Friday, May 5, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
Racism and Hate on the Rise in the USA
Does the new administration in America recognize that their actions and their rhetoric has created a climate for bigotry and hate to blossom.
Do the right winged Christians in this new administration really understand the teachings of Jesus?
Love thy neighbor as thyself...feed the hungry...take care of the sick...see about those in prison...
treat people the way you want to be treated.
Does the new administration care about the downtrodden and the fact that millions of people may lose health coverage? Does the new administration care about the oppressed...the 2.2 million people that are incarcerated in this country? Does the new administration care that hard working immigrants who are not criminals are being deported when in fact Native Americans are the only indigenous people and everybody else came to these shores either as immigrants or slaves? Does the new administration care that the sacred grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are being violated by the Dakota Pipeline? Love thy neighbor as thyself...feed the hungry...take care of the sick...see about those in prison...
treat people the way you want to be treated.
Jesus, the epitome of love and compassion, walked this earth with the intent to eradicate religious hypocrisy. He extended the greatest invitation ever given to mankind: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance are on the rise in this country. Do the haters and the racists know that when Jesus walked this earth in human form He was not only Jewish but He was also a man of color. Daniel 7:9 (KJV) and Revelations 1:14-15 (KJV) describe him as having wool like hair. What race of people have hair like wool?
Jesus was of mixed heritage but you know what they say in racist USA one strand of black DNA...one drop of blood...one parent and your racial identity is completed and established as being black...and that's a fact!
Check out this video!
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Which America will it be?
Donald Trump
was sworn in as 45th president of this country on January 20, 2017
and wasted no time in beginning to dismantle all the Obama Administration had worked
so hard to accomplish. I marched in the Women’s March held in NYC on January
21rst. The main march was in Washington,
DC but I couldn’t get there. Why at 71 years of age would I want to march? Well…I
marched on my first picket line when I was fifteen years old in front of Woolworth's in Berkeley, CA. This was
over fifty years ago when the Civil Rights Movement was spreading throughout the
country calling for an end to unjust, bigoted practices. Dr. King had called for sympathy pickets because of Woolworth’s racist
policies in the south.
I ‘m
marched in the Women's March because I want to know which America, Trump wants to make great again.
Is it the America that bombed baby girls
in Sunday school in Birmingham, Alabama…or the America that murdered voter registration workers in
Mississippi? Is it the America that brutally killed Emmet Till…or the
America that firebombed freedom rider buses? Is it the America that lynched
black men leaving bodies hanging from trees…the strange fruit that Billie
Holiday sang about in her song? Or is it the America where the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK) burned crosses on black people’s property then terrorizing and killing them? Is it the America that assassinated Medgar Evers... or the America
that had segregated Armed Forces until the Vietnam War? Soldiers would return from war still facing the same intolerance and hatred prior to risking their
lives for their country. I was alive when all this was happening in America. I
picketed, I sang, I marched, I went to jail. I do not want to go back in time. So I want
to know which America is Trump talking about making great again?
The Women’s
March was all inclusive in addressing human rights and justice for all. One of
the signs stated LOVE TRUMPS HATE! It was not about gender, it was not about
race but it was about unity…the good people in the world coming together in the
struggle to keep democratic ideals alive and well in America.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Days of Darkness 2
billionaires
now in power
the
darkest of hours has arrived
money
now rules...fools on the warpath
yet
the Bible says
“For
the love of money is the root of all evil…"
avarice…gluttony…greed
the
seed of war now planted
into
future partnerships with haters…dictators
racism
and bigotry
exploding
over the country
dropping
bomb shards that kill
empathy and
reason in the season of hate
to
late for justice for all…
hypocritical
right winged
Christianity
spreads a disease of the mind
with
such ease…hypocrisy
continues
to promote unjust acts
don't
tax the rich
silence
the voice of a woman's right of choice
set
limitations on the immigration of Muslims
times up for for the achievers...the dreamers
times up for for the achievers...the dreamers
self-
righteousness rules
the moral
right is so confused...
