GUN VIOLENCE

On April 10, 2012 I woke up to a dead phone due to me not placing it on the charger the night before.  Once, I plugged my phone into the charger, texts messages started coming in and missed call notifications.  I automatically knew something was wrong.  I had about eight missed calls.  The text messages read, “BOO-BOO was shot and killed last night!”  Lawrence Richardson, or “BOO-BOO”, as our family affectionately called him, was only 22 years old.  BOO-BOO along with two other young males were standing in front of a house on Dayton Street in the city of Rochester, NY where all three were shot multiple times.  Unfortunately BOO-BOO succumbed to his wounds and died that night.

            On December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut a gunman by the name of Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School (SHES) fatally shooting 20 innocent children and 6 teachers.  This was after Adam had already fatally shot his mother some miles away. 

            The two scenarios above are different because of the individuals involved, time in which the shootings occurred, cities in which they happened.  But one thing that is constant and is the common denominator is gun violence.  Everyone in this country, and all over this world for that matter, was impacted by the SHES shooting.  Who could have the audacity to walk into an elementary school and start shooting?  How could someone come to that point in their life to do such a thing?  These are questions we all wondered why as we watched day in and day out the following week or two in disgust of about what happened.  We all were hurt, sadden, disgusted, angry, and consoling as we watched the story unfold.  Even if you don’t have children, such as I, you still felt a pain that was indescribable.  Innocent children, innocent adults killed for no reason.  As Americans could not phantom the reality of someone walking into a school and killing children, people started calling for gun control laws trying to combat unnecessary violence from the use of guns.  The country began to react to gun violence because of SHES shooting and rightfully so.

            I agree with the country to a certain extent.  Yes, something needs to be done about gun violence.  Look at how many random shootings that are occurring because people are getting their hands on guns and deciding to use that lethal weapon thinking it will solve their problems.  My dissatisfaction however, comes with the majority of our country only wanting gun control laws due to these random shootings that happen in schools, malls, or movie theaters.  No, none of these shootings should occur, but neither should the shootings in the inner cities.  My cousin BOO-BOO was not in an elementary school when he was shot and killed, he was in front of an abandon house on a city street.  Does that mean that his death, or any death in inner cities for that matter resulting from gun violence, any less important than that of the SHES shooting? 

            I won’t speak for anyone else, but I’m sure many people that live in these cities affected by gun violence on a daily basis wanted something done about guns long before the SHES shooting occurred.  Does anyone care that children in the inner cities are dying each and everyday because of the guns that are on our streets?  Most of these guns are illegal guns coming from the suburbs into the city.  Why isn’t there a concern about these guns and having some type of gun control laws on illegal guns?  Inner city kids are as equally important as children living in Newtown, Connecticut.  No child, no matter what race, should succumb to such violence.  It just sickens me that young African American and Hispanic children are not treated with the same importance as young white children are in regards to gun violence. 

            Whether you’re in Rochester, NY where 36 homicides occurred in 2012 and the city is second behind Buffalo, NY (49 homicides 2012) in an uninhibited race to the top of the list as the cities with the most homicides per capita in the state of New York.  Or if you’re in Chicago, IL where the homicide rate in 2012 reached 532.  Or even in Newtown, CT where the murder rate was 26 in 2012, gun violence leaves everlasting psychological affects on families, friends and the communities in which we live.  One murder is too many, regardless of where it happens.  Those affected by gun violence that don’t receive national attention and national sympathy still suffer from the psychological affects that accompanies gun violence. 

            This is not an attack on SHES by any means.  My heart ached just as much as anyone else hearing that devastating news last year.  But my heart also ached when I saw those text messages on April 10, 2012, just as my heart aches when I hear about countless gun violence that occurs in inner cities everyday and not one word of gun violence or gun reform is uttered for those lives.  

http://youtu.be/XittQH4RBB0

            

504: MADE IT THROUGH

On January 7, 2013 I embarked on my second year of participating in The Father’s House 504 Journey.  504 as it is known, is held at the beginning of the year for 21 days.  It is a spiritual fast that allows you to become closer to God.  Everyone that participates chooses his or her own fast.  Weather it be the Ultimate Fast, where you are consuming just water, fasting from something that takes up a lot of your time, such as Facebook or television, or something that you think you can’t live without but chose to give up.  Whatever your choice of fasting, it is between you and God.  I chose to do Daniels Fast.  While doing the Daniel’s Fast you can eat fruits, vegetables, legumes, brown rice, sunflower seeds, olive oil, vinegar, and popped popcorn.  You cannot consume any diary, meat, eggs, sweets, bread, caffeine, or anything containing sugars and yeast. 

