During the Seder—while we talk of freedom throughout—the food we eat is the salt water of tears, the charoset of cement, and the maror of the bitterness of slavery.
Even in our moments of happiness, we also remember pain and loss and the challenges we endured to get us to where we are. The Seder is designed this way to make us think about the responsibility of what being free really means.
True joy comes from fully inhabiting our experiences, no matter how tough.
Reflecting on our challenges , no matter how hard, enhances our gratitude for present blessings. we don’t diminish our happiness when we spend a day or a few weeks meditating on the challenges we went through in order to emerge even stronger . We become more grateful, holding on tightly to our blessed lives because we can.
May this holiday season bring the understanding and appreciation that all  the challenges of life is a stepping stone for true Joy! And may you and your family only have true joy this holiday season and through out the year!
Blessings;
Marc

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“The novels comprising my 19th century “Trilogy”, are intended to inform through entertainment,” says author Marvin V. Blake. “While many of the characters are real, the history is pure, and the ideas behind the story are very real and important. People need to see what slavery was really like, through the eyes of those who were slaves.”

The series examines three co-existing 19th-century American cultures – the defeatist South’s response to the post-Civil War era of reconstruction, the former Black slaves who are attempting to adjust to life as freedmen, and the noble nomadichunter-gatherer society of the Plains Indians fighting to defend and to maintain their way of life.

“I have all of my adult life, served and loved this country,” says Blake, a US Navy veteran. “I think it is important that readers learn about our nation’s history, especially what it was like a century-and-a-half ago when the country was ripped apart by a civil war, slavery, and the United States’ 19th century policies towards Indians…Native Americans.”

About Marvin V. Blake
Following his graduation from Baltimore’s Southern – High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. During his more than six years of active duty, in the Navy, Marvin attended and graduated from the US Navy’s Hospital Corps School, and the US Navy School of Medical Technology.
Following his discharge from the Navy, he earned his undergraduate Degree from Long Island University, and his graduate Degree from New York’s New School University. His long professional career was spent as a senior hospital administrator of several prestigious teaching medical centers in NYC and Nassau County. He also taught Immunohematology, as an Adjunct Professor of Biology in the City of New York (CUNY), college system. In 2002, after 9/11, Marvin decided to once again serve his country. He sought and took the position of Administrative Officer, Dept of Pathology, and Laboratory Medicine for the New York and the Brooklyn VA Medical Centers. For more info, see www.booksbymarvinblake.com.

About The Books
The first book, why: A Novel, provides a gripping and potent tale of choice, racism, and equality.
The story revolves around two young sisters – one a black-slave, the other, a white owner of slaves; Both girls are fathered by the same white-man – the rich, white plantation owner. Despite their not knowing that they are sisters; despite antebellum Southern law, despite seemingly unsurmountable societal barriers; the girls forge an unshakeable-bond. A bond that sustains them—when together, as young teens—are captured and enslaved by Comanche Indians. A bond that they need to survive, and to ultimately each, gain their freedom.

The second book, E. Pluribus Unum: From Many, One, is a spellbinding story of love and loss, oppression, and freedom in the lives of men and women fighting for the survival of a young nation. It is about two people – one is a slave boy and the other a white woman slave owner – whose preordained statuses in life were at diametrically opposite ends of the South’s Antebellum society. Two people with absolutely nothing in common now had lives that were inexorably linked.

Precious (In His Sight), the third book, tells of the myriad 19thcentury life-altering US government-sanctioned and implemented changes that followed the Civil War’s conclusion,
Adjustments, programs, implemented…mistakes made. One step forward, two steps back. Progress achieved,

The interactions between cultures shaping the ‘Re-United States of America, through the eyes…and the lives of the heterogeneous peoples…Red; Brown; Yellow; Black and White,all essential members…of the American-People

#civilwar #slavery #marvinblake #author #indians #entertainment #slaves #black #defend #nativeamericans #hospital #corps #schools #us #navy #medical #technology

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http://goodnewsplanet.com/happy-juneteenth-weekend/
Good News was invited to The Positive Community Magazine” 20th Anniversary
Inaugural Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet, it was a powerful and important event.
Honoring Champions of Community Progress on
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Sponsored by Prudential Financial
Awards Banquet to be Held New Year’s Day from 2 pm-6 pm ET in the
Grand Ballroom at the Historic Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ
Emcee: Liz Black of Inspiration with Liz Black”, WBLS/WLIB Radio
NEWARK, NJ – January 01, 2020 – In celebration of its 20th anniversary, The Positive Community (TPC) is hosting the first annual Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet honoring three extraordinary individuals for their exemplary community service with the Torchbearer Award: Hon. Mildred C. Crump, president Newark Municipal Council; Hazel N. Dukes, president New York State Conference, NAACP; and Rev. Calvin McKinney, general secretary National Baptist Convention, USA on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, from 2 pm-6pm ET in the Grand Ballroom at The Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ.
Joining the three honorees will be organization honorees: African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, John Harmon, president; African-American Clergy and Elected Officials (AACEO Brooklyn), Rev. Robert Waterman, president; and Friends of Harlem Hospital, Rev. Jacques A. DeGraff, president.
The awards banquet purposely takes place on New Year’s Day, an important date in American history, especially for African Americans. On New Year’s Day, January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring slaves within the rebellious states free. The Emancipation Day Awards Banquet is sponsored by Prudential Financial, AARP, United, PSE&G, McDonald’s, Berkley College, and Two Fish and Five Loaves.
“Prudential’s partnership with The Positive Community is steeped in our alignment around financial literacy and creating pathways to financial wellness for all,” says Shané Harris, Vice President of Corporate Giving and President of the Prudential Foundation. “We are particularly honored to be a part of TPC’s Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet to celebrate and highlight the progress of the Black community. We congratulate The Positive Community for two decades and service to the Black community, and we salute the awardees for their dedication and service to this continued progress, particularly in our hometown of Newark.”
WHEN: Wednesday, January, 01, 2020
TIME: 2;00pm – 6:00pm
WHERE: The Robert Treat Hotel
50 Park Place, Newark, NJ
BACKGROUND: “January 1 is a date of deep meaning to African Americans,” says Adrian A. Council, co-founder and publisher of The Positive Community. “It is our day of liberation, the start of our freedom journey. Without this day there would be no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., no Motown, no Juneteenth, no Godfather of Soul no Queen of Soul.” The vision of TPC co-founders Council and Editor-in- Chief Jean Nash Wells was to create a balanced medium that accurately reflects the community building efforts of churches, small businesses, corporations, and concerned individuals.
In 2012, TPC created and introduced The Cultural Narrative. Written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Emancipation, the document is an account of America’s freedom journey condensed into 281 words. On New Year’s Eve 2012, hundreds of churches participated in TPC’s Great Watch Night Initiative which involved singing the Negro National Anthem; having a young person read The Cultural Narrative before the congregation; and concluding with everyone exiting the sanctuary singing the Negro hymn We’ve Come This Far By Faith. What started as an initiative is now an established tradition among many churches and clergy groups.
Launched in 2000 by Adrian Council, Publisher and Jean Nash Wells, Editor-in-Chief, The Positive Community (TPC) is the only faith-based lifestyle magazine targeted to the African American consumer in the New York/New Jersey market. For nearly two decades, the magazine has delivered on its tagline, focusing on Good News from the Church and the Community.

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Passover is an important Biblical-derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaohs, and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel) or eight days (in the diaspora). In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder when the 15th of Nisan has begun. In the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: “in the month of spring”Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.

In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.

The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.

When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament.Thus Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.

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