Press Release

For Immediate Release
Date: 10/17/2007
Contact: Woody Miller 734-260-3946
Email: woodymiller1@yahoo.com

Hearing Scheduled Regarding The Unresolved Murder Of Community Leader

Detroit, MI - The Detroit City Council, at the behest of Council Member JoAnn Watson, has scheduled a hearing for Monday, October 22, 2007 at 10:45 A. M. regarding the murder of Yale Guy Njoma Miller. The hearing will be held in their Public Health & Safety Standing Committee in the City Council Committee Room on the 13th floor of the Coleman A Young Municipal Center. Mr. Millers murder occurred on Saturday, February 24, 2007 at approximately 5:15 p.m. on Wabash & Marquette (South of West Grand Boulevard and West of Rosa Parks by McMichael Middle School) in Detroit. Fatal shots were fired at a blue 1993 Jeep that he was driving by unknown person/persons claiming his life at the age of 35. While the community has provided cooperation and assistance to police very little information has been provided by the Detroit Police Department. Yale’s family has made requests for the autopsy, 911 phone records, homicide report and other information under the freedom of information act, which have been denied.

At thirteen years old, Yale began his career in community service as a Peer Educator for the “How To Say No Program” of the Southeastern Michigan Family Planning Association. At eighteen years old, he received his certification as the youngest HIV/AIDS counselor in the State of Michigan. After working for the Detroit Health Department for over ten years, Yale enjoyed a teaching position at Timbuktu Academy in Detroit. He played an active role in his children’s education at Nsoroma Institute where he chaired the father’s (Baba’s) club. While employed by Catholic Social Services as a Prevention Specialist, Yale helped young people in several community groups with substance abuse and violence prevention. Always active in bringing about social change, Yale participated in a “Sit In” at Wayne State University which contributed to the creation of an African Studies program still being offered today. His dream was to provide the world a community of healthy families who lived in peaceful support of each other’s needs. A self-sufficient community that enjoys clean air, water, wholesome food and children learning safely with the help of their parents in thoughtful harmony with modern technology

“Yale’s death is a devastating blow to the Detroit community and progressive, family-driven people of the African Diaspora everywhere. I’m so tired of losing my loved ones in the streets of Detroit and around the country. I want to come home to read poems for the living, not bury all my closest friends before they turn 40,” said Detroit Poet/Activist Jessica Care Moore Poole. Please arrange to be present at this hearing and help to resolve Yale’s senseless death. For additional information call 734-260-3946.

My friends!

First, if you missed Maritri’s new showcase at Hacienda, you are always missing some magic. Dean Bowman stopped by and killed it with his amazing voice. Maritri was in not so rare lovely form. Shelley Nicole smashed it…I am so proud of my Monday family (Yvie, Budda, Annekei, V. Jeffrey Smith, David Pilgrim, Corey Glover, Jerome Jordan). Would not be who I am at this minute without all of that talent.

Second…of course Pierre and Jamyla have managed to raise the bar on the story telling once again. When I grow up, I want to be just like them! Check it below:

This fool promoter apologized for his ignorance. Someone I know actually brought up the possibility of him doing a dark-skinned party but in a sense that’s all still so isolating. Given the history of black folks and their color issues, making it about as necessary as your ten bills to get in is borderline Jerry Springer! By the way, I love me some Pearl, Jr. Now THAT’S a name!

DETROIT — A local DJ and party promoter retreated Thursday from a plan to sponsor a bash that would let “light-skinned” black women into a downtown club for free.
But the “Light Skin Libra Birthday Bash” at Club APT on Woodward Avenue turned out to be a bashing — of promoter Ulysses “DJ Lish” Barnes after word of the unusual party spread on the Internet.
“I made a mistake,” Barnes said. “I didn’t think there would be a backlash.”
Barnes, who said he’s been a party promoter for six years, canceled the event.
He said he has gotten angry calls and e-mails from around the country about the party.
“I didn’t mean to offend anyone,” he said. “I had planned a party for other shades (of black women). We were going to take a shade of color each week. Next week was going to be a party for ‘Sexy Chocolate’ and the week after that ‘Sexy Caramel.’ ”
Barnes is African-American and describes himself as “dark skinned.” The issue of skin color is an often painful and emotional among African-Americans. The history of slavery and the resulting legacy of intra-racial segregation have sometimes pitted darker-skinned and lighter-skinned blacks against one another.
A noted Los Angeles-based activist who goes by the name of Pearl Jr. was among the chorus of voices complaining about the party.
“I had a good conversion with him and he understood,” said Pearl Jr., founder of the Black Women’s Movement in Los Angeles and the author of the book “Black Women Need Love, Too.”
“Ignorance can’t always be an excuse,” she said. “Colorism is real in the black community. It’s especially very degrading to dark-skinned black women.”
The party’s discriminating tone harkens to the day of the “brown paper bag test,” which compared the complexions of blacks to a brown grocery bag before they could be admitted to social clubs and affairs, said Pearl Jr.
The activist said she had a heart-to-heart talk with Barnes and he immediately told her he would cancel the party.
“He was basically falling in line with what we have been taught (by society) that the less African-looking you are the better you are,” said Pearl Jr. “Basing whether someone is admitted on their skin color is discriminatory, which is really against the law.”
Comments on Web sites and blogs about the party included urging a boycott of the party and filing a lawsuit against the party’s promoter.
“The way this should be handled is that our light-skinned sisters should refuse to go unless the darker-skinned sisters received the same treatment,” wrote one blogger. “We must stand together and not allow ANYONE, especially, a club to divide us.”
Barnes said he is hoping to host an event to raise money for a charity to make up for whatever problems or pain he caused over the party flier.
You can reach Oralandar Brand-Williams at (313) 222-2027 or bwilliams@detnews.com.

