ali - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T10:34:41Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/aliThe Beyonce Phenomenon: Appreciation or Exploitation?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/the-beyonce-phenomenon-appreciation-or-exploitation-videos2018-05-02T23:00:00.000Z2018-05-02T23:00:00.000ZNana Baakan Agyiriwahhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/NanaBaakanAgyiriwah<div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:left;"><h2 style="text-align:left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJ8G2n5FrBQ/Wun95wcArHI/AAAAAAACwqs/CBYApIBar5EhkvraHHpxPbegxhLfDXq3gCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BBeyonc%25C3%25A9%2BPhenomenon-Appreciation%2Bor%2BExploitation.png" target="_blank"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJ8G2n5FrBQ/Wun95wcArHI/AAAAAAACwqs/CBYApIBar5EhkvraHHpxPbegxhLfDXq3gCLcBGAs/s400/The%2BBeyonc%25C3%25A9%2BPhenomenon-Appreciation%2Bor%2BExploitation.png?width=320" width="320" class="align-left" alt="The%2BBeyonc%25C3%25A9%2BPhenomenon-Appreciation%2Bor%2BExploitation.png?width=320" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;">"Culture Vultures come in all shapes and sizes, and even those whom you least expect are doing just that, using another's culture and tradition to further their own gain."</span></h2><div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJ8G2n5FrBQ/Wun95wcArHI/AAAAAAACwqs/CBYApIBar5EhkvraHHpxPbegxhLfDXq3gCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BBeyonc%25C3%25A9%2BPhenomenon-Appreciation%2Bor%2BExploitation.png" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"></a></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M_MuehNwlCU?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">Now let me start by saying that it is quite obvious that there are plenty of people who sing the praises of the Queen B.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">They shake, rattle and roll at her awesomeness and find her to be a great example for their daughters.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">Then over in a tiny corner, far from view are just a few people who are not so taken by her.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span><br /> <span style="font-size:14pt;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">So, if you are in the larger community, the ones who praise and adore her, who are her Church Members who see her as a goddess, who imitate her and blast her songs in your car on your way to work or where ever you may be headed to, then you might want to turn off this video and go watch her instead.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">If you are among those Beyoncé Church goers who have an open mind and would like to explore with me some of the kinks in her armor, then stay with me.<span> </span> And if you are the few in the corner, way over there who can barely get a word in edgewise due to the clamor coming from the crowd, you may find that you may agree with some of what I am about to say, and you may even have something else to think about when it comes to the "Beyoncé Phenomenon."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Anybody who comes to my channel and even YouTube who consistently demonetizes my videos, knows that I "think outside of the box" in my videos.<span> </span> I was raised by my Mother to be a critical thinker.<span> </span> She never accepted anything on face value, at least it seemed that way to me.<span> </span> Then after being indoctrinated for 12 years in Catholic school, I attended a Catholic college and there I learned what critical thinking really was, as ironic as that might sound. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time because the professors that I had, were not part of the status quo and they got flack from the administration because of it.</div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The "rave" reviews from the mainstream media as you can see here….</div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And the too many to count YouTube videos spin the top of the cult of personality, idol worship and the main agenda of those in the seats of power over the masses.<span> </span> Who could ask for anything more than the all out support from the fat cats?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">But my mother taught me to question.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">She did that by telling me over and over again, "you are so gullible, you believe anything that anyone tells you."</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">My younger brother used to pull all kinds of tricks on me to the point, that I was threatened with bodily harm if I ever, in life, fell for another one of his tricks.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">So I had to begin to think, and rethink and then think again.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now, I am going to share my thoughts, it's my channel and until YouTube completely shuts it down, I will share what I feel and think on my channel.<span> </span> If you do not wish to hear what I have to say, then feel free to go, but please do not leave disparaging comments calling me a "hater" simply because I take another stance on this "Beyoncé Phenomenon."<span> </span> And throughout this video I am going to tell you why I have another stance, and it's not something that I have recently taken, I have daughters and while they are mature adults now, with daughters of their own, I also have sons who have sons.<span> </span> This Beyoncé Phenomenon" does not just touch on the girls, it touches the boys as well.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now, folks may have thought that since Obama and Michelle gave Beyoncé and JayZ the red carpet treatment by presenting them at the white house, that made them pass the grade, but that means nothing to me.<span> </span> Beyoncé is not a good role model for young girls and JayZ is not a good role model for young boys, I don't care how many people say that they are.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">They cannot sincerely believe that the violence and sexualization that goes on in their videos is a model for young people, with the explosive instances of police brutality against people of color when they ain't doing none of the stuff depicted in their music videos.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">But in this video I want to focus on Beyoncé, I want to talk about the sexualization of the woman, I want to talk about how this sexualization of the woman is not appreciation but exploitation to the point that women who have been abused, seemed to be brushed off with the adage, "if she didn't want to be treated that way, she shouldn't wear them kind of clothes", yet, it's okay for Beyoncé and her team of soldiers to do so, or Hollyweird personalities over all.<span> </span> Why is it okay for those in Hollyweird to prance around half clad, barely clad, merely clad or in some instances, uncladded in the public eye, but those poor unknown victims of sexual molestation are considered hoes and told that they asked for it.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">We have a rape culture in this country! I cannot speak about any other country but the US.<span> </span> So on the one hand we are bringing out the Weinstein's and the Cosby's and on the other hand we are lining up blocks and hours long, and spending top dollar to attend a festival, game or concert featuring "Beyoncé'" who in my estimation is acting like a whore on stage in front of the entire world!</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now you might want to get off this video right now, you Beyoncé Muppets, but I am about to get real right here and right now.<span> </span> My thoughts around Coachella have haunted me for days and days and even more days.<span> </span> Who remembers how incensed folks got when they saw Malia Obama at Coachella last year or maybe it was the year before, smoking weed and humping?<span> </span> That image and video went viral.<span> </span> People were appalled that Malia would be out there "acting" like that and she's the Presidents daughter, yet on the other hand the Obama's invited JayZ and Beyoncé to the white house.<span> </span> Michelle even said, she saw Beyoncé as a role model for young girls. How do you mix both things together?<span> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I have read several articles, watch several videos and the voice in the wilderness still continues to be little ole me.<span> </span> Why can't people see how perverted this is?<span> </span> Why are people gobbling up this type of performance with no second thoughts or even grievances?<span> </span> What is it about the Beyoncé mania that makes folks blind, deaf and dumb to what is being blasted in from of their faces?<span> </span> I am totally baffled by the support that she gets to get up on stage and rock her sacred space in the nearly pornographic manner in which she does.<span> </span> Has pornography become normalized now, and does an entire show of young ladies dressed in outfits that used to be only seen in "Frederick of Hollywood" become okay?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now place that within the context of what just happened to Bill Cosby.<span> </span> What do I mean by that?