 Originally published on The Black American News Network website Aug. 2012 Updated June 27, 2015 ‘…impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal’ President Barack Obama June 26, 2015 during eulogy of Reverend Clementa Pinckney For African-Americans, name means everything. Your name is the one thing post emancipation that cannot be taken away, not easily anyway. Together with a social-security number, your name identifies you as unique. It sets you apart. It is reasonable then to assume that until you have done something to taint your name or that attaches to your social-security number, no one would have any reason to deny you opportunities before meeting you, right. But hold on folks, there’s a new sheriff in town and he’s policing by a new set of rules. While minorities of all kinds have wrestled with whether to celebrate their culture by giving their children distinctive names, or help them "blend in" with a name that won't stick out, blacks have chosen increasingly distinctive names over the past century, with the trend accelerating during the 1960s. | Research in the U.S. shows that as a result, employers now use these names to identify ethnicity. Names like DeShawn and Shanice are almost exclusively black, while whites, whose names have also become increasingly distinctive, favored names like Cody and Caitlin. Roland Fryer of the Cambridge-based National Bureau of Economic Research says, “It's not really that you're named Kayesha that matters, it's that you live in a community where you're likely to get that name that matters." However, in another paper entitled “Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal … The University of Chicago's Marianne Bertrand and MIT's Sendhil Mullainathan appeared to find that a black-sounding name could be an impediment. For many blacks this presents a peculiar problem. On the one hand, they do not want their children robbed of their ethnicity, on the other they believe a distinctively black name could end up being an economic impediment. 'Black' Names A Resume Burden? - CBS News Written by Jay Arrington, The Maryland Daily Examiner For additional articles written by Jay Arrington, visit the Maryland Daily Examiner website. For information regarding the Maryland Daily Examiner, contact Reggie Kearney (Editor-in-Chief). |
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“You say you only do God’s will. In His name you destroy and kill. You use His name to mask your sin and afterwards you say Amen.”
From the poem “Weaker and Wiser” by Jay Arrington The attack last week by two gunmen at a competition sponsored by the anti-Islamic group the American Freedom Defense Initiative once again highlighted the fact that hate-filled inspired acts do nothing to deter hate-filled inspired acts. In other words, “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Cartoonists were invited to the competition in Garland, Texas to compete for $12, 500 for drawing the most satirically disrespectful caricature of the Prophet Mohammed. The gunmen, killed by a nearby traffic cop acted as did previous attackers in France and Denmark in defense of the Prophet Mohammed as the mouthpiece of God in Islamic faith. In a Salon.com article posted last week, “When it got to the murders, I think I was surprised by that”: An abortion provider’s story David S. Cohen and Krysten Connon printed excerpts from, "Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism" which, chronicled the perils of an abortion doctor. The man, whose work as an abortion doctor dates back at least two decades has been targeted by anti-abortionists for the better part of those years. According to the article, in the early 90s anti-abortionists began a direct and violent campaign against the doctor including arson. The protestors set fire to the doctor’s house and barn. As a result, the doctor and his family lost all of their possessions, which included in addition to their house and barn, three other buildings, a dog, cats and seventeen horses. Not unlike the followers of Islam who retaliate against disrespectful caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in the name of Allah, anti-abortionists commit acts like those mentioned above in addition to murder in the name of God. In his January 2015 article, Prophet Mohammed cartoons: the roots of Muslim fury ... John Bingham Religious Affairs Editor of the Telegraph wrote, “Judaism, Islam and some strands of Christianity all, to varying degrees, share an aversion to visual images. In the Bible, the Second Commandment forbids not only any depiction of God but “any graven image, or any likeness of anything” in Heaven or Earth. It has not stopped Roman Catholic, Orthodox and, increasingly, Anglican churches being filled with icons and statues of Jesus.” Bingham went on to say, “Many Islamic scholars forbid images of any living thing and few if any permit depictions of God or any prophet – including Mohammed, Abraham and Jesus.” After a jury found Paul Jennings Hill guilty of murdering Dr. John Britton along with James Barret an abortion clinic escort, The Army of God (AOG) came to