I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here on Blogger, from the beginning of my years blogging since late 2007 (amazing, really, I had no idea what I was doing!) and now that I am much more clear of what I'm doing and how my blog is my business, I decided to "Become a Believer" in myself again and invest in a new website that fully incorporates my former website and this blog using Wordpress.
Three cheers for change! And you know we believe in change at Team Dr. Goddess!
So, I need you to embrace this change in three ways:
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Maan, I can't believe this...I may have to turn into a bat and fly away...
I was sent the link to the following open letter from Nikki Snipes, Wesley Snipe's wife, and was so astonished by what I read that I had to pass it on. I don't know what's true or not but I do know that I've never heard even half of these details. Thanks, Journalists! You're doing a GREAT job... *side eye*
Dear Beloved Friends and Families,
Thank you for giving love and support through all these years as our family has been going through this heinous battle. With much support and love from you all, we are gathering ourselves from the shocking decision in the most recent hearing on my husband’s misdemeanor case. My warrior husband is still standing strong, willing to give his all to defend his liberty, something that had never crossed our minds that he would have to fight to keep.
At the moment, he is at home with us and has filed a motion for an extension of his bail in order to move forward on going to the Supreme Court to seek the justice that has not been served.
It’s been 4 years since the indictment literally dropped down on Wesley out of blue when he was filming in Africa and I have been patiently waiting for the truth to unveil and prevail itself, doing whatever necessary for his vindication. Now the misrepresentation and speculations have gone too far as the government moved forward with outrageous, selective prosecution on my husband's misdemeanor conviction.
I now feel that it is necessary to write this letter for the sake of our five wonderful children’s future in this country and most of all, for the sake of my man’s integrity and dignity that has been attacked and destroyed not only by the government but also by the media who’s been spinning and twisting the whole story and misinforming the public
I feel like going around and telling every one of you face to face the truth you never got to hear through the media who has been erroneously reporting all of these shocking series of events to look like a lame tax evasion story from the very beginning.
So please spare me a moment to inform you with the facts and the truth of how it all went down…
More than a decade ago, Wesley was using an accounting service from Kenneth Starr, the founder of Starr & Company. In 1999, he discovered that Starr had forged his signature on a document and his monies had been stolen. He requested that the Manhattan DA in NYC investigate and warned his fellow actor Sylvester Stallone who was Starr’s client at the time as well.
In 2000, after parting ways with Starr, Wesley sought for more honest representation and got introduced to Eddie Khan and his accounting firm that represented more than 4000 clients, including lawyers, doctors, business owners and IRS EMPLOYEES and he was offered to try the service for awhile. But soon after, he also parted ways with Eddie and sought other financial advisors. However, in 2006, the government decided to indict Eddie Khan (the founder of the Florida accounting firm) but picked Wesley out of Eddie’s 4000 clients and made him share the same charges they had put on Eddie as a co-conspirator. Wesley was not even his client at the time but had a history of Eddie filing papers for him just like the other 4000 clients he had filed the papers for.
In 2008, Wesley received a trial followed by the indictment, not in the state of his residency but in Ocala, Florida, a place he had never even been before. Moreover, the given jury pool of 120 people for the trial consisted of mostly non-college graduate, white people except for two (2) African-Americans whom the government rescheduled to come back but conveniently gave them the wrong return date. Therefore, the 12 jurors selected out of that pool were all-white and none of them had a similar background or similar experiences as my husband, unlike what is required by the law. Thus, his attorney filed a motion on this specific issue, but the judge denied it and began the trial in Ocala just as they had planned out. When this incident got out to the press, they made sure that my husband was PLAYING the “race card.”
