In Light of Terrorism Should Gun Laws be Tightened?

While many liberals and Blacks feel gun control is a good thing I have my reservations about how it is to be implimented.  We've had strong gun control of Blacks in inner cities for decades now with the result being Black populations being terrorized by criminal elements like gangs, drug cartels, and gun runners to name a few.

In places like NYC, NJ, and Chicago people have been doing this to Black people for decades already in formally by denying African Americans with stellar backgrounds gun permits.

In light of all the mass shootings in the US President Obama and many well meaning anti-violence gun advocates are of course asking for stricter gun laws.  But given high crime in inner cities and the growth of terrorism are stricter gun laws the answer?  Should 2nd Amendment Constitutional Rights be curtailed?

Personally I don't think the movement to make it almost impossible for citizens to get guns is the answer.  All it has done is make law abiding Blacks target practice for drug cartels and gangs like in Chicago. Chicago has very tough gun laws (well for Blacks any way) and is a virtual killing fields for black women, young people, and the elderly being killed in gang related drive-by shootings.

Blacks in fact in Chicago are suing the authorities over conceal carry permits because even blacks with stellar background checks can't get guns. The police seem ineffective in stopping violence in inner cities and well to do Blacks or middle class Blacks just move out of areas adversely impacted by gun violence like Newark and the Southside of Chicago. This leaves these communities blighted, terrorized and defenseless.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend a record number of guns were purchased. Probably from people being fearful about terrorism both at home and abroad.

Paris has tough gun laws and a terrorist attack wiped out over a hundred people. The 1st law of life is to survive. And people have a right to defend themselves.

You can't always negotiate or run from terrorism or crime. I for one don't plan on becoming a chalk outline for the police to clean up off the street. If President Obama can clean up the violence in places like his home town like Chicago then maybe I'll take him seriously.

Until then we need access to our 2nd Amendment Rights which has been seriously eroded in the north already. Plus with police being heavily militarized and brutally abusive especially in communities of color I do not trust giving them sole access to powerful weapons and stripping the citizens of the right to gun ownership.

Some gun control advocates state that the lack of gun control is causing an every day occurance of mass killings.  They point to the fact that the NRA approach isn't working.  They make salient points about states with lax gun laws also have a high incidence of gun violence - all good points.

We could go back and fought on this but it seems the latest incident may have been related to Islamic Fundamentalism or they say the assailants were people who were radicalized. So if you feel comfortable disarming American Citizens while homegrown criminal and foreign terrorists is the way to go - I don't know what to say.

However, I know personally it has worked out better for me with dealing with a criminal element where I live if I know principals and strategies of self defense. The government which is looking to disarm people at the same time seems unable to protect people from the criminal element or terrorist element in our country. Terrorism is going to get worst in the US before it gets better.

And the threat isn't just from IS or Isis. Remember not long ago a Black Church was attacked domestically. Black churches have been burned recently and the FBI just thwarted a group of white supremacist who were looking to attack and kill more Black Church members with the goal setting off a race war.

I admit I don't have all the answers. But taking guns away from Blacks hasn't helped us in inner cities. Two of the most powerful Black men in the World President Obama and Min. Farrakhan both live in Chicago and the violence there is unrelenting along with poverty.

As far as what I think should be done I believe there should be background checks, mandatory classes on gun safety, violence de-escalation, anger management, etc. before getting access to guns. But with classes like that if a person doesn't have a criminal record don't make up stuff or have hidden criteria (which is happening in Chicago to deny Blacks gun permits) to marginalize Blacks and other minorities from their 2nd Amendment Rights.

The mentality of predators is they will take advantage of defenseless people. Terrorists will send more and more armed assailants to the US if they know most people can't defend themselves.

They know they can kill hundreds of people before the police or law enforcement can respond. It is only going to get worst if they know most civilians in the US are defenseless sitting ducks. Trust me we will increasingly become targets.

