Kamau's Qu!ps September Insights, Rants, and Laughs

On Personal Development

Don't expect others to invest in you if you aren't willing to invest in yourself.

Humor

Laughter is therapeutic, Comedy may keep you sane, not taking yourself so seriously is the prescription for a happier life.

On Failure

Failure is Life's opportunity to show us it's time to change, invent, overcome or conquer. Without Failure there would be NO Forging Ahead.

On Children

Our children are our greatest contributions to civilization. They will advance our world, but only after they are inspired to do so.

On Personal Development

Never seek a mentor, guru, or sage until you are willing to listen and learn. You will only waste their and your valuable time

Vision

True Vision isn't blinded by certainty. It's Inspired by opportunity and Open to possibility.

Personal Development

Rising to your next level of success requires humbling yourself and seeking help from people more knowledgeable than yourself

Maturity

When I was younger I used to argue with women and my girlfriends ad naseum. Now that I'm older I just listen to them intently figuring I might actually learn something for a change

Maturity

When I was younger I had the no pain no gain attitude. Now that I'm older I have the no pain please no more freakin pain mentality.

LOL! Pain, Pain, go away and don't return another day. Ha, Ha, Ha! Oh thank God it could be worst.

Dating

When I was younger I was excited to join the dating sites and go to my email to see all the hot prospects to date. Now that I'm older I don't enjoy being on them anymore.

I only use the free ones once in a while and even then I'm like "what the hell do they want?" I hate getting an email from the dating sites now. LOL!

Geez things have changed that's for sure. LMBO!

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 Search Engine Plan.com

Is Voting the Answer to Problems in Ferguson and the Black Community Overall?

I hear a lot of people complain about the conditions of Ferguson, Missouri, where police brutality is obviously in full effect towards its 60% of Black residents.  In Ferguson, it has been reported that there are only 3 Blacks on the police force.

The police force is obviously heavily militarized and has been provocative to say the least in their response even to peaceful protesters.  When some social advocates hear about the negative dynamics they make a point to state the all too common mantra the residents in Ferguson need to vote.

But voting isn't enough.  People in Ferguson and a lot of Black communities vote for politicians who talk a good game but don't deliver enough goods and services in those communities.

For example Obama was elected but he has said very little about Black issues and is hesitant to visit Ferguson.  He sent Eric Holder, but the militarized police presence is still brutal to the press and peaceful protesters.  Mayor Bill de Blasio was voted in as a Mayor in NYC sensitive to racial issues and against "Stop and Frisk."

However he has the same Police Chief, Stop and Frisk is still around, and his response to Eric Garner's death has been spotty at best.  This doesn't inspire an urge to vote.

People keep saying "a change we can believe in" but there is little change with these elected officials.  Understandably a lot of people are disillusioned with voting. Especially when they see they vote but elected officials legislate laws that is increasing the prison industrial complex incarcerating millions of people of color mostly for nonviolent offenses and see a militarization of police which are terrorizing their citizens.

We have all these black and Latino elected officials even PONTUS, but if you look at Ferguson it looks just like Bull Connor tactics all over again over 40 years later.

We have to get people to vote but let them know if you want to see a change we have to stay involved and elect people who are going to really make some positive changes in our communities especially locally. We have to vote but stay vigilant and involved with social change.

You know voting is a start. But it is obvious voting doesn't do much if we aren't vigilant with working in the community and holding our elected officials accountable to deliver the goods for us. Vote but also hold elected officials accountable and if they don't deliver - vote in someone else who will!

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 Search Engine Plan.com

Is it Hypocritical to Protest Police Brutality When There is so Much Black on Black Crime?

Anger in Ferguson is Real

Police brutality towards Black people has a history going back to slavery.  Malcolm X and many Black leaders have had to address it in the past.

But within the last few weeks, unless you've been living under a rock, you would know that at least a few unarmed Black men have been killed by police.  The killings have sparked protests, anger, countless social media posts, a response from President Obama, riots and an ugly militarized response from a police department in question.

In short police violence has indeed short circuited the vision of a post racial America.  However, whenever questions of police brutality and militarization come up conservatives on news programs like Fox News or even emotionally charged African Americans raise the honest question as to why "Blacks aren't as upset about Black on Black crime?"

Come on hold up peeps.  Aren't we conflating two different issues that need two different responses?

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton at Michael Brown Funeral

What we have seen work in police brutality and disrespect to our community is putting pressure on our elected officials to change the institutions in law enforcement.  This has a lot to do with raising awareness in the US and around the world to police brutality.

