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.

Sorry, people: I cannot make this stuff up. The story practically writes itself.

Robert H. Richards IV and the Affluenza Facts

So, I think it is time for me to break down some simple facts about this case:

1.)    Robert H. Richards IV is a member and heir of two prominent Delaware families. The du Pont family are the ones who built the worldwide chemical empire.  The Richards family co-founded the prestigious corporate law firm Richards Layton & Finger. His grandfather is Du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont. His father, Robert H. Richards III, was a partner in the law firm until his 2008 retirement. [2]

So, it is to say that he does not have to worry about money being any issue. Nor does he have to worry about lawyering up since he probably had lawyers at his Sweet 16 parties blowing out his candles. I know it sounds insane, but I am just saying.

2.)    Judge Jan Jurden suggested Robert H. Richards IV would benefit more from treatment. Let us be reminded that Richards was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009. As a result of a subsequent lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, this “light sentence” has now become public. The charges do note that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently assaulted his son as well. [3]

3.)    The lawsuit argues that statements Richards made while on probation are evidence he admitted in April 2010 to sexually abusing his son. Those assaults began around December 2005, when the boy was 19 months old, and continued for about two years, the lawsuit said. [4]

4.)    Richards was ordered to take a lie detector test in an attempt to get him to be more forthcoming about his sexual history. He failed it. Eventually, Richards told the examiner he “was very concerned that something happened with his son, but that he has repressed the memories.’” He told the examiner he worried that his acts were “similar to what happened with his daughter,” the lawsuit said. “But he promised that whatever I did to my son, I will never do it again.” [5]

And I am finished giving facts about this story because the facts are damning, draining, and mind numbing.

The Problem This Case of Affluenza Causes

Robert H. Richards IV pretty much got off easy. Rest assured that he is in a happy state because he won’t serve any prison time (at this moment).

What we should find odd is that Richards received a sentence better served for drug addicts. I would say that this is a strange situation for him. Then again, have we not seen this before? Have we not witnessed the rich getting away with situations because they have the resources to turn things in their favor? Have we not witnessed this situation occur with the drunk driving teen in Texas? It is safe to say that the rich can damn near live the lives they please.

Robert H. Richards IV

This only happens because we, foolhardily, believed that justice is this blind woman with the balance. In reality, justice is no more than your regular whore that sells her ass to the highest bidder. This case only solidify that our justice system has taken cues from “the world’s oldest profession”. The court system is not filled with thelaw abiding citizens making decisions. It is filled with pimps, players, hustlers, and ballers.

Meanwhile, “Justice” is kissing the biggest pinky ring.

Robert H. Richards IV, and the Rest of Rich America, Won

I cannot blame Robert H. Richards IV for being a product of riches. But I can blame him for being a more despicable human being. I cannot help but to think that situations like this will get more “swept under rug” treatment. Eventually, America is going to get tired of this bullshit. At some point, there needs to be a vaccine for this case of affluenza.

So, who is willing to hit up the laboratory? This question shall always deserve an answer.

The post Robert H. Richards IV: No Prison Time for Wealthy Daddy Rapist appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Police in Marseilles arrested Dana Holmes for DUI back in May. She has since pleaded guilty and received court supervision for that charge. But while in custody she alleges officers with Lasalle County illegally strip-searched her and left her naked in a jail cell for more than an hour.

Four sheriff’s officers carry 32-year-old Dana Holmes into a LaSalle County jail cell. The three men and one woman put her face down on the floor and proceed to strip off her clothes.

It’s all captured on a security camera in a corner of the padded cell. They take her clothes leaving her alone and naked in the cell, until throwing blankets inside a few minutes later.

“I was terrified. I felt helpless. I was scared and I lay there crying . . . I just prayed,” said Holmes.

Dana Holmes

Holmes, from Coal City, was in LaSalle County for a wedding and earlier was stopped for DUI by Marseilles police. They reportedly found her almost three times over the legal limit. But the problems allegedly began after she arrived at the county jail.

While patting her down, she can be seen moving her leg slightly, and that’s when the officers surrounded her and pinned her to the ground before carrying her by her arms and legs into the jail cell.

Her attorney has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff, the officers, and the county, alleging the officers intentionally and gratuitously humiliated, degraded, and dehumanized the plaintiff.

