The People Have Spoken!

 by Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired 

"Surely, there ought to be at least sixty in this chamber who believe as I do that the four most powerful words uttered in a democracy are THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!" The Reverend Dr. Senator Raphael Warnock. 

Georgia’s new vision for "One Nation Under God. If #WeThePeople can see #TheColorPurple, #WeThePeople can be #TheColorPurple.

UPDATE!!!! AMWS, March 18, 2021, Muskogee Creek Nation – “Help is on the way,” said U.S. President Joe Biden.  The president and vice president are expected here this week to set the record straight on $1.9 trillion of other people’s money. But by the time Air Force One lands, true believers will be pre-primed (verb), and pumping one of three "seasonably appropriate" memes.

a. #GeorgiaOnMyMind

b. #ThePeopleHaveSpoken

c. #PrayerChangesThings 

Political adversaries seeking to perpetuate historic myths were called out on their misconception of "Manifest Destiny."  As the Biden-Harris Learning Journey moved closer to this historical destination, one U.S. Senator stood on a promise to make business as usual a practice of the past.  

"Surely, there ought to be at least sixty in this chamber who believe as I do that the four most powerful words uttered in a democracy are THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, said the Reverend Dr. Senator Raphael Warnock in his first speech before the United States Senate.  The senator's holy season "chutzpah" may have miraculously healed a governing body afflicted with filibuster.

Prior to January 5, 2021, the day before a seditious raid on the U.S. Capitol, a majority of voters here accepted a Red versus Blue perception of reality.  Even after witnessing the first Black woman in American history swearing in the first Black U.S. Senator from “Georgia,” only a true believer could see the miracle of Manifest Destiny.  For the sake of some lesser blessed beneficiaries of “One Nation Under God,” some fact-checking may be helpful in simplifying the other obstacle to #HealingAmerica.

GET VACCINATED

FACTCHECK: Public Law 117-2 is the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  That’s the COVID-19 relief law Joe Biden signed.  Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is educating constituents on truth vs fiction.

FACTCHECK: Public Law 116-136 is the CARES Act of 2020. That’s the COVID-19 relief law signed last year before the attack on the Capitol.  Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is educating constituents on truth vs fiction.

FACTCHECK: Red and Blue together supports a #ColorPurple perception of reality.

FACTCHECK: The Reverend Raphael Warnock is the first person of color elected to the United States Senate from a place on Turtle Island perceived to be Georgia.  A Smithsonian study confirms the area around modern-day Macon, GA is perhaps a starting point for Muscogee Creek Nationalists on the historic Trail of Tears.

OPINION: Senator Warnock’s historic ascension tracks as a one in a series of Kyros events on a Chronos timeline. 

OPINION: The January 6, 2021 Day of Epiphany at the U.S. Capitol, ignited flames of “Manifest Destiny.”  Descendants of European settlers who believed in their unconditional entitlement to sovereign land, still hope to perpetuate myths through political control.  

OPINION: A Georgian’s right to vote in the sovereign nation of Muscogee has never been lawfully granted by the Muscogee Creek Nation.  Treaties between the United States and the Muscogee Creek Nation are just now being quantified as American Values.  HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA means keeping promises made in the political campaign.

OPINION: Based on the McGirt decision, Oklahoma prosecutors “lack the authority to pursue criminal charges for crimes committed on tribal reservations in which the defendants or the victims are tribal citizens.”  If historic territorial boundaries include modern day Tulsa, Oklahoma, the city and most of the eastern part of the state exists in the sovereign Muscogee Creek Nation.  

OPINION:  #Reparations -- That means the site of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street on June 1, 1921 was in Creek Nation and not the state of Oklahoma in the United States of America.  Oklahoma prosecutors never really had the legal authority to prosecute the Black Wall Street attackers.  State lawmakers have perhaps escaped accountability for nearly a century through this legal loophole.

OPINION: An application for citizenship by a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces to the Muscogee Creek Nation might establish legal standing on behalf of all African American victims of the Black Wall Street Race Riot. 

