While I don’t pretend to know or understand the inner-workings of Lauryn and Rohan’s roughly fifteen-year ordeal, the fact that so many have rushed to call Lauryn every negative name in the book simply because her ex chose to wife-up another woman with her own set of relationship baggage seems quite unfair.

Never mind that we have no clue about what actually happened in their relationship, but to automatically assume that Lauryn 1) wanted to get married to Rohan in the first place, or 2) isn’t already involved with another man is quite presumptuous.

But I get it. We like to throw stones. For many Lauryn Hill was an iconic figure who seemed to be on the cusp of greatness. Her music, her budding film career, her intelligence—it all seemed to go to waste when she began birthing babies instead of dropping albums.

Silly me. Here I thought motherhood was one of the most important roles a woman could have. But I guess that’s not really true when you have a few Grammys stuffed in your closet (and you wonder why Beyonce is making a quick beeline back to the stage).

Lost in all the talk about how sad and tragic and dumb Lauryn is to have missed out on such an obviously stellar catch as Rohan Marley is her sense of agency. L-Boogie has never been conventional. She dropped out of Columbia to pursue her career, she outshined the fellas in her crew, she fell in love with married men, and she had five kids with a man she’d been with for years without feeling the need to rush down the aisle.

While Lauryn Hill’s life in the public eye has been filled with ups and downs, learning that her ex and the father of her children has decided to get married in the Motherland is probably not causing her as much grief as many might think.

From Nina and Darius to Cliff and Clair, many have used on-screen lovers as a litmus test for what they’d like to see in their own lives. And while no real-life relationship should be based on a scripted one, we can use their example to pick out traits we want from our on-screen inspirations.

But what happens when a couple you’re rooting for just doesn’t make it?

Here are 3 TV couples we wanted to see work out!

Joan & Brock

When Joan met Brock, the couple seemed destined to be together. Although he was Ellis’ (Joan’s then-boyfriend) manager, the pair seemed to click in such a way that caught them both off guard. Unlike the other men who Joan seemed to have some sort of issue with, Brock was her match in every way…except he didn’t want to have kids. Brock wanted to travel the world and experience life with Joan, and Joan…well, she wanted it all. Although they were both honest about their intention in the end, I can’t help thinking they would have made each other immensely happy in the end.

From Frugivore — Bike riding is one of the most relaxing, yet challenging ways to get your workout on, but for most of us the last time we owned a bicycle we were still playing with Lego. As adults, choosing the right bike is about more than whether or not it has cool colors or streamers in the handle bars. To effectively get the most out of our bike workouts the bike needs to be fitted properly to our bodies. Check out these tips to make sure your new bike fits you like a glove.

Get Your Frame Is Right
The first step in getting the right size bike is to stand over the frame with both feet flat on the ground. A properly-sized road bike frame will give an inch or two clearance between the top tube of the frame and your crotch. If you’re buying a women’s bike without the high top tube between the seats, you can skip this tip.

Make Sure You’re Sitting Pretty
Most people think that being able to touch the ground with your feet while sitting on a bike means that the seat it well adjusted. Wrong! If you can sit on the seat and touch your feet to the ground other than on tippy-toes, your seat is too low. You want to have the bicycle seat set to a height that allows your leg to extend until it is almost completely straight when you are sitting on the seat.

(Continue Reading @ Frugivore…)

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

Too many of us put off  our dreams until we are “ready” to live them out. Perhaps we’re waiting until we can stack enough chips to take a trip around the world, instead of hitting the road and seeing what’s in our backyard. Or maybe we’ve decided we’ll wait on returning to school or starting our own business until things are just so. While life is fluid and always changing, one thing is clear: things will never be perfect enough.

Waiting until things are perfect to pursue your dreams, start a workout plan, travel, begin freelancing, or go back to school is one sure-fire way to never, ever get started. Instead of waiting…start living and pursuing the things you really want to do. Even if the process is difficult or messy or complicated, at least you’ll be living on your own terms.

Start living the dream, Clutchettes.

Happy Friday! 

According to a February report from American Express Business Insights:

Millennials actually increased their spending on premium luxury fashion by 33 percent from 2010 to 2011.

