“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” -John Quincy Adams
Invention Spotlight: Kelvin Doe, Teenage Inventor
Written By: Elsie Law
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Apr•
01•14
Teenage Inventor, Kelvin Doe aka DJ Focus, from the Sierra Leone is already a prolific inventor at 15 years old. He has created sources of electricity, a radio station, and a windmill for his community.
Black History Fact Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Apr•
01•14
Curt Roberts began his professional baseball career with the Negro Leagues team the Kansas City Monarchs. He played with this team for 4 seasons. His teammates on The Monarchs included Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil.
Curt Roberts also signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to Wikipedia: “He paved the way for other black players to debut for the Pirates, the most notable of whom was future Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. He befriended Clemente, teaching him how to handle the racial abuse and the huge pressure that Roberts had suffered with the Pirates.”
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Apr•
01•14
“Wealth is the means and people are the ends. All our material riches will avail us little if we do not use them to expand the opportunities of our people.” -John F. Kennedy
Book Excerpt Of The Week: “Clemente: The True Legacy of an Undying Hero” By: The Clemente Family
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
28•14
What happened in Montreal was immensely complicated and has been the subject of fervent historical debate by some baseball historians. In the end, there is little doubt that Clemente was hidden in the Dodgers’ minor-league system so another club could not draft him in the off-season. The key was Clemente’s salary and bonus, which totaled $15,000. At that time MLB teams, including Branch Rickey’s Dodgers, started the practice of stockpiling talent in their minor-league system as a way of preventing other teams from making a play for them. It was both a brilliant and a diabolical practice. One year before Clemente signed his deal, baseball enacted a policy to counter that tactic. If a player signed for monies totaling more than $4,000 (that included salary and bonus), teams had to keep the player on the roster for two years or risk losing that player in the off-season draft.
The Dodgers attempted to hide Clemente in the baseball outpost that was the Montreal Royals, and play him so little that other teams wouldn’t notice him. ‘This was a fact my dad really believed,’ says Roberto Jr.
It would seem impossible for a brown-skinned man who didn’t speak French to be invisible in 1950s Canada, but that was almost the case with Clemente. His abilities were on display almost immediately, as he’d impress with his bat and glove despite sparse opportunities in Montreal, only to be sent back to the bench. In Clemente’s first week there, he hit a home run four hundred feet, sending it over a wall no Montreal hitter had ever cleared. In the next game, he was still benched. Clemente would get benched for a pinch hitter even with the bases loaded. In another game, he leaped so high over a left-field fence, snatching a ball out of the sky, his belt became stuck to the fence. While the Montreal team wouldn’t play Clemente, he had nonetheless become a fan favorite. Canadians were fierce fans- of hockey- but still knew a star when they saw one. Spectators unclipped Clemente from the fence and applauded him.
Clemente hit a triple in another game and in the next was again benched. ‘The idea was to make me look bad,’ Clemente later said. ‘If I struck out, I stayed in there [the game]. If I played well, I was benched. Most of the season they used me as a pinch hitter or in second games of doubleheaders.’…
Clemente learned a harsh lesson in Montreal that would stick with him throughout his career. Baseball was no longer just a sport he loved. It was a cold, nasty business. ‘I never thought I would reach such heights,’ Clemente said then. ‘Then I did…and they wouldn’t let me play.” From, “Clemente: The True Legacy of an Undying Hero” By: The Clemente Family
TODAY IS BUY BLACK FRIDAY
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
28•14
PLEASE PASS THIS ON! (EACH ONE TEACH ONE OR TWO!) THIS IS PHASE ONE ON HOW WE CAN HELP TO STRENGTHEN & EMPOWER OUR COMMUNITY:
The 2008 not guilty verdict in the Sean Bell case evoked outrage, emotion, and debate. It is not an anomaly that the police officers involved in the Sean Bell slaying were acquitted of all charges on all counts in State Supreme Court. I could run out of ink printing the names of people who have been victimized by the inaptly named justice system.
The American justice system has been especially terroristic towards the African American community. Many community members can cite historic and personal accounts to prove this. Therefore, it would be foolhardy (at the least) to turn to a system that has methodically oppressed us, and request that they free us. We can only free ourselves through extreme discipline and intelligent planning.
As a community we have been too compliant with leaders who organize ineffective, delayed reactions. The only strategy that can save us in this last hour is one that calls for a collective code of conduct that will be conducive to improving the conditions of our community, and shifting the paradigm of how we are treated by outside entities. The first step of this code of conduct should be based on economics.
The old adage of “money talks,” still reigns true in the new millennium. Any political scientist worth his or her library card will tell you that: “Economic powerlessness equals political powerlessness,” and conversely “economic power equals political power.” This means that if we continue to allow our wealth to be extracted from our community, we will remain impotent.
The power of the collective “Black Dollar” is often discussed. However, that power has been left unchanneled. Today is the day to change that. A one-time boycott is not going to bring long-term change and respect to our community. Our community has launched boycotts before. Our success and ascension will be based on what we consistently do. For this reason, we should initiate “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS.”
BUY BLACK FRIDAYS is a small step towards our community acquiring power via controlling our economics. Every Friday, people who acknowledge the injustice and oppression that the African American community has been consistently subjected to should do one of the following:
Option #1: Spend $0 on Friday
Option #2: Spend no more than $10 on Friday
Option #3: Only Shop at Black Businesses on Friday
[PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE OPTIONS CAN & SHOULD BE EXERCISED ON A DAILY BASIS. However, we can all at the very least focus on Fridays. This way we can take a collective stand and build our collective discipline. Please remember that this is only Phase 1!].
To the people who are tempted to label “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS” as racist, I say this: In the big scheme of things, this is about right & wrong, justice & injustice. The African American community is a strong, proud community that has endured the brunt of America’s iron fist. We must stop the pounding. I feel that any fair-minded individual will concur, and join in.
ANY business that is privileged to enjoy the support of the African American community MUST return that support.
I thank you in advance for your effort and dedication.
-Elsie Law AKA Starface
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
28•14
“I just plain decided one day I wasn’t going to do anything or say anything unless I meant it. Not, ‘Please, sir.’ Not, ‘Thank you, Ma’am.’ Nothing; unless I mean it. You have to be poor and Black to know how many times you can get knocked in the head just for trying to do something as simple as that.” -Billie Holiday
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words Pic Of The Week
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
27•14
Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Henry Aaron.
Black History Fact Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
27•14
In 1971, the Pittsburg Pirates fielded the first all-Black and all-Latino lineup in major league baseball history.
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Mar•
27•14
“I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there, and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad, he would be a United States Senator.” -Mother Jones
