Blought #26: Why Did Trump Meet With Black Pastors Anyway?

Trump (Center) accompanied by Dr. Darrell Scott (right) Courtesy of: USAToday.com

 A few days ago Donald Trump shook up the media and news world when he announced that he had gained the support of 100 Black pastors and religious leaders from all over the country. Not long after that the facts became clear. Only about 50 or so pastors showed up to his meeting at Trump Towers with several of them signing endorsement cards for Trump‘s campaign.

What caught my attention was the fact that two pastors from Ohio were in attendance and here’s why. Ohio is usually a battleground state. Dividing the black vote has become a key strategy for the right wing with gerrymandering. Dr. Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries Inc. based in Cleveland Heights, Oh was vocal in his support of Trump’s campaign.

He even made several phone calls to Senior Pastor Corletta J. Vaughn of Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit to get her on board. Pastor Vaughn declined stating that she felt “uncomfortable” with the meeting at Trump Towers. She said she would be open to meeting with Trump but on her own terms probably in her church so that the presidential candidate can hear her community’s concerns.

Jamal Bryant of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore tweeted "Prostitutes for Trump...don't let black pulpit become a pole". Pastor Scott responded with "If Trump called Black Preachers ‘Prostitutes on a Pole’, the entire nation would be in an uproar! #BlackPreachersMatter" and "For respectable Preachers to be called ‘Prostitutes on a pole’ is very insulting, demeaning, and misogynistic, to say the least." The divide and conquer rule definitely applies here.

Promotional flier for Trump's meeting

Bishop Victor Couzens of Forrest Park, Ohio near Cincinnati also attended the event. He voiced his concern for an apology towards his Black Lives Matter comments and incident at his rally where protester and activist Mercutio Southall was attacked and beaten. Trump stood by his earlier comments and said that he would not issue an apology.

Personally I don’t think Trump owes him an apology. Would you show up to a KKK meeting in a Black Panther uniform? I didn’t think so. Why go to a rival hood and cause disruption? It was sad that he was assaulted but Mr. Southall could have made better judgment.

On Tuesday Roland Martin host of  TV One’s News One Now spoke to Steve Parson PhD and former pastor of the Richmond Christian Center in Richmond, VA. Parson who is a supporter of Trump was on the show to discuss Trump’s plan for the black community. He talked in circles about the tax code until Martin hit him with the facts.

Martin, who recalled on his time as a city hall and county government reporter brought up the statistics that in 2008 black owned small businesses received 8.2% of all small business loans. By 2013 that number had dropped to 1.8% due to the foreclosure crisis that wiped out  53% of black wealth. Martin simply stated “no home, no loan, no collateral” as a cardinal rule of small business loans. Parson was never able to give Martin any straight answers on how a real estate mogul (Trump) couldn’t answer those questions himself.

Martin and Parson squaring off Courtesy of: RolandMartinReports.com

The main point to be taken away isn’t the fact that Trump’s camp spun a story about 100 black pastors meeting with him. It’s the fact that the Black Churches are not the go to leaders of the black community. Black millennials like most millennials don’t cling to faith and religion. Most of our parents are the same way, why do you think we feel the way that we feel?

It reminds me of the South Park episode “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” where Stan’s dad Randy Marsh went onto the popular game show wheel of fortune. The clue was “People who complain too much.” The spots were N_GGERS. Randy hesitantly shouted “Niggers!” when the answer was actually “Naggers”.

Randy then had to go apologize to Reverend Jesse Jackson. Stan attempted to make peace with his friend and only black kid in School Token who responded with “Jesse Jackson isn’t the emperor of black people.” The same can be said about most religious leaders.

Let’s be honest, black pastors are always caught up in scandal about stealing money from the church. Steve Parson ran his ministry into bankruptcy and lost two luxury cars that he and his son leased with the church’s money. Trump is playing this game as smart as he can. With Rubio rising and Carson fading away it’s getting closer to do or die time for Trump.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/457930597/black-pastor-calls-trump-meeting-a-get-played-moment

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/22/politics/donald-trump-black-lives-matter-protester-confrontation/

http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2015/feb/26/pastor-gets-boot/

Blought #24: The Division of Support for Paris

The terrorist attacks in Paris were unspeakable crimes against humanity. A total of 130 people lost their lives while hundreds more were injured making it the deadliest attack on France since WWII. The thing that got under my skin was the division of support for Paris. You had the people who showed support for Paris. There were the people who claimed no media outlets covered the attacks in Africa (You were probably more focused on America’s racial tensions more than Boko Haram kidnapping and killing Nigerian students.)

then there were the ones who had conspiracy theories about America helping ISIS expressing how “misinformed” Americans were or how changing your profile picture does nothing to help those effected. Think about a time your family member died. While your friend can’t bring that family member back, just saying “I’m sorry for your loss” can make you feel a lot better.


