Where Were You on 9-11? Reflections of a Former College Student

Do you remember where you were on 9-11? I do. So 7 years later, I'm finally writing down my recollections of the day. There have been a few memorable events in my life as a 28-year-old man, some for good, some for bad. I will always remember the exact day and time that I became a born again Christian (November 6, 1986), the OJ Simpson San Diego Freeway chase (June 17, 1994), the OJ criminal acquittal (I was at piano lessons on October 3, 1995), the day I proposed officially to my wife, (February 2, 2008, her 27th birthday), our wedding day which coincidentally falls on my birthday (April 26, 2008--though we planned it that way). Other more mature Americans may remember where they were or what they were doing when the US entered World War II upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, (August 6, 1945), JFK's assassination (November 22, 1963), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech (August 28, 1963), Dr. King's assassination (April 4, 1968), Malcolm X' assassination (February 21, 1965), the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989), etc.

The day started out as uneventful as ever. I was a 21-year-old Senior at University of South Florida in Tampa, in my second semester of the Management Information Systems (M.I.S.) major in the College of Business Administration (COBA). I had a 9:30am morning class at COBA, Database Administration, and walking to class the campus was peaceful that Tuesday morning. When we got to class about 9:30am our professor told us "Hey, I heard this morning that an airplane flew into the World Trade Center in NYC." Well we didn't think it was that big a deal because, I remembered reading that on July 18, 1945 a B-52 bomber crashed into the Empire State building due to heavy fog. Though I discovered later that a B-52 (10 tons) is significantly smaller than the 767's (100-150 tons) that flew into the WTC. So I figured, hey it must be another similar incident, just another small aircraft flying too low to the NYC skyline. Eventually we were let out of class early and informed that USF administration was closing the campus early as a precaution. I still didn't think too much of the situation, I mean how bad could it be? So I wandered over to the Communications and Information Sciences (CIS) building next door, and in the foyer, one of the teachers had pulled out a classroom TV into the foyer and several students were standing around watching live TV news coverage of the burning World Trade Center Towers. I immediately felt horrified as I saw little specks falling from the top of the towers and realized that those specks were people who were jumping or falling from the burning buildings. After a little while of watching TV replays of Flight 11 and Flight 175 crashing into the North and South Towers of WTC, respectively, I left campus on the Hartline city bus which I rode to and from college. I went to my transfer point, University Square Mall, and walked into one of the shoe stores to look for some white tennis shoes. Soon University Mall announced it was closing all stores for the day, so I hurriedly picked out some all-white Nike's that were on sale for about $20.

Later during the day, as I watched TV and did some chores at home and I learned along with the rest of the nation about the demise of Flight 93 which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, and the Flight 77 that crashed in the Pentagon, and of course we knew at that point that the United States was on terror alert, that President George W. Bush was reading to an elementary school class when he heard of the WTC attacks, and that VP Dick Cheney was somewhere in a bunker. So began the buildup to the now infamous "War on Terror" and the [flawed] justification for the invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003 that Sadaam Hussein was responsible for 9-11 attacks on the US.

Appalling Palin & the RNC Mocks Community Organizers

I waited until this weekend to write this blog because I, like many others, was expecting more than what we heard from John McCain on Thursday night during his RNC Presidential nomination speech at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. I'm not in the habit of breaking down VP nomination speeches simply because we don't actually vote for VP candidates whose political campaign impact is negligble. We vote for the guy at the top of the ticket. As you will see from my previous posts such as "Obama & The American Promise", I didn't blog on Biden's DNC VP nomination speech, just Obama's because I expected his speech would be more substantive with details on HOW he would do what we HOPED he would do once elected. I was not dissapointed, and neither were the 38 million viewers watching the speech at Mile High in Denver. So I thought I might do the same for the RNC, but alas John McCain succeeded in boring us to death with no new ideas, no discussion of any real solutions on home foreclosures, energy alternatives, the definition of "winning the war on terror", immigration reform, regaining trust in a bloated federal government with growing national debt, or how to pull out of a recession which saw 84,000 jobs lost in August. Because Wednesday night's Sarah Palin VP nomination speech was so full of lies and "terminological inexactitudes" about Democrats and Obama's community organizing, I am compelled to respond to her heartless speechmaking.

It shows the true heart of "compassionate" conservatism when the RNC convention audience repeatedly booed and laughed as political lightweights like former NY mayor, Rudolph "A Noun, A Verb, 9-11" Giuliani and VP nominee Sarah "As-former-mayor-of-town-of-9,000-I-ran-up-a-$20-millon-debt" Palin mocked Barack Obama for his work as a community organizer. When the Republican mouth pieces mocked community organizing as if it was nothing, they mocked millions of community organizers and activists including myself. The disdain they showed for regular people who make hard sacrifices daily in order to pull up their brother and sister goes a long way to showing the state of the Republican party and demonstrates why the RNC is bracing for another election cycle in which they are expected to lose more congressional and Senate seats than they did in 2006. Apparently, in Republican lore, politics and soldiering (especially if you became a POW in a forgotten war of 40 years ago) are the only ways one can really serve our country. Nothing else really matters, not even those less fortunate who by no fault of their own have slipped through the cracks. By the way, in regular people's talk, community organizing is:

a process by which disempowered people—most often low- and moderate income people—are brought together to act in their common self-interest. Community organizers act as area-wide coordinators of programs for different agencies in an attempt to meet community needs for health and welfare services. They also facilitate self-help programs initiated by local common-interest groups, for example, by training local leaders to analyze and solve the problems of a community. Community organizers work actively, as do other types of social workers, in community councils of social agencies and in community-action groups. At times the role of community organizers overlaps that of the social planners.

