Wednesday, March 26, 2008

What About our Daughters (and mothers and sons)?

In this special edition of Cocoa Mode Online, Gina McCaul, founder of What About Our Daughters, talks about the Dunbar Village Case and the recent developments in Rev. Al Sharpton's call to have 4 alleged rapists released on bail.

If you're as outraged as we are, please click here to find out what you can do.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Part 1



Part 2

I'm Mad As Hell....

at Rev. Al Sharpton and the NAACP.

You may remember last year reading a post on Cocoa's Corner and about the horrific crime perpetrated against a young mother and her son at the Dunbar Village Housing project in Palm Beach Florida. In short this woman was raped, beaten, forced to have oral sex with her son and then nearly set on fire by a group of vicious teens who Al Sharpton and the NAACP seem to think deserve our compassion and support. Gina McCauley, the founder of What About Our Daughters has been all over this since the beginning and she's asking that we join together in demanding that Sharpton, the NAN and the NAACP change their course. Tomorrow I will temporarily suspend my hiatus to present a conversation with Gina McCauley. Please check back after 9:00pm ET for the complete interview and for more information on how you can help. In the meantime, spend some time getting up to speed on this case. I've listed a number of news sites and blogs below.


Conditions at Dunbar Village.
DNA Tests Link Teens to the Crime.
Sharpton wants the rapists home.
Great post from Electronic Village.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

What's Going On?

This Breaks my heart....

The CDC reports nearly half of all African American teenage girls has an STD!!
By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

Last Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control released a study that found that one in four young women or 3.2 million teenage girls is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
The kicker is, according to the study, nearly half of African American girls (or 48%) in this age group has least one of the following: the human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes, or trichomoniasis, with HPV leading the charge.
Yes, that's right, according to the CDC -- one out of every two African American girls ages 14-19 has an STD.
The report, sponsored by the CDC and conducted by the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics), took a national sample of 838 young women. The study did not include the STDs syphilis, HIV or gonorrhea.
In a word, this is alarming.
Does this mean that if there are 20 tenth graders at a bus stop, say, the cheerleading squad at an all black high school -- that 10 of them has HPV?
In a word, no, or not necessarily, according to Dr. Stuart Berman, Chief of Epidemiology and Surveillances, STDs at the Centers for Disease Control.
"Put in context, you take a sample, but a sample done in a smart way, so you can extrapolate the data," Dr. Berman explains. "What this study says, is that this is a problem for the country. It's your kid, my kid, the neighbor across the street." (continue reading)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Be Inspired - Music

Despite the fact Bob Marley's children grew up with access to material riches far greater than most, they've also inherited their fathers sense of oneness with the world around them. Listen, watch and feel the truth.

Damian Marley
One Loaf of Bread (Something For You).





Speaking of the Marley's, I just found out that the Africa Unite documentary is available on DVD. The film documents the 2005 concert held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate Bob Marley's 60th birthday. I was fortunate enough to cover the event for XM and Worldspace Satellite Radio, in fact, I was told my interview with Lauryn Hill was included in the movie. (check out the audio here)








Those 5 days were among the best of my life. Check out the trailer and then go order the DVD.



COCOA MODE