I wanted to get upset with many of my Facebook and Instagram friends, but there’s really no use in arguing over the internet. Then I realized something, the majority of Americans are severely misinformed about the World Human Rights Crisis that we are currently facing. The Middle East has been a hot bed of conflict for AGES. We’re taking biblical times son!

Support Paris and watch the world burn?

My mom once told me “the Bible says the Middle East will always be in some shit.” If history serves me right I think my mom had a point. From Greeks and Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars to the Catholics and Muslims during the crusades. The Middle East was even one of the main focal points of the Cold War. America wanted to keep communism out of the Middle East and the Soviets wanted to spread communism throughout the Middle East.

In later decades as America’s economy boomed we began to import most of our oil from over there as Russia went poor and lost pretty much all of their influence in the region. One of the main reasons Islamic terrorist cells hates America is because of our influence on their culture during the Cold War in addition to us raping them for oil.

These sentiments were the basis for both the CIA and World Trade Center attacks of 1993 and the September 11 attacks eight years later which became the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.

Despite how you feel about how Bush and Cheney (the real mastermind behind those eight years of fuckery) ran the country, going into the Middle East was a faint bright spot. Saddam should have been killed in the 90’s when he killed thousands of Kurdish people in separate genocidal acts during the late 1980’s in the Anfal genocide and the Halabja chemical attack. Osama Bin Laden could have been killed sooner as well but dead is dead right?


With no leader of Al-Quaeda and Iraq in a complete abysmal state after Obama pulled our troops out, ISIS had the perfect ingredients to begin their ascent to power. ISIS as we all should know is an Islamic Extremist Fundamentalist group formed in the late 90’s who wants to be recognized as the official state of Iraq. They claim to be the leaders of all Muslims in the world and they especially hate Shia Muslims, Alawites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrian and Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Shabaks and Mandeans. All ethnic groups native to the Middle East.

ISIS were the main culprits of the Paris attacks. ISIS has also participated in the Syrian Civil War, Iraq War (2003–2011), Iraqi insurgency, Iraq War (2014–present), Second Libyan Civil War, Boko Haram insurgency in Africa, War in North-West Pakistan, War in Afghanistan and the Yemeni Civil War.

The point wasn’t to shine light on Paris more than other countries. ISIS is a part of a world wide terrorist network claiming war on humanity. The time couldn’t have been better for ISIS. With so many country’s recovering from revolutions and over thrown dictators, it was easy for ISIS to take the reigns as the top dog in the world of terrorism.

I explicitly remember when Arab Spring became a huge world news topic. As a journalism major that was all we talked and read about during the 2011 Spring semester. It all started in December of 2010 when a Tunisian man set himself on fire after claiming that he had been bullied by local officials while selling produce to help support his family.

Not long after protests began happening all over the Arab world including Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, Tunisia's government was overthrown in early January of 2011 which led to Egypt's Tajir Square Protests a little over a week later. By March of that year Syria had also begun nation wide protests.

Arab Spring protest in Bahrain calling for Democracy

By 2012 Syria was in a civil war with ISIS acting as a main belligerent. Egypt wouldn’t be able to overthrow their government until the summer of 2013. Now the plot thickens. During these conflicts, many of which became full blown wars, displaced citizens of the Middle East and Africa sought asylum in the European Union or EU.

Hop on a rickety boat and ride across the Mediterranean where Greece, Italy and Spain are all waiting for you to start a new life in a developed European country. That is if the boat you and hundreds of others are riding on doesn’t capsize taking you all down with it. During this time ISIS operatives pretended to be immigrants escaping their home countries when what they were really doing was planning to attack France and Belgium.

