Then shall that Wicked One (Satan) be revealed

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

Do you remember the parable in the Bible where Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast? It doesn’t mean literally turning water into wine. Water is the source of life itself. The Revealed Word of Allah (God) is Life. However, when you take that Revealed Word and give the understanding of it, it becomes that which greatly enlivens the spirit. There are times when you can hear something which makes you nod your head in agreement; then, you can hear something that literally turns you on and invigorates you to the degree that you have a seemingly boundless energy to do. That is turning water into wine.

You cannot get that kind of reaction from people until you give them understanding of the Word of Allah (God). Then, you can get them to live life on a higher plane of existence.

Every truth contains electrical energy. The highest form of electrical energy is that which comes when we accept Divine Revelation. The light of electrical energy that is in the truth, when the truth is believed and carried into practice, gives you power and life, spiritually and mentally, and the light of that truth is seen in our countenance, and reflected in our action. The more you converse on the Revealed Word of Allah (God), the more you energize one another. Whenever your conversation degenerates into mundane things that are not necessarily connected to the Revelation, the electrical charge in the conversation is diminished. When you waste your time engaging in the cheapest form of communication, which is gossip, rumor mongering, backbiting, slander and defamation, this kind of conversation is not only low in electrical energy, it deteriorates and strips you of the energy that you gain from Divine Revelation. That is why Allah (God) and His Prophet’s forbid slack talk, gossip, slander, defamation and backbiting. Whenever this kind of conversation is present, you will find the lack of spirit or energy. It is this lowest form of conversation that brings death in the mosque, in the church, and death among the righteous. You kill each other’s spirit with this type of cheap conversation.

The Book of James in the Bible talks about the tongue as being like the rudder of a ship. The rudder is a small thing, but it turns that big ship in the ocean. The tongue is a small member, but it can light a fire that destroys the peace and unity of the brotherhood, the sisterhood, and the family, all because we have not learned the proper use of our tongues. When we engage in cheap talk, we take from each other energy of Revelation and we rob each other of the Spirit of Allah (God). The Spirit of Allah (God) is life, and anything outside of life is death. We tend to engage more in the talk that brings death than we do in the talk that preserves life.

The world in which we live is ruled by Satan. It is referred to in the language of the scripture as death. The Bible says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death." So, the next question to ask is, what is life?

The word life means:

The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth response to stimuli, reproduction and adaptation to environment.

That is life that plants have. That is life that animals have. That is life that even a tiny amoeba has. What kind of life is in us, as men and women? We function; we have metabolism; we adapt to our environment; we have a growth response to stimuli; we are involved in reproduction; but what about mental life? What about spiritual life?

The Bible says that life is "to know Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ." Muslims are not going to agree with that language. So, let me phrase it another way. What is life? Life is to know Allah (God) as He is and to know that One in whom His Wisdom, Knowledge and Power is present in the last days. You have the Messenger, [Prophet] Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH), and you have the Message, but Satan unfortunately has most of us.

The Bible says, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the True God, and eternal life. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

To make that language palatable to a Muslim, I would say it this way: Life is in the Messenger and he that hath the Message and follows the Messenger has life, and he that has not the Message and the Messenger has not life. To know Allah (God) and to know that One who comes at the end of the world to bring glad tidings, and in Him is the indwelling spirit, wisdom and power of Allah (God)— that is life. If this is not a part of your teaching, then you are not feeding life to the people.

I love Jesus, but Jesus never told any of His disciples to worship Him. The Book of John says, "God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth; for such the Father seeketh."

Jesus is not seeking worshippers. He is seeking followers. There is a big difference. You should worship Allah (God), but Jesus is telling you to follow him in his obedience, and in his worship of Allah (God). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not say for us to worship him. He said, "Follow him and do what he is doing that gains him the favor of Allah (God)." Then, we too, will have the favor of Allah (God).

