Street Money In Politics... A Slippery Slope

Pennsylvania Gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf has refused to give three hundred and forty thousand dollars to Philadelphia politicians to fund their "get out the vote" effort on Election Day. Wolf joins Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who refused to give money to Philadelphia ward leaders in the 2008 Democratic Primary for the same purpose. This granting of "street money" to local politicians is a well established practice in a number of American cities. In rejecting the request Wolf stated the following:
"I'm not one to do that, ... I think I'm trying to appeal to people's best instincts to vote. I don't want them to vote or bring people out or do something because I'm paying them - I want them to do it because they actually think their lives might be better. It might sound naive . . . if it takes some cash to do that, then I've failed as a politician."

Without mincing words I would agree with the objection the candidate raises... Again. If people can be paid for their vote, then they can be paid to withhold that vote. Not too long ago a certain campaign manager for a Gubernatorial candidate in the State of New Jersey "bragged" about spending half a million dollars to get some Black church leaders to influence their congregants to withhold their vote in certain urban precincts. We complain much, and justly so, about efforts to suppress the vote in mainly minority communities. The other side of that story is what I would call the self suppression of an electorate that refuses to take the initiatives necessary to ensure their meaningful participation in the democratic process.

Tomorrow is another Election Day. There are critical issues on the ballot that will impact the quality of life and the future of cities like Pholadelphia. These issues include the provision of adequate funding for Education, legislating a liveable wage, Healthcare policy, and many others. The very people whose lives are most affected by these issues must arouse the initiative within themselves that it takes to get the kind of leadership that will deliver on these issues. Talk is cheap. It is time to act in favor of the future we desire. No one can do for us that which we must be doing for ourselves. Wake up people, your future waits. Eventually we will get the government we deserve.

Living Into A Virtuous Fecundity

The following is the final excerpt from the article "Redefining Ourselves... A Season For Breaking The Mold."   Read the full article at http://figtreeenterprises.com/redefining-ourselves/

The redefinition of our lives that result from our work to create the destiny we determine to be fulfilling for us, brings into our experience of living the kind of abundance that we can only hope for in the absence of this definitive effort. That abundance results from the empowering clarity that we now possess as a result of new ways of looking at things. We discover new possibilities as we cultivate the ability to see things we were ignoring, to hear ideas to which we were once deaf, and to now apply ourselves with the kind of industriousness that Wisdom in her consummate omniscience dictates. Most meaningfully, our example serves as an indispensable guide on what is at times a profoundly difficult road through life. This work of Wisdom and Courage serves to establish lamps in the dark for fellow travelers on the journey to more abundant living.

This virtuous reproduction of ourselves and our lives will inevitably require new and improved templates of being. These new templates are molded through the persistence that a patient and determined willingness to pursue the destiny we have envisioned for our lives develops in us. In order to create the new templates we need it is necessary that we break out of the molds that limit our ability to grow. Complacency must no longer be tolerated as an ally. Fear must give way to courageous action. The existential malaise that saps our vitality must be addressed by proactive efforts to improve our health and well-being. The tendency to say “I can’t” must be replaced with a new enthusiasm that declares “I will!”.

By committing ourselves to growth, and by doing the work required by that commitment, we activate the process of change that fills us with a new dynamism. We move from promise to possibility, and from possibility to actualizing a more powerful sense of being. As agents of change we help motivate others, and thus we become prime movers in the perpetuation of that season for a redefinition of what it can mean to truly live.

Out of the old molds of being…!

We can be models for a “newness of life” that inspires…

The Disturbing Treatment Of Black Kids In Minneapolis

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/10/30/3586105/if-youre-a-black-kid-in-minneapolis-youre-16-times-more-likely-to-be-arrested-for-these-offenses/

Beyond Our Prejudices

Ferguson, Missouri remains in the news... as it should. The social amnesia that is such a prominent feature of our culture is a fact of life that we need to recover from. We need to wake up from the Media-induced malaise that dulls our conscientiousness and shortens our attention span. The execution style killing of Mike Brown by policeman Darren Wilson remains a stark reminder of a societal dysfunction that has its roots in the culture of injustice that remains prevalent in a society that has yet to come to terms with the idea of the inherent value of every human life.

The killing of this eighteen year old by a white officer of the Law has been cast in terms of the tragic racial dynamic that has been entrenched in daily experiences in our country. This, without doubt, is a function of the history of oppression over which a most bloody civil war was fought. The reaction to this event in Ferguson is promising. Continued protests have underlined the truth that we are indeed a society in flux... “The times, they are a changing”. And they must.

In the heat of passion we all tend to harbor a certain tunnel vision, and the duty to examine the broader truth of this tragedy suffers as a result. I grew up in a country that is ninety six percent Black. The police force of Jamaica is Black. As a seventeen year old I had the unfortunate experience of being shot at by the police in Kingston, the capital. It was around eleven o’clock at night, and I was on my way home from the weekly Youth Fellowship meeting at the church I was then a member of.

It was on a Friday night and I was within a three minute walk from the bus stop to home. I had been mistaken for someone else. After being roughed up and tossed into the unmarked police car, I was released in the middle of East Avenue, in Greenwich Town...without an apology or an explanation. They just stopped, swung the door open, and let me go. These were men who could have been my father or uncle or cousins. They were black...just like me.

