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Sunday, October 30, 2005

We save babies


861780532
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
Peace,
I remember when I was little in the church. One of the scriptures that the ministers loved to quote was ‘with all you getting get Understanding’. Well today is the day of Understanding Cipher all being Born to Understanding. See things for what they are and not what they appear to be in your surroundings and your insight will continue to grow.

I acknowledge the works of many of the Civil Rights pioneers who faced conditions that many of us can only dream of today. I applaud Rosa Parks for many today who never even think of opposing corrupt authority (they rather talk about shooting each other yet that is another story…you ain’t hardcore!). Yet in the story of Rosa Parks I want to point out the hypocrisy of some within the Civil Rights movement. There was a woman, Claudette Colvin, who 9 months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. The movement was behind her UNTIL she became pregnant and was unwed. They didn’t want an ‘unwed mother’ as the poster woman for Civil Rights. This is why we as a Nation don’t jump on the band wagon of ‘marriage under the government’. Some of the notions that come along with it are straight porksh#t. Ideas such as denigrating the unwed mother (yet not the father) or a notion of an illegitimate child are a direct result of such an institution. The original man writes history in advance. When we write our own history lets not fcuk it up and edit to make everything ‘pretty’ and basically tell lies!

Still on my mission to drop it about EATING THE RIGHT FOODS! Spoke with the young son on WHY we don’t eat pork on any other sea or land scavengers. He knows that we don’t yet now it is time for him to come into an Understanding. When he realized that they are designed to eat anything and do and in turn we eat them he was disgusted. I put on some gloves and took some garbage out of the trash can. Asked him if he would eat it. When he made the full connection he was on the cusp of gaining an Understanding. In this day and time people confuse ‘having the right to do something’ with ‘doing what IS right or beneficial to their own well being’. With all that being said peep this article on ‘Fat America’. Also check this article on how at historical black colleges there is a push to fight college obesity. Finally check out how ‘fast food’ can destroy the cultural cuisine of an ethnic group. In treating your own health if you are a smoker of any kind or just into internal cleansing get yourself a neti pot for some good sinus cleansing. I bear witness that neti pot irrigation along with a dairy free diet clears up a lot of sinus and breathing problems heads be having.

Black woman, we (oh hell I) wanna see you back elegant, dressed in Refinement, and cultured down. Check out this article that highlights another negative effect of the ‘ice age bling age’ in dealing with materialism and high cost jeans.

I’d like to close on dealing with the babies. I would like to reiterate that a system that depends upon the labor and blind consumerism of the poor has ways that regulate and control the poor. One of these methods has historically been birth control. Look at this article dealing with just that subject. Also, though many have their views about abortion one subject that is not usually approached about the after effects of abortion on the mental/emotional well being of the parents. Due the Knowledge to how this is played out in the culture of the far east. It is very similar to practices of the Catholic Church making sure that the child’s ‘spirit’ is taken care of in the ‘afterlife’. Also of various groups of originals in the island of St. Martinique where a dead baby is ‘watched over’ and becomes an ‘angel’ upon death. From the standpoint of the Gods and Earths these are just psychological tools that are used to allay the guilt that comes along with the death/murder (considering your perspective) of a child.

The glory of doing for self! Check out Heal the Hood.

*update in The Science of Everything In Life.

Peace,
The Blackman is still God. The Black woman is the Earth. The babies are the greatest!

‘One for the Gods, Two for the Earths, Three for the Seeds to which we give Birth!’
Cipher Complete

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Mark your Calendars


img038
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
Peace,

*There is a documentary being made about the Nation of Gods and Earths. Those whom are in the Nation that want to find out more here is some basic information:

“A Nation of Gods…” a documentary film
Taping/Casting calling on the Nation of Gods and Earths
Oct. 30, 2005
3:00pm - 5:00pm
@Harriet Tubman School
Learning Center (Gymnasium),
250 W. 127th Street (Harlem) New York, NY

Q– Who is the original man? A-the Asiatic Black man...What are the 12 Jewels of Islam...What is the 14th degree? Why is knowledge one? Wisdom two? Always knowledge before you speak... Never mock those who don’t understand, but give them teaching of understanding….Earth is 93,000,000 miles away from the sun...Calling your alike out of his righteous attribute is a form of disrespect… What is the value of the120? When did you obtain KOS?

