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When Enough Is Enough
oday I don't feel like
being politically correct. I have no desire to watch my words for fear of offending a particular group or segment of the population. If honesty is, indeed, the best policy then I plan on making what I'm about to say the gold standard.
I think I'll begin by going out on the limb and saying that members of law enforce- ment are probably finally get- ting it right now. It is unfortunate that it took a vi- cious sniper attack in down- town Dallas to get the point across, but I believe the mes- sage was sent loud and clear.... BLACK PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF BEING SLAUGHTERED!
I know that it would prob- ably be better if I said some- thing to make people feel comfortable and safe following this tragic episode. But, the truth is, what happened in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas are merely grim exam- ples of just how unstable our situation has become. And, as a Black man in America who has become nothing more than moving target practice foracop,whoamItotellany- one that everything is going to
be ok?
One of the things that has
been amazing to me in the wake of the incident, that took the lives of 5 police officers and injured 6 more, is the level of shock I've seen expressed by all of the talking heads who've appeared on news broadcasts over the weekend. After wit- nessing police officers receive less than a slap on the wrist, for killing numerous unarmed Black men over the years, they had to know that, sooner or later, there was going to be some form of blowback? A karmic response to the lack of justice given to those whose lives were taken unjustifiably.
What happened in Texas wasn't just the retaliation of a pissed off Black man, an act of revenge for what happened to Alton Sterling and Phi- lando Castile. It was the reaping of a sour harvest which sprung from seeds that were planted in cities like Fer- guson, Baltimore, New York, Oakland, Chicago, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
For the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, the deaths of Sterling and Castile acted only as an accelerant to a
flame that was already fully ablaze. The sad part of the story is the fact that the lives of innocent police officers were lost while the truly guilty cops, whose negative energy is ulti- mately responsible for the bloodshed that was placed into motion, were able to watch it all go down from a distance.
Unfortunately, this is what usually occurs when the mis- treated are ignored by those doing the mistreating. It isn't until after the bully gets punched in the mouth does it finally dawns on him that he should having been paying more attention to how upset his daily victim was becoming.
What makes all of this death so sickening, though, is that it could have all been avoided. But when good cops allow bad cops to continue to get away with horrific deeds it creates a problem that someone else feels moved to solve.
And, unless they want a re- peat performance, I suggest that, going forward, prosecu- tors across the country begin handling cases of police bru- tality against Black people as aggressively as they handle everything else because, as we've just witnessed, to some people, our lives are really that important.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can TEXT C.B., II, at (+18133080849).
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Dallas-America With A Heavy Heart
t first, it sounded like the Fourth of July. Then human
beings began to fall while a chorus of police sirens rose to an ear-splitting crescendo. Rather than Independence Day, Dallas, Texas in the blink of an eye was transformed to what certainly seemed to be Doomsday . . . Armageddon in a Southern city who has seen its fill of Armageddons.
Then in the midst of millions of words, someone (it may have been Dallas Police Chief David Brown) said, “With a heavy heart, we are devastated to report a fourth officer has been killed.” A fifth officer would follow.
Meanwhile, a world busy with blood, held its breath as an- other news break of violence came from the land of cowboys, Colt-revolvers, AR 15’s, and the NRA. But what we want to know is, in the midst of violence more regular than the re- moval of human waste, how does one protest peacefully? How does one make sense of nonsense? Does the ruin of lost lives due to obvious lack of communication ever end?
A century ago, Sir Robert Peel said, “Police must maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the tradi- tion that the police are the public and the public are the po- lice: police being only members of the public who are paid to give attention to duties which are incumbent to every citizen. . .”
One hundred years later, why is that so difficult to under- stand? Perhaps, rather than a republic of equality, we in- stead are a land who loves racism and violence, and hate more than church or constitution. Yes, life matters, but here lately, blind rage and old wounds matter more than life.
So, today, Dallas bleeds. But if it could happen to Dallas with its award-winning police force and progressive commu- nity, could it happen also to Tampa? Should we wait to find out? Lord knows, we hope not.
Free Your Mind
Empowered greetings! want to inspire you to free your mind. That’s right, liberate your thoughts. If you’ve been thinking about doing big things but haven’t moved forward because you have small resources, then you
need to free your mind.
Break loose from the self-
limiting beliefs that have held you captive. You really don’t need a whole lot, however, you do need to use what you got by getting things out of your head and written down on paper. This will help you de-clutter your head and start organizing your thoughts.
No matter how many times you think an unfavorable thought, that doesn’t mean it’s true. Don’t just accept thoughts of impossibilities or
negativity, instead challenge them. Oftentimes people walk around feeling disgusted, busted, frustrated and de- feated because they automati- cally accept the thoughts of impossibility to be valid and true.
Dispute notions of your in- ability to do something new, have something better and be something beyond that which your haters imagined. Greater possibilities and positive out- comes for your life are within your reach.
For every negative thought you have, write down a posi- tive thought to cancel the as- signment of that negative thought and the feelings it brings. Repeat this positive thought to yourself often, speak it out loud and share it
with others that will reaffirm you. In addition to that also write down who you visualize yourself being and what you see yourself doing.
Be free enough to actually feel what it would be like in that moment of time. A free mind explores beyond the five senses of what it has already tasted, touched, seen, smelled or heard. It creates the unfath- omable.
Free you mind and go be- yond boundaries. Free your mind so you can live a limitless
life.Selphenia is a motiva- tional keynote speaker, trainer, workshop and event facilitator. Please call her at 813-956-0185 to request her to assist you with your next event.
For more on living a big- ger, better and more success- ful life without limits, stay connected with Selphenia.
Facebook: Selphenia Nichols Success Coach To Women Instagram: Selphe- nia Twitter: @queenofsuc- cess1
End Million Dollar Political Witch-Hunts
ore than $7.2 million and months of investigating
the 2012 attack on the American embassy in Beng- hazi and the subsequent probe of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails while she served as Secretary of State, a Republican-led witch-hunt inquiry appears to continue on.
Nevertheless, the cost of “the independent Accounta- bility Review Board; eight previous reports by seven Con- gressional committees; the time, money, and resources costs for federal agencies to comply with Select Commit- tee requests,” are not included in these figures, according to a Democratic minority committee website. Some sources predict that when the cost of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s report is added, the cost could well soar to $30 million.
After finding only 3 out of 30,000 (or .0001 percent or less) or more emails with any indication that the emails contained “classified” material, and none that were clearly marked as “classified,” taxpayers will foot the bill for a witch-hunt clearly planned by Republicans to reduce “Clinton’s poll numbers.”
Representative Richard Hanna (R. NY) and Representative Kevin McCarthy (R. Calif.) Republican congressmen, made incriminating statements early on and a committee staffer alleged he was fired for not focusing the probe on Clinton and the State Depart- ment, all reminiscent of another well-known Congressman’s antics..
His name was Joseph McCarthy and during the 1940s and ’50s of America, the polit- ical witch-hunts of McCarthyism almost reduced our nation to a fascist state simply be- cause American voters relinquished their responsibility in favor of McCarthy’s self-centered narcissism.
But that was in the past. We hope, that today’s voters will remember the recent costly witch-hunts against Hillary Clinton when they go to the polls and will keep the ghost of Joe McCarthy from rising again.
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
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