NEW YORK — Bill Cosby’s legal team is not going to take it anymore. Last week, a new public face appeared in Monique Pressley, defending the once-beloved comic performer now beleaguered by allegations of sexual assault from dozens of women. The Washington, D.C-based attorney, whose specialties include civil litigation, became the main legal spokesperson after a…

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I’m writing this letter in order to get some things off my chest. I know this will likely never reach you, but this is just my way of venting.

First off, I wanted to say that I admired your work. I watched Fat Albert, the Cosby Show, A Different World and your stand-up shows. But then, in 2004, you delivered what would be known as the “Pound Cake” speech at the NAACP Awards Ceremony. You were critical of poor black folks, especially single mothers, baby daddies and young black males with no father figures. You did not blame this histories, past and contemporary, discrimination, segregation, the racial achievement gap, or any institutional and systematic socioeconomic or political factors. No. You blamed this on poor black people themselves which is the usual conservative end-all, be-all for why poor black folks are in prison or dead. But some black folks agreed with you. They agreed with your concept of respectability politics that suggests that things would be better for us if we just did better.

I must admit that, at first, I saw where you were coming from. I even agreed with some of your points while disagreeing with others. Since then, I disagreed more and more with your stance concerning the struggling black underclass, but I still admired you nonetheless. I still thought you were a great human being despite your opinions on the black poor.

But then, we hear about your sexual escapades involving drugging women and raping them, and all my respect crumbled. A comedian, a black male himself by the name of Hannibal Burress, brought up how you “raped women”, and since then it was all down hill from there. Your reputation, your image as well as the respect and adulation you’ve gained over the years started to dwindle into nothing as more and more women bravely came out and told the world how you treated them. These women have been harmed by you. Their lives have been altered because of you. And whether you want to face it or not, you are responsible.

I must also admit that in the beginning, I didn’t believe these women. As more and more victims came out, I started to think it was some kind of “plot” against you, a powerful black man loved around the world. I thought these women were nothing more than opportunists scheming to get at your money and their 15 minutes of fame. I thought what so many of your fans thought. But somewhere along the way, I started to realize that these women were not wrong at all, that you really did something against them. I started to consider that the man who made me laugh when I was little was a monster who harmed so many women, women who looked up to you and wanted your guidance. My only regret was that I didn’t see it sooner.

It was painful on a few levels to learn that you, Bill Cosby, a man who has done so much good for others and brought laughter to so many people, was a serial rapist. And dozen of women can not be wrong. But you know what’s especially uncomfortable about this whole mess is? It’s the fact that you are a black man, and I don’t know if you realize it, but we don’t have the best image when it comes to sexual relations.

I know there are those who will object to what I’m about to say, and tell me how this is a gender issue and not a race issue. But here me out nonetheless as we live in a racist society. You see, black men have a reputation among racist white folks as being natural-born rapists, brutes with an inability to control our sexual urges, especially when it comes to white women. White women to racist white people are seen as precious, pure and cosmically beautiful. Mr. Cosby, some of your victims are white women. And because of that, you helped to solidify a stereotype black men have been working so hard to destroy.

And it’s not just you. Sadly, there are some other black men who didn’t get the memo, because they were never taught their history or how the world sees them. You helped made things harder for black men everywhere.

Even more upsetting is that some of your victims are black women. How can we, as black men, stand up for freedom, while we harm our women? Consider how this must be devastating for not only your victims, but also your wife Camille and your daughters.

When it comes to rape, black men are interconnected with that word and its definition since slavery. It’s part of the white supremacist doctrine forced upon us through brutality. It’s no different than being associated with crime or fatherlessness. Black men have so many negative stereotypes attached to them that it becomes hard, practically harmful or even fatal, to just live in this nation that paints us all with a broad brush. Unlike white males, we don’t have the privilege of being seen as individuals when a member of our group commits a horrible crime. One black male rapist becomes a representative of the black male existence. We are guilty until proven innocent, and sometimes even then, it’s too late. One way or another, we are painted as the most evil, and you helped prove that notion.

What’s even more disappointing is that you also look like a colossal hypocrite. You sought fit to lecture black people on doing better when you were, as Burress pointed out, raped so many women throughout your career. (What makes you better than the people you scold?) God only knows how many women you actually harmed by your antics. But thank goodness some came out and told their stories.

