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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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Who's Responsible when Young Black Men Kill?

How much blame rests on the shoulder of my baby boomer generation for the destructive behavior of the YZ generation?


News from the Friday, July 20 edition of the Los Angeles Times:

LAPD Southwest: Aric Lexing, 26, and Scott Grant, 40, both black men, were shot to death in a double homicide in the 4000 block of Stevely Drive in lower Baldwin Hills at about 3:30 a.m. Friday, July 20. Both men died at the scene. They were seated in a parked vehicle when they were shot. One of the victims got out of the car with a gunshot wound in his chest, made it about 40 feet and collapsed. The second was lying dead in the passenger seat. Police seek help. (213) 485-2417.

Aric had just received his Master's Degree from a College in Louisiana and moved to the Los Angeles area to be closer to his mom and other family members while waiting to find out if he would be accepted to the Police or Border Patrol Academy.  He would never find out due to his  senseless murder.

His mom, Ora Stearns-Smith is a dear friend of mine.  She is like a sister to me--a baby boomer diva in every sense of the word---a woman who reminds me how wonderful God truly is even when I have my doubts.  She didn't deserve to have this tragedy happen in her life.  She's suffered enough.  Just last November she lost her brother to gun violence.  He was murdered by some foster children he had taken in---over a cell phone---Two years ago she lost her oldest daughter to a brain tumor.

What in the world has happened to the YZ generation of children who seem to have no fear and no regard for human life?  Are we, as baby boomers, somehow responsible for not reaching out more in some way?

I used to believe in praying for the lost souls---but I'm more and more convinced that some lost souls just don't give a damn about being found.