During the trial, the government announced that Kenneth Starr was to be their key witness and Wesley’s team raised the issue that Starr’s credibility was in serious question due to not only the fact that he had defrauded Wesley (the very reason why he had to seek for other accountants) but also Starr’s previous involvement in Anthony Pelicano’s illegal wiretapping case back in February 2006. At Pelicano’s trial, the government presented audiotape evidence and witness testimony that Kenneth Starr had hired Pelicano to wiretap Stallone after he got sued by Stallone for misappropriation of his funds. HOWEVER, when Wesley’s team raised this issue at the trial due to the fact that it was Wesley who first discovered Starr’s fraudulent activities and requested an investigation disapproving Starr’s credibility, the government LIED and said that Pelicano illegally wiretapped Stallone on his own and HID the fact that Starr had been investigated as co-conspirator. We got to find this out only after Starr finally got arrested for his overbearing crimes after the trial. Starr, as a key witness who has been bitter since Wesley’s discovery of his crimes, sufficiently prevented Wesley from receiving a fair trial.
Through it all, Wesley was found NOT GUILTY on every offensive charge but guilty of three (3) MISDEMEANORS of willful failure to file tax returns during the period of three years when he was going through chaotic financial situations, seeking for the right trustworthy advisor. However, as Judge Hodges decided to make him an example (as he literally said it out loud at the trial), he sentenced Wesley to THREE (3) YEARS of IMPRISONMENT for the misdemeanor conviction, instead of sentencing him to probation or public service for such misdemeanor charges as in many other similar cases.
We realized so clearly at that point that the government was determined to destroy his life, his family, his integrity, his career, and everything he had built and earned in his life. There was no question for us that he should fight to not only defend his liberty but also to vindicate himself.
As he kept his faith and continued seeking for justice, the truth started to prevail.
In May 2010, Kenneth Starr was indicted for a Ponzi scheme in which he stole at least $20 million of his clients’ money, the very thing that Wesley had claimed earlier. Starr’s arrest on such charges ended up exposing his poor credibility just as Wesley’s team had claimed during the trial.
Followed by Starr’s arrest, in July 2010, the 11th Circuit Court rushed an opinion affirming the verdict against Wesley, then the media immediately spread the news even before our attorney found out. We were totally shocked and disappointed again.
However, shortly after the media spread the news, one juror from the trial sent an unsolicited email to Wesley's attorney offering help.
According to the email: There were three (3) jurors in the jury that had presumed Wesley to be guilty even before the trial started without seeing any documents, They had to compromise with those three jurors and ended up finding him guilty of three misdemeanors as result of it,They did not think the judge would give him any jail time for the misdemeanor convictions.
Followed by this email, another juror sent an unsolicited email confirming that most of the jurors believed Wesley would not receive any jail time for the verdict.
Subsequently, my husband’s legal team filed a motion to interview the jurors after receiving the two (2) emails as well as a motion for a new trial based on jury misconduct on the grounds of the three (3) jurors’ apparent perjury with their preconceived notions of the defendant’s guilt.
In October 2010,Starr pled GUILTY to most of the charges.
On November 15, Wesley’s team asked for a new trial at the hearing based on the alleged perjury of the three (3) jurors and perjured testimony of Starr, as well as the prosecutorial misconduct of the government who withheld information about Starr’s previous criminal conduct before Snipes’ trial.However, last week, on November 19, 2010, Judge Hodges issued an order REFUSING to interview any of the jurors, DENYING my husband a new trial and REVOKING his bail as requested by the government. He had simply denied every single one of our requests and with that he denied Wesley’s constitutional rights.
On top of the government’s effort to take my man’s liberty, the media has been assisting by adding more fuel to the already overwhelming fire. Ever since the jury rendered its verdict on February 1, 2008, the media has repeatedly MISREPRESENTED Wesley as having been convicted of tax evasion. He was NEVER charged with or convicted of tax evasion. He was convicted on three (3) misdemeanor charges of failing to file his tax returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively while dealing with the Kenneth Starr’s issue which has caused him a great deal of damage in his finances and wellas his ability to trust.