This was a bigger jump than any other demographic. With marriage rates being what they are, we know young people weren’t buying wedding rings, but they were spending on jewelry of some sort. According to the report, these consumers led the way on jewelry spending, with an increase of 27 percent in 2011. Overall, boomers are still the biggest buyers of luxury goods and services at 50 percent, and though millennials only spend about 3 percent on these items, their purchasing patterns suggest that could change dramatically.

The good thing is millennials aren’t necessarily spending recklessly. Thanks to flash sales and services like Groupon and other daily deal sites, young people can actually afford the good life on a budget. They’re also more likely to trade one luxury thing for another, so if you spend on an expensive handbag or a Brazilian blowout, then you know you have to cook for the rest of the week or swap fine dining for fast food. On the flip side, there is a decent proportion of this generation that still favors credit cards and splurges on non-essentials without thinking about the long-term consequences, which will appear sooner than they think.

It’s no surprise, a large chunk of millennial money is spent on technology—particularly smart phones and any new gadget Mac throws their way, but travel is also becoming one of the biggest areas they don’t mind dropping cash on. In 2010, young consumers became the fastest growing users travel services, hotels have responded to the generation’s technological needs by offering amenities like complementary high-speed Internet and iPads in every room—which is another luxury tradeoff.

This generation has gotten a bad rep for spending frivolously but it sounds like millennials know how to strike the right balance. If you’ve got no money in the bank, then you shouldn’t be purchasing anything but if you know how to stretch a dollar so that you can get the finer things in life at a lower price, while still handling your business financially, you’re in a pretty good place. It wouldn’t hurt to save even more for a rainy day in this economy though.

Are you a thrifty luxury shopper?

“I hope to reveal what God has me here to do,” she said in a recent interview with Indianapolis Woman magazine. “It is his story to tell. I am a proud vessel, and together we make a great team.”

Faith may be Wood’s inspiration, but the dominant themes of her painting, illustration, books and performance coalesce around the black experience. Her latest book for young readers, I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2012), uses the tradition of quilting as a structural framework to recount the pains and joys of Africans enslaved in the American South. The stories unfold through vibrant pictures, painted by Wood to mimic the patchwork of American quilts, and the words of poet Cynthia Grady.

Beside an image awash with blues that recall dark Southern woods, a man in tattered pants steps gingerly across a river.

Like a hyena on the hunt, you know,

he opportunistic, unspecialized.

The bounty hunter prowl the riverbank.

He use the wind to his advantage and

he listen; he watch intently. A slave 

to greed, the hunter aine no match for this old pilgrim in the woods.

…

Wood’s previous releases, which include the children’s books Going Back Home: An Artist Returns to the South, I See the Rhythm and I See the Rhythm of Gospel, have mined similar ground, rendering the black experience in rhythmic verse and bold color and texture. A mentor once told Wood, early in her career, “You have the ability, but not the subject matter.” There is no doubt that Wood has found her voice–the voice of the African diaspora–and burnished it through travels abroad, beginning with a year spent in Paris at 21. Everywhere she goes, Wood collects bits of culture–colors, textures, ephemera–that are later revealed in her work. Though she has journeyed across continents, including extended stays in Africa and Europe, Wood says the City of Lights still has her heart. She is studying French in hopes of a return visit.

“Louer le Seigneur!” (Praise the Lord!)

Few might guess that a girl raised by a single mother in the Hillside Apartments housing project in Indianapolis would become a globe-trotting creative, with work in the Indiana State Museum’s Represent! Celebrating Indiana’s African American Artists exhibit, contributions to seven books, a cover of American Visions magazine and an American Library Association Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award to her credit. But Wood found her muse early. An only child, “Missy” would amuse herself by painting, sculpting and snapping photos with an old 110 camera. A self portrait in Going Back Home depicts a young Wood with a square burn on her forehead from holding the camera too close. True story.

She “got it honest” as old folks sometimes say; Wood’s mother Karolyn Mitchell was a gifted creative in her own right, crafting elaborate tablescapes and wall designs to beautify the home she shared with her young daughter. And Mitchell recognized her daughter’s potential.

“We lived in the projects but once we got on the inside, I would say that we lived in a palace,” Mitchell says. “…so that [Michele] would dream big.”

