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Gibran

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Gibran last won the day on November 30 2020

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  1. My sentiments exactly. Literature is the pulse of a people.
  2. Wow... it sure feels good to hear someone make mention of Franz Fanon. The Wretched of The Earth was required reading back in the days when I really believe there was going to be a revolution. I sincerely commend your intent to involve yourself in community activism. I, too, have made the same commitment. Peace and Progress!
  3. Peace: Just wanted to congratulate you and to commend you for your desire to learn. That, alone with your eagerness to ask for guidance and knowledge, is a surefire way to assure that you will succeed in your quest to learn. However, I humbly request that in your search to find us, as a people, that you do not surrender the search for YOURSELF. You will always be a student of the things you don't know, but you must always be a master of yourself. Conquer SELF first and the world will be yours for the asking! Peace.
  4. As soon as I got busted for the robbery, I immediately went to work piecing together an alibi since I knew that I had not robbed the place, but let me give you the back story. After getting out of the feds for bank robbery, I got a gig at a Pizza Hut where the wife of my co-defendant on the bank robberies work. I was cool with working and I worked every day, and since I was trying to stack up a lil paper, I worked any time anyone wanted to take a day off. I eagerly filled in. I was still in the federal Halfway House and though I could come and go pretty much as I pleased, I had a 10:00 curfew. During the spring, a white regional manager from VA came down to Charlotte and he freaked out when he discovered that virtually all the store managers were black. Since this was not to his liking ,he instantly went about firing them, but since I was fresh out of the joint, and had a passing knowledge of the law from fighting my case while confined, I went into action to protect my manager and I kick-started a discrimination complaint against Pizza Hut. As imagined, they insisted that I cease and desist. Quite naturally, I refused and in the ensuing struggle, I was terminated. I expected that move so I had already wired my parole officer of what was happening so losing my job, which can be a cause to get your parole revoked, I was good. But PH was playing a harder game than that. Pizza Huts were getting knocked off on a regular basis as was a lot of other fast food joints. In any event, less than a week after being terminated, I was arrested and charged with the robbery of 6 Pizza Huts. Splashed me across the newspaper as the Pizza Hut Bandit. Everyone knew the charges were trumped up, and being too broke to afford a lawyer, I was stuck in the slammer for a couple of months. I go to court and all the PH cases were dismissed. So, now the police into their feelings. Now, that I was through with the BS from PH, I now had to contend with the police who were still mad at me for the shootout I had gotten into with them as I came out of a bank. In Court for that, the feds stepped in and by charging me federally, the shooting case was superseded and I was never tried for it. This angered the police who declared that they would get me some day, some way. Damn, they don't forget. I was like, man, that shit was ten years ago. Let's let bygones be bygones, but the cops were not having it. The police get a hold put on me while they charge me in other robberies, so before I could get released, I get slapped with three more robberies. Two were instantly dismissed. They happened around midnight, and I was locked into the Halfway House so that handled that, but this last case was the one that got me. This was the May 18th case where I had all the evidence to free me, but it didn't go as planned. I had a court-appointed lawyer, but even if I would have had the money, I would have kept it. Any lawyer should have been able to whup this case. And why not. It was a slam-dunk for me. I gave the lawyer the names of all the people who had seen me in the Government Plaza. He knew about the girlfriend at the crib who could verify the phone call. She also knew where I was going and why. I told him to locate the cabbie who would remember me due to the silver dollars I had given him. Plus, I had on a real fly sweatsuit that he commented on. They were only two in the entire city and I had both of them. Had bought them right out of the showroom window. What happened next started me to question my attorney. He came to visit and told me that the cabbie had mysteriously disappeared and that his cab had been found abandoned on a side street. The lawyer asked me to be quiet about the taxi driver since I was the last one to have seen him and I would become a suspect in his disappearance. I watched the news, read the newspaper, but nothing about a missing cabbie. Knowing how vital, this cabbie was, I called the cab company from my cell and I posed as a detective. I found that anytime a call is made for a taxi, the time of the call is noted, the name and number of the cab and driver listed, and when the cabbie drops off his fare, the time is also noted. At day's end, all this sealed into dispatcher's log, and locked into a safe. Now, I was back on point because with this info, I can prove exactly when I called, when the driver arrived and the time he dropped me as well as where his location. I couldn't lose. I also had my partner who had a Traffic Court receipt. Again, this was a slam-dunk for me. Okay, trial day. I go to Court and I'm looking around for the troops, my witnesses. None are there. I questioned the lawyer and he hadn't contacted any of them! He said he HAD A BETTER STRATEGY. His strategy was this. The name on the Indictment did not match the name of the business that was actually robbed. Turned out, the name on the Indictment, though different, was the name of the parent company, and they still were affected by the robbery despite their actual [place was not robbed. Anyway, the Judge laughed at that BS and now with no witnesses, I'm in big trouble. I tried to get the trial postponed so I could get my witnesses, but the Judge wouldn't let it go down like that. Trial was to start that day. What was I too do? My partner popped up in court just to support me and I put him on the stand. With him and the black lawyer whose office I was in, I still could pull a rabbit out of the hat. The DA demolished my partner who was an ex-con, unemployed, an ex-junkie. He did have that receipt from Traffic Court. That damn DA was sharp. My partner was a talker, I mean, he could talk. This is no lie. Me and him drove from NC to NY and he talked nonstop the whole time. You have to recall that we hadn't seen each other in ten years so he was giving me the rundown so when the roll was called, he didn't stop talking long enough to answer. I hipped him that his name had been called and he said it was nothing; that he would just pay the ticket and that is what he did. He had a receipt but because he didn't answer, he was listed as absence at the 9;00 roll call. The DA jumped on that. Now I couldn't prove that he was there at nine. They had a second session at one oclock so the DA made it a point to insist that he could have paid that ticket at one rather than at nine. Okay..... Another thang the DA hit on was a killer for me. He said that even if my friend had paid the ticket at nine o'clock, that DID NOT mean I was with him. Another dagger in my heart was how the DA handled my partner. He played on how close we were and when He asked my friend if he liked prison and my partner said NO, he dropped the bomb on him. He said that since my partner hated prison that he would lie to keep me from going. You could hear a pin drop and that was one of the nails in my coffin. Still had the lawyer, remember Got this Negro in court and he tells the court that he doesn't remember me. He did admit that someone had visited him during the spring to discuss my girlfriend, his client. Man, to start with, "sometimes during the spring" was too vague, but I could narrow it down, in fact could pinpoint the exact date and time I was there via his appointment log. What happened traumatized me. When he presented his books, EVERY DAY WAS THERE EXCEPT MAY 18TH! Now I could not even prove I was even at the lawyer's office. Stlll had hope. The bitch had said that the robber was 5 feet 9, weighed over 200 pounds, and had a beard. I was 6'2, weighed 155 pounds and could not grow hair on my face. The jury heard that and saw me every day so they knew the description didn't match and when I pointed out the differences, the DA told the jury that the reason I looked so different is because I WAS AMASTER OF DISGUISE! the stupid jury went for it. Off to the joint, I went with 24 years. Okay, when I get to the Big House, both my brothers are there. (One is now out after serving 33 straight years. The other died two years ago after doing 40 years inside). I get to work on my case. Got some new info about the cab and when I tried to get the data, dig this,.......the cab company mysteriously burned down and all recodes were destroyed! No joke, this case was crazy. But I was not done yet. With me and my brothers working the chain-gang grapevine which is better than CNN, the word went out about what had