Hello Reverend T.D.Jakes, welcome to Killadelphia. Nice of you to visit and grace us with your presence. I see you had over 5,500 faithful people come to listen to you at Enon Baptist Church on Sunday. Apparently you had a rally with the good folks from the church to pray for us and deplore all the killings we have been having in our fair city lately. Thank you for that.
Let's talk about those killings shall we: As of the time of me writing this post, we are up to 104 and counting. (Now that could change before I finish this post)The most of any city in America. Any city! That includes New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. Cities that the last time I checked, are all larger than Philly. The latest killing comes to us by way of the Kensington section of town, where a woman's body was found beaten and with a plastic bag wrapped over her head. And, of course, there was the usual random shootings and assaults. "It was a gory night" said one poor overworked police officer. Yeah but no different than any other night here in Killadelphia, lately. Honestly, I have become almost completely numb to this sh*t.
Well I was almost numb to it; and then I read an account from a police officer who was in the middle of the chaos and it woke me the hell back up. The officer tells it like this: "Fourteen year-old Tarton George was dead,the victim of an apparently calculated drive by shooting at 10:20 PM, in North Philly. The doctors at Temple had cut open George's 21 year old companion,whom police have not identified, and were messaging his heart when his younger brother began to tell police what happened.
The boys mother cut him off and loudly warned her son "not to say a f*****g word. Don't talk to the f*****g cops," another police officer quoted the woman as saying. "We handle this our own way." "I couldn't believe it," said one of the officers who asked the Philadelphia Inquirer (from where I got this story) not to identify him.
Then moments later four young men ran up to the victim's brother and told him to "say nothing to the cops." The scene, according to those who were there, grew even more surreal. The Mother of a third shooting victim arrived and told the police: "I know who did it, and he's in this crowd." As the woman looked around for the gunmen, the crown berated her and told her to keep silent, the officer told the Inquirer. "People were telling her to be quiet and saying,'We'll get you bitch.'" The cops then called for reinforcements.
"How are we supposed to end this when we're up against these kind of societal values?" "It's discouraging and an absolute disgrace" said another officer, Sgt. Anthony McFadden.
Officer, I couldn't agree with you more. And true confessions; I battle police officers on many a day in court on behalf of my clients, but I feel for some of these guys out here grinding on these mean streets while trying to keep us safe and protect their necks at the same time. I have to honestly ask: What the f**k is wrong with our people? Why don't we value each other's lives? And what is it with this ignorant ass culture we have created where it's OK to protect those who take the lives of our children? I am sorry, but this ignorant sh*t has got to stop. We are destroying each other, and some of these mothers and adults who were charged to protect their children, are no different than the ignorant ass criminals who are out here doing this sh*t. Sorry, but I have to keep it one hundred percent with you: Many of these mothers and guardians benefit from the criminal enterprise of their children, and far too often they know exactly what's going on. Yet, they don't weep and moan until it's their own child's blood dripping on the street.
Personally, I am sick of the bull sh*t. Sick of the rallies; the teddy bears on the corner; sick of the Mayor and his empty ass statements; and sick of our do nothing police chief whose sorry ass should have been fired about fifty murders ago.
"If I was the devil I wouldn't even come to Philly with all these preachers, and powers you've got"
Sorry Reverend Jakes, the devil is already here.
Let's talk about those killings shall we: As of the time of me writing this post, we are up to 104 and counting. (Now that could change before I finish this post)The most of any city in America. Any city! That includes New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. Cities that the last time I checked, are all larger than Philly. The latest killing comes to us by way of the Kensington section of town, where a woman's body was found beaten and with a plastic bag wrapped over her head. And, of course, there was the usual random shootings and assaults. "It was a gory night" said one poor overworked police officer. Yeah but no different than any other night here in Killadelphia, lately. Honestly, I have become almost completely numb to this sh*t.
Well I was almost numb to it; and then I read an account from a police officer who was in the middle of the chaos and it woke me the hell back up. The officer tells it like this: "Fourteen year-old Tarton George was dead,the victim of an apparently calculated drive by shooting at 10:20 PM, in North Philly. The doctors at Temple had cut open George's 21 year old companion,whom police have not identified, and were messaging his heart when his younger brother began to tell police what happened.
