Pioneer1

Chasitie On a second note, wouldn't you all argue that the ghost of slavery itself haunts America, even if actual slaves do not? Certainly the LEGACY of slavery haunts the United States. ....and every other nation in this hemisphere that instituted slavery. Not only do I believe individual people have souls, I also believe entire nations have a sort of "soul" or "spirit" or "mind" (whichever one chooses) that comes into existence with it. I guess it could be what Jung called the "collective unconscious". And this pervades through out the history of that nation continuing to influence it and BE influenced by it.

I heard there were some problems with NYC polling stations. They said many people who attempted to vote for the Democrat candidates couldn't cast their ballots or their registrations couldn't be found. If this is true, they better correct this problem before November. It's funny you say New York is a blue state. I haven't spent much time in New York but I used to live in Pennsylvania and I was surprised at how rural and conservative so much of that state is given that it's on the Eastcoast.

Chasitie if we are unhappy with the schoools, why dont the parents boycott? Dont send them. Stop going. Stop participating...just one week. Or reinforce with your own teaching. I agree, with all of thee above....but for MORE than a week. Perhaps most of our youth should just leave the public education system all together since the drop our rate for Black boys in the United States is approaching 50% anyway. Most Black boys drop out of school not because they aren't smart enough, but because of how they are treated by the teachers and staff. Half of the female teachers are trying to entice them into sex, the other half are intimidated by them and seek to expell them for the most minor of offenses. I've complained about the Western educational system for years and how it robs Black and Brown children (especially males) of their creativity and tends to give them low self esteem. You spend 12 years learning what a LOSER you ad your race is and how magnificent the European race is.

Dr J Cynthia ....the sharing of mates will not work in a system of white supremacy/racism, it is against the law. Our ancestors were able to share mates and it was with in our culture. I'm afraid Cynthia is no longer with us. I suggest you "redirect" all questions you have for her to others qualified to answer them.

Sara Where do you get these references from? My "spirituality?" What do ghosts have to do with spirituality??? Uhhhh...because it's commonly understood that ghosts are the spirits of the departed. Voudun has nothing to do with ghosts haunting people! And flesh and blood people/slaves poisioning slavers has nothing to do with the topic. Actually, both are related. Vodoun and other African religions deal extensively with not only the spiritual well being of the individual while they are living, but also the state of their spirit/soul after they are physically dead. Ancestor veneration and the constant sacrificing and pouring of libations to deceased relatives is testimony to this. And slaves poisoning and putting "roots" on their masters was a way they got even with them before death just as haunting them would be a way of doing so after death. What do these spirits do to the victims? Do they move furniture, go "booooo" in the night, what? My understanding is that it's mostly on a psychological level...... They give them insomnia, depression, anxiety problems, nightmares, many even begin to hear the voices of thier victims and see visions of them coming at them at night. They often have reoccurring nightmares that force them to relive the same violent scenes over and over again. Sometimes they might replace themselves with the murderer's OWN children or other loved one in the nightmare to make it even more disturbing. Again, most combat veterans suffering from PTSD will tell you this I must admit that I haven't seen a ghost personally (though I have had spiritual experiences), to say for sure that I KNOW they exist. But I've known many credible people who say they have, so I can't easily dismiss the possiblity.

