Keepers

Keepers
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I grew up with practical parents. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it... A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away..

I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things.. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.. So... while we have it..... it's best we love it.... and care for it... and fix it when it's broken......... and heal it when it's sick.

This is true. for marriage....... and old cars..... and children with bad report cards..... and dogs with bad hips.... and aging parents..... and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.




Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special........ and so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper', so I've sent it to the people I think of in the same way... Now it's your turn to send this to those people that are "keepers" in your life. Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. Keep them close!

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY.

1.... God won't ask what kind of car you drove. He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation..

2.... God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3.... God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4.... God won't ask what your highest salary was. He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5.... God won't ask what your job title was. He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6.... God won't ask how many friends you had. He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7.... God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8.... God won't ask about the color of your skin, He'll ask about the content of your character.

9.... God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation. He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

10.... God won't have to ask how many people you forwarded this to, He already knows your decision.

I'm Not Giving My Black Back

I'M NOT GIVING MY BLACK BACK

I'm Not Giving My Black Back! I'm not giving up my greens or my grits or
saying "girl" and putting my hands on my hips. You see...Life for me ain't
been no crystal stair and I'm not giving up Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hammer,
Mary McCleod Bethune, Sojourner Truth, Madame C J. Walker, Toni Morrison
or Dr. Maya Angelou, 'cause you see, I am a phenomenal woman and I'm not
giving my black back.

I'm not giving up my crown, waves, braids, curls, locks, kinks, scarves
or Muslim garb. I'm not giving up sitting in Ma's kitchen eating peach
cobbler or sweet potato pie and hearing her ask me, "How you doing baby"?

I'm not giving up going to "You Buy, We Fry" on Fridays, or barbeques on
Saturday playing bid whist, spades and slammin' those dominoes.
I'm not giving back Harriet Tubman's train, Soul Train, Coltrane or the
midnight train to Georgia. Now, you can meet me at the function at the
junction but I still won't give up B.B. King, the Whispers, Fancy Ms.
Nancy, Lena Horne, the Philadelphia Sound, Motown or the Temptations.

Cause you see, it's the way we do the things we do, like building the
pyramids that still stand made by our forefathers' hands where the
diamonds, oil, silver and gold are buried in our rich dark land.

I'm not giving my black back! I'm happy being happy with my wide hips and
my wide nose and the rich melanin in my skin. I love putting lotion on my
ashy legs.

Oh, I'm happy being nappy and being in the skin that I'm in. I won't deny
or forget my ancestors who lay in a wet grave at the bottom of the sea in
the Middle Passage from slave trade.

And I won't give up on our youth of today who still need a way made. I
won't give back Miles even though he didn't smile. I won't give back
Marvin Gaye, Richard Pryor, Phyllis Hyman, Billie Holiday or Billy
Eckstein, Jackie Robinson or Jackie Wilson.

I won't give back the electric slide, Alvin Ailey, Bojangles or Debbie
Allen. You think I'd give up reading my Jet, Ebony, Essence, Emerge, Black
Enterprise, Heart and Soul or Upscale magazines? For we are a colorful
people.

Like Curtis Mayfield sang, we are a people that are "darker than blue." We
are honey, cinnamon, mahogany and chocolate. We are REDD Fox, James BROWN,
Barry WHITE, The Mothers of the Church dressed in WHITE, The Color PURPLE,
the Lady Who Sings the BLUES and we are Al GREEN with love and happiness.
Oh, NO... I'm not giving my black back!

I'm not giving back Maxine (Waters), Martin, Medgar, Malcolm, Mandela,
Marley, Marcus, Muhammad Ali, Michael (Jordan) or the Million Man March.
I'm not giving my black back.

Join me in lifting up the black woman's spirit. Find a black woman and
send this to her. Enjoy.


The first duty of love is to listen.

Rest in Peace Rev. Douglas G. Whitlow

My husband, Rev. Douglas G. Whitlow was laid to rest today in Cambridge Cemetery. He died Monday January 18, 2010 from kidney failure. He had been on dialysis for seven years.

Thank you to all who came out to support me and my family.

