#SavingOurOwnLives

By Eric Stradford and Stephanie A. Walker Stradford

GENIUS AT WORK

A perspective on the final chorus of #WeAreTheWorld from Quincy Jones' notes. 
 "Love is all we need."

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AMWS July 16, 2018 – “There comes a time when we heed a certain call, when the world must come together as one.”  Now is that time!

#SavingOurOwnLives, an urgent cause for action, sparked an unprecedented demonstration to address a credible threat to a nation’s #EconomicSecurity. 

#WeAreTheWorld demonstrated endless possibilities for people who will stand together as one.  It’s been more than three decades since artists Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie etched this cause into a global call for action. 

A threat to the world’s most vulnerable citizens intensifies with each generation of wealthy folks who simply do not pay attention.  

BREAKING NEWS: Donald J. Trump is openly colluding with his Russian "competitor," despite months of denial by political conspirators.  The alleged action follows the indictment of 12 Russian officers for unlawful activity during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections. Though not necessarily a crime, punishable under U.S. law, collusion is a secret understanding between two or more persons to gain something illegally, to defraud another of his or her rights, or to appear as adversaries though in agreement.

Trump is hardly the first to learn that past acts, words and deeds matter.  "Tear down this wall!" is a line from a speech made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. 

 

Reagan was reportedly raised in a poor family in small towns of northern Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports announcer on several regional radio stations.  Hollywood acting and trade union attacking perhaps links the mid 1980’s to today’s news on foreign influence in American rights and responsibilities.

No international summit, multi or unilateral trade agreement, broken treaty or meet and greet will make a difference without facing reality.  “The poor can stop being poor if the rich are willing to become even richer at a slower rate.”  The assistant director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Hyman Bookbinder, declared that the long-range costs of adequately implementing programs to fight poverty, ignorance and slums will reach one trillion dollars in the future.

“The future is here,” said Stephanie A. Walker Stradford, CEO for Youth Achievers USA Institute.  We know what to do, but will we? Stradford is calling on fellow organization, civil rights, business, faith, and political leaders in a #BelovedCommunity to #PayAttention. #SavingOurOwnLives underscores the urgency for #WeThePeople to act now to #StandOurGround against enormous threats to our children, families and communities.

Depending on one’s political perspective, Ronald Reagan’s supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", advocated tax rate reductions to spur economic growth, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending.  Sound familiar?  From a historically disadvantaged perspective, the outcome was “trickle-down” for the middle class and a dream deferred for the poor.

In his first term, Reagan reportedly survived an assassination attempt, spurred the War on Drugs, and fought public sector labor.  Meanwhile, remnant factions of a #BelovedCommunity drew on indigenous assets to encourage a national offensive against the effects of unfavorable Washington policies.

Walls came down after realizing the need to engage in #SavingOurOwnLives and defeating apartheid by proclaiming #WeAreTheWorld.  Hands Across America was a benefit event and publicity campaign staged on Sunday, May 25, 1986.  It is reported that approximately 6.5 million people held hands in a human chain for fifteen minutes along a path across the contiguous United States.  Several international cities joined the cause and many donated ten dollars to reserve their place in line.  The proceeds were donated to local charities to fight hunger, homelessness and those in poverty.

In 1985, the supergroup United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa, brought to life the proclamation #WeAreTheWorld.  The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie with arrangements by John Barnes. Quincy Jones produced it for the album. With sales in excess of 20 million copies, #WeAreTheWorld is one of the fewer than 30 all-time physical singles to have sold at least 10 million copies worldwide. 

On a relative small scale, #WeAreTheWorld demonstrates endless possibilities when people stand together as one.

The “Phantom” who “believes I can achieve.”

“…and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams.”  Acts 2:17 Living Bible

By Stephanie A. Walker Stradford and 

Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS June 1, 2018, Atlanta – Youth Achievers USA Institute, a national 501c3 public charity, is responding to requests of youth applicants and their parents with a corporate commitment to award up to $5,000.00 in new scholarships during 2018.

This week, beneficiaries are once again reaching out to cash in on a community promise, granting winners “all rights and responsibilities.”  One beneficiary stated, “I want to remind you of the scholarship you owe me.”  

Another, shared a congratulatory text, reflecting a favorable assessment from a school counselor. Too often, however, youth beneficiaries, parents, mentors, asset managers and members of supporting Whole Villages forget or ignore the requirements and their responsibilities to qualify for benefits.

