110 Search Results for "brown"

• OPEN LETTER TO TOM JOYNER

  • From: Mliza
  • Description:

    Open Letter to Tom Joyner:

           First of all, Mr. Joyner, I cannot contact you without first expressing my exceedingly high regard for you and all that you do, especially pertaining to your excellent support of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Voting Rights and Responsibilities, and Family Health Care promotion -- to mention a few.  It is especially because of this high esteem that it is somewhat difficult to utilze this opportunity to “take you to task” about a matter you have not only overlooked these past months, but have actually become grossly negligent for quite some time. The “bone of contention” that we must “machinate” upon is your neglectful ownership of a website called “Inauguration Day 2009.” Tom, this is one time you started something that you have not finished. That is so unlike you. Your “Inauguration Day 2009” site serves as an excellent opportunity to promote social and political responsibility from your listeners. Through it you have attracted and inspired a small, diverse, capable, talented, noteworthy, verbal group of followers – some of whom have still managed to maintain communications on the site by addressing many of the important public issues of our times. I don’t know why they have chosen to hang on, but they have; and it may be for a purpose greater than you even realize just now. It is simply incredulous that you have allowed this significant opportunity to go to waste.

           Tom, you are so savvy, that it is quite a wonder that you have not realized this yet. “Inauguration Day 2009” is an untapped resource that could be mobilized at your fingertips for helping to move and persuade public opinion, but you have chosen not to use it. You seem much more interested in the hottest new craze of text-messaging limited-content notes, rather than encouraging serious, in-depth discussion of issues that can “put the world’s mess to the test.” I have sent you a “Friend Request” that has lain dormant for nearly a year now. J. Anthony Brown and Sherryl Underwood are no better, because they have abandoned the site like their leader. And the usually astute Sybil Wilkes has not even chosen to create a page.  Why is that?  None of you has even been on the site for nearly a year. This is very frustrating. If the creator of the site shows no interest and concern, then the membership becomes truly uninspired, unresponsive, and thus most are inactive. Yet, somehow, a few newcomers appear about each month or so.  So I have decided to begin welcoming them for YOU.  I could have seen this site become a rallying point of writers, journalists, and thinkers, as well as anyone else in cultivating responses and actions that were sorely needed during the Congressional hearings this summer and elsewhere. We longed for a glimpse at other thoughts than those that screamed and screeched out at us over the media. And undoubtedly there are more scintillating times yet to come. With the publication of this Open Letter on my page of your site, as well as more directly in your contact point on Black America Web, I am hoping for a valid response. I must tell you in all candor, I expect no less than the best from you. That’s what you have given to the world so many times over – you can’t stop now.

           In the meantime, I am going to try my best to encourage a little mobilizing on my own from those who are still thriving. But the effort would be so much more appealing coming from you. Finally, please explain the meaning of the site name. It may inspire more tenacity from more people. You are one of the cleverest businessmen we have encountered; surely you can find the means to make this site soar. Thank you in advance for your kind consideration of this request.

     

    P.S.  Most sites allow users to add photos.  Yours does not allow us to do that.  So you obviously intended for this to be solely a talk site.  But come on, Tom, at least let us add graphics or something to increase the interest on this site for those that come on but are not "writers or talkers" yet.  Give us something more to peak our interest.  Please talk with your site designers about that.  We need a few moe perks, I believe.  Too many join and are never heard from again.

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• Daily Inspiration

  • From: etsaman
  • Description:

    Today's Daily Word - Wednesday, October 14, 2009

     

    Desire of the Heart

     

    My heart's desire is to know God.

     

    On occasion, I may have a desire to purchase something luxurious or indulge in a sweet treat. But I know my life is about more than seeking instant gratification. What I want most of all is to experience God more completely.

     

    I don't concern myself with the occasional craving because understanding the desire of my heart is most important. In my relationships, I desire to find a genuine and meaningful connection with others. For my body and mind, I value strength, energy and good health.

     

    God within me knows the true desire of my heart and what is needed for my soul's fulfillment.

     

    "Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear."--Isaiah 65:24

     

     

    Renaissance Unity

     

    Wednesday, October 14, 2009 – God’s Will

     

    “When was the last time you embraced a situation that you didn't like? Did you complain through the entire experience or did you run away from the situation altogether? If you did either, you missed a wonderful opportunity to be something that you've never been before. It just might have been that one thing that you had been wishing for.”

    ~Les Brown

     

    Today's Affirmation

     

     I accept God’s will for me.

     

    Today's Meditation

     

    Heavenly Spirit,

     

    I open my mind to see through the eyes of faith and not my human eyes.

    I affirm that all is meant for my good and I allow the lesson You have for me to be brought into my consciousness.

    I know that change is constant and through change I am challenged, prodded or forced to a higher expression of Your presence in me.

    I know that to be fully present in any situation benefits my soul’s evolution and I accept.

    Thank You God.

    Amen

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• Republican Sex Scandals

  • From: pinkiehot52
  • Description:

    Republican Sex Scandals

    Full list of scandals at Moral Values

    2009

    Paul Stanley, Republican former member of the Tennessee Sen., resigned from the state Senate effective Aug. 10, after his affair with a 22-year-old intern and a subsequent extortion attempt was revealed to the public. [1][2]

    Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, disappears during Father's Day weekend, returning to confess an extramarital affair in Argentina.[3][4][5]

    John Ensign, Senator from Nevada, refuses to resign after confessing to an extramarital affair with a married staffer, claiming she was trying to extort him.[6][7]

    
    

    Alan David Berlin in all his glory

    Alan David Berlin, He is an aide for Senator Jane Orie of Pennsylvania. He is also a furry who contacted a fifteen year old boy over the internet, and offered to "yiff" the boy in a panda outfit, while his parents weren't home. The parents discovered the graphic emails on the boy's computer and called the attorney general's child predator unit sometime in May. Police raided his home and discovered various furry outfits such as a wolf costume, as well as a cat outfit; all complete with two holes cut out at the undersides of the costumes. He is now arraigned in Dauphin County jail on a $250,000 bail.[8][9][10][11]

    Possibly Chip Pickering and a number of others. [12]

    Michael Duvall, California state Representative in September 2009:

    • "Graphic sex-bragging caught on tape".[13]
    • Then lies and denies it and blames media [14].
    • Finally apologizes and resigns[15].

    2008

    Bruce Barclay, former Cumberland County commissioner, videotaped hundreds of sexual encounters — many with male escorts — using cameras hidden throughout his Monroe Township home.[16]

    Matthew Joseph Elliott, former aide to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.[17]

    Vito Fossella, the only Republican member of Congress from New York City, admitted to police to having a child out-of-wedlock when stopped for drunk driving.[18]

    Robert McKee, Republican delegate from Western Maryland, announced his resignation after authorities seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials from his Hagerstown home in a child pornography investigation. McKee also resigned his position as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County.[19]

    Daniel Dean Thompson, 31, a Utah retailer of "family-friendly" tapes and DVDs (Hollywood films with the "dirty parts" removed), arrested and booked into the Utah County jail on charges of sexual abuse and unlawful sexual activity with a 14-year-old.[20]

    Derek Walker, former Eagle Scout and candidate seeking the GOP nomination in a race for north-central Pennsylvania district, was charged with felony burglary and criminal trespass stemming from an encounter last year with an ex-girlfriend, during which he allegedly broke into her home and used his cell phone to videotape her engaged in an intimate moment with another man.[21]

    2007

    Robert "Bob" Allen, Florida state Rep. arrested in the afternoon at a Veteran's Memorial Park for solicitation of prostitution from an undercover male officer inside a restroom. According to the papers, Bob "offer[ed] to perform oral sex for $20". Bob later claimed that his offer had something to do with his being afraid of black people.[22]

    John David Roy Atchison, Republican prosecutor, was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl, then killed himself three weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general.[23]

    E. Ozwald Balfour, chairman of the Utah Republican Black Assembly and elected to the Republican State Central Committee in 2007, even though he was awaiting trial on four felony counts of forcible sex abuse dating back to his arrest in February, 2005.[24]

    John Bryan, Republican city councilman, killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.[25]

    Larry Craig, Republican Senator for Idaho, was arrested on July 11, 2007, by plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd behavior in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport airport men's room. On August 8 in Hennepin County Municipal Court in Bloomington, Minnesota, Craig entered a guilty plea and paid a $500 fine.[26]. On September 1st, Craig subsequently announced his retirement from the Senate[27]. Five days later, Craig changed his mind, renounced his retirement and began a battle to have his guilty plea overturned.[28] Craig supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, which barred extension of rights to same-sex couples; he voted for cloture on the amendment in both 2004 and 2006, and was a cosponsor in 2008. However, in late 2006 he appeared to endorse the right of individual states to create same-sex civil unions, but said he would vote "yes" on an Idaho constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages when pressured to clarify his position by the anti-gay rights advocacy group Families for a Better Idaho. Craig voted against cloture in 2002, which would have extended the federal definition of hate crimes to cover sexual orientation.[29]

    John R. Curtin, Monroe County state Republican committeeman, was convicted of molesting an underage teenage boy and sentenced to serve six to 18 months in prison.[30]

    Richard Curtis, Washington State Rep., resigned from the House after reports of his sexual encounter with a male escort became public.[31] Curtis has an anti-gay rights voting record. He voted against domestic partnerships for gays and opposed a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.[32]

    Donald Fleischman, Brown County, WI, Republican Party Chairman, resigned his post after he was charged with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child.[33]

    Larry Dale Floyd, Republican Constable in Denton County, Texas Precinct Two. Arrested for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child and was charged with 7 related offenses. Age 62 at time of arrest.[34]

    Ted Klaudt, former South Dakota State Rep., found guilty of four counts of second-degree rape of two teenage foster daughters.[35][36]

    Ronald C. Kline, Republican Judge in Orange County, CA, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer after six years of legal wrangling. In 2002, charged with child molestation and under house arrest on federal charges of possessing child pornography, political analysts still gave him a 50-50 chance of winning the March 5 primary for the Orange County Superior Court seat. He lost the election to a write-in candidate.

