Put Your Body Where Your Mouth Is

 

These misguided motormouth chicks, are a prime example of what has happened to America. Even though we shouldn't be looking to the "Dixie Chicks" for advice on world affairs. Some people such as them should be extra careful what they say in public. Seeing that their off color comments have mass influence as well as appeal. To the millions of voters who make up their musical fans. This is yet another instance where charges of sedition would be in order. We are too quick to forget and forgive people, when they do something wrong. Stupidity and disrespect shouldn't be taken so lightly in a fledgling society. That could be what fuels this defeatist mentality prevalent in today's society. Everybody is expecting to get that second chance. Which undermines the expectation of getting it right the first time.

The Black American Gangsters

Name: Stanley Tookie Williams
Reign: 1970’s
Business: Street Crime
Region: L.A.
Claim to Fame: Most notorious member of the Crips, later nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Downfall: The Crips' strength led to the formation of rival gangs and violent turf wars.
Sentence: Death
Status: Dead
Lesson: Sometimes it is too late to turn over a new leaf.



Name: “Freeway” Ricky Ross
Reign: 1980’s
Business: Crack
Region: South Central L.A.
Claim to Fame: Blamed the CIA for pouring drugs into Black communities
Downfall: He was set up by his own dealer, who became a government agent.
Sentence: Life, later reduced to 18 yrs.
Status: Imprisoned
Lesson Learned: Sometimes taking the business international is a no-no.



Name: Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols
Reign: 1980’s
Business: Heroin and Cocaine
Region: Queens
Claim to Fame: His henchmen cold-bloodedly shot a young, White beat cop in 1988, leader of the infamous Seven Crowns gang
Downfall: The cop killing roused President Bush and the FBI, who tapped his sister's phone lines
Sentence: 25 years, plus
Status: could be released in 2015
Lesson Learned: Don’t kill cops.





Name: Leroy “Nicky” Barnes
Reign: 1970’s
Business: Heroin
Region: Harlem
Claim to Fame: Graced the cover of “ New York Times Magazine” as Mr. Untouchable
Downfall: Convicted of racketeering
Sentence: Life in prison
Status: Released and living under the witness protection program
Lesson Learned: If you’re on trial, stay off of magazine covers.






Name: Troy and Dino Smith
Business: Thefts and Robberies
Reign: 2000's
Region: San Francisco
Claim to Fame: The two stole $6 million in merchandise from a jewelry store.
Downfall: The brothers were extremely flamboyant, drawing attention to their dishonest activities
Sentence: Dino, 23 years; Troy, recently convicted
Status: Imprisoned
Lesson Learned: “Set It Off” and “Dead Presidents” are not How-To videos.





Name: The Chambers Brothers
Reign: 1980’s
Business: Crack
Region: Detroit
Claim to Fame: From modest beginnings, they became successful business men.
Downfall: Their associates testified against them in plea bargains.
Sentence: Billy Joe, 27 years and $500,000 fine; Larry, life in prison and $250,000 fine
Status: Billy Joe could be released in 2015
Lesson Learned: Entrepreneurship is good, but not in illegal businesses.

Head And Shoulders Above The Rest

I think Mayor W.W. Herenton is a class act. I don't agree with everything he does, but overall he's a good Mayor. Some things he does are strictly political. But what do you expect from a politician? In spite of all the good things he's done in his tenure as Mayor. He still has to defend himself against jealous, uninformed and predjudice attitudes. Which aptly describes his opposition in the upcoming election. Each of these three candidates so far are all indicative of these traits.

The first to announce their run was Carol Chumney. I like having her on the city council. I think she provides a much needed balance. She obviously has higher political aspirations. You can't judge her effectiveness by her district. It is one that basically takes care of itself. The primary motivation behind her supporters is envy and jealousy. These people are smart enough to know the Mayor's record. Whether they like him or not. They must admit it's very impressive. It's kind of like the President and the Democratic congress. They don't agree with anything he proposes, but they don't offer an alternative. It's easy to sit back and make suggestions after the fact.

Then we have the former President of MLGW, Herman Morris. People must have forgotten about his former position. They were calling for his head back then. His base of support is the uninformed voters. They don't even acknowledge the fact that he hasn't even announced he's running yet. I think he's testing the waters for depth. Some people will vote for anybody except the Mayor. But they're not sold on the Carol Chumney idea either. We just don't know how many. Not everyone in his camp is clueless though. There will be some powerbrokers and those with influence. Some of his former employees at MLGW I bet. They'll be trying to beat the rush of the onslaught. That will come if by chance he wins. They're just putting their bids in up front. Looking for a payday later.

The latest person to enter the race is county commissioner John Willingham. He has prior experience with losing campaigns. This isn't the first time he has ran against Mayor Herenton. I don't expect the results to be any different than before. He has two things working against him from the start. He is a card carrying White Republican. In the city of Memphis that's almost like shooting yourself in the foot. In a city that's sixty percent Democratic and Black. That doesn't leave much room for the opposite of both. On top of that, he doesn't even have the support of the Republican party. He can't even count on them. Voting for him essentially adds up to wasting your vote. When the smoke clears he won't even be in the running. His basis of support are the prejudice ones. They won't vote for Herenton primarily because he's Black. They won't vote for Carol Chumney because she's a woman. I'm sure there will be others throwing their hats in the race. Some of the votes will be siphoned off that way.

In my opinion they all will be competing for a piece of the same forty -five thousand votes that signed the recall. Neither one of them are going to get all those votes. That pie will be divided among them. In addition to what is pulled from that pool, coupled with what they can get individually. I don't think any of them will be able to mount a serious challenge. If nothing changes dramatically or unexpected. Unless he's caught in bed with a live animal, or a dead human. He's head and shoulders above the rest.

Illusion Of Inclusion

The advances brought about by "Affirmative Action" were good, depending on who you ask. Some say the biggest benefactors were really White women. I'm not sure I disagree with that. I'm not in total agreement either. There were others who felt they were getting a better shake. Chief Justice "Clarence Thomas" has been ridiculed for his stance on this issue. There are two sides to every coin, yet only one can be right. He may have taken advantage of it himself. That doesn't mean it's supposed to last forever.

