The life and chronicles of Mark Bey (Peoples Bad Kids)

I remember when I was growing up my parents had friends Washington DC who they had grown up with. During the summertime we would spend 2 weeks there every year. These folks were named the William's. Now I loved spending time with the Williams in Washington Dc because we could do things we never could do at home in Maryland.


I mean it was great Im talking about adventures traveling through the hoods at night time to make pilgrimages to the store or the gas station for a cold soda's and candy, mobbing the ice cream truck, playing night time basketball, football and various other activities and just hanging out in the hood. Sometimes at 2 oclock in the morning.

At night time before we went to bed all of the kids would have to wash thier feet and put thier tennis shoes in the windows to let them breathe. I mean these were the early 80's and although the parents had an air conditioner in thier room, and thier was one in the living room were we would all gather around to watch tv thier were no air conditioners in where else in the house. So of course we employed the good old fan.

Anyway it was during these times that I first witnessed a peculiar behavior amongst some people with kids. Now during those those summers the house would also be filled with kids most of whom were related to the Williams. Some of the kids were thier grandkids of course and these are the people I mainly attached myself to bieng a kid myself. Anyway Mrs. Williams and her daughters were constantly telling me how bad I was and sometimes whuppin my a@s. They really seemed to be claiming that I was really, really bad. The problem with this is their kids were a lot worse.

In fact it wasnt even close their kids were several times worse than I was. I have noticed over the years that some people actually demonized other folks kids as bieng particularly "bad" when their children are just as bad sometimes worse. I mean whats that all about?

These My Babies

I always liked these girls. My buddy had the album and I remember listening to it with him one night over beers and chess. I remember thinking this is good but I didnt think they were anything special.

I did think they were gifted because I knew they had wrote that song Butterflies which was hot once upon a time. So you could say I liked Floetry but I didnt love them. Anyway that is before I saw this performance of getting late. All I say is SIZZLING and also I am now a life long member of the Floetry Fan club. I have drinkin the coolaid.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE

Ok Folks when I got home from yesterday I did the thing I did usually do when I first get home, which is to get out of my work clothes and then slip into something more comfortable.

Anyway after that I continued along my usual routine if I have bought a six pack ofbeer I put 5 beers into the fridge where they will be safe and protected and took one out of the pack for immediate self medicating.

I sit down at the computer which is also is part of the routine, I turn on the computer, try to log on to the internet and what do you know no connection.
After 30 minutes of trying to log on and getting no love I was forced to call verizon. AFter bieng on hold for another 10 minutes I finally get a customer service rep who tells me thier is a block on my account and the department that handles situations like mine is closed until the next day.

Talk about bieng annoyed and not bieng able to satisfy my addiction to blogging that was me alright. Anyway this unfortunate incident got me thinking about how important the internet has become in the daily life of millions of people. I couldnt help but wonder if you had to choose which one could you not do without between

1) The internet
2) TV
3) The radio
4) The telephone or
5) Favorite CD or all time

THE LADY DAY

THE LADY DAY
WILL NEVER DIE
FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND


AS MUSIC PLAYS
IT ALSO CRIES
TO LIFT THE SOUL OF MAN

THE BLUES SHE SUNG
WITH TEARFUL EYES
FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTOOD

AND LIKE THE SUN
HER VOICE WOULD RISE
AND MAKE US ALL FEEL GOOD

AFROSPEAR ALERT! AFROSPEAR RECRUITMENT NEXT WEEK!

Please, Please, Please JOIN THE AFROSPHRE FORUM. After you sign up you should get a confirmation email shortly after, if you don't receive a confirmation email please register under a different email and password and you should then receive a confirmation email.

We are starting a recruitment drive to bring in new members I say lets bring in 100 members within the next 2 months. Their are low hanging targets we can hit that can possibly bring about big change. Things such as signing online partitions that target the support companies that put out hip hop with a destructive message.

If we could get a dedicated few people working diligently on specific issues we can attract other committed intellectual talent. Then we could brainstorm on how exactly we would use the forum to hone ideas that turn into projects that make a difference in the lives of black people. Now I know folks gotta work, spend time with their kids and families etc and after all of that know want one wants to be bogged and beat down with serious social topics all of the time.

That is why it is important to recruit new members to this forum. If we have got 400 instead of 40 then that would allow each member to contribute and work at a pace that would be flexible and comfortable for each forum member.

I like to think of it like this their would be many progressive and brilliant minds pointing their intellectual energy in the direction of solutions to eradicate some of the problems black people are having. Our collective energy and wisdom would be used to further a positive and uplifting socially conscious pro black agenda. Here is an Article by Bronze Trinity with some suggestions on how we can go about recruiting. Bronze Trinity has developed a message that could be sent out as an invitation to join the afrosphere forum.

" Dear Blogger, you are invited to become a member of the Afrospear. We are a group of concerned African Diaspora bloggers who discuss problems that affect people of African descent, create solutions and action plans to solve those problems, and inact those plans using internet resources. Please sign up for the Afrospear Forum at http://afrospear.jconserv.net/ , visit the Afrospear Think Tank at http://afrospear.wordpress.com/ , and take a look at the Afrospear Online Paper at http://www.pageflakes.com/bronzetrinity . We want to change the world and we can do it with your help. Please join because we value your membership. If you do not want to join then please consider getting involved with the Save Darfur campaign and the Boycott China to Save Darfur campaigns. You can read about them here http://www.savedarfur.org/ , and here http://bronzetrinity.efx2.com/view/90069/ Take Action and Please Spread the Word!"

Black Clergies moral contract with black america

IF you read this blog then you are familiar with my annoyance with all religions of the world. To be honest I consider them to be fairytales. However I do think great and good can be done and is in fact done everyday by christians, Jews, Muslims ect.

So I can deffinately see a public benifit to the existence of religion (even if I think all of them are bogus)and they are a powerful tool in the ongoing effort to advance all of human kind. I believe if god has annointed you then calling yourself a preacher should be a responsibility and a privledge not an entitlement to be awarded to anyone who claims they are called. Along with bieng annointed by god should come the responsibility of truly leading and training the members of their church and the larger black community. The preachers need to be well rounded enough to give thoughtful advice on various topics.


Recently I saw a show in which Bishop Harry R Jackson proposed a moral contract with black america. That is all well and good but how about a black clergies moral contract with black america. Here are some examples of items I think it should address. If you could think of some items please list them in the comment section or if you beleive any of the items I have listed should be taken off then leave those suggestions in the comment section as well.


1) The clergy will make education an overwhelming priority in the church, starting with investing more brain power and money into programs that tutor and emphasize educatioin as well as train people to lead and nuture this educational reform movement into existence.

2) The black clergy will make themselves aware of the causes of aids and how hiv is spread and will take effective and ugent leadership on this issue. The black church should never ever again insist that aids or any other diseases that may affect humans biengs is a curse by god against any group of human biengs. The black clergy will focus on aids and in no uncertain terms demonstrate effective leadership on that issue.

3) The black church will no longer endorse any candidates democratic or republican but will teach blacks how to interpret the political process allow us to make our own desicions, then provide an environment were we can discuss some of these points, learn and grow from them.

4) The black clergy will began to live and dress piously

5) The black church well insist very strongly that all of its congregants actually read the bible and will make audio recordings of the bible available to all of its congregants (this can be done via internet).

6) No black preacher shall recieve a salary more than the average black american recieves annually.

7) Any black preacher caught in an adulterous affair should have to resign immediately and earn thier way back to whatever rank they enjoyed after a long and repentful process.

