Ron's American World

Occupy DC: Robert's Story

2012-01-27T17:23:00.000-05:00

How Corporations Destroyed American Democracy - Chris Hedges.

2012-01-27T11:49:00.000-05:00

Occupy The Courts - A Conversation with Lawrence Lessig and Chris Hedges

2012-01-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

TRIBUTE TO THE WOMAN!

2012-01-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

Bessie Coleman

2012-01-23T20:37:00.000-05:00

Historical Black Women: Janet Bragg

2012-01-23T20:32:00.000-05:00

Historical Black Women (Anna Douglass)

2012-01-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

Rachel Maddow Highlights PCCC's SOPA/PIPA Success!

2012-01-23T04:21:00.000-05:00

Mr. President: Investigate the Banks Now!

2012-01-23T04:17:00.000-05:00

Press Conference in Support for Joseph "Jazz" Hayden

2012-01-23T04:07:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have A Dream

2012-01-18T16:21:00.002-05:00

Martin Luther King, Jr

2012-01-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Although Dr. King's name was mistakenly recorded as "Michael King" on his birth certificate, this was not discovered until 1934, when his father applied for a passport. He had an older sister, Willie Christine (September 11, 1927) and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel (July 30, 1930 – July 1, 1969). King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. He entered Morehouse College at age fifteen, skipping his ninth and twelfth high school grades without formally graduating. In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) degree in 1951. In September 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) on June 5, 1955 .

In 1953, at age 24, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to comply with the Jim Crow laws that required her to give up her seat to a white man. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by E. D. Nixon (head of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) and led by King, soon followed. In March 1955, a 15 year old school girl, Claudette Colvin, suffered the same fate, but King did not become involved. The boycott lasted for 381 days, the situation becoming so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation on all public transport.

King was instrumental in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King continued to dominate the organization. King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent civil disobedience used successfully in India by Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, and he applied this philosophy to the protests organized by the SCLC. In 1959, he wrote The Measure of A Man, from which the piece What is Man?, an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived.

Attributing his inspiration for non-violent activism to the example of Mahatma Gandhi, he visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the Quaker group, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”

The FBI began wiretapping King in 1961, fearing that Communists were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over six years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.

King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as Jim Crow laws would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that made the Civil Rights Movement the single most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.

King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out in often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent. King and the SCLC were instrumental in the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, in 1961 and 1962, where divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts; in the Birmingham protests in the summer of 1963; and in the protest in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964. King and the SCLC joined forces with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama, in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.

On several occasions Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. Speaking to Alex Haley in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils." His 1964 book Why We Can't Wait elaborated this idea further, presenting it as an application of the common law regarding settlement of unpaid labor.

Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the Vietnam War. In an April 4, 1967, appearance at the New York City Riverside Church — exactly one year before his death — King delivered Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In the speech he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." But he also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:“ A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just.

King was long hated by many white southern segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. Time called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi", and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."

With regard to Vietnam, King often claimed that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands." King also praised North Vietnam's land reform. He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."

The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, sparked in part by his affiliation with and training at the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism:“ You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry… Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong… with capitalism… There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.

King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."

King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech: "True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." From Vietnam to South Africa to Latin America, King said, the U.S. was "on the wrong side of a world revolution." King questioned "our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and asked why the U.S. was suppressing revolutions "of the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World, instead of supporting them.

In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. However, according to the article "Coalition Building and Mobilization Against Poverty", King and SCLC's Poor People's Campaign was not supported by the other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin. Their opposition incorporated arguments that the goals of Poor People Campaign was too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black.

The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. He crisscrossed the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would descend on Washington—engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol, if need be—until Congress enacted a poor people's bill of rights. Reader's Digest warned of an "insurrection."

King's economic bill of rights called for massive government jobs programs to rebuild America's cities. He saw a crying need to confront a Congress that had demonstrated its "hostility to the poor"—appropriating "military funds with alacrity and generosity," but providing "poverty funds with miserliness." His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism, and that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced."

Martin Luther King - But if Not - FULL SERMON

2012-01-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

A sermon given by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in November, 1967. The title, "But if Not", comes from Daniel chapter 3, verse 18 in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

Letter From Birmingham Jail

2012-01-16T15:32:00.001-05:00

Dr King - The Meaning Of The Cross

"We Shall Overcome" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Morehouse College - We Shall Overcome

Bill Maher: "Ron Paul the only sane man at the CNBC debate".

2012-01-12T16:04:00.000-05:00

Did The Lord Overlook Us Def Poet Black Ice

2012-01-11T16:19:00.000-05:00

My life is in your hands - Kirk Franklin

2012-01-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Kwanzaa - Teddy Pendergrass

2011-12-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

KWANZAA

2011-12-27T17:41:00.003-05:00

Go tell it on the Mountain-Bob Marley and the Wailers

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a unique African American celebration with focus on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. Kwanzaa is neither political nor religious and despite some misconceptions, is not a substitute for Christmas. It is simply a time of reaffirming African-American people, their ancestors and culture. Kwanzaa, which means "first fruits of the harvest" in the African language Kiswahili, has gained tremendous acceptance. Since its founding in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa has come to be observed by more than 18 million people worldwide, as reported by the New York Times.

Kwanzaa is based on the Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day of the observance, and is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are:
- Umoja (Unity)
- Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
- Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
- Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
- Nia (Purpose)
- Kuumba (Creativity)
- Imani (Faith)

Dancers from Wesley Praise Dancers celebrate the second day of Kwanzaa, Kujichagulia, representing self-determination. (Baltimore Sun photo by Chiaki Kawajiri / December 27, 2008)

Members of the Imani Edu-Tainers African Dance Company perform at a Kwanzaa celebration in the Capitol East Wing Rotunda, Harrisburg,Pa. 12-29-08

Joyous Celebration - I Love The Lord (Live In Cape Town)

ColorOfChange: Stop forced confessions and wrongful convictions (short v...

