Larry Higginbottom speaks to the ADOS community about the importance of language in politics, combating the spirit of whiteness, writing policies that ensure the employment of black men, the original intentions of the Civil Rights Act, how social assistance programs are designed to keep ADOS at the bottom, & more.
WBCA Podcasts
Observations From The Trenches
The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 0- Bonnie, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnnmedia.org. Where I'm here, Boston, today is a very steamy, muggy Wednesday. I've been mugging a lot of lives, we can have, hope you're having a good Wednesday. And you're listening to WBCA, 102.9 FM, again, WBCA, 102.9 FM, I'm your host Larry Higgum about them, and in the program, from the trenches, baby, I'm the basement trenches, from the trenches. I've been out here for the last 26 years, directly in folks' homes, seeing how policies made on high, how to affect folks in the trenches. And I must admit, it is not done very well for our group. Although my focus is on American Black's, or ADOS, as identified as the American Census of Slavery, we come out of that institution. And the reason why I focus on my group, every 26 years, all the policies that were fought for, bled for, and died for, to benefit my group, the Negroes, because of Slavery, Jim Crow, et cetera, has been really useless. They've been used by anybody but us. So we finally said, now, I'll be fine, I'll seven-night at the foot of the mountain looking back up. As we, Baby Booms, get out your way, and we transition to Gen X Gen Z's M and Millennials. We need you to take some hard, cold look at where we are. So the day is going to be, I'm just going to pick my mind, speak my mind with it on either right of topics. Again, these are my conclusions. You might agree with some, all or none. But we need to have a different spirit out in the atmosphere for folks to consider. Because one thing I do know, this ain't working for the group, ADOS is not working for us. Since King was murdered, we had a brief moment where whiteness was trying to make a redress for slavery in Jim Crow, LBJ, the Great Society, was opposed to start us in that direction. But the reason why it failed is quite simple. We did not write the policies that govern those initiatives or those efforts. And they was never genuine because why they didn't specify who they were for, who are you trying to uplift. It didn't say to the civil rights, you should have said, Negro rights, that's right, instead of civil rights, which is very vague for everybody, anybody, it should have said the group who has bled, died, and fought for it should have said Negro rights, the same voting rights. No, she said, Negro's voting rights because that was who was impacted. For the housing fair housing, she just said fair housing for the Negro's. So it's one thing I kind of realized as I critique Dr. King and my elders and I critique as baby boomers, one of the biggest mistakes that we have made in this year, contest of whiteness for a redress for grievances is that language matters, young people, language matters. And when you don't specify who the group is that you're trying to address or improve and the reason why, then it became very vague and convoluted. And so those ordinance that was supposed to be written from the blood, sweat, and tears of my community, ate those all at that time, it's called Negro's, have benefited everybody, but the group that died and bled for it. And so on this whimsy, as I speak my mind, I want to first start by saying to the group that is coming into say, authority to deal with whiteness, Gen X, Gen Z, and millennial, you need to understand the importance of language, language matters. That's why I say without no malice, without no ill will, we've gotten all we're going to get as a group out of civil rights and voting is over. And the last leg of the civil rights bill from a faction, diversity, has been shot down. So all the so-called initiative that was brought into existence to address 247 years of jealous slavery, 100 years of sharecropping, the black coast, all those vile, vile, despicable treatment that we had endured and persevered. Those laws that came in the sixes have all been nullified and rendered useless. And so now you find yourself young people at the bottom of the mountain looking up because my group Baby Boomers, we opted for convignacy and conflict. We opted for inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism, all those nice terms, but there's never no transfer of wealth or power. As Dr. King said in one of the speeches, you needed what a regional wealth, a regional wealth that never occurred, none of these, none of these initiative wealth and resources never transferred to our community. There was never any initiative to make sure we built wealth or we built businesses and all these so-called programs that were supposed to help the poll became racialized when we started getting like web fair, you know, Section 8, food stamp, you name it, you know, became racialized when eight of those people started to get them because why the white community would not hire the men because why they had all the contracts, they had the wealth. And so what men got was what vice