Attorney Terry Ekl says under statute, only an officer of the same gender is allowed to strip search an inmate after getting permission from a supervisor and only in a secluded area.

“These are on-duty deputy sheriffs humiliating and groping a female inmate. It makes you wonder, were these guys ever trained?” said Terry Ekl, attorney.

Holmes says she was cooperative and never argued with the officers. (source)

Watch the video below:

Seriously, beyond all the jokes and the “that’s what she gets for being drunk,” ignorant commentary. The truth is that what was done to her — whether as a punishment, or for her own safety; hey, apparently women can sneak bottles of alcohol into jail in their vagina — in my view, amounts to a sexual assault. But hey, that’s just my opinion; and I’m no expert. After all, I have never been arrested and booked for a DUI.

The post Woman Arrested for DUI Stripped Naked and Left in Cell appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Not that there’s much my overly-immature-self can teach to a 50-year-old grown-ass-man or anything. It’s just that I would like to know what the hell is on his rabbit-ass-mind when he did what he did to his neighbor? And more importantly, I would like to know if he has any plans of sticking to his story in defense of his actions? O course some people are into saving lives and that’s a good thing. But having sex with an unconscious woman so as to save her life? Come on, sir. You’re looking like more like Mr. Rapey McRapist than you do a Good Samaritan with this bullshit story.

This from The Salt Lake City Tribune:

A 50-year-old St. George man is in trouble after he allegedly found a female neighbor unconscious on her front porch and allegedly claimed he had sex with her to try to warm her.

Rodger William Kelly told police he inserted his penis inside the unconscious 29-year-old on May 19 because “he was trying to save her life,” according to court documents.

“He said he did place it inside of her to try and get her temperature up,” police wrote in a probable cause statement filed in 5th District Court.

Looks like 50-year-old Rodger William Kelly took that State Farm “Like a good neighbor” jingle too seriously.

Police told Kelly that his actions amounted to rape. He was charged Monday with one count of first-degree felony rape.

Kelly told officers that he found the woman passed out in front of her apartment and brought her inside his apartment, changed her clothes and put her on his bed. He said he then lay down next to her and hugged her to try to get her temperature up because she had been outside, then attempted intercourse to warm her.

When police arrived, responding to an unconscious person call, they said they found Kelly inside his apartment giving the woman CPR.

The woman later told police she thought she might have been raped and recalled being dressed in a pair of the man’s underwear and shorts. She told police she had bruising on her pelvic and upper thighs, according to court documents.

The hospital was unable to complete a rape kit because the woman’s vaginal area was cleaned while she was sedated, according to court documents.

Kelly told police that the two previously were intimate, but admitted the woman had told him before the incident that she didn’t want to have sex with him again.

Okay, so I don’t know much about Utah. Heck, for all I know it is probably fifty degrees below zero out there at this time of the year. Even so, I sincerely doubt that the insertion of a penis into a frozen and unconscious woman’s vagina is the suggested or prescribed fix for hypothermia.

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on television; but, of all the methods of resuscitation I doubt whether this one exists. Of course the medical books that I have read over the years are old. So, maybe this is something new that even the cops in Utah are not quite educated on just yet.

That said, I wonder what would he have done if his neighbor was a man instead of a woman. Would he have been quick on his feet as he was with his female neighbor and insert his penis into his you know what? Now do you see why I would love to have a conversation with this man?

The post Urah Man Claims He Had Sex With Unconscious Woman to ‘Save’ Her Life appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Speaking of which, of all the places a woman can become a victim of sexual assault, one would think a court would be the safest and last place where something like that would happen. But with this place they called “sin City” — otherwise known as Las Vegas — where anything can happen. I suppose we shouldn’t be shocked to hear that a woman who walked into a courtroom for a divorce, walked out the victim of such a crime.

This from KLAS-TV Las Vegas:

LAS VEGAS — Multiple employees and managers at the Clark County family court are under investigation for allegedly covering up a sexual assault by a court marshal.

[…] There are multiple marshals involved and allegations ranging from sexual assaults to choking a citizen in court. The investigation began with a 2011 video that shows family court marshals arresting a woman because she claimed one of them sexually assaulted her.

Monica Contreras went to family court with her 2-year-old daughter in August 2011. She was in the courtroom only a few minutes on a routine divorce case. Her husband filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against her during their divorce. He never showed up in court so the order was denied.

