Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 11-29-16 Online Edition

Editorials/Columns
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Your Money Is Your Power
Empowered Greetings.
Your money is your power. 1.2 Trillion dollars is the esti- mated amount that the black buying power is expected to reach this year. In terms of the goods and services consumed by Blacks we would be ranked as the 15th largest economy in the world according to the Univer- sity of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth.
That sounds good, right? But here’s the deal, although we have all this buying power we aren’t the ones benefiting from it. Our buying power is not being trans- lated into wealth. Instead of us consciously spending our money purchasing goods and services for us by us we often times un- consciously spend without an agenda in mind. We must get unified in channeling our fi-
nances to build wealth in our communities.
Utilize your money as power to stop renting the buildings and the houses we occupy and start buying them. If we own it, then we are in a position to become landlords, thus build wealth. Seek opportunities to purchase property in communities that you or your parents were raised in, to help maintain that com- munity, as well as build it up. Strategically, this also helps our political power as well. If we keep moving out of the commu- nity, so does our voting power. We have given our power away far too long, trying to maintain the status quo of people that don’t care about us, but love our money. At what point are we going to put the brakes on giving our power away?
As we enter into the holiday season, choose to buy from a black owned business on Black Friday and beyond, whenever and wherever possible. For those of you with ideas and business concepts in mind, choose to get that business up and going for 2017, even if you have to do it on a bootstrap budget.
Entrepreneurship is another key to build wealth. No matter the amount of money you have, it has power to grow. The best way to insure you get a return on your investment is to invest in you and start your business, write your book, make your music, design your clothing or do whatever you are passionate about while marketing it to the masses and making money.
Your money is your power. How will you use it? Hit me up on social media and let me know how you want to use your money power. I would love to help you.
Facebook Fan Page: Selphenia Nichols Success Coach To Women Twitter: @queenofsuccess1
Instagram: Selphenia
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A Nazi America: Hell No!
he door is now flung off its hinges. Wolves and lions
are poised to step in. And the lives of all the sheep are literally in peril. What will the shepherds of our Democracy do now?
But the American Electorate has spoken. Its voice, sev- eral weeks ago, would seem to have been crystal clear – pro- viding president-elect Donald Trump with a free ride to do whatever he feels bold enough to enfold: beginning by stock- ing his newly selected cabinet with far-right-leaning Katzen- jammer Kidswhose white-supremacist personal and political perspectives are the exact opposite of everything our Constitution supports.
An ultra-Conservative/ often racist “mad dog” retired general is now on the verge of becoming (of all things) Sec- retary of Defense. Thus far, his most recent dog-whistle is that Al Islam is not a religion, but is a dangerous political propaganda.
Meanwhile, another far-right ideologue stands ready to become America’s newest Secretary of State, poised to tear down the Iran-America accord, the Syrian Rebel alliance, NATO inclusion and every other thing the last fifty presiden- tial years shed blood and tears to build. Our question is... .what are the leaders of America prepared to do as the KKK marches blocks from the White House?
In the face of 700 newly reported acts of racial hatred since the recent presidential election, and a tsunami flood of false facts, let us be among the first to demand this cur- rent Executive attack on our Constitutional better nature be brought to a screeching halt.
Therefore, President-elect Trump and his newly invested cohorts should be impeached before further damage is done. Are we speaking sedition, or coup d’état? No. We are simply saying the greatest Democracy in the Free World can- not and will not be allowed to turn into the American Fourth Reich, in spite of Donald Trump’s persona failure to disavow white supremacists. No. HELL, NO!
Looking For Ways To Make Democracy More Democratic
BY MARC H. MORIAL President and CEO National Urban League
"Can we forget for whom we are forming a govern- ment? Is it for men, or for the imaginary beings called States?"
~ James Wilson, Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ~
When the United States of America was born, em- phasis was far greater on “States” than “United.” Citizens of the newly-formed nation identified first and foremost as “Pennsylvanians” or “Geor- gians,” for example, and as “Americans” only as a distant second. Our method for select- ing a chief executive originally was devised to serve interests of each state, rather than each cit- izen.
The idea that all citizens of the nation should have an equal say in electing the highest office
in the land was far from the minds of the framers of the Con- stitution in 1787. The Constitu- tion did not specify who could vote; that was left to the states and most granted suffrage only to white male adult property owners. Delegates to the Con- stitutional Convention consid- ered election of the President by Congress, election by state gov- ernors, election by state legisla- tures and direct election by voters.
Direct election was consid- ered, though not seriously, and twice rejected. It can be argued that the framers of the Constitu- tion were far more concerned about electing a qualified Presi- dent than a popular one. The Committee of Eleven on Post- poned Matters came up with the Electoral College as a compro- mise.
Over the next two centuries, the United States grew to cher- ish democracy as an American ideal. As the right to vote was expanded and the principle of
“one person one vote” overtook the nation, the justification for the Electoral College diminish- ed. Five times the winner of the popular vote has been denied the Presidency because of the Electoral College – twice in the last 16 years.
Abolishing the Electoral Col- lege would require the consent of the legislatures of the very states that benefit from this im- balance in power. In the current political climate, chances are al- most nil.
However, the Constitution does not specify how each state must apportion its electoral votes. If states agreed to award their votes to the winner of the national popular vote, the anti- democratic influence of the Electoral College would be elim- inated.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would guar- antee the Presidency to the can- didate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has been enacted into law in 10 states and the District of Colum- bia, representing 165 electoral votes. It will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more electoral votes.
While the road to actual elimination appears long and fraught, eliminating its anti-de- mocratic influence appears to be within our grasp.
Who Should America Fear?
Americans are nearly paralyzed by fear for their free- dom, their right to love whom they choose, for depor- tation and the separation of families; Muslim registries or
internment camps, wars fueled by a bully president and a “Mad Dog” general, or a decrease in minimum wage.
Americans living in oceanfront properties fear for their homes being drowned by our oceans’ heights due to melting polar ice; fear for a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body and to earn equal pay with men for all jobs; fear for minimum wage stagnating at the current level; fear for the cost of a college education; fear for bigots and homo- phobes attacking them or calling them names, and fear for Trump’s cozying up to the Russians. You name it.
However, if there is anything or anyone to fear, it is your neighbors, family members, and co-workers who voted for Trump – silent enablers of his narcissistic, racist and sexist language and behavior, bullying, foul language, mocking
and other bad behaviors.
Even more so, Americans should fear their neighbors, family members and co-workers
who didn’t vote at all because their message is “I don’t care about myself, my family, or you either,” or “I don’t care about what happens to my country.” Americans should really fear rich athletes, entertainers and other rich people who think their money will save them and who didn’t take the time to vote.
We are convinced, therefore, that the divinity of the American people (as in the 1960s) will surge to the forefront and overwhelm the haters, bullies, racists, sexists, religious intolerant, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, mockers of people with disabilities, and Congress if they fail to protect the rights of all Americans.
Moreover, an even higher divinity is in-charge of everything that happens to us, whispering to us to heed the words of Pope Francis during his 2016 trip to Sweden where he warned his audience about losing focus of the future.
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PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016