Gang rape… assualt …murder… and fear
I rarely read the newspaper…and have stopped watching television. So, the means that I accquire the news these days is usually when I go up over the net and see a news flash. Most of the time I pay little attention to them…but then there are those which draw me in. And I find myself having to read the story…and not out of real interest…but because I find the headline hard to believe.
Today, I came across one of those attention grabbing headlines. The headline read something like this…‘Gang Rape and nobody helped.’
How could such a thing happen?
What has happened to mankind?
The incident took place during a high school homecoming dance outside in some alleyway or
something on the school grounds…for 2 hours long this raping continued. And kids stood around watching, while others jumped in to participate while a 15 year girld was raped repeatedly by up to as many…if not more than 15 to 20 people in some way participated in this incident and stood watching.
What would possess somebody to stand around and want to cheer on or watch such a thing?
Why didn’t someone call for help?
Or run and go tell somebody?
What is going on in the minds of our young people that they could get caught up in such a thing…and then become party to it by standing around and doing nothing…or worst…jumped and became more than a watcher?
Everyone of those kids should be pulled into court…and facing some type of charges.
Many were busy lighting up their cell phones taking pictures of the crime…and even videotaping it…a type of criminal voyeurism.
But no one called for help…or tried to stop what was going on.
I cannot imagine such a thing. There is not anything that I can see going on…that I would not try to stop…and help. I have seen men fighting their girlfriends…and gotten involved. I have stopped fights between kids. I have gotten between mama-bady-daddy drama. And did it because I just can’t turn a blind eye to anything that I feel is wrong…or harmful…or potentially dangerous to someone.
I don’t have a fear of getting involved. But I know that many people do not think like this. And I know that many people may feel that I am putting my ownself in jeopardy. And if I stopped to considered that…I might act like everybody else.
But I am glad that I do not. I’ve got nieces and nephews…and a son that I have to think about. I just don’t want anything to happen to them. So, let me try to clean up the problems now. Later might be too late…for them and me.
But how could I not help somebody?
Or try to?
But I have never ran towards anything in order to be an observer…not even as a child.
That is something which I cannot understand. Why would I run towards gun fire to see what is going on…or just to see who got shot…and laugh excitely about it?
Now, that is stupid to me.
Or, why would I rush to see people fighting?
That’s dumb.
If anything…I go to see if I can help…and whenever I am near a fight I go to break it up. Not to laugh and cheer anything on.
But this is the mentality of people…and it is definitely the mentality of of the kids. Everything is a joke…or funny. But somebody being raped…or killed is not a joke. And certainly not funny…nor is it
entertainment.
This kind of thinking is dangerous for all mankind. If the new group of adults coming into this world are a bunch of desensitized robots…uncaring…unfeeling…unthinking…uncompassionate ids….where will this world be?
How safe will any of us be…as the world falls into their hands?
I once had a lover who had been gang raped and sodomized…and who knows whatever else. But I cannot tell you the impact it left upon her…and her life. Every time she went to the bathroom she re-lived that situation. That thing lived with her…it was in her insides and something she could not shake. Though she was successful…as an actress…and part-time music teacher…that incident marked her private life. That gang rape greatly colored her life in the in-between time.
She was not big in size…small stature. So, I can imagine just helpless she must have felt…not to mention the terror of it. She never really talked about it except to say that it had happened. And I did not push it.
So, how could someone…20 or more people witness something like that and not do anything?
How could we…any of us be safe if everyone walking around us only cares about themselves…and have no compassion for anyone else?
There is a great need for serious consideration to be given for where will mankind be and the type of world and societies will dominate this planet in the next 20 to 30…or 50 years from now. Everyting is a joke. Blood…rape…murder…crimes of every conceivable kind and inconceiveable kind are happening today…and very high rates…escalated rates. And nobody is paying attention to it.
And not only a need for serious consideration…but something has to be done now regarding the
attitde of our youth to crime and criminal acts. And high officials should be concerned now about what affects desensitizing our teens to blood and criminal acts via computer games, movies, music videos etc. will have upon the increase of future criminal acts and the types of crimes prepetrated…and to what degree these crimes are acted out.
Some feel that the lack of anyone getting involved had to do with fear. But if their fear is that great…then they should fear how much worst it is going to be if people continue to allow criminal acts to take place without something being done.
FEAR?
They don’t have any fear yet…let the criminals continue acting out as they are acting out.
Fear only empowers those perpetrating the crimes. Fear is the biggest thing that they have going for them. That is why the Bible says….‘Fear not.’
The last thing you want to do…even with an animal…is appear to be affraid. Or in other words…fearful.
What happens when fear is taken out of the equation?
