Frederick Douglass speech analysis with community guests

Don't be the fool Are we going to play around this town? And let what I've been saying come true Get off of me I can get up if you want to understand me I can get up if you really want to help me I can get up, but in Jesus' name I'm gonna get up if you get off of me I can get up if you want to understand me I can get up if you really want to help me I can get up, but in Jesus' name I'm gonna get up The people who are talking to me Are we going to play around this town? And let what I've been saying come true Good for nothing they are I'm a figure Just a boyish girl My ship is a jigger Now we gonna stand for that Oh yes I really will decide I'm your brother As you stand in your glory I hope you're mine If I tell a whole story Pardon me sister I know you think you've come a long way I know you think you've come a long way As I walk the street To see it roll You can see my hands ain't shaking And my legs ain't triggering I turn the corner and keep it the trash Look up at the street sign Says San Julian Look back down and make eye contact with his brother And now I'm feeling not understanding So where I should be He looks around a thousand of his friends That raise their crackpipes to the lips And plays himself a tune But the Darker Than Blue By Willis and Shantay A positive light ministry Welcome to the Coon Rhyme Report May the peace and blessings of a life Giving creative spirit Be upon you and upon your family My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson Coming at you live From Skid Row Studios And I'm in the studio With my co-host Earlene Anthony Now you can listen to us live Or download our show And any past show By googling in Coon Rhyme Report Our call in number Is 800-893-9562 You can call If you want to call in And ask some questions Or just chat with me Or some of the guests Just call in 800-893-9562 Now this week on the Coon Rhyme Report We will try to answer A question that was posed By Frederick Douglass On the 5th of July In the year 1852 And that question is What to a slave Is the 4th of July Now I'm delighted to have with us In the studio And talk about that subject Brother Muhammad Hello Jamal Asalam Hello how you doing Sales Reed Good evening Bobby Buck Yep yep Welcome to the Coon Rhyme Report Glad to be here Glad to be here Before we get into our discussion Let's go around the table And introduce yourself Tell our listening audience A little about you A little about your background You know where you grew up at And what you're doing now Let's start with Sale Born and raised in Los Angeles, California And currently taking various online courses Taking various courses in Coursera C-O-U-R-S-E-E-R-A dot O-R-G Which is the new information That technology, young people All sorts of folks from across the board Need to take a look at Because it's a new thing It is the current state of digital technology Available for free education online Coursera dot O-R-G Alright And that's what we're currently working on Programming algorithms and discrete mathematics When we come back I want to talk about that in details In the latter part of our show No problem Okay, Jamal Hi, I'm Jamal Asalam A poet Been in Los Angeles on and off the road Since 1986 Been involved a lot with the Qumran And the Skid Row community And a little bit with the Gang Truth Currently attending LACC And due to graduate in December Okay Computer science Jamal, did you bring anything to read today? I did not Yeah You don't have anything you can do for us today? Well, I could probably dig out something Yeah, yeah Yeah, you know, hey, second part of the show, you know, we'd like for you to do a poem, show your skills over there. Okay. That's great. Move over to Bobby Buck. Hello, yeah, I'm Bobby Buck, and I'm originally from Arkansas. And I've been out here in L.A. It'll be seven years, just coming in August. And I tell people I came here from Arkansas, like everybody else would be, in entertainment. And I say I came here a drunk with a dream until I tripped over reality and found my purpose. Whoa. And that happened in 2011 when I ended up going to Skid Row. And it's just 2011. I've been working down on Skid Row, with Skid Row, and now we're pushing a positive movement from Skid Row. And it's happening now. Yeah, but that's part of your networking program. Right. Yeah, BobbyBuck.com, that's my networking website where everybody can join and we can all unite and help each other get across this border that we call life. Okay. And then Brother Muhammad. Oh, okay. Where do I start? Okay. Where you from? Oh, I'm from Meridian, Mississippi. I came here in 2000 to teach. I have a master's in computer science. I taught at the grade schools here and colleges here. But I came downtown, down this way. And my greatest thing is that Skid Row Live L.A. And that's when I... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... That's when... Thank you to Daniel. And thank you to Brother Melvin here. And we had a place to shoot, which was on four floors, which is on 5th and Maple, which is the old firehouse. And we shot four floors, on four floors. We had directors and cameras and everybody was donating everything. And it was really nice because I've got to throw it out there to the so-called gang members. This is the gang members. because they believed in me. You know, the Bloods and the Crips, they believed in me, and they put up money to buy cameras and et cetera, et cetera. And we really did it, and they checked on me, too. And you did some shows down there with OG and Michelle and all the interviews, Twin and all of them, didn't you? Yes, I did. With Michelle. Michelle, she had a show. If you want to go to it, you can go to YouTube and you go to Skid Row Live LA. And I've got maybe 50 other sites on YouTube, China Skid Row and Japan Skid Row, and I've had people write me and say that they thought that Switzerland had Skid Row, and it was black people. I had Sweden