A Chance at Love

by Lisa

Sandy and Chance met during their junior year at USC. During their time in college, they ran with different crowds. Chance was a jock, with a chip on his shoulder. At 6’3” and 253 lbs, this all muscle dark-brown Adonis was a force to be reckoned with. He was headed to the NFL and nothing would stop him. With that said, he knew that he should also get a college degree. On the off chance that something happened, he wanted a back-up plan and a degree in architecture was the answer that he chose. Although he played football for the love of the sport, the women that chased him was the biggest reason that he took the physical beatings on the field. There was no woman of any nationality that could resist his looks, charm and desirability.

On the other hand, Sandy was a quiet bookworm with few friends. You normally could find this Nia Long look-a-like sitting somewhere alone studying or reading a book. Although she was one of the most beautiful women that walked the campus, she kept to herself. She didn’t have the time or the patience for idiocy. It was a miracle that their paths had ever crossed, but it was meant to be.

Sandy happened to be working at the campus library on the Saturday morning that Chance strolled in. It was not his M.O. to be in such a setting, but with finals coming up, he knew that the apartment that he shared with his buddies was not conducive to real studying. He did pride himself on being an intelligent athlete. He was looking for a book on 18th century architecture and Sandy was the only one to help him. As he approached the desk at which she was sitting, Sandy’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. His face was flawless. He had a slight slant in his dark brown eyes that made him look exotic; lickable lips; long powerful legs and a chest so dark and hard that it must have been made of raw mahogany wood. Sandy had never seen any man so beautiful in her life. She wanted to run out of the room as he got closer and closer.

“Go away, go away”, she thought to herself.

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Singer Angela Arnold Talks About Her Love of Music

This 25 year old Louisville, Kentucky native has been singing since age 4 and is excited about the upcoming release of her first album, Asa: Loves Experience, A Steve Wallis Project.

Where do you currently live?

I’m in East Orange, but I claim Louisville. I’m a native of Louisville, Kentucky. I love New Jersey but my sound– a lot of people you will see talking about me will tell you that it’s a Louisville sound.

Did you go to school, what was your major?

My major was Theatre Arts with a concentration in music. Rather than just having a God given talent, I have studied music. I’m definitely an actor as well.

College was much harder for me at one point. But I made it through!

Who influences you?

Anywhere from Billie Holiday to Tina Marie, Dinah Washington…

I could name a lot of folks, and that will definitely reflect on my album. The greatest of the influences that I’ve had when it comes to my music has been those greats of the 1930s.

If I took your iPod, what music would I find?

Tina Marie, she is one of the ultimate artists to me; Stevie Wonder, a lot of older cats. (Laughs). One of the newer cats: John Legend.

Ne-Yo, I think he’s a genius. Billie Holiday. And Jill Scott of course, Jill is all over the place in my iPod.

I tell you what; if I ever got the chance to work with Prince I’d be done. He’s probably one of the only artists I admire no matter what he does.

Does your album have a release date? What was some of your motivation for the album?

It doesn’t have a release date at this time, either at the end of December or early January. Steve Wallis is the producer of this project; we wanted it to be very exclusive. He really brought out what I wanted to do with the album.

I wrote all of the lyrics on the album except for two, and two of those were collaborations with Steve. I’m very proud of this album.

In February I lost a really good friend of mine and a good friend of a lot of people in the industry, Static Major. I started thinking to myself, “What is my purpose here? What did I come to the east coast to do and why am I not doing it? “ I feel there was some kind of force leading me there, whether it has been the spirit of my father or static’s spirit or even reminiscing on my father.

What do you do for fun?

A lot of times I just hang out with my friends, we might go see a theatre show, I might take in a film or support fellow artists. I make jewelry. That might be the next thing on the list to bring to the forefront.

Any advice for aspiring artists?

Have a plan. Educate yourself about the industry and don’t give up. It’s a lot of work but in the end, as long as you’re true to the art and as long as you stay true to the message that you’re trying to send to others, you will succeed.

View Asa’s blog here.

Black Women In Hollywood Don't Get Roles They Deserve

A movie that came out last month featured well known Estonian actress Mena Suvari as the lead character. The movie “Stuck” tells the story of a woman named Brandi who hits a homeless man with her car late one night, and is later is charged with his murder. The movie is based on the true story of a black woman named Chante Mallard who was convicted for the crime in 2001.

Suvari even has cornrows in the movie, giving her the look of being African-American even though they claim she portrays a “white trash” sort of character. Although she is a great actress- I do like some of her other work- I wonder why they couldn’t cast a black actress to play the role accurately, instead of distorting the character into what Suvari will be playing?