This entitlement mentality may have been needed at one time. It would be unfair to others races at this point. The purpose for it in the first place. Was to get Blacks to a point of self sufficiency. As a whole it has had the opposite effect. What it did was split up the home. Giving women jobs men should have had. Rewarding women individually with checks for kicking their men out. The end result is babies having babies. Black women never getting married. Young men growing up never knowing their father. Was it worth the trade? For those who used the system for all the wrong reasons



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action

Black Power Movement

This is where I think many Blacks are stuck today. It seems to exceed economic and education levels. Gender doesn't even seem to play a significant role. I've heard some Black females spew the hate with the best of them. It is accepted as the rights of passage for Blacks, to claim unfair treatment by Whites. That may very well be true, but it hasn't and isn't going to change. The "Black Power Movement" was made up of people who were unfulfilled with the accomplishments of the "Civil Rights Movement". The new focus seemed to be one of reparations and economic redistribution. Instead of human rights and basic equality like before. This new philosophy was a perfect fit for young impressionable Blacks. Many of whom, were born in the inner cities. Didn't really know anything about segregation at it's worse. All they know is what someone had told them. Like many of those with a militant outlook today.

If there's a void, it's going to be filled. That's the proven theory of supply and demand. After the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., it left an obvious loss of recognized leadership in the Black community. True to form Blacks sought the direction of a designated leader. This void created groups like the "Black Panthers" a militant group, and the N.O.I. a Muslim religious sect. MalcolmX pushed his message right along side that one of Martin Luther King. Giving Blacks a choice of political ideaologies. The starting point of political division within the race. The "Nation" didn't have the widespread appeal among fundamental Christians, those who were raised in the church. Though exciting it was just too radical. The truth of the matter is. Most law abiding Blacks still weren't ready to go to jail. Let alone lose their life like MalcomX. Leaving the door open for what was supposed to be a less aggressive more progressive movement. Hence we have the "Black Power Movement". Also one that didn't call Big Momma "brainwashed by the White devil".

In my opinion a lot of these guys are nothing more than opportunist. Taking advantage of a preprimed audience, ready to absorb their rhetoric like a sponge. People like Stokely Carmicheal and others really came after the fact. The way had already been cleared by Martin and Malcom. I think what we have now is a combination of the old and new activist. I find it interesting that people only refer to the Martin Luther King Jr. and his speeches when seeking support. During the time they were made, these same people didn't find them popular. They don't care for how you think but they still want your money. Some things are better left unchanged. Hindsight is 20/20.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Power

By Any Means Necessary

Though not as far reaching in its appeal as the "Civil Rights Movement". The Black Muslim Movement did have somewhat of an effect. There is not a lot of events documented as a result of this groups involvement. Mainly because there weren't a lot of positive things attached to their efforts. I might be somewhat biased in my opinion, but I think this was a waste of Black folk's time. Before he was murdered in 1965, MalcomX had abandoned the Nation also. He had come to realize what many of us know now.

This is one of his quotes that gets much less attention. Than those that caused unrest. Most of us have never heard it at all. Though it is probably the most insightful, caring thing he has ever publicly said to his people. This is what he said"...I shall never rest until I have undone the harm I did to so many well-meaning, innocent Negroes who through my own evangelistic zeal now believe in him even more fanatically and more blindly than I did." -- on those he encouraged to follow Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.

Forty years after his death, the righteous influence of Malcolm X is still motivating and influencing individuals all around the world to fight for their human rights. To read more about this man and his role in the movement. Click on the link below:

http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/home.php

The Power Of The Picket

The success of the "Civil Rights Movement" ignited a spirit in the Black community that caught on like wildfire. Peaceful protest became a viable means of airing our greivances. It created a spirit of activism and people wanting to get involved. In hindsight this produced a bitter/sweet effect though. The same methods that worked on our behalf so far. Were now considered too complacent by some. This to me is a crucial time in history for Blacks in America. It did nothing to change where Blacks had been, but played a major role in where they were going.

The Fight For Civil Rights

After Blacks gained their constitutional freedom. They were still discriminated against in other subtle ways. The Jim Crow laws and the apathy of the government. Had allowed some places in the country to basically remain like before. I read a synopsis of the "Civil Rights Movement" that broke it down in four categories.
(1) racial segregation – upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 - which was legally mandated by southern states and by many local governments outside the south; (2) voter suppression or disfranchisement in the southern states; (3) denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and (4) private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans, which were often encouraged and seldom hindered by government authorities.

This addresses something that I've always thought. A large part of the reason the progress of Blacks in America seems stagnant, is because we're still fighting battles we fought 40 years ago. None of the things I mentioned above are any longer issues. Why would we still be using the same method of treatment for a totally different problem? There are politicians and some people that would have you believe laws are being enacted solely to hurt Blacks. In recent memory I cannot remember any law being passed that pertains to only Blacks. The major disfranchisement of the Black vote is a result of them not being cast. In my community which is majority Black. A showing of 40% is an above average turnout. You certainly can't control a national election with a total of 14% of the population. Some Blacks are still talking about the election of 2000, seven years later. The country has moved on to other things. We live in a capitalistic society where a new millionaire is made everyday. The American economy is a virtual pie. If you find your way to carve you out a slice. There is nothing in the constitution to prevent that. As far as resources go. Anything in America being given away to anyone in our circle. Apparently we know about how and where to get it. Based on the latest instances of fraud. I specify your circle because that determines where you look for the pork. A person living in Memphis would have to really be a criminal to be stealing in New Orleans. It's not far fetched because it's happened. The only mass violence in the Black community is being perpetuated by other Blacks. If the only violence I had to worry about was the government. I could rest with ease at night.

This era introduced a new style of protest called civil disobedience. Some of the forms of civil disobedience employed included boycotts, beginning with the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) in Alabama; "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-in (1960) in North Carolina; and marches, such the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama.
Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the Civil Rights Movement were passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (minor in its effects, but the first anti-discriminatory federal legislation since Reconstruction), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in employment practices and public accommodations, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that restored voting rights, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 that dramatically changed U.S. immigration policy, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.

