Toronto Star Article: Are Black Parents To Blame For Young Black Males Dying Of Gun Violence In Toronto?

Ephraim Brown: Attack roots of gang crime

Published On Wed Dec 15 2010 

 

There is no way to return 11-year-old Ephraim Brown to the arms of his grieving mother. But there might have been some small solace for his family had those who shot the boy through the neck had been jailed for murder. Instead, the two men accused of the child’s killing were found not guilty earlier this week.

It’s not clear if anyone will ever be brought to justice for this crime, which illustrates the depth of the crisis confronting many in the community. Violent crime is taking a devastating toll, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable. Under these circumstances — even at a time of cost-cutting — it is vital that Toronto preserve and expand preventive programs designed to keep young people from resorting to crime.

Violence and fear are intimidating entire neighborhoods. It is telling that scarcely any witnesses to Ephraim’s death came forward to talk to police, even though an innocent child had been shot down while attending a birthday party. Rather than being shocked into putting down their guns, a recent spate of shootings shows that — if anything — the street gangs have become more brazen since Ephraim died three years ago.

Young black males have been the victims in an estimated 26 of 29 gun deaths in Toronto this year. Several were teenagers. And most of those who appear to be doing the shooting are also young black males. Church leaders and other pillars in the black community have been outspoken in urging an end to this self-destructive gunplay. But they need help. Police are doing their best to crack down on gangs and, under the leadership of Chief Bill Blair, have put special emphasis on community policing and reaching out to local youth.

Municipal and volunteer programs have a place, too, by giving young people in troubled neighbourhoods access to recreation, job training, mentoring and other constructive services. These are a long-term, preventive social investment and are well worth continuing. In particular, Mayor Rob Ford should strive to preserve the $13 million Partnership Opportunities Legacy program, assisting Toronto’s 13 most underserviced areas.

Nothing can bring Ephraim Brown back. But enhanced investment in strategies and programs designed to stem the spread of gang life might just keep other innocent children from sharing his fate.

Philly.com Article: Why Are Young Black Boys Not Reaching Their Potential & Who Is Responsible?

Why our black boys fail

By CHARLES A. WILLIAMS III

SO, NOW that Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (aka Lil Wayne) is out of prison, he can get back to playing the critical role of universal mentor and role model to black boys all across America.After all, with a rap sheet long enough to pave the road to hell, it makes perfect sense that he’d hold such a key position, one that lets “Weezy,” as he’s affectionately known, shape the beliefs, attitudes and expectations of a group of young people who are currently in a state of crisis.

Documentaries like the recent “Beyond the Bricks” chronicle the struggles of black boys dropping out of high school, a report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy says black males are three times more likely to live in poverty, the Pew Center highlights the fact that one in nine black males from 20 to 34 is behind bars (more than those who are gainfully employed).

And don’t forget the ubiquitous issue of violence. Since 2000, the U.S. has had a 39 percent increase in the number of black boys killed between the ages of 14 and 17, according to a Northeastern University study.

Considering all the recent unfortunate trends plaguing the lives of so many of our black boys, one question begs to be asked: What is responsible for such awful trends?

Well, it is my humble opinion that one of the culprits is the constant barrage of negative male images and stereotypes presented to our black boys, much of which is, unfortunately, supported by the black community itself.

At almost every turn, young black males are inundated with stories and images of athletic prowess, criminal deviance or the drug-dealer-turned-rapper-turned-millionaire (real or imagined).

And while I know this represents the vestiges of an era where some whites sought to subjugate the newly “freed” slaves through the emerging power of the media (think blackface and minstrel shows), who can deny the fact that black folks today are all too willing to embrace such negative stereotypes?

And, while publicly complaining, black folks promote and have helped to transform the business of black male stereotyping into a worldwide, multibillion-dollar enterprise – Black Entertainment Television.

So let’s reflect on the consequences of such ill-gotten lucre. In 2001, the year that BET founder Bob Johnson sold his black-owned and -operated cable channel for $3.3 billion to Viacom, black males were dropping out of high school at a rate almost twice that of white males, their fourth-grade reading scores were lower than that of any other group, and we saw an increase in attempted suicides among black teens.

I hope Mr. Johnson reflected on the tragic reality that he helped shape, while sipping champagne bought and paid for by the tens of thousands of dead and mutilated bodies of black boys rotting away in forgotten graves. After all, BET told them repeatedly to “hustle” and be “gangsta,” and this would lead to money, power and respect.

And while I’m apoplectic at this irresponsible and ethically abhorrent behavior, BET doesn’t even bear the full blame.

When a few fortunate black boys muster the courage to exist outside of the stereotypes, they often face constant and unending ridicule from those in their own community.

