Rock the vote! Rock the boat!

by Paradise Free Jahlove

Do you ever get the feeling that most of today’s Democrats and Republicans have become Republicrats for the 1 percent who play good cop/bad cop to give the 99 percent the illusion of democracy? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a third party, a Power to the People Party? Don’t you wish we could vote Yes on Proposition 939: The Label All Scandalous Politicians Initiative!?

Buy-Black-Holiday-Shopping-Expo-Philly, Rock the vote! Rock the boat!, Local News & Views We should have a right to know what’s in our food. And we should have a right to know who is in our government! If you’re not organic, ethical and real like Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters or Cynthia McKinney, but you’re scandalous, fraudulent, a sellout or a psychopath, you should be labeled as such. OK, that’s just a pipe dream, but we should have a right to know what’s in our food. And we owe it to our ancestors to vote with our dollars for the welfare of our communities.

In this country they sing, “God Bless America,” but they mean, “except if you live south of the border or in the hood or if you’re a person of color, a woman, poor or an activist for the common good.” Rock the vote and rock the boat by shopping locally!

Balance the budget by balancing the playing field. Humanity is suffering and on the verge of extinction because only 1 percent of the world brain collective is being utilized. Raise the minimum wage from $7 to $10 and stimulate the economy. Raise the power to the people wage by supporting small, community friendly and Black businesses.

Don’t take your dollar lightly. All of humanity is on death row and the world has less than 40 years to live at its present rate of consumption. Scientists are predicting that there will be no more sea food – no more fish in the sea – in less than 40 years. There are at least three state-of-Texas-sized garbage islands floating in the ocean. When you throw out your non-biodegradable garbage, it does not evaporate; it accumulates in our collective backyards.

In this country they sing, “God Bless America,” but they mean, “except if you live south of the border or in the hood or if you’re a person of color, a woman, poor or an activist for the common good.” Rock the vote and rock the boat by shopping locally!

The bees that pollenate our plants are dying. There are less than 20,000 lions left in Afrika. Forty years ago Marvin Gaye tried to warn us to take care of our planet, our home, Earth: “Oh, mercy, mercy me. Oh, things ain’t what they used to be.” And those words are doubly true today.

People are being mesmerized by Hollywood and Silly Con Valley, who are entertaining and amusing us into extinction. Why keep feeding these monsters your star bucks. You have a right to know if you’re eating Frankenfood. And you have a moral obligation to “save the babies” and the future of the planet by not financially empowering the corporate Frankensteins who pollute our world, swallow up small businesses and could care less about the common good.

Buy-Black-Wednesdays, Rock the vote! Rock the boat!, Local News & Views The world is suffering from Blackness Deprivation. Our communities are suffering from Blackness Deprivation. Ebony, Jet, Essence and BET are no longer Black owned. Hip Hop has been stolen and compromised. Oakland, the soul of the Bay and one of the last bastions of democracy, is probably the only major city in the world without its own radio station. The voice of Oakland has been taken off the mic. Oakland used to at least have Soul Beat TV, KDIA and HSOL. We used to have the poet DJ Sly Stone rapping to us every day on the radio.

But today the music industry, radio, TV, the major magazines and newspapers – the American media – are owned by a handful of corporations. And none of them are teaching us how to be Black. So what if a hundred newspapers agree that you should vote a certain way, if those newspapers are all owned by the same person or corporations with the same biased ideology and agendas?

Forty years ago Marvin Gaye tried to warn us to take care of our planet, our home, Earth: “Oh, mercy, mercy me. Oh, things ain’t what they used to be.” And those words are doubly true today.

The world is suffering from Blackness Deprivation, People of Color/Diversity Deprivation and Mother/Goddess/Feminine Energy Deprivation. And our spending habits should reflect and correct this imbalance – by supporting just causes and those in need.

America and the world needs to utilize the talents and creativity of Afrikans, Asians, Latinos, women and the poor to spark our economies the same way we were used to pick cotton and grapes and build railroads and fuel the Industrial Revolution and raise our children and win sports championships and World Series gold medals and build this country.

As they say in the Native American community, “It’s time to party like it’s 1491,” the year before that white cat named Columbus brought the world 500 years bad luck. Since then the world has been carjacked by those who don’t know how to drive. So they keep crashing and bumping into everything and knocking over millions of trees, spilling millions of gallons of nuclear waste and oil into the oceans and seas, killing millions of animals and species and millions of indigenous people. Dude, give up the wheel!

Black people, Indigenous people, planetary elders: Your ancient wisdom, intuition, soul power, knowhow and ability to survive the harshest conditions is sorely needed. The ancestors are calling. The children are crying. Our ecosystems are dying.

So in the words of the Last Poets, I’m pleading: “This is madness! This is madness! This is madness! Please stop all this madness!” Buy Black!

Black Business of the Month: MG Enhancez Hair Shop

My Buy Black Wednesday Business of the Month is MG Enhancez Hair Shop, located at 2539 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley and owned and operated by the dapper and personable Myron Graham, a young man who has been a barber for over 20 year! His talented and experienced barber shop collective specializes in haircuts for all ages and ethnicities, and he also provides services for women.

Myron-Graham, Rock the vote! Rock the boat!, Local News & Views MG Enhancez is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Located on the sunny southside of downtown Berkeley, they’ve only been open for a few weeks, after renovating a building that has been closed for almost eight years!

Myron likes to work with community and enjoys providing comradery and paternal mentorship with our youth and upholding the longstanding tradition of the Black barbershop, where young brothers can come and get a fresh cut and a comfortable, engaging, down home experience with other Black men! Call Myron at (510) 705-1351.

Paradise is president of the International Black Writers & Artists Local 5 in Oakland and was honored by the City of Oakland with “Paradise Day” on Oct. 6, 2011. Visit www.2012worldsfair.wordpress.com and email him at oaklandworldsfair@yahoo.com. Paradise also facilitates the Buy Black Wednesdays Facebook page and group, hosts the Black Wednesday Show every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on www.harambeeradio.com and blogs at www.blackwednesdays.blogspot.com.