It used to be that New York was open 24/7/365. But the years have worn the Big Apple to the core and somethings that were once popular to do have changed and gone the way of the dodo. You can still find someplace to find a bite to eat at 4am but the pickings are getting slimmer. Doors at clubs and eateries are watched to keep out undesirables. Some places are so afraid of problems they close early. And while the city boosts a rich cultural diversity there is always the problem that big brother is watching you. We still live in an age of profiling those who are different. Continue reading Somebody’s Watching You
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May 18, 2010
Posted by Minnette Coleman in: Advice, African-American, Attitude, Commentary, Current Events, Legal, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Minorities, Morality
 Leave a comment May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Inspiration & Motivation, Islam, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Republican, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, World Issues
2 comments Amazing how many high government officals (including the Attorney General), political pundits, politicians, school officials and religious leaders comment so harshly on the immigration law in Arizona and publicly admit they haven’t read the ten page document. The document basically states that when being stopped for a traffic violation or questioned concerning a crime that [...] May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, Attitude, Business, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, Homeland Security, Humor, Journalism, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Recovery, Republican, Satire, Self-Help, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, Women's Rights, Working Women, World Issues
Leave a comment Pick Your Reason 10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t. 9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the [...] May 8, 2010
Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Life Experiences, Minorities, Social Issues, Women's Rights, Working Women, Workplace
One comment Burqa Mentality in the Blue Ridge
I read, and I write for, the Highlands Newspaper, a weekly paper with a modest circulation. The Editor, also my editor, is Kim Lewicki. She ran an article in last week’s issue that was excellently written and edited, and worthy of sharing with my national audience. The week before, Erika Olvera, a former Police Officer in this town, filed an EEOC Complaint against the Town of Highlands. Our experience with Officer Olvera was limited, but we found her to be diligent and capable. She worked for the Town for two years. She is a naturalized American from Mexico, who has lived in this area for about 20 years. About six months after she was employed by the Police Department, a nasty rumor circulated that she had had an affair with Police Chief Bill Harrell. (In a small town, everyone hears everything.) I said at the time the rumor may have nothing to do with her, but may be an effort by one of the other officers to undermine the Chief. Suffice to say, Bill Harrell is married. Continue reading Burqa Mentality in the Blue Ridge April 30, 2010
Posted by write2bfree in: Accountability, Attitude, Biography & Memoir, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communism, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Opinion, Philosophical Genres, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, The Pundit's Corner, The Writer's Corner, World Issues
Leave a comment Charles Dickens’ novels show the degradation and exploitation of the working poor, but his solution (as pointed out by Orwell) was that those in power would become better people and in their new-found compassion create a safer, healthier environment for the workers. This would extend even to educational opportunities and a chance to move up the ladder, but only so far, never far enough to threaten the existing order. To counter this “benign ruler” point of view, some people in the early 1900s began to organize the working poor. Those most effective and trustworthy came from that background and took action. The work of Camus and Orwell springs from a real knowledge of poverty (Camus) or being an outsider among the privileged (Orwell). It must be pointed out that Camus took a dim view of Marx, and Orwell was horrified by Stalin’s Communism. But these two writers have held the greatest influence in the minds of Western thinkers who call themselves liberal. Camus went so far as to coin the term “libertarian socialist.” Continue reading A Measured Voice April 29, 2010
It used to be that a white person walking through Harlem was eyed suspiciously. The streets were considered mean, the people sometimes meaner because they were angry about the conditions they had to live in. White men walking in Harlem were either undercover cops or, if they were fairly young, drug addicts tried to score a fix. White women did not come to the ghetto alone because they were told they would be raped. Nobody talked to white folks in Harlem because they didn’t belong. They needed to go back to their world on the supposedly better side of town. But they never forgot the eyes that were on them as they walked the streets of unfamiliar territory. They were there to do wrong or make a change. They were being profiled because they were white in a predominately black area. Continue reading You’ve Been Profiled April 16, 2010
