The Nina Simone Biopic

Hollywood has never been supportive or fair to the Black community. We can go back to the early days of cinema and see most often our images, like His-Story, distorts our true reality. The black person was always the “buffoon” or the help, and this is being kind.

When it comes to our history, Black people's contributions have been distorted to reflect the white cultures view of it. Examples are abound; the Ten Commandments, Hannibal, or the most serious distorted depiction was Cleopatra, all played by white people, when, in fact, each was of African Descent.

Recently, the Nina Simone biopic debuted at Cannes. I was waiting for reviews to come out before writing anything about it.  I look for a review, but I couldn't find a thing. From what I was able to find was a comment that it was only screened for distribution companies interested in buying the film; this is a telling tale. In other words, it was screened for the other culture.

The long and short of this post is I can remember Nina Simone and have a bit of a problem with the actress chosen to play her in the movie. I think there are a number of very talented black women, who may have been a better choice. Just to name a few, Viola Davis, Kimberly Elise, India Arie (who I think would be my first choice) or Mary J Blige would be more fitting to play the High Priestess of Soul. Since popular votes don't guarantee selection, the outcome is already a finished product starring Zoe Saldana. I am certainly not saying Saldana is not a very good actress but in my view she does not fit the character as well as others. I am saying, in my view, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Now, with that said, I like Zoe as an actress!

Before I can recall listening to Nina Simone's music, I remember seeing her face. I had a childish fixation because she looked like the black women I knew and one could extend the inference of esteem extended to me. The most pronounced hereditary feature is the Nina. I wonder what Zoe felt inside every time she sat down and watched the make-up artist apply a prosthetic nose and darken her skin. Please take a moment to think about that process. When Zoe as Nina looks in the mirror, she is promoting mythology. Say what you want about The Great Sphinx's missing nose, but the full lips still remain after all these centuries. A black person’s nose always gets in the way of European theory.

When I look at Nina Simone, I see a messenger with a wide nose and full lips. When I look at Zoe as Nina, I see someone in a cloak walking a windy road to an awkward redemption. I share no empathize with her being a puppet. This brings us to the supreme capitalists who hide behind corporate curtains and only their show face at legal depositions. Some would say they robbed Nina's grave, re-branded the artifacts with plans to sell and will settle all lawsuits after they count their money.

If you know or love Nina's music, if you dishonor her integrity means you hear her sound but not the woman of valor. What it means is that those people want soul to be packaged in coffee bean blonde even though she told you black is the color. It means you don't think Nina's beautiful and only God knows what they think of the rest of us. This is my distain with regard to the casting. I have not seen this movie, but image is everything, and so far I feel disrespected.

Nina was not here to entertain us with dance and radio formatted songs. Her lyrics, her staging, her expressions, her espresso complexion adding another tone to the ebony and ivory, her ornaments, her natural follicles underneath the crowns adorned and the cigarette smoke she blew out her oval lips and ancient nostrils were all elements of her protest artistry.

The bottom line is that Hollywood, as it always has, is driven by dollars and exploitation. I am sure Spike Lee faced a fair share of studio battles. I would venture to say that some studio executive approach him about having some white man play Malcolm X to test his integrity.

Nina Simone is dead but not gone the mind of those who knew and love her. In the ongoing war of legacy versus exploitation, one spends a sacrificial lifetime to create a self-portrait with uncompromising colors only to have others betray your portrait with an unreal replica. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

REMEMBER THE FALLEN

To all who served and did not return from the battle. Today is the day we honor you! Thank you for the ultimate sacrifice. And that's my Thought Provoking Perspective...

 

White On White Crime

The conservatives have labeled crimes that occur in the Black community as “Black on Black Crime”. I am of the belief that crime occur where people live to include crimes such as murder; people kill where they live. I am in no way condoning or sanctioning this behavior in either community.

But what is distinctly different is that the Republicans and the NRA believe the second amendment requires everyone to carry a gun and, if you are white, has the right to use it as they see fit! This, by the way, was not the original intent of the Second Amendment! The fact, when White on White crime takes place it’s never talked about the way it is when Blacks commit crimes.

Let me be clear, I extend my sympathy to those who lost their lives in this horrible tragedy over the weekend. This could well be, as Malcolm said “the chicken coming home to roost”. They propagate “the only good gun is a good guy with a gun”. Truth is - this is the most insane narrative ever uttered. Because you are a person with a gun, this does not make you a good guy at all. Yet, this narrative has gained traction for those who buy guns and use them to take life, which is simply wrong. Remember their one-time hero Zimmerman!

