Welcome to 2023

Happy New Year to my iLL family. I pray that you are a better person today than you were yesterday.First & foremost, I want to apology for a lack of content in 2022. I lost my mother just 7 days into that year & I lost my drive & motivation to carry on. My writer’s block was converted into a lack of interested for my writing, content creating & my photography. I’m sure you understand my need to take a step back & reevaluate a few things.

I have a lot of big things lined up for this year. I have all the equipment, talent & knowhow to bring you content that will peak your interest. I just need to refuel my drive & hopefully find a few extra hands to assist me with the interviews & videos I’m planing this year. For those who are new here, we cover all topics that will benefit our Black Community. Feel free to indulge in a few of my posts from the past. Also, spread the word & ask your friends & family members to join our monthly mailing list.

I pray 2023 bring our people better health, an increase in finances & strength to keep pushing towards Black excellence.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community.

Weights or Wings

One of my favorite quotes is, “ If you can not change your friends; change your friends.” Everything in life comes to a fork in the road & some sort of decisions has to be made. Wether it’s paper or plastic or deciding to continue what is for dinner will be a simple decision. But some of these forks in the road will come with more complex choices. The removal of self from a toxic friendship is one of the more difficult choices we have to make in life. People outgrow each other so it’s very common to drift away from someone you may know as a friend.

When you are a great friend to someone, 1 of 2 things will happen. That “friend” will either appreciate you or take advance of you. While determining what card they have up their sleeve, you too will have a decision placed upon you. 2 things people off you in life will either be weights or wings.

Adding weight will postpone your flight & cease you from soaring to new heights. Weight comes in the form of stress, drama, disloyalty, lies and etc. When a friend adds wings, they free you from all shackles & assist you in gliding to your highest possible level.

When Weight Is Applied

Life gives us our own baggage to carry but when we are forced to carry unwanted luggage, it always comes at a cost. The airlines are infamous for letting you know that carrying unnecessary luggage comes at a cost. A real friend would never apply unwarranted pounds on your back knowing you are trying to free your self from every day stress, pain and suffering. Surround yourself around people who keep you sane & help keep the mass light. Jealousy & envy were weights that were applied to Shanquella Robinson by “friends” & she paid those fees with her life.

When Wings Are Applied

But when wings are applied, you are able to freely flight to new heights. Everything from a bird’s eye view is obtainable & can easily be in your grasp. Birds of a feather flock together. If your friends are NOT enabling you to reach your potation & are not up in the sky with you, then a reevaluation should be prescribed & leaving the flock is ideal.

Nas said it best when he said a caterpillar could never imagine what an eagle envisions. So if your immediate circle isn’t offering you wings to take you to new & amazing places, then they can only offer you weights to keep you stagnated. You can never reach new nights in that circle.

An Authorized Credit Hack!

A lot of the credit lessons that we learn in our community tends to happen after we have been declined for a card. It’s impossible to be approved for a line of credit when you have little to no credit. I was baffled when I was told that bad credit is better than no credit. But how are you suppose to acquire a credit card when you have no credit? It took me enrolling to college & applying for cards at a career event. I was instantly approved for 3 cards. The down side was I didn’t fully understand how credit cards worked & the cards I was approved for had very low credit limits & extremely high APR’s.

My mother did not know about credit cards & wasn’t able to provide me lessons on how to preserve my credit. I was out aimlessly swiping my heart away not knowing the damages I was doing to my financial footprint.

Let Me Let You In On A Little Secret

Imagine your 18 yr old applying for a line of credit fresh out of high school & being blessed with a 750 fica score with no effort. In my opinion, the is one of the GREATEST gift you could give your child. This is truly a key to open up financial doors that were not available to us. The advantages of adding an offspring as an authorized user is endless. With this power, they are able to purchase a vehicle with a lower interest rate or have higher chances of being approved for a business loan. With minimal effort, you can add your children as an authorized user to any credit card account that is in good standing.

Simply log into your account & look for the option. Once you have them added, a card with their name will show up in your mailbox. I find it a best practice to just dispose of the card to prevent it from ending up in the wrong hands. All you have to do is just continue being a responsible card user. You can add a child as soon as they get a social security number so at any age, they can start building credit.

If you need more detailed information, I’ve added a video below from Water Your Soil. He’s a YouTuber who speaks of setting your kids up for success.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community.

3 Steps To Cope With Death

The further we journey down the street of life, we discover that we have more deceased friends & relatives than we have alive. Just this year alone, I've met more people who will be spending the holiday season celebrating the fallen opposed to celebrating the holiday. Holidays come & go but once we lose a loved one, they are gone forever. It can be overwhelming attempting to observe a holiday if you are not able to channel your emotions into a place of peace. Here are 3 ways to help you cope with mourning a loved one during the holiday season.

Do As They Would Do

One way to cope with the loss of a loved one is to do as they would do. Try listening to their favorite song or crafting up their favorite food. Wear attire that they would be wearing this time of the year or partaking in an activity that they loved. A lot of people believe that occupying themselves to keep someone off their mind is a healthy approach but it's more therapeutic to keep your special person fresh on your mind & not bottled up. Honoring them by doing the things they would be doing is an awesome & beneficial approach to coping.

Reach Out To Them

Coping mechanism #2 is to reach out to your deceased loved one. Talk to them before you meditate or writing a letter to them is great way to un-bottle emotions. Balloon release ceremonies allow healing individuals attach last word letters to a balloon & whoo-saw as they let it all go. Mediating is the most effective way to clear your mind & listen for a response. Everyone on the planet holds on to words they wish they would have said & releasing these words will brighten your mood.

Happy Thoughts

Remember when we did so & so? Keep all of your happy moments of a loved one on deck. Busying yourself to keep people off your mind is a terrible approach. Sit back, close your eyes & remember things that your loved one did to make you smile. Reminisce fun stories & breathtaking moments will construct never-ending joy that will warm the heart.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community.

