Lauryn Hill: Our Government Pimpin' Us?

                                 


A soul sister supreme with an angelic voice is Lauryn Hill. Ms. Hill is an accomplished musician, eight- time Grammy winner and a mother of 6 beautiful children. None of this has mattered in the federal government's case against Hill for tax evasion.

The government alleged that Hill failed to pay taxes on the $1,8 Million that four corporations that she owned, earned between 2005 and 2007. She pled quilty last June to the charges.  According to CBS, she had a court appearance today in Newark court.

It was reported by other media sources, that her sentencing would be postponed for two weeks.

Pause, Let's discuss how a pimp named the government works for a second

Our government is a pimp. In order to work on their turf, we have to pay a toll (taxes). The government makes sure that they take their money, off the top. If you don't run the government's money, they will cut yo ass! They will drag you through a trial, pimp slap and  garnish your wages, imprison you and still force you to repay every cent that you own them.

UnPause

Lauryn failed to align with the topsy-tursy federal taxation system. She claimed that she went underground to protect her family and privacy. I believe her. I think that once any rational person starts to question the government systems that are in place, they are going to say, " wait a minute, that makes no sense."

Lauryn raged against the machine.I pray that she received a light sentence. This is a white collar crime and she is a mother.


                                                                  Namaste

Black Parents, Put Down Massa's Whip...You Are Suffering From Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome!

In the film Roots, Rebellious slave Kunta Kinte is beating by the White overseer until he accepts his new name of Toby. This is the same "conditioning" that African American parents use when discipline their children. We need to be cognitive of the origins of our actions.

An ugly Facebook debate ensued when one of my friends posted a Huffington Post Article on Greg Hunt . Hunt is an Ohio father that whipped his daughters so severly that he caused welts and bruises on their bodies. He beat them with a cord after he found that they made a “twerkin”  (suggestive booty shaking) video. Different African American friends of mine on Facebook praised his actions and stated, " they are going to learn today". Later, they were angered that the police arrested Hunt and charged him with child endangerment and corporal punishment after welts and bruises were found on his daughters' bodies, by their mother.

(pause)

I hate NIGGERS! I see niggers as anyone who uses violence instead of their minds to resolve problems. I find that beating children is a NIGGER reaction, a good parent would talked to the children and explained why the "Twerkin" videos were harmful. A good parents fostered opportunities to improve their child's self -esteem so they would not make "twerkin" videos.

(unpause)

I tried vehemently to explain the connection between slavery and the abuse that we inflict upon our children and ourselves. No one listened, instead they defended Hunt's actions with:

My parents beat me and I turned out better for it! - Black woman

The Bible Says ' spoil the rod and spare the child.' - Black man

I would not tolerance disrespect for any child or my child. I would whip them too!- Black woman, who identified herself as a teacher

The police are fascist. How can America say that Black men are not good fathers and when a Black man properly disciplines his children, he is arrested?- Black man

White people don't "whip" their kids and look at them. - Black woman

I must first start by saying this....Religion has been used as a form of mind control since the beginning of time. People fail to realize that the Bible is full of parables that require you to think beyond the surface level. People that look at the surface will say, " the Bible condones beating my child with a belt or a cord" instead of disseminating the true meaning. They want a quick fix!

All of the comments listed above show me one thing- African Americans are suffering from P.T.S.S. ( post traumatic slave syndrome). The African Americans that commented on the status seemed to revert to old and familiar ideas of abuse. The language that they used " the bible says" and " my parent beat me so" show their willingness to hold on to cycles of abuse!

As the P.T.S.S. theory states these ideologies are adaptive survival behaviors or coping mechanisms, that exist as a consequence of multigenerational oppression of Africans and their descendants resulting from centuries of chattel slavery. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome includes extreme violence against self, property and others, including members of one's own family. I want to take it a step further and say that abuse is a learned behavior. The Black woman that said that her parents beat her, chooses to beat her children because she has learned that violence is the only way to achieve desired results. Her children will beat their children, who will beat their children and the vicious cycle of abuse will continue until someone stops and asks the right question, " why am I doing this"?

The man that beat his daughters for a "twerkin" video was no different than the White overseer that beat Kunta Kentei. It is all a form of classical conditioning. I wonder if African Americans question the origins of their actions! BECAUSE "beatings" and " whippings" are something that we have learned from our ancestors, who learned it from the White overseers.

