Posts Tagged ‘Oprah’
i’m not feeling all this talk about oprah running for president. it’s not clear she’s stuck on this idea but let’s go with the media circus and assume she is. as i took this morning to reflect on the life and legacy of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, i felt sure that she shouldn’t.
please don’t get me wrong; i love oprah. she is greatness personified. and perhaps at another time when our society is in a different place it would work. but not now.
one of things that made MLK so great was that he was and still is the moral voice to our country’s soul. he pushed us to think about where we stood not only by what we said but our actions. his speeches called us to do more than say (or tweet) we want peace. we have to BE peaceful too. he showed us through his marches how to BE a loving ‘fighter’ for justice.
if MLK was president i’m not sure it would have had the same impact. his calling was as an outside agitator. his calling was to wake up our internal voices, so our external voice would speak up for the good of humankind. which brings me back to oprah.
she has lead our country and the world by calling us to look deep within and discover our purpose. to ‘live our best lives’. that role to me is much more important than president. her voice and other voices of conscious like MLK, awaken us to become ‘presidents’ of our own lives. they implore us to evolve into better people and with better people, we have better families, better communities; a country and world that is better.
we don’t need oprah as president, we’ve got ourselves. as the great MLK stated…
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- Comments Off on Sage’s Rage: Barneys, Smarneys; leave Jay Z alone
jay z is starting a line at barneys; the place where a young black male is suing them for falsely accusing him of stealing by assuming he couldn’t afford to buy an item in the store. hov is a business man, why should he get involved?
oprah couldn’t by a bag at hermes. AND what? i’m pretty sure she has much bigger fish to fry…
is it cool to treat someone horribly at your store because of their race, gender or sexual orientation. NO
but let’s get real. all this fuss is much deeper than folks are trying to front. think about it. when was the last time we had boycotts because someone got kicked out of a 99 cent store…
the outrage is that barneys and hermes are supposed to be the IT stores. the place where the ‘fabulous’ get their toys. so by treating a black person badly at those stores, they are indirectly saying that they are not worthy of fabulousity too. so people are mad…
but i say so what.
forget barneys. why get your self-worth from a store selling a bunch of stuff. people get discriminated all the time. it’s not a good thing but it is a fact. the anger needs to be directed at why in 2013 we still have discrimination and negative stereotypes.
the outrage should be that there is still a belief that certain people are not good enough. but until we focus on that, to me this is but a silly scuffle over nothing. a rag over who has the right to wear the best designer clothes is not the fight i’m checking to be a part of…
one of my favorite quotes is by ethel watts mumford
“the greatest possession is self possession”
stay focused ladies! you look good in that dress regardless of where it came from
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- Comments Off on Sage’s Rage: I’ll be watching Fatherless Daughters on OWN
i admit proudly that i am a daddy’s girl. i remember as a young girl flying into his arms and he would pick me up and look into my eyes with love.
i have so many memories of my dad going to my school productions and awards ceremonies. most of the time, he was the only man around. it’s still a running joke amongst my old friends, how he would pull out his camera and the flash would blind the whole crowd. there was no doubt in my mind that my dad was supportive of his little girl.
we would have long discussions about the state of world affairs. the nerd girl in me would be so excited that i could debate with a grown up. to this day, i am grateful for him acknowledging my voice. he is my rock and my hero. he taught me that men respect and honor women, so his expectations of the guys i would date were super high! thanks to his disapproving eye, i dodged many bad love matches.
as i have grown into a woman, i see how similar we are. he loves people and so do i. he loves different cultures and i live for new travel adventures. he loves baking and i’m starting to put a dent in my oven skills:) i CANNOT imagine my life without him growing up and now.
in my work with girls/young women, i realize there are so many of you living without your fathers. some of you know who they are, some of you don’t. some of you act like it doesn’t matter, some of you are clear there’s a hole in your heart.
i could jot down some psycho jumbo about the wounds of childhood traumas, but the reality is that being without a father has never been my experience. i’m not going to pretend i know what it feels like.
but there is one thing i know for sure; not having a good relationship with your father is a significant factor in your life. you gotta take some time to think about it and get some ideas about the best ways to move forward.
that’s why i’m glad Oprah and her tv network OWN has decided to take on the issue and talk to girls/women who do not have fathers in their lives. i’m looking forward to watching the special discussion about fatherless daughters on OWN tv tomorrow night (July 14th) 9pm (EST).
i’m also very happy to see she will be airing an amazing documentary by Kobie Brown called From Fatherless to Fatherhood. i saw a special screening of this film last year. it is an uplifting showcase of fathers, like mine, who are there for their children. i hope those stories can be an inspiration to fathers to better their relationship with their daughters.
let us know what you think… what does your father mean to you? do you want to create a better relationship with him?
i’m very excited that Oprah will be airing the documentary Dark Girls on OWN this Sunday 10pm EST. i haven’t seen it yet but i’m sure it will be powerful.
i feel that it’s more than time that diverse topics about girls are brought to light in the media. it’s been time for us to start talking, so we can do something about it.
which is why i’m also really happy to see a new film in the making about another experience that is often not talked about; being an ‘only’.
Black Girl In Surburbia is going to be a film about black girls who live in the suburbs. i know what that feels like.
when i was really young (elementary school age), i was the only black girl in my school and it was hard. being different is a tough thing for most youth and being singled out because of your race is no different.
kudos to the Dark Girls documentary and salute to new film maker, Melissa Lowery…
check out the trailer for Black Girl In Suburbia:
Black Girl In Suburbia is a feature documentary that looks into the experiences of black girls growing up in predominately white communities. This film explores through professional and personal interviews the conflict and issues black girls have relating to both white and black communities. Release date 2014
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- Comments Off on Crowing a Queen (update): Determination leads to Success
In 2009, we introduced to you then Sophomore at Spelman College, Deaweh Benson. She was a Psychology/English major and gave her advice to budding college goers on how to overcome challenges with financial aid and the importance of working extra hard to achieve your dreams.
Check out the post here: http://wp.me/prDSM-54
Oprah was not the only one speaking at Spelman this past month. We are so excited to report that Deaweh graduated from Spelman College as Valedictorian and gave an awe inspiring speech at Class Day!!
Deaweh was interviewed by RollingOut.com. Click on the interview about how she did it!
We are sure this is not the last we will hear from Deaweh as she begins to make her impact on the world.
Congratulations Deaweh!!! You are truly the definition of a Queen…
