Editor's Note: GBMNews.com allows readers to post their comments. Occasionally we receive comments from readers worthy of publication for the wider readership. Below is a comment, edited in conformity with our standards, from a reader named "Craig" who shared his view on the demise of People of Color in Crisis (POCC).

Editor's Note: A reader, called "M" to protect his identity, shared this comment with GBMNews: "I am a New Yorker and I'd like to date other HIV + AIDS African-American men. I've been alone forever and I don't enjoy the stress of dating HIV- black men. I'm not looking for white or busted. I am attractive, in-shape but I take HIV meds everyday which I find is just too much for HIV- brothas."

We engaged with "M" asking his opinion on establishing a site or area exclusively for HIV-positive Black Gay men. Below is his response, edited in conformity with our standards, which contains material of a mature nature and presented to advance his point.

Please continue to Full Story

By Jerome Whitehead

Before I begin writing this particular piece, I want to apologize to any reader who may be offended by the subject content. I realize that when you write opinionated pieces, the views that are expressed are your own; but with freedom of expression comes a backlash where some folks whose viewpoints that may not necessarily concur with your own may take what you've written as an attack on the theirs. So I apologize in advance if after you read this, you come away with that very feeling. My intent is never to offend, only to enlighten, possibly providing another perspective that may never have come to light. To the reader that may be offended by my words, I apologize for how you feel, but not for how I feel. Nor will I apologize for what moves me to write what I write whenever I write it.

The Church Sanctuary by Poncho Brown

For the last few months, I've been struggling with the idea of going back to church. There's a church literally a stones throw away from where I live. I've been there twice, maybe three times in my lifetime. I felt comfortable there, talked with the pastor at length and found that she is surprisingly warm, receptive and inclusive. I say inclusive because even though I didn't divulge my gay identity, we did talk about her congregation and exactly who and what makes up that congregation. I left feeling like if there was a church that I would consider joining, it would probably be that one. The few times that I've listened to her preach, I was always struck with the core honesty that she delivered her sermons. They were un-scripted at best; heartfelt and full of compassion at most. As I sat in the rear of the church, I thought to myself, "Could I join and commit to this church the same way I did the last church that I belonged to some five + years ago"? The answer of course was I really didn't know. You see, I've been gun shy of organized religion ever since I left what had been my church home for over a decade of my life. I won't name the church because it is irrelevant. Nor will I go into the reasons why I left because it would be too time consuming. I may save that for another article. What I will say about my departure is that it had absolutely nothing to do with sexuality - mines or anyone elses.

Please continue to Full Story

Less than forty years ago, Corporate America was the place to be. You entered the job market with guts and determination that you would make it, working your way to the top, hoping to get recognized along the way for accomplishments that you've achieved…accomplishments that would cast a favorable light on your company.

You'd hope that the reward would be great, coming in the form of verbal praise, promotion and/or salary increase. If you were lucky, sometimes you got all three. Working long hours were expected because you knew the pay out would be good if not great. If you were good at what you did and were fortunate enough to have a boss or supervisor that could see your worth, life could be pretty good. Or at least that was the playing field three to four decades ago.

Please continue to Full Story

If you read the paper, watch CNN or BET, listen to Tom Joyner every morning on the radio or surf websites like BlackAmericaWeb.com, then the brouhaha that continues to unfold following the arrest of the prominent Harvard University professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., is old news.
But the irony is that what seems to have him so steamed up, racial profiling in America is nothing new - at least not for every day brothers like me.

According to Cambridge police who were called on the scene of the professor's home because of a call about a suspected break-in, Gates initially refused to show his identification to Officer Crowley but eventually produced a Harvard University ID card. Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Gates in a prepared statement said, "It made me realize how vulnerable Blacks, Latinos and all poor people are when it comes to rogue policeman." Come on Doc! You know the deal. Beatings, arrests, harassment at the hands of "rogue" police officers happen from Arizona to Alaska. A brother in what this writer assumes to be a predominantly white neighborhood refusing to show ID and showing attitude to boot. That sounds like a ride downtown. And that's just what Gates received.

Please continue to Full Story

Michael Jackson's memorial took place today in L.A. and it seems the world took notice. At work, my internet software and other medical applications ran sluggishly, only to be informed by the IT department that, "Oh, our applications are running slowly because of all the people streaming the MJ memorial on their computers". HELLO???!! Aren't we supposed to be "working", while at work? The female IT specialist informed me of this just as matter-of-factly as she told me to re-boot my computer, all the while, BILLIE JEAN played in the background. She was in an MJ trance. Well, at least my computer and printer functioned better after that!

