Brown Pup Blonde Pup

Holding Bear (left) and Teddy (right)

A friend tagged me in this post on facebook today, the message in this story is really alarming  I wanted to share, please feel free to share your opinions.

Brown Pup Blonde Pup posted on facebook by Sheena

Yesterday, while walking my two Shih Tzu puppies Teddy and Bear, my boyfriend and I came upon a little black girl.
“Can I pet that one?” she asked.
“You can pet that one,” I said while looking at Teddy the blonde pup.
“But, why don’t you want to pet that one?” I asked, pointing at the brown pup, Bear.
“Because he’s too black,” she replied.
I can still hear her little voice in my head and still wonder how she would come to that conclusion and why she reacted the way she did, wringing her hands and looking away from Bear who looked equally eager to lick her face as Teddy.
She couldn’t have been older than 7.
Other black children in my community have similar sentiments. Completely ignoring Bear and greeting Teddy with open arms.
Just trying to gather feedback.
Any thoughts?
Sound off.

My humble opinion follows:

Too many of us are too deeply affected by issues regarding race and color, and are in a weekend state and emotionally unable to face this truth.. this illness will remain and our babies will continue to be poisoned by this way of thinking until more of us empower ourselves , man and woman up and begin to face these issues. It runs deep, and is constantly reinforced within the media and outside world, the saddest part is that most likely in this young girls case and in many families these ideas are constantly perpetuated in the home as well in daily life.. Many of our people are taught not to love self, theres a great distain for blackness and a strong embrace of self hate.. The love for the words nigga & bitch, is a simple example of this, terms of destruction are regularly used to address one another .. its a major problem..

for further insight the book post traumatic slave syndrome by dr joy leary is a great analysis of these issue with ways to begin healing them. http://www.joydegruy.com/ptss/index.html

peace – Daoud

Online Social Behavior Of Our Youth

lol…. you can only control the FB behavior of your own.. and hope to influence the behavior of others.. We must have faith in our example and ability to teach because we are sincere and consistent.. when we were kids we had more privacy to hide our social behavior, Facebook, twitter, myspace, actually put it all out in the open. There are no mysteries. Parents can now check their child’s  caller id to see who they talk to and for how long, we can even give them GPS cell phones so we know where they are and set an alarm to go off if they are not in a pre-designated location at a particular time..

What went unseen and was left to detective work and speculation in our day is out in the open now. Lets equip ourself to answer the need for guidance… WE SEE YOU GUYS!!!

Desire Is The Word

This Morning, I was sitting on the train meditating and got a flash of inspiration to write some ideas down in my journal – which I now would like to share with you. My ideas are related to the subject of desire - the seed of creation.

As long as we desire things of quality and work toward their actuality, we are alive, inspired, and motivated in our life experience. To desire is to express the ether of life. We must remain motivated or we will lose our vigor. For this reason we set goals; have dreams; develop intention with our efforts.

There is nothing more disconcerting than seeing someone lose that vigor. That swag. That enthusiasm in life. We see this with our families all the time. Our parents (or any other love ones) who may just give up hope and aspirations, as they feel the urge to conform… Settle for the life they feel is “realistic.” But is it truly what they feel? Or is it what is impressed upon them by educational institutions, media,  and social norms? Perhaps! I believe reality is what you make it. Someone else’s idea of “normal” or “success” shouldn’t be your own, unless you truly value that same understanding.  What do you want? What do you desire?

We must not run out of desires. If you deliberately plan to be less than your vast number of possibilities, then you are sabotaging your own potentiality. This is what may inhibit one from success. Its inevitable. To quote Earl Nightingale: “Your success (or rewards) in life are in exact proportion to your service.” And that sums it up. Your success already exists, it just waits for you to accept it as your own and walk toward it. By doing the opposite, you are rejecting it, and keeping your self further away from your true desires.

I suggest we use our imagination more often. Imagination inspires creativity, creativity is transmuted into effort, and effort results in creation!

Lets create! Lets continue to inspire each other to create. Create until we do not have a single breath left. Making use of our life experience by becoming living examples of our desires by expressing our true potential.

-Rasupreme

Teach The Babies: Team Academy

Check out this clip that features our brother Sha Reagans and the Team Academy and TEAM Charter School initiative. They are using creative methods, innovation, and a bit of an unorthodox system, Team Academy’s staff are striving to “Living To Change Something” by truly “Teaching the babies.”

We are proud of you Sha!Shawadeim Reagans

TEAM Charter Schools – The mission of TEAM Charter Schools is to create a network of schools in Newark, New Jersey, that instill in their students the desire and ability to succeed in college, in order to change the world. TEAM was founded on the belief that Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM). Both inside and outside of the classroom, students are consistently engaged in character-building teamwork with the motto: Team always beats individual.

Teach The Babies….or else.

We do not say “Teach The Babies” because we thought it sounds good or would look cool on a t-shirt, instead this is an ideal we firmly believe to be our civic duty.

