Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it. - Malcolm X

Naturally, when one makes progressive steps, there may be some who see it as a betrayal of their goals and interests. - Louis Farrakhan

Living in Philadelphia from 2002 to 2007, I watched the neighborhood which surrounded Temple University transform. Blacks were moved out and whites were moved in; we had many town hall and discussions about this topic as concerned students. Depending on who the speaker was we would hear different terms used to describe this process. If white property owners were speaking ,we learned that what was happening to the community was a “beautification program”. If Black community members were speaking, this displacement was called “negro removal”.

No matter how you frame the situation, gentrification was happening in a community that was historically black and becoming increasingly white. I have many thoughts on this topic that I will save for now but I want to share with you something I recently read. This piece is an honest reflection of what it’s like for a caucasian man who moves into one of these neighborhoods that is not quite gentrified yet. I bring to you the words of famed author Marty Beckerman and his well written piece “Gentrify This”.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

When I moved to New York, I only had two days to find an apartment. Rents in “affluent” neighborhoods with numerous “young professionals” are considerably higher than in “up-and-coming” neighborhoods. Whereas I lived in a luxury building in D.C. with a gym, pool, doorman, deck, chandeliered lobby and (most lavish of all) dishwasher, I was suddenly—thanks to my desperate rush and journalist’s budget—in a neighborhood where the only appetizing-looking restaurant is a McDonald’s, save for a Mexican eatery that gave me a gastrointestinal holocaust.

To read more of this article go to:

http://www.jewcy.com/index.php?q=post/gentrify

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

Food for thought:

Do not believe everything that you read in the newspapers, hear on the radio, or see on television or youtube. I was browsing through a forum and I read the title “Oprah denies Christ, Trouble for Obama”! I quickly clicked the link because I was curious as to where this information could be coming from. Low and behold; the same bible toting soldiers who have been claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim and substituting Jesus’s love message with hate for all those who do not believe as they do, are behind this same message. These same evangelists, as they call themselves must have never read the book of Romans where we are taught not judge for if we judge then we condemn ourselves.

So I watch the clip and Oprah did no such thing, I am not writing this to support Oprah but to ask people to take the lid off of their truck yard minds and allow objective thoughts and reason to seep through. I am a Christian man, I go to church on Sundays when my time permits. I send out daily messages that quote the scripture in the bible. This is all fact; I also listen to the teachings of Brother Malcolm, Louis Farrakhan, Father Pfleger, and a host of other spiritual leaders. I post quotes of the day from spiritual leaders such as the Great Buddha, Dali Lama and other figures who do not represent Christianity. To tell me because I understand that we are all praying to the same God and just calling him different names is the most bigoted, ignorant, non-factual statement that I have ever heard.

Spirituality is about finding the God within; Jesus never taught us to hate or judge anyone! Instead he taught us to love and care for one another, the same principles that other religous groups teach throughout their teachings. The way that media outlets are using these types of edited, chopped up videos to perpetuate a message of evil is rather disgusting. Rather than unify the people of this world under God and create a love language, we would rather use our differences to create further division; only heightening the problems of the world. So the next time you get an email, or a message like the video I am about to show you, think objectively before you react to the propaganda that fear mongers and hate mongers put forth in order to create more chaos in the world as we know it. Peace and Grace be unto you!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA&hl=en]

Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today. - Malcolm X