Any legitimate endeavor to encourage childhood exercise and combating childhood obesity should be commented. I agree with the Let’s Move campaign. I don’t agree with the President on every issue (like on civil liberty matters, neoliberal policies, etc.), but I do realize that the situation that we are in didn’t originate in 2009. While I don't agree with the White House on every issue, I will always deplore the reactionary slander against the President and his family. We have a long history and the struggle continues. The same white supremacist system existed throughout Presidencies. The First Lady (who is a strong, beautiful black woman) and the President has raised strong daughters. People can call the President many words. Yet, the First family loves their children. So, we have to put pressure in society to change and we have been motivated in fighting for solutions. We should not only express legitimate critiques of the White House. We have to go out and be part of the solution too. I want the Let’s Move campaign to be strengthened, to achieve even greater, positive results, and I want the initiative to continue. Even some Democrats want to promote the neoliberal agenda of trying to slash corporate taxes up to ten percentage points. We will an increase of social inequality. The majority of the new jobs are low wage jobs including a large percentage of them being part-time and temporary positions. Wages are stagnant, benefits have been slashed, and millions remain unemployed (or have dropped out of the labor market altogether). There can been huge cash handouts sent to wealthy banks and the lowering of the working class' living standards. This is a recovery for the rich and the super-rich not for the working class. The deficit has declined and that is good news, but we have a long way to go. This situation is not new. In NYC, there were sweeping cuts in municipal workers’ jobs and compensation. This happened in 1975. There was the bailout of Chrysler in 1979-1980. There was the suppression of the working rights after the 1981 smashing of the PATCO air controller strike. We know about the forced bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler in 2009 (including their bailouts later on while wages of workers have been halved).
Esther Okade is a great young Sister. Most people do quadratic equations when they are teenagers, yet she is 10 years old doing it. Her dreams certainly represent her great value as human beings. Also, her family is blessed too. Esther has a brother who is extremely intelligent. Genius is found throughout our people. Bless Esther. Certainly, we should remember Selma. The movement of Selma was about how many people of many backgrounds (like members of the SCLC, the DCVL, SCLC, etc.) stood up for fundamental human rights in the midst of racism, police terrorism, and other obstacles. John Lewis is right that we don't live in a post racial society. Giuliani's false words and extremism should be rejected. We should continue to stand up against not only institutionalized racism, but economic oppression too (as economic oppression, racism, the War on Drugs, and other injustices oppress people). We need revolutionary change in society. We have to keep on fighting for truth, justice, and equality. People cried during the performance (of Common and John Legend's song of "Glory"). The song Glory means many things. It refutes the lie that all forms of hip hop is evil. So many people want to demonize all hip hop. They should listen to this song and witness real hip hop, because that song is every bit hip hop as it is R&B. It refutes the lie that post racial rhetoric is true. The song is powerful and inspirational. The more I listen to it, the more I am inspired to fight for the beloved community (and for justice for all black people). Common and John Legend are absolutely right to mention that our voting rights are under threat, especially with the Supreme Court decision (including the voter ID laws). We have to expose the prison industrial complex which has ruined the lives of our Brothers and our Sisters. Their performance was excellent, stirring, and it was filled with passion. The events of Selma back in 1965 have motivated the Black Lives Matter movement too in 2015. 50 years have passed and we are still seeking our freedom. Men, women, and children even now seek change, are helping their community, and believe in the truth of justice being indivisible for all. We will continue to speak up and to stand up for social justice, liberty, and freedom without question.
Monique just told the truth. Blackballing is common in Hollywood. In this generation, compromising your integrity doesn't work anyway in the long term. We have a legacy to build. Monique should be encouraged in her endeavors. It is noticeable that Lee Daniels never denied or refuted Monique's comments, which makes Monique comments even more accurate. I have no problem with being strategic in advancing our lives (there is a time and place for everything), but we should reject being submissive to evil. Being submissive to evil or compromising human integrity has nothing to do with advancing. That has to do with violating human principles. Sheryl Lee Ralph is correct to mention a possibility of Monique making a comeback. We should not allow Hollywood to dictate to us in how we should be. We should be unapologetic in how we express our inner and outer beings. I feel empathy for the child (who said that President Barack Obama doesn't love America). I don't agree with him. He has the right to his views, but I don't agree with his premises. It is obvious that he is being manipulated by reactionary forces. President Obama certainly loves America. He loves America by his speeches, etc. The President has issued drone strikes, bombs on certain places, and supported other militant foreign policy actions. The neo-conservative extremists don't feel that Obama is going far enough. Many of these extremists want to strike Iran, which is ludicrous. ISIS evolved from al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda came from bin Laden. Bin Laden was a U.S./Saudi funded asset from 1979 (in Operation Cyclone). ISIS is a counterrevolutionary, evil group. ISIS has done terrorism and the U.S. government has done terrorism in many nations for decades. Also, black people have been the recipients of terrorism by the U.S. government & reactionary, privatized forces (from slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, etc.). If you want to know about terrorism, look at American history.
