What is so funny about rape? More specifically, men being anally raped in prison? Last Sunday’s episode of the television series “The Boondocks” was based on the Tom Dubois character’s phobia of anal rape. When I first saw the episode that began this storyline, I laughed at Tom’s nightmares about showering in a hot, steamy prison stall with huge, muscular men, eying his anus with longing. It was Tom’s fear that made it so humorous. In Sunday’s episode, however, after attending a group therapy program for men who fear anal rape, Tom took some children, including Riley and Huey to a prison for a Scared Straight-esque program.
I am a black woman. I’m free. I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody…~Lena Horne.
On an usually restless night, I checked my Twitter feed and learned that Lena Horne passed away yesterday. She was 92 years old and has a legacy that made it acceptable to be black and beautiful in Hollywood, not to mention her very active role in the fight for racial equality. Even with all this, I was stunned by the news. In less than five years time, so many souls that exemplified the beauty, talent and grace of Black people have moved on to the spirit world: Ozzie Davis, James Brown, Eartha Kitt, just to name a few. Although all of these people were around an age where it is socially acceptable to die, these deaths are a reminder that we can’t continue to rest on the shoulders of those who have pushed us up. I think I always took for granted that there would be a Lena Horne that I can show to our children, to teach them about the time we were Negroes, and however unfair it was, we understood that the best or worse of us, as a people, would reflect on all of us.
Let’s be motivated by our legends, but as Ms. Horne put it so perfectly, let us be representatives for ourselves. Ms. Horne fought so that black people could be valued as individuals, and not as credits or deficits of our “race.” Be a credit to yourself today.
Below are some of my favorite videos featuring Lena Horne:
Ms. Horne teaches Grover how to overcome shyness
Ms. Horne serenades Cliff and Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show
Thanks to Leslie Patterson for perfectly summing up my feelings about hip-hop’s portrayal of bisexuality. The video and song for Usher’s “Lil’ Freak” feat Nicki Minaj enforce the idea that 1) Bisexual women are promiscuous, 2) Are the gateways to threesomes for men and 3) Can call on their interest in women on a man’s command. It appears that the the average urban man still can’t understand the idea of a woman’s sexuality being independent of their own desires or perceptions.
Kat: If you're reading this, it's not too late. Please seek help
It is one of the worst kept secrets in America. Statistically, we all know someone whose life has been affected by it, and maybe it was our own. But for some reason, we don’t understand or fuller appreciate the effects of sexual abuse, even though one of its most well publicized by-products has become a part of our collective consciousness: The promiscuous industry insider, or the “Jump-off.”
The media is always good for letting you know how little progress black people have made as a cultural group. I’ve expressed my chagrin at how focused certain magazines and TV shows have been on the plight of the single black woman. So smart, education, independent… and lonely. » Read more…
