Accompanied by former slaves, Cary sailed to a small coastal region in western Africa with the intent of establishing a colony for the formerly enslaved… this territory would later become the nation of Liberia…

Now fast forward to Liberia in 1990, a country of 3 million people embroiled in a horrific and lengthy civil war that would ultimately take over 250,000 lives and trash its national economy…

A five-year old girl by the name of Wayetu (Wah-YAY-2) Moore, along with her father and two sisters flee the Liberian capitol of Monrovia and head north on foot amidst masses of traumatized war victims, flying bullets and the roadside remains of dead families, to stay alive…

Each day, while hiding from warring factions, Wayetu and her sisters join their father on the floor of their hiding quarters to read, listen to him read  and practice their writing…

Unlike those missionaries who colonized the country two centuries before, the Moore family eventually takes the opposite path, from Liberia to the United States…

Once in the states, the family happily reunites with their mother who had left a year earlier to study as a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University Teachers College in NY… but things were far from easy for the father.  He longed for his Liberian home, a home where his education had given him an advanced social and financial status…

The elder Moore now left the cramped college dorm they lived in early each morning to look for work, often unsuccessfully… He took odd jobs, far below his educational level, just to keep food on the table for his growing family…

Even so, he would return home each night and, along with his wife, ensure that Wayetu and her siblings had new words to write in their spiral notebooks…

Well, let’s fast forward again to today where Wayetu, now 27 years old, has started a remarkable family business aimed at keeping children reading and writing around the world…

She is the publisher of One Moore Book, a company that publishes culturally sensitive and educational stories for children of countries with low literacy rates …

One Moore Book, which is celebrating its one year anniversary this month, has hired all four of Wayetu’s siblings as writers or illustrators and has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Economist, MSN and The Houston Chronicle… Wayetu was also invited to speak at Harvard last spring on integrating education and commerce…

The company has successfully published and distributed 7 children’s paperback and digital books, and has formed distribution partnerships with non-profits like Worldreader.org, an organization that sends eReaders to impoverished schools in Kenya and Ghana…

…and Wayetu recently launched a new website that publishes other writers of multicultural children’s literature as well…

You can go to onemoorebook.com to support Wayetu’s family book business and literacy programs…

Her commitment to give back to children, not only in her native land but around the world, is truly inspiring and a direct result of the support and inspiration her father gave her…

I leave you with Wayetu’s words:

“I will never be able to give my father back the twenty years he spent working to educate us, or the home and life in Liberia he lost. I repay his sacrifice by honoring the education he fought for and offering my art to the world, with stories that make the histories and narratives of my people come alive, with words to live by and a legacy I promise I will not disappoint.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Martina died last Thursday at age 44 after a long battle with cancer… And despite her illness, she championed the fight to save the life of her late brother who was ultimately put to death for a crime many of us felt he did not commit…

It’s very sad on a number of levels… and my condolences go out to her family once again…

That said, today, rather than focus on a case where many felt the law failed to step in and prevent an injustice, I’m going to talk about another case out of Georgia where the law did step in…

By now, many of you have likely heard about 103 year-old Vinia Hall who was scheduled to be evicted from her home of 53 years this past week after a court approved notice was delivered to her northwest Atlanta residence…

Fulton County sheriff’s deputies and movers were sent to the home to kick out Ms. Hall and her 83-year-old daughter after her grandson, the owner, was unable to make regular payments… but upon arriving at the tiny home and seeing the elderly woman, the deputies refused to go through with the order…

When news got out of the incident, community leaders, neighbors and elected officials rallied around Ms. Hall, leading Chase Bank to announce it would work out a deal and let her and her daughter stay in their home…

This story has been a source of encouragement to a number of groups who want the banks to declare a halt on foreclosures… especially for the holiday season…

This would be a good thing since banks are projected to repossess some 800,000 homes this year… Even more troubling is the fact that the number of homes in the United States that received first-time default notices during the July to September quarter has increased 14% from the previous quarter…

This increase is a strong sign that banks are now moving more aggressively against borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments…

…and these measures are especially disruptive during the holiday season … But, thankfully, A few banks have already agreed to a moratorium…

What we can do to help the situation is reach out to our elected officials and our own banks to demand they declare a moratorium on foreclosures this holiday season…

…because we certainly don’t need any more grandmas, or anyone else for that matter, out on the streets during Christmas…

So whoever you bank with, if they or their parent institutions are foreclosing on folks during these holidays, tell them they need to stop or you’ll consider banking elsewhere…

Because, just like the Hall incident, sometimes it’s the spirit of the law, or the simple decency of those who enforce it that can far exceed any policy, ruling or legal right to act…

For as they say, “Ultimately, our laws are only as good as those who make and enforce them.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Is life different for women whose skin is darker?

