CNN Coverage of Our Rally for Heather EllisBy Your Black World Today

To join the Your Black World Coalition,
please visit www.YourBlackWorld.com

Dr. Boyce Watkins

Hello to my friends,

I wanted to email you during my trip to Kennett, Missouri on behalf of Heather Eliis, the 24-year old college student now facing up to 15 years in prison for cutting in line at Walmart (for more information, please visit TheHeatherEllisCase.com). The rally occurred yesterday and thankfully, it was peaceful. I was concerned about going into this area, since there were quite a few white supremacists groups standing along the march route (they were holding up confederate flags and flags with swastikas on them). I respect their rights to freedom of speech, but my concern was that things might get out of control.

There were snipers on the rooftops and even the former prosecutor of Heather's case, Stephen Sokoloff, stood on the balcony of the courthouse and watched the speeches from above. I'd visited the Lorraine Hotel, where Dr. King was assassinated, just the day before, and that provided courage and inspiration as we marched forward.

There was a standoff with police and the city attorney's office over whether or not our permit was valid. This led to some yelling back and forth between Heather's father and the officers, but I simply sat quietly during the entire process, since we'd won the battle before it even began. After the yelling stopped, our outstanding legal team simply informed the officers that we had legal grounds to hold our march with the specified permit. The officers (joined by the city attorney) had a three minute meeting and then came back to inform us that we would be allowed to march as we'd specified. This is a reminder that education is one of the greatest weapons you can have when defending your civil rights - it is best to just walk softly and make sure you carry the bigger intellectual stick.

CNN, Michael Baisden, Rev. Al Sharpton and tons of others were calling in to get updates on the march, and I will have as much footage as possible posted on the website as soon as we can. However, the real battle begins on Wednesday, when Heather's trial starts - so this is just the beginning. Personally, I don't intend on seeing this young woman go to prison, and I ask all my friends to bring the fire of heaven and hell down on those who choose to destroy this young woman's life over a minor incident such as this. Please visit the website and get involved - you can send letters to Walmart or the Attorney General's Office or donate to the family's legal expenses (there are forms on the website and donation links on the side).

There will be pictures and video footage from the rally on the main website if you'd like to see it. Also, if you can please sign our petition for the Attorney General (on the right hand side of the website, near the top), we would be grateful. There are some at Syracuse University who don't want me to get involved in issues like this (you'd be amazed at what has happened behind the scenes), but the truth is that when it comes to fighting for my people, there is no room for negotiation.

God bless,

Dr Boyce
www.BoyceWatkins.com

"Ode to an AIDS Survivor" by Victor Pond(A Guest Nubian Knight)

Ode to an AIDS Survivor
by Victor Pond

(A Guest Nubian Knight)






Even when the darkness bends
extruding the light
leaving behind an intangible night
.......

there you will be
silently defiant
unmindful of the void before you
knowing that tomorrow
the sun will rise
to swallow up the shadow.
.........

With the confidence
of Griots….the ones who taste stories
before sharing them.....You will walk
leaving behind carved memories
so strangers behind you
will burn with the desire
to live one more day.

BMX-NY Presents A Movie Screening: RAG TAG (A Black SGL Film)Friday, November 6th, 2009 @ 8PMHarlem, NYC

Presents

A Movie Screening of
RAG TAG

Hey Bruthaz,

The Black Men's Xchange-New York (BMX-NY) will be screening the Black same gender loving (SGL) film RAG TAG (2006) this Friday, November 6th, 2009 @ 8PM.

We hope you can come out and see a phenomenal film about the SGL experience from a British perspective.

This film ranks as one of my top favorite three Black SGL films of all-time!! Yes! I LOVE the film that much!

BMX's address and film info is listed below.

Be qool y'all!

ROD (aka BIG ROD)


BMX-NY
730 Riverside Drive (@ the corner of 150th Street)
(Entrance is on the 150th Street side of the building)
Suite 9E (9th floor)
Harlem, New York
8PM - 11PM
Google Map
TRAVEL: Take the A, C, D (front of any of those trains) or the #1 train to 145th Street






Rag Tag (2006)
Running Time: 98 minutes / Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring Danny Parson (as Raymond/Rag) and Adedamola Adelaja (as Tagbo/Tag). Produced, written and directed by Adaora Nwandu.

