Photo courtesy of New York Times

Wear all black on Monday for the injustice verdict in the Sean Bell case Please pass this on to anyone who can receive a text.

I received this text message numerous times throughout the course of the weekend and again I ask “Is wearing all black the new activism”. Has wearing all black taken the place of such notable activism as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I remember back when the Jena 6 movement was thriving and we were all wearing black as a means to show the masses our “black solidarity”. I participated and heard many say that they felt good walking into their corporate offices and seeing other people of color representing the injustice that was being served in Jena. But does our action stop there, does what we wear really signify that an injustice has been done?

So today I woke up and threw on my black shirt and my black Chuck Taylor sneakers in memory of the brother Sean Bell. I walked into my classroom and unlike that glorious Jena day, barely any people of color were wearing all black. What does wearing all black mean anyway; do the people who we want to see our solidarity even know that we are wearing this color to represent the fact that a brother was murdered by the NYPD. That yet again the NYPD walked out of a court of law not guilty of all charges. My own Constitutional Law professor had no idea who Sean Bell was and that this verdict had drastically affected the lives of many people. He was unaware that many young brothers and sisters had taken to the streets and were seeking Justice for the loss of yet another young talented black man. He definitely had no idea why one of his students had on black today; all he wanted to know was if I was familiar with the material that will be on his exam next week.

I checked through my usual news media outlets hoping that I would see something in the headlines about the injustice the Bell family was served this past Friday. Instead, I was inundated with news of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the Democrat Primary’s, but there was no sign of any measures that would be taken towards the Bell family finding JUSTICE. And why should their be, a brother is dead and we all go back to our regularly scheduled lives. More concerned with celebrity gossip than the fact that black men can be killed in this country and their murderers receive absolutely no punishment.

The NY Times had a brief article about this issue however, and it largely dealt with the few people who were outraged by the verdict and were protesting in Harlem yesterday. One of the brothers on the bull horn asked “why aren’t more people out here”. The days of marching and blocking traffic for a day or two didn’t work then and they will continue not to work now. All the police do is re-direct the traffic and the protest becomes more of a nuisance than a movement that affects change. So what my generation has come up with as a means of fighting injustice is wearing all black; then we are really fighting institutionalized racism and brutality, we’ll show em!

Wrong, we need a strategic effort on a variety of fronts to fight the injustices that are facing our people. I refuse to believe that we are as lazy as the Civil Rights Guard of Leadership paints us. No we are not lazy at all, we are the internet generation; the text message generation. All of that to say we have the fastest and often most effective modes of communication to get messages across to our peers and move in a organized manner. We have to fight these different injustices on many different fronts. The Judge who rendered the verdict; we have to find out if he was elected or appointed; if elected we make sure that those who are eligible to vote in that district show up in record numbers to relieve him of his position.

Let’s take it back to the boycott days since the loss of revenue is the only thing that makes politicians and businessmen understand that we are angry about something and are seeking some type of remedy. This shouldn’t be hard to do because we are spawning into a recession anyway and people are already strapped for cash. We need to find out exactly what businesses that if we stopped patronizing would affect Michael Bloomberg the fastest. Once those major businesses are affected they will call up their high powered friends ad say “hey we have to do something about this’ its affecting my pocket”! You see when when we start to use our creativity and organize our efforts we begin to fall upon the ears who really create change in our cities. Maybe then the NYPD will stop believing that it is perfectly fine and legal to kill young black men. But if all we are doing is wearing black; trust me the courts, the politicians, the police and definitely the law are not hearing our voices.

We need to tap into the resources in our communities who have the know how and ability to propose legislation for stricter monitoring practices over the police departments who brutalize communities of color. All cops are not the scum who murder and harass people of color so we need to reach out to those who are fed up with their colleagues behavior and off the record find out what we can do to upset their internal situation that will help us make the changes we wish to see. I could write on for days about different measures that we could take however my one voice will not create this change. Our collective voice will not change these scenarios but our collective voices coupled with our strategic collective actions will create this change. In memory of Sean Bell and all of the other forgotten fallen soldiers; please let’s Make It Happen!

ps. I will be at the Black and Male In America Conference the weekend of June 15 - 17 in Brooklyn, NY. I think we all need to be there!

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. Isaiah 26: 3-4

I remember being in junior high school and hearing Prodigy of Mobb Deep rap “there’s a war going on outside no man is safe from, you can run but you cant hide forever, from these streets that we done took, you walking wit ya head down scared to look, ya shook!” While I lay in bed this morning, refusing to get up I thought the same lyrics only I said there’s a war going on inside, inside ourselves, our own personal demons. We really can’t run from them even though we attempt to by suppressing our feelings and acting as if things aren’t truly bothering us. Prodigy rapped about the streets that he and his cohorts took; the demons that exist within us, the skeletons in our closet they take over the streets of our lives. Our minds, our hearts; they produce doubt and and low self esteem causing even more pain and strife in our lives.