Sara I gave it credence until I saw and heard this video. I mean, I've NEVER heard any white person say the ghosts of slaves haunted them.... or their house. And like Paul says, if ghosts exist, the ghosts of slaves would fukk a hellava lot of white people up! So no, at this point in time, I call B.S. on "ghosts." Oh come on now, don't tell me Paul Mooney has influenced your spirituality.....lol. I actually believe a lot of slaves DID haunt their masters, and many even poisoned them and their families while they were alive...which was why Vodoun and other forms of African spirituality were outlawed for slaves to practice. I'm not a "spiritologist" but based on my LIMITED understanding of the spiritual world, perhaps the answer to Paul's skepticism may have 2 heads: 1. The spirits of the dead actually DO often hang around and haunt the living they felt treated them with severe injustice. Talk to anyone who has been in combat and has killed many innocent people and most of them will tell you with certainty that they are HAUNTED by the spirits of those innocents they killed. That's where a lot of PTSD comes from. 2. Very few if any spirits hang around the Earth plane for hundreds of years. T'hey hang around for some period of time to comfort their family and loved ones (or haunt their enemies) and then they eventually move on to the "light" and transition to another realm. Given those two reasons which is common knowledge to most people who are educated in spiritual things, there would be no reason to believe slaves who died hundreds of years ago would still be hanging around Earth just to play games with the great great great grandchildren of their former masters.

Western Civilization has people of African descent going in the wrong "direction" as far as social customs are concerned. For that reason, I don't think it's such a bad idea to go back and STUDY our roots for a basic blueprint of our proper "nature" as a people of African descent. Knowing what foods we should eat, hair and skin products to use, marital customs, and other social habits to practice. Knowing this will probably point us in the RIGHT direction, by giving us social customs that jive more with OUR nature as people of African descent instead of continuing to follow destructive Western culture. However once we're pointed in the right direction, after that we should PROCEED in that direction and continue onward towards more and more scientific and technological progress in higher and higher stages. Otherwise, it makes no sense to go "back" to the same vulnerable condition that allowed our people to be enslaved in the first place. Troy But we are mistreated globally, not because of the color of our skin, but because of greed. The color of our skin, as the reason for mistreatment, is a relatively new idea You'd be suprised at how far back anti-Black racism goes. When a Caucasian people called "Aryans" first invaded India over 3 thousands years ago they encountered the Black skinned Dravidians in Mohenjo Daro and other cities and after killing and enslaving them set up a caste system based on race and skin color that was more elaborate than what the United States had in the antebellum South. Infact in India today you still find the darkest skinned people on the bottom of society as a result of this original race based caste system that is over 3,000 years old. Similar anti-Black systems can be found in communities around the Middle East and North Africa. I agree with you that ignorane (and fear) are the biggest enemies to the Black race. Infact, they are the two biggest enemies to HUMANITY. Eliminate ignorance and fear and over 95% of human problems would not only be solved....they probably would never materialize in the first place.

Cynique If you noticed, I didn't say they DIDN'T teach it...I said I never came across it. When Elijah Muhammad's brother John was still alive he used to teach and I would go to hear him speak from time to time and heard things from HIM that I NEVER heard or read from Nation of Islam literature or Elijah Muhammad's speeches. Nor am I questioning what you may have heard from Malcolm. I know for a fact that we often witness things with our own eyes and ears that doesn't make it on the "official" records of history. Growing up in Detroit you could watch a crime or accident go down in the street and if it was big enough to make news you run to the television later on that night to see it and the reporters end up telling it NOTHING like what you saw yourself. Half of the description is wrong and it seems that some news reports even feature people in the story that you've never even SEEN in the years you've been living in that neighborhood. You turn on the 11 pm news and you see some fool running his mouth with a showercap on and tattoos but you were out there on the same block all day since the incident occurred and NEVER saw him..lol. My only point was that I studied the Nation's teachings heavy when I was younger so I know that in most of their official literature they teach that White skin came about through a sort of selective breeding...not a curse, regardless as to any casual statements made by some of it's members. As far as racists claiming Noah cursed his son Ham Black, the fact that they claim it is true.....but the object of the curse is Biblically not true which just exposes more of their ignorance. I've also read the Bible from cover to cover and most curses in the Old Testament involve turning the skin WHITE...not Black. For examples: Exodus 4: 6 "Again, the LORD said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow." 2 Kings 5:27 "Because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman's leprosy forever." When Gehazi left the room, he was covered with leprosy; his skin was white as snow." In most cases the "leprosy" of the Old Testament spoken of as a curse actually turned the skin White and not Black. If more Christians would actually read the book they claimed to believe in instead of letting preachers tell them what was in it, most would know better than to believe Blackness was a curse.

