Louis Miller Jr.                    

                                                                  Louis Jr (Buddy) 1975        My Sister and I   2002                               Click Open  House                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                 Louis Sr Hi School  1936          Buddy and  Mother                       My Brother "Tony"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Click Photo For Suprise  (wait for Loading)                                                                                                                                     

"Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under                                               

 pain of death, the pleasures of youth                                                 

• Jackson Invites Cosby                                             
  

I had never seen the Reverend  Jesse Louis Jackson cry in public. And      

he's seldom upstaged. Until, Bill  Cosby came to town.                               
Last week Jackson invited Cosby to the annual  Rainbow/PUSH conference
for a conversation about controversial remarks the  entertainer offered       
May 17 at an NAACP dinner in Washington,D.C.That's when  America'   s
Jell-O Man shook things up by arguing that African Americans were         
betraying the legacy of civil rights victories.                                                
"The lower economic  people," he said, "are not holding up their end in      
this deal. These people  are not parenting. They are buying things for            
their kids -- $500 sneakers  for what? And won't spend $200 for "Hooked     
                on Phonics!"                                                                                                                  
Thursday  morning, Cosby showed no signs of repenting as he strode             
across the stage at  the Sheraton Hotel ballroom before a standing-room-only
crowd. Sporting a  natty gold sports coat and dark glasses, he proceeded        
to unload a laundry  list of blackAmerica's self-imposed ills. The iconic         
actor and comedian  kidded that he couldn't compete with the oratory of       
the Reverend but he  preached circles around Jackson in their nearly           
hour-long conversation,  delivering brutally frank one-liners and the          
toughest of love. The enemy, he  argues, is us:                                            
"There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to  turn the mirror       
around." Cosby acknowledged he wasn't critiquing all  blacks-just "the 50
percent of African Americans in the lower economic  neighborhood who
drop out of school," and the alarming proportions of black  men in prison and
black teenage mothers. The mostly black crowd seconded him  with            
choruses of "Amens."                                                                                       
To critics who pose, it's unproductive to  air our dirty laundry in
public, he responds, "Your dirty laundry gets out  of school at 2:30
every day. It's cursing on the way home, on the bus,  train, in the     
candy store.                                                                                            
They are cursing and grabbing each other  and going nowhere. And, the
book bag is very, very thin because there's  nothing in it."                    
"Don't worry about the white man," he adds. "I could care  less about
what white people think about me . . . let 'em talk. What are  they     
saying that is different from what their grandfathers said and did to
us? What is different is what we are doing to ourselves."                 
For those  who say Cosby is just an elitist who's "got his" but doesn't
understand the  plight of the black poor, he reminds us that, "We're
going to turn that  mirror around. It's not just the poor-everybody's
guilty."                                                                                                    
Cosby and  Jackson lamented that in the 50th year of Brown vs. Board of
Education, our  failings betray our legacy. Jackson dabbed away tears as
he recalled the  financial struggles at Fisk University, a historically        
black college and  Jackson's Alma mater.                                                  

When Cosby was done, the 1,000 people in the room  all jumped to their
feet in ovation. Long after Cosby had departed, I could  not find a        
dissenter in the crowd. But in the hotel corridor I encountered a            
intage poster for sale that said volumes. The poster, which  advertised    
he Million Man March, was "discounted" to $5 Remember the Million  Man
March?                                                                                                        
  1995 Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan exhorted  "a million
sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to  meet in
Washington on a day of atonement." In 2004, perhaps all that' s left  of
that call is a $5 poster. We have shed tears too many times, at too  many
watershed moments before. While the hopes they inspired have fallen by
the wayside. Not this time. Cosby's plea to parents: "Before you get  to   
he point where you say 'I can't do nothing with them'-do 

 something ith them Like"                        

                                                                                                             
ach ourchildren to speak  English.
When the teacher calls, show up at the school.
When the  idiot box starts spewing profane rap videos, turn it off.
Refrain from  cursing around the kids.
Teach our boys that women should be cherished,  not raped and
demeaned.
Tell them that education is a prize we won  with blood and tears,
ot a dishonor.
Stop making excuses for the  agents and abettors of black-on-black
crime.
It costs us nothing to  do these things. But if we don't, it will
cost us infinitely more  tears.
We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail without a second  thought,
but when it comes to sending messages regarding life choices, people
think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the  obscene
pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of decency is  too
often suppressed in school and the  workplace.

1. MSG To Louie Jr. From Dad

HOW TRUE IT IS

Another year has passed
and we're all a little older.
Last summer felt hotter
and winter seems much colder.

There was a time not long ago
when life was quite a blast.
Now I fully understand
about "Living in the Past"

We used to go to weddings,
football games and lunches.
Now we go to funeral homes,
and after-funeral brunches.

We used to have hangovers,
from parties that were gay.
Now we suffer body aches
and while the night away.

We used to go out dining,
and couldn't get our fill.
Now we ask for doggie bags,
come home and take a pill.

We used to often travel
to places near and far.
Now we get sore asses
from riding in the car.

We used to go to nightclubs
and drink a little booze.
Now we stay home at night
and watch the evening news.

That, my friend is how life is,
and now my tale is told.
So, enjoy each day and live it up...
before you're too damned old!