[Now] I offer this far-from-original yet still-provocative question today for a number of reasons…

…but before I even talk about these specific reasons, Sybil, it certainly comes as no surprise that the issue of skin color is still as polarizing and problematic as it was in the 20^th century, the one DuBois labeled as the century determined by “the color line…”

Many of you saw the unfortunate sequel to the famous “Doll Test” done by CNN last year where those beautiful little black girls, when asked to choose which dolls were ‘beautiful and smart’ selected the whitest dolls, and then identified the darkest dolls as ‘ugly and dumb…’

In fact, in the wider study, both white and black children overwhelmingly responded in a similar fashion…

I bring this up for two reasons… first, I want to share with you the results of a study done by researchers at Villanova Univ. called “The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders,” [it] monitored over 12,000 black women imprisoned in North Carolina between 1995 and 2009… 

[And] Accounting for other factors like prior record, conviction type and date, prison conduct, and even weight, they found that women with lighter skin are sentenced to 12% less time behind bars than darker-skinned inmates, and that having light skin reduces the time served by 11%…

[I mean] Can you believe that… the question I opened with is dealt with in an upcoming documentary entitled Dark Girls currently being produced by longtime actor/director Bill Duke and director D. Channsin [CHAN-SIN] Berry…

The film explores deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color, particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within Black America… It promotes discussions on how society treats darker women and the effects of that treatment on identity and self esteem…

Long overdue…because our community has for far too long bought into –or, as author Tom Burrell would say, been “brainwashed” into a tragic “white is right” mentality, and the results of this self-hatred have been devastating…

The two African American directors of Dark Girls’ should be commended [they should be commended] for taking on such a challenging topic… but [you know] they need more than commendation and encouragement…

[Because] For the past two years, Duke, Berry and others close to the project have spent much of their own money to get the documentary made…

If you want to help out, you can go to the site for the movie at officialdarkgirlsmovie.com where you can view the trailer and then click on the box to the right where it says “Donate to the Film”… Duke and Berry are trying to raise $250,000 to complete the film before key film festivals take place, and [of course] every dollar counts…

Tom, you may recall a recent commentary I did regarding the current movement by African Americans to create our own films and stories…Well, here’s a chance!

So please help this important film get made so that maybe the next set of young African American girls they bring on CNN will select the beautiful doll that looks most like them…

I’ll close with these words from a 2007 song from the one and only Will Smith:

“Afro Angel, born against the world
You don’t have to sell your soul and throw away your pride
Afro Angel, sent from heaven above
Never forget that you are loved.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Tom, I’m honestly beginning to think it’s time for an intervention…

Now, perhaps I’m overacting, but after seeing excerpts from her recent interview with Rolling Stone and her steady stream of “girl gone bad” media images, I am definitely starting to question the decision making of 22 year-old pop superstar, Rihanna…

For those of you who don’t know, the successful singer has been on a bright red sadomasochistic terror as of late …

The Rolling Stone interview left some mouths wide open… It was bad enough that Rihanna gave us all way too much information on her sexual fetishes, but the sexting thing where she spoke about receiving pictures of certain parts of the male anatomy was way overboard…

Some of you may say, “Well Stephanie, she is a woman of age so she can do whatever turns her on.”

True, but I’m not questioning Rihanna’s age, I’m more concerned with the age of a big slice of her fan base which is still in middle and high school, where sexting has been a serious issue…

And, the fact that Rihanna spoke about the domestic violence episode with Chris Brown in the same interview where she carelessly discussed how she likes for men to dominate her, tie her up, and spank her is certainly not appropriate for many of her younger fans.

