On MLK Day and everyday, witness truth and praise God’s mercy

Get your shoes on and your mind fixed on our mission.

  
Our marching orders:

( taken from the MLK Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.)

Lift up God’s good mission and be your brother’s keeper.

Dwell together under God.

Overcome the world.

Entreat God’s power with your voice and actions.

Distain hate but continue to protest injustice.

Image a peaceful world.

Extremes should not be allowed to defeat us.

Watch what you say and how you say it.

Be introspective to save souls.

Shift focus and priorities.

Don’t be too late. Take the chance to promote a peaceful, sustainable world.

Eliminate violence and truly care for one another.

Harness your drive for power, racism, and militarism.

Preserve our civilization.

Shirk off the chain of violence.

Shift from chaos to community with love.

Become love-centered instead of power centered.

Speak truth to power in love.

Be free at last.

Praise God and bless His name.

Be summoned by holy men, even in virtual spaces.

Stand up for righteous, even in the face of death.

Have the faith of your forefathers.

Stand together. Pray. Let’s stay together.

Do everything in God’s name. Don’t live in vain.

Unite for equality.

Link peace and justice together.

Be inspired by John Lewis, Ralph Bunche, and MLK.

Move on to make our world what it should be, and don’t rest.

Charge ahead.

Be hopeful.

Don't be deterred by obstacles.

Triumph over fear and hatred.

Subdue revenge and aggression.

Have goodwill as your righteous stand.

Men are powerless without God, so seek God’s help.

End racial discrimination by non-violent means.

Have one heart in love and humbleness.

Have the same mindset of Jesus and others who follow God’s laws.

Know that nobody is safe unless everyone is safe.

Be empathetic.

Be connected to the world and its problems.

Make peace, lay down arms, construct the peace through reconciliation and patience. Heal wounds.

Avoid war through an ongoing process of peace and prevent individual atrocities.  

Remember we live in One house, on One planet, and are One human family. Have empathy for others.

Shirk trauma and drama.

Have clear mission and vision in the midst of fear. Don’t be distracted but love one another.

Practice non-violence.

Have a stirred conscience.

End racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. 

Lift your eyes to the hills, to God, our strength and help.

Have an ecumenical revolution of values.

Shun bitterness. Demand better.

Expand the walk for justice to include everyone.

Reform the criminal justice system.

Reimagine the church. Leave the sanctuary. Go to the streets.  Don’t just support movements started in the church. Repent. Live out a new day of righteousness.

Learn the facts to demand justice in all areas of human activity.

Strengthen the backbone of the nation. Livable wage, student loans, and gentrification need to be resolved.

Don’t be complacent. Lead with truth.

Don’t be silenced by the ungodly.

Be rededicated to create a better world for ourselves and our children.

Don’t bend before tyrants.

Hold up all civil rights leaders - past, present and future and their views on moving forward.

It will take not one of us but all of us to make positive changes.

Heed the call of a challenging cause.

There will probably never be another MLK, so all of us must continue the cause collectively.

Opposition is not fair and often we face insurmountable odds.

We are stalked by giants, but work it out.

House the poor and promote social and economic justice.

Thanks, Donald Trump, for helping us re-examine the underbelly of this nation!

 

OPINION

When you take a second look at something, it gives you the opportunity to fix it, to check it, to use a microscope. Perhaps it was not his intent, but Trump has hastened us to fix the hate, vitriol, health, and history of our country. He has exposed the hidden, seamy, shithole side covered by a suited, pseudo-millionaire costume flanked by hat wearing, flag toting extremists. 

If we don't take this chance, we doom ourselves.

In order to help myself do this task, I'm looking inside the thoughts of Trump's loyal, violent supporters, starting with the KKK. Now reading The Ku Klux Klan: or, Invisible Empire (https://books.google.com/books?id=1YMfAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) by Laura Martin Rose, a copy which was put in every southern school library by the Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 20th century and now can be read free online.

Next, I'm gonna take a look at Ku Klux Klan Secrets Exposed: Attitude Toward Jews, Catholics, Foreigners and Masons; Fraudulent Methods Used; Atrocities Committed in Name of Order (https://books.google.com/books?id=cSzDDwAAQBAJ) by Ezra A. Cook. Then  The Ku Klux Klan Unmasked, by W. C. Wright. 