Due to my hectic work day, I didn't attend or photograph any Memorial gatherings. To tell you the truth, I think I have MJ fatigue. My bad, it's really my fault for watching the coverage so much. Nevertheless, I decended onto Harlem's 125th street to see what was going on. Today at least, the famed street turned into Michael Jackson Mall, selling everything from t-shirts, buttons, signatures, posters and absolutely anything related to the King of Pop. As folks along the boulevard shopped frenetically for MJ-ware, I was suddenly struck with the notion of Michael Jackson, the commodity. Even in death, we seek not the truth of the man behind the mirror, we only snatch up frivilous mementos to remember a man, many only have now come to really "appreciate". That's appreciation to the extent that we can jump on a bandwagon, forging a collective pride, if only for these days after death, we are reminded not of our own mortality, but by the lack of green in our pockets. As I jostled through the crowd near the Apollo Theater and vendors along the way, a woman bolted through to grab the last $5 T-shirt of an overdone MJ from the BAD album. This was serious. Michael Jackson, no longer the man...more like the machine at this point, was feeding an economy both above ground and below it. Theere were some questionable dealings on 125th street, even as so-called "charitable organizations", sprang up to collect donations for the "Michael Jackson Fund". Goods with Michael's unlicensed image is printed on a multitude of white cotton and polyester tees. Buttons, with images that looked like they were made from copies of copies of copies, were strewn across folding card tables, all for the purchase, all for "the cause". If you visit 125th street in search of the right MJ t-shirt or sequined glove, just shop around, you're more than likely going to leave with something cheap. I should know, I brought a tee for $5 with a Young Afro haired Michael smiling on the front...just the way i want to remember him.

Michael Jackson money

Since the recent Iranian elections, most people here in America, and I'm assuming all across the west as far as I know - now that I live in the States, I don't always get news of what's going on elsewhere as much as I used to, and I don't switch onto the Beeb as much as I should - including all of the news channels and every single anchor without exception have been hailing the demonstration marches as a noble fight for Democracy against a tyrannical and dictatorial ruler in Ahmadinejad.

 

I would certainly caution against this kneejerk reaction, even though I seem to be in the huge minority, along, with President Obama apparently, who cautioned that a Mir-Hossein Mousavi Administration may not represent the turnaround that most people have jumped to the conclusion that it would be. Bob Baer, a former CIA operative in the Middle East, in his article in Time on Thursday June 18th, Don't Forget Mousavi's Bloody Past pointed out that Mousavi was the Iranian Prime Minister from 1981 - 1989, and alleges that he, Mousavi, bears the blood of Americans on his hands. Not that the CIA is my go to for the truth, but it is worthwhile to note that there are dissenting voices on the faultlessness of Mousavi. I am a fire breathing liberal, and a huge Obama supporter, for which reason, I liked the idea of an Ahmadinejad loss in the recent Iranian elections, particularly given that the storyline that was developing was that his loss would be translated as a win for Obama's softly softly approach toward Iran and as an endorsement by the Iranian people (whom conservatives like to proclaim they have no quarrel with - even as they support sanctions that would weaken the Iranian economy wreaking havoc to those very Iranian people's lives) of his extension of an open hand of friendship and open dialogue. Alas, the election did not go as I had hoped, against the slim odds that Mir-Hossein Mousavi might have toppled Ahmadinejad.

Please continue to Full Story

It is almost serendipitous that just as I completed writing the title of this article, a news segment came on CNN regarding healthcare, a very sad story about a volunteer organization, Remote Area Medical that provides healthcare for Americans without insurance. Perhaps one could put it down to serendipity, or perhaps, it is purely a case of the fact of the urgency of the issue, and the fact that maybe one cannot go a full news day without hearing a story regarding healthcare, the lack of healthcare and the atrocities faced by regular every day Americans around healthcare and specifically insurance.

The thing about healthcare here in the USA is that actually medical care is not bad at all, so in fact, this debate is one that should really be a framed as a debate about health insurance.

When one can get their care paid for, it is in fact great quality care that is often provided in a timely manner in environments full of the latest equipment, well trained doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. So in fact, I think that framing the healthcare debate as one about healthcare is a bit of a misnomer, because it suggests that there is something wrong with the provision of healthcare in America, which in fact, based on my experiences, which are varied and extensive right across the globe, there really isn't, or at least, it is pretty much as good as any care I have had anywhere else, perhaps with the exception of France, where the system is excellent both at the point of delivery as well as in the manner of payment. The particular segment on CNN featured Dr. Stan Broc, founder/Director of Remote Area Medical, a volunteer medical provider organization which provides healthcare to people in remote areas that are hard to reach and whose residents would otherwise have no access to urgently needed healthcare as well as Dr. Ross Isaacs a volunteer with the organization. Dr. Ross Isaacs described situations where for example, there are Americans with diabetes, who are forced to go without insulin for months because they cannot afford to pay for it. Fredericka Whitfield who was anchoring the news show, pointed out that some images from the organization's video looked more like video taken in places in the third world, and indeed the story sounded like one that you would expect from a third world country. President Obama is currently concentrating on this very question, and has in fact dedicated his last two Saturday radio/web addresses to the question of healthcare reform.