Look guys, I am not trying to act like I’m The Moral Majority, nor am I hatin’ on a talented and successful young sister… I actually believe this situation cuts deeper than any of that…

It’s one thing when celebrities use controversy to maintain their relevance and keep the media machine rolling… I get that… Madonna famously did this for years…

But Rihanna was very publicly victimized in an all too real incident involving abuse and law enforcement… This was no media machine …

But even the media machine has limits.  According to a number of recent articles on the issue and sagging ticket sales at her concerts, folks are suggesting Rihanna’s bad girl routine may have reached such a limit…

…which leads me to believe there may be something else going on…

Now, I’m certainly no Dr. Phil—but, maybe she’s reaching out for help?

The bottom line is, obviously, we don’t know what is going on with Rihanna… We can only speculate…

However, we should speak out when a big star like Rihanna with a large TEENAGE audience carelessly glorifies a dangerous practice like sexting…

And while I wish nothing but the best for Rihanna and pray she’s not crashing and burning before our very eyes, it is our responsibility as parents, teachers and people of age to monitor the impact such behavior is having on our youth…

Of course, this commentary is ultimately about more than Rihanna because there is a bunch of craziness and social pathology out there affecting our children and youth daily… and we certainly can’t keep our children away from all of it…

So we should talk about it with them…Talk about what’s right and wrong, talk about what they think about what they see in the media, how they feel about it, and if they’ve been exposed to similar behavior in their lives…

You might be surprised by their answers… They may even be as troubled by it as you… Perhaps Rihanna’s declining ticket sales are an indicator of this…

And when you’re talking to young people –be they your own children or the youth in your community–also recognize that we adults, not them, are the ones who created these troubling images and the often-sick society they are growing up in…

So use this as one of the many teachable moments along life’s rocky path… Empower our children to speak out and stand up against the many ills that plague our society so hopefully, by the time they come of age, they’ll have less sickness and pathology surrounding them…

I’ll close with these memorable words from late environmentalist Edward Abbey, who certainly had some provocative ideas about the world we live in…

Abbey once famously quipped: “Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

You know, there’s a lot going on in the world these days…So much so that it’s hard to keep up…

Since the beginning of this new year people have been in the streets in cities across the globe protesting, raising their voices for change, and even overthrowing governments …

It’s really pretty incredible stuff… we are certainly living in unique and tumultuous times, and even America is catching the bug …

The turmoil in Wisconsin over the perceived attack on workers’ rights and collective bargaining is only one example…This is an important moment in our history.

It could be that the citizens of the United States might just be waking up from a long stupor and getting back to activism – the important business of standing up for our rights…

And you know this all reminds me of a fascinating story which also connects to Women’s History – which we are celebrating this month…

You see, almost a century ago, in 1920, on a November night in Daytona, Florida, the 45 year-old headmaster of an all-female Negro boarding school was working late in her office when she looked out of her window and saw a group of hooded men in cars and on horseback approaching…

The Ku Klux Klan was agitated that the headmaster, whose students called her Mama Mary, had been organizing colored folk to vote against one of their own candidates in elections the next day…

Well Mary quickly gathered the students, had them turn off all lights in their buildings, while turning on the outside lights to spotlight the approaching mob…

Though many of the girls were fearful, Mary and her students didn’t run or hide but held their position, facing down the Klan …

…and then, at the height of the tension, one of the young girls began singing a Negro spiritual as Mary rallied the others to join in.  Bewildered, the Klan disappeared into the Florida night…

The next day, Mama Mary, who was none other than the great Mary McLeod Bethune, witnessed the successful election of her candidate after having led a procession of hundreds to the polls to vote for the first time…

Sybil, I bring this inspiring piece of history up today not only because March is Women’s History Month, but also because, while history has remembered Mary McLeod Bethune primarily as an educator, she was also a tireless organizer dedicated to voting rights, civil rights and the rights of workers…

In fact—you want to talk about teachers’ rights given the large number of unionized teachers protesting in places like Wisconsin today—Bethune served as president of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, and was, of course, a founder and president of the National Council of Negro Women, an organization dedicated to the rights of women and women workers…

You see, African Americans have played a huge role in the advancement of organized labor and worker’s rights in this country, from A. Phillip Randolph’s founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to the substantial number of black unionized teachers, service and municipal employees today…

