Positive Change and Transformation

In the face of recent events such as, for example, the Samantha Orabator case, the Troy Davis case and the many instances of tasings of African American people, one of my online contacts recently raised the question, “What Can We Do?”.

We work so hard to battle these injustices. Yet they never seem to decrease. So what can we do?

My work is all about creating a more positive future.

The Law of Attraction tells us that whatever we put our energies into, increases in our lives. This is very similar to the Law of Increase, which I write about in my book Success Strategies for Black People.

Although our intention is to bring about positive change, we need to be aware that these universal laws are constantly working. They can work for us or against us. We can use them in our favour – or not.

In other words, the more energy we put into battling a problem, the more energy we are giving to that problem.

We need to turn our focus to the solution rather than the problem.

Situations such as the case of Samantha Orabator will often respond to Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT). I write about SRT and the Higher Self in Success Strategies.

I also write about Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as well as other highly effective processes.

These are transformative methods. I have seen miracles happen in my life and in the lives of others. This is why I wrote the book. I want to make these methods available to as many people of African heritage as possible. We can use these methods and other things I cover in the book to heal ourselves, our families and our communities. And we can use them to achieve much, much more.

I am passionate about the work I do because I have seen the difference it makes in people’s lives.

As Black people, we often get into victim mentality. This is because we have been victimised for so many generations.

Those of us of a political bent say, “Organise! Fight back!”. And of course, there is a time to organise. There is a time to fight, to defend our communities.

However, in order to bring about real positive, effective change and transformation, we need to turn our focus inward.

Human beings in general tend to blame others for our problems, difficulties and issues. This is a basic human tendency. And others are often to blame.

The problem with this is that it locates the solution outside of us. If only “they” would treat us better. If only he, she or they would stop doing whatever it is they are doing and do what we want them to do. Then everything would be okay.

Please note, I am NOT trying to take the blame for racism and racist violence off of white people.

I am just saying that, whether we blame ourselves or other people, blame is not a solution. And I am interested in solutions.

We have amazing power. We need to use this power to bring about the changes we need. Blame then becomes a distraction from what will bring about the real changes we deserve.

I am a pragmatist. I am committed to doing what works.

I will be blogging about this further within the next few days.

Ending the Violence

As you may know, yesterday was the AfroSpear's Day of Blogging for Justice against tasers. If you haven't yet, you can read my latest anti-tasing blog here.

Here are some more:

Electronic Village Wants to End Taser Torture

Eddie Griffin's Message to the Fort Worth Police

From My Brown-Eyed View

Dallas South

Antoinette's Pont of View

There are many more. Feel free to add your voice. We need to stop this violence against African people. Tasers are widely used in the U.S.A. and will be in the UK unless we stop this.

The only real way to stop violence is with nonviolence. I am not talking about passive resistance as was used during the civil rights era of the 1960s. I am talking about creative communication, also known as Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

NVC is used in many parts of the world, incuding places that have a history of extreme violence, such as Rwanda and Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Israel and Palestine.

NVC is changing people's lives. We can use it to transform the way the police operate so that everyone's needs are respected.

The Law of Attraction tells us that what we put our energies into increases and expands. The Law of Increase says that what we concentrate on, what we focus on, increases.

So if we focus on the solution, we will find more and more solutions.

It is important that so many people have blogged and are continuing to blog about tasing, as it is being used to assault and even kill African people.

We need to be aware of the problem. This is vitally important. But even more crucially, we need to focus on solutions.

I will be leading a course in London on NVC for the African Caribbean community in October. Check my web page, Improving Relationships/Improving Communication, for updates.

For more information, see Nonviolent Communication.

We can bring about positive change and transformation. We can transform this situation. Find out more and get involved.

No to Pre-Trial Electrocutions

Congratulations to my fellow AfroSpear members for organising another Day of Blogging for Justice to raise awareness about the use of tasers against Black men, women and children.

Click here to read my post on the previous Day of Blogging for Justice against tasing.

It is a travesty that another such event is needed. Tasing is also being referred to as "pre-trial electrocution" and rightly so.

