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"Janjaweed in America" By Gem2001"Dunbar Village" By Symphony "How Do We Keep a Social Movement Alive"- By Fallon

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Registration For "Bloggin While Brown" Conference Begins

Make sure you read Symphony's report from the most recent meeting between the bureaucrats in West Palm Beach, Florida. They are still inept. Our national leaders are still indifferent to one of the most heinous attacks on a Black mother and child in our lifetimes. CALL THEM ON THEIR CRAP!

How to Help Dunbar Village Victims

Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church’s phone number is (561) 832-3757. If you want to read about my experience donating at my local Wachovia branch, you can read about it here

Live Blogging from Washington,DC - From Imus to Industry Hearing

Dunbar Village Posts

Party on BET CEO's Lawn

Jesse Jackson is "Acting White"

How Long Could You Go Without Cable? 381 Days?

The "Concubine Conspiracy"

PLEASE PARDON OUR MESS. WE'RE MAKING SOME CHANGES

Join us in Atlanta, July 25-27,2008 for the Blogging While Brown Conference. The first international conference for bloggers of color and the readers who love and comment on them!

Early registration ends November 1, 2007!

Blogging While Brown is the first international conference for, by, and about Bloggers of Color AND the readers who love and comment on them. The purpose of the event is to give Bloggers of Color an opportunity to meet each other for the first time, discuss current issues affecting Bloggers of Color, and learn about the latest technology that will assist them with publishing their work. Blogging While Brown was created in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the amount of diversity in some of the largest blogging conferences.

Nailah Franklin Tribute

Born in Highland Park, Illinois and raised in south suburban Chicago, Nailah--whose name means "one who succeeds"--is a 1997 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School and a 2001 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a bachelors degree in advertising. After graduation, she began her career at Leo Burnett, earning promotions, gaining experience and developing relationships during her five-year tenure there. While she was successful in her work, Nailah wanted to take on a new challenge and set her sights on a job in the pharmaceutical sales industry. She has worked as a sales rep for Eli Lilly & Co. since 2006. Always creating new challenges for herself, Nailah recently took on organizing events at a Chicago art gallery while simultaneously managing interior decorating projects for friends. Her care and concern for others is reflected in her volunteer efforts with the Chicago Urban League Metroboard, the Glass Slipper Project and other local non-profit organizations. Nailah is a force to be reckoned with. A presence. Someone who isn't afraid to speak her mind, try new things and set the bar high for herself and those around her. She is strong, resilient, vivacious, opinionated and above all, fashionable. A "girlie-girl", she loves her family and friends, fashion, spa visits, music and anything and everything related to Oprah.

Simply put, Nailah is our star.

Courtesy of BringNailahFranklinhome.com

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DO YOU LIVE IN SOUTH FLORIDA?

Help Us Keep Us With the Shenanigans in West Palm Beach Next Week

LATEST PODCAST
Make sure you read Symphony's report from the most recent meeting between the bureaucrats in West Palm Beach, Florida. They are still inept. Our national leaders are still indifferent to one of the most heinous attacks on a Black mother and child in our lifetimes. CALL THEM ON THEIR CRAP!

How to Help Dunbar Village Victims

Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church’s phone number is (561) 832-3757. If you want to read about my experience donating at my local Wachovia branch, you can read about it here

 Now THIS is the meeting I needed to attend, but I had to decline the Commissioner's invitation to attend.

OKAY WHO IS GOING TO SPEAK UP? I KNOW SOME OF YOU LIVE IN SOUTH FLORIDA!!!!

 There will be another meeting with between the West Palm Beach Housing Authority (WPBHA) and the city commissioners. This time the Commissioners will take public comment at the meeting.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 3:00pm City Commission Chambers at City Hall 200 2nd Street West Palm Beach, FL

Just remember: It doesn't take the majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause. Don't talk about the change, be the change. I want to see a room full of Black women and men in that chambers taking those 'leaders' to task. You can't demand people get on a plane to do what you aren't willing to get in your car and do...just sayin'. But you know I'm right. If you are interested in attending and would like to speak contact Symphony at symphonyep@gmail.com ; I will be happy to get you in contact with a few people down there including media. And for all you South Florida residents there is a benefit concert on behalf of the Dunbar Village victim and her son. It takes place Saturday at The World Famous Restaurant in West Palm Beach. $10/person.

