What's In Your Bag

What's In Your Bag Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from What's In Your Bag, 119 Elm St, Montclair, NJ.

06/04/2026

M r B u d d y

I once knew a nice man named Mr. Buddy. Daily he stumbled home after a long few hours of drinking at the local bar. Whether or not he was sitting on his stoop or stumbling down the street, he was a pleasant older man who loved speaking to anyone who dared to listen. Occasionally, Mr. Buddy would stop and engage me in brief conversations about heaven and all the gold in China. Needless to say, I had never been to either place. So, you can only imagine the depth of our exchange, considering I was no more than six years old and he had to have been an inebriated older man in his 70s.

His references to the gold in China were made because I dug holes in the ground for my plastic miniature “Cowboys and Indians” set. I would recreate cowboy movie scenes from old John Wayne or the Long Ranger and Tonto westerns. There, my cowboys and Indians would fight. I would stage the Indians on the hilltops as the Cowboys rode through the valleys. One day Mr. Buddy said that if I were to dig any deeper, I would find gold in China. So, I grew up believing that China was deep in the ground, and the place that hid its gold.

Another day while playing with broken twigs along the curbside, I saw Mr. Buddy sitting on the stoop in front of his home just endlessly staring in the sky. I asked him what he was looking at. He pointed to the sky and said, “the heavens beyond the clouds.“ I looked up and then back at him. I endlessly searched to see Mr. Buddy’s heaven beyond the clouds. So, while flying home earlier this week from California, I stared out my window and saw Mr. Buddy’s heaven beyond the clouds. It was beautiful. Wanting to savor the moment and use it to meditate, I pulled out my phone and began recording. When done, I created a video that best reminded me of the 70 year old man and six year-old boy who was curious enough to look for the heaven beyond the skies. Have a wonderful day, sowing deeds of kindness and seeds of love into the path of strangers. ❤️

ting

05/21/2026

Silence, Fear, & Willful Ignorance Are Threats To Democracy

As President Donald J. Trump continues to brazenly break the law, it must be said that he cannot perform such illegalities alone. He is an extremely dangerous scofflaw, who openly flaunts a major disregard and disdain for the law. As recent as yesterday, he and his personal lawyer, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche created and executed the biggest crime against the US Treasury by any one person in the history of this republic. They guised justice in the form of a $1,776,000,000.00 ($1.8 Billion) reparations slush fund to be paid to the January 6 insurrectionists. Yet, the scales of justice that are supposed to balance this democracy remain silent.

How can America in its present condition course correct when all three of its branches of government are aligned and complicit? It takes courage of a few Republicans in the Legislative branch of government to reset the clocks of justice. The Executive branch of government is run by President Donald J Trump, a convicted felon. The Legislative branch of government is lead by two complicit Republican-led Trump sycophants Rep. Michael Johnson and Sen. John Thune. Finally, the Judicial branch of government is lead by a weak Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and consist of 8 additional associate justices. Yet, they continue to rewrite laws that appeases the Will of President Donald J Trump.

While I can write a book on this crap, it has too many layers that a social media post cannot address. However, one thing I know is that silence is often a sign of ignorance and complicity. We cannot remain silent or willfully ignorant in the face of injustice. Silence, Fear, & Willful Ignorance Are Threats any Democracy.



05/20/2026

W h e r e I s J u s t I c e

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Often when Blacks publicly complain about the criminality of President Trump and the partiality of the US Justice System, many of his diehard supporters have spouted that our positions are polarizing and based in self-victimization. Some of those supporters responded to my posts as race baiting and victimizing ourselves, after speaking out against this white, privileged, criminal, who happens to be the President of United States. One of my White friends had the audacity to say, “Michael, everything is not about race.“ I agreed before telling him about the unparalleled outcomes Blacks have historically experienced by the same US Justice System. Yet, the prosecutorial outcomes are staggering between Black and White offenders.

