The movie "PATTON" has a line in it that I didn't really understand until much later in life. General Patton had defeated, The German General Rommel ( I believe it was). Now German General Rommel was supposed to be the most note worthy tactical battle tested General. He and Patton were in battle. But........what Rommel DIDN'T know is that General Patton had gotten his hands on a book that Rommel had written about battle tactics, mindset, fighting polices and so forth. Patton wanted to defeat Rommel...........his enemy. So Patton read Rommel's book. This Book of Rommel's gave Patton an up close and deeply internal view of the mindset of his enemy. So to make a long story short. Patton defeated Rommel in the movie. And I remember George C. Scott ( who played the role of Patton in the movie) saying "Hey Rommel you S.O.B., I defeated you because I read your book!
So the same goes for many enemies big and small. The way that we defeat someone is that you have to get inside of their head. You have to find out how they think. You have to find out what their weaknesses and strenghts are. You have to find out their strength, and find a way to exploit it for your use and victory. I think someone has been studying us.........Black Folks. How did we survive through years, and decades, and centuries of slavery? You came to our country and you you ripped us from our mother's arms. You ripped us from our motherland. You ripped us from our culture. You ripped us from our God. You brought us to this land, and you beat us down. You purposely didn't educate us. You raped our mother's. You emasculated our fathers. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You lynched us. You place more of our young men in prison than in college. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You flooded our communities with crack, heroin, and LSD. AND YET AFTER ALL OF THAT. WE ARE STILL THE PRESIDENT OF THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD.
How did we do it? Five little letters M-U-S-I-C.
I know that this may seem contrived. Maybe because I am a music lover, I THINK that this is the cure to the many complex problems that we have in the black community. And maybe the lack of music is not our only problem. But I believe deep deep in my heart that music is one of the main problems.
Why have they taken gym recess and music out of schools? They have found the source of our power! You can put us in substandard school buildings, with outdated books, and non caring teachers. AND YET we still can produce, A Barak Obama. All we really need is some drums, a piano, and a guitar, and the sky is the limit for us. Music breaks our chains. Music inspires. Music educates. Music expresses. Music is water for the soul. Music is nourishment for the spirit. Music has been our liberty. We have taken the beatings, and the rape, the lynchings, the imprisonment, the poverty, and hopelessness..................and sang about it. And when our music plays.............everything else fades and we can make it through the day because our minds and souls are free floating on the melodic notes.
How did runaway slaves communicate with each other? We sang the clues of freedom to each other in the cotton fields. We sang these songs right in earshot of the slave masters. They did not understand our power was right inside those "negro spirituals". Barry Gordy and Smokey Robinson wanted to make the kind of music that would cross over and even erase segregation lines. AND THEY DID. Do we really understand this principle today?
All of us have seen the movie "The Temptations". There is a part of the story when
The movie "PATTON" has a line in it that I didn't really understand until much later in life. General Patton had defeated, The German General Rommel ( I believe it was). Now German General Rommel was supposed to be the most note worthy tactical battle tested General. He and Patton were in battle. But........what Rommel DIDN'T know is that General Patton had gotten his hands on a book that Rommel had written about battle tactics, mindset, fighting polices and so forth. Patton wanted to defeat Rommel...........his enemy. So Patton read Rommel's book. This Book of Rommel's gave Patton an up close and deeply internal view of the mindset of his enemy. So to make a long story short. Patton defeated Rommel in the movie. And I remember George C. Scott ( who played the role of Patton in the movie) saying "Hey Rommel you S.O.B., I defeated you because I read your book!
So the same goes for many enemies big and small. The way that we defeat someone is that you have to get inside of their head. You have to find out how they think. You have to find out what their weaknesses and strenghts are. You have to find out their strength, and find a way to exploit it for your use and victory. I think someone has been studying us.........Black Folks. How did we survive through years, and decades, and centuries of slavery? You came to our country and you you ripped us from our mother's arms. You ripped us from our motherland. You ripped us from our culture. You ripped us from our God. You brought us to this land, and you beat us down. You purposely didn't educate us. You raped our mother's. You emasculated our fathers. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You lynched us. You place more of our young men in prison than in college. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You flooded our communities with crack, heroin, and LSD. AND YET AFTER ALL OF THAT. WE ARE STILL THE PRESIDENT OF THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD.
How did we do it? Five little letters M-U-S-I-C.
I know that this may seem contrived. Maybe because I am a music lover, I THINK that this is the cure to the many complex problems that we have in the black community. And maybe the lack of music is not our only problem. But I believe deep deep in my heart that music is one of the main problems.
