Michele Lee Eaton

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The cop was working as a school resource officer when Eaton arrived at the school angry about a disciplinary action taken against her child. Lee County School Superintendent Jimmy Weeks spoke with the North Mississippi Daily Journal about the issue:

“The parent was upset because the child was disciplined,” said Weeks, who noted the child’s punishment did not involve corporal punishment.

Weeks said the parent was irate and met with Guntown Principal Steven Havens and began to use profanity in the office. The school resource officer was brought in and asked her to stop using profanity but she continued to do so, Weeks said.

“When he told her she was under arrest, she became more irate and he used the Taser on her,” Weeks said.

But what led to the tasering is the most interesting of the entire story.

When Eaton was asked to calm down, she allegedly stormed out of the office. The officer followed quickly on her heels and told her that she was under arrest. This made Eaton even more irate and when she kept walking he used the taser on her. When that didn’t subdue her, he used it again.

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Guntown Police Chief Michael Hall said Eaton was charged with “disorderly conduct, public profanity, resisting arrest and failure to comply with a law enforcement officer,” reports MSNBC.

She refused medical treatment before being taken to jail, where she quickly made bail.

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“I’m overjoyed. I always felt like it would happen, but it took so long I started to wonder,” said Tribble to the Post in a phone interview. A video profile shot last month shows the handsome, soft-spoken Tribble explaining the holes in his case and his thankfulness that the case is nearing a close.

While Tribble’s conviction is out of the way and he cannot be tried again for the case, according to the Post, he still has to file papers to exonerate himself completely.

“Mr. Tribble’s struggle for justice is not yet over. He will now seek a certificate of innocence from the court,” said Sandra K. Levick, chief of special litigation for the D.C. Public Defender Service.

Tribble’s case is one of many under investigation for wrong convictions, with the Justice Department acknowledging that the use of DNA evidence and weak testimonies have led to a series of wrongly convicted persons nationwide.

Watch the video of Santae discussing his time in prison here.

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The clinical study — ordered by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the progression of the disease syphilis in poor, rural Black men — was masked to the subjects as free health care from the government. With the Public Health Service working in tandem with the Tuskegee Institute, Black sharecroppers were left suffering with the disease, even though there was a known treatment in 1947 using penicillin.

Watch the infamous Tuskegee Syphylis experiment here:

White researcher Peter Buxtun blew the whistle on the study, after questioning the ethics of the study, prompting its end in 1972. Although a 1973 class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the victims and their families in 1974 for a $10-million settlement, Tuskegee survivors had not heard a formal word of apology from the government until former President Clinton’s impassioned remarks:

“To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children and the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish.  What was done cannot be undone.  But we can end the silence.  We can stop turning our heads away.  We can look at you in the eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry.”

As part of the 1974 settlement, the survivors’ beneficiaries and offspring received health and medical benefits even to this day; according to a CDC timeline, 15 offspring of the study’s survivors are still receiving their benefits. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment did much to damage the already wide rift between Black and White citizens, especially during a time when racist acts had become increasingly violent and more frequent toward African Americans.

Healing the wounds have not come easy: Many African Americans continue to harbor a mistrust of the government and medical facilities – an understandable by-product of the mistreatment Blacks suffered over the decades.  Because of the sacrifices made by the Tuskegee survivors, there are government programs in place to help prevent such acts from ever happening again.

Tell us!

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RELATED: Police Beat Teen On Tape, But Get Charged With Misdemeanor

On the videotape, Holley is seen laying face down on the ground, while several officers kick and stomp him. Still, Blomberg testified that Holley was resisting arrest — and while it may have looked as though he was abusing the teen — he was actually using his foot to move Holley’s arm.

Watch the police beating of Holley here:

Even Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed that Blomberg assaulted the teen.

The Associated Press reports:

Prosecutors told jurors that Blomberg kicked the teenager several times and Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed Blomberg kicked and stomped on the teen.

Not surprisingly, the all-White jurors still came to the decision that Blomberg was not guilty of abusing Holley. If Blomberg was found guilty of his misdemeanor charge, he would have faced up to a year in prison. Three other police officers will stand trial for the offense. Relieved that he had gotten off, Blomberg contemplated whether he would consider going back in to law enforcement:

“This is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do in my entire life,” Blomberg said referring to being a police officer. “And I’m just glad this part is finally over.”

Obviously, our community wasn’t happy with the outcome of this trial. Rev. James Dixon of Community Faith Church said amid chants of “racism!” and “injustice!” “It is pathetic. It is unacceptable. This kind of expression says to me, to my children and to every Black child in the city, `Your life is not worth manure.’”

Of his client, attorney Dick DeGuerin said, “Andrew Blomberg is truly a hero in what he did that day. I believe that.”

In March 2010, Holley and his three friends stole a piano keyboard and some alcohol from a Houston townhome. When authorities stopped their truck, Holley ran from the vehicle. On trial, Holley said that after police knocked him over with a patrol car, he put his hands up in surrender.

This, and the beating that followed, would be caught on tape.

According to the Associated Press:

That was when “the kicks started coming,” said Holley, who is Black.

“I started feeling people on my back. I felt one hard blow,” he said. “It felt like knees and I don’t know kicks … I lay there,” not fighting back. Holley said he briefly lost consciousness and the next thing he remembers is waking up in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Still, Blomberg gets off scot-free.

Putting aside the fact that you can get off beating someone even when it is caught on tape a la Rodney King style, does anyone else find it intriguing that in 2012 we are still having all-White juries? According to DeGuerin, the reason there were no Black and minority jurors on the jury is because the Black jurors appeared to be biased out the gate.

When asked why there weren’t any blacks or minorities on the jury, DeGuerin said that most of the African-Americans in the jury pool had already made up their minds on his guilt.

I find it intriguing that White people, in this country and world, are consistently seen as impartial and somehow unbiased no matter the situation. Is it not biased that most — if not all — of these jurors likely thought that the White cop was not guilty before the trial took place?

Just the other day, NewsOne covered the story of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, who was a college student and football star. McDade was shot seven times by police, who erroneously thought that he was armed, and then handcuffed afterward as he waited for the paramedics. McDade died a little more than an hour later.

I said it then, and I’ll say it now: Police in this country are out of control.

While Holley was beaten, he lost consciousness. He could have died. And he would have just been yet another name on the endless list of Black males who are killed by “law enforcement.” The idea that Blomberg is seriously considering being a police officer again is chilling.

Sound off!

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Forty-two-year-old Padge Windslowe is charged with aggravated assault and deceptive practices.

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At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, an exotic dancer testified that she paid $1,000 for the injections at a “pumping party” in Philadelphia.

