“Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.” -Proverbs 4:7
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Jan•
02•12
“Determine the thing that can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.” -Abraham Lincoln
Throwback Post: Sunday’s Op-Ed: Is America Really The Land Of Opportunity?
Written By: Elsie Law
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Jan•
01•12
America has been marketed as “the land of opportunity” for quite some time now. America has an image of being the place to be if you want to “make something from nothing.” After all, what person on the planet doesn’t want to live “The American Dream?” America’s dreamy image neglects to acknowledge all of the societal ills that proliferate on its land.
America- being as slick as it is- has also packaged and promoted its ills as craftily as it has packaged its “you are sure to succeed here” mantras. Cigarettes, drugs, and destructive life habits are made to look enticingly fun via the monstrous mass media machine. All the while, the millennium version of America pretends that its “-isms” no longer reside within its borders. Who should dare to complain about racism when we have a Black president? How can sexism exist when a woman came close to being president? How can classism be present when E-True Hollywood Stories shows that you can make something out of nothing?
The media’s window dressing is playing a hypnotic trick on people to make them ignore reality. After all, we are now encouraged to turn to the media to get our daily doses of reality, (“Reality Shows” are popping up on almost every television station).
The truth is that all of the “-isms” are alive and well. They may have shape-shifted a bit and become more covert; but they are still actively at work. With that being said, I question if America is really the land of opportunity.
If hard work = Success in America, then why is it that parents who work two jobs still can’t afford to send their child to college? If hard work = Success in America, then why is there a “working poor?” Why are there people who remain homeless despite having full time jobs?
America has historically purposely punished, abused, and killed certain groups of people. It still does.
This country was able to build its wealth off of the free labor of slaves for centuries [SIDEBAR: Slavery is still in effect via the prison system & other systems.] Audaciously without ever even truly contemplating compensating their “involuntary workers,” America now turns to the descendants of their “forced labor” and says you can build a fortune on this here land if you work hard. In the words of Biggie Smalls, “How preposterous is that?!” This is why I feel like my life is an experiment.
I am laboring to build an empire. It is definitely against a lot of odds. If I accomplish my goals will it be because of America or in spite of it? I shudder to ask the deeper question of whether a woman who is where I’m from, thinks like I think, acts like I act, believes what I believe will be able to peacefully amass a fortune in America? History is not on my side. I’m still moving forward though!
[Originally Posted: 5/29/09]
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Jan•
01•12
“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” -William Faulkner
TODAY IS: BUY BLACK FRIDAY
Written By: Elsie Law
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Dec•
30•11
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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Dec•
30•11
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broad concerns of all humanity.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
Arthur McDuffie, 1979
Written By: Elsie Law
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Dec•
29•11
“Arthur McDuffie was a cool brother. He was the type of brother in the hood just living life and taking it easy. His only vice was motorcycles. Well, not a vice actually, but a brother flossing on top a Kawaski in the early eighties in Miami? It wasn’t something cops took kindly to. On December 17, 1979, he popped a wheelie for the last time. Word around the campfire was that McDuffie whizzed past a cop and had the nerve to give him the middle finger. Reports conflict on whether McDuffie stopped or kept on whizzing by and said to hell with it. When he did finally stop, imagine slave drivers catching Nat Turner on his way to France. Nine cops wailed a can of whip a** on that dude. They jumped on him like he owed them money. They smashed his head with a baton until he fell into a coma and eventually died. McDuffie’s mother, Eula McDuffie told the press the obvious: ‘They beat my son like a dog. They beat him just because he was riding a motorcycle and because he was black.’
The cops ran over McDuffie’s motorcycle to make it look like he got injuries from a crash. Talk about gangster.
My relatives were out there protesting with signs blaring JUSTICE FOR MCDUFFIE. It’s sad that it took McDuffie’s head getting cracked open to get people off the stoop and out in the street demanding better conditions, but, hell, it was a means to an end. Dr. King and Malcolm would have been proud to see all those folks out there protesting for equality. This was what those cats died for. Miami was the last stop on that civil rights train, and we were hungry for change. The cops were charged and officials moved their trial to Tampa…
The trial started on March 31 and it was commotion from jump street. The defense removed blacks from the jury pool. Details about the beatdown shocked the world. Those were some cold-blooded dudes. After pulling McDuffie off the bike, they beat the brother with nightsticks and flashlights.
The one Cuban cop was the most vicious. He sat on top of McDuffie and slammed a nightstick into the back of his head. America was shocked by the news coming from paradise. The thing is, those pictures on Miami postcards of pearly white sand beaches and art deco hotels were as foreign to us as the idea that people actually had the kind of money to stay in hotels like that. Then the verdict was read.
Not guilty…
When Eula McDuffie cried in that Tampa courtroom, her tears fell on all of us.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE POLICE OFFICER ACQUITTED ON THE CHARGES:
“They stole more than seven hundred kilos of powder that came in on the boats up the Miami River. One cop, Alex Marrero, went to prison for offering protection to one of the sugglers for $300,000. Remember him? He was the same cop acquitted of killing Arthur McDuffie back in 1980. The Miami River Cops, as they were called, made cocaine accessible to locals outside ritzy Miami Beach and Brickell Avenue.” -From, “Magic City: Trials of a Native Son” By: Trick Daddy w/ Peter Bailey
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Dec•
29•11
“We cannot do good while we continue to do evil, nor can we heal evil except by the power of good. To all sincere students of spiritual science, this lesson is a guide post, pointing to the fact that the thought of good must ever overcome any thought that is less than good. By the presence of good, evil is cast out, just as by the presence of light, the darkness disappears.”
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Dec•
28•11
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” -Mohandas K. Gandhi
Quote Of The Day
Written By: Elsie Law
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Dec•
25•11
“Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.” -Oren Arnold