cultivating
darkness
embroiling
America in
a
spiritual contradiction of a religion
devoid
of the love of Jesus
who
they profess to believe in...
cultivating darkness
no
justice for the oppressed
no
justice for the poor
no
justice for the downtrodden…
only
death, the grave, and hell.
now real
justice it seems
has
once again become only a dream
of
social democracy in the land of the free
wouldn't
it have been glorious to see
universal
health care
affordable
housing everywhere
sustainable
care for the elderly…
living
out their lives in peace
education for all citizens
education for all citizens
the
school to prison pipeline eradicated at last
massive
incarceration a phenomenon of the past...
O'
what a wonderful country this could be…
if
taxation of the rich was a reality
helping
to pay for social programs
that
could assist in the elimination of poverty
and
then this nation would truly be
“One
nation…under God
with
liberty and justice for all.”Sunday, December 11, 2016
The Blue Mirror
Chords ...piano sounds
Trombone…tenor sax
Notes flowing…flying
all around the rhythm of the drums…
Jazz proclaims supremacy
in celebration of a musical legacy…
The Newark Blues People Festival lives on.
A soloist accompanied by
harmonizing voices declares
the reason for the season.
the reason for the season.
Silent Night in the Blue Mirror
sings of heavenly peace…
A peace to release the mind
from stress and worry
from violence and from hate …
Contralto tones interweave
with chords falling between beats
crescendo-ing into a spiritual explosion
declaring amazing grace
in the blue mirror.
Voices curve in and out
accentuating spaces in the music…
The breathy sound of the flute softly enters
The breathy sound of the flute softly enters
whispering melodically of
hope
hope
The music rumbles
The music rolls
The drums explode …
A glissando sends sixteenth notes
cascading into the atmosphere
igniting spirits to take wing and soar…
lanterns lighting the way
in the blue mirror.
Abstract designs
reflect bass notes
walking through the mirror
in search of the one…
The beat that connects musical exploration
into a unifying
force
in search of
creation…
in search of a
peace to release the mind
from stress and worry
from stress and worry
from violence and from hate…
in search of a peace
that serenades unity in the family of man.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Reservoir Park
Waters of the reservoir
Shimmer in the late afternoon sun
Deep in reflection messaging
Peace and tranquility ...
Sitting in Reservoir Park
Days getting shorter
It will be dark soon
The happy excited laughter
Of the many children
Culturally diverse
Climbing rings on boat like jungle gyms
Fleeting images in their heads
Of pirate ships on rolling seas
Alternately blend in
With the sound of an airplane high in the sky
zooming into the unknown.
Waters of the reservoir
Shimmer in the late afternoon sun
Deep in reflection messaging
Peace and tranquility ...Crisp fall air envelopes the park
Trees statuesque in their splendor stand tall
Branches swaying to the rhythm of the wind
Bow to the universe in awe of magnificence…
Leaves in their splendor starting to turn
Yellow…red…gold
Many though still green
Autumn declaring its glory
as cars swish by on destination road.
Waters of the reservoir
Shimmer in the late afternoon sun
Deep in reflection messaging
Peace and tranquility…
Fathers and mothers hands on hips
Watch over children twirling on a pole
Going round and round…
Stepping on ladders that look like worms
Sliding…swinging…running…ripping
The reservoir mirroring
A momentary glimpse into eternity
Of the many ethnicities
at peace with each other…
The horizon now coloring in gold…orange…and pink
signals the setting of the sun.