Then you have power…because the power ceases to be in the hands of him or them that are trying to terrorize you. It is one of the first lessons you learned really early in life. Usually while you were in grade school when it came to bullys…who were only as big and as bad as you let them be. But did you ever finally stand up to one…and saw how quickly the table change between you and them?
While living in Chicago…I was at wits end. I was being stalked…something I would suggest that no one try to do today. Because I am no longer that person…believe me.
But I became a nervous wreck under that situation. I was well on my way to having a nervous breakdown…had it not been for the Lord. I could not walk down the street without stopping everytime I heard someone walking behind me. Being in a large city like Chicago…this happened quite often as someone was always behind me…just not normally the person who was terrorizing me. In the evening when I went home…I would throw open the door to my apartment before entering and step in like police detectives…leaving the door wide open behind me. I would go peering from room to room trying to make sure no one was in my apartment…which definitely left me open for the person to enter into my apartment behind me. But when fear has you…it has you…and you do not think clearly. And when you are not thinking clearly…you leave yourself open for anything to happen to you.
I was tormented by fear. So much so…that by time I finally got through it I vowed never again. I will never go back to being in that state again. Under any circumstances…or by anyone.
But at the end…the tables turned. It took a drama turn…and had not God intervened I might probabl
y be in prison now…and there for the rest of my life. Because I would have killed the person. I snapped…and in my snapping the tables turned…and my perpetrated went fleeing from me. When I think of it now…it is so Biblical….‘and I will make you enemies flee 7 ways before thee.’ And that is when it ended…when I finally stood up to the person…the phone calls…the following …the threats….everything…and I vowed ‘never…ever again’
And I have never feared anything…or anyone ever again.
And this is how I know how big a weapon fear is.
And those who use it…count upon it being so. They dominate neighborhoods…housing complexes…streets…cities…etc…using fear.
So, the more that people cease to do anything…if indeed they are fearful…most of them just don’t
care. But those who are fearful of doing anything to stop or aid somehow a victim of a criminal act…the more you empower those who perpetrate the crimes. Thereby, in the end causing yourself a greater harm…because you did nothing. And those that you fear become stronger and more aggressive. It is an unending situation…better to deal with it sooner rather than later.
If nobody cares about your neighborhood…then you should. Because you do live there too. And you should never allow anybody to chase you up or down a street…or make you run…or have you affraid to leave your home.
What happens when you become the victim?
And you will…one way or another…if you allow crime to fester unrestrained…or actively sought to be kept down.
I was pretty sick reading about that man who had imprisoned his own daughter in a very small basement space for over 20 years of her life…breeding kids with her. And all of this while living just above his daughter in the house with his wife…her mother. That story made me sick for such a long time…so much so I could not talk about it…much less write about it. But it is an example of the type of stories that we are reading and hearing about today. But if this is what is going on today…hideous crimes…stomach turning crimes. How much worst will these stories become in the future…if this trend continues?
Criminal activity is on an increase everywhere…and much of it we never even hear about until somebody leaks something. And many others because the value of the poor people who have fallen into the hands of some very sick people…well, their lives were just not worth looking into.
So, no investigation were ever initiated.
Take for instance, this story….
It is very unfortunate when police officials pick and chose who is or is not worth looking for. So many people go missing without the police going out to look for them while they might have been found yet alive. But if they…any of these poor women in this story been some rich socialite, or high city official or lawyer…somebody with some money or some type of clout…no amount of expense or time would have been spared on their behalf.
There is an imbalance in the world…and it stretches all the way around the world.
http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/bodies-found-in-anthony-sowells/746332
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html
I know I have told this story in an earlier blog here… www.bsmith101.wordpress.com. It is when one night…late night…actually early morning…when my cousin, Vincent, was on his home from having been out clubing. As he neared his apartment…in the dark of night he heard a woman scream out for help. He went running in the direction on the cries and came upon the woman and her perpetrator. He grab the man and flung him to the ground…and then held him down until the police came.
My cousin was a very tall and handsome gay male. I have no doubt that most of his life he had to deal with people snickering about him as he was very effeminate. But he never hesitated to step aside for a woman…or get get up to offer his seat to a woman or elderly person… or help you remove your coat…or pull out your chair and hold it for you as you sat down. He was more a man than most ’so-called’ real men. And not only was he a very nice…but also a very decent person…and caring in every way. He really was someone who would give you the shirt off his back. And if it cost him…he gave to you regardless if he had suffer.
You could not have met a better person than him.
He would have never ran towards a fight to stand and watch it…but to pull the people apart. Nor would he have stood around and watched a young girl or anyone being raped. I wish I had a picture of him…to put in this blog. He was a hero. And we need more like him.
Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees was the same way. His name had found its way into news headlines for more than baseball…more than once because of some act of heroism on his part…when went to the aid of someone.
