Thank You again, Oprah!

Obama awarded television legend Oprah Winfrey and 15 other Americans the Presidential Medal of Freedom, created 50 years ago by President Kennedy. Other recipients included, country music artist Loretta Lynn, women's rights leader Gloria Steinem, baseball great Ernie Banks and pioneering astronaut Sally Ride.
"These are the men and women who in their extraordinary lives remind us all of the beauty of the human spirit, the values that define us as Americans, the potential that lives inside of all of us," Obama said during a ceremony at the White House.

Have You read- Rev. Al's new book?

 

 

The Rejected Stone, the title of Reverend Al Sharpton’s third book. Is also a biblical allusion to verse 22 of Psalm 118.

In the verse, the stone that was initially rejected by builders eventually becomes the cornerstone of the structure, an allusion to the ways in which Israelites were rejected but eventually realized their destiny as God’s chosen people.

This is an epic analogy for the life and times of a boy-preacher-turned-ubiquitous-presence in the American political and public spheres, but it is also an apt figuration for a better understanding of Reverend Al’s narrative of redemption; a frame through which we might best understand how his life’s travails inform one of the most visible and influential black voices in this nation’s history. Get a copy, share a copy, buy a copy!

Oprah Winfrey - Who were the Scottsboro Boys?

Oprah Winfrey says that President Barack Obama has been the victim of racism and that the ongoing issue of prejudice is a generational one.
“There is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs,” Winfrey said Friday in an interview with the BBC. "And that occurs in some cases and maybe even in many cases because he’s African American. There’s no question about that, and it’s the kind of thing that nobody ever says but everybody is thinking it.”
Winfrey pointed to Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yelling "liar" during a 2009 speech Obama was giving to Congress.

The interview was part of a promotional tour for the film “The Butler,” which tells the story of Cecil Gaines, an African American man who served as a White House butler for eight different presidents.

Winfrey took her comments one step further, saying that the issue of racism is largely generational. Specifically, she said that cultural prejudice in the U.S. will largely recede after the last generation of individuals have died off.

“I said this, you know, for apartheid South Africa, I said this for my own, you know, community in the South — there are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die," Winfrey said.

However, Winfrey also made a point to note that there has been progress in race relations.
"It would be foolish to not recognize that we have evolved in that we’re not still facing the same kind of terrorism against black people en masse as was displayed with the Scottsboro boys. It’s gotten better," she said. "… There are laws that have allowed us to progress beyond what we saw in the Scottsboro boys and beyond even the prejudice we see in 'The Butler.' "
Nonetheless, Winfrey’s comments have been heavily criticized by the conservative media.

Noel Sheppard, who is white, writes at the conservative media watchdog site NewsBusters: “Why do folks such as her only see racism through the prism of how blacks are treated? By looking at the problem so narrowly, doesn't it make matters worse?”

And the website Right Scoop added, "Oprah Winfrey is going around the world telling everyone that Americans are racist."

In August, Winfrey made headlines when she told Larry King she encounters racism, citing an incident at a store in Switzerland where a shop clerk refused to show her a purse that cost $38,000.

"I'm in a store, and the person doesn't obviously know that I carry the black card and so they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am," later explained. "I didn't have anything that said, 'I have money.' I wasn't wearing a diamond stud. I didn't have a pocketbook. I didn't wear Louboutin shoes. I didn't have anything. ... You should be able to go in a store looking like whatever you look like and say, 'I'd like to see this.' That didn't happen."

More American than any Americans---Thanks You for your Service---Happy Veterans Day!

I am Scared Silly

Need Advice?

Life’s Interruptions

 As we are going about our business and something new, unplanned, many times unpleasant, comes and takes us off the planned course we are, were on–Life’s Interruptions.

What do I do when life throws me a curveball?

What do I do when things don’t go as I have planned?

Ask Ruby

I am Scared Silly 

Dear Ruby

I have mentally abused, verbally abused, financially abused, emotionally abused and physically abused and I am chasing faith but becoming more fearful by the day, what can I do? What am I suppose to do? I am scared silly!

Dear Scared Silly

      Start seeing the twinkle in your eyes.  Start bringing sunshine in your life.  Stop allowing other to whisper sweet nothing (negatives) in your ears.

 Let’s start living God’s Blueprint for your life!

      You deserve to live the best life that God has prepared for you.  Most often, we live beneath our upbringing or according to other friends or people on the T.V. standards.  When we refuse to be great (the Star) in our own life, we do God, our parents, and the world a disservice by not allowing them to experience our greatness.  When we are the star in our own life, we do not have time to be mistreated or intimated by others.  When we see greatness in our own life we refuse to allow others to treat us less than how we deserve to be treated.

      In life we spend too much time on things we have no control over.  But, when it comes to those things we can control, we must be serious and sincere about giving them and our life the very best.  It is important that we no longer allow fear and doubt to sabotage or destroy our greatness.  Now is the time to stop dimming and hiding the light in our life in an effort to make others feel comfortable.  Let’s be the bright star in our own life and let’s be extremely careful and selective about who we allow to shine along with us.  Let’s begin to be accountable about the decisions we make.

     As we begin to be great in our own life, remember that life gives us many chances but only one opportunity, so when opportunity knocks lets be prepared.  We must make every moment count.  The time has come when we can no longer afford to allow our dreams to remain asleep while standing on the sidelines doubting, fearing, angry, jealous, and envious while others cross the line to victory.  We deserve to walk boldly in the grace of who God has called us each to be without doubt, fear and our past to whisper to us otherwise.

     It is time for us to not only be great in our own life but also for us to win Eagle Award for our greatness.  We are an original design and God broken mold when he created each of us.  God has but an amazing amount of greatness and blessings designed just for us with each of our names on it. Let’s go take back our greatness and blessing from satan. 

     In the words of author Marianne Williamson from her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles. She wrote, “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frighten us.  We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talent, fabulous?  Actually, who are we not to be?  We are children of God.  Playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make true the glory of God that is within us.  It is not just in some of us; it is in all of us.  And as we let our own light shine, we give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates other.”

Dr.  Ruby Mae Chapman, Napolean & Ada Moton Chapman Institute, Life Coach and Scholar   

Visit her blog for more inspiring readings!  http://ask-ruby.blogspot.com/

Contact her at askruby411@yahoo.com or via twitter, facebook, and Linkedlin