At this point, it is more than obvious that the government has been abusing their power to use my husband’s fame and popularity in order to make him an example in a crime he NEVER committed. It is clear that excessive and extreme penalty has been given to him for demonstration purposes. Moreover, the media has been playing a HUGE part in the government’s propaganda to make his case appear as a tax fraud crime scheme.
It is excruciating... to the degree that it is surreal to be wronged in a way that I thought only existed in the movies. And frankly, this is even worse than a movie because the public has heard only one side of the story, which is the side that is far from the truth.
All we had simply asked and have been asking for was to receive a new and fair trial from the very beginning of this unfortunate incident. Surprisingly, my husband’s constitutional right have not been granted but rather violated throughout the whole process. Yet I keep my faith in the belief that there is justice for us to be found somewhere in this country.
Wesley has always been an honorable man, wonderful husband, loving father, and most of all, a man of integrity for as long as I have known him and shared my life with him over a decade. He is NOT a tax–evading criminal who needs to be put away and imprisoned for three years but an artist who simply needs an honest accountant who does not deceive. No words can describe the kind of respect that has grown in my heart for him over the years and is still growing right at this minute, watching and learning about him most up-close and personal. He has never rested but has been putting all of his best efforts and passion towards what he does the best: acting and producing films.
Just as he had confessed at the trial, my husband really is an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist who was unschooled and miseducated in the field of finance as I can and would bear witness to and as many of you who really know him would agree as well.
So please continue to pray with and for us until justice is served in his case.
Again, I appreciate your love and support. It is important for us that you have an accurate account of the TRUTHFUL information on what happened and continues to happen to your dear friend and brother Wesley regardless of what has been said and played out in the media, as his integrity and dignity remains with those who care and love him.
Please feel free to share the truth if you happen to come across misinformed people who want to crucify the brother for failing to file the papers just as many citizens in this country fail to file at times for various reasons.
Thank you for taking your time to read my long letter. From the bottom of my heart, I wish all of you and your loved ones a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving weekend.
Lastly, writing this letter was truly healing for my soul and emotions. I thank each one of you for the healing.
May God bless you.
Sincerely with Peace & Love,
Nikki Snipes
Wow. Your thoughts, folks? Is Wesley guilty or not? What's up with the dude who doesn't believe in paying taxes? Why haven't we heard of any of this? What's going on, for real?
Thanks to @Amaditalks for sharing this link. Follow us on Twitter: @drgoddess
And when the doors opened and the red ribbon was cut
we would rush to tear down the walls of the prison industrial complex
and a sign encouraging accountability, self actualization and healing
would declare each freed man and woman as being
"Under New Management!"
If Revolution Were an After Thanksgiving Day Sale
we would push and shove our way to the voting booths
and if the numbers didn't add up, we would snatch up the red tape
tie it around the electoral college's neck and relentlessly demand an accurate count
forcing our way to the truth, justice and righteousness of a fair price
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
we would do flying leaps over counter/productive activities
like unprotected sex, alcoholism and drug addiction
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
We would run to the checkouts with coupons that would guarantee us
10% off old men hounding teenage girls, 30% off domestic violence
and 50% off child molestation
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
brothers and sisters would take mad dashes down the aisles of love
in colorful flowing dresses and white and black adorned suits
making desperate declarations of Black love, Black love, Black love
because we couldn't get enough of one another
and didn't know how to stop ourselves from overindulging
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
Black businesses that cared about their communities and
communities that cared about Black businesses
would have two-hour long lines just waiting to get into the store
and Black investors would teach us how to layaway our money
and pay ourselves first so that each month
there would be an increase in savings
and a decrease in conspicuous consumption
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
Real policemen would do overtime directing drug traffic
out of my community
and wouldn't take get out of jail free cards
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
we would see each other out and about more often
except it would be at community meetings and Saturday schools
and classic soul concerts
and food co-ops with harvest goods provided by Black farmers
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
we wouldn't be in an organization that would just debate and debate and debate
one idea after another finding fault.
