They Will Not Be Forgotten. Chicago Street Journal for January 24, 2018
The more things change, the more they remain the same. We've all heard that old saying. It does indeed seem that history is repeating itself. Chicago Street Journal (CSJ) dedicates this issue to all those who gave so that we may live. There is never a wrong time to celebrate their lives and purpose. Sonja Cassandra Perdue, Associate Publishers, Digital 773-609-2226
The more things change, the more they remain the same. We've all heard that old saying. It does indeed seem that history is repeating itself. Chicago Street Journal (CSJ) dedicates this issue to all those who gave so that we may live. There is never a wrong time to celebrate their lives and purpose.
Sonja Cassandra Perdue, Associate Publishers, Digital
773-609-2226
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Page 5<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
COMMUNITY — Lionel Nixon - Page 7<br />
Phillip Jackson - Page 8<br />
1<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>24</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>, Volume <strong>24</strong>, No. 1<br />
<strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>! September 12, 2017<br />
Volume 23 No. 5<br />
Continued on Page 12<br />
Emmett Till<br />
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<br />
LaQuan McDonlald<br />
Medgar Evers<br />
Sandra Bland<br />
Fred Hampton<br />
Erick and Erica Gardner<br />
Blair Holt<br />
Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner<br />
Trayvon Martin<br />
Malcolm X<br />
www.<strong>Chicago</strong><strong>Street</strong><strong>Journal</strong>.com<br />
Rodney King
February 2017<br />
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February 2017<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
3<br />
EDUCATION – Saturday<br />
University helps 1 st<br />
through 4 th Grade Boys and<br />
Girls <strong>Be</strong>come Reading Warriors.<br />
Every Saturday, <strong>for</strong> the<br />
next 10 weeks, in <strong>Chicago</strong>, Illinois,<br />
The Black Star Project<br />
will teach young Black boys<br />
and girls to read well, think<br />
critically, study their history, love their people, develop confidence,<br />
increase self-esteem, and move into action to improve<br />
their communities. Call 773.285.9600 to register your child <strong>for</strong><br />
another FREE term of Saturday University! Boys 9:00 am to<br />
11:00 am. Girls 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.<br />
BOOKS – Reading is fundamental, but apparently not to<br />
NYC gatekeepers <strong>for</strong> incarcerated persons. Most of you know<br />
that 50% or more of those imprisoned read below any standard<br />
testing level, now their families are being barred from donating<br />
books. Inmates can only purchase books from state selected<br />
vendors.<br />
Could this be that it is about controlling what is read, as well<br />
as, the enhancement of the school-to-prison money pipeline?<br />
According to one article, there were only 77 book titles available<br />
and <strong>24</strong> were coloring books. Thanks Enoch Mubarak <strong>for</strong><br />
the heads up on this info.<br />
SMALL BUSINESSES – This is the 5 th year that SCORE<br />
has hosted its American Small Business Championship<br />
(ASBC) competition. Two small business owners from every<br />
state and DC will receive a reward of $15,000 as a show of<br />
support <strong>for</strong> their success and to provide help to them <strong>for</strong> future<br />
projects. Tell them what makeS your business unique and<br />
win. Apply online here: https://championship.score.org/<br />
CRIME – In a recent trip to New York, Cook County Commissioner<br />
Richard Boykin met with the U.N. Assistant Secretary<br />
General to discuss possible deployment of peacekeeping<br />
troops to <strong>Chicago</strong>. Everyone agrees that the communities,<br />
who experience a high level of violence on a daily basis are<br />
most certainly in need of peace. But, are the UN troops the solution<br />
to problem?<br />
ELECTIONS – Twenty-one year old, Jewell Jones became<br />
the youngest state representative ever in Michigan in 2016.<br />
CSJ is now wondering where is <strong>Chicago</strong>’s “under 30” future<br />
elected officials? Could it be “you” that we’ve been looking?<br />