I've been watching more and more of Paul's videos lately. Homeboy sounds as gay as a rainbow, but he's bold and unapologetic in his delivery and very on point in his observations of racism in America. I can't believe I'm just now tuning into this brother after all this time. Troy The show looks exceedingly stupid. Lol @ "exceedingly" stupid........damn. That sounds like a stupid that goes beyond the limits of typical stupidity.

Sara 　 Negro, please! You don't have to beg. Just start being nicer to me and I MIGHT....lol. 　 Oh! Just in case I decide to tell in what war black men kicked the U.S. Army's butt, killing at least 20 white soldiers for every black one (in some cases, darn near 100 whites killed for every brutha biting the dust! lol)... in case I decide to SHARE knowledge of that war, tell us - what war am I talking about? Uh, and if you don't answer, please don't come up with "I knew that!" .... should/when I decide to 'share I hope you're not talking about Somalia back in the 90s. That wasn't an official war, and a lot more Somalis died in the conflict than Americans. They were just so relentless that Clinton decided to pull out early ((he made the same mistake with Monica...lol)). If you're NOT talking about Somalia, then please share you knowledge with me and the viewers. Anyway, I just came across this question on my way out the door so whether you tell me I'm right or wrong don't expect a response from me until later.

Sara I said desert Caucasians because they came down from the Caucasus mountains and migrated to the desert areas of Iraq and Syria and became what was known as the Hyksos, Hitities, Hebrews, Assyrians, and other groups...... Uh, (snicker) NEXT time so there can be no, er, uh, misunderstanding give the correct answer rather than the incorrect one that makes you have to "backtrack." Wheee!!!!! Well, "Wheeeeeeee" my ass...lol I'm not the one who said "Ham" had the curse in the first place. I was responding to the original statement Cynique made...word for word. But of course you didn't "look it up." It's just 'coincidental' that you and Wiki came to the same conclusion.... INDEPENDENTLY! I gues so. We both tend to come to our conclusions based on FACTS and solid research. I had known for years from reading other sources that the "myth" of Canaan being cursed was made up by Jewish Rabbis to justity them their taking of the land BEFORE wikipedia even existed. The Aryans came up with the same excuse to demonize the Dravidians to justify taking the Indus Valley region from them...calling them evil and animalistic. ou won't find THAT in Wikipedia. Your momma has titties. Would she extend her titties sympathy to Cynique? I suppose any woman with titties would...lol. If I had a pair of titties myself, I wouldn't want to even THINK about them eventually become leathery. What the....??? So NOW it comes out - YOU'RE Cynique's alter ego! Oh, for shame. SMDH If you think I'm Cynique's "alter-ego"....you've been shaking your head TOO damn much...lol. Stop that.

The Zika virus causes pregnant women to produce babies with abnormally small brains and craniums. I WOULD post pictures to show how devastating it is, but seeing them would probably be too sad for some of the more sensitive viewers.

Troy I didn't know he wrote for the Original Gangsta of comedy himself! After I read that a couple days ago, I actually started doing a little research on Paul and listening to some of his skits....now I like the guy, lol. I have to admit I hadn't really listened to his actual standup routine. What little I knew about him was from what I saw of him either doing an interview on CNN or on a talk show and his feminine demeanor and political commentary wasn't very appealing. But the brother IS funny as hell doing stand up. Sara Paul's message was that ghosts didn't exist. Do you?

Sara No need to post on this silly, (almost pathetically) childish thread Now Sara....it's not nice to keep insulting my thread ((smile)) If this thread is childish, then you add some maturity to it by doing the grown up thing and making nice with your big sister Cynique. Michael Jackson said go ahead....make that change! Both Sara and Cynique I'm a patient man...really...I am. But everyone has their limits..... Yall gonna make me put my grown-ass-man pants on in a minute and start STOMPIN' up in this mug!