This is a phenomenon I’m all too familiar with. One more than one occasion, I’ve been chastised for not being “black enough” or for “acting white.”

Let me get this straight. If I score 18 points in the second quarter or get shot six times, there’s no question of my authenticity? But it’s these culturally reinforced stereotypes that are literally killing our black boys.

But if we’re to turn the tide on the many crises facing our black boys, we’ll have to realize that the black community needs to promote more diverse and positive images of successful black men. We have to show them that they can and should seek to become bankers, lawyers, physicians, journalists, educators, entrepreneurs, engineers and – above all – good men.

Recently, I visited the website theblackyouthproject.com, whose mission is the empowerment and development of black youth. The site’s founder is Cathy J. Cohen, a professor of political science and deputy provost of graduate education at the University of Chicago.

On the site, there was an article discussing the lunacy of celebrating the criminal shenanigans of rappers in which the author suggested that such behavior is now a rite of passage, not just merely a response to racial oppression. He writes that, if “we continue to praise celebrity incarceration, many young people will trivialize going to jail.”

Black boys will be who tell them to be. The real question is, who is that?

Charles A. Williams III is an assistant clinical professor and director of the Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence at Drexel University. Watch him Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. on Fox 29.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20101215_Why_our_black_boys_fail.html#ixzz18FRPjvNY
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London Free Press Article: Who Is To Blame For The Lack Of Success Of Male Students In School?

Comment

London boys lack male role models

By LEN LESSER, Special to QMI Agency

Last Updated: November 27, 2010 12:00am

Do you have a son who is unmotivated and not achieving his potential? You are not alone. There is a growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men.

The schools have become female-oriented. Sometimes the only male authority figure in a school is the custodian. For single young boys being raised by a mom, it is sure hard to find a positive male role model.

I checked with Mike Serida, manager of human resources at the Thames Valley District school board. Here are the numbers. Elementary female teachers 2,574; male 596. Do the math and we have a four-to-one staffing ratio of women over men. Among principals, there are 147 women versus 74 men.

Secondary staffing has 1,028 female teachers versus 825 males, but a nearly even split of 40 male administrators to 37 female.

Lori Gribbon, manager of admissions and liaison services at the University of Western Ontario, sent along the numbers for UWO’s full-time equivalent enrolment for 2009-10. Check out the stats: 11,288 females vs. 9,236 males attending.

We have a pretty even split for faculties of business, law, science and social sciences.

But the numbers of students in the faculty of education showed we had 499 females and only 227 males. Sadly, too few of our young men are attending Althouse College of education in London.

We have fewer males going into teacher training every year, proportionally and in raw numbers, for both elementary and secondary panels. The problem of attracting qualified men to the teaching field is not unique to the Thames Valley board.

Many of our young men are adrift, merely floating wherever the currents in the sea of life takes them.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why. Boys are different than their sisters and often can’t sit still for hours on end in a classroom setting. They are wired to move.

The stats show that one in three young boys from affluent homes are designated ADHD. In my many years of counselling for the Thames Valley board, I recommended only two young men for medication.

Your son is in need of a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate to him and taught by teachers who know how to teach male students. Boys need to have interaction with other males. Positive role models (fathers) are needed to interact with their sons. Boy Scouts, the YMCA and athletic programs allows your son to be competitive and interact with other males.

Girls will do their homework to please their teacher. If a boy thinks school is boring or stupid, he’s more likely to ignore his studies. Girls on the whole seem to get better grades in every subject.

Many male teens have become fixated on computer games and television, playing Xbox for six hours a day. If they are not motivated, then sitting in front of screen can take up most of their day.

The more time that your son spends on video games, the less likely he will do well in school, whether he is in elementary, secondary or university. Social interaction with friends and family suffers in direct proportion to the amount of time spent in front of a computer playing video games.

There are solutions to your son’s video game “addiction.” The computer should be in the family room and accessible to all. Parents have the right to check on what the children are accessing on the Internet. Time spent in front of the computer screen has to be monitored with appropriate time limits, Make sure your son knows where his priorities should be. Family comes first, school work second, friends third and video games last.

Parents need to try to encourage the growth of healthy, happy, independent, motivated children who are able to stand on their own. Scary thought: The average age of a young man who leaves his parent’s home in Canada is now 27.

First semester-one secondary school mid-term report cards were given out Monday. Did your son do well?

Stamford Advocate Article: More Male Teachers Of Colour Need To Be Hired To Help Self Esteem Of Black, Asian, & Latino Boys.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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Few minority teachers in Stamford’s schools

Maggie Gordon, Staff Writer

Published: 03:06 p.m., Tuesday, December 14, 2010

 

Other stories

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(Page 1 of 3)

This article originally appeared in the Sunday print edition of the Stamford Advocate. To subscribe, click here.

