Vision Circle

A Soothing Melody

I reminisce for a spell or shall I say think back...

Sometimes when events like this hit like a ton of bricks, I find comfort in this hip-hop classic from Pete Rock and CL Smooth.

"I strive to be live 'cause I got no choice....and run my own business like my aunt Joyce."

Life will go on and let's do what we can to improve the quality of that continuum. One love peoples.

Blacks and Katrina

Black help with Katrina:

• The NAACP effort.
• Black America Web/The Tom Joyner Morning Show/Reach Media.
• BET/National Urban League.
• The United Negro College Fund.
• The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
• The AME Church The AME Church stands ready to mobilize with partners who have disaster relief to be their primary mission and business. Our church buildings are now declared to be Shelters; our people are ready to serve; we pledge our resources to reach those who others cannot and choose not to find and help. As a bishop in our international church, and the chairperson of the AME Church’s Social Action Commission, I call on the governmental entities to join us and act in concert to aid the people of the devastated areas as you did when the tsunami hit Asia, and in the 9/11 event. We can demonstrate our leadership in the world to those who are watching on international television as they see how we respond to our own who are in crisis.

• The Potter's House

• The Empowerment Temple

  [Update]

• National Black Home Educators Resource Association

  
  

So, if anyone cares, tell Jesse Lee Peterson about these activities. See if that race hustler will accept the facts presented or will he continue to say Blacks aren't doing anything.

For Baldilocks.

NOLA: A Hurricane Perspective

This is an email I received from someone who lived through the disaster of Katrina.

I was going to post only a part of the email, but after I read it again, I decided to post the entire email.

Jesse means what he says he believes and shows it. Xavier University students were rescued by Operation Rainbow. They had run out of food and water. Xavier is about 12 blocks from our house. THe area floods ona regular rainy day. Add to that, Bayou St. John is merely six blocks away and so is City Park (our 1000 acre park) that can be renamed City lake.

I have not cried yet. None of us have. I am joyful for the best of humanity that have reached to to my family and many. many other families from the city. I deeply appreciate prayers, good thoughts and more materials things such as money, clothes, showering and food that people are doing for survivors like us. I don't know if you realize how real our gratitude is. Even if you left the Friday before the hurricane the majority did not take enough stuff tro tide them over for tyhhis extended period. By the time we had agreed to leave, I packed my mother and myself in about two minutes with the intent to be gone away from home for 3 days at the most. We were entirely prepared for structural damage, roof, siding, windows, feld trees...but we aboslutely never expected that the canals would breeech the levees. We never expected the 17th Street canal to be damaged. That is the canal that cause the extensive damage to the city. The Lower 9th Ward or the Industrial canal levees cau! sed major flooding in a old working neighborhood that has only three bridges that allow you to exit the area. That flooding wiped out the entire 9th ward and the west side of St. Bernard Parish. The Lake and Gulf hit St. Bernard's eastside. That people survived is a true miracle.

Now, you might understand most true urban black New Orleanians aversion living near water and owning ranch styled homes. Flooding is always on our minds. This time we simply "did not believe all of these things would happen at one time.

I was glad that Jesse Jackson was there. I was glad that he said what he did. It made me proud of him. I haven't felt proud of him for a long time.

Finally, most black men stood up. My nephew was our family leader and he successfully got us to his cousin's house. It was agreat feeling to have a young black man do his thing. He decided we would leave and he choose the route and we made it well ahead of the storm to Jackson. There were more black men like him who did whatthey had to to help people other than themselves get to safety or get help. It was to me better than the Million Man March to see them taking charge. My hat is off to you black men regardless as to whether you were in such a situation but by example I know that each of you would do the very same given the circumstances.

Ummmm.....

Rev. Jackson to help evacuate New Orleans

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived in Louisiana Thursday to help people evacuate the storm-ravaged New Orleans and to see the devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought on the city.

Jackson headed into New Orleans with state Sen. Cleo Fields and three buses to move 450 students from Xavier University to safer locations outside the city and then make repeated roundtrips to help others escape.

----

Previously on the 'net, I've written that Jesse Jackson let Clinton punk him. I've also written that Jesse Jackson uses Black support of Democrats more for his benefit than anyone else's benefit.

But right is right. I've heard from someone who lived in NOLA that Jackson followed through on this. OK, since this is the case, I have to say good job.

who is my neighbour?

Luke 10 25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Hasn't Katrina revealed the answer to this question for each of us according to the level of our understanding?

Why We Fail

In a nutshell;

While stating that she “didn't have a personal relationship” with Johnson, Oprah told Martin of several stories the highlight her regard for the visionary publisher.

Complete gossipy coverage of the snub but the bolded words above tell the entire story as far as I'm concerned about a catastrophic failure of leadership and commonality of interests.., how could the two most powerful black folks in MSM - both operating out of Chicago -NOT have a close professional relationship at the very least?

thinking about the pink slip issued to Julian Bond by Ted Hayes on an episode of America's Black Forum in May..,

Walking the Creek

My 6 year old son starts first grade this week. He lost his first baby tooth this summer, swam like a fish just about every day, {the only little kid by a two-year margin with a green wristband and free run of the pool including the deep end and the diving boards} and for the first time in his life, he finally got free run of the neighborhood in the company of a pair of little wild boys, one 7, one only 5, and both seriously latchkey independant. In retrospect, my son achieved the milestone of emancipation from full-time parental vigilance. For my part, I found the resolve to trust the modulus of boy-in-world so that he could begin the process of becoming strong as he must on his own. It is with a mixture of pride and regret that I watch this summer draw to a close, regret at seeing my little boy morph into a mayne-mannish boy, and pride in his often surprising displays of autonomous control over aspects of his world.

Born This Day, Marcus Mosiah Garvey

How interesting that another August 17 should pass on our collective calendars with nary a mention of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, born on this day in the province of St. Ann, Jamaica in the year 1887.

I would like to invite you all to share thoughts, feelings, etc. regarding Garvey and his legacy - especially as it relates to the legacy of Booker T. Washington and Cruse's reflections in Crisis.

I look forward to hearing from you all and I hope to provide some interesting links in the coming weeks.

The Rebecca Project

The Rebecca Project

History:

Malika Saada Saar (our Executive Director), founded the Rebecca Project for Human Rights in 2001 while she was a student at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. The Rebecca Project for Human Rights is a national legal and advocacy organization for families struggling with the intersecting issues of economic marginality, substance abuse, access to family-based treatment, and the criminal justice system.

Our Method:

The Rebecca Project roots itself in the lived experiences of parents, who are mostly single mothers in recovery, and works to create openings and forums for their agency, voice, and leadership on the national level regarding policies that affect the lives of families battling with substance abuse. Through Rebecca Project's two civic action and leadership development programs, "Crossing the River" and "Sacred Authority," we frame the condition of parents denied access to treatment and the plight of substance abusing parents incarcerated for their addiction as human rights violations. The Rebecca Project unearths, documents and challenges those human rights violations that deny mothers the opportunity to raise their children, and indeed to raise their children with dignity.

Our Vision

Our vision is to create a community of civic-minded national leaders by educating, organizing and training low-income parents recovering from substance abuse. In turn, those parents advocate on behalf of their families and communities for sensible substance abuse treatment and social-welfare policies.

What is a Black Community? and What is the Basis of our Collective Action?

Thoughts??