Why have they taken gym recess and music out of schools? They have found the source of our power! You can put us in substandard school buildings, with outdated books, and non caring teachers. AND YET we still can produce, A Barak Obama. All we really need is some drums, a
Otis tells of how they went down south and they had a big rope dividing the whites from the blacks. But when they went down there for the next tour, the rope was gone............ and then he says......"I'd like to think that our music had a little bit to do with that." OF COURSE IT DID! Thank you Motown and Temptations.
The movie "PATTON" has a line in it that I didn't really understand until much later in life. General Patton had defeated, The German General Rommel ( I believe it was). Now German General Rommel was supposed to be the most note worthy tactical battle tested General. He and Patton were in battle. But........what Rommel DIDN'T know is that General Patton had gotten his hands on a book that Rommel had written about battle tactics, mindset, fighting polices and so forth. Patton wanted to defeat Rommel...........his enemy. So Patton read Rommel's book. This Book of Rommel's gave Patton an up close and deeply internal view of the mindset of his enemy. So to make a long story short. Patton defeated Rommel in the movie. And I remember George C. Scott ( who played the role of Patton in the movie) saying "Hey Rommel you S.O.B., I defeated you because I read your book!
So the same goes for many enemies big and small. The way that we defeat someone is that you have to get inside of their head. You have to find out how they think. You have to find out what their weaknesses and strenghts are. You have to find out their strength, and find a way to exploit it for your use and victory. I think someone has been studying us.........Black Folks. How did we survive through years, and decades, and centuries of slavery? You came to our country and you you ripped us from our mother's arms. You ripped us from our motherland. You ripped us from our culture. You ripped us from our God. You brought us to this land, and you beat us down. You purposely didn't educate us. You raped our mother's. You emasculated our fathers. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You lynched us. You place more of our young men in prison than in college. AND YET WE STILL RISE. You flooded our communities with crack, heroin, and LSD. AND YET AFTER ALL OF THAT. WE ARE STILL THE PRESIDENT OF THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD.
How did we do it? Five little letters M-U-S-I-C.
I know that this may seem contrived. Maybe because I am a music lover, I THINK that this is the cure to the many complex problems that we have in the black community. And maybe the lack of music is not our only problem. But I believe deep deep in my heart that music is one of the main problems.
Why have they taken gym recess and music out of schools? They have found the source of our power! You can put us in substandard school buildings, with outdated books, and non caring teachers. AND YET we still can produce, A Barak Obama. All we really need is some drums, a
Otis tells of how they went down south and they had a big rope dividing the whites from the blacks. But when they went down there for the next tour, the rope was gone............ and then he says......"I'd like to think that our music had a little bit to do with that." OF COURSE IT DID! Thank you Motown and Temptations.
White America didn't realize that once they brought us over here from Africa that they would be stuck with us. They have been trying everything that they could to get rid of us. But we have just gotten bigger and better and stronger. So they STUDIED US. They needed to get into our heads and our hearts. They needed to find out the source of our power so that they could defeat us. They STUDIES OUR BOOK.
They have finally understood that music is like the air we breath. We can speak to each on music in a way that will ignite our very souls.
Think about the first time you heard. "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now". That is a very uplifting song. Think about the first time you heard "What's Going On", The Big Payback, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, That's The Way Of The World. Think about when you heard "The Message" by GrandMaster Flash and The Furious Five. WOW that is a song that we could all relate to on some level. We were talking to each other from heart to heart and soul to soul. And that language of love has kept us going. UNTIL NOW................
The enemy has infiltrated ya'll! The enemy has found our cryptonite. They have found a way to get us to tear each other apart. You've heard the saying that music soothes the savage beast. We all have a little beast and a little savagery in us. But our music kept us soothed. But now our children don't have any music to soothe them. And they are paying the price.
As I stated in an earlier blog..........young men need to be picking up musical instruments not guns and knives. TRUST ME, if you offer a budding young man an alternative to a gun. I think he would take it. If the young men would start singing............young ladies would automatically become fans of musicians and singers and they will go where the young men are.
So let me say again. The enemy has found the source of our power. M-U-S-I-C. Please help me get our power back.
Our churches need to open the doors to our young people and let them in to play those instruments that sit there dormant Sunday to Sunday. We need to have talent shows again. Trey Songz is not representative of what a male superstar R&B artist is. He's nice to look at ( to some people) but he does not have solo soul power. We used to love our singers and musicians no matter what they looked like. I mean WE LOVED Luther AND Barry. God rest their souls......but neither were pretty boyz.
So I want to leave you all with the revelation that someone has studied our play book and has found a way to infiltrate our power and finesse our strength right from under us. THINK ABOUT IT.
Please let me know what you think.
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