The Art of Loving

Okay peoples this book is becoming by far one of my favorites in a long time. Anyone who really knows me, understands that finance/ business is not my first love but rather science. I have always, for as far back as I can remember been in love with the arts of science and math. Everything else is a necessary evil. Anyhoo, that's a little besides the point. The fact is that this book is written by Erich Fromm, whom is a renown psychoanalyst and his book is written along the themes of psychology, amongst other things such as basic logic and physiology. It's extremely interesting brothers and sisters. Here's an excerpt:

To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility (which have also been explained) would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge would be empty if it were not motivated by concern. There are many layers of knowledge; the knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which does not stay at the periphery, but penetrates to the core. It is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in his own terms. I may know, for instance, that a person is angry, even if he does not show it overtly; I may know him more deeply than that; then I know that he is anxious, and worried; that he feels lonely, that he feels guilty. Then I know that his anger is only the manifestation of something deeper, and I see his as anxious and embarrassed, that is, as the suffering person, rather than as the angry one.

Or....

The problem of knowing man is parallel to the religious problem of knowing God. In conventional Western theology the attempt is made to know God by though, to make statements about God. It is assumed that I can know God in my though. In mysticism, which is the consequent outcome of monotheism (which is outlined later), the attempt is given up to know God by though, and it is replaced bu the experience of union with God in which there is no more room -and no need- for knowledge about God.
The experience of union, with man, or religiously speaking, with God, is by no means irrational. On the contrary, it is as Albert Schweitzer has pointed out, the consequence of rationalism, its most daring and radical consequence. It is based on our knowledge of the fundamental, and not accidental, limitations of our knowledge. It is the knowledge that we shall never "grasp" the secret of man and of the universe, but that we can know, nevertheless, in the act of love. Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticism, so the ultimate consequence of psychology is love.

End Quote

And that's within the first 50 pages!!! The book itself is only 100 or so pages, so maybe I'm overexaggerating seeing that the first 50 pages is actually half the book, but still.....sue me. It's very interesting and I do believe even after reading some, that it would serve as a good basis for a many conversation. Once again the name of the book is, "The Art of Loving" and it's written by Dr. Erich Fromm. Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060958286/sr=8-1/qid=1148402184/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4811753-8300924?%5Fencoding=UTF8. You can still get it for the low!!!!

Asalaamu-laikum
MAS

Katrina Autopsy: Police Shot Mentally Disabled Black American Man in the Back

By James Polk, Drew Griffin and Kate Albright-HannaCNN

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled man was shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant that the victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband when shot.
"Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's lawyer. (Autopsy and victim's brother tell story of fatal shooting -- 5:04)

A prosecutor said the case will go before a grand jury soon and acknowledged the investigation includes the possibility of police wrong-doing.

Ronald Madison, 40, was mentally disabled and lived at home with his mother. He had no criminal record. He was shot when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bridge over the flooded Industrial Canal on Sunday, September 4, six days after Katrina hit New Orleans last year.

It was a week of dire flooding, rampant looting, death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion. Four people were killed in confrontations with police that weekend alone.

Madison's older brother, Lance, said he and Ronald were walking across the Danziger bridge toward another brother's dental office when teen-agers ran up behind him and opened fire that Sunday morning.

By his account, he and Ronald were running away toward the crest of the bridge when a police team, responding to the report of gunshots, arrived in a rental truck and opened fire on people on the bridge.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley told CNN, "Several of the people were shot and two were killed by our officers in a running gun battle... Most police shoot-outs last somewhere between six and twelve seconds, and it's over with. This was a running gun battle that went on several minutes."

One teen-ager, still unidentified, was killed near the base of the bridge. Another was critically wounded. Three other people with them were also shot and were hospitalized.
Lance Madison said a policeman pointed a rifle at Ronald and shot him as the two of them were running up the bridge. Lance said he helped carry his wounded brother to a motel on the other side of the canal and left him there as Lance kept running to seek help.

The Police Department said in a press release last fall that Ronald Madison, whom it called a second unidentified gunman, "was confronted by a New Orleans Police Officer. The suspect reached into his waist and turned toward the officer who fired one shot fatally wounding him."
Testifying in a preliminary hearing last fall, Police Sgt. Arthur Kaufman said much the same thing: "One subject turned, reached in his waistband, turned on the officers."