So what do you do? Well we can keep running until the day it all catches up with us and we’re to fatigued to even fight back. Or we could trust in the Lord; but really trust in the Lord. I mean you can go to church and hear beautiful gospel songs, a mighty word that makes you jump and shout and go home and still feel empty. Trusting in the Lord starts with trusting in yourself and trusting that he made you the way you are supposed to be. Trust that the experiences that he takes you through, he is taking you through because you can handle them and he has a great reward for you when you pass his test with flying colors. I know I’ve been stressed out; went to church, felt good there, came home and was stressed out. Three weeks later, still stressed out until we really hear the words in today’s passage. Trust in the Lord forever for he is our ROCK. Trust in yourself because the Lord breathes within you and face the war going on inside because with his grace you are safe from it and you will prevail. Peace and Grace be unto you.

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Today we have a piece that far too many black men can relate to from one of my favorite poets merged with a stunning photographer and artist; The Poet Nightday and Michael Wilson present Tired of Waiting for My Father. I hope you all enjoy!

Tired of waiting for my father

As I sit here on these steps waiting,
Eyes grow weak ,
Weak from tears that flow,
Flow for a perfect image lost.

Looking through a squint
Dreaming of a dead beat ready to become a man,
Fatigued from dreams becoming nightmares,
Drained from thoughts of lost promises.

Weary of lies spoken,
Falsehoods that make traps.
Body bushed from continues emotions stomped on
A rolling stone rolled over his son.

Finally understanding that this is the only option
To let go of the thought of a relationship,
Giving up unable to go on
The hope that was had fell from untamed skies.

Looking through these closed eyes
Closing is my only true escape,
Time to get up and move on
Its dark and I’m tired.

Tired of looking of down these streets
Waiting till the street lights come on
Finally realizing
That I am Tired of waiting for my Father.

You can purchase this book at any one of the following websites.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Man-Possessed/Steven-A-Lewis/e/9781425991562/?itm=1

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Possessed-Steven-Lewis/dp/1425991564/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208818776&sr=8-5

www.Authorhouse.com

To view more artwork from Michael Wilson please click:

Misunderstood: A Hustler’s Tale

Driven by dreams of material things
Cant blame em; on TV that’s all he seen
Takes more than a reckless spirit
To build a crack empire
Learn the ways of the street fast
Or your life will soon expire
Fiends is clickin’ to what they got on 43rd
So you set up shop next to the woods on 45th
House in the cut you don’t want no shit

Takes more than a reckless spirit
To do what your doing
More like economics and trade agreements
In that language you’re fluent
If only Columbia or Harvard came to the hood
Maybe this young man wouldn’t be misunderstood
With these practices
You’d be a top CEO
But instead we’re relegated to the streets
It ain’t fun out here
Everybody’s packing heat

So you wholesale your product
So all the abusers come to you
Now their consumers
Are your customers
And everybody knows you
Business is good, assets and such
Be careful brother, don’t press ya luck
You got big dreams
To get ya family out the hood
Never was too flashy
But now your rims are what make you look good
Just some more attention
Before they wave ya ass goodbye
Coppers watching, enemies plottin’, snitches will end ya life

He coulda been bigger than John Rockefeller
Coulda taken his charisma
And used it for something better
The world judges you
For serving with hope with despair
The streets is watching
You cant sleep
This lovely crack house
Is surrounded by fiends
Your enemies creep with guns
With ambitions to blow holes in your dreams
Yet the cops pick you up
Putting football numbers behind this big dream
Too many keys to count
You’re on your way to the bing

Don’t get me wrong, they crooked too
You ain’t got no boats
To get all these drugs through
All them drugs they caught you with
Didn’t even make it to the precinct
They supply your competition
And our communities are still bleeding
Only if Penn State and Temple
Came to the hood
Maybe this young mans life
Wouldn’t be so misunderstood

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!

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.

If you are not familiar, I encourage you to get FAMILIAR with Avenue Report; the young professional man of color’s guide to business, health, fashion, music, and politics. I currently write a column for this Lifestyle magazine which specifically serves men of color. The column is titled “Real Talk” and it seeks to address an array of issues that affect our people and solutions on how to deal with fighting stereotypes, crime in our neighborhoods, and the stresses of growing up in a single parent home among other things. Please check below for an excerpt of Real Talk in this upcoming issue. For more information on how to subscribe and become a part of the AR Family, feel free to check out http://www.avenuereport.com

START SNITCHING

We see it glorified in old mob flicks, rap records hail it as the sin of all sins; the number one code of the streets; “don’t snitch”. LOYALTY, I understand the concept very well, but when does it border stupidity and become a cause in fact of the violence and destruction of our neighborhoods. The “Stop Snitching Campaign” was subliminally etched into our minds long before the celebrated t-shirts with stop signs and the word snitching embedded within. Well please forgive me, for I am about to break the ultimate code of honor, I’m about to become the rat of all rats, because my charge for us as a community is to… “START SNITCHING”.

