Interview with the Mother of a Missing Daughter

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Yes, over and over again and once again, the lives of Black women are not valued by police, media, and society at all. They only report the negatives about Black people when it comes to crime and morals. They rarely, if ever, show the positive side.

We need to create our own media networks and blogs because nobody else is going to care about us.

Friends and Family Gathered at the Vigil in Cleveland

Newsflash: Four More Bodies Are Found At Cleveland Home

More gruesome discoveries.

Why haven't the police and the neighbors surrounding Sowell's house noticed anything soon? Why the police didn't warn the neighbors that there's a sex offender living in their midst? Some or all of his victims would have been alive today. What's wrong, Cleveland? Why do we wait until at least six dead women before police and neighborhood action? Does LA, Rocky Mount mean anything to us? Does the 1978-79 murders of 12 Black women in Boston matter? What about the 11 victims of serial killer Henry Louis Wallace, a serial killer who killed over a four-year period, beginning in 1990, ended in March 1994, when he was taken into custody in Charlotte, N.C. Do they matter to us? Of course they do!

We take lives of poor and Women and Men of Color less seriously than others. That's sad and it shouldn't be that way. We need to change our way of thinking when it comes to murder victims.

An Open Letter To Black Women: Why You Are Beautiful

Check out this open letter from Leonard Pitts a black man and Miami Herald writer in which he not only states that black women are beautiful but explains why:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Posts by Fellow Bloggers November-2-2009

Von from Black Conscious Thought wrote about the infrequency of BF/WM relationships in America:

http://blackconsciousthought.blogspot.com/2009/10/well-i-said-it-way-back-when-black.html

From Stuff White People Do:

Americans' tendency to homogenize 50 African countries into one big country called Africa, ignoring cultures, races, religions, and governments. As if they are all alike without any individuality

http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/10/homogenize-people-from-over-fifty.html

From Siditty:

Black face is making a comeback. It's not just from Tyra, though. Magazines and TV shows employ the use of Blackface as well.

http://siditty.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackface-has-made-comeback-thanks-tyra.html

From Brian Beach of Dayton, Ohio:

Infiltrating the Enemy: Hategroups such as Chimpout at:

http://sociallyblogwards.blogspot.com/2009/10/infiltrating-enemy-stupid-white.html

From Dovesblood:

"I Spent Three Hours At Nixzmary's Apartment" at:

http://www.nixzmarybrown.info/2009/10/i-spent-3-hours-in-nixzmarys-apartment.html

Horrific Story Out of Cleveland: The Bodies of 6 Women Found in the House

Coroner says 6 women whose bodies were found at home died

Six women found dead at a Cleveland, Ohio, home appeared to have been strangled, and their decomposing bodies could have been lying there for "weeks, if not months or years," a coroner told CNN on Saturday.

Police discovered the bodies at the home of Anthony Sowell, a 50-year-old convicted rapist, after they tried to serve an arrest and search warrant for him related to a sexual assault investigation.

On Thursday, detectives from the department's sex-crimes unit and members of its SWAT team went to Sowell's home to execute the warrant and to arrest the suspect, but he was nowhere to be found, Cleveland Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

Five female victims were found inside the home, and another female body was discovered outside the home, said Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller III.

Miller's office had yet to identify the victims, who all died of "homicidal violence," he said.

"They were mostly strangled, it appears," he said.

To read more of this horrific story, please go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/31/ohio.cleveland.bodies/index.html?eref=rss_crime

My heart goes out to the families of the women who were killed during the past six months.

May they finally find peace.

While LA Sleeps, Young Black Women in LA are Murdered

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Donna Summer - State Of Independence

Black and Missing but not Forgotten: A must read article: How The Media Treat Murder

Sad, but it is the brutal truth. While the mainstream media is riveted with the Annie Le and the Ballon boy cases, 10 Black women had been murdered or missing in Rocky Mount, N.C. This goes to show where the media's priorities lie, and it's never about Black women.

Ten women have been found slain or have been declared missing in Rocky Mount, N.C., in recent years. But the rest of the country hasn’t heard about a possible serial killer stalking the young women in this Southern town of 60,000. The latest victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, was identified on Oct. 12. Why have the Rocky Mount homicides been largely ignored?

“When you think about the famous missing-person cases over the last few years it’s Chandra Levy, Natalee Holloway, and Laci Peterson,” notes Sam Sommers, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University. All these women had a few things in common—they were white, educated, and came from middle-class families. The victims in Rocky Mount—which residents describe as a “typical Southern town,” and is about 40 percent white and more than 50 percent black—were different. They were all African-American, many were poor, and some had criminal histories including drug abuse and prostitution.

“If it was someone of a different race, things would have been dealt with the first time around; it wouldn’t have taken the fifth or sixth person to be murdered,” says Andre Knight, a city-council member and president of the local NAACP chapter. “All these women knew each other and lived in the same neighborhood; this is the sign of a potential serial killer. When it didn’t get the kind of attention it needed, it made the African-American community frustrated.”

Police have not officially linked all the murders and disappearances, but community members claim the similarities among the women, their lifestyles, and the location of their bodies make a connection all too obvious. “If you find two bodies in the same location, this could be the work of the same person or people,” says Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley, who would not comment on a connection, but implied the possibility.

Rumors are running rampant around the town about the identity of the serial killer. There is not much physical evidence, leading some to speculate it’s a former law-enforcement officer or someone in the military. Others have deduced that the killer is targeting specific women as a form of revenge for contracting HIV from a prostitute. Along with Smallwood, the murders of Taraha Nicholson, 28, Jarniece Hargrove, 31, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, Melody Wiggins, 29, and Denise Williams, 21, remain unsolved. Authorities are also searching for Yolanda Lancaster, 37, Joyce Renee Durham, 46, and Christine Boone, 43.

