Old School Thoughts

On 1 March 2026, Martha and I continued our conversation about the speech Marco Rubion presented to the Munich Security Council on 14 February 2026. After Martha and I discovered this speech and listened to it, we shared it with friends and family asking them to take out time from their busy schedules to listen and become aware of what was said.

Thanks to Martha, I chose this title because I didn't want the two events of this podcast to escape my findings in the future. I always try to choose a topic to match the content. The two events are and are not related. They are related because The Oaks has to do with accomplishment (but African American success) and the other has to do with a call for supremacy. We need to be aware of both.

I chose this topic because slavery and the gap of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, associated with the slave trade and colonialism (the development of a new dictatorship), fractured our existence as Africans in America. This episode focuses on our inability (whether forced or voluntarily) to speak on a tradition or traditions we can explain to other ethnic groups. KWANZAA did not reach the masses as Maulana Karenga intended. He recognized that African Americans should have/needed a tradition, with meaning and purpose, to be able to celebrate and explain. Are we too fractured to agree on our existence?

I chose this title because Martha and I were reminiscing about the childhood remedies our mothers and other elders would put together to heal our wounds and pain. How many of you remember Mercurochrome antiseptic? What about Turpentine? What about Glover's Mane? Those old school medicine cabinets were filled with solutions to save us when hospitals were too expensive to visit. We survived those old remedies and kept our elders out of jail. We were built for it! Share your experiences with us.

Martha and I ended this episode knowing that we will have to come back to expound on our thoughts about this topic. This episode is an introduction to a much-needed conversation about applying strategies in our efforts to challenge powerful institutions. We recognized the powerful resistance to escape as a slave, to join the Army for emancipation, to build and grow during reconstruction, the march and cause laws for Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and more. Those ancestors built what we are losing. Why? Martha and I were too emotional to get pass our introduction, but we will return to share more of our thoughts. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Everything we do become our history. Last evening, during our prerecorded conversation, Martha made a profound statement that stuck with me. She said, "You can't tell people who you are if you don't know who you are!" What an accurate statement! We all have a right to decide our path. We can pursue knowing our history or allow someone else to define yoit for us. That is our personal right. When you sleepwalk, you wake up not knowing how you reached your destination and you can't accurately define the path that your journey took.

When selecting this topic, I thought about several old sayings like: I said it, I meant it, I'm here to represent it; Learn how to keep your mouth shut - you talk too much; Everybody is not your friend; and more. Martha and I are still trying to figure out why some people insist on confessing to people who do not have their best interests at heart?

Happy New Year, everybody!!! Martha and I have been blessed to see the new year and have the opportunity to post our first episode of the year! During one of our pre-conversations about life and the challenges that come with it, I heard Martha refer to people, who are intentionally or unintentionally spilling the beans, as people who are confessing too much. I thought that the metaphor was used brilliantly! I decided to ask her to expound on her comments for you to hear her perspective. Great deal!

As we prepare to savor and let go of events of 2025, Martha and I shifted our conversation to a desire of leaving legacies and developing family traditions. It is so important that we fight to keep families together. We cannot allow our families to become numb to the impact of family separation like our ancestors had to endure inside of the institutions and systems that gave the diaspora slavery and colonization. The family separation activities have caused many of us to ignore relatives below first and second cousins. We have the power to renew our minds and actions. I am looking forward to punching 2026 with the energy of staying connected.

Martha and I used this time to recall the wonderful memories of Christmas Pasts. She and I shared our images of joy and togetherness. We celebrated with local and visiting relatives. We exchanged toys and talked about how some of those toys were recycled to become another toy. (laughing)

What we had was great fellowship by greeting everybody you passed with Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! After you listen to the podcast, share your memories.