Walk In My Shoes

The expression “you don’t know what it feels like until you have walked in my shoes” is a saying that is used frequently.

This saying is normally brought up when people want to make the statement that others can try but will never be able to relate to what they have been through.

I am writing this article today because I have been a witness to many people walking in shoes that don’t belong to them.

Sadly, some of these people get stuck in these shoes and are forced to stay in them for the rest of their lives.

The people that I am referring to can be identified as the “experiments.”

These usually are people that just want to try shoes on before buying them; these are the individuals with a ton of curiosity.

This is the guy that doesn’t want to gang bang but wants to see what it is like for a day.

This is the woman that doesn’t want children but still has the urge to undergo the experience of childbirth.

This is the teenager that despises drug addicts but just wants to see what it is like to try a drug one time.

This is us.

This is the gangster rapper that wants fame but can’t handle the consequences that may come along with some things that he/she may say.

This is the preacher that wants to share Gods’ word but lacks the motivation to help those within his/her congregation when they are in need.

These are the people who want to be anti- racism activist who cringe every time they see an interracial couple.

This is the man that wants his son to be respectful to women that occasionally hits his wife.

This is the woman who wants her daughter to have respect for her body but who also brings different men home every night.

If shoes don’t fit, then we have to stop wearing them.

If they are too big at the store they aren’t going to get any smaller upon returning home; so stuffing tissue in a shoe shouldn’t be an option.

Don’t put on the shoes of a gangster if you don’t have the heart to protect a territory, something that you live for at any cost.

Don’t put on the shoes of a mother if you make your friends first priority over your children.

Don’t put on the shoes of activist against racism if you don’t feel comfortable about interracial marriage.

We all honestly have to stop wearing shoes that don’t fit.

These shoes that don’t fit have us in lifestyles that we can’t get out of.

These shoes trap us in lifestyles that we don’t want to get out of.

We can’t wear shoes that don’t belong to us, we have to wear shoes that fit.

One for the week: …and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills. Exodus 31:3

Present We Don’t See

It’s that time of year when the lights and decorations come out.

It’s that time when families come together to express their love for each other through the actions of giving and receiving.

Once again Christmas is right around the corner.

People have hopes of getting things that they have had their eyes on for a long period of time.

People take extra hours at work to afford expensive gifts for others that normally would be impossible to purchase.

People exchange all kinds of gifts but they forget about one gift, better known as the present.

Many of us take the days; the right here’s and right now’s for granted.

We wake up in the morning and say things like, “ugh another day, or I just can’t wait for this day to be over.”

It’s truly a shame that millions of people this year will be disappointed due to the presents they do and don’t receive.

It’s ridiculous that many people will be so caught up on lack of finances that they will forget that without money it’s still possible to have a remarkable Christmas.

We all can’t afford to miss out on the ultimate gift this year, we need to recognize the present.

With the present we are able to breathe another day in the present.

The present grants us the ability to wake up and see our loved ones another day.

With the present we are all blessed with the gift of life.

So this Christmas some of us need to refrain from getting angry if all we receive is socks for Christmas.

Socks may be under the tree; however, the limbs a person is blessed with that the socks go on are the real gifts.

There may be baby diapers under the tree and nothing for you.

Don’t sigh; be blessed that you have a baby that the diapers can come in handy for.

Some people are unable to have children and would love your blessing.

Present is the real gift and this holiday; we can’t afford to forget that.

Gifts that are under the tree this year that are dismissed by people are all presents that others are hoping for.

The best gift isn’t a materialistic item.

The best gift is when a person realizes that they are blessed – currently, now, and presently.

Everyday has the potential to be Christmas.

One for the week: Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

A Pencil

As an elementary student, I constantly heard the reminder, “Use a pencil not a pen.”

I tended to be the rebellious student and used a pen.

Even, though I knew that I was destined to make a mistake in math class, I wrote my equations in pen.

Although I battled with grammatical issues in English, I still used a pen.

As I look at some of my assignments from years ago and see the many scratches and scribbles, I wish that I had used a pencil.

With a pen, someone can make a mistake and try to hide it with knowledge that that the mistake is still there.

With a pencil, a person can make a mistake, erase it, and make corrections.

Many people used pens throughout the year, looking at old mistakes that they tried to cover up.

When a mistake is still visible, then knowledge that the mistake was made will remain.

This year, pens have created problems because pens had people wanting to visit the past to change mistakes that will remain visible.

We all have to realize that using a pen is just like making certain decisions that are capable of affecting the rest of our lives.

Many of us have chosen to use pens this year.

We have had children without being financially stable.

We have sold drugs to make a living.

We have abandoned younger generations that have the potential to be future leaders.

We have mistreated and abused our spouses.

We have held grudges that have created barriers between ourselves and success.

Because pen has been the choice of utensil to use this year people have been stuck in the past and unprepared for the future.

In this year of 2010 people need to approach the drawing board with pencils instead of pens.

With a pencil people can write down ideas without being subjected to follow them.

With a pencil people can change decisions that they make before they become permanent.

With a pencil a person doesn’t have to look back at previous mistakes; he or she can move on without wondering what could have been done differently.

In 2010, I’m choosing not to be that rebellious elementary student.

As an adult, I appreciate the advice from my teachers, “Use a pencil and not a pen.”

This year, I’m not going to look back and wonder if I’m going to make immediate changes myself.

I advise everyone to drop the pens that they are using and pick up pencils…

One for the week: Genesis 27:28- May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.

Unbreakable Chains

So I guess you have been trapped in confinement against your will.

I guess you have been beaten for breathing too loudly.

I guess you glorify in the idea of being urinated on to entertain other individuals.

I guess that you enjoy being stacked on top of others while enduring feces dropping on you periodically.

I guess you enjoy being shackled in chains that determine your every direction.

Evidently we all do!

We call each other niggas and we label each other as niggas.

This word is used so much I wonder if younger generations will mistake it for scholarly terminology.

Many of our families have been affected by the transformation of the economy.

Some of us have had to send family members down South to earn better wages to support the remainder of the family up North.

Americans that migrate to save the status of their families are commended, but Mexicans who do the same and migrate to America are classified as spics and unwanted company – but why?

This is simply because we are trapped in unbreakable chains that support ignorance.

Why is it that when a white male wears baggy clothing or when a black male wears a suit, things are viewed as being out of the ordinary?

This happens because we all place colors on everything.

We associate the idea of being successful and wealthy with white people.

We associate the idea of being misguided and poor with black people.

With these chains, we are only hurting ourselves.

It’s time to break away from the idea that just because things were done a certain way in the past they have to be done the same way now.

Many of us claim that we long for change; but in all reality, we still continue to lug these unbreakable chains around.

We connect color with crime; we connect it with media.

Whenever someone is murdered, the tendency is to immediately link the crime with someone of a minority race.

Furthermore, the ignorance doesn’t end there; sometimes the news tends to take it a step further.

Whenever there is a crime committed by a minority, there sometimes is no hesitation to provide a full description of the individual who committed the crime.

People throw away the unbreakable chains.

These chains are forcing younger generations to grow on the idea that the stereotypes are the truth and that the truth is deceitful.

These chains have young women proud to be identified as female dogs and exploited by numerous men.

These chains have women thinking that they have real men when they are able to tell others that their men is or has spent time in prison.

We are enslaved to these chains, and it’s time to break free.

One for the week: “At that time I pleaded with the LORD…”

Give Thanks To The Fullest

I’m a nerd when it comes to movies.

I were to count all of the movies that I have seen in my entire life, I would probably have a library that easily reaches over a million.

Recently, I saw “Darfur.”

Seeing this movie and thinking about Thanksgiving, I immediately was blessed with the thought of giving thanks to the fullest.

I’m not going to be an advocate for bad film critiques, but I will tell you that we should all feel blessed.