This is an opportunity to properly represent the Nation’s teachings. Welcoming all Gods and Earths to come by and show and prove.
"A Nation of Gods..."
is a documentary film/work in progress by SunConjunctVenus Works Inc.
- a completely different kind of work


You can find out more information at the blogspot for the documentary.

*Check for this album Dreddy Kruger Presents…Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture. Here’s a direct quote from the article: I said, “I’m gonna do this Wu Tang, ‘cause the gods are the ones who brought me into this, so I wanted to keep that element in there.” More than a few Gods are on there Mcing and Producing.


*Do the Knowledge to this interview with RZA in Asia Pacific Arts entitled This, That, and the 'Other': The RZA on the Miscegenation of Hip-Hop.

*This is an ill research article on ‘anthropomorphism’ in ancient Sunni Islam. Otherwise known as ‘Allah in person’. For those who Knowledge my alike The Supreme Understanding Allah out of Allah’s Garden he has written extensively about this subject.

*I will be letting heads know through this blog about updates in my other blog Science of Everything in Life and the photo journal of my son I-Victory, Star Light Star Bright. Both have been updated as of the date of this writing.

BTW I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who dropped a note by my son’s online photo journal blog. I read each of your responses to him and he was just beaming. He begged me to put a new batch in there so I did it..lol. Thank you.

Peace

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Feed them the Right Foods


img082
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
Peace,
More information dealing with the current eating habits of those in the United States.

You can find this article here: http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/113/110889.htm


Who Favors Fast Food?

Study: Views, Eating Habits Vary Among Ethnic Groups

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Monday, October 17, 2005


Select... Resource Center Self-Screening Quiz Find a Physician Heart Health Manager Success Stories

More From WebMD


Fast Food That Won't Supersize You

Fast Food More Than Twice Weekly Adds Pounds

Fast Food Chains Cluster Around Schools




Oct. 17, 2005 -- Fast food is viewed differently by various ethnic groups, and that may affect eating habits, a new study shows.

The findings include:

Blacks reported more exposure to fast-food promotions than Asian-Americans.
Whites reported less access to fast food than other ethnic groups.
Blacks bought fast food for their kids more often than whites.
Asian-Americans were least likely to view fast food as a normal part of diet.
The study was presented in Vancouver, Canada, at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity's annual scientific meeting.

About the Study

The study included the primary caregivers of 250 black, Hispanic, white, and Asian American children at community health centers.

The caregivers were asked about their attitudes toward fast food, access to fast food, exposure to fast-food promotions, and frequency of eating fast food.

The researchers included Sonya Grier, PhD, MBA, a business professor from Stanford University and a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school.

People who reported better access to fast food and more exposure to fast-food promotions were more likely to view fast food favorably and to buy it more often for their kids, the study shows.

Targeted food marketing may encourage unhealthy attitudes toward fast food and contribute to ethnic differences in childhood obesity rates, write the researchers in their report.

Keep in Mind

The study doesn't define fast food. It's not clear what fast-food items the caregivers were thinking about and buying. Some fast-food restaurants offer salads, fruit, and yogurts as well as cheeseburgers and fries.

The study also didn't note the kids' weight, how often they ate fast foods, or their income levels.

No matter where kids (or adults) eat, pounds gather when calories consumed exceed calories burned.

