When the news shuts off

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
No more thinking about
Blacks vs. browns and the war in LA
Dead mothers and sons
Resting back in Iraq
When the news shuts off
We’re not worried about that

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
Remember hurricane Katrina
Oh I guess now all them people are ok
But I know that they’re not
But unfortunately this breaking news report
Isn’t about them and its not about you
It’s about the news and what sells to me and you
And what sells is only destruction
Framed as truth through blatant lies
I was a media major
Trust I see through their disguise

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
Genocide what
In Darfur
NO WAY
Well why not ced
There’s people there dying everyday
I say no way
Because the news won’t tell me
And we the people
Of this united states
Love it
You know why
Because it doesn’t affect our day
Well turn the corporate news off
Turn your consciousness light on
It’s not a black or white thing
We’re all weathered through the storm

So when the news turns off
You’ve already been informed
That action is now
The news is for entertainment …. later on

Ok, is this stupid children Friday! I know, I know you should never call a child stupid but the nonsense in the news today is utterly ridiculous and disheartening.

A group of teens at Gloucester high School in Gloucester Massachussetts made a pact to get pregnant. Over 17 young women, most under the age of 16 have gotten pregnant during this school year. The numbers were so startling that the school officials decided to investigate what was going on.

What they found was that these young girls were getting pregnant on purpose. There is so much wrong with this situation that it is not even funny. 1. We have children playing with the lives and futures of these babies that they are about to bring into the world. 2. STD’s are spread through unprotected sex, it is logical to assume that if all these girls are getting pregnant that they are having unprotected sex with these men.

The article states that one man is 24 years old and homeless and he is the father of one of these young girl’s babies. These young girls are searching for love in all the wrong places. It’s sad that they went to such lengths to gain attention. I am truly worried for the young women of the coming generation. In a world where youtube booty shaking and naked photos of young girls pop up everywhere on the internet I am concerned for their well being. I am concerned for the future mothers of our children. Ofcourse it would be preposterous to assume that all young girls are acting this way. But any time you see 17 young girls at one high school making pacts to get pregnant that should let you know that this is a growing problem.

It would be a waste if I just ranted about these problems and said nothing in the way of solutions for such a  problem. We need young women to mentor these young girls. We need young men to mentor our young sisters and present them with more respectful and favorable images of themselves. We need to enstill respect in these young ladies. Not only respect for themselves but respect for their peers and most importantly their own bodies. I pray for these 17 young children coming into this world, and I pray for these girls because the road to parenthood is not be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Now that we have watched these young ladies make these mistakes it is up to their parents, communities, churches and us to help support young women in such a situation and to prevent other young ladies from making similar mistakes. Peace and Love!

Letter to a young black female

What’s up young lady. You may not know who I am but I know who you
are. You see, I see your potential, I envision you accomplishing all
of your dreams and goals. Anything that you set your mind to can and
will be yours if you just Believe!

Believe in what you may ask? Yourself! Believe that you are the
intellect which has governed civilizations for century upon century.
Believe that you are the standard of beauty and not whatever images
the media shells out at you. Believe that there is no task too big
or too small that you can not reach for and achieve.

Realize young lady that women have always been at the helm of
everything great. James Brown said it best, “this is a man’s world but
it wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl”. You have so many big
sisters to look up to, so many sources of inspiration that have
provided the framework of the strong work ethic known as womanhood.

Notice I call you young lady for these terms that I hear you referred
to are not your names. You are a Queen who must demand respect, your
mere presence should command respect. You must first respect yourself
however, and respect your fellow sisters as well. Together you young
ladies make up the future table of leadership.

God made you to be special, he made you to stand apart from the crowd.
So fear not if you feel isolated or alone, look back to your big
sisters who have changed the landscape of history, they once felt
alone too. I write you this letter to show my admiration for you, to
pay homage to the beautiful gift that the creator is bestowing upon
us. Follow your dreams and believe in your path young lady, for the
very thought of you reaching a tenth of your potential is an
inspiration to us all!

Truly yours,
Cedric D. Shine (your #1 fan)

Here is the article

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1016357,pregpact062008.article

Discerning False Prophets

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4: 1-4

RASTA SKANK SLUT BITCH AND HER SLUTTY MINIONS PT.1 That was original title of the two youtube videos I have provided below. Ironically this morning I was on the train heading to work and I stumbled upon the above scripture. I did not know that the Lord was preparing me for the nonsense I would later see on the internet.