ON THE BLOG: Thoughts on teacher’s paychecks

STAMFORD — City school officials are aggressively looking to recruit minority teachers to overcome a wide disparity between the district’s student population and its overwhelmingly white teacher workforce.

While 62 percent of Stamford Public School students are minorities, only 11 percent of the city’s teachers identify themselves as such, according to data provided by the Stamford Public Schools.

Current figures show that the district employs 1,412 teachers: 18 are Asian; 84 are black; 58 are Hispanic; 1,090 are white; and the race of 162 teachers is unknown.

“Some people may be biracial or affiliate themselves otherwise, but I would say that 77 percent white is accurate,” said Tom Danehy, director of human capital development for the district.

The result is a teaching population that does not reflect the demographics of the student body: 38 percent of students are white, yet the percentage of white teachers is twice as high.

“I think that’s really a pretty significant disparity,” said Renee White, a professor of sociology and black studies at Fairfield University.

Superintendent of Schools Joshua Starr acknowledged the low percentage of minority teachers in Stamford, and said the district is working to attract a more diverse workforce.

“I do think it’s important that we try to attract people to work here of all different stripes, and all different types of people,” Starr said during a phone interview Wednesday.

“The idea was by making (workforce diversity data) public, it’s a way of publicly reporting our commitment to it. We have gone to recruitment fairs and tried to diversify the workforce as much as we can. …It’s a struggle because of the pool out there,” he said.

The human capital development team travels to minority recruitment fairs and universities around the state to meet prospective teachers. Staff has also visited traditionally black colleges down South and recruited in New York City, where there are higher minority percentages, according to Susan Paley, assistant director of human capital development.

“Frankly, very talented minority students have a lot more options today, and they’re very highly recruited. They would not have any difficulty finding a successful, high-paying corporate job,” Paley said. “It’s not a pleasant fact, but we’re in competition with people in other industries who would like to fill up their minority ranks.”

Competing against more lucrative industries is not the only hurdle involved in recruiting new teachers, according to Paley.

“One of the big issues in Stamford is the cost of residence. Housing is just so much higher. Even though our pay scale is higher, it’s not reflective, truly, of the cost of living in the Stamford area,” she said.

During the 2009-10 school year, the average Stamford city teacher’s salary was $78,254, which is 17 percent higher than the statewide average of $66,790, according to data from the State Department of Education.

High cost of living has an effect on both teacher recruitment and retention, according to Danehy.

Competition with other states and Connecticut’s high standards for teacher certification also poses challenges for Stamford’s recruiting team, Starr said.

“Another factor in this state, and in Stamford, is certification reciprocity. If I could get teachers from New York, I would be able to diversify much more, but we don’t have certification reciprocity,” Starr said. “If I could get teachers from the Bronx, which is a half an hour away. I would get a lot more teachers of color in the system, but Connecticut is very conservative in its approach.”

Having a greater percentage of minority students than minority teachers is “pretty much a statewide problem,” Danehy said.

Across Connecticut, 7.9 percent of public school faculty are minorities, according to data from the state. The percentage of Connecticut students minorities is also lower than in Stamford; an average of 36.2 percent of public school students across the Nutmeg State are minorities, the state reports.

“Nationally, the rate is about 17 percent, and you find a much higher concentration of teachers of color are in urban areas,” Starr said. “You’d find a greater rate in New York (City), and I imagine you might find a greater rate in Bridgeport.”

According to data from the state, 26.4 percent of Bridgeport School District staff is made up of minorities, along with 91.4 percent of the student population.

“I don’t know how you can judge what’s low or what’s high — to make value judgments about it’s too few or too many,” Starr said. “If in other districts 50 percent of the teaching population (were minorities) and we were at 10 percent, then I would say, `Oh yeah. It’s too low.’ So I would be very hesitant to make some kind of value judgment.”

But having a teaching population that does not reflect the cultural and racial makeup of the student body can come with problems, according to White, whose areas of research include race theory and social inequity.

“Students do notice who teaches them and no matter how wonderful an educator can be from a different background, there’s something different in the message when you’re taught, and taught well, by a teacher who reflects your experience,” White said. “If students don’t have access to that anywhere in their lives, then I think it can be some kind of unintended negative effect in terms of where they think their place is in an educated world.”

In Stamford, the majority of black boys will not have a black male teacher until middle or high school — if ever. According to data provided by the district, there are only four black male teachers spread throughout the district’s 12 elementary schools. There are six black male teachers at the middle-school level, and 12 at the high school level. The district employs four Hispanic male teachers at both the elementary and middle school levels, and five at the high school level.