We would immediately run and try things on, just grab it and go
and if one plan didn't work, then we would simply return it or exchange it for something new
all the while learning from our experiences to keep on searching for that perfect fit!
If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale If Revolution Were an After-Thanksgiving Day Sale
But
revolution is just revolution
and change never comes that easy
revolutions may be televised
but never celebrated in advance
and flyers advertising social change don't fill our mailboxes
with declarations abolishing the sale of our souls
because revolution is just revolution
and no matter if I watch or participate
either way I still feel like
one jive turkey
"It ain't cool bein' no jive turkey so close to Thanksgivin'... YEAH!"
All Rights Reserved You may forward, share, repost
Professional Publishers please do not publish this poem without the EXPLICIT PERMISSION of the author. Email: drgoddess(at)drgoddess(dot)com
You may see this poem performed in all of its hilarity (including the red, black and green shopping bags rushing in at the start of this trailer LIVE when Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show goes back on tour Spring 2011):
Sorry folks! Lizz Winstead's Show has been canceled for now and all refunds have been processed. Not to worry, she'll be back, Pittsburgh! Keep up with Lizz on her Website and on Twitter!
One of my besties is from Jackson, Mississippi. I met her in college; and despite our immediate bond, when she invited me to her home in the "Deep South", I was entirely horrified. Me, with my New York City entree into the world and my still Northern, Pittsburgh upbringing, having viewed the film, "Mississippi Burning" in the not-so-distant past? Let's just say the invitation gave me pause.
However, I love to travel so, instead of saying "No, Thanks" to her Thanksgiving invitation, I just sunk lower and lower in the backseat of the car as we sped our way into the state that would forever change my life. I expected that we would be pulled over and slaughtered on the roadside, just like so many of the persons I had read about, not just Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney but that which the nameless, faceless of history, had experienced. I didn't verbalize these fears, as I thought it might be rude, not that my honesty would be met with any level of compassion. Indeed, the tighter I held onto my pillow and peeked over the dashboard onto the highway, the more uproariously my car mates (and so called friends) would point at me and laugh.
But I've come to love Mississippi because, over time, I have learned more about its history and how African Americans organized and inspired more Americans to fight for human rights and, subsequently, changed the world. The WORLD. Now, although we have won some battles, the war is not over. Today, Mississippi has the most African Americans in elected office; but it's the poorest state in America.
We have only just begun to thoroughly (and critically) engage and understand the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements in America. It's amazing to think that, as recently as 1960, African Americans were still sharecropping and living in stunning poverty in the South---the worst of which was in Mississippi.
WHAT?!
So, imagine, a woman such as Fannie Lou Hamer, a resident of Ruleville, MS, being approached by a young organizer from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and asked to come to a meeting on Voter Registration, whereupon she was so overwhelmed with and enamored by the possibility of being free from oppression that she was willing to sacrifice everything (including her home, employment and family as a sharecropper on the plantation) to do so?
"We didn't fight this hard for you to stay home and not vote in November!"
And imagine, that after having walked off of the only livelihood she knew, she became a community organizer, singing church songs such as "This Little Light of Mine" (her favorite) and not only inspiring more persons to take charge of their lives by voting and being engaged in the political process; but also becoming one of the leading spokespersons and representatives of her people?! Amazing.
Lawd knows my feet hurt but I ain't no ways tired...gotta represent for the people!