One man is in custody for the murder of Nicholson, who was the fourth victim, discovered back in 2005. This past September, police charged Antwan Maurice Pittman, 31, with her murder. He is accused of strangling Nicholson and dumping her partially clothed body in the woods. So far, authorities have not linked Pittman to the other murders. “There’s a lot of mixed sentiments about Pittman,” says Knight, referring to community speculation about whether police have charged the right man.

“In this Information Age, cases get solved through sheer publicity, whether it’s an Amber Alert or America’s Most Wanted, anyone could have a tip or be a potential source of information,” Sommers says.

But the national media did show some interest in the story after it was revealed that five women were murdered in or around the town. “Nancy Grace called and wanted to have some of us on her show, but before it aired there was a white woman from Georgia that went missing. The Nancy Grace show was canceled,” Knight says. HLN network, which broadcasts Nancy Grace, confirmed that Knight was booked for the show, which was ultimately canceled to profile the disappearance of Kristi Cornwell, a white woman from Blairsville, Ga., who went missing during an evening walk. Representatives from Nancy Grace told NEWSWEEK, “The booking was changed due to news that was breaking that day,” and emphasized the change had nothing to do with the race of the victim.
On Aug. 12, Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees covered the story.
That bit of media exposure brought new resources to the investigation. Originally, only a small amount of reward money was collected for information about the case. After the story aired on CNN , New Jersey philanthropist Peter Pinto, of the Kefalas-Pinto Foundation, donated $10,000 from a personal trust. In late September, the city donated an additional $5,000, which was matched by a $5,000 county donation, bringing the amount of reward money to $20,000. If there were no media coverage, there might have been no reward. The money isn’t just going to help with the investigation, it’s helping the families of the victims, specifically their children.

The money proved to be a blessing for Jurary Tucker, the mother of Yolanda Lancaster, who has been missing since February 2008. “We were able to use some of the money to get [Yolanda's] children ready for school,” Tucker says. “They have to wear uniforms to school and they are very expensive; the money came at a good time.” Tucker became the primary custodian of her granddaughter and grandson after Lancaster’s disappearance.

When Annie Le, a 24-year-old Yale pharmacology graduate student, went missing on Sept. 8, it only took three days for the university to offer a $20,000 reward. In the case of the Rocky Mount women, it took more than six years to raise that same amount of money for 10 women.
Concerned residents of the town tried to promote the case by distributing fliers and purchasing a billboard advertisement featuring the women, but their efforts may have backfired. Mug-shot photographs of the victims, many pictured in orange jumpsuits, sometimes appearing disheveled or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, were used in their efforts. Unlike the images of a smiling Annie Le, these images showed the women during darker times.

“Everyone has a dark side at some point, but you want to put your best out front when you are trying to appeal [to the public] for help,” Chief Manley says. “When you look at obituaries in the newspaper, [the photos] show a bright time in someone’s life; you really want to show the person when they are doing well.”

Manley says the police department used the victims’ driver’s license photographs to help with search efforts. “You don’t need to air dirty laundry. Seeing someone’s dark side doesn’t appeal to the conscience of other people,” he says.

Concern over the buried headlines and lack of national media attention isn’t the only thing upsetting residents; some say there are deeper festering racial tensions in the community. When a candlelight vigil was held to commemorate the murdered women, only black community officials attended. When other vigils were organized for deaths in Rocky Mount, there was no racial divide, and community members, both black and white, attended the events in droves. “When a prominent attorney’s wife died, we all came together and the church was full, but when the community was coming together to share their pain and reach out to these families, only black elected officials were there,” Knight says. “They [white officials] didn’t have an excuse, they just didn’t come.”

Audio: Chris Rock surprised by reaction to Good Hair

Use the link below to listen to Chris Rock discuss the negative reaction to his documentary Good Hair.He discusses the postings on black web sites and message boards. He also wonders out loud why it is okay to display black men in the worst light but why we can't even discuss black women's hair.

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Missing Black Woman Alert: Lisa Spence is missing

Lisa Spence of Miramar Florida has been missing since October 7, 2009. Click the link below to see her picture and learn more:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html

Interracial Marriages of Politicians

Breaking the last racial taboo

There’s nothing more traditional in American politics than the wholesome family portrait: a beaming candidate, beaming spouse, reluctantly beaming teenagers.

But when Bill de Blasio, a candidate for public office in New York City this fall, put his family in his campaign mailings and TV ads, there was nothing routine about it. De Blasio’s wife of 15 years, Chirlane McCray, is black, his children are of mixed race and, even in one of America’s most liberal cities, no one could remember anything like it.

De Blasio, 48, won the crucial Democratic primary in a runoff Sept. 29 and is in line to be the city’s next public advocate, a sort of high-profile ombudsman’s job that’s second in the line of succession to the mayor. The city councilman from liberal Park Slope, Brooklyn, had other things going for him — institutional support, newspaper endorsements — but in the view of his campaign, and of many of the city’s political observers, his interracial relationship was an almost unmitigated positive in a hotly contested election.

With Barack Obama having rewritten the history of race relations in this country, de Blasio may be demolishing one of its last taboos, “For so long in American history, interracial couples went out of their way to keep their relationships out of the public eye that it’s remarkable to see them used in a campaign like this,” said Peggy Pascoe, a historian of interracial marriage at the University of Oregon, who referred to the campaign as “a post-Obama phenomenon.”
That’s a perception McCray said she shared. Obama, she said, “opened a door” and “made it easier for us to go there.”

