The State of "United" America...

While I disagree with Mr. King's conclusion that the common denominator between the modern day dixiecrats and the dixiecrats of old is "government" [the destruction of] and not race", I am otherwise impressed and mostly agree with what he has penned here.

I am wondering when the rest of us are going to take our heads out of the sand, or unspeakable body parts, and begin to vociferously condemn what we know is really happening here? There is an angry WHITE fringe, sure to become a mob, and they will stop at nothing to get that BLACK guy out of THEIR WHITE house and do whatever is necessary to take THEIR country back, even if that means destroying OUR nation! I am guessing that the shut down is just child's play in their grand scheme of mass destruction... What is their ultimate goal, to honor the will of their warped and defeated  ancestors and secede the south or is it more bodacious this time and they now wish to "take back" the entire country? These folks are crazy and scary...

No thinking and intuitive person can deny that the teabaggers are fueled by a common denominator of hate and some longing for a return to the past. What does that mean? Should I start collecting an assortment of bandannas and learn to wear them on my head, start learning to deny my education and therefore my worldliness, and where should I sign up to take lessons to learn how to "shuck and jive" and be humble to White folks? And does that include my White Friends? I'm Just Wonderin'...

I am being facetious but facetiously serious...  Where does this all end and WHEN does the SANE MAJORITY in America; my good White Friends and yours, politically correct and polite politicians of every hue and certainly decent republicans who should cringe at even the suggestion of alignment with this crazed fringe, get angry too and start calling this nonsense out for what it is?

There is a cancer amongst us and we seem to think it will magically run its course or simply go away if we just ignore it. Newsflash! That is not how it works. These fools will stop at nothing! Shutting down the government is only the first of celebrations for this little engine that thinks it can. I am sure that this fait accompli, shutting down the US government, is only the first sip of tea to fuel their engine and thrust them into overdrive "we know we can" mode as the rest of us sit silently by to afraid, or perhaps to embarrassed, to acknowledge that our ills of the past are far from cured. uncle jim [crow] is alive and thriving as we, the SANE MAJORITY, sit idly by allowing an identified cancer in our society to metastasize and infect other parts of our population. Who does that?

And what of the foolish non-White cheerleaders who lead the charge for this group, the ted cruz', the marco rubios, the michelle malkins and of course the uncle clarence thomases and aunt condi's? Where do they think they fit in the master plan of these angry destructionists? I think Derek Bell in his book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well, has already answered this question for us, read the book if you are unfamiliar with his work. And getting back to  the non-White teabaggers, WHO, just WHO, said education makes us smarter?

So really folks, what are we waiting for? Another Martin Luther King or Harriet Beecher Stowe to shame our nation into confronting our ills? I'm Just Wonderin'...  Certainly our collective silence serves only to make us at least complicit in, if not supportive of, our own demise as a nation, as a people...  What did Gandhi and now President Obama say? We are the change we are waiting for...

Read Colbert King's article, The rise of the New Confederacy, and pass it on within your circles...

Rants on the Shut Down

Sharing Facebook Posts on the Shut Down...

October 1, 2013 (first day of the shut down)

Sad State of America... Racism is so deep and discussing it is so taboo that not even decent people will step up and stop the train seeking to wreck America ONLY because there is a Black guy in THEIR WHITE house! That is the truth and EVERYbody knows it!!! YET we boast that America is a "leader", an example of civility and democracy to all other nations... Yeah, OK...

The reality is that America has FAILED MISERABLY in advancing/addressing race relations and is a role model to NO ONE!!!

We are in a Sad and Dangerous State in America!!! These assholes will stop at NOTHING! We should all be concerned. Over the weekend in Richmond they raised their defeated flag. One has to wonder, in their warped minds, do they desire a civil war so that they can "take their country back"? Do they think that by their defiance, they are somehow vindicating their imagined "honor" of their defeated ancestors? What in the hell is their motive and where will they stop?

Might sound extreme but at what point do we acknowledge that we are dealing with some extreme crazies? If they were Arab or big Black guys toting guns and wearing berets we would have ASSumed such by now... I sincerely hope that someone in DOJ, the FBI, the CIA or whoever else is charged with protecting America is doing their job and is VERY closely monitoring these degenerates! Take Your Head OUT of the sand America! These assholes mean business and we will ALL pay for their hatefulness and their longings for the past...

