This piece comes to us from an intelligent young brother who is concerned about not only himself but the world around him. With a critical eye, he looks at the Sean Bell situation from the perspective that he too is Sean Bell. We must continue to encourage our youth to be brave and valiant in their efforts to speak out about injustices and to challenge the status quo. I AM VERY HAPPY TO SHARE THIS GENTLEMEN’S WORK WITH YOU.

THE CASKET

This casket I’m in.. Old and tarnished..

Made just for me…

Sun creeping away. My eyes now at the ends of my fingerprints..

The walls weak from holding my mass.

Patruly, pipe tobacco and camphor ripping my nostrils, leaking from these old worn out walls the stifling smell whispers to me..

Remember those old guys you used to call pop, uncle, grandpa..

Dead and gone…

Soon u might be comin’ along.

The world u livin in is da world they got killed in.

Life taken; stolen, buried and rewritten…

Jumped out he had a gun.  50 shots den he is done..

Blood spillin’ on dees brown hands screaming peace. Holding, white flags in the air.. Waving, screaming, PEACE..

Life taken stolen buried and rewritten..

See dis casket dat u in…. its drowned in da system.

Submerged in…. bleach, washing away the truth..

In waters subjective enough to leave not one speck of brown skin above it..

Suffocating……

Your head only sinks.

Ever wonder why the water is so black.

Can’t see past your brother. Your sister your pops.  ©ÙzzØ we all trapped in dis casket.. Dis one big box..

Tags tatted on da walls.. Olu  A.k.a…….

But what does your Aka stand for when I might not breathe another day.

What does your aka stand for in this casket of marked men?

Your aka is just a joke to them.

Its like smearing I’m a loser on a wall to them.

A marked man can’t speak.

And u are marked man. So pleaze believe.

Dat Ur word. Is powerful. If only in numbers.

If life gives u lemons den u have to make limes.

©ÙzzØ a marked mans words… Don’t fit between the lines.

A marked mans words don’t fit into the system.

©ÙzzØ a marked mans words come from a different tradition.

Pleaze listen cuzz a man will never be forgiven.

For changing a system. Dat da whole globe is livin’ in.

Oludare Bernard

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, Psalms 34:11-12

This is officially the latest Pardon me message in the history of messages. I had the longest day ever and I was constantly on the go so I had no time to write. Around 4pm I was like this is ridiculous, am I ever going to get a chance to write today I thought to myself. Then I thought about where I was going and I realized that something that would happen later on in the day would inspire this message. And what more than our children and their beautiful, innocent faces teach us about inspiration and the hope of great things to come.

I will be teaching these 32 students for the next 5 weeks and if tonight was any indication of what my summer will look like then I can expect an engaging life changing experience. I immediately thought of finding a scripture that deals with our children for they represent our futures. And hopefully the wisdom we have gained over the years can help guide them on the right path and away from some of the mistakes we have made. There were a variety of students there from various backgrounds but as I reflect; no matter who each of us pray to, God brought us together. He brought me to teach them something, and from their youthfulness he wants me to gain something from them. I am more than willing and more than ready; hopefully we all as God’s children will learn the lesson from above and see many good days. Peace and Grace be unto you!

No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, and disciplined.

I love to big up people doing big things in our local communities and spreading knowledge to our people. Common is always pushing the envelope of awareness and integrating our communities with a sense of pride. If you are not familiar, I suggest you get familiar with his non profit Common Ground Foundation. There are several programs that this organization uses to empower our youth, I want to thank Common and the other artists who recognize that we need organizations like this to build our communities together!

Mission Statement:
The Common Ground Foundation is dedicated to the empowerment and development of urban youth in the United States.

Vision Statement:
The Common Ground Foundation was created by Hip Hop artist, actor and children’s author Lonnie Rashid Lynn, known as “Common”. Common’s social-conscience message serves as inspiration for equality, opportunity and hope among youth in underserved communities. The Foundation is committed to empowering youth in urban neighborhoods and providing life skills needed to achieve their dreams.