Posted by Muhammad Cohen in: Book Review, Books, Fiction, History, Minorities, Social Classes, Social Issues
Leave a comment The best novelist virtually unknown beyond his homeland. [...] March 6, 2010
Posted by Kaye in: African-American, Commentary, Creative Writing, Current Events, Heroes, History, Minorities, The Writer's Corner
4 comments Celebrating a People One Month a Year Now that February has come and, won’t come back for another year, I find myself reflecting on “Black History Month”. We all know the reason for and the meaning of celebrating the accomplishment of African Americans during the month of February. We all should know, by now, that Black History Month was originally established as Negro History Week by the late Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). Dr. Woodson was the son of former slaves. He began his formal education at the age of 20 and subsequently received his PH.D from Harvard University. In 1926 Woodson initiated the annual February observance of Negro History Week. He chose February because Abraham Lincoln’s and the accepted birthday of Frederick Douglass were both during the moth of February. In 1976, some fifty years later, Negro History week became Black History Month going from 7 days to 28 (29) days. Why some 84 years later are we still singling out a group of Americans to note their accomplishments, contributions and heritage? Continue reading Celebrating a People One Month a Year March 2, 2010
Posted by Tyree Harris in: African-American, Commentary, Creative Writing, Current Events, Freelance Author, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, The Writer's Corner
15 comments Western perspective is not culture by Tyree Harris Sitting in my race, class and ethnic groups course, twiddling my thumbs and trying to follow my professor, I couldn’t help but feel disconnected. There he went, speaking of tolerance, what it means to be prejudiced and how it’s easy to stereotype other races — but this is probably the 300th time I’ve heard this lecture from a cultural class, and it seems to be the only message they have to offer. At times, I feel more like a subject of discussion than a student acquiring knowledge — everything seems to be directed toward accepting people like myself and becoming “tolerant,” but nothing goes toward the problems facing people of color and how they can fix them, because our structure only identifies with a Caucasian, Western perspective. At the University and many colleges, the overemphasis of this perspective is a disservice to students of color. There are a lot of things in the majority perspective in which an ethnic minority cannot identify with, thus creating a totally different and unfair expectation of them: They are to identify with Caucasians and learn to walk in their shoes, while Caucasian students enjoy the safety and comfort of their own perspective while battling through their social problems. Continue reading Western perspective is not culture February 25, 2010
Posted by Tyree Harris in: Accountability, African-American, Attitude, Commentary, Creative Writing, Current Events, Freelance Author, Journalism, Minorities
3 comments A Call For Help Goes Unanswered. by Tyree Harris When Portland State student Brenda Johnson, who asked that her real name be withheld, traded in her old BlackBerry for a new BlackBerry Storm from a man named Robert she met on Craigslist, she was thrilled. After she made the trade, she called a friend to see if it worked, but she couldn’t hear her friend through the speaker. Brenda tested it a few more times, but she still couldn’t hear a word. She sent Robert a text complaining about the phone. She had been scammed. Later, Brenda received a message questioning her about the phone. She asked if it was Robert texting her, and the sender replied yes. They then agreed to meet up at the mall to trade back. She arrived about 40 minutes later. A girl approached her and asked her if she was looking for Robert. Brenda replied yes, and the girl explained to her that the person she was texting was actually her, and that Robert stole that phone from her. Shocked, Brenda asked her to identify the phone, but she couldn’t. The girl told Brenda that she reported the phone stolen and that a detective was investigating the case. Brenda told her to call the police so they could clarify the situation and verify that the phone was stolen. But the girl refused to call them, stating that they wouldn’t do anything. Continue reading A Call For Help Goes Unanswered. November 7, 2009
Posted by georgepolley in: Books, Creative Writing, Family, Fiction, Minorities, Social Issues, The Writer's Corner, Uncategorized
Leave a comment Review of “Habibi”, by Naomi Shihab Nye. Mass Market Paperback. Simon Pulse, 1997. Naomi Shihab Nye brings her poet’s voice to this touching story about 14 year old Liyana Abboud and her family as they move from St. Louis, Missouri to Palestine, where her father, a physician, was born and raised. The move isn’t an easy one, for more reasons than one. The family arrives to find conditions more tense than they had expected, with growing violence and a growing Israeli military presence in the West Bank. The story is also filled with some memorable characters, one of the most memorable being Sitti, Liyana’s 81 year old grandmother, who is the “glue” that holds her large family together, a veritable font of energy and wisdom. Continue reading A wonderful novel for young adults of any age October 14, 2009
