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Sep. 20, 2019

It’s Up To Us Period!

"America has become a nation contingent on a 15 minute cycle of news and entertainment importance. We who are connected to varying levels of intellectual knowledge of the multiple news and editorial columns see all that is collectively wrong with multiple governmental agencies from every division of this nation from the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial understand the failures, the gaps in equality but it seems that we have become the minority in this nation. The disinterested, the ignorant, and those solely concerned with the trivial are the majority. These Americans don’t read the news sites, or the editorial blogs that uncover the injustices. That’s how America’s Americans can end up with a President like Donald Trump, or Supreme Court Justices like Kavanaugh or Thomas, or Senators like McConnell, or multiple congressmen who are more concerned about filling their individual pockets with graft than passing bills that truly assist in supporting Americans in need not just Americans focused on greed. We don’t have a media driven by truth but media driven by stats. That’s clearly a reason our government and financial institutions are comprised of financial fat cats feeding political rats. We can only stop this drift towards irrelevancy by the many by spending more time educating ourselves on real issues not games, or sports, or movies but real issues that will effect our day to day living. Read a book. Spend some moments each day on informative blogs. Learn about the environmental concerns that will either drive our planet forward or leave our planet hopeless. Read and gain knowledge on a candidate’s platform not a candidate’s lifestyle. If we do this we can make a true difference in how our government and our institutions are managed. It is truly up to us as my daughter says period!"

#joesmokethoughts
Sep. 20, 2019

September 20, 1958 "Remembering The Day That Almost Changed The Course Of America"

The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project
Thank God He Didn't Sneeze
September 20, 1958
Blumstein's Department Store
Harlem, New York

On this day 61 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a deranged black woman Izola Ware Curry with an ivory-handled​ ​letter opener that rested almost on the edges of his aorta. It was said by the operating surgeon that had Dr. King merely sneezed he would've drowned in his own blood. Today, The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project reads about that fateful event that almost changed the path of this nation. A simple sneeze and Dr. King at 29-years of age wouldn't have been around to change this nation's path towards some semblance of equality. I also will spend a few moments reading the words Dr. King spoke on April 3, 1968,​ as he remembered that incident in the Harlem Department store.​

Sep. 20, 2019

The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project Remembers Founder Charles Brown

I didn't get to know Founder Charles Brown as I would've liked but I honor his memory nonetheless for his vision to assist me paving a pathway for my organization's founding, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. We both grew up as young black boys in Baltimore City, so the Baltimore City Founder Brown knew growing up was similar in many regards to the Baltimore City that I remember growing in. We both grew up in Baltimore City, a segregated city with distinct racial lines of separation and distinct ethnic communities. I also find pride in knowing that I walked the same campus grounds, visited similar haunts as Founder Charles Brown. You see Founder Brown and I are separated at most by only a decade at most in age so the Morgan State College Brown knew in the 1960s'is almost as similar as the Morgan State University I remembered in the 1970s'. You when you went to an HBCU during this time period, not much construction was occurring because all the state and federal dollars were flowing to the primarily white state institutions of higher learning. That is why I feel a close kinship to the 12 founders of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. because in many cases we shared similar obstacles to overcome the barriers of blackness.

I could've been a Founder of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity and that is what makes my membership in this honorable fraternal organization so special. Each and every black man who faced the obstacles of and barriers that institutional racism has placed before them even before their birth could've been a founding member of our fraternity. That's what made and makes Iota Phi Theta Fraternity so unique. We, the brothers of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity weren't privileged to any degree. Our privilege had to be earned by hard work and perseverance. It is so amazing that 56 years after meeting those 11 black men on the steps of Hurt Gymnasium, Charles Brown was called home. It couldn't have been a better ending to his life's story. The thing that is so special is that Founder Brown's spirit and his memories will be forever etched into the history books of our guiled gold and brown books. Much respect and love go out for a restful eternal circle of peace and brotherhood to our Founder Charles Brown.

Sep. 19, 2019

The Monument For 1963

September 19, 1963

"Lonnie to Johnny
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM
Spanky to Tink
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM
Mike to Louis
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM
Charlie to Charles
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM
Albert to Charles
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM
Webster to Barron
See you on the STEPS at 5:55 PM"
September 19, 2013
5:55 PM
The Meeting Of These 12 Black Men Took Place
Imparting Knowledge
Feeding A Movement
Creating The Wave
That Rushed Through This Nation
That's 12, my BROTHERS
yes,
That's 12, you made the move
yes,
That's 12, who started the Iota Whirlwind
yes,
That's 12, who were on a mission of BROTHERHOOD
yes
So today September 19, 2019, at 5:55 we honor those 12 Founders
For the Founding of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity
We honor Anthony Watson for his eternal sacrifice
We honor AUDREY BROOKS for her tireless efforts in building our Dream.
We honor Ron Jones, Tex Dean, and multiple more for the monument
of granite and stone
That honors the 12 for foresight and might
We honor all the brothers who kept Iota's dream right
We honor all the brothers who kept up the fight
We honor all the brothers who continue to keep Iota's brotherhood tight
We honor all those Brothers who have passed on to Alpha Iota Omega light
Finally, we honor YOU the BROTHERS of IOTA PHI THETA FRATERNITY who also like the FOUNDERS saw something UNIQUE, BOLD, and DYNAMIC
And made the decision to bring Iota Phi Theta into your lives
You see the journey continues and dream thrives
As we continue to place our shield in other men's lives

Sep. 19, 2019

6A1974 "The Founding Of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity" My Account

The Blackman Who Reads Aloud
Fictional Historical Narrative
The Founding Of I Phi T
The Outlaws
9/19/1963
6A1974


It's September 19, 1963, and I am there watching from afar as 12 young black men decide to start a movement. Please listen as I recount my experiences that will lead up to the moment of my fraternity's founding. Understanding that this is a fictional historical accounting you may have a decidedly different version. However, I kinda like how my story develops and of course the final ending as yet to be written because Iota Phi Theta Fraternity is still moving forward, never ceasing to create new and long-lasting​ historical moments.

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