Any of these immoral systems can come to pass again. Fight the power! And that’ my thought provoking perspectives…
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The Book Of Knowledge: Break The Chains
A season is a time characterized by a particular circumstance, suitable to an indefinite period of time associated with a divine phenomenon that some call life and life as we know is a journey. It could also be called history. Once this thing called time moves beyond the present, it is simply a memory. If you look at it this way: “We only have a minute, didn’t choose it, can’t refuse it. It’s just a tiny little minute but an eternity it!” The question then becomes – what are you going to do with it?
The prolific French writer-historian and philosopher Voltaire said, “History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead.” Ask yourself, if someone were to tell the story of your life; what might they say? The European has told a story about Black people that is the most shameful representation and the most factless stories ever written about our history and used the word of God to do so. I call that His-Story, which is nothing more than a pack of lies. Now, is that the way you want our history remembered.
Dr. John Henrik Clarke says, “History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. History tells the story of a people, where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are. Most important, history tells a people where they still must go, what they still must be. The relationship of history to the people is the same as the relationship of a mother to her child.”
What I have learned from my experiences is that a good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audience’s attention, and then he can teach the lesson. The lessons have been taught to us, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Dubois told us how to build our community. Marcus Garvey told us how to be self-sufficient and to take care of our own needs. Elijah Muhammad taught us how to carry ourselves with dignity and respect. Dr. King gave us faith and Brother Malcolm told us to do it by “Any Means Necessary! I believe education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. We can save the world but first we must change ourselves.
With that said, a follower of Thought Provoking Perspectives sent me a message asking; what are you trying to accomplish with your words. My first thought was she did not realize that I want my words to be a potent source of empowering knowledge to broaden the information base with those who share my passion for the written word. I view myself as a history fanatic because if you don’t know where you’ve come from – you will never get to where you’re going.
The great Dr. Clarke asked a series of questions that each of us must ask ourselves. The questions asked: “I think every person that calls themselves a leader, a preacher, a policy-maker of any kind should ask and answer the question in his own lifetime, how will my people stay on this earth? How will they be educated? How will they be schooled? How will they be housed? And how will they be defended? The answer to these questions will create the concept of enduring nationhood because it creates the concept of enduring responsibility. I am saying whatever the solution is, either we are in charge of our own destiny, or we are not. On that point we got to be clear, you either free or you a slave.”
As a Black man who lived in and through the Jim Crow Era. I learned very early that powerful people cannot afford to educate the people they oppress, because once you are truly educated; you will not ask for power. You will take it! Educate and empower your children, build your family, and thereby, your community in order to live life to the fullest. Sadly, as I look at the world today I felt safer during segregation than I do today.
BLACK PEOPLE IT IS WAY PAST TIME – OPEN YOUR EYES AND WAKE UP!!! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…
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On October 1, 1945, the world was gifted with a singer/songwriter/keyboardist best known for his duets with Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway. Donny fused R&B, gospel, jazz, classical, and rock strains in a modestly successful solo career. He was raised in St. Louis by his grandmother, Martha Pitts, a professional gospel singer. From the age of three, Hathaway accompanied her on tours, billed as the Nation’s Youngest Gospel Singer. He attended Howard University in Washington, DC on a fine-arts scholarship.
He worked as a producer and arranger for artists such as Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers. After serving as the band director the Impressions, he recorded the single “I Thank You” for Curtis Mayfield’s label and sang backup with the Mayfield Singers. His first single “The Ghetto, Part 1” reached #23 on the charts. After recording several more singles and an album, Donny recorded “You’ve Got a Friend” with Roberta Flack. Their single “Where Is the Love?” reached #5 on the charts & earned them a Grammy Award.
He sang the theme song for the television program “Maude” and was hired by Quincy Jones to score the soundtrack for the 1972 film “Come Back Charleston Blue.” In 1973, reportedly suffering from periods of depression, his partnership with Flack deteriorated and Hathaway faded into relative obscurity. Five years later, he recorded “The Closer I Get to You” with Flack. This was their biggest hit & reached #2 on the charts as well as earned them another Grammy nomination.