BE A CRIME FIGHTER – Cook County Crime Stoppers is<br />
offering up to $1,000 dollars <strong>for</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation leading to arrests.<br />
It pays to help clean up crime. Visit their website <strong>for</strong> details.<br />
www.CookcountyCrimeStoppers.org<br />
BOOKS – Published authors, be a part of our new CSJ’s new<br />
Books Section. Visit CSJads.info <strong>for</strong> details.<br />
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Publisher and Editor: Ron Carter<br />
Associate Publisher: Sonja Cassandra Perdue<br />
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Archived by Columbia University’s Urban Research<br />
Workshop (URW), back issues from 1993 to 2006 of<br />
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Ron Carter, Publisher and Editor
4 <strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
5<br />
LOVE TO READ? Pick a book. Pick all of them.<br />
Click the title to reserve your complimentary eBook.<br />
<strong>January</strong> 25, <strong>2018</strong><br />
The <strong>Be</strong>autiful Things That I Love About Me<br />
by Maurice W<br />
Doing Business as Unusual:A Proverbs 31 Guide<br />
<strong>for</strong> Women Entrepreneurs<br />
by Tonya Franklin<br />
<strong>January</strong> 28, <strong>2018</strong><br />
A Strippa’z Money<br />
by Swag Ery’thang<br />
<strong>January</strong> 29, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Love & Sin<br />
by Tempestt Luckett<br />
Big Red: How I Learned Simplicity from a Suitcase<br />
by Ellie Dias<br />
Phoenix<br />
by Daccari Buchelli<br />
The Life & Times Of A Full Figured Fashionista<br />
by Dominique Ali<br />
<strong>January</strong> 30, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Tha Hood Tha Bad and Ugly<br />
by J. Hitz<br />
Black America: Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions<br />
By Sonja Cassandra Perdue
6 <strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>
CELEBRATING<br />
KWANZAA<br />
Contributor Lionel Nixon<br />
On the day of Nia I<br />
visited the South Side<br />
Community Arts Center<br />
and <strong>Chicago</strong> State<br />
University Kwanzaa<br />
Celebrations.<br />
<strong>They</strong> both were just<br />
wonderful programs<br />
that lifted one's spirit.<br />
I took a picture at the<br />
South Side Community<br />
Art Center with one of my community heroes Pemon<br />
Rami and at <strong>Chicago</strong> State University with well-respected,<br />
known and highly regarded social activist, community organizer<br />
and entrepreneur. Afrika Porter.<br />
Afrika is the granddaughter of <strong>Chicago</strong> legend Dr. John R<br />
Porter Phd, pastor, author, historian, professor and social<br />
activist who I have known and looked up to <strong>for</strong> a very<br />
long time, even from childhood. She is the daughter of<br />
computer scientist, son of Dr. Porter and longtime friend<br />
Robert Porter.<br />
One of my greatest friends, teachers and counselors, the<br />
late Peb Ali brought, was in our Black history class from<br />
Hyde Park High School. Dr. Porter actually introduced us<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
all to Malcolm X, when I was 14 years old at his church in<br />
Englewood, where Malcolm X spoke to a group of us.<br />
This gathering happened only a few months be<strong>for</strong>e was<br />
Malcolm X was assassinated.<br />
To this day I will never <strong>for</strong>get Malcolm X walking down<br />
the aisle of that church and stopping directly in front of<br />
me and saying to all of us, "Don't struggle only within the<br />
ground rules that the people that you're struggling against<br />
have laid down."<br />
At both events I shared some copies of the African News-<br />
World Newspaper . "A Media That We Control", published<br />
in St Louis and circulated in many cities across America<br />
and in some in other parts of the world by the Universal<br />
African Peoples<br />
Organization,<br />
Zaki Baruti<br />
President/<br />
General of<br />
which I am a<br />
member in good<br />
standing and I<br />
serve as UAPO<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> Chapter<br />
and National<br />
Correspondent.<br />
RESPECT!<br />
www.UAPO.org<br />
7<br />
Direct Line: 773-892-2610<br />
