For me to go to Heaven,

“In order for me to go to heaven, I may have to forgive him. But I will never ever forget, as long as I stay Black. And I don’t see any chance of me turning White.” -  Evelyn Turner while being interviewed by CBS Evening News. The 80 year-old woman is opposing the candidacy of Senator Jeff Sessions as Trump’s attorney general. Turner’s grouse was that 33 years ago, the terribly racist Sessions practically brought financial ruins upon her family. And this was because she and her husband (as Civil Rights activists) were helping to get people registered to vote.

We Must Vote.

 

"Too many of my friends gave their lives for our right to vote. I think about them every time I step into the voting booth.

I remember their faces, the sounds of their voices. I wonder what could have been, had we not been cheated of their light - of their lives.  

We must never, ever forget their sacrifice. We must honor it and cherish it. Tell your friends: We must vote."

- John Lewis, Congressman for Georgia 's Fifth District, civil rights hero, and author of March.



The Ten Commandments Brouhaha in Oklahoma.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma ruled in a 7-2 decision that the Ten Commandments statue on Capitol grounds violated the state’s constitution and therefore, must be removed. Since this ruling, Christians across the United States have been expressing self-righteous disgust, disappointment and anger over the court’s decision. 

As a Christian though, I refuse to be concerned or outraged by the legally-ordered removal of a mere object of decoration when several pressing issues are calling for attention. Isn’t this the United States where popular religions have largely been bastardized and turned into one big joke? This is a country where a guy (well-known in his community as a Muslim cleric) and who, actually was observing the current Islamic fasting season, went on a drive-by shooting of his rivals in the drug-dealing business. This is a nation where the most vocal Christians are the most racist, prejudiced and hateful of people different from their race. And this is God’s own country where a lot of the so-called religious people are closet gays, on-the-down low, pedophiles, sexual perverts and serial hypocrites. They preach one thing in public but practice something else in private.

By the way, George Carlin (American social critic, actor, and author) had the following reaction to the issue: "Here is the real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post 'Thou shalt not steal,' 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' and 'Thou shalt not lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians."

A Poetic Justice in Mississippi.

“The sadness of this day also has an element of irony to it: Each defendant was escorted into court by agents of an African-American United States Marshal, having been prosecuted by a team of lawyers which includes an African-American AUSA from an office headed by an African-American U.S. attorney — all under the direction of an African-American attorney general, for sentencing before a judge who is African-American, whose final act will be to turn over the care and custody of these individuals to the BOP [Federal Bureau of Prisons] — an agency headed by an African-American.”

– Being excerpt from a speech read by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, (one of just two African-Americans to have ever served as federal judges in Mississippi) while he pronounced sentences on three young white men for the death of a 48-year-old black man named James Craig Anderson in a parking lot in Jackson, Miss., one night in 2011. They were part of a group that beat Anderson and then killed him by running over his body with a truck, yelling "white power" as they drove off.

Selma and America’s Ugly Past.

I have resolved to stay away from movies about slavery and the American Jim Crow eras. They only evoke anger in me. It took some persuasions before I finally summoned the courage to see Selma. And I realized that it was positively, “a different kettle of fish”.

In the aftermath of watching the movie though, I came away with the following personal conclusions:

1. America, as great and as wonderful as it is, is a nation that is being horribly hunted by too much evil and bloodshed that were unleashed on innocent people in its past. For instance, there were the four little girls (see their picture below) that were bombed while inside their 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on Sunday, September 15, 1963. It was described as an  act of white supremacist terrorism. It’s been over 50 years and I wonder about the lunatics with pea-sized brains in Ku Klux Klan who perpetrated the evil. Many of them would have died and probably re-incarnated somewhere else by now. In Metaphysics, there is a discourse on the Law of Karma (as you sow, so you shall reap). Therefore, for those animals in human shapes and their ilk that unleashed so much hatred, evil and bloodshed, it’s easy to figure out the possible fate of their souls. And these are manifested in the many “strange” diseases, negative phenomena, natural calamities and an excessive presence of depressions in a nation so rich-blessed. While people in countries such as Norway, Denmark and others across the world are being celebrated as the happiest, "God’s own country" is well-known as the home of the most miserable people in the world. Happiness can only thrive on the foundation of benevolence, peace and tranquility.