LEARNING JOURNEY Destination Black Wall Street --  “What’s the first Black Senator from Georgia have to do with Black Wall Street, Tulsa, OK?”   A study of geographic influences on history reveals that Georgia and parts of Alabama were “settled” as an outcome of The Indian Removal Act.  Tulsa was “settled” between 1828 and 1836 by the Lochapoka Band of Creek Nationalists.  Most of Tulsa is still part of the territory of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The name "Loachapoka" means "turtle killing place" in Muskogee, with locha meaning "turtle" and poga meaning "killing place."

THE INAILIENABLE RIGHT TO VOTE – Most Black children have never learned about Manifest Destiny—in “school” be it virtual (verb) or in a building (noun).  Our Learning Journey begins virtually in Macon, GA .  It is our point of departure for rediscovering “One Nation Under God.”   

GROUND-ZERO FOR ENDING VOTER SUPPRESSION  To understand the problem of voter suppression, or “irregularity,”  one must consider the perception of Red State rights in the new Purple State model for #HealingAmerica.   When you ask a group of Georgians how their state ended up with 159 counties (second only to Texas), you might hear that “Georgia’s counties were designed so that farmers in a mule-drawn wagon could get to the courthouse and back within the course of a day.”  But, in the age of transparency, the facts speak louder than myth. 

VOTING ON TURTLE ISLAND: Modern day Muscogee County, Georgia reflects a sovereign nation’s westward movement from the area known today as Bibb County.   The 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs bundles acquired tribal lands into Muscogee, Lee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties.   

The Creek Nation declared the land cession illegal because it did not represent the will of the majority of the people.  Did the United States Senate  ever ratify the treaty?  The following year, the U.S. government leveraged its perception of Manifest Destiny to impose another treaty on the Creek. 

Reality of where Georgia stands depends on your perspective of a level playing field.  Before signing yet another treaty, perhaps the Creek Nation will take inventory of its own Manifest Destiny and that of the enslaved Africans who found favor with the Creek along the Trail of Tears.  How else might one explain the rise of “Little Africa” in the era of Jim Crow?

The overall effect of the Creek trail of tears was staggering.  21,792 Creeks lived in Georgia and Alabama in 1832.  Twenty years after the "removal" ended, only 13,537 Creeks remained in Oklahoma.  Some 8,000 legitimate heirs apparently had died. Counted as a percentage of their population, the Creeks and related tribes suffered more deaths than the Cherokee in their own, far better-known routes along the Trail of Tears.

The January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol should have been anticipated.  But, in reality, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not likely to investigate perceived heirs of Manifest Destiny.  Members of the U.S. Congress are likely to find no fault in their own members for their role in the insurrection. 

Even the president will need to draw on historically underutilized assets to engage all citizens in restoring trust.  Chutzpah, a Yiddish word comes to mind for co-sponsors of The Stolen Peoples Equity Act.  It describes bravery that borders on rudeness.  If you have chutzpah, you say what you think without worrying about hurting someone's feelings, looking silly, or getting in trouble.

The Stolen Peoples’ Equity Act is a governing solution requiring little to no action by an illegitimate government.  Funding is leveraged by two intersecting opportunities for HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA -- The Trail of Tears and The Underground Railroad, and models a demonstration for“internal repair.” 

After Sunday School January 6, 2020,  Stephanie and Eric Stradford joined the 39^th President, first lady and their Maranantha Baptist Church family to celebrate a new generation of winners.  “Baby Virtually Alive” made her way from “Plains, GA” to celebrate three new applicants to THE ANNUAL YOUTH ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS.

The 39^th President of the United States reinvested in YouthUSA the value of Manifest Destiny.  During Sunday School at Marantha Baptist Church, Plains, GA, “Uncle Jimmy” revealed a secret to Manifest Destiny in a life-changing lesson.  As an outcome, a new generation of beneficiaries can LEARN-2-EARN their way to #NoPoverty2030 through their inalienable right to #EconomicInclusion.

A ruling on the constitutionality of a Stolen Peoples’ Equity Act may never pass muster in the U.S. Supreme Court.  But, the Supreme Court of the Muscogee Creek Nation might see things from a totally different perspective.  There is a win-win outcome for all sides in a #JustEconomy.  Perhaps now is the time for a change in venue.

 

The L2E Logic Model, a free person endowed with full rights and responsibility of any two believers may claim "Manifest Destiny" as a means of achieving a mutually desired alternative.  