Waking up every morning praying for the safety of our lives is not something that we are forced to endure on a daily basis.

We are not having our babies snatched from our arms and brutally murdered in front of our eyes.

Men, we don’t have to sit helpless and watch our women get rapped multiple times.

Women you aren’t being forced to watch your men die horrific deaths by being set on fire.

People, we can give thanks to the fullest.

We aren’t forced to watch our kids being butchered as limb after limb is amputated from their bodies.

People, I am guilty of this as well; so my intention is not to single others out – truthfully, we all have no reason to not have the capability to give thanks to the fullest this thanksgiving.

I’m not saying that our that none of our issues should be viewed as not being problematic; I’m saying that many things that we see as being issues are very minor.

We experience financial difficulties, and we allow that to stop us from giving thanks.

We lose our jobs and we allow our world to crumble around us.

Why are we constantly influenced by this failing mindset?

I want everyone to see Darfur because after I saw it I felt ashamed for those everyday complaints that I make.

We aren’t missing legs and left without transportation and forced to find ways to get our children to school every morning.

We don’t have to hide the fact that we are receiving an education.

People we need to give thanks to the fullest.

Don’t get angry if your family can’t afford the expensive turkey this year; be happy with the other food that you are blessed with.

Don’t be upset because you have to spend time with family members that you don’t like; others don’t have family members to spend thanksgiving with.

My heart goes out to all people that have real problems and still find the strength to give thanks to the fullest.

This thanksgiving, we all need to think about what is stopping us from giving thanks and eliminate it.

One for the week: Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. Psalm 147:7

Internet Etiquette

Minimizing chances of employment, enrollment in well known respected universities, and creating new reputations for ourselves are all things that we are doing, unknowingly.

People, there is nothing wrong with socializing on the web; but there is something wrong with sharing too much information about our personal lives on the Internet.

The web is worldwide people; we shouldn’t forget this.

Everybody in the world shouldn’t know about your sexual relations with others.

Everybody in the world shouldn’t have the opportunity to get on the Internet and read about your baby daddy and baby momma drama.

If we all respect ourselves, then we should all care enough to have some internet etiquette.

We never when our next employers are monitoring us on the Internet.

We never know when younger people see us as mentors and follow our every move on the Internet.

We all should think the next time we do a status update on Facebook; we should ask ourselves if it’s necessary to incorporate profanity in our status.

Young adolescents can be easily influenced and don’t need to know that you sell drugs; so stop saying it on the web.

Some people are always looking to take what is yours, so please stop laying out your money in your pictures.

Young women, there are some men that occupy their time by stalking you. Please put on some clothes in your pictures.

Young men, keep your gang signs to yourself because ultimately attracting attention from others may not be what you want.

People, we have to be careful we have to have Internet etiquette.

One for this week: Isaiah 29:14 - Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.

We Have Lost A Generation Of Black Boys: We Have Nobody To Blame But Ourselves

The Grand Rapids Times
11-21-2010

Yes, we have lost most of our black boys and there are plenty of statistics to prove it.

There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of black boys. It is too late! In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young black men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death?

Let’s look at the facts. Most young black men in Grand Rapids and the United States don’t graduate from high school. Only 35% of black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.

Young black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young black men don’t succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation’s criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.

Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are more black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with black male children as young as six and seven years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a 20w05 report, Education on Lockdown by the Advancement Project.

We Bear Most Of The Blame

Those of us who came up in the sixties, seventies and eighties wanted our children to have all of the things we never dreamed we could have, so, we spoiled and pampered them, to death. Vacations, cars, money, football and basketball practice, $125 sneakers, designer clothes, cell phones, video games, and on and on.

We Forgot To Teach Our Children The Value Of Hard Work

Caddying 5 hours in the hot sun to make eighty cents to eat lunch the next day; setting bowling pins until midnight to have lunch money the next day; selling papers until midnight to make a dollar and a quarter or working a paper route in cold and snow is what many Black boys did during their teen years. Instead of our children having to study after school, they play video games or watch TV for the next eight hours. That is, those who aren’t out selling drugs. In 2006, my 21 year old nephew in Los Angeles asked me why should he flip burgers 40 hours a week when he can deliver one little bag and make four times that much in 20 minutes? Three months later, he got his head blown off in a drive-by shooting. What a waste, We give our children everything, without their having to earn it. How many of our children do not have cell phones?

Who pays for those cell phones?

How many are driven to school and get picked up from school everyday? Taken to football practice, given money for Mickey D’s? Get bailed out of jail frequently? Go to the mall to buy those expensive designer clothes and shoes? What happened to work/reward?

What we have today is babies raising babies. Seldom is there a father figure in the house.

Where is the tough love? How can you expect children to want to excel, when there is no motivation? So, what we have is a generation of lazy, unmotivated, often-immoral children and young adults.

We created this mess. Now we must undo it.

We Can Turn This Thing Around

Our youth need role models.

They need to see successful Black men and women, entrepreneurs, scientists, sales people, real politicians and spiritual messages that offer more than how to get to the “sweet bye and bye.” They need to learn how to live in the “sweet now and now!”

Many think the only way out is to sell drugs, be a rapper or be an NBA point guard or a great NFL wide receiver. Learning a trade, owning a business or becoming a responsible, productive member of society seldom crosses their mind. Couple this with the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys, and we have a dead society. We do little, while the future lives of black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before – and if – they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young black men and has become part of this destructive process.

We wonder why our young black women leave Grand Rapids as soon as they graduate from college. Whom are they going to marry? What do they have to pick from? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities?

Who is going to anchor strong families in the black community? Who will young black boys emulate as they grow into men?

Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the black people in Grand Rapids?

The list of those who have failed young black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our black churches, our black leaders, and even our parents.

Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:

Short Term

1. Teach our youth to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education.

2. Provide positive role model s for our youth.

3. Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.

4. Ensure that our youth have a strong spiritual base.

5. Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.

Long Term

1. Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.

2. Help connec t blac k boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.

3. Build a positive peer cul ture for our youth.

4. Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.

5. Teach our youth and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning.

COME ON GRAND RAPIDS, LET’S GET TO WORK Come join the fight. Our website is www.overthehillgang.net. You may call us at 616- 446-2133 Email: overthehillgang@comcast.net

The Over The Hill Gang is dedicated to bringing all elements of the black community together to mentor and help our young people find their way.

Pages Missing

I’m the type of individual that prefers to write over reading any day.

When I do read on my spare time, I make sure the book that I am reading is really good.

One time I purchased a used book, “Down These Mean Streets.” It was really intriguing, but there was one problem; there were missing pages.

The pages in the book that were missing forced me to skip ahead and by pass parts of the book that could have been crucial to the story.

This week I met a high school student that reminded me of the book that I once purchased with the missing pages.

However, there was a difference between her and the book; her missing pages seemed to be more valuable than those out of the book that I previously owned.

Her missing pages had the potential to alter her life for the better or the worse.

Her missing pages were purposely ripped out by others who didn’t care to see her excel.

I just want to say that I didn’t write this article to bash the educational system.

I wrote this article to raise questions about what is problematic in the educational system.

I want to be the first to say that I know many of excellent teachers and I commend them for their service to the youth.

However, there is something wrong when there are young adults entering the world and they lack the capability to write a complete sentence.

There is something terribly wrong when students are just passed along through grades without knowing the academic material they should know.

It’s time for some people to realize that by not requiring students to have certain knowledge before moving on we are ripping pages out of their books.

I know students who have missing pages who can’t communicate with those who speak proper English because all they know is Ebonics.

I know students who are limited to what mentors they have to look up to because the only one they have learned about is Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I know students who are seeking someone to inspire them; but without their pages, they can’t find inspiration.

We live in a creative generation, but creativity is something that we aren’t willing to accept when it comes to learning.

I believe that it is now time to return all of the missing pages.

If a student has an interest in film, find ways to incorporate film studies into his or her learning.

