Quote Of The Day

"All our lauded technological progress- our very civilization- is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal." -Albert Einstein

[SIDEBAR: Let's use technology for good!]

Quote Of The Day

"Always do right- this will gratify some and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain

Riddle Me This: The Suggestible Mind Edition

"Imagine that I'm a professor, and I've asked you to come and see me in my office. You walk down a long corridor, come through the doorway, and sit down at a table. In front of you is a sheet of paper with a list of five-word sets. I want you to make a grammatical four-word sentence as quickly as possible out of each set. It's a scrambled-sentence test. Ready?

1) him was worried she always
2) from are Florida oranges temperature
3) ball the throw toss silently
4) shoes give replace old the
5) he observes occasionally people watches
6) be will sweat lonely they
7) sky the seamless gray is
8) should now withdraw forgetful we
9) us bingo sing play let
10) sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins

That seemed straightforward, right? Actually it wasn't. After you finished that test- believe it or not- you would have walked out of my office and back down the hall more slowly than you walked in. With that test, I affected the way you behaved. How? Well, look back at the list. Scattered throughout it are certain words, such as 'worried,' 'Florida,' 'old,' 'lonely,' 'gray,' 'bingo,' and 'wrinkle.' You thought that I was just making you take a language test. But, in fact, what I was doing was making the big computer in your brain- your adaptive unconscious- think about the state of being old. It didn't inform the rest of your brain about its sudden obsession. But it took all this talk of old age so seriously that by the time you finished and walked down the corridor, you acted old. You walked slowly.

The test was devised by a very clever psychologist named John Bargh. It's an exampke of what is called a priming experiment, and Bargh and others have done numerous even more fascinating variations of it, all of which show just how much goes on behind that locked door of or unconscious." -From, "Blink" By: Malcolm Gladwell

After reading the above book excerpt, I must ask: How suggestible is the human mind? How is the suggestibility of our minds manipulated?

Book Excerpt Of The Week: "The Bond" By: The Three Doctors

"Helping to raise my sister taught me that parenting isn't easy. No matter what you tell kids and how much love you give them, they will still make mistakes. But I also learned that no matter how many mistakes they make, as long as you keep loving them and telling them the right thing, they will find their way back to the right path." -From, "The Bond" By: The Three Doctors

TODAY IS...

PLEASE PASS THIS ON! (EACH ONE TEACH ONE OR TWO!) THIS IS PHASE ONE ON HOW WE CAN HELP TO STRENGTHEN & EMPOWER OUR COMMUNITY:The 2008 not guilty verdict in the Sean Bell case evoked outrage, emotion, and debate. It is not an anomaly that the police officers involved in the Sean Bell slaying were acquitted of all charges on all counts in State Supreme Court. I could run out of ink printing the names of people who have been victimized by the inaptly named justice system.

The American justice system has been especially terroristic towards the African American community. Many community members can cite historic and personal accounts to prove this. Therefore, it would be foolhardy (at the least) to turn to a system that has methodically oppressed us, and request that they free us. We can only free ourselves through extreme discipline and intelligent planning.

As a community we have been too compliant with leaders who organize ineffective, delayed reactions. The only strategy that can save us in this last hour is one that calls for a collective code of conduct that will be conducive to improving the conditions of our community, and shifting the paradigm of how we are treated by outside entities. The first step of this code of conduct should be based on economics.

The old adage of “money talks,” still reigns true in the new millennium. Any political scientist worth his or her library card will tell you that: “Economic powerlessness equals political powerlessness,” and conversely “economic power equals political power.” This means that if we continue to allow our wealth to be extracted from our community, we will remain impotent.

The power of the collective “Black Dollar” is often discussed. However, that power has been left unchanneled. Today is the day to change that. A one-time boycott is not going to bring long-term change and respect to our community. Our community has launched boycotts before. Our success and ascension will be based on what we consistently do. For this reason, we should initiate “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS.”