Mitchell guided and nurtured her daughter through an art degree from the Intercontinental University of Atlanta, Georgia. And then, there is that trip to Paris that left such a mark on her daughter’s creative spirit.

“My dreams were interrupted,” Mitchell says. “There was no way to go off to New York City to fashion school and take my daughter and survive. I wouldn’t have no one to take care of  her.

“I took all that energy and put it into Michele so I would feel like my life wasn’t wasted. I wanted to give her a coming out party when she got 16. I couldn’t give it to her at 16. I gave it to her at 21 when [I sent her] to Europe.”

Wood counts her mother chief among the “many beautiful women” who helped raise and nurture her. And her work is redolent of black womanhood. In I Lay My Stitches Down a woman bends low over her quilting. On the cover of Going Back Home, a woman plaits a child’s hair in front of a shotgun shack. In I See the Rhythm, jazz women (rendered in blue…again) raise their voices in song. In I See the Rhythm of Gospel, women lift their hands in praise.

On July 12, 2012, in Atlanta, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History will honor Wood with the Ashley Bryan Children’s Literature Award for “displaying a commitment to the authentic representation of the Africana experience in children’s literature.” Her work will travel to area schools as part of the Ashley Bryan Traveling Exhibit of Illustrated Africana Children’s Literature. In addition, paintings from I See the Rhythm of Gospel, I See the Rhythm, I Lay My Stitches Down and an early book, My Holy Bible, will be on display in the Auburn Avenue Research Library from July 1 to July 15.

Through these exhibits, and a future project that will bring her books to life through spoken word, music and song, Wood shares with the history of African Americans, but also her past–the travels, the family foundation of love and creativity, and her faith.

In Indianapolis Woman, Wood explains, “The Lord guides me through visions in my dreams and ideas in my head. Inspiration, idea, visions or whatever you call it will come to me, and it is my job to pull it out and into existence…I want so much to unveil it exactly like I received it. It is so magnificent to see God’s works of art and hear his songs play in my head.”

When we part, Michelle Wood signs a copy of her newest book for me. Above her signature, in curling script, she writes, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.”

“Artist on the come up” will be an ongoing series at Clutch magazine profiling creative of color, including writers, visual artists, performers, filmmakers and others doing thoughtful and compelling work. Send recommendations for future profiles to whattamisaid@gmail.com. 

Image of Michele Wood by Polina Osherov
Painting: Underground Railroad by Michele Wood

Click below to check out more of her work!

It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since Chappelle’s Show left the air. Though the hit series ultimately proved to be too much pressure for comedian Dave Chappelle to sustain, its heyday afforded us some great satirical sketches and parodies of race and pop culture. Provided Chappelle’s mental health wouldn’t be jeopardized, wouldn’t it be cool if he made a TV show comeback? So much has happened politically and socially since he made his departure. He’s been gone for Obama’s entire presidency. He missed Oprah’s retirement. Wayne Brady’s hosting Let’s Make a Deal now. There’s so much old material to revisit and so many new occurrences to mine!

Here are a few things we’d love to see Chappelle return to tackle:

1. President Obama’s First Term

From his uber-cool saunter and laugh to his noted struggles to kick a decades-long smoking habit to his gorgeous, confident wife to his handling of opposition to the famed beer summit to what’s on his iPod to his varied accomplishments of the past four years, Chappelle would’ve had enough source material to last him two seasons.

2. Herman Cain

Much of Cain’s bid for a presidential nomination — and his subsequent fall in the face of infidelity allegations — played like an actual Chappelle Show skit. It would’ve been a breeze for him to adapt Cornbread’s 15 minutes of fame to a comedy sketch.

3. Real Housewives of Atlanta/Basketball Wives

The frequent, vicious catfights that now dominate these shows are just the kinds of ridiculous pop culture phenomena Chapelle was so great at skewering. Can you imagine his take on Nene Leakes or Tami Roman?

4. “Metrosexual Black Abe Lincoln”

Just today, some Super PAC attack ad decided to characterize the president as a “metrosexual, black Abraham Lincoln,” in what has instantly become an internet meme for the ages. Oh, the places Chappelle could go with this one.