If a student loves music, give him or her something to look forward to by showing them the millions of universities that offer music as a major.

Don’t tell students that film and music are useless in life because this is not true; many of people have done great things in these arts.

Stop ripping pages out of student’s books.

Give the pages back.

Bring back the support; stop crushing dreams because of your personal opinion.

If you feel that students aren’t being challenged enough in school, then go the extra mile to make more worksheets for homework.

This is not only for teachers this is also for parents at home.

Teachers can’t give pages back; and then as soon as students return home, they get ripped back out.

My high school friend that I met this week graduates this year, so her time for getting her pages back is very short.

I wonder how many other students are in her position.

People let’s return the missing pages.

One for the week: Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said. Exodus 7:13 We can’t be like Pharaoh, we can’t have hard hearts. We must listen to each other, especially upcoming generations of the future.

Tears With No Kleenex

When people cry no matter what the reason may be I believe that they should have Kleenex available at their expense.

No one should have to endure tears and a runny nose with no way to wipe them away.

No one should be forced to have to wear the aftermath of tears and mucus on their sleeve due to the absence of Kleenex.

However, just because no one should doesn’t mean that experiencing tear’s with no Kleenex hasn’t been the choice of millions.

Many people cry and complain about societal structure and constraints politicians place on the way we live, but these many people don’t vote.

These are people who are choosing to wipe their tears and mucus on their sleeves.

So many of us dispute law’s that we disagree with but don’t care to vote for people who have power to control these law’s.

Some of us want to experience change but we don’t care to vote for it.

Some of us want our voices to be heard, but choose to be silent the day that ballads are out.

Some of us want to give solutions for problematic issue’s but don’t care to pay any attention to issues during the time of voting.

There are too many dirty sleeves; it’s time to pull out the Kleenex.

Young people, we are the main ones who want to bring up injustice and the idea of inequality; so we need to be the main ones heading to the poles to vote.

We stress and voice our opinions about rights we feel we should have, but then when it’s time to vote for these rights we are nowhere to be found.

It’s time to put them shirts with the dirty sleeves in the wash and bring out the Kleenex.

My parents always told me growing up that if I wanted something I would have to work for it, well this applies to voting as well.

If we all want to voice our opinions within society we have to vote in order to have that right.

One for the week: Deuteronomy 4:12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

Value = 0

When I refer to value, I think of what it means to be a Christian.

I think about what it means to be true to yourself, and true to others.

I want to commend people who make it their duty to show others that there is value in multiple aspects of life.

To those that have shared unity with another person for years in marriage, I thank you.

Thank you for displaying that love isn’t short term relationships, and 1 night stands.

For those that devote time out of each day for God; I thank you.

I thank you for showing that a relationship with God is more than just calling upon Him when you are in trouble.

I wonder if value is appreciated anymore when it comes to some things.

I’m not a mathematician under any circumstance, but it doesn’t take a mathematician to realize that the value is decreasing.

There has to be value placed back into education.

It’s time to stop lying; we all know that our children don’t receive the same opportunities when it comes to learning.

It’s time to bring the value from 0 back to 100. People, we have to once again strive to keep it at 100.

Some of us are jumping into marriages with the knowledge that we don’t want to spend the rest of our lives with the person that we are marrying.

Why aren’t we keeping it 100?

It is sad that many of us can go about each day supporting things that no longer have value.

Instead of supporting things with no value we should strive to place value back.

One for the week: Leviticus 27:17 – “If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains.”

Email me at marcelgamble@ sbcglobal.net to discuss the idea of value.

Lovely Secrets

The Grand Rapids Times

It occurs everyday; millions of people indulge themselves in relationships prematurely.

We experience this thing called love at first sight.

However, unknowingly we ignore the lovely secrets.

He doesn’t ask questions about her, and she doesn’t care to raise questions about him.

The most that many of us know about each other are surface characteristics.

She doesn’t know that he has the capability to take advantage of her; physically, mentally, and emotionally, in the future.

He has no idea that he is just one of her trophies.

The cost is too high to ignore the lovely secrets.

I am someone that once ignored the lovely secrets and someone that once had to learn hard lessons from doing so.

Now, I see young leaders in charge of the future ignoring these secrets.

I see young people jumping in and out of relationships like they’re playing double dutch.

I see young girls continuously hurt, crying more tears then a family attending a funeral.

I see young men seeing more women than a beauty salon on its best day of business.

How is all of this happening – all because people aren’t taking the time to discover the lovely secrets?

It is crucial for people to know their significant others.

Not to put a damper on a blessing such as marriage, but a person can place a ring on your finger one day and place hands on you physically to harm you the next.

Love takes and requires a lot of devotion.

If people are willing to devote the time in effort in loving someone, they should be willing to put in the same amount of time to find out who people are.

We can’t afford to be naïve we have to remember that with love comes the lovely secrets.

One for the week: “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

Leaves Of Color

The Grand Rapids Times

Once again it is fall; a time of serious weather change and clothing choices.

Besides the changes that obviously affect us during this time, leaves of all different colors, shapes, and sizes hit the ground.

They don’t blow around to segregate themselves; they collaborate on the ground to create tolerable living places.

Today, I looked at all of the different kinds of leaves on the ground and I asked myself an amusing question.

Why can’t my peers and I resemble the leaves?

The government creates zones to seclude some students from attending prestigious schools with other students.

The media isolates many minorities by identifying them with deceitful and exaggerated information.

Some people are deprived and others are hindered by resources that they need and resources that they could unquestionably live without.

Men hold dominance in the professional and social world.

People are defined by their social class and not the content of their character.

Are we capable of being leaves?

Do we have the capability to fall and rise with each other?

Yes, we do; we just have to realize that no matter what, we are all going to be different leaves that fall from different trees.

We all have to be able to land on the same ground with no conflict.

We should be able to attend the same schools.

The inner city shouldn’t be compacted with fast food restaurants when the greater city only has a few.

Churches shouldn’t be segregated when we ultimately are gathered for the same purpose.

We should be like the leaves.

One for the week: May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. Genesis 27:28

Tell us your opinion

The Mid-Term Election is November 2, 2010. What needs to be done to get more African Americans in Grand Rapids out to vote?

Play It Back

The Grand Rapids Times

Once a hit record drops, it receives a lot of airplay through radio stations and by people who like the record. Unfortunately, there comes a time period when songs reach expiration dates.

When this time period hits, some people retire from listening to these songs and some recycle them and choose to continue to listen to them.

One song that people should retire is “Grudges.”

This song has some individuals making other people pay for their repressed memories.

This song has people that are in their second marriages making their new spouses pay for the bad things their previous spouses did.

This song has mothers telling their sons that they aren’t going to be any good like their fathers.

It has fathers telling their daughters that they are going to be promiscuous like their mothers.

I don’t like “Grudges” because it is played way too often.

It is played when people need an excuse to why they can’t accomplish their goals.

It is played when people are driven to try to live their lives through those close to them.

I understand that we all grow from past experiences, but we also have to remember that they are past and not present experiences.

“Grudges” needs to be retired; it doesn’t deserve to be recycled.

This song is only harming and hindering so many of us from excelling in life.

Somebody needs to cut this song off.

Change the radio station, or put in a different CD.

This song needs to completely be removed from all IPOD’s.

I’m tired of dreams being crushed because of this song.

I’m tired of addictions continuing because of this song.

I’m tired of people inflicting pain on each other because of this song.

It’s time to support a new hit record.

One for the week: A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11

Black Folks And The Illusion Of Inclusion

The Grand Rapids Times

NNPA Columnist

Unfortunately, too many Black folks in this country are blinded by a debilitating condition best described as the illusion of inclusion.

This was graphically demonstrated at a town hall meeting during which Mrs. Velma Hart, an educated, stylishly-dressed Black woman relayed her deeply felt economic concerns to President Barack Obama.

