"We Have Got To Agree That Certain Things Really Have Happened In This Life."

We have got to agree that certain things really have happened in this life. I HAVE to admit that my son is dead even if I cannot bear that thought. I can not just keep thinking that he is somewhere else just because I have not seen him lately. The truth is.... that in this realm of life, I will not see him walk through the door nor will I receive that telephone call.

There are just certain realities that we must accept in order to begin to SOLVE PROBLEMS, gain understanding about how things happen and begin to HEAL totally. I could probably go on a long verbiage tirade but I want to add to the unspoken pivotal truths that we must begin to base new policy creation upon that is inclusive and transformative for community restoration.

And for those individuals that want to continue to practice herding people into certain sections of town because of disrespectful attitudes about people for one reason or another, then just know that we are in an information age like no other and that type of behavior is no longer welcomed. The challenge has been in stipulating that the bad public policy for Richmond was indeed the procuring cause of our present day poverty. I grant you that the bad behavior- which in my opinion is a type of Arrested Development- is a little out there. I submit to you that it is in direct proportion to the years of generational neglect endured from that public policy.

If we are perfectly honest with ourselves and others, then we must admit that in order to understand this extreme poverty within our communities, we must further admit that people have been un-employed for more than just these last 3 to four years.

Let us work with that slice of what real life things happen when job loss occurs as a result of poor choices on many levels. That is too painful for me to share objectively this morning. Stay tuned for that Flava on another day.

Age Old Problem...

Here WE Are Again.... the aftermath of yet another midterm election. Mandate or NO Mandate... Cut Taxes & Reduce the Deficit or is it Cut Spending & Reduce the Debt.

The interesting thing to me is that even when all that prosperity was going on in the 1990's, the neighborhoods where I am familiar still experienced financial cuts, reduction, deficits, debt and very little spending. Having said all of that, the glass has always looked half empty.

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I look to always provide education on individual empowerment as well as accountability as the jump off point.
A couple of months ago I participated with America Speaks [ http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Federal-Budget-Options-Workbook-062510B.pdf http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/AmericaSpeaks-Testimony-June-30-2010.pdf ] to address authentic options on how to make the tough choices on what on the ground in my neighborhood policy impact actions needed to be implemented. What I saw after that experience was ... in my opinion were counter-productive statements that led to confusing rhetoric. I mention this because we all need to focus on how this thing is really accomplished.

I encourage everyone to look over the above documents that I have included for your reading pleasure. I thought it was going to be very hard to understand but I was pleasantly surprised and educated. And just know ... if there is something that you do not understand ... that is where calling our elected officials come in to explain and/or find out the answer for you if they do not understand. My father told me on many occasions..... "He who asks the question maybe fool for the moment, but he who never asks the question is fool forever more". So you all can thank my dad for encouraging me to ask all the questions that you all have witness me "asking".

Democrats As The Minority.... How Effective Will They Perform?

I have been a student of the representative democratic process for some years now and what I have learned is that you have to be pro-active if you want to get anything done.

We just saw "pro-active" negative and regressive actions for the last two plus years as it relates to community restorative policy. I say that because it is common knowledge that bad public policy [See Dr. John Moeser's recent Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond Study presented at the Richmond Peace Education Center's Social Justice Forum ] has caused the historic gaps in how revitalization has occurred or not, especially here in the metropolitan Richmond area. We will not dwell there. My point is that we can go to several decade old policies that have not been implemented well or to some extend at all... thus the recent media saturation of attempts to address the HUD Section 3 policy. [Section 3 is a program which fosters local economic development, neighborhood economic improvement, and individual self-sufficiency.]

The "neglect" points to inaction on so many fronts but that is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand from my perspective is the authentic effort to correct where we are now. We saw how compelling a minority group [And this minority was a group of predominantly all European American men] can be, so why is there not the same compelling acknowledgement for the minority group of which is usually diversified to its very core. We have got to fundamentally know within ourselves that improvement of the least or us is improvement for ALL OF US.

