The Spencer Hamilton Blog

Dr Marc Lamont Hill was in Buffalo October 26 th and it was a great night for good black news. Organizations like ECC, Buffalo Believe, and Open Buffalo along with a myriad of groups fighting for racial, social and economic justice were tabling and giving out information. Open Buffalo’s Franchelle Hart was the MC for the evening. Let me pause right here to tell you what Open Buffalo has promised to do in the face of a hostile federal government pushing to undo many years of progress ü   Create innovative systemic reforms to combat epidemic poverty and Buffalo’s affordable housing crisis ü   Create equal access to economic opportunities ü   Bring training and civic engagement opportunities to marginalized communities They also will be having an annual fundraising breakfast on Tuesday December 5 th at 8am. Please support them in their mission by visiting openbuffalo.org After the MC opened and got things rolling, we were treated to Jillian Hanesworth’s Little ...

Have you ever done something or made something or tried to make a point and someone turned it into something that it wasn’t meant to be? Many companies have a vision, and then another controlling interest comes in and tries to say they’re going to make it better. They want to take what is and make it into something, take it to a new level, and the original people start to fight it out with the new controlling interest because they know what works, they know the original blueprint and to take it down this road would dilute the brand. That is happening in another arena. Where people are asserting their humantiy, only to see others bastardize it. After Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson, we saw outrage. Let it be known that this was a pattern happening in Ferguson, MO with police brutality and Michael Brown was just the final light that hit the powder keg there. This and many other stories like Freddy Gray,   Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin and recently Sandra Bland has ...

 I watched the 2012 version of Steel Magnolias and I liked it more than I thought I would’ve. I saw the personalities of women I grew up with who were tough, with gentle hearts, razor sharp wit and went through the loss of one of their own. They were a family that loved one another. They were as the title suggested tender yet strong.   I saw my sisters, cousins, Aunts, and even my nieces. These black women in my circle mean the world to me. They are a part of the man I grew up to be, they are irreplaceable. I walked away from the movie appreciative of the women I knew and grew up with, would call my friends and argue with like we were siblings. Then there is another movie playing in my head and I for the life of me want it to end. I want it to end because unlike Steel Magnolias it seems to be repeating constantly on a loop with different names and situations with the same result and the same refrain.   “If they didn’t” If Sandra Bland didn’t mouth off” “ If Rekia ...