2011-12-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

Angela Davis Occupy Wall St @ Washington Sq Park Oct 30 2011 General Str...

2011-12-27T17:16:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul Amazing "What If?" Speech

2011-12-26T12:13:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul calls Wikileaks Heros

2011-12-26T11:37:00.000-05:00

Handels Messiah - I know that my Redeemer liveth

2011-12-26T02:37:00.000-05:00

Brian Mcknight - Christmas Time Is Here

2011-12-23T18:41:00.000-05:00

#D17 - Occupy Raleigh Day 64 - Do not pass Raleigh, Go directly to jail ...

2011-12-20T04:29:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

2011-12-19T17:06:00.000-05:00

Smokey Robinson and the Temptatations - The Christmas Song.divx

2011-12-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

Little Drummer Boy - Kenyan Boys Choir

2011-12-16T07:15:00.000-05:00

Jesus Is The Light (Walk In The Light), Is There Anybody Here, The Name ...

2011-12-16T06:53:00.000-05:00

kieyen rapping at 3

2011-12-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

khaliyl iloyi rapping at 2 years old with Alim Kamara

2011-12-12T18:37:00.000-05:00

FEROmedia presents reading with my son Kieyen iloyi

2011-12-12T18:35:00.000-05:00

(5/5/09) Ron Paul brings out best in Rachel Maddow

2011-12-09T11:08:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul on Julian Assange

2011-12-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul Message to Occupy Wall Street LETS END THE FED!

2011-12-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul Defends Occupy Wall Street

2011-12-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

Occupy Wall St. Hip Hop Anthem: Occupation Freedom, Ground Zero And The ...

2011-12-08T02:07:00.000-05:00

OCCUPY WALL STREET TRIBUTE "MARCH ON" by Apollo Poetry

2011-12-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

Lupe Fiasco - The End Of The World (Occupy Wall Street Anthem Song) #OWS

2011-12-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

Dave Chapelle Talks About The Illuminati (HD)_1080p

2011-12-06T11:43:00.000-05:00

Dave Chapelle breaks his Illuminati "Spell" Part 2

2011-12-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

Art Pope Exposed Community Teach-In

2011-12-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

Monopoly Men (Federal Reserve Fraud) (1999)

2011-12-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

Food That Kills - Full Documentary

2011-12-01T01:24:00.000-05:00

Superfail: Why D.C.’s Fiscal Clown Show May Still Yield Results

2011-11-23T04:52:00.001-05:00

..Superfail: Why D.C.’s Fiscal Clown Show May Still Yield Results
By Daniel Gross | The Ticket – Mon, Nov 21, 2011....
Share0EmailPrint.....Cross-posted from Yahoo! Finance

To the surprise of nobody, the Congressional Supercommittee tasked with coming up with $1.2 trillion in deficit-cutting measures has completely failed.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then Washington is officially bonkers. The entirely predictable face-plant of the Supercommittee came on the heels of the highly predictable failure of the Simpson-Bowles Commission and the Obama-Boehner grand bargain talks.

You don't have to have a Ph.d. in political science to grasp the dynamic at work. The White House has a set of preferences, which it has laid out here. But it doesn't spend a lot of time campaigning for them, and it doesn't believe that getting intensely involved in the negotiations will help move the ball. Democrats aren't entirely sure what they want, though they insist any large deficit reduction deal must include significant tax increases, preferably on higher-income earners and companies. Otherwise, they won't consider significant changes in entitlements that their forebears created, like Social Security and Medicare. As for Republicans, there are two things they aren't interested in: (1) raising taxes; and (2) doing a large deal with President Obama that will give him an achievement going into the next election.

Oh, and the overwhelming majority of people who parade around Washington posing as fiscal hawks are frauds. They're the ones who created a tax system that collects revenues that can't fully fund the spending system they also voted to create. And when push comes to shove, those who cry most loudly about the deficit shy away from doing what's necessary. When the Republican presidential candidates all indicated that they'd reject a deficit plan that included 10 dollars of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increases, it was an extremely clear signal that the Republican party as currently constituted isn't interested in a grand deal. Democrats, for their part, figure there's no point in making massive concessions on entitlements if there's no reciprocation on taxes. And for both parties, these postures make complete political sense.

As the Supercommittee met, there simply wasn't any space for a deal. And the Supercommittee's secret weapon turned out to be a dud. In theory, if the Supercommittee failed to come to an agreement, the default position would be automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion split between social spending and defense. The theory was that such reductions would be so odious to both sides that they'd simply have to come to terms. Here, too, the design was flawed. The cuts aren't set to take place until 2013, which lessens the urgency. And this thing called the Constitution allows Congress to change laws through a process called legislation. Even before the Supercommittee failed, there was talk of simply ignoring or overturning the proposed defense cuts.

While the Supercommittee drama played out, Washington continued to stage a theater of the absurd. The House, led by its Republican majority, last week voted on a Balanced Budget Amendment, a change to the Constitution that could finally force fiscal discipline. But Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republicans' lead voice on budget issues, didn't vote for it. Why? He realized that the budget plan he has proposed, the one which his colleagues have adopted as their own and that creates trillions of dollars of new debt, would be unconstitutional under the amendment. Never mind. Almost all the Congressmen who voted for the balanced budget amendment also voted for the Ryan plan.

The silver lining is that this failure is not likely to matter much to the bond and stock markets over the long-term. And it's quite possible our salvation may come from the same set of conditions that has inhibited action, as The Daily Ticker's Henry Blodget and I discuss in the accompanying video.

