Atlanta Positive Event Alert

Meet & Greet

Speaker and Author:

Shay Olivarria

Author of Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook and 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money

August 3, 2010
at
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Nubian Bookstore

2445 Southlake Mall

Morrow, GA 30260

This event is presented to you as something we feel will benefit the community and wanted to share with anyone who would be interested. We support all positive events in the community and want to show our support to Shay Olivarria and this event. We look forward to seeing you there.

55.068% of the Year Has Passed

55.068% of the year has passed.

The first half of the year has passed. The optimistic memories of New Year's resolutions have begun to fade and the projection of the year 2011 has begun to set in. Most often this time of the year is rejected as the slump to get over the hill back to the new beginning of a new year. The summer is fading, you never went on the vacation you said you would you didn't save the money you wanted to. Before you know it December will be here and you will be praying for the "holiday" season to be over so you can "get back on your feet" in the New Year.

Every day is a self evaluation day. Daily goals assessed, weekly goals processed and monthly goals analyzed. The optimism that is generally fueled by the New Year and the empty promises that it generates shouldn't be running on E half way through the year. Optimism and hope are not seasonal feelings. Not just saved for when the world tells you it's time for a new beginning.

The New Year, marks just that a new year, NOT a new you! The only person that can establish a New You is You, and you have to decide this on your own terms. Not on the terms or in the mirror of someone else. The problem with this mid year slump is that we look back and see all the missed opportunities on the plans we set for ourselves. We ate way to much at BBQ's that's why we still weigh the same or possibly more. This kind of logic is unhealthy and detrimental to the enjoyment of life.

If we only set goals for ourselves, halfheartedly and intoxicated, it will be difficult to stick to them. The goals often established in the New Year hold no consequence, but a verbal signature that you may or may not have spoken to someone to hold us accountable. If the New Year is your starting point for a New You, the process is life long. Short term goals and mid-year evaluations do not dictate your progress.

Progress is determined by the effort and motivation that you put in yourself to keep going. Although you may fail you learn your mistakes and plan to do better the next time. Progress is not waiting for January to reset yourself to do the things you have been wanting to do for some time now.

55.068% of the year has passed, a percentage that we will never get back. It may have been the best half year of your life or the worst, but remember it is just a half year. 201 days out of a journey that is indefinite. Don't let a fraction of your year determine the rest of your life. If you want to do better, find the resources to help guide you in the direction of where you want to be. Seek out support in the areas that you desire, speak your goals out loud and be held accountable for them.

Learn from the mistakes of many resolutions that have failed. Don't resolve yourself to resolutions, evolve yourself in effective evaluations. So today as you look back on the 55.068%; evaluate your possible failures or successes. It's not the resolution that changes you, it's the motivation and hope of changing the person you are. Change doesn't come in a year, it doesn't come in four (ask Obama), change is a lifetime. Don't be so hard on yourself in this 55.068%

Truth Tuesday: Black America Driven By Fear

"Slavery was a system that depended on the creation of deep levels of fear." - Frederick Douglas

"...I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves... I use FEAR..." - Willie Lynch Letter


Many Black Americans are driven by fear. We live our lives in fear. Fear of "the man", fear of ourselves. Every aspect of our lives is dictated by fear. Over the years I have heard many excuses regarding the plight of Black America, but the one thing I have yet to hear is the truth; Black Americans are driven by fear.

When I ask people how Black Americans got in this position of fear, I often hear the Willie Lynch Letter and the method he presented is the reason we continue to live in fear and have been controlled for over 300 years. Credit has been given to one man for writing the method to control an entire race of individuals. I disagree with the Willie Lynch letter for various reasons, but this post is not meant to debunk that myth.

Weather it was a method to control, dictated by a letter over 300 years ago, fear has been ingrained in the minds, body, and souls of Black America. At any level we can see the fear of our people as we navigate through this world. Fear that we can never break racial barriers or glass ceilings, we retreat to comfort zones. Fear that we won't get the job if we are our "true" selves so we retreat to certain beauty standards. Fear that we may be everything "they" say we aren't.

As most of the elements plaguing Blacks in America, we have begun to self perpetuate these theories into our own culture. Threading fear into our children and then blaming the opposition on someone else "holding us down." The truth is the only person holding us down is ourselves. We have to relinquish the fear that we have instilled in our community and uplift each other back to our fearless positions.

We are afraid of our highest potential. Parents tell their children all the things they can't do as they grow older, blaming their warped mindset on someone who the child has yet to be in contact with. We have read society's manual and mapped out a smaller piece of the pie than the American Dream laid for us. Rather, we have begun to learn "their" recipe instead of creating our own.

The key to overcoming fear is knowledge. Knowledge of what and why we are afraid. The knowledge to understand that all our fears are manifested in our minds; we have been conditioned to not be free within ourselves. It is time to dive into the deepest corners and emerge with our fears. It is time to relinquish ourselves from lowering ourselves and our standards to less than.

It is time to be fearless. Of course, let's not be fearless to the point of stupidity. Logic is still involved when you have a fearless heart. You must continue to be boastful, but understand when situations are not for you. Being fearless in a gunfight while you aren't holding a weapon is not the objective here. Being fearless enough to prepare you for such a fight is.

