A CALL TO ARMS FOR THE ENLIGHTENED GENERATION: LET US MAKE OUR FINAL ENCORE MAGNIFICENT!

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

 

A CALL TO ARMS FOR THE ENLIGHTENED GENERATION:

LET US MAKE OUR FINAL ENCORE MAGNIFICENT!

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The generation of "Baby Boomers" that came up during the 50s and 60s will forever be remembered as the "Enlightened Generation." We were special. The world had never seen anything like us before, and for the most part, the nation still reflects just how special we were. We were just idealistic kids, but we got it right. We embraced knowledge, educated ourselves, and then demanded that this nation adhere to the values that it professed to hold dear. Even this nation’s founding fathers found it expedient to comprise some of their values, but we didn’t compromise even one, and the fact that this nation elected its first Black president on our watch - a mere fifty years after Black people were being attacked by police dogs for exercising the simple right to sit at public lunch counters - will forever stand as a monument to the astounding impact that we’ve had on this nation. But we got yet one more task to perform before we move on. While we're still around, we’ve GOT to educate the young people of this nation to begin to follow in our footsteps.
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As we’ve aged, our numbers have began to diminish, so the nation, and the world, have started to backslide - and it didn’t happen spontaneously. It was a planned and orchestrated attack against everything we represent. It started nearly 35 years ago under the Reagan administration. First they began to attack public information by abolishing the "Fairness Doctrine." The Fairness Doctrine provided that if any television or radio station in America broadcasted a purely partisan perspective on a public issue, they had to provide equal time to the opposing point of view.
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The doctrine’s purpose was first, to keep the American people informed, and secondly, to prevent the demagoguery that we see today on Fox News, and it served its purpose well. It provided endless public debate on every public issue, and that, in turn, served to keep the nation informed of every side of every issue. In addition, a person like Rush Limbaugh couldn’t have existed under the Fairness Doctrine, at least, not unless he had a liberal sitting right next to him who could challenge every lie he told. But some stations found that too combative, so they simply gave a liberal a show with equal time that immediately followed shows like Rush Limbaugh's.
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But conservatives found that when the people were informed of the facts, the conservative point of view always fell short. That’s why it was so important to them to abolish the doctrine, so they could spew their lies and propaganda with impunity. Then after they successfully got the doctrine abolished, conservative-leaning corporations began to buy up all the media outlets across the country, effectively shutting out the liberal perspective from the American people. It got so bad under George W. Bush that only conservative commentators were being broadcasted to the troops in Iraq. I tried to take up the slack by communicating with the troops online, and I had quite a following. But after a while, a military commander contacted me and politely asked me to cease and desist. He said that I was hurting moral. I found that to be both a profoundly significant, and an extremely telling point of view. If truth hurt moral, what did that say about the mission? 
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After the conservatives effectively blocked the liberal perspective from the airways, they then turned to our educational system. They used tax laws and various other measures to attack and defund our educational system in order to ensure that the generations that followed the Baby Boomers didn’t have the educational background to become independent and critical thinkers. As a direct result of the machinations of this Corporate/GOP alliance, today many people with college degrees lack much of the knowledge that the enlighten generation was armed with when they entered high school. That’s why it’s routine to hear the Republican base make statements like, "Barack Obama is un-American - he’s involved in a socialist plot to insure my family against catastrophic illness." Many in the Republican base actually accept such gross stupidity as logically valid. Personally, I find the fact that people’s minds can be manipulated to that level of stupidity kind of scary.
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Thus, the brutal attack that's currently being waged by conservatives on the nation's educational system that's been ongoing for the passed thirty years, is in direct response to what the enlightened generation was, and who we remain to be.
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We hold the distinction of bringing America closer to what it professes to be than any generation in the history of this country. So we, as a generation, possess the quality of intellect that rabid conservatives are doing their very best to ensure never arises again. We are a direct threat to their agenda to convert America from being a democratic republic, to becoming a corporate feudalist state, where they can lower the standard of living of the American middle class to one that conforms more closely to the global economy, where in many countries, workers make less per week, than many American workers spend on lunch per day.
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And they’re coming very close to achieving that goal. A Princeton University study has declared that the United States is no longer a democratic republic; we’re now an oligarchy that’s controlled by the rich. The top 5% of the nation now control 72% of the wealth, and the bottom 80% of Americans only control 7% of the wealth. This has come about just since the Reagan administration. But consider this. Once the bottom 80% of Americans only control 5%, then 3%, and then later, none of the nation’s wealth, our children - both Black and White - for all intent and purposes, will be slaves. Thus, this is no longer a struggle about merely race - race is now only used to keep the poor and middle class divided. We are now knee deep in a CLASS struggle, and it’s the most dangerous threat to the American way of life that the nation has EVER faced.
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So as Baby Boomers, this nation’s enlighten generation, we have yet one more task to perform for this nation. We must do our best to see to it that our legacy lives on. It is essential that when we leave this Earth, that we leave our spirit behind - we owe it to the nation, we owe it to our children, and we owe it to our passionate brothers and sisters who are now in the wind. That is my life’s mission, and that should be the mission of ALL of us who are still around. We must muster the strength to come together for one final rally against those who are out to destroy our children’s way of life.
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America may not have always lived up to its ideals, but what made it special was it had ideals. That’s what made a generation like ours possible. But that’s no longer the case. Radical conservatives have changed that. At one time Americans could look forward with optimism, but not now - they’ve changed America into an ugly, evil, and dark place of mass suffering (when was the last time you saw a conservative who wasn't mean and hateful - in spite, of their professed Christian values). At one time politicians of different political persuasions could work together to further the interest of the American people, but not now - radical conservatives routinely hold the American people hostage in order to promote their malevolent agenda, and will vote any one of their number out of office who wants to act responsibly on behalf of the people.  At one time politicians sought to inspire, but not now - conservatives seek to anger, and turn one American against another. That’s the only way that they can survive, because their agenda is so toxic to the American way of life that they have to appeal to the very worst in the nature of humanity in order to generate enough hatred between one American and another to get them to vote against their own interest.
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So America needs us more than ever. We may no longer have the vigor that we once had, but we still have the passion, and not only that, we possess the most potent weapon that the domestic enemies of America will ever face - knowledge. We are the most knowledgeable people in America, so as we prepare to leave the stage, let us remind these chumps what we’re made of, and let our final encore be one of love for our children and grand children. Instead of simply saying good night, let us leave them with the gift of love, happiness, and the kind of security that we enjoyed.
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So as we prepare to make our final exit, let us come together one last time and tell our children, "Don’t worry, babies, We got this!" And after we’ve defeated these scoundrels, and as we walk out the door after our final curtain, let us not forget to leave a message for history . . . "All You Need is Love." Only then, will we be free to join our brothers and sisters in the mist, with our heads held high.

