Mahalia Jackson

The Lord's Prayer

Mahalia Jackson is the perfect way to start off the New Year. Tell me, who could sing the spirituals like Mama Mahalia? The mere sound of her voice takes you back to that old country church that your grandmother would attend. It's that church that sits far back from the road and there is a long dusty road that leads to it. There were no musicians in the church our grandmothers attended; there was just the humming of voices, the clapping of hands, the tapping of shoes on wooden floor panels, and a tambourine. I thank God for this "Black Pearl" from New Orleans, who sang songs that blessed the young, the old, and the souls of ancestors. Mahalia Jackson represents that old time religion that we need so desperately today. God bless Mahalia Jackson and God bless you in 2008. Peace~

Sources: Biblegateway.com and Wikipedia.org

Let Freedom Ring...Please!

The former Education Secretary, William Bennett, used poor judgement when he used as an example aborting "every Black baby in this country" in order to reduce the crime rate. I really don't know what his intentions were when he made that comment. I do know that there are individuals in this country, some in high places, who wish they could do just that. Yes, we would like to think that things are different now, but race is still a volatile issue in America. The turn of events in New Orleans and comments like the one made by the former secretary prove just that. This is why we need to continue to march and fight for not only the rights of Blacks in this country, but human rights. We need to educate the masses and agitate the classes.
Here is more from the article on CNN.com

Perception: Thinking about Katrina

Ok. The media coverage of what's happening in New Orleans is completely sensationalized. I mean to the point of it being a blockbuster movie. As a matter of fact, I don't think that I've seen this much media coverage since the sniper shootings in DC. What is most interesting is that Hurricane Katrina hit a major city. This is not often seen. Storms like this usually hit small communities in the Southeast or the Midwest. Larger towns and cities are usually on the viewing end of the storm. This storm affected a large segment of New Orleans poor and disenfranchised residence. They are largely African American, but the media refers to them as "refugees."

Now, I know that the definition for refugee refers to people fleeing their home from danger or natural disaster; this is what is happening. However, I have never heard the media refer to anyone here in the United States as refugees. Is it because they are of African descent? Perhaps they resemble their African brothers and sisters fleeing Rawanda or the Sudan. I don't know, but I found it peculiar. The media is also focused on the "looting" and the unlawlessness. Guess what, hunger, uncertainty and desperation will bring out things in human nature that some of us could never imagine. So, please don't judge these people because we are not in their situation right now.

Furthermore, most of us could never imagine being in that predicament. We must also look at the fact that there are bad people out there no matter the color. No, it is not right that some people are stealing things just because it's there, but they don't represent the many thousands that are not. The media is going to focus on them because they bring the most excitement and sensationalism to an otherwise dreary Thursday night news report. Overall, I think that if we empathized with the people involved then we could better understand why "some" of them are doing what they are doing. It's called survival. Some of them were already on the verge of being homeless and now their worst fears are reality. Well, I've said my 2 cent. Have a safe holiday weekend. Peace~