http://www.thecharlottepost.com
®I)E Cljarlotte
LIFE
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
Section
ADOPTIONS
White
couple
wants
black kids
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST CHESTER, Pa. -A
white couple trying to adopt a
black child who had been in
their home for foster care
appeared disappointed after
leaving a Chester County
Court hearing but declined to
say what happened in the
closed court.
A lawyer for the county and
the 3-year-old boy’s court-
appointed lawyer also
declined to comment
Thursday.
The hearing came a day
before Susan and Randall
Borelly were to appear in U.S.
District Court to argue the
case at a new level, in a law
suit alleging that the county
broke federal laws that pro
hibit basing adoption deci
sions on race or ethnicity.
The Chester County
Department of Children,
Youth and Families maintains
it was following federal law
and a county judge’s ruling in
its actions.
Kevin had lived with the
Borellys for nearly two years
when he was removed from
their home April 5 under what
Randall Borelly said were
traumatic circumstances. He
said CYF officials had said
they were bringing new adop
tive parents to meet Kevin but
arrived earlier than expected,
said they were taking Kevin,
called police when the
Borellys raised questions, and
left with the crying child.
The county had denied
attempts by the Borellys to
adopt Kevin earlier in the
year. They had adopted Susan
Borell3^s 11-year-old niece in
January, and said the county
agency cited a policy prohibit
ing families from adopting
more than one child per year.
The Borellys’ lawyer has dis
puted the existence of such a
policy and argued in court
papers it was an excuse to
deny the adoption.
Before Thursday’s hearing,
the Borellys appeared at a
rally outside the courthouse.
“My biggest fear is that he
will think that we got rid of
him. I don’t know what any
one told him,” Susan Borelly
said. “And it is extremely frus
trating because we don’t
understand why it happened.
You don’t want to think race
can be behind it.”
Gertrude King, the child’s
biological great-grandmother,
attended the rally.
“Why remove him from a
house where people clearly
love him?” King said. “He
belongs with the Borellys. To
us, he is a Borelly.”
A court-appointed guardian
for Kevin, Jean Speiser, filed
papers seeking to join the
Borellys’ request for an injunc
tion to have the child
returned, set for a hearing
Friday before Chief Judge
James T. Giles in U.S. District
Court in Philadelphia.
Speiser’s attorney, Michael
Churchill, said in the filing
that Kevin ‘has become very
attached and close to the
Borellys and wants to stay
with them.”
PH0T07THE STOCK MARKET
PHOTOAVADE NASH
Images of scantily-clad, provocative-dancing women In videos can made It difficult for women to socialize in
comfort in public settings like clubs.
(Not) media darlings
Images of scantily-clad women send society negative signals
By Cheris F. Hodges
cherishodges®ihecharloiieposicom
This is the second in a three part series
examining the objectification of women.
Former video vixen turned author
Karrine Steffans was best known
for nearly baring all in some of the
hottest hip-hop videos in the indus
try.
Then Steffans became infamous
for sex acts she performed on indus
try players, chronicled in her best
selling book, “Confessions of a Video
Vixen.”
If you talk to Steffans today, she
readily admits to allowing herself to
be exploited for money. So, when
black women dance and shake it
fast in music videos, aren’t they con
tributing to their own negative
image?
“The portrayal of black women in
music videos are giving us a stereo
type that the entire world is begin
ning to believe and it isn’t fair to
those women who do not dress in
that fashion or carry themselves in
that manner,” said Johnson C.
Smith University senior Latasha
Fuller.
That’s why some black women
don’t like going out to nightclubs.
Why? According to Tammy Gibson,
a UNC Charlotte junior, “I avoid
going out altogether because I don’t
want some strange man putting his
hands on me.”
Gibson said men in clubs seem to
take their cues from hip-hop where
women are used as props and com
modities in videos and grab various
body parts.
The stereotype is ever3where, said
Rebecca Hall, a lecturer at the •
University of CaMfomia, Berkeley
who studies images of black women.
“Turn on a music video. A black
Please see NEGATIVE/3B
Montgomery apologizes for treatment of Parkas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The City
Council has a message for late civil
rights icon Rosa Parks and other
blacks who were mistreated during
the 1950s: We’re sorry.
The majority-white council voted
unanimously Thesday to make a for
mal apology to Parks, who died in
October, and four women who filed a
federal lawsuit that resulted in court
orders mandating the desegregation
of city buses. The council’s resolution
also apologized to “all others who suf
fered the same indignities” as Parks.
Parks was arrested in 1955 for
refusing to give up her seat on a
Montgomery city bus to a white man.
The arrest sparked the Montgomery
bus boycott and led to the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. becoming a national
civil rights leader.
The Rev. Joseph Rembert, who was
Parks’ pastor before she left
Montgomery following her arrest, said
he was “elated” over the vote.