Hill’s defense. The AOG issued a statement, which read, “Whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child. If in fact Paul Hill did kill or wound abortionist John Britton, and accomplices James Barrett and Mrs. Barrett, his actions are morally justified if they were necessary for the purpose of defending innocent human life." The Army of God is the same group, which claimed responsibility for the 1997 shrapnel bombings by Eric Robert Rudolph of abortion clinics in Atlanta and Birmingham. While I understand the anger felt by those offended by abortions and those offended by the misguided hate-filled in the name of ‘free speech’ BS of some groups and cartoonists, I do not as a Christian agree with or condone retaliation, especially injury and/or murder. Call Him what you will God or Allah, He is the same God of Mohammed and Jesus and therefore the laws and commandments apply to us all. The Sixth Commandment says, “Thou shall not kill” except perhaps in defense of one’s life, home or family. Jesus also mentioned that the greatest expression of love is for a man to lay down his life for his brother, lay down his life not take a life. As far as caricatures are concerned, it would serve us all well to revisit the full text of the Second Commandment. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My Commandments.” Exodus 20:2-17…Who love Him and keep His Commandments. Notice if you will the crux of this commandment. “Do not make any image of what is in heaven above or the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” In other words, make no images of man for which to serve or for which to bow down before and especially do not commit murder defending an insult of the person, a form of worship. God essentially says that we should worship the creator not the creation and certainly not commit murder over hurt feelings or because we disagree with the choices of others. When Peter severed the ear of the Roman soldier in defense of Christ, Christ reprimanded Peter telling Peter that he who lived by the sword shall die by the sword. If Christ would not allow Peter to defend His (Christ) life with violence then surely the life choices of others and certainly no cartoon is worthy of violent retaliation. We cannot be selective regarding obedience of the commandments. It’s either all or nothing because from the law no one is immune and from the judgment no one shall escape. By Jay Arrington, Maryland Daily Examiner For information regarding Maryland Daily Examiner, contact Reggie Kearney, Editor-in-Chief at reginald.kearney@marylanddailyexaminer.com  "An exclusive and in-depth interview with Sayydah Garrett regarding Female Mutilation"
If I were to ask you to make a connection between the gentleness of an elephant and the ghastliness of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), you would probably be hard-pressed to make one. Strangely enough however, there is one and it began just over a year ago in the living room of Sayydah Garrett in the little hamlet of Glen Ridge, New Jersey while watching a documentary about elephants with her husband and daughter. When Sayydah, who sponsors Kenia, an orphaned elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a haven for orphaned elephants in Nairobi, Kenya, mentioned to her husband her desire to visit elephants in their natural habitat in Kenya, his somewhat jokingly tepid response only served to strengthen her resolve to go, and go she did in August 2012. What transpired as a result of that resolve was a visit that is now a vision. First a little background, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust finds and cares for elephants orphaned because their mothers have been slaughtered for their ivory (tusks) and so then it is no surprise that Sayydah who has enjoyed a love of elephants since childhood would be a passenger aboard this rescue ship. Traveling alone, Sayydah spent four days in the Samburu region of Kenya and on her second day visited the Masai village of Namayiana where because she was the only visitor that day had the run of the village and its beautiful Pastoralist peoples. Pastoralists are semi-nomadic people, meaning they herd goats, cattle (mostly) and sometimes camel and sustain themselves with only three things from the cow –the meat, the milk and the blood. After spending what she describes as one of the most incredible days of her life singing, dancing, and taking pictures which was evident in the way she reminisced, she returned to the Samburu lodge where upon showing the restaurant captain, Samuel Siriria Leadismo, the pictures she had taken, discovered the village and its people were his home and his relatives. On the heels of their newfound connection, Mr. Leadismo went on to share a little of his background and his appreciation for how his life had turned out. In addition, and on a more serious note, Mr. Leadismo suddenly revealed to Sayydah his determination to eradicate FGM and forced marriages of girls before it was his youngest sister’s turn to be cut. Upon hearing that startling revelation, Sayydah, asked Mr. Leadismo for more information about the consequences of FGM, which include