Submitted by Symphony at Essential Presence

We just did our first Thursday show with special guest Shecodes and frequent commentators Tracey and Fal. The Black Women's Roundtable is BACK by popular demand. Really, please stop e-mailing. We're back each week at 8:00PM on Thursdays. We talked all about the Congressional Hearings on Tuesday. SheCodes, was also there. You can listen to the archived show in the player:

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Letter to Governor of Florida

I and many people around the world were shocked, saddened, horrified and angry about the Dunbar Village gang rape that occurred in June in West Palm Beach, Florida. I am sure you are familiar with what may be one of the most horrific hate crimes committed against a person of color since the dragging death of James Byrd, but on June 18th a 35 year old woman was raped and sodomized by 10 African American men and boys for over three hours while her neighbors ignored her screams and the screams of her 12 year-old son who the gang rapists beat for three hours. They forced the mother to perform oral sex on her 12 year-old son at gun point and when they were through, poured cleaning solution on the mother and son as they lay naked in their bathtub, blinding the son and burning the mother’s skin. When the savage attack was over, not a single one of this neighbors lifted a pinky finger to help her and she and her son, now blinded, had to walk to the hospital.

In response, Mayor Lois Frankel has attempted to lay the blame for the horrific events at Dunbar Village at the feet of the federal government. Mayor Frankel has been on several national news outlets blaming the federal government for not approving a $165,000 grant for a security guard, four years ago. Mayor Frankel appears to not have bothered to obtain the funds to protect the citizens of Dunbar Village from other sources. In fact, she spent $164 MILLION on a city office building and furnishings. In a single year there were 717 police calls from Dunbar Village, a complex with only 334 residents. There were 15 murders and countless other crimes.

Now the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development appears poised to grant TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS to revitalize Dunbar Village housing projects and replace this blighted area with a mixed income housing development and Lois Frankel is balking at paying $100,000 for a consultant to complete the grant application. Did I mention that HUD appears embarrassed by what happened at Dunbar Village and has given public indications that they are more than willing to hand over the money? Did I mention that these new residents would be homeowners thus tax payers and possibly draw commercial businesses to a part of Florida that is currently a blight?

Throughout this entire debacle, Mayor Lois Frankel has exhibited callousness, delusions, and incompetence and I respectfully ask you to intervene. I want to remind you that the people who are unlucky enough to live in the Hell on Earth that is Dunbar Village are not just residents of West Palm Beach, but they are citizens of the State of Florida and they deserve your protection. Please have your team Google “Dunbar Village.” People all over the world are outraged and while the story has percolated just below the surface internationally, the story is not going away. If you would like to hear my interview on National Public Radio discussing the Dunbar Village gang rape and the subsequent attack on another Black woman in the same area weeks later, you can go to .http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12596351. This story is not going away. Please intervene. Mayor Frankel is clearly over her head. Therefore I ask you to consider:

A. Go to Dunbar Village and assure the residents that if Lois Frankel is unable to secure this section of the city that the State of Florida will.

B. If Ms. Frankel is unwilling to apply for the grant than arrange for some other political subdivision of the State of Florida to apply.

C. Although Ms. Frankel managed to scrape up 164 MILLION DOLLARS to build a new city hall and appoint it with the finest of furnishings and accoutrements, she is unable to hold a cat fish dinner, car wash, or telethon to come up with $100, 000 for a grant consultant.

D. Lend the City of West Palm Beach a State of Florida Employee who is well versed in applying for federal grants, thus having an opportunity to return 20 MILLION DOLLARS of Floridians federal tax contributions back to the State of Florida.

Just let the residents of Dunbar Village know that while their city may have abandoned them, the state of Florida has not.
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