Skid Row. But, you know, we were thinking of everything. I've got to give a nice shout. I want to thank my editor, which he actually edited all the shows, but he didn't take anything out. His name was ABC, and he passed away recently. So he lived up in Hollywood. But it was very good, and everybody got into it, even Brother Melvin here down at Skid Row. And we would just put them on the Internet for free. And what donations came, they came pretty much from people, around the area, the neighborhood, Nation of Islam. They gave a lot of things, also the Black Panthers. So I'm very grateful to all of that. And how it worked so good is that anybody could come along and just say, Brother Muhammad, this is what I want to do. I want to direct. And I'd say, okay, go on over there. There's a camera, and there's a cameraman. You know, somebody volunteered for that. And I just, I just wanted to make sure that that is what you wanted to do. And everybody just did what they wanted to do. We had, thanks a lot to the transgenders, because they came along, and they would take care of all the stage and decorating and things like that. And I just, like I said, if you want to do that, you can do it. And the great thing about it, when we were doing it, I think about that all the time, because that was like planting the seed for what became Skid Row Studios, what became what you're doing right now. Yeah. All of that, you know, planted the seed, you know, those ideas of networking and utilizing the name of Skid Row to make it something else more than just people laying in the streets. Right. Yeah. Earlene, you wanted to say something? Oh, wow. I'm just glad that I'm able to do this. I'm glad we have these different guests in the studio to come in and talk about, well, the 4th of July and the speech that was given and give some of their insight and their expertise on what the 4th of July and other topics we're going to be talking about. Okay. Now, before we get into our discussion, before we, you know, get into our in-depth talk, what to a slave is for July, I would like to play a clip from a reading I did of Frederick Douglass' famous speech, and then we will come back and get into our discussion. Okay. Johnson, on these reflections, we look forward to these reflections, and thank you, Melvin. Now, a few more have gathered, so it's good to go ahead. Okay. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving, creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. Since this is one day after the 4th of July, I would like to read a few excerpts from Frederick Douglass' famous speech that he delivered on the 5th of July about the 4th of July. It's a very long speech, so I'm only going to read maybe about five minutes from the summary. I'm going to read a few of the important sections of it. But first, let me just give you just a little bit of information about Frederick Douglass. His real name was Frederick Augusta Washington Bailey. He was born February the 18th. He was born February 1818, and he died February the 20th, 1895. He was an American social reformer, orator, writer, statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive anti-slavery writing. He stood as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves did not have the intellectual capacity to function as independent Americans. He was a great citizen. Many Northerners also found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave. Now, on July the 5th, 1852, Douglass delivered an address to the ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, which eventually became known as, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July. That's what this speech became. Now, this Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in frettas into the grand illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems where inhuman mockery and sacrilege irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crime, lowering up to heaven, was thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin, and the I can today take up the planted lament of a peel and war-smitted people. This is the transformational transformational If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Fellow citizens, above your national, tumulous jaw, I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chain heavy and grievous yesterday are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men's root, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relationship to their fellow man, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with a lash, to load their limbs with iron, to hunt them with a knife, to kill them with a sword, to sell them at auction, to shun their family, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submissions to their master? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No, I would not. I have better enjoyment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. What then remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine? That God did not establish it? That our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought that which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may. I cannot. The time for such argument is past. At a time like this scorching irony, not convention argument is needed. Oh, had I the ability and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery scream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, whistling scar sasses, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed but fire. It is not the gentle shower but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. The conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be stolid. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed. And its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? I answer. A day that reveals to him more than all other days in the year the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham. Your boasted liberty and unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity, your sounds of rejoice are empty and heartless. Your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronting imprudence, your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery. Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and your thanksgiving, with all your religious parade and your sovereignty are to him mere bomb banners. Mere bomb banners, fraud, deception, impiety and hypocrisy. A thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practice more shocking and bloody than other peoples of the United States at this very hour. Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies of the old world. Travel through South America, search out every abuse. And when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation. And you would say with me that for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without rival. Fellow citizens, I would not enlarge further on your national incongruity. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense, and your Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad. It corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundations of religion. It makes your name a hissing and a byword to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic forces in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your union. It threatens your progress. It is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education. It foster pride. It reads insolent. It promotes vice. It shelters crime. It is a curse to the earth that supports it. And yet you cling to it as if it was the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Allow me to say in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. The arm of the Lord is not short, and the doom of slavery is certain. I therefore leave off where I began. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other. The far-off and almost fabulous Pacific rolling grander at our feet. The fiat of the Almighty, let there be light, has not yet finished forces. No abuse, no outrage, whether in taste can hide except from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that's Frederick Douglass making a presentation about Frederick Douglass' famous speech on the 5th of July. And I want to welcome Miss Mella here. She's joined the table. We'll be getting into a discussion with her also. Hey, y'all. Hey. How you doing? Let's start over here with sales and get some comments about what Frederick Douglass said. This was talking about and your feeling about that. In looking at the speech and the discussion of Mr. Douglass at this point in time in 2014 versus our timeline of 1814 and 1914, his words ring true. It's been unfortunate through, unfortunate through integration and the Civil Rights Act. That we fully, that we fully haven't come forward in understanding of our position here in the United States of America as African Americans. True understanding of our economic power and at certain points at this time in 2014, our lack of economic power. Also with regards to the discussion, the speech from Mr. Douglass, looking at the current situation, the plight of our brothers and sisters with regards to education, with regards to planned obsolescence and what would have appeared to have been education but was really a planned obsolescence. It's something that needs to be discussed and something that has come forward, not from our black civil rights leaders, but has come forward from, how can I say it, our Latino brothers and sisters who are in the forefront now, who said, look, we see what happened to you, black America, and we don't want it. We're sorry that it happened. We apologize, but we don't want your teachers. And that's what's happened in the state of California. They got real hush-hush about it. Vigara, is that the correct name, versus California with regards to education within the last three weeks. And won the case and then they, be quiet, don't talk about it. And basically it was teachers after 18 months, they have tenure, whether they're teaching correctly or not. You brought up the fact that in the state of California, African Americans should have been taught Spanish. It's just, you know, insane that we didn't, that it was not mandatory like ABC and 123. And I couldn't agree with you more. And Mr. Douglass, in that fact that education, being the key education, being the understanding that brings about our empowerment, our understanding and knowledge of economics and development, community and heartfelt spirituality in the community. Jamal. I say that brother Douglass is an extraordinary voice in history. Today we are faced with some insurmountable odds against our, our survival, especially with the advent of technology. My nephews, for instance, are always saying, well, I've been submitting my applications online and, and I'm not getting any responses. What's happening with that? Well, we know that they have metrics on everything. Computer, it's a computer, computer models. We're in the information age. We're not in the feudal age. We're not in these post slavery, post black age or anything like that. We are straight smack in the middle of information. They have gotten to the point with SpaceX where they can go off planet and land back on planet safely. And African-American people need to wake up because this is the new reality. Okay. Yeah. Miss Melvin. I agree. Frederick Douglass is one of the most important environments for black history. I agree. There are a lot of other environmental movements for black history, along with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but these revolutionaries that change something in their era, we fail as today to carry that dream forward, even in working together, even in building something for us, we fail to do that. And so that's why we have to look to our past, but not to look at our past and say, okay, this is what happened and not continue on their legacy. We have to work together to create something new. to create boundaries for us