A non-believer argues that benefits are a myth. They tend to label “winners” as “phantoms.”  One scholar inappropriately attached the term to some YouthUSA beneficiaries.  In doing so, he may have reneged on a shared vision by a “Whole Village” of caring adults and challenged a two-thousand year old concept called faith.

That scholar never fully embrace the faith-based concept of winning.  Those like him may never comprehend the “illusion without material substance” overcoming a 400-year dream deferred.  So as not to be confused about the truth, a phantom is defined as an apparition or specter, an appearance or illusion without material substance.  A phantom might be viewed as a dream, image, or a mirage.

Neither social media comments, telephone calls or conversations at the Walmart qualify a beneficiary for The Evelyn Walker Armstrong Scholarship.  This resource of YouthUSA, however, does encourage pursuit of higher education.   

Scholarship applicants must have a completed application to The Annual Youth Achievement Awards; be engaged with their Whole Village in service; participate online with their Community Asset Manager (CAM) in YouthUSA Live Meetings; complete FDIC Financial Literacy classes; secure good grades, and submit a Benefits Request Form.   

The process for winning with YouthUSA promotes 21^st century measures for transparency.  The process models economic inclusion by engaging economically disadvantaged youth as economic beneficiaries.

There is no guarantee that all disadvantaged youth, ages 7-24, will APPLY. But, every completed application wins a chance to win.  That chance separates winners from quitters.  As one wise mentor advised, “A winner never quits, because a quitter never wins.”   Every completed application to THE ANNUAL YOUTH ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS qualifies a beneficiary to confidently and unapologetically declare, “I’m a winner.”

There is no promise that a Whole Village of 20 caring adults will do whatever needs to be done to ensure a beneficiary achieves “whatever I believe I can achieve.”   But, since 1996, every application to YouthUSA has challenged a Whole Village to invest in a 7-part vision (goals) of a youth’s whole future.  A $100 economic challenge represents a measurable $5 investment by 20 caring adults. 

To qualify for an Evelyn Walker Armstrong Scholarship, a YouthUSA beneficiary must: 

(1)  show evidence that initial application requirements were met,

(2)  present testimony by community members of relevant service,

(3)  submit a completed YouthUSA Benefits Request.

The process is available via Internet at www.YouthUSA.net.  It invites any YouthUSA beneficiary, past, current or future board member, caring adult investor, accountable grantee, or prospective partner to sign up for technical assistance being offered through Youth Achievers USA institute.

Remembering Brown v. Board of Education

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AMWS Compiled Reports, March 25. 2018, Topeka, KS -- Linda Carol Brown passed away in her longtime hometown. "Sixty-four years ago a young girl from Topeka brought a case that ended segregation in public schools in America," he tweeted. "

Linda Brown's life reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely people can have an incredible impact and that by serving our community we can truly change the world.  Linda grew up at Topeka’s St. Marks African Methodist Episcopal Church.  Her dad, The Reverend Oliver L. Brown (August 19, 1918 – June 1961) was the assistant pastor. Oliver L. Brown (August 19, 1918 – June 1961) was the "Brown" in the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

As a third grader, Linda had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school one mile (1.6 km) away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was seven blocks from her house. 

In the landmark Brown v Board of Education, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who, besides Brown, included Barbara Johns who was only 16 when she organized a student revolt at her badly-underfunded high school.  The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who, besides Brown, included Barbara Johns who was only 16 when she organized a student revolt at her badly-underfunded high school.

In 1950, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asked a group of African-American parents that included Oliver Brown to attempt to enroll their children in all-white schools, with the expectation that they would be turned away. Oliver attempted to do so with Linda, who was in third grade at the time and barred from enrollment at Sumner Elementary. The strategy was for the civil rights group to file a lawsuit on behalf of the 13 families, who represented different states.

With Brown's name happening to alphabetically top the list of plaintiffs, the case would come to be known as Brown v. Board of Education and be taken to the Supreme Court. The lead attorney working on behalf of the plaintiffs was future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

This month, as youth throughout the United States and the world #MarchForOurLives, we recognize that protests have been an integral part of America’s society since its birth.  And yet, public schools in low income neighborhoods must still fight for money, resources and qualified staff; the Voting Rights Act is in jeopardy; “We The People” continue to be harassed and gunned-down in the streets of these United States; and, hatred is alive and well.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his last book asked America, what will we chose…   Chaos or Community?

…Then, Caesar Falls!

