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ERASE RACISM TRAINING
POETS OF HEMPSTEAD
A Beautiful Letdown
~Imani Cozier
A beautiful letdown. Another
name for a dream.
You could picture it as if you were there.
Your mind, body, and soul: everything compares.
The atmosphere where it once happened,
A year later feels like déj ... vu happening.
Dreams
are like sequences of images passing through your mind while sound asleep.
The dreams of my community is a beautiful
letdown.
My community is so beautiful, but once reality strikes it all becomes a letdown.
The dreams
of my community is all seen as a fairy tale.
Everything is perfect.
But once I wake up it's almost
as a punishment.
***************************** My Community
By Shawn Farquharson
Where I first came to
Hempstead, I knew it
was a quiet, peaceful
community, until one
day we started to have
these parasites,
they started
to move in on us
every time one would move
far away into a great
peaceful state,
country,
or community, these stinking pain in the --
parasites would follow.
My community
is starting to fall, like
a ton of bricks, every day it is some damn negative vibes
blowing through
the blood clot air.
If you pay attention carefully, you will see
what the hell I'm talking about,
you will then see
my point of view.
My dream is to go to
college, and pursue my dreams, and
also to get my
mom and relatives
out of this crazy place that lost all of
the good vibes it carried.
Wouldn't you?
************************************** The Perspective Behind
My Eyes (excerpt)
~By Theadora Ulysse
Red on red, bloods and cries
Yellow
on yellow, a bullet flies
Black on black, race and skin
White on white, when will it end
Only
a few will understand
Not you, your mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, aunt,
uncle, of course
not you.
Only a few will understand as I break down the backbone
of our community
Heights
Parkside
Terrace
Midway
And trackside
These are the roots buried deep
in our community
You say it's a phenomenal community
that's something I don't believe
A boy
gets stabbed in the chest
and our children are left for defeat
Can someone please come help us put an
end to all this
mess
So maybe at night we can lay
our heads to rest
You say your community is the Sugar Honey Ice Tea
Well my community is something special
to me
But still my community is full of pain
So much that it's sometimes hard to explain
Red on red, bloods and cries
Yellow on yellow, a bullet flies
Black on black, race and skin
White on white, when will it end . . .
********************************************** **********************************************
Newsday.comLaw enforcement group: Nassau sheriff candidate not qualifiedBY MATTHEW CHAYES 1:26 PM EDT, May 2, 2008 A
group of black police officials want the Suozzi administration to withdraw its designated candidate for Nassau sheriff, a man with a high school diploma, because they
say he is underqualified.
"We have serious reservations about this hiring," Corey Pegues, the president
of the Long Island chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, said Friday.
Suozzi's
new sheriff pick, Mark Farsi, of Norfolk,
Va., did not have the qualifications spelled out in the county's own job description, which called for the new
sheriff to have earned a graduate degree. But because of the botched ad, a new ad was written allowing candidates to substitute
experience for degrees.
A spokeswoman for the county executive's office, Jennifer Kim, said Farsi's name
would not be removed from the selection process -- "unless he removes it himself."
Kim said Farsi is
qualified to be sheriff and disputed the allegation by the black police officials that the selection process is fatally flawed.
"It's absolutely false," Kim said. "It's not cronyism."
Farsi could not immediately
be reached for comment. Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
Try it now.
************************************************
I attended the press conference today.
Hank Arond of TIA and of UUCSR(Shelter Rock UU Congregation) came with me. I introduced
myself as a member of both The Interfaith Alliance Long IslandChapter as well as the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives.I
also mentioned Pax Christi to some of the folks I met. I told them that Hank & I were here to support and stand
with them at the Press Conference. The folks I spoke with included: Corey Pegues, President of NOBLE Leon Leslie, VP of NOBLE Darrin
Green, VP of Brothers of the Shield (Nassau Sheriff Dept) Barbara Allan, Founder of Prison Families
Anonymous I sent email to The Interfaith Alliance membership, but
didn't recognize any other members there. However, I was glad to attend today. Thanks for letting me know about
the Press Conference. Sincerely, Rich
Tibbets
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Obama's
pastor's words ring uncomfortably true
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