More people need to do it…and things would change. Just think of 9/11…what would have happened if the people on those first 2 airplanes had been more like the people on that 3rd airplane?
In looking up information of the gang rape…I happened to come by this story. Though I had seen this picture of this woman many times…I never knew her story. But it is sick. In fact, it is beastiality.
She is a socialite…who married a man…wealthy man. He had built a jungle on his property and had a great love for his cats…the type known as ‘lions.’ So, as she started to age and as a means of re-capturing his attention she decided to disfigure herself like this purposely. She is called the ‘lion woman.’ Because she went under the knife to have
her face disfigured into that of a lion.
It is beastiality…in its highest form.
I think she likes it even more now…with all the attention that having it done has given her. Talk about… what women won’t do. Nobody is worth destroying yourself for. 
What a sick mind…and it truly shows what having too much money and nothing concrete to do with…can bring about.
Finally, in closing… I got an comment today on my Chastity Bono blog…which has been getting a tremedous amount of hits lately. This particular person was very disenchanted with my statements regarding Chastity and her sex change. But he used a very
interesting word while stating his point.
That word was… ‘transitioning.’
Interesting…indeed.
Transitioning…
Evidently, this person felt that Chastity’s…or Chad as she is calling herself these days…decision to undergo that surgery to remove somethings and to add some other things… Well, that it is just a simple little transition in life. To a degree we all have to go through some transitioning in our lives, I guess… overcoming some disappointments…some losses…some set-backs…etc. But the altering of ones sex is a bit more deeper than a simple little transitioning phase. And I think most would agree with me about that.
I was reading something on a quakco doctor…one that performs a lot of these type of operations…sex changes…who is now a supposed woman himself. After having undergone the operation himself
many years ago…it seems that all of his partners have been women who ‘underwent the operation.’ He became a woman…and they became supposed men. Which means…they kind of ended up in the same kind of situation that they would have been in…in the first place had they merely remained what they already were.
Sick…
I wouldn’t let anybody who is not clear headed put a knife to me. Most of these surgeons are quakes and definitely…these so-called plastic surgeons.
We are living in a sick world…truly. And we should all be concerned about where this world is going…meaning….in which direction it is headed in. Things are being turned upside down.
And I am not really trying to pass judgement on anyone. Because we all do crazy things…and years later wake up having lots of regrets. I still regret some things…many things in fact. And in the process I have grown. But thank goodness I did nothing that committed me for my whole entire life to a big mistake. I was fortunate…no bless…because many can’t say that.
We can’t change people’s decisions about things concerning themselves…and what it is or isn’t that they want to do. Nor can we force things down people’s throats…or should we try. That is one of the greatest beauties of God…choice. He desires that we should have it…and with the hope that we make the right ones.
Well, the day is almost over. Its been quiet and I am trying to finish up on some things. I want to complete some things before the new
year comes in. I want my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, to be out and available for sale…my website launched. And a couple of other things settled too.
So, I am looking forward to transitioning into
2010…working on some other and new things. And to be well on my way to doing more for the Lord.
And I look forward to it.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
Add comment November 2, 2009
bsmith101
Tags: 15 year old girl raped, black on black crime, Chastity Bono, Chicago, criminal acts, criminal voyeurism, criminals, desenitizing attitudes to crimes, desenitizing teens, fear, gang rape, gangs, instilling fear, neighborhood crime watch, rapist in Cleveland arrested for murder of 6, Reggie Jackson, the Bible, the ideology of fear, the Lion Woman, what women won't do, youtube
Serena Williams nude on cover of ESPN mag…
I was shocked to read that Serena Williams had done such a thing as allow any magazine or anyone photograph her…and put such a photo on the cover of their magazine. I don’t care who they told me was going to do it. They would have gotten a ‘no’ out of me. And that would have been a definite ‘no’…and don’t ever ask me again…kind of ‘no.’
This edition of the magazine had other athletes doing the same thing…I guess. Well, kind of…sort of…some of them did have something on down bottom. But not so for Serena. She is totally nude.
I mean…how do you justify that?
I mean…I know that Serena is proud of her body.
But evidently not proud enough of it…to not allow anyone to talk her
out of her clothes for a few dollars. And I don’t care how much anyone offered her…it was a ridiculous thing to do.
Utterly, ridiculous.
I am embarassed for her…even if she doesn’t have enough sense to be embarassed for herself. Some things are just plain dumb. And that was a dumb thing to do on Serena’s part.
And I am not going to show that picture. If you want to see it google it. That is how I happened to find it.
Ridiculous.
Okay, I’ll give you the link…but not without duress. Now, judge it for yourself. What ashame. But I guess it was just a matter of time before it happened…given some of the photos that I have seen that Serena has taken…and some of the clothes she wears.