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ONE FOR BOOMER

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Receding hairline, failing vision,

hair now turning grey,

an aging boomer in final protest,

Father Time his foe this day.

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Donning his headband, tie-dyed jeans,

and scorched draft card of protests past,

he set out for one last battle,

as in his youth that had quietly passed.

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Ode to an aging Boomer,

a different kind of man;

colleagues all now in the wind,

as he makes his final stand.

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But he found no placards or the sound of Trane,

no passionate speeches in the gentle rain,

no pretty girls wearing mini skirts,

and no solemn guards on ‘pig’ alert.

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All he found was a new America,

and more freedom across this land;

the fruit of his struggle

for women's equality,

and the rights of his fellow man.

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He found Martin, Chavez, and Malcolm X,

all standing by his side;

He found Thomas Jefferson

and all his forefathers

beaming down with pride.

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He found minority children across this land

whose reach now exceed their grasp;

He found Jim Crow angrily cursing him,

as he took his final gasp.

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He found pride as an aging boomer,

more hero, than common man;

He found a quirky old fart embraced by history,

for having the courage to take a stand.

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Alone, an aging Boomer,

fellow travelers now in the wind;

but once again, he limps to his trench,

to defend his fellow man.

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Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.   

Black Suffering Is Not Obama’s Fault - It’s Ours!

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
 

Black Suffering Is Not Obama’s Fault - It’s Ours!

