* Things have been resolved with the Health Department so “JUNETEENTH 2011” will go on as planned. The folks at the Health Department were just doing their job to make sure “JUNETEENTH 2011” was a safe event as far as the food was concerned, which it has always been. Food safety has always been our number one priority at any SCLC “JUNETEENTH” event.
The Health Department and I talked. I explained the way we have done things at all JUNETEENTH events. They helped me fill out the paperwork. And we are good to go. All I have to do now is kiss Roanoke Times columnist, Dan Casey. I just hope Dan shaves first.
* My choice for Roanoke City School Board, John Elliot. To see why I’m supporting John Elliot for the School Board and to find out more about John Elliot, visit the 4/14/10 edition of THE ARTIS BLOG on the “TAB 5/10” page in THE ARTIS BLOG ARCHIVES.
* Dear Rep. Anthony Weiner, Shut up and quit crying. You screwed up. Man up and take your punishment. You know what you did was wrong. Resign so we can move on. As a United States Congressman you should be held to a higher standard.
* Dear Bishop Eddie Long, Shut up and quit crying. You screwed up. Man up and take your punishment. You know what you did was wrong. Resign so we can move on. As a man of God you should be held to a higher standard.
* Dear Franklin Country, Va. Sheriff Ewell Hunt, Shut up and quit crying. You screwed up. Man up and take your punishment. You know what you did was wrong. Resign so we can move on. As an elected official whose job it is to protect the people you should be held to a higher standard.
* Gays can now openly serve in the military and nothing explosive has happened. Imagine that.
* June is LGBT Pride Month. Fly your flags proudly.
* To all of those students graduating from our nation’s high schools, colleges and universities this year, congratulations for a job well done.
* To all of the parents who have children graduating from our nation's high schools, colleges and universities this year, congratulations for a job well done.
* It’s vacation time. I am going to do something I haven’t done for awhile, take some time off before I begin working on my Master‘s Degree in School Leadership at Hampton University beginning in July. I will still be active on my FACEBOOK and TWITTER page. But for THE ARTIS BLOG, I’ll see you in August. Take it easy and have a great summer.
WE THE PEOPLE
SEE YOU AT JUNETEENTH
THE ARTIS BLOG
6/3/11
* I would like to thank the Progressive Democrats of America for giving me their Leadership and Activism Award last Saturday afternoon. I am truly honored to have been giver this award along with some of the true heroes of Roanoke, Va.'s Civil Rights community. I do not know if I deserve the award. But, I am honored to be a recipient.
* I could have been a rich man today if I would have kept my mouth shut or very popular if I would have been a civil rights coward like so many NAACP and SCLC chapter presidents are today. I believe we are our brother's keeper. I believe all of us owe a debt to those people who died so we can live free. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. And wrong never goes away as long as people stay quiet. In Civil Rights, you have to open your mouth. You must be willing to be unpopular.
* Through the years, I have received a number of death threats. I have gotten hate mail. I have been shot at. I have had an angry mob outside of my house wanting to kill me. I have been on a White supremacist hit list. Frankly, I have never worried about my safety, being unpopular or even hated. I have only worried about helping people and doing God's will and God's work. That is what Civil Rights are about. I have always been more interested in what God thinks than what the people, politicians or the Roanoke media thinks. Channel 10 News here in Roanoke, Va. once called me a race baiter. But, if making things better for my community makes me one, so be it.
* My only regret being involved in Civil Rights and in politics is what folks have done to and have tried to do to my family. My family has had to put up with some nasty, ugly and vile things. Still, my family has told me not to stop doing what I am doing because it needs to be done. My wife and children are remarkable people. I am a lucky man to have their support.
* There have been times when I get too much credit for things. I do not do the things I do for the credit. I do the things I do to make my community a better place to live. I would like to thank my family and the Roanoke community for all of the support they have given me through the years.
* I would also like to thank those folks in Winchester, Va. where I want to high school for this award. The folks in Winchester showed me that color is not a reflection on who a person is. I was given a Civil Rights award last Saturday. My name is on it. But the award is yours. Again, thank you.
* More from last week’s Roanoke Times editorial. In America we seem to have forgotten that parents have their children for 6 years before they begin school. During this time parents condition their children to either be a success or an underachiever.
* If you could get rid of Medicare fraud and make it more efficient, Medicare would be just fine. There would be no need to cut Medicare benefits. For example, Republicans will not tell you that drug companies make billions each year off of Medicare inefficiencies. This practice needs to end.
