tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41108355076097728992024-03-05T06:01:15.613-05:00THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVESThought Provoking Perspectives is a powerful blog designed as a potent source of empowering knowledge to broaden the information base with those who share my passion for the written word. I firmly believe education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. @JohnTWillsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.comBlogger748125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-7087142199451071462015-04-23T09:27:00.000-04:002015-04-23T08:36:57.141-04:00THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES HAS MOVEDI would like to cordially invite you to visit the new home of <a href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES</a>. To all of my many readers and follows I want to humbly express my sincerest appreciation to all you and looking forward to your continued support at the sites new home.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-60152677633665909312014-08-21T13:58:00.002-04:002014-08-21T14:04:10.515-04:00Rome Is Burning<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/rome-is-burning/4-25/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/rome-is-burning/4-25/" rel="attachment wp-att-7747"><img alt="4" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7747" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/41.jpg?w=300" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/41.jpg?w=300" style="float: right;" /></a>Today we learned Amnesty International has sent a team of observers to Ferguson to monitor what they view as human rights violations. This is a huge development in this town more inept than the Barney character from Mayberry. What this means is that the world in seeing the crimes at the hands of the police. Frankly, the police bare much of the blame for the situation from the killing to the manner in which they have managed the situation in the streets that look in many ways like Bagdad or some war zone.</div>
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I am certain everyone can remember the incident involving the last Rodney King where the police beat him nearly to death; if not you’ve seen the video. After the police officers went to trial and were found not guilty, riots ensued, and the question was why. The world saw the event captured on video – the argument was “we did not see what we thought we saw." This is often what happens when the police try to arrive at the conclusion, which is most often “justified.” This seems to be the desired outcome in Ferguson – “there is nothing to see here."</div>
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The power of the men in blue that represent the state has enormous power, often unchecked. They will protect each other at all cost, regardless of the wrong. They operate under a code and have a playbook that has been used for time and memorial. In the time of Jesus, Rome was the state and their enforcers operated like thugs, we know how they dealt with decent. They hung him on a cross, and black people are being murdered at the hands of the police state.</div>
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This country was founded on decent with what they called a Revolution by those opposed to the states (England) rule to gain its freedom. They specifically said, all American’s have rights; one is freedom of speech, and another is the right to assemble. In my view, the state, Missouri, has attempted to take away both. The only conclusion, in concert, with what appears to be their perfection of the officer who shot the child is to cover up to get them to “justified."</div>
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Each night for the last ten days, we see people trying to demonstrations that turn chaotic. The cops say, they are being attacked by the crowd. Yet, it seems like they are the only ones who believe that story. From my vantage point, it is the police who have crossed the line every step of the way. A reporter on the scene, CNN’s Jake Trapper, reports:<br />
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"I want you to look at what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri, in downtown America, OK? These are armed police, with semi-automatic rifles, with batons, with shields, many of them dressed for combat. Now why they’re doing this I don’t know, because there is no threat going on here, none that merits this. There is none, OK? Absolutely there have been looters, absolutely over the last nine days there’s been violence, but there is nothing going on on this street right now that merits this scene out of Bagram. Nothing! So if people wonder why the people of Ferguson, Missouri are so upset, this is part of the reason. What is this? This doesn’t make any sense!"</blockquote>
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Every empire created since the existence of mankind has fallen mainly from within. If the news media is being treated so harshly; what do you think the police are doing to the black community? America’s amoral racial disparities have been exposed to the world. With respect to the blatant police abuse by people sworn to “protect and serve”; it seems to be protecting the officers involved and to serve their own interests – business as usual. If justice is not served here I am fearful that Rome will burn. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-91428624084352249192014-07-11T14:35:00.001-04:002014-08-31T11:25:14.965-04:00Thank You<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
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I would like to humbly express my sincerest appreciation to all of my friends and follower of THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES. This is also to include everyone who find my words empowering and to all who share my thoughts with others through their social media platforms.<br />
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Thought Provoking Perspectives is designed to be a potent source of empowering knowledge to broaden the information base with those who share my passion for the written word. Let me offer a personal thought: “I firmly believe education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair... You only have a minute. Sixty seconds in it. Didn't choose it, can't refuse it, it’s up to you to use it. It's just a tiny little minute but an eternity in it! You can change the world but first you must change your mind." <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/JohnTWills" href="https://twitter.com/JohnTWills">@JohnTWills</a></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Season-John-T-Wills/dp/1419657046/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402495278&sr=1-1&keywords=just+a+season" href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Season-John-T-Wills/dp/1419657046/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402495278&sr=1-1&keywords=just+a+season" rel="attachment wp-att-7135"><img alt="A MUST READ!!! copy" class="wp-image-7135" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/a-must-read-copy.jpg?w=203" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/a-must-read-copy.jpg?w=203" height="187" width="116" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-70920823538406206462014-07-05T15:40:00.000-04:002014-07-05T15:40:14.288-04:00Remember Bush <div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/anyone-remember-bush/3-13/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/anyone-remember-bush/3-13/" rel="attachment wp-att-7390"><img alt="3" class="alignright wp-image-7390" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/3.jpg" height="217" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/3.jpg" style="float: right;" width="168" /></a></div>
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I read an article that said Obama was the worst president in modern times, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll. This caused me to recall the Bush years! Has everyone forgotten what it was like when Bush was president! I am sure most people understand that time is our most valuable commodity; 1440 minutes each day is all we get. Unfortunately, once spent it can never be returned, which means we have less time in front of us, than we have behind us. Another way of putting it is that we are dying slowly, and I mean that literally, from a life standpoint and from the standpoint of life, which is a combination of many yesterdays.</div>
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The new century began with few highlights although the nineties were prosperous under Clinton, which was a sign of the low-lights to come. As a precursor, the decade began with a huge scam called Y2K. Remember, the world was supposed to end when all of the computers shut down – it didn’t. We witnessed the nation’s capital paralyzed with fear because of two psychopaths known as the DC Snipers. At its resolution, we received a huge shock, when it was discovered that the terrorists were two black men. It was believed, particularly by black people, crimes such as this were committed by others.</div>