This is bigger than what my social media friends made it out to be. This is bigger than the media. This is a new world conflict that has to be resolved. We aren’t fighting a country but a network. A network of between a quarter to a half million strong and growing everyday. A network with an ideology that we can’t fight or get rid of. So put you personal, pessimistic “woke” views behind you and realize what this world is facing.

Blought #23: What I Learned About Natural Hair

What does your hair mean to you? Is it a bunch of naps and tangles of frizz that you put up with? Or is it something that you enjoy maintaining and keeping up? There was a point in time where I got a haircut every two weeks to make sure my waves kept spinning. But it was just hair. Nothing more, and nothing less in my eyes.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a Natural Hair Forum at the Warrensville Heights branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The event was hosted by J’ Twasha Kelley, organizer and founder of the Nappi Gyrls Hair Forum. She opened the event by sharing her personal journey to becoming natural. Going natural made her feel "liberated". "I was able to accept who I am" she said. "It was when life first started for me."

Cleveland area Zumba instructor and owner of Fitthickbreee, Brittany Jenkins encouraged the women to drink plenty of water and to start thinking about adopting a healthy diet. She discussed the importance of taking care of your body which will in turn benefit your hair’s health.


"How many of you are worried about sweating out your hair while at the gym" she asked as most of the women raised their hands. Brittany's advice was to wear protective styles like box braids. The absence of having chemicals in your hair makes upkeep easier while living an active and healthy lifestyle.

It was interesting to hear these women share their tips and stories about having natural hair. After Brittany finished her presentation local hairstylist Donnella Jefferson took to the podium for her Q&A session. Many of the women asked questions about styles, techniques and their hair category which I never knew existed. There really are categories for women's hair types and textures.

Donnella and J’Twasha both used the words "liberated" and "individuality" when describing what it meant to be natural. The natural movement however isn’t anything new. Singer James Brown is one of the earliest cases of “going natural” that I personally know of. In the 50’s and 60’s Blacks wore the conk which was a perm that men wore styled forwards.

Angela Davis rockin' her Revolutionary fro

By the 70’s natural hair was the normal thing to do. The Afro meant “I’m Black and I’m proud” and it was quite stylish. In the 80’s the jherri curl was the hottest trend and perms and relaxers became the norm again. By the 90’s dreads, cornrows and other natural hairstyles became prominent hair styles for people of color.

When asked, Donnella said she thinks that today’s natural hair movement could be another fad. She also believes wearing natural hair could become permanent "if we teach our children to love and embrace their hair and how it comes out of their heads."

Natural hair seems to have become the new norm among black women. I personally see it as a way of life. After learning about the harm a relaxer or perm could do to one’s hair, it seemed like almost overnight black women ditched their perms for braids, twist outs and short hair cuts. Many of the women, most of them my mother’s age if not older all said they noticed a trickle down effect from their hair down to their overall health. From the foods they ate, to the types of soap they used for hygienic purposes based on what our African ancestors used.

Courtesy: Liberator Magazine

I asked Donnella if she thought of today’s natural hair movement as a new civil rights movement. She replied no and offered an explanation. Civil Rights was about gaining rights for an oppressed people. This is about black self-love and knowledge of self and spirituality. Our culture from Africa was stripped from us when we were gathered on a boat. Ask a white guy about his heritage. He’s German on his dad’s side and Irish on his mom’s side. Ask me the same question. My dad’s family is from Alabama and Georgia and my mom’s family is from Arkansas.

We have no past identity. My generation has just begun to explore our history as a whole. Natural hair can be a gateway for us to learn more about black history from "over there." We can never know where we are headed if we don’t know where we come from. Having black hair can unlock so much about us. The question then becomes, "what do these naps, kinks and coils really mean to us?"

Cavs Offer Relief for Browns Fans by Giovanni Castelli

The Browns are once again stinking up the joint with a 2-5 record, a 36-year old journeyman starting at the most important position in the NFL while continuing to be a perennial loser since their return in 1999. Lucky for us, the Cavs‬ are back which for Cleveland sports fans is a good thing. They are a really good team, boast the best player in the world and are once again favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

Let's just say the end of October each year has come to signify the end of Browns season and the beginning of Cavs season due to the Browns constant futility on and off the field. Today when asked about the QB situation I heard Mike Pettine say: "If you don't laugh you cry." Really?! I say that when something utterly BLOWS!! Which in my mind means Pettine knows his QB's BLOW!!