It would be a shame to condense the movement down to just one person. There were so many people both Black and White that played a pivotal part. All of them were equally as important in their own right. The drum major for the movement was clearly "Martin Luther King Jr," though. In spite of others facing the dangers and dying to pave the way before him. He is the one that's most remembered. Unfortunately when he was murdered, the movement sort of died with him.

Jump Jim Crow

Even though the Blacks were given freedom with amendments to the constitution. Discrimination was still legally taking place in the southern and border states. Legal only in the fact that they had the law on their side. When you look at the guilty states and their various Jim Crow laws. You can see laws were designed and enforced to keep the Blacks in inferior status. If you read the list below containing the guilty states, and their respective laws. It was evident that these laws were enacted to deny free Blacks equality. Violation could result in imprisonment, fines, or even phuysical whippings. Depending on the discretion of the judges, even all three.


An African American drinks out of a segregated water cooler designated for "colored" patrons in 1939 at a streetcar terminal in Oklahoma City



The following is a list of the states and their laws.

Alabama
"Buses. All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races."
"Railroads. The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs."

Arkansas[1]
Intermarriage/Cohabitation: Various laws from 1884 to 1947 prohibited marriage or sexual relations between whites and blacks or mullatoes, providing for specific fines and even imprisonment up to three years.
Public Accommodations: Various laws from 1891 to 1959 segregated rail travel, streetcars, buses, all public carriers, race tracks, gaming establishments, polling places, washrooms in mines, tuberculosis hospitals, public schools and teachers' colleges.
Poll tax imposed in 1947.

Florida
Intermarriage. All marriages between a white person and a Negro, or between a white person and a person of Negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.
Cohabitation. Any Negro man and white woman, or any white man and Negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars.
Education. The schools for white children and the schools for Negro children shall be conducted separately.
The following is a list of legislation and penalties dealing with racial relations in Florida, some in effect until 1967:
1865: Railroad [Statute] — Negroes or mulattoes who intruded into any railroad car reserved for white persons would be found guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or to be whipped, not exceeding 39 stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury." Whites faced the same penalty for entering a car reserved for persons of color.
1873: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute] — Prohibited discrimination on account of race in the full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations such as inns, public transportation, theaters, schools, cemeteries and places of public amusement. Did not include private schools or cemeteries established exclusively for white or colored persons.
1881: Miscegenation [Statute] — Unlawful for any white person to intermarry with any Negro person. Penalty: Performing such a ceremony punishable by a fine of $1,000, "of which one-half shall be paid to the informer."
1885: Education [Constitution] — White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school.
1885: Miscegenation [Constitution] — "Forever" prohibited marriages between whites and blacks, or between a "white person and a person of Negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive."
1887: Railroads [Statute] — "All respectable Negro persons" to be sold first-class tickets at the same rates as white passengers and shall be provided a separate car "equally as good and provided with the same facilities for comfort as for white persons." Penalty: Conductors and railroad companies violating the provisions of the law faced a fine up to $500.
1887: Education [Constitution] — White and colored children prohibited from being taught in the same schools.
1895: Education [Statute] — Penal offense for any persons to conduct any school, any grade, either public or private where whites and blacks are instructed or boarded in the same building, or taught in the same class by the same teachers. Penalty: Between $150 and $500 fine, or imprisonment in the county jail between three and six months.
1903: Miscegenation [Statute] — Intermarriage with a Negro, mulatto, or any person with one-eighth Negro blood shall be punished. Penalty: Imprisonment up to ten years or a fine not more than $1,000.
1905: Streetcars [Statute] — Separation of races required on all streetcars. Gave Caucasian mistresses the right to have their children attended in the white section of the car by an African nurse, but withheld from an African woman the equal right to have her child attended in the African section by its Caucasian nurse.
1907: Railroads [Statute] — Separate waiting rooms for each race to be provided at railroad depots along with separate ticket windows. Also called for separation of the races on streetcars. Signs in plain letters to be marked "For White" and "For Colored" to be displayed. Penalties: Railroad companies that refused to comply with the provision could be fined up to $5,000.
1909: Railroads [Statute] — Separate accommodations required by race. Penalty: Passengers who failed to comply with law would be fined up to $500.
1913: Education [Statute] — Unlawful for white teachers to teach Negroes in Negro schools, and for Negro teachers to teach in white schools. Penalty: Violators subject to fines up to $500, or imprisonment up to six months.
1927: Education [Statute] — Criminal offense for teachers of one race to instruct pupils of the other in public schools.
1927: Race classification [Statute] — Defined the words "Negro" or "colored person" to include persons who have one eighth or more Negro blood.
1941: Voting rights protected [Statute] — Poll tax repealed.
1944: Miscegenation [Statute] — Illegal for whites and Negroes to live in adultery. Penalty: up to $500, or up to two years imprisonment.
1945: Antidefamation [Statute] — Unlawful to print, publish, distribute by any means, any publications, handbills, booklets, etc. which tends to expose any individual or any religious group to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or abuse unless the name and address of those doing so is clearly printed on the written material.
1958: Education [Statute] — County boards of education may adopt regulation for closing schools during emergencies. Schools to close automatically when federal troops used to prevent violence.
1958: Public Carrier [Statute] — Races to be segregated on public carriers.
1967: Public accommodations [City Ordinance] — Sarasota passed a city ordinance stating that "Whenever members of two or more…races shall…be upon any public…bathing beach within the corporate limits of the City of Sarasota, it shall be the duty of the Chief of police or other officer…in charge of the public forces of the City...with the assistance of such police forces, to clear the area involved of all members of all races present."

Georgia
Restaurants. All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license.
Amateur Baseball. It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race.

