letter to Penn.....

February 6^th, 2014 Thursday

The President of The University of Pennsylvania

Doctor Amy Gutman

100 College Hall

Room 100

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6380

AND

MR. Glenn Brian

Office of Government AND Community Affairs

133 South 36^th StReet

The University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-3246

Brother Tracy Gibson

Philanthropist—Businessman—Activist—Proud Uncle and

Proud Great Uncle—Consultant..

213 South 49^th Street

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19139

Dear Mr. Brian and Ms. Gutman:

I have written The University of Pennsylvania seeking employment before. I have never even received the honor of a return letter, a rejection letter, or an offer of a preliminary interview. This letter and my enclosed resume will be going on my blog, and the media.

I feel the University of Pennsylvania says publically it is heading east in its’ encroachment and expansion plans, but in actuality the university is heading West and Southwest.

The indigenous people who live in these historically Black communities have felt the economic brunt of the universities’ encroachment as their property taxes have gone up and as they have lost their properties to foreclosure. Unemployment, disease, police brutality, poverty, illegal drug trafficking and youth behavioral disruptions are only some of the problems that also encroach on Black communities, making a decent, ethical, joyful, constructive and happy life impossible to achieve.

While these problems have continued to expand, I have had my own personal problems while I have at the same time, attempted to address these community difficulties. I have had to live off of $1,178.00 a month [or thereabouts] for the last 17 years. I have had to resort to eating with the homeless at Church Missions to save money and so I have funds to implant into my activism work; I have been harassed by having my phone tapped, mail tampered with and harassed economically through the banking system at any number of different banks. All executed and promoted through the the existence of the Federal Patriot Act I and The Federal Patriot Act II when, in fact I am by no means a communists, terrorist, or violent person, but, in fact, am a Peaceful, Pro-democracy, Human Rights activist with a 35-year work record of positive activities in Philadelphia’s Black community and in Philadelphia’s Black Gay and Lesbian Community.

I, frankly, don’t think the office of student Life headed by Mr. Brian has served a constructive, positive, progressive and effective role in helping students at Penn and indigenous communities get along and co-exists in a peaceful, joyful, positive, economically viable and on-going fashion. The relations between students, faculty, homeless People, indigenous home owners and other people in the community such as police, crossing guards, teachers, working people, clergy and activists--businessmen such as myself has been and continues to be tense, unbalanced, conflict-rooted, negative and troublesome for all involved.

Often, certain people in the community have the money and the financial backing to bumper themselves from any overt conflicts. That DOES NOT mean such conflicts don’t exists.

There is a real and serious need to create opportunities, joy, economic support, Capital, jobs and a feeling of inclusiveness on the part of everyone concerned with or actually living in University City and the historically Black West Philadelphia.

There is a real need to create economic and social modalities that bring people together and create joy and harmony instead of allowing the smug encroaching and suffocating insanity of the university to exist on the one hand and the victimization and laza’ fair attitudes of the beleaguered Black community on the other hand.

It is my desire to interject a New and Effective Level of university and community interaction that will build bridges of Joy and hope in the face of the planned adversity—on the part of the university-- the indigenous Black community has experienced. The no-confidence vote coming from the Private Big Business and banking sector is very disturbing, ominous and obvious. If something more consistent, positive and hopeful is not planned and implemented quickly the result will, I guarantee, will be chaotic, unstable and not a joy to behold. I look forward to hearing from the President of The University of Pennsylvania and Mr. Brian’s office to set up a meeting and start flashing out plans to improve circumstances and situations as quickly as possible.

I look forward to hopefulness and I look forward to working with the University of Pennsylvania to stabilize the Black community and bring Peace, Joy and economic opportunity to more people who are surviving—but want to really thrive at the Table of Abundance--in University City and West Philadelphia as soon as possible.

Your cooperation is required; your ignoring this letter will not be met with a smile and business as usual.

Peace and Blessings,

Tracy Charles Gibson

Out Black.... No More Smoke....

Black Out!!!

Black men and Black women need to stop smoking, regardless of the age they were at when they started smoking and regardless of how old they are NOW!!! They really need to stop smoking because it, smoking, is costing us millions of dollars as a community, in health care cost, millions of terars in early deaths and it is costing a great deal of physical pain and economic hardship as we try to ``make the price'' of a $5.00 or, in some awful cases, a $6.00 box of cigarettes.

The new thing in the community is the sale of what have lovingly, and I say this sarcastically, ``loosies''..... This is the sale of single cigarettes, usually ``Kools'' or ``Newports'', at a cost of $1.00 per cigarettes. This has the impact of costing about $20 per pact and is the cigarette sale equivalent of the pay-day loan that the great banking system in this country gave us about five years ago.

The health risks from smoking are quite evident. They can and do cause lung cancer, emphysema, other forms of cancer such as thought cancer, and they can stunt your growth and be dangerous to pregnant Black women their so-to-be babies.

I don't think I need to spell it out any further. Don't Smoke. And if you have already started, and live in the Philadelphia area, please log onto: www.smokefreepilly.org or call 1.800QUIT-NOW and get some advice about stopping and now not to give up the fight. As I said, smoking is a costly thing. Remember, if you relapse, don't despair. Get help and keep trying to get off the cancer stick.

who are the king makers

Political Dynasties, King Makers, War(s), And The Movement for Black Progress…Face the Powers that Be, And Never Give Up the Struggle For HOPE!!!


THIS ARTICLE IS BEING EDITED...


Throughout North American history there have been king makers—wealthy, powerful men (almost always White)—who have decided who gets to control the joy stick of government. Who gets to be on the inside of power and control the billions upon billions of federal dollars that get spent annually in America and on what federal projects, programs and considerations those dollars are allocated for as well as who we go to war with and for what reasons. Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895 -1972), a U.S. Senator from the state of Connecticut and a Yale graduate like his grandfather was the father of our 41st President (George Bush Sr.) and the grandfather of our 43rd President (George Bush Jr.) was such a man. Actually born in Columbus, Ohio, Prescott Bush would move on to become a well connected Wall Street executive and the author of books on finance. He might have failed at business early in life, but he knew how to interact with the right kind of people and push all the buttons to become wealthy, educated and well healed. He made sure, before he died in 1972, that his children & grandchildren would one day roam the inside hallways of Washington, D.C. and other corridors of power and control the purse strings connected to the billions of dollars we are forced to pay as tax-paying American citizens.

Prescott Bush made sure his son George Sr. (also a Yale graduate) went to all the right schools and hob knobbed with all the right people who would one day make his son the King of America—although he would not live to actually see that day… The end result was his son George Sr. getting a Congressional seat & his grandsons becoming Governor of Florida (Jeb) and Texas (George Bush Jr.). (By the way, did I also mention that George Bush Jr. also went to Yale?) Prescott had created a political dynasty. George Sr. went on to become the head of the notorious CIA during the last year of the Gerald R. Ford Administration) & then Vice President of the U.S. under Ronald Reagan through out most of the 1980’s. Finally George Sr. went on to be a one term President after Reagan. (George Bush Sr. was defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton.) But low & behold, Father Bush (George Sr.) was not to be outdone. He made sure his son came back with a narrow, although contested, win in the year 2000 Presidential race against Democrat Al Gore. (Gore actually won numerically, but was defeated in the Electoral College.) The Dynasty was sustained & complete. Big Daddy Prescott Bush would sleep quietly in his grave knowing he had set the pace for his son & then grandson to lord over the so-called ``free world’’ as Presidents #41 and #43 of these United States—even though he had never actually witnessed those victories…