In the United States, a White person is almost six times more likely to be killed by another White person than by a Black person, according to FBI homicide data. In 2011, there were more cases of Whites killing Whites than there were Blacks killing Blacks. However, the mainstream media obsesses over Black on Black violence and rarely mentions the problem of White on White violence.

These statistics has not led to a media outcry about the problem of White on White crime or the unique pathology of the White community. Nor has the White community stood up to demand change in their community like the Black community does when trying to tackle instances of Black on Black crime. When the news media talk about gang-related deaths, they treat it exclusively as a Black problem. However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, for the period of 1980 to 2008, a majority (53.3 percent) of gang homicides were committed by White offenders, and the majority of gang homicide victims (56.5 percent) were White. When was the last time you’ve seen on the news, discussions about a White-gang problem?

Let us just review some of the mass shootings. There was Columbine, Sandy Hook, movie theaters, and the recent slaughter that occurred this past weekend - get the point. So when the Fox News types talk about the horrors they pretend to care so much about that happens in the black community. Don’t be so shock when the reality hits you in the face. In fact, I can’t recall any incident like this to have occurred in the black community.

According to statistics from the Justice Department, White men are more likely to kill than any other racial group. When it comes to how and why people kill, Black men do, in fact, outnumber Whites in gun-related homicides especially drug-related offenses. However, White men top the list in most all other categories.

Crimes committed by White people are explained as deviations of the individual but have nothing to do with race, but crimes committed by Blacks or Latinos are somehow attributed to race. Gang-bangers from South Chicago has somehow become a symbol that Black men are to be feared, but you don’t get the same fear that one could attach to the brutal murders committed by Neo-Nazi skinheads.

When the Bureau of Justice Statistics collected homicidal rates from 1980 to 2008, they found that compared to Blacks, Whites were more likely to kill children, the elderly, family members, and their significant others. They commit more sex related crimes, gang related crimes, more likely to kill at their place’s of employment and mass shootings.

So, why does the media still perpetuate the lie of Black criminality? Is it because one in 15 Black men are in prison? That may not explain it. The racial biases in the War on Drugs contribute to the high incarceration rates. Studies show that Blacks are no more likely than Whites to use or sell drugs. Blacks actually only make up 14 percent of regular drug users. Yet, Blacks are more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and receive longer sentences than Whites.

Now, because of the systems sustained policies to keep black people impoverished, and the drugs inserted into the so-called urban communities, and other social ills caused by people of this ilk is one of the reasons for the carnage that occurs. It is a documented fact that when the movie cowboy was president they were caught inserting drugs into the black community. Then the so-call job creators took away all the jobs, sent them overseas or taken them to white communities denying able black citizens the opportunity to be employed. Add to that the wretched education system that segregates and has failed the least of thee. This is a recipe for disaster!

So who is the real menace to society? Or will you continue to believe the hype that gun-toting gangster rappers and black men are the evil? If so, why can’t we blame a White man with a pistol being used to symbolize Second Amendment rights? Oh yes, I cannot leave out the most dangerous crime: White Collar Crime!  And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

What say you?

Just a Season

Just a Season is a luminous story into the life of a man who, in the midst of pain and loss, journeys back in time to reexamine all the important people, circumstances, and intellectual fervor that contributed to the richness of his life.

It is a must read novel that will cause you to see the world through new eyes. One reviewer said, "This is the stuff movies are made of… not since “Roots” have I read a story that so succinctly chronicles an African American story!" Another said, “Not since The Color Purple have I read a book that evoked such emotions..." [more reviews below]

PRELUDE 

A season is a time characterized by a particular circumstance, suitable to an indefinite period of time associated with a divine phenomenon that some call life. One of the first things I learned in this life was that it is a journey.During this passage through time I have come to realize that there are milestones, mountains, and valleys that everyone will encounter. Today, I have to face a valley and it’s excruciating. It’s June 28th, a day that I once celebrated as a very special day. Now, it’s filled with sorrow. The reason this day is different from all others is because I have come to the cemetery at Friendly Church. 