THE MORAL CONTRACK WITH BLACK AMERICA

Good After noon folks. I was watching the Tony Brown show this morning (channel 32 in dc). I was interested by some of the things this cat ( Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr)was saying about reform in black america. Now this dude is Preacher which one strike against him, but hes also a republican which is another strike against him but he was saying some things that made sense.

Now I dont care for republicans much because I feel like they think thier above the rules they insist everyone else follow and when I see a black republican I am usually annoyed after listening them even briefly. Anyway black reblicans are humans too and although I aint feeling the repblicans if any black indiviual republican or demonocrat has something progressive to say or are trying to do I am willing to listen. Although I agreed with much of what he was saying I found him extremely annoying especially when he started talking about George Bush.

However he did propose something very interesting ideas including called the moral contract with black america. Most of the points made in this document I agree with. I do not agree with his naming it " the moral contract with black america" however. Although I may agree in spirit with such a contract the name should be changed to something more positive I thnk the implication that could be taking from such a name is that black people are immoral and that is a message that is not acceptable to put out thier. The name may or not be and I can take it or leave it what I cant take is any implication that all or most blacks are immoral.

Lastly as one of his points he mentions school vouchers and creation of charter schools. I am against school vouchers and charter schools if they take money and resources away from the public schools. If they dont take from the public schools then I am all for the creation of them. Either way the african american communty needs to make education an urgent priority. The black church needs to put as much focus and attention into doing for education what it does for music, the excellence the black church produces in the areas of music should be matched in education. Anyway below is a copy of the contract. Take a look and let me know what you think.


Also I dont agree with them focusing on prohibiting same sex marraige I think thats a non issue.

" Marriage: Focus on prohibiting same-sex marriage.

• Wealth creation: Private Social Security investment accounts and encouraging homeownership.

• Education: School vouchers, charter schools and boosting black enrollment in higher education.

• Prison reform: Including a "Second Chance Act," reentry programs and laws restoring the rights of felons.

• Africa: Intervention in Sudan and penalties against corporations that explore for oil in the region.

• Healthcare overhaul: Including programs to cover the poor."

Source: Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., Hope Christian Church, College Park, Md.

Los Angeles Times

FREELOADERS (LAWD HAVE MERCY I CANT STAND MOOCHES)

This post is about a group of people who have always annoyed the hell out me. Im talking about folks who are always trying to freeload and get over on people. Let me give you an example of what Im talking about.

Ten or so years ago at one of my various jobs over that time period, I was employed on a job with about ten brothas and sistas who were very similar in backround to myself. None of us lived lavishily or came from the upper class or even upper middle class backrounds. You know the routine none of us was making enough money and quite often we where running on fumes when payday came around. When pay days came around folks where were living it up eating what and where they wanted but by that second week it was brown bag and oodles and noodles lunch action.

Anyway we all made similar amounts of money but thier was always this one particular cat who would try to get over every chance he could. I mean if you went to McDonalds this dude would never give you enough money for his order and then look at you with that we boys aint we, hook me up expression.

Or during quiting times on friday night when we would all chip in for a couple of six packs and maybe a bottle of Hennesy. We would drive down to a the waterfront (potomac river) which was a 1 minute car ride away from the job. Across the street thier was a basketball court which is where we would converge on sometimes first playing a little night time basketball and then we would drink our beer and hennesy after getting our ball on.

Do you know this cat (freeloader) would rarely chip in for the beer and hennesy but would always have his cup out for a taste and quite often that taste would end up bieng the same taste that the rest of us got. No matter what it was, whenever we got together and tried to fund pizza or beer friday or whatever other team building activities we were doing this cat was alwasy thier with empty pockets and cup out. When the fellas would get together to buy a couple of bags of urban medication this cat would even try to medicate for free!

Now Im not advocating using or abusing urban medication but if you want medication you should ad least be willing to contribute to the cause. Along the way I have known or dealt with these kind of folks quite often I could not stand them back in the day and I dont care much for them now. Come to speak of it that cat still owes me 20 dollars just like a Mooch to borrow somethng and not pay it back.

Come to think of it I think excessive mooching should be made illegal. MESSAGE TO ALL OF THE MOOCHES STOP MOOCHING AND CONTRIBUTE YOUR FAIR SHARE TO WHATEVER CAUSES YOU WANT TO PARTICPATE IN.

Is the Black Church Guilty of Criminal Negligence ?

This is a paragraph from a letter addressed to President Bush asking him to show leadership on the Dafur issue. This letter is endorsed by some very prominent and high profile black leaders some of which are preachers.
“Mr. President, we request that you demonstrate authentic leadership. Among the strategies you should pursue are:
1) immediate deployment of a robust UN peacekeeping force;
2) a no-fly zone over Darfur;
3) freezing the assets of all Sudanese officials involved in the genocide; and
4) pressure on China, a major buyer of Sudan's oil, to use its economic leverage to hold the Sudanese government accountable http://nativeson.wordpress.com/2007/01/16/naacps-open-letter-to-president-bush-the-time-is-now-for-sudan/

I have nothing against our black leaders or even those from the church bieng involved in the struggle to bring peace and justice to Africa but on the other hand I am profoundly disgusted and enraged over the lack of leadership and common sense shown especially by the black church on the aids issue. Below is a list of all of the preachers who signed the letter to George Bush. I did a google search entitled (Insert any of the Names below) position on aids in the black community.
1) Jamal Bryant
I could find no important statement addressing the aids crisis of black America.

2) Al Sharpton http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/index.html
I could find no substantial statement or initiative on a plan to prevent aids in the black community, from Al Sharpton

3) Reverend Kimberly Barnes, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church
http://metropolitanamec.org/On-Demand%20Webcasts_Archive.htm I could find no position or statement or initiative on a plan to prevent and treat aids in the black community from Reverend Barnes,

4) Reverend Walter Fauntroy
I could find no statement or initiative on a plan to prevent and treat aids in the black community from the Reverend Walter Fauntroy

5) Bishop Vashti Mckenzie
http://www.ame-church.com/ She actually has made some statements concerning aids although she still has not endorsed a robust policy of condom use and distribution amongst black people who are not married.

6) Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Trinity United Church of Chicago
http://www.tucc.org/ministries.htm , I could find no signifigant initiative to fight aids in the black community although he dosent appear to be homophobic.


What I cannot not understand is why the church has not endorsed a policy of advocating condom use for unmarried black people as it is the most effective method of greatly reducing the spread of aids. I cannot understand why the black church has not advocated for testing of the entire black american community, I cannot understand why the black church has not created a united front to prevent the spread of aids in the black community as well as testing and treatment for those infected. I cannot understand why the black church structure has not instituted a policy of testing all of their members as well as others in the black community especially in light of Congresswoman Elanor Holmes Norton bold and necessary action of bieng tested publicly with the Congresional Black Cacause.

It is a well known fact that the rate of aids amongst black people worldwide including america is at epidemic levels. All of america was told starting over 15 years ago, by the surgeon general in no uncertain terms that aids was not a “gay” disease, but in fact it was spread by having unprotected sex with people infected with Hiv, straight or gay.

In fact here is a quote taken from the surgeon general yearly aids report of 1992.