While de Blasio’s success in New York reflects the increased acceptance of mixed marriages, recent history suggests that the new tolerance may still be dependent on geography and race. A sharp counterpoint was the 2006 Tennessee Senate race which then-Rep. Harold Ford, an African-American, lost narrowly to Republican Bob Corker after the final days of the campaign were consumed by a Republican National Committee ad linking Ford to a scantily clad young blond woman. Ford’s allies charged it was a thinly veiled attempt to tap into old Southern fears about black men and white women.

And it seems to be a current that still remains just below the surface in Tennessee politics: Ford’s subsequent marriage to a white woman was widely viewed as a major barrier to another run.

While the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in 1967, attitudes were relatively slow to change in much of the country. When Dean Rusk, who was secretary of state at the time, learned that his daughter planned to marry a black man that same year, he offered his resignation, which President Lyndon B. Johnson declined. Former Massachusetts Sen. Ed Brooke, an African-American, was married to an Italian woman he’d met as a soldier in World War II, something he later said was sometimes used against him even in that liberal state. And Obama himself faced challenges to his racial authenticity as the child of a mixed marriage.

Gallup surveys indicate that only 48 percent of Americans approved of marriage between blacks and whites as recently as 1994, a number that had risen to 77 percent by 2007.

Other barriers fell long ago: Phil Gramm, for example, a prominent conservative elected to both the House and Senate from Texas, is married to woman of Korean heritage who was born in Hawaii. This year, in deeply conservative South Carolina, state Sen. Nikki Haley, who is of Indian descent, has put her husband, who is white, and their children front and center in her campaign for governor.

“It’s a total nonissue,” said her spokesman, Tim Pearson.

The politics of black and white, though, have always been more sensitive. But de Blasio’s campaign, like Obama’s, reflects a New York political environment in which the politics of race are changing fast.

“It’s the right city — particularly if you’re the white man running for a citywide office — to show that you can be connected to and understand the issues of people of color in the city as a public advocate,” said Maya Wiley, the director of the Center for Social Inclusion in New York.

For de Blasio, his family seemed to serve two political purposes: establishing his credibility with African-American voters, and projecting the image for all voters of a candidate suited to the Obama era.

“It’s not post-racial, and it’s not nonracial — but it’s a different racial environment,” said Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College in Manhattan. The image, he said “is simply more modern, it’s more American, and it’s sort of an apotheosis of New York.”

De Blasio said in an interview that he had little choice about projecting his identity. “This is literally who I am, and these are the most important people in my life, and my life revolves around them. My wife is my partner in everything,” he said.

McCray narrates de Blasio’s first ad, concluding with an arm around him, “Bill’s a great husband and father, and he’ll be a great public advocate. I should know — this big guy’s my husband.” His second television ad, narrated by their 12-year-old son, Dante, closed with an image of de Blasio and his family to underscore a message of inclusion: “I’ll stand up for all New Yorkers,” the candidate intones.

His wife’s prominence wasn’t all a matter of course — a poll done early on for the campaign specifically included a question on interracial marriage. But de Blasio said he always hoped his candidacy could have a larger impact.

“I thought if I could do this the right way and show a multiracial family in a very positive light that that was good for the public discourse and also for candidates,” de Blasio said. “Every time a candidate who’s different ventures out and succeeds, it opens up a lot more space.”

De Blasio and McCray met when a more traditional racial politics was at its height in New York. Then- Mayor David Dinkins’s fragile coalition-building had brought together black and Hispanic voters and enough liberal whites to win a narrow majority, but that coalition ultimately fractured when he ran for reelection against Rudy Giuliani in a contest dominated by violence between blacks and Jews.

The Dinkins movement “wasn’t sustainable, because we didn’t reach deeply enough and ended up with an incomplete coalition,” said de Blasio, who, like his wife, worked for Dinkins. “That was a foundational experience to me — that the only way you make real change in society is to create a full coalition and sustain it.”

His efforts to make his family a kind of symbolic coalition drew some resistance. A black nationalist city councilman, Charles Barron, called his mailing “disgraceful” and “an insult to the black community.”

Rival campaigns, meanwhile, were unsure of what to make of it. A senior aide to one rival said they tested de Blasio’s mailings in a focus group and left hoping that voters would find the appeal “crass.” On the campaign trail, though, the reception was overwhelmingly positive, McCray said in an interview. “People loved the literature. Some people have it hanging in their living rooms,” she said.

De Blasio’s primary victory hardly marked the end of racial politics in New York, long split by tribes and their alliances, if shifting ones. The same day, a Dinkins-style minority coalition carried a Chinese-American, John Liu, to victory in a campaign marked by appeals to racial and ethnic solidarity —such as those from one black Brooklyn council woman, who said: “We stand with this minority because we, as members of a minority, recognize that when we stand together, we represent a majority.”

De Blasio, who is expected to win handily against a token opponent in next month’s general election, declined to offer a simple lesson from his win.

“We’re not in post-racial politics, but we’re in a politics of racial possibility,” de Blasio said. “Our obligation is to keep pushing it, ... to keep trying all the permutations of it.”

ei: Report: Israeli intelligence illegally profiling travelers in South Africa

ei: Report: Israeli intelligence illegally profiling travelers in South Africa: "Sayed Dhansay, The Electronic Intifada, 16 October 2009

Despite our relatively recent struggle against apartheid, I highlighted in a previous article the disturbing level of bilateral trade and cooperation between the South African government and Israel. Bearing our own history in mind, one would expect South Africa to be at the forefront of political efforts to bring Israel in line with international law -- and perhaps even be championing economic isolation of Israel -- as this was a major factor in ending white minority rule in our country.