Make no mistake about it. An attack on worker’s rights and collective bargaining is an attack on us…

And if you don’t believe me, one of the reasons you see high-paid athletes like Super Bowl champion and Green Bay Packer, Charles Woodson out raising his voice with others in Wisconsin is because that brother, regardless of his millions in salary, understands the connection…

NFL players are organized labor who can collectively bargain with league owners for their rights and wages…

If this right is struck down in one place, it can fall in others and affect him and his wages …

So don’t get it twisted… The plight of the American worker is our plight…

We need to be paying close attention to what is going on in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the country in the politics around organized labor and worker rights…

And let’s celebrate the unique role of women this month, Women’s History Month, in advancing our civil rights, worker rights and human rights…

Fittingly, I’ll leave you with this quote from Mary McLeod Bethune…

She said, “Next to God, we should be indebted to women… first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Tom, I wanna start off this morning by asking a question…

How often, if ever, do we hear about police officers shooting into the vehicles of unarmed, young white males…?

Now, I’m gonna ask this question one more time just to make sure you guys heard me right… How often do we hear about police officers shooting into the vehicles of unarmed, young white males?

…that’s what I thought ….zilch, zero, nada, never

I ask this question today, because yet another African American male, in the prime of his life, had it taken away by a white police officer…

The autopsy results were released this past week in the case of unarmed Pace University student and football player, Danroy Henry Jr. – or, DJ, as he was called – who was shot in October when Pleasantville, NY police officer, Aaron Hess, fired into his vehicle from the hood of the car…

Hess fired multiple rounds, killing DJ and wounding his best friend, also a college football player, who was in town for the game…

Their families had dinner together that evening before the two students went to a local bar and grill to hang out with some friends… When they left, DJ pulled his car into a fire lane waiting for a couple friends to come out…until he was told by an officer to move…

He complied, and then chaos broke out, ending with the officer on the hood of the car firing at DJ and his friend; Both men were then handcuffed while bleeding and denied access to urgent medical care…

Police claim DJ plowed into officers at a high speed and Hess fired to save his own life…

You know, Tom, I could spend a whole bunch of time focusing on details surrounding this horrible shooting…

… Like the fact that the lawyer for the family is alleging spoliation of evidence, which is just a fancy way of saying tampering or destroying  the evidence;

… the fact that the victim had no reason whatsoever to plow into the police and little room, by all accounts, to accelerate to a high speed;

… the fact that numerous witnesses, both black and white, contradict the official police version; or the fact that the victim was handcuffed and placed face down while dying and denied potentially life-saving medical attention…

As a lawyer pledged to uphold the Constitution, I respect our country’s legal process and the millions of officers who enforce it.

But while some may say justice is blind, this lawyer far too often sees how our communities of color are treated differently, and sometimes, with deadly results…

And to be honest, I’m sick and tired of it… Every week I come on this show and attempt, for a few minutes, to offer you, something valuable, something informational or empowering…

And although I try hard, I certainly don’t have all of the answers… When it comes to tragedies like this, I don’t have some kind of magic solution to make the problem go away…

Yes, I can tell you, we should increase citizen oversight of policing; Or, better train law enforcement; we can prepare our young men to better deal with the police in these situations…

All good ideas that we can support…But Tom, it doesn’t change the fact that once again—like Oscar Grant and countless others—another young Black man is needlessly dead…and he’s not coming back…

Some mother has yet again lost her baby and she’ll never see him again…

And as a community, I just pray that we haven’t grown numb to these repeated assaults on our young men.  That we realize that we have to value Black lives more and more importantly insist that the police do so as well.

