Growing up, whenever I heard Lena Horne's name, I always envisioned a woman of elegance, beauty and grace. It hurt yesterday to hear that she had passed away, but it is a rest well earned. She had to endure a lot of racism and sexism in her day, but her endurance allowed those following to travel just a bit easier for the roadblocks that had been cleared. RIP Ms. Horne.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 5/10/2010 09:16:00 AMPermanent Link |
|
Home
---------------oOo---------------
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Exoneration doesn't always mean innocent
The Chicago Public Schools recently put together an iPod song list of famous musical alumni hailing from Chicago schools that consists of luminaries from past and present, including Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Benny Goodman, Chaka Khan, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, among many others. I think the overall idea is a good one in that it illuminates the vast talent that has come from Chicago and can be a source of pride for students who matriculate at less than stellar schools. However what I don't understand is why R. Kelly is included on that list. I know that R. Kelly was found not guilty in a jury trial. I also know that sometimes the guilty go free for any number of reasons including a victim unwilling (or too intimidated) to testify and the ability to hire a good defense team that knows how to manipulate the system as well as public opinion.
Here in Chicago rumors about Kelly's penchant for underaged girls is old hat. Students at some of the area high schools have even bragged about spotting Kelly hanging around trying to talk to girls as young as fourteen and fifteen. Now, if this pattern was committed by someone not as famous as Kelly, we would call it for what it is - a predator seeking out victims. And that he uses school grounds to prey upon these victims makes the CPS song list inclusion that more egregious. Even if the courts could not bring Kelly to justice, that fact does not exonerate him. And if there is even the mere scintilla of possibility that Kelly is a pedophile, the CPS's move is reckless and irresponsible. The school system as well as its employees are charged with the protection of young bodies and minds; they betray that charge when they directly validate those who would violate the same.
Yes, R. Kelly was found not guilty. That doesn't mean he is innocent - nor that he doesn't have to pay the price. CPS, do the right thing and take him off your list.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 12/28/2008 08:35:00 AMPermanent Link |
|
Home
---------------oOo---------------
Saturday, May 03, 2008
This explains it... ...why Barbara Walters has a thing for black folks' hair. She fostered that fetish a long time ago, it seems (although former Senator Brooke is mum on the matter). OK, let me be cool...it might have been real love...or in Barbara's words, "I was certainly infatuated...I was certainly involved. He was exciting. He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington.”
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 5/03/2008 03:42:00 PMPermanent Link |
|
Home
---------------oOo---------------
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Cult of Personality
One of my favorite songs is the late 80's classic Cult of Personality from the once defunct, now re-constituted group Living Colour. A funk-rock groove fronted by the amazing vocals of Corey Glover, the song was - and is - a protest anthem against the mindless glorification of celebrity. I was listening to the song the other day, pondering the lyrics, and couldn't help but think of Paris Hilton and her brood, all lost souls, all constant figures in the media. The newspapers and news shows thrust these overgrown bratlings upon us as lives worth noting, yet from the murmurings on the message boards, the streets, and in the offices, there's an obvious resentment from those of us who are supposed to be worshipping at their altars. Because basically, we're sick of them. At least I know I am. When breakdowns arise from excess instead of the day-to-day travails of striving and trying to earn a living for ourselves and our families, it is hard to garner sympathy for these young woman, Hilton, in particular. And it is equally a travesty that these lives have unrelentingly been pushed in our faces as newsworthy.
So it is a refreshing breath of sanity to learn that at least one news anchor has said enough to the idolatry. MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski said "no" not once, not twice, but three times when told to lead the news with the latest on Paris Hilton. She refused to push the Hilton story before important political news about Iraq (you know that little squirmish which has cost thousands of lives and billions of American dollars). The first time she refused to read the script, Ms. Brzezinski apologized to the viewing audience, noting that she had not chosen to lead with the Hilton story. Her disconcerted co-anchor tried to laugh off the refusal, but she repeated her boycott during the next time slots. The second time she saw that her news manager still had Hilton at the top of the news, Brzezinski asked for a lighter, which was promptly snatched away before she could set the script aflame. The third time, a frustrated Brzezinski simply shredded the script in a nearby paper shredder.
Thanks to YouTube, Ms Brzezinski has become a hero, not only in the States, but worldwide, for her refusal to perpetrate the ridiculous cult of personality that Paris Hilton has become. Noteworthy for nothing more than being born into a wealthy family, Ms. Hilton is a public relations creation that has run amok. She definitely does not deserve a slot above the lives being lost over in Iraq, or even for that matter, the economic news, the local crime news, the weather, the sports or the little anchor bantering in between. In other words, she deserves no news time whatsoever. Yes, she can fill the Hollywood gossip rags, for which she is fair fodder. But let's not attribute unwarranted importance on her antics.
So a hearty heads up to Mika Brzezinski, my hero of the moment.
