Today, it is time to mention information on the great city of Denver. Denver is found in the Mountain West region of America. It has the most population in the state of Colorado. Also, it is found in the South Platte River Valley. That is located in the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Plains, which is just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is the capital of Colorado as well. It has been nicknamed the Mile High City, because its official elevation is about one mile (or 5,280 feet, which is the same as 1,610 meters) above sea level. So, Denver is one of the highest major cities in terms of altitude in America. The105th meridian west of Greenwich, the longitudinal reference for the Mountain Time Zone, passes directly through Denver Union Station. Its population has grown rapidly in the past 10 years. It has over 682,545 people. It has the 19th most populous population in America and it’s the fastest growing major city in the United States. Geographically, Aurora is to the east of Denver. Thornton is north of Denver. Colorado Springs is to the south of Denver too. South of Colorado Springs is Pueblo. Grand Junction is to the southwest of Denver as well. Its metropolitan area has over 3 million people. Denver is not just famous for its history of the American West and for architecture. It has dynamic culture from a diversity of its citizens. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U.S. News & World Report. Mount Evans can be seen in the skyline. Denver is located in the center of the Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Plains to the east. Denver's topography consists of plains in the city center with hilly areas to the north, west and south. According to the Bureau the city has a total area of 155 square miles. About 78 different neighborhoods reside in Denver. Denver is a key area of America where it is a location for storage and distribution of goods and services to the Mountain States, the Southwest states, and the Western states. Tons of well-known people are born from Denver like Chauncey Billups, Jerry Robertson, Joseph C. Philips, Hanna R. Hall, Jane Culp, India Irie, and other human beings. Therefore, it is important to anyone to appreciate the strength of Denver and research about the historical significance that Denver has. For a long time, Denver represents progressive thinking, human cultural advancement, and the spirit of determination succinctly.
One of the favorite subjects to study is about the African Diaspora. The more that I knew about the African Diaspora, the more I get to know about myself as an African American. We are an international people. That means that there are black people in England, Iran, Turkey, Brazil, Africa, etc. It is a fact that no human being can be free unless black people are free. I'm inspired to do what is right. I always have a love to learn information and to study international issues. Life is part of journey which can enlighten us and cause us to be more mature and more discerning as times goes onward. A lot of people certainly inspire me. You know who you are. I will continue to promote excellence, discernment, and human dignity throughout my entire life. That is the ideology that I advance and the creed of justice is a creed that I embrace in my heart. There are a lot of unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. She is Fay Bellamy Powell. She was a member of SNCC, which focused on grassroots organizing, active protest, and egalitarianism. She was born in Pennsylvania and throughout her life, she fought for social justice. She worked in the Selma movement in 1965. She also was involved in bringing to SNCC and the civil rights movement in general a black woman's perspective as there is no freedom on this Earth without the freedom of black women. Black women are the Mothers of Humanity. Bellamy Powell played a key role in the foundation of multiple organizations: the National Anti-Klan Network, and the We Shall Overcome Fund. She trained activists for decades. She continued to be apart of the freedom struggle. Fay Bellamy Powell was a magnificent photographer too. She was gifted in many arenas. One of my goals living on this Earth is to make sure that unsung heroes are known in our generation and in future generations too. Her work in the cause of human justice is incredible. We salute her. She passed away in January 5, 2013. Her sacrifice and her courage is respected by all of us.
Rest in Power Sister Fay Bellamy Powell.
We witness a very historic 2016 presidential election. The unpopular candidates of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are running for President. Donald Trump is an overt billionaire bigot who has scapegoated Muslims, immigrants, and Chinese people for the issues going on in America. He has financial and political ties to the establishment, but he falsely claims to be totally independent (when he is aligned with the capitalist party of the GOP). Hillary Clinton has been forced to have a more "left image" by Bernie Sanders supporters. Yet, Hillary Clinton is a neoliberal hawkish person, that has no problem with advancing the interests of many Wall Street corporations. Hillary Clinton has experienced scandals involving emails and the Clinton Foundation. The reality is that the younger Millennial generation is the more progressive generation ideologically in American history. They are key in seeing who will be the next president of the United States. Bernie Sanders has opposed Hillary Clinton during the primary and now he wants to support Hillary Clinton (which relates to the "lesser evil" argument). Instead, people want to inspire political independence and make an effort to make sure that an alternative is made beyond the 2 capitalist parties. Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are in third parties too. They are running for the Presidency. The GOP has a shrinking base because of demographic changes in America. Most of the biggest supporters of the GOP are white males while the Democrat's strongest supporters are people of color, women, the young, the college educated, Muslims, etc. The situation with the GOP is that its leaders have exploited the fears of some Americans to use methods to gain votes for decades from their usage of the Southern Strategy to support of voter ID laws (which restrict even when you can vote in a harsh manner). Donald Trump has recently spoke in an black African American church in trying to get more black support, but most black people realize that Trump is silent on criminal justice issues, on civil liberties, on universal health care, and on other issues that black people care about. We need jobs and we also need living wages nationally too. The GOP has become more rightwing. The Democrats, on the other hand, have been more neoliberal and righting on economic and foreign policy matters too in the past few decades. Even the current administration has deported more migrants than any President in history, executed drone strikes (including the assassinations of 2 Americans in foreign lands without due process of law), and enacted other neoliberal policies. I do realize about GOP obstructionism and some of the things that I do agree with the White House (like the Civil Rights History Act and the commuting including pardoning of sentences of many nonviolent drug offenders), but that is not an excuse for the mistakes done by the White House. Therefore, we have to be real and understand the mechanisms of political power. We have to be free to think and to be independent in our social consciousness.