Unfortunately, however, this appears to not be the case. In the latest example of Israeli entrenchment in South Africa, it has been discovered that Israeli intelligence, or Shin Bet, agents are illegally profiling and detaining South African citizens in Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport."

The Rape of Black Women by White Men: Systemic Racism Again

The Rape of Black Women by White Men: Systemic Racism Again

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Once fully instituted, the two-centuries-plus years of slavery arrangements became much more than a machine for generating wealth. They constituted a well-developed system for the social and sexual control of men and women. During slavery, and later under legal segregation, many African and African American women were sexually coerced and raped by white men, including white sailors, slavemasters, overseers, and employers. Such sexual violence symbolized white male power to everyone in local communities. Under the North American system the children resulting from coerced sexual relations were automatically classified as black, even though they had European ancestry. Indeed, it is estimated today that at least three-quarters of “black” Americans have at least one “white” ancestor. No other U.S. racial group’s physical makeup has been so substantially determined by the sexual coercion and depredations of white men.

stuff white people do: fail to see how race and gender intersect

stuff white people do: fail to see how race and gender intersect

You'll ought to read this one from Macon d. Yes, racialized sexism is alive and well in 2009.

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Tangipahoa Parish Louisiana

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Tangipahoa Parish Louisiana

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Now white men are dating options and not oppressors?

Its sad to see black women change their whole stance on white men when it comes to dating.

Lena Horne - Stormy Weather (1943)

Eating Disorders & African Americans

Eating disorders are illnesses most frequently found in young women, although boys and young men are also victims. We often hear of high school and college girls plus fashion models being afflicted with these disorders, but we don't often hear about the problem in women of color. Click the link below to watch the stories of two black women comabting eating disorders:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

The Jets - Crush on You (1986)

OK Cupid and Racism in the Romantic Sphere

I agree with J. Chang at Racialicious. People may have romantic/marital preferences yet at at the same time want to deny that their decision are based upon racial/ethnic bias. America is incresingly segregated by race and ethnicity. It shows in school statistics, where one lives, plays, worships, and even shops(whole malls are coded as upscale/downscale/black/white/Hispanic).

We all know that Black women are the last picked by nonblack men across the board and that White women are more race-picky when it comes to choosing lifemates.


Before you say anything - it’s actually well done and an interesting read.
The OK Cupid staff processed some raw data to find out exactly how users matched across race and subsequently, how users respond to others across races. The results weren’t particularly shocking as I am living it everyday, but still, to see this chart I get a very real physical reaction. A general malaise. In short, Black women are the least desirable women on the site. And overwhelmingly so. I mean look at that sad pink/orange bar.
In the comment’s section of the post, hundreds of faux scholars (idiots) drolled on about how this data doesn’t mean anything, and maybe it’s just CULTURAL differences, maybe more black women are fat. Maybe more black women use bad grammar/text speak. It’s totally not racist to not want to date one race. It’s just a preference!
I wish there were a sound associated with plainface, blank stare blinking - the sound of eyelashes going up and down. Because that’s what you’d hear from me right now. Toothsuck.
I agree that a preference and inclination to your own race is not racist. But the buck stops there. EXCLUDING races is, in fact, fucked up. It’s not racist in the sense that Blacks riding in the back of the bus was institutionally racist, but I mean, come on.
In the article, they also display users’ answers to the question “Would you prefer to date someone of your own race?” Non-whites answered around the 25% yes, 75% no range while white men and women were around 45% yes. To this one man replies:
“The second question was worded as “Would you strongly prefer to date someone of your own skin color/racial background”. I answered that question “No”, because I’d be fine dating white, middle-eastern, latin-american, native-american, and asian women, but I’d simply not be attracted to african-american women. That is NOT racism, however – I work and socially interact with black women, and don’t have any problem with it. Developing an intimate relationship, however, is a very different thing.”
I would date every race except black bitches. BUT I KNOW BLACK LADIES SO I’M TOTALLY NOT A BIGOT. A lot of people think this way. A fucking lot. On the one hand it’s hard to fault people for being products of their environment - that is, finding attractive the people we are TOLD to find attractive. But on the other, I’m not about to give everyone a pass because “that’s just how things are”. My ass, you can kiss it.
It’s hard for me to really explain how it feels to be a part of the group that is overwhelmingly undesired. To be seen as universally unattractive. Of course there are so many factors that led to how this data came to be, geography, age, culture and so on, but let’s not kid ourselves. The data would tell a similar story no matter how you slice it.
The one group that has it worse that us - Indian men. Where my Indian fellas at? Let’s commiserate.
This is so fucked up. It’s just so depressing, yet I am not completely shocked about the results that were found. Damn.

These findings are a reflection of who we are as Americans. If anyone has something to say, please say it.

Facebook Racism

Facebook Racism

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Missing woman Mia Lynn Nichols found dead.

The body of a missing woman Mia Lynn Nichols of Baltimore has been found almost a year after she dissapeared.

I would like to give my condolences to Mia's family whom I had the chance to meet last year at Mia's vigil and to all of her family and friends. This one hurts a little more than the rest. If her family and friends were any indication Mia was a great person.

Read more on this story and here:http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html

Chinese Idol Controversy

Can a Mixed Race Contestant Become a Chinese Idol?

By SIMON ELEGANT AND CHENGCHENG JIANG

In many ways, Lou Jing is a typical young Shanghainese woman. Pretty and confident, she speaks Mandarin heavily accented with the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect and browses the malls of this huge city for the latest fashions.