Now these are the things that Obama did on the South Side of Chicago where after graduating with his law degree at Harvard, he volunteered in helping churches and community organizations identify and assist workers who were recently unemployed when their steel mills closed down, taking their jobs, their pensions, benefits, and livelihood away without so much as a, "Thank you." Sen. Obama and others helped these men regain their self worth through vocational training so that they could in turn provide for their families.

It would take the most cynical of people to somehow deduce then that community organizing is not something to to be taken serious. I may not have the charitable pedigree of Mother Teresa, but having come from a low-income, single-parent family, I know exactly what it means to be a community organizer. After emigrating from Haiti for medical reasons, I grew up in Little Rock, AR and moved to Tampa, FL at age 10 with my adoptive mother who has been a Christian missionary to Haiti since 1969. By age 14, Ma signed me up to tutor elementary through high-school students free of charge through my neighborhood's community affairs office, the hub of community organizing in our area. (I am humbled that one of my former students is now a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England and will graduate later this month.) Our community affairs office was recognized in Tampa Bay for doing many things to lift up and provide a helping hand to inner city, low-income residents of Tampa by hosting Boy Scout and 4-H meetings, providing computer literacy tutoring, English literacy classes, GED preparation, job readiness programs, crime prevention through education, family planning and HIV/AIDS testing, scholarships for high-achieving, low-income students, government food assistance for the elderly and single-parent homes, food and clothing drives for nearby homeless shelters, among many other community projects.

My mother and I did not participate in these efforts to gain the public glory of men, but because of our efforts we did receive recognition in the local media and among community organizations such as Tampa/Hillsborough Human Rights Council, Bay Area Brotherhood, Metropolitan Ministries, Ybor City Rotary Club, and others. In the meantime, I learned the power of giving selflessly to others who could never give back in kind, how to be a leader, and the power of correct application of knowledge, and in turn my experiences assisting local leaders in community organizing granted me opportunities to meet mayors, community leaders, and movers and shakers whom I still keep in touch with. In addition I was blessed to receive Community Service awards from the Kiwanis Club during my high-school career, and induction in Omicron Delta Kappa (OΔK®) Leadership Honor Society among other groups during my college career. To those living within a few miles of the community affairs office, we were an invaluable, irreplaceable lifeline. I witnessed on a number of occasions my mother translating legal or medical documents so local Haitian and other French/Creole speakers could understand the decisions being made for and about them by various private and public agencies and the government. I saw the pride in the eyes of a single mother as she learned how to use a computer to apply for jobs--and the realization that I had helped someone was rewarding in and of itself.

Be honest, when is the last time you heard Republicans talk about helping others instead of focusing non-stop on how they could lower the tax burdens of their richest contributors? Go ahead...I'm waiting...

All of this is quite ironic, considering that during John McCain's Presidential nomination speech, he asked people to help in their communities:

If you're disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.

Oh but wait, isn't that what Obama did? Oh I get it, if a Democrat shows he cares about the poor instead of waiting on the rich masters of oil, media, and military, he can't possibly be trusted or hailed as "one of us" right? "...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Rivalry Weekend in Florida College Football!

Tim Tebow threw for 256 yards and two TDs against the Canes on Saturday. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)


South Florida wide receiver Taurus Johnson, left, catches a long pass in front of Central Florida safety Sha'reff Rashad during the first quarter of their NCAA college football game in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)


Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder, left, hands off to running back Antone Smith during the second quarter of an NCAA football game against Western Carolina, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, in Tallahassee, Fla. Ponder made his first start as a Seminole quarterback. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

It was an exciting week around Florida, sort of a rivalry weekend in college Football as University of Miami (UM) travelled to University of Florida (UF) (26-3) in Gainesville to resume the UF-UM rivalry in which UF hasn't beat UM in 23 years. Meanwhile my Alumnus, (MBA 2005) USF (31-24 OT) brought an exciting end to its short-lived series with University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. UCF has been feeling stiffed by USF lately as USF announced it was ending the series to play programs with a higher profile. Future series against teams like UM will only help USF in recruiting and national rankings and reputation as USF continues to play and beat programs like West Virginia, UM, Auburn, etc. After all, talk of a rivalry is for nought--no matter the opponent is 60 miles away--if the other team never beat you in 4 tries. Across the state, Florida State University (FSU) waxed Western Sisters of the Poorest by 69-0 score. If there's anything to revive a program that has been on the decline the last 3 years, it's beating someone no one else has ever heard of by about 70 points. The only thing FSU could really hope to gain from this game is maximum playing time for their backups, b/c trust me, no one else cares but their fans. That's it for this weekend's college football recap as I normally blog in the mundane world of politics and social issues.

