Money for Housing, Jobs, Schools and Healthcare - not Imperialist Wars!

End U.S. Support for Sixty Years of Occupation in Palestine! U.S. troops and bases out of Latin America, Africa, and Haiti, Hands off Iran and Venezuela!

Wage a War Against Home Foreclosures, A War Against Racism, and a War Against Layoffs!

Stop Attacks on Immigrant Workers! Tear Down the Walls from the West Bank to Mexico!

Come to Hollywood and Vine on Saturday and march with thousands who demand an end to the corporate campaign of militarism, racism, and attacks on workers! Look for the International Action Center banner!

To volunteer with the IAC (international action center) on Saturday call 310 677-6407---check for a local branch near you. what can you do to be a part of the solution?

injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. this injustice is on our shores already. in due time it will be each of our personal turn. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/terrorist_surveillance don't be fooled. freedom has not ever come without a fight historically. there is nothing new under the sun.

i wanted to use a peace sign with this entry. instead, i will point anyone that cares to know in the direction of why we must check the history of everything before we just accept it. people are perishing for lack of knowledge. www.jesus-is-savior.com/.../peace_sign.htm take what you need, leave the rest.


SELF LOVE~SELF ACCEPTANCE~SELF RESPECT

...imagine...

i would like to, in no uncertain terms, make it clear that i do not advocate the use of "nigga" or "nigger" as a term of endearment. in fact i strongly oppose such a practice.

yet, i respect that everyone's message won't be like mine or conveyed my way.

i fully support free creative expression. i have abandoned mainstream "music" and "entertainment". i don't find it very musical or entertaining anymore. quite the contrary actually.

at any rate, i appreciate this brother's message. i hope you do as well. i welcome your thoughts.

SELF LOVE~SELF ACCEPTANCE~SELF RESPECT

my history love affair

my wise and generous elder Bill, sent this to me today. ( you insist, yet it still feels weird to call you by your first name, i am a southern girl at heart:-) i appreciate and love you. i know that i am blessed because of the people like you in my life. thank you for the generosity with which you share your wisdom.

when i received this it resonated as confirmation.

i love history. it guides me. my history and my ancestors caution me; i feel their whispers in my spirit to go left, now make a right and just ahead will be truth, wisdom, understanding.

history cautions me to take information and flip it that i may have clarity. we are in a backwards world. i am abundantly blessed. we all are. we must stand and claim our blessings. they are our birthright.

today i read a quote by Frantz Fanon:

"each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it."

fulfilling our mission must be the purpose as i see it. resisting oppression, all oppression is the mission. we must be focused and diligent where ever we are. each of us.

i know i have been preaching the importance of knowing, appreciating, respecting our history and ancestors. enjoy Dr. Milton's voice. apply the principles and live freely...powerfully...committed to be the much needed change.

Understanding Wisdom And FOREVER Appreciating The Past
Dr. Alice Tyler Milton
~ Associate Dean of Business and Information Technologies Division ~
~ Acting Director of the Small Business Center ~

Wisdom may be defined as a practical outlook to the problems of life. Wise men and women of our past and present made many sacrifices and used their life experiences to help strengthened our confidence and abilities in ourselves. Their life experiences have always been placed into words to conform our thoughts as we present ourselves to the future generation. Adhering and understanding the words help us to progress with greater opportunities to success. Words of wisdom have always had the capacity to motivate, expound, and discipline the minds of listeners. Thurman Arnold stated “Unhappy is a people that has run out of words to describe what is going on.”

Moreover, wisdom is a flourishing fountain of virtue, respect, self-assurance, and self-respect. Cultural understanding helps to nourish and keep the vision alive—no matter what generation. History has shown that the most successful leaders are those who have learned to draw upon our heritage of thought and experience. Booker T. Washington believed that the story of his life was a typical American success story, and he redefined "success" to make it so. Because of the many wonderful accomplishments of the past that made our present and future brighter, we must NEVER forget our history.