President Obama - wow, it feels so good to write that, so I will write it again, yes, President Obama, has very cleverly, as we have come to expect from him, tied the question of healthcare reform to the economy, tying economic recovery to healthcare reform, and managing to garner the support of small business organizations and even healthcare providers, who, faced with the reality that the question of healthcare reform is one whose time has come and is inevitable, have decided to jump on board to make sure they are not left off the negotiation table. To President Obama's credit, again, of course the health insurance companies would not have come aboard, were it not for the fact that the President himself held out an extended hand, pointing out to them, that reform was an idea whose time has come, and as he often likes to say, there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and invited them to join along.

Today, the California Supreme Court will ruled on the Marriage Act. The California Minority Counsel heard me speak on the subject and asked me to write this essay to be published in their newsletter during Pride Month. I'm particularly proud to be able to take a stand like this on issues important to the civil rights community in my role as a prosecutor and officer in a governmental agency. It's for reasons like this that we have to work harder to ensure that people sensitive to the needs of minorities remain, and are allowed into positions of leadership. Anyway, in case you are interested in the topic, here are my insights.

God birthed me black, left-handed, artistic and gay; four things that the majority population rejected. Well, I reject your rejection. God made me special and you don’t get it.

The majority said that I’m inferior because I am black, that blacks are supposed to be slaves, are supposed to be inferior. I reject that. God made me special and you don’t get it.

The majority said, three hundred years ago, that left-handed people were demonic, and should be burned at the stake, and they were.    The Eye of God by David Burliuk

Thirty years ago, parents were forcing right-handed behavior on God-given left-handed nature. God made me special and you don’t get it. A hundred years ago hotels posted sign that said “no niggers, Jews, animals, or actors allowed.” I am an actor. God made me special and you don’t get it. I am in love with the man that I’m in love with, yet I am not allowed to enjoy the sacredness of marriage enjoyed by others. I pay the same taxes, but I am resorted to a separate but equal taxation without representation inhumane clause that allows religious beliefs to trump the constitution that clearly states that there should be a separation between Church and State so that we do not duplicate the tyranny of the Spanish Inquisition, and other faith-based persecutions. The constitution clearly states that the minority should be protected against the tyranny of the majority. Marriage between a man and a woman is a faith-based agenda and should not be a legal standard. Marriage between consenting adults should be law-protected.

In his 1976 autobiography, My Life of Absurdity, African American novelist Chester Himes opened with:

“[Algerian philosopher] Albert Camus once said that racism is absurd. Racism introduces absurdity into the human condition. Not only does racism express the absurdity of the racists, but it generates absurdity in the victims. And the absurdity of the victims intensifies the absurdity of the racists, ad infinitum. If one lives in a country where racism is held valid and practiced in all ways of life, eventually, no matter whether one is a racist or a victim, one comes to feel the absurdity of life.

Racism generating from whites is first of all absurd. Racism creates absurdity among blacks as a defense mechanism. Absurdity to combat absurdity.”


 

When the BART Officer killed Oscar Grant on New Years Day, I have to admit, I initially blamed Grant.

He had been part of a commotion and the BART police had to be called. Then I saw the video. I saw the young African-American man lying face down while white officers totally controlled him. I saw the white officer shoot him in the back. I watched many young African American men’s greatest fear: to be vilified and shot like vermin. Then in March, I was shocked to hear that Lovelle Mixon, another young African American man, had killed three, then four, white policemen. The mainstream media called him a monster. Vigils were held for Mixon.

I didn’t make a connection between the two incidents except that both happened in East Oakland. They were confrontations between young African American men and white police officers. For many, the incidents were the continuation of Oa kland’s circle of fear, vilification/dehumanization and then violence. My question: How do African American men to see and get out of this circle of what Chester Himes called “absurdity to combat absurdity”?

* * *

This fear and distrust is not new or unique to Oakland. Throughout American history, law enforcement did not “protect and serve” the African American communities; it contained African Americans and protected the (white) mainstream “status quo.” Law enforcement policed the African American communities with terror and violence. Police brutality spurred the Black Panthers—but still white America, in its absurdity, viewed them as troublemakers. The police absurdly fought the peaceful Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr., with violence. Even today, innocent African American men are often stopped on the street. I myself had been handcuffed and detained in San Francisco’s Union Square because they were looking for a B lack man and I just happened to drive by. It was absurd since I was on my way to an art show.