With a firm voice, Mrs. Hart told the President that “I am one of your middle class Americans. And quite frankly, I am exhausted –exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class….”

It is very disturbing that an educated Black person could possibly believe that a Black president, no matter what he said during his campaign, could bring about meaningful change in a society where race still really matters.

After all, this is a society that has never, in its entire history, voluntarily given Black folks anything.

Every move forward in the struggle for equal rights, equal opportunity and equal justice came about after many of our people paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.

It is a society where when a White male commits a heinous crime, the focus is on the pathology of that particular criminal; when a Black male commits one, the focus is on the “pathology of Black males.”

It is a society where Rupert Murdock’s New York Post can publish an article on Mrs. Hart, a financial officer with a veterans organization, with the headline “Gal Takes Him (President Obama) to Task Over Failed Vow at Town Hall; where Richard Schuman, a University of Michigan sociology professor, in a survey found that Whites consider integration as 15 percent Black, 85 percent White with a White person always in charge.

Noted Schuman, “….when White Americans say they ‘favor’ integrated schools or neighborhoods what they really mean is a few Black students or families in a predominately White environment.”

It is a society where conservative icon, William Buckley, could write in a 1991 National Review article that “….Blacks, yes, are sensitive, but Black lobbies are not powerful enough to punish nonpolitical transgressors against such taboos. (A black book-buyers’ boycott against a novelist would not impoverish.)

If the spoken or written offense is egregious enough, as in the case of the joke told (in 1975) to John Dean by Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, a Cabinet officer gets fired.

If a district attorney is named to a federal judgeship and it is revealed that he once made a pot-valiantly genial reference to the Ku Klux Klan, he can be defeated on the floor of the Senate.

And no one running for the office in a state in which the Black population is significant would consider post 1965, violating the taboo. On the other hand, there is discussion of such questions as relative Black intelligence, sexual promiscuity, and upward mobility that still gets a sober hearing in sober surroundings….”

And where Forbes a prestigious business magazine, published an article by Dinesh D’Souza, a self-loathing “tribesman” from Mumbai, India, in which he accuses President Obama of governing with the anti-colonialist beliefs of his father, whom he describes as a “Luo tribesman who grew up in Kenya….”

An Indian friend said that D’Souza, who is treated as an expert on Black folks in many academic and journalistic circles, is an Indian equivalent of Clarence Thomas and Larry Elder.

A society with such White supremacist attitudes can’t be meaningfully changed by any single individual, but only by a group of people who are united, alert, focused, determined and knowledgeable.

Journalist/Lecturer A. Peter Bailey, a former associate editor of Ebony, is currently editor of Vital Issues: The Journal of African American Speeches. He can be reached at apeterb@verizon.net

Rosa Parks Sculpture

Have you seen the Rosa Parks Sculpture in downtown Grand Rapids, corner of Monroe Ave and Monroe Center? Tell us what your thoughts are after seeing it?

#1 Architect

The Grand Rapids Times

Millions of architects strive to create multiplicity by constructing blue prints that are unique to their character. They begin blueprints, they erase blue prints, until they have what they believe is the blue print of all blue prints.

One architect that doesn’t have to revert back to the drawing board is God.

With His first try, God creates an impeccable blueprint that is like no other.

His main focus was multiplicity when He created all of us because He created all of us to be different.

As His unique creations we have the tendency of allowing others to have the right to judge us; but why?

We were created by the greatest architect of all time.

Since this is the case, why do we allow others the power to chase us back to our blueprints; when all we need to do is confront our architect?

Some of us suffer from drug addictions and we allow others the right to reject us; but why?

These individuals aren’t the architect that created us.

Some of us have problems with premarital sex and we let others call our sins unforgivable; but why?

It wasn’t their blueprint that created us.

We seem to forget periodically that we all sin and God gave His one and only son to forgive us of our sins; so He has the final say if our blueprints are beyond salvageable.

We can’t live life trying to impress others we have to live life for ourselves.

We have to get ourselves together and stop allowing others play the part of being our architect.

One for the week: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (New International Version)

Money, Money, Money, Money!

The Grand Rapids Times

Money is and probably forever will be classified as a dominant necessity in life.

However, people have the tendency of forgetting that it is only one of our many needs to live.

Unfortunately, because money is placed at such a high value the focus on money begins to have a constant battle with the focus on God.

For instance, thousands of people swarm to nightclubs on Saturday night; and they have no problem paying the typical cover fee.

The same individuals go to church Sunday morning and complain or don’t even bother putting money into the collection plate.

The following example raises a very important question.

Is money evil itself or does our decisions create a bad look for money?

As humans we undergo obstacles that alter our ways of living.

For many of us, when we face financial difficulties, we conform to the idea of budgeting.

When we are well off financially, we tend to forget what the word budget even means.

I believe that our decision behind what we do with money when we have it causes us to forget about the meaningful and important aspects of life.

Not only do we allow the amount or lack of money we have affect us religiously.

We also become affected in other ways.

I understand as Christians we should practice the idea of giving whole- heartedly, but first we have to discover exactly what this means.

Does this mean putting three thousand dollars worth of money on rims for your truck and then on Sunday giving the church $1?

Does this mean give the church $500 and not have enough money for groceries for the week?

We have to find a balance!

When I say money has the power to alter our character, I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times in my life when it has.

My attitude used to cause me to not concern myself with the rest of the world; my only concern was money.

I didn’t care about giving back to God.

I didn’t care about others who had to wake up everyday with the thought of struggle on their mind.

I didn’t care about the kid I went to school with that never had lunch to eat.

I advise everyone to come to the realization that money isn’t everything.

We have to be wise about how we use it.

Money can change our lives for the best or for the worse.

One for the week: “Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, and let it be used to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.” 2 Kings 12:5

My Name Is No Name

The Grand Rapids Times

This year I graduated at the top of my class and received many letters from various colleges.

I strive to be futuristic; so this upcoming year, I plan to attend a prestigious university to obtain my 4 year degree.

I want to become a mentor for upcoming youth in my neighborhood; I want to set an example for them.

I want my peers to see that when someone remains diligent with their goals, it pays My Name Is No Name off.

I visualize myself being successful with the opportunity to indulge in a prosperous future.

Respecting the leaders of yesterday and becoming a leader of tomorrow is my personal quote that I live by.

In ten years I see myself married to someone who loves me for who I am.

Being the parent of two brilliant children is what I imagine, informing my children of the many opportunities they may have in the world is an ultimate goal of mine.

I want to show my children that materialistic items are with us momentarily, but God is with us forever.

Changing my life for the better will not be my only personal desire.

Changing the lives of others around me would be my life long mission.

I would like to own a safe venue where inner city youth would feel comfortable about expressing their many talents.

I know that I am only one person, but I would like to change the world.

Unfortunately, I am unable to do any of this.

Today my chance to alter the world ended this morning when my mother entered the dark room and came out without me.

This is why I do not have a name.

I didn’t make it that far in my journey to earn a name.

My name is no name, and I wonder how many others are out in the world like me.

People we have to think before we make life changing decisions.

The following story isn’t fiction its reality and it occurs on the daily.

It saddens to think about all of the potential leaders that become no names each year.

One for the week: I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Genesis 17:16

Word’s From A Wise Man

The Grand Rapids Times

This week I started to purchase a pair of shoes; but, instead, I decided to buy a Bible.

Earlier this week I attended a chapel service at school and the focus was on Paul’s words of wisdom.

During his imprisonment, his time of trial, Paul pondered on the thought of rejoicing in the Lord.

This week, I took my new Bible and I explored to discover the significance behind Paul’s word. Paul stated, “We should rejoice in the Lord.” The significance about this is that Paul didn’t say that we should rejoice in the Lord sometimes, He says that we should rejoice in the Lord always.

After reading Paul’s words this week, I was humbled and I want to share my understanding with you all.