Eating Out Healthfully

If you eat out a lot, here are some tips from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "My Pyramid" plan for doing so healthfully:

Order a drink without added sugar (such as water, fat-free or low-fat milk, or unsweetened tea).
Ask for salad dressing to be served on the side and limit how much you use.
Choose a small- or medium-sized portion.
If you order a big serving, share it or set aside part of it to take home.
Ask for whole-wheat bread for sandwiches, if you have a choice.
Order steamed, grilled, or broiled dishes instead of those that are fried or sautéed.
Choose main dishes that include vegetables.
Add little or no butter to your food.
Order foods that don't have creamy sauces or gravies.
Choose fruits for dessert most often.
Pack some fruit, sliced veggies, unsalted nuts, or low-fat cheese when you're on the road.
Remember, government health experts recommend eating five to nine daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Divide those servings up however you want over the course of the day -- but think diversity. Nine servings of french fries probably aren't what nutritionists have in mind.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCES: North American Association for the Study of Obesity's Annual Scientific Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, Oct. 15-19, 2005. News release, North American Association for the Study of Obesity. U.S. Department of Agriculture: "Tips for Eating Healthy When Eating Out." www.5aday.gov: "Eat 5 to 9 a Day for Better Health."

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Star Light Star Bright


trainshow7
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
Peace,
Damn it felt good to open up the current issue of the Source and see the editorial by the new chief editor Dasun Allah. Leading it off was a picture of the Universal Flag. Much success to the God.

Also, my son I-Victory has decided he wanted to do an online blog after viewing what his Father does. We've been doing a photo journal during the weekends taking pictures and stuff. So, I had to comply with the young Star. Make time and check out his pictures and his words at Star Light Star Bright. BTW I am ONLY the web designer. The words and pictures are all his own. Let the babies be great.

Peace

Monday, October 17, 2005

The Babies are the Greatest


savethebabies
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
Peace,
I came across this article and wanted to give the babies some shine. News tends to focus on the 'negative' when these babies are doing it.

THe root site of this article is here:

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051017/FEATURES01/510170367

Volunteer spirit catches on with kids

Whether they're warming feet or hearts, these youngsters prove it's never too early to give back

By TIM GHIANNI
Senior Writer


It all comes down to a pair of socks.

Or many pairs, really, and lessons learned that change young lives forever.




Reta Ray, activities director at Cornelia House, a nursing and rehabilitation center in east Nashville, remembers the day the kids came calling.

Her facility's residents often are recipients of the volunteer spirit, fueled in youngsters by their parents or by organized efforts through churches, schools or groups such as Hands On Nashville's Kids Care Club.

These simple acts of kindness by kids can have a domino effect, says this caregiver.

So, what about the socks? As the holidays neared last winter, the Bailey Middle School student council, the guts of Nashville's first Kids Care Club, contacted the nursing home. They wanted to help, to do something to lift spirits, to make a difference.

The youngsters wanted to bring socks to warm the feet and souls of the facility's residents.

"In nursing homes, just like at your home, there is a little fairy or demon who eats socks," says Ray, who readily agreed to let the kids bring socks to Cornelia House.

Alberta Battle, Bailey's student council adviser, helped in the effort, but she gives all the credit to the youngsters, who are in grades 5-8.

"The kids came up with the idea for the socks," says Battle, adding that volunteering is one of the group's goals. "Our monies were limited, but socks were something we could give where everybody could benefit."

The sock drive that followed, and the impact it had on the children and the nursing home residents, shows how the Kids Care Club encourages youngsters to give back.

It typifies the goal of the Hands On Nashville program targeted specifically to children.

"We give children who often are recipients of service the opportunity to give back," says executive director Jennifer Cole.

Creating a legacy

Mentoring kids, teaching them the value of seeing outside themselves, can be passed from one generation to the next in families and churches or through programs such as Kids Care.

"We know that kids who volunteer are twice as likely to volunteer when they become adults," Cole says. Kids Care graduates can continue in the teenage Volunteer Corps. And beyond that, Hands On Nashville is one of many places to find out how to help.

Hands On Nashville taps into existing groups when establishing Kids Care franchises. "We ask, 'Do you have a group of children who are organized in some way and who want to be involved in volunteering?'" Cole explains.

Through curriculum and advice, the groups are encouraged to come up with their own projects, personally investing themselves into the effort. "We help them coordinate it. We help them talk through that."

The Bailey kids, for example, wanted to talk about socks for the elderly. "They decided one thing a senior needed was socks, so they did a sock drive" for Cornelia House.