    Joseph M. McDade, 75, was issued a summons on a charge of exposure of sexual organs, a misdemeanor that carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The longtime Pennsylvania Republican congressman who served for 36 years in the House and now works for a Washington lobbying firm, has been accused of exposing his private parts to two women at a beach resort on Sanibel Island. [37]

    Patrick Lee McGuire, former former Flagler County Commissioner, surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.[38]

    Jon Matthews, Republican talk show host in Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17.[39]

    Joseph Monteleone Jr., Elyria city councilman, was found guilty of fondling underage girls and asking them to have sex with him.[40]

    Glenn Murphy Jr., chairman of the Clark County Republican Party and president of the Young Republican National Federation, resigned both posts, after the Clark County Sheriff’s Department began investigating Murphy for alleged criminal deviate conduct. A 22-year-old man claimed that Murphy performed an unwanted sex act on him while the man slept in a relative’s Jeffersonville home. During the investigation, a similar accusation from 1998 came to light.[41]

    Armando Tebano, Schenectady County Republican Chairman, pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.[42]

    David Vitter, junior Senator from Louisiana, became one of the few high-profile politicians to be implicated as a client of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey.[43]

    2006

    Steve Aiken, campaign manager for a Republican candidate for Congress in Arizona, former Quakertown, PA, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend, was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.[44]

    Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. In August 06, Beres confessed.[45]

    Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide and adviser to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. [46]

    Randall Casseday, Washington Times newspaper executive, pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.[47]

    Larry Corrigan, Republican operative and Director of Operations and Budget at King County Prosecutor's Office, OR, was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.[48]

    Carey Lee Cramer Political consultant and anti-Kerry ad producer, tried for molesting two young girls, one of whom lived with him, and was 8 yrs old; the other starred in an anti-Kerry commercial. Diary [49]

    Mark Foley, Republican Representative, Florida Sixteenth Congressional District. Resigned after trying to solicit sex from male congressional pages via an instant messenger program. The conversations included his asking a sixteen-year-old "stud" whether his penis was erect and requesting that he take out and measure his penis. The cover-up involved Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Eighth Congressional District and Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Illinois Fourteenth District.[50]

    Jim Gibbons, then US Rep. and Republican candidate for governor, was accused by a Las Vegas casino cocktail waitress of grabbing her, shoving her against a wall and threatening her after she rebuffed his advances.[51][52] Since elected Governor, Gibbons is under investigation by the FBI on corruption charges and is embroiled in what looks set to become a very messy divorce.[53]

    Ted Haggard, was fired as pastor of the New Life Church and resigned from his position as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November 2006 after a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine. Haggard confessed to undisclosed “sexual immorality” and said he bought meth but didn’t use it.[54] After the scandal was publicized, Haggard entered three weeks of intensive counseling, overseen by four ministers. In Feb 2007, one of those ministers, Tim Ralph, said that Haggard "is completely heterosexual." As of early 2009, Haggard continues to receive counseling, and now he says that he is a “heterosexual with issues”. [55]

    Don Haidl, Assistant Sheriff of Orange Country, in violation of California's rape shield law, led a smear campaign against the child his son poisoned and then violently gang-raped on videotape, adding up to 24 felony counts. He said that his son "acted accordingly" because the child was a "slut".[56][57]

    Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, Christian conservative activist and lawyer with close ties to Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Scott Baugh, head of the Orange County Republican Party, was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.[58]

    Jeffrey Patti, local Republican Committee chairman from Sparta, NJ, was arrested for distributing what experts call "some of the most offensive material in the child pornography world" - a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.[59]

    Brent Schepp, Republican County Board Candidate was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.[60]

     

    J.C. Watts, Representative (R-Oklahoma), loud champion of "moral values." Has out-of-wedlock children.

    There are a whole lot more I have to continue these on another post

    This is the Family Values Party. The Catholic Church and The Republican have a fondness for Kinky, and Homosexual sex while condeming everyone esle. So all the so-called Negro's who are republican share these same family values. WTF. Hey and these are just the ones that have been exposed so far. Oh snap wait I forgot all they have to do is pretend to be a charchter in the bible and it is alright with their GOD, They are suddenly absolved of sin. We need to redefine what we belive to be NORMAL cause the people we have been modeling ourselves after are a whole bunch of crazy and dangerous.

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• Barack Obama Is Our President

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     Barack Obama Is Our President

     

    Yesterday evening when President Obama gave his speech at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, New York, before a celebrative audience that was honoring the NAACP’s one hundred year anniversary, the President reminded me why I voted for him.  Simply, President Obama inspires me to become the best person that I can be. In another life, Barack Obama would have made a great Baptist preacher.  Great Preachers have the ability through the use of rhapsodizing sermons to stir positive emotions that lay semi-dormant in the hearts of their parishioners. Consequently, these emotions as channeled by the Preacher in conjunction with an interaction with the Holy Spirit, creates a sense of “oneness” with God that ultimately encourages individuals to be the best that they can be. As our President attempts to guide a “ship” named “United States” through near record unemployment and fiscal pessimism, he like a good Baptist Preacher, must find a way through the use of words, to positively inspire and motivate all Americans to rise and become the best that they can possibly be. Let there be no mistake, President Obama a man of multicultural descent, is quite aware that if the national unemployment rate is 9.5, then in Black and Brown neighborhoods across America, that particular statistic doubles. 

     

    “Change” as envisioned by President Obama, begins in the form of providing our youth with a superior education, which in turn will empower them with high self esteem and confidence. High self esteem and confidence are important personal qualities that will prepare America’s youth as they face the challenges of the 21^st century. The education of our youth should be rooted in our homes and should be directed and meticulously managed by parents / guardians who understand that it is more important for our Black and Brown children to understand the relativity of an isosceles triangle as it pertains to mechanical engineering, than prioritizing the mechanics of their child’s basketball jump shot. In order to ensure that the “circle of economic inferiority” is forever broken in Black and Brown neighborhoods, there must be a re-dedication to academic excellence as overseen by adults who are willing to become mentors to our youth.

     

    Between 1910 and 1930 nearly one million Black and Brown Americans migrated from the South to the North in hope of creating a better way of life for themselves and their family.  During this timeframe, a Black renaissance was born from the minds of educated Blacks in cities across America.  It’s been 99 years since our first and last Black renaissance in America. If you listened closely to President Obama as he spoke to the audience, he directly challenged Black and Brown America to become economically empowered through education.  Education is the key that unlocks economic opportunities and shatters “glass ceilings”. In commemoration of the NAACP’s 100 year anniversary, and the 99 years since the birth of the 1910 Black American renaissance, let us as Black and Brown Americans today make a pledge to begin a new renaissance of education which begins in our homes, in our places of worship and in our schools. No more excuses my people, we must become more involved in steering our youth toward economic independence and global empowerment via love and via education as we take an active stand in preparing our children to be the best Americans that they can possibly be.

     

    In closing I’d like to end this article with the last paragraph of Maya Angelou’s “Still I rise” poem:

     

    Out of the huts of history's shame
    I rise
    Up from a past that's rooted in pain
    I rise
    I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
    Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
    Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
    I rise
    Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
    I rise
    Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
    I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
    I rise
    I rise
    I rise.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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• Why Michael Jackson Went Globa

  • From: urbanradionation
  • Description:

    
    
    What about the face of Michael we didn't like. Rev. Al Sharpton had it right. Michael Jackson wasn't strange.
    
    Prior to the death of Michael Jackson, you rarely heard any Michael Jackson songs on the radio. One of the albums that deserved more air play was Invincible, released in 2001. My favorite tracks from the album are "Butterflies" written by Marsha Ambrose from Floetry, "Break of Dawn", and "You Rock My World" featuring an intro by Chris Tucker. Kudos to 96.3 WHUR in Washington, DC. They were really the only station that gave those tracks any significant airplay. For the most part Black radio and mainstream media in America abandoned Mike.
    
    Overall, Michael became less popular in this country the last ten years of his life, while he continued to maintain popularity around the world. Americans generally thought he was weird. Some may say because he began whitening his skin, the African American community stopped buying his records and supporting him. Or maybe it was the accusations of child molestation that caused his popularity to suffer. One thing for sure, if you don't get radio airplay or video plays it's hard to get record sales.
    