The boys mother cut him off and loudly warned her son "not to say a f*****g word. Don't talk to the f*****g cops," another police officer quoted the woman as saying. "We handle this our own way." "I couldn't believe it," said one of the officers who asked the Philadelphia Inquirer (from where I got this story) not to identify him.
Then moments later four young men ran up to the victim's brother and told him to "say nothing to the cops." The scene, according to those who were there, grew even more surreal. The Mother of a third shooting victim arrived and told the police: "I know who did it, and he's in this crowd." As the woman looked around for the gunmen, the crown berated her and told her to keep silent, the officer told the Inquirer. "People were telling her to be quiet and saying,'We'll get you bitch.'" The cops then called for reinforcements.
"How are we supposed to end this when we're up against these kind of societal values?" "It's discouraging and an absolute disgrace" said another officer, Sgt. Anthony McFadden.
Officer, I couldn't agree with you more. And true confessions; I battle police officers on many a day in court on behalf of my clients, but I feel for some of these guys out here grinding on these mean streets while trying to keep us safe and protect their necks at the same time. I have to honestly ask: What the f**k is wrong with our people? Why don't we value each other's lives? And what is it with this ignorant ass culture we have created where it's OK to protect those who take the lives of our children? I am sorry, but this ignorant sh*t has got to stop. We are destroying each other, and some of these mothers and adults who were charged to protect their children, are no different than the ignorant ass criminals who are out here doing this sh*t. Sorry, but I have to keep it one hundred percent with you: Many of these mothers and guardians benefit from the criminal enterprise of their children, and far too often they know exactly what's going on. Yet, they don't weep and moan until it's their own child's blood dripping on the street.
Personally, I am sick of the bull sh*t. Sick of the rallies; the teddy bears on the corner; sick of the Mayor and his empty ass statements; and sick of our do nothing police chief whose sorry ass should have been fired about fifty murders ago.
"If I was the devil I wouldn't even come to Philly with all these preachers, and powers you've got"
Sorry Reverend Jakes, the devil is already here.
"a woman's body was found beaten, and with a plastic bag wrapped over her head." That's harsh. That sounds like Iraq.
ReplyDeleteWatch Newt Gingrich call Spanish a "ghetto" language, and have a look at my latest Afrosphere-inspired blog layout : http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007/04/newt-gingrich-call-spanish-ghetto.html
I'm not sure it's my place to pile on when it comes to murders in the black community, but it's my city, too. It's a city with undeniable potential considering its history and culture. So excuse me if this sounds ignorant, racist, insensitive, or shallow. It's probably going to be a mix of all four.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck? Have you seen the shootings map for Philly? There were 2004 shootings last year -- 1628 black victims. 1509 black male victims. 970 black m/f shooting victims between 0-25 years old! Out of 406 shooting deaths in 2006, 335 were black and 296 were black males. I mean, we're talking about a city in which 40-45% of the population is black, but accounts for 75% of the shooting deaths and 80+% of shooting victims.
There comes a time when a community has to stop blaming everyone else for its problems and get its own shit together. No respect for each other's lives, no respect for their own lives. More cops on the streets doesn't solve this sort of problem, especially when nobody seems to want the cops' help in the first place. It's a cultural issue. A mother of four dies in the street, but nobody has shit to say...and you know those kids are more likely to grow up all kinds of messed up.
And to be completely honest, I'm tired of hearing that these people are impoverished and desperate. Bullshit. Being poor might be an excuse to steal, but it isn't an excuse to kill someone after you argue with him at a bar in Olney. Doesn't matter if it's Olney, Kingsessing, or freaking Bryn Mawr. No excuse to shoot someone.
I really hate to say this, but there comes a point when certain neighborhoods don't deserve police protection anymore. Why should the cops come running to a crime scene in Southwest Philly if nobody is going to tell them who the shooter was, despite 10 witnesses standing there? It's fucking ridiculous. All of the t-shirts, teddy bears, and murals aren't going to change a goddamned thing until the black community does something besides talking about doing something.