A while ago, there was another Dynasty in the making. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (1888-1969) wanted his son Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944) to become President. Joe Kennedy was educated at Harvard University (as was President Kennedy) and graduated in 1912. He went on to serve in many capacities during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration including a stint as Ambassador to Great Brittan (1938-1940). He groomed his children, again, by sending them to the best schools. Boot leg whisky and working on Wall Street (some of his practices would later be described as ``insider trading’’) helped build the family fortune up to some $200-$400 Million Dollars by 1957. Tragedy struck the Kennedy clan early. Because of the death of Joseph Jr. in England during WW II , John F. Kennedy, the young Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960 (he also served in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1947 to 1953) , would actually be the only Kennedy in the Twentieth Century to be elected President of the United States. The ``Kennedy Dynasty’’ was not quite as successful as the Bush Dynasty—at least not in reaching actual success as far as real time served in the highest office in the land—the Presidency. But the Kennedy White House was thought, for years afterwards and even up until this day by some Baby Boomers and others, to represent an almost dreamy Camelot era of fine clothing, good natured humor with reporters and high levels of professionalism and prestige on the world stage. The Kennedy Dynasty, however, was also fraught with family tragedy including the assassination of our beloved President during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Forty five years later our Nation still hasn’t fully healed from this family tragedy which impacted the entire Nation & much of the world--as so many baby boomers still remember little John John saluting his father’s casket and the sad but ever gracious Jacqueline Kennedy acting with such solemn dignity through all the ceremonies that are attached to losing a sitting head of state in North America...

Robert Kennedy (1925 -1968), the President’s younger brother, soon took up the mantel for his brother & had Presidential ambitions of his own. These ambitions were acted upon in 1967 when he decided to run for the Presidency that year. This Kennedy was a Senator from New York State and had served as Attorney General under his brother. But the Kennedy’s tragic story was to continue as an assassin’s bullets put an end to those ambitions in Los Angeles just after the June 6th California Primary which Robert Kennedy had won handily.

I remember as a child not believing the news of Robert Kennedy’s death. I sat on the front steps of the house next to ours on 49th Street playing jacks by myself when someone came up to me with the newspaper headlines blaring of the murder of R.F.K. I was shocked because his death came on the heels of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th of the same year (1968). Had our Nation gone mad, I thought... What would this mean? There were already riots in many U.S. cities after the King assassination. It seemed the underpinnings of our Nation were crumbling. This perception of instability was shared by many Americans as they went to the polls that November and elected a Republican ``Law and Order’’ man from California named Richard Nixon.

The Kennedy Dynasty would have to be satisfied with a leading role in the Democratic Party for the family and a Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy (1932 – 2009) for quite some time. (Ted Kennedy was unable to unseat President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Nomination in 1980.)

Dynasty, it seems, was more than just a tawdry, scandal-ridden TV show produced by Aaron Spelling in the 1980’s. It is a way of political life in America. There seems to be very few people who get to hold high office in North America & there seems to be a selection process through which all these men (and so far it has only been a men’s club) have to go through. It is almost as if they have to belong to some exclusive club fraught with high initiation fees, blood line requirements and educational background checks.

The 1939 Frank Capra film ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’’ explores the concept of King Makers & corruption that has been married to Washington, D.C. politics for almost 20 decades. How do you get to be a King Maker? What is the process? Is being wealthy & well connected enough or do you also have to be a funky old White male to join in this process? Is there any chance that corruption and scandal can be divorced from D.C. politics within our lifetime? Jimmy Stewart played Smith in the film and said ``Things sure happen fast around here. Don’t they’’ when he was taken a back by some events taking place around him as he was about to take office as the junior Senator from a Midwestern state. He said a mouth full. He was (in this fictitious film) appointed Senator through a quirky mishap & some of the powers that be were not pleased with his taking power. He seemed too innocent, bright eyed and bushy tailed for a major position of power in D.C.

Generally speaking, things don’t happen by mistake in D.C. and they do sometimes happen fast--sometimes. President Obama was thought to be a Renegade by some writers when he came into power in January of 2009 on the massive National desire for change in D.C. during the November 2008 election. In most instances he has not & most probably will not deliver on his many promises he made for real, lasting and needed change for our Nation. . . [Maybe we should have made him sign a Progressive Pact that he would carry out specific duties and end the war(s) (for example) at a certain time.] The progressive and liberal wings of the Democratic Party are not pleased at this point in the end of 2009 with many of his appointments and actions. While he has changed the temperament of the White House into something less Right Wing and has been a good international ambassador for the country with a ``message’’ of hope and possible peace, he has done many things that don’t look very forward moving or progressive. Chief among them: he has named three of the most old funky or established White males to major positions of power in his administration (read Dangerous Triangle in Chapter 13); he has not created any new inner-city initiatives to work with corporate America and create summer jobs for youth and thusly stem some of the crime in those areas; he has not even given much lip service to a needed major overhaul of our financial system, military and infrastructure; he has not said one word about military cutbacks in a time when it has been proven that the Pentagon wastes about twenty five cents for every dollar it spends; he has supported the status quo, the existing military & the ``same old war-like White line of hegemony, politics as usual & White power domination in policy initiatives & military actions as his speech in Oslo [when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace] proved beyond a reasonable doubt. There are ``just’’ wars he said. There are ``real evil people’’ in the world, he said. The next day he had moved so far to the right in his address in Oslo that even Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin had to fall in line with some sweet words of support for the first African American President of the United States.

I am sure members of the Congressional Black Caucus such as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and progressive members of Congress such as Dennis Kucinich sat in dumb-founded amazement at such a speech. The Major Goliath White media, however, lapped it up. He had effectively picked up his peace prize while not batting an eye about his proposed military build up of an additional 30,000 troops for Afghanistan. Never mind where the money is coming from to effectively stage such a troop increase. (Some experts predict it will cost a million dollars for each trooper due in part to the rough terrain and the lack of basic necessities such as running water and housing.)

Bogged down in trying to get more encompassing health care legislation passed, the President has not created or even given much more than lip service to the business community about creating the thousands of new jobs that are needed for the teeming numbers of unemployed Americans. (The unemployment rate is about 10 % as of December 2009). The Brother obviously needs some help on the innovation and clear and new thinking side of things in his Administration.


Moreover, Mr. Jefferson Smith (in the Capra movie), upon taking a bus tour of D.C. after he was appointed Senator was deeply and profoundly impressed with the words enshrined at the Lincoln Memorial. A child and an older Black man looked on as he took in the site. So many Americans have, once again, been disillusioned with Obama—the President who had reignited our hopes and dreams & gotten people who would never vote—young & old, Black & White—to vote and believe in him--has largely let us down. There is a new face on things, but bracing up the underpinnings of our Nation is a man who represents mostly the same old line of thinking that got us into the economic morass, war(s) and partisanship of the Bush Jr. years. Mr. Smith soon became disillusioned as he found out the work & difficulties involved in doing a seemingly simple thing like starting a national boy’s camp for orphaned and wayward boys in his home state…

I remember a few years ago during a trip to Washington, D.C. that I also was moved by the Lincoln Memorial. How even before Obama came on the scene, I felt our country could move past the economic morass and political partisanship it was stuck in during the Bush (Jr.) years and become something fresh, new & hopeful. Something was needed that would really help the less fortunate and reflect peace and tolerance instead of war profiteering, White world domination and exploitation destruction of so-called Third World or developing countries across the globe. Lincoln reflected aspects of that ``something’’. I had worked so hard for 30 years to move things along in a progressive direction, but it seems things only work quickly in D.C. if you have the deep pockets &, frankly, White skin & connections to make this so. If you want to be a mover & shaker, and you have Black skin, if you are in or out of office, it appears you have to play the game, support the status quo & belly up with the insiders & the fat White money boys. That is if you want to ``make it’’ on the world stage. Who knows what kind of deals President Obama has made with the Wealthy? It certainly seems that there was some kind of an agreement that things would be changed as far as style, but the substance has mostly remained in tact…

