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Boxing Is Dead

CMP — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:01:37 +0000

There is much talk about the Mayweather/Ortiz fight… the cheap head butt, the cheap punches, the yelling match between Mayweather and Larry Merchant… we can discuss those things forever. If you didn’t see the fight, thankfully we have YouTube so you can catch all of the controversy that you missed and if you did see the fight, you can watch it all over again. But this fight has me thinking about the state of boxing.
I didn’t order this fight. I refuse to order the rematch and the only fight that I’ll be ordering in the near future is the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, I digress. We can all agree that boxing is not what it used to be. The Klitschkos control the heavyweight division and at the end of the day, it is the heavyweights that draw people to the sport, no matter how great the lighter weight class fighters may be… folks loved Leonard, Haggler, Duran, Camacho and Hearns but they fought in the era of heavyweights like Holmes, Spinks and Tyson. In the 1990’s we had Oscar, Tito, and Roy Jones Jr., but they fought in the era of Tyson, Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. Heavyweights are always the draw. If there were 3 to 4 great heavyweights, we wouldn’t be craving a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight. That is one of the reasons why boxing isn’t what it used to be. Let me also say that the fact that boxing is on PPV and not on 3, 6 or 10 also plays a major role in the decline of the popularity of the sport as well. But there is another reason… and it tugs at the core of many issues we see in our inner cities.
Let’s call a spade a spade… African Americans are some of the most athletically gifted people on earth. In many cases African Americans are the most athletically gifted people on the earth. African Americans have the potential to dominate every sport they play. Sports like Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, and Golf… those sports aren’t dominated, let alone played, by many African Americans because they never grew up playing those sports. In case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t too many green spaces in urban neighborhoods. There aren’t too many sports that can be played on concrete… basketball and football (two hand touch) survive in urban neighborhoods. When it comes to boxing, back in the day, inner cities had boxing gyms… interestingly enough, back in the day, when you had a problem with someone, you threw hands. We don’t have too many gyms in inner cities any more. We also have a lot more murders and a lot more caskets passing through when before the worse you could expect was a black eye and maybe a broken nose.
The culture of violence in our urban neighborhoods is part to blame for the death of boxing. Black people aren’t the only people who can fight… but as I said, black folk are the most gifted people athletically… combine that with our flamboyance, our flair for the dramatic and charismatic personalities and you have individuals who can attract an audience to the ring to see a fight and buy the hype via $65.99 pay per view bill. But when you have individuals whose culture of fighting changes to one of killing, there is no room for the teaching of boxing… the teaching of fighting and the teaching of conflict resolution. There are a lot of great potential fighters in the hood. Unfortunately, many of those potential champs get cut down before they even step in the ring.
© ClarkMiller Publishing

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The “Old Negro” Flash Mob

CMP — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:37:15 +0000

There is a generation gap, a disconnection if you will, in the African American community between the young and the old. Quite frankly, there is a communication breakdown between older blacks (55 and older) and younger blacks (30 and younger). The breakdown is simply because neither constituency knows the best way to communicate to the other; even with the best of intentions, words and their meanings are misconstrued, misinterpreted and miss the mark. But I want to call attention to the older Negroes in the room. If your strategy for helping young African Americans become better people is by talk at them from the bully pulpit, you’re going about it all wrong.
When some of us look at the ills in our urban centers, where many of our folk resides, most of whom are black and brown, some of us look at poverty, unemployment, violence and despair, and we point at the black people who live that reality and say that it is their fault. In 2004, Bill Cosby went on a rampage about the ghetto poor, referring to black people and essentially how their behaviors and mindsets is what hinders them. He said things like, “We cannot blame white people. White people – White people don’t live over there. They close up the shop early… God is tired of you…With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail.” Just recently, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter visited a church to address the congregation as it pertained to the recent flash mob activity and his target – African American youth and the adults who have failed them. He said that behaviors displayed by participants of flash mob activity are damaging to one’s self, others and that participants are damaging to their own race… that some participants ‘have made shame on our race.’ Nutter then proceeded to get the church in an uproar by demanding that young black men need to buy a belt and that young blacks need to comb their hair and that if they want respect and if they want white people specifically to stop being afraid of them when they come in close contact, then they need to stop acting like “idiots.”
While I understand the notion of personal accountability and responsibility, I am troubled when I see this kind of grandstanding by individuals who claim to be part of the solution. Let me say that I do agree however, that our black teenagers need to be mindful of how they act, how they speak and how they conduct their business. Unfortunately, the world that we live does not care about the African American experience that has shaped our psyche… the black experience impacts all black folk; how we think and interact both internally – amongst ourselves, and externally – amongst non-blacks. Walking around with your pants down your knees and your butt-crack exposed isn’t necessarily a good idea. Knowing a vernacular of the English language will not necessarily help you obtain a job. Right, wrong or indifferent, a resume with the name Shalanda, Shaleek or TaQuann at the top will indeed manifest preconceived ideas in the mind of prospective employers. But when people, like Bill Cosby and Michael Nutter, go off on these rants and tangents about what black youth are doing wrong, even with the best of intentions, they don’t help fix the problem.
Here what individuals care not to mention or fail to remember as they create their zero-tolerance policies or speak what’s on their hearts; urban centers like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Camden City, New Jersey are post-industrial cities – meaning that industry moved out of the city and so did the white people… so did the tax base. Sure, there are businesses in the downtown districts, but all that remains in the city are working folk and a higher concentration of poverty. Amalgamate that with that the institutional racism in our society that has been around since Plessey v. Ferguson and you have a culture created that celebrates a despaired existence as an authentic experience; the fact of the matter is many black folk who could afford to leave the ghetto for the suburbs left and didn’t look back, public education in urban areas have and continue to fail black and brown children and public policy does more undercutting of the underclass than the underclass can do to itself.
Another thing that people fail to recognize is that grandstanding by pointing out what’s wrong with young people is a flash mob in and of its self. Did the Mayor believe that he was reaching young people with his ‘fiery rhetoric?’ I wonder if he thought that he was tapping into the behavioral awareness of young black folk… but his ‘sermon’ really did nothing but preach to the choir. For the most part, adults do try their best to help young people in constructive ways, but there is nothing constructive about pointing the finger. Michael Nutter, although he assumed himself helpful providing tough love, did nothing but prove what many of us already know; many older black folk are ashamed of and angry at the younger generations. They are mad at the generation after them because they let the subsequent generations get out of hand and they’re pissed at the subsequent generations because they are ‘out of hand.’ Rather than talk about the deep seeded issues that manifest themselves in high dropout rates and flash mobs or even about where they may have dropped the ball, some of these older Negro adults find it more appealing to get around each other and talk about what young people aren’t doing, what they need to do and how well they turned out because they were raised the right way. The majority of people listening to that speech weren’t participants in flash mobs and they weren’t people who needed to hear it. Those folks simply wanted to touch and agree to complain. My message is simple; yelling, screaming, hollering, complaining, and whining will not get the attention of young people. To get their attention, you’ll have to give them yours.
Now can I get an Amen?