            Last year I thought I followed the restrictions correctly but as I learned from this year, I didn’t.  It wasn’t until after I did further research on the Daniel’s Fast that I found out about the sugar and yeast.  I was more concerned about the sugar than anything else as yeast is usually labeled yeast.  But when we think of sugar, we think of obvious sweets and our traditional table sweets.  Often times we don’t take into consideration the sugar that is a part of the ingredients of those foods.  Some of the names you may be familiar with, some you may not.  High Fructose Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Maltrodextrin, Dextran, Bartley Malt, Sucrose, Rifners Syrup, Maltose, Glucose Solids, Fructose; these are just a few of the many different names for sugar that is added into our foods.  Last year I purchased a lot of vegan foods but didn’t realize I needed to take those foods into account as well.   Despite this, I still give myself credit because I had never done a fast of any kind, I didn’t eat any meat, and God knew my efforts and saw me through.          

            This year was much different.  For those three weeks my primary shopping was done at Rochester’s Public Market.  I stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables.  Sweet potatoes were my favorite.  I learned that sweet potatoes are one of the best vegetables to consume.  I copied one of Amy’s Bowls and made brown rice, with mushrooms, black-eyed peas and broccoli, this was one of my main entrees.  I ate cabbage for the first week.  I then decided to make it for the third week, by that time, I was all cabbaged out!  I mixed it up a bit, with some stuffed peppers.   Before anyone goes off the deep end and say, “ I thought meat wasn’t included”meat wasn’t.  Stuff peppers can be made with whatever you desire.  I chose to stuff them with brown rice, corn, onions, mushrooms, and kidney beans, mixed with tomato paste or tomato sauce. 

            As I talk about what I ate throughout this Fast, I also did what I was supposed to do during this Fast.  I sought and listened to God.  Losing weight has been a struggle for me.  In 2011, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic.  I was able to eat better and exercise more and lose 25 pounds in order to get out of the pre-diabetic stage.  As that year passed, I began to get more comfortable and some of the weight starting creeping back on.  Well, during this year’s fast, I felt as if God was giving me exactly what I had been asking for.  He was showing me the way to lose the weight.  Yes, I’ve lost some weight, but this time was different.  This time around he gave me the continued strength, knowledge, and courage to continue on after the fast.  I hear him clearly now as to what I need to do in order to better my Temple.  I lost 13 pounds from November until the end of the Fast.  I know the fasting played the biggest role in me losing along with exercising. 

            Even though I am off the fast and back to eating regular food, I feel more assured, more confidence, more positive, more empowered on my weight loss journey.  God gave me the tools and it is up to me to utilize them to move forward.  No it won’t be easy as there are temptations all around, but when my heart is set on something, coupled with God’s guidance, there isn’t a temptation in this world that is going to stop me!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JXFg5KEoXg

My thoughts: The Penn State Allegations

In the midst of the unfortunate Penn State scandal unfolding, I have been listening to radio interviews, reading court documents, and watching media outlets radio interviews, to stay abreast of the allegations brought fourth against Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coordinator and founder of The Second Mile non-profit organization. It is with Great disgust as a victim of child molestation, as a sports fan, and as a human being that I need to speak my piece on this matter.

As I first heard the news a few weeks ago about the Penn State Scandal, my feelings have even developed into much more anger and disgust. Here you have a grown man, a major figure at a highly ranked university, a non profit organizer, who had the audacity to take advantage of underprivileged children to which the organization was supposed to be helping. The Second Mile's tag-line reads-"Providing Children with Help and Hope," and their mission-"To help young people, particularly those in need to achieve their potential." Sandusky clearly did not succeed in the organization's mission, in fact, he provided more reason for those young individuals to suffer more and be worse off than when they came to the organization for the help they were supposedly going to be provided with. Mr. Sandusky, sexual abuse is not the way you provide children and young youth with the opportunity to reach their potential. You took away those innocent years by enforcing your sick demonic ways onto them.

I sat here this evening and listened to the Rock Center interview Sandusky conducted via telephone with Bob Costas and could not believe what I was hearing. He stated on a few occasions in the interview that he showered with young boys. Whom in their right mind would shower with young children and think that its ok? Bob Costas asked if he had a liking for young boys and he couldn't answer that question straight up. Sandusky says, "I enjoy young people's company"...what the fuck? Nah, that isn't going to fly Mr. Sandusky. When asked if the grad intern caught you in the shower having sexual intercourse you said no but I did take a shower with the child and "horse played" around with him, slapping him on his but with a towel. When asked if it were true if a janitor caught him performing oral sex on a child, Sandusky says that's not true. Bob Costa asked, "well why would these people that say they caught you lie and say these things" Sandusky says, I don't know you'd have to ask them. Not very convincing or the sounds of innocence at all! Nor is this normal behavior for a grown man.

