February 2015
On this last day of Black History Month 2015.... I am thinking about the power and importance of land ownership. We, Black folk have had our land rights systematically stolen. As our ancestors did before us we must remain committed to being connected to the land we live on and that we came from through ownership, conservation and advocacy.
March 2015
If you are raising children of African descent, African and African diaspora history and culture should be a part of your everyday lessons....
For example let them watch Dance Moms but then teach them about Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus or they can watch all the March Madness games they like but then have them watch Glory Road or after POTUS comes of TV teach them about Kwame Nkrumah
Wait, hold up, so research indicates the the American Revolution wasn't simply about taxation with representation, quartering soldiers and high taxes but it was also about the fear of the southern colonies that England was on the verge full abolition of slavery thereby manumission of the enslaved would be required in the 13 colonies because of the case law created by Somerset vs Stewart, 1772..... I bet you ain't learn that part in history class.... So July 4th is a celebration in part of the freedom of a few to hold many in bondage.... That is the real American Dream, I won't be chasing that one, will you?
April 2015
Yes, I take issue with the use of the word thug to describe everyone who was in the streets or participating in the rioting and looting..... Yes, thugs and killers were in the streets but so were the drug addicted and the desperate.... the poor and the lead paint poisoned.....the un parented and the opportunist..... to paint them all with the same brush doesn't serve the interest of justice.... This is especially true when you have the head of the FOP saying that the protestors look like a lynch mob..... Words have power!
May 2015
Early Warning System: They have always come for the faces the movement. They will attempt to assassinate their character first. So we would be wise to have multiple "leaders", a council even. That way if one is on the hot seat, the others can take the front. No one face is more important than our goal. We must protect the movement and thereby the faces ( all the faces those you see on TV and those you don't) with strategic choices on who should play the front when and how the front should be played
Oh so, the police don't wanna be profiled. Well, guess what officers neither do the people. Don't be tight faced now; turnabout is fair play, right! Perhaps the good police should do what they advise members of the community to do when a crime is committed, start snitching aka filing a complaint or testifying
June 2015
It's Black Saturday! Let's commit to making a few socially conscious black millionaires real quick.... Find local personal care product makers ( soap, moisturizer, soap, shaving cream, etc) who are about community development and buy from them exclusively! If you in BMORE there are plenty!
Are you paying attention? Is America and its people really trying to use a broken heart as mitigation for the murder of 9 black people? How can a broken heart be a mitigating factor for him being a murderer but our empty stomachs, hurt feelings, ill treatment, assassinated character, awful living conditions, religious oppression, etc and on on not be a mitigating factor when we rob, sell drugs or murder? This is why the cries about black on black violence without context are just another form of "magical negro syndrome" because we are supposed to magically endure all of this trauma yet be without blemish. And, we fail to do so there is rarely any mitigation offered and accepted for our maladaptive behavior.
What we are seeing ain't Forgiveness, it's Fear! Forgiveness is a process, like grieving. You don't forgive folks overnight and then continue to submit yourself to be re-victimized over and over again by the same people with the same behavior. In the process of forgiveness one learns to discern the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation
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For those who want to know why a non-Muslim is fasting for Ramadan. I am doing so:
To honor the memory of any Muslim ancestors in my lineage
To honor the memory of Malcolm X
To connect to with my Muslim brothers and sisters through an act of solidarity
To discipline myself in the area of eating/diet 5. To prepare for any future lean times where food is scarce
Training myself
July 2015
Truth: If we want to change our condition 'round here we are gonna have to forgo many things we regard as comforts. Using these comforts causes us to be complacent, increases our compliance and makes us complicit in the attempts to oppress our people.....
If building wealth means I have to lie, cheat, steal, kill or poison the planet you can keep it! Now that don't mean I will be accepting these crooked corrupt rules either. An unjust law is no law at all, said St. Augustine, I think.....#blackmoneymatters
