Florida Sentinel Bulletin

President Obama’s Iraq

[google-translator]

BY CLARENCE BARR, I

Today I’m feeling empathetic. As I watch the events in the nation of Syria unfold, I find myself wondering what it must feel like to be an average Syria citizen? A person who, just like most of us, is trying to make it through life day by day.

With a possible invasion from the United States looming and the threat of death lurking from the bullet of a sniper’s rifle or the toxic fumes from nerve gas, there’s little doubt that living in Syria comes with some serious challenges. But, even with that being the case, it’s hard for me to justify a full-fledged war that, in the end, will merely act as a band-aid to a problem that’s equivalent to a gunshot wound.

I say that because, in that region of the world, heartless dictators seem to be like lizard tails. You cut one off and, before you can put your axe away another one has already taken its place.

Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad, like Saddam Hussein, Iraq before him, is just the latest control freak who’s accused of using his citizens for target practice. When he’s gone there is little doubt in my mind that 20 years from now our grandkids will probably be hearing about another lunatic in the same country doing the exact same thing. It just doesn’t stop.

For me, what makes the prospect of military action even more troubling is how selective these so-called “humanitarian” missions appear. For years there have been cries of help for the indigenous people of South Sudan. Women and children who have been raped and murdered by the hundreds of thousands by radical Islamists who want their land. But, ironically, the same people who are now so anxious to remove Al-Assad for his atrocities continue to turn a blind eye to their suffering.

I don’t want to minimize the plight of the people in Syria. But I can’t help but wonder who decides which situations are more dire and who is more deserving of receiving assistance from the global community?

Unfortunately, at this point, nothing anyone says in disagreement with any potential conflict even matters. Once the first missile strikes, U. S. boots on Syrian soil is about as inevitable as darkness after sunset.

Once President Barack Obama drew the line in the sand and Al-Assad dared to cross it, President Obama was pretty much committed to a fight. Anything less and even someone like the president of somewhere like Turks & Caicos would feel brave enough to attempt to chump him.

War, regardless of what congress decides, appears to be on the horizon. That means that body counts, flag draped caskets and images of limbless American soldiers will soon flood news broadcasts much like they did ten years ago. And the saddest part is that some of those who will eventually give their life for the cause, during the several years it will most likely last, probably haven’t even started high school yet.

Anyone wanting to contact Clarence Barr can reach him at: Clarence Barr, II, 43110-018; P. O. Box 7007; Marianna, FL 32447-7007. Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company.

Bad News For

Buc Fans

BY CLARENCE BARR, II

If you’re a die-hard Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan who’s extremely sensitive about your team, you may not want to continue reading this because what I’m about to say could ruin the next six months for you. That is because, from what I’ve seen this NFL pre-season from quarterback Josh Freeman, all hope that this team will come anywhere near a winning record is truly lost.

It really pains me to write this being that a good friend and I debated forever about the talent of Freeman a few years back. While I was a staunch supporter of Freeman and argued the merit of his potential, from day one my friend always stood by his initial assessment that Freeman was, in his words, “a bum.”

Of course I never agreed with him. I held out faith in the young, Mohawk wearing, big smiling, kid from KansasState. But from about midway through last season up until Freeman’s horrible performance Saturday night against the Miami Dolphins, as much as I hate to admit it, I came to the conclusion that my friend may have been right.

Even with all of his size and arm strength, if nothing changes drastically, Josh Freeman is on his way to becoming the biggest bust in franchise history; right up there with Trent Dilfer and Anthony “Booger” McFarland.

The saddest part is that the Bucs finally have the kind of offensive weaponry at almost every position to operate like a finely tuned Bugatti. But, not only is Freeman incapable of working the shifter, he can’t seem to find the ignition.

I should have known something wasn’t right when I saw him in ESPN magazine posing like Michael Jackson earlier this year. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the photo shoot came after a few playoff victories. But, when he’s averaging four interceptions a game, imitating the “moonwalker” should have been the last thing on his mind.

Personally, I don’t think Freeman has done enough to retain his job as a starter. I know that the only other valid option is rookie Mike Glennon. But with the way Freeman has been playing, the honest question has to be, “can it get any worse?”

At this point moving along with Freeman may threaten team chemistry. And once that falls off it’s hard to regain.

I am quite sure there are people out there reading this who will stick behind Freeman simply because he’s Black. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.

While it’s cool to have a brother under center for the home team, if he turns into trash, I don’t have a problem with him being tossed into a can like anyone else. And, right now, I’m taking off the lid.

For the first time in my life, for fans like myself, I really hope I’m wrong. But something tells me that, with Josh Freeman at the helm, having Buc games blacked out again might not be such a bad thing.

