SHE DONE BEEN

She Done Been - Gerald Levert

Why you keep doing this, Eugene? Huh, I'm tired of playing games with you, when are you coming clean? This is the conversation I have had with him every week, it seems, lately. I am sick of him, I am trying to stay with him for the kids sake. But, my patience is getting very thin. And, I know he has a jump off chick on Crenshaw, he swear I don't know about her. I was going over Auntie's house and saw him leaning up against my damn car, all up in her grill. WHAT THE PHUCK? He got me messed up, I'm just waiting on my raise next month and I'm OUT OF HERE, PIMPIN!!! I would love to stay here, but I don't really want him to know where I live.
See, he didn't start off like that, he was all good. But, I guess its part of my fault, because I married him when I was preggo's with our first baby. Listening to him, telling me he wasn't gone cheat no more after I caught him with his other BABY MAMA... I have forgiven him time after time, trying to be a good wife to him. But, of course, he is taking my kindness for weakness. That's what I get for taking the challenge of being with him and thinking I could walk away from that Monster he was packing...Not He was the FREAK OF THE CENTURY, NOW I KNEW I WASN'T GONE BE ABLE TO JUST WALK AWAY FROM THAT... Didn't look for the other qualities my Mama taught me...See, again, my fault...Letting my "little girl", THINK for me...WRONG ANSWER!!!! See, he got sexing on lock boy...Cuz, that's all his simple bringing to the table right now, because he is definitely living above his means. He a pretty good Daddy, sometimes...He will take the boys to the football field for practice for me when I have to work late. Now, don't get me wrong, he ain't paid for the opportunity for them to play or the uniforms. I even have to give him gas money to take them, NOW WHAT KINDA MESS IS THAT?
I must have bumped my head hard, when he hit me in the bathroom. I fell on the side of the vanity, in the kids bathroom..See, that's what I'm talking bout, he has started hitting me when the kids are walking around. They haven't seen him yet, but they are going to eventually...He at least used to wait until they were asleep. I don't even have hope that he is going to stop laying his hands on me, anymore. He has promised that shit for the last 5 years. Every time I try to leave, I'm pregnant and hormones all out of wack. But, I love him and don't want to think about raising our kids alone. The kids love their Daddy, so I take all this mess he putting out. I didn't get married to get a divorce. I thought only uneducated women got abused, WRONG...But, he didn't start doing that until we got this big ass mortgage. I didn't want my credit messed up by just leaving, so I thought it would get better. I thought we were living the "American Dream", that our kids would have life better than we did growing up. But, he is just like his father, it seems. And, he has to be in complete control. So, since I make a six figure salary, he can't handle it and hits me.
But, its getting harder to hide the bruises from my family and co-workers. My administrator even called me into his office one day and asked me was anything he could do for me. You know I was too embarrassed to even look him in the face. So, I usually just deal with my clients and don't talk to the co-workers. But, thank God, it didn't keep me from making Partner at the firm. I am blessed that he went on my work ethic and not what I must be going through at home. But, once the judge, even asked to see me in her chambers to ask about my big bruised lip one day....Can you imagine how awful it is for me to have to go in court representing my clients looking all beat up? He used to only hit me where I could cover it up, but now he doesn't care. So, that further lets me know its time to GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION.
I mean, I did it right, I thought. Graduated second in my class from law school at Howard. I was on the fast track to greatness, or so that was the plan. Eugene was doing well too in his computer software company. But, he wants to be ALL FLY in the streets...So, he can't afford to be pushing a CL600 Coupe Mercedes, $3,000 suits and playing golf three times a week. That shit is not cheap, so I have to pay most of the bills at the house. Ain't that some shit, but that's okay, I'm out of here next month. I have to keep telling myself that, because that's the only thing keeping me sane right now. Cuz, if I think about my situation too long, I'm gone hurt that negro. That girl can have him, but I am selling this house we live in. She won't be laying up in MY HOUSE, NAW BABYGIRL...They must got me twisted, I know I haven't shown much spunk lately, but they won't enjoy this house. They will have to live in her section 8 with all them heathens she got ova there. Cuz, once I get my alimony and child support from him, it won't be much left for her and her kids. But, that's not my business, I have to worry about me and mine.
A little disclaimer right here for the noseys. I don't have a man, so no this is not a real story. It is totally fiction, I have never been smacked by a man in my life...

