To have victory of democracy in November 2024, we have to get the language right to defend our views and refute the views of MAGA cultists. The truth is that Social Security is not an entitlement or a Ponzi scheme (as said by the extremist Ben Shapiro). Social Security is a program that was won by the blood, sweat, and tears of courageous workers who protested in the streets during the Presidency of the historic President Delano Roosevelt. Social Security is a program that is a federal program that people pay into after they work for a while. It's our money that we invest into causing Social Security to be a blessing for millions of the American people for decades now. Libertarian extremists and far right people mention that we shouldn't be compelled to invest in anything. That is a lie as human beings are compelled to do many things. We are compelled to not do murder, fraud, and other evils. Therefore, compulsory action that is just is not evil. It is evil to use compulsion in unjust ways. There is another scandal too. We know that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas, was involved directly in efforts to overturn the 2020 legal election. Her consulting firms will gain if Trump is re-elected. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has refused to recuse himself from the Trump Presidential immunity case. No President has unlimited immunity to do anything under the sun. Promoting great unions is also important. The reason is that the share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was the lowest (and shared to the lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, economic inequality has grown. The chaos in Boeing has to do when in the early 2000's, Wall Street has pushed Boeing to outsource manufacturing to avoid quality production from a unionized, experienced workforce.
For generations, we have seen excellence in music. Many of us already know about many legends of music. Yet, many people desire to understand the life stories of legends who built a foundation where 21st century artists thrive upon. In many cases, many of the modern-day musicians are inspired by the icons of the past and present. For example, Mariah Carey was inspired by Brenda K. Starr. In our time, arenas, award shows, large parties, and other celebrations are dominated by men and women artists like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Travis Scott, Migo, Silk Sonic, Ellie Goulding, Olivia Rodrigo, Victoria Monet, and other human beings. The music industry is still a business, so artists have to know about contracts, lawyers, residuals, marketing, touring, and other professional components of how the business is conducted. There is a growth of consciousness about these subjects, especially after Prince called for all artists to own their masters and publishing since the 1990's. The following people are icons who helped to shape the culture of music forever.
There is no modern music as we know it since the late 20th century without Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder is a genius who is one major architect of modern music of this millennia beyond decades. He is a singer, songwriter, musicians, record producer, and he can play instruments too. Being among the greatest musicians in history, he can play multiple instruments like the piano, synthesizers, and other electronic musical instruments. He helped to carry R&B music into the next level in the 1970's. From Motown to stadiums globally, Stevie Wonder has shown great music. Since his early days on Motown with Fingertips, we knew him as a prodigy of musical expression. He is Brother Stevie Wonder, and he is now 71 years old. He is one of the GOATs of songwriting and singing. He can play the harmonica too. Saginaw, Michigan was the place of his birth, and his mother was Lula Mae Hardaway. The Whitestone Baptist Church was where he sang as a child. The black church has always been a home base of musical legends. His first album was in 1962 called The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie. In the 1960's, he performed greatly. He was a young teen making No. 1 hits on the R&B chart during the 1960's. Uptight was a great song. By the late 1960's and early 1970's, Stevie Wonder wanted to be his own man. So, he made adult records about the love of love itself like My Cherie Amour, For Once in My Life, Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours, etc. In the 1970's, he made classic album after classic album like Where I'm Coming From, Music of My Mind, Innervisions, Talking Book, and Songs in the Key of Life. Songs with funky groove or with just plain talent like I Wish, That Girl, Living for the City, Superstition, Sir Duke, Do I Do, and I can go down the list represent black excellence at its finest.
The gift about Stevie Wonder is that his music appears to everyone regardless of age or generation. Stevie Wonder is a political activist by fighting segregation, promoted the Dr. King federal holiday, and opposed police brutality. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. His music talks about the city, love, having children, loving music, social including political issues, and loving life. Stevie Wonder has made music in the 21st century too (with songs like So What the Fuss, From the Bottom of My Heart, and A Time to Love featuring India Arie), and he has talked about living in Ghana. He loves all of his nine children. Stevie Wonder won 25 Grammy Awards, and he was a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner in 1996. If you want to listen to some of the greatest songs of a man showing his love for the greatness of a woman, listen to his music. If you want to listen to know about love and wisdom, listen to his music.