So much of our existence is still tied to slavery! The solution is to abolish our old ways of doing things. We need to talk out more of our issues. We need to teach our children, a new way. We need to shower them with love, understanding and education!

The Not So Curious Case of Aiyana Jones and Fred Hampton

 Aiyana Jones and Fred Hampton, it an odd series of events that would lead these names in martyrdom. The worlds of Aiyana and Fred are as different as night and day. They were born in different time periods, were different ages, lived in different states BUT BOTH WERE MURDERED BY SWAT MEMBERS as they slept.

Fred Hampton was a leader in the Black Panther Party in Chicago, IL in the 1960s. His position and ideologies made him, an enemy to Chicago Police, the FBI and the federal government. He was drugged by FBI informant William O' Neal before a police raid on his apartment. He was murdered in bed on December 4, 1969.

Aiyana Jones  was born on July 20, 2002 in Detroit, MI. She was/is loved! She was 7 years and sleeping when Detroit's SWAT team and cameramen from A&E's 48HRS entered her home on May 16, 2010. Officer Joseph Weekley shot Aiyana in her head while she slept on the family's couch.

In their cases, there are similarities and there differences:
- Both homes were raided
- Both were murdered unjustly by overzealous  law official enforcement agents
- Both were people of color
- Both were roses cut too soon
- Law enforcement justified their murders unjustly

The difference was Aiyana was SEVEN YEARS OLD. She never has the opportunity to live life, drive a car, fall in love, become a mother, go to college, buy a home, get marry and graduate from high school. All the milestones that we take for granted, she never got! Look at her face, she looks like an angel. She probably looked like an angel when Officer Joseph Weekley found her sleeping. She was an innocent!

Fred and Aiyana are not alone, there are other African Americans that have been murdered unjustly by police.Sean Bell was killed by plain clothes NYPD officers in Queens, NY after his bachelor party. A top of 50 shots were fired into Bell’s Vehicle after his car accidently hit an unarmed police car. 

Officers Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, members of NYPD's tactical street team, of which the  focus was  on removing illegal handguns from NY streets, stopped Amadou Diallo in front of his Bronx’s home. They claimed that he fit the description of a rape suspect.  The officers fired 41 shots , 19 of which fatally wounded Diallo. Officers Sean Carroll and Edward McMellon emptied their weapons, firing 16 shots each, NYPD representatives report.

Every year, there is a new case of an innocent African American that killed by overzealous law enforcement agents. This year, it is Kimani Gray. The NYPD's account of  shooting death of Kimani Gray is highly disputed. The officers claim that Gray pointed a .38 caliber gun in their direction but did not fire.

Witnesses claim that Gray did not have a gun and his hands were up, when NYPD officers shot him three times in the back. A total of 11 shots were fired by  Officers Mourad and Cordova. Mayor Bloomberg called the murder of Kimani Gray, a justifiable kill by NYPD. It was later revealed that New York City paid more than $215,000 to settle civil right lawsuits brought against Mourad and Cordova.

Police feel safe when they unjustly kill African Americans! It is rare that they suffer anything more than a slap on the wrist. African Americans must united and fight for justice for our TAKEN brothers and sisters. We need to rally, speak and write letters of protest on behalf of our slain brothers and sisters.

Black People, When Will Your Bodies Stop Being Chattle?

African Americans' bodies and capitalism go hand and hand in America. For Caucasian slave traders, the sale of an Enslaved African on the auction block fetched a healthy bounty. Today, African American boxers, football, basketball and baseball players make millions for Caucasian sport franchise owners. The cycle of the American American body and White capitalism is a brutal one.

African Americans are chattel! Merriam- Webster defines chattel as an item of tangible movable or immovable property. If you disagree, please analyze the similarities between Enslaved Africans being bought, sold and traded on the auction block  and  the NBA draft. If you analyze the weighing- in of boxers before boxing matches and Enslaved Africans on the auction block, the similarities are scary.

 White America's exoticism with the Black body can be seen in Tyson Chandler's ESPN cover. Tyson was oiled up until his skin gleamed. The Caucasian photographer focused on Tyson's buttocks, arms and back. Tyson was photographed with the stereotypic gaze of the " Mandingo warrior."



No! I did not forget the sisters! The psychological effects of slavery are still affecting Black women. Black women during slavery were violated, raped, watched their children sold off and were told they were property. They were owned by their White "masters" first and then their Black husbands.  They were forced to "mate" with different Black males, just for the sake of procreation without love relationships being involved. 