Sarah Palin Who? & the Hypocrisy of the GOP

Yes, that sound you hear is the collective sigh of people everywhere who are wondering who the heck Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is. The next sound you hear is the cackle made when millions of us realize WHO she is and WHAT she has done so far, and it makes the GOP leadership look like the hypocritical, opportunistic fools that we know they are. This woman's political resume is thinner than a toothpick, and it's just another great example of how the GOP repeats a talking point about their opponent over and over and over, the media runs with it like it's the Gospel truth, and then THEY end up doing the SAME exact thing they decried the Democrats for doing. Whether that talking point is "Experience", "Timetables for Withdrawing from Iraq" or "Negotiating with the Terrorists--i.e., Syria, N. Korea, Iran".

Let's start with the "inexperience" argument which we have had drilled into our heads for the last 2 years regarding Barack Obama, the 47-year-old presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Yet, let's hold his record of 12-plus years of public service inlcuding Illinois State Legislature (1996-2004) along with being a lecturer on Constitutional Law at University of Chicago Law School (1992 to 2004) plus 4 years as a US Senator (2004-2008...). Is there even any comparison? And let's not talk about, Obama's VP choice, Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a man with such foreign policy expertise that he was personally requested by President Saakashvili of Georgia to come for talks during the recent crisis with Russia. Contrast this with the more "experienced" candidate who chose Palin, a political neophyte who has been Governor of Alaska for 1 1/2 years (December, 2006-present) and was former Mayor of Wasilla, population 6,715 from 1996 to 2002! Of course, at this point, her foreign policy experience comes apparently comes from her state Alaska facing Russia across the Bering Straits. Take that, North Korea! Above all, Palin's own peers in Alaska, who should be rooting for a fellow Alaskan don't think much of her executive qualifications. Says Alaska's Republican Senate President, Lyda Green, "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" Most sane, political analysts wonder though, why McSame would pick Palin instead of say, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. After all, she's TX senior Senator, has been in the Senate since 1993 (15 years), and possesses a considerable amount of national clout in the party in addition to hailing from a key southern state with 34 electoral votes (instead of only 3). Somehow, the good Senator had too much experience for the GOP ticket. In the meantime, the Candidate of Experience came to the conclusion that Palin was perfect for the position after only meeting Palin once in February and talking with her once by phone. McCain never met Palin in person prior to this weekend. As a McCain spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer put it, "You're running flat into the wall of my ignorance here," she said. "I truly have no indication whatsoever the extent of a relationship that exists with the Governor of Alaska.".

To her credit, Palin thinks Creationism should be taught in public schools. I agree with that, after all if evolution is recognized as a "theory" by scientists, then it stands to reason that Creationism should also be taught as a "theory" as well. OK, but that's all we have in common. Now for more of Palin's accomplishments & platform... Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest. How inflexible is that? It's commendable that she should bring into the world a child that she was warned would have Down Syndrome, but as I explained in my previous post, "Abortion & The One-Issue Party" there are exceptions to every moral rule. Palin also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska. Also, consider how the irony of Palin running for Governor on the basis of reforming a corrupt state government (Sen. "Uncle" Ted Stevens anyone?), yet Palin ran a 527 for Stevens, the aptly named Excellence in Public Service, Inc., and is herself now under ethics investigation by Alaska's Legislature for politically motivated firings. Yep, she'll definitely fit in well in Washington! Finally, let's discuss Palin's commander in chief credentials, or lack thereof.

Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, considers Palin "extremely responsive and smart" and says she is in charge when it comes to in-state services, such as emergencies and natural disasters where the National Guard is the first responder.

But, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, he said he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

Certainly if strong beliefs are all one needs to run for Executive Office in US government, then Sarah Palin definitely has what it takes to run as a Republican candidate. I have no problem with Governor Sarah Palin--0r any woman, for that matter--being considered for VPOTUS, if she actually had significant experience and legislative accomplishments to back up her ambition, but she doesn't.

Of course, if there is any indication from the rousing domestic and foreign policy "successes" of our current President Who's-Name-I-Don't-Like-to-Mention, maybe it really doesn't take that much experience to be Clown-in-Chief of the USA! After all we (not me of course, because I never voted for him) twice elected (and allowed to steal the election) a man who's only claim to fame was being the C-grade son of old money Texas/Connecticut oil barons and bankers. Certainly President George W. Shrub has lowered the bar so that anyone can be President of the US. So if you are a moron, but at least a little bit connected, you too could be President one day!

Are You Prepared for Hurricane Weather?

Earlier in August, 2008, I published an informational post on hurricane preparedness as excerpted from The Weather Channel Hurricane Preparedness list for my readers of TheListbyKeto, my e-magazine started in 2006 after completing my MBA at University of South Florida. So I think it fitting that I republish excerpts of this guide for my blog readers as well, especially as the information herein is relevant to all residents of Florida and the South and Southwest of the US. In addition I've provided some basic severe weather definitions. As well, this weekend marks the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina of August 29, 2005 whose effects were exacerbated by an incompetent, do-nothing government which had billions of dollars in aid overseas the day after after the Indonesia tsunami of December 26, 2004, but took 3 days to even react to Hurricane Katrina just a few thousand miles away and after President Bush's August 28, 2005 Katrina briefing on the possibility of a category 3 hurricane breaching the levies in New Orleans. Well, it will go down as one of the big failures of an administration that is synonymous with failure. But...at least the Florida Division of Emergency Management is more proactive in emergency management and allows citizens to create their own family disaster plan. Well...stay safe out there!

