I’m Sayin’ with Chloé & Hills (Featuring Bilal)
I’m Sayin w/ Chloé & Hills: Season 2, Ep 1 – Bilal from Chloe Hilliard on Vimeo.
Everyone wants to be a journalist but very few know what the real job of a journalist is. It’s not about two hour lunches, corner offices or red carpet events. Calling yourself a journalist isn’t all about entertainment journalism or blogging about your favorite rapper.
Journalism is a thankless job. You will not make millions, no one really knows your name nor will they value your work.
Everyday around the globe a journalist is killed, kidnapped, tortured or exiled for doing their job. Right now, two American journalists are sitting in a North Korean prison, sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for – of all things – crossing into the country’s border with an assignment.
Peep the Rousing Applause
I know more about Sonia Sotomayor than I do my next door neighbor. Since being announced as Prez Obama’s pick to replace retiring Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court, her life has been plastered all over the media. The last time I took note of a Supreme Court nominee was Clarence Thomas, whose hearings regarding his tryst with Anita Hill made him a household name.
It’s safe to say the reason why Sotomayor is getting so much coverage is because she is Latina and grew up poor. Period. End of Story.
Once again American forces have saved the day, popping up in the Indian Ocean to body the four Somali pirates that held U.S. cargo ship captain Richard Phillips captive for five days. Now all the European countries that had been punked by the water thugs for the last couple years are rallying on the heels of America to punish the pirates.
No doubt, more blood will be shed and the already frail country of Somalia—a country that hasn’t had a solid government since 1991, no economy and watches helplessly as mafia run shipping companies dump toxic waste on it’s shores—will be further devastated by those who want to punish it instead of help it.
The pirates vilified by the media are no more than fisherman, who made a living by selling fish and seafood caught off the shore of Somalia, dubbed the Horn of Africa. Left to their own devices they banded together and created a network that manned the shores and waters. Frustrated by the dumping and the damage to their livelihoods they began to tax and hold for ransom boats that entered their territory.
Their mentality: “You not just gonna up in my hood and f*ck my land up. You got to pay!”
Does this sound familiar? … Continue Reading
I haven’t been food shopping in over a month.
I should grow my own food, but don’t. Jay-z said “dig a hole” and maybe I should. Fill it with some seeds, sprinkle with water and some TLC. I’ll be feasting on next season’s dinner in no time.
Seriously, I would love to eat fresh, organic produce every day. A while back I came across this documentary about eight UK adults picked to live in the monkey section of a zoo and eat the exact same diet as monkeys—all fresh and raw fruits and vegetables. One man never saw cauliflower before. In the end they all lost weight, felt better, had improved some of their medical conditions and vowed to each healthier. There is even an American documentary out about the same sort of thing.
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| The X Fact(her) with Chloé Hilliard |
The problem: LGBT people are not allowed the same rights to marriage as heterosexual people. Some watchdog and religious groups have spent millions to get Prop 8 passed. Now, the thousands of LGBT couples who rushed to the altar to marry when they had the right to do so in the state of California are unsure of where their union stands.
Benjamin Manson and Sarah White waited 23 years before their marriage was deemed legal and honored by the United States of America. Their formal yet non-binding wedding ceremony in 1843 while enslaved is one of the few documented. Today, it’s viewed as a testament to the injustices of slavery and the heart wrenching tale of love conquering all. After their wedding, they returned to their respective plantations to work for their masters, spending most of their “marriage” living apart.
On April 19, 1866, 23 years, nine children and one Civil War later the two were officially acknowledge as man and wife.
Ninety-two years later, Mildred and Richard Loving eloped in Washington D.C. to avoid prosecution. She was black, he was white. Under their home state of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act they could not marry. The Jim Crow era was in full effect. Their marriage wasn’t legal in Virginia. The two were arrested one night while they slept. Someone tipped off the local police about their nuptials. They were found guilty of being married and sentenced to either one year in jail or extradition from the state. It took a decade and a Supreme Court ruling to overturn the laws.
Today, thousands of LGBT couples, families and their supporters will take to the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall to announce the Civil Rights March to Sacramento, a 5-day march from San Francisco to Sacramento to call on the Supreme Court to overturn Prop 8.
They are walking for what they feel are their rights, not as men who love men or women who love women, but people who love people.
The Solution:
Benjamin and Sarah were people in love. Over time they were allowed to marry.
Mildred and Richard were people in love. Over time they were allowed to marry.
| About Chloe A. Hilliard: For the last seven years, Chloé A. Hilliard has been a culture/entertainment journalist, writing for the Village Voice, Essence, Vibe, King, and The Source. A native of Brooklyn, Chloé holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from New York University and certificate from the Columbia Publishing Course. Most recently, she was a staff writer for The Village Voice, America’s largest weekly newspaper. Since joining the staff she’s chronicled lesbian thugs, BET’s transformation and eminent domain in Brooklyn. Prior to the Voice, Chloé served as News Editor at The Source magazine for two years. There, she focused on keeping Hip-Hoppers abreast of politics, culture and trends. For her expertise on Hip-Hop culture she’s appeared on CNN Headline News, ABC News, Our World with Black Enterprise and local news broadcasts on ABC 7 and CW11. Her work is also featured in The Best African-American Essays:2009, a non-fiction collection of written works that examines African American concerns in the Obama era. Read more of her work at chloehilliard.com |
We’re going to feature videos and interviews from Power Shift all week long, but the real news at 99Problems is the announcement of a weekly column from Chloe Hilliard
We’re so excited to have her on the site, we set up her own page as a platform for the voice and intelligence that has made her a regular in The Village Voice, Essence, The Source and many other leading sites. We’re psyched to have her collaborating with 99p.
Here’s her bio:
For the last seven years, Chloé A. Hilliard has been a culture/entertainment journalist, writing for the Village Voice, Essence, Vibe, King, and The Source. A native of Brooklyn, Chloé holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from New York University and certificate from the Columbia Publishing Course. Most recently, she was a staff writer for The Village Voice, America’s largest weekly newspaper. Since joining the staff she’s chronicled lesbian thugs, BET’s transformation and eminent domain in Brooklyn. Prior to the Voice, Chloé served as News Editor at The Source magazine for two years. There, she focused on keeping Hip-Hoppers abreast of politics, culture and trends. For her expertise on Hip-Hop culture she’s appeared on CNN Headline News, ABC News, Our World with Black Enterprise and local news broadcasts on ABC 7 and CW11. Her work is also featured in The Best African-American Essays:2009, a non-fiction collection of written works that examines African American concerns in the Obama era.
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