<span> </span> What I mean is, I wonder how many people, who blame the women for "making" themselves available to Cosby so he could do what he did to them, support Beyoncé.<span> </span> I just wonder.<span> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now place that in the context of all the stuff coming out of Hollyweird, where women and in some instance men and children are being over sexualized, abused and other criminal acts being perpetrated against them.<span> </span> How in one breath can one say, they appreciate Beyoncé and in the other breath abhor the Hollyweird under belly of despicable and criminal behavior.<span> </span> People are losing jobs, being downgraded, being ostracized and criminalized due to their reported, not proven, inappropriate behavior while Beyoncé can flaunt herself and her female soldiers in the manner she does and make millions of dollars!</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Is it because she donates to social causes? Does that give her a free ride?<span> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">BTW, I am not impressed with donations.<span> </span> I am only impressed if those donations are not marked as tax deductibles at the end of the year.<span> </span> In fact, that simply means the citizens are making the contributions because in some way, it will hit the pockets of every other person who does pay taxes.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><div style="font-size:14pt;">Is the community saying that as long as she gives her money away, she can allow herself and her female soldiers to be exploited in the manner in which they were in this last show, and yes I did see it.</div><div style="font-size:14pt;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;font-size:14pt;text-align:center;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;">ZaZa Ali Live: Beyonce at Coachella, Cardi B & the Impact of Celebrity Culture</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OkhNEnjBrrM?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I would like to take a moment and give a shout out to ZaZa Ali.<span> </span> She painfully approached this subject, by consistently giving credit to Beyoncé's performance being impeccable when it comes to the work she had to put into it to pull it off.<span> </span> I think she did a fine job of tiptoeing over the haters who will come at her saying that she doesn't want another black woman to succeed in life.<span> </span> But what is the definition of success?<span> </span> And what is the cost of this success?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And yes, I am harping on Beyoncé and yes I know that other female entertainers have done the same thing, but like my mom used to say, just cause everybody is doing it does not make it right.<br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:center;"><br /> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QpGU0xnipzE?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I did a video on the Cult of Celebrity.<span> </span> I also did a video discussing the sexualization of our children.<span> </span> Along with various references that I made to pedophilia and child sacrifice.<br /> <br /><div style="text-align:center;"></div><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CE573Ufwsdg?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Nowadays, we may not be blatantly sacrificing our children by taking their lives in a bloody ritual, but we are sacrificing them if we allow them to sing some of the Beyoncé lyrics like "Suck my balls, Bitch!"</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Is that what we want our young children and young girls to say while they are at school or in the play ground, in the gym or at a football game?<span> </span> To me, that was the straw that broke the camel's back, that hoisted me into the Beyoncé phenomenon at risk of losing friends, family and even a few foes.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Just take a look at this meme and tell me, how can any parent find this to be okay?<span> </span> Your child is impersonating Beyoncé and while doing so is causing disruption in the classroom and when they call the parent in, the parent is like well………………. What is your problem?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fMWo7p4paU4/Wuot2LTHiTI/AAAAAAACwrQ/RgziG3QhJ_UqjebA4MfuNSs-K5zgjuD-QCLcBGAs/s1600/Beyonce_and_Solange.png" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fMWo7p4paU4/Wuot2LTHiTI/AAAAAAACwrQ/RgziG3QhJ_UqjebA4MfuNSs-K5zgjuD-QCLcBGAs/s320/Beyonce_and_Solange.png" width="307" alt="Beyonce_and_Solange.png" /></a></div></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Along with the several "f" bombs in her lyrics why is she allowed to do this, and why are people supporting her and keeping her "rich and famous"? What is it about her mania that makes people blind to the fact that her shows are destructive! I really don't care how much time and effort she puts into her shows, how much practice and long hours, that same time and effort is put into making nuclear weapons and bombs that are created to be dropped on innocent men women and children.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">To me, Beyoncé is poison, and poison can be created in a moment or it can be done painstakingly, but it will kill, and that is its purpose.<span> </span> I don't care about the symbolism that folks like to equate to Illuminati or some occult references such as the eye of Horus (Heru) or 3 sixes, those symbols have also been perverted and yet used by folks behind closed doors, the very folks who tell the masses to shun them.<span> </span> It matters not to me that those images and symbols are used in music videos.<span> </span> What matters to me is our children and they are our future.<span> </span> If we allow this exploitation of our children's mind, body and spirit, it matters not that these so called Illuminati symbols are being used.<span> </span> The actual behavior of these artists is more blatantly instrumental in their destructive effects than those symbols, believe me.<span> </span> It's the music, the imagery, the hypnotic trance that comes over the crowd, the acceptance of this low bar of morality and the continued cognitive dissonance that is most troubling in my opinion.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">So we get this meme about how she demonstrated her "black culture" unapologetically.<span> </span> Take a look at this meme.<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTEtKEROnyw/WuouEA7ZYDI/AAAAAAACwrU/xbxqLyVTyRA8gchOG2vBIFz7cs8MUEwvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Beyonce-Coachella-Quote.jpg" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTEtKEROnyw/WuouEA7ZYDI/AAAAAAACwrU/xbxqLyVTyRA8gchOG2vBIFz7cs8MUEwvQCLcBGAs/s320/Beyonce-Coachella-Quote.jpg" width="316" alt="Beyonce-Coachella-Quote.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size:14pt;">When in actuality, she never said that she was doing that at all.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">She just wanted to be "entertaining" and that was all.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">Where does it say that she is or ever has been about "black culture"?</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">And if she presented that show as some have said, to show the mostly white audience what "black culture" looks like, to me she gave that audience a perverted version of it.</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Are we to expect black women to be engaged with rocking their sacred space?<span> </span> Are we still expecting black women to be bed winches and is that the message that Beyoncé is giving to this predominately white audience who saw her and her female soldier wag themselves so suggestively it bordered on pornography?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Then other say, but she came back, after having 3 children, blazing, strong and resilient. And my response is so did our Ancestors working in the cotton fields!<span> </span> They did that with no money, no fame and a whip on their backs carrying their babies all the while.<span> </span> Why does she get a pass for doing that?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And what really broke my heart was to see Blue Ivy, sitting there in the audience, watching her mother exploit herself in that manner.<span> </span> I hoped that maybe the pyrotechnics distracted Blue, but she probably have seen some of those rehearsals, so yeah….</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I want a show of hands of how many of you out there, listening to my rant, would love to see your mother get herself in tip top shape and then get on stage and do what Blue's mother did?<span> </span> Would you not be just a tad bit embarrassed by that show of vulgar vagina humping by your mother?<span> </span> What about your father?<span> </span> Would he sit there in the audience with the whole family and applaud?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I remember the other meme and viral story about the "Smith's who were at a show where Miley Cyrus was acting completely out of line, and the shock on their face was quite telling. Why and how did Beyoncé get a pass?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">So they say, she was showing off her culture.<span> </span> So that is what black culture looks like?<span> </span> That is what African culture looks like, that is what spiritual culture looks like?