Vonetta McGee, Film and TV Actress, Dies at 69!

Vonetta died on July 9 in Berkeley, Calif. She played in “Blacula”, “Shaft in Africa”, “Eiger Sanction”, “Thomasine & Bushrod”, “Melinda”, “Hammer”, “Brothers”, “Repo Man”, “To Sleep with Anger”, and “Hell Town.” Don’t get her confused with Lonette McKee who played in “Sparkle.” Vonetta was 65. There seems to be an error in her birthdate. She was born on January 6 or the 14th, 1940. That would make her 69. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Rest In Peace, Ms McGee.

Honorable mention also goes out to James Gammon, who passed yesterday.  He was 70.  You might remember him from the baseball movie, "Major League."  He was the gravel-voiced coach.  Rest in Peace, Mr. Gammon.

Resegregation: Now Or Later?

In a June 15, 2010 photo, North Carolina chapter NAACP President Rev. William Barber is escorted from the Wake County Schools board room in handcuffs by Raleigh Police after he was arrested for staging a sit-in with three other activists during a recess of the board's meeting. The Wake County Board of Education's decision to scrap a much-praised busing-for-diversity program has sparked a public backlash not seen for decades in these parts.

It is discouraging to see how some adults can act stupid but question their children’s behaviors. They wonder where the kids picked up that kind of language and actions because they couldn’t have learned it from home. They don’t realize that children watch what adults don’t do, too! I hear some parents say that they don’t tolerate racism or bigotry in their home but will not speak out against injustice. Currently, the argument is whether or not Tea Party activists or racists. I’m sure not all of them are, the majority is mostly white and there are opportunists in every race that use organizations as a front for their own hidden agendas. My question is this. Have people really forgotten the reason why so many black organizations, newspapers and functions were formed? Do they realize that Blacks were not admitted to any mainstream America organizations simply because they were black? Cotillions, parades, magazines, contests, restaurants, and etc., were not opened to blacks, so we developed our own. Segregation was wrong because not all schools had equal access to finest educational material available. The black teachers made do with what they had and I think they did a helluva job with what little was available to them and teaching us in subpar conditions. They didn’t put up with the foolishness we now see at schools. Integration brought on busing. Kids were leaving their neighborhoods to attend school across town even though their old school was right down the street. Wouldn’t it had been cheaper to improve the schools and improve the technology, give the teachers higher salaries and upgrade the books than buy buses and maintain them enough to haul kids across town? Now 50 years later, resegregation is gaining ground and ground zero is in Raleigh, NC. Black and White Americans couldn’t predict that when integration cracked segregated walls, there were bound to be some fallout. It could expand opportunities for jobs and improve black children’s access to quality education. Common sense would dictate sending your child to the closest school, it’s practical safer and cheaper. The problem is how much better is your school in your area? Low income neighborhoods may not get the funding and support they need to better equip their children for school and technical vocations. Let’s stay away from the stereotypical labeling expected from low socioeconomic upbringing because not everyone is the same. So what’s normally the color of the majority in poor neighborhoods and the majority in affluent neighborhoods? We all know if you live in an affluent area, you’re going to ensure you have all your needs met without going to far to find them. What we as a people need to know that if people don’t want to be around you, why be around them? You don’t have to spend your money to prove to people that you got it. It hurts more when you don’t do business with them and spend it in their stores. What concerns me more are the code words for state’s rights and sovereign statehood. I lived in the 60s and these ultra-right conservative politicians want to take us back to it. Don’t vote on party lines, vote for what’s right for all Americans.

Thoughts from Rev. Ben Colley

Rev brought me some insight on his sermons. You’d need to be there to get the full effect! The subject was on people are looking for a word. I’ll try to give you a picture of what he’s saying. Wall Street is waiting on the government, the government is waiting on each other, BP is waiting for a solution, the people in La are waiting for an answer and Main Street is waiting for jobs and hope. People are like cars, running out of gas and just about ready to stop. So he presented 4 principles to think about while Jesus was in the boat during the storm. The first, Jesus was in the boat with the apostles sleeping while a terrible storm raged about them. It frightened the apostles so bad that they woke up the Son of God. All He said was, “Peace be still.” Immediately the storm ended. The premise is recognizing the external conditions. The apostles didn’t have control over the storm but God does. The second, Jesus asked them, “Where is thou faith?” He addressed their internal conditions. Before I go further, you have to ask yourself, if you had Jesus with you would you worry about anything? The third, Jesus told Peter, “I have overcome the world.” He was speaking to Peter about the future. He had taken the power out of failures. The fourth, Jesus said, “Believe in me.” Yes, you can see the utility bills, the doctors’ bills, credit cards, and all things physical, but you can’t see Jesus. Where do we go from here? I only touched on Rev’s sermon. I can’t do him justice except to recommend that you hear him.  He keeps The Word simple to understand!

You Should Have Stood Up Sooner, Bob!