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Amazingly, a stolen election in 2000 gave the nation a Texas Governor best known for putting more people to death via the prison system than anyone else in America. He and his partner in crime, you know the guy that shot his hunting partner in the face, leaving the scene, and the wounded apologized for catching the bullet. This ushered in an era of “Gangsta Politics."</div>
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It was on his watch that the country was attacked, although some say it was a false flag operation, on the morning of September 11, 2001. The world changed as we knew it when the unthinkable happened. The culprits were nineteen guys with razor blades who high-jacked four commercial planes crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashing another into a Pennsylvania field killing thousands – a horrible tragedy.</div>
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It worst attack upon America since WWII, while George was reading a kiddy's book at the time. Let me pause to offer my condolences to the families of those lives lost. But something has always puzzled me; they were able to find bones, identify rings and watches of victims but never found any of the black boxes from any of the planes.</div>
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The United States under the direction of the new regime responded to the attacks by launching a “War on Terror” invading the “Graveyard of Empires” (Afghanistan) to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. Our government enacted what became known as the Patriot Act giving them the power to do anything they wanted super-ceding all or most Constitutional rights, which made George - King. Then Bush and company invaded Iraq.</div>
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He and the shooter used this event to invade two nations under the guise of lies and manufactured “BS”, like “weapons of mass-destruction." These endless wars caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and countless others were wounded with nothing close to a victory in sight. They then funneled all of the money authorized for the war to a company once headed by “Shooter." They hired mercenaries and had the leader of Iraq hung, who had nothing to do with the 911 attack. When, in fact, the villain known as Osama Bin Laden, who was like the invisible man they never tried to find, while Osama put out more videos than Tupac. They have satellites that can tell the time on your watch from space, yet they can’t find this guy.</div>
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George and company went into this war with what they called the “Coalition of the Willing”, which was a group nation’s supporting the US so small and insignificant that no one knew they were on this planet. They introduced us to torture, rendition, secret prisons, and opened a place called GTMO (Guantanamo Bay).</div>
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However, the most reprehensible act of George’s reign, aside from refusing to attend any of the NAACP conventions, was his regime's response to Hurricane Katrina. As it was happening, he was enjoying a birthday party and did not take an interest in New Orleans or the drowning the black people dying. Not to mention, everyone on earth watched the televised images of visibly shaken and frustrated political leaders, and of residents who remained stranded on rooftops because of flood waters, without food, water, and shelter. He sent his friend “Brownie” down to help and told us what a great job Brownie did.</div>
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Deaths from thirst, exhaustion and violence days after the storm had passed, fueled more criticism, as did the dilemma of the evacuees being called “refugees” at facilities such as the Louisiana Superdome (designed to handle 800, yet 30,000 arrived) and the New Orleans Civic Center (not designed as an evacuation center, yet 25,000 arrived). Of the 60,000 people stranded in New Orleans, the Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500 people of which most were black. Some alleged that race and class contributed to delays in the government’s response.</div>
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This caused many to agree with rapper Kanye West, who veered off script at a benefit concert for the victims to harshly criticize the government's response to the crisis, saying “George Bush doesn't care about black people." I am sure you will never forget the images of how America abandoned its poor people. They can get aid anywhere in the world in a heartbeat, yet did not attempt to do so for its own citizens.</div>
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I’ll fast forward to the election season of 2008. The country was in disarray as we endured a presidential primary election campaign that seems too lasted forever. Actually, it was kinda like the Mod Squad - one Black, one woman, and an OLD guy. This is very significant because the Black guy beat a formidable opponent in the wife of who many black people thought was the closest we would get to a black president – Brother Bill. Now, during the campaign in support of his wife Bill digressed a few time letting us know that he was still a white man.</div>
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I have learned that there comes a time when time itself needs a change and after the brutal reign of “King George”. White people thought Bush was so bad; they elected a black man to replace him. Under Bush, the economic situation was a mess and compared to the Great Depression. Unemployment rocketed, home foreclosures skyrocketed as everyone struggled financially, and investment money seems dry up as Wall Street was bailed out with government funds.</div>
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Then the unimaginable happened - the election of a Black man as president of these United States; something no one living or dead ever thought would happen. I cannot think of a single event more significant in world history, or at least since the resurrection of Christ, to compare it too. Ironically, the thought of a scripture comes to mind, which tells us “the first will be last, and the last will be first."</div>
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Since Obama’s election or in spite of - there has been talk of secession and the Tea Party was born instigated by the Drugster, the Alcoholic, Caribou Barbie, and of course Fox crowd comparing Obama to Hitler. Many prayed for his death, and that of his family using Bible verses to rally their faithful (Psalm 109:8). Yet, Obama lives and save the nation from the devastation caused by George and company. Today, two terms later, they say Obama is the worst president in modern times.</div>
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Comparing Obama to Bush is as different as black and white; night and day. So, in my view the perception is based on the color of his skin! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-17079433012340663302014-06-28T10:00:00.000-04:002014-06-28T10:00:24.777-04:00Pimp's In The Pulpit<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/pimps-in-the-pulpit/2-72/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/pimps-in-the-pulpit/2-72/" rel="attachment wp-att-6286"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6286" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/214.jpg" height="220" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/214.jpg" style="float: right;" width="200" /></a>I listened to one of those radio preachers where he was talking about the “Preachers of <span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">LA</span><span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">” and other fallen preachers. The title of the sermon should have been “Pimps in the Pulpit”. It sounds bad but is there a hint of truth to that description.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">Trust me, I know, talking about religion or the church is never a good idea. Having said that, I’m sure I will be berated with comments for this writing and will be “Damn to hell”, and you know Christians do that well. However, I hope most will understand that my point is this: when will the black church community take an honest look at itself for the benefit of the community, and families who will be better for it.</span></div>
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Don’t get me wrong. I love the “lawd” as much as the next person who claims they do. I also love and can appreciate “The Word” and I respect pastors, and there are “some” good ones out there. Just as there are those who have raised hell all of their lives, gone to prison and worse, sleeping with the ladies and young people of the congregation, who now claim to have been called to deliver the word. So why can’t people see, in many cases, all is not what it seems. Lest be careful and not confuse the man or church with Christianity or Spirituality.</div>
