Stop hatin’ on South Park!

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-435554

Forgetting Dorothy Height

Video post asserts that after we finish the memorial services for this icon, we must take a hard look at how we honor the contributions of women in American history. http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-434770

Speaking at a “Take Back the Night” rally

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-432584

One of the more humbling experiences I have had in my life was speaking at a “Take Back the Night” rally at Syracuse University in NY. For those who don’t know, this is an international event that calls to end rape and other forms of violence. I spoke about violence in the Congo and how we need to move from the misogynistic messages we see every day. If we take back the misogyny from the day, we won’t have to take back the night. Lastly, I urged those in the audience who are being silent about the abuse they may have experienced to speak up because they could be saving lives. After the rally, we went into the church where students revealed touching stories about abuse, many of which were being shared for the first time.

Who cares about a child rape victim? Tiger Woods is back!

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-429547

Post asserts that we need to spend real time looking at the crises that are happening in our community. We are all upset about this 7-year old rape victim and we should be. But what happens tomorrow? We go right back to gawking over Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock and the White House party crashers who got a reality show. We have to do better. We have to go beyond calling people thugs and doing stories on “no snitch” for a few days and then going back to celebrity gossip. Just because celebrities make more money than us does not mean we have to give them more attention. The media should spend more time analyzing things like how our educational system contributes to this and how we can help parents who are trying to get their kids on the right track. If mainstream media is just going to become tabloid TV, we need to really re-evaluate why we watch and WHAT we watch in the first place.

Governor McDonnell: wrong AND right on Confederate History Month

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-430364#

While I disagree with Gov. McDonnell even creating Confederate History Month (should be “Civil War History Month”), his late decision to acknowledge the importance of slavery during the war period was a step in the right direction. If we are ever going to change this intense, hate-filled political climate that we are in, we need to take politicians at face value when they recogninze a wrong that doesn’t involve breaking the law or violating their oath they took.