where we can build businesses, where we can have unlimited wealth, where we can stop struggling and stepping on each other's necks. Because they, Frederick Douglass, lived in a time where it was really tough for any black person to even have a voice because we weren't considered human beings at that era. And so now that we even have the freedom to walk around and say, yes, I'm black, but what are you doing about it? Are we still letting our neighborhoods fall to plunder? Are we still letting our schools have the worst education? Are we still letting our children suffer? Are we still filling up the jail cells? So the point is, with what Frederick Douglass did for us, we have to continue on with that power and say, you know what? We are the, I believe, the most powerful, strongest race. And if we continue, we build pyramids. I mean, come on now. That's still a bond for it. So as far as we continue, we have to praise these people, but we have to also take action and continue on what they started as far as keeping us alive in a point where we are on top again. Okay, good. We're going to come back and discuss that a little bit more. Brother Muhammad. Thank you very much. I do agree with the young man over here, the teacher, because I taught here. I taught here. Also to comment, I think we're winners. I do. I think we're winners. Because you have Melvin. You have OG, which is down at Skid Row. You have also Pete White. And all of these men, they were doing their separate thing to help Skid Row. And really, very few people knew about them independently, owning their own businesses. But after I... I came along with Skid Row Live, it was amazing that these three men, these three powerful beings, they got in touch with me and they started helping me do a better job with Skid Row Live and helping Skid Row. And I was saying, my God, I had no idea that this kind of help is down here. These three black men, they got all together. And we've got so many shows. We've got so many shows. I've got so many shows, people, that I haven't even put on the internet yet. I just don't have the time. I mean, so many shows. And... But the thing is, I agree with Frederick Douglass. What he said then, I agree with it now. I mean, what is the 4th of July to us? I mean, what did we get out of it? That's what I'm saying. That's what I... And on to the 60s, I think that we can... We would have cured that, personally, if the United States would have given maybe 13 states to us. And we can get some land because, after all, we've got jobs out of that, but we went right back to working for the same people who had us in bondage. And then now that we're out of work, like this beautiful young woman, young man was saying, about his nephew. Was that correct? Yeah. Nephew. Now that we're out of work, there is very few people like Melvin and like Pete. They're on top of things, but they can't afford to hire everybody. Pardon me. But the thing is, is that if the United States would... What about that land of reserves? Who are they reserving that land for? The reserve land. But the birds... All this other stuff. I think the Indians. Well, why don't they give it to them? All right. Okay, we're going to come back around. Bobby, you want to say something? They refuse to surrender. Let me just... Before we go into our community calendar, let me just mention something. You know, I listen to Dr. Claude Anderson a lot. And I think he put... He really put the finger on... One of the problems that happened to us. And to me, myself, I'm really just beginning to understand it. And he talked about the impact of integration. See, without understanding, he go to the point of view of what happened in integration is that when you integrate into a society the wrong way, you give up your past, you give up your future, you give up your future, you give up your future, you give up your future, you give up your future, you give up your future, you give up your leadership, and then you take the leadership of the society in which you integrate in. But one of the most important things that I think he pointed out, there's a lot of people when you think about integration, they think about Dr. King, and they say Dr. King was wrong for pushing this nonviolence and peace and all like that. But when I think about Dr. King and when I think about Nelson Mandela, I said Dr. King and Nelson Mandela, they were so far ahead of their time, not behind the time, because they looked past race. Sure did. They saw it. That's how come they had such a, especially Dr. King. That's why he, not just African American, every race that you could think about from every economic class. Amen. See, follow Dr. King, push that. See, and then what happened with the assassination of Dr. King, they dropped out. They dropped out of the ball. See, because one of the things, when you looked at the 114 black colleges that we have out here now, and I think about it all the time, because when I was coming up in the Delta, in the Mississippi Delta, Greenville, Mississippi. Greenville, Mississippi. Yeah, right in the Mississippi Delta. I remember clearly about when at the University of Alabama, right, when Governor George Wallace stood in the door. In Mississippi, right? When Governor Ross Barnett and all of that, all the stuff that was happening to keep these universities from integrating. And now, when you look at Alabama, right, the last three or four years, they national football champions. When you look at me, you look at all of these schools. Now you look at Alabama, all of these schools that was so segregated and pushing that. See, and then you turn around, and you look at the 114 black schools and what's happening to them. You look at the problem they had with Grambling football team last year. Didn't even have enough money to almost travel on the bus to go play Jackson State. Now see what happened with that situation. That's integration in the wrong form, because they took all of the athletic, all