"Run up the score," I know you are a Philly guy and you love your city, so trust me, I understand where you are coming from. But you lost me in your last paragraph: "I really hate to say this, but there comes a point when certain neighborhoods don't deserve police protection..." Every neighborhood deserves protection regardless of how ignorant some of the people in those neighborhoods are.
ReplyDeleteThere are children and old people in some of those neighborhoods who should not have to suffer because of a few knuckleheads and ignorant ass people.
Maybe it's because I go to some of these neighborhoods on a regular basis, and you don't. But I see lots of good and potential from some of the kids there, and I see some hard working families who just can't get out, or who don't want to leave because they feel that they owe it to their communities to stay and fight the good fight. So I would never want to abandon those people,or the ones they love.
But yes it's frustrating as hell, and I think it calls for some desperate measures, (Like more cameras, more aggressive policing, tighter gun laws, tougher sentences, and more youth programs) but that will call for better leadership, and right now we are not getting it.
This mentality of our people is something I cannot understand. I was born and raised in Southern California. Grew up on San Diego, which is much worse than LA and I eventually moved to LA. So I certainly empathize with whats happening in Philly, I feel it. Nephew was MURDERED by one of these, um, I guess I can say persons. They walked up to him and a friend as they were coming home from work, no not selling dope, not pimping nor were they gang banging. Just some, um uh, persons two them decided they needed to kill someone because their homey was killed the night before, now these, um, forgive me but its hard for me to call them human in any form, say it wasn't them. I digress, there is something seriously wrong with our society. Wish I had the answer to stop it!! I suggest a couple songs by Chuck Fender- Freedom of Speech and Gash Dem! He says it best!!!
ReplyDeleteFor many of us who make it out of the jungle/ghetto, and for those who never actually had to live there, this can be a very troubling issue. It seems sometimes like they want it the way it is in the hood. Like nobody cares to even try to make a change anymore. You guys are absolutely right that generations of families in the jungle are dependant upon the proceeds from the illicit economy that has proven to be their only refuge. It's a choice between eat what the dope money bought or starve, and they lack the moral fiber to take the high road I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm trying to get at is this. We don't understand it, hopefully we never will, and we should be thankful for that. It's too easy to say they don't have to be there, they don't have to live like that, but it's just not that simple in reality. Most of the people in the jungle were born into it. Some do manage to escape, but we are few and far between. And as long as you live in the jungle, it's no use pretending like you don't. The jungle doesn't care and predators will eat you alive. If your day to day existance was literally a matter of kill or be killed, how do you think you would act and react? If you have never in your entire life been given reason to trust a justice system that has done nothing but preyed on you and yours, why would you ever consider turning to it for help?
It is only natural to be outraged that this type of internecine warfare rages across this country in the jungles of the inner cities. Killadelph just happens to be the hotspot this year. The war rages in the shadow of the nation's capital. Down the street and around the corner from opulence and affluence where every day is a holiday, you will find jungles, pockets of economic deprivation, hopelessness and despair where every day is a struggle for survival. An unwanted minority population is largely ignored, until the consequence of this benign neglect spills over into the nightly murder/death/kill happy nightly news. And we get outraged at the senselessness of it all over again.
There are a lot of things wrong, and more police can't fix it. Tougher laws, and longer prison terms can't fix it. As long as the jungle is allowed to exist, the law of the jungle will reign supreme there. As long as "I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours" is the philosophical foundation of this society (and that is essentially what capitalism is all about), there will be an ever growing population that is being deprived of access to basic economic opportunity. They will have no choice but to fight over the scraps that are left to them. Based on the evidence offered by the ever widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, many more of us than are willing to admit it are probably not too far from taking up residence in the jungle.
How will you act if/when if happens to you? What are you willing to do to make things better, so no one has to live in the jungle?
I'm sorry but I'm with Chris Rock when he says there is a war in the black community between black people and n****rs. Black people want things to get better and n****rs like things just the way they are.
