Manns Medium

  FULL DISCLOSURE:   The opinion spoken here is mine and mine alone.   It is the culmination of over 40years in the field of Psychology/Sociology and over 60 years of existing on this earth, closely observing and analyzing the actions of the millions I have been surrounded by. While I welcome any and all comments and respect any and all positions even those in conflict with my own, make no mistake and let’s not get it twisted. If you believe differently than I “EXCELLENT!”, exercise your right and keep believing for between the differences of belief, lies the real truth.   Just know, that I will also continue to believe what I have been exposed to and experienced by, know that nobody possesses the power to convince or force my change.   We all should know by now that the forming of a child is much more than just genetics and DNA.   It is much larger than eye color, hair color, skin color, and inherited genes.   It’s a mix of the feelings, emotions, h...

​ 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...

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...

Growing up in the Deep South, all I heard from black people was, you can’t do this or you can’t do that because “the man” won’t let you.   I had always wondered who this “man” was and when someone finally had the nerve to tell me they said it was the “white man”.   I used to walk around thinking that every white man had the decision on who I was and who I would be, that was before I began to read my Bible. My Bible taught me that the only person in complete control of me was God and he was a spirit not a mortal man.   My Bible told me that God entrusted me and me alone with this treasure we call a soul and I and I alone was responsible for caring for it and protecting it until that day God calls me home to review what I had done with this soul.   After that, I began to understand that only those whom I allow to control me can and those who I allow to not manipulate me couldn’t.   No mortal holds power or dominion over me unless I choose to let them.  ...

There is an inherit belief which appears to be shared by the majority of all races, gender and religion that there is indeed a proper pecking order found within the human and all other species .  We often see this idea played out in real time by those whom many have come to call “hate groups”.  It is further evident if we closely observe the stories of the Bible where one group conquers another, takes all that they deem important and make them their slaves.  Constantly looking down upon them as less than and never equal to because they lost that battle and in some cases that war.  This attitude has become a consistent and undying theme among the species and has been documented and infused into what many call the history of this nation.  What frightens these hate groups more than anything else is the fear that finally the real truth would be revealed and all that they have been taught and come to believe will be found to be false.  The reason I say that thi...

It is not often that a single choice can allow a city to effect history.  It is not often that a city can fundamentally change the way all cities are funded.  It is not often that a simple slight change of course could not only alter the way government works but prove an old adage true.  That a rising tide raises all boats and Rockford, IL has an opportunity to make history and forever be remembered as the city that changes the course of human events. It should not come as any surprise to those who are truly paying attention, the  old way of funding government has ran its course.  It was first thought that an idea of funding from the top down was ideal but that soon failed because of the logistics and the true lack of willingness by those at the top.  Some refer to this method as “trickle-down” economics and even though there are still those who think that if we keep trying it, it will work.  There are many that know better. The other option w...

Formed from clay and infused with and brought alive by a spirit made in the image of God and blessed with the power to reproduce and re-create these man-made bodies, we occupy these worlds and spend much of our earthly lives searching for a reason for us existing.  Only to finally come to a realization that our being here is not by accident but because of a purposeful and loving God who chose to create a spirit that would take the best of him and spread it all over these universes.  However, by putting evil in charge of preparing these nations for our arrival, God overlooked the thought that evil would be filled with so much hate for him, that he would turn that hate on his greatest creations and add something to preparation of nations by making it very easy to corrupt God’s greatest gift to any nation. I say that this is true, not because I claim to be smarter and more intelligent than any others that have come before me and shall come after and not because I wish to bec...

In a conversation with friends and family, I mentioned back in 2010 how it would be nice if we would incorporate all races history into our American History so that all of us can share in the accomplishments of people from all races who were heroes and provided a leadership role or a  mentor ship  to all who came after in building this nation and the world.    Since then I hadn’t thought too much about it until recently. I kept hearing the phrase “I want my country back” but never really paid that much attention to it.  I shrugged it off as a saying adopted by a few closet Klan members and moved on.  It resurfaced recently and I was compelled to asking those who said it exactly what they meant.  The answers I got were more confusing than the phrase and today, no one has been able to tell me exactly what they mean when they say “they want their country back”.  The only thing that I can think of and what makes the most sense to me is ...

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...

Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote an article for ProPublica titled “Housing Enforcement Group Sues M&T Bank for Discrimination” and reports within it that “The unusual lawsuit draws on secret videotapes and recordings to argue that the bank’s loan officers discriminated against blacks, Latinos and Asians who applied for mortgages.  One of the nation's largest banks discriminates against black, Latino and Asian homebuyers by offering lesser qualified white borrowers higher loan amounts and using hidden racial criteria in one of its loan programs, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Manhattan. The suit also accuses the bank of steering homebuyers to certain neighborhoods based on their race or ethnicity.  The lawsuit claims that M&T Bank violated the landmark Fair Housing Act, a 1968 law that sought to end discriminatory lending practices and limit the historic segregation of many of the country's cities. The suit was filed by the Fair Housing Justice Cen...

For so long people have been trying to explain in a clear way how allowing those who are better equipped to handle those issues for which you are not equipped to handle.  This is what your grandparents and parents meant when they said worry about the things you can control and those that you can’t turn them over to God.  Maybe justice will not come when you wish it to or when you call but make no mistake justice will come guaranteed. Classic example is found in the article titled “ 2 men plead guilty in 2011 racial beatings in Mississippi ” written by Jeff Amy for the Associated Press.  In this article it states “John Louis Blalack enters the federal courthouse in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 for a change-of-plea hearing in relation to a series of 2011 racial beatings that resulted in the death of a Jackson man. Blalack was indicted in 2014 at the end of a long investigation sparked by the June 2011 death of James Craig Anderson who was run over by a picku...

There is an article titled “ Obama tells BET audience despite grand jury decisions 'things are better ' written by Sara Fischer for CNN which tells “After weeks of racial protests across the country, President Barack Obama is taking the time to deliver encouraging words about the future of race relations in America to a network that reaches a predominately young African-American audience.  "What I told the young people who I met with -- we're going to have more conversations over the coming months -- is, 'This isn't something that is going to be solved overnight,' Obama says in an interview with BET that will air Monday. "'This is something that is deeply rooted in our society. It's deeply rooted in our history.'"  Once criticized for shying away from the topic of race early on in his presidency, Obama has more recently been forced to lead a discussion on the issue.  In his interview, the President says African-American youth need to ...

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...

Throughout our lives, nothing seems more important than “finishing the race”, “providing for the family”, “making ends meet”, “getting mine”, “surviving”, “grabbing that brass ring” or any other useless and misguided saying that you can think of.  This, our only main focus sometimes is so important to many that they will resort to any means to get theirs or hold on to what they have.  Even if it means taking the life of another because no one will take what they got.  This is the driving force behind our reason for living and if question some most often find it very hard to explain why.  This belief takes hold though and soon society is flooded with this idea and sensation.  Books celebrating this type of thinking fill the shelves and the air waves are amassed with television shows preaching this same idea.  Eventually it is seen so often that it becomes the way of a people and of a nation.  You find this philosophy being taught in all our schools...

The U.S. Census Bureau provides the numbers but to many this is not surprising news.   With the recent uproar over gay marriage, many have said that America attitudes were changing and now we see that it is not only attitudes but the color of this nation as well.   We find ourselves looking directly into the eyes of history and it appears to be one void of the past division of color. Dylan Stableford of Yahoo Lookout reports in his article titled U.S. Census: Minority babies now majority, surpassing whites for first time reports that “for the first time in history, there were more minority children born in the United States than white, according to 2011 census data released on Thursday .   The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 50.4 percent of children born in a 12-month period that ended July 2011 were Hispanic, black, Asian-American or from other minorities groups, while non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in that span. In 2010, minority babies a...

Supporters of the Stand your Ground Law wonder why all of the fuss about this law and many have attributed to just a few race-baiters or troublemakers.   Sad for them that they have refused to look just a little below the surface of this debate because if they did, their concerns may have been answered. The main disingenuous result of this law is how it makes work for some and not for others.   A law is supposed to be enforced equally throughout society but this one is not.   Take for example the differences between the Trayvon Martin case and Dana Hancock shooting.   When the Trayvon Martin case came to light, some immediately jumped on the side of George Zimmerman and preached how he was justified in shooting Trayvon but this same action did not happen when it came to Steve Sims Jr. in Atlanta Georgia. According to an article written by Jennifer Mayerle of CBS Atlanta titled “ Man claims Georgia 'stand your ground' law should apply to his case” it wa...