I really didn’t like her explosion on the court where she yelled
some vulgar things at the lines woman. But I can understand pressure…and having taken some things…until you can’t take them any more…and finally blow a gasket, as they say. Been nice…and been quiet for some time…just riding along and taking it…untl you finally explode. Because you just can’t take it any more.
It happens. I have had it happen to me too. I took things for a while…then became angry…and then starting tapping things and wanting to fling them over my should as walked passed them. Yelling at the top of my lungs…and feeling like I wanted to smash up the place. It can get like that. It happens. But you don’t go on and do ridiculous things like stripping off all of your clothes and allowing your naked body being exploited by being exposed upon the cover of magazines.
How dumb is that?
At some point you have to take yourself seriously…even when nobody else does. You have to. And you take that attitude of pride and strength…mantain it…and walk around in it…and in your dignity…making others take you seriously too. But you can’t do that by making a fool of yourself.
You do it by continuing to be your best. By continuing to out perform them. But you don’t start crackling and falling apart…into pieces. Crackling and falling apart is easy. We can all fall apart and go to pieces…and most of us have. But sometimes you have to fight falling apart…and particularly in the public eye. And especially among those who disrespect you…and don’t give you your just due.
But you simply cannot fall apart in the public eye. Or do stupid things.
You don’t set yourself up to have people to be whispering about you behind your back.
Nor do you set yourself up to have people smirking and smiling…and laughing at you behind your back…and in ways that are less than flattering.
YOU DON’T DO IT.
How do you go into a room full of decent people and your naked body has been plastered all over magazine covers?
You can say-
“It was art.”
Maybe in Greece and Rome in the 16th through the 18th Century. But not today. A nude body in…or on a magazine…or in a music video…is not considered art…not today. It is considered what it is…sexual in nature. It is not meant to bring about artistic appreciation…but bring about certain emotions…and desires.
So, why set yourself up for that, Serenda?
It is not sexy. And certainly not an intelligent thing to do.
And certainly not something to do for somebody who considers herself to be a role-model to young black women and girls.
Definitely, not.
At any rate…that explosion of words directed at the lines woman… on the part of Serena is going to cost her more than the $5,000 fine levied against her during the US Open in New York City, this past summer. It looks as though they are not going to allow her to play in the Australian Open either as an additional pentalty for her outbursts…and a supposed threat to kill the lines woman. Or something that the lines woman claims she took as a threat against her life.


I had said that winter was going to be early this year. And guess what?
I was right. Earlier last week it started snowing.
Not only is going to be earlier this year…but it is also going to be a cold and
snowy winter.
So, I definitely hope that you are preping yourself for it. Might not be a bad idea to start stocking up on some key things…like extra toilet paper, can goods, tea, coffee or hot chocolate etc….and can milk etc…for just in case. And maybe a candle or 2…and matches.
Hope you had a beautiful day. I have been in for the past few days. Been slightly sick…but God is yet good. And I am getting stronger.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
Add comment October 23, 2009
bsmith101
Tags: nudity, Serena on ESPN Magazine cover, Serena Williams, sex and media, Sexual Revolution, Surviving under pressure, Tennis, U.S. Open
Honor student killed…Derrion Albert …Chicago murder

I have long held Chicago as being one of the most dangerous places I have ever lived in. The level and the types of crimes I found there far exceeded and surpassed any I had ever encountered anywhere else…including New York.
While following this story as best as I could…being that I no longer watch TV or ever take out the time to read any newspapers. I was stunned while standing in the laundromat doing my laundry this week. When the story
came up as an indepth report. But that is not what stunned me…but hearing that there had been 40 murders of young people in Chicago this year alone. That was not only stunning but shocking to me.
How could a problem such as gang or teen violence be so far out of controll?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/27/beating-death-of-derrien_n_301319.html
Though in Chicago…gang activity involves more than just teens…as 30 and 40 year old men…and I guess maybe women (and young girls)…are involved in gangs. They actively recurit seeking out new members wherever they want to.
http://news.aol.com/article/derrion-alberts-beating-death-captured/690024
When I lived in Chicago, Dr. Reynolds (Dr. A. L. Reynolds of 6th Grace United Presbyterian Church) told me how they…some gang members had threaten to take his life. And had annouced to him that they were going to come into his church to take who they wanted. That is the kind of pressure that many face in Chicago. They are under the constant threat of malicious malice by gangs…daily facing violence and all kinds of gang related activity. With the gangs believing that they control everything… and everyone.
The problem is greater than the issue of ‘black-on-black crime.’ By far greater. It
is one of hate… and hating in particular of seeing someone… anyone raise above the preceived notions or standards of degradation… which many wallow in urban ghettos.
