When people ask, "what is the biggest mistake made in the Black Panther Party?" I tell them very clearly that what we did wrong was to take God out of the movement. -Afeni Shakur (Former Black Panther and Mother of slain rapper,Tupac Shakur)
We’ve seen this movie before. Philadelphia police officers - more than a dozen of them assaulted 3 Black men - Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins over allegations that they were involved in a shooting earlier in the day. The officers caught up with them and decided to play judge and jury, but thankfully not executioner this time.
Rev. Al Sharpton is up in New York leading a protest of thousands - blocking traffic and engaging in civil disobedience in an effort to force a federal investigation of the Sean Bell murder where officers shot off 50 bullets into Bell’s car on his wedding day.
This video of the Philadelphia beating is eerily similar to the Rodney King beating tape.
No, Rodney. We can’t just get along. All over this country African Americans are being brutalized by individuals with badges and guns who seem to operate above the rule of law - including right here in Baltimore. The cops who engage in these types of vicious acts are often described as rogue cops or “bad apples” on the force.
However, I believe that the police department as a system was never designed to engage the African American community lawfully or with fairness and respect. Don’t miss that - I said the SYSTEM. I’m not talking individuals now - I’m talking about the set of connected policies and organized procedures which characterize how things are done.
The historic foundation of that Police System is one that has near its root, the terrorizing of Africans in America going all the way back to slave patrols. It’s so commonplace in our thinking that we don’t even pay much attention to the fact that it was police officers who didn’t just allow the lynching, raping, and brutalizing of Black people in America, but they often participated themselves! Their participation in the terrorism then gave legal cover to their peers who joined them. Thus, for example, with the thousands of lynchings that have occurred in America, not one person has ever been convicted of this heinous crime despite the fact that we have pictures to prove who was involved!
Debt cancellation a victory for the world
By Desmond Tutu
Last month, the House of Representatives showed leadership in the fight against global poverty by passing the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, which would extend lifesaving debt cancellation to more poor nations around the globe.
Too many of the world’s poor children needlessly starve or go without education because too many impoverished nations - even after the laudable debt relief provided to date - are still funneling scarce resources to multilateral banks instead of paying for needs at home.
The world community has found crushing debt to be akin to a modern-day apartheid, and has responded with debt cancellation. Unjust debt leaves developing nations at the behest of the powerful. Shall we let the children of Africa and Asia die of curable disease, prevent them from going to school and limit their opportunities for meaningful work - all to pay off unjust and illegitimate loans made to their forefathers?
Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Enduring Legacy of Injury and Healing, addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.
The book has been praised by Randall Robinson, Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, and many more. Susan Taylor, Editorial Director of Essence Magazine says that “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is a master work…Her book is the balm we need to heal ourselves and our relationships. It is the gift of wholeness.” Adelaide Sanford, Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents for the State of New York states that “Dr. Joy Leary’s mesmerizing, riveting book is vital reading for our time…With Dr. Leary’s potent words we can and will heal.”
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
TIME: 7:00 PM
WHERE: Clarence Mitchell School of Engineering Building
Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
Baltimore MD 21251
ADMISSION: FREE and Open to the Public
For Further Information: Charlotte St. Pierre at 443.885.3006 or Ray Winbush at 443.722.0783
A good friend and brother of mine learned a couple of months ago that his wife has cancer. The exact name of it escapes me at the moment, but just the word “cancer” has such a certain negative connotation to it that to many it doesn’t matter what type it is…it’s just bad news.
Well, today - in fact in a few moments - his wife will undergo surgery in an attempt to remove the cancer from her body. The good news is that it is not a form of cancer that spreads to other parts of the body so if the doctors can get all of it out, there is a good chance - with additional medical treatment - that it won’t return.
I just prayed for her, him, and their family, but I also wanted to record my supplication here as well. I believe deeply in the power of prayer. I believe that something happens when we diligently seek to connect with The Almighty through the vehicle of communication known as prayer. Even as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my recent experiences have emboldened my conviction that prayer is the best thing that family, friends, and loved ones can do in times of sickness, trouble, or chaos.