Zendaya Coleman responded to Rancic with historical facts, class, and inspirational statements. It is a shame that in this generation, we have people who want to disrespect a young woman in such vicious terms. Locs are part of real human expression. Just because someone wears locs doesn’t mean that that they smell like weed, etc. Some individuals have to live in the 21st century and realize the dignity of people of color must be respected. People of all colors wear locs and our hair has the right to be shown in diverse ways (as beauty is diverse). Rancic’s obviously desperate apology was certainly a plan for her to save face. We will continue to defend not only locs, but justice too. I love that Zendaya listed India Arie. She is a great music who expressed classic records. Locs are here to stay. If the GOP wants real outreach, then they need to change. They need to talk about civil liberties, the evils of the War on Drugs, fair housing, police brutality, respect for women, cleaning up the environment, and other real issues that people care about. So far, the leadership of the GOP still wants to continue with the same old agendas of austerity, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, and believing in post racial rhetoric. The GOP is still headed by reactionaries. People have the right to believe in what they want. Likewise, I have the right to not be a Republican too.
Malcolm X’s Autobiography was assisted by Alex Haley (who was a liberal Republican). To understand Malcolm X’s thinking and thoughts, Malcolm’s Autobiography is a critical resource in understanding the philosophies and views of Malcolm X. Alex Haley was a great journalist and interviewer. He interviewed many people from Jim Brown, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and to Muhammad Ali. He is famous for being the author of the bestseller “Roots,” which would be a famous miniseries. The book and the miniseries were about the story of Alex Haley’s ancestry from Africa to America. It dealt with slavery, oppression, the Civil War, and freedom. His story is an American story. The Autobiography of Malcolm X has inspired black people all over the world including human beings of all colors as well. The book was first published in 1965. The book has been based on interviews between Malcolm X and Alex Haley between 1963 and 1965. Malcolm X wanted a strong autobiography, so he constantly edited information and added necessary information. The book described Malcolm X’s views as having the love of blackness, believing in Black Nationalism, and following pan-Africanism. Malcolm X took control over the composition of the work. The book has the foreword and then the Introduction. There are 19 chapters in the great book. The last Chapter is entitled, 1965. The epilogue was written by Alex Haley and there are words form Ossie Davis on Malcolm X. In 1992, attorney Gregory Reed bought the original manuscripts of The Autobiography of Malcolm X for more than $100,000 at the sale of the Haley Estate. The manuscripts included three "missing chapters" that were omitted from the original text. In a 1964 letter to his publisher, Haley had described these chapters as, "the most impactful material of the book, some of it rather lava-like.” The titles of the chapters are “The Negro”,”End of Christianity”, and “Twenty Million Muslims.” These chapters have been released to the public in 2010. “My life has been a mirror of what the black ghetto across America present as a community of despair,” Reed read from the chapters, “and a way of life that warps millions of Negro minds into social problems of broken homes and families and tragedies. The word ‘ghetto’ today often meets our eyes and ears, but not even those who live there can convey its actual horror to anyone who lives somewhere else. I can only hope that the reporting of my life will show what happened to me. And that one can transform his circumstances to better one ’s self and their children.” “The races in America have just declared war with each other,” Reed read. “The black man is accusing and bitter. The white man is guilty, alarmed and confused. In this turmoil for them both, I think that when my life is looked upon in the right way, there might be drawn from it something of value for humanity.” In other excerpts, Reed read, Malcolm also reflected on his own life. “Today, it is my mission to end the white man’s continuous enslavement and imprisonment of America’s black man’s mind,” Reed read. “When I was for a decade, another ghetto hustler, once called Detroit Red, talking out of the side of my mouth. Today, the New York Times reports me as the second most sought after speaker on university campuses, after Barry Goldwater.” In another excerpt, Malcolm wrote, “Today, the FBI and other agencies watch me wherever I go. Once every word I uttered was slang, or foul and today I am interviewed and quizzed by panels or experts on the major television and radio programs.” William Alex Haley (who is Alex Haley’s son) said that Malcolm X and Haley spent about three years meeting on Grove Street in Greenwich Village in order to complete the autobiography. William said that both men were friends. Ilyasah al-Shabazz or the daughter of Malcolm X praised his father as a man of integrity (during the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Education Center when the rediscovered chapters were released to the public. The center was the former Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan). Hopefully, these lost chapters can be included in future additions of the “Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Therefore, I recommend “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” 100 percent.
By Timothy
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