Haiti parents testify they gave kids to Americans

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans' lawyer said.

The parents' testimony means no law was broken and "we can't talk any more about trafficking of human beings," attorney Aviol Fleurant told reporters.

He said he was confident the judge will dismiss the case.

Nine of the Americans, most from an Idaho church group, have now been interviewed by the judge, who is to decide whether they will stand trial. The judge did not speak with reporters.

Flaurent said the Americans would be back in court Wednesday. One of them, Jim Allen of Amarillo, Texas, was represented by a separate lawyer Tuesday.

( The Baptist missionaries say they were heading to a Dominican orphanage following Haiti's devastating quake, and had only good intentions. )

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

Ya'll know I love you right? Right. So don't hate me for sharing Lickie Dickie with you. I mean, you all need to know about the existence of strawberry scented oral sex bibs right? Right. Is it really that hard to wash your ass before sex?

Michael Steele Suggests Criticism Of His Tenure Motivated By Racism

It’s been awhile since Michael Steele has landed himself in the news, but this might stir things up again: In a new interview, Steele bluntly suggests criticism of his tenure — and all the media coverage it’s garnered — may be motivated by racism.

The story, called “Up in the Air,” is in the February issue of Washingtonian magazine, and it isn’t online yet, but here’s the key passage, buried way at the end of the piece, on page 96 of the mag:

Steele acknowledges that at times he has a tendency to take things too far. “And I get checked on that, just as when I was a young boy and I pushed the envelope too far and my Mama was there to check me.”

But there’s an edge to his voice when he talks about a double standard that he believes has been applied by his critics, and he posits racism as the cause: “I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?”

The larger context of the story is the tension created by the fact that Steele continues to take constant criticism, despite the GOP’s undeniable gains and the likelihood of more advances in the future.

There are two ways of reading Steele’s stab at an explanation: Either Steele is suggesting the media gives more ink to the RNC’s inner workings becausea black man is chairman, or he’s suggesting that fellow Republicans are leaking damaging info about the RNC because a black man is chairman.

Either way, it seems at odds with his claim back in November that he doesn’t “play the race card” or “play the race game.”

******************************************

Update: Media Matters Action Network unearths many more examples of Steele condemning Dem race-card playing.

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Michael Steele better win something this Blackfolks Awards, or we know the vote is rigged.

Can White people do things to get their "white cards" revoked the same way black people can do things to get their "black cards" revoked ? if so, what are those things ?

The tickets are now diamonds.

'DE DAY!!!












NOW GO OUT THERE AND MAKE SOME BABIES!!!

A discussion about the AJC article on MARTA's designation of a train line to the Asian community as the "Yellow" line.

http://community.livejournal.com/atlanta/3655512.html

It's February, it's snowing like a FOOL outside, my kids are home for a Snow Day...and I'm playing "summer" music all day long ;) These are the first two that came to mind, used to play these waaayy too much:



and



This one makes me wanna go skate at the roller rink all night long ;)


What songs take you to hot days and cool breezes?

Long before #1 ____ _____ boarded a bus in #2 _________ in the year of #3_____, to protest the unfair treatment of blacks in the South, #4_____ _______ boarded a railroad car of the East Louisiana Railroad that was designated for white patrons only. Even though he was born a "free person" and was one-eighth black and seven-eights white, under Louisiana law enacted in 1890, he was classified s Black and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When he refused to leave the white car and move to the colored care, he was arrested and jailed. The case wove its way through the judicial system, and at each level the decision to convict was affirmed. Eventually, the case made its way to the #5________ ____ where it was affirmed by a #6 _____ to ___ vote and established one of the most famous decisions in american history because, for the first time, it established that racial segregation was protected by federal law, better known as "#7 ____________ but ______." It was not until 1954 that this travesty of justice was undone. To see the original headstone of this brave man, one only has to visit the State of #8________________, and go into the #9_________building in Jackson Square.


cross posted to blackfolk and blackhistory

This TUESDAY  2/9 @6pm EST on 106& Park





Will be performing LIVE

Sistah Vegan is a new book coming out that explores black women & their food choices, womanism & feminism, animal rights, racism, sexuality, and plenty of other issues. I myself am not vegan, nor do I aspire to be anytime soon, but this book is definitely making me salivate. I'm also not involved with the creation or publication of this book in anyway, just trying to spread the word :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT_OXkFb3ko


(It won't allow embedding.)

but i never knew this


was taken from this!



why the signs, tho??

You know a part of me was like, "You know you ain't right sista. At all! You and your fake ass nose..."

But then another part of me was all. "You go head sista and get your hustle on! Get that Ann Coulter money off those racist whitefolk. Werk bitch!"

If only she hadn't plugged her book so fast I might have bought her shtick.  But I ain't gonna hate ; If I could I'd get that hair of hers for my moms I would- it's hot.

Have you ever tried an internet dating site before? I'm at a point in my life where I'm not meeting many interesting people worth dating so I'm going to be brave and try out one. What's one that you like? I've already tried blackpeoplemeet but I don't feel like paying again. I am interested in afroromance but Idk, the name sounds funny! lol

Help!

I can't get my roommate onto our wireless network! We have the


router password
network name(SSID)
network security type :
security key :
WEP KEY 1 :

But her computers (a dell running Windows Vista) is asking for the

username
password
domain name

How can we find the info that it's asking for??

(we are black and in need -- help us, LJ comm, you are our only hope!)

ETA: we black-raged the internet into going.

Why is Ne-Yo hanging out with New Kids On The Block AND Auto-tune at the same time?