Autopsy results, made available to CNN by a source involved in the investigation, directly contradict that police account.

The findings list five separate gunshot wounds in Ronald Madison's back. Three went through the body and exited in front. There were two other wounds in his right shoulder. None of the shots entered his body from the front.

CNN had sued the coroner of Orleans Parish to try to get official access to the autopsy report. At a court hearing on that lawsuit in New Orleans a week ago, the coroner, Dr. Frank Minyard, verified the handwritten autopsy report obtained elsewhere by CNN was indeed prepared in his office by a pathologist on his staff who listed the wounds in the victim's right back.

Under cross-examination by a CNN lawyer, Dr. Minyard testified those five wounds in the back "were entrance wounds, yes."

Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, met with CNN in New York City two weeks ago to discuss his own observations when he examined Ronald Madison's body for the family lawyer last fall. Asked if Ronald could have been facing the police when shot, Dr. Baden said, "Absolutely not."

No weapon was found on or near Ronald Madison's body.

Asst. District Attorney Dustin Davis, testifying in the same court hearing on the CNN lawsuit, said a grand jury has been assigned to investigate the Danziger Bridge shootings. However, the grand jury has not yet met on the case because the New Orleans Police Dept. has yet to complete its final report, eight months after those deaths.

The CNN attorney asked Davis, "What you are investigating in that case is whether any of the police officers may be indicted for homicide, is that correct?"
Davis answered, "That's partially correct. We are also looking at Mr. Madison's involvement in the incident."

Lance Madison was arrested on the other side of the bridge where his brother was killed and was accused of shooting at the police officers in the gun battle. He, too, had no weapon when taken into custody. He was released from jail after six months because the District Attorney's office had not initiated any prosecution, although the investigation remains pending.
Sgt. Kaufman testified at the bail hearing for Lance Madison last fall that another policeman saw Lance throw a gun into the Industrial Canal as he was going over the bridge. Lance Madison denies that. He told CNN correspondent Drew Griffin, "I had no gun, at all." Asked if Ronald had a gun, Lance answered, "No, he didn't."

In a CNN interview earlier this month, Griffin told Police Chief Warren Riley, "We understand
Ronald Madison was shot in the back five times."

Riley said, "Those are things I can't comment on and no one can comment on until the investigation is concluded."

Griffin asked Riley if he was concerned about his officers' actions and Riley replied, "Certainly, we do not condone our officers overreacting, even in the most chaotic time," but he went on, "We don't know that they overreacted. From the radio transmission, it sounds like their lives were in danger."

Riley turned down a request by CNN to interview the officers who were involved.
A 25-year career employee at Federal Express, Lance Madison has no criminal record.
At the end of the CNN interview, Riley conceded the two Madison brothers may not have been connected with the other people on the bridge that day.

"I don't know if those young men were innocent or not. I really don't know if they were with that group or not," Riley said. "I really don't know."

Black American Love

Extended from all, I would like to express a sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Tim and Mrs. Dee in respects to their 4 years of love and happiness as the beautiful pair celebrate their anniversary this weekend.

I don't know about you guys, but I am always on the lookout for love amongst young Black American men and women. I think its the most powerful weapon we have in our struggle. We have to be more aware of these special people and their lasting commitment to love and caring for one another. I for one, being a virtual newlywed, look to Bro. Tim and others like him for inspiration and direction. They are a constant reminder to me, that this generation does love, and we are capable of loving each other. Thanks Tim

We're doing this thing chronologically, so next in line celebrating matrimony this month is a good friend to all of us, Tayro (naw that ain't the correct spelling) and his beautiful wife Tarri. They've been setting a strong example of love for one another since March 5 of 2003 which makes this their third anniversary. Much love and happiness to you two people, keep doing what you do!!!

Also celebrating a marriage this weekend are Mike and Brandee out in Cordova. Its been 2 years since I witnessed their marriage in downtown Memphis, and like the Energizer Bunny, they've been going.....and going.....and going...... It's about time for little bambinoes wouldn't you say Brandee?


May Jah bless your marriages and your lives. May you all continue to listen to and strive for understand in one another through all things. I pray that Jah gives you the strength and courage to overcome anything which attempts to interupt the nature current of love that you two have flowing from and to one another. For now, and forever.

