[bellson]

This info is not new, but it is STILL crushing to me. I have lifelong friends who are black. I am eternally grateful for their friendship, and the love and guidance of their parents (whom I call my Aunt Nancy and My Uncle Warren). No relation to them at all, but they are (were) the finest of human beings.

My "cousins" if you will, live in Houston, Tx. in what might be called a tough neighbourhood. They tell me that they are like "whites" in that they do not put up with the BS that the thugs use to justify their crime. AND THEY ARE LOOKED DOWN ON!

I told them to leave. I begged them to take a loan from me to GET OUT!

To their credit, and they have my undying respect; they refused. All four of them. They told me that their place was right where they were. That their duty was to break the ignorance. That they could not face their Father in the afterlife if they did anything different.

I do know have words for that kind of dedication. I do not have words for that kind of honor.

I will just say this: There are some, perhaps many that ARE NOT IDIOTS in the African American Community. They live on the front lines, and they are still trying. These are the folks that we should be helping. They will make a difference. They already are.

In Memory of my Uncle Warren: An Officer, A Gentelman, A Pure Warrior. An Engineer, A Scholar, A Poet. More than anything else; A shining example of what a real man should be. That was in the 1970s, when it was still commonly accepted to call a black man "Nigger" to his face, and fear no reprisals.

Uncle Warren was Black. But he was no Nigger. He was among the finest of men. And every black boy in America can be as great as he was.

Sorry if that was a bit rambling. But it touches my heart closely.

Regards,