Percy Sutton a quiet giant…gone

There are generals who pass by and we never take notice of them.   They go quietly yet often times they were the ones who stood in the path… made the right decision… yet got none of the glory.  Percy Sutton was such a man.

In a chance meeting in a New York City elevator…I got on not realizing that I was going to be in the company of a king.  When  he got on I was nearing the floor of  the executive office of  Inner City Broadcasting.  I was on my way to try for…I don’t know what attempt on my part to get  in to see the ‘chief rocker’ Frankie Crocker…as I was trying to get him to hire me for  an air shift…meaning a job as a radio announcer on WBLS. 

When he got on we were a couple floors down from the main corporate floor of  Inner City Broadcasting…in a building he owned along with the radio station  operating in that building, WBLS and WLIB…which were located at the time on 2nd Avenue.

He was tall and striking in his appearance…but what struck me more than anything was how much of a gentleman he was.  We conversed, him and me…as if  he were nobody special…and he called me “My Dear”…in that voice that he had.    He spoke to me  in such a way that I felt special just being in his presence…this quiet giant  and owner of  not only 2  highly prominate radio stations in New York City…but plenty of other real estate holdings about the city…including a law firm…and the world famous Apollo Theater.   And somehow through it all he managed to become Manhattan Borough President, and a civil rights activist.

Though he could have sat back and kicked up his heels and thought-

“Oh, how great I am.”

He never did that…he never rested.   Never got in a comfort zone.  Maybe, it was that he grew up being  only 1 generation away from slavery…as his father had been a slave.  Or maybe it had been that he had been  the 15th and last child born into his family…and most of whom all became lawyers. 

How could that have happened?

With a father just coming up out of slavery and him being a man having such a very large family (which during those times was not an uncommon thing)…but raising children in the  racist atmosphere  of   the latter 1800’s  into the mid 1930’s  and 40’s  and the backward thinking of  many in a state like Texas…I am sure  aided in Mr. Sutton’s  political choices and his diligent work as black leader…and the shaker and  mover  he was later to become  in New  York City. 

I have no doubt that it was his roots…that created the core of who he was…and the things he worked to achieve.   A person who was not afraid to put his money where his mouth and passion was concerning his people.  Often digging into his own pocket to give…invest…encourage…

I recall calling him and talking him about a business venture that I wanted him to get involved in…something that I was trying to do and take to the next level.   He actually got on the line with me and offered me several positive suggestions…challenging me in what I was looking to do.  He did not rush me off the phone…but gave me the benefit of  his long and highly profound expertise.

I have called a lot of people when seeking investors and

others…or expertise regarding projects I have been working on.  Not many of them even took the time to come to the line…but it didn’t stop me from trying.  But when they did and shared me as Percy Sutton…all those other  calls were worth my trying  just to finally get to someone  like Percy Sutton…who took the time to hear me and speak into me wisdom…and share  knowledge and some of  his  business savvy with me.  

I never forgot that meeting…of me and Percy Sutton alone in an elevator heading up to the executive office.   And I had almost forgotten that phone call…I am glad I took the time to call him…and remembered how gracious he was to me.

Mr. Sutton passed the day after Christmas…just days after celebrating his 89th birthday.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121947414

http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=1187

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28sutton.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28sutton.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/hidi-sutton.html

I spent Christmas quietly.   And all through the day I kept getting phone calls.  

It was such a pleasure that so many had throught to call me wishing me  ‘Merry Christmas.’   It was as great as them giving me gifts for my Christmas.  I loved it.

Last night it rain and rain.  Thank goodness it was snow or I would probably be outside right now still shoveling it.   But I love the snow…it’s winter.   So, it comes with ther territory.

Hope you had a safe and joyous Christmas.  Mine was.   And though the furnace is still out…God is keeping me.

Well, we are moving to the end of  the year…just a few more days.  And since coming into 2000…we have seen many changes…suffered some great losses…but yet God is good. 

“Happy New Years.”

I hope that  you and your family   had a very merry Christmas and a good and safe New Years. 

I am looking forward to some great things happening in my life this year.   Each year has been great…and our family is growing closer together again.  I hope it is so with yours too.

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

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

2 comments December 28, 2009

What women won’t do… or men… Janet, Michael,Patti…

Just could not resist snipping this from MSN Entertainment….

Anyhoo…someone else who’s undergone gastric bypass — and a host of other procedures — is giving a tongue-lashing to stars who deny partaking in the latest medical breakthroughs.

“Oh my God! Those liars! I hate them!” Sharon Osbourne railed during an appearance on E!’s.  “They are like, ‘I didn’t do anything.’ Meanwhile, their eyebrows are here.”

Sharon, whose plastic surgeon probably enjoys rolling around in a crisp pile of cash collected from her admitted boob job, butt lift, leg lift, liposuction, tummy tuck and facelift, reserves extra venom for a certain line-free Oscar winner.

“Can’t we all just get along? Eh, scratch that — celebrities are always so much more fun when they’re slamming someone or something. In this bad-mouthing edition, we bring you girl fighting, Botox-baiting and more.