Mr. Cosby, you have traumatized to a lot of people who looked up to you, and denying it will only make things worse for yourself and others. If by a microscopic chance this letter does somehow reach you, here’s what I implore you to do:

1. Confess and apologize to the women you harmed and the fans and family you saddened.

2. Get some help for your sick illness.

3. Find ways to repair the damage you’ve done to so many people and help fight against rape.

The problem of rape does not begin and end with you. It’s a social problem we must all confront and fix before there are any more victims. I only hope there will be more men out there that will join the cause and stop this problem for the sake of humanity. Why not take ownership for your sexual assaults and fix the damage you’ve left behind? Only then would you take the first step in redeeming yourself and help fight rape culture. What will you do, Mr. Cosby?

Signed,

Brotha Wolf

The post An Open Letter To Bill Cosby appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I thought I had said or written all that I had to say or write about Bill Cosby and his foolishness, but just when I thought I was out of the conversation, they pull me back in.

A portion of Bill Cosby’s deposition in a 2005 civil suit brought by a woman who claimed the comedian gave her Quaaludes in order to sexually assault her suddenly surfaced a week or so ago, reopening and reigniting arguments as to his guilt or innocence. I didn’t even bother to read it or any of the heated commentary surrounding it because I had already made up my mind about Cosby during the first round of this argument.

Many considered this Cosby deposition to be the proverbial smoking gun, the most damning piece of evidence to be presented thus far and conclusive proof of his guilt. However, expectedly, #randomhotepnegroes, conspiracy theorists, and Bill Cosby defenders, not entirely mutually exclusive groups, took an exact opposite stance.  And enough of them guilted me into going back and reading the document myself using that whole, “If you are really interested in the truth…” thing.

These #randomhotepnegroes, conspiracy theorists, and Bill Cosby defenders apprised me of the fact that in this deposition Cosby did not admit to drugging women and then having sex with them against their will; rather, he only copped to procuring Quaaludes for the purpose of seducing them. Evidently, Quaaludes were a big part of his seduction game.

And much to my chagrin, after reading through the portion of the deposition released online, I could but only admit that they were indeed correct. This deposition alone can in no way be read as an admission of guilt.

Actor Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network’s 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York April 6, 2011. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS HEADSHOT) – RTR2KWH7

In fact, as it was pointed out to me, if we were to use this confession by Cosby as a measure of his guilt, we would then have to go back and arrest most of the male population because who has not shown up at some woman’s house with a fifth of cognac and a dream?

To be completely honest, most decisions men make between the ages of about fourteen to twenty-six, depending on an individual’s rate of maturity, are predicated almost entirely on the possibility of the decision resulting in sex. So if this is the smoking gun people claim it to be, practically all men are guilty to some degree.

But that in no way changes my opinion of Cosby.

A good friend who is a lawyer brought to my attention the fact that in most criminal cases in which the defendant is found guilty that go to trial, no such smoking gun even exists. In fact, most of these cases are decided simply on the basis of the evidence presented. And based on the evidence presented thus far, the accusations of a now almost innumerable number of women—they just seem to keep coming out of the woodwork—Cosby, in my reasoned but humble opinion, is dead guilty. Admittedly, some of these women may have ulterior motives; however, every one of them cannot be telling the same lie.

Not only that, and most importantly, just how high is our threshold of the acceptable burden of proof? What would these #randomhotepnegroes, conspiracy theorists, and Bill Cosby defenders actually accept as the proverbial smoking gun because as evinced by history, no amount of evidence, whatever the quality or form, is ever enough.

Remember the case of one R & B artist, R. Kelly? Remember that even amid repeated allegations and reports of him preying on young, black girls, a videotape surfaced of him peeing on somebody’s child. In other words, there was video evidence of his malfeasance, his pedophilia. His foolishness was caught on tape and in living color; nevertheless, for many even this videotape, this visual evidence, still was not enough of a smoking gun.

#randomhotepnegroes, conspiracy theorists, and Bill Cosby defenders insisted that we had no way of knowing if that was actually R. Kelly on that video or not, and furthermore that video and the allegations and investigations dogging R. Kelly were just more attempts to bring a good brother down, and now that renegade negro R. Kelly is still running around wearing a mask, dressed like somebody’s uncle who just touched down after going to jail during the 1980’s, talking about he is the pied piper of R & B.