Okay, I grew up in Detroit. I’ve written about. It was golden. Folks in my circle had their first kiss at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Our baby sitter with the main branch of the library. Every Saturday we heard shout outs from 107.5 to all the ladies with the burgundy hair. And hell yes you can pick from a myriad of chain hair salons to get your shit straight twenty four hours a day. What is the problem with that? Some people have insomnia. Shit. Anyways, I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart. Until I see some shit that’s just wrong. Listen, “School Daze” and the “good” and “bad” hair dance was edutainment. Did we not learn from it? We aren’t saying “good” hair and referring to the Carrot Top texture still, are we? I mean Glamour magazine just fired an asshole for telling folks that dreadlocs and fros were a Glamour don’t. Why must I see this?

Let’s dissect from the top.

Chick who posed for this is smiling like somebody is squeezing her Kunte Kente foot.

Club APT needs to stop playing and give them their deposit back in food stamps and war stamps.

Anybody who goes to this party on a serious tip is a HERB.

PYT was five million years ago. Not even Michael Jackson sings that shit and he NEEDS the money! Second, DJ Lish? Saying that aloud makes me want to grab a pack of KOOLS and drink my Champale out of a 7-Eleven Big Gulp cup I saved in my car next to my dissed pennies. Light Skinned Libra Bash??? Do they have to bring their slave papers to prove the light skinnedness? Is there a paper bag at the door? Is bleach creme in the giveaway bag? You’re assholes. We got little black girls out there devastated every time they see a silky hair shampoo commercial and now you want them to turn into those African women up on 125th that bleach their skin but keep some of the facial parts dark cause they can’t reach (you know the kind). Is this 2007?? We rocking skin color too? I missed the memo. I need my 313ers and 248ers to go and pick this shenanigan immediately. If PETA can dump red paint on fur, I challenge y’all to throw dark chocolate on these brainwashed ignorant pageant rejects. Scald them with truffles, y’all!

Thanks for setting our folks back at least forty years. Dumb assess…

My Monday night Voyage crew below:

(back row, left to right) Budda, Luqman, Kevin Young

(second row, l to r) : LaRonda (Black Rock Coaltion), Yvonne (Are & Be), Corey Glover (Living Color), Me (suckas!), Montgomery Harris (Harlem designer), Maritri

(front row) Jennifer (Are & Be) and Carsen (the photographer!)
This particular photo shoot however is from the fantastic historical night of The Family Stand series of concerts in one night. First, above, we have the post-BAM set. Designer Mongtomery Harris also made an appearance.

Don’t you wish you were there? You could be.

Pretty Yvonne and her hubby Corey jamming to some “Get Black to your Revolution…!”

Next we have the set at The Blue Note where Corey Glover ripped the earth’s surface a new one when he joined the band on stage for a few songs (then asked to join), Sandra St. Victor shook my hand, Jerome almost threw a chair at the stage because it was so dope, we ran into a few liggers (those are stalkers but in the Euro slang - some people don’t like the word. Just don’t replace the L with an N unless you roll deep), we had a bunch of out of towners roll up and everyone stayed awake for the 1am set to begin! If you know me, then you know my nickname is “grandma” cause I loves to be at home so for me to hang on this night was definitely something I’ll write the homestead about.

This was before Jerome (back right) tried to throw the chair at Corey but after we thought cheese, fries, fruit and drinks would be yummy at 1am. But then this was also after we met a few former stalkers…good times. Good times.