I record this prayer as a testament to the miraculous power of Almighty God:
Most gracious God, I come before you with great sincerity lifting to you my dear brother, his wife, and family. As you know Lord, she is about to undergo surgery for cancer as I type these words. My prayer Lord is that you intervene in this situation. You know her. You created her. You formed and fashioned her as a gift to her husband, family, and this community. Now Lord, I pray that you heal her body. Heal her body, Lord. Be with the surgeons as they prepare to be used as instruments of divine healing. Clear their minds, steady their hands, calm their souls, and focus their attention on my sister. Strenghten my brother who is now sitting in the waiting area. Prop him up on every leaning side and embolden his faith so that he rests assured that you are well able to do anything, but fail. Be with their children as they have understandable concern for their mother. Show yourself strong to them so that they’ll grow in their ability to rely on you even under troubling circumstances. Have your way, Lord. I’m praying for a good report. I’ll be ever so mindful to give you all the praise, glory, and honor for this and the many other signs of your blessings to your people. In Jesus name I pray, AMEN.
Our national politics is largely the stuff of illusion.
It is the stuff of spin. It is the manipulation of images to pluck the heartstrings, or to stoke the furnaces of emotion.
Any emotion will do: love, hate, fear, all are but instruments upon which politicians will play to move people to the polls, to get them either to vote for them, or against their opponents.
What all of this really means in the day-to-day lives of many of the voters, is actually quite minimal, for politicians don’t really care about what voters want; they care about those who can afford them — those who pay them well for their services.
In essence, politics is a business, and voters are merely bare necessities.
We see this in the vast, obscene amounts of money raised for virtually all political offices.
At bottom, politics is the elevation of symbol over substance, for it seeks to create the illusion of change, while leaving unchanged the essential power relations at the lower levels of society.
Politics is great for changing forms, but it stumbles at changing essentials.
I’m another year older today and I am extremely thankful to be here and able to enjoy all that God is doing for my family and I.
I really have no room to complain about much of anything. God has been and is good to me despite my faults, mess ups, frailties, and sins.
I have a beautiful wife, loving family, and am surrounded by some of the most fascinating people on the planet who serve God and society in extraordinary ways. On a micro-level I am a member of a truly Beloved Community and that, in part, drives me to do all I can to help facilitate the creation of a macro-level Beloved Community.
As one gets older, that “birthday feeling” changes. I’m not running around the houses looking for gifts anymore…lol…(that was fun), but I do have a deep appreciation of the gift that is my life. I try live each moment to the fullest.
What can I say - God is good and life is a gift.
Holla at ya’ll later - I’m off to enjoy my birthday!!!!
Channel Changer
Three Years Ago, Reggie Hudlin Came To Save a Troubled BET. But Has He?
By Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 4, 2008; M01
NEW YORK — To understand the irony, skip back four years: Reginald Hudlin, Hollywood director and comic book nerd, is ensconced with his close friend, firebrand cartoonist Aaron McGruder, gleefully penning a graphic novel, “Birth of a Nation.” The book features as its villain the network mogul “John Roberts” — a black billionaire with a complete willingness to sell African Americans down the river to make a buck. Not coincidentally, “John Roberts” looks a lot like billionaire Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television.
Skip forward to the present: Now Hudlin’s dividing his time between Los Angeles and New York as BET’s president of entertainment, the man in charge of the images tumbling from the cable network’s airwaves. His critics blame him for serving up a steady diet of the same old same old: poisonous, stereotypical images of blacks, specifically rap videos featuring scantily clad vixens and blinged-out gangstas.
On the Internet, Hudlin is the target of a savage cartoon sendup, portrayed as the morally challenged programming head for “Black Evil Television” — a parody created by none other than McGruder, his former friend. And in Washington, protesters camped for months outside the home of Hudlin’s boss — network CEO Debra Lee — each and every weekend, chanting “Enough is enough.”
“Right now, Reginald Hudlin and Debra Lee preside over a media empire that perpetuates every negative stereotype about black men and black women that we fought against,” says the Rev. Delman Coates, the Prince George’s County pastor behind the campaign against BET. “And they have to be held accountable.
“The reality is, if Reginald Hudlin were white, more black leaders and more black organizations would be raising an outcry. But for some reason we give black people a pass for participating in our own exploitation.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information:
Farajii Muhammad
Office:(410) 494-1588
E-mail:farajii@nllc.org
Youth Empowerment Movement says, “Enough is Enough” to Youth Violence
BALTIMORE, MD—The Youth Empowerment Movement (YEM) is hosting The State of the Youth Forum: Your Life, Your Choices on Saturday, May 31, 2008 from 9:30AM-3:00 PM at the University of Baltimore, to address the issue of the rising youth violence rate.
The State of the Youth Forum: Your Life, Your Choices is designed for middle school students, high school students, college students, and young people that are out of school, between the ages of 14 to 21, to come out and make a difference.