of the athletic talent out. The brain drain that they took out to go to these Ivy League schools. And so you have to understand that the community, that's not only the 114 black schools that's left in bad shape because they've taken out all of the physical talent and all of the intellectual talent, and it took out to the mainstream society. But what I like about what Dr. Anderson talked about, he point out that when you look at America, the only community that don't, the only group of people that really don't have, have a community, you know, the Hispanic have a community. They understand group economics. You know, you got Chinatown, you got Korean town, you've got every kind of town that you could think of, see? But where's the black town? Especially in a place like LA, the areas that used to be hugely black, like Watts and Compton and all that kind of stuff. See? Yeah. And I think the problem is, is this, I think most people misunderstand the whole concept of the plural type of society that we live in, you know, but they, it's two type of plural, everybody understand this, but the African Americans, right? See, when you look at the main society, everybody have a ethnic community, you know, where they do things, where they practice the concept of group economics. And then they can go out to the main, the main society, the main fluid society, where everybody mingles at. But see, the African American don't understand that they think the main society is the only one that exists. Everybody else, everybody else is existing on two levels. They got their own community that they can pool, their economics, they create jobs and all that kind of stuff. They keep, they make sure that they money recycle and they community and stuff like that. That's how you create jobs. Yeah. See? And then they also go out to the main society. They go out to the malls and the interchange and all that kind of stuff. That's what the African American got to learn now. And that's what Dr. Claude Anderson was talking about. And also I'd like to add right there, Tony Brown also did a book in the 90s, 300 billion dollars in the black. You might be familiar with it. And he was telling us the future. He was showing us our microcosm of African Americans, the way that we are today. And we got to really look at that. That's a half a trillion dollars already. We have as an economic engine that we are not even using because we don't have the tools to be able to handle it. Now, two other aspects. I wanted to go to the community calendar, but I think we would continue our discussion if we get our community calendar at the end. Because I think it's two other important aspects of the 4th of July, that we must understand. That is probably more important than Frederick Douglass speak. And that's number one, July the 4th, 325 AD, at the first Nicene Council, in which the concept of what we call modern Christianity was developed. Because this is where, this is the origin of the Catholic Church, or the Roman Universal Church is what they used to call it. Right? And that day happened on July the 4th, 325 AD. That's the real meaning of July. Nothing happened on 1776, all like that. You know, the Masonic power structure chose that day because they understood it. And then, other thing that happens on that day, and it's a great book out by Dr. Gerald Horne. And the name of that book is called The Counter Revolution of 1776. And the subtitle is Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. And I saw this last week on Democracy Now! when he was on and they discussed this. And he broke down the policy of what they call the American Revolution and explained exactly what that is. It's a great book to read. Because what he explained, what happened, you know, remember 1776, American Revolution, this is what the Fourth of July is supposed to be about. But what he explained is that the battle was about England had received a court case, right, ending slavery. So England wanted to end slavery. Remember, at that time, you didn't have the United States. You had the colonies. 13 colonies. Yes, that was, that belongs to England. So the, you know, the American colonies, the so-called revolutionaries here went to war. And so what he was saying that this real war decided the status of slavery over here. See, and so that's the real United States coming into existence because England was frightened to end slavery. You know, the slave owners over here are to keep it going. They won. Slavery lattice. Look how many years slave, slavery lasted. Look how many lives was lost in the Civil War to end that. Too many. I'm going to jump in real quick because there's also, thinking about the Council of Nicene, Constantine also established what's called the Lost Books of the Bible. They narrowed down the Bible itself to numerous books that they thought, would summarize what they believed were going to be. So you have missing years in Jesus' life. You have his teenagers. I think we should forward, because that actually is incorrect, but we should forward to another subject because the Council of Nicene and the Bible are two different things. Well, let me lay something out on this so we can, now what was happening at this point, let's just lay some foundations for that. And then we lead into the development of, say, the King James Version of the Bible, which came in the year 1611. Right. But what was happening, the whole reason for the Nicene Council, right, up until that time, this is, you're talking about almost 300 years after the time of Jesus and the time of the Apostle Paul, you had a split in the teachings of how people viewed Jesus. Yeah. Right. And the Western world, the Western educated, Asian minors, they viewed Jesus as a deity because they were used to polytheism. But in the Eastern world, like Egypt, Ethiopia, Judea, and areas like that, they viewed Jesus what the Scripture predicted, a Messiah, anointed one, etc., like that. So when Constantine, he used Christianity