I leave you with a telltale quote from James Baldwin: “If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges… One goes to the unprotected—those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most—and listens to their testimony.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Tom, today I want to talk about something that, unfortunately, shows that the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same…

As many of you know, along with running a nonprofit organization— I teach at Harvard Law School…

I bring this up because, on occasion, I’ve heard a ‘fairy tale’ floating around that black folks like me—who attend or teach at Ivy League institutions—are somehow shielded from the racism that black people so often face…

Well the arrest of Professor Skip Gates certainly shows us that that is not so.  Racism crawls around the Ivy League just like poison ivy…

Another case in point: You may have heard about the incident that took place two weekends ago at a Boston area night club called the Cure Lounge where black alumni from Harvard and Yale were kicked out of THEIR OWN PRIVATE PARTY because the owner feared the party was attracting quote-unquote “local gang-bangers…”

This, despite the fact that the event was a private party for black alumni in town for the Harvard-Yale football game AND there was a guest list…

The club shut the party down at 10:45pm – (Now the party didn’t even start until 10), at first telling the folks that it was due to “technical difficulties” and then later claiming that the bouncers recognized some people in line as ‘local gang-bangers’

Absurd!  Ridiculous!  Let’s assume that the bouncers saw a so-called gang-banger in line: what options did the club have?

Hmmm…. (1) the bouncers could have refused to let them in.  After-all there was guest-list; it was a private party; and only people on this list were being let in.  But they didn’t do that.  (2) the club could have called the police.  But records show that the police were never called.  Or, (3) the bouncers could have told the so-called gang-bangers to get out of line.  But they didn’t do that either.

Instead, they saw some black folk – probably global investment analysts at Goldman Sacks, and assumed they were gang-bangers, and shut the ENTIRE party down :45 min after it started.

Incredible!

I bet the owners were hyped when they learned that a group Harvard Business School students had rented their club for a Harvard/Yale alumni party, then when they saw all these black folks show up they were like what in the heck is up…

Fortunately, the Boston City Council, Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol Control, and others are investigating the incident…

Here’s my point: it doesn’t matter how much money we make, how successful we think we are, or where we happen to work or go to school, because as Black people in this country, we are never exempt from the crime of Breathing While Black…

I know that some people have tried to convince themselves that they are exempt, but life has a way of smackin’ you right upside your head when it gets too big…

Racism does not discriminate in the way it discriminates; Once a person is profiled as ‘a threat,’ anything can happen, you can be out at a club, or brutalized by police in your own home …

And—Let me just say — longggg before I was at Harvard, guess what…? I was Black

I didn’t stop being Black once I got here, and there are plenty of reminders for folks here and at similar places of the color of our skin…

So, Black people who think that their positions – no matter how prestigious- sounding – make them quote-unquote ‘better than’ others in our community or entitle them to some kind of ‘racism pass’ are just as warped as those who automatically hate on the black folks who hold those positions…

Both attitudes make it harder for us to make progress as a community …and there is no need for us to complain about other communities hatin’ on us if we are so busy hatin’ on ourselves…

So let’s just embrace the diversity within our community – and recognize that none of us—not one of us– is immune from racism.  It affects all of us…

Let me pull from Malcolm to take us home:

“Before there was any such thing as a Republican or a Democrat, we were black…

Before there was any such thing as a Mason or an Elk, we were black…

Before there was any such thing as a Jew or a Christian, we were black…

In fact, before there was any such place as America, we were black…

And after America has long passed from the scene, there will still be black people.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Tom, the midterm elections are over and –at least for this go-round—the people have spoken…

And the people appear to like tea…all kinds of tea…decaf, chamomile, peppermint….any candidate with tea in his or her name did pretty well.

Now, last week –before the midterms— I talked about how the democratic party’s sudden interest in black folk felt like an every two year booty call.

It seems like the progressive base, in general, felt this way, as well.  Too little…too late.

But, in the aftermath of the elections, I want to talk about what citizens can do beyond the ballot to ensure the health and vitality of our democracy…

After all, elections only come around every few years, so it would be foolish for us, as concerned citizens, to put all of our eggs in the electoral basket when there are plenty of other things we can do to contribute to our democracy…

We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work NOW.  We need to make our community relevant NOW.  And, most important, we need to listen to Lyfe Jennings, and, two years from now, “don’t be a booty call.”