I remember going door to door in Philadelphia to generate support for the REPARATIONS movement & I remember running as a write-in candidate for U.S. Senator from P.A. in 2005. I’ve tried so many things to bring the human rights agenda some heat and some light—some truth and some inspiration… Then reality sets in when we see Mr. Obama exclaiming the virtues of war in Oslo and never saying a blessed word about the U.S.’s undermining of peace throughout the world through military intervention and the unscrupulous work of the U.S. intelligence network including the NSA and the CIA (along with the rest of the multi-billion dollar North American intelligence Network). The Right Wing; the War Mongers; the defense contractors like Halliburton, GE and Lockheed Martin; Wealthy Republicans; the Pentagon Brass—they all have a new friend in Mr. Obama who was elected to change things, but who pealed off what little was left of his progressive skin and threw his chips in with the Status Quo in Oslo, Norway... I guess the old adage IS true—you can’t beat City Hall… But I for one look onward & know just like at the actual birth of this country in the 1700’s tyranny can & will be defeated. In all its’ forms, ways and means, tyranny will be defeated... Don’t let yourself be easily disillusioned, fooled & like Denzel Washington said as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 film ``hoodwinked, fooled & bamboozled.’’ We as Black people can’t afford it. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep supporting people like Barbara Lee and Dennis Kucinich in Congress. Write them and let them know they are doing a wonderful job in keeping the progressive fires lit, hot, active and alive. Here are their addresses if you want to write them:

Congress Woman Barbara Lee
2444 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone # 202.225.2661


Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
2445 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone # 202.225.5871


They are some of the REAL progressive thinkers and shapers of our progressive tomorrows along with Former Congress Woman Cynthia McKinney (of Atlanta, Georgia) who ran for President in 2008 under the Green Party banner. To Write Sister McKinney log onto:

www.AllthingsCynthiaMcKinney.com


Keep moving in the direction of Black Progress—forward each and every day. Keep your eyes on the prize: What is the Prize? The prize is real economic development; social justice, true freedom, equality; prosperity for our people; a coming of economic parity for the poor. Even political dynasties, deal makers; war itself may have to be thrown on the ash heap of history before this is all over. We must be ever vigilant, work hard and never, never give up !! Power to the people!!! Never give up!! Find new ways to take your issues to the powers that be; create your own power base by creating a Black business; organizing with other Black Business Men and Black Business Women to bring greater political leverage to progressive causes in D.C. and around the globe—throughout our Diaspora… If you have a few dollars to give please check out the organizations our company has given to on our web page at www.btganda.com. They need your support, especially in these economically hard times when grants and donations are drying up!!... But never give up and never give in!!

The New Ethics and Morality.....

With the election of what has been touted in the media as a ``LIBERAL'' in Mr. Barack Obama, we have come to think, in some quarters, that anything goes. There was an attempt to pass pro-marijuana laws in several states; an open Lesbian was elected for the first time to the U.S. Senate; and; there is even talk of having Blacks elected to the Senate in the near future from Southern states--which would be a first since RECONSTRUCTION!!! Don't Stop Reading here!!!

This is all well and good [except I am NOT for the ratification of ANY bills that would further legalize marijuana because I feel it is, in today's market, laced with all kinds of illegal, habit-forming drugs and other chemicals that may well be dangerous for human consumption and may well help push users into graduating into other forms of more dangerous drugs.]

I feel electing an open Lesbian to the U.S. Senate is reasonable and in fact a plus for the country, as long as she fully represents all corridors of the community -- and or state from which she was elected. Ms. Tammy Baldwin was elected as a Democratic candidate from Wisconsin in November of 2012 and has already been sworn into office. From an Internet CNN source, she said ``I didn't run to make history. I ran to make a difference.'' Advocacy groups have called the Baldwin victory ``a significant stride towards bringing diversity to the Senate'' and many gay, lesbian and transgendered people, including those of color, are very pleased and even amazed at the victory in the Senate which has a national reputation-- in some quarters--as being a Good Old Boy's Network and a place for `` stogy old White men'' to hold court. The times, they are a changing.

The scuttlebutt about a Black or two winning a seat in the Senate, in the future, from the Deep South, is only talk at this point. However, there are also people putting their heads together and looking over the numbers. They are looking at how the Tee Party won Primary Victories and saying ``Hay, wait a minute, those numbers are less than the numbers of Blacks who vote in general elections. If We can get the numbers of Black voters UP in say, Georgia or Mississippi, we can have a Black person elected as the Democratic candidate and make a real run for the U.S. Senate!!

This is NOT just some Lame Brain idea that only holds hot water in the Summer. This is real politics and it doesn't take some racist hokum like the tactic George H. W. Bush used in 1988 to ``scare out the vote nationally'' by using the Willie Horton [Born August 12, 1951] ads that frightened White voters away from Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis that year, a former governor of the state of Massachusettts... [Horton was a Black male, and a convicted felon at the time. While serving a life sentence for murder, without the possibility of parole, the convict was the beneficiary of a Massachusetts weekend furlough program. He did not return for the furlough program and ended up committing assault, armed robbery and rape.] This ``mistake'' [Dukakis granted the furlough while he was Governor of Massachusetts] ended up fueling the Right Wing victory for Bush that year as Bush used a vicious attack ad that placed the blame for Horton's behavior squarely on the back of the Democratic candidate for President--Dukakis.] * A copy of the actual winning Bush ad--that many Black people found degrading and racist--is not included in the research material on Wikipedia--at least that this reporter could tell. * Much of the information contained in the above paragraph was culled from Wikipedia, the Internet Encyclopedia.

Bush [H. W.] won 426 electorial votes to Dukakis' 111 and handly defeated Dukakis in the popular vote, winning 53.4 percent to Dukakis' 45.6 percent. Bush [ H. W.] was able to successfully label Dukakis as ``soft on crime.'' A corney picture of Kukakis looking rather silly and out of place in a military tank didn't help matters among more pro-military voters for the Democratic candidate either. Bush [H .W.] had a shining military record that I am sure he touted that year.

This article is still being researched and written at this time [February, 19 2013 1:035 A.M.]

Hoggie Eats Woman.....

I was in a supermarket / restaurant today [2-25-2014] and there was a woman near me eating who was as big as a cathedral.  She was ``normal'' but seriously over weight. I quickly realized, having an over-eating problem myself, that she had a mental problem. It is a mental problem unlike child sexual abuse, rape or murder, that we have comfortably come to accept in this age of the ham hoggie with extra mayonnaise and cheese and the double-stuffed meat burgers and double-stuffed orieo's.  We can go to almost any burger shop and ask for a Triple-Decker cheese burger with beacon and no one bats an eye.   Such comfortable self-abuse is costing the North American Health Care system and the Health Care Providers-- and those of us lucky enough to have some form of health care--literally thousands of dollars in extra testing, care and treatment for heart disease, diabeties, high-blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks and other obesity-related costs. We must take the advice of people like Doctor Ian Smith and Doctor OZ [include their books here] and work 1/2 hour of exercise into our daily routine with each passing day. I guess, in our so-called Free democracy a requirement of less fat in sandwiches and wheat breads and less fattening cheese, less fattening bacon like turkey bacon and turkey burger patties or Veggie Pattie burgers--we can't make such things a requirement in our so-called free and open society [unless we can prove through the court system that such fattening items are a real threat to society]--but certainly we can demand that MacDonald's give us such options and choices if we are sane people and want to have some decency and honor about ourselves and honor our holy Temple--The Human BOdy each of us was given...

The cost of eating so much meat in our culture and our society like the huge Black lady I saw recently at 40th and Walnut Street stuffing a hoggie down her face--I wondered if the hoggie was eating her or was she eating the hoggie--this overeating also has costs in terms of our environment. It cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars more per year to produce cows, chickens--if that is what they really are, and this is questionable--poultry and goats than it does to produce tofu, wheat gluten, seatan, tempet, vegetables, and fruits.