The Irreversable Results of Swirling

One of my favorite memes is of the crying Michael Jordan face placed on an office worker claiming to have lied in his interview about knowing how to fully use Excel. When you pour lies into your resume, its similar to swirling multiple colors of sand into a single canister because if you change your mind, its IMPOSSIBLE to separate. Ok, that may not be the best example because once your new employer realizes that you are not fluent in Excel, you will be terminated but will have a new canister to start from scratch. Mixing lies with your work knowledge doesn’t result in a loss of life… but I know what type of swirling can.

The level of suicides during this global pandemic has been cringe-worthy. A simple Google search will reveal an influx of Blacks being hung & been deemed as suicides with little to no investigation. If I recollect correctly, there were 4 hanging within a week & they all were classified as self inflicted suicide. Anytime a Black American dies, their death is always justified & the victims have always “gotten what they deserve” . It’s never foul play; especially when the victim is murdered by someone of non color.

Queen Asia Maynard

Queen Asia Maynard Died Feb. 19, 2022

Our Queens are literally the least valued creatures on this planet. It pains me our Queens feel dating outside of their race is a better option. Disclaimer: I’m not debating anyones rights to cross interracial lines, I’m just here to bring awareness to an increase of deaths while doing so. A lot of folks will deflect my views by saying that Black men kill more Black woman than white men do. Because of how crimes work, this may be somewhat true. But when a Black man takes the life of one of our Queens, he’s investigated fully & will indeed serve time. With these new crimes of white men luring our Queens to their deaths via dating apps, murdering them in the most heinous of ways & end up walking away scott free. Tyron will spend the rest of his days in jail but Isiah Crown’s rarely even see a day in court.

I’m not going to dig too deep into the story of Queen Maynard. I will say that theses no way a healthy 29yr old mother of will that had no preexisting conditions can possibly die of natural causes after one date with a white guy. The spit to the face was how police knew our Queen was dead & never told her family when they called & reported her missing. On top of that, the murderous white man wasn’t even questioned or investigate. Google our Queen’s name or click one of the hyperlinks here if you need more detailed references of the story. Isiah Crown has been reported to have murdered other women but on one views him as a person of interest. I won’t dig being the surface yet. I want to state my argument that when our queens are murdered, limited effort & resources are spent while investigating. Not giving our community the same focus & energy that Gabby Petito received is racial insensitivity.

Queen Lauren Smith-Fields

Lauren Smith-Fields is another unfortunate case of swirling gone wrong. The racial insensitivity is jawdropping. Lauren went on a date with a white guy by the name of Matthew LaFountain. They connected on the Bumble dating app & agreed to meet IRL for a nice night on the town. Afterwards, the 2 returned to Lauren’s residence where they dozed off. The following morning LaFountain awoke to a non responsive Fields. He called 9-11 & her death was ruled an accident. Fields was merely 23 years old & was deemed healthy by family & friends. The investigators quickly determined Fields died of an alcohol, an unnamed prescription drug & fentanyl overdose. The case was closed & LaFountain was never questioned questioned on any role he may have had on her death. The department carelessly mishandled evidence & Queen Lauren never got justice.

Queen Brenda Lee Rawls

The Beautiful Brenda Lee Rawls @ Age 53

In the same city of Bridgeport, Connecticut & on the same night of the murder of Lauren Smith Fields, a 2nd case of racial insensitivity reared its ugly head. Another Queen died in the same fashion & she always received the same limited attention & investigating as the last Queen. Brenda Lee Rawls also went to see a man who lived near. I was unable to find any information on the gentleman so I can’t tie Ms Rawls’s case into the swirling but this is the perfect example of racial insensitivity. She was found dead in her apartment on 12-12-21 & her death was swiftly ruled as natural causes. Sisters of Rawls always stayed in close contact with her & reg flags went off when the sister never got a response from their beautiful sibling.

Brdgeport law enforcement NEVER notified the family. It was only when they went looking for answers when they were met with the devastating news. This truly raises an eyebrow for me & makes me question how many Queens have we really lost to foul play & no one cared enough for their Black lives to properly investigate & give our Queens the respect & justice they deserve.

Dear Kings

As protectors of our communities, we have to do a better job as a collective at showing our Queens the value of dating within our race. Treat them as the Queens that they are. Guide them if they go astray. Assist them in self healing while showing them that we genuinely care for their souls. Honoring & cherishing our women will kill any desire to peep over the fence & wonder if those greener pastures of artificial grass offers a better quality of man. Nowhere is my passage am I condemning swirling or getting to know other cultures & races. This keeps an open mind & could be a great learning experience. I just vehemently ask that IF you do decide to play the game, you will NOT get the Gabby treatment. SO just please be careful. As a collective, we all NEED our beautiful Black women to show us the power of Black Love.

I will end this by posted an interview with Asia’s siblings.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Banking While Black

Joe Morrow

Being that America LOVES to say that Black folks are lazy & don’t want to work, it’s a mere slap to the face when doing something as cashing a paycheck becomes a crime. Joe Morrow worked his job all week & went to cash his check like all Americans do. Who knew that such a normal process like cashing a check after a long day at work could land you in cuffs. And with every camera in the bank & tons of cop cam footage, the police reports still conflicted with what was shown on camera. Its going to be a crime to breath while Black!

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Any Action Verb + While Black = A Crime

I see we are at it again. The 14% of the US population is still committing 50% of the crimes. In my blog post Sadistic Statistic , I touched on how such a small portion of the population is conducting a majority of the crimes. Everything seems to be a crime if you are doing it while Black. Walking while Black, driving while Black, banking while Black & once again cycling while Black. Take any basic action & add the words “While Black” & you instantly have a committed a crime.