Louisiana
Housing. Any person who shall rent any part of any such building to a Negro person or a Negro family when such building is already in whole or in part in occupancy by a white person or white family, or vice versa when the building is in occupancy by a Negro person or Negro family, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25.00) nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars or be imprisoned not less than 10, or more than 60 days, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

Mississippi
Promotion of Equality. Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and Negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine or not exceeding five hundred (500.00) dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or both.

North Carolina
Textbooks. Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them.
Libraries. The state librarian is directed to fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may come to the library for the purpose of reading books or periodicals.

Virginia
Theaters. Every person...operating...any public hall, theater, opera house, motion picture show or any place of public entertainment or public assemblage which is attended by both white and colored persons, shall separate the white race and the colored race and shall set apart and designate...certain seats therein to be occupied by white persons and a portion thereof , or certain seats therein, to be occupied by colored persons.
Railroads. The conductors or managers on all such railroads shall have power, and are hereby required, to assign to each white or colored passenger his or her respective car, coach or compartment. If the passenger fails to disclose his race, the conductor and managers, acting in good faith, shall be the sole judges of his race.

South Carolina
Lunch Counters
No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter.

Child Custody
It shall be unlawful for any parent, relative, or other white person in this State, having the control or custody of any white child, by right of guardianship, natural or acquired, or otherwise, to dispose of, give or surrender such white child permanently into the custody, control, maintenance, or support, of a negro.


Other states
Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky [2]
Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, and North Carolina [3]
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming [4]



To get the complete story click on the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_law

The Black Exodus From The South

If you live in Memphis or the mid-south. Chances are you have relatives in one or more of the northern cities. In a joking matter it has been said that 1 out of 4 people in Chicago came from Mississippi. Now we know where that notion came from. Today it might be somewhat exaggerated, but there was a time when it was true. In the early 1900's Blacks moved from southern states to the northern part of the country. Seeking better jobs and an escape from Jim Crow laws.

I found it interesting to know that Blacks didn't largely migrate to the north, for the jobs that we always think they did. When you think about Detroit, the next thought is the carmakers. The auto industry and other manufacturing jobs may be what they're known for now. In the beginning it was the service jobs vacated by those going to the factories. Yet another step in our journey in America.

Click on link for more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American))

Anna Nicole Smith (1967-2007)

Anna Nicole Smith has died mysteriously at the shockingly young age of 39. She was pronounced dead at 2:39 PM this afternoon, at the Hardrock Hotel and casino. She died just like she lived, in the midst of confusion. Supposedly illegal drugs are involved, and the cause is still unknown. She had just given birth to her second child a girl ( Danny Lynn Hope), six months ago. Only to have her first born 20 yr. old son (Daniel), die three days later. While visiting with her in the hospital. This post is in Tribute, due to her passing. To read more of my earlier thoughts go to the blog below:
http://indepcons.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-goes-up-must-come-down.html

She was in the middle of several court cases as we speak. Just this past week. She had just been ordered to submit a paternity test in California. To settle a paternity case between her Partner/Lawyer Howard K. Stern and photographer Larry Burkette. Who both are claiming to be the girl's father. Her case with the J. Howard Marshall estate, her 89 yr. old billionaire dead husband. Then we have what amounts to the TrimSpa scandal. Her claims of how she lost the weight are being questioned. It really doesn't matter now.



http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=18936043&postID=117097853698268812

Beale Street Was Once A Black Mecca

Another example of Blacks carving out their own niche in a segregated America is the original Beale Street. Even today it is still one of Tennessee's biggest tourist attractions. You might not view the conditions resulting in these havens memorable, they were mostly caused by segregation. It's sometimes a bitter pill to swallow, but nonetheless they existed. During those times complaining didn't really matter. Early on Blacks were mistreated and even killed. In spite of the odds overwhelmingly being stacked against them. Some Blacks repeatedly rose above their surroundings.

Though the street some claim has lost it's Black appeal. It is one of the top tourist attractions in the state of Tennessee. I do know thirty years ago it was a maze of old empty, rundown buildings. A combination of local and federal funds produced what we have today. The theme is still centered around the Blues. It stands to reason that the street would have progressed to the point it is today. There is some litigation as to how that was accomplished. I'm not sure I would want the Beale of yesterday to still be around. That was okay then, but it's different today.


Read the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_Street

Black Wall Street (1830-1921)

Since this era covered practically 100 years. I couldn't figure out exacxtly where to put this post. I know what it signaled to me, but to others it may show something else. Read about it and see what you come up with.


The date was June 1, 1921, when "Black Wallstreet," the name fittingly given to one of the most affluent all-Black communities in America, was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious whites. In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving 36-Black business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering--a model community destroyed, and a major African-American economic movement resoundingly defused.

The night's carnage left some 3,000 African Americans dead, and over 600 successful businesses lost. Among these were 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores and two movie theaters, plus a hospital, a bank, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half dozen private airplanes and even a bus system. As could have been expected the impetus behind it all was the infamous Ku Klux Klan, working in consort with ranking city officials, and many other sympathizers.

In their self-published book, Black Wallstreet: A Lost Dream, and its companion video documentary, Black Wallstreet: A Black Holocaust in America!, the authors have chronicled for the very first time in the words of area historians and elderly survivors what really happened there on that fateful summer day in 1921 and why it happened. Wallace similarly explained to me why this bloody event from the turn of the century seems to have had a recurring effect that is being felt in predominately Black neighborhoods even to this day.

The best description of Black Wallstreet, or Little Africa as it was also known, would be liken it to a mini-Beverly Hills. It was the golden door of the Black community during the early 1900s, and it proved that African Americans had successful infrastructure. That's what Black Wallstreet was all about.

The dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community. Now in 1995, a dollar leaves the Black community in 15-minutes. As far as resources, there were Ph.D.'s residing in Little Africa, Black attorneys and doctors. One doctor was Dr. Berry who owned the bus system. His average income was $500 a day, a hefty pocket change in 1910.

During that era, physicians owned medical schools. There were also pawn shops everywhere, brothels, jewelry stores, 21 churches, 21 restaurants and two movie theaters. It was a time when the entire state of Oklahoma had only two airports, yet six Blacks owned their own planes. It was a very fascinating community.

