Dr Amos Wilson: freedom from mental oppression

6th Ward Methodone Clinc

     It was recently brought to my attention that the methadone clinic located in the 6th Ward continues to be an issue of concern regarding the clinic's clients, who leave excessive trash in the area, and pose a perceived potential threat to children who reside and attend daycare facilities nearby. A task force was proposed three years ago, and from what I'm hearing, nothing has been resolved.  Alderman Sawyer recommended that negatively affected residents should have complained to the Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Office. All that does is demonstrate that he personally, as the elected representative of the Ward, is not willing to personally do anything to make this situation better.  My Brothers Brian Garner and Richard Wooten recommended moving the clinic, or "working with the community", respectively, to address this issue.
Personally, my first thought concerning this issue was to have the Chicago Police round up and duly process incapacitated individuals who are clearly in no condition to function normally, while having just gotten high legally, the moment they leave this clinic. Being repeatedly detained by the Police might actually change their behavior pattern after leaving the clinic. Having served in the Army with a good friend who started using heroin while stationed in Germany, I understand first hand what it's like to care about someone who knows they're in the grip of an evil addiction, and wants more than anything to break free. Holding them in custody briefly solves the excess trash and perceived threat to children issues.
     But it came to me that what may work better would be to shuttle this clinics clients directly back to where they reside, as soon as they walk out of the clinic. It doesn't take a great deal of cash to do this, it solves the two problems that have been articulated, and shows our addicted Brothers and Sisters that we still care about them. Peace.

Announcement of Candidacy

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Jesse Wallace, and I'm running for Alderman of the 6th Ward. Below, you will find the first post from my blog, which can begin to acquaint your organization with my candidacy, and my fundamental priorities. My nominating Petitions are now being circulated. Please, feel free to reply to this blog post if you would like to provide input, rebuttal, or guidance to my campaign. PEACE. 

The three fundamental goals I've set for myself as 6th Ward Alderman are to:

1.) Spearhead the creation of a Community Owned and Operated Co-op Supermarket in the 6th Ward.

2.) To Mentor the members of the ultra violent gangs that are killing each other and innocent neighbors, and share with them a few things I've learned about surviving without violence.

3.) To establish a robust business relationship with either the Ndoum Group Bank, or the Southside Community Federal Credit Union. To initiate and move forward with economic growth that's independent of outside lending sources, we will have to work from within the community, and not waste time and energy asking for assistance from outside of the 6th Ward.

I'm Ready! Are You?

Halloween 2015

     At this time I've decided to refocus the content of this blog back to "Personal Security Techniques", which is the title of a book I originally wrote in the early 90's, and updated several years ago before publishing it via Fast Pencil. Google the title, (by Jesse Wallace), and the results will lead you to a page where it can be purchased as an ebook or hard copy.

   On Halloween evening in 2015 I finished my shift at 8:00pm, and drove to a gas station that I visit on a near daily basis. As a matter of personal security, I've always tended to frequent the same retail establishments on a regular basis, to one, become very familiar with the business and the customers who are there usually there, which then alerts me when someone unfamiliar is there. Two, it also builds a rapport between myself and the employees of the business, which can make the difference between life and death in certain circumstances.

     On that night in 2015 I had, as usual, approached the station and scanned the lot to look for anything unusual. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I still drove around the rear of the station, and back towards the front door, where I parked as close as I could. When I entered the station, I was the only customer there, and as I was just finishing a transaction, the young man behind the counter told me, "Watch out, he has a gun and was in here earlier". I backed away from the door, and behind the metal racks of chips and snacks, as a young man holding a semiautomatic pistol entered, aimed his gun at me and said, "Give me your wallet". I responded by telling him, "That's crazy, the security camera is looking right at you". He lowered the pistol momentarily, looked up at the camera, and pointed it at me again saying, "I don't care, give it to me". Because I carry paper currency separate from my other belongings, I reached into my pocket and tossed all of it across the top of the metal racks, where it spread out and fluttered at his feet. He reflexively bent over to quickly pick up the money, which provided me an opportunity to attack him by forcefully shouldering the metal racks into him while he was bent over and couldn't see me. His response was to immediately run for his life out the door, which I locked behind him. He was subsequently tried and convicted for that armed robbery, plus several others.

