Darkness

After all I've been through, all my learning and teaching, and all my studying of the mistakes of myself and others, I find that I am still able to be shocked. Admittedly, there isn't much that surprises me; between the Bible and Dr. Seuss, I know a lot
what people are capable of (good and bad). But every now and then something slips through the cracks.

I am a black American.
It's true.
And no one else can know what that feels like except another black American.
I am happy, relatively healthy and arguably wise, but there is an ever-present dark spot on my soul. It won't go away. No matter what I do or how hard I try I can't seem to get rid of it. I suppose it matches the darkness in the fabric of America.  Whenever I think about the FACT that no matter how hard I work, how good I am, how rich I get, in these United States (and beyond-ask Oprah), I will still be black; translation- not good enough, criminal, uneducated, poor.

I write for me; to record my thoughts and opinions. I share for my people. Just in case something I say can have a positive effect on someone's attitude or actions. Folks get angry at me because I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry media, I dislike Little Wayne and Grand Theft Auto and I'm slow to forgive the likes of racists, greedy businesses and criminal politicians that rape America for profit and the NRA. We want to give everyone a pass on their bad behavior but it has to stop somewhere. Enough is enough.  As I watch a whole generation of young folks head down the drain, we have to consider the effects of all of this negativity and hatred.

So it saddens me to admit it but this spot exists in my soul. I fill it with flowers and sunlight and then I walk in a store and salespeople follow me around watching me or I drive through some towns in my properly insured, registered car and get followed by the police to the city limits. I cover it with candy canes and Hershey kisses and then I hear that there were 500 murders in Chicago last year.

I am tolerant. I teach tolerance. But I am tired. I just want a fair shake; a chance to be judged and rewarded on the merits of what I do and what I know. I want my children and your children to want more; to understand where we've been and how much further we have to go and to keep closing the gap. We all rushed excitedly to put President Obama in the White House and then we turned our collective backs on him when we realized that he couldn't wave a magic wand and make hundreds of years of oppression go away.  So I keep fighting- with education and self-awareness, hope and always love. It's not a fair fight considering what I'm up against but I don't let that deter me. I am committed to living in an America where being black is not a disadvantage.

Until next time.

Peace. Two fingers, one love.

#OWS

So many of us are missing the boat on the whole “Occupy Wall Street” movement. We keep up with what’s going on with the NBA lockout, who won the World Series, who won the football pool, what Facebook will change this week; anything but what is going on all over the country. Pay attention: There's a huge void between the rich and the poor in this country. We have a deeply flawed economic system and the income inequality in this country is out of this world. Why? Because for years, politicians have implemented policies that favor banks, big business, and powerful unions at the expense of the diminishing middle class; policies that have allowed Wall St. to crash our economy. There was a time when mainly minorities felt the pinch but now it’s really affecting mainstream America. Needless to say, people are pissed the hell off!

Awareness! Awareness! Awareness!

During an October 6 news conference, President Obama said "I think it expresses the frustrations the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country ... and yet you're still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place."When Jake Tapper of ABC News pushed Obama to explain the fact that his administration hasn't prosecuted any Wall Street executives who didn't play by the rules, he replied, "One of the biggest problems about the collapse of Lehman's and the subsequent financial crisis and the whole subprime lending fiasco is that a lot of that stuff wasn't necessarily illegal; it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless."
So, OWS is a movement. All about education and awareness. About being tired of being kicked around by folks with no concept of teamwork and family, tired of greed, government corruption, unemployment, unfair banking practices, and wealth disparity. Tired of Wall St. bankers, business CEOs and politicians getting richer while the rest of us get poorer! Ask yourself why your 74 year old mother is unable to retire AND EAT, why so many young people graduating COLLEGE are unable to secure a job, why so many houses are foreclosed on and lay empty in so many neighborhoods but why the bankers, corporation leaders and politicians aren’t suffering. Why the cost of everything keeps rising, rising, rising, but your paycheck isn’t keeping up with the inflation. And when you hear people complaining about or disapproving of the movement, wonder about their ties to Wall St. or big business.

Tell you what. If Bank of America customers all begin moving their money to other banks, the bank will reconsider those damn monthly debit card fees. Just like almost every other financial entitiy in existence, they make their money on the little people; on the backs of the 99% of Americans who are not millionaires. They use your deposits to make money for the bank and now want you to pay them to use your own money. WHAT?!? Take your damn money out of that bank and go somewhere where your loan is appreciated. Let them know that you mean business.

Enough is ENOUGH!!

 

Peace- Two fingers. One love.