Last week, the state of New York became the 6th state to recognize gay marriage. It was a glorious time as people celebrated the fact that this country was finally starting to come around on the gay marriage issue.
Well, I hate to break up the party........but.........
EVERYBODY IS NOT CELEBRATING YOUR VICTORY!
I'm not one of those people who will go out of my way to protest gay marriage, but I'm sure as heck not one who will sit by quietly and watch it happen. I believe a woman was created FROM a man FOR a man. Therefore, I believe marriage is between ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN.......PERIOD!
If you want to have "civil unions" ......fine, have at it!
But don't tell me I'm discriminating against you because I oppose your right to do something that I don't think is natural.
And can we PLEASE stop with the Civil Rights Movement comparison?
While it's true gay people have been the victims of hate crimes, I have yet to see where there was a systematic effort to prevent gay people from voting or getting an education. I think it's disrespectful to the many men and women who lost their lives fighting Jim Crow to compare it with the gay marriage movement and I wish more people would speak out about it.
Then again, nobody wants to risk offending anyone. Which is probably why the blogosphere has been dead quiet about this issue over the last week.
Sorry, I'm not one of those people.
I have nothing against gay people but let me be clear: I DO NOT SUPPORT TWO PEOPLE OF THE SAME SEX MARRYING EACH OTHER!
Today we're spotlighting Neo Soul artist, Green Tea.
DC-based singer Green Tea cut her musical teeth singing in church. But as a teen her interests extended beyond Gospel to include soul, jazz, blues and even opera. Her debut album, Have a Cup of Green Tea Dosage I: Shades of Green won for her a solid local following. She followed it with the poetic 2008 release, Dosage II: Choices, which again highlighted her personal, relationship-based lyrics and deep resonant voice.
-This review is courtesy of Soul Tracks and was written by Chris Rizik
Judging from the almost 1,000 hits this site has had since Monday, I'm guessing many of you are finding yourselves here for the very first time. So on behalf of the regular Board of Directors, thanks for stopping by. Let me give you some background on why I started this blog movement called The Board Room.
This movement was started in December 2009.
It wasn't started as just something to do or a place to voice my opinions.
This was a vision given to me to achieve a specific purpose for the Kingdom of God.
Calm down, calm down.......I'm not about to start preaching or anything like that.
No, that's not my assignment-in this platform.
My assignment, in this platform is to challenge you to engage in mature dialogue about social, political and religious issues as it relates to the African-American community and our society as a whole.
(All races are welcomed here in The Board Room.)
My views come from a unique perspective.
I've been up and I've been down. I've had it all, lost it all, got it back, and lost it again.
It was at that point that I realized, God had a plan for my life.
But when I decided to follow that plan, things became interesting because I was trying to do things the right way for the first time in my life.
*Sidebar*
Have you ever tried to do the right thing but all the wrong things kept happening?
(My bad, I said I wasn't gonna preach, right?)
One thing you may have noticed by now is that I am very opinionated and don't bite my tongue mence my words for ANYONE!
That's not in my DNA!
So if you disagree with anything I write- and trust me, you will. All I ask is that you be respectful. I have to ask that because over the last few days, I've been called all kinds of crazy stuff. One woman even called me a "sell-out". THAT may be the funniest thing I've ever read on this blog.
Lady, one thing I'm not is a "sell-out." I just refuse to sit on the sideline and watch the destruction of an entire generation's mindset who thinks it's cool to walk around with their pants sagging.
I've also received some emails that have been...........let's just say, "button-pushers".
(I guess y'all didn't like the blog I did about "Single Mothers" for Father's Day, huh?) I DON'T CARE! lol
I'm laughing, but I'm so serious............I really don't!
I was raised by my Great-Grandmother, Grandmother, Mother and Aunt and not one time did I ever hear either of them tell the other "Happy Father's Day."
What's next?
Single Father's wishing each other "Happy Mother's Day" because they're raising a child by themselves?
Regardless if you think I'm a 'sell-out" or too militant.
Regardless if you think I hate women or I'm an advocate for fathers.
