Where’s Tupac? Words On MLK Day

I'm on a quest to post at least one blog post every day for this whole year. So far, so good.  Today is Martin Luther King Day. In all likelihood, his assassination was ordered by the United States government if not done by the CIA. One day I hope we learn the truth. Not only about the murder of the civil rights activist. But also about JFK, John Lennon, and even Tupac. 

You see, in the United States, we have freedom of speech to a point. I can post this blog, and the powers that be really don't care. Though more connected than most, I am, at this point, essentially insignificant. However, if people were to rally around my words and try to change things, the whole issue would be escalated.

The United States is a seedy place. We claim to be the greatest nation that ever existed. Yet if I walk Manhattan Streets, I pass lofty towers. In those buildings, warm and secure live the ultrarich. Sleeping in the bitter cold below those who are penniless. That is not great. Again, we can send billions to Ukraine to kill and Israel but can't fix the drinking water in Flint, Michigan.

I want to remind people that when MLK took his antiwar stance, he was met with stiff resistance from his fellows. Also, at the end of his life the, civil rights activist began to embrace socialism. But history wants to isolate the Dream Speech.

I wrote these song lyrics in the psychiatric ward of East Orange Hospital. It was there that I learned more about Tupac. Timothy was a fellow patient. We clicked and thought each other quite sane. Maybe somebody could put a melody to the words?

Where’s Tupac?

 

Timothy didn’t need a clue in pain

Clearly dearly together and both sane

Chaos in the crowd speaking much too loud

In comes the Hells Angels speaking you proud

 

Where’s Tupac when we need the truth?

Where’s Tupac when they betrayed our youth?

Hip Hop didn’t stop with Buddy Holly

Santa Clause was always red and jolly

 

Crazy lazy or just out of your minds

I have seen the light and boy how it blinds

Eastside Newark my eyes are watching you

Purple is red and of course much worse blue

 

Where’s Tupac when we need the truth?

Where’s Tupac when they betrayed our youth?

Hip Hop didn’t stop with Buddy Holly

Santa Clause was always red and jolly

 

All heroes fall recall Elvis Presley

Even Old Neil faces eternity

Quit the crime isn’t that now crystal clear

Nineteen Sylvan place drop by for some cheer

 

Jesus is my savior Jesus is my hero

Numbers are everything numbers are zero

Tupac shall return he’s got much to learn

The sky is high and the fire’s gonna burn

 

Where’s Tupac when we need the truth?

Where’s Tupac when they betrayed our youth?

Hip Hop didn’t stop with Buddy Holly

Santa Clause was always red and jolly

Take a tour into the world of mental illness and see a human being. Please check out my book “More ThanThe Madness.”

Thoughts On Martin Luther King By John Kaniecki

Thoughts On Martin Luther King

By John Kaniecki

On Martin Luther King Day my first thought turns to Ronald Reagan. This odd connection is due to the fact that Ronnie was greatly opposed to the holiday. Of course in the Reagan family we see how hypocrisy reigns supreme. Nancy Reagan was greatly opposed to stem cell research for Alzheimer’s treatment until her husband got sick with the disease. Then she was a champion for it, funny how things change when you’re the victim.

 People from European decent will never know what it is to be of darker colored skin. No matter how many facts you learn or how much culture you absorb and how many friends of darker skin color you have you will never know the burden. I know some ‘whites’ who feel there is reverse racism in place.

Prejudice is a feeling of ill will based on some characteristic such as skin color. Racism is entirely another thing. Racism is prejudice inflicted by a system.  Racism implies power by the oppressor to oppress. Without power you cannot be racist. How is racism prevalent in the United States?  People of darker skin color are more likely to be stopped and frisked despite the statistics that say drug use is equal. People of darker skin tend to get longer sentences and the death penalty with greater frequency. I could go on and site other facts and figures. I could bring up how young people of ‘color’ are watched when they enter stores. But I have been to the affluent neighborhoods and I have walked the streets of the inner city. I can see and observe with my eyes the inequality.

The United States government, through the C.I.A, intentionally pumps drugs into the inner city to destroy the African American. Rap has been hijacked so the performers portray a negative ‘gangster’ mentality instead of wholesome one of brotherhood. The irradiated milk is sent to the hood. The list continues and the point is that the system is racist against people of darker skin color. In the context of America it is very hard if not impossible for racism to work the other way. Only in a very small microcosm could this be true. Still at the end of the day we are living in a society dominated by the old ‘white’ male. There is a world of difference when one is pulled over by a police officer.

Martin Luther King was not the reason the movement succeeded. This point must be emphasized and reemphasized. There were thousands of people contributing to the struggle in various ways. The Civil Rights movement was one giant project helped along with many hands. That is the flaw of the European society, everybody wants to be number one, they want to be king. After all ‘my home is my castle’. So if you attribute the success of the Civil Rights movement to one man than the masses stand aside waiting for another giant to arrive to lead the fight. Instead we should understand that we all have a vital role to play and that the moment to act is now. Don’t wait for a leader, leaders will emerge through the struggle and the struggle is now.

Martin Luther King was both antiwar and turning socialist. These two elements shouldn’t be overlooked as they are fundamental. War is a very racist thing; just examine the skin color of who we are killing.  Besides in the spirit of Martin Luther King that shouldn’t even matter. Furthermore people have a right to live decently. Nobody should be at the mercy of another person economically.

Finally in his day Martin Luther King was both hated and an outlaw. He was arrested and went to jail several times. Another contemporary of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks has been honored by both the Democratic and Republican Party. She two at her time was reviled and cast into jail. In the future perhaps Mumia Abu Jamal, Ramona Africa, Leonard Peltier will all be hailed as heroes. You see in history it is always the radical criminal that fights for the people that eventually assumes the place of honor. Ask the Founding Fathers of this country for clarification on that one, not saying they were perfect either.

The world is a better place because Martin Luther King came to Earth, lived the life he lived and fought for the poor. What does your own life testify about you?