How Not To Handle Finances

CMP — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:13:18 +0000

[Here is a fictional conversation I thought of between 2 friends. The first friend, Laura, is in need of help, and while the second friend, Michelle, offers help, it is not the help the first friend was looking for. If you think this fictional conversation has any value, pass it along to your friends - maybe even a congressman or two.]

“Friend, I don’t know what to do,” said Laura.
Laura’s friend Michelle replied, “Well, don’t feel bad girl. The economy’s rough and times are hard. We’re all going through it.”
“I know but what am I going to do. I mean the bills are piling up and the rent is due and I just don’t know what to do. These credit card bills are piling up; I just don’t have it right now.”
“Girl now you know you can’t be piling up those credit cards, on top of rent and all the other bills. I mean the baby’s daycare, the car-note and groceries. You gotta be smarter.”
“I know, but I had to get some things… I had to pay for school, I needed a laptop, the baby needed some new clothes, and a few other things. I couldn’t wait. I had to get it. You know my job doesn’t pay enough.”
“Well, you’ve got the job at the hospital so they should be taking care of you right?”
“Hell no; I am only making $10 an hour… I am working overtime, paying for bus passes every month. You know, my dad told me about credit cards and buying on credit, but I don’t see how you cannot buy on credit in this economy. It is tough.”
“How much do you owe on your credit card?”
“$4,950.”
“How much is your debt limit?”
“Five thousand dollars.”
“How do you intend on paying that with the job you have?”
“I think I’m going to ask them to increase my limit; you know, until I can pay back the balance. I just paid a bill yesterday. Once it posts tomorrow, I’ll be over the limit, but I need to ask them today so I don’t default.”
“Do you think that they’ll raise it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you looked for a better job?”
“I don’t have time to apply for a new job.”
“What about your sister? I mean she has a good job at the aluminum company downtown. Can’t she help you out so you can pay down your bills?”
“I feel bad asking her to help me.”
“But she lives at your apartment. She could at least give you some rent money.”
“I know but that doesn’t help me if the credit card balance goes into default.”
“Well it doesn’t make sense to get the limit raised without increasing the money you have coming in. That means either getting a better job or getting someone to give you money monthly. Another thing girl, and I know you’re not going to like what I am about to say, but you need to cut back some … that means not getting your hair done every month, not getting pedicures and manicures every two weeks, going to the club every week and shopping for new outfits for the club every week…”
“I really have to do that?”
“Umm, yes girl. You’ve got to cut back.”
“Okay, I guess I can cut back a little bit… maybe one pedicure and manicure a month… maybe my hair gets done once every two months.”
“I guess that’s better than nothing… but what about a better job? How about your sister… don’t forget to ask her for money.”
“I don’t know. I can’t ask her. She works hard for her money. She only lives with me because it’s closer to her job. She doesn’t have to live with me, so she really shouldn’t have to pay.”
“Okay, so you just expect the credit card company to just raise your limit?”
“I hope so.”
“Even so, you’ve got to lower your debt and pay it off. I am not trying to be in your business, but I just think you need to bring in some more money any way you can in addition to cutting your spending.”
“Girl, I’ll think about all that later, I just need to get this limit raised and then I’ll stop spending so much.”
“Well… good luck girl.”
“Thanks, I have a good feeling that they’ll raise it.”
“What will you do if they raise it?”
“Business as usual.”
“And if they don’t?”
“If they don’t… utter disaster friend… just utter disaster.”
“Now you know Laura, this is just a temporary solution.”
“I know Michelle, but a solution nonetheless.”