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February<br />
8 <strong>January</strong> 2017 <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
Celebrate Black History Month by Circulating Black<br />
Dollars in Black Communities<br />
Once and <strong>for</strong> all, let’s get this straight. America has gotten<br />
out of the Black people business! No help is coming from Washington,<br />
D.C. No help is coming from state government. No significant<br />
help is coming from city and county municipal governments.<br />
No useful help is coming from<br />
foundations and corporations. We,<br />
Black people, are on our own. And, really,<br />
<strong>for</strong> centuries, we were always on<br />
our own.<br />
Most jobs that Blacks once had in<br />
America are now done by computers<br />
and robots. Many of the other jobs that<br />
we used to have are now taken by immigrants<br />
or have grown beyond our<br />
collective skillsets. Black leadership is<br />
still using protest tactics and methodologies<br />
from the 1950’s to address <strong>2018</strong><br />
economic problems. Those won’t<br />
work. There is no more cotton <strong>for</strong><br />
Black people to pick, and many of us<br />
still have a cotton picking and sharecropper mentality.<br />
Even if Black people continue acquiring wealth at our present<br />
rate and White people stop acquiring any additional wealth, it<br />
would take 228 years to close the racial wealth gap. As of 2013,<br />
White households had $116,000 in median household net worth<br />
and Black families had $1,700.00 of median household net<br />
worth. It is projected that by 2053 Black median household net<br />
worth will be at zero dollars. Black people’s net worth will be at<br />
the same level as when we came out of slavery in 1865.<br />
Good news: Black people in America have a gross national income<br />
of about $1.3 trillion. Bad news: Only 2% or about $26<br />
billion of those $1.3 trillion are re-circulated in the Black community.<br />
If Black dollars were more re-circulated in Black American communities,<br />
Black dollars would produce Black companies, help<br />
hire Black employees, support Black families and rebuild Black<br />
communities. Instead, our $1.3 trillion income makes other people<br />
rich including Whites, Arabs, Koreans, Pakistanis, Indians,<br />
Latinos, Chinese, Polish, even Blacks from the Caribbean and<br />
the continent of Africa.<br />
Black people need a simple plan to alter our trajectory. Here’s a<br />
plan: One – Ask The Black Star Project <strong>for</strong> a “Circulate Black<br />
Dollars in Black Communities”<br />
stamp. Two – Stamp all of your paper<br />
money with this stamp (legal according<br />
to Title 18, Section 333 of the United<br />
States Code and Title 18, Section 475 of<br />
United States Code) and use your dollars<br />
as you normally would. Three –<br />
make a conscious ef<strong>for</strong>t to spend your<br />
Black “stamped” dollars with Black people<br />
<strong>for</strong> at least one year.<br />
You will be reminded to spend your<br />
Black dollars every time you see a<br />
“stamped” dollar. If 43 million Black<br />
people move their spending ef<strong>for</strong>ts from<br />
2% with Black people to 4% with Black<br />
people, $26 billion more will be infused into the Black economy.<br />
If Black people can move their spending power from 2% to 10%<br />
with Black people, an additional $104 billion will be generated.<br />
Theoretically, $104 billion would produce between 400,000<br />
and 750,000 new jobs and geometrically accelerate Black financial<br />
and social well-being.<br />
As Black spending becomes more intentional, our social and<br />
economic issues will disappear. We won’t have to wait <strong>for</strong> others<br />
to give us financial permission or support to fix our own<br />
problems. We will declare a new freedom and help take control<br />
over the lives of everyone in our communities. Your dollar is<br />
your most potent weapon in a capitalistic society. We must learn<br />
to use our dollars to reward those who help and support us, and<br />
to punish those who don’t.<br />
By Phillip Jackson, Founder and Chairman of the Board,<br />
The Black Star Project, 3509 South King Drive, <strong>Chicago</strong>, Illinois<br />
60653, 773.285.9600.
