NAACP...I gotta go!

I am on a mission to do what I heard Victoria Osteen say on Steve Harvey. She said, "Be who you are, and not who they say you are". Up until the moment she said that, I thought her husband was a crooked preacher that talked to slow. When he didn't open the doors to his church for the people of Houston, I was convinced that I had every reason to not like the man. It's so easy to write-off the rich. Being rich is the best reason in the world for a person that grew up poor and is still poor. Then the day came that I saw his wife sitting talking to Steve Harvey, who has also been a challenge to understand. It's just so hard to like a man that said he would do anything for money. But then came that day and Mrs. Osteen. She was very classy and spoke very well, and said the one thing she wanted for us, is to understand who we are in the world. I've been told that I am a lot of things and many of them are not true, so when she told me to be who I was, for once I could do something without trying. Tuesday I found out the difference between a rich man and a powerful man. Some men want to be rich. Just enough to live well forever, but then some men want the right to control an entire portion of a nation with their wit and cunning. That man needs no money, POWER is a greater drug than money in most cases and it's scary.

Wendell Anthony
President Detroit Chapter NAACP

I saw a flyer for a Black Legislative Caucus and NAACP Conference in Lansing. Wanting to get involved with prison reform, this event would be perfect. The Governor would be there. More importantly the Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist would be there. She just put him over a new committee to help with prison reform. It didn't say anything about having to be a member of the NAACP in order to attend. It just said that you had to RSVP. I did and took off to Lansing on Tuesday morning. I got there check-in and took a seat. I sat alone, because honestly, I didn't know a soul there. I was simply following Mrs. Osteen's advice and being myself. After a while, Wendell Anthony, President of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP joined me. I was pleased, because I had been wanting him to be on my side with my troubles with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. I doubt if that will happen now, because, although Reverend Anthony is a dynamic speaker and preacher, he's a politician that is power hungry and lacks couth and decorum. When Tim Skubick was there, a newsman and political analyst, he shared his face with me and allowed me to take photos as they talked. I wasn't there for Tim Skubick. I wanted to listen to and meet Garlin Gilchrist the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. He was to speak write after lunch. I was stoked and ready for the opportunity. Only there was Rev. Wendell Anthony and his entourage. A bunch of "importance seekers" who felt their very existence was improved with the addition of Rev. Anthony in their lives. I couldn't blame them, because I was honored that he sat with me at the table, but I was there first!

He faced me and allowed me to get a picture with Tim Skubick.
I wonder why? He must think he knows something I don't.  🤷‍♀️

The new Executive Director Kamilia Landrum, stood and announced she was going to get her lunch. She expressed the reason why is that she doesn't eat "lunch meat". John E. Johnson, Director of the Black Legislative Caucus, had ordered box lunches. One woman in line compared them to the lunches they give to the kids in the summer lunch program. Rev. Anthony asked "Where'd Kamilia and them go?" He answered himself and said, "Oh, probably to get a real sandwich". I chuckled, but couldn't believe a man of his caliber would be so uppity." He said it with no concern for my hearing his snide remark. I guess he just didn't care. I sat and ate my turkey sandwich on white bread, chips and grape juice. I was a beggar, and "beggars can't be choosers." To move my car at this point, might have meant having to find a new parking lot and possibly more money. I don't eat white bread, but it wouldn't kill me to do it. Plus, I know nothing about Lansing. What if I got lost? I might miss Lt. Gilchrist speak. Rev. Anthony gave a lovely speech, and it wasn't unusual, most men of his esteem can give a formative speech on a dime. He moved me to the point that I gave out a shout of "Hallelujah!" "Fight until you win", and I've been doing that! He never looked at me, acknowledged my existence or even smiled. As the city leader came up to him and shook his hand and stood before me, and also never acknowledged me, all men, I simply sat quietly. I also don't have to buck for my position. I have none.

This is my view of Rev. Anthony with Lt. Gov. Gilchrist.
See the slight?

