stop gentrification Cold at the LINE 36th and Filbert Street.

From 400 A.D. -- In the Black Library of Alexandria, Egypt (The Major Branch)...


By Brother Tracy Gibson

I have not done this yet, but I think if I asked a group of Black youth if they had ever bought a lottery ticket, many hands would go up. By the same token, if I ask a group of Black youth How many of them had invested in the stock market {In Black companies} or bought stock in Black companies, I don't think the majority of hands would go up at all. Is this the fault of the White man? Yes. The School system the White man largely controls does not teach much about investing in Black companies through the stock market and How this can help our entire Black community. I have to also ask where are the Black scholars, Black thinkers, and Black School Executives who don't ask why we don't have these things in the curriculums and why our Black students are not saving money, putting money in Black banks, etc.? Let's over ride the White man and his influence for about 9000 years. If you know of any Black youth about 20 or 25, they can make a great amount of money on the stock market if they invest consistently for 40 or 50 years. I Am 60 and I Am just getting the message. There is a great deal of Hope for Black youth, but they have to start changing some behaviors and think more in a can-do Way and more positively. For Black youth, this means only two pair of sneakers, few new clothes and less hot tickets for Hot movies and Hot live concert events. {I have to remind you that some stocks pay dividends, so you may only have to do without for a short time}.  It mean investing in the stock market instead  of buying so many consumer goods and doing the proper research on the net to find the correct and proper stocks to buy. Investing in Black stocks is a Way to stabilize Black communities, bring about Black prosperity, help Black institutions like Black schools, Black churches, Black Think Tanks, Black sororities and Black fraternities, and Black Social Service agencies. The best stocks are those with companies that have the kind of good or great values, ethics and standards you want to emulate or perpetuate. Read the company's Mission Statements and read their Annual Reports back a few years. Find out what their values are and if they match or compare to some of your best, good and highest values.  (If you buy stocks in companies that don't treat their workers correctly, have clean air-conditioned factories, places for people to eat, pay good wages, good health benefits, etc. you are really supporting the oppression of People who probably look just like you -- People of color in usually a foreign land.). I think this would not be a good thing. Choose good stocks with good companies that really care about their workers, the industry they are in, the environment and people in general. Read up on How to establish good ethics and good values for yourself. It is not only about going to church or Mosque. You can pick media icons like Angela Bassett, Will Smith,  Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and or thespian Denzel Washington. (I know they are People and not stock, but hold on and keep reading).  Such People are not only great to watch on television and in movies, but have the kind of values about Black People, and themselves, that you should consider worthy of emulating. You don't have to meet such Black People for them to be characters you will want to emulate. This activity sure will get you ahead a great deal quicker than hanging around with troubled friends who might be wanting to pull you down. This is why I don't smoke pot or joint. I don't need anything that is illegal or not recommended or subscribed by a doctor, that will make my thoughts unclear, cloudy or unbalanced.   Making stock picks is a life line to a better life. I can tell you what I do. I use Fidelity Investments as my stock company. I also used Vanguard in the past. There are other companies. You can call them and ask How to invest. Don't try to scam someone. This is not at all recommended. Just keep investing and find out that reading the Wall Street Journal, the stock pages of the New York Times, or the Philadelphia Inquirer can be even more exciting than hanging out with your friends all the time or buying products you can't afford.  This can lead to great things and a mind set that will, in a few years, have you wanting to buy Real Estate. Instead of seeing your parents forced out of growing neighborhoods, you might be able to help your parents pay property taxes, and be an big asset for your family. You might want to give more money in church and be a giver in the Black community in which you live in. Look up the names of Black men such as Walter Lomax Reese who once owned WURD in Philadelphia; Mr. Earl Graves, Senor owner of Black Enterprise Magazine; and Percy Sutton who once owned WBLS of New York and read about How they lived their lives and helped entire Black communities, by creating great wealth and sharing it.

new boycotts { Very Important }

calling for a boycott of Wal Mart; Coors Beeeer; and New Port Cigarettes

Rethinking Gay Pride and Decency ( For Adults ONLY )

Rethinking Gay Pride and Decency

By Tracy Gibson

   ( United Bank of Philadelphia Needs FIVE more branches -- West Philadelphia; Upper Darby; South Philadelphia; Bryn Mare; Radnor )

     I know. I know. You don’t really want to hear what I have to say and you wish I would shut up and crawl under a rock. Well, I’m hear speaking for God, fairness, decency and righteousness and I have a lot to say. My voice will not be quieted, like Martin’s voice, Angela’s voice, Malcolm’s voice and Medgar’s voices were not quieted.

     I am before you today to talk about Gay rights / AIDS / HIV and decency as well as everybody else acting with more decency, including those who are vilifying the Black Gay and Black Lesbian community. (By the Way I include transgendered People and Bisexuals, queers and the straight people who LOVe and appreciate us in this bailiwick as well..)

