Riveroflifelisajoy’s Weblog
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1st Sunday with Ice Cube…and Tracey Morgan—2008 Ralph and Norton Duo!!!
UNIVERSE AND WEAVE IN HARMONY
I like to watch a good comedy. I was shocked!
Truly shocked.
Tracey Morgan plays a “not so bright” crime challenged man, and his counter part…Ice Cube is just as crime challenged as Tracey Morgan.
HOwever, things work out in the end …in some type of fairy Tale ending. They start out to rob the church, situations get out of hand and circumstances change it all around and they end up saving the day for the Church they planned to rob. Silly uh?
Also Cube’s baby Mama gets the money she needed– which keeps her from moving ‘DOWN SOUTH’ to her grandmother’s house.
So Cube gets to keep contact in with his son.
The church does not have to move out of the neigborhood they love and all is right with the world again~~~~~
….But as I said….it was an interesting combination of Tracey as comedian…and Cube a hard core…angry straight man.
The funniest part of the movie was when they (Cube and Tracey) were sitting in the church during communion and then they ate the “crackers for communion” and then they drank…not sissped…drank several cups of communion wine.
Tracey explained that he had never been in a church service before (except for a baptism for which he could not participate because he could not swim.
–so he never went back to church again)….so Tracey asks for CHEESE WIZ for the communion crackers.
…such blasphemy!!!!
Oh, my goodness…my mother was laughing so hard….!
So go rent this silly movie! It might even make you cry at one part.
Good Job Cube…stay away from those “”””ARE WE THERE YET??? “MOVIES—SEEK OUT SOMETHING WITH A PARTNER LIKE TRACEY—-GOOD STRAIGHT MEN AND COMEDY SIDEKICKS NEVER GO OUT OF STYLE!
TILL NEXT MOVIE REVIEW~~~
riveroflifelisajoy!!!!
American Gangster…. Wow! Movie Review!
All I can say is WOW! I had written a post about my concept of an American Gangster some months ago and I was shocked to see it was very close in comparison to the true story I had related in an earlier blog. But anyway the movie was very unsettling.
I could not relate to the logic that possessed Frank Lucas–played by Densel Washington. The character of Frank Lucas was the most clear minded, scary character in a crime based movie I have ever seen.
He was cool, calm, and collected….but also he was smart and determined. From the movie bonus feature it was stated that Frank Lucas became a millionaire a day drug dealer back in the seventies.
He had no conscious about it either. Amazing and scary. He killed people by his own hand, and he made money from selling herion that killed people too.
But he was given a second chance and an opportunity to tell about corruption in the law enforcement personnel.
Very Scary, and very disturbing. The movie was well acted by Densel Washington. I was surprised to see Ruby Dee! Very well acted. Densel is always a Class Act—all by himself.
Check out this flict….again brutally disturbing and cold hearted at times. But informative about the 70’s. I was in junior highschool when this happened.
Just be prepared for the blatant murder and physical beatdowns that Densel does! If you did not go to the movie theatre like I did not…rent it or buy it. A must see thriller!
–riveroflifelisajoy
With the Free CONDOMS….Do I get a free guest pass to the Motel Too?–Reflections on Free Condoms in the HighSchools!
I understand the goal of the school system. I just do not comprehend the where and the how of it all. I am a Baby Boomer! My mother was very strict and I did not have my first boyfriend until I was 21 years old.
Yep, you guessed it…Late Bloomer, Baby Boomer. I was born in 1961! The Kennedy Era….blacks were still being treated like 3rd class citizens and society was still quite “Judeo/Christian” in its ethics and views of the American Society and the global outlook on things strange and foreign.
So with all that being said, I am still a child of the “strict Judeo Christian Ethic” I do not like to have conversations ab0ut overt sex, sex play, or lifestyles. What I mean is that I am considered a person who is quite conservative in my values on life in general.
However, I have been concerned only about the goals of myself as a mother and leader in my family. My personal views do not involve the rights, or lack of rights of another person unless their rights impringe on my personal assumed or legal rights as it were.
So again I ask this silly, silly question, Does the giving out of free condoms to highschool students come with free passes to the local motel, a booklet on sex, proper hygenic sex, sex education, and levels of sex methods, and proper treatment of one’s sexual partner?