Little boys were always taught to never put hands on a female. That has always been a rule but somehow these grown ass “men” seem to have forgotten. Its always disturbing when we see paid public officials masterminding policy misconduct, abuse of force & straight up assault. So what if this child was “speeding” on an unlicensed mini bike. White kids from suburbia freely ride these toys without being harassed so why is it a crime when a Black child rides on? IF her speeding was a safety concern to the cops, her safely sure went out the window when they slammed & choked her. There isn’t a word on this planet that could upset a grown man to the point where he felt the needs to assault & traumatize a child. I have literally seen armed murderers give treated with more respect & delicacy than the victim in this video. Please take a look at the news article & let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

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The Innate Instinct To Protect

The media is at it again. They took an image of a positive incident & captioned it appear as if a Black man shot a got for no reason. They love depicting Black men as thugs & not the responsible, protecting gun owners that most of us are. These 2 dogs were mauling an autistic Black child & this king sprang into action & laid the dog down & saved this kid. I’m sure there are a lot of dog lovers of non color who feel the dog should not have had its brains blown out but here is what the world fails to realize. When something harms our youth, that Black mama bear or papa bear will instantly show up & neutralize any threat.

The caption should have read, “Black responsible gun owner saves innocent child from vicious dogs!” Check out the video below for more details on this heroic event. The content as been listed as age restricted so the link will take you to Youtube.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

In Business While Black

This year I would like to cancel Black history month. Every year we hear the same stories of heroes from our past & the amazing things we have accomplished. I want to do things different this February. I would like to take all that Black history month energy & direct it to fueling our Black future. If you are unaware of your history, a quick google search or a trip to a local library will answer any question that you may have. I know we can not predict our future but we can steer our present into the traffic flow of a more successful & sustainable future by supporting a Black Owned Business. (BOB)

WHO BENEFITS

Society will tell you to steer clear of BOB’s because of poor customer service, attitude & a lack structure. Its irresponsible to spread this notion! Everyone benefits from supporting a BOB. Customer will receive faster shipping, larger portions & better prices due to less overhead. Just do not shop there expecting a “kin folk discount” knowing you would spend double the amount with a white establish without questioning or batting an eye. Business owners also win because serving new customers grows business, confidence of course generates more revenue.

HOW MANY DID YOU SUPPORT?

Shame on you if you can count on 1 hand how many BOB’s you supported in 2021. So many Black owned companies offer some of the best goods & services available. By following this formulate, we can nurture businesses in our communities & sprout new ones. Take the number of BOB’s you supported last year & multiply that by 3. Then multiply that number by 3 in 2023.

I have supported a nice Black owned online gift shop that sold the cutest nicknacks & Black owned companies that sold chemical free soaps that were great for keeping melanin healthy. I plan on supporting 12 Black owned businesses this year in hope of keeping our hard earned dollars in our communities & creating a massive chain reaction of others following suit.

If you have a BOB or know of someone who does, PLEASE link them in the comment section. I’m dying to try new & unique business that are For Us By Us.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

The Lapdog Syndrome

Hollywood has a fascination with the lapdog syndrome. They will spend so much time & invest millions of dollars to convey to you that Black mothers are unfit & that a Sandra Bullock has to come in a save the day. Something about white couples adopting Black children doesn't sit well on my stomach. If they are looking to adopt a child & happen to end up with a Black child is one thing. But when they contact an adoption agency with the sole intent of adopting a Black child ...it truly gives me slave trade vibes. Like what do they look for in a Black child that makes them decide or reject them? I imagine the song How Much Is The Doggy In The Window going thru their head while going child to child determinin which one they will be taking home. So many questions arise like why do so many white adult look to adopt Black children & why are there not a lot of Black couples that adopt Black children? And how are so many Black children ending up in these adoption agencies?

In my popular blog post about why does so many Black women die during child birth, I touched on how a lot of our future leaders end up in adoption agencies. When a Queen loses her life giving birth, social services will more than likely place the new born with a stranger before placing it with other blood family. A very close friend of mines recently went through the ringer trying to adopt a child. Both him & his wife are Christian & both are gentle college graduates with no criminal backgrounds & the system made it near impossible for them to be awarded custody of the child they wanted to adopt from a mutual friend. The sad part was the judge was a Black female. 🤦🏾‍♂️ But this is a story for another day. Its like adoption agencies are handing over Black seedlings to white couples like halloween candy while scrutinizing Black couples.So much can go wrong & has gone wrong with these people taking in Black children & feeding their Lapdog Syndrome.

Some great advice is to NEVER acquire something that you are unable to maintain. How many times have you seen someone go for broke buying a foreign vehicle & is unable to cover expenses on maintenance? This is a similar scenario when whites adopt Black young ones. It sickens me to the core when I see a Black princess in public & her newly adopted parents have been using haircare products that was not formulated for Black hair. Or seeing these kids dressed in clothing not designed for their frames. I’ve recently seen photos online of Black boys wearing dressing & rocking bows in their hair. Black children are not lapdogs that you dress up at your leisure & parade around in public trying to role-play some slave-master fantasy. Even in the photo above, master is looking up & proud of her new puppy & the puppy dare not make eye contact with its owner!

This adopted Princess was not fed during a family outing.

The purpose of adopting a child is to give them a better life. How can you give a person a better life when they are not offered the same love & resources that others receive? The minor in the photo above looks unhappy, mistreated & not given the proper care she needs. Her white family has no idea how to care for Black hair. They even have her dressed as if she stepped out of the movie The Color Purple. The lady who noticed this heinous actives & documented this caught the backlash…not the child neglecting white parents. Just the look on her face explains how far she is from her sense of self. She has no idea what it means to be Black nor will she find it if she remains in this household. White family think that shielding their newly adopted kids from the Black experience is the ultimate benefit in creating an enriched life for them. Neglecting to give a soul the nourishment requited to flourish should be a form of 1st degree child abuse.

Just like our history was purposely hidden & destroyed, this is the same fatality these adopted kids are receiving. Being disconnected from self works as good as a television being disconnected from the power outlet. The kids go off to college & are lost. They may meet other Blacks when they go off to further their education & won’t know any thing about Black self or about Black pop culture. I ask our ancestors to watch over this princess for the entirety of her life. As lot of our future leaders were not fortunate enough to survive the grasps of lapdog syndrome.

