We Have to do Better Pt. 12

C'MON FOLKS! REALLY??! REALLY?!?!!?!?

[$10 bones she's from Florida...she called him a "fuck nigga" lol.
That's fa sho some Fla shit]

We Have to Do Better Pt. 11

I just saw two dudes rob a chick two blocks from my crib while I was walking home. I couldn't do anything. I was so pissed. They were in new Nike boots, leathers, fitteds, and name brand jeans. Flossin, gettin someone for their own hard earned bread. Bitch ass niggas.

We Have to do Better pt.10

*sigh*

Civil Rights Leader Convicted of Incest

By MATTHEW BARAKAT – 1 hour ago

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A jury convicted an iconic civil-rights figure of incest Thursday after concluding that he had sex with his teenage daughter 15 years ago.

The Rev. James L. Bevel, 71, a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. who also helped organize the Million Man March, faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

The four-day trial in Loudoun County Circuit Court included bizarre testimony about Bevel's philosophies for eradicating lust, and parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children.

Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in an act of sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge.

The jury reached its verdict after about three hours of deliberations. It later recommended a 15-year prison sentence for Bevel. Jurors could have recommended a sentence ranging from five to 20 years. The judge can lower the recommendation, but he cannot increase it.

Before the verdict, the jury had heard only passing reference to Bevel's role in the civil rights movement. But during the sentencing phase of the trial Thursday afternoon, the jury saw a documentary that spelled out Bevel's key role in organizing the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade. Bevel and King were leading organizers of the marches, in which police turned fire hoses and dogs on child protesters, drawing international attention to the brutality that was keeping segregation in place in the South.

Bevel was also a leading organizer at other iconic events in the civil rights movement, including the 1965 march at Selma, Ala.

Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann acknowledged Bevel's accomplishments but said the jury shouldn't be swayed by them.

"There's nothing I can say to take away what this man has accomplished, but there are two Jim Bevels," Wittmann told the jury. "We're talking about the one who had sex with his child."

Jurors heard a phone call between Bevel and his daughter in which he never explicitly admits to sexual intercourse but seems to take for granted that it occurred. During the call he explains the importance of teaching his daughter "the science of marriage" and admits that he did not want her to get pregnant after the incident.

Family members who confronted Bevel in 2004 testified that Bevel read a written accusation by his daughter and replied that he did not contest the facts she laid out.

But Bevel denied the charge on the witness stand. He testified that his family mistakenly perceived his refusal to deny the specific allegations against him as an admission of guilt.

Public defender Bonnie Hoffman urged the jury to ignore evidence that Bevel led an unconventional, communal lifestyle in which he taught that it was parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children.

Instead, she told the jury to focus on the single incident for which Bevel was charged: an act of sexual intercourse that occurred in 1993 or 1994 while the daughter was a teenager and was living with her father in Leesburg.

Hoffman said there were questions about the timeline — the daughter said she could not recall exactly what year the act occurred, and her recollection of when she lived in Virginia did not fully mesh with school records and other testimony.

Hoffman also questioned why the daughter returned to voluntarily live with her father after the alleged incest. The daughter testified that she went back because she had nowhere else to go.

Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann warned the jury against getting confused by Bevel's sometimes convoluted explanations of his philosophies and his justifications for his actions.

"There's no excuse for his philosophy in the law, or whether he's eccentric, or whether he's an historical figure. ... There's no exception" Wittmann said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify the victims of sexual abuse. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women.

The trial divided members of Bevel's large family, with relatives testifying for both the prosecutor and defense.

Even the daughter expressed mixed emotions. As she waited Thursday for a verdict, she was occasionally joined by her father as the two smiled and cooed over the daughter's new baby girl — Bevel's granddaughter.

"The hardest part is I love my father, and I wish he loved me as much as I love him," The daughter told jurors during the sentencing phase.

In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South.

In 1992, he was vice presidential running mate to political maverick Lyndon LaRouche, who has a home in Loudoun County but at the time was in a federal prison for a tax conviction.