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Let’s be real, you know the scenario – I’ll call it the drama. A pastor gets caught in some scandalous behavior like stealing money, committing adultery, having a child by a member or worse. The word spreads; a few fed-up members leave the church. The “incident” is down-played or swept under the rug and eventually the congregation moves on as if nothing ever happened. Black churches are notorious for their unwillingness to shake bad leaders. Even in the face of undeniable evidence of gross sin, some congregations maintain their commitments to shady characters with an almost addictive-like quality.</div>
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When this happens, it tends to inflict damage far greater than their collective work. Frankly, it spells disaster for its mission, its people, and its community. The little country church I attended as a child had a preacher I admired because he told the truth. He once said, “The bible has been rewritten 28 times. If the first version was God’s word; Why then would man need to rewrite the order God left for us?” When I got older and saw him outside of the church in his Caddie, he told me, “There is a lot of money in Jesus name”.</div>
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I thought then, and do sometimes now, that it is like the wolf guarding the sheep. There was a time when the church was there for the community, and now it seems the people are there for the church. Think about that for a moment. During the Civil Rights era, the church was the foundation that changed the world. Pastors put their lives on the line, and many died for their community and the people of it. Do you know one preacher who would do that today? Probably not!</div>
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I went to church a few weeks ago - a mega church. The first thing I saw was an ATM machine. What came to mind was the day Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple. More outrageous was the preacher was ten years old. I will admit it was a great show but with respect to the ten year old preacher – Negro Please! My point is this; let thee be guarded with respect to the messenger. Some churchgoers believe pastors (even bad ones) are virtually untouchable, or they are all knowing like God speaks through them. They are human, and most have an agenda. Let me add that, in most cases, it’s not you.</div>
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People who hold this view will protect a corrupt pastor by immediately denying and dismissing any allegation of misconduct before careful consideration. Sometimes the congregation will blame the victims for their own victimization. For instance, many women find themselves blamed for having been sexually harassed by a corrupt pastor. Should they find the courage to speak out, they are often branded as “trouble makers” and/or demonized as a part of the devil’s scheme to bring down the ministry.</div>
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For the record, the Bible does offer human protections for congregations in the form of multiple pastors. It also promotes real pastoral accountability from a group of people who know the day-to-day ins and outs of that particular congregation and who are qualified to recognize and call out pastoral misconduct. I know this is a HUGE paradigm shift but before you prejudge it, check out these biblical references to see if they support a single or a multiple pastor model for local churches. (see Acts 11:30, 14:23, 20:17, Philippians 1:1, Titus 1:5, 1 Timothy 5:17, James 5:14)</div>
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The Bible never says that Christians should remain loyal to corrupt leaders. In fact, the Bible clearly forbids churches from clinging to such pastors. 1 Timothy 5:20 says “As for those [pastors] who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.” There are precious few congregations willing to obey this biblical command. Can you imagine a local Black church publicly reprimanding a corrupt pastor by bringing him before the congregation, calling out his sin, and “sitting him down?” I doubt it!</div>
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However, in many cases, this is exactly what God’s word calls us to do. For you haters who will offer negative comments concerning this article. I simply ask that you judge not. This can be done by looking in the mirror. Further, you need look no further than your local or national news to see that there are wolves preying upon their flocks. 1 Timothy 5:21 insists that even pastors should receive no special favors or leniency when it comes to sin. It says, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.”</div>
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Pastors aren’t God’s and you so-called Christian’s dishonor what you claim to worship - the Lord himself by acting as if they are. We need to take pastoral integrity very seriously and avoid the physical, psychological, and spiritual devastation to our communities and ourselves, simply by demanding that pastor accountability and not being an accomplice to the “pimp in the pulpit”. If you noticed I stopped short of agreeing with the preachers sermon but “game knows games” and most are playing a game with your soul. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-38429401411107469212014-06-25T11:09:00.000-04:002014-06-25T11:09:34.635-04:00The Forty-One Cent Secret<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/the-forty-one-cent-secret-2/1c/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/the-forty-one-cent-secret-2/1c/" rel="attachment wp-att-7293"><img alt="1c." class="alignright wp-image-7293" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/1c.jpg?w=300" height="178" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/1c.jpg?w=300" style="float: right;" width="233" /></a>The legacy of America is a heritage that is controlled by economics, no matter what, nothing trumps cash, and cash only. We hold it in our hands, but most people probably have no idea there is a subliminal message concealed within what I call “The 41 Cent Secret”. The lure of money is so powerful that you will sell your soul for it. Most people think racism is about the color of your hue, but it’s not.</span></div>
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It is about color true, but the color is green. Therefore, the phrase on money, “In God we trust,” is really a catchphrase suggesting that economic superiority is the cornerstone of this legacy. As we know, slavery and the economic profits derived from it built a capitalistic society and this message speak to the heart of it.</div>
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I’m sure you know that a secret is designed to elude observation because it contains information that, if disclosed, could endanger. Therefore, secrets are never to be told or shared. I would like you to take a quarter, nickel, dime, and a penny placing them in a row in that order from left to right. Look at the coins very carefully. What do you see other than the obvious - forty-one cents. Notice the faces on the coins. You will see four presidents - but there is more.</div>
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<b>NOW STOP! Look very carefully – what do you think you see?</b></div>
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You should see this: There is President’s Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Washington was the father of the country who instituted, by law, slavery as an American institution and owned many slaves. Jefferson, well we all know his storied history relating to slaves. Then there was Roosevelt, who had the same philosophy, but live in the era of segregation.</div>
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Now notice that Washington, Jefferson, and Roosevelt have turned their backs on Lincoln arguably the most significant of all presidents. Lincoln is on the lowest denomination of all money, and it is made of copper, the cheapest metal. Now, notice that the penny looks like you in color (if you are African American). This was done to scorn Lincoln for all eternity because he freed the slaves. Anytime someone comes along who changes the system, status quo, they will be scorned or destroyed. You have heard of - assassination.</div>
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You have carried change in my pockets all of your life but did you know there was a subliminal message. It is important to understand“The system is designed to protect the system.” Now, let me put this into perspective. It takes an act of congress to get a face approved to be put on a postage stamp. This was no accident.</div>
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If you can see this and understand it, know that there are other forms of deception perpetrated by the majority people who control the system. In particular, systematic slavery, that continues, and designed to make sure people of a certain races remain a permanent underclass. This is what is meant by the system protecting the system. It is all about wealth, which drives the system. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-62114063892327304902014-06-20T14:30:00.000-04:002014-06-20T09:39:54.559-04:00BLACK EMPOWERED MEN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The subject of a black man doing anything positive very
polarizing and controversial subject but it is a crucial piece of the African
American Diaspora. This is unless you are a sellout, and we know who you are!!!