She says Windslowe had silicon in a water bottle and used Krazy Glue to close four injection sites. The dancer said she later suffered serious lung damage and was hospitalized for two weeks.

Police believe Windslowe also injected a 20-year-old London tourist who died last year. No charges have been filed in that death as detectives await extensive autopsy test results.

Windslowe is being held on $750,000 bail.

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While voters consider more than physical stature when they get to their polling stations—at least we hope they do—data suggests that height does play a factor. Since 1789, the taller candidates have triumphed in 58 percent of U.S. presidential elections, and what’s more, they’ve won the popular vote 67 percent of the time. There’s even a term for this phenomenon: “the Presidential height index.”

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Should he be elected, Romney would be a taller-than-average president. While Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson (both 6 feet, 4 inches) share the distinction of being America’s most vertically blessed leaders, and James Madison (5 feet, 4 inches) gets his name in the record books for being the shortest, the average over the years has been 70.8 inches—just shy of 5 feet, 11 inches. Romney is also tall compared to average Americans. According to 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, the average male in this country aged 20 and older stands about 5 feet, 9.5 inches. Maybe that info should inform his campaign slogan: “Mitt Romney, a man we can look up to.” Statistically speaking, it’s right on the money. Of course, the Democrats might counter with, “Romney: He only sees eye-to-eye with the top percentile.”

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Skechers USA Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the footwear company made unfounded claims that its Shape-ups shoes (pictured) would help people lose weight and strengthen their butt, leg and stomach muscles. Kardashian, Burke and other celebrities endorsed the shoes in Skechers ads.

Watch the Skechers Shape up commercial here:

Wednesday’s settlement also involves the company’s Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-ups shoes. Skechers made deceptive claims about those shoes, too, says the agency.

Consumers who bought the shoes will be eligible for refunds, though it’s not clear how much money people will get. The FTC says that will depend on how many claims are received in the eight-month filing period. Most of the $40 million will be returned to consumers, the commission said. A small amount of the money will be used to administer the payouts.

“The FTC’s message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims,” said David Vladeck, director of the agency’s consumer protection bureau. For millions of consumers, he said, “the only thing that got a workout was their wallet.”

The commission settled similar charges with Reebok last year over its EasyTone walking shoes and RunTone running shoes. That $25 million agreement also provided customer refunds.

Skechers billed its Shape-ups as a fitness tool designed to promote weight loss and tone muscles with the shoe’s curved “rocker” or rolling bottom – saying it provides natural instability and causes the consumer to “use more energy with every step.” Shape-ups cost about $100 and are sold at retailers nationwide.

Ads for the Resistance Runner shoes claimed people who wear them could increase “muscle activation” by up to 85 percent for posture-related muscles and 71 percent for one of the muscles in the buttocks, said the FTC.

The commission says Skechers falsely represented that clinical studies backed up the company’s claims about its toning shoes. The settlement bars Skechers from misrepresenting any tests, studies or research on its shoes in the future.

In Wednesday’s court filing, Skechers says it disputes the charges and is pursuing additional studies. A call to Skechers seeking additional comment was not immediately returned.

The settlement is part of a broader agreement also announced Wednesday – a settlement resolving a multi-state investigation led by the attorneys general from Tennessee and Ohio and involving more than 40 states. The company, based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., will provide $40 million for customer refunds in the federal case and $5 million to the states.

Tell us!

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The new content-driven venture, “i am Other,” is said to be patterning itself after the mega-popular social media king Facebook, among others.

The lead vocalist and drummer of the famed hip-hop group N.E.R.D. named his latest Internet business after his record label, which he founded last August, and partnered with entertainment producer United Entertainment Group.

Watch Pharrell talk art, style, and fashion here:

The website will produce and distribute content and also tap in to new commerce models, such as Gilt and Groupon, which have been wildly successful by drawing on the social networking aspect of Facebook and Twitter.

The website, which is targeting 16- to- 25-year-olds, is being described as a “cultural movement” by the Grammy Award-winning entertainer.   ”We’d like i am Other to serve as a giant magnet, attracting the most creative individuals who share our view of things,” says Jarrod Moses, prexy-CEO of United Entertainment Group, which is backed by United Talent Agency. “We will find those people and tell their stories in a way that inspires others to dream bigger and go further,” Moses told Variety.

Pharrell was motivated to start the website because of the way folks are now choosing to document their lives via their phones or on Facebook.  He tells Variety, “The first installment [of  i am Other] is about delivering those experiences through products, excursions, anything that is tangible to a human that can make their life easier,” Williams said. “A lot companies claim they can make the world better. We want to make lives easier and unlock what normally would seem impossible, possible.”

In the meantime and in-between time, Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco are reportedly working on a collaboration album set to be released sometime in 2012.

Sound off!

SEE ALSO: Black Notables For Marriage Equality

The father, Clifton “JR” Barkin, was dropped off at home around 11:30 p.m. Sunday night by his mother, Evetta Wright, after she drove him to a local Wal-Mart to purchase flowers and a Mother’s Day card for Parkerson.

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But on Monday morning, Wright says she got a phone call from Parkerson saying that she had killed her son. The Houston Chronicle has more:

“Paige told me she killed JR, that he was dead,” Wright said through sobs.

Wright said she sped back over to her son’s house, but it was too late.

Barkin, 22, was stabbed several times and died just after midnight Monday in the backyard of his yellow rental house. Wright said she believes Parkerson expected a more expensive gift, such as jewelry.

Parkerson and Barkin’s children were sleeping in another room when the incident took place. They were unharmed. Parkerson is being held in Jefferson County Jail on $75,000 bond.

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Reparations

That single word has the power to bring forth memories of slave screams, blood-shed, lynching, raping and the unrepentant theft of generations of successful Black families by the United States of America.

SEE ALSO: Why Black Christian Voters Need To Get Over Same-Sex Marriage

It also has the power to breed resentment, as the 40 acres and a mule that Black Americans were promised by General William Sherman at the close of the American Civil War were snatched away by President Andrew Johnson and returned to their White owners.

Watch the 2008 presidential hopefuls debate whether African Americans should receive reparations here:

Primarily left landless, fragmented, disconnected from our culture, and uneducated with little-to-no chance of gainful employment, the dregs of slavery and Jim and Jane Crow continue to poison our communities in both tangible and intangible ways.

During her investigation into the wealth — or lack thereof — in the African-American community, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien spoke with Rev. DeForest B. Soaries of First Baptist Church in Lincoln, New Jersey, who made the sharp correlation that “debt is slavery”:

“When I’m paying last month’s bills with next month’s check, that’s slavery. When I ‘m writing a check hoping that it doesn’t bounce, or when I pull out my credit card praying that it’s not rejected, then I’m living in financial bondage.”

