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Good Morning Tom, Sybil, and Jay.

Tom, before I get started today, I’d like to send some love and hope to Haiti for as you know yesterday was the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake there…they remain in my thoughts and prayers…

Tom, make no mistake about it, the shooting outside an Arizona grocery store this past Saturday that seriously injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, killed six people, and wounded 13 others was a horrible manifestation of the bitter and ugly political times we live in…

As everyone knows by now, the assassination attempt by 22 year-old Jared Lee Loughner sent a bullet through Giffords’ brain, leaving her in critical condition, and also took the lives, among others, of U.S. District Judge John Roll, and 9 year-old Christina Green…

A 9 year-old girl, Tom, by all accounts, a smart and talented little girl who loved life, baseball, dancing and politics, and who attended the event because she had just been elected to the student council at her school and was interested in government…

Government and politics were actually activities she aspired to do… She genuinely believed that they were effective ways to change lives, make the world a better place and prevent the kind of violence that marked both her birth and her death…

You see, Christina was born on Sept. 11, 2001 – the infamous 9/11… In fact, she was proud that she was born on this date and felt that her birth in the midst of such tragedy provided “a note of hope…”

Sybil, there’s a quote you may have heard before that says, “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”

Well they most certainly are and the fact that there were numerous children across this country who were born on Sept 11, 2001 and on Saturday, January 8, 2011, shows not only that life and hope spring eternal, even amidst death and destruction, but that we have to look beyond our own turmoil to know and understand that our children are inheriting and reflecting the world we give them…

So I ask, what messages are we giving them? What messages did we give Christina Green…?

She was born, nine years ago, amidst the chaos created by international politics, and yet she wanted to engage in politics to try and eliminate the kind of vitriol and death that surrounded her birth…

And sadly, it looks as if political vitriol played a huge role in eliminating her young life…

As a society, what are we doing? At what point does enough become enough? Our networks and politicians spew unadulterated hate across the airwaves 24/7 and then we act as if this was unexpected?

And maybe this tragedy touched me so deeply because I thought of my own children and particularly of my son Trey just turned 10 (a day before this tragedy) and who also loves politics.  That there, but for the grace of God –it could have been him.

But I’m not just talking about any one child…I’m talking about all of our children who really just want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and to know that someone loves them – unconditionally loves them.

And sadly, Tom, even though it took the loss of precious lives to do it, I’m praying that this tragedy may be a turning point in our society…

There are things we can do. As always, we can speak out against the type of political discourse that incites violence with ‘lists of targets’ and loosely-veiled assassination analogies…

Indeed, there is also an online petition being circulated by The Campaign for Community Change and MoveOn.org calling on every member of Congress, as well as the major TV and cable news networks, to “put an end to the hateful rhetoric and all overt or implied appeals to violence…”

You can go to MoveOn.org to sign the “debate not hate” petition…

But most importantly, we have to work to build our children a much better society than we have right now—so that we can give them messages of love and hope to carry into the future…

I’ll end today with a quote from a poet and Nobel Laureate said:

“Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

admin Events, International Events Haiti

Good Morning Tom, Sybil, and Jay.

Tom, international events have been in the news a lot recently… There is, of course, the ongoing carnage trouble spots like Afghanistan, Iraq, the Congo, Somalia and the Sudan…

There have been important developments in South America as well, especially the growing tensions between the border countries of Venezuela and Colombia over Venezuela’s alleged harboring of Colombian left-wing rebels…

As you know, Sybil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently threatened to cut off his country’s oil supplies to the U.S., accusing the American government of using its alliance with Colombia to instigate the conflict and potentially start a war so that the Americans can finally get control of Venezuelan oil…

hmm…certainly not the first time America has been accused of instigating an international conflict to get more oil…

In any event, while many folks have heard of the outspoken Chavez and his oil-producing nation of Venezuela,  I want to focus more on Colombia today, a country commonly known for its prominent role in the international drug trade…

But there is a lot more to know about this country … For example,…there are an estimated 5 to 10 million Afro-Colombians in the country, making up 21% of the population.

In fact, Colombia has the third largest Black population in the Western Hemisphere, following Brazil and the United States.

And unfortunately, just like Black folks in many other places, Afro-Colombians are going through some serious struggles…

While the country has recently tried to further stabilize itself with the election of a new president with ties to the U.S., its Afro-Colombian population has continued to suffer racism, exclusion from significant political power, and displacement as a result of the nation’s ongoing internal conflict.

Over 4 million Colombians have been internally displaced by violence and an estimated 700,000 refugees have fled to other countries… Few people realize that Colombia rivals the Sudan as the largest internally displaced population in the world…

Tom, the situation there is ugly…

You see, many Afro-Colombians are suffering and dying, and their leaders are being assassinated because they own rights to lands where multinational mining companies want to dig for gold, oil and other valuable resources…

Those who speak out are being threatened and targeted by brutal para-military groups that operate with impunity since the Colombian government is fully aware that these land owners are getting in the way of international commercial profits…

Dozens of Afro-Colombian leaders have already been murdered this year…

And people are being forced from land where their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years…

It’s very sad… and what our Afro-Colombian brothers and sisters need is our attention and our voice…

Especially since the United States has an emerging relationship with the new regime and has considerable influence on the country…

Many people who are outraged by the violence are pushing the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the United States Congress, and the United States Department of State to pressure the Colombian government to protect the lives, rights and liberties of Afro-Colombians.

The Washington Office on Latin America, wants members of the U.S. Congress to move forward with House Resolution 1224 that promotes the protection and rights of Colombia’s Afro-Colombian population and Internally Displaced People.

Certainly, we should push for the same… You can locate and contact your representative at www.house.gov and tell them to get HR 1224 passed.

You can also find out more about the plight of Afro-Colombians at www.wola.org.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that sums up why we should always be aware of and committed to the plight of our fellow man and our fellow black people in need of help around our world…

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Until Next Time, this is Stephanie in Love and Hope.

admin International Events