Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sex, Church and the Single Black Sister: Meet Sha Givens

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

One of the most intriguing things about the black community is the power of the black church. The church is one of our most powerful and impactful institutions. With the power of the black church comes the scandal that we all know about. Books are written about the things that happen in church that we don't want to talk about, in large part because the black church can be as much of a social institution as a spiritual one.


Sha' Givens has written a book about single black women in the church and the ways that they can achieve their goals without selling their souls. She is also a young black entrepreneur working to make a mark on the world in which she lives. It is for that reason that Sha' Givens is today's Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight on AOL Black Voices:

 

Click to read.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Oprah Winfrey and Iyanla Vanzant: The Breakdown of their Economic Beef

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

I watched with extreme curiosity as the great Iyanla Vanzant emerged again on the Oprah Winfrey show after being gone for a full 11 years. I wasn't entirely connected to the feud between Winfrey and Vanzant, primarily because we don't think much about people that we haven't seen in over a decade. Of course Oprah is on everyone's mind, and even those who don't follow her seem to know everything she has been up to.


As the guest came to the stage, even a man from Mars could tell that there was latent mega-beef between Oprah and Iyanla. Both women seemed to overcompensate when it came to doing all they could to prove that the past was the past and that everything was OK. But the tension was so thick that it seemed to suck the oxygen out of the room.

click to read.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

S. Tia Brown: Supporting Your Man as an Entrepreneur

by S. Tia Brown, Essence.com

First let me say this: I am single. However, just like you don't have to smoke crack to tell "rockheads" don't do it... well, you get the rest.
Second, I'm an avid, calendar-clearing, repeat-watching fan of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta." You know the type. I text my girls during the commercials. I feel like I know the "ins and outs" of the cast intimately. And, occasionally I pass judgment on their decisions.
With those two details out the way, it's time for my third assertion: When it comes to marriage, particularly to an entrepreneur, it can't always be tit for tat. Over the last few weeks I've watched Cynthia Bailey's now husband, Peter Thomas, try to pull out the dagger ripping his heart apart as his business -- their family's bread and butter-- revenue dropped lower than NeNe Leakes' cleavage line. Thomas shared his woes about picking up the pieces. Bailey worried about financing their wedding. Thomas grew angrier about not getting investors. Bailey balled about being owed her investment in his business. Thomas was forced to close his restaurant and rebuild. Bailey cried about not going on a honeymoon. All I kept thinking is, "where dey do dat at?"

 

Click to read.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Madam Prezident on Having Will Power in Relationships

 

Click to watch the video

Nicki Minaj as Bride of Blackenstein: Funny or Insulting?

 

Click to watch the video

White Man Threatens Black Boys for Talking To His Daughter: Should He Go to Jail?

White Father Threatens Black Boys for Talking to His Daughter

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Millry, Ala., is a town where racial tensions have allegedly been running high for a very long time. The boiling point was hit recently, when a white father came to the town's high school and threatened one of the black players on the basketball team.
The infuriated parent told one of the boys that if any of them made contact with his daughter, he would "kill him and his black friends," at least that's what was reportedly told to Latisha Mitchell, the step-Mother of one of the players.

81Share

Mitchell claims that her son was only friends with the man's daughter and that they would text message each other. TheNAACP took notice of the man's racial threats, and the town is in an uproar. There is even conversation about the Ku Klux Klan planning a retaliation against local residents who held a meeting to discuss what had occurred.
Since the incident, the father has been banned from school property, but some parents are saying that the father should be arrested for his public threats.

Click to read.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Sil lai Abrams: Dealing with Financial Insecurity

by Sil lai Abrams – Sepiaprocess.com

When times are difficult for us financially, we can become paralyzed by fear. As the fear grows in our mind we often get stuck focusing on the problem and not actively searching for a solution. Our attention becomes fixated on our creditors and as we look at our mountain of debt we can become weighed down in despair and shame. “I’m never going to get through this” or “This is more than I can handle” begins to play on a constant loop in our brain. Some of us respond to our problem with denial. Instead of facing our lack of money, we spend as if we have unlimited resources, compounding our original financial instability. Or, we may isolate from others and numb ourselves with food, alcohol or television. Sometimes we avoid dealing with our situation by throwing ourselves into a relationship that takes up all of our time. None of these counterproductive behaviors do anything to bring us closer to a solution. They only keep us stuck in our problem by postponing or delaying our eventual day of financial reckoning.

 

Click to read.

What We Must Consider in the Police Beating of Chad Holley

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

The video-taped beating of 16-year old Chad Holley had me fuming. It's one thing when police use excessive force, but this video was startling for at least a couple of reasons. First, the kid is only 16-years old, and kids that age don't deserve this kind of treatment. While he appears to be a viable suspect for burglary (he was convicted of his crime), the truth is that we must move beyond a society that believes that any child who makes a mistake is beyond redemption. Black children tend to be the ones most likely to be sentenced as adults, and those kids who are lost at an early age can be thrown to the wolves as if they are worthless commodities with abolutely no long-term potential value. Secondly, it appears on the video that Holley does nothing to warrant any form of physical retaliation by officers. He has his hands behind his back and surrenders to the police immediately when they surround him. Yes, Holley might have broken the law, but police officers should not be the judge and jury of this young man, as well as the ones to administer his (cruel and unusual) punishment.
Here are a couple of other things to consider as the nation thinks about the Chad Holley beating by police:

Click to read.