Watch Minister Louis Farrakhan discuss what America and Europe owe to Blacks here:

What becomes clear when the imbalanced economic scales in this country are tilted further by institutionalized racism, is that we are still very much living within a system that profited immensely from the blood, sweat, and tears of slave labor, while refusing to make good on the loan of our livelihoods and collective economic value. According to Harper’s magazine (November, 2000), the United States stole an estimated $100 trillion dollars for 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865 with a compounded interest of 6 percent.
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In lieu of these tragic numbers, Dr. John Hope Franklin, renowned historian and author of “From Slavery to Freedom,” voices his contempt for the pseudo-apologies that the U.S. government has given for an institution that has left Black America in a perpetual race, with many having no idea why we seem to never make significant and collective economic strides:

People are running around apologizing for slavery, he said. What about that awful period since slavery — Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and all the rest? And what about the enormous wealth that was built up by Black labor? I think that’s little to pay for the gazillions that Black people built up — the wealth of this country — with their labor, and now you’re going to say, ‘I’m sorry I beat the hell out of you for all these years’? That’s not enough.

It’s definitely not enough.

In a system that relies heavily on what many consider to be Dixiecratic handouts, vilifying those who are forced to accept them, while simultaneously and condescendingly stating that, “Rising tides lift all boats,” this country has to reach a point where reparations is not viewed as a joke or some unimaginable occurrence. If the boats have historical, psychological, and economic holes blown through them by Jim Crow and Uncle Sam, rising tides without life rafts do nothing but drown us deeper into debt.

In his 1970 book, “By Any Means Necessary,” Malcolm X (aka El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) spoke of reparations not as a choice, or a last resort, but as the only way to rectify the inhumane atrocities committed against Black Americans:

If you are the son of a man who had a wealthy estate and you inherit your father’s estate, you have to pay off the debts that your father incurred before he died. The only reason that the present generation of White Americans are in a position of economic strength…is because their fathers worked our fathers for over 400 years with no pay…. We were sold from plantation to plantation like you sell a horse, or a cow, or a chicken, or a bushel of wheat…. All that money…is what gives the present generation of American Whites the ability to walk around the earth with their chest out…like they have some kind of economic ingenuity. Your father isn’t here to pay. My father isn’t here to collect. But I’m here to collect and you’re here to pay.

In the next weeks, NewsOne will speak with Black leaders on the topic of reparations and how exactly the concept can be contextualized in a contemporary narrative. More importantly, we will ask for feedback from our readers on the possibility of reparations and what we are willing to do – if anything — to ensure that it comes to fruition.

What do you think?

SEE ALSO: Black Notables For Marriage Equality

The 17 members of the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously that the benefits of the OraQuick HIV test outweigh its potential risks for consumers. While the test, which uses a mouth swab to return a result in 20 minutes, does not appear to be as accurate as professionally-administered diagnostics, panelists said it could provide an important way to expand HIV testing.

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The FDA will make its final decision on whether to approve the product later this year, weighing the opinion of the panel.

Government officials estimate one-fifth, or about 240,000 people, of the 1.2 million HIV carriers in the U.S. are not aware they are infected. Testing is one of the chief means of slowing new infections, which have held steady at about 50,000 per year for two decades.

Based in Bethlehem, Pa., Orasure has marketed a version of OraQuick to doctors, nurses and other health care practitioners since 2004. When used by professionals, the test is shown to accurately identify both carriers and non-carriers 99 percent of the time.

But a trial conducted by the company showed the home test only correctly detected HIV in those carrying the virus 93 percent of the time. The FDA estimated the test would miss about 3,800 HIV-positive people per year, while correctly identifying 45,000, if approved for U.S. consumers. The test could prevent 4,000 new transmissions of the virus annually, though the figure could vary depending on how many people purchase the test. While it’s not clear why the test was less accurate in consumer trials, company researchers said they expected the test’s sensitivity to drop when used by consumers versus professionals.

Panelists stressed that the test’s labeling should state that a negative reading does not automatically mean the person does not have HIV, because of imperfect results. Panelists also stressed the importance of a toll-free number to put those who test positive in touch with counseling and medical care.

Despite concerns about less-than-perfect use by the public, the panel overwhelmingly sided with more than two dozen HIV advocates and doctors, who said the test represents a step forward in combating the virus.

“Over-the-counter testing has the potential to reach a far greater number of people who want to know their HIV status on their own terms,” said Tom Donohue, founder of HIV awareness group Who’s Positive.

“We are always looking for game changers, and we believe this is one of them,” said Carl Schmid, deputy director of the AIDS Institute. “Not only will it help reduce the number of infections but it will bring more people into care and treatment.”

Tuesday’s meeting was the second time in less than a week that FDA advisers recommended approval of a novel medical product to slow the spread of HIV. Last Thursday a similar panel of drug experts endorsed the HIV daily pill Truvada for preventive use. If FDA follows the group’s advice, the daily medication will become the first drug approved to prevent healthy people from becoming infected with the virus.

The FDA has already approved other HIV test kits designed to be used at home, although those kits – which require a blood sample – must be sent to a laboratory for development. Orasure executives argue that a test that can be done at home will appeal to a much broader group of people.

FDA officials said it is impossible to predict how widely the test would be used, but it would be most effective in the hands of people at high risk of acquiring the virus, including men who have sex with men.

A recent survey of gay and bisexual men cited by public health officials found that 84 percent would test themselves more frequently if they could buy an over-the-counter HIV test.

Orasure sells its professional version of the test for $17.50, though company executives declined to discuss how they would price the consumer version.

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Tia Mowry ‏ @TiaMowry

“Just wanted to let all my fans know that I will not be returning to The Game for season 6. It was an incredible run and I had lots of fun.

After making her surprise announcement, Mowry ranted about the plethora of projects that she is trying to balance.

Not only does Mowry have to care for her busy 10-month-old son, Cree, but she also has a new book, “Oh Baby!” that she is promoting across the country, which talks about her journey to motherhood.

Watch Tia on ‘The Game’ here:

In addition to her roles as a wife, Mom and now author, Mowry and her sister, Tamera Mowry-Housley, will be returning to their Style network reality show “Tia & Tamera.”  The show will enter its second season as the Style network’s highest-rated series in its history, following the twins who first gained prominence on the popular ’90s comedy “Sister, Sister.”

Watch the first episode of “Sister, Sister” here:

Tia will also be starring in an ABC family movie, “Mistle-Tones,” in December, where she’ll play a vocalist who creates a singing group.

As far as any word on her “The Game” co-star screen hubby Pooch Hall and whether he’ll be making his exit from the show, no statement has been made on his behalf. Hip Hollywood, though, is reporting that Hall has been dropped from the show’s cast, though.

