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Op Ed

How To Solve Racism In Ten “Simple” Steps

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I was recently asked in the wake of all that has happened regarding the deaths of 7 American citizens over the past week as a result of ignorance “What do you suggest?” Amidst constant and consistent rhetoric about how to improve on race relations, what gets lost in the shuffle are those individuals who wish to take action but have no idea what action to take. I believe there is no one consistent methodology to equality. I believe that whatever your chosen strategy, you should have actionable steps to bring about the change you wish to see. I believe economic empowerment and atypical education is the quickest way to bring about the change I would like to see. As a result of my beliefs, here are my actionable steps as I see them;

1) Get someone a job. Every YEAR! You don’t have to be a hiring manager to forward a resume and vouch for someone.

2) Start your own business. Most of us have been talking about it for a while. What exactly are you waiting for?

3) Mentor a young person. Provide your experiences and expertise to someone you believe will benefit.

4) Use your social media platform and all other platforms to educate, inspire and uplift. We swear up and down our voices are marginalized then don’t say much once given a platform to do so.

5) Offer up the decades of expertise that you have amassed in all areas to others who could benefit from that information… FOR FREE!!! Sometimes in order to get paid, you need to pay it forward first with information and volunteered services.

6) Align yourself with like minded individuals. Before you do so however, make up your mind before you find a match for it.

7) Educate yourself. I don’t mean go back to school. I mean use the internet and every other FREE learning tool to increase your knowledge base.

8) GET OVER YOURSELF. Approach each and every situation with what you can bring to the table as well as what you can take away. Your perspective is just that. it is not invalid but it is not more valid than someone else’s. Is your perspective to your ultimate benefit? More importantly, is your perspective to the detriment of others?

9) Capitalize on yourself. By virtue of existing, I am a Male, African, New Yorker, Musician, Writer, Basketball fan, Brooklyn resident, etc… So that’s seven different entry points into seven different vast social networks in which I can offer expertise, build a network and profit as well as enhance my network.

10) Be consistent with your action so that the next time something like this happens in the community, you won’t feel 100% helpless. Part of that helpless feeling comes from actually not helping prior.

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Eric Garner was selling cigarettes. Alton Sterling was selling CD’s. Philando Castile had a busted tail light. Mike Brown allegedly stole cigars. All economic issues that led to interactions with ignorant police officers which resulted in their death. Economic empowerment won’t stop racism but if lack of money was the issue that led to these interactions, I think we can take steps right now on a micro level to spread our wealth despite how little we believe it to be so we can minimize these interactions. More importantly, with economic empowerment comes a greater political influence which will allow for that preexisting ignorance to not be accepted or propagated.

So, what’s your plan? I’d love to know.

 

https://youtu.be/pCBKmE81XII

Article

Rest Easy Eric Curran a.k.a M.C Krispy E

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Almost every year for the past 6 years and on the same day, I’ve posted the same pic of me in the hospital  during my temporary and untimely demise  in 2015. A few weeks after I was back to “normal”, I asked Eric “Why’d you take the pics?” And he said, “I knew you would want to write about it if you lived.” Eric was right. Eric was often right and Eric always had my best interest at heart. I am going to miss my friend.

You ever meet someone and become friends immediately?! Well this was not the case with Eric. Before he was my manager at Morgan Stanley, I would often see this 6’4″, giant white guy walk up to the only black woman at work, say something then walk away without any hint of human emotion. Naturally I thought he was a jerk until I asked her “Yo, is that dude bothering you?” She laughed and proceeded to tell me he was a great person, which I ultimately got to experience first hand. Little did I know this Italian from Staten Island was more Brooklyn than most Brooklynites.

Eric was not with the shits!! If there were ever someone who lived their life in direct, honest and no uncertain terms, that would be Eric. He would ask me questions at work like “Why are the other consultants making more money than you?” I knew the answer to that question and so did he. Eric then proceeded to increase my salary by 15K. After arguing with all our managers that “You need to hire Alfred!”, they eventually did 1 year prior to the 2015 incident. In the hospital, one of my friends asked me, “What if you didn’t have health insurance when this happened?” I would be in debt for the rest of my life is the obvious answer. I still am in debt for the rest of my life but at least, it is to those who made sure I had a more enjoyable life and for that, I will gladly repay.

My mom loved to tell me the story of how she met Eric. After they told her I was going to be in the ICU for some time, she told the doctor “Well I’m not going anywhere.” She then hears a voice from that back of the room that says “Well I’m not going anywhere either!” That was Eric and in true form, he was at that hospital every single day until I was discharged.

Eric passed away in December 2021 of stage 4 cancer. After feeling faint on his way to my bbq, he went to get checked out and was diagnosed. During the past 5 years, Eric lost his mom, twin brother and dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like but I’m glad that pain he was feeling is no more.

It’s been a bit difficult to deal with it to be quite honest and I’ve been writing this in my head for years but never had the bravery or grace to accept that my friend wouldn’t be here soon. I also can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your entire family nucleus unexpectedly. In true Eric fashion however, I would like this to not be about me but whomever has lost someone and has been coping. I’ve always intimated that my life would not be as enriched as it was were it not for the people in it. The problem with that is there is also no way to deny that it feels empty without those who helped craft your path. Rather than focus on the negative, I would rather focus on the examples of duty, family and emotional intelligence. All concepts reinforced by Eric that have led me to have successful relationships since I’ve put them into practice.

From being my manager to my business partner, writer, book editor, artistic director, and most importantly, my friend, I am going to miss you MC Krispy E a.k.a “Enrique Pollazo!” And although you told me Enrique means Henry in Spanish and not Eric, it was too late!

Sidebar. The day I was discharged, while everyone was deciding what was best for me, no one had remembered that I would need clothes in order to leave the hospital. Eric shows up (unasked) with all the clothes I had on the day I coded, laundered and ready to go. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve friends like this but i need to keep doing it! Sidebar complete.

Rest in Peace Eric. “Be Good.”

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Op Ed

And Knowing is Half the Battle…

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I’ve seen Terminator references used to argue against Artificial Intelligence, foreign movie clips used to “prove” the pandemic was a well executed plan and baseless clips from folk with large media followings telling me all about vaccines and how I should interact with science.

My concrete and definitive conclusion is that the person least likely to make a mistake is the person with the most training / experience, not the person with the most social media followers / apprehension.

We put too much faith in what lies behind a screen instead of those who actually engage in the practice. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with paring common sense and common science.

I get it though. I like to take part in conversations too but if you aren’t willing to do any work further than clicking a share button simply because you just want to engage, you were genuinely more effective sitting on the sidelines.

I trust NASA more than I trust Rocket Racoon. I trust Tesla more than I trust Cyberdyne and I trust DOCTORS more than I trust my friends, celebrities and any other schmuck burger with a social media platform propagating nonsense.

SIDEBAR I don’t know if y’all heard of this thing called The Internet but its amazing! People mostly keep their booby pictures on it but it also has something called GOOGLE that you can use research stuff. Some of y’all should check it out. SIDEBAR COMPLETE.

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Op Ed

Robbing Hoods and Stopping Games

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Ten bullet points for your reading pleasure:
  1. Every single time the stock market crashed, it was done by the “professionals.”
  2. If a group of folk can get together in a chat room and legally take BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM YOU IN YOUR OWN PROFESSION…IN DAYS, you may wanna reevaluate how professional you are.
  3. Retail investors had nothing to do with the Great Depression, Black Friday, Black Monday, the internet bubble or the housing bubble. That was Institutional.
  4. I’ve never seen so much call for regulation in the stock market from those who typically make the most money in my life. I believe the correct financial term is #BigMad
  5. They aren’t upset retail investors are making money. They are upset retail investors are making the market place volatile, making it harder for THEM to make money long term.
  6. Why was there not this level of concern when retail investors were losing their pensions and IRAs at all other instances?
  7. Why are hedge funds even allowed to use people’s pensions to short sell?!
  8. If you are using your rent or mortgage to invest in the stock market, you have bigger issues. #gambleholic
  9. Retail investors have never had a platform nor the income to throw markets off. They still don’t.
  10. No one has a problem with the rules until it works against their own interests.

Bonus: When you gamble, you could either win or lose. Investors don’t need to be CPAs to understand that concept.

Sidebar; Pay more attention to your money management!! Sidebar complete.

Happy Friday!!

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