The area encompassed over 600 businesses and 36 square blocks with a population of 15,000 African Americans. And when the lower-economic Europeans looked over and saw what the Black community created, many of them were jealous. When the average student went to school on Black Wallstreet, he wore a suit and tie because of the morals and respect they were taught at a young age.

The mainstay of the community was to educate every child. Nepotism was the one word they believed in. And that's what we need to get back to in 1995. The main thoroughfare was Greenwood Avenue, and it was intersected by Archer and Pine Streets. From the first letters in each of those three names, you get G.A.P., and that's where the renowned R and B music group the Gap Band got its name. They're from Tulsa.

Black Wallstreet was a prime example of the typical Black community in America that did businesses, but it was in an unusual location. You see, at the time, Oklahoma was set aside to be a Black and Indian state. There were over 28 Black townships there. One third of the people who traveled in the terrifying "Trail of Tears" along side the Indians between 1830 to 1842 were Black people.

The citizens of this proposed Indian and Black state chose a Black governor, a treasurer from Kansas named McDade. But the Ku Klux Klan said that if he assumed office that they would kill him within 48 hours. A lot of Blacks owned farmland, and many of them had gone into the oil business. The community was so tight and wealthy because they traded dollars hand-to-hand, and because they were dependent upon one another as a result of the Jim Crow laws.

It was not unusual that if a resident's home accidentally burned down, it could be rebuilt within a few weeks by neighbors. This was the type of scenario that was going on day- to-day on Black Wallstreet. When Blacks intermarried into the Indian culture, some of them received their promised '40 acres and a mule' and with that came whatever oil was later found on the properties.

Just to show you how wealthy a lot of Black people were, there was a banker in the neighboring town who had a wife named California Taylor. Her father owned the largest cotton gin west of the Mississippi [River]. When California shopped, she would take a cruise to Paris every three months to have her clothes made.

There was also a man named Mason in nearby Wagner County who had the largest potato farm west of the Mississippi. When he harvested, he would fill 100 boxcars a day. Another brother not far away had the same thing with a spinach farm. The typical family then was five children or more, though the typical farm family would have 10 kids or more who made up the nucleus of the labor.

On Black Wallstreet, a lot of global business was conducted. The community flourished from the early 1900s until June 1, 1921. That's when the largest massacre of non-military Americans in the history of this country took place, and it was lead by the Ku Klux Klan. Imagine walking out of your front door and seeing 1,500 homes being burned. It must have been amazing.

Survivors we interviewed think that the whole thing was planned because during the time that all of this was going on, white families with their children stood around the borders of their community and watched the massacre, the looting and everything--much in the same manner they would watch a lynching.


Go to the links below for a somewhat different account of the situation. Read and decide for yourself:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Wall_Street

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tulsa,_Oklahoma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Race_Riot

The Benefits And Pitfalls Of Reconstruction

The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were. As a result, the mass of Southern blacks now faced the difficulty Northern blacks had confronted--that of a free people surrounded by many hostile whites. One freedman, Houston Hartsfield Holloway, wrote, "For we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them."

Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, two more years of war, service by African American troops, and the defeat of the Confederacy, the nation was still unprepared to deal with the question of full citizenship for its newly freed black population. The Reconstruction implemented by Congress, which lasted from 1866 to 1877, was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. The South, however, saw Reconstruction as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it.

During the years after the war, black and white teachers from the North and South, missionary organizations, churches and schools worked tirelessly to give the emancipated population the opportunity to learn. Former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. Grandfathers and their grandchildren sat together in classrooms seeking to obtain the tools of freedom.

After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and began to find means for eroding the gains for which many had shed their blood.

The History Of Black Cowboys

Chronicling the African American presence on the western frontier of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries is a small but important -- and growing -- area of historical inquiry. Unfortunately, western history books fail to give attention to black pioneers, and African American histories seldom mention those blacks who left the South not for the North but for the West. Yet many black people, who worked as miners, farmers, soldiers, housewives, prostitutes, newspaper publishers, hotel owners, restauranteurs, barbers, and even politicians, lived on the western frontier. Several thousand of these African American, western migrants were cowboys.

During the heyday of the western cattle industry in the 1870s and 1880s, thousands of cowboys worked on ranches and rode the dusty trails north from Texas to the towns on the railroads where cattle were shipped east to feed a growing nation. In the process, the cowboy became a uniquely American romantic hero immortalized in story and song. Later when stories with frontier themes -- known as "westerns" -- became a staple in movie theaters and on primetime television, the myth of the noble cowboy was continued in a new medium. In reality, of course, the life of a cowboy was far different from the idealized version portrayed in story, song, and film. The work was hard, the pay was low, and life in the saddle was lonely. But perhaps the biggest discrepancy between the myth and the reality of the cowboy legend was that the black cowboys were almost totally ignored by the mythmakers of the eastern publishing houses and the Hollywood movie sets.

Just how many African American cowboys participated in the frontier cattle industry is unknown, but it was surely several thousand. The cattle kingdom was centered in Texas, a former slave state with a large black population. Thus, many ex-slaves as well as black men born after emancipation worked for Texas cattle companies, riding north to the so-called cattle towns or railheads -- settlements that developed at the points where the cattle trails and the railroads met. 3Many African American cowboys rode through the states and territories of the West on the Sedalia, Chisholm, Great Western, and Goodnight-Loving trails. Often, as black cowboys grew older and decided to trade the semi-nomadic life of the ranch and/or trail hand for a more stable existence, they settled in the West where they became store clerks, farmers, railroad employees, cooks, or worked in any number of other jobs. Some, however, died with their boots on -- like Oklahoma's Bill Pickett who was kicked in the head by a horse while working on the largest ranch in the Sooner State.

An early journal article on the subject, published in 1955, lamented the absence of black cowboys in western fiction. The author argued that publishers of books and magazines left African Americans out of their stories to appease white readers. Publishers had to print what their readers would buy; and since most readers were white, almost all fictional cowboys were also. Later, of course, African American cowboys were virtually ignored by those who made movies and television shows. All of this served to convince white consumers of mass-market media that there were no blacks involved in the frontier cattle industry in the American West.