     I get tired of People who are gay and lesbians – but especially Gay men of all colors – talkin about gay rights and what they don’t get and How they are discriminated against when they go to Black Gay Pride in Atlanta and act like a bunch of wild hooligans.  They don’t try to live decent lives and buy something more than a designer pair of sneakers and expect respect. They have sex (not that it is any of my business) with three different People a week and think this is OK.  Now I had so sow my own wild oats so I know this sex thing is a scary, secretive and  sensitive subject, but just go with my on this journey if you will.

     The young People (and ashamedly older Black People as well), the young Black People travel to Atlanta, Georgia just to take part in the free and open sex that is going on.  During Free-Sex Black Gay Pride week, they are seen swinging off of the Rafters, eating things with hair on them, switching down the halls of White-owned hotels, Sucking this and sucking that and not taking prisoners or asking questions.  This new drug is just allowing this kind of behavior to happen with no holds barred. (PrEP). I am glad People aren’t getting sick as much or as seriously as they once were. (Believe me I have lost more than my share of good friends). But People of all ages, races, sexual persuasions and economic levels need to learn some decorum, decency, respect and kindness.  They MUST understand that treating other People like animals takes up a whole animal instinct within the Person doing the indecent behavior in the first place.  This doesn’t only go for Black Gay men, but for the host of ranges of People and behaviors on this planet --  this still alive earth we hear so much about lately.

     These same sex addicted folks (Believe me I know about it because I put myself through years of therapy and am a recovering sex addict myself) these same sex-addicted folks haven’t a dime to share with People who are Gay activists who also have decent lives and want to better this Black Gay community  from the inside out all the Way through.

     Not only will they not stop hanging from the Rafters long enough to give decent folks a dime -- they won’t go to church; they won’t go to Mosque; they won’t go to Synagogue and they won’t even think about more refined things in life like going to the Opera; fine dining; listening to Classic European Music like Doschefiski, Beethoven or  Tchokofskie;  looking seriously at a painting by Sister Claudia Aziza Gibson Hunter, Tanner or Rembrandt; buying into stock / bond market interests; listening to Classic jazz like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, Lonnie Liston Smith or Bobbi Humphrey (Black female Flutist).  They would not stop from having sex long enough to think that they deserve to attend Black hotels in Atlanta (and other cities) and treat those hotels with respect, decency and dignity.  They don’t understand that they need to live GODly lives, even if they are homosexuals or heterosexuals with a penton for living outside the so-called norm.  

     No matter what our sexual proclivities are or who we go to bed with, we as humans – regardless if we are Black or White – need to take into consideration that we need to build lives of decency, good will, respect, an orientation towards justice and fair play, openness, acceptance of our Fellow humans and GODlyness.  One is not stricken from decent behavior just because one is Gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgendered.  This is a reward that comes along with being accepted as humans who want to marry and it is part of the unspoken equation that comes along with marriage rights and the other rights Gay and Lesbian and Transgendered People are getting such as a right to a job; not being sexually identified on their SEPTA transpasses; and   having the right to protest, congregate, own businesses, and support Gay and Black owned businesses if we s with.  Some of these rights have been long fought for. Some of these rights are just being won, s Donald Trump gears up to snatch them away from us.

     Moreover, He (The Donald) will find it quite easy to snatch these rights away unless we not only vote with our votes, but with our Fendi Pocket books by buying Back and buying progressive and buying Gay.  The Donald will find such things as taking away our rights because we are not doing our homework and fighting back in an organized, decent, timely, intelligent and did I say economically supported and organized fashion?

     You buy a Black hotel by owning your own house and buying income properties for about 40 years and parlaying those houses into enough credit (along with taking on other Black partners and having a good job; good credit rating and being responsible.) You do not own hotels, apartment buildings,  office building and large to very large businesses by swinging off the rafters at Sheraton Hotels in Center City or acting irresponsibly in other ways.

     Don’t think some of the People who own much of the means of production are not silly and out of control also. There are always exceptions to every rule. There are People (Mostly White) who own major business chains like McDonalds; Burger King; Hiil and Knowlton [Public Relations]; Macy’s; Haliburton; British Petroleum;  General Electric etc. who are totally out of their minds and out of control. Some of the things (related to  the development and establishment of U.S. policy and taking advantage of that policy ) some of the things said corporations do in this regard are totally crazy and they will be exposed soon and People will no longer want to shop at their stores and shops.

     Just like The Donald will not get one half of what He wants to get done, done, we have to organize to make sure that fact rings true by 2019 – the midterm elections. But this is not only about elections, it is about economics and building a strong Black economic base that is unshakable, stable, multifaceted, all embracing of our Black People and one that exudes the evasive decency I’m talking about.

``Toungues Untied,'' a film by Marlon Riggs Reviewed by Brother Tracy Gibson....

November 20, 2013 {Wednesday}

Review of ``Tongues Untied’’ By Filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs

``A Punk, Is a Punk, Is a Punk, Is a Punk. I don’t want them around me or my kids,’’ A stray comment from a ``straight person’’ in the Film ``Tongues Untied.’’

By Brother Tracy Gibson.

This 1989 film examines, on the documentary level, the self-hatred, Pride, anger, invisibility, silence, pain, anguish, and even the ``snap’’ of being Black and Gay in North America at the time.  The incredible poetry of celebrated late, Black Gay poet Essex Hemphill serves as a backdrop through this Black homosexual journey.

It is a journey that takes us through the White bar scene, through dialogue, and the rejection of Black Gay men by bar owners; and includes footage of beautiful Black Gay men at a Pro-Black pride parade—featuring Philadelphia Black celebrity activists Kevin Greene and His lover Hal Carter. A scene in a Black restaurant—most likely in Harlem-- finds Black Gay men discussing issues of self-identity while hot plates of food are being enjoyed.  Also examined in this film by late film director Marlon T. Riggs, who died of complications of Aids and HIV, are issues of Pride, Vogue Dancing, Design Houses, adjustment to Blackness and Gayness, and negative self-identity.

The bitter comedy of Eddie Murphy who talks about the ``FAGGOT section’’ in one of his comedy routines captured in this film is a reminder of where we came from.  Mr. Murphy would not dare to have such politically charged comic rhetoric in his monologue now-a-days because he would pay a real price in economic terms and because community standards have changed.  Such community standards changed only because of the political activities and education efforts of many thousands of concerned North Americans—not all of which are Black.

The film also poetically dramatizes a violent case of Black Gay Bashing; and featured a dramatized sermon about Gay condemnation from the ``pulpit.’’  

``Tongues Untied,’’ has won awards for film and still stands as a Black classic Fortress in helping Black Gay men make it through the ``crisis state’’ and identity questions that often persist as one comes out ``In The Life.’’

Late writer Joseph Beam’s photo—a striking Black beautiful Brother who I knew personally--is also featured as piercing politically-charged dialogue is heard in the background.  [Brother Beam edited the first Black Gay anthology ever [``In the Life’’] and was a Native of Philadelphia before He left this level of existence due to complications of Aids and HIV.]   

Now in December of 2013, this film still holds its’ importance as a historical document and shows where we came from in a time, NOW, where issues of self-acceptance, mental and emotional healing, religiosity,  Pride,  Self-LOVe and mental health have largely begun dealing positively with the social rejection issues, family rejection issues and self-hate issues that were a real struggle back in the late 1980’s when ``Tongues Untied’’ was made.  Groups and organizations like Adodi Inc.; Gay Men of African Decent {GMAD}; and several other organizations--and a more progressive government and social policy--have helped Black Gay men cope and flourish in their new clothing of acceptance where such self-acceptance, positive government legislation and social acceptance were only a dream back 30 years ago. We now live in The United States of Native America, NOT The United States of America. As indigenous Africans our Native American Brothers have said this is enough—we will not fall victim for another 200 years to the iron fist of corporate policy and militarism. Through self-awareness training; workshops, retreats; healing dinners; and other political and social gatherings, and events these not-for-profit Black Gay Men’s organizations {Adodi, Inc., GMAD and Others} have flourished and really helped Black Gay men take on the armor of self-LOVe, self-actualization, Pride, Positive Thinking, Positive Black economic development, and Positive Motivation and their issues have even found more—although not complete—acceptance in the Black Church.  Positive Connections are being made on a daily even hourly basis with other organizations and Progressive People around the world as more and more people learn to basically ignore much of the stuff on major media and view positive independent films such as ``Tongues Untied.’’

A Quote From Maya Angelou about NOT repeating the past.....

{Paraphrasing}

The past is there for us to learn from. We don't have to repeat it

West Phillie Produce

Fresh produce and kind service abound at West Phillie Produce 18 South 62nd Street near 62nd and Market on the west side of the street. I have bought one of the freshest water Melons I have ever tasted there; some very good cherries; some very good corn on the cob; some great lemons; and some simply great bananas that I made banana Fresh Toast out of. It is great and high time we started supporting Black stores and this is one such store.  Don't ask for the ``hook up'' because getting free fruits and vegetables is How our Black stores go right out of business. PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET JUST LIKE YOU PAY THAT EUROPEAN MAN AND BE PROUD YOU HAVE A BLACK STORE TO GO TO!!!  I THANK YOU AND BROTHER LARNETT & HIS FAMILY THANKS YOU. Easily accessable at 63rd and market by the El; or the number 21 Bus.

Blue-Eyed Soul a rather flat subject with me, was explored.....

Painted Bride is the Local for Blue-Eyed Soul Searching in the Music Industry

By Anonymous

 

 

A vibrant & attractive panel of Black music industRy  professionals took part in an event Wednesday night [Jun 17^th, 2015] that pondered How Black music is confiscated from Black artists and economically expatriated right under our noses.  This co-opting of music is a major frustration for Black professionals in the jazz, rock and Pop idioms and has gone on for decades even during the days of Otis Redding & Fannie Lou Hamer.

The event was well attended and held at the Painted Bride cultural center. This time, however, organizers for the event made a real effort to broaden the panel and be inclusive of a more grass roots point of view by including Brother Rich Me.  Plenty of success for Brother Tracy Gibson & his company Brother Tracy Gibson & Associates, Inc. & all his sub-businesses & all his ideas so he can re-channel money back into the black community & help himself & his family thrive & Black People thrive.