While the Supercommittee tried to set up a fake trigger for deficit reduction, there are some real triggers out there that have the potential to take a bite out of deficits. If Congress and the White House simply argue, grandstand, and refuse to come to an agreement over the coming year, some $7.1 trillion in deficit reduction could be on the way. This is what Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne dubbed the do-nothing option. The full details are here. There's $3.3 trillion from letting the Bush-era tax cuts on income, capital gains, and dividends expire at the end of 2012. The alternative minimum tax isn't indexed for inflation. And so each year, it catches more people up in its maw, unless Congress enacts a temporary patch. Simply doing nothing on the AMT would raise $700 billion over the next several years. A law passed in the 1990s cut the reimbursement rate for Medicare providers. But Congress has enacted a series of temporary fixes to forestall the cuts. If Washington locks grids over the issue, Congress would effectively cut $300 billion in spending. And don't forget the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts that stem from the Supercommittee's failure.

The best chance for doing something about the deficit, in other words, may be to do nothing. And if there's one thing this divided Congress has proven it can do, it's nothing.

Daniel Gross is economics editor at Yahoo! Finance.

Follow him on Twitter @grossdm; email him at grossdaniel11@yahoo.com.

His most recent book is Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation

Reoccupy Main Street

2011-11-22T04:56:00.000-05:00

Reoccupy Main Street
‎68% of every dollar spent locally is reinvested in the community, versus 43% of every dollar spent at a big box store. Make a measurable daily dent in big box receipts this holiday season, and you will not only make the daily news, you will make your communities more diverse, vibrant and healthy. Print this high resolution poster and invite your favorite Mom and Pop shop to display it. We are the 99%.

Occupy Wall Street - New Top Video MUST SEE - Expose the truth to the ma...

2011-11-21T03:08:00.000-05:00

Thousands of U.S.-Born Kids Languish in Foster Care As Immigrant Parents...

2011-11-21T02:58:00.000-05:00

Occupation Freedom, Occupy Wall St. Hip Hop Anthem, Live

2011-11-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

The Marines of Montford Point

2011-11-18T02:53:00.003-05:00

Hagan on the Montford Point Marines' Congressional Gold Medal

Genetic engineering: The world's greatest scam?

2011-11-17T20:29:00.001-05:00

Genetically Modified Food - The Right To Know

Tim Wise: On White Privilege (Clip)

2011-11-16T00:38:00.001-05:00

Tim Wise - The Pathology of White Privilege

The Money Masters - Full

2011-11-15T22:50:00.000-05:00

Keep Wall Street Occupied (Part 1)

2011-11-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

We Are The Many - Makana

2011-11-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

9 11 Experts Speak Out

2011-11-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

RADIOVISION - Prof. Molefi Asante on Libya & Cote D'Ivoire

2011-11-12T02:50:00.002-05:00

Take time to learn the background of the irrational decision of the President to invade and attack Libya and the Continent of Africa. Dr. Molefi Asante, Professor of Temple University, astutely lectures on the historical motivation has been festering many years for imperialistic intervention on the African Continent -- especially in places that have oil. Do not depend upon the American Media to offer anything but disguised misinformation. You will never get a true examination of the incidents except through an African-American scholar who has the courage to reveal the reality of the day. It is Long but it is Strong! Take time to LISTEN AND LEARN!

3 MoTenors America 0001

2011-11-11T17:39:00.000-05:00

The Unveiling Of "The Black List" Photo Exhibit At The Smithsonian

2011-11-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

Health Care & The Occupy Wall Street Movement

2011-11-03T19:02:00.000-04:00

The Greediest Generation

2011-11-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of the deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million 'teats'.

Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!

"Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight..

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3 My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud..

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.
To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

If you like the way things are in America delete this. If you agree with what a fellow Montana citizen Patty Myers says,PASS IT ON!!!!

Cops turn Violent, NYPD drag girl across the street. #OccupyWallStreet

2011-11-02T16:55:00.000-04:00

[Orignal full version] 1 Marine vs. 30 Cops (By. J. handy)

2011-11-02T16:33:00.000-04:00

How to explain Occupy Wall Street to a six year old?

2011-11-01T03:18:00.000-04:00

Occupy Oakland Calls For City-Wide General Strike, Nov 2

2011-11-01T02:00:00.000-04:00

Last night hundreds marched through the streets of NYC, chanting "New York is Oakland, Oakland is New York." We circled City Hall, ran in the streets, refused to be kettled or have our voices silenced, marched up broadway, North on 6th Ave, circled around on Bleecker, and marched south against traffic on 6th ave, running past police barricades, running past our fear, running in solidarity with each other and #occupyoakland.

War No More Sojourners

2011-10-28T18:26:00.000-04:00

Goldman Sachs v. Occupy Wall Street: A Greg Palast Investigation

2011-10-28T03:31:00.000-04:00

Oakland Policeman Throws Flash Grenade Into Crowd Trying To Help Injured...

2011-10-27T02:05:00.000-04:00

MESSAGE from MOVE ON - a National Political Action Organization

This is just insane:

Scott Olsen, a protester who’s done two tours of duty in Iraq and is now involved in Veterans For Peace, was critically wounded during an Oakland police raid by police projectiles. When people tried to help him, an officer lobbed a flash bang grenade right into their group. Olsen is currently hospitalized with serious injuries and is reported to be in critical condition.

If you’re as horrified by this as we are, please sign this petition to Oakland’s mayor and then share this page with everyone you know.

Found on Kresling’s YouTube channel. Originally submitted by Marika S. and Jayne C.

Michael Moore Speaks With Roseanne Barr on HLN, Part 1 -- March 29th, 2011

2011-10-26T05:53:00.001-04:00

Would anyone ever have believed that Roseanne Barr would have something intelligent to say that is political in this country? Here she sits in for Joy Behair and speaks with no less than Michael Moore and makes good sense! Their scrutiny of President Obama is something to consider with a rational mind. It could help prevent the abject disgust that is rising in opinion of the POTUS. Heaven help us!