and crime because a man by nature is going to, a man by nature is going to provide either legally or illegal, he's going to do something to bring in some kind of assistance to him and his family. And so what I wanted to really put out my first topic is that language management is young people, language management. If you're going to use politics, which I don't advise, but if you need, if you want to do that, you've got to be the one who's going to sit there and write the policies that's going to affect change lives and you're never going to get there out of the spirit of whiteness because in that spirit, because of the relationship built on, built on, we came here and shackles in shame for the benefit and uplift for the white community. And we have been in constant conflict with whiteness since 1619 to till today. So again, you can expect this same group that's been indoctrinated and socialized to see you in an unfit favor of a light, to now want to share the wealth of this great nation with you. So if I was one of Dr. King, you know, a lieutenant, I said, Dr. King, how likely is it that the white community, white men are going to now hire black men when they, all their life have been conditioned not to want to have anything to do with us. Our physical present was not desired, our money was not, was not desired. So what's the likelihood that they're going to want to work side by side with us? But we should, Dr. King, be pursuing our contract for the Negro themselves. Well, we can work on those projects with them, get things done, but we're going to shoot that black men will be hired. So we need to write the policies, all civil rights ordinance, we did not write those policies. And so that's why they was convoluted and could be used for anybody. I would encourage you for more information than you read, the nature sector practice of civil rights. It lists these things, nationality, sexual orientation, you know, all those things. Dr. King was not fighting for that. He was fighting what, a race based, opposition based on race, wasn't based on gender or sexual orientation or immigration or, you know, nationality. These other folks were not even in the country. But those words allowed us to apply to anybody that might come in the future and it has. Because why? We did not write the ordinance, be it voting rights, housing and whatever it was, right? It did not specify why it was being created, it was being created, right, to include the Negroes. The only folks in America during the 1960s, the country was, here's the population. It was 99.1% were whites and Negroes. These other groups were not even here. There were no advocates here. First and first and first and first, you know our Caribbean's here, no Asians. And in fact, if you look at the 1960s, those other groups did not even make one percent of the population. They weren't here. This was entirely a white man country and up until they started this here multiculturalism stuff, multiculturalism. Many people would tell you, this is a white man country, they would tell you to your face. White nationalism was this, American is Abba-Bai. So words matter to young people, language matters. In America, we go by what is written and one of the lessons you should take as my group cannot your way of baby boomers is that if you're going to use politics as a vehicle to bring about a redress, you better be writing the ordinance and you got to spell out despite it making whites uncomfortable who it is for. So we have lost that opening that calls king's life, it's gone, it's squandered, it is no more. And with all these millions and millions of illegal people running around here, you are not needed for inter-level or cheap blabbering the more people, "Eddles, you're not needed for anymore." As a matter of fact, Chuck Schumer, I saw him on the interview, he said, "The reason why he is now is for all immigration so they can go into service in the military, they can also help fund Social Security and for all these abundant jobs." So Chuck Schumer, in essence right now, is affirming to all these folks should be made legal, citizen. And what he's doing is undermining what Dr. King was murdered for. He wanted the Negro to be treated as what? Full, solicitous and with all the rights and perks of whiteness. Now they're saying, because all these illegal benefit them, no, no, no, no, no, no. Now the con is humanitarian, humanitarian, humaneness, the hard workers, the escape and violence, gangs, drugs, that's not our problem, that's not our problem. How elders, "Eddles, Ella" did not run from the dial treatment of whiteness during this four and five years. We stood and fight. We fought the civilized whiteness to make it more civil and cordial towards us and not other people. So if you're running from, you know, south of the border, if you're running from Haiti, if you're running from Africa, if you're running from wherever, right, who's gonna clean up your country? It's not you. If you're not gonna sit there and confront whatever obstacles are undermining the least ability of your country, who's gonna do that? Nobody's gonna do that. And so the way the white, at least the white spirit now is saying, is justifying why we should show them humanitarian. The babies and the