Asalaamu-laikum

MAS

Loving and learning and living to do both....or something like that

Hey fellas this is the book I'd like for us to read throughout the month of May and June. I'd like for us all to be able to discuss it from a common base. I was referred to this book from a good friend, Jamel, and so I jumped out and got it. I bought it off of Amazon for like $0.98 and $3 shipping and handling. My total wasn't even $5. The author's name is Erich Fromm, in the case that you can't read it. Leave a comment when you have it.

And by the way ya'll. Leave some comments anyway!!! Don't just read this blog, become more active. Make it yours. You aren't a contributor to not contribute. Drop a line, an idea, a poem, something. Help us bring this blog alive please.

Asalaamu-laikum

Martin and You and Me

Human Rights Watch reports that black people are more than eight times as likely to wind up behind bars as white people. It is telling how mutely we absorb that fact. Some see in it only proof of the ravaging effects of poverty and miseducation. Others see support for the idiot claim that criminality is a native defect of African peoples. You seldom hear anyone suggest that it is this way because we the people want it this way, that in our silence, we give tacit approval to this means of controlling a population whose mere existence we have historically found threatening and inconvenient.

So now we know how Martin Lee Anderson died.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1g6u6_martin-anderson_music?start=79

We can forget the original autopsy report filed by Charles Siebert, a doctor so inept he wasn’t technically a doctor (he had allowed his license to lapse) when he issued the report. A doctor so inept he once described a person he autopsied as having “unremarkable” testes. The person was a woman, so if she had testes at all, it would seem quite remarkable, indeed.

Siebert contended that after being hit, manhandled and choked by guards Jan. 5 at a so-called boot camp in Panama City, Fla., the 14-year-old Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder carried by 1 in 12 Americans of African heritage. That finding has been roundly hooted by real doctors, who say it is unlikely in the extreme the condition could lead to death.
A new autopsy told a different story. Vernard Adams, Tampa’s chief medical examiner, found that the child died because guards covered his mouth and forced him to inhale ammonia.
Just so you know, Martin Lee Anderson was an A and B student, good at math. He wound up in the boot camp after he took his grandmother’s car for a joy ride.
In other words, hardly the second coming of Al Capone.

As it happens, news of how he died came almost simultaneously with news of another appalling mistreatment of children in detention. According to a report from an advocacy group, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, more than 100 teenagers were left locked in a flooded prison in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They had to scramble to the top bunks to avoid drowning. They went up to five days with nothing to eat or drink. Some drank flood water. A large number had not been convicted of any crime.

And the vast majority was, like Anderson, black. Indeed, although New Orleans was about 67 percent black, the report says the prison was well over 95 percent black. No surprise. Human Rights Watch reports that black people are more than eight times as likely to wind up behind bars as white people.

It is telling how mutely we absorb that fact. Some see in it only proof of the ravaging effects of poverty and miseducation. Others see support for the idiot claim that criminality is a native defect of African peoples.

You seldom hear anyone suggest that it is this way because we the people want it this way, that in our silence, we give tacit approval to this means of controlling a population whose mere existence we have historically found threatening and inconvenient.
In the James Crow years, the institutions of government and society could hardly have been more brazen in pursuit of that goal. White teachers told black students they should aspire to no goal higher than to work as janitors and cooks. White cops turned black suspects over to lynch mobs.

It could never happen that way in this enlightened era, of course. And yet it happens in other ways. A 2002 report by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University says black kids are labeled emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded, and shipped off to special-education classes at rates of up to four times those of white kids. A 2000 study co-sponsored by the Justice Department tells us that, of people who have never done time in juvenile facilities, a black drug defendant is 48 times more likely to be jailed than a white one with the same record.
The means have changed, but the end — repression, control — remains the same, and we steer black kids like cars until they reach it.

Granted, there may have been some white kids in that fetid, flooded prison. There were certainly some in that brutal boot camp. Yet it’s no accident African-American children are always so well represented in those lousy places, not happenstance that they are so readily found among society’s discards.

So our concern for them now feels ... well, let’s call it belated. And self-deluding.

Those children were right where we wanted them to be.