BUY BLACK FRIDAYS is a small step towards our community acquiring power via controlling our economics. Every Friday, people who acknowledge the injustice and oppression that the African American community has been consistently subjected to should do one of the following:

Option #1: Spend $0 on Friday
Option #2: Spend no more than $10 on Friday
Option #3: Only Shop at Black Businesses on Friday
[PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE OPTIONS CAN & SHOULD BE EXERCISED ON A DAILY BASIS. However, we can all at the very least focus on Fridays. This way we can take a collective stand and build our collective discipline. Please remember that this is only Phase 1!].

To the people who are tempted to label “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS” as racist, I say this: In the big scheme of things, this is about right & wrong, justice & injustice. The African American community is a strong, proud community that has endured the brunt of America’s iron fist. We must stop the pounding. I feel that any fair-minded individual will concur, and join in.

ANY business that is privileged to enjoy the support of the African American community MUST return that support.

I thank you in advance for your effort and dedication.

-Elsie Law AKA Starface

Quote Of The Day

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." -George Bernard Shaw

Quote Of The Day

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." -Mark Victor Hansen

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Word Pic Of The Week: Black Mannequins In New York Part 2

Fulton Street Retailer Store Window. Brooklyn, New York.

Quote Of The Day

"When I dare to be powerful- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." -Audre Lorde

Quote Of The Day

"Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of." -Jonathan Swift

Quote Of The Day

"Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your promotion." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote Of The Day

"It�s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." -William Somerset Maugham

Quote Of The Day

"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer." -Bruce Lee

Book Excerpt Of The Week: Part 2- “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

“The universities and museums determined how the history books would be written. They could color the past to suit themselves or others. The opium clippers were referred to as ‘tea clippers.’ The slave trade became the ‘sugar and molasses trade.’ Wartime profiteering and price gouging were simply not discussed. Slave traders who were now bank presidents were ‘prominent businessmen.’ And many people whose fortunes were built on opium and slave trading became those prominent businessmen.” -From, “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

Book Excerpt Of The Week: Part 1- “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

“The country was gripped by a fear of anyone who was foreign- Chinese, African, Italian, or Eastern European. The Eugenics records Office (ERO) was created and funded by the wealthiest people of the day to reduce the population of the poor. The ERO, which was funded by John D. Rockefeller, the Carnegie Institution, George Eastman, and the widow of E. H. Harriman, singled out specific undesirable traits, from alcoholism to an inordinate love of the sea, and then sought to sterilize those who exhibited such traits. The movement grew in America and was adopted by Nazi Germany, which then showed the world the ultimate expression of these beliefs.” -From, “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

TODAY IS...

PLEASE PASS THIS ON! (EACH ONE TEACH ONE OR TWO!) THIS IS PHASE ONE ON HOW WE CAN HELP TO STRENGTHEN & EMPOWER OUR COMMUNITY:The 2008 not guilty verdict in the Sean Bell case evoked outrage, emotion, and debate. It is not an anomaly that the police officers involved in the Sean Bell slaying were acquitted of all charges on all counts in State Supreme Court. I could run out of ink printing the names of people who have been victimized by the inaptly named justice system.

The American justice system has been especially terroristic towards the African American community. Many community members can cite historic and personal accounts to prove this. Therefore, it would be foolhardy (at the least) to turn to a system that has methodically oppressed us, and request that they free us. We can only free ourselves through extreme discipline and intelligent planning.

As a community we have been too compliant with leaders who organize ineffective, delayed reactions. The only strategy that can save us in this last hour is one that calls for a collective code of conduct that will be conducive to improving the conditions of our community, and shifting the paradigm of how we are treated by outside entities. The first step of this code of conduct should be based on economics.

The old adage of “money talks,” still reigns true in the new millennium. Any political scientist worth his or her library card will tell you that: “Economic powerlessness equals political powerlessness,” and conversely “economic power equals political power.” This means that if we continue to allow our wealth to be extracted from our community, we will remain impotent.