LAPDOG MENTALITY

White parents use Black adoptees as a way of showing they are NOT prejudice. Its similar to the, “I’m not racist, I have 1 Black friend!” rebuttal. A lot of white people may love their Black coworker or the little Black girl who works at Starbucks that “doesn’t act like the rest of them!” but has a strong dislike for Black folks in general. And with aid from the media, they are able to push this “I love 1 Black person so I’m not a racist” narrative. Being friends with 1 while hating an entire race indeed marks you as racist. The media circulated this photo around giving it a false sense of racism healing. The white mother intentionally dressed this child in a lapdog outfit fully equipped with accessories for a photo opportunity. This image was used to show Black people that cops are not bad people & are loving & you should not hate or fear them.One thing the media outlets did NOT do was use this photo on this poor child’s obituary.

THE HART FAMILY MURDER 💔

The Colorful Hart Family

Just like buying a car, you have to be approved to adopt children. Are you able to house them & give them the space to grow? Are you able to feed & clothed them? The main objective to being an adopting parent is to remove the child from a bad situation & place them in a better suited one. The Harts, a white lesbian couple, thought it was a great idea to adopt 6 kids & drive them off a cliff. I’m pretty sure whatever situation these kids were in prior to this wasn’t as terrifying as falling to a death. People who were associates with the family stated that the kids were mistreat & were not able to do simple things around the house like laugh at the dinner table or wish each other happy birthday. Other reports from therapist & school personnel state that for punishment , the kids were not fed & repeated hit with belts until they had “oowees” on their backs stomaches. Only God knows what other brutal activities went on behind closed doors. The Harts actually pulled the kids from public schools due to being exposed and yet, no one questioned or followed up on the reported allegations. The adoption agencies should be held reliable for these deaths as well. 6 innocent children were placed with these wicked white women while well qualified Black couples get treated like criminals.

The inserted video shows exactly what these people are looking for. They love that false sense of accomplishments from taking care of something they feel is inferior. All the feeding scraps & petting Black kids like lapdogs needs to stop. I bet if an influx of Black parents wanted to adopt white kids, they would be fully investigated & turned away. Black families that are looking to adopt children should do anything in their power to adopt a prince or princess. The community members who are not looking to adopt should create Black Big Brother programs or other similar places to donate & help keep our children out of the homes of these sickos. They love to bring up the dangers of Chicago but will turn a blind eye to the organized crime connections these adoption agencies indulge in while handing over these defenseless children over to these ill intent excuse for parents. If you have any ideas on how we can limit our future leaders from becoming lapdogs, please comment below. Only our community can protect our children from these dangers of the lapdog syndrome.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Travel Tuesday: Navarre Beach

I’ve been planning this post since July but for some reason Ive been putting it off & procrastinating. Back in Junes, the week of Father’s Day, I booked an AirBnB & took a nice road trip to Pensacola FL. I’ve never taken a 9 hour trip before so I was curious of how road fatigue would come into play. I left home About 3:30am & after stopping for gas twice & one stretch break, I pulled into Pensacola about noon. I sweat I’m the biggest homebody on the planet so It was a change of pace for me to hope up & plan a spontaenous vacation. I truly had a blast & some of the views I saw were soul cleansing. Rewatching this footage of my trip while compiling this video truly reminded me of how my trip was a redefining moment for my life. Here’s the link to the episode. Navarre BeachTrip.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Their Ingredients Will Alter Your Flavor

Opening a cook book & discovering a new recipe is an exciting thing. A cook book clearly lists every ingredient needed & walks you step by step on how much of what’s needed & estimated preparation times. By following a recipe, all measurements are done for you & if properly followed, your cuisine should have a delicious flavor. Lets use a cake for an example. You add your flour, a few cups of milk, crack a few eggs for texture, sugar for taste, baking soda for volume & an ingredient to add flavor. (Chocolate powder or strawberries) Once the ingredients are together, you have a batter. You can taste the batter and add more of something until you reach your desired taste.

The Cooking Double Entendre

Lets now imagine all those cake ingredients are the values, principles & morals your parents mixed together to bake up a sweet & loving human being. We are figuratively a concoction of ingredients that our parents hand blended. Higher quality of standards typically equates to a higher quality of flavor. We are a direct representation of our wellspring so parents will go all out to ensure the recipes & ingredients they select are top tier in hopes of creating a sweet soul. We are all products of natural ingredients until outside additive & preservatives alter the great tastes our parents baked us to be. Here is a list of 3 outside ingredients or influences that changed my flavor forever.

Rodney Glen King

King with fiancée Cynthia Kelley a few months before his death

When I was 14 years old, I got my first cup of salt added to my batter. On the night of March 3rd, 1991, Rodney Glen King was pulled over by LAPD for allegedly leading them on a high speed chase. After stopping, King was savagely beaten by 4 thugs in badges & charged with felony evading. King suffered a broken right leg, a face badly swollen beyond recognition, bruises all over his body from being struck over 50 times & multiple burns from a taser. The attempted lynching of Brother King was caught on video by George Holliday & sent the video KTLA (a local news entity) One would think video evidence of a crime would be enough to convict criminals & have them throw under the jail but during the trial, they found no wrong doing on behalf of the LAPD. All 4 thugs were acquitted. Imagine the bad taste an incident of this magnitude could leave in the mouth of a naïve teenager. When the smoke cleared, King’s charges were dropped & he was awarded $3.8M in damages. For the entirety of my teen years, I couldn’t fathom how Brother King was award money if the police did no wrong? And why did the city compensate him instead of the cops who violated his human rights?

Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones

Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones

On May 16, 2010, 7 year old Sister Aiyana Stanley-Jones was fast asleep on her grandmother couch. A little after midnight, the Detroit Police Department accompanied by an A&E camera crew filming an episode of The First 48 tossed a flash grenade into the home & fired shots while conducting a no knock warrant. The 1st blunder was they raided the WRONG apartment. The DPD gain this incorrect information from a druggie informant. With all the technology that police agencies have access to, they still felt the word of a drug addict was valid.