99 Percenters Discredit Capitalism

2011-10-25T04:27:00.014-04:00

African Community Center of Atlanta Presents a Point of View

Capitalism Coming Home to Roost
By EZRAH AHARONE 10/2011

While capitalism is upheld by Western-European nations as the paradigm for economic fairness and efficiency, it conversely has a 400-year history of profiteering that traces to shameless enslavement and colonizing of non-European people by the same nations. Today, capitalism's tentacles of debauchery reach beyond the so-called "third world" to now roost among citizens within these very European nations, including America. Once fiscally robust, America is debt-addicted and job-starved, with near-bankrupt states and crippled infrastructures of roads, bridges, schools and airports.

In fed-up response, protesters of the Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWSM) are rightly ranting over capitalism's recent malfeasance. Yet, in broad-spectrum, it must be reckoned that the descendants of those who were once enslaved or colonized, comprise a majority of people who now live in poverty. The sum of Westernize capitalism - from its extirpations of yesterday to free-market enterprise today - has left trails of billions of impoverished non-European people all around the world wherever labor is performed, services are provided, and resources are located.

With Africa particularly, it is not coincidental that its currencies and economies are among the weakest in the world, while the currencies and economies of Western colonial nations are among the strongest, even though most lack comparable natural resources of the African states they colonized. Capitalist hegemony over Africa siphoned unknown trillions in labor and resources, upon which Western economies unfairly stand.

True, the OWSM cannot undo capitalism's ugly past. But the point is to stitch threads of commonality and continuity, given that capitalism did not suddenly get derailed by Bush or Obama; or by halos of immunity and tax havens for the rich; or by the cost of war adventurism in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. The middleclass is certainly feeling capitalism's pitchfork more of late, but capitalism is no more depraved lately than at its inception. A main difference is that - yesterday, its parasitic forces usurped non-Europeans of sovereignty, territories, resources and freedom, while today, extensions of the same parasitic forces are coming home to roost by cannibalizing Americans of all ethnicities of jobs, savings, stocks, pensions, social programs, healthcare and homes.

Like African Americans, growing numbers of Euro-Americans have discovered that capitalism has nothing to do with "equality" nor is it "democratic." You don't vote on the overly-priced gas and oil for your car and home. You don't vote for who owns or commercializes natural resources. You don't vote on mortgage or bank interest rates or the elasticity of money supply regulated by the Federal Reserve . . . There's no such thing as equality or democracy in the Western format of capitalism.

As such, the current 16.7% unemployment rate for Blacks more than doubles the 8% for Whites, and Blacks lag in every major index of economics. It's interesting that 8% would be long-awaited relief to African Americans. Conversely, 8% is so insufferable to Euro-Americans that it has sparked the OWSM to condemn "certain aspects" of capitalism. But at core, US capitalism is fueled by consumption, which is fueled by credit, which is fueled by the very financial institutions that lie at the heart of the protests. Besides, be it Bush or Obama, both parties are corporate manifestations. America operates a de-facto plutocratic style of governance, where insiders make "contributions" with known intents for favoritism to influence policymaking and party platforms.

With the 2012 election approaching and Obama empathizing with occupiers, the media is setting a stage for Tea Party vs. OWSM showdowns. Beyond partisan bickering however that blames the "other party" for America's woes, a definitive matter is that, America's economy is linked to centuries of international graft and gluttony from when Europeans ruled by overt brute force. But with fewer "banana republics," new Balances of Power are reshaping today's decolonized world and diminishing the once-sturdiness of Pax Americana (US political, economic, and military advantages).

The fluffy wording of the US constitution is one thing, but America's capitalistic wealth wasn't acquired by playing by the "democratic" rules it now wants to export to Africa and the Middle East. So as predatory capitalism is coming home to roost while Americans simultaneously cheer the downfall of "select" governments, Black America should be circumspect that we aren't in effect, cheering the latest mutation of the selfsame predatory forces of which we are historically among the greatest casualties.

Ezrah Aharone is the author of two acclaimed political books: Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from Civil Rights to Sovereign Rights (2009) and Pawned Sovereignty: Sharpened Black Perspectives on Americanization, Africa, War and Reparations (2003). He is a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@EzrahSpeaks.com.
****************
African Community Centers
3079 Campbellton Rd. S.W. Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30311 USA (404)344-5454
www.unity4power.org & www.10-10-50.org

Dr. Martin Luther King ,Jr.

2011-10-22T17:29:00.000-04:00

‎"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored."

~Martin Luther King Jr (Letter from Birmingham Jail)

President Obama Delivers Remarks at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial...

2011-10-18T23:20:00.001-04:00

THIS IS BLACK HISTORY (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

2011-10-16T01:18:00.000-04:00

MARCH AND RALLY ON WASHINGTON

2011-10-13T19:25:00.000-04:00

FROM THE EMANCIPATOR (ABRAHAM LINCOLN) TO THE LIBERATOR (MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.)
THE COLLECTIVE JOURNEY OF CIVIL RIGHTS TO BE REAFFIRMED

Why we must stop the Banks

2011-10-10T03:15:00.001-04:00

Bill Moyers Journal . This is Usury - 2008
Why we must stop the Banks

For Troy Davis

2011-09-23T00:27:00.001-04:00

Fire In Their Eyes (For Troy Davis)
by Author Diane Vincent on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 11:37pm

Cries for justice spew out like roaring thunder unto the heavens

But it's ears have grown deaf.

And the wicked will once again destroy hope

As the innocent becomes but a statement to a Blackman

That he is still less in this chalky wilderness

That has become a Diaspora of presidential ignorance

A cultural decadence and diatribe on freedom, justice and equality

Innocence is not the fight.