While eight of the district’s elementary schools employ one male black or Hispanic teacher, Davenport, Hart, Newfield and Roxbury elementary schools do not employ any teachers who identify themselves as such, according to data from the district.

“They should see … a professional male figure in the front of the class that looks like them,” said Stamford NAACP President Jack Bryant.

“I think it will open up a lot of eyes to educating children, and learning will become greater if they see someone in the front of the classroom that they can relate to,” said Bryant, who recently announced an initiative to begin a new Stamford charter school, which would cater to black male students in pre-kindergarten through third grade.

“You have a lot of single-parent families now, and most of those families are being raised by the mother alone. It’s sad to say. So these kids don’t have a role model, a black male role model, to look up to at home, and not even to look up to in school,” Bryant said. “I think it would be great if they could come to school and see someone they can look up to. A light bulb would go off and give them motivation to learn.”

Increasing motivation in early elementary school could affect students’ attitudes at a pivotal point in time, according to Paley.

“It would be fabulous to get some additional minority males into the elementary schools,” she said. “We could hopefully reverse a lot of attitude issues that happen in the elementary schools and could avoid kids being discouraged by the time they get into middle and high school.”

Danehy said that for students, seeing teachers that look like them can also send a message about their own possibilities for the future.

“It’s definitely about role models, but also, when you think about the little second graders sitting in the seats, and seeing the person in the class looks like (them), it sends a message to students so they know something is attainable to them,” he said.

White males account for 18 percent of Stamford’s teachers, the second largest group, behind white females, which make up 59 percent of the workforce. Those rankings hold true at the administrative level: 52 percent of Stamford administrators are white women; 20 percent are white men. There are five black administrators, accounting for 8 percent of the total administrative population, as well as five Hispanic males.

“Our societal messages about the role of young black men in America presumes their place in the world is not academically accomplished. It’s sort of the narrative of professional sports, incarceration and criminality,” White said.

“It’s not so much that young men are emulating this, but maybe the implicit message is `Why try?’ and on top of that, I think these young boys may encounter… that kind of perception of them as someone to fear,” she said. “If you pick up on this, and you run into academic challenges, maybe you’re not going to feel motivated. Not seeing black male educators, you may think, `What’s the point?’ ”

That kind of apathy may contribute to Stamford’s large achievement gap, Bryant said.

Results of the 2010 Connecticut Mastery Test showed that 69.4 percent of black students and 78.1 percent of Hispanic students in grades three through eight achieved proficiency in math, while 94.6 percent of white students met that mark. The reading results were similar: 59.9 percent of black students and 64.6 percent of Hispanic students reached proficiency, along with 89.9 percent of white students. The state splits test scores into five levels of performance: below basic; basic; proficient; goal; and advanced.

At the high school level, 43.4 percent of black students and 58.7 percent of Hispanic students scored at or above proficiency on the math section of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, along with 86.3 percent of white students. In reading, 65 percent of black students, 70 percent of Hispanic students and 93.6 percent of white students did so.

“In any community, one could argue that police and fire should mirror the larger community, and teachers should mirror the larger community,” said Yohuru Williams, an associate professor of African American history at Fairfield University.

“If you’re in a city with a high number of minorities, and African Americans and Latinos, one would expect some parity in those services. When that doesn’t happen, historically, we’ve seen problems and it’s difficult to remedy, coming on the achievement gap that rendered the problem in the first place. There’s this kind of self-perpetuating cycle that winds up robbing us of having that pool of candidates that make the need,” Williams said.

In Stamford, administrators do recognize the need for more diversity in the teaching staff, according to Danehy.

“If (the teaching population) could reflect maybe not the mirror image of the student population, but a wide set of people from diverse backgrounds, that would be phenomenal,” Danehy said. “It’s about that, but it’s also about getting an excellent person in the front of the room to mastermind and keep up the standards and get the academic achievement we want.”

A good teaching candidate is a good teaching candidate, regardless of his or her race, Starr said.

“If you care about kids, and you want to be an excellent teacher, then come work in Stamford Public Schools, and I don’t really care what you look like: how tall; how short; and what color you are,” Starr said. “And also, again, I do believe that there is value in students seeing people who look like them, who can identify with them, but that’s not necessarily going to make them a great teacher or increase student achievement.”

“It’s definitely about role models, but also, when you think about the little second graders sitting in the seats, and seeing the person in the class looks like (them), it sends a message to students so they know something is attainable to them,” he said.

White males account for 18 percent of Stamford’s teachers, the second largest group, behind white females, which make up 59 percent of the workforce. Those rankings hold true at the administrative level: 52 percent of Stamford administrators are white women; 20 percent are white men. There are five black administrators, accounting for 8 percent of the total administrative population, as well as five Hispanic males.