May He Rest in Eternal Peace

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Che-Mponda Kadete family and the Whitlow family wishes to express their deepest appreciation and sincere thanks for all acts of kindness shown to them in their time of sorrow. Special thanks to the Tanzanian Community & Diaspora, Warren St. Baptist Church and The International Gospel Church. A very special thanks to Ezekiel Luhigo, Charles Jackson, Muhidin Michuzi, Laura Moloney & Pastor Jared Mlongecha.

The family also wishes to thank Cambridge 9-11, EMT’s, Fire and Police Departments. Fallon, Cataldo and PRO Ambulance Services. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cambridge Hospital, Radius Specialty Hospital in Boston, MA. The Veterans Hospital, Jamaica Plain, MA, Embassy Rehabilitation and Health Center, Brockton, MA, Emerson Village, Watertown, MA and Haborside Healthcare in Wakefield, MA and the various Visiting Nurses who assisted Reverend Whitlow during his illness.

Rev. Al Sharpton Attacks Tiger Woods - Joke

This is a joke going around the web. I am deeply saddened to see Tiger Woods disgraced this way. I feel bad for his wife and kids as they have been humiliated even more. At the same time, even though this is a joke, I ask why is it that many sucessful black men have to go fo white women? And I can say vice versa, a lot of successful black women go for white men? What is behind this? Are they thinking, a white woman/man completes my success? We'll see how the Tiger Woods soap opera plays out.

Meanwhile, Tiger's mistress count is 14 and counting! LOL! But geez, Tiger needs to find a better calibre of woman to mess around with. I mean seriously the women he has had affairs with have NO SHAME at all! Are exploits with a married man really something to boast about?

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The Rev. Al Sharpton held a press conference today to blast Tiger Woods for the lack of diversity among his mistresses. Sharpton claims that the lack of African-American women among Woods' harem will have a negative affect on the black community, specifically young black girls.
"Why is it that a man who calls himself black can't bring himself to cheat on his wife with a black woman?" said Sharpton, speaking to a group of supporters in Harlem .
"What does it say to young black girls everywhere when you pass them over? Shame on you, Tiger Woods. What would your daddy say?"Sharpton, who has long championed taking black women as mistresses, said that today's black athletes need to stop neglecting black women when it comes to extramarital affairs, and should follow the examples of positive black role models such as Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King, Jr., both of whom cheated on their wives with black women.
Sharpton also stressed that cheating with African-American women would help the black community financially by giving black girls the chance to sell their stories to tabloids and gossip magazines.
Added Sharpton, "I'm not asking you to not cheat on your wives, I'm just asking you to give back to your own community."

Spitting Canada Diplomat Recalled!

Lucky, this guy had diplomatic immunity otherwise he would certainly have spent time in poor conditions at a Tanzanian prison!

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Click for source:
Canadian diplomat recalled from Africa after arrest

Last Updated: Monday, December 14, 2009

A Canadian diplomat arrested in Tanzania last week on accusations he spat at a police officer and a TV journalist has been recalled home.

"In the best interest of all involved parties, the Canadian official will be leaving Tanzania at the earliest possible time and will return to Canada," the Canadian high commissioner in Tanzania said in a statement.

"We regret the incident that took place on Wednesday, Dec. 9, involving one of our officials," said Robert Orr.

The diplomat has been identified by Tanzanian media as Jean Touchette, the first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in the East African country.

Touchette was arrested by police in Dar es Salaam after he allegedly spat at a senior police officer during an argument over a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city.

Touchette is also alleged to have spat in the face of Jerry Muro, a TV journalist with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, when Muro went to the police station to interview and film the diplomat.

Touchette, who had diplomatic immunity, was not charged.

Canadian Diplomat Spits on Tanzanian Policeman

Having just come back from Tanzania and seeing the high standard or living that 'wazungu' expatriates live, I'm really offended at this matter. Okay, the guy has diplomatic immunity so they can't charge him. But, I am offended that whites go and live so luxuriously in the land of the black man and then have the nerve to feel superior and do degrading things to blacks. Some wazungu have forced even black women to have sex with dogs, or rape African children. I also blame black Tanzanians for worshipping wazungu! Like I said on Michuzi Blog, come to the USA and you will see poor white folks even begging in the streets. They aren't all rich and commit crimes too. Wazungu are humans not mini Gods.