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div style="text-align:center;"><b><i>Excuse me, but I am missing something here.</i></b></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">But, after all of these flash points came, the YouTube tarot reader saying, Beyoncé has Oshun with her, and that she is very spiritual and I was like, wait a second………</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Now they are adding to the mix a perverted version of Oshun?<span> </span> The goddess of love?<span> </span> From Nigeria west Africa?<span> </span> And so that gives her a stamp of approval?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">So we go from Black panther at halftime, Oshun at the Grammy's and now Nefertiti at Coachella, and folks are drinking and slurping and praising her exploitation of all three, not reading the lyrics, not paying attention to the hypnosis, and certainly not belying the truth of any of these representations.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Yet in the same breath say she is daring to show the world African culture, black culture and the black experience in America.<span> </span> The dangerous normalization of these stereotypes will replicate and imbed "unconscious bias" towards blacks.</div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I am appalled that they would even bring Oshun into it, without knowing what she represents.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ATBOOUOvd3U/WuougbwqbJI/AAAAAAACwrg/xItiB5TKqegYWBEbXbcloVxXGf4eTXqQgCLcBGAs/s1600/oshun.jpg" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ATBOOUOvd3U/WuougbwqbJI/AAAAAAACwrg/xItiB5TKqegYWBEbXbcloVxXGf4eTXqQgCLcBGAs/s320/oshun.jpg" width="320" alt="oshun.jpg" /></a></div>She is a sacred Goddess, the Goddess of love, and to equate what Beyoncé is doing and has done in her performances with Oshun to me is an outrage.<span> </span> Forgive me, but to me she is presenting a perverted version of Oshun. Understanding the many roads of Oshun, you must first understand the tradition and just because she looked like Oshun does not mean she is representing her, to me she looked more like the statue of liberty, but that's just me.<span> </span> However, the road of Oshun that she is presenting on stage with the blatant sexuality and sexualization is the road of Oshun that people who know about this goddess tend to avoid or tend to keep under raps, rather than blasting it on the big screen.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Besides, even if she was trying to represent Oshun or Erzuile Freda, could she stand before the Goddess and look them in the eye after she had exploited their legend and misrepresented them in front of the entire world?<span> </span> And how does being connected to either of these goddesses forgive the exploitation of her femininity in that way.<span> </span> And by the way, why aren't the so called feminist coming out against this sordid display of femininity.<span> </span> Are we of the mind that femininity in the feminist movement and exploitation of the female body are one in the same?<span> </span> She should be able to do whatever she chooses with her body in a public arena because she has a body to do that with?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Then let me say this, what if it was a 300 pound woman scantily clad on stage doing the same thing?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Of course that would never happen in this culture, a 300 pound woman does not fit the profile.<span> </span> So what are we saying here?<span> </span> Are we saying that only certain women, with a certain physique and status should be allowed to flaunt their stuff on stage, while the other more comely and not so attractive women should dress modestly?<span> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And if you do fit the profile and you dress and act like that, it's your fault if you appeal to the "lower" nature of men?<span> </span> Zaza Ali mentioned this point as well in her video.<span> </span> She also mentioned how she cautioned her son to be very circumspect about being around such young ladies who may lure him into a trap.<span> </span> Another women on Dr. Boyce Watkins' channel said she had to have a talk with her husband, about having private lunches with women in order to steer clear of any allegations of in appropriate behavior.<span> </span> <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><span> </span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xo6WqUhNVnM?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe> <span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><span> </span></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Additionally, the so called "Me Too" movement should have been outside protesting.<span> </span> Women are being denied jobs as a result of this movement for fear the establishment or members of it will be drawn out in some high profile allegations of sexual misconduct.<span> </span> And yet, we have this and all the praise that goes with it.<span> </span> How do we have it both ways?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qyyQsoRAOKU/Wuov8D9Di0I/AAAAAAACwrs/Azs-7Qk_-X4zkaRV2fQ_8aFpXlN_IOX0gCLcBGAs/s1600/Me%2BToo%2BMovement.jpg" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qyyQsoRAOKU/Wuov8D9Di0I/AAAAAAACwrs/Azs-7Qk_-X4zkaRV2fQ_8aFpXlN_IOX0gCLcBGAs/s200/Me%2BToo%2BMovement.jpg" width="180" alt="Me%2BToo%2BMovement.jpg" /></a></div>Are we saying that it's okay for the rich and famous to do certain things that your regular Joe or Jane cannot do?<span> </span> Why do we continually give them a pass to do whatever they wish and then throw down the gavel and sentence the average person to a life of scorn and skepticism?<span> </span> By giving them a pass, aren't we enabling them to continue to exploit us?<span> </span> We buy their records, watch their movies and share their tabloids.<span> </span> Aren't we saying that it's okay for them to do it when we support them?<span> </span> Where is critical thinking, what happened to it, and will it ever return?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I have personally always had a problem with double standards.<span> </span> And I must give my mom credit for that to, cause she used to always say, "Do as I say, not as I do." And that would enrage me.<span> </span> Because by the same token she would say, what's good for the<span> </span> goose is good for the gander,<span> </span> Now I didn't know what gander was as a young child, but I surely knew what the saying meant.<span> </span> So what are feminist saying about this, how are they weighing in on this?<span> </span> Where is their moral compass or their compass of equality I should say. Where is it and why is it okay for Beyoncé and yet, the old lady down the road better keep her</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">butt in the house, wearing those daisy dukes like she's 20 years old.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">In traditional African culture there is what is called "rites of passage" for boys and for girls.<span> </span> During these right young boys and girls learn about what it means to be a man and woman in the community. They are given specific customs, dances and implements to help them to move up into the position of man and woman in the society.<span> </span> Many of these dances would be perceived as suggestive to the European onlooker.<span> </span> In fact, part of the process of colonization of the African was to demonize their sexual expression and draw them away from their customs.<span> </span> Ever since, Africans have been presented has overly sexed to the point of being a fetish for European men and women.<span> </span> They expect the black woman to have a high libido and the black man, along with a high libido, to have a long schlong.<span> </span> How can the show that Beyoncé had at Coachella, change that image?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">After the Grammy's of<span> </span> Article written by CC Saunders entitled "<span style="font-weight:bold;">Beyoncé- A Win for White Supremacy"</span> was featured in <a href="https://kushiteprince.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/beyonce-a-win-for-white-supremacy/">Kushite Prince</a> article date February 16, 2017.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SGBctzIWhZg/WuowKOOfJ0I/AAAAAAACwrw/xsyd9gVJos07ygCTzmgL7e8Urnyq5-kDACLcBGAs/s1600/Beyonce_A_Win_for_White_Supremacy.png" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SGBctzIWhZg/WuowKOOfJ0I/AAAAAAACwrw/xsyd9gVJos07ygCTzmgL7e8Urnyq5-kDACLcBGAs/s320/Beyonce_A_Win_for_White_Supremacy.png" width="320" alt="Beyonce_A_Win_for_White_Supremacy.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">I wish to present to you a few quotes from that article.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">The praise following Beyoncé's long overdue “consciousness” demonstrates that the bar for black allies is impossibly low. Beyoncé as a black activist demonstrates that one or two acts fulfill the necessary requirements to deem someone a black leader. The black collective witnessed this behavior with former President Obama who would often place a single stream of consciousness in his speeches, a consciousness that he would counter with the following sentence. Yet, the allegiance he had for five seconds, overshadowed lesser deeds carried out in the majority of his actions and behaviors. Beyoncé's praise functions in a similar manner, as her seemingly “overnight” enlightenment supersedes past behavior that aimed to present Beyoncé, the black woman as a crossover artist.