The Walking Dead

CMP — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:38:53 +0000

I am saddened by the state of affairs of our people and our youth.
I am specifically speaking about the needless situations of violence and destruction that have become a daily thing. One instance is what happened on that Septa bus in Philadelphia a few days ago. There is a video floating around that shows 2 to 3 young males with machine guns looking to shoot a young man for calling into question the parenting skills of a young lady. This young lady smacked her child and a gentleman on the bus made a comment to this lady with respect to her child rearing practices and she didn’t like what he said… so much that she requested that her boyfriend or friends deal with him. Dealing with him apparently meant killing him. Now these folks, the shooters and the young mother, are all facing jail time due to the senseless action of overreacting; not thinking but relegating themselves to solving problems by ending a life.
Just yesterday, I talked to a good friend of mine whom I also work with. He told me some disturbing news about one of the graduates of our school. Since his graduation over a year ago, this young man has been in trouble with the law; he had a couple of drug charges. He got kicked out of school and he was working to get himself back in school. Unfortunately, that will never happen. He sits in a jail cell right now facing 190 years in prison for murder and attempted murder charges. When my friend told me this, I really couldn’t believe it. I was quickly heartbroken… not because I grew up with this young man, because I hadn’t, nor because I spent time working with this young man, because I hadn’t. My heart was broken because as a black man, I had to see the promise of another young black man get destroyed due to poor decision making and the absence of regard for human life. This young man had the potential, as all of youth do, to do something special. Now, that potential opportunity is never to manifest itself into something tangibly constructive.
We hear the stories. We know the times that we live in. It has become so bad now with the news reports of murder by a 17 year old here, a 23 year old there or a 15 year old… murders that involve youth killing other youth. These events take away multiple lives. Some are dead, others are in jail and the families that are left behind have had a piece of them taken away. People then look at these situations and simply shake their heads. They look at the state of affairs with our youth and young adults and they are in many cases immune to the news of death and murder. They say, “These children today are lost and there is nothing you can do… it’s so sad.” I ask why is there nothing that can be done to change this situation. Many people, so called experts in the fields of education, counseling and social work, spend countless days, months and years researching and conducting studies to answer the questions why, how come and how could this happen. Someone one famously said that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the answer.
The answer to those questions is simply that many of our children are dead. Many of our children are the walking dead. They don’t live life, they simply exist; they simply exist to survive. Life to them is not life but rather it is to simply exist day by day. You may say that our children are not dead but that they are actually living each day however foolish or reckless they may be, they live nonetheless… I would argue that they are not living at all; I would argue that they are modern day zombies. Why are they dead you ask? It is because they do not abide in the one who has life. The one who has life is Jesus Christ. Jesus told the people that he came so, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Life is in Christ Jesus and not only does he give us life, but he gives us the best of what life has to offer. If you go to any housing project and look into the eyes of a kid who never had… never had parents, never had an opportunity and doesn’t have hope, you can see that child is not living. When a church-going-Christian speaks these words to a child, or an adult for that matter, they don’t register with the receiver because many times church goers are not living themselves; many times that individual is dead also. If a person hasn’t taken a bath in a week, it doesn’t matter if they have on unclean clothing or if they are wearing the latest tailor made suit from a department store fresh off the rack, they still stink. The same goes for people who know they are dead and people who claim that they are not – you can smell death and no expression that professes life can cleanse the stench of death if there is no life abiding.
As adults or as individuals who are the guardians, providers, protectors and authority figures for the young, we transmit death to our children and to the youth. We do it every day. Sure, we say the right things – go to school and get an education, you have to work hard to get what you want, you must treat people the right way in life – but we do not mirror our words by our actions… how can we when we are sinful by nature? It takes a supernatural being to empower us to do natural things… Thus Jesus Christ is. How about those of us who claim to be Christian? Indeed we were once dead. The bible says that we too were dead in trespasses and sins but we were made alive, yet we are walking around here talking dead rhetoric, behaving in dead ways and ultimately living dead lives. It begs the question, were we ever really made alive? Singing songs on the choir doesn’t mean that you are alive. Speaking in tongues doesn’t mean that you are alive. Being alive means losing your life in Christ – allowing our human nature to be led by the communion of our spirits with the Holy Spirit. Translated, that means rather than operating by how we feel and by what we feel, we are to operate according to the relationship between our spirit and the spirit of the living God. When we do that, we no longer live according to the definition of life provided by this world, because life here simply means death. Rather when we live according to our spiritual communion with God, we live according to His definition… that’s life.
It’s not an easy course to chart. I make my mistakes daily and each day I wake up, I try once again to get things right in my life, in my relationships and in my walk with Christ, yet I live each day. I am not dead. I have hope and my hope is in God. Our children have no hope. I am tired of not speaking the truth in an effort not to offend people. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. Our world is in denial of him and our world is the worse for it. We’ve failed to provide it to them. We’ve failed to live by example. We’ve failed to teach people how to live. How can a man regard the life of his brother when he doesn’t regard his own life? He cannot. Until we begin to speak life into our children, they will continue to take it from one another. The question I have isn’t why aren’t people doing something about it, but rather why don’t people care?
© ClarkMiller Publishing