SELF LOVE~SELF ACCEPTANCE~SELF RESPECT

it's a trend...remain focused and purposeful!

so... i had to step away for a moment. haste makes waste and i tend to be more radical than most it seems. especially, during this space in history. i am clear though as to the reasons.

al sharpton gave the world a glimpse of his foolish ass awhile back. some brothers made excuses for him.

yesterday, he showed the whole, big, rotten, disgusting, ridiculous, amoral, for sale-as long as there is a video camera, shameless, criminally misguided thing. in doing so he made it impossible for the mentally slow, aforementioned brothers, to say anything in integrity aside from WTF! there is always an upside:-)

had i been surprised i may have fallen down. *movie reference-starring michael douglas:-)*

instead, i decided to go racing, spend time with my family, and recruit others to join the battle.

in case you haven't noticed folks...we are at war! domestically and abroad. literally and figuratively. the truth and degree of the matter you will never see on the news. most have been trained to not tell the truth. it is rude, unlady-like, a downer, and a "national security risk". not to mention, if you acknowledged what's really going on and what's wrong---it would be human nature to want to fix it. this is why deception, lies and inhumanity go hand in hand.

despite feeling like i am whispering in the wind. i feel led to keep doing it. i will. with purpose. and laser-like focus.

i will stop, as best as i can, reminding those within my circle of influence when those things come to pass that i have called previously. i will not feel annoyed when others tell me what i have been saying all along; as if it should be a newsflash to me. i will instead re-direct that annoyance to buoyancy with the fact that i have company in the light of understanding. i will continue to pace myself and remind myself that what other people think of me is not my business. i will re-post my first official blog, periodically, to re-focus myself. those that invite me to focus on all of mankind, i will consistently ignore and pray they gain perspective. in addition to the common sense that would inform them that all giant projects are best broken down into manageable ones. i will keep my eyes fixed firmly on the prize. i will remain focused. i have the power.

i will, instead of getting angry, belly laugh at this this conk wearing preacher clown; that has volunteered his services to be the agent of inhumanity. i will give praise for the wisdom that informs my knowledge that we will see a lot of this fool and those like him. what he is fighting for-the right of males to rape indiscriminately at young ages; and to be dealt with leniently regardless of race- has quietly become the national past time. look. see. accept the truth. this evil knows no racial bounds. all of humanity faces the same enemy.

for awhile now rape has become a part of the "entertainment" scene. it has become frequently included in the titillating gratuitous sex scenes. actors of all ages have signed up to add the visual to the atrocity. what we see now is of course the natural progression. my refusal to support the "entertainment" industry has in part been because of this very reason. that and the erasing of the black woman image in any type of positive light. that and the refusal to couple black men and women (unless she looks white-like which promotes colorism) in meaningful, healthy, non stereotypical relationships.

so...i will not allow my focus to be shifted. i will continue to register my disdain and release it:-) i am NO saint; and this fool makes me want to take his head OFF! discussions at this point seem like a game of patty cake. i don't love traitors into turning back. traitors should be swiftly dropped where they stand. victorious people historically get this basic principle. they don't risk victory by trying to compromise and err on the side of caution.

i will use what we see to assist black women and girls to empower themselves to not only survive...but to live abundantly, powerfully and freely. human rights are claimed, not given. freedom is seized not requested. cease and desist orders are commands not mere suggestions.

the alleged predator you see above is eighteen and charged with several friends of sexually assaulting a sixteen year old special education student. you may read more @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080312/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex_assault .

if you are interested to know more about the sharpton shenanigans the following bloggers do an amazing job keeping the record up to date:

Black Women Vote!

Essential Presence

black sapience

Aunt Jemima's Revenge

of course this is a partial listing of great bloggers out there. my favorites are of course on my blog roll:-)

SELF LOVE~ SELF ACCEPTANCE~ SELF RESPECT

special black women vote! cross post!!!

this was posted at black women vote! today when i went for my daily dose. Shecodes said it all.