The Turner Diaries explained (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311760245_The_Turner_Legacy_The_Storied_Origins_and_Enduring_Impact_of_White_Nationalism%27s_Deadly_Bible) and interviews of Timothy McVeigh would be two other examination spots. All these give an idea of what white supremacists believe. 

And we can't stop there. We've got to read what Trump has said and done, as well as his Father Fred and his son, Junior, and his unpaid this week lawyer, Rudy. Someone smarter than Trump will replace him at the head of the white supremacist bandwagon, and we've got to be ready.

You may say that reading and researching white supremacy is a little extreme, but I run into folks that have been indoctrinated by this garbage, and I need to know what I'm up against. While in a grocery store shopping line which a white woman was breaking, when I confronted her, she yelled, "Survival of the fittest." 

If I investigate where "these people" are coming from, some who have been described by Capitol Police as "foaming at the mouth... with pitchforks," maybe I can protect and defend myself. They won't be able to hide anymore. Knowledge is power!

Again, thanks Trump for moving me to check white supremacy out.

Breaking News: Trump second impeachment resolution passes the US House of Representatives

Checkmated Trump, who sheltered mob, should follow Nixon and resign, for pardon’s sake

Trump’s wall has fallen down.

OPINION

In chess, the king or supreme leader is protected by pawns, religious men and military strategists. If they fall, he is held in a hopeless position, or checkmated. 

If the king is not in check because he has sheltered his minions but has no legal move, then it is a stalemate, and the game immediately ends in a draw. But Trump is not a king, and insurrection in a democracy is not a board game. 

To save the nation, Trump should resign. Even if the House impeached him, the Republican Senate will not remove him from Office because the Party would face indictment, according to the Constitution: Article 1, Section 3.

Let’s be clear: During a pandemic, Trump focused on his losing fairly but denied the outcome. During his four years in the White House, he did not administer his office to help the people of the United States. Instead he deflected from real issues like healthcare, tax and campaign finance reform, affordable housing, environmental protection, energy sufficiency, mass transportation and incarceration, and infrastructure improvements, international relations, education improvements, unemployment, police brutality, educational debt, predatory banking, poverty, racism and his tax returns, to name a few.

I’m at a loss for words to command from memory what he did of value.

His misuse of money to finance his own businesses, his appointment of his family and not people with experience and credentials, his pardoning of criminals, the enlistment of the Justice Dept. to get him out of legal hot water, his golf course contracts, his phone calls to find more votes and find dirt on Biden’s son, etc., etc., etc.

Impeachment should not be delayed, but the Senate will never vote to remove him because again, it would point fingers at the Republican Party per the Constitution: Article 1, Section 3.

James Madison from the Virginia ratification convention stated, "If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached." Trump told the mob that stormed the Capitol they were loved, special people. He engaged in a series of public statements and actions designed to incite, to tear up government property, terrorize members of Congress, and stop the votes of the people.

The Constitution charges the President with the task of taking care that laws be faithfully executed. Instead, he sought to overturn electoral college votes. A President is impeachable if he attempts to “subvert the Constitution."

Barbara Jordan asked a great question after she laid out her painful inquiry into the impeachment of Nixon for Watergate based on misconduct of a public man in violation of public trust. She entertained that encroachments and excesses of a tyrannical Executive swollen with power should not be left unchecked. 

Jordan asked the question, “Should a President who has committed offenses, planned, directed, and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate” be impeached? And removed? It’s time for Trump to go, no matter the consequence, and it would be better if he takes himself off the board himself. Then he will not be considered a martyr by his friends.

  

Warnock wins!

Raphael Warnock has helped turn Georgia blue!

You can judge a man by his actions when he doesn’t know you’re looking. I happened upon Raphael Warnock while he was standing at a Starbucks kiosk in Phipps Plaza in Atlanta years ago. He was dressed impeccably in a suit and tie. He wasn't showing his underwear because he had a leather belt on, tight around his waist. He caught my eye. He didn’t act like a jive Negro, look at me lustfully, or size me up and down. He respectfully went on his way. 

He may not be perfect (nobody is), but he’s believable. Good luck, Rev. Warnock, on your journey to the dirtiest game in town - politics. I’m praying that God will strengthen and protect you.