DEFINITIONS:
Hurricane Season (Atlantic): 1 June - 30 November
Hurricane Watch: Hurricane conditions, sustained winds greater than 73 mph, are possible in the area within 36 hours.
Hurricane Warning: A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected in the area in 24 hours or less.

Safety Before a Tropical Storm or Hurricane

Be Informed
Determine your insurance eligibility now. In addition to high winds, rain and floods are sometimes associated with hurricanes and tropical storms. However, damage caused by flooding is not usually covered in regular homeowners' insurance. The federal government insures against flood damage.

Find out more from:
Your insurance agent
National Insurance Consumer Helpline (1-800-942-4242); The Insurance Information Institute (1-800-331-9146) The National Flood Insurance Program

Learn how your town handles emergencies by contacting:
Your local American Red Cross chapter chapter or check the business listing of your white pages. Your local Emergency Management Agency (EMA)

Be Prepared
Pay attention to local weather reports. Purchase a NOAA Weather Radio and sign up for The Weather Channel's free alerts for your mobile phone or email..

Develop a Family Preparedness Plan that includes the following:
Decide where to go if at home, school, work, outdoors, or in a car when a tornado warning is issued. Update these plans every school year and as places of employment and residence change. Compile a family emergency supplies kit. Make certain everything you need is in one specific, easy-to-access location. These contents can be assembled over a five-month period on a weekly basis, and perishable items should be changed or replaced every six months. To learn more about assembling and refreshing supplies, see the American Red Cross' preparedness information.

Prepare Your Home
There are a number of cost-effective measures that be taken to strengthen the exterior and interior structural integrity of a house. Learn more:

• Preparing Your Home for Hurricanes
• Consider Hurricane Shutters
• Keep Wind and Water Out During a Hurricane

For more information on TheListbyKeto, a FREE e-magazine highlighting local events and business advertising, please logon http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheListbyKeto. We are also on Myspace, http://www.myspace.com/thelistbyketo and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/people/TheList_byKeto/833578290. TheListbyKeto—Connecting Tampa Bay's Culture, Community, Networking & Nightlife!

Obama & The American Promise

Thursday night, August 28th, 2008, 45 years to the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech at the foot of the Lincoln Monument in Wash., DC, Sen. Barack Obama gave his DNC Convention nomination speech to nearly 85,000 at the former Mile High Stadium in Denver, CO. I will always consider Mile High as the rightful name of the now Invesco Field (if you're a long-time NFL fan you know what I'm talking about).

The significance of this day cannot be understated whether you're Black, White, man or woman in this country, Dr. King was more than just a great orator; he sacrificed his life so that ALL Americans could live The Dream that he spent his whole life fighting for. And what really is the American Dream? Barack Obama's biography recounted tonight reminded us that the American dream is really simple, but worth fighting for, and that the last 8 years has robbed the little guy of his will to dream. In simplest terms, the American Dream is for fathers and mothers, husbands and wives to be able to go to work and bring enough money home to care for their family. The American Dream is for each man to be successful while caring enough to make sure that his neighbor has a helping hand in hard times. The American Dream is not, however, for 90% of the nation's wealth to be held captive in the hands of a 10% who can't relate to $4/gallon at the gas pump and frankly "don't get it".

Yes, truly this was a historic occasion in so many ways. The obvious story line is that 45 years after Dr. King's greatest speech at age 34, the first Black man was nominated as Presidential candidate of a major political party. Though of course, the 47-year-old Obama is part White also, the Eurocentric culture has assigned the Black race to anyone who has at least one drop of Black blood. It is not, however, the fact that Obama is part Black that has the nation excited. I mean, Alan Keyes didn't excite us in two elections when he received less than 1% of the Republican primary vote--did he? Rather the country loves Obama because he embodies the best of us, represents truly equal opportunity, and captures the spirit of hope, hard work, and courage that we aspire to.

Here are some of my favorite highlights of the speech--there were quite a few:

We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year?

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well it's time for them to own their failure.

It's time for us to change America. Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength."

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.

So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

Hillary & the Speech That Was More Than Just a Speech

Well, now we know that Hillary Clinton doesn't wear PUMA's as of her roof-blowing, DNC Wednesday night speech in Denver. Political pundits as well as the blogosphere were buzzing over the positively charged atmosphere and the impact of Sen. Clinton's DNC unity talk.

Hillary Clinton's speech last night was amazing, passionate & most of all REAL! She talked to Democrats and the American people, not as a politician, but as someone who had finally found a purpose, not just a career opportunity. Had she talked more like this during the primaries, she may have fared better.

Notable highlights of Hillary Clinton's DNC 2008 speech (of which there were many):

"We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines."

"No way. No how. No McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President."