I just heard Tony Grossi say "It's not that difficult to get a QB!" As if he was yelling at the front office. What a joke the Browns are right now. New uniforms, a stadium makeover, a couple new mascots and a dog named SWAGGER (this team has no swagger!) can't cover up the DOG POOP product that has been put on the field since 1999.

Thank God LeBron came back. With the Cavs being the favorites in the NBA, the Browns can now go about their business sucking through another losing season and missing another opportunity to not LOSE a generation of fans. And they wonder why we go to the Muni-Lot at 6am to drink. That's the only time we have fun on Sundays. It seems that every time we leave the stadium we do so mad and disappointed due to another Browns loss.

On that note, see you Sunday Browns. You mean, abusive douche.

But more importantly. GO CAVS!!!

Blought # 18: Is Traditional Radio Living on Borrowed Time?

The radio. What a marvel of human ingenuity. Officially created at the turn of the last century the little box made of wood and electrical wires completely changed how we humans receive information. Radios helped us transmit news stories to over a million homes, improve military and law enforcement communication and gave us a new source of entertainment. After the television became a commodity for most American families in 1960’s the radio took a slight dip in popularity.

Instead of listening to Eisenhower or FDR give an address over the radio you could watch Nixon on television since NBC, ABC and CBS could transmit broadcasts into the American home. By the 70’s and 80’s 8-track and cassette tapes made it easier to listen to the music you wanted, when you wanted and by the 90’s CD’s were revolutionizing music consumption all together.

Today the radio to me is pretty much useless. We can get news faster before our favorite radio host can tell us about it. Either it’s trending on social media or a Breaking News banner has already caught our attention online or on television. Television, which arguably took the radio out of the American home is on it’s way out due to internet television and streaming.

I love to listen to DL Hughley’s evening show on the way home. But with radio shows like the Breakfast Club and Sway’s Universe it’s easy for us ADD Millennials to be more attracted to the latter which utilizes the internet to supplement their on air interviews with online videos of the interview. And with the booming popularity of podcasts talk radio’s days are numbered. I can see a day when I’m in my 50’s and radio tuners no longer exist.

The internet will be so accessible in the near future that we’ll be able to stream anywhere anytime with minimal data restrictions. Services like Spotify, Pandora and Tidal already gives us the freedom to listen to whatever we please. Throw in Bluetooth capabilities and auxiliary ports in most cars, I predict traditional radio will be completely obsolete by 2030.

Blought #16: How to Keep a Great City Great

This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Greater Cleveland chapter of the National Association of Black Journalist conference at Tri-C‘s auditorium. The NABJ hosted the conference, titled ‘Covering Comeback Cities. The list of speakers included  NBC WKYC-TV's Russ Mitchell, Fox-TV’s Charlie LeDuff of The Americans With Charlie LeDuff; Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge; Cleveland Mayor Frank L. Jackson; Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams; and Chuck Stokes, Detroit's WXYZ-TV Director of Editorial/Public Affairs and son of the late Mayor Louis

It was a great atmosphere for a young writer like myself  to network and make connections. It was also an opportunity to gauge where my city was headed. Before the first panel started  Mayor Frank Jackson took the podium to share a few words. He talked about how Cleveland has spent billions of dollars to upgrade the city and how that wouldn’t be enough. There is a cycle of “boom and decline” that has to be broken.  The Mayor finished up by saying that “A great city isn’t based on the billions spent. It is what we do for the least of it. We need to make prosperity available for all.”

I trusted Mayor Jackson after he said that, even though he couldn’t have cared less about meeting me until I mentioned we both graduated from Cleveland State. The first panel discussion focused on crime and included Calvin Williams, Chief of police Cleveland; Charlie Leduff, Pulitzer winner and the host of The Americans with Charlie Leduff, and Dr. Rhonda Y. Williams of Case Western Reserve University’s Social Justice Institute. The panel was moderated by Harry Boomer of CBS 19 News. From the first panel to the fifth and final panel, excluding Session 3 which talked about SEO and Periscope, there was a common theme I heard on every panel this past Saturday.

We need to focus on the poor and invest in our children. As a city made up of over 53% of Blacks and 10% Lationo or Hispanic, we need to pull together and get a handle on this crime. We need to protect our inner city communities and children from themselves and an unjust system favoring an opposite side. The seeds of education need to be planted at a very early age. We need to graduate more students,  64.3% versus a national average of 81% is unacceptable (as is having an 81% national average but that’s a rant for another day).

