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Claude And Ray Live On
have a question. At what age should a man reconsider his life as a crim-
inal?
Is it somewhere in his
20s? His 30s? 40s? 50s? If your answer is that he should never get involved in that lifestyle in the first place, and definitely should have the thought out of his mind by the time he reaches the age when most people retire, you’ve got plenty of sense. It’s just too bad that everyone isn’t as blessed.
Case in point. A few weeks ago there was a story in the paper describing how two men, Anthony Lang and Carlton Mallard, both of whom are in their early 60’s, were arrested by the feds as part of a major drug operation. Their charges? Conspiracy to dis- tribute more than a kilo- gram of Heroin, 400 grams of Fentanyl and 100 grams of a Fentanyl analogue.
According to the paper, the role these two AARP card holders played in the il- licit activities could poten- tially lead to them each serving life in prison. Mean- ing that, even if a judge shows any level of leniency, at the very least, they’ll probably end up spending the next decade under lock and key.
But, being that the drug ther’re accused of distribut- ing, Fentanyl, is one of the most powerful and contro- versial opiates on the mar- ket right now (the one that inspired Donald Trump to suggest giving those who deal with it the death penalty), it’s highly unlikely that a judge will be moved to show them much in the form of mercy.
So, in all actuality, unless they flip on the people around them, their sen- tences could hover closer to the two decades range.
Either way, this 2018 ver- sion of Claude and Ray (the characters made fa- mous by Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy in the movie LIFE) may find themselves toiling around a federal penitentiary somewhere until their mid to late 70s. It is a sad set of unfortunate circumstances that makes me wonder what in the hell these guys were thinking?
I understand that the al- lure of quick and easy money is hard to resist. I fell weak to it myself. But I’m trying to figure out why it didn’t dawn on them that the risk was nowhere near worth the reward?
I am going to assume that this isn’t Lang and
Mallard’s first rodeo, which means they knew what came along with the game they were playing.
With that being the case it’s hard to imagine these two believing it would be a good idea for them to try their hands again, at this stage in their lives, knowing that if they got caught, there was a chance (regardless of how much time they re- ceived), that they would take their last breaths inside of a jail cell.
If they weren’t successful enough to walk away from the life with loads of cash as young men, what made them think they would get it right this time around with so much more at stake?
As much as I empathize with their situations, it’s hard for me to truly feel sorry when knuckleheaded elders like these get burned because of their insistence on continually sticking their greedy hands into the fire.
Of course, some will say that I’m wrong for piling on these old men at this low point in their lives. And, to a certain extent, maybe I am being kind of harsh.
But, the thing is, if expos- ing their foolishness pre- vents someone else, who may be pondering the no- tion of traveling the same costly route, from being just as stupid, then having these two suffer a little shame is worth every potential life saved in the process.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company. You can con- tact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
HTLV-1 Virus And Racism
hat would you do if for the past 40 years, the
death rate for cancer in your neighborhood grew until four out of every ten people in your commu- nity died?
Then again, what would you say if you found out doctors knew about the high rate of cancer when the death rate was over 25 percent, 40 years ago?
Well, guess what? That scenario has played out in poor and minority populations throughout the world for the past 40 years with little to no attention.
The horror of the situation is that scientists recog- nized the high infection rate of the cancer causing virus, HTLV-1, in remote areas of central Australia where poor and Black Australians lived in 1979. Since that time, nothing has been done to prevent, test for, or treat HTLV-1 which causes the cancers leukemia and lymphoma.
Now that the rate has escalated, scientists are call- ing for efforts to stop the spread of the HTLV-1 virus.
Like the deadly HIV virus, the infection is spread by breastfeeding, unprotected sexual contact, and contact with the blood of an infected person.
The HTLV-1 virus has been found in a number of countries –southwestern Japan, some parts of the Caribbean, South America (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and French Guyana), Africa, Romania, the Middle East, and in Melanesia.
Obviously, our planet has a history and habit of hid- ing outbreaks of death-causing diseases in marginal populations (syphilis, HIV, drugs etc.) until they begin to affect the major population.
Must we all die because of racism on this planet?
W
I
FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A