Something from STREETWISE THINKING (That I Hope You Read)

Check out this short note on my other blog, STREETWISE THINKING.

Elder Lessons

Look and listen, young man
Pay attention, young lady
Life will pass you by faster
Than a cop can swing a nightstick
If you let it
Give yourself an hour everyday
To see sunlight
To peer at stars
To breathe your own scent
So you don't lose you
To the world around you
Mankind needs to be more than
Kind of a man
So, son, get to your dreams
As quickly as God can help you
Nobody promised to make it easy
Even an easy girl can have some
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaard
Consequences for you
Daughter, don't let some fool
Misrepresent
What he desires
And take you for piecemeal
You're worth more than that, baby
Choose where you bury your treasures
And wisely pick he who gets to
UNEARTH them
You're built for life, child
Don't lose yourself in all this
Death music
Morbid television
Depressing news
Find hope
It still springs eternal
I don't care what you hear
The Bush program say
You were molten from the finest gold
On the planet Earth
African gold
It doesn't matter what your skin tone is
Child, we all came from the same fabric
God just dyed us to match our separate homes
Let me stop
I know your attention span
Is no span at all
It's just a point.

Mumia Podcasts

Hottnikkz recently asked me for suggestions on places to find Mumia abu Jamal's words in podcasts or internet radio spots. For anyone else who finds an interest, check this spot on Itunes to subscribe to a recurring feed of recordings. Stay cool in the heat, happy on your feet, and alert on your way through this life!

Photo reference URL: http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:CEAtro7rnqM2pM:http://peoplesvideo.tv/bm/thumbnails/Mumia1.jpg

FREE THE JENA 6

My friends and neighbors,

I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1949-203274

Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1949-203274

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1949-203274

Thanks.

For more information on this CURRENT AND NEARLY UNSPOKEN MOMENT IN OUR HISTORY, check out the Final Call Online.

Stories from the OTHER Warfront...

One of my role models...

...I hope she can one day see American soil again...

...Assata Shakur.

When War Backfires

Isaac, You're Nutty!

My friend/brother/ace Isaac sent this link to me just a few minutes ago. CRAZY!

glumbert.com - Read a Book

Random Thought, Cool Art

This is random, but I love the wit of the drawings...AND the use of normal CD's as a medium. Enjoy.

clipped from www.techeblog.com

Dearly Departed

I knew you were tired
Cooped up and shackled down by
Illnesses and old bones and tired muscles
And nerve endings that mutinied
Making your body
The Bounty in flesh
You smiled
You spoke peace
You frowned on weakness
You lived a long life
You served your clan
You made the world your clan
Grams, I miss you
Tanky said many a time
That you wouldn't leave
Until your mission was done
As your Savior spoke before you
On the schedule of His operation,
"It is finished."
We're ready to love
As a family that misses you
And we will stand together
We'll be OK
Just you wait and see
I miss you, Grams
But I'm glad you can finally
Rest.

Gladis Maine, my "Grams," passed last night in Los Angeles at Kindred Hospital at 9:30pm. She fought through illness and defied a doctor's grim prediction that she "wouldn't last another two weeks"...NEARLY EIGHT YEARS AGO. She's finally pain-free. She is finally FREE.

Photo: "Sleeping Woman" by Henri Matisse
Photo Reference URL: www.cavalierdaily.com

Meme = Me(Tagged)Again

I was tagged by Dave aka Wandering the Ether (great blog for the thinking person). Here are the rules of this particular meme:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I'm breaking the rules. Though I will accept most tag challenges, I rarely tag others. Here goes everything:

1. I'm a closet chauvinist pig.
2. I thought that DEVIL WEARS PRADA was a funny movie.
3. Give me a dog, and I'll give it back to you. Give me a cat, and I'll thank you for giving me a pet with class.
4. I want Nona Gaye (Marvin's daughter). Dreams can come true, ladies and gentlemen.
5. I accidentally stabbed myself during my teen years as I learned how to knife-fight...in my hand, man!
6. I secretly wanted Dolly Parton when I was a little boy. What can I say? I'm still a chest man.
7. I miss Bill Clinton as Preident of the United States of America. The national budget was balanced, and the deficit was at a low unseen since the 1960s. To think that his enemies had to use sperm on a blue dress to take him down...
8. I want to meet Maya Angelou and adopt her as my great-aunt. She's so cool that she needs to be in my family.

Some Monday Love to My People...

Good morning, y'all. Enjoy your day to the fullest possible enjoyment, and work the angles on that job until Human Resources has to ask if you're dying tomorrow! Live, love, and be free...until the sun goes down.



Featured artist is Eric Roberson, one of the nicest R&B artists on the planet. Check him out on Myspace and show him some love.

Reference URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZf8ozpmQWQ

Give Some Attention...

I've followed a group called the Procussions for a couple of years now. They have a great sound and one of the coldest live shows I've ever witnessed. One of the MCs, J. Madeiros, has issued a new single and video for his new project. The message is...why don't you check it out?