2. One thing has remained constant in spite of the evil and bloodshed that doted the landscapes of the America’s ugly, dark past. Back then, there were some white folks that stuck their necks out on the side of the maligned black people. And they did this at the risk of physical attacks that often led to severe injuries and deaths. They deserve to be celebrated along with Dr. Martin Luther King and the other heroes.

3. Finally, it’s a shame to see how ignorant and nonchalant some blacks behave when it comes to exercising their voting rights. Selma and other horrible places in the American south have shown us that too many black folks died or got maimed just so as to pave the way for the future generations to vote. Therefore, any black person who refuses to vote at every American election is not only being ungrateful and self-defeatist but also declaring himself or herself non-existent and voiceless!

The four girls killed in the bombing (Clockwise from top left, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair). May their tender and gentle souls continue to rest in perfect peace.

 

The Hues and Cries Over Oscar Snub of Selma.

"I guess we’re not free at last.

Ha! That’s the quote right there...

“Guess we’re not free at last, not free at last,

we’re not — according to the Academy — free at last!” - Spike Lee (In response to the question "What did you think of the Oscar voters’ snub of Selma director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo?”)

I’m still trying to understand what all the hues and cries are all about in regard to the Oscar voters’ snub of the movie, Selma. Where is the surprise? In a 2012 survey, the Los Angeles Times found out that the “Academy” was 94% white, overwhelmingly male and with a median age of 62. The problem now therefore is this: with about 7,000 members, and no mandatory retirement, diversity among the Oscar-voters is going to take a very long time to manifest.

Let’s face it. This is America. The same good, old America. Everything in God’s own country always have something to do with race. It’s only worse in certain socio-economic sectors of the nation. And one of those sectors is the movie industry. That’s where an individual makes bundles of money by pretending to be someone else. As for the product of each endeavor though, considerations for rewards are based more on race than the actual creativity invested.

In the world of make-believe, whenever a movie is produced or directed by a black person, it’s automatically at the mercy of the cynical, nose-thumbing mainstream media that is dominated and controlled by the whites. The first objective of a majority of media “reviewers” is to promptly brand the artistic work a “black movie”. And this is done with a red, hot iron. With this negative branding as a foundation, the “black movie” will now be subjected to every bit of ignorance the “reviewers” can muster. Ask Tyler Perry.

Therefore, whatever the white-male-dominated Oscars’ voters come up with will merely be a follow-up to the earlier “hatchet man job” of the mainstream media. That’s how it’s been done and that’s how it will be done for a long time. Those Oscar-voting guys are especially allergic to any movie that is historically-rich and those that celebrate anything positive about the black cultures. Otherwise, movies such as Malcolm X, Red Tails, Hurricane, Akeelah and the Bee and several others would have picked up several Oscars.

It’s however “a different kettle of fish” where a movie is based on the holocaust or “mainstream” American history. No matter how silly it appears, such a movie will have all the “reviewers” and Oscar voters falling all over themselves in adoration. The same goes for any movie produced or directed by Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and a host of other “anointed guys” of Hollywood. The club is not only elitist but also controlled by white men. Therefore, what better way to prevent the director of Selma from rubbing shoulders with these elites in Hollywood than to deprive her of an Oscar nod? If only Ms. DuVernay was white, a man and possibly named Spielberg or Eastwood, Selma would have been drowned in Oscar nominations.

There is one major consolation though. Selma will remain a great movie.

Martin Luther King in SELMA.