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
9<br />
There are 1.2 million<br />
small businesses in Illinois,<br />
employing 2.4 million people.<br />
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February<br />
10 <strong>January</strong> 2017 <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
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<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong>2017<br />
11<br />
Glenwood Academy recognized as a<br />
Common Sense Certified School.<br />
"We're honored to be recognized as a Common Sense School,"<br />
said Dr. Colleen Carter, Vice President of Academic Affairs.<br />
"By preparing our students to use technology safely and responsibly,<br />
we are providing them unlimited opportunities to<br />
maximize and personalize their learning."<br />
For more in<strong>for</strong>mation about Glenwood Academy, go to https://<br />
www.glenwoodacademy.org. To learn more about the criteria<br />
Glenwood met to become recognized as a Common Sense<br />
School, visit https://www.commonsense.org/education/<br />
recognition-schools.<br />
Common Sense, the national nonprofit organization<br />
dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of digital<br />
media and technology, has recognized Glenwood Academy<br />
as a Common Sense School.<br />
Glenwood has demonstrated its commitment to taking a whole<br />
-community approach to preparing its students to use the immense<br />
power of digital media to explore, create, connect, and<br />
learn, while limiting the perils that<br />
exist in the online realm, such as<br />
plagiarism, loss of privacy, and<br />
cyberbullying. The recognition<br />
acknowledges our schools commitment<br />
creating a culture of digital<br />
learning and citizenship.<br />
"We applaud the faculty and staff<br />
of Glenwood Academy <strong>for</strong> embracing<br />
digital citizenship as an important<br />
part of their students' education,"<br />
said Liz Kline, VP, Education<br />
Programs, Common Sense Education.<br />
"Glenwood deserves high<br />
praise <strong>for</strong> giving its students the<br />
foundational skills they need to<br />
compete and succeed in the 21stcentury<br />
workplace and participate ethically in society at<br />
large."<br />
Glenwood Academy has been using Common Sense Education's<br />
innovative and research-based digital citizenship resources,<br />
which were created in collaboration with Dr. Howard<br />
Gardner of the GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate<br />
School of Education. The resources teach students, educators,<br />
and parents tangible skills related to Internet safety, protecting<br />
online reputations and personal privacy, managing online relationships,<br />
and respecting creative copyright. The free resources<br />
are currently used in more than 100,000 classrooms<br />
nationwide.<br />
About Glenwood Academy<br />
Glenwood Academy nurtures and educates good kids from<br />
challenging situations by inspiring excellence, building character,<br />
and strengthening community. Located in Glenwood,<br />
Ill., 35 miles south of <strong>Chicago</strong>, Glenwood Academy is a supportive<br />
learning community serving over 150 children ranging<br />
from ages 7 to 18 from 60 communities throughout the Greater<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> area. Nearly 100% of our children live at or below<br />
the poverty line and 92% come from single parent households.<br />
Glenwood Academy is proudly accredited by North Central<br />
Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement<br />
(NCA CASI), an accrediting division of AdvancED.<br />
Our accreditation demonstrates our<br />
dedication to continuous improvement<br />
in all that we do. We are committed to<br />
eradicating poverty, injustice, and inequality<br />
through the power of residential<br />
education.<br />
About Common Sense Education<br />
Common Sense Education provides<br />
teachers and schools with free research-based<br />
classroom tools to help<br />
students harness technology <strong>for</strong> learning<br />
and life. Our K–12 Digital Citizenship<br />
Curriculum and interactive games<br />
teach students how to make safe,<br />
smart, and ethical decisions in the digital<br />
world. Our educational ratings and<br />
reviews plat<strong>for</strong>m helps educators discover,<br />
use, and share high-quality digital products that propel<br />
student learning. Common Sense Education works with more<br />
than 340,000 teacher members in over 110,000 schools to help<br />
ensure all children have the opportunity to thrive in the 21st<br />
century.<br />
Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization<br />
dedicated to helping families and educators thrive in a world<br />
of media and technology. To see all of Common Sense's education<br />
resources, visit https://www.commonsensemedia.org/<br />
educators.<br />
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<strong>January</strong> February 2017 <strong>2018</strong><br />
12 <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>!<br />
Philando Castro<br />
Shanta Myers and her children, Jeremiah “JJ” Myers, and Shanise Myers<br />
and her friend Brandi Mells<br />
Mike Brown<br />
Members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
13<br />
1955 – Emmett Louis Till - On August 28, 1955, a 14 year old<br />
boy from <strong>Chicago</strong> was abducted, tortured and killed in Mississippi<br />
<strong>for</strong> allegedly making inappropriate gestures at a white woman. His<br />
body was shipped back home by Pullman Porters and his mother<br />
insisted that his casket be left open, so that the world could witness<br />
what had been done to her child. The brutal murder of Mamie<br />
Till’s son changed the world and ignited a movement.<br />
His original casket is being preserved at the Smithsonian, after being<br />
discarded like garbage in a Mississippi cemetery in 2005.<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> (CSJ) dedicates this issue to those who gave<br />
their lives, so that we may live. “<strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>.”<br />
1968 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - At risk to himself and his<br />
family, he became a profound activist <strong>for</strong> equal rights and brought<br />
the plight of the African-American to the world stage. He was in<br />
Memphis to show support <strong>for</strong> the striking garbage workers of that<br />
city, when he was killed. It was in Tennessee, the night be<strong>for</strong>e his<br />
assassination that he gave the infamous “I’ve <strong>Be</strong>en To The Mountaintop”<br />
speech.<br />
2014 – LaQuan McDonald - Videos show that CPD Officer Van<br />
Dyke was on the scene less than 30 seconds be<strong>for</strong>e he started firing.<br />
It wasn’t until November 2015 that the video showing that<br />
McDonald was shot 16 times was released to the media and public<br />
and only then by court order.<br />
1963 – Medger Evers – In 1954, on behalf of the NAACP, he<br />
became their 1st Field Secretary in Mississippi. Thirty years after<br />
he was shot in the back, in front of his home, his killer was brought<br />
to trial <strong>for</strong> the third time. In 1994, Byron De La <strong>Be</strong>ckwith, a founding<br />
member of Mississippi's White Citizens Council was sentenced<br />
to life in prison.<br />
2015 – Sandra Bland – It could have your daughter, sister, mother,<br />
aunt, cousin, neighborhood or co-worker, stopped <strong>for</strong> a traffic<br />
violation and “found” dead in a cell three days later. It could have<br />
been you. Instead of “Serve and Protect”, maybe squad cars should<br />
carry the following warning… “It has been proven again and again,<br />
that driving while Black will lead to your death.”<br />
1969 – Fred Hampton – From TheNation.com, “Ultimately, a<br />
federal grand jury determined that the police had fired between<br />
eighty-three and ninety shots–the Panthers a maximum of one. The<br />
grand jury indicated that, if the Panthers fired at all, it was one shot<br />
that Mark Clark fired–apparently after he had been shot in the<br />
heart. If the cops had, in fact, demanded a ceasefire on three occasions,<br />
they were talking only to themselves. The official explanation<br />
amounted to a cover-up, and a massive one.” After almost 60<br />
years and many more cover-ups later, we find that CPD is still in<br />
need of a ceasefire on civilians.<br />
1964 – James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael<br />
Schwerner – In the words of Nina Simone “Mississippi Goddam".<br />
Three young men volunteered to assist with the voter’s registration<br />
campaign in Mississippi that summer and their bodies were found<br />
weeks later near a dam. The investigation into their deaths were<br />
part of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act <strong>for</strong> which<br />
Congress set aside funds to investigate and prosecute racially motivated<br />
murders be<strong>for</strong>e 1970.<br />
2017— If you can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, then we can<br />
breathe. Eric Gardner’s pleads were heard around the world.<br />
His daughter, Erica Gardner, who took up the baton <strong>for</strong> justice<br />
