Above everything else
The weather is getting cold, but that didn’t stop the Ways and Means Committee from convening at the barbershop. It was crowded.
There were whispers about Thanksgiving and that other major holiday eating season, which is slowly coming on: Ho Ho Ho…
Many people of particular religions do not celebrate ho, ho, ho, even though it’s the biggest celebration period in the Western world.
Money put up his hand and said, “I want silence.” He then told To Be Honest to turn off the Dr. Oz Show.
“People are complaining about they have no money or can’t make any money. Just listen to this…”
He pulled out an article from the New York Post and began to read:
“45G buyers haul ash for Capote. That’s the title. Even in death, Truman Capote will still make the scene. Capote’s ashes sold for $45,000 to buyers who promise to bring them to parties, movies and other events, in keeping with the wishes of the bon vivant author of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and in ”Cold Blood.” He didn’t want to be put on a shelf,” said Darren Julien, president and CEO of Julien’s Auctions, which offered the ashes at a special sale of Hollywood memorabilia. After Capote died in 1984, his ashes – inside a carved wooden box… ended up with Joanne Carson, talk show Johnny Carson’s ex-wife and a close Capote pal. Mrs. Carson, who died last year, often stepped out with Capote’s remains. She would take him to the movies, or a play…”
Weird!”
Dropout put up his hand and said, “I hope everybody understands what Money was talking about when he spoke about the $45G for Truman Capote’s ashes… What Money forgot to say is that if it’s Canadian dollars you have to pay 30 percent more. Something about the exchange.”
One of the regulars of the Ways and Means Committee asked, “Where is Bob White. I haven’t seen him around lately. Why is his name in that column in the CommunityCONTACT newspaper…?”
Professor interrupted, “I hate a dumb question. We are all supposed to be intelligent people in this barbershop, as well as others, and all the hair salons and churches in this city.“
To be honest asked, “Why is it a dumb question?”
Professor said, “It’s a dumb question because when you’re in Ney York City there’s an expressway named after Jackie Robinson, and he’s not there. Remember him? He once said, “A life is not important unless it has impact on other people’s lives.”
“Somewhere in Ontario there’s a school named after Oscar Peterson and he’s not there.”
Professor said, “I know where Bob White is. Or rather, I heard where he is. He’s talking to some real estate people, about helping them buy a church. And get another co-op like the one he helped some other people to get on Guy Street, just below St. Antoine. He also helped them get a Basketball Court across from where the NCC used to be down on Coursol Street.”
Professor continued, “You know each time Oprah interviews somebody, when they tell her something she tells them something better. So the $45,000 they paid for Truman Capote’s ashes, I have something better. It’s about a guy who got fired from his job.”
Professor pulled out piece of paper and began to read. “This a September 16 story in the New York Daily News. Baker’s suit: It’s not poppy seeds. A baker claims he was “exterminated” (his word, not mine) from a commercial bakery in Queens after refusing an order from his boss to make multigrain bread with bug-infested flour. The boss recommended multigrain “presumably because the insects would pass unnoticed if concealed in crunchy bread… The complainant said he was axed for refusing the boss’s order. The bakery declined comment.”
Professor continued…
“I got another one even better than that. Some people said they were in an upscale restaurant somewhere in Montreal. There was something in the food one of them ordered that looked like… dirt. They called the waiter and told him they’re not going to pay for the meal. The waiter looked at the plate, picked up whatever it was, put it in his mouth and swallowed it. And told the people they have to pay for the meal, because it (the thing in the food) is just seasoning. So when the diners got the bill, they left happily because they saw the waiter swallow the bit of whatever. They believed him, and said they will return, and tell all their friends about their dining experience.”
After the people left, somebody asked the waiter: “What was that all about?”
“All seasoned waiters know that trick,” he answered. “Ask a pro and he/she will help you figure it out.“
School Boy raised his hand and said, “I have something better than all of that. $540 million better.”
Downtown Don, who knows more about Black issues than most Blacks (and he’s white) said, “The problem with him, School Boy, is that he loves Donald Trump.” He showed the regulars of the Ways and Means Committee a copy of the New York Times, drawing their attention to an article, Battle to Build an African-American Museum. And he read: “[…] The concept had survived a bruising, racially charged congressional battle that stretched back decades and finally ended in 2003 when President George W. Bush authorized a national museum dedicated to the African-American experience. Now all Mr. Bunch and a team of colleagues had to do was find an unprecedented number of private donors willing to finance a public museum. They had to secure hundreds of millions of additional dollars from a Congress, Republican-controlled, that had long fought the project… Visitors to the $540 million building, designed to resemble a three-tiered crown, will encounter the sweeping history of Black America from the Middle Passage of slavery to the achievement s and complexities of modern black life… […] The museum began an exceptional effort to raise money from Black donors, not only celebrities, like Michael Jordan ($5 million), and Oprah Winfrey ($21 million), but also churches, sororities, and fraternities, which, Mr. Bunch said, had never been asked for big donations before. Nearly three-quarters of the gifts from individuals were African-Americans…”
“You don’t get a chance to build a national museum every day,” said Lonnie G. Bunch director of the Museum of African-American History and Culture.”
Read the September 5 New York Times article.
Now That’s Been Said put up his hand and said, “I want everybody to say an Amen for the African-American Museum of History in Washington, DC.”
Everyone, even the Uncle Toms, said “Amen!”
The Genius raised his hand and said, “I got one for you. Rapper Drake sold out the BELL Center. Some of the tickets sold for as high as $1,000 each. I’m sure y’all know what faith Drake, one of the best rappers today, and his mother, are.”
And there’s another rapper named Max B. Read the article about him in the September 18 NY Post. […] Rapper won’t have to serve the ‘Max.’
Imprisoned Harlem rapper Max B had his 75-year sentence for a deadly 2006 robbery trimmed by at least 55 years in a momentous victory for the hip-hop artist. Prosecutors had Max B as an accomplice and mastermind behind the robbery. Although he didn’t personally carry out the September 2006, robbery at a Fort Lee, New Jersey Holiday Inn that left one person shot.
Dropout raised his hand. “Every once in a while when I read Yvonne Sam’s article, A word to the wise in the CommunityCONTACT, I have to read it twice and analyze what she’s saying.
In the September 29 edition she writes, An individualistic Way of Thinking that Plays us against one another and Destroys Us. The Slave Mindset is worth a read for all readers of CommunityCONTACT to read and analyze. You decide.”
School Boy raised his and said, “The best advice a Black man gave me was: Don’t stop; keep pushing.” My dad gave me a rhinoceros statue, and it’s on my table to remind me to keep pushing forward, just like a rhino puts his head down and keeps moving. Also, some more advice a Black man gave me was: Never let the things you cannot do get in the way of things you can do. Another Black man said: Take control of your destiny and don’t depend on others. Dream as big as your mind can take you, and have a vision big enough that you have to include others to be successful.”
Now Justice, who never has anything to say about anything says,” It’s Just Us was talking about good people, the ones that call themselves Christians, who were walking by a 7-year-old Ohio boy who was trying to sell a stuffed animal to buy food, and never asked why? This story was in the NY Post. The boy said he hadn’t eaten in four days. Police say officers then went to the home and found four older children living amid garbage and cat urine.”
Meanwhile, up the street, white folks were peddling religious articles.
Everybody is still talking about the very successful gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of Community CONTACT. The 411 is that there’s whispering about Whoopie Goldberg coming to town. Even the sister of the former head basketball coach of Oregon U., Michelle Obama (or her husband), someone high profile. Stay tuned.
Donald Trump contends that what he said (about women) in the van was “locker room talk.” However, I’ve been to Otis and Howard Grants gym and never heard talk like that.
Now That’s Been Said, interrupted, “[…] By the way, why does he keep sniffling…?
