As I walked to our car this lovely Sunday morning, I saw a black fancy car pull into an underground parking garage. The license plate read “I AM BLACK.” And I thought to myself about how this person presents himself to the world. Not a generic license plate. Not even a vanity plate like “RICH ATTY” or “HLS 86.” When I was young and wanted to show off, I remember getting a vanity plate “TWYMAN” for my first car, a Buick Skylark. Pretentious as all get out but I was young and living in the Big City.
It would never have occurred to me to proclaim “I AM BLACK” to the world. Who does that? Is one’s sense of self so linked to being Black that one must broadcast the message to the world whenever one is on the road? Similarly, what message did “HLS 86” put out into the universe? What is one lacking inside as one drives around town with a “I AM BLACK” license plate? Do pedestrians on the sidewalk need to know one is Black? Must the garage attendant know one is Black? Is the “I AM BLACK” license plate a force field against evil coppers in downtown San Diego?
Suppose a driver’s license plate read “I AM WHITE”? How would such a racial license plate be perceived in town? I am raising questions this Sunday morning. I don’t have answers.
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A reader once wrote I preach sermons worthy of church. The compliment warmed my heart. After tangling with Street Scholar Tupac Shakur last week, I felt a return to timeless virtues was in order. This morning, let us review principles for a life well-lived.
Cherish baby pictures. All too soon, babies grow up and leave the nest. But snapshots in time are enduring.
Reach out to courageous writers who are bullied. In doing so, you bring more good into the world.
To be great in life, observe how the great live their lives.
Care deeply with profound feeling. Bend the universe towards purpose, meaning and truth.
Do you want a stress free life? Find a mechanic you trust, a dentist you like, and a doctor who knows your ailments better than your wife.
You have to change how you look at the world. If you are getting nowhere, then stop. Find something else.
Change your thoughts. Change your world. (Courtesy of Norman Vincent Peale)
At some point, we have to let go of the past to move on. Forrest Gump teaches us this important life lesson.
Believe in the power of positive thinking and the fates will believe in you.
Black History does not mean we live in the past. Black History should fortify our future.
We should embrace being of Black American culture but we should strive to have an American Mind.
When I walk into work, I see on the wall three people — the President of the United States, the Chairman of the Board, the General Counsel. 2 out of 3 of these leaders are black. When I turn on the tv, I see Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl. I learn that John Thompson is Chairman of the Board of Microsoft. On Monday morning, I watch an interview on CNBC with the CEO of MacDonalds. Where is the “Rolling Back?” (February 10, 2014)
Self reliance is the secret of success. Is that thought a white thought?
When one listens to dogmatists on race, ask oneself whether the person was born in the South? Did the person ever attend an all black de facto segregated school? Is the person a first-generation college student?
Negative thinking is prevalent in the black community. And negative thinking reflects a conditioned response to racial memory.
My wife refused to believe a U.S. Senator from South Carolina was black. (February 10, 2014)
There are over 40 million black people in America. This means one has over 40 million different life stories, experiences and perspectives to digest.
My college pal and law school chum believed a black guy could not choose to stay in San Diego. I will live where I darn well please.
Most of black life is about surviving the boss, the mortgage, the car payment, the kids bombing the ISEE test, etc.
Black culture and consciousness has jumped the shark when black students at Howard University are up in arms at the depiction of a white model on a billboard.
Do we undermine diversity if black children are relentlessly plugged into Jack and Jill, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and the Links?
The best lives are lives of black pioneers for they show others the way.
What lessons do black children take from negative black scholarship?
What lessons do black children take from convicted felons honored on library walls?
About 25% of blacks in America are slightly conservative, conservative or highly conservative. Isn’t there much in Black History to conserve? I am thinking of Pioneer Black Lawyers for starters.
Are 25% of black professors conservative? It is to laugh.
Are there real Civil Rights Act problems in the South when we have had a black Governor of Virginia, a black U.S. Senator from South Carolina, a black Lieutenant Governor from Florida, a black Justice on the Mississippi State Supreme Court and the Georgia State Supreme Court and a black Chief Justice of the Virginia State Supreme Court? (as of February 10, 2014)
Do we set up the best and brightest black students to fail if we arrange entering classes where half of blacks fall in the bottom 10th percentile of the class? That’s not a ticket to the American Dream. That is a ticket to anxiety, stress and depression.
Why shouldn’t black Americans fall all over the political spectrum? I think that is a healthy development. No viewpoint has a lock on the truth.
Revolution is the opium of intellectuals.
Time to move on and not fixate on race.
Dogma is dysfunctional when it fails to uplift and starts to harm mental health.
Dogma manifests as racial psychosis, delusions about being put back in chains and racism as a public health crisis.
Don’t focus on your fear. Whatever you focus on is what will happen. (Anne Lamott)
Everything in your outside world started in your head, in your inside world. (Anne Lamott)
Most people look at what they don’t want. And they manifest it. (Anne Lamott)
All I ever wanted was to belong, to wear that hat of belonging. (Anne Lamott)
I have always thought differently from my peers. Trying to see a spiritual way of seeing the world and organizing it. (Anne Lamott)
Everybody has problems. 95% of time has to be spent on solutions. (Tony Robbins)
What creates an extraordinary life? Psychology! (Tony Robbins)
We can live in a place of passion, joy, desire. Awareness. (Tony Robbins)
Prejudice is like the rain. You put up your umbrella and keep walking. (Vincent Cohen)
There are 12 ways to the Kingdom. (Wesley S. Williams, Jr.)
Whenever people are failing, they have rituals they are doing consistently each day.
Break ahead and free of the hypnosis of culture.
One’s mission in life should be to live an extraordinary life!
If you live in rejection and self-pity, you won’t have an edge.
Being a writer is about becoming conscious. Good writing is about telling the truth. (Anne Lamott)
Conclusion: Have the courage to write. As the old song goes, reach out and touch somebody’s hand. Make the world a better place, if you can.
Reach out and touch
Somebody's hand
Make this world a better place
If you can
Reach out and touch
Somebody's hand
Make this world a better place
If you can — Diana Ross (1970)My Daughter
You do my heart good. I knew I would enjoy this one!! Thanks, also, for the picture of your beautiful little girl. I know she’s a young woman now, and I bet she’s just as beautiful—inside and out.
We do it all because we believe in a better future for that little girl.