Once officers realized they kicked in the wrong door & shot an innocent princess in her sleep, the lies surfaced. The shooting officer reported that his weapon discharged after Mertilla Jones (Sister Aiyana’s paternal grandmother) grabbed the barrel of his MP5 submachine gun. Reports from other officers & bystanders conflicted with this story for her fingerprints were NOT found on his weapon. Sister Mertilla reacted to the flash grenade that was thrown through the window & burned Sister Aiyana. Mistrial after mistrial, the case concluded with jurors finding no wrong doing in the senseless murder of this perfect Black princess. Once again, the citizen of Detroit were forced to pay $7.5M in damages caused by DPD & A&E. All of this was caught on camera & still, this was not enough evidence to draw a conviction. One of our future leaders lost her life due to negligence & in the name of A&E’s entertainment.

Tamir Elijah Rice

We can all agree that a 12 year old is still a child. 1 Corinthians 11:13 stats “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child…” Brother Tamir E. Rice was just a child; out doing what so many children. Enjoying childhood. Around 3:30pm on 11-22-14, Brother Rice was at the park playing with an Airsoft handgun. Someone from the park called 9-11 & reported a kid was pointing a gun at random park goers. The caller stated twice that the pistol could be fake but somehow that bit of information, allegedly, was not relayed to the responding officers. Within 2 seconds upon arrival, the responding officer yelled from his squad car for Rice to show his hands & 2 shots were instantly fired & struck Brother Rice in his torso.

Conflicting stories surfaced as usual. Verbiage in the police report was insultingly different from what the video footage displayed. But to add insult to injury, the media attempted to paint Brother Tamir as a villain. They never referred to him as a 12 year old child. They was asking irrelevant questions like why he playing with a toy gun & what parent buys toy guns for their kids? Little white kids are able to fully enjoy their childhood with toys guns, BB guns & even real ones. To push the envelope a bit further, you can find countless video on the internet of grown white men actually shooting at cops & magically taken into custody unscathed. So why wasn’t this kid even given a chance to comply? This was literally a drive by shooting by a thug who was deemed emotionally unfit serve & protect. And once again, police racism & recklessness cost the citizens of the city of Cleveland $6M.

The Finishing Steps Of This Recipe

As we gain knowledge & wisdom in this lifetime, we use those newly acquired gifts to make sharper, more beneficial decisions. Sometimes we have to stray away from a recipe & add our own ingredients to compensate for what the world may toss into your dish. The 3 ingredients I just shared with you are 3 items I could have done without. Stories of our brothers & sisters getting brutalized by city officials that we pay to protect us will add a lot of salt & other unnecessary spices to our batter. I have only named the 3 that hit home for mebut there have been plenty others. Brother Eric Garner. Harassed & murder by badged thugs for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. Brother Alton Sterling. Harassed & murdered for selling music compact discs out side of a convenient store. Brother Philando Castile. Harassed & murder for being a black & legal gun owner. Sister Sandra Bland.Pulled over & harassed for hurting a deputy’s feelings during a unwarranted traffic stop. When society forces these unwanted ingredients on us, we have to remain diligent & dilute them with the items our parents & ancestors handed to us. This world will try to ruin your flavor by making you salty. But in life, being less sweet & more flavorful makes the enemy uncomfortable. Never be afraid to revamp your recipe. Once your batter is properly mixed, the outcome could produce a zestier meal that you could ever imagine.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

When Blacks Enlist In A White Man’s Military

A senior’s last year in school should be an exciting time These days should be spent planning & carefully making decisions to determine which route they want to take to arrive at their definition of the American dream. Some choose the workforce & some take the collegiate route. Opting for either of these options can be a temporary choice if a student decides they would like to take a secondary preference later in life. Another “career” path that’s available is the military. But do you feel a 17 year old fresh out of high school is adult enough to make a crucial decision like this? Joining the military is equivalent to joining a gang. You can’t wake up the next day & walk away by choice. Being a young adult comes with poor decisions & making dumb mistakes. This is the very reason school are crawling with sleazy military recruiters. Its uber sickening how a recruiter can legally coerce a young mind to join a branch while only the recruiter is benefitting.

The Recruiter:

Military recruiters are just as crooked as a car salesmen. They are highly trained to manipulate young minds into throwing their life away. When I was in school, a close friend of mines was interested in joining the Marines so I rode with him while he met up with a recruiter. All this foolish recruiter did was try to woo us with how much money his bank account held & how the military was going to make him a millionaire. 🥱 Most civilians do not know that recruiters work on a performance based quota & if he misses his goal, he’s sent back to active duty. So lies & unjust practices are used to manipulate & coerce kids into signing their lives away. I willing took the ASVAB (Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery) test because my friend did but I told the recruiter guy I was NOT joining no matter how impressive my test results were. Once my ASVAB results returned, my recruiter quickly congratulated my spectacular scores & let it be know that I scored so high that I could pick any job I wanted & would NEVER see a battle field. He pretended to be so concerned about my future & said that enlisting would benefit me but in reality, my membership would only benefit himself.

Military recruiters sniff out young & poverty stricken youth & sell them a few pounds of stir fried lies. If you seem poor, money is their bait. If you want to go to college, they will use free tuition as a bait. Ive even heard a recruiter tell a young artist that if he joined the military, the armed forces would finance his entire music career. Taking advantage of young black teens should be against the law but this is what the system wants. They want our future leaders to be broken & brainwashed, fighting another brainwashed soul from another country who has done nothing to them in the name of protecting a country that has done nothing to protect them. They love weak minded individuals who will swim seas for a country who woudnt’t clean up a cup of water for you. Check out this short video on how recruiters are being exposed for their lies & deceitful practices.

Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson

Queen L. Johnson NOT private

Queen LaVena Lynn Johnson was only a baby. At the age of 19, when most teens are enjoying their lives, Queen Johnson was openly serving a country that was secretly planning to serve her. She was found in a tent (not in her barrack) after being attacked by American military personnel. She was discovered with a broken nose, a black eye, loose teeth, burns from a corrosive chemical that was poured on her genitals to mask the evidence of rape. She also suffered a gunshot wound. All these events gained little to no media coverage while stories like this deserves national attention. She was surrounded by members of the most powerful military presence on the planet & somehow our sister was murdered & the US Government classified this grotesque murder as a suicide. Queen LaVena joined the military to better her life & fight American enemies & in return, she was America’s enemy.