Do not give a person socks without shoes! The condom is only part of the equation as far as I am concerned. But I guess the “Powers that Be”– believe that highschool kids have that mentality of “Where there is a will there is a way?”
In a back alley, a park, their parent’s house or whatever location that would be demoralizing to both parties engaged in sexual intercourse in some illegal public place if they were to get caught in a compromising “position” by a representative of law and order (if you know what I mean.)
So if condoms are being handed out….what about books, proper cleaning of genital areas, books on crabs, genital warts, sexual life choices, sexually transmitted diseases, Aids awareness packets, and procreation booklets as well as the most difficult topic of all —–abortion.
For as we all know…..the condom, the spermicide, the gels, the sponges, the pills, the “bandaides that are placed out of sight on the female body” do not always work.
The purchase of the condom can be done at any time. The saving of a young life from disease, or date rape is more difficult. Teaching teenages about respect of one’s partner, or “domestic violence”, NO, MEANS NO, and pregnancy should be a mandate in all United States schools.
My son learned about his body parts, and sexual organs in Grace Lutheran Church and School, in the 4th grade. I was upset at first and I asked the principal “Why”? Now? He is so young…..I still wanted him to believe in Santa Claus and Charlie Brown, the Easter Bunny and all of those fun child like things!
But instead a religious school that I paid $300 per month to was teaching about God and his private parts! Ugh!!!! I was not ready for my 10 year old to start that discussion.
Look, I am not a prude. I grew up with alot of pets! I have had dogs that we owned that procreated in our yard and then we would have to throw water on them with they got “stuck”.
My son grew up with dogs also. He is now 14 years old. He was Zero to 13 living with our pets. He had seen the dogs stuck together in the yard and came running telling me that something was wrong with the two dogs.
I ran to the embarressing scene only to find the dogs looking equally embarressed as I was. I would deal with the dogs and then I was left with the discussion of what that was called, and how that happend….which to be honest….I have still not understood why that “sticking” thing happens with dogs….but anyway…I digress.
I just did not want my son to get ALL of the details at9. I thought 12 years old was better. But what caused me to relax was the great principal Mrs. Lloyd.
Mrs. Lloyd said to my very, very, anxious teary eyed face…..”Mrs. Riveroflifelisajoy, Don’t you want your child to be aware of his body and his rights over his body? Just because we are Christian does not mean that we should be naive about our bodies, and neither should our children.
This class will help possibly prevent the child from being lured into a sex abuse issue, do you understand? We have to teach them, and that helps them to understand the dangers. We do not want to frigthen the children, we want to arm them with knowlege not ignorance.”
After that talk, I calmed down. I thought about what she said. I thought back on my own personal experiences, and I realized she was right.
So I say all that to say this…..SCHOOLS SHOULD GIVE MANY, MANY, MANY, VARIOUS COURSES ON SEXUAL EDUCATION. Do not just teach what a condom is….tell what will happen if it is not used properly, take the boys to the side and show proper application, take the girls to the side and show the various sexual safety products like female condoms too.
Let the schools hire trained professionals that will treat this teaching professionally, and respectfully. No matter what the teenagers sexual preference….SAFE SEX MUST BE TAUGHT FROM 9TH GRADE THROUGH 12 GRADE.
That might be a better option than JUST giving out a condom. Safe sex and sex relations and sex products for procreation, and abortion/prolife should be held at the begining of the school term for atleast one week as part of the core curriculum.
Most of the ignorance is continued by lack of knowledge in the American Society and country. The United States is a Super Power……why are our children more aware of Disney World, Disney Land, video games, popular music and the like….but ignorant on their own bodies, the risks of sexual activity, the pros and cons of birth control, and pregnancy vs. prolife/prochoice?
I would hope that my voice will be heard. Look, if a religious school realizes how important it is for their students to have CONTROL over their bodies….because that control over one’s body actually does control one’s future and destiny…..why not let all schools create a program that will teach and do no harm?
With proper guidance and education maybe our children, and their children’s children will have the option to decrease abortions, aides, and domestic violence. It will not solve the world’s problems, but it will be an assist to the world overall.
—–RIVEROFLIFELISAJOY
Candida Just Wanted to Meet the Man of Her Dreams –Attacked on a Date–non/fiction story
Candida had been a freshman in the second semester of Queens College. She met a very tall, good looking guy called Donado in the main building of the college one day. She saw him after he saw her it would seem.