Former South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis says too many Republican leaders are going along with what he calls a poisonous "demagoguery" that threatens the party's long-term credibility.


Inglis was defeated in the Republican primary last month by Spartanburg prosecutor Trey Gowdy. Inglis says that approach is dividing the country into partisan camps, making it difficult for people to work together and find solutions to problems.

I don’t see a problem with anyone’s political affiliation or loyalties, it’s their choice. The problem is allowing that loyalty to overwhelm the heart for the few and forsake the many. Both of our nation’s parties are polarizing the nation. Hate speech and untruths are flooding the airwaves and only the truth-seekers will not be convinced or persuaded unless they did deeper into the “hearsay.” Some will say Inglis is a bitter, sore loser, others will say he should have said it while in office. Both could be right, but at least he did say it. It does matter to stand up for your constituency as their representative. You might sacrifice the “good life” and connections in the election but right is right. You’re not just looking out for your special interest groups who can pay you to speak up for them, you’re looking out for the people who don’t have anyone speak out for them. In the meantime, we can watch our nation literally split in two, while those that wanted this will sit back and continue to sow the seeds of strife and discontent.

Am I Giving God The Proper Respect?

I’ve been thinking about this for some time and have been very objective with my answer. My answer is no, I’m not giving God proper respect. I’ve been developing a relationship with Him so that when I do enter valleys, I know that He is with me. My intentions are to praise Him in the good times and in the bad. God won’t take you so far and then leave you. If anything, we leave Him. But back to my answer on respect. I’d like to think of myself as a Christian but sometimes in this life I’m living, I’m not always being Christ-like. To respect God, I must begin with myself and then my fellow man. The dilemma is knowing exactly what respect is. One of Webster’s definition of respect is: To take notice of; to regard with special attention; to regard as worthy of special consideration; hence, to care for; to heed. Again, I ask, am I giving God the proper respect according to this definition? If respect is towards another means this, then I’m not even a tenth of the way towards giving God respect and honor. I must be still care careful not to confuse respect with obedience even though they both go hand in hand in honoring God. Choices, choices, choices. My choice is simple. Joshua 24:15.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Rawl!!

Mr. Rawl & Grands (Undated Photo)

Frances L. Rawl was murdered Tuesday by a young thug who thought it would be easy to rob a 91-year old man. Police say 18-year-old Jesse Ray Lane was arrested at his home in Hopkins around 8:30pm Wednesday. Rawl's grandson, Les Rawl, says he got worried when Rawl didn't show up for work at the family business. Les found the body inside the house. I met Mr. Rawl in 1975. I had moved off campus from USC and worked part-time at WLTX on third shift. The duplexes were close to the TV station furnished and cheap. I could walk to work, which I did. Mr. Rawl and his sister Elizabeth were two of the kindest people you could meet. Why either of them lived on the property in one of the duplexes, we may never know. One thing was for certain, they didn’t have to. They had the money but they chose to live a humble and modest life. He didn’t talk much of his past or family. I knew that he was a former legislator and worked at a golf course. I didn’t know that he owned it! He didn’t drive a fancy car and Ms. Rawl walked everywhere. As landlords, they really cared about the tenants. So if you had a backed up toilet, other problems or even wanted to borrow the lawnmower, they took care of you. Ms. Rawl departed years ago. I pray for the family and Jesse Lane. God bless us all.

Happy Independence Day!!!

The Declaration of Independence was adopted by 12 of 13 colonies (New York not voting) on July 4, 1776, but wasn't actually signed by all the delegates until August 2, 1776. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Committee of Five died on July 4, 1826.  John Adams, not very liked, also a committee member, died on the same day.

In a famous clause that was ultimately deleted from the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson cited the African slave trade as one of the examples of British oppression. Jefferson refers to the English government's repeated vetoes of attempts by colonial legislatures to restrict or halt the import of slaves. Virginia, especially, had profited from a great natural increase in its slave population and had no desire for a further slave "surplus" or for competition with its own profit of selling slaves to South Carolina and Georgia. By including only three-fifths of the total numbers of slaves into the congressional calculations, Southern states were actually being denied additional pro-slavery representatives in Congress. While there were a few Founding Fathers who were pro-slavery, the truth is that it was the Founders who were responsible for planting and nurturing the first seeds for the recognition of black equality and for the eventual end of slavery.

The 56 men who signed this important document in American history had only one man who signed it on July 4th. John Hancock, whose name appears above and larger than all the other names.  The names of all the signers of the Declaration of Independence were kept secret by the colonists for almost a year, because the British government had offered a $2,500 reward for those men’s names, considering them guilty of high treason, a crime punishable by death!  What a price for freedom, giving up everything that you loved for a cause that you believed in heart and soul.

HBO ran a series on John Adams this past weekend. It was as close to the History Channel as can get. I really enjoyed it, maybe because I did go to Independence Hall a few months ago and imagined what it was like. The mural above, by John Trumbull, was not liked at all by John Adams because he said it was false. The members were not always together at one time and they were all not very peaceful!