to unite the Roman Empire. So he became, his mom was already a Christian. He became a Christian, but what he didn't realize that you had these two trends. So this is the reason he called the Nicene Council to work that out. And they ended up leaning in the favor of the Western form of Christianity. And what they did was they mixed in some of the religious things, what they call the Babylonian mystery system that they already had in existence, with stuff like Christmas, Easter, the cross, Easter eggs, rabbits, all that kind of stuff. So what they did, they brought a mixture in, right? And they deified the Messiah, Jesus. This went on all the way up until 1611, when King James decided to have the Scriptures translated into the English language. That's a whole other story. But that's the origin of that leading into the Bible. And most of your Christian denominations, or at least just about all of them, they have to look towards the Catholic Church as the origin, because they still use their documents. They still use the Scriptures. Actually, the Catholic Church started in 325 AD. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But it didn't start for anything with God. Actually, Constantine's use for bringing these bishops together was socialism, was actually power. And he used religion, so to speak, to bring these bishops together. And his main purpose was to not break up government. So he falsified the fact that he was there to help Christians, but he was really there to enforce power of religion. Oh, yeah. Yes. So Constantine never really, you know, he was off into politics. Yes. Now, a couple weeks from now, I hope to have this individual named Terry. He just wrote a book about Jesus, the historical Jesus, using a lot of the documents and stuff back there from that time period. Okay. But look, I don't want to get too, what I wanted to do, I wanted to tie in the 4th of July. Yes. Because see, all of that is related. See? Yeah, because it go all the way back to, you have to understand that July comes from, named after Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar. See, just like August after Augustus. Augustus. And all of that. And we need to understand that because if it's something that Messiah Jesus talked about in his scripture, about tying liberation into the world. Right. And tying liberation into the truth. You know, knowing the truth will lead to liberation, spiritual liberation and all like that. And that's the whole purpose of having a discussion like this. You know, America has great potential, you know, and as we get older, like all of us, especially this grave coming out here and all that kind of stuff, we want to really leave something. What can we leave for these little youngsters around here? The most important thing that we can leave is the truth. That's right. We got to stop hiding from the truth because that's the starting point. Amen to that, brother. Amen to that. Yeah. Yeah. Because one of the other things that, there is a discussion going on about the Washington Redskins name and all that kind of stuff. Right? People up in arms over that. Right? Something else that Dr. Anderson points out. Yes. That we need to have a discussion on. See, we need to have a discussion on the 13 civilized tribes involvement in the slave trade. Because these was the last group that had slaves even after the Emancipation Proclamation. These is the last group that manipulated the black Native American out of any kind of reparations or anything right now. They got that in court fighting about. They forgot about Osceola down in Florida with the Seminoles and all that kind of stuff. And what's happening in Oklahoma, the connection with that. If they going to discuss the names of the Redskins, they need to go deeper than that. See, I was watching a program the other day where you had these famous athletes that came on and they get pissed off about what Donald Sterling said. Yeah. Right? Now imagine Johnson. But they also need to have a discussion on what happened that they did. The NBA and the Jackie Robinson going into the Major League Baseball and how all of that assisted in destroying the black community. Yeah. When we had a solid economic, strong community. Best baseball teams. You know, jobs everywhere and all that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff like that. Yeah, brothers and sisters. Just a shout out to Mr. Donald Sterling. I want to thank you for telling the truth, Mr. Sterling. We really appreciate that truth because everybody wants to say, I'm a slave. I'm a $20 million slave. Donald said, that's right. I buy your houses, your cars, I feed your women and put food on your table. My name is Donald Sterling. So let him keep talking. Thank you, Donnie. Yeah. Okay. Ms. Melvin, you want to say something? Yeah. You want to tell us a little about what you involved in? Oh, yes. Okay. And I saw the great play you got. I really liked that about the women's in history. Yes. It's very important to teach our kids where we came from. But October 11th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, we are going to have one of the first major castings near the Staples Center from 10 to 5. We're trying to get all schools at Los Angeles Unified School District to be involved. It's going to be over 200 vendors. So we want adults as well to come out, ages three to adults to come out and act, audition, sing. If you're a musician, we're going to have a Facebook page and all that in the next couple of days. So I want you to save the date. October 11th is called the Choice Expo. And this is going to be one of the first of three castings for other Broadway shows we're going to be doing. Overall, we really want everybody to come out this day. And if you don't want to perform, just come out and register. Because this is going to be a major, major stepping stone for when we do cast that day. If you register, you're already in. And it's free. There's no cost. You just come on in, say, hey, I want to act, but I don't know how to. So we pay you up. What is the contact information again and the dates, the basic information? All right. Well, you can contact me at 718-510-4803. Our Facebook page is the Year of the Diamond. We'll also have some updates on the Expo. But the date is October 11th. 2014 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Okay. Let's quickly, we're going to come back for some closing comments. And then I still want to say I have time for Brother Jamal to do a short poem for us. Let's go to our community calendar and then we'll come back. This is our community calendar for upcoming events. This is a two-day event. Friday, July the 18th, 2014. From 7pm to 6pm. From 7pm to 10.30pm. And on Saturday, July the 19th, 2014. From 12 noon to 9pm. The Roby Theatre Company is celebrating 20 years of excellence in black theatre. 