Today, sisters still believe and internalizes the ideology of " my self worth is tied to my body." Enslaved African women were placed on auction blocks nude, Caucasian buyers grabbed at their breast, buttocks and vaginas to "test" the quality of the merchandise. This phenomenal is the brainchild for strip clubs, there is even a stage that resembles the auction block. In strip clubs, men are able to feel, touch and caress the "merchandise" for as little as $10.

Video Vixens and strippers are one in the same, these beautiful sisters are still on the auction block without a clue of how to get down! Who taught them to owned and love themselves? This is a movement that needs to take place, one of self love for sisters!

American Media, Can Black women get respect?

 These are the faces of victims of America's campaign against Black women. Quvenzhané Wallis received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Beasts of The Southern Wild. Wallis is a 9 year old, Louisiana native that donned her beautiful dress to walk down the red carpet at the 2013 Academy Awards. The Onion Newspaper twitted "Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a cunt, right?#Oscars2013 ". CUNT is the most degrading term imaginable and to use that in reference to an African American child is deplorable. Would The Onion has called Dakota Fanning, a cunt?



The America media has systematically lowered the self esteems of many Black women by presenting images of Whiteness ( blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin) as the only true form of beauty. The images of Black women in/on the media are often negative and the "positive" imagery of Black women is reserved for light skin African American women that can nearly pass for Caucasian. Let's be clear, The Onion's assault on sweet and innocent  Quvenzhané set a precedent! American media could now break and kills the self esteem of young Black girls before they could even bloom, without any form of atonement. The Onion issued a lame and standard apology BUT the damage was already done. The Black community accepted the apology but I did not.

Robin Rihanna Fenty was beaten and assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown. There were speculations by the media that Rihanna may have assaulted Chris first, which lead him to defense himself. The America media desensitizes its' viewers towards degradation and  violence against Black women.  In the case of Rihanna, I read blog post and Facebook statuses where members of the African American community said she needed to be beaten!

The female members of Rutger University basketball team were called "nappy headed hoes" by radio personality Don Imus after they won a championship game. In his defense, Imus stated that rappers use the word and disrespected Black women all the time and NOONE goes after them! He is right!    THINK ABOUT IT- Hip Hop, near its' gangsta rap phase clearly promoted violence and degradation of Black women.

 Can Black women get respect?

We are disappearing from mainstream media and commercials. When we are in mainstream media, we appear in the familiar context of the oversexed Jezebel ( Kerry Washington in Scandal), the unmarried, unloved intellectual (Tamala R. Jones in Castle), loud and ghetto with a PHAT ASS ( Sanaa Lathan in The Cleveland Show) and, the mammy ( Yvette Brown in Community).  We are the butt of jokes by White and Black comedians alike with “ No you didn’t girlfriend” and finger snaps included. 

Historically since slavery,White males has “owned”, “ raped” and disrespected Black women! Now American media wants to demoralize and erase Black women. We need to protest until major network include positive and uplifting images of us!

Wake Up Call: HIV/AIDS Infection Rates Are Skyrocketing Black Women

Black women, we are in a state of despair! HIV/AIDS infection rates for Black women have skyrocketed and are reaching levels similar to sub-Saharan Africa! Research has shown that Black women are heavily engaged in unprotected sex with high risk males.

My beautiful sisters, don't be afraid to say "no" to a man that refuses to wear a condom. You must know your wealth and protect yourself!Slavery has taught Black women that their bodies are property to be owned and used by men.  We have to unlearn negative feelings about our self worth and we have to unlearn that sex=love.If we love ourselves and know our worth, we will see positive changes in our lives! We will be no longer willing to risk our lives for the faux love that comes when a man shares our bed for a night! We will say, " I love myself too much to have unprotected sex."

 The first step to knowing your worth is loving yourself.  I recommend looking in the mirror and saying this   affirmation daily:


I am beautiful. I am worthy of love, respect and praise. My body is my own! I love my hair, my face, my smile, my ancestors and my life's journey! I am a queen! My health and life is important to me! I am strong, secure and fierce!

Black Man DANGEROUS OR Falsely Accused

                The facts in the murder of 13 month old Antonio Santiago are unclear. 