These days, many of us take voting, Black political representation and, certainly, Black women's roles in political power, for granted. But if it weren't for supreme organizer, Ella Baker encouraging young people to create their own organization (since they didn't want to be the youth wing of the SCLC, ahem) and the young people creating the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) for themselves; and their decision to focus on voter registration (and obtaining the power to exert control over their lives); and Fannie Lou Hamer going to that meeting and not only joining SNCC but becoming one of its most passionate figureheads and organizers; and SNCC helping to form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to further influence the Democratic Party at the National Convention in 1964 (just like the Tea Party is doing within the Republican Party in 2010, ahem); and the racist, Dixiecrats so determined to maintain the system of white supremacy that they left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party, thereby focusing on a "Southern Strategy" to get disaffected, angry white men to join in on the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement (and subsequent Women's Rights Movement), championed by the likes of Ronald Reagan (whose harsh policies helped give birth to Hip Hop) and George Bush, Sr. and George Bush, Jr. (who practically destroyed the country), causing a tidal wave of young, disenfranchised Americans fed up with racism, classism and sexism and birthed on Hip Hop to the point where they wanted to get out and vote---there would be no President Barack Obama.
President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama
And that was a stream-of-consciousness, historical rant. Oh yes, President Barack Obama owes much to a poor, Black woman in Mississippi named Fannie Lou Hamer. There's a bit of irony here, since he also owes much to a woman who grew up as a poor, Black girl in Mississippi, named Oprah Winfrey. But, for now, let's give it up for the OGs, Pap and Fannie!
Sharecroppers and Citizens, Perry "Pap" and Fannie Lou Hamer
"And you know, I'm not hung up on this thing about liberating myself from the black man, I'm not going to try that thing. I got a black husband, six feet three, two hundred and forty pounds, with a 14 shoe, that I don't want to be liberated from. But we are here to work side by side with this black man in trying to bring liberation to all people."
I know that's right, Mrs. Hamer! Speak on it!
Notice that she didn't say she was trying to work behind her husband either, so get it right, Fellas! And get it right, feminists and Africana Womanists! You see, this is what an organization built upon participatory democracy can do. It is one that allows space for women and everyday citizenry to speak for themselves. According to Historian and Civil Rights expert, Dr. Tiyi Morris of Ohio State University:
SNCC offered the centrality of grassroots activism on behalf of regular citizens and stressed "letting the people decide"...this is the foundation upon which Barack Obama worked as a community organizer and the philosophical tenets of his campaign.
Brilliant, Dr. Morris, especially when I think about the manner in which these central tenets were combined with top-notch technology and social media to tilt the world on its axis. The election of Barack Obama was not the change, in and of itself, but (as he has said many, many times), "the opportunity to make a change." I believe that because my consistent mantra has been that Barack Obama is the Activist's President. You bring him the pain to his door and his administration will open it. Make him do what you want like Fannie Lou Hamer, SNCC, the MFDP and those young activists made LBJ sign the Civil Rights Act and change American and World History, forever.
When Fannie Lou Hamer spoke truth to power in Atlantic City at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, she told harsh truths about being Black in America that were a far cry from a young Senator from Illinois being invited to take center stage in 2004. But one could not and does not exist without the other.
You see how this picture shows her all heroic and fierce and telling her oppressors off as she gives her testimony?
Testifying before the Credentials Committee and televised before the world.
We do love that... but look closer now... do you see those tears in her eyes?:
This is also why I support Melissa Harris-Lacewell (now Perry), in this interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, as she insists that President Obama acknowledge and address the role of Black women's political activism---the legacy upon which he stands:
(as an aside, doesn't MHP look just like the woman on the old book cover of For Colored Girls...?)
Today, in Ruleville, Mississippi (where Fannie Lou Hamer broke the rules of oppression), sits a beautiful Memorial Garden created on the "Freedom Farm" Mrs. Hamer purchased to further assist poor, Black people in becoming self-sufficient and having a place to grow their food, despite leaving (or getting kicked off) the plantations upon which they were sharecropping---just as she had experienced.
When I first traveled to Ruleville with The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy at Jackson State University and sat at Fannie Lou Hamer's grave, I simply had not ever heard of "Freedom Farm" and found myself astonished, ashamed and angry about that which I did not know. Mind you, this was after college and after graduate school---and African American History is one of my specialties. #FAIL
I'm feeling mighty unworthy and, yet, grateful...