There, I said it, START SNITCHING, start snitching if you want your children to live to see past their elementary school graduation. Start Snitching if you want to stop living in fear as you walk to the corner store. This is heavy, because as a people we have a strong distrust for law enforcement. I mean, why wouldn’t we, after seeing many of our leaders crippled by this system of American Justice. We vividly remember news clips of the Civil Rights Era, watching police officers brutally attack people of color with water hoses and K-9 dogs? Many of us can attest to the “random” car stops, the harassment and brutality that our people face on a daily basis from those who are supposed to protect and serve. Yet I still say START SNITCHING, far too many of our children are becoming victims in the crossfire of drug wars, domestic disputes and other various forms of crime that begat violence.

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Wisdom crieth out, she uttereth her voice in the streets; She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 1:20-22

Do not silence your voice, allow your true self to be heard! I read the other day where a man said, “when you see and hear the good in me, you are looking at God, when you see the bad in me, you are looking at me and all of my imperfections”. When you speak the truth, you speak an act of good faith along with your words. The bible says that wisdom cries out, her voice can be heard in the streets. There’s a cry for your wisdom in today’s world. Key word here is your wisdom, not your judgment. There’s a need for a voice of love and compassion on our streets, to speak life to our children, hope for our peers, and gratitude to our elders. Your wisdom is based upon your experience, the experiences that you have had culminate into a wealth of knowledge that needs to fall upon deaf ears. Your words may spark a change, a much needed change in someone’s life. Use your voice for love and not destruction, it is a noble action, your only gratification being that you know you helped a fellow human being on their road to success.

Fools hate knowledge, and with their hate for knowledge they will purposely tune out your kind words and helpful actions. But who wants to walk amongst fools anyway, it will largely lead down the wrong path. I am more interested in finding like minded individuals who strengthen the steps that I wish to take while here on this earth. The verses following the two above show wisdom abandoning fools and largely letting them deal with their troubles alone. But we are all fools at some point or another, and we all look for another chance to right our wrongs. So it is then that you must use this beautiful voice that experience is sharpening and allow it to speak truth to the power of our Creator and speak out to those who may have hated your knowledge in the past. All this talk of truth is not to be confused with judgment, the very judgment that has taken many of us away from churches and religion in general. No sir, this is a spiritual truth of wisdom, nobility and honor. Let us love our people by our actions and our words and be hopeful that the same love will be bestowed upon us. Peace and Grace be unto you.

You have to be taught to be second class; you’re not born that way.

Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his fathers funeral. But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became afraid. Now Joseph will pay us back for all the evil we did to him, they said. But as Joseph told them, don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you. As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. Genesis 50: 14-15, 19

What a rich scripture this is, I first read it days ago but I was not ready to embrace it at that point and attempt to decipher what it meant to me. I am so amazed by the grace of Joseph that I do not know where to begin. His faith is so strong, how often are we faced with people who attempt to sabotage our very existence? Whether this be at work, school, your love life; far too often people’s actions can have a great impact on us and for a short time negatively affect our lives. Since a child my mother has always told me “vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord”! Listen to Joseph, “Am I God, to judge and punish you”. We have no right nor do we need to judge those who trespass against us, their own conscience does it for them. Look at the fear of Joseph’s brothers, they are afraid because they know that they have wronged him. By not judging, by not taking these situations into our own hands we are sowing good seeds into the earth. If we followed the eye for an eye rule; a. we would all be blind, but more importantly we would sow bad seeds of karma into the earth for ourselves. We are responsible for our actions so even though we were wronged; by retaliating we only restart the cycle of wrongdoing. Making ourselves vulnerable to yet another attack and this time a rightfully deserved attack.

His faith amazes me, because he has set his faith in our creator and took the hardships that he was presented with and now sees them as good. The rough road that you are traveling may seem rough now as it did for Joseph but one day we will look up from the mountaintop and remember when we were down in the valley. We will stand tall from the balcony of a skyscraper and remember when we walked amongst the streets, confused and angry at the situations life had presented. We will stand and be thankful because the evil that others had tried to bestow upon us; that bewildered us for a time will be made good. Because we endured and believed in our Creator we will be able to look back at those blemishes and be thankful for that journey. We are not the judge, so let us let go of the ill harbored feelings that we have towards those who wrong us, their own conscience is eating them up already. Let us get deeper in our faith and understand that we are being blessed, we will be blessed and that God will turn our hard times to the most joyous occasions we have ever experienced. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Reputation is the shell a man discards when he leaves life of immortality. His character he takes with him.