No this war is waged to maintain a hierarchy of oppression

For all which they have stolen and murdered to possess.

In this pale, bloodless, waxed cold wilderness.

And the people of the world eyes burn like flames of fire

As they look into the future of their existence

Rummaging through the receipts of their past

Trying to find that one they can return

For their sold integrity, souls, consciousness, and conscience

In hope it will barter them mercy as the last spectrum bends

The sky and the flames from the hell they made

With the brush of their careless hands and the turn of their cheeks

Reflect from their damned eyes.

We are cursed to see the final judgment

Of our own lack of fortitude, and lose of determination.

For we’ve closed our eyes on the struggle.

Young, Gifted, and Black(Live)- Donny Hathaway

2011-09-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

Morehouse College - We Shall Overcome

2011-09-05T15:46:00.000-04:00

BeBe Winans - I have a dream

2011-08-31T21:02:00.000-04:00

Yolanda King Interview with Caleb Crump

2011-08-23T23:31:00.000-04:00

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

2011-08-23T23:21:00.000-04:00

MLK - A Knock at Midnight

2011-08-05T04:27:00.000-04:00

BeBe Winans - I have a dream

2011-08-05T04:23:00.000-04:00

An AMAZING Michael Jackson Tribute "Earth Song"

2011-07-05T03:06:00.000-04:00

IKEA Unfair to American Workers

2011-07-02T02:49:00.000-04:00

Tell IKEA to let its workers organize for fair wages and a safer workplace.

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are paid $19 per hour and get five weeks of paid vacation every year. In America? Not so much.

IKEA's Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia is the most dangerous plant in the wood furniture industry -- workers there have suffered more than 1,536 days of lost work due to accidents on the job in a 30-month period. According to the LA Times, IKEA's Danville workers are paid as little as $8 an hour and face racial discrimination from their managers. Workers often find out on Friday night that they'll be forced to work for the entire weekend -- and if they can't make it, they face disciplinary action.

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are unionized, which is one reason they receive better wages and have a safer workplace -- but the company is going all out to prevent American workers from receiving those same rights and protections. Please sign the petition to tell IKEA to give its American workers the freedom to organize.

The workers in Danville have filed for an election to start a union of their own -- the election could come as soon as six weeks from now. But rather than pay its workers fair wages, Swedwood pays the notorious union-busting firm Jackson Lewis thousands of dollars a day to hold mandatory "captive audience meetings" with the Danville workers. At these meetings, the Jackson Lewis associates inundate the workers with anti-union propaganda and veiled threats that are backed up with random firings.

Here's the good news: The publicity surrounding this organizing drive has already made a difference -- last month, Swedwood announced that Danville workers would no longer be forced to work mandatory overtime. But Liz Cattaneo of American Rights at Work stresses that continued public pressure is extremely important: "If IKEA thinks the public isn't paying attention, they're going to play hardball … throughout the election process - which could mean more firings and more union busting."

Now that the workers have filed for a union election, you can bet IKEA will redouble its efforts to squash their rights. They need our support now more than ever.

Please sign the petition to tell IKEA's head of Corporate PR that we are paying attention, and we expect IKEA to treat its American workers just as well as its Swedish workers:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-ikea-to-respect-its-workers

Thanks for taking action,

REV. DR L. WALTER CREWS

2011-06-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

Remembering my Father, the Preacher: REV. DR L. WALTER CREWS (Pt 1).
by Gwen Crews on Saturday, June 18, 2011

"Only What You Do For Christ Will Last""
My father, the Rev. Dr. L. Walter Crews was born at home on the family farm in Johnson County, NC. Son of Walter and Pocahontas Wyche Crews, great grandson of slaves, Rev Harry Blacknall Crews & Zenia Philpott. Knew at an early age that he had a calling, so as a youngster, he would preach to the cornstalks. He was licensed to preach at Riley Hill Baptist Church in Wendell,NC and ordained by Rev. A.Ross Brent at Shiloh Baptist in Plfd. where he served as Assistant Pastor. Went on to pastor Second Baptist in Metuchen and under his leadership a new church was erected. Over100 Masons from his Lodge in New Bruns. helped lay the cornerstone which reads, "Upon this rock, I'll build my church." He pastored 20 years and died while in service to the Church. He was the a Chaplain for the Middlesex Cty jails, a member of Plfd Concerned Clergy, and a missionary and Bible school teacher at 1st Baptist in South Bound Brook and part of the District Union and MC Ministers Assoc. His calling was sincere, he was committed, he stayed prepared, he lived the life he preached about, he was humble and he loved the Lord. I count myself blessed to have had such a wonderful God-fearing earthly Father that pointed me in the direction of knowing my Heavenly Father. To God be the Glory!

Rev. Walter Crews Jr. Graduation from Manhattan Bible Institute 1967

REV. DR L. WALTER CREWS

Acapella - Lift Every Voice

2011-06-25T16:07:00.000-04:00

First lady Michelle Obama in South Africa

2011-06-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

First lady Michelle Obama and her family paid their respects Tuesday to Nelson Mandela during a private visit at the home of the former South African president and revered statesman.
It was the first meeting, and likely a moving one, between America's first black first lady and the political prisoner who later became his country's first elected black president.

Mrs. Obama, daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 10, and her mother, Marian Robinson, were being shown some of Mandela's personal papers during a stop at his foundation when, according to White House officials, he sent word from his nearby home that he wanted to meet the Obamas.
The family was then driven to Mandela's home in a well-manicured Johannesburg neighborhood, where they spent about 20 minutes with him and his wife, Graca Machel, who is a former first lady of Mozambique.
Mrs. Obama's niece and nephew, Leslie Robinson, 15, and Avery Robinson, 19, who are traveling with her, were also invited to meet Mandela.