According to internal court documents, as Contreras was leaving, family court marshal Ron Fox ordered her into a waiting room for an unexplained drug search.

Contreras said Fox touched her buttocks, breast, and ordered her to lift up her shirt. A later internal investigation by Clark County courts validated her claims. Contreras went back into the same courtroom and told hearing master Patricia Donninger that her requests to have a female marshal handle the search were ignored.

“I think I’d rather have a female in here and he went anyway. I was just offended by it. I’m just offended that he asked me,” an upset Contreras told Donninger, who did not respond to her.

The video shows Marshal James Kenyon preparing to arrest Contreras. She can be heard pleading with him.

“For what, sir? Why would I be arrested? Can you please tell me?”

Marshal Kenyon is heard telling Contreras to turn around and put her hands behind her back. As Contreras continues to ask why she is being arrested, marshal Ron Fox replies.

“Because of false allegations made against a police officer,” he told her.

[…] After repeated attempts by the marshals to get Contreras to recant her story, she breaks down.

“Let me go. It was all lies. I don’t want to deal with anything. It was all lies. All lies. All lies. All lies. Please stop,” she said.

Fox tells Contreras the only way she can avoid jail is to step up to the microphone and recant. Contreras agrees, but does the opposite.

“You put me in a room. You asked me to lift up my shirt without a witness,” Contreras said into the microphone.

At that point, Fox replied, “OK, take her to jail.”

For four minutes, Contreras pleaded to hearing master Patricia Donninger to listen to her, but Donninger never acknowledged Contreras, instead she talked and played with Contreras’s daughter.

“How can you do this to me? How can you watch?” Contreras pleaded.

Contreras kisses her daughter before being sent to jail. Her young daughter was sent to Child Haven. Two months later, Contreras filed a complaint with Court Marshal Internal Affairs.

Sources tell the I-Team, investigators were shocked they had not heard of the alleged courthouse sexual assault from family court Lt. Steve Rushfield. After a six-month internal affairs investigation, Fox was fired.

 

[…] Clark County court administration released a statement reading: “Court personnel are prohibited from commenting on the video because it’s a personnel matter. When the actions of any district court employee are called into question, the court immediately responds by conducting a fair, thorough investigation and, upon completion, taking appropriate action.”

Even though Fox was fired, sources tell the I-Team, Clark County courts are widening their investigation into why this incident, and a growing number of assault allegations, were never reported by family court management to internal affairs.

Fox maintains his innocence and is suing Clark County for wrongful termination. His attorney declined an on-camera interview but claims the marshal’s arrest was legal because nobody in the courtroom tried to stop him. (source)

Watch the video below:

The post Bailiff Sexually Assaults Woman in Court then Arrests Her for Complaining appeared first on Madness & Reality.

But then again, with the recent events in Cleveland, and givem that the neighborhood on question is not-so-sunny, maybe it will. At any rate, what these people did was despicable and they deserved to be thrown under the jail. What’s especially disturbing, however, is the fact that there were witnesses to the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl who failed to report it to the police. I could be wrong, but those people are just as guilty of rape, in my humble opinion.

This from Cluck2Houston:

MADISONVILLE, Texas – Police have arrested two more people in connection to the brutal gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Madisonville.

Investigators said a man and woman turned themselves in over the weekend, which brings the total number of people arrested to nine.  Two people are still on the run.

The attack happened in early March at a trailer in the 100 block of East Lance Street in Madisonville. Investigators said someone was paid to bring the victim to the trailer.

After the victim arrived, police said the suspects gave the girl meth, then proceeded to take turns sexually assaulting her.

“She was brought over there, enticed by methamphetamines, repeatedly sexually assaulted one after another by about 11 individuals,” said Lt. Jonathan Zitzmann with the Madisonville Police Department.

Just behind the window of the trailer on East Lance is where Madisonville police said the teenage girl was held prisoner for hours in March.

“Once the sexual assault began, what our intel is telling us is that they started making phone calls and texting people, and more people ended up coming to the house to, unfortunately, take their turn,” said Zitzmann.

“After the sexual assault was finished, she was then introduced to two females who were not related with the sexual assault, one that allegedly threatened her with a gun who remains unknown at this time, and a second female who allegedly hit her with a tire iron several times on the head,” said Zitzmann.

