Keeping Your Own Counsel

The past year has been a year of losses and lessons -- musings and mistakes.

As social media becomes an integral part of our lives, it’s important to pay attention to how it affects our personhood and us. Despite the advantages of technology, there are still individuals behind the smart phones or computer screens whom very much have a soul. 

We mustn’t forget this. 

I used to post a lot of information about my life, including seeking advice from “friends” on Facebook. In hindsight this was very stupid. When I got together with these people in real life, I would have this awkward feeling and would mentally ask myself: “Why is this person asking me such personal questions? Do they even know me?”

Later still, another Facebook post led to some gossip that set off a chain of events that turned friends into enemies, and enemies into the-worst-people-in-the-world.

Because of this, I now keep my own counsel.

The Free Dictionary by Farlex defines this as to keep one's thoughts and plans to oneself; to withhold from other people one's thoughts and plans.

Initially this was tough, as I like to tell stories about my life. But as I started withholding, I noticed that I started worrying less and started trusting myself more. I felt OK with making mistakes, which in turn, removed my creative blocks. Finally, I felt like myself again and not the me that I felt I needed to be, in order to put others at ease.

Of course I have a couple of confidantes. But when all is said and done, I will trust my instincts and keep my own counsel.

Today, make it a goal to start keeping your own counsel.

Until next Monday…

Denial Is A Helluva Drug....

I recently came across a website that had an article entitled, "Six Inconvenient Truths About the U.S. and Slavery." The author, Michael Medved, attempts to re-write history by listing six so-called facts that Americans refuse to accept about slavery in America. He posits:

1. SLAVERY WAS AN ANCIENT AND UNIVERSAL INSTITUTION, NOT A DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN INNOVATION.

2. SLAVERY EXISTED ONLY BRIEFLY, AND IN LIMITED LOCALES, IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC – INVOLVING ONLY A TINY PERCENTAGE OF THE ANCESTORS OF TODAY’S AMERICANS. 

3. THOUGH BRUTAL, SLAVERY WASN’T GENOCIDAL: LIVE SLAVES WERE VALUABLE BUT DEAD CAPTIVES BROUGHT NO PROFIT.

4. IT’S NOT TRUE THAT THE U.S. BECAME A WEALTHY NATION THROUGH THE ABUSE OF SLAVE LABOR: THE MOST PROSPEROUS STATES IN THE COUNTRY WERE THOSE THAT FIRST FREED THEIR SLAVES.

5. WHILE AMERICA DESERVES NO UNIQUE BLAME FOR THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERY, THE UNITED STATES MERITS SPECIAL CREDIT FOR ITS RAPID ABOLITION.

6. THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT TODAY’S AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF THEIR ANCESTORS HAD REMAINED BEHIND IN AFRICA.

Hahahahahaha!!!!

After reading this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the level of ignorance that exists among a certain segment of society in this country.
 
The first thing that came to mind was that we need to do a better job at teaching the history of slavery in this country. After all, Mr. Medved insists that slavery "only existed briefly...involving a tiny percentage of the ancestors of today's Americans."
 
Where did Mr. Medved get this information? You'd figure that if one is to make this kind of claim, they would have academic resources to support it. But no! Mr. Medved presents none of that and received over 300 "likes" regarding the article, which indicates that there are others who believe these falsehoods.

Nonetheless, this says ALOT about the psyche of some Americans, in that they would rather be oblivious to the terrible truths, instead of facing them and doing the work to ameliorate a situation. To some people, SLAVERY was a long time ago, and blacks should just get over. To others, slavery is not as bad as they portray it in the media.

This is dangerous.

Conversely, more and more blacks, including myself, have walked away from the table when it comes to discussing slavery and racial history in the United States with a certain segment of society. It is pointless to speak and engage in a dialogue with people who will not listen to you, due to their inability to see a perspective beyond their own.

To engage Mr. Medved in a conversation, where you would present him with research and facts would be an exercise in futility. This is what a conversation on racison has become. 

Ultimately, you now have perpetrators of racism calling historical victims of racism, RACISTS! I even saw a commentator on MSNBC say that "real racism is self-evident."

I have learned to walk away from these type of conversations regarding race and inequality, as denial is a helluva drug!

Until next Monday...

Apathy?

