Sahealing

I am really compelled to write about a different encounter that occurred when I was around 22, but I will stick with the current order as previously suggested.

During Police Encounters #4 I was not married (I was engaged to my wife), and I still lived at 1858 McAllister street.  During the time of this incident I was approximately 27 or 28 years of age and I worked as a therapist and substance abuse counselor for the Westside Community Mental Health, Youth Awareness Program.  My three core co-workers were Ben Bautista, Yehiel Yisrael, and the famous singer Lenny Williams. Read the rest of this entry →

Just a short time after Police Encounters #2, Police Encounters #3 was etched into my schematic psyche. After being cuffed and thrown in a car, my wife had a difficult time understanding how and why her husband was subjected to such a ridiculous circumstance and violation. It was something that actually put her in fear of losing me. No one would have ever imagined that 11 or 12 years later her unarmed brother (Derrick DD Jones) would be murdered by two Oakland Police officers, not far from his East Oakland barber shop. Read the rest of this entry →

At the age of 29 I worked as a clinician for the Westside Community Mental Health Assertive Community Treatment Program, serving 100 of the top 400 San Francisco men and women suffering from extreme forms of mental health impairment. I had already graduated with my Masters in Counseling, with specializations in Marriage and Family Therapy and School Counseling, and I was working on my doctorate at the University of San Francisco. Additionally I was preaching twice a week at my home Uptown church of Christ congregation and the other two weeks preached somewhere in the Bay Area or California. Read the rest of this entry →

One sunny day in San Francisco I was pulled over by the police on McAllister (between Fillmore & Webster). I had no idea someone had stolen my rear license plate. The calm white veteran officer that pulled me over said someone probably wanted my registration tags. Read the rest of this entry →

I have been silently in reflection about the Michael Brown death at the hand of a Ferguson police officer. The situation brings back previously inflicted traumas of deep injustice and pain. I do not know the facts, but the thematic fabric of yet another unarmed Black male murdered must stop. I intended to write and say more but the heavy burden makes the simple stroke of a keyboard too weighty with bewilderment, pain, and a lack of hope for true systems change.  One thing is clear, the value of Black life is highly undervalued and the Black family and especially the Black male image (regardless educational or socioeconomic status), is feared under virtually every context. Read the rest of this entry →

“Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim” (John 2:7). Currently we are working on a much more extensive project and narrative concerning capacity and competency, but a few words about the conceptions are revealed in this missive. From the process of birth God blesses His creation with capacity and through the spiritual process of rebirth personal capacity is issued in full and perfected. The story of Jesus Christ and His first miracle in Cana of Galilee manifests the fullness of God’s blessings toward His elect. Read the rest of this entry →

“…This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”(Luke 12:18-21). Read the rest of this entry →

“Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth” (Proverbs 24:15-17). Read the rest of this entry →