David Oyelowo and movie director, Ava Duvernay spent seven years trying to get the film, SELMA made. When asked why he thought it took so long, he noted that not many films center around a Black protagonist. The actor added that it’s especially difficult for stories with historic dramas of this magnitude.

“Often, those films are told through the eyes of a white character, that is imposed upon the story that impacts who should be the protagonist through the movie. That’s how these films have been done, a la ‘Mississippi Burning.’ I truly believe that “Selma” benefited from “The Butler” and “12 Years a Slave” doing so well, not just critically, not just at the box office domestically, but also overseas. There are all lies we’ve been told for so many years: black doesn’t travel; black people don’t want to see historical dramas; white people don’t want to be made to feel guilty. These are all reasons I feel that the movie wasn’t getting off the ground.” - David Oyelowo, the Nigerian-British actor who stars as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in SELMA.

Al Sharpton: The Gold Fish has no Hiding Place.

When the news broke the other day that one of the highly visible and vocal civil rights activists in the black community, Rev. Al Sharpton owed some money in unpaid taxes, I was not really surprised. Guys like that, in spite of the pious image they portray to the public, usually have some stinking skeletons in their cupboards.

I was however surprised to learn that the amount he owed was in the sum of $4.5 million! According to an investigation conducted by the New York Times, Sharpton “regularly sidestepped” taxes, rent and other bills. His non-profit organization National Action Network alone owes over $1 million in overdue payroll taxes. Now, how could taxes be deducted from the employees of his organization without the same taxes being remitted to the Internal Revenue Service?

For Al Sharpton, it is a double moral tragedy.

In his desire to fight for justice and the civil rights of other people, Al Sharpton does not necessarily have to be a holy angel or a saint. But he is not only a sundry civil rights activist but also someone who strongly lays a claim to religious leadership, a factor on which rests the bulk of his reputation. For this factor therefore, he definitely needs to be morally above board.

And in silly attempt at self-defense, Sharpton appeared on the CNN yesterday saying that the reported $4.5 million was the original figure he was ordered to pay back in 2008, but that he has been making regular payments since then and the amount is now less. Pleaseeeee! Can someone please tell this guy that whether 2008 or 2014, he has no moral right to owe taxes, period!

Sharpton cannot, on the one hand, strive to be seen as a respected “man of God” that is playing “savior” all over the place while, on the other hand, he is grossly shirking in his civic responsibility to pay taxes in his individual capacity and as a business man who owns some for-profit companies such as Raw Talent and Revals Communications.

If a famous, money-making public figure such as Al Sharpton refused to pay taxes why should poor, ordinary folks like me pay?

Tom Brokaw on Gun Control.

On Thursday's "Morning Joe," Brokaw declared that the raging gun control debate reminded him of another chapter in America's history.

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004.

Speaking on the salient topic, the veteran broadcaster said “It reminds me a lot of what happened in the South in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Good people stayed in their houses and didn't speak up when there was carnage in the streets and the total violation of the fundamental rights of African-Americans as they marched in Selma, and they let Bull Connor and the redneck elements of the South and the Klan take over their culture in effect and become a face of it. And now a lot of people who I know who grew up during that time have deep regrets about not speaking out."

Above picture shows the 9-year-old girl that accidentally shot her trainer. But why, in God's name, would anyone with common sense put an Uzi in the hands of a little 9-year-old?

Brokaw stated further that "Now it's time for the people who do have strong feelings, who are feeling that they can't do anything about it, to kind of band together and have something to say here."

 

Isn't it a Free World?

It’s the rights of people 
to be who 
they want to be 
and be called 
by whatever name 
they freely choose.
If a woman 
proudly 
calls herself a bitch, 
who are you to disapprove?
Isn't it a free world?

It’s the rights of people  
to be treated 
as they wish 
to be treated.
Nothing
is more unfair 
than calling a bitch,
a lady.
Neither is anything 
more disrespectful
than treating a bitch,
any way 
except like a dog.
Isn't it a free world?