Jennifer Hudson: Our Hopes, Our Prayers, Her Healing

A promising star has lost her mother and brother. And somewhere, her nephew's waiting to be rescued and returned to his family.

Celebrity provides no barrier to the pain of tragedy.

And few of us have ever had to travel the difficult journey Jennifer Hudson now faces. We can only hold this woman and her family in our thoughts. If we are praying people, we can whisper her name to our God.

We can hope that at this time, when she is most vulnerable - those nearest to her will be the honorable, steady, and loving presences she needs most as she heals.

And we can remind the world that this spiritual recovery ought to be a private one.

It is sacred. It is hers.
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[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Obama, "Big Mama", & The NYT

Sen. Barack Obama rushed to grandmother Madelyn Dunham's side Thursday.

The same day, the New York Times issued an endorsement in his favor.

This marks the third in a sweep of the country's most influential papers. The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune officially backed the candidate last week.

In the same news cycle, some pundits have suggested Obama risks political peril by choosing family loyalty.

I'm not sure where America took a left - or a right - on these matters. Sure, I'm still a little wet behind the ears, but wasn't there a time when this type of matter wasn't even up for discussion?

Seriously, Ya'll. Has America lost all respect?

When did seeing about Big Mama - or "Toot" - become a campaign liability?

Seems "family values" is only a useful term when it can be used to squelch the rights of gay folk and heterosexual women.

The New York Times piece was likely in the works before Sen. Obama's announcement, but it's emergence helps illustrates what this lengthy and arduous campaign period has demonstrated time and again.

Folks in America know that the measure of a candidate can't be assessed in a speech. A candidate's sense of priorities, both political and personal, speaks volumes.

Domestic policy has been at the forefront of my decision making.

But let's keep it real for a minute: It hasn't been difficult for me to choose between a man who betrayed an ailing wife and a man who clearly loves and respects his wife family as much as I do mine.

A President who turns his back on responsibility to family would certainly do the same to his country. This election - more than ever - we just can't risk that.

The Times Editorial Board agrees: "This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities."

Indeed he has.

He's shown it on the campaign trail, and he's shown it at his dying grandmother's bedside.
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Sen. Obama on Grandmother's illness

"Yes We Can" Mixtape - Obama Approved

The Green Lantern and Russell Simmons mixtape has hit the web, reports Streetcred.com.

I'm sampling the hour-long offering now. The mixtape includes the work of artists like Busta, Kanye, and Nas, and contains mostly new material.

I'm jammin' too hard, by the way. Can't sit still. And I'm a little misty.

Why?

I can't remember the last time I could listen to this much hip hop at once without having to wince at the now ubiquitous tired rotation of "bitch/hoe/profanity - add water" mix. A little creativity is refreshing.

And hearing a bevy of Hip Hop's best coming together to spit politics? Let's just say I'm going to leave this one on repeat.

I'm looking at some of these artists a little differently, too. Some of them could have gone into politics. It's just a matter of direction. Hell, some of them still can. More importantly, some of their young listeners may choose city hall, instead of the mic. Or instead of the ball.

Or now, they could choose all 3.

As I listen, I can't help thinking of a portion from the street film "Letter to the President", narrated by Snoop Dogg. One of the laments of the film is that Jesse Jackson missed the opportunity to embrace the power of the hip hop community after a street anthem was penned in his honor during a bid for the Democratic nomination.

By sanctioning this street praise homage, Sen. Obama has made yet another step toward the youth and working people who have consistently gone overlooked in the political discourse.

A Jay-Z interview featured early in the mix says it best. For Black America, Obama's candidacy signals to black people that "We as a people are part of the American Dream"

The same could be said, by the way, of disenfranchised people across America.

But Sen. Obama's campaign has given us a new vision to talk about. More than that, we've got something to vote about.

And now, we've got something to dance about. Here's the link.