“Our societal messages about the role of young black men in America presumes their place in the world is not academically accomplished. It’s sort of the narrative of professional sports, incarceration and criminality,” White said.

“It’s not so much that young men are emulating this, but maybe the implicit message is `Why try?’ and on top of that, I think these young boys may encounter… that kind of perception of them as someone to fear,” she said. “If you pick up on this, and you run into academic challenges, maybe you’re not going to feel motivated. Not seeing black male educators, you may think, `What’s the point?’ ”

That kind of apathy may contribute to Stamford’s large achievement gap, Bryant said.

Results of the 2010 Connecticut Mastery Test showed that 69.4 percent of black students and 78.1 percent of Hispanic students in grades three through eight achieved proficiency in math, while 94.6 percent of white students met that mark. The reading results were similar: 59.9 percent of black students and 64.6 percent of Hispanic students reached proficiency, along with 89.9 percent of white students. The state splits test scores into five levels of performance: below basic; basic; proficient; goal; and advanced.

At the high school level, 43.4 percent of black students and 58.7 percent of Hispanic students scored at or above proficiency on the math section of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, along with 86.3 percent of white students. In reading, 65 percent of black students, 70 percent of Hispanic students and 93.6 percent of white students did so.

“In any community, one could argue that police and fire should mirror the larger community, and teachers should mirror the larger community,” said Yohuru Williams, an associate professor of African American history at Fairfield University.

“If you’re in a city with a high number of minorities, and African Americans and Latinos, one would expect some parity in those services. When that doesn’t happen, historically, we’ve seen problems and it’s difficult to remedy, coming on the achievement gap that rendered the problem in the first place. There’s this kind of self-perpetuating cycle that winds up robbing us of having that pool of candidates that make the need,” Williams said.

In Stamford, administrators do recognize the need for more diversity in the teaching staff, according to Danehy.

“If (the teaching population) could reflect maybe not the mirror image of the student population, but a wide set of people from diverse backgrounds, that would be phenomenal,” Danehy said. “It’s about that, but it’s also about getting an excellent person in the front of the room to mastermind and keep up the standards and get the academic achievement we want.”

A good teaching candidate is a good teaching candidate, regardless of his or her race, Starr said.

“If you care about kids, and you want to be an excellent teacher, then come work in Stamford Public Schools, and I don’t really care what you look like: how tall; how short; and what color you are,” Starr said. “And also, again, I do believe that there is value in students seeing people who look like them, who can identify with them, but that’s not necessarily going to make them a great teacher or increase student achievement.”

Autostraddle Article: Oprah Declares She Is 110% Heterosexual & Not A Lesbian!!!

BREAKING: Oprah Still Isn’t a Lesbian

Can’t two women be besties in this town without everyone thinking they’re making out? So over it. Let’s talk this out.

Remember when you were in 6th/7th grade and your best friend, who was a girl, hugged you really innocently and some stupid boy yelled, “HAHA EWW LESBIANNS! HAHAA!” That was pretty obnoxious and idiotic, right? Because everyone knows that it takes a hell of a lot more than a few hugs / hand-holding / kissing (yep!) to be an actual lesbian. Also, in this case the word lesbian was used as slur, which is always a pain in the ass.

For some reason, people seem to be unable to distinguish between very close friendships between women and lesbian relationships and it’s really annoying. Even as someone who fully believes that everyone is at least a teeny little bit gay, I’m confused by this generalization.

HEY LOOK Oprah and Gayle are very good examples of this PHENOMENON of two women loving each other but not being lesbians. When did the lesbian rumors start? Probably sometime in the late nineties, when Oprah started including Gayle in more episodes and events. I’m just guessing here. As far as I can recall, Oprah has very tactfully denied the rumors while promising that, were she a lesbian, she would certainly tell us about it.

I don’t know, I believe her. Like, if anyone seems ‘ok’ talking about their personal life as it relates to their public life, I think it’s Oprah. Maybe also Howard Stern. I don’t think Howard Stern would lie about those things. Some people just don’t seem to be super concerned with whether or not their honesty is accepted by the world at large, you know?

So why do people people still ask Oprah if she’s gay? It’s dumb, right? If a lesbian is close friends with a straight man, would we ask her if she was straight? Do people ask gay men with lady bff’s if they’re straight? Is this just another way to marginalize women, their relationships and their sense of self?

(Sidenote: On a related note, have any of these straight-girl friendships turned out to be, in truth, the piece of evidence that leads us towards the holy grail of lesbianism? When Jillian Michaels came out, everyone was delighted to conclude that she’d been dating her straight BFF Vanessa Marcil all this time, just like they suspected! But no. Jillian’s girlfriend was Heidi Rhoades, who you probably had never heard of.)

