FINALLY IN THIS DECADE OF CHANGE—THIS YEAR OF NEW BEGINNINGS, THIS AMAZING TIME OF WALLS AND BARRIERS COMING DOWN, OUR TIME HAS COME. 

FINALLY THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN HAS A PUBLIC VOICE OF HER OWN.

     
SO IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AND WITH THE HELP OF THE GOOD PEOPLE AT DC CABLE, WE ARE MAKING HISTORY OF OUR OWN WITH THE LAUNCHING OF THE POINT.

    
THE POINT IS ONE OF THE FIRST TELEVISION NEWS SHOW COMPOSED OF WOMEN OF COLOR DEALING NOT WITH SONG, DANCE OR COMEDY, BUT WITH NEWS AND VIEWS THAT MATTER.

    
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN ARE A GROUP OF 19 MILLION PEOPLE, SEVEN PERCENT OF THE U.S. POPULATION. WE MAKE UP 60 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL BLACK VOTE AND ARE THE DEMOCRATS MOST LOYAL VOTING BLOC.

   
WE KNOW THAT AFRICAN AMERICAN BUYING POWER IN THE UNITED STATES IS 700 BILLION ANNUALLY.  AND YES, AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN CONTROL A LOT OF THAT SPENDING POWER.

   
WOMEN OF COLOR ARE GAINING IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND OF COURSE SPIRITUAL POWER DAILY, BUT YOU WOULD NOT KNOW THAT FROM OUR TWISTED, PERVERTED IMAGES TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE MEDIA.

    
WHEN DON IMUS INSULTED THE BLACK WOMEN ON THE RUTGERS BASKET BALL TEAM, MEN CAME TO OUR DEFENSE AND WHITE WOMEN HELD NEWS CONFERENCES TO VOICE THEIR OUTRAGE. BUT BLACK WOMEN HAD NO PLATFORM TO VOICE OUR FEELINGS.

   
OTHERS TALKED ABOUT US, SOME TALKED FOR US, BUT WE HAD NO PLACE TO TALK ABOUT OVERSELVES.  WE WERE VOICELESS AND INVISIBLE. NOW OUR TIME HAS COME.

    
IN THIS CRUCIAL ELECTION YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN AND A WOMAN RUNNING FOR THE HIGHEST OFFICE OF THE LAND.

   
BOTH CANDIDATES ARE GREAT CHOICES OVER PRESIDENT BUSH WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED FOR HIS MISHANDLING OF THE IRAQI WAR AND THE SCANDAL OF KATRINA.

   
FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN, THE CHOICE OF A WOMAN AND AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN—SOMETHING I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN—CREATES TENSION, AND A TUG OF WAR OF THE SOUL.

   
SO OFTEN WHEN BLACKS ARE VICTORIOUS IT MEANS MEN AND WHEN WOMEN ARE VICTORIOUS IT MEANS WOMEN…SO WHAT DOES THE RACE OF US.SENATOR BARACK OBAMA AND SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON MEAN FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN.

  
TO DISCUSS THIS AND MORE WITH ME ARE MEMBERS OF THE POINT:  ELLA COLEMAN, PUBLISHER OF PURPOSE MAGAZINE, VALENCIA MOHAMMED, STAR REPORTER FOR THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER, AND GUEST PANELIST ATTY. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, WHO HEADS THE NATIONAL POLITICAL CONGRESS OF BLACK WOMEN.

  
FACTOIDS FOR GRAPHICS: 

• 14 African American women serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
•  Carol Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois from 1993-1999 in the U.S. Senate, was the first and last African American woman Senator.
• In 1968, New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the House and in 1972, she became the first African American woman to vie for president on the Democratic ticket.