Two Words: Colin Powell

Could last weekend have gone any better for Sen. Barack Obama?

In the cosmic Obama love-fest that was the past 3 days, the senator emerged as the most prosperous, storied, and prestigious candidate in modern American political history (in the eyes of this blogger, at least).

For some, the past few days must seem like a storybook political dream. For others, the recent events must seem like something out of the winners playbook of the moguls. In arenas of power - corporate, political, hip hop, or organized crime - the goals are clear.

Say it with me, y'all: "First you get the money. Then you get the power. Then you get the respect."

The Money -

Recent days brought the announcement of his record-breaking one-month fund raising achievement - $150 million dollars in September alone. In St. Louis, he broke another record when a crowd of 100,000 - the largest ever to hear the Presidential hopeful in the U.S. Later the same day, 75,000 folks met him in Kansas City.

The Power -

And then there were the endorsements. The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times both officially backed Barack Obama - releasing word on Friday and publishing their endorsements in Sunday papers. At first glance, that may not seem like such a huge deal. After all, both papers are owned by the Tribune Company.

But glance again.

The Tribune Company has a right-wing reputation that led to an outcry when that company acquired the Los Angeles Times (the ruckus never truly quieted). And the Chicago Tribune's editorial board has been called the nation's most conservative. The paper's run for 16 decades, but this is the first it has ever backed a Democratic Presidential candidate. The Los Angeles Times had been on a kind of endorsement hiatus that began after 1972. And at 127 years old, this is the first time that paper has backed a Democrat.

Those events made a splash in the news world. But what happened next was something like a tidal wave.

The Respect -

It was storybook plot twist Shonda Rhimes might have written.

On Sunday morning, Senator Obama met a crowd in Fayetteville, N.C. He was just miles Fort Bragg - home of the 82nd Airborne Division and an American Military stronghold - when he gratefully acknowledged the endorsement of Retired Gen. Colin Powell.



Damn.

Powell is the most respected military figure in public American life. He was the first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first black Secretary of State, serving in the administrations of four consecutive Presidents.

Lot's of folks thought he'd be the first African-American president.

And while some Republicans and pundits tried to play down the moment, which hit the international press with monumental force, the meaning was clear. Gen. Powell's endorsement dealt a body blow to their campaign.

And it couldn't have come at a worse time for McCain.

During the same weekend, The New York times ran unflattering stories about Cindy McCain's history and John McCain's health. His allies called for an end to the anti-Obama robo-calls he's launched across the country. Sure, his VP candidate's appearance on SNL brought show's highest ratings ever. But the show largely mocked Palin and didn't necessarily raise her profile.

Certainly, a mere endorsement may have been one thing. But Gen. Powell's surgical deconstruction of the flaws of McCain's sense of ethics and discipline rang with the indignation of a man with infallible integrity.



Say what you will of Powell - he's proved again and again that he won't be owned. This is the man who walked off the Bush Administration and told the truth about it. This is the same man who turned his back on an opportunity to make history in a bid for the presidency.

This is a man who stated, frankly, that a man he's known for 25 years couldn't measure up to a man he's know for two. Despite military service. Despite longstanding political acquaintance.

The moment read like a symbolic crowning from one of America's most venerated and regal figures. Gen. Powell's selection truly marked Obama as the chosen one.

Few would doubt that Sen. Obama's handled himself well and run a highly disciplined campaign. He's raised a great deal of money and garnered a great deal of powerful partnerships and endorsements. And he's worked hard to earn America's respect.

But Powell's endorsement likely gained him an edge he couldn't possibly have picked up otherwise.

My own perspective? With the election just days away, the Colin Powell moment was decisive.

Powell may as well have given Obama the keys to the White House.

Kai Wright said it best days before Powell's endorsement: Obama can start measuring the drapes.

The Real Michelle Obama & The Media Gaze

Michelle Obama's appearance on last night's Larry King Live made me wonder.