2020 through the eye of a patient

OPINION:

I must admit that there were several examples where I felt someone I didn't know cared about me, that my life mattered. The healthcare professionals that assisted me with my hip replacement and rehab were awesome. The ones that helped my husband recover from three medical procedures were equally awesome. 

But in the middle of COVID-19, I have to call out the doctors and staff at Marietta Eye Clinic who, in the last week of 2020, showed a total disregard for my welfare and bid me to claim the entire risk of contracting a deadly disease during a pandemic just in order to get a refill on my eye medication. I contend that my life did not matter to them.

Maybe it started with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signing Senate Bill 356 in August (https://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/georgia-enacts-covid-19-legal-immunity-healthcare-providers-businesses) which leaves healthcare facilities off the hook if a patient contracts COVID-19 while in their place of business. This protects businesses, not the individual who is not responsible for sanitation in buildings, wipe down of equipment, or medical protocols.

Getting back to what happened to me, I had a recurrence of an eye infection that I was treated for in December 2019 and January 2020. I understand that getting a hordeolum occurs frequently in some people and is treated by Zylet or Neomycin. 

When I called my pharmacy to refill my prescription, they sent in a request to my doctor on December 28. The pharmacist informed me that the doctor never responded. So I called Marietta Eye Clinic myself and was told that they could not refill my prescription, even though I have asthma and feared catching COVID-19, had a dry cough and headache - but I was told I had to come in and be seen to get the medicine I needed.

I told them if they could treat me, I would come in after I got my vaccine. They said they didn't have an email for me to send them a picure. When I arrived at their East Cobb facility and was bid to take a seat, I asked them, "Aren't you gonna take my temperature?" They had forgotten to do that. After waiting in my car to be seen, I waited almost 30 minutes in the exam room for the doctor. 

During the exam, I had to place my forehead and chin on a machine. And guess what? I was diagnosed with the same problem and given Neomycin. Go figure! The doctor also told me to use an eye scrub but didn't forward it electonically to the pharmacy. I called from the pharmacy at 12:53 and got a recording that Marietta Eye Clinic was closed due to it being New Year's Eve. It was supposed to be open until 1p.m. So I'm out of luck until Monday. 

Anyways, the problem is that they could have listened to the patient, cared about the risk of a person with pre-existing conditions catching a deadly disease, and given me my freakin' refill. But they didn't because they were protected by Georgia law and probably needed the office visit money from the insurance company. 

No, my life didn't matter to Marietta Eye Clinic, I contend. Hopefully, things will change in 2021.

Heavenly warriors fighting to save our democracy

John Lewis, GA

Thomas R. Carter, GA

 

John McCain, AZ

Amelia B. Robinson, AL

Attend "Closing Atlanta's Equity Gap" Virtual Panel on November 12

Join LBC on Thursday, November 12th at 6pm for an engaging, educational panel discussion featuring civic, philanthropic and nonprofit leaders working to make Atlanta more equitable, resilient and sustainable. All donors to LBC’s Leaders for Lifecycle campaign will receive an invitation to the event, including our reuse-themed trivia tournament. Don’t miss out on this fun evening of thought-provoking dialogue and good-natured rivalry!

For more info: call 404-997-3873.

National Faith and Blue weekend for community and police happening now

 The Cobb County Police Department is pleased to announce its participation in the

annual National Faith & Blue Weekend on October 9-12, 2020. National Faith & Blue

Weekend is a powerful, collaborative initiative that builds bridges and breaks biases to

foster more actively engaged communities through activities and outreach amongst law

enforcement professionals and the organizations they serve. Throughout the Faith &

Blue Weekend, law enforcement agencies across the United States partner with faith-

based institutions to host activities focused on strengthening the bond between

communities and those protecting them.

Local events still planned will consist of activities that will occur in a variety of communities,

including Cobb County, and will include a wide array of activities such as picnics,

athletic events, forums, and community service projects. 

Visit  https://faithandblue.org/  for additional information. 

Friday, October 9, 2020

Burnt Hickory Baptist Church (precinct 5)

5145 Due West Rd NW, Powder Springs, GA 30127

7:00 p.m. – until

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Vision for Souls Church (precinct 2)

6519 Factory Shoals Rd SW, Mableton, GA 30126

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Vinings United Methodist Church (precinct 3)

3101 Paces Mill Rd SE, Atlanta, GA 30339

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

For more information on Cobb County Police Department's participation during National

Faith & Blue Weekend, please contact:

Lieutenant D. Ballard

Damon.Ballard@cobbcounty.org

10 cents, 12 cents: inequality in my life

(I can’t go back to Madrid now, even though I want to.)