Here’s a video from an upcoming Barbara Walters Special in which Oprah is feeling a lot of feelings about this whole thing. You should watch it.

+

See, the truth is that sometimes our relationships with our female friends are just as important — if not moreso — as our sexual/romantic relationships. The way Oprah describes feeling about Gayle is a way you might feel about your best friend, too:

“She is … the mother I never had. She is … the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don’t know a better person. I don’t know a better person… it’s making me cry ’cause I’m thinking about how much — I probably have never told her that.”

Here’s the thing: Oprah and Gayle are actually demonstrating to us, in a very public, very unabashed way, how to have a really good relationship… with your friend. I don’t know much about Oprah and Gayle but it appears they’ve spent some time together in vehicles and in the wilderness for 20+ years. Although I imagine Oprah with all her moneys doesn’t need Gayle’s help to do the things we often hit up our best friends for — install her air conditioner, drive her to the shop to pick up her car, cut her hair — their friendship did begin with a favor (all these quotes are from a 2006 interview):

Oprah: The first time Gayle spent the night at my house was because there was a snowstorm and she couldn’t get home. She was a production assistant and I was the 6 o’clock anchor in Baltimore.

Gayle: Anchors and PA’s do not socialize—the newsroom hierarchy.

Oprah: But I said, “You can stay at my house.” The next day, we went to the mall.

Gayle: Remember Casual Corner? They had those two for $19.99 sales.

Oprah: I ended up buying two sweaters.

Gayle: I had to call my mother and say, “You know my friend Oprah? Guess what? She bought two sweaters!” I was into layaway back then, for one sweater.

Oprah clearly does rely on Gayle for nearly all of her emotional well being. She hits the nail on the head here talking about why their relationship is otherwise interpreted:

Oprah: I understand why people think we’re gay. There isn’t a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it—how can you be this close without it being sexual? How else can you explain a level of intimacy where someone always loves you, always respects you, admires you?

Gayle: Wants the best for you.

Oprah: Wants the best for you in every single situation of your life. Lifts you up. Supports you. Always! That’s an incredibly rare thing between even the closest of friends.

Yup. They’re just the bestest most specialest best friends of all time. Maybe you have one too? The girl you depend on for the little things (what shirt should i wear) and moderately sized things (can you help me move) and giant things (road trips!) and even bigger things (housing you after your breakup).

These days a lot of us are estranged from our families or, for one reason or another, don’t rely on family for the bulk of our emotional needs. Instead we turn to each other. Sex and the City was supposed to be about this phenomenon, and it kinda was, most of the time. Anyhow, these bonds between women are often the very thing which enables you to extract yourself from a bad relationship or a shitty job or a dead-end life.

The secret nobody tells you is that the primary thing you can get from a relationship that you can’t get from a best friend is sex and the secondary thing is exclusivity (if that’s your style). But, where would the patriarchy be if women realized that we could get all the emotional support and daily entertainment we needed from each other and therefore started seeing husbands as bonuses rather than needs? What if we made choices based on what our best friend, and not our romantic partner, needs or wants?

What if two women don’t need you, and it’s not because they’re sexually attracted to each other? What then?

Oprah: The truth is, no matter where I am, whether Stedman is there or not, Gayle’s in the other room. I mean, she’s always coming in and asking, “Whatcha doin’?”

Gayle: I really do marvel at this because if Stedman didn’t accept me, it would be very difficult for us to be friends.

Oprah: See, that would never be a question for me. If you don’t like my best friend, then you don’t like me. That’s not negotiable. Smoking is nonnegotiable. It’s just a deal breaker. Not liking my best friend—forget it! Or my dogs—you gots to go!

Right on. And besides, nobody would hide from their sexuality in these outfits now, would they?

Washington Post Article: Human Rights Group Slams Iran For Homophobia & Violence Against Homosesxuals!!!!

Human Rights report slams Iran for harassing gays

By ARTHUR MAX

The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 15, 2010; 10:52 AM

AMSTERDAM — Iranians convicted for same-sex activities are on death row and awaiting hanging, including several who were minors when arrested, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

A report by the nonprofit organization documented cases of arbitrary arrests, invasions of homes, mistreatment of detainees and the denial of due legal process to people suspected of nonconformist sexual activity.

Thousands of people are believed to have been condemned to death for homosexual activity since the 1979 Iranian revolution, and the public hanging of two men – one of them a minor – in 2005 for having consensual sex drew international attention.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was jeered when he said in a speech at Colombia University that homosexuality did not exist in Iran.

Human Rights Watch said the number of executions for same-sex intercourse was difficult to determine, since most cases are conducted in closed court and often the defendant is accused of other capital crimes as well as “sodomy.”