Black actresses are constantly competing for the same roles, and now with white actresses being able to look more “ethnic”, their chances of getting roles are diminishing. Jezebel.com features an article about the Suvari movie, and explores the unfortunate possibility of Black actresses becoming even more overlooked.

Ever since they have been allowed to act in movies, Black women have only been given roles as “mammies”- playing nannies to white children, cooks, and housekeepers, or “jezebels”- the seductive love interest, prostitute, or neighborhood man-stealer in every movie.

Nowadays, those two roles have been only a little bit broadened. Black women play secretaries and assistants (Wanda Sykes, Loretta Divine), or the typical Black family women in Tyler Perry-type Black movies (Angela Basset, Gabrielle Union, Nia Long, Kimberly Elise, etc). Often times Black women will be given the shot at action movies (Jada Pinkett-Smith, Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan, Keri Washington, Gabrielle Union) but those only come after huge recognition and success of previous movies, or after suggestions of who would look good next to the successful Black men that star in them (Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx).

It comes as no surprise that Black actresses are unhappy. In Essence’s December 2007 issue, there’s an article interview with Sanaa Lathan, Gabrielle Union and Nia Long about this topic. Union said, “I could make a living doing Black urban romantic comedies for the rest of my life…. But am I growing as an artist?” The personal accomplishment is not there for most of these ladies. They are not being paid fairly, and their years and years of acting is not reflected in their recognition.

Gabrielle Union also raised an interesting point in saying, “… they’ll complain on the blogs that we don’t have enough black stars. Well, you rip us to shreds every two seconds from our nose to the weave to the clothes to the shoes to the ashy ankles.”

Instead of supporting the few talented ladies that we have, the black community often resorts to criticism of how they are portrayed. Do we forget that the make-up and hair artists for these movies are white? The directors are white, the camera men are white, the lighting crew, publicists, clothing designers, casting directors, and everybody else that works on a movie….usually white. How can we expect them to completely and accurately reflect Black life?

Black culture in Hollywood only comes through what we see on the screen, and read in the pages. As an aspiring actress, I wonder what place in the line of Black actresses I will eventually get to with conditions like these. All of these ladies, especially my favorite actress Sanaa Lathan, have reason to complain about their roles. We as the Black audience and general public have to take notice, and be upset enough to try to change things and steer us in a direction where Black actresses are not overlooked and chosen second to somewhat “ethnic” looking white women.

Black Female Soldier Lavena Johnson: Rape/murder or suicide?

Black female soldier Lavena Johnson was found dead under highly questionable circumstances. She was shot in the head and had acid on her genitals. She also had a broken nose. The military has ruled her death a suicide and refuses to reopen the investigation. However, her family is stating that this is a cover-up. Video is below.

Black Women Coming Hard at Fox News for Michelle Obama

Fox News is under attack for their racist behavior. African Americans will no longer stand for Michelle Obama being called a "baby's mama", Barack being called "Osama", and all this other ridiculousness. This video hits the nail right on the head:

Black Women's Hair: Who Controls the Market?

Black women do not have much say in the black haircare market. According to this documentary by Aaron Black Hair documentary by Aron Ranen, black women and black men have almost no ownership in the massive market for African American hair care products. This is shocking in light of the fact that Koreans and others have come to know the black community to be loyal and powerful consumers in this market, spending black money in the billions. So, the notion that we do not own any of this market falls solely on our shoulders.

How do we learn how to gain a stake in the black hair care market? Perhaps it starts with education. Either way, black hair is always going to be an issue for our community and perhaps black women can take the lead.

The Black Hair Documentary is below.

Angry Black Women

Dr. Boyce Watkins


For those who may not understand why I had to critique Barack Obama's contribution to the perception of black men being irresponsible, perhaps you can get it now. Fox News recently did a segment about "why black women on TV tend to be angry". In the segment, they make continuous reference to the "angry black woman", and point to several examples of black women who tend to be angry during interviews. The video clip is at the bottom of this comment.

I have heard alot of brothers write off black women as angry, bitter and nasty, and with equal force, I INSIST that they not characterize the entire black female population by the actions of a subset. Although I've had much personal experience with negative black women, I choose to

describe them as collectively beautiful and marvelous, without allowing bad apples to spoil the bunch. I only ask that the same respect be given to black men, without using the actions of bad men to describe us as a collective. Instead, I am hopeful that you can focus on the many black men who've chosen to "man up" and do what is right with their lives.