    Maybe corporate radio followed the dictates of the record companies and simply stopped giving his records spins. At the time of the release of "Invincible", if you recall, Michael accused Sony Records and its president Tommy Mattola of racism, think about that for a second, and said he was a devil, because they did not promote the album. He even called on Rev. Al Sharpton to set up a protest and demonstrations at Sony Records in New York. So I ask, what's a recording artist to do to keep themselves popular in the world of entertainment. You do what you deem as necessary. In recent years, we've heard stories of Michael trying to recapture his American audience. We've heard he was seeking advice from everyone from Prince to T.I.
    
    Many in the U.S. look at Michael Jackson as wacky because of the many plastic surgeries he had and of the skin whitening. More specially, African Americans perceived the changes in his features as self-hatred. In this country, skin color is such a politically and socially charged issue we expect the world to take it as serious as Americans do. But that's simply not the case. Michael took a look outside of the United States of America and began to play to a global audience, a world stage if you will. Not to suggest that a "whiter" apearance was Michael's ultimate plan, but let's be real, it didn't hurt.
    
    After the success of the "Thriller" album, the world was ready for more of Michael Jackson. He was determined to become the greatest entertainer the world had ever seen. While Michael's skin condition worsened, he hid it with dark glasses and sparkling military attire which included his infamous glove. The quirkiness of his personality became more apparent and his inability to maintain a private life disappeared. Michael did suffer from the skin condition vitiligo. He also used make-up, bleaching and chemical treatments to even out the absence of skin color on portions of his body. Besides who in the entertainment industry hasn't had plastic surgery that sometimes has gone wrong. By the time the "Bad" album was released, Michael Jackson was definitely different. He was playing to a world audience now. U.S. record sales were only a small piece of the pie. World wide concerts were on the horizon. Michael, a Black man, who was losing his color, had gone global and we didn't understand. He was just "weird Mike."
    
    We've seen the videos from countless countries in Europe and Asia, where thousands of people were in near hysteria over his mere presence. We sit back in this country, in amazement at the adoration of these fans. But we must realize, Europeans and Asians are not Americans. We may share music, but cultures around the world are unique and different. Michael made himself relevant on a global scale. Michael was a genius. What we saw as strange, the rest of the world embraced.
    
    Case in point is the world's fascination with white skin. One aspect about Michael's life that was seen as controversial to Americans especially people like Bill O'Reilly. We in this country would be horrified by seeing skin bleaching commercials. But the rest of the world, even in parts of Africa, sees this as normal. We would never see or hear these commercials on radio or TV in America. Obviously, "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" still hasn't reached most of the world.
    
    So let's be clear, it was not appearance, it was talent nurtured in the tradition of African American soul music from singers like Jackie Wilson and James Brown and nothing else, that caused Michael's star to soar. Which makes him not only a Black icon, but the quintessential World Superstar.
    
    Michael Jackson was built to entertain. What a sacrifice he made to entertain. A sacrifice that included his childhood. So I don't judge Michael Jackson for the choices he made in his life when compared to the humanitarian contributions he made to this world.
    
    In death, maybe we need to think differently or have another perspective about Michael, as Berry Gordy so eloquently put it at the memorial service on Tuesday; he was more than the King of Pop, he was the greatest entertainer the world has ever known. He was brilliant. For that Michael Jackson paid a price we may never understand.

    Joe S.  Go to my blog post to see more links and videos for this blog http://www.urbanradionation.com/2009/07/before-radio-record-industry-and.html 

     

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• A bum rap for Joe Jackson

  • From: thomastaylor
  • Description:

    Considering the times the Jacksons were raised and how a lot of us were disciplined, I think this is a long over due perspective. The difference is black and white.

    I didn't write this article but do concur. It's rather long but worth the read.

    Enjoy

    TNT

     

    What Does A Brother Have to Do?  In Defense of Joe Jackson

    By Michael A. Lowery

     

     

    In the wake of Michael Jackson’s sudden tragic death and the incessant media over-coverage thereafter, several themes have taken root that I for one am tired of hearing.  There is the constant questioning of what will happen to his children, and the state of his finances at the time of his death.  It is highly questionable whether these matters warrant such attention from the public or a responsible news media.  However, the one subject that I am most tired of hearing about is the criticism railed against his father, Joe Jackson.  It’s time for a reality check America.  Joe Jackson is a hero who should be extolled as such, and not derided so cavalierly as has been done by media over the last week, and even over several decades

     

    We are living in a time when only three of ten African-American children born are born into married two parent homes.  Our social landscape is replete with statistics and evidence of the consequence of missing fathers.  Social service networks have been established by federal, state, and local governments, as well as by private endowments to address the consequences of fatherless homes.  Then there is Joe Jackson, a man born in 1920’s Arkansas, long before Black was beautiful, and before Brown v Board of Education outlawed legal segregation in America, and long before an African-American was assured the right to vote in this nation.  At some point like many men, Joe embarked on his own life and love story.  He married Katherine, and they had dreams, and over approximately a 25 year period, had nine children, several of whom would become among the most renown in the world in their field of endeavor.

     

    Like so many African-American men born in the same period, Joe at some point decided that his life chances and that of his family would be better served if he moved from the American south to its industrial north.  So, he moved his family to Gary, Indiana, not a place for the faint of heart.  Joe took care of his wife and children by working as a welder in one of Gary’s steel mills.  In other words, he carried around a torch while working in a furnace to sustain his family. 

     

    At some point in the mid-1960’s, Joe discovered that his five sons seemed to possess the vestige of what appeared to be real talent, so he worked them to develop it.  Soon thereafter, the world saw what he had seen, and the rest as is often said is history, literally.  His children made history.  Among their achievements, they were the most successful “child” act in the history of American music, and one of them sold the most albums that any single album ever sold, among his other astronomical achievements, including signing the biggest record contract in the history of the music business.  Another of his children, the baby girl, became for a time the most successful female recording artist of her time, and eclipsed her brother in signing at the time the largest contract in music history.  This doesn’t happen in a vacuum people.  Fathers either make a difference or they don’t America.  You can’t have both ways.  In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when Gary, Indiana was for several years the murder capital of the United States, Joe Jackson’s children, due in large measure to his efforts, had long since left their native city and its peril and were safely ensconced in Santa Barbara and other parts of southern California, with two of them reigning as the top male and female entertainers in the world.

     

    -2-

     

    In case you think that all of the family success happened due purely to the talent of the children, you should recall that in the mid-1970’s, Motown had all but written the Jackson family off, essentially saying that they had reached their peak and had no more left.  It was Joe Jackson, who wrestled with one of the legendary lions of show business and the Motown empire, and moved his still growing children to another record label, Columbia/Epic.  There, the success continued for the group and of course for Michael individually.  If further evidence is needed of dad’s role in the success of even his most successful child, it is found in a legendary story in music industry circles about events that led to the making of “Thriller”.  After Michael had sold an astounding eleven million copies of his album “Off The Wall”, it appeared that Epic still hadn’t seen enough and pretty much discounted him.  It was Joe, again wrestling with an industry titan, who went to the top executives of the label and advised them that they had violated Michael’s contract by failing to provide label support as required by the contract and threatened to leave the label.  Embarrassed and panicked, label executives scurried to find a way to resolve this potentially disastrous situation.  The result was an agreement for the largest pre-release marketing budget the label had ever undertaken, and again, the rest is history.

     

    We’ve heard the stories that raise the question of whether Mr. Jackson’s discipline of his children rose to the level of abuse. However, as it has often been said, “the proof of the cook is in the pudding”.  It would appear that Joe’s pudding turned out pretty good.  Joe Jackson pushed his children to work, in a period when black children were admonished by wise elders that “you have to work twice as hard to get half as far”.  In reflecting on their achievements, his children have been cited in media quoting Joe’s lesson on work ethic, “plan your work and work your plan”.   Joe Jackson raised his children when neither America or the world cared much about the fate of little African-American (Negro for accuracy sake) children, the time of “spare the rod, spoil the child”, “ a child left to himself bringeth his mother shame”, and “children should be seen and not heard”.  But his children were seen and heard by the world.  The wine and cheese set of today can now see the world through enlightened 2009 eyes; but, it was a different world then, and in the face of every conceivable institutional obstacle, Joe Jackson created a family that impacted the world. 

     

    Long before “Thriller”, Joe Jackson’s children were heroes when they were still children.  At a time when it was rare to see African-Americans on television in any capacity, they made countless appearances on the top variety shows of the time, including the king of them all, The Ed Sullivan Show, and perhaps most impressive, they were presented to the world in a cartoon series in the early 1970’s, even before the iconic Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert.  There were no Black children on television at the time, as heroes or otherwise; but Joe Jackson’s children were.  They were on television commercials selling cereal, and the lunch boxes that America’s children carried to school.  Unlike other major child stars, his children were not in trouble, and did not disintegrate after the prime of their careers.  Joe was never a stage father.  Over the 45 year period where his children have been stars in the public eye, you rarely, if ever saw him on camera, and certainly did not hear from him.  Unlike celebrity parents of today, he did not seek to impose his presence in his children’s celebrity, no celebrity tell alls, no public feuds, no reality show.  He has comported himself with honor and dignity.

     

     

     

    -3-

     

    In the face of all that we have seen in America about missing fathers, this father achieved miracles, and is still in the lives of his children, most of whom are now over 50 years old.  Just prior to his death, Michael Jackson met with concert promoters attempting to resolve a dispute that threatened to stop his London comeback shows.  Who was at that meeting with him, his father, Joe.  After 45 years dwelling in the highest echelons of show business, dad was still by his side. 

