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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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CIVIL UNREST VS PROTEST

Since the economy has tanked, thousands out of work have lost their homes and many have become homeless-including children. 45.8 million Americans are now on food stamps. Programs are being cut that aids the impoverished and African Americans are taking the blunt of these hardships in America. People are turning on each other fighting for crumbs from business people to the average Joe as unemployment and poverty still are at an all time high. The Debt Ceiling deal is just a continuation on the attack on poor people. The divide between the have & the have not’s equaling the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is ever expanding.  Former middle class citizens is now fighting to maintain alongside lower class citizenry from all aspects including competing for low paying jobs- if they can find one. This economic/social disaster is happening all over the world and here in America there’s an ever increasing chatter in the Black community about taking to the streets to revolt against these and other injustices dealt upon the community by the Government and the powers that be.

Even Reverend Jessie Jackson Sr. has mentioned in his radio broadcast’s that we must take to the streets to fight for such injustices. But the problem I have with his and other leadership & radio personalities “Taking to The Streets” solution to this crisis is this…

Is Reverend Jackson and other’s fueling the potential for mass CIVIL UNREST??? In London, mass civil unrest due to unemployment, cuts in public services and a police shooting of a 27yr old man sparked rioting in the streets which caused massive damage to business’s, buildings, cars, and even civilian injury and mass arrests in the low income communities. And in Israel, 300,000 protested by taking to the streets as well for similar and POLITICAL INJUSTICES. And the same goes for other countries.  In America, frustrations are steadily mounting which is creating the same recipe for civil unrest to take place. Here, the frustrations aren’t just in one city (like London) but in cities and towns all across the country and in all communities. Small packs of rioters are already being reported in cities like Washington D.C. and Philadelphia where these crowds are using social Media (facebook) to formulate their attacks. People here are so hurt and so desperate that it will only take one major incident to set people off and take to the streets in rage! That’s Israel times 100!

Is civil unrest really the answer? How do we take to the streets? Do we March? Many will say yes, but what have we achieved by marching??? Nothing! Nothing but awareness.

Whenever an innocent child is killed in the streets in certain sectors of the Black community, the community leaders/activist organize and conduct a march (usually the next day) to stop the killings and everyone goes home that evening only to find another child killed in that same area or an adjacent area a month or two later. The gangs stop shooting for a few days to a month or so due to the police and community activist presence. In other words they either wait until the heat dies down or choose another location for their barbaric shootings & illicit activity. When the U.S. went to war with countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, White folks marched/protested in the nation’s downtown areas peacefully, but that didn’t stop our administration from sending more troops to those regions including during President Obama’s term. Again, everyone goes back home and waits for our local or national governments to take action towards these issues, but again nothing ever happens.

Media personalities must be very careful how they dictate to our masses and convey not to cause civil unrest for this will get us nowhere as they (the government) will have the excuse to declare Martial law (in Black communities) and call in the National Guard across the country in the big cities with the go-ahead to shoot to kill us & our children if we don’t return to our homes or go about our business. And lets not forget, they can use the… “I thought I saw him pull out a gun or reached in his pocket” as an excuse to open fire - the same excuse many police officers’ use to validate shooting a Black person. As I said before, this is what the powers that be expect us to do. They obviously didn’t create an economic & racial climate of this magnitude not expecting civil unrest. They know human nature when placed in these kind of stressful and in some case’s inhumane situations, especially with the dumbing down of our society. When we riot, then they can make massive arrests to incarcerate more of our people to make profit for the corporations who own the prisons.

 

Reverend Jackson did say one thing that I adhere to in reacting to our economic collapse and the situations in our community…

He also said during the same “Take to the Streets” comments…

“Don’t panic and don’t turn on each other but turn to each other”.

 

The best way to turn to each other is to UNIFY! You know; the same thing all other cultures do when they want to get something achieved. It’s time we used our heads and protest in the same strategic manner as they strategize against us. Throughout our history, nothing has bought more respect and faster results than BOYCOTTS! Did we forget about the boycotts of Alabama, Atlanta & Cincinnati that achieved results? So far no one has come up with a better plan for UNIFYING the Black masses by coming together than SILENT DOLLARS: 2 DAYS OF RESTRAINT! In fact, no other Plan/Movement has been presented and implemented that addresses our issues and strategically unites the average Joe by simultaneously creating our INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION! If there was such a concrete strategic plan, you know damn well our leadership would have activated it by now for there is no time to waste because of the depth of this emergency with the time factor included. As for the plans that have been suggested, many were cut down and or not executed because of fear.

SILENT DOLLARS even eliminates the fear which is why every official and organization leaders are contributing to the movement. Since the Black community has tried everything else to no avail then what do we have to lose by joining and UNIFYING to further the SILENT DOLLARS: 2 DAYS OF RESTRAINT movement?

So don’t let this economic/social crisis scare you and turn on each other and also take to the streets in rage. We the people have nothing else to rely on. Because our backs are up against the wall, we the people can only move in one direction and that is to take over! We must now tell the government and the powers that be what were going to do and how this country will be ran for our benefit to have just a smidgit of an equal playing field. This is why we put them in these positions in the first place. This is our chance-your chance to Rise, Unite and make SILENT DOLLARS: 2 DAYS OF RESTRAINT successful!

CIVIL UNREST WITHOUT PROTEST IS NON-SENSE!