　 Sara ((if you feel like coming back to this thread...lol)) The bible was written before 638 A.D. So was Homer's "The Odyssey"...what's your point? At any rate, it is well that you don't believe in that "Noah cursing Ham" garbage because nowhere in the bible does it says Noah cursed his son, Ham I know it actually says it was his grandson Canaan. But regardless, it's still garbage. I peronally believe the story was made up during the Jewish exile in Babylon to justify their taking the land of Canaan from the people who were already living there. How can anyone who gets drunk stand on the moral highground to curse someone else....and that curse be honored? 　 Come on Sara.......... Now why would you sit up there and talk about that woman's titties like that? You KNOW there is no such thing as titties turning "leathery".....lol. That's right! I still can't believe you'd say such a thing about another woman's titties. You have titties of your own....Sara....you should have more empathy, lol. it has waaaaay more free time than even the average octogenarian! The average octogenarian doesn't know how to post on the internet! I'm under 50 and still don't know how to use Instagram. And don't WANT to....lol. Cynique The Black Muslims said white skin was the mark of Noah. I've studied the Nation of Islam teachings and never came across that one, however there are some scholars who believe the mythological "Mark of Cain" was White skin. Many also believe that the "leprosy" of the Bible was a curse of White skin or what we now call "vitiligo" today. But I personally don't believe that entire races or ethnic groups are cursed from the actions of one ancestor. The closest thing to a "generational curse" would be a genetic defect, which is usually through no fault of the ancestor but probably came about through some form of incest. People need to understand that in Western Civilization, White supremacy is the OBJECTIVE. Religion, laws, science, and other institutions are just METHODS used to achieve the objective. In the past when people were more religious, White Supremists used religion and religious books to justify their mistreatment of people of color by claiming they were descendants of a "cursed Cain" or a "Cursed Canaan". But now, since much if not most of their religions have turned out to be based on falsehood and stolen mythology....they've turned to "science". So now White Supremists use "science" to justify their racist behavior by claiming Black people are either intellectually inferior or less evolved. It's all garbage not based on actual facts, but cherry picked bits and pieces of pseudo-science and mythology patched together to justify the mistreatment of people.

Cynique No, I'm not a mason. I'm sorry, I didn't intend for my reference to God to be taken as a RELIGIOUS reference. I'm speaking from a non-religious point of view, though I do consider myself spiritually inclined with a strong belief in the Supreme Being. Nor do I believe in that "Noah cursing Ham" garbage. Most of the stories of the Bible were written by Semites....desert Caucasians who had to justify their racist genocidal takeover of Black lands in the Middle East.

I'm not sure what's on television, I hear it going in the other room....but it would be haaard for a brutha to find something that would beat this Richard Pryor flick I got on right now: "Which Way Is Up"

