Growing Up Too Soon

I remember going through puberty with both dread and excitement. I was super excited when I started getting hair up under my arms. I would show off that I had hair under my arm pits. My cousins were so jealous that I had hair and they did not. Then my boobs started to develop as strangely as it sounds it didn’t even notice. My dad told my mom that he think it was time I started wearing a bra. Without explanation was wearing a sports bra that flatten my chest even more. Then around 12 I started my cycle and was given a pad and shown what to do and that was it. No one spoke to me about sex, womanhood or pregnancy. Then again I was still playing with dolls and watching cartoons every chance I could get, boys were not even on my radar. It was 1987 and things were quite different then compared to now.

However, scientists are reporting that girls are going through puberty at a much earlier age than the girls before their generation. Nearly half of African-American girls start showing signs of puberty by 8 years old, and some American girls are developing as young as 5, even 4 years old, experts say.

As reported by MSNBC News:

The changes in Kiera’s body scared her parents. Though the 8-year-old seemed her usual chipper self, she’d started to develop headaches and acne. More alarming to her mom, Sharon, were the budding breasts on Kiera’s thin little chest.

“I thought, she’s too young,” remembers the Pittsburgh mom. “She’s still fearful about sleeping by herself. An 8-year-old just isn’t mature enough to handle this.”
For Kiera, whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy, it was all so embarrassing. None of her friends seemed to be experiencing what she was. When they asked about the acne and her expanding chest, Kiera was evasive. “I didn’t want to tell them what was going on,” says the Pittsburgh girl, now age 9. “So I had to kind of lie to them.”

When Kiera’s parents took their daughter to the doctor, he assured them that nothing was wrong with the girl. Kiera was simply starting puberty early.
As it turns out, puberty at age 7 or 8 isn’t so unusual these days. A new study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, shows that more American g
The changes in Kiera’s body scared her parents. Though the 8-year-old seemed her usual chipper self, she’d started to develop headaches and acne. More alarming to her mom, Sharon, were the budding breasts on Kiera’s thin little chest.

“I thought, she’s too young,” remembers the Pittsburgh mom. “She’s still fearful about sleeping by herself. An 8-year-old just isn’t mature enough to handle this.”
For Kiera, whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy, it was all so embarrassing. None of her friends seemed to be experiencing what she was. When they asked about the acne and her expanding chest, Kiera was evasive. “I didn’t want to tell them what was going on,” says the Pittsburgh girl, now age 9. “So I had to kind of lie to them.”

When Kiera’s parents took their daughter to the doctor, he assured them that nothing was wrong with the girl. Kiera was simply starting puberty early.
Personally I feel the exposure to different chemicals in the air and inside our food has girls to mature faster. Back in the 1700s, girls didn’t start to menstruate till they were 17 or 18, Garibaldi says. That had a lot to do with malnutrition. The assumption is that the steady decline in age since then has to do with more abundant food. Now we are shooting our meats up with hormones and dye, we pollute out air and use dangerous chemicals in household products that would kill if used in larger dosages.

Studies have linked an early start to menstruation with an elevated risk of breast cancer. And other research has shown that girls who go through puberty early tend to have lower self-esteem and a poor body image. They are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors which can result in unplanned pregnancies.

I could not imagine having a daughter and trying to tell her about the changing in her body at the age of 8. I also wonder if this will lead to menopause occurring at a younger age. We all know that women are given a set amount of eggs and the sooner we start using them…the sooner they are gone. I think this is something that must be investigated and taken seriously.