I hope that you will stick around and join this movement. I pray that somehow, someway, something is said or written that inspires you to get involved and make a difference in our community. Because this next generation needs all of the difference makers it can get.
Again thanks for stopping by and welcome to The Board Room.
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Kim Crawford of the Bronx has been charged with murder and manslaughter in the beating death of her 5 year old son. Police say she admitted to hitting 5 year old Jamar twice in the back and twice in the stomach after he.....
Are you sitting down? BROKE HER NINTENDO Wii !!!
"It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit him that hard. That's the hardest I've ever hit him", she cried while telling the police what happened.
Simple case of a mother becoming upset and hitting her small child too hard, right?
WRONG!
Ms. Crawford watched Jamar vomit and roll around on the floor crying in agonizing pain for FIVE DAYS before deciding to take him to the emergency room.
She said she was afraid that the authorities would see all of the bruises on the child's body and arrest her.
I guess that's a valid excuse.
I take that back. THERE IS NO VALID EXCUSE!
What kind of parent would watch their child vomit and scream in pain for FIVE DAYS?
And what kind of parent punches their FIVE YEAR OLD in the stomach?????????
Unfortunately, there are probably more Kim Crawford's out there.
Let's just pray that someone who witness abusive behavior will contact DHR before we have to report Another Senseless Murder .
This past weekend, Obama impersonator,comedian Reggie Brown made an appearance at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. If you're not familar with what I'm talking about, check it out:
If you thought it was funny, go ahead and laugh, other people thought he was hilarious too. But as for me, I didn't find a damn thing funny!
Call me sensitive.
Call me unable to take a joke.
Call me whatever you want to call me, but I'm not feeling this clown's routine and here's why.
During the summer of 2008, I worked at a place where I was the only black person on staff. Almost everyday, many of my former co-workers would gather around their computers and laugh at disparaging emails and offensive photos of then candidate Obama.
Some of those same photos were used by Reggie Brown in this video.
-The picture of the President that was darkened to make him look like a thug, while standing there with 6 or 7 cigarettes in his mouth.
-The picture of Fred Sanford fighting with Aunt Esther as a portrait of how Barack and Michelle will look in the future.
Hell, I'm surprised he didn't use the one of Michelle looking like an ape. I'm sure they would have loved that one too. (I almost got into a fight over that one).
I'm not saying there's something wrong with his impersonation of the President, it was spot on. But I strongly disgaree with the use of those photos as part of his routine and his willingness to openly make jokes that had racial overtures to them.
To me, it almost amounts to being "A SELL OUT".
Later in his routine, the crowd turned on Mr. Brown and he was physically escorted off the stage because he started making jokes about GOP presidential candidates. But honestly, by the time it got to that point, I had stopped watching.
Because I didn't find a damn thing funny in the first place!
Recently, a University of New Mexico football player, Deshon Marman was flying back home from a friend's funeral. When he boarded the plane, one of the flight attendants asked him to pull his pants up. He refused, and they kicked him off the plane.
My response to that is:
GOOD FOR THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT!!!!
I am so sick and tired of seeing these kids walk around with their underwear showing! It's disrespectful to the people around them and it's disrespectful to me a black man. You may not like this but I wish they would have thrown him in jail.....I really do!
WHAT!!!???
Don't you get tired of seeing these boys (and in some cases) grown men walking around with their pants on the ground? I know I do!!
Kick them off of planes, put them out of restaurants, throw them out of school and YES, toss their behinds in jail if they want pull them up.
Those of you who know me, know I have worked extremely hard to sift my tongue or shall I say, edit the words that come out of my mouth. But this entire thing has been bubbling inside of me like bad gas sitting on my stomach.
Maybe that's why to me, this latest thing has such a bad smell to it.
Many people have pleaded with me not to blog about the Eddie Long situation. I agreed to it, despite the fact that I didn't think a grown man who was being labeled a liar, a pedophile and a closet homosexual should settle out of court.