women, the babies and the women, there was no compassion, there was no grace of mercy when we was down there on the bottom, but no due process, no due process on the law, no protection, no sympathy, no ethics, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing, fives. But now the economy, the last 30 years, right, humanitarian, we are a humanitarian nation. You know, we wanna help people who are struggling, but the babies and the women, it's all the side, young people, 'cause that same kind of compassion was not shown to your elders who got out there and fought, instead, whiteness in the face to civilize it. Women's fight in this spirit since the masterpiece of 160 years, 160 plus years since the masterpiece. Only in the last 70 years did whiteness, whiteness is not able to tolerate this individual space and also accept our money. There was a time, most of the time, the whiteness did not want our physical presence, and Donald should not want our little bit of money. They had no love for us at all. But our elders, Donald King, got out there. He fought, you might as well say become a crash the party. He fought for us to be included, and to show whiteness is vile, despicable, terrible treatment of our community, and so in the last 70 years, they can now tolerate our physical presence in their space and our money, but you don't own nothing, you don't control nothing, which means you got no say so in this great country of ours. And so I'm saying to you, young people, what do we do as you move forward and replace us, you need to understand the importance of language, what is written on paper matters. You don't specify who is for and why. You have the same limit that we have now, but you need to be clear. You're at the base of the mountain looking up, you're starting to know from scratch. And the great thing, the great advantage that you have by critiquing baby boomers and Dr. King's generation, you now know what not to do. You now know what not to do. And I for one as a member of baby boomers, I would put none of my time into civil rights, human rights, voting rights, you know, not me, not the kid. We have been carrying that cross for 160 years. I say it's time for you to put it down, for you to put it down and allow those concerned white and those minorities who hold those in these deer, let them fight they call again, let those concerned white along with the Jewish neighbors, the Asian neighbors, they're you know, Caribbean neighbors, Africans, folks from India, Spanish, let them fight those fight. We have given more than I've fair share 160 plus years, I would put all my energy right now into acquiring essential high income skills in order to get contracts on the city state federal private level back and hire myself, hire my people, accumulate surplus capital and then develop my own projects and complexes, all right, and start to understand that America is based on capitalism, two important components, capital and labor. You got no capital, all you have is labor. So if you don't understand that the only saving grace you got in 2024 is your labor. Do you possess essential high income skills? If you do, you're going to do well. If you don't all this cheap labor out here abound, you are not needed, it's just that couldn't drive. Here's what it is, young people. Again, I'm your host Larry, you're listening to WBCA, 102.9 FM, WBCA, 102.9 FM, name a little out of the chat call for my churches, baby, I'm the face of my churches, I'm the churches, baby, I'm the day from the churches. Well, I speak about what I see out here for the last 26 years, because you know, as far as we are, a metapavada, we're in the home, bavada, met health services people, so I can see how our families are fairing, how they're doing. And all these policies have done anything to uplift our group. If you only so-called Section 8 program, these way I feel program, you know, food stamp, all these things have done since it became racialized, it's to keep you locked in poverty. It's to keep you from pursuing any higher objective, too often I heard people say to me, no, I don't want to raise my rent. No, no, no. I don't want to do better because to do better, they might cut my food stamp, you know, to do better about, you know me, I might be sanctioned. What kind of policy is supposed to be about helping the less advantage of the downtrodden, the crumb they give you, go and penalize you if you're not trying to uplift and do better? For the last 50, 70 years that they rolled out, these programs, they've done none for the group. And I go so far to say this here to young people, talking to my people, to my group, eight of those young people, my migrant born blacks, some might say they're from the middle blacks or a regional black American, that group who've been up for four to five years, you. And when you really think about it, if I think about it, none of the policies that came out of whiteness had done anything to benefit us. I say again, none of the policies that have come out of whiteness have done anything to benefit and uplift the collective. So why do we keep looking for solutions from this here, spirit, just being our detriment since 16, 19? Some of you think about young people. And so I say the interview here in my