She was walking and he approached her and said “Hello! How are you doing today?” She was taken back because she was deep in thought about issues of the day. He was with friends. She was surprised that he would talk to her.
She was naturally shy and withdrawn. They walked across the campus to her next class. She gave Donado her telephone number and they talked on the phone that night. He was very, very tall. She was only 5’2″.
Her mother said that he seemed a bit too tall for her. She did not care. He seemed nice. They ate lunch at college together. One weekend Donado invited Candida to go to the KingsPlaza Mall in Brooklyn where he lived.
Candida, being some what sheltered she was nervous when she had to take the long train ride to Brooklyn, and had thoughts of sitting in the movie theatre and having something to eat in the mall with her new “boyfriend”. This would be her first boyfriend.
Her mother would not allow her to date in junior highschool, or highschool. No one ever had called the house when she was growing up. Although she was in college, she knew she had a lot more to learn then just academics!
She had told her mother that she would be going to Brooklyn to have lunch and a movie with Donado. Her mother gave her the usual warnings about safety.
When she came out of the subway she saw Donado immediately. He had a big smile on his face. He took her hand and walked with her to the Kings Plaza Mall. Once in side he ran into some of his friends.
He was proud to introduce her to his “boys” and they were pleasant. Candida had butterflies in her stomach. This was her first date! At 19 years old, she was embarressed to tell anyone that she had never had a real boyfriend!
Now, she felt like a more mature person. It was fun. Wow, and he was so tall, and she felt protected and secure! They had a lunch and then he wanted to stop at his house before they went to the movies. He shared his apartment with his mother.
His mother seemed rather small, and thin and pale. She looked very tired, exhausted. The house was clean, but she seemed annoyed with Donado. He went to his bedroom to get something and Candida and Donado’s Mom, had a uncomfortable silence.
She did not ask Candida any questions and did not volunteer any conversation. His mother just looked around the room. Donado soom emerged from his bedroom and left without saying anything to his mother.
His mother asked when he would be back and he said after the movie. When they exited the apartment he took Candida by the hand and limited his long strides so that she could keep up with him. They arrived at the movie theatre and he paid for the tickets. The movie was all that Candida expected.
Donado placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. Candida could feel her heart racing within her chest. Wow! She thought! I have a boyfriend! Her stomach fluttered, and she felt a warming sensation deep within.
She felt that she had come to the place that she had seen other young ladies with their boyfriends on the college campus.
She was not a loner anymore! I have a boyfriend! I have a boyfriend! She could barely keep her mind on the movie!
She could not wait to get home and tell her friend from college about the movie and her boyfriend and his arm around her shoulder!
After the movie ended Donado said, “Lets go back to my house before you go home and play some checkers, you want to do that?”
Candida, really was ready to go home because her mother warned her about traveling at night from an area she was not familiar with.
She said, okay, but just for a little while. When she entered the living room, Donado invited her to sit on the leather couch. He went to his room and got a box that contained the checkers.
His mother did not come out of her room this time. She heard his mother call Donado several times before he finally answered her. Donado brought Candida a cool drink from the kitchen. He sat next to her and said I want a kiss.
Candida was unpracticed in romantic activities so she gave him a peck on the cheek. This was the first time they had been some what alone since they had met.
When she reached over to kiss his cheek he turned and kiss her on the mouth full and then pryed her lips apart and then planted a deep kiss on her.
Ugh! She felt drool on her face, and her mouth. She felt sick, and nauseas.
She pushed him away and he persisted. She began to feel scared because he had practically climbed on top of her. Soon he had her shirt up and was pulling at her bra!
She was stunned and embarressed. She was wondering what would his mother think!
She would never had let something like this happen in her mother’s house, especially with the mother in the next room.
She tried to talk and he continued to kiss her forcefully on the mouth. At one point she thought that she almost could not breath. He was tall and pressing hard against her.
She wanted to run from this night mare and could not get away. Donado finally got his way and had pulled her blouse part way off and her bra too.
Suddenly his mother was in the room and yelling…..DONADO!!!
WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING TO HER?!!!!
What are you doing to that girl?
Stop it do you hear?
Stop it I said!
