Black women and Senator Hillary Clinton

Annette John-Hall talks about the problems black women have with presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton.

Black women’s Clinton problem

By Annette John-Hall
Inquirer Columnist

Well, well, maybe being in the kitchen is the place to be.

By throwing the kitchen sink – and then some – at Barack Obama the other night, solutions-not-speeches candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton rose from the dead in power red.

Adoring throngs of women chanting “Yes, she will” cheered their sister on as she vowed to win back the family home. You know, the big White one.

My house was quiet. The kids were sleeping safely. And then my phone rang. I picked it up, after the first ring.

“Every time I look at Hillary, I can’t shake the feeling that she reminds me of all the white women who have ever mistreated me in my life.”

That would be my 50-something friend, Tina, calling from Dallas.

Apparently flashing back to some of the white women bosses and coworkers who held the door open for each other – and slammed it on her.

Thirty years later, she is still getting training, working on that make-or-break experience. Like Hillary, 35 years could be her magic number.

Tina cut to the heart of why many black women haven’t overwhelmingly cast their votes in bra-burning solidarity for the “Lifetime of Experience” candidate.

I’ve heard that same resentful sentiment expressed by plenty of other older black women. I guess we’re not the ones they’re talking about when they refer to Hillary’s core base being older women.

Women’s liberation didn’t lift up black women. It helped keep them down.

You can read the entire article here.

RIP Jamiel Shaw, Jr.

On Sunday, March 3, 2008 Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was gunned down by Hispanic gang members.

As Jamiel was walking towards his home in Los Angeles gang members asked him if he belonged to a gang and when Jamiel didn’t answer they killed him. According to Jamiel’s family he wasn’t a gang member. As a matter of fact Jamiel was an outstanding student athlete who was being sought after by such schools as Stanford University and Rutgers University. Jamiel’s mom was serving her second tour of duty in Iraq when she found out her son was murdered.

A youth ‘on track’ until fatal gunfire
Football player’s dreams die in a flurry of bullets in South L.A.

By Paloma Esquivel, Paul Pringle and Francisco Vara-Orta
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

Stanford University called about Jamiel Shaw a week or so ago, intrigued by the slight but speedy running back for Los Angeles High School, the Southern League’s most valuable player last year. Rutgers University called a few days later.

The Shaw family already had reason to be proud. Jamiel’s mother, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw, was on her second tour of duty in Iraq.

On Sunday night, it was Jamiel’s father on the phone and then his son’s girlfriend, Chrystale Miles. Jamiel Sr. called to tell him to hurry home from the mall. The 17-year-old boy was three doors away when someone shot him to death while he was still talking on his cellphone to Chrystale, friends say.

Jamiel Sr. heard the shots almost as soon as he hung up. He ran out of the house, raced around the corner and found his son lying on the sidewalk, bleeding.

“She’s over there trying to protect us from guns and bombs, and then she has to hear that her son is dead over here,” he said of Anita on Monday. “I’ve got my own personal Iraq now.”

Los Angeles police officials described the killing as random and senseless, cutting down a youth who had been doing everything right in his life — from hitting the books to never missing church to inspiring the Los Angeles High Romans to last year’s Southern League title.

A police spokeswoman said two Latino men pulled up in a car, jumped out, asked Jamiel if he belonged to a gang, and shot him when he didn’t answer. She said Jamiel was not affiliated with a gang and that detectives had no suspects.

Today before the start of Jamiel’s funeral nineteen year old gang member Pedro Espinoza was arrested for the murder of Jamiel Shaw, Jr. According to the Los Angeles Times Espinoza is being held in lieu of $1-million bond. I was so glad to hear they arrested this thug.

Alleged gang member arrested in Mid-City football star’s death
Pedro Espinoza, 19, was charged with capital murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr., whose funeral was today.

By Richard Winton
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

A 19-year-old alleged gang member was charged this morning with capital murder in the shooting death of Jamiel Shaw Jr., just hours before the start of the standout high school football player’s funeral, authorities said.

Pedro Espinoza, described by law enforcement as an 18th Street gang member, is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in a downtown Los Angeles courthouse. Espinoza was arrested late Friday in connection with Jamiel’s slaying death, but authorities did not release information about the arrest until today. He is being held in lieu of $1-million bond.

Jamiel, 17, a well-liked Los Angeles High School student, was shot and killed March 2 in the 2100 block of Fifth Avenue. He was three houses from his home in the Mid-City neighborhood known as Arlington Heights when two men in a car pulled up next to him, asked if he belonged to a gang, then shot him when he didn’t answer.

The charge against Espinoza includes a special circumstance allegation that could lead to the death penalty. Prosecutors are alleging Espinoza is “an active participant in a criminal street gang and the murder was carried out to further the activities of the criminal street gang.”

A decision about whether to seek the death penalty against Espinoza, who was arrested by Los Angeles police detectives from the Wilshire Division, will be made by prosecutors at a later date.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was attending Jamiel’s funeral at West Angeles Church of God in Christ, told KNBC-TV Channel 4 that he had been informed of the arrest, but could not provide details, noting that even Jamiel’s family had not yet heard the news.

