Wisdom with Time

I started this day off giving honor and thanks to both of my grandfathers: James C. Patterson and Ardell Hamilton, Sr. What brought this on you might ask? I spent last evening basking in the knowledge of comedian, activist, and writer Dick Gregory. Some of the things he said just made me stop and think of the conversations that I had with my grandfather’s and the stories that my parents and their siblings have shared over the years. These are some points that Mr. Gregory left me pondering:

* The so called spiritual, Amazing Grace was written sometime between 1760 and 1770 by the captain of a slave ship. Wretch, do you know what the word actually means? “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that sav’d a wretch like me!” I did not. I just sang it because that’s what we sang at church. A wretch is a miserable, unfortunate, despicable person.

* Harlem is home to one of the highest concentrations of African Americans, yet Ms. Clinton won the popular vote on February 5th of this year. On February 16, 2008 the New York Times ran a story that indicated that not a single vote was cast for the current Democratic Nominee. Read it for yourself. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/nyregion/16vote.html?ex=1361250000&en=f77e8a83729ad389&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

* African-Americans are five times more likely to be poisoned by lead than other groups. A new study finds powerful evidence that lead exposure is a strong predictor of being arrested and a parallel brain-imaging study pinpointed the areas in the brain that are damaged by lead as those controlling judgment, decision-making and impulse control. Listen to an NPR interview http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4697843