And I have no way of proving it, so it is more or less completely conjecture on my part, but more than likely, part 2 of his pedophilic rampage jumped off as soon as he was acquitted of the charges and progresses even at this very moment. If you are so sure of R. Kelly’s innocence, why not send your underage daughters or nieces to spend a week or so with him at his estate?

And who could forget the O.J. Simpson case, The Trial of the Century? Remember that one? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence of his guilt, some folks still claim that he did not stab up those white folk, curiously despite the fact that at the time he stabbed up those white folk, he had all but cut his ties to and disavowed the black community many years previous to that incident. Yet, many black folk defended him, and continue to do so, nonetheless.

It is amazing what a bit of police incompetence, a stack of money, and the power that stack of money accords can do. It can get you off even in the face of the most overwhelming evidence, and in some cases, it may even frighten and intimidate the victims of crimes, no matter how heinous, from even coming forward.

Meanwhile, between there and here, many of the pre-hotep #randomhotepnegroes stepped to some random white women’s house with a fifth of cognac and a dream, and when the liquor ran out but their dream was deferred and they left without having accomplished anything, in their embarrassment they read almost the whole first chapter and/or the back cover blurb of a hand full of books, at least enough to consider themselves experts, and immediately went on Twitter and got to hotep-ing.

Please forgive those last few lines. They were non-sequitur and completely inappropriate. But sometimes I say or write stuff just to amuse myself. I will endeavor to delete them from the final draft. Again, forgive me.

Nevertheless, we must get past this whole false black good-white bad dichotomy. Evil is not exclusively the trait of any one race or group but is sprinkled indiscriminately throughout the whole of humanity. If you array yourself in the armor of truth and claim the complete eradication of even the slightest hint of unequal treatment as your cause, if you claim truth to be the means and justice to be the end, you must necessarily be truthful and insist on justice no matter who it is for or against, lest you become merely a chocolate version of the vanilla you find so distasteful.

Truth and justice cannot be the purview of just us, for as Martin Luther the King so eloquently reminded us in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the very existence of injustice anywhere threatens the presence of justice everywhere; justice must necessarily be for all or for none.

Hotep.

The post Bill Cosby: Just-Us and the Burden of Proof appeared first on Madness & Reality.

The first thing I must say, is that it is tragic that it took this much for people to truly believe the allegations. Apparently, the word of about 40 women was not enough. Imagine how that must feel, to have your accounts thoroughly dismissed as part of a “conspiracy” to “tear a Black man down” The silencing that comes along with the tacit support of rape culture finds many ways to marginalize its victims. A false notion of racial solidarity in this case, is one of them.

Given that Cosby has made a second career of publicly bashing the Black working class with his pound cake harangues, he set himself up as the face of respectability politics. He even went so far as to co-author a book with psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint to drive the point home. While his credibility is shot, one of the unfortunate things is that these sort of notions will find new spokespeople. It must, since respectability politics is a key ideological component that justifies Black oppression in this country. It will probably prefer a cacophony of voices, rather than a sole figure, given this will lend the notion more legitimacy. Others will pick up the mantle, despite this flawed ideology. But, facile arguments in service of power should have no lasting suasion over critically thinking people.

I turn my attention to those who went at me for going after Cosby strictly on his politics. Those who have deemed me a “statist”, and a person blind to individual responsibility. It’s deep when you get hate emails from white conservatives for taking a Black man to task for his respectability politics. What do you have to say now? There are people that tie themselves into knots and make all sorts of justifications defending the wealthy and well off. I just wish many of us would ride as hard for those of us who are the most vulnerable. It is unwise to defend people who would not defend you. We spend way too much energy genuflecting to celebrities.

This post may give the impression that I am rubbing it in, or being petty. At the risk of seeming so, I still opt to put this up. In addressing Bill Cosby, I was accused of having a “personal vendetta” against him. This is yet another way of silencing people. Try again.