Normally it’s hot and humid as summer begins, but not so today. It’s a cool gray day with the sky slightly overcast. I hear the echo of birds chirping from a distance. There is also a mist or a light fog hovering very near the ground that gives the aura of a mystical setting.  This is a place where many of my family members who have passed away rest for eternity.  Some have been resting here for over a hundred years. I have grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, a sister, and many friends here as well. The cemetery is in the most tranquil of places secluded from the rest of the world, very peaceful and beautiful, almost like being near the gateway of heaven.

My heart aches today because I have come here on what would have been my son’s birthday. This is a very hard thing for me to do as the natural order suggests it should be the other way around. Another difficulty is that this is the first time I will see his headstone that was put in place just a few days ago. Although I know what it should look like, it’s going to be hard to actually see it. It will indicate the finality of losing the dearest of all human beings.  It’s hard to imagine what the rest of my life will be like without my precious son.

As I pass Granddaddy’s gravesite, I stop to say hello. After a brief moment, I continue in the direction of my son’s resting place. As I get closer, I begin to receive a rush of emotion to the point that my movements slow as the sight comes into view. I can now see his name clearly and I whisper “God why did you take him?” I become numb as I finally arrive at his gravesite, overwhelmed with this never before known emotion. This is something I never thought I would ever have to do, but here I am!!!

Suddenly, the sky begins to clear somewhat, as I now feel the sun’s rays from above.  At this very moment, I receive an epiphany upon reading the dates inscribed on the stone.  1981 – 2001. What does this really mean? The beginning and the end, surely, but in the final analysis it is just a tiny little dash that represents the whole life of a person. I fall to my knees realizing the profound impact of that thought causing me to look to the heavens and wonder. If someone, for whatever reason, were to tell the story concealed within my dash.   What might they say?

Chapter One

The story begins in late November 1951 on a clear sunny Sunday afternoon. It was fairly cool for an autumn day and as it was the custom in the Reid family, everyone had gone to church early to give praise to the Lord. This was a special day for this family. It was a special day because of their anticipation of a new member into the family. So it was a great, great feeling of joy and excitement that filled their home. Ruth and Josie did not attend church this day, because Josie was overdue and expecting to give birth at anytime...

Praise for “Just a Season”

And the journey continues with “Legacy – A New Season”…

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The Instrument Of Death

We know the government has a gang identified by alphabets: CIA, IRS, FBI, and so on! Most are afraid of the mere mention of any of them. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act some of the secrecy that has surrounded these agencies have been revealed. Yes, times have changed but did things change behind the walls of these groups. One of these alphabet groups in particular viewed Dr. Martin Luther King as the “most dangerous man in America”.

This group, the FBI, had a secret program known as COINTELPRO, short for Counter Intelligence Program, used to disrupt the activities of supposed Communist Party in the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. However, their activities had a devastating affect on all black groups working for Civil Rights or black empowerment to include many black leaders.

COINTELPRO was discovered in March 1971, when secret files were removed from an FBI office and released to the news media. Freedom of Information requests, lawsuits, and former agents' public confessions deepened the exposure until a major scandal loomed. To control the damage and re-establish government legitimacy in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate, Congress and the courts compelled the FBI to reveal part of what it had done and to promise it would not do it again.

This is/was how it worked. The FBI secretly instructed its field offices to propose schemes to misdirect, discredit, disrupt and otherwise neutralize specific individuals and groups. Close coordination with local police and prosecutors was encouraged. Final authority rested with top FBI officials in Washington, who demanded assurance"there is no possibility of embarrassment to the Bureau." More than 2000 individual actions were officially approved. The documents reveal three types of methods:

1. Infiltration: Agents and informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main function was to discredit and disrupt. Various means to this end are analyzed below.
2. Other forms of deception: The FBI and police also waged psychological warfare from the outside--through bogus publications, forged correspondence, anonymous letters and telephone calls, and similar forms of deceit.
3. Harassment, intimidation and violence: Eviction, job loss, break-ins, vandalism, grand jury subpoenas, false arrests, frame- ups, and physical violence were threatened, instigated or directly employed, in an effort to frighten activists and disrupt their movements. Government agents either concealed their involvement or fabricated a legal pretext. In the case of the Black and Native American movements, these assaults--including outright political assassinations--were so extensive and vicious that they amounted to terrorism on the part of the government.

After his initial success, Hoover unleashed his agents against a wide range of political groups. The most prominent and targeted were civil rights organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the more radical groups, such as the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and the Socialist Workers party. Anther target was the nation's oldest white hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. However, Hoover was far less enthusiastic about pursuing the Klan and did so chiefly because of political pressure in spite of the Klan's highly publicized murders of civil rights workers.