     

    America, there are no Ward Cleavers, and the quest for this false image has contributed to an array of social dysfunction over many generations looking for this idyllic father figure.  Fathers, like all people are imperfect; but when we find one worthy of praise, we should take note and celebrate.   As the world mourns the loss of Joe’s son, Michael, there are two African-American sisters playing each other on center court for the championship of the premier Grand Slam event in tennis for the fourth time.  Their father has noted that he was motivated by the success of the Jackson children, and like Joe, saw the potential in his children and worked them to develop it to world class talent.  Like Joe Jackson, he too is much maligned.  But in part because of Joe, his daughters and other Black children, a fellow named Woods (whose father was also ridiculed) comes to mind, are changing the world.  Joe, I salute you.  You have helped change the world!  What else can a brother do?

     

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 78

• You're Playing Us Too Close

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     

     

     

     

    You're Playing Us Too Close

     

     

    Extreme right-wing talking heads have blood on their hands and I’m mad as hell.  My anger is spilling out in the form of two questions that I’m not sure can be answered. My first question is, where were the Feds who should have been monitoring convicted felon James Von Brunn, the 88 year old white supremacist who went to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C this past Wednesday and opened fire, killing Mr. Stephen Tyrone Johns, a security guard who gave his life to protect the lives of people who were visiting the museum?  My second question is, where were the moderate right-wingers (including the killer’s wife) who personally knew this angry old man and could have warned local and federal authorities that a crazed extremist (who some moderate right-wingers probably placated as a “soldier” in their anti-Obama, anti-government campaign), was on the verge of killing innocent people?

     

    Enough is enough. The Limbaughs, Hannitys, Bachmanns and thousands of others like them (including the house negroes Keyes and Steele) who fit the bill for spreading hate and fear on airwaves and cyber space should all be put on notice by the Feds that their anti-government rhetoric has crossed a line which will no longer be tolerated.  I’m quite sure that somewhere on the “legal books” there has to be a federal law that prohibits the incitement of hate and violence.  If there isn’t such a law, then let’s get one passed by congress.  I am so personally sick of hearing about crazies who claim that they are angry because “White people are losing their rights” and that “White people are an endangered species in America”.  For White folk who have this irrational phobia - and I’m only addressing those White folk with this phobia, “Get the freak over it”.  This ain’t the land of Ozzie and Harriet anymore. Wally Cleaver was a weak athlete, Kato is no longer the Green Hornet’s driver and Black, and Brown Americans no longer sit at the back of the bus unless we want to!

     

    For the crazies who think that they have it bad, a little “food for thought”, - If the national unemployment rate in America (which is supposedly one of the factors that has driven “Angry White Americans” over the edge), is close to 10%, then what is the unemployment rate for Black and Brown Americans?  

     

    I’m not one to advocate violence but I think that there are far more Marcus Garvey’s and Malcolm X’s in the United States today in 2009 than there are Dr. King’s and Mahatma Ghandi’s.  I apologize if I sound disrespectful to the memory of Dr. King; I mean no disrespect to the great MLK or his legacy, however, just like the fictional character “Virgil Tibbs” from the 1967 movie “In the heat of the night”, if “an adversary” has the nerve to slap my face, then that adversary should expect a stronger backhand to immediately come across their face.  Case closed.  But before I go off the deep end, let me state that I know that the crazies want violent confrontation.  I know this.  Why do you think that they’re always crying about the right to bear arms? Folks, we Americans and I mean all Americans need to sit up and take notice.  The crazies are desperate and they feel cornered.  They are beside themselves that America has evolved and they are livid because opportunities that were once reserved solely for White folk are rapidly disappearing. 

     

    The best way to defeat these “rats” who feel that their backs are up against the wall, is to demand that local and federal law agencies do everything that they can to stamp out hate groups.  Flood your local and national newspaper editors with phone calls and emails that express your concern with right-wing nuts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin (poor Michelle, she’s an Asian who has obviously played with too many blonde Barbie dolls).  Americans, Stop buying the merchandise that is sold by sponsors who pay the salaries of these nuts.  Organize.  Make some noise and stand up and be heard.  My Lord, these fools honestly think that it’s 1939 and we’re living in “Old Dixie”.       

     

     

    In closing, I’d like to leave you with the words from a song written by Stevie Wonder for the reggae band “Third World” entitled, “You're playing us too close” which I’m dedicating to all those angry White folk who think that through gutless acts of terrorism, that they will be able to intimidate Black, Brown and Jewish Americans. – “Jobless people starving babies spreading over the land.  More oppression to the have nots is how you play your hand. More world fighting is the writing from those say they know, and if that's true we know just who you'll be picking to go, but the beat you are playing to what Jah is saying is wrong, and we do recommend that you stop before it's too far gone.  And I just got to say you're playing us too close”.

     

    Crazies, you’ve been warned!     

     

  • Blog post
  • 5 months ago
  • Views: 97

• President Obama – A Night In C

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     

     

    President Obama – A Night In Cairo

     

     

    When President Obama gave his historic speech at the University of Cairo last week in Egypt, he established in the minds of people that were in the audience, including the minds of people worldwide, that his administration is truly committed to condemning and preventing hatred and ignorance that tramples the human rights of both Arab and Jew.  All too often because of fear of reprisal from American Jewish voters, past American administrations have been unwilling or at best hesitant in making an effort to win the hearts and minds of Arabs by championing Arab rights, in particular, the human rights of the Palestinian people.

     

    For over six decades American Presidents have had to grapple with promoting the growth of Israel while simultaneously acknowledging that because Israel exists, there are approximately 7.2 million Palestinians who are displaced from their homeland, dispersed all over the world, and stigmatized as a people without a country.  In last week’s speech which was addressed to a predominately youthful Arab audience, President Obama also spoke of the plight of the Palestinian people, stating that mutual distrust and animosity between Arab and Jew must end if conditions for both sides are to ever improve.  Animosity that transforms into hate is the intangible evil that has ultimately challenged the future of young Arabs and young Jews.  Consequently, President Obama condemned the extremist groups on both sides that promote revenge, death and terror. It is clear that before any meaningful peace talks can occur, both sides must whole heartedly agree that both Jew and Arab can co-exist as neighbors.  The key to this co-existence is the creation of a Palestinian homeland that is governed democratically by the people of Palestine.  Additionally, as noted by the President, it is imperative for Arabs and Muslims to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and Israel’s right to prosper.  What has appeared to be some source of anger for some Jews was the President’s insistence that Israel stop the further development of Jewish settlements in Gaza, which in the viewpoint of most Arabs, only adds to the problem of establishing a legitimate Palestinian State.

     

     

    Throughout the President’s speech the audience was receptive to his ideas and his vision.  It can be argued that the reason why these young Brown skinned people were so in tuned to his words is that this tall and elegant man that spoke before them was a mirror image of themselves.  It is my opinion that the individuals in the audience were in awe of the man and in awe of this historic moment and because of the President’s early upbringing in Indonesia, which is a Muslim country, he was able to speak with a respectfulness and accuracy in regard to Islam and Muslim history that came across the audience as being both legitimate and genuine.  On the front of women’s rights, while taking advantage of his opportunity to address potential future leaders of the Muslim world, the President made it quite clear that a Muslim society that denies Muslim women the opportunity to receive an education is a society that will never reach its fullest potential.

     

    Trusting the United States and the West to be fair towards Arab issues, is a major problem for Muslims worldwide and in an attempt to demonstrate his administration’s commitment to “transparency”, the President discussed how in 1953, the United States with the assistance of the CIA, illegally organized a coup which ultimately disposed Iran’s nationally elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh would later be replaced by the U.S. and British backed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran.  Never before had a U.S. President openly admitted that the United States had been actively involved in the toppling of another country’s government.  Although the revelation made by President Obama was profound in the sense of transparency, it was not the President’s intent as he spoke to the crowd, to be the “supreme apologist” (as suggested by most Republicans) for our country’s past mistakes; rather, President Obama wanted the Muslim world to know that even though the United States is a great and benevolent country, we too bare some of the responsibility for issues of distrust that currently exist between the West and some countries in the Middle East. 

     

    In closing, it is my opinion that the greatest accomplishment made in President Obama coming to Cairo, was speaking in person to a young Arab audience.  In doing do, President Obama has given many in the audience the opportunity to make an intelligent decision on whether they will take their lead from a man that promulgates hate and death, and by the way, hides in the deepest caves of Pakistan / Afghanistan or will they take their lead from a man that offers peace and reconciliation, and who by the way, isn’t afraid to show his face, even in places where he may not be loved.        

     

    Although the President’s speech was not intended to be the “Be all / End all” speech that will bring lasting peace between the West and the Middle East, it did set the tone of what the world can expect of President Obama’s administration as the President takes a more active role in establishing a balance between protecting Americans and being a friend and ally to both Jew, Arab and perhaps Persian. 