One last point. For those of you who are raising the “distraction” thing, come on son. The reason we found out about this now, is because Cosby’s lawyers lost the battle against the Associated Press to keep this information sealed. Long money protects people. It is possible to think and write about this situation, and the rejection of austerity in Greece, and the rebuilding of Black churches with the help of those of Islamic faith. Don’t assume that everyone has limited faculties.

[Originally posted at Polite On Society]

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And under that makeup is an ugliness that would make Stevie Wonder cringe.

Actor Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network’s 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York April 6, 2011. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS HEADSHOT) – RTR2KWH7

Rape Culture: The Obvious

All along, people have been screaming about the guilt that Bill Cosby has harbored. Now that the Jello pudding has hit the fan, all those that thought he was guilty can relish in satisfaction:

Bill Cosby has admitted to getting prescription Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with, newly released documents show.

The documents, dating back to 2005, stem from a civil lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand — one of the dozens of women who have publicly accused the comedian of sexual assault. The records were made public Monday after The Associated Press went to court to compel their release. [1]

And then there is this part:

In a sworn deposition, Cosby answered questions from Constand’s attorney, Dolores Troiani.

“When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” Troiani asked.

“Yes,” Cosby replied.

“Did you ever give any of those young women the Quaaludes without their knowledge?” Troiani asked.

Cosby’s attorney objected and told him not to answer the question. [2]

As heartbreaking as this all looks, Cosby has a problem. Whether it be his voracity for multiple women or his use of drugs to “give” to them, the rape culture virus is rampant within his physiology. One only hopes that others not named Darren Sharper can learn from this.

Rape Culture And The Surprising

It is one thing to see the already accused be put through the ringer. It is another to see someone that you would least expect go through a police investigation. And this is what happened to Jared Fogle, Mr. Subway himself:

Amid a child pornography scandal that in May ensnared the executive director of Fogle’s Jared Foundation, which combats childhood obesity, state and federal authorities converged on the Subway spokesman’s Zionsville, Indiana, home early Tuesday.

Officers and agents led by Indiana’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force raided Fogle’s home where he lives with his wife and two young children. They confiscated computers, media storage devices, DVDs and documents. One law enforcement officer entered the home with a dog capable of sniffing out micro SD cards, typically used to store photos and videos, CNN affiliate WTHR reported. [3]

Now, I don’t know what they found on him or on his computers. I do know this: one of his foundation workers actually was caught up in child pornography and Subway has suspended their working relationship. Thus, Jared Fogle is looking crazy even if he isn’t guilty.

Rape Culture and the Scarily Unknown

Now, those two previous cases dealt with known figures in the lexicon of pop culture. However, it is the cases that deal with regular, everyday people that seem to be the scariest of all:

A man from California sits in jail in Detroit awaiting trial on charges of luring a 16-year-old Detroit girl into interstate prostitution.

The case started right in the middle of a popular outdoor event in the city, The Detroit Jazz Festival – which took place on last Labor Day weekend in Hart Plaza.

Evidence shows Kevin Keys, known online as Stac A Dollar, lured the 16-year-old girl into the sex trade by telling her she would make a lot of money.

Sex for money with the girl took place inside a tent right next to the festival. [4]

And that’s not all, my fellow readers. Yes, it gets even worse:

She did not go home. Detroit police put out an urgent call for help.

According to the investigation, Stac A Dollar, saw the missing person report and bought the teenager a wig so she would not be identified.

He allegedly took all the money raised from his sex tent to buy bus tickets and took the teen to Minnesota.

The man marketed her, shot several sexually explicit photos and sent them online to potential customers. [5]

This actually shook me to the core. The audacity of a man taking a teen and pimping them out is practically sickening. After he found out, he kept doing the foolishness instead of letting her go? For me, it isn’t the public figures getting caught up; it is the common citizens that are up to no good that is the most petrifying of all.

Rape Culture Epilogue

Rape culture is a problem that appears in a myriad of forms. It appears in the form of the highly susceptible finally being caught up. It also exists in the form of the unexpected clean cut person being accused. Even worse, rape culture appears as the creep that would do the worst to someone’s underage daughter. In all of its forms, rape culture has to be approached and eventually eradicated.

And it can only happen when we start in the mind.

The post Bill Cosby: Rape Culture in July of 2015 appeared first on Madness & Reality.