It was discovered that at least twenty documented burglaries of the offices of the SCLC, an organization headed by Dr. King, who Hoover detested calling him "one of the most reprehensible … individuals on the American scene today." He urged his agents to use "imaginative and aggressive tactics" against King and the SCLC. To this end, agents bugged King's hotel rooms; tape-recorded his infidelities, and mailed a recording, along with a note urging King to commit suicide, to the civil rights leader's wife.

The COINTELPRO operation against the radical Black Panther party, which Hoover considered a black nationalist hate group, tried to pit the party's leaders against each other while also fomenting violence between the Panthers and an urban gang. In at least one instance, FBI activities did lead to violence. In 1969, an FBI informant's tip culminated in a police raid that killed Illinois Panther chairman Fred Hampton and others; more than a decade later, the federal government agreed to pay restitution to the victims' survivors, and a federal judge sanctioned the bureau for covering up the facts in the case.

The government feared an uprising from black or the rise of a "Mau Mau" [Black revolutionary army] in America and the beginning of a true black revolution. This program was intended to prevent the RISE OF A "MESSIAH" who could unify, and electrify, the militant Black Nationalist movement.  Malcolm X might have been such a "messiah;" he is the martyr of the movement today. Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position, although Elijah Muhammad was less of a threat because of his age. However, it is widely believed COINTELPRO was behind the assassination of Malcolm X, and it is not known the extent of the activities or exactly how many people.

The goal was to prevent respectability by discrediting leaders in three separate segments of the community. You must discredit those groups and individuals to, first, the responsible Negro community. Second, they must be discredited to the white community, both the responsible community and to "liberals" who have vestiges of sympathy for militant Black Nationalist [sic] simply because they are Negroes. Third, these groups must be discredited in the eyes of Negro radicals, the followers of the movement.

This last area requires entirely different tactics from the first two. Publicity about violent tendencies and radical statements merely enhances black nationalists to the last group; it adds "respectability" in a different way. Finally, and more significant was to prevent the long-range GROWTH of militant black organizations, especially among youth.

This was the instrument used to kill the movement! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

Life

As we travel this journey called life - each of us will endure mountain, milestones, and valleys. Most of us have become an “Opera Periode”, which is a definition that describe who most of us have become. If you are unaware of what I mean by that; it’s a character in an Italian opera, who entertains so many and puts on a happy face for the audience and the world to see. Yet, inside this character is tormented and lives a life of pain. Maybe Smokey Robinson said it best; it’s like the tears of a clown.

I am reminded of Pharaoh, who held his people in bondage for centuries. Then came, a black man, whose name was Moses, who fought Pharaoh to let his people go. Yes, his people were slaves and to be a slave one must be mentally conditioned to accept that condition. I use this metaphor because far too many of us await someone to come and take us away from the modern day Pharaoh. Many people and African American’s in particular think its Obama. I am as proud and honored as anyone for him and his accomplishments but “he is not our savior”. Our savior rests within our soul!

There are about 1500 different religions and every one of them teach that a man will come to free us or as the good reverend might say “deliver us from evil”. I am here to tell you no one is coming! Power is never given – it is always taken as a result of the spirit and free will that comes from your heart. If we are to be free, it must come from what was given at birth. To make it plain, “free your mind and you soul will rest”.

Let me remind you of the universal law, every woman who bores a child do so in fainting and in pain to produce a life thought the vassal of her womb from which her spirit. It doesn’t matter; rich or poor; black or white; Latin or Chinese; learned or unlearned! When that baby cry, it is a universal language that everyone human regardless of the language one speaks, everybody knows what that baby needs. This law makes us all equal from birth.

We forget that we come into this strange place with nothing and we spend all the time we have in this life trying to obtain “things”. Things are worthless, but life is priceless because you will, for certain, not take any of those “things” with you when you leave this world. Going back to the story that has been so distorted, neither Jesus nor Moses is coming! You are the one who must face what they tell us is a Day of Judgment. You will have to atone for the gift of life given to you. When you stand in judgment will God, Allah, or our creator be happy with the work you’ve done?