The two best general works on African American cowboys, however, explode the myth that there were no (or almost no) blacks on the western ranches, ranges, and cattle trails. In 1965 two University of California at Los Angeles English professors, Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones, published a book called THE NEGRO COWBOYS. They estimated that there were at least 5,000 black cowhands in the late nineteenth-century American West. Four years later, University of Oregon history professor, Kenneth Wiggins Porter, argued that the number was closer to 8,000 or 9,000 -- about 25 per cent -- of the 35,000 or so cowboys who worked in the frontier cattle industry.

Moreover, Porter argued that the conditions black cowboys experienced on western ranches and cattle drives were -- from economic and social standpoints -- much better than those of blacks in the South. He wrote that "[d]uring the halcyon days of the cattle range, Negroes there frequently enjoyed greater opportunities for a dignified life than anywhere else in the United States.... The skilled and handy Negro probably had a more enjoyable, if a rougher, existence as a cowhand then [sic] he would have had as a sharecropper or laborer in the South." Certainly, however, racial discrimination occurred on the cattle frontier. Blacks could not stay in white hotels, eat in white restaurants, or patronize white prostitutes. Blacks were almost required to avoid trouble with whites because prejudice might lead to more violent confrontations than would be the case if race were not a factor. Moreover, blacks were rarely promoted to the exalted position of trail boss. Nevertheless, wages for blacks and whites were generally equal, the two groups of cowhands shared bunkhouses, and they worked and ate side-by-side.

Other authors also have maintained that there was little prejudice among cowboys because ranch and trail crews stuck together. And, certainly, it was often the case that blacks and whites worked together in the western cattle industry. White cowboys would often defend their black co-workers from other whites who tried to start trouble. Because most cattle herds rarely exceeded 2,500 in number, only a few drovers were needed to get them to market. According to Durham and Jones, "an average crew contained about 11 men: the trail boss, eight cowboys, a wrangler, and a cook." The boss was almost always white, but two or three of the cowboys, the wrangler, and the cook might typically be black. A few blacks, however, did become ranch and trail bosses. Moreover, several African American cowboys -- whether bosses or not -- have become fairly well known to historians of the subject. 8The men profiled here [See Famous African American Cowboys] serve as reminders that African Americans were cowboys on the western frontier of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and that they contributed to the growth and development of the American West. As in so many areas of American life, however, history has not given them their due. Consequently, those few of us working in this field must search out their stories and tell them to all who will listen so that this facet of African American history will not be neglected any longer.

The Truth About The Buffalo Soldiers

On July 28, 1866, Congress created six regiments of black soldiers -- the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and four infantry regiments (later combined into two) -- and assigned them white officers. Many of these African-American troopers were sent to the Texas frontier between 1867 and the close of the 19th century, where the Native Americans dubbed them "Buffalo Soldiers" due to their curly hair and brown skin color. The name was intended as one of respect, and the soldiers accepted it on that basis. These black soldiers came from everywhere, and included many Civil War veterans. There were ex-slaves and free men, the educated and the illiterate, skilled artisans and unskilled laborers, farmers and urbanites. One of the myths regarding black soldiers out west was that they routinely received equipment far inferior to that used by their white counterparts. The truth of the matter is that all soldiers after the Civil War received the same uniforms and equipment. When the war ended, the army had thousands of uniforms in storage, so the bean counters in Washington (pressured by a Congress in favor of reducing military expenditures) opted not to replenish the supply until the existing stock was exhausted. The typical cavalry soldier on the post-war Texas frontier used Civil War surplus uniforms and equipment. His uniform consisted of a 13-button navy blue shell jacket with yellow piping, or a plain four-button blue sack coat, along with sky blue wool trousers with reinforced seat, and knee-high boots or ankle-height shoes called brogans. His headgear was either a forage cap with a floppy crown and short bill or a campaign hat, essentially a broad-brimmed hat in one of various styles, in black, brown, or gray. The supplies on hand were usually substandard due to unscrupulous contractors who produced shoddy and undersized uniforms to save money. Though ill-fitting and inferior, these uniforms were issued to the soldiers on the frontier, both black and white. Fortunately, there were many skilled tailors among the ranks who could make the proper alterations. Blacks joined the army for the same reasons that anyone else did: income, adventure, travel, clothing, square meals, and meaningful responsibility. Employment for anyone was not easy to come by in the 19th century, especially after the Civil War. There was no unemployment insurance or job placement service. The army gave men a viable option: steady work and steady pay, plus food and lodging.

The army was looking for experienced men to fill the ranks, and black Civil War veterans topped the list. Early on, most enlisted men in leadership roles (the sergeants and corporals) had served in the Union Army during the war; could read, write, and figure; and were well versed in the ways of military life. Buffalo Soldiers were stationed throughout the southern plains and Southwest, a priority area for expansion. The army's primary jobs were to patrol and explore the territory; build roads, forts, and telegraph lines; guard major transportation routes and railroad construction crews; and provide escorts for cattle drives and mail coaches. Soldiers also served as the federal police force, apprehending horse and cattle thieves, escorting prisoners to and from courts of jurisdiction, and enforcing the terms of Indian treaties. The army basically established the infrastructure needed to sustain a government presence and a civilian population. Although army regiments were officially segregated throughout the 1800s, Buffalo Soldiers and their white counterparts fought side by side in many engagements with Indians and outlaws. A typical expedition might have used companies or detachments from both white and black regiments placed together under one command. It was not uncommon, for example, for companies from the black 9th Cavalry and the white 4th Cavalry, along with Indian, Mexican, black, or white scouts and interpreters, to ride, camp, and fight together as a single unit.Segregation and racism existed on the frontier and the army was not immune to it. Black soldiers experienced both discrimination and praise from their white counterparts, superior officers, and the various civilians they encountered. Many original accounts and official documents detail how black soldiers were mistreated as well as how many were revered and respected. In spite of all challenges, the Buffalo Soldiers performed well on the frontier and left a proud American legacy. Their desertion rates were the lowest and their reenlistment rates were the highest in the army. They were awarded no fewer than 20 Congressional Medals of Honor during the Indian Wars period in the service of their country.

