by dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
Naomi Campbell, the supermodel known for attacking her personal assistants, is involved in a different kind of controversy this week. She has been asked to testify at the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Perhaps being beautiful comes with benefits, since Campbell is being asked about some "dirty looking stones" she received at a party in 1997, brought to her room in the middle of the night.
The stones were allegedly "blood diamonds," and the court is attempting to determine if these diamonds were given to her by Charles Taylor. Blood diamonds are those that are mined in the middle of war zones, often used to finance insurgencies, leading to loss of life and enslavement. In other words, we shouldn't be buying them.