ETA: This is old, so go ahead and free-post... might as well throw in this old "goodie" to make the free-posing official:

 because after less than 24 hours after espnchick1920  ponders whether or not to nominate POTUS for a coon award he responds with


WASHINGTON — The leaders of the nation's historically black colleges and universities breathed a sigh of relief this week when they learned that President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 budget includes a $30 million funding increase for their financially struggling schools.

For the fiscal year that will begin on Oct. 1, Obama proposes $279.9 million for historically black colleges and universities — $30 million more than he proposed for fiscal 2010 and $13 million more than Congress appropriated, according to the United Negro College Fund. Including other minority-oriented educational institutions, Obama's total budget request is for $520 million, up from $496.3 million this year.

The proposed funds are discretionary, meaning that colleges that receive the money would have leeway to spend it on items ranging from academic programs to construction and maintenance of instructional facilities to student services.

(read more here)

A little while back, there was a QOTD post asking if we were bilingual, and I was basically like, not yet, but I'm trying to move abroad to a Hispanic country, ask me again next year. This post got me in contact with a couple of you who have given me great advice about your experiences abroad. So I figured, maybe there's more of you.

So I'm wondering, have any of you lived, or are currently living, in South America? Particularly in the Southern Cone (Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, in the narrowest sense). How was your experience there, particularly as a Black person? What were the most challenging things to get accustomed to? What was your favorite part about living there? Anything you wished you knew before living there?

Fess up, who else totally rocked the big chunky bangs and/or the pigtails in grade/middle school? Bonus if you can supply photographic evidence.

(I was having fun with the curling iron and the camera this morning... hence the hot comb post)

Do they even sell electric hot combs anymore? And if so, any ideas on where to order one?

This is being discussed on another forum of mine: What would you say to people who feel that Obama has already proven himself to be a failure, accomplished zip in his first year, and should resign or at least not run in 2012? Does anyone here agree?

Edit: here's how the discussion started:

"Not long ago House Speaker Pelosi announced that she did not have enough votes to pass through any kind of health care reform, which the press calls a "devastating blow" to President Obama's platform for the presidency. Health Care reform. After witnessing Barack Obama for one year and seeing this defeat, I've come to this conclusion: President Obama is a good, decent man who has excellent ideas and cares about people, but he really does not have the experience or hard ass personality to deal with the vermin in Washington. Although the election is over two years away, lack of health care reform is a huge defeat for him. While no one can predict the future, this defeat would seem like a huge hurdle for him to overcome in a 2012 re election, unless the economy looks like it did in the mid and late 1990s. If I were Obama, I would serve my term, and announce he is not running in 2012. Then, if I were the Democrats, I would put up Hillary Clinton as the candidate."

Is "retard" as bad as "nigger"?

Sarah Palin said it is. Discussion?

A thought-provoking followup to the chronic illness/disability post.

A. Rahman Ford
via Racialicious
Source

Although I have been both black and disabled my entire life, for years I lied to myself about being disabled. I could appreciate the pride that accompanied the black experience, the historic and perpetual triumphs and tragedies that inspire the progress of a people. But disability was different. Disability was a curse much worse than the curse of Ham, and instead of accepting it I fled into a lie of being someone I could never be and should have never wanted to be. I became a victim of an able-bodied orthodoxy, one memorialized into my memory, derived from the seeds of my lived experiences and the veil of myths through which those experiences are strained. I believe we all succumb to societal orthodoxies in some way, because the procurement of favor demands it and it allows us to live without troublesome confusion. But for many of us, orthodoxies become a memorial, a shine at which we pray and to which we cling, all the while privately acknowledging that the shrine is not of our making, not to our liking and that it segregates and kills us very casually, very privately and very slowly. This photo helped free me from my denial…

( Nude but non-revealing photo, possibly NSFW )

It's starting to look like the founder of the orphanage charity started this Haitian adoption scam to pay off her debts...read below for more details:

original link

Parents Tell of Children They Entrusted to Detained Americans

FERMATHE, Haiti — Guerlaine Antoine pushed aside a tub full of laundry, wiped her soapy hands on her T-shirt and rushed barefoot to bring out photos of the 8-year-old boy she entrusted to 10 American Baptists.

“Do you think I would give this child away?” she said, opening a grade school yearbook to show her son, Carl Ramirez Antoine, in cap and gown, at his kindergarten graduation. “He is my only treasure.”

As a Haitian judge on Tuesday questioned five of the 10 Americans who were detained after trying to exit the country illegally with 33 children, the questions swirling around the case threw this town high in the mountains overlooking Port-au-Prince into confusion.

It is home to many of the children the Americans said they had planned to raise at a new orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The Americans said that the children had been orphaned in the earthquake, and that they had authorization from the Dominican government to bring the children into the country.

But it became clear on Tuesday that at least some of the children had not lost their parents in the earthquake.

And while the Americans said they did not intend to offer the children for adoption, the Web site for their orphanage makes clear that they intended to do so.
( Read more... )

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If my suspicions turn out to be true this Silsby woman should be charged with trafficking.

Pretty dope opening credit sequence.
The thing that really struck me is that Jill Scott is voicing Storm.
Don't really remember her (Storm) being in any of the issues I read back when, but I guess it's believable because they're both -African- right? (or maybe there was crossover that i just never saw (other comicbook nerds help me out on this one) Just feels like folks asking me if I know random person X that's from or ever lived in Philly...
Plus it's on BET, definitely a double edged sword on this one.

Adichie speaks passionately and eloquently of the single story. I stole this from ontd_political. Enjoy!