voice, right now, if you own this program with some of your art, you ain't going nowhere, all they do is take your driving ambition and they render you in a permanent state of impoverished and on the bottom. And let me define being on the bottom for you. If you can't move to a community of your choice, you're on the bottom. If you can't make sure your children attend a school or activities that you can pay for, you're on the bottom. If you live in an intersection of a city, a Boston, there's some might deem, you know, high risk or, you know, crime infested. If you can't move with your own funds and your own factor score, you're on the bottom. And I can take a life like anything on the bottom. And 30 years ago, most of me, about 30, 40 years ago, I had a very candid conversation myself and I looked at myself and I was brutally, brutally honest, honest with myself by the way I was. I decide if I want a better life and my wife and my daughter's time, I had to go back, upgrade my skill back to also right, change my way of thinking. Change my way of thinking had to change because no one's coming to save young people. So you might think, you know, I'm getting by. I got a nice place to call, you live, I got cable, got a little make a thinking job out here, got my little, got my little car, you know what I mean? I'm doing okay. Well, you're in poverty because the truth be told, most of you don't have 5 or 10 grand liquid in the bank. If anything came up, you don't have that small amount of money to address any unforeseen experience. And so those so-called safety net, safety net has become nothing but an anchor around too many of our members and there's no safety in that net. That net has become an anchor that weighs you down in the same position, generation of generation and many of your kids will embrace that same lifestyle as being okay because why that's what you're promoting, they see in what you're doing. So I'm here to say to you, the whole safety net, mythology is a myth. There's no safety net net. All that net does to the recipient of those so-called benefits is make sure you lose your drive and your ambition. And when you lose your drive and ambition, it's over. Stick or fog in them, stick or fog in them, you're done. And I can say for being in the church for the last 26 years, some of our folks, right? It's over. And you pass that get by spirit onto your children. And so the beat goes on. So I say to young people, I will not embrace a life of the safety net or youth program. And the best thing you got going that we leave you with, all these occupation that once was off-limits to us, you could not get in when you use educated scale, new stuff, didn't know nothing, you wouldn't get in. That lives been popped off because Dr. King and I ever fought, you're not excluded anymore from occupation. Any occupation, if you have the skills, you can get in, you can get in and do very well for yourself. They might not like it, but you can get in there. It's one of the best things that we leave in you, occupationally, you can be anything you want to know. I was born in 1953, 1953. Then white folks would not let us in, period, educated, uneducated, skilled, unskilled. You wouldn't get in because why? Of anti-blackness, white hate. And because our elders, not the advocates, not the Caribbean, not white women, not Jews, not Hispanic, because our folk got out there and fought and a friend of whiteness is why that lead has been popped off. So you can get in any field you want to. So you're not just confined to entertaining white people. Hitting the ball, kicking the ball, shooting the ball, dunking the ball, singing and rapping. You're not confined anymore. You can be in any field. If you go out there and acquire those skills and now you can fight to get those contracts with the city, state, federal, private, et cetera, if you have a skill. And so you are being left in a very advantageous position because what we have to deal with in 1953 when I was born, that hurdle, your elders have lifted it, not Africans, not Caribbean's, your elders have lifted that burden. Look at any of these clips with king and all the folks in the '50s and '60s who you see out there, 99% were us, they wrote eight of us. You might see a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there. You see a verse, you know white women. That's why I never understood how the white women ever become a minority. I'll tell you why, because why white folks broke the regs, that's why they wrote them. Look, in any of these old clips, you don't see virtually none of them out there. Here and there, 1111 here, the here and there, it's all out people. So we've been the one out here taking the blunt of white hate, great pushback, even today. That's why I say it's time for you to allow these other minorities, let them take the forefront in fighting 2025. You see as the issue there, okay, my second word for it, what are you going to do about it? Right folks now, sound your alarm, Democrats, sound sound your alarm, sound your alarm, okay. I take a word for it, what are you going to do about it? So let those concerned whites along with their Jewish partners, you know, Asians, Spanish, Caribbean's, African, folks from India, let them get out