It will be interesting to see what Canada does about it's spitting diplomat.

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Canadian diplomat arrested in Tanzania

High commission staffer allegedly spat at police officer and TV journalist

Last Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009

Tanzanian police arrested a Canadian diplomat Wednesday on accusations he spat at a police officer and a TV journalist.

Jean Touchette, first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in the African country, was arrested by police in Dar es Salaam, the country's largest city and commercial capital, after he allegedly spat at a senior police officer during an argument over a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city, according to Tanzanian newspaper the Daily News.

Touchette is also alleged to have spat in the face of Jerry Muro, a TV journalist with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, when Muro went to the police station to interview and film the diplomat.

"And I asked him why was he doing it to me," Muro told CBC News. "And he said, 'I'm doing it because you are taking my pictures … and it's my privacy.' "

Muro said the diplomat insulted him, calling him "stupid" and "an idiot."

Touchette has diplomatic immunity and was not charged.

However, Touchette's case has been handed over to the country's director of criminal investigation for further action, the Daily News reported.

The Tanzanian government is reportedly considering whether to expel Touchette.

Robert Orr, Canada's high commissioner in Dar es Salaam, said members of his staff are investigating the case.

"I think we want to make sure we have all the facts before we reach conclusions about what exactly occurred and the full nature of the incident," Orr said.

"I think it's important to ensure that people understand that Canada holds its public servants and its diplomats to a very high standard of behaviour."

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Dana Cryderman said the department is aware of the situation and is gathering further information

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From a Tanzanian newspaper:

Katibu muhtasi wa ubalozi wa Canada mbaroni kwa kumtemea mate trafiki

Polisi jijini Dar wamemtia mbaroni Katibu Muhtasi wa Ubalozi wa Canada, Jean Touchatte(48) kwa tuhuma za kuwatemea mate askari wa Usalama barabarani na Mwandishi wa Habari wa Shirika la Utangazaji Tanzania (TBC)

Touchatte anatuhumiwa kumshambulia askari wa usalama barabarani aliyekuwa akiongoza magari katika eneo la Banana wilaya ya Ilala.

Kaimu kamanda wa kanda hiyo, Charles Kenyela, amesema, mtumishi huyo wa ubalozi anadaiwa kufanya makosa hayo Desemba 9 saa 8.45 mchana wakati askari huyo namba E 1653, Koplo Samson akiwa kazini maeneo hayo.

Kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, wakati akiendelea kuyaruhusu magari yanayotokea Ukonga kwenda Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Julius Nyerere, Touchatte alifika eneo hilo akiwa anaendesha gari lenye namba za usajili T 17 CD 178 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado mali ya Ubalozi wa Canada.

Amesema, mtuhumiwa huyo alikuwa anatoka Ukonga kwenda uwanja wa ndege, ghafla alipunguza mwendo, akafungua kioo cha gari lake na kumtemea mate askari huyo.

Kenyela amedai kuwa,kitendo hicho kiliwashangaza wengi walioshuhudia,na kwamba sababu ya kufanya hivyo haikufahamika, hivyo polisi wa doria walipewa taarifa ili kulifuatilia gari hilo.

“Askari wetu walianza kufuatilia kwa nyuma gari hilo na walipofika barabara ya Nyerere karibu na Kamata gari hilo lilikamatwa na kupelekwa moja kwa moja hadi makao makuu ya polisi Trafic Kanda Maalum ya Dar es Salaam na kuwekwa chini ya ulinzi” amesema.

Kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, wakati mtuhumiwa anaendelea kuhojiwa,waandishi wa habari akiwemo Jerry Muro(29) wa TBC walifika kituoni hapo, wakitaka kufahamu nini kilichotokea ndipo mtuhumiwa huyo akamtemea mate sehemu ya chini ya kidevu chake na kusambaa katika flana aliyokuwa amevaa.

Muro alifungua jalada la shambulio CD/IR/4818/2009, na kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, mtuhumiw alipohojiwa hakuwa tayari kujibu wala kutoa maelezo yake kwa madai kwamba mpaka balozi wake awepo.

Vielelezo vya tukio hilo vimehifadhiwa polisi Kati na kwamba maelezo mengine zaidi juuu ya tukio hilo yatatolewa na Inspekta Jenerali wa Polisi.

