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Like many others before him (yes there was basketball before Michael, he orked very hard to get where he was. Yet, he did not stop working hard after he earned his way into the NBA. Let s face it. Nothing in life that is worth anything comes without a price. We even have to work to earn our own sweat!<br>I feel that it is important to note that I am not without my faults. I bleed like you, I hurt like you, and I can cry like you. And like you, I too, have made many mistakes in my life. But, I realize that I have only two choices: I could sit around and wallow in  could have  or I could rewrite my map (the creed) for life and change my current negative circumstances to reflect the  real me. I said a prayer or three and chose the latter.<br>I would like to leave you with these final thoughts: Whatever it is that you are doing well, do it bigger, faster, stronger and wiser the next time. And never wait until you get sick and tired of being sick and tired before you decide to change a negative situation into a positive one. Think it, Dream it, Become it, <br>Live it - Just Do It! <br><br><br>___________________<br><br><br> When I first saw the National African American Creed, I was deeply touched. I contacted author Terry Harris and got his permission to share it with our BFS readers.<br>I also nt. <br>An inmate leader said,  When we started this project, I had no idea the impact the Freedman s Bank records would have on me and the other inmates. This man told, with emotion, of extracting information of fathers who were sold, mothers who were traded and brothers who were shot to death. One record told of a baby traded shortly after her birth for field equipment. The mother did not even have a chance to name her baby.<br>The inmate also said that other inmates were emotional as they did their work. He told of one inmate who began to weep while doing extractions. He said,  I cannot believe the way these people have been treated. The inmate leader reached out to comfort this crying co-inmate and laid his hand on his shoulder and noticed a tattoo: KKK.<br>The feelings of the inmates who did the work were expressed in a letter sent in 1997. Forty-seven inmates signed the following letter:  We anxiously await the completion of this database and hope that people everywhere will use it to search out their ancestors. For most do not realize what it is like to be in bondage. Again, we are thankful for being allowed to serve on this project and do so in the memory of our God, our freedom, our peace, our wives, our children and our ancestors. <br>William Alex Haley concluded,  It is a lot of responsibility. When Roots first came out, I had to change my behavior. I had a family reputation to be aware of. Places I would have gone before without thinking about I began to think about. I thought,  This won t look good for my family if I do this so it reined me in. It reined my children in. Knowing who you are and what responsibility you have towards your family forces your behavior to be consistent with your family values. It passes right down across generations. <br><br>WHO ARE <br>AFRICAN-AMERICANS?<br><br>Joyce King, an African-American who writes for USA Today said,  We are not  niggers. It is not, in fact, OK for anyone - black or white - to use that filthy word or to ignore its meaning. This was in response to a question often asked by whites why it is OK for black people to call each other  nigger as an affectionate term or use the term behind closed doors. <br> Nigger is a gut-wrenching word, explains King,  with the power to haunt some and cripple others. It can t be disdainful and incorrect only when people who ought to know better use it. It can t be ugly when racists spew their rhetoric, but beautiful when someone we admire claims it. <br>King gives her definition: divisive, vulgar, unnecessary, hurtful. It is not affectionate. No