Anyone wanting to contact Clarence Barr can reach him at: Clarence Barr, II, 43110-018; P. O. Box 7007; Marianna, FL 32447-7007. Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company.

On ‘Teachers’ Choice…’

Almost every time there is a discussion about children and education, someone suggests that the educational process is a collaborative effort between parents, teachers and students. Some people event put forth the idea that parents play the biggest role in the equation, saying stuff like: “It starts at home,” or “how can the teachers teach them if the parents can’t do anything with them?” Sounds logical, right?

There are two types of people in the world; people who see the world as it “should be” and people who see the world as it really is. I agree that parents (should) play an important role in the development of their child(ren), including their education. I also agree that students should attend school eager to learn. However, the unfortunate reality is that social circumstances in this society are not equal for all parents and children.

There are no standard requirements for parenthood. And so, many children have parents with poor parenting skills, who are just a few years older than they, who are financially struggling, who can barely read, write and manipulate more than basic mathematics, who are wrestling with addictions and/or convictions, if they have parents present in their lives at all. Generally speaking, this fact makes it difficult for those parents, to do what they “should do” for their children’s development and for those children to be what they “should be” in school.

On the other hand, there are standard requirements for teachers. Number one, teachers must choose to be teachers (unless there’s a teacher draft of which I’m unaware). Secondly, teachers must complete college and pass certifications. Lastly, in HillsboroughCounty, teachers have the Hillsborough County School Board’s mission statement: “to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen,” as a guide to follow.

In my mind, “each student” includes the most difficult to teach student with the most uninvolved parents. When teachers sign up to be teachers, the challenge they agree to undertake is to be dynamic enough and creative enough to compel their students to want to learn what’s being taught.

Teaching ain’t for everybody. People who choose the profession should be commended, but if and only if their mission, for which they have been trained and tested, extends to each student- each of them.

Salute!

To share feedback call 813-810-3582. To read this entire article, see other work from LIFE or purchase LIFE’s new book “On Black On Black Love…”, log on to www.LIFEIZPOETRY.com

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March On Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech about a dream he had. Half a century later, disproportionate sentencing policies, life without parole for nonviolent crimes, Stop and Frisk, the pipeline that funnels Africans from schools to prisons, Stand Your Ground laws and Trayvon Martin are blaring signals from alarm clocks screaming that it’s time for us to wake up and get to work.
It’s important to understand the progress toward freedom, justice and equality that was achieved during the period of the sixties was not due to one man, one march or one speech, but was the result of organized struggles against oppression that were occurring in Africa, Asia, Latin America and in many cities, right here in the United States.
Lumumba in Congo, Nkrumah in Ghana, Kemathi in Kenya, Mao in China, Fidel in Cuba, Malcolm X in Harlem, Huey Newton, in Oakland, Fred Hampton in Chicago, Robert F. Williams in Monroe, NC and Omali Yeshitela in St. Petersburg and the revolutionary organizations they led are representative of the spirit of that era.
The reason why many of the names above are unfamiliar to you is because the people who wake up and work hard at perpetuating this predatory social system, where courthouses are open more than school houses and seventy-five percent of the people in the world live off a mere ten dollars a day, have to make us believe that dreaming and marching is the beginning and end of our struggle in order to maintain that system.
We cannot keep hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock, continuing to dream; we have to work! History proves African people are capable of accomplishing any task and overcoming any obstacle when we organize and do the work.
It is our responsibility to make our communities and the entire world a place where we can enjoy the same quality of life in Robles Park as people experience in Hyde Park. We must do it now, so that fifty years later our children will have not the dream of freedom to celebrate, but the reality of it.
Salute!
To share feedback call 813-810-3582. To read this entire article, see other work from LIFE or purchase LIFE’s new book “On Black On Black Love…,” log on to www.LIFEIZPOETRY.com.

