The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 - August 16, 2018)

Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25^th, 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee to her father, Clarence LaVaughn “C.L.” Franklin, and mother Barbara (Siggers) Franklin. Aretha's father Clarence, was a Baptist minister and circuit preacher, while her mother Barbara, was a gifted vocalist and pianist.

Both Aretha's parents had 3 children outside their marriage, and due to their tumultuous relationship, they separated in 1948, when Aretha was seven. Barbara went to live in Buffalo, New York, where Aretha's family had previously resided, and continued visiting Aretha who lived with Clarence in Detroit, before Barbara died of a heart attack in 1952, when Aretha was 10. Several women stepped in to help raise Aretha, her grandmother, Rachel being one of them, the other was the late, great Gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson—and it was during this time, that Aretha taught herself to play piano.

Aretha's father Clarence, was known as a preacher with a “million dollar voice”, and his celebrity amongst Black church-goers gained an almost nationwide status. His church was frequented by the likes of James Cleveland, Albertina Walker, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. Clara Ward, a gifted gospel singer herself, was said to be romantically linked to Clarence, but they never married—although, Clara was in the Franklin home enough times, to serve as a role model to young Aretha, while she attended Northern High School. But in pursuit of a musical career, Aretha left Northern High after her sophomore year.

Just after her mother's death, Aretha began singing solos at her father's church. And recognizing his daughter was an exceptionally gifted singer, Clarence began managing her at age 12. Clarence also helped Aretha sign her first record deal with “J.V.B.” records. In 1956, J.V.B. put out a single featuring Aretha titled, “Never Grow Old”, with another song called, “You Grow Closer” on the record's B-side. In 1965, “Checker Records” released an album called, “Songs of Faith” with the previously recorded Aretha cuts on it, and the disc also featured four unreleased songs from her as well.

Now, according to Quincy Jones, the famously talented singer Dinah Washington, said to him, that Aretha was gonna' be the “next one”.

So, in 1958, Franklin and her father traveled to California, where Aretha met Sam Cooke. And shortly afterwards, she toured with Martin Luther King Jr.—and sang at his funeral in 1968. As a young gospel singer, Aretha spent summers touring Chicago's church circuit, and often stayed with Mavis Staples and her family.

At age of 18, Aretha told her father, she wanted to follow Sam Cooke into the “secular” world of music, and with that, she and Clarence moved to New York, in pursuit of a “mainstream” record deal. Her father produced a two-song demo that came to the attention of Columbia Records, where she was signed to a deal in 1960. And Aretha's first Columbia single, “Today, I Sing the Blues”, was released in September of 1960, and quickly reached the top ten of the Hot R&B sellers chart.

Now, the fact that Columbia Records had Aretha singing songs like, “Today, I Sing the Blues”, speaks to the fact that they didn't know what to do with her golden voice. Still, in the 1960's during one of her performances, a WVON DJ, announced that Aretha should be crowned the “Queen of Soul”—and the title stuck.

In November of 1966, after six years with Columbia, Aretha signed with the “Atlantic Records” label. And in January of 1967, she recorded the song, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”—the song was released a month later and shot to number one on the “R&B charts”. *Note: now-a-days, the music industry has (largely) done away with the R&B chart listings, cause they know it's this genre, not “pop” music (Taylor Swift), that the public at large is really checkin' for and purchasing from (especially when ya' talkin' 'bout whitey). Mind you, “I Never Loved a Man” also peaked at number “nine” on whitey's Billboard's “Hot 100” charts. And if that weren't enough, this record's “b-side “, had the song, “Do Right Man, Do Right Woman” on it. And that topped the R&B top 40 charts.

In April of 1967, Atlantic had Aretha record her riveting version of Otis Redding's song “Respect”, which shot to number one on both the R&B and pop charts. This became her signature song, and with it, Aretha's status as an industry icon was confirmed. The song's also recognized as an anthem for the “Civil Rights” movement—and feminism.

Now, let's stop here.

The real reason Aretha's called the “Queen of Soul”, is that's what her voice spoke directly to.