Insanity

CMP — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:35:48 +0000

Camden City, New Jersey for the last decade or so has been listed as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. Despite that, just recently, the Mayor laid off half of the city’s police force due to fiscal constraints. I work in Camden everyday; I am a high school teacher and in the summers I work for a non-profit agency… I’ve seen the effects of the lack of police presence on the streets. In addition to violence, Camden is also known for its drug activity. I’ve seen more dealers and white suburbanites roaming the streets freely conducting drug transactions than I have in the past. It is so bad; you have addicts daily along highway exits soliciting money from folks entering the city so they can get their next fix. The murders around the city have jumped since the layoffs earlier this year… just recently, 2 individuals were arrested for murder and attempted murder of people they had a beef with – they shot at two people while they were sitting in a car.
I receive emails from the Democrats of South Jersey. I received an email from our U.S. Congressman and he boldly declared that something needs to be done to address the crime, violence and drug activity in the city and he offered a possible solution – one that he clearly was trying to sell to those in the email blast. The plan is to create a countywide police force designed to help the city with controlling the crime and drug activity. In theory, this sounds real good. But there are a few issues that I have with this.
The issue that I have with this countywide force is that it possibly removes more Camden City police officers – up to 51 percent of what’s left of the current force. Whoever decides to join the countrywide police force would have to voluntarily disband their municipality’s police force and according to federal labor law, the county can only rehire up to 49 percent of any municipality’s police force (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/camden_county_regional_police.html).
In January, the Mayor laid off 168 officers of 368 total city officers but rehired 75 officers thanks to a 2.5 million from the South Jersey Port Corporation. If this plan is adopted and Camden’s police force is disbanded, how many officers from Camden does the county intend on rehiring? Foreseeably, the county could rehire all of the cops, but in order for a countywide force to work is for municipalities to pool their resources. If little to any municipalities join, where does that leave Camden? You have to get county buy-in to this plan and that maybe tough. You may get Woodlynne, Gloucester City and Collingswood, but will that be enough? Also, if you’re from Camden, I am sure that you can name off the top of your head about 5 to 6 cops that you know who work in the city. That familiarity amongst residents and officers is a benefit that is overlooked. Unfamiliar faces around the city maybe more faces on the streets, but it may not equate to neighborhood interaction and cooperation. At the very worse, it can lead to police and civilian tensions. I hope that it doesn’t, but with a county police department, it’s safe to say that two-thirds of the department won’t be comprised of Camden City residents or individuals who have just recently lived in Camden or who have family still living in Camden. That too could be problematic.
City council will vote on the initiative on August 9th and the Board of Freeholders will vote on August 16th. This, like every other bright idea, will pass all governing bodies. It seems like every time someone has a bright idea to take operations power away from Camden, it never works out as originally planned – sometimes it works out even worse. When no politician wants to take the blame for the failure, control returns back to the city and things are worse off than they were before. I hope this situation won’t be one of those instances, but I am sure that it will be.
© ClarkMiller Publishing

On the Debt Ceiling Mess

CMP — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:46:49 +0000

There are many things that happen in our country that should show the true colors of our politicians and other officials that are supposed to represent our interest. This entire situation with the debt ceiling is another one of those instances where we can see the true colors of the politicians that we “trust” and also the ones that we don’t trust but never seek to hold accountable.
I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of this whole debt ceiling situation, but what it seems to me is that apparently, and someone can correct me if I am wrong, the chief executive would like to extend America’s credit so that we can borrow more money and print more money so that we can both spend more money and pay back debt that we owe. It would basically be like me saying that I owe a total of $15,000 on 3 credit cards but I want to apply for another card to help pay off the cards that I owe money on in addition to helping with purchasing the things that I need. Republicans want the President to not do that, but rather cut spending and keep the debt limit where it is. The President has decided to cut some spending but in addition to raising the ceiling, he wants to raise taxes or increase government revenue. So not only do I want to get another credit card, I want to get another job and watch my spending, just to compromise so that I can get this credit card – you know, not make my situation look as bad.
First and foremost, whether you are your own individual self or the United States government, if you are in debt, you need to concentrate on getting yourself out of it. My wife and I are working on taking care of our debt as we speak. It is hard and some tough choices have to be made and also sacrifices are made, but living your life on credit is not living at all. We cannot simply stop living on credit and expect things to be good. We have got to pay down that credit. But that means other spending and savings must be sacrificed to pay off debt and pay it off quick. Having said that, one way to make things easier is to get another job to bring in more income, to help pay down debt and keep making the necessary purchases for our household. This all sounds like common sense… so why in the world can’t the government seem to figure this thing out, particularly the Republican Party? They seem to think that you can pay down debt by trimming spending, but not raising taxes? They claim to care about the American people and thinking of them while debating this issue? I don’t really think so.
Listen, if you cannot see that the Republican leadership in Congress is totally not for the middle and working class than you need Holy water thrown in your face. They want no tax increases and no end to tax loopholes (these benefits corporations and the rich), they want massive spending cut (which is to the detriment of the poor, working and middle class) and no raising of the debt ceiling (putting the country in a position where it will no longer be self-reliant – as if it already was). The handwriting is on the wall ladies and gentlemen. Whether or not a deal gets signed, working folk will get the short end of the stick because the President has conceded major cuts in social programs that do help people in need. It seems as though he’s always compromising… when he should and when he shouldn’t. Personally, I think that a deal will get cut, but it will come at a price… we’re just being conned in thinking that the price is a good one, when in fact it isn’t.
Pay attention to the discussions surrounding this nonsense on Capitol Hill. Don’t get caught up in the Amy Winehouse death, Casey Anthony, the lockouts in both the NFL and NBA or anything else that doesn’t impact your life. The debt situation in our country does have an impact on your life – it is a direct one. This is the type of situation that should encourage individuals to get out of their seats in November and vote… that is the only way things can and will change. I cannot remember a time where the poor were as forgotten, collective bargaining was under such attack from the political right and big corporations, or when financial elite get a green light to do all that it seeks to do. I caution all of you to get your heads in the game and get focused because as I always say, things are getting a bit tougher on all of us… things will only get worse. But we have the opportunity to change things, with our voice and our vote. Educate yourselves on the issues, watch and pray; pay attention to what is happening in our world economically… study the scriptures, be informed. Your worst enemy isn’t the government… it is your own ignorance. Just because the politicians, like John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell think you’re ignorant doesn’t mean that you have to be.
© ClarkMiller Publishing