     The main points I'd like to make are: 1.) A relaxed and confident demeanor in the face of immediate danger, will always take the aggressor off balance because that response was not something that they had anticipated. 2.) Offering the aggressor something else of importance to give their attention to, breaks their thought pattern. 3.) Once their thought pattern has been disrupted, an opening to either attack or flee may present itself.

     In closing, I'd like to state that I do not hate, or hold any ill feelings towards the person who robbed me. For me, the generation and maintenance of negative emotions towards another person is detrimental to my own personal development, as well as my emotional and intellectual well being. When that pistol was pointed at me, one might ask if I was afraid for my life, and my answer would most certainly be Yes, but, the key to overcoming fear is to acknowledge it quickly, and allow your intellect, experience, and will to survive to emerge quickly and overwhelmingly. Evil, and it's exercise upon us by others cannot prevail, in the face of that which is right. Peace.  

Garcia Versus Emanuel

    
     As we prepare ourselves to decide who will be the next Mayor for City of Chicago in the next few hours, I found myself strongly motivated to add my voice to this critically important conversation. The main issues appear to be the City's financial health, the Chicago Public Schools, and Crime.
     On current City finances, Chicago faces a projected budget deficit of $297 million dollars in 2015, so I did some research on the subject and found that the current administration has spent something to the tune of $38 million dollars in Direct Voucher Payments to donors and lobbying clients of the current Mayor. The current administration refuses to tell us who received this money. Our money. The current administration has announced a plan to provide DePaul University with $100 million dollars for their Basketball Program, out of Our money. According to the International Business Times, the CPS Teachers' pension funds are being handled by a company that has donated a sum that I was unable to nail down, to the current Mayor's campaign. The man who is in charge of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, and who ultimately decides the results of extremely close elections, was found to have a lobbying contract with the current administration. As soon as that was made public knowledge, I see that he then decided to resign from that position, after today's election. Ask yourself why, and you'll know the answer. While Chicago Police Department overtime has been shown to have cost us $103 million dollars in 2013, and the current administration will not tell us how it's being spent, I found an authoritative published article which stated that three, (3), Police Department employees, one Sargent, one 911 Center employee, and one communications type individual, made a combined total of $316,000 in overtime, in one year. The Sargent earned less in overtime than the other two employees, and probably did us the most good, if his or her heart was in the effort, and this person wasn't just trying to cash in on the opportunity. As you may or may not have heard, the published drop in Chicago's murder rate was manipulated by calling it a crime, but not a murder, if the victim wasn't deceased when the Police initially arrived on the scene.
     As to the Chicago Public Schools, I found a youtube video of  Public School Principal Troy La Raviere, in which he stated that the Mayors' full day kindergarten proposal would have to be paid for by increasing class size for students in later grades, which of course leads to less effective teaching, and to ultimately wasting the gains that were made in kindergarten. He stated that the increased high school graduation rate was achieved by manipulating the statistics. I believe that, because I also came to the same conclusion. He also stated that the current administration failed to properly fund Teacher pensions for the last four years. Mr. La Raviere has closely associated himself with Mr. Garcia's campaign, and unless he's a really good actor, as an administrator of CPS under Mr. Garcia, Mr. La Raviere would rather die and go to Hell for all Eternity, than see a CPS student graduate from High School unprepared for college.
     Crime. Take a moment and think back to when desperate individuals began to drive vehicles through store windows to steal merchandise. I had the feeling that this phenomenon started within the last 4 years, but I wasn't able to confirm or refute it with online research. Can a Mayor be faulted for the desperate actions of a few dozen individuals? No, I don't think it's the Mayor's fault. It's our fault, because we keep wasting our votes on candidates that don't actually give a damn whether we live in desperate poverty or struggle to make ends meet. We waste our votes on candidates who stage academy award winning acting performances, and afterwards, they shovel our resources to a privileged few, to the detriment of everyone else. Or, we just don't vote at all, and that's the mindset they're really cultivating.
 