Thus, when I visited again this year, I learned that the National Fannie Lou Hamer Statue Fund Committee (organized by Patricia Thompson of ROAR) had been collecting money to erect a statue of Ms. Hamer right there at the Memorial Gardens. They needed approximately $125,000 and, as usual, it was a small, committed group of veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and their friends who had done all of the leg work and had launched the campaign. When Patricia Thompson first encountered Fannie Lou Hamer's grave, the grass was up to her knees and she cried in the middle of the field, vowing to make things right. It reminded me of Alice Walker's search for Zora Neale Hurston's grave and what she found. So, Ms. Thompson and others got to work. They chopped down the grass, then they took Freedom Farm from this:
To this, the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden:
The Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden, Ruleville, MS
Go ahead and give them a standing ovation right now! In your living room, office, at your desk, give them a hand! Now, somebody please tell me why we cannot meet this goal post-stat?! I mean, it's sort of embarrassing, isn't it? There are many more pictures and much more information on the website. Please check it out!
But I am 'sick and tired' of us not properly honoring the persons who sacrificed so much for us---as Black people, as Americans, as women, as Democrats, as elected officials, as human beings who stand up for our principles and each other's rights.... Fannie Lou Hamer was thrown in jail and beaten severely for her activism. Later, she would die (and way too early, she never made it to 60 years old) as a result of heart disease, diabetes, living a hard life on the plantation and, yes, the beatings she suffered in jail.
But she couldn't do a whole lot of crying in public. She had things to do and young people to continue to inspire, which is why this intergenerational picture means so much to me:
Yes, that's Stokely Carmichael aka Kwame Ture in the back and Ella Baker on the far right.
It is because of her activism that I could write a comedy about going to jail but I also did so because as much as folks love Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail", it is largely without the socio-political commentary that I tend to like in my art, even though "For Colored Girls" may provide it. Nevertheless, I decided to flip the script---literally...
http://www.drgoddess.com/merchandise
In "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail: A Spoken Word, Musical Comedy (Unfortunately) Based on a True Story", I chose to create an intergenerational celebration of the Civil Rights Movement. And, although this came pretty natural for me (after years of unlearning & reconditioning), it is also a Feminist/Womanifesto, which stars "four little girls". And, in my own brand of satiric irony, the hit song in this production about activism and commitment is "Neutrality", a song that revels in fence-riding, apathy and immobility, in which I sing:
But what about Rosa? What about Rosa? / What about Rosa, Ella Baker and Fannie Lou?
If I were any one of those women, / What would you say? What would you tell me to do?
What about them, folks? Can we put our hands together and get this Fannie Lou Hamer Statue up?
And if you want to get uber-supportive, write anything that inspired you about Fannie Lou (or just share the link to this blog); and put this picture and this code up on your blog:
It won't take long to raise the money. We want everyone to have BUY-IN, so your small donation is actually preferred ($10 - $100 is perfect!)
We're also using Chip In to keep track of our progress and donations!:
We'd also like to further show the City of Ruleville, MS (a population of approximately 3,000 persons with a median income of $23,036), that the National Fannie Lou Hamer Statue Fund has a lot of supporters who intend to see Fannie Lou Hamer get her propers. So, stay tuned!
Euvester Simpson is pictured on the cover. Dr. Tiyi Morris is her daughter.
By the way, the bestie who invited me to her hometown and laughed at me, mercilessly, on the ride there? Well, she did pull over on the way back and allowed me to pick some cotton up off the side of the road. And, as it turns out, her mother, Euvester Simpson, was just a young, woman, Civil Rights worker when she shared a jail cell with Fannie Lou Hamer, the same day she was brutally beaten. I had no idea, when I decided to visit Mississippi during Thanksgiving Break, that my life would never be the same because of the women and men who paved the road for me to arrive.
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