Finally, it was time for Lieutenant Gilchrist. At the same time, in walks Rev. Anthony's daughter, two young men, and Kimilia. They began passing out food around the table. I had finished mine and just watch the rudeness and pathetic show of superiority with these people, "My people", Black people. No one asked me if I wanted anything. No one even spoke to me, just slid food in front of me like I just didn't exist. While Gilchrist began his speech, they sat with me and began to eat. Rev. Anthony's daughter like she hadn't eaten in days. A grown man, with the chivalry of a dog, lifted his fork and looked at me like I was wanting of his meal. I took video of all the other speeches. This one, however, the one I wanted was disrupted by hungry members of the NAACP. I began taping, but his daughter sat next to me and shoveled food, making noise with her tray, as that grown man blocked my view. They pushed my papers and purse around trying to replace the lid on one of their food trays. Anthony's daughter fought with a lid for a good five minutes in my space, never looking at me, saying "Excuse me", or anything. Just privileged and a sad case of disrespect. They had laid a smorgasbord in front of Rev. Anthony. He ate some, but then shared the rest with the Representative of Ypsilanti. Where the Women's prison is located.  

This is a snippet of what I had to look at while I listen to Lt. Governor Gilchrist. You see the grown man and Anthony's daughter look at me and through me, it was like I wasn't even there!

The first person who sat next to me was a woman named LaToya. She had a tiny laptop with a screen that was cracked from the top, and spread out over the entire screen. I got up at one point and used the restroom. I saw our next speaker, who was running late, while I was out. When I got back to the table, I had said, "I saw our next speaker. She should be on soon!" LaToya nodded and gave me a crack of a smile. I was shocked, because when she first sat down, she had smiled and gave me a warm reception. The only difference now, is that the rest of the entourage had joined us. I was sitting at the edge of an inner aisle. The wait-staff had come to take our trash. She passed the trash right across me and never gave me one, "Excuse me." When I got tired of tray, after box and more trash crossing in front of me so close to my person, I reached out and took the empty pot pie tray. I said, "Here let me help you." She whispered a "Thank you", and Kinilia looked up from her compact and shook her head furiously, "No!" I thought, "So, it is personal." I knew none of these people. I was so frustrated by now, their rudeness was beyond inconsiderate at this point. At one time during the conference, Rev. Anthony's daughter and Latoya had passed a tray in front of me, and sat it on my paperwork and was making an attempt to close it. My papers were being ruffled and thrown all over the table. To stop the disturbance, I reached out and gently took my papers and declared, "Let me get these out of your way." It was clear to me that purpose was to disturb me, because his daughter, after LaToya gave up on closing the lid, spent another couple of minutes closing the lid. Not in front of her, but in front of me, in my space. The noise was so unnecessary, all I heard was the crunch of a plastic, trying to be clamped on aluminum. Rev. Anthony sat quietly, and let his entourage take care of his "light weight". I don't think she has had a class in decorum, either.

So, he knew who I was and was making a claim to all I want. His entourage was blocking my view and in someway trying to make me feel left out. He obviously didn't get the memo. I am drug free all my life. Black folk been trying to get me to do crack since I was 10. I travel to the beat of my own drum. To the man that invite Kid Rock to speak at an NAACP Dinner, is not someone I strive to emulate. Wendell Anthony is a powerful man, but he isn't as powerful as the man I serve. I'm sure I'm going to alienate Delta Sigma Theta, but I've always been an individual. That show of narcissism was lost on me. All it did, was give me something to talk about. To me, Wendell Anthony is Black folks L. Brooks Patterson! So power struck, they can't stand to step aside and give someone else a chance to move us into the future.  I don't like Brooks and I don't like Anthony. His display was just sad and unbecoming a man of his stature. He surely thinks he has a hold on my progress.

Heaster Wheeler
Assistant Secretary of State
a.k.a
Wendell Anthony's eating buddy