Happily Divorced And After

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Why did you let this happen? Why did you let that happen? Why Lord, why? I tell you we are always quick to ask, “Why Lord?” ”Why Me?” when it seems like things is going bad and we need someone to blame. Well I want you to know that playing the blame game with God is always going to be a losing proposition. I tell you many of us blame God for everything! I wonder though, do we ever think about the flip side to that coin! Why don’t we look around for someone to blame when things are going good? I’ll tell you why… because when things are going good, were always the one to blame, or take the credit. I did it! It was me…! Hello! But what I want you to know is that the accuser, Satan is the one who is guilty of condemnation, that’s all he does and yet he usually gets blamed for nothing. You should be mad as Hell with Satan; because he is the one behind most of the problems you are having; Most of the fear, worry, doubt, guilt, in your life. I tell you some of us come to church Sunday after Sunday acting like all hope is lost. We behave like Israelites living in a strange land. We exhibit the same defeated spirit as the children of Israel when we declare: “Praise the Lord, O my soul”… as long as everything is going well for me and…, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want”… as long as I have money in the bank…. Not to mention, I’m like a tree planted by living water”… when I have a good job and a loving mate… Oh, but when the storm winds blow against us and our money is in short supply, we quickly get a case of spiritual amnesia. We don’t want to hear the fact that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust [Matt. 5:45]. We feel as if life has dealt us a bad hand and our lips utter the agonizing refrain, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” [Matt. 27:46].

What you need to remember is that the hand of the Lord is always upon you to guide, strengthen and protect you [Ezekiel chapter 37]. The text goes on to say that the Lord’s Spirit deliberately set Ezekiel in the midst of a valley full of bones. Ezekiel was not in that horrid valley because he wanted to be. Rather, God placed him to that desolate place for a reason. Once, Ezekiel stood in the valley, the Lord asked him a penetrating question, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?” (v.3). In other words, God challenged Ezekiel to assess the situation and determine if anything could be done to improve it. Ezekiel studied the ground full of bones; no blood to sustain life; no muscle to enable movement; no vital organs; no attached limbs; no flesh to cover the body; nothing to indicate that life existed. “But the question asked of Ezekiel was, can these bones live?” How would you have answered the Lord’s question about the revitalization of dry bones? Ezekiel’s response to God’s question demonstrated his faith and wisdom. He answered, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones is the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.” ….. I tell you, you need to start prophesying to the situations and circumstances in your life and stop blaming God for everything bad. Start declaring and decrees what thus saith the Lord. Amen. It is finished! [Isaiah 55:8, 9] [James 1:2].

By Eric Easter, Urban News Service

The just-opened National Museum of African American History and Culture is a work-in-progress — in every way. Surprisingly, this is its best asset.

In one way, that description is literal. On Media Day, less than 10 days before its grand opening, the museum’s grounds still were littered with the cigarette butts, snack bags and other leftovers from the hundreds of construction workers who put the final touches on the building.

Inside, journalists scoured the space for stories to tell. They navigated around carts that carried pieces of exhibits yet to be nailed in and observed priceless objects amid handwritten signs whose installation instructions read “too tall” and “put nothing on top.”

Yet even with the museum finally open for business, it remains incomplete — by design. Six hundred years of African American history — and the culture that grew from centuries of struggle, pain and triumph — is too sweeping an epic to contain on a few floors. The only way to do so is to consider the museum not a permanent collection of  artifacts, but a living space that will evolve, shift, re-focus and re-invent itself — just  like the community it seeks to reflect.

The extraordinary effort to fund and build the new museum has overshadowed the even harder work performed by the museum’s curators. They gathered and edited the more-than-37,000-item collection into a coherent narrative.

The decision to start the museum’s story in pre-colonial, 15^th-Century Africa involved an “intense” process, said Mary Elliott, curator of the museum’s history section. She consulted noted scholars including Ira Berlin, Eric Foner and Annette Gordon Reed to help set the necessary context for the full museum. But Elliott soon realized that a full reading of that time would be “too dense” for the average museum-goer.

“We needed to start with the reality of a free Africa and its position as a center of trade,” said Elliott. “But we wanted to go much deeper into the stories of the Italian role in financing the slave trade, as well as a more in-depth look at conditions in Europe that set the stage. But that’s a lot to ingest for the average museum-goer.”

The need to add some things and delete others at times was “heartbreaking.”

Those decisions, no doubt, will cause some to quibble about the tone, length or depth of some exhibits. And some criticisms will be fair. The displays on Reconstruction and the role of blacks in the military seem especially short given the importance of those themes.

But those arguments don’t account for the realities of a museum audience raised on Twitter, Wikipedia and TV on-demand. The tourist who tries to squeeze in all of Washington’s 17 Smithsonian museums in a few days will lack the capacity to absorb generations of pain and progress in one fell swoop. Return visits will be a must.

Still, those who want to go deeper will get that opportunity. The museum offers a full-time staff genealogist to help families discover their roots. Scholars can enjoy the museum’s research rooms. Public programming and temporary exhibits will let curators breathe more life into subject matter and explore contemporary themes and issues via multimedia and assorted technologies.

As a full body of work, the museum is a treasure. Its existence tells a story and stands as a tribute to a culture that has triumphed amid adversity. The displays simply accentuate that idea through stories that are tragic, critical, objective and, ultimately, celebratory. It is a museum about American possibility, as told through the story of a people whose American-ness too often has been denied and questioned. This museum should end such doubts.

What visitors will experience is best exemplified in a moment that occurred during one of many pre-opening receptions.

Speaking at an event hosted by Google, former Rep. Susan Molinari (R – New York), who is white, shared her experience at the museum. She fought through tears as she recalled one section that particularly resonated with her. The mostly black audience reacted politely. Many of them later said that, because of their own families’ legacies, they might have reacted differently to the same moment.

That may be what happens to everyone who passes through the museum’s doors. What one sees and experiences will be very different — depending on the history, knowledge and perspective that one carries through the entrance. That, in the end, is the true power of the place.

RIVERSIDE, CA- Effective October 3, Metrolink’s Pedley station on the Riverside Line will be renamed to the Jurupa Valley/Pedley station.          

The station’s name is being updated to reflect the city’s incorporation as Jurupa Valley.

When the Pedley station was created in 1993, it was located in an unincorporated area of Riverside County. In 2011, this 44-square mile region was incorporated as the City of Jurupa Valley, which encompasses the Metrolink Pedley station.

Due to the renaming of the station, ticket vending machines will require passengers to select “J” for Jurupa Valley/Pedley instead of “P” for fare media to and from the station formerly known as Pedley. 

Pedley station information seen in the Metrolink timetable, station signage, online, and other sources will be listed as Jurupa Valley/Pedley information as of October 3.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- United Nations of Consciousness is now accepting enrollment in their Youth Afterschool Enrichment Program. Program begins in October 2016. Pre-Register by visiting www.uncyouth.org

Registration is on a first come, first serve basis, with priority given to San Bernardino City Unified School District students. They are currently accepting children ages 8 to18 years old.

Stay up to date by subscribing to UNC’s text messages by texting UNCYOUTH to 31996. (Standard messaging rates apply, see carrier for details.) 

By Higher Heights

Dear 2016 Presidential Candidates:

In an effort to hear what issues Black women are most concerned with this election cycle, Higher Heights asked Black women across the country (at events and online), what is the most important issue facing Black women and their families. 49 percent stated that economic security was the most pressing issue.  

No wonder this was the top response, considering Black women are paid just 60 cents to every dollar paid to a White man.  In addition to economic security, the other top issues included Education Equity (19%), Police Violence (16%) and High Quality Affordable Housing (14%).

According to 2013 U.S. Census data, 71 percent of Black women are in the labor force (69 percent for women overall).  Black women are more likely than women nationally to work in the lowest-paying occupations (like service, health care support, and education) and less likely to work in the higher-paying engineering and tech fields or managerial positions.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the percentage of Black women who are full-time minimum-wage workers is higher than that of any other racial group.  

The late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan once said, “What the people want is very simple – they want an America as good as its promise.”  Higher Heights is asking you, as a candidate for the highest executive job in the country, to pledge to make good on this promise by putting forward a comprehensive economic security strategy and plan at the top of your list of priority issues on which you will focus in the first 100 days of your administration, should you be elected.

Higher Heights is also asking Black women across the country to raise their voices on this issue at the ballot box this November.  We know that when you fire up a Black woman she does not go to the polls alone, she brings her house, her block, her church, her sorority, and her water cooler. For us, this election is about harnessing the power of Black women’s votes to ensure that you, as candidates feel compelled to address and support building economically stable communities and the other issues of the greatest importance to Black women.

It really isn’t that complicated.  Black women are voting this November and economic security is the No. 1 issue they care about. The next President of the United States will take office at a time of great opportunity for our nation. In the final weeks of the election, we encourage you to listen and devise a course of action to address the concerns of this very important constituency.  

Water is essential to our everyday lives so it’s important to conserve our water supplies. Cutting water use outside is really important. If each of us changed our water-use habits even a little, we could save billions of gallons of water. Here’s a few ways you can help:

• Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks and save up to 150 gallons each time.
• Check and repair promptly your sprinkler system for leaks, oversprays and broken sprinkler heads to save up to 500 gallons per month.
• Water your plants in the evening or early in the morning to reduce evaporation and to save up to 25 gallons each time.
• Install a smart sprinkler controller that adjusts watering based on weather, soil type, amount of shade and plant type to save up to 40 gallons per day.

Be a team player. Follow your local water agency’s suggested watering days to save up to 840 gallons per week.

Metropolitan Water District’s conservation website, bewaterwise.com, offers additional tips on how to reduce indoor and outdoor water use. Love Water. Save Water.

By Lue Dowdy

Feeding the homeless on Tuesday, October 22 is WHAT IT DO! I’m calling out all Indie Artists and anyone affiliated with the entertainment game in the I.E. Mobilize with us to feed over a 1,000 homeless individuals in the Inland Empire. It’s better to GIVE. BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS THIS YEAR!

Last year we made 477 hot meals and passed out socks, sleeping bags and more. This year we’re doing it bigger and better. Please join in! To donate please contact us on Facebook under LUE Productions or call (909) 567-1000, or email Lue.info@yahoo.com. Until next week, much LOVE and L’zzz!

Items still needed include: Rolls, Cranberry sauce, Corn, Dressing Mix, Gravy packages, Napkins, Forks, Cakes and Pies, Socks, Scarves, Gloves, Blankets, and Hygiene kits. Shout to the following: Black Collar Entertainment for donating all the mash potatoes and water; 4ETE for donating all the green beans; Mama Loretta Smith for volunteering to cook turkeys and dressing; OWFO for volunteering to donate all the food containers; Sirr Jones for volunteering to donate Turkeys; Yawnie for volunteering to donate Turkeys; Moon Bush for donating hygiene kits; and Amanda Tatum for donating dressing mix.

Publisher’s Commentary by Wallace J. Allen

What can we do to get people who disagree to actually talk to each other? We must find common ground! My grandfather said, “It takes two fools to argue without seeking a solution.” My problem…When I ‘catch you in a lie’, I am left to wonder ‘how may did I miss?’

My Drug Counselor friends have suspiciously questioned the Trump Nose-sniffle that was so distractingly obvious during the opening portion of the debate, suggesting that while Hillary fortified herself with study, Trump was putting something in his nose to prepare himself for debate!

Both of the candidates apparently think my friends and I are more concerned about where they think Obama was born than what happens to the 25% of Blacks that desperately need jobs. Hillary and Donald spent too much time trying to make Black Folk be mad and scared, instead of describing plans that are encouraging and inspirational. Neither candidate spoke with passion about improving urban conditions with business development and job creation that can improve urban children’s prospects. Young people with bright futures do not seek out gang membership!

My final inspiration from the debate was to remember that while we know “a change is gonna’ come”, that the best way for us to speed the change is to ‘read to our children’ and ‘support and spend with Black Owned Businesses’ when possible. “Walk together children, and don’t you get weary”!

I would love to talk with someone who disagrees. Please call me at (909) 384-8131!

Jon Eady

SANTA MONICA, CA- Santa Monica College (SMC) is pleased to announce that SMC grad and Santa Monica native Jonathan Eady has been awarded a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The scholarship supports students who are pursuing a degree in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields.

Upon graduation, all SMART scholars are placed in civilian jobs in a DoD lab or facility. The DoD developed its SMART program to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DoD laboratories. In addition to covering tuition and other educational expenses, SMART recipients receive a generous cash award and health insurance allowance, as well as a monthly stipend. Summer internships are also included.

Eady is an Army National Guard veteran who completed six years of service at the end of July. He was a fire finding radar operator, “which is basically using a radar to track artillery firing around the area,” said Eady. He also served as a liaison with the National Guard’s efforts to help the homeless in the Santa Monica and Los Angelesarea. During his time in the National Guard, Eady said he often struggled to juggle his studies with his military duties, and even had to drop classes at times to meet his military obligations.

Despite the delays in his educational pursuits, Eady earned an Associate degree at SMC in General Science-Mechanical Engineering preparation this June. He transferred to California State University-Northridge (CSUN), where he is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Mechatronics and Robotics, and minoring in Automation and Computer Design. Eady says he chose CSUN because it has a “more robust robotics program than they have at UC,” adding that he is “proud to be CSUN’s first SMART scholarship participant.”

For Eady, who grew up with the struggles and wants of poverty, one of the many benefits of the SMART scholarship is that it includes a paid internship, with a direct path to a career. He called the scholarship “liberating, just knowing that I can take care of my mom now.” Eady recently learned that his mother had been diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia.

The internship also gives him the opportunity to become familiar with working at a DoD facility. “It’s basically like a trial period to see how things feel,” he said. For his internship site, Eady selected the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme. He will be working with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. The LCS is a fairly new type of small, but very agile, high-tech surface vessels designed to operate in coastal waters close to shore.

Eady is a former President’s Ambassador of Santa Monica College and participant in the college’s STEM Science Research Initiative. He is also the founder of the STEM Club at SMC, and was elected by the student body to serve as student trustee on the SMC board for 2015-16.

Eady credits several of his SMC instructors for his success, especially Professor Muriel Walker-Waugh, who “got me into the STEM program and got me started on this path of success that I didn’t know was there.” SMC Academic Computing Instructional Specialist Lee Peterson, who runs the student computer lab in Cayton Center, has been “instrumental in everything,” said Eady. “His mentorship is a huge reason why I was successful.” Eady added that SMC’s trustees were all very supportive and he benefited especially from being “actively mentored” by board member Dr. Susan Aminoff.

Gaining the engineering knowledge to go into robotics is one of Eady’s dreams. “I want to understand how all this technology works, so I can have that little bit of information and the scientific literacy that’s necessary for the future,” he said. “I want to use technology to help people in some way. I’m going to try to be that person who says, ‘Let’s make our priorities our people, education, and making sure we advance ourselves technologically.’” In the end, added Eady, “It’s all public service. That’s where I’ve been my entire life.”

For more information on the SMART scholarship, visit smart.asee.org.

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

God says, “Don’t do that or you will go to Hell!” But then Satan whispers, “It ain’t true… God loves you too much to send you to Hell. It’s alright, go ahead and do what you want; besides you can always ask for forgiveness later.” Listen; don’t let Satan deceive you…. God will not be mocked!  Anyone who disobeys God’s Word has crossed the line over which the Lord says if a man goes, he has sinned. And we know that Sin equal Death! Now you wouldn’t be so foolish as to put a bullet in the chamber of a hand gun and put it to your head and pull the trigger, would you? Yet, in reality that is what you do every time you choose to willfully disobey the Word of God, leaving no sacrifice for sin [Hebrew 10:26]. Don’t let Satan’s lies deceive you into compromising your obedience to God.

You know God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and warned of the dire consequences if they choose to disobey His Word, [Genesis 2:15, 16]. But afterwards, Satan strutted into the Garden and deceived Eve into believing that God was all talk; “He’s bluffing, He just wants to be God. He just wants to be a dictator. Don’t worry about Him; eat, drink and be merry…..” I tell you Satan is a liar! Disobedience to God is very consequential by nature. In many cases, it may end up costing you far more than you’ve ever thought. The consequences of disobedience are plain all throughout Scripture from the book of Genesis to Revelation. Oh, I say and I say it again, if you believe the lies of Satan, “Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok” [Malcom X]. This is what Satan does. Satan purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. He doesn’t care about you. He’s mad that God loves you so. You mean nothing to [Satan] He wants to chew you up and spit you out! You better know that you know!

Now the apostle Paul, in [2 Corin 2: 11], says that we are not to be ignorant of the schemes, or the plans, or the stratagems, or the tricks of Satan.  We need to know how he works.  We need to know something of his character, something of his person, something of his approach.  And since we have the Word of God, which unmasks Satan’s disguises, and which reveals his schemes, there’s really no reason to be ignorant.  Satan is a con artist and he will con you straight to Hell. Believe that! I tell you to be forewarned of Satan’s strategy is to be forearmed. His pattern for tempting Eve is essentially the same approach he uses today. But by studying and learning to recognize that pattern, you will not be ignorant of his schemes [2 Cor. 2:11]. Satan is crafty and deceptive, not straightforward. His methods involve deceit, schemes, lies, and trickery [John 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:3, 14, 15; 1 Tim. 2:14] His number one weapon against you is a lie, and if you believe that lie, your onward progress will stop with God.

I tell you, our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone whom he may devour.” He is not to be joked about; he is not to be made fun of. He is a serious, formidable foe. The Bible describes him as the prince of this world who opposes God and lies to you, to appeal to the appetites of your flesh. The truth is this – obedience is costly! And I’m not going to tell you it’s not hard. Obedience is costly, but here’s the reality—it is not as costly as compromise! Disobedience is devastating. It stops your progress with God! That’s why some of you are not moving onward with God, because you’re playing around with things that are designed to defeat you. God’s Word is the only word that can be trusted. If you try to live your life by any other counsel, you will be defeated and the consequences are not going to be well with you; because disobedience brings a wide variety of consequences; spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental. With spiritual being the worst form of consequence that can ever fall upon an individual since it determines where people will spend their eternity. Careful in your choosing, because your eternity is at stake! Now “Who report will you believe?”