happened to me. Shortly thereafter, word comes to me that someone knows who actually committed the robbery I was charged with. I get a lawyer and asked for a new trial. I get a rehearing. I thought I was going home. Two years had passed. The guy had actually did the robbery, confessed to it, but since he had pleaded guilty and all the robberies he had were consolidated as one and due to the law, I couldn't present the info to the court. Wow...this guy admitted to robbing the place I was charged with and I could not address it so what happened is that two people were doing time for the same crime. I was the innocent one and I got more time "for not robbing the place" than he got for robbing it. Ain't that a bitch
  5. Yes, brother Pioneer. You could have been a lawyer, but yes, despite witnesses, the white woman's voice was what decided it. I have never thought of the camera because this Traffic Court, though 100 percent legit, was conducted in what appeared to be more of a classroom than a courtroom. Yet, they should have had some surveillance. Thanks. I didn't provide the rest of the story because I was wondering what others would see, but man, yeah, that camera angle is worth investigating. I will provide the investigatory part of the story later, and it will blow your mind. The woman said the robber was 5'9', weighed 200 pounds and had a beard. The day I stood in Court, I was 6'2", weighed 155 pounds and could not even grow hair on my face at the time. Still got convicted. It was a conspiracy
  6. It just may be that after three decades, there is a very slight chance that I may get the chance, at last, to formally address what happened to me on May 18th 1983. It was on that day, a bright, sunny May morning that I stepped off my front porch and it took me over ten years to get back. I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit. Here's the story. At approximately 8:00am on that morning I received a phone from one of my girlfriends, who was in jail. The other one was beside me in bed. The women were best friends and had been even before I had met them. Anyway, the girlfriend within reach, answered the phone and after a brief chit-chat with the girl in jail, I was given the phone. It was requested that I visit her attorney, one of the most prominent black lawyers in the city. After freshening up, I called a taxi and at 8:30. one arrived to take me to the Government Plaza where the lawyer's office was located which was also the vicinity where the courthouse was situated as well. Fifteen minutes later, I was dropped off at my location. I tipped the cabbie, a brother, with a pair of silver dollar before exiting the taxi to go around the back of the jail where the women were housed. Even though I could not see her due to the darkened windows, I foolishly waved my arms in the air because she could see me. This was my way of letting her know I was on the job. While acting silly, one of my dearest partners in the world popped up. I hadn't seen him in over ten since I had just gotten home from doing a decade in the feds for bank robberies. He asked me to accompany him to Traffic Court, and he, in turn, would go with me to see the lawyer for my woman. We went to Traffic Court where he paid a fine, got a receipt and we left. While crossing the street, I met two other friends that I knew and we chatted briefly before I headed to the lawyer' office. It was now 9:15 and that is the time slot I signed in at when I arrived in the office of the lawyer. Ten minutes later, I was summoned into the back and I spoke with the lawyer for twenty minutes or so, delivering the word for my people in jail. That done, I left the office at 10;00. Across town, a robbery occurred at 9:30. I was arrested, convicted, and served 10 years and 42 days for the crime. I had never in my life ever been into the place. At trial, there was no physical evidence; no gun, no money, no fingerprints. Only the testimony of a white woman who said I robbed her. And that was all it took.
  7. Right now at this very moment, my personal definition of success is to be free of pain. During the course of my life, I have had varying ideas of success but what has always remained constant is that I have come to define my individual success by how much my life hurts. I have, at times, though briefly, experienced financial success and equally as brief, I have known romantic success, but I have never been able to get a starring role in the big picture of my life so I have been forced to compartmentalize my "successes". This means a get-in-where-you-fit-in type of existence where most of what I've done has been like a paint-by-number behind the scene affair where I have taught myself to bake a cake out of crumbs.