*detour*
Let me tell you something: If you say those things about me- AFTER WE FINISH FIGHTING, (because those are fighting words), we're going to court and you WILL make a public apology to the world for slandering my name.
(Sorry, I'm a work in progress).
*back to the blog*
You would THINK, that a man who stood up in front of his congregation and said (and I quote)
"This thing, Im going to fight" would want his day in court so that his name could be cleared.
If not for him, then at least for his wife, his children AND his church family.
Yeah.......I know all of the bible verses and I know all the scriptures that some of you are thinking about.
I can hear you now, "Don't put your mouth on a Man of God"......"People need to leave this alone because we all have skeltons in our closets".
But in my opinion, it's that type of attitude that has allowed people in power-not just Pastors, but from all walks of life- to do things without fear of facing the consequences for their actions from their company or in this case, their congregation.
Which brings me to this:
Listen, I understand the principle of "FIRST FRUIT".
I understand and believe in the principle of tithing.
I understand sowing, I get all of that.
But with the bad image this man AND the entire Body of Christ has, it would have made more sense to say, "Bless you sister but I want you to keep this and God will bless you for your desire to give".
But NOOOOO.......instead he screams out "MANIFEST"!
Maybe I have a problem with it because I have no faith in the person whose mouth it came out of.
It's already hard enough for people in the Body of Christ to convince others that church is still relevant and God is real.
Now they have video of a man who just paid young men $25 million to keep their mouths closed, accepting a stack of cash from some "random" woman?
Sorry, but it's hard for ME to accept this as genuine, so I know it's hard for the average person to do so.
We don't need anymore battles to fight while on this uphill journey to save souls.
It's bad enough we have to deal with people IN the Body of Christ attacking other Christians who are members of a "mega-church." Question: When did "mega-churches" become the enemy?
(Nevermind, we'll deal with that on my next religious blog.)
Maybe if we stop worshipping "Men of God" and started worshipping GOD HIMSELF, videos like this wouldn't even exist! Because if we truly worshipped GOD, we could give in PRIVATE and know that God would reward us for our sacrifice in PUBLIC.
Sorry if this blog is all over the place, but I did this in one shot without editing. (Blogger network still tripping)
Give me some feedback and let me know what you think.
Today I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher Gardner, author of the book, "The Pursuit Of Happiness". Mr. Gardner was standing in the hotel lobby shooting the breeze with a couple of older white men, one white woman, a younger black man and yours truly. We all were mesmorized by this man who repeated the story of how he was totally dedicated to providing a better life for himself and his son.
While we were standing there talking, two black women came over and introduced themselves to Mr. Gardner. They thanked him for sharing his story and told him how much of an inspiration he was-to single mothers as well as single dads. They too were laughing as the charming, polite and extremely humble Mr. Gardner cracked jokes about the failures he had before all the success came.
But their laughter stopped when Mr. Gardner stopped holding court and said, "Baby, is everything ok?" Mr. Gardner was speaking to a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who stood about 5'10 (in heels).
They were EXTREMELY bothered by her presence and didn't try to hide it either. The two women walked off as if he had called them out of their names or something. Mr. Gardner didn't seemed bothered by it one bit. He told me and the other black guy, I get more attitudes and strange looks from black women than I do white people.
Unfortunately, I got a glimpse into what he has to deal with a few weeks ago.
As many of you know, I recently went on vacation to Hollywood, Florida. While there, I befriended a beautiful woman, who also was tall with blonde hair. To the naked eye, she looked white but she was of Cuban decent. Regardless of her nationality, we became friends and hung out by the pool during the day and danced to old school hip hop and 80s music at the spot across the street at night.
During the entire time we were hanging out, nobody-not one person gave us any funny looks or said anything out of the ordinary.
But the following morning, we noticed that our waitress (a black woman) had a slight attitude. My friend couldn't understand what the problem was, but I could.
The waitress had a problem with me having brunch with a woman who didn't look like her.
Did she tell me that? No!
But it was obvious by the disdained look on her face, that a black man sitting with what she thought was a white woman made her very uncomfortable if not angry.