Maybe this might sound biblical but it isn’t my intention. Rather, just saying in my way – don’t leave this world backwards the way you did when you came here. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

Make It Plain

Brother Malcolm once said, “Make It Plain”. So I will offer an opinion, my view, of some of the causes that keep people of the African American Diaspora mentally slavery and in continuous bondage. You may disagree, or not, but there are facts from the past that we must understand did have an effect upon African American's in order to maintain control. I am not going back to slavery or segregation because we know both were used as mechanisms of control. Those in power who benefited know, “if you control what a man thinks, you never have to worry about what he thinks”.

In a past life, I taught a college course called the Psychology of the Black Family. During slavery, and from the 1800's through the 1980's, the African American family was tight-knit, strongly woven, and the envy of all other cultures. The family unit survived in spite of unimaginable cruelty and adversity. It is only recently, during the last thirty/forty years or so that the African American family became dysfunctional and lost its direction. One has to think for some twisted reason we do not feel whole because, in many cases, we allow others define us.

Aside from the initial and root cause, which we know was slavery. I have identified 12 key issues that did impeded black progress:

1. The Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of strong, intelligent, hardworking black men were shipped abroad to be murdered, returned home shell shocked, severely damaged, or addicted. Many of which were unable to get back on track after returning from war because the government abandoned them.

2. COINTELPRO: The covert actions of J. Edgar Hoover in the wake of the Civil Rights Era and the Black Power Movements all but insured that anyone speaking out against the governments wrong doings would receive either long prison sentences or bullets. This fear silenced our forward progression, fueling distrust and removing many of our leaders, as well as potential future leaders.

3. The Assassinations of the 1960’s: Left a huge void in leadership that has yet to be filled, particularly within the Civil Rights Movement to include within the community. Instead, a universal acceptance of the pimp/hustler image in popular culture that presented alternative heroes to black youth, which resonant in the form of Gangster Rap. This genre leads to the glorification of the criminal element amidst immature minds that lack familial structure. In addition to black on black crime and staying silent while, black youth are murdered by other black youth.

4. The Feminist Movement: Backed by liberal white women to fight for the equal rights of women; the same rights most black men had yet to be fully granted. A lot of black women got lost in the rhetoric of how men were keeping them down, losing sight of the fact that black men were down there with them. To this day, the power exchange and infighting among black men and women, is sadly considered the norm, a tool enumerated by Willie Lynch.

5. Oliver North & the Contras: The volume of drugs, mainly crack cocaine that flooded the black community during the 80 to which most of the drugs came in on U.S. ships with the support of the Government. The CRACK era escalated death and incarceration rates, unwanted pregnancies, neighborhood prostitution and a culture of violence. Folks were selling their kids to hit the pipe, and selling their souls to sell what went in that pipe. This epidemic destroyed our community in ways slavery could never have done. This form of contemporary was the cruelest type of slavery imposed upon our communities.

6. Mass media brainwashing & mind control: The influences of propaganda and distorted images of beauty and male/female roles. Shows like Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, Dynasty, Different Strokes, and the Jefferson’s for example. The American conscious during the 80's was money driven. Materialism became the idea that stuff defines you and others.

7. Education: The lack of proper education, financing support, and knowledge being taught by African American professionals. In addition, our leaders and academics failed us as they fled the hood in droves for the suburbs during those crazy 80's. Prior to this period, kids saw on a daily basis married couples that looked like them, even if they didn’t live in their households. Yet the great migration to greener pastures left a void in the community leaving it to be filled by the image of the hustler-pimp-thug, ruthlessness, and violence.

8. Communication: This speaks to the education of self and listen to the wrong messengers. The communication of values - parents became unavailable to hand down family legacies, traditions and value systems. We're like POW's locked in the same building for 20 years, unable to converse thru cement walls confined by our persona's, egos, insecurities, isms etc.

9. The Black Church: Many churches have lost their way. The business of religion is bankrupting our communities. Many churches are not touching the lives of those outside of the church most in need. Just like back in the day when it was the design of slave masters, who did so much wickedness to use this as a tactic by offering a bible and in most instances nothing more than pain and the promise of a better life to keep us in line. This is not the same as faith which was necessary to survive our struggles.

10. Urbanization - work and home were once connected. Parents were near their families, and children understood work as a way of life. Urbanization helped create “latch key" kids and images of hard work disappeared while replacing it with material objects.

11. Social Services: The advent of the system of welfare that demanded the absence of the influence of the black man in the home. Before Claudine during the early 50's, welfare was designed for to help white people and back then you HAD to be a complete family to apply. When it became available for black people the rules for welfare changed to fit the application process for welfare for blacks. For decades to follow, trillions of dollars in government spending on ineffective social programs in our cities have not, by enlarge, benefited the mobility of the family.