Are folks still more interested in Michelle Obama than they are in Cindy McCain, or even Joe Biden?

Michelle certainly has captured the public imagination with her poise, her grace, her obvious devotion to her husband and, a key element American public life is nearly void of , "realness"

In her interviews, she's passionate, thoughtful, and authentic. Does she know the Obama talking points? Yes.

But she also knows herself and her thoughts well enough to speak from the position of a player at the table, not that of an automaton in knit suit and heels.

You get the sense that she's, well, real.

She's the type of woman the country wants to know. In fact, we haven't known some past First Ladies as well as we already know Michelle Obama. Now she's being chronicled in two forthcoming biographies, Liza Mundy's Michelle: A Biography and Elizabeth Lightfoot's Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change (the thoroughness of the latter's research has been questioned).

This week, she's been the subject of a Washington Post article by Mundy and an interview with the same journalist for NPR. And she's a constant fixture on the blogosphere.

But maybe this is part of a larger trend.

In any Presidential election, the candidate's spouse plays is a critical role. But according to some recent media theories, Americans are coming to expect more and more from a President's other half.

Gone are the days when folks analyzed only the potential first lady's outfit and her choice of jewelry, they argue. Today, folks are looking for a Presidential team - from the candidate, to the spouse, to the VeeP pick - and the credentials of each player are on the table.

(Of course, we then also want "the tea" on the potential First Lady's outfit and a run down on precious stones or semi precious stones versus pearls.)

All of that may be so, but no one can convince me that anyone is half as interested in Cindy McCain as they are in Michelle Obama.

Sure, folks have made a bit of a math game of appraising the amount of bling and designer clothing she manages to jam on for each event. This despite the fact that her demonstration of such wealth may be somewhat inappropriate given the current economic crisis.

But that's about where it ends.

Besides the bling, her status as a mega-rich philanthropic heiress, and her shady real-estate connection to the Keating 5 scandal, there isn't much to talk about. Except for that time in the 1990s when she pimped a medical charity to fuel her prescription drug habit.

And well, there is also the fact that she had a documented affair with John McCain, then a married man, while his first wife lay at home recuperating from injuries she'd sustained in brutal car accident while hoping anxiously for her POW husband's return from Vietnam.

Come to think of it, journalists really should be doing a little bit more digging into Cindy McCain, her character, and her history than they have.

But can you blame them? (Of course you can; that's the job of the press)

She just isn't as compelling as Michelle Obama.

(And she doesn't have her fabulous, thick hair. Or the ability to do so much with a dress she scooped at the GAP....or White House/Black Market.)

And as for Joe Biden - Despite his many years in the senate, his charismatic personality, and his unavoidable tendency to lodge his foot in his mouth, I'm guessing he doesn't bring in the ratings or sell the papers the way Michelle does.

Perhaps we can get away with that this go-round. We got to know Biden pretty well during his time in the primaries, and he's been in the public eye long enough to provide us with a thorough track record.

And let's face it - no matter his past - he just can't sling racially tinged, hateful phrases the way that his rabid Republican counterpart can, so no one's listening to him anyway.

And of course, there are very good reasons to get to know Michelle - she's her husband's closest adviser. Before Biden or any of the 300 folks Sen. Obama checks in with, it's Michelle's counsel that could tell us the most about what an Obama presidency would look like.

Michelle Obama's drive has taken her from a solid base in black, working-class, Southside Chicago to the towers of Princeton and Harvard. She's worked in corporate America, public service, in the halls of academia, and in the halls of local government. She's raising two children and supporting her husband's run for the Presidency of the United States. She's faced an icy press, survived, and with media savvy and a compelling speech, turned the tide.

That kind of experience speaks to her strength, her motivations, and her character.

