Time has gone so fast in the Universe. I remember 1992 and 1996 just like yesterday. Now, it has been five years since the existence of COVID-19. COVID-19 is even worse than the Spanish flu because of its widespread nature and other reasons. The coronavirus has been researched, debated, and discussed for years. It was caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China by December of 2019. There has been massive debate on its origin. Most scientists believe that the COVID-19 disease was formed in Nature from animals. Most scientists believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. To this day, we don't know how COVID-19 formed originally. Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has decreased in its cases in America, but it is a disease that is no game. It has killed at least 7 million people, and that are the deaths being reported. From 2020 to 2021, the worst of COVID-19 existed with arenas shut down, schools closed, and Zoom remote videos being more commonplace. It can strip the human senses of taste and smell. It can damage the lungs, kidneys, and the pulmonary system. Long COVID can last for years, and some people only get COVID-19 for a few days. Severe symptoms of COVID-19 can occur among elderly people and people with pre-existing health conditions (like asthma, diabetes, etc.). Now, there are more than 775 million cases of COVID-19 right now which is totally unprecedented. New COVID-19 vaccines, booster shots, and other preventive measures have saved lives, and we have some people who even believe that COVID-19 is not real when we have genetic analysis of the virus proving that it is real. At the end of the day, our health is important to protect, defend, and support.
There is recent information that I found about my paternal 2nd cousin George Smith Jr. He was born in Halifax, North Carolina. Later, he lived in Hampton and Newport News, Virginia. He passed away on November 12, 2013. His parents are Ertie D. and Geroge W. Smith Sr. His first wife was Naomi Wallace Barrett (b. 1928) on June 21, 1962, at Newport News, Virginia. His second wife was Georgia Harris Johnson (b. 1945), and they married on April 29, 1974. His children are George E. Smith III (his wife is Brenda), Ernest W. Smith (his wife is Tammy), Aundre' M. Smith, Quinton D. Smith (his wife is Heather), and Michael A. Smith (his Wife is Denise). He has many stepchildren. Also, he had 48 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren, and many other family members and friends. George Smith Jr.'s parents are George Smith Sr. and Eartie Lou D. (1909-1995). Eartie Lou D.'s parents are Daniel D. (b. 1868) and Mollie Demry (b. 1868). Daniel D.'s parents are Alfred D. (b. 1828) and Jennie D. (1820-1919). Alfred D.'s parents are my 4th great grandparents of James D. and Edney D.
We live in the 140th year anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. It was a large neoclassical sculpture that is found on Liberty Island in New York Harbor at New York City. It has been one of the most important images of American society like The Grand Canyon, The Arch at St. Louis, Mount Rushmore, and the National Musuem of African American History and Culture. The statue was a gift designed by French sculptor and Freemason Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It has been a tourist location for over one century. There are tons of symbolism it from the figure, the torch, and the words on it. That will be explained in full detail without question. The statue wanted to commemorate the national abolition of slavery after the American Civil War. It has been a symbol for freedom for many people including immigrants who saw it near Ellis Island by the late 19th century and early 20th century. During that times, millions of Greek people, Irish people, Afro-Caribbean people, Italian people, Jewish people, and other human beings came to Ellis Island to escape religious, economic, political, and social persecution. Many of the same hypocrites now, who want all migrants to be deported (with an, evil xenophobic motivation), were a product of their ancestors who braved waters and survived nearly from death to come to America as immigrants. These same hypocrites omit the following facts too: the original language of the Americas thousands of years ago wasn't English, the Pilgrims came to America without Visas or immigration papers, and all immigrants shouldn't be blamed for all evil in the world. That is why we show respect to immigrants who seek a better life legitimately. My ancestors were in chains in America, and my black ancestors fought hard also to advance the cause of justice and freedom heroically. The idea for the statue was born in 1865, when the French historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye proposed a monument to commemorate the upcoming centennial of U.S. independence (1876), the perseverance of American democracy and the liberation of the nation's slaves. The irony is that while the Statue of Liberty depicted liberty, we have a crossroads in American society. There are the enemies of truth who desire to whitewash black history, suppress the rights of minorities, and wish to have progressive blessings abolished that numerous human beings take for granted. It is the perfect time, and we live in the right generation to allow the true story of the Statue Liberty to be presented to the public fully.
It is important to mention information about the new generation of artists. Art is never in a state of stasis. It constantly evolves or changes from time to time. Abigail Lucien was born in 1992 (being from Dallas), and she works in her art in Baltimore and New York City. She crafts sculptures that deal with imagination. She made her 2023 piece called "boule de fwa VI." It is a pink candle fashioned from acrylic, vinyl, and steel. It deals with the questions about imagination and care. The candle pays homage to the artist's father and grandfather (who passed from coronavirus). Alex Anderson was born in 1990 being from Seattle and works in Los Angeles. He is a sculptor who makes ceramic works. Another piece, Lovely Shade Flower (2021), shows a black flower with a face, a single tear sliding from its eye, its mouth rendered in a spirited scribble. Ambrose Rhapsody Murray was born in 1996 at Jacksonville, Florida, and she lives in New Orleans. She forms creative tapestries that deal with Black femininity, family history, and spirituality. For example, their weaving the hummingbird hovered within the hour (2023) combines family photographs in a disjointed grid, whispering narratives of a rich and complex lineage using soft fabrics and muted, earthy colors. She loved to show works of the women in her family. Ashante Kindle is born in 1990 in Clarksville, Tennessee, and lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. She makes many works with thick, layered paint. Jaylon Israel Hicks was born in 1993 in Houston and works in Minneapolis. He creates art that deals with globalization and modern society. His work Untitled (Protest) (2020), a provocative photographic image of a shopping cart engulfed in flames, is a clear nod to the protests following George Floyd’s death during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are more young artists showing their gifts to the world like Kevin Clairborne, Lauryn Levette, Na'ye Perez, Patrick Alston, Shan Wallace, Taylor Simmons, Ryan Cosbert, Ute Petit, and other people are making sure that art expression remains forever.
