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Well I agree with that point. However the rest of it not so much. while it is true most of the world's billionaires live in the United States, the wealth gap here is probably greater than it is anywhere else on Earth. Most of the world's planet lives in relative poverty. Yes the United States is relatively much better off than the rest of the planet. But for a country so wealthy why does anyone here have to live in poverty? The reason is the system is truly rigged against black people we have been disenfranchised for hundreds of years here. So while whiteness by itself is not sufficient to explain the reason it is unbounded greed and that greed just happens to be held mostly by white people. I truly don't understand how a billionaire can live on the upper East side of New York City physically adjacent to East Harlem with some of the highest poverty in the country (when I was coming up) it boggles the mind how people can be so callous.

Chev I apologize for causing any offense.

For the past few years I have been pointing out to people that when you hear the war cry “Tax The Rich 🤑 “ you better hide your wallet. Back in 2012 this article proved my point https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082385/We-1--You-need-34k-income-global-elite--half-worlds-richest-live-U-S.html This one of the reasons why I believe that we are living with paradigms that don’t describe our current conditions or positions. It’s because we are just repeating slogans and not really doing and inventory of our assets, we are being smothered by our liabilities. One of the biggest obstacles to our fully experiencing of potential is the idea we can’t do better because of outside forces. This is a result of the internalization of the omnipotence and omniscience attributed to White People. We have to demolish the myth of Whiteness in order for us to live freely and fully.

I am very excited to announce the first three sessions of Countdown To 2021 - Blastoff 2021 This series of joint Instagram Live session will feature different artists and illustrators showcasing their work and experiences. We are still open to including more people so DM me and we can give you more information. Here are our first three authors on the Instagram.com/Daniellegfny feed: This is the original invitation:

Though, at the outset, this may seem totally foolish financially, but it has been done before and with great success, I might add. As they say, drastic times require drastic measures, so consider this. First, some historical background. After the Civil War, a great deal of land was confiscated from the southern rebels as contraband of war. In any event, there was some talk of this land being distributed among the newly freed slaves in those parts of the country. It was a noble thought and would have been an even nobler gesture had it taken place. It didn’t, though. What happened was that President Johnson held a National Day of Amnesty where he officially pardoned all the southern landowners, returning their confiscated property. That may have deprived us of a shot at getting some property but it proved that Americans were open to reconciliation between two violently antagonistic groups for the sake of rebuilding a better country. Even though you had made a terrible mistake by waging war against the US government, you could be excused and given a second chance. Following that already-established precedent of pardoning criminals for the greater good of the country, why not institute a 2021 version, instituting a Day of Amnesty for drug-dealers? Accordingly, all drug-dealers would be pardoned of any and all drug-related crimes, and would be entitled to keep all the money they had amassed from drug trafficking. However, to enjoy the full benefits of the money, the drug-dealers would be required to invest their money back into the community. To insure full disclosure and transparency, a parent company modeled somewhat after The Freedman’s Bureau, which will oversee the funneling of the funds into appropriate channels would need to be established. In South Africa, after the overthrow of apartheid, there was still bad blood on both sides. To help heal these social wounds, several Truth and Reconciliation trials were conducted where mostly white men from the military and local law enforcement would come forward to confess their atrocious misdeeds in an attempt at social reconciliation for the good of South Africa. Without a doubt, this country is immersed in a social crisis like none other and if black America is to emerge intact, no options can be overlooked. We can tap into a vast reserve of disposable wealth that would be made readily available under the conditions outlined above. Dope boys would jump at the chance to finally come in from the cold. Decades ago, when gang-bangers were offered a chance to disengage and to get a real job, they jumped at the way out. They were trapped in the life and had no way out until offered one. There would certainly have to be complementary programs set up to insure compliance with the terms. In that regard, I developed a program a decade ago called PROJECT UPLIFT that dealt with drug-dealer addiction. No one had ever approached the drug problem from that angle but I knew that the dealers were as addicted to the drug culture as the junkie was to the drug. That’s why they can’t stop even after they are millionaires. In conjunction with drug-dealers being ‘de-briefed’, other programs will be needed to contain the eagerness of young ones eager to step up for their so-called time to shine. In case, you didn't know what was going on in the streets during the 80s and 90s was that more illegal millionaires were produced than you could shake a stick at. And the vast majority of this ill-gotten gain was concentrated solely in the hands of brothas barely old enough to vote. Oddly, enough, once you get all this money, you can't spend it. Sure, you can live well, but you can't invest it except in other illegal goods. Money need to be put to good use. **for clarification, this would apply to drug-dealers who are not confined**