I digress! I can speak to this issue because I was not unlike many African
Americans whose been touched by the consequences or aftermath of living in
America.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My father abandoned me in the womb while my teenage
mother carried me. I did not meet this guy until I was ten and have only been
in his presence for maybe two hours in my entire life. However, my grandfather
was the man in my life who taught me how to be a man. His teachings resonate
profoundly within my every waking moment, which I used to raise my son and
teach my grandson to include sharing the same knowledge with others, as I
navigate the troubled waters of life. The fact is “you have to see a man to be
a man!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are a community in crisis. I do not cast blame but
there is enough to go around. However, there are men who give of themselves to
the benefit of others, raising their children, empowering the community, carry
themselves with dignity and respect. It is my view that does not have to be
your man but there has to be a man present in the lives of these children. If this
were being done with vigor, it would have a ripple effect. The home would be
held together; the community would be greater, there would be development in
the minds of our youth, and maybe the carnage that is taking place would cease.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Images are and have been projected of black men falsely,
most often, glorifying our role in society as thugs, gangstas, criminals,
buffoons, clowns, being worthless, and hopeless have permeated far too long. I
know that many of you know that is not the case by enlarge. However, when you
open your newspaper or watch TV that’s how we are represented. I argue that this
assassination of character should now be removed. If for no other reason than,
the fact, the most powerful man in the world today looks like us, an African
American. Adding to this, he leads a proud, dignified family that is positively
on display for the whole world to bear witness to, which says all things are
possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The absence of the strong, responsible black man holding
it down, in the family and community, is destroying us as a people. Having said
that, the purpose we live is to continue the species. I was taught a very
significant lesson early in life, and reinforced every day of my life, by my Grandfather
who said, “I raised you to be a man and as a man you don’t know what you might
have to do but when the time comes you do it." We don’t know what
challenges are ahead of us. Therefore, my interpretation of that daily message
was preparation plus opportunity equals SUCCESS and that the difference between
a man and a boy is the lessons he learns.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These platitudes are essential to the survival of our
children and, frankly, our existence. There needs to be a man in the lives of
these boys, and girls, because the father’s role is to be an example, a role
model, to guide, direct, and pass on the wisdom he’s gained. For example, how
can you expect your little girl to chose a man if she has no model to base a
relationship on?<o:p></o:p></div>
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In addition, ladies, please stop thinking that can make
your boy a man – you can’t. You can raise, teach and nurture him – but you
cannot make him a man because you are not one. Now, to the ladies that are
holding it down, I applaud you, I know what that enormous job is like – my
mother did it, and I was no walk in the park. If it had not been for
Granddaddy, I would be lost – dead or in jail.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have formed a Facebook group <strong><span style="color: black;"><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackempoweredmen/" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackempoweredmen/"><span style="color: black;">BLACK EMPOWERED MEN</span></a></span></strong> where you are personally invited to join and contribute
wisdom to the benefit of others. <b>ALL ARE WELCOME!</b> The purpose of this group is
to be a vehicle to communicate with those who agree and can offer feedback,
suggestions, ideas, and information meaningful information and knowledge. If
not for you, do it for the children. Stand Up Black Men –Reach one Teach one!
And that’s my thought provoking perspective…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-22510568350618042022014-06-15T17:39:00.000-04:002014-06-15T17:39:00.206-04:00On Fathers <div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
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In the beginning, so we are told, God created man and a woman, in that order, known as the natural order of life designed to continue the species of mankind. According to God's design and the natural order of the universe, it is necessary for the male of the species to deliver a seed into the womb of a fertile woman to create a human life.</div>
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Whereby, for good or bad, the institution of marriage was formed to raise the new life, which is the child. In today’s society, in spite all of the religious teaching, somehow people have lost sight of a very basic principle that is - the only reason we exist is to consider the species through what we call family.</div>
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I was thinking about something someone posted on a social media that said, “Happy Father’s Day the other Mothers Day”. I commented on the post - “Really!” To which the woman’s response was “yes, I am my children’s father.” Hmmmm! I thought, Really! Don’t misunderstand me, I do understand there is and always have been “single mothers” raising children alone. It has always been and more than like always will. Although situations do require a mother to raise her child along, it does not make her at father! No disrespect ladies, but you cannot be a man on any level nor know the dynamics of being a man.</div>
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A father determines the sex of a child through a sperm cell which either contains an X chromosome (female), or Y chromosome (male) supplied usually through sexual intercourse. There is no debate there. However, because two people engage in said act does not necessarily make either responsible parents. Anyone can make a baby, but everyone cannot be a parent. Just as it is with every rule in nature, the responsibility of parents is derived based on the decisions these two people make.</div>
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Regardless of the related terms such as dad, daddy, pa, papa, poppa, pop, pop and so on. All identify the man as a male role-model that children can look up to, sometimes referred to as a father-figure. Traditionally, fathers act in a protective, supportive and responsible for the children they create. Involved fathers offer developmentally specific provisions to their sons and daughters throughout the life cycle and are impacted themselves by doing so. This is an important role of the father who is viewed as the leader with regard to his parental role and critical to the well-rounded development of the offspring.</div>
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Active father figures play a role in reducing behavior and psychological problems in young men and women. An increased amount of father–child involvement may help increase a child's social stability, educational achievement, and their potential to have a solid marriage as an adult. Their children may also be more curious about the world around them and develop greater problem solving skills. Children who were raised with fathers perceive themselves to be more cognitively and physically competent than their peers without a father. Mothers raising children together with a father reported less severe disputes with their child.</div>
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I hear women say all the time that there are no good men. Well, they were good enough to make a baby with! The question then becomes why is this perceived? Could it be as simply as YOU! This is real talk: there are plenty of real and good men. It is as simple as the choice you make.</div>
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So why has the game changed? In today’s society, gay marriage has people of the same sex raising children, government intervention, prison, and some suggest these issues as the moral breakdown of the family, as possible reasons. I am not smart enough to know the answer. However, what I know “man” has no business nor can he change the laws of nature.</div>
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To all Father on this day; HAPPY FATHERS DAY and keep up the good work! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-58554912843930592422014-06-10T10:05:00.000-04:002014-06-10T10:05:13.948-04:00The Insecure Black Woman<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<strong>Guest Blogger - Erica Edwards</strong></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/the-insecure-black-woman/11-11/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/the-insecure-black-woman/11-11/" rel="attachment wp-att-7110"><img alt="11" class="alignright wp-image-7110" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/112.jpg?w=281" height="217" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/112.jpg?w=281" style="float: right;" width="183" /></a>Being single for the past several years, by choice I might add, I have had to withstand the backlash of many relationships gone wrong. I know every break up story has two sides, but I am going to speak from the one I see. Many men have experiences with women who try to pressure them into marriage and children.</div>
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There are women who actually talk about these things early in a relationship, before they know if they are compatible. Some meet women who don’t respect them and cheat on them because they are fearful of the possibility of being hurt. A lot of men talk about the strong black woman they meet who is mean and tries to dominate the relationship, making him feel less than a man.</div>
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I really don’t get it, or maybe I do.</div>
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Our society is one that is completely selfish, where many feel entitled just because they were born. I want to know what makes one feel as though they are entitled to another person’s life, their time, and the things they have worked hard for just because they want it. If you are not enhancing a person’s quality of life, you have no business being part of it. If you are causing drama, arguing, and constantly making demands, those are not attractive qualities and you should seek to make yourself a better person before engaging in a relationship with another. You by yourself should be enough. Being alone does not equal being lonely.</div>
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I know Steve Harvey wrote a book for women on how to deal with men. I have seen some of its points and I am not in total agreement with all of them. My philosophy on life is more of an Eastern/Buddhist philosophy where I try to consider the needs and wants of others before my own. I find that I have more peace of mind this way. I try to practice selflessness: the art of putting the feelings of others before yours. In addition to selflessness, there is unconditional love. Unconditional love is when you love others regardless of their situation, what they have done, or what they may have done to you.</div>
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The only person you can control in this life is you. There are always going to be situations that arise which are challenging, that is life and that is uncontrollable. People are people, and they will do things that may cause you hurt and pain because of their own life experiences. You have to accept them for who they are and decide if they have a place in your life or not--you cannot change someone who does not want to change.</div>
