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Editorials/Columns
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Saying Goodbye To 2015
t never ceases to amaze me
how swiftly time passes. It seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming in 2015. Now here we are preparing to put up a new calendar.
In keeping with what has be- come a Reality On Ice tradi- tion, I've compiled a list of the top 10 trends, occurrences and controversial events that caught our attention throughout the last 12 months that we could live without seeing repeated after the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.
10.) Cops Mistreating Black Women: We all know that Black men have had a tar- get on their backs for years. But after witnessing what happened to a 16-year-old girl at a Texas pool party last summer, along with the Sandra Bland inci- dent and the rape of 13 Black women by a police officer in Oklahoma, it has become appar- ent that, when it comes to police brutality against Black skin, age nor gender is a deterrent.
9.) Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign: I have to be honest. I never thought he would last this long. And the worse thing about it is that it will probably be next fall before his circus finally disap- pears for good. But, when it does go away, I don't believe anyone will be more thankful than me.
8.) Dabbing: When Cam Newton first started doing this dance after scoring a touchdown it was cool. But once old white college football coaches started getting into the act I knew the fad's days were numbered. I think it's time that we place this jig into the grave next to 2014's "Nay-Nay."
7.) Confused Sports Icons: Was there anything
more disturbing in 2015 than watching Bruce Jenner tran- sition into Caitlyn? Personally, I don't believe that I'll ever be able to look at a box of Wheaties the same.
6.) Signs of Global Warming: The year started with something called the "Lake Effect" dropping a month’s worth of snowfall on Buffalo in a matter of days. Last week, on Christmas day, it was colder in San Diego than it was in New York City. The scary part is that this kind of weird weather trend could only be the beginning as the Earth's environment changes even more drastically.
5.) Who's Black/Who's White?: One of the most bizarre stories of the year was Rachel Dolezal, a white woman, being outed for pre- tending to be Black. While everyone was paying attention to this freak show no one no- ticed that rapper Lil Kim had bleached her skin to the point where she is now racially unidentifiable as well. With in- dividuals switching their sex and racial identities, science has arrived to the point of anything being possible. The only frontier left, I assume, is species aug- mentation. Is anyone else un- comfortable with the idea of Mermaids and Mermen becom- ing a reality?
4.) Invasive Drone Tech- nology: They are used to de- liver packages, spy, and one guy even fitted his with a gun that he can shoot remotely. If last year was the year that drones be- came a pest, this year they could become a major problem. That car commercial where drones are chasing people to their vehi- cles may be an omen of a future not that far away.
3.) Gay Love On Empire:
I understand that the show's creator, Lee Daniels, is a ho- mosexual Black male who incor- porates his reality into his work. But he's taking it a little bit over- board. I mean, he has more scenes of men kissing men than men kissing women. There has- n't been a Black primetime drama on television since the show New York Undercover in the early 1990s. Does the first one in over 20 years have to be the platform for the LGBT agenda? Speaking of gay love.....
2.) Closet living Rap- pers: Every time I receive an email from my news service there seems to be a story on it about some rap star being ex- posed for dating a transgender female. And, each time, he de- nies the relationship until the he/she produces evidence. To keep this from becoming a never-ending cycle of buffoon- ery I suggest that these guys ei- ther do more homework on the women around them to avoid continuously getting caught up in the trick bag or come com- pletely clean about their true sexuality so it isn't an issue.
1.) Terror Zones: I don't know about anyone else, but here are three words that I'm sick of hearing. ISIS, ATTACKS and TERROR. Enough is enough. Every time something tragic occurs one of these words, inevitably, becomes part of the conversation.
I really hope that this is the year they finally figure out how to stop these lunatics from going on these misguided killing sprees. Then we could focus on what tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Ralph Ellison have identified as the real threat to humanity... The advancement in artificial intelligence. But, of course, that's a topic for another day. Have a Happy New Year.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@- yahoo.com.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
For The New Year: Leave Hate Behind Us!
s we enter a New Year, let us all vow to leave hatred
and discrimination behind.