Nancy Green: Aunt Jemima icon

The A.B. Frost painting of Aunt Jemima, as she was in the early days.

Nancy Green (November 17, 1834 – September 23, 1923) was a storyteller, cook, activist, and the first African-American model hired to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima".

She was not only one of the greatest advertising icons of all time, but Aunt Jemima was also the advertising world's first living trademark. And, as with any such icon, she's had her fair share of controversy. But did you know who the real Aunt Jemima was? Born into slavery in 1834, the woman who would become known to millions as Aunt Jemima was really named Nancy Green. She was a warm, friendly woman who also happened to be an excellent cook (though, interestingly enough, the famous Aunt Jemima pancake recipe wasn't hers. It belonged to a company called the Pearl Milling Company). And it was in 1893 that she was discovered in Chicago, at the age of 59, by one R.T. Davis.

Head of the R.T. Davis Milling Company, Davis bought the pancake formula from Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood when the Pearl Milling Company went bankrupt. And though it was Rutt and Underwood who came up with the name "Aunt Jemima," it was Davis who decided to use a living person to endorse it.

History was made that year at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the very first time Nancy Green went public. It was there that she, with her charming and animated personality, engaged the crowds and supplied them with thousands of pancakes. In fact, she was such a sensation that police had to be assigned to keep the crowds moving!The rest of the story made marketing history. Soon, Nancy Green signed a lifetime contract with Davis, and her image was on billboards and advertisements all over the world. Davis was up to his eyeballs in pancake orders, and flour sales skyrocketed. Even after the Davis Company had to sell years later, Nancy Green remained the "pancake queen." It wasn't until 1923 when her legacy as a living trademark ended - when she was tragically struck and killed by a car in downtown Chicago. Two years later, the Aunt Jemima Mills were purchased by the Quaker Oats Company.

The famous image of Aunt Jemima was based on the real image of Nancy Green, an original painting of which recently sold for $9,030 at MastroNet. This painting was rendered by A.B. Frost, now regarded as one of the great illustrators of the Golden Age of American Illustration.

Aunt Jemima's image, however, has been modified since the days of Nancy Green and A.B. Frost. As social climates started to change and the 20th century wore on, many became offended by Aunt Jemima's image and felt that it was an outdated and negative portrayal of an African-American woman. If you take a look at today's Aunt Jemima, you'll notice that her kerchief is gone and her hair is styled. She wears earrings, and appears slimmer and younger. She does, however, have the same warm and inviting smile that she's always had.

Check out the Scoop website, they have some cool facts...

TENNESSEE TITANS STILL ON TRACK

According, to Gary Estwick of the Tennessean newspaper, the Tennessee Titans are still holding their own with 90% renewal ratings of season ticket holders. That is a very good thing to hear at this time in our economy, because so many people are losing their houses and jobs. But, I say if you have to wiggle something else for what you love, go for it. As long as your kids and financial obligations are taken care of. We have to have some normalcy in our lives or we are going to explode.

I want to remember all the people who felt there was no way out and took their own lives or lives of loved one's. We need a big revival in America, and with Easter coming up is a good time to write down what you are thankful for. Sometimes when you put things on paper you get a better prospective.

May God Bless you and your families.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090401/SPORTS01/904010403

THIS IS WHAT THE ANGELS SOUNDED LIKE...

I had the pleasure to see Lacresia Campbell once a long time ago, and she came down the aisle and tore that church up...I love her voice, and had to just post this video of her with the Soul Children of Chicago. The choir is under the direction of Walt Whitman and he does an great job with their harmony.