I received about 130 emails yes terday from people who had mixed opinions about my article on Senator Obama's comments about black men needing to learn the art of fatherhood. They've been interesting and seem to call for more discourse. I noticed that the opinions were right down the middle and many of them were very strong in either direction. I also noticed that many of the emails came from a position of intense pain: Brothers dealing with "baby mama drama" who wanted to see their kids but were pushed out of their lives, or women dealing with some pathetic man who has chosen to ignore his responsibilities. I too know this pain personally, as my father abandoned me when I was a child, and I've also fought like hell (sometimes unsuccessfully) to find a place in the life of my own child. I have 7 god children and I mentor dozens of black youth around the country, many of whom do not have fathers or mothers who are doing the right thing, so I know the problem quite well. I will do a video on the topic soon, but I wanted to pose some quick thoughts I had while reading your emails (and yes, I do read my email and try to respond to you. I only ignore people who come off as flat out lunatics, since I don't mess with crazy people). Here are my thoughts.

1) Why do we assume that a broken family implies that a man "ran away from his responsibility"? Is it not also the case that many relationships end due to actions of the woman as well? All of us know of at least one "insane baby's mama" - either you have dealt with one, been in a relationship with a man who was dealing with one, or perhaps you have BEEN ONE! This does not imply that the end of the relationship is most likely the fault of the woman, but it does take two to tango.

2) No. I didn't make my statements for political purposes or to make money. I don't get paid for what I do on the internet, and I am NOT a politician. I honestly don't trust politicians and life is too shor t for me to spend all my time hoping that people like me. Telling the truth is the only way I can sleep at night, even if it implies that some people don't like what I have to say. One thing you will always get from me is a straight shot, I assure you of that. I guarantee that if you know me long enough, you will eventually disagree with me.

3) Yes, I support Obama 100% . Critiquing someone and keeping them honest doesn't mean you hate them. I critique my mama and I love my mama. Also, even though I love Barack, I put him in the same category as most "selectively honest" politicians. If a man loves his pastor and church for 20 years, and then suddenly realizes that he should disown them, I can't believe that he just had the wool pulled over his eyes for two decades. I am not in the business of abandoning those who've remained loyal to me for 20 years straight, that's not how I was raised. That's also why I'll never be a successful politician.

4) Obama has made a commitment to being race neutral in this election. However, if he or anyone else chooses to address race in this election I ONLY ASK THAT THEY BE FAIR. For Barack (or anyone else) to shut down anyone who speaks honestly about racism, and then to contribute to racial stereotypes about black male irresponsibility is not balanced. For those who feel that Obama was "telling it like it is", please remember this: Dr. Jeremiah Wright was also "telling it like it is", but he was attacked, disowned and told that his words needed to be muted. Honesty should not know racial boundaries. If Barack Obama is not comfortable going into a group of white males and being honest about their weaknesses, then it is not acceptable for him to do that to black men. Being bi-racial, Obama has just as much moral authority to speak on the negative choices of white males as he does for black males.

5) There are ALWAYS going to be people in every group who do the wrong thing. White women are not stereotyped by the actions of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. I would never stereotype black women for the actions of a few "insane baby's mamas". So, the notion that it is ok to define black men by the actions of a select few is equally problematic. However, it is comfortable to say "these brothers need to start doing right" because it alleviates anyone else of the guilt of whatever role they play in the breakdown of their families, and it also contributes to the 400 year tradition of defining black men as being socially inferior. A person could just as easily celebrate the great choices of positive black men as he could mulling over the actions of the irresponsible.Here is the issue: I do not feel that Barack would go into any other venue and paint any other group with a blanket indictment. He would no t say "too many Jews support killing Palestinians", or "too many Catholic Priests are molesting little children". So, I am not sure why it is ok to say that "too many black men are ignoring their responsibilities and not being fathers". While all three of these stereotypes may have some element of truth to them and one could claim you are "helping" the group by criticizing their collective behavior, it seems that "truth in stereotyping" is only acceptable when dealing with black folks.

Additionally, one-dimensional analysis is usually incorrect. If I were to define Bill Cosby as "the man who cheated on his wife, had an illegitimate child, abandoned that child to live without her father, and had the child thrown in jail", such a statement could be considered true. However, it would be flawed, myopic and ultimately incorrect. If doing this to one man is wrong, then doing it to 18 million men is damn near criminal. Black men and black women are equally worthy of love and protection and it is only via mutual respect that we are going to rebuild our families. Blaming men for all broken relationships is not the answer, and neither is defining all black women as "angry". We should all spend time looking in the mirror if we want to find the truth. Finally, racial conversation by political figures must be HONEST AND BALANCED. If you would not say som ething to a group of white men, then please don't say it to me. I refuse to accept someone else's label.

Bless you,
Dr. Boyce Watkins

To watch the Fox News video, click here