Candida’s heart was pumping, and her ears and face were burning from the heat of the emabarressment and fear she was experienceing. All she wanted to do was to run.
She had never really kissed anyone before. Plus she had never had anyone take her shirt off of her either. She was humilated. Donado’s mother must have thought that she was’nt such a nice person too.
Donado got up off the couch and ran over to his mother and told her to shut up and go back into her room. They began to argue and Candida pulled her blouse and bra back on and also began to put on her coat.
Donado wheeled around and said,
“Where are you going?”
“I am leaving, I want to go home!” Candida said.
Donado looked puzzled, “What’s the matter? What do you mean what is the matter?”
Candida could barely speak.
Her feelings were hurt, and all she wanted to do was get on the train and get home to the safety of her mother’s house. She felt lost and afraid of this Donado!
When he got her to the train station she went in and did not look back. He called her at home and she would hang up on him. He saw her at college and she would avoid him.
What is the matter is all he kept saying, and she would reply, “You know what you did!” Donado then replied, “You need to grow up little girl!”
Candida was so ashamed, because Donado had said that in front of his friends. From that day forward she walked in another direction. She avoided that area.
Some months later she met another young man at church, who treated her with respect, and they dated for several years.
Dating and relationships are delicate like a flower. They need to have care, compassion and mutual respect.
The experience described here is true. The names were changed for obvious reasons.
Candida had been inexperienced in dating. But that did not make it justified for Donado to attempt to dominate her.
This blog is for those young people who are dating and have had this experience, or might have it.
Remember respect one another, date rape, or near date rape is not fun. If someone says no! No, means just that NO!
I hope this story will help others in their quest for relationships.
Be kind to one another.
Till next blog,
Riveroflifelisajoy
“Molestation by a Minister”– (NON-Fiction story written by Riveroflifelisajoy) Now watch…—T.D. Jakes Movie Woman Thou Art Loosed! wATCH THIS MOVIE AND LEARN LIFE’S LESSONS!
First Saturday
The little girl was lead down the dark dank cement staircase into a large open room in the basement of a church. It was not her church. It was a church that she would come to for math tutoring.
There were chairs and tables set up in a circular patten. The little girl was lead to a table with three chairs. She sat down and began to open her books. She was shy and withdrawn naturally.
A predator could smell her fear of the world a mile away. She sent out the signals and the signals were received. She however, did not realized that her quiet seven year old shyness was a attractive to the predator.
Once the tutoring session began and the other students had taken their seats, the pedator made his way from table to table. He sat down, or leaned over in a standing position toward the other students.
The first day with his little victim/ or prey was simple and quiet. He asked her questions about her school work and he observed her closely. She was very, very, withdrawn and barely raised her voice above a whisper.
“Yes, yes,” the predator thought to himself in deep internal excitement. If the little girl had looked up from her work she would have seen the predator tutor’s eyes—; she would have seen the hungry gleam eminating from deep within his very soul and his eyes!
But instead, as was her usual reaction to new places, and people, she kept her head down. Keeping her head down and barely talking above a whisper made the predator want to take action right then and there.
But wait, he had to get his prey comfortable, and relaxed. He could see her nervousness too. So wait, he told himself, wait.
Soon she will be mine. The hour and one half was up. The students all filed out of the dank old church basement, and up into the fresh air and glided over to their waiting parents.
The little prey walked timidly toward her mother along side her more fearless big sister. The predator decided right then to separate the two sisters according to age and grade.
Lucky for the predator, the prey was the only 2nd grader in the tutoring program. He would put her at a table all by herself. She would never complain like the other kids.
She is very docile….bendable, and plyable too. With every thought he grew more excited and could not wait for the next Saturday program.
What great plans he had for this new meat!
Second Saturday
Once again the little girl was lead down the dark, dank cement church basement steps for math tutoring with the minister. He made an announcement to the students to sit at the desk where the age and grades were their own.
He lead the shy prey to her and his personal singular table with two chairs. One for him and one for her. He sat his chair very, very close to her.
He began to talk in low tones about her math. He gave her some assignments and some math equations and went to the other students to assist them.
He could barely keep his mind on his work. He wanted to sit next to this shy little girl.
She was clean, and neat, and terrified of the world around her. The predator tried to convince himself that he must calm down. He must be patient.