Synopsis:
Despite their radically different backgrounds, young Black British boys Rag and Tag share a close bond - perhaps too close. Rag is from a single-parent West Indian home and Tag is the pride of middle-class Nigerian parents. The two are inseparable until Social Services discovers Rag's mother isn't around and he's taken far from his
London home to Birmingham.

10 years later they discover later as young men that their once
innocent desires have definitively shifted into an urgent need to be together.

Propelled by a fantastic hip-hop score, Rag Tag is an intricate,
lyrical film about love and friendship set against a cultural backdrop that has never before been seen in a same gender loving film.

Filmed in the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
Genre: Drama/Romance.












DVD Purchase: http://www.mukaflicks.co.uk/shop.html

RAG TAG DVD

10 GBP + Postage and Packaging (Roughly $23.00 U.S. Dollars)

PAL DVD, Multizone - will play on computers and newer DVD players
all over the world

Bonus Extras include: 'Making Of' documentary and shots from Deleted Scenes

8 - 10 days delivery from England

CAFE 2009 Cultural Arts Festival & ExpoColumbia, South Carolina

qmocha.com

Cafe 2009 Events

Friday, November 13th

Cabaret at Cafe
Cafe 2009 Official Kick-Off
Drag Queen & King Show
The Cabaret
1101 Harden Street
Columbia, SC 29205
Doors open at 11 p.m.
Show starts at 11:30 p.m.



Saturday November 14th

The following events will take place at
SC State Museum - 301 Gervais Street Columbia, SC 29201
Vendor Expo: Noon - 5pm
(Stop by the SC Pride/Harriet Hancock Center Table)
Our Stories, Our Voices
Literary Forum, Reading, & Book Signing
Vista Room
Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Forum begins at 10 a.m.

Bodies in Motion
Ball to Ballet Dance Exposition
Auditorium
Doors Open at 12:30 p.m.
Shows start at 1 p.m.

Spit Fire Poetry Showcase
Vista Room
Doors Open at 3:30 p.m.
Show starts at 4 p.m.

For the Love of Harlem
The Highly Acclaimed Stage Play
Auditorium
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Show starts at 8:00 p.m.

Dr. Joy DeGruy | Be The Healing Upcoming Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome Presentations (New York and New Jersey)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, November 5th @ 6:00-7:00PM
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) and Healing Presentation
Lighthouse Community Center
719 Bellevue Avenue Trenton, NJ 08618

Friday, November 6th @ 4:00–5:30PM
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Overview and Q & A Session
Bethany Baptist Church
460 Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Brooklyn, New York 11216

Saturday, November 7th @ 2:00–2:45PM
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Overview and Q & A Session
CEMOTAP
13505 Rockaway Blvd, S. Ozone Park, NY 11420

Saturday, November 7th @ 7:00PM
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Presentation
Newark, NJ (TBD)

Sunday, November 8th @ 2:00-2:45PM
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Overview and Q & A Session
Board for the Education of People African Ancestry
286 Convent Ave. Harlem, NY 10031

Dr. Joy DeGruy is a nationally and internationally renowned researcher, educator, author and presenter. Dr. Joy, as most know her, is a tell-it-like-it-is ambassador for healing and a voice for those who've struggled in search of the past, and continue to struggle through the present. A highly skilled and educated activist for social justice, Dr.Joy reaches people on the community level and has a captivating way of persuading others to search for a deeper understanding of themselves.

Dr. Joy is the acclaimed author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome—America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, and the newly released, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: The Study Guide. In P.T.S.S.: The Study Guide, Dr.Joy revisits the topics she covers in P.T.S.S. and provides a detailed mapping of how you can begin the change process in your personal life, employment, family and in your community. She illustrates how—with thoughtful self–exploration—each of us can evaluate our behaviors and replace negative and damaging behaviors with those that will promote, ensure and sustain the healing and advancement of African Americans.

Net Neutrality FAQ: What's in it for You

Net Neutrality FAQ: What's in it for You
Tim Greene, Network World
Oct 24, 2009 3:51 pm

The FCC has approved a notice of proposed rule making on the subject of net neutrality, and here are a few questions and answers to help shine a light on what that means. (See "FCC takes first step toward net neutrality rules") What exactly did the FCC do? The FCC agreed to consider what regulations, if any, to impose on ISPs (Internet Service Providers: Cablevision, Time Warner, Verizon DSL/Fios, etc. - BIG ROD) about the applications and services that they allow, ban or rate limit. The process calls for formally proposing rules and holding public hearings on them. A vote about the rules themselves will take place sometime next year.

What is net neutrality anyway?

