Satana Deberry: Reflections on the election of a "Woke" District Attorney

I had the privilege of seeing Satana Deberry, our recently elected District Attorney, at Whole Foods earlier this week. It was great witnessing the responses of people in offering congratulations for her win. It stirred a few thoughts that led to me to writing about the history of law enforcement in America.

Go fetch them runaway niggers. My apologizes to those who hate that word, but it's necessary in this context. You feel me?

Oh, my thoughts on chasing slaves and crooked police stirred more thoughts regarding this historical moment. For those who dismiss the historical significance, I suggest you read a few books.

My thoughts:

1. How serious are we about criminal justice reform? I raise this question due to conversations I've had with people who didn't support Satana. If you teach and preach reform as part of your socio-political-economic agenda, help me understand why and how you failed to honor, respect and support the agenda Satana addresses?

2. Some people may need to check their gender bias. I glare with extreme crossed eyeballs to anyone who questioned the integrity of Satana's credentials. I'm forced o question whether this is a construction of some form of gender bias (you know, a woman can't do this) or more a variable of people being too lazy to read her CV.

3. This is much bigger than Durham. Some people wanted to make the DA race about something other, but, make no mistakes, this must be placed within the larger context of how the law is enforced on a national level. If you seriously believe stuff is broken, then act like you know.

4. This is not about dismissing the integrity of Roger Echols and the work he has achieved. Please, let's not go there. Echols served Durham well. He's a black man who deserves all due respect. I appreciate his service, and understand why many supported his continued role as DA.

5. But, there is work to do. It is critical that we note the history and injustices of law enforcement. It's time to think about how laws are used to dismantle black families by incarcerating black men and women at alarming disparate rates.

6. Some may decide to blame that disparity on blacks performing more crimes, but don't we deserve to have a different conversation?

7. We got to move past decisions being minimized by the type of political talk that reduces all of this to white "progressive" folks fighting against black "traditionalist". Can we talk about what's best for black people without getting stuck by who owns the terms of the conversation? In other words, can we place the bullshit to the side to change things for real?

8. Finally, and this is the biggy, I'm proud of Durham. I mean, I'm really, really proud of Durham. We're serious about reform, and when people not impacted, directly, by the stuff were talking about show up and vote for change, you know it's real. Like, really real. You feel me.

9. Oh, finally, finally, I love Satana and Clarence Birkhead is my dude. I'm smiling like it's my birthday and the gift I got....that's my business.

Carry on.

Too Old? Oh, Hell, No!! How Actress-Comedienne Mariann Aalda Is Changing the Narrative on Mature Women

Mariann Aalda’s career journey – from pioneering for African-American actresses in the 1980’s to now advocating for mature actresses – was recently profiled by AARP Studios as part of their #DisruptAging campaign

After a long, successful career which included being one of the first full-blown, African-American soap opera heroines, as “DiDi Bannister” on ABC’s EDGE OF NIGHT, to playing rapper Kid’s Mom in the urban cult comedy, CLASS ACT; co-starring with the legendary Redd Foxx and Della Reese as their daughter in the CBS sitcom, THE ROYAL FAMILY, and starring opposite O.J. Simpson as his wife for three seasons on the HBO football dramedy, FIRST & 10, Aalda hit her head on the glass ceiling of ageism that befalls many actresses in Hollywood. 

Unbowed, she redirected her natural actor’s curiosity about the human condition into becoming a hypnotherapist. She ended up becoming her own best client.

“Most of my clients were women my age suffering from depression and I quickly realized 

that they had already been hypnotized. They were under a spell cast by society and the media that women lose value and sexual viability as they got older.  My job was to DE-hypnotize them!”

The positive suggestions Aalda gave her clients took root in her own subconscious mind, catapulting her back to acting with a new mission of changing the paradigm on women and aging. 

Over the next decade she wrote and produced shows that celebrated the vibrancy and vitality of mature women.  M.O.I.S.T.! (an acronym for Multiple Orgasm Initiative for Sex-istential Transformation) was the hit of the National Black Theatre Festival in 2009 & 2011, and FUNNY COLORED WOMEN GETTIN’ THE LAST LAUGH, the all-female standup comedy show she produced and performed with Rhonda Hansome, Roxanne Reese, Holly Lynnea and Senior Citizen Comic Hermine Wise was the hit of the 2017 NBTF. 