12. Segregation: Jim Crow Laws and Black Codes that prevented legal marriages, dehumanized people, and discriminatory practices in work/education left many African Americans unable to access resources necessary to build strong family bases causing disillusioned men/husbands/fathers to abandonment rather than face daily reminder of their "failure".

Let us not forget the Willie Lynch Theory, real or not, but the concept is working! It is a designed plan, as it has been from the being to mentally enslave people of color for those of privilege. And that’s my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVE!!!

The House Of Soul

There was once a time, not too long ago, when the music African American’s created was rarely heard by the masses. The great music that African American performers created was not allowed to be played on the radio. It was called “race music, but the white performers stole this music. So many of those African America performers never made much money, if any at all as a result, and I am stopping short of calling this crime what it was.

Then came a man name Berry Gordy, who changed the face of music and I, for one, would like to take this opportunity pay homage. THANK YOU Mr. Gordy for Motown, your vision and contribution to the world.

Most people do not know or remember that prior to Motown Records few black performers enjoyed anything close to crossover success. Their music was, then, called “race music” and was segregated in the same manner as the rest of America prior to 1959, when Motown was founded. Let me also remind you that rarely could the face of a black person be seen on an album cover prior to Motown’s founding. By the way, an album is what was used for music before CD’s.

Motown a company that primarily featured African American artists and its soul-based subsidiaries became the most successful proponents of what came to be known as “The Motown Sound”. This was a style of soul music with a distinct influence on all who heard it. From its Hitsville U.S.A Building on 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan that served as Motown's headquarters. The label produced the most universally recognized stable of songwriters and performers of our time or anytime.

From this tiny little basement studio the world was introduced to Michael Jackson, the Supremes, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, the Miracles, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Four Tops, the Commodores, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Jr. Walker and the All Stars, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Rick James, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Teena Marie, DeBarge, the Jackson Five, Martha and the Vandellas, the Marvelettes and Motown's Funk Brothers studio band just to name a few of the artists that graced our souls and touched our hearts making us proud.

Many of Motown's best-known hits were written by Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield and the songwriting trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who became major forces in the music industry. For example, it’s a known fact in the music industry that in order to get a number one hit song someone would have to write more than thirty songs. Holland-Dozier-Holland had a string of more than fifty hits in a row with some becoming number one with several different artists, like the hit “I heard it through the Grapevine”. This is profound and will never happen again. No songwriter will ever achieve this feat – guaranteed.

Mr. Gordy did sell Motown and it’s now in the hands of others. However, its legacy resides in a very special place in my heart, and I’m sure millions around the world. So again I say, thank you Motown for the music, the love, the magic, and the many great memories.

Lastly, to the legends that are no long able to perform for us today - thank you for your contribution - Rest in Peace. I know walking around heaven all day listening to the harmony of your souls must make haven more glorious and wonderful than I could ever imagine. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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You Must VOTE!!!

Elections are being held all over the nation this year. Most of these elections are on state and local level with issues that have national implications. The issues before voters encompass a wide range of concerns including union rights, voting rights, and women’s rights. Let us not be fooled by the right-wing because nothing about their views encompass the reality we face.

There are and will be issues placed before voters this fall and coming in 2016 that are serious and must not be taken lightly. Consider this, weren’t the rights of workers to organize collectively and negotiate for fair wages and safe working conditions determined long ago? If you like a 40 hour work week, overtime pay, weekends off, sick leave and paid vacations, you have no one to thank, but union organizers who brought workers together to demand these benefits.

The issue of raising the minimum wage for millions of workers and their families must be addressed in this age when “oligarchy” rules. Of course, there are other important issues. But just think about all of the people who sacrificed so much, like those who sacrificed their very lives to ensure that all citizens could exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

Then there are the women's issues; isn’t it settled law that women – as full citizens of this great nation – have the right to be secure in their own person – without Republican intrusion into the difficult and personal choices they make in respect to their own bodies?

One of the greatest difficulties we face by living in this democracy, if you believe that’s what this is, we must contend with the assaults from institutional racism. The highest court in the land is against the people; the House of Representatives is not a functional body, the police are combat soldiers, and you know what – it begs the question; who do they serve. Once we were slave, but today we are all slaves on the plantation. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

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 THIS VIDEO SAYS IT ALL