ReplyDeleteI live in Oakland in one of the "those" neighborhoods and if the cops didn't provide us with support, it would be a living nightmare. We had a spike in murders last year also and the same wall of silence descends from the victims and their families. I had two murders on my street last year.
I agree with the person above who says poverty might be a reason to steal but not to murder someone. Some of it is drug related but a lot of it is just plain bullshit.
The black middle class has been a disaster on this issue. They have some kind of survivor's guilt that requires them to make excuses for the most outrageously violent and anti social behavior. No one wants to be accused of not being "down" so middle class folks nod and "uh huh" when folks from the 'hood run a guilt trip on them. It is pathetic.
Thankfully, I'm guilt proof. I'm a middle class sister in the 'hood but I'm not taking no stuff and everyone around me knows it.
And by the way, one of the worst thugs on my street was from a two-parent home (which they owned) and by no means poor. My solution to crime is to lock up the parents with the kids and you'll see a big change. These thugs commit FELONIES in front of their parents homes and the neighbors are the ones shouting at people and calling the police. The parents are like "What? Not my kids!"
Oh, please, I could go on for the rest of this week and still not get it out of my system. It all starts at home. If we don't deal with the way the black family is crashing all around us, it is all over for black people.
Interesting. My perception is that this sort of reaction typically occurs when a populace trusts the police less than the criminals. When the populace both feels that the police aren't out to get them, and trusts them more than the criminal enterprises, typically a significant percentage will talk. The typical answer isn't more teddy bears; it's more equitive laws, more equitive law enforcement and more equitive sentencing.
ReplyDeleteGreat point you made here. In the african american community people are more fearful of the police. that they let other people run fear into them. I hope that we can over come that
ReplyDeleteRead my post Death & Importance.
Hi Field, great post yet again.
ReplyDelete74 murdered so far in Baltimore this year. Just as you and several commenters point out, more rallies, more platitudes by the Mayor, more "get tough" policies that avoid the problem and create hundreds more.
The big outrage in Baltimore lately has been the arrest of a 7 year old black kid for sitting on a dirtbike on the sidewalk. The dirtbike wasn't even on, and the kid was cuffed and arrested. When his mother protested later that week, she was arrested on charges that were later dropped. Its things like this which make people less likely to talk to the cops.
Your most meaningful point for me was this:
Many of these mothers, and guardians benefit from the criminal enterprise of their children, and far too often they know exactly what's going on. Yet, they don't weep and moan until it's their own child's blood dripping on the street.
Exactly, too many people are benefiting from criminal enterprise both in our cities, and really, throughout the country. The cash crop in this criminal trade is drugs. Cities like Philly and Baltimore need to deal with their drug problems and drug trades before the violence will really end. Too many people are getting paid, on both the police and criminal side by the continuation of this drug war. This means removing the profit motive through legalization and funneling most of the money into drug treatment, civic improvement, grants to community organizations, etc. Who knows, maybe more folks will warm to the police when they aren't perceived as being at war with each other all day and night.
Field excellent post you already know how I feel about this topic.
ReplyDeleteAlso you are correct to many women benifit from thier children selling drugs.
The sad part about this is all of black america knows these things
1) More black men are in prison because of crack than anything else.
2) More black men are killed because of the drug game than for any other reason
3) The drug boys sell crack to pregnant women creating crack babies and entire generations of messed up kids.
4) A lot of families are destroyed by crack and other hard drugs.
All of these things and more are the results of the drug game, not to mention the terrible example it shows to young black boys.
Field I would say that for every 100 guys selling drugs 85% of the parents know exactly what is going on and 40 out of that 100 accept money from thier sons who are selling drugs.
Black America needs to have a real conversation about crime and exactly what we need to do to stop it.
Good post Field I share your disgust.
I think Andrew made an excellent point: people are getting paid behind this state of affairs. A police state is big business. Who really thinks "they" want these neighborhoods cleaned up? I was reading something about the Panthers recently and someone said that it appeared that the police would rather deal with disorganized crime, than an organized, militant progressive functional black community. Why else would they destroy so many black progressives who tried to lead and organize their communities?