Sometimes Death
Is Too Easy

BY CLARENCE BARR, II

As I sit here with pen in hand, I’m wondering if it’s right for me to hate a person whom I’ve never met? Growing up I know I was taught to hate a person’s actions and not the person themselves. But when it comes to this particular individual, I’m finding it hard to separate the two.
I imagine it’s because what he’s accused of doing is despicable beyond words. An act so vile in nature, that I half expect him to show up in court revealing a pair of horns protruding from his skull and carrying a pitchfork.
Of course I’m referring to Richard McTear, Jr. The man (piece of crap would be a more accurate description) who, in 2009, allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend’s 3-month-old son, Emanuel Wesley Murray Jr., and then proceeded to toss the child out of the window of a moving vehicle.
When I read in the paper recently that they were finally proceeding with his trial, all of the anger that I felt the first time I heard this story came flooding back. It was hard for me to believe that it had been four years since the incident occurred. It seemed like just yesterday that I was watching his perp walk on CNN and thinking to myself, “if what they’re saying is true, he deserves every bit of bad karma heading his way.”
I say that because, regardless of how hard you are or how dirty the so-called “game” gets, there are certain things you just don’t do in life. And bringing harm to a child, especially an infant, ranks at the very top of the list.
I mean, it’s true that we all make mistakes. But, at least as far as I’m concerned, this is one that falls in the completely unforgivable category.
It is not surprising that they’re seeking the death penalty. In all actuality, in cases like these, they should allow the family of the victim to choose the method in which death is brought.
For McTear, that would probably mean him coming face to face with the same stretch of asphalt that took little Emanuel’s life.
Personally though, if I had any say in the situation, I would let him live. Being that I can’t confirm that he’ll receive any kind of eternal punishment in whatever afterlife awaits, I’d rather see him receive his torment in the here and now.
Life-without-parole inside of the Florida State Penitentiary, hands down the absolute worse prison in the state would, no doubt, be a fate worse than any he could ever imagine. Being that he’s still in his early twenties, after spending at least the next 50 years fighting for his manhood every time someone recognizes him as “the baby killer” and slowly losing his sanity while trying to survive conditions that would make a cockroach throw up, he won’t just pray for death, he’ll curse the day his parents were born.
It still may not be enough to satisfy the loss for the victims’ family. But, it will be the justifiable ending he deserves after ending a life that never had a chance.
“And the mistrial won’t allow him to avoid the cost of repercussions. One way or another, there will come a time when he’ll surely have to pay.”
Anyone wanting to contact Clarence Barr can reach him at: Clarence Barr, II, 43110-018; P. O. Box 7007; Marianna, FL 32447-7007. Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company.

On “A Poem I Wrote For Young People…”

Since school started this week, I’m sharing this poem I wrote for young people.
I spit like this cuz I wanna see my people unite
Organize, take our freedom back and fight for our rights
I’m in this struggle cuz I love ya. I put that on my life.
And, my hearts my Amplifier, I don’t need no mic
I ain’t the smartest cat around, but I know what I know and the road you travelin’ down, I done been there before
It ain’t my position to tell you which way to go, but I might say something to help you, if you listen up so
Please consider these my humble words of advice
Ain’t nobody in the building livin’ perfectly right
All of us make mistakes everyday of our life
Some of us even pray about ’em to feel better, at nite
I’m not sure how that works, but I’m sure about this
Whatever you don’t like about yourself you can fix
It’s gon’ take a lotta effort, but if you plan to be here
why not live like you plan to be the Man Of The Year
or the Woman Of The Decade
Don’t ever forget;
work hard get whatcha want, don’t you get whatcha get
This for money or for fun, nah
I do this for real
So, let ‘em stay in the house, dog
I’ll stay in the field in high school hallways helpin’ boys to be men and hangin’ it wit the homeless people under the bridge
Stay kickin’ knowledge wit people in the hood where I live organizin’ my community like Malcolm X did
Cuz the children are our future and we are their defense
We gotta shield ’em from the vicious system they’re up against
Educate ’em and advocate for ’em protect ’em and then
let the people, who build the prisons, fill ’em up with their kids
Picture this I really wanna see you make it thru life wanna see you spread your wings, fly and reach for the sky
I show this in everything I do, not jus’ what I write
and my heart’s my Amplifier… I don’t need no mic
Salute!
To share feedback call 813-810-3582. To read this entire article, see other work from LIFE or purchase LIFE’s new book “On Black On Black Love…”, log on to www.LIFEIZPOETRY.com