There has always been this problem of black folks hating to see other black folks moving ahead…or getting further in life than themselves. But I guess this trait is something which is in many…meaning that it is human in nature.
When you consider history where several pockets of successful black folk, business owners, who were killed and burnt out of their homes and business prior to the 1960’s. One such group was in Tulsa, Oakahoma, in 1921…and another in 1923 in Rosewood, Florida…as well as, other places. But what happened to them happened because they were black…successful…and the communities in which they lived (their black communities) were flouishing… growing. They became booming and profitable…too booming and too profitable.
These 2 massacres, one
known as the Rosewood Massacres and the other as the Tulsa Riots…were the burning out of and hanging of black folks. They were not the acts of black- against-blacks. But they were the product of white people against black people. And these acts were very violent…and came about as a means of terrorizing the black people in their areas…as well as, a means to destroy everything that they had…and to keep those ‘Negros’ in their place. Meaning…not thinking they were like white people…or equal to white people.
I guess you could sort say that those boys that attacked Derrion Albert…beating him across the head with railroad irons, kicking and stomping at him…appeared to have had simular sentiments. They wanted to keep him down. Wanted to make an example of him…to others who might think like him…or desire to be like him. Others who got ideas about learning…and achieving…and leaving the ghetto behind them.
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/rosewood-massacre-1923
http://rwor.org/a/v21/1040-049/1043/tulsa.htm
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/massacre/
Considering the nature of man…that we would all be salvage beast except for the grace of God. When you think of the type of violence that the kids regularly watch and have become desentized to via movies, television, videos and video games…there is little
wonder that we are seeing all of what we are seeing today. Kids out on the streets banding together to attack one another…whether it is East Coast or West Coast…or Central America…their is a big problem with it. Kids taking pleasure is beating down somebody…and everybody running to watch. Or walking into schools or in college classrooms and shooting down everybody. It is all very much the same whether it be in Columbine, Colorado or South Side Chicago.
Yes, there is a problem. And it is neither black or white. It is a human problem.
Out of all those people…who ran to help Derrion?
Out of all of those people standing around. Who tried to help him?
No one.
In fact, it is said that Derrion…himself became an innocent victim…because he went to help someone else.
Let’s look at this….
Who did they kill?
Someone who they realized had a future.
Someone whom they recognized was going someplace.
Somebody who’s ambitions were greater than hanging out on the streets.
Somebody who wanted to learn something… achieve something… do something with his life… more than what they were doing.
While they had made bad choices…lots of them concerning their own lives…and the direction that they were headed in. Now with some on them on their way to prison behind their very senseless murder Derrion…a very innocent person.
But was it necessary for them to steal somebody else’s dreams…or to want to?
To take away Derrion’s life…and try to defeat him by killing him…because he refused to submit to them…and the streets?
Because Derrion wanted more out of life?
Becuse he saw where he did have a future…and could make something out his life?
Because he chose to learn something…and then to do something with what he was learning?
It is kind of like those massacres which took place in Tulsa and Rosewood…and other placess…when you really look back on it. They were about people who hated others because they became successfull…were progressing. And that is why Darrion got attack too…and was eventually murdered.
He was progressing.
Progressive…not stuck in a box.
Aspiring to be something.
He knew that there was more to life… lots more that it had to offer him… than gang life…and gang activities.
Derrion was a 16 year old honor student on his way to college. He had visions of making something out of his life. He was on the path to going to college. And gang life…and hanging out in
the streets of Chicago just did not fit into his plans.
So, therefore, Derrion was a danger to them. Because Derrion’s mind wasn’t warped by the reality of what was around him…into believing that there was nothing else…or something better. That living as many lived around him…was all that there was.
And…so, they saw that Derrion was different and they killed him for it. Like those progressive black communities of Tulsa and Rosewood…were burnt down and destroyed until there was no hope of them ever coming back.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/28/chicago.teen.beating/index.html
The problem with Chicago…is that their gang problem should have been dealt with long ago. In 1981 when Mayor Jane Byrne moved into Cabrini Green, a housing project on Chicago’s West Side…it was because people couldn’t even step outside of their apartments without becoming moving targets for target practice by the gangs which controlled their project.
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/photos/2009/10/mayor-byrne-moves-into-cabrini-green—1981.html
When gangs take over projects…hotels and are allowed to run wild and rule as they have in Chicago things can only get worst…and worst. And they have…the levels of criminal activity in Chicago escalates from year to year.
There is little wonder why it was not chosen for the site of the 2016 Olympic Games.
I was living in Chicago when the World Soccer Games was held there. It was beautiful and festive. Though Chicago is always beautiful. But until the issue of gangs and crime is seriously addressed in Chicago…the lives of those living there will continued to be threaten by senseless acts of criminal activity.