Many have heard the African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child,” however most of us ignore the youth as they commit perpetuated social crimes right in front of our faces. Whether it be cursing out an elder, showing bad manners, being vulgar or violent; we often turn our heads. Our excuse is either: “Its not my problem” or “I’m minding my business, because I wish not to be a victim.” This is the product of Fear!!

We fear becoming the victim. However, ignoring the problem doesn’t help either. Eventually the negative will continue to spread fast, if no light is exposed to defeat the darkness. And that negative germ will eventually end up at your doorstep. Simply closing the door will not save you, because the negative energy will find an open window and enter your household; in turn, possessing your neighbor, your sibling, your nephew, your child! It is inevitable!

Here is a principle to consider: If we wish to change our society, starting with our neighborhoods, we must start with changing what we see before us. Take one child and school him/her. Build a relationship with one kid on the corner. Understand him! Find out his story. Expose him/her to options they never believed possible. And that, my friend, will make you a superhero in their eyes.

In order to change society, you must start 1st with yourself, and then share that positive light with the youth. Because the youth represent endless possibilities.

Continue to Teach The Babies!

- coup d’etat Brooklyn

Here are a few videos to remind us of the impact of misguidance:

CDT Teaching The Babies How To Paint

This weekend,

CDTBK hosted a children art workshop at Restoration Plaza. The goal was to expose the kids to the artwork that was being displayed in the gallery from the “Live To Change Something Through Art” exhibit, and giving them the opportunity to create some artwork of their own.

The format of the workshop was  simple – paint to the music! CDT Affiliate Melly-Mel  and Daoud spearheaded the workshop by instructing the kids how to participate. The workshop lasted 2 1/2 hours. When it was all said and done, we had a gallery of about 60 paintings by kids ranging for the ages 3 – 10.

This was a beautiful day with beautiful children. A special thanks and shout out to: Dahkil Hausif, Melly Mel, Tamara Orozco (photographer), Helena Moke, Danny Davis & T Cleo Austin for volunteering their time and efforts, this weekend.

- Teach The Babies.

#Fail

I apologize to every Woman in the world. My heart Cries! We have left you a world with far too little Warriors, and even fewer Men. #sorry  – @NeticRebel

courtesy of Cespedes Studios

The realm of social networking is quite interesting at times. At times. Most of the time its filled with people’s thoughts and ideas about all sorts of random things: what you were eating for lunch, vacation pictures, interpersonal conversations that have evolved from passing notes in school – to the telephone at home after school – to cell phones outside of home – to texting – and now passing notes on either twitter or Face Book. Again, at times, you come across something quite interesting.

So amidst the clutter I saw this message from my brother Netic via Twitter:

I apologize to every Woman in the world. My heart Cries! We have left you a world with far too little Warriors, and even fewer Men. #sorry  – @NeticRebel

Seems like a very random thing to announce to the world (or at least the world that follows Netic), but then he followed it up with a twit explaining the reason for his disdain. But by then I had already seen several people post a link to the source of his troubles: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html

If you’ve read the article or heard about this atrocity then you can empathize with Netic’s feelings. I’ve always seen rape as an act of forcing a person to live with a murdered corpse that they will possibly psychologically carry around with them for the rest of their lives. A piece of the victim dies. Sexual assault is crime against humanity. I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will disagree with this.

What struck a cord within me was the line, “We have left you a world with far too little Warriors, and even fewer Men.” I’ve had several conversations in the last few months about manhood. Usually it’s a complaint about the action of some male doing something childish or selfish or in this case, savage.  And it usually ends with, “…I don’t understand that man.”  To which my response is always, “That’s not a man.”

And to me, that’s a very important statement, because as someone who sees himself as a man, it’s necessary to draw a line in the sand and call things for what they are, or in this case, what they are not. Men (and Women) take responsibility for their actions, hold themselves and those who they surround themselves with in high regard, value their name and value their word. They admit mistakes, make amends, and refine their thinking. They work through their issues. They defend their families. They understand that one of the best ways to defend your family is to see your community as your extended family and become a positive influence within it. Men do not play games.  Men are not irresponsible people. Men do not commit atrocities.

Besides the fact there were 3 or 4 “boys” committing this crime, there were allegedly 15 “children” or so watching it all happen.  WATCHING. This leads me to ask: who failed these children?  How in the world did that many people see this happen and were either too afraid or too callous to take action? Any action. I have an idea who failed these kids.  Their parents. I cannot judge any of these kids individually, because I do not know their circumstances or their story, but on a whole, I can say without issue that somewhere down the line a lack of parenting and mentoring had led to a point where a teenage girl could be raped for over two hours and not a person attempted to stop it.

How does this happen? 

I have a seven-year-old son and am a co-chair of the Parent Diversity Forum at his school. One of the understandings that our group attempts to convey to parents is the idea that even though we consider ourselves cultured and worldly and non-discriminating people, if we do not speak to our children about these issues they will not learn them. They do not learn through osmosis. We have to become comfortable talking about things that are uncomfortable. We have to be willing to reflect on our own challenging life experiences and understand where we need to make adjustments in order to Teach The Babies.