         Mr. Garcia has been criticized in the media recently for not having all of his details planned, as to how he will get Chicago out of its' current financial difficulties. I get the feeling that  Mr. Garcia isn't in a position to tip his hand prematurely, because he surely knows that when a person is struggling against a determined foe with substantial resources, you don't divulge your game plan to the opposing forces. Mr. Garcia was supported by, and in turn provided support, to Mayor Harold Washington. I have a very strong feeling that Mayor Garcia will use the lessons he learned from Mayor Washington, and during his time in the City Council, to lend a much greater voice to our Aldermen than is currently provided by Mayor Emanuel. When Harold Washington took office, the City faced a budget deficit of similarly huge proportions, and he dealt with it by laying off 700 city employees, and cutting his own salary by 20%. It worked. No one is known to have unduly suffered, and the City as a whole prospered. In discussions with everyday people, I'm hearing that Mayor Garcia would "give everything to the Mexicans", and ignore the rest of the population's needs. I find that line of reasoning utterly absurd. We're seeing more and more Mexican Americans in the American workforce because many of them are effectively making an effort to attain the American dream of self-sufficiency, by hard work and perseverance. Sound familiar? I do not see Mr. Garcia as the type of person who would ever promote the prosperity of one segment of the population over everyone else. To do so would be foolish, and Mr. Garcia has never been described as that kind of person. If Mayor Garcia proves himself to be unwilling or unable to turn things around in Chicago, then we can elect someone else four years from now.
     In closing: Viva Garcia! Viva Chicago!    

Miracles

     I looked up the definition of a "miracle", and found the following:

 "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency".

     Due to the fact that I have not been energetically soliciting campaign contributions from 6th Ward voters, I recently found myself lacking the funds for nominating petitions. Once I articulated that via Facebook, I immediately received what I needed, and I'm now ready to energetically get (at least),  the minimum 473 signatures necessary to officially join the ballot for 6th Ward Alderman. I would at this time encourage any reader of this blog to post a comment, as to where I can meet with them, their neighbors, or their fellow church members, in order to further answer any questions regarding my aspirations for the 6th Ward during my Aldermanic tenure. I can also be reached at Jessewallace8031@sbcglobal.net via email. My immediate goal is to attain a place on the ballot, so that I can at least participate with the other candidates in one or more debates, to further cement the knowledge within the 6th Ward that I am the type of person who delivers results, and not just a well meaning "wish list" items that don't have much chance of being brought to fruition.
     To reiterate the core priorities of my upcoming tenure as Alderman of the 6th Ward, they are:
1.) Public Safety. Public safety begins and ends with the economic well being, the educational level, and the sense of community that is shared by the residents of any Ward. When ward residents come to realize that We are ALL in this life together, in this City together, and in this 6th Ward as one solid community of 38,160 persons, then the realization of that which binds us one to another in Love, Understanding, and Peace will slowly but surely unravel the threads of mistrust that keep us separated from one another. Police Department personnel only respond to tragedy after the fact, and no amount of additional Officers and Detectives will lower the crime rate in the 6th Ward. We can only deter crime in the 6th Ward by making it a realistic goal for Ward residents to be able to take advantage of legitimate means for achieving economic prosperity and a positive sense of self worth, than by illegal means. Please believe me when I tell you this: Very, very few of the young people who are committing violent crimes actually Want to shoot someone. They're largely being successfully used and manipulated by others to perpetrate these shootings. Overall, as their elders, we've failed to provide them with adequate alternatives to this self-destructive way of life. They're only killing each other because they feel that they have nothing positive to live for. We Can Change That!
2.)  Education. Whether we utilize Public Schools, Charter Schools, Faith Based Schools, Trade Schools, or any other type of school, the bottom line is whether or not the educational tools we provide for our young people will make them advantageously competitive with their peers. Schools which meet this goal are the only type that we can afford to tolerate in the 6th Ward. Schools which simply move students from one grade to the next and graduate them into becoming unemployable adults are useless and a complete waste of resources. Holding educators, (and parents) responsible for the results of our educational system is necessary, in order to improve our current system.
3.) Supporting Local Businesses. In order to fully realize the benefits that come from supporting local businesses, we must first and foremost own and operate the majority of businesses in the 6th Ward. Secondly, the owners and managers of these businesses must see 6th Ward residents as their life's blood, and therefore treat every customer with the utmost respect, compassion and understanding. I would create an opportunity, as Alderman, to meet with the Executives of our largest banks, and negotiate an understanding, whereby one or more of these banks will not only commit to funding our economic initiatives, but also make a commitment to the futures of our Children and Grandchildren. We would not need to, or want to bank with national bank branches, if we were confident that our local banks will value and respect us more highly than the larger banks do. It is imperative that we engineer methods and means by which we can "circulate" our Dollars multiple times, before they leave the 6th Ward.
    Miracles can and do occur each and every day. Love for one's self and for one another, and mutual respect enable them. Self-Doubt and mistrust tend to hinder them. I'm more than ready. Are You?
 