Mr. Leadismo told Sayydah that he believed girls should be attending school and not married off to men old enough to be their grandfathers. Feeling the passion on display from Mr. Leadismo, Sayydah told him that she had non-profit and grant writing experience to which he said, “great, you will be our president” and thus was born “The Pastoralist Child Foundation”, whose primary goal is the eradication of FGM within the next three years. In addition, the foundation focuses on replacing the cultural mindset of rites of passage through early and continuing education, community cohesion and awareness. For more information about FGM and the wonderful work of The Pastoralist Child Foundation and how you can help visit http://pastoralist-child-foundation.org/ Coming soon: Part Two: The Girls and the Numbers Written By Jay Arrington Staff Writer for the Maryland Daily Examiner *For additional information regarding Maryland Daily Examiner, contact Reginald Kearney (Publisher/Editor in Chief): Phone: (301)661-3989 or Email to: reginald.kearney@marylanddailyexaminer.com  In the first part of this series, I briefly discussed the attachment of shame (stigma) by many African-Americans to mental illness. Not unlike other groups, but certainly to a larger degree, African-Americans allow these beliefs to become roadblocks to treatment. While for many, issues of racism, lack of insurance and mistrust of the system are valid - stigma and lack of being well informed prove the greatest obstacles. Subsequently, according to statistics, only 1 in 3 African Americans who need mental health care receive it. Noted Black psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson, founder and chief editor of BlackMentalHealthNet.com says, "Stigma often stifles the conversation regarding mental illness in the Black community," and "families too often base decisions on little information or misinformation.” A 1998 study commissioned by the National Mental Health Association, found that surprisingly many African-Americans looked upon those suffering from mental illness as inferior saying, they (patients) should be kept away from society sans “keep an eye on Baby.” Moreover, a public opinion poll taken during the 90s showed that 63% of African-Americans believed depression was a personal weakness, and that only 31% believed depression was a health problem (NMHA). Beliefs such as these, in addition to the shame and embarrassment associated with mental illness affect both the individual and the family… causing them to hide the illness rather than seek treatment and is a persistent problem in the African-American community. And while these beliefs are not gender specific, a recent study by Waite & Killian, 2008 found that African-American women believed they were not susceptible to depression and that individuals develop depression due to having a “weak mind, poor health, a troubled spirit, and lack of self-love.”
~~ Witten by Jay Arrington Maryland Daily Examiner Growing up in North Carolina in the 60’s, I witnessed behaviors within the African-American community that at the time I never associated with mental illness. Unfortunately, as children, we would laugh at the man or woman we would see rocking back and forth, as they sat, some quietly, others as they mumbled to themselves. Then there were those who would constantly display a whimsical yet disturbingly haunting smile - looking more through you than at you. In those days if you ever visited anyone with that type of family member, that family member was often rustled off into another room within earshot of the person assigned to “keep an eye on baby.”
The visiting adults would fawn over the person and say “poor thang” and “it’s a shame” and just as quickly upon leaving, would make a joke about “the whole family being crazy” and how surprised they are the entire family isn’t locked-up. Laughed at, hidden, disregarded, stigmatized and more important, misunderstood, that pretty much sums up the attitude towards mental illness within the African-American community then and now. In addition to the stigma associated with mental illness, cultural biases against mental health professionals and health care professionals in general prevented many African- Americans from accessing care because of prior experiences with historical misdiagnoses, inadequate treatment and a lack of cultural understanding. Moreover, only 2 percent of psychiatrists, 2 percent of psychologists and 4 percent of social workers in the United States are African-American. As a consequence, today, just as in the 60’s, African Americans tend to rely on family, religious and social communities for emotional support rather than turning to health care professionals, even though this may at times be necessary. ~~ Written by Jay Arrington Maryland Daily Examiner 
“What my people are to be, I can’t say. I never heard any ask what freedom will bring. Freedom’s first. As for me, my son died, fighting for the Union, wearing the Union blue. For freedom he died. And I’m his mother. That’s what I am to the nation, Mr. Lincoln. What else must I be?” Elizabeth Keckley, From the movie “Lincoln” 2013
