We live in many changes in the world, but one thing that remains the same is the truth. Country music has been around in the modern era for almost one century. Even before that time, country music elements have been abundant from the banjo the guitar, and to certain vocal genres. The essence of country music is diverse in dealing with rural culture, cowboys, the rugged events of life (as life will never be completely perfect all of the time), the honest expression of humanity, and the essence of having purpose to see the day. Rural life has a vibe of self-reliance and independence found at the bedrock of much of American culture. Farm, family, religious institutions, and activism encompass the landscape of country living. Not to mention, community is important too. No human is an island, and all human beings have received help at least one time in the duration of their lives. That is why there is power in the individual and in the collective. Country music has been expressed by people of all colors, nationalities, sexes, and backgrounds eloquently filled with passion and strength. It is important for us to believe in things from freedom to justice for all. After the Cowboy Carter album, which was done by Beyonce Knowles-Carter, more human beings know more about the black contributions to country music and culture. That is certainly a profound, historic blessing. Regardless of how you feel about Beyonce, you can't deny her Southern country roots (Beyonce actually been to rodeos and her ancestors are from the Deep South in real life) and her talent as it pertains to overall popular culture. Country music is part of our overall global human culture that seeks to learn to discover, to love, and to embark on an intrepid, hallowed journey to go establish a better future than the past indeed.
Hockey is a worldwide sport that focuses on teamwork and strategy. It is a very physical game, and even fights have occurred among different teams. The penalty box is ever used in hockey games constantly. Yet, what is important involving hockey is about the love of the sport that hockey players earnestly invest in their hearts. There are 2 teams filled with six players each in hockey that battle for one goal of victory. Tons of people already know about the greatest hockey players in history like Wayne Gretzky (who holds many NHL records for goals, assists, and points), Mario Lemieux, and Alex Ovechkin. There are many unsung players like Gordie Howe, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Roy, and Martin Brodeur. Hockey can be played on the ice, in the grass, and in other locations. People wear skates, helmets, protective padding, and use hockey sticks in the game. Hockey is heavily popular in Canada, America, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and other countries of the world.
I will always have an eternal love of Africa, because that is where my ancestors came from, and Africa is a blessing for the human race in general. Never give up is a precept that we all believe. Once upon a time, we didn't realize all the information that we know now. Yet, we worked hard, studied information, showed resiliency, and believe in truth with the inspiration from God to achieve great and mighty things. Africa is the location of the origin of all human life as proven by the maternal and paternal haplogroups, DNA evidence, etc. Africa is a place filled with diverse nations, cultures, religions, ethnic groups, and various infrastructure that has blessed the Universe in innumerable ways. Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sankara, and other African leaders taught the world about courage, standing up for real principles, and seeking liberation. We live in a new generation of our existence filled with a military occupation of Washington, D.C., wars in Ukraine (when the war criminal Putin continues to use drone attacks against civilians in Ukraine that even fake so-called "progressives" ignore or whitewash. These people are not real progressives to be clear) and Gaza (when Palestinians are starving to death which is evil), and increased prices on many goods and services. There is a growth of social media, the existence of crypto, the rise of A.I. into the next level, new headsets and devices, advanced smartphones, and other advanced technologies. These new developments have filled the world with fear, awe, and other emotions. Yet, the truth remains the same after all of these years. 25 years later, will be 2050, and we will see how this new 21st century and this new third millennium will evolve into. From climate change to new African alliances, Africa has always possessed a dynamic quality.