Al Sharpton defends the Dunbar Village rape suspects, throws black women and children under the bus

Please excuse any typos, etc. I've got the 'flu and need to rest to get my strength up.

Queens, it is my time to start drawing lines in the sand with black organizations and black activist groups. After hearing some disturbing news last night, I decided to officially withdraw my membership, financial support, and volunteering time from any organizations that do not prioritize the needs of black women, as outlined in The Black Women's Agenda. I can no longer in good conscience support the efforts of many of these organizations -- not because I do not believe in some of their causes, but because many of them have made it abundantly clear that they believe that black women are not considered worthy of the same protections, rights, and support that they enjoy from us.

There was a response in my comments section a few weeks ago that has shaken me to the core, although I didn't respond to it. It came from PioneerValleyWoman, from the blog, Episcopalienne.

I had just finished writing this comment:

I am ready to go to war too. I will not be terrorized in my own home, myown neighborhood, or by my own culture.Yes I am all for education andprevention. However, once someone has made up their mind to be a domesticterrorist, they will be treated as such by me.I remember in college, I had a group of black guys who I considered very good friends. We studied together, ate together, laughed and the same jokes and everything. Then one day, my girls and I showed up at a dorm room party, and the young brothers starting shouting and chanting gleefully, "Hooray! the hoes are here! the hoes are here!"

I will never forget two things:

1) My level of shock and betrayal at the "brothers" who I literally CARRIED through statistics and economics class, who I always treated with dignity and respect, and who I loudly defended against racist white students who complained about affirmative action.

2) The humbled cowardice of my female friends. They nervously smiled and walked into the party.

From then on in our circles, the term for black women became "jokingly andlovingly" b*tch or hoe. "It must be hard for a hoe in this school, etc". "Why are you so mad? It's just a joke". I felt like a voice crying in the wilderness. Sometime after I graduated, the 'joking nature' of b*tch gave way to genuine terminology, spoken with a straight face.

I'll never forget Wade Stevens (yes I am calling you out by name, you jerk), Mr. Black Sensitivity and Consciousness, who physically restrained me fromcalling the police when a black girl was being beaten senseless in broad daylight on campus, claiming that 'she probably deserved it'. Like I said, this is a real war, not a metaphorical one. We have genuine casualities, and we need to wake up to the fact that nobody is going to protect us but ourselves. .

PioneerValleyWoman responded with this comment, which has been reverberating within me ever since:

"Shecodes, there is something that occurred to me in light of the story you told about what happened at that party--the use of the pejorative "ho". Of course, there are the obvious sexual connotations about being a "ho,"but it might very well be deeper than that. It has occurred to me that there areways in which black women see themselves as working on behalf of community uplift and the ways in which black men might see that community activistwork. Think of the recent use of "pimping" being applied to Chelsea Clinton, and a Snoop Dogg videotape I once saw, in which he described his lawyer, a blackwoman who was working on some case on his behalf, as "riding for her pimp."Many black women, working on community uplift, see themselves as working on behalf of the entire community, thus we see nothing wrong when we work on behalf of black men's interests. In our mind, everyone benefits. But some black men may not see it that way. They might not beworking as hard on community uplift as the women do, and if anything, work on behalf of their interests exclusively. Yet, they are quite glad to be the beneficiaries of the women's efforts. At the same time, the women might not be getting any reciprocity from the men whom they are working so hard to help. In the men's eyes, they might not be asking for any, and the men are not giving it. The women presume racial solidarity and respect might result from their efforts. The men see instead that they have an army of "hos" who are pimping themselves on the men's behalf, servicing them, bringing all their hard-earned resources home to the men, but not getting anything in return. This very well ties into the message of this blog, black women working on behalf of their own interests exclusively. The message couldn't be clearer. Perhaps some black men see black women's dedication to their interests as"hoing" themselves...Time to cut the apron string...." [emphasis added]

PioneerValleyWoman's comment struck deep in my soul -- I knew that I had the answer to the question that I have been asking my entire adult life about the millions of 'missing in action' people in the fight to free Black women from violence and oppression.

