Author: Yecheilyah

Writing to restore Black historical truth through fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Teaching

Yea yea, I took the easy route this week. I snagged this picture from Google lol. I do have a loaded schedule, but I did not want to miss out on one of my favorite weekly activities, Writer’s Quote Wednesday.  I titled today’s quote teaching, but it is not the kind of teaching you may think. I titled this post Teaching from the perspective that you are the teacher of how other people treat you:

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In truth, people will take advantage of you. You don’t have to do anything to deserve it. You can be the nicest, sweetest person in the world and still suffer this fate. This is not an endeavor any of us can escape. At some point in our lives and without our permission, someone somewhere will take from us. What they take varies. But in some point in your life you will come across those who do not have the same level of appreciation for who you are. Now, this is, in my opinion,  two fold. On the one end, no matter what you do or say and how you say it, you cannot control how others see you. That’s their business and theirs to deal with.

On the other hand, what you allow in your space is a personal responsibility. Whereas we cannot control how people see us and whether or not they choose to appreciate what they see, we can however control our reactions. You have the right to let people know for example, when they have offended you. It does not mean your level of love has diminished or that you are enemies with the offender, it’s just that you are teaching this person who YOU are. Many of the people who will hurt and offend you first are those who will possibly be among your best friends. That’s because they have gone through the course of getting to know you, in which case you have taught them.

“Don’t misinterpret your lyrics, expect some criticism. That’s a part of the gift, so I gladly accept it. You don’t have to agree, but you gotta respect it.”

No one should have to be mistreated. But while that fault is on the person doing the mistreating, the victim (of sorts) still has to bear a portion of that responsibility, and he or she does not have to be mean or loud and obnoxious to do it. Kindly and gracefully you can teach people what you will and will not accept.

We cannot control others views of us, but we do have the right to intervene any situation that causes someone to bring that negative energy into our space. We do this by what we allow, what we stop, and what we reinforce.

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Don’t forget to check out Writer’s Quote Wednesday every Wednesday, hosted by Silver Threading.

MSN Reports: “These twins can teach us a lot about racial identity”

As many of you already know, I also happen to be a twin. So naturally, I was drawn to this story. Racial identity also happens to be the central theme of the short story series (Stella Trilogy) I’m writing, each part surrounding a person’s search for identity, knit together by the same blood. Book #1: Between Slavery & Freedom is available now on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Lulu, iBookstore, etch. In the meantime, check out this article.

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© Provided by Vox.com Lucy and Maria Aylmer as children (YouTube)

MSN News Article:

“There’s a set of biracial twins in the UK who are turning heads because one is black and the other is white.” That’s how the New York Post introduced a profile of Lucy and Maria Aylmer, 18-year-olds whose father identifies as white and whose mother is “half-Jamaican” (and, we’re to assume, thinks of herself as black).

It’s just the most recent story of fraternal twins born with such dramatic variations in complexion they’re seen by many — and even see themselves  — as members of two different racial groups.

Each of these situations and their accompanying striking images, is a reminder of how fluid and subjective the racial categories we’re all familiar with are.

What “black and white twins” can teach us about race: it’s not real

Lucy and Maria’s story, and all the other sensational tales in the ” Black and White Twins: born a minute apart” vein are actually just overblown reports on siblings who, because of normal genetic variations that show up in more striking ways in their cases, have different complexions.

But they’re fascinating because they highlight just how flimsy and open to interpretation the racial categories we use in the US and around the world are.

Even the Post’s description of the Aylmer twins is clumsy, asserting that they’re each “biracial,” but stating in the very same sentence that one is white and the other is black.

And the fact that the two, despite having the same parents,  see themselves as belonging to two different racial groups ( “I am white and Maria is black,” Lucy told the Post) proves that there’s a lot more than biology or heritage informing racial identity.

It’s a reminder that the racial categories we use are fickle, flexible, open to interpretation, and have just as many exceptions as they do rules when it comes to their criteria for membership— that’s why they have been described as “not real,” meaning:

  • They’re not based on facts that people can even begin to agree on. (If we can’t even get a consensus that people with the same parents are the same race, where does that leave us?)
  • They’re not permanent. (If Lucy decides one day, like many other people with similar backgrounds, that her Jamaican mother is black and therefore, so is she, who’s to stop her?)
  • They’re not scientific. (There’s no blood test or medical assessment that will provide a “white” result for Lucy and a “black” one for Maria.)
  • They’re not consistent (Other twins with the same respective looks and identical parentage as these twins, might both choose to call themselves black or biracial.)

“Not real” doesn’t mean not important

Of course, none of this changes the fact that the concept of race is hugely important in our lives, in the United States, in the UK where the twins live, and around the world.

There’s no question that the way people categorize Lucy and Maria, and the way they think of themselves, will affect their lives.

That’s because, even though race is highly subjective, racism and discrimination based on what people believe about race are very real. The racial categories to which we’re assigned, based on how we look to others or how we identify, can determine real-life experiences, inspire hate, drive political outcomes, and make the difference between life and death.

But it’s still  important to remember that these consequences are a result of human-created racial categories that are based on shaky reasoning and shady motivations. This makes the borders of the various groups impossible to pin down — as the “black and white” twins demonstrate — and renders modern debates about how particular people should identify, futile.”

Photography

My beautiful sister Pamela
My beautiful sister Pamela, Photo by EC

Honestly, I can’t teach your ways to anyone, nor do I know much about you. I don’t talk about you a lot either, or cough up revelations about how I came to enjoy the way your eyes capture and then freeze our lives. I do remember however our first real encounter. It was the 11th grade. Mrs. Luno coupled us for the school yearbook, and we walked the hallways of Harper High School like we had been together for years. You wrapped your arms around my neck and let my pupils kiss your face. Together we recorded, froze, and transformed time into memory. We followed Jesse Jackson and Arnie Duncan through interviews and meetings. You even let me choose what to see and hold you in my arms during assemblies, plays, and basketball games. Letting me control the way your body felt in my hands, and in seconds we created images both tangible and symbolic; both real and fantasy. It was the first time I came to appreciate this kind of relationship with technology. We had so much in common: Your shutter and my pupil, your film and my retina, and our capacity to record the past; your memory card, and my brain. I still don’t completely understand you, but goodness, don’t I love holding the camera!

Guest Feature – Touched by an Angel

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We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Touched by an Angel – Maya Angelou

The Measurement of Success

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I usually don’t like talking a lot about certain historical figures, not because I have less respect for them, but because they are so routinely used. Like, if I hear Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks one more time this month I’ll scream. There are so many other worthy individuals to discuss than to regurgitate the same ten people whose names even the most illiterate in black history knows. So there, had to get that out.

BUT, this is such a great quote 🙂 (lol)

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.” —Booker T. Washington

This quote does not have to limit itself to one way of seeing success, but in whatever capacity of acheivement. Whatever you put your energy into, if you have practically crossed galaxies to achieve that thing, oh how sweet the victory right? Just a quick snippet of inspiration for all you beautiful people out there. Keep going, the struggle is only gonna make the reward that much sweeter.