POWER

The abuse of power can corrupt
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
So it is our duty to stand up
Against the powers that be
No longer
Will we remain silent
The passenger
Has become the pilot
Chartering a course to our destiny
Changing our pronoun from “I” to “We”
To the best of my ability
I shall lead by example
Turn our dreams to something tangible
As much as the world can handle
Not Power “To” the people
But Power “From” the people
We are the people
And together we have no equal
Our strength lies
Within the lives
Energized
By our healing hands
When others begin to realize
They too must take a stand
To revitalize our culture
Protect the weary pride
From the vultures
Look through the deception
To find the connection
Then the world will see
The God within you and me
And they’ll say
“Now that’s Power!!”
Now that’s Power!!
-T-remedi

Min. Farrakhan issues a warning to Black New Yorkers

NEW YORK - This last Sunday Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan appeared on New York’s popular radio show “Open Line” on WKRS-FM 98.7, and issued a stern warning to Black New Yorkers concerning the need to do-for-self and the need to be prepared for upcoming disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. He also cleared the air concerning his remarks while appearing at Tavis Smiley’s.“State of Black America” forum in February; and his position on what is happening in Darfur, Sudan.

Farrakhan’s warning was that Blacks do not realize that America no longer needs them. “White folk have let us go, except for the few that are in corporate America. The few that can fit in this society,” warned the Muslim leader. “The government has said wipe them out (Blacks in America), and we are on a death march.” It was clear according to some observers that the leader of the Nation of Islam was continuing with very clear and explicit instructions for the direction that Blacks must take.James Mtume, one of the show’s hosts asked Farrakhan for a summation of his recent trip to Cuba; and for the need for Blacks to see themselves in the global paradigm.

Farrakhan said that Katrina “unmasked the naked racism and ineptitude of government; and the non-caring attitude of government toward the suffering of Black people.” And since Cuba was only 90 miles away it made sense to go there to learn what they know about surviving disaster.“Cuba has been mobilized for 47 years to withstand disaster. There have been category five hurricanes that have hit the island and not one life was lost,” Farrakhan stated.

“It is written in the Qur’an that Allah will bring one calamity after another until the enemy is laid low, so Hurricane Katrina is only one, but there are many more to come,” warned Farrakhan. He said that Blacks as the people suffering the most in America must be prepared to save themselves. He added that a documentary was being made of the recent trip; and he wanted to share what has been learned with churches and organizations. “We also want to work with city, state and the federal government, so that when the disasters strike, as they will, we can make sure that there is not the loss of life, the tremendous loss of property and dislocation that we saw with Hurricane Katrina.”

Returning to the global concept, Farrakhan said that Blacks must understand that the poor of the world saw Black America, after the 1995 Million Man March, as hope for them, because they knew if we united, we could form a political base of power that could change, not only domestic policy, but influence foreign policy. “And now the doors to the world are open to us but we must be prepared now to go in and take advantage of the fact that we are an international people, a global people - we are not a minority - we are a majority on the planet and the whole world is looking to Black America because we grew up in the world leader. But what we need is a knowledge of self,” Farrakhan stressed.

Judge Bob Pickett said that many in the Black community throughout the nation have been critical of Black leadership in general. “What is your view of Black leadership in America?” asked Judge Pickett.

“I think the best of leadership is yet to come,” answered the Muslim leader. He then shared with the radio audience something told to him by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad concerning a force in the universe where a star is being born in the darkness. That force that is in the darkness will bring that star into view. “What that is telling us is that we will never be bereft of leadership. And new leadership is required among Black people, because there is a sickness in our leadership,” he said. “I don’t want to put myself apart from that leadership, because none of us has done all we should do,” Farrakhan admitted.

He added that the quality of Black leadership that won’t do anything offensive to whites must be over thrown; and a quality of leadership must arise that “will never disrespect and be ungrateful to the masses of Black people. A leadership that will never compromise principle because the former slave masters and their children are in the house.”

Both hosts explained to Farrakhan the many calls they received concerning a comment that the minister allegedly made during his appearance in Houston concerning Smiley’s book “Covenant With Black America.” “I want the world to know that Farrakhan would never disrespect the work of so many that went into producing this marvelous book,” he said. “But, what I said was misunderstood - and sometimes when you hear a man and you think emotionally he is disrespecting your work, you don’t really hear him,” the minister continued. “I guess the shock of what I was saying caused that type of disturbance,” he added.Critics of Farrakhan have said that he said, “burn the house down” referring to America. “Now what I said was; no, no, no, don’t be a fireman, let the house burn. I didn’t mean to upset you to think that I would burn down the house with our children in it. The scripture says that we are born in sin and shaped in inequity, so our spiritual house is also on fire, but from the ashes God said, I am going to make a new heaven and a new earth and you will be a new creature in Christ.” That is what Farrakhan was referencing, he stressed.

