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A message from Maryann Reid, founder and creator of this event:
"If you are ready to make 2009 a year you will remember forever, it's time to apply to be one of our special couples. As you may already know, Marry Your Baby Daddy Day™ is an all-expenses paid wedding and landmark event to strengthen 2-parent homes 10 families at a time.
The application process has started. The ten chosen couples will be announced on Valentine's Day 2009. Until then, we are going to be very busy processing all new applicants. The next MYBDD™ mass wedding is September 24, 2009.
It is a REAL wedding with the works--cakes, decorations, wedding attire, limos, and best of all, the couples!" Click Here!
To a large segment of our population, marriage doesn't seem to matter any more, and I am not totally sure why this is so. Here is a marriage certificate from two former slaves who were determined to make their union legal. Their children are also listed on the certificate. I'll bet they saved and scraped to come up with marriage fees, if they were applicable back then, and today, we have so many excuses for not getting married. Yes, I know, I know, marriage isn't for everyone.
Benjamin Manson and Sarah White marriage certificate dated April 19, 1866. READ MORE...
Reference:
Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records
Oakwood- Actor and author Bill Cosby challenged members of Greater Cleveland's black community Wednesday to take responsibility for themselves and their children.
"Your dirty laundry is out there. I'm telling you it's time to wash," Cosby told a crowd of several hundred who packed Mount Zion Oakwood Village.
Earlier, he spoke at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. His tough-love message, mixed with humor, was embraced by the civic, political, educational and religious leaders and laypeople at Mount Zion.
Before his talk, civic leaders pledged to "work toward health care, nutrition, child care, education, housing and other basic needs together that provide a decent standard of living."
The Rev. Marvin McMickle, chairman of United Pastors in Mission, one of the sponsors of the event, reminded the gathering, "We are not here just to see a celebrity. We are here because the celebrity is challenging us to look at ourselves."
And challenge Cosby did, taking on parents who are afraid to discipline their children and adults who would rather look past the ills facing the black community than address them.
According to an article at LaIst.com, The Advocate, a pro-life University of California student run newspaper ran an article about planned parenthood accepting donations for race based abortions. Apparently, some staged calls were made to various Planned Parenthood call centers including Ohio, and stated they wanted to donate money, specifically earmarked to abort black babies, because either they had a problem with affirmative action or a dislike of black people.
Based on taped phone calls, Planned Parenthood phone reps happily and readily were prepared to accept the donations. It has been reported that none of the Planned Parenthood call representatives expressed outrage at these racist donor requests.
Here is the transcript for one conversation:
Idaho donor: The abortion—I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose?
PP Rep: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that your gift be used to help an African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that the gift was earmarked for that purpose.
Idaho donor: Great, because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.
PP Rep: Yes, absolutely.
Idaho donor: And we don’t, you know we just think, the less black kids out there the better.
PP Rep: Understandable, understandable.
Idaho donor: Right. I want to protect my son, so he can get into college
PP Rep: Alright. Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I’ve had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I’m excited, and want to make sure I don’t leave anything out.
Follow the Jump to listen to phone conversation on video.
These posters apparently stem from a PSA print campaign by SERVE, a non-profit ad marketing agency to help fight Milwaukee's statutory rape problem. The campaign NEVER TOOK OFF, because of objections to the images.
But for the intended audience, pedophiles, and even young impressionable girls, this was a messages that probably would have resonated louder, because of the images. Images of supposedly pre-pubescent well developed girls are featured in the campaign's posters.
I don't know any girls who look like this at that age, but to men and women who prey on them, this may be how they see them. The breasts appear fake, but they could have done the poster without the overdevelopment features of the breast and sexualization to reach the ad's intended audience.
Poster captions: "Just because she has the body, doesn't mean she has the brain" and "If you see a child as anything more, it's wrong," and the fine print at the bottom reads "If you're over 18 and having sex with an underage girl it's statutory rape."
This isn't just a Milkwaukee, Wisconsin problem. It's a global problem.
Here is a Milwaukee (which could be anytown USA) based video called "Statutory Rape/Teen Pregnancy Campaign Focus Group"
Here is the YouTube video description: "This statutory rape prevention campaign was one of many ads produced to address Milwaukee's teen pregnancy crisis. A recent study found that Milwaukee has the 7th highest rate of birth to teens in the country.
In Wisconsin, statutory rape is a huge part of the teen pregnancy crisis. A recent study found that 71% of babies born to teen girls are fathered by adult males over 20 years old. In 20% of the cases, the fathers are at least six year older than the mothers. Go to www.onemilwaukee.org to find out more.
The ads were tested in several focus groups of inner city teens and young adults ages 15-25 (over half of the participants were teens moms, 43% of whom personally experienced statutory rape). The campaign was universally embraced by our target audience for its ability to attract attention and spur in-depth discussion about the pervasive problem of statutory rape. We did recognize, however, that people in the business, political and non-profit communities felt uncomfortable with these specific images. Out of respect for their opinions, this campaign will not run." Serve is the non-profit advertising agency associated with this video and ad campaign.
I am wondering, if statutory rape is such a problem, at least where this ad was targeted, would you find these advertisement images objectionable, in a region where in record numbers, young girls are already having sex and getting pregnant by older boys and men?
Reference:
Article: Teen birth rate hurts economy
Filmmakers Edgy Lee and Don Brown are producing a one hour documentay called "Exit to Paradise." And it is about the history of black Americans in Hawaii. Many black men came to Hawaii working as sailors on whaling ships, and ended up staying and marrying the local women. READ MORE...
They are looking for families with roots in Hawaii, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin:
"Those willing to explore their mixed-race genealogy for the documentary "Exit to Paradise," about the history of black Americans in Hawaii, should e-mail Don Brown at donbrown@hawaii.rr.com"
Photo Credit: From Honolulu Star Bulletin COURTESY NEW BEDFORD WHALING MUSEUM
"To be in love again; and again...Maryann Reid, foreground, founder of "Marry Your Baby Daddy Day," poses with some of the participating couples, at the Riverside Church.
The Riverside Church on the Morningside Section of Manhattan, even on a normal day is overwhelming.
Its 20-floor gothic tower, 74-bell Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon and its Narthex stained glass Renaissance windows are awe-inspiring and inspirational. Last Thursday, it was the perfect setting for multiple nuptials.
Dressed in resplendent gowns, 10 beaming mommies-before-brides at the “Marry Your Baby Daddy Day” ceremony yesterday, walked down the aisle mostly escorted by their children, even as the prospective husbands waited eagerly.
This was no ordinary wedding ceremony. It was a ceremony for couples who were already living as a family, without having tied the knot.
Going back two years, to what made them jump the broom, India said, “My daughter often asked me why my last name was Willis while Ahmeid’s was Potts and we always evaded the question. When I saw the ad for the event, I thought, ‘I have been performing the role of a wife for so many years, now let me just become one’.” The couple has a seven-year-old daughter Amina and a son Kasson, four." READ MORE...
Photo Credit & Reference: Black Star News
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