Since Mowry and Hall are central characters to the show, will their absence affect the program’s ratings?  Time will tell….

Sound off!

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Three of Thomas’ four children were outside, including one who appeared to have been shot. Before the neighbors could offer help, Thomas came out of her house and called the children back home.

They complied. The neighbors dialed 911 after hearing more gunshots.

Watch the sad case here:

Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies found Thomas, 33, dead of an apparent self-inflicted wound and three of her children – Jaxs Johnson, 15; Jazzlyn Johnson, 13; and Joel Johnson, 12 – were fatally shot inside the house. A fourth child, Pebbles Johnson, 17, was found shot to death in the front yard of a neighbor’s house.
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Investigators said they didn’t know a motive for the shooting and weren’t sure why the children followed their mother’s orders to return to the house.

“From what the neighbors said, she was very calm. She walked out and called them back. They turned around and walked back to the house,” said sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Tod Goodyear.

Another neighbor told deputies Thomas sent a text message in the middle of the night saying she wanted to be cremated with her children.

“He didn’t see the text until he woke up this morning,” Goodyear said.

The shooting happened in Port St. John, about 15 miles west of Cape Canaveral in an area known as the “Space Coast” because it is the home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the location of numerous shuttle launches.

Authorities went to Thomas’ house on three successive days last month, according to dispatch records released Tuesday.

In the first visit, on Easter Sunday, Thomas reported that her son had thrown a bicycle through a window at the house. The next day, she called to report that her son had kicked and punched her when she tried to wake him up for school.

The following day, child welfare investigators visited the house to look into allegations of inadequate supervision of the children.

The Department of Children and Families was following up on a report on a Johnson child who had been released from a detention facility and hadn’t been picked up by a caretaker, DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said in an email.

Records showed Thomas was arrested in 2002 on a misdemeanor battery charge for striking Joe Johnson, the father of her children. The charge was later dropped. Two years earlier, she filed a domestic violence complaint against Joe Johnson, but that was dismissed after a hearing.

Jamie Hudson, whose mother lives two doors down from the family, said the boys in the family were known to shoot BBs at a home across the street and had threatened to set it on fire.

“It has been an ongoing problem on our street with them,” Hudson said.

Goodyear said Jaxs Johnson had recently been arrested on a domestic violence charge. He said he didn’t know if the boy had been accused of hitting his mother or causing damage at the house.

Austin Lewis, a 16-year-old classmate of Pebbles Johnson, said the family “had problems like everybody else but nothing that drastic.”

He described Pebbles Johnson as “very loving and caring.”

“Always with a smile,” Lewis said. “Didn’t let anything affect her. She was always in a good mood.”

A pastor at the church the family attended described it as “normal stuff.”

“I think he was punching some walls or something,” said Jarvis Wash, pastor of the Real Church in Rockledge, Fla.

Wash said the family attended services last Sunday but had been absent for a few weeks before that.

“I don’t know what could have happened in the past couple of days,” Wash said. “It’s a tragedy to the church and the community.”

Is there a significant black presence in the digital space? Tomorrow will be the third installment of the annual Digital Summit that’s designed to stimulate conversation around technology topics important to the black community. This year’s topic will be “The Entrepreneur and the Big Media Company: What Role Do ‘Acqui-Hires’ Play in the Media M&A Landscape.” If you fancy yourself to have been bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, or are just interested in technology in general the event will definitely be worth it. The Moderator will be Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO of FanFeedr. Speakers will include the Founders and CEOs of companies like Collective, Hot Potato, and Union Square Ventures. There will also be Networking afterwards so don’t forget to bring your business cards. Go here for more information and Admission details.

Featured Speakers:

• Heidi Messer,CEO and Co-Founder, World Evolved; Co-Founder and Chairman, Collective
• Saadiq Rodgers-King, Former Head of Product, Hot Potato
• Andy Weissman,Partner, Union Square Ventures
• Denmark West,Digital Media Executive

Moderator:

• Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO, FanFeedr

Tech Reviews visit www.themanly-man.com

“We have literally stopped abortion in the state of Mississippi. Three blocks from the Capitol sits the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi. A bill was drafted. It said, if you would perform an abortion in the state of Mississippi, you must be a certified OB/GYN and you must have admitting privileges to a hospital. Anybody here in the medical field knows how hard it is to get admitting privileges to a hospital…

“It’s going to be challenged, of course, in the Supreme Court and all — but literally, we stopped abortion in the state of Mississippi, legally, without having to–  Roe vs. Wade. So we’ve done that. I was proud of it. The governor signed it into law. And of course, there you have the other side. They’re like, ‘Well, the poor pitiful women that can’t afford to go out of state are just going to start doing them at home with a coat hanger.’ That’s what we’ve heard over and over and over.

“But hey, you have to have moral values. You have to start somewhere, and that’s what we’ve decided to do. This became law and the governor signed it, and I think for one time, we were first in the nation in the state of Mississippi.”

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The video was flagged by The Maddow Blog‘s Laura Conway who contacted Carpenter to get clarity on his statement. This is what he had to say:

“That was what a lot of our critics on the House floor said during the debate,” he told me. “That was just some language that some of the African-Americans used.” A few white Democrats also spoke out about the old “home remedies,” he remembered, but in the end the measure passed with support from several Democrats.

According to the book, “Our Body, Ourselves: Boston Women’s Health Care Collective,” in 1969, prior to the 1973 passage of Roe vs. Wade, seventy-five percent of women of color were forced by poverty or stigma to attain illegal abortions. Fast-forward to 2012, in a state riddled with educational disparities, entrenched racism and poverty that disproportionately affects Black Americans, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number that problematic again.

Mississippi: The State that is willing to allow women to die so its politicians can feel “moral.”

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ABC News reports ( http://abcn.ws/K3tcvN ) the medical records were part of evidence released Tuesday that prosecutors have in the second-degree murder case against Zimmerman. He has entered a plea of not guilty and claims self-defense in the Feb. 26 shooting. A message left Tuesday evening with Zimmerman’s attorney was not immediately returned.

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Zimmerman was treated Feb. 27 at Altamonte Family Practice. A phone call made Tuesday evening to the practice rang unanswered.

Some of the injuries were previously reported by The Associated Press based on video of Zimmerman at a jail sally port.

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When Social Issues, Faith Collide

Obama made his remarks during a discussion on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime talk show. That interview will air later Tuesday, but ABC broadcast an excerpt on “Good Morning America.”

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He said churches should have the right to make their own determinations about marriage. But he said that as a matter of civil law, all Americans should be treated equally.