The football quarterback Colin Kaepernick has given 1 million dollars to organizations geared in dealing with issues in America. He has refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem to protest the police killings of African Americans and people of color in America. He is 28 and he has shown courage in his actions. He was drafted in 2011. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in an interview after the game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Kaepernick went on to add, “This is not something that I am going to run by anybody, I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. ... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.” I salute his actions. He also criticized both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. When asked if the pending presidential election had anything to do with the timing of his actions, Kaepernick responded, “I mean, you have Hillary [Clinton] who’s called black teens or black kids super-predators. You have Donald Trump who’s openly racist. I mean, we have a presidential candidate who’s deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn’t make sense to me, because if that was any other person, you’d be in prison. So what is this country really standing for?” Many players have supported him. The haters not only include white racists. They include others who fail to understand his motives and the sincerity of his actions. Some police officers killing people unjustly is a reality. Many people suffer racial oppression and class oppression. I’m against blind patriotism and militarism. Many athletes for a long time have spoken out against racism, militarism, war, and other injustices. Possibly the most well-known political demonstration during the performance of a national anthem at a sporting event occurred during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, when two Black American athletes each raised a black-gloved fist during the Star-Spangled Banner at a medals ceremony. John Carlos, the bronze medalist in the men’s 200-metre race, and Tommie Smith, the gold medalist, performed the Black Power salute while on the podium to shine a spotlight on racial inequality in the US. They were booed and forced out of the games by the president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, Avery Brundage, and suspended from the national team. The third man on the podium, a white Australian named Peter Norman, was vilified by his home nation for wearing his Olympic Project For Human Rights (OPHR) badge in solidarity. The OPHR was an organization formed to protest racial segregation. Tommie Smith has supported Colin Kaepernick’s actions. Colin is a courageous man. We must continue to fight the right wing agendas of militarism, jingoistic nationalism, and state repression of political dissent.
There has always been discussions about economic empowerment in our community. Many people talk about the growth of black businesses, investing in black banks, and boycotts. First, I do believe in legitimate boycotts, because they work and they are crucial in developing power. For example, history teaches us that mass social movements and actions of resistance has caused change like the the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Memphis sanitation strike, etc. I have no problem with black banks investing in our communities and I have no issues with teaching black youth about financial literacy. Regardless of our views on economics, black people have every right to learn about financial literacy, so strategies to develop our wealth can exist. Also, there is another point to be mentioned. There is no solution unless we address poverty and economic inequality in the world. Many people want to blame poor people collectively for their plight, which is wrong. There are many poor people in our community who are hardworkers, very strong, and very resilient. Yet, they have trouble paying for food consistently, some struggle to get an education, and other has issues in supplying their other needs because of lax wages and economic issues (which is caused heavily by capitalist exploitation). In the final analysis, suffering people need jobs, investments, an end to discriminatory policies, better access to education, and a rebuilding of communities. Therefore, we should also fight for employment opportunities, for a living wage federally, for universal health care, and for investments in rebuilding poorer communities. These investments must come from the private and public sector (as Congress has the right to execute monetary resources to improve the conditions in American society as found in Article I, Section 8). I believe in economic justice whereby the working class and the poor unite in a class struggle to make sure that their economic rights are maintained. I reject capitalist exploitation. We are also in a struggle to fight against racism, police brutality, and other injustices. Real change is what we advocate. Also, I love Africa too. We are all from Africa and Bless Africa.
By Timothy
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