Never Forget Important Principles

It is 8 in the morning. I scoff at my laziness. I do not want to discipline myself, to train the muscle memory, powers that be, to remember where the colon is so I can be consistent in my communication. Sometimes I say 8 in the morning. Sometimes I say 8:00AM. If I gon military time I have to remember which fingers are for the numbers,0800. I learned how to type in the summer before the 8th grade at Foshay junior high school. Ah, I am glad I remembered that. There is a story about "truth" and "peer pressure", and how one drives the other and develops a "group think" mentality that distorts reality, manufacturers truth and erodes the will of the spirit to think independently More on that later

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Sometimes I laugh at myself. I was laying on my bed last night, reviewing some grammar rules and studying HTML when I received a phone call. "Come go on the Neighborhood Walk ", the voice rang out. I went on one, a month ago, quite by accident. I was invited to the Mayor's press conference at the LA Mart. The conference was a review of the first year of the Safe Streets Initiative. I lived on Skid Row for 7 months and never heard of the Safe Streets Initiative. (There are photos of that press conference on the Flickr.com Sight. look up

Scribeskidrow. )



Dam. If I was efficient at linking, I would have been able to have my readers access Flickr and something about the Safe Streets Initiative, and thereby learn something. I must improve my linking skills today.



Back to the Neighorhood walk. I did not plan to attend the neighborhood walk last month. I walked out of the building and saw a City Attorney in front of my building. He was the one who invited me to the press conference. He was walking in the middle of the street, in between two police escorts when we saw eachother. I teased him about his escort. I asked him if he were running for office or something. Anyway,we walked in the middle of the street. I told him that the street was unusually clean. He was irritated by that because he wanted to see the "real" Skid Row, not the one that is on stage. You see, he can stand the truth. So can Jan Perry, she can stand the truth. There is no point in walking through a neighborhood to see what needs to be done if everything is cleaned up because company is coming over. One month ago, 6th street was packed with press vans. Television news crews were there. It was the news of the day. News crews are always present when there is something to be sensationalized on Skid Row or if it is the "News of the Day". I never see television news vans any other time with the exception of ABC 7. I see them all of the time on Skid Row. They have been parked everywhere. They have been inside the shelter where I was living, interviewing people from time to time.



The streets were dirty last night. Skid Row was not on stage. Their was no press last night.

Skid Row was not the news of the day. However, I was there last night. Police officers walked with a few community residents and a few teenagers. T he teenagers were in a group led by a lady who obviously was trying to teach them to make good decisions.



Decisions and choices. That was the topic of a conversation that I had with an officer. That was the topic of a lecture that the dedicated Officer Joseph gave to the teenagers.



I laugh at myself because if I had not answered the phone, I would not have learned anything. Yet I respect the person so much that I immediately stood up and walked out of the door.

It was time well spent.

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When I need it, I get a boost. Sometimes I need it badly. I received an email yesterday that was very unexpected. The woman commented on my writing. "By the way,....."the memo started.



I just looked at it, absorbing the strength that it gave me to keep going, to keep enduring, to keep learning, to keep writing. It is partly because of that memo that I walked out of the door when I received a phone call.

Thank you.....

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I live next to Little Tokyo. Everyone has read about my youth and how I grew up with Japanese Americans. I believe that certain things should not be forgotten. There are many stories about wars. Some stories are that need to be heard are never told. Some stories need to be told more so that we never forget, so that we never lose sight of or values and the purpose of
"due process" that is fundamental in the protection of our Civil Rights.

Dam, lol, I am having problems linking the video of the history of Japanese Americans.
I want their substantive contribution to this country to be told.

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While we are on the topic of betrayal, I encourage everyone to read a book that is entitled
"A Decade of Betrayal" by Francisco Balderrama and Raymond Rodriquez. I was reading this book when I was first arrested. This book is about the suffering of the Mexican American community in the 1930's. People from that ethnic group were picked up and hustled onto freight trains and shipped down to Mexico. No one was exempt. 10 year old kids were hustled away without their parents knowing where they were.
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I am trying to find a book and a film about the residents of the Appalachians. My father told me as a kid that they have it worse than anyone. They were forgotten people. No ones cares about them he said. "Why, Dad. Why doesn't anyone care about them.?," I asked.

"BECAUSE THEY ARE WHITE. EVERYONE FIGURES THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE WHITE THEY DO NOT NEED ANY HELP. THERE IS NO POLITICAL CAPITAL GAINED BY HELPING THEM. NEVER FORGET THEM , WALTER, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP."

I never did. I always talked about the people of the Appalachians whenever I could to people who did not even know where the Appalachians were. Women, gays, everyone.

Speaking of which, what happened to the families of the coalminers? Are they receiving the assistance that they need after the tragedy that community suffered, recently? They are not the "News of the Day" so we do not here about them any longer. Has OSHA followed up with other mining towns to try to prevent tragedies from happening in other communities or will the press and officials make appearances only when they must, when there is political capital to be gained or to be SAVED, or SALVAGED.
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I finally convinced someone to do something with me. I almost fainted when he agreed. I do not know why he did but I am happy he did. I have much to learn, though. It is ok. If I can find a job. I can learn faster. I can move forward faster.

Good morning world. I love you.