The ugly truth is this: Although these men and women are black, THEY ARE NOT ON OUR SIDE. They are not interested in equality for all people -- they are only interested, deep down inside, in black male supremacy. As women, we are the firewood to fuel their activist engines.
Case in point:

Black female bloggers have been screaming ourselves hoarse about the atrocity in Dunbar Village for months now. We have often complained of the deep, complicit silence of all of these so-called 'civil rights' organizations. Don't we have a civil right to be protected from violence?
There are six gang rapists on the loose, who are likely to continue attacking other black women as we speak with complete impugnity. Not one word of support, one dime of assistance, or even one drop of concern from the NAACP, The Urban League, the National Action Network, 100 Black Men, 100 Black women, any major traditionally black churches, any historically black colleges, any major black activists, or any traditionally black fraternities or sororities. Of course, their excuse, as usual, is that they have 'other' concerns to worry about. And those 'other' concerns are absolutely, positively NEVER in defense of black female victims of black on black crime. And no, a 50 person march and a few half hearted, watered down statements about 'general violence in our communities' without targeting the perpetrators of those crimes, don't count.

Now I am hearing that Al Sharpton is finally going to have a press statement about Dunbar Village -- but IN SUPPORT OF THE ALLEGED RAPISTS. The 'pompadoured preacha' as Gina likes to put it, doesn't like the way that these vicious, violent boys are being treated. Well, well, well... did I call it, or did I call it?

On February 18th, I wrote the following:

"Now if the police had rounded up these boys, and beaten them with the same lack of mercy that the youths did to this poor woman, or God forbid raped the rapists, all of these organizations would have descended on Dunbar Village like the wrath of God, demanding ‘justice’, and clutching their breasts with overwrought sympathy for these ‘troubled youths’. Certain activists would set their spin machine into 'warp speed overdrive' to transform these vicious batterers and rapists into the image of helpless, heroic victims of society, worthy of our financial support and parental concern."

I AM STARTING A MASS WALKOUT OF BLACK WOMEN TO BLACK ORGANIZATIONS THAT REFUSE TO DEFEND US from the most likely threat to our personal safety -- which is black on black violence. Will you join me?

I CHALLENGE EVERY BLACK WOMAN within the sound of my voice to evaluate the actions of all organizations that claim 'to speak for all black people'. Google them, listen to their past podcasts, radio shows, and flip through their books. If you do not see a commitment to The Black Women's Agenda, then I urge you to consider cutting them off financially. Stop volunteering for their thier causes. Stop attending their galas, award shows and 'party mixers'. If you discover organizations that actually do take the equality and safety of black women seriously, let us know, and black female bloggers will advertise those agencies to the hilt, and encourage our readership to support them. Don't be fooled by talks about 'staying together' for the sake of 'unity' and 'solidarity'. What we have going on here in the black activist world is not 'unity'. It's HUMAN SACRIFICE on the altar of black male supremacy.

But don't just walk out. Tell them WHY you are walking out, and that you'll be back when they stop crying 'The hoes are here! The hoes are here!" when we come to the bargaining table.

Posted by SheCodes at 8:11 AM

**UPDATE***Apparently, the NAACP may have sent lawyers down to defend the Dunbar Village rape suspects. I am awaiting confirmation on this.
March 11, 2008 1:40 PM-SheCodes

during...moment of serious thought?

i hope he is giving serious thought to his next move. i hope as he sits there...enduring the setting of his ridiculous hairdo...he thinks about what a mistake it would be...to look and behave like...a black ass, money grubbing, sell out, publicity chasing clown.

in fact...i do more than hope. i pray for his sake that he just says no...or better yet...pulls another no call---no show in florida. time will tell.

SELF LOVE~SELF ACCEPTANCE~SELF RESPECT