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Broken Black Men

My love for black men is eternal. In this lifetime or the next, it is unimaginable to envision myself with anyone outside of a black man. However, it breaks my heart to know that some of our men have lost their position as African Kings and took on the role as predators. As many of you probably know last week in Indianapolis a killing left two women and their infant children dead. Gina Hunt and Andrea Yarrell, both 24, and Hunt's 23-month-old son Jordan, died at the scene. Yarrell's four-month-old girl, Charlii, was pronounced dead at 1:33 a.m. after being transported in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds to Methodist Hospital. These beautiful babies were shot while their mothers held on to them for dear life. When I heard about this incident I hoped against all odds that the people that committed this heinous crime were not black, especially not black men. Unfortunately hope was not enough and it is believed that Ronald Davis pulled the trigger that took four lives. Two of his co-defendants, Donte Hobson and Jasper Frazier made statements placing the murder weapon in Davis’ hand the night of Jan. 14.


It is sad to admit the truth, but in most cases if a black person is the victim of murder, robbery, rape, theft, or any other crime you can think of ….8 times out of 10 their perpetrator(s) will be another black person. We have become our own worst enemy, so many devalue the life of their people. The blame could be laid at the feet of the economy, drug addiction, poor parenting, poverty, lost of morals, and many other stupid reasons. But, I wonder what turns a person heart so cold that killing babies without regret or remorse becomes an acceptable practice. In many cases the victims live in similar circumstances as their perpetrator(s). These thugs are no Robin Hood, they don’t go to the rich neighborhoods and take from those that have more, no they terrorize people right there in their communities. Please, do not think that I am advocating hurting anyone regardless of their economic standing, but why hurt people that are just like you? As a matter of fact, why hurt people at all?

The very black men that I have been taught to love, is the very men that are terrifying our communities. What happened to the black man that would work 2-3 jobs to take care of his family, the black man that would rather die than to see his family suffer, the black man who shielded and protected his family at all cost and the black man that was the backbone of his community? Why has that black man become the minority and the suspected killer become the majority? Don’t believe me check the crime rate in your local area.


People tell me I should not let the media make me believe that black men are all criminals, but the truth is it is blacks killing blacks. Whites are scared of Osama and we are scared of Tyrone on the corner. Trust me… I know that all black me do not fall in the category of criminal minded serial killers, but hearing about stories like this day after day kinda makes me yearn for a the old school black man like my Granddaddy. As I get ready to move back to St. Louis (which was #1 in violent crimes in 2007) all I can think about is my safety. Of course, to live in the safer areas the rent is twice as much and the requirements are twice as high. I’m no fool, I know no one and nothing can guarantee your safety but I am becoming very conscience of the crime rate in conjunction to where I lay my head.

This case makes me happy that most states still believe in the death penalty. So if Ronald Davis, Donte Hobson and Jasper Frazier are found guilty hope they get the electric chair for their crimes. I think they should start using the death penalty more frequently and start executing these losers at a faster rate. I’m sure the crime rate would drop dramatically. Anyway….. my heart and prayers go out to the family of the deceased.

BLACK KKK?

I fooling around on the internet and discovered an interesting article that spoke of the Black KKK. The author, Jason Whitlock believes that the Black KKK has caused the black community to suffer immeasurable damage that often goes unpunished. The Black KKK is very similar to the White KKK , both groups target black communities, both have no compassion for black lives, their goal is to rob the black community and cause black people to live in fear. Millions of black people live with the affects of the Black KKK, and I am sure you, your family, or your friends have dealt with a situation that involved the Black KKK. The Black KKK is comprised of African American men, women, and children that participate in the killing, robbing, selling drugs, or any activities that derogates the black community. The Jason goes on to say the following.

“Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long. When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions . Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s. “

I must agree with Jason, growing up in the ghetto we always hoped that the drug dealers would just go away. We relied on the police and governmental agencies to correct the problems in our neighborhood. In my old neighborhood there were many elderly people that owned their homes but felt helpless when it came to the Black KKK. As a kid all I could do is watch the devastation spread like a bad case of the claps. After years of living in hell, gun shots and police sirens were just the background music to our “hood”. Soon even the music started to reflect what was going own in many black neighborhoods, shortly after it seemed rap began to celebrate the virtual rape of the black community.
Jason Whitlock stated in his article that he believed our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality. He passionately stated,
“You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration. “

The Black KKK also has a mentality of thinking. People that are mentally connected to the Black KKK always represent the hood even when they make it out of the hood. T.I. is a great example of this. The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. Black KKK participants feel you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream. The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

Jason Whitlock went on to say that Black people are the only people that can save the next generation and save themselves along the way. We are the solution to the sky rocketing percentage of incarcerated black men, high school drop out rates, HIV/AIDS, and other ills that plague our community. My personal goal is to start a non profit organization that will focus on girls/women living in extreme poverty. I also want to create a commercial/ residential real estate group that will bring businesses, jobs and affordable housing to urban black communities. My question to you is how will you help?

ONE OF OUR SISTAH'S IS MISSING

I lifted this article from afrobella.com because I think it is important to get this type of information out. Please copy and pass on.

Have you read about Latasha Norman? She’s been missing for over a week now, and the police chief in Jackson Miss. says race is the reason her disappearance hasn’t gotten more mainstream news attention. The Associated Press story quotes Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin as saying that Norman’s disappearance should get “the same kind of concern” as that of Stacy Peterson. “As far as the interest by the national media in the story, I think race probably had an impact,” said McMillin, who is white. “It’s a small college in the South. It’s the daughter of simple people who maybe are not important outside of their circle, and maybe we don’t attach the same importance to them that we do for other people.” Tell us something we don’t know, Chief. I haven’t seen this story on CNN or MSNBC yet, so let’s raise the flags within our own community, and keep the Norman family in your thoughts and prayers

mandatory minimums hurt black people

I was reading US Today on-line and came across and article about a Federal Judge ignoring sentencing guidelines because she feels that mandatory minimums hurt black people.


A federal judge ignored federal sentencing guidelines Monday and used the conviction of a first-time drug dealer to make a rare policy statement from the bench, saying that mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of drug crimes are hurting the black community.
"Isn't it time for us to say that there is on the one hand the impact of the drug trafficking and on the other hand the impact of mass incarceration of African-Americans from crack cocaine?" U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in her Boston courtroom, according to The Boston Globe. "To suggest that the public safety requires the further incarceration of Mr. Haynes makes no sense."



Well it’s about damn time that somebody finally got the picture. Here it is blacks are only 12% of the population and 39.2% of the jail population. As a matter of fact, minorities make up 60 percent of prison population. To make matters worse, one in three African-American men aged 20-29 is in jail, on probation or on parole as opposed to one in 15 of their white counterparts. Mandatory sentencing guidelines and a growing number of drug-related convictions are factors in a continued growth of inmates held in federal, state and local prisons and jails in the United States.

An in my opinion a lot of this mess boils down to crack cocaine. I vividly remember the late eighties and early nineties when crack first came on the scene. The introduction of crack into the black communities brought massive devastation. I heard tales of women selling their babies, prostituting their young daughters, all kinds of stealing, and a colossal murder rate. All of the sudden you saw good hard working men with good jobs turn into homeless zombies stealing from Family Dollar to support their crack habits. Women that were once good mamas looking like death warmed over. Our once thriving communities became virtual war zones, while gangs and drug deals fought over territory. I began to see a lot of homes on the block become crack houses; others stopped taking care of their home and soon the entire neighborhood look dilapidated and unsafe.


Now twenty some odd years later all these black men are in prison doing looooooog stretches and the black is in scrambles I just glad at least one judge realized that the problem is so much bigger than handing out jail sentences like candy.

If meth dealers and users were handed mandatory sentences there would be uproar in the white community because the tables would turn and suddenly whites would be going to jail in large numbers. I hate drug dealers, regardless or race, religion, creed or color. I feel they all should be punished, but the punishment should be fair and just. It should not matter if the drug is powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, ect. we should be focusing on justice, rehabilitation and the economy .