We lost Cliff Huxtable. We lost Bill Cosby. We lost a man who brought forth the positive image of black family life to American mainstream TV. And it looks like the person responsible is none other than Bill Cosby himself.

You might wanna get comfortable, because this may be a long and depressing article.

I used to love Bill Cosby. I remember watching his comedy special “Bill Cosby: Himself” when I was young. I even recorded it, and no matter how many times I watched it, I laughed my ass off.

I watched episodes of “The Cosby Show”. It was just as gut-busting when it came to humor, but it was positive, clean humor that only Cosby could give. Not only that, I saw something very few people saw on TV back in the day, a well-to-do black family with two career-driven, positive and professional parents and children who did not fit the negative stereotypes of black youth. It was amazing!

Bill Cosby was like a father-figure to most of his audiences. He even displayed that persona during his infamous Pound Cake Speech at the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education decision which drew mixed reviews. Some, like famed professor Michael Eric Dyson criticized his chastising of poor blacks for not holding up their end of “the deal”. Others thought he was being honest. He seemed to care about the direction poor black communities were heading. Whatever your opinion of him and his stance on the black working class, you still kinda admire him for all the contributions he gave to the media promoting positive black images from Fat Albert to Cliff Huxtable.

But all of that is crashing down as you read this. We could’ve been deceived by a man who’s not at all like Cliff Hustable in real life. Then again, some would say that he has done a lot for positive, black media imagery and black colleges. So, he certainly can’t be what over 20 women says he is. A rapist.

Cosby has been accused over the years of raping so many women. Alas, the media only reported this less than a few times since he became a household name. So, it was shocking to find out that he has been accused of sexual assault and rape before. After all, this is a man scolding poor black people to do better. Yet, he was accused of heinous crimes! Talk about hypocrisy. And it was another comedian, Hannibal Burress, who pointed that shit out in a comedy routine:

“Bill Cosby has the f***ing smuggest old black man public persona that I hate. Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom. Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse on stage. Well, yeah, you’re a rapist,” Buress joked.

The video that recorded that piece went viral. And it was all downhill from there for Cosby. From that point on, one by one and counting, women have come out speaking that Cosby raped them, all sharing one theme. Cosby drugged them somehow. took advantage of them while they were out and they felt sexually violated in some way. The once famed and beloved comedian morphed into America’s infamous serial rapists in the news, tabloid and social media outlets in a firestorm of accusation after accusation.

Immediately, Cosby was tried and convicted by a court of public opinion. His future plans for a comeback have been virtually demolished. “The Cosby Show” is no longer on the air. And his comedy tour has been scrapped. It’s safe to say that the Cosby legacy is in ruins and possibly unsalvageable.

As expected, this has crossed issues from sexism into racism as people are strongly divided over this scandal. Many people side with the accusers, stating that the culture of rape and sexual assault must be stopped. It is definitely a case in Tinsel Town where it holds many ugly secrets. While others question how could a black man of any status get away with so many rapes during a time when racial overtness was still in style. After all, almost all of the accusers are white women. The ghost of Willie Norton haunts us again like he did with Herman Cain.

But then, you have the ones who suspect that the women are after Cosby’s money as they plan to sue him as oppose to try to put his behind in prison. They question why it took them so long for them to do anything. They wonder why nothing was done to stop this man. In the end, they suspect something’s rotten in Denmark. Conspiracy theories were born from there. One, of which, included a plot to bring down a highly powerful black man as that’s an American no-no.

Those who support Cosby, from what I’ve seen, are mostly black folks. Does that mean something’s wrong with them? Hell no! It just means that they’re no different from the mostly white people who still support Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and the latest embattled white celebrity Stephen Collins who confessed to molesting three girls during his earlier days. So, the message is simply this: if you can support your heroes who obviously have faults, why can’t we, assuming Cosby is guilty? Is it right? No, but who are white people to say they’re experts in ethics and morality in the first place, especially when they’ve violently demanded that we embrace their “civility”? In other words, we learned that shit from them.