there, confront that. If I was you, I'd keep my eye strictly on acquiring my skills, essential skills, and pursuing the city contracts and state contracts and fellow contracts. That's what I do, that's what I do, but I would not be out on the forefront fighting and I'd just take them for 2025. It's my belief, it's your call to young people, it's your call, if we get out of your way, but you can teach and you can learn from us. One of the biggest gifts we leave you, that I can personally, the latest off, the latest off baby, you get any feel you want to. And to pay, this word, I want to leave you, just put out an atmosphere where I've seen in these 20, 60 years, I'm in the field doing direct mental health and family. What you put your time into is what you will, what you will excel in. What you put your time into is what you will excel in. If you're putting your time in the hitting the ball, kicking the ball, there's a darn good chance you're going to become very good and very proficient at hitting that ball. If you're trying to wrap all the time, walking around, rapping, rapping, rapping, rapping, it's a good chance you might become very proficient at rapping. If you're being exposed to science and technology, mathematics, engineering, well, then guess what? You're going to gravitate to that interest. Because why? You've been exposed to that. Nobody's born with anything. As you may be in, what I call, a blank slate, but this is orientation, introduction, socialization, what determines what he or she is going to gravitate to. That's why you see certain groups, right? Certain ethnic groups, and then like folks from India, Asian, right? They're all into what STEM, technology, engineering, math. Why? They pay well. They pay well, very well. But they've been exposed to that right since infancy and a lesson. So it ain't nothing strange to them, because why, that's all they know. Because what you are exposed to, often, is what you will excel at, parents. And so it's why you see those groups, I loaded in those high income, right, important occupations. Why? They have been deliberately exposed to those fields. Well, you've been getting your kids a basketball, football, baseball. Now, rapping, entertainment. Entertainment, right, is not going to do much for the group, more do much for the group, now. That's not done anything so far. Entertainment do not make policies, they don't make laws. Laws can alter and change behavior. Understand now, laws can alter and change behavior because why there's clout and weight behind it. If you don't conform, you can be sanctioned. Entertainment is right, they can't section nobody. They're good at what they do, but they got no juice. Anyway, you listen to WBCA, 102.9 FM, WBCA, 102.9 FM. I'm your host Larry thing about him, name and show from the churches, baby. I'm the face of my churches, I'm the face of my churches. I speak about what I've been seeing for the last 26 years out in the churches in these homes. Policies made on high, how they affected folks. The group ain't doing well. And the reason the man is because we did not write the policy that was opposed to redress 24th of years of chalice layering, 100 years of sharecropping, Jim Crow, et cetera. So I'm going to take a break, I'll be back in a moment to continue to the bell, don't go nowhere. The revolution wasn't televised in the '60s, is it going to be televised in the '90s? Well, you know, the catchphrase, what that was all about, the revolution would not be televised, that was about the fact that the first change that takes place is in your mind. You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and the way you move. So when we said that the revolution would not be televised, we were saying that the thing that's going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on a film. It'll just be something that you see and all of a sudden you realize, I'm on the wrong page, or I'm on the right page, but I'm on the wrong note, and I've got to get in sync with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country. But I think that the Black Americans have been the only real, that hard Americans here, because we're the only ones who carry the process through the process, that everyone else has to sort of like skip stages. We're the ones who march, we're the ones who carry the Bible, we're the ones who carry the flag, we're the ones who try to go through the courts, and being born American didn't seem to matter, because we were born Americans, but we still had to fight for what we were looking for, and we still had to go through those tales and those processes. 