White House officials had no immediate comment on the meeting. No aides, except for photographers for the foundation and the White House, witnessed the meeting.
Mandela, who stepped down in 1999 after serving one term as president, is rarely seen in public anymore. At age 92, he is in fragile health and was briefly hospitalized in January with an acute respiratory infection. But he apparently felt well enough Tuesday to invite the Obama family to visit.

Mrs. Obama is traveling without President Barack Obama, who met Mandela on a previous visit to Africa when he was a U.S. senator. Obama and Mandela have spoken by telephone several times since Obama took office, most recently last June, the White House said. Obama also wrote a foreword for Mandela's book, "Conversations with Myself."
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for his role in the movement against apartheid, South Africa's now-abolished system of racial separation.

The First Lady's Trip to Africa

2011-06-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

It's Your Time

2011-06-17T19:28:00.000-04:00

The 90th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot

2011-05-31T20:43:00.001-04:00

Oklahoma had been plagued by lynchings

The Tulsa race riot was a large-scale racially motivated conflict between the white and black communities of Tulsa, Oklahoma, including aerial attack, beginning May 31, 1921. During the 16 hours of the assault, over 800 people were admitted to local hospitals with injuries,more than 6000 Greenwood residents were arrested and detained in a prison camp, an estimated 10,000 were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire caused by bombing.

The Tulsa race riot occurred in the racially and politically tense atmosphere of northeastern Oklahoma, some of which was a growing hotbed of anti-black sentiment at that time. The Ku Klux Klan made its first major appearance in Oklahoma on August 12, 1921, less than three months after the riot.

As in several other states and territories during the early years of the twentieth century, lynchings were not uncommon in Oklahoma. Between the declaration of statehood on November 16, 1907, and the Tulsa race riot some thirteen years later, thirty-one individuals — twenty-six of whom were black — were lynched in Oklahoma. During the twenty years following the riot, the number of lynchings statewide fell to two.

Tulsa-Greenwood before the riot

Greenwood, Okla.: The Legacy of the Tulsa Race Riot

In 1921, Greenwood, a successful, all-black enclave in Tulsa, was the site of the deadliest race riot in U.S. history. For the inhabitants of "the Black Wall Street," life would never be the same.

By: Monée Fields-White | Posted: February 24, 2011 at 9:50 AM
Monée Fields-White is a Chicago-based writer who covers a wide array of topics, including business and economic news.

The 90th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot on May 31, 2011, here's the story of a sad chapter of American history, pulled from The Root's archives.

J.B. Stradford, the son of a freed Kentucky slave, rose to prominence in Oklahoma during the early 1900s as one of the key developers of the all-black Tulsa enclave Greenwood. A lawyer and businessman, Stradford owned the 65-room hotel that sat right in the heart of the thriving community that would later become known as "the Black Wall Street."

But in a single day, all of that would change. On May 31, 1921, the arrest of a young black man on a questionable charge of assaulting a young white woman touched off the deadliest race riot in U.S. history. Whites charged through the community in retaliation, leaving an estimated 300 people dead, another 10,000 black residents homeless and 35 city blocks in ruin.

Stradford and 69 other black men were subsequently charged with inciting the riot. Stradford, however, jumped bail after his arrest and fled Tulsa for Kentucky. According to his great-granddaughter Laurel Stradford, his son (her grandfather), who was also a lawyer, used legal maneuvering to help his father avoid having to stand trial, including filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to keep him from being unlawfully detained.

"When I was a little girl, our grandmother used to tell us that J.B. had said that there was no greater gift that a man can be given than to have a son who saves his father's life," says Laurel Stradford. "There would be a lot of remembrance of my great-grandpa and the role he played in Tulsa, and the role my grandpa had in getting him free from being lynched."

But although J.B. -- who went on to run a successful law practice in Chicago -- managed to avoid facing "justice" in Oklahoma (he never returned to the state), the charges hung over him until he died. The Stradford family fought to clear J.B., but it wasn't until 1996 -- 75 years after the riot, and six decades after his death in 1935 in Chicago at the age of 75 -- that he was cleared of all charges. (Ultimately, none of the men indicted were convicted of anything.)

That 75th-anniversary year was also when the nation learned about the Tulsa Race Riot, which would come to be considered the most destructive race riot in U.S. history. "For years, silence engulfed this incident," says Hannibal B. Johnson, author of Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood. "In 1921, Tulsa was booming, so anything that would detract from its allure, such as the riot, was minimized."

A Black Mecca

Indeed, Tulsa had been attracting thousands -- blacks and whites -- to the rich oil fields. By 1920, the overall population had swelled to more than 100,000 residents. Black Americans, migrating from Southern states as far as Georgia and Mississippi, were also attempting to escape the harsh realities of Southern racism. But old Jim Crow laws followed them northwest. Tulsa was divided into two cities. Whites held court in the southern end of the city, closer to the larger main downtown area, while African Americans were segregated in the northern section of town.

The racial split, however, gave rise to black Tulsans' famed entrepreneurial mecca. Anchored by Greenwood Avenue, black-owned businesses stretched along the more than mile-long roadway. They included grocery stores, restaurants, medical and law offices, and two newspapers. Many black entrepreneurs in addition to Stradford -- including real estate developer and Greenwood founder O.W. Gurley -- thrived and reached regional and even national stature. Booker T. Washington, who had lectured in Tulsa, was the first to call Greenwood "the Negro's Wall Street." That moniker later became "the Black Wall Street."

Many white Tulsans, who referred to the district as "Little Africa," were not happy about the growth and prosperity of the community, according to Andrew Rosa, assistant professor of history at Oklahoma State University. "You had a pretty stable, upwardly mobile people in Greenwood, and the city's whites had their eye on Greenwood," says Rosa. "That was sort of the spirit of the friction."

