Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
PLEASE.....WAKE UP.
Whether it be morning, noon, or night when you see this........
Its definitely time to wake up people!
Wake up your minds..
Open your eyes...
Make a difference...
Carpe Diem
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Whos an "Uncle Tom"
ESPN aired a compelling documentary on the GREAT Michigan Fab Five the other night that almost brought me to tears. The story was amazing as if featured and shared an intimate look at 5 players that changed both the game and the face of basketball as we knew it. However, putting aside the shared pride, dissappointment, and revelation that it really wasnt Chris's fault, a new controversy was born.
Jalen Rose, member of the Fab Five was quoted as calling Dukes Grant Hill an "Uncle Tom" and a bitch. Here is Jalens' quotes:
"Schools like Duke didnt recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were uncle toms." "I was jealous of Grant Hill. He came from a great black family. Congratulations! Your mom went to college and was roommates with Hilary Clinton. Your dad played in the NFL and was a very well spoken and successful man. I was upset and bitter that my mom had to bust her hump for 20 plus years. I was bitter that I had a profesional athelete that was my father that I didnt know. I resented that more so than I resented him. I looked at as..they are who the world accepts and we are who the world hates."
Jalen goes on to speak about the Duke Program and makes the claim that Duke and Coach K dont look for kids in the inner cities. Its a private school that goes after private school kids.
"My mom didnt have 15000 dollars to send me to high school" Jalen says.
"Duke would have never recruited me even today, maybe my kids, but never me"
Dukes Grant Hill is quoted as saying in response:
"It was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends..calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke "Uncle Toms" and to a degree disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic, and commitment to each other and to me. Jalen seems to have changed the meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two parent, middle class families.
We are a people with a stolen history and a stolen culture. For centuries, we have been fed the lie that being black is synomous with being at the bottom, being last, weak, and sub par. However, when we transcend those stereotypes and defiantly succeed in a system not created for us, we are often called "Uncle Toms". While I emphysize with Jalen's emotion and understand his admited jealosy as it exposed his own pain, I have to question.......
By todays standards, what do you consider an "Uncle Tom"?
Jalen Rose, member of the Fab Five was quoted as calling Dukes Grant Hill an "Uncle Tom" and a bitch. Here is Jalens' quotes:
"Schools like Duke didnt recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were uncle toms." "I was jealous of Grant Hill. He came from a great black family. Congratulations! Your mom went to college and was roommates with Hilary Clinton. Your dad played in the NFL and was a very well spoken and successful man. I was upset and bitter that my mom had to bust her hump for 20 plus years. I was bitter that I had a profesional athelete that was my father that I didnt know. I resented that more so than I resented him. I looked at as..they are who the world accepts and we are who the world hates."
Jalen goes on to speak about the Duke Program and makes the claim that Duke and Coach K dont look for kids in the inner cities. Its a private school that goes after private school kids.
"My mom didnt have 15000 dollars to send me to high school" Jalen says.
"Duke would have never recruited me even today, maybe my kids, but never me"
Dukes Grant Hill is quoted as saying in response:
"It was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends..calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke "Uncle Toms" and to a degree disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic, and commitment to each other and to me. Jalen seems to have changed the meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two parent, middle class families.
We are a people with a stolen history and a stolen culture. For centuries, we have been fed the lie that being black is synomous with being at the bottom, being last, weak, and sub par. However, when we transcend those stereotypes and defiantly succeed in a system not created for us, we are often called "Uncle Toms". While I emphysize with Jalen's emotion and understand his admited jealosy as it exposed his own pain, I have to question.......
By todays standards, what do you consider an "Uncle Tom"?
Friday, March 18, 2011
Baltimore History In Motion
I remember as a small child always seeing this gentleman running.I would say Daddy/Mommy there is that man again. I was always so curious as to why he ran all the time.You could be anywhere in the Baltimore City limits and have a possible sighting of this man.He has always been apart of Baltimore's scenerary.Looking back its been WELL over 30 years and he is STILL running. This picture was taken on 3/19/2011.
What Will Your Legacy Be?
With each passing day I have started to really focus on what I have done in my life. I have attended a few funerals which have really made me think and focus on LEGACY. What is it that I want my LEGACY to be ? I know when most see or hear the word LEGACY they jump to grand things , but it doesn’t have to be grand to have a great impact. I realized that when sitting through a funeral service and everyone in this particular funeral had a story where this person did something small but impacted there lives greatly. I want to help make the world a better place. I want to help and feed the homeless. I want to help teen mothers be independent. I want to fix all of the worlds woes…..but I know I will have to start off with a simple hello and smile and work my way up. So with that being said I challenge you and myself to BE NICE to a total stranger. Hold the door for someone struggling with bags. If your in line and someone is .50 cents short and you have it give it make someone’s day. I know ! Those aren’t big things those are small every day things. What about volunteering, and dedicating time and energy ? Those things are also important but I am going start off with something small. Because I know small things that are genuine grow to be BIG things unintentionally. Lets try to see if we can help make kindness contagious. Some of the greatest people that the world has seen didn’t set out to build a LEGACY they wanted to make a difference and inspired others to do the same. So for my LEGACY I want my efforts to make a difference no matter what the size. I want my LEGACY to be inspiring even if it only inspires a small few. I want my LEGACY to make my children proud. So instead of waiting until I am to old or its to late. I am going to take the opportunity to start now. How About You?
Thursday, March 17, 2011
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