Gospel Music Giant: Horace Boyer 1935-2009

From The Lead: Horace Boyer, editor of the Episcopal Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing, a beloved musician who loved teaching others to sing with passion, enthusiasm and excellence, has died at age 74.

I found YouTube links to two songs featuring the Boyer Brother --



You can also listen to "Going Back To God"

Something white and sticky to chew on...

"White on white crime is destroying the very fabric of our nation and producing an entire class of white career criminals. While the media is quick to report every little statistic and/or event relating to the black on black crime phenomenon, the words “white on white crime” are spoken with a frequency of slim to none, and slim disappeared when he was two months old, murdered by his depressed mother, wrapped in plastic, and buried in the backyard.

Indeed, many white people pay absolutely no attention to crime or other manifestations of less than decent behavior in their neighborhood until someone of another race arrives on the scene. Crime is a natural characteristic of people of color. In fact, William Bennett, who was the education secretary under Ronald Reagan, the drug czar under George Bush Sr. and a staunch Republican conservative, used his radio show to make the suggestion that if people wanted to reduce crime they could abort every black baby in the United States. However, although it might be reprehensible to some people and totally impossible to pull off, if one was truly interested in reducing crime to an even lower level here in the United States, all one has to do is abort every white baby and exterminate every white man and woman. But to seriously make such a suggestion invites ridicule, hatred, and possibly invoke the ire of some latent white criminals."

"The likelihood of committing and falling victim to crime also depends on several demographic characteristics, as well as location of the population. Overall, men, minorities, the young, and those in financially less favorable positions are more likely to be victimized by, as well as commit, crimes. Crime in the US is also concentrated in certain areas. It is quite common for crime in American cities to be highly concentrated in a few, often economically disadvantaged areas. For example, San Mateo County, California had a population of approximately 624,000 and 17 homicides in 2001. 6 of these 17 homicides took place in poor, largely African and Hispanic American East Palo Alto, which had a population of roughly 30,000. So, while East Palo Alto accounted for 4.8% of the population, about one-third of the homicides took place there."

“A February 1997 report on rape and sexual-based crime published by the United States Department of Justice stated that of the crimes surveyed, 56% of arrestees were White, 42% were Black, and 2% were of other races; though it should be noted that "Hispanic" was not recognized as a racial category, with Hispanics predominantly being grouped together with Non-Hispanic Whites. The report additionally noted that "victims of rape were about evenly divided between whites and blacks; in about 88% of forcible rapes, the victim and offender were of the same race.”

"Overall the financially disadvantaged, males, those younger than 25 and non European-Americans were more likely to fall victim to crime. Income, sex and age had the most dramatic effect on the chances of a person being victimized by crime, while the characteristic of race depended on the crime. In 2005, 27 out of 1,000 African Americans became the victim of a violent crime, compared to 20 out of every 1,000 White Americans."
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And “white-collar” crime (a statistical nightmare for white males being nearly all of those perpetrating the crimes) isn’t even factored in when it comes to causing disadvantage weighing greatly upon the non-white population.

Depending on the statistics and the socio-economic factors we’re all black now, eh?

We are all connected, right? The human race is failing, my friend. Not the black or Latino human race, but the human race….

brotherpeacemaker

February is Black History Month

Alice Walker Reads Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) biography

h/t to Sherry

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

This poem is for President Elect Barack Obama... and hope.

How is it possible-
that, in an age of such a shredded foundation,
that, in an age of such unprecedented warring,
that, in an age of such unequaled corruption and
terrible sadness, a moment as this could come?

How is it possible-
that, after such machinations of greed and hubris,
we have the power to have witnessed this;
the moment now bending its light upon us,
directing us forward to our better selves?

How is it possible-
that we now proceed with this stunning milestone,
that we march onward in the footprints of revolution
though the course is not curved of our choosing
and the strident shriek of the dying covers our skies?

How is it possible-
that we have stumbled to our rightful place of account,
wandered in on such lustrous and cheerful promise
standing now before our grasp, yet still untaken,
unused, and ready for our hands to shape into our art?

How is it possible-
with the end written before the bright and new beginning,
with our expectations rutted in dishonest obligation,
with the world’s eyes having peered down into our shame,
that our pathway is not ruled by immeasurable detonation?

How is it possible-
that, with such divergence and fragmentary mourning,
with stained waters and sky distorting our reflection,
with our differences still hidden in the visage of ghosts,
we were able to land here without knowing what’s next?

How is it possible-
that the air that we scorch doesn’t blink or make a sound
as we push and shove our burning way through it
with sorrow at our flank speaking of others as mere fodder
for our wholly unrestrained hubristic nourishment?

How is it possible-
that this plot has begun at the end of such torturous ire,
at the back of gloom instead of the heart of illumination?
That this moment even has words like hope and change within it
is certainly the most astounding thing of all!

© 2008 mrp/tpm