THE AFRICAN AMERICAN NETWORK (TAAN)

Ex-Negro League Baseball Player...John "Mule" Miles passed away at 90 years old in his home. In failing health over the past few months, gregarious former  Negro Leagues  baseball player  John “Mule” Miles  died at his home in San Antonio on Friday morning.   He was 90. “I wanted to inform you that my father, John Miles, Jr., passed away quietly at home this morning of heart complications,” his son, Ralph Miles, wrote in an email. “We will miss (the) stories of the game he loved, baseball.” A 1940s-era ball player with the  Chicago American Giants , Miles didn't get any recognition for his career until decades later, when some of the league's former athletes started receiving invitations to major league games and other public functions. Miles relished the opportunity to renew acquaintances and tell stories. “He got energy from that,” Ralph Miles said in a telephone interview. “It lifted him. I'd travel with him to some of those things. I'd see h

Maybe it's just me, but I am not pleased with the reward given to Charles Ramsey, the man that rescued the three women that had been held hostage for over a decade.  The story names him a hero and mentions that he stopped eating his Big Mac to do his heroic work. Where the restaurant may have good intentions by making a burger and naming it in his honor...I believe the Cleveland Police Department and the City of Cleveland are indebted to him for his heroic and police work. As I watched the police department accept their accolades for capturing the young women...I felt in my heart that Ramsey did the police work that had not been done all those years, when  report after report and call after call was directed to the police and they never went inside to investigate...why are they receiving accolades and Ramsey is receiving burgers? I just had to say something...because I keep seeing this trending story about Ramsey receiving burgers for life from numerous restaurants....and

When we agree with someone...whatever they say is music to our ears...even if they misstep.  But when we disagree with someone...whatever they say, we can't seem to get behind them, because our minds are set on one perspective. The most dangerous thing we can do, as a community, a people, a city or as a family, is to veer so far to the left or right that we miss opportunities to view the world or issue from more than one perspective. I grew up listening and learning from everyone I encountered and still do to this day.  Is that good or bad...well that just depends on your perspective.  I love to learn about what people are doing and what they think about the world.  I learn a lot from listening. Although, I have my own set of views and opinions about what I believe is right or wrong...I value what others bring to the table and their perspective.  I did not always have that flexibility in my thinking, but time has a way of liberating our thoughts and the way we view and hand