“Now, when you make a covenant, a covenant is a solemn agreement between people who are declaring their integrity to live up to that which is in the covenant,” Farrakhan stated. “Who is the covenant with?” he asked. “Are the leaders making a covenant with Black America that we will never sell them out for friendship and favor with our former slave masters?” Farrakhan asked. He added that the covenant couldn’t be made with Black America before “you make a covenant with God.”Turning his attention to the Sudan and the reported atrocities in Darfur, Farrakhan said that the media was reporting that some Arabs in the Sudan were enslaving Africans, so naturally this breeds hatred in Black America against Arabs.Farrakhan said the truth is that the Arabs over time have mixed their blood with Africans of the North and they have become Arabized and Islamic. “And the same racist poison that has poisoned the blood stream of Islam has made the Arab North feel superior to the African South. The same game that the enemy has played here and else where in Africa is being played in the Sudan in reference to skin color,” revealed Farrakhan.

Farrakhan said what Black people must examine is the root reason why so many whites are crying tears for Darfur and not the suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Palestine. “So what I say to Black people, when the former slave masters who didn’t care about lynching; and don’t care about what happened with Katrina, don’t you be deceived that they care about what is happening in the Sudan,” he argued.

“Black people wake up to the deceit,” Farrakhan stated.

US Post Office to Destroy Black American Stamps

Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Patricia Roberts Harris are all on these stamps. Please forward this and buy a book of our stamps ASAP. The P.O. will DESTROY all remaining African American Heritage stamps at the end of the month instead of following their usual procedure of selling them until they are depleted. Why? Because we are not buying them! However, our postal workers are asking patrons to complain to the Post Master, via a complaint form. Please ask for and complete the form (at the post office). Skip the love, flag, rose or teddy- bear stamps that they offer you automatically, Request African-American stamps every time. If we don't buy them, nobody will. We need to keep the little things that we do get. Please send this email to all your friends so we can keep BLACK STAMPS in circulation!!!!

Principles

Principles are so not practical. Principally, because practically no one practices practical practices of principle period. However, periodic practice produces practical principals periodically. Principally proving periodic is practical and principals are not; period. So, practice- produced periods of principle, practically prove periods are not principally produced; however practical. So, practical is proof of periodic principles practiced and principles are permanent practices of practical. Principles are so not practical.

Getting Grown Lalalalala.....Lalalalalaaaaaa

F-Dub and I got out Sunday and played a little football in the park ya'll. It was something. LOL When you get out and do things like that, you really notice just how far away from 15 years old you are. Now I know that some of you guys are still in tip top shape so I would guess that this isn't meant for you necessarily. But for the rest of you 25-30 year olds, try it with us next weekend and see just how far you make it. I plan on getting out each and every weekend with as many people as possible to run and play football or softball or something like that. We need to have physical activity added into our regimines. I would like to get out there at a local park every Saturday morning, or Sunday after church. We currently have approximately 5 players who have committed to joining us. Won't you come out to play?
It's flag so you don't have to go to work the next day feeling like you just survived an episode of fightclub.

So drop a line on here, in the comments section and let it be known if you are down. We would love to have you out there. Maybe we can even turn it into a full blown training camp, who knows.

Know Thy Self

Just a little something I dug up. Peace to my Brother W and his family

Does Race Matter?

The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views/opinions of the author wholeheartedly. The purpose however is to encourage thought-provoking questions that challenge traditional “Western” views. The ultimate goal is to inspire the reader’s journey to know thy self


Does the ethnicity/racial heritage of key figures included in the New and Old Testament of the Bible (regardless of version or translation) matter? In other words does the recently exposed and often debatable assertion that significant individuals, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus have any effect on one’s view of religion, spirituality and themselves? This commentary will focus primarily on the impact on African-Americans.