[…] Police said the victim told her mother about the attack the same night but was so intoxicated from drugs that she wasn’t able to give police much information. Once the drugs wore off, police said she was very helpful.

“She’s a very smart girl, and she was able to remember a lot,” said Zitzmann. “And we do have several witnesses that were able to corroborate her story to a ‘t’.”

Zitzmann said even though the witnesses were helpful with information, none of them did anything to stop the crime from happening.

“Thankfully, they came forward to talk to police after the fact,” said Zitzmann. “It’s better late than never.”

Investigators said this isn’t the first time these suspects have had trouble with the law.

“It is a group of guys that have a vast criminal history,” said Zitzmann. “Several of them have convictions for drug abuse, drug delivery and violence.”

Debrodrick Manning, Brandon Gilbert, Derrick Kyle, Lorenzo Ford, Lafelix Turner, Steven Manning and Adrian Butler have all been arrested in connection to the case.

The suspects were caught off guard, many sleeping at the time police showed up at their doorstep. Some were even taken to jail barefoot and in boxer shorts.

All of the suspects have been charged with sexual assault of a child and trafficking of persons, a first degree felony. Those suspects could get up to 99 years in prison if convicted.

If you have any information on their whereabouts, you are urged to call Madisonville police.

Watch the video below:

The post 9 Arrested for Gang-Rape of a 16-Year-Old Girl appeared first on Madness & Reality.

You might even be so desperate for help that you reach out to a local radio show host like one father did recently for this exact same issue.

In response to an email from a listener concerning his daughter’s interest in girls, DJ Dominic Deiter declared over the air that the father could cure his daughter budding lesbianism by, “You should get one of your friends to screw your daughter straight.”

Once a person includes the words ‘father’, ‘daughter’,  ‘your friends’ and ‘rape’ in the same sentence it becomes difficult to make things get worse than what they already are. However, the impact of the statement from this asshole gets even more insulting when you realize this is a broadcast from the ‘Rover’s Morning Glory’ radio program airing on WWMS 100.7 FM radio station.

This station is owned by Clear Channel Communications, also the home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the rest of those red throat-ed eels. Bain Capital, the company that Mitt Romney began and is still involved with, is the majority owner of Clear Channel so as you can see, the gangs all here and doing what they do which is talk hateful and ignorant shit to the masses unfortunate enough to listen to it.

Of course this didn’t go over well with the folks over at GLAAD who had the following to say.

GLAAD’s Director of News & Field Media Aaron McQuade says “It was appalling and dangerous for this show to tell a father that he should have one of his friends rape his daughter. That’s essentially how Dieter responded to this listener, and this is no laughing matter in a world where people are too often the victims of violence and sexual assault based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. And Dieter gave this vile advice to everyone who was listening, including educators, parents and children – sending the message that it’s okay to physically or sexually abuse people who are perceived to be gay.”

I’m not sure what it is that’s got my head so fucked up these days. As I sit down to write about certain topics I’m forced to reflect on myself and what it is that I’m trying to say to you people.

Sometimes the journey through what “is” and “is not” okay and what “is” and “is not” fucked up is still blurry in my world. Like when I hear about the sexual assault of a person who identifies as gay or is suspected of being gay, I can barely muster the interest to bat an eyelash because its part of what happens when you ‘choose’ to be gay. Being both gay and a woman makes the chance that a woman will be the victim of sexual assault that much more likely.

Dominic Dieter: Radio DJ, Potential Rapist, & Definitely Misogynist

Sexual assault is more prevalent for some people in society than for others and focusing on how wrong rape is immediately makes one also realize how common sexual assault is. The further you go down on the societal totem pole the more likely you are to be a victim of sexual assault.

The chances increase as you add various factors to the situation such as economics, race and especially sexual orientation, because the ladder makes a question of what one does up for public debate. Being gay or perceived as gay is something that is viewed as wrong by closed minded ignorant people of all nationalities, races and gender.

LGBT people insult everyone else with their presence so not only is the act of raping a gay person a sexual assault, it is also a hate crime because the initial motivation for the sexual assault is to exhibit power over another person because of their gender orientation or perception thereof.

Rape is about power.

The rape of a gay person is about power and erasure. It is a double theft of a person’s right to self determination and privacy.

