It's been a banner month for black women this Black History Month. We've got Beyonce Knowles appearing in blackface, we've had a group of budding black actresses defaming Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, and Rosa Parks in a 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' spoof, and Halle Berry declared that the one-drop rule still applies in the year 2011. Speaking about how her daughter will identify herself, Berry said:

What I think is that that's something she's going to have to decide. I'm not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that's what she's going to have to decide-how she identifies herself in the world. And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That's how I identified myself. But I feel like she's Black. I'm Black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory. (Ebony magazine, via Necole Bitchie)

I wonder if Berry realizes that black people didn't come up with the "one drop" rule. She might not realize that:

The One-Drop Rule is an historical, colloquial term in the United States that holds that a person with any trace of sub-Saharan ancestry, however small or invisible, cannot be considered White and so unless said person has an alternative non-White ancestry they can claim, such as Native American, Asian, Arab, Australian aboriginal, they must be considered Black. (BlackHistory.com)

The rule was codified by various state legislatures during the rise of Jim Crow. The one drop rule is also known as hypodescent, meaning:

Oh dear, Nanette Lepore was recently upset with First Lady Michelle Obama. Because of her political views? Nope. Because Mrs. Obama launched a new, unproven initiative? Not so much. Because Ms. Lepore didn't get an invite to a State Dinner, the annual Easter Egg Roll, or the spring harvest of the White House garden? No. No. No.

Nanette Lepore, a clothing designer and Huffington Post blogger, was upset because Michelle Obama stated that women should wear whatever they want to wear.

Following Michelle Obama's decision to wear British designer Alexander McQueen to the recent state dinner honoring China's president, Mrs. Obama drew the ire of Oscar de la Renta and Diane Von Furstenberg, who both want Michelle Obama to feel guilty for not promoting American designers every time she makes a public appearance.

First of all, let me say that I am SO TIRED of debating about Tyler Perry in any way shape or form. Tyler, you win. I'm throwing in the towel and mothballing my annual attempt to calculate how many years you send black America backward with the release of your latest movie. This latest round of promotional posters for 'Madea's Big Happy Family,' this one of you as 'The Black Swan' in particular, finally broke my will to complain. I know when I'm beat. You're like The Borg in 'Star Trek Next Generation' -- "Resistance is futile!"

However, recently Cathy Hughes evoked the name of Perry when handing out a blisterin, seething criticism of the Oscar Award-winning performances of Halle Berry and Mo'Nique. For those who don't know, Hughes is the founder of TV One and Radio One, two of the only black-controlled media companies in America. She was captured on the red carpet before the TV One Upfront showcase last week being asked about black people in the movie industry, and went off on a tear about black women's portrayals in movies. Hughes literally spat her disdain for Mo'Nique's Oscar win for her portrayal of Mary in the movie 'Precious.' She also went in on Halle for getting the golden statue for 'Monster's Ball.'

Once upon a time when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, recording artists attempted to boost sales by actually recording a decent record. Today? Not so much.

Somewhere Kanye West is fuming over Rihanna's recently released video 'S&M' (gee I wonder what it's about?), which has already been banned in 11 countries. Its a video chock full of Rihanna, pleather, chains, blow up dolls, licking, and a banana. Forget talent -- the key to commercial success is apparently pleather, and lots of it.

Rihanna is just the latest in a cluster of black women who apparently have thrown up the deuce to engaging in artistry or perfecting their stage presence in their careers. Now they rely exclusively on courting controversy to get attention... and Autotune. So sad that they think so little of their "talent."

Recently we were all treated to two vastly different lessons in social media-driven brand damaging -- and damage control: Steve Harvey was attacked successfully via YouTube by his ex-wife Mary, and Taco Bell used social media to defeat brand-damaging attacks.

In one of the most commented events on Black Voices last week, readers reacted to Steve Harvey's ex-wife firing a fusillade of allegations against the bestselling relationship author via a series of YouTube videos. At the same time, an Alabama law firm filed a class action suit alleging that Taco Bell's taco meat is less than 35% beef. While both Harvey and Taco Bell decided to respond to the allegations against them with threats of litigation, Taco Bell attacked its critics head on with a hint of humor using Facebook and YouTube. Harvey, on the other hand, relied on statements sent via his lawyers filled with personal attacks on his ex-wife.

There is a lesson here in where the real power lies, if you have to pit lawyers against popular sentiment. As we shall see, Taco Bell used social media against the law and emerged victorious. Steve Harvey? It remains to be seen, but he is still struggling.

When NBC's Ron Mott interviewed Ms. Ann Price as casualty of declining real estate prices, what was most jarring to me was Ann Price's exasperated declaration that she had not been on a vacation in 38 years. 38 years with no vacation and now she can't retire because of finances? Tragic.

