Newspaper Page Text
4A
June 28, 2007
Upinion
Tribute to the
greatest grandpa
in the world
My grandpa was my paaams -
hero. %‘hcrc was not a
moment he was not there .
for me. He listened to
me, talked to me, and
taught me a myriad of j
things. The greatest of B ’
these things was love.
And for him, | know this ;
was his most significant (% / ,
job. o ¢
Just as important to g
him was his faith. He not [
only taught me but oth- KT i
ers, as Christians, that we - SIS =p
should believe in Salva- 3 m
tion by grace through £- 5
faith in Jesus. For over
twenty-six years, | was blessed to have a grandfather.
Not everyone can say that, and for this unmerited
honor, I am grateful and proud. My grandpa taught
me a lot of things-not aflmys by words, Lut more
often than not, by example. These are the most
enduring and best lessons. With that being said,
anyone can talk and utter brilliant and beautiful
things. However, when a person lives what they teach
/ou, then it takes on even more meaning. There have
Kwen only a few days since my grandfacher has
passed. I know there will never be a day that passes
that I will not think of him. Considering all of the
years that we shared, there is no surprise in how
much I valued him and what he meant to me. There
is a profound sadness to know that when | wake up
in the morning he will no longer be here with us
physically. [ know that I will have to take the time to
pause and reflect that he is in a better place. | know
that I will only hurt when I breathe.
Yet I will have to maintain my composure and get
comfort in knowing that I had the best grandpa in
the world. 1T know that T will miss him everyday.
When I see my grandma, [ will think of him. When
I see that house, I will think of him. When I see my
uncle, I will think of him. When I look in the mir
ror, | will think of him.
I am saddened by my grandfather’s death, but only
for selfish reasons. I miss him, but I will not mourn
him. He is not dead, only gone. He is at peace in a
place that is so joyful, so beautiful, so filled with love
that we can’t even conceive the splendor with our
minds.
There is no real death, only service to Christ as we
live so that we may enjoy His presence when we are
through. Thank you grandpa. I will be forever grate
ful for all of the thousands of moments I spent with
you and the love we have shared.
R ’
EEZZ’O 1y N OL€. I ok the liberty of using the
editorial space to pay homage to my grandfather, because |
would not be half the man I am today without his nurtur
ing and wisdom. The picture above is not the most recent
hoto of us together, but it is definitely my favorite.
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w General Manager
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Amos Wilson was right; ‘We are, indeed, out of our minds'
File this artide under, “You
gotta to be kidding me!” Dr.
Amos Wilson's words, quoted
by Kwa David Whitaker, in his
outstanding presentation tided,
“The Wake-Up Call,” rang in
my ears when | heard about the
latest in a series of self-deprecat
ing, self-denigrating, and self
hating acts of Black-on-Black
economic violence by a Black
organization.
Of course, Amos Wilson was
not disparaging Black folks just
to be negative; he loved his peo
ple and would do anything to
help us achieve economic
empowerment and “Afrikan
consciousness” as he put it.
While Wilson and Whitaker
used those words to awaken
our people, more and more
black (small “b” intended) peo
ple are actually committing acts
that are directly reflective of a
“sick people.”
Prior to the most recent act of
economic treason, we had the
Chinese Connection, which
involves the $lO million con
tract awarded by Black folks to
a Chinese sculptor to carve the
Racism and greed on black homeowners back fires
Blacks wishing to buy their
“Dream Homes” have been
targeted by evil characters
Wi[%l fast cash and easy credit
rip-offs. They dont disclose
costs such as taxes and various
creative fees generated by
them. These are known as
subprime mortgages. My
brothers and sisters please
stick to prime mortgages, the
kind you get from major
banks and are fully govern
ment regulated. They won't let
you get a mortgage you cant
afforg. Thercf(%;{,; fil situa
tions normal, you won't be led
down the road of foreclosure
and disaster.
Critics of this program often
say they target “low income
and minority families”. But
the more I study it the targets
are basically minority, espe
cially Black, without regarcr:o
income. As an example, in the
state of Maryland, the most
prolific county victimized by
these sub&rimc mortgages 1s
none other than Prince
Georges County.
Prince Georges is the most
financially wdrF:ff county for
Blacks in the United States.
However, every subprime hus
tler available is quite active
;dl\crc. An officer ;} the Feder-
Deposit Insurance Co
ration told me, “We hdlgoa
home owner workshop there
and the line for Foreclosure
Trouble and Assistance was
Sg_inc longer than the line for
irst Time Home Buyers
Assistance”. After that, they
constructed a map of Mary
land counties and put red dots
in ncighborhoogu festered
E. 3
4 iy ¥
jame§ Cl}ingman
National Martin Luther King
Monument, and the awarding
of the project design contract to
a white-owned firm.
It was unconscionable that a
Black organization would not
see that a Black Sculptor and
Designer would get those con
tracts. But, Amos Wilson was
right; we have lost our minds.
“Massa, is we sick?” “No, ‘we’
aint sick, but you sho is.”