"It's only about three blocks from the school, so they walked over and gave over a hundred pairs of socks to the senior citizens."

It is volunteering at its most basic; helping in your own neighborhood and benefiting yourself as well as the larger world.

And it is hardly a waste of time or effort. "Old people's feet get cold," Ray says. "These kids did awesome. We had socks for months."

Bailey's Battle says it is critical for her charges to take such steps toward making differences near their homes. "A lot of the students here come from inner-city areas. They have a stigma of 'everybody always giving to them.' We have a responsibility to give back to the community.

"It is self-rewarding. It gives them a positive image about themselves."

The students also do such things as create personalized greeting cards for Cornelia's residents. "I tell them, 'You'll never be forgotten,'" Battle says.

And there was instant recognition in the eyes of the children and the residents that they had indeed made a difference. Battle says, "Just to see the joyful tears from some of those people that no one visits . . ."

The domino effect of volunteering begins with such encounters.

Ray remembers a boy named Sean who "adopted" a grandparent at the nursing home. "I don't know what school he came from. . . . They came and I gave them the first names of people that had nobody and got no mail."

While some of the kids have found other interests, Sean, who is maybe 7, "sends this woman a card every two weeks. It basically says, 'Hi, remember me? I'm Sean.'

"For a long time, she remembered. Then, of course, her memory goes. But I'll read the card to her and she smiles. She just holds it.

"When he gets a little older, he may come back for someone else. And when he gets older, maybe he will have children of his own he'll bring to a nursing home and have them do it."

The final domino will fall when Sean himself is older and needs a bit of cheer, a card or some socks. Perhaps it will be one of his own grandchildren who learns from his example. Or maybe kids from a local school will bring him socks.

"Often with that age group, they are told when to go to the bathroom, when to eat lunch, when to do their homework. They get told a lot," Cole says. "Volunteering helps teach them they have control over their own actions and their actions can be good actions."

Getting an early start

Before Kids Care began enlisting kids 5-12 years old in the past year, Hands On was involved primarily in the teenage program and adult volunteer opportunities.

It was a sort of passing the baton from the parent to child that spurred the volunteer coordinating group to begin working with the younger kids.

"We started getting an awful lot of calls from adults who wanted to do things with their kids. They would call a nonprofit and find out that most of them wouldn't use kids under 14.

"We realized there was a kind of barrier in the community to having children volunteer. We had to break down the barrier. We find that 40%-45% of the calls we get are from children or people who want to help children."

Of course, the necessary precautions must be taken to protect the children, including background checks of people who might be working with them in the volunteer efforts.

Cole says volunteering "pushes kids to see outside themselves, to learn about people who are different than them. It reminds them, even in a society where they feel they are dictated to all the time, they can give back."

And then there's that old domino effect.

"For every kid we're going to work with, I can pretty much guarantee there's going to be an adult we're going to be working with in 10 years. We are priming the pump for the next generation."

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Day I and the fruit of the tree


img080
Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.
My alike, Sha-King, mentioned in his blog about Day One. Each year during this time I utilize it as one of reflection upon the state of the Nation and my role within it. Over the years since I came into this Nation I have revaluated my role at various points. Thus Day One serves as a reminder about renewal and how to make sure that one doesn’t fall a victim to the elements of stagnation that tend to creep into one’s life.

I have blessed myself these past few months to meet several different people whom are undergoing states of renewal and who also remind me about the axiom that ‘the only constant is change’ such as Shameek Allah, Scientific Born Allah, the Earths Iseaq (I Self Earth Allah’s Queen) and Queen Mahal. Also just people in my general Cipher such as the poetess Jade and my man the aerosol artist Swerm.

One year ago from Day One we constructed I-Victory’s first Book of Life. We made an art project out of constructing a Universal Flag for the cover out of construction paper and we recorded his Supreme Mathematics in it. From that day to this he has committed his Supreme Mathematics to memory and can manifest his Understanding of each principle. This year we look forward to him coming into a greater Understanding of Supreme Mathematics and a general Understanding of the Supreme Alphabet.