The value of the victim decreases as the biases increase and I’m sure there were plenty of insecure men and quivering homophobics who agreed that indeed, a gay woman (or any woman for that matter) should have ‘the gay fucked out of her’ because there’s nothing more threatening to the world then a woman who isn’t susceptible or receptive to the almighty penis.

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Y’all knew they were gonna flood in, didn’t you? The analyses of Kanye West’s new “Monster” video, that is. Kanye’s latest music video, featuring Bon Ivor, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & Rick Ross, is stirring up quite the controversy. Some communities are arguing Kanye’s video is blatantly misogynistic, claiming they even refuse to watch it again. To that I say, “How stupid!”

To refuse to engage with media representation is a highly dangerous task for any person committed to justice or liberation of a peoples. Media is an accessible “tool” that allows all of us to experience arenas of the world we aren’t necessarily always allowed access into. Albeit, these representations are usually limited and inaccurate in that they never fully contextualize people, places, things, etc.

To get back to Kanye, I agree–on the surface of this video and the lyrics–this song is entirely misogynistic. For that, we need to hold him accountable as a man but also as an artist. However, I refuse to dismiss the “Monster” video as anything other than brilliant. Mr. West brought us a narrative on the exploitation of Black bodies by the same tool that’s being used by these purported liberation advocates and/or “feminists”–whiteness.

Take a look at the video. You will see the only “dead” women are white women (I put dead in quotations because this is an artistic representation and no one is *actually* dead). The women of color who are represented in this video are all zombie-esque. I will get back to this point later. Now, just hear me out.
Kanye is offering us a story here, whether we listen or not is our choice. Given some bold interactions that have taken place in the public sphere between Mr. West and, ahem, Taylor Swift…I think it’s important to analyze how he is using this video to continue stirring “controversy.”

Given my interests in how Lady Gaga uses Blackness to perpetuate racial tropes in media and exploit Black bodies, I immediately put Kanye’s “Monster” video into conversation with Gaga.

On Gaga’s Fame Monster album, she has two tracks “Just Dance” and “Monster” that are crucial to my analysis of Kanye’s video. On “Just Dance”, Gaga was praised for her commentary on date rape amongst some groups. Gaga and Akon–a Black man–share drinks and a friendly exchange that suggests they will be having sex later on that night–drunk sex.

Her “Monster” track goes on to give “Just Dance” a shout-out when she blurts: “I wanna just dance but he took me home instead. Uh oh, there was a monster in my bed.” Gaga’s “monster” is a sexual predator–he takes advantage of her. In short, he rapes her. A monster is a rapist to Gaga.

Now this all seems like great commentary until you take into consideration the fact that she has Akon on the “Just Dance” track as the supposed sexual predator–not a new trope for Black men in the media (think: “Birth of a Nation”). Though Akon is not on the “Monster” track, her reference paired with the fact she has male vocals of someone who is perceivably Black leads us to assume the predator is Black (Please reference Dr. E. Patrick Johnson’s “Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity” for more on the sounds of Blackness).

Essentially what Gaga’s narrative gives us is a little bit of history, whereby white women fetishize Black bodies and after exploring their sexual desires cry wolf. It should come as no surprise that Black men were imprisoned for the supposed rapes of white women that were later found out to be inaccurate (think: Scottsboro Boys). I presume this “pretending it didn’t happen” is due to the social taboos and pressures of not subscribing to interracial exchanges.

Bringing this right on back to Kanye, I perceive his “Monster” video to be a direct response to not only Lady Gaga–after all, they share a title name–but history as well. He responds to this idea that Black men are sexual predators. Essentially, Kanye’s response is his defense for Blackness. If you want to portray him as a monster, fine. But here’s his side. Not only does Kanye give a brilliant narrative on the demonization of Black men but also of late capitalism, whereby bodies become commodities. If anyone is addressing the “fame monster” it is Kanye, not Gaga.

He opens the track by having Bon Iver state: “I shoot the lights out, hide til it’s bright out.” Some of the most profound Black artists and poets have used the symbolism of a light/dark dichotomy to address racial politics. He closes the video by stating, “I crossed the line. I’ll let God decide.” Kanye knew there would be a backlash–because anytime someone comes to the defense of Blackness or Black issues, there is always a backlash.