The internet is filled with disrespectful nonsense towards women but here these brothers are in the middle of New York City publicly embarrassing and disrespecting a woman. Calling her all types of bitches and hoes, skanks and sluts and then attempting to validate these disgusting actions with words from the Bible. I am not God, I am not the Judge but the Lord warned us that false prophets would come and attempt to pollute our minds with such foolery. I sit here and watch these men lie with their words, speaking of the mark of the beast, preaching God’s words but acting like little Satan’s filled with venom. Mobbing and disrespecting the very being that is able to reproduce man and mothers our understanding.

Jesus spoke of love, the Bible speaks of love. It says that he who does not love does not know God so how can you attempt to lead a flock. To bring God’s people out of the damnation that they are in while utilizing the devil’s tactics against one of God’s children. I am by no means free of sin however I am baffled how these men who I watched gang up on these women in a cult like fashion have the nerve to preach God’s words yet not adhere to his principles of love and peace. The Bible asks that we learn the words of God and then continue to spread that to other people.

These false Prophets take scriptures out of context, twist the words and meanings of the Bible and then we wonder why this world is so spiritually confused. We wonder why people sit in their homes and say religion is a sham, spirituality is for the psychologically weak and dependent man rather than the wise, God fearing, loving person. It is because people like this, groups like this who use the word to spread fear mongering, to disrespect and divide people. Beware of these false prophets, I challenge these brothers if you truly love God to allow your actions, your words and your teachings to be more in tune with God’s message of love and respect. Do not sit in the street disrespecting women, manipulating Bible verses to further mis-educate the people of the world. Earlier I said I am not God, so I can not judge nor condemn you but I pray for you my brothers because this blasphemy is looked upon harshly. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Today I was watching the video below of a young girl who is using youtube to rile people up to help her. The video is really sad and it reminds me of a piece I wrote about how the court systems treat women like prostitutes and are not helpful to rape victims. The piece is below as well!

Sadly this young woman is looking for justice after dealing with this terrible ordeal and when the courts hear her they may not give her the justice she deserves. It’s a sad system!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfg3w11_A_E&hl=en]

Treat Her Like A Prostitute
Think of North Philadelphia, think of the abandoned row homes; already I can see the drug addicts standing around outside waiting for their daily fix. The cops aren’t paying much attention to this block; this is a typical block in the heart of North Philly where abandoned homes stand in desolate neighborhoods; a criminal’s safe haven. Inside this fateful house a young woman is being RAPED, she is being forced to have sex with four men at gunpoint. On this lonely block I can see this young woman fearing for her life. While in this house these men are beating her and taking her womanhood from her forcefully. Wait……. This story is biased, did I mention our victim is a prostitute! Does that matter? Or, because she is a prostitute is this merely an occupational hazard? Let’s take away our moral judgment and rely solely on the law, which is meant to protect the citizens of this country. Well according to Judge Teresa Carr Deni in Philadelphia, a woman who was raped in late September in North Philadelphia experienced such an occupational hazard. Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm…

So what type of message are we sending, I remember hearing NO MEANS NO! Rape victims are already not supported by the criminal justice system, which is why so many sexual assaults go unreported every year. Moreover, essentially what the courts are saying is that if you are a prostitute then you are not a credible citizen and your rights can be violated because you put yourself in that situation.

I am not here to defend prostitution as a viable means of income but I am concerned with how people are treated in this country. Now to give the whole story without any bias I will give you the information as provided to me by the local newspaper, The Philadelphia Daily News. As the story goes, the woman was working as a prostitute, she charged two men $200 to have sex with them. They refused to pay her, and here is where this story gets ugly. A gun then comes out and two more men rape the woman at gunpoint. The 5th man saw the woman crying and decided to help her get dressed so that she could leave the house without further harassment from the other individuals. Unfortunately, the judge said that she would not waste her time on such a case because there are real rape victims out there. Again I ask does No not mean No? I mean, I’m just curious, or are we letting our moral judgments affect who the law will protect and whom it will dismiss as this poor young woman was dismissed in Philadelphia?

