WSSN Stories

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

The patient was fading fast, and doctors expected him to flatline [die] before the night was over. In his fading state, he hears a voice…. Are you sure you want change your mind God asks?  What more can I do to prove my love to you?  You see, “Break up to make up, that’s all we do… First you love me then you hate me… That’s a game fool’s play… We have got to get together or we’re through…” [The Stylistics]. “Choose you this day Whom you will serve…” [Joshua 24:14-16]. “After all the things that we’ve been through… you should understand me like I understand you… As long as we’ve been together it should be so easy to do… get yourself together or we might as well say goodbye….. what good is a love affair if we can’t see eye to eye…” [Harold Melvin/The Blue Notes].

I tell you it’s hard to imagine a more direct approach than the one taken by Jesus here.  “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” [[Revelation 3:15]. Listen, God doesn’t want you to be lukewarm in your relationship with Him. He doesn’t want you to drift away from Him. He wants you to pursue a relationship with Him that grows stronger and deeper each day.  I want you to know that your love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in your life. You were created by God to have a loving, intimate relationship with Him. God wants intimacy with you. His question, “Do you love me?” was not just for Peter but for all of us. There’s nothing that I’d rather do than spend every moment with you says God. You must choose your love and then maintain your choice: you either love Me or the world, but not both [John 2:15]. “To love and be loved in return. It’s the only thing that my heart desires.  Just appreciate the little things I do. I tell you we can build a world of love, a life of joy. Let’s make our goal each other’s happiness.” Seize the moment. Seize the time.  Seize the day.

I want you to know that in [1 Kings 17:8-16], a widow was facing her worst nightmare: she had a meal left for herself and her son. Death was mockingly starring at her. Then came a visitor sent by God. He made her an offer and she accepted it. Death was disappointed and put to shame. The woman lived better than she ever lived. This season, the Lord will visit you. Prepare for His visit. Get rid of every sin in your life. Obey Him completely. Be prayerful and sensitive to His call.

I also what you to know that the Lord does not compel us anymore than he compelled Peter. We are not forced to love God any more than we want to or any more than we are ready to. But the beauty is that each little bit of ourselves we do give over to the Lord is received by Him and transformed by His love into something greater. Peter learned the hard way what it means to love Jesus. He had vociferously declared his unfailing devotion to Him more than once. Yet when the chips were down, Peter’s self-confessed love failed and he openly denied three times that he even knew Jesus. His vaunted courage proved to be nothing but empty talk when facing a threatening situation. Don’t let that be said about you. In [John 14:15] Jesus put it plainly: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” In verse 21 He added, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (cf. 15:10). As the Lord’s message was to the church at Sardis, so is it to each one of us: Check Your Spiritual Pulse. He, who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! [Deuteronomy 30:19].

Proceeds from annual fundraiser will go toward much-needed scholarships and supporting our service programs

The Claremont Area (CA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated will host its 5th Annual Heart Truth “Red Dress” Luncheon on Saturday, February 25, 2017 at the Pacific Palms Resort Hotel in the City of Industry.  The theme is “From the Heart,” and the event is intended to raise awareness and supporting women who would otherwise ignore the threat of heart disease and other related issues.  More than 300 attendees are expected at this fundraising event.

A special highlight of this year’s luncheon program is a spotlight on the Chapter’s current scholarship recipients.

Over the last five years, the Claremont Area Links have given over $49,000 in scholarships to deserving high school seniors and college students. In addition to the monetary support, all scholarship recipients become part of the Chapter’s College Connection program. Throughout the year, recipients receive gift cards and notes to provide support and maintain contact as they migrate though their college years.  Awarding scholarships to deserving youth and supporting awardees provides an opportunity for the Chapter to establish a bond that is clearly focused on the expectation that the student graduates from college.

Proceeds from February’s luncheon will help further the Chapter’s commitment to providing financial assistance and support to our community’s youth, as well as supporting our service programs in the community. We invite you to join us for this important Heart Health Awareness event, and appreciate your support for our youth by purchasing a ticket, placing an ad in our souvenir journal or becoming a sponsor.

For more information, contact: Pamela Chavira, Chair at pmchavira@gmail.com.

By Lue Dowdy

A SUCCESSFUL performance by PRADA is WHAT IT DO!

It went all the way up on Saturday, February 8 at Status Night Club for recording artist, PRADA aka Dub Dollar’s mixtape release party. Prada took to the stage showing the fans why they should continue to support and to listen to a real one in the game.

Off his newly dropped project, “HAVE HEART & MAKE MONEY” he performed hits like “FADDED” and “THIS IS ALL WE KNOW.” The club was LITT!
The night consisted of networking and dope performances from artists like LA Duce, Maggic, and Turtle on the Beat. Of course DJ Muda one of the hottest DJ’s in the Inland Empire kept the crowd going.

Pay close attention as major moves are being made from the G.F.CASH Camp. The love was truly shown for Prada!

In the words of PRADA, “Hip Hop and community play a major role when it comes to influencing my lyrics.” “I plan to do with my influence or this music is pretty much tell the world my story, our story, and shed light on my city in every way possible.”