Once he had all of the other students working on computations, and english assignments, he went back to his quietly waiting timid prey. He sat next to her, and she inched over slightly away from him.
He began to talk to her and then he placed a hand every so gently on her thigh. She jumped. She glanced up at him slightly and then looked back at her school work. Inside the pedator laughed to himself in glee. The prey began to cry in a low whimper.
3 Weeks Later on Monday
The little prey had become uneasy as her mother questioned her. She began to cry. Her sister had told her mother that she noticed something funny going on at the little prey’s tutuoring table.
The mother took out dolls and had the little prey act out anything that she could not say. Once the entire story came out the mother told her husband — the little prey’s father.
They decided to go to the police and also go to the church. The little prey remembered, years later that she had experienced pain in her lower region, pain so severe that she would squeeze her eyes shut so as to block out the memory of the predator’s large fingers and what they had done to cause her such pain while she had tried to learn her math lessons!
She remembered the smell of the dank basement and the look of the predator; she remembered his fingers, and finger nails that were neatly clipped and clean, but caused her extreme pain!
She remembered his plain black minister’s suite and white collar, and the whisper in her ear to be quiet, and “don’t make noise, you do not want to disturb the other students.”
The little prey remembered hearing her parents yelling at the top of their lungs after she dismissed and was sent to bed ….so that “grown folks could decide what to do. “
******* You see the problem was that the little prey was black, and the predator was white. It was 1967 and racism was still alive and well in society.*******
Who would they, (the church) believe? The white Minister of a respected very powerful religious organization, or a 7 year old little black girl?
The answer : the minister was not arrested. He promised to seek counseling. The little girl stopped the math tutoring.
The final outcome of the predator is unknown. But the little girl went on to have problems in math forever, and ever AMEN.
The characters in this story are real. The names have been omitted for obvious reasons.
The movie by T.D. JAKES—WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED….pay homage to “little prey” and her brothers and sisters who have been victimized throughout history.
Please watch your children closely, watch the people around your children closely…..and try not to leave them unattended with any one at all.
Sincerely,
RIVEROFLIFELISAJOY
FOOTBALL HAS GONE TO THE DOGGS!!!!!
When I heard the Michael Vick story I got so disgusted, I said oh, no. What is wrong with this guy? He has the American Dream right in the palm of his hand! He has the opportunity others dream about!
He has the chance to change the lives of young white, black, brown, yellow, children by starting foundations with some of that “hard cold Sports Cash!” What is this guy’s problem?!
I have lived in neighborhoods where I had the ability to see young men between the ages of 14 and 25 walking around with thick bodied pit bulls on leash and some off leash. Those young men would stand in a group and talk while the dogs would sit or stand timidly beside the tough looking owner with the brand new unscratch sneakers and fitted caps, and puffy bomber jackets.
These guys would scare me a little. To be honest, these guys scared me alot!!! You know why?!
I am and always have been a lover of God’s creations! I love animals!
When I was a young teenager I used to take the long ride out to Freeport Animals Shelter and volunteer. I grew up seeing my cat give birth.
More recently I rushed my dog about five years ago to the Vet. when she gave a breach birth. The puppy had come out alright, but the mother and run from her own pain and the puppy popped out on to the floor.
I got her and her new pupps to the vet. just to find out that everything was fine except for that little glitch!
I helped a Saint Bernard that was wondering lost up and down my block before I was even twenty. The dog was sick and we did the best we could for it.
My mother used to leave food in deserted car dumps when she would see a pregnant female or one that had appeared to have given birth recently.
After she would gain the animals trust she would then put it in her car and take it home.
My mother would get in touch with her friend Joyce. Joyce was well conected with animal assistance organizations.
She would then get the “saved” dog free medical care, and free spay or neuter. After that my mother and Joyce would place ads in the newspapers to get the saved, healthy animal a home.
So please understand, I never did, and do not currently have any one requesting me to write a blog about this Michael Vick issue, it is something that comes purely from the heart.
Michael Vick is black. I must state the obvious! But Michael Vick’s actions do not equal the actions of all black sports players, or black people in general.
All Michael Vick did was add to the climate of racial hostility!
I have read the AOL blogs on the Michael Vick case and all I see is total anger and racial hostility and it is being wiped across the entire race of black American’s because of this”guy’s” horrible, evil actions.
People talk about being enslaved, and how bad it was for the “black Man, woman, and child.”