The Soul Bowl

Today we will experience history. This will be the first Superbowl that will have a Black coach at the reins. Not only will there be one but two, assuring Blacks of the first Black coach to win a Superbowl Championship as well.

Dr. William Daniel Hale

William Daniel Hale is considered by some to be the first Physician to perform "Open Heart Surgery". There are others who dispute that claim, based on the fact that it wasn't documented. This is how the truth gets lost in the muddle of misconception. In pre-malpractice days and prior to health insurance, it's not that far fetched to assume they didn't record everything. In addition to the racial climate and the race of the patient. The medical community just didn't make it a big deal. They sort of swept it under the rug.

What is proven and without question. Is the fact that he instituted sterile procedures and practices still in effect today. These breakthroughs in medicine were beneficial to both Black and White patients. I'm not a physician, but I am possibly a patient. If not for William Daniel Hale and his groundbreaking techniques. People might still be dying from simple procedures due to infections. That has much greater impact on the world of medicine. Than being the first to perform "Open Heart Surgery".

Read More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hale_Williams

World Is Upside Down

Women Choose Spouses on African Island
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
AP
ORANGO ISLAND, Guinea-Bissau (Feb. 1) - He was 14 when the girl entered his grass-covered hut and placed a plate in front of him containing an ancient recipe.

Like all men on this African isle, Carvadju Jose Nananghe knew exactly what it meant. Refusing was not an option. His heart pounding, he lifted the steaming fish to his lips, agreeing in one bite to marry the girl.

"I had no feelings for her," said Nananghe, now 65. "Then when I ate this meal, it was like lightning. I wanted only her."

In this archipelago of 50 islands of pale blue water off the western rim of Africa, it's women, not men, who choose. They make their proposals public by offering their grooms-to-be a dish of distinctively prepared fish, marinated in red palm oil. It's the equivalent of a man bending on one knee and offering a woman a diamond ring, except that in one of the world's matriarchal cultures, it's women that do the asking, and once they have, men are powerless to say no.

To have refused, explained the old man remembering the day half a century ago, would have dishonored his family - and in any case, why would he want to choose his own wife?

"Love comes first into the heart of the woman," explained Nananghe. "Once it's in the woman, only then can it jump into the man."

But the treacherous tides and narrow channels that have long kept outsiders out of these remote islands are no longer holding back the modern world. Young men are increasingly leaving Orango, located 38 miles (60 kilometers) off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, a country in West Africa. They find jobs carrying luggage for tourist hotels on the archipelago's more developed islands; others collect oil from the island's abundant palm trees and sell it on the African mainland.

They return bringing with them a new form of courtship, one which their elders find deeply unsettling.

"Now the world is upside down," complained 90-year-old Cesar Okrane, his eyes obscured by a cloud of cataracts. "Men are running after women, instead of waiting for them to come to them."

Standing in the shade of a grass roof, he holds himself upright with the help of a tall spear and explains that when he was young he took extra care to maintain his physique, learned to dance and practiced writing poetry - all ways in which men can try to attract women, without overtly making the first move.

In recent years, young men have become increasingly bold, going so far as to openly propose marriage - a dangerous turn, say traditionalists.

"The choice of a woman is much more stable," explains Okrane. "Rarely were there divorces before. Now, with men choosing, divorce has become common."

With records not readily available, it's unclear how many divorces there were earlier, but islanders agree that there are significantly more now than in the years when men waited patiently for a proposal on a plate. They waited some more, as their brides-to-be then set out for the eggshell-white beaches encircling the island, looking for the raw materials with which to build their new house.

Women built all the grass-covered huts here, dragging driftwood back from the ocean to use as poles, cutting blankets of blond grass to weave into roofs and shaping the pink mud underfoot into bricks. Only once the house is built, a process that takes at least four months, can the couple move in and their marriage be considered official.

There are matrilineal cultures in numerous pockets of the world, including in other parts of Africa, as well as in China's Yunnan province and in northeastern Thailand, says anthropologist Christine Henry, a researcher at France's elite National Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS. But the unquestioned authority given to women in matters of the heart on this island is unique - "I don't know of it happening anywhere else," says Henry, who has written a book on the customs of the archipelago.

That things are changing is evident in the material chosen for the island's newest house: concrete. It was erected by paid laborers, not local women.

Although priestesses still control the island's relationship with the spirit world, their clout is waning, as churches sown by missionaries have taken root.

"When I get married it will be in a church, wearing a white dress and a veil," says 19-year-old Marisa de Pina, who strikes a modern pose under the blond grass of her family's hut, wearing tight Capri pants and sequined sandals.

She says the Protestant church she attends has taught her that it is men, not women, that should make the first move, and so she plans to wait for a man to approach her. To make her point, the teenager pops into her hut and returns holding a worn copy of the New Testament, its pages stuffed with post-it notes, letters and business cards.



Like her niece, Edelia Noro wears store-bought clothes instead of the grass skirts still favored by some older women. She, too, attends church. But she says she doesn't see why these trappings of modern life should alter the system of courtship.

More than two decades ago, she set off for the closest beach looking for the ingredients with which to propose to the man she loved.

Noro waited for the tide to recede, then dug in the wet sand for clams, collecting them in a woven basket. She was embarrassed, she said, that she was too poor to afford a proper meal of fish and could only offer her groom-to-be what she could gather with her own hands. So after preparing the dish, she placed it in front of him, then ran and hid behind a tree, peeking out to see his reaction.

"He did not hesitate and ate right away. I could see the love shining in his eyes," she said, a glow spreading across her cheeks.

Although the island's unique customs may be fading, there are still pockets of resistance. Often, it's women that lure men back into the fold of ancient ways.