When she sang, her melanated spirituality reached inside us and had a healing effect on whatever trials and travails we might have been going through. I remember as a young man, the first time I heard her sing the song, “Rock Steady”, on “Soul” Train. At the time, I didn't know much about her, but I was so mesmerized by her voice, that I couldn't turn away from the TV. What I've found out since is, the sound she produced, was the voice of our indigenous ancestors using her as a vessel, to let us get a glimpse of the abiding love, warmth, and benevolence that the overwhelming majority of us will experience, once we leave this 3^rd dimensional plane.

And let me also say, it sickens me, when white women try to hijack Aretha's spirituality, to co-opt the public into believing the nonsensical narrative of white fascist feminism.

Case in point...

A couple of nights ago on August the 20^th, MTV decided that Madonna should prepare a “tribute” to Aretha Franklin on their annual “Video Music Awards” (VMA) show. Now, as we all (should) know, Madonna's speech turned the air toxic at the VMA's—and there's 3 specific reasons why—and they're as follows...

Reason#3: People wondered, what the heck is Madonna wearing?

Well, while most people were befuddled at Madonna's wardrobe, when I saw her “get-up”, I nodded my head and though, it figures—cause here's what I knew: the term “Black Madonna” or “Black Virgin”, refers to the statues of the “blessed” Virgin Mary, and often the infant Jesus, with Black skin. Mind you, there are 400 to 500 “Black Madonnas” in Europe alone—and these statues, which are mostly in churches and shrines, are associated with miracles.

Now, you might be thinking, well, that's nice to know bruh, but what's that gotta' do with Madonna's attire? Well, peep this out...to the right and left of Madonna's picture from the 2018 VMA's, are pics of the “Black Madonna”. And like KRS-ONE said, “...if ya' wanna' little clarity, check the similarity.”

Mind you, the “Black Madonna” is who the Pope actually worships as a deity, as you can see to the left (and if you wanna' enlarge the pic, you can click on it).

Madonna was performing a freemasonic ritual right before our eyes, where she essentially tried to harness Aretha's (The real Black Madonna's) energy for herself. That's why she mentioned in her 6 minute speech, how she was inspired by Aretha, and that's why she thanked Aretha for being “our” Queen of Soul.

Essentially Madonna wants the “Queen of Soul” title herself, but she proved that night, that she'll never be anything but a third-rate “material GIRL”.

Reason#2: Madonna understands that she stopped being relevant years ago.

There's a now famous tweet being shown on this topic that states: “Does Madonna know Madonna didn't die”?

Now, what the person who “tweeted” this fails to realize is: Madonna may not be dead, but her career died a long time ago. And there's nothing she can do to resurrect it—NOT A DAMN THING!

Reason#1: Madonna not only knows that the gold standard of cultural currency is “Black Street Cred”, but she realizes that her leaving the R&B genre to be a pop princess, means she'll forever be locked out of that social construct.

Now, Madonna's 60^th birthday just passed—that's right y'all, the material girl, is 60. And supposedly, Aretha passed on her b-day. Mind you, I guess Maddy wasn't only pissed cause a fuss wasn't made over her birthday, but it seems like she's ticked off cause she was (and forever will be) outshined by Aretha's passing—and Maddy can't stomach that.

To top all this off, Maddy supposedly had her b-day celebration in Morocco, Africa.

Meaning, everything she's trying to do to align herself wit' “Black Cool Points”, is failing miserably. There's even footage of Maddy backstage at the VMA's conversing (and flirting) with Lenny Kravitz. And at one point in their conversation, Maddy says to Lenny, “...awards shows are all about betrayal—you feel me?” So Madonna's working overtime tryna' perfect our vernacular and get wit' our spiritual sciences, so she can stay in denial about her 15 minutes being up—and knowing they'll never be back again.

So, I've said all that to say this: no matter how hard Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani, the late Amy Winehouse, or Maddy try in earnest to approximate the construct of Black Cool Points, they'll always fall short. For the simple reason that their degenerative pallor and the recessive DNA that goes with it, will never be able to access the kinds of spirituality that the indigenous people of this earth, Black men and women, possess as a matter of course.

And like Sam L. Jackson said, in Spike Lee's movie, “Do the Right Thing”: “That's the double truth, Ruth”.

REST IN PEACE, AND AWESOME POWER TO THE QUEEN, NETCHER, DEITY, AND THE REAL “BLACK MADONNA”, ARETHA FRANKLIN!