JAMIE FOXX IN THE SOLOIST

Academy Award winner for "Ray", Jamie Foxx is starring in a new movie entitled, "The Soloist" with Robert Downey, Jr. on April 24, 2009. It is a story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musical prodigy who developed schizophrenia during his second year at The Juilliard School. Ayers became homeless and played the cello and violin in downtown Los Angeles before being discovered by LA Times journalist Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey Jr, who wrote a few articles about Ayers.

I like Jamie Foxx and can't wait to see the movie on opening weekend.

Wow, did you see Tiger knock 'em down yesterday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? I started watching the tournament around 2p.m and it was still going strong until 6:51 p.m. But, it was a site to behold. Tiger who has been out of commission for 8 months with knee surgery, brought out the big guns on this past weekend.

Sean O'Hair gave Tiger a run for his money basically the whole tournament. Tiger couldn't have that, he caught him about the 12th hole and had a few issues and past him. O'Hair had a problem on the 17th hole and knocked his ball into the water and that's where it got ugly. You know you can't do that kinda stuff when you are playing with Tiger. Tiger got to the 18th hole and gave that killa putt that we all know he can do.

I was jumping up and down and screaming like somebody crazy!!!!! It was totally awesome, and the commentators were excited as well. The lights were flashing all over his face as soon as his club hit the ball, he was lit up like a Christmas tree. But, when Tiger was aware that the ball was going to sink he started jumping and pumping his fist. Great day for the "Tiger" he had told reporoters that he was going back to the tips taught to him by his father, Earl Woods.

DO DA STANKY LEG????

Okay, I need alittle help today. Why does songs like "Do Da Stanky Leg" make it to the radio? I don't get it, I know it has a beat for the club and for high school half timers but come on. Is this for real, I thought Soulja Boy was silly. Now, they have Soulja Boy doing tracks for movies. Is this all we have for our young people to listen to? And, I must be silly, cuz the leader of the group can't even do the stanky leg.

CHARLES RICHARD DREW, M.D.

Charles Drew

Dates: June 3, 1904 - April 1, 1950

Occupation: physician, scientist

Charles Drew, the Athlete

Charles Richard Drew was the first born of carpet layer Richard Thomas Drew and teacher Nora Burrell. Drew’s childhood was much like other African Americans of the time, except for his exceptional athletic ability. His athletic talent, which later would help fund his college education, emerged in high school. After graduating in 1922 with honors from Dunbar High School, his athleticism carried him into college. He received an athletic scholarship to Amherst College, where he played football.

By 1926, the same year that he graduated from Amherst, he was certain that he wanted to become a doctor. Drew, however, could not afford medical school. To earn money, he taught chemistry, biology, and was the director of athletics at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland. Two years later, he resigned and began attending McGill University Medical School in Canada.

Drew Pursues a Medical Career While in medical school, he studied blood transfusions with Dr. John Beattie, a visiting professor from England. Through his studies, his interest in blood transfusions and blood storage was peaked. However, after graduating from medical school in 1933 with a Master of Surgery degree, his interest in blood was put on hold for five years. He served as professor of pathology at Howard University and completed a one-year residency at the Freedmen’s Hospital.

Drew Makes a Lifesaving Discovery In 1938, Drew received a two-year Rockefeller Fellowship to study blood at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital in New York. While at Columbia, Drew made a remarkable discovery. At the time, stored blood only lasted seven days; Drew discovered that by using plasma, blood without the cells, it could be stored longer.

This was both a revolutionary discovery and a timely one. England was entering into World War II, and blood was essential to saving the lives of injured soldiers. In 1940, Drew’s discovery led to his recruitment to take charge of collecting, organizing, and sending blood plasma to England. One year later, when his position ended, he became the director of the American Red Cross’ program to collect blood.

As he had done for the English program, he was in charge of all aspects of blood collection. In the midst of his work for the American Red Cross, the military made a controversial decision. It ordered the segregation of blood from African American donators. Drew and other medical professionals argued, albeit without success, that there was no difference between white and African American blood. Nevertheless, segregated blood became military policy.