Over the last decade, there has been a resurgence on the exploration of racial identity of the people included in the Bible. Of most popularity is the claim whether or not Jesus Christ was black. From Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, and several other books and sources of information there has been a floodgate of opinions and claims arguing both sides of the fence. Most of the claims are based on the culture and surrounding the environment of Jesus’ time, linguistic connection of names to African tribes and specific quotes from the Bible (“hair like lambs wool”). However, this commentary is not aimed at proving/disapproving Jesus’ ethnic heritage (as there are several compelling arguments for those who seek). Instead the focus is on the impact of the ethnic identity.

The consensus from the “Western” standpoint is that Jesus was white based on the majority of the pictorial illustrations witnessed in the churches, made-for-tv movies, and all throughout Hollywood (every movie made about his life to this point). Despite the logical and definite points brought to light, the key religious figures (representatives from Judaism & Christianity) have not made any statements either way. Or if there were, it has not been widely disseminated to the masses.

What is most intriguing is that many scholars believe that early Christian Europe has always known the racial identity. Leon Poliakov in 1996, John G. Jackson in 1933, and Sir Godfrey Higgins in 1836 were only a few of the scholars that claim the ethic origin of the key figures as black. Given the fact that Sir Higgins work is closest to the time period in debate, his theory will be used as an example. In Sir Higgins work, The Anaclypsis or an Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions that in the early churches of Europe “the God Christ, as well as his mother, are described in their old pictures to be black. The infant God in the arms of his black mother, his eyes and drapery white, is himself perfectly black.” [pg 7] If true, one can conclude that the Catholic Church has long acknowledged the African origin of Christianity and the black heritage of Jesus, his mother, and her people. Sir Higgins knew that this type of information would not sit well among his people in Europe and cause many to be uncomfortable. Therefore, he included in his arguments several irrefutable points. He sent his doubters to actual churches in Europe where the claimed images of the Black Jesus and his mother could be found: Cathedral-a-Moulins (famous chapel of the Virgin of Loretto); Church of Annunciata (@ St. Lazaro); Church of St. Stephan at Genoa; Church of St. Francisco at Pisa; Church at Brixen in Tyrol; Church at Padua; Catholic Cathedral at Augsburg; Church of St. Theodore at Munich; and even in Rome at the Borghese chapel of Maria Maggiore.

Due to the emergence of European racism and the fabricated perception of Africa by the definers of history (Europeans), this has been denied and most (some still today have them) churches removed these “black figures” of Jesus and his mother. To further make this denial and concealment believable, during the Renaissance period, a new era of pictures were drawn and put out in all of the churches and literature. The most famous being Michelangelo’s infamous drawing of Jesus based on his cousin who was used as a model. Well if race does not matter, why such a cohesive effort to hide this information from the masses? How would the world be changed if everyone worshipped a black Jesus?

Do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus was God’s Son? Do you believe he walked this earth as a perfect example and died for our sins? One of Christianity’s general standpoints is that Jesus is the Son of God. Well if Jesus is the Son of God and all of your life you have come to accept the picture/illustration of Jesus the physical man on earth as white, then naturally you will view God as White! Even if you think that Jesus was black (and not really sure, hence will take the stance that it doesn’t matter) the constant images being portrayed have a sub-conscious impact on your view.

The fact is that the ethnic origin of Jesus and other significant individuals in the Bible does matter. The images we see have a significant impact on the inspiration and motivations of African-Americans. We aspire to become what we see, whether good or bad.

As a modern illustration of this point, let’s examine one area of discussion. From the mid 80’s to the early 90’s, there has been a major influx or “exodus” of African-Americans from California (especially the Bay Area) to Atlanta specifically for one of the AUC colleges. Why have so many young minds migrated to the south to attend these Historical Black Colleges? Were they new institutions? No. Where they the only ones available? No, although there are no Black Colleges on the West Coast. The primary reason in large part is due to images we have seen/been exposed to. The Cosby Show and A Different World whether you agree or not is directly correlated to this “exodus” It became cool to be young Black and go to college, particularly in Atlanta. In addition to these shows there were also complimentary images that re-enforced this idea, such as School Daze.