BY CLARENCE BARR, II

The other day someone asked me what I thought about the newly released film “The Butler.” I told them I couldn’t fairly pass judgment on a movie I hadn’t seen. But as far as the premise of the picture was concerned, a Black man working as a domestic in the White House for several decades, I seriously doubted that it would be something that appealed to my taste.
I can’t say that I’m surprised by the attention it has received. These kinds of period pieces involving quiet, subservient, un-confrontational Black characters who suffer their miserable circumstances with faith and song always do well at the box office.
If “The Butler” goes on to win critical acclaim, awards and becomes an instant classic, it wouldn’t be the first time that the country has fallen in love with this type of depiction of African Americans. It started with Butterfly McQueen in “Gone With the Wind.” It continued with Morgan Freeman in “Driving Miss Daisy.” It most recently earned an Oscar for Octavia Spencer in “The Help.” And now Forrest Whitaker and, ironically, billionaire Oprah Winfrey, will keep the tradition going in this latest variation of the “good-and-helpful-house-n—-r-who-just-wants-to-get-along” theme.
Hollywood has always been comfortable financing movies of this caliber. Mainly because they remind a certain segment of the population of what could have been if it weren’t for radical “negro” thinking.
The only difference this time around is that another Black face is responsible for bringing these images to life. A fact that I hope will make a difference, but ultimately makes me wonder what was going through dude’s mind?
Do not get me wrong, I get that the brother was trying to make some money. And I’m sure he knew that this type of project would easily get bankrolled by a studio because of the subject matter. But at the same time, with all of the stories from that era that he could have brought to the big screen (the cover up of Medger Evers’ murder comes to mind), why this one?
Personally, I’ve been waiting been waiting for someone to make a motion picture about the treachery behind the F.B.I.’s Counter Intelligence Program (cointelpro) for years. But now that Spike Lee has finally been tamed and with most of today’s other popular Black directors focusing on romantic comedies and feel good flicks for church folks, I guess people like myself, who look for more out of Black films, will have to wait until the person brave enough to tackle those kinds of issues is born.
As far as “The Butler” goes, hopefully it’s much deeper and more poignant than the previews suggest. If not, then I guess we’ll just have to chalk it up to another one of those “boot licking, Uncle Tom” films that Black people should never see more than once and begin to prepare ourselves for the next installment, which will probably be called, “The Mammy,” “The Boy” or even possibly, “The Lawn Jockey.”
I mean, if history is any indicator, you have to believe that at least one those is on its way to a cineplex near you.
Anyone wanting to contact Clarence Barr can reach him at: Clarence Barr, II, 43110-018; P. O. Box 7007; Marianna, FL 32447-7007. Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company.

I never have “bad days.” What most people seem to consider a “bad day,” I understand as a change of plans.
The other day, I walked out my house, to head to the gym for a personal training session with a new, serious client (serious meaning she came to the free consultation ready to pay for her transformation and didn’t flinch at the price). I digress.
I walked up to my truck and saw what looked like the entire contents of my radiator on the ground. I had an $800 problem; one of my rear freeze plugs was leaking. I rescheduled my training session, called my mechanic to get my truck in the shop then called my mother to borrow her car. Not a bad day, just a change of plans.
The truck repair took a day longer than anticipated and since I have several things on my “to do” list every day; I borrowed my Mother’s car the next day. I picked up Mother and dropped her off at work and while on my way to handle the business of the day, I hit a pothole on one of East Tampa’s many raggedy a– roads. I busted the rear, passenger side tire and bent the rim.
Fortunately, Mother had a spare in the trunk. Unfortunately, there were no tools to change the tire. I was sidelined until a brother, with a helpful spirit, a little time on his hands and the tools I needed, helped me get back on the road. I ran a few errands, which included a $40 trip to the used tire shop and then I headed straight to the office. Not a bad day, just a change in plans.
About six hours later, my mechanic, whose shop is on 34th street, called to let me know my truck was ready. As soon as I hung up with him, Mother, who was in West Tampa, called to tell me she was ready. The plan?
Pick up Mother and then make it across town to pick up my truck. I go outside to get in Mother’s car and wouldn’t you know it? The front, passenger side tire is flat (no doubt a result from the pothole in the raggedy a– road). I don’t have any tools to change it, remember? So, I borrow a car to pick up mother, call AAA to fix Mother’s car and find a friend to take me to truck. Not a bad day, just a change in plans.
I’m sure some people would consider the circumstances above as “having a bad day.” I’m just as certain those events would put those same people in a not so positive mood. No doubt, I would’ve been in a not so positive mood, because I was “having a bad day,” if those things happened to me years ago. These days, I understand that such occurrences are simply a part of the living experience.
Dig. If it is intelligent to predict, expect and plan things, it is equally intelligent to anticipate the very real possibility that things may not go exactly how we predict, expect or plan them to- hell, they may go completely opposite!
As intelligent adults, we shouldn’t spazz out when things don’t happen like we want them to; rather, every day, we should build ourselves flexible, skillful and patient enough to make necessary adjustments to the unforeseen. Life gives us mysteries to solve 24/7. Some people choose to get mad at ‘em (have bad days); I choose to get good at ‘em; honestly, I look forward to ‘em. I NEVER have a bad day!
Salute!
To share feedback call 813-810-3582. To read this entire article, see other work from LIFE or purchase LIFE’s new book “On Black On Black Love…,” log on to www.LIFEIZPOETRY.com.