MEME OF THE WEEK -  What happens when you elect two senators at once, one a Black Baptist Preacher the other a Jewish-born believer in possible dreams?  CHUTZPAH!  THE LAXATIVE for FILIBUSTER.  KAIROS MOMENT: Deification has just contacted the rotating oscillator.
 

 

How Two Senate Races Became a Battle for Your Soul

 #GeorgiaOnMyMind

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS, November 19, 2020, Atlanta – Better angels prevailed over outside agitators as the Georgia hand recount confirms a Biden win here. The latest hurdle in Election 2020 prayerfully brings #WeThePeople closer than ever to the Peach State reality -- #GeorgiaOnMyMind.

At dawn’s early light, a battle for Georgia’s soul is being waged with almost enough campaign spending to achieve #NoPoverty2030.  With plagues of Biblical measure at stake, no doubt, at least half of America is looking to Georgia for something other than business as usual.  According to Pew Charitable Trusts, 76% of Christians in Georgia believe in Hell.  Security of their own souls is crucial to recovery for the rest of the nation.

Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, has been facing the worst kind of voter intimidation.  The pressure between doing the right thing politically and doing the right thing is growing old—right alongside America’s intent for its post Civil War Reconstruction.   American history today in Georgia depends on the version to which one might subscribe.

Country artist Charlie Daniels perhaps foretold events of today in his prophetic country hit, The Devil Went Down To Georgia.  In the end, “Johnny” wins the battle for the soul, at least from the perspective of the storyteller here.  

“Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard, 'cause hell's broke loose in Georgia and the devil deals the cards. And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold. But if you lose, the devil gets your soul.”  

Battles for the soul of a nation have been fought and loss throughout Georgia’s history.  But unlike other less fortunate venues, Georgia discovered a bridge.  The multitalented Ray Charles set a tone for healing through his 1960 ballad.  Georgia on My Mind, (lyrics by Stuart Gorrell, a banker, and music by Hoagy Carmichael, an actor) endures as one of America’s best loved songs.

Georgia on My Mind has been recorded by many outstanding artists, but the rendition by Charles, a native Georgian, has been embraced throughout the world.  On April 24, 1979, "Georgia on My Mind" became the official state song of Georgia, replacing the song, "Georgia."

Repair from political conflict begins where a hopeful nation looks for it. In the past, a faithless elector might demonize political opposition without ever considering the history that got us here.

Georgia’s history presents a pathway to America’s future, but only with a little fact checking sprinkled along the way. Republican David Purdue is cousin to former Governor Sonny Purdue.  Georgia elected Sonny as a Democrat in 1991, 1994, and 1996. Then Sony switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1998 and was re-elected to the State Senate as a Republican. Democrat Jon Ossoff challenges Purdue to some down-home fiddling that could change the majority in the United States Senate.  Jon Ossoff’s election levels the Senate at 50-50, kicking off an honest attempt at being better.

The second of two senate special election races pits Raphael Warnock against incumbent Kelly Loeffler.  Warnock has served as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005. He came to prominence in Georgia politics as a leader in the campaign to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Loeffler is married to Intercontinental Exchange founder and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. In August 2020, The Washington Post reported the couple’s combined net worth at $520 million, making her the wealthiest U.S. senator. The Bloomington, Illinois native bought a minority stake in the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).  She publicly objected to players wearing shirts with Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name printed on them.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to the U.S. Senate seat she now holds. During the 2016 election, as Secretary of State, Kemp rejected help from the Department of Homeland Security to guard against Russian interference. During the 2018 election, Kemp held up more than 53,000 voter registration applications, with nearly 70% of the voter registrations belonging to African Americans.

Jefferson Franklin Long (March 3, 1836 – February 4, 1901) was the first African-American congressman from Georgia.  He was the only African American to represent Georgia until Andrew Young was elected in 1972.  If elected, Warnock will be the first African American to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. 

In the song, Devil Went Down To Georgia, observers might see the Devil betting a hometown favorite named Johnny a golden fiddle against his soul. It becomes clear that Johnny’s soul is symbolic of something more—perhaps the soul of the South –perhaps the soul of a nation. One might note from Daniels’ perspective on preposition, the Devil didn’t go up to Georgia, as if from hell; he went down to Georgia, as if from the north.

Battle For America’s Soul

 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:10-18

Be Strong, Be Ready, Be Prayin’