And as long as the gang issue is considered a ‘black issue’ or a ‘minority thing’ nothing will ever be seriously done about it.
And that goes for gang criminal acts everywhere.


Today started off dark and rainy. Thought that it was going to rain all day…but the sun is out now. But there are still a few dark clouds in the sky. So, I guess it might start raining again later. But I hope that you are enjoying your day no matter what the weather is. And always keep in mind sunny or dark…that God loves you.
I am not going to get rid of this picture. And no, I will not get tired of looking at it.
It really does make me think of the weather that will soon be on its way.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
Add comment October 13, 2009
bsmith101
Tags: Black History, black on black crime, Cabrini Green, Chicago, Columbine, dealing with death, death, Derrion Albert, gangs, ghetto violence, housing projects, media violence, Rosewood Massacre, teen violence, teens and gangs, Tulsa Massacre, urban ghettos, violence, violence and teens
Michael Jordan’s acceptance speech… Tyra Banks getting real…
When I read the article on Michael Jordan regarding his acceptance speech… during his induction into the Basketball of Hall of Fame… I thought based upon the slant given the article that-
“Okay, maybe he had too much to drink.”
You know…celebrating. It is after all a great
honor.
But when I woke up this morning it dawned on me…about all those years how Michael had probably sat around and listened to a bunch of people taking credit for his success. P
eople who stood up at podiums with their chest stuck out like his coach at the Univeristy of North
Carolina…and all the others who Michael slapped in the face…and shook them up a bit while delivering that speech Friday night. And I thought about all the people who we encounter in lives who tell us we will never make it…and how we need
to consider doing something else…or going to another school…move some place else…or not go on to college…etc…etc…
And then years later you emerge as the greatest basketball player of all times…after time after time…you were told that you didn’t have what it took … or would never make it into the pro’s…or that your were too dark…hair to nappy…that you are not smart enough…can’t talk right…etc…etc…
And so what do you do when all this is coming at you?
Well, if you’re like a Michael Jordan and half of the other black folk in this
country…you pushed harder…worked harder…always striving to perfect that which they told you…you could never do…and were not good at.
It is true. Behind closed doors white counselors, educators…school officials…coaches…tried to sway us not to go on to college…not to pursue our dreams…not to climb any mountains…or swim any seas. Working tirelessly to deffer ever dream that could be deffered…that is what they did. But you looked
towards the stars any how…pushed against the grain…filtered through the forces…and worked harder to make it happen. And one day it did.
Then along came those who had tried to quash your dreams…take away your aspirations…steal your hopes…ripe out your future…to feed you where they wanted to keep you…and all black folk. And here they came as the rings started mounting up…championship after championship…contract after contract…deal after deal…and everybody now singing your glory. All of them… all accrediting your fame to what they did for you.
So, yeah…I can understand Michael Jordan when he stood up at the reception fo
r his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame…finally deciding to clear the air…wanting to set the record straight. Setting the record straight…that it wasn’t them…but him. Telling every wrong thing that they had ever done to him. It all had made him work all the more harder to get to where he has…the greatest of all times…the one that all the young ball players coming up behind him are compared to…if they
show just the slightest bit of promise. He became the marker…the standard gage for talent…that they measure the young boys by today.
But like Muhamumed Ali… there will only be one Michael Jordan. And on his night…he can say whatever he wants to…and if truth hurts then let it…as well it should.
After years of holding it in Michael deserved a chance to let it go. And boy…did he.
I know so well what it is like to have people try to re-direct you from your path and tell you-
“You can’t make it.”
When I was in high school I began sending out applications for college. This following my high school counselor telling that I was not college material…and should consider going to business school instead so I could learn a trade.
Needless to say…I didn’t listen to him. I pushed harder…sending out all
my own applications and doing all my own research about colleges and what they had to offer. And this way before there was anything that even remotely looked like a computer…and before such materials became so widely available in libraries or any other place outside of a school counselor’s office.
Following my graduation from high school I was off to college. I had to figure out all that financial aid stuff on my own…but I did it. My first year into college…I started getting offers to do radio. Though our college did not offer any courses in communication…we did have a radio station. And I almost lived in that place.
Though I had gone to school to become a lawyer…I recognized some faults that I had. For one, I hated to talk in front of people…or read anything out loud. I also possessed a speech impediment. And this is why I decided to go up to campus radio station to see about getting on air…I thought that it could help me.
I never thought that I would develop a whole other persona. I just thought that if I could play music and talk every now and then…that it would help me to become less introverted…and that I would develop more confidence when talking with and before others. Attributes which I definitely felt would be key for me to have…in order to be able the best lawyer I could be…and an effective one for my clients. So, I almost lived in that radio station…covering almost every shift…and job available to me in our little station.