So.... going forward we have to seized the opportunity to be more effective for the community... all of the community. The unity is the same whether your actions are positive or negative. I contend that the personal feelings of accomplishments outweigh to the good for the positive actions. And the outward transformation of the community benefits all. Lets give the positive actions a chance to reign.

The DAy Before Election Is Here.... What Does It Mean?

Today is Monday and I have been sitting here trying to think of something cute and snazzy to blog about and it just won't come forth.

My thoughts are stuck because when I look at the various number of people with microphones in the hands, I am sadden because what comes out of their mouths does not reflect my reality. Then, I wonder why.

It is my greatest hope that our electorate will vote from practical solution oriented desires and not the anger ramped up in the media and dismissed by the analysts when given the opportunity to comment.

Poverty is real, Job Outsourced by Many Business Owners Supporting Republican Agendas actually happened. How can anyone really think about putting those guys and gals back in control over policy that will not keep your child on your insurance policy; will not keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket; will not hold financial institutions accountable to be more transparent; will not work toward real green job opportunities to employ the diversity of our population? How Can We Do This?

I still see hope for job and wealth creation in our country and we have to work very hard for it. Working hard in this country does not mean working all day on a job that barely pays enough money to support your family. It does not mean working hard on a job that refuses to extend health care to you and your family. And it surely does not mean destroying poor neighborhoods for the sake of mixed use income development that does not address the Bad Public Policy That Created The Poverty In The First Place.

I hope Election Day means that we will deal sincerely with the stopping proxy issues that paralyzes our thought process.

We need to wake up. There are only so many chances to work as a community.I STILL CHOOSE HOPE !!!

Is There A Safe Conversation To Have ? Restoring Sanity... You Think????

As I go about my day doing different things, I am often caught wondering if there are "SAFE" conversations to have or "SAFE WAYS" to have conversations.

We talk about many things. We make many statements. And Lord knows, we post many videos AND ..... we WATCH even more.

Now, what are we to do with this one-sided communication?

How are we ever to move into problem solving?

How are we ever to realize the results of that problem solving ? [The Actual Solution, Improvement, Uplift and MOST IMPORTANTLY....PERSONAL GROWTH !]

We got this PHYSICAL growth part TIGHT [ACTUALLY, WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THAT--GOD TAKES CARE OF THAT--so is that the solution ?] but what about our emotional, mental and spiritual growth ? All of these things have to be done PERSONALLY ...in order to make up the multi-faceted mosaic that we call our homes, neighborhoods, cities, towns, counties, states, regions, countries, hemispheres...etc....etc.... etc.

I must be honest.. I do not have a suggestion right at this moment but I appeal to any and everyone that reads this to offer a suggestion of uplift and encouragement. Please remember to think of yourself when we attempt to direct conversation to someone else... keeping in mind ... that we would not want to be spoken to in a distasteful manner.

Let us all continue the forward move to sustainable problem solving conversations. We really need to really "Restore Sanity".

God Bless Each and Everyone Of Us !

7th District Constituents ... How About Calling For A Cantor -Waugh Debate Before The 11.2.10 Election !!!

Over the last few months, I have learned that there are far more people in Mr. Cantor's district that would like to help him into an early retirement than people really realize.

You probably have not heard of the guy that is running against him... but there is this guy...and his name is Rick Waugh. Check out his website, call all your neighbors and some more people... help him out. His Richmond office is near Willow Lawn. Campaign Headquarters

1508 Willow Lawn Drive Suite 119 Richmond, Virginia 23230

804-420-5962

Check out his website... [http://www.rickwaugh.com/]

Better yet... how about insisting that your representative debate is opponent...

Come on people... make some noise for democracy!!!

We Must Commit To Vote In This November's Election

Many times I wonder what does it really take to encourage people to have dignity about the present day circumstances.... and I must say that I am still amazed at the resistance at the most fundamental beginning---THE VOTE.

