The Great American Injustice

Glen Ford, innocent man released from death row after serving more than 30 years.

Does the name Glen Ford evoke any type of heartache or raw emotion? One of the most egregious yet tolerated actions taken by our justice system is that of imprisoning the innocent. Glen Ford was recently released from a Louisiana penitentiary after serving more than 30 years behind bars-most of which were spent on death row.

Ford, now 64, was on death row for the 1983 murder of Isadore Rozeman, a Shreveport jeweler and watchmaker for whom he did occasional yard work. Throughout his imprisonment, Ford always maintained his innocence. Louisiana’s motion to vacate Ford's conviction was based on new information that corroborated his claim that he was not present or involved in the crime. Prosecutors would not detail the new evidence, saying it could jeopardize their future case against the actual murderer.

In an added abominable twist, Ford's original court-appointed lawyer had never tried a murder case, and he was convicted in 1984 by an all-white jury who then went on to recommend a sentence of death. Ford is one of the longest-serving death row inmates in modern American history to be exonerated and released, The Atlantic reports.

Under Louisiana law, those who have served time but are later exonerated are entitled to receive compensation. The law calls for payments of $25,000 per year of wrongful incarceration up to a maximum of $250,000, and another $80,000 for loss of "life opportunities." The heinous implication that any amount of money is satisfactory, but especially a mere $330,000 is evidence enough that our great American justice system feels justified in placing a dollar amount on a life with dreams deferred by its own blood-stained hands.

In an article reported by BET.com, Wrongfully Incarcerated: 11 Cases You Should Know, 11 men of the possible thousands of falsely accused were highlighted including James Bain who spent 35 years in prison for the 1974 rape of a 10-year-old boy after being falsely identified by a relative of the victim. Bain was denied DNA testing multiple times. In 2001 the Innocence Project of Florida came to his assistance. He was finally freed in December 2009.

President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Initiative is a program focused on bringing companies and foundations together to help keep young men of color out of the penal system. This initiative is a start to help shield our young men from the brutal clinches of a system that has never favored people of color. If gifted with richly pigmented skin, guilty until proven innocent beyond a reasonable doubt is the cautionary tale needed to maneuver through our system of American justice.

I do not claim ownership to the above images.

Am I My Brother's Keeper

After years of criticism from the Black community, President Obama has recently set into motion a series of initiatives that will focus on helping to decrease the disproportionate amount of young Black men who are victims to crimes and those who commit them.

The White House amassed data that proves that young men of color regardless of class, are at a greater risk of entering some type of reformatory program, from their youngest years, through college and the early stages of their professional lives.

 

Black and Hispanic young men are six times more likely to be victims of murder than their white counterparts. Sadly they account for almost half of the country's murder victims each year.

President Obama is ready to take action, forming an initiative creating a collaborative effort between foundations and businesses. People whose help the POTUS is seeking are leaders in their perspective industries. Such leaders are scholar Robert Putnam, a Harvard University professor, Thomas Donohue, the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, former basketball star and businessman.

President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing the My Brother's Keeper Task Force to help determine which public and private efforts are working, how the Federal government can support those efforts, and how we can get more people involved in those efforts across the board.

With the recent murders of young, innocent, Black teenage boys such as Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, this initiative will help to shield our youth from laws such as Stand Your Ground-which can be misinterpreted, overused and perverted-lopsidedly distorting the law in favor of whites.

I do not claim ownership to the above images.

Food, Music and a Truck

After more than 5 years divorced from the legendary rapper Nas, Kelis has reinvented herself. She stepped away from music to pursue her love of culinary arts. Kelis is a Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School graduate and has her own cooking special called Saucy and Sweet on The Cooking Channel. At the same time she is making rounds to promote her 6th studio album entitled Food. 

This iTunes project is full of fitting titles such as Jerk Ribs, Cobbler and Biscuits and Gravy. At this year's SXSW the 34-year-old mother has a food truck and performed at the festival as well. On March 13th Kelis rode around the streets of Austin handing out homemade dishes that included jerk ribs, duck confit sliders with a ginger sesame glaze, shredded beef sliders and coleslaw. Fans were encouraged to take food pictures and tag them with #KelisFoodies for social media use, which could lead to potential prizes. Not too much to ask especially since the food was actually free!