But several gays are among an estimated 130 people awaiting execution for offenses committed as juveniles, a violation of international law, it said.”Over the last five years no one has been charged solely with sodomy and executed,” said Faraz Sanei, the researcher who compiled the report based on contacts with 125 Iranian gays.

Iran rarely carries out the death sentence until after the prisoner turns 18, he said.

The 102-page report cited allegations that suspected sexual offenders were themselves raped or sexually abused in detention by security authorities.

Iranian law criminalizes all sex outside traditional marriage. But the report said the government “appears to officially sanction harassment and abuse” of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Iranians, who are often seen as “diseased, criminals or corrupt agents of Western culture.”

Under Iran’s Islamic law, same-sex intercourse between two men is punishable by death, but the penalty is more lenient for lesbians – 100 lashes for the first three offenses and the death penalty for the fourth. Often convictions are based on forced confessions, Sanei told reporters.

The New York-based group released the report in Amsterdam, where it recently opened an office, to underscore the threat to asylum seekers facing deportation back to Iran, as European countries toughen their asylum regulations and turn away more applicants.

One objective of the report was “sensitizing governments that are solicited by asylum seekers so they will have reliable information and be able to make informed decisions,” said Eric Goldstein, HRW’s research director for the Middle East.

Sanei said the report took five years to complete, but the organization’s researchers were never allowed to enter the country. Interviews were conducted among refugees in Turkey or by e-mail with gays still in Iran.

Leonardo Dicaprio & David Thewlis Declare Their Love In 1995 Gay Film Total Eclipse.

Entertainment Weekly Article: Armie Hammer & Leonardo Dicaprio Are Gay Lovers In New Biopic About J Edgar Hoover!!

Armie Hammer in talks to co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood’s ‘J. Edgar’

by Dave Karger

Categories: Biopics, Casting, Leonardo DiCaprio

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Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images; David Gabber/PR PhotosYou knew that Armie Hammer’s terrific performance as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network was going to lead to something great for the 24-year-old actor. And now, here it is: EW has learned exclusively that Hammer is in talks to join Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming J. Edgar Hoover biopic, which will now be called J. Edgar. In the film about the former FBI director, Hammer would play lawyer-turned-FBI-official — and, some say, Hoover’s lover — Clyde Tolson. Though the pair didn’t always agree on political tactics, Tolson remained a loyal friend and advisor to Hoover. It sounds like a juicy role that fits perfectly with Hammer’s combination of brawn and brains.

Meanwhile, Vulture reports that Charlize Theron has been offered the part of Helen Gandy, a Justice Department file clerk Hoover selected as his personal secretary at the age of 21, and who wound up working for him for over 54 years.

Eastwood will direct J. Edgar from a script by Milk Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso Productions are co-producing for Warner Bros. Filming begins early next year.

Does An Actress Have To Be White Or Half White In Order To Reach The A List In Hollywood?

Halle Berry fans are going to throw rocks at me, but is Halle Berry the only black woman in Hollywood? It is very interesting to visit the white media blogs and the black media websites. On the black websites, there is so much diversity. The black websites such as AOL’s Black Voices or Concrete Loop will discuss black celebrities such as Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Sanaa Lathan and many more.

However, on the mainstream white websites the only black woman who receives any mainstream attention is Halle Berry. The question is why? Recently, in September 2010, Vogue Magazine picked Halle Berry to be on the cover of the September issue.

Now, anyone that knows fashion knows the September issue is the most important issue for Vogue magazine each year. However, I am disturbed that Vogue thinks they are being progressive by selecting Halle Berry.

I strongly disagree, Halle Berry is a safe choice and an image of a black woman that is palatable to the white North American mainstream. Berry is half white, and this is very important she has light skin, she obtained a nose job  to appear more  Eurocentric. So the top black actress in Hollywood isn’t even really a real black woman!  Berry is consistently on the lists of the most beautiful woman in Hollywood and usually she is the only black woman selected.  So Halle Berry is the apex of black beauty  and success? I think that’s disgusting! What about other black women are they all chop liver compared to the mixed race Halle Berry?

Angela Bassett can act circles around Halle Berry, but since she a real black woman and not  half white she doesn’t get leading lady film roles anymore. Angela is very outspoken about racism and sexism in Hollywood against black women. For example, Bassett criticized the white Jewish director Woody Allen for promoting negative images of black women. Usually in Woody Allen movies, the only black female characters in his films are prostitutes! Bassett also turned down the female lead role in Monster’s Ball because she said the character Leticia Musgrove was a whore!

I also must point out Halle Berry is forty-four years old! Where are the young black women under the age of thirty-five and why haven’t they obtained any leading lady film roles? I think it is disturbing that  a middle-aged woman is considered the top black actress yet the young black women are invisible!