Isn't it funny how the world somehow has come to expect mothers to be more than mothers to the point that it is surprising when mothers are just that, mothers. Maybe some of you remember the song, “Superwoman” by the great Stevie Wonder, “Mary wants to be a superwoman but is that really in her head. But I just want to live each day to love her for what she is. Mary wants to be another movie star but is that really in her mind. And all the things she wants to be she needs to leave behind.” Unfortunately, the world in which we live finds it strange a woman leaving other things behind and not trying to be Superwoman, who wants only to be a mother and nothing else. Last night I had the pleasure of speaking with Pastor Rose M. Banks. Pastor Banks is the mother of David Banks of the IRP6. The IRP6 are six Colorado businessmen convicted of mail and wire fraud and are currently serving prison sentences ranging from 87 to 135 months in federal prison since July 2012. For those of you who have followed the case via my articles and the tireless advocacy of A Just Cause @ a-justcause.com, you perhaps have some idea of the exhaustive burden Pastor Banks and the families of these six men carry. Unlike Mary of biblical fame, Pastor Banks and the mothers involved in this case, wives included, had no idea they would one-day face what has to be for them an ordeal tantamount to mental crucifixion. At least in Mary’s case she foreknew what her son would have to face and had time to prepare herself, although how can any mother prepare herself to sacrifice a child. During our conversation last night, Pastor Banks expressed her continued frustration with the failure of our government to honor its promise to provide equal protection under the law and its (government) failure to right its wrongs. Even more palpable was Pastor Banks’ frustration regarding this Mother’s Day, as she lamented the absence of her son and her son-in-law’s brother (Clinton A. Stewart) during this most cherished of family holidays. Though she spoke fondly of the taped messages she received for last year’s Mother’s Day, she made it clear her prayer remains the day will come when taped messages are no longer necessary. Sadly, Pastor Banks is not the only mother in present-day America having to deal with the reality of sons or daughters languishing in prison, let alone languishing there because of wrongful convictions. A 2009 study by the Pew Center on the States concluded that of the 7.3 million people in the correctional system, 10% or 730,000 might have been innocent of their alleged crimes. These numbers are frightening to say the least and are more cause for concern within the black community considering that more than half of all wrongfully convicted prisoners are black and black males in particular. The resurgence of Jim Crow type politics on both state and federal levels minimize the chance the situation will improve. To the contrary and given the financial profits associated with the privatizing of prisons, we should not expect to see any legislation targeting relaxing prison population numbers. Despite recent proclamations by the justice department regarding unfair sentencing of blacks versus whites, state legislators continue to hold the keys to the kingdom. In addition, the failure on the part of the federal government to as previously stated, out rogue federal law enforcement both on and off the bench renders such proclamations moot and a clear example of political lip service. As for the Mothers, whose cheeks are stained with tears, whose knees are bruised from the constant kneeling in prayer and whose hearts are heavy with sorrow, we here at Maryland Daily Examiner cry, kneel and mourn with you. We just want to love you for what you are, Mothers. We salute you for being what you are and for leaving all the things you wanted to be behind. We salute you for being Mothers. As Mrs. Lincoln’s maidservant said to President Lincoln concerning her son who died in the war, For freedom he died. And I’m his mother. That’s what I am to the nation, Mr. Lincoln. What else must I be?” ~~~ Written By Jay Arrington - Maryland Daily Examiner 
Who could have ever imagined the day when the argument for women to pack heat would be at the forefront of a national debate in the United States? Yeah, you heard it right. The gun control debate has turned into Mother Theresa vs. Annie Oakley. Last week in Newtown, Conn., one mother after another testified about losing her child in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre or about the guilt that haunts her because her child survived. The military-style AR-15 rifle the shooter used, one mother told a legislative panel, was “a death machine.” Meanwhile on that very same day in Washington, another woman, Gayle Trotter of the Independent Women’s Forum, testified just the opposite. She said an assault rifle in the hands of a mother defending her children and her home against violent intruders offers “peace of mind.” The AR-15, Trotter told a Senate panel, is “a defense weapon.”