This is because before social media incidents of police brutality could be isolated and dismissed locally unless a media spokesperson like an Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson could create controversy on an issue giving it national attention.  Today countless people with cell phones and the ability to upload videos in real time to the Internet has tied isolated incidents of police brutality to all of us.

The US purports itself to be a symbol of democracy and equality around the world.  So media attention in the US and World about the rising threat of militarized police forces brutalizing its black citizens in particular and the public in general is embarrassing at least to leaders of our country.

Also people pay more attention to the response of elected officials on this controversial issue. The elected officials then have to reign in the police departments and their unions or risk adverse responses to their political careers or the viability of their parties.  We see this with the response of President Obama sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson or NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio contentious relationship with police union heads.  In short the Civil Rights Movement proved political institutions and parties respond to protests, boycotts, and civil unrest.

Teenager Michael Brown was unarmed and shot by Police

On the other hand if you are talking cutting down on crime in our neighborhood (no such thing as black on black crime really you have to realize 84% of all murders of whites is by other whites. Plus whites commit suicide 2 1/2 times more to themselves than murder).

Most crime is is perpetrated by people who live near and know each other.  But the way people have successfully handled crime in our community is with community patrols, hiring more police who live in the community, better parenting, youth programs, providing home owner loans, developing more things economically.

For example in Brooklyn, Queens, and NYC, Blacks invested and built up communities and now every body in the world wants to live in Harlem, Downtown Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Bed Stuy, and even Bushwick Brooklyn now. We helped upscale the communities and helped  lower crime in New York City, and now people are leaving the suburbs to live in Black communities. This just illustrates...

...Different responses are needed for different problems.  But what we shouldn't do is every time a black person gets shot by police is deflect responsibility and make it less important by saying "oh we are our own worst enemy and Black on Black crime is more of an issue."

Cutting down on crime which is closely linked to raising the quality of life in neighborhoods requires work of an ongoing programmatic nature including: voting and holding elected officials accountable; investing in business and economic development; starting popular and attractive sports, self defense, music, and youth programs; and community watch programs, etc.  This is something people do in our communities and of these proactive initiatives need to be more supported in our neighborhoods.

Both are challenging issues that we need to address them in different ways. Blacks have worked to reduce crime without hoopla in a number of communities I've worked in. In St. Albans, Queens a 92% black community (once considered a epicenter of the crack epidemic) the Churches, youth groups, civic organizations worked together to buy stores being used by drug gangs, patrol the community, and develop a real estate infrastructure which helped the poor and elderly get housing.

An illegal choke hold applied to Eric Garner

When we had a youth gang in NJ beginning to form and selling drugs. They were also bullying children in the neighborhood. The dads who worked from home like myself started watching the school buses, we worked with law enforcement to make the neighborhood safer and not a good place to sell drugs, we watched the gangs activity and asked them to keep the music and noise level down. The community stuck together and the gang disbanded.

Things like this don't make the news. But just because it doesn't make the news doesn't mean we don't work hard to make communities safer places. I have a Facebook friend who told me about 30 days ago they started a group in her neighborhood in Chicago to make their community more safe and peaceful. Since they started the group there hasn't been any recent shootings according to her. The media doesn't cover this because they primarily cover conflict and confrontation to sell ads. Bad news sells better than good news.

However, there are groups in most Black communities that work to get young people off the streets and doing positive things. In my neighborhood we have two dance and music training studios for young people and a self defense school which only charges $30 a month to train 2 times a week for young people. All within a small radius. These are all things that contribute to cutting down on crime.

John Crawford was shot by police in a department store

I think what we need to do is look at communities which have transformed themselves from high crime and low income like in New York City, such as Harlem, Downtown Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Bed Stuy, and even Bushwick and model their success. Then we need effective strategies to be able to keep a presence in these communities if gentrification becomes an issue.

So we have examples of Blacks reinvesting in their communities to raise living standards which of course includes cutting down on crime.  But we shouldn't let the conservatives or status quo elites throw a distraction our way when trying to cut down on police brutality and militarization by telling us we should focus more on crime.

We have to be able to deal with both issues effectively and neither should be used as a political football to negate the other important issue in some competing ideological wars.  We should recognize the art of distraction when we see it.

Checkout this interesting video below with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Dr. Ben Carson

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 Search Engine Plan.com

Kamau Qu!ps August 2014

Oprah a smart woman helps Society
in many ways through Media

1. Aging is a very humbling experience and equalizing Karma to our earlier hubris.

2. Although I may strikeout at times - I'd rather get up to bat and try to hit a home run than sit on the sidelines of life.