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the pathology in our communities is sickening and we, as privileged people of color need to move back in and help stop the madness.
Field,
ReplyDeleteI'm a so disheartened by this post. The same thing is happening here in Los Angeles, and I can't think of any one thing that will turn the tide. It's as if several pathologies have come together in a perfect storm to cause the self-annihilation of ever increasing numbers of black people.
It's going to take a monumental effort to change the mindset of not only the people perpetrating the violence, but also those who mistakenly think that it doesn't affect them.
You all made some excellent points!
ReplyDeleteI think we can all agree that there is some serious sh** going on in our communities and something has to be done. I love "the perfect storm" reference, and Andrew and Maxjulian's take on the probable cause for the lack of concern from the larger community.
So what should we do? I say we start calling out those in our neighborhoods who are screwing things up, and who are causing the well meaning people in those communities to leave. And we need to start holding the politricksters accountable as well, because make no mistake, they are culpable too.
Personally, I am sick of the bull sh**, and I will keep writing about it and talking about it until I see some change on the horizon.
Field how about making mothers who children committ crimes take parenting and job training classes.
ReplyDeleteAs well as classes that illustrate the effects of crime on the community.
Also we should have online town hall meetings discusing the crime issue with people from the communitty in an honest way. Thier needs to be a serious convesation in black america about crime, education, health ect.
Also I hold the black church guilty for bieng hypocrits and should be called out, going after gays but not heterosexuals for fornication is pure hypocrisy. Ignoring adultery while blaming aids on gay people is sickening. Emphasizing something that Jesus christ never mention is retarded. The black church needs to be called out and made to reform based off of their ignoring the aids issue alone.
Like one of your other posters said we need a movement type of effort aimed at destroying our most negative trends to over come this. It is time for creative folks to put their brains together and get down to the business of reforming black america.
Yo Field how do I join afrospear.
This problem is being felt in Metro areas across the country.... New Orleans, Baltimore, D.C., St. Louis, LA, Memphis, Houston, Detroit, Philly, etc..., although New Orleans and Philly seem to be getting hit particularly hard...esp over the past year.
ReplyDeleteThis ignorant "stop snitching" nonsense has exacerbated the problem of urban violence. Much of this has been encouraged by the Rap culture.
And as someone mentioned above...putting more police on the street won't have that much of an impact on these kinds of crimes where you have gang and drug activity involved, and the offenders often know their victims. This is a cultural problem.
Witnesses don't come forward, often because they are afraid... the witnesses have to live in the same communities where the thugs are. These gangs have put fear in the hearts of potential witnesses. State governments have not passed sensible legislation to protect witnesses.
States need to create tougher laws to deal with gangs... The problem with that is.... there would not be enough jail space or enough court infrastructure to deal with the added cases. But it should be against the law to even be affiliated with a gang....this would allow police to move in right away and deal with this, before things are allowed to happen, as opposed to after the fact.
And as I suggested once before.... parenting classes should be an integral part of the American education system... it should be required coursework...just like English and History.
Unfortunately the "Black community" has become this parallel society in this country, with its own economy, its own system of justice (street justice), and own social norms & values.
At one point...big cities started to get a handle on the urban gang/violence problem (in the 1990's) with the increase in community policing programs.... putting officers in the communities via substations, encouraging officers to live in the communities they serve by offering financial & real estate incentives, allowing officers to take their patrol vehicles home, encouraging officers to become involved in the community (via sports leagues, etc).... that seemed to work for a while. But due to budget cuts, some departments have had to cut back on these kinds of programs. At the same time, gang activity has grown.
We have an entire segment of the population that cannot (or chooses not to) join the mainstream economy. Partly because they are locked out of it for various reasons.
As long as the underlying social conditions exist-- being ostracized
from the mainstream economy and society, high drop out rates, ignorant parents who are not doing their jobs, the underground economy that can bring fast money, the growth of gangs, the Hip Hop culture that encourages this kind of activity, the degradation of the black image....kids internalize this stuff, the degradation of modern black culture which has its values all out of order, the collapse of the Black family...the lack of good fathers, etc-- as long as these conditions persist, there will be no change anytime soon.