But should we who have been freed from that terrible life of slavery, now turn and enslave others….even if it is just a dog?!
I do not understand the enjoyment of watching animals tear into each other. I had two dogs that were brothers. I midwifed them, and raised them.
The two bothers loved to play fight. The two dogs would play and fight so hard I sometimes tried to stop them.
My son would say, Mommy, leave them.
They are just playing! I would watch and then the dogs would stop their rough play when one would yelp or they would just lean on each other, lick each other’s face and then lay down to an exhausted sleep.
They loved each other and would not harm the other. The two dogs would even play rough with my son by jumping on him, licking him, and tugging at his clothes. If one dog jumped the fence the other dog would follow. They were inseparable!
That is why that unnatural goal of dog fighting is evil. To turn two animals against each other, or train an animal to attack another animal on the grounds of “general purpose,” makes no sense at all.
From my readings on the topic, and life experience tells me that dogs, or wolves, are pack animals. Generally dogs may show aggression for many different reasons.
But most times they do not want to “fight to the death.”
I have read that they give those dogs cayanne peppers, and other things that are not healthy for the dogs stomach to make it “mean.”
Such ignorant, and willful abuse! The victim of this is the “pit bull”–
My question for Michael Vick , “Why are you using dogs for violence? What would make you believe that there was nothing else you could do to help your brother make an income for himself?
Why would you hang, torture, and electrocute helpless animals? The dogs only had their teeth, and yet you had a brain. You were the more dangerous of the two living.
This is a tradegy for Football!!! It made me wonder if Football is such a brutal sport that is messes up the mind of the Football player and how he preceives the world around him.
Do Football players in general think or believe that no one cares for them and they have alot of pain from sports injuries so they do not care about the pain that they inflect on countless others in their personal lives? I would like an answer, that I know I will never get from Mr. Vick.
I will share more of my personal feelings about animal rights tomorrow; and why it was unfare to have Michael Vick get an easy way to go on this one.. on this man who did not appreciate the opportunity handed to him.
Why do I feel somehow responsible for his actions?
Is it because I share the same “race” as Michael Vick ? I have read blog, for blog stating negative things about black people that sound like things from the sixties because of what Mr. Michael Vick has done to animals.
Lets face it, how he treated the animals, could be translated into how he would treat another human being!-
I read in the Black Voices blog of AOL that the judge on the case for Mr. Vick is well known for his love and animals and is also known for his dislike of gambling!
Look out Mr. Vick. I pray for the family of Mr. Vick. I pray that people in general take a reality check on how they treat animals.
It scares me that we do not consider animals to have rights! Especially when this country has helped so many people to escape abuse on so many levels of inhumanity!
Gotta go—I have a ThanksGiving Meal to cook!
BLACK FACE AT HAMLINE AND BAGGY PANTS DO NOT MIX!
Putting Black face is offensive. Wearing baggy pants below a descreet level on one’s body is also offensive. One Is worse than the other but why?
If young black kids want to wear their pants around their ankles that is annoying and should be stopped. But Young White college kids who are the hope and future of this country wearing black face should be stopped because they are tomorrow’s leaders!!!
Please let me correct that statement. Young black kids are also OUR FUTURE LEADERS….THAT IS WHY THEY MUST DRESS FOR SUCCESS!
They may be the next George Bush, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King, or Condoleza Rice or any other elected official who will have the strength and power of the United States behind them. I would hate to hear that when I am in my 70’s or 80’s that a man or woman was elected president and that person thought it was funny to imitate people who were enslaved, and mistreated because of their RACE, CREED, RELIGION, ETC., ETC., ETC!!!
Freedom is not free—it must be continusously fought for and reclaimed.
Black people are still listed as 1/3 human in the constitution of the United States. So how is it funny to make fun of a group of people—matter of fact the only people in this country who are considered currently in the constitution as part animal and can sold as property?!
That is not funny and why was that never taken out of the constitution any way? So let us ask our college presidents and their board of directors to make it a mandatory class for all colleges across the country to have a class on TOLERANCE OF RACE, RELIGION, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, DISABILITIES ETC., ETC., AND ETC.,—
The ethnic myth is a alive and well and kicking people!!! Let us take our respective heads out of the sand or pot hole. Teach yourselves and your children to respect themselves and others whether they look beautiful, cute, pretty or ugly etc.