1994 to 2014. They are presenting the first annual Paul Robeson Theatre Festival. The event will be a presentation of the first annual Paul Robeson Theatre Festival. The event will be a presentation of 18 original short plays about Paul Robeson. Developed through the Roby Playwrights Program. Performed and directed by alumni from Roby Theatre Production and Workshop. Also including one puppet show, 32 actors and 8 directors will bring the plays to the stage. The location is the Los Angeles Theatre Center. 514 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, 913. For more information, please contact the Roby Theatre Company. 213-489-7402. Also, volunteers and ushers are needed for this event. If you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com Attention Earline Anthony. The call in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now back to our host. Okay, thank you Miss Earline Anthony. Now this event that you're doing Miss Mello, I see that Hugh Jackman, is that the same one that played in the movie with the Wolverine. Okay, the Wolverine. Yes, that's the same one. It's been a blessing to actually encounter with him because he's a great actor. He's a great actor. He's a great actor. I'm very proud to have encountered with him because he actually does love to help inner city youths. And believe you me, there are a lot of Hollywood celebrities that do want to do the same, but they need projects to do that. Okay. So he's going to take the time to adopt a couple of the schools and actually purposely train some of the kids into certain roles. All right. I want to hear some of that poetic genius from Brother Jamal over there. What are you going to do for us? A little something from my notebook that I wrote just recently. Okay. It's not dedicated to anything and it's really loose. Text at my fingertips. Weave stories that unfurl in unimaginable ways. Illustrative beginnings strive across, tome, awake each mind to its disastrous demise. Death, the pale horse, rides with sickle. She moans her hedges. How long the night, the sleep of 500 years. And yet here and now we sing of sin, sipping of unbearable, unbelievable spirits. We feast on the shocking, on the misanthrope. We hope with imagination's dreams as wings to fly. Ever wonderful, away. Amazing. That was awesome. Look, we runnin' out of time. We got a couple minutes. Let's take about 30 seconds, probably about 20 seconds each. Give us a quick closing comments and contact information if you want to. Starting with me. Hi, I'm Cells. No particular contact information. Just want to let you know that in my own life, I have a lot of friends that have come to me. I have friends that have come to me. that in my awakening and understanding of what Frederick Douglass talked about on July the 4th or July the 5th, that particular speech and where we are today, sometimes the way I see my money go out, I feel like a slave. Because I'm not seeing nothing coming back. And it really, really hurts. And I'm just, that's all I got to say. I'm trying to figure out how to keep it straight. Alright. I agree. We need to flip our money over. We said this in the 90s. Flip it hard. And eight times in the same community. If I give you a dollar, if I spend a dollar with you, I have to do it at least eight times. We have to change it amongst ourselves. Keep it in the community. So, my name is Melo Desire. I'm a filmmaker for inner city youths and incarcerated felons. Just people who just need a chance to get out where they're getting out. Need a voice. So, we're trying to recreate performing arts to something positive. Contact number 718-510-4803. You can Facebook us, The Year of the Diamond. We'll get our website up as well, but the best way is to email me at theyearofthediamond at gmail.com. Hello. My name is Osiris Muhammad. And I also know my, just Muhammad. My information is skidrolliveLA at yahoo.com. And you can write there, write me, I'll write you back. I appreciate everything. I appreciate Melvin here. I appreciate his co-host. I appreciate all the guests here. I'm very grateful to everybody. And thank you. Thank you, brother. It's a pleasure meeting you also, brother. Yay, Melvin! Yo, just go to bobbybug.com and call 213-293-7983. Okay, just want to mention real quick that we will have the orientation for our veterans community. We'll have a theater workshop this Wednesday at 530 over at the Vortex. Make sure you attend. I think you will really enjoy it. Be there, be square. Wonderful. I'd like to extend a special thanks to Miss Mella, Jamal Asalam, Sales Reed, Brother Muhammad, Bobby Buck, and my co-host, Earlene Anthony. Please listen to past shows of the Coombran Reports by Googling in Coombran Report. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombran Report and from your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson, may the peace and blessings of the life-giving, creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. I leave you with the song Butterfly by Willis and Shante, a positive light ministry. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.