It’s one thing to discuss the issue of rape in the Cosby case. It’s another when certain men are singled out for the discussion to be brought. It seems like certain societal problems are never mentioned unless a black person is in the spotlight. Domestic violence was an issue when Chris Brown and Ray Rice were in the news, not Charlie Sheen or Mel Gibson. This is why the issue of sexual assault will be discussed due to Bill Cosby’s alleged actions and not those of Jerry Sandusky or even Jimmy Savile (Google him and be shocked). People should not piggyback off certain celebs while ignoring others when discussing these important topics that involve all who’s guilty.

Some have even said that this scandal helped to influence public opinion on black men during a time when black men are under attack by the police and have been screwed by grand juries. The face of domestic violence has been a black male’s face. The face of thuggery is a black male’s face. And now, thanks to Cosby, the face of rape has – as it has been since slavery – a black male’s face. Race is likely not out of the question in this whole mess.

As we see this scandal unravel with possibly more women coming forward, all we can do is watch Cosby’s pristine image die slowly, but surely. We must not demonize the women, however, as it will be counterproductive. All in all, the lesson is that those we worship are humans with faults and flaws. And it looks like Bill has a lot of them. We are witnessing a slow and painful death that could be the result of a years-long career self-destruction that we’ve ignored far too long.

The post The End of Bill Cosby appeared first on Madness & Reality.

In the current popular discourse on so many topics one has stood out profoundly for me. I have repeatedly refrained from speaking much on the topic of Bill Cosby and the current allegations against him involving allegations of rape going back over twenty years. The topic itself has been the source of many heated debates about rape, rape culture, character assassination defamation and even racism as directed at this seeming icon of black culture. Many voices have been raised in indignation at the women coming forward now to tell their stories and instinctive mistrust has risen to the fore front of many exchanges and arguments as to the validity of the claims and the culpability of Mr. Cosby himself.

In my limited personal experience I felt from the outset that my perspective would only hold value to other women who have themselves been victims of rape and or assault. I felt that my experiences precluded me from speaking without bias to the realness of the situation. An inability if you will of providing an unbiased take on the situation led me to say very little. However I continued to listen and on levels I was not readily aware of, to contemplate the scenarios as they were brought forward and to aggregate the information presented into how and what I felt about it.

I wanted to for the most part to stay out of the dialogue. I realized why today. See I was raped at the age of 13 by a neighbor who was 25 at the time. It was a family member of a neighbor who was staying with them at the time and who I had my first crush on.  The family was well known in the community the father being a local business owner and the mother being a stalwart fixture in the church. My connection came through their youngest daughter who was a cousin to this person and so my coming over to “visit” was not something anyone paid any particular mind to.

My crush was actually a running joke and something that was discussed and laughed about on many occasions. My understanding at the time of relationships and sex was absolutely nil. Up until that very moment I did not even know exactly what actual intercourse consisted of.  It would be the first of several encounters with this person which in my innocence and ignorance perceived at the time was part of being “boyfriend and girlfriend”.  There was always however a feeling of disquiet and something not being “right”.  So now we come to the $64,000 question – why didn’t I tell? So many reasons not to and not enough belief in myself to come forward. I was a latchkey kid, raised as an only child with a tenuous connection to the kids on the block I grew up on as they all were or had siblings I was the only one who did not which wound up with me being subjected to constant ridicule fights. Etc. I was ostracized and “othered” even at that young age and as a result didn’t have a BFF or friend to tell. My relationship with my mother at that time was very strained as we all were dealing with my father’s cancer diagnosis. So who was I going to tell? Who was going to believe me? What exactly was I going TO tell? I instead would go home after these “encounters” sore, and climb into my bed with my radio and cry myself to sleep. At one point during this time, I recall an instance where myself and this individual went to the hospital to see my father after having had an extensive surgery. No one knew about anything going on between myself and this person we were not “openly” involved but when we showed up at the hospital and I saw my father he looked at me and him and I could see in his face that he knew and at the same time felt defeated because of his condition-there really wasn’t anything he could do. That look he gave me never left me.