There is a reason for the current stage of my life. For some reason, because I’m in a relationship that’s long distance and my “husband” has various reasons for being where he is. Every month or so, the fantastic (and I mean that because it’s well cultivated being an only child) imagination in my cauldron of a head cooks up some pretty amazing stories that could lead one to either reckless Waiting to Exhale Jr. type adventures or to carry immense sadness in my heart for love and the state of the world. That’s when “husband” and I hash it out. It’s the same conversation: what are we doing, why are we doing, how are we doing, are we doing, when are we doing, who are we? Some new things like pretty weeds grow into the new conversations every so often like me growing fearless of the future, me having some dedication to this union (you don’t have to file a marriage license to be married people - keep the government out of your house as much as possible…your God isn’t in government)despite how it looks on paper, me calling out bullshit, he fearlessly protecting the little boy inside that has gone through so much.

The cycle will be boring to you but this is what I want to really focus on. My cauldron of imagination stew that may get me into trouble if I don’t recognize the pattern. While it’s true that somebody could go left without some kind of stimuli, why does one relay on someone else to give it to them? I know when you have a mate, there’s this idea of what they are “supposed” to do but that word is so damned dangerous that I’m sure it’s caused tragic devastation across the world in various forms. I think you’re allowed to ask for you want and what for an answer instead of just expecting all the time. True of yourself too….stop expecting yourself to respond certain ways. For me, it’s as if I got a Master’s Degree without ever leaving kindergarten. I keep forgetting myself.

Buy Yaze’s music:

Normally I get this emailed to me in the morning. Now I’m not sure if I usually read this and then some how, miraculously, it becomes true or if I make it true. But since I got this late today, I know for sure that DailyOM is not in tune with me. DailyOM, are facing a crisis?

Kidding. Listen, I don’t believe astrology to the point where I’d spend a lot of cash in hopes that it will change me. I might take it to a nice movie. But here’s the deal, your instinct is normally your best indicator. If you want to go deep, your instinct is tied to your spiritual belief but if you don’t want to go deep, you can stop there. Nothing is an authority on this earth. It can be as ancient as dirt but you are still a unique individual. Use your brain.

I’ll post my “hardly knew me” horoscope below:

October 5, 2007
The Realm Beyond
Capricorn Daily Horoscope
You may feel more successful than usual today as you watch your recent efforts come into their own. The prosperous existence you have created for yourself may feel so comfortable and satisfying that you begin to wonder whether it might be time to take an extended period of rest. But it is likely that your journey is only just beginning and that you still have much to do where your development is concerned. While you may be flourishing today, you can solidify your chances of attaining a similar degree of success in the future only by continuing to pursue your dreams actively. Nothing can stop you if you decide not to stop yourself.

However successful our past accomplishments make us feel, we must always remember that there is still more ground to cover in our overall development. Many people give in to the temptation to scale back their efforts after realizing some long sought after achievement only to find that they enter into a slump quite soon thereafter. Our accomplishments should prompt us to redouble our efforts because it is these triumphs that contribute so much to our motivation. We are better able to deal with the pressures we will face when we pursue challenging aims because we have seen what we can do and trust ourselves enough to move past the boundaries of our previously established comfort zones to explore the realm beyond. Your choice to keep struggling forward after meeting your goals today will ensure that your progress remains uniformly steady.

So after a series of domino affect-type of snafus this morning and last night (posting the wrong date of my play on Myspace, an out of state clearing my account before my pay check posted, not able to get through to my bank all morning, not having any cash, my iPod dying mid way through the workout this morning)…I’ve decided that I didn’t pay attention. Duh, you say. Well, I say to you look at those words carefull.

Pay attention.

Pay usually means you have to give something. I’ve not been giving my minute to minute a lot of thought. I have not been taking it easy so that my life can go a bit smoothly. Usually when you have to pay something, you groan. A bill comes and you act like somebody has a gun to your chest. Well, somethings you have to pay. Like attention. I wish we could use a term like “Pay love.” You have to pay love or any other emotion we benefit from. Usually when you pay something, you get something in return. I like my cable, my apartment, my food, my cell phone (sometimes)…I also like attention, love, respect, joy, wisdom, ambition, truth, beauty…sometimes paying is not a pain. You totally get your value back.

Make sure your milk stays clean.

Okay so the lead guy is my favorite from Rome. Cool. But what is up with the swagger jagger jacking of the plot from “The Time Traveler’s Wife”?? Audrey Niffenegger, girl, you besta sue!

I’m ’bout to go watch the rest of the show. Ahem.