Drew Returns to Howard University In May 1941, Drew made the hard decision to resign from his position as the director of the American Red Cross. Some scholars have asserted that he left in protest of the segregated blood issue. However, according to scholar Louis Haber, in an interview with Drew’s widow, she stated that his reason for leaving was to return to his real passion, the practice of surgery. Drew left the Red Cross, and returned to Howard University and to the resident training program in surgery at the Freedmen’s Hospital.

At the time, Drew was one of the few African American physicians who were held in such high regard in the medical community. It is not hard to see why. In addition to his discovery of plasma use, he also was the first African American to earn a Doctor of Science degree (1940) and he became the first black surgeon examiner of the American Board of Surgery (1942). For his plasma work, he received the NAACP Spingarn Medal in 1944.

Unfortunately, Charles Drew died young. On April 1, 1950, while driving three of his students to a medical meeting at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Drew fell asleep at the wheel. His passengers only suffered injuries, but Drew did not survive.

http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/charlesdrew/p/bio_drew_c.htm

The Life and Times of Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He was nominated to the court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.

Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 2, 1908, as the great-grandson of a slave. His original name was Thoroughgood but he shortened it to Thurgood in second grade, because he disliked spelling it. His father, William Marshall, who was a railroad porter, instilled in him an appreciation for the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law.[1] Additionally, as a child, he was punished for his school misbehavior by being forced to write copies of the Constitution, which he later said piqued his interest in the document.

Marshall was married twice; to Vivian "Buster" Burey from 1929 until her death in February 1955 and to Cecilia Suyat from December 1955 until his own death in 1993. He had two sons from his second marriage;[2] Thurgood Marshall, Jr., who is a former top aide to President Bill Clinton, and John W. Marshall, who is a former United States Marshals Service Director and since 2002 has served as Virginia Secretary of Public Safety under Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.


Education

Marshall graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore in 1926 and from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1930. Afterward, Marshall wanted to apply to his hometown law school, the University of Maryland School of Law, but the dean told him that he would not be accepted due to the school's segregation policy. Later, as a civil rights litigator, he successfully sued the school for this policy in the case of Murray v. Pearson. As he could not attend the University of Maryland Marshall sought admission and was accepted at Howard University. He was influenced by its new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans. Marshall was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Black Greek-letter fraternity, established by African American students in 1906.


Law career

Main article: Murray v. Pearson

Marshall received his law degree from the Howard University School of Law in 1933 where he graduated first in his class.[3] He then set up a private practice in Baltimore. The following year, he began working with the Baltimore NAACP. He won his first major civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson, 169 Md. 478 (1936). This involved the first attempt to chip away at Plessy v. Ferguson, a plan created by his co-counsel on the case Charles Hamilton Houston. Marshall represented Donald Gaines Murray, a black Amherst College graduate with excellent credentials who had been denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of its separate but equal policies. This policy required black students to accept one of three options, attend: Morgan College, the Princess Anne Academy, or out-of-state black institutions. In 1935, Thurgood Marshall argued the case for Murray, showing that neither of the in-state institutions offered a law school and that such schools were entirely unequal to the University of Maryland. Marshall and Houston expected to lose and intended to appeal to the federal courts. However, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled against the state of Maryland and its Attorney General, who represented the University of Maryland, stating "Compliance with the Constitution cannot be deferred at the will of the state. Whatever system is adopted for legal education now must furnish equality of treatment now". While it was a moral victory, the ruling had no real authority outside the state of Maryland.