Casting Director Fights Open Call Fees

I have to applaud local casting director, Kevin Fennessy on this one! Unfortunately people are too willing to pay because they believe if they do, they will become A list actors tomorrow.

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Local casting agent/actor fights open-call fee
By Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein
Globe Staff / November 25, 2009

It may be a while before Bay State actors and extras get back to work. A spate of high-profile films - including “The Town,’’ “The Zookeeper,’’ and “Knight & Day’’ - have all wrapped in recent weeks, and there are no new projects on the horizon.

But just as upsetting to some local actors is the arrival of a new casting firm that charges wannabe screen stars to attend open calls. Mullen/Kalivoda Casting, which is based in Florida, charges $25 for an open call, a practice frowned on by other local casting agents.

“I took it upon myself to make a stand,’’ said Kevin Fennessy, a local casting agent and actor. Fennessy has started a Facebook group, “Kevin Fennessy’s Plea: Stop the Madness (Unnecessary/Excessive Actor Expenses),’’ which has so far attracted 434 members.

He objects to M/K Casting’s practice of charging a fee for open calls, something established local casting agents Angela Peri of Boston Casting and Carolyn Pickman of CP Casting have never done. “Twenty-five dollars just to show up and register in their database?’’ says Fennessy, who cast local actors in “The Perfect Storm,’’ “Mona Lisa Smile,’’ and “Stuck on You,’’ among other films. “Do you have to pay to fill out an application at McDonald’s?’’

M/K Casting did not return our calls or e-mails yesterday. Although no movies are shooting here in the near future, M/K held open calls in Lowell and Natick in recent weeks

Turned Away from Precious

Yesterday, I was one of the over 1,000 people who got turned away from Loews AMC Boston Common for an Advance Screening of the new hit film, Precious. I was disappointed and so were so many others. The screening was to start at 7:00pm, I got there at 5:45pm and there were already hundreds waiting. Turns out, the folks who arrived at 3:00pm were the lucky ones to get in!

I'm betting that this week the film breaks some Box Office Records with its wide release. The film is based on a 16 year old, overweight dark skinned teenage girl, who is also mother of two children fathered by her own father.

The film is getting some amazing reviews and even Oscar buzz. The film stars my idol, Mo'nique and newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe.

I received this via e-mail and can't agree more. Racism is alive and well in the USA. White people get annoyed when blacks complain about racism. Yet, they continue to judge people by the color or their skin. Right now, there is such an increase of negative rhetoric against President Barack Obama, it's scary. Those children calling for the assasination of our President are definitely getting that idea from theire parents and other grown-ups that they are around. READ ON....
And yes, Andrew M. Manis is white.
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Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in
Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.

Andrew M. Manis: When Are WE Going to Get Over It?

For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race
problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have
been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their
difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans
finally going to get over it? Now I want to ask: "When are we White
Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?
Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes"
should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in
"Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of
comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to
John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may
recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."

Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once
again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.
We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and
United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have
been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years,
conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the
right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that
anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan,
or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment,
perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone
did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case
who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.

But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties
again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven
what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is
possible, EVEN electing a black man as president. But instead we now hear
that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to
"assassinate Obama."

Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?" How long before
we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world,
look like us? How long until we white people can - once and for all - get
over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color? How long until we
white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us
superior? How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments
about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?

How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head
of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people
end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist
jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?

I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making
racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners? How long
until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal
responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the
Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United
States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?

How long before we starting "living out the true meaning" of our creeds,
both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that
"red and yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?

Until this past November 4, I didn't believe this country would ever elect
an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long
enough to see us white people get over our racism problem.

But here's my three-point plan:

First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House
that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service)
will protect him and his family from us white people.

Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying,
in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President
Obama.

Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise
the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of
our damnable color prejudice, "We HAVE overcome."
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It takes a Village to protect our President.

Tanzania's Radar Scandal

The money eaten in this scandal could have used to improve Tanzania's School, Hospitals and Water Supply! SAD!

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BAE: The Tanzanian connection
Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Europe's biggest defence company, manufactures the Typhoon fighter By Andrew Hosken The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says it will begin what promises to be the biggest corporate corruption prosecution in British legal history.