“ How HIV Spreads HIV is in the blood, semen, or vaginal secretions of an infected person. The two main ways of spreading HIV are having sex and using contaminated needles to inject drugs. In addition, infected women can pass HIV infection to their newborns. Unprotected Sex Is Dangerous "Unprotected sex" is sex without a latex condom. HIV can be in semen (including the first drop of fluid, even before ejaculation) and in vaginal fluids. HIV can enter the body through the vagina, penis, rectum, and, when engaging in oral sex, through the mouth. Anal sex is especially risky for both men and women. Any form of unprotected sex is risky, including oral sex. Although condoms are not perfect, they are highly effective in preventing HIV and other STDs when used.”
Below are a list of facts that I believe to be undisputable and which are a total and scathing codemnation of the black churches activities to deal with the aids threat to black America.

Below are facts that I believe to be undisputable.
1) The surgeon general had been reported dating back to 1992 that aids was not caused by bieng gay, but long after 1992 the church was still dogmatically preaching that aids was a curse against homosexuals by god.

2) Many black single church going women have been infected with aids since 1992,long after the time Magic Johnson and Authur Ashe had already went public stating they had contracted hiv through heterosexual activity and a blood transfusion.

3) Black women make up over 73% of all new hiv cases and black children make up 63% of all known cases amongst children of hiv even though black people only comprise 13% percent of the population.

4) Most people black or white do not wait until they are maried to have. This is an obvious, well known and accepted fact by the general public. It just as well known in the black community and church, yet they will not adjust thier views to robustly promote condom use for all unmarried black people having sex. www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t523027.html

5) Since the early 90's thier has been several documented cases of people knowingly infected others with hiv in fact many of these cases have been on the news over the years. http://www.aegis.com/news/lt/1991/LT910110.html

6) Since the early 1990's commercials have aired on the radio and tv announcing that aids was spread thru having unprotected sex with hiv infected people, still no official policy of promoting condom use amongst unmarried black people.

7) Church officials were fully aware of the fact most black people (as well as the general public) have sex before marraige, they absolutely were fully aware of it because of the high out of wedlock birthrate and abortion rate amongst black people and still no official policy promoting condom use amongst black people.

8) Only widespread condom use, clean needle programs and effective drug rehabilitation along with prevention programs can stop the out of control spread of aids in the black community.

9) After 1992 their had been numerous prosecutions of people for purposely infecting people others with aids, it was also accepted fact at the time the you could not tell who had aids by looking at them, all of this has been reported in the news and media at various times over the last 15 years.

Inspite of all of the following items still no official policy in the black church to promote condom use and safe sex amongst unamarried black people.

All of the assertions above are general and well known facts. It is more than obvious to this writer that the black churches campaign to blame gays for aids has resulted in disastrous results for black ameria. It is obvious that the black churches unfair and mean spirited attack on gays has allowed millions of black americans to believe that it was alright to engage in dangerous sexual behavior . After all the church was still dogmatically emphasizing aids as curse against gays by god and not teaching and emphasizing that aids had nothing to do with bieng gay and everything to do with having unsafe sex.

It is also obvious that the black churches prejudice, homophobic and hostile attitutde towards gays is a part of the reason why black people have been so mortally slow to address the issue of aids in our community.

The fact is that there are black women in the church who are Hiv positive some of who have children and unless these women are tested and treated they could end up dying sooner rather than later and what effect would the death of women infected with hiv have on their children and black america. I have to believe that if more preachers had been honest about the realities of the world and advocated for condom use amongst all unmarried people thousands of single black women would not have been infected with hiv.

In fact if their had been rigorous endorsement of that principle it well may have led to more responsible behavior on the part of millions more black Americans. What makes the churches behavior particularly reprehensible is the fact that black women who make up the overwhelming majority of black Americans who support and make the church as powerful as it is have not gotten the wise and thoughtful advise all churches should be given.

Black women are the primary ones who provide the nurturing and parenting of all black kids any threat to these women is a threat to thier kids and all of black america. When the church failed to take leadership and give sound advice on the aids issue they not only endangered black America but also the strength and prosperity of the black church and larger community.


Now the excuse for the church not talking honestly about this and other issues of dire concern to black people is their so called conservatism which is a myth. Also lets take a look at this so called conservatism. From my experiences black preachers are no more conservative than any other group of preachers. Are they any more conservative in their style of dress, behavior, lifestyle, preaching style? Absolutely not.

The only thing conservative about black preachers is their narrow interpretation of the bible and their selective use of morality in demonizing gay people but them basically allowing. Last time I check premarital and adulterous sex were sins as well as homosexuality but I do not remember the church demonizing people in our community about the totally out of control out of wedlock birthrate, crime, fatherless children ect.

It is a fact that all of those things have had an extremely detrimental impact on the black community. So the churces decision to focus overwhelmingly on homosexuality while ignoring promiscuous sex which along with not practicing safe sex has led to the outrageous aids statistics amongst black people. Thier silence is not conservatism it pure hypocrisy and neglect.

In fact I consider their behavior to be 1 billion percent unacceptable. The black church should be held to task on this matter and strongly advised to come up with a plan to mitigate and deal with the ongoing crisis.

Over the last ten years single black women who were members of various churches have contracted aids while bieng members of those churches primarily through having unsafe sex. In spite of the well known fact that you cannot tell by looking at someone if they have Hiv the preachers did not advised people they knew were having unprotect sex to use a condoms and protect themselves.

We (black americans) deserved more out of ourselves we derserve more out of our preachers and other leaders. It is the preachers job to lead by example and in a thoughtful and intellectual way that promotes thought, reasonable and healthy behavior.

It is this writers opinion that all of these things I have stated are true, can be proven and when all of the facts are added up clearly prove negligence on the part of the black church as it relates to this issue.

Conclussion

The black church is guilty of criminal neglect because even long after being warned by the federal government, magic Johnson and Authur Ashe on this issue they still are not displaying common sense leadership on the aids issue. They are guilty because they failed to be thoughtful and curios after the surgeon general and leading government experts were warning all of america about aids and exactly how it was spread. Instead the black church leading on this issue and educating the black communtiy about how this disease was spread they failed to refine themselves and their message sufficiently to allow them to grow, evolve and mature into higher truths and positions. Because of prejudices and biases they choose to focus on the on a narrow interpretation of the bible which allowed them to blame aids on homosexuality and not be called on this by the larger black community. This narrow and ignorant interpretation had various negative and compounding effects on the black community including.

1) Fostering a climate which pressured gay men into pretending they were straight, which resulted in a certain amount of gay men getting married but still carrying on with men, which resulted in some men bringing diseases home.
2) Fostering a climate where men and women who are gay feel ostracized, ridiculed and not taken seriously
3) Allowed black people to continue to have unsafe sex in spite of the danger because after all aids is a curse on homosexuals by god isn’t it?
4)Allowed too many black people to practice dangerous behavior (unprotected sex) because the church had falsely asserted that aids was a curse against homosexuality.

This fairytale amateurish interpretation of christianity was flawed and harmful from the start because it mainly focused on condemning homosexuality which is not the only sin that people committ. Unmarried people where having unprotected sex all the time and that is a sin as well but the preachers didn’t signify about that did they? Also children born out of wedlock has been a gigantic problem within the black over the last 30 years still the no policy by the black church to promote safe sex amongst all unmarried black people having sex.

Because of an extremely narrow interpretation of Christianity/spirituality they chose to vilify homosexuals while excusing/ignoring behavior that was resulting in a 70% out of wedlock birthrate for black children, an hiv death rate 13 times as high for black women as for white and the sad fact that black kids make up 60% of children with aids.