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And now we'll hear from our class valedictorian, who with our hard work never ceases to amaze us. Please welcome Marta Moreno. I'm Alex. Hey Alex, how did the interview go? I did it, I got the job, I can't believe it. I knew it, let's meet up later to celebrate. And Diego. Mom, I got first place at the Science Fair with my volcano project. That's amazing, sweetie, congratulations. Because when people are fed, futures are nourished, and everyone deserves to live a full life. Join the movement to end hunger at FeedingAmerica.org/actnow. A public service announcement brought to you by FeedingAmerica and the Ad Council. The revolution wasn't televised in the 60s, is it going to be televised in the 90s? Well you know the catchphrase, what that was all about, the revolution would not be televised. That was about the fact that the first change that takes place is in your mind. You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and when you move. So when we said that the revolution would not be televised, we were saying that the thing that's going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on the film. It'll just be something that you see and all of a sudden you'll realize I'm on the wrong page, or I'm on the right page but I'm on the wrong note, and I've got to get in sync with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country. But I think that the black Americans have been the only real that hard Americans here, because we were the only ones who carried the process through the process, that everyone else has to sort of like skip stages. We're the ones who marched, we're the ones who carried the Bible, we're the ones who carried the flag, we're the ones who tried to go through the courts, and being born American didn't seem to matter because we were born American but we still had to fight for what we were looking for, and we still had to go through those channels and those processes. I'm back, Boston, again, you're listening to WBCA 102.9 FM, WBCA 102.9 FM. I'm your host, Larry Hagenbottom, name of the program, I'm the church's baby, I'm the church's baby, I'm the church's baby, good to see for his hand. Being out here doing the mental health services in his homes, you see how folks are faring. Today it's called Speak My Mind Wednesday, a lot of things from my mind, I want to share my thoughts with you on this Wednesday. The reason why I like playing that interview with Brother The Lake, Gil Scott Haring, the title, Revolution Will I Be Tell of I, Revolution Will I Be Tell of I, he hits it on the nail. The change will be very subtle, very subtle. It starts in your mind, the revolution starts in your mind, as the Bible said, it's a quote that says be ye transformed by what, the renewing of your mind, I said again, be ye transformed by what, the renewing of your mind. As Brother Gil Scott Haring so rightfully said, when he started, he was on the wrong page, he's going the wrong way, he's doing the wrong tune. And many of our folks out here in the last 40 years since King was murdered, a good portion of our people, thank God, and all, a good portion are totally, morally, ethically bankrupt. Doing all kind of nonsense on his bonus platform with no shame, the absence of shame, not tolerance, right? Do you, who you to judge me, have to place shame and standards, and many of them are okay doing what they're doing. So when Brother Gil Scott Haring said, the revolution will not be televised, he told you, it starts in your mind first, it starts with you. There won't be no ban playing, there won't be no watching down, main street, you know, confetti falling from the skyscraper from the sky from the high rise, it'd be you kind of realize that I'm going the wrong way, I'm doing the wrong thing, I'm on the wrong tune. And for too many of our young people, your next year's eating millennia, too many of your people are going the wrong way. Like my group, Baby Boons with the wrong way, to embrace multiculturalism, diversity, equity inclusion, there's no transfer of wealth or institutions, there, just all what, concepts. But the actual power and control of those institutions remain what, the white community. So yes, we will respect multiculturalism, we will respect multiculturalism, yes we can do that, but it's still a white dominated culture here who owns all the power, the wealth, and the influence. Yes, we can do DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion, why, these are our institutions, these are our communities, these are our factories, these are our institutions that you're coming to, to provide some melanin and a different perspective, but you don't own nothing, you don't control nothing. So my group, Baby Boons went down the wrong path on the symbolic so-called rewards, because no actual wealth or power changed hands. As Dr. King said so rightfully, why he's living, their needs must be a wealth redistribution. If policies are not aimed at that, you're on the bottom, Baby, you're on the bottom. And for many of your contemporary Gen X Gen Z's and millennial, they stuck in these programs, these poverty programs, you know, second aid, food stamp, child care, whatever, daycare, they ain't moving. And now, without this influx of these illegal immigrants, they are not needed nor wanted. And then I told many of you, you know, people echoing, you know, we don't need to, we don't look to the past, no, get over the past, when your past, right, when your past is affecting your present, we're not worthless, broke because we, lazy, no count, didn't want anything, there were racial laws that made sure that the, that the near whiteness would stay on our neck to prevent us from excelling and being included. So here we are. That's why I love that interview with our Delate Guilford Hammond, he lays it out. When you define what he meant by a revolution, you will not be