Aalda also produced and stars in the 25-episode improv comedy web-series TALK TO ME, GINGER! [http://www.talktomeginger.com)/]www.TalkToMeGinger.com as Adult Sex-Ed Evangelist & Mojo Motivator Ginger Peechee-Keane…the character around whom she has also based her one-woman  show, OCCUPY YOUR VAGINA! – which she has performed in New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and which she is bringing to Los Angeles on January 23, as part of Whitefire Theatre’s 2018 Solofest. The show is a “Coming of Age-ing” exploration that humorously and optimistically covers a woman’s journey through puberty, marriage, parenting, divorce, an empty nest, health challenges, late-in-life dating, mortality and, finally, self-acceptance and empowerment. In light of current events surrounding sexual harassment, it is especially timely.

“We’re sexual beings,” says Aalda. "Men and women should be able to relate to one another without neutering ourselves.  We should be able to flirt and be playful in our daily banter without good men being fearful of crossing a line of impropriety and good women being afraid to push back at jerks.”      

Aalda, who’s been based in her hometown of Chicago and focusing on standup for the last three years was in discussions with Troy Pryor’s Creative Cypher production organization to bring her FUNNY COLORED WOMEN show [http://www.funnycoloredwomen.com)/]www.FunnyColoredWomen.com there when she got a call from a friend in Los Angeles asking if she could house and cat-sit for her for six months while she was on location in Toronto.

“Chicago winters are cold and older women are ‘hot,’ right now,” says Aalda, “so God put me exactly where I’m supposed to be. He also got me here in time to get to say good-by to Della before she passed, for which I am eternally grateful. Della was around the age I am now when she played my mom on THE ROYAL FAMILY and she’s a wonderful role model of a woman who continued to pursue her multi-faceted career throughout her later years – on television (TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL), in concert and in her ministry.

“You know, with all the attention being paid on television these days to the different colors of diversity, there’s still not enough focus being put on gray,” continues Aalda, “especially when it comes to African-American women.  Is it because so many of us color our gray? Is it because “black don’t crack” so stories in between middle-age and geriatric get overlooked?”

Whatever the reason, Aalda’s not having it.

“Other than a couple guest spots, (THE BLACKIST), I’ve been mostly performing in clubs and theaters for the last few years,” says Aalda. "It’s time for me to come in off the road and get back to series-regular television! There are stories that need to be told and I’m a storyteller.  Plus, I really do believe that God brought me back to LA for a reason.  And just like in the Bible story of Jacob, I ain’t leavin’ till I get my blessing!”     

   

Mariann’s Website with Standup videos: www.Alt-FunnyBlackChick.com

For more info & to get tix for her Solo Show: www.OccupyYourVagina.com 

Durham black clergy endorse Farad Ali for mayor

Jerome Washington, pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church, stood behind a podium wearing a three-piece blue suit. It was the conventional dress and posture for a Sunday sermon.  Like John the Baptist, Washington, challenged a congregation gathered away from the house of worship.

The message was get out and vote. The congregation was a group of local black pastors assembled at Forest Hills Park.

“In the life of the African American church, social justice has been central, and it is the voice of the preacher - sometimes popular, sometimes not popular- that has guided people,” Washington said during his benediction. “With that in mind, these men and women have come together to say to Durham: we need to come out, we need to vote. We need to vote for our future.”

Washington called the group “Ministers United”. It’s the name given for the occasion. There are no bylaws to solidify the group’s mission statement. They had one goal – to get people to vote for Ali. It’s the first time in a long time that black clergy have united to endorse a candidate for local office.

“History is watching us. The nation is watching us. God is watching us.” Washington said. “There’s too much at stake.”

The men and women behind Washington nodded like parishioners on Sunday during the peak of a sermon. Like a congregation that has witnessed the good mingled with the bad, they stood like their faith required them to challenge the masses.

“Downtown may be on the rise, but there are other things at stake, “Washington said. “There are too many without jobs. There are neighborhoods that need special attention and that special attention does not mean crowding out and forcing out the least.”

In the crowd were two political veterans – Michael Page, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church and former member of the Durham Public School Board and Board of County Commissioners and Frederick Davis, pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church and former member of the Durham Public School Board.

“I think it’s paramount in this juncture of Durham’s history that clergy not only show this unified base, but that we educate our congregations so that they can make the best voting decision,” said William-Hazel Height, pastor of Greater Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church. “I don’t tell them who to vote for, but I lay out the parameters to make the best decision, and I believe Farad Ali is the best decision.”

Washington said endorsing Ali is easy because he sees him at church when Ali’s not worshipping with his congregation at Asbury Temple United Methodist Church or with his family at Immaculate Catholic Church.

