Monday January 16, 2023 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Holiday
We developed the agenda for the week and month.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
I posted about our Sunday praying and playing. I also had a conversation with Judge Randolph Jackson. Judge Jackson was a Supreme Court Justice, a compassionate, sensitive, brilliant man. Dr. Gardener C. Taylor was his mentor for 42 years. He was a Concord Baptist Church lawyer. He was a superlative organizer, organizing many of the law groups into a unity. I had been driven to read his book, My Life Journey in the NY Supreme Court. It had been around for a long time. But this morning, I was looking for something else, as often happens and I came across his book.
As I started to read, I couldn’t stop and I read most of the 155 pages in about 2 ½ hours. A couple of statements he made, one was the way that he governed his life and practices as a lawyer. He said, “many of his colleagues, when a client comes into an office for help, they think, how much money can i make in this case?” He asks how I can help this person. He did so and I was reminded when I read the book of a young man that he helped as a lawyer. The young man was one of my assistants and was accused of robbing a bank.
The Federal government had pushed hard to have him indicted. His alibi put him somewhere other than the bank job. The prosecutors didn’t care about that. Judge Jackson had him take a lie detector test and passed. But the prosecutors didn’t care about that. They moved straight ahead to have this young man indicted. He was charged by the prosecutors, the case never went before the grand jury and his mother who testified, Judge Jackson told her not to mention that he had a lie detector test.
Reflections on Trees
In the morning, I looked out across from home in my favorite workplace looking out across the field toward the hills. I was struck by the trees that a few months ago were all filled with green leaves and now they were all gone and it was like looking at skeletons. I was fascinated that some of the trees were ripped up and the branches of other trees were ripped from the base. All done by strong winds that have moved to the fields. It reminded me of the poem by Kilmer, “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree…” But now there was no beauty about the trees, but there was a lesson.
Some trees stood firm and immovable while other trees were bent over and still others were ripped up. It reminded me of the redwood trees of California which stand and have stood for hundreds of years I’m told. And there are the Florida palm trees, when the tempestuous hurricane blows the palm trees bend almost to the ground, but springs back and then there is the evergreen that remains no matter what the weather. Even though the weather changes. These trees reminded me of people. Some people are torn apart by the challenges of life. Some people can go with the flow and always come back, no matter how many blows they receive. And some people remain the same, come what may. The trees that stand have roots or have built in to withstand the winds.That may be why some trees stand and some fall when the wind comes.
Timbuktu Learning Center(TLC) Councilman Charles Barron
Charles Barron was on the Timbuktu nightly call. I started something new, a conversation with movers and shakers. Councilman Charles Barron was my first guest. There will be others on Tuesday nights. We discussed the history of BUF, NBUF, the African People’s Christian Organization (APCO) and many other organizations we started and issues, events we participated in. I met him when he was a sophomore at Hunter College. He became attached to me and later we became inseparable.
He joined our church and became Youth Leader and led a group of young people to Grenada and met with Prime Minister Morris Bishop. I married him and his beautiful wife, who had been a longtime member Inez Barron who later became Councilwoman and Assemblymember. I baptized him during our Holy Pilgrimage in Augusta, GA. I married and christened their first born child.
He was a Special Assistant when we started BUF and became Chairman of the Harlem chapter. He led the struggle to have a Black curator at the Schomburg library in Harlem. He is a founding member and became Executive Director at APCO. He was my special representative in various high level meetings. One of the meetings I sent him to was in Washington, D.C. At the meeting was Corretta Scott King, Stevie Wonder and others. The major topic was a national holiday for Dr. King. During the meeting, Stevie Wonder mentioned the song he was writing for the upcoming rally. The song was ‘Happy Birthday’.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
We had our usual morning prayer with the Lifeline Prayer and Inspirational Fellowship from 7am-8am.
Conversation with Charles Barron around 8:30am
I received a call from Councilman Charles Barron. It was like old times, we talked all day, planning, strategizing, analyzing and sharing ideas. Then that night we talked some more and back again in the morning. So many exciting things were happening in our lives. This morning we revisited the debate we had the night before. The substance of which was how much progress have we made and where black political leaders have failed. Then we discussed what more we can do.
Timbuktu Learning Center(TLC) - Health Night
We had our TLC with Sister Leslie, the topic was the devastation of sugar consumption. She focused on diabetes and how there are other factors involved in diabetes. But the excessive consumption of sugar is the prime culprit. She mentioned how sugar is hidden in a lot of food products we consume, and she also emphasized that sugar is addictive. Once we become addicted it is similar to any drug that we become enslaved to.
Thursday, January 19, 2023
We had our usual morning prayer with the Lifeline Prayer and Inspirational Fellowship from 7am-8am.
Earlier I posted to Facebook, a tribute for Muhammad Ali at the Barclay’s center in 2016, in honor of his birthday January 17, 1942. You can read it at this link: https://www.hdgministries.org/post/a-tribute-for-muhammad-ali-at-the-barclays-center
Later on, I went with the family to see my 5 year old great granddaughter Lauren at the Little Gym for her gymnastics class. Indeed it was a joy. Her middle name is Joy and to see her on the bars, twisting, turning, etc. Tomorrow we will be back again for her brother Alexander to show off his skills. He is two years old.