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Any objective assessment of the Black community’s current predicament will clearly show that Black suffering is a direct result of two things: First, many of us in the Black community have a pronounced tendency to follow self-serving poverty pimps and fools instead of thinking for ourselves, following truth wherever it leads, and thereafter, addressing the issues that the truth reveals. Instead, we’d rather stick our heads in a comfortable patch of sand and pay a poverty pimp to tell us what we want to hear. Secondly, we’re more interested in appearances than reality. We’ll go absolutely broke to make it LOOK like we’re living high on the hog instead of living more modestly and investing our time, money, and resources into actually obtaining the lifestyle that we’re willing to go broke to pretend to already have. So the bottom line is, many of us are broke and suffering because we refuse to face up to, and address our shortcomings, and we also insist on living a lie (Of course, Black people aren't the only ones who suffer from these dysfunctions, but it is the Black community that's being addressed here).
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A perfect example of the first dysfunction is, many of us literally worship people like Cornel West. Then if you ask them what is it about West that they most admire, they’ll say something like, "He speaks the truth." But if you continue to question them it becomes abundantly clear that they not only don’t know the truth, but even worse, they can't recognize a glaring lie when they hear one (much like the Fox News crowd). In addition, they know absolutely nothing about Cornel West other than what they've HEARD.  So the fact is, they ACTUALLY admire West because he tells them what they want to hear, and what brings them comfort. But chasing emotional comfort rarely brings about an improvement in one’s life. In fact, more often than not, all it does provide is a convenient excuse for failure.  
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They're not getting the truth because the fact is, people like Cornel West can’t afford to tell them the truth. The reason for that is, if he spoke the unfettered truth West would have to admit that he himself is more than a little responsible for the Black community’s current suffering. He'd have to reveal that George W. Bush won the 2000 election by winning Florida by a mere 537 votes as a direct result of the Ralph Nader/Cornel West coalition taking away 97,488 Democratic-leaning votes. So in essence, Nader and West did more to elect George W. Bush President of the United States than the Republican Party. But of course, Cornel West defenders will claim, "No, the Supreme Court helped Bush STEAL the election." But the fact is, if it wasn’t for the 97,488 Democratic-leaning votes that the Nader/West coalition took away, the election wouldn’t have been close enough to even go before the Supreme Court. Thus, Nader and West were ESSENTIAL to Bush’s election.
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Thus, Cornel West is much more than a little responsible for the Black community’s current plight, and contrary to West’s mantra-like contention that Obama’s not doing enough for the Black community, the fact is, if it were not for Barack Obama, the community would be in much worse shape, because America, and the world, would currently be in the midst of a second Great Depression. Obama critics rarely stop to think about that, nor do they consider the impact of GOP obstructionism. All they think about is times are tough, and Barack Obama is President.
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Yes, times are tough, but we're very lucky that Obama is President, because they could've been a lot tougher. When Barack Obama took office this country was hemorrhaging 500,000 jobs A MONTH, and due to the gross irresponsibility of GOP obstructionism, he had to save this nation nearly single handedly. That's why we watched a young man grow grey before our eyes. And the irony is, many of the rabid middle-class conservatives who are calling him a socialist and the worst president in the nation's history, would have neither their jobs, nor their homes today if it weren't for Barack Obama. 
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But history will set the record straight, just like it did for another young man when many Black critics of Cornel West's disposition used to call him "Martin Luther Coon." They'll never admit it today, and fortunately for them, they've been obscured by the fog of history.  But that won't be the case for people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. The flawless memory of the internet will allow posterity to pull up their stupidity in living color, and in all it's glory, four hundred years from now, with just the touch of a button.
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Posterity will clearly see that when Cornel West tried to blame President Obama for our current condition, it was the perfect equivalent of his walking into a restaurant, taking a crap in the middle of the floor, and then calling the Health Department because the owner didn’t get it up fast enough. And considering Cornel’s Association with Tavis Smiley - the biggest corporate shill in the Black community - posterity will also see that when Cornel complained about the condition of the poor, it was as disingenuous as a man running down the street ranting about fascism after just having lunch with Mussolini.  
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You see, unlike West, posterity will understand that it’s not the President’s job to go from house-to-house handing out gift baskets. His job is to create an environment where we can help ourselves, and that shouldn't be a serious problem in the Black community. African Americans have a documented buying power of $1.1 trillion. That’s equal to the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world. So there is absolutely no reason why we have to wait around for the White man to come and give us a job. Our problem is, we need to start taking care of business, and our failure to do that is not Obama’s fault - it’s OUR fault. Our biggest problem is, many of us are doing more whining than we are thinking. And instead of acting like responsible adults, many in the community are acting like helpless children, waiting for their White daddy to come home and feed them.