It is not worth it to dislike our fellow Americans, and fellow humans around the globe. It is counter productive and serves the greater harm for generations to come.
That Hamline College needs to address that issue internally and externally by giving TOLERANCE TRAINING—Our young black men also need a history class on the struggles of the African slaves and their over coming slavery.
Then look at the Jim Crowe Laws that forbade blacks from drinking from a water fountain, after slavery was abolised. Look up the old news papers that defined black criminals as ANIMALS AND BEASTS.—Maybe then our young black men will see the forest for the trees!!!
Style is a state of mind….but Sometimes you have to MAKE PEOPLE RESPECT YOUR INTELLIGENCE AND GIVE THEM A REASON TO DO IT.
Being black is not a crime, being in baggy pants is definitely not a crime—but if you notice that style of wearing clothes came from the ‘jail house”—another dilema that we will address later.
College education is a must in today’s society. So train your children to dress for success. Weekend attire can be anything that they chose….but schools and jobs should present a certain atttitude.
To sum up for now—The college students of Hamline need to be punished in a way that will do their hearts good. Have them volunteer in a orphanage of children of color. Have them help out at a homeless shelter and assist the disadvantaged and maybe they will find that their attitudes will readjust.
What makes an American Gangster?!
Are you telling me that the world is full of good people? Are you telling me that people would not sell drugs to others so that they can make a profit from it? Are you telling me that corruption in the world is not real? Please rethink that!
I had explained in my comment at the Black Voices Blog on the movie “American Gangster,” starring Denzel Washington as George Lukus the Drug King pin of the 70’s–that there are American Gangsters all around us. Some are camoflaged!
In the early years of my marriage I had lived in Cambria Heights Queens with my husband and we lived with his parents so that we could save money to buy our first house.
Cambria Heights is a predominately middle Class and upper middle class community. The houses have beautiful brick Tudor homes and have over, over size front lawns. All properties are cut by professionals, the birds chirp sweetly during the spring and summer. Everybody has atleast two cars, 4×4’s, minivans, mercedes, BMW’s etc. Everyone has beautful curtains up at their windows.
Some people even have family or paid baby sitters who watch their children while they work around the clock to keep that tailored house and tailored lawn in check and up to date with the latest from “HomeDepot”—I know–cause I lived there when I first got married and after I gave birth to my son.
You can still drive down those streets and see the money and time invested in that community by it’s residents.
However, there was an American Gangster there some 16 years ago when I lived there. You would not have known it. This guy was low key. He wore his pants up on his butt….he wore a belt around his waist. He wore non-designer clothes.
Once in a blue moon you would see a small black BMW parked in his drive way. Once in a while he looked like he was going out to dinner and would get into this black BMW and drive off with his beautiful girl friend (she looked like Rihana without the glitz and bling—just a simple ponytail down her back–very demure—too plain to be exact).
He had no children. He only had two black Rockwieler dogs. He had them on a regular walking schedule. The house was smaller than my inlaws house. It had recent sandblasting and cementing work done on the brick face and the drive way. The house was plain but emaculate!!!
I noticed that he had the alarm strips on all of the windows of the house. He kept two very ugly Ford Taurus Cars parked in front of the house or the drive way. I never, ever saw heavy human traffic in or out of his house. He talked to my husband just to say a quick “Hello,”–but nothing too much.
One day I told my husband about the two caucasion men that had exited this guy’s house and got into a sleek shiny Mercedes Benz and drove off silently. My husband said,”oh, really? You know he is a drug dealer right?” I was shocked!! I was scared too! I grew up very sheltered.
I was unaware of what a drug dealer really looked like. But I certainly did not think that the drug dealers I had heard so much about it in the news looked like this guy! Wow!—We talk about STERO TYPES OF RACES–never, ever underestimate the crime world—
This guy moved away abruptly one day. I saw alot of haste in his actions. He was dismantling his house from the inside. He had boxes, and bags and did alot of moving at night. I thought it strange because I did not see a For Sale sign on the house. I thought maybe he was going on a trip. Then the activity stopped and the house was quiet. I did not see the dogs, or see the ugly Ford Taurus cars any more.
