Camden High Panthers. WHY WE MATTER

I am reaching out to you all this way because we are too many to touch individually. It is an honor to be the elected President of the only Official Camden High Alumni Association. CHSAACNJ we are the 501c3 organization for CHS. We have members and scores of Alumni all over the planet. Before you all put on your purple and gold, please pause. Pause and say a prayer for all of us no matter where we may be. Remember why you wear the Purple and Gold. Remember what it means to you and all of us who earned the right to wear it.  We matter. Our lives matter. Think about why #ICantBreathe. We don’t matter to those trying to take our spirit, our pride, and our history. We don’t matter to those trying to sell our school, our city, and all that we have become. The PANTHER of Camden High enables OUR athletes and scholars to do incredible things in the face of insurmountable obstacles, extreme poverty, and hardship. It is Panther Pride. Panther Pride does not sell out family.

I posted that I was escorted by Metro Police from the Chris Christie press Conference at Camden High but I did not have the chance to tell you the entire story. Here it is. In 2001 Camden High was allocated by the NJ SDA 440 MILLION dollars to be renovated. The money was paid out but not a single contract for materials was awarded.  In 2006 another 100 million was allocated by then Gov. Corzine to do work on Camden High. When Christie entered office he took the $100 million back. Telling residents if we wanted the money we should ask Corzine for it. When I learned of this I asked for an audit during official both State Senate and Assembly meetings for our 440 MILLION dollars. I also have asked for an AUDIT of NJ SDA Funds. The Fund which started in the billions is now down to 500 million with NO accountability.

Christie then comes back to CAMDEN HIGH with the announcement of gift of 50 Million dollars. No how would you feel if someone took ALL your money and then gave you back change. Would you celebrate them? Would you call them a hero? Well that is exactly what happened on the day they put me out. Assemblyman Whip Wilson, without our permission, tried to make Christie an Honorary Member of the CAMDEN HIGH ALUMNI ASSICIATION.

With the President of the only OFFICIAL CAMDEN HIGH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION escorted out by metro police before Christie enters the building, the announcement and gift presentations went off without a single question.  I posted the pic I took as I was being forced to leave. I was told I could not stay as it was an invitation only event.  I responded that I figured our invitation got lost or that there was a mistake in not inviting the PRESIDENT of Camden High’s Alumni Association or a legitimate representative. I requested that the person in charge be notified of our presence and that the error be corrected.  That is when I was specifically told to leave and the Metro Police were to ensure I was off the premises.
It makes us ask who are actually the friends of Camden High? Our accolades are press worthy but our plight is not as OUR kids go without books and OUR Special needs Kids are not supported.

For generations which are longer than our entire lifespan, Camden High has been a symbol of hope, excellence, and perseverance. We PANTHERS are family.  It is deeply offensive that some of our own alumni are taking part in selling our Castle on the Hill. We know what makes us Panthers. Just for old time sake I will state a few. No matter what you were when you entered those doors upon graduation you became a PANTHER. When you wore OUR name in OUR house on OUR floors and fields you were a PANTHER.  When you fought beside us you were a PANTHER, Some people became Panthers for a moment those who graduated became Panthers for LIFE. WE ARE FAMILY.

To OUR Teachers, those who taught us PANTHER PRIDE We are what we are because of you. I will always have ONE PANTHER Principle mother, Mrs. Cream.  What we learned was to RESPECT The High, The teachers, The principle, and Our selves. It was and still is a matter of respect.

So what do we do? What Can WE DO? Alumni I am asking you all to remember this day. Write my name on your refrigerators and place my name on a piece of paper in your Bibles. Make a reminder NEVER to vote for Dana or Whip or Christie EVER again. Camden HIGH, The Castle On The Hill is not for sale.  We are what stands in their way. Look at our banners, scoring records trophies, and the light in the eyes of a REAL PANTHER.

Lastly I ask you all to pray for Dajuan Wagner as he is working out again. When you see him, just nod. He knows what that means. Panther Pride does not die it grows in the hearts of those with whom we share it. #ICantbreathe Hands up for Camden High and the City of Camden. We are family forever.

Why #ICantBreathe

Why #ICantBreathe

The impact of one person who bounces and throws a ball through a hoop for a living is NOT why I can’t breathe. Since when does the amount of people who recognize your face make something important?  The President of the free world and responsible for enforcement of law for the nation of the United States with a simple change of wardrobe and removal of security could be subject to police violence on any night.

The lack of ethics and the violation of constitutional rights are why #ICantBreathe. It is why we have the hash tag. This is not new. The plight, the injustice, the system that established our current dilemma is not new.  We know that it was some law enforcement that permitted the selling, beating, rapping, and destroying of souls. it was some officers and officials that wore the sheets that hung the people that wanted to just breathe.  They just wanted to live life like the other people they saw living in peace.  It was the same peace that they read of in the BIBLE and was read to them from the BIBLE. Simply wanting to read the words for themselves was a crime. Yet it was authority that hung them from trees for a glance, a word of defiance, a word of freedom. It was Judges who did nothing, Prosecutors who did nothing and Governors who did nothing. 

Nothing is being done by them today.  It is the people who are in the streets. We have come a long way in silence just trying to breathe.  Yet we have had to hold our breath anytime we are told to do so in fear of the established authority that can be very unforgiving.

Some encounter judges that take offense to a poor person not having hired a lawyer and appearing humbly before them. Many plea bargain cases just to make them go away, because encountering swift injustice seems far more seems likely. We cannot control who breaks the law.  This is about how the law and injustice breaks people. The suffocation of injustice is why #ICantBreathe. 

The requirement for investigation should merely be a complaint has been made. The definition of an investigation is check, look into, and search for facts. The identity of the lawbreaker should be as immaterial as success in court is to a poor man today. Without a good lawyer one has no chance. We know what is right and have been complaining.  Our complaints have made it to the White House. It is what has been done to us that made us ask for help.  The world sits back and waits to see what is going to be done. We hold our breath, but our breath is taken from us by those sworn to protect us. It seems being in charge means being in charge of who is considered a criminal.

The worst thing about a corrupt official is the person uses money entrusted to them by voters to harm them. their own public provided salaries are not enough. The dysfunction of Congress is financed by the people. Big business’ earnings are from the pockets of consumers.  

In NJ we have a BIG problem.  It is every tax payer bearing the burden of loss of our pensions, school taxes, and property investment by the irresponsible in office.  Those who have done nothing to stop the waste, fraud, and abuse of NJ wealth which has taken decades to build, are guilty. There are people sitting in office who sit in fear and greed instead of ethics. Soon it will all be gone because the people will no longer be able to afford the giving away of billions to a small network of connected friends.

#IcantBreathe because it costs too much. It is costing us everything by continuously electing those who look the other way. #iCantBreathe because in trying to educate and motivate others to stand up on one day a year (election day) requires almost all our air.

Know that when all the air of ethics, justice, and seeing ourselves in others leaves the room, all of us will know why #ICantBreathe. Those outside the room are the selfish people who trapped the public in the room. Outside the room is all the air one could possibly need. There are those who believe the public is not entitled to it. The air of freedom only applies to them and their friends.  The problem with that type of friendship is the willingness to share keeps getting smaller.  Once a mind conceives people as expendable there is nothing stopping them from working to become that last one standing. They see the last one standing as the last one breathing.  We who declare #ICantBreathe it is because air is being taken … not because there is no air.  It’s merely someone had decided the air which does exists does not exist for US. 

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