Basically what I’m trying to say is that in order to make sure Cleveland stays on the up and up then we have to invest in the future of Cleveland not monetarily, but socially. We don’t want this place to become a ghost town after the RNC. We want our city to thrive and become something we can pass down to our children’s children.

'The Mouthwatering Taste of Success' by Brendan Whitt

Ethan and Indians Co-owner Paul Dolan

Anyone who has ever been successful in anything had to have one key character trait, perseverance. Whether it’s LeBron going to the gym before most of us have hit snooze, Jay-Z knowing that a drug dealer could become an all time great rap artist and business mogul or President Obama fighting his way to the White House as a black man. Perseverance will always get us through the rough and uncertain patches in life.

When I first heard of Ethan Holmes and his story I was inspired. I saw a guy who looks like me, is from my city and was on his way to the top. Ethan has always had a passion for business. He and a friend had a lemonade stand as children which they later made mobile and he even sold chocolate bars to classmates at Shaker Heights High School.

Then at 15 the idea hit him. “Why not start an applesauce company?” he thought. The market wasn’t saturated and he didn’t like the taste of Motts and other brand’s applesauces. “They’re flavors were just sugary and bland” he said. Ethan had been inspired by businessman Farrah Gray’s Book ‘Reallionaire’ given to him by his godmother.

“I never read a lot but his book just sparked my interest,” Ethan said. “He did it right.” Gray had made over a million dollars by the age of 14 after starting his own food related business. Ethan knew he had the hustle, he just needed a little push. After never fully committing to his dream Ethan finally found the moment to take his business seriously in 2014.

“I was working in Hiram’s cafeteria making sandwiches where I was making about $8.75 an hour and saving up for a clunker.” Ethan had stacked his checks and had over $1,000 saved up for his future bucket. It was then when his girlfriend Janae pushed him to finally take his applesauce business seriously. He started off by making applesauce in his kitchen and struggling to get vendors to put his product on their shelves. “There’s beauty in the struggle” he said.

Every year the Counsel of Small Enterprises, or COSE, hosts a competition where small business owners vie for the chance to gain additional resources for their businesses. “I applied every year for about three or four straight years and got denied every time. They didn't take us seriously.” Ethan’s company failed to even reach the first round. In March of this year Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce took home first prize and $20,000.

Holmes Mouthwatering logo

There surely was beauty in his struggle as Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce has grown into a budding success. Their applesauce is available in original and cinnamon and is now sold in over 60 locations in Ohio and Illinois in stores like Heinen’s, Zagara’s, and Giant Eagle. Ethan and his company are also looking forward to having their applesauce sold in Whole Foods and Marcs.

While his business success is surely something to be admired, it’s the personal sincerity that he injects into his company and brand. Unlike Mott’s and those other “sugary and bland” tasting applesauces, Holmes Mouthwatering cares about their consumers. Each 16 oz. jar is made from all natural products and  contains only 6g of sugar and 40 calories. Ethan has also made the conscious decision to donate 10% of all proceeds to fighting childhood obesity.  Ethan and his company are also looking to have their applesauce distributed in Columbus schools.

But it all isn’t peaches and cream or Apples and cider (dum dum tshhh).Even though he’s had success there are still struggles that plague him. Ethan says the hardest part about running a business isn’t managing product but managing people. “I was banned from hosting demos at Heinen’s for a while because people would leave early or not clean up properly.”

Holmes Mouthwatering summer interns

During this past summer Ethan worked with local Black and Hispanic teens. They learned about small business models where Ethan had them create their own mock Lemonade stands. He taught them necessary business management skills while they volunteered in his space at the Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen. His time with the teens has inspired him to start his own non-profit called the Young Entrepreneur Initiative. Ethan also spends time as a consultant with the Cleveland State Small Business Development Center in Cleveland Heights.

Ethan wants to especially thank his girlfriend Janae for all of her love and support. He knows that his company can grow into a national and even global brand over the next five to ten years.
No matter how you dress it up Ethan has won and looks to continue to keep winning. He’s confident but not cocky, easy going but a go getter and stays busy. He’s just a normal guy with a bunch of apples and a plan.

Feel free to visit their site: http://holmesapplesauce.com/