While it's great that Ann Price is an African American business owner who has been in business for decades, you have to ask at what price. She is famous for her burgers for which people will wait in lines out the door in Atlanta (no comment on her famous treat being called a "ghetto burger"), but what has Price sacrificed for the honor and prestige of being totally independent? If you sacrifice all to any job, even if you are your own boss, could you be causing yourself more harm in the end?

True story. I remember my first year working as a full time professional. It was a truly dreadful job. Sitting in my dreary little cube, I impulsively decided to go on a cruise in the middle of October. I called around to all of my friends and they were all in various stages of "broke." I didn't care -- I called up the cruise line directly and booked a seven day cruise for one.

For those who use the social media micro-blogging site Twitter to comment about their jobs or industries, don't be deceived by the ease at which you can transmit your inner most thoughts to the world.Those tiny tweets of 140 characters or less can have severe consequences when combined with poor impulse control and bad judgment.

In the latest example of Twitter gone wrong, R&B singer, Chris Brown, fresh off his graduation from court-mandated domestic violence classes, engaged in a highly publicized twitter scuffle with a former member of the group B2K, Raz B. During the hours long Twitter rant, Brown managed to sling homophobic slurs and mock child molestation all in 140 characters or less.

Initially only black gossip blogs went crazy about the Twitter scuffle, however, Chris Brown soon found his tweets to be the subject of posts on the powerful entertainment industry site, TMZ. It was not a good PR day for someone fighting to re-enter the public's good graces following his brutal attack on pop star Rhianna. Shortly after TMZ posted his Twitter rant, Mr. Brown's publicist wrote an apology for him.

During the episode, Mr. Brown complained that he was being treated unfairly:

With black unemployment holding at double digits, the catastrophic cut off of capital to black-owned businesses is just one more disturbing trend in what is shaping up to be the Great Black Depression.

A recent study found that in some parts of the country banks decreased lending to black-owned businesses by over 80 percent. And that's not just loans to get businesses off the ground, but also the financing needed by black businesses to continue operating and make payroll.

In light of criticisms that previous attempts at spurring small business lending actually tied small businesses and lenders in knots of red tape while increasing costs, the Small Business Administration recently introduced two new loan initiatives: Small Loan Advantage and Community Advantage. Although these programs will not be available until March 2011, the SBA promises that they will target lending in under-served communities by promoting small dollar loans, providing higher loan guarantees to banks and streamlining the approval process.

I spoke with Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration to find out if these two new programs would benefit the African American community. Here is her perspective.

Over at Clutch Magazine, they are asking their readers whether they are offended by a recent State Farm commercial featuring Selita Ebanks and Mehcad Brooks. Over at Racialicious, they are outraged over a Duncan Hines cupcake glaze commercial featuring "cupcake black face." Other general audience sites have joined in the online debate, many readers not seeing the pink-lipped beat-boxing treats or black female stereotypes in these commercials as racist at all.

But moving beyond the question of whether these images are offensive, I would like to ask folks to look deeper and question why black people are so angry, when we as a community don't get so mad when these images come from within.

The case of the recent debacle of a Duncan Hines commercial featuring cupcakes singing in black face, was likely the result of Duncan Hines failing to hire a creative team with a diverse knowledge of historical context. A black person (or white for that matter) from the south would likely have quickly pointed out that these black faced, white eyed, pink-lipped cupcakes looked eerily similar to the controversial characters in early Disney movies or any number of offensive racist caricatures of black people from the past. But it seems that there was no single vision that guided the production of this controversial cooking mess:

"The thing is, an agency -- not in the traditional sense at any rate -- didn't create that one. Pinnacle Foods' AOR [,or agency of record,] is BBDO, but the Amazing Glazes efforts for Duncan Hines resulted from a partnership with digital studio Filmaka and four independent directors. According to the press release, "Each director offers their own interpretation of the passion, creativity and fun behind baking that the Amazing Glazes toppings inspire." (Ad Age)

We demand a great deal out of modern day celebrities. Perhaps too much. After all, in exchange for purchasing their over-priced concert tickets, albums and the never-ending stream of magazines with their Photoshopped mugs staring blankly back at us, they've already sacrificed so much. NOT!

There is clearly no correlation between being able to lip-synch while gyrating and wisdom. So I'm all for celebrities declaring that they don't want to be role models. They shouldn't be. After all, this week we capped off a string of reports of celebrities behaving badly. We've witnessed the tawdry exploits of Fantasia Barrino, Keri Hilson's desperate attempt to remain relevant by whipping her lady bits all over the Internet and most recently, Robyn Rihanna Fenty's public statements on intimate partner violence via the microblogging site Twitter.

I believe we should all claim our voices. I'm all for black women owning their true selves and whatnot. But I really wish some celebrities would think twice before expressing themselves.