Click here to donate
http://www.commongroundfoundation.org/donate.html

It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed. But you, O LORD, are exalted forever. For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered. You have exalted my horn [a] like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me. Psalm 92: 1-10

2:20 pm, this has to be a record set for the latest Pardon me. Well if I’m going to check in this late I must have some good news to share with you! You know I always have a story to tell, and the scripture represents how I feel about the Lord. How I have to praise his name because he always blesses ya boy. So this story starts somewhere during the semester, I thought i would be overseas with my homegirl Trudi enjoying Europe but God had other plans and that fell through. So needless to say I was not applying for jobs, more or less just doing my school work (sometimes less than more). But one of my other partners in crime hipped me to this fabulous program that she had attended and she thought that i would love it. It was a program teaching our youth the law and preparing them for a mock trial in front of a real Judge during the summer at St. Johns University.

Now you know Ced loves the kids, and I love anything that will allow me to talk and help teach someone something. So I sent my resume, this was the only resume I sent out this whole semester and I let the company know that I was willing to work for free. I just wanted to be apart of this movement that I saw them mobilizing. Doors were closed in my face because all the positions were filled and they could not even take me on as a volunteer. I emailed the executive director and asked him if i could shadow him, I let the man know that I would be an asset to his organization, ALL OF THIS TO NO AVAIL. Then last week I got a phone call, I thought it was the student loan people so I almost did not pick the phone up.

However, I’m glad I did, it was the same company offering me a phone interview right there on the spot. Before this I just planned to blog all summer, who knows where the wind would blow me but I was just going to fly. Today I had my second interview, where I had to do a practice lesson with adults acting as 8th graders. After the practice lesson and interview was over, the Executive Director stuck around, like he wanted to talk to me. That same home girl who first told me of him had told him of me. She let him know that I was a Christian and that I believed in the word of God. We rapped for maybe another 20 minutes just about the Lord and his Greatness and in the middle of that he said “Well, I can just tell you, you already got the job”.

God is good, and the man let me know God worked in mysterious ways on this one. Someone else had the paid position but something caused them to split ways with the gentleman. He said before they went back to the others they had interviewed he remembered that there was this persistent kid who kept emailing him. That pesky kid was me, and my buddy Maat let him know how we all know that God moves through us so he gave me a chance. So here I am, just thankful and thankful that I could share such a moment with you. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Thank you Lord for your blessings, thank the Almighty for the strength?

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” Ecclesiastes 12:1

This scripture stood out to me as I was thumbing through the book of Ecclesiastes. I can already tell that there will be many more messages set from this book alone because it is so rich with knowledge. Today’s scripture reminds me of my thoughts as a young man and some of my thoughts right now. I grew up watching my Grandmother be holy and sanctified. She was a true woman of God, she kept his word near and deep to her heart. So my concept of being saved was seen through the lens of her salvation. There was a lot of things that she did not do and would not indulge in because it was against the way of God. My own tattoo that I bear on my left arm celebrating her life would be an abomination of the body. So I grew up knowing that I wanted to go to heaven but figured I would make the transition when I am older . I’m still having fun; it didn’t seem like you could have to much fun and truly be committed to God.

Slowly in my mind however, fun is changing, what was fun at 14 is not fun at 24. I am also starting to see that one does not wake up and be as devout a Christian as my grandmother was. Like with everything else, spirituality it is a process. Today’s word once again pointed out that fact to me. I often hear people preach fear into our hearts when they talk about getting to know the Lord. “You don’t want to end up like those who will be judged and thrown into the pit of fire”. No one wants to be judged in that way but I find more happiness in not just thinking that the Lord will save me from a life of eternal damnation but what can I do for him while I am here to put forth the principles that he has has blessed us with. Humility, nobility, and being kind towards others. All of this to say we don’t have to be old, driving a Buick to get to know God. It is important that we get to know him now so that we can give glory to him through our works and appreciate his blessings all the same. Peace and Grace be unto you.

The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.

YES WE CAN! SI SE PUEDE!
My Vote’s for Obama (if I could vote) …by Michael Moore

April 21st, 2008

Friends,

I don’t get to vote for President this primary season. I live
in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.)
couldn’t get their act together, and thus our votes will not
be counted.

So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will
you please cast my vote — and yours — on Tuesday for Senator
Barack Obama?