Posted by Bill Hazelgrove in: Entertainment, Governance, Minorities, Opinion, Politics, Republican, Social Issues, Sociology, Sports, Television, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, The Writer's Corner
Leave a comment So Rush Limbaugh is down for the count. No NFL team for him to hang his hat on. Seems the NFL wants nothing to do with him or his views. They repudiated the Limbaugh world hook line and sinker. Which of course for Rush is something he will make much of and increase ratings, [...] September 11, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Democracy, Freedom, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Minorities, Social Classes, Social Issues
Leave a comment 2nd e-mail from the person that filed the complaint. As parents it is our responsibility to make sure our son is safe and doesn’t do thinks like pull down blinds. As responsible tenants it is our job to make sure that nothing in the apartment is damaged and if something becomes damaged during our tenancy, we of course know we will be financially responsible for all damages we incur. As the landlord of this property I’m sure you would write this financial responsibility in the lease. If you feel that the only reason you would not rent to us, is because of our young child, and the slight possibility that he might pull down your blinds I assure you there are plenty of ways of resolving this issue. One being that we would remove the blinds as we have done at our current residence and will put them back when we vacate the unit. If after reading this email you still feel that you can not risk the liability, I would appreciate and email letting me know that we are denied. Thank you. Excerpt from wife’s response to May 18, 2009 letter from “2nd Consultant of Fair Employment & Housing”. As (1st Consultant ) I talked to suggested, I attended and completed the Fair Housing training class (5/18). I was glad that I went. I learned that I don’t have to be afraid of coming forward with the truth regarding why I considered renting to other applicants. While I was showing (complainant) the unit, they allowed their son to play with the dials of the stove, turning on the gas, turning on the dish-washer and pulling on the nine foot-long blinds (not the cord as you wrote in your letter). I witnessed that the ( parents) didn’t discipline their child. (The father) played ball with his son. The ball was either a child-sized basketball, or a football. They threw the ball back and forth over the kitchen counter and the hanging light. I had a hard time keeping my smile up. I couldnt’ help but conclude that the (parents) were not responsible … Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 4 September 7, 2009
Posted by Muhammad Cohen in: China, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Geopolitical Events, Islam, Journalism, Minorities, Opinion, Politics, Television, Terrorism, The Media, The Pundit's Corner
One comment China allows international reporting on Uighur unrest because it suits China’s interests. [...] September 3, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Current Events, Democracy, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Minorities, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues
Leave a comment The first e-mail that my wife wrote:
______________________________________________ The follow up letter to the phone conversation that was posted with PCGW #2 May 18, 2009 Dear Ms. (my wife): Pursuant to our conversation today I attempted to review with you the complainant and conciliating process. You informed me that because English is your second language you need to have our communications in writing. I am sending you this letter to (address). Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 3 August 25, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: Accountability, African-American, China, Democracy, Freedom, Legal, Minorities, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues, Uncategorized
One comment My wife grew up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (it is estimated that thirty-eight million died because of Mao’s policies). When she was a teenager, she was sent to a labor camp. She arrived in the United States in 1984 at twenty-eight. At the time, she did not speak English. She learned enough to survive after several months. Her first language is Mandarin. If someone speaks English fast, she gets lost. Under pressure, her ability to translate breaks down. She translates (in her head) every word she hears. While attending college in Chicago and working several jobs over the years, she saved enough to invest for her retirement and bought one four-unit apartment building and one condominium. Today, she is an American citizen and she loved capitalism until recently. Now she has a bitter taste in her memory. Soon after escrow closed on the condominium, an incident took place when my wife first listed the unit so she could rent it. An African American couple came along with many other couples to see the condominium. When my wife didn’t rent to the African American couple, they sent her an e-mail wanting to know the reason why. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 2 August 18, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Democracy, Education, Freedom, Governance, Latino & Hispanic, Minorities, Morality, Opinion, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues
Leave a comment Each post will be less than 700 words. During America’s Civil Rights era, laws were enacted with the intent to correct wrongs in America. I strongly agree that it was wrong to segregate schools and provide an education for people of color inferior to the education offered to whites. It was wrong to make people walk in the gutters because the sidewalks were reserved for whites. It was wrong to have one bathroom for people of color and another for whites. It was wrong to deny someone the right to a job due to color or religion. It was wrong to deny someone the right to rent or buy a house or apartment because of race or religion. It is still wrong for violent, racist groups like the KKK and white supremacists to terrorize and victimize anyone they do not approve of. To fix those wrongs, government organizations were created to enforce these new laws. Today, most people are terrified to publicly express honest opinions about topics that fall under political correctness and what has gone wrong with the complex system designed to correct those inequalities. Since this column is going to cross that line, there is a strong chance I will be criticized for what I write. There may be incidences where what I write will be taken out of context. Because I am white, I may be the wrong person to write this column. After all, to many, I’m already guilty due to my skin color. It doesn’t matter that my father was a second generation American and my grandfather was born on the boat inside the three-mile limit. It does not matter that my mother’s ancestors arrived with the Pilgrims and started out in the New England states as indentured servants. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 1 August 15, 2009
Posted by Jose Antonio Ponce in: Latino & Hispanic, Minorities, Poetry, Social Classes, Sociology
Leave a comment I came to America from Chile because someone said life would be better here I sold my ranch my mules my guns and traveled here to live to make a new start and to find a wife but here, I am alone bored I have to pay to dance with a woman and more to drink with her my guitar won’t stay in tune and there is no one to hear my love songs August 14, 2009
Posted by D. Alexander Holiday in: African-American, Creative Writing, Minorities, Poetry, Social Issues
Leave a comment This is my personal take on the incident involving a certain professor Henry Louis Gates and officer James Crowley (et. al.) and whether this was truly a racial profiling incident. Personaly, I think Gates was looking for some attention and he got just that, with even the President weighing in on this, and then the Beer Summit…. [...] August 11, 2009
Posted by georgepolley in: Accountability, Freedom, Heroes, Minorities, Social Issues, Women's Rights, Working Women
One comment
Asha Hagi, Amy Goodman, Krishnammal Jagannathan and Monika Hauser I admire these four women, people who through sacrifice and risk do good for others. I think they deserve to be recognized as heroes. All too often people like them are pushed aside, given little-to-no attention in the media and dismissed as do-gooders and busy-bodies. To me these four women, and the others I will be writing about, are the real heroes. To have the kind of world where all of us can live together, they and others like them are the kind of heroes that will help us create it. You’ll meet a lot of them in this column over the next number of weeks. How did I discover them? They were winners of the 2008 “Right Livelihood Award”, thought of as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”. They’re my kind of hero. With her husband, Krishnammal Jagannathan founded an organization called “Land for the Tillers Freedom” that has redistributed land to some 13,000 Dalit women. Known as “India’s soul”, at age 82, she is still active. Her husband, Sankaralingam who is co-founder of Land for the Tillers Freedom was co-recipient, but was at age 95,unable to attend the awards ceremony in Stockholm. Continue reading Four Heroes July 24, 2009
Posted by Bill Hazelgrove in: Accountability, African-American, Current Events, Minorities, Opinion, Social Issues
Leave a comment President Obama and the “stupid” police by William Hazelgrove Police are in an uproar. The President called them stupid. Was it stupid for the cop to arrest the black I was pulled over for a broken headlight one night. I told the cop he was wasting his time because it had a short and no matter how many times I fixed the light it went out. He pulled me out of the car and accused me of drinking. He made me take a sobriety test. I was a sober as s judge but I knew that because I was driving an old car in an upscale neighborhood and had dared to talk back that I was at his mercy. He could make a DUI stick to the point where I would be out thousands of dollars. Ok. Was he stupid? No. He just went down the old car and guy who talks back must be a bad guy road. Continue reading President Obama and the “stupid” police July 24, 2009
Posted by Bill Hazelgrove in: African-American, Current Events, Minorities, Opinion, Social Issues
Leave a comment Guilty Until Proven Innocent–Our Police State Innocent until proven guilty is the way the system was set up. It was a direct reaction against the British who assumed the colonials were all guilty of something; sedition, treason, bad judgement in being a colonial, bad taste, not being of the upper class. So we created a judicial system that was designed to protect the citizen against an unfair ruling power that could just clap people in jail with the assumption of guilt. The courts know this very well, the problem in this country is someone forgot to tell the police.
