All I can really say right now is WTF! There are so many things wrong with Huckabee’s statement that I do not know what to say.

While speaking at an event for the National Rifle Association a loud noise was heard off stage. Former Republican Presidential candidate then joked “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

This is the man who just a few months ago wanted to be the President of the United States. This is more than just a bad joke, this is a tasteless comment made by the epitome of a political loser. It is apparent that this comment was made because Barack is running for the highest position in the land and Huckabee well knows that some whites are uncomfortable with this. But to joke about the assassination of the man who will become the next President of the United States is irresponsible and utterly ridiculous. This is the latest blunder by the Republican party. This week from George Bush, to the Tennessee G.O.P. to John McCain and now Huckabee have all been involved in a string of divisive comments looking to further alienate the American People. The time for Change is NOW VOTE OBAMA! YES WE CAN!

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Matthew 24: 6-11

I remember being a little boy and it was snowing in April and my mother quoted that the bible said when the end was near we would not know the difference between the seasons. Now I am far from suggesting that the world is about to end tomorrow but I was drawn to this verse last night via a Common song called Heaven Somewhere. Maybe I have to much free time on my hands but I surf the internet an awful lot and the news gets more disturbing by the day. Wars and rumors of war; are we not in Iraq and some folks are trying to push us into Iran while we watch beautiful young men and women die for unjust causes. Are people in Haiti not creating a revolution because they have no access to food and bare necessities for survival. Today I read that 50 students have been found in the wreckage of a high school in China after a powerful earthquake, and over 7600 are feared dead throughout the country. The economy is spiraling downwards, people are losing their jobs with no new work in sight or means to provide food for their families.

All of this despair would make me think we would get closer to God and pray for a true blessing. Yet the word says you will be hated, and that many will turn astray. While watching Forrest Gump, the handicapped sergeant summed it up. Where is Jesus now, why would he let me live this way. This is the way people look at you who choose to believe in such tough times. And then others in such despair turn to those who claim to profess the word of God. Millions of viewers turn into youtube fanatic preachers, who spew venom and ask for money preying on people’s fears and using the word to sound as an authority. Don’t ask me why I brought this message to you today, I just wanted to share my thoughts and think objectively about the times we are living in. Be careful during these times of trials and tribulation to not fall victim to false hope. Keep your faith in God for he predicted that rough times would come. Remember that if you ask you shall be given (sometimes you gotta keep asking, I know I do lol). Peace and Grace be unto you.

Being my bloodline is one with the divine, in time brother you will discover the light.

HILLARY GIVE IT UP!!!

May 8, 2008

Senator Barack Obama

Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Dear Senator Obama,

This has been an historic and exciting campaign. Millions of new voters have been brought into the process and their enthusiasm for the Democratic Party and the principles for which you and I have fought and continue to fight is unprecedented.

One of the foremost principles of our party is that citizens be allowed to vote and that those votes be counted. That principle is not currently being applied to the nearly 2.5 million people who voted in primaries in Florida and Michigan. Whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will be hamstrung in the general election if a fair and quick resolution is not reached that ensures that the voices of these voters are heard. Our commitment now to this goal could be the difference between winning and losing in November.

I have consistently said that the votes cast in Florida and Michigan in January should be counted. We cannot ignore the fact that the people in those states took the time to be a part of this process and to make their preferences known. When efforts were untaken [sic] by leaders in those states to hold revotes to ensure that they had a voice in selecting our nominee, I supported those efforts. In Michigan, I supported a legislative effort to hold a revote that the Democratic National Committee said was in complete compliance with the party’s rules. You did not support those efforts and your supporters in Michigan publically [sic] opposed them. In Florida a number of revote options were proposed. I am not aware of any that you supported. In 2000, the Republicans won an election by successfully opposing a fair counting of votes in Florida. As Democrats, we must reject any proposals that would do the same.

Your commitment to the voters of these states must be clearly stated and your support for a fair and quick resolution must be clearly demonstrated.

I am asking you to join me in working with representatives from Florida and Michigan and the Democratic National Committee to arrive at a solution that honors the votes of the millions of people who went to the polls in Florida and Michigan. It is not enough to simply seat their representatives at the convention in Denver. The people of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other states, must have a voice in selecting our party’s nominee.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Letter courtesy of Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com

New York Pricks & Dicks at its finest are no more than the murderers of a young family man with ambitious goals and aspirations. Truth is, I am Sean Bell, my brothers and friends are Sean Bell, and you too could be a victim of unjustifiable force by the people who your tax dollars pay to serve and protect; thus making you Sean Bell.