The fact is the black church was warned exactly what was up with Hiv along with the rest of america many, many, many times over the last 25 years and they chose to present fairytale reasons for what was happening while black children were being born infected at much higher rates than all other children in america. How many lives would have been saved if the black church had been proactive on this issue.

What confirms the churches behavior as unacceptable even more is when you consider the fact that preachers, grown men and women have sex outside of marraige and yet they will not advise young boys and girls to practice safe sex and to use condoms, even though we all know they are having sex. The church hasnt done this inspite of the fact that all preachers know what it is like to be 14 year old boys having damn near uncontrolable sexual urges, they can forgive a 60 year old Jesse Jackson for making love children outside of wedlock but they will not advise young black teens to practice safe sex when it is a fact that young peoples urges are much stronger than a 60 year old preacher who is supposedly called by god but still has a child out of wedlock. How on earth can black preachers expect black teens to wait until marraige when Jesse not only gets his freak outside of marraige but makes love children. This is utter non sense and madness on the part of the black community and church to pretend that folks are gonna wait until marraige when every one knows this isnt reality.

They allow Jesse Jackson to continue to call himself a preacher after making a love child outside of marraige during the time of aids. But they dont give thoughtful advise to young black boys who are experiences urges a lot stronger than the urges that that lead Jesse to having a love child outside of marraige. The dispicable part of the black church refusal to address the fact that most people have sex before marraige is this, a young folks sexual urges are stronger than at anytime in thier life and still the church will not lead on the issue of safe sex even after famous black preachers who are old are proven not to be able to control themselves. I consider this pure hypocrisy.

Lastly the black church dosent get to put their heads down and pretend that aids or any other dangerous real world reality don’t exist which is exactly what they have done on the aids issue. Because of the black churches failure to deal with this issue thousands of black children now have to live with aids for which thier is no cure.

In my opinion all of these things combined add up to neglect, indifference and apathy on the part of the black church and that more than qualifies as Criminal Neglegince in my oppinion.

Now to keep it real I dont want the black church damaged in anyway. I just want them to advise people relative to the reality that we live in, not some ideal or fairytale world they wish it was. Especially when preachers themselves dont live up to those standards. I want the church to be a bastion of thought, progressive actions and common sense advice. The church can no longer engage in fairytales while black children are the majority of kids who have aids.

IS IT MENTAL OR PHYSICAL (The urge to tinkle grows worse and worse)

OK folks, this topic right here is something I have been wondering about for a long time. One night during my clubing days (after have a good time) I and my boys hopped in the car to head home after a night of partying. Of course when I first got in the car I had to use the bathroom a little bit but I figured I could hold until I got home.

Anyway along the way someone else had to use the bathroom so we stopped somewhere they could go, I should have gone also but I didnt feel like getting out of the car. After the individual returned to the car and we got back on the road all of a sudden I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad.

So where driving along and someone says they are hungry and we stop at seven eleven to grab some munchies. This time I had no choice but to stay in the car as I really had to go at this point and walking was not a good idea. Anyway after the fellas get thier munchies and get back into the car we get back on the road.

At this point I REALLY REALLY had to go and I was seriously regretting not tinkling before I left the club or when we stopped for a bathroom break. As we drove my need to go potty god worse and worser as the minutes rolled by everylight seem to have been at 10 minutes long.

Finally when we approached the street that I lived on my need to go became unbearable and every second my agony worsened. Finally the car reached my home I and I jumped out yelled goodbyes to my boys as I sprinted up the steps. When I reach the my front door I began to search for my keys and after going through my pockets for what seemed like an eternity I finally find my keys.

At this point I am doing the age old dance that everyone who has had to go to the bathroom really really bad has done. You know the jumping up and done and moving from side to side trying not to pee on ones self. As I attempt to open up the lock on the door I drop my keys on the porch. Finally I manage to get the door open and I sprinted upstairs to the bathroom where I was able to relieve myself finally thank god.

The question I have for the good folks out thier in blog land is this. Do you think that the urge to tinkle growing worse as one gets closer to home is physical or phycological or both?

A COLORED WOMENS LETTER TO THE CRISIS (NAACP'S MAGAZINE) AFTER THE 1919 RACE RIOT

A COLORED WOMENS LETTER TO THE CRISIS (NAACP'S MAGAZINE) AFTER THE 1919 RACE RIOT









The tale of lynching, riots and other forms of racial oppresion were well established into the american culture by the 1919. The overwhelming majority of this intimidation was focused at black people and aimed at keeping them in a social condition that was a close to slavery as possible. Any reaction by individuals in defense of self, families, property or business would have been brutally and sometimes sadistically put down by white america and all of her arms of policy and social implementation.

So in 1919 during the year of the " Red Summer" ( A prase coined by James Weldon Johnson) in which racial riots occured all across the United states of America. Finally in Washington Dc Ex African American soldiers were able to defend themselves and thier neigborhoods from Ex White American Soldiers flooding into African and mixed nieghborhoods to attact black people. What makes this event so signifigant is the fact that during previous lynchings/riots any resistance on the part of blacks would have been looked on as criminal by the police and other goverment agencies.

This resistance even if in direct defense of property and family would have brought swift and sometimes inhuman retribution down on the AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY and afterwards thier would have been mass arrest and other sorts of harassment.During the Washington DC riot of 1919, the Army didnt get involved until black people started pulling white folks off of street cars and beating them in retaliation against the white mobs terrozing black peoples neiborhoods. African Americans also began to fire into street cars full of white passengers in response to similar behavior by white mobs which was allowed to happen by local police authorities.

This is also when the Newspapers which had help to incite the riot by scandolous reports of a "negro fiend attacking white women" (an often used tactic to justify mob violence on the part of whites directed at african americans) began to call for police officials to take measures to stop the rioting and violence. Only when black people began to defend themselves did the newspapers call for the army to be deployed to stop the rioting.

I remember watching a video of Malcolm X saying that during one of the southern riots in the 1960's the National Gaurd was not deployed until black people started busing white southerners upside the head. The 1919 Washingtong DC riot was only one of many that red summer in 1919 it was the first time that blacks had stood in orginize defence of themselves on such a large scale level. Below is a letter sent by a black women to The Naacp Crisis Newspaper after the riot praising black men for fighting the white mobs terrorizing black neighborhoods.



" A Southern Colored Woman, Letter to the Editor, The Crisis, Vol. 19 (November 1919), p. 339.

The Washington riot gave me the thrill that comes once in a life time. I . . . read between the lines of our morning paper that at last our men had stood like men, struck back, were no longer dumb driven cattle. When I could no longer read for my streaming tears, I stood up, alone in my room, held both hands high over my head and exclaimed aloud: "Oh, I thank God, thank God." . . . Only colored women of the South know the extreme in suffering and humiliation.

. . .

God Grant that our men everywhere refrain from strife, provoke no quarrel, but that they protect their women and homes at any cost. "

After reading this quote from a black female Washingtonian I felt similar to the way I felt after reading about the black men who volunteered to go fight in Ethiopia when Italy attacked the motherland. I was filled with great pride. Thier were and are black folk who's attitude is leave us (and I mean us) alone or you you gone have some ish to deal with.

The All night reading chronicles

THE FOLLOING TALE IS AN ACCURATE ACCOUNT IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MARK BEY






Last century way back in the mid 1990's I became aware of the work of Walter Mosley. I remember purchasing A Devil in a Blue Dress with great reservation. You see, I didnt like mysteries and Devil in a Blue dress was a mystery. I didnt want to buy a book I wouldnt like but my interest had been sparked by Walter Mosley himself from a reading he gave of his latest book a few days before at at Vertigo Books in Washington DC.


