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We got some Bernie flyers in the mail; addressed to my 24 year old daughter. Nothing for me or my wife, i guess it is assumed we're voting for Hillary. It will be really interesting to see Bernie beat Hillary in the New York primary. I'm sure he'll murder her in the debate

Well, the NBA regular season is over. Retiring Kobe Bryant went out in a blaze of glory, scoring 60 points in his final game, winding up a spectacular 20 year career, basking in the love and appreciation of his fans as they cheered him on. Love him or hate him, he was a super star. I won't be sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my nails hoping the Bulls can pull off a victory with seconds left to play, pretty much what I've come to expect from a team noteworthy of fading in the 4th quarter. But, there's always next year. Oh, yeah. I hear the Golden State Warriors and what's-his-name won their 73rd game by beating the Memphis Grizzles. How about that, Chris? Hillary and Bernie face off tonight in a televised debate which promises to be intense. I can hardly wait for the media to tell me who won it.

Seems to me that blacks live in America, but it is not our country. In order to cure our ills and gain our equality and uplift ourselves, we would have to fall back and re-group; get our own territory. and start over. This is what Elijah Muhammad and the Black Muslims preached years ago. But the thought of black Americans all converging in one place and trying to unite and organize was met with leery skepticism by the very people this was supposed to benefit.. Militants like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton preached about seizing the time and taking our freedom, justice, and equality by any means necessary. They were about revolution. This is what the seminal Rap Group The last Poets had to say about this in their 1971 album. "Niggers tell you they're ready to be liberated But when you say 'Let's go take our liberation' Niggers reply: 'I was just playin' Niggers are playing with revolution and losing Niggers are scared of revolution..." Jesse Jackson said: "Keep hope alive!" In the year 2016, everybody has their own mantra. Mine is: "Whatever floats your boat."

"...doom and gloom..." sure that is the reality, but nihilism--no, not at all. Trying to make the world, or at least our part of it a better place is what gives life meaning. And if one did not believe things could get better there would be no reason to waste one's time trying. So I can point out and complain about how the terrible conditions are in our chocolate cities, and at the same time try to do something about it. The problems we have are profound. Again, I assert, doing the right things is not enough. We have a very loooong history doing the right things. We have to look at why, despite doing the right things, we are collectively doing so poorly in 2016. We can do everything right up to getting a Brother into the white house, and it makes no difference. We have to recognize the institutional structures constantly put in our path that thwarts our efforts, then and only then, can we make some progress. This is why cities like Memphis are doing so poorly. I was making a point, not suggesting that you (Chris) were trying to convince people to move there I could have used any other chocolate city to make the same point, Detroit, Newark, St Louis, DC, etc... The solutions will not come easy for we have to do the right thing and make significant changes in how things work in this country. Doing the right thing is easy--mostr people do that anyway, changing the system is hard ...very hard.

New excerpt just posted, Ch 13, Muhammad Ali: "I will pray for you." Ali to me, June 1985 http://www.whitemansdisease.com/blog