But I think one of the keys to some sort of change is these ignorant black entertainers... namely rappers. The degenerate Rap culture MUST be destroyed before this problem can be resolved. Rap culture is the single most important element in terms of the influence it has on young people.
There is no one silver bullet... it will take a combination of things to deal with this. But Black urban Communities must start to deal with it by looking within.
Like most of you, I get tired of Blacks blaming "the man" for this $h@t. Most of this is self inflicted. I think it makes Black folks look even worse whenever Black "leaders" cry that same bulls*it everytime something happens.
Here in St. Louis, everytime there is an issue with Police being aggressive in dealing with the crime problem... we have this group of Black "civic leaders" and preachers who hold press conferences to bitch about what the Police and the Mayor are doing. But when there is Black on Black crime, you don't hear a peep from these dumb a$$ preachers. Damn poverty pimps!!!
We had a case a year ago where police were chasing a group of gang thugs through the city...lights and sirens on. They were chasing the thugs because they tried to shoot at officers and were an obvious danger. In the process of the chase, the suspects crashed into another car...killing the driver (a prominent Black preacher) and severely injuring his wife. Instead of the "Black leaders" speaking out against the gang problem, they attacked the Police department....blaming the SLPD for everything.
This kind of mentality is a sickness for the "Black community".
There is no sense of responsibility in the Black community by those who live there. There is no sense of responsibility on the part of Parents, etc.
But Blacks will have to look within at some point. Blaming "the man" is not going to cut it anymore.
Here is a story about the crime/gang problem here in St. Louis.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRight click on the above article link and choose... "open in new window"....or copy and paste the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.riverfronttimes.com/2006-08-23/news/battle-lines/
We had a case a year ago where police were chasing a group of gang thugs through the city...lights and sirens on. They were chasing the thugs because they tried to shoot at officers and were an obvious danger. In the process of the chase, the suspects crashed into another car...killing the driver (a prominent Black preacher) and severely injuring his wife. Instead of the "Black leaders" speaking out against the gang problem, they attacked the Police department....blaming the SLPD for everything.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of mentality is a sickness for the "Black community".
mark: I have been talking about this for a long time. Black people are in a serious state of denial and the parents should be fined and made to take parenting classes if her children committs crimes.
For misdemeanors the parents would be able to do community services cleaning up the city, tutoring ect to get the children out quicker.
We get mad when the police kills one person but virtually do nothing about the degredating and killing going on every day in our communities.
It is hypocrital and has caused us tens of thousands of young black lives.
I heard somewhere that black church service is 70% longer than the average white church service. With all of that time you would think that they would have parenting classes every sunday for at least 30 minutes especially considering the condition of the congregation. How is it that your boy jakes has the vision and creativity to right novels but not create or even higher experts consultants to come up with programs that help the congregation and black america. Someone needs to pull thier cards and make them do right.
Killadelphia is to Philly as North East is to Minneapolis.
ReplyDeleteIt's all we need to say when speaking of Minneapolis and crime.
-=topper=-
Field Negro
ReplyDeleteBLACK PATHOLOGIES
First the question has to be asked, why is it, that no matter where you go in the world and find black people in large numbers (cities, towns, neighborhoods, countries,) you always find the same negative collective pathological behaviors. White racism and black sub culture is definitely not responsible for all of this like some blacks and others claim. These two play some role but not a total role like people say. Why do so many blacks hate blacks and mistreat blacks’ worst than whites and other non-whites? Whether blacks are educated, uneducated, employed, unemployed, ghetto, rich, unpopular, and popular you will see that there is a general collective negativity about blacks when they interact with other blacks.
Blacks give black people the worst service in America when fellow blacks come to a place were other blacks work. Why do blacks treat each other like this? If you can answer this question without using white racism and black sub culture -- then and only then, you can start to find a potential answer to black pathologies.
