Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 12-4-15 Edition

Editorials/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
(USPS 202-140)
2207 21st Avenue, Tampa Florida 33605 • (813) 248-1921 Published Every Tuesday and Friday By
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHING Co., Member of National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
S. KAY ANDREWS, PUBLISHER
C. BLYTHE ANDREWS III, PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER ALLISON WELLS-CLEBERT, CFO
GWEN HAYES, EDITOR
IRIS HOLTON, CITY EDITOR
BETTY DAWKINS, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR HAROLD ADAMS, CIRCULATION MANAGER TOYNETTA COBB, PRODUCTION MANAGER LAVORA EDWARDS, CLASSIFIED MANAGER
Subscriptions-$44.00-6 Months Both Editions: $87.00-Per Year Both Editions.
Opinions expressed on editorial pages of this newspaper by Columnists or Guest Writers, do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Florida Sentinel Bulletin or the Publisher.
Terrorism Plagues The World
have sat at home with ter- rorism being one of the furthest things from my mind. Oh sure, I am aware that these drastic and devilish evils take place in other parts of the world, but not in America. Ter- rorists slipped our guards not too long ago to create the ter- rorist act that we have labeled
as 9/11.
I admit that the United
States was badly shook up by the mass destruction of prop- erty and the loss of thousands of human lives caused by 9/11. But America soon got over 9/11 and the terrorist acts to go back to being the furthest things on so many of our minds
We never had acts like 9/11 to be concerned about. Surely America would nip any terror-
ist action in the bud. So, in these United States it was back to the table of good times and no worry.
There was this group called Al Qaeda who was a terrorist faction whose bark was louder than its bite. This was just strong enough to keep you fighting. In America, we didn’t worry about Al Qaeda.
Then countries like Iran, Syria, Turkey, Iraq and a few other middle eastern countries rose up to claim their position in the world as terrorist pow- ers. To make matters worse, along came a terrorist group known as Isis.
Isis has proven itself as one of the most dangerous terror- ists the world has ever known. First of all, nobody is really sure who Isis is. It is known
that Isis can and does an excel- lent job of recruiting men, women, boys and girls from all nations to aid them in their terror deeds. What makes this group so dangerous is that they can train recruits and send them back to the country from which they came to en- gage in dangerous terrorist acts.
Countries all over the world are afraid of Isis. No- body knows for sure what these fools are going to do. Be- lieve me or not, but Isis has the world on fire with fear.
Isis has recently taken on two of the world countries. They shot down an airplane that belongs to all mighty Rus- sia. Then they staged a mass murderous act of violence on America’s ally France. They have put the word out that the United States is next on their agenda.
Tell me that the words Isis and terrorism don’t send a dull ache all over this world. There is no need for us to live in fear. It is important that we keep all of our sense on high alert.
POSTMASTER: Send Address Change To: Florida Sentinel Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3363 Tampa, FL 33601 Periodical Postage Paid At Tampa, FL
C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
AIDS: Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
n case you missed World AIDS Day Celebration last
Tuesday, let us remind you that AIDS is still deadly. We caution you to practice “safe sex” and monogamy when engaging in intimate relationships. We also insist you seek HIV testing if you have engaged in risky sexual behavior at any time in your life.
While health and community-based organizations struggle to provide AIDS awareness information and free testing to the general public, the number of new HIV cases has increased by an alarming 63 percent over the past two years in the Tampa-Hillsborough County area.
From all appearances, because HIV and AIDS have not garnered front-page and nightly news for the last few years, citizens have begun to treat the disease as if they could take a “morning after pill” then go about life with- out a care. Unfortunately, that pill will cost $67 a day or more for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, the history of millions of lives lost to the disease over the past 34 years have faded from memory. Consid- ering ever-present disparities, that Black men and women are affected at a higher rate – eight times higher than whites.
Therefore, let this editorial serve as a warning to our readers: AIDS is still deadly; get tested now!
