In search of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...

The Friday Flashpoints--Evening Edition!

Nobody asked me but...

One of my favorite quotes from the great Langston Hughes reads: "We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too...If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves."

Alas, Hughes captures precisely how I feel each and every time that I write an article, blog or social media post!

***I extend my sincerest condolences to the family of my old friend and Masonic Brother, Tracy Jefferson (below), who passed away earlier this week. 

Now I've known since my maternal grandmother Helen passed when I was eight years old that death is a natural part of life and as a Christian, I believe that the spirits of those who die in Christ will live on through eternity. But I admit that whenever I see the birth date end in the years 1970-75 in some social media obsequies or newspaper obituary, that it bothers me to no end because those are MY contemporaries, and it serves to remind that my days, too, are numbered.

When news hit of Brother Jefferson's sudden passing, I hit up one of my very best friends, Victor Owens, to see whether he had heard. Victor and Tracy were close from their days at Fairview Middle School and Lincoln High School, and as we lamented the loss of his classmate and our mutual friend, we reminisced back to our freshman year at Morehouse College when Brother Jefferson and several other Lincoln High alums that were attending Florida A&M University road tripped to hang out with Vic, Aljohn Scott, and all of the Tallahassee Morehouse Boyz in Atlanta. Those were great times and as we each grow older, moments that must be cherished because time "is winding up," like they used to sing in so many Black churches back in the day. 

But what has gnawed at me since Tuesday night is knowing that my last conversation with Brother Jefferson, a wise historian in his own right, was about my great uncle's grave at Tallahassee’s Southside Cemetery. Brother Jefferson owned a grave landscaping and restoration business, so when I sent him a photo of my Uncle Charlie Ed Williams's algae covered headstone earlier this year, he told me that he could rectify that in no time at all. I figured while at it, I could hire him to tighten up the palm tree I planted next to my dad's grave way back in 2000, and he said that he could handle that, too (below). 

Well, due to life's vicissitudes we never settled on a date for me to receive an estimate and now....well...Brother Jefferson is gone...but will never be forgotten!

My sincerest condolences are extended to his family, the Brothers of Valentine Lodge #147, Prince Hall F&AM /G\, and to his Lincoln High and FAMU families!

***Even in the midst of personal loss this week, I spent considerable time observing non-stop news from Ukraine, where Russian and Ukrainian forces are inflicting heavy casualties upon each other and, regrettably, the civilian population. 

Still, I could not help but take pride in the fact that Ukraine has not simply rolled over and allowed Russia to have its imperialistic will; there is a bright note and reminder that the fundamental nature of all human beings is to be free to determine how we wish to live and be governed, and that there is honor in fighting—and dare I say even dying, for that noblest of causes. 

Lest we forget...

***As a political pundit, it disturbs me to see some Republicans twisting themselves into knots to blame President Joe Biden for what's happening in Eastern Europe right now. 

I get it, such is politics and I assure you that way back in 1941, there were critics across the two-party divide that blamed President Franklin D. Roosevelt for not doing enough to aid Great Britain as the Empire held on against the German onslaught in Europe. Conversely, others blamed Roosevelt for doing too much and placing America on a path to war by supplying Great Britain with the planes, ships, tanks, and rifles to fight their German foes. Even worse, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there were critics that claimed that Roosevelt had done nothing to protect the Pacific Fleet that was mooring in Hawaii because he was a warhawk who was itching to get into the global scrap. 

So yes, critics and "they say" have been around for a long time, so there's no surprise here that the modern critics and "they sayers" are roasting Mr. Biden for "not doing enough." But as I've reiterated almost each day this week, the president didn't want or start this war—Vladmir Putin did—and there's nothing left to do but to help supply the Ukrainians that are doing the fighting and the dying! That and encouraging our allies to continue strangling the Russian economy through sanctions so that the wealthy Russian oligarchs, and the not-so-wealthy Russian citizenry, will rise and exclaim to their maniacal dictator, "no more!"

Stay tuned...

***Closer to home, we, the not-so-oligarchy people of America, are already feeling the rise in inflation at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and within our local pharmacies. But I want to take a moment to put you up on game: the blame for this does not belong to President Biden, but to the corporate powers that be that are exploiting the war in Ukraine for their own financial profits. 

Trust, whenever there is a Category 3 to 5 Hurricane heading towards Florida, just as sure as the sun rises in the east and Jesus had brown skin and nappy hair, the prices for goods rise due to high demand. Yep, from gas gouging, to wood panel and metal shutter gouging, to inflated costs for milk and perishable goods, when natural disasters head our way, everyone on the supply side of capitalism rubs their hands together in excitement about the short term bump in profits. 

The same logic hold true right this second in America, where there's absolutely no reason whatsoever, save corporate greed, for prices to shoot up like we have seen in just one week. Again, don't blame Mr. Biden, blame capitalism and the modern day robber barons that stay robbing our pockets during the midst of military uncertainty abroad... 

***Kudos to Bloomberg, CNN and the BBC for choosing to cease all operations in Russia! These moves were made to counter Vladimir Putin's decision to make "independent reporting" a crime in his country. 

While I rightly criticize James Madison and the framers of the U.S. Constitution for what all they got wrong (particularly that part that deemed Blacks "3/5ths" of a white person for census purposes), I give them credit for what they got right, including the establishment of a free and independent press; may journalism forever remain free here in America!

***I conclude this evening's edition by noting that I have been in deep prayer this week about the U.S. and her NATO allies establishing a "No- Fly" zone over Ukrainian airspace to assist the Urkainian Army and partisans in their fight against the Russians. 

As I listened to Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky clamor for such all week, my heart has gone out to him because I see the logic and the potential behind such a move. But I also have grave concerns about the sanity of Vladimir Putin, and whether he would launch his nukes at our Western European allies that are not as well protected from missiles as, say the U.S. and Israel are protected due to "Iron Dome" and similar missile defense systems. 

While the part of me that's literally fought bullies for bullying is like "yeah, let's get to it," the part of me that realizes that even the best missile defense system has flaws and that we, the American people, could be at risk, realizes that such is fraught with peril. 

Could it be that if NATO planes establish a "No-Fly Zone" and rout a clearly underwhelming Russian military, that Putin's inner circle will seek to remove him to save their own lives? Maybe, but again, the risk of escalating to global nuclear war is real, real frightening, and a tough course to consider for our president and political leaders in Congress. 

My prayers are surely with them—and all of us—at this time!

Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point--have a wonderful weekend!