5. T.O.’s Woes

It’s harsh to poke fun at a man while he’s down, but Terrell Owens seems to be on a one-man campaign to goad comedians into trading barbs at his expense. Between holding an athletic exhibition where no recruiters showed, talking frequently to the media about his financial straits, and taking to Dr. Phil to discuss his visitation and child support drama, it’d be hard for Chappelle not to joke at his expense.

What would you like to see Dave Chappelle come out of semi-retirement to address?

No judgments. Maybe you were flirting? Maybe you were simply documenting your weight gain or loss? Whatever. But no matter the reason, you too can have a sexy pic/video scandal.

Sure, you won’t end up on Entertainment Tonight or CNN with the booby flash you sent the object of your affection while he was stationed in Afghanistan, but the brilliance and danger of social media is your one-time flirtation can end up as a permanent record in an Internet search engine.

So what do you do when your professional peers, school, regional community, or family circle accidentally gets a hold of what was hot in hindsight and has become not when posted on someone’s Tumblr?

Here is how you handle the damage control.

1. Denial. Depending on the quality and angle of the photo, you may be able to just pull a Shaggy and say “It wasn’t me.” Especially if A) your head isn’t in the shot and B) there are no identifying marks, items, or unique background that can be tied to you. And if it can’t be tied to you, go all the way it. Convince yourself you’re innocent then fight the problem as an innocent person would — either by laughing it off or threatening the owner of the Tumblr you will call your lawyers if they don’t take the picture down.

2. Can’t deny ? Own it. OK. So they can really see your face. That’s rough. But you aren’t going to get anyone’s pity. Even if you’re getting criticized by hypocrites who have an iPhone full of their bare bums in various positions. So, determine whether or not that picture actually makes you look hot. Like, if you look good, you look good! Why should you be ashamed of looking good? In fact, take a tip from Rihanna. When a nude cell phone picture surfaced of her, she responded, “that would be ME … when I was skinny!” It’s not about accusations and how did this happen, but “do I look good?” If you look good. Own it!

3. Unless you can’t “own it,” then face it. Most of us don’t make our livings off of being super attractive. What might be cool for a singer, fashion model, fitness expert, reality show contestant, or pro-athlete will not work for you if you’re an elementary school teacher. In that case, you need to choose this four-pronged response: Tell your employer what’s going on before it gets to them to mitigate damage; admit responsibility; apologize profusely or even in writing or publicly if necessary; and politely contact those posting your photo/video to take it down, only threatening legal action on those who are being jerks about it. It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s better than your job finding out on its own, then sending the photo to everyone you know at work and to all your future employers.

4. If all else fails, ignore it. Much like schoolyard bullying, sometimes the best response is a non-response. If someone asks you about it, you should be all, “So what? Don’t care.” If they ask if it was you, “Yeah. So what? Don’t care.” If they ask you how it got out, you’re all, “I don’t know. Don’t care. Why do you care so much?” In fact, if they actually dare to answer that, then you can turn it all back on the accuser with some shame, shame, shame: “I would find it disappointing if you judged me, who I am, and my entire body of work just on some photo I took for my own personal amusement. If in this day and age of Craigslist Congressmen and celebrity sex tapes, you can’t understand how a simple photo from a Blackberry wound up on Facebook, and how little that has to do with the full measure of a person, I guess I really didn’t know you at all, Grandma.” Yeah. That’ll tell ‘em.

Also remember, it’s important to maintain perspective and not have an overreaction that could actual make your personal sex scandal last longer than necessary. Choose a positive plan of attack and stick with it. Don’t lose your cool and don’t let them see you sweat … over your sweaty sex pic.

Danielle Belton is the creator/writer for the blog blacksnob.com. The biggest story of her career revolved around her friend getting caught up in the Craigslist Congressman scandal that brought down the political career of New York Republican Chris Lee, adding to her continued paranoia of never taking a picture that could be confused as a “sexy” picture.

Marissa Alexander, 31, drifted into Black America’s consciousness, and the rest of the nation soon followed, as her horrific story of domestic violence began to unfold. When she was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for firing a single shot at her violent husband with his children in the home, her case exploded across the internet as people expressed disbelief and outrage.

Why?