The age of Sardis saw a rejuvenated Protestant Reformation going into a caprious situation. The Protestants were here to say, and the Catholic Church also renewed its power. These 2 religious factions created a peace treaty in 1648 and spread worldwide. The paradox is that some people in both religious factions, at that time, spread their religious views via the notorious evils of slavery (i.e. the Maafa, religious deception), colonialism, racism, sexism, and other forms of religious deceptions like the myth of white racial superiority. Likewise, many legitimate followers of God spread the Gospel internationally with love, grace, and inspiration from the Holy Spirit to grow the influence of spirituality too. By this time, there were massive kingdoms who developed mathematics, science, architecture, other forms of technology, art, and literature in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in the Americas, and in Oceania. New religious denominations spread like the Baptists, the Methodists, Presbyterians, the Quakers, etc. Also, the slave trade used chattel slavery that accelerated. The Maafa or chattel slavery (which was racial anti-black terrorism and economic exploitation) was about kidnapping people, murdering people, rape, and abuse against black human beings. Some use the sacrilege of involving God in justifying these crimes against humanity. Yet, there is absolutely no excuse for rape, murder, abuse, splitting families apart, torture, sexism, and emotional terrorism inflicted on black African people (or anyone in the human race in general) period. There was an Arabic slave trade that ruined many black lives as well. So, the age of Sardis many developments on the eve of world revolutions that should shake monarchies at their core.
Over one billion people believe in Islam in the world, they worship Allah as God. Islam is the second largest religion in the world numerically. It has a long history who starts with many people. Ultimately, Islam was created by a man from Saudi Arabia named Muhammad. To Muslims, Muhammad was a prophet who received a message from the angel Gabriel to establish a monotheistic spiritual movement. Obviously, I am not a Muslim for many reasons. Yet, it is important to know about Islam, because you can't realize your belief system without comprehending what other belief systems are. Being ignorant of other creeds only allows irrational behavior to reign in society. Being knowledgeable and agreeing to disagree with certain religions peacefully will make perfect sense. A lot of people already know that in the religion of Islam, you can't eat pork, you have to go to hajj to worship in Mecca (if a person is able to do it), you must follow zadat, and Muslims deny the existence of the Son of God. For me, I believe in the existence of the Son of the living God. Islam has been praised, maligned, and stereotyped. It's still here. Therefore, it is important to express our disagreements with Islam without bigotry or Islamophobia. Islamophobia is a very serious problem in the globe where many Muslims (along with Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.) have been persecuted and murdered worldwide. We can show our dissent with concepts without malice and without hatred. I wrote about Islam many years ago, so I decided to write a new work on Islam to completely outline views to a new generation of human beings.
This upcoming fall of 2025 represents a challenge and opportunity. It represents the reality of our rights being violated and hope for a better future. One lesson in life is to find joy. Joy is never about naivete or ignoring the world's problems. Joy is a sense of determination and a sense of peace plus enjoyment to witness that quiet place that we can be renewed in our spirits to fight the good fight. This joy can be about laughing with friends, walking in Nature, and praying at a still location. We must reckon with reality too. There is absolutely no excuse to have massive starvation against the Palestinian people, massive criminalization of homelessness in America, the record high prices of groceries and homes in the United States, the existence of racism and sexism, the growth of xenophobia in many quarters of the globe (according to Fortune Magazine, Trump is deporting so many immigrants that it could cause inflation to hit 4% for the time of 2026-2027), and other injustices still plaguing our lands. Now, we have Trump who has placed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. with plans for him to place like minded troops in many cities across the country. A lot of people want to be politically correct and whitewash the reality of our nation, but I'm not that of person. I am built differently. For years, you know me as a person who tells it like it is. Today, in America, we live in an authoritarian state filled with fascism. There is no other way to put. The more people understand this fact, the more we can work together to find solutions to end this fascist agenda. That agenda is real as ICE terrorized a 15 year old American student with autism as ICE claimed it was mistaken identity. We know of American citizens who were unjustly arrested by ICE and placed into internment camps now in 2025. We have a regime where one man wants museums to ignore the brutality of white racist terrorism, we have a regime who passed a law to cut health care and the social safety net from millions of Americans (when coal miners have black lung disease who need health care), and a regime who wants birthright citizenship to be banned. As this regime promotes our taxpayer funds to build Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, we salute the many protesters who don't desire genocide, hatred, poor scapegoating, and imperialism. The Trump regime sacrilegiously hide behind religion as an excuse to be the most anti-environmental administration in American history by gutting legitimate anti-pollution safety rules (including pro-Trump Senators desiring to remove the limits on the seven deadly poisons that were banned over 55 years ago) which can costs thousands of American lives to be lost. When I saw Triple H shake the hand of Donald Trump recently, that didn't shock me as Educational Secretary Linda McMahon has a notorious reactionary agenda involving educational services. McMahon has no extensive educational experience. There is a war on dissent by the Trump administration when it tries to intimidate universities, TV corporations, and regular people who oppose his views. People have the First Amendment right to disagree with Donald Trump and his administration. We see the big picture. Trump is doing this to promote the anti-democratic accelerationist agenda to make people revert back to a medieval, oligarchical system that the one percent has advocated covertly and overtly for centuries. The National Guard occupation of Washington, D.C. is not a long term way to reduce crime as you can't permanently militarize your way to reduce crime. Reducing crimes requires addressing the roots of poverty, going out to build institutions to help those with mental health issues, dealing with gun violence, growing anti-violence intervention programs, seeking fair treatment, and enforce laws fairly to handle criminals.