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 5 months ago
  • Views: 73

• The Exorcism of Mr. Charlie, R

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     

    The Exorcism of Mr. Charlie, Ripples in the Pond, and a Gifted Latina

     

    Ripples in the Pond

     

    Newsflash from the Hooterville Gazette

     

    The era has arrived, the moment has come, and the future has now become the present.  Never before in the history of America has it become more apparent to those who identify themselves as “guardians of Aryan purity and Aryan superiority have life in America been more upside down. Sacred members of the old guard (Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo and a few other good old boys) that have been entrusted to carry the torch that houses the “eternal flame” of racial intolerance and racial indignation have been insidiously attacked and subdued by race mixing liberals who have forsaken the angelic twang of country music for the synthesized rhythmic beat of rap.  Good Lordy Miss Claudey, the Colonel has turned over in his grave! What was once a small ripple in Norman Rockwell’s pond of tranquility has now manifested into a Tsunami of Black and Brown culture.  Putting it simply, Mayberry has integrated.  Ma, call the National Guard!

     

    The Reality of it all

     

    The first major ripple in the pond occurred on May 17, 1954 when the Supreme Court decided in the case of Brown versus the Board of Education Topeka, that public schools that purposely separated Colored students from White students, were guilty of denying Colored students the same educational opportunities that were afforded to White students.  Justices of the Supreme Court liberally articulated this “arrangement” as being an inequity and by a vote of 9-0, public school segregation in America officially ended.  Further, the Justices interpreted that racial segregation prevented young Colored minds from receiving the necessary academic and social tools that would enable them to fairly compete with their White contemporaries.  (Well ain’t that the point?) Although there were many lawyers who argued before the Court to rip down the “curtain” that provided cover and concealment for those of us who hide behind granddaddy’s window of racial fear, lets take a moment to recognize the emergence of Thurgood Marshall, a gifted young Colored NAACP lawyer, who subsequently, in 1967 would later be appointed as the first Colored Justice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.  Thank you very much President Lyndon Baines Johnson for tossing a stone in Mayberry’s pond, now you know why you and Miss Lady Bird were never invited to our annual fish fry and cross burning gala.

     

    It can be argued that the second ripple in the pond occurred on December 1, 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama, when a Colored woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat, as mandated by the South’s “Jim Crow Law”, to a White man who understood that because he was born White, it was his inherent right to claim the seat that Miss Park was sitting on.  This bold (OK, brave) and defiant 42 year old woman was the spark that manifested to liberals the meaning of their rebellion which they now consider to be a righteous cause.  

     

    This modern day civil rights campaign which was birthed by Miss Parks, compelled partisans and non partisans of civil rights to re-think and to re-read the words of The American Declaration of Independence which states, “That we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  The choice that Miss Rosa Parks made on December 1, 1955, to take a stand against what liberals say was an unjust and an immoral law, defined this stubborn (OK, dignified) woman, before the world, as being the catalyst of a movement that knocked Dixie to its knees.  Sacred carriers of the torch that housed the “eternal flame” took notice as the ripples in the pond began to spread. 

     

    The third and most heart stopping ripple that tipped over Andy’s and Opie’s fishing boat, occurred on November 4, 2008.  This was the infamous date that the Democratic Presidential nominee, Barack Obama, a Colored man of mixed heritage with a funny sounding name, defeated White Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain for the office of the Presidency of the United States of America.  We’ve received reports that on that day, White people across America ripped the hair out of their scalp, chain smoked Marlboro Red cigarettes, drank countless bottles of whiskey, beat their children for listening to Jay Z and consequently, bought thousands of rounds of rifle ammunition as they breathlessly awaited for a sign from their local Grand Dragon that the much anticipated race war was about to commence. 

     

     

    And now, adding final insult to our injury, a female Puerto Rican from the Bronx, New York, who also has a funny sounding name, has been nominated to replace albeit a liberal, a White Man, to sit as a judge on the highest court of the United States of America.  The ghost of Confederate President Jefferson Davis has just peed on himself. 

     

    A Gifted Latina

     

    Sotomayor who?

     

    Sonia Sotomayor’s bio illustrates that she was born June 25, 1954 in the Bronx, New York, from parents of Puerto Rican descent.  Judge Sotomayor’s trek through life as a young lady has been marked with both tragedy and triumph.  Raised in the tough housing projects of both East and South Bronx, New York (isn’t that the place where there’s a bunch of Yankees?) and forced as an 8 year old to contend with being a diabetic, young Sonia understood early in life the meaning of determination and survival. Her father, Juan Sotomayor, a tool- and- die worker with a third grade education, spoke a limited amount of English and died when Sonia was only nine years old.  Sonia’s mother, Celina, a Woman’s Army Corps veteran during World War II, worked as a nurse to support Sonia and Sonia’s brother Juan Junior after the death of her husband Juan.

     

    A condensed snapshot of Judge Sotomayor’s academic accomplishes include being honored as her Catholic High School’s Valedictorian, graduating in 1976 from Princeton University, Summa Cum Laude, and in 1979 graduating from Yale University with a law degree.  Acknowledged and admired by past New York Mayors and past U.S. Presidents for her talents as a skilled litigator and arbitrator, Judge Sotomayor has steadily climbed the ladder of professional success and as a tribute to her hard work and experience, was nominated on May 26, 2009, by President Barack Obama, to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.  If confirmed by Congress, Judge Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and only the third woman to be seated as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The Exorcism of Mr. Charlie

     

    We love Mr. Charlie

     

    It’s been brought to the attention of our newspaper’s chief editor, Mr. Harlan P. Beauregard that liberals have secretly conspired to contact Father Patrick Mahoney, Hooterville’s only Catholic priest, in an attempt to drive away evil spirits from a local resident, who according to those ignorant liberals, goes by the name of Mr. Charlie. Mr. Beauregard has further discovered after reading Hooterville’s white pages, that currently, there is no “Mr. Charlie” that resides in Hooterville; however, because the names, Hannity, Buchanan, Chaney and Limbaugh are always mentioned in conjunction with the anonymous “Mr. Charlie”, we are compelled as God fearing “Real Americans” to contact the aforementioned brethren and warn them that liberals are trying to drive the devil out from them.  No sir, if there’s to be an exorcism conducted in Hooterville; it will be performed by the good Reverend Percy T. Williams who is a bonafide Christian and gun shop owner.  In our attempt to locate Mr. Charlie and show our support, local volunteers are placing “We love Mr. Charlie” fliers on the windshields of all vehicles parked in the parking lot of the “Galaxy Drive-In Theatre” located on county road 111.  If anyone locates Mr. Charlie before we do, please inform him that Reverend Williams will be performing exorcisms after the annual fish fry and cross burning gala.

     

    Quote of the month:          

     

    "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life"

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 6 months ago
  • Views: 86

• Remembering When We Were Negro

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

    Remembering When We Were Negro

     

    Often when life becomes extremely difficult, I sit back and close my eyes and think of my mother, my father, my maternal grandmother and an aunt whose name was Sharon.  Although they are gone from me in physical form, they are manifested in my mind, all four living safely in a small country house that has both a front and back porch.  This country house has three main doors.  Two of the main doors are in the front of the house and the third door is located in the kitchen which is situated in the very back of the house.  When opened, the back door leads to a big grassy yard that stretches from the cinder blocks (that serve as the house’s back steps), to the woodland that is full of small critters.  There is a well and a hand pump in the backyard.  A few renegade chickens and hens peck at the ground as one lone rooster sits atop of a turned upside down porcelain water basin, mostly used as Ma would say, “For sponge baths”.  As I walk back to the front of the house, I see that the front door, (like most doors that are built by people with limited tools and limited money) have minor imperfections that allow cold air to seep in from the bottom during the winter months.  A glass window is built near the top center of the door which allows warm rays of sunshine to fill the house’s entrance way. Attached to the front door’s frame is a weather battered screen door. When the front door is opened, the screen door allows flower scented breezes to fill the house year round.

     

    This country house that I speak of is a special place in my mind that I go to when I’m tired of hearing about killer viruses, record unemployment, home foreclosures, wars, torture and rumors of war.  It’s my mind’s sanctuary, a space that is full of sounds of mellow music performed by Rhythm and Blues icons like Earth Wind and Fire, The Isley Brothers and Aretha Franklin. 

     

    Please forgive me this week for being reluctant to write about Nancy Pelosi, Miss California, Notre Dame and the escalating murders of Black youth in Chicago.  I’d much rather write about people and events that give me strength.  As I drift into my dream world, I close my eyes and I’m able to smell the honey baked ham and collards that my mother and my grandmother are cooking in the kitchen.  Daddy, Sharon and I are in the parlor listening to Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness”.  As I experience this spiritual connection with love ones long past, it is clear that taking a brief hiatus from writing about the craziness of the world is what’s best for maintaining my sanity. Instead of “business as usual” I will write about Black heroes that have inspired and motivated millions of our grandparents and great grandparents to rise above despair when injustice and hopelessness blanketed their everyday lives.  Black heroes like the late great entertainer Josephine Baker, also known as “The Bronze Venus”.  If I could go back in time and conduct an interview with Miss Baker, I’d ask her what motivated her to leave (at the age of 15) the impoverished Black ghettos of St. Louis, Missouri, for Harlem, New York and then in 1925 without fear or hesitation, take a steamship cruise to Paris, France to embark on a lifetime dream of becoming a singer and dancer.  Little did she know that Paris and most of Europe would (like a tender lover) embrace and cherish her for her gift of song, dance and exotic beauty.  What’s truly amazing is Josephine Baker began life as a poor Black child living in the poorest sections of Saint Louis, Missouri, but as destiny intervened, would end up living and performing in France at the height of the “swinging twenties” and for several decades to come, would rapidly earn unbelievable fame, fortune, and respect, during an era in America when Black Folk were regarded as nothing more than third class citizens and were routinely lynched by Whites for the “crime” of being “uppity”.  As I reflect on Miss Baker’s lifetime achievements, I hear a voice in my head that loudly chastises, “Don’t tell me that today’s struggles are too hard to bear; don’t tell me that you can’t find a job”.  “Where God provides a will, there’s a way”,  “Just look at what one poor Black child from St. Louis, Missouri was able to accomplish” in the span of her lifetime.