“I’ve spoken with many of these pastor’s individually about how unity can bring us together in so many ways,” Ali said. “We should all share in the prosperity. We should not be talking about some areas of our city that are growing, some people that are growing or some buildings that are growing, but we should all share in that prosperity.”

Greg Hardy, president of Tabernacle of Redeemed, said he has known Ali since playing Pee Wee Football together,

“It is important for Durham to see us together as clergy, as men and women of faith to encourage our community to make a difference by getting out to vote,” Hardy said. “We support Ali’s vision, because he is the man we believe can get us to where we need to go. All of Durham, not just those who are well off, but those who are marginalized

Washington said his message to his congregation on Sunday will be a challenge to vote. Many of the ministers mourned the apathy of black voters.

“Why should we have to remind them of the sacrifices made for them to vote, Percy Chase, pastor of Community Baptist Church, said. “People gave up their lives so we can vote.”

The congregation of clergy went their separate ways inspired by the gospel of get out the vote. Washington’s message about the future of Durham was heard like an old Bible story. Maybe it was the one about the children of the Israelites who forgot what the Lord had done. Maybe it was the one about the years of exile after they took things for granted.

Inspired by the spirit of their peers, these black preachers are prepared to do what they do best on Sunday morning.

Go tell that mountain to move out of our way.

Vote.

The Church of perpetual Reformation

It’s been 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five theses to the door of “All-Saints” Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.

“Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money,” Luther wrote in Thesis 86.

Luther rejected indulgences, the view that freedom from God’s punishment for sin could be purchased, and recommended a theological conversation. Instead, he sparked the Protestant Reformation.  The One, Holy, Catholic Church was fractured into groups with divergent opinions.

Luther, John Calvin Huldrych Zwingli, and others, led the charge for massive doctrinal changes. They relied on “sola scriptura”, the reliance of scripture versus the bearing of tradition, in forming new theological approaches. In addition to theology, the call for change was motivated by the rise of nationalism, lost faith in the power of the Pope and the alleged corruption of the Church.

It was a Reformation that never stopped. The Church, as the “rock” of faith, is an institution embroiled in an unending movement of reform. The strength of the Church is not in its ability to stay the same. It’s in its ability to remain relevant in an evolving world. The Church, as the “rock” in a volatile world, remains relevant in its ability to cultivate faith when the questions change.

Being a God of “yesterday, today and forever” implies our ability to steadily catch up to the mind of God. It assumes an intellect beyond what we have known. It embraces the presence of God in science and honors the lessons of history. It refuses to remain stuck in a dogma formulated with limited knowledge.

Reformation offers the freedom to listen to new voices. New prophets emerge to force us to listen to the hearts of people dismissed by the ways we practice faith. For Luther, it was the voices of the poor who witnessed the increasing wealth of the Pope. Today, Reformation happens when there are places where we are forced to hear how others live their faith.

Reformation is the ongoing activity of the Church. The power of reform is in creating rooms for others to become witnesses to how God speaks today. Reform is happening wherever there is a place called a church. It also happens in places not called a church. It happens whenever people ponder the meaning of faith.

Reform is the challenge to hear and find God. It happens when people feel abandoned by the Church. The power of reform begins when people scream “me too”.

Reform happens when people demand a place for everyone to be loved. Reformation takes place when people are left out or collect tough tasks to earn admission. Reform disputes all forms of detachment and challenges us to honor the work of God in a variety of places. God is present beyond the things forced in our imagination.

Reformation is the call back to God. It is happening everywhere we look. It’s happening in all of our churches and all of our denominations. Reform is taking place in churches labeled by race – black, white, Hispanic, Asian, African or multicultural. Reform transcends theology and liturgy. It has no bearing on the age of its membership or if the people cling to tradition or welcome a non-traditional format.

Reformation is a call for liberation and is rooted in the demand of inclusion. It consistently challenges us to consider the assumptions of our faith claims. Are we guilty of making ourselves better than others by virtue of our privilege? Have we used gender to foster thoughts of male supremacy, or have we used race to denigrate other races? Is faith used to suppress the people too weak to make it on their own, and do we offer service to bring greater attention to our privilege?

Reformation is the consistent practice of the Church. It happens when we pray for unity and peace. It’s exhibited through what and how we preach. It acknowledges how faith is embodied through our service together.

It’s been 500 years since Luther inspired the Reformation. Today, in remembering that day, we acknowledge the need to reform the messenger of the Reformation. We denounce Luther ‘s views toward the Jews. We deplore his writings that called for the destruction of Jewish homes and synagogues and the confiscation of their money.

Luther’s anti-Semitism demonstrates the need for continued reform. In reforming the work of the reformers, the work of the Reformation continues today.