Obama became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage last week. Before, he had said his views had been evolving.

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Church-Going Black Woman Forced to Choose: My Pastor or My President?

Let’s be clear:  Millions of Black women are deeply in love with President Obama.  They love the fact that Obama represents the powerful black man who remains dedicated to a black woman and raises beautiful black children.  They fantasize about him in a way that reminds us that love is completely blind:  Policy doesn’t usually matter nearly as much as Obama’s “presidential swag” and the beautiful family photos on the cover of Essence Magazine.   This love affair never would have started had the first lady’s name been Misty Obama.

Black women also love their pastors.  A man who doesn’t go to church can be tossed to the side as a potential marital partner if he doesn’t go to church, in part because faith and black women go together like Flavor Flav and his clock.   Millions of black women show up to church religiously (pun intended), quote the bible regularly and even take notes when the pastor speaks.   The relationship starts when they are little girls and made to feel guilty for not going to church and at least pretending to be decent, holy and utterly sanctified.

Before Barack Obama, the pastor didn’t have much competition.  He had absolute power in the congregation, but never enough influence to get a front row seat on Air Force One.  The emergence of Barack Obama out of nowhere garnered enough black female attention that Michelle needs to watch her back at every turn.  Women identify with Michelle, looking for a Barack Obama substitute of their own and even using the Obamas as a case study for relationship advice.  Some might even be secretly hoping that Michelle gets caught “slipping” so they can stand beside the president at the next White House formal.

For many black women, the announcement by President Obama in support of gay marriage was a tough moment of clarity.   It’s not as if black women didn’t know that Obama supported gay marriage already, but there’s a huge difference between believing something and announcing it.  Church women are good at overlooking huge flaws in the men they admire, sometimes to their own detriment. But when the man of her dreams draws a clear line in the sand, a woman can be forced to make a decision she would rather not have to make.

Another telling challenge for black women might be the pronouncement of President Obama as “The First Gay President.”  Having their man stolen by a homosexual is probably the greatest nightmare of nearly every black woman in America, and I can’t begin to describe how many church-going black women were infuriated by a gay blogger projecting homosexuality onto the president. Homophobia in the black community is real, and since Oprah produced her show about black men on the downlow, any brother with a potted plant in his living room is suddenly suspect.

Black women have been President Obama’s most loyal constituency. Asking these women to abandon the teachings of the pastor and bible that they’ve loved for so many decades could possibly be too much to ask.  At the same time, the ability to get these women to overlook the bible to protect their love for Obama would be a true testament to the strong emotional connection millions of black people have with the president.  How the story ends will depend on the individual woman and how much time she’s spent fantasizing about the man in the Oval Office.  Either way, it’s going to be interesting.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the forthcoming book, “The RAPP Sheet: Rising Above Psychological Poison.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

SEE ALSO: Obama Winning With Vets

Unlike many children in the United States, the First Family’s patriarch was firm in saying that Malia wasn’t allowed to have a cell phone until she was 12-years-old. Along with cell phone privileges, the Obamas closely regulate their daughters’ use of computers and TV watching, restricting them to weekends unless they need the items for homework.

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“Malia didn’t get a phone until last year and Sasha still doesn’t have a phone,” said Obama. “They don’t have Facebook pages. Part of that is security for us. They can only use their cellphones on weekends. They can’t use them during the week. We don’t let them watch TV or use their computer except to do homework during the week.”

Not everything is serious in the Obama household as the President told the hosts that during a humorous “private roast” held on his 50^th birthday last year, Malia said that her dad was “just the right amount of embarrassing.” Obama also revealed that his wife mocks him “relentlessly” and keeps him humble.

“You’ve got a bunch of people around who are always laughing at your jokes and thinking that you’re funny and Michelle is like: ‘This guy?’ When she does it in front of my team, they love it. They’re cracking up and I’ll look and them at they’re all (makes straight face),” said Obama.

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In a Las Vegas recording studio, Dunson rapped about his life: “What’s wrong with me? Got PTSD. These pills ain’t working, man, I still can’t think.”

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One in six Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder in 2011, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Some committed suicide. Others are receiving mental health services at military hospitals. Many more are like Dunson and have refused help, according to research by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD.

Dunson, who was discharged from the Army in 2008 and diagnosed by the military with PTSD, uses his music to examine his disappointment with veteran life. It is the only thing keeping him alive, he said. He refuses to attend counseling or visit his local VA hospital.

The use of music to heal war wounds is part of an emerging field of alternative treatment being embraced by military officials eager to help veterans suffering from PTSD. In Wisconsin, New Jersey, California and other states, government doctors in recent months have launched experimental music therapy programs that rely on the smoothing sounds of classical or acoustic music to help veterans get well.

But Dunson, now 26, isn’t listening to serene tunes in some quiet room. His self-treatment is violent images and words, the gritty marriage of a genre born in low-income, black neighborhoods and the horrors of a foreign war.

He made five albums in four years, all focused on his training and service as an infantryman. Thousands of fans followed him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where he posts his songs. He enrolled in college, hoping to pursue a career in public service. This year, Dunson moved into his first bachelor apartment.

And still, he describes himself as a man without happiness or friends.

“You are like, what the heck did I do to deserve this?” he said.

In his music, Dunson recalls pressing a gun against an enemy’s mouth, becoming an alcoholic and hitting his wife. He laments learning how to kill when he was only 20 years old.

“I’m back and forth in my head and I don’t know what’s wrong,” he raps in “PTSD.” “At nights I shake. I feel like a stranger is in my home. Me and my wife can’t get along.”

On a different record, he confessed: “My mind ain’t been put to rest. And they wonder why all I talk about is these bullets and how a trigger of a gun I want to pull it and how badly my military training I want to misuse it.”

In yet another song, Dunson expressed the words he would never tell his family: “Honestly, over there, I wish I had died.”

He was 18 when he enlisted, eager to make a difference and serve his country after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He grew up in the Army, meeting the mother of his only child near his base in Alaska.

In Iraq, it was difficult to sleep. Dunson said he worried he would wake up in an insurgent’s makeshift torture chamber.

There were plenty of signs he was drifting far from the good-natured child his family says he once was. One day, he and his fellow soldiers pretended to arrest an Iraqi boy. As the child cried, the soldiers taunted him, according to video Dunson took that day. Dunson said it was a joke.

His assault rifle became his life, he said. He held it while he ate and slept and fired toward crowds of Iraqis when he felt threatened. One day, he took his gun and put it to his friend’s head. They laughed and someone took a photo.

Through it all, Dunson worried about the man he was becoming. When his sergeant urged him to kill anything in sight one day, he balked. “This is crazy,” he recalled thinking.