I told my husband, who had been a Corrections Officer at the time—he told me, “He got a call from a guy that he had been a partner with in the drug dealing thing that he did. The guy was coming out of jail and was going to be looking for him! He had a sc0re to settle–That guy was on the run!!! I suddenly believed that a drug dealer does not have to stand on the street corner!!! A drug dealer does not have to be obvious to the neighborhood.—-Yet this guy is helping to destroy lives.
But I knew like any other crime—a price must be paid….and I guess he realized that he was living on borrowed time—no matter how innocent a life he presented on that quiet tree lined, over sized lawned block in Cambria Heights.
Another little situation happened on that street in Cambria Heights. A house a few doors down from that quiet American Gangster guy took his place after he left. When I first moved to that neighborhood I noticed that this house in opposition to the “quiet gangster” down the block—this house was full of people and quite noisey!! Those were not drug dealers in that house….What happened was that the owner had died and left it to relatives–a man to be exact. However, this man already had a residence, so he used to rent out rooms to young black college students.
All of them appeared to have jobs, and cars….They were just talkative and about their personal private lives. Well, it seems that the man that rented the house sold it one day. He sold it to some other guy who moved in without alot of furniture and no family that any of us could see. The house needed some repair so it appeared that the new owner of that house broke up the drive way and side walk preparing it to be made as lovely as all the other lawns on that quiet block in Cambria Heights Queens.
However, things took a turn for the worse. He had a big rectangle dumpster placed in front of the house for discarding his cememt pieces from the drive way and the sidewalk. Then I noticed a brown bag always on the top portion of this dumpster. I would then see a bedragagled looking male or female suantering up this quiet block.
The people that went to this guys house were more out of place than the caucasian guys who had gone to the other “drug dealers” house directly across the street before he ran/moved away. This guy left the dumpster in front of his house for several months. Work on the sidewalk, and drive way came to a stand still and the human traffic to this house was on the increase. No one went into the house.—These strange, and haunted individuals would saunter up to that EYESORE of an dumpster sitting in front of the house and pick up that ridiculous brown paper bag and suanter off down the street again.
If they saw me exit my inlaws house they would look at me hard—-bold like—no fear or nothing! I could feel the negative energy.
Soon my husband and I moved away after I had my baby and we brought our first house.
But six months down the road my inlaws called to tell my husband what had happened….Which they really did not have to tell him—Because it was already all over the news!!! The guy with the dumpster in front of his house had a “factory operation” going on for “CRACK COCAINE” –This guy got murdered at 3 o’ clock in the morning. A horrible drive by—but also an attack a murder spree erupted. That guy never had a chance. He was taken out of that house in a body bag!!!! What a mess and I was so glad to be out of that neighborhood.
Drugs are every where! It is a disgusting plague of the human society in every walk of life. I find it worse those who fill the need so that they can get paid.
How do you live with yourself knowing that you are selling drugs to people; some pregnant women who give birth to drug addicted babies? How could you? Do you know that evil deeds do have Karma Attached to them?
My husband used to tell me that while he worked in Rikers Island, Solitary Confinement–HDM a.k.a. the Bing—commonly referred to— Most inmates with twenty years to life had related stories of murder, drug dealing, kidnapping and the like—Most inmates who were in for crimes of that deep level explained to him,”Look, I have done more crimes than this crap that I am in here for.” They did not catch me for the time I held this other drug dealer and some of his people hostage and then killed them!”
You might think that those guys were making up glorified stories to entertain my husband—but let me be clear—people in solitary confinement—back in the 80’s would fight Corrections Officers, and attack at any time. This was not a place for the weak of mind or body. To be honest with you—that is one of the reasons that my husband is missing at this very moment (for nine years to date). The stress of that job took him away from myself and his child. (—I will discuss that in another blog–some other time—but trust—it will be discussed.)
So in conclusion, American Gangsters are not to be glorified….but people please talk to your children. American Gangsters are men or women on a mission. Except that is not a mission for the better of society. It is a mission to supply their personal financial goals and they do not care to whom they sell and whose family it destroys.
Talk to your children, and educate yourself….What looks innocent is not always innocent. What smells stinky….is most likely coming from a source—seek the source of the stench and you will find the danger that lurks within—Watch who your children associate with. Do not underestimate you child and your child’s friends or relatives either.
Keepin’ it real and raw -riveroflifelisajoy!
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