Now, setting aside for a moment the validity, sound or not, for either argument, can any of us really imagine a mother welding an AR-15 assault rifle when she answers her front door- or better yet, having one set up in her living room like a piece of exercise equipment? Has America descended so far down the hellhole of violence that irrational thought is now the new normal? Powerful lobbies on both sides of the issue are turning to women as leading spokespeople and symbols. In television advertisements and op-ed articles, speeches at rallies and testimonials before legislators, both types are stoking emotion and fear in an attempt to sway public opinion. What is far worse however is, that lost in all of this fear mongering are the voices of those that really matter, the children. In the midst of this conflagration, the so-called adults on both sides of the issue are using the very bully tactics they de-cry as a major part of the problem that leads to these horrendous tragedies. Those in favor of stricter firearm restrictions are employing mothers of shooting victims in their public relations push, calculating that when they speak out against gun violence they are hard to dismiss. Hundreds of thousands of moms who began organizing on Facebook after December’s Newtown shootings are staging rallies nationwide and lobbying lawmakers to pass President Obama’s gun-control proposals. The gun lobby, meanwhile, is using women to create a gentler image of the male-dominated industry and to frame its status-quo agenda as more about family safety and self-protection than about hunting and aggression. When CNN aired a town hall forum on gun violence last week, both of the pro-gun panelists were women. Manufacturers sell product lines of feminine firearms and accessories, retrofitting weapons to better accommodate women’s bodies and marketing them in pink and other bright colors. One Web site, Girl’s Guide to Guns, describes itself as “dedicated to women who dig fashion and fire power.” “America’s women, they are leading the way,” NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in a speech at the gun group’s convention last year. “Nearly 30 million American women now own guns. And they know what all of us have known for a long time: the more women who buy and own and shoot guns, the safer and the better off we’ll all be.” News flash Mr. LaPierre, arming women is not what this debate is about. It’s about disarming troubled teens, urban and suburban. It’s about our children and somehow I just cannot imagine Mother Theresa or Annie Oakley squaring off in the middle of the street armed to the teeth with an AR-15. Can you? ~~~ Jay Arrington (EMAIL) Maryland Daily Examiner - See more at: http://www.marylanddailyexaminer.com/the-real-ape-story-part-iii-annie-oakley-vs-mother-theresa/#sthash.BT7Cl8L0.dpuf 
Have any of you ever turned on the news and heard about some tragic car accident and the reporter is interviewing people in neighborhood? There is always the one thing that stands out about most of those interviews and that’s the statement, “they speed through here all of time and I just don’t understand why they don’t put up a traffic light or erect a stop sign there. It was bound to happen sooner or later.” Next thing you know the neighborhood is outraged and everyone gathers at town hall meetings to shake their collective fists at local politicians. Episodes such as this mirror the legacy of the gun control debate in the United States and just like the traffic-light syndrome of local communities, most of the time these debates of shock and outrage only included those affected by the tragedy. In other words, people outside of the affected community never bothered attending meetings until and unless it concerned them and their own family’s safety.
In the wake of countless mass killings at local schools and universities, a phenomenon that has taken on the characteristics of a runaway train, more and more communities are melding their collective voices and shaking their collective shocked and outraged fists at local, state and federal politicians. Unfortunately, that runaway train has gathered a head of its own steam and sadly, some of the stops it makes are stops that a great many people in this country do not want to see removed from the train’s schedule. Take for instance the more than 500 murders that occurred in Chicago in 2012, where was the shock and outrage for those children? Who raised their collective fists and voices other than those affected by those tragedies? Where were the advocates for the traffic-light that might have saved Hadiya Pendleton, the 15 year-old honor student and band majorette at Kings College Prep School in Chicago who died after a gunman shot her at a park just a week after she performed in President Barack Obama’s inauguration. From the looks of things, shock and outrage does not rear their collective heads until the train makes a stop in neighborhoods that really matter. This past Tuesday would have been Trayvon Martin’s eighteenth birthday. However, as we all know Trayvon had his life taken by that overzealous wannabe sheriff, George Zimmerman last year. Zimmerman, whose right to supposedly stand-his-ground and kill a defenseless unarmed teenager is being defended by an outraged NRA shaking their collective fists, is being challenged by those who finally had the train stop in their neighborhoods and are shaking their collective fists right back at the NRA. In Detroit this past Wednesday, a 70-year-old high school basketball coach shot and killed one teenager and wounded a second as they attempted to rob him outside the school. This incident will no doubt be used to fuel the gun advocates’ claims that all law abiding citizens be armed if