Because she received a mandatory 20-year sentence — though no one was injured or killed — for trying to escape an abusive situation.

On August 1, 2010, with her premature infant fighting for her life in NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit), Alexander went to the home she had previously shared with her estranged husband Rico Gray – for reasons as yet to be disclosed – and a fight ensued over text messages she had sent to her ex-husband, Lincoln Alexander, reports CBS News.

Alexander wrote in her blog that she was assaulted, shoved, strangled, and held against her will by her husband as she begged him to let her leave. She was eventually able to escape, but upon making it to the garage, she found the door broken and realized that she had left her cell phone inside the home. Fearing for her life, she grabbed her gun, for which she had a permit, and returned to the house. At that point, Gray allegedly charged toward her screaming, “Bitch, I will kill you!” prompting Alexander to raise her weapon and fire into the ceiling.

That’s where details get sketchy.

Alexander’s legal counsel attempted to use the “Stand Your Ground” defense, the very same controversial law at the center of the Trayvon Martin case. Former neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, in an attempt to justify his vigilante-style murder of the 17-year-old said that he stood his ground and in the state of Florida that meant that he did not have a “duty to retreat under threat of death or serious injury.” Loud cries of racism and prejudice erupted when it was revealed that the judge in the case dismissed Alexander’s motion to receive immunity under the very same law and petitions circulated supporting her case. Rev. Al Sharpton and members of the NAACP also promised to get involved.

“We take issue with the State denying [Alexander’s] right to claim self-defense under Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law,” said Isiah Rumlin, president of the Florida chapter of the NAACP. “[Alexander] did all that she possibly could to protect herself from her husband at the time, including an injunction for protection against violence, which was active on the day of the incident.”

In an exclusive interview with TheGrio.com, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey said not so fast.

“A person’s propensity for violence is only one factor that would have allowed her to use ‘Stand Your Ground’ at the moment when she fired,” Corey said of Alexander. “If that’s what you’re saying, she can walk into a room and just see him and shoot. And what does it say about her fear of Rico Gray that she disobeyed a sitting judge and went over to confront him four months after the incident — one that led Alexander to plead no contest to a domestic battery charge of her own.” In that case, Corey said, Gray called 911 again, after Alexander “gave him a black eye.”

“I just don’t understand where just the one-sided story has come out.”

Corey divulged other details as well; most importantly, that Alexander did not fire the weapon into the ceiling as she claimed, but into the wall behind Gray:

“[Gray] told his boys, ‘get your clothes, we’re out of here.’ And she and went in the garage and into the glove compartment, got out a gun, got it in a ‘ready to fire’ position — it’s a semiautomatic and it had the safety off, and she had a round in the chamber,” Corey said. “And she walked back into the kitchen and fired the gun at him. He was standing the living room and it went through the wall at about adult head height, and ricocheted off the roof or the wall. And thank God it didn’t hit one of the kids.”

Corey says that he sounded frightened on a 911 call and that “you can clearly hear the distress in [his] voice.” During the call, according to Corey, the estranged couple can be heard arguing when Gray says, “I’m outta here,” and Alexander responds, “I’ve got something for you.” Rico Gray, however, tells a somewhat different story. Alexander claims that she was the one afraid, and he supported that version in a deposition, reports CNN.com.

“I told her if she ever cheated on me, I would kill her,” he said during the proceedings led by a prosecutor for Corey’s office and his wife’s defense attorney.

“If my kids weren’t there, I knew I probably would have tried to take the gun from her,” Gray said, adding, “If my kids wouldn’t have been there, I probably would have put my hand on her.” When Alexander’s defense attorney asked him what he meant by “put my hand on her,” Gray replied, “probably hit her. I got five baby mamas and I put my hands on every last one of them except for one.”

The emotions surrounding this case are extremely complex. Black Americans are justifiably grappling for answers from a judicial system that historically convicts Black Americans at a higher rate than any other race or ethnic group. Women are also struggling with the fact that our domestic violence victims are often ignored until it’s too late. But with this evidence revealed by Corey smashing what we thought we knew about this case, the outrage has somewhat damped while many try to process the new information.

