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Editorials/Columns
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Black Life Matters
he statement Black Life
Matters is ringing out all over this nation. Black and white folks are preaching that sermon. I certainly hope these groups of people are serious in their outcry over Black Life Matters. For too long, Black life has been treated like any- thing but life. I lay the blame for this being the case at the feet of everybody.
There needs to be an un- derstanding that Black Life means more than the number of Blacks that have their lives needlessly snuffed out by gun violence. That number is very important and speaks volumes about how little value has been placed on Black life. Even some Blacks don’t realize how much more goes into making up their lives.
First of all, Blacks must be proud of themselves and real- ize that there is nothing bad,
unlucky or evil that is inherited with our skin color. Our Black- ness is just another one of God’s multitude of beautiful colors. We should know that we are human beings. Black life means to be a law abiding, highly educated, voting citi- zens. We have to do a better job of being parents to our children. There are too many very young and single moms. They don’t know to raise chil- dren and they don’t have any- one to help them. Parents must find ways to nurture, dis- cipline, educate and keep them be safe and stay out of jail.
That isn’t all there is to Black life. We need to live in neighborhoods that rise above the ghetto and work to keep them up. A most important thing for African Americans that we need to be and must be apart of the Black Experience, is business.
Blacks need to invest and go into business. We just can’t be consumers, but we must also be sellers of goods and services. We need to become big time employers and lenders of money. We know the difficulties qualified Blacks sometimes face in these areas. I am not saying that these companies should cater only to Blacks.
That is still not all there is to Black life and those reason given are not the only reasons Black Life matters. More em- phasis is place on the last item. This item is very important, but the already mentioned rea- sons are just as important.
This last reason relates to the large numbers of Blacks who are killed each year by a bullet fired from the gun of an- other Black or a policeman. Somebody needs to tell this group that Black life matters and they just can’t be killing Blacks for no reason at all. This also applies to whites, though they no longer kill a lot of Blacks.
It is a good thing folks are starting to realize that loud and clear, Black life matters.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
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The Late 1980s Police Review Board
hile Police Chief Eric Ward researches police re-
view boards throughout America, we hope he’ll take a look at his own department’s sterling historical records, even though nearly 30 years have passed since it established a successful 1980s police review board.
After the death of Melvin Hair, a mentally challenged 23-year-old, Black College Hills Projects resident who was choked by a policeman, and due to subsequent riots in February 1987, a Citizens’ Police Review Board was formed.
The Board met monthly to analyze reports compiled by the Internal Affairs Division on all incidents that in- volved the use of force or a weapon by a Tampa Police De- partment officer.
A report on police practices and civil rights in America published by the United States Civil Rights Commission in 1981 (and a revisited publication in 2000) strongly ad- vocated the formation of Citizens’ Review Boards as ex- ternal controls for police misconduct. However, today, few law enforcement agencies have followed its advice.
Therefore, we reach the following conclusion. It is time once more, to strongly consider re-instituting a Cit- izens’ Police Review Board in Tampa.
Play On Playa
y son is a really good
looking kid. This is something that I realized since he was an infant being con- stantly gushed over by every
woman who laid eyes on him. So, it was no surprise to me when, after watching his music video (he's also a rap artist), a female friend told me that he was being admired by quite a few members of the fairer
sex... herself included.
What puzzled me a little bit
though, was what she said next. After she asked if he had a girlfriend and I told her yes, one who I gave my blessing for him to marry, she immediately blurted out, "C.B., don't let him do that. He's too young. He's going to have so many girls after him, you should tell him to have fun exploring his options before settling down."
Her response was one that I never saw coming. Here was a 40+-year-old woman, who's never been married and who makes a habit of complaining about the "doggish" behavior of men, actually campaigning for my son to shun making a commitment to the love of his life, in order to embark on the frivolousness of a player's lifestyle. It was like hearing a sheep, who's been running from predators all of its life, encouraging a young wolf to eat more meat.
Needless to say, the irony of
her statement didn't escape me. And before I could catch my tongue I said to her, "oh yeah? Well how did freelanc- ing your 20s away work out for you?"
I knew it was a low blow. But I just couldn't get over the level of hypocrisy that was being dropped on me.
You would think that a per- son, familiar with all of the pit- falls of bachelor and bachelorettehood (lonely nights, heartbreak, the drama that comes with choosing all the wrong ones etc..) would be discouraging someone who may have been blessed to find a special individual worthy of marrying early in life. But, for some reason, those who've seen the worse of the struggle seem to be the most willing to tell others how to follow their own failed blueprints.
Everyone who's been down that road knows that the single life can definitely be a blast at times. But we also know that it gets old very quickly.
We readily make light of the story about the one who got away or, what would probably be better described as, the one we threw away. But rarely does anyone mention the 10-20 or even 30 year drought that fol- lowed. The question I always asked was why no one was ever willing to tell that part of the truth?
I don't know how many under 25-year-olds read this column. But, to those who do, I suggest ignoring advice from your uncle Leroys or aunt Berthas when it comes to the affairs of the heart. I mean, there's a reason why going to the bar every Friday and Sat- urday night is still a part of their weekly ritual.
Of course, I'm not an ex- pert on love myself. I have probably made more mistakes in that department than al- most anyone I'm sure. But, even with that being said, over the years I've come to learn to trust the proof in the pudding.
And, since I've seen the unions of those who married their high school sweethearts last decades longer than those who chose to take a few laps around the block before walk- ing down the aisle, to me, fol- lowing the lead of proven longevity just seems to make better sense.
Of course, getting married at a super young age doesn't necessarily mean that every couple will have the same suc- cess. But, knowing what I know now, If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't hesitate to at least attempt to make a go at it with my first love, because the only thing more pathetic than a player or playette at 40 is a player or playette at 50 who still hasn't realized that "1" can be the loneliest number at 60.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityon- ice@yahoo.com.
The Donald Trump Dictionary
f you hadn’t noticed, the Donald Trump version of
Webster’s Dictionary doesn’t depend upon the tried and true tradition of English word meanings. Instead, the first edition of an interchangeable Trump Dictionary seems to depend on the day of the week, the climate of the moment, the issue invented, and how the editor feels when he wakes up in the morning.
Having said that, allow us also to say the “Don” re- minds us of another larger-than-life character, a poet, Walt Whitman who wrote, “Do I contradict myself? Then I contradict myself!” Much like lawyers learn in Court- room Rhetoric 101, if you’re very careful, “the thing ex- plains itself.”
Therefore, if Trump calls politicians stupid, Mexicans criminals, or uses the term “lady’ as a curse-word it’s not his fault. For, his verbal “what-comes-up-comes out” hails from long line of word-rustlers whose meanings were defined by the situations and not the other way around. So, call him the preacher in the play Pearly Vic- torious who bragged, “I ain’t never told a lie I didn’t mean to make come true someday,” and you’ll have hit the nail called Donald Trump right on the head.
And how could we forget Archie Bunker, the darling of American couch-Conservatives, or even Muhammad Ali whose “In-it-to-win-it” braggadocio was probably the left hook that knocked Sonny Liston for a loop. They all could and probably did tutor a hard-luck kid who made good, but probably still sleeps with the light on.
Nevertheless, would we Americans dare leave the fate of our nation in the hands of a Cat in the Hat, whose mega-billion dollar successes and failures are all defined
by the same word? Are we so broken-hearted as to be lulled to sleep by a lovable galoot whose only platform plan is “Trust Me?” Is going to Hell with the Pied Piper not a bad deal, after all? America, wake up. You’re having a nightmare!
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PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015