Anyway when I got home I opened the book and found it was a very exciting fast paced book. It was also a fast reading book which is probably the reason I stayed up most of the night reading it. A devil in A blue dress was an excellent book and I smashed it in about 3 days after that I was a Walter Mosley fan forever. I read most of his EZ Rawlins series and I imenesley enjyoyed the movie alwawys out numbured always out gunned starring Larry Fishburn, Natalie Cole and Isaih Washington and many other great black actors. He has also written some science fiction but I cant really feel his science fiction material anyway I have to give credit to Walter Mosley for exposing me to mystery novels.

Bloggers New Automatic Save Function

PRAISE BE TO GOD! BLOGGER HAS INCORPORATED AN AUTOMATIC SAVE FUNCTION TO ITS SOFTWARRE. TO SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO HAS LOST PROBABLY 10 PERCENT OF EVERTHING HE HAS WRITTEN TO INTERNET CONNECTION ISSUES OR INTERUPTIONS THIS IS A GODSEND!

THIS MAY NOT SEEM LIKE A BIG DEAL TO YOU BUT TO SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO HAS LOST A FINAL EDIT DUE DUE TO THE REASONS LISTED ABOVE THIS IS A GIGANTIC DEAL. IT MEANS, THAT IF I DONT DELETE ANYTHING IT WILL BE SAVE. THIER ARE STILL ARTICLES I HAVE YET TO PUBLISH OVER THE DISGUST OF HAVING SPENT 30 MINUTES TO AN HOUR GATHERING LINKS, PHOTOS AND OTHER INFROMATION ONLY TO HAVE AN INTERUPTION IN THE CONNECTION THAT ERASES ALL OF MY FINISH ARTICLE THAT WAS READY TO BE PUBLISHED. KUDOS TO BLOGGER FOR MAKING THE AUTOMATIC SAVE FUNCTION HAPPEN.

Etta James

The first time I can remember hearing Etta James is during a commercial break while watching the movie Fried Green tomatoes. I remember it was an ad for a car commercial and the song was At Last. From that point on I have been an Etta James fan.

After that movie (great move great book by the way) I began my search to get that song. The problem is I didnt know the name of the song or the Artist so I had to wait until I heard the song again either on the radio, or in one of the bookstores I haunted. A time after that I heard the song again and although I found out the artist was Etta James I didnt the name of the song. Anyway the next time I went to Tower records I copped a tape called Etta James greatest and hoped the song I was looking for was on that tape.

I started on side a and went throught sides such as such as Sunday Kind Of Love and I Just Make Love To You" eventually I camed to the track I had heard on the car commercial ad which happen to be At Last.

Shortly after that Etta James would put out an album in tribute to billie holiday which was absolutely terric. My favorite tune from that album is " The Very Thought Of You". As much as I love Etta James I had know idea how enormously gifted baby doll was until I happened upon a 2006 recording of At Last with the Count Basie Orchestra was absolutely magnifecent.

Etta James was 68 when this version of at last was recorded and after hearing it I am convinced that I have never heard singing by a 68 year old women or man anywhere near as good. The closest anyone of her age has come at such excellence in singing that I can think of is the great Ella Fitzgerald, if you can think of any others please share them with us in the comment section. Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

MY LOVE OF READING

Have you ever spent an evening curled up with a good book and been in heaven. It cant replace a women or seeing Reggie Bush destroy people on football field. But in terms of creating joy and pleaser for humans books are right up thier with love, sex, sport and music.

Oh and let me be up front right now although I love basket ball, foot ball, boxing ect. I do have some nerd tendecies such as my love for reading, debating and learning.

I like learning and the fundemental principle of learning is reading. Reading has been a passion of mine for over 25 years. My journey through the universes contained in books has been equal to almost all other expierences in my life. Reading has illuminating all other expirences I have had.

Oh yeah I take reading persoanally, passionately and seriously and each book gets the 60 to 100 hundred page treatment. Which simply means that Ill give an author 60 to 100 pages to give me the fix that a good should or I retire it to the bookshelf

Ill never make the mistake of reading a book 500 hundred pages or more and not enjoying it again, not even for steven king (although he did get me with a 900 page boring a@s book once). After going through this about 10 or so times over the years I was left with no option but to enact the 60 to 100 page rule.

As far as I can remember the first book I remember using this treatment on is Toni Morrisons beloved. After reading about 100 pages and not understanding what was going on the final straw came when I found out that beloved was not a real person but a ghost going around bothering people I became disgusted and gave Beloved the treatment. Oh in case you dont think I gave her a fair chance I also tried to read Jazz and once again I had no idea of what was going on, Toni Morrison is a little to abstract for my taste but I did love Beloved as a movie.

I have no idea why I love to read so much because no one else in my household read books. In fact folks would look at me crazy when I would bring my book to the basketball court, or with me going to the movie theater I always had a book with me. I do remember however that in the 5th grade my teacher (mrs. Johson who I wasnt too keen on) made me take some books home right before school ended that year inspite of my whining.

Eventuall one sumerday when it was raining and I was trapped inside the house I pulled out one of those books that Mrs. Johson made me take home, I remember enjoying those books a whole lot.

Later on in life I began to read many books by and about black history and black authors and now I happen to believe that some of the black authors have a voice that is uniquely artistic and powerful. Some of the black authors are telling stories that only we can tell and they deffinately need to be supported more by the black community.

One of my examples would be a book called standing at the scratch line by Maya Angelos son Guy Johnson. I couldnt wait to get my hands on that book because I love the history of world war one and that time period in general. Come to think of it I really enjoyed Maya Angelos books as well and that may be the only mother and son authorship team I have ever read.

I think you can really hear the richness of the african american storytellers by listening to books on tape they are magnifecent. Anyway I just wanted to express my love for reading and thank you for tolerating this post.


1) Best writer of all time Stephen king
2) Best book Ive read " It" Stephen king
3) Books Ive read the most The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Louis Armstrong (copy and past into browser to hear audio recording of autobiography of louis armstrong C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner\My Documents\My Music\Various Artists\blackhp\01 tsatch1.mp3)Eyes of the Dragon Steve King, the color purple alice walker, all gods dangers the life and adventures of Nate Shaw
4) Authors Im feeling Bernice McFadden, diane Mckinney Whetstone and many many others
5) Favorite topics Black histor, history, animals, science, religion,ect
6) Books that made me stay up all night reading
they came before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima literally keep me up all night, various books about malcolm x

I REALLY REALLY CANT STAND R. KELLY

Today My blog friend Native son has posted an article on his blog Titled R. Kelly please go away. I really cant stand that guy I think he is a rotten role model for kids. I mean the hyper sexuality that has been a trademark of his music is 100% foolishness when you take into account the issues of out of wedlock children black folks have been dealing with and when you factor in the aids statistics in the black community his sex obsessed music is just good old fashioned inappropriate.

Now if he were promoting responsible sex and supperior fatherhood to go along with the Bump and Grind It would be more palatable to me. But when you add in his marraige to a 15 year old child and then his perverted as home pornographic video he allegedly made with a child his non sense becomes more than I can stand.

My fundemental question is the same as Native Son's on this matter why do black people keep giving this f#cking pervert a free pass. If you switch R. Kelly with a Forty year old White Rock star and he humilated a 15 year old black girl would black people be giving that rock star a free pass. I dont think so. Someone please explain to me why the African American community cannot seperate the fact that while undeniably R. Kelly is a genius when it comes to music but on the othe hand as an adult male he is a slimy perveted piece of sh#t.