     

    As I elaborate on the lives of inspiring Black heroes that have long gone to glory, I’d like to continue by writing about the struggles and rivalry between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B.  Du Bois, as they became the articulate voice of a people who at the turn of the 20^th century were just two generations past from being emancipated from the bondage of slavery.  Their struggles and the struggles of their people were issues of American social change that were hotly debated in cotton fields, in newspapers worldwide, in institutions of learning and in the halls of Congress, as a country grappled with what next to do with free Black men and free Black women.

     

    Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on the Burroughs Plantation in southwest Virginia in 1856, the illegitimate son of a White Man that he knew very little about and an enslaved cook whose name was Jane.  As a young man Booker T. worked as a miner in the salt and coal mines of West Virginia before finally arriving at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia.  An important historical note is that Hampton Institute which was founded in 1868 was among the first colleges established for Negroes during the Reconstruction era.  Hampton Institute is the starting point of Booker T. Washington’s journey as destiny guided him as being the nation’s chief advocate for Negro independence via education from 1890 until 1915.  In contrast, W.E.B. Du Bois was born in 1868, born a free man reared by a sickly mother in the racially tolerant town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois’ father, Alfred Du Bois, was born in Haiti and was the illegitimate child of a son of a French Plantation owner. Soon after birth, Alfred Du Bois abandoned his wife Mary to raise their child alone.  As a young man, W.E.B. Du Bois showed great promise as a student and as an athlete.  Historical record indicates that the young Du Bois attended the same school in Great Barrington that his white contemporaries attended.  Du Bois had written in his memoirs that as a young man he hadn’t experienced any substantial racial prejudice against him by the locals in his home town.  It was only when out-of-towners visited Great Barrington that the color of his skin became a topic for discussion.  As with Booker T. Washington, Du Bois’ blue print of success as an advocate for Black independence and self respect began at a college founded for educating Negro students, notably in Du Bois’ case, Fisk University which is located in Nashville, Tennessee. 

     

     

    As history depicts, Booker T. Washington’s vision of Negroes living in America appealed to White society more so than W.E.B. Du Bois’ vision, which promoted Negroes demanding that their inalienable rights as Americans, as written in the US Constitution be honored.  The ideology of Negro empowerment for these two men was as different as is the difference between night and day.  Mr. Washington believed that Negroes would best “fit in” American society by living separately from Whites, not challenging Whites for jobs and other opportunities that were exclusively reserved for Whites and not demanding the right to vote.  Mr. Du Bois believed that Negroes should have the right to live anywhere that Whites lived, work any place that Whites worked and be educated in the same schools that Whites were educated and most importantly, Du Bois believed that Negroes had earned through their blood, sweat and tears, the right to vote.

     

     

     

    Although both men had major ideological differences on how the newly liberated Negro was to survive and prosper in America, we can never forget that (metaphorically) they grew from the same tree whose seeds originated in Mother Africa.  Never should we forget that both men via achieving academic greatness strove unselfishly to improve the lives of millions of Americans who were of African descent under conditions that were not favorable or advantageous for them.  Washington’s and Du Bois’ achievements as Americans are too numerous to write about in a single blog and to attempt to do so would only cheapen my intent of highlighting their triumphs over bigotry and racial hatred.  In a very short snapshot of their great achievements I’d like to point out that Booker T. Washington would later become the first leader of world renowned Tuskegee Institute, located in Tuskegee, Alabama and Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois would later become the first Negro recipient of a Ph.D, the highest standard of academic excellence, which he obtained from Harvard University.  Later in life, Dr. Du Bois would be destined to become the premier civil rights activist of his generation.

     

    As I reminisce of the Black and Brown pioneers of years past, I am so fearful that the youth of today have very little knowledge and understanding of the struggles, failures and great achievements of Black Folk that came before them.  Even today, as I drive through Philadelphia, Mississippi, I wonder if the young Black man that I see walking down the road with the young White girl is even aware of the mortal danger that this seemingly innocent act of juvenile affection would have presented for him and his family just forty years ago.  Have the names Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner evaporated from young Black minds as does the dawn mist evaporates at the rising of the sun in cemeteries near and far? 

     

    Dictionary.com defines the word “renaissance” as a renewal of life, vigor, and interest.  I am challenging every Black American to begin a new renaissance in Black History by teaching Black youth in their homes, in their churches and in their communities about the struggles and triumphs of past Negro heroes who never accepted the word “defeat” and were able to accomplish what some would say, was the impossible. 

     

    Again, I hear a voice in my head that loudly chastises, “Don’t tell me that today’s struggles are too hard to bear; don’t tell me that you can’t find a job”.  “Where God provides a will, there’s a way”.  

     

    In closing, I’d like to dedicate this article to Mr. Wayman Tisdale an authentic Black hero who in life was a great man, a great athlete and a great musician.  Wayman lost his battle with cancer this past week but will never be forgotten.  In fact, Daddy, Sharon and I are about to warm up the old RCA and play his cut, “Ain’t no lovin”.  Rest in peace my Brother, I hope to meet you one day.

  • Blog post
  • 6 months ago
  • Views: 115

• Anybody Know The Rationale for

  • From: Mliza
  • Description:

    Maybe I missed something somewhere.  I don't get out that much (Just funning!)  What I really mean to say is that I don't come INSIDE this site that much.  I must have missed why my main man, Tom Joyner, created this site anyway, and why he named it Inauguration Day 2009.  Anyone out there want to clear that up for me? 

    Well, for me, Tom "can do no wrong." and if he wants to create such a site and give it such a name, who am I to dissuade him.  I'm all for that.   In fact I'll just join him.  And did.   It's just that i'm usually considered a rational person and want to understand everything that I decide to become connected to.  So what's wrong with that?  Can anyone out there help me?

    I don't even know how I really got onto this site.  Just clicked on somewhere out of curiosity, I guess.  And you know these things -- you have to create some footage, give up some information to get what you want.  But since I have done that, I have come in contact with some interesting people on occasion.  I think this site will soon be growing and will become as popular as any of the others.  I just want someone to explain to me where it is really heading.  Come on, Tom.  You know I also have a connection to Black America Web and get information about your show and business periodically on that.

    Well, at least I can see one main, great value in this connection:  It gives me a forum to say somewhere what I never have access to that's going on on the daily TJMS show.  Am I the only one who doesn't even try to win the $1,000 4 times daily?  Regardless of how much I could use it, I never could get through anyway (And to think there is someone who won it 3 times.  Oh Glory!).  For that matter, I never can seem to keep up with all three numbers:  If I hear 1 and 2, I'll never hear 3.  Most of the time I hear 2 and 3 and would have missed #1.  But haven't there been so many whenever I wanted to say something back to J. Anthony Brown or even Sybil or a guest but I could not do so because I would never be able to get through on the phone that soon.  So here is a place I can express myself:  Even Rant and Rave!  So if nothing else, there is the value in this.  But that's my side of the story and I'm sticking to it.  What say You?

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 6 months ago
  • Views: 60

• Requiem of a House Negro

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

    Requiem of a House Negro

     

     

    After hearing Republican National Chairman Michael Steele refer to President Obama as “The Magic Negro” and after reading an Associated Press article that was written in regard to another capitulation by the Chairman to an ever growing number of mutinous Republican National Committee members that have emasculated Mr. Steele by stripping away his control of how he spends money on behalf of promoting the Republican Party, to include forcing Mr. Steele to rehire former RNC Staffer Jay Banning, whom Chairman Steele had once fired, it has been difficult for me to think about anything other than how pitiful Michael Steele and fellow Black Republican Alan Keyes are as Black men.  Failed Republican Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes, in his contempt (and jealousy) for President Obama epitomizes the bitterness felt by ultra right wing crazies who hate President Obama for all the wrong reasons.  Besides the constant slandering and criticism of President Obama by Alan Keyes, Mr. Keyes is guilty of being “stuck” on promoting and promulgating the lie that President Obama is not a US citizen.

     

    Using pejorative terms to describe two Black men whose ancestors were kidnapped from their ancestral homeland and chained together in the dark and hot bowels of European slave ships while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, packed like little spoons in a kitchen drawer, forced to live in filth, being fed the equivalent of garbage, and then finally to be regurgitated onto a foreign and hostile land only to be desecrated as humans for almost four hundred years (I highly recommend reading Lerone Bennett’s “Before the Mayflower, A History of Black America, 1619-1962”) does not appeal to me as an African American male.  However, in the case of Steele and Keyes, I’ll make an exception to my self- imposed rule of not publicly demeaning African Americans by taking a stand against modern day Uncle Tomism and calling them out as the House Negroes that they truly are.  In making the allegation that Steele and Keyes are House Negroes and Uncle Toms, let me make this crystal clear, in my opinion, accepting and adopting Republican ideology does not make an African American a House Negro or an Uncle Tom.  