Gibran I cannot count the number of times, unsuspecting crooks have been scammed into believing they had won a prize, only to walk into a set up by the police. Yeah, they got tricks. They get a lot of brothers who owe child support that way. Tell them they won a prize or pretend like it's a job calling them up......get them to come down to some big hall or convention center....and have a mass arrest. You spend all your 'game' to get your childhood sweetheart, and then don't know what to do with her once you get her. All your planning goes into getting her but no planning goes into KEEPING HER! So, you lose. You gotta plan for the success after the success if you intend to be truly successful. EXCELLENT ADVICE. That "spend your game trying to get the girl but then don't know what else to do once you finally get her" analogy really hit home...lol. I think most men could relate to that to some degree or another. For months or even years you hit on her and ask her to get with you and she disses and turns you down so much it becomes a routine. So one day she finally responds favorably and accepts....and now you're a loss for words, lol. You start sweating and panicking because you didn't really have a PLAN for her to actually come over to sit down with you or call you up on the phone...LOL. "Huh..what...? I....I gotta go now. Bye bye." I've seen a lot of dudes RUN AWAY when the girl of their dreams finally smiles at him or pushes up, lol. It goes back to what Troy and Dan were talking about in another thread about people who win millions in the lotto only to end up fucking it up. I'm learning that some of them do this ON PURPOSE. They didn't expect to REALLLY win! They were just playing and losing out of habit; just for something to do. And because they didn't expect to win, they didn't plan on it what they'd do with the money when they DID get it and aren't comfortable with the paranoia and fear of having that much money and all of the issues that come with it. So they subconsciously burn through it in a an attempt to get back to "normal". I was told several times when I was younger but didn't half way believe it until I got older that MANY PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF SUCCESS!!! They are so used to failing that when success finally comes their way they either can't believe it or aren't ready for it, so they end up either running away from it or wasting it.