Paul didn’t say rejoice in the Lord – only when we are financially stable.

He didn’t say rejoice in the Lord only when we get promoted at work.

He didn’t say rejoice in the Lord when we leave the single life and find significant others.

Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

He didn’t say rejoice in the Lord when we are driving in our brand new nice cars.

He didn’t say rejoice in the Lord when we have central air in our large expensive homes.

Paul says that we should rejoice in the Lord always.

We should rejoice in the Lord when we only have one dollar left in our pockets.

We should rejoice in the Lord when we have to wear clothes that aren’t name brand.

We should rejoice when we have to drive our cars that are more than 5 years old.

There are some individuals in the world that have to walk everyday that rejoice.

There are people who don’t own homes who still rejoice.

There are recovering addicts from years of addiction who rejoice.

Why are we selective when it comes to rejoicing in the Lord? We have to rejoice in the Lord always.

I want to thank Paul for his wisdom.

One for the week: “I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne.” Revelation 7:9

GR’s Black Community Needs Cultural Renaissance, Revival

The Grand Rapids Times

“The fact that we are Black is our ultimate reality.”
Dr. Ron Karenga

The flip side of Dr. Karenga’s statement concerning our Black reality is that some of us are dry, and some of us are very dry.

“Urban blight, high crime, business deterioration, and white flight have combined to create urban landscapes that look more like war zones than busy metropolitan centers,” says Stuart Butler, in Inner- City Renewal.

The lack of moisture in our spiritual, cultural, social and moral lives has made us not only dry but fragmented.

“Behold there were very many in the open valley (inner city); lo they were very dry. And he said unto me, brother man (preachers, teachers, artists, musicians, poets, singers and song writers) can these bones live? And I answered, “My Lord Jehovah, you’re the only one who knows that? Ezekiel 37.

The condition or the state of Black people in Grand Rapids can be said to be dry; “behold they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off from our parts,“ Ezekiel 37:2. Our dryness spiritually, socially, culturally and morally is our own making. We’ve embraced pseudo black cultural nuances of ‘gangsta rap,’ ‘thug life,’ “baby mama drama,” ‘stupid checks’ (SSI=ADD/ADHD), ghetto drama, “sugar mama syndrome” guns, drugs and the lack of a serious work ethic.

“Welfare has done more harm than good and has proven to be much more expensive than anyone could have imagined when President Lyndon Johnson launched the “Great Society” thirty years ago. I have had the perverse and crippling consequences of illegitimacy, dependency, voluntary joblessness, family destruction, welfare fraud and crime, ” Butler also states.

We’ve embraced and become comfortable with non- academic achievement, non-innovative creative genius and a plantation mentality that is draining us of our ability to rise.

We have lost respect for the church, our elders, our women and our children.

Our children are now broken – killing each other for whimsical reasons, making babies that they either do not necessarily want or cannot take care of, denigrating education while the functional illiteracy and high school drop-out rate has exceeded fifty percent.

What is it that can relieve us of our dryness?

We need a Word. We need spiritual, social, cultural and moral word. “Rap upon these bones, and say unto them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord…behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live,” Ezk. 37:5.and you shall live,” Ezk. 37:5. As God breathed (his Spirit) into the nostrils of Adam and he became a living soul, we in the Black community need a second wind. We need to become living proactive souls.

Our souls have become discomfited; our souls are crying out from this dryness.

This second wind is a renaissance/ soulful revival that can only come from us breathing into one another a breath of life.

A renaissance is nothing short of a rebirth; a shaking, rumbling awakening and a coming together to create, produce and be fruitful.

“I rapped as I was commanded and as I spoke to those on Eastern & Division, Division & Burton, Madison & Hall, Fuller & Bemis, Wealthy & Diamond then there was a noise and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, sharing rhetoric together but yet without breath. We had soul but not spirit; we had no breath.

We had the feeling, but lacked the spiritual, social, cultural and moral will to inhale. We’ve always had the ability to stir-up the gifts in our children that are waiting for birth, laying dormant or have become discouraged but we lost our sense of community. The government has never been the breath we needed. Who breathed on us when there was no government help?

“Then He said unto me brother man, rap to the wind, rap son of man, saying to the wind of your ancient of days (paraphrased), thus saith the Lord, Come O’four winds; the Pison wind of the land of Havilah, the Gihon wind from the land of Ethiopia, the Hiddekel wind East of Assyria, and the mighty wind from the land of the Eurphrates and breathe of upon these slain by drugs, violence, molestation, family dysfunctionalism, poverty, despair, hopelessness and low self esteem) that, they may live.”

When preachers, teachers, poets, novelist, short story writers dancers, composers, musicians, businessmen/women and politicians collectively allow God to breathe on us, we will see a renaissance that will exceed that of Harlem, Chicago, Kansas City or Louisiana. We will see a revival that exceeds that of the “Great Awakening,” and Azusa St. When we inhale this fresh wind, we will be able to exhale and breathe new life not only into the Black community but the community at large.

Momma, I’m Not a Preacher

The Grand Rapids Times

Momma, I’m not a preacher, but I will tell the people what they should hear.

I try to live right but I get things wrong then I learn my lesson.

I learned my lesson, and now I’m strong.

Momma, I’m not a preacher; but I can sing this song.

This week, I want to share with you all my schedule for one day.

9 a.m. – I wake up and brush my teeth then I get in the shower.

10 a.m. – I am in the car on my way to Calvin to fill out paper work for this up and coming school year.

11 a.m. – I am still on campus reserving books for this fall.

12 a.m. – I am still on campus making plans with others regarding this fall.

1 p.m. – I am back in my car on my way to the post office.

I have to mail a payment for a $10 parking ticket that I received earlier this week.

2 p.m. – I’m back in the car on my way to work.

1:30 a.m. – I’m off of work.

2:00 a.m. – I am back in bed preparing my body for another day filled with activity.

After analyzing this schedule carefully, I realize not once during my day did I have personal one on one time with God.

There wasn’t any prayer, there wasn’t any reading of the word, and there wasn’t any blessing God for allowing me to see another day.

Honestly, reviewing my schedule helped me realize that God reserves time for me everyday but I don’t do the same in return.

Momma, I’m not a preacher; but I will tell the people what they should hear.

I try to live right, and I get things wrong; then I learn my lesson.

I learned my lesson, and now I’m strong.

Momma, I’m not a preacher; but I can sing this song.

Time is something that we take for granted.

Time is something that we should on the daily give to God.

One for the week: Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD Genesis 4:26

Medicate Me

The Grand Rapids Times

After seeing an infomercial for the fourth time within a two hour period, I began to wonder.

We as human beings are unbelievably creative when it comes to creating solutions for any problems our bodies may have.

If we are unhappy with our weight, there are supplements to make us thinner or heavier.

If we are unsatisfied with our ability to retain knowledge, there are pills that aid us in remembering everything.

If we desire to drain our bodies for endless hours, we have energy drinks, and capsules.

If we do not like the wrinkles that come with aging, we have aging crème.

I’m beginning to believe that people are just creating problems just to have reasoning to invent more prescriptions.

I congratulate all of the scientists and pharmacists in the world who create these many prescriptions for everyone.

However, I wonder why I never see an infomercial about a prescription that outweighs its side effects.

I want to tell you about a prescription that I haven’t had filled for some time now.

This prescription has negative side effects that are worth experiencing and positive side effects that are astonishing.

I don’t know how much weight this prescription will take away from a persons’ body.

I don’t know how many wrinkles this prescription will take away from a persons’ face.

I most certainly do not know how much knowledge this prescription will help an individual retain.

However, I can say that I have seen this prescription save lives.

I have seen this medication make the weak willed strong and those that are naive wise.

I have seen this medication transform a prostitute’s testimony into a message that I needed to hear.

I have seen this medication turn foolish girls into productive young women.