Decent republicans, good White people and all others who know this to be true and sit idly or helplessly by discussing this matter only in their closed circles have dirty hands and bear some responsibility for letting this matter get as out of control as it has... The elephant in the room is stark raving mad and completely out of control! Ultimately he will trample us all as we pretend to not notice that he is there...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy", Martin Luther King, 1963.

Forgive my morning rant but my "tea" this morning is rancid and it is making me sick!!!



September 30, 2013 (shut down pending)

I find it fascinating that the "Hee Haws" have shed their bib overalls, replaced them with suits, come to Washington and actually take themselves seriously! They feel empowered because they have taken over the republican party and now the morons actually believe they can run the government!!! If not so scary, it might be funny... The "Bow ties", who fed this uncontrollable beast, are now scared shitless of it and don't know what to do! And while I don't want to see a shutdown, I'm gonna' be pissed as hell if the Dems give in to their lunacy as well!

Listening to these pundits predict what might happen based on history is funny. There is no benchmark, no frame of reference. These folks are loose cannons and totally unpredictable!!! There is no negotiating or compromising with hate filled illiterates! They have no appreciation for decorum nor is there a focal point upon which to rely or predict what they might do next. They have no sense of right from wrong, cannot distinguish logical from stupid as hell nor any of the other professionalisms that REAL politicians bring to the table... All bets are off!

They stir tea for a mere 22% of the crazies in the US, so why are we giving them so much authority? Come on "Bow ties", loosen your knot and use your tie to hang those bastards! You can't all be crazy so stand up for the credibility of the sane segment of your party. STOP being feeding the angry beast with your complicity!!! Ooh, I know, pretend they are Blacks, women or minorities and do what you do best! Disenfranchise them! Do whatever but get your crazies' under control!!!

The price for having a system that is so broken that a domestic coupe of this sort can take place is that there is hell to pay!!! May this be a wake up call that drives sane folks to the polls in droves in 2014 focused on throwing the pot out with the tea! Good Riddance!!! Hang in there folks, this too shall pass...

March On Washington 2013; Dream Fulfilled?

As I prepare for my journey to Washington, DC to participate in the 50 year commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington, I travel with mixed emotions and a heavy heart. How I wish I was preparing to travel for a Victory March celebrating the realization of 50 years of undeniable accomplishments of improved race relations in the US, of  undeniable and proportionate Black American achievement in the US, of undeniable peace,harmony, fair play and equal opportunity in the US...  

50 Years later and still we march. See ya' in DC....   

Just Wasn't Gonna' Happen...

The prosecutors in the zimmerman trial threw the case from the moment they empanelled the jury to the end when they were scrambling for suitable charges. There is NO way they expected that a jury composed of 5 White women, from the south no less, who stereotypically are most fearful of young Black men, were ever going to find empathy for Trayvon nor share some maternal bond with his grieving Mother. Fair trial? Fair verdict? Just wasn't gonna' happen...

Moreover, the prosecutor who steered clear of, but who should have argued, racial profiling was not about to do so when daily he defends the ideology of racial profiling. To do so would have put him in a position of vulnerability, that surely would have come back to bite him. His own words would have set precedent and would have been used against him in his defense of racist cops and others in future cases. He was not about to zealously defend the honor of Trayvon at the expense of losing his legal footing in other cases. Just wasn't gonna' happen...

And let us not forget that judge's children DON'T go to prison! zimmerman, the jerk that he is, has a father who IS the good ole' boy network, old, white and male. It was undoubtedly his father's meddling that manipulated this "justice" from beginning to end. His son was not about to go to prison. Just wasn't gonna' happen...

"Post Racial" is a joke! Racism is alive, well and thriving in America and this case is a reflection of such in the mirror in which we don't want to see ourselves. Those women, nor the prosecution, saw Trayvon as a young innocent Black boy. They saw a young Black "gonna' be" thug who if not causing trouble on that night would have caused trouble in the future. They saw not grieving parents but instead parents who, by virtue of their skin color, should have expected such fate for their son. As Black parents, as a Black community, they/we should be immune to the reality of their/our Black sons being shackled and cuffed, landing in prison and certainly lying dead following some senseless crime. What other future did the Martins expect for Trayvon? A bright future with college degree, 2 children, a big house with the white picket fence in our "post racial" society? A pipedream! Just wasn't gonna' happen...