Sybil, you’ve heard me talk about civic engagement… and as you know, I run a nonprofit organization known as the Jamestown Project that focuses on engaging people in the life of our democracy.  Our mission is to quote-unquote “make democracy real…”

And while we certainly promote the importance of the vote in representing the voice of everyday citizens, we emphasize that the vote is just one of many powerful instruments for influencing the society around us for the better…

A civically engaged person is one who understands that the vote is not the end of his or her democratic commitment but actually the beginning…

Civic engagement comes in many forms, including voting, volunteering, becoming involved in a community based group or local PTA, organizing or speaking out on issues affecting your neighborhood, starting an online vehicle that brings attention to a cause, or initiating a dialogue to bring diverse groups together…

To give a more specific example, there is a woman in Yazoo City, Mississippi some of you may have heard of named Leola Dillard who epitomizes the ideal of civic participation…

The former schoolteacher began mentoring underprivileged children a number of years back to expose them to the world around them, and give them experiences they otherwise might not get…

But she didn’t stop there… In the late 1990s, Dillard began holding a Free Flea Market for Needy Families in her yard where area families could access much needed items at no cost.

The Flea Market was a big success and has now run 12 years straight attracting huge crowds, national attention, and many service awards…

Indeed, Dillard was recently honored by the state of Mississippi with a 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award…

Oh, and one more thing, Tom… the still active, civically engaged Dillard happens to be 98 years old…

That’s right. She was born in 1912, and she is still independent, living alone, cooking for herself, traveling, and staying active…

Who knows, Tom, she might even come on the cruise!

You see, it has to be more than just about whether the Democrats or Republicans are controlling the Congress or the presidency this time around… Our democracy is more important than the latest political scandal, trend or movement…

We should never let an election prevent us from empowering ourselves to directly bring about the change we seek…

Leola Dillard didn’t wait for a politician to come along before she began serving those in need … She saw a need and she moved to meet it… period.

That’s a powerful lesson to learn from someone who has lived through countless elections and political administrations…

And it’s a lesson beautifully reflected in this quote:

“The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

Tom, I’m going to start today by recounting a tragic story that many in our community are now familiar with, it’s one that Rev. Al has recently spotlighted as well…

It was a year ago this month, on a warm night in California, a 24-year-old graduate student and alum of Cal State Fullerton University entered a Malibu restaurant alone for dinner…

Attractive, popular and smart, this young African American woman was a 4.0 student with a loving family and a promising future…

However, Sybil, on this particular night Mitrice Richardson was having problems… Her behavior was erratic, and her speech was bizarre and unintelligible, likely the result of a bipolar episode she was experiencing…

When she couldn’t pay her $89 bill –although it was later discovered she had a bank card with plenty of money in her car– the restaurant called the police and Mitrice was arrested, and her car impounded…

While Mitrice was en route to the police station, her mother, Latice Sutton, called the Malibu-Lost Hills Sherriff’s Dept. several times to explain that her daughter’s behavior was uncharacteristic and that she was fearful about her mental state and safety…

The concerned mom asked the police to call her as soon as her daughter arrived at the station and to not release her on her own in an unfamiliar place…

The phone call never came. Mitrice was released at 12:38 am by the police in the dark in an unfamiliar setting without her ID, her purse, her phone or her car…nothing

She vanished soon after and was never heard from again. Sadly, her remains were discovered less than a month ago in a remote area of Malibu Canyon just a few miles away from the station…

The police have said it’s hard to determine whether it was a homicide or not, because of the age of the remains… Very, very sad…

You see, this tragic case is important to me for a couple reasons…

First, is the release of Mitrice in an obviously vulnerable mental state and in the middle of the night with no money or cell phone.

Second, Mitrice’s case is an exception in that it actually received some national press over time…

As we know all too well, let a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman go missing, and the national media treats it like the Queen of England went missing.

We hear more about Paris Hilton’s Chihuahua dog allegedly going missing than we do about black folk.  And that’s a dog-gone shame.

Especially since so many of these turn out to be hoaxes: Remember the “run-a-way bride.”  But when black folk legitimately go missing, we hear not a mumbling word.