To checkout music by Prada go to GF Cash Records’ Soundcloud under https://m.soundcloud.com/user-194144347.

Until next week L’zzz!

O

n  February 16, at a special preview event for the new documentary “American Masters — Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York, NY), Dr. Maya Angelou’s grandson Colin Johnson (right), Co-Founder and Principal of Caged Bird Legacy, LLC, presented Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) and President Bill Clinton (center) with a plaque of Dr. Maya Angelou’s inauguration poem, “On The Pulse of Morning,” that flew on the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) December 5, 2014.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Don’t let her enchanting smile and innocent beauty fool you, Jurnee Smollett-Bell isn’t just another pretty Hollywood face. As the star of WGN America’s hit series UNDERGROUND,the30-year-old actress represents for our enslaved ancestors who never stopped fighting for freedom and fairness.

EBONY goes one-on-one with the actress and activist to learn more about colorism in Hollywood,the second season of Underground and the importance of activism, especially now.  While many celebrities are just now finding their voice on social justice issues, Smollett-Bell was “woke” before it became a popular term. One of the topics she tackles is the reality of bias toward lighter skinned women in Hollywood and beyond.

“There are obstacles and challenges that my dark-skinned sisters face that I will never know,” Smollett-Bell acknowledges. “How they are perceived when they walk in a room of strangers is something I will never truly know. I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn’t exist, it’s gross and disgusting.” Speaking of standing for your sistas in the struggle, the 2017 women’s issue is devoted to uplifting Black women.

“It is no exaggeration when we talk about Black Girl Magic,” says EBONY Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, Head of Digital Editorial Kyra Kyles. “Black women truly hold our community together. It is an honor to be able to celebrate ‘us’ in this issue.”

Issue highlights include:

• EBONY Beauty Innovation Awards—In our annual and acclaimed “it” list, EBONY highlights the latest game-changing products and tools you’ll want to try
• A Silent War: The battle between Black women and fibroids
• Women’s Work: Movers, shakers, waymakers—Call it the takeover by 20 brilliant enterprising women who are industry leaders and gamechangers, which include U.S. SenatorKamala Harris, newswoman Soledad O’Brien, White House Champion for Change awardee Kathryn Finney, ESPN’s Jemele Hill.
• ‘In Our Cities’: EBONY’s original new multimedia seriesheads west to the City of Angels for some California love—the cinematic shoot-outs of gang wars of the ’90s are a thing of the past. Today,Los Angelesis considered one of the safest cities in the United States and we give a nuanced and real view of the Black folks who make it great
• Culinary Queens—These kitchen warriors are reclaiming the game for the sisters

Elsewhere in the issue we take a look at Jordan Peele’s latest film GET OUT, Jermaine Dupri welcomes EBONY to Atlanta and innovative Apple exec Bozoma Saint John provides tips on how to be a game changer at work. For more, pick up the March 2017 issue of EBONY, which is coming to a newsstand near you. And to get more Smollett-Bell, watch behind-the-scenes video on Ebony.com. Read and join the conversation on social media using #FantasticJurnee

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

You see the Devil is a Liar! He tries to fool us into believing something is a certain way even though it’s not. I want you to know that REAL life is NOT an Illusion!  Stop allowing the Devil to prevent you from living your life to its fullest. Open your eyes and discover the source of true fulfillment. You know in the movie “The Matrix,” Neo had been living in a fake world, but Morpheus wanted to bring him into the real world. Morpheus told Neo, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. Take the blue pill, and return to the fake world of comfort. Take the red pill and everything changes.” That’s what Jesus was telling the disciples and is telling you today: This is your last chance. If you want out, do it now, because Satan virtual reality is to imprison you; to hide the truth and to keep you in bondage and slavery without you knowing it.  The Bible says that this world is our enemy and it caters for the sinful desires of men.   We must overcome it! The Bible also says that the world and all visible things are temporary, but the truth is eternal truth. Stop being bamboozled by the Devil!

It is very dangerous to be ignorant of Satan’s strategies and methods for leading us astray. God offers wisdom and victorious solutions for all of Satan’s malicious strategies, and Paul gives that very warning when he counsels the Corinthians to take care “lest Satan take advantage….” [2Corinthians 2:11].  I want you to know that Satan has orchestrated a whole world system to perpetuate his primary lie that true life can be found apart from dependent relationship with God. Not so!  The devil is a liar! As Christians, we need to be aware of Satan’s schemes. The world we live in is a world where sin is the matrix. It controls all that we do or think; and it is pervasive in every way. The battle we face is to stay out of the matrix, which is not experiencing life at all. It is death. If you want out, take the red pill and change the game. Do it now! “Repent and believe this good news.” God is here…God is active…God is calling…God’s reign.  Choose to be a part of it.

The fact is without God, your life is just like the one Solomon described in [Ecclesiastes 1: 2]– Vanity, and emptiness. Pleasure, education, the job, and wealth– these can never give life meaning. They are just fillers, not substance. They are just the condiments but the real meat of life is Jesus [John 10:10]. Do not be deceived.  May we all be vigilant as the Bible commands in [1Peter 5:8] because our adversary the Devil roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Things are not always as they seem.

 “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” [ Deuteronomy 30:19].

By Lou Coleman

Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Madam C. J. Walker, Mum Bett, Shirley Chisholm, Wangari Maathai, Tegla Laroupe, Gertrude Kabatalemwa , Barbara Jordan,  Rosa Parks, Ida B Wells, Marva Collins, Miriam Anderson, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Dorothy Height, Mary Church Terrell, Marian Wright, Dolores Huerta, Daisy Bates, Fannie Lou Hamer, Septima Poinsette Clark, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Anna Arnold Hedgeman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Odetta, Mahalia Jackson, Angela Davis, Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, Anna Berry Smith, Yes…I Am…. Cotton Mather, Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Booker T Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Roberson, James Meredith, Stokely Carmichael, A. Philip Randolph, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Olaudah Equiano, Kwame Nkrumah, Kofi Annan, Haile Selassie, Oliver Tambo, Shaka Zulu,  Nnamdi Azikiwe, E.D. Nixon, Cornet West, Benjamin Banneker; Richard Allen, John Lewis, Medgar Evers, Dick Gregory, Morris Dees, Percy Julian, Richard Loving, Mohammed Ali,  Andrew Goodman, James Cheney, Michael Schwemer, Dr. Carter G. Woodsons, Barack Obama, Richard C. Boone, Benjamin Banneker, Granville T. Woods, Louis Latimer, Garret Morgan; Charles Harrison Mason and countless others.

I don’t know from where you were stolen. I don’t know how many of you freed yourselves or died in bondage. Yet I claim you all and I honor you.  The savage ferocity of slavery has torn your names from the memories of your descendants but not your lives, your survival, your strength. Whatever it is that I am and all that I am, I am because you were. I cannot contemplate my future without reflecting on my past, our past.  As I look at the genesis of people of color and note our heroic journey traveled as a people—through enslavement, oppression, rejection and segregation—the greatest constant, on the path to the freedoms enjoyed today, was the presence of God-loving, God-fearing, and God-worshiping men and women. I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. [2 Timothy 1:3]

In your name, in your memory we work and pray and struggle, weeping and rejoicing at what has been and what will be.

Garrett Augustus Morgan

TRAFFIC SIGNAL: Garrett Augustus Morgan (March 4, 1877 – August 27, 1963), was an African-American inventor and businessman. He was the first person to patent a traffic signal. He also developed the gas mask (and many other inventions). Morgan used his gas mask (patent No. 1,090,936, 1914) to rescue miners who were trapped underground in a noxious mine. Soon after, Morgan was asked to produce gas masks for the US Army.

RILLIEUX, NORBERT: Norbert Rillieux (March 17, 1806-October 8, 1894) was an African-American inventor and engineer who invented a device that revolutionized sugar processing. Rillieux’s multiple effect vacuum sugar evaporator (patented in 1864) made the processing of sugar more efficient, faster, and much safer. The resulting sugar was also superior. His apparatus was eventually adopted by sugar processing plants all around the world.

POTATO CHIPS: The potato chip was invented in 1853 by George Crum. Crum was a Native American/African American chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. French fries were popular at the restaurant and one day a diner complained that the fries were too thick. Although Crum made a thinner batch, the customer was still unsatisfied. Crum finally made fries that were too thin to eat with a fork, hoping to annoy the extremely fussy customer. The customer, surprisingly enough, was happy – and potato chips were invented!

By Lue Dowdy

B.S.M. and B.B.W. is What It Do! Big sexy males and big beautiful woman wanted; because you asked for it we felt that we should deliver!

LUE PRODUCTIONS First Big Model Competition is brewing! We are calling all you sexy big men to strut on the runway. This will be epic! The winner will take the $500.00 cash prize, crown fit for a king, and photo shoot. The competition scheduled for the month of June directly after Father’s Day. A $50.00 registration will be required for those interested.

We’re in search of B.B.W. Models to be in our fashion show during the event. We all know the sexiness comes in all sizes. It’s about the confidence that shines from within a person. LUE PRODUCTIONS is big on bringing unique and entertaining events to the inland empire. Please support us. Until next week l’z!

For more information contact us via text at (909) 567-1000 or at (909) 556-7637. You can also email us at lue.info@yahoo.com.

LOS ANGELES, CA- Last Sunday, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) ended the 25^th year first weekend of red carpets and character-driven screenings and gatherings in the lobby of the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles.

Alfre Woodfrad was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as hosted a panel discussion. That same night, Nick Cannon premiered his film, “The King of Dancehall” where several big names such as Danny Glover, Ja’net DuBois, Jean Louis, and others came out to support.

Established in 1992, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit 501(c)(b) corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding among peoples of African descent. Every year, PAFF showcases hundreds of quality new films, fine artists and unique craft persons from Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. The festival features red carpet screenings and a variety of special events headed by industry professionals. PAFF has premiered a host of black films including Think Like a Man, Love & Basketball, Miles Ahead and many more. 

Ayuko Babu and Nick Cannon (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Nick Cannon (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Ja’Net Du’Bois and Louis (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)

Imani Hakim (Photo credit: Kristina Dixon/11:OneVisuals)