Chief Counsel for the NAACP

Marshall won his very first U.S. Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), at the age of 32. That same year, he was appointed Chief Counsel for the NAACP. He argued many other cases before the Supreme Court, most of them successfully, including Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944); Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948); Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950); and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950). His most famous case as a lawyer was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" public education was unconstitutional because it could never be truly equal. In total, Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

During the 1950s, Thurgood Marshall developed a ugly relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1956, for example, he privately praised Hoover's campaign to discredit T.R.M. Howard, a maverick civil rights leader from Mississippi. During a national speaking tour, Howard had criticized the FBI's failure to seriously investigate cases such as the 1955 killers of George W. Lee and Emmett Till. Ironically, two years earlier Howard had arranged for Marshall to deliver a well-received speech at a rally of his Regional Council of Negro Leadership in Mound Bayou, Mississippi only days before the Brown decision.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. A group of Democratic Party Senators led by Mississippi's James Eastland held up his confirmation, so he served for the first several months under a recess appointment. Marshall remained on that court until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him Solicitor General.


U.S. Supreme Court
On June 13, 1967, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Tom C. Clark, saying that this was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." Marshall was confirmed as an Associate Justice by a Senate vote of 69-11 on August 31, 1967.[4] He was the 96th person to hold the position, and the first African-American. President Johnson confidently predicted to one biographer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, that a lot of black baby boys would be named "Thurgood" in honor of this choice (in fact, Kearns's research of birth records in New York and Boston indicates that Johnson's prophecy did not come true).[5]

Marshall served on the Court for the next twenty-four years, compiling a liberal record that included strong support for Constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government. His most frequent ally on the Court (indeed, the pair rarely voted at odds) was Justice William Brennan, who consistently joined him in supporting abortion rights and opposing the death penalty. Brennan and Marshall concluded in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was, in all circumstances, unconstitutional, and never accepted the legitimacy of Gregg v. Georgia, which ruled four years later that the death penalty was constitutional in some circumstances. Thereafter, Brennan or Marshall dissented from every denial of certiorari in a capital case and from every decision upholding a sentence of death.[citation needed]

Although he is best remembered for his jurisprudence in the fields of civil rights and criminal procedure, Marshall made significant contributions to other areas of the law as well. In Teamsters v. Terry he held that the Seventh Amendment entitled the plaintiff to a jury trial in a suit against a labor union for breach of duty of fair representation. In TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc. he articulated a formulation for the standard of materiality in United States securities law that is still applied and used today. In Cottage Savings Association v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, he weighed in on the income tax consequences of the Savings and Loan crisis, permitting a savings and loan association to deduct a loss from an exchange of mortgage participation interests. In Personnel Administrator MA v. Feeney, Marshall wrote a dissent saying that a law that gave hiring preference to veterans over non-veterans was unconstitutional because of its inequitable impact on women.

Among his many law clerks were Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals; Judge Ralph Winter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; well-known law professors Dan Kahan, Cass Sunstein, Eben Moglen, Susan Low Bloch, Martha Minow, Rick Pildes, and Mark Tushnet (and editor of Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions and Reminiscences, cited hereafter); Law Schools Deans Paul Mahoney of University of Virginia School of Law, Richard Revesz of New York University School of Law, and Elena Kagan of Harvard Law School. See, List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States.


Death and Legacy
Marshall died of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at 2:58 p.m. on January 24, 1993 at the age of 84. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[6] His second wife and their two sons survived him.

Marshall left all of his personal papers and notes to the Library of Congress. The Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, opened Marshall's papers for immediate use by scholars, journalists and the public, insisting that this was Marshall's intent. The Marshall family and several of his close associates disputed this claim.[7] The decision to make the documents public was supported by the American Library Association.[8] A list of the archived manuscripts is available.[9]

There are numerous memorials to Justice Marshall. One is near the Maryland State House. The primary office building for the federal court system, located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., is named in honor of Justice Marshall and contains a statue of him in the atrium. In 2000, the historic Twelfth Street YMCA Building located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. was renamed the Thurgood Marshall Center. The major airport serving Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, was renamed the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on October 1, 2005.

bio info from Wikipedia

Oprah's message to Rihanna

The Big Oprah Winfrey has spoken on Rihanna and Chris Brown's situation on her show. She tells R, "he will hit you again."

Oprah is very passionate about this issue and is dedicating a show to domestic violence.