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Showing posts from June, 2021

“Building Doesn’t Just Collapse Like That, Not In America…” Whoever Said That, That’s The Problem!

Early on Thursday morning, part of a 12-story residential building in the South Florida community of Surfside was reduced to rubble. As of Friday afternoon, at least four people had been found dead as a result of the collapse, and 159 were still missing, according to ABC7 .   Recently the mayor in response to the collapse of part of a Miami condo building where 99 people are missing and 4 are reported dead, said that “this doesn’t happen in America”.  That’s the problem you know, we don’t expect certain events to occur in America, and when they do happen, we react and play catch up. It is that belief that has caused several catastrophes, 9/11, #Katrina that destroyed NO, #The attack on the US capital on Jan 6, 2020 and the recent collapse of the building in Miami. In fact a recent study in 2020 showed that since 1990 the land was receding as water levels were rising, yet Miami still stuck to their assumptions that drove their rule of thumb to inspect buildings every 40 years....

A True Short Story Part 2

And on June 14th my mom went to her appointment only to be in labor. Ricardo was born… then…”Wait… hold up… Mrs. McKenzie, there’s another one, oh my you got twins! I came out within a minute, all #premature, #malnourished and looking like a small “half-pound chicken” you could hold in your hands. The doctors said they will die, they’re too premature in #1979. I was rushed to the incubator and there I remain for the next 4-5 months, being fed via tube connected to my nostrils or veins as my mouth and some organs were not developed. But here I am after 42 years alive and tryna be well. Read my brief autobiography in my new book #Neoliberalism #Globalization #Income Inequality #Poverty and #Resistance. 

A SHORT TRUE STORY PART 1

#Sunday: 42 years ago today; It was #June 13th, 1979; the end of the 2nd trimester & the beginning of another. My #mom & #dad set an appointment to see the #Obstetrician for a #pregnancy check-up. She thinks she’s pregnant with 1 child & is making preparations @37 years old to give birth in #September or #October… but little do they know about what’s about to happen…  On June 14th tomorrow… follow tomorrow for part 2 of the story

Happy Father’s Day…Rest-In-Peace Dad

My #father was one of my greatest and most important #rolemodels and #investors. He believed in me and sacrificed for my growth and upbringing so that today I can honor his memory by writing an academic textbook on #Neoliberalism #globalization #Incomeinequality #Poverty And #Resistance. He wanted me to become an #economist and or a #theologian and or an #architect as he was sort of a building engineer and ran his own construction  company as an Independent Contractor for major government agencies and private firms. He helped with building the Jamaica National Stadium and several major projects. He was great at his job. He was jack of all trades and even built a car in the 80’s, built our beautiful home in the hills, built and started several churches, and ran an animal and vegetable farm and built some unique furnishing from scratch. However he made many mistakes as a dad and had some detractors that may question his character, but aren’t we all smeared. He was firm, hard, rough a...

Addendum to the Course “Caribbean Thought”

Written by Rev. Renaldo McKenzie | Published January 7th in TheNeoliberal Blog updated June 7, 2021. I’d like to update the course name “Caribbean Thought” and make some additions and changes to the course outline. The course was originally developed by Rev. Dr. Garnett Roper, former President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. I first taught the class Spring Semester January 2021. I provided this addendum then and updated it for Summer semester beginning June 7th, 2021 The course should be called “Critical Thinking and Expressions in the Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora”. I will add the following required readings: Renaldo C. McKenzie’s Neoliberalism Globalization Income Inequality Poverty and Resistance,” Kenneth B Clark “Dark Ghetto; Dillemmas of Social Power,” Thomas Clark “Globalization and Neoliberalism The Caribbean Context,” and Homi Barber’s “Location of culture.”  Day one of the course will look like this: Day 1:  Introductions Review of Course outline Discuss Expe...

“We Need To Stop Pulling People Out Of The River. We Need To go Upstream and Find Out Why They’re Falling In.”

Lawrence Alexander (Jr.) A strategist at Wake Forest in New Jersey quotes Desmond Tutu as saying “we need to stop pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” But I thought about it and hypothesized that that is probably why they haven’t stopped pulling people out. Because if you have to travel #upstream to inquire about why they’re falling then there goes the issue. Going up to find out why is a task. Since you’re using #nature as an analogy I’ll continue in that vein. “Nature” has used #countervailing tactics to prevent others from coming #upstream. Going upstream  means one will have to be creative, inventive, dynamic and #powerful to go against the stream. But for all we know we have tried to go upstream softly. We have tried to change force with pacificity & incoherence. But we cannot stop pulling people out, for by the time we stop and go upstream, how many would have fallen in that needs #help! So don’t stop pulling people...