Gone too soon, but he left a profound footprint upon the souls of mankind. We loved you Brother Donny and miss the gift you shared with the world but you will never be forgotten. Rest In Peace!
Listen to the music I’ve added; trust and believe it will warm you heart. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…
Put Your Hand In The Hand
Young, Gifted, And Black
What’s Goin On
“Just a Season”
Legacy – A New Season
A Blueprint for Accountability
I was being interviewed recently by a radio show host who asked a question that I had not thought much about. The question was “what was the message that I was trying to send and why did I create THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES?” It made me wonder if the 14,000 plus followers wanted to know the answer too. My response was simple – to empower the minds of mankind. I understand that word have meaning and are powerful. Therefore, if I can induce thought and cause one to see things from a different perspective – I say well done.
Some have commented that my topics are racial, liberal, and too long. I say they are detailed reminders of the ghost of the great who paved the way and wrote the Greatest Story Ever Told! And the perspective’s relating to the political topics; well, they are reminders that as much as things change they remain the same and that history is written by the victor to enslave minds. With that said, this Sunday morning I will not take you to church but I will give you the word!
Think about the message and maybe you can find the strength to make a difference. And That’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…
“Just a Season”
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Legacy – A New Season
Commander in Chief – Gangsta
I can’t say I have ever agreed with the likes of a Michelle Backmann who has called our great president a gangsta and his administration gangsters. However, after the events involving the most expensive killing of all times; she may have a point. I say this because of the way the president, who I will call the Chief, handle the mission to take out the most wanted man on the planet, which was as cold and calculating as anything I’ve seen. It could not have been scripted any better if it was a made for TV movie.
Let’s recap: last week the Chief and his family flew to Alabama to spend time and offer comfort to the victims of the tornado devastation. Then, while flying to Florida to watch the final flight of the space shuttle, he issued the order to raid Ben laden’s secret hideout. The next day, he lambasted the Donald at a black tie affair, which by the way, he did very well. All in a day’s work – as cool as can be. Wait, there is more, and this is the gansta part! His team accomplished the mission. They killed the target, they threw Ben laden’s body into a chopper, flew it to a ship somewhere out at sea, and then threw it overboard. WOW!
This was the end result of a ten year manhunt, two wars, more than a million lives lost, countless maimed, injured, and a financial cost in the trillions. Of course, the Chief’s opponents are crediting the last administration, namely “W”, for this dastardly feat, which I suppose is to be expected, as well as national unity lasting maybe a week. I remember being taught in school that as Americans it is one for all, all for one, and not every man for himself as the right tend to believe.
I think the Chief demonstrated that he can be bold at an operational level, even as he remains cautious at a philosophical level. His actions proved that can be a cold, tough hardhearted man when issuing orders as of the president of the United States and anyone who doubted his willingness to project our might need only look to the events in Abbottabad. Frankly, he executed the duties of Commander in Chief with the heart of a stone gangster.
Please don’t misinterpret my thoughts. I feel much sorrow for the thousands who have suffered and been affected by Ben laden’s horrendous deeds, or misdeeds, inflected upon innocent people and their families. Therefore, I will not offer an opinion with respect to the killing – that is a task for someone greater than I. But, what I will ask is “now that we got the boogieman” – NOW WHAT?
What are your thoughts?
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Eddie Long or Eddie Wrong?
This is a very difficult blog for me to write because religion is the most personal aspect of one’s life and I never want to get into anyone’s religion. “I am not perfect,” but I do have an opinion based upon what I know. Let me share it, but before I continue, I hold no man above my higher power, who I chose to call God. I also know that “religion” is a business and sometimes leaders tend to lose sight of the mission. However, my spiritual compass teaches me that what is done in the dark will come to light. For this reason, I reluctantly, offer a few thoughts concerning this mess Bishop Eddie L. Long has gotten himself into.