While I am disappointed in the verdict and would like to have seen a fair, just and colorblind outcome, I am not surprised by the verdict. I never thought zimmerman would be convicted, nor did he. Not in this society, not in this racially biased judicial system that dehumanizes young Black men daily as it takes delight in stripping them of their manhood, parading them in courts clad in ridiculously bright orange jumpsuits, pimping them for free labor in prisons filled to the rim with them, returning them to bondage so to keep other folks employed and to make corporations very rich! zimmerman, a racist and a judge's kid, in the very hell hole the system his father served and likely helped to create incarcerated with the men that very system takes delight in condemning? A fair trial for a young Black boy in America, no matter his innocence? Sorry Folks, but it just wasn't gonna' happen... 

The Long Arm of Discrimination...

As many of you know, I strongly advocate the message in Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The Washington Post article posted below, Two Companies Accused of Discrimination in Hiring, is a prime example of exactly what she writes about. Mass incarceration of Black Americans is equivalent to re-implementation of Jim Crow. It is undeniable that Blacks, who are often railroaded in the criminal justice system and who are therefore disproportionately burdened with criminal conviction records, are most excluded from the workforce and most adversely affected by enforcement of employer's blanket "no hire ex-offenders" policies. 

WHEN does an American stop paying for a crime? WHEN are such persons allowed full re-entry into society? I often wonder if since such persons are summarily excluded from society, denied basic rights and privileges of citizenship in every way that is meaningful, then why should such persons be made to pay taxes? For what benefit do they pay? Certainly not their own. Most cannot vote, can't find work, are denied housing, college grants, certain professional licenses, food stamps and so much more after being forced into a free labor system, because mass incarceration is also tantamount to re-implementation of slavery. Inmates are forced to barter the prospect of freedom (better referred to as early release because once branded a criminal, freedom escapes you) for so few pennies for the hour, that essentially they work for free. Don't believe me? Read Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Doug Blackmon, the title sums up the message. Is it expected that when persons with convictions are fortunate enough to find or create work, that they should then work and pay to support the comforts of America for everyone but themselves? Seems rather unfair, seems unjust... 

In the Washington Post article, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges that two employers, BMW and Dollar General, are discriminating in their hiring practices, refusing to hire or blatantly firing those persons with criminal convictions. How dare both companies, who undeniably make a ton of money in the Black community which is unduly burdened with the stigma of criminal convictions, enforce such practices, particularly where long term and otherwise good employees were terminated for matters that seem minor in nature and that occurred in the distant past.    

This is where we need to be reminded of the power of a boycott. We have forgotten the effect of collectively refusing to buy a product or use a particular service. Our history has proved that launching a mass boycott of these type employers, would force them to revisit their discriminatory policies. In this instance, where would Dollar General be without Black and/or poor patrons, both of whom are disproportionately burdened with criminal convictions, both of whom largely constitute Dollar General's customer base? I think we know. Here I must plug and encourage you to read Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson. She passionately and convincingly details for the Black community the power of our dollar and encourages that we make demands in return for our patronage, that we exercise our muscle in terms of our significant spending power.  

If companies can set up shop and sell their goods and services to persons with criminal convictions, certainly they can be more lenient and reasonable in terms hiring such persons therefore rewarding the "hand that feeds them". The crime prompting exclusion from employment should be directly related to the work to be performed and even then, there should be a consideration of relevant circumstances; further involvement in criminal activity and certainly how long ago the crime was committed. 

My hat is off to the EEOC for investigating, exposing and hopefully enforcing strong penalties for such blatant discrimination. These are but two of MANY employers who are equally guilty of  enforcing similar exclusionary policies. Join me and support that the EEOC sends a very strong message of zero tolerance and puts an end to even to this long arm extension of discrimination!  


Check out the article: 

Two Companies Accused of Discrimination in Hiring

Today I Celebrate Me...