“A divided kingdom ends in ruin. A city or home divided against itself cannot stand.” Jesus

Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired and Stephanie A. Walker Stradford

March 15,2018 (#IdesofMarch), Virtual -  House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will need to draw on every lesson from his Catholic rearing as 2.4 billion believers pray for him and One Nation Under God, besieged by chaotic patterns of behavior.  March 15^th marks the ominous “Ides of March,” an evidence-based precognition dating back to 44 BC. 

Today, U.S. Marine Conor Lamb (D-PA), hopes for an alternative narrative in a house divided against itself, The U.S. House of Representatives, where an #unpresidented agenda is threatening National Security.  Lamb, like Ryan is Roman Catholic with a capital C.  A lower case “c” in catholic defines a broader, more universal community.  Even children get it!  They can lead by taking a day from school and light the way from CHAOS to COMMUNITY.

Clairvoyance relating to an event or state not yet experienced cannot necessarily be dismissed as “fake news.”   Past precognition is shedding light on overwhelming darkness, revealing patterns of behavior such as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

The Ides of March, during the last century B.C., marked the #unpresidented impeachment of a political leader. According to sources, senators at the time, took matters into their own hands. They imposed term limits by executing Caesar.

Today’s millennials are discovering favorable evidence of clairvoyant foretelling dating back to the 8^th Century BC.  Old Testament Prophet Isaiah foretells their empowerment through the birth of an #unprecedented grassroots movement. 

The millennial-led movement emerged from a nation divided.  It has since survived world wars and rumors of wars.  By the middle of the first century AD, the movement and the charismatic carpenter who sparked it had cut through some 500 years of darkness.  A word, spoken by the anointed, appointed speaker, today endows 2.4 billion beneficiaries with life.   

On Wednesday, more than 2000 years after the movement began, students in thousands of schools across America walked out of class.  Responding to a National Security threat that left 17 dead in Parkland, Florida, the children may have found their collective voice in some hidden truth.  “In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them all.

That in mind, seven last words and #TheLift may prove to be the most effective tool for unprecedented activism.   #WeThePeople the #IdesofMarch are upon you.

“Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose.”  Jesus

FINDINGS:

1.  In or around the 800^th century BC, Biblical Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold an ensuing utopia on earth. This Golden Age (“The Millennium”) was spoken of as an age of Paradise on earth where there will be no death, sorrow, pain or sickness.     
2. Prophets are said to have characterized the Millennial era with the expression “the lion and the lamb shall lay down together.”  Researchers will be hard pressed to connect the finding to Biblical facts, but Isaiah 11:6 appears to support an 800 BC reference on our prophetic timeline.
3.  March 15, 44 BC is recorded as “the Ides of March.”  On this day, a government leader, whose exploits included, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” was attacked by a group of senators.  The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
4. “Et Tu Brute? Then Caesar Falls” is a finding, though not necessarily a fact. The Latin phrase (pronounced [ɛt ˈtuː ˈbruːtɛ]) translates, "and you, Brutus?" The key character in William Shakespeare's reality-based play is Julius Caesar. He utters these dying words in Act III, scene 1, as he is being stabbed to death, having recognized his friend and protégé, Brutus, as one of the assassins.  There is however no evidence that the historic Caesar spoke these words.
5. On a chronological timeline between 44 BC and 1 AD, independent lands surrounding the Mediterranean were steadily brought under Roman control, being ruled either directly under governors or through puppet kings appointed by Rome.  The Roman state itself was plunged into civil war several times, finally resulting in the marginalization of its 500-year-old republic and the embodiment of total state power in a single man—the emperor.  
6.  Jesus of Nazareth, reportedly born, King of the Jews, only begotten Son of God, and a carpenter, grew up to become an itinerant preacher at the age of 30. Eye witness accounts confirm that He drew thousands of followers in the relatively small area where he preached.
7. With around 2.4 billion adherents, split into three main branches of Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, Christianity is estimated to be the world's largest religion.  The Christian share of the world's population has stood at around 33% for the last hundred years, which says that one in three persons on earth are Christians.
8. In the United States, the percentage of Christians in the Catholic Church and Orthodoxy continue to decline, while Protestants and other Christians are on the rise. 
9. Popular Protestantism is one of the fastest growing religious categories in the world. However, political polling reflects a community of faith divided by race and fear that the majority will become economically marginalized.
10. The political movement #MEGA promotes a pattern of behavior described by Jesus as “A House Divided.” In Mark 23, Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand.
11. Seven last words from the cross, attributed to Jesus the Christ, reflect an historic pattern for completeness or wholeness.  #TheLift, evidenced in John 8:28 (NIV), foretells an event or state not yet experienced.  “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then, you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”