If this was my community, I would know through the HOA that a senior citizens facility is being built across the street, but since our board officers are the only ones invited to the yearly meeting, I don’t have a voice in the lowest form of government in the USA.

If this was my country, I would be able to choose the leader of the land through my cellphone, just like I pay a bill through my bank while walking in the park and receive an email receipt.

If this was my body, I would be able to go to any doctor and get help for what ails me, whether I have health care or not, and depend on the principles behind the Hippocratic Oath and the bankruptcy laws if I couldn’t pay the bill.

If this was my brain, I would be able to make educated sense of the multiple lynchings I see on TV and hate I face daily from people who should be minding their own business instead of trying to tell me how to act.

If I were a human being who mattered, I would be able to receive 100 pennies for my work instead of the 10 cents on the dollar given me compared to what whites receive. I would be able to buy a house in a good neighbor, a house made of bricks, not trailer-like aluminum siding in a red-lined district where I would get a $3k discount on my mortgage but be denied a loan to make repairs latter.

If I were a global citizen, I would be able to fly to Timbuktu, Rio, Madrid, or Hong Kong without fearing I would not be able to come back home due to a health pandemic.

Since none of these things are true, I’m living in limbo, tied to a religion that deems the heavenly white father a God ruling over creation. 

If.

Breaking news: Kamala Harris, my soror, chosen as Biden’s running mate

Susan Rice may be your next VP/Pres.

Possibly the most qualified woman to run alongside Joe Biden in November is Susan Rice, formerly with the Obama Administration.

Just take a look at her credentials: 
https://ballotpedia.org/Susan_Rice

She is married to a former white Canadian TV producer. 

I say let's vote!

Cobb County Police Dept. releases statement

May 30, 2020 The following is a message on behalf of the Cobb County Police Department, the Marietta City Police Department and the Smyrna City Police Department.

We have taken note of the criminal activity that has been taking place in so many cities across our country over the past few days. For the record, all three of our departments remain strongly opposed to any form of injustice, racism, or brutality.  We are deeply concerned and have taken steps to not only protect everyone’s first amendment right to free speech and peaceful protest, but also to protect the life and liberty of our local citizens as well. Our three departments are working in conjunction to make sure the safety of everyone is maintained.

We have been in contact with a few individuals representing groups that are planning peaceful protests within our jurisdictions. Some of the organizers have expressed concern that outside agitators may try to hijack their plans for a peaceful event. Therefore we recommend anyone else planning protests to communicate and partner with their local law enforcement agencies to maintain the safety of all involved. 

All three of our agencies have received numerous inquiries from the media and public about tactical preparations concerning possible cases of violence. While we understand your concern, tactical plans are privy to the law enforcement teams protecting the safety of our community. We have plans in place and we want to remind any who plan to use the peaceful protests as a means to break the law, we will be ready to protect peaceful protestors, residents, and business owners and to arrest and charge any and all who break the law within our respective jurisdictions.

We remind everyone that if you see criminal activity occurring please contact 911 immediately so officers can be dispatched. Rest assured, all three departments are and remain passionate about protecting our residents and business owners. Any criminal acts will result in arrest and prosecution according to the law.

Opinion: Scared to exist while Black

As a Black person, my world seems upside down.

If you are non-white, should you be scared?

YES!

On a personal note, my husband ordered a pizza online yesterday, and we were a little early to pick it up. Being mindful of the coronavirus, we parked in a parking space until 5:30 when it was scheduled to be finished. It was already paid for, since we ordered it online. We pulled up in front of the restaurant to pick it up. While my husband (the driver) went in, I stayed in the car. His window was rolled down. A white man exiting Kroger passed by and shouted into the window looking at me, and said in a very menacing voice, "That's not a parking space!"  That comment could have made me respond in a negative fashion, but I kept my cool. His attempt to police me is an example of someone who should have been minding his own business instead of approaching me and ruining my evening.