Years later when I was able to fully understand what happened, it was still not enough for me to tell anyone. My father had passed away and I was somewhat estranged from my mother. Who was I going to tell and what would be the point? So instead I buried all the memories all the things that I could that were associated with it. I never spoke his name again. I eventually stopped communicating with the neighbor who he was related to. Buried and silenced and put away not to think of or process again ostensibly. Even as I would encounter the neighbors there was always the dark, foreboding belief that no one would ever believe such a thing from that family and those people.  No one would believe me and those words were the hammer that allowed me to pound that nail away into forgetfulness. Until today where I remember all of it. My shame, my guilt, my fear he became angry with me on one occasion because instead of lying still like I normally did during the “encounters”, I had the audacity to move and he interpreted that as evidence I was messing around with someone else. He raised his hand to hit me and shook me till my head hurt. My terror and disconnect when my period came late and the days spent crying and not knowing what to do (I miscarried).

Yet there was really nothing to tell in my mind everything I knew and was experienced with said that telling now years later would do no good at all and would just subject me to abuse and ridicule.

I would see and hear stories about rape cases and the memory would flicker for a moment – for all the time it took for me to bury it again. I have until today never spoken about this to another living soul.

Then the questions started coming – why wouldn’t a woman tell, call the police, report it. Why would a woman, any woman wait so long to tell. What could she possibly gain since no charges can be filed..

I know the answer now. One word,

Freedom.

The post BILL COSBY DID NOT RAPE ME: PLEASE BELIEVE ME appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Check it out via CNN:

Now where I take issue, is with Cosby using Zimmerman’s decision to pull the trigger to make his point. I think in doing so he supports the notion that Zimmerman somehow felt super-human or above-the-law by virtue of being in possession of a gun when he encountered Trayvon. To me, this idea does very little to dispell the held belief by some that Zimmerman willfully shot Trayvon with the fullness of malice and intent, to kill Trayvon because he was black. I don’t believe this is exactly what happened. I mean, who exactly dials 911 before planning to do bodily harm and maybe even death to another individual?  OK, so Joe Horn did exactly that in Texas; but even so, he was within his legal right to protect himself, and his home. If he wasn’t, I believe he would’ve been indicted, but he wsn’t.

Personally, I believe Cosby told an inconvenient truth. You may not agree with me, but I believe Trayvon Martin’s death had as much to do with the color of his skin as much as Reginald Denny being hit in the head with a brick during the L.A. riots because he was white. Now don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean I support a ban on guns or limiting gun ownership to certain people here in the United States that are of legal adult age. Nope, I’m not; and, I happen to take the right to bear arms as seriously as I do all of our Constitutional rights and protections.

Yep, and last time I checked, Zimmerman was in legal possession of his hand gun at the time of Trayvon’s death. So likening Zimmerman’s possession and subsequent use of his gun that night to the actions of a drug addicted criminal as Cosby did, is a not acceptable in my opinion. Now if Zimmerman’s gun was not registered, or if he didn’t have a concealed weapon permit, then that’s a different story. But then again, this is the same Bill Cosby who once said that black folks were shooting each other in the back of the head over pound cake. Funny, but not exactly accurate, no?

We can argue until the cows come home over whether Zimmerman’s actions were motivated by the race of Trayvon Martin. But at the end of the day, though believed by many, it’s just something that cannot be proven in court given the evidence as we know it. Now when the Feds who did their own independent investigation brings forth charges against Zimmerman for the violation of Trayvon’s civil rights, then I might say that some of you were right, and as usual, that Bill Cosby was wrong.

In America, one of our biggest problems is being able to identify problems without the ability to offer solutions. There has been much talk about guns and gun control since this case has drawn national attention. Hell, an NRA official even recently said that, “George Zimmerman is the NRA,” in defense of assaults on the organization. While all of this political wrangling is going on, what’s funny is that I have yet to hear anyone suggest a ban on neighborhood watch groups, or hoodies for that matter.

Speaking of race, how come there aren’t many black people at NRA events? Of course I realize the NRA is seen as a right-wing lobbyist organization, but does that make then racist by proxy since the GOP is seen as unaccommodating of black folk? What, are thee no minority legal gun owners?

The post Bill Cosby: Trayvon Martin’s Death More About Gun Ownership Than Race (Or, Why Bill Cosby is Right) appeared first on Madness & Reality.

First off, you’re Bill Cosby; you’ve openly criticized Black youth and urban culture. Not only that, but as Jessie Jackson would say you “talked down to Black people.” But yet now you come with a project to reach the youth? Again, not a bad idea, but you employ the talent of guys we’ve never heard of? Damn Bill, at one point in time I remember you trying to buy NBC. Shit, if you want to reach the youth with a positive message via Hip Hop, stop being cheap; spend some money and put together a project with some well known or more influential rap artists.