I taped every program…and still do…listening over and over again for everything I did or said…what I liked or didn’t like. I never realized that
this was creating a radio personality…or anything close to it…not to mention that I had never considered ever working in radio. But the offers started coming in…followed my tons of fan mail. Who would have ever have thought such a thing would or could have happened to me?
And finally, I decided to take one of those offers to do radio professionally and the rest is history.
But it never would have happened had I listened to my high school counselor. When I walk into oour teacher’s credit union…I see his face smiling down from upon the wall…as they have a very large painting of him hanging on their wall. And I sometimes wonder-
“How many black students had he told not to go to college?”
And if he were alive today…and read about me…I have no doubt that he too like Michael’s past coaches…from his high school and/or colleges years…and anybody else who ever tried to discourage him…would poke out his chest and try to take a piece of the credit. When he did nothing at all to aid me…but everything he could to deffer me.
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/09/12/jordan-goes-from-classy-to-clown/
To view the CLICKS BELOW just double click a few times and ignore the text.
I have to admit that I have vast respect for Tyra Banks and the job that
she is doing…knowing good and well that many teens look up to her as both their she-ro…and model for whom they would like to embulate.
The topics she covers on her show are provocative, intelligent, moving…and touch upon many topics that no one else has dared to examine in quite the same way that Tyra has. Topics such as black women bleaching their skin…teen
pregnancy…teen prostitution…racism…gay for pay…and shows about loving and respecting youself…all of which our teens are in dire need of seeing and hearing. And for some reason Tyra does it so well…that they enjoy watching her. And I guess it all comes down to them knowing and feeling that Tyra is real…and dealing from her heart.
And she talks about fashion…and realizes how important it is to them…our
teens.
Recently while sitting out on my parent’s front porch, I have noticed this young… Well, I thought she was a young woman…but since school has started back…I now realize that she may well be a teen. But she is so thin…super thin. She looks like 2 sticks walking. Though she appears healthy…nobody without any degree of body fat can possibly be healthy.
Whenever I see her, I find myself staring at her because I have never seen
anybody as thin as she is. And I can tell by her dress…that she feels she looks good…maybe even sexy.
But to me…she looks anything but sexy. Because I know she definitely is a product of an eating disorder. The product of disillusion…who bought into that ‘thin is in’…and beautiful. If she could see herself as I do…she
would know that is a lie…an absolute lie. Because anyone the size of this girl could never be beautiful…because she looks sick.
And this is why a Tyra Banks is so important…because she works hard as dis-spelling the myths.
[youtbe=http://www.youtube.com/v/Pisyysp24rw&hl=en&fs=1]
Well, I finally did in the glasses totally and completely. Now, they are so
broken that I can hardly use them. So, you can imagine how hard it was for me to just trying to get through this blog…trying to see through a pair of glass which I have to tuck tightly down on nose in order to see as best I can through them. But I made it through…and now I can go to sleep.
Enjoy your Sunday…how you get out to church.
It was dark all day today…then finally rained just a little…but remained
to be dark. We are well on our way to an early winter…and I hope you are gearing up for it.
Hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
Add comment September 13, 2009
bsmith101
Tags: Basketball Hall of Fame, black and proud, Men's Basketball, Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Sports, taking responsible for your own failure or success, Tyra Banks, youtube
Tonex… and being honest…
Somewhere between being half asleep and awake…I laid listening
when something so impacting caught my attention. I was forced to turn over and pick up my son’s laptop to see who was talking.
Taking up my broken glasses and trying as best as I could to fix them upon my nose…I glared into the monitor screen of the laptop.
I have heard many conversations on being gay…involved in the homosexual lifestyle…but none as touching or as honest as
Tonex’s discussion with Lexi.
Now, for those of you who do not know who Tonex is…well he is a young gospel recording artist…now turned pastor and gospel artist. And Lexi is a gospel recording artist with a talk show on the Word
Network…a black religious television channel…which I catch by viewing it over the internet.
This season Lexi has set about making her show more sustance filled…hitting hot topics and talking to people in the
black religious world talking about hot and usually taboo issues within the black church.
So, I was awaken and drawn into the discussion wondering who I was listening to talk about having been abused as a very young child at the age of 3 then again at 6. But who was careful to clarify that the choices he had made in his life were his choices… and that he did not want to put them off upon the circumstances of sexual abuse as a child. And that is what made me really start listening to the program.
Oftentimes, people go about playing out their lives and doing things which they want to blame because of past things in their
lives. It is easy to say-
“I did it because of what I had experienced as a child.”
