by Rupe | Aug 26, 2015 | Inspiration
On tennis and black excellence.
There is no more exuberant winner than Serena Williams. She leaps into the air, she laughs, she grins, she pumps her fist, she points her index finger to the sky, signaling she’s No. 1. Her joy is palpable. It brings me to my feet, and I grin right back at her, as if I’ve won something, too. Perhaps I have.
Source: The Meaning of Serena Williams – The New York Times
My Comment: In the spirit of Bonaly; a star above all others. Go ahead gurl in all your beauty and greatness.
by Rupe | Aug 25, 2015 | Mad Musings, Reflections
Parenting doesn’t stop at Freshman Week.
All across the United States, people are weeping. They are sobbing, sputtering, sniveling and mewling because they are in the process of saying goodbye to their little baby boy or little baby girl who somehow has passed through the larval stage to emerge suddenly as this new creature called a college freshman.
Source: At college drop-off weepfest, remember these three words
My Comments: My day is coming and I would be lying if I didn’t say I dread it. As much as I want my boy to go out in the world and thrive, I know I will miss him greatly. As I write this, today is the first day of his senior year in high school. A year from now he will likely be off to come college. I get reflective even now as I think about it.
by Rupe | Aug 22, 2015 | Inspiration
He was a revolutionary.
Those who knew him best also describe Julian Bond as a civil rights icon, a pioneer, a poet and a national treasure.
Bond, who was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a chairman of the NAACP, passed away at his home in Florida on Saturday, August 15, 2015.
A true activist, he was known for fighting for causes that were not easily winnable. He organized sit-ins as a student at Morehouse College in the late 1950s. He passionately opposed the Vietnam War. And as NAACP chairman emeritus and board member, he advocated for marriage equality and LGBT rights. Julian Bond was a constant campaigner for the liberation of all people, and it was not only this belief but his actions that followed which will have him remembered forever as a leader in the broader human rights struggle.
In 1966, when Bond should have been sworn in as a state representative, his white colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly barred him from taking his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. When a reporter asked him to explain his previous statements on the war, Bond said, “[It is] hypocritical for us to maintain that we are fighting for liberty in other places and we are not guaranteeing liberty to citizens inside the continental United States.”
This show of determination and commitment to justice is why we will hold fast to Julian Bond’s memory. His reach extends far beyond his own generation’s advocacy for civil rights and continues to motivate us to work to amplify the voices of Black people. As the SNCC communications director turned movement leader, he helped build the foundation of the civil rights movement on which all justice-oriented organizations, including ColorOfChange, are able to organize today.
Congressman John Lewis said in a recent interview about his late colleague and friend, “Julian must be remembered as one who inspired another generation of young people to stand up, to speak up and speak out.” We are part of the generation that he inspired to fight racism and oppression. As we remember Julian Bond, will you join us?
He will be laid to rest on Saturday, August 22, 2015 by his wife Pam Horowitz; sons Horace Mann Bond II, Jeffrey and Michael; daughters Phyllis Jane Bond McMillan and Julia Louise Bond; sister Jane; brother James; and eight grandchildren.
by Rupe | Aug 21, 2015 | Mad Musings
What a spectacular sight
Here we see the spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 — more commonly known as WR 124 — and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it. Both objects, captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are found in the constellation of Sagittarius and lie 15,000 light-years away.
Source: A Hubble Cosmic Couple | NASA
My Comments: What confounding sights from the heavens; where did all this come from…I wonder?
by Rupe | Aug 21, 2015 | what the...?
Even when asked about the same student, black teachers have higher expectations for black students than white teachers do.
When black teachers and white teachers are asked to sum up black high school students’ potential, white teachers are much less likely to see black students as college material.And that’s true even when they’re discussing the same students.
A new study exploring how race influences teachers’ perception of their students’ abilities found that those expectations are racially biased.
Source: Racism in the classroom: the “soft bigotry of low expectations…
My Comments: This simply why I will never give up educating my kids to these racist F’kers!