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Think about this: "Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days, and White communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at $1.1 trillion, and yet, only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses." That’s why we don’t have jobs. Is that Obama’s fault? I don’t think so. So the fact is, it’s not money that the Black community needs; it’s an education that we’re in most dire need of.
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So contrary to popular belief, critics like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West do both the Black community, and America, a disservice. While they're taking bows for being willing to "speak truth to power," they're doing the complete opposite of what they should be doing. If they were REALLY concerned about the people, they wouldn't be calling the President names, and trying to play "The Dozens" with the President of the United States. They're only doing that to call attention to themselves and their self-serving agendas. If they REALLY cared about the people they would be trying to educate the people to how to best leverage their economic and political clout, and they would be supporting the President and offering CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions in order to help him maintain the political support necessary to get things done. But instead, they're trying to tear him down, which weakens him in his battle against GOP obstructionism. So their behavior suggests one of two things - either they're not very bright, or they're in collusion with the GOP. Whichever is the case, that's bad news for the people.
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One gentleman in the community told me the following:
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"All that you stated is all true, but how does it translate POLITICALLY? One can have a lot of consuming power, and that's what you are truly pointing out, but at the end of the day NO TRUE POWER EXIST because WE are dependent on policies created by others to help US. WE ARE NOT SITTING AT THE TABLE; I think that's what’s frustrating. The power of the POTUS becomes beneficial WHEN WE ARE AT THE TABLE. The only way to ensure that is to RAISE HELL, for he alone cannot bring us to the table. Our frustrations and dislikes must be shown and felt in order for any TRUE ADVANCEMENT. Seems that we are going backwards, when it comes to the Civil Rights struggle. Those gains in the past did not take place by having our people sitting on the sideline NOT CRITICIZING what needs to be criticized. OUR president NEEDS US to step up our game, [but] so far whatever it is we are doing IS NOT WORKING. Look at how they are slaughtering us in the streets, STATE SANCTION TERRORISM, with no regards on how upset we get...for we HAVE NO TRUE POLITICAL POWER."
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In response, I pointed out that the world doesn't set a place for you at the table. We have to set our OWN place at the table by getting our OWN affairs in order. The world only allows those at the table who it respects, and it doesn't respect us, because we don't respect ourselves. So we've got to change our cultural mores, begin to recognize who we are, and begin to understand that the adversity that we've endured over the years is a valuable source of unutilized knowledge that makes us MORE rather than less. In addition, we’ve got to learn how to leverage that $1.1 trillion that we have at our command, because the one thing that the White establishment is more enamored with than its passionate romance with racism, is money, and it’s not going to allow $1.1 trillion dollars - again, the gross national product of Germany - to slip through its fingers.
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That brings me to the second dysfunction that the Black community has to overcome, and that’s how we handle our money. Currently, the establishment doesn’t have to acknowledge the Black community, because we fall all over one another to take them every penny we have. But if we were more selective in how, and with whom we spent our money, they’d forget all about racism just to get their hands on it. If, for example, the community organized and decided that we weren’t going to put our money in Wells Fargo Bank, or Bank of America, you can bet that both of those institutions would open up branches in the Black community that would be run, and controlled, by Black people. As a result, when Black businesspeople needed a business loan, they’d be talking to another Black face, which would lead to more loans being approved, and more jobs in the community. And the very same thing would be true of many other national and international franchises coming into the community.
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Then, as a direct result of the improved economic conditions in the community, our young people would see other young adults being hired and prospering in this new economic environment. That would cause them to begin to see the wisdom of staying in school so they too could take advantage of this new prosperity. That, in turn, would lead to the building of new homes in the community, the stabilization of family life, expanded political clout, and a reduction in crime.
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So while peaceful demonstrations do have their place in calling the establishment’s attention to community concerns, we’ll never be able to scream, whine, or beg our way to a better life - and nobody will ever be able to give it to us, because even if they did, we wouldn’t have sense enough to hang on to it. So the only way that we’ll ever acquire, and then hold on to, the kind of life that we aspire to, is through careful thought, planning, responsibility, and above all, education.
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But Cornel won’t ever tell you that, because at $30,000 a speech, he makes a great living on faking compassion over your misery. Oh, how do I know he's faking? That's easy. Has he ever felt enough "compassion," or "love" for the people to teach in a predominately Black school?  Not once in his entire career.
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.   