Please let me not forget the Graduate assistant that allegedly saw these actions taking place. I guess he thought he did the right thing by going to tell Joe Paterno about what he saw. No, fail again Penn State alum. What he should have done was go and whoop Sanduky's ass on sight, then call the cops. That's sure ass hell what I would have done or any other morally and ethically sane human being. In my opinion he is just as sick as Sandusky. Moving on from the grad assistant, let me go to the head coach, Mr. Paterno. Mr. Paterno, the face of the institution, decided to go to the Athletic Director and say something. Did it not occur to him that this is of a serious matter and needed to be handled as such. What could have gone through these people minds as they received this type of news and did not go straight to authorities? It seems they all felt as if the reputation of the university, the reputation of those adult individuals was more important than the lives of those children. What is done in the dark comes to light. Karma is a mutha! As they all are witnessing now.

As, I may have stronger feelings than most in regards to this issue, I know that mostly everyone out there can understand how child sexual abuse affects children from the time of the occurrence of the abuse until adulthood and even further. As in most cases of abuse, and especially when there are public figures and institutions involved, the victims are overlooked. Penn State's reputation and image has been rocked, Joe Paterno's legacy has been tarnished, but those victims will forever remain with the horrific reality of what took place in their childhood and is now being exposed publicly.

I believe in speaking out in order to raise awareness for child sexual abuse. This is an epidemic that continues to spread rapidly. It is shun upon in many cultures and not talked about. But the truth of the matter remains that child sexual abuse happens more often than anyone thinks and wants to acknowledge. Every six minutes, a child is sexually abused in this country. Two-hundred forty children are sexually abused each day. One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday. So, as we go about our everyday lives and do our normal activities, there is a child somewhere out there being sexually abused, being robbed of their innocence, and changing their lives forever. Just think, it may even be happening or has happened in your family. What will it take for you to stand against child sexual abuse?

ADDICTION

Growing up I saw a lot of relatives in my family become addicted to drugs. I've witnessed family members steal from other family members because of addiction. Sometimes those same items that were stolen were sold to other family members because of addiction. I've experienced rent not being paid and having to move out of the apartment because of addiction. I've experienced not having groceries in the home because of addiction. I've experienced having to chain my bike up to a bed post because of addiction. Still, that metal chain was sawed off, bike stolen, and sold because of addiction. I've witnessed the smell of addiction, not a pleasant smell at all. I've witnessed checks stolen, signature forged, and check cashed because of addiction. I've witnessed having to carry my first leather jacket down the street in a black plastic bag to my grandmother's house so that it wouldn't be stolen if left home because of addiction. I've experienced playing my Nintendo (boy how I loved that game) when it first came out, up all night with an addict. Loving every moment. Then years later, I experienced that same Nintendo and the games stolen and sold by that same addict because of addiction. I've witnessed addicts selling their foodstamps, not some but all, because of addiction. I've wittnessed someone burn down their home because of addiciton. I've witnessed people going into rehab, being clean for a while, and going right back, because of addiction. I've witnessed being embarrassed of a parent and not wanting to acknowledge him or her because of addiction.
These are just some of the things that I remember about addiction. Addiction affects everyone that is involved-the addict, family, and friends. Whether it be alcohol, crack, heroin, marijuana or whatever the drug of choice maybe addiction is addiction. Having experienced a parent and other relatives being addicts,I couldn't see myself subcumbing to addiction. I know how detrimental addiction is to one's personal health, personal life, and family life not to ever want to re-live that. I was fortunate. Some people pick up the same cycle because that's all they know. I was lucky enough to have one parent and other family members that were head strong and showed me a different way.
See, I don't know what the singer, songwriter Amy Winehouse went through in her childhood or adulthood but it overwhelmed her and allowed addiction to take over. I am so happy that through all those experiences, Still I Rise, from addiction.

Our Voice

Most recently, I went to an informal meeting of young leaders within the Rochester community, that discussed ways in which we can make this community better for us and most importantly for future generations. As I listened respectfully and intuitively, there were things that I learned that I didn't know and perhaps that others within our community didn't know about mayoral candidates Tom Richards and former mayor Bill Johnson. I learned a little bit more about what our city has to offer and what our city can offer but doesn't. One thing that I learned which for me is the most important, was the fact that our voices are needed to be heard in order for change to take place. As a people, we must speak out against what is wrong. We, and myself included, must take action and voice our opinions and concerns about what is going on in this community which does not benefit us in order to at least put things on an even playing field. No, this isn't a white vs black issue but it is a right vs wrong issue. When we as African Americans get mistreated, misinformed, & misjudged because of our skin color we have to do something about it. The question we must all ask ourselves in such situations is, who will take on the responsibilities to bring about change in our community? Our ancestors took on the social responsibility to take the lead in order for us to have the opportunities that we have today. Why has that changed so much? Why haven't we as a people took on those responsibilities of sacrificing for the generations to come like our ancestors did? Are we afraid of prison and death? Why, when the fact of the matter remains that our ancestors died for us to be here today and to have the luxuries that we have. When I say luxuries I am not referring to cars, clothes, and jewelry. Luxuries such as education, health care, jobs & equal rights, to name a few. The luxuries that we so often take for granted.
So, lets start to take a stand, speak out, & voice our concerns for what is going on in this community so that we can have a better tomorrow for not only ourselves but for generations to come.