‘‘It shows Montgomery has changed,”
he said.
The Alabama Legislature this week
approved a bill that sets up a process to
pardon Parks and hundreds of others
arrested for violating segregation-era
laws.
Novel mirrors Duke rape investigation
By Cheris F. Hodges
chem Jtodges@ihecharloneposi.com
The firestorm that devel
oped around the Duke
University lacrosse team
and the alleged rape of a
black woman in Durham
eerily mirrors a novel writ
ten by Dawson Perkins.
In her novel “The Tbam,”
Perkins tackles the subject
of a woman raped by a pop
ular athlete.
Gwen Fagen appears to
have it aU together. She’s a
career-driven professional
at the top of hei‘ game
working as an accountant
in a firm in Atlanta. She’s
good at her job and those
aroimd her help celebrate
her success and accom
plishments as she moves
up the corporate ladder. On
the flip side, her personal
life is non-existent and
she’s content with not being
involved with anyone on
that level. She has the per
fect facade and with the
exception of her friend
Payton, who doles out psy
chologist-driven feedback
and dialogue in their week
ly conversations, no one
knows about her past or
how she was raped in col
lege by a basketball super-
star.
Unfortunately for Gwen,
the facade starts to crack
when Xavier Dean joins her
firm and is assigned to
work with her on a case.
Gwen is immediately
thrown back into her past,
as Xavier is the best friend
of the guy who raped her
and part of “The 'Ibam,” a
group of basketball stars
that dominated the courts
and her college campus.
The biggest problem she
finds with Xavier is that
everyone likes him. He is
actually a “good gu5f’ in
spite of what she wants to
believe. Yet, Gwen’s dis
trust of men and the mem
ories of her rape do their
best to pull her away from
him. Eventually, things
take a turn and Gwen
Please see N0VEL/2B
Old school will get you noticed at the prom
By Cheris F. Hodges
cherisJiodges@ihecharloiieposi.com
With necklines dipping
lower and hemlines creep
ing up, standing out at the
prom could mean going the
traditional route.
. According to
getready4prom.com, have
your budget firmly in mind
when shopping for your
dress. And don’t fear the
ballgown.
Popular prom designer
LaFemme Fashion offers
sleeker and longer dresses.
One of the most popular is
likely to be the strapless
corset dress, with a long
skirt. While the dress is
sexy, it’s not overtly provoca
tive. In other words, moth
ers and daughters could
agree on this one.
David’s Bridal is also offer
ing longer classic styles for
girls.
It looks like the halter
dress is here to stay Many
of the styles offered by
David’s Bridal don’t have a
deeply cut neckline and fall
below the knee.
Many of this year’s prom
styles mimic the styles of
Hollywood starlets who are
going traditional instead of
Please see PR0M/3B
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Traditional suits accented with bright colors are a hit
for this prom season at DW Designs in uptown.
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mViThe
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about vims
PHOTO/WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
Each year, roughly 40,000 peo
ple in the United States will
become infected with HIV and
over half of the new cases will be
among minorities. The vast
majority of HIV-infected women
(78 percent) are minority, and it
is the leading cause of death for
black men between the ages of
35-44 years. In North Carolina,
the transmission rate for new
cases of HIV among African-
Americans is nearly 10 times the
rate for whites.
Human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) is the agent that
causes the life-threatening dis
ease known as AIDS, or acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome.
First identified in the early
1980s, the infection continues to
spread worldwide and dispropor
tionately affects minorities in the
United States.
Much progress has been made
in terms of diagnosis and treat
ment, but it remains a disabling
and life-threatening condition.
How can you get HIV?
HIV can be contracted by hav
ing sex with an infected person.
Sexual transmission is a com
mon way that the virus is trans
mitted in black community, and
it does not discriminate.
Sexually active males and
females of all ages are at risk.
The virus enters .body through
the genitals, mouth, or breaks in
the skin.
Others may acquire the infec
tion as a result of intravenous
drug use and sharing needles.
Pregnant mothers can transmit
HIV to their unborn child during
childbirth or through breast
feeding. Because of excellent
screening techniques now uti
lized, it is rare for HIV to be con
tracted from blood transfusions.
It is also important to under
stand how it is NOT transmitted.
■ HIV is not transmitted through
hugging, holding hands, using a
public restroom, or having other
types of casual contact with an
infected individual.
What are the effects of HIV?
When HIV enters the body, or
host, it has two major targets:
the immune system and the cen
tral nervous system (brain and
spinal cord).
'The immune system is made
up of cells designed to rid the
body of foreign invaders. HIV is
so deadly because it destroys the
immune system before the
immune system can destroy the
HIV Sometimes the virus stays
Please see HIV/2B