I haven’t spoken publicly ’til now as to who I would vote for,
primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most
people I know) don’t give a rat’s ass whose name is on the
ballot in November, as long as there’s a picture of JFK and
FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word
“Democratic” next to the candidate’s name.

Seriously, I know so many people who don’t care if the name
under the Big “D” is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It
can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.

Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two
months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone
from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I
guess the debate last week was the final straw. I’ve watched
Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to
the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she
hurled the name “Farrakhan” out of nowhere, well that’s when
the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the “F”
word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama
has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator
Clinton, Obama’s pastor does — AND the “church bulletin” once
included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas!
No, not the church bulletin!

This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained
the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if
Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the
Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth,
that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!

Yes, Senator Clinton, that’s how you sounded. Like you were
nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity.
How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you.
You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And
now to throw it all away for an office you can’t win unless
you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry
“Uncle (Tom)” and give it all to you.

But that can’t happen. You cast your die when you voted to
start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses
who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited
from entering the Promised Land.

How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman
elected to the White House. That day will come — but it won’t
be you. We’ll have to wait for the current Democratic governor
of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).

There are those who say Obama isn’t ready, or he’s voted wrong
on this or that. But that’s looking at the trees and not the
forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a
profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement
is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.

That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man.
But what’s going on is bigger than him at this point, and
that’s a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in
November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert
and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their
hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama
is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.

I know some of you will say, ‘Mike, what have the Democrats
done to deserve our vote?’ That’s a damn good question. In
November of ‘06, the country loudly sent a message that we
wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So
why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?

I’ll tell you why. Because I can’t stand one more friggin’
minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible
damage it has done to our people and to this world. I’m almost
at the point where I don’t care if the Democrats don’t have a
backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little
heads. Just as long as their name ain’t “Bush” and the word
“Republican” is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that’s
good enough for me.

I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled
senseless for 8 long years. That’s why I will join millions of
citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like
a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one
eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters –
that big “D” on the ballot.

Don’t get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time
ago.

It’s foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer
version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the
corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat
must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day
we will have a party that’ll represent the people first, and
laws that allow that party an equal voice.

Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have
seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev.
Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking
the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout
at the TV, “Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband
were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky,
who did she and Bill bring to the White House for ’spiritual
counseling?’ THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!”

But no, Obama won’t throw that at her. It wouldn’t be right.
It wouldn’t be decent. She’s been through enough hurt. And so
he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.

That’s why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That’s
why he’ll take us down a more decent path. That’s why I would
vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election.

But the question I keep hearing is… ‘can he win? Can he win
in November?’ In the distance we hear the siren of the death
train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it’s possible
to hear the words “President McCain” on January 20th. We know
there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black
man. Hillary knows it, too. She’s counting on it.

Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country,
has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to
shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written
there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or
woman was only “three fifths” human. On Tuesday, the good
people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MichaelMoore.com
MMFlint@aol.com

Jay-Z is known as your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Well I am donning Barack Obama as your favorite politician’s politician. You can’t escape the SWAG!!!!!!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yel8IjOAdSc&hl=en]

R.I.P JOSHUA SIMMS

Words can’t express a mother’s pain when her child is lost. Lost to the senseless violence and killings that are frequent amongst young black men today in America. Today I asked myself, why, and if not why how. How can we help, how can I help, is it worth the energy, will people listen? I am sure that it is worth the energy, to save what many are calling an endangered species; the young black male in America. A close friend asked me yesterday, why do you write, what is at your core? I didn’t know how soon I would be able to show her my answer rather than tell her. Why you ask, because that picture above us, that young man’s soul prayerfully resting in heaven could have been me. It can be any one of us who walk this earth searching for a better way. And because it could be us, might be us, this is even more reason why we must stand against the death of our people.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12: 22-26

What are we teaching our children?

Below are two separate youtube videos showcasing how much we have failed our children of all races. We need to begin a dialogue about how to reclaim our youth and stop the senseless violence that goes on throughout this nation. Ironically, its hard to teach children that violence is not the way when they live in a country that attempts to “punk” every other country they have problems with. Just my thoughts!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7OND10HU3o&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYvuZ7QoeeU&hl=en]