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If you consider how you are making another person feel and also how that other person may be feeling before you act or react, you will find that life becomes easier for you. When someone snaps at you, instead of snapping back and asking what you did to deserve that behavior and using expletives, simply ask “What’s wrong?” Many times other people’s behavior is not about you, so it is wrong to take it personal and allow it to upset you.</div>
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Before you enter into any long-term relationship, you have to be happy and love yourself. You have to know what you do and don’t want, be happy with the direction in which your life is headed, and be able to be happy even when your significant other isn’t around. If that means having friends and family to do things with, having hobbies that interest you, or performing some sort of community services then do that. Wanting a man to be around all the time is way too much pressure. Basically, get a life.</div>
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Let’s go back to my beginning points. The marriage and children talk. Men are providers. Talking to a man about providing for you and a child, which is what you do when you talk about marriage and children, will be scary to any man within the first few dates. It’s ok to ask a man if he sees being married or having children in his future if that’s what you want but nothing more. As women, we have a tendency to fantasize about what our life will look like when we meet a man. Women have to keep in mind that this is indeed just a fantasy!</div>
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You love the idea of him but not him, because you don’t know him yet. He is most likely just trying to have a good time and get to know you. Honestly, I think a lot of black men are waiting to see if you are going to act crazy or not. Try to relax and enjoy the moment. Enjoy your dinner dates and your talks. It may work out and it may not. If not, chances are you will learn something about yourself, your business, or life itself. Chalk it up to experience.</div>
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If a man doesn’t want you, let him go. There are plenty of men out there and one who will love you in return. Don’t spend too much time sulking. There is no need to change who you are, especially if you are happy with yourself, to keep a man. Let him find his match and wish him well. Love him so much that you want him to be happy even if it isn’t with you.</div>
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A girlfriend of mine actually told me how to get over a broken heart quickly. What she advised was that I write down all the things that made the relationship not a good one and focus on those. We have a tendency to focus on all the good when people are gone. You will remember the good in time but for the sake of sparing others from your moping I recommend the list, it works! Don’t call him, text him, stalk him, or throw a tantrum. It may hurt but as the old adage goes: time heals all wounds.</div>
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Let a man be a man. If you make more money than he does, or you own a home and he doesn’t…so what! Those things are material. Don’t remind him of it every time you have an argument. If he is a productive citizen, loves his job, and can take care of basic needs that’s all that should matter. In many areas, especially in the city, it will take both people working to run a household. If you live together, support him however you can. When he is around you he should feel like a king and any worries he has should be left outside. A man that you disrespect and belittle won’t be yours for long. There are plenty of women out there who will make him feel like a man and your relationship will be short-lived.</div>
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Don’t cheat; it does nothing for your character. If you’re afraid of commitment just admit it but don’t waste other people’s time and emotions. Giving your all shows people who you really are. If you can’t do that, you aren’t ready for a commitment. If you are cheating because you don’t trust him, and you don’t trust any men…get a therapist. You aren’t ready for a commitment.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://blackrelationshiptalk.blogspot.com" href="http://blackrelationshiptalk.blogspot.com/">http://blackrelationshiptalk.blogspot.com</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-77279255565067358362014-06-01T12:30:00.000-04:002014-06-01T12:30:00.053-04:00Suppose The Tea Party Was Black<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=6979" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=6979" rel="attachment wp-att-6979"><img alt="1a" class="alignright wp-image-6979" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/1a.jpg" height="238" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/1a.jpg" style="float: right;" width="187" /></a>We have witnessed many group emerge with the ilk of Republican ideas in which most would view them as the 21<sup>st</sup> century version of the old southern Citizens Councils. Actually, this group is simply James E. Crow, Esq. the grown up version of his predecessor. This is a more wretched form of racism then that what we’ve seen before except in disguise. Lest not forget that there remains many vigilant fringe groups out there like the Klan that may go away for a while, but always resurface.</div>
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The "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a protest by colonists who objected to British tax on tea in 1773 and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor. Some commentators have referred to the <em>Tea</em> in "Tea Party" as the acronym “Taxed Enough Already”. They have come to infect politics to a degree that is surely unpatriotic bordering on political terrorism!</div>
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The Tea Party movement is composed of a loose affiliation of national and local groups that determine their own platforms and agendas without central leadership. The so-called movement has been cited as an example of grassroots political activity, although it has also been described as an example of astroturfing. It is not a national political party but most Tea Partiers consider themselves to be Republicans and the movement's supporters have tended to endorse Republican candidates. Ergo, Klan like in nature!</div>
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The purpose of this post is not to educate or empower you on their platform of the extreme right-wing agenda. Rather to ask a poignant question: What if the Tea Party was an organization or group formed by Black people? Or Latino; Or any ethnic group other than those we see participating?</div>
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I lived through the 60’s and saw groups protesting for basic human rights destroyed and the leaders killed. There was a plan for their destruction used to infiltrate and destroy such groups as the Black Panthers and other black organization viewed as radical. Do you remember what happened to the group MOVE? They were destroyed when the police on orders of the government were bombed killing men, women, and children. In fact, they blew up and entire city block to do so.</div>
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Just imagine the two New Black Panthers showing up anywhere armed as you see the Tea Party folks do? Or, if any group of black people showed up to disagree on any policy or issue en-mass. What do you think the outcome would be. I’ll tell you – they would be met with overwhelming force and for sure COINTELPRO will be resurrected?</div>
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Here is something to think about. Wherever types speak of freedom and liberty it is always for them and no one else. So when these radicals, Tea Party types say, they want to take back their country – most of us can hear what they are not saying. The difference is we cannot say we want our country back because the American Negro never had one. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-37453743805916315052014-05-28T14:30:00.000-04:002014-05-28T14:30:10.519-04:00The Nina Simone Biopic<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-nina-simone-biopic/1a-4/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-nina-simone-biopic/1a-4/" rel="attachment wp-att-6900"><img alt="1a" class="alignright wp-image-6900" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/1a3.jpg" height="221" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/1a3.jpg" style="float: right;" width="195" /></a>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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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!</div>
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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 <em>Zoe as Nina</em> 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.</div>
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When I look at Nina Simone, I see a messenger with a wide nose and full lips. When I look at <em>Zoe as Nina</em>, 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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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…</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-nina-simone-biopic/2-104/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-nina-simone-biopic/2-104/" rel="attachment wp-att-6902"><img alt="2" class=" wp-image-6902" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/221.jpg?w=300" height="272" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/221.jpg?w=300" width="365" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-5886900466339477532014-05-26T11:20:00.000-04:002014-05-26T09:55:27.478-04:00REMEMBER THE FALLEN<div style="text-align: center;">
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...</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-36817665268492981672014-05-25T21:46:00.001-04:002014-05-25T21:50:43.997-04:00White On White Crime<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/white-on-white-crime/2-100/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/white-on-white-crime/2-100/" rel="attachment wp-att-6848"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6848" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/216.jpg" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/216.jpg" height="154" style="float: right;" width="175" /></a>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.<br />
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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.</div>
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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!</div>
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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.</div>
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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?</div>
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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.</div>
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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!</div>
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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…</div>