Natural Is Better
wo weeks ago R&B
singer and reality televi- sion personality K. Michelle announced that she had come to the decision to remove the signature butt implants that gave her one of the most cur- vaceous shapes in the music industry.
According to the enter- tainer, also known for her brashness, her decision to re- turn to her normal size was partly inspired by her choice to be taken more seriously. Ap- parently, the enormity of her fabricated posterior was gar- nering the wrong kind of atten- tion.
All I could think about when I read about K. Michelle's change of heart when it came to her appear- ance is what I've been saying since the "blow-up booty" trend first took off.... Nothing beats the real thing.
I never understood why some women felt the need to literally risk life and limb in an effort to inflate their rumps well beyond natural propor- tions. It always seemed espe- cially strange in those cases where the extra enormous bot- tom, being held up by a pair of too skinny legs, made their bodies appear even more awk- ward.
Of course, I don't knock anyone from using the ad- vancements in cosmetic sur- gery to improve upon their looks. I just believe that many of the women who've become addicted to those types of pro- cedures go overboard in trying to uphold an unrealistic stan- dard of beauty.
I think some of them forget that the "Jessica Rabbit" body type they desperately at- tempt to achieve was drawn by a cartoonist. It was a look, cre- ated in the imagination of a man, that can't be applied to every woman.
The truth that these ladies, who adhere to the idea that a super-sized backside and breasts are the only ways to a man's heart, don't get it that, while many men enjoy admir- ing certain female forms in places like strip clubs, that's not what we normally prefer for the long haul. And, to me, that's the irony in this plastic madness.
Women go to extreme lengths to perfect this fantasy image in their hopes of attract- ing men of substantial means. But, when you look at well-off brothers like President Barack Obama, LeBron James or even Denzel Washington, you'll notice
that the women who they chose to spend their lives with look more like the women you may see in line at the grocery store buying the magazine, than the ones inside of the magazine itself.
To the contrary, the women who constantly go under the knife in their pursuit of physi- cal perfection are often also the ones who are always available because they seem to have a hard time maintaining rela- tionships. I don't know for sure. But I believe that has to mean something.
Part of the reason why I think some of these women spend so much time and en- ergy on how they present themselves physically is be- cause they probably believe that's all they need to bring to the table. What they miss is that, while having a healthy tail feather to shake may look great, if a brain and other at- tractive qualities aren't a part of the package, its value is worth little more than a one- night stand at a cheap motel.
Hopefully K. Michelle's image reversal will mark the beginning of the end to super fakeness and usher in a new era of what you see actually being what you get, authentic- ity as a fashion statement. Who would have ever imag- ined?
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.
Donald Trump Meets Black Clergy: What We Would Have Said, Had We Been There
o use Trump’s favorite word, it would have been
“amazing” if we’d been among the dozens of Black pastors supposedly pressing Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump himself. Sitting close to the front or at least where we could see the glint of his eyes, we would have asked him why he insulted his presidential competitor Carly Fiorina, why he adopted such a hard- line against Mexican illegal immigrants and now Syrian refugee immigrants; why just recently in front of thou- sands of supporters and millions of viewers worldwide he mocked a physically challenged news reporter, and of course, we would insist he explain why he supported the roughing up of a Black Life Matters supporter-turned heckler at one of Trump’s rallies.
Indeed, we would have warned him that his looping generalities did not endear him to the Black congrega- tional communities we represented and that if he ex- pected our support he’d have to do a complete-360 personal-political make-over. That’s what we would’ve said. Now, what did the Black pastors who were there say? They say they said the same things we would have said, and we have no reason to doubt that they did, what with Bishop George Bloomer (North Carolina) asking him point-blank, “Are you a racist?” then saying he said
“If he wants to have our ear, he needs to at least tone down his rhetoric . . .and he said he would. “Yet, Trump would later say, “The beautiful thing about the meeting is that they didn’t really ask me to change the tone.” Could both be correct? We doubt it. The elders say, when you meet with devil, the devil tells the story.
I
I
T
T
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015