Queen Aretha Franklin is among the top three greatest vocalists in human history in my view. She was the Queen of Soul whose music touched the lives of black people and other human beings of diverse backgrounds. She can sing, she was a great songwriter, and she played the piano for decades. She lived from 1942 to 2018. Memphis, Tennessee was the city of her birth. Later, she was raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a civil rights activist, she supported civil rights and her friend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her father, C. L. Franklin was a preacher and a civil rights activist too. The church and gospel related to her life as Aretha Franklin sang at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for years. Her music was more than about songs. Her music presented anthems to the whole world like Respect, Ain't No Way, A Rose is Still a Rose, and You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. Songs like Think, I Say a Litle Prayer, etc. have an iconic impact on society to this very day. Aretha Franklin loved music with her albums like Lady Soul, Young, Gifted, and Black, Sparkle, Amazing Grace, etc. Her heart was filled with love and appreciation for the legends that came before her.
Always curious about life, Aretha Franklin loved to study the happenings of modern-day society. She earned the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was the first woman artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by 1987. By 2019, the Pulitzer Prize awarded her a posthumous special citation for her legacy to American music and culture for more than five decades. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked Aretha Franklin as the number-one singer of all time.
Donna Summer was more than the Queen of Disco. She was one of the greatest singers vocally of all time. In my personal opinion, she is the 3rd greatest vocalist singer that I have heard other than Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin. One example of her singing the National Anthem at Fenway Park. At live performances, no one of this generation could match her vocally. Before Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, there was Donna Summer. Donna could sing R&B, rock, pop, disco, gospel, and other versatile genres of music. Donna Summer made many albums among country, pop, disco, and gospel and still won Grammys plus other musical awards. Donna is one of the GOATs. She made many songs like Black Power, Last Dance, On the Radio, State of Independence, and other music. Later, she became a more spiritual woman never relinquishing her faith in God.
Sister Chaka Khan, and she is 71 years old. As an artist, she is one of the most innovative artists of all time. With her talent and creativity, she has inspired future artists for generations now. People have called her the Queen of Funk, and that is an accurate description of her life. Chaka Khan is a gorgeous black woman with an extraordinary amount of honesty and charisma. She was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is the oldest of five children, whose parents were Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman. Her parents lived a bohemian, beatnik lifestyle. Chaka Khan was raised in the Hyde Park area of Chicago on the South Side. Her sister would be a musician named Taka Boom. Her only brother, Mark formed the funk group called the Jamaica Boys. Chaka Khan was raised Catholic. His grandmother inspired her to love music by introducing her to jazz as a child. She was a fan of R&B as a child and joined the preteen group called The Crystalettes, with her sister Taka. She was 11 years old back then. Khan attended many civil rights rallies with her father's 2nd wife, Connie (who was a strong supporter of the movement). Chaka Khan would join the Black Panther Party for a time. She left the Panthers in 1969.
Chaka Khan would perform with Cash McCall's group called Lyfe. She then worked with many artists. She later joined the group of Rufus. Rufus released their first eponymous debut album in 1973. Rufus had many hits like Tell Me Something Good, You Got the Love, etc. Rufus had many platinum albums from 1974 to 1979. Some of their greatest songs were Do You Love What You Feel, Sweet Thing, and Once You Get Started. Rufus as a band loved to perform live. Chaka Khan had great vocals and wore many fashion styles like Native American clothing and midriff. Chaka Khan played the drums and bass too. Chaka Khan made a solo debut album with the hit of I'm Every Woman. The song was written by Ashford and Simpson (great songwriters and singers). Chaka Khan worked with Rufus in the 1980's too. Later, Chaka Khan made her 1984 6th studio album I Feel For You. Her songs I Feel For You, Through the Fire, Love You All My Lifetime were very popular. She worked with Quincy Jones on the album Back on the Block and the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. She toured with Prince for years. In 2008, Khan was in the Broadway adaptation of The Color Purple playing Ms. Sofia to Fantasia Barrino's Celie. By December 2004, Khan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during the inauguration of its president, Roger H. Brown. She released the 2022 song called Woman Like Me. She is a cousin to Lou Rawls and loves her 2 children.