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What say you?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-13775748967339703612014-05-23T17:00:00.000-04:002014-05-23T17:00:00.825-04:00Just a Season<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<span data-mce-style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/the-prelude-to-just-a-season/a-must-read-7/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/the-prelude-to-just-a-season/a-must-read-7/" rel="attachment wp-att-3640"><img alt="A MUST READ!!!" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3640" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/a-must-read.jpg?w=203" height="300" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/a-must-read.jpg?w=203" style="float: right;" width="203" /></a></span><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">It is a must read novel that will cause you to see the world through new eyes.</span> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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...</span><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">" <strong>[more reviews below]</strong></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;"><strong>PRELUDE </strong></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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.</span><span data-mce-style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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. </span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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!!!</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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?</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;"><b>Chapter One</b></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">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...</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><b><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/just-a-season-a-must-read-novel/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/just-a-season-a-must-read-novel/">Praise for “Just a Season”</a></b></span></span></div>
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And the journey continues with “<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/legacy-a-new-season/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/legacy-a-new-season/"><span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><b>Legacy – A New Season</b></span></a></span>”…</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/"><strong>http://johntwills.com</strong></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-86593686399444147112014-05-16T20:36:00.000-04:002014-05-16T20:36:38.547-04:00The Instrument Of Death<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/the-instrument-of-death/2-74/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/the-instrument-of-death/2-74/" rel="attachment wp-att-6713"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6713" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/26.jpg" height="254" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/26.jpg" style="float: right;" width="265" /></a>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”.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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:</div>
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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.<br />
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.<br />
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.</blockquote>
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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 (<a data-mce-href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/NAACP" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/NAACP">NAACP</a>), the <a data-mce-href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Southern+Christian+Leadership+Conference" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Southern+Christian+Leadership+Conference">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a> (SCLC), and the more radical groups, such as the <a data-mce-href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Black+Panther+Party" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Black+Panther+Party">Black Panther Party</a>, the <a data-mce-href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/American+Indian+Movement" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/American+Indian+Movement">American Indian Movement</a>, and the Socialist Workers party. Anther target was the nation's oldest white hate group, the <a data-mce-href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ku+Klux+Klan" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ku+Klux+Klan">Ku Klux Klan</a>. 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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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This was the instrument used to kill the movement! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-27180281880661130272014-05-12T08:42:00.002-04:002014-05-12T08:42:49.354-04:00Life<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/life-2/2-93/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/life-2/2-93/" rel="attachment wp-att-6660"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6660" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/24.jpg" height="243" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/24.jpg" style="float: right;" width="211" /></a>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.</div>
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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!</div>
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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”.</div>
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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.</div>
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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?</div>
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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…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-82140010274301434272014-05-09T09:11:00.002-04:002014-05-09T09:11:49.718-04:00Make It Plain<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=6631" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=6631" rel="attachment wp-att-6631"><img alt="X" class="alignright wp-image-6631" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/x.jpg" height="199" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/x.jpg" style="float: right;" width="157" /></a>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”.</div>
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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.</div>
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Aside from the initial and root cause, which we know was slavery. I have identified 12 key issues that did impeded black progress:</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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".</div>
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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!!!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-54787716034528271152014-05-05T09:12:00.000-04:002014-05-05T09:12:18.350-04:00The House Of Soul<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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…</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/">#johnwills</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-26496268099316774632014-05-02T15:24:00.000-04:002014-05-02T15:24:58.611-04:00You Must VOTE!!!<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/if-we-ever-needed-to-vote/2-87/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/if-we-ever-needed-to-vote/2-87/" rel="attachment wp-att-6586"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6586" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/2.jpg" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/2.jpg" height="190" style="float: right;" width="215" /></a>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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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?<br />
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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…<br />
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<b data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/1981-2/">http://johntwills.com</a></b><br />
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<span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong> THIS VIDEO SAYS IT ALL</strong></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-55681891939971184462014-04-29T09:27:00.000-04:002014-04-29T09:27:41.551-04:00RACISM: Perception Or Reality<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/warning-this-is-very-disturbing/face/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/warning-this-is-very-disturbing/face/" rel="attachment wp-att-3929"><img alt="face" class="alignright wp-image-3929" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/face.jpg" height="200" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/face.jpg" style="float: right;" width="170" /></a>Have you asked yourself “What is Racism?” Webster says it is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities, and racial differences that produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. This does not adequately explain or represent the reality of what we’re witnessing in today’s political and social environments.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">I believe racism is a misunderstood psychology and yes there is a psychology to racism, which is where the confusion exists. Therefore, it appears that racial prejudice or discrimination, which is a prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment is somehow believed to be directed toward the people of the dominate race.</span></div>
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The legacy of dependency, apathy, and entrenchment of the American social order from the beginning provides clear evidence of its diabolical intent to bankrupt the souls of African Americans based on an ideology of supremacy. We are the descendants of the stolen souls who bear the burden of a system that perpetrated, in the name of God, the greatest crime known to man. Hence, from the beginning, people of African descent were intended to be a nation of people living within a nation without a nationality.</div>
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<strong>~ “Law and Order” theme music plays ~</strong></div>
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I read an article sometime ago, “When Racists Speak Their Unspoken Truths” by Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D., who made a statement that speaks loudly to this issue.</div>
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“It’s what racists claimed for 235 years that American society is about rights (mainly theirs, everybody else’s can be stepped on) and not about race. It’s why racists wore hoods and sheets in public, and why their powerful societies that controlled political and economic affairs were always secret. The less you know about what they think, the less you can respond to how they think, even though the social, political and economic outcomes will tell you what they think.” It seems that those who claim racism are active participants in the continuance of this ideology and (in their minds) think they are now subjected to it.</blockquote>
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I think we should understand the sub-text of what we are seeing today, at least from a power and political perspective. It is a strategic effort to contain and marginalize a black President, which is consistent with the Republican Party’s objective of marginalizing minorities and women. Now just like back in the days of segregation, its staunchest supporters were Southerners, Mid-Westerners and poor whites, and people now of that mindset remain.</div>
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This intolerance or behavior was never unlearned and have been passed down from generation to generation. Over my relatively short lifetime, I have been referred to as Colored, Negro, Afro-American, Black, African American, and worst. All were polite terms assigned to make known that people who of color were not American citizens. Remember the statement etched in the country’s blueprint that says clearly people of color are “3/5 a man” and did not mention women at all.</div>