Africa, America, Caribbean, Europe, Canada, South and Central America were blacks live the same problems meaning social ills follow.
Why is that?
To Field and AfroSphere: Here's a link to an article I've written to address the question, "Can the Afrosphere Help to Reduce Crime and other Social Scourges?" It seems that whatever we do about the problems of crime discusssed in this thread, we've decided over the last few days that the Blackosphere will be central to our communal organization and our action. So here are some ideas about what the AfroSpear might help to alleviate crime: "Can the Afrosphere Help to Reduce Crime and other Social Scourges?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can get a conversation going about how this new technology and communication opportunity can empower us to change our communities.
Chance, I wish i could answer that question (why certain pathologies always follow us black folks) I think alot of it has to do with self hate, and a lack of knowledge of who we are.
ReplyDeleteToo often we as black folks look down on each other, and treat each other with less respect than we would others. It's a scary phenomenon and something that needs to be explored.
I liked Mark and AI's take on this problem as well. I think parenting classes should be mandatory in schools, and I think the black church (in many cases, not all) whould be ashamed of itself for not stepping up more aggressively to address some of these issues that are plaguing us. Yes salvation is nice, and everyone wants to go to heaven. But what about the sh** that's happening here and now?
Mark, you are already a part of the "afrospear" my brother, as is everyone posting here. But shoot me an e-mail or call me, and we will talk.
Peace.
@ (at) Field Negro
ReplyDeleteThank you for answering my comment sir, and also, if you want the afrosphere thing to be successful there are some-things you all are going to have to encounter and confront on a commentary (writings) level. If you all are not careful it will sink down to the level of many other black blogs and websites. This will cause boredom and your membership will gradually decrease because you all will be like many other black blogs talking about the same things. Don’t fall into that trap my people be successful. Also, Field Negro there is a unique quality that will be needed to make the afro sphere successful. If you all can do this one thing right from the beginning chances for success will increase dramatically.
But it must be done from the beginning so the tone will be set. If you all try to implement this later it will create chaos. If you all don’t do this from the beginning your chances for success will not be very high, you will just be another black website forum group no different form the rest. I say move forward and implement it.
This is very important!!
Chance
@ Field
ReplyDelete" I think the black church (in many cases, not all) whould be ashamed of itself for not stepping up more aggressively to address some of these issues that are plaguing us"
Yo Field I think the black church needs to reform itself to get away from the hypocrisy and foolishness that way too many of them exporting to the black community.
Also I have moved the audio history blog to http://markbey.wordpress.com please change from the blogspot link to the wordpress link under the title of " The Black History Audio Journal thank you for all of your support field I will call and email you later.
Is there a link to the article describing the scene at the hospital?
ReplyDelete"anonymous"
ReplyDeleteThe article is from the April 1,2007 Philadelphia Inquirer.
I will try to find the link for you.
I linked an article on T.D. Jakes from the next day's paper. If you go in there you might be able to search the day in question and pull up the hospital emergency room scene.
We can't discount enviornmental factors in some of the self-destructive behaviors in the black community. I've written a post about why "Blacks Must Turn Green" at my blog: http://make-it-plain.blogspot.com/.
ReplyDeletePoison is spreading through the black community in more ways than one.
@ field Negro
ReplyDeleteWho is in charge of this afro sphere blog, and will this person be using wordpress, Movabletype, cms etc.. also when will this all start? There has to be one location in which all of the potentials can meet up. Or will it just be links to each others blogs only. I would not recommend links to links ony there needs to be one major blog where you all meet up.
Damn it, I wrote a long response to all of this two days ago, and I think Blogger ate it.
ReplyDeleteFN -- To your point, you're absolutely right...I even lost myself a bit toward the end. In my now-lost response, I mentioned a 70+ year old man in Fairmount who had been shooing drug dealers away from his front step for a year or two. One day, they finally broke into his house and killed him. Of course he should've been protected. It's just so frustrating to see all these people killed, and nobody wants to help the police (which I understand the dynamics of, but it's still messed up -- we talked about witness protection here a while ago).
