Naomi Sims Was The World's First Black Supermodel!

Naomi Sims was a beautiful woman with chocolate skin that was velvety smooth & she had immaculate facial features.So,it's no wonder that she became the world's first black supermodel.I knew about her from the wig collection that bore her name.

This magnificent trailblazer has passed away at the age of 61.Naomi Sims was a model that overcame obstacles,such as racism.She should really be a role model for all young black women.We all can learn from her class,determination & winning attitude.

Here's more about her struggle from the Telegraph:

"The breakthrough came in 1968, when she was given the cover of the mainstream magazine Ladies' Home Journal. The following year she appeared on the cover of Life magazine. As the designer Halston told The New York Times in 1974: "Naomi was the first. She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers."

A handful of black girls had been successful models before her (Dorothea Towles Church, for example, had been a star of the Paris couture shows in the 1950s); but until Naomi Sims came along, none had managed to penetrate the public consciousness. That she did so was entirely due to her determination, forged during a difficult childhood in Pennsylvania.

Naomi Ruth Sims was born at Oxford, Mississippi, on March 30 1948. Her parents divorced soon after her birth, and she never knew her father, who worked as a porter (her mother, however, later confided that he had been "an absolute bum"). Mrs Sims took her three daughters to live in Pittsburgh, but Naomi was subsequently brought up by foster parents. At Westinghouse High School she towered over her fellow pupils, who responded by ostracising her.

Her resolution to make something of her life took Naomi, in 1966, on a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, which she combined with night classes in psychology at New York University.

When she decided to become a model, however, her early encounters with the agencies were not encouraging: all turned her down, some taking the trouble to explain that her skin was too dark. Deciding to bypass the agencies altogether, she went directly to fashion photographers – a tactic that paid off when Gosta Peterson, a photographer for The New York Times, agreed to do a shoot for the cover of the newspaper's August 1967 fashion supplement.

While this was a considerable coup, Naomi Sims still found it difficult to get work. Eventually she told Wilhelmina Cooper, a former model who was starting her own agency, that she would send out copies of the The Times's supplement to advertising agencies, attaching Ms Cooper's telephone number; the agency would get a commission if Naomi found any work.

Within a year she was earning $1,000 a week, and appearing in a national television campaign for AT&T wearing the creations of the American designer Bill Blass. "It helped me more than anything else because it showed my face," Naomi Sims told Ladies' Home Journal in 1968. "After it was aired, people wanted to find out about me and use me."

Soon she was also modelling for other eminent designers, such as Halston, Teal Traina, Fernando Sánchez and Giorgio di Sant'Angelo. Black women began to emulate her slicked-back hair style. Her acquaintances included Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol.

By 1972 Hollywood had begun to take an interest in her, and she was offered the title role in the film Cleopatra Jones (1973). She declined after reading the script, which she said was racist in its portrayal of blacks.

In 1969 Naomi Sims had told an interviewer: "There is nothing sadder than an old, broke model, and there are many models who have nothing at the end of their career."

Accordingly, she abandoned modelling after five years to launch a wig-making business for black women. At first she baked synthetic hairs in her oven at home to create the texture of straightened black hair; but within five years her designs, manufactured by the Metropa Company, had annual sales of $5 million."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the article in its entirety here.

The Gym Shooter Was A Whiny Sociopath!

The guy who is being branded as the "gym shooter" was looking for rationalizations for his sick feelings about women.But,there was nothing in his ramblings that could make me understand why he picked a group of random females to victimize in a shooting rampage last night in Pennsylvania.

George Sodini was full of rage & he directed it all at women.I guess that for a coward like him they were easy targets.On an online blog,he whined about his lack of sexual appeal & the rejection that he felt.His anger drove him to commit an atrociously violent act.

Here's more on what this sick puppy did from CNN:

"A Pennsylvania man who walked into a gym aerobics class and opened fire, killing three women and wounding nine before turning the gun on himself, "had a lot of hatred in him," police said Wednesday.

George Sodini, 48, brought four handguns into the LA Fitness gym outside Pittsburgh and used three of them, firing at least 36 times around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said.

Sodini, a member of the gym, was found dead in the aerobics room, lying on top of one of his guns about seven feet from one of the victims.

Authorities believe Sodini targeted the aerobics class, because a schedule was found in his home with that class circled, Moffatt said.

But police do not believe he targeted anyone personally. An online diary, as well as notes at the scene and at his home, have led them to believe he was targeting women in general.

In the note found at the scene in Sodini's gym bag, he complains he had never spent a weekend with a woman, never vacationed with a woman and never lived with a woman, and that he had had limited sexual experiences, Moffatt said.

He makes similar complaints in his online blog, which also documents his growing rage at women for rejecting him and at the world he felt had abandoned him."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

A Liberian Family Blames Their 8 yr. Old Daughter For Being The Victim Of A Gang Rape!

What has happened to a little 8 yr. old Liberian girl in Phoenix,Arizona is absolutely deplorable!She was gang-raped by 4 teenage boys at the apartment complex that she lives at.

As if that was not horrific enough,her parents have placed the blame for this awful incident squarely on her shoulders.Apparently,they feel that their daughter's rape brings shame to the family name.

Here's more on this incident from azcentral.com:

"The summer scene at a west Phoenix apartment complex was tranquil Wednesday evening. Parents and children chatted on their stoops as the sun set. They bought ice cream from a vendor's push cart.

One week ago, around the same time of day, residents of the complex were startled by the screams of a partially clothed 8-year-old girl who ran screaming from a storage shed at a vacant unit.

Phoenix police on Wednesday announced that they arrested four neighborhood boys in connection with the incident, in which investigators said the group lured the girl into the shed with chewing gum, held her down and sexually assaulted her.

Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill, a longtime public-information officer, described the case as "one of the worst crimes we have come across in Phoenix in quite some time," given the ages of the victim and the suspects, as well as the circumstances of the reported attack.

The girl and the four suspects are refugees from the war-torn West African country of Liberia, which, according to investigators, would complicate authenticating names and dates of birth.

Arizona Child Protective Services took custody of the girl after the July 16 incident at the apartment complex after her parents disowned her.

Hill said the parents blamed her for being victimized and bringing shame to the family."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

Changing some Liberian's attitude toward rape is an ongoing process.There are some activists who are working diligently to do just that!Here's more info on what they doing about the extremely serious rape issue in Liberia from HULIQ:

"Chief prosecutor for the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia, Esther Seton Cee, says many rape victims and parents of rape victims are discouraged from reporting the crime because the overworked court system is slow to prosecute.

Cee says she believes the answer is to create a new court for rape cases.

"We have advocated for a specialized court that would be able to carry out judication faster. That is what we are waiting on," she said.

Cee says parents of rape victims often settle out of court for money with the accused rapist because they believe they are protecting their child from public embarrassment. She says this slows down and undermines the judicial process.

Cee says sensitizing parents to the true nature of rape could encourage them to push forward with prosecutions. Groups have used public awareness campaigns, including radio jingles, aiming to empower women, girls and families against sexual abuse.

"When the parents understand the nature of the crime that is involved, they will stop compromising," she said.

During the country's civil war many young girls and women were forcibly taken to act as cooks, cleaners and sex slaves for the fighters.

Liberia's rape law has been a focus point for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has said that no rapists would go unpunished. Human rights organizations say the ineffective implementation of the rape law reflects badly needed reform in the entire judicial system."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the whole article here.