Here is a good article I've just read. Upon review it has some very objective points on the matter.

Here is the article. I think makes points both ways: Fact Check ON Gun Laws

In short, I can't tell us how we create a utopia or Nirvana on earth. However, I can say if we do better background checks for people looking to buy guns and perhaps mandate they get anger management, gun safety, and violence DE-escalation courses before being issued a gun it may cut down on interpersonal violence between people who know each other. Also it would help if corporations would hire more people in the US and not just outsource jobs.

If not people in the US should support small businesses more since small businesses creates 75% of new jobs. Jobs and economic opportunity will make gangs and drug cartels less of an option IMO. How we keep political terrorist from killing us is to really watch suspicious behavior online and cell phone communications. The government has to get much better at preempting terrorist attacks.

Why are Blacks Still a Lot Less Wealthy than Whites?

According to an article on the CNN Money website the net worth of whites is 13 times the net worth of Black families.  For instance white net worth in the economic recovery rebounded to an medium of $141,900 while in contrast the net worth of a Black family was down 33% to only $11,000 (BTW Hispanic/Latino family net worth was down 14% to $13,700).

The source for the stats in the CNN Money article was the respected Pew Center for Research.  The CNN article also gave opines on why there is such a wealth discrepancy...

"Minority households' median income fell 9% between 2010 and 2013, compared to a drop of only 1% for whites. So minority households may not have been able to sock away as much or may have had to use more of their savings to cover expenses.

Also, the financial markets have rebounded much more than housing in recent years. Since whites are more likely to own stocks, they have seen a bigger wealth boost.

Real estate, on the other hand, makes up a big chunk of blacks' and Hispanics' net worth. But homeownership declined faster among minorities than whites between 2010 and 2013.

Only 47.4% of minorities were homeowners in last year. But 73.9% of whites owned homes." 

Therefore Black family net worth is far less than white families. That is net worth not income.   One of the reasons our net worth is far behind is we are paid much less.

The average Black Family makes $20,000 less than white family. And it isn't all because of education.

Recently a study showed a Black man with a BA is only as employable as a white high school graduate. If you do the math $20,000 less a year over a 40 year work career at 6% compound interest is 1.3 million dollars Black families financial shortfall.

Therefore, most Black families don't have the money to invest in assets to improve their net worth. They're having a hard time just paying necessities to survive.  Contrary to what most people believe Black families aren't overwhelmingly buying Jordans for their children.

Or they may get last years styles at a mark down. They're all not paying $300 for Jordans.

Latinos and Asians have more net worth than Blacks because they invest in businesses while Blacks have been conditioned/socialized to seek good employment. It is hard to get ahead and get assets to increase your net worth when you work a job as your primary source of income.

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

Is the Black Church an Outdated Relic from the Past?

Dr. King and Christian Churches in the South Helped Fight Jim Crow Segregation

A lot of people have never studied the history of the Black Church. They listen to a few Afrocentric scholars who castigate the Church and the image of a white Jesus, and think they know all about it.

They never study how our early churches reinterpreted the Bible to be a book inspiring their struggle for equality, liberation, and freedom. In fact I had to do years of my own study and go to seminary and study with progressive Black theologians to learn about the progressive wing of Black Christianity.

Churches and Black preachers were in insurrections, revolts, advocated leaving mainstream churches, were involved in escapes from slavery and the Underground Railroad, compelled Blacks to fight in the Union Army, started our 1st independent schools, insurance companies, businesses, colleges etc.

Harriet Tubman a Devote Christian Helped Free Slaves in the Underground Railroad

This is sad because the Church is one of the few organizations we run that has a cash flow model that works well. Unfortunately too many of our people see the materialistic focused TV ministry of today and think this is the totality of our churches civic practice. But this isn't true for all churches.

Or they see the social escapism or apathy from politics by some of our more recent denominations like the Pentecostal/Holiness churches which wait for the 2nd coming of Jesus and think this sums up the Black church. It does not. There are still very progressive community focused churches today.