"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for ...all the people in this country who feel invisible?" This really is the most important question that Hillary could ever ask her supporters. The ball is now in their court. Their actions will tell the world whether they are more committed only to electing a specific woman than they are to throwing out one of the most incompetent criminal administrations in US history who they don't even share the same political platform with in the first place.

"...[Barack Obama] he'll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again." This is the part that so clearly ties the successes of the recent past when the US was at relative peace with the rest of the world, we had a record budget surplus, and the economy was very healthy with the hope for a successful future with Obama at the helm of the country.

"Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home - a first step to repairing our alliances around the world."

"But we don't need four more years . . . of the last eight years."

"With an [ineffective] agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart." Tongue in cheek, tongue in cheek.

"My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President."

Then she closed with the words of Harriet Tubman which she told slaves that she was conducting on the Underground Railroad..."Don't ever stop. Keep going."

"If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going."

"But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president."

"Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance."

Why Black Men Don't Go to Church (Part 2)

Wednesday, 8/20/08 was the 2nd Annual edition of the Wide aWoke Wednesday's Live Interactive Talk Show topic "Why Black Men Don't Go to Church" as hosted by Motown Maurice, & The Combination . Motown moderated as panelists and audience debated this issue from varying view points. That's what The Combination and Wide aWoke Wednesday are all about--uniting us despite our many differing perspectives on the same topics.

As a born-again, Black, Christian male under age 30, I believe there are a couple reasons specifically why more Black men are not in church or many Black men who attend church during youth stop attending once they reach the teen years. These include relationship and hypocrisy, but wait, I'll explain.

I feel blessed to have come from a religious family, with my family in Haiti being traditionally Catholic as are most folks in the Caribbean and South American cultures. Once I moved to the United States, my adoptive mother, Ruth E. Hodges, a missionary to Haiti since 1969 was a Pentecostal, so I was raised in Pentecostal and non-denominational Pentecostal churches since age 5. Because I was raised in church, church became a natural part of my life, just like eating. My Ma also sent me to private Christian schools where Christian values were further emphasized as part of the education. So in addition to getting a great education with individual attention, I learned quite a bit about the Christian faith both at school and at home where we read the Bible and prayed daily (to this day, I have read the Holy Bible 10 times cover to cover). Eventually I became born again at a meeting for Christian youth in California. Then I began to develop a relationship with Christ and church continued to be part of my lifestyle. As I grew up beyond my teen years, I began to become a more independent and became more conscious of who I was in the world, but at the same time because of my upbringing and my relationship with God, there was no way I could leave church to the side as if I had somehow outgrown it because of my education or life experiences. The key though is that I had a relationship with God, so church was the least I could do as far as feeding my soul.

When you value something, you enter into relationship with that thing or its representation. For example, I have been taught to value marriage, therefore it was not a problem for me to enter into the commitment of marriage. I believe that many men, not just Black men, who attended church in their youth, no longer attend because they were forced to attend church (by their parents), and never sought out the relationship aspect of church. For them it was a chore and an obligation, not an opportunity to become a better person. Others use the reason that there are too many hypocrites. Let me address that statement as well. There is no where in the world you will ever go where there are not hypocrites. And truth be told we are ALL hypocrites at some time. You see, the English word "hypocrite" (derived as hupokrisis in Greek) simply means someone who acts one way in one situation and a different way in another situation. It was a term used to describe actors in a theater setting who would wear tragedy masks to conceal their true identity. Therefore, if you act one way at work, another way at school, another way at sporting activities, another way at church, etc.--which we all do--then you too are technically a hypocrite. Besides which, all the hypocrites SHOULD be in church, because that is where they can get help!

For more information on Wide aWoke Wednesdays, please visit http://www.wideawoke.com/ or http://www.thecombinationtv.com/ or call 813-951-0794. Our once monthly forums are typically held the 3rd Wednesday, 7:30pm with refreshments & a Meet & Greet at 6:30pm at USF Alumni Center - Traditions Hall 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620.

Elitism and It's Elite Standardbearers

Are you an elitist, am I an elitist? Who the heck is an elitist, and is that suddenly bad, and if so why? An elite person by definition is from "a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status." Common usage relates this term to people who enjoy the highest social standing in our society either through being born into an old money family, i.e. The Bushes, Kennedys, Rockefellers, Hiltons, Sen. John McCain, etc. As well, we think of elite as referring to someone who through mastery of a specific talent or skill set has ascended to the top of his profession and thus attained elite social status. Great examples are Michael Jordan who was not born into money, but because he became one of the best at his craft, enjoys elite status. Of course Oprah Winfrey, entrepreneur and billionaire would fit this description as well as Deion Sanders or any other "rags to riches" story. Yet another common usage of "elite" is someone who is out of touch with ordinary people.

Now, I gotta admit, I was confused as to why during the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton referred to Barack Obama as elitist due to his "bitter" comments, suggesting that he was "out of touch" because he dared to tell us what we already knew. That is that for too long, the Republican political machine has always distracted us from their failures by bringing up guns and religion just before major elections, and certain segments of our population keep falling for the same trick over and over. It's as if the Republicans have convinced folks that somehow "the other guy" is gonna take away your God and your guns. Furthermore, I was even more intrigued that John McCain, the scion of military elites and a son of privilege since birth would also try to characterize Obama as an elitist. Unfortunately, per usual the media took another Republican talking point and ran with it as if it were the Gospel of Rove.