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé, a black woman who gained fame and international stardom for her fair skin, blonde weave, and jezebel-like performances, personifies the height of white male imagination. She embodies what many black women wish they were, conventionally beautiful with full features, fair skin, a curvy yet slim body, an accent that is slight enough to suggest a humble sweetness but a work persona that screams boss. She’s a wife, a mother, businesswoman and all-around superwoman. But she is a fantasy.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé exists as a means to control the black female demographic. For example, I can not help but notice that weaves became a more versatile and a more prominent tool in black female hair styling as Beyoncé's popularity grew. The desire for long, full, hair personifies what I like to call the “Beyoncé effect,” an effect mirrored in every popular black female image from reality stars to singers. Beyoncé's power manifests in her ability to generate styles and standards of beauty, and in her losses and wins.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">I feel compelled to mention that I reference Beyoncé as a brand and not an individual, as the chief component of Beyoncé's popularity is that she encompasses a larger than life figure– a human canvass of desirability curated by white male imagination. Beyoncé becomes a figure of influence due to a black female collective that largely exists vicariously through their blonde-haired heroine.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé personifies what many black females think black female perfection is. As a physical manifestation of black female thought, Beyoncé acts as a pawn to dictate what we do.<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iHdXi1Xx4nE/Wuox0OQFH2I/AAAAAAACwsA/iW5Do6oi2-UxaGphBQYfUBApuqKplMbXgCLcBGAs/s1600/Carter%2BC.%2BWoodson.jpg" style="clear:right;float:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iHdXi1Xx4nE/Wuox0OQFH2I/AAAAAAACwsA/iW5Do6oi2-UxaGphBQYfUBApuqKplMbXgCLcBGAs/s320/Carter%2BC.%2BWoodson.jpg" width="213" alt="Carter%2BC.%2BWoodson.jpg" /></a></div>Carter B. Woodson conveyed the following excerpt from The Miseducation of the Negro:</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;margin:0in;">"If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Thus, Beyoncé is not an activist or conscious member of the black collective. Beyoncé is the literal and figurative back door of which the black female collective enters into a white male gaze. She is a prevalent form of contemporary inferiority veiled as black excellence. Furthermore, Beyoncé functions as an on-going win for white supremacy, functioning as a string that puppeteers the black female psyche by veiling the poisons of white supremacy with pseudo black femininity.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And finally, let me just add, that while women seem to be the brunt of all types of descrimination and exploitation, every single solitary human has come through the loins of a female, boys and girls are birth through her sacred orafice and to have that orafice defiled in the manner in which it has become customary in Western culture says a lot about the respect that it has for the Feminine Energy, and explains how this culture and defile the planet upon which we all must depend.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><div style="font-size:14pt;"></div><div style="font-size:14pt;"><b>MORE LINKS OF INTEREST:</b></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé Live Coachella Performance HD | 2nd Week | Coachella 2018</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90-zeTVfgUw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90-zeTVfgUw</a></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Tahoma;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyonce Coachella 2018 Weekend 2 - WorldWide Entertainment TV</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY9vewLFBPs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY9vewLFBPs</a></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="http://national-church-of-bey.tumblr.com/">http://national-church-of-bey.tumblr.com</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé Has Her Own Church?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="color:#333333;font-weight:bold;">Atlanta, GA</span> — It is very true. “<span style="font-weight:bold;">The National Church of Bey</span>“, an organization that recently formed the new religion called <span style="font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;">Beyism</span> (based on pop star Beyoncé Knowles), based in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Beyoncé herself is not believed to be a part of it, she is the foundation of it and has so far not made a statement denouncing it. </div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://paranormaville.com/beyonce-has-her-own-church/">https://paranormaville.com/beyonce-has-her-own-church/</a></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Tahoma;margin:0in;"></div><div style="color:#282f2f;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">People Are Going to Church to Worship Beyoncé in San Francisco</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/san-francisco-grace-cathedral-beyonce-mass">http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/san-francisco-grace-cathedral-beyonce-mass</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Church of Beyonce, New Religion Called "Beyism" Based on Beyonce Being Goddess?</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TuLe-4CvqQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TuLe-4CvqQ</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M39k8fHJcfg?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"><br /><div style="text-align:left;"><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C1QMWUqNVs4?wmode=opaque" width="640"></iframe></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div></div><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyonce Told me to Suck her What?!?!? #Beychella #Coachella Reaction, Recap & Review ONLY</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1JaXCUPlMg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1JaXCUPlMg</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyoncé's refusal to shrink her blackness made her Coachella showing revolutionary</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-beyonce-coachella-20180424-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-beyonce-coachella-20180424-story.html</a></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><div style="color:#333333;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Coachella 2018, the year Beyoncé reigned, was a historic moment for the festival</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/04/23/coachella-2018-recap-beyonce-historic-success/541837002/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/04/23/coachella-2018-recap-beyonce-historic-success/541837002/</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Parents blast 'pornographic' Beyoncé</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Shame on Beyoncé as concerned parents attack Beyoncé’s provocative Grammy’s performance. JAN 28, 2014 4:11PM</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/parents-blast-pornographic-beyonce-4008">https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/parents-blast-pornographic-beyonce-4008</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Beyonce under fire for releasing “pornographic” new album</div><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.herald.ng/beyonce-fire-releasing-pornographic-new-album/">https://www.herald.ng/beyonce-fire-releasing-pornographic-new-album/</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Everyones Creeping On Malia Obamas Twerking In This Lollapalooza Video</div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><a href="http://www.funnycaptions.com/img/242536/everyones-creeping-on-malia-obamas-twerking-in-this-lollapalooza-video/">http://www.funnycaptions.com/img/242536/everyones-creeping-on-malia-obamas-twerking-in-this-lollapalooza-video/</a></div></div></div></div></div>Dr Boyce & Zaza Ali: Was Obama weak on police shootings of black men?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/dr-boyce-zaza-ali-was-obama-weak-on-police-shootings-of-black-men2016-07-21T02:01:18.000Z2016-07-21T02:01:18.000ZNana Baakan Agyiriwahhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/NanaBaakanAgyiriwah<div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:left;"><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586698,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="320" src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586698,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="3828586698?profile=original" /></a>NB Commentary:</b> Dr. Boyce Watkins & Zaza Ali discuss some things around black folks having their own business and what it means, more so than the title of the video suggests. My commentary addresses that part of the video. See my comments below.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;text-align:center;">Dr Boyce & Zaza Ali:<br /> Was Obama weak on police shootings of black men?