  8. Chapter 2 One of the most intriguing aspects of time is your relationship with it and one of the most amazing discoveries of your lifetime will commence once you understand my next principle: evolvement versus involvement. Take a brief second to digest this: all of your future decisions will be determined by how much information you provide yourself about you to YOU! Again, it cannot be overemphasized that time is the natural context from which you will construct your choices which, by design, keep track of your decisions. Also know for a certainty that bad choices can retard and impede the growth and maturity that are the naturally-occurring rewards of a good choice. And what routinely controls the underlying paradigm is whether or not you are an E (evolved) or an I (involved). When you are involved in the process of making time work for you, there is always the very real chance that your awareness of SELF, which is essential to your emotional survival, will function more as a beacon of light that directs your planning rather than a dark shadow that colors everything you do with doubt. Have you ever thought to consider just how ineffective you would be at making plans for your future if you do not possess the self-awareness to know who the hell you are!? I suspect, quite rightly, that very little can be accomplished minus the awareness needed to piece together a plan of action that is tailor-made to your own unique perspective. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the notion that “to inflate someone else is to deflate yourself”. Just think of all the countless hours you waste, trying to try on someone else’s swagger. DO YOU! Don’t deflate yourself. Inflate yourself. CHAPTER THREE OH Yeah, how about this. Before you take any leap of faith, please be certain that you are responsible enough to deal with the consequences of such ill-advised advice. Trust me, there is no true merit in being silly, so let’s not be naïve. In the spiritual world, if you wish to take a leap of faith, go right on because that is between you and God. However, in the physical world, anyone who is serious about SUCCESS should have little or no time to experiment. Leave that to the guys in the white coats in the laboratory because your quest is not experimentation but actualization. Did you get that? Actualization. And just what is this thing called actualization. Well, allow me to explain. Actualization is the end results or better yet, the visible proof of your goals being road-tested by your drive and determination. Maybe what I should have said was that actualization is what happens when you believe in yourself enough to get your hands dirty. In fact, if you are not involved in life, then you can’t possibly evolve. Know what happens? You DEVOLVE! Unlike involvement where there is active participation and investment in yourself, evolvement will occur without your participation because it is what happens when life goes on without you. Everything has evolved except you. Evolvement or more aptly, evolution, is the growth that progress will usher in whether you are ready for it or not. Let me tell you a true story about someone I know. That person, a young, black male had the misfortune as countless other black men of going to prison. However, no matter how good a prisoner he had been, once he had gotten home, things had changed. He was lost. What happened? Evolution, that’s what. Life had gone on without him, had kept right on evolving without my friend having a clue as to what was happening. And that is exactly what happens if you an E type personality. You are nothing more than a professional spectator in the affairs of your own life, a ‘stuck-on-stupid’ cheerleader, rah-rahing over the achievements of others. Go head on. Shake your pom-poms! If possible, I would like to delve a wee bit deeper into the phenomenon, the nitty-gritty about ‘personal cooperation’ in the affairs of your own life. It is now, nor has it ever been, cool to blindly accept carte blanche that you will always act in your own best interests. Chances are good that you won”t. Ever been in love with the wrong person? Or what about attempting to change someone into someone you can more easily love? Nonetheless, I argue that before any real attempt at cooperation can be made, something else must be mastered first, and just what is that, you ask. Well, I will tell you. In a nutshell, what must occur is the ability to interpret what your needs are. Basically, what I am telling you is that ‘Interpretation and cooperation’ must work a team. If you fail to interpret what it is that you require to advance your cause, then you are doomed because how can you induce, compel, or coerce your abilities to cooperate in your ‘quest for success’ if you don’t know if you are coming or going. If it wouldn’t be asking too much, I would eagerly encourage everyone to recall that the roots and origins of getting ahead in life is essentially to know where the goal is because any human activity that does not revolve around ‘living well’ is animal behavior. I wouldn’t insist on anyone attempting it, but I can imagine that there are, here and there, persons who have made it to the top simply via their instincts, but personally, I prefer to employ to utilize the God in me rather than the animal in me when it comes to doing what I do to make a dollar out of fifteen cents. Furthermore, you must personally invoke your RIGHT TO SUCCESS! How far along the ROAD OF SUCCESS do you reasonably expect to travel when you have made no personal claim to it (success) . I mean, if you want a toll-free, no speed limit ride, then I invite you to get on the other path, THE HIGHWAY TO HELL. What has remained constant in this ever-changing world in which we reside is the challenge to stop playing with yourself and to start working with yourself. So, there it is once more---cooperation. And I will add to this with a private Jewel which is this: Don’t handicap yourself by crippling your emotions! Hmm, now I am compelled to wonder if you are a CHEATER or a BEATER?! In our existence, there are paradigms that I have termed “contexts” which are essentially the life-sized psychological compartments where we hide things. Not only are these contexts good hiding places for our emotions and fears, they also serve as a beachhead from which we launch our lil sneak attacks upon the world. These are emotional bunkers. And from time to time, when the world has something we need, we must make the deliberate decision to get what we require by either cheating the world out of it or by beating the world out of it. Which is your course of action? Hopefully neither. To be successful in getting a need satisfied, what one must do is to simply build a bridge where your intentions MEETS your potential and GREETS your right to live well.