But there is one thing that distinguishes this 20-year-old from her peers, something that has made her the unwitting focus of an intense public debate about what exactly it means to be Chinese: the color of her skin. Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met, the theater student rocketed into the public consciousness last month when she took part in an American Idol-esque TV show, "Go! Oriental Angel." (See pictures of modern Shanghai.)

The marketing gurus for the series could hardly have dreamed of a better promotional gimmick when they started to investigate the backgrounds of the dozens of pop star wannabes to root out the competitors' mushy stories of triumph over adversity that are a well-worn staple of the genre. Here was a tale guaranteed to attract eyeballs - a girl of mixed race brought up by a single Chinese mother struggling to gain acceptance in a deeply conservative, some would say racist, society.

The strategy worked - perhaps too well. In August, Lou's appearance on the show not only boosted viewer numbers, but sparked an intense nationwide debate about the essential meaning of being "Chinese." Over the last month on Internet chat rooms, where modern China's sensitive issues are thrashed out by netizens long before they reach the heavily censored mainstream media, Lou's ethnicity has been the subject of a relentless barrage of criticism, some of it crudely racist. They think she should not have been allowed to compete on a Chinese show, or at least not to be selected to represent Shanghai in the national competition. She doesn't have fair skin, which is one of the most important factors for Chinese beauty. What's more, her mother and her biological father were never married. Morally, this kind of behavior shouldn't be publicized, so she shouldn't have been put on TV as a young "idol."

These kinds of posts on the most popular chat rooms have attracted thousands of comments. A few have been supportive of Lou, but the rest range from expressions of fear and ignorance to outright racism. One of the most popular posts about Lou Jing on the KDS Life forum asks in mock-seriousness: "Is it possible that she is Obama's daughter?" Another poster said: "I can't believe she's so shameless that she would go on TV." Most of the critics are agreed on one point - that this black woman cannot be regarded as a "real" Chinese.

As recently as the 1970s, foreigners were largely barred from living in China, let alone marrying a local. China does not easily accept mixed race children as "true-blooded" Chinese: As soon as a child is born, Chinese parents are required to register with the authorities as to which of the 56 government-approved ethnic groups their child belongs; there are no mixed-race categories. For her part, Lou feels she is very much Chinese. "When I meet somebody for the first time, they'd often ask me how I can speak Chinese so well, and I tell them 'Because I'm a Chinese, of course I can speak my mother-tongue well.'" Lou says defiantly. "I don't like to be treated differently."

As China undergoes an astonishing demographic shift and more foreigners make their homes in the Middle Kingdom, Lou is by no means the only one being treated differently.

Recent decades have seen a surge in the number of mixed-race couples. According to the data offered by Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, from 1994 to 2008, each year, there are about 3,000 more mixed race marriages in Shanghai. But as the children of that first generation of mixed-race marriages now come of age, their moves to gain acceptance in society - like Lou's participation in the TV show - have exposed a deep-running vein of xenophobia in Chinese society. Last year, Ding Hui, a young man of African-Chinese ethnicity, caused a stir when he was called up to the national volleyball team, prompting much soul-searching about whether this athlete should be allowed to represent China alongside other 'pure-blooded' Chinese competitors.

Eventually, Ding Hui did go on to play in the national team.

"As China continues to open up, this kind of phenomenon will become ever more prevalent," says David Zweig, a professor of Humanities & Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "This is part of the process of internationalization, but we can only hope that Chinese people, including netizens and the people whose views tend towards extremism, can come to accept that there are many mixed-race people both in China and worldwide."

As for Lou, she found the whole experience more than a little disturbing. She did well in the show, ranking in the top 30 contestants before she was eliminated. Now she's back to her normal life as a college junior - with a little new insight into her home. "Through this competition, it's really scary to find out how the color of my skin can cause such a big controversy."

It's just another controversy involving Black women from racially biased media and society in general. Can Black women be just people instead of making our race an issue?

Racist White Man beat a Black Woman in front of her kid at cracker barrel restaurant

this one fell under the radar but didn't fall to far from RACISTWORLD

ATLANTA - The beating of a black female Army reservist outside a Georgia restaurant is being investigated as a possible hate crime, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Tashawnea Hill was kicked and punched by a white man Sept. 9 as he screamed racial slurs outside a Cracker Barrell in Morrow, about 15 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. Troy D. West, 47, became enraged when Hill told him to be careful after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door, police said.
FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said the Justice Department's civil rights division has initiated a probe into the incident.
Hill, who was taken to the hospital after the incident, said Wednesday that she is still in shock.
"I haven't been able to sleep since then," she said in a telephone interview on the way to the doctor's office. "My major concern is that my daughter is OK. Mommy will heal up. Mommy will get better, but she's the future."
West was charged with battery, disorderly conduct and cruelty to children, and is currently out on on $5,000 bond. A hearing has been set for Sept. 24 in Clayton County.
West, of Poulan, hasn't returned several calls seeking comment, and it wasn't clear if he had an attorney.
West told Morrow police he became upset because Hill spit on him after accusing him of trying to hit her daughter, according to the police report. But several witnesses said they never saw Hill spit on West.
His mother said in a brief phone interview Tuesday that her son would never hurt a mother, especially in front of a child.
"This just doesn't sound right," said Johnny West from her Poulan home.

Black Woman savagely beaten by a white male in front of her child.

Mitrice Richardson is missing!

Authorities are searching for 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared shortly after being released by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Some are now blaming the police for her dissapearance. Learn more by using the link below:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html

Dad Blames Race for White Son's Beating - AOL Black Voices

Dad Blames Race for White Son's Beating - AOL Black Voices: "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Brian Milligan Sr. believes his son's race triggered a brutal attack on the streets of Buffalo, New York.