I pray that this time we really do wake up and take this for the issue that it really is. This is not a race issue on it’s face; why yes racial politics are part of the reason things went down the way that they did. However, now that two young girls are being raised without their father we have to look deeper within ourselves, past our skin color and see that this is a humanity issue. Why are young black men’s lives disposable? We get so caught up between black and white that we do not realize that their is a power structure in this country that oppresses people. It often privileges people of caucasian backgrounds and oppresses people of color.

New York Pricks & Dicks serve as an oppressive force upon the many young black males who live within the city limits. In an attempt to “promote safer neighborhoods” they are trained to act a certain way in neighborhoods that are closer to the poverty line than those which are not. You never hear about some wild white boys getting shot in a barage of bullets in a white neighborhood. Why? Because that would be unacceptable to the power structure.

If we think back to the days of slavery you had the slave master but he often had an overseer; an Uncle Tom who he would use to keep negroes in check. Detective Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and all of the other black police enforcement who continuously use excessive force on public enemy #1; the black man, are those same Uncle Tom’s. This serves two purposes; 1.) the power structure is still able to control minority men and keep them in check. 2.) They use people who look like them so that their racist power structure is not undermined by political correctness. It looks so much better when its blacks killing blacks rather than whites.

This is not a race issue, this is a humanity issue. White people who are tired of being benefactors to such a racist system and receiving the privilege of not having to be victims of this system should stand with people of color fighting these injustices. This is not the America Barack Obama speaks of; but this is the America that many of us know too well. Couple Hope, Change and groups of different ethnic and racial groups together towards humanitarian issues such as police brutality and we can fight to make this the country the way we would like to pretend that it is!

No Homo: A look into our prejudices

A few years back, Kanye West said, “the opposite of Hip-Hop is gay!” Take our extremely homophobic society coupled with the fact that being a black man and gay is the ultimate taboo, some thought Mr. West was committing career suicide. Well, I’m not saying the opposite of Hip-Hop is gay, I do think however that the issue of homosexuality is a topic that makes many men like myself uncomfortable.

I typically write about issues facing people of color, politics, and music; so where does this no homo topic come in. Is this not an issue facing people of color, is homosexuality not discussed in music, and we all know how it is woven into the fabric of political debates? While blogging and trying to find out more information on how to drive traffic to my blog, I was surfing through necole bitchie’s blog (www.necolebitchie.com). She had a feature that was dealing with this gentleman I had never heard of and some concreteloop website fiasco between the two. So I scrolled through her feature; dealing with how this blogger B. Scott and ConcreteLoop were having issues over people discriminating that ConcreteLoop had enlisted a homosexual as one of their weekly contributors.

Now at this point I don’t know who this man is, and I was actually about to click out of this post because it didn’t affect me personally. Before I left, I clicked the youtube link and low and behold I found out what all the drama had been about. To say I was caught off guard is an understatement; here was this openly gay man looking more like a woman than a lot of women. For me to sugar coat my feelings on what I saw would do this piece no justice, so I give to you my bare honesty. I’m sure I put forth expletives that would not be a delight to the young man’s ears. However, as I thought back to my spirituality, I remembered that I am no better than him and I had no right to judge. So I listened to his message and the content blew me away!

He was reaching out to a young man who had emailed him; and was contemplating suicide because of the ridicule he was receiving from his family and peers because he was gay. A young teenage black man was thinking about killing himself; gay or not, this young man has a world of opportunities to live for and call it naive of me but I was shocked to hear that such ridicule would drive someone so far. So I commend B. Scott for serving as a voice for these young men, inspiring them to be themselves and not allow OUR ridicule of their lifestyle to drive them to an early grave.

But deeper than that, what did this say about me? When talking with some friends about the idea of even posting the video to bring light to this issue facing our communities, it was constantly brought to my attention “Cedric, if you do this people are going to start to wonder about you”. If you didn’t know, the best way to assassinate a straight black man’s character is to call him gay. However, being gay is the new black, please get riled up because I just said that but think about the statement objectively before you lash out. A professor told me once that the plight of homosexuals is very similar to that of the history of blacks here in this country. People use the bible to validate their negative beliefs that these individuals are inferior and have relegated gays to the social outcasts that blacks once were.