The gastric bypass-slimmed Star (“That surgery saved my life,” she says) also accuses the most senior member of the coffee klatch of conspiring against her, telling the mag, “Barbara set me up.”

(In her onetime couch mates’ defense, they did have to sit through months and months of Jones endlessly babbling about her corporate-sponsored fairytale wedding to her Prince Charming, also known as Al “Legs of a Stallion” Reynolds, whom she split with in March. That would be enough to make anyone a mite cranky.)

But of a truth (as the Jamaicans say)…if I were to step into an elevator with just me and Star Jones…I probably wouldn’t know it was her.  Because I think she did more than just that gastric thang.  Her face looks different.  And I know weight lose can do that…but…not like that.     

And I have stepped into elevators with plenty of people…believe me.   It is not hard to in New York.

Once while dropping off a package at Writer’s Guild of American, on 57th Street, I stepped into the elevator to find myself in it with Ed Bradley.  You will not know how shocked I was to look up and see that it was him.

“Ed Bradley,” I exclaimed without thinking. 

It must have been the way that I said it…because I think I frightened the guy.

Then there was the time that I got into an elevator and found myself alone with Frankie Crocker.  And I will never forget the time it was me and Percy Sutton alone on an elevator…what a handsome and very kind gentleman he was.

And, oh…yes.  Going back to Ed Bradley…when the elevator door opened and Ed got off…he said-

“Hi, Leslie.”

And she said, “Hi, Ed.”

And for a moment I thought I was home watching “60 Minutes”…as Leslie Stale got on the elevator with me just as Ed  Bradleyvacated it. 

That’s New York, baby.

Thanks,

MSN Entertainment…here’s the link if you want to read the rest.

http://tv.msn.com/tv/hotgossip/10-13-08_3/?GT1=28103&silentchk=1

But what won’t women do?

I mean I am all for looking good and everything.  But what happened to-

“Growing old with grace?”

Sharon Osbourne has had about everything done that could be done…all of which Tina Turner comes by naturally. 

And my goodness…doesn’t Patti LaBelle look good for a woman in her 60’s?   (though Patti did get a nose job some years ago)

I think I will just love what God has given me…He after all is a God of perfection.  

So, how can you improve upon that?

In regards to everything else… 

Well, God doesn’t make us fat…we do that to ourselves.  And some of those grotesque family features which some of us ‘just can’t stand.’  Well, overtime they mellow out…and over time…   Well, it all comes kind of comes together. 

The problem is…we see ourselves through everyone else’s eyes.  Or better yet…what we think is through ‘everyone else’s eyes.’  When really that is an impossible feat. 

Appreciate what God has given you. 

I learned that lesson one night while working on that job which I told you in an earlier blog was the worst job I ever had…everyone hated me there.  I was in management…my signature was being falsified on various company documents…everytime something went wrong ‘I was to blame.’ 

It was the worst possible circumstance…and I started thinking about suing the company…but God told me ‘no don’t sue.’  You have to read that blog if you want to find out the whole story…but that company ended up paying me…and paying me for a very long time…and I did what God told me not to do.  I didn’t sue them…and I got paid anyhow (hundreds of thousands of dollars)…this is God. It would have never have happened any other way.  And I haven’t had to work a day since. 

But one day while working…I was handling some business at the front counter and a woman and her male escort approached the counter.  She had been burned severely.  I could tell that at some point she most have been very attractive…but that was all gone now.  Yet, she and her escort…I called him that…but he was the man with her…they were having a good time.  They laughed and chatted as though she hadn’t a mark on her face at all.  That is when I realized…after years of thinking of myself as being ugly…that God doesn’t create anything ugly. 

We may not like what we have been given…but it is not ugly.  And Barry Gordy and the Temptations were right…beauty really is skin deep.  And that other guy was right too…”beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Was that Shakespeare who said that?

It all reminds me of Michael Jackson…just too much money and having nothing to do with it.  Nothing to do…but to sit around and think-

“How can I mess up what God has given me?”

And truly if ever there was a crime…it is what Michael did to himself.  When you look back on all those old pictures of him…you have to wonder how in the world could his mind have been so twisted with regard to his looks.  The boy was handsome…the man is a nightmare. I have always felt deeply for Michael.

Speaking of the Jacksons…Janet isn’t doing well these days.  Recently she had to put off her tour.  I understand that she is suffering from vertigo.  It is a state of dizziness. We pray that God will remove that illness from her…and from my aunt Kate.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20183520,00.html

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20183520,00.html

http://www.theinsider.com/news/1262331_Janet_Jackson_s_Mystery_Illness_Revealed

I have an aunt who suffers from it, our Aunt Kate.  It has been many years now…with it recently being more presistent now she told me the last time we spoke.   No one has to tell me about dizziness…and I am sure you either.  I suffered a head injury and occasionally have my moments.  I couldn’t imagine wanting…well, nobody wants it…being dizzy all of the time. 

All I can say Janet pray and have a firm believe in God…it will see you through it all.    And many times…He gives intervention.  He is just that good.

Well, be encouraged all…     God bless…and thanks for reading.

Please be sure to share this blog site with your friends.

…pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com 

God bless…and thanks for reading ©2008

Add a comment October 15, 2008