* Can we stop the silliness? Sarah Palin IS NOT running for President. With her latest venture Palin sees the chance to make some cash. When it comes to running for President of the United States, Palin has become little more than the female version of Donald Trump.
* Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why is the Republican Party playing a game of chicken with the world economy by refusing to raise the debt limit? That is not leadership. Refusing to raise the debt limit is pure insanity.
WE THE PEOPLE
HAVE A NICE WEEKEND
THE ARTIS BLOG
6/1/11
* I do not see how my commentary in the 5/24/11 edition of "The Roanoke Times" could have spurred any controversy. Most people agreed with what I said. But, it did cause some controversy. In case you did not see the commentary, here is the link to it.
* By saying that Black children got a better all around education during segregation than they do now, I am not supporting segregation nor am I supporting segregated schools. I am saying what those Blacks who went to school during segregation are saying. 1) During segregation, Black children did not act up in school like they do now. 2) Demands were made on Black children to get their lessons. There was no such thing as a teacher being too hard or too demanding. 3) During segregation, Black parents took the lead in making sure their children got their lessons. Black parents and the Black community believed the way a child acted in school was a reflection on the way that Black child was being raised at home. Certain behaviors, regardless of the reason, were frowned upon by everyone. You got into trouble at school, you got into trouble at home.
* I did not talk about the link between racism and Black children underachieving in the classroom. Why? That is a different commentary. In a nutshell, there was a time when Black children, (myself included) were taught that because of racism and discrimination, we had to be 10 times better than Whites to be considered equal to them, that we had to fight hard to overcome racism and discrimination. If we fought hard enough we could be successful in spite of racism and discrimination.
Today, many Black children are being taught that fighting racism and discrimination is a waste of time, that it is inevitable that racism and discrimination will stop Black people in their tracks, regardless of our qualifications, regardless of our efforts. Many Black children are being taught that even if they fight hard they will never be successful because of racism and discrimination and that Blacks who fail to realize this "reality" are suckers for the White man.
* I did not talk about the link between poverty and Black children underachieving in the classroom. Why? That is a different commentary. Simple put, poverty is nothing new to the Black community. Past generations of Black people fought to get out of poverty. Today, many Black people have accepted poverty as their fate in life.
* I did not talk about the link between single parent homes and Black children underachieving in the classroom. Why? That is a different commentary. Simply put, single parent homes are nothing new to the Black community. Frankly, the Black family unit was essentially destroyed during slavery when Blacks were kidnapped from Africa and brought to this country in chains. The Black family unit was further traumatized when Black family members where bought and sold due to the whims and financial fortunes of the master during slavery and then marginalized during the Jim Crow segregation era when all social, political and economic institutions worked to keep Black people powerless and in disaray through the use of terrorism on the Black community and the murder of Blacks who tried to achieve any type of success or respect, regardless how small.
* Still, during these times the Black family wanted their children to get as much education as they could. The Black slave put their lives in danger for learning how to read and write. Learning how to read and write was punishable by death. During segregation, Black people wanted their children to get as much education as possible, even if that meant that a Black child was only going to go to school until they were old enough to go to work in the fields in the case of share croppers, or only went to school long enough until the child was old enough to go to work to help out their family financially. Today, the absentee rate of Black children in our schools is simply unacceptable.
* I did not talk about the link between school funding and Black children underachieving in the classroom. Why? That is a different commentary. In the history of this country, Black children have never received proper funding for education.
* However, Black children get more funding for education today than ever before. Past generations of Black people made due with the educational funding they got, regardless of the lack of it. As for today, poor Blacks will never receive the proper funding for education until they register to vote, vote on Election Day and begin holding their elected officials accountable for their actions on education by showing up at City Council and School Board meetings, running their own candidates for those offices and participating in other local, statewide and national elections.
* Am I picking on the Black community? No. I am simply stating the obvious. Things have changed in the Black community over the past 60 years and too many Black children are suffering for it. Some things need to be said. Plus, I am tired of seeing our best and brightest drop out of school. I am tired of seeing our best and brightest graduate from high school with a secondary, not primary high school diploma, which means they went to school but could not pass the standardized tests. I am tired of seeing our best and brightest go to the University of Prison and not to a University of Higher Learning. We must always speak out against the self-genocide that is going on in the Black community.
* Black children are not dumb or stupid. We allow them to be.