Music and Arts New Orleans Rebuilding Corp

Plan to Rebuild New Orleans Update #2 5/17/07 . This post is another aspect of an idea on how to possibly help rebuild New Orleans.

Abouot 3 years ago I went to see a play at a Recreation center in Georgetown Washington DC. This play was A Christmas Carol performed by the students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Duke Ellington is a school for performing art students.
Anyway the play was absolutely terrific. I also had a chance to see those kids rehearse and let me tell you I saw those kids rehearse with great dedication while holding down the educational side of thingsNow their are a whole lot of performance arts schools all over america teaching music and theatre to thousands of students. So Im sure most people are familiar with the way these types of schools are set up. In fact the music programs I have seen at colleges are similar to the rehearsal process I saw at duke ellington when the youth were rehearsing for A Christmas Carol. So I figured the youth would work rebuilding homes 3 days of the week and rehearse for the other 3 days. This program would take place during the summer time when the kids would be elgible for summer jobs. Those youth who have graduated may have the option of working throughout the year with the Music and Arts Corps. Thier would be big band, ensemble and small band training aimed at getting the youth prepared to perform live for the festivals.

Now since New Orleans is the most culturally unique and rich city in the country and one of the crown prince cities of the world why not use the cultural sexiness of its essence to help rebuild and attract funding for the residents of New Orleans. These Music Corp workers could be training to perform in on a 2 year schedule of performances designed to raise money to be reinvested back into the city. Of course these Music Corp performances would be split up amongst donzens and dozens of Cells. Cells consisting of 5-8 people perfect for small group training.

Ok this is how it works, these Corps of Artistic student would be deployed all over New Orleans rebuilding, repairing, landscaping or doingd whatever else was needed to help rebuild the city including working the levee.

They also would participate in a Jazz camp kinda of musical and artistic training for actors, musicians and trainers. They would rehearse and learn traditional New Orleans Jazz Music with the purpose of preparing for festivals and shows throughout the gulf coast with the purpose of raising money and providing labor for the New Orleans rebuilding effort. Of course anything we do or any serious planning we do on this matter should be shared with grassroots home rebuilding orginizations for in the .

Im thinking of a year of festivals and music designed to bring in tourist from all over the world. Also designed to bring in rich companies for conventions to spur economic development in the city and allow everyone who wants to go home to go home to a city where hard working folks can earn a livable wage.

Now these are only ideas so please feel free to make suggestions on whatever aspect of this you would like thank you for your time and while you ponder some ideas please click on this link to hear me narrating the first chapter of Louis Armstrongs biograpy. The back round music is a recording called west in blues by Louis Armstrong.

Billie Holiday is my Favorite Singer (Although I confess that Ella Fitzgerald is the best hands down)

Ok, tell me if you can understand were Im comming from on this one. I am a lover of music I literally can spend an evening with anything from JayZ to Bessie Smith and totally enjoy myself at least from the music stand point of things.

About 17 years ago I purchased a video cassette of Malcolm X speeches and other video clips from his life. Featured in this video was one segment accompanied by the Billie Holiday song " God Bless the Child" I enjoyed this particular rendition of the song so much that soon after I went to Tower Records and got a Billie Holiday Tape with God Bless the child on it hoping it would be that same version. When I got home to my dismay I found out that it wasnt the version I had wanted.

After my initial disapointent I listened to the entire album and was further disapointed. A few weeks later I was cleaning up my room and for some reason I put in that Billie Holiday Album at first I was focused on cleaning up and wasnt really listening but as the tape continued to play I then began to feel her groove more and more.

Eventually I would come to love that Album and even that particular version of God Bless the Child along with other songs such as "Dont Explain, Good Morning Heartache and Lover Man I played that tape over and over again and that music grew on me so much so that I continued to purchase billie holiday albums all throughout the 1990s without impunity eventually this Fetish would cost me over $ 350.00. Also during the 90's I would go on to spend hundreds more on postcards, posters ect. One hangs on my way presently.

So as you can see I have invested a whole lot of time and energy not to mention money invested into Lady Day. I have even written poetry in honor of her. Dont get me wrong shes not the only black icon I have studied. I am a addict of black history. Cant get enough of it. But Lady Day occupies a special place in my heart for black icons. So as you can see because shes my favorite if she were anywhere closed to bieng the best singer of all time my bias would probably force me to give her the benifit of the doubt.

But that is a claim I could never support because to me it is pretty obvious that if you were going to crown someone the greatest singer of all time it would have to be Ella Fitzgerald. Of course every one has their favorites but please listen to the to the following link and tell me Ella aint bad.

P.S that billie holiday link of God Bless the child just happens to be the version of god bless the child I was looking for all along.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY PRESSURE RECORD COMPANIES TO CHANGE THE OFFENSIVE CONTENT

Ok here is the outline of an idea to bring enormous pressure on the record companies to clean up the content of hip hop music. Heres how it would go down.

We could find out exactly who to contact in these companies who can change the offensive content of rap music. Then lets start to create and send them and the executives and all guity parties petition after petition suggesting that they change the offending content, find out who thier bosses are send them petition after petition, talk to the share holders to see if they are aware of the offensive content of thier product.


Find out all of the venders each guilty record company does business with and then use similar tactics with them.

Force the apologist of the offensive content (whether they be the company/artist) or anybody else to explain their reasoning for allowing the offensive content to continue to be released to the public. Also these debates should be forced in a public formatt such as the Tavis Smiley show and Al Sharpton shows. When we have them in front of us debating we need to destroy thier arguments with good fashioned common sense because that is what this comes down to. We need to craft our argument against thier so that once we are done with them their position comes across as an insult to common sense.



P.S Back in the day Delores Tucker was right we were just too blind to see it. Way too many of us are still to blind to see it. Also in spite of what the apologist may say it still will not be any justification for a type of music that encourages and glories disrespect and harm to the one group that these young men can count on more than any other group in the world (black women).

Rebuild New Orleans

Plan to Rebuild New Orleans Update 5/12/07
After writing a post titled Plan to Rebuild New Orleans I recieved some terrific feedback in the form of comments. This post will be a continuation that will evolve into plans then plans into action. This post will also be an evolving post and will continue from time to time updating progress and plans made on this project.

One important principle of this rebuilding plan should be the education, mentoring and development of the young men participating in this program. I believe we should research and network with orginizations that specialize in prisoner reform and education. After getting information from those orginizations we should build our curriculum around the best and most productive programs we have found. The convicts must understand up front that this program is all about earning your way by working hard and smart.

This program is all about bieng a self starter and leader these are the type of values and principles I would like, to be apparent in our work and results. The classroom will be as big a part of this program as the work skills taught. Leadership and hard work should always be rewarded and emphasized. The goal of this program is to get these young men ready to go back in the system and maintain thier lives and their families.

Equally important will be the selecting of people to supervise the prison workforce. They must be people who can understand the issues and needs of the workers and relate to them on a human to human basis as well. Also they must be expierenced in prisoner to prisoner relations and able to keep peace and stability so that work can be done in a competent and regular manner. We must also have goverment security (prison gaurds).

Also once perfected this program could be used to rebuild other damaged structures in New Orleans damaged by the Hurricane. So the rebuilding of New Orleans could be a very big oppurtunity for non violent offenders in future years to come. It would be an oppurtunity for some to work while earning time off and learning productive work skills that will allow them to make a living without resulting to illegal means. Once again we should not reinvent the wheel but we should research people and groups who have and currently work with convicts. Those that are particularly well regarded are programs we should start with.