In some previous blogs my righteous brothers mentioned about their birth in the Nation. I-Majestic , Justice Rajee, and Sha-King all recalled those first moments. Seeing my righteous brothers reflect on how they came into this Nation caused me to think about my own birth in this Nation. There were several parts of my ‘trimester’ birth; from when I got my Knowledge about the Nation from talking with Powerful Math Great Allah and Black Asiatic Allah in High School and getting Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet from them, to traveling to the Holy City of Mecca (Harlem) and getting bombed by 1st Born Prince Allah in the school, to meeting up with God Darmel Allah who passed down to me 120 degrees and whose tree I became a part of. All of the above was part of my own growth and development in the Nation.

What has been the blessing for me has been the opportunity to pass 120 degrees down to others and introduce them to this Nation. They have all gone to be great in their own ways. I want to dedicate this to those whom have added on to the tree. I don’t have reflections of them all yet here they be:

My own family
Just Self Allah
Divine Nature Allah
India She Rains Earth
Barshem Allah
Victorious I Justice Allah
Eternal Allah
Lord Sun Allah
Beautiful Isle Earth
L’Asia Earth
Radiant Allah
I Born Justice Allah
Asu Sham Allah
C Allah Manifest
Knowledge Respect Allah
Ebony Serenity Earth
Wise Be Allah
Kahelah Symetric Earth
Nalasia Divine Earth

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Please, put down the pig!

Peace,
Do the Knowledge to this article originally posted at

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/12862784.htm


Study focuses on cancer rates among blacks

By Alexia R. Robinson

DEMOCRAT WRITER


Until about a month ago, Cynthia Ryan-Harris ate fried food for lunch and dinner almost every day, and she seasoned her vegetables with pork.

Now she broils her fish instead of frying it and seasons her collard greens with smoked turkey instead of ham hocks.

Why the sudden change? Ryan-Harris, an executive assistant at Tallahassee's Bond Clinic, just participated in an unprecedented, 11-state study seeking to determine why black Americans generally develop cancer - and die from it - at a higher rate than other ethnic groups.

Now she and her co-workers are trying to get other Big Bend residents to take part in the study.

For one hour of your time, you can receive $10, and the health benefits could be life-saving.

"It was like a wake-up call," said Ryan-Harris, who is black and will be 50 in December. "It gave me an opportunity to evaluate my lifestyle."

Target number: 100,000

Although Bond's participation began Sept. 12, the Southern Community Cohort Study actually has been under way for three years. It's led by Vanderbilt University, Meharry Medical College and the International Epidemiology Institute.

Overall, researchers hope to survey 100,000 people - two-thirds of them black. Canvassing 11 Southern states, they're calling it the largest-ever health study of black Americans.

"Some of the other studies have not been representing African-Americans well," said Carol McNutt, Bond's research interviewer for the study.

This study is being conducted in the South, she said, because its cancer rates are higher than those in other regions. It's focusing on blacks, she said, because they have higher cancer rates nationwide.

Incidence vs. mortality

According to the American Cancer Society, black Americans have the highest mortality rate of any ethnic group for all cancers combined. This year, the organization estimates, 1.4 million black Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 63,000 will die from it.

In Florida, the picture is different. Youjie Huang, chronic-disease epidemiologist for the state Department of Health, said Florida numbers show a disparity between incidence (who gets cancer) and mortality (who dies from it).

In 2002, the year with the most recent data available, whites were more likely to get cancer while blacks were more likely to die from it, he said. That's a generalization, he noted. The numbers will vary among individual types of cancer.

McNutt said researchers are seeking patterns to explain why blacks might end up with cancer.

"(The study) looks at long-term data to determine which patients might develop cancer and what factors, such as genetics and lifestyle, put them at risk for cancer," she said. "Patients aren't given test results. The samples are sent to Vanderbilt and may not be studied for years to come."

Why Bond?