Imagine what kind of world we would be living in if we all set about doing things because of something in our past.
We have all experienced things. Things that we may or may not have shared with anyone else or even our parents. My 2 experiences as a very young child, I never spoke a word of it to my parents…or anyone else for that matter. For what reason I do not know.
I believe as children we feel that certain acts against us are wrong…or that something was not right about it. Our little minds as a child had no way of quite understanding the acts. For the most parts we were not even participants…though the act was perpetrated against us. We felt
it…went throught it…but could not wrap our little minds around it (what had happened).
Some became marked by it early…and started acting out sexually.
But others went on…all the while trying to deal with that hidden secret. And carried it through their lives…and it marked every experience…every relationship…and every thought that they have had.
What struck me as interesting was how honestly Tonex was able to articulate some very true and highly mis-understood things. Many outside of the life have no understanding at all of anything gay…except some mis-concepts
that they have developed on the subject.
They fail to understand that not just straight people can develop deep and loving relationships with one another. And that these relationships can run as deep as any of those of any person.
But these relationships though the people involved may feel is
right…but yes…it is out of alignment with the word of God. The feelings…attractions…etc…are not really real. It is a spirit. And this spirit is just as strong as any spirit that can attach itself to anyone.
And unless God brings you…or them out…they continue to linger in the feeling that what they are
doing is alright. What many do not understand is…is this…that it is through God’s grace and mercy that we are all save. People say that they believe this… and that they know this. But they don’t… not really.
It is through His love
that we who have come out…have emerged from the lives that we once lived (be it drug abuse, adultery, fornication, lying, stealing, lesbanism, homosexuality etc…). Because without Him none of us would have come out of anything.
I admire people who are honest. That whole on the DL thing…on down-low thang…distrubs me. Because it is littered with lies…and deception. It thrives based upon falsehoods…and may times denial.
I like honest people. People who know they are battling with something and are looking toward God for deliverance.
I can see the work that God is going to do in the life of Tonex…because he is what God loves. Tonex is someone who is not afraid to be honest…yet loves the Lord…and wants Him to do a work in him. And not ashamed to say-
“I am waiting on Him to do it while I battle living in this thing.”
What a great program that Lexi had with Tonex. Both she and
Tonex through that show did a glorious work. I am sure that someone fighting to find themself emotionally and sexually…and perhaps has turned against the church for having turned against them…found strenght in that show. And confirmation of the fact that God is important even in their life…as they continue to battle with the demons that dwell within them.
But God shall truly give them the victory…if they continue to trust and believe. And not grow weary.
Love you, Tonex. Your honesty will fall upon the hearts of many. And I look forward to continue to see the great works that God is going to truly do through your life and through your honesty. Many may not understand it…but it is not for the many. But for those whom God intends to hear it…it shall reach them. And it will do a work in their hearts.
Married for 4 years, Tonex fought with the demons. But found that the draw was too great…and eventually came out of his marriage.
He battled over his singing career though having won many awards…while trying to deal with the
demons drawing him. And for a while turned away from performing and recording.
The demons…the demons. We fight them everyday. We all do no matter what they may be…but we fight them. There are times when we have all submitted ourselves to them. And if it had not been for the
Lord…we would still all be in them.
It is a subject rarely proached by the black church except as thing of a joke. But there is nothing funny about it. And the problem is in the black church as much as it is everywhere else. ..for the devil has many captives everywhere and in all kinds of snares.
Though I admire Tonex’s honesty regarding his sexual issues. A Pastor, however, is
suppose to be without spot or blemish. Though I know that there are many Pastors who fall far short from being spotless. The office, however, calls for those who are truly
lead by the Lord…that they should not themselves be confused…or be living in confusion. But God, I am sure…will press this upon his mind and heart.
Recently, I had to stop going to our usual church because of the Pastor. He began to start to get too friendly…and believe me it was not my imagination…far from it. Though I had heard stories about him…I had felt that all the problems in his home had turned him around. It seemed that God had stricken nearly everybody in his family…wife…children…etc…with something. And still he hadn’t gotten the message.
Since I couldn’t get out to do anything that I really wanted to do today…I stayed home. Sat out on the porch reading my Bible and then decided to take a nap as I didn’t go to sleep last night until some time after 5 AM
this morning as I busy writing another blog…the one before this one. So, I am a bit tired.
Hope you had a beautiful day.
Well, God bless… and enjoy the rest of your evening.
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
Add comment September 10, 2009
bsmith101
Tags: Donnie McClurkin, homophopic, homosexuality, Kim Burrell, lesbian, lesbianism, Lexi, sex, sex and the church, the Bible, The Bishop's Wife, the black church, the Taboo subject, Tonex, Tonex and Lexi One on One, youtube
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