And now that she's won many folks over - that fact is a great plus for Barack Obama's candidacy. She's made quite an impact, according to Time Magazine's Curtis Sittenfield:

"...I've encountered more people who, if anything, seem more infatuated by Michelle than by her husband — including the white woman I know who bought her first-ever issue of Ebony magazine because Michelle was on the cover, and the cameraman I met in Denver who finagled a fist bump with Michelle and then proclaimed that he would never wash his hands again. He assured me he was usually jaded in these kinds of situations, but Michelle was the second coming of Jackie O.!"

And the Barack/Michelle chemistry can be viewed as a very welcome change, say the Huffington Post's Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks:

"...Michelle and Barack do something we've never seen before in a presidential couple: they actually look directly at each other when they're speaking to each other. They also laugh at each other's humor, and they allow their sexual attraction for each other to be visible...They're real."

There's that word again.

So yes, maybe the country is more interested in what Michelle Obama has to say.

The media seems to think so, and this blogger is betting that public interest is prophetic.

Clearly, that doesn't let the press of the hook in terms of it's responsibility to the public - we shouldn't allow strangers to vie for the highest posts in our nation. Yet depending upon where you're sitting, this golden media gaze seems to be working out well.

That's good for Barack Obama's campaign. It's good for many in the country who could use an education on the diversity of black women.

And it's good for America. How else are we going to get to know our next first lady?

Vote: Your Ancestors Paid For It (No Matter Your Race)

There are still a few days to register to vote in a number of states.

And some of us still haven't.

I don't have to lay the issues out there for you. You need only to go to your window, drive through your neighborhood, look at your pay stub, or consider your debt ratio. If that doesn't move you, call a relative.

As a last resort, you could turn on your television - or check the pic below.

No matter where a person stands on the issues, every vote this year is a critical one.

And unless you are solely descended from very wealthy Brits from the "right side" of the kingdom circa 1620 or so, there was a time in this country when some or all of your people couldn't vote.

-- The first Americans held down this continent for thousands of years before the establishment of the United States. But colonies and later the country habitually established and broke treaties with various tribes and pushed them ever-further off desirable land. It was 1924 before Indigenous Americans were ever given a say in the governing of the country that had taken the liberty of dismantling their civilizations and determining their very existence.

Since so many of us swear we have "Indian in our family" I could actually stop here. But a few more points ought to be made.

-- If you're African American - male or female- your ancestors' right to the franchise has never been a given.

Laying the infrastructure of the nation, and providing the forced labor that built it's banking system, it's trade relations, and it's very wealth clearly didn't guarantee the ballot to enslaved Africans in America.

Even when black men gained the vote after Emancipation in 1869 it was swiped away in the next 2 decades, and remained unattainable - particularly for black women, until 1965. The lynch rope, shotguns, and bogus laws ensured that.

And without community vigilance and action, odious collectives across the country - including Republican forces fearing Democratic votes - continue to perpetrate a fraud against black voters.

One need look no further than the voter challenge actions allegedly being geared up for this November in states like Michigan.
States like Ohio and Florida continue to be hotbeds for disenfranchisement of black voters.

-- White males were still seeking universal (white) manhood suffrage in the 1830s. Only the wealthiest landowners had been able to vote before it was finally secured

--White Male Immigrants from places like Ireland, Italy, and Germany were also barred from the polls in various locations. Quakers, Catholics, and ethnic and religious Jews each suffered the same fate at one time or another.

--White women, regardless of citizenship, didn't cast ballots until 1920.

--Even If your ancestors chose to immigrate in recent decades, your community's voice has likely been silenced by voter disenfranchisement or exclusion at one time or another.

--And undocumented residents from around the world don't have the right to vote in this pivotal election. Regardless of what America's varying views on undocumented residents may be, our policies impact their lives and the fate of their families. For many, citizenship may never be a reality, even as their labor helps to ensure the American dream - or at least convenience and low prices - for the rest of us.

But history shows us that citizenship has never been a safeguard against disenfranchisement.