In attempt to get to the root of the matter and separate emotion from law, I contacted two attorneys to answer the tough question:

Based on the evidence revealed by Corey, is it possible that Marissa Alexander actually deserved to go to jail – even with a history of violence on her husband’s part?

Below you will read arguments for and against Marissa Alexander’s guilty verdict and the mandatory 20-year sentence from two criminal defense attorneys in the African-American community.

Attorney Kia Baldwin Richardson, who practices law in North Central Louisiana, believes that, based on the evidence, the verdict is still unjust and the differences between how Marissa and Zimmerman were treated are a testament to the inequality in our judicial system:

“First let me say that I have major respect for a jury being the trier of fact and after reading that they reached a verdict in 13 minutes that really peaked my interest because that means either the state had really good evidence or her defense attorneys were really bad. A quick verdict on such serious charges almost always means one or the other.”

Now considering the facts that I read in TheGrio.com article, and what I have heard over the last few weeks in news outlets, here are my thoughts:

1.) A woman who is EVER a victim of domestic abuse and subsequently obtains a restraining order is always the victim if the one whom the restraining order is against violates that order by coming to her home and starting an argument. The fact that Gray violated the restraining order is enough to place Alexander in fear and the fact that he began to argue with her out of jealousy over text messages only adds fuel to the fire. The fact that Corey tries to downplay this by saying “Gray was the victim on that day” and Gray didn’t endanger her “at that moment” is appalling. Alexander is always the victim if the restraining order is being violated and she has the right to protect herself. Corey even goes further to say that those who disagree with her on this point are basically saying Alexander can shoot Gray if she walks in a room and sees him. This is ridiculous. No one is saying Alexander has a right to shoot Gray on spot. Alexander can, however, take necessary steps to protect herself in her own home against a man who is illegally in her home and in an apparent jealous rage. Especially considering their history.

2.) The fact that Alexander has violated the restraining order in the past and that she has given Gray a black eye in the past does not lessen Alexander’s credibility when she claims fear of Gray. Anyone familiar with victims of domestic abuse is aware that it takes many women years to actually walk away from their abuser. This is due in part to the tremendous amount of mental control the abuser has over his victim. Many women return to the very person who is abusing them several times before walking away and some never get the opportunity to walk away.

3.) Corey’s claims that the fact that there were no signs of abuse are an indicator that Alexander was not endangered. Another ridiculous claim. She totally ignores the impact of mental control and mental abuse.

4.) Reasonable doubt should have allowed the jury to defer to Alexander’s claim about why she came back in the house after leaving and why she fired the shots. Reasonable doubt should be present here. Alexander gives a plausible explanation that, if coupled with their volatile history, should have acquitted her.

5.) Even if, for argument’s sake, Alexander is guilty, the 20 year sentence is excessive. It appears that the only criminal history Alexander has is the domestic abuse, battery charge. There is no reason why she should not have received a probated sentence. Her risk of harm or danger to the community and the need for punishment was not present here. Alexander is not a person that poses a threat to the community. It appears her contacts with the law have all been related to Gray and not the community at large (as is the case with burglars, robbers, sex offenders, etc.) so there is no issue of protecting the community. Nor is there a need to punish Gray for her actions. Even if she is guilty anyone can see she was reacting to a volatile situation that had been brewing between herself and Gray. Thus, what she would need is counseling and/or anger management or conflict resolution treatment NOT prison. And definitely not a lengthy prison sentence.

Again, I will restate that either there is a lot more evidence we don’t know about or Alexander’s attorneys were not prepared.

And forgive me for stating the obvious: That a black woman with clear, articulable and documented reasons for being afraid could not count on the “Stand Your Ground” law to justify her actions but a white [Latino] male who kills a young black male with no articulable reasons can somehow escape punishment for so long is beyond me.

Attorney Eric L. Welch Guster of Guster Law Firm in Birmingham, Alabama, sees the case completely differently. Not only does he believe that race is not a factor when comparing Zimmerman’s case to Marissa’s case, but he agrees with Corey’s analysis of the evidence:

1.) Mrs. Alexander went to the garage, retrieved the gun, and then returned to where her husband was. That shows aggression towards her husband. She stated that she feared for her life, but she did not flee at that point which leads us to

2.) She stated that the garage opener was not working and she went into the house to get her keys. Well, if the automatic garage door is not working, getting your keys wouldn’t be relevant because you cannot leave your garage if the door doesn’t open. Arguably, she could’ve driven the car through the garage door, but that is highly unlikely.