There are a lot of heroes in the history of Texas. One person was Barbara Jordan who wasn't just a U.S. House of Representative Congressional leader. She was a lawyer and civil rights activist who fought for the defense of the rights of the people. She was the first southern African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was in the House from 1973 to 1979. She was a member of the Texas Senate from 1967 to 1973. She earned her BA from Texas Southern University and a LLB from Boston University. She gave a powerful, eloquent speech to condemn the corrupt action of then President Richard Nixon during the impeachment hearings. She promoted Texas' first minimum wage law and fund programs to fight hate crimes. Juanita Craft was a civil rights leader and politician in Texas who was a member of the Dallas City Council in Texas. She worked in the Dallas NAACP to fight against Jim Crow apartheid. She protested discrimination throughout her life. Julia Catherine Thomas Hester was a teacher and community activist in Houston. She worked in Houston's Fifth Ward to save lives. She and her husband were active in Payne Chapel African Methodists Episcopal Church in Houston. Beulah Ann Shepard had a long career of political activism and community service. Shepard worked in Houston to allow the existence of a swimming pool, a library, better roads, parks, and infrastructure improvements for the underserved community. She was a member of Missionary Baptist Church.
Bill Pickett was born and raised in Texas. He was born and raised in Texas, and he was a cowboy and rodeo performer. In 1972, he was the first African American man to be inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. Later in 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. He was an actor too. He loved his wife, Maggie Turner, and the couple had nine children. He invented bulldogging or the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground. He was very popular among his peers and fans. There are more Texas heroes like Holly Hogrobrooks, Christine Abel Nix, Jasmine Crockett, and other people.
I found out that my 5th cousin is Corliss Yvonne Artis who was born in August 16, 1964, being a younger Baby Boomer. She is a descendant of my 1st cousin Indiana Bozeman Crocker (1831-1896). The parents of Corliss Yvonne Artis are George Washington Artis (1925-1994) and Julia Mae Newsome (1929-2005). She was married to Robert Leslie Montgomery (b. 1962) on February 17, 1988, at Chesterfield, Virginia (which is close to Richmond or the capital of my state of Virginia). The couple ended their marriage on April 2, 1997 at Chesterfield, Virginia. Corliss Yvonne Artis had a son with Ronald Thompson named Darius Carol Artis (1990-2014). Darius Carol Artis was 24 when he passed away in Richmond, Virginia. His brothers are Ronald and Cosby Burton. His son is Josiah Artis Lloyd, and his girlfriend is Shaquila Davis. The aunts of my 6th cousin Darius Carol Artis are Sophia Artis-Gee (Brock), Frances Reed (Jimmy), Hadiyah Ahmad (Nadir), Veronica Clifford (Dale), Rose Gupton (Bobby), Doris Reiseg (Greg), Vera Artis, and Joann Carter. His uncle is Larry Artis (Margie), and his great aunts are Mary Freeman and Margie Artis. His godmother is Maria Bacus. His friends are Germaine Campbell and Fred Boatwright. His many cousins include Askia Ahmad. The sister of Corliess Yvonne Artis, Frances Artis (b. 1948) married Jimmy R. Reed, and their daughters are my distant cousins Kimberly Reed and Kelly Reed. Both Kimberly and Kelly are twins born in June 1984. Frances Reed's son is Galen Faison.
By Timothy
No comments:
Post a Comment