The power of the collective “Black Dollar” is often discussed. However, that power has been left unchanneled. Today is the day to change that. A one-time boycott is not going to bring long-term change and respect to our community. Our community has launched boycotts before. Our success and ascension will be based on what we consistently do. For this reason, we should initiate “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS.”

BUY BLACK FRIDAYS is a small step towards our community acquiring power via controlling our economics. Every Friday, people who acknowledge the injustice and oppression that the African American community has been consistently subjected to should do one of the following:

Option #1: Spend $0 on Friday
Option #2: Spend no more than $10 on Friday
Option #3: Only Shop at Black Businesses on Friday
[PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE OPTIONS CAN & SHOULD BE EXERCISED ON A DAILY BASIS. However, we can all at the very least focus on Fridays. This way we can take a collective stand and build our collective discipline. Please remember that this is only Phase 1!].

To the people who are tempted to label “BUY BLACK FRIDAYS” as racist, I say this: In the big scheme of things, this is about right & wrong, justice & injustice. The African American community is a strong, proud community that has endured the brunt of America’s iron fist. We must stop the pounding. I feel that any fair-minded individual will concur, and join in.

ANY business that is privileged to enjoy the support of the African American community MUST return that support.

I thank you in advance for your effort and dedication.

-Elsie Law AKA Starface

Quote Of The Day

"When you want to destroy a community; when you want to destroy a people; you destroy the nature of their romantic love- destroy their ability to love another in a healthy way...The love that we have for one another is the greatest threat to the people who rule over us." -Amos N. Wilson

Video Of The Week

[SIDEBAR: I'm still searching for any Black-owned hair supply stores, fruit & vegetable stands, laundromats, and art supply stores in the NYC area (as well as nationwide).]

How Some Of America's Institutions Were Founded...

“For the Browns, wealth led to greater power, and John Brown became a congressman representing Rhode Island; fellow slave trader James De Wolf represented the state as a senator. Profit from the trade brought the trappings of wealth. When former President John Quincy Adams visited the Browns’ home he called it ‘the most magnificent and elegant mansion that I have ever seen on this continent.’ Today the house still stands at Fifty-Two Power Street in Providence, where it is operated by the Rhode Island Historical Society, which would like the family’s slave trading mentioned as little as possible.

The fact that the Brown family fortune was made in the slave trade is a matter of historical record. In August 1797 John Brown became the first American to be tried in federal court for violating the Slave Trade Act. Brown’s legal maneuvers and favors from cohorts did not save him from reaching the court, as his brother Moses was the person pressing charges. Moses had seen firsthand the horrors of the slave ship and subsequently quit the family business and became its greatest opponent. His efforts stopped the importation of slaves into Rhode Island, and he helped enact a federal law against it. A bill freeing children of slaves and completely banning the trade would have succeeded, but William Bradford of Bristol removed the clause on the ban. His rum business depended on the slave trade. The business of his son-in-law, James De Wolf, depended on in more. John Brown died in 1803, before the trade was banned forever.

The profits from the slave trade helped the Brown family reach immortality. Near the Power Street hose stands Brown University. Because the Browns were such great benefactors, the school originally known as Rhode Island College showed the family the ultimate gratitude by changing its name to Brown University. Although Brown University is the great monument to the profits of the Browns’ slave trade, a lesser known monument to John Brown is the Fleet Financial Group of New England. Brown was one of the founders in 1791 when it was called the Providence Bank. It merged with Samuel Colt’s creation, the Industrial Trust, and underwent a name change to Industrial National Bank. In 1982, the Rhode Island bank changed its name again to Fleet Financial. Finally it merged with the Bank of Boston to become the seventh largest financial holding company in the United States.” -From, “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

Quote Of The Day

"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace and a soul generated by love." -Coretta Scott King