I told my best friend what the teacher told me some years ago, he looked at me like I had lost my mind and said that college was getting to me. Was it really that far fetched; just take a look at our country’s constitution? When it was written blacks were not a protected class of people. Right now in 2008 homosexuals are not a protected class of people in the land of the free. I have become no better than the white person who is called a racist and says, “but my best friend is black”. When people say Ced you’re homophobic I say, “nah, I’m not, my cousin is gay”. While I am not homophobic, I recognize that I do have some prejudices towards the gay lifestyle and as someone who has been discriminated against this is unacceptable. I am human though and I admit these flaws, the closer I get to God the more I learn that I have no right to judge anyone and by me judging someone I am opening myself up to have my imperfect life judged.

Barack Obama said that he will look to take away the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military. I think people like myself have a policy with homosexuals more like “don’t show, don’t care”! I am not one who says, “gays shouldn’t be married, gays shouldn’t be allowed to raise children”. That’s absurd; some of the most competent and intelligent people in this world are gay, so I don’t feel their rights should be limited. However, this don’t show, don’t care policy comes out when we say “oh its ok to be gay but don’t do it around me”. My lifestyle might make some people uncomfortable; they have no right to tell me when and where I can express myself; I’m a grown man unless of course my mom has something to say lol. I say all this to say, watch the young man’s video with an open mind. I wrote this piece in hopes that we can start to have a dialogue in our communities and via the Internet about our prejudices and look to actively tear some of these walls down. If young men are killing themselves because of our ridicule of their lifestyle and we are all right with that, than I think there might not be as much wrong with them as there actually is with us. To minimize the life of another simply because of his/her sexual preference is bigoted hatred at its worst. NO HOMO!

All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

This scripture is right on time! Earlier this morning I wrote a piece about following one’s destiny, and being in tune with your calling. Words can be so limiting, sometimes when I hear words like “calling” and “destiny”, they sound so far away. They sound like these glossed over dreams that we may never achieve, because we all know many people live and die on this earth without ever knowing their true purpose. I’m not sure of my purpose but that’s why I love this scripture. All things work together for good; well that means the negative scenarios we face, the positive ones, and those situations where we really don’t feel one way or the other are all working towards the good of us. These situations are preparing us for our greatest good, that’s our destiny!

That’s dope, like I really like the concept that the different situations in our lives whether good or bad are actually working for the good of us. This for those who love God of course, but no matter what your denomination or religious background surely we all love God. How can we not, when God resides in all things, God is all knowing and he exists everywhere. God is in me, and God is in you so we all love God there’s no debate there. But when we don’t love ourselves, when we constantly put ourselves in situations that are harmful to us, we are not allowing things in our lives to work together for the good of us. Today is Friday, the weekend is here, let us not get bogged down in our purpose and how we are going to save the world or how lack our finances (like mine) may be. Instead lets move toward a closer relationship with God, understanding that he resides within us and start allowing all of our circumstances to work together for the good of us and towards our purpose. Peace and Grace be unto you!

It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.

A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

I read another breakdown of this scripture and it read “There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother”. Friendship was on my mind heavily this morning as I thought of the great ones that I have in my life. I thought of how fortunate I am to have good friends and I enjoyed the fact that others thought of me as such. While we are all trying to achieve some sort of success, we would be fools to only measure ourselves by monetary successes and material things. But I love how the scripture warns us, a man of many companions may come to ruin. Surrounding ourselves with people who don’t have our best interest at heart just so that we wont be lonely is not being blessed with great friends. That’s being bogged down by the celebrity of friendship rather than the true nature of building relationships.

You know its funny, after reading this scripture I think of old church songs i used to hear. I barely ever know the words but there’s one that talks about having a friend in Jesus. For years I took that song in vain and I wasn’t really getting the message from it. But now I’m wishing all that time I had been actively pursuing a friendship with Jesus, that’s a true friendship. Having a greater belief in him and knowing that he has my back; there’s nothing I cant do with a friend like that. I for one am taking the time to prayerfully build a better relationship with the Creator and to acknowledge all of the beautiful friends and family that I have in my life. Without them there would be no me and I feel that we all have those type of spirits in our lives, so today I wish to honor them. They continue to help us grow and hopefully we do the same for them. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  Jeremiah 29: 11-12

While riding to school today I was bumping (playing loudly) Tupac’s “Only God can Judge me”! Deep words, that’s a deep statement, it means we are only letting God be in control of our lives and not allowing anyone else such power over us. Then I looked to the scripture and the Lord says “for I know the plans I have for you”. I may have no idea where I will be, what type of situation I will be in within the next 3 days but the Lord does. He knows the plan he has for me, he knows the path that he has set forth for me. So I can not be bothered with the judgments and thoughts of other people because they do not have my best interest at heart. What I need to be worried about is building a closer relationship with God so that i can understand the plans that he has for me. Understanding that there will be highs and lows but ultimately he is just trying to prepare me for my greatest good.

