Old School Thoughts

On Sunday evening, 14 September 2025, Martha and I returned to the front porch to continue our conversation about What Do You Teach Your Children. We realized, following the end of the first conversation, that we want to explore the conversation/subject more. We started the conversation by reading a comment submitted to us by Renee Goodman. Renee stated that her perspective went from simple to complex. What do you think about the topic?

I asked Martha to support me in addressing this topic because the answers have to do with taught behavior from parents and others in the child's or children's social environment. Here's the deal - racism and hatred still exist. It continues from generation to generation. Some people hide behind religion and love to minimize their behaviors, but what is usually misconstrued is that one can love hatred. Hateful organizations exist because they teach generations to love hatred.

This is our first episode, on this topic, and we will allow God to lead us in this assessment and to provide us with the spiritual discernment to leave us all with something "real" to consider.

Martha and I wanted to revisit the previous episode, on this topic, to further expound on our thoughts that our societies are divided between apathy and empathy. There is something going on, other than the juxtaposition that God blessed or cursed a group of people to be at the top and another to be at the bottom. There is a mental belief, by those groups, that they should occupy and own their status of privilege based on either apathy and empathy.

This episode/discussion came about from a discussion Martha and I were having about a race of people have consistently conquered and destroyed everything and every place they have encountered. We eventually labeled that group as apathetic. We then applied the same thought to people with other DNA and traits that seem to make them habitually empathetic. As we continued to consider the thought, we began to hypothesize that those individuals who lean towards the DNA and traits of apathy, they are happy to hurt others and to even wish for the privilege of exercising hatred. The other group, with certain DNA traits, seem to expect the most hateful people to become a Saul to Paul experience. Let's listen to Martha and how she explains this thought.

Occasionally, Martha and I come together to just enjoy conversations on the front porch. During this episode, we talked about the challenges of migrating and adjusting to new cities and states. What roles do affluence and low income play in people or families surviving? We also talked about the importance of family gatherings.

Let us know your thoughts.

Martha and I are taking a stab at challenging our listeners to consider how colonizers, scholars, and every other group of people misrepresented the intelligence of our African Ancestors who were aboard the slave ships. What were you taught to believe about the Africans onboard slave ships?

After a week layoff, Martha and I returned to the microphone to discuss our views about Juneteenth. We went out on the front porch to speak freely on the topic and to end the conversation with measurable goals. We asked ourselves many questions like: How do we get money to circulate within our communities? How do we commit ourselves to the elderly members in our communities? How do we move from devaluing ourselves to valuing what we are able to accomplish?

What are your thoughts? What goals are you and or your organization(s) willing to do to improve your community that you can report on during our next observance of Juneteenth?

This is part two of what might become a short series of discussions about the importance of being on the same accord. The first episode explored the basic premise that we must be on the same accord. This episode explores why we should, but do we even care? Give us your thoughts. Martha and I truly believe in what we are doing. We are leaving a legacy for the present and future generations.

I chose this title because I have been fortunate enough to have joined a group of diverse individuals to discuss African American History. Johnnie Warner is the leader of the group. He is very proactive in getting people to know factual history of African Americans in Columbus, Georgia. Since I have had the opportunity to share my thoughts, during his discussions, it has hit me that in order for the group and me to grow, we would have to agree to be on the same accord about how we present our history. We must be willing to hear what we don't want to hear, repeatedly, and be on that same accord.

Martha and I returned to the front porch to discuss the negative impact of being or acting shy. When growing up, I used to hear friends use the term as if was a complimentary thing to say, but what it did was deprive themselves of sharing or receiving information. We can't afford to lose family connections because of certain situations, like stating that your family is private - because it affects the closeness of future generations. As a group of people, we are already distant and lack trust without having pride in being shy or private. What are your thoughts?