Shout to The Deen for puttin me on.

We Have to do Better t. 9

Wha deh ras?!!?

“On Saturday, Joseph Manzanares stormed into the Hollywood Video store where his girlfriend worked, threatened to kill her and knocked over several video displays and even a computer, Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said. After he ran out of the store, police were called and the 19-year-old was arrested at his home.

His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, [a source] said.

‘They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, [the mother] said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would ‘claim,’”

Wow folks. Things seem to be getting more out of hand every day.

We Have to Do Better pt.8

Stop the madness...no really. Stop.

http://www.myspace.com/wwwmyspacecomkillallrats

We Have to Do Better pt.7

(A Black girl lost *sigh*)

A Kansas City teenage mom faces child endangerment charges after hospital tests revealed that her 2-year-old son and two other young children ingested crack cocaine. Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday charged Tasha Cole, 17, with four felony counts of endangering the welfare of a child. They requested a $75,000 bond.

The children apparently sampled crumbs that the mom left behind when she darted out to sell drugs, court records allege. Children’s Mercy Hospital staff contacted police after one of the children suffered seizures earlier this week. After giving police several false stories, Cole admitted that she left the children with a friend while she sold drugs, according to the affidavit filed in court to support the charges.

Cole told detectives that when she put the plate down earlier, it had crumbs of cocaine on it. She told police that she picked up the razor blade but left the plate. About 10 minutes later she realized the children were playing with the plate, and she took them across the hall and told relatives what happened.

I'm not saying this woman is absolved of responsibility for leaving her kids to sell crack but you have to wonder if things were better in this country for young black women would she even be in that situation? Just sayin.

We Have to do Better Pt. 5

Things have gotten out of hand.
OUT OF HAND I TELL YA!!!!

Our Favorite Man of God

Pastor Manning of the ATLAH Ministries is at it again. This cat is bananas. Watch the entire video to get the full effect of the madness of this man.

Here's the DivaSpeak EP:2 where we blasted him:

We Have to Do Better Pt. 5

*sigh* I have no words for this foolery...

We Have to Do Better pt.4

*sigh* I don't even know who to blame on this one. Is it the parents? Is it their friends for cosigning this MADNESS? Or is it Keith Sweat for being so got dang sexed up? And you KNOW they don't know nothin bout nothin cuz nothing about sex is that smoothely choreographed, lol.

(What happened to making fake music videos with actual dancing??...times have changed!)

We Have to Do Better pt.3

If you're in town stop by!

NOT YOU TOO MAYA!!!

(Maya & MLK Jr....How would Marty feel about all this Hill/Bill Love??)

DAGNAMMIT!!!!!!!!!! Lemme start by saying Maya Angelou is on my idols. As a woman and artist she's a class act. But dag on she threw me for a loop with the following statement:

“As a child, Hillary Clinton was taught that all God’s children are equal, so as a mother she understood that her child wasn’t safe unless all children were safe.

I know what kind of president Hillary Clinton will be because I know who she is. Hillary Clinton has always been a strong woman and a passionate protector of families. For 35 years, that’s exactly what she has been doing.

Each generation of African Americans stands on the shoulders of those who came before. Today, the challenges facing us threaten the dreams we have had for our children. We need a president with the experience and strength to meet those challenges.

I am inspired by Hillary Clinton’s commitment and courage — a daughter, a wife, a mother — my girl.”

*sigh* On last weeek's DivaSpeak Tv Ep we WENT IN on the Minister fool from Harlem and here goes Maya pledging allegiance to Bill and Hill! I am just confused and confounded as to WHERE this unwavering loyalty is coming from. So for the sake of not completely discounting the minds of our elder community (who right now are SOOO WATTA) I've decided to apply this theory: perhaps they are they are applying a reverse psychology tactic! Maybe just maybe in their wisdom they're banking on the rebellious nature of us "youngsters" and goin so hard because as to incite us to go for Bams! (long shot, but hey it gets me through!)