THE MAN: JOHN COLTRANE (A Night to Remember)

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A Tribute to The Man, And In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"

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THE MAN

(A Night to Remember)

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Young and curious, crusin’ the street,

my partner and I, with life at our feet.

Beautiful days of summer’s ilk,

and beautiful ladies with legs of silk.

Miles on the box with Thelonious in tow,

playin’ ‘Round Midnite--nothin’ but soul.

Miles was moanin’, Thelonious was Monk,

our senses were reelin’, our top in the trunk.

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Down Century Boulevard, past Sportsman Park,

north on Crenshaw, Can’t wait ‘til it’s dark.

Crenshaw was jammin’, not like today,

with cognitive people, who went their own way.

Cadillacs gleamin’, prosperity galore,

ladies a struttin’, that gait I adore.

The ‘hood left behind, no denial or shame,

these were the people who’d mastered the game.

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Dreamin’ and crusin’, yet, chained to the ‘hood,

but into an element we both understood.

Jazz was the thing that had lured our route,

and no chain of poverty was keepin’ us out!

‘Cause THE MAN was in town, with his mighty ax,

and was jammin’ that night at Dynamite Jack’s.

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So anxious to worship THE MAN in the flesh,

the first thing that mornin’ we started to dress.

In our youthful exuberance we saw nothin’ wrong,

with the hours to kill before HE would go on.

Hence, there we were with nothin’ to do,

THE MAN’S first note at 9, it was now only 2.

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So we went to a park on Rodeo Road

and proceeded to get in our mack-daddy mode.

We needed two women with presence and class,

two women who also could dig modern jazz.

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We lucked-out, no doubt, with Debra and Gwen,

two sisters out trippin’ in their step-father’s Benz.

These women were ladies we soon recognized,

not only quite lovely but exceedingly wise.

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We spoke of Dizzy, Dexter, Thelonious and Bird,

and all of the monsters of jazz that we’d heard.

Then just as our session was starting to end,

Gwen mentioned Dolphy, and we at it again.

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We partook of the bush, we had a few beers,

by 8 it was like we’d been partyin’ for years.

But now it was time to hit Dynamite Jack’s,

to hear THE MAN blow, sip Scotch and relax.

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We followed the ladies up into the hills,

to a fabulous pad, must’ve cost a few bills.

We dropped off my car, then got in the wind,

we split to see HIM, and my journey began.

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Dynamite Jack’s was the place to be,

there seemed to be thousands of new things to see.

Doctors, lawyers, pimps and "hoes",

dope fiends with their nostrils froze;

perverts, politicians (one and the same),

everyone seemed to have some kind of game.

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At 16 years old I was really impressed,

with this flash, this glitz, this flamboyant success.

I knew before long, that my turn would come,

I’d shoot for the stars, at least, out of the slum.

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Then HE came on stage to a mighty roar,

as bustling humanity hung all out the door.

A quiet MAN, of knowledge and taste,

yet HIS presence sent a chill through the place!

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Flash became silence, glitz bled to awe,

pure greatness just glistened from THIS MAN we saw;

no posturing, no swagger, no hipster-like mack,

just unfettered greatness, the essence, in fact...

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That one precious moment, I gaped at the stand,

my young reckless mind would take hold as a man.

That moment estranged from the kid that I’d been,

life’s door was flung wide, a new man would step in.

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Many years later, assessing my life,

the greatness of raising two kids with a wife;

THE MAN is no more, on this earthly plain,

but HIS unflaunting manhood stays etched in my brain.

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That kid on that night gave birth to a plan,

that night when he looked up in awe at THE MAN.

Revealed was a path that would color his life,

that shunned the flamboyance and glitz of the night.

To shoot for the stars! That was his plan,

the stardom that’s found in just being A MAN!

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Taking two souls, molding their lives,

away from the flash, and the glitz, and the blight.

Two college age kids now view him with awe,

he now see in their eyes what that night HE saw.

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Greatness is relative, he learned from THE MAN,

through the glint in HIS eye, and HIS demeanor on stand;

don’t have to be famous to be someone grand,

just pull up your trousers, and face life like a man.

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It was KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM that night the kid saw;

the EXCELLENCE of DISCIPLINE that put him in awe,

of one humble spirit, so sweet and sublime,

but a spirit that’ll speak to all man for all time.

