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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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BLACK RULING CLASS vs.BLACK WORKING CLASS - THE CASUALTIES OF WAR

THE BLACK RULING CLASS
Effective immediately, please DO NOT advertise in the forum or blog areas of Chicago's Black Business Network. Banners and photos are not permitted UNLESS they pertain to the article or discussion posted.

ONLY informational material or articles should be posted in the blog section. (i.e. business, technology, health-related, information on raising children, travel advice, etc.)

Forum posting are ONLY for discussions (i.e. political in nature as opposed to informational). Advertisement "disguised" as a discussion will be removed. Within the next five (5) days, we will instruct members on the proper way to add banners and photos to their pages.

THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
the "key" word that is being utilized for the stimulus packet is "SHOVEL READY"..... Many of our businesses are not considered "SHOVEL READY" for these proposed projects. For example projects such as the Dan Ryan Project, The McCormick Place Project, etc... we had very little or no participation by Black Contractors in any number
Pittman Plumbing and Sewerage Co

THE BLACK RULING CLASS
So for those who are not SHOVEL READY, PEN AND PENCIL READY, COMPUTER READY, CONSTRUCTION READY, MATH READY, ENGINEERING READY, GOT THEIR MINDS READY, JUST NOT READY, it does not matter what "package" you put together. The same people, and let me say it again... THE SAME PEOPLE will not get a job.

Have not been ready in the past twenty years and will not be ready in the next twenty years. I sat at a table one evening in 1987 and listened to Harold Washington speak these words on this same subject and March 18, 2009 the situation may even be worst.
Sonja Perdue - Founder, CBBN

THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
Just a short response..... Our boys and girls are not in the apprenticeship programs in any numbers....Our Black businesses are not in great numbers serving our communities.... Our lending institutions are considering our businesses to high risk to loan them dollars..... Many of us have had the attitude that the other guy's ice is colder than our ice.... I can go on and on reference to these ailments; also I was at the dinner in 1987 as a member of Black Contractors United.... If we have not changed our attitudes, than we continue to do the same thing over and over again
Pittman Plumbing and Sewerage Co

THE BLACK RULING CLASS
I have been watching the gathering of talking heads for many years at the "State of the Black Union." What I have observed is that Tavis has invited his guests to a "conversation" and challenged them and all who watch to "take action."

If there is a failing, it is not Tavis, who never claimed to be an activist. He is a journalist. The failing is with all the so-called thought-leaders and activists who come and go without making any real difference.

His book was never intended to be a book of solutions, but a "framework for focusing our actions" based in input from those who contributed to the content. He invited us to make covenants with one another to affect real outcomes. Sadly, that has not been the result of his invitation.

Similarly, we at iZania invited others to offer solutions based on the framework. While I agree that the "conversation" have not been very fruitful, those of us who are solution-oriented can (if we choose) focus on one of the 10 covenant areas and work at the solutions. For example, I have chosen to focus on education and closing the digital divide. Others have chosen to focus on justice, or housing. The framework allows us to channel our efforts -- again, if we choose to do so.

Some have chosen to criticize Tavis rather than get busy with solutions. So, as far as I am concerned, the question is not what Tavis is going to do about the judges, but what are we going to do to leverage the platform he has provided to work with others to make sure it doesn't happen again. If his platform is not acceptable, choose another. There is too much work to be done to spend time attacking one another.
Roger Madison Jr. , President/ founder and CEO of Izania
http://www.izania.com/

CASUALTIES OF WAR.
THE EBONY EXPERIMENT AND THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA IN REAL-TIME.

The Anderson's buy gasoline cards from black-owned stations in Phoenix, Ill., and Rockford, Ill.; groceries at Farmers Best Market in Chicago, a black-owned grocer 14 miles from their home; and various sundries at God First, God Last, God Always Dollar and Up General Store, a black-owned general merchandise establishment 18 miles from their house,

Enoch Mubarak
President & CEO Mubarak Inter-prizes
http://www.mubarakinter-prizes.com/