I have seen this medication turn young boys into respectful young men.

I have seen this prescription take those with physical and mental disabilities and make it seem like there are no disabilities at all.

Somebody should create an infomercial because I have seen this prescription do some incredible things.

I appreciate the manmade prescriptions created however, none of them posses the power of this prescription.

I need to be medicated; it’s time for me to once again medicate myself.

We are fortunate because it doesn’t take hours or days to have this prescription filled.

To have this prescription filled all we need is the word.

To all of the gangsters, it’s not too late to get your dose; it can knock the bullets out of that gun.

To those that are corrupted officers of the law, it’s not too late to get your dose; it can help you think before ruining an innocent persons’ life.

To all of the prostitutes, get your dose; it can help you see that your body is a temple and it should be respected.

I wish I could see an infomercial for this prescription because we all need a dose.

Email me at marcelgamble@ sbcglobal.net if you chose to discuss the topic of this prescription.

One for the week: “They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.” Ezekiel 44:16

Trash Into Treasure

The Grand Rapids Times

People do it everyday; they throw away old things for multiple reasons and then rush to purchase new items.

Some believe that new things will take all of their problems away.

I’m going to get a new car because my old car is beat up; it’s beginning to rust, and the paint is chipping on the side.

I need a new house because my friends aren’t as impressed as I want them to be when they visit my home.

I need a new wife because my current wife knows how to use the microwave, but she doesn’t know how to cook. I’m going to look for a new husband because my husband doesn’t know how to repair anything.

We all have the tendency to forget that with new belongings sometimes come negative outcomes.

We all want to throw our old possessions in the trash with no hesitation.

Some of us believe that something being new will handle our problem; unfortunately, sometimes that’s not the case.

We should work with the old, and turn trash into treasure.

Yes, I can buy a new car with a brand new paint job; but I have to realize that in a few years the paint on the new car will chip and it will become the old.

Yes, I can purchase a new house to impress my friends; but what happens when they build one right next to me that they are more impressed with? Yes, I can trade my old wife in for a new wife that can cook; but happens when I become obese and unhealthy from eating all of the time?

Of course, ladies, you can trade your husband in for a handyman; but what will happen when he tries to repair things that he knows nothing about?

Things that we all want to kick to the curb are things that we should sometimes hold on to.

Good doesn’t always come with upgrades.

We have to learn how to turn our trash into treasure.

I originally wrote this article because it seems that many people aren’t taking marriage seriously.

Marriage is a lifetime commitment; it’s not something a person just gives up on when they are tired.

Everyone has their downfalls; God made no one perfect.

Sometimes it can be nerve racking but it can be better to put up with the small things that you don’t like about your spouse rather than getting a new spouse that doesn’t respect you at all.

We all have to work on turning what we call trash into treasure.

One for the week: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

Thin N Noun

Dear Readers,
How are you and I doing?

Hope all is well with you on this great day. Please know that flooded rivers soon return to their beds. I have been missing and I thank you Dear Readers for letting me know.

Thank you dear God for your eyes. My, you do see everything, no matter what. When I get the big mouth I notice how you will wake me up at night, just to remind me to beg someone’s pardon, or something I could have done better to help another person.

Then and Now Comparison I owe you Dear Readers, the comparison on Then and Now.

What was happening when I was a child and what the year 2010 have to do with it? Here is a small sample of my list.

THEN: The school bus was for those children who lived in the country. If you went to a Kent County school, no matter if it was rain, snow or hail, you just keep walking. Electrical storms you just keep walking and try to anticipate when the lightning will flash. Then duck under a tree. Looking at the bus stops it was amazing to watch as women’s umbrellas were torn by the wind. The pieces of paper that was used to protect hair-dos just fell apart and the printed word went down the drain. This left wet women waiting on the bus, trying to protect their hair-dos, and fighting to keep the wind from raising their dresses.

NOW: Students are blessed to get a ride to school on buses, cars, vans and trucks, that have heated seats, surrounded by music and On Star. If hungry stop at a local drive-in and get hot food. What would you like, Egg McMuffin or Pancakes?

THEN: Our old telephone on Franklin Street use to ring, ring, ring and nobody wanted to answer it. Mama would finally say, “kids somebody get the phone before it rings off the hook.” In order to make a long distant call you had to dial ‘O’ for the operator and she would dial it for you. She was a real live operator and she would say, “long distant operator, number please.” You could not talk until she said, “go ahead Grand Rapids.” Twix & Twitter I have not a clue, but just find a young person and in seconds they have sent a message. I think reading scores and comprehension should be based on the skills used and language to Twix and Twitter.

NOW: There are so many people on the phone and so many types of phones that I thought I saw an ant with an Ipod, or was it an apple? People depend on phones so much that even in the midst of budget cuts they will wait in line for hours to purchase a new phone. Who are we talking to? Does it really matter that you private phone gives you some prestige and information and a feeling of security on a dark lonely road.

I thought a well-known person here in our town was having some mental problems. I saw him out at the mall talking to himself. I am a nurse and I know when a person is hearing voices, because they talk to the voice they hear in their head.

I felt so sorry for him. When he passed our car I told my husband, “you never know who is having mental problems.” My kids laughed and said, “he has a blue tooth in his ear that is connected to his phone.” I bought a GPS and had no idea that this hunk of plastic and glass was smart enough to take me to my destination. One time I refused to make a turn and the GPS went on and on saying, “turn right.” When I did reach home it said, “you have arrived at your destination.” A friend was visiting me, I did not believe in ghost until I heard this voice. My friend remained calm and said, “ oh, my phone is programmed to call me when I have an appointment.” Sure enough her phone was blinking and calling her name. One night when I was half asleep, Ernie, the doll from Sesame Street, who used to belong to my grandsons, Leroy and Deon, yelled out one night in song.

The kids said the battery was dead, and that may have been true, but Ernie was not! (smile)

The Piggy Bank
My son Rufus Will and his wife Javonne Granderson, tried to explain to me why they got rid of the bank I bought Thaxton & Mathis. The bank was shaped like a robot with blue glass eyes.

Will, who is a great story teller said the bank was fine until one night when he went to touch the bank it gave the balance of the account and the eyes flashed. When he picked up the bank, it yelled, “I am being robbed.”

What has become of the old fashioned piggy bank that you just hit it in the head with a hammer and got the money you needed? Where is the bank now? Rufus and Javonne know.

Next week more of the same.

Keep Reading.

Please share your then and now observations on this blog!

Our Black Community In Grand Rapids, Weakened, But Not Dead – Yet

The Grand Rapids Times

Last week’s blowout of our elected officials may have sealed the doom of the black community in Grand Rapids. An already weakened community lost three elected officials who should have won their seats.

Their poor communication efforts failed to motivate people to come out in mid-term elections, and the voter turnout in their precincts were extremely low.

Each had major issues they failed to address and some bad publicity definitely hurt some of them.

They either took their constituents for granted, did not push the right issues, have poor communication skills, or lack the know-how to get the people to the polls.

The black community is in pathetic shape and getting worse. We are literally going backwards – economically, politically and in our education system.

There is little communication in the black community.

Elected officials don’t communicate with us. Our 72 pastors do not communicate with us, or other pastors. Our social organizations do not communicate.

As a result, we have a bunch of “do-good organizations” running around, getting nothing done and having no idea what the other one is doing.

The results are: we have no political clout, no collective voice to speak out about injustices, no economic development projects, no jobs creation and very little training for meaningful jobs. This is the reason the community is all but dead.

The White, Latin, Asian and Arab communities are all leaving us in the dust.

Our school system is in shambles with almost 50% dropout rate of our children.

The Kent County Jail has 78% Black incarceration rate. Unemployment for blacks is over 18%.

So, the question is, who do we turn to? Who are our spokespersons?

Who are the people we turn to, to lead the way in creating businesses and higher paying jobs?

