Manns Medium

  To say that I was surprised to be directed toward an article titled “Evanston, Illinois to begin distribution of up to $25K in reparations to Black residents” written by DeMicia Inman for Yahoo News dated March 4, 2021 would be an understatement.   I guess my surprise came when I realized that this action, while maybe of good intentions, would clearly do more harm than good in the long run.   The article reported that “the midwestern city is the first in the country to establish reparations with a commitment of $10M over the next decade.  In Evanston, Illinois, eligible Black residents will receive reparations up to $25K as part of a commitment from the city. ABC News reported that the city, north of Chicago, will begin issuing payments this year. 5th Ward Alderman Robin Rue Simmons pushed for the legislation. She was inspired to work on closing the racial wealth gap through her own experience growing up Black in Evanston and still living there t...

​ There is an article titled “ Everyday words and phrases that have racist connotations ” written by Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur, CNN with a contribution from CNN's Anna Bahney. It begins with “Master bedrooms" in our homes. "Blacklists" and "whitelists" in computing. The idiom "sold down the river" in our everyday speech. Many are so entrenched that Americans don't think twice about using them. But some of these terms are directly rooted in the nation's history with chattel slavery. Others now evoke racist notions about Black people. "Words like 'slave' and' master' are so folded into our vocabulary and almost unconsciously speak to the history of racial slavery and racism in the US," says Elizabeth Pryor, an associate professor of history at Smith College. But America's reckoning with systemic racism is now forcing a more critical look at the language we use. And while the offensive nature of man...

In the wake of the televised murder of George Floyd, Black American began to think that this was their chance to make drastic and demanding and permanent change to what we had been existent under for over 350 years. It was something that not only could you feel but in some instances you could actually touch it. That was before white folks did what they always do when black folks began to believe that they are now in control. Here is how it happens. Black folks allow the wrong people to advance to the front of a fight and squander their opportunity by choosing the lowest hanging fruits. I mean these new black leaders will be offered money, power, prestige and a change of personal status which is what the puppet masters know will make them quickly forget what they rose up to proclaim. You see black folks are taking down confederate statues, removing the confederate flags and getting Corporate America to say Black Lives Matter. Not saying that these things are not imp...

When it comes to understanding why there is and will always be difficult to bridge the gap or find solutions for issues, major or minor, perhaps it is because each of us have developed our way of thinking and believing by our experiences. We tend to gravitate toward those of like experiences for confirmation that we might be right and are not alone. This newly-formed herd now acts as our strength and justifies all actions we take toward maintaining our thinking and believing. This believed utopia appears to only be threatened when another individual or herd enters the equation with a different thought or belief. We make all attempts to first correct their wayward thoughts and change their wrong-headed beliefs until we discover that not all of them can or chooses to comply. Those we then label as uneducated or any other label which allows us to rest and not have to expel the energy to try and listen, learn, hear and understand their reasoning. Soon, it becomes a power str...

To the die-hard Democrats and strong supporters of Hillary Clinton, it is very difficult to find any up-side to the stealing of an election by 15 people who makes the ultimate decision of who will lead this country and to the die-hard Conservatives and strong supporters of Donald Trump, it is a time to celebrate and speak the words that avoided them often which is “just give the man a chance”. Now many questions comes to mind none of which seems more relevant than the idea that a female is ill-equipped to lead a nation such as this one but there is one that seems to escape even the most intelligent of our species which is when has a nation built to serve people is better served if we run this country as a business rather than as a nation of people. So far, those being interviewed for key positions is more of a who’s who of those less concerned about unity and more concerned about their own specific ideology.  This strikes fear in many and elation in others all the while th...

If you listen to all those who say that “white privilege” exists be sure to ask them how they arrived at such a conclusion.  You may find that their arrival is strictly based upon those who are not held to the same identical account for the same crimes are disproportionally white.  Now while this satisfies those who wish to keep us so concentrated on race that we over look an obvious primary factor it is not the truth and it is time someone attempted to open the eyes or those who wish to learn.  If you ask those who think “white privilege” does not exist, you may find that the only reason they say it does not is to lessen the fact that many who are not held to equal justice are white and they do not have a better argument but they are too false in their assumptions simply because our eyes don’t lie and the story fills the headlines of our paper and news every day.  Again what both these groups of single minded individual miss is the unseen and ignored damage that is...

For years now many have been complaining about the state of our union and especially Black America has been crying about the state of the black community but no one involved in this struggle has ever considered that the reason these situations exist are simply because we violate, every day, the core argument of religion and we have gone so far to disguise it that many who truly wish to get on the right side of this issue cannot clearly see the lines or borders drawn by the word of God so many billions of years ago. The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters and no matter how hard we try, we continue to fail and fail miserably.  The two masters we attempt to serve and the one that God was probably trying to warn us about so many years ago is both God and man.  God asks us to believe in him, trust in him and have faith that he will see us through all of our darkness, pain and suffering but we fail because when we are in pain we seek man’s remedy to cure us and only...

Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with finding pride in which you are.  My problem begins and ends with that picture of you being a concoction of how others see you versus how you see yourself.  If you see yourself a particular way and it gives you the strength to carry on, move forward and stay positive then more power to you but if does not then I beg each and every one of you to rethink your definition of who you are even if you might have to deeper within you than you have ever gone before to find it. Many say that this may be the failings of blacks that we do not look deep enough within ourselves to find who we really are and therefore end up accepting the definition handed down through the ages.  What does it really mean to be black?    Was it just a definition of a people that was designed to help slave owners tell the difference between those they brought back and those that was here already?  Was it true of a race that the Klu Klux K...

This is becoming an age old question similar to what comes first the chicken or the egg.  One would assume that it could be several factors that would make a white person pretend to be black but then one must also ask themselves why the same is true for so many others as well.  Like, why black women are so concerned with having hair like white women that they spend millions of dollars on extensions or hair care products that straighten their hair instead of embracing its curly origin.  Why many poor or middle class families attempt to keep up with the rich in having the same materialistic products, advantages and privileges.  Why we are not content with whom we are but always seeking to be who we see.  Neighbor purchase a brand new car and many in that neighborhood now feels compelled to go out and buy.  Is it a feeling that we deserve the same as others or is it more about feeling like we belong, either way, the reasoning for wishing to change who you...

I have often asked the question of what does those who support wrong think is going to happen once the target of that wrong is done humiliating and degrading them.  Do they think that their task will be over and everyone will then move on to bigger and better things?  There is a story originated by CNN affiliate WFSB reporting “an anonymous letter bitterly insulting African-American officers was recently found in mailboxes at a Connecticut police station.”  It said that this letter specifically mentioned an Officer Higgins who did nothing to restraint the police brutality caught on tape and even joined in on the misconduct.  The fact that he was acquitted on those charges and this letter being found says to me that he may have spilled his guts about the other officers involved and therefore needed to be reminded of the power of their Police Union.  He joined them as many under the hood of a white sheet did but now he is a target so what does that say to the res...

Many people have taken offense at this article written about the U.S. Army saying a service member can use the word Negro when referring to a black or African-American.  Me personally, I take no offense to it and the question becomes why is it offensive in the first place, I mean what’s really in a name? Friends and family call you much worse than Negro and many of our current idols use the slang of this very word and it appears that no one has a problem with it unless it is used by anyone other than those who could easily be called black or African-American.  Why is it okay for us to use the derogatory derision of the word Negro to other Negros but get all worked up when others use it?  That is as about hypocritical as you can get,  isn't  it? The article states that “a newly published U.S. Army regulation says a service member can be referred to as a "Negro" when describing "black or African American" personnel. The Army confirmed the language is cont...

You could always find mother sitting on his screened in front porch in the 700 block of Ashland Avenue.  He seemed to always be standing guard over his two story partially brick framed house where so many have walked through his doors and emerged a completely different person than when they went in.  Mother was a person who took in those that others had given up on or tossed away.  The forgotten ones and those left to fend for themselves after all of the social-experiments had failed.  That house had a reputation of finding that ingot of good in a person and turning it into a gold mine of talent and righteousness. Ask anyone around the neighborhood and they would tell you tales of mother and how he was able to reach those that was once thought unreachable.  How he could take those harden by society, jail and circumstances and mold them into citizens with more than a purpose.  They became citizens with a cause.  But the most interesting thing about...

In an article titled “Clarence Thomas: Americans are more ‘sensitive’ about race than in the 1960s” written by Adam Serwer is all the proof needed of the importance of race discussions.  In it, he states how race was for him during his forming years and based on that he surmises that his childhood and maturing time is how this world should be about race.  While I can respect Mr. Thomas’ opinion about this matter, I cannot and strongly disagree with his premises. The article reports that “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that Americans are more “sensitive” about race now than in the 1960s – a time when public facilities in his home state of Georgia were segregated by race, the occasional Ku Klux Klan billboard dotted the Southern landscape, and where Thomas, by his own recollection, was forced to “steer clear” of certain parts of Savannah” as were first reported by Yahoo News, and were delivered at an event at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm B...

Failure of the media to place as much emphasis on missing minorities as it does on missing Caucasians first came to my attention when I saw a segment of a HSN production of Dr. Drew Show.   I had not given it much though before and honestly I have no one to blame for this but myself.   I was comfortable with seeing the overwhelming coverage of missing people in the media and some parts of me was okay in believing that this was not happening as much in the minority community.   I now beg for the forgiveness of all for not helping to apply as much pressure as one man could in forcing the media and all law enforcement to give missing minorities just as much coverage and attention as they do for the others. In an article written by Tambay for Indiewire.com titled S. Epatha Merkerson To Host New TV One Series, "Find Our Missing" (Searching For Missing Black Americans) it is revealed that   “Nearly one-third of the missing in this country are black Americans, while w...