Now 23, Laurindo Carvalho first spotted the girl when he was 13. He worked in a tourist hotel, wore jeans, and owned a cell phone and thought of himself as modern and so he thought he could turn tradition on its head, asking the girl to marry him. With the wave of a hand, she rejected him.

Six years passed and one day, when both were 19, he heard a knock at his door. Outside, his love stood holding out a plate of freshly caught fish, a coy smile on her face.

Carvalho still wears sandblasted jeans and flip-flops bearing the Adidas logo, but he now sees himself as embedded in the village's matriarchal fiber.

"I learned the hard way that here, a man never approaches a woman," he says.

Blacks And Their Role In The Civil War

At Jamestown, Va. in 1611 a group of Scottish women and children were sold as slaves. 7 years later in Jamestown the first Africans were sold in slavery. From 1611 until 1865 people from virtually every society on earth were sold into slavery in North America. Citizens in each of the thirteen colonies enslaved people, but slavery was viewed as a southern institution after the early 1800's. Along the coastal areas of the South a majority of the slaves were black. In some inland areas whites and Native Americans outnumbered black slaves. Slavery is still legal in the United States as a criminal punishment, but is not practiced.

In 1789 Georgians, as did much of the rest of the country, saw slavery as a dying institution. Eli Whitney's stolen modification of the cotton gin(1793) created a greater demand for slaves, so rather than "wither on the vine" the institution prospered. The Northwest Ordinance, adopted in 1787 banned the practice in the Northwest Territories. In 1798 Georgia forbid further importation of slaves and the Constitution allowed Congress to outlaw importation of slaves in 1808, which they did. Over the next 40 years lesser skirmishes were fought over slavery including the Compromise of 1820. In North Georgia slavery was not widespread and a majority of the slaves were of Native American, Scottish or Irish descent.

Slaves often spoke of "our cotton" or "our cattle". The only item they would concede was the master's carriage. Trusted slaves were permitted to go to town unescorted. Others suffered horribly. Conditions in northern factories were as bad or worse than those for a majority of the slaves, but it would be 40 years after the war when they were properly addressed.

Beginning in the late 1840's the conflict over slavery began to boil over. The Compromise of 1850 contributed heavily to the split in Georgia's Democratic Party. On a national scale David Wilmot, Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe enflamed the abolitionists. James G. Birney and Theodore Weld were more effective against slavery. The Dred Scot decision, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and harsher Fugitive Slave Laws gave the South some redress.

The new Republican Party became a home to the alienated abolitionists. Although they totaled less than 3% of the population at large, they formulated the Republican platform to include the abolition of slavery as a plank. The party then nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Few gave him any chance of success, but 3 other candidates split the popular vote and Lincoln won. Convinced that Lincoln would ruin the South economically, possibly by freeing the slaves, the heartland of the South withdrew from the Union. Shortly thereafter the upper south joined them. The attack on Fort Sumter launched America's bloodiest conflict.

Where Did The Word "Picnic" Come From ?

It was typical to have a picnic on a Friday evening in Oklahoma. The word was short for "pick a nigger" to lynch. They would lynch a Black male and cut off body parts as souvenirs. This went on every weekend in this country, and it was all across the county.

Dread Scott, 150 Years Later

It's ironic that 150 years later the United States would be on the crest of a decision similar to the one made in the Dread Scott case. Amnesty for illegals would essentially be changing the law just like they did then. It was ruled that since Dread Scott was a former slave. He was never a free man anyway, as far as the United States Supreme court was concerned. He wasn't entitled to the rights and priviledges afforded a United States citizen. As I have often said before "this country will be spilt along the lines of immigration, whether you're for or against amnesty". Though there means of getting here was different. Both races had and have to fight for their places. Then it was the Blacks, today it's the Hispanics.


Mr. Scott was a former slave who after his original owner died, was hired out by his former masters wife. Why Mr. Scott and his wife would leave the free state of Illinois, to return to the South where owning slaves was legal. Has yet to be determined by historians. Him and his wife traveled over 1000 miles unattended to get to where he ended up being eventually still a slave. It doesn't seem like they were forced though. They went of their own free-will. I can't help but think of the old Smokey Robinson tune "How can you be daylight and darkness at the same time"? I think that's what happened to Dread Scott. The hand that fed him all those years, ultimately ended up slapping him.

When this topic came up today, they were discussing Africa. Go figure, I don't see how it's relevant either. Some people make everything an issue of race. To get the full story read the link below:

http://www.historicaldocuments.com/DredScott.htm

Thank God For Those Who Made The Sacrifice

I do mean sacrifice because that's exactly what it was. Even though they didn't come of their own free-will. It did take a strong will and constitution to survive the hardships they had to face. No doubt Blacks were brought to America in chains, but if the truth be known. Blacks were already held captive by other Blacks in Africa. The Blacks sold into slavery over here were the weaker over there. Was the motherland all it was cracked up to be for all our people? Slavery is still practiced in parts of the African nation. It would be interesting to have 20/20 hindsight and see how some Blacks would have turned out had they never left Africa.

I once watched a movie called "Amistad". It changed my views on the plight of Blacks in slavery. Up until that point my opinion was formed by watching the movie "Roots". The most memorable scene in the movie "Amistad" was when a mother fell over the side of the ship holding her child. At first I thought that was a courageous act, to die rather than to be held captive. Now that I have been born again and seen the light for myself.Upon farther insight and thought on the subject. I came to realize it was instead a cowardly act. The brave ones are those who kept the faith. It makes me think about a statement made by one of the Jamestown, Guyana residents in the face of death. "As long as we are alive we still have a hope". There lies the fork in the road. If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger. Many of those who made the trip. It obviously didn't kill them. Thank God for those who made the sacrifice.

In Celebration Of Black History Month

In this upcoming month I will point out various stages in the Black experience. Which I think has shaped the plight of Black's existence in America. Being a Conservative myself, I usually see things from a little different perspective than others. Hopefully this will help explain some things to those who afford me the opportunity of a fair hearing. God bless America first, and the rest of the world will follow. The greatness of this country is what makes a "Black History Month" a reality.