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The concept of African Americans being slaves, physically or mentally, is as old as the nation itself, designed to deprive a people of its culture and knowledge through sustained policies of control. This is to include the age old practice that has been very effective, “divide and conquer” because this form of thinking has one purpose. Therefore, when you look at what we have experienced and what they imply relating to this new phenomenon is as far apart as the vastness of the universe. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-43335847437788162862014-04-24T14:22:00.000-04:002014-04-24T14:22:41.373-04:00The King Alfred Plan <div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/the-king-alfred-plan/2-81/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/the-king-alfred-plan/2-81/" rel="attachment wp-att-6509"><img alt="2" class="alignright wp-image-6509" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/28.jpg" height="242" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/28.jpg" style="float: right;" width="181" /></a>Have you heard about the King Alfred Plan? I first heard about it back in the sixties. It's officially known as REX-84. I will briefly expound upon it, but I want you to do some research for your own empowerment. It was a fictional CIA led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent. Specifically it defined how to deal with the threat of a black uprising in America by cordoning off black people into concentration camps in the event of a major racial incident.</div>
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The plan was drafted, allegedly, in the 50s to round up black people at the start of race riots, segregate them and move them to a concentration camp or a separate location and kill them off, literally. This plan first appeared publicly in John A. Williams’ his 1967 novel, <em><a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Man_Who_Cried_I_Am&action=edit&redlink=1" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Man_Who_Cried_I_Am&action=edit&redlink=1">The Man Who Cried I Am</a></em>, which was a fictionalized account of the life and death of <a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)">Richard Wright</a>. In the afterword to later editions, Williams compares the King Alfred Plan to intelligence programs devised by J. Edgar Hoover (COINTELPRO) in the 1960s to monitor the movements of black militants.</div>
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<sup> </sup>It also bears similarities to rumors in the early 1950s surrounding the McCarran Act, an anti-Communist law, in which political subversives were to be rounded up and placed in concentrations camps during a national emergency as was done to the Japanese during World War II. When his novel was first published, Williams photocopied portions of the book detailing the King Alfred Plan and left copies in subway car seats around Manhattan.</div>
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As a result, word of the King Alfred Plan spread throughout the black community, and the truth of its existence was often assumed to be unchallenged. Performer and musician <a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron">Gil Scott-Heron</a> created the song "King Alfred Plan," included on his "LP" in 1972 that takes the Plan at face value.</div>
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I did a little digging and found information online that have now been declassified. Of course, there is much more to this plan than is being released to the public. If you think that this kind of thing cannot happen in the United States think again! It has already happened here in America. The only difference NOW is that we will not be so lucky because the problem with our people we have gotten to comfortable and satisfied with our plight. We trust in oppression and hardship rather than the Most High. Are we really surprised?</div>
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Let me make it simply martial law, no-knock laws, or the Patriot Act! I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have read stories that in regions all over the country are preparing a place for you and it’s not that place talked about on Sundays where this place has streets paved with gold. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
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<strong>Knowledge is power! Do your own research and learn</strong>!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-29747118861586854492014-04-23T11:36:00.000-04:002014-04-23T11:36:27.378-04:00A Thought For Today<div data-mce-style="margin: 0 0 6pt;" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;"><a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-thought-provoking-perspective-2/1-23/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-thought-provoking-perspective-2/1-23/" rel="attachment wp-att-6503"><img alt="1" class="alignright wp-image-6503" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/1.jpg" height="196" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/1.jpg" style="float: right;" width="202" /></a>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 and life as we know is a journey. It could also be called history. However, what is called history is really His-Story. Once this thing called time moves beyond the present, it is left up to others to define and that is usually by the victory.</span></div>
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The prolific French writer historian and philosopher Voltaire said, “History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead”. Ask yourself, if someone were to tell the story of your life – is that the way you want your history remembered by others.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">Dr. John Henrik Clarke says “History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. History tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are. Most important, history tells a people where they still must go, what they still must be. The relationship of history to the people is the same as the relationship of a mother to her child.”</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">I recall from time to time in a past life; I’ve been a teacher, professor, instructor, and father. What I learned from these experiences is that a good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience's attention, then he can teach his lesson. I think of myself as a simple man, who believes education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. We can save the world but first we must change ourselves.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">With that said, sometimes readers of Thought Provoking Perspectives send me a messages asking; “what are you trying to accomplish through your words?” My first thought was she did not realize that I want my words to be a potent source of empowering knowledge to broaden the information base with those who share my passion for the written word. I view myself as a history fanatic because if you don’t know where you’ve come from – you will never get to where you’re going. If you don’t know your past, you are just part of the lost tribe!</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">The great Dr. Clarke made this powerful statement that each of us must understand. He said, “I think every person that calls themselves a leader, a preacher, a policy maker of any kind should ask and answer the question in his own lifetime, how will my people stay on this earth? How will they be educated? How will they be schooled? How will they be housed? And how will they be defended? The answer to these questions will create the concept of enduring nationhood because it creates the concept of enduring responsibility. I am saying whatever the solution is, either we are in charge of our own destiny, or we are not in charge. On that point we got to be clear, you either free or you a slave.”</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">As an African American man who lived in the Jim Crow Era. I learned very early that powerful people cannot afford to educate the people they oppress, because once you are truly educated; they will not ask for power. They will take it. Educate and empower your children, build your family, and live life to the fullest. Thank you for your reading my words and support. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-34642183856762348132014-04-22T16:46:00.000-04:002014-04-22T16:46:19.451-04:00Standoff In The Desert<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/standoff-in-the-desert/2-80/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/standoff-in-the-desert/2-80/" rel="attachment wp-att-6491"><img alt="2" class="alignright size-full wp-image-6491" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/27.jpg" height="168" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/27.jpg" style="float: right;" width="300" /></a>I am always amazed when people speak of freedom and their reaction to it. Recently in Nevada, a group of white right-wing American’s faced down the Federal government – armed! Now let me be clear, these so called patriots not only showed up in support of a man named Bundy who is a rancher that does not believe the government has any authority over him nor his enterprise.</div>
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So group(s) came from all over the country in support of his cause – I did say armed and trained their weapons on government agents in tactical positions. In the days leading up to the government's withdrawal, the movement had reportedly grown to 600 men, women and children, although conflicting counts emerged from the two sides. Demonstrators rallied together, bonding by campfires at night, while local protest leaders warned people not to wear camouflage and to keep their weapons inside their vehicles.</div>
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Bundy’s long standing problem with the government is that he owes reportedly a million dollars to the government for using federal land and refusing to pay the grazing fee as require. Wait, he has owed these fee’s that accumulated for about twenty years, all while continuing to make money for himself from the results of the beef he sold. Both Bundy and his co-conspirators call this freedom, and they came to Bundy’s aid in support of “liberty”. This is the abbreviated version of the back story.</div>
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I have had the government come after me for unpaid parking tickets. The law, meaning the police, often times come with guns drawn when they pull black people over for a traffic ticket. Every day in this country the government comes down heavy handed on the least of thee and when they come; the police always come with guns. In addition, most people are not afforded the luxury of not paying a government debt for twenty-years.</div>
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What if the Bundy’s were black and the ranch was owned by a black rancher? I’ll answer that; they would have been called terrorist and shot down like dogs and everything they own would have been confiscated. In fact, there are hundreds of cases where the cops will fire on black people based on the perception of their being armed.</div>
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I saw a congresswoman being interviewed, and she asked, when has the government ever come armed to arrest an American citizen? How about everyday and all the time! Let me remind this excuse for a leader that there was a black group in Philadelphia - MOVE - who saw things differently that the government and had guns. Guess what? The government stormed the group held-up in a row house and in the attack they dropped a bombed the building that killed all, but one or two of its occupants to include five children.</div>