  9. too fast, brotha. That was the year I got my first case. Got put on probation. Wasn't really, actually probation but it was since I had some outsider checking on me all the time.
  10. When you take a look at your personal history, the one thing you will be forced to contend with is the fact that what you are doing right now is establishing a reputation that is sure to outlive you. Be advised that right now, at this very moment, you are building your legacy. In essence, you are cementing the posterity you will leave behind to be viewed by your loved ones. Long after you are dead and gone, your deeds will continue to testify either for or against you. Oftentimes, the preacher will embellish his eulogy to make you seem more saintly than you actually were, but what will always remain is the ghosts of your actions and behavior. They cannot be sugar-coated. They are what they are, and will forever exist as an indictment against you, meaning that what you choose to do right now will either bless or curse you in the future. Please remember that until you develop a healthy respect for your deeds and the consequences thereof, you will never be in a position to master your destiny. In all honesty, destiny is so much more than a purely spiritual or intellectual concept. It is a personal belief that the universe owes you and that you are bold enough to claim your rightful due. For centuries, black women have been existing in a state of perpetual emotional chaos where, by far, low self-esteem has been her greatest demon. Let me say this. It is, perhaps, very complicated being a black woman in today’s society. Black women are faced with the daunting task of trying to make sense of a world where, on a daily basis, they witness, watch, and observe the physical destruction of black men. What has become obvious to black women is that this trend of killing their men is not going to blow over as this country’s appetite to destroy their men has escalated, and understanding that this trend will continue into the future, black women have to contend with the probability that once the black man has been destroyed, that America will come after them next! Is this fear reasonable? Of course it is. And the number one reason why this fear is so palpable is simply this: How can you hate the product and not hate the producer? If the black man is the most feared and despised creature in America, then how can it be possible for the black woman to be loved and admired by a society when she is the producer of the thing most loathed by that same society? No matter how pretty and brilliant the black woman is, she cannot disguise her capacity to create what this country deems a monster: the black man! With the hindsight of history as a backdrop, what has been consistent about humans is that they feel they will lose the battle unless they destroy the source of the problem. That’s why when you call the exterminator to your home, he does not focus on individual pests, he will go directly to the source ,and seek out the colony in an effort to destroy all of the pests. Well, in America, the black woman is the source. Here’s the truth. Hidden beneath all the horror of the evening news where black men are the usual suspects in a bewildering array of crimes is the unspoken whisper to black women: “LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE” To some in this country, the black woman’s womb is toxic, and she has been given countless warnings to shut down her baby-making facility which she has blindly ignored. In the 50s, the word went out to black women to have only two children and no more. When this didn’t work, other measures were enacted. One was the sterilization of black men. Did you know that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a most vocal advocate of sterilizing black men in the south? She was the one who proposed that black preachers in the south be used to spread the gospel of black male sterilization. She felt that since the black preachers were so charismatic that it would be easy for them to persuade the males in their congregation to get sterilized. Black women better wake up. There’s a war going on.