past away late year.<br />
2007 – Blair Holt - What happens in your life when someone<br />
dies so that you may live? Some of us will never know, but some<br />
of us have heroes who step in front of speeding bullets <strong>for</strong> us. The<br />
editor of Sister-to-Sister made a statement, after her son was shot,<br />
to the affect that simply indicates that your child may not harm anyone,<br />
but there are those out there who will harm your child.<br />
Blair’s killer was “resentenced” to 75 years in prison, but <strong>for</strong> his<br />
family that does not compare to an eternity of loss.<br />
2012 – Trayvon Martin - Doesn’t seem like it was that long ago,<br />
does it? So many have been shot down in the street and we continuously<br />
see the lives of so many flashing be<strong>for</strong>e our eyes as breaking<br />
news and on social media. If you’re Black, you can also die<br />
from eating Skittles and drinking iced tea, while walking. 17 year<br />
old Trayvon Martin did.<br />
1965 – Malcolm X - Most don’t finish, where they start as they<br />
are constantly evolving into who they will become along their journey.<br />
Jailed and troubled along the way, he become one of the greatest<br />
advocates <strong>for</strong> human rights in our time. Black-on-Black crime<br />
is not new. Assassinated by his own kind, because its easier <strong>for</strong><br />
them to get close to you. But, as Fred Hampton said, “You can kill<br />
the revolutionary but you can never kill the revolution.”<br />
1991 – Rodney Glen King - Police brutality videos are “old<br />
skool” as King’s video made world-wide news and once again<br />
showed that the power of “moving” pictures is worth more than a<br />
1000 words. King knew how to start a LA riot.<br />
1944 – Junius Stinney – Executed at age 14. He was accused to<br />
killing 11-year-old <strong>Be</strong>tty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma<br />
Thames in South Carolina. It’s difficult to go back 70 years and<br />
ascertain what took place but according to Wiki, “On December<br />
17, 2014, his conviction was posthumously vacated 70 years after<br />
his execution, because the circuit court judge ruled that he had not<br />
been given a fair trial; he had no effective defense and his Sixth<br />
Amendment rights had been violated.[7][8]” But, you can’t vacate<br />
that execution, can you?<br />
1885 – It is estimated that 8 million Africans died under the reign<br />
of The Butcher of Congo: King Leopold II of <strong>Be</strong>lgium, who controlled<br />
the populace from 1885 to 1908. Congonese who did not<br />
meet production quotes or who had to be controlled were maimed.<br />
2016 - Philando Castile was shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota<br />
with his fiancée and child in the car with him. The world<br />
watched this young man, who knew the names of all the children<br />
he served in the school cafeteria where he worked, dying in front of<br />
their eyes.<br />
1963 - Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins,<br />
and Cynthia Dianne Wesley were killed and another 20 people<br />
were injured in a bombing at The 16th <strong>Street</strong> Baptist Church in<br />
Birmingham, Alabama.<br />
1917 – What is known as the East St. Louis Race War has<br />
been repeated throughout history of the African in American.<br />
2017 - Shanta Myers and her children, Jeremiah “JJ” Myers,<br />
and Shanise Myers and her friend Brandi Mells were found tied up<br />
with their throats slashed in Troy, New York. Two Black men have<br />
been arrested <strong>for</strong> the crime. The screams and protest against our<br />
own self-destruction should be deafening to our own ears and our<br />
stand again Black-on-Black crime should send the message, to all<br />
that stand against us, that NO CRIME AGAINST OUR PEOPLE<br />
IS ACCEPTABLE.<br />
2014 - "Hands up, don't shoot." The shooting death of Michael<br />
Brown br ought inter national focus on the events in Ferguson,<br />
Missouri, The officer charged was acquitted. But, the<br />
"Hands up, don't shoot" slogan has not die with him.<br />
2015 - Dylann Roof mur dered nine African Americans at the<br />
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown<br />
Charleston, South Carolina. Do we <strong>for</strong>give white supremacist<br />
<strong>for</strong> their actions? Maybe. Do we <strong>for</strong>get? NEVER!<br />
<strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>!
14<br />
<strong>January</strong> February 2017 <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
Call 773-998-1925 to be in the next issue.
