Crime & Culture
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Peace,
First I want to say thank you who come through and check the site regularly. I also want to say Peace to my brothers and sisters within the Nation of Gods and Earths who contribute to the NGE blogosphere. Your work is continually adding Understanding to the Cipher. Earlier this week on my brother C'BS Alife Allah's blog (www.allahsfivepercent.blogspot.com), he spoke of being questioned about speaking on NGE "beliefs". If anyone wants to know of our values, you can contact us for further information, b.u.t. one of the purposes of our blogs is to show you the Understanding (result) of how we think and live. Everyone that I know that has a blog has knowledged 120 degrees and is qualified to teach.
Last week, I picked up a book entitled "Philadelphia's Black Mafia: A Social and Political History" by Sean Patrick Griffin, a professor at Penn State University. The book covers the history of Philadelphia's Black Mafia from the late 60's in Temple #12 to the present. The book is somewhat well-researched, b.u.t. it's coming from a law enforcement point of view, and therefore doesn't present the most balanced story. Similar to the story of the Mafia and other organizations, there's more to it than racketeering, extortion, and murder. In this case, it involved a powerful religious movement and the shaping of the consciousness of a community (In this case, Philadelphia's Black Community). To truly get a idea of how the NOI (known as the first resurrection) and later Orthodox Islam affected the city, you have to go to Philadelphia and see 20 and 21 year old Black Males standing on the corner with their pant legs rolled up in accordance with the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and beards longer than most Imams. Earlier this year, a influential Imam in Philadelphia was indicted for fraud and accepting money from local drug dealers, who also happened to be muslim. What I'm saying in no way indicts the vast majority of Black Muslims in Philadelphia, just like what I'll speak on in the next paragraph doesn't represent all Gods and Earths.
Two days ago, I grabbed a DVD entitled King Of Kings. It was advertised a a documentary on the Feurtado brothers, who were alleged to be the biggest wholesalers of Marijuana, Heroin, and Cocaine in Queens during the late 70's and 80's. What it ended up being was a documentary on how the 7 Crowns gang in Queens merged with some members of the NGE in Queens and created one of the largest and most deadly criminal organizations that New York has ever seen. By now, everyone knows about Supreme from the Supreme Team from his run ins with 50 Cent and his affiliation with Murder Inc., b.u.t. this DVD details how Supreme was able to organize his operation with support from other Gods. The DVD starts with the narrator saying "Queens was once known as a desert, but overnight it became a oasis." Ironically enough, Desert and Oasis are NGE names for Queens. Now, from reading my and other NGE blogs, you would already know that the NGE does not advocate the selling of drugs in any way, shape, form, and fashion. In reality, these two examples underscore the depth of the struggle that we have in our communities, and the need to create a holistic change that impacts all aspects of our lives. It's a tough road saying that you are the supreme being and you don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. In Philly, although brothers have converted to a new way of life, they are still in the same city.
Being frank, the medicine that we take to change our lives doesn't work overnight. It didn't take two generations to get where we are, so it won't take two generations to get us up out of it. We have to ensure that the events of the past are not held as a sword to define the direction of future generations.
Peace,
First I want to say thank you who come through and check the site regularly. I also want to say Peace to my brothers and sisters within the Nation of Gods and Earths who contribute to the NGE blogosphere. Your work is continually adding Understanding to the Cipher. Earlier this week on my brother C'BS Alife Allah's blog (www.allahsfivepercent.blogspot.com), he spoke of being questioned about speaking on NGE "beliefs". If anyone wants to know of our values, you can contact us for further information, b.u.t. one of the purposes of our blogs is to show you the Understanding (result) of how we think and live. Everyone that I know that has a blog has knowledged 120 degrees and is qualified to teach.
Last week, I picked up a book entitled "Philadelphia's Black Mafia: A Social and Political History" by Sean Patrick Griffin, a professor at Penn State University. The book covers the history of Philadelphia's Black Mafia from the late 60's in Temple #12 to the present. The book is somewhat well-researched, b.u.t. it's coming from a law enforcement point of view, and therefore doesn't present the most balanced story. Similar to the story of the Mafia and other organizations, there's more to it than racketeering, extortion, and murder. In this case, it involved a powerful religious movement and the shaping of the consciousness of a community (In this case, Philadelphia's Black Community). To truly get a idea of how the NOI (known as the first resurrection) and later Orthodox Islam affected the city, you have to go to Philadelphia and see 20 and 21 year old Black Males standing on the corner with their pant legs rolled up in accordance with the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and beards longer than most Imams. Earlier this year, a influential Imam in Philadelphia was indicted for fraud and accepting money from local drug dealers, who also happened to be muslim. What I'm saying in no way indicts the vast majority of Black Muslims in Philadelphia, just like what I'll speak on in the next paragraph doesn't represent all Gods and Earths.
Two days ago, I grabbed a DVD entitled King Of Kings. It was advertised a a documentary on the Feurtado brothers, who were alleged to be the biggest wholesalers of Marijuana, Heroin, and Cocaine in Queens during the late 70's and 80's. What it ended up being was a documentary on how the 7 Crowns gang in Queens merged with some members of the NGE in Queens and created one of the largest and most deadly criminal organizations that New York has ever seen. By now, everyone knows about Supreme from the Supreme Team from his run ins with 50 Cent and his affiliation with Murder Inc., b.u.t. this DVD details how Supreme was able to organize his operation with support from other Gods. The DVD starts with the narrator saying "Queens was once known as a desert, but overnight it became a oasis." Ironically enough, Desert and Oasis are NGE names for Queens. Now, from reading my and other NGE blogs, you would already know that the NGE does not advocate the selling of drugs in any way, shape, form, and fashion. In reality, these two examples underscore the depth of the struggle that we have in our communities, and the need to create a holistic change that impacts all aspects of our lives. It's a tough road saying that you are the supreme being and you don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. In Philly, although brothers have converted to a new way of life, they are still in the same city.
Being frank, the medicine that we take to change our lives doesn't work overnight. It didn't take two generations to get where we are, so it won't take two generations to get us up out of it. We have to ensure that the events of the past are not held as a sword to define the direction of future generations.
posted by I Majestic at 3:14 PM
2 Comments:
when i lived in Philly, the JBM was on a decline. but its ill how it was all connected.
growing up in NYC, we looked up to all those crews you mentioned. its bugged.
i think its like any religion/culture/way of life, you have your bad apples. unfortunately folks think the bad apples speak for everyone else.
Peace,
Dang..another book and another DVD that I'm going to have to pick up..lol That's a subject that isn't really touched on alot. Interestingling enough the same element of 'crimminology' is found in relationship to white organizations such as white fraterntal organizations (look at P-2 with Freemasonry or various 'crimes' of the political parties) yet the white organizations are never stigmatized as a whole to the degree that Black organizations have been.
Peace
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