An old head like me can appreciate the reverberation of “conscious” Hip Hop today in a landscape where said MCs have a hard time thriving. And no disrespect to the young brothers you’re using for this project, but I doubt they’ll create much of a buzz to even pique the interest of kids who are currently hooked on ring-tone music.

Point blank: I don’t care how nice these guys are on the microphone, kids are not going to listen to three no-name emcees tell them to pull up their pants. Especially when one time womanizer, baby having on the side, “Come On People”, Bill Cosby is behind it, and you can’t say “filth, filth, flarn filth, in front of people.”

Don’t get me wrong, I grew up with Cosby’s work. Back in the day I couldn’t wait to wake up on a Saturday morning and hangout with “Fat Albert” and the rest of the crew; it was entertaining. And then I got older and his comedic delivery on Thursday nights in the form of Black family utopia or “The Cosby Show” was well appreciated. Yes, I love Bill Cosby for providing those moments in my youth. But the last thing I want is for, a 70yr old man, touching the art form of Hip Hop, to which I am endeared. Please believe, people never forget the wack albums; and I’d hate to see Cosby’s featured on “VH1’s 100 Wackest Hip Hop Albums of all Time” in the future.

If Bill Cosby truly cared about reaching the kids via Hip Hop he would buy BET instead of putting out a rap album that nobody is going to listen to. Seriously Bill if you’re not going to do that, stick to Jazz and those ugly 90s sweaters because Hip Hop isn’t you. How about you put out a comedy album that’s designed to target parents instead. If you want to reach kids go back to Jell-O Pudding Pops and “Little Bill” on Nick Jr. my friend.

Not that I’m looking to you to throw on a cape and be “Leonard Pt. 6” again to save urban youth or anything. But since you’re not giving away free CDs – something he really should consider doing – and said kids must purchase to get the message. Cosby would be better served if he were able to put together a serious collaboration to reach a wider audience.

Stop being cheap Bill; freedom ain’t free…

Besides, it’s a state of emergency, right?

P.S. Checkout what my sister Goddess Intellect had to say: Click Here

The post From Pudding Pop to Hip Hop: Bill Cosby releases Hip Hop album, but… appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Huh?

What the hell are you talking about RiPPa?

I’m talking about him and his family not being Black.

But they look every bit like a Black family to me RiPPa.

Sure they do, but they’re not Black.

Says who?

Says this guy…
That my friends was the voice of George Bush’s brain, Karl Rove. He’s often credited as being a political genius. Having said that, I have to say that he’s a pretty smart man, and hence he’s right. Some of you may be offended by what he said, but y’all better wake up, and recognize.
Huh?
Yes he’s right because he’s a white man, and white men have been defining our culture or the cultures of minorities for years. I mean, they are the dominant culture in this country, so what they say goes. They were the ones who made us niggers right? Am I right? And they were the ones who had us questioning using it as a term of endearment because all of a sudden it was disrespectful and politically incorrect to say nigger anymore, right? Never mind the fact that some Blacks took away the power of the word, and turned it into a source of motivation. Never mind that. Because of them, nigger has been reduced to whats now known as the N-WORD.
The N-WORD is more socially acceptable, and carries less weight of degradation as the word nigger. And since that’s how it is, Karl Rove is right to say that the Obama family is not Black. N-WORD PLEASE!!!
A “PRE-AMERICAN” FAMILY
Thank God for Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show from back in the day. If it wasn’t for him, Barack Obama, and all the rest of us African American families in the country would have been Black. Because of Bill Cosby, Black families are no longer looked down upon like the hopelessly downtrodden Evans family who lived in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago in the 70’s. Sucks to be them in their situation back then, but hey, there are no more African American families struggling to make it anymore.
You see, to be African American and struggle would mean that you’re Black. But thanks to Dr. Huxtable, and his attorney wife, their success made them an American family. And by virtue of them being Black…oops, African American, they’re America’s family. Thank God there aren’t anymore projects or poor people, and thank God there aren’t any more Black people in America. So much for the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s, we all owe our progress to Bill Cosby.
We have truly came a long way.

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