If we do not know Satan, if we do not have the knowledge of Satan and the wiles of Satan, then we will not be able to defeat him. In II Thessalonians, it says, "And then shall the wicked one be revealed." In some translations it says, "That the man of sin would be revealed." I know that most people think that Satan is spirit, but he is a real live human being—then shall that wicked one be revealed. This means that Satan is operating, but he is undercover; nobody knows him. He is carrying out his Satanic work and we may be followers of him unknowingly. The Bible teaches that, "The sons of God came to present themselves before God and the devil came also with them." The sons of God were fraternizing with the devil and did not know it. This should teach us that we should be very careful of the company that we keep.

"Then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His Mouth and shall destroy with the Brightness of His Coming. Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders." (II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 8-9)
The Holy Qur’an says it a little differently; "When truth comes, falsehood vanishes and falsehood is forever a vanishing thing." The True God comes after Satan has done his job.
The seventh Surah of the Holy Qur’an, verses 11-14, Satan, under the name Iblis, is talking to God Satan says, "Respite me till the day when they are raised." Allah (God) said, "Thou art surely of the respited ones."

The word respite means:

A delay or cessation for a time; especially of anything distressing or trying.

Satan is in distress when he and his works are totally uncovered. He is asking Allah (God) to delay the time of his manifestation. Allah (God) tells Satan to do his work. That he is respited, until the day when they are raised. They who? Raised how? By what means shall they be raised?

The moment Allah (God) said to Satan that he is of the respited ones, Satan says, "He is going to come after Allah’s (God’s) people right in His straight path, from before them, from behind them, from their left side, from their right side and you are not going to find most of them thankful." In fact, Satan said, "He will make all of Allah’s (God’s) people deviate."

Has he made us deviate?

Jesus is the right man, but the enemy is not going to tell you the truth about Jesus, because Jesus is to undo Satan’s world; but not Jesus the Prophet. It is Jesus the Messiah, and there is a difference, Qur’anically and Biblically. Jesus brought the Gospel, but he learned that he was 2,000 years too soon to bring in the Kingdom of Allah (God). So, he died for the truth that he taught, but he prefigured the one that he said would come after him. Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but, if I depart, I will send him unto you."
If Jesus were coming back, he would say, "When I return." However, Jesus said, "When He is come." That is someone else, but when He comes, He is going to be on time, for He will come after the working of Satan. That is why you will not be able to defeat Him, because He is in season—He is on time.

Jesus said, "When He comes, He will guide you into all truth."

To the Homey Pac......Happy Birthday Brother!!

The issue of reparations of to some sort being due to Black Americans in the country have been alive for quite some time in the conversation and discussions amongst the ranks of Black American from the plumber to the congresswoman. I for one believe that something, we as Black Americans are due significant amounts of land in the country for us to do as we please, BUT only if we are man enough to demand our just dues. If we feel more obliged to pay, so as to 'do what is right' then we are not deserving at all. Below is an essay written by Dr. Mutulu Shakur, father of the late great Tupac Amaru Shakur. In the essence of keeping my brother Shakur's memory alive on his 35th Birthday, I would like to publish the article, written by his father.
Rest in Peace Pac
MAS

Reparations: A Collaborated Overview Submitted by Dr. Mutulu Shakur,
Michael Covington, Ali GibranOn behalf of the Georgia State Black
Studies Department (Dr. Akinyele 0. Umoja) July 2003


As a result of America's crime[s] against humanity, regardless of the direct or indirect victimization, we, as a people, suffer and will continue to do so until there is psychological, economical, educational, and monetary atonement.
It is imperative that as a nation we reap the benefits of the blood, sweat, and tears that our ancestors poured into this land.
The perpetrators of these crimes have yet to embrace our claim for reparations or even acknowledge it as a crime in and of itself. Therefore, if we are to be students of history (which we are), it will take a strategic conspiracy, secretly and overtly, to apply espionage and sacrifice in bringing the defendants of these crimes into negotiation.
We are conscious that legal, political, and moral persuasion, collectively, represents the utopia of opportunities to rectify these crimes against humanity. However, within our strategic approach towards reparations, we must filter out the opportunist, neo-colonist, apologist, and the immediate gratification seeker. The appropriation of reparations must have a long term objective and not be viewed as a "quick pay-day", only to have the long- sought after compensation returned to the hands of the perpetrators, leaving our people worst off than before and without merit for future claims.
The inclusion of the multitude of talent, intellectually, diplomatically, economically, of the African Diaspora, on a national and international theater, is essential to the comprehensive context of our victory.
Most importantly, the only true super power, which is the mass of a people on one accord, must be firmly entrenched in the justness for reparations, the benefits of reparations, the hope for reparations, and the ultimate demand for reparations. Then and only then will these crimes against humanity be rectified.
Because the issues surrounding reparations affects the entire New African nation, including prisoners, after extensive research, numerous discussions and debates, we at U.S.Penitentiary. Atlanta offer the following:

(1) the efforts of Minister Louis Farrakhan and Brother Conrad Worrell to unite existing formations will be helpful in focusing our regional strategy;

(2) the crime against humanity, resulting in the capture, enslavement, and brutality of African people has no other parallel;

(3) the crimes against humanity inflicted upon African people changed the course of human existence; therefore, the resolution of this crime will have global implications;

(4) where there exist any crime, especially a crime against humanity, in a period where no domestic law existed, to remedy such crime international law must be used;

(5) post official slavery didn't end in 1865. In fact, the condition of slavery and the continued acts of genocide as interpreted and developed in international law still exist;

(6) the use of the Japanese reparation resolution in the United States is not applicable to the slavery of Africans in America;

(7) the internment against the Japanese during World War II was inhumane, unjust, and in violation of the United States Constitution;

(8) the crime of African slavery was distinctly a crime against humanity and falls under a clearly different standard of proof than the legal language articulated in the Komosotus case;

(9) the distinction is the reparations we pursue are based on the acts of genocide, not internment. The Japanese internment was for four years, ours was for four hundred years;

(10) crimes against humanity have no statue of limitations. The New York Treaty of 1785-1789, signed by George Washington was a predicate act to violate then existing international law,
which prohibited the transportation of slaves. Said treaty was the first predicate act to turn a race of people into property;

(11) continued acts that superseded the classification of our race, as property was the passing of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. These amendments manipulated international law by creating a law that authorized the continued enslavement of our race by the use of criminal codes. Thus, creating circumstances where the violation Of domestic law was our only means of survival;

(12) there lies sufficient law and evidence to establish the harm done to our people that are directly connected to the act of slavery. Genetic and hereditary science establishes slavery to be the cause of the physical and social condition of our people;

(13) along side the tremendous enlightment offered through the study of genetics and other behavioral science, it can no longer be held that descendants of slaves are not directly harmed. In such the same way that our collective gene pool contained a gene that made us less susceptible to malaria, during slavery our ancestors soaked up all the knowledge of how to be a slave, and as a conditioning mechanism to ensure our survival, the information was encoded in the structure of our ancestors DNA and passed on. In a sense, that is a prime example of DNA performing it's function of fitting us for survival in an environment where it would have been impossible to exist without the proper coping devices. So, the death of our ancestors does not vindicate the slave masters because the gene of slavery still exist within us, and our thoughts and ideas and attitudes clearly demonstrate this;

(14) if forced to prove the survivors direct causation, we, in a scientific presentation, can show through genetic test that lack of certain enzyme can be found in children who have abusive parents will have an emotional reaction, which demonstrates a lack of control of anger. Clearly, there are other prevailing medical phenomenon that points to hereditary traits - ills associated with emotional and physical contradictions;

(15) the search for DNA markers for disease would be a realistic evidentiary hearing to prove direct causation. We should understand the potential of political philosophy of DNA genetics. When pushed to prove a crime against humanity - of such proportion - we must at least review science theory on both sides, such as James Watson, Dr. Francis Wesling, Jewel Pooqua, and Naim Arkbar;

(16) the United States and the corporations they support use international law to enforce it's particular system of property rights to maintain racial hierarchy, which generated the illegally gained wea1th they have today;

(17) the struggle for reparations is clearly not the conventional dispute mechanism. Because of the complexity of the legal questions raised by the Japanese president for reparations, legislation in cases such as Komosotus - which has the potential of becoming standard in civil law - which is a proposition we must reject as not applicable as outlined in the Natsu Taylor Suito essay on race and property in international law;