Now, as if the MLK Statue
was not bad enough, the
NAACP National Convention
is going to Detroit, a city with
80 percent-plus Black popula
ton; Detroit, with its Black
Mayor whose mother chairs
the Congressional Black Cau-
’\ Y \‘l
Harry Alford
mortgages. Prince Georges
County, clear and away, i?d
the entire state. In fact, it was
the only county that was pure
red by all the dots — they blan
keted it.
What happens is “Money
Managers” from Wall St. put
together hedge funds (pools of
money from people and firms
who don't want to be openly
exposed) to go after and
exploit these risky but high
interest subprime mortgages.
Some of these subprime mort
gages can yield 20 -28 percent
interest until the buyer or
“sucker” defaults and loses the
home. The Money Managers
and their investors hope to
recover loses from the foreclo
sure auctions and other liqui
dation f:Dacdcs. But now the
rate of foreclosures is surpass
ing the wildest dreams of the
Money Managers. Their
vision of windfall is turning
into waterfall. Homeowners
can't work it out and their
credit is destroyed for at least
13 years and their family life
shreds into nothing Divorce
and friction is inevitable.
In a recent article from the
cus; Detroit, with its history of
Motown, Muhammad’s
Mosque No.l, New Bethel
Baptist Church, Rosa Parks,
and Coleman Young; Detroit,
with strong Black folks like
Kwame Kenyatta, Joann Wat
son, and Theo Broughton; the
NAACP is going o Detroit,
and during its convention will
present an Authors’ Pavilion,
which will not be managed by
a Black bookstore! (Sorry for
disturbing you, Brother Amos.)
A representative of the The
National Association for the
Advancement of “Colored”
People, when asked about the
Authors' Pavilion contract with
a non-Black book store,
responded with an equally out
rageous excuse: They were not
aware of Black bookstores, dis
tributors or publishers in
Detroit. Can you say, “The
Shrine of the Black Madonna™
Its only been there for 35 years
or so, and has locations in
Atlanta and Houston.
Is our NAACP telling its Black
constituents that no one in the
Natonal Office knew about
New York Times (June 23,
front page), “Bear Stearns
Companies, the investment
bank, pledged up to $3.2 bil
lion in loans yesterday to bail
out one of its hedge funds that
was collapsing because of bad
bets on subprime mort
gages..... Bear Stearns averted
a meltdown this time, but if
delinquencies and defaults on
subprime loans surge, Wall
Street firms, hedge funds and
Ecnsinn funds could be left
olding billions of dollars in
bonds and securities backed
by loans that are quickly los
ing their value. ... The firm is,
meanwhile, negotiating with
banks to rescue the second,
larger fund started last August,
which has more than $6 bil
lion in loans and reportedly
holds far riskier investments.
Those negotiations were con
tinuing yesterday, and it was
unclear whether they would
be successful.... Some
lenders, including Merrill
Lynch and Deutsche Bank,
balked and moved to sell
assets. At one point Wednes
day, nearly $2 E;Ilion in secu
rities were listed for sale,
although some banks, includ
ing l‘ll'%’Morgan, eventually
canceled scheduled auc
tions....ln the wake of the
weak auctions, several other
lenders, including JPMorgan,
Citigroup, Golgman Sachs
andflk of America, reached
deals with Bear Stearns. At
least some of the deals
involved the lenders selling
b S
r y
rrias were not disclosed.”
say good for them. God
the Shrine? Are they saving that
no one in Baltimore, where
they are located, knew to ask
one of the largest distributors of
Black books, Brother Nau, at
African World Books? Have
they not head of
Maryland/DC-based Karibu
Books, whom they could have
called to get information on
Black book stores in Detroit?
Are they saying they never
heard of Haki Madhubua and
Third World Press, or Lushena
Books, both in Chicago?
Would they have us believe
they know nothing about Mil
ligan Books in L.A., whose
owner, Dr. Rosic Milligan,
annually presents Black
Authors on Tour in the same
town where the NAACP held
its Image Awards? What about
Nia Books, Amber Books, and
Cush City Books? Puleceze!
Give us a break! This is
absolutely ridiculous and, even
though I should not have to say
it, its also unacceptable.
Black bookstores, publishers,
and distributors all over this
See Willson, next page 5A
dont like ugly and this was
certainly ugly. Targeting Black
families for money hustles and
eventual disaster is about as
low as you can get.
Remember, they set up
these pools of money to rip off
unsuspecting minority fami
lies by not disclosing prohibi
tive fees, upcoming property
taxes that will be exaggerated
because the appraised values
of the homes are unreal and
extremely over valued. They
can do it because they are
loosely regulated by the feder
al and state governments
unlike prime mortgages.
People are led in because of
the unreal “estimated mort
gage costs’. Some people are
overwhelmed two to three
months into it. There are
actually some who cannot
afford the first monthly
installment after they have
signed away everything and
the real costs become exposed.
These fly by night mortgage
brokers are of a lower charac
ter than dishonest used car
salesmen. In fact, you can get
a mortgage broker license eas
ier than you can get a beauti
cian license. That needs to be
changed or we should make
such licenses defunct and ille
gal. It would save a lot of
Black families from economic
destruction. Let’s get on the
offensive in fighting this “pox”
on our communities.
My. Alford is the co-founder,
President/CEO of the National
Black Chamber of Commence.
Website: wuww.nationalbee.org.