I have inadvertently walked into curfew situations where an officer sitting carelessly on the back of his police truck told me to run...so he could have an excuse to shoot me. These were black officers in a predominantly black community in a predominantly black country. I, like so many others who grew up under similar circumstances, understood that I should at no time challenge a policeman... Or police woman. I shared one important similarity with Mike Brown. I was a poor young man at the mercy of a corrupted law enforcement apparatus.

The cries of “racism” that resound from Ferguson, Missouri, address a particular aspect of this dynamic in our societal dysfunction. But racism, and in this case the fallacy of “white supremacy”, is an expression of a deeper malady. It is not just an expression of someone's innate prejudice. In reality it is more aptly an expression of the criminal behavior that emanates from the sometimes blatant institutionalization of injustice in a society such as we have become. Racism is a crime. It is a violation of everything that we should stand for as civil society. Anyone may harbor prejudice; we are entitled to individual likes and dislikes. However, to inflict harm by any means as a result of that personal dysfunction is cause for remedial legal action.

The focus on Darren Wilson's complexion and the complexion of the young man he killed is essentially a distraction. It is a distraction because it redirects our focus to his individual racial angst, rather than on the essential criminality of his actions. This act of redirection serves those who would have us not seriously examine the real roots of such behavior. To be absolutely clear, there are oppressive brutes of all hue. Criminals come in all colors and in all the variations of gender. As in the country that I was born and grew up in, there needs to be a real awakening to the structural injustices that become institutionalized in entities such as our police forces.

It is time to wake up to the reality that there are individuals and corporate entities among us intent on
accruing to themselves everything their vain hearts desire. They act to accomplish their goals through every agency they can, and at the expense of the life and humanity of others. To such characters and corporations (keep in mind that our Supreme Court would have us believe that Corporations are people), “white supremacy" is just one of many excuses used to rationalize the inequity they perpetuate. To such persons the question “How much is enough?” is nothing more that an itch that they must endure.

Among the other “inconveniences” they must suffer, we may include the following: demands for just wages at home and abroad; more reasonable cost of credit for those who need it; responsible care and sharing of the environment; the demilitarization of our economies; a real focus on equal access to education; and ensuring the availability of life-saving technologies to all people in a world that is becoming more and more interconnected.

We must continue the work to bring about a more just society. As long as we are human we will experience the foibles of unperfected character. We will in all honesty admit personal prejudices that, if exposed, will shame us. It is therefore imperative that we be constrained by the Rule of Law in our various interactions. The work of Justice demands that we act according to the standards of civility in a society where no one is above the Law. No one.

How Rev. Al Sharpton Lost Almost 200lbs | Black America Web

How Rev. Al Sharpton Lost Almost 200lbs | Black America Web

Frank Serpico On Police Corruption

Click on the link below and read the real Frank Serpico on police corruption then and now. His first hand account of this continuing problem is very useful to our understanding of police culture.

http://politi.co/1nDjGZv

John Holt... Another Messenger in the Choir of Reggae Angels

Sixty Nine years among us but timeless in his artistic impact. Yes. He aspired to... and attained greatness as an ambassador of the universal phenomenon which is the power of the music of Love. John was truly a Paragon... A model of excellence in his craft. When he spoke he reminded us of the responsibility to project in our lives and in our work, that positivity that comes from a constructive Vibe. When he wrote he used the power of his poetry to communicate that constructive wonderfullness that love endows us with. On stage he was the consummate messenger. His was a voice so appealing, so un-strained, so unrestrained in its virtuosity, so mellifluous... indeed a thing of musical and rhythmic beauty. It is no wonder that he inspired so many... and was imitated by so many.

Measured by the "Hits" he made, there was none greater in the arena of Reggae music. Expressed in terms of his electrifying impact, we experience "a thousand volts of Holt" in hits like: 'Ali Baba', 'Stick By Me', 'Love I Can Feel', 'Memories By The Score', 'My Heart Is Gone', 'Police In Helicopter', 'Stealing Stealing', 'The Tide Is High'... just to name a few. Born in Greenwich Farm, Kingston 13, Jamaica (where I grew up), his contribution was seminal in the development of Jamaican music. The appeal of his body of work was universal, as songs like 'The Tide Is High' were reproduced to great acclaim by a number of international artists. It is true that the richness of John Holt's work made many rich, not just in terms of his soulful appeal, but the economic benefits of that appeal. 'The Tide Is High' sold millions all over the world. John had a string of number one hits in the history of Jamaican music longer than any of his peers.

This boy from Greenwich Farm, Kingston 13, Jamaica, went on to perform on the greatest stages in the world. His concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was a thing of beauty. And now he takes his place with the Choir of Reggae Angels. He joins Bob and Dennis and Peter and Gregory and Cynthia and Hortense and Jacob... and all those who now make up that distinguished Chorus. In tribute to them we make this request of those who seek to walk in their shoes : 

“Sing us a song... Like a morning in Spring
Play us a tune... That warm sunshine will bring
Wake us up... With words so warm
Sing us a song... That will sound the alarm
Of all… all… all… All of our senses

Sing us a song... Like a mid-day sun
Play us a tune... With a heated exclamation
Inspire us to seek... Shade from the warmth
Sing us a song... That will bring out the charm
Of all… all… all... All of our senses

Sing us a song... Like a Summer sunset
Play us a tune... That will make us forget
The many seasons... Of our discontentment
Sing us a song... That vibrates with the rhythms
Of the horizons… the horizons...
The horizons of love"
(Adapted from the poem 'For All My Seasons' from the book 'Of Scattered Seed and Broken Souls)