(18) the intersection of critical race theory which endeavors to analyze the influence of race and racism in the legal system and international law, although these bodies of law and theory are usually regarded as separate disciplines, when we look at race and racism in American law and the relationship of the U.S. government, domestic legal system to international law, how we shape and promote, as well as disregard the global rule of law, we see that these two areas not only intersect but have been inextricably related throughout history.
We look forward to the struggle intensifying. We understand that we can learn a lot from the Jew's struggle for a nation, as we can learn from the horrors of the genocide of the indigenous native people in America. We will continue to pursue our responsibility for healing within our own nation by self-criticism preventing horizontal aggression, self-hate, and self-destruction. We must be able to reach a higher spiritual plane.

STIFF RESISTENCE

Atlanta, Georgia July, 2003

Time keeps on slipping (slipping) into the future

Yeah yeah, another day another dollar.
The world can be a very confusing place at times. From learning about who you are, to figuring out why you need to learn it in the first place. There really seems to be no rhyme nor reason for many things. We're just here on the planet and these are the things we do to keep ourselves busy until we go away. LOL Lord knows

'I had to tell him it was alright, that's a lie
and he knew it when he shook and died
My God'

You know, sometimes I think about life after death and 'what it all means' and I've figured something. While it is true that religion is by definition to explain or give meaning to that which is otherwise unknown, I sat back last night wondering what if it wasn't here.

I mean would there really be any fewer wars? Would man then, really embrace mankind and walk this earth in unity? I doubt it. I mean, it's in man's nature to find differences between himself and the next. That's what makes him 'special', 'unique'. And I think that's the same the world over. It may be exacerbated here in America because of our well documented misidentity, but even in the most historically connected cultures of the world, I doubt one would ever find no sense of uniqueness. But that's a tangent.

What I was thinking about last night was more along the lines of the afterlife. I can be quoted in the past of stating that I don't fully believe in a heaven and hell, but rather that they are both states of mind and entities which exist within each and every last one of us. As does God. So many people find so many faults within themselves that they have to project God outside of themselves in order praise him. To say that he lives within them, or that they are one with him would be both placing their sinful selves too high and simultaneously diluting His Grace too much.
Hmmmm....
So if this true, that there is no heaven and hell when we leave this place, what happens? Where do we go? For a long time, I was content with, Resting in Peace. You know, eternal sleep and being at peace with this world and all the pain I've witnessed it inflict. But there is not a lot of comfort in that honestly. Like what about my wife, is our time together limited to the time we share in this realm together? Why can't our spirits be forever united no matter what metareality has in store for us. If death was to take one of us and leave the other, I want to feel as if we will somehow be together again. The same respect is dued to parents who lose a teenager, or a teenager who loes a parent.

What do you think?

Cameron brought light to racial injustices

By MEG JONES, LEONARD SYKES JR. and AMY RABIDEAU SILVERSmjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 11, 2006

James Cameron's life could have ended on a tree limb on an August day in 1930. After an angry mob busted into the Marion, Ind., jail and dragged out Cameron and two acquaintances, he was beaten and watched the other two black youths hanged.

As a rope was thrown over his head, he prayed for God to save his life.
That Cameron lived another 76 years to tell his story and the story of all blacks lynched in America simply because of the color of their skin is a testament to a man who knew the power of forgiveness.

Cameron, the founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, died Sunday in Milwaukee after a long illness. He was 92.

As the only known survivor of a lynching, Cameron was virtually a one-man crusade who led, cajoled and sometimes gently forced America into admitting and apologizing for its complacency in a shameful history of racial hate crimes. Last year, the U.S. Senate formally apologized to Cameron and others for its failure to outlaw lynching.

Although Cameron had to mortgage his house to pay for the printing of his book, "A Time of Terror," in 1982 after numerous rejections from publishers, he and his story eventually reached an international audience that included Oprah Winfrey, Coretta Scott King and President Clinton.