CNN
Armed with a chunk of concrete, several assailants beat Brian Milligan Jr. on the back of the head on August 18, leaving a 3-inch gash. They kicked him in the face, breaking his jaw.

Bloodied and bruised, the 18-year-old managed to walk five blocks to his grandmother's house before being rushed to the hospital.

Milligan's father believes several African-Americans beat his son, who is white, because he is dating an African-American woman. He wants police to treat the beating as a hate crime. He also has criticized what he calls a deafening silence from the community, police and the national media.

'If this was a black guy who was beaten by a group of white guys for dating a white girl, people would be up in arms,' he said. 'There's a double standard.'"

Glenn Beck's scary negro militants turn out to be really, really scary dancers | Crooks and Liars

Crooks and Liars

It really must take a special level of Teh Stoopids to be Glenn Beck.

You all may remember this video from a couple of weeks ago, back when Beck was just warming up on his favorite subject -- the Threat of Evil Negroes Like Van Jones. (Presumably, the basis of this threat has something to do with black people being Sons of Ham or something like that.)

Well, Matt Osborne at HuffPo did some digging around to determine the nature of the second group of Scary Negroes featured in Beck's rant. And it turns out that they are very, very scary members of a black dance troupe:

Dated October 9th, 2008, here's a YouTube description from Christiv3:

A typical step show on college campuses throughout the country. The young kids from the "Obama Junior Fraternity" are emulating a historically black fraternity that is found on college campuses throughout the nation. Their teacher was probably a member.

Young men in this fraternity DO go on to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers. Not a bad way to achieve these goals..

These kids want to go to college so they can be like the men in this video who are in college and are pursueing their dreams.

Other members of this fraternity include Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Langston Hughes, Count Basie and Michael Jordan.

Cosby, Basie, and Jordan? Commies, all of 'em.

The kids in Beck's video are students at the Urban Community Leadership Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. How did I learn this? Why, from going to the original "Negro army" YouTube video post ...

Suspect Arrested in Milwaukee Killings

Suspect Arrested in Milwaukee Killings
By DINESH RAMDE, AP

MILWAUKEE (Sept. 7) -- A Milwaukee newspaper reported Monday that local police had arrested a suspect in connection with the killings of seven women, including six suspected prostitutes, over a 21-year period that started in 1986.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the suspect, a 49-year-old Milwaukee man, was arrested Saturday and booked on a temporary felony warrant.
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Milwaukee Police Dept. via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / AP
This combination photo shows five of the seven murder victims who have been killed over a 21-year period in Milwaukee.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz would not confirm an arrest Monday, telling The Associated Press only that police were talking with a "person of interest" in connection with a number of cold-case homicides.

The police department scheduled a news conference for Monday evening.

Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee County district attorney John Chisholm announced a new investigation four months ago after DNA evidence linked the women's deaths to one person. Police said then that they never stopped investigating the cases, but scored a major breakthrough when DNA technology suggested the same person killed six of the women and had sex with the seventh.

The victims were six black women between the ages of 19 and 41 and a white 16-year-old runaway. Their bodies were found within a 3-square-mile area of Milwaukee's north side between 1986 and 2007.

The investigation produced breaks in other cases. Detectives resubmitted more than 20 other DNA samples taken from prostitutes in unsolved homicide cases to the state crime laboratory to check for possible links to the killer. That work led to progress in at least 10 unrelated killings, authorities said.

Two people were charged in a pair cases from 1990 and charges were being considered against a third suspect, Chisholm said late last month.

Five other suspects have been identified in other cold cases, four of whom are currently serving life terms or extended terms, Flynn said. Police were continuing to gather more evidence in those cases, he said.

Why Michelle Obama's Hair Matters

Check out this great article by Time Magazine writer, Jenee Desmond Harris. The article is titled "Why Michelle Obama's Hair Matters"It discusses the debate going on in the African American Community between "natural" styles and processed or relaxed styles and which is more "black"

Read the article here:http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Breaking News: An Arrest Is Made For The Rocky Mount Serial Murder

Thanks, Mr. Cook.

Finally, but why so long? The media and society didn't care about the lives of the women until it's too late.

Web Extra: Surviving a Serial Killer

It goes to show how lives of Black women are discounted by society and police in general.

The Rocky Mount Serial Killer Case by Abagond

Thanks, Abagond. I'm glad more people are aware of the serial killer that is killing Black women in Rocky Mount, N.C. This should have been broadcasted in the media a long time ago. No, beacause the victims were poor and Black. This is repetitive around the nation when it comes to Black serial killer victims. It's remininscent of the Henry Louis Wallace serial murder case. May the hearts go out to the victims' families and may they rest in peace.

Siditty: Why Don't We Know About These Serial Killers?

Siditty: Why Don't We Know About These Serial Killers?

Also read my essay, Violence Against Black Women: Four Cases. There's a pattern with regards to serial murders against Black women in America. Thanks, Siditty!

Photo gallery: Ted Kennedy and President Obama | TheLoop21.com

Photo gallery: Ted Kennedy and President Obama | TheLoop21.com

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TheLoop21.com's Devona Walker will appear on Our Common Ground | TheLoop21.com

TheLoop21.com's Devona Walker will appear on Our Common Ground | TheLoop21.com

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Photo gallery: Serial killers prey on Black women | TheLoop21.com

Photo gallery: Serial killers prey on Black women | TheLoop21.com

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Missing Black Woman Alert: Hattie Gertrude Brown is missing

Hattie Gertrude Brown of Halifax Virginia is missing. Learn more details and see her picture by using the link below:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html

Sen. Ted Kennedy, R.I.P.