Now some many argue what about Jennifer Hudson? It is true Hudson won an Oscar for Dreamgirls, but the jury is still undecided whether she can act or not?  Hudson did complete a new Winnie,  but it won’t be released until next year. Can Jennifer Hudson can really act and have a successful acting career? Hudson is young, she’s only twenty-nine but it is sad that she is the only black woman under thirty that can obtain leading lady roles!

Next, people will say that Gabourey Sidibe the star of Precious  can become A list. I do not believe Sidibe will become a leading lady and I know people will be angry at me. I believe Sidibe doesn’t have the right look to be a leading lady because of her obesity. I also think it is very disingenuous for the white media to promote this woman who only had one leading lady role and claim she represents black women.

Why did the obsse black mammy Gabourey  Sidibe obtain the cover of Elle Magazine and not Kerry Washington? Washington is an amazing actress she is talented and young but she is consistently ignored.  I am undecided whether Sidibe will become a good actress. One movie role doesn’t make someone a top actress. I believe mainstream Hollywood provides this illusion that promoting the obese Gabourey Sidibe is progress for black women and it is not! Sidibe is being promoted by American media because she is considered a safer image of a black woman the fat black mammy.

Meanwhile, a young beautiful and talented black actress such as Kerry Washington is viewed as more dangerous. After all, Hollywood doesn’t want Kerry Washington to upstage less talented white actresses such as Scarlett Johansson! Why is Johansson suddenly A list what good movies has she been in? Where is Johnasson’s range? Washington has demonstrated in numerous films such as The Last King Of Scotland, Ray, Mother & Child, Night Catches Us, that she has a lot of talent.

Also,  what is so special about the young white women Hollywood does promote such as Anne Hathaway? I personally believe Kerry Washington is a better actress than Anne Hathaway but she is also not white. Halle Berry reached the top of Hollywood due to her acting talent but her since she is also half white it helped her to become accepted.

I am not suggesting that Anne Hathaway or Scarlett Johnasson cannot act because they can. I am suggesting that if Hathaway and Johnasson can reach the A list why can’t Kerry Washington?

The subversive message Hollywood   sending is,  a black woman has to be mixed race or light skinned in order to reach the top of Hollywood. The closer a black woman is to the image of whiteness the more palatable she becomes to the American press. I am not excluding the black media from this subliminal racism either. On black media blogs such as Bossip and Mediatakeout.com they consistently promote the mixed race beauty queens such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Alica Keys, Halle Berry,  Paula Patton or Leona Lewis. Any black woman that is half white or have some white heritage is immediately at the top of the hegemonic hierachy. It is disturbing but not surprising that heterosexual black men are also to blame for promoting mixed race women over darker skinned black women.

I am not suggesting I think it is very disturbing that Halle Berry is the only A list black actress in Hollywood. I guess, if people want to be technical they can include Queen Latifah but what hit movies have either women been in lately? Queen Latifah’s romantic comedy  Just Wright bombed at the box office this year grossing only $20 million dollars. Black people keep on complaining that Hollywood doesn’t make quality blacfk films but why didn’t black folks support this movie? Tyler Perry’s drama For Colored Girls only made $37 million dollars and the film was financial a disappointment. The movie wasn’t a bomb because it only cost $21 million dollars, but the negative publicity contribute to the poor box office result.

Next, Halle Berry was nominated for her a Golden Globe for her performance in her  new film Frankie & Alice. Surfing the web many media critics ripped the movie to shreds. I commend Halle Berry for having a lot of determination and drive to get this movie made. It took Halle over a decade to obtain distribution for Frankie & Alice. However, I also think it is a bit deleterious when talented black women such as Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, and Kerry Washington are ignored why didn’t they obtain Golden Globe nominations for their performances in For Colored Girls? And why do people care? It is obvious to me that the American media creates new stars every couple of years. The Hollywood dream factory and creation of new celebrities  is reserved mostly for white women not black women. I have noticed a pattern the American media only allow two black women to reach the A list level per decade.

In the 1950s, it was Dorothy Dandridge, in the 1960s and early 1970s it was Diana Ross and Dianhann Carroll, in the 1980s it was Whoopi Goldberg, 1990s it was Angela  Bassett, and in the 2000s Halle Berry and Queen Latifah.

Should black people care about the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, or the Oscars? It is a fair question, aren’t these award shows simply a white standard of achievement? Isn’t it just white Hollywood patting each other on the back? So why do black people care if black actors win these awards? Is it just an example of blacks been psychologically enslaved and desperate for white America’s validation? After all, shouldn’t black folks just be concerned with black actors releasing quality movies and not worrying whether these films are palatable to white folks?