Wisconsin Public Television produced a documentary called "A Lynching in Marion." Cameron was taped by the British Broadcasting Corp. and Dutch and German television, interviewed on CBS-TV and written about in Newsweek. He was invited to lecture at colleges across the nation. Marion, where he almost died, presented him with a key to the city.

At the time of his death, he was negotiating a movie deal on the story of his life and had signed the contract the day before he died, said his son Virgil Cameron.

He 'never became bitter'


The message in Cameron's autobiography was not hate, but forgiveness.
"He survived a lynching and never became bitter," said civil rights pioneer Vel R. Phillips, Wisconsin's first African-American judge and former Wisconsin secretary of state. "He epitomized what it takes to realize what faith is."

Mayor Tom Barrett described Cameron as a "truly remarkable man."
"He took his personal experience with the near-lynching - a negative and horrible experience - and turned it into something that enabled Milwaukee and visitors to Milwaukee to see the history of what others went through," Barrett said.

Milwaukee has the only museum of its kind in the country that commemorates and memorializes victims of lynching. America's Black Holocaust Museum, however, doesn't dwell on hate, but on hope and a vigilant awareness against hate crimes, said Phillips, a museum board member who had known Cameron for years.

Cameron's museum, begun in 1988 on a financial shoestring, showcases hundreds of photos, posters and essays on the history of racial attacks, lynchings, torture and other evils done to African-Americans in the United States.

One photograph at the museum is of the mob in Marion standing under Cameron's two black friends, hanging from a tree. The picture has appeared in history books, newspapers and Life and Ebony magazines, and became one of the most infamous American lynching scenes. Iranians used it as example of hatred in America, and rap group Public Enemy put it on an album cover.
On why he founded the museum, after getting inspiration while visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum, Cameron said, "I want to prick the conscience of America, to raise the moral sensitivity of the American people."

When he proposed the museum in 1984, he said: "We must erect, build with our own hands and resources, a museum, a memorial so that the world can never forget the wrongs done to us in America. The emphasis must be on lynching because that is the method used mostly on us to hold back the progress of America."

The museum, which found a permanent home at 2233 N. 4th St. in 1993, never attracted the number of visitors Cameron had hoped for, and he sometimes lamented that blacks gave less support than whites. In the first four months after it opened in 1988, only about 100 adults and children paid the admission price, then $1.50 and 75 cents.

Over the years, America's Black Holocaust Museum has hosted a number of high-profile exhibits, including "A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie," which drew 75,000 visitors in 1999. But it also has suffered from lagging attendance and financial woes. Last fall, the museum struggled to make full mortgage payments on its building.
Despite the museum's difficulty in raising funds, attracting a steady stream of visitors and hiring a permanent executive director, Cameron never wavered in his efforts to keep the facility afloat, a trait that impressed Gov. Jim Doyle.

"There are two things that stand out about his character: how warm and kind of a person he was and how committed he was to the Black Holocaust Museum," Doyle said. "Almost every time I would meet him, he would talk to me about a new exhibit or something that was happening there.

"He was devoted to something that was important not just to Milwaukee and the state, but to the whole country," the governor added.

Born in La Crosse in 1914, Cameron left there at age 4 and lived in Birmingham, Ala., before moving to Kokomo, Ind., at age 12. He moved again, to Marion, at 14.
Two years later, on Aug. 7, 1930, he and two acquaintances were arrested and accused of killing a white man during a robbery and raping the man's girlfriend.

In his autobiography, Cameron wrote about the inhuman sounds of an angry mob - believed to be 10,000 strong, including local members of the Ku Klux Klan - and the steady thud of battering rams against metal locks. The mob broke into the county jail and dragged the three black youths into the street.

After the murders of his two companions, Cameron prayed in terror. For the rest of his life, he believed what happened next was a miracle.

"Take this boy back," he heard a voice say. "He had nothing to do with any raping or shooting of anybody."

The crowd stopped and dispersed.

Years later, Cameron went back to Marion and interviewed witnesses. No one else had heard the voice.

"God saved my life that night," he said. "I don't have any doubt about it."