When is the Church is Ineffective

CMP — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:14:41 +0000

I am a very nostalgic guy, and so I have instances of thinking back to my childhood and many good memories are of me with my grandmother in church. I think of the many Sunday services and weeknight revivals and summer revivals under the tent and I get good feelings inside. Indeed the Black Church – the informal network of highly organized yet independently governed protestant churches with an African American population – is the church where I was raised and where I was baptized. I have many good memories in the Black Church. But I must admit… I am in transition.
What I mean by that is that as a kid, the church was mesmerizing and not for nothing, I was taught the fundamentals of protestant doctrine mixed in with some life principals inspired by slavery and the civil rights movement. If I were being honest, that might have been as much of a hindrance as a help. I look back on those experiences; the pews, the old ladies catching the Holy Ghost, the marching choirs, the hymnals… I go back in my memory and I take a look around the sanctuary and I see many older faces… some middle age, a few young and lots of babies and toddlers. I remember the songs and I remember that for the most part, most of those folks have been in church so long that they’ve been swallowed up by Black Christendom. It was an experience but it wasn’t the one I needed. I got doctrine, and I learned about who Jesus was, but I didn’t know him… I knew of what others said of him.
Jesus asked the disciples a key question while he was engaged in his public ministry; he asked them who people said that he was. Then he asked them “who do you say I am?” Jesus was looking for an answer… what wasn’t important was the answer per se, but rather the answer that came from the mouths and hearts of those he sought the answer from. Jesus cared about what each disciple thought of him and likewise he cares of what we, his disciples, think of him.
I think back to those days in the church growing up and I couldn’t catch on to the church and the “spirit.” I thought that the church was passing me by and that I needed to get myself right to catch the train. Yet this Sunday, I was challenged… challenged in my thinking about what the church really is and what the church really means. I came to the realization that maybe… just maybe, the world has passed the Black Church by. The [Black] Church would argue that as Christians, it is our job to be separate from the world and bring people out of the world and to Jesus. I would argue that the [Black] Church has lost its way. The Black Church was the hub for social justice in the black community. With the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, the [Black] Church found itself with a huge hole and/or void… that void was filled by greater attention to saving souls… in the process, folks have been alienated… Not by the Word of God, but by the “people of God” and their traditions, bylaws, and religiosity – the very things that Jesus Christ fought vehemently against.
And what good does tradition do when it comes to walking the Christian walk and living like Christ? I look back on my experiences and I think about the traditions… that is what I hold near and dear; that is what I think fondly about, but then I must ask myself the question: how has the tradition(s) of the Black Church helped me in my Christian walk… the answer – not much, if at all.
I attended a worship service on Sunday that was different than any I’ve ever been in before. It was really different from any previous church/worship experience I can remember. What I saw on Sunday was a community of believers of all shapes, colors, sizes and backgrounds. Where I was Sunday wasn’t a Black Church. The preacher was African American but the church was not dominated by the presence of “blackness.” I am use to a format or order of service that is carefully choreographed and orchestrated. What I saw Sunday was no particular order, just a flow. What I usually hear is a great sermon with the cadence stemming from preacher who preached slaves out of slavery. What I heard Sunday was a message… the entire experience rocked me to my core. I was yearning for more and it left me questioning my Christian walk and the purpose of the Christian church in general and I single out the Black Church because I look at my community, the community where I was raised and the churches that I attended… and my people – Black and Latino people of Camden, NJ, many of whom live in poverty and destitute conditions – they are suffering and they are hurting and there is a place for Jesus in their lives. But in a city with a church on possibly every corner, I must ask the question, what is the church doing wrong?
When is the church ineffective and when does the body of Christ call a spade a spade? We [Christians] talk a good game about outreach and bringing people into the church, so why aren’t the churches overflowing? How come Camden City, for example, is not considered a haven but rather a hell on earth? What made the Black Church effective during the civil rights movement is that ministers tapped into the social justice mission of Jesus and connected it to the movement for social justice. Dr. King sought to continue in that fight after civil rights victories with fighting for the rights of poor people, like Christ, and many in the church abandoned him and ultimately the mission of social justice to focus more on their relationship with Jesus. But honestly, it was through the relationship between the church – who are the people of God – and with their God that made their selfless service for others possible during the civil rights movement. In other words, as we grow closer to Jesus Christ in our personal relationship, then we can bear fruit. Jesus said that he was the vine and that we (the church) are the branches and if we stay connected to the vine, we will bear fruit. I then ask myself, how many churches aka local branches are truly connected to the vine?
When I think back to my prior church experiences, I don’t believe that church traditions brought me any closer to God… Jesus said the same of the Pharisees with respect to the law; and so I wonder how the church has been ineffective in not only my life, but in the lives of so many others? When the church is ineffective, God’s people are stunted and the people in need of Jesus don’t find him there. But what happens when what is effective in the spiritual lives of God’s people doesn’t come from an “organism” that looks like the church? Do we deny it because it doesn’t look like, smell like or sound like where we’ve been told Jesus resides every Sunday? Or do we choose to not limit ourselves by no longer limiting Christ? We’ll begin to break the strongholds of our limitations when we, the people of God, begin to cease from relying on the church to be effective and actually rely on our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be effective.
© ClarkMiller Publishing