Yes, I'm scared to be around some people. The evidence shows that because of global racism, non-whites are dying more from being the most poor, the most uneducated, the most religious, the most lynched, the most exploited, the most incarcerated, unemployed, sick, sexually abused, mentally unstable, drugged out, politically disadvantaged, vilified, downtrodden, and stereotyped.

Being me is scary because I don’t know how to respond, whether to pick up my gun or slink into my house, pull the covers over my head, and pray.

How are you feeling today?

Breaking News: Holmes named prosecutor in Arbery case...

Holmes' history on Wingcom Watchdog:

https://wingcomwatchdog.blogspot.com/2016/10/judge-holmes-shows-no-mercy-to-men.html

https://wingcomwatchdog.blogspot.com/2015/03/holmes-breaks-through-judicial-ceiling.html

https://wingcomwatchdog.blogspot.com/2015/03/holmes-breaks-through-judicial-ceiling.html

Other news re: Holmes: https://newsone.com/3939848/joyette-holmes-ahmaud-arbery-da-kemp-appointee/

Photo of the day...

I wonder what would have happened to me if I had tried to make a 
citizen's arrest of this woman on a Harley leaving 
Krogers drinking beer out of her sip cup.

Breaking News: Ahmaud Arbery's killers arrested by GBI

GBI Director Vic Reynolds

On what would have been Ahmaud's 26th birthday, his killers have been arrested by the GBI.

Finally moving towards justice, but watch this closely because the man over GBI, Vic Reynolds, is same fellow that let the cop who killed Nicholas Thomas go free. He is former DA in Cobb County, Ga.

https://www.wjcl.com/…/gbi-arrests-father-son-for-…/32409481#

GBI press release: https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases

My thoughts on the state of our affairs...

Testing 1,2,3, testing 1,2,3, testing 1,2,3.

Today would have been my mom's birthday.

This is the first blog post that I have attempted to write since learning of a war-like virus running rampant around the globe. Everything has changed since then, and now I am dictating instead of typing my thoughts. I have also pulled out and dusted off my unread copy of "1984", and I'm wondering about its prophecies. 

Prior to COVID-19 information being brought to my attention by way of the 6:30 p.m. national news I labeled “The Trump Show”,  I experienced weird dreams. In one, my family’s 60+ year old florist business was shut down, the building demolished, and then reconstructed and reopened. At the time I dreamt this dream, I didn't understand what it meant. The shop now has been closed for two weeks.  

Who would have thought that church services would be cancelled and cathedrals turned into hospitals? Who would have thought that the leader of the most powerful nation in the world would be brought to his knees by an invisible adversary? That all schools would be closed and nothing be heard from the federal Secretary of Education? That our largest city would turn its popular park into a triage zone? That the government would claim that it didn't know about a looming threat? That citizens would be told to “just stay in your living room”, even though you may be homeless, and don’t venture out to get food except after two weeks? That war’s definition was changed from humans fighting humans to humans fighting viruses?

We used to be barred from drinking at water fountains!

And what are we to believe? What an impeached president is telling us or what common sense is telling us? 

This is an unforeseen conundrum placed on us by man and not God. If we had put a higher priority on people’s health instead of profits, we would be in a different place right now. If you really want to get philosophical about it, God creates; man destroys. Jesus, one of God's greatest Prophets, said he comes with a sword, not an antidote.

As I sit here looking out of my blinded windows at the Dogwood trees losing their blooms and the cardinal fighting his reflective image in my aluminum trash can, overcast skies are signaling rain. 

Page 41 from “1984” speaks to how statistics can deceive.

I'm wondering whether the number of dead from the coronavirus today will be dumbed down. The data says that people of my race are being disproportionately killed by the virus. Whether it is because they are poor, or riding an infected bus, or have diabetes or asthma, or not using Vick’s salve at night is not important. Native Americans in North America were infected by blankets. 

What will be the positive outcome of all this? Only time will tell. I have no control, and what I say here will be published in vapor and deleted or left unread. But at least I have said it! 

Peace event coming to Atlanta

Congrats to Brig. Gen. Charles McGee and all the Tuskegee Airmen

My article from 2002...
http://www.wingcomltd.com/Articles/blackpilots.htm

Pic of the day

Col. Charles McGee of the Tuskegee Airman walked onto the field at today’s Super Bowl. I interviewed him in Atlanta in 2002. (Photo by Kurk Johnson- 3rd from left) He is now 100 years old.