they choose to be. Part one of this series began by me describing the results of a learned behavioral experiment using apes in a cage. I then went on to substitute and relate the behavior of the apes to that of inner-city children, only for purposes of point, not physical characteristics. This metaphorical use of traffic-lights and the silence of the voices who witnessed the behavioral patterns of those in their communities, knowing that sooner or later something bad was bound to happen, yet said nothing, is much the same as those who never warned the children in part one of this series. It is only after the fact that people raise their collective voices and shake their collective fists. First, the shock and outrage only extends to those affected locally, no attention paid to communities affected beyond. Moreover, while the ear is pricked by the sound of the train’s warning whistle and we raise our heads to try and see from which direction the train comes, we ignore it if makes its stop somewhere else. We do not realize that our ignorance and lack of compassion for others only fuels the fire that steams the engine of that runaway train headed right for our hometown depot. However when it makes its stop, this time the collectively raised fists and the collectively raised voices are accompanied by collectively shed tears. ~~~ Jay Arrington (EMAIL) Maryland Daily Examiner See more at: http://www.marylanddailyexaminer.com/the-real-ape-story-part-ii-the-traffic-light-syndrome/#sthash.bbLPLA1Z.dpuf  Before I go any further let me state for the record that the above title is in no way a reflection of my thoughts toward the people referenced in this story. It just happens to be the title of an experiment using apes to record learned behavioral patterns, in which I substitute humans for the apes in order to get the point across.
Some years ago, I purchased “The Contender” starring Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen and Gary Oldman, a story about a female senator played by Allen who is asked by the president played by Bridges to be his Vice President after his first VP suddenly dies. Long story short, one day I decided to watch the deleted scenes portion of the special features and one scene in particular caught my attention. In this deleted scene Bridges is telling his staff the “Ape Story”. In this story, five apes are placed inside of a cage where a set of stairs have been set up and dangling over the stairs from a string is a banana. Outside of the cage is a fire hydrant with a fire hose attached to it and the hydrant contains freezing water. As is their nature, one of the apes immediately attempts to climb the stairs and retrieve the banana. However, as he does the keeper outside of the cage proceeds to hose the guilty ape down with the freezing water for about five minutes along with the other four apes who have not attempted to get the banana. Not swayed by this hosing the other apes continue in succession to retrieve the banana, but just like before, all five apes are punished with the spraying. Needless to say, that after a while none of the apes would go for that banana. Later the keeper would then replace one of the apes with a new ape and naturally, the new ape would go for the banana. However, instead of the keeper having to discipline the new ape, the other four apes proceeded to beat the living daylights out of the new ape. This continued until the keeper had replaced the first five apes with five new apes and each time the new ape went for the banana, the other apes would attack him without knowing why they were doing so. The moral of the story, that’s just the way things are done around here. For purposes of this commentary, let us imagine the old apes are urban adults, the new apes urban children, that the fire hose and hydrant represent prison and/or death, the stairs the correct road to travel and the banana bling/bling. Using your imagination imagine that in order to achieve success instead of taking the correct route of the stairs the children go the route of violence and murder. Furthermore, imagine that the adults don’t attempt to correct the children when the adults witness the children making the same mistakes they (adults) made by warning the children of the consequences of said behavior. What we are left with is a pattern of learned behavior that says that the way of violence and murder is just the way things are done around here. Moreover, the children become so desensitized to that violent behavior that instead of looking for ways to damp it down, ways are sought to make it more attractive and rewarding. No attempt is made to show the child that not only does this behavior harm him/her, but also the neighborhood. There are no corrective measures taken because the adults are afraid of the children because of the desensitization of the children towards violence and their lack of respect for human life. Far too many years have passed and still the same conversation dominates our communities about why we continue to struggle and grapple with the same issues. Today’s ghetto mirrors the ghetto of forty years ago. Inner-city schools of today mirror those of yesteryear. The only thing that has really changed in urban areas is the number of funerals for our youth has increased, the sense of real community has decreased and those of us who remember the clean sidewalks and the pride taken in keeping them that way are left broken-hearted, shaking our heads wondering how the so-called progress we’ve made feels and looks more like regression. ~~~ Jay Arrington (EMAIL) Maryland Daily Examiner - See more at: http://www.marylanddailyexaminer.com/the-real-ape-story/#sthash.VWg2fMkl.dpuf |
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