Latimer Williams

Well the day of love called St. Valentine’s Day is upon us and I was at the store getting some cards like the rest of the crowd. As I was looking around I just watch and noticed how much money we spend on this day!

You had guys buying for more than one girl which I thought was funny. Women carefully picking the out the right card for the right person. You had older guys looking totally lost. Now that is always entertaining. Just make a mental note that if you ever need cheering up goto a gift or card shop on the day before Valentine’s Day and the Day of Valentine’s Day, that is some entertaining is stuff .

But in the hustle and bustle to get that perfect gift, don’t forget to carry this love and appreciation beyond today. There are 364 more days left in the year so don’t minimize your relationships to one day. Tell them you love them tommorrow and don’t accept signs of affection on just one day. I hope you are know you are worth more than just one day!

That’s not to trash today because it is a good day for couples but just don’t let this one day be the sum of your relationship.

Other than that enjoy the day!

We have all heard about the tragedy that happened to Phylicia Moore, an African-American girl from Teaneck, NJ that was on a good will tour in Ghana. I’m quite sure alot of you have not heard of Phylicia Moore and what happened to her, but basically the same thing that happened to Natalie Halloway without all of the media attention. Almost a year has passed and no leads have been found on what happened to Phylicia Moore. The one thing that stands out in both Phylicia Moore’s case and the Natalie Halloway case is that there were not a strong plan of room checks and safety checks for these kids.

Steve Rothman(D-Fair Lawn) is proposing to Congress a Law that will have stricter guidelines for American Students traveling abroad on school sponsored trips. It is called Phylica’s Law and it calls for written guidelines for students. As Congressman Rothman states :

Phylicia’s Law

says that at a minimum a safety plan should address policies on curfews, room checks, and chaperon qualifications, and emergency procedures to be followed in the case of serious injury or death. However, school districts, who know their own schools and students best, will have full discretion to set the specific requirements in a plan as they see fit. Parents will see the policies before approving a trip and can then determine whether they feel that it is safe for their child to go.

It is a nice gesture and I am glad someone is trying to put some safeguards in place however that doesn’t help the Phylicia Moore case at all. The FBI is suppose to be investigating now , so where is the update? How long do we have to wait to see some movement in this case. The world seemed to have been turned over for the Natalie Hollaway but authorities are dragging their feet in regards to giving Phylicia Moore’s parents some answers.

Here is a link to the website for Phylicia’s Law , on there you will see a link to sign a petition to have this law passed, please sign the petition!

There is The Phylicia Moore Scholarship Fund if you would like to donate in her honor.

Last year we had a pair of first in the Super Bowl. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith as the first African-Americans coaches to led their teams to the Super Bowl with Tony Dungy being the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl with his team, the Indianapolis Colts. It was a historical moment in the NFL and sports.

Today in Super Bowl XLII we have another set of first for African-Americans. Mark Carey will be the first African-American head referee in a Super Bowl. Mark Cary will be the leading a team of referees that include 2 other African-Americans, line judge Carl Johnson and field judge Boris Cheek.

The other first is Jerry Reese GM of the New York Giants. Jerry Reese is the first African-American General Manager of an NFL team to have his team in the Super Bowl. Reese in is first year as GM drafted 8 players in the 2007 draft and all 8 play significant minutes for the New York Giants. Jerry Reese was promoted as GM after serving as a scout for a couple of years.

Let’s celebrate these two men and the accomplishments that they have done.

We have probably heard already about this but in case you didn’t here it is, no it’s not another Jena but it just is proof that we have 2 sets of punishments for white kids and black kids. Dominique Goyner and his girlfriend were kissing on their school bus. The kissing was caught on video kissing and there is a student code of conduct that has a rule about sexual misconduct. The punishment can be temporarily removed from the bus or class, a 2 day suspension or expulsion. Well guess which punishment Richland District Two in Columbia,South Carolina chose for Goyner and his girlfriend. The 2 kids were expelled from school for the entire year. We are not talking about a repeat offender or a kid constantly in trouble with the school or the law. Goyner is an honor student and involved in the Junior ROTC in his high school with dreams of going to the military academy.

A Richland District Two representative stands by the school and the districts action on the 2 17 year-old juniors. Let me start by say I agree if they broke the rules in the student code of conduct there should be punishment but damn, straight to expulsion? In stated that just vote for Barrack Obama by a landslide it still has a ways to go as does a lot of the country. It just goes to show if you are a young black kid that is actually about something you cannot step out of line at all or they try to cut your head off.

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Well I never thought I would say Vermont and I love in the same sentence but I have to tell you, this type of stuff I love to see! This what you call a people tired of the bullshit in Washington. The residents of Brattleboro,Vermont have passed around a petition to have a bill go before the town council to pass a law that if President George Bush or Vice-President Dick Chaney come to Brattleboro,VT they will be arrested for war crimes,perjury or obstruction of justice.

The Select Board of Brattleboro voted 3-2 to allow the bill to come before the council. The main organizer Kurt Daims believes that President Bush and Vice-President Chaney were also guilty of espionage for spying on American people and obstuction of justice, for the politically generated firings of U.S. attorneys.

At first they were looked at as looney, crazy as a mad hatter, but over time this petition has generated a lot of support. It seems that other towns are looking at doing the same thing in Kentucky and Massachusetts. Daims stated that Brattleboro was able to “think outside the box on this issue”.

I cannot say how proud I am of the people of Brattleboro,VT, they are people willing to hold politicans accountable for their actions not just by protest but trying to enforce legal accountability. We all know that this one little town cannot or will not arrest President Bush or Vice-President Chaney but the act itself is what Civil disobedience is all about. The funny part is President Bush or Vice-President Chaney has never been back to Brattleboro since the last time they were elected and I doubt they will in the future. The town will vote on March 4th.

Brattleboro,VT , I Salute you!

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