We should also apply to orginizations that fund prison reform through grants and other means to see if we can get funding for such a venture. I think if we start with small pilot programs we should be able to find some money somewhere. Since thier are already community service work study program working with convicts we should talk to them to get the best advise, then use that advise to custom design our own project.

It also would be benificial to work with church orginizations specifically those who already have had expirence and success at working with prisoners and parolees. It may be possible to get such an inniative moving on a small scale especially the part of the program involving the parolees. We should start with the churches already working with parolees and former convicts having a rough time finding work. We should also start with young men currently on parole or ex offenders who need job training. In fact I think it would be important to have a faith based part of this program working begining this type of rebuilding work ASAP because thier are now thousands of young black men out of jail with no job skills and bills to pay(including child support).

Once we have located the right people to begin working with we should apply to the goverment for money specifically for faith based inniatives. We also should apply to the goverment for whatever funds they have available for prisoner work training programs. The different home repair Corps should be broken down into groups of 8-5 workers to go into specific communities and start the repair work that is desperately needed fixing up communities one by one. Also bringing in churches at the begining may be a way to make such an innitiative more legitimate because of the credibility churches come with but also in working through churches it may be possible to get a good source of funding from the catholic church and other church orginizations. Also remember that New Orleans has a lot of historic Catholic Churches.

Built into this program thier should be a leadership development Cadre constantly refined with the purpose of producing leaders to see this rebuilding effort through. Initially this leadership Cadre should be composed of inmates who have demonstrated good behavior and have proven to be good role models as well as leaders.

The Convict/parolees that have Carpentry skills should be grouped together first to develop a technique and a rythym to the rebuilding process. Afterwards they should be broken up amongst the different Corps to lead and guide and to train other workers. This job should be all about training folks to be productive and competent workers.

Finally the importance of family must be continuously stressed to the participants of this project. For those men with children parenting classes should be taught and the responsiblity of bieng a parent should be emphasized over and over again. The beauty of fatherhood should be taught to these young men and they should be encouraged to call thier children regularly. Finacial literacy should be taught to these men so that when they graduate they will know how to responsibly manage thier money and build for the future.

This are the groups and orginizations I will need to contact

DC Court and Prison system for permission to work with that population.

The Parole board and Probation officers.

Churches in Washington DC that work with ex-convicts and at risk young men.

Churches in New Orleans that work with the same populatioin specifically because they should be able to orginize something immediately.

Job skills training programs such as Job core and arch that give job training in home repair and carpentry to see if they could adjust thier programs to send workers down to new orleans to help rebuild while getting credits they need to graduate from the pragrams they are in.

Officials down in New Orleans to figure out where our services where needed first as well as other logistics.

I would also try to contact individuals such as

Master P

Warrick Dunn (Already has a foundation that builds homes for single mother)

Wynton Marsalis

Spike Lee

I will also establish contacts with New Orleans Bloggers who are plugged in to the rebuilding issue to find out exactly who I need to talk to and what would be needed to get this process moving.

A lot of the staff for this program should be volunteer based on the model of Mercy ships that sail all over the world providing free medical care to Impoverished African and other third world countries.

I welcome any advice people may have on things that can be done to get the ball rolling on this process I have also created a blog speciifically for developing this idea. Please leave comments thier

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

I just would like to say happy mothers day to all of the mothers out thier and thank you for all that you do.

Please register with the Afrosphere Forum

Hello Folks thier is now a forum were concerned african americans can go to brainstorm ideas that will make a positive difference for the world black community.
This page which was the brain child of a Blogger named Bronze Trinity has been created specifically bring folks interesting in making the lives of black people better. So to all of my blog family interesting in comming together to bring positive change in the world please register on the Afrpshere Forum Page and express your ideas on how we can take this ideas and turn them into solutions that make a positive difference in the black diaspora.

D. L Hughley shows himself to be a coon.

D. L Hughley is not only an asswhole but he is a pure coon. Here is a quote taken from a blog called " What about our Daughters" which has a you tube clip of him on the Jay Leno show calling the women on the Rutgers team nappy headed and ugly.



" There were some nappy headed women on the team and those are some of the ugliest women I have ever seen in my life.” DL HUGHLEY on Jay Leno."

Although D. L Hughley claimed that the young ladies had Nappy hair, they dont most of them had either perms or extensions. It is obvious that D.L Hugley's remark was shot at the color of the skin of the ladies on the Rutgers basketball team and then to go on the Jay Leno show and call them some of the ugliest women hed seen is life. As far as Im concerned D.L Hughley is a " Coon" if thier ever was a coon.

Ron Pettaway - A Mother's Anguish (Cross posted from Plez world)

" Ron Pettaway and his brother, Roy, were both shot by Fulton County (GA) Police officers on the evening of April 15, 2007 outside the Frozen Palace nightclub in metro Atlanta. Both men were unarmed. Ron Pettaway died as a result of the shooting. As you can imagine, the family of these young men are devastated."

This is a Case that been has blogged about by several different Afrosphere bloggers and others. The paragraph above is taken from a post by a blogger named plez who blogs over at Plez World. Now I am believe that no one (black, white, cop or civilian) has a right to kill or harm black people and then to continue to live a normal life as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened.


Thier must be justice for all black people injured or unfairly killed by police officer. Thier must be justice for all black people who are murdured whether or not they are murdured by law officials or criminal hood terrorist. A black person's life is as precious as anybody's elses life.

THE CANADIAN BLOGGER THAT COULD

A very talent and committed blogger named Bronze trinity has been putting together resource page for bloggers of african heritage to network and brianstorm with. She has really been putting in some serious work on this project could probably use assistance from like minded bloggers to take the resource page even further. It is already a powerlful and helpful tool in our (black peoples) need to comminicate with and work in harmony with one another.

What she has done so far (largely by herself) will allow bloggers passionate about similar issues to network and focus thier energies into ideas to bring about change in the black world. Please check out the resourece page and the forum this young talented African Queen currently residing in Canada is building.

Thank You Bronze Trinity

SINGLE MOTHERS VILLAGE INTIATIVE

" Single Mothers’ Village. It’s difficult for single mothers to raise children alone. There is an African saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Single mothers can get together and share houses and apartments together with their children to share the childraising and foster community support".


The above passage is another Quote from a blogger name Bronze Trinity. This quote is taken from a post over at Bronze her blog titled 17 plans to help the African diaspora. I have been thinking on ways that I believe could possible help single mothers in thier struggle to provide for thier families. In fact I have been sitting on this particular post for about a year now so here goes.

I believe that a good way to help single mothers would be to create innovative, inspiring and productive Job Training programs that would allow single mothers to be trained in various skills sets while providing free daycare for thier children during thier job training. Now whatever it is they are going to be trained in should be in an area that will allow them to earn enough money to comfortably take care of thier families within the course of a regular work day.


Also thier should be advanced training for those mothers who show extra motivation to improve thier circumstances. I think the single mothers should get some some sort of stipend to be awarded for each class attended by the mothers and that money should be deposited into a personal bank account. Upon Graduation of the program the mothers would be given thier account#s and bank books. In the past I have been a part of Independent Living Programs that provided stipends for the youth in the form of money directly deposited into an individuals bank accounts.