So now we have Professor Gates. I couldn’t even imagine what being black is like in this country, but it is no surprise the cop arrested him with the suspicion he was up to no good. He was investigating a breaking and entering and knocked on the Professors door and demanded to see identification. “Why, because I’m a black man,” Gates responded. Now I can tell you now he was doomed. He had talked back to the almighty police. Once you do that you are done. We have all been there. They will find something to pin on you. Continue reading Guilty Until Proven Innocent–Our Police State
July 13, 2009
Posted by write2bfree in: Creative Writing, Inspiration & Motivation, Literature, Minorities, Nature/Wildlife, Poetry
2 comments Osceola’s Plume In the myrtle murmurs of mourning doves She takes fresh fruit to the Old Man waiting Seeking harbor, never finding any May 19, 2009
Posted by Minnette Coleman in: Accountability, African-American, Attitude, Business, Habit Change, Inspiration & Motivation, Latino & Hispanic, Minorities, Motivation, Social Issues
Leave a comment Imagine growing up in a privileged environment where your skin color, your ancestry, your hair texture was never a part of how you made friends and influenced people. You were at the top of your class because you were the best, not because of affirmative action or the fact that your father made the most money. Your first job was for twice the average salary of a fresh college graduate because the people that your skills were exceptional. You thought the world as they put it was your oyster. Pearls lined all roads for you. As you climbed the ladder of success you fell in love with someone equally inspiring. Happy to have a soulmate both socially and intellectually you got married and your husband’s top of the heap job took you south where you were accpeted by his loving family and friends. All was well until you discovered overnight something that you never noticed before- you are black. Continue reading Racism- When Things Stay the Same March 25, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: China, Current Events, Freelance Author, Minorities, Social Issues, The Writer's Corner
4 comments China & America Minority Treatment
Atrocities abound in the history books concerning treatment of native American Indians during the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Spanish destroyed the Aztec and Inca civilizations with disease and warfare. The Catholic mission system in California enslaved Indians. After the Civil War, the American military pushed west and drove native North American Indians from the land they had lived on for ten thousand years and slaughtered men, women and children. America grabbed Hawaii away from the native Hawaiian people against their will. (There’s a native Hawaiian nonviolent separatist movement asking for freedom from America.) Continue reading China & American – Minority Treatment |
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professor from Harvard in his home.? Probably not stupid just more of the same old same old. The police say this officer is stellar. He is fair. Maybe he is. Maybe he is a very good cop. But he went down the same old road of a black man is probably up to no good…even in his own home. This is what the President was saying…this is what the cops can’t admit.
Limitations
Each summer I volunteer to work with young journalists, teens actually, on how to behave in professional settings. Many of them are gifted writers and photographers. Some are just in the group to have something to do for the summer. At the end of each session we do a mock reception or party so we can practice what was learned. One of the things I ask them to write down at the beginning of the workshop is what job title they want at the age of 25. For the mock party they wear name tags with the job title on it and pretend they hold this position. The jobs these young African American and Latino students pick often surprises me. But sometimes they sadden me because they reveal that somewhere in their life someone has given them a set of limitations to deal with that they can’t escape for a minute, even to dream. Continue reading Limitations