NEVER JOIN!

I have family & friends who have made a career out of the military. If you are one of the lucky ones, the military is a nice option. But 8 out of 10 Black soldiers are not so fortunate. Take a trip into almost any US major city & you will see homeless & limbless veterans by the multitudes. Other suffer from PTSD & are so medicated that they are unable to hold steady jobs or sustain a normal civilian lifestyle. Post military isn’t the only place where we don’t get fair treatment. Most Black soldiers are often bypassed by less qualified white soldiers. Higher rank in return means a bigger paycheck to build your future. Black soldiers fall victim to racism. Stories of waking up to nooses in their bunks & other racist material being left in the name “You can’t take joke?”

Its wise to always research to discover if any career path is cut out for you. There may be a handful of benefits to enlisting but there are truckloads of reason I wouldn’t recommend it. If you have Black youths that may be toying with the idea of defending America, please talk them out of it. It’s lunacy that one would willingly put their life on the line for a country that literally put our ancestors on a line & that continuously keeping up with the same evil antics. We are losing too many Black men to the prision system & too many Black women to our healthcare system & too many youth to the adoption system. Now we are burying our Suns, Moons & Stars behind a racist & murderous military system. I’m sure if time travel was an option, Dr. John Johnson (LaVena’s Dad that served in the Army) would NOT allow LaVena to pay the ultimate sacrifice with her life. So I’ll tell my iLL Community the same thing my uncle told me.. BLACKS HAVE TO PLACE OR NO BUSINESS IN A WHITE MAN’s MILITARY!

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Here’s What I’ve Discovered

Everything in live is intertwined. While practicing financial health, you’ll discover that once you get to a healthy financial state, you smile more, you are able to take longer & more relaxing vacations which in return equates to a healthier lifestyle. We can’t run to the store & buy happiness with money but you can do happier things. Earlier this year I posted about securing a secure credit card. I basically invested in myself when I got my tax money & dropped $700 on a secured Discover Card. This card is one of the few that offers cash back. The cash back in only 1% on purchases & 2% at restaurants & fuel purchases but if you play the game, the rewards you reap are noteworthy. While that’s a sweet perk, there is a larger benefit.

I’ve been a member since March of 2021 & now (December 2021) I received my deposit back & also discovered that my credit limit increased from $700 to a whooping $2200. Now I have a decent credit limit for a guy that’s repairing my credit & also $700 to reinvest in myself. It was a breath of fresh air knowing I’m able to responsibly do more things that will increase my chances to excel in discovering better food for my soul.

Also invest in yourself. The return of investment truly an ill feeling!

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Detrimental Advice That Will Stunt A Child’s Growth

As parents, its our duty to nurture our youth & make sure we guide them down healthy paths. I know you can lead a horse to water but you can not make him drink. Being that a “Child Care For Dummies” book doesn’t exist, we have to use an al carte style of parenting. Each child has their own personality so what nurtures one offspring may not nourish the next one. Old school values are great to instill in a child but some old fashioned parenting practices should be revamped. While giving your young ones guidance, here are 3 things you should NEVER tell a child.

Children Should Be Seen & NOT Heard

Telling a child they should be seen & not heard was one of the phrases that was laid upon us. Not allowing a child to have a voice only creates communication issues. Allow your babies to respectfully tell you what they are feeling so they won’t contain bottled up anger & emotions that they will carry into relationships. I know a LOT of our Black men & women who have complications with communicating & simply conveying meaning of a discussion. Condition our future leaders to speak freely while making confident eye contact. We all have witnessed balloons when too much air builds up & goes untreated

Verbally isn’t the only way to be heard. There are a plethora of activities to assist in releasing emotions & expressing a feeling. Painting a portrait releases creative energy & delivers a message with the same clarity as verbally delivering a message. Jogging, cooking, fishing or writing are other alternative to verbally getting things off a child chest.

Remain Emotionless

This one is mainly directed towards parents who are raising boys. Its rather toxic to tell a boy that men do not cry. Crying is a child 1st form of communicating with their parents. Since infantry, weeping is used to catch attention, alert an adult that a discomfort needs to be addressed & soothe . Imagine the destructive thoughts that can sprout inside a young boy’s mind while trying to understand the world thru a child’s eyes & now he’s told to remain emotionless & its not manly to cry. This child will struggle through life dealing with negative pinned up energy & the first relationship he’s get into will most likely fail due to his inability to release his emotions. We all want our kids to be successful but we are virtually setting our babies up for failure when you condition them to be cold & emotionless.

The Construction Of Restrictions

Children are just as curious as they are innocent. It’s a beautiful thing to experience an adventurous child safely explore an area. Lets our future leaders hold & tinker with harmless household items. This builds motor skills & their willingness to explore. Continuously telling a child “NO” & “STOP” constructs restrictions & when its time for them to leave the nest, they won’t go as far in life. Its a breath taking experience watching break down barriers & doing so at a young age conditions them to continue that path. When a young being is accustomed to a certain attribute, those life lessons will be a tool for them to build a better life.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

We Need More Warriors Soon

Amazing Art I Found On Twitter

There is no secret that there’s power in numbers. We are only 14% of American’s population so we need to find a way to increase our population & power up. Our primary concern should be to getting 100% of our 14 on code. Once we achieve that, we can then focus on growth & development. The best way to grow a fortune is to stop the bleeding of outgo which in return causes a gain & all of this can be done without increasing the income. Same as, we have too many Kings in prison, too many Queens losing their lives while giving birth & too many of our seedlings sitting in adoption agencies. The drainage once again is killing our population. But there’s another category that causes leaks in our population.

Nas Said It Best

Nasir Jones, in 2001, said it best in a song. “Hood rats, DON’T abortion your womb. We need more warriors soon sent from the Sun, Stars & The Moon.!” If you think he’s referring to flying warriors in from outer space, this blog post & this website is not for you. I know it’s her body & her choice but abortion is another method to keep our population low. In inner city areas, its almost a guaranteed to find a drug store, a liquor store & an abortion clinic on every other corner. I’m not here to debate or express my opinions on abortion. I’m simply making a point that these places saturate our communities. It’s sinister for clinic personnel to offer this type of service to a young & expecting mother knowing she’s having a hormonal internal war. When emotions are dipped in confusion & deep fried in uncertainties, this is an NOT ideal time to make life altering & irreversible decisions.