He came to national prominence in 2006, when his New Missionary Baptist Church hosted four U.S. presidents for the funeral of Coretta Scott King. The church sits on a 240-acre campus and has satellite churches in other cities. It is one of the largest venues in the state of Georgia. The church boasts a roster of parishioners that includes athletes, entertainers, politicians and many who are considered prominent within the African American community. Only TD Jakes is larger in terms of stature and prominence among black ministries.
Sunday morning B-Long took to the pulpit of his sprawling mega-church to address his 25,000 member congregation defiantly and confidently. “Please hear this: I have been accused. I’m under attack. I want you to know that I am not a perfect man but this thing I’m gon’ fight… I feel like David against Goliath but I’ve got five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet.”
Portraying himself as the Bible’s ultimate underdog, B-Long went before thousands of his faithful supporters and promised to fight accusations that he lured four young men into sexual relationships. However, it was significant to note that he stopped short of denying the allegations while implying he was wronged by them. Nor did B-Long address the allegations directly but spoke at length about enduring painful times. He used the word “painful” nearly 20 times and “difficult” came up seven times along with a lot of scripture.
Many lined up for hours before the start of service with some wearing t-shirts that said, “Love like him. Live like him. Lead like him”, while others stood in prayer circles, clutching Bibles and singing the hymn, “Wash Me White as Snow,” then as B-Long entered the cathedral, a group of people shouted, “We love you bishop!”
Some people in the church cried even before he took the stage to give his statement followed by a brief sermon on facing painful situations. His statement: “I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man but I am not the man that is being portrayed on the television. That’s not me. That is not me.” Members of the church appear to have closed ranks around B-Long. One member said as if he was on a war footing “The devil always tries to attack the Kingdom… We will fight it on our knees with prayer and fasting. He’s not a perfect man, but God will fight on his behalf”.
B-Long made it clear that he is determined to hold on to the religious empire he built and would the fight four lawsuits alleging he used his position to coerce young male members of his flock into sex acts. In their lawsuits, the young men, all over 16 at the time of the alleged incidents, say that B-Long instructed them to call him “Daddy” and moved to block their relationships with girls by “increased contact and spiritual talk as to the covenant between the Spiritual Son and himself.”
It has been rumored that some in B-Longs circle knew about his conduct but did nothing to warn the defendants. They allege that he “has a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as Bishop over them to ultimately bring them to the point of engaging in a sexual relationship.”
B-Long is a father of four, married, and has been an outspoken opponent of gay marriage and his church has counseled gay members to become straight. Two of the young men say he groomed them for sexual relationships while enrolled in the church’s LongFellows Youth Academy, a program that taught teens about sexual and financial discipline. According to its Web site, it has also held weekly “out of the wilderness” counseling sessions for the “discipleship of men and women struggling with homosexuality.” The other two young men, one of whom attended a satellite church in Charlotte, N.C., have made similar claims. The men say they were 17 or 18 when the relationships began. Federal and state authorities have declined to investigate because Georgia’s age of consent is 16.
These four men, in their civil lawsuits, tell remarkably similar stories. They say that Long took a special interest in some of the young men who attended his church in Atlanta and a satellite church in Charlotte. They say he took them separately on trips to such destinations as Kenya, South Africa and New Zealand when they were teenagers — but above the age of consent in Georgia, which is 16. David-Goliath, really, I think B-Long’s got that backward.
For years, B-Long has been either beloved or bemoaned for his glitzy lifestyle and politically connected mega-church. It has TV ministries, a fitness center, a school, and a program for the homeless and addicted. In 2004, Long and Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., led a march in downtown Atlanta calling for a “return to family values in the African American community” and opposing same-sex relationships, while demanding health-care and education reform. Long was a supporter of President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiatives.
B-Long became one of the country’s most powerful independent church leaders over the last 20 years, turning a suburban Atlanta congregation of 150 to a 25,000 member powerhouse with a $50 million cathedral. I’m sure as a result B-Long felt he, too, should be prosperous. In 2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published tax records from the church showing that, from 1997 to 2000; B-Long had accepted $3 million in salary, housing and other perks from a charity he controlled. He told the newspaper: “We’re not just a church, we’re an international corporation. We’re not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can’t talk and all we’re doing is baptizing babies. I deal with the White House. . . . I pastor a multimillion-dollar congregation.”
Now my questions: What if it ends up being true? Has it tarnished the good work it is said that he has done? Or does this scandal, such as the cases of child sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church and the revelations that Ted Haggard, the former leader of the National Evangelical Association, allegedly engaged in sex acts with a male prostitute, prove that he is a hypocrite. I was disappointed for this reason, from what I saw I did not see a man that was innocent.
He said this is not him. Well who is Eddie Long? The upstanding father of four who came to the pulpit hand-in-hand with his wife and denounced but did not deny the allegations against him? Or the manipulative sexual con artist who, according to his four accusers, does not remotely practice what he preaches? Saint or sinner, preacher or hustler, or maybe he’s just on the “Down Low”.
Nonetheless, there were almost no sign Sunday that his flock wanted to turn him away. However, it was reported that one young man during the second service in a blue shirt stood up and shouted: “We want to know the truth, man!” He was quickly escorted out and did not return. As for B-Long he said, “I love you, New Birth… I’m not leaving you if you don’t leave me.” When he finished, the sanctuary roared with applause as B-Long dropped the microphone, took his wife Vanessa’s hand and left the stage. I hope that we will believe in God and not the goods, as that is where our salvation comes.
Stay Tuned!!!
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=4350
Living Yesterday – Today!
Let me first say to all who follow THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES that I am indeed honored that you read my words. I try to provided and add a prospective to reality whereby you may be empowered and maybe, just maybe, see the world through new eyes. If you knew me personally, you would know that I rarely ask for anything, maybe that is a fault, but I am a benevolent spirit and this is my way of giving.
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I WILL HOWEVER, TODAY, ASK EACH OF YOU FOR SOMETHING. PLEASE SHARE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MURDER, ASK FOR JUSTICE, AND RAISE YOUR VOICES IN PROTEST OF THIS INJUSTICE!!!
I have lived long enough to have witnessed many vial and unspeakable things done under the auspices of RACISM. I remember the first time I saw the brutally beaten corpse of little Emmitt Till, which was done because of a way of life. I can recall crying that day and I cry today for the murder of Trayvon Martin. As I see it, these two horrible events are strangely similar and equally frightening.
It shows that we, as African Americans, are still a nation of people living in a nation without a nationality. Translated – no justice!
Of course, we don’t yet know every detail of the encounter between Martin and the monster who murdered this unarmed 17-year-old high school student. But, we know enough to conclude that this is an old familiar story with the same tenets rooted in RACISM. Emmitt’s murderer got away with it and so far so has this guy.
Now let me ask, how many guys named George are out there cruising the streets? How many guys with chips on their shoulders and itchy triggers fingers with loaded handguns? How many self-imagined guardians or more aptly put vigilantes who say the words “black male” with a sneer? You do know that was the Klan’s mantra!
Whether Zimmerman can or should be prosecuted, given Florida’s “stand your ground” law providing broad latitude to claim self-defense, is an important question. But, the more important question is: “we should stand up to repeal these deadly laws designed to give license to “Kill Black People”. This often happens because this bull’s-eye that black men wear throughout their lives, and in many cases, just caught on the wrong street at the wrong time.
Protect, teach your children, and may this child’s soul rest in peace. I have lost a child through tragedy and I know this pain. My heart and prays go out to the Martin family.
If you never took a stand for anything – now is the time. And that is my Thought Provoking Prospective…
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