By the 1960's and the 1970's, Country music became more international. It was the new era. Musicians existed to show the Nashville sound. There were people like Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and Jim Reeves. By this time, the Nashville sound became a multimillion-dollar industry. There were many country singers who passed away from plane crashes in the early 1960's. Starting in the 1950s to the mid-1960s, western singer-songwriters such as Michael Martin, Murphey and Marty Robbins rose in prominence as did others, throughout western music traditions, like New Mexico music's Al Hurricane. The late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres. In the aftermath of the British Invasion, many desired a return to the "old values" of rock n' roll. At the same time there was a lack of enthusiasm in the country sector for Nashville-produced music. What resulted was a crossbred genre known as country rock. Fourth generation (1970s–1980s) music included outlaw country with roots in the Bakersfield sound, and country pop with roots in the countrypolitan, folk music and soft rock. Between 1972 and 1975 singer/guitarist John Denver released a series of hugely successful songs blending country and folk-rock musical styles. By the mid-1970s, Texas country and Tejano music gained popularity with performers like Freddie Fender. By this time, more black American country music legends existed like Charlie Pride and Linda Martell. Linda Martell has inspired artists like Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton, Beyonce, Rhiannon Giddens, Jennifer Nettles, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, and other people who blessed the stages with music comprehensively.
Here we are. We are nearing the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024. Previously, the Tokyo Olympics took place in 2021 because of the pandemic, and now we live in a new important year of our history. The Olympics has been a very special occasion where men and women (including some of the greatest athletes in the world) compete not only for a gold medal. They compete to be the best at what they do from track and field, volleyball, basketball, tennis, golf, boxing, and other sports found in the Olympics. Its history include Jesse Owens winning the race in Berlin, the women's 4 X 100m relay team of America having a world record (with Carmelita Jeter, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, and Tianna Madison establishing the time of 40.82 seconds) When I was a child, I watched the Olympics as being inspired to live a better life than the past. Now, the Olympics in Paris is about the younger generation of athletes forming the start of their legacies, and the older athletes going about to finish up their legacies filled with excellence and power. Sha'Cari Richardson winning the 100m Olympic trials showed her passion for track and field and her wisdom is all part of the story of her life filled with strength, resiliency, and a love of the art of athletic competition. We live in a new era of time. Numerous folks of Generation X are approaching their 60s, many people in my generation of the Millennials are in middle age now, and the younger generations of human beings should be given the opportunity to fulfill their own aspirations.
Many people have talked about Christian nationalism. What is it? Christian nationalism is a heresy that believes in the view that all laws and policies in one nation should reflect a reactionary interpretation of Christianity. It is beyond just a theocracy, but Christian nationalism believed that the Constitution was divinely inspired to govern everyone under their causes. The problem with this view is that many Framers of the Constitutions and numerous early American political leaders were not Christians but Deists, Freemasons, and atheists who explicitly condemned the unification of church and state. Numerous buildings of Washington, D.C. are filled with pagan and occult statues, imagery, and symbolism. Many people back then left Europe to escape the union of church and state as advocated by the Roman Catholic Church, John Calvin's theocratic regime in Geneva, Switzerland (whose modern advocates are people like the late Rousas J. Rushdoony), and other ecclesiastical bodies. Christian nationalists don't believe in the separation of church and state. Many Christian nationalists are linked to white racists who believed that white conservatives represent the superior culture that all people must follow. Many of them believe in the great replacement view. Some of their movement increased after the 1992 Rudy Ridge standoff, the 1993 Waco siege, the OKC Bombing in 1995, and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol (many Christian nationalists were complicit in). Many of them hate and dehumanize immigrants, racial minorities, and sexual minorities. Christian nationalists express a persecution complex where they feel that their values and religions are threatened and marginalized. Many have depression, anger, anxiety, and emotional distress. Christian nationalists today are Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Doug Mastriano. For the record, Christian Nationalism is not real Christianity but a heresy related to Dominionism. Dominion Theology teaches that believers must rule all governments to be a theocracy in order to cause the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. The NT is clear that believers should spread the Gospel voluntarily and without forcing people against their wills to believe in what you believe in. Prior to the 1970's, most Evangelicals even rejected the union of church and state and followed their religious views without desiring to merge church and state. That would change among many Evangelicals by the 1970's after Jim Crow was gone and court decisions existed. The powers that be fund both major political parties, especially in its leadership. Christian nationalism makes America a near idol including Trump while ignoring to help the poor and the oppressed in general in a systematic fashion. Even the Bible says that Christians aren't called to create a man-made, authoritarian kingdom on Earth to harm other people, but the Kingdom of God is within you (as found in the New Covenant, the blood of the Lamb redeems souls). Christian Nationalists, Dominionism, Reconstructionism, and likeminded movements are heresies, because we are called to realize that our true citizenship is not in this world but in Heaven, where Christ is as found in Hebrews 11:16 and we are all called for repentance as found in Acts 17:30-31. At the end of the day, people of every faith or no faith have the right to live peacefully in America with equal rights, we don't need to prove our religious convictions by forcing people to believe as we believe in, religious freedom can be promoted in houses of worship (and families and other places without government dictation), and government is not meant to be a theocratic, oppressive state but a democratic institution. Now, that is the truth.
By Timothy
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