RCSD

On January 27, 2010 I had to present a five minute speech in my Public Speaking class. We were able to choose any topic to present before the class. I chose to do my presentation on the Rochester City School District. Below you will find my speech in its entirety.

Well, my presentation today will focus on RCSD: This stands for The Rochester City School District. As a former Rochester City School District student I would like to talk about a few issues that are discussed so often in the local media. I would like to give my take on these issues as I feel that not only should parents of students need to address these issues but citizens with no children (such as myself) need to address them too. I say this as a non-parent because those children are still the future generations of our community. If everyone does not get involved, parent or not, then the issues plaguing the community and the school district will not be fixable.
As a former student of the RCSD my journey began as a student at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School #9. I attended the school from Kindergarten through sixth grade. Back then, schools were grade appropriate. When I say grade appropriate, I mean that elementary schools were solely for elementary students; from Kindergarten through Sixth; Junior High or Middle School as it was called when I attended; was for 7th and 8th grade; and High School was 9th through 12th. The way that the city schools are integrated now, causes for too much interaction between small children and teens. In my opinion this is too chaotic. How can children learn effectively and efficiently when there is overcrowding in the schools?
Next, let me speak about the teachers. In my experience teachers were supportive and cared for their students. I can re-call those times when sometimes I would slip a bit on my grades. But I remember teachers, and in my case, one specific teacher, Mrs. J. She always made sure to inform not only my parents, but me as well, that I wasn’t doing my best. She would say, you can do better, or she needs to put forth more effort. Teachers would provide help and assistance where and when needed. Today it seems as if teachers do not express caring and supportive statements to students, or want to provide additional help. It seems that they have lost touch with what their purpose was for becoming a teacher. In my opinion, why become a teacher if it is not to help a child become a better student and to become a better individual? Lets face it; teachers don’t make that much money. I would think people would know this before pursuing this profession. So if you’re a teacher and you are not in the profession to help improve and educate a child’s life, then why become one? I believe teachers prior to even studying in college should do internships and volunteering in public schools to see if this is really where they would like to be five or so years from now. Then after internships and volunteering have been completed, a test should be conducted through college prep courses to evaluate their experience. Once college is completed more tests should be done to determine where these teachers should be placed and even if they should be teachers at all.
Perhaps the most important elements plaguing the negative overtones about RCSD, are the students. In this portion, I will combine the student and parents. Students need to understand and respect why they come to school; and that is to learn and develop their future. In order for students to have this respect and understanding, parents play the most important role in their development. Teaching first begins at home with the parents. If the parents are not teaching and enforcing rules in their household with their children, how do they expect them to go outside of the home to become productive students? Everything first starts at home. So parents please play your part and regulate before sending your child out to be regulated.
And students, you are not off the hook by any means. As a student you have a responsibility to be a student. That is to learn, and to be respectable to your peers and teachers. The student needs to understand that they will not become successful without education. So why go to school to act up and take learning for granted? Education is your key to success and it is ultimately up to you, the student, to see your education through.
Please remember that these thoughts are solely my opinion and not the opinions of parents, teachers, students, or school board members.

Your Life Purpose

Most of us have dreams and aspirations that we desire in our lives. By taking the proper steps through education & life experiences is how we potentially accomplish our dreams, aspirations, and goals. However, sometimes through these same methods, we do not achieve our personal goals; instead we find out our true purpose in life. Our true purpose in life is determined by God. I myself have many desires to accomplish many things. I have accomplished some of those things, some things I'm still pursuing, but the unknown is also what continues to drive me. God has a purpose for everyone. This does not mean that my purpose will be bestowed upon me by doing nothing and expecting God to give me what I want. I have to work hard for what I want, but through that work, I believe, that I will have placed before me those opportunities that will define my purpose.
You too have a purpose in life. You too must take steps that will help determine what that purpose in life is. However, God has the ultimate decision. So don't live your life not pursuing your personal goals, because if you do, then you will never be able to know truly what your life purpose will be. Stay positive, stay motivated, and stay blessed.