If you didn't know any better you would think that the "elitist" candidate is Obama. But let's look at the facts. At the very least, John McCain owns 8 mansions, the least expensive being valued at $847K and the most expensive being valued over $4M. Some estimate that he actually owns 10 homes including one for his daughter, Meghan McCain. Further, John McCain says he doesn't know how many houses he owns. No wonder he thinks the "economy is fundamentally strong." Talk about being out of touch! So who is the elitist who flies around in his wife's private plane because, "in AZ the only way to get around the state is by small private plane"? Well that's John McCain. Who along with his wife are worth about $100 million? Oh yeah, that's John McCain. Further, it is John McCain's wife Cindy McCain whose beer distributorship has $300M/yr in sales. Of course, the one who's cruised his whole life based on his father and grandfather being Admirals in the US Navy? That's John McCain. He graduated at the bottom of his class (895/899), but his elite connectections allowed him to get into Fighter Pilot school after Annapolis. You would think you'd only want your smartest people as fighter pilots wouldn't you? But as George W. Bush demonstrated, you can be a C student, dumb as rocks, and as long as your family is well connected (George H. W. Bush was Dir of CIA, VPOTUS, heir to old money oil fortune of Prescott Bush) you can sail through life earning nothing on your own, but being granted privileges on the basis of your family tree. That "my friends" as John McCain would say, is affirmative action for the rich.

Meanwhile, let's contrast Barack Obama's life? He actually looks like the face of 21st century America, as Bob Cesca duly notes. He was born to a white mother and Kenyan father who left them at a young age after which his mother had to subsist on foodstamps, raised by his white grandmother in Kansas, he worked hard in highschool in Hawaii and earned the opportunity because of his excellent grades to attend Harvard for undergrad, then Columbia Law School. So whose story is more like one of us? Black AND White parents? Foodstamps to Presidential candidate? Has lived in the same middle class neighborhood forever (despite having written 2 bestselling books about his life)? The answer should be obvious.

When elite comes to mind of course we're told it's Obama who's elite despite all of my previous statements describing John McCain's inherited wealth and Barack Obama's rags to riches story. The media must think we're stupid, but that's ok because no one ever calls them out on making up the facts.

To Marry or Not to Marry, That Is THE Question

One of my good friends, the founder of a local networking website for young professionals, wrote an advice column this week and posed several questions to her readers regarding marriage and soliciting advice on whether she should take the plunge or not. In response I replied back to her on some life lessons which I have learned just in this 4 months of marriage. They may seem to be common sense, but apparently not considering the high rate of divorce in our modern society.

a) You can never really realize your ultimate purpose in life until you have the responsibility of taking care of someone else--and I'm not talking about a little sister or a sick parent--and marriage provides that sense of ultimate responsibility. Now you are no longer out just for yourself, but you represent your mate and family and vice versa.

b) Further more, marriage establishes [lifelong] commitment. "I'm in this for the long haul, I'm a real grownup now, I'm not going to take the easy way out (live-in and leave) just b/c every day is not peaches & cream." Don't expect marriage to be all jokes and romance ALL THE TIME b/c that is not reality, that's Hollywood/fantasyland. However, a marriage SHOULD be happy--I mean you could be miserable all by yourself right?

c) Finally, you never really "know" someone until you live with them 24 hrs/day (besides work & church of course). That's why people say, "Now that I'm married everything's changed." No nothing actually changed, both of you are the same persons (character doesn't change) as when you were dating, you both just moved from the dating stage to marriage stage, and reality has set in. Just remember though that opposites attract, and that is where friction is introduced into a relationship. If you both thought alike and acted alike in every way, then marriages would all be perfect and stable & no one would ever argue or disagree or certainly even divorce. Part of being a grown up though is assessing your relationship--if you both love each other, and want a relationship to work then you both will do the things that ensure it works. And oh yeah, forget about all that "molding" crap. Women love to think that they can change their man AFTER the fact, once they are married. He is who he is due to a variety of factors including social environment, family upbringing & any traumatic experiences that he may have survived. All these things mold a man's character long before you meet him, and he will NOT change to whatever it is you think he should be unless HE sees the need & WANTS to do so.

The bottom line is that if you find someone that you care strongly about, and you have the confidence that they hold you in the same regard with love, respect, honesty (and you've prayed and KNOW that God sent you to each other) then by all means marriage should definitely be a consideration. I did, and my life is richer for it b/c I found someone I wanted to share my hopes, my dreams & my life with for the long run. When Shirre & I met, I just wanted to date her, and that was all. I wasn't thinking about the future or anything. But as we began to go out and spend more time, I just realized that we were so perfect for each other, and we get each other so much that it's like we've known each other for years instead of just since June 2007. Then I realized that I didn't really want anyone else but her. Once we figured out what we both wanted which only took a few weeks, then we decided to try this thing and see if it worked, and it has. No drama, no BS, just grown-ups being real with each other. Which is a quality so lacking these days as guys and ladies get caught up in being playas and playing "the game" and don't know how to move on to the next level of a relationship.