Sherry West's Account of March 21, 2013,  the mother of Antonio Santiago, states that she walked her son in his stroller through their Brunswick, GA neighborhood. She states that she was approached by two African American teens, who tried to rob her at gunpoint. West gave a tearful recount of the incident for local and national media outlets, she stated: 

"He asked me for money and I said I didn't have it.When you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive. And he kept asking and I just said `I don't  have it.' And he said, `Do you want me to kill your baby?' And I said, `No, don't kill my baby!'" She claimed that the teen fired four shots into the ground then fired at her head, grazing her left ear before "The boy proceeded to go around to the stroller and he shot my baby in the face," she said. "And then he just shoved me when I started screaming and he ran down London Street with the little boy." 

I am against violence. I am deeply saddened at the loss of Antonio Santiago. He was a beautiful baby with sparkling eyes, he deserved to live! He deserved to go to pre-school, to graduate high school, drive a car, fall in love, become a father, become a grandfather and so much more. My heart is hurting for his loved ones, for his mother.

PAUSE

The history of Caucasians accusing “phantom” African American male perpetrators of heinous crimes, causes me to question the validity and truthfulness of  any and all accusations against African American males.

CASE & POINT

 Charles Stuart Murdered His Wife and Blamed Phantom African American Perpetrator

Charles Stuart claimed an African American male forced his way into his car, robbed him and his wife before shooting his pregnant wife Carol in the head. Charles suffered minor gunshot wounds to his stomach. Charles called 911 from his car phone and gave an Oscar worthy performance to a  Boston PD dispatcher. 

Charles gave tearful accounts of the incidents and of the African American suspect. Boston police swarmed Black neighborhoods with abusive and racist tactics. An African American suspect was arrested for the crime. It was later revealed Charles murdered his wife and shot himself. 

 Susan Smith Drowned Her Sons BUT Allegedly That An African American Gunman Carjacked Her and Drove Off With Her Sons

Smith was involved in a relationship with a man that did not want or accept her two sons. Susan Smith reported to police on October 25, 1994, she was carjacked by an African American man who drove away with her sons still in the car. She gave tearful accounts of the incident and made dramatic pleas on television  for the return of her children.

Nine days after a high profile investigation and heavy media coverage, she confessed to drowning her sons.

Nun Mary Turcotte Attempted to Cover Up A Sexual Tryst With a Bodega Worker By Accusing A Phantom 6'4, 250 Pound Black Man of Sexual Assault

Nun Mary Turcotte told NYPD detectives that a 6’4, 250 pound Black man choked and sexual assaulted her in Brooklyn. She claims that he drug her through the streets and left her unconscious in a snowbank with her underwear down and her breast exposed.  NYPD issued a sketch of the phantom suspect and pleaded with the community to help catch the rapist.

Turcotte later admitted that she falsified a police report to cover up a sexual tryst with a bodega worker.

Tsui D'adamo, Wife of Bronx NYPD Precinct Commander Falsely Accused TWO Black Males of Assaulting Her after Founding out About Her Husband's Affair With a Fellow NYPD Officer

Tsui D’adamo, wife of NYPD Precinct Commander claimed TWO armed and masked Black men assaulted her outside of her home on Valentine’s Day. Police found inconsistencies in her story and in her level of brusing. Police concluded that Tsui’s bruises were self inflicted after she learned of her husband’s affair with a female NYPD officer. 

 Amanda Knox Falsely Accused African Man of Her Roommate's Murder, Central Park Five, 5 Black Youth Convicted and Later Exonerated For A Crime That They Never Committed,hundreds of Black men exonerated....the list of falsified statement and false convictions for African American males goes on and  on. 

Black men are often the scapegoat!  I am not saying that all Black men are innocent BUT all Black men are not criminals either! The pattern is the same over and same over again.

 American media criminalizes Black Males. Caucasians and non-African Americans watch racist and stereotypic programming then  internalizes and believe the stereotypes of African American males as violent, dangerous etc . A Black man is (falsely) accused and convicted in the media before his trials starts. The police interrogate, arrest, question and batter innocence Black men without probable cause, every DAMN day.  The Constitutional Rights of Black men and women are tread on all the time and nothing is done!

Even when, testimonies are revealed to be false, there is no closure for Black Men or Black America. They are convicted everyday in the streets, on the train, in the workplace, in the club because of the color of their skin. The election of a Biracial president has not stop systematic racism!

I know that two suspects were arrested in the slaying of Baby Santiago. I will not claim their GUILTY or INNOCENCE. I just hope they receive a fair trial. I hope that the accusations are true. I hope that the police arrested the right men since all brothers seem to fit the “description”.

UNPAUSE

I am hoping for justice for baby Santiago.