Stand-up and be counted!

Our current leaders appear to think all they need to do is meet and discuss issues. There is seldom any follow-up or meaningful solution resulting from all of these meetings that impact a large part of our community.

There are some churches and social organizations that are working hard to bring about changes, but their programs seldom, if ever, reach the masses.

Our ministers are asleep at the wheel.

Our ministers have captive audiences, every week; yet, mostly, they teach only the gospel.

Teaching the gospel is fine; however, our people need more, much more. We are that “lost sheep”….. in a strange land, following strange ways.”

We need to learn other things to build a legacy and a future for our great-grandchildren’s grandchildren, such as: economic and community development, the importance of a good education, how to obtain and maintain good health.

We have three times more diseases than all other cultures and we are getting sicker all the time. Diabetes, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, AIDS, and arthritis are destroying our race.

We must also blame our once, very proud, but now very apathetic community.

Today, we are scattered all over the place, alienated from each other and very dysfunctional as a group.

Our neighborhood associations, who were designed to bring people together, are dysfunctional and constantly at each other’s throats. Instead of creating unity, they seem to bring more chaos.

We have to find a way to connect and work together for the good of us all. Unity is the key!

Most of our retired educators and businesspeople also turn their backs on the problems.

Instead of reaching out to pass on wisdom and life experiences to the young, many take the position that “I’ve done my part. Let somebody else deal with the problems.”

Well, folks, you are that somebody else!

You were blessed with the know-how. Now, it is incumbent on you to “give back”.

The only real answer is this: we must begin to seriously communicate with each other in every way possible.

If talented, experienced people just give four volunteer hours a month to unify and help our various organizations to start coalescing, it will make a tremendous difference.

Those with wisdom should not take it to the grave. Share it!

We must start now! Time is not on our side.

Where do we go from here?

Who will step-up and lead the way?

Robert Crawford is a retired businessman and executive director of the Over The Hill Gang, businesspeople and educators attempting to pass on life-experiences to young people to create a new, more productive community.

Editor's Note: The GR Times invites readers to visit www. grtimes.com to post your comments and views about this topic.

One Night Out

The Grand Rapids Times

First off, I want to make it clear that this article isn’t directed towards anyone that this subject doesn’t concern.

It’s time to address an issue that’s been problematic for some time now.

Many of us are complaining about the lack of social venues that young people have to go to on the weekend.

We are frustrated with the fact that there are only a few night clubs, bowling alleys, and movie theaters that are available for our entertainment.

However, we are failing to look at the reasoning to why this is.

There aren’t many venues for us to socialize at because of the ruthless actions of other’s.

When a person works all week long and decide that they just want to spend one night with their friends to go dance, and etc this individual wants to have fun.

This person doesn’t want their one night of fun to be life threatening to their self or their friends.

A person doesn’t want to see a man get hit in the head with a beer bottle.

A person doesn’t want to see a man get kicked in the head repeatedly.

I know that I, for one, am exhausted with seeing my fellow peers acting foolish.

I’m not speaking about something that I know nothing about; I have been on both sides of the fence.

I have been the person who constantly fought, and I have been the person that was on the ground helpless.

However, I am also the individual that has come to the realization that all of this ruthlessness is worthless.

We all need to get our acts together.

Venues are being closed simply because we don’t know how to act.

We should all be able to come together and socialize without drama.

I shouldn’t have to fear for my girlfriends’ life at the end of the night when we leave the dance floor.

I shouldn’t have to be concerned about another man’s life at a place where people are having a good time.

We need to get it together.

I say we because we all have a friend that is one of these people that just don’t know how to act.

I’m not saying concern yourself in your friend’s drama, I’m saying school them on how to act when out at a public location.

We need to quit talking about this issue and be proactive about it.

Everyone needs to leave the drama at home and stop bringing it to public places amongst people it shouldn’t involve.

One for the week: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11

Sneakers On Me

The Grand Rapids Times
7-23-2010

If everyone has an obsession, mine would be shoes.

People constantly ask me, “Why do you have so many shoes when you only have two feet?”

My answer is always, “A person can never have too many shoes.”

Usually, when I shop for sneakers, I look for the ones that stand out – the ones that no one else has, or the ones that will label me as being different from everyone else.

When I go places, I want people to see my many sneakers out of my large collection because the sneakers on me make me proud.

However, currently I have traded my sneakers in for a pair of steel toe boots.

I like walking in my shoes, but I decided to adventure out to walk in my father’s boots for a while.

I walk in these boots, and I see now.

I see exactly how hard my father had worked for years to provide for his family.

I see how in these boots my father goes to a factory everyday of the week to take care of children that are and aren’t biologically his.

I wonder, even with these boots on, would I be able to stand up and do the same.

These boots have me working 60 hours a week and still trying to make quality time for my family.

Some days I dread the time that I have to put on these boots because where I work, millions of other people are wearing boots just like mine.

These boots aren’t my sneakers, but when I take them off they will be going in the sneaker collection.

They don’t make me stand out, and they don’t make me look different from other people that may have them; but they do make me feel like a man.

Why would I place a pair of steel toe boots in with the sneaker collection?

Like many of my rare sneakers, my boots are irreplaceable.

This article is dedicated to my father Bill Hendler for wearing his boots for years.

I also want to dedicate this to any other parent who thinks your children don’t appreciate what you do for a living.

Read them this article for them to understand what it means to walk in your shoes.

One for the week: “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ “ Deuteronomy 4:6

Don't Let the Ice Cream Melt

The Grand Rapids Times
Adult's Walk
By Marcel Gamble

We all go grocery shopping.

When we return home from doing so, usually the first thing we put away is the ice cream.

Why? We have fear of the ice cream melting.

Many of us do the same with our lives; we fear that the talents God gives us are going to fade away.

Because of this fear, we take the first opportunities we get to showcase our talents.

For instance, picture someone who is a mathematician instead of tutoring or teaching others to spread his or her skill he or she hoards it and begins a drug trade business.

Picture someone who is a great dancer. Instead of teaching inner city youth that have dreams to one day become a dancer, this person decides to showcase his or her talent at the strip club.

I can be realistic and say that sometimes the easy way out seems to be the only way out.

It was great for a short period of time but unfortunately my ice cream ended up melting any way.

Yes, the easy way out in any situation has the potential of seeming great, however the easy way out never is the only way out.

Many people think that as long as they display their talents in any way their ice cream won’t melt.

I believe that if individuals were concerned with putting their ice cream away first after grocery shopping then they would have time to think about how they want to use their talents.

This means if ice cream stays frozen, people don’t have to rush to clean up melting messes.

If you’re a person that is intrigued with cameras, don’t waste your time filming all of the neighborhood fights, start shooting short films.

If you are someone who is fascinated with the operation of cars, don’t hotwire them for theft get a job at a garage somewhere.

If you have an interest for guns, don’t display your interest in the streets to showcase your talent get a job at a sporting goods store where you can tell costumers all about guns.

We can no longer afford to let the ice cream melt.

God gave us talents not to let the ice cream melt and cause destruction to his creation.

He gave us talents to spread his word and set examples for others.

One for the week: Exodus 25:39 - A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories.

Do Democrats Commit Hate Crimes Against Black Republicans?

The Grand Rapids Times

Frances Rice, Chairman
National Black Republican Association

Racists! That incendiary charge hurled by Democrats at Tea Party activists protesting against ObamaCare was shown to be totally false by Jack Cashill in his article "A Closer Look at the Capitol Steps Conspiracy".

Given the Democratic Party's 150-year record of racist rhetoric and racial violence - from the days of slavery until today - it is astonishing to see Democrats sanctimoniously playing the race card.

A display of unmitigated gall describes how Democrats are falsely comparing anti-ObamaCare protestors to the anti-civil rights racists of the 1960's who were Democrats.