Yesterday, Elizabeth (Liz) G. Oyer, former United States Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice, explained the high crime of a criminal conspiracy between President Donald J Trump and the United States Justice Department. Despite historic crimes committed by many people of political power and privilege, what Donald J Trump has done is straight criminal. Sadly, the same laws that were designed to cover and protect all citizens, tend to turn a blind eye when it comes to equal justice under the law. President Trump is the product of a complicit majority white republican Congress that has failed to hold their chief racists advocate accountable. President Donald J. Trump cannot do any of this on his own. It takes many willing sycophants for him to execute his crimes.

So, as a Black man in America who has witnessed the partiality of an unfair justice system in America, it is not surprising to see the system of justice complicit in criminal activities. If and when this justice system decide to move to CONVICT and IMPEACH President Donald J Trump, I can hear Bro. Malcolm X voice saying, the chickens have finally come home to roost. Until then, it is incumbent upon every American to speak out against these injustices. 😡🇺🇸

05/19/2026

I M P E A C H M E N T

America is traumatized by the erratic actions of President Donald J. Trump. Despite your political party’s affiliation, members of both parties are trying to logically wrap their heads around the chaos this president has created. The Democratic Party is in a spellbound state against a morally vacant republic. The Republican Party is completely traumatized. For their own self-serving purposes and fear, they allowed their party to be hijacked by Donald J Trump. Now, we are left with a complicit Republican party of Donald J Trump‘s sycophants.

Secondary to his recent and embarrassing trip to China, President Donald J Trump is incapable of addressing the imminent needs of the American people. Instead of ensuring everyday Americans have healthcare benefits, childcare services, food on the tables, to lowering the cost of living, this president prioritizes the self-serving needs of the wealthy, at the expense of the middle, working class, and poorest amongst us.

President Donald J Trump must be impeached. He has committed treason, high crimes, and misdemeanors. Yet, people of political power and influence continue to act as sycophants for this mentally unstable man. We are watching in real time President Donald J Trump’s cognitive decline. Without shame, he lies about most things, breaks the law often, and is destroying democracy, as we have understood it to be. His unstable mental health condition has completely compromised the security of this country, as well as rolled back major progress made through the US Constitution and the laws designed to protect our civil and human rights. He has attacked fact-based science as though the studies don’t matter. He’s dismantled high labor standards in the workplace, workplace safety, labor protections, and equal opportunity. He’s been a threat to our physical and digital infrastructure through the rapid downsizing of government agencies and regulatory rollbacks designed to protect us.

President Donald J Trump is a racist, unhinged, convicted felon. He must be impeached immediately.




05/19/2026

❤️🎶🎼🎵👌🏾

05/17/2026

M A N V I L L A G E Men’s Support Group topic of today’s discussion was on Closure & Boundaries. It was another powerful discourse where the brothers’ perspectives mattered. Overall, we surmised that closure is relative to each individual and not always easy or guaranteed. Boundaries should be flexible and not rigid. The caution is not to allow the boundaries you build for someone else to become the same walls that imprison you.

As with all of our topics, they are planned ahead of time. So, our next session’s topic for discussion will be on Sibling Rivalry. I am looking forward to hearing, sharing, learning, and processing varying perspectives on the family dynamics. Have a wonderful weekend sowing deeds of kindness and seeds of love into the paths of strangers. ❤️

Mike
MV Facilitator
❤️✌🏾

W E A R E O U R F A T H E R SAs the descendants of enslaved Africans, who were brought to this country through the...
05/13/2026

W E A R E O U R F A T H E R S

As the descendants of enslaved Africans, who were brought to this country through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, it is incumbent upon me to love and support beyond my family of origin. My family has a rich history and legacy of honorable men that I am honored to uphold. Yesterday, we celebrated the life and legacy of our beloved father, husband, grandfather, uncle, and cousin Carl Gregory Barbee Sr. While sitting next to his oldest son, Carl Gregory Jr, he uses every opportunity to remind me that he is my older cousin, even if it is only by one month. 😂 Through love and laughter, my mind kept thinking about how we, the sons of great men, have become our fathers. That phrase is symbolic to the changing of the guards. ❤️