WOW! Another year has gone by. Hard to believe. Where does the time go? At this time last year I was in Los Angeles hanging out with a variety of Friends, some of whom I had not seen in a very long time. I went seeking sun and beach only to learn about "June Gloom". Apparently some parts of LA are void of sun for the most part of June. Because I was staying at Redondo Beach and was so close to the water, some days were damn near cold and some others were overcast with the gloom of June... Who knew? LOL! It was a fabulous time nonetheless! I enjoyed my time with Friends and Family. It was great...

As I prepare for what will be a subdued birthday this year, I am reminded of birthdays past. Without exception, my birthday is my special time to celebrate me! I have celebrated birthdays by doing something as simple as spending a day being pampered at a local spa, as I will today, to spending the entire month of June in Egypt marveling at the wonders of my history and dining on the Nile.

Milestone birthdays have been purposeful and extra special. The big 4-0 was celebrated on a cruise with 25 dear Friends. 35 was celebrated partying harder than I have ever partied in life. I reconnected with an old Friend from my college days and went to St. Maarten for the very first and the very best of the Sinbad Soul Festivals, 1995. Chartered planes filled with a few hundred mature and spirited Black folks from around the country descended on the island for a week of nothing but pure fun! Parties were held on a different beach every day. Concerts were held nightly with the best of performers from the 70's; Earth, Wind & Fire, The O'Jays, Gladys Knight, Frankie Beverly, Teena Marie, Ohio Players, Natalie Cole, Al Green and more. Celebrities, to include Angela Bassett, Isaac Hayes and Tom Joyner mingled, partied and took photos with us regular folks. HBO taped the event, segments of which aired later that summer. Night clubs stayed open and filled with partygoers, including myself, til' 5am! The weather was perfect and everyone was in good spirits. I had so much fun that I had to remind myself to stop and eat. Sleep was almost unheard of until we boarded our flight for home. It was such a grand time that one of the DC ladies had a party at her house later that summer for all to gather, share photos, swap tales and reminisce about our trip. It was the best time ever!!!

Miss Higgi & Frankie Beverly

Thirty was celebrated by having a party at "The Club" in Washington, DC. I remember that it was on a Friday night and I danced all night long! One of my Friends described that I partied like an over aged teenager! This too is a good memory. The Club became on of my favorite DC hang outs. It was at located above the Days Inn Hotel at 12th & K Streets, NW. Ah, the good ole' days!!!

Fifty was fab too! I celebrated in Punta Cana & Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with two very dear and long time Friends. In between I have celebrated birthdays in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Florida, Jamaica, San Francisco, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sydney, Australia and more.

Today I turn 53! Today I am truly grateful! Grateful that despite a few bumps along the way, this ride of life has been mostly good. I fully recognize and appreciate that I have been blessed in that I have been afforded some truly wonderful experiences and met some truly fantastic people! 

Thank You God for Your many blessings and for another year to inspire others and to Celebrate Me... 

Today I Celebrate Me, Happy Birthday Miss Higgi...

JUST LIVE FOLKS!!!

Last week a bridge collapsed in Seattle... Yesterday a building in downtown Philly collapsed. How does that happen? Last count 13 injured and 6 people dead, one of whom was only 35 years young and on her first day of work at the Salvation Army store, the building upon which the neighboring edifice fell.

So often my Friends tell me they live vicariously through me, my free spirit & my zest for life. I love sharing my tales hoping to spark a little spontaneity and thirst for adventure in them as well. I caution them however, not to be as carefree as me because, unlike me, most have children or other responsibilities. But by all means I encourage them to LIVE! Follow your passion! Stop dreaming for retirement or waiting for the time, money or circumstances to be right to start seeing the big beautiful world! I have visited 6 of the 7 continents and plan too see so much more!

While life WILL happen, rarely will it happen that the stars align and everything is perfectly in place for you to follow your dream, travel or whatever it is, so JUST LIVE Folks! Live without regrets! Don't wait for a building or other burdens of life to fall on you to get your wake up call. NOW IS YOUR TIME! Build YOUR bridge and start making IT Happen! You'll be alright! Really you will...

This picture, taken by a dear Friend and mailed to many as a postcard a few years back, captures the spirit and essence of life I strive to maintain... JUST LIVE FOLKS!!!

 

 

 

Miss Higgi reminding you to live passionately, be kind to others and to always Celebrate YOU!