For example a number of Black churches in NYC own commercial real estate. Actually some Black churches in NYC own hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial real estate. There's one that owns 1 billion dollars worth of real estate in Harlem and a lot of mainstream corps pay them rent. They also started 1st home buyers housing developments so Blacks could own their 1st homes and not pay rent. They also started senior living houses, housing for battered women, anti-gang activities, homeless shelters, independent schools, and business startup support groups. While some Blacks feel Christianity is a "white man's religion," many of the black churches in the NYC area don't have imagines of white Jesus' either.
Also Remember the 1st Christian Churches or oldest denominations are in Northern Africa know as Coptic Christians. Also Black Jews known today as Falashas have the oldest versions of the Old Testament books. I don't know about other areas of the country but in NYC and NJ their are churches that do a lot of economic and business development. For instance Abyssinian Baptist Church has 1 billion dollars of commercial real estate. There are a lot of other churches like Allen Cathedral and Christ Church that do similar things with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Black Churches like Allen Cathedral in Queens Build Housing for Seniors

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

How Can You Hate the Christian Message?

Some Black people hate Christianity these days. I've seen some people recently curse Jesus out. I mean literally curse him out.

But Jesus shouldn't be the villain for all the self serving political and religious institutions that have used Christian teachings to control and oppress people.  If you read the Bible for yourself you'll see that Jesus took on the self righteous and social elites of his time. He healed people, fed people, and in short uplifted people. How can you hate someone like that?

I also hate the way elites and dogmatic people use the Bible to control and condescend to people. I just can't stand it either how people use the Bible to justify slavery, inequity, poverty, racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, and similar isms.

If you strip away the dogma surrounding the Christian message it is a very simple one. God loves you and while the world may try to victimize you and hold you down with faith and love God's gonna raise you UP!

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

Why I will Pass on Seeing the NWA Movie

I'll Pass on the new NWA movie.  It isn't a success story to me.

We had a few African American children who were so academically focused and gifted they were accepted to every Ivy League School in the country. Those are the stories I'd like to see in the movies.

Gangsta rap while creating a few near billionaires and scores of millionaires doesn't equate to success in my value system. It promotes killing and brutalizing defenseless and addicted people in our community. It disrespects our women. All the money in the world doesn't justify that IMO.

I'll pass. I won't even watch the trailers. Give ma a Public Enemy or KRS movie and I'll go.

Just not something I would consider going to. Not my kind of party.

Naw. I was in the streets trying to stop gangs a good part of my life. That's my history.

Black people have to live with the collateral damage of gangs. That's our larger history. I know drugs were pumped into our community to stop the youth uprising and fund the Contras. Not bad for a dude who don't know his history.

I said I'd like to see a movie about young people who were accepted. In other words how did their parent motivate them, how did they study, what schools did they go to. Soughta like the movie on the spelling bee champion they did.

I could go out and sell people a lot of negative things that appeal to base human nature and make a lot of money. That doesn't make a person a black history icon. NO way. Not in my value system.

"If you're not a part of the solution you're part of the problem."

Yes I've heard NWA's songs in the past. I've tried to workout to gangster rap because of the beat. I listen to the lyrics and have to stop after 5 minutes and put on upbeat gospel or house. Listening to how people want to kill or brutalize people who look like them isn't entertainment I want to support.

And people can rationalize gangsta rap by saying it is small potatos compared to the beginning of American Capitalism. I find that disingenuous. Because as a Black person you see we are up against tremendous challenges but you still make it worst by selling drugs, killing innocent children in drive bys, berating Black women, etc.

Gangsta Rap's Rise Insured Conscious Rap's Demise 

This isn't a generational thing. This is a mentality thing. I'm glad some of these guys were able to make money and turn their lives around. But the style and substance of the music isn't anything I want to support.