There is a beautiful common thread that I experience each time I’m in the presence of my Barbee family members. No matter the occasion, we come from near and far to support the living amongst us. We are people of faith, lovers of our families, leaders within our communities, and workplaces. Our Barbee genes are strong, resilient, and respectable. I get to see my nose, eyes, rich complexion, love for family on other prideful individuals who look like me and love just as hard as I. I am grateful knowing I am genuinely loved beyond the borders of my state. ❤️

So, as you go throughout this day, week, month, and year, keep my Barbee cousins, his wife Arlene, sons Carl Jr, Kevin Antonio, and their families in your thoughts and prayers. They buried their father, husband, Favorite uncle, and grandfather. Cousin Gregory was the last living of his blood siblings. I will forever remember his smile, love of family and life, charm, and playful nature. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. Say hello to my Dad, your sister, brothers, and the rest of our Barbee family members for me. These Barbees represent one of two extensions of our larger Washington DC-based Barbee family. ❤️

Rest well Cuz Gregory. ❤️🙏🏾

05/08/2026

WHITE SUPREMACY 😡😡😡

As a child, my dad Deacon Otha Donald Barbee was my Civil Rights hero. He ensured that his family understood the sacrifices of the few that were made on behalf of the many. He taught us about the power and importance of executing our voting rates privileges. It was the intentionality of his actions to educate his family about white supremacy and our civil rights that kept me fascinated by the 1950s and 1960s black and white recordings of the Civil Rights Movement. Whether they depicted White angry racists attacks on Blacks, or the passion and courage of Civil Rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others, my gratitude to my dad and those who fought against injustice still lives in me.

A few years ago and during the height of COVID 19, I sounded the alarm on the attack of African Americans human and civil rights under the law. Through my book “HEAR MY VOICE: Born Black In America,” I emphasized America’s long history of weaponizing the US Constitution against its Blacks citizens’ civil, human, and equal rights. I also wrote about the impact those infringements had on the minds of Blacks and how we see ourselves today as a result of the evils of America’s white supremacy. However blaring the negative impact and rage of white supremacy is in our government and communities, Black folks remain America’s most exploited people.

Last week when the US Supreme Court gutted out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, their ruling opened the door for states to redraw congressional maps across the country that will once again restrict Black and minority representation in the US Congress and state elections. So, it is incumbent upon all to expose and fight against white supremacy. Hold every person that we vote for accountable. Also, and more importantly, hold yourselves accountable for putting incompetent people in leadership positions. We cannot sit back silently and watch representative Justin J. Pearson, as if it’s a TV reality show. Know this to be surgeon, what impacts Louisiana, Tennessee, and other southern states will eventually impact YOU. 😡😡😡

04/26/2026

G R A T I T U D E

It is always a blessing when awakened to random prayers and words of encouragement. Having prayer warrior who cover you while you’re asleep is essential. I am grateful that one of my dear friends thought enough of me, prayed, then sent it. I am grateful. ❤️

This is their prayer:

“My declaration is peace, abundance, divine health, a sound mind and a long prosperous life over you, my dear! I insert that God will continue to show you His hand in every area of your life, placing ALL things concerning you under His authority. I declare that He speaks to you through dreams and visions of you giving birth to new ideas. May God continue to meet you in the sacred place you’ve established for the two of you where He searches your heart for all things unsaid and unresolved. I declare a new work is done in you for a new season and a time such as this. May you be surrounded by those who show you favor and good opportunities are exposed to you. There is mercy and divine protection for you, always. Amen. Amen.”

Thank you!

Mike
❤️🙏🏾

04/26/2026

“F O R E V E R”

Phil Perry & George Duke
❤️❤️❤️🎶🎵🎼👌🏾

Address

119 Elm St
Montclair, NJ
07042

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when What's In Your Bag posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share