White Rage Unleashed

The underlying racial and economic tension finally boiled over on May 30, 1921. Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old shoe shiner in downtown Tulsa, had gone to use the only bathroom for blacks, located at the top of an office building. He crossed paths with white elevator operator Sarah Page, 17, whom a store clerk claimed to have heard scream. The clerk said that he found a distraught Page and saw a young black man running from the building. There is no record of what Page told the police.

Rowland was arrested but never charged. The incident, however, made the front page of the Tulsa Tribune -- along with an editorial entitled, "To Lynch Negro Tonight."

Right before dawn on June 1, a mob of nearly 10,000 white men launched an all-out assault on the Greenwood District, systematically burning down every home and business. They dropped firebombs and shot at blacks from planes that had been used in World War I. Those blacks who were captured were held in internment camps around the city by the local police and National Guard units.

Martial law was eventually declared. The National Guard confirmed that 37 blacks and whites were killed, although historians (pdf) have put that number at closer to 300. Many of the dead black Americans were buried in unmarked graves around town, and some were laid to rest in an anonymous section of Tulsa's Oak Lawn cemetery. Some photographers made their pictures of the dead into postcards.

The riot "just shows you how irrelevant, not only from the view of Oklahoma but that of the nation as a whole, black life was. It was seen as expendable," says Rosa.

After the riot, black Tulsans, who were living in tents and forced to wear green identification tags in order to work downtown, still managed to turn the tragedy into triumph. Without state help, they rebuilt Greenwood, and by 1942 the community had more than 240 black-owned businesses.

Justice Denied

In subsequent decades, however, the community declined as the pioneers of Greenwood died and many of their descendants moved away. The district struggled most critically during the 1960s as Tulsa became more integrated, which led to a decline in the Greenwood population and also undermined many of the local black family-run businesses. In the 1970s, a large segment of Greenwood was demolished to make way for an interstate highway that became a main connector for the downtown area.

An Oklahoma state commission conducted an investigation of the riot from 1997 to 2001, questioning survivors about that day back in 1921. The commission recommended specific reparations to the community, the living survivors and their descendants.

The state did subsequently enact a law in June 2001 that provided about 300 scholarships for descendants, developed a memorial and pushed for development in Greenwood -- but the law fell far short of what the commission had recommended. The remaining survivors have continued to fight for further restitution, which is addressed in the 2008 documentary Before They Die!

For some descendants, the demise of such a prosperous business community highlights the struggles that black America continues to face today. "The difference is that our society now is desegregated much more, and the challenge now is for our businesses to do successful business with a majority of firms," says John Rogers Jr., the founder of Chicago-based Ariel Investments, LLC -- and the great-grandson of J.B. Stradford. "There's still a remnant of historical discrimination."

Another Account

The Tulsa race riot started when Dick Rowland, a 19-year old black shoe shiner in a shine parlor entered the elevator at a Drexel building to the colored washroom on the top floor around 4pm. In the elevator was a 17 year old white elevator operator named Sarah Page who was on duty. No one really knows what exactly happened in the elevator but the two must have been acquainted with each other at one point by sight. Most would say Rowland tripped in the elevator, and grabbed the arm of Page to prevent himself from falling. Page screamed and a clerk at one of the floors heard it, seeing the black man hurriedly leave the building. She assumed the young woman was assaulted and immediately called the authorities.

The next morning Rowland was detained by detective Henry Carmichael and Henry C. Pack and was taken to the jail for questioning. News spread about the event that day, along with an article titled ‘To Lynch Negro Tonight’ which was about whites assembling to lynch Rowland. As this newspaper hit the streets, white people gathered near the county Courthouse, seeking answers about the incident. Some were spectators only curious, but others were looking to participate and show support of the lynching of the young teenager. By sunset, hundreds of whites were assembled to have the making of a lynch mob. The sheriff Willard M. McCullough went outside and tried to talk the crowd into going home, but they did not listen. Eventually three white men entered the courthouse demanding Rowland be turned over, but deputies were able to turn them away. Eventually they were being vastly outnumbered by the crowed on the street.

A few blocks away, members of the black community gathered to discuss the situation at the courthouse. They came to a conclusion they were going to lynch Dick Rowland like they did to Roy Belton. Armed with rifles and shotguns they marched to the courthouse to support the sheriff and his deputies while defending Rowland from the angry whites. The sheriff though, assured them Rowland was safe and made them to return to Greenwood. The whites around the courthouse turned into 2000, many of them armed with weapons. Small groups of armed black started to go back to the courthouse in automobiles, ready to take action to protect Rowland.

It is said a white man told one of the armed black man to surrender his pistol, but he refused and fired a shot. It could have been accidental, or meant as a warning shot, but the ones followed were not, and eventually the courthouse was taking fire.

Immediately the white men returned fire, and the blacks continued firing back. It lasted only a few seconds, but already several men lay dead or dying in the street. The black mob retreated with the armed white mob following from behind. Innocent people from around were caught off guard and started to run as well. Panic came and mobsters started to fire at any black in the crowd. At 11 p.m. members of the National Guard assembled, joining patrols of the streets. Though, they were mainly being organized to protect the white districts near Greenwood. They rounded up any black who hadn’t made it back to Greenwood and took them to the armory for detainment.

The riot continued until Wednesday, June 1, 1921, progressively getting worst each minute. Whites eventually pushed into Greenwood, killing many innocent blacks along the way.

In 1921 the ABB (The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption ) gained notoriety and a boost in membership after its Tulsa branch was linked to the armed resistance of local blacks during the Tulsa race riot.