Here are some more of today's blogs:

TNT Truth Not Tasers

AfroSpear Blog

Here in London, attacks by the police are much in the news at the moment, following the demonstrations around the G20 a couple of weeks ago. Three people have been named as victims of police attacks, one of whom, Ian Tomlinson, is now dead. Films of the incident suggest that Tomlinson was minding his own business, watching the demo from the sidelines, when attacked from behind by a police officer. He collapsed, and died shortly thereafter.

It has been decided that a third inquest into Tomlinson's death will be carried out, as the findings of the first two contradicted each other.

The day after Tomlinson's death, a woman protester was struck by a police officer.

I note that (1) both of these protesters were white, (2) both incidents were filmed. In the case of the attack on Tomlinson, several different cameras in different positions recorded the incident.

And (3) none of the alleged attacks involved the use of tasers. In other words, London's Metropolitan Police are capable of doing plenty of damage without deploying tasers. Tasers are rarely used in the UK at present, but once their use becomes widespread, the situation will only worsen.

Given the current state of the economy, with an increase in employment being forecast, many are predicting an increase in civil unrest. So lots more opportunities for the police to use heavy-handed tactics.

I will be blogging more about this soon, but I wanted to post this today in support of the Day of Justice.

Black people have been saying for many years that the policing of our communities is often brutal and violent. When Black people die in police custody, no one is ever prosecuted or deemed to have acted unlawfully or inappropriately.

As I said recently in Police Officers Accused of 60 Other Assaults, African young people and adults need to be carrying cameras and/or camera phones at all times in order to record these incidents. However, I add that, once a brotha or sista is inside a police cell, he or she has no opportunity to use a camera, and no guarantee that the cameras in place are in working order or contain film. Again, I will blog more about this soon.

Again, all credit to the sistas and brothas of the AfroSpear for keeping the issue of tasing in the forefront of our minds.

Tasing in Hyde Park

When I said in my recent blog about the Day of Blogging for Justice that tasers had not come to the UK, I was wrong.

You have probably read in the papers that on Thursday, 31^st July, about 300 young people – most of whom didn’t know each other - attended a water fight in Hyde Park which had been organised on Facebook. All good clean fun. Until one young lady splashed someone who didn’t like it. He punched her. Knocked her to the ground. Then fights broke out, the police descended, arrests were made and someone was tased. I don’t know if the person was Black or white. But tasers are in use on these shores.

Day of Blogging for Justice

Many of my fellow AfroSpear members have blogged on 30th July about the rising numbers of tasings. Like many abuses of the criminal justice system, the victims are disproportionately African Americans.

We don't have tasing in the UK as yet but, in my opinion, it is only a matter of time.

I find it difficult to say how I feel about this. I feel so strongly, it's hard to find the words.

The violence must stop.

On nearly a daily basis, there are reports of tasing 'abuse', that is to say, tasing used in extreme cases such as, for example,

Blind, cancer, diabetic woman tased

http://overanalyzeit.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/blind-cancer-diabetic-sufferer-tasered-by-dayton-police/

But tasing in and of itself has been characterised as torture.

This is part of a much bigger problem. African people have been characterised as violent, brutish and animalistic for hundreds of years - first by the Arabs, then by the Europeans. This was used to justify the enslavement of African people.

In recent years, we have seen many manifestations of this, such as the Rodney King case and others like it. Children as young as five being incarcerated. The disporportionate number of African American people on Death Row. And tasing is a part of this overall pattern.

In the Niger Delta, African lives are worth very little, compared to the value of oil:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/14/10341/

In other parts of Africa, the search for conflict diamonds costs many lives.

I could go on and on and on and on. There is so much more to say. But I try to be solution-focused.

Bottom line, the violence must stop. THE VIOLENCE MUST STOP.

We can find peaceful means to air our grievances. We can find peaceful means to bring about justice. I am working alongside many other people all over the world to bring about peace through Nonviolent Communication (NVC). And miracles are happening.

To read more about NVC, visit: http://tinyurl.com/ywjm33 and

http://www.blacksuccess1.com/improvingcommunication.htm

To read posts by other AfroSpear members, visit:

Partial List of Participants in Day of Blogging for Justice

Sorry I cannot list everybody here. Well done to all the bloggers who have helped to bring this issue to prominence.