Ain’t No Half Steppin

CMP — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:27:54 +0000

Jose Baez’s “Johnnie Cochran moment” has finally come… and he will cash in.
Of course, I have a few thoughts on the Casey Anthony trial, but I am not going to get too deep into it. There is no need for researching this thing like I have a stake in any decision that is made. What I do find sad is that at the end of the day Caylee Anthony is dead and is not coming back. What I find interesting is that Casey Anthony seemed happier that she was not convicted rather than sad that her daughter’s killer is still on the loose… She and her defense team asserted that Casey’s father was the killer, so that would lead me to believe that a mother, regardless of being proven innocent, would remain saddened and angry at the death of her child… but then again, she was in the club right after her child’s death, so I know all I need to know about this woman. I mean her attorney called her a liar and a slut – enough said.
What is also interesting is that for the rest of the world it seemed as if this case was open and shut. There was lying, confusion and stupidity pointing to Casey Anthony killing Caylee. I believe that the prosecution assumed that 12 people from the “rest of the world” believed that the case was open and shut. This, for the casual observer, was a case of common sense. But, it is not about what you know to be true, and we may all know that Casey Anthony is a murderer. It is about what you can prove. I believe that the jury thought the same thing. Quite frankly, the prosecution did a piss poor job at proving anything. There were a lot of holes in this case. The prosecution could not prove without a reasonable doubt that Casey murdered her daughter. In a murder in the first degree case, facts like the date and time of death are important and necessary; they could not and did not say when those facts were. Did the defense give a crazy reason for why Casey didn’t kill her daughter, sure, but folks need to realize that the job of the defense team was not to prove Casey innocent; rather it was to create doubt in the minds of the jurors – which they did. And quite honestly, if you think about it, Casey may have had a little help with “hiding” this crime. I am not saying that the grandparents had something to do with it; I am just saying that a 31 day cover up like that was not a one man operation.
Another point of interest for me was the fact that all of these people are all of a sudden concerned about justice being done. There are injustices where folks are murdered each day; either quickly or slowly. Injustices are committed each day in Camden, New Jersey where little children are subject to the effects of pollution caused by a cement plant located in their neighborhood. Injustices are committed each day in African nations where young girls are raped by men due to the ignorance of these men and because these men feel entitled. Individuals were willing to pay money to attend this trial and march in the streets to pretty much crucify Casey Anthony and it takes a White woman getting exonerated of her crime for society to finally question the legitimacy of the American justice system? People of color are wrongly prosecuted, persecuted, sentenced and killed all of the time. You might say that folks questioned the justice system when O.J. was exonerated. Let me be clear, the justice system was in question throughout the trial and the end result had a two-fold reaction – many blacks felt that the system finally worked, while many, blacks & whites, believed that money was the reason for O.J.’s not-guilty verdict. The justice system was not in question at the end of the case.
I am constantly amazed by people. Each day, someone does something that seems to surprise me. I am not surprised by what people say or do, but by their motivations. Injustice is only important when it comes close to home; that goes for all of us. The fact that there is a perceived lack of justice for Caylee, folks are pissed off and want justice in this case. I have no problem with that. But if you seek justice in one pocket of society, you should seek it in every pocket of society. What happened to that little girl is a horrible thing and at the end of the day, her killers and family will be accountable for her death and disappearance, and so justice will be served, just not here on earth. Yet folks should actually get involved throughout our world about the many screwed up things that happen each day. I don’t just mean athletes and entertainers, but the regular “Joe the Plumber” who spent his/her hard earned money to travel to Florida to see this trial.
But that won’t happen. Folks will question the justice system, because it didn’t work for a little girl… 4 little girls were bombed in a church over 50 years ago and didn’t see justice for another couple of decades; no one questioned the failures of the justice system then. Would folks have questioned the justice system if Casey’s name was Keisha? I have no problem with people who are angry and ready to fight for justice for little Caylee. My problem is when those same people fail to see the parallel situations of injustice each day for little Tyrone, Julio or Maria.
As said by Heatwave and Big Daddy Kane, “Aint no half steppin.”
©ClarkMiller Publishing