[Editor’s Note: Alexander stated that she re-entered the home to retrieve her phone and attempt to leave through another exit. She did not re-enter for her keys.]

3.) If she feared for her life as she stated, she would have exited the house at the earliest moments. She never stated that her husband had a gun or weapon, which means she could have gone inside the house and left out of the front door (If the garage door opener was not working like she stated.)

4.) I am not 100% agreeable with the claims that she may not have been abused that day. They have shown the photo of Mrs. Alexander to show no signs of physical abuse. Most abusers do not abuse where it is visible. Most abusers hit, punch and kick in places that are not noticeable to others, i.e., can be covered by clothing easily to hide the abuse.

Finally, with the information I have read I do not agree with the outrage over her prosecution. “Stand Your Ground,” along with other self-defense laws are designed for people in situations where they cannot get out except by eliminating the threat (person) that is of danger to them.

When she left, she already” left her ground” instead of “standing her ground.”

[Twenty] years seems excessive, but her not accepting the plea is part of criminal defense. You roll the dice sometimes. I have a client on trial now facing 10 years and he was offered a plea to 3 years. Oftentimes there are ridiculous mandatory minimums that include many different cases with similar circumstances.

WE must compare apples to apples — Zimmerman is a non-black accused of shooting a black [child]. Alexander, who is black, was found guilty of a crime against her black husband. They cannot be compared.

If Alexander was white and the husband was black, this would not be a story. If they didn’t prosecute the white wife for shooting at her black husband, there may be riots in the streets in reference to it.

Clearly this case is multifaceted and one that can be debated on a myriad of levels. But the fact remains that a 31-year-old mother of three is locked behind bars tonight. Her baby, who was a mere 9 days old at the time of the incident will be separated from her mother until she is 22-years-old. And Rico Gray, the man she feared, the man who threatened her life after having abused her many times before, the man who admitted that “I would have probably hit her” because “I’ve hit all my baby mamas except one” is free to abuse again.

Something is clearly wrong with this picture, but separating law from emotion is never easy.

Weigh in, Clutchettes: Based on the evidence and perspectives provided here, do you believe that Marissa Alexander should be in jail – or is this another example of a woman being shoved through the cracks of a system that’s supposed to keep her  safe?

No matter what side of the fence people stand on regarding George Zimmerman’s guilt or innocence in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, I thought there was one thing that was understood across the board: His death was a tragedy. That obviously isn’t the case from a new trend that’s popped up on the web mocking the 17-year-old’s murder.

Following in the footsteps of other ridiculous pose trends like planking and owling is the most disturbing and disrespectful of them all: Trayvoning. Photos have surfaced on the Internet of teenagers—all white from what I’ve seen so far—laying on the ground in hoodies as though they’re dead with a can of iced tea in one hand and a bag of skittles in the other, mocking the items the slain teenager purchased from a corner store minutes before he was shot and killed.

What’s even more disturbing is there are Trayvoning Facebook pages where these individuals are posting their pictures and asking people to share and like the page to increase its popularity. So far, there are only 24 likes on one and 67 on the other, but that’s still 91 too many. On one page it’s clear from the comments that the participants think this is a fun and cool thing to do, the other seems to have a backward goal of raising awareness which really isn’t warranted at this point and definitely can’t be achieved in this way. I can’t think of anyone’s murder—black or white—that has ever been mocked in such a disrespectful way and this act is just further proof that it’s impossible for America to see a black boy as a victim. I get that social media sort of changes the sensitivity rules in some ways but we’re still talking about a death and I highly doubt any of these people were rallying in their cities or pushing for charges to be brought against Zimmerman. They’re trying to make a joke out of something tragic and it’s just not funny. I personally reported these pages on Facebook and anyone who comes across them should too. We can’t stop these fools from posing and taking pictures but we can stop it from spreading on social media.

Here are a couple of the pages to submit to the Facebook team:

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trayvoning/389830317715155
https://www.facebook.com/Travoning