Where do our food producers, with an ever-increasing inability to feed our growing world, think three meals with so much meat-- snacks, lunch, another snack, for example--where is all the water going to come from to feed and raise the bairly-live stock to produce such amounts of meat going to come from? It takes gallons and gallons less water to produce a 100 LB's of fruit or vegetables or tofu than it does 100 LB's of fried chicken, baked chicken, or even baked fish like the very popular and omega 3-filled Salmon many Black Families dine on [which is really good and great for us. It takes gallons and gallons less water--a vitally important limited resource, especially in parched, dry areas like Israel and California--to produce tofu than it does to produce goat meat or lamb meat.  It takes hundreds less gallons of water and shorter gestation and farm-to-table periods to produce fresh vegetable and fruits like peaches, blueberries, varieties of lettus [such as arugula and radicchio], blackberries, star fruit, eggplant, onions, broccoli, oranges, bananas, mint, new potatoes [the purple or red variety--which are a bit better for you], yams, sweet potatoes, and pineapples than it does to produce the meats I mentioned earlier in this article.

Water is a valuable resource that we totally take for granted.  We use it from sun up to sun down.  When we shave in the morning and brush our teeth and flush the bath in the morning to when we take a needed shower at night with plenty of wonderful olive soap or mango soap from the Black soap company and BLack Shampoo from 2nd Chance Thrift Shop at 45th and Locust Street and the Afro Centric Shop at 221 South 52nd Street in West Philadelphia at 52nd and Locust across from the Historic BushFire Theater.  We take the water we are using for a shower for granted, but we are lucky to have water seemingly all over the place in the United States of Native America.  It is in the supermarkets--fresh and inexpensive--and clean and drinkable our of the spicket and right there for a shower--one of which I took today....

Some European counties and the Western most part of our country have to take this information into consideration as we use water in London, Los Angeles and Sacramento.  That GOD gave us water and He can take it away if we don't come to terms with the facts in this article and many others that talk even more critically about wasting water and not taking it for granted.  We can't afford to walk through life unaware of what we do with every precious drop of water and every precious bit of good food--that is if we have gotten wise to eating good foot at this point. We must wake up to what realities really are and read books like ...

The Suggested book: ``Cooking Light: Way to Cook Vegetarian: The Complete Visual Guide to Meatless Cookiing'' From Time Home Entertainment, was a resource for producing this article ans has been helpful in my adding more fruits and vegetables to my own personal diet.

This article is not yet finished and will require editing.  It is written after having read a recipe or two from the ``Vegetarian Times'' magazine, which I subscribe to and strongly suggest to readers.

Job Creators and Unions Working Together...

Job Creators and the Need to Support the Union Movement....

This article MUST be sent to ALL Top Executives at McDonalds, at my expense. When We--as Job Creators and Business owners--support Progressive Labor we pour money back into the hands and pockets that serve as the very life-blood of the economic base from which we ourselves generate our own economic viability and sustainability. To cheat Labor is to cheat us. To give Labor a raw deal is to give ourselves a raw deal. Fair and stable wages have a regenerative impact that tends to share more money with the communities we serve as business men and business women. It tends to strengthen school districts, tax basis, churches, struggling families and communities; and allow people to fill their grocery baskets and shopping carts so they can shop in a hardier fashion at K-Mart, Target, and Trader Joe's. We will also find our customer base expanding and more happy and friendlier as well as the smaller shops and stores we might own experience an upturn... When we show the spirit of generosity in all commercial contract negotiations--be they either private or public--we are allowing money to flow freely and properly to the communities that sell us their Labor and back to us as owners of the Means of Production, small developers, property owners and small store owners--and back yet again to the people. This is the natural and decent Way things should progress.

Yesterday [March 14th, 2013] I went to a lively demonstration and rally in City Hall for Labor rights and a City Contract with District Council 33--One of the city Labor groups that claims they have been stiffed by the Mayor of Philadelphia--Mayor Michael Nutter. I was there to show support for the Union. As a Business man I feel it is very, very important to give Our Labor Unions fair and decent wages because of the give and take I mentioned earlier in this story. There was a lot of angry Union men and women there. They were chanting all types of things against the Mayor who they feel is not being fair to the Unions at all. I did notice that instead of being thugs like some people think all Unions are, District Council 33, City workers of many stripe, were going out of their way to be kind and courteous to people who were at the demonstration and any official people who were trying to get through the crowd like politicians, police officers, and Civil Affairs people. Things went pretty well. I had no idea about the demonstration and was really in CIty Council or City Hall to show support for an initiative that City Council woman Blondell Reynolds Brown was making to get more women on City Corporate Boards of Directors. She called the number of women on CIty Boards of Directors ``abismal'' and discussed the points of Her proposed Philadelphia legislation that will deal with the issue head on. City Council woman Jannie Blackwell ws also there to show support for the measure. Many women sat around a table and were recognized for the positions they hold on various boards, but Blondell said this was hardly enough. While I was at the meeting for more women on City Corporate Boards, I noticed many, many Union people on my Way in and as I made my Way out also. I decided to wait in line to get back into CIty Hall and show my support for the City Union. Because of my activities with the All Peoples Congress and The International Action Center over the years, I have ALWAYS been close to Unions and Pro-Union. I have, however, not had too many close friends and associates in City Unions except maybe my good friend Levin T. and my cousin Cedric B. [Cedric I don't see hardly at all, but Levin and I are becoming closer as friends because we dine out together from time to time.] So, I took the time to support the Union and chanted, shouted and even testified before City Council for them. It took about two hours of my day yesterday and it was well worth it. I ended up having one of the best days I have had all year. I signed up and stood in line to testify for a bill called 130004 which was for more sick leave. When finally I got up to the podium I explained that I really was Pro Union, but that I couldn't take any stand on the Bill because I didn't get a chance to read it because of the Hap-Hazard way in which the public is allowed to testify without actually reading the actual legislation or even a short synopsis or compilation of each Bill before they are allowed to have their say on how they feel about any certain Bill. I stated my name and my company's names first. I was done in about four minutes. I hadn't testified in front of Philadelphia's City Council since I did so about gentrification sever years ago. It is always good to reach that high point in your activism to testify in front of City Council Some activists do it all the time. I am too busy writing letters to to that or researching and writing. I'll try to do it more, not that I feel the exhilaration and the closeness with the people that was evident yesterday [March 14th, 2013] in Philadelphia's City Council. I also spoke with City Council woman Jannie Blackwell for a few moments and we were back on speaking terms in no time. I am sure she didn't even know how upset I was that I had been unable to have a meeting with Her last summer and was denied several time from her scheduling staff to have a meeting. {Her Appointment Secretary was Lauren Whitleigh at the time, last summer]. Since Jannie took the time to come over to me and recognize me and say She didn't quite know I was the one giving Her some important mail at Her meeting earlier about the Philadelphia Corporate Board Positions for Women, I decided that I needed to stop holding a grudge against Jannie and be more open-minded and accepting because She tries hard and works hard as well. So, that was my day in City Hall and City Council yesterday.

To get back on point, If We let ourselves slip back into the repugnance of greed and too much economic self-perpetuation, we end up pulling the plug on the very economic flow that we feed into and that feeds back into our bank accounts, our own wallets and our personal and family economic well-being as business owners. I think we have to talk to the Unions and their representatives and say ``We want to give you a fair contract; we know you have children to feed and school, taxes to pay, utility bills to pay, and you want to buy a few nice things after the food and utility bills are paid. Few if any people in Philadelphia are buying Ferrari's on a City Wage. '' We should extend ourselves in fairness and with dignity when dealing with the Unions and always allow a free-flow of ideas and information instead of the conflicts that have gone on Between the Office of the Mayor and District Council 33, for example.

