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.

THE RENT RELIEF ACT - KARMALA HARRIS

THIS IS POLITICAL Congresswoman Karmala Harris has announced important legislation for renters in California: THE RENT RELIEF ACT is designed to provide renters financial help to offset high rent cost. At 83 I applaud Kamala Harris for the RENT RELIEF ACT and its intent to help me maintain my quality of life. If you rent I urge you to contact your legislator and request their support for THE RENT RELIEF ACT.

THOUGHTS ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND STUPIDITY

THOUGHTS ABOUT PRESIDETIAL POWER AND STUPIDITY – mama and daddy should have taught him better It’s a personal insult when a man, particularly a white man known to abuse his power, come into the sanctuary of my race pride and loose his tongue to blaspheme the sanctity of a revered elder, particularly a female elder: IT WOULD BE BETTER THAT HE WERE NEVER BORN.