Super Entertainment Attorney Phaedra Parks has been a blog hot topic every since I revealed that she may be the newest housewife on next season’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I’ve seen the mugshot and NOPE… I ain’t posting it.
It’s not even about my “free legal services” as one commenter stated. It’s just that Phaedra’s husband’s past isn’t a secret. Not to me. She never tried to keep it hidden and she knew exactly who she was marrying. Phaedra’s a smart, successful, educated Black woman but leave it to US bloggers to create “controversy” where there isn’t any.
Now, before you start going in on me, I already know I’m guilty too. I even told Ms. P that I woulda been the first person to post Apollo’s pic in my Mugshot Mania collection…IF I didn’t already know the deal. But since I do… my conscious won’t allow me to go there just for blog hits.
Phaedra reached out with a response to all the drama after several blogs went in on her hubby’s past.
All y’all catty bishes asking the question why did she marry him… here’s her answer:
As Malcolm X so eloquently put it: ?Stumbling is not falling.? Yes, my husband is a convicted non-violent offender but I did not marry him because of his past, I married him because I love him. I married him because I am a Christian and I know that a person?s past does not dictate his or her future. Be you a Christian, ordinary citizen or just identify yourself as an American- this country and the justice system, however flawed it may be, was built on the power of redemption. Charles Dutton was a convicted violent offender before he was the beloved actor, playwright and director we know him as now. Don King, Michael Vick and even Martha Stewart are convicted felons who served time and still make a difference. Prison did not stop Malcolm X, it enlightened him and gave him the perseverance to fight for others. It is because of the difference people like Malcolm X made that I decided to become an attorney, to fight to make the ideal of redemption more of a reality than the statistical likelihood of recidivism.
And speaking of statistics, we should all know that headlines can be deceiving. We should all be wise enough to look beyond words and labels for truth, especially when it relates to African American men and the justice system. If we believe the statistics, then we would believe that 1 in 3 black boys and 1 in 17 black girls born in 2001 is at a risk of imprisonment during their lifetime. As it stands, the facts show that African American men are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. The percentage of young African American men in prison is nearly 3 times that of Hispanic men and nearly 7 times that of white men. Despite the fact that African American men represent only 14% of the young male population in the U.S., they represent over 40% of the prison population?and this figure does not include the number of young African American men on parole or probation. While I am not glorifying crime or making any excuses for my husband or for anyone else, this is the world we live in.
I believe in my husband, I trust my husband, I love my husband, and I know he loves and adores me. That is a blessing, and each day I am filled with an even stronger sense of gratitude for it. The rumors and reports about my husband?s past, however, fill me with great sorrow. How unfortunate that in this era of hope and change in America, during the term of our first African American President, instead of being inspired to go out and also make a difference, so many African Americans are still suffering from the ?crabs-in-a-barrel syndrome,? debasing instead of supporting one another. With so much behind us to celebrate and so much more ahead of us to accomplish, people who are still keen on hating should really be ashamed of themselves!
Phaedra Parks
All that… and she STILL hasn’t confirmed if she’s the newest housewife! *sigh*