Kelis may be known to many for her music and now to some for her food, but I fell in love with her unapologetic mélange style consisting of modern, edgy, and bold. In my younger days she was the inspiration behind a few looks of mine, including the design in my hair below. I’ll forever be a Kelis fan.

Me, circa 2007

 Kelis' Food album cover.

I do not claim ownership to the above images, except one of myself.

Lupita Nyong'o: Beyond the Complexion

This year’s Academy Awards were an unprecedented victory for Blacks in entertainment. From the usually dapper red carpet attendees, to Pharrell’s nomination and performance of his hit song “Happy”. Click here to view his performance. To Steven McQueen’s win for Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave-the first win of a Black director in the Academy’s 86-year history. It seems like 2014 is off to a great start for so many African American’s in entertainment. This year however, belongs to Mexican-Kenyan born Lupita Nyong’o. The 31-year-old Yale Drama School graduate was just 3 weeks away from graduating when she was cast in McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. The movie is based on a real-life memoir of a free man named Solomon Northup who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Lupita Nyongo won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in her role as Patsey, a favored but desperately abused slave in the McQueen directed drama.

In her acceptance speech for the coveted golden Oscar statue, Lupita acknowledged the agony from which her storied catapult to fame was birthed. "It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is due to so much pain in someone else’s,” she said in reference to Patsey, the slave she portrayed in the acclaimed film. Speaking to director Steve McQueen, she noted, “I’m certain that the dead are standing about you and watching and they are grateful and so am I”.

On February 27, at the Essence Black Women In Hollywood luncheon in Beverly Hills, Lupita gave a speech on black beauty. She read from a letter she received from a young fan who stated she was unhappy with herself until she saw the actress on the cover of a magazine. In her speech Lupita talked about the insecurities she had about herself as a teenager. She said, her self-loathing changed when she saw South Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek. Click here to view Lupita’s speech at the luncheon. 

As I listened to Lupita's heartfelt speech, transparently displaying a pain that so many young girls and women in the Black community face, it broke my heart. In our community there is still a stigma associated with being of darker complexion. To be light-skinned, for some is a badge of honor worn with so much pride that I have actually seen a license plate on a car brazenly stating, 'Lghtskn'. 

So many of the travesties that plague our community are engrained in our psyche dating back to slavery. For years we were made to feel ashamed of our curvaceous bodies, full-lips, wide nose, the vast spread of our hips, and sun-kissed skin. Some religious sects even believe that the darker ones’ skin, the closer they are to Satan’s spawn. The idea of what we now deem beautiful was adopted from slave owners and their wives. Lighter-skinned slaves were kept in the house. More often than not, the lighter a slave's skin the more favored they were. Some were used only as “good time girls” when their masters’ felt the animalistic nature to rape or sodomize. Centuries of slavery have drifted into the memories of history only to be memorialized through photographs, books, poetry, and film. Yet we are still encapsulated by the authoritarianism of what society views as beauty. It continues to be an uphill battle to eradicate the insecurities associated with complexion. 

Nigerian 'pop star' Dencia is the epitome of the manipulation of a simple-mind, easily persuaded to believe that lighter skin directly relates to beauty. The skin bleaching cream she uses was mentioned in the fan letter Lupita read at the Essence luncheon. It has transformed her from a brown-skin beauty to the female version of Dave Chappelle's character, Chuck Taylor.

When there are so few positive images of Black women on television, I’m thankful that Lupita is being notarized in such a way that her beauty, grace and elegance are undeniable. The only images that we have other than those like Soledad O’Brien and Tamron Hall, both in broadcasting, are represented through Atlanta Housewives, Being May Jane and Scandal. Excluding Atlanta Housewives for a moment, Mary Jane and Olivia Pope are telematic depictions that ones’ value as a woman is associated only with what lies between the legs. Although these roles are played by beautiful, brown-skinned, intelligent women (on and off-screen) they represent the notion that love, promotion and acceptance are determined in large part by ones sexuality. I mentioned Atlanta Housewives because more so now than ever, the petty bickering has escalated to violence. Once again perpetuating the stereotype that Black women are angry and bitter.