My question is: WHY!!!???
Why are so many black women STILL uncomfortable with the sight of a black man with a white woman?
Also: Why is it when a black man dates a white woman, he's betraying black women.
But when it's the other way around, the woman is upgrading?
Help a brotha out!!!
*FOR THE RECORD*
I am NOT dating nor have I ever dated anyone outside of my race. However, if I lived in South Florida, I would definitely consider it.
Today former Massachusetts (did I spell that right?) governor Mitt Romney launched his 2012 Presidential bid by claiming "Obama Has Failed America!"
REALLY!?
Let's see:
The tax rate is lower than it has been in 60 years.
The country is once again respected around the world.
He has captured more terrorists in 3 years than President Bush did in 8.
He saved the automotive industry by giving them a bailout- despite the GOP demanding that he let them fail. They even praised Ford for NOT accepting a bailout and called GM "Government Motors".
Well, a few years later, not only has GM and Chrysler repaid their loan, they are making record profits.
All because the President and his administration had the balls courage to address the problem head on.
By the way, has anyone seen Ford quarterly profits lately?
And last but certainly not least, he kept his campaign promise of capturing AND killing Osama Bin Laden.
I could go on and on but the truth of the matter is this:
Whenever your "front runner" makes statements like
"Obama has failed America", you have serious issues.
My suggestion to the GOP is to come up with something different.
The BIRTHER issue didn't work.
The SOCIALIST label didn't stick.
And falsely claiming that "Obama has failed America" DEFINITELY won't work.
I wonder if Mitt Romney has looked at the President's poll numbers lately?
They are UP and if he can somehow, someway get this unemployment under 9%, it's a wrap.
The next time someone makes a claim that "Obama has failed America".
At least put the word PRESIDENT in front of his name.
He definitely has earned it over the past 3 years.
For the past few years on Memorial Day weekend, thousands of people from all over the country flock to South Beach for what is known as Urban Beach Week. Every year, local officials reluctantly roll out the welcome mat, despite many business owners complaining to the chamber of commerce about the negative effect it has on their businesses. But the events of this past weekend may have given local officials an excuse not to roll that welcome mat out again. This past weekend, city officials reported there were at least two dozen fights (most involving women)and a total of 4 different shootings, including this one that was caught on tape:
From what has been reported about the above incident, someone is the car was involved in a shooting a few blocks away. When the police attempted to pull them over, they became involved in a shootout with the police.......although some people in Miami say the people in the vehicle were unarmed. Whether that's true or not, local officials are ready to put an end to Urban Beach Week and I'm ready to see it done also. It's such an embarrasment to turn on the news and see these kids "MY PEOPLE" proving to the world that they DO NOT know how to behave when gathered in a large setting.
I will give Commissioner Jerry Libben credit for pointing out that he doesn't have ANY disturbances during "Jazz In The Garden" weekend. He even suggested replacing Urban Beach Week with a Jazz and Blues festival. Not sure if he was serious or just trying to protect himself from claims of racism that is starting to come from some "black leaders" in Miami.(SMH)
Besides, that still may not deter people from converging on South Beach that weekend. The only thing that will stop them from converging on South Beach Memorial Day weekend is to move the Gay Pride weekend to that weekend. Because you know nothing scares a group of black people, like a group of Gay people! (Sad but True)
Nevertheless, let's hope this is the last time we'll see something like this happen all over the news.
I'm the father of two of God's greatest creations. They are TRULY my inspiration and I love them more than words could ever say.I'm a humble man who has made more than his share of mistakes in life.Given the opportunity,I wouldn't change a thing. It's those mistakes that have brought me to this crossroad.So instead of going left or right,I've decided to keep straight and chart my own course.I often sit and reflect on the years I wasted wandering in the wilderness but then I soon realized that I HAD to live in darkness to fully appreciate this bright light called my future.I am currently working on my first book which should be finished very soon.I truly believe that God has a plan for my life and it is my joy to carry out that plan to the fullest. I invite you to tag along for what promises to be a wonderful ride.
