1st Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting in DC

Photo courtesy of NYU Alumni Magazine

On Friday, July 11, 2008, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) held a Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting in their headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue.  The purpose of the Town Hall Meeting was to put together the Black women’s agenda to be presented to the Democratic and Republican parties prior to the election.  Dorothy Height, the NCNW Chair and President Emerita, made the opening remarks, and the panels were laden with phenomenal women including Faye Wattleton (Center for the Advancement of Women), Dr. Julianne Malveaux (Bennett College), Daphne Valerius (produced “The Souls of Black Girls”), Sheryl Huggins Salomon (NiaPulse), Eleanor Hinton-Hoytt (Black Women’s Health Imperative), Dr. Jane Smith (Spelman College), Melanie Campbell (Natl Coalition on Black Civic Participation), Dr. Tricia Bent-Goodley (Howard University), and Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever (NCNW).  Blanche Williams, who does a talk show on XM Radio and has a book entitled “Greatness by Design,” was the moderator.  Barbara McKinzie, National President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., also accepted the Landmark of Greatness Award on behalf of her sorority.

The major issues discussed were the rise in AIDS among Black women, poverty, lack of healthcare, and the need for quality education….none of which were new, but the discussions proved beneficial for the purpose of creating the Black women’s agenda.  During the discussion of Black women’s issues of economics, Dr. Malveaux stated that since most Black women are trying to maintain households on their own in an economy where two incomes are necessary, economics will continue to be one of our primary issues.  Does everything come back to the decline of the Black family?!

Puffy Speaks..and I Love It!

Last night on Making the Band on MTV, Puffy started his discussion about “b*tchassness” once again.  Used previously to describe Robert that wanted be the star of the group but wasn’t performing, and most recently Que that called Audrey  when Danny was out with another girl, “b*tchassness” has been defined on Making the Band as basically acting like a serious b*tch when being b*tchy is not warranted, and carrying b*tch to the point of being whiney, which is not cute.

So, I was quite surprised last night when while watching Making the Band, the show stopped and they said “breaking news”…and Puffy comes on screen saying that there is “b*tchassness” in the Democratic Party, and that young people should not be discouraged and should still remain hopeful.  Based on recent events, this was clearly directed at Hilary Clinton, who has been playing dirty on the political field trying to get the nomination over Obama.  He recognizes that the young voters that have become excited about the political process may abandon it if they think the nomination has been stolen from their candidate.  We are not stupid…we know that the urgency to get Michigan and Florida to count is due to the desperation of the Clinton camp of being behind in delegates and the need to make the case that if this goes to convention, she should win.  Also dirty is Hilary and Bill’s “mention” of Obama as a VP candidate…to put it out to the voters that “look, you can have both of us!”  As Obama has stated, why is the person that is losing the race discussing the person that is winning taking the VP position?  Looks like it should be the other way around.

I applaud Puffy for bringing Hilary’s “b*tchassness” to light.  This is getting real tricky…I was actually a Hilary supporter at first, then decided I was an Obama supporter but still liked Hilary.  Now, because of her “b*tchassness” I don’t like her so much and don’t want her to be my Ms. President.