<span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8TNdWe_3xU?wmode=opaque"></iframe> <br /><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"><br /> Before I comment I tend to read a lot of the comments to see what folks are talking about and to learn something new as well.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">Watching the interaction between Dr. Boyce and ZaZa, I wondered if anyone else picked up the pixie dust. LOL</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">On the real though, I have been independently employed for most of my adult likf, and that's about 40 years. At this point the idea of working 9-5 is terrifying to say the least. But folks who do work 9-5 for even half that long are just as terrified to step away, and that ain't got nothing to do with color. This culture does not teach us to be anything else but workers. Get and education so you can get a job. Not get an education so you can provide jobs.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">I think that we have to be careful not to be disingenuous. There is no multi-level pyramid scheme out there that will have you living high off the hog, basking in the sun on the beach all day, while your business grows and grows without you having to do something.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"> <span style="font-size:14pt;">Having your own business is hard work. I don't know about them two, but I put in more hours than I would ever have to working 9-5 and I am more responsible for what goes out because it's mine.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">I think there are many prongs that can be used for African Americans to become more self reliant. Some are employers others are employees. It's how we play the game. I really am not too cool with doing it the capitalistic way, however, if you are going to build a business in this paradigm you are gonna have to cross the capitalistic Rubicon on some level. There are so many stipulations that are required for you to even become incorporated. And this system is set up to only let a few fish swim upstream.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">I haven't reviewed Dr. Boyce's business work and teachings, I been too busy keeping my business afloat, but I hope that he is being real with everyone about the "paperwork" involved, and as the saying goes, "Black folks is scared of paperwork."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">Folks should take a few classes before you step out there. Others should have a trade. We need so many skilled workers, cause even though you have your own business you will fare much better if you have helpers. Everybody can't be a chief, but a good solid business plan, with good solid workers who share your vision.. can work wonders.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">We as a people have a lot of "Soul Work" to do on the level of having our own business and working with or for other Black folks.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">So, yeah, get all the information you can get about starting your own business, and if it scares you too much, then see if you can work for an already established black business owner, and if that's not an option, support Black businesses. I have seen so many come and go due to lack of support as well..</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">There's nothing like having your own, but you gotta put in the grunt work and the sweat equity to make it happen and keep it happening. Real Talk!</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"></div><div style="color:#666666;font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8TNdWe_3xU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8TNdWe_3xU</a></div></div></div></div>Muhammad Ali, Rise in Power. 1942-2016https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/muhammad-ali-rise-in-power-1942-20162016-06-18T19:00:00.000Z2016-06-18T19:00:00.000ZNana Baakan Agyiriwahhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/NanaBaakanAgyiriwah<div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:18pt;font-weight:bold;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J98dUMV_TkA/V1NhDES8QYI/AAAAAAACcBM/9a-VGd1MJpwROnZbYXg_wSrN9ED600feQCKgB/s400/Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J98dUMV_TkA/V1NhDES8QYI/AAAAAAACcBM/9a-VGd1MJpwROnZbYXg_wSrN9ED600feQCKgB/s400/Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" class="align-left" alt="Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" /></a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:18pt;font-weight:bold;" class="font-size-4">Muhammad Ali, Rise In Power, June 3, 2016</span><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><a href="http://nanas-rants.blogspot.com/2016/06/muhammad-ali-rise-in-power-1942-2016.html" target="_blank">NB Commentary:</a> The mystique around this man and his history goes far back for those of us who experienced his rise and unfortunate fall in the boxing world. As a former member of the Nation Of Islam, I remember this man as a hero, a warrior, an artist and a poet. Personally, boxing to me is a brutal sport, one that boggles my mind that anyone would want to step into a ring and beat on another human being. As a sport, it says a lot about who we are as human beings, but as an industry it says even more about the social engineering that takes place that has folks sitting in the audience, cheering their "champion" on as he beats the snot out of another man, and nowadays, another woman.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">It's a brutal sport and there have been reports of how diseases similar to Parkinson's can be gotten by these fighters as their heads and brains are banged around in the ring and during training. Muhammad Ali was known for not allowing his opponent to get any punches to his face and head. He knew how to protect himself from those deadly blows but obviously, a few got in.<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J98dUMV_TkA/V1NhDES8QYI/AAAAAAACcBM/9a-VGd1MJpwROnZbYXg_wSrN9ED600feQCKgB/s1600/Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J98dUMV_TkA/V1NhDES8QYI/AAAAAAACcBM/9a-VGd1MJpwROnZbYXg_wSrN9ED600feQCKgB/s400/Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" width="400" alt="Muhammad%2BAli-2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"><br /> <iframe width="420" height="315" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bNpFiZDqcog?wmode=opaque"></iframe></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">What I did in my head was to focus on his contribution as a man who "stood up" against the establishment of White Supremacy and the idiocy of fighting the white man's war when the war was really going on at home. It was a magnificent and moving time during the 60's and 70's as movement upon movement emerged from the grassroots and WITHOUT social media, I might add. It was also a tragic time, with our war weary heroes being cut down, one by one. So many people died during this era, so many leaders for social justice, human rights and civil liberties. Occupy Wall Street had nothing on the spontaneity of the various social activist groups that hit the streets. Many too numerous to mention in this short post but the impact of the times still stays with many of us who lived through it.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Born in 1951 I grew up in a neighborhood of predominately African Americans in North Philadelphia. My Mother always had this black pride thing going with her and she was one of the first people in our neighborhood to wear an Afro. She was always a rebel of sorts and I still don't know if she did it to be contrary or if she did it on the real. Nevertheless, the impact that she had on my life remains with me to this day, and I must admit that my love for my people comes from her admiration of the black skinned man and woman.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I joined the Nation of Islam in 1971, to my Mother's chagrin of which I do understand now, but certainly could not fathom what her problem was then. Didn't she tell me that black was beautiful, didn't she used to say that folks with light eyes had "the devil in them"? Didn't she encourage me to be a rebel by her own rebellious way of doing things? I soon realized that she didn't want me to rebel against her, and that's what she saw it as because I left the Catholic Church while going to a Catholic College and joined the infamous, Nation Of Islam.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">There was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, there was Malcolm X, there was Cassius Clay and there was Minister Jeremiah Shabazz. These folks towered over our heads in the "teachings" and we were in awe of them. And as for me, I will always pay homage to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the father I never had, the grandfather I never had. He is due that much respect because of the lessons I learned from his teachings.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family:cambria;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">"Two days after his first defeat of Liston, Clay announced his conversion to Islam, and on 6 March, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Liston later complained that the Black Muslims, a separatist sect, had threatened him in an attempt to throw the fight. Old ham boxing writers were happy to believe him, and so were America’s rightwing rednecks. Such a charge was at least given credence as the newly renamed boxer was a minister in the Nation of Islam, and the group’s self-proclaimed “messenger”, Elijah Muhammad, had, to all intents, become the boxer’s manager. (Ali was to convert to orthodox Islam in 1975.)"</span> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">As time goes on we progress, we evolve and we learn but we still remember those days and how they changed us.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Today, I learned that one of those people who changed my life took his last breath <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5IUNVUR2n20/V1NwYWIvkcI/AAAAAAACcBU/-iKJXOAOHHEUQasYKWykqOk_bPlQSuEHQCLcB/s1600/tumblr_n1is39JDPz1t0dztbo1_400.jpg" style="clear:right;float:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5IUNVUR2n20/V1NwYWIvkcI/AAAAAAACcBU/-iKJXOAOHHEUQasYKWykqOk_bPlQSuEHQCLcB/s320/tumblr_n1is39JDPz1t0dztbo1_400.jpg" width="247" alt="tumblr_n1is39JDPz1t0dztbo1_400.jpg" /></a></div>on this physical plane and made it outa here. It's amazing how when someone like that makes transition how you seem to time travel back to those poignant moments when they touched your life in a memorable way. Today, I went all the way back to 1971 when he lost that fight. I was in tears, standing near the mailbox, letter in hand, addressed with only his name, telling him how much I loved him and supported him and prayed for him. I dropped that envelope into the mailbox, with no stamp, no return address and no expectation that he would ever receive it as I cried real tears for this man, this icon, my hero, my warrior, "who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee." It was a dark day for me because it felt like something cosmic had changed. I didn't know what to call it back then. The word cosmic was not a part of my vocabulary, but I felt a serious shift in my consciousness and I cried. It felt like a great war had been lost.</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">"If the two fights with Liston, epic in their theatricality and outcome, had begun to compile the legend, then the three contests with the uncomplicated, brooding warrior Joe Frazier, in 1971, 1974 and 1975, clinched the immortal deal. Here was an unmissably dramatic, defining, second act. Only six months after the exile’s return against Quarry, Ali squared up to the remorselessly committed hitter “Smokin’ Joe” to challenge for his own usurped title. After a thunderously pulsating, draining 14 rounds it was dead-level. In the last, a fearsome Frazier hook crunched into Ali’s jaw, broke it, and dumped him on the canvas, sprawling on his back. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/nov/08/joe-frazier-muhammad-ali-1971">Frazier deservedly won the decision</a> – but the fact that Ali somehow gathered himself to his feet and attempted to fight back not only had the fans round the world swooning at the heroism, but it gave notice of the added, and unconsidered, ingredient that would embrace Ali for the rest of his life." <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;">https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Knowing today, what I know about sports and entertainment, I have my suspicions about his illness. Some may call me paranoid, but I see it as discernment and critical thinking. When you look at the trail of tears caused by the fallen warriors during that time, it does beg to question… was a fix in??<br /><div style="text-align:center;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLRwF36V2kd5zSYsUr2cOnUUJ2m6CCSvtE&wmode=opaque"></iframe> <br /> <b><span style="font-size:small;">This video playlist offers some suggestions as to Ali's debilitating health condition.</span></b></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">"She said doctors told her the disease was not the result of absorbing too many punches but a genetic condition.</span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">Ten weeks before Ali's match in 1980 against Larry Holmes, a team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic submitted a medical report to the Nevada State Athletic Commission describing a small hole in his brain's outer layer and noting that the boxer reported a tingling sensation in his hands and slurred speech."</span> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/04/health/parkinsons-disease-explainer/"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/04/health/parkinsons-disease-explainer/</span></a></span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">"More than two decades later, there's still no way to determine whether boxing caused his Parkinson's; Ali may have been fated to develop this disorder even if he had been a lawyer. What is unequivocally true, however, is that professional boxing often damages the brain. Brain damage is as much an occupational hazard for boxers as black lung is for coal miners." <a href="https://patients.aan.com/resources/neurologynow/index.cfm?event=home.showArticle&id=ovid.com%3A%2Fbib%2Fovftdb%2F01222928-200602020-00005">https://patients.aan.com/resources/neurologynow/index.cfm?event=home.showArticle&id=ovid.com%3A%2Fbib%2Fovftdb%2F01222928-200602020-00005</a></span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">"In summary, this study highlights the fact that a PD diagnosis likely affects life span; and, among people affected by PD, dementia is a predictor of a shorter life span. As a significant non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease, it is clear that additional research is needed to develop ways to diagnose and treat cognitive impairment in PD." <a href="http://www.pdf.org/en/science_news/release/pr_1325692019">http://www.pdf.org/en/science_news/release/pr_1325692019</a></span></div></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="min-height:1px;padding:0px;"><i><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">"Muhammad Ali's personal doctor has revealed he cannot be sure that boxing contributed to the former heavyweight world champion's Parkinson's Disease.<br /> Ali, considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time, has suffered with the neurological syndrome since the mid-1980s and it has often been presumed that blows to the head during his 21-year professional career were a contributing factor to his condition.<br /> But Dr Abraham Lieberman, who is the Medical Director of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Centre, admits that it is not possible to be entirely sure what caused Ali to suffer from Parkinson's." Source: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2817592/No-proof-Muhammad-Ali-s-Parkinson-s-Disease-caused-boxing.html#ixzz4AfDtnkbk" style="color:#003399;margin:0px;min-height:1px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2817592/No-proof-Muhammad-Ali-s-Parkinson-s-Disease-caused-boxing.html#ixzz4AfDtnkbk</a> </span></i></blockquote><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">Our young brothers and sisters too, coming home from Vietnam… Malcolm, Martin, John, Robert, Medgar, and many others whose death sent shockwaves around the world….. These tragic deaths have a lasting effect on your psyche because they were rays of hope during a very, very cruel and hateful time. They each had their own battles, they each fought in their own arenas, some even gathered together for the same fight, but they were stalwart in the movement for justice.</span><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><div style="font-size:14pt;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">"The government had already killed Kennedy, Malcolm, King, and abroad the father of black consciousness Steven Biko was killed and Nelson Mandela was in jail, and they had one more influential black man they had to silence. Ali won the Olympic gold medal in Rome the same year that Kennedy was elected president-1960; he won the heavyweight title and joined the Nation of Islam the same year that Civil Rights Bill was passed-1964. In 1966 the Black Panther Party was formed and Ali was inducted into the military in 1967 to keep his influence away from the movement but he foiled the government’s plans by refusing to go. In 1973 Eldrige Cleaver ran for Mayor of Oakland and in 1974 Ali was a the zenith of his influence after he beat Foreman in Africa and galvanized the African Diaspora by simultaneously championing black nationalism over Christianity. Ali is now the most famous person in the world, but he was on his way to becoming the most influential person in the world and he was too public a figure for the government to murder in the context of the atrocities they had recently committed. As a Black Nationalist, Ali couldn’t be allowed to become that prominent, and it is my belief that the government injected Muhammad Ali with MPTP to give him Parkinson’s to silence his gospel that would have changed the world unprecedentedly. My name is Kinshasa and these are my waking thoughts, you may disagree, but rest assured my intelligence is superior." <a href="https://readquestionmark.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-ali-conspiracy/" style="font-family:Tahoma;">https://readquestionmark.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-ali-conspiracy/</a></i></blockquote></blockquote></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">So, when he lost the fight, I was riddled from right to left, back and forth, up and down. Never knowing any of these people personally but the communal and social mystique surrounding them made them up front and personal in my mind.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And then he lost the fight. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned him, <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7B-Kv13YObQ/V1N2TEifsjI/AAAAAAACcBk/5YG6yGP-cu8FjbqOE4grhrjt7n898vxEACLcB/s1600/ali-and-elijah.jpg" style="clear:right;float:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7B-Kv13YObQ/V1N2TEifsjI/AAAAAAACcBk/5YG6yGP-cu8FjbqOE4grhrjt7n898vxEACLcB/s1600/ali-and-elijah.jpg" alt="ali-and-elijah.jpg" /></a></div>don't go back into the ring. You have your championship! You are the greatest boxer of all times, don't go back. Stay with us, come with us, teach the lessons, so many people listen to you. But he didn't listen, and we in the Nation kinda knew why he lost. We wanted him to win, we hoped he would win and we prayed on it to, but he lost. And that was the story that we knew would happen, because our Messenger had warned him.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">To be clear, I am nowhere near as naïve as I was back in those days. I never heard of Co-Intel Pro or any of that stuff before I joined the Nation. I learned about that and more afterwards. But I knew about say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!!! I also know that today, he can read my message to him, and maybe read that letter I placed in the mailbox decades ago, addressed to him, that let him know, I loved him and that he was one of my heroes. Of course, I am sure he will be very, very busy pouring through his cosmic mailbox.<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfp7N03vwEQ/V1NhD8YEgiI/AAAAAAACcBM/tv2W9T9QxnEanWfsILiLrkM9EHFZaNBywCKgB/s1600/sw04-aliopen-23-4_3.jpg" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfp7N03vwEQ/V1NhD8YEgiI/AAAAAAACcBM/tv2W9T9QxnEanWfsILiLrkM9EHFZaNBywCKgB/s320/sw04-aliopen-23-4_3.jpg" width="320" alt="sw04-aliopen-23-4_3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VIbyKu7VuFs/V1NhDPVxeOI/AAAAAAACcBM/dKxhCYODc04X6pLmWniB5GzEu0-nVo0hQCKgB/s1600/Muhammad%2BAli-%2Bdead-6-3-2016.jpg" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VIbyKu7VuFs/V1NhDPVxeOI/AAAAAAACcBM/dKxhCYODc04X6pLmWniB5GzEu0-nVo0hQCKgB/s320/Muhammad%2BAli-%2Bdead-6-3-2016.jpg" width="320" alt="Muhammad%2BAli-%2Bdead-6-3-2016.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div style="text-align:center;">Blessings to you Muhammad Ali, your family and loved ones </div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">during these times. </span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">May you Rise In Power. </span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">And if you decide to return, may you return to a world of justice, freedom, righteousness and love, a world totally different from the one you left behind.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F30t-weDqko?wmode=opaque"></iframe></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">“We forgive Muhammad Ali his excesses,” an Ali biographer, Dave Kindred, wrote, “because we see in him the child in us, and if he is foolish or cruel, if he is arrogant, if he is outrageously in love with his reflection, we forgive him because we no more can condemn him than condemn a rainbow for dissolving into the dark. Rainbows are born of thunderstorms, and Muhammad Ali is both.”</span></div><div style="margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.html?_r=0"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.html</span></a></div><div style="margin-left:.375in;margin:0in;"><a href="http://pix11.com/2016/06/04/muhammad-ali-dead-at-74-the-greatest-boxer-battled-parkinsons-for-decades/"><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;">http://pix11.com/2016/06/04/muhammad-ali-dead-at-74-the-greatest-boxer-battled-parkinsons-for-decades/</span></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktn92RM_wVk/VwqSetoDunI/AAAAAAACZCc/m14cz38SjmgkgFh3QJKCw5mT-DLQC4DyACKgB/s1600/divider-2.png" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="14" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktn92RM_wVk/VwqSetoDunI/AAAAAAACZCc/m14cz38SjmgkgFh3QJKCw5mT-DLQC4DyACKgB/s320/divider-2.png" width="320" alt="divider-2.png" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <br /> <b><span style="font-size:large;">BREAKING News</span></b><br /> <br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Jun 4 2016, 9:13 am ET</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:20pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest of All Time', Dead at 74</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">by Jon Schuppe</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Muhammad Ali Dies at Age 74</span> 2:12</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">"After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening," Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Ali had suffered for three decades from Parkinson's, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his verbal grace and his physical dexterity. A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">His daughter Rasheda said early Saturday that the legend was "no longer suffering," describing him as "daddy, my best friend and hero" as well as "the greatest man that ever lived."</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Even as his health declined, Ali did not shy from politics or controversy, releasing a statement in December criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. "We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda," he said.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The remark bookended the life of a man who burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VWmWdqLsx0g/V1NhCz2lPOI/AAAAAAACcBM/_JpLkWI__HMLfMfSApvoq9M67k2ZtNUgwCKgB/s1600/1c-g2sline18-4_3.jpg" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VWmWdqLsx0g/V1NhCz2lPOI/AAAAAAACcBM/_JpLkWI__HMLfMfSApvoq9M67k2ZtNUgwCKgB/s320/1c-g2sline18-4_3.jpg" width="320" alt="1c-g2sline18-4_3.jpg" /></a></div></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fighter and Thinker: the Two Sides of Muhammad Ali</span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">He turned professional shortly afterward, supported at first by Louisville business owners who guaranteed him an unprecedented 50-50 split in earnings. His knack for talking up his own talents — often in verse — earned him the dismissive nickname "the Louisville Lip," but he backed up his talk with action, relocating to Miami to work with top trainer Angelo Dundee and build a case for getting a shot at the heavyweight title.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">As his profile rose, Ali acted out against American racism. After he was refused services at a soda fountain counter, he said, he threw his Olympic gold medal into a river.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Recoiling from the sport's tightly knit community of agents and promoters, Ali found guidance instead from the Nation of Islam, an American Muslim sect that advocated racial separation and rejected the pacifism of most civil rights activism. Inspired by Malcolm X, one of the group's leaders, he converted in 1963. But he kept his new faith a secret until the crown was safely in hand.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><br /> <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/blood-brothers-fatal-friendship-between-muhammad-ali-malcolm-x-n577081"></a></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">That came the following year, when heavyweight champion Sonny Liston agreed to fight Ali. The challenger geared up for the bout with a litany of insults and rhymes, including the line, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." He beat the fearsome Liston in a sixth-round technical knockout before a stunned Miami Beach crowd. In the ring, Ali proclaimed, "I am the greatest! I am the greatest! I'm the king of the world."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">A Controversial Champion</span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The new champion soon renounced Cassius Clay as his "slave name" and said he would be known from then on as Muhammad Ali — bestowed by Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. He was 22 years old.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The move split sports fans and the broader American public: an American sports champion rejecting his birth name and adopting one that sounded subversive.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Ali successfully defended his title six times, including a rematch with Liston. Then, in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, Ali was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">He'd said previously that the war did not comport with his faith, and that he had "no quarrel" with America's enemy, the Vietcong. He refused to serve.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">"My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, some poor, hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?" Ali said in an interview. "They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They didn't put no dogs on me."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">His stand culminated with an April appearance at an Army recruiting station, where he refused to step forward when his name was called. The reaction was swift and harsh. He was stripped of his boxing title, convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. <br /> <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="480" height="270" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x135yo5"></iframe> <br /> <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x135yo5_the-trials-of-muhammad-ali-documentary-movie-hd-2013_shortfilms" target="_blank">The Trials of Muhammad Ali - Documentary Movie...</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/film-shqip" target="_blank">film-shqip</a></i></div></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Released on appeal but unable to fight or leave the country, Ali turned to the lecture circuit, speaking on college campuses, where he engaged in heated debates, pointing out the hypocrisy of denying rights to blacks even as they were ordered to fight the country's battles abroad.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">"My enemy is the white people, not Vietcongs or Chinese or Japanese," Ali told one white student who challenged his draft avoidance. "You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to go somewhere and fight but you won't even stand up for me here at home."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Muhammad Ali is held back by referee Joe Walcott, left, after Ali knocked out challenger Sonny Liston in the first round of their title fight in Lewiston, Maine on May 25, 1965. AP, file</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Ali's fiery commentary was praised by antiwar activists and black nationalists and vilified by conservatives, including many other athletes and sportswriters.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">His appeal took four years to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 1971 reversed the conviction in a unanimous decision that found the Department of Justice had improperly told the draft board that Ali's stance wasn't motivated by religious belief.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Return to the Ring</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Toward the end of his legal saga, Georgia agreed to issue Ali a boxing license, which allowed him to fight Jerry Quarry, whom he beat. Six months later, at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, he lost to Joe Frazier in a 15-round duel touted as "the fight of the century." It was Ali's first defeat as a pro.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">That fight began one of boxing's and sport's greatest rivalries. Ali and Frazier fought again in 1974, after Frazier had lost his crown. This time, Ali won in a unanimous decision, making him the lead challenger for the heavyweight title.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">He took it from George Foreman later that year in a fight in Zaire dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle," a spectacularly hyped bout for which Ali moved to Africa for the summer, followed by crowds of chanting locals wherever he went. A three-day music festival featuring James Brown and B.B. King preceded the fight. Finally, Ali delivered a historic performance in the ring, employing a new strategy dubbed the "rope-a-dope," goading the favored Foreman into attacking him, then leaning back into the ropes in a defensive stance and waiting for Foreman to tire. Ali then went on the attack, knocking out Foreman in the eighth round. The maneuver has been copied by many other champions since.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The third fight in the Ali-Frazier trilogy followed in 1975, the "Thrilla in Manila" that is now regarded as one of the best boxing matches of all time. Ali won in a technical knockout in the 15th round.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Ali successfully defended his title until 1978, when he was beaten by a young Leon Spinks, and then quickly took it back. He retired in 1979, when he was 37, but, seeking to replenish his dwindling personal fortune, returned in 1980 for a title match against Larry Holmes, which he lost. Ali lost again, to Trevor Berbick, the following year. Finally, Ali retired for good.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Muhammad Ali, right, takes a punch from Trevor Berbick, of Canada, during the first round of their 10-round bout in Nassau, Bahamas, in this Dec. 11, 1981 file photo. AP, file</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">'He's Human, Like Us'</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The following year, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">"I'm in no pain," he told The New York Times. "A slight slurring of my speech, a little tremor. Nothing critical. If I was in perfect health — if I had won my last two fights — if I had no problem, people would be afraid of me. Now they feel sorry for me. They thought I was Superman. Now they can go, 'He's human, like us. He has problems.' ''</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family:cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i style="background-color:#f3f3f3;">During the research period from 1993 to 2009, 211 patients died. The analysis revealed that:</i></span></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;"><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">The average time from the onset of symptoms to death was 16 years.</span></i></span></li></ul></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;"><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">The average age at death was 81.</span></i></span></li></ul></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;"><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">Patients with dementia were nearly twice as likely to die early as patients without memory problems.</span></i></span></li></ul></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;"><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i><span style="background-color:#f3f3f3;font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">Patients with a history of delusions, hallucinations, or other psychotic symptoms were almost 50% more likely to die early, compared to patients without the symptoms.</span></i></span></li></ul></div><br /><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-size:small;"><i style="background-color:#f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">Men with Parkinson’s were about 60% more likely to die early than women.</span><a href="http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/news/20101004/parkinsons-later-diagnosis-earlier-death"><span style="font-family:cambria;"> </span> http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/news/20101004/parkinsons-later-diagnosis-earlier-death</a></i></span></li></ul></blockquote><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Even as his health gradually declined, Ali — who switched to more mainstream branches of Islam — threw himself into humanitarian causes, traveling to Lebanon in 1985 and Iraq in 1990 to seek the release of American hostages. In 1996, he lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta, lifting the torch with shaking arms. With each public appearance he seemed more feeble, a stark contrast to his outsized aura. He continued to be one of the most recognizable people in the world.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1328211620993954875" style="clear:right;float:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1328211620993954875" style="clear:right;float:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:1em;"></a>He traveled incessantly for many years, crisscrossing the globe in appearances in which he made money but also pushed philanthropic causes. He met with presidents, royalty, heads of state, the Pope. He told "People" magazine that his largest regret was not playing a more intimate role in the raising of his children. But he said he did not regret boxing. "If I wasn't a boxer, I wouldn't be famous," he said. "If I wasn't famous, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">In 2005, President George W. Bush honored Ali with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his hometown of Louisville opened the Muhammad Ali Center, chronicling his life but also as a forum for promoting tolerance and respect.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Divorced three times and the father of nine children — one of whom, Laila, become a boxer — Ali married his last wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Williams, in 1986; they lived for a long time in Berrien Springs, Michigan, then moved to Arizona.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">In recent years, Ali's health began to suffer dramatically. There was a death scare in 2013, and last year he was rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive. He recovered and returned to his new home in Arizona.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">In his final years, Ali was barely able to speak. Asked to share his personal philosophy with NPR in 2009, Ali let his wife read his essay:</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">"I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won," Ali wrote. "I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself, and I still do."</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-family:cambria;"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776">Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest of All Time', Dead at 74 - NBC News</a></span></div></div></div>