I remember a phone call that I got from my aunt nearly 4 year ago in October of 2008. She told me that me grandmother was in the hospital and that her heart was giving out. The doctors gave her about 3 to 5 years to live.

Nonetheless, my grandmother fought hard and believed that she would live to be 100 years old. Unfortunately, she would die on November 26, 2011 at the age of 83.

When my grandmother was in the hospital that October of 2008, she told those doctors that they were going to have to release her so that she could vote for Barack Obama.

And she did it...She got out of the hospital and voted and lived long enough to see a black man elected to the presidency of the United States of America.

I will never forget that. It actually saddens me when I read Facebook posts by young people and others who are apathetic to politics and the right to vote. Do they understand that human beings were beaten and killed simply for wanting to exercise their right to cast a ballot?

What does that say about human nature? Are we really that selfish and narcissistic?

I want to be optimistic...but something tells me that this is wishful thinking.

Until next Monday...

On This Day in 1963...

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

                                                                     ~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

                                                                      August 28, 1963

What President Obama Needs To Do...

I like President Barack Obama...We are both black men; He's married to a woman of Gullah descent, (I'm of Gullah descent), and we both share ties to Columbia University.

With that being said, I think the president took too long to realize that some of these Cracker Jacks were unwilling to work with him to get things done. I'm aware of his mixed heritage, and perhaps he wanted to give some of them the benefit of the doubt.  

I, for one, would have changed course in my dealings with an adversarial group after TWO failings.

You screw me twice and it's on! At that point I will use any ethical and legal means to go after you hard, to bring you down.

The president needs to get mean with these folks. So what! if they perceive you as an angry black man...they already probably do! Save your dignity and have some integrity and give them the fight that they deserve.

COMPROMISE??? HELL NO!!

The president has a background in community work and it's understandable that he wants to play along and get along. Politics doesn't work like that. It is brutal...and in this case, there is indeed a racial component.

I've made my contribution to the campaign, and I hope the president is re-elected. Should there be a second term for Obama, I will look for evidence that he has learned from his mistakes and kick it up a notch in terms of fight, assertiveness and meanness.

Things Are Different Now?

"Things are different now."

Those four words are amazing for their almost hypnotic affect on the human psyche. Usually when I hear that phrase from someone, I always respond with the question, "Are things really different, or have things simply been repackaged?"

Change is difficult for people, as we tend to get comfortable with the status quo. Change requires work and feelings of discomfort. Seriously, who would want to change the way things are...especially if things are relatively satisfying.

I like the people who push the envelop to REALLY challenge the status quo. They are the courageous ones...the creative ones.

I wanna be that type of person who never gets comfortable and says, "Things are different now," when things clearly are not.

The point?

Things are NOT different now! You look around you and you can see the same problems and issues from 10 to 20 years ago. For example, look at the attempts of members of a certain political party to disenfranchise many voters with their voter suppression laws. Yes, it is the equivalent of a poll tax to force many people to have a particular state I.D...look back through history and you will discover this same type of scurrilous activity.

Look up the Lily-White Movement...We don't hear much about this, because "Things are different now." But you might discover something that has been happening since Reconstruction and still continues to this day.

Things ARE NOT different now....Things are simply different in the way they are presented.

Until next Monday...

Separation of Church and State

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."~Thomas Jefferson

I like this quote even though I don't agree with Jefferson and his slave-holding legacy. Nonetheless, it sets up a very important doctrine of the US Constitution, which is the separation of church and state.

Sadly I have seen pastors from the Christian denomination take political positions on taxes, as well as to whom we should vote in November. It is one thing if a social issue is at play, but these people just want the current President out of office because he doesn't belong to their political party.

After 3 years in office, these people blame this president for the collapse of the US ECONOMY, despite the fact that it was collapsing years before he entered office.

After 3 years in office, these people fail to acknowledge what this president has done to capture and/or kill threats to U.S. interests,

After 3 years in office, these people FAULT the current president for bringing affordable healthcare to many American people who would have otherwise been without insurance.

The reason these people fault the current president? JESUS!

They refuse to believe the president is a Christian. They refuse to efficiently look back at what was done on the past. The simply refuse to believe...and they do it under the guise of being good Christians.

It is a pathetic attempt to control the political dialogue through religious discussion, and it needs to stop.

What can we do?

Until next Monday, I look forward to your ideas...