The Magnificence of Ignorance

CMP — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 22:43:16 +0000

[In my continuing attempts to refrain from using the term Nigger/Nigga or any such suffix following the same term, I will be using the correct definition for that word, ignorant, in its place. The term Nigger means ignorance or a person who is ignorant. How so – the term was created by Anglo-Saxon Protestants who could not correctly pronounce the correct translation of Black in Latin, Spanish or Portuguese. Thus they were ignorant because they didn’t know any better; in their attempts to insult dark-skinned people, they were actually insulting themselves. And with that said, there is no reason for me, to use that noun in addressing another person of color makes no sense when the word, in its origin, does not refer to an actual color person, but rather to a person who could not properly pronunciate the term black in a foreign tongue.]
One of the more amazing things to me is how life completely changes on you when you become an adult. Of course when you become an adult you can have all kinds of fun. But with adulthood comes responsibility; car note, mortgage or rent, and daycare payments if you have kids. But it’s the little things that even change. Like, McDonalds begins to no longer taste the same. At 18, Red Lobster was the place you take a serious date and a bill of 30 dollars was major, but at 28, a serious date has a bill with a 30 dollar tip attached. But even the music sounds different. The honest truth however is that although the melody sounds different, the music is actually the same.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love “old school” R&B – R&B from the 70’s and 80’s. I had Marvin Gaye’s Come With Me Angel from the I Want You LP playing in my head and then my mind drifted to my lovely wife. I use to play this album in my car as I drove on Route 55 on the way to Rowan to see her on the weekends. My mind then drifted to the sample done by G-Unit featuring Joe. The song was called I Wanna Get To Know Ya. They had a video to it so I looked it up on You-Tube and watched. Now you’d think from the title of the song, these cats would be trying to talk to a really nice looking female and would actually be trying to get to know this lady. Yet that was the furthest thing from the truth. The video is filled with half dressed ladies and basically Young Buc, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks are trying to have sex with these women – side note; Young Buc, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks…all of their names denote money, as in they get money, a la 50 Cent’s track, I Get Money… the innuendo of their names is problematic enough, but I digress. After watching this video, I was quickly reminded that tonight marks the annual magnificence in ignorance called the BET Awards. Oh how I am looking forward to these Negroes making a fool of themselves and of Black folk everywhere. I don’t know who’s been worse to African America: Bob Johnson or D.W. Griffin?
The show is being hosted by the man with the distinct honor of starring in one of the most ignorant movies ever created, Soul Plane, Kevin Hart. Then I look at the list of performances – Mary Mary, Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Kelly Rowland… at this point, I think there is some hope, until I continue reading – Rick Ross, Drake, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Ace Hood (who the hell is he?), and DJ Khaled and then I shriek. Big Chains, “Nigga this” and “Nigga that,” half naked women, men with sunglasses on inside a building… and a bunch of ignorance, mess and sadness wrapped up in a 3 ½ hour program. I know that I wrote a blog about this before, but honestly, I cannot stress this enough – BET ought to be ashamed of itself. I am not precisely sure of who runs BET now, But Bob Johnson and his ex-wife, Sheila Johnson, who founded the network, sold it to Viacom – controlled by a majority, if not all, white board of directors. I could care less if Debra Lee is the CEO of BET… that majority white board of directors tells her what to do. She gets on stage every year at this award show and acts as if she is proud of the product of the minstrel show that is the BET awards and BET.
And let me say this… Tyler Perry was pissed at Spike Lee for Spike coming at Tyler and his minstrel-like movies… Tyler told Spike to “go to hell” and that Black folk are the only folk who condemn each other’s work or creativity as a setback to a race and that other folk didn’t do that… Newsflash Tyler, but Italians are pissed off about the Jersey Shore and many have led a crusade to get rid of the show, yet we (black folk) continue to support or turn a blind eye to this ridiculousness that is BET and the BET awards. Ultimately, whether you lead a crusade or you turn a blind eye, it really doesn’t matter. Raising your voices in solidarity to create change may seem good, but when you go up against power, the only thing that wins is the dollar. The only way we can change things is by displaying to the power structure or those in power that their money will be affected by our action or lack thereof. Will I be watching the BET awards – reluctantly, yes. As a high school teacher, I teach kids who listen to many of the artist that appear on BET. I need to know who people are and what they are saying – to combat ignorance. Education is the key. It’s not about jumping on rappers and calling them names, rather it’s about calling out agenda-setting on colored people and poor people; it’s about calling out how musicians and artist are used to perpetuate racial and cultural stereotypes; it’s about calling out how images and messages are meant to project an identity upon you designed to feed on your consumerist and materialist nature to keep make the rich richer, and the poor more ignorant.
So with all of that said, while some will be watching the award show for entertainment, I’ll be watching for inspiration – to teach, to mentor and to manifest opportunities for renewal and empowerment – for my people.
© ClarkMiller Publishing

