Senator Cory Booker gave a historic marathon speech criticizing the policies of Trump. Booker said that the country is in crisis. Booker said that he will speak in the Senate as long as he is physically able. He has spoken nonstop for more than 24 hours without a bathroom break. While this is going on, the evil fascist regime, Trump, continues to fire innocent people from the HHS, NIH, and the CDC. That means that generations of scientists, health care officials, etc. are fired form their jobs. The New York Times has reported that Trump is targeting a law firm which is Doug Emhoff's law firm. Trump wants to compromise law firms to centralize power onto himself. Some law firms will fight Trump in court, and many judges have defended the law firms being targeted. Trump has gotten one law firm to compromise with him for the purpose of financial reasons, which is cowardice. This time is about whether we will have democracy or dictatorship (filled with oligarchy). Many billionaires want to further control the economy and our democracy to keep people divided. We won't be divided and defend the truth. We believe in due process of law, in equal rights, in freedom of speech, in the right to protest, in the right to vote, and in the freedom of the press.
The Israeli military killed and bulldozed 15 Palestinian aid workers in a drive to ethnically cleanse Gaza. This action represents another war crime that the U.S.-funded Israeli genocide in Gaza. There is no excuse for 15 aid workers to die in that fashion. These workers were from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the Palestinian Civil Defense, and the United Nations. Israeli troops killed medics and emergency responders and buried them in a mass grave in violation of international law. According to a report by the Associated Press, the dead bodies and ambulances of the aid workers were gathered, buried, and then plowed over by Israeli military bulldozers. Now, there are still Israeli military operations in Gaza. Jonathan Whittall of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a video that their bodies were gathered and buried in a mass grave with their uniforms and gloves on. These people were here to save lives, and Netanyahu is a sick man to promote these war crimes. After the ceasefire, Israel still continued with attacks. Israeli military forces have killed more than 100 civil defense workers and more than 1,000 health workers since the war began.
All of the time I find new relatives. I found out that my distant 5th cousin is Sherie Lynn Murphy. She was born in March 1975 at Franklin, Virginia. Her parents are Rosemary Everett and Jesse Lee Murphy Jr. Sherie Murphy, and I are descendants of Zilphy Claud, who was my 5th great-grandmother. The parents of Rosemary Everett were Floyd Arthur Everett (b. 1929) and Mary Lee Williams (1929-2008). Mary Lee Williams (1929-2008) had ten grandchildren of Curtis Jr., Sherie, Derrick, Dominique, Kenneth Jr., Danielle, Alana, Hillary, Justin, and Jalen. Her four great-grandchildren are Christ, Kamar, Dajuan, and Donta. The parents of my 3rd cousin Mary Lee Williams were Robert Spurlock Jr. (1911-1979) and Carrie Williams. The parents of my 2nd cousin Robert Spurlock Jr. were Robert Spurlock (b. 1888) and Mary Lee Williams (1890-1938). The parents of Mary Lee Williams were John Henry Williams (1857-1921. He was a descendant of the Nottoway people), and my 3rd great-grandaunt Adaleine Hill (1862-1930). The parents of Adaleine Hill were my 4th great-grandmother, Sarah Claud (1842-1892), and the freeman Tom Hill (1838-1915). The mother of Sarah Claud was my 5th great-grandmother, Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). Rosemary's sister is Vonda Kay Everette (b. 1966), and she married Randal Warren Nicholas (b. 1967) on May 23, 1967, in Ivor, Virginia. Their children are my 5th cousins Danielle Nichols Banks (b. 1988), Alana Simone Nichols (b. 1990), and Jalen Nichols (b. 1997). Vonda's brother was Floyd Arthur Everett Jr., who lived from December 26, 1949, to October 29, 2024 (on Tuesday). His wife of 43 years, LaFron White Everett, was by his bedside. His daughter was Tiffanie Michelle Everett. He was the Deacon of First Union Baptist Church. He worked in the city of Richmond, Virginia.
Yesterday was the late Brother Gil Scott-Heron. He has been a legendary and one pioneer who helped to modernize hip hop music. He has been a jazz poet, singer, musician, and author for decades. We know of his spoken word albums that he established during the 1970s and the 1980s. He was born in the Midwest in Chicago, Illinois. His mother Bobbie Smith, was born in Mississippi and was an opera singer (who performed with the Oratorio Society of New York), and his father, Gil Heron, was a Jamaican soccer player. He was the first black man to play for Celtic F.C. in Glasgow, Scotland. Gil Scott-Heron lived with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in Jackson, Tennessee. When he was 12 years old, his grandmother passed away, and he lived with his mother in the Bronx, New York City. He went to DeWitt Clinton High School and transferred to The Fieldston School, after impressing the head of the English department with some of his writings and earned a full scholarship. Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania, because Langston Hughes (his literary hero) was an alumnus. He worked with Brian Jackson and formed the band Black and Blues. Later, he worked with The Last Poets, being influenced by the Black Arts Movement (BAM). The Last Poets toured the world.
Scott-Heron earned his M.A. in creative writing in 1972 from the Writing Seminars at John Hopkins University. He taught literature and creative writing at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. He had his LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox in 1970. His music exposed racism, mass consumerism, materialism, and the hypocrisy of some revolutionaries, etc. Scott Heron was inspired by Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Malcolm X, Nina Simone, and other people. His spoken word album in 1971, called Pieces of Man, was ahead of its time. He made more music too. His song of Johannesburg in 1975 called for the end of apartheid in South Africa. His live album was It's Your World. In 1979, Scott-Heron played at the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. The concerts were organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy to protest the use of nuclear energy after the Three Mile Island accident. He made more albums in the 1990s and the 21st century like I'm New Here in 2010. Nothing New was his last album when he passed away, being released in 2014. He loved his children, and he was married to the professional actress Brenda Sykes. There is no modern-day hip hop as we know it without the genius of Gil Scott-Heron. Jazz artists, indie rockers, hip hop artists, spoken word leaders, and other musicians owe a debt of gratitude to the icon Scott-Heron. His song of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is one of the most revolutionary songs of all time.
Rest in Power Brother Gil Scott-Heron.
By Timothy
