The Promised Land

Why is education important?  To teach us how to think and create or to feel special and win jeopardy?

When we have "arrived" where will it be.  What does the beloved community look like? How do the people feel?   How can we argue about progress without establishing a premise?

Yall have got to check this out. The soul of our existence. The cornerstone of black life and survival in America!

As American as Apple Pie?

Some very interesting topics were hit upon in today's show.  Bruh Luv, an ex-drug dealer convicted of shooting a rival in the leg in 1992, was our guest along with Carver Boynton, a distinguished Selma native, and manager of the Selma Mall.  The question was swirling around the room like a pesky fly but dared not land on anyone's tongue.  But it deserves to be at least debated.  They say evaluation is the true source of salvation.  Here it is: Is the dope game that much different from "legitimate" American businesses, i.e, Big Tobacco or the producers of such gems like Thunderbird, Seagram's Gin and 20/20 Mad Dogg?  If it is true that disproportionately more folk die from Tobacco and Alcohol than Marijuana or even cocaine, why the deep disgust and moral outcry against the sale of illegal "pharmaceuticals" for profit?  Does it not reflect the American way? The idea that the greater the risk, the greater should be the reward?  Is there anyone who takes greater risks? Or there any greater odds? Is not prison or death a virtual certainty? What explains the irrepressible murmurs of foul-play from many law-abiding moralist when law-suits are filed against Big Tobacco  for causing death as juxtaposed to the mad-rush of the same crowd to break out the hanging gloves for every petty drug peddler guilty of  "destroying lives?"  Is this a contradiction?  Is there something of intrinsic moral value in a thing being legal or of inherent depravity in a thing's illegality?  How does this square with slavery or jim crow laws? If everything can be explained by the times and morality must be scaled on the basis of historical context, does not a double standard exist in some quarters with regards  to drugs and crime?  Why is it okay for one to celebrate the character of Robert E. Lee and not okay for young black teenagers to admire the code of a Frank Lucas (depicted in the Movie "American Gangster").  I can't wait to see yall go at this one!

Check 1...2

Welcome

Hi Folks,  

       Welcome to The Level Playing Field, the official blog for Business in Action, WBFZ's talk radio program that aires every Sunday from 4:30-5:00pm.   This exciting new show was designed for every-day folk like you.   It deals with practical, everyday issues surrounding work, life, politics and relationships and explores how certain business principals can enhance each.   The ultimate goal of the show is to create of culture of entrepreneurship.  I can already hear you saying, "what the hell is a culture' of entrepreneurship."  I  am not certain.  But I know that we will know it when we see it.  I also know that if we take ownership over everything we do, we will excel, and our communities will experience a rebirth.  

        This blog is built on the concept of "each-one-teach-one."  The concept reflects a belief that each and every one of us, without regard to life experience, background, level of education, or degree of attainment, has something in the way of knowledge, information and wisdom to offer.  All of us are teachers.  All of us are students.   And this just makes common sense right?  We all have different experiences.  Different gifts.  Different ways of processing information.  Different ways of seeing the world.   The unique combination of experiences and gifts that makes an individual different, necessarily means that he or she has something different to add, something special to offer. 

     In my case, this understanding resulted from contact with vastly different people, in completely different environments, under diverse circumstances.   I grew up in a house with two professional parents.  Both lawyers.  My father was also a politician.  My mom was (and is unable to not be!) a community activist.  They both often brought their work home--in the form of people! By one estimate, over sixty different people have lived in their home: professionals, community activists, ministers, criminals (alleged), "big-shots" and "no-shots!"

Suffice it to say, I got to see a lot of personalities.  

      I then went and attended a fancy law school with America's brightest, only to discover that many, if not most, of America's brightest were on the streets of Selma, on the West-Side of Atlanta (where I went to college), and living in my parent's guest-house.   I lie to you not, I learned more Selling CD's in the streets than I did attending classes at my fancy law school.  You may also find it unbelievable (although you shouldn't) that I learned more from a local middle-school drop-out, two-years my junior , who couldn't read or write, than I did from my distinguished law-school professors who were so educated that folks called them doctors.  This despite the fact that the only thing these professors admitted to not knowing was how to perform a surgery.   

      My illiterate, grass-roots instructor was (and still is) an absolute genius in the field of human-nature. He was brilliant in his assessment, understanding and analysis.  He still advises me on occasion today!  Similarly, my grandmother, with her seventh-grade education, her thirteen children, and her complete and utter lack of financial resources, was considered the wisest and one of the most brilliant women in town.  And this was in fifties, small-town, Alabama where even saying black and intelligent together in the same sentence was subject to at least a fine.  Her resourcefulness and pragmatism reflected an unadulterated, unrefined brilliance.  Her perception and insight were almost supernatural in scope.  

 

My experiences, however limited, have convinced me that  God created a natural balance.  And that balance can be found in all of his creation.  There is day and there is night.  There is winter and there is summer.    It seems to me to be the case that where people are concerned, a deficiency in one area is compensated for in another.   They say the the blind hear better, and the deaf see better.  The same thing would go for other abilities and functions.  

What is my point? In order for us to transform our community, we must understand it.  To understand it, we must value its members.   This calls for us to recognize each other's value, each other's genius.  I hope this blog will help in this process.  

In closing, we can't build a whole community, a thriving community, with only the parts of the puzzle we figure are the biggest or the best.  No matter how big a piece is, without the smallest piece, the puzzle is incomplete.    

I anxiously anticipate your piece to the puzzle.