When we understand the importance of giving solid contracts and the flow of the economy and stop hoarding money [because we are only harboring heartache and economic hardship for ourselves and the people we want to keep as good Laborers and different parts of our customer base when we hoard money as job creators, business owners and small business owners], we begin to understand the human side of how the economy works. We also begin to understand that creating deeply unnecessary hardship for others only begins to choke off the flow of funds back to us and create animosities in the customer base and among Labor Groups, Unions and Labor Rights Groups that are hard to heal--even over time--and that can create negative ripples in the consumer squadron.

There are a few more points I want to make. Please don't think I am ONLY Pro-Union. While I am a strong Union supporter, and a former and future member of the National Writer's Union, I am also well aware of the difficulties that come along with trying to make payroll, pay employee health benefits, keep up with taxes, utility bills, rental or mortgage payments, and the problems one runs into with employee lateness, demands for more pay when there just isn't enough money to go around and other problems such as maintenance, security and property upkeep. We have to, as business owners, put as much of our profits back into the company as possible. Taking a very, very large salary for your top executives and Big Bonuses only for top executives, Board members and top officers is NOT productive in the present economy when so many people are hurting for a basic good salaries, Ways to feed hungry families, Ways to pay rising tuition costs for children in college and decent health benefits.

My Clinched Fist--A Peaceful Poem... By Brother Tracy Gibson...

My Clinched Fist

A Poem By Brother Tracy Gibson

Yes I Clinch My Fist

From Time to time...

It is out of respect for the many

Hundreds of Black

People who have made things

Easier for me...

Or who dies for me in the struggle

\Or in the Middle Passage

[Thies bones now at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean]

It is to shake thing up for

The ``too comfortable''

And let the oppressor

Know who I am

and What I want

And that I am far from satisfied and that I am unfraid

Of his bullets, bombs and bayonets

It is for people who

Have paved the road and the Way, though it

Still be bumpy at times,

For me to follow

It is for people like.....

Those on my Freedom Wall:

Ms. A Harris

Aretha Franklin

Samuel F. Yette

Robert Mason

The Late Writer / Visionary / College Professor Manning Marable

Bradley Manning -- [Who may well be being tortured as I write this...]

Delbert Africa

Denise Nichols

Trent Pettus

Chancellor Williams

Brother Tracy Gibson

Vicky Wilmore [For the Courage to be a Grandmother to Nine Black male children]

Author Leslie Peterson

Ms. Iola Nelson-Harper

Ms. Kim Nelson

My eight Adopted SOns

The African American Freedom And Reconstruction League

My Eight Little Cousins and the REst of My Family

Charles S. Gibson And Beverly McCullough

Filmmaler Michael Moore

Steven Biko

Charles Ogaltree

Given Shakur and Sons

Marcus Garvey

Keith Bright

Muhammad Ali

Sistah Claudia [Aziza] Gibson Hunter

Huey P. Newton

Doctor Keith Hunter

The Liberation Book Store

Dennis J. Kucinich

Marie Nelson

Barbara Lee

Art and Stevie, and John Speer

Brother Brian Robinson and Brother Carlos Carter of UFCCP

Charles Gilpin

Brother Denzel Washington

Pastor Jeffery Haskins

Chris Blandfor from Adodi Philadelphia

Greg Reis

Gregory Jones and His Lover

Minnie Ripperton

Boris

Brother Paul Darling

BJ Tillman

Kamau Hunter

Jeffery Osborn

Anoa Hunter

Sistah Rosita Johnson

Minister Rodney Muhammad

Sistah Debbie Moore

Author Walter ROdney

Erth, WInd and FIre...

Mother Charlotte from UFCCP

Tyrone Smith

Doctor Ben

Minister Louis Farrakhan

Reverend Jesse Jackson

Chikh Anta Diop

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

Attorney / Activist Michael Coard

Earl Graves III

Medgar Evers

Chaney, Swerner Etc.

The FOuor Little Girls

Ms. Carris Engram

Reverend Al Sharpton

Wanda Wheeler

Brother Bruce Harvey

Brother Aaron DOnnerson

Brother Steve from Adodi

Delmar Thompson

Brother Haynes

Elsie Erwin

Sistah Gwyn Lawrence

Arthur A. Edens

Eve Thornton and Her Husband Levy

Cheryl and DOn FIscher

Godfrey Sithole

Ella Baker

Rosa Parks

The Queen Mother of South Africa Winnie Mandela

Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Senator Paul Wellstone

Malcolm X

Cynthia McKinney

Filmmaker Mrlon Roggs

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad

James Baldwin

Paul Robeson

Essex Hemphill

Harold Washington

Reverend Paul Washington

Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis

Clifford A. Rawlins

Ida B. Wells

Darrell Waters

Bill Smith

bell hooks

Old Time Activist and Trouble Maker Bill Hill

[Who was like a Father to Me]

Berta Jobert

The SIster who Started the New Democratic Party Down South

And Walked out on the 1964 COnvention

Charles Harp

Yupac Chakur

Michael Otis

Common

Stokley Carmichael

Maurics Bioshop

Ernesto Che Guevarar

Sister Falaka Fattah

Angela Davis

Ernesto Philpotts

Caesar Chavez

Asada Shakur

The Reverend Leon Sullivan

Spike Lee

Writer Joe Beam

Bishop Desmond Tutu

Bishop Carl Bean

AIDS Activist Arnold Jackson

Poet Audre Lorde

Patrice Lumumba

Professor John Henrik Clarke

Jose Martine

Hugo Chavez

Binta Edwards

Ardie Brown

Phylicia Rashad

Phillis Hyman

Phyllis Wheatley

Harriet Tubman

Zachariah Jones

Gwendolyn Brooks

David P. Richardson

Pattie LaBelle

Senator Chris Coons

Senator Russ Feingold

Brother Rob Gray and Sister Silvia Gray

Maisha Sullivan

Aunt Helen Peterson

Mao Se Tung

Aunt Doris Thornton

Oaula Peoples

Daniel Ortega

Author Eduardo Galeano

Uncle Irv Thornton

and

Charlene Arcila

Sarah Burton

Cheryl Smith

Audrey Skeete

Mother Doris Lofton

and

Author Frantz Fanon

Mrs. Jessie M. Gibson.....

The Nation of Islam

Poet Sistah Sonya Sanchez

And Many Others too many to mention

It is for their continuing legacy

That I raise my Fist and

Fi=or this I do NOT apologize.....!!

But Remember, my fist,

Like the Thousands of other clinched fists,

Are not clinched

All the time.....

We also lend a hand where there os

a Fire or a disaster and open our hands

When the collection plae comes around

in church.....

We also pass the food around when there are needy people

in our midst...

We also stretch out our hands

And our arms to hug the ones we LOVe

And Care for

We also spend money with our hands,

in Black Communities.....

and at Black stores

Our hands are NOT always clinched...

But a time will come when you will

Realize in a steady and on-going fashion

The work that we have done

To help you maintain that job you are so satisfied with

OR

That job you hate and want to give up...

[It is a job none the less]

So let us do our Job....

And Our Work

nd Clinch our fists at times.....

It is Well and Necessary

Freedom To The People NOW!!!

I clinch my fist.......

With PRide, Dignity and a Positive Temperament

I clinch my fost

As long as there is a foot on my neck

With Pride, Digniety and Positive Temperamant

I am Proud to be Gay

I have the Dignity of a Black man who sprang

from The Ancients

I have the Positive Temperament

of a man who wants to see and is dedicated to positive change

TODAY!!!

NOT Tomorrow or next week.........

A clinched fist is NOT something to scuff at or take lightly.....

Anger, defiance, oilitical resentment and oppression

Are all serious business

And harsh realities for far too many people on the face of

this great earth...

YES!!