Oh lord, the girl done picked her gun back up....... Cynique I too used to say "Whatever floats your boat"....until everybody else started saying it. Now I like to end disagreements with, "Well...whatever helps you sleep at night". CD Though I'm not quite ready to lable the United States the BEST nation in the world because I haven't been to every nation to qualify that statement....I believe it's up there in the top 10. ((smile)). Personally, I like Canada better. I fell in love with it the first time I went there after experiencing females actually hitting on me. That was something that used to rarely happen in the United States. I remember going to the mall and seeing Chinese girls wearing Fila with their hair braided up, and Chinese men with fades and earrings. I thought to myself, something is DIFFERENT about this place. Then at the airport a White woman asked me to hold her purse while she took a picture of her relatives and I started looking around for a video camera thinking it was a joke....lol. The social attitude there as compared to here was like day and night. The taxes are high, but in my opinion Canada is a healthier place for Black psychological health. But if America is indeed the best nation on Earth, best believe it's because we FORCED her into greatness! And we can't stop....we have to keep pushing. We can be grateful, and we should be. But once you get SATIFIED with the way things are and stop adding more fuel to the fire....like a car in neutral if you aren't going forward then you go backwards. We're seeing now what happens when people stop fighting for more and more government benefits...they start stripping them away. Look at how expensive healthcare and college tuition has become. You had to go to the military and risk your life and disability just to get a good college education, meanwhile the German, the British, the French boy your same age was able to go to college for FREE during that same time period. Why? Because while the United States was spending hundreds of billions of dollars to protect Europe.....since they didn't have to spend money building their military Europe could focus it's revenue on benefits for it's own citizens like free healthcare and free college education. Sara When a system is set up to ensure you fail, you will most likely be prevented from taking advantage of "said" freedoms. Yes, there will always be a token, but as a group, well, since everything is interconnected, SAID system will fail if it permits the group to partake of its goodies, unmolested. Reform only goes so far. Surely the system is set up for certain people to fail, but I believe God has the power to override ANY system and bless whom He chooses to prevail. Even during slavery there were Black people who were wealthy and prosperous. There have always been Black people who were blessed to achieve greatness despite the pressures against them. There is a certain type of Karma that tends to balance things out, even on the racial level. You think you wiped out the Native Americans, but they return to the land...this time speaking Spanish as Mexicans and Central Americans. I've even heard that America was secretly set up with the knowledge that Blacks would not only eventually gain thier freedom, but the forefathers also knew that through this nation we would eventually gain our rightful place on the planet.

I rarely sit down and watch television now. For some reason I've just lost interest in most of what's on nowadays. I find more enjoyment on the computer looking at old movies and documentaries hooked up to a large monitor and speakers.

Cynique I'd have to get one or both of my daughters to agree to accompany me to an event that takes place in the middle of the week. Where you at.....I'll come and get you, LOL. I HOPE you don't have a curfew. Or a problem holding your liquor...lol. PS. You can't STILL bring both of your daughters. Sara ....alright now Sara, don't be difficult...lol. Come on and do the right thing. You'll feel MUCH better afterwards! ((audience)) See....I KNOW what they wanna do. They wanna quiet down and slowly ease away from hostilities without giving a Black man credit for making the peace. If I were a White dude trying to bring them to the table they'd be crying and hugging eachother and taking back everything nasty they ever said while kissing and slobbering all over me. But that's OK...... Like Usher said, I'm still gonna tip my hat and pop that collar and keep working....lol.

Sara Not only is the system currently in operation in the nation designed for Black people to fail, WESTERN SOCIETY in general was designed to benefit Whites and malign people of color. It was designed this way during the European Renaissance as a way to maintain power and dominion over the territory and people's they conquered. The diet which promotes a lot of starches and dairy products is against our nature. The cold highy individualistic social customs are against our nature. The nuclear family structure is against our nature. The overly-cereberal and less kinetic academic system is against our nature. The dreamy unattainable and usually sexually restrictive moral codes are against our nature. But there is hope if we choose to take advantage of some of the SAID freedoms America originally intended for it's White male citizens but WE now have after much struggle. Taking advantage of them can give us a window of opportunity to correct other imbalances in the system and allow more of us to prosper in it.