The Bond Clinic, one of four participating in Florida, will receive $100,000 annually until the study is complete to identify and track participants. The clinic is expected to survey about 80 people a month for the next few years.

"Currently, (researchers at other locations) have interviewed about 43,000 participants, and they hope to continue the study for another two years," McNutt said.

Study leaders focus on community-health centers, she said, because they serve the targeted group.

"Almost 80 percent of our patients are African-Americans, and federally qualified health centers are considered a safe and trusting environment for clinical research and clinical trials," said J.R. Richards, chief operating officer of the Bond Clinic. "This is our first time participating in a study like this, and we're hoping that our participation will somehow impact future generations."

The study includes random follow-up interviews. McNutt said researchers will contact participants periodically to see about changes in their health history.

Ryan-Harris said she hopes that when she receives a follow-up call, she'll have good news. Though she has to use more seasoning now to make her greens taste good, she said, her new diet is worth it.

"The transition has been a little difficult," she said, "but I already feel 100-percent better."

Knowledge of 'Self'

Peace,
This article was posted originaly at

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/12744798.htm

Man told `white lie' discovered he was black at age 26

BY JEFF KUNERTH

The Orlando Sentinel


ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Every family has its secrets. There are things parents never tell children. There are lies that become family legend. There are stories that were never meant to be told.

Judith Hartmann's secret, when she married Bill Myers in 1959, was that she was pregnant by a black man.

When the baby born to two white parents came out black, the secret became a lie.

Throughout his childhood, David Myers was told that his skin color was a disease called melanism. He was lucky, his mother said, because the skin discoloration was all over his body, instead of just splotches of brown like most people had.

So despite his dark skin, Myers grew up in white, middle-class neighborhoods in Ohio and New York believing he was white.

"For many years I thought I was white. I thought like a white kid. There was a feeling in me that I didn't want to be associated with blacks. I wanted the story to be true," says Myers, a 45-year-old Orlando tennis teacher.

The secret shrouded in a lie lasted 26 years. Keeping it hidden all those years would turn Judy Myers into a hard, angry, unhappy woman, her family says. It made Dave Myers a defiant, rebellious, hostile child who would grow estranged from his parents, sisters and brother.

Learning the truth would send Myers on a search for identity. And it would convince him that his story is the story of America - a white America that has been lied to, a black America oppressed and discriminated against, and a society unable or unwilling to discuss race.

When Judy Hartmann told Bill Myers that she was pregnant, he believed it was his.

And when the baby was born on Feb. 28, 1960 - five months after their marriage - he thought his son's skin color was jaundice. And then he thought there might have been a mix-up at the hospital.

And when his wife told him the doctors said it was a skin disease that had turned their boy's skin dark, he thought she was telling the truth. No questions asked.

Because that is the kind of man Bill Myers is. He is soft and gentle and pliable, his children say. He accepts life as it comes, assumes the responsibilities of a man, a husband, a father.

As far as he was concerned, Dave Myers was as much his child as the three daughters and son who followed.

If Judy said it was a skin disease, that was the end of the discussion.

"He never said a word," says Judy Myers, 67, who now lives with Bill in the Villages.

That attitude - ignoring the obvious, believing the improbable - filtered down to David and the other children. And in a family where everyone pretended that David was a darker shade of white, race was a taboo subject.

"There was no discussion. It never came up," says Bill Myers, 66, a retired welding engineer. "We hardly ever saw a black person."

The only blacks the Myerses saw in Stow, Ohio - a white, middle-class town outside of Cleveland - were in the papers or on the nightly news.

"That was the time of the ghettos," Bill says. "You read about the black ghetto on the east side of Cleveland, and the crime and the poor housing conditions."

When a young Dave Myers asked his mother why police in Alabama were spraying black civil-rights protesters with fire hoses, she told him it was because they were hot.

Everything Myers saw growing up in Ohio and then the small town of Olean in western New York, convinced him it was better to be a white boy with a skin disease than a black kid.

"Why would I want to be black?" Myers says. "I saw how blacks were portrayed in the media."

As much as family members acted as though Dave was just like the other kids, they knew he wasn't. And the difference started showing up in his behavior.