Cameron had left the scene before the crime occurred. The woman later testified that she had never been raped. Nevertheless, Cameron was convicted of being an accessory to voluntary manslaughter and served four years in prison. Years later, in 1993, he was pardoned by the governor of Indiana.

Virgil Cameron said his father carried the horrible memory of the near-lynching throughout his life but became deeply spiritual as a result of it.

Hopefully, said the younger Cameron, "my father will be remembered for shaking people out of their doldrums. He liked to rattle their cages and always said if you weren't aware of your history, it would be repeated."

Cameron organized chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in three cities in Indiana and was active in Milwaukee in open housing marches and in demonstrations against police brutality.

Virgil Cameron remembered visiting the U.S. Capitol for the apology from the Senate and realizing his father was a celebrity.

"As we were traveling down the corridor, all the senators recognized him, they came up and spoke to him," the son said. "It dawned on me then that he had made his point."
Cameron is survived by his wife, Virginia; another son, Walter, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and a daughter, Delores Cameron of Chicago. He was preceded in death by two other sons, David and James.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Northwest Funeral Chapel.

Click here to visit Mr. Cameron's Black Holocaust Museum Website: http://www.blackholocaustmuseum.org/index.html

The Poetry...The People...The Vibe...The Love

I just want to invite everyone out to be a part of

"Eyecon...The Open Mic Experience"

Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by Lenny C.A.I.N.

3570 Commerce Circle at Goodlet and Winchester (across the street from Wendy's)

Admission$7/Poets $5
Limited Seating so get there early!!

Come be a part of The Poetry...The People...The Vibe...The Love.

Nigger, Nigga, Niggra

This is the frontpage of today's Chicago Defender, let's discuss a little.

People, what it is? I've been wrestling with this in my mind for quite some time now, and I've decided to minimalize this word in my vocabulary. And yes it's because I feel I'm better than that, and better than you if you chose to be called a nigga aka nigger.
For years this word has been synonomous with the epitomy of hatred for Black American men, women and children in this country and throughout the western world. And like good little children, we've adopted it, and turned it inside out to find a way to use it against ourselves and not feel bad about it.

But I beg to differ. I believe that the greatest illness effecting Black Amerika today is the evident lack of self love which has ebbed us to become totally apathetic towards one another. Just like niggers, we don't see one another as human beings, much less intelligent life forms worthy of respectable titles such as 'Sir, Mr., Mrs., and Bro.' Nope, instead we're just nigga this, nigga that. How ignorant is that? You can turn on the television at anytime of the day and watch on our network (BET) and see us hating each other to the utmost degree. I'm not hating on dacing and the art of gyration LOL, but when you have a song called, 'I Love My Bitch' I mean damn! Every new artist in the music game must have a song disrespecting the elders in the game, or talking about getting as many bitches as possible for whatever reason, or explaining again how we don't have fathers and we have to sell drugs to each other to 'make it out'. It's ridiculous. I appreciated the Ghetto CNN's of the 1990's, they were real in many aspects. What's going on today is an outsiders view of the inside being dictated to and regurgitated by an insider (albeit a hopeful ex-insider) if you feel me. But I digress because that's a whole nother topic....kinda.