Chuck Berry was a pioneer of rock and roll. He was called the Father o Rock and Roll. His style and crowd performance were ahead of its time. He made distinctive songs like Maybellene in 1955, Roll Over Beethoven in 1956, Rock and Roll Music in 1957, and Johnny B. Goode in 1958. He was born in a middle class black American family in St. Louis, Missouri. Later, he was inspired by blues musician T-Bone Walker to make his own mark in musical history. There is no justification for his mistakes. He lived a complicated life. Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 2nd greatest guitarist of all time in 2023. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music." "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.
Alabama Republicans passing an anti-DEI bill is not shocking. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the law. The law bans public schools and universities from maintaining or funding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This reaction law is anti-democratic. The reason is that democracy is about diversity, equality, and justice. Programs to help diverse communities is not about hating progress or promoting cultural tensions. It's about allowing marginalized and minority communities to have their voices to be heard. The law is called SB129. The law goes into effect on October 1, 2024. The law bans students, employees, and contractors from being required to attend any DEI training. This law bans free speech and tries to shut down speech dealing with many topics. Many in the Alabama NAACP want black athletes to not attend Alabama universities because of the passing of this law.
Jeff Bezos's Amazon and Elon Musk's SpaceX are fighting in court to make the National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional. They are wrong because historically the National Labor Relations Board has defended the rights of workers for years and decades. Bezos and Musk have a history of union busting and workers in their companies accusing them of worker abuse. All of them have been charged by the NLRB with hundreds of violations of workers' organizing rights. The NLRB works hard to try to stop union busting in America. Still, we are better now than four years ago. Four years ago, we had Trump mishandling the COVID-19 disaster, we had Americans hoarding toilet paper, we had the economy shutting down (with millions of Americans applying for unemployment benefits), and hospitals running out of ventilators and PPE. Today, we have to go on with the good fight in desiring democracy and justice for all.
It all starts with a dream. The legacy of Lois Mailou Jones is that her dream of creating some of the greatest art in human history existed as a product of determination, talent, love of art, and sacrifice. Transformative change never occurs without action and sacrifice. That is the way life is, but the journey of life can be beautiful when a great support system can cause a real dream to exist in fruition. Lois Mailou Jones gave power and inspiration to modern artists of the 21st century. Jones was inspired by legendary artists like Meta Warrick Fuller, composer Harry T. Burleigh, and Dorothy West. True art is not just about colors, shapes, pencils, paint, perspective, various mediums, shadows, and tints. Art is about the mind and the soul coming together to establish works that will last a lifetime and beyond. From the Harlem Renaissance to the end of the 20th century, Lois Mailou Jones promoted artwork that presented to the world the diversity and beauty of black culture in the world. Blackness is not monolithic, and the black African Diaspora is global. Therefore, Lois Mailou Jones wanted to use her images to convey the diversity and unity of the black experience simultaneously. She was a teacher too who focused on art education and inspiring future artists to make their expressions very much real.
Rest in Power Sister Lois Mailou Jones
Fashion like music is a universal language. During the first eras of human history, people used fashion as a means to survive in changing environments and for other purposes. As the Ice Age ended and temperatures rose up in the Neolithic Age, human beings formed many civilizations on rivers, in forests, in mountains, and in other locations in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Americas, and Australia. With the advent of new sewing equipment and various forms of massive technologies, ancient human beings used clothing not only to help them live in the world. Some focused on aesthetic qualities. Some wore clothes based on socioeconomic status like the super wealthy, the middle class, the working class, and the poor wore different styles of clothing. Also, accessors have grown from shoes, earrings, necklaces, and other forms of hats that denoted the diversity of the culture of humanity. As fashion grows into history, we shall learn more about the legacies of fashion icons like June Ambrose, Virgil Abloh, Andre Leon Talley, Diana Ross, Cecily Tyson, Naomi Campbell, Telfar Clemons, Aaliyah, Josephine Baker, Dapper Dan, Sami Miro Vintage, Aurora James, Christopher John Rogers, Tia Adeola, Felicia Noel, Anifa Mvuemba, Brandon Blackwood, and other human beings who make it their business to advance fashion excellence.
By Timothy
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