So I appeal to all the Men and Women out there: please educate your children or the children on your block.  Talk to them. Listen to them. Become a part of your community. If not you, then who? Who better to teach these kids how to become Men and Women if not Men and Women?  My closest friends and family do this. Netic always has the youth around him.

On a positive note, as I said earlier, at times you come across something inspiring or thought provoking on the social network wires. My man GB (@electusunus), who coaches young kids, posted this earlier this week. Take note.

“Against all of these intellectually dismissive critics, I would argue for the necessity of continuing to search for the ‘common good’ of a city if only because, without such a conception, there can be neither a sense of local identity nor a political community. This society must strive for more in an effort to be great because without this vision, society would really be bleak…the city is ultimately ‘the people’, and the cliché notwithstanding, it is the people who must find a way among themselves to define, time after time, in what specific action agendas the ‘common good’ of the city may be found.”—Friedman

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Here are some of those that I’ve come across during my travels on the social networks that share insight and information and live to change something.  Follow them: @cdtbk @daoudabeid @dahkillah @neticrebel @electusunus @game_rebellion @lifecoachdavis @stillwriting @dreamhampton @getinhershoes @ahlot

Sick With No Time To Be Tired

Last week, I sat on my stoop and watched three of the young men, who I have spent years teaching, learning from, inspiring, and watching go from eager boys to misdirected young men – get arrested in front of the building next door for smoking weed. Moments before, I was having a conversation with them about the state of the neighborhood, society & goals. And before they were arrested I was thinking about the fact that we all used to spend hours sitting and talking on my stoop, and that maybe I should go sit and talking with them instead of having a stoop to stoop conversation. For one, I’m glad i didn’t cause I seriously doubt our friendly neighborhood police would have believed I was just talking and not participating in their weed consumption; but thats a whole other tangent. After the arrest the older brothers of one of them passed me and causally exclaimed “they gonna learn some way, right”. What exactly is it that they’re gonna learn is my question.

Days later that same older brother, another young man I watched grow was shot (not killed) around the corner from my house. I’m sitting here thinking about a few things,

1)Their mother – how must it feel to have a son arrested and a son shot in less than a week, and how many mothers and families experience such a harsh reality?

2) The fact that the young around my way, find all of this to be normal, not overtly shocking.

3)The fact that this came as no surprise – which is what’s most alarming , that you can see it coming and do little to prevent it.

My Brothers and I have spent seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years teaching, providing examples for these young men, showing them the way, dedicating time to their well being. Society has spent much more time, reversing all our efforts, how can you tell a child school is important when once they make a mistake the school uses systems such as cut schedules* – which usually lead to truancy.  How do you promote school when teachers openly express the fact that they will be paid regardless of their students participation? In these days of hyper materialism, how do you quell the young’s hunger for money and things and stifle their temptation to resort to illegal means of financial gain when there are no jobs. How do you convince any self respecting young person that guns are not the way to go when they feel the need to protect themselves and survival of the fittest is the code of their environment.

Sounds hopeless?, I would believe so if I and many of my associates weren’t living examples of the reality that these obstacles can be overcome.

We need to continue to teach and lead, it is a game of survival, those of us who learn, pay attention, adapt and create a way to push through must be active examples. Society will not change for us, we have to be the change. I am sick of what I see going on around me, but there’s no time to be tired, we must stay in the race, belive it or not there really isn’t a finish line, but we can definitely loose.

KEEP ON RUNNING -daoud

*cut schedules are when the school gives a student a schedule of in-consecutive periods throughout the day, sometimes with hours between classes, it makes it impossible for a child to gain all the credits needed in one school year.

Celebrate BK With Dallas Penn, CDTBK & Big Daddy Kane

This weekend the Coup rallied up to go check out Big Daddy Kane & Blitz The Ambassador in Prospect Park. Blitz and DJ Ralph McDaniels ripped it and warmed up the stage enough for Kane to show he still got his swag in full effect.  After the show we ran into our homie Dallas Penn of Internets Celebrities. Check it out!

Check out Blitz The Ambassor’s Album “Stereotype” available now online.

Blitz The Ambassador

Rave With Us At The 2009 Afro-Punk Block Party!

“Afro-Punk became a touchstone of a cultural movement strongly reminiscent of the early days of Hip-Hop. Alternative urban kids across the nation (and across the globe) who felt like outsiders discovered they were actually the core of a boldly innovative, fast-growing community.” – Afro-Punk (www.afropunk.com)

Peace! We know you’ve heard about the 5th Annual Afro-Punk Festival and the amazing performances thus far (i.e. Game Rebellion, Saul Williams, Jonelle Monae), the mosh pits, the crowd surfing and the CDT Art Collective. All and all, this year has been amazing! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, join us tomorrow from noon to 8PM. To find out more about the 2009 Afro-Punk Block Party click HERE. In the meantime, you can watch these amazing videos…
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