Buying Black

When I went to church this past Sunday, we had a guest speaker, Maggie Anderson, from the Empowerment Experience.  In a nutshell, Maggie and her husband John, pledged to patronize only Black-Owned businesses for one year.  Now, I was truly feeling her message.  We need to give Black Business Owners a shot at establishing and growing their companies.  Large scale corporations squeeze out the Mom & Pop businesses all the time (where you at Starbucks & Wal-Mart?), so it feels good to root for the underdog, so to speak.

I went home and looked up the Empowerment Experience online, and just when I thought all was well…I found out that it wasn’t.  This is not to say that the Andersons are doing something wrong…other ethnicities do this as well.  Jews support Jews businesses and Latinos support Latinos, etc.  On MSNBC.com, people spewed so much hatred…you would’ve thought that they murdered somebody.  Comments about sending them back to Africa where they belong were commonplace.  Then I thought about it.  If I bought from Black-Owned businesses only, would that make me a racist?

I’m not sure; and while I’d love to support Black-owned businesses, there are some places that are owned by Whites, Asians, Latinos, Indians, etc.  that I patronize on the regular.  Why?  Because they give great service and they have great prices.  Would continuing to support them make me a sell-out?  I’ve been going back and forth on this for the past couple of days…what do you think? 

Something Like a Phenomenon

I try not to discuss celebrities on my blog, but I absolutely have to make an exception for Michael Jackson.  He is THE greatest entertainer of ALL time, and it truly breaks my heart to write this.   This will most likely be the one & only blog that I write about Michael Jackson.  I was a huge fan to say the least.  In fact, I was going to beg, borrow and doggone near steal so that I could fly to London to go to the concert (yes…a sister had a ticket!).  I didn’t believe that he passed…just another sick, cruel joke at his expense.  But it was true, and I would never get to meet the ONLY superstar that had me in awe…

To me, Michael was a superhero.  And I’m not here to say he was weird, innocent, crazy  or whatever…I can’t pass judgment on the man when I’ve committed some sins in my life (you shouldn’t either, but that’s another story for another day).  Michael was Michael, and as a die-hard fan, that was good enough for me.

Rest in piece, Mike.  Maybe now, you can get some relief.  It’s a shame that you had to die before folks could appreciate your musical genius and humanitarian deeds.  Job well done…PEACE.

P.S.  Sorry it took me so long to get this done Mike…Love Ya!

It's Been a Long Time...

Sorry I haven't been active for a while.  Work and School was kicking my butt!  Now that I have some type of routine down...I will try to post twice a week.  Now...on with the posting!