Sharing a Personal Memory

I was graduating from then Bowie State College Md in the spring of 1973. Today it is Bowie State University in Bowie. My parents made the two-hour and fifteen minutes drive from Philly with my two younger siblings and my maternal grandmother. Ah, my grandmother who never made it past the 5th grade would not miss any of her grandchildren’s school and college graduations.

I took the photo below at the graduates’ reception. It was an exciting and emotional time. The next day I would be graduating, going back home to Philadelphia, PA and leaving good friends from different areas of Maryland and Washington, D.C.. In the photo you see the then Bowie State College President, Dr. Samuel L. Myers and his wife. Now look at the man standing on the right. He was the commencement speaker at my graduation. He is Martin Luther King Sr. also known as Daddy King.

That Sense of Victimhood

Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice is on target with the statement below. This victimology thinking continues to have a hold on too many brains today. There are folks in this country who continue to cry affliction and persecution and are very vocal about entitlement. No one owes you or me anything. Entitlement! As Dr. Rice says, “…you still won’t have a job.” Employment in the long run is the best for anyone’s life over an entitlement.

This Uncle Tom Labeling

Oh, the folks who are into labeling black people Uncle Toms for not seeing things through race as they see them! Alabama State Representative, Alvin Holmes  is one of those folks. This man holds a B.S., M. Ed, M.A., and a LL.D degree; therefore, one would be surprised by his narrow racist thinking that caused him to call and defend his statement that Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas is an Uncle Tom. He also did not like the fact that Justice Thomas married a white woman.

Rep. Holmes sounds so ridiculous! I am so thankful I escaped out of group black think. It is obvious that Rep. Holmes is very entrenched in group black think with roots growing down to the core of the earth. Hey, it is the human race and not viewing life through the tunnel vision of a particular race. Again, I must say that calling someone an Uncle Tom is really a compliment.

It surprises me how people do not know that Harriet Beecher Stowe based the Uncle Tom character in her Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Josiah P. Henson. Mr. Henson was born a slave who escaped to Canada and led hundreds upon hundreds of slaves to their wonderful freedom through the underground railroad. He was a Methodist minister and started a settlement house called the Dawn Institute in Canada which taught trades to people who had escaped enslavement. Read more here. So if you are ready to label someone an Uncle Tom, know that you are really complementing that person.

Note: Photo of Josiah P Henson and his wife, Nancy shared through the Zinn Education Project on Facebook

Raised Minimum Wage

Gary Varvel Cartoon

Yes, this will be happening if/when the minimum wage hikes to $10.00 an hour or even as some proposed, $15.00 an hour becomes law of the land. Some otherwise very intelligent people strongly feel that the employer should personally take a pay cut so that every low hourly wage employee benefits from the wage increase and no one gets laid off.  We are well down that road where you end up in a cul-de-sac of mixed socialism and communism.

I use to think that wealthier people owed those making less money more pay. That is leftist thinking. Now that I think the opposite, I cannot get over how so many people feel wealthier employers owe their employees more of their personal profits. Some of these same people are okay with raising taxes to help equalize pay and benefits for everyone. Why are more and more people so into the government taking from those who are reaping the benefits of  establishing a successful business?

Madam C J Walker

This annual Black History month celebration is just about over and so I will make this one citation in relation to it. The remarkable entrepreneur, Madam C. J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, is not only the first black female millionaire, but the first female millionaire who became one through building up a hair care business on her own and not through inherited family money.

Listen to her biographer who is also her great-great granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles talks about Madam Walker who was born December 23, 1867 and died in May 25 1919.

Go here to hear about Madam C J Walker’s Model T car where you see her sitting behind the steering wheel (hardly any women drove a car in those times) and the other women sitting in her car in the above image.