Enough

CMP — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:14:16 +0000

Yesterday I was having a conversation with my good friend about our dislike for the fact that many individuals talk about the City of Camden negatively, yet the profit off of this city each and every day; siphoning resources out of Camden daily while not caring about the people who live here. We had this conversation because yesterday was another Susquehanna Bank Center concert for out-of-towners – those folks who come from the suburbs. There is no need to sugarcoat this thing; we all know that White people come from all over South Jersey and the Philly Metro Area to see all sorts of concerts at the Waterfront in Camden. Rarely is there a concert for the population of folks here in the city, but that is beside’s the point. The concert was by a radio station – WXTU, Philadelphia’s Country Music Station. It was their anniversary show that was affectionately known as “Redneck Heaven” by many of its attendees.
Yesterday, I was helping with conducting the SAT’s at my school. While sharpening pencils in the Art room, I noticed the massive numbers of cars lined up outside. I wondered what was going on and I quickly assumed that it was a concert happening. When I got a free moment, I went on the Susquehanna Bank Center website and saw the concert and then the connection was made by the confederate flags that I saw on cars and outside of car windows. My co-worker and friend happened to step outside for a moment and when he returned to the school, he told me about the crazed atmosphere that was developing outside. This is nothing new. It happens every time there is a concert, particularly a country music one, Jimmy Buffett or anything that allows one to feel as though they can be “carefree,” which translates into getting drunk and acting a damn fool.
I was preparing for my final meeting with the Brothers regarding our symposium effort. One of the brothers came in and told us of how he got into a confrontation with one of the concert goers because he decided to hold up traffic. After our meeting was over, my co-worker and friend was walking home and got called a “dirty nigger” by one of the concert goers who was in a pick-up truck and later that night he had to confront two concert goers because one pissed in front of his house and another had the audacity to say “wudup my nigga?” Last night, while patrolling and trying to maintain order, a Camden cop got stabbed in the neck… he was actually the uncle of a friend. Camden Police already have a hard enough job maintaining order and safety without having to deal with folks from the outside coming in and causing more havoc. Many patrons of these concerts come here and they trash the city… beer bottles, food and human waste lie on the streets yet those same individuals point their finger if they see a crack vile on the ground. If Black folk or Latinos were to congregate for a concert or event, these same people would be on high alert and ensure that the assembly took place somewhere far from their homes – yet they have no problem coming to Camden and raising hell.
Enough is enough. I have had it with the raping, pillaging and disregard for the people and position of Camden City. Many individuals believe that the mass of people here do not care about where they live. I would disagree with that. More people care about their city and wish that they could help revive it. I would also argue that those who do not care are displaying a symptom of the hopelessness created by the institutions of our society – designed with the destruction and exploitation of black and brown colored folks in mind. Many of these patrons from yesterday are the same people who would have you think that they are not racist, that they are not bigots and that they love this country and what it stands for… these are the same mindless and ignorant individuals that are manipulated and brainwashed every election season by individuals in the Tea Party and the Republican Party. I may not be able to change the world, but I can change my world and it is my intention on doing so.
I cannot stop the Susquehanna Bank Center from doing business, but if those are the type of people coming into Camden; folks who have a sense of entitlement because of their White Privilege – the fact that because White people are the dominant culture, they receive deference above all others, economically, socially and otherwise – and thus they can act as they please, then “Redneck Heaven” needs to find another venue. I am sick and tired of people thinking and treating Camden as their dumping ground… come to Camden and dump your trash here, go to school here, go to concerts here, act a fool here, buy your drugs here and then go home when you’ve “gotten your fill.” I am done with it.
I am writing letters to the good people at the Susquehanna Bank Center, Live Nation, WXTU and to our state and local representatives. This has got to stop. I also intend on starting a petition and encouraging all people to sign it who are tired of this same thing happen each and every summer. I am tired of it. It sickens me to my stomach. People want to talk about living in a post-racial society and some would argue that this situation is cause for us to be a colorblind society all the more… that is simply stupid. In America, all we do is see in color. Racism will never die. Racism will always exist. I say this with confidence because unless everyone is ready to discuss the impact slavery and Jim Crow continues to have on the lives and institutions of American society in 2011; folks are in no rush to eradicate racism. With that said, if you want to join in this outrage and write to the decision makers, here are the names, addresses and emails of all parties involved…
© ClarkMiller Publishing

Business Officials

Curtis Voss, General Manager
Susquehanna Bank Center
1 Harbour Boulevard
Camden, NJ 08103
curtvoss@livenation.com

Natalie Conner, Vice President & General Manager
Beasley Philadelphia Market Manager
92.5 XTU
555 E. City Ave (Suite 330)
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1137
nconner@wxtu.com

Mark Vizza, Marketing Director
92.5 XTU
555 E. City Ave (Suite 330)
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1137
mvizza@wxtu.com

Shelly Easton, Program Director
92.5 XTU
555 E. City Ave (Suite 330)
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1137
shelly.easton@wxtu.com

Denyse S. Mesnik, APR
Director of Corporate Communications
3033 Riviera Drive, Suite 200
Naples, Florida 34103
denyse@bbgi.com

State & Local Officials

Dana L. Redd, Mayor
Mayor’s Office
520 Market Street
City Hall, Fourth Floor
P.O. BOX 95120
Camden, New Jersey 08101-5120
mayor@ci.camden.nj.us

Senator Donald Norcross – 5th District
Brooklawn Shopping Center
Route 130 & Browning Road
Brooklawn, NJ 08030
sennorcross@njleg.org

Assemblyman Gilbert Wilson – 5th District
Brooklawn Shopping Center
Route 130 & Browning Road
Brooklawn, NJ 08030
asmwilson@njleg.org

Assemblyman Angel Fuentes – 5th District
Brooklawn Shopping Center
Route 130 & Browning Road
Brooklawn, NJ 08030
asmfuentes@njleg.org