Tag: freedom

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Nelson Mandela

Is it Wednesday? Indeed it is and that means another episode of Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday. I am so excited to be back! For those of you keeping in touch you know I took December off so I have not done a WQW since November! Soooo what better way to resurface than the first WQW of the year.

Let’s get started. Today’s quote is from Nelson Mandela:

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I truly believe that how you treat others play a big part in the life that you live. More than our individual goals and ambitions is how we are wiling to share pieces of ourselves with others that will truly determine the kind of people we are. If we have fed the hungry, encouraged the lowly, or given a kind word to the sick. In short, if we have loved. If we have looked out for others the same as we would look out for ourselves. After the sun slumbers and the dust settles, this is most important. Not so much how important you are, but how important you have made others. The light that you instill into their lives after the goals are realized and the dreams fulfilled. Did you keep what you’ve learned to yourself or did you share it? More so than share it, how much have you multiplied? At the end of the day my passion rest with providing for others to the extent of my ability. If I can change the life of one person with my books, my words, and the life that I live then I have done my job. I believe no earthly possession is more noble.

About the Author:

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Nelson Mandela, 1918 – 2013

South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. In 1930, when he was 12 years old, his father died. Hearing the elders’ stories of his ancestors’ valor during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

Born of royalty, the son of Chief Henry Mandela of the Madiba clan of the Xhosa-speaking Tembu people, Nelson Mandela renounced his claim to the chieftainship to become a lawyer. He attended South African Native College (later the University of Fort Hare) and studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand; he later passed the qualification exam to become a lawyer.

On May 10, 1994 Mandela was sworn in as president of the country’s first multiethnic government. He established in 1995 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which investigated human rights violations under apartheid, and he introduced housing, education, and economic development initiatives designed to improve the living standards of the country’s black population.

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That’s it for this weeks segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Be sure to check out the quotes from other blogger participants.

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Stella Book #3: The Road to Freedom ARC!

As this year prepares to come to an end, so does the Stella Trilogy. The first major update is that I am now accepting readers for an ARC, Advanced Review Copy, of Stella Book #3 as of next month. If you are interested in receiving a free electronic (unedited) version of this book in exchange for an honest review, please complete this form so you can get your copy next month. All reviewers are encouraged to publish the reviews on their blogs but you will receive a link to the books Amazon and Goodread pages a day or two before it releases in which to post your review then as well.

Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

3DBook Cover

1. Click this link to go to my invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/4vWcc9

2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot)

3. Sign up! Choose your spots – VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!

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Note: I am using VolunteerSpot to organize this Sign-up. VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address please contact me and I can sign you up manually. I have also added a page to help keep you reminded that I am accepting readers for ARC’s. I will take it down when I have reached my limit for now.

Yours, Not Mine

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham: your boasted liberty, an unholy license: your national greatness, swelling vanity. Your sound of rejoicing is empty and heartless. Your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impedance; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery. Your prayers and hymns, sermons, and thanksgiving, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, more bombast, fraud, deception, and hypocrisy–a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.” – Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852

What Kind of Writer Are You?

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Freedom Writer

I like to write books that challenge people to think beyond what they know (think) exists; releasing people from the limited ways in which we tend to think and feel. So I strive to produce content that is thought provoking and cultivates the mind. My goal is to free the minds of all people through truth, using digital technology to create unique reading experiences. I do this because the mind is where the spiritual is, and it is my belief that if a people are not spiritually and mentally free in truth, then they are not free at all.

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Your Turn!

I thought this would be a fun exercise for writer’s to outline their writing goals by asking themselves what kind of writer they are, and from there to list the reasons why they write. Who would like to play?

  • In 1-2 words, give us a catchy phrase that best suites the kind of writer you are. Mine is “Freedom Writer”.
  • In 100 words or less, explain why. It’s important to keep it short. This will help us to clearly define our goals.
  • You can leave a comment to this post or write a post of your own like mine, your choice. If you do your own post, just ping-back so I see it. It’s no fun if we can’t support each other.
  • ALL Bloggers Welcome! – If you are not a writer you can give your blogging goals. Same rules apply.

So….yall game or lame? Don’t leave me hanging, let’s have some fun 🙂 !

Freedom: The Illusion

There’s a strange fruit

hanging from the trees

but not the kind of Billie Holidays days

with

blood all on the leaves

but these

are a different set of trees

and they bear a strange fruit

called ignorance

with an illusion up its sleeve

an illusion so thick

sometimes it’s hard to breathe

I feel like I am in the days

of Dr. Martin Luther King back when

black folks marched and sang songs

and Martin had a dream but,

what exactly was his dream?

I found myself

asking myself

over and over these things

what exactly was his dream?

I thought and so my thoughts led me

to February 1818,

here was born Fredrick Douglas

a man who also had this dream

To not have to work the cotton fields

courtesy of the curses

was his dream see to

not be so dark

so black

this too was his dream and in

1845 he found himself

on the “winning” team.

Tired of hearing screams of being slapped up

he slipped up into a secret society.

Wanting to be a part of this world so badly

he joined the American Anti–Slavery Society

mistakenly joining a secret society

determined

to tear him away

from his own

society

This was his conclusion

Mr. Douglas my friends

got caught up in the illusion.

So being women some of us and

enjoying the company of women the other half of us

our thoughts led us to some women tales

we thought

well most certainly

we can get our answers from Mrs. Ida B. Wells

But as I studied her story in search for this dream

my mind began to drift away

as I saw that she too had this dream

she too had this purpose

she too wanted to escape

the curses

Blinded by a fake reality

she too joined a secret society

also known as the NAACP

created by Jews

but led by intelligent fools

with black skins

who sought to escape the bodies they were in

So

like Douglas

Ida became confused in a world of turmoil

that led her to believe her own confusion

she too was caught up

in this Illusion

but we had to figure out some way

somehow our own existence

our own being

therefore we continued our search

for Martin’s dream

our thoughts destination

had to steer towards education

so take it

it’s yours

this led us to of course,

W.E.B. Dubois.

something about this man caused an excitement

that ran through you and me we

became amazed

and began to admire his level of maturity

when it came to intellectual ability so we thought sure

“Now this man can school me.”

However, with him too my mind became stumped

as I ran across this myth

and

found that my admirer was in favor

of the talented tenth?

To my astonishment

he too had this dream

He too wanted to be on what he thought

was the winning team

(even if it meant only 10% of the winning team)

see because Dubois didn’t understand the curses

he created the crisis

magazine

so as we caught up to Dr. Martin Luther King and we

heard his many speeches singing “I had a dream!”

we too began to lust for this very dream

even if it was not real

all we had to do was feel

feel like we had this dream

even after our depression still lingers

and our arthritis can still be felt in the fingers

and our AIDS rate keeps growing

and our blood stops flowing

even in the midst of the curses

and the confusion

we’d still rather give ear to this Freedom

the illusion.