Love, Peace and Joy to all our Friends during this season of Love! You will understand our joy and hope when you get to the very end of this song by a very special gifted Child of God! Love, Peace, Hope and Joy, to our Friends today and always!
Monday, December 23, 2019
Thursday, November 21, 2019
DEAR READERS OF RON'S AMERICAN WORLD: Please take time to express your opinion of this article below. What do you think is the right thing to do about removing both T-Rump and Pence for bribery/knowledge of bribery and not reporting or stopping it. The Constitution provides that the Speaker of the House then takes over the presidency. That speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. That would be a historical first. How would the country react? Why not obey that rule? That is important to some -- actually many like me. But Leonhardt disagrees. Read below and tell us your opinion.
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The president led a conspiracy to use American foreign policy for his personal benefit. We’ve known that much for weeks. Yesterday, we heard a credible accusation that the vice president, among other top officials, was aware of the conspiracy and evidently did nothing to stop it.
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Imagine for a moment that congressional Republicans were willing to make good on the oath they have all taken to defend the Constitution. In that scenario (fanciful, I realize), both President Trump and Vice President Pence would be at risk of being impeached and removed. This combination would then create a new and separate political crisis.
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Why? Because the second person in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president, is the speaker of the House, who is of course currently a Democrat — Nancy Pelosi. If both Trump and Pence were removed from office, Pelosi would become president, flipping partisan control of the White House and the executive branch.
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That should never happen. A scandal should be able to lead to the removal of individual officials, but it should not reverse which party won an election. “If the electorate says that such-and-such a party should have the White House for four years, it ought to have the White House for four years,” Dwight Eisenhower wisely said.
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The potential for a partisan reversal raises all kinds of problems. It creates incentives for one party to exaggerate a scandal (which, to be clear, is not happening in this case). It can also lead to more voters distrusting an impeachment process. “The whole point of having a line of succession is to ensure a smooth transition and a continuity of administration in a time of crisis,” my colleague Jesse Wegman has written. “Having a leader of the opposing party take over the White House, especially in an era of intense political polarization, would not achieve that, to put it mildly.”
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Or as Jonathan Bernstein of Bloomberg Opinion writes: “It’s contrary to the entire structure of the constitutional system, which separates legislative from executive institutions and forces them to share powers.”
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The line of succession stems from a 1947 law, and it can be changed with a new law anytime. Pelosi and House Democrats should pass such a law as soon as possible, so that every potential successor comes from the executive branch. It would be a victory for good government — and would also send a message about the severity of Trump’s and Pence’s high crimes and misdemeanors.
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Monday, November 18, 2019
Malcolm X - Interview At Berkeley (1963)
Sounds vaguely reiminiscent of society of the present era at times, doesn't it? What does this thinking meant to our history as well as our present and future as a people as simply a "Way of Thought."
The Life and Surprising Times of Dr Dorothy Height
This is an amazing story of the life of a great African-American woman of distinction. Her life story is one of staunch self-development and appreciator of the life and times of the Black populous of the times. Having been turned down from her admittance to Barnard College in Manhatten because they had reached their two-Negro quota -- even though they had already accepted her, Dorothy managed to immediately make new plans for her young life. She then stayed on in NYC with relatives. lived next door to musician W. D. Handy, a blues composer, and hobnobbed with noted Black people of the Harlem Rennaissance like Langston Hughes, learned from encounters with W. E. B. DuBois and others. Dorothy was admitted to NYC and graduated with a Masters. She becamse an NYC Case Worker. Living in Harlem, she met notable people from many other organizations such as Mary McCleod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins. Bethune's influence was remarkable to young Dorothy at that time as Dorothy came to follow the footsteps of this distinguiwhed Black woman, Mary McCleod Betune, a Mover and Shaker of the times. She lived a life of dedication and achievement for herself and for her people. She worked with student church groups. She became a non-violent activist. Surprisingly she began her activist life spark in the tutelage of the Marcus Garvey Movement and advanced to other causes, specifically the organizational offerings of Mary McCleod Bethune who became a women of great worth to her people in her own right. Dorothy became a student activisits under the Garvey influence, Later she became a student leader of several youth organizations. She lived through the Harlem riot. She vowed to get into a position to do something more effective for her people. She got a job at the YWCA, where she could use the drive for equality and justice she felt. There she met Mary McCleod Bethune. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women. At one meeting at the Y, both Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt came into Dorothy's life. The rest is history that unfolds interestingly and beautifully in the video of Dorothy Height's illustrious life. It would be of interest to you to listen and experience this significant story.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Thursday, October 31, 2019
WATCH: Kweisi Mfume's full remembrance at Rep. Elijah Cummings' funeral
Former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume paid tribute to the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, his friend, at a funeral held at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore. Mfume, who is also a former Democratic congressman from Maryland, recalled Cummings as “a good man with a good heart” who “taught us all how to hope, how to smile, how to laugh and how to cry." Mfume added, "He taught us how to live and, with grace and dignity, he has taught us how to die.”
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
How Kanye West's Religious Lyrics Led To 'Jesus Is King' | Genius News
I'm watching Kany West to try to determine his authenticity and attempting to learn what I can from his conversion and struggle.
We have a long way to go to reach a conclusion, but many now believe it is worth it.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Exercise "COGIC SHOUT" lol
RON GOVAN! PERHAPS YOU COULD USE THESE TIPS WHEN YOU CAN'T GET TO THE GYM! ENJOY!!!! PRAISE HIM! PRAISE HIM!!
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Sunday, September 15, 2019
9.12.19 #RMU: Dem debate analysis; Christianity's role in slavery; Joe M...
It's beautiful to witness the FREEDOM of a news anchor with his own show. That's "Making a Way Out of No Way!" That's taking the baton and "Running with it." It's "Making a Silk Purse out of a 'Sow's Ear." If you are vigilant and can find and follow Roland Martin, you will be not only informed but AMAZED! Even when he was "bounced" from TV1, he spins off on his own and is even better than before with a show he designs on his own and is worthy of followship. I advise you to find him and listen -- OFTEN!
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
He Served the Longest Sentence of Any Innocent U.S. Inmate (360°)
This is so sad that such horrendous circumstances have happened to this man. He deserves the highest compensation that the government can provide him for taking away his life to the horrible extent that it did for an innocent man. If any just retribution could be desired for those who destroyed his life, one could only hope that it will occur -- by the power of the Supreme Being. It is at least sad glory that this innocent man was finally released, but it is a feeling that is poorly received in this lifetime -- yet it is all we have and all we are able to do, except to vow that we each must do everything in our power to reasonably work toward the eradication of such injustice again.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
After Man Serves 35 Years in Prison for $50 Robbery, US \'Should Be Ashamed of System We Allow\'
After Man Serves 35 Years in Prison for $50 Robbery, US \'Should Be Ashamed of System We Allow\' We ALL must work toward changing this system of INJUSTICE in the USA. PRISON REFORM NOW!!!!!
"Wealthy CEOs and business executives steal millions of dollars from the public and never go to jail."
by
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"Bless Alvin Kennard," Ava Duvernay wrote on Twitter this week. "Everyone in this country should be ashamed of the system we allow." (Photo: Derek Goulet/cc/flickr)
The failures of the nation's justice system were highlighted this week after a judge resentenced a man—who'd been serving life in prison without a chance of parole for a $50.75 bakery robbery—to time served.
Alvin Kennard had already served over 35 years for the 1983 first degree robbery when Judge David Carpenter on Wednesday cut the life sentence short. Kennard is expected to be released in the coming days after processing by the Alabama Board of Corrections.
Author and CNN commentator Keith Boykin weighed in on the case and the disparate hands of justice, writing on Twitter Thursday, "Wealthy CEOs and business executives steal millions of dollars from the public and never go to jail."
As Al.com reported,
Under Alabama's Habitual Felony Offender Act, then 22-year-old Kennard was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. When he was 18, Kennard had been charged with burglary, grand larceny, and receiving stolen property in connection with a break-in at an unoccupied service station. He pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree burglary for that crime in 1979, and was given a suspended sentence of three years on probation.Those prior crimes, which were not Class A felonies, led to his sentence under the Habitual Felony Offender Act in 1984.
While that "three strikes" law has been changed to allow a fourth time offender the possibility of parole, as ABC News reported, it had no retroactive effect on those already imprisoned under it. Kennard's upcoming freedom is instead thanks to Carpenter noticing the case. Carla Crowder, Kennard's attorney, told the news outlet, "This was a judge that kind of went out of his way."
The case drew the attention of acclaimed filmmaker Ava Duvernay, who said on Twitter Thursday: "Bless Alvin Kennard. Everyone in this country should be ashamed of the system we allow."
Duvernay's comment came in response to a thread from Birmingham, Alabama-based journalist Beth Shelburne in which she called the previous three strikes law "merciless."
"It was extraordinary to see this wrong made right, but it only happened because the right system actors were in place," Shelburne wrote. "I hope Alabama leaders have the courage to grant the same chance to the 500+ others like Alvin who remain locked up with no hope of release."