Each year thier is funding for 10,000 school children in Washington DC to participate in summer youth job programs in Washington DC. I know from having worked as a summer youth employee and then later on having supervised them that a lot of these jobs are created solely so that youth will have a chance to earn money. Many of the goverment agencies and private companies that host these youth workers as Job sites do not need them. In fact many of these job sites will accept four or 5 youth workers when they only need 1. What ends up happening is that the youth workers at these sites end up doing and learing very little.

So my attitude is this instead of having youth standing around doing nothing, why not train them and have the youth 16-18 act as child care providers for the children of the mothers who are bieng trained. I remember doing this as my first summer youth job although it was an actual summer day camp for youth of Washington D.C. What I would like to do now is train these youth to provide daycare for single mothers who are in need of or canidates for a job training program such as this one. Such

The schedule would break down something like this.

Thier would be 2 shifts. 7:00-3:30pm 4:00-11:00pm. Here is a sample schedule of a work day.

1) 7:00 -8:00 evaluation and goal setting
2) 9:00-10:00 Internet and Job search training.
3) 10:00-12:00 WebDesign, Nursing, Business, ect, Software learning(tutorials)
4) 12 Lunch
5) 1:00 -3:30 Software training and finacial literacy courses


The second session would repeat the same format as the first sessionn.

Built into these sessions would be competition, collaboration, teamwork, excellence and usefulness. Also the administration of these program should be designed to improve and refine itself with the ultimate goal always bieng progress in the lives of the single mothers who are in these programs. Ladies who show a special skill and leadership should perhaps be funneled back as staff workers of future participants of this program. We must build a sense of empowerment into this program that is relflected by the single mothers and children, the staff workers and the community agencies that particpate in bringing these programs to life. Lastly this program would have a very strong community service spirit mixed in with its application.



Now I know this will cost money but not as much as one might think, a lot of it could be paid for with by money already spent on similar programs that was redirected into these Job training programs for single mothers. We could utilize the services of volunteers and interns to function as staff and advisers.Plus their are already experts working on these very issue, thier are already agency working with single mothers that have gotten great results we should take the best of those ideas to refine this idea and then begin the process of bringing them into extistence.

For Space to run these programs I think we should contact, recreation centers, girls and boys clubs, shcools , churches ect.


We could use the services of Reading is fundemental programs, apply to the Gates Foundation as well as local, state and federal goverment agencies for the extra funds needed for this.

Ill blog more on wholesome and enriching program that could be developed for the children at the daycare. But in the mean time if you know any single mothers or other concerned parties on this matter please invite them to comment with the purpose of refining this idea and working on this issue in a serious way.
Thank You.

Plan to Rebuild New Orleans

Passage 4: " Convict Workforce. Hire ex-cons who no one else will hire and have them fix up Black communities in return for food, shelter, clothing, recommendation letters, and help finding another job. Employ them as security guards and construction and maintenance workers. Make it so that those who want to change can find rewarding work that can help our communities. "

The above passage is taken from a post by a very talented and bright blogger called Bronze Trinity. The name of this post is 17 action plans to help the african diaspor.

This Post written by Bronze Trinity is made up of passages/ideas on what we can do to help black folks the world over. Anyway after reading the forth item of this post it got me thinking on some thoughts I have been chewing on in my mind for a while now.

My thinking on this is, why allow black men to sit in prison for non violent crimes especially when they will eventually be released with no skills and even less job oppurtunities do to the fact that it is harder for convicted felons to get and keep employment. Thier are thousands of black men sitting in prison who are non violent offenders in jail for things such as

1)Bieng caught with or smoking weed in public,
2)Non voilent crack possession
3)Parole or probation violations sometimes all over misunderstandings.
4)Thousands of people in jail for bieng in the wrong place at the wrong time.
5) Some folks just in jail for crimes they didnt committ, in fact over 200 men have been exonerated by DNA or other evidence.
6) And lots of other frivolous reasons.

Instead of having hundreds of thousands of these young black non violent offenders sit in jail where they are at an extreme risk of contracting Hiv why not create a Carpentary and Home Repair Corps to be sent to rebuild New Orleans and other hurricane damaged areas.

This service would be free to residents of New Orleans hurt by hurricane Katrina who would qualify depening on how much money they make. Off hand I would imagine the Corp would consist of non violent offenders and disadvantaged youth from all around black america. They would be housed in central locations to be split up into groups of 200 hundred to be managed by the needed staff in specific devestated areas. Each corp would have its own staff and whatever logistics and supplies needed.

Folks in New Orleans hurt by Katrina could get assistance from these Carpentry Corps. These Corps could also be utilized to help in the in areas other than New Orleans for things such as the rebuilding of the Leeves, factories, warehouses ect.

If a project like this could be managed efficiently and responsibly this project could turn into a win win situation for all concerned parties in america. America would get its most Unique richest city rebuilt, African Americns in New Orleans would get empowering amounts of assistance in home building and other life rebuilding areas. The young men who would make up the corp would get valuble job training and expirence they would also learn how to live and work in harmony with other folks.

Also the Corp workers should be paid a salary to be held in a bank account to be saved and given to each corp member upon completion/graduation of the project. Hopefully after this project they will have been taught enough so that these thousands of young men are able to aquire the business and carpentry skills to empower them to create thier own vehicles for success.

Perhaps the program would break down into 3 days a week of work site(carpentry) training and 2 days a week of class room and highschool graduation training. Included in this program would be mentorship, job etiqette and intierview training, tutoring, ect.
This project would be designed to mentor, tutor, teach carpentry and home repair, painting, Landscaping, ect to the young men with the goal of making them self sufficient. It would also be designed to teach as many of the youth willing to work hard and smarter and demonstraing an ability to lead some administrative skills, leadership and technical skills.

The way to get this project moving is to make contact with and learn from these guys for we should not reinvent any wheels in this process thier are already highly qualified and passionate orginizations and individuals working on the issues this project hopes to adress. Thier are also people and groups who run programs like this one, for the population we will be working with who have had tremondous sucess. We should find out who they are, what they did and what made thier programs successful take some of those theories and add them to creative our own Carpenty and home repair Corps.

I guesse another way of looking at this would be to imagine a group of like minded, passionate folks who are qualified and motivated to work on this issue pointing thier intellect, time and resources in the direction of reforming young black men to love themselves while focusing on empoweing them and teaching them the skills to earn a living in society.



Here are areas we could explore for potential resources.

1) Americorps Grants
2) The clinton foundation and gates foundation
3) Summer youth workers to work in New Orleans.
4) Volunteers and interns especially with social science and community service majors. Interns from President clintons school of public service would be a great place to start.
5) Volunteer Carpenters and Contractors to teach and train the young men in carpentry.
6) Job Corp members from all over the country ( In fact this could be a hearty supply of labor for a mission rebuilding New Orleans )
7)Arch Programs which train urban youth in skills of carpentry and landscaping.
8) Resources and assistance from habitat for humanity.
9) Perhaps we could apply to the top ten construction companies in the world for grant money to rebuild New Orleans.


It will be important for us to come up with a general budget for this program as well as identify where the money for this program will come from. Im sure we can get funding from some non profit and goverment sources especially those charged with working with the young men we would be working with and those charged with or engaged in the rebuilding effort of New Orleans and the Gulf coast.

Lastly thier are also a large # of ex-offenders who are having ruff time getting employment who could benifit from this project as well and also some of the principles and strategies for these projects can be used on locally in the communities these young men are from.
Of course to bring this into bieng it would take ideas I have not even thought of yet, so I look forwad to any suggestion folks may have and will even include them in further revisions of this post.