Please join me and raising our awareness that there is more power in organized people and good information than there is in anything else. We have got to learn tolerance, respect and civic engagement with a purpose.

I have decided to register my intentions to vote this November and hope that you will do the same.

Please change the name in the boxes, register your intentions to vote and then pass it on to as many people as you can. We have got to continue to outreach...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/commit-to-vote-min/?source=autoresp

Peace and Blessings

More People Need To Know About "America Speaks"

Yesterday, I participated in a town hall that addressed how individual Americans can work toward solving our country's problems.... together. Go to America Speaks [http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/our-budget-our-economy-june-26/ ] to see how you can join in on future opportunities. Our challenge was to reduce the deficit 1.2 Trillion Dollars---We did it ..... without the bickering and name calling...so why can't our elected officials do it. They need our help ...So show some support for getting this done with the President.....

Can Capacity Building Really Happen In Richmond Virginia?

What does it really mean to build capacity?

How can we build capacity that will reach the masses?

Should our elected officials be responsible for establishing a community benchmark timetable that will be measured in terms of what improvements are seen in our communities....

And lastly, isn't it time to address marketing strategies-programs that look good on paper and never grow to transform our communities- that never go far enough to solve root causes that are the very foundation of need for capacity building.

I would like input on how this pathway should be created...

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Stop Trying To Revitalize Neighborhoods Without the "Neighborhood" Input

On Thursday evening, something interesting happened in the city of Richmond. Well actually... probably many interesting things happened but we can not know about them with notification and repeated notification if you want the citizenship's participation.

In the convention center-which I might add that the facility is not rented for an event by simply wanting to use it, a meeting was held about "revitalizing the North Jackson Ward area". The announcement on the mid-day news did not say who was hosting the event. It was a cold sterile announcement.

One could say that it was an attempt to see who would show up without knowing the sponsors... so I can see that.

What I can not see is this announcement without any previous announcements so people who do more than one thing in a day can plan their schedules.

What I am inclined to believe is that this timely announcement is not a good strategy to show good faith about working with the citizens that "ALREADY" live in the North Jackson Ward area. I am almost certain that there are very few neighborhoods in this city where such cavalier and dismissive regard is DISPLAYED.

It is my hope that going forward from THIS day (June 19, 2010),that whatever collaboration, coalition, group, organization, city entity....WHOEVER.... will dig deep to re-tool this process.

It is worth bearing in mind that there are Section 3 requirements that HAVE NOT been implemented, CONSOLIDATED PLAN stipulations that might be out of sync, and just plan old rude and dis-respect behavior that has clouded this process of what to do with Downtown Richmond,North Jackson Ward,Gilpin Court or whatever "NEW" name that will be tried in order to avoid the negative word association with the NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR that have been directly associated with what may very well have started out as good intentions about uplifting and transforming the communities of our city.

Unfortunately, what we have now is something looking like GENERATIONAL NEGLECT and missed opportunities that have created extreme poverty resulting from policy gone haywire.

Avoidance and hasty actions with partial stakeholder participating can not be the answer any longer.

The reality of what must be done takes real work. IT CAN HAPPEN, but ARE we really ready to display the authentic RESPECT necessary to change hearts and minds positively in order to get the best work out of each of us in this city.

I contend that the meeting in the convention center last Thursday has got to do way more work in making the effort.

Richmond Transit Riders Union

Last night an initial group of Richmond area residents came together to discuss organizing strategies for better transportation efforts for ourselves. The goal was to start small and stay focused and I believe that is exactly what we did.

And thus the Richmond Transit Riders Union was born [RTRU]. Continue to look for upcoming opportunities to join efforts to hold policy administrators more accountable for the impact of the policy creation.

Say What You Mean....Mean What You Say....

This past weekend I was told by a few different people on different subjects that I should expect one thing when something an entirely different thing happened.

I perfectly understand the fact that things come up ... but whatever happen to giving notification about not expecting the arrival.

Prayerfully, as we seek greater citizen participation we will get back to saying what we mean and meaning what we say.