Famous U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy died today. He's remembered for his social/political activism and champion of the poor and the oppressed. May he rests in peace.

Profiler Says Location Is Key To Solving the Serial Murders in Rocky Mount, N.C.

I hope they crack the case and arrest the evil person ASAP.

Search for Serial Killer After Six Turn Up Dead

Serial Killer on the loose in NC 08-13-09

Lonely country roads in rural Rocky Mount, North Carolina lead to victims of a possible serial killer. CNN's David Mattingly reports. Since 2005 the remains of 5 black women prostitutes have been found murdered on the back roads of this rural area in NC. The state investigators think that the killer is someone who lives in the same area of the women. More than likely is the same race as the women that have been found murdered so far. There are 3 more women who are not prostitutes that are currently missing from the Rocky Mount area.

"Where Has The Mayor Been In All of This?"

Organizers tie hope for solving case to media
By Mike Hixenbaugh Rocky Mount Telegram


A group of community organizers hopes to keep the attention of national media focused on Rocky Mount and a string of local murders that some believe are the work of a serial killer.
At least five Rocky Mount women, all black, have been abducted, killed and abandoned in the woods since 2005, and three other women are missing. Investigators believe the homicides, as well as the murder of a sixth woman yet to be identified, might be linked.

Stephanie Jones, who helped organize the group Murdered or Missing Sisters in the wake of the homicides, said Saturday she believes recent nationwide media coverage of the murders could lead to a break in the case.

Following a brief segment on CNN on Wednesday, the Rocky Mount story appeared on every major U.S. news Web site this week.

“But we have to keep the pressure on,” Jones said. “I know there has been a lot of coverage this week, but it still hasn’t received as much attention as it deserves.”

Rocky Mount Councilman Andre Knight agrees. Knight, also president of the local NAACP, said he fears if nothing new happens with the case during the next few days, the national media will move on. Already this week, the case has been overshadowed by national reports of other missing persons.

Producers with both CNN Headline News’ Nancy Grace and Fox News Live this week had planned in-depth segments on the Rocky Mount story — first reported more than two months ago — before canceling coverage hours before airtime. In both instances, producers replaced the story with news of a Georgia woman who was abducted Tuesday. The missing woman is white.

“There hasn’t been enough attention,” Jones said. “I feel bad for (the Georgia woman). She needs attention, too. But we have six women murdered and three still missing. They need at least the same attention, don’t you think?”

George Cook, who runs the New Jersey-based alternative news organization Let’s Talk Honestly, said he’s been following the Rocky Mount case closely. Cook maintains a nationwide list of missing black women on his Web site because, he said, national media typically has little interest in such cases.

“I hate to crowd this issue with race because I’m sure police are doing everything they can,” Cook said. “But it’s hard not to wonder why there have been so few major news stories about this many murdered women, especially with three other women still missing.”
Authorities announced last month that the FBI was helping investigate the series of murders, which date back to 2005.

The bodies of the five black women, each with a history of drug abuse and suspected prostitution, have been found partially clothed and abandoned in remote locations outside the city during the past few years, prompting the recent national media attention.

Cook said the women’s lifestyles might make the story less appealing for TV news producers, but that shouldn’t take away from the importance of the story.

“A life is a life,” he said.

Jones and her group, which raised money to post photos of the victims on area billboards, want to keep the story in the news with hopes the attention could lead to answers. Jones wants city leaders and law enforcement officials to help in that cause.

“Where has the mayor been in all of this?” Jones said. “Why hasn’t he spoken out. Why hasn’t there been a press conference to let people know these women are missing? Why don’t we have search crews canvassing these fields, and why aren’t other city leaders speaking out to comfort these families or raise awareness of the missing?

“Maybe if those things were going on — if the community rallied together — Nancy Grace would want to do a segment. But it seems like a lot of people just don’t care.”

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411.

NC City on Edge as 9 Women Vanish

NC City on Edge as 9 Women Vanish
By ALYSIA PATTERSON,

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (Aug. 14) -- They spent their nights jumping in and out of strange cars, trolling otherwise empty streets lined with decaying storefronts and boarded-up homes. Many sold sex to support drug habits or children left in the care of worried, hardworking grandmothers.

Even when they were picked up for drugs or prostitution, nights in jail looming, they called home to let their families know they were OK. Then, one by one, the calls stopped.

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides. Three women are still missing.
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Murder Mystery in North Carolina

Since 2005, nine women have gone missing from Rocky Mount, N.C., a fact that has rattled some residents. Six bodies have been found and three women remain missing. All came from poor backgrounds with some involved in drugs and prostitution. Here, a billboard seeks information about the women.

Murdery Mystery in North Carolina
Since 2005, nine women have gone missing from Rocky Mount, N.C., a fact that has rattled some residents. Six bodies have been found and three women remain missing. All came from poor backgrounds with some involved in drugs and prostitution. Here, a billboard seeks information about the women.

Police will not say whether they suspect a serial killer, but people in the community about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh do, and they're impatient with law enforcement efforts to investigate the slayings.

After the latest body — that of 31-year-old Jarneice Hargrove — was found in June behind a burnt-out house that was once a crack den, local law enforcement and state police formed a task force. In July, the FBI got involved.

But friends and family say it didn't happen soon enough.

"We got someone out here that's snatching up females," said Stephanie Jones, a 28-year-old nursing student. "I mean, next person could be your grandmother, it could be me, it could be my mother, it could be my daughter."

Jones, who knew two of the victims, has founded a group that is raising money to publicize the slayings and search for those still missing. She says the cases are being swept under the rug because of the victims' lifestyles.

The lead investigator, Sheriff James Knight, said he cannot comment.