I know that I no longer want to live in fear. I have examined all the things that I have yet to do and it has been fear that has been holding me back. Fear of rejection in relationships, fear of labeling in my friendships, fear of resistance in my workplace, fear of freedom in pursuing my dreams. I have finally reached a place where I am equipped to know that I have nothing to be fearful of.

I hope you will join me on this fearless journey.

Gone But Not Forgotten - James Byrd, Jr.

May 2, 1949 - June 7, 1998

To some you may have been a simple man, but to me you are my hero. You are the pure manifestation of everything I stand for, your are the voice of my image. You were trusting enough to rely on help from people who have never given you a hand. You believed in their spirit to let the color of your skin, not dictate your character. You are everything my heart is today.

I wonder what your thoughts were as you were dragged down the road. As you tried to raise your head for the fight of social justice over the jagged rocks, metal and dirt, you held your head high even in this lowest position. As you tried to survive for future generations, I felt you. As you tried to rise up on your elbows, you gave me all the hope I ever needed in this life. You are everything I fight for today.

In any race no one wants to be last, I am sure you didn't want to be coined "the last lynching" in this race for social justice. They might not have hung you by the tree, but the way your body was dragged, they lynched your future existence. For three miles you fought, harder than many of us have ever fought.

You were someone before you were killed, your murder was not the making of you. You were decapitated, but your soul survived. My hero; through your story I live, you have breathed life into everything I am today. I must show my appreciation. You may be gone, but you are not forgotten. I will never forget your name, I will never forget your heart.

May peace rest with you.



To find out more information regarding the murder of James Byrd Jr. visit the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Byrd_Jr.
http://amath.colorado.edu/carnegie/lit/lynch/byrd.htm

Make Your Place

"I believe it is time for the black race to show what we are capable of doing. The testing will surely go on for the next generation and the next, but each time we meet the test we'll climb another rung of the ladder until finally we arrive at parity, having earned our place, rather than pleading or demanding that it be given to us."

-Ditchdigger's Daughters

This quote raises many questions for me, the main question being: What Place Are We In The Race For? Often I hear people say where they want to go, where the deserve to be, but I honestly don't know if people understand what race they are in. Many people, even those who are defiant of society, give into the notion of the American Dream. Working hard to find their "place" and finally "make it." Some people don't think they should work hard at all, some people feel entitled to a piece of the American Pie.

Many feel entitled to a place in society, but in what "welcome to the world manual" did we read that offered us a place. We argue that we should get reparations and respect based on the plight that our ancestors had to go through, but we don't respect our ancestors on a daily basis. We want to piggy back on the hard labor of someone else, just because that someone shares the same blood line.

As they say actions speak louder than words, so what are you doing to earn your place. What are you doing to ensure that you are in the place you should be, not in an appointed position by your opposition. There is a place deliberately designed for you in society, everyone in America doesn't get to go to sleep to have that American Dream. Some of us lie awake for years trying to get a moment of rest so we can dream too.

The reality of the situation is everyone doesn't have a place in the American Dream, but if we can restructure the rungs of the ladder and how we measure ourselves, we can all make a place. If you truly think about the above statement, even once you pass "parity" and "make it" to "your place" you are still at the place that someone designed you to be at. Your place is not positioned with you in mind.

So, how do we earn our place, we have to MAKE OUR PLACE!!! It is time for us to restructure our structuring and define new places in our own society. We can combat parity, by learning and understanding. Knowledge will teach us our obstacles, strength in our knowledge will help us overcome them.

There is no design for you, no blueprint to being in America, but if you look at your assignment and set-up, you may think otherwise. There are no glass ceilings, your eyes are just to dense to see what's beyond that. Adjust your vision. See beyond all the negative elements that have been prescribed to you and make your place!!! Where ever you want to be, go there. The first step is on you, you design your ladder and you determine how high you want to climb.

Cliche as it may seem... "Nobody's built like you, you design yourself" ... Make Your Place!!!

Safe to Dream: Dedicated to Aiyana Jones

We live in a place where it isn't safe to dream
She was asleep in her home, safe; or so it would seem
A child, innocent, oblivious to the madness around her
Her dreams stripped away in what the police call a blur

Dreams deferred by bullets and home invasion
Their story and the other story, doesn't add to an equal equation
Answers fall on death ears and there is no one to blame
Cop is licensed killer with paycheck, it's shame

Our children's life stolen, but not in the usual institutionalized way
The light escaped her eyes before she could see the light of day
Now our kids go to sleep afraid to dream
She was asleep in her home, safe; or so it would seem

Atlanta: Positive Event Alert

Conversations on Afrikan Spirit

Every Wednesday in the month of May the Center for Afrikan Biblical Studies and the First Afrikan Church present: Conversations on Afrikan Spirit.

May 5th: The Afrikan Is...
May 12th: The Afrikan Family Is Insightful
May 19th: The Afrikan Family is Informed
May 26th: The Afrikan Family is Inspiring

Free Admission to All Events!!!

Come out and enjoy the conversation.

Events begin at 7:00 p.m. Every Wednesday.

First Afrikan Church
5197 Salem Road
Lithonia, GA

For more information you can contact the First Afrikan Church at fapc@firstafrikanchurch.org or call 770-981-2601.


Black Positive Image, Inc. is not in conjunction with the First Afrikan Church. This event is presented to you as something we feel will benefit the community and wanted to share with anyone who would be interested. We support all positive events in the community and want to show our support for the First Afrikan Church and this event. We look forward to seeing you there.