It is asking the Attorney General for the go-ahead to prosecute BAE for bribery under the 2001 Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act.

One of the four countries involved in the alleged corrupt deals is Tanzania. Though far from the largest deal, it looks certain to cause the biggest heartache in Downing Street.

In 2001, Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, decided to purchase a military air traffic control system from BAE.

Clare Short, then secretary of state for international development, says she was horrified by the move and was convinced it was a corrupt deal. "I was really shocked by the behaviour of British Aerospace and the collusion of all these government departments in such a gross and disgraceful project," she told me.

"Even when I got all the information and took it to the highest levels of the government, I still couldn't stop it."
'Grubby'Ms Short says that a number of factors convinced her that this was a corrupt deal. She says that the deal had been proposed 10 years earlier but had been blocked by intervention by the World Bank and the UK's Overseas Development Administration, the precursor to the Department for International Development.

"Then it came back as half a project. The thing was so grubby from beginning to end and, of course, it was so old that the technology was overtaken. Tanzania didn't have military aircraft. It needed civil air traffic control improvement in order to improve its tourist industry."
But Clare Short was far from alone in expressing deep concern about the BAE-Tanzania deal. In October 2001, a report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a part of the United Nations, said:

"The system as contracted is primarily a military system and can provide limited support to civil air traffic control purposes. The purchase of additional equipment… would be required to render it useful for civil air traffic control.

However, if it is to be used primarily for civil air traffic control purposes, the proposed system is not adequate and too expensive."
Clare Short says tha Tanzanian deal was "a disgraceful project" At the same time in 2001, Clare Short had agreed a £35m aid package for Tanzania to help provide more children with education but saw virtually the whole sum being effectively gobbled up in the air traffic control system deal.

She opposed the deal in cabinet, a row which soon became public, but claims that in December 2001 one person above all insisted the necessary export licence be given: Tony Blair. "Tony was absolutely dedicated to all arms sales proposals," she says.

"Whenever British Aerospace wanted anything, he supported them 100%. He didn't seem to understand that there are matters of principle concerned. He had also been duped and bought the argument that it's always good for the British economy, which is absolutely not so."
In 2006 Tony Blair made one of the most controversial decisions of his premiership, helping to force the closure of an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations that British Aerospace had paid bribes to win a lucrative arms contract with Saudi Arabia.

"I stick by that," he said six months later, "and the idea frankly that such an investigation could be conducted without doing damage to our relationship is cloud cuckoo land."

Cow on a Motorcycle

Cow riding motorcyles! Now I've seen everything. This photo was taken in Tanzania, East Africa.

Maasai Warriors in 1918

Found this interesting photo of Maasai Warriors taken in 1918, in German East Africa (now Tanzania). Look at what is on those ears. (Photo by Walther Dobbertin)

How to Talk About Race

Many white people would like to believe that race is not an issue in 2009. After Gatesgate, its pretty obvious that it still is even though we have a black President. President Barack Obama was even reminded that he was still an n-word even though he is President (Gatesgate backlash). A white congressman, Joe Wilson was rude to him in an act unheard of in U.S. history! And more..... Couldn't help but post this article as it speaks the truth.

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Analysis: Wrestling with how to talk about race

By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON (AP) - For a while, it almost seemed as if President Barack Obama had soothed the angst over race in this country simply by taking office. The focus was on big issues facing a new president - one who just happened to be black.

If only it were so simple. This summer, Obama stepped into the dustup between a black college professor and a white police officer, and the race debate erupted anew. Then vitriolic attacks on Obama over his health care proposals spawned rippling allegations that his critics were motivated by racism.

And now passions over skin color are flaring red-hot again.
Obama's election nearly a year ago - a monumental stride toward bridging the racial divide - turned the politics of race on its head.
But it didn't end the matter by any means.

It turns out that Obama was right when he said in his much-watched race speech in March 2008 that there are "complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect."

Americans still are figuring out how to hold that conversation as the country navigates uncharted territory under its first nonwhite president.

One conundrum is how to hold Obama accountable for his words and actions - or even talk about his policies - without risk of being called racist.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain both wrestled with that question during the presidential campaign. Both found it tricky to maneuver. Both were frustrated by it. Each handled it differently.