So again, I welcome the rich-hued, Yale graduate whose physical beauty is intertwined with her compassion to help a young, dark-skin girl realize that she can author her own story-climbing the realms of success unhinged from the “far away gatekeepers of beauty”.

I do not claim ownership to the above images.

And So it Began with a Polaroid

Carrie Mae Weems is an American artist whose journey originated when gifted with a camera for her 18^th birthday. Her works are expressive in a way that carefully crafts the psychological and beautifully-complex nature of mankind. She works with text, fabric, audio, and video, but is best known for her work in the field of photography.

In 2005, Weems was awarded the Distinguished Photographer's Award in recognition of her noteworthy contributions to the world of photography. Her artistry has also been recognized by numerous colleges, including Harvard University. Most recently BET honored her with the Visual Arts Award. Although Weems is an award-winning artist whose photographs, films, and videos have been displayed in over 50 exhibitions in the United States and abroad, she eloquently stated, “My works reside out of the spotlight, often in the shadows.” 

 

Her works, some of which are displayed in the famed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, are thought provoking, provocative, interesting, and perhaps even a bit confrontational. What’s art that doesn’t challenge the viewer’s mentality? From her Kitchen Table Series to From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, her 30-year retrospective, "Three Decades of Photography and Video" opened in January 2014 at the Guggenheim in New York City.

I do not claim ownership to the above images.

Financial Giant Among Men

Just a few days ago, BET honored Kenneth Chenault with the Corporate Citizen Award-a man Ebony magazine listed as one of 50 "living pioneers" in the African-American community in 1995. An unfamiliar name coupled with an unfamiliar face, Chenault has accomplishments that need to recognized and celebrated.

In 1997 Kenneth Chenault was named president and chief operating officer of American Express. In 2001 he became one of the first African Americans to hold this position in a Fortune 500 company.

The Harvard Law School graduate joined American Express in 1981. He took a position in the suffering merchandizing department, revitalizing it and leading his team to significant success. In the two years that Chenault ran the merchandising department, he transformed it from waning into the shadows of an abyss to tripling its revenues from $150 million to $500 million. 

He is credited with guiding the company through the economic devastation of the September 11 attacks in New York. The company assisted distressed employees and customers, waived late fees, and raised credit limits. It even chartered buses for stranded travelers. "In a crisis, you can't manage by manual; you have to manage by values and beliefs," Chenault said. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons that Chenault has an 88% approval rating among his employees. He is noted by his American Express personnel as being a compassionate leader, focusing on business management, and personal development.

Thank you BET for honoring Mr. Chenault. He is a giant among men whose ethics will continue to foster the vanishing moral compass in the financial industry. 

I do not claim ownership to the above images.

When God Cancels Your Trip to Miami, Take Pictures

A few weeks ago my husband and I planned a trip to Miami to celebrate my birthday. Our bags were packed, paid time-off from work scheduled, tickets to the Miami Heat and Oklahoma Thunder basketball game waiting for us upon arrival. God had another plan, because our flight was cancelled due to ten inches of snow! Anyone living in Virginia knows that's unheard of, especially since it was the second snowfall in just two weeks.

Whatever the circumstances we always try to make the best of it. So I'm sharing a few pictures we took to help pass the time of being snowed in for three days.

Tortoise shell, Gucci aviator sunglasses. Leopard, Tasha hairclip which doubles as a brooch. MAC Cosmetics Ruby Woo, layered with Covergirl Wetslicks Fruit Spritzers # 546.

Navy floppy hat, BP Brand. Ivory Steve Madden coat with faux leather belt loops. Joe's Jeans ponte knit pant. Steve Madden military-inspired Troopa boot.

Camel Mackage coat with leather and pleated cuff and collar. Burgundy floppy hat, BP Brand. Burgundy Tory Burch sunglasses with gold handle details.

If it were up to my husband and I we would have been enjoying the 80 degree Miami weather-taking a break from the cold in Virginia. Sometimes our plans don't align with God's and we're left wondering about His mysterious ways. Either way, I think we made pretty good use of our time. At least for a few minutes.