Saturday, January 29, 2011

Beryllium Contamination

What is Beryllium Contamination & why should you as an American citizen be concerned?  When I was growing up there was a bread company named Taste Bread, and they had a saying about the bread that is made while you are asleep.  A reference to them cooking bread all night long.  While writing this, I could remember riding by one of there bread factories and smelling the scent of cooked bread. 

Well while Taste Bread was preparing to feed up, another plant in town was preparing to defend us against foreign hurt, harm, or danger.  In the process of saving our country, they mistakenly became a domestic tragedy.  Beryllium Contamination is an American phrase that should be known and questioned by all Americans.  I am very much a supporter of our national security efforts, I too enjoy the thoughts of living a life free from the kind conditions we see daily on our headline news reports that are happening in many of our 3rd world and recently major foreign countries.  But all we ask is that when it has been determined that some problem has been discovered at one of our plants building weapons to defend us, the people working in those plants along with the people who are living in the areas surrounding the plants are informed so they can make their own decision regarding the circumstance.  We understand this problem could and can still happen at any location using harmful chemical to produce weapons or any known product.  But our goal as an organization is to represent not only the environment, but to represent the people too.

The below link is an example of where I feel people should have been informed.  I will leave it up to you to make your own determination.  The people who push to make this circumstance receive the attention it was due, will be the Friday night presenters at the March 11th & 12th Breaking The Silence Conference.

Peace!


THE LINK:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/22/2602852/new-report-finds-contamination.html

Thursday, January 20, 2011

OUR 2011 CONFERENCE WEBSITE IS ON LINE

Hello everyone, and welcome to our 2011 Breaking the Silence (BTS) conference website presentation.  As you know or will learn this year we uses our website as a way to keep everyone updated about our conference planning and development.  So when you view our various pages, keep in mind we are a work in progress, and be sure to return often to keep up with our developments.

It looks like this year’s conference will be the best yet.  We started 4 years ago with a concern for the lack of people of color’s involvement in the environmental movement.  After 2 years of addressing that concern, last year we introduced our first people of color breakout group on the subject of the lack of stimulus jobs in our low-income communities.  A move that has made it possible for us to partner with a new co-producer this year, the Kansas Black Chamber of Commerce, who will not only become our official co-producer of our conference, but also take a lead role in one of our symposium this year on Jobs, Jobs, and Jobs, and how small businesses can become the key, for developing solutions.

We are honored to have them as our co-producer, along with our other co-producer the Kansas City, Kansas Community College, who I see as being the other key element, through education & job training, for any job development effort. 

So when I am asked if we are making progress in my city, my answer is a resounding YES!  I am very optimistic about where we are going from here.  So come on out if you can and see what we have in mind, and where possible, jump on in and join us.
Our goal is to build a multicultural sustainable community or city, for that  we need your help too.

PEACE!

Friday, January 14, 2011

A good side of Compton California

As we prepare for our 2011 Breaking The Silence Conference, I want us all to be mindful that it is not the location that we should fear, but the possible acts that can be found there.  Even in the mist of negative press, beauty can be found.  I am using my most recent trip to Compton, California to say, I believe.  As a born and raised person from Kansas, I only had what my ears had heard to form my opinion about Compton, California. With the growth in the Hip-Hop culture, Compton has received some bad or negative press form both Hip-Hop artists as well as news organizations from around the country.  So you can imagine my surprise or thrill when for the first time in my life, I was able to pick a lemon growing on a tree in Compton.  My immediate thought was how I had never heard anyone talking about picking a lemon off a tree in Compton.  It was a very satisfying experience.  I could not help but think about a diamond in the rough.  It made me remember, how God will always find a way to show he is supreme.

I too say, God Bless America!