My response to each “Covenant” follows:

COVENANT I - Securing the Right to Healthcare and Well-Being

plez’s Response - Good health begins with good living, eating the right foods, exercising, staying away from drugs and alcohol. I guess this should read that everyone has a right to good common sense! Now, if they are referring to health insurance, that stuff costs money… and it’s not an issue for just Black people.

COVENANT II - Establishing a System of Public Education in which All Children Achieve at High Levels and Reach Their Full Potential

plez’s Response - Good Education and Achievement can be accomplished in our public schools, but it requires a substantial investment by the community. Parents must be intimately aware and actively participate in their children’s education. They must raise money or “booster” to alleviate budget shortfalls, they must meet with teachers and let the teachers know the high expectations for their children, and they must followup to ensure their children are being taught properly. Parents must also make sure that their children are prepared for school everyday and they must discipline (and allow school authorities to discipline) their children.

COVENANT III - Correcting the System of unequal Justice

plez’s Response - Stay out of the System … don’t start none, won’t be none! I know “ish” happens, but when it does, quietly work to resolve the problem and don’t make it worse by NOT using good common sense.

COVENANT IV - Fostering Accountable Community-Centered Policing

plez’s Response - I don’t understand Convenant IV. I live next door to a policeman.

COVENANT V - Ensuring Broad Access to Affordable Neighborhoods that Connect to Opportunity

plez’s Response - Why must where you live be a ghetto? And if it is a ghetto, clean it up. I paid a little bit more to live in my neighborhood, so I wouldn’t have to deal with folk that carry a ghetto mentality with them.

COVENANT VI - Claiming Our Democracy

plez’s Response - I don’t understand Covenant VI (I guess I should go out and buy the book, huh?!?). Democracy isn’t for everyone (look at Iraq) and quite frankly, I’m glad that a lot of people who have no idea about researching issues and candidates’ stands on various issues don’t go out and vote. If you only vote for someone because of their race, religion, or party affiliation, I would prefer that you didn’t vote!

COVENANT VII - Strengthening Our Rural Roots

plez’s Response - I don’t understand this one, either (something tells me that they had planned to have 10 Covenants and they started to run out of ideas). My new #7 - Emphasis on Personal Responsibility

COVENANT VIII - Accessing Good jobs, Wealth and Economic Prosperity

plez’s Response - Get up every morning, even when you don’t feel like it. Get to work or school early, try being the first one there everyday. When you get there, do what you’re supposed to do. You’d be surprised how well the rest works out for you. (See my New #7)

COVENANT IX - Assuring Enviromental Justice for All

plez’s Response - This may require some government intervention (I’m sure the book has a template of the letter that you need to send to your congressman and/or senator telling them about the environmental conditions in your area along with some basic instructions on how to start an investigation).

COVENANT X - Closing the Racial Digital Divide

plez’s Response - Give me an (excuse my French) effin’ break! There’s not a public school or public library in the United States that is not on the ‘net. It’s 2006, if you are on the wrong side of the “divide”, shame on you!

That is just stupid. Base on what facts” - Eugene

Bible thumber Eugene, you’re stupid - go do some research and you’ll find evidence for environmental injustice - and guess what, you wont have to look far. While you’re at it, find some hard evidence that your “god” exists…then EVOLVE

“So I guess that any talk of the 70% of children born in black households without fathers was ‘off limits’?”

You jumped to a lot of conclusions there - you certainly couldn’t be a scientist with that kind of logic. Just because a woman is not married when she gives birth doesn’t mean that a father is not around. Duh. One need only look at folks like Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise to see how that works. While I do agree that parenthood should not be entered into lightly, this type of sloppy logic is getting really old. And besides, WHITE PEOPLE HAVE A 50% DIVORCE RATE -go ahead and argue that its better to atleast be married and then divorce than to cohabit while raising kids – either one is far from your ideal.

My main beef with Farrakhan is that he will follow up these great points with “the government and ALL white people cannot be trusted” talk. He will then pepper it with conspiracy theories that when pressed to provide the hard evidence, nothing comes of it. The result? More mad black folk who will give him a pass for such an “oversight” while holding other folks to a much higher standard.

Hmmmm, we may talk about this one later.

When you look at a brother or sister, who wants to call themselves a BLACK LEADER and you get the vibe that;

Has he or she, been out to the hood,

to check out how folks are doin;?;(need I say on a regular basis) or do they only come out the castle,

to pass the plate,

to us serfs,

to put our SWEAT $earn$ in?