Lynching believed to be at Mannford, Oklahoma

Click Here for;

Final Report of the Oklahoma Commission to Study The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Memorial Day 2011 - Freedom Isn't Free

2011-05-28T21:26:00.000-04:00

Les Twins.mp4

2011-05-17T18:05:00.000-04:00

Saheela Ibraheem 15-Year-Old Picks Harvard

2011-05-10T22:08:00.001-04:00

15-Year-Old Picks Harvard After Being Accepted to 13 Colleges
By Abena Agyeman-Fisher on May 4th 2011 6:03PM

Do you know any 15-year-olds who are on their way to Harvard?

Meet Saheela Ibraheem (pictured), a senior at Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, N.J.

Crediting her parents, who are Nigerian immigrants, for her academic achievements -- her father is said to have stayed up at night teaching her subjects not found at school -- Saheela's exceptional journey began as a 6th grader at Conackamack
Middle School in Piscataway, N.J.
While there, Saheela asked to be moved to a higher-level class because she was passionate about math. Instead, the school decided to skip her a grade.

But this would be just the beginning.
Saheela realized early on that her public school still wasn't doing it for her; consequently, the zealous student moved to Wardlaw-Hartridge, a private school, and skipped freshman year to land in 10th grade. Her new school would end up being the right place for Saheela, giving her the bandwith to feel challenged and excel. Wardlaw-Hartridge Director of Development William Jenkins says:

"She's learned and she's very smart. But she keeps pushing herself."

But this is not just the story of a student who has mastered education. Saheela takes the concept of stimulating the mind and body to a whole other level.
"She is a three-sport athlete, playing outfield for the school's softball team, defender on the soccer team, and swimming relays and 50-meter races for the swim team. She also sings alto in the school choir, plays trombone in the school band and serves as president of the school's investment club, which teaches students about the stock market by investing in virtual stocks."

Last year, Saheela applied to 14 colleges and universities that spanned the nation with a "grade point average (between a 96 and 97 on a 100-point scale) and her 2,340 SAT score (a perfect 800 on the math section, a 790 in writing and a 750 in reading)."

California Institute of Technology, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Williams College, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University in St. Louis all accepted her.

Surprise, surprise, Saheela chose Harvard and wants to major in either neurobiology and neuroscience in order to study how the brain works.

Of her accomplishments, Saheela only had this to say:
I try my best in everything I do," Saheela said. "Anyone who's motivated can work wonders."

I am dumbfounded by Saheela's success. If she is like this as a teen, what will she accomplish as a full-fledged adult? Kudos to her family for doing such a fine job raising a balanced, ambitious child. As a fellow parent, that is not an easy thing to do.
Just a few months ago, the phenomenon of Amy Chua's Tiger Mom overwhelmed the airwaves as people discussed the strategy of raising a successful child. The Tiger Mom ideology tauted all work and no play, with everything -- consciously or unconsciously -- focusing on being the best academic student.

Saheela's parents, though, allowed their daughter (and other children who also attend the same school as Saheela) to have a more balanced existence, encouraging her in academics and extracurricular activities.

Will.i.Am - Take Our Planet Back

2011-05-07T13:25:00.000-04:00

linebacker Ray Lewis and former cornerback Reggie Howard

2011-05-06T22:10:00.000-04:00

NFL Star Helps NY Boy After Mom's Suicide Plunge

Date: Wednesday, May 04, 2011, 11:11 am
By: Verena Dobnik, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL linebacker Ray Lewis and former cornerback Reggie Howard are helping a 10-year-old New York boy whose mother drowned herself and three children by driving a van into the Hudson River.

The surviving child, La'Shaun Armstrong, attended a Manhattan fundraiser Saturday night for the United Athletes Foundation, which is supported by the Baltimore Ravens star. Some of the proceeds will go to create a relief fund to provide him with mentoring, counseling and tutoring.

Lewis reached out to the child as soon as he heard about the April 12 tragedy. The boy escaped through a van window after the car plunged into the water in Newburgh, N.Y., and was rescued by a passing driver. La'Shaun's 25-year-old mother, Lashanda Armstrong, reportedly was distraught over an argument with her boyfriend.

La'Shaun said meeting Lewis earlier this week was "awesome," according to Howard.

The 35-year-old linebacker went bowling with La'Shaun, saying the boy needs mentoring from a father figure. His biological father, Todd Johnson, is in prison on a robbery conviction.

Lewis is vice chairman of the United Athletes Foundation, which was created in 2008 by a group of professional athletes aiming to improve the lives of other athletes and their communities.

The president of the nonprofit is Howard, who took La'Shaun shopping for a new suit earlier this week.

"I hopped into a cab in Manhattan to his house (in Middletown, N.Y.) — and I had no idea it was more than 60 miles away!" Howard said as he prepared to host Saturday's event at Manhattan's Grand Hyatt hotel.

La'Shaun and his grandmother, Datrice Armstrong, who is raising him now, were the foundation's guests for the weekend, sleeping at the Grand Hyatt.

Besides a check presented to La'Shaun on Saturday — for an undisclosed amount — the foundation plans to help him well into the future, Howard said.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

2011-05-04T22:25:00.000-04:00

by Everette Blacknall on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 7:03pm

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary

(nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!

Show appreciation for educators...

Nurturing Pain - T.D Jakes Talks to the Ladies

2011-05-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

Circle of Protection

2011-05-02T04:12:00.001-04:00

In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political—and moral.

As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up—how it treats those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms and to speak out for justice.

The following is a statement by church leaders from diverse theological and political beliefs who have come together to form a Circle of Protection around programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world. All people are invited to sign the statement and we'll send a copy to President Obama and your members of Congress.

https://secure3.convio.net/sojo/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=419

Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor

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As people of faith, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad.

1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.

2. Programs focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. They should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.

3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.

4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.

5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.

6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect "the least of these." "What would Jesus cut?" "How do we share sacrifice?"

7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.

8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus.