THOUGHTS ABOUT CONCENTRATING AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICAL POWER

THOUGHTS ABOUT CONCENTRATING AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICAL POWER – scattered parts weaken the whole, PLEASE SHARE The complexity and pace of life here in America, moreover the world, has increased the necessity for black Americans to concentrate their effort to increase political sophistication and power. Working only to survive individually or as a unique group is no longer beneficial for all African Americans. The reason is that competition is intense for federal dollars and policies among racial groups and the political sophistication and number of groups is increasing. Vital resources – jobs, education, reparations, income, affirmative action, healthcare etc., that flow from our federal and state governments through taxes is finite and will go to those persuasive groups who are organize with a single political voice. African Americans do not have a single political voice; we are a scattered people – we are creative, intelligent but scattered. Religious, political, and secular groups typically define themselves by exclusion. Those inside the group see themselves as correct in their point of view and those outside as incorrect and failing, lost, condemned. Group insiders tend to be obligated to take the opposite view to that of outsiders. Some insiders view outsiders as an enemy to be destroyed. African American groups and individuals must develop common political objectives irrespective of group identity and goals. This will take creating alliances across group and individual lines. We don’t have to love or agree with one another to aide in the propagation of a common political objective: it doesn’t take creating or joining a group to be in political solidarity. The question that should be asked and answered is WHAT IS THE POLITICAL OBJECTIVES VITAL TO THE HEALTH AND WELBEING OF AFRICAN AMERICANS now and in the future. Turn the answers to this question into a political mantra to be propagated by the mouth and pen of every group and individual. Direct the mantra to all branches of government, private and public organizations, including the media. A group or individual can kill the influence and impact of the mantra if it is conditioned upon the accepting of a politically conflicting group or individual goal. Individuals attempting to acquire a more effective political voice may find benefit in subscribing to a group whose primary goal is to develop a political agenda that best serves African Americans – Descendants of Slaves, DOS. I have subscribed to the organization BREAKING BROWN, Yvette Carnell, You Tube, as a vehicle for developing and amplifying my political voice. PLEASE SHARE THIS and OFTEN adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT LATEST SUPREME COURT CHANGE

THOUGHTS ABOUT LATEST SUPREME COURT CHANGE – even more of the same The latest change in the court’s makeup will further divide the country in gender, race, and wealth. The principle driver for these changes is and has always been rich powerful white men. Most people who devote time to thinking rather than relying on the benevolence of a God and men who present themselves as caring individuals are aware of this fact. Thinking citizens were not fooled by the thousands of women demonstrating that the will of the rich and powerful white men would yield and take a more favorable course. Thinking black women should be aware that their pain and that of all African Americans will be more intense and lasting than that experienced by Caucasian Americans. This is true for all blacks across all indicators of growth: jobs, education, income, and physical/ psychological health. African Americans, more now than ever before must look away from what separates us toward those things vital to our earthbound wellbeing. Prayer will only have some benefit when it is followed by a physical person planning, gathering necessary resources, employing those resources, and evaluating the outcome. Blacks should make alliances with whites only when it benefits black people, no exception. I picked up a spin from a black community leader, Yvette Parnell –BREAKING BROWN on You Tube, to an old notion of mine. I have often said that to identify ourselves as African is inappropriate; African American is a little clumsy to me but comes closer to a usable identity. Yvette added something to African American that defines us more clearly. We, blacks are descendants of slaves and slave owners; we are DOS – DESCENDANTS OF SLAVES. Some of us wish to take slavery out of the equation of our lives – we get real silly trying to define ourselves as persons and cultures viewed by many as contributing most to the growth of mankind. Blacks occupy pages in those contributions but we didn’t write the whole book. It is absolutely correct to think that African American ancestry reaches into antiquity – a time when life was coming into the knowledge of itself. adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT REPARATIONS FOR AMERICAN BLACK PEOPLE

THOUGHTS ABOUT REPARATIONS FOR AMERICAN BLACK PEOPLE – slavery and government restrictions to black development Commentators and pundits have saturated the American public with enough information of the subject for every literate or semiliterate American to know what it is and whether or not they approve or disapprove of it. I don’t expect this post to move you one way or the other. What I do intend is for you to consider a pundit’s point of view I witnessed just the other day. I should let you know that I have read a considerable amount of information on the subject, both pro and con. I have known for some time that there are black literate Americans who are against reparations – I’ll let them explain why because I’ve tried but still don’t understand their rationale. I think the case for reparations is engraved in black slavery and the government sanctioned laws and enforcement baring black American development. Grave harm has been and continues to be done to black Americans at the hand of our American government. The pundit Yvette Carnell of the video program Breaking Brown gave reparation a spin I hadn’t heard before. She said, I’m paraphrasing, that black people paid and is still paying the cost of slavery and the government restrictions to black development – slavery has a monetary and emotional cost as does government discrimination on the bases of race. American black folks have borne and are still bearing that costs all alone. WE’RE SORRY has no account at a bank. REPARATIONS! adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT TAKING TIME TO LIVE