THEY'LL NEVER BE ANOTHER TO TAKE YOUR PLACE! 

Later... 

—MontUHURU Mimia

P.S.

Here's the Soul Train vid from 1972, featuring Aretha, that I wrote about earlier. And mind you, everything about Aretha is golden in this clip, from her voice, to her skin, to her hair, to the background's stage design. And even though the production value of this vid ain't the best, Aretha's lovely vocals will still shine through your computer screen. And, I defy you not to get goosebumps when Aretha raises her hands and sings, “Oooooh-hoooo” at the bridge. Classic stuff, enjoy.

 

The cult of gay white bigotry (Part 2)...Black orphans and the gay white adoption agenda...

Here's some quick stats from the u.s. Census Bureau, before I get to the point of this post:

Approximately two million gay persons in the u.s. are interested in adopting children.

An estimated 65,500 adopted children are living with a gay parent.

More than 16,000 adopted children are living with gay parents in California, the highest number among the states.

And finally, gay parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the united states. 

Now, superficially, we should rejoice at the fact that gay couples have opened their homes to a large section of america's orphan population. And this should be especially true for Black americans, being that half of the 100,000 kids waiting for adoption in this country are African-american. African-american boys wait the longest to find families; and the most desirable adoptees, are babies and young kids who haven't been mistreated and don't have disabilities.  

I remember, decades ago, how pop star Madonna's contested adoption of a 1-year-old boy from Malawi, Africa made headlines. I also remember how a 1994 federal law was enacted, to forbid ethnic discrimination in a child's adoptive placement. 

And, if you've paid attention to any kind of 'social media' sites, or the TV news lately; you've heard how Bruce Jenner, the iconic u.s. Olympics, gold medal winning athlete, has come to the conclusion that he's now, and always has been, a woman. And this comes in the midst of seemingly every aspect of the 'lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender' (lgbt) community, being mainstreamed for acceptance by the american social order.

Now, we could think this is all coincidental, but if you've been reading this Blog for any amount of time; I think you know how bogus that idea is. So let me tell you the real reason, gay adoption, just like the membership in this lifestyle, has skyrocketed.

First off, many white corporate magnates and hyper-rich white CEO's, say they don't believe in God, or in any ancestral deities that the Black Diaspora worship. People like the neo-liberal bigot Bill Maher, will say they're not tethered to any religions or any form of spiritual science. The majority of them even say how they don't believe in silly forces like karma. 

Now, I remember listening to a 'Pan-Africanist' speaker, and how he said, on one of his lecture tours, a sista told him that she took her son to a department store like Montgomery Ward, or some other comparable department store. And how her son asked her, when they walked through the entrance, "Ma, do you see what I see?" The sista replied, "No son, what do you see?" The precocious, strong-minded young brotha declared, "Do you notice all the Black people are in the clothing section, and all the white people are in the gun section?"

And, american gun manufacturers are saying, they can't keep up with white people's orders for guns and ammo since Obama became president. So, whitey's declarations about not believing in karma, is A BALL-FACED LIE!

These people know they have a karmic-asskickin' coming! That's one reason why so many white stars and white people in general, are adopting Black children; 'cause they WANT BLACK PEOPLE TO FORGIVE THEM!

They want us to adopt the negro christian programming we've gotten in american churches and schools, so we can give them a pass for their centuries of mistreating us. So their adoption of our children has little or nothing to do with whitey's altruism, and more to do with their wanting to stave off, the very thing they claim not to believe in...karma.

And second, I've mentioned several times on this Blog and in these posts, how white birth rates are falling below replacement levels. Now-a-days, these pale-skinned inbreds are really quaking in their boots about the inevitability of their not being around in the coming centuries. And of course, the white elitist bulls-eye is on the back of Blacks, due to our having the most genetic power to breed them out of existence.

So what's a more effective way of ensuring that the Black Diaspora adopts homosexuality, other than through whitey's mainstream media initiatives? Simply, through having our children, grow up in a gay household.  

This would almost guarantee that the young Black man or woman, would be sexually conflicted and never think about having a child. Unless, of course, they adopt one like their gay parents.

The mainstreaming of homosexuality, is nothing more than another white supremacist initiative to exterminate the global, or in this case national, Black population. 