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So a droplet of beauty, the kid to mankind,

a pearl of wisdom, a wistful rhyme;

some insight he gained as he bat away tears,

might his essence endure through the unfolding years?

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A journey began, on that faithful night,

that moment a young set of eyes saw "First Light."

When HE tapped out the rhythm to "Africa Brass,"

and my dream to see COLTRANE had come true at last.
*

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A LOVE SUPREME

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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The mountains, The sea,

The stars above

are part of me.

All a gift from he who is HE,

the wondrous creator

of you and me.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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The ageless tide. It’s mighty roar,

The hue of a setting Sun

that paints the shore,

All a gift,

forevermore,

From A loving God

that I adore.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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I take my horn

to sing his praise,

I'll sing his song

throughout my days,

And when I'm gone,

I'm still not through,

I'll leave behind

his song for you.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love -

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My loving child,

now that you're through,

I take thou horn,

and lie it next to you;

In loving praise,

you always blew,

Now, sleep my child

as I sing to you . . .

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .
*

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.  

The Blatantly Unsubstantiated Slander of Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Najee Ali

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

The Blatantly Unsubstantiated Slander of Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Najee Ali:

Let This Be A Teaching Moment For the Black Community

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YELLOW JOURNALISM

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"Yellow journalism is a form of Journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers [or for other self-serving reasons].

Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

 

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The website, 2UrbanGirls, recently published an article with the following sensational headline:
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"Local Activists Najee Ali and Earl Ofari Hutchinson accused of working with LAPD to arrest Ferguson Protestors"

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My immediate reaction was, "Wow! That’s a serious allegation, especially considering both of these gentlemen’s history of steadfast support of the Black community." So I began to research the site. Who are these people who would make such a charge? But I couldn’t find a thing. Most websites with fictitious or anonymous names have an "About" page that will tell you who’s running the site, and their mission, but when I went to this particular site, there was nothing. So I said, lets see who wrote the article. But again, absolutely nothing. The article didn’t have a writer's byline, or the name of anyone who could be held accountable for the charges that were being made. So essentially, these were snipers hiding behind a rock who could say anything they liked, and couldn’t be held accountable.
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But in an attempt to maintain my objectivity, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was just an oversight, so I went on to read the article anyway - and then they pimped their hand. The article said, "The Christian Science Monitor reported back on November 25^th, that local community activists met with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), weeks prior to the Ferguson Grand Jury decision, to discuss how to control the impending protests." Okay, many church and community leaders did that - they’re trying to head off the possibility of Black people being brutalized and killed by overzealous LAPD officers, as has happened in the past. But then, in the very next sentence they said, "Activists Najee Ali and Earl Ofari Hutchinson have been accused of planning with LAPD to embed persons into the protests, who would then tip off the LAPD." So the obvious question is, WHO accused Ali and Hutchinson of conspiring with the LAPD? The name of the person, or persons, who made the accusation should be conspicuously displayed in the article, since a basic tenet of good journalism is to provide the reader with "who, what, when, where, and why." But the article never did say.
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But in spite of their sloppy journalism, I went a step further, and went directly to the Christian Science Monitor article that they referenced - which took a little work, since 2UrbanGirls failed to provide a link. But once I managed to get there, I didn’t find one thing, or one person, accusing either Najee Ali, or Earl Ofari Hutchinson of conspiring with the LAPD.
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So who are these people who have gone to such lengths to conceal their identity? Just because they have the word "Urban" in their name tells us absolutely nothing about their agenda - in fact, it doesn’t even mean that they’re Black. They may be a group financed by the Koch Brothers, or an arm of The Conservative Consortium For The Division And Denigration Of Black People for all we know. So we should use this as a teaching moment for the Black community - just because it’s in print, doesn’t mean it’s true. We're played like that ALL the time. There was one guy online a couple of years ago who used the screen name "Bro Man," and it turned out that he was a barefoot redneck.
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But unfortunately, in many cases, it doesn’t have to be conservative White people trying to con us. We have hordes of Willie Lynch-type Black people among us who are ALWAYS willing to lend the enemies of the Black community a helping hand - and we must ALWAYS be vigilant with respect to such people, because they are the most insidious of all. We can see the White man coming, but we can’t see them, because they’re already among us - they’re like a thief in the night.  It was people like them who brought down the Civil Rights movement of the sixties - and killed Malcolm.
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During the 1960s J. Edgar Hoover disrupted the Civil Rights movement by using provocateurs to infiltrate the various civil rights groups and disrupt their activities. The operation was called "Cointelpro." One tactic that was used was to have loud and disruptive Judas goat "super-militants" join the groups and divide the membership by accusing the groups' leadership of being weak, or "Uncle Toms." When I read the 2UrbanGirls article Cointelpro immediately came to mind.
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But, unlike them, I’m not going to accuse them of having that motive for two reasons - first, I try to be a good journalist, so I don’t make accusation that I can’t back up with facts; and secondly, I recognize that there’s a third group among us who mean well, but who are just ignorant. The primary intent of this third group is just like the rest of us, to promote the interest of the Black community. But the problem is, they’re so ignorant that they don’t realize that everybody who don’t think just like they do are not the enemy, so, good intentions not withstanding, they end up hurting the community by stirring division.
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Cornel West, Najee Ali, Tavis Smiley