Gangsta Rap was used to quell the social conscious rap popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The major media started hyping them up. I saw when they did it.

Gangsta Rap is largely profited by major music corporations. Yeah some Black entrepreneurs made millions but the music industry made 100s of billions. Most of the artists had careers of a few years. But the corporate music industry is laughing all the way to the bank.

I respect also respect other's opinions. I've read people who say they don't like gangsta rap or NWA but are going for research or to hear their story.   I get that.

So I understand and respect why others would want to go.  I just won't be joining them.

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

Kamau's Qu!ps June 2015

Social Media Shows Human Nature

Social media shows the nature of people in real time. You post good positive news about young people getting accepted in all the Ivy league schools or building million dollar companies and you get a few likes.

You post a Worldstar video of stupid teenagers beating up an elderly person you get hundreds of comments, likes, and scores of shares.

What is it about human nature that is riveted by bad news and bored by good stories? Hhhhhhhm?

Let a Man Be a Man

Nice beautiful Christian ladies sometimes you gotta let a man be a man. I know you're all about Spiritual relationship with Christ, nurturing, and forgiving. I get that.

But God put us here to provide and PROTECT. Sometimes you gotta get outta of a Christian bruthas way and let him kick some ar$e! That is all.

Have a nice weekend! Kumbayah and all that good stuff. SMH

Handling Monsters

Sometimes to beat a monster you have to become a monster. Idealized metaphysics will not do. Monsters do not easily back down.

Sometimes we don't feel good about it. But we get to survive and enlighten ourselves and evolve soulfully another day.

Muslims Raise Money to Rebuild Burnt Down Black Churches

This is very encouraging. Muslim persons and charities are helping to raise funds to rebuild recently burned Black churches. I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot would Black Churches help them? Hhhhhmm?

Any way this shows that people can look beyond religious divisions in this country and have empathy towards other faith or belief systems. I say to our Muslim brothers and sisters thank you for reaching out and trying to heal racial hate.

Much Respect to Single Moms

Much respect to the single moms out there. Be encouraged and have a nice weekend.

Becoming a single dad myself has given me a deep appreciation for all you do to keep our children and families together.

It is a full time job with many challenges but yet you RISE to the occasion.
May God bless you and keep you strong and patient. Society and civilization couldn't make it without you!

Overcoming Adversity

I've launched two businesses with no money using free library computers. But you have to be very resourceful. Being hungry and homeless sucks.

If you've been there you'd truly understand what I'm saying.  Being hungry can push you to excel.

Conservatives and Skewed Responsibility

You know what kills me about conservatives? They always telling blacks to stop assigning blame and take responsibility for our actions.

But this terrorist thug kills 9 people in Church and it is Obama's fault! How about taking some personal responsibility when it comes to racism. Obama is their scape goat.

Class distinction in the The Black Middle Community and  Social Unrest

All Black people don't riot over police brutality or social injustice.  Naw middle class blacks don't riot. Middle class blacks own homes and businesses in their community. The will not riot and destroy their own property.   It's about ownership.

Blacks in poorer areas will riot because they are renting, don't own most of the businesses, and just aren't vested in their communities to the same extent. The Black community isn't monolithic.

Middle class blacks will do a political or economic riot. They'll vote in new political leaders and the Churches will rally and do economic development. It's a whole different dynamic responding to inequality with the Black middle class.

Hating the Top 1% of Wealthy Persons in the US

I don't hate the 1%. Most of us work for the 1% and they help us make a living. But also John we should all reflect that Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and many of the world's top billionaires are coming together with charities and putting their vast wealth to help people in poorer countries or regions of the world.

Now some would say that they don't need to do it. But reading what some of them are saying is it will make people in less developed places more capable of being consumers of products and services by raising their standard of living. They see it as enlightened self interest to make the world a better place.

This is another reason I don't hate anyone based on being in a higher class. I feel I can do more good by being successful. And more people feel that way than we give them credit for in this world.