Jamiel, a high school running back, was named his team’s and the Southern League’s most valuable player in 2007, and he had drawn recruiting interest from both Stanford and Rutgers, his family said. Police said Jamiel was not affiliated with a gang.

Jamiel’s mother, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw, was serving in Iraq when her son was slain and flew home to be with her family. She has called for community action to stop gang violence.

The question I’m asking is what is the mayor of Los Angeles doing about gang violence? Black and Latino gangs are killing innocent people over their hatred towards each other. A young man walking home, minding his own business and murdered for no reason.

RIP Jamiel Shaw, Jr.

Women like to be feminine at FoxNews

I saw this over at Time.com.

I’m not surprised that this is coming from FoxNews. We have business casual where I work so I’m glad we have a choice.

Check this out!!!!

That monkey looks like something out of one of those cheesy movies on the SCI-FI channel.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

Speaking of Anika Noni Rose, she and singer/actress Jill Scott both recently completed filming the two hour pilot of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The movie is based on the book by Alexander McCall Smith. According to Zap2It.com, the two hour pilot has been picked up by HBO and they’re ordering thirteen more one hour episodes.

HBO Loves the ‘Ladies’
Series based on ‘No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ gets green light

Zap2It.com

HBO, which has said goodbye to several of its signature series in the past couple of years, has hired “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” to help find its next hit.

The cable channel is teaming up with The Weinstein Company and the BBC for a series based on Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling series of novels about the only female-owned detective agency in Botswana. The two-hour pilot recently wrapped production there, and HBO has picked up 13 more hour-long episodes that will begin filming this summer.

Grammy-winning singer and actress Jill Scott (“Why Did I Get Married?”) and Akika Noni Rose (“Dreamgirls”) will star in the series. Oscar winner Anthony Minghella (“The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”) directed the two-hour pilot and co-wrote script with Richard Curtis (“Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary”). The pair will are executive producers, while Sydney Pollack (“Tootsie,” “The Interpreter”) is among the producers.

“Alexander McCall Smith’s wonderful books have been a sensation around the world for years, and we’re thrilled to be teaming up with the BBC and The Weinstein Company to adapt these highly entertaining stories for HBO,” says Richard Plepler, co-president of HBO. “And needless to say, the opportunity to work with the exceptionally gifted Anthony Minghella and Richard Curtis makes this project all the more exciting.”

Scott will play Precious Ramotswe, the owner of the titular detective agency. Rose will play her dedicated and quirky secretary Mma Makutsi, and Lucian Msamati will play Precious’s suitor, JLB Matekoni. The pilot’s cast also includes Idris Elba (“The Wire”), David Oyelowo (“MI-5,” “The Last King of Scotland”), Colin Salmon (“Keen Eddie,” “The Bank Job”) and John Kani.

Anika Noni Rose on Broadway

Interesting article about Anika Noni Rose in the New York Times. Anika, who gave a Tony Award winning performance in Caroline, or Change and appeared in the hit movie Dreamgirls, stars in the all black production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Terrence Howard, James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad.

A Night Out With | Anika Noni Rose

Back to Broadway
By MARK BLANKENSHIP

EVERY time she goes to work, Anika Noni Rose gets told she’s a terrible wife. It can make her loopy.

“Is my phone ringing?” she asked on a recent Wednesday night, as she navigated the narrow backstage hallways of the Broadhurst Theater on Broadway. “Somebody’s trying to call me, and I am dizzy with hunger and fatigue.”

Ms. Rose had just finished performing in the current revival of Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” in which she plays Maggie. In the production, which officially opened on Thursday, she spends three hours as a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. That’s draining on a regular night, and Wednesdays add a matinee performance to the schedule.

Before she headed out, Ms. Rose, who won a Tony for her role in the 2004 musical “Caroline, or Change” and starred in the film version of “Dreamgirls,” greeted her fans. Backstage well-wishers included the R&B singer Smokey Robinson, and on the street, the autograph hounds were mostly young girls.

You can read the entire article here.

Raphael De Niro

While reading the New York Times yesterday I came across an item of interest. I like to check out the wedding section of the paper and this wedding announcement caught my eye.

Claudine DeMatos, Raphael De Niro

Claudine Dominique DeMatos, a daughter of João DeMatos of New York and the late Margarett Ann Dufanal, who lived in Port Washington, N.Y., was married Saturday evening to Raphael Eugene De Niro, the son of the actors Robert De Niro and Diahnne Abbott-Copeland, both of New York. The Rev. Dianne Coverley, a nondenominational minister and marriage officer in the Bahamas, officiated there at a private estate in Nassau.

The bride and bridegroom, both 31, are associate brokers at Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in New York, working together in the sales unit called the DeNiro Group.

I couldn’t believe that I finally got to see a picture of Robert De Niro’s son Raphael.

I’ve been a long time fan of Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro married actress Diahnne Abbott during the 70′s and they had a son Raphael. They’re divorced now. Robert also adopted Diahnne’s daughter, Drena, from a previous marriage. By the way Diahnne Abbott is the cousin of singer Gregory Abbott, who had the hit single Shake You Down back in the 80′s.

Congrats to the bride and groom.