In the Democratic primary, Clinton acted so cautiously that some insiders questioned whether she was afraid to throw a punch.
Come the general election, McCain early on accused Obama of playing the race card, hoping to send a message that he would not brook being called a racist.

Obama had triggered the reaction with a warning that Republicans would try to scare voters by saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

A year later and now as president, Obama is the one working to tamp down race in the political dialogue.

"Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are," Obama says matter-of-factly. But he rejects the notion that racism is even partly behind his critics' attacks, as a growing chorus of Democrats have claimed.

Trying to turn down the heat, Obama adds: "We can have a strong disagreement, passionate disagreements about issues without resorting to name-calling."

But the "racist" label is as old as the country itself. And, in a nation founded by slaveholders, people aren't about to stop using it just because a black president is pleading for civility.
Certainly, Obama's election healed some racial wounds. But change takes time, and understanding the ramifications of change takes even longer.

"What we're dealing with is the foundational racial problems that we have had and still have. We're making progress, but we haven't come as far as people would like to believe we have," says Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., and an outspoken conservative who is black. He says society is going through "a learning curve" on how to criticize Obama - and how to criticize the president's critics.

It's an issue that goes to the very heart of democracy. Free speech, including holding leaders accountable, is at this country's core.
Could the risk of being called a racist end up muzzling healthy debate if people don't dare voice their concerns?

Perhaps for some. But on the whole, criticism hasn't stopped.
Animosity toward the president and his policies has boiled over in recent weeks, most notably with South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" retort to the president.
Democrats from Jimmy Carter on down have blamed the increasingly harsh criticism of Obama on racism.
House Republican leader John Boehner countered that "the outrage that we see in America has nothing to do with race."

Reality likely falls somewhere in the middle.

"I hear it as anger, but anger masking fear," says Robin Lakoff, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley whose books include "The Language War." She says people are afraid of just about everything these days - the economy, the government, private business included. And she says: "There's this racial element. It isn't exactly racism but otherness."
Obama, for his part, has tried to shift the subject from the powder keg of race. It's been a distraction from his agenda, from his efforts to overhaul the health care system.

"It's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," the president said this week.

It was a gentle joke from the leader of a country still wrestling with the new dynamics that came when the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas took charge of the White House.
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EDITOR'S NOTE - Liz Sidoti has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 2003.

President Obama Disrespected by Rep. Joe Wilson

56 Graymoor Lane
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
September 10, 2009

Joe Wilson, Member
United States Congress
212 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D. C 20515-4002

903 Port Republic Street
Beaufort, South Carolina 29902

Mr. Wilson:
I am an 80 year old mother and my older child is 51 years old; but, if ever I were to hear him call anyone a liar or rudely and obstreperously tell someone they were telling a lie, I would slap his face. My two children, 41 and 51 respectively, are very well reared as was I. I can remember as a little innocent child calling someone a liar. I only did it one time because the lecture in the form of a lesson in proper decorum sank in, and to this day, I have never called anyone a liar. My mother considered this the ultimate in rudeness and disrespect, not only for the person I called a liar, but for me, myself.

Having learned that lesson at such an early age, it made me cringe when you, at age 62, and a former military man, yelled to the President of the United States of America, “You lie.” As a military man, you know the chain of command; and, you were addressing the Commander in Chief of the United States of America. Of course, President Obama who is a very refined gentleman did not respond and he kept right on target delivering the most brilliant speech I have ever heard. I can say this with a degree of authority because I have been witness to every presidency since Herbert Hoover. Never in the hallowed halls of Congress have I witnessed such coarse, gross, despicable behavior.

I don’t know if your mother is alive or not, but if she is, I’m certain that she hung her head in shame knowing that all over the world you have disgraced her, yourself, your wife, your four sons, your office, your constituency and your country. Children of good breeding, who are properly reared carry the teachings of their parents throughout their lives. At 80 everything I do is tested against, “what would my mother think of that?” I would never defame her precious memory by demonstrating lack of self control and a knowledge of the social graces that separate women from ladies and men from gentlemen.

My mother was a proper Southern genteel lady who commanded respect because of the way she carried herself. I would think that your being from the South, you would have gotten some of that good ole Southern hospitality and gentility that seems to be characteristic of intelligent people of the South.