The life he had left was gone. After serving in Iraq, Dunson came home to a tense relationship with his wife. She denied cheating on him, but later took their daughter and moved in with another soldier.

Dunson plotted to kill them, convinced he could easily dispose of their bodies in the Alaskan wilderness. In less than a year, he was arrested four times for various domestic abuse charges, he said.

“I felt angry and out of control, like I don’t know what I might do angry,” he said.

He moved to Las Vegas and stayed on his cousin’s couch. Though he had once been close with his family, Dunson stopped visiting or telephoning his other relatives, certain they were disappointed in him.

“I feel like they are saying, `Oh, he lost his wife, he is crazy. Oh, he went to war.’ Not saying it, but in their heads, they are saying it the whole time, like I don’t fit in,” he said.

The faces of the men he killed – the husbands, fathers and brothers – haunted him. Even after his ex-wife moved their daughter to Las Vegas to be near him, her happy Facebook musings about holiday celebrations and weekend activities upset him. On several occasions, he climbed to the roof of an empty condominium tower and stared at the concrete below, willing himself to jump.

LaTonya Williams, 30, said the changes in her once easygoing cousin are stark.

“He was never violent before,” she said. “He was the center of my family. Everyone loved him. He had the best jokes and the best sense of humor … and when he came back he was a completely different person. He’s not the Leo that everybody knew him to be.”

Dunson has a youthful face and a muscular body. When he speaks, he appears friendly and well-mannered, a sharp contrast to the rage in his music. He works as a security guard at night and then goes directly to class most mornings. On the weekends, he visits with his daughter.

Through his music, Dunson explored his desire to kill and die. He found a producer and director to make his albums and videos more professional. Soon, he was performing concerts at bases and veterans events.

“Music has always been my therapy,” he said.

Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in New York, has used music to treat victims of dementia, trauma and gang violence. She said patients respond to music from their youth or happier days. Rap might help PTSD victims process the violence they experienced in conflict, she said.

“If a person has had a traumatic experience and can vent that in music, that can be very positive,” she said. “Anybody who deals with people in some trauma will tell you the most damaging thing to do is suppress it.”

Dunson said he hopes his music helps other veterans confront their PTSD, even as he struggles with it himself.

“I lost it all, not just my wife and daughter, but my mind,” he said. “If I had died over there, I would have got a 21-gun salute, everybody would praise me like I was a king. What do I get now?”

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Dubbed, quite cruelly, as the “Elephant Boy” Vincent Oketch is bed-bound, unable to walk and is forced to wear dresses because his legs are too large to fit into trousers. Doctors in his tiny village of Peta say the boy may die soon if he is not treated. They are appealing to the international community for help.

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Tito Opoya, the boy’s father says that “It really upsets him because he has to wear pink and the other kids tease him,” according to the Daily Mail. “He is only small, but his legs are really heavy and weigh more than he does.”

When Vincent was 18-months-old, his parents notices that his legs were swelling but they lacked the funds to take him to a doctor. And even the doctors he does have access to do not know how to help him.

The Daily Mail has more:

Dr Osire, who runs an organisation called EDYAC, helps children from poor villages access medical treatment. He took Vincent in his car to a hospital in Kampala to see if surgeons there could operate.

Doctors carried out MRI scans and at first believed Vincent was suffering from a complicated mix of a faulty lymphatic system, elephantiasis and tissue deformity.

They also discovered the swelling had affected Vincent’s bones, leading to a dislocated hip and broken ankles.

However, they say biopsy results now suggest Vincent may also have necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating infection, which could be fatal if untreated.

Dr Osire said: ‘The hospital now says it is considering amputation of Vincent’s legs at the thigh. I’m very worried about this, because we keep hearing different diagnoses.

‘It’s difficult to know what is correct. We desperately need a British doctor, or foreign medical expert, who can offer advice about Vincent’s case.

‘The case is extremely complex and we’d like to find out if there is anything that can be done to save his legs.’ A British doctor currently visiting Uganda hopes to be able to see Vincent in the next few weeks to assess his condition.

Dr Osire said: ‘We’re extremely grateful for any help. We urgently need outside medical advice because the case may be too complicated to be treated locally.

Let’s hope that this poor child gets the help that he needs. Go to the Daily Mail for more.

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Thirty-three-year-old Tonya Thomas fatally shot her four children, who ranged in age from 12 to 17, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, a spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

Three of the children had gone to a neighbor’s front door before dawn to say their mother had shot them. The mother then called the children back to the house and killed them, Goodyear said.
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“From what the neighbors said, she was very calm. She walked out and called them back. They turned around and walked back to the house,” Goodyear said.

The neighbor then heard gunshots and called 911.

Another neighbor told deputies that Thomas sent a text message in the middle of the night saying she wanted to be cremated with her children.

“He didn’t see the text until he woke up this morning,” Goodyear said.

Deputies identified the children as Pebbles Johnson, 17; Jaxs Johnson, 15; Jazlin Johnson, 13; and Joel Johnson, 12.

The shooting happened in Port St. John, about 15 miles west of Cape Canaveral in an area known as the “Space Coast” because it is the home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the location of numerous famed shuttle launches.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families wouldn’t immediately comment on whether the family had a history with the agency. Goodyear said deputies had responded to the house for domestic complaints previously.

Jamie Hudson, whose mother lives two doors down from the family, said the boys in the family were known to shoot BBs at a home across the street and had threatened to set it on fire.

“It has been an ongoing problem on our street with them,” Hudson said.

Goodyear said Jaxs Johnson had recently been arrested on a domestic violence charge. He said he didn’t know if the boy had been accused of hitting his mother or causing damage at the house.

A pastor at the church the family attended described it as “normal stuff.”

“I think he was punching some walls or something,” said Jarvis Wash, pastor of the Real Church in Rockledge, Fla.

Wash said the family attended services last Sunday but had been absent for a few weeks before that.

“I don’t know what could have happened in the past couple of days,” Wash said. “It’s a tragedy to the church and the community.”

Watch the video here.

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According to the American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 (ARIS 2008), the number of Black persons without any religious affiliation jumped from 6 to 11 percent between 1990 and 2008, mirroring a national trend amongst all Americans that saw a jump from 8 to 15 percent.

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“There have always been African-American free thinkers, humanists, agnostics and atheists who have really foregrounded the connection between eschewing religion and the liberation struggle, particularly as it pertains to women and the LGBT community,” said Black Skeptics of Los Angeles founder Sikivu Hutchinson to Intersections South LA. Ms. Hutchinson is part of a national effort led by the group African-Americans for Humanism, leading to a controversial billboard ad in Los Angeles openly questioning religion.