Rumors swirl about the identity of the killer, if there is just one. Some say he is an ex-military man or an ex-police officer because he leaves no evidence. Others believe he is exacting revenge on local women after contracting HIV from a prostitute.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Teague said the killings are probably the work of one person.
"You're talking about a man who didn't finish high school, probably doesn't have a regular job, probably not married or in a stable relationship," he said.

Vivian Lord, chairwoman of the criminal justice department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said that if one killer is responsible, he is likely trying to cleanse the world of prostitutes or deliberately picking victims he knows won't be missed.

If it's the latter, he chose wrong when he killed Ernestine Battle. Her sister, Tynatta James, 64, remembers the February 2008 day the family reported Battle missing. It had been less than 48 hours since they last heard from the 50-year-old, but she always checked in, even from jail.

"We knew something wasn't right because she hadn't called," James said.

A month later, a man putting up a wire fence around his property down a rural stretch of road outside town found a badly decomposed body. The bodies of two other victims were found in the same area in 2007 and 2009.

In May, a DNA test identified the remains as Battle's. She was wearing only her underwear and police told James she was probably strangled, but they couldn't be sure because animals had dragged away a small throat bone that typically breaks when someone is killed that way.
"I'm still frustrated," James said. "I didn't really feel like they were doing all they could. I just feel like they recently started to get involved in the cases after the last lady."

For Alecia Johnson, the killings were a wake-up call. She knew most of the women: They all walked the streets of Rocky Mount together. She said she didn't wait for police to catch a killer. She stopped after the body of the first woman, 29-year-old Melody Wiggins, was found dumped in the woods in 2005.

"I used to walk these streets and jump in and out of cars. But then when that first girl Melody got killed I stopped that because I knew he would kill another," said Johnson, 41. "I hate for that to happen to her, but it probably saved my life. I have five babies."

Counting the names on one hand, she added, "There's probably five or six girls left around here that will jump in and out of cars. He really did kill the whole neighborhood."

Jones' group has raised enough money to post billboards with the faces of the missing and slain women. Now she is raising more to organize search teams for those whose bodies have not been found.

Juray Tucker, the mother of 37-year-old Yolanda Lancaster, missing since February, said she wants to help with fundraising but doesn't get much time now that she has to care for her daughter's children.

"Every day, every minute, every hour, I'm worried," she said. "It's constant on my mind and there ain't nothing I can do, ain't nothing I can do."

Check out other article:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/08/is-a-serial-killer-stalking-rural-roads-of-north-carolina.html

L'Anima e il Volto (II / 2) - Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Ciaccona in sol min.

My interview with local reporter covering possible serial killings of black women in Rocky Mount NC.

George Cook of Let's Talk Honestly Interviews reporter Mike Hixenbaugh of the Rocky Mount Telegram, the reporter covering the case of missing and murdered black women in Rocky Mount for the local paper. They discuss:

*How the police are handling the case. Is race a factor?
*How the locals in Rocky Mount feel.
*The overall lack of news coverage.
*The current status of the case.
*How Nancy Grace and Fox News both bumped stories about the murders, and more.

Use link below to listen to the interview: http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/LTHSpecialReport.html

News and Views: 8-14-2009

News and views from around the world:

The world oldest map found in Spain

Omorosa Finds Her Calling In Religion From the Womanist Musings Blog. Excellent perspective on how Omorosa is being used by the racialized/sexualized corporate media and mainstream society to tell American women not to be like her because of her supposed unladylike behavior.

George Sodini- Racist and Misogynist! Again, a very excellent post from Womanist Musings.

Another commentary on IRs

The bigot from Chicago:


"I find it interesting that the black people are constantly dropping the race card, but interracial dating is very much in vogue these days. I am from the north, Chicago area, and I am of an age that probably tarnishes my views on this subject, but I have always thought that it is a good idea to keep the races as pure as possible. Dating and having children together are two separate areas, I realize, but I do not like the idea of different races even dating. I do not have one prejudiced bone in my body, so I am NOT coming from that direction in the least. My son dated two biracial girls and I could not have loved them more, but I was pleased that their relationships did not lead to marriage."

TO THAT PERSON FROM CHI-TOWN, YOU ARE RACIST PURE AND SIMPLE!!!

AND ANOTHER THING THAT PERSON FROM CHICAGO NEEDS TO CONSIDER IS THAT RACES ARE NOT PURE, NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL. PERHAPS THAT PERSON OPPOSE TO IR BECAUSE IT THREATENS ONE'S SENSE OF RACIAL/ETHNIC HIERARCHY. AS FOR BLACKS PULLING THE RACE CARD, WHAT ABOUT WHITES WHO DO? HOW ABOUT STEVE SAILER, WHO OFTEN DOES IT WHEN HE WRITES HIS COLUMNS AT ISTEVE.COM? OR JARED TAYLOR, WHO CONSTANTLY WRITES ABOUT THE INUDATION OF EURO-AMERICANS THROUGH NONWHITE IMMIGRATION AND INTERMARRIAGE AT AMERICAN RENAISSANCE MAGAZINE? OR DAVID YEAGLEY WHO RAVE AND RANTS ABOUT BLACKS TAKING OVER AMERICAN CULTURE? WHY THEY AREN'T CRITICIZED. I DON'T BUY IT FOR ONE MOMENT THAT "I'M NOT PREJUDICED" CRAP. YOU ARE AND IT'S TIME FOR THE CHICAGO PERSON TO FACE IT.THAT'S ALL THE RANT I HAVE REGARDING THAT IDIOT.STEFANIE

Virginia Dotson beaten by Columbus Police

Isn't any wonder why POC don't trust the police? They abuse their power more often than any other.