In the midst of all the drama surrounding President Barack Obama's speech to schoolchildren on Tuesday, there's one Chicago resident who will support the commander-in-chief through thick and thin. The one and only Oprah Winfrey admitted that she was stunned by the amount of backlash the president was receiving after encouraging students to rise above their challenges to succeed in school.
In an exclusive interview with 'Access Hollywood' on Wednesday, the multitalented media mogul professed her frustration over the recent events.
"I'm just really stunned by people who feel that the president, the leader of our country and of the free world, saying to your children it's important for your success, the success of your families and our country, for you stay in school, that education is vital to your well-being. ... I don't understand it. I do not understand it," Winfrey said.
Leading up to the speech, conservatives criticized and feared that the president would use the opportunity to further address his plans for health care reform, among other things. All of which led to various protests and actions such as certain schools refusing to televise the message.
"I think those children missed out, and I think that's the message we're trying to send," Winfrey asserted. "If you're a country that doesn't want your children to hear that message, then who are we really? That's what I think."
Oprah is set to kick off her 24th season of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' with a special guest appearance from six-time Grammy Award winner Whitney Houston on Monday, Sept. 14, and Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m. ET.
With Labor Day weekend behind us, people across America are heading back inside to tune into the latest shows on television. Luckily, Black Voices has a sneak peek at some of this season's hottest shows with our very own TV guide. Check it out!
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Mischa Barton wore this Elie Saab couture mint green gown to the Fashion Dinner for Aids at the Pavillon d'Armenonville. Is Mischa's look a hit or miss?
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Heroes star Hayden Panettiere arrives at the NBC Universal Pre-Super Bowl event at Portofino in a black tuxedo jacket and dress with a plunging neckline. Is the Hollywood starlet hot or not?
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Diane Kruger wore Nina Ricci for the Fashion Dinner for Aids at the Pavillon d'Armenonville. Is her dress a mess or amazing?
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Kim Kardashian opted for this floral strapless Tracey Reese dress for the 2009 Moves Magazine Super Bowl Party at The Venue Club. Let us know what you think about Kim's look.
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Burlesque beauty Dita Von Teese wore an ice blue Elie Saab (left) satin dress at the Fashion Dinner for Aids at the Pavillon d'Armenonville.
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Spanish actress Penelope Cruz appeared at the the 2009 Goya Cinema Awards in Madrid in this black lace Chanel gown. Is it a win or a loss?
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Amy Adams wore a Jasmine di Milo gold and silver sequin backless dress and Christian Louboutin heels to the 61st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards.
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Being thousands of miles away didn't stop Meryl Streep from celebrating the inauguration. The actress wore this Catherine Malandrino flag dress to the Paris premiere of Doubt.
Julien Hekimian, WireImage


Comments: (38)
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By: blaconblac on 9/15/2009 6:58AM
Whites are frantic that blacks will start taking education more serious especially black men and their biggest fear is educated competitive blacks. I hope black men see that its them being educated the big threat not them being sex objects that they have been condition and brainwashed to believe is the biggest threat to white men.Where's the wealth and black owned businesses to show from being a big black studs? If what’s happening to Obama doesn’t open their eyes than nothing will and they will continue to have to beg and crawl to the white man for a job to put food on theor winding up in his prisons for acting the fool. Whitesn fear an ewducated black man. Asians know this better than anyone. They get back at whites by being more educated than them.Education is their number one priority.Blacks must make it thiers.
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By: Sister Fedup on 9/15/2009 7:08AM
Some of these savages are still on the loose. Al Sharpton and the NAACP only care about Tawana Brawley and the Duke Stripper hoaxes because their socalled gang rapist were white men.
