Overt/Covert - The Difference a "C" Makes

Bull Connor

OVERT- adjective \ō-ˈvərt, ˈō-(ˌ)vərt\: easily seen : not secret or hidden

"Negroes and whites will not segregate together as long as I am Commissioner."
"All you gotta do is tell them you're going to bring the dogs. Look at 'em run. I want to see the dogs work."
"You can never whip these birds, if you don't keep you and them separate. I found that out in Birmingham. You've got to keep the white and the black separate." 

Donald Sterling

COVERT- adjective \ˈkō-(ˌ)vərt, kō-ˈ; ˈkə-vərt\ : made, shown, or done in a way that is not easily seen or noticed: secret or hidden 

"And why are you taking pictures with minorities.....Why?"
"Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with Black people. Do you have to?"
"I want you to love them (Blacks and Hispanics) privately."
"But why publicize it on the Instagram and why bring it to my games?" 

HISTORICALLY................ 

 “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either”  Senator Trent Lott 

“The black is a better athlete to begin with because he’s been bred to be that way — because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back, and they can jump higher and run faster because of their bigger thighs. This goes back all the way to the Civil War when during the slave trading, the owner — the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid.”  Jimmy the Greek, Sports Commentator 

"That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve." Fuzzy Zoeller, Golfer 

 "I used to own - my father had a ranch. We used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,”  U.S. Representative Don Young 

 "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... and so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives," Mitt Romney, 2012 Presidential Candidate 

Above are just five historical examples out of countless other statements that have been made usually under the influence of alcohol or what was thought to be behind closed doors. As one who love words, I thought this was an opportune time to be tongue and cheek with the words "overt" and "covert."  The words contain the same letters with the exception of the letter "C" but are definitional opposites. One is easily seen and the other is not. One is clearly more dangerous than the other.

I can appreciate the Bull Connor's of the world because I know where they stand; however, the Donald Sterling's and the others named above as examples are a horse of a different color (no pun intended). As the kids can say, "There is no shame in Bull Connor's game," as he let you know with no uncertainty and without a shadow of a doubt where he stood. The others on the other hand portray themselves to be one thing, when really they are not. They portray themselves to care for everyone when in reality they do not. It's fine for Black/minority basketball players to make Donald Sterling billions, but not okay for blacks to be brought to "his" games. Mr. Sterling in his own words is "bothered" by the fact that his "mixed" girlfriend (her words) wants to associate with Blacks.

The problem with our covert brothers and sisters is that they are in the words of the O'JAYS, "Back stabbers."

(What they do)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)

A back stabber is much more dangerous than the person who has no shame in his/her game. The covert brothers and sisters and smiling in your face while at the same time wishing you did not exist or are looking at ways to make money off of you, while still hating you (it's called being pimped).

Memorial Wall at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany

I recently visited  the Dachau concentration camp in Germany and was once again reminded of the mantra of our Jewish brothers and sisters who make it very clear that it (The Holocaust) will never happen again. Their slogan is "Never Again."  Every race and ethnic group who has suffered atrocities merely because of their race or ethnic background ought to adopt similar sentiments and always take actions to ensure that it will indeed never happen again.

Be very clear that there too many covert brothers and sisters out there to count and their true selves only manifest under the influence of alcohol or in quiet room conversations that somehow leak out. Mr. Sterling says that he is a part of a historical culture; a culture that I pray will one day become extinct. As always, something to critically think about.   You are invited to listen to me live each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org and follow on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

The Fool Hath Said In His Heart, There Is No God (Psalm 53:1)

View from my hotel room in
Switzerland 

I had the opportunity to tour Germany, Italy and Switzerland from April 17th through April 26th and what a wonderful tour it was. Many of you followed along with me on my journey through Instagram, Google + or Facebook, as I posted my photos whenever I was in an area that offered wi-fi. I ultimately shot over 800 photos while there, yet it was this photo shown to the left that immediately brought to my mind Psalm 53:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good." This was my actual view out of the window from my room in the Hotel Frohsinn in Erstfeld Switzerland that displayed to me the awesome work of God. As I looked out of my window, I could not help but think to myself how this was just one of God's masterpieces. In fact, as we traveled throughout Europe, I witnessed myriad masterpieces of God; the mountains, the valleys, the colors.......oh what wondrous works of God.

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on the 18th and went directly to Rothenburg for a sightseeing tour. From there we went to Munich taking a walking tour at Neuschwanstein Castle. While in Munich we also took a guided tour before setting off to Innsbruck, Austria on our way to Venice, Italy.  We toured Venice and then onto Verona. When we left Italy, we headed to Lucerne, Switzerland where we were when I took the photo above. We returned to Germany stopping at Rhine Falls and the Black Forest before staying our final night in Heidelberg awaiting our departure again in Frankfurt for the U.S.  I saw God's handiwork throughout this tour with Psalm 53:1 constantly popping into my mind. After seeing God's creation in a different part of the world, I could only conclude that it would be as the Bible says in Psalm 53:1 only a fool that would say in his heart that there is no God.