It’s very interesting how we vilify the media, Hip-Hop, movies and all other proponents of misogyny when it comes to the mis-representation and treatment of women. However, here is our sacred criminal justice system picking and choosing who deserves to be protected under the law and who does not. I just wonder if this is a sign of things to come. A woman has one to many drinks, she’s forced to sleep with several men and the argument goes something like this; “well she’s normally a very promiscuous girl, she had on a short skirt, or the infamous, she wanted it”!

It’s our time to stand up and have our voices heard if only to protect our sisters, cousins and mothers and ourselves in the future. If we are outraged by the way women are treated in the media, we should be equally outraged at how women are being victimized by the criminal justice system. It is not ok for a man or a group of men to maliciously rape a woman no matter what her occupation is. If we continue to allow this type of behavior to persist than we will continue to get the same results that depict women as sexual objects who are not deserving of respect. We have allowed the media to say this for far too long, now it has spilled over into the law of our land. We can not allow our women and their presence to be belittled, lets fight to preserve their image and their constitutional right as human beings that deserve the right to be protected in this country. We can start by sending letters to our Congressmen and the Philadelphia Bar Association to let the powers that be know that we will not take this type of injustice sitting down. Let’s Make It Happen!

City of Ruin

Torn by a situation, life is everything you make it, everything you will it to be.
Young black men wine and cry about the knowledge their fathers never taught them.
Beautiful black women confused by what their daddy didn’t show them.
Moms play a Part TOO!
Young black men spoiled by their mothers attention and affection. Longing to be spoiled by their women in a similar fashion. Sometimes creating unrealistic goals of a relationship that is supposed to be reciprocal.
Young black girls caught up by their mothers imperfections. Either they were silent so she learned nothing or they spoke chords of wrongness and those chords echoed into empty halls of mindlessness that became stone.
So what is this confusion, these mind games, these strange feelings. I call it
LOVE

DISCLAIMER: This is a very emotional piece that I wrote several years ago. As for an update, my biological father is now helping me create an avenue for men in prison to reach out to the outside world and share their brilliance. Inside the Wall will become a part of this blog very soon. I hope you appreciate the piece, many had responded while it was on myspace so I felt the need to share the contents with you. Happy Birthday George!

Letter to my unborn Father

Possibly the most personal statement I have ever made to date.

A child was born around 3:41am on the Sabbath Day, always knew the boy would be special because he was born on the Lord’s Day. Like a thief in the night his biological father took off running immediately. Not for good, only for two weeks but those 2 weeks of him missing in action foreshadowed what was to come.

A child is a child, I don’t remember much before the age of four except for maybe one memory at the age of three. Where the child’s mother was cooking, his grandmother and sister were there and a familiar man was at the door. Still that same father only this time he’s not running, for women are strong and when men ain’t shit they tell them to keep going.

Like I said women are strong, so strong it’s frightening if you’re not a strong man. So after a so-called father disrespects the very woman who bore his child with deception, lust, more kids, yes I said more kids; not by her of course, a strong woman leaves. Leaves to find her happiness, which she knows, does not exist within a man who could be so selfish and cruel.

So he writes a letter and the contents of it I will share with you:

Dear Dad,
When I was young I called you daddy to signify the difference between you and my real father. It was a symbol of our love, our relationship, and our connection. A connection I have come to the conclusion we never had. Growing up I knew plenty of kids whose parents weren’t in their life. Being born in the 80’s some parents fled to CRACK, some fell ill with a sickness they first thought was syphilis but today has become a Pandemic known as AIDS.

But many of us young black boys lost our fathers to the system better known as maximum correctional facilities. Sorry, you’re no political prisoner like Mumia, or Assata, NO quite frankly you broke the law and have been caged like an animal ever since.

At an early age I can remember knowing what the term pathological liar meant. My mother didn’t sugar coat things nor did she make them uglier than what they seemed to be. She raised me with my eyes wide open rather than shut so that I could see the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Pretenders, those who said they were with you but really were more out for themselves. Something all these years later I recognize is possible within any relationship, even ours.

In high school I was angry at the lack of a father role that you played. In college I had sympathy for you because I knew how they must have been treating you in those concentration camps, on the outside we are caged mentally but you were physically, mentally at times it seemed even spiritually caged. The trips up north were oh so hard, painful to see the one who is supposed to be your “supreme” in a state that is so desperate. It is unimaginable that this would be a man’s fate, HELL not a man like you, not a man whose mouth is slicker than Stacey Adams shoes. A man whose walk is reminiscent of Malcolm when he was strutting in Boston in them zoot suits. No not you! You, an alleged father, the maker of children who span this earth some aimlessly because of your lack of parenting skills.