Remember there are no perfect people, (that's what alot of folks lose sight of). However, if God sent you two to each other then you are perfect for each other. There was once an anecdote that I heard about a tennis coach who had a prized pupil who he thought could be a champion. The athlete however, had some weaknesses which could end up costing him matches. The coach made this fellow successful by focusing not on his weaknesses, but by emphasizing his strengths to the point that they far outweighed any weaknesses. The moral is...Focus less on the imperfections and focus more on yours and his strengths; take care on doing the things that please each other, and you too can live happily [ever after].

Abortion & The One-Issue Party

Today I read this Huffington Post article about how the Republican party keeps successfully using the abortion issue (as well as gay rights, guns, affirmative action aka "Stop those Blacks from taking our jobs.") election after election, and the American public is complicit in letting them get away with it.

It is quite disingenuous that the Republican party has nothing to offer over 90% of us but continuous war(s), an increasing $500B federal debt and counting, an economic climate resulting in some of the largest corporate layoffs in history, taxes that take more and more out of the little guy's pockets, conspiring with big insurance, health management and big oil to severely limit our choices for competitive alternatives (in Florida for ex, the insurance industry is famous for buying the Republican lawmakers so that pro-consumer laws are not passed in the state), deregulating the financial industry to such a point that it's players feel no shame about a record number of home foreclosures, under-performing schools, supporting our troops in the form of giving them 3-5 consecutive tours of duty without adequate R&R with family, and the list goes on and on.

Has anyone ever considered that in all the years that Republicans have held the White House & even in the years that Republicans have controlled Congress, abortions have NEVER been reduced? (Since 1980, Republicans have been President 20 out of the last 28 years). It's more rhetoric over substance, and as long as the American voters continue to let one party hold one or two issues over us while screwing us on every other issue we care about, then all we have is our own ignorance to blame (refusing to see the truth). The greatest example I can cite is the 2004 election fraud. We KNEW that George Bush was a sorry President made possible by his father having stacked the Supreme Court. But instead of going with the guy who was smarter, had a more accomplished record, a REAL war hero with command experience (not someone who dressed up and posed by fighter planes like GW), we collectively (especially Christians) chose to be hoodwinked and distracted from those issues most important to us by the Gay Marriage amendments which were introduced state by state by the Republican party for this exact reason. Our resulting disenfranchisement has continued until this day.

I certainly don't condone abortion except in cases where the mother's life is in danger or in extreme cases of health-related complications. As an example, I once had a neighbor named "Mary". Mary was physically limited due to several chronic illnesses & health conditions which she had suffered with her entire life. She and her husband tried for a child, and the Drs. warned her that she was literally risking her life if she tried to birth a child. Well of course they went ahead anyway, and now her quality of life has deteriorated in such a way that I'm not sure how she makes it from day to day. Additionally, Mary's child is severely handicapped as well. Mary herself is to all intents walking dead. In this case, clearly I believe that Mary did the wrong thing by having a child. This situation I cite only as an exception, and it is an exception nonetheless.

The bottom line, though is that we as voters must educate ourselves and find out our local and national candidates platforms and whether they just spout this rhetoric at election time when it counts the most (politically) and whether this matches up with their track record when it really counts (morally). Ask yourself, how is it that we can claim to care so much about a baby before it is born (I myself am pro-life), but yet we stop caring about that baby after birth (the farce of No Child Left Behind which guarantees that schools in better neighborhoods will continue to get state funding while the failing schools in predominately poor neighborhoods who actually NEED the financial assistance will not receive such, no cost-effective health coverage for millions of youth, etc).

Black in America: CNN (Where Do We Go From Here?)

I must say, I was glad to see a major
national news network, CNN run a series, CNN Presents Black in America about the modern lives & struggles of Black families in America. Soledad O'Brien contrasted the disparities as well as the striking similarities between the have's and have nots of Black America. As a bi-racial American, she was the perfect face & moderator for this expose, fitting though since CNN (which I've had the pleasure of touring) is based in one of America's most prosperous Black metropolitan areas, Atlanta.

Let's be real about it though, this series did not teach Black people anything that we didn't know already. Re: Black women--we already know that single mothers and the economic & social struggles they and their families face are one of the most storied representations of the Black experience, HIV/AIDS is prevalent among our women b/c they are faced with lack of preventive care, stigma in the community & lack of support from the church, plus many don't know that they are carriers of the disease. Hypertension, diabetes & heart disease run rampant due to a health care system which is inadequate to meet the needs of poor non-payers, most of whom must go to the emergency room as their only (reactive) health care option. Yes, we already know that Black women are starting to date outside their race to compensate for the lack of educated brothers due to disproportionate incarceration rates among Black men (both byproducts of the Willie Lynch Theory).