If you would like to see photos of the tour, I invite you to follow my Facebook (Reading Circle), Instagram (readingcircle01) and Google+ (Marc Medley) social media sites. The photos will also be available at some point as a Picasa Web Album as I am uploading the entire 801 photos there. I invite you to join me on Saturday mornings at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org and on Twitter @thinkcritical01. Lastly you are invited to download The Reading Circle App for your mobile device at http://thereadingcircle.mobapp.at/.

It's Not Cute - Part II

"A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone." ENOUGH SAID. This parenting thing is a serious issue folks. I invite you to join me each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org, follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01 and download The Reading Circle App http://thereadingcircle.mobapp.at/

It's Not Cute

I don't think I have to say a word in this post. I think you get the "picture." No pun intended. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Parents must wake up and realize that we are the reason that we get what we get. This is not to say that a child who has been trained correctly won't go astray or go wrong, but the likelihood of it is much less than with a child who has been taught to think that wrong and aberrant behavior is "cute." Something to critically think about. I invite you to join me each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org, follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01 and download The Reading Circle App at http://thereadingcircle.mobapp.at/

Truth In Humor

Get Into A Reading Rhythm

Many people ask me how do I manage to get through so many books and my response is that I have a reading routine and rhythm. I'll share my recipe with you. Try this for one month and see how much progress you make. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. A sitcom generally airs for a half of an hour at a time with dramas and soap operas airing for an hour or more. Instead of watching the sitcoms or drama programs, turn the television off and use the time to read. That's right......READ.  Let's say that you watch three sitcoms for a half of an hour each. Choose three books that you are currently reading or would like to read. Read each book for a half of an hour each (the same time you would have spent watching the sitcoms). Set a timer if you need to in order to keep you on track. At the end of the thirty minutes, change to the next book and begin reading it and at the end of that thirty minutes, move to the third book. If you do this once a day for a month, you will be absolutely amazed at the number of books you will complete in that time and ultimately in a year. It's not that we don't have the time to read, it's more like we don't TAKE/MAKE the time to read. If television is not your thing and you spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer or on social networks, the same recipe will apply; just insert the computer in the blank where I have TV above. In fact any other time consuming activity will work to fill in the blank. In other words, I am asking you to substitute reading for one of the other activities. I cannot express the myriad benefits of you doing this here in this post. If you cannot do the ninety minutes, start off with thirty minutes and work your way up. Give up one sitcom to read a few chapters in a good book. Research says that anything done for thirty days becomes a habit (good or bad), so give it a try and watch how quickly you increase the number of books you have read in a week, month, and year's time. Happy Reading! Something to critically think about. I invite you to download for free The Reading Circle App on Itunes, Google-Play, or Amazon.  I also invite you to listen to The Reading Circle each Saturday morning beginning at 6 a.m. ET on gobrave.org and locally in northern NJ on WP88.7 FM. Lastly, I invite you to follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01.  

Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Quiet?

A young man accepted into one of the more prestigious performing arts high schools in the city goes there for the first couple of months and opts to transfer to one of the more challenging schools in the city. A neighbor who moves to a calmer more stable community stays there for a couple of months and moves back to the yelling, hollering, blaring of sirens and the screeching of tires in her old neighborhood. A sixth grade student is given a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend one of the top performing middle schools in the city, stays there for a month and chooses to come back to one of the lowest performing schools in the city. In all three of these instances, when asked why did you come back or why did you make that decision, the individuals said that "It was too quiet there." 

Now, I don't know about you, but my mind struggles to process that logic. You've left a chaotic situation for a more stable and calm place and then return to the chaos because the calm and stable is too quiet? I can't get enough peace and quiet and there are those who obtain it and then go back to the chaos. If this makes sense to you, please help me out in your feedback in the commentary section. 

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor preached a sermon titled A Question For Those Who Are Comfortable In Chaos and it centered on accepting dysfunction as a way of life or for too many as the only way of life. We must not and cannot accept dysfunction in our lives. That is not to say that things won't be dysfunctional, it is to say however, that we must always be striving to make functional what is dysfunctional. In other words, we must always be moving towards fixing or correcting what is broken or incorrect. I am truly perplexed as to how one could get to the place where so many others would love to be and then go back to the place where so many would love to get out of with the rationale of it being too quiet. You get to the mountain top and then come back into a valley that you know is chaotic, not to fix the chaos, but to join back with the noise. What they are saying is I am not happy unless I am hearing the fighting, the screaming, the cursing, the gunshots, etc. etc. etc., so therefore I will leave the quiet place and go back to that. To go back to fix the chaos is one thing; to go back to join in it and be a part of it is another. All three of the scenarios in the opening of the post are true with no names mentioned to protect the afflicted.  

For this critical thinker, leaving a place that is quiet to go back to a place filled with chaos because of the former being "too quiet," is something to critically think about. I invite you to hear me live on Saturday mornings as the host of The Reading Circle on gobrave.org and to follow me on Twitter @thinkcritical01.