Thank you very much @Pioneer1

Given the way things go, I do think the plan has merit although it would never have a chance at being operational. I mean, all the ingredients are there. Just like during Reconstruction when it happened initially a war was raging Well, this is a war as well. It was declared a war by the government; The War on Drugs. Therefore, we meet the first requirement. Secondly, it was acknowledged that these guys were criminals who had taken up arms against the government. Drug-dealers are indeed criminals who have taken a stance contra the government. Via Truth and Reconciliation trials, sanctioned and approved by the government and endorsed by someone like Van Jones/Jay-Z who are already heavily involved in prison reform. After the trials, the candidates approved for the program would then be enrolled into an INVESTMENT COLLEGE where our think tank have conducted feasibility study to ascertain how funds were to be used. This would be a very detailed approach which would require the enrollees to be financially disciplined where they would be taught what I term 'the success after the success'. Won't go into detail here but dig this. When I robbed banks, getting the money was only the initial success which we planned for. However, the real success came with getting away! Sure, you gonna get the money. In fact, they gonna give it too you if you ask, but the success lies an keeping the money once you do get, dig? That's what most crooks dont plan for----the success after the success. Or what about this. You spend all your 'game' to get your childhood sweetheart, and then don't know what to do with her once you get her. All your planning goes into getting her but no planning goes into KEEPING HER! So, you lose. You gotta plan for the success after the success if you intend to be truly successful. While locked up, I was involved in a lot of prison writings with Tupac's stepdad, Mutulu, and it was then that I studied the Truth and Reconciliation Tribunals in South Africa. A lot of those police were racists and did horrible thing but once it was over, worked to ease the transition. Back then, along with one of the university, we were attempting to influence the government to apply the rules of the Geneva Convention to the Freedom Fighters from the struggle who were locked up. By the conditions we established, and in line with the Geneva Protocols, soldiers taken during battle should be released after hostilities cease. I have always considered myself a soldier in the War on Poverty that President LBJ started in the 60s. Notwithstanding that, there is definitely a war going on and if this country is real about ending the drug pandemic, this is a shot at it although unconventional. For years, there has been lip service. This would make em put up or shut up. Back in the days, we had a saying about white liberals. They talked that talked, but see how liberal they would be if you slept with their daughter! This is how we can test their sincerity about stopping the drug war I cannot count the number of times, unsuspecting crooks have been scammed into believing they had won a prize, only to walk into a set up by the police. Yeah, they got tricks. However, we know them. We are like Moses. We were reared up int he Massa's house and we know him like no one else. We raised his children. We cleaned his home. And while we may not know their secrets, we know their weaknesses. Sadly, we have never learn how to exploit or use that weakness to our advantage. Truthfully, we don't even know what we know. More than likely, we know what we need to know to push our agenda more aggressively. Over the centuries in this country, we have seen things, been a part of things that we just didn't understand. Essentially, we don't know what we know until we put all these bits and pieces together. That's why we need THINK TANKS. I remember when I was planning to escape from prison. I knew it could be done but I just had to assemble all the missing parts. I had a piece, someone else had a piece, a white guy had a piece that to him was simply job-rated and meant nothing to him, but it was a vital piece of the puzzle I needed. Just had to find the info and then act upon it. We need to put our data together in a central location and assess our findings. Think how it used to be before cell phones. There would be a killing out west, another in Detroit. No one would think they were part of a growing trend to kill black males. We assumed they were isolated until the cell phone videos exposed what was happening. Until then, we were unable to make the connections between the various bits of info, so we were fooled into thinking wrongfully about what was going on. Now, we see.

I remember when I saw Hialeah after waking up. The members of the raiding band cautiously behind me. She was cooking food for all. I knew few english words, my name being John; but she didn’t mind. I met her eyes and she already knew mine. We fell in love, and I joined her raiding party. We survived tons of gunfire as colonist numbers grew and grew. We even got through a pregnancy in a winter woods in the MicMaq lands now called New England. Aponi, our little treasure, skipping in the snow. Hialeah’s feet after the pregnancy always needed extra comfort. I had to make special shoes for her. Then, the colonists in 1775 finally wanted to not be english. We talked about what we should do. She reminded all of us, her people were assaulted by the colonist and had to flee. The colonists fable of being aided is their version of saying they stole from native people. Her people of the Powhatan Confederacy had to protect our food from colonists, who eventually raided across the Tsenacommacah and made it Virginia. She will never forgive the colonists, whether they call themselves english or american. And the persistence of their myth of friendship, sickens her very soul. I agreed, some others joined me and her, but most chose to go farther west. I didn’t know about my people across the great water, but I will never forgive the colonists, no matter what they call themselves either. And, we few went south. We were at the battle for Jersey. I even saw a flamboyant soldier defend against the colonists. After meeting Richard Freeman, he told me that Ethiopia is a place across the big water. Since I never heard of a place across the great water where I came from before, I called myself John Ethiopia. And then, the war got worse. My beautiful land was shot during a raid, I held our butterfly, as her mother sung her last song to her. And, in 1783, the war ended. Me plus our daughter, the last of our band, were sent to Nova Scotia. The cold was too much for the little butterfly and she died. Alone, cold, my memory of her with our little life losing color or definition in the last thoughts in my life. My spirit now gives thanks not living under the colonists, as their kingdom grew. A kingdom full of thieves. I give thanks for being eternally free from its lies, side my loving wife and child. Beyond the confines or the reach of the eagle. Thank you for reading, if you want to read more of my work read below Poetry or More https://www.kobo.com/ebook/poetry-or-more-1 Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/richard-murray-16885e64-6c28-459e-bf5f-45c7d458ce49 AALBC https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/blog/29-richard-murray-hearth/