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This is just one example, and there are many, yet I have not mentioned the assaults of the civil rights movement. This speaks to privilege and the actions of the militia are virtually nothing more than terrorism. If the script were reversed and the group(s) where of people of color, the history of race in America demands that hostile actions would certainly be present during the actions of law enforcement.</div>
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You may believe the opposite or lie to yourself – if you will - but the fact remains, this would never have ended this way if the people pointing guns at the cops would be alive today. Let’s put it this way, Bundy is simply a modern version of George Wallace standing in the doorway of the schoolhouse. Except these folks are armed and dangerous. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-22031206974932297132014-04-20T08:03:00.000-04:002014-04-20T08:03:59.719-04:00A Message For Easter <div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/jesus_christ_cross_black_background2.jpg" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/jesus_christ_cross_black_background2.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-1437" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/jesus_christ_cross_black_background2.jpg?w=254" height="180" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/jesus_christ_cross_black_background2.jpg?w=254" style="float: right;" title="jesus_christ_cross_black_background2" width="152" /></a></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">Easter is the most important day Christian observe the world over because it is a celebration of deliverance, with Easter Week providing powerful imagery of faith. I have always been moved by this presentation of Jesus from a Catholic Eucharistic prayer: “To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy.”</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">Holy Thursday and the Last Supper have an ominous feel because they are in preparation of Good Friday and the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet two days later, the tale ends in triumph and resurrection. Whatever questions Christians may have about the meaning of that empty tomb, most of us have experienced a sense of joy when the words “He is risen!” The basis of Christianity is inextricably linked to and rooted in the idea of liberation.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">I have long seen the Exodus and Easter as twin narratives involving a release from oppression and the victory of freedom. These promises have left a permanent mark on the culture outside the traditions from which they sprang. Yet even in the Easter season, it’s hard not to notice that most people of faith, like it has been with Christmas, have lost much of its message. What I mean is that it has been hijacked by man in the commercial sense and Christianity’s, many, do not project the true meaning of this day or present their faith in the best light.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">For example, with the assassination of Trayvon Martin, Jordon Davis, and other criminal acts that mankind seems to have lost the understanding of the symbolic subordination of a rich tradition of social justice. What is more concerning is that popular Christianity often seems to denigrate rather than celebrate intellectual life or critical inquiry into injustices within our society. What I would like to suggest, as with the civil rights movement, is that the church or at least Christians must not be disengaged from politics. In fact, the early Christian movement was born in politics. If you can recall, Jesus died in opposition of injustice for the least of Thee.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333333;">I know there is great debate over how to understand the relationship between Jesus’ spirituality and his approach to politics, but his preaching clearly challenged the powers-that-be. He was, after all, crucified. Now, if we truly claim the life of Jesus Christ is true, then we should be among the most active, most serious and most-open minded advocates for justice. So if Easter is about liberation, this liberation must include intellectual freedom and the right to fair and equal justice. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspectives...</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4110835507609772899.post-58881915971883266502014-04-12T13:59:00.000-04:002014-04-12T14:02:21.332-04:00The Unsung Messenger Of Truth<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/the-unsung-messenger-of-truth/2-74/" href="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/the-unsung-messenger-of-truth/2-74/" rel="attachment wp-att-6440"><img alt="2" class="alignright size-full wp-image-6440" data-mce-src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/21.jpg" src="http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/21.jpg" height="225" style="float: right;" width="200" /></a>I am a huge fan of wordsmiths and in my view the greatest unheralded voice of our time was Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron a genius of a musician and author. However, Gil was known primarily for his work as a messenger thought his the art of spoken word. His hay-day was during the 1970s and 80s but his legacy is everlasting. His vocal styling’s as he put it, was a "bluesologist", which he is defined by others as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues."<br />
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His music, most notably on <em><a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_a_Man" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_a_Man">Pieces of a Man</a></em> and <em><a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_in_America" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_in_America">Winter in America</a></em> in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially one of his best-known compositions "<a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised">The Revolution Will Not Be Televised</a>". His poetic style has influenced every generation of hip hop.Gil’s music was a genre all to itself and worthy of recognition because he was a head of his time and courageous enough to speak truth to power on behalf of the powerless.</div>
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<strong>Winter in America</strong></address>
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From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims</address>
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And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains</address>
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Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds</address>
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Looking for the rain</address>
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Looking for the rain</address>
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Just like the cities staggered on the coastline</address>
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Living in a nation that just can't stand much more</address>
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Like the forest buried beneath the highway</address>
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Never had a chance to grow</address>
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Never had a chance to grow</address>
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</address>
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And now it's winter</address>
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Winter in America</address>
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Yes and all of the healers have been killed</address>
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Or sent away, yeah</address>
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But the people know, the people know</address>
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It's winter</address>
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Winter in America</address>
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And ain't nobody fighting</address>
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'Cause nobody knows what to save</address>
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Save your soul, Lord knows</address>
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From Winter in America</address>
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</address>
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The Constitution</address>
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A noble piece of paper</address>
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With free society</address>
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Struggled but it died in vain</address>
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And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner</address>
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Hoping for some rain</address>
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Looks like it's hoping</address>
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Hoping for some rain</address>
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</address>
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And I see the robins</address>
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Perched in barren treetops</address>
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Watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor</address>
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But just like the peace sign that vanished in our dreams</address>
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Never had a chance to grow</address>
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Never had a chance to grow</address>
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</address>
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And now it's winter</address>
<address>
It's winter in America</address>
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And all of the healers have been killed</address>
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Or betrayed</address>
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Yeah, but the people know, people know</address>
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It's winter, Lord knows</address>
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It's winter in America</address>
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And ain't nobody fighting</address>
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Cause nobody knows what to save</address>
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Save your souls</address>
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From Winter in America</address>
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</address>
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And now it's winter</address>
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Winter in America</address>
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And all of the healers done been killed or sent away</address>
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Yeah, and the people know, people know</address>
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It's winter</address>
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Winter in America</address>
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And ain't nobody fighting</address>
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Cause nobody knows what to save</address>
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And ain't nobody fighting</address>
<address>
Cause nobody knows, nobody knows</address>
<address>
And ain't nobody fighting</address>
<address>
Cause nobody knows what to save</address>
</blockquote>
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Rest In Peace my brother. Thank you for the messages. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807157377539002465noreply@blogger.com0