With regard to Najee Ali (the Los Angeles representative of Al Sharpton's "National Action Network") and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, I have unwavering faith in both of these brothers - and with good reason.  I believe what makes me an effective journalist is my cynicism - I don’t trust nobody - if my son came to town, but looked a little too thin, I'd want to see some I.D. before I let him in the house. But these two brothers are rare exceptions to my innate distrust of others. If Najee Ali was out to feather his own nest, he had the connections, and the opportunity, to do just that. When he started reading what I've written about Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, he contacted me and seriously questioned what I was saying - until he reviewed the facts.  Thereafter, he had a choice - he could have either cuddled up to Tavis Smiley and benefit from the media exposure that Smiley could provide him (like Cornel West) or he could put his own interest aside and work to promote the best interest of the people.  Najee didn’t even hesitate to think about it. He spun on a dime and immediately began organizing demonstrations against Smiley - and this was prior to Cornel West's criticism of Al Sharpton. In fact, it might have led to it.  Considering his previous admiration for Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - and the fact that at the time, he didn't know me at all - I couldn't believe how swiftly he swung into action. Even though he didn't know me from Adam, and I couldn't do a thing for him, he saw that I was armed with irrefutable facts. After reviewing those facts, Najee became outraged, and he was on it within a week. That's the kind of selfless commitment we need in the Black community.
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And Earl Ofari Hutchinson has been a solid rock of good, common sense in this community for decades, and his father, Earl Hutchinson, Sr., worked tirelessly on behalf of the community before him (A Colored Man's Journey Through 20th Century Segregated America). I’m a lifelong musician and grew up fully expecting to spend my life following in the footsteps of Dexter Gordon. I was so in love with his horn that when I was a youngster many of my friends CALLED me Dex. I was GROOMED to be a jazz musician.  My father thought the only reason the Sun came up was to keep Charlie Parker's reeds warm, so he put a horn in my hands as soon as I was tall enough where the horn didn't scape the ground, and then he moved a homeless dope fiend in the back house to teach me to play it (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/01/one-for-jimmy.html).  But I was also drawn to people who had the eloquence of pen to speak to the suffering within our community. Earl Ofari Hutchinson was one of those people. I didn’t always agree with the way he connected the dots (but then, I’m so arrogant that I don’t always agree with anybody), but I did always agree with, and admire, his intelligence, integrity, commitment, and eloquence. As a result, he’s one of the primary reasons I’m a writer today. The very first article I ever had published, was based on an article written by Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
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So I have every reason in the world to have unwavering faith in both these gentlemen. Actually, it's a misnomer to even call it faith. My attitude toward these two men is based upon a direct and personal knowledge of their character. I'm not one to go by what I "feel"; I base my assessments on FACTS. And I never base assessments on what a person says; I watch what they DO, and both of these men have done enough in my eyes where I would trust the well being of my family in their hands with complete confidence.  On the other hand, with respect to the journalism that I’ve seen displayed in 2UrbanGirls (whoever they are), I don’t have any faith in them at all - because I remember the sixties, so I’ve been there, and done that.

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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/11/tavis-smiley-and-cornel-west-ducked.html
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Is Cornel West A Judas Goat - When Was The Last Time You Heard Him Attack A Conservative Republican?

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-cornel-west-judas-goat-when-was-last.html

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The Hustlers

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-hustlers.html

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One For Jimmy

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/01/one-for-jimmy.html

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.