We Have to Do Better pt.3

(Look at these coons. Yea I know they're white, but this buffoonary at its worst. It's a sad, hateful world folks.)

It's Martin Luther King Jr. day and the Klan folk are in FULL glory! uggh Disgusture.

About 30 members of a reputed white supremacists' group marched through the streets of Jena, La., Monday, expressing disdain for the holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as for six black Jena teenagers charged with beating a white classmate.

The group, which included two men who came armed, was followed closely for a while by about 100 counterprotesters who exchanged barbed comments with the group. They later backed off at police request.

"No to King! No the Jena Six!" shouted the group members, who belong to the Nationalist Movement.

Counterprotesters responded, "Down with the Klan!" to which Nationalist Movement spokesman Richard Barrett said, "Up with America!"

Nationalists also shouted, "The streets belong to us, not MLK!"

The two armed men showed up for the rally and parade, and as a result, the LaSalle Parish Sheriff's Office began separating supporters of the Nationalist group from the counterprotesters. The sheriff's office said anyone refusing to separate would be arrested.

The movement by law enforcement came about an hour after the arrival of the New Black Panther Party at the courthouse, where it planned to march.

Close to 100 people opposing the Nationalist Movement's presence arrived at just before 11 a.m. at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse, shouting "No more nooses! We want justice!" as law enforcement tried to route them to behind the courthouse.

As the counterprotesters attempted to march toward the front of the courthouse, they were met by a line of law enforcement officers who physically tried to hold them back. At the same time, supporters of the Nationalists who had assembled in front of the courthouse waved their Confederate flags in the direction of the marchers.

"We ain't stopping! We ain't stopping!" the counterprotesters shouted as law enforcement threatened to arrest them if they did not go to the back of the courthouse.

"We're under threat of arrest if we keep marching. What do you want to do?" one of the counter-protesters shouted to that group with a megaphone. "Keep marching!" shouted the crowd. The crowd backed down once police asked.

Tensions began to rise once law enforcement officials confronted David Dupre of Tioga, La., and his son, David Dupre Jr., who said they came to Jena armed for their personal protection. They each brought a .357 Magnum handgun, a .22- caliber revolver and a sawed-off shotgun that they called a "street sweeper" because when fired it could take out 10 people.

"We're tired of these coons getting away with whatever they want," Dupre Jr. said when asked why he came to Jena.

The two men, each wearing a holstered gun on his hip, were confronted by law enforcement and told to leave the shotguns in their vehicle, and they complied. Law enforcement officials told the men they could not march with the guns.

The Dupres said it was unfair and unconsitutional that they could not march with their guns.

The protest was organized by the Nationalist Movement of Learned, Miss., which describes itself as "pro-majority" but is widely reported to be a white supremacy organization.

Barrett, the Nationalist Movement spokesman, had said group members would not be armed during the protest and requested that supporters do likewise.

The group vowed to come to Jena soon after at least 20,000 people from around the country marched through the streets of the small community on Sept. 20 in support of the black teens, who became known as the "Jena Six" and have drawn national attention.

Six black students were charged with beating a white student outside Jena High School on Dec. 4, 2006, after a series of racially charged incidents, which included white students hanging nooses from a tree at the school.

The white students were not charged in any of the incidents while the six black teens all were initially charged with attempted murder for the beating. Those charges have since been reduced to battery.

Early Monday morning, the Nationalists' group was far outnumbered by the number of media and law enforcement. Among the members of the Nationalists' group were three young men and a young woman from West Monroe, La., with a Confederate flag bearing the message "White Power/Ku Klux Klan."

The young man carrying the flag, Michael Brown, said, "We're here just supporting our white brothers. We're proud to be white."

Another man in the group, Phillip Hampton of Tuscaloosa, Ala., said he was a member of the National Knights, which he said was the oldest Ku Klux Klan group in the nation.

"This is a hate crime against whites," Hampton said when asked why he had come to Jena. "There's no justice for the white man anymore."

USA Today

This is some new fangled ignorance. There isn't even any reason to speak on this. Just use it as a reminder that this ain't no time to rest and no reason to get comfortable.