A Political Season
Al Sharpton - National Action Network
Julian Bond - Chairman - NAACP
Maude Ford Lee - President - West Palm Beach Branch NAACP
Sabu Williams - Director - Florida State Conference NAACP
I'm writing to protest the recent actions of the NAACP and the National Action Network in the Dunbar Village rape case. As you know, on June 18th, 2007, a black woman and her 12 year old son were viciously and savagely attacked by 10 black men and boys in a West Palm Beach Florida public housing project called Dunbar Village . The woman was brutally gang raped for over three hours, tortured and forced to perform oral sex on her 12 year old son at gunpoint. They were doused with chemicals, poured into their eyes and the woman's vagina in an attempt to destroy evidence. They were saved from being burned alive only because the rapists could not find matches. No one called the police during the three hour attack. No one came to their aid when the attack was over. They had to walk a mile to a hospital before they were assisted by anyone.
On Tuesday, March 11, 2008, Al Sharpton and the West Palm Beach NAACP held a press conference accusing the prosecutor of treating those arrested in this case unfairly. You demanded that the prosecutor offer bail to the boys arrested in this case and not try them as adults, because this was being done by the prosecutor in another gang rape case involving white perpetrators in a different Florida jurisdiction.
Following the attack, vigorous efforts were made to contact NAN and the NAACP and enlist your aid in getting help and attention for the victim of this horrific crime. An NAACP spokesman, when contacted, said they would not respond because "it was outside their mission". Despite repeated calls to the National Action Network, there was NO RESPONSE. No statement on behalf of the victim, no protest, not one single word. Contrast this to the swift and vocal response Al Sharpton and NAN exhibited to the Duke rape case. In the Duke case, loud and vocal support of the victim and calls for justice for her attackers, but in the Dunbar Village case.......complete silence. The difference between the two cases? At Duke - the alleged attackers were white men; in Dunbar Village, the alleged attackers are black men. Contrast the response in this case to the NAACP's vigorous defense of Michael Vick for merely killing dogs, but the brutal and horrific gang rape of a black woman in front of her 12 year old son provokes not a single word.
For almost a year, NAN and the NAACP had nothing to say in support of the black woman victim and her son. You made no calls for the West Palm Beach police to swiftly find these criminals, of whom six are still on the loose. You did nothing to my knowledge to offer help to this woman and her child to help them recover. In all points, you exhibited a complete moral indifference to the crime committed against this black woman. Now, almost a year later, you come rushing to the defense of....the rapists??!!!! Your actions send the clear message that crimes committed against black women are not important to your organizations unless they present an opportunity to protest perceived racism and if exploiting a poor, gang raped black woman can help you grab some media spotlight for that purpose, thats okay.
I ask, where is your moral compass? How is it that the vile nature of what you are doing is not apparent to you? You are championing rapists while deliberately, purposefully ignoring the vicious gang rape and torture of a black woman. Your actions make clear that neither you Al Sharpton as a black man, nor the NAACP, value the dignity, safety and well being of black women. Your actions make clear that the rape and violation of black women is okay depending on the race of the violator. You will protest the rape of black women by white men, but you will say nothing about the rape of black women by black men and in fact will defend the black rapists of african american women. It is a second violation of this woman and indeed of all black women as vile as the first.
Your behavior in this case is morally indefensible and despicable. There is no justification for it, no basis in morality that would support what Al Sharpton and the NAACP are doing. I demand that you reverse course. I demand that you turn the resources of your organization to providing support and aid to the innocent victims in this case, not the perpetrators. I demand that you publicly in word and deed put pressure on the West Palm Beach authorities to find and arrest the other six rapists still on the loose.
If you are unwilling to immediately and publicly acknowledge the error of your actions in regard to the Dunbar Village case, I and as many others as I can persuade to join me, will pursue every avenue available to make the public at large, the media, your membership, your financial and political supporters, your sponsors and the entire world aware of your willing and informed support and encouragement of the brutal rape and torture of a black woman. My outrage is shared by many others. NAN and the NAACP will be held accountable.
