Eartha Kitt Rest In Peace

Eartha Kitt the singer dancer and actress has died of colon cancer at the age of 81. I salute Ms. Kitt for having the courage to state her views and stand up to the consequences put upon her by our government in violation of her right to free speech.

From the MSN report on her death:

Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.

"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later.

Here is Ms. Kitt performing her most famous song Santa Baby: