Quote of the Month: Arthur Ashe

"Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can."

Leila Lopez of Angola is the New Miss Universe

Another milestone in Black History. She represents herself and her country well and will make an excellent Miss Universe. I love our Black Queens!

In Remembrance of 911

I remember this terrible day well. As a middle school English teacher, I consider it part of my responsibility to discuss the events of September 11th 2001 to them. The past several years the students actually saw what happened and could draw upon those memories. However, there are now students who were very young then and have no first hand accounts of what happened. So this year I am devoting about a week of teaching and discussion about 911 in my classes. Right now I am having them watch the documentary 911

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM X

It is a nice coincidence that my last post occurred on the birthday of Malcolm X. Much has been made of Malcolm thanks to the publicity of the recent book by the late writer Manning Marable. I will be honest and say that from what snippets I have read, I don't intend on buying it. To me it does not paint a true representation of Malcolm and all that he stood for. Malcolm's grandson agrees in an article from today's Amsterdam News and makes for good reading as he deflects several of the claims made in Marable's book.

Well, happy birthday 86th birthday Brother Malcolm.

I will end this post with one of Malcolm's quotes which brings to mind the speech that President Obama made today about the Middle East.

If you've studied the captives being caught by the American soldiers in South Vietnam, you'll find that these guerrillas are young people. Some of them are just children and some haven't reached their teens. Most are teenagers. It is the teenagers abroad, all over the world, who are actually involving themselves in the struggle to eliminate oppression and exploitation. In the Congo, the refugees point out that many of the Congolese revolutionaries, they shoot all the way down to seven years old - that's been reported in the press. Because the revolutionaries are children, young people. In these countries, the young people are the ones who most quickly identify with the struggle and the necessity to eliminate the evil conditions that exist. And here in this country, it has been my own observation that when you get into a conversation on racism and discrimination and segregation, you will find young people more incensed over it - they feel more filled with an urge to eliminate it."

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AFTER A ONE YEAR HIATUS: MR.SHADOW IS BACK!!

Well my dear friends it has been awhile since my last post. I swear that I didn't intend on letting an entire year pass. I don't intend to let that happen again. It feels good to get the writing juices flowing again and letting the blogosphere know of my thoughts and opinions. So in essence folks, Mr. Shadow 33 is back and he is rearing to go!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: MALCOLM X

"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM X

Brother Malcolm X would have turned 85 today had he still been with us in the physical sense. However, his spirit is very much alive and we as a people must continue in our own ways to push forward the the things that he believed in and essentially died for: the total equality of our people and the liberation of our people. If he were standing here I believe he would tell us that while we have come a long way and achieved much, there is still so much that we must do to help our people achive total lberation. Peace be with you and Sister Betty always Brother Malcolm.