I RAISE

AND

Clinch

My Fists!!

Get Used to IT!!!

Get Over IT!!!

And

MOVE on With Me to Help Others to see why

I Clinch My Fist.....

XXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXX

SELF-LOVE

The Following Article was written by Brother Tracy Gibson some several months ago and is revisited here on December 11th, 2012 {Tuesday} for youR enjoyment, information, healing and consideration..... .


The Power of Being Black...... And Loving It.....





By Brother Tracy Gibson

Not enough of us, as Black People, really enjoy or understand the power and glee of being Black and really relishing in that fact. The fact of Blackness that cannot be changed... Not enough of us understand that politically, one of the best things in this world to be is a Black Person, and specifically and especially, a Black American at this present particular time in History........

Why do I say this? It has to do with moral and ethical leverage. We are a people who have historically suffered, but overcome. Who knew, for example, that when the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on April 4th in 1968 that he would become an international--if not an intergalactic moral and ethical star--a compass from which other moral and ethical leaders the world over would be compared to and that King would be appreciated and studied by school children all over the world. April 4th, 1968 was a sad day and at the time it looked as if we would never survive the day and get past the riots and the pain of such a loss--Let alone flourish and become some of the most imitated people {artistically and for our political planning, training, tactics and techniques} people on the planet. You might think that other people, especially some White People, really hate us, and some of them do. The haters are a very small minority. Most Whites just don't understand us and will never see the importance of understanding... {Not even with a Black President in the White House right now at the end of 2012 and on until the beginning of 2017....} But some of them, the White People, have tried for generations to do away with us through starvation, unemployment, lack of economic opportunities for our small and moderate sized businesses and by putting us on the front lines of their wars--or even actual using extermination through forced sterilization of our women. {There is even the Tuskegee study that killed several of our Black men through disease experimentation with STD's}.. This is history, I'm not making this stuff up. Yet we have survived and flourished as a people and our numbers have remained steady. {Certainly our quality of life has recently suffered with the economic down turn and the loss of jobs and economic clout, but there is always hope on the horizon.} Much of our strength has come from Doctor King who has taught us, along with hundreds and thousands of other community leaders and activists, Elijah Muhammad, Kwame TuRe, Angela Davis included, other teachers, civic and community leaders, just plane parents, pastors, doctors, writers, historians, visionaries and others in our community who have dedicated themselves to the community and our children and our children's futures these people have given us strength... Our strength and resilience has also come from our sheer ability to read and teach ourselves and each other about the problems we face and the truth about our history and the sheer insidiousness of the system we work and live under.

I say we have leverage because we are able to take our place as we exist in the world today--including our significant historic place in history--and pry open the minds of other people--Latin People, Asian People, curious White People, Muslims, Arabs, Jewish People and even Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered etc. People and others, and allow them to understand what importance our existence plays on the World Stage. {As I have said, several of these groups have mimicked our political tactics and strategies for their own benefit and we have to and need to start looking at this as a good thing and not be envious of other groups' gains, but look at their struggles as also moving humanity forward constantly and consistently. I say this especially about the current advantages that the Gay and Lesbian and or Same Gender Loving community have made [with marriage equality and Don't Ask Don't Tell in the Military] as well and especially them at this time}... Still, we have ethical leverage that many other people don't have or that other groups have not been able to pry free from the general public which has, until recently, remained steadfast in their rather Conservative and established political beliefs and their opposition to us.... {I say we have leverage because of how we have suffered and how we continue to be victimized even through Affirmative Action and jobs programs and other things that often don't work because we have been left out of the planning stages of these projects...} Our past and present suffering gives Way to us holding the keys to this leverage. But I don't, as our Pastor has said, I don't want us to be seen as victims. We have to surpass victim hood and see ourselves as heroes, champions and the leaders of tomorrow. It also has to do with self- love, self- respect and our constant and consistent desire to want to see ourselves move forward as a people. Block the hatred, and the negativity and move forward. BUT SELF LOVE is KEY!!!

What I really wanted to briefly discuss today is Black LOVE and how we gain so much from loving ourselves and our people. When we are proud of another Black person's achievements we have a real gift right there in our lap... When we are jealous we have something deep inside that needs to be dealt with..... Chills go up and down my spine as I write this because this is such a powerful thing that is right under our noses, and many of us understand the depth and magnitude of what I'm describing here. There is so much power, importance and fortitude in Black LOVE--of one's self and one's people. It is a secret weapon that allows us to experience a beautiful colorful prism through which life is seen anew, discovered a new and lived with new meaning, depth and girth. Being in LOVE with your people, and I mean just about ALL Black people, is a gift that you can really only give yourself if you were either raised with LOVE in your household, or have read enough and healed and appreciate Black people through your own personal expectations and your own personal colorful prism. Like me, you may have been filled with so much self-hatred, anger and self-pity that you experienced a series of emotional upsets and setbacks that required therapy over an extended period. Even so, the healing, once it comes, flows like the mighty NILE river UP to Egypt and has lasting and greatly positive benefits. This is largely how I came upon feeling this love for my people and myself and truly loving myself and ``WE.'' This LOVE has helped me achieve my own potential as an individual Black person, and has helped many of our other Brothers and Sisters achieve their own great and massive potentials as Well.









So, helping build self- LOVE, a LOVE for our people and respect for other Black people and LOVE for our achievements, is a gift you can give your children and grandchildren and is a gift that Will last and you and your family will reap a bountiful harvest from that gift for generations to come. Sometimes this ``gift'' comes in wolf's clothing. I have a friend, His name is Bruce, He lives in a rather squalid situation. He is a hoarder and He needs a lot of work done to His home. Bruce has helped me through many difficult times and is a LOVER of Black people, but He won't and can't seem to prioritize His own healing and get that house together. This is a mental illness. It is nothing to be ashamed of. I myself have had to struggle with mental illness--depression and bipolar ism. Bruce requires serious intervention before He will get himself able to extricate himself from his present circumstance. Most people let Him go and feel this is His business. He is a grown man, let Him be. I tried that for 10 years, but there has been no change. I did something drastic a few weeks or about a month ago. I took some shirts away from Him--away from His House--and put them in the cleaners. I told Bruce I would not give them back until he changed his circumstance. He was very angry and frustrated with me, even though He has now forgiven me. He might NOT be so forgiving soon, because I refuse to let Him drown with the Titanic Down at the Franklin Institute this month and early next year. Because, unfortunately for Him, {Bruce} I am not done yet. I can be a stubborn little fucker when I want to be. He loaned me $40.00 which I was suppose to get His shirts out of the Dry Cleaners with. I'm using the money for other things. I needed food because I only get $1,162.00 a month in disability and that is about enough to starve on. I won't have any money until next year {2013}... I decided 2013 will be something different for me. I'm NOT allowing myself to stay suck in the muck and mire of self pity, victimization, dis pare and anger. I'm pulling Myself UP. People tell me I must leave people like Bruce behind. But what do I do about all the LOVE I have for Him and how He has helped me for over ten years? What do I do about how He has Himself tried so hard to help Himself? This extrication and pulling up must be a mighty thing for me. Most people leave others behind, but I don't see how to do that. To the untrained naked eye I am just harassing Bruce, embarrassing Him and NOT acting in a LOVING way AT ALL.. People who think this are foolish, uneducated in the Ways of humanity and unknowing.... Sometimes the medicine of healing has a bitter taste. And sometimes you end up hurting yourself AND the other person by trying to lift up something that isn't ready to move. But Bruce is 60 years old. READY is here. The ``Other'' in me--the ``Other Black'' the man who has been cold and hungry and left out Himself knows I can't leave Bruce there in that situation. Should I call the authorities? Should I call my Pastor at church? I have to decide these issues and things in the next few days.