Black church leaders have sat at the table with the Black Skeptics group, coming to an understanding that many former churchgoers are fed up with the politics of the church. “They’re very turned off by the church,”  said Seth Pickens, pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church. “Some of the politics and some of the scandals and everything that happens in the church, it turns people off.”

This past February, Pickens and the Black Skeptics met for a roundtable discussion and have come to an understanding that the Black community needs a unified front regardless of religious conviction.

“Whether you believe in God, whether you confess Christ or not, if you see someone hungry you should feed them and many of the Black atheists feel the same way. So, I don’t see why we can’t work together,” said Pickens.

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Jesse Washington worked on a farm owned by George and Lucy Fryer, English immigrants who were well-known in their farming community. On May 8, 1916, Lucy Fryer was murdered in her home and the news spread quickly as locals immediately named Washington as a suspect. Washington was arrested and held for questioning alongside his family — this after authorities discovered blood on his overalls that he attributed to a nosebleed.

Although Washington denied any wrongdoing, some feel that he was pressured into confessing to the rape and murder of Mrs. Fryer. History professor at Baylor University James M. SoRelle suggested that Washington may have been mentally challenged and that he may not have had a good recollection of the events that evening.

A lynch mob stormed the local jail to serve their version of justice, but Washington was moved to another location. After several days, Washington’s trial was held May 15 to a packed courthouse rabid for vengeance. Although his responses were deemed unintelligible, Washington was deemed guilty and ordered to be publicly lynched.

After being dragged through the street by court officials and getting beaten, stabbed, and kicked by the mob, he was covered in oil and hung from a tree with a chain. The mob cut off his genitals, fingers, and toes.

Washington was lit ablaze as executioners kept him alive long enough to continue his suffering.

After he died, bystanders collected memorabilia from the scene. Papers in cities as far away as New York and even overseas in London reported on the lynching of Washington. The New York Times said:

“In no other land even pretending to be civilized could a man be burned to death in the streets of a considerable city amid the savage exultation of its inhabitants.”

W.E.B. Du Bois also remarked on the lynching in part, saying, “Any talk of the triumph of Christianity, or the spread of human culture, is idle twaddle as long as the Waco lynching is possible in the United States.”

Elizabeth Freeman and other researchers in later times concluded that Washington may have killed Dryer due to harsh treatment from her husband but do not think he had the wherewithal to sexually assault her.

The lynching highlighted the racial tensions of the South and how the rise of the Ku Klux Klan coincided with the killings and assaults of Blacks during the early 1900s. The legacy of the Waco Horror gave way to a very public criticism of the practice, with many likening Washington as a sacrifice as many White residents held archaic notions of Black people as evil beings.

The actions of the lynching would mark the Waco area as a haven for White racists, as many African Americans in the area began to show resistance to the oppression felt in their town. As one of the ugly reminders of the racism Black people suffered in through the 20^th century, the Waco Horror’s chilling images only need to be seen once to burn their way into one’s minds forever.

Tell us.

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For the past few weeks, Usher and Tameka have been battling in court to determine who will have full custodial rights over their children, Usher Terry Raymond V and Naviyd Ely Raymond. As it stands, Usher currently has physical custodial rights, but Tameka challenged his right to custody by making past claims that Usher is a neglectful and irresponsible parent who has consistently failed to ask her permission on key issues, regarding their children. When that didn’t seem to work, Tameka tried in vain to force the court to make Usher take a drug test.

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But how things have changed.

According to reports, Usher has been granted the right to evict Tameka from the home she lives in Georgia. Coincidentally, Usher owns that home and can sell it at any time just as long as he notifies Tameka 60 days in advance. Since it appears that Usher does indeed plan to sell the home, Tameka is said to now be asking Usher to buy her a permanent home so she isn’t left homeless.

TMZ reports:

We’re told Tameka fears Usher is going to pull the trigger — leaving her buried in legal debt with no place to live — so she’s asking him for a permanent home for her and Usher’s kids.

Has she ever heard the saying, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”?

Not surprisingly, Usher has allegedly responded that he will NOT buy her another home and the ball is in his court.

Usher and Tameka married in September of 2007, but almost immediately, their union would spark a backlash from Usher fans who felt that Tameka was a gold digger who was also too old for the young star.

Not surprisingly, Usher filed for divorce from Tameka in 2009. In 2010, Usher told People magazine why the marriage didn’t work:

“We’re two different people,” he says, “and we have two different goals. It just was never going to work out 100 percent.”

Friends close to the couple felt that the marriage was doomed from the get-go:

“They peaked before they even got married. Right after it was over, they started to drift apart. [Usher] just wasn’t ready to settle down, at least not with her.”

Another source said:

“No one I’ve spoken to is surprised. As bad as this is gonna sound, it was never a matter of ‘I wonder if they’ll divorce,’ but more like ‘I wonder WHEN they’ll divorce.’”

Obviously, ever since the divorce, the only thing that binds them are the children. While the ex-couple are said to be tied in mediation talks, it seems that Tameka may be without a home soon.

What do you think?

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But George A. Peters II (pictured), aka George 2.0, in his one-man show “Any1man” is, indeed, all of those men during his hour-long stage performance.

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If you were that game-talking brotha who got close to a girl’s heart, but eventually ditched her when things got too serious (e.i., commitment issues) George 2.0 can be that man. And he can also be the 17-year-old former you armed with Skittles and iced tea who got popped yards away from his home by a wannabe cop.

Why You Are “Any1man”

As I sat in the Poets Den Gallery in East Harlem last week awaiting Peters’ entrance on stage, he was, unbeknownst to me, lying on a small flight of stairs less than ten feet away from my seat in full character ready to start the show. The stage light focused on him, a homeless man rising from a night’s slumber on the streets. He began talking with the audience about his college degree (“bet cha wouldn’t think that,” he asked the audience) and how he feels folks see him as an inconvenience.

“Can ya give me 35…45 cents,” he asked us several times during the show.

Check Out Peters Playing “Bishop” from “Any1man” in this YouTube Video Below

Peters says his comfort conversing with audiences and making them a part of the script is a skill he picked up during his thespian days performing in theater programs at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta.

“…A play can be a conversation whether or not that meant walking out into the play with that in mind or whether or not the play was so lose that you could have a conversation with people,” Peters told me during a recent phone interview.

During one part of his performance, he was that dreamer you have deep inside. You know, the one that makes you blush with optimism, yet are too afraid to bring out in public for fear of being viewed as naive. Or, as Obama described during his successful 2008 Presidential campaign, a “hope monger.”

“Where most people ask why, I ask why not, said Man Tan, the intellectual ponderer Peters portrays during his one-man performance. Of all of the characters he morphs into and out of, Peters said Man Tan is the one with whom he most associates.