It is the common name for creating and preserving what the FCC calls the "open Internet". The FCC is trying to write rules that enforce six principles it says ISPs must uphold to preserve what the commission calls the "open Internet." These rules would tell ISPs to:

• allow sending and receiving all lawful content.
• allow all lawful applications and services.
• allow all lawful devices that don't harm the network.
• allow access to all network, application, service and content providers.
• ensure there is no discrimination against particular lawful content, applications, services and devices.
• reveal practices necessary network management that might limit the other five principles.

Who wants it?

A majority of the FCC, Google and other Internet-based companies, consumer advocacy groups and Internet luminaries such as Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee. They fear that without rules, ISPs will impose tiered service levels, making the top-level services so expensive as to rule out their use by innovators trying to start Internet-based businesses. They are also concerned that selectively banning certain applications such as VoIP will reduce consumer choice about how to make voice calls. There have been cases where ISPs blocked VoIP and rate-limited peer-to-peer traffic like that used for gaming and file sharing.

Who's opposed to it?

The loudest opposition comes from AT&T, Verizon and other Internet providers. They say the rules would block charging extra for premium services, the financial incentive they need to invest in network upgrades that keep traffic running smoothly. They say the rules would unfairly restrict what they call differentiating services that might justify higher rates than competitors charge. They say the consequences of net-neutrality rules would be one of two things: higher flat rates for services or paying by the byte for Internet traffic. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also has introduced a bill to block the FCC's net neutrality rules.

What does it mean to businesses?

If net neutrality prompts higher Internet access rates for all-you-can-eat ISP services, businesses would have higher ISP bills. Usage-based fees might or might not increase costs to individual businesses depending on how much they use the Internet. Businesses that rely on the Internet to provide services might face decreased demand if their customers are forced to buy more-expensive services in order to consume their products. For example, a business that sells HD video downloads over the Internet might sell less if customers have to buy premium Internet access in order to enjoy a movie.

What does it mean to carriers?

Carriers fear net neutrality will restrict their ability to make money off their networks to the point that they will slow the rate at which they invest in network improvements that boost Internet performance. They also say they buy into the principles of an open Internet and that no rules are needed.

What does it mean to residential Internet users?

Flat monthly rates that are common now would likely remain, but ISPs might charge more for them. Or they might shift over to billing for the amount customers download, forcing customers to think twice about what they use the Internet for. At the same time, they would be able to use the Internet to make phone calls without worrying that the traffic would be blocked.

The rules would have the biggest impact on what services?

Without rules, ISPs are most likely to limit bandwidth hogs – gaming, streaming video - and VoIP. Many large ISPs such as AT&T and Verizon are also voice carriers, so VoIP riding the Internet is a threat to their revenue streams. The flip side is that providers of VoIP services that rely on the Internet ought not to be hindered by the ISPs.

"Loupe" - A Black Same Gender Loving Play AtThe International Dublin Gay Theatre FestivalOctober 24th-31st, 2009 (Ireland!)

LOUPE

IMDLALO PRODUCTIONS, ZIMBABWE

Comedy Drama - 24 Oct (16:00, 20:00), 25 Oct (16:00), 26 Oct (17:00, 20:00), 27 Oct (20:00), 28 Oct (20:00), 30 Oct (20:00), 31 Oct (16:00, 20:00)

at OUTHOUSE THEATRE @ 105 Capel Street
GOOGLE MAP

Prices (euros): €10.00 / €13.00 / €15.00
Jump To Online Booking (Tickets)

Set in a homophobic environment where fear is the order of the day family bonds are put to the test as sexuality and political intolerance foster hatred. Kilem and Sizwe are blood brothers but when their realities are challenged a trail of destruction follows.

This is a moving comedy that will leave you in tears and stitches. It’s never easy to be different it’s easier to follow the crowd This nerve wrecking heart breaking story takes you through the nuances of Zimbabwe politics and takes a magnified look at the troubled society. Winner of the Zimbabwe National Art Merit awards 2008 for Best actor Tafadzwa Muzondo and Best production the show will definitely give you an insight into a different world.

“The play to watch, it will stir your emotions and make you chuckle aloud… hilarious yet touching… certainly a great show” HIFA-LUTIN…

“tackled homosexuality, promiscuity and partisan politics with a remarkable flow and fluency… refreshing in the lighting effects, the stage arrangement and blending of the two man cast that had the audience hugging and praising the actors” THE STANDARD