THOUGHTS ABOUT TAKING TIME TO LIVE AND NOT JUST REACT – just reacting gives others control In life shit comes to us that is irritating and designed to knock us off balance. Some of the shit brought to us is delivered by other human beings and is intended to keep us off balance. When we’re off balance we don’t think well – it is easy to control us when we’re off balance. Reacting to every irritant will leave us exhausted and vulnerable – could lead to losing our lives. If the shit is being delivered on a regular base we have to decide which of the shit is most harmful. I have found that most shit deliveries can be returned to sender – don’t even bother opening the shit. Deal with only the shit that puts you in harm’s way. Check with others to see if they’re dealing with the same shit – shit has a way of fucking with more than one person. Plan how you’re going to keep the shit off you; I mean plan – define the shit, what it is, how it affects you, what is its source, what are its strengths and weaknesses; plan how you will irritate the fuck out of the shit deliverer so he/she doesn’t bring you more shit. The other day and I was on my way to a coffee shop in West Hills when a traffic light gave reason for me to stop and admire a sunset. The hills were in silhouette and the sky, fellow nature lovers, was a pallet still under the creative brush of an artist. The clouds had been stretched across the canvas and given a gauzy texture imbued with colors to confound the senses. I don’t have words, at the moment, to tell the colors but if you’ve ever gone to a place to witness the full fall colors then you have a hint. I often take time to live; doing so enables me to handle the shit. adolphusward.net.

THOUGHTS ABOUT CHURCH AND OPIOIDS

THOUGHTS ABOUT CHURCH AND OPIOIDS – a twin relationship So that you understand the way in which I use these twins a brief definition follows. I do not mean to say that one is the same as the other; I do mean to say that church and opioids serve the same purpose in that both seek to relieve anxiety and quiet pain. I use the word church generically – I mean any person(s) who has faith in an all knowing god; a god who has a heaven and hell and the power to destroy the universe. I also use the word opioids generically to mean all substances (drugs) that alter reality. I grew up well before the age of the internet and social media; I welcomed their coming and use them regularly. As a writer much of my research is done on line. The vast amounts and variety of information and the speed at which I can retrieve it still amazes me. The speed at which new information is coming into being is like the exponential expansion of our universe – impossible to keep up with it. When I was much younger the sources of information was periodicals the library radio talking with others and a bit of tv. There was another important source that I used all the time – that was observation. That brings me to the reason for this post. The once vibrant neighborhood I grew up in was gutted by employers leaving, expressway ripping the heart out of the community, and population density out stripping available resources. I began to observe a strange occurrence that at first I found hard to believe. The neighborhood was dying but new life was beginning; that new life came in two forms: church and opioids. At first that made absolutely no sense to me – then the light came on. When a person or a people have increasing levels of anxiety and pain they seek to rid themselves of what is driving the anxiety and too quiet the pain – church and opioids hold out a promise to do both: but the down side is likely to lead to addiction. adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT WHITE FAMILY AND FRIENDS

THOUGHTS ABOUT MY WHITE FAMILY AND FRIENDS – no equivocation I love my white family members and friends – I really don’t give a fuck about those who might condone or condemn it. It has taken time to develop these relationships and they have grown to have value. A mature thinker knows that I could not give what I don’t possess. The love for my black family and friends reaches infinitely farther back in time than that for whites; the reason is obvious: I and my ancestors are African. Because whites enslaved me, tried to strip me of my humanity it is not possible for me to love all of them. Monogamous relationships with a white person can be frustrating for most black people and their white significant other; since the past and present of the black experience is fraught with white injustice anxiety is a constant emotion in black people – venting that anxiety will either embarrass or anger their white partner; to keep the peace a black voice may be muted or silenced altogether. I know that the progeny of black-white blood mixing have made it easier for me to openly love some whites; but only when a white person reciprocates that affection. I don’t love anyone who hates me or mine; I will harm anyone who tries to harm me or mine. I don’t share the mindset of those who want to separate the races; human activity is forcing some form of integration whether we like it or not. All of us share common services and spaces: public facilities, banking systems, water systems, road systems, transportation systems, communication systems, communities and more. There are those who try hard to avoid contact with other races and cultures but that’s becoming increasingly difficult as populations move and mix about the earth. I don’t see the eventual browning of humanity that some fear; most cultures will retain unique indicators. I think all races have more to think about than building walls to separate and isolate ourselves. We’re losing the fucking planet whose death will kill us all.

THOUGHTS ABOUT BARBARIC VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN

THOUGHTS ABOUT BARBARIC VIOLENCE TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN – AFRICA, Democratic Republic of Congo Like all humans I have a dark-side – my dark-side is really dark. Even when I was trying to do the Christian thing I never considered turning the other cheek or praying for a motherfucker who was trying to kill or harm me or mine. In a film the actor Ving Rhames was about to give payback to a bad guy who had tortured him: he said, “I’m about to go medieval on your ass.” My paraphrase to this is I’m about to go postmodern on your ass. Drones were a part of my dark-side pay back long before they became a reality. Ethnic cleansing remains a practice in too many cultures. There ought to be an immediate international response to this practice; the response should ignore sovereignty and brutally squash those who are doing the killing. There should be no room for negotiation. Anyone who’ll take a pleading child and chop them into pieces while the mother is made to watch and then do the same to her, should not be granted any human rights – a most wicked torture should be fair treatment.