Peters performed “Any1man” for the first time on May 14, 2005 at the Rialto Theater in Atlanta and has been performing the show almost yearly since. He applied to New York University’s Theater School soon after finishing Morehouse with a degree in English. But he didn’t make the cut. One of the officials from the school approached Peters after he got the bad news and encouraged him not to give up acting and that, just maybe, the program was not a good fit for him anyway.

He went home and wrote up much of the screenplay for “Any1man” soon after.

When Peters is not performing the show, he’s traveling the world as a stage manager and performing in other plays. The New Jersey native, who currently lives in Brooklyn, truly loves taking center stage and sharing as much of it with you as he can.

“…I love to look at somebody and ask them, What time is it? What chu got on? Where you coming from? And dare them to respond outwardly and challenge them to emote.”

If you’re in the New York City area, you can see George 2.0 perform “Any1man” this from Thursday, May 17 to Sunday, May 20 at the Poets Den Gallery And Theater in Harlem. If you are not in the city, you can view some of George 2.0′s work on his YouTube page.

Whether you watch him on your PC or live, “Any1man” is sure to make you “emote.”

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Even though Coffer has managed to pass every other section of the state’s educational exam, the Math section has been an uphill battle for the student because of his disability.  According to the 17-year-old’s mother, Linda Coffer, she has hired private tutors to try and help her son with math.  “He’s taken classes that are offered by the school in summer and throughout the school year.  But once he starts it, and he learns it, he can do it. But when you walk away, he forgets the steps,” the Mom lamented to Fox 5 Atlanta.
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Still, the Fulton County Board of Education is taking a hard stance against Coffer graduating and refuses to budge.  Linda even applied for a waiver, which would have enabled her son to graduate even though he failed Math.  Yet again, the county Board of Ed administrators have stood their ground and voted unanimously to deny the senior student’s graduation request.

Ironically, the Department of Education has changed the law to say that all senior students must pass the Math test in order to graduate but these changes won’t take effect until the following school year which will be too late for Coffer.

Last year, there were approximately 16 percent of students who failed the Math section of the state academic tests, according to the Board of Education.

Meanwhile, Coffer is in limbo regarding his graduation fate.

“It hurts my heart because he is such a good person. And for him not to graduate and not to be able to pursue his dreams, it’s really just an injustice,” said sister Capri Coffer to Fox 5 Atlanta.

What do you think?

Watch video of Sinclaire’s hardship here.

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The costumes, which range from 50 to 100 pieces, were created by Jackson’s longtime costume designers and will be on display in Europe, Asia, and South America before going to the highest bidders in December, according to celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien.

The auction pieces will spark warm memories for many of Jackson’s fans and will feature such memorable items as the right-handed crystal studded glove, the red and black “Beat It” jacket worn during his “Dangerous” early nineties tour, the black spandex outfit from his “Scream” video and the breakaway suit he sported during his “Bad” tour in the late 80′s.

The exhibit is set to open on May 18 in Santiago, Chile, at the Museo de la Moda and will wind up back in the States in Beverly Hills, Calif., on December 2.  According to Julien, many of Jackson’s garb were actually signed by him.

A portion of the traveling auction will benefit the Guide Dogs of America and the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

Jackson’s untimely death at age 50 in June 2009 was the result of a lethal cocktail of sedatives and an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.  The superstar’s personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray is currently serving a four-year prison term for the conviction of involuntary manslaughter.

For more information about the exhibit, visit Julien’s Auction’s, www.juliensauctions.com.

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After stealing her pocket-book and going through her iPhone, Tami called Kesha out for being a punk who would rather run to the authorities than fight, prompting the poor girl to break down in tears and leave Tahiti.

Tami wouldn’t let up though, she was vicious and even brought Evelyn Lozada to tears in empathy of poor Kesha.

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Tami Roman voiced her apologies on Twitter, saying:

I’m not proud of my behavior, but I own up to it and face it. I do apologize 2my family, my friends, my kids & 2 my cast members—
Tami Roman (@TamiRoman) May 15, 2012

I just landed in NYC, but I did catch 2nites episode on the plane. As I said earlier, this was BAD, wrong & immature-I apologize…—
Tami Roman (@TamiRoman) May 15, 2012

Check out some of their explosive beefs, thus far:

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Basketball Wives Season 4 cast

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Helen Zille, who had been leading the march by her Democratic Alliance (DA) party on economic issues, said to the those who gathered to oppose the march: “You are not on the side of the poor. The DA is on the side of the poor.”

Her speech was drowned out by the union demonstrators. After they threw rocks at the truck from which she was speaking, she was bundled into a small car and driven away. Her supporters then started throwing rocks at the union protesters.

Watch footage of the protests here:

The DA said it was marching in support of a youth subsidy it believes will give more opportunities for jobless young South Africans. The DA believes the subsidy, proposed by the governing African National Congress, could create at least 423,000 jobs for young South Africans.

South Africa’s unemployment rate is high, with a quarter of the work force unemployed in the nation of 50-million people.
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The trade union coalition, COSATU, is an ANC ally, but differs with the ANC on youth subsidies. COSATU says subsidies will encourage companies to lower all wages.

Patrick Craven, the COSATU spokesman, condemned the violence, and said COSATU supporters also were injured.

He denied the counter-protest was organized to silence the DA, saying workers gathered only to show they reject DA policies.

“It was certainly an attempt to have a show of strength. There was absolutely no intention to have violence,” he said.

The protest was planned to end at COSATU’s headquarters, but the marchers turned away three blocks from their destination because of the violence. As the crowd made their way back into town, police sprayed the last of the DA crowd with water from a truck.

Vusi Sefuba, a 26-year-old wearing a DA T-shirt, limped after the marchers as they headed back into central Johannesburg. He said he’d been hit by a rock.

“I don’t see any progress in this country unless the DA takes over,” he said.

Sefuba, who said he was a former supporter of the governing African National Congress, said the DA had called the peaceful march in support of a youth subsidy proposed by the ANC as a way to encourage companies to hire young people.

Mpopi Maubane, a 24-year-old student at a secretarial school, was split between the two sides Tuesday. She stood outside COSATU’s headquarters with a white-on-red sign that read, “No to a 2-tier economy,” an anti-youth subsidy slogan. But she said she knows the subsidy might help her get a job when she finishes school.

COSATU and the ANC have her loyalty, Maubane said, because they led the fight against apartheid.

“But we’re also saying DA has a point,” Maubane said.

Tuesday’s march also appeared to be a bid by the DA, which has its roots in a white liberal party that opposed apartheid, to build credibility among South Africa’s impoverished Black majority.

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