I hope you will understand the importance of this short article and how deep the feelings of real, authentic caring and LOVE are. It is NOT easy for some people to say they LOVE someone, because they were not brought up that Way. This article, writing it, has been a healing process in itself. I have been deeply hurt by another Black person {I have healed from it and learned with the vital help of a therapist over an extended period, as I have said. I never thought I would have gotten so many benefits that have kept on coming. You might need to do some healing yourself. You may have been or come up against a parent, an intimate partner, a stranger, a friend, another relative, an uncle, aunt, step-parent or grandparent or a Brother or Sister who hurt, mistreated or abused you, or you might have abused others. To really experience life to the fullest you must heal from that pain you felt or even the pain you caused others. The person who abused you MUST be forgiven for you to move on. It doesn't matter if the person who abused you is alive or dead. You have to find the healing POWER and forgive and move on... Otherwise you will find it hard to re-direct your life and move your life in the direction you want it to move into. You will find yourself addicted to food, drugs, sex, alcohol, or something else and your pain will come. It will come out in another way. The gift of mental and emotional healing is a great one and more of us as Black people need to understand this gift and help heal other Black people on a very deep level. My sister says that if Black people only got mental help and therapy for REPARATIONS it would do us all as a people a world of good. I agree. That is why I am intervening with Bruce and that is WHY people are calling me crazy. You see, you have adjusted to madness and craziness and so has Bruce. I have taken 35 years and healed. You probably haven't. That is why you can go into places that are called ``The Devil's Den'' and have coffee and sandwich and think nothing of it; that is why you can go Down Town in Philadelphia and spend $1,000.00 at Macy's Department Store and think nothing of it when there are no Black departments stores and WE as Blacks people continue to be relegated to being a ``consumer class'' of people; that is why you watch the news about a football player murdering his girlfriend and Himself in from of Football Executives and you go on eating your Captain Crunch cereal [because you have been inoculated against the truth having any impact on you the way it should for humans]; that is why you go on with the deep pain you feel inside and feel self-destructive and hateful towards yourself and refuse to get help and call it ``fear of the stigma of mental health healing'' and walk on with your pain in tact like a rusted iron butt plug up you ass.... Somehow you find pride and sanity as you watch ``The Simpson's'', on The FOX Network and think how nice it is that that little funny ``progressive'' cartoon has been on FOX [a Conservative network] for 20 years and that is just lovely. But I am here to question your sanity because I have already had my head examined and I am here to tell you about yourself, Greg, and IDA and Dena and Phil and Minister BJ.....and WADE and Terry [Love joy]--you for one Love joy are too fixed in comfort as are a few others at church.... You don't tussle any feathers and you don't want yours tussled, even though you told me you wanted to move from New Jersey, but you refuse to do so because you said yourself, you are ``comfortable'' ... Are you sane or have you adjusted to insanity?









When you have started on the Healing Path, you will find refuge and LOVE with other Black people who have also healed. When you have started on this Healing Path, you will find yourself able to talk more frankly and honestly with other Black people and tell them how you really feel and how glad you are that there is a GOD and a Jesus and that He has his hands over your life in a good Way. You will not mask your feelings, with too much marijuana or drink or blow or alcohol or cocaine--you will be able to have more open and honest relationships with your family members, LOVED ones and that someone special will appear or reappear in your life and you will be able to have that long term healthy relationship that you always wanted, but could never figure out why you could never achieve this and had to be alone for decades....

If you have NOT seen ``Flight'' with Denzel Washington I strongly suggest and recommend you go see it. It is about an airline pilot who is so cool He thinks He can ignore a cocaine and alcohol habit. But reality catches up with Him. This film is, like just about ALL of Denzel's films, it is well-acted, finely directed and sticks to your soul and memory like a good chicken and greens and apple pie dinner sticks to your ribs. Don't miss this film. It is a wake- up call. It will help guide you down a path of leadership and healing and better mental health. If you pay attention and don't continue to medicate yourself with food, medicine, alcohol, blow, cocaine, sex, hate, resentment and silly TV.

You, if you heal, you will have that better, more stable, healthier relationship as you heal. I don't care if you are 16 or 66, you will be ready when GOD says you are ready. It is never too late to start the Healing Process [the HP]. If you can't get the money for therapy or if you have bought into the silly ``prejudgments'' about therapy don't let that stop you because you can find your Way to the self- help section of the bookstore or library instead of buying new trains and going to the movies to see another comedy, or having rugged sex again GREG, you can start on that Healing Path [The HP]. This all includes me also, even after 35 years of therapy. Don't think I think I am exempt. This is how you weed the de il out of your life. And stop handing power over to him. You see, I no longer believe in the devil or sin, but that gets into another article. I can tell you this. I take the ``V'' out of the middle letter of that Mother Fucker's name and I turn it into the word VICTORY for myself and my people and your people--not for him to beat us up once again. It is that simple. Malcolm said BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY--I had to steal that ``V'' from that little Mother Fucker, you don't think he just gave it to me do you? Just like I had to steal Bruce's shirts........................................................iIhad to save Bruce's life and make the de il powerless..... You can do the same thing...

If you don't want to go to the book store and the library and go to the self-help section go to your Barber and your Pastor and talk it out, or a relative of significant other, but don't let things fester Like a raisin in the WHAT!!! Thank you Langston Hughes.... and Loraine Hans berry....fester inside like that football player did. You see the results there... Go with Abandon. Open you heart and your Spirit. Stop with the excuses, the self- medication, the alcohol and over sexualization the self-lies. I am NOT saying don't be gay or a homosexual. I'm a homosexual. BUT stop lying to yourself. Stop hiding things under the rug Ed. You live in a house that is also falling down and that has a lot of bumpy spots under the rugs where you have hidden your stories and lies and deceit. You are a church man. Do you actually think GOD doesn't know about what you have done and are doing? Do you actually think your church members don't know? When a person gets Brest cancer Cheryl they often have to have a radical mastectomy. The word Radical is what I am. People don't like that word. I am a radical person. I was put here by GOD to rip the wounds open so they can heal properly. Excuse the bumps inside my lips I have oral herpes. It will never go away or heal properly but it is somewhat treatable for the flair-ups on the inside..... Now, how will I ever find a LOVER who can deal with that? I'll have to take Him to the doctor with me and we will have to talk it out. This is therapy. I was lucky that I didn't get HIV because of the sexual activities I took part in, especially in New York City in the 1980's. Thank GOD that She [GOD] was with me in Spirit as I carried out my activities. The will kiss you on the cheek you will not get what I have, so don't go and get sick from stress you are causing yourself for not inviting me to you Birthday Party Mother Doris. I LOVe you and I think you have many more years with our church. You might NOT believe it, but this is a fine Way to bring about healing. There is a 900 pound gorilla at church at The Unity Fellowship Christ Church of Philadelphia and He is there every week. He is indifference, cattiness, pettiness, greed, hatred, self-hatred, anger, resentment, selfishness, stupidity, grief and silliness. It is OK to have political beliefs Brother Greg Jones. You can be a political Black man and not feel that you will feel persecuted. It is all throughout the Bible that you will be protected and have a long life. Please treat your lover Richard well. You see, I also love him, not in the Way you do, but He is my Brother and I love Him and YOU TOO... Yes, I was a bit jealous, but I'm had one apolitical lover before I really wasn't interested in having another one. It is time for this animal--this 600 pound gorilla--to go the way with the de il who is missing his ``V'' because the good ones among us stole that fucker's victory. You know what your problems are. You know because they DOG you each and every day. You know because you confess them to GOD sometimes, but most likely NOT even in church. They sit there among that 900 pound gorilla. In waiting, to pounce on all of us until you deal with them... Your Pastor tells you every Sunday, but you go and get some ice cream and medicate yourself with that and refuse to look at ``Michael Jackson's Man or Woman in the Mirror.....'' When you confess to your Pastor, your uncle, your aunt, your parents, your Brothers and Your sisters you will feel a new light a Bright Hope light burning inside you... You know what it is that is bothering you. You can't put your finger on it because the pain is too much. If you can't put your finger on it, try putting your finger on the feeling and talk to someone in your family or among your friends that your trust. An uncle or a Pastor. You will be giving yourself the gift of LOVE. You will be giving yourself the gift of Wellness wholeness, solitude, peace, self-worth, serenity, self-love and more stable thinking, a calmness... You will find it easier to make decisions and think through things properly because you will have an Angel on your shoulder and GOD in your pocket... the de il will melt like yesterday's nightmare... The decisions you make will be clearer, more accurate, better thought and through, more forthright, and more level headed. That means you too Carlos. I wish your LOVER could come to church with you once in a while. You have been a shining light for me and I LOVE you and I LOVE the Gay couples in our church.... Our church members will find themselves acting in reality NOT the fantasy way they saw last night on ``666 Park Avenue,'' Thanks Vanessa Williams, but don't give me more of the de il I'll just have to steal some more ``VICTORIES'' from that little fucker..you will find yourself becoming a leader, not a follower. No matter what age you are. Gandhi said something like ``Encourage the People and the Leaders will Follow,'' and as you know, King studied Gandhi. The more honest you become with yourself, Sissy, the more able you will be to see yourself as a leader. Your opinions will be sought after and you will insist on living in a cleaner environment Bruce, and you Will enjoy surrounding yourself with people who are about something positive and forward moving instead of people who will be unnecessarily critical, unconstructive in their criticism, negative and who want to hold you back and ``WE'' back as Black people. You will burn new paths in life instead of follow others like lost sheep and GET BURNED by others. Just stat by selecting one of the books from my book list about healing and helping the world to be a better place. In no time you will find yourself turning off the TV and reading book after book after book. Remember I LOVE you and I want to help. We can work through this money thing and NOT having a new church building. We have shoes. we have socks--thank you McKale--that was a gift of words that will forever give back to me--the healing process..... I want the best for my valued Brothers and Sisters. Write me at: BLockBoi75@Yahoo.Com

