THE REAL CARL's Blog

nice to see u back.. i have enjoyed your music for years. still have all of your cds lol.. It good to have a real singer with so much soul step back into the game and I look forward to your next cd. 

I think the problem is more that people are just in the now if that makes any sense. Most people are living for right now and not looking forward to anything because at this point what do we really have to look forward to? I understand the concept but again you are right that the light bulb has to go off and a person has to say .. enough is enough.. cut the crap lets do something about the real issue. Obama can't change the way people think ... he's a great guy.... I voted for him .. love what he stands for but he can't change people.


It's a mindset that has to be changed. Anywho. I like your insight.

Carl, I have been saying the same thing for YEARS. Can I take your analogy just a little further? I saw The Wizard of Oz and it pains me that our people cannot see behind that curtain.

Sometimes I wonder if we even want to? It truly frightens me when I look into a twelve year old girl eyes and don't see HOPE or DREAMS.

One of the things that irritates me is all of these grass root programs and the only help I see are the ones helping themselves instead of the community they claim to be fighting for. Not all, but the vast majority hide behind the "community platform" and the only ones benefiting are themselves.

Carl, I totally agree with you when you say that the "Chicago Youth Stop the Violence Initiative" is not the most effective method when it comes to dealing with what's going on in the urban community of Chicago. Being from Los Angeles, I've seen my fair share of initiatives executed in my community with little or no success; because after the rallys, conferences and town hall meetings are said and done, it's back to business as usual. Think about it...how many times have politicians, law enforement, city council leaders or non-profit organizations sponsored such events in Chicago, in Los Angeles and other cities abroad either for publicity for upcoming campaigns or just an occasional cover-up to make the people directly affected think that "the powers that be" are really doing something benefical.
I definetly agree with you when you suggest that it's time for the people of the community (as well as all Americans) to stop allowing the goverment and city officals to continue to sugar-coat what they "claim" to be doing and start taking matters into there own hands. Just like our ancestors who have paved the way thus far, we have to "value freedom more than our own lives." One of the biggest problems that stagnate action is FEAR (of failure, succes or the unknown). Do you feel that enough people in today's society have what it takes to makes strides such as our ancestors did? With a vast amount of people with self-centered attitudes towards economics, politics and community issues I wonder how can we get people to stand up when they don't feel the flame beneath them?
I commend you for bringing this disscussion to the table!

I do believe we, as people, are no longer willing to die for what we believe in, as in times past. My 8-year-old son and I have been watching Alex Haley's "Roots" collection for the past two weeks. I want him to not only understand where we came from, but how the stinch of slavery still permeates the atmosphere to this day. I want him to "get it". However, the chains are no longer attached to our ankles and wrists, but to our minds. Part of the blame goes to the church (not all churches) for crippling it's people and perpetuating the slave/slave master attitudes; the "I'm just an old sinner, saved by grace". YES, we ARE saved by grace, for those who believe that, but we're more than that - that's preschool. We need to go to the next level and find out who we really are and what the eternal plan really is for each of us. Nevertheless, I believe we are not here only for ourselves, we all have something we can touch and someone's life we can change. It's starts with the power of one and oneness.

Well, well, well....It's about time that a brother from another walk of life, (not Politics) is speaking the truth. Will more of you please come out and teach to reach the one's that are lost? You should become that advocate and if you already are then, go on! MAN, that which you are. I am pleased and proud to say that you are a friend on this web of myspace. Holla at your girl!

I can totally appreciate your point of view. I found your take on things educational and enlightening. I look forward to a better day, when we will ba able to collectively think as a people, instead of allowing those with all the money to influence our law makers and make a joke out of the justice system.

(May OBAMA win this race!!!)

I agree with you. You can only change what you do and how you react. However, I do believe that one thing that we can do individually is stop letting the people who don't undersatnd our plight control this country. We must go out and vote. We must stop the same old same ole politics. Unfortunately, that is our only medium right now for some sort of intervention and change. In the past politics has functioned on the logical fallacy of Argumentum ad antiquitatem that is when something is seen as the right thing to do just because that is the way it has always been done that way. Well, I don't know about you all, but the way things have always been done has kept this country stagnent for the past 20-30 years.

The biggest problem with the violence in this country is the manifestation of teen pregnancy. Most of the kids that are now teenagers and young adults shooting up our streets are offspring of the teenagers who got pregnant in the late eighties and nineties when teenage pregnancy was at an all time high. These kids have no structure and respect because they were raised by kids who lacked the skills necessary to raise a child, they were still children themselves. I myself was a teenage mother, but thank God I had the support system of the elders in my family. Most of the girls that were in my situation were not that fortunate. Yes a great deal starts at home. We say we need to change ourselves first. As I stated earlier is true, but we need to take control of these kids. If you don't have any kids, voluteer to be a mentor. Sometimes, all it takes is a little intervention. No, I don't think marching in the streets is going to do anything besides look good on TV. I think these kids need more supervision before the reach age 10, 11, 12. At some point, we all have to take some responsiblity for the children in our neighborhoods. I know some of you may say, those aren't my kids, why should I care? Well, I say, the child you ignore, may one day very well be the child who murders you or someone you love. And to those over sensitive parents who don't want anyone to say anything to their child, I say to you, if someone is correcting your child, you back that person up. Sometimes kids need to be corrected by someone other than their parents. I think it teaches them to respect authority as a whole. That is the bottom line factor.

Yes Sir.

The Devils are so Angry RIGHT NOW!

Kill em' Carl.

The rest of us (angels) are right there with you.

Hashim Hakim (AU)

I sincerly appreciate the fact you acknowledged this inaction affects everyone! You must understand where you are in life, to comprehend the need for real change. There MUST be a desire by more people in this country to want positive change! And it must be discussed in order for people to care about what's happening around them, in front of them, and often times to them!!! Personally, my faith is the reason i am not in total despair about our country and where it is headed! It does start on a local level, but before that it begins on a personal one, the people who are supposedly "in charge" have to change their way of thinking and their handling of situations. Or better yet, in most cases...we just need better leaders in charge!

While there is a revers inequality on income tax levied against the rich. The top 1% of tax payers pay 39.38% of the taxes while only taking in 21.20% of gross income each year. This is the obvious result of having a progressive tax system where the more money you make it's not just that you pay more in taxes you pay a higher percent of your income in taxes. The top 50% of tax payers are paying almost 97% of the income taxes. By no means am I trying to fight this inequality on taxation, what I want to point out is that 52.7% of our lowest working classes disposable income is taxed away. Even without an institutional cast systems based on race or blood lines its inherently difficult to change economic class and while this country has made great strides in avoiding such economic oppression the tax system state and federal is levying a higher percent tax on the money with which the lowest classes have to change there economic condition. It's approaching perpetual servitude when the lowest classes have more then half of every dime they could possibly use to better their situation taxed away!

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