Crowder, in her comments to ABC News, made similar points.
While welcoming Kennard's upcoming release, Crowder said that "we know that there are hundreds of similarly situated incarcerated people in the state who don't have attorneys, who don't have a voice."
"As this state grapples with the Department of Justice involvement and unconstitutional prisons," she added, "I would hope our lawmakers, our courts, and our governor would do more to address these injustices."
Kennard, for his part, said in court Wednesday, "I just want to say I'm sorry for what I did.”
"I take responsibility for what I did in the past," he said. "I want the opportunity to get it right."
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This is the world we live in. This is the world we cover.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Monday, August 19, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
You'll Never Walk Alone - Nina Simone
Listen to this rendition for the exquisite instrumentation. We all must remember that Nina Simone was originally a gifted pianist who studied at Juliard and played in night clubs to pay for her training. This offering shows her talent and musical skill and experience to the highest of heights. She was never appreciated for the fullest extent of her prodigious gifts. She sang only because she was required to do so by those who hired her, but that produced the inimitable gifts she gave the world.
The Music of Nina Simone - North Sea Jazz Festival 2009
This production is by Nina Simone's daughter, Lisa Simone, who is well qualified to sing her mother's own songs. More power to her. She is here in Durham today and Ron and I missed her, but we attended a Black Conference instead and were well satisfied. We have not learned how to be in two places at once yet --- but we're working on it . . . .
Thursday, August 15, 2019
NFL players bail out college student detained by ICE for 3 months after reading poem in public
NFL players bail out college student detained by ICE for 3 months after reading poem in public
Josh Norman
Jose Bello, a 22-year-old college student and farmworker who was imprisoned for 89 days at the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, California, was released on Monday. The decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to hold Bello on $50,000 bail—a sum Bello could not possibly afford to pay himself—seemed closely tied to Bello’s reading of a poem titled “Dear America” at a public forum on California’s Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act held on May 13 by the Kern County Board of Supervisors in Bakersfield. Two days after that reading, Bello was arrested by ICE agents and held until National Football League players Josh Norman of Washington and Demario Davis of the New Orleans Saints paid for his bail.
Americans. If he was detained for reciting a peaceful poem then we should really ask ourselves, are our words truly free? This is America right? Where the 1st Amendment is freedom of speech unless I missed the memo somewhere. He was exercising that right."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has filed a lawsuit on Bello’s behalf, calling ICE’s detention of Bello a retaliatory act infringing on his civil and free speech rights. Bello has been receiving pro bono legal support from the United Farm Workers Foundation. The UFW has been offering its resources to many immigrants targeted by Trump’s racist policies and ICE’s Gestapo-like assaults.
According to The Washington Post, Bello was arrested in May 2018 by ICE agents and accused of being a part of a local street gang. A federal immigration judge ordered Bello released on a $10,000 bond in August of that year. Then Bello was rearrested this January on a misdemeanor DUI charge, but not held. It was not until two days after Bello read his poem that ICE showed up and arrested him for the misdemeanor DUI—four months later.
The football players who helped pay Bello’s bail are members of a group of players who banded together two years ago to point out American injustice and help in any way they could. The group is called Players Coalition.
You can watch Bello read his poem “Dear America” below the fold.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Beyoncé - SPIRIT (From Disney's "The Lion King" - Official Video)
In this video Beyonce expresses her love for Africa, the land, the flora and fauna, the terrain, the attire, the heart, the dance,the music and Africa's actual people in her inimitable manner of distinction. Thank you Beyonce. You always have astounded me with your unexpected nod to the causes, the culture, and the credit to your own people. Look at Information for a start and Spirit for a finish to this point in time. We await what you will bring to and inspire from and in us as a people.
Monday, July 22, 2019
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Monday, June 24, 2019
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Henry Bibby, Mike Bibby, Jim Bibby,
Henry Bibby, Mike Bibby, Jim Bibby,
My cousin Henry Bibby is a legendary basketball player and his amazing skill in the game in the past won millions of hearts all over the world. He was sharp and he was a nightmare to the opponents,he could really handle the ball.
Charles Henry Bibby was born in Franklinton,North Carolina November 24, 1949. He had the interest to be a professional basketball player from his childhood and he pursued his dreams to become one of the legendary figures in the world of basketball. He played basketball at Person-Albion High School in Franklinton.
In college He won three consecutive NCAA championships in 1970, 1971 and 1972 playing for head coach John Wooden at UCLA. This will problely never happen again. He was a former point guard who played in the NBA from 1972 to 1981, winning an NBA championship in 1973 as a member of the New York Knicks. He was a basketball champion 4 years in a roe.
In the 1972 NBA draft, Bibby was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Knicks and in the second round of the 1972 ABA Draft by the Carolina Cougars. Bibby opted to play for the Knicks and was with the team for two-and-a-half seasons, which included an NBA title in 1973.
Bibby spent nine seasons in the NBA, and was a part of the 1977 and 1980 Philadelphia 76ers teams that made the NBA Finals but lost both times.
Henry Bibby's son Mike Bibby became a standout NBA point guard as well, excelling with the Sacramento Kings and eventually playing for the Knicks just like his father. Michael Bibby was born May 13, 1978 in Cherry Hill,NJ.
Bibby attended Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona , and won an Arizona state championship as a point guard under Coach Jerry Conner.
Bibby played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, with whom he won the 1997 NCAA Championship. He was drafted second overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season with the Grizzlies. He also played for the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat and New York Knicks.
Mike more than made a name for himself. Bibby started his professional career with the Grizzlies, where he averaged 13.2 points, 6.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game, earning NBA all-rookie honors. In Sacramento, he helped lead the Kings to an NBA-best 61-21 record in his first season. His clutch shooting and performance under pressure made Bibby a fan favorite with every team he played for.
Before Henry Bibby became a star on the seen his older brother James Blair Bibby October 29, 1944 – February 16, 2010 was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1972 to 1984 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates, with whom he was a member of its 1979 World Series Champions. He pitched a no-hitter against a team in the midst of a three-year dynasty. Also, in 1981, as a member of the Pirates, he missed out on a perfect game by just one hit, allowing a lead off single, before retiring the next 27 batters he faced.
Bibby attended Fayetteville State University on a basketball scholarship, and also pitched for its varsity baseball team. His professional career began when he was signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent after his junior year on July 19, 1965. With Fayetteville State having discontinued its baseball program in the late-1970s, he was the only player from the university to reach the major leagues
Everything about Jim Bibby was big. His frame: 6’5” and 235 pounds, with “legs like oak trees.”1 His hands: he could fit eight baseballs in his right hand — palm down — one more even than Sandy Koufax and Johnny Bench.2 His fastball: “vicious ... serious heat ... would scare the bejesus out of most batters.”3 His appetite: as his older brother Fred said, “Jim’s the only guy I’ve ever known who has to have two plates in front of him. One for meat, one for greens.”4 And most of all, his heart — so many fond memories flowed in after he died in 2010.
The burly righthander didn’t make it to the majors until he was nearly 28. He was wild, and it took him time and effort to harness his ability. His development was also delayed because he missed three full seasons in the minors — two in Vietnam and one after a back operation. Yet eventually he won 111 games as a big-leaguer (against 101 losses). He was an important part of the staff for the World Series champions of 1979, the Pittsburgh Pirates “Fam-a-lee.” He followed up with his career year in 1980, at the age of 35.
After his big-league career ended in 1984, Bibby spent 16 years as a minor-league pitching coach — 15 of them in Lynchburg, Virginia, the area where he lived much of his life. He also pitched in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1990. Upon his death, the Lynchburg Hillcats issued a statement saying, “Bibby was a foundation for baseball in the Lynchburg area, an institution in the Carolina League and his #26 is the only retired number in Lynchburg baseball history. Anyone who knew Bibby would tell you, you could not find a more jovial soul.”5
Bibby was an older brother of Henry Bibby and uncle of Mike Bibby. He was married to Jacqueline Ann (Jordan) Bibby and had two daughters, Tamara Bibby of Washington, D.C. and Tanya Bibby (McClain) of Charlotte, North Carolina. He died in Lynchburg General Hospital on February 16, 2010 due to bone cancer.
Drea Avent interviews Henry Bibby
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Monday, May 20, 2019
Friday, May 10, 2019
Friday, April 19, 2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Slavery by Another Name
I first created a post in this blog on August 9,2008 on Bill Moyers Journal. Slavery by Another Name. This was my first exposure to this important book written by Douglas Blackmon. The power of the book and the movie tares at my insides reinforcing old fears while stirring up memories of past and present hates. Life has not been fair for Black people in this country.
It was a shocking reality that often went unacknowledged, then and now: A huge system of forced, unpaid labor, mostly affecting Southern black men, that lasted past World War II and in some ways even today. These stories of men, charged with crimes like vagrancy, and often guilty of nothing, who were bought and sold, abused, and subject to sometimes deadly working conditions as unpaid convict labor.
By JANET MASLIN
In “Slavery by Another Name,” Douglas A. Blackmon eviscerates one of our schoolchildren’s most basic assumptions: that slavery in America ended with the Civil War. Mr. Blackmon unearths shocking evidence that the practice persisted well into the 20th century. And he is not simply referring to the virtual bondage of black sharecroppers unable to extricate themselves economically from farming.
He describes free men and women forced into industrial servitude, bound by chains, faced with subhuman living conditions and subject to physical torture. That plight was horrific. But until 1951, it was not outside the law.
All it took was anything remotely resembling a crime. Bastardy, gambling, changing employers without permission, false pretense, “selling cotton after sunset”: these were all grounds for arrest in rural Alabama by 1890. And as Mr. Blackmon explains in describing incident after incident, an arrest could mean a steep fine. If the accused could not pay this debt, he or she might be imprisoned.
Alabama was among the Southern states that profitably leased convicts to private businesses. As the book illustrates, arrest rates and the labor needs of local businesses could conveniently be made to dovetail.
For the coal, lumber, turpentine, brick, steel, and other interests described here, a steady stream of workers amounted to a cheap source of fuel. And the welfare of such workers was not the companies’ concern. So in the case of John Clarke, convicted of “gaming” on April 11, 1903, a 10-day stint in the Sloss-Sheffield mine in Coalburg, Ala., could erase his fine. But it would take an additional 104 days for him to pay fees to the sheriff, county clerk, and witnesses who appeared at his trial.
In any case, Mr. Clarke survived for only one month and three days in this captivity. The cause of his death was said to be falling rock. At least another 2,500 men were incarcerated in Alabama labor camps at that time.
This is a very tough story to tell, and not just because of its extremely graphic details. Mr. Blackmon, who was reared in the Mississippi Delta and is now the Atlanta bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, must set forth a huge chunk of history. He writes of how the emancipation of slaves left Southern plantations “not just financially but intellectually bereft” because the slaves’ knowledge and experience could be indispensable; how the rise of industry reshaped the South; how a new generation of African-Americans who had not known slavery found themselves threatened by it; how slavery intersected with efforts to unionize labor; and even how, once blacks lost their voting rights but still had clout at the Republican convention, they were strategically important to President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 election campaign.
The roles of elected officials in acknowledging and stopping this new slavery are a crucial part of Mr. Blackmon’s story. Needless to say, it is complicated. The book describes the 1903 investigation authorized by the Justice Department, the trial of accused slave traders and the aggressive stance taken by Warren S. Reese Jr., the United States attorney in Alabama, in prosecuting his case.
“As allegations of slavery in his jurisdiction multiplied, Reese demonstrated a prehensile comprehension of the murky legal framework governing black labor,” Mr. Blackmon writes, “and a hard-nosed unwillingness to ignore the implications of the extraordinary evidence that soon poured into his office.”
The resulting trial is among this book’s many zealously researched episodes. (Mr. Blackmon’s sources range from corporate records to one “Sheriff’s Feeding Account, 1899-1907.”) Its outcome was promising, but there were loopholes. As one sign of this story’s complexity, consider that the traders were tried on charges of peonage.
Those charges turned out not to be applicable in Alabama. And in another such case, lawyers would argue that the charge should instead be involuntary servitude. Reformers were dealing with “a constitutional limbo in which slavery as a legal concept was prohibited by the Constitution, but no statute made an act of enslavement explicitly illegal.”
Mr. Blackmon’s way of organizing this material is to bookend his legal and historical chronicle with the personal story of Green Cottenham, a black man born free in the mid-1880s. This gets “Slavery by Another Name” off to a shaky start, if only because many of Mr. Blackmon’s wordings are speculative. The book underscores that if black Americans’ enslavement to U.S. Steel (which, when it acquired the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, became a prime offender) is analogous to the slavery that occurred in Nazi Germany, it also emphasizes that the American slaves’ illiteracy meant there would be no written records of their experience. So imagining Mr. Green’s experience becomes something of a stretch.
But as soon as it gets to more verifiable material, “Slavery by Another Name” becomes relentless and fascinating. It exposes what has been a mostly unexplored aspect of American history (though there have been dissertations and a few books from academic presses). It creates a broad racial, economic, cultural and political backdrop for events that have haunted Mr. Blackmon and will now haunt us all. And it need not exaggerate the hellish details of intense racial strife.
The torment that Mr. Blackmon catalogs is, if anything, understated here. But it loudly and stunningly speaks for itself.
Slavery by Another Name
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Douglas Blackmon - Slavery By Another Name
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