As Dave Myers entered adolescence, the trouble started. He became defiant, hostile and sometimes threatening.

At one point, Myers was sent to live with a foster family. Another time, he was kicked out of the house and lived in his car.

"I was the black sheep of the family - literally and figuratively," he says. "I was always in the doghouse or always getting out of the doghouse."

If Dave was treated differently, it was because of his behavior, not his skin color, his mother says. "He was just uncontrollable. None of my other children acted this way," Judy says.

During those years, Judy Myers was an unhappy woman.

"She was a hard mother growing up," says Kathy Myers, 44. "Mom had a lot of anger inside her. She was tough, keeping all that inside."

The anger didn't end until, 26 years after David's birth, Judith Myers visited a psychiatrist who advised her to let go of the lie and tell her family the truth.

What she told her husband and children was that she had been raped by a black man.

"I was not angry," Bill says. "I was glad that this load was released from her, and it answered a number of questions at the back of your mind that never seemed to be fully resolved."

With a new story, Judith Myers became a new person.

"I was much happier. I had a load off my back," Judy says. "I protected it well for many years."

David Myers was living in San Francisco at the time. He came home one night to find a message from his mother on his answering machine. On the message, she gave him the name of the black man who was his father - Fermon Beckette Sr.

The way Fermon Beckette remembers it, there was no rape. He was working as an aide at a psychiatric ward in the same hospital where Judith Hartmann was a student studying nursing. She was 20. He was 10 years older.

They went out a few times. The sex was consensual. No rape.

"That's an old fashioned, Southern lie," says Beckette, now a 77-year-old retired steelmill worker. "Knowing the situation, I can see how she would deny it. After all, she had to hide it to save her marriage."

Judy Myers insists the rape story is true: "Any black who rapes a woman will say she asked for it."

But if shedding the skin-disease story liberated Judith Myers, it plunged David Myers into an identity crisis.

"When my mother told me the truth, I went through a period of being homeless - three years," he says.

He was a black man who knew nothing about being black. His family wasn't black. None of his neighbors had been black. None of his classmates had been black. Few of his friends were black.

Myers embarked on a self-education about all the things he never learned about black history, black culture, and race relations.

He has 10 spiral notebooks filled with notes he has taken from the books he has read such as "The Destruction of Black Culture," "Theories of Race and Racism," "The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race," "Growing Up in a Divided Society," and "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

And then he set out to meet his black family members. He found a half-brother in Cleveland who led him to his black father. They talked on the phone, exchanged photographs.

On June 22, Dave Myers met Fermon Beckette Sr. for the first time.

"He struck me as trying to be a journalist, like he was researching a story, a project," Beckette says. "He sounded like he was in search of his identity."

Beckette feels some sympathy for the son he fathered, but never knew. "If you don't know what color you are in this country," he says, "you are headed for a lot of problems."

At different times in his life, Dave Myers has checked the box for white, the box for black, the box for other.

Friends told him he was the whitest black guy they knew: He dressed white, he talked white. So for a time, Dave Myers tried to trade his Midwestern Ohio accent for a Southern black dialect, only to realize how dishonest it sounded coming from his mouth.

"It was a complete phoniness to me," he says.

After years of trying on different identities, Myers now believes he knows who he is and what he needs to do. He is the product of a black man and a white woman who must tell his story - and his family's secrets - so that blacks and whites can better understand each other.

"I hope that people can learn from my experience," he says.

So Myers has started his own Web site - discussrace.com - that features "The Dave Myers Story" and a list of books he has read.

But in his attempts to enlighten the greater society about the lies, secrets and deceptions of race in America, Myers often comes across as lecturing or chiding those he is trying to persuade, says Pete Lorins, a Haitian-born acquaintance who helped Myers with his Web site.

"I believe you cannot reach a good dialogue on race by telling people what they did wrong," Lorins says.

And it is that approach that has led to Dave being disowned by his family.