Troy I don't know how quickly vets can get a Passport, I know for us civilians it can take a while after applying. And you never know what type of emergency may jump off where you might have to book up out of here immediately. Especially if Trump is President talking about building walls around the country to keep people out........or will it really be to keep people in? Mine has really come in handy in more ways than I could imagine. I got my Passport originally so that I could go to Europe but now it helps me get into Canada. When I first started going to Canada at 17 all you needed was ID to prove your citizenship. Then after 9/11 they started demanding you bring your birth certificate to cross over. Now you need either a Passport or "Enhanced ID" just to get across the river.....AND GET BACK! Border security will harass you even if they know you're an American, especially Blacks and Arabs. I'll also co-sign on your point about how traveling abroad tends to change one's perspective and offers you someting to compare the United States to. Much of my dissatisfaction with how things are managed here actually COMES from my having been to Europe and my frequent trips to Canada which showed me there were better more effecient ways of doing things. I went to Europe and every day I interacted with Black people who could speak 3 or 4 different languages, MOST had academic degrees and professional jobs or their own businesses, and most had clear criminal records and were on friendly terms with the local police. That let me know that there must be something wrong with the SYSTEM Blacks find themselves in here in America more so than a problem with Black people themselves. If being Black in and of itself was the problem (as racists and most conservatives would have you believe) then you would find the same social dysfunction among Black people in other Western nations....but you don't. I was in Belgium and was suprised to find the Congolese population there own atleast 2 television stations and have their own districts . They are members of parliament and hold other offices of authority. I didn't know ANY of this until I actually traveled 6,000 miles and saw it for myself. You don't hear about this on U.S. television. Haitians also have a lot of power in Montreal Canada. 　 I think BOTH of you are remarkable btw... Aside from health, imparting knowledge is one of the greatest gives one human could give another so anytime Black men are willing to join the TEACHING profession and impart knowledge to the youth from a perspective only a Black man could give....that deserves applause and admiration. Just like I personally believe Black police officers are BEST qualified (not that others can't) to handle other Black people in a proper manner because we tend to KNOW eachother and can tell the decent from the not so decent better than those outside of our community can.... It's the same when it comes to teaching. There are certain things about Black males that only other older Black males who have been through what they've been through already can teach them...and in the WAY they need to be taught. CD Your story reminds me of one of my friends growing up who used to carry all types of guns and dope to school. He used to come to class just to sleep and then wake up bragging about what he saw at the dope house last night...lol. He wasn't necessarily hard...just criminal minded. People thought he would be dead or in jail before even graduating. But he was good at hooping and the coach helped him graduate. 10 years later I saw the brother in line at the bank in a suit, overcoat, and briefcase looking like Denzel Washington. That negro fucked around and got a Doctorate and ended up PRINCIPLE of one of the local Middle Schools! When he told me this, knowing him, I said he HAD to be lying so a few weeks later I decided to go to the school and ask around and before I could park I saw him outside the school in a different suit and a stack of papers in his hand giving little kids high-fives and bumping fists with parents as they came to pick up their children. I was glowing the rest of the day after witnessing that. It just goes to show, you never know where life will take you....if you keep on living.

Troy Well I would be honored if Sara, Cynique attended the party I'm co-hosting in Chicago on May 11th, out 10th annual Black Pack Party. If that got Pioneer out that is even better. LOL..... I was actually joking. But since you invited them both you better HOPE they get it together before before coming to your event or you're going to NEED me to come.....as well as CD, Del, and nearly half of the Black men in America just to keep order. They'll turn that mug from a Black Pack Party to a Worldstar Hiphop Auditioning ...lol. But I don't think we have to worry about that, because I'm confident things WILL work themselves out in short order. ((smile))

Well, few things work without a solid plan to implement them, big or small. If you recall..... One of my first posts in this thread offered a defense for Obama in that with all of the complaining so many of our people have about his performance....most haven't put forth the slightest effort to raise up off their ass and ORGANIZE an agenda for him. One of the problems with our people whether it comes to national politics or local grassroots activism is that many of them don't like THINKING. Too busy posting x-rated pictures on Facebook and Instagram to waste time on an agenda to offer the first Black President that may have gotten them more jobs and better education for their children. Like you said, I've found that the biggest difference I can make is at the local and county levels and thats where most of my focus was until the situation arose up in Flint which is another region. I've come to the conclusion that whether it comes to installing politicals allies, grass roots social activism, or hard work as a means of achieving Black success; It's not a matter of either or....it's all of thee above. Simultaneously! It's a constant dance of organizing to set an agenda, finding the right people to impliment it on the city, state, and federal levels, and once they push the agenda and get it through it's up to US to take advantage of the newfound opportunities and make them work (whether it's entrance into a university, access to government contracts to build, or business venture), and turn around and use the wealth and capital we've acquired to push for MORE political influence to do the same thing over and over again increasing our success and influence. It shouldn't stop....once we get the momentum going it should increase. One of the biggest problems with our people is they are too easily "satisfied". After all the yelling, and marching and stomping and fighting to get in the damn place...as soon as they get their foot in the door they stop moving, get complacent, get happy just to sit down on the couch and watch television in the lobby.....who cares what's going on in the boardroom. We have to learn how to take advantage of the momentum that we work so hard to generate.