Thieves of justice have set up barriers to full participation and citizenship for hundreds of years, all in the attempt to harness America's power and wealth to serve a privileged minority while enslaving or disempowering - on various levels - the vast majority of people.

We can point the finger in any direction we'd like, but we all help to uphold such a system - even as we ourselves are overlooked and dismissed by our political infrastructure and elected officials.

Many of us contribute to the madness every time we seek to exclude or support the exclusion of tax-paying American citizens from the freedoms and rights guaranteed by citizenship simply because they are of color, gay, working-poor or disabled.

By doing nothing, and by creating a system of acquiescence where we don't care, don't pay attention, and don't vote - we undermine our rights. We step on the dream of having a country that actually works for all of it's citizens.

Certain interests are hoping Americans continue to do that. Thus far, many of us are falling right in line.

Right now, someone's coming up with another inane television competition show based on the premise that Americans will put more energy into voting for a fly-by-night or has-been singer, dancer, spoon-player or nose-picker than they will into voting for the President, governors, and congresspeople who will determine the fate of the nation we live in.

If we allow that to happen - if we continue to allow that to happen - then nearly every American dishonors the flesh, blood and sacrifices of their ancestors, recent and distant, who have paid for our right to be here.

Don't go out like that.

Vote.

Resources:
ACLU Voting Rights Timeline
Rock the Vote
Vote for Change
Declare Yourself
Questions about Voter Challenges?
Voting Rights Resources

Web-Inspired Motivation:


And a little celebrity levity to lighten the post:

XDRTB - TB's Ugly Twist & The News We Haven't Heard

In the bubble that is the United States, it's easy to forget there's a world beyond our borders.

We forget, for example, that our financial crisis - regardless of where we lay the blame - extends to markets worldwide.

We often overlook the fact that our next president isn't only the man who will, say, determine the direction of our Supreme Court with his selections or determine the resurrection or final demise of our education system.

He will also shape the future of our health intervention and policy throughout the United States and the world.

In case we've forgotten how critical that is, we don't have to look much farther than the recent increase in the numbers of American teen pregnancy, the skyrocketing rates of HIV and AIDS among U.S. teens and young people ages 13-24, and the continued explosion of the HIV/AIDS in India, China, and various African countries where the U.S. funds or provides health "intervention" and "care".

The abstinence-only, anti-condom, anti-woman, sex-ed phobic, counter-common sense policies of the current administration have certainly made their mark.

It doesn't have to be that way. Opportunities to offer meaningful assistance abound.

TED.com is promoting awareness of the work of James Nachtwey, who won the TED prize in support of his photograpy project documenting the impact of Extremely Drug Resistent Tuberculosis, or XDTRB.

Drug and healthcare have become strained topics of late. Too many companies employ nefarious practices - the type that kill. Often, the least powerful pay the price. So few of them are decent that it's easy to dismiss all health and pharmaceutical companies and orgs as corporate drug dealers with expensive suits and massive PR contracts.

Sure - any talk of medication intervention brings these companies to the table.

So I can't tell you what to do about the information I'm sharing. But members of the human family ought to at least know what plagues our brothers and sisters.

And maybe we should also ask ourselves why threats of this nature continue to be overlooked by our government and the media when people of color and poor nations are the victims.

Because before I received an email on the topic, I hadn't heard a thing about this mutated version of an age-old threat. And there's no excuse for that.

In all of our raging about the election, it's fine to play politics and spoof the debates. But we'd do well to consider what we want our next president to stand for once he gets into office and be willing to hold his entire administration to the fire for as long as he's there. It's time to set a new standard for policy and action that recognizes our influential place in the world - so long as we hold it.

Like so many other things, we can't afford to ignore another growing health crisis ravaging our neighbors.

The world is too small for that.

If you'd like to learn more, visit the XDRTB action website.

For more on HIV/AIDS in the context of culture and race in America, see this article and other work by health and culture writer Kai Wright.