Re: Black men, we already know that corporations are more likely to punish Black men coming out of the prison system, hampering their rehabilitation in society, demeaning their self respect & forcing them to resort to undesirable means to support their family. We already know that an educated Black man starts off on a un-even playing field in which a Black man in his job search is likely to be told he is underqualified b/c he is not privileged to be part of many of the social, business or economic networks that his White male counterparts belong to in order to get "the hookup". Oh & we already know that an "over-educated" Black male is going to be branded as "overqualified," meaning, "We dont' want to pay you what you're worth & we don't want you to think you can come in an take our jobs that we own (e.g. reverse discrimination)". (Trust me I had that experience coming out of b-school, MBA). Yes, we already know that society treats light skinned & darker skinned folks differently, no where more apparent that with the touching story of Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, a foremost author & academic & his brother, serving a life sentence for an alleged drug killing. We already struggle daily with the dueling realities of hip hop culture. And the list could go on and on and on and on, but I digress lest I wear myself out with words.

So who was this series addressed to? It was addressed to the White Americans and others who still mistakenly believe that stereotypes, prejudice & racism no longer exist in our "open" & tolerant society. These are the folks who will tell you that 40 years of affirmative action (which has primarily benefitted White women--look up your statistics) is adequate to make up for 400 years of slavery and its resultant economic, social, religious & political oppression. These are the folks that will always champion "personal responsibility" as if our society bears no fault or accountability for the way things are. These are folks that believe that b/c one hard working Black man who went from food stamps to Harvard to closing in on the Presidency, must indicate that we're not as bad as we thought, that now the playing field is officially level for everyone.

Really the only thing to take from the series as a whole was that regardless of how far we have come, we still have a long way to go. Despite folks like D.L. Hughley making it from the Bloods gang as a teen to enviable position of influence in international entertainment (comedy, movie acting, sitcoms, etc) there is still another group that has been forgotten--"the rest of us".

Are We Ready for a Black President (Or Just Another Rich White One?)

I wish that more of my Tampa Bay area friends had been present on Wednesday, 7/16/08 (although we did have a standing room only crowd) as Motown Maurice and The Combination facilitated lively debate between panelists and audience from many different perspectives. That's what The Combination, and Wide aWoke Wednesday are all about--uniting us despite our many differing perspectives on the same topics.

While it's true that maybe the color of the President should not matter, unfortunately it does due to to a variety of historic, social, economic and political factors. After all if it didn't matter then I'm sure we would have had a Black, Native American, Latino, or Asian President w/in the last 400 years, seeing as how those were the people that built the America we enjoy today. However, it does matter in the context of our western/Eurocentric mindset, and historically, socially, economically, politically, and symbolically.

Now, does the possibility of Obama mean that racism will seek to exist? NO. Does it mean that the single Black mother working 2 jobs at $7/hr to get through college and to put food on her family's table will suddenly have an easier life? NO of course not. Does this mean that cops will stop racial profiling or our prisons will not continue to be 80% filled with the blacks and the poor? NO--although a President can actually have some impact in reforming the criminal & civil justice system. (Recall Pres. Ronald Reagan's alleged "War on Drugs" and how that has forever impacted the legal system. More recently, recall Pres. Bill Clinton’s controversial 1996 “one-strike” rule which made first-time offenses by those in public housing as punishable by incarceration? By the way, the "President and Congress have direct control of the federal prison population". Now there were more things that the average Joe without proper legal representation could rot in jail for.)

The bottom line is that the Presidency represents the world's most prestigious job in the world's richest country, and up until now, anyone with a drop of Black or non-WASP blood had absolutely no chance of navigating the networks or making the path that it takes to become President. This accomplishment is symbolically important b/c it tells the rest of the world, that yes, there is hope that ONE DAY it won't actually matter what color a person is as long as they are a capable leader. Until that day, we still have a long way to go, but as the old commercial says, "You've come a long way, baby."

For more information on Wide aWoke Wednesdays, please visit http://www.wideawoke.com/

http://www.thecombinationtv.com/ or call 813-951-0794. Our once monthly forums are typically held the 3rd Wednesday, 7:30pm with refreshments & a Meet & Greet at 6:30pm at USF Alumni Center - Traditions Hall 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620.

Anatomy of a Black Mind: How Black is Black Enough?

I was deeply troubled recently by Jesse Jackson's Fox News comments on Barack Obama.

Some of our Black leaders would rather see an incompetent, warmongering, criminal white President in power who cares nothing except how to enrich his already rich friends (e.g., Bush, McCain, etc) than to support a progressive brother who is both Black and White, but chooses to identify himself as Black, taking on our struggles voluntarily. When Pres. Clinton was elected, Blacks across the country voted over 80% for him, and Black "fans" called him "The First Black President" without EVER questioning his "Blackness". Now that we have someone who could legitimately make the government "by the people, for the people" a reality for the first time since FDR, it seems we can't go a week or two without some Black figure wondering publicly whether Obama is "Black Enough."

Apparently unless you agree with the world view of EVERYONE who is a major Black figure, you can't expect their support. ...Not realizing that to a Eurocentric culture, we're ALL the same (Black Americans, non-American Blacks, Indians, Caribbean people, Hispanic/Latinos, Arabs, etc.) If Blacks stuck together, we could be THE most powerful voting bloc in American politics, far surpassing Latinos, Jews and other voting blocs who tend more often to vote for those that represent their views.

Yes, these things are symptoms of hundreds of years of the Willie Lynch Theory being propagated throughout American society. However, with education and knowledge/self-awareness at our fingertips, we have no one to blame but ourselves if we don't get IT right!