     

    In contrast to the Democratic Party, there are only a handful of Black Republicans and by far, the majority of these Americans are honorable people.  Former Secretary of State / General, Colin Luther Powell is a shining example.  Black Republicans honestly believe that they, like their White Party members, are indeed patriots, and that America is best governed by the ideology of conservatism. In fact, today’s Republicans are quick to point out in their attempt to deflect  their Party’s indifference and intolerance to Black, Brown, Red and Yellow issues, ( in reality we’re not minorities when you add our numbers) that the Republican Party is the Party of the much revered Abraham Lincoln. (Although it can be easily proven that Abraham Lincoln was no lover of Black Folk) In rebuttal to Republican claims of inclusiveness via a connecting of dots that lead to Abraham Lincoln, I must say that today’s Republican Party is not the Republican Party that their grandfathers once belonged to, especially, when demographically speaking, the Republican’s small base of power is concentrated in America’s deep south.  And I ain’t just whistling Dixie.

     

    In understanding how Uncle Tomism is defined by Black America, I think that it is best that we start with Harriet Beecher Stowe who in 1851 penned the classic novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.  In Miss Stowe’s novel, the character Uncle Tom is characterized as being a righteous martyr that died at the hand of his master, protecting two run away slaves by refusing to betray their whereabouts. Thus, the “Uncle Tom” that evolved from this classic novel, can be described as heroic.  In light of this revelation, I can never imagine Michael Steele or Alan Keyes accepting martyrdom by protecting Black Americans.

     

    The second and most modern definition of an Uncle Tom is a Black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to white authority figures, or as seeking ingratiation with them by way of unnecessary accommodation.  

     

    Given Mr. Steele’s and Mr. Keyes’ extreme negativity that is directed towards President Obama and in light of their willingness to promote hate and ridicule towards a President that received 95% of the Black vote during the last Presidential elections, it is clear to me that these two men are totally out of touch with Black America.  Additionally, to be continuously mocked and rejected by a Party that has little interest in racial diversity and tolerance, yet remain zealously loyal to that Party, only strengthens my belief that both men have adopted the “House Negro Doctrine” (Kudos to Brother Malcolm X) which ensures them a place in the “Big House”.  However, entrance into the “Big House” comes at the expense of each of them having to leave their culture and their people behind.  Which apparently, they have no problem sacrificing.  (Can anyone imagine Alan Keyes with a James Brown ringtone ?) What’s really sad is that no matter how hard they try to ingratiate themselves as loyal Party members by vehemently denouncing President Obama and the President’s policies, members of the Republican Party who actually wield power and authority will only give Mr. Keyes and Mr. Steele a key to the mansion’s back door.  Therefore, both Mr. Keyes and Mr. Steele in my opinion, only qualify to be defined in the most modern definition of the word, “Uncle Tom”.  

     

    In closing I see both men in years to come as being old, feeble and tormented.  As God finally calls them “home” and people gather to pay homage at the funeral, I envision some confusion as to what song should be sung at the closing of the ceremony, however, due to the fact that they probably won’t be allowed to be buried in the same cemetery of the church that they’ve faithfully attended as good Republicans, I recommend that the church choir perform a song that best describes their disposition in life as Black Folk.  And what song is that you ask?  Well no other than “The Requiem of a House Negro”.   

     

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 6 months ago
  • Views: 121

• Arizona State University and N

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

    Hate, hypocrisy and yes, I said it, racism, is alive and kicking in the hallow halls of Arizona State University and Notre Dame. This is part one in a series of two articles that I will write in regard to these two universities that are all but too eager to accept “Jamal” and “Yolanda” as athletes, (it’s all about the Benjamins), but are reluctant in accepting a United States President named Barack Obama.  My first piece is written in regard to the blatant disrespect shown by Arizona State University President Michael Crow towards United States President Barack Obama.                

    I believe that the Huffington Post was the first major news media to break the story that President Barack Obama who is scheduled to be the commencement speaker at ASU this year, would NOT be presented an honorary degree as is the custom for many of ASU’s past commencement speakers.  ASU Media Relations Director Sharon Keeler says, unlike other universities, the processes for selecting commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients are independent. Keeler states that honorary degrees are given "for an achievement of eminence" and that President Obama was not considered for an honorary degree because his body of achievements, at this time, does not fit within that standard.  Evidently Sharon Keeler, ASU President Michael Crow and company are all hypocritical morons who should (in order to save some face for the university) retire.

    Further, I subscribe to the idea that as a way of flexing of our “economic muscle”, our children, relatives and friends should no longer attend Arizona State University as athletes which only lines the pockets of the school each and every time ASU appears in televised games and especially in post season tournaments. Perhaps the lost of money from not having “Jamal” and “Yolanda” playing for their sports programs will rekindle an interest in appreciating the various talents of young Black and Brown student athletes. (Not to mention my Caucasian brothers and sisters who are down with the cause) 

    OK, let’s list some of President Obama’s “achievements of eminence”. (1) President of the United States of America, (2) Leader of the “Free World”, (3) Professor of constitutional law, (4) Community Organizer, (5) State Senator, (6) First Black President of the Harvard Law Review, and oh…(7) The first Black President of the United States of America.

    What was ASU President Crow thinking when he purposely and callously allowed the snubbing of President Obama by denying him an honorary degree from his university? There is a thin line between GOP ideology and racism and it appears that this charlatan of academia (ASU President Crow) was all but too happy to blur the lines in an attempt to justify his insidious beliefs.  Let me make it perfectly clear that I do not believe for one moment, the entire staff of professors and administrators at Arizona State University to be bigots and ideologues of political obstruction.  However, I do believe that ASU President Crow is a representative of “old guard” ASU alumni and state officials who do not respect our current President and his administration.  Because the state of Arizona has an African American population of fewer than 5 percent as opposed to the national average of approximately 12.8 percent, state officials have very little interest in accepting and promoting racial diversity.  This is evident in the state’s resistance of observing MLK day as a National Holiday and it’s recent barring of Arizona public schools from teaching it’s students any subject that may be interpreted as being counter to democracy and Western civilization.  The mastermind behind this racist ideology is Arizona Representative Russell Pearce.  The measure appeared as an amendment to Senate Bill 1108, which originally would have made minor changes to the state’s Homeland Security advisory councils.  By the way, the House Appropriations Committee approved the new proposal on a 9-6 vote.  Additionally, the measure would outlaw students of the state’s universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their members, such as the Black Business Students Association at Arizona State University. 

    It appears that state elected officials of Arizona haven’t caught up with the reality that the world has changed in its view of cultural and racial diversity, or perhaps ASU President Crow has acknowledged the change and likens himself to legendary Arizona sheriff Wyatt Earp and like Minnesota’s crazy ass (I had to say it) Representative, Michele Bachmann, is planning on rallying all hired guns for a shoot out at O.K. Corral.

    “The Art of War” is in full effect.

    If you feel as hurt and disturbed as I do, here is an address and telephone number to Arizona State University’s President that you may want to have, just in case you want to send him a letter or drop him a call in regard to your disgust with his university’s pomposity and hypocrisy:

     

    Academic/Administrative Requests
    Office of the President
    Mail Code 7705
    PO Box 877705, Tempe AZ
    85287-7705
    Phone: (480) 965-8972
    FAX: (480) 965-0865

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 7 months ago
  • Views: 157
  • Not yet rated

• It's All About "The Benjamins"

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     

     

     

    I’m starting to believe from what I read and hear, that a very large percentage of us Black folk believe that racial hatred is the primary motivation behind the Republican’s strategy of obstructing President Obama’s attempt to effectively govern this country. With all due respect to those who have that belief, it's more than a racial hatred “thing”.  The political tug of war between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party evolves around political ideology.  Liberals versus Conservatives, Conservatives versus Liberals. The foundation of the political tug of war is based on their party's core beliefs and core values. The issue of race is injected as a ploy by the Party’s top leaders as a way of tipping the political scale to their party's advantage. We should understand that the Democratic Party when they find it advantageous, will state that the Republican Party is not sensitive to the interests (Present and Future) of Black, Brown, Yellow and Red Americans. (Be it true or false) The Republican Party when they find it advantageous, will spread fear, lies and distrust about non Whites, advocates of choice, and in general whatever “boogieman” that they can conjure (through the use of loyal surrogates) in an attempt to energize a certain segment of their party's base and in an attempt to persuade the “middle of the road” Americans to vote in line of what the Republican core values represent. Most importantly, keep in mind that much of the “war” that we are witnessing between the two dominant political parties is a war based on controlling unimaginable amounts of money and power, which in all honesty, is the “wheel” that turns the secular world that we live in.  Look, I would be grossly ignorant if I were to state that racial prejudice / hatred is not a pestilence that adversely effects the minds of the “crazies” who want to see President Obama fail.  We must stand firm as Americans against the “crazies” that want to revert to an openness of hate and violence. Too many people (of all ethnicities) have given their lives for us to just stand around and not be vigilant against the hate and ignorance that threatens our opportunity to live the “American Dream” as envisioned by our parents and the parents of our parents. My challenge is for all Americans to see beyond the initial layer of BS that is often camouflaged and packaged by both parties in order to obtain our vote.  Let us understand that whether we vote Democratic or Republican, we must hold our elected officials responsible for representing what is best for us and our children. In reality, when all is said and done, the words of Sean “Puffy” Combs (OK, P Diddy- or whatever Mr. Combs prefer) comes into play, "It's all about the Benjamins". Let’s educate ourselves and insist that our children are taught in school the principles of economics, math, history and science. Let’s never lose our faith in God and His love and His omnipotence. In closing, let’s as a people born of royalty, keep thinking and keep achieving.  Take care and God Bless. The Sarge

     

     

                                                                                                                                   

  • Blog post
  • 7 months ago
  • Views: 106

• ...almost fought Bobby Brown i

  • From: jackhammer
  • Description:

    In late January 1994, Atlanta was host of the twenty-eighth Super Bowl between the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills.  It was excitement everywhere in Atlanta.  The night before the game I was taking pictures at the pre-Super Bowl festivities- mainly at the Underground where the party was live.  There were thousands of people; including NFL players from other teams. That night, I met a very beautiful woman who said she was Keith Sweats wife.  Her name was Lisa Sweat.  She was fine as hell.  She told me she was an aspiring writer.  Eventually I joined the party and got drunk. 