The Lord says in this scripture that his plans are for us to prosper not harm us, that he has plans to give us hope and a future. That’s the type of company I would like to keep, a superior being who is watching out for me, watching my back at all times. So we have to give glory to God, we can all think about situations that clearly could have went a completely different way for us. We are not that great that we change our destiny through the universe, instead we have been blessed by a God who protects and cares for us unconditionally. Then you will call upon me and I will listen to you. I have learned that prayer is not just when you lay down and go to sleep. Throughout our day we must communicate with God, I mean we communicate with everyone else. Today I look forward to surrendering my issues to the Lord and knowing that it is only he that can judge me. I don’t mind his judgment because I know that he has my best interest in mind. Peace and Grace be unto you.

That which does not kill me can only make me stronger

How long will we lie in our self pity? How long will we serve as a reminder of what potential energy is? When will we take action and become the dream that we desire to be? These are the questions that came to my mind when I read this passage. When the word speaks of this sleep, this slumber, our hands folded and rested, I see death! The death of our dreams, the death of our ambition and goals. How long? We must awake ourselves from this sleep, we must awake ourselves from pity and do all that is in our power to achieve our greatness. No longer can we look to heroes and be amazed at their presence while not leaving our own eternal footprint in the sand.

Jesus, was a great man, a noble man. In his time he did great things, whether you choose to believe the stories of this man or not is irrelevant. What are you doing to get closer to such a being, to be of such nobility, to provide inspiration and sight to the blind people of our society. What are we doing to achieve our goals? Having dealt with rough times, I ask myself all of these questions. My response to myself is to stand tall, with my head up and shoulders broad. My response to myself is to believe in myself so that I can achieve. Most of all, my response to myself is to trust in God, to ask him for the strength to wake up, for the strength to be free from hopelessness. Today marks a new day, this second marks a new second, a chance for us to awake from whatever vices we have and be the greatness we aspire to be. Self doubt, negative relationships, a lack of ambition and drive, these are just some of the issues all of us are dealing with. No longer do I want to look at our leaders of the past and marvel, instead I will take the actions that they have shown us and with the power of God build on the foundation that they have already laid. Peace and Grace be unto you!

One falls forward toward success.

February 29, 2008

Hard hearted people are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. Ephesians 4: 17-19

Another scripture that has been running through my mind as of late is “a heart at peace gives life to the body”! I think of that scripture because a closed mind and hardened heart seems to be the direct opposite. Going through trials and tribulations in life harden us all, we all deal with these things differently but how we deal with them can affect our future progress. This verse is very descriptive, calling us who have had these feelings hopelessly confused, full of darkness. We shouldn’t be offended by these words because at times we all have dark periods, but once again it is how we deal with the dark period. For me when it speaks of closing ourselves to God, I think of when I am in a place of darkness and I call out to God in prayer and I don’t feel like he responds. It is sometimes in our human nature to feel abandoned even though that is not the case but sometimes we have these feelings. We build walls around ourselves, not allowing our loved ones in, and not allowing the Lord’s conventional wisdom in, propelling us further down a dark path further from the light. When we face drama, we must look to handle it in the way that will bring us the most peace and try not to close ourselves which will lead to more confusion.

The second part is interesting though. It reminds me of a story a wise woman told me recently. She did a focus group with a group of young women who were in the church, had children, and then were judged by the church for their promiscuity. The girls were angered by this of course, they felt betrayed, while they were in the church the church knew what they were doing and made no strides to reach out. This is these young ladies opinions, this is how they felt. However when they had the baby out of wedlock, people wanted to judge them. Not only driving them further from the church but further from God and his ever loving guidance. “They have no sense of shame” We all have been riddled with troubles and lost our faith, it does not mean that we live for lustful pleasure and wish to be impure, we are just confused. It is at this point that we as a community must love those who are in conflict with the Lord, and in conflict with themselves. Through our love and lack of judgment the hard hearted people become kind hearted people, their closed minds become open and loving. Why? Because we are doing what God has asked us to do, spread love and spread his word! Together this type of action will do what my man Mike calls “turning the tide” and make being spiritually minded socially acceptable, moving us all closer to having a spiritual connection and moving closer to God. Peace and Grace be unto you!

A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride.