Journal 9/11/15 - Cooperation

There is only one right way to do things and or get things done. That's cooperation. That's God's way. By connecting spiritually with others we see that although we may seem very different, we are all on the same team. Even if you know your way is God's way, "my way or the highway" will never work.

Cooperation means that God's way will look different in the hands of each different person.

We operate in the spiritual realm. We have no idea nor control over how that translates in the physical realm. The struggle is to look beyond what eyes see to the spirits of people.

In 2016, with all the various movements going on, the only thing missing is cooperation. Boycotts, marches, voter drives, schools, armed resistance and economic movements all fail because they work separately. In 1965, the opposite was true. Not only were all those movements working simultaneously, they were all cooperative. At best, organizations worked together and supported each other. At worst, organizations/individuals who disagreed stayed out of each others way.

Malcolm X, Dr. King and Huey Newton became threats because of their approaches to universality. Huey Newton made great strides for the Panthers being open to working outside organizations/movements. Malcolm X and Dr. King made great efforts to work together before X's death. Dr. King was, of course, the master of cooperation. His network eventually became too big and so he was too dangerous. BLM and Shaun King have nothing to worry about. Modern day activists never have to fear assassination because they're all one trick ponies who refuse to work with each other.

Maybe they know that and would prefer a weakened movement where they get to live. Maybe by living longer they can be more effective. Maybe a weakened movement will eventually erode the old institutions of oppression. 

Invasion of the Malcolm Flexes: Hotep in Jail, On The Streets and In Your Community

In Jail/Prison I call them Malcolm Flexes. In the "Freeworld," we have Dr. Umar Johnson...

I can talk about spoiled broke kids all day every day for twelve years straight and I will still be amazed when I see them in the flesh. 

I called him Malcolm Flex because he would talk like he was ready to incite a riot (certainly not a revolution) when he was around the inmates. "I ain't workin for free. They can just take me to the hole now!" but when he was around the guards, "Yessir! Right away sir!"

What Malcolm Flexes do is bombard you with topical analyses of Black people's status in America. They provide little additional insight or solution to the problems. In the rare occasion they do provide solutions, they are are usually poor facsimiles of failed plans. They're only update to regurgitation of past failures is to "Wake everyone up". People like that are dangerous because someone may take them serious. Worst of all, it's our young men (18-25) with all the energy and no direction who take that as guidance and head down the wrong road. The irony of it all is that all that flexin' is just a racket, a new way for spoiled broke kids to keep shirking responsibility past adulthood.

Back to this yahoo:

He came to the work pod on a Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend telling any inmate who would listen that he wasn't going to work for a few extra sandwiches. He was going to tell them straight up "Buck this!" Come Monday, he was working like a champ. Come to find out, he was just waiting on his paperwork to clear anyway. He ended up only working two days before he was released. He still spent $38 on store (must not have been his money). He yelled at the store man because they wouldn't sell him Seven danishes. (Who needs seven danishes for two days?) I asked him if he got his money back. He did. I told him to go home and buy some danishes at the real store. The crazy man was still hoarding sandwiches and chips the day he got released. They called him to pack it up right after lunch, the day after he got his store. I'm sure he tried to take as much jail food as possible home with him.

In two days to go from rants about how Store is a rip off and the food in jail is poison to hoarding jail food to take with you out into the free-world is typical Malcolm Flex behavior. Their goals are both to hide within the safety of the conscious community and to profit from the continued discrimination and oppression of Black America. These men and women are the infiltrators. They are in our jails, on the streets, in our communities. We pay them to tell us what's wrong with our communities. They do little more than make us feel better about our suffering. The irony is that some of the biggest profiteers constantly attack the church for doing the same things they do. Pacify us so they can continue to profit. 

We flock to cities like Atlanta as the Black American mecca, but the invasion has made it's way there as well. Dekalb county is the epitome of a Malcolm Flex messing up the community. To be clear there are far more than one in Dekalb County. I've seen how corrupt officials are in this county from top to bottom. We could have a good thing in Dekalb. Crooks steal pennies instead of building wealth.

They get there because we don't vet leadership. They stay because we pay as much attention to them as we do the career congressmen who camp out for 20 years or more running unopposed, dependent on the laziness and comfort of the general public. Just like the raggedy assed relationships so many of us find ourselves in, they only had to make us feel good for the first two weeks. After that, they can ruin our lives with stagnation indefinitely. Like a parasite.

In this time of change, a time of growth, we must be careful of the Malcolm Flexes. They are indeed parasites. They know they cannot exist in the new world. That's why tend to have some extremely conservative views when pressed. They are unable to survive without our support.That's why they constantly try to distract us from their blood sucking. And they do little more than exist. All their talk is for naught. There is very little action. There IS a lot of "passion." Just think National Action Network and the charisma of Al Sharpton. What has the multi-million dollar non-profit produced in 40 years? Diddly squat beyond piss poor resolutions, a bunch of Jaw Jacking, and, of course, millions of dollars.

The bottom line is they can't come.

You want to spot a Malcolm Flex? Just do stuff. They won't be there. They'll talk. They'll talk. They'll talk some some. But when it's time to roll, they will not show up. Their actions will produce little in the way of results, if anything at all. You find yourself wondering, just say "Let's go!" They won't go. Want to get rid of them? Move. Grow. Create. Build. They are the easiest parasites to get rid of but the hardest to spot. If you find yourself in the middle of a potential Flex Plan, ask yourself "Is it working?" If not, do something that works.

Breaking the cycle requires real commitment to change. Be different. Do different things. Find things that work. Grow. Move. And shake the Malcolm Flexes. They hate it when you do stuff.

Journal 8/11/15

Among my friends, I am the mayor of LA. I take pride in that. Among inmates. I am not. I take pride in that. The difference is the context, the meaning of mayor and who my friends are. In jail, there's a general distrust of authority figures and especially politicians. People expect authority figures and politicians to lie. So, being called mayor in jail is an honor reserved for liars. My friends are more hopeful. Despite the corruption in politics, they see me as someone they can trust. I value that. I will water those seeds with more truth.

That's another reason to fully disclose everything that's happened recently. Honesty works. I'll stick with it. Everything else is dead.

Getting a complete story out of an inmate is hell. Like pull teeth or mining something as rare as coltan but as worthless as a used rubber. The worst part is when you don't even ask for the story. The inmates come to you. It's like they're itching to gossip then they remember they are snitching on themselves...

In LA, we say "Mind your own business." Inmates will start spilling their guts then clam up midstory and tell you to mind your own business. I'm like motherfucker you started talking to me! Interrupting my damned book so you tell me some lies I'm not even interested in...

Journal 8/3/15 - The Crossroads

It's been a long time coming, but I know a change gone come... 



I am grateful and hopeful. I notice when we arrive at the crossroads the distraction increases. The temptation to go down the wrong paths or keep straight when a change is necessary grows stronger at the crossroads. We tend to know the right paths but the appeal fades as we approach it. Most people keep their head down and stick with the status quo, letting change pass by. Their hope is that the next crossroads, if there is a next one, will be easier. It won't.

The choices get harder. You know you should leave your job but you boss gives you a raise, so you stay. The next time you try to leave bills come so you stay a little longer but the bills pile up, higher and higher. Before you know it, they're throwing your retirement party and you're wondering where the time went.

It happens with toxic relationships. It happens in business. It happens in so many instances where drastic change is the only option for growth. The key is to recognize the crossroads as well as the choice which leads to growth. It's usually not  the easiest road that leads to growth. It's often the scariest road that does. It's most likely the longest road that leads to growth. When you choose wrong, another crossroads will pop right up. You can usually see the next crossroads from the one you're at if you're looking down the wrong road. That's a trick. You'll think you have another chance real quick so you choose that road. The thing is, the next crossroad will take you further off course. The quick and easy leads you down a long string bad choices that'll take far much longer to recover from than the time you thought you saved by taking a shortcut.

The hasty man always works twice as hard.
That's because he will spend twice as much energy repairing the damage that is always done by haste.Avoid the damage, take your time, make the right choice

Journal 8/2/15

Being in jail, hearing things like "You don't belong here" is not something everyone can handle. I have had to humble myself to be able to see what a blessing it is to have this strength, going where I "don't belong" and not only surviving but thriving.

Journal 8/1/15

Peace can be found in the midst of all kinds of noise, confusion, drama and turmoil. I would have preferred to find it in other circumstances but it's more important that I found it. I'm grateful.

Far Sighted About Sin (What I Learned About Sin, Hyperopia and Religion/Spirituality)

Far sighted individuals can see things that are far away but need help to see the things right in front of their face. I am near sighted. I need help to see whats far away from me. Most people grow more far sighted as they age. That's why we see older people wearing bifocals. They started out near sighted and grew far sighted as they grew older. Hyperopia (Farsightedness) is becoming more common in younger and younger people. That is, more young people are having trouble seeing what right in front of their face

Sin has a multitude of definitions. I like to define it as anything that goes against your personal principles/what you say you believe in. Many people say they believe in the Bible in a literal sense, which has a llllooooonnnnggg list of principles and they sin by going against the simplest rules. In a non-religious sense, a person can sin by breaking a promise, even (and Especially) a promise made to their self. Someone who says they are all about the money but doesn't save or invest wisely, is sinning. 

All of that is precursor to a brief Christian essay I read entitled Whose Mess? It talked about being Far Sighted About Sin. Specifically, the writer was cleaning up a public beach and complaining about whoever it was that left the trash in the sand. The essay referenced a story from Matthew 15 where the Pharisees were worried about the disciples washing their hands before eating. The famous quote from Jesus goes, "It's not what goes into our bodies that defiles us but what comes out." There's a deeper message there though. The Pharisees had dishonored other people's parents by insisting that they give 'The Church' its money instead of helping needy parents. As people still do, they got up in the traditions and forgot the principles that led to the traditions. It happens a lot. We start out on a journey to meet a principle and get distracted by the scenery so much that we soon forget where we were going. 

And today, we live in a culture of distraction. Too many of us LOVE to watch other people's sins to make us feel better about our journey. We've even forgotten to check ourselves. Maybe we can't even see ourselves anymore because we've truly become far sighted. We have NO idea about what's gong on with us. But we know which reality star is going to jail this week... We know who shot who, who's lying, who's cheating, who's stealing... We wake up each day with 'SMH' copied so we can paste it all day as we read the news and/or comb through our friend's statuses... Those of us who are spiritual try to stop shaking our heads and now we post 'Praying For You...'... And now we wake up looking for someone to 'Pray For'... But when's the last time we checked our journey out? 

Just like the Pharisees we got caught up with what's going on around us and neglected ourselves. What we say we believe in is the beginning of faith but our actions determine whether or not we still believe. Someone posted a FB status the other day about someone else posting bad news all day, everyday. There's a saying "Misery loves company." There's the tale of two wolves, one good/one evil where the one that lives is the one you feed. What are you feeding by feasting on the sins of other people each and every day? How do you expect your soul/spirit to grow strong off neglect and misery? 

At some point we begin to internalize the sin of others. Perhaps we had some imperfections before we lost our focus on self improvement. Either way, or simultaneously, our paradigm will shift. Our actions will stop reflecting the priorities we claimed, if they ever did. The sin we drank of others and the neglect of our own souls will begin to come out of our pores through our actions. A little vanity here and there since we love to look at others and say "I'm not THAT bad..." There's nothing harder than self improvement when you are surrounded by poor behavior. There's little motivation to improve, if you seem to be doing the best among your peer group. Remember, the best house in a bad neighborhood is a bad investment. 

No matter what we say we believe in, our challenge is to get better every day. When we become far sighted about sin, distracted by the sin of others, we cease to challenge ourselves. And we get away with it. We point to all the crap we see in the outside world and say, "See! At least I'm not like that." We don't discipline our children but at least we don't abuse them. Men talk down to the women in their lives but at least they don't beat them. Or they beat them and it's OK because we haven't killed them, yet. We don't step it up in church because the pastor is cheating on the first lady. Or, we don't go to church at all because we're better than those church people. Or we don't believe anymore because we're good people anyway. But eventually, instead of becoming better people, we become good enough people. Plus, those stupid Christians keep shooting up churches/bombing abortion clinics/hanging Black people/beating up gays/Muslims. We don't do any of that so...

If you want to be spiritual (no church, no organized religion) it is certainly possible to connect/commune with God and become a spirit, that is to become a better person. It is also highly unlikely. As often as followers of organized religion fail to it's less likely to happen than it would be if you chose to use an established framework. The key is to remember that it's just a framework. And all institutions have become corrupt. The solution is not to abandon everything but to build/rebuild better frameworks. If a church is corrupt, start a new one or fix the one you're in. There's no excuse to do nothing. 

No matter what your paradigm is, a positive outlook requires you to be good and get better every day. If you aren't doing that, you're sinning. Even in organized religion, the listed of sins are just details of what a lack of growth looks like. We've become so focused ont he details that we forgot we were supposed to be growing. Be careful of becoming far sighted. Keep growing. Keep learning.