A Word from Marty King & the Deevster

(press play, listen, read, marinate.)

[disclaimor: I AINT PREACHIN! JUST DIVA SPEAKIN!]

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday I have compiled a list of ways in which we can realistically make his "dream" come true. Because fact is here in 2008, when Golf Shows are talkin bout lynching and Golf magazines have nooses on the cover, the Jena 6 are still in the midst of madness, and New Orleans STILL has not been rebuilt it is clear to see that we are doing just that "dreaming" and need to wake up in order to see that vision come to fruition.

The reality is not everyone is built like Dr. King. Not everyone is strong enough to walk into the line of fire. Not everyone is made to be a martyr. It’s just the facts. But everyone can contribute in some way to making things better for the Black community. Fact is MLK’s speech is still true. Though some think because they can cop whips, chains, and homes, that shit is sweet the reality is that the quality of life for the vast majority of people of color (P.O.C.) in this country is EXTREMELY disproportionate to those on the other side of the color divide. I mean these are like, FACTS folks it’s not just a matter of my opinion. In predominantly Black communities schools are often over crowded, grocery stores are limited and wack (peep the “earth toned” produce), housing is of lesser quality (and overcrowded like the dag on schools), and the cops, the cops are EVERYWHERE! That’s just to name a few of the issues!!

Call me a cock-eyed optimist but I truly think that though everyone isn’t in Marty’s league, we can all do at least a lickle something in the direction of improving the current and long standing situation of the P.O.C. in the good ol’ Los Estados Unidos. So even if you’ve already made your New Year’s resolutions tack this on:

Find out what piece of a dignified, insightful, good, just plain old good person lives in you. What part of Dr. King, Malcolm, Gandhi, Jesus, Harriet, etc lives in you. Be it your pen, your voice, your dollar, or your time find it and apply it. What makes it legit is not your time, or your bread, etc. but your sincerity to honestly trying to create some semblance of unification in the way of improvement. And real talk, we can all do better and NEED TO AT LEAST TRY or the dream will continue to be just that. A reality that exists only in the minds of the unconscious.

We Have to Do Better pt.2

*sigh*

SEATTLE TEEN SHOT FATALLY AT A PARTY

Allen Joplin took out the trash when she asked, he cooked dinner — usually hamburgers and cheese sandwiches — and most of the time he returned home by 10 p.m. But early Friday morning, the 84-year-old Seattle woman received a phone call from Allen's girlfriend saying Allen had been shot.

The 17-year-old was killed shortly before midnight Thursday after two unknown men crashed a party he was attending at an art studio in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood and opened fire. Allen was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 13-year-old girl who was shot in the leg is still recovering.

Police on Friday were still searching for the gunmen.

***

Teen found shot to death in Seattle's Rainier Valley

A 14-year-old boy was found shot and killed this afternoon on a South Seattle street, where his body apparently had lain since the night before.

Someone called 911 at 2:40 p.m. today to report finding a body behind a car in the 4200 block of South Rose Street in Rainier Valley, said police spokesman Mark Jamieson.

Police responded, and the boy was pronounced dead a short time later. Homicide detectives are investigating.

Neighbors and family members of the boy, identified by an uncle as DéChé Morrison, gathered just beyond the yellow police tape surrounding the scene tonight as investigators used dogs and flashlights to search for clues. The uncle, Sedric Reine, tried to comfort Morrison's grieving mother.

We watch shows like The Wire, see the movies, and we hear the rap songs about it and it feels like we're getting very accustomed to young men falling to an early death within the black community. It's as if we're being desensitized to not only to the horrible reality of the loss of a young life, but also the regularity of it these days. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself. Reality though, is our babies are dying. They're killing each other. One by one, city by city. It's almost systematic at this point. And i don't know what EXACTLY to do but we can start with doing a better job of teaching, a better job of uplifting, and a better job of uniting before an entire generation completely forgets what it means to be their brother's keeper. RIP to Allen Joplin & Deche Morrison...