"But a word finds its strength in the ears of the person listening, not from the mouth of the person speaking. Therefore, its up to you to not give the word nigga that much power when you hear it thus becoming upset, and instead let it roll of like it's nothing"
If that's the case, then I ask that you not to speak the word in my presence...period. I mean come on people, at some point or another we are going to have to take responsibility for our actions and the effect they have on the world around us. Our children are watching our every moves and emulating them to their best ability, in the form of mass self inflicted genocide aka black on black crime.
And it's spreading. I remember a time when whites wouldn't dare utter the word nigger, out of a combination of both fear and respect for the their Black American associates. But that's not the case anymore. Not to long ago, I was riding in a car with a two guys one black, one white. The black guy made a statement concerning a comment made by Charlie Sheen in which he called his ex-wife a 'liar, coward and a nigger'. Evidentally this news was made public on the Star and Bucwild Morning Show, and the sound bite was played over and over again. The black guy made the comment incredulously as he explained how many times they replayed this soundbite and to replicate the effect it had on him (presumably) he repeated the comment a few times. The white guy's reaction was, "Well we know she's not one of them! LOLOLOL" I sat, sarcastically thinking to myself, "now I wonder which one of those he's talking about; the liar, the coward, or the nigger?"And while he did not explicitly say the word, I was sure I overstood what had just transpired. What I didn't fully understand was my non-reaction. I really did not, and still to this day do not feel he was purposely calling my and the other guy niggers in his mind. I believe it's more deeply inbedded than that. Blacks may not be niggers, but niggers must be Black, that type of logic. Maybe it was taught to him, maybe it wasn't and he felt we as Blacks embrace this view as we so pridefully call out to each other, "What up my nigga". I don't know all the answers. But I did feel as if that needed to happen to me as it did for me to slow down and think more seriously about how what I'm doing and what I promote may be signaling to the rest of the world. And I think you should do the same.
Is it cool that our 10 year old boys associate their sisters and the women the adorn as bitches? Is that alright? Is it fine and dandy, that our women pridefully call themselves the 'baddest bitch' and bounce their asses competitively against one another to prove it? Is that alright? How about the young brothers who believe that to not be called or to call one another 'nigga' is square? Are we truly a race of nothing more than niggas, bitches, hoes and gorillas (G-Unit) and if so, why do we get upset when revisiting the past and the transgressions of white supremist ideology which catergorized us as such?
Let's open the dialogue. What do you think?

Back like the spine of a good woman

What's the deal people. It seems like this little blog is coming around, people are actually starting to begin conversations from something they've read on here when I come around. That's a good thing too. The goal is for us to check this out on a regular basis, and while I know I haven't written something everyday, I can say that I've made a concentrated effort to update this as much as possible so far. Imma keep it moving too. I'm also done asking people to write or respond, because that's not happening either. So eventually, if I see that this just becomes my own little journal, I'll let it be just that. Everyone is still welcomed to read it, but I guess for the sake of closure I'll feel better knowing that my idea isn't being placed on the back burner. Anywho

What's good? Hey I was talking to my friend earlier today and we got into a conversation about the significance of dinosaurs.
"Did you say D-I-N-O-saurs???"
Yes, I said dinosaurs. I watch the Discovery channel all the time, and there's this one show that comes on during the weekend about the lives of dinosaurs. They usually focus on lesser known varients, and it's the special effects which actually caught my attention, but when I watched it this past weekend, it really made me go.......hmmmm........

Like okay, dinosaurs are a part of the whole evolution theory thing concept right. Well, it's pretty hard to say that they never existed you know with the bones and fossils and all. And while I don't know exactly what's used to figure out the specific eating habits of a creature which lived 10,000,000 years ago, I know that through science, many things are possible. I mean you can look at the structure of the teeth, and the brain cavity, and yada, yada yada to make a educated guess I would think. None of that really matters though, because like I said, it's pretty hard to say that none of that ever happened and some weirdo has been hiding in caves for the last 100 years creating bones and fantastic stories of yesteryear. But that's what got me. See when I thought of the dinosaurs, I wondered where they were in the bible. Like where did they come from? I don't remember anything about God creating creatures which were completely and totally untamable by Man and his jedi mind tricks. And if they were apart of the creatures which inhabited the earth which God gave Man dominion over, it would create a huge chasm in the time we currently associate the Old Testament with. I mean the time of Yeshu'a is like what 2,000 years ago? Dinosaurs were here, 25,000,000 years ago? That's a big, BIG difference.

I guess this would be more confusing or 'blasphamous' to the person who believes the bible is a literal, and all inclusive piece of work. And while to others who view the bible as more of an allegorical account of life's lessons teaching one the contrasts between and 'origins' of his divine nature vs one of pure animality which he also owns, this conversation probably would hold a lesser significance, though it still poses interesting thought all the same.

A good friend once told me that Man attributes the title of god to whatever he does not understand. When we don't know what makes the sun come up and go down, we say it's a god that's running across the sky with it. When we don't know what makes us fall in love, we say a baby with an arrow hits us with it. I mean the modern world is built upon the assumptions of zodiacs, mythologies and and various cases of very theo-un-logical thought. Science offers Man an understanding of these things, and we therefore no longer attribute them to some ambigous being. Science and the study thereof (I guess that's the literal definition of scientology which is another blog for another time) gives us a logical understanding of the world around us. That's what the theory of evolution (a very science based hypothesis) does for the world's history. It gives us a logical explanation of why we have 10 fingers and 10 toes, while some other creatures have fins. To say that evolution is a figment of man's creative imagination simply arrogant. And to throw away any notion of the earth existing before Adam and Eve is just not sensable.

How Soon We Forget

This past weekend was a nice one. The sun was shining down here in Memphis, and everywhere you went (in the hood) you could smell the scent of seasoned meats and barbeque sauces. That's a wonderful aroma....most times. And this time was no different.

Memorial Day weekend to most, symbolizes a new year. A new summertime. All of the pools in apartment complexes are open and most parks are full with children playing and completely wearing themselves out.

While I didn't do much out of the ordinary Friday through Sunday, Monday I decided to head to Wal-Mart grab some coals, and a long handled lighter, some lighter fluid and a few packs of turkey patties and wings. I made it home with the intentions of 'getting it started' nice and early. I wasn't halfway into my mission of prepping my food when I received a call from one of my closest comrades that due to unforseen circumstances, we would have to expedite our Memorial Day program designed to honor our fallen soldiers, family and friends throughout time.

I found myself a stopping point in cooking, hopped in the TDI and heading to Nathan Bedford Forrest Park on Union in downtown Memphis, TN. There I embraced the sight a probably 20 friends and family members awaiting not just my arrival but that of others who were en route to the park.

You see, this was to be our 2nd Annual 'How Soon We Forget' Memorial Day Commemoration. Last year we experienced moderate success with about 15 people coming out to support us in our meager attempts to broaden the scope of the Memorial Day holiday. Usually we consider this day (or at least I did) to be unique because of its focus on respecting those in the Armed Forces, both now and historically. This is a practice which should never die. However, our 'How Soon We Forget' program was designed to stay focused on our perpetual push towards consciousness here in our land, as we pay homage to the aformentioned heroes as well as those we seem not to know where exactly to place throughout our space-time continuum and therefore leave displaced and relegated to Febuary. Comrades throughout time have fought assiduously for a decent quality of life while here in America and have donated their life's time, and resources to the upliftment of some of most subjugated people. We pay tributes to the courage of Denmark Vescey, Harriet Tubbman, and Nat Turner. We show love and honor Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington and their contributions to philosophy and advancement amongst people of color in America. We attempt to shed light on the accomplishments and achievements of Brothers like Marcus Garvey and Paul Robeson.

And that we did!!

From our opening contribution from Bro. Prophecy, we attempted to entreat the children present with a little history of these brothers and sisters, beging in the 15th Century and chronologically moving forward. The poet/philosophical activist FW Love fed us a little love through the art of spoken word with a piece entitled 'Happiness'. And both of our sisters Quita and Mrs. Dee shared hope through very encouraging words. And of course a party is not a party without the Powwa and sincerity behind Brother's Keepa, as they paid homage to those displaced and mistreated through Hurricane FEMA.

By the time it was over, I was headed back home to finish what I started with my meal. I placed my wings back on the grill, slid my macaroni and cheese back into the oven with my baked beans. My wife and I sat back and ate well, talking about our own past, present and future. I finished my evening reading Tavis Smiley's 'Covenant of Black America' whic might I add should be acquired by every Black American in America.

All in all as I said earlier, the weekend was beautiful. We enjoyed one anothers' company and the various gifts we each contributed. While our 'How Soon We Forget' annual program is still in it's infantile stages, we are sure to continue this until its maturity and further with your continued support.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out there, and to all who contributed. Keep this blog alive by posting comments or sending me an email at rtharrs2@yahoo.com with your info so that we can make you a regular contributor.

Peace and Blessing to all
MAS