televised, it all starts in your mind, young people, it all starts there. And just like many never saw the promised land in biblical time, many of your actual family members won't see a better life here in America because their mind is totally impoverished. They are stuck on that bottom, they're okay on that bottom. And the best that you can do for you and your children is to lead by example by getting away and thriving do better because they're okay where they are and they will never change until in their mind they see a need for change, not in your mind. And I'm sad to say this here, get off your knees from praying, close that Bible and start to pursue a central high high income skill about you can demand to be included and share in this great country of ours. We've been praying for 160, we've been praying for 160 plus years, reading the Bible, 160 plus years, close that Bible, get off your knees and start to pursue those skill set and demand to be included because in this world God gave man and woman total freedom and total dominion in this earthy realm. But you're touching on that young people. He gave you and me total dominion and total freedom to choose what we want to do. You can pray how you want to. It's one of our, our Carnegie, civil rights leaders said, friend of the friend of Lou Hamer, look up, friend of Lou Hamer. She said this here. It's already christen, all you black christen out there are, this your listener, you black christen, pay attention. She said, you can pray until you're blue in the face, but God is not going to put in your lap. I'll say again, friend of Lou Hamer said it. You can pray until you're blue in the face, but God is not going to put in your lap and we are living an example. Nothing has been put in our lap despite spending 1000, 1000 and 1000 hours on our knees praying every night Bible. And I go somebody say this here, the Bible is not going to help us here. God is not going to help us on this here. Praying is not going to help us here. Be transformed by what's renewing of your mind, of your mind, of your mind. That's an individual endeavor, not a group or collective activity. And I can stay for being out in the churches. There are many of our family members who are mentally bankrupt and impoverished. And they're okay down there in the market admire. You see them on TikTok. You see them on his plan his platform, they have no shame in revealing their two character and their personality. What are y'all? And they will belittle you by trying to help hold them to standards. Who you to judge me? It's my life. You heard them? Be true to yourself, baby. Be true to yourself. Be true to who you are. You hear those kinds of comments, right? What you're listening to young people are people who are saying they don't want to be helped to stand it or behave you. They use those words ever called default comments who you judge me. You can't judge me because they don't want to be held accountable. So let me swim, let me swim in the market admirer because I'm doing me. I'm being true to me. Our elders who fought whiteness head on to civilize this spirit whereby you can now move about, come with freely, without being victimized or terrorized, doing the worst, worst, worst time of our existence here, those people, our elders, those your elders, head standards. They're the poet. They're the code of conduct, a code of behavior. And what is transpired since multiculturalism and diversity, a good portion of our people have been able to get up and out of the hood. They're very comfortable. They're doing well. And I'm excluded in the things I didn't find my den. Those who have essential skills, they're doing well and they're comfortable. So unlike in King Day, when all of us, all of us, regardless of your education, your intellect, your drive, we always lock in that bucket called white despair. Now the list I popped off and quite a few of our folks write, I'm not comfortable. They're not sacrificed, they're not going to sacrifice to confront whiteness. They're comfortable. They know they're deal with it, but they're not going to sacrifice their confidence for the group. So for those of you on the bottom, you're on your own. You are on your own. And let me just find for the bottom again. If you're in a pot of town, that it says crime-written, poor schools, and you don't have the means. You don't have the means to get up and leave by your own skill base, you're on the bottom. If they're programmed, you're going to put your kids in, or a school you want some of your kids to, and you like the means to do that, you're on the bottom. If you're living in the pot of town, if you can't move out, you're on the bottom. You worry about if you pay Paul, you have to rob Peter, you're on the bottom. And the only way off that bottom, I can see the only saving grace for my group, Aitos, I make it more in blacks, are skills. America's still grounded in capitalism, it's a saving grace, and labor is still needed to produce goods and services. And by the lid being popped off of these occupations, now you can get any feel you want to, if you have a quiet, those skillset, you can get paid and do well. I'm a little example of that, because I started on the bottom too, why? All of us come out of the