Waters of the reservoir
Shimmer in the late afternoon sun
Deep in reflection messaging
Peace and tranquility…
Sunday, November 13, 2016
A Vortex of Emotions
Emotions
all a muck swirling in a giant vortex as we approach the dawn of the rest of our
existence…rage…hate…anger…fear…sorrow…sadness… disgust…no trust. A myriad of feelings followed the most
bizarre election in the history of the United States of America. Donald Trump was elected the 45th
president of our country based on a platform of rhetoric, persuasively
appealing to fear and hate, and effectively dividing the country into an enclave
of compassion surrounded by callousness and confusion. This man said he
would build a wall to keep Mexicans out and stop Muslims from coming into this
country. This man did not emphatically denounce the endorsement of the KuKluxKlan, and this man was also known to
physically grope women viewing them as sexual objects. This man is
a person many of us thought was one big dangerous joke but in the end he got
the last laugh.
I
ran across a quote of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which I feel appropriately
describes what just happened in our country. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and
conscientious stupidity.” A year or
so ago when I first read this quote I didn’t quite understand it and glossed
over it, but after this election and upon re-reading it had an “a ha” moment, a
light bulb experience, and with some reflection was able to apply his words to our new reality:
Sincere
ignorance stayed home the day of the election because of the thought that their
vote didn’t matter, and were comfortably clothed in the notion when in doubt
don’t vote. Sincere ignorance blinded many blue collar workers to the fact that
the 5% unemployment rate is about as low as you can go in a capitalist system
and was achieved by our current president Barack Obama. Sincere ignorance hoodwinked laborers with empty promises and them not realizing the impact of technology, which is rapidly replacing workers because highly skilled training is required.
Sincere
ignorance pierced the fear of coal miners into the belief that “go green” is a
fad and the mining industry will be revitalized in spite of fossil fuels contributing to global warming.. Sincere ignorance fed on the uneducated who
don’t have a clue as to the economics of this country, who idolize wealth, and who think that the 3% of this nation that
controls the money has compassion for the shrinking middle class and the less
fortunate.
Conscientious stupidity stymied the hands of many right winged Christians who in spite of
the Divine Doctrine of Love voted for hatred and intolerance…their paralyzed hands keeping
them from opening the bible and doing a fact check: St. Matthew 25: “34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world:35 For
I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I
was a stranger, and ye took me in:36 Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.” The
rallying cry of “let the oppressed go free” rings throughout the
Bible from the Old Testament to the
New.
Conscientious
stupidity was black people voting for the same man that the KuKluxKlan
endorsed. Even sincere ignorance does not justify a black person casting a vote for the
KKK, an organization that has tortured, hung, murdered, and burned their way
into the psyche of the African American collective conscience and is forever
embedded in the historical tapestry of the United States of America.
Conscientious stupidity voted for a man who wants to violate the first amendment by curtailing the migration of Muslims to this country. This amendment states:“Congress shall make no law prohibiting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof; abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Conscientious stupidity ranted and raved about building a wall to keep our southern neighbors out, and about deporting large numbers of people who came to this country seeking a better life. Nevertheless the Statue of Liberty stands in the New York harbor singing out: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses to breathe free…send these homeless, tempest tossed to me. I will lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Conscientious stupidity voted for a man who wants to violate the first amendment by curtailing the migration of Muslims to this country. This amendment states:“Congress shall make no law prohibiting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof; abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Conscientious stupidity ranted and raved about building a wall to keep our southern neighbors out, and about deporting large numbers of people who came to this country seeking a better life. Nevertheless the Statue of Liberty stands in the New York harbor singing out: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses to breathe free…send these homeless, tempest tossed to me. I will lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
This is a country of immigrants no matter how many generations removed, and then of course the many African Americans whose ancestors were brought to this country by force. The only indigenous people are the Native Americans, and here in 2016 the multicultural nature of this country is one of its greatest strengths.
What do we do?
Do we wait and see what’s going to happen over the next four years? Do we
simply become complacently compliant only grumbling every now and then? Or do we continue to work at making a
difference in our communities, keeping our commitment and compassion for justice alive, and
continuing to embrace humanity with empathy and dignity? Do we stand up for something or do we fall
for anything? In conclusion more wise words from Dr. King, Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
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