CD Lol.....well daaaang-ee, now I wanna move to Memphis! You know what bro, I have to step back and say you're right I don't live down there so I'm in no position to tell you what's going on in your own city. I can only speak from MY experience just like you've been speaking from yours. I will say that I've live in almost every region of this nation (North, Midwest, WestCoast, South, ect....) so I feel I have a pretty good grasp of what's going on around the nation, but still....you know your city better than I do. As it has been pointed out by yourself and Cynique, we don't necessarity disagree...we just see two different paths to get to the same destination of Black economic and social success. ..and BOTH paths are needed. Everyone is different and they must find their own success by methods that work for THEM, not the next man. By the way, I'm not the political rabble-rouser you may think I am. I'm definatly more grassroots and only dabble in politics when necessary to accomplish goals that CAN'T (or shouldn't) be handled on a grassroots level. I cuss too much and ain't considered "cute" enough to be a professional politician...lol. It's just that some things CAN'T be handled on an individual or grassroots collective level no matter how sincere the effort, and MUST be addressed by a government entity. For example a couple years back my community had a problem with a surge in homeless people resulting from the '08 realestate crash that hit Detroit especially hard. I don't live in Detroit, I live in one of it's major satelite cities. But back then there were no homeless shelters here, and to complicate things there were a lot of churches and feeding programs that attracted hundreds of homeless people. Also, Detroit was so dangerous that living on the actual streets here was more appealing to many homeless men and women and their families than staying at one of Detroit's shelters. So as hundreds of homeless started fleeing the city, many came with drug and mental health problems and started harassing the residents, committing petty crimes and that escalated to cats overdosing on the street, wandering around and some were hit by cars, others froze to death...and some even got killed by police. Me and other Black residents saw this and didn't like how the city was handling this situation so but there is only so much we as private citizens could do so we had to organize, come up with an AGENDA (as I said before concerning Obama) and take it to the city and county governments and after months of squabbling we eventually FORCED them to take action and renovate a vacant building for shelter and provide enough drug and mental health counselors to meet the demands of the people. We NEEDED government for that...we didn't have the resources to do it by ourselves. The purpose of a GOVERNMENT isn't just to take your money in taxes and give it away. It's to protect and help you.....especially when you can't help yourself. You can take the, "Fuck you I don't need your help I can help myself just fine thank you"...attitude. But do you think you will be young and healthy forever? Again, no man is an island. Most of our successes aren't due to our own efforts alone, there is always someone else involved in assisting you whether you're aware of it or not even if they laid the grounwork for YOUR efforts. The success all Black men and women....hell most of the success LATINOS AND ASIANS AND ARABS. enjoy today isn't because of how hard they worked. Hell, Arabs and Chinese were working HARD in Iraq and China and other nations....but all that hard work was useless because they were toiling under a repressive government that stifled their success. It wasn't until they came to AMERICA where Blacks had earlier paved the way for ALL RACES to enjoy a piece of the pie, did all of these foreigners start seeing the full fruits of their labors. You can focus on owning a business and sending your children to the best schools to get an education instead of complaining about racism holding you back. But you can only do that because others fought to make racism less of an issue for you to focus on. Every man who decides to pull himself up by his bootstraps should thank those who struggled to pay for his boots. BTW, get yourself a passport bro.... I keep mine updated, you never know when you might have to book up out of this mug. P.S....you BETTER get it before Trump is sworn into office...lol.