Even when you incorporate Nicki Minaj’s verse, this video is still in defense of Blackness. Nicki is interrogating herself as Barbie–a figure that long since put burdens upon women’s bodies, especially Black women. How long did it take to get a Black Barbie? Just sayin’. She depicts the multiple personas women in the media have to portray. You can be the vixen or the pure, innocent virgin. But you have to choose. Back to Kanye we go when we consider the Taylor Swift incident whereby Beyonce was placed in direct opposition to Taylor Swift–vixen versus virgin (though, I give Beyonce much more respect and credit then to reduce her to a vixen).

The zombie-esque nature of the video’s women of color could highlight the internal battle some women feel as they’re compartmentalized. But that’s precisely why Blackness is at the root of this argument. Blackness is more than skin color. Blackness is ideology. Those zombies and monsters represent a eager and willingness to fight back.

This video was so–Kanye. We all know Kanye West has his moments, trust. However, I don’t think this is another one of Kanye’s moments. I think this is all part of his beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy, when Black people start to tell their side of the story and gain the respect they deserve to address the injustices placed upon them.

We should not excuse the misogyny of the video or the lyrics. The usage of words like “bitch” and suggesting violence against women is unacceptable–especially when the male privilege that consumes them goes unchecked. If we should be addressing anyone, it should be Jay-Z’s verse when he talks about raping a village of women and children. But again, I think this goes right back to responding to the trope of “Black men as sexual predator.” We need to be willing to allow multiple narratives to co-exist and work through the problems together. He is not excused to paint white women as she-devils, but he is allowed to respond to history.

I would hope that the video’s viewers would take a minute to analyze the video from another lens.

Check the video out for yourself.

Johnathan Fields is a DePaul University alum with a B.A. in African & Black Diaspora Studies and Philosophy. His areas of interest include: media representations of race, gender, and sexuality in popular culture, Black feminist theory, Diasporic literature and critical race theory. He is also the latest addition to this site’s family of contributors.

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OK, so you remember the story I told you about the guy who beat up his girlfriend who was a double amputee? Yeah, she had no arms and legs and yet he said it was in self defense because she often kicks his ass with her nubs; remember that story? [read it here]

Yeah well, this one is even more jacked up. No seriously, just like that other story it made me laugh because it was ridiculously twisted and totally fucked up when I read it; and for that, I offer no apologies:

In honor of yesterday being the 20th anniversary of the signing of the American with Disabilities Act by George H.W. Bush, allow me to say a few words to a few people using this case (and video) as a point of reference:

If you’re sitting on the couch playing Playstation 3 over at some fat chicks crib while you drink up the Juicy Juice meant for her kids for eight hous a day, you should kill yourself after watching the above video.

No seriously, if seeing what this guy has accomplished with his life in spite of his disability, and you’re still going nowhere fast selling the occasional sack of weed left over from what you didn’t smoke. I’d say your life needs some serious evaluation and maybe holy water.

But hey, maybe when your stupid ass catches a case you can give him a call and employ his services to get your dumb ass off. Just don’t be mad if he grabs your booty. Real talk: people with disabilities are doing big things.

But anyway, isn’t this some silly shit? How in the hell is a guy in a wheelchair, suffering with cerebral palsy gonna intentionally grab or slap some booty? And not just any booty; I’m talking judicial booty!

The muthafucka probably can’t even pull his own zipper up and down to piss, but yet he ‘s gonna play grab ass with a judge? OK, so you might say that the fact that he’s in a wheelchair and probably hasn’t had ass since ass had him might have lead to some sexual frustrations which in turn predicated his actions.

OK, so a part of me wants to believe that too, especially after reading that he might have had a thing for this particular judge and would email her constantly until she (indirectly) asked him to stop (which he did).

Shit, people in wheelchairs have needs too! Shit, I once knew a guy who had only a half of his body that I worked with, who rode around his house on a skateboard who hung out with me at a strip club a time or two.

So yeah, maybe dude had fantasies of just what “Judge Judy” may have looked like under her robe. It’s plausible; but I think to say that he intentionally attempted to cop a feel is a bit of a stretch.

I think the judge may have been freaked out by looking at the poor dude, much in the same way people are with clowns and midgets. if so, I understand. Wheelchair or not, any stalker-ish spastic guy who occasionally does the Harlem Shake in a courtroom would freak anyone out.

At any rate, I think she’s full of shit, and I hope Chico Mertsaris wins this case.

STORY HERE

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