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Sorry, I am just seeing your responses. I did not know that our discussion had gone on to another page. This is a goooooood thing. Cynique, thanks so much for setting me straight on Rahm Emanuel. I am an outsider looking in and I don't know nearly as much about him as you do. I felt like because he is such a huge part of the problem, he most definitely should be the one to help fix it. If one makes a mess, he or she should be tasked to clean it up while suffering the consequences along the way. But you are absolutely right in wanting him gone. In a comparison, voters gave Bush a second term to clean up his mess, and of course, the Nation went from bad to worse under his Presidency. I guess I got caught up in the Mayor's tears. Believe me, the letter that I sent to him was not written as a vote of confidence. I slammed what I have seen of him. I am so sure that he, nor any members of his office, is going to respond kindly to what I had to say in my correspondence. We'll see. Also, about some of our people, words cannot begin to explain their actions. Again, I agree with you. It is said that if you make some poor people millionaires, they would be not be millionaires very long. These are not the exact words, but you know where I am going with this. Everyone wants their share of the American Dream--new homes, luxury vehicles, nails, hair, etc. When you've had nothing for your entire life, how can you know the true value of "something?" Our ignorant population of poor people know very little about capital investments. Please know that I use ignorance to denote "lack of knowledge." They lack the critical thinking skills to even go in that direction. These people don't sit around to watch the market so that when they reap their lawsuit money, they might invest a portion of it for their futures. For the most part, poor people who are plagued by ignorance aren't even aware of what is happening in their own communities, "So, what is City Planning, you ask?" I am not at all surprised by a lack of optimism for change in these communities. I am very saddened by what I am seeing in our Black communities. I just want to speak on it so that I might be able to help in some small way. Everyday I wake up with a hole in my soul and pain in my heart for our people. Cynique, I so appreciate your wisdom and intellect. It is truly an honor to share with you. I just wish more people who need to hear what we are saying, were here to receive it. Troy, I have gone from 22 connects in a few weeks on LinkedIn to 150. It's great because I get to connect with like-minded folks--writers, authors, illustrators, teachers, entrepreneurs, etc. I am also on Twitter. I am a newborn to Twitter. I still don't totally get it. Although, I am resistant, I must get more involved on social media so that I can get my name and worth out there among the users. Troy, I appreciate you too much to take your actions personal. You are an upstanding individual whom I greatly respect. Happy Holidays you two!

I liked this as soon as it began. It has nostalgia, pays homage, shows classic images of hip-hop, and it speaks to the heart of the culture that created it. This is definitely Hip-Hop and it's very good. Big thumbs up on this find Troy. More of this and we are empowered.

Shirley, where do you live???? I live in a suburb of Chicago but the entire Chicagoland area is caught up in the city's upheaval revolving around the cover-ups in regard to police brutality and unjustified shootings of black males. Believe me, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is not regarded as a misunderstood, sympathetic character in this drama; and with good reason. His arrogance and heavy-handed style has alienated him from the black people who put him back in office. The calls for his resignation are the result of the corruption and cronyism that he has aided and abetted by catering to Chicago's rich, clout-heavy, special interest groups instead of the inner city and the ineffective policing of it, not to mention its under performing public schools. Because of his bad judgement Rahm ended up having to fire the high-salaried people whom he hired to run the Board of Education and Police Department. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has betrayed his black constituency on so many levels because his priorities were elsewhere. On the subject of the breakdown of the black family. a sista who is the co-host of a Chicago talk show, interviewed the mother of the 9-year old recently gunned down by gang members who had a beef against the child's absentee father. The mother had previously been dissed on social media because she bought a new car, and spent a week-end in Las Vegas with the money collected to help her out. She also gave her son an elaborate funeral, complete with a shiny red casket. Sporting a long silky hair weave, false eyelashes, purple painted nails and multiple-piercings, this young woman was the epitome of ghetto fabulous. During the interview, she revealed that she was 15 when her son was born and that her grandmother was keeping him at the time of his death. She had no visible means of support and claimed to be suffering from depression. She also mentioned that she was shocked to find out that the suspect in her son's execution was someone she had grown up with. This suspect, incidentally, was reputedly seeking revenge for the gang related murder of his brother and the wounding of his mother. It's hard not to be judgmental about these hapless people, but it's even harder to be optimistic that things will change in this culture of the black underclass. What do black lives matter for??