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By Patricia Wilson-Smith
Today CNN is reporting that the body of Nailah Franklin has been found.
I didn’t know her. I have no idea of the circumstances under which she lost her life, but all around the web, there have been testaments to her beauty, her goodness, and her vitality from the people who knew her best.
There is no honor in having your life cut too short, but there is honor in living the kind of life that causes others great personal sadness when you’re gone, and Nailah clearly led that kind of life. It is a shame that we will never get to know who she was, and will probably never get to know much about why she was taken so soon. The prayers of all the women of Black Women for Obama are with her family.
Today’s video of the day comes from an attendee of the “Countdown to Change Rally” held here in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georga World Congress Center on September 20th!
The rally was amazing. Hundreds and hundreds of Obama supporters, the media, campaign workers, and of course the Secret Service all crammed into one of the open meeting arenas at the GWCC to see the man himself, and he did not disappoint!
Thanks to the magic of YouTube, cell phone video, teeny-tiny hand-held camcorders and the Internet, we can attend any of the Senator’s stump speeches anywhere in the country. I had seen several of the Senator’s speeches in different towns and cities around the country before he came to Atlanta, but I was thrilled to see him in person nonetheless.
His message was familiar; he doesn’t vary very much in his speeches from town to town, but he has a manner of delivery that says “everyone in this audience came here to get to know me on a more personal level, and so get to know me they will”.
I was floored by his easy manner and sense of humor, and utterly overwhelmed by the passion with which he outlined his stance on important issues like the War in Iraq, education for our children, and healthcare. And I giggled my head off as he recounted yet again the story of traveling for miles in inclement weather with a backache and a bad attitude only to find 20 people in attendance at a town hall meeting. He’d promised the congresswoman representing the area that he would attend if he could gain her endorsement.
The story of the old woman he met there, and the chant she used to get the crowd “fired up” got Atlanta fired up as well, and me along with them. Watching the Senator speak to so many of the people that I see and work with on a daily basis on different campaign activities, watching the genuine admiration for him on the faces of the crowd was like the shot in the arm I needed to kick it up a notch – Senator Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States, if Black Women for Obama has anything to do with it, and have something to do with it, we will!
Join the revolution – let’s go change the world!
By Patricia Wilson-Smith
If by now, you still need a reason for why I started BWFO, you need look no further than the man who was once considered one of the most important black leaders in this country – Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Earlier this week, Reverend Jackson, a self-proclaimed Obama supporter, let slip during a 45-minute one on one interview with a reporter from South Carolina’s “The State” newspaper, that in not responding more strongly to the now well known “Jena 6″ case in Lousiana, Senator Obama was “acting like he’s white”.
I shuddered when I heard this too. I’ll take a moment and let your shudder die down – it’ll be tough though, because it comes in waves doesn’t it?
Yes it does. So as a proud member of Black Women for Obama, and a sworn defender of the Senator, I have to respond. The problem is, when I think about Jesse Jackson’s latest shenanigans, the only thing that comes to my mind is – why? Why is it so easy for a man like Jesse Jackson to let such toxic words fall from his mouth about a man who is our first real hope for a President who, well, isn’t white, and who has done more than what’s necessarily required of him to denounce the horrible situation in Jena, Lousiana?
I’m tempted to end my musings here with a “beats the heck outta me”, and a “thank you and goodnite”, but I can’t, because I’m genuinely puzzled. I’m confused, and yet strangely fascinated by what could have possibly motivated Jesse Jackson to say such a thing. So I am here tonight to offer up some possible theories. I welcome yours (clear throat).
Theory # 1: Jesse Jackson is the king of the political “player haters”; perhaps he simply can’t stand to see another African American man get so close to something that was so unattainable for him. Sounds plausible, but then the man did endorse Senator Obama back in March of this year, so though it’s theory number one, it’s not the strongest.
Theory # 2: He’s a secret agent and under-cover attack dog for the Clintons. This theory has legs, my friends. Jesse Jackson has been a close personal friend of the Clinton’s for years. What if – just work with me for a moment – the Clinton campaign secretly hired Reverend Jackson to pretend to be an endorser of Senator Obama’s, in order to get information about the inner workings of his campaign? And worse yet, what if he was really engaged by the Clintons to spout off at the mouth about the slightest gaffe the Senator might make, in order to bolster support for the Clintons with blacks? I mean THINK ABOUT IT – there are still dyed-in-the-wool Jackson supporters out there who think the man’s mouth is a prayer book. I’m just sayin’.
Theory # 3: The real Jesse Jackson was abducted years ago by alien life forms, who cruelly left us stuck with a talking and remarkably human-like Jesse Jackson doll with a bad micro-chip. Hmmmm.
Theory # 4: (And the more likely theory) Foot-in-Mouth-Syndrome. The glare of the national spotlight, and a tendency to deal with all issues in a trigger-happy, speak-then-think way has once again cast a gloomy cloud over Jesse Jackson’s presumably well-intentioned rainbow.
I mean, are we really surprised? Has Jesse Jackson exactly shown himself to be careful in speech, thought, or action in the past? [Insert resounding 'hell no' here]. This is the same man who made the ‘Hymietown’ remark during a time when he himself was actively campaigning for President. The same man who carried on an extramarital affair while at the same time serving as ’spiritual counselor’ to President Clinton during the Monica Lewinski debacle. The same man who once said he was ’sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust’. Geesh - Jesse Jackson is a member of the foot-in-mouth Hall of Fame.
Don’t get me wrong, peeps. Jesse Jackson has also done plenty of good work, and has been a tireless stalwart for the black community since the days of the Civil Rights Movement, though it’s been hard to miss the fact that some of his actions over the last several years have seemed more like opportunities to increase his personal visibility and net worth than genuine attempts at working to change the black condition in this country.
That’s what’s so dangerous about his careless remarks – when a man who in almost all other ways, claims to have the best interests of the down-trodden minorities in this country at heart, goes and spouts off at the mouth about anything anytime he wants, it lends credence to the idea that many have that he’s really only ever trying to draw more attention to himself. And in taking his little jab at the Senator, he unknowingly crossed the line from plain old diarrhea of the mouth, to committing what in my mind will go down in history as one of the classic goofs of all time.
See, what-had-happened-was, after Jesse made his little remark, the Obama Campaign disclosed that the Reverend’s very own son, Jesse Jackson Jr., had actually advised the Senator (in part) on what his official response to the Jena 6 case and the trial should be (no – you understood correctly, but go back and read it again if you need to). Yes! It’s true! Our friend Reverend Jackson:
- Inserted himself into the limelight surrounding the Jena 6 case, once again squeezing out a spot in the national spotlight for himself while…
- The Obama Campaign looked to the Jr. Jesse Jackson to help Senator Obama craft an official stance on the Jena 6 case, just in time for…
- Big Daddy Jackson to carelessly tell a reporter that in delivering the very same response that his son helped come up with, Senator Obama was ‘acting too white’.
Too funny. So in essence, Jesse Jackson Sr. thinks Jesse Jackson Jr. acts too white, and what we really have here is a private family matter between a father disillusioned by his son’s sense of his own racial identity, and a son who clearly doesn’t call his Dad on the weekends to tell him how he spends his work week.
My suggestion to Mr. Jackson is that he lay down his weapon (his big mouth), take a deep breath, and figure out how he can keep from destroying any legacy he might have left from his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. He would do well to start by not attacking the one man who in all his actions and deeds has proven that he has the best interest of all people at heart, especially African Americans and those who are disenfranchised, or have been forgotten by modern day politicians and their heartless brand of politics. He would do well to end by somehow choking back the urge now and forever more to belittle anyone’s actions by saying they’re acting ‘too white’. What the hell does that mean, anyway?
Finally, my fervent wish for Jesse Jackson is that he find a clue at the end of one of his rainbows and drag his politically, socially dated butt into the new millenium and find a way to help deal with this nation’s problems in the context of the new realities in which we find ourselves – one where people no longer refer to others as ‘too black’ or ‘too white’, and one where a black man can really become President of these United States, and is not relegated to just running on a national platform aimed at bolstering his street cred and eliciting the blind faith of black men, women and children in communities nationwide who deserve better. I’m just sayin’.
Nailah Franklin: I Want Hourly Updates
September 24, 2007 in Commentary, Did You Know?, Issues, Nailah Franklin, Politics | by bfwo | 10 comments
By Patricia Wilson-Smith
The purpose of erecting this website for Black Women for Obama was to bring important issues to the fore; we knew from the onset that those issues would not always relate directly to the election season, and today’s message to you, Dear Readers, has nothing whatsoever to do with the Election of ‘08. Here goes.
Over the weekend, Chicago’s local media began issuing reports regarding a missing young woman by the name of Nailah Franklin. Nailah is a 28-year old drug sales representative from Chicago who was reported missing after sending a vague text message to friends and family. She had apparently been receiving threatening phone calls from someone she used to date before she disappeared. Nailah Franklin, as you can see from the photo above, is a young black woman.
So I’m sitting in front of my television as I watch the coverage just shaking my head, because I know that like so many other stories involving missing black women, the public outcry for her safe return will never come; the vigils outside her mother’s home, the tearful interviews on Good Morning America begging for any news on her whereabouts – will not happen. And it just pisses me off beyond belief.
I have always been bothered by the way the American media obsesses over non-minority women when they go missing. It says something really disturbing about our society that we put less value on a human life if that life is not wrapped in a package that we think is befitting. I’m bothered because I’m certain that beautiful, intelligent black women are abducted all the time unfortunately, and yet we rarely if ever hear about their stories, except as some passing news item on the network and cable news channels. And maybe even some not-so-beautiful, not-so-educated black women have been lost to their families and loved ones as well - God help them if they live in an inner city. But let a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian college student come up missing, and the “cable news earth” stops revolving. Major news events are preempted to get the word out, people appear out of nowhere to assist the family and help garner support from their communities, money for rewards start flowing like a river – it’s amazing!
I want HOURLY updates on the Nailah Franklin case – I want consistent coverage on the progress of the search for her and I want it to go on forever or until she’s found, which ever comes first. In other words, I want her to get the same chance at the oh-so important exposure from the news media that any Natalee Holloway look-a-like would receive. In a nation that prides itself on its multi-culturalism, and that wants to believe it has left the specter of racism behind, why is it seemingly impossible for the media to give fair and equitable coverage to the missing/exploited minorities in this country?
As a professional black woman, with a family who loves me, and with a gaggle of female nieces, young cousins, and friends that I cherish dearly, it pains me to know that if one of them were suddenly gone without a trace, the only hope my family would have of garnering any attention to their story would be a blurb on the local news channel for a night. Meanwhile, the young, white, and attractive that disappear (no matter what the circumstances) end up captivating the ENTIRE world for months and sometimes years on end. Where is the equity in that?
I can ask this question because it’s obvious that the spectacle that some of these stories become is COMPLETELY media-driven. We live in a society where we are conditioned to care about, talk about, and believe in whatever the media sends our way. As a sad result, the message that our society is being force-fed is that the value of a black woman’s life, or the value of a Latino woman’s life is not as important as that of an Anglo-Saxon, and their subsequent abduction or murder is hardly worth reporting.
Of course, it doesn’t end there. Missing or abducted younger women are more often reported on than are older women, and most certainly, the more attractive the woman the more coverage she gets.
This is irresponsible on so many levels. How are we as a society going to let the legions of young Black and Hispanic women and girls in this country know that we value them, and that their existence means anything to the future of this nation if we allow such a glaring disparity to continue? I am a college instructor, technology professional, author, mother, daughter and friend to many people who love me dearly. It is so disheartening to know that if I were to ever disappear, the exact same effort that is expended to find young, attractive, white women would not be expended to locate my big, black butt and bring me back to my loved ones.
Remember Latoyia Figueroa? Latoyia was a beautiful young woman who like Nailah was of African-American descent. Latoyia disappeared on July 18, 2005. She was five months pregnant at the time, and was reported missing after she failed to show up to work. At the time, her disappearance did spark some controversy, because all of the major news outlets completely ignored her story, despite the obvious similarities to the Laci Petersen case, and because of their unending fascination with the hot case of the time, Natalee Holloway. However, the controversy was short-lived, and as far as I can tell, no media outlet has been brave enough to lead the charge towards change since. We’ve successfully integrated the work place, schools, and public restrooms – what’s the deal with media coverage?
As a point of illustration, try this. Go to Google (or any other search engine) and search on “Latoyia Figueroa”. You should get somewhere in the area of 22,000 hits. Now – type in “Natalie Holloway” (an intentional misspelling of her name) and search. You get more than double the hits, about 47,000, even with her name misspelled! Finally, type in “Natalee Holloway”, and do a search. You’ll find well over six-hundred THOUSAND references to her, many of them media references, or sites and blurbs that are a direct result of the mountainous amount of coverage her case has received. The inequality is appalling, shocking really, and I submit that it must change before this country can ever really consider itself racially progressive.
I should state emphatically that it is a tragedy whenever anyone is abducted – black, white, green, or fuschia. But it is equally tragic when a nation like this one so openly devalues one segment of its population so blatantly. I plan to watch the coverage of this story VERY closely, and hold the media accountable for not giving this young woman the same chance to be found, and for not giving her family the same chance at closure that Natalee Holloway’s and Laci Petersen’s families got. It’s only fair, and if the media can’t be fair about something like this, then hell, what can they be fair about?