Youtube is a lawyers dream, it is a place where there are tons of copyrighted materials being shared in a forum that does not properly credit those who own the copyright. You have minors “dropping it like it’s hot” wearing nothing more than boy shorts and bikini tops possibly leading to child preadtors lurking on such a site looking to prey on young teenagers.  These videos have hundreds of thousands of views and most are never taken down.

However at least three times in the last week a particular video has been taken down. Originally titled “How Far We’ve Come”, this video represents the struggles of People of Color here in America and how far WE have come. The back drop is a Sam Cooke song, a change is Gonna come, the words to the song coupled with the images of oppression, degradation and triumph are quite moving. The main theme is to remind people where they have come from and to inspire them to help be the change they wish to see. So why is it that this video is constantly pulled down, I thank the people who keep putting it back up because this video is here for a reason and the images and themes need to be digested. Youtube is a fraud, I hope you enjoy!

This is a historic video, we are 45 years and a few days away from the famous I Have A Dream Speech, let’s continue to honor the spirit of these great men.

June 15, 2008 — Anheuser-Busch gave him six figures, Colgate-Palmolive shelled out $50,000 and Macy’s and Pfizer have contributed thousands to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s charity.

Almost 50 companies - including PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and Chase - and some labor unions sponsored Sharpton’s National Action Network annual conference in April.

Terrified of negative publicity, fearful of a consumer boycott or eager to make nice with the civil-rights activist, CEOs write checks, critics say, to NAN and Sharpton - who brandishes the buying power of African-American consumers. In some cases, they hire him as a consultant.

The cash flows even as the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn has been conducting a grand-jury investigation of NAN’s finances.

A General Motors spokesman told The Post that NAN had repeatedly - and unsuccessfully - asked for contributions for six years, beginning in August 2000.

Then, in December 2006, Sharpton threatened to call a boycott of the carmaker over the closing of an African-American-owned GM dealership in The Bronx, and he picketed outside GM headquarters on Fifth Avenue.

Last year, General Motors gave NAN a $5,000 donation. It gave $5,000 more this year, a spokesman said, calling NAN a “worthy” organization.

In November 2003, Sharpton picketed DaimlerChrysler’s Chicago car show and threatened a boycott over alleged racial bias in car loans.

“This is institutional racism,” he bellowed.

In May 2004, Chrysler began supporting NAN’s conferences, which include panels on corporate responsibility and civil rights and a black-tie awards dinner to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Last year, Sharpton gave Chrysler an award for corporate excellence.

In 2003, Sharpton targeted American Honda for not hiring enough African-Americans in management.

“We support those that support us,” wrote Sharpton and the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, president of NAN’s Michigan chapter, in a letter to American Honda. “We cannot be silent while African-Americans spend hard-earned dollars with a company that does not hire, promote or do business with us in a statistically significant manner.”

Two months after American Honda execs met with Sharpton, the carmaker began to sponsor NAN’s events - and continues to pay “a modest amount” each year, a spokesman said.

Courtesy of the NY Post

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06152008/news/regionalnews/rev__al_soaks_up_boycott_bucks_115554.htm

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. - Martin luther King Jr.

This is a beautiful picture that represents the ideals of Martin Luther king Jr. and the realization of that dream through Barack Obama. YES WE CAN! SI SE PUEDE!

Just My Thoughts

As the days turn and the clock spins I wonder what’s the struggle

What’s the plight for black men?

Are we to to fade off, lost in the abyss?

Or rise strong like our ancestors did

Kings or Pharaohs

On TV sometimes we act like the emperor with no clothes

Ashamed

Never

More like excited

Cause damn are we clever

I walk into a classroom

Black as ever

My skin I can’t hide from

My struggles … CAN Rise from

I read the papers

See the news

It looks like I’m on the losing team

5 blacks shot last night

Over shoes that we use for hoop dreams

I want to be like Malcolm

No dead that I am Malcolm

The Resurrection of such

He was just a man and I refuse to give up

So I travel this earth ready for our rebirth

Black men the sleeping giant

At times we are both David and Goliath

So turn the TV off, turn the radio down

Black Men …. The Kings of this Nation

OUR TIME IS NOW!

You want to repackage Dr. King, make him some quiet loving guy with an Olive Branch in his hand, no, that was not Dr. King. I knew Dr. King, he spoke out against the injustices of America, and that’s why he died, because THEY decided that he had to be killed.- Fathe Pfleger

Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.- Coretta Scott King

The year was 1968, on this day of April 4th a great man and pillar of our nation was snatched away from us due to discrimination, racial hate and fear mongering. Today we pay hommage to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We must recognize that Dr. King would rather us spend less time idolizing him, and more time practicing his teachings creating a plethora of men in God’s image rather than his own. Here is a clip from his last speech before he was assassinated, he knew then that he may not get to the promise land with us, but he truly believed that we would get there. Let’s get there!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8&hl=en]

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. - Martin Luther King Jr.