and I'll send you that book list over e-mail. I Will show you a whole New Way of healing, growth and financial prosperity that you never knew was just around the corner, just across the street or just around the bend in life. I want you to LOVE yourself and our people. It is a gift that keeps on giving--forever.

This article was written by, prepared by and researched by Brother Tracy Gibson, a writer, activist and businessman operating in West Philadelphia {Born and Raised} He would LOVE to hear from you. Yes, that means you.....

Copyright warnings and infringements from ``It's Your Biz,'' By Susan Wilson Solovic, with Ellen R. Kadin and a forward by Edie Weiner. Page 150...

``Because I write many columns and blog posts for a variety of companies and media organizations, I use search-engine tools to alert me if anyone is picking up and using my material. Some people have literally copied my writing and presented it as their own, even though this is an obvious copyright infringement. There are both civil and criminal penalties for copyright violations, and the severity of the penalties depends on the situation.''

An Important Open Letter to the Black Community ABOUT Food and Nutrition.....

An Open Letter To The Black Community…

RE: Where Did All the Money Go?

Have you as a Black Parent ever wondered where all the household funds are going? Do you often have the sinking feeling that your children are just there to act as a vacuum cleaner [s] for Five Dollar Bills and One Dollar Bills?

This short article is designed to let you know where some of the money you give your children goes ad how it is spent.  If you read onward, you will also learn how to stem some of the flow of money and turn that might financial river around and put some of those dollars back into the household and back into your pocket.

If you are a typical Low to Middle-income household in the inner city—Black family with either 2.3 children and either one parent, two parents or a guardian watching the children such as a grandparent—the children probably goes to the corner store or the neighborhood store about two or three times a week.

The typical things they might buy will include: A 16 Oz. Pepsi  soda [$1.50.]; Herrs BBQ Potato Chips [Large Bag for $4.29 each]; A cheese and turkey Hoagie—[$7.49 each]; three cream-filled cupcakes from Tasty cake or Drake [one pack of 3 is $1.69]; A small bag of powered-sugar donuts  [$4.78 a bag]; Tasty Cake Pie [$1.]on special.

That sounds like a lot of food for one setting, but taken over a week, a month, or a year and you get to relate to just how much this food, often called junk food, is costing the average American Black Family. If you have two or three children you can multiply some of these amounts by two or three [I will do this for you.]

An average male or female in the 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, or 11^th grade has plenty of money for snacks before and especially after school.  [Now some of that money they get hold of themselves and make it honestly at a job or by doing work around the house and getting an allowance. This is where the family discussion of good and proper values comes in.  One value we all need to teach our children, nieces, nephews, young cousins and grandchildren, etc., is NOT to eat so much junk food!!!  But we need to come to them with facts and statistics about high blood pressure when they get older; about heart ailments when they get older; and about obesity they may be dealing with right now or when they get a bit older.  This is crucial and we have to explain to our young ones the importance of listening.  We also need to take the time to listen to them as well and write a hand written or typed letter to our pastors about good and better foods and nutrition and how we think our churches can help in this process.  This is important and can be worked into the day late at night before you go to bed or really early in the morning before you go to work.  If you don’t think this is important, just read some of the facts and figures on nutrition in the Black community and you will see what I’m talking about.

``On the Flip side, fat in the midsection is usually quite responsive to diet and exercise, and losing weight reverses the health risks,’’ from Ebony Magazine, January 1990.

I have literally seen at least one youngster with a $50. Bill and I have seen plenty of $20. Bills; $10. Bills and $5. Bills. A typical male or female child or youth might buy a hoagie, two bags of chips, or one large bag, and a soda at least twice a week. Each trip to the corner store for those three items Will cost about $13.28!!  Twice a week, That’s $26,56 a week. Over a month That’s $106.24 if your child goes and gets those items… Twice a week for a month, over a year time that’s $1,274.88—One Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy Four Dollars and Eighty Eight cents a year!!  That is just for one child or youth over one year.  [If You have two children or young people around the house, that’s  $2,549.76.] 

Money shortages in Poor or even Middle-income Black households is at the apex of the reasons for arguments, conflicts and disagreements between parents, guardians and grandparents and children, teen or young adults.  There just never seems to be enough money, especially during the hard times of high unemployment and the flood of foreign-made goods [including large and expensive items such as cars] coming into the U.S. economy that we are currently faced with.

Many heads of Poor Black Families think if they could just win the lottery or get that windfall or make a big gain in some other way, such as a stock option, they would really be living the high life. Everything would be fine.

But the control is actually in the parents and the children’s hands each week or every other week or every month when the get paid and the money comes in.

The Parent—with a little knowledge and community or church education—can make some badly-needed change that can have a significant, lasting, and positive impact on Black families and eventually whole Black Communities!!!

If a parent; grandparent or guardian sits down with the children He or She has responsibility for the parent can take the positive opportunity to take Positive action and change the situation.  Parents can put the fattening hoagies, chips and sodas down and make other choices. Such foods as sodas, cakes and hoagies are not healthy at all and have real and present links to diabetes, obesity heart disease and high blood pressure.  They contain a high level of unhealthy saturated fat, salt, sugar and corn syrup—all foods and chemicals linked to health difficulties. Coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of positive physical activity such as exercise, this becomes a great danger to our Black Families.

A grandparent, Mom or Dad can help the child or youngster by instructing them to take slices of cucumber, celery, radishes and carrots to school in a plastic container.  The child can take a small container of hummus or Balsamic vinegar to school with the fresh vegetables and have a really healthy snack instead of all that fat, salt and sugar that can threaten life lines, especially later in life. The child can take a bottle of Spring Water pre-bought from the super market or just cool tap water.  This will save more than half that $1,274.99 a year!!