And several white people have rebutted this point by saying, hey...white fascists are mainstreaming homosexuality for white people too. That's true. But one thing these degenerates don't realize is, the MAJORITY OF THE WORLD DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THEM!

The overwhelming majority of the world's population is asian. China has always been well known for it's booming population, and along with more densely populated places like India, it makes asia the world's leader in birth rates. And you know who's right behind them? 

AFRICA!

Then you have every other ethnic group, with whitey dead last.

See, the majority of these inbreds have never been outside the u.s. and think everywhere on earth, is like here. The majority of them don't read anything edifying, at least not unless bigots like howard stern and rush limbaugh push them. So they're simply ignorant to the fact that the majority of the world is Black and brown. One thing I love seeing, is when one of these genetic dead ends says to a Black person, go back to Africa, and the brotha or sista tells them to go back to europe. They just freeze. 

And in case anyone thinks that gays are our allies in any kind of human rights, or 'Civil Rights' struggles, you'd be in for a big surprise. I've personally worked around these degenerates, and some of them are bigger bigots than their straight peers. Beyond this fact, what really grates on me concerning the queer populus, is how they believe that Black people especially, should recognize them as a 'marginalized' minority. Now, mind you, these are white men and women we're talking about. See, these gay inbreds wanna' have their cake and eat it too. Meaning, they wanna' have the white privilege AND be recognized as an oppressed minority. And they're actually indignant about this. I've seen a lot of them visibly upset about how we don't mention them in our 'Civil Rights' struggles.

But here's my question to them right off the top: where were the queers when my people had fireman's water hoses turned on them? Where were they when we had attack dogs sicced on our women and children? 

They were right behind their straight peers, saying nothing! 

Now they wanna' take credit for what we did? Please!

And beyond the tax and other societal benefits of being married with children, you gotta' ask yourself this: if these white gays were so hung up on having kids, why the hell are they gay? Why can't they see the contradiction in this? And why can't they recognize this as a personal problem?

And still, these gay inbreds got the nerve to say their struggle is just like ours. If someone ever brings this issue up, tell the confused nut(s), if for no other reason, a queer's struggle has nothing to do with ours, 'cause a gay person can hide their sexuality, we can't hide our ethnicity. 

END OF DISCUSSION!

Now, conversely, this also says, we Black people have to do a better job of adopting our children. And for that, we'd have to get rid of the self-hatred bred into us by these white fascist forces. 'Cause if you're conditioned to hate yourself and everyone who looks like you, you're not gonna' ever consider adopting a Black child.

Now, here's the question I pose again and again: is it too late for the Black Diaspora to get our right minds back? And if it's not, will we do this in time? Do we even wanna' recognize how we've been conditioned to hate ourselves and each other?

That's a question we individually and collectively need to answer...with a quickness!

Later...

MontUHURU Mimia

P.S.

If you'd like to see the first Blog post of this series, you can do that here.

The real message behind Madonna's 'Papa don't preach'?

"We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the negro population..."
--Margaret Sanger, founder of 'Planned Parenthood'

"Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep, Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep...but I've made up my mind, I'm keepin' my baby."
--Madonna, from the song 'Papa don't preach'

On June 30th, 1986, Madonna released her third studio album, 'True Blue' through Sire records. 

The single, 'Papa don't preach' was released several days before the album (June 11th), and was the LP's second single coming out after her song 'Live to tell'.  

When this song came out I was in high school; and I always remembered thinking how this was an odd subject for Madonna to sing about. Basically, this song is the story of a girl in her later teens telling her father how she's keeping her baby, despite the stigmas surrounding teenage pregnancy. 

Now, when I was growing up, Black children born out of wedlock were called 'illegitimate'; but since whitey adopting the trend, this is now called 'single parenting'. (Shouts out to Shahrazad Ali for my paraphrasing of her quote; if you don't know who she is, google her.)

Fast forward decades later, and now we have shows like '16 and pregnant' on MTV, basically showing the travails of pregnant white girls to everyone. 

Now, everyday on my way to work, I pass a 'Planned Parenthood' clinic, and I see several 'pro-lifers' discouraging women from aborting their children. Now, outside this clinic is a picture of a Black woman and beneath her is a caption stating there are alternatives to abortion; and the 'pro-lifers', some of them anyway, are carrying placards and signs with this same sentiment. Now, a casual observer would think that these pro-lifers are interested in saving Black babies from termination...but nothing could be further from the truth. 

See, a couple of years back, I wondered why the white elite would close scores of abortion clinics, when stats show how the majority of aborted babies are Black. 

Mind you, the teen pregnancy rate among Black girls is down something like 51% and are also below the rates of teen pregnancy for spanish women; but they say Black girls are still more likely to get pregnant than white girls, but I'd have to do more research on the subject in the future for verification...'cause again, I don't take whitey's word for anything anymore as the gospel truth; and like I've said in past posts, you always have to consider the source of whitey's information...but at one time, before I came into the knowledge I have now, I thought maybe whitey had a change of heart about Black babies and abortions...then I read about Ms. Margaret Sanger. 

See, good ole' Margaret dedicated her life to the promotion of birth control, and it's no coincidence that the 'Planned Parenthood' organization is the largest provider of abortions 'in the world'. 

And, over 78% of her clinics just happen to be in or near Black neighborhoods.

Just a little history about these clinics, the first Planned Parenthood clinic in the u.s. was opened in Brooklyn, New York in 1916, and guess what kinda' neighborhood this was in...you got it, poor and Black. And in 1960, when the first birth control pill was approved by the FDA, guess which neighborhoods got 'em first through Planned Parenthood clinics? You get the idea. 

One of Sangers biggest influences was a eugenicist by the name of Dr. Havelock Ellis, who she had an affair with, which led to the divorce of her first husband by the way; he urged mandatory sterilization for the poor as a prerequisite to public aid. (Mind you, to this day, if you're a woman who receives welfare, you can't have a man living in your house)

Thing is, what whitey didn't realize, was white women, not Black women, represented the majority of females on welfare in this country. So, unbeknownst to them, Margaret and her pal Dr. Ellis basically started the campaign to get rid of white children in droves. And, it was three years ago when I found out how white birth rates are currently falling below replacement levels, and again...good ole' Margaret was a major contributor to this. 

Thanks Marge!

But coming back to Madonna, this is when I got the real message behind her song 'Papa don't preach'...it was for white women/girls to 'keep' and produce more babies, 'cause whitey knew in a century or two...he/they'd be history.

See, whitey's about to go the way of the dinosaur...and there's NOT A DAMN THING HE/THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT!  

But, they're not gonna' go quietly.

There's gonna' be a manic race by whitey to produce as many laboratory born biological weapons as they can put out, and their effectiveness at killing off Black people is gonna' jump exponentially. That's what the whole 'Ebola in the u.s.' craze is about now. And if you look at one of my last posts, 'The gospel of white supremacy (Part 2)...Who created the Ebola virus?', you'll see how this disease came to being.  

That's why I'm imploring every Black person reading this to work towards healing the rift between Black men and women; this is a matter of survival...and that's not hyperbole!

Between gentrification, biological weapons extermination, and covert methods of sterilization, white people intend to go down fighting 'til their very last breathe. So we have to be that much more vigilant in our quest to reunite and put a stop to this world-wide parasitic nuisance called the pale-skinned caucasian.  

Now, can we do this...absolutely! Will we do this in time? That's the 64,000 question.

So, let's get to work now...'cause this really is a matter of life and death!

Kem Wesir!

MontUHURU Mimia

P.S.

If you'd like to check out my Blog post that explains how the 'Ebola' virus was created, you can look at it here.

Here's the video for Madonna's song 'Papa don't preach'. I had no idea how the white elite were campaigning for their girls to have more children even back then. In this video's opening, notice how the camera focuses on several white children in the park, especially the ones hanging on the gate; and notice Madonna's Black slinky outfit when she does her primary dance moves, the juxtaposition of this and the completely Black background against Madonna's white skin and bleached blonde hair, is sending the message that more white children need to be produced than Black, sublimely. 

And, at the end of the video, when Madonna tells her father played by actor Danny Aiello that she's pregnant, at first, he's dismayed; then at the end, he hugs her; this shows he's approved of her keeping the child. Thus, mainstreaming the approval of teen pregnancy for a generation of white girls. 

Also, Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy's daughter, made a cover version of this song in 2002...go figure.