In conclusion, the racial identity of Jesus, Abraham, and Moses who were all Black is very important because it provides the inspiration and motivation of our people to emulate the lives of these people. This helps shatter the false notion that Black is not as good as white. Quite frankly, these days our youth do not have the likes of a Cosby Show or A Different World to show other options we all have in life. Instead, we are following the lives of BET, MTV and the entire hip-hop culture whether a positive or negative image. For other African-Americans the alternative option would be to “make it” as a professional athlete. Which is by far the #1 goal of African-American males today. Okay so let’s see, I can be a rapper/entertainer, athlete, illegal occupation, and…….? The educated masses and those with strong personal role models are well aware that we have more options than drugs, rapper, or sports. And it is not really the option aspect that is of concern. But knowing that the other options are attainable, realistic, and the motivation for success is undeniable. How many of us internalize this as a reality? We have to be proponents of the truth, continue to seek knowledge of self and pass this information to our youth!

W
04/25/05

Brain Food

I have some brain food Brothers and Sisters. Please be sure to read the second article in its entirity. Its holds a lot of valuable information. I don't know what the hell its going to take for us to say enough is enough but I will be honest, I don't have a lot of hope in this generation at all. For some reason or another we all seem to be just as focused on self-gratification as anyone else. Stop playing; the time is now.

A football player plays football. A basketball player plays basketball. A Lawyer practices law. A Blessed person, blesses people.

The fact that things are going good for you does not mean you are "in the clear". You too have a responsibility to uplift those around you. ESPECIALLY if you consider yourself to be Christian. Its not a choice, its a responsibility. You must answer the call. Pick up your cross!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew 10:
34Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it

Who? What? When? Where? How?

I met with my brothers last night and we had a very good conversation concerning our roles in our lives and our respective communities. Our lecturer for the evening spoke on tatics and strategies derived and conceivably implemented by Dr. Na’im Akbar, via his book, Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery.

I learned that there are stages we as the derivative of slaves have encountered throughout our process of ‘getting free’. We first broke the physical confinements of slavery by making our way off of the physical plantation. That was step one; to live life not defined by and confined to a Massa’s every wish and command. Once this was achieved we through the Civil War and throughout the Civil Rights Movement fought for the legitimate right to live as individuals. Legally that is. We deserved and believed in the legitimate legal right to not be enslaved. Next was the ability to access the same things our oppressors had access to. Albeit schools, churches, stores or restrooms. We wanted the ability, the physical opportunity to go and be wherever anyone else could go or be.
So far we’ve traveled through 3 stages and maybe 300 years.

1. Breaking the physical bonds of enslavement.
2. Legal Civility and Legitimate rights to freedom.
3. Access to……..

Our next stage of ‘get free’ evolution was to live a life of value equal to or surpassing that of our ‘former’ oppressors. We decided our quality of life should be as good if not better than that of the majority of this land. We should not have to attend lesser quality schools and grocery stores. Our schools and stores and overall community should be just as good if not better than any other.

So now we are 4 stages deep into the psychology of what it takes to get free from captivity. The last one is arguably the first and last, and most important of all: differentiation and definition. To differentiate ( to set apart from; to become distinct or different in character) and to define ( the act of determining, a statement expressing the essential nature of something; the action or the power of describing, explaining, or making definite or clear.) This is such and important step because if you look back every step since 1. 'Breaking the physical chains of enslavement’ have depended on the premise of having a separate identity. How do we say our schools should be better when there is now definitive ‘us’? How do we practice collectivity when we don’t know or understand what brings us together? Who are ‘we’? Blacks? It was said last night that blacks can be compared to mutts in the animal kingdom. What do any two mutts share?
That statement is not to infer that they do not share anything, but it begs the resolution of a definitive ‘what?’

An Encouraging Word

Breathing in pure possibility
Thanking God for another day
Also for strength and humility
And giving me the wisdom to pray
With the world around me in decay
I recycle knowledge creating anew
History is the blueprint
Of what I should and should not do
Still sometimes I don’t listen
Just wishing upon a star
Getting stuck in no win positions
When I could have avoided the scar
Life laughs at me
And my catastrophes
Wondering when will I learn
I’ve been spared
My share of tragedies
So I guess it was just my turn
There are those out there
Worst off than me
So every day I breathe
Is a blessing
I try to rejoice in the good times
And treat bad times as a lesson
That way I always win
A little wiser with my approach
I can appreciate good advice
But life is the best coach

-Timothy E. Dotson T-Remedi