The actions of Al Sharpton and the NAACP to support rapists of black women is a moral abomination, a moral atrocity. It degrades and sullies the good the NAACP has accomplished. It should not be allowed to stand. It is non negotiable. If the NAACP and NAN must be ripped apart and rebuilt anew to restore its moral compass and establish as sacrosanct the dignity, value and safety of black women, that is preferable to organizations which knowingly support the violation and rape of black women.
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To our readers. If you agree with the above, make it a letter template for other people. Forward it, twit it, facebook it, newsvine it, digg it, and anything else you can think of. Turn it into a viral hurricane of outrage and accountability.
You can communicate directly to the organizations with the info below:
NAACP: Julian Bond -Chairman
4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore MD 21215
Toll Free: (877) NAACP-98
Local: (410) 580-5777
National Action Network
Al Sharpton
Crisis Department
106 W. 145th Street
Harlem, New York 10039
212-690-3070
877-NAN-HOJ1
crisis@nationalactionnetwork.net
revalmedia@yahoo.com
NAACP: Florida State Conference
DIRECTOR: MR. SABU WILLIAMS
ADDRESS: 230 Seneca Trail; Crest View, FL 32536
TELEPHONE: (850) 301-2095 FAX: (850) 301-2098
E-MAIL: sabu1@aol.com
West Palm Beach County Branch - Unit # 5143
President: Maude Ford Lee
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 4131 West Palm Beach, FL 33407
Telephone: (561) 655-9798
E-Mail: unit5143@naacp.org
This behavior should not be allowed to stand. Let's put a stop to it.
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By: vickielynn prentiss on 9/15/2009 9:08PM
Amen!!!!!!! To Sister Fedup. I too have followed the case of the Dunbar Case, I live in FortPierce Fl. I find the whole thing unacceptable and that this poor woman and her son have been neglected through all of this. Where is the outrage and where is the support for this family? I too think the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton are only out for the cases where it is white on balck. It is so sad to see that people of all color are not upset over the fact that a woman has been terribly violated not only by the rape but by the fact that her and her son have been ignored. How can this mother and son even look at each other and not remember the horrible thing that was done to them, and their own people did not stand behind them. I hope and pray that this woman and her son can find healing in thier life time whether it be through friends, family, outside help or yet best of all JESUS.
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By: stjr1 on 9/18/2009 5:16PM
Obama School Speech Still Scrutinized
http://www.judiciaryreport.com/obama_school_speech_still_scrutinized.htm
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By: barbara walker on 11/14/2010 5:03PM
you stupid cry babys.oprah is a want a-bee white the wig her skin is lighter.All the black people need to thank god they were boated over here an sold by the black man, but you got here.were would you be today.you hate the white man as much as he hate's you.so stop crying an go to work an live your life.du
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By: anne on 8/08/2011 12:34AM
If AA read their history and lived their lives accordingly, to be educated and successful in life, then there wouldn't be so much hatred and prejudice...by blacks!! It's the ignorance that perpetuates all this...but most importantly, AA have to help each other...but they turn their backs on their own. Look at other cultures and you will see them help their own as well as others...
The most important thing is a strong male presence in your family...someone the children can emulate and look up to and use as a role model...not the single mother units with numerous children with no education and on welfare because the mother keeps having more children and so the cycle of poverty and ignorance and welfare continue...never to be broken! Make sure your 15 (or younger)girls are well educated socially and not make teen pregnancy their priority because their mothers did it and so on...after that there is no education; only continued welfare and ignorance...save your people!
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By: b walker on 4/25/2011 12:31PM
Haven't you black people wore-out that slavery crap .O I'm sorry how would you get any free-bees with out it.An opra you try to start trouble every chance you get its no wonder we can't stand you any more.Nasty Monkey.
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By: Anna Weldon on 6/15/2011 1:12PM
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid,
And the marshals and cops get the same,
But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool.
He’s taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
‘Bout the shape that he’s in
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
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