I do so hope you will listen to the foreign media as I did late last night. You are an international disgrace because from Ireland to China and England, your crudity was the main topic of conversation.

I note that you have a law degree. I wonder how proud your alma mater, University of South Carolina Law School , was of you tonight as you showed to the world that education without character is vacuous and meaningless. There is a popular expression of people with degrees who lack common sense, they are referred to as “educated fools.”

If you were playing to the media and to the camera for attention, you succeeded because your worldwide legacy will be that you were the ill-suited and ill-placed person who demeaned himself in the halls of Congress for the first time in U S history.

Written with embarrassment for my country,



Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration

Caribbean Carnival Cambridge

Every year we look forward to watching the Caribbean Festival parade go down River St. here in Cambridge, MA. Usually its in August, but this year they held it in September. The weather was great as it was warm and not hot.

You can also see more photos on my Swahili language blog:

http://swahilitime.blogspot.com/

Remember Idi Amin Dada, former Dictator of Uganda

I was a high school student in Tanzania, when Idi Amin terrorized Uganda and East Africa. I remember the day when our President, Julius Nyerere declared war on Uganda after Amin invaded Bukoba and declared it part of Uganda. This was the Kagera War which ended Amin's rule.
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What you are about to read is REAL! Its not meant to serve as a ridicule. Below is an extract of one of dictator Iddi Amin's infamous speeches he used to deliver during the national celebrations. This particular speech was delivered in the U.K at the Conference of the U.N General Assembly.
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Ladies and women, my beloved husbands and men in this assembly, I am thank you very difficult for you hand to forgive me this hour to stalk of you Africa and my country which is Uganda. As I am a field marshall Dr. Or Haj Amin the Life President of my country, I am apologised because I have not deaded Archbishop Haemeni Kuvum. When many people tell me so many questions about him. His death on my behalf has happened with accident which was in the car when he yalked with it. So I am not a mistake you see.
Another words if or the order in my country in Uganda. The pressnewsmen which you can look them there will wanted to know the law orders of my country. They have inquiring me many questions in because my policemen don't catch people in court while they lost them on the way. No this is not right, yet all them who are catched by my policement are removed for court. When the court does not find them good enough and tie them all with mistakes begining from one month through to ten years with even above.
So we attempt people in the court before we tie them to prisons and those you understand about they dead are with if they travel dead themselves. Man invent their death. Uganda is peace loving brother country when people enjoy as if they are in another country. That is true about the country.
Dr. Kurt Waldeheim, you are beautiful in one of these husbands. I think you are this beauty to look what is going on in South Africa with Rhodesia, I am sending two hours to whites as if they can choose freedom to Africa, brothers or you will not blame me as I take wondering action to blow them. Israel is another enemy, they deaded sleeping soldiers of Uganda when they find them at night in Intebbe.
I walked one morning and I invented bodies of my soldiers sleeping in the airport and Israel had deaded people there. They must see or because I pay them of this bad news. Last of that I am thank your lunch which smelled good I am again fed up with it and have admitted revenge when both of you are invited by Uganda.
Thank you very hard and we shall collide everywhere in internal matter like assembly.
Thank you very hard. --
Field Marshall Dr. V.C. DSO M.C. Amin, Conquerer of the British Empire
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The pressmen, when asked by the Queen as to what President Amin has said, replied: "Your Majesty, That was President Amin of Uganda speaking a language similar to English."

Say Cheese!

Ashanti Munir at Slades

Click on image for bigger view.

African Growth & Opportunity Act

Being Colored

Being Colored
(Author Unknown)

When I was born...I was BLACK.

When I grew up...I was BLACK.

When I am sick...I am BLACK.

When I go out in the sun...I am BLACK.

When I go out in the cold...I am BLACK.

When I die...I am BLACK.

BUT YOU WHITE FOLK :

When you are born...You are PINK.

When you grow up...You are PEACH.

When you are sick...You are GREEN.
When you go out in the cold...You are BLUE.

When you are scared... You are WHITE.

When you go out in the sun...You are RED.

When you die...You turn PURPLE.

And you have the nerve to call me "COLORED"!