Democrats get away with this racial hypocrisy because they know with absolute certainty that the true history of civil rights has long been buried, and the racism exhibited today by Democrats against blacks, particularly black Republicans, will be ignored by the mainstream media.

For instance, the liberal media expressed no outrage and not one word of condemnation was uttered by any Democrat after SEIU (Service Employees International Union) thugs attacked Kenneth Gladney, a black man.

Gladney was beaten, kicked and called a racist name while working as a vendor at a health care reform town hall meeting in St. Louis on August 6, 2009 called by U.S. Rep. Democrat Russ Carnahan.

The assault was a calculated attempt to intimidate and silence Tea Party protestors and town hall activists.

On the morning of the Gladney attack, the White House presented to Senate Democrats a “battle plan” to quell the protests. The advice given to the Democrats by the White House was to "punch back twice as hard", and the first casualty was Kenneth Gladney. In the emergency room of the St. John's Mercy Medical Center, Gladney was treated for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face suffered in the attack.

The six people arrested in the Gladney case, including a Post-Dispatch reporter, were charged with mere misdemeanor ordinance violations, with a total of ten charges spread out among the six offenders.

Not one Democrat rushed to a microphone to denounce the attack against Gladney as a "hate crime".

Based on the lack of any outrage by Democrats over the Gladney beating, it seems that the newly enacted "hate crime" legislation pushed by Democrats would not apply to cases of hateful brutality against black Republicans.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009 and is designed to punish crimes of violence against people because of their race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

At the core of why Democrats are feverishly painting conservatives and Republicans as racist, especially Tea Party activists, is the need to divert the public's attention away from the fact that President Barack Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress are slowly and deliberately transforming America from a free society with a representative form of government into a socialist dictatorship. A move applauded by the Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro.

Obama is now governing as a hard-core leftist, after campaigning for president as a centrist.

His cynical charade was designed to convince the majority of white Americans to vote for him, the very citizens Obama now castigates as racist.

What Obama and the Democrats are ignoring while trying to silence protestors with charges of racism is the fact that average American citizens are angry because they do not want socialism.

They understand that ObamaCare and Obama's out-of-control spending will produce massive deficits, high costs for consumer goods and fewer jobs.

Citizens have tried to communicate this message to Obama and the Democrats in every way possible, from protesting in record numbers to historic votes against Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts.

Obama and the Democrats have chosen, at their peril, to ignore the will of the people and enact the economy-wrecking ObamaCare with one-party rule, bribing unprincipled Democrats with sleazy deals.

The powerful video posted on YouTube called "America Rising: An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians Patriotic Resistance" implores Americans to hold Democrats accountable in the 2010 elections.

A video posted on YouTube called "We The People" provides an inspiring call for us to take back our country from the socialists.

In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this call is made for all Americans to unite, engage in nonviolent civil disobedience and vote in November to stop the Democrats from shredding our Constitution and governing without the consent of the governed.

History shows that during the 1960's Democrats used racist slurs and brutality against Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Republican until the day he died, and other nonviolent activists who were trying to stop the Democrats from denying civil rights to black Americans.

Today, Democrats are using similar reprehensible tactics against conservatives and Republicans, especially black Republicans, who are trying to stop the Democrats from stripping civil liberties from all Americans.

While claiming to be racially sensitive, Democrats use racist invectives to denigrate black Republicans, demeaning them as "sellouts", "Uncle Toms", "House Negroes", "House N-word", or worse.

The list of black Republicans attacked by Democrats is long and includes RNC Chairman Michael Steel, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, General Colin Powell and Justice Clarence Thomas.

On the left-wing Internet website called "The News Blog," Democrats posted a doctored photograph of RNC Chairman Michael Steele while he was the Lt. Governor of Maryland and running for a Senate seat.

Democrats depicted Steele as a "Simple Sambo" with a blackened minstrel-style face, nappy hair and big, think red lips. The cartoon caption read: "Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house".

This contemptible racist stereotype is the same one Democrats used to demean black men during the era of slavery and segregation.

Dr. Condoleezza Rice was the object of particularly vicious racist attacks by Democrats.

In addition to several other appalling images of Dr. Rice produced by several Democrats, cartoonist Jeff Danziger denigrated Dr. Rice as an ignorant, barefoot "mammy", reminiscent of the stereotyped black woman in the movie "Gone with the Wind" about the slave era black woman who remarked: "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies".

This is the type of racist stereotype Democrats used to demean black women during the era of slavery and segregation.

A video was shot by WKRN Video Journalist Beau Fleenor at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee that shows Al Sharpton demeaning Gen. Powell and Dr. Rice, when Sharpton was asked to give his opinions about whether Powell and Rice were "House Negroes".

An article that appeared in a Portland, Oregon paper was one of many exposing how hardly a ripple of protest was made by black Democrats when Harry Belafonte publicly denounced Gen. Powell as a "House Negro".

Posted on the Internet is an article entitled "A Black Man, The Progressive's Perfect Trojan Horse" by black entertainer Lloyd Marcus exposing Democratic Party racism toward black Tea Party protestors.

The truth about Democratic Party racism can be harsh medicine, but is sorely needed to finally eject the race-baiting poison injected into our body politic by Democrats, the architects of modern-day racism.

As stated by author Michael Scheuer, the Democratic Party is the party of the four S's: slavery secession, segregation and now socialism. A prominent pundit affirmed that the Republican Party is the party of the four F's: family, faith, freedom and fairness. Civil rights history details are in the NBRA Civil Rights Newsletter that is posted on the website of the National Black Republican Association.

Written out of our history books are the following facts. The Republican Party was started in 1854 as the anti-slavery party and, after the Civil War, Republicans amended the US Constitution to grant blacks freedom (13th Amendment), citizenship (14th Amendment) and the right to vote (15th Amendment).

Republicans then passed the civil rights laws to ensure blacks could exercise their Constitutional rights, including the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1867 and 1875.

After Democrats took control of Congress in 1892, Democrats passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil rights legislation enacted by the Republicans.

It took Republicans nearly six decades to finally achieve passage of civil rights legislation in the 1950's and 1960's pushed through by Republican Senator Everett Dirksen over the objection of the Democrats.

In addition to their reprehensible of record of fighting against civil rights legislation, Democrats have a long history of racial violence. Recorded by liberal professor Dr. Eric Foner in his book "A Short History of Reconstruction", is the horrifying fact that Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan in 1866 to lynch and terrorize Republicans - black and white. The Klan became the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party, killing over 2,000 black Republicans and over 1,000 white Republicans.

The violence against the 1960's era civil rights protestors was inflicted by Democrats.

Democrat Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor in Birmingham let loose vicious dogs and turned skin-burning fire hoses on black civil rights demonstrators. Democrat Georgia Governor Lester Maddox famously brandished ax handles to prevent blacks from patronizing his restaurant.

In 1954, Democrat Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus tried to prevent desegregation of a Little Rock public school. Democrat Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963 and thundered, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
All of these racist Democrats remained Democrats until the day they died.

One survivor from that era, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd, a former recruiter in the Ku Klux Klan, is still a Democrat and a prominent leader in the Democrat-controlled Congress where he was honored by his fellow Democrats as the "conscience of the Senate."

It does not even make common sense to believe that after the Republicans spent over 150 years fighting the Democrats and won, the racist Democrats suddenly rushed into the arms of the Republicans.

In fact Democrats declared that they would rather vote for a "yellow dog" than any one in the Republican Party, the party for blacks.

If our soldiers did and do voluntarily put their lives on the line to preserve our freedoms, then we can do no less.

If Dr. King had the courage to fight for civil rights for blacks in the face of racist slurs by Democrats and threats of imprisonment or death, then we surely have the courage to stand up for our civil liberties in the face of such threats. This we owe to ourselves, our country and future generations.

Frances Rice is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and Chairman of the National Black Republican Association. She may be contacted at: www.NBRA.info