3.You'd think we would have evolved enough to realize killing for divine motives is an oxymoron.

4. Bruthas no matter how bad things get don't turn to a life of crime. You'll end up terrorizing people in your own community.  Maybe even killing children. It isn't worth it.

5. In tough times fight for life by turning to God. God will empower you to turn your life around even when you have a lot of naysayers who feel you're a piece of crap. God will raise you up against the odds and astound those who doubted you.  Kamau's Qu!ps

6. We should all value smart women. A smart women is society's greatest asset.

7. I think we all have to be concerned about all people being brutalized. Because an injustice done any where is a potential injustice done every where. I see the militarization of police in the US and it reminds me of what is happening in Palestine.

The same equipment even drones are now being turned against US citizens. We should all be interested in cutting down on police brutality.

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 Search Engine Plan.com

Is Hip Hop & Urban Clothing the New Formal Wear Or Will it Become Passé

A fashionable Facebook friend commented recently "

When white people see a black person dressed nicely ... They are so overly friendly and complimentary like I'm the first black person they've ever seen dressed up.

When a black person sees me dressed up they say ... "Is it your birthday" "why are you dressed up"
Imma start saying I had court today to both parties"

Reading his statement I couldn't help but reminiscence about growing up and seeing well dressed Blacks and even whites for that matter.  They only time I see people in business attire anymore in NYC is around the Midtown Manhattan and Downtown Manhattan area.

When I grew up there were countless Blacks going to work suited down 5 days a week. You'd see countless well dressed Blacks going to work on the subways of NYC. On Sunday they wore suits too.

Now if people see you in a suit they look at you like you have two heads. I took a couple of women to a real upscale restaurant (on two different occasions) I showed up in a suit and they opened the door in jeans.

I can't help but wonder if Blacks are working less in office jobs because of the shifting industries in the City or if office jobs have become more causal.

In cities like Chicago and Detroit we know that car and other manufacturing jobs aren't as abundant or lucrative for Blacks to work in anymore. We have to gravitate to more tech industries which have more casual dress codes.  This is something to look into in the future as an interesting trend. 

My how things have changed!  Perhaps this is a sign of the influence of Hip Hop and the Gap. People charge $80 for a white T-Shirt, $350 for Nikes, and $150 for jeans so I guess people think a T-Shirt and Jeans is formal wear.

If you go back and look at people in Harlem in the 50s those folks could dress for real. Maybe if Hip Hop Moguls like Jay-Z and P Diddy dress in suits more often they will start a trend for people to start wearing  upscale clothes again. The urban look is just beginning to look boring and generic looking in it's oh so casual way.

 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 Search Engine Plan.com

Bling Bling Brings Poverty Not Wealth

Too often people in our community are confusing flaunting materialism with actual wealth. Being obsessed with bling bling can actually bring about poverty and doesn't equal wealth. Having wealth is a lot about having assets.

An asset is something that makes money for you as passively as possible even while you sleep like real estate, stocks & bonds, and these days e-commerce or ad enabled websites and blogs. Even ebooks can be assets for you generating significant income or money.

While you may work on a job to make money, on the other hand, an asset will work hard for you to make money.

Too many people of humble beginnings get a little money and get caught up with the symbols of success but not the substance of wealth.  I think even with the so called "prosperity gospel" too often people focus on nice cars, jets, and homes rather than commercial or business investments or assets that can make them money for the long term.

Furthermore complicating wealth creation for blacks due to redlining, less access to capital and credit, and getting less value for their real estate we to a large extent have fewer resources to create substantial assets. Moreover, the average black family makes less money than the average white family.

Blacks on average make less than $20,000 a year than white families.  And all of this income disparity cannot be linked to lack of work related skills in the black community or education.  Forbes reported that Black students with degrees have about the same chance of being hired as white high school dropouts. A recent study revealed that the average black woman makes 64 cents for every dollar a white male makes in the same profession.

This alone contributes to a great wealth gap in the Black community.  $20,000 dollars more a year pay to white families at just 6% yearly compound interest over a 40 year work career is almost a whooping 3.5 million dollars!  No wonder there is such a wealth disparity between whites and blacks in this country.

Sobering financially factors like these are no doubt demoralizing to many in the Black community and far too many resort to images of being well to do like "bling bling" jewelry or status designer clothes or flashy cars rather than actually looking to create viable assets.