         When I returned to the shelter the staff questioned my whereabouts.  I ignored him and staggered to my room.  Doddy questioned me as well, but I passed out.  The following day I woke up with a terrible hangover.  I slept all day and missed the Super Bowl.  It had come and gone.

        I was working hard at my security job.  One day I learned that Advanced had lost the contract with Fulton County, and I would soon be out of a job.  Spring had come and the deadline for our stay in the shelter was near.  I didn’t panic since we saved some money and participated in a community help program that helped with your rent.  Finally, we moved out of the shelter to Stone Mountain, Georgia.  Our apartment complex was named Englewood.  Our security job’s had expired but it wasn’t a big problem though, especially since I received over three thousand dollars on my income tax that year.  We furnished the house and formally began our living in Atlanta.

         Stone Mountain had a history.  For decades white-hooded Klansmen flocked to the large granite mountain to gather annually.  They celebrated Confederate heroes, who were sculpted into the side of the mountain.  That town was strange. 

        The neighborhood we lived in was all Black and Mexican.  I decided to take advantage of the programs at the Georgia Community Help Center.  They would pay your rent for at least four months if you faithfully attended their programs.  That was great.  But what was even better, I was able to obtain a position as an outreach specialist for the company.  Also, I was hired to work with a non-emergency transportation company, which transported single mothers to appointments abroad and at the Georgia Community Help Center.  It was a descent hook-up.  I had two jobs in one.  However, I had to find a way to keep the cash flowing until my jobs began.  I came up with an idea to write term papers for local college students for a fee.  After all, colleges were everywhere in Atlanta.  I passed fliers out on the campuses namely Morehouse and Spellman. Surprisingly, three students responded to my Ad, mainly since Freaknic weekend was soon approaching.  Two of the papers I wrote were book reports.  Luckily, the report was about the same book, “Sula” by Toni Morrison.  It was an excellent book I had the pleasure of reading. 

         Freaknic weekend had come, and I was prepared to make a lot of money taking pictures.  I bought some film and went out on a paper chase.  There were black people everywhere in Atlanta, and I was everywhere taking three-dollar pictures, too.

    I was about to take a picture of some girl at the Atlanta Underground when she asked me to hold on. 

     

    “I need to find a man to take this picture with me.”  She said.

     

         As I waited patiently for her to complete her search, I noticed her spring toward a man who was coming out a door to the Underground.  She ran in his direction and wrapped her arm around his neck. 

     

    “Take the pictures.”  She yelled with an excited voice.

     

         After her picture was ready I went to her to exchange it for the three dollars that I charged.  As I approached her I noticed the man that she snatched up was singer Bobby Brown.  When I asked her for the money Bobby questioned what I was doing taking pictures of him and selling them.

     

    “How much is in it for me.”  He asked.

    “You can have a $1.50.’’  I said, thinking he was joking.

     

         What did I say that for?  He became angry, swearing at me in an intimidating fashion.  I didn’t respond because he was with an entourage of knucklehead wannabe players.  Eventually he walked away with his pants hanging off his ass like some young boy.  But I say this:  If he only knew I would have body slammed him so quick his boys would have felt his pain.  And Whitney Baby you have my deepest sympathy. 

  • Blog post
  • 7 months ago
  • Views: 163

• cactjms09

  • Views: 72
  • Since: 7 months ago

• Elegance Not Trash

  • From: TheSarge1960
  • Description:

     

     

    Good day and God Bless.  I apologize for taking a few days longer than I originally planned to write this piece. It took a little longer for me to write this article, mostly because I wanted to take ample time to reflect on the insult made towards our country’s First Lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama, by conservative radio commentator Tammy Bruce. On March 23, 2009, Tammy Bruce was the guest host on the Laura Ingram’s radio show which is owned by Fox media. Tammy Bruce, as expected by Laura Ingram’s ultra right wing conservative radio audience, was relentlessly berating Mrs. Obama’s recent visit to a Washington, D.C. classroom.  Putting it all into context, Mrs. Obama was explaining to the young class that achieving high grades in school was not only fundamental to achieving personal success, but, was actually a very cool thing to strive for. Mrs. Obama shared with the class her own personal struggles of being called names by some of her school peers, just because she received A’s in her studies.  The First Lady stated that she was even mocked by some schoolmates for sounding “White” when she spoke.  Now, for us people of color, we know exactly what the First Lady meant when she made that particular statement.  Who among us who have strived to enunciate the English language as taught to us by either good parents or good teachers haven’t had to endure such mockery by our peers?   Evidently Tammy Bruce is as ignorant to this type of Black / Brown adolescent ridicule as she is ignorant to recognizing the difference between elegance and trash.  Working herself into some sort of pseudo religious frenzy that would have made Rush Limbaugh proud, (and perhaps Laura Ingram) Bruce, indicated that our President was married to trash.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m deeply insulted by this attack on Michelle Obama.  The First Lady has shown the panache and refinement at the Whitehouse not seen since the days of Jackie Kennedy.  In my opinion, not only does she display confidence and style, but in the words of Dave Chappelle, she “keeps it real”.  Michelle Obama is both brilliant and beautiful.  What really is a testament to the First Lady’s grit and determination is, Michelle Obama is from the south side of Chicago and she graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School.  Let’s not forget that the south side of Chicago is where the fictional Evans family from the 1970s show “Good Times” lived. We all remember the struggles of James and Florida Evans as they tried to raise their children in the “hood”.  It was from this “hood” that our future First Lady began to believe in her academic abilities as inspired and motivated by BOTH her parents. Additionally, our First Lady is the loving and caring mother of two beautiful little girls who show the respect to their parents that is reminiscent of old school upbringing.  No doubt, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the best friend and wife to our nation’s President and in her own right is as brilliant as he.  If you are as angry as I am at Tammy Bruce, let’s hear it.  Let’s put on our thinking caps and come up with a solution that will teach her and Fox media a lesson that they will never forget.  In particular this article is written for every woman that has ever worn hoop earrings and has dreamt the impossible dream. This article is for my mother who I pray is currently with our Father in Heaven and for all my aunts and female cousins that showed a young brother love.    

  • Blog post
  • 8 months ago
  • Views: 149

• msurbanproletariat

  • Views: 61
  • Since: 8 months ago

• OH!OH!OH! This is an OUTRAGE

  • From: dormar
  • Description:

    I find it very disappointing there is no more TJMS so now Chicago only gets one black dj in the mornings and its Steve Harvey!! Please. This is outrageous. Tom Joyner, Jay and Sybil had substanance. I don't need someone to explain when to drink brown liquor, pretend to be an illerate preacher and explain what Peabo meant in Feel the Fire. I was there.  Whats going to happen to Tom's foundations and the amazing things he did for students. How will Sybil break a foot off in someone? It will be hard to live without Jays humor and murdered hits! I thought it was hard getting up in the mornings - no TJMS will be really hard. If there is someone I can let know that I will no longer listen to any Clear Channel stations or support any of their sponsors, please let me know.

  • Blog post
  • 8 months ago
  • Views: 164
  • Not yet rated

• Tom listeners in Chicago area

  • From: ttskt1
  • Description:

    I can't count the number of years I have been awakened by the TJMS. Jay Anthony Brown cracking his jokes; sible wilk claiming to be "miss goodie 2shoe"; boy will I miss them. I didn't get the chance to ask them what ever happened to "Dee Whiteman" or even Ms Dupree. Its as though someone has died; I really wasn't trying to hear on the local news that he had been let go by Clear Channel. It was my information source and I will miss him terribly.

    After trying to listen to Steve Harvey this morning it wasn't the same; no disrespect to Steve, because I respect him as a successful black man doing his thing and doing what he do, but I like what I like and the TJMS supply an abundance of information to his listeners in Chicago; all I could do was turn off my radio; DAMN

    Bye Tom; I just joined this site; I'm powerless of your demise here in Chicago, but I'm not powerless over logging into Blackamericaweb and keeping in touch; Thanks for all you do; keep doing it.  I'll have to find a way to continue on without hearing the TJMS each morning.

  • Blog post
  • 8 months ago
  • Views: 124
  • Not yet rated