Sunday marks the kick-off day for the 10th Annual Black Marriage Week, a celebration sponsored by Marriage, Inc. of Kankakee County, along with Wedded Bliss Foundation, Inc., that joins supporters in hundreds of cities around the country to highlight the benefits of married life. To celebrate, actor, rapper and friend to MyBrownBaby Tray Chaney (The Wire) is releasing a new single, “Love Of My Life,” off of his upcoming EP, Hungry… Humble… Honest. “Love Of My Life,” Tray explains, is the story of a vulnerable man showing his desire to cherish, love and marry his woman. The song is, in verse, the story of how he met, fell in love with and married his wife, Ayesha Chaney, down to his finding out at his wedding reception that his intended was pregnant. “That was definitely the best day of my life,” Tray told MyBrownBaby. Though he and his wife suffered a miscarriage, they did eventually have a son, Malachi, age 6. “Love Of My Life,” featuring the vocal stylings of Kyonte, who has written for MyBrownBaby favorites Raheem DeVaughn and Ledisi, was written, Tray says, “to give Hip Hop real stories that matter.” In honor of Black Marriage Week, Tray has generously made his song available for free download on BlackandMarriedWithKids.com. Click HERE to get yours.
You must read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ New York Times essay, “The Good, Racist People,” a clear-eyed examination of American racism through the prism of an incident last month that saw actor Forest Whitaker accused of shoplifting at a New York City deli and frisked by a worker. Of course, Forest wasn’t stealing, and the deli owner has since apologized. Still, the incident sears. Ta-Nehisi does a helluva job explaining why. Witness:
But much worse, it haunts black people with a kind of invisible violence that is given tell only when the victim happens to be an Oscar winner. The promise of America is that those who play by the rules, who observe the norms of the “middle class,” will be treated as such. But this injunction is only half-enforced when it comes to black people, in large part because we were never meant to be part of the American story. Forest Whitaker fits that bill, and he was addressed as such.
I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people. (NYT)
And other MyBrownBaby Fresh links you should check out:
1. A White Man Struggles with Black Wife’s Family Over Spanking (SparetheKids.com)
2. Howard Students Forgo Spring Break To Combat Violence In Chicago (ABCNews)
3. Bulls’ Derrick Rose To Pay for Funeral of Shot Chicago Infant (AtlantaBlackStar)
4. Sheryl Sandberg Sandberg Left Single Mothers Behind (CNN)
5. Neurologists Warn Against ADHD Drugs To Help Kids Study (NPR)
6. Connecticut Surrogate Offered $10,000 To Abort Couple’s Disabled Child (Clutch)
7. Women’s History Month: Four unsung black women you should know (TheGriot)
8. Leading by Example: First Lady Michelle Obama, with photos by Annie Liebovitz (Vogue)
9. Dads Are Feeling The Work Life Balance Struggle And Moms Should Be Helping, Not Gloating (Mommyish)
And I couldn’t resist sharing this delicious ditty of Justin Timberlake performing the smash, “Let the Groove Get In” off his upcoming album, The 20/20 Experience, on Jimmy Fallon earlier this week. The Roots are on percussion and the entire band, which looks like its easily 20 deep, is Afro-Brazilian crunk, with Justin in the front, tearing it to pieces. #iHeart. Enjoy!
Denene Millner
Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.
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You talking about helping black marriages,actually start putting real black women for a change in your advertising. Why is it i see website talking about black love and i see a black guy and biracial women. I guess being a black women isnt good enough. Even though majority of black women in america have a darker skin. That’s just not in this ciunr but everywhere black people are. No wonder why there is insecuritys in black neighborhoods. We dont get to see black women. Putting a false notion that you need to look white to be married. When wheb the world will exception black women the way we are. I