I’ve tried to write this letter many times, please don’t mistake my tone for anger, God knows all we need is another angry black man mad at his deadbeat daddy. No my tone is more of disappointment, disappointed at how men can escape their duties. Not mad at you because we made peace four years ago in January of 2002 at that table in that penitentiary where I visited because I thought that if you died I would be somewhat responsible.

My mothers fine, strong as I wrote before, strong enough to take her children find a true man and raise them to be RESPONSIBLE. STRONG enough to go on with her life and find happiness, that’s all the little lady ever talks about, is being truly happy, I’m sure she is. My brothers are growing, their big now, intelligent young fellas, my sisters a nurse she’s doing well for herself. My father, well he’s doing well too you should see us in action. We play chess, laugh about old beatings I got from acting out. He’s a good dude, and I’m thankful I had a father. See a lot of kids cant say that I am just very happy that I can. See I realized that connection I thought we had is false. Years in the pen won’t change you, I won’t change you, she don’t love you so that won’t change you. Players who keep playing get played, they play themselves out, it becomes tired and hopefully they recognize the error in their ways. If not they are relegated to a lifetime of unhappiness, must be that Green Mile they talk about. I say letter to my unborn Father because after 22 years I realized I don’t know you and quite frankly have no desire to.

This is sick! I am reminded of Amadou Diallo right now and Brother Abner Louima who were both brutalized by the NYPD. Brother Diallo did not get to keep his life, Mr. Louima received significant amounts of money in a civil case to settle his grief however money does not take away the pain of being a second class citizen.

My prayers go out to the Bell family and I pray all of our lofty businessmen and entertainers will set aside monies to make sure Sean Bell’s children can afford a college education. It is this type of injustice that polarizes people of color and makes us not feel “AMERICAN”. When a man is killed in cold blood because “he fit the description” how can we not get angry? My stomach turns at the thought of those PIGS as Fred Hampton would have called them. Black cops at that, many of us young black men know that we would rather deal with white cops than black ones. There seems to be an excessive need to control when the officer is black and the harassment turns so ugly when it comes from someone who used to fit the description just like you. I will be fair in this assessment and not call all cops or all black cops for that matter horrible. However, here is my message to the police, NYPD and the other police forces of this nation, you are judged by your weakest link and the brutal murders and corrupt policing efforts that the NYPD and some of you use needs to come to an end!

How many mothers have to bury their sons, how many men have to be harassed and brutally beaten before you change your racist measures. We will not riot and destroy our neighborhoods; no we are smarter than that! We will find justice though, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!

R.I.P. Sean Bell

Here is a young man showing love for single black mothers and most of all his mother. It’s such a beautiful sight to see a young man saluting the mother of his understanding: Women!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DyXkB3OaAw&hl=en]

The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. “Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper” Genesis 4: 4-9

Pardon me, today I chose this verse because I am upset with the senseless killings in our neighborhoods. I thought what better way to illustrate such sin than the story of Cain and Abel. What causes such hatred, what makes people act the way they act! Jealousy and envy consume people and drive them to do heinous things. I’m not here to moralize on anyone but when young children are getting sliced in their face, murdered in cold blood we have to say something. It says it right there in the word thou shall not kill, yet often we show our children and family the energy that is behind such senseless nonsense. Jealousy! The Lord asks why are you angry, I ask too, why are we angry?

The Lord spoke to Cain, he told him when you think these evil thoughts, when you plot against another sin is crouching at your door. He said it desires you; that’s powerful we all want to be desired. When we lack attention and we start “hating”, we are showing our communities the same energy the Lord asked Cain to rectify. By no means am I calling us murderers, but I am speaking of the jealousy that is invoked when people see people living a life they wish they were living. The need to keep up with the Jones’, has caused us to lose sight and create a material world where our children don’t know the difference between right and wrong. The root of it all is our negative thinking minds, inspiring and injecting hate into the ones that watch us. Why not eject love, I know I’m guilty of being slick with my tongue. You know what words do, they conjure up a feeling, bad words conjure up bad feelings. If from day one we teach respect to our to sons, our mothers wouldn’t have to bury their sons. Maybe death is too deep for someone to understand well I see it in the church, I see it in the streets, man I even see it in the classroom. We are dying, if not physically, symbolically because we lack the love language that our Creator teaches us. God gives freedom, God gives knowledge, lets take that same knowledge and feed our youth, feed our people no matter what race or creed or gender! It may sound cliche but with a little bit of love this world would be a better place. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be, doing what I can.