His parents and sister complain that they cannot have a normal relationship with Myers. Every family gathering, every conversation, leads to a past they have no interest in reliving. He wants them to face the truth; they want to eat chicken supper without guilt.

"He always has to get into racial discussions or the `poor me' discussions," says Bill Myers. "He can't accept the way things are and go forward with his life. He has to keep stirring up the dirty water."

Dave's contention that racism is responsible for the problems in his life, his mother says, has made her more prejudiced against blacks.

"He has with his actions totally soured me on the black race," she says.

Dave and his mother haven't spoken for two years - not since he appeared on a cable TV program and told everybody the skin-disease story.

And now, as the story spreads to the Internet and the pages of the Orlando Sentinel, Judy Myers says she is ready to take his picture off the hallway wall and throw it in the trash.

"He's not my child," she says. "He's not a part of our lives anymore."

Dave Myers stands alone in the community room of Orlando's Southwest Public Library in the Dr. Phillips area with his three tables of books on race.

Dressed in a white shirt, tie, striped suspenders and dark slacks, Myers leans against a table, waiting for the crowd to arrive.

For weeks, he posted fliers on "The Race Myth ... debunked." The fliers identify him as "Dave Myers - Subject Matter Expert" and direct people to his Web site.

But nearly two hours after the doors open at 10 a.m., nobody has arrived. Even the person he hired to set up audiovisual equipment hasn't shown up.

The lull gives Myers time to think about what he might say, what myths he might debunk, if anybody attends. There is so much that white America needs to know. So much that Southern blacks need to hear. But where to start, what to say, he hasn't quite decided.

"You have to play it by ear. It's like stand-up. It's contingent on what the crowd gives you," he says.

As the clock approaches noon, a middle-aged white woman wanders in, followed by her elderly mother.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asks.

"Well, I'm discussing some of the books I've read," he says. "It's really about what is going on in the United States. We have a race issue."

"I had a little black girlfriend when I was 6 and she was 6," the woman volunteers.

"Do you have any black friends now?" Myers asks.

"I don't have any friends at all," the woman says.

"I don't either," Myers says. "That doesn't matter much."

He is midway through a history lesson on W.E.B. DuBois that has morphed into a discussion about the Nile River, when the woman interrupts him.

"My son married a black girl and they have two beautiful children," she says.

"Well," responds Myers, "I think mulatto children are the wave of the future."

The woman's remark gives Myers the opening he needs to tell the two women his life story. When he gets to the part about being raised to believe that his skin color was the result of a disease, the ladies giggle.

"Have you ever met your father?" the mother asks.

"Yes, I did, just a couple of months ago," he says.

"And was he nice?"

"Oh, yes, he was very nice," Myers says.

"I'm glad you met your father," the daughter says.

Then they thank him and walk out the door. The two women are his only audience the whole day.

Myers believes the empty room proves how averse Americans are to talking about race - its myths, its secrets, its lies: "The naked topic scares people away."

Disappointed but undaunted, Myers still envisions the day when his story - the story of his family secret, the story of race in America - will reach a wider audience.

In finding himself, Dave Myers fantasizes that some day he will find himself on Oprah.

.---

© 2005, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Interview with Jamel Shabazz

Peace,
Please check out this interview my man the Bishop of Hip Hop gave to Jamel Shabazz > here.

Peace

Interview with Jamel Shabazz

Peace,
Please check out this interview my man the Bishop of Hip Hop gave to Jamel Shabazz > here.

Peace

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

I taught my son..

Peace,
I taught my son to do the 'fart' sound with his arm today. Ain't nothing 'deep' or 'complex' about it. It was fun as heck though.

Peace

Jamel Shabazz

Peace,
Do the Knowledge to the website of Jamel Shabazz. He has CLASSIC pictures in there. A great offering of pictures of the Gods and Earths also. Those in the know will recognize that the above stances are two classic God stance. The God on the left standing 'on Square' with his arms right over left (yes this preceeded the B-Boy stance) and the God on the right pointing to the brain or center of intellect. If you look at some old pictures and see these stances you may be suprised to see 'who is God'.

Peace