Gifts From The Universe

There are so many diseases that should’ve been cured by now. There are also plenty of real world issues that are still around that shouldn’t be. The universe blesses each soul with a talent or a gift. Some of the truly fortunate are giving extreme leadership qualities or even powers to heal…but where are these people. Our greatest leader was probably murdered in an abortion clinic before he or she even got to take their first breath. The soul who had the knowledge to cure AIDS probably never got chance to experience their first steps. I feel the uncountable number of Black Scientist, Black Doctors, Black Inventors & Engineers that the universe sent us to save us will never surface. Just close your eyes & think about all the problems we witness from day to day…then think about all the solutions that we kill off daily in clinics. As I stated earlier, I’m not passing judgement on any Queen who feels they need or want to take this course. Just keep in mind that solutions are created to kill problems but these days these problematic clinics are killing solutions.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

When We Go Missing

Before the age of the internet & the ability to spread news around the globe in a few hours, we had to create ways of quickly getting the word out about a serious event. In 1985, the Missing Children Milk Carton Program in the United States of putting photos of missing children on milk cartons. While this E for effort attempt to find missing kids was deemed ineffective for various reasons, I guess it was better than nothing. The victims that were lucky enough to be circulated on milk cartons were majority white kids. But this program was laid to rest a few years later when the birth of the Amber Alert surfaced in 1996. Technology has given us a faster method of alerting the masses about a missing child but one thing that the milk carton approach have in common with the Amber Alert approach is this system still seems to only be concerned with notifying us about kids of a lighter shade.

TheAgeless Epidemic

Kids have been going missing since the early 1950’s so this is nothing new. This ageless epidemic just doesn’t get talked about enough. A gross amount of Black citizens vanish every year. By the end of 2018, 6400 Black women & children were missing & no one seemed to care. That not even including the Black men that disappeared as well. For a little perspective, the city of Brownsville TX has a population of 183,677. So how does a portion of our population that’s equivalent to a small town goes missing & no one blinks an eye? Just last year alone, 543,018 Americans vanished & 37% of the were from our community. That’s a jaw-dropping 185,000 minorities (not including hispanics)

The Lack of National Coverage

In my last post, I stated how the media uses its power to spread statistics to display Black Americans in a negative tone but that same media is rendered powerless when its time roll out our accomplishments or inform us on dangers that directly effect us. Correct me in the comment section if I’m wrong but out of the 185,000 Black people who went missing last year, I do not recall 1 gaining national coverage. Just this year alone, I can name one blonde haired girl who went missing & she received 24 hours of national coverage. So who decides what cases get the coverage? Who makes the rules?

The world seems to be unbothered when black people go missing. Men are often discounted to the crime culture while our babies are listed as possible run a ways instead of missing. Its sickening to imagine how people in the amount of entire cities can go missing & our government officials do not feel the need to address this. Once again, when a system is created against a certain group, they do give a care until that system turns on them

What Can Our Community Do To Save Our Families

visit BlackandMissingInc.com

Black & Missing foundation is a non profit organization that offers a platform for us to find us. It offers a portal where you can report a missing person, search for a missing person, find information & stats about this disturbing topic & also a tip line. I love & respect this site. If mainstream media will not get the word out about the disappearance of your babies, we must be proactive & develop our own methods of spreading the word & swiftly & safely locate our future Kings & Queens. I challenge each & everyone of the iLL Community to donate to Black & Missing. The more we support them, we better chance we have at getting a lost person home.

No other group seems to take interest in making sure our people get the things we need. All we have is us. Its totally up to us to educate, nurture, protect, police & govern our own if we plan to survive. I would like to grow my platform & start listing missing black citizens & give updates once someone is found. We need to create our own Amber Alert which is ran & monitored by people who actually care about us. There’s no way a few of us can oversee us. We need all eyes & hands on deck. If you know someone who is missing, reach out to Black & Missing or any of the other groups on Twitter that you can locate by simply conducting a search. Just because we are in this alone doees’t mean you have to face these types of tragedies alone.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

More Black Women Lose Life During Creation

Part of the life cycle is the start of a new life. This should be an exciting & glorious event where all parties involved can rejoice. The only concerns with giving birth should be the picking of a righteous name or planning the perfect baby shower. So much goes into inviting a child into this life. All the concerns of baby shower planning, completing the baby’s room & trying not the stress the baby should be the only cautions that come to mind. But there is a staggering statistic that every Black woman that’s considering bringing a chid into this life should be distressed about. The mainstream media will not inform you of this but Black Women are over 4 times more likely to die bringing new life into existence than their white counterpart. According to the CDC, the gap increased from 38 to 44 Black Queen in 2020.

Value per every 100,000

Calculation As of 2020

Selected Statistics

Any statistic that can give us negative undertones will be plastered all over the national media but you will never see the chart I’ve enclosed above on the news. The imbalance of these stats truly shines a spotlight on the medical industry & raises questions of how this is even possible. IF all women are created equally & receive equal & adequate care, we would not be conversing about this. There is a major disconnect in delivery rooms all across America. Some point out that pre existing conditions that Black women have may be the culprit. By default Black people have higher blood pressure so could this be a contributing factor? There is no reason why one of our Life creators should lose her life while being admitted into a building that’s designed to save lives. This logic is similar to taking a car to a mechanic for a routine repair only to be told that your vehicle is now totaled.

The Undervalue of Our Life Creators

In an article posted on Heart.org sickening discoveries were brought to the forefront. A section of the article suggests that the mortality gap has little to do with preexisting conditions & pregnancy complication & more to do with the lack of care. "Basically, Black women are undervalued. They are not monitored as carefully as white women are. When they do present symptoms, they are often dismissed." says Dr. Ana Langer. (director of the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.) This is where systematic racism shows its ugly head again. How can so many hospitals employ doctors & nurses that intentionally neglect the care of a Black woman solely because of the color of her skin. Misdiagnosed illnesses, early release & simply a lack in the interest in keeping Black woman alive is the true reason why that gap is continuing to increase year after year.

Closing The Gap

We know this system wasn’t created in our favor so we must be diligent & go in with a game plan if we are going to decrease the gap & increase our population to more than 14% in America. Here are a few tips we need to implement in order to stay alive while delivering.

1. Request a Black doctor if at all possible

2. Hire a Black Doula

3. NEVER go into a health facility alone. Always take a close friend or family member

4. If #1 & 2 are not an option, STAY ON THE NURSES. Make them do their jobs

5. Report any misconduct or attitude to Texas HHS Remember: You are paying for a service . You are a customer

As a community, it’s up to all of us to educate & spread knowledge & resources to each other to keep us alive. We can only do this in unison. There is no reason why an expecting mother should walk in for something common as child birth & end up being wheeled out. This also poses more questions. What happens to these innocent Black offsprings? Its heart crushing enough to know the prison system is filled with our men & it hurts even more to know our Black youth are filling up adoption agencies. It reminds me of a slave trade on how white family come in to adopt & basically pick the one they want as if they are selecting a lapdog from a pet store window. We have a stay on our toes if we are going to decrease the gap & rebuild our Black household & communities.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

3 Tips To Keep Your Melanin Delicate

I recall as a child my mother having 2 bottles of detergent for laundry day. Laundry day always made the house smell extra fresh so I did not mind lending a helping hand. One day while attempting to be a laundry assistant, my mom walked in on me as I was about to pour a cap full of Tide into a load she previously started. She quickly corrected me but I was inquisitive about why? Clothes are just clothes. She advised me to pay close attention in life because everything that may seem similar may not be similar. She grabbed the Woolite & told me, “You have to treat the delicate things in life with a little more…delicacy!”

We are all human & are all created equally, right? Incorrect! Some of the most precious & delicate folks on this planet have an ingredient called Melanin added to their batter. Melanin is a pigment that is responsible for protecting skin from harmful UV rays. It’s always a layer of protection that prevents skin from over drying. Lastly, Melanin is the key ingredient that gives skin its darker shade of pigment. The thicker the grade; the darker the skin. Melanated skin is very low maintenance but there are steps we must take to enhance its beauty & strengthen its protective line of defense. Here are 3 important measures to take.

Water

Water aids in keeping Melanated skin clean internally & externally. Drinking a few glasses a day keeps the entire body hydrated. It also helps in flushing way toxins. While washing your face, try using a bit of warm water with a few drops of lemon juice to safely cleanse the skin while refreshing it. Harsh chemicals & cheap beauty aids wears on the skin & could lead to other issues.

Moisturize

While bathing & showering has its host benefits, be very leery of high temperatures. Hot water melts the natural oils in melanated skins & can cause extreme dryness, cracking or inflammation. It’s essential to properly moisturize. Soon as I step out of my warm shower, I apply a layer of Vaseline, baby oil or coconut creme/oil. When replacing oils, stray away from item that contain ingredients that you can not pronounce. Items with too much fragrance could be non beneficial for too many additives could hurt more than help. I learned a long time ago that naturally oily skin is a great thing. While using an agent that strips the natural oils from the skin will only cause the skin to create more. The skin is self lubing & will constantly create its own oils when it feels externally dehydrated.

Sweet Sweat

Swearing out toxins & impurities is a great way to keep your Melanin healthy. This can do done by being active. Dancing, working out, intimate sessions or relaxing in a wet or dry sauna are a few ways to work up an awesome sweat. The most toxins you release, the less likely you’ll suffer from eczema, rashes or ringworms. Its also important to give your Melanated sweat glands a work out because sweat is also your body’s natural cooling system. Get your body used to sweat & you’ll notice you’ll feel significantly cooler in the Summer by 5º.

Closing

Melanin is magical & requires a constant care regiment to keep its celestial levels of quality to fully benefit you. Properly hydrating your skin gives it attraction powers like no other. Maintaining its strength keeps you save from UV rays & other external toxins. Its a blessing from above to be gifted such a gaudy element that other attempt to replicate but can’t begin to even duplicate but put forward so much energy to imitate. Take time each morning & carefully care for your Melinan & watch the natural properties activate a higher level of majestic magic. I challenge my iLL community to go on a 7 day Skin care journey & I promise you the universe will send you a glow that is God sent.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community. 

Make It Make Scents

Scent Bird New York was one of the first services that peaked my interest. My growing curiosity in colognes truly make Scent Bird something I was dying to try. After logging on & setting up an account, I had to choose how many fragrances per month I wanted to try. I opted for 3 per month & then it was time to select which scent I wanted to smell like for 30 days. The cute & convenient vials are filled with must enough juice to last roughly a month. If you fell in love with a fragrance this month, you were not allowed to select that same scent the following month. With over 700 male & female selections, there was always something to try. But this is where I ran into issues.

Me being new to colognes, I wanted to test as many as I could. If I received a months supply of something I was not too fond of, I was pretty much stuck with it. At $15 a month, hoping you receive something you like was a bit of a gamble. I also noticed that colognes came in unique collectable bottles. I wanted to put them on display. Scent Bird just doesn’t offer that. Not to take anything from the company nor their business model but I can NOT recommend them to a new fragrance enthusiast who may be in search of a new flavor of the month. In my opinion there is a better option if you are wanting g to discover new liquid aromas.

For those who are into discovering & trying a lot of difference eau de toilettes, check out Fragrance net! Ive found a ton of samples for under $5. If you run across a fragrance that you adore, you can then buy a full bottle in a variety of different sizes. I found using Fragrancenet a more versatile solution. I recently discovered FragranceNet offers a subscription service. 😒 I have no experience with it so I can’t say much about it but I will say once you tried one, Yule basically tried them all.

🤎🖤Black Love ✊🏿 Black Power ☮️ Black Peace to my 🌡 Community.