Indeed, recent terrorist attacks in Paris and the Syrian
refugee crisis along with Islamophobia comments by certain presidential candidates have fueled an increasing number of hate attacks against mosques, Muslim owned businesses and women dressed in Muslim garb (hijab).
President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Barry Sanders and a few others have spoken out against hateful acts against American Muslims. However, Black Americans old enough to remember the America of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, no doubt see similarities between how we have been treated and how Muslims are now being persecuted.
Dozens of mosques have been firebombed, defaced, and vandalized; a pregnant woman wearing an hijab was as- saulted; at least two Tampa Muslim women have been at- tacked, and an increasing number of attacks have taken place in at least 15 other states recently.
We must remember that at least 10 Black churches have been firebombed since the slaying of the “Charleston Nine,” last June.
Furthermore, has anyone noticed how the hate has spread from gays to Muslims? Who do you think will be next? Don’t let this New Year be an echo of years past. Speak up before there is no one left with a voice to speak. (Happy New Year, Beloved.)
rgent! Do you read us? New Year 2016, Mayday! Do
you copy? Over?” Right now, the streets of St. Peters- burg are drowning in the blood of young Black men shot down by their brothers. But Tampa fares none better. Here, young Black men are doing what the Ku Klux Klan could never do single-handedly: Young Brothers have initiated – to the horror of common sense and human dignity – their own brand of ethnic cleansing.
Indeed, there was a fire in the belly of the year 2015. But as it lies bedridden, days away from an agonizing death, how can we not forget how beautiful and innocent it was, the first day it was born. But now we wait for another child . . . a newer New Year. And what shall we do with it, the moment it comes? Someone suggested we put a fire cracker in its di- aper. Better still, we should see how many fellow human be- ings are murdered the first few minutes of 2016’s life.
Others predict America’s Republican presidential candi- date comedy of errors will go full-tilt.
However, we disagree. Maybe, because of our rose-col- ored glasses, we see sunlight in the midst of darkness.
Unsung heroes and heroines are everywhere among us, and this New Year promises they will not stay silent.
As we close our comments, we are reminded by a local poet who in a closing line of a poem, wrote, “The future is not thrust upon us, but is only what we make.” We think of that as we prepare to burp the new baby whose name will not be Catastrophe. It will be Hope! And we – all of us – shall be its God-parents. S.O.S! This is Humanity calling! On a res- cue mission to save the New Year! Come in if you copy! Over?
S.O.S! New Year, We Need You!
New Year’s Resolutions To Strive For In 2016
The Babylonians were thought to be the first people to make New Year's resolu- tions. Here are some resolu- tions to strive for. Pick at least 10 and see if you can stick to them in 2016.
• Exercise more
• Eat better
• Cut down on alcohol • Stop smoking
• Spend LESS time on
Facebook / Twitter
• Learn a new language • Learn a musical in-
strument
• Save more money
• Secure your dream
job
• Get more sleep
• Improve qualifica-
tions
• Spend more quality
time with your children
• Get a toned body
• Spend more time
walking
• Take more bike rides • Find out your ances-
try
• Find a better partner • Stop watching trashy
reality TV
• Cook more
• Spend more time
with your friends
• Have more sex
• Eat less chocolate
• Drink less coffee
• Improve personal hy-
giene
• Drink more water
• Bake gluten free
• Learn to sew
• Take up a new sport
• Enjoy more live
music/ entertainment
• Introduce a date
night once a month
• Tutor a child
• Curse less
• Go to church more
often
• Take the stairs rather than the elevator
• Read more books
• Be kinder to strangers
• Try to not get a park- ing fine/speeding ticket
• Get a valid driver’s li- cense
• Stop being ratchet • Eat less meat
• Find true love
• Travel more
• Learn how to use the technology properly (iPad, social media etc)
• Get a new hobby
• Spend less time at work
• Be more thankful
• Be kinder and more respectful of your elders
• Be less angry
• Don’t take life for granted
• Be more grateful.....
Have a healthy, and happy 2016.
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PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016