It is human nature to vilify/demonize something to justify killing it. Oakland’s watching the white officer’s shooting Oscar Grant in the back confirmed many young men’s fears of mainstream America’s seeing him as a monster or beast. The white officer, acting as the agent of mainstream America, shot a helpless African American man in the back like “vermin.” A videophone captured the shooting; a policewoman tried to confiscate the phone.

Obama, should remember only too well the Roman observation: how fickle the populace of Rome - who briefly rejoiced in the victories of Pompeii and before the last sound of praise could be heard in his honor, turned against and reviled him. If he cannot deliver on the promises, like every politician before him, he has made, he would be hounded out of office in infamy. He is a lawyer and like all of his profession, he has over the last several weeks, since the elections, when the campaigning was over and he became starkly aware that his rhetoric had now to become practical, began to cover himself with a disclaimer. 

Not wanting to seem as though he has stepped away from his promises of change, he has begun to temper the expectations he created in the people of what he would do. In the later days of the interregnum, he has changed his tune, repeatedly he has cautioned that in the first 100 days of his administration, he may not be able to meet all the expectations people have of him, not that he has created in a people thirsty and desperate for a new American direction, and more importantly, being able to fulfill the promises he made to win; admitting to the possibility of making mistakes and missteps.  His electoral victory was a demonstration of who could fool all of the people better; everyone saw through Sen. John McCain's weak political strategies and rejected his posturing as a continuation of a Republican party steeped in the corrupt machinery born and developed since the Regan presidential era.

(This is the first in a series of reflections on what an Obama presidency means.)

As the celebrations from the night, when it was announced that Sen. Barack Obama, by majority of the electoral college and later confirmed by pronouncement by the combined houses of the legislature, had won the elections and was named President-elect, had given way to the stark reality of daylight, in Washington Heights trees lining the streets were festooned with toilet paper hanging from branches as if it was the morning after a festival, presenting a surreal image as if New Years had arrived early on November 5th.


 

As a young African American male of Generation Y, I never envisioned America electing an African American as the President of the United States. However, President-elect Barack Obama intellectual, intuitiveness, charisma, and poise was unmatched by his opponents, and he is viewed by many young African American males in urban areas throughout America as a positive role model. 

President-elect Barack Obama is a cornerstone to the motto "Making A Dream A Reality." According to a few young African American males living in a poverty-stricken area of South Florida; Barack Obama has given them hope because of his courageousness to run for presidency and historically win the election by a landslide.

According to Black Voice.com, the Rev. Clifton Davis, best known for his character as a Reverend on the series, "Amen" and the son on, "That's My Mama", told magazine, "Gospel Today", that "It seems as though gay lifestyle has become commonplace. I have nothing against someone who is gay. They have the freedom to live their life, but in the house of God -- although He loves them in their sin -- He wants them out of it. I love my gay friends, but I would rather see them walk in accordance with the Word of God...and I sure don't want to see women kissing (other women) on the air. I'm offended by it."

I have been reading and hearing who's the blame about the passing of Prop 8. Yes the numbers show that Blacks and Latinos were the big supporters. But before this game gets too big. I still want to push the deeper issue, which is religion.



 

Instead of talking about Rick Warren as the bastard choice, let's talk about the other Rev. in the room, Rev. Joseph Lowery. This man has done so much in his lifetime and he's truly an example social justice and good faith.

Rev. Lowery start his journey right after Rosa Parks made her historic stance. He help lead boycotts and protest in Montgomery and with Dr. King founded founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which he was president for 20 years.
Lowery also co-founder and leader the Black Leadership Forum. This group were active against the Apartheid and he was among the few to get arrested at the South African Embassy in during the Free South Africa movement.
From left: Kenneth Hagood, Dr. King, Rev. Joseph Lowery, and Dr. Edward Hart in front of Willard Straight Hall, Cornell, April 14, 1961.
Later he became a pastor in Atlanta and remains very active in the civil rights movement. In fact, he is a huge supporter of LGBT rights and our right to marry. He has received many awards for his work and he is dedicated in the fight for social justice. This choice was a wise choice for Obama. I hate that through all of this hype, we barely hear about the Rev. let alone the accomplishments Lowery has achieved. I only hope to do as a fourth of what he's done in my lifetime. So please everyone, look at Joseph Lowery as the balance to Rick Warren. Let his message, his work, and his purpose speak loudly that night and hopefully beyond.

In addressing this issue we must focus, not just on relations between African-Americans and Africans, but also between African-Americans and Africa as a continent.

Do African-Americans empathise with Africa? If so, how much? Indeed, it is worth examining relations within the United States between American-Africans and African-Americans. There are areas of solidarity in those relations; and there are areas of tension.


 

By Kheven LaGrone

Being homos exual compromises or revokes the entitlement that most white gays and lesbians are born and raised into. Many feel they must have a decision between their full entitlement (by abstaining or by remaining in the closet) or express their sexuality.