Brittany Spears, Amy Winehouse, and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the names who grace our newspapers with drug riddled stories and pictures of them visibly high off of controlled substances. The media has been extremely reckless in their portrayal of these people who actually have serious problems that need to be addressed. A close friend of mine inspired me to write the piece “Our forgotten family” about reclaiming our people who are lost to drugs and substance abuse. I challenge the media to start tackling the issues of drug abuse in our society in a much more responsible manner. Whether it’s a celebrity or the local garbage man, the horrifying reality of drug abuse needs to be discussed responsibly. R.I.P. to the saxaphonist of Haggist Horns, Jason Rae, the husband of Corrine Bailey Rae; he recently died of an alleged drug overdose. This is not a white issue or a black issue, this is a people issue, let’s reclaim our forgotten family.

Our forgotten family

“What’s going on”, these are the words sang by the late great Marvin Gaye in the 1970’s. Here in 2008 this question still needs to be addressed and this time we need to move toward solving the many ills that face our communities. I had a conversation the other day with a close friend of mine and we were discussing substance abuse in our society. Drugs are raping and ravaging our communities of our brightest and most beautiful minds at a rate that leaves us dazed and confused and desperately searching for a resolution.

I thought about the negative images that are bestowed upon drug abusers, the disrespect that they face daily. Everyone has a vice, but these people are treated as if they are sub-human. Do we not all know someone who may be addicted to drugs or someone who may have had a problem with substance abuse in the past? What’s even more amazing is how we turn our backs on our own people in a time when they need us most. Is a crack head, or junkie not someone’s mother, father, sister, brother or maybe just a friend? Why do we leave our people at their weakest times and allow them to fall even deeper into their despair, helping them sink to even more desperate measures to obtain that “high”.

I started off this piece with adults in mind, I thought about all of the adults that I see in urban areas addicted to drugs looking for their next fix. But then I looked at some startling statistics and to my dismay I saw the increasing numbers of young teenagers who are smoking crack. No longer can we push drug abusers to the outskirts of the community and the abandoned houses in the neighborhood. Drugs are infecting the brilliant minds of tomorrow at record numbers and if we continue to ignore this problem we may be looking at the destruction of our communities as we know it.

Of course it is not our fault that people resort to drug abuse, however what we forget is it is often not their fault either. We all handle hardships and pain differently. Some feel the need to escape using alcohol; others resort to hard drugs, while some of us use promiscuity as a way to alleviate our stressful lives. None of these vices are correct but we have no right to neither judge nor condemn these people. In fact our judgment becomes a part of the problem rather than the solution.

Imagine it is your own mother who’s abusing drugs, or your little brother. Because these people are somebody’s brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and so on and so on. The first step in helping to solve this situation is to embrace those with drug problems, perhaps volunteering your time at a local rehabilitation center. The effects of drug abuse are very dark; when people feel abandoned they only crawl deeper into a space where no one can see them. It is in this space that addicts become violent stopping at nothing to reach their high because that high is where they feel comfortable amongst others who feel just as lonely. We need to reclaim our brothers and sisters who have fallen by the waist side. If not for them and their benefit, then for the benefit of our children who see this lifestyle and attempt to emulate it. It happens more often than we would like to believe.

Our approach to drugs can no longer be to sweep this taboo under the rug because it is seeping into our living rooms like a poison and killing entire families in our communities. Besides volunteering and drug rehabilitation programs, the way that we address people who have substance addictions needs to change. Drug user or not these people are human beings who deserve to be treated respectfully and encouraged to get back on the right track. A simple hello, can I get you something to eat never hurt anyone, in fact it may save someone’s life. Lets take the lid off of this problem that is so drastically raping our communities and be proactive in speaking the message of drug prevention. Let us volunteer at programs, and if they do not exist create programs that help to teach job skills, programs that address the depression issues that may have started someone down the path to illegal drug use in the first place. Let’s reclaim Our Forgotten Family, let’s Make It Happen!