December 2017<br />
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017<br />
15<br />
BLACK IN AMERICA IS…<br />
Black in America is a poem written in blood,<br />
pain filled stanzas of people reduced to mud<br />
on a plantation of snow.<br />
It is living with anxiety that goes undiagnosed,<br />
silent conversations with ancestral ghost<br />
while Marvin’s Make Me Wanna Holler plays<br />
in the background.<br />
It is being fearful of traffic stops<br />
by agenda having cops<br />
who are eager to turn us into hashtags.<br />
It is a worldstar video full of wide hips and tatted backs<br />
playing against the echo of cotton field whip cracks<br />
which dominate legislative voting floors.<br />
It is watching hipsters “discover” your neighborhood;<br />
appropriation of our culture into consumer goods<br />
because wanting to be black is an American pastime.<br />
It is standing in line <strong>for</strong> $300 J’s;<br />
fire from religious pulpits condemning all gays<br />
while pastors baptize their side chicks.<br />
It is being more com<strong>for</strong>table with the people living in<br />
your phone<br />
rather than with the people living in your home<br />
because sometimes illusions are kinder than reality.<br />
It is Grandma’s hands and Pop-pop’s storytelling,<br />
family get togethers full of food, laughing and yelling;<br />
matriarchs and griots mimicking the sun.<br />
It is remembering black love unafraid and intense;<br />
velvet paintings and nag champa incenses<br />
inspiring many raised fist romances.<br />
It is kids who love STEM writing algorithms and code,<br />
blerds, anime watches and gamers who dream bold;<br />
silent architects of future rebellions.<br />
It is the night feared by those only loving the moon,<br />
scared that darkness will ultimately consume<br />
their precious alabaster shine.<br />
Black in America is a poem written in blood,<br />
pain filled stanzas of people reduced to mud<br />
on a plantation of snow.<br />
© 2017 abruvanamedsly<br />
The Official Black Poetry Cafe, affectionately<br />
known as the BPC, was founded by poet<br />
and author Mark Goggins and began as a<br />
highly successful online poetry <strong>for</strong>um on<br />
March 3, 2005.<br />
It was created out of a sense of dissatisfaction<br />
that Mark had with some other online poetry<br />
outlets at the time. Some of those outlets had<br />
membership fees while others either censored<br />
poets or had so many restrictive rules that<br />
Mark felt it was hindering a more creative<br />
atmosphere. So instead of complaining about<br />
it, Mark decided to create his own free <strong>for</strong>um<br />
that was also free from censorship and what<br />
he felt were unnecesarily restrictive rules.<br />
Thus, The Black Poetry Cafe was born.<br />
As social media began to take hold, Mark decided to evolve with the<br />
times so he morphed the BPC into a Facebook group in 2011 and<br />
achieved an even greater poetic audience. There are currently over 15,000<br />
members. The group allows poets to post poems and encourages the<br />
members to comment on the works of others as well in order to facilitate<br />
an artistic environment where there is interaction between the poets.<br />
There are also weekly poetry challenges or prompts that are assigned to<br />
the group by one of our nearly 20 admins who oversee the group. These<br />
admins rotate weekly issuing these challenges. Every few months Mark<br />
will intercede and issue a challenge of his own and award the winner a<br />
trophy called the BPC POETRY SUPERSTAR AWARD. The award is a<br />
crystal trophy standing 14 inches high and engraved with the winner's<br />
name. These special challenges typically last 2-3 weeks and the entries<br />
are judged by the group's admins who then select a winner via admin<br />
vote.<br />
Our latest challenge was titled the, BPC BLACK IN AMERICA CHAL-<br />
LENGE and was won by a very talented poet that goes by the name of<br />
'Abruvanamed Sly.' We intend to continue our weekly challenges and periodic<br />
challenges that offer a chance to win the coveted BPC POETRY<br />
SUPERSTAR AWARD trophy as well. We further intend to continue to<br />
grow and challenge our artists via these challenges to learn different poetic<br />
styles and <strong>for</strong>ms as well as engage in a wide variety of topics. BPC is<br />
committed to the integrity of the art and strives to maintain a healthy artistic<br />
atmosphere that educates as well as entertains in a censorship free<br />
environment with the exception of nude depictions. And while we are the<br />
BLACK Poetry Cafe, all ethnicities are welcome to take part and add<br />
their own distinct flavors to our poetic mix.<br />
Mark Goggins,<br />
Founder<br />
The Official Black<br />
Poetry Cafe
February <strong>January</strong> 2017 <strong>2018</strong><br />
16 <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />
www.AskingOurselvesTheToughQuestions.com<br />
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