home with no wealth and no inheritance, we come out of the home with no wealth and no inheritance, so we got started with nothing but us. And so if you don't understand the importance of that, this thing on capitalism, you've been thoroughly miseducated, I wouldn't put none of my time in the fight for human rights, voting rights, civil rights, this and that, not me, wouldn't see me down here. We done paid our dues, Aitos, we have given more than our fifth year, last 160 years fighting that demon, let those concerned whites along with them and the oddies, you know, let them push that wagon, but I wouldn't be able to do it, not me. It's your call, because it's your time to come to this plate, if we get out your way, but I wouldn't do that. And these final minutes, let me also speak about the two candidates, Biden and also former President Trump. If you research Biden as I did when he was running with President Obama, I would get President Biden, President Biden at the time of the day, Senator Biden has never been a champion for the Negroes of Black America, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, he had no love for us, no respect for us, no appreciation for us at all. I wouldn't get it, I wouldn't get in the time of the day, and the same for President Trump, nice guy, especially the both nice guy, but he never had no intention for us. And this is nonsense about, well, you know, the less of two, either, that's old, that's old, that's old, that's old hat. Neither one of them are going to do anything for you, and if your quality of life depends on who's in the White House, who's in the governorship, who's down the mayor, then you've been thoroughly mis-educated in America, I'll say again, if your quality of life depends on who's in office, you've been thoroughly mis-educated. No matter who's in office, it should not affect your quality of life, because if you possess the essential high income skills, you're going to do well, no matter who's in office, you're going to do well, because capitalism is the economic that drives America, and skills are essential in that scheme of things. So if you think you're going to get something from Biden, you know, Trump, you're foolish, and I know you're not a fool, so it's time for you to stop to think what's in your best interest, and I say, it's in your best interest to be highly scaled up, scaled. I don't kill with, don't feel involved, don't face me, the sun will shine tomorrow, America will be in the mall, don't buy nothing, oh, the democracy is, we know it, that goes our country, no, she'll be in the mall, she'll be here. I'll tell you one thing, it's going to remain true. If you break, if you're broke today, you'll be broke November 5th after the election. If you stuck in the hood today, you'll be stuck in the hood after November 5th. You can't take it your famous on your term, you'll be stuck not taking care of your famous after November 5th, you get my drift, your quality of life depends on you and you alone, and no one's coming to save you, no one's coming to make it better for you. Now these policies are going to uplift you out of your condition. If you're not putting in and trying to quiet those skills, you're going to stay where you are, and the beat's going to roll on, and the beat goes on, people, and the beat goes on. We're young people, those are my thoughts, only speaking my own wisdom. It's quite warm as you went out there, but again, it's America, baby, and for those who want to leave, go see what I mean because I ain't going nowhere, and I'm not going anywhere. It's a great country, and when you possess essential high-income skills, when you possess those skills that you're going to do well in America. If you don't, but always eat illegal around here, you got problem, you got big problem, you got big problem. So until next Wednesday, I want you to think what I just said, don't get stuck on who's going to win, but rather look at your skills, are your skills what they need to be in America? If not, you've got to go back and upgrade your skills. There's no getting around there, there's no getting around in the horse, you've got to go back and upgrade your skills, but you ain't going to do well, and you just couldn't do well in America, everybody I know who's doing well in America have essential skills that are needed. So no matter who's at City Hall, who's the governor, who's the senator, or congress person, or president, they're going to do well because of capitalism, it needs labor. So please don't be caught up with this hype about what Biden said, what Trump said, Republican Democrat, whiteness is the body, and it needs the wings of the Republican Democrat party to fly. Whiteness is the body, but it needs the wings of Democrat and Republicans for the fly. We know we ain't getting nothing, we ain't getting nothing. So until next Wednesday, I want you to stay cool, look at where you are, remember the end of the day now, at the end of the day, know what's coming to save you. If you don't save yourself, you're going to stay where you are, and so are your children. So the next Wednesday, God bless you, be safe, and I'll see you then. The preceding commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnnmedia.org. [BLANK_AUDIO]