  11. @DelanoOkay, my brother. I have dabbled in the occult from time to time at various points in my existence. I mean really dabbled. I recall my first deck of Tarot Cards. I wanted to throw them away but couldn't resist the notion to try my hand at readings. I was locked up at the time and I would have people flocking to me for a reading. I was a chain-gang mystic. Was introduced to yoga and meditation in 76 and my interest in arcane knowledge grew but knowing me, I went deeper and darker.
  12. WOW....I am shocked. No BS. I am surprised and shocked. Not Cynique. I knew something was up when I never saw her on any of the threads. Trust me, I said a few things to draw her out but when she never straightened me out, I became fearful. It's like when i come home from prison, I would be hesitant to ask about certain people since they might may passed on. Anyway, Cynique used to check me a lot when I first came on the site many years ago. She made me be hyper-vigilant about what I said. Given that, the last book I wrote was deliberately written in a super-controlled way because of its nature. What I did was to write the book with her in mind. She was like my invisible critic and when I finished with my writing for that day, I would review it, asking myself what Cynique would think. I wrote practically every word of that book under the guidance of what I thought about what she would think about what I was writing. It's like we said in the joint about us being a mirror to each other. Or like two knives sharpening each other. Yes, no doubt, she sharpened me. Man, we can help each other in ways not even thought of and that is as clear an example as any.
  13. @Troy @Pioneer1Wow... this may not seem like much, but what happened here is what I was speaking of about having our own platform to piece shit together. Just think how we all, well, Troy and Pioneer1 have personal stories about Stephanie Mills. Well, I do to. She lived in Charlotte for a while and was involved with a local DJ, so she could be seen, and me, being me, was trying to find a way to get at her. Never mind that, but the fact that three of us, in different parts of the country all have info on something or someone, and just like that, through our observations, we were able to ascertain a lot about the sista just by comparing our notes. I know it sound simple, but we know more than we know. We just need to start building. I might know something that I thought was just a southern thang, but it may have happened in NY or Michigan as well. Gotta use a street example cause that's what I know. Once , there was a drug everyone was wanting due to its sales potential. Went up North trying to find it, couldn't. The problem. We called the drug one thing in the south, but in the north it was know by another name. Once we starting a dialogue with the brothas up top, we put the pieces together but as long as we were counting on the limited regional info we had, the connection would have never been made. The simple act of building made a couple of brothas I iknew very wealthy. It's all about networking and building. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING----SAY SOMETHING! As Brotha Delano pointed out about being in the moment and which Brotha Troy elaborated on, that's the key. Just think if we were to have our own platform whether to play race detectives or to save black books, all we need to do is to devote a time to get into the zone, shut the world out, and put together our agenda for tomorrow. Can we make a difference. Should we?
  14. Brother, I cannot even begin to express how how I now cling to the concept you just mentioned. I know I have been bamboozled as Malcolm would say and i have just began, like this week, to assume everything is false that I have learned and upon reviewing them in a more scientific and objective fashion, I have been able to re-adjust my focus. What I have discovered is that many times, I was not informed, but influenced.
  15. Brother, you are on point. Dig this, I just read an article where a guy said that the problem is that we let opinions and ideas go unchecked for fear of offending others. It's wrong not to question things because if we simply allow false notions to persist, it can be damaging. The reason a lot of lies exist is because we never challenged them though we knew them to be wrong. Considering the position we are in as a people or as a nation, we cannot reman silent in the face of lies. Keep on providing your light. In the joint, what is true as you mentioned is how your mind should be free. Used properly, your mind is your best ally in the struggle to survive. When younger, I was told by the old heads to get your mind off the streets. Forget about family, friends, girlfriends because thinking of them would disrupt your ability to live in the moment. In prison, you must always live in the moment because if you are not aware of what's going u can get into trouble. That works, but as I got older i started to free my mind. I enjoyed that way much better.
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