We can see the consequences of this in the flashy wears of the secularized hip hop culture and on the other end of the spectrum in the spiritualized interpretation of the "prosperity gospel" adopted more recently by the black church influenced by southern television preachers.

My eBook Raise Cash Fast being updated
made good income for me on autopilot

There is some good news for those looking to build more tangible assets without a lot of money or credit. Even if you can't afford real estate, stocks, or bonds you can invest in building digital assets online.

I've had websites with Google ads and ebooks generate as much passive income 24/7 as people who owned actual real estate.  If you learn how to drive traffic to a site monetized with ads, products, ebooks, apps or other software people are willing to pay for you can generate considerable income and on AUTOpilot. 

When you have a viable business and want to know how to turn a website or blog into an asset inbox me for more info.  These days virtual assets can actually bring in as much money as traditional assets like real estate in terms of cash flow if set up properly. Don't just settle for flashy bling when you can bring in real income with digital assets.

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 Search Engine Plan.com

Is the Black Church Misleading Black Women and Keeping them Single?

Is the Black Church Misleading Black Women and Keeping them Single? Some Christians and other observers to the high singleness rate women in the Black Church claim this is the case. Checkout the video above by Ms. April Mason to see her take on the issue. It is worth checking out.   

I'm feel sad the need to stick to Biblical literalism and Christian Fundamentalism too often is making the Black Church less relevant and effective in addressing the needs of Black women in regards to being married. It is reported 70% of the women in the Black Church are single.

This is such a provocative and complex topic I wish I had time to begin to go in on it. I could opine a week on this and just scratch the surface.

But to cut to the chase, I feel the present Church leadership especially Black Church leaders are creating a condition where large numbers of Black women will be single and or divorced. I hear Christian divorce is one of the highest in the country at like 65%.

Many single Black women in the Church tell me they are focusing on their children and don't have time to explore a relationship with man. Many go decades without dating focusing on their children until they're grown.

But is this wise or prudent?  And shouldn't Black ministers be warning against this type of behavior. Or should they just counsel them to wait?

I've heard a Jewish marriage counselor state that making children the primary focus of our lives creates self centered children. I concur with that outlook because children need to see us taking time to care for ourselves and our relationships.

I constantly here Christian women say their role is to "wait on the Lord" to send them a man. But they wouldn't just "wait on the Lord" for a job right?

Black Christian women prepare themselves for a good job by working hard and getting an education. Why do they metaphorically always say "wait on the Lord" to send them a man.

I'm not a marriage counselor but I think it is fair to say seeing countless women in churches for decades without husbands or dates isn't ideal even for our children to see. I mean when I go to the laundry my daughter even tries to hook me up with dates for Pete's Sake. LOL! SMH!

She wants to see her dad dating and happy. Yep, Ms. Missy makes friends with gregarious women in the laundry and asks me "dad why don't you get her number?" Awkward. LOL!

My Daughter Tries to Hook Me Up with Women LOL!

So it is important for our children to see us living a balanced life in relationships with others. Especially if we expect them to have a balanced and fulfilling life.

However, many Black Churches emphatically expect their members to attend Church a few times a week.  But is it wise to center your life around church attendance in this way if you have children or want to be in a loving relationship? 

It would be hard to be in a relationship, marriage, or just keep up on your child's homework up to date going to church a few times a week. I think a lot of this crosses issues like the Church's interests, idealized expectations, disingenuous hermeneutics, biology, psychology, etc. But I've read a lot of Black women recently who are saying similar things: http://survivingdating.com

For instance many Church women point out Biblical stories about men searching for a wives and take this as a divine eternal truth - that women wait for men to find them.  However, in Biblical times they had arranged marriages for the most part and that was the social traditions of the time.  Does that mean we take examples of social or cultural traditions in Biblical times and make them divine paradigms or Biblical doctrines on marriage or other issues?

Would it be wrong for a woman to see a nice guy and say hello and introduce themselves because it is at odds with Biblical stories where men usually searched for wives?  Maybe the guy wouldn't see a woman unless she made herself known.

I for one know there are plenty of nice, intelligent, and loving women in Black Churches and would love to see them married more and dating. I'd like to see more Spiritual sistas happy.

So these are questions that I think Church congregants need to start asking themselves. With almost 70% of Black women in the Church single and 65% divorced it is time to start to ask hard questions and to look for new answers like Deborrah Cooper and Dr. Boyce Watkins are doing in the video below. It is worth checking it out. 

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 Search Engine Plan.com