So, I’m going to do my part to right the scale today: Let’s talk about 13 year old Aja Stroud from Decatur, GA—who is in need of our help and attention…

You see, Aja, who like the late Mitrice, suffers from bipolar disorder, she went to school on May 18th but no one has seen her since…

Dekalb County authorities have classified it as a runaway case, but her mother, says that’s not appropriate given her daughter’s psychological disorder and the fact she had no money or medication on her at the time she vanished…

…okay so… Here’s what we can do…

Regarding the late Mitrice, we can pray for her family and join with Rev. Al and others who are calling for a federal investigation into the circumstances surrounding her release and subsequent death…

Regarding the currently missing Aja Stroud, we can pressure Dekalb  County Police in GA to prioritize her case given the length of her disappearance, her mental health and the fact she had no money or medication with her…

You can call Dekalb County Police’s Special Victims Unit at 770-724-7710…

And this week’s ending quote comes from yours truly, me:  “ HYPERLINK “http://thinkexist.com/quotation/despair-is-most-often-the-offspring-of-ill/411141.html” Cherish the memory and energy of those loved ones no longer with us and let’s use it as fuel to cherish those who are.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie, in Love and Hope.

Well guys, hold on to your seats because we are coming up on what promises to be a very bumpy ride … Stuff is about to hit the fan…

Of course, as we all know by now, that longtime civil rights pioneer, Glen Beck, is holding a march in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial labeled Restoring Hope, on this Saturday August 28, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s 1963 March on Washington…

And Glen Beck speaking at the March on Washington site is like Hitler keynoting at the Anti-defamation league;
Or, David Duke joining the NAACP;

Or, Osama Bin Laden going to Sunday Mass;

You get the point.  It’s ridiculous!!!

Maybe not quite as ridiculous as Jay taking off all his clothes in that Booty meat video . . . but pretty darn ridiculous!!

Now, putting aside the brazen disrespect to King’s legacy shown by Beck—I’m going to tell you what upsets me even more, Sybil…

As a community, it seems like we’re always caught reacting to problems and devastating events rather than preparing and organizing for the challenges that will surely come…

Let me explain. Even though I don’t know all of the details of Beck’s successful permit bid for his upcoming march, you guys likely heard the incomparable Dick Gregory come out and justifiably blame black folks for not thinking ahead enough to secure the date at the Lincoln Memorial before Beck could get it…

Maybe we were blindsided and just didn’t expect anyone to pull something like this… But whatever the case, one thing is clear…

An organized community, or a community with strong organizations, will avoid these kind of surprises because someone is always standing watch…

Effective organizations are seldom caught off guard… We need look no further than BP and the Gulf spill to see an example of a fractured organization where folks were inept, asleep, disorganized and even criminal in their negligence…

Effective organizations have to communicate with each other as well… and I’m certainly not blaming any one group for the permit thing, but what I am saying is, if folks were well organized and communicating, it’s much less likely this would have happened…

If we’ve learned anything as a community from the lesson of Katrina, it’s that we can not depend solely on government agencies to take care of us or assist us in our times of dire need… even though we pay taxes for them to do so…

No, we don’t need to let them off the hook for what we deserve as citizens, but we need our own back up plans or safety nets in place in case government agencies don’t do what they’re supposed to…

An example: Many independent and nonprofit support groups were created in the aftermath of Katrina and the recent oil spill… and that’s a good thing…

Well what if we didn’t wait for these massive tragedies to happen before we thought of creating such support groups or “first-responder” groups…?

And, more importantly, since we know that future tragedies and communal slaps-in-the-face will come given the tumult in today’s world, unpredictable weather patterns, and opportunists like Glenn Beck, shouldn’t we be proactive and prepare now…?

I don’t know, Tom, maybe I’m just talking crazy… I certainly don’t have all the answers and would never claim to…

But I do feel the organizations that claim to lead us and stand watch need to be proactive and on the same page when it comes to protecting and representing our community…

So I am pleased that you, Tom, Rev. Al and the National Action Network will be marching that same day at the historic Dunbar High School in DC…

All of our groups must be prepared not only to respond to –but also to prevent– the slights and atrocities before they occur…

I mean come on, if the FCC were on its job, would Jay ever have been able to flash his naked behind all over the internet?

Just kidding, Jay.  But seriously, if nothing else, we should all think about how we can bring this about by petitioning, joining and supporting our existing organizations to make this happen, OR starting our own organizations and support groups to do so…

Because right now, we’re getting caught off guard much too often, reacting to the last atrocity as opposed to anticipating and preparing  for the next one…

I’ll leave you with this:
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/despair-is-most-often-the-offspring-of-ill/411141.html

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie, in Love and Hope.