If the solution is a police crackdown, 20 more officers on the street for four hours each isn't going to do the trick. Sorry, Sylvester. It would take a massive police presence in four or five different neighborhoods in the city, probably from 6:00pm to 4:00am every day. And we both know the city is either unwilling or unable to commit those kinds of resources.
Regarding the black church, the white church isn't much different. Hypocritic, money-making machines -- all of them. Most sensible white people don't put any more faith in douchebags like James Dobson than most sensible black people follow Jesse Jackson and T.D. Jakes. Sure, the preachers have their audience, but none of them are really adding anything constructive to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if anyone can start making a difference in your community, it's the people commenting in this thread. Lots of positive, passionate, smart thinking on display. Good luck.
If white people were murdering blacks at the rate blacks kill each other, there would be much hell raising. The thing that gets me is how comfortable black people with the daily black slaughter report. One cop kills a black person and everyone is marching and having a fit. Three black people are murdered by other black people and all we can do is say "tsk tsk, what a shame."
ReplyDeleteAs part of seeking agreement within the Afrosphere/Blackosphere about our fundamental goals, I have prepared an article entitled,
ReplyDeleteDoes the Afrosphere Demand a National Single-Payer Health Care System in which Everyone in America Has a Legal Right to Necessary Medical Treatment?
Please share your thoughts and tell me if you agree. Thank you all for participating in this fundamental process of achieving consensus about our principal goals in the Afrosphere.
Ghostface, sorry it took so long to repsond. Shoot me an e-mail at fnblg@yahoo.com and I will tell you more about the "afrospear".
ReplyDeletePeace!
Did I just spell respond r-p-s-o-n-d? Damn I'm dyslexic.
ReplyDeleteProposed programs for the Afrosphere: Black Accused Support Groups (BASG) are united under the International Afrosphere Black Accused Support Coalition (BASC). This is an organizing tool as much as an advocacy effort.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, a top priority of the Afrosphere should be a National Single-Payer Health Care System in which Everyone in America Has a Legal Right to Necessary Medical Treatment.
sooner or later, WE will learn how NOT to identify with those segments of society who's only aim is to pull us down. in these violent and deadly enclaves, your life and my life is not worth a damn. a high tide will never lift their boats.
ReplyDeletelack of education, lack of resources, and lack of ambition (as a derivative of the failed Welfare state) has unfortunately made it relatively impossible NOT to leave certain segments (and entire generations) of Black people behind. the sooner that WE realize that a common skin color is no more a tie that binds us together, than a worship of that blue-eyed Jesus that many of you still have your future tied to!
get out while you can. do not acknowledge nor glorify that "ghetto fabulous wanna-be" ethos that got THEM into this mess in the first place. my only hope is that THEY stay where they are and hope that THEIR bullets find its mark away from my friends and family!
Now... how can we use the Afro-Spear to enhance life for the rest of US?
Thanks francis, I will hp over to your site and check out that link now.
ReplyDeleteDamn Plez! When is the book coming out? That was hell a post my man. I don't agree with everything you said,but you made some damn good points.
I read this post last night and couldn't even respond.
ReplyDeleteToday, I thought of Oprah's commentary why she isn't building academies for inner city children.
Also, when parents choose to raise their children to believe that their life options are limited to crime, the morgue or prison cell, I don't think parenting classes, therapy (real therapy not some sanitized Dr. Phil foolishness) or a life support system can help.
What could help?
I have no idea.
gimmie, gimmie, gimmie... black people gotta start doing for self. What happen to High School? How many programs do blacks need? Take the training wheels off of the Black Community and look around. This is what Liberals want, dependents. Still waiting on Socialism. Damm shame
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is white, it's refreshing to see that there are members of the african-american community who are fed up with the "dont snitch because we're tough and gangsters" attitude. As someone who lives in Philly, I very rarely go out at night for fear of having to encounter someone who has chosen to make a living robbing strangers. I agree with the people who said rap should be destroyed. Absolutely. If the heroes to the criminals weren't advocating "getting money" no matter what and the crimes they committed when they were young, it would help
ReplyDelete