    
   

    

Why I'm Running for 6th Ward Alderman

     In 1989, I was 31 years old, single, and had worked for Sears Roebuck and Co. corporate security for 8 years. I'd earned enough to be able to afford ownership of my own apartment building, and I felt that I was beginning to make some progress in life. By fall of that year, everything started to become chaotic and unraveled. The tenant in my building had decided to move, which presented me with a financial burden that I was unprepared for. Sears announced that they were beginning to consolidate departments in a way that ultimately left 50,000 of us unemployed at the end of 1992. My soon to be wife and I lost twin sons due to their being born prematurely, and less than 4 weeks later, my Mother was murdered.
     As I attempted to make some sense of those tragedies, and find a way to cope with the seemingly not-so random nature of gross misfortunes that tend to be concentrated in Chicago's African American communities, I decided that the only sure way to become a force for positive change in the city of my birth, was to seek elective office. At the Aldermanic level, I could represent a core community of people that I'd see on a daily basis. I'd know how it feels for them to step outside of their homes and wonder if they'd hear squealing tires followed by gunshots and sirens, instead of playing children. I'd know who was engaged in self-destructive activities, and I would therefore have a handle on how to reach the youngest generation of at-risk neighbors, and find ways to keep them focused on self empowering pathways to relative peace and prosperity, instead of that same old treadmill that's kept multiple generations of our people mistrustful of one another, and bound to repetitive cycles of unemployment and underemployment, self destructive violence, ongoing economic decline, and institutionalized mis-education. I'd know which Police Department employees had our backs, and which ones were simply exercising their own brand of self-hatred, by alienating the very people they'd sworn to protect.
     For the last two months, I've been studying. I've studied lectures by Dr. Francis Cress Welsing, Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Claud Anderson, Alton Maddox Jr., Steve Cokely, Malcolm X, and others. It struck me as very interesting that many of these enlightened Brothers and Sisters had come to pretty much the same conclusion. Historically, we've successfully been conquered as a People because it's been possible for others to divide us, and keep us in a frame of mind whereby we refuse to trust in one another. At the same time, popular media throws utter nonsense in front of us on a constant 24 hour basis, in the guise of "entertainment". Over the years, I almost never watched professional sports, because, as I put it to someone many years ago: "If all of the professional sports teams suddenly ceased to exist, what would be different"? Nothing at all would change, because the only reason for these teams to exist is to place many, many, millions of dollars in the accounts of the few, while the masses are entertained with "games", while children go neglected, and men and women chase after unrealistic icons of physical perfection, and who turn on one another in a heartbeat, rather than stand by one another regardless of the obstacles in their path.
     I found online references to something called "The Willy Lynch Letter, and the Making of a Slave". It was presented to whites as a way to ensure the subjugation of the many African Americans, by a small minority of whites in America. This letter put forth valuable tools which were used to have Blacks assist in keeping themselves powerless. Some of these tools were Fear of one another, Distrust of one another, Envy of one another, self-discrimination based upon the shade of our skin, and of our perceived status in society. Part of this letter taught whites to "Keep ones eye on the female, who will break the free will of the offspring. Strip the strongest male of his clothes, draw him in half, in front of others. Beat the remaining males in front of the females. Test females for submissive behavior. Oddly enough, I've seen some bizarre examples of this strategy at work. A friend once told me he never raised his hand in class, as a way to have some sort of power over the Teacher. By holding back the fact that he "knew the answer", he could gain the upper hand in some fashion. All it actually did was to make the teacher feel that she was wasting her time on people deemed incapable of critical thinking.
     Back to the present: Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner attempted to court the Black vote by pledging $1,000,000 to the Southside Community Credit Union. That would increase their assets by 25% overnight. From the comments made by community members attending his announcement, the overall attitude was "wait and see". He'd talked the talk, but the question was whether or not he'd follow through with the check. From his own statements, and past actions, it appears that this candidate would say whatever is necessary to place himself in the Governors Mansion, and do whatever he felt like doing once he gets there. Just a bunch of smoke and mirrors without substance. Might as well let Mr. Quinn hold down the mansion until someone of real intelligence and moral fiber seeks the office.
     I'm running for 6th Ward Alderman because I want revenge against the system of divide and conquer that has plagued Southside Black residents all of my life. I'm running because I want to see a Southside Co-Op supermarket in the 6th Ward. I'm running because I love my people, and I love a good fight for a just cause!