“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
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Courage
I know that it is never easy
to wear scarlet letters on your skin
to take history
and C-section her calendars
for the stories
that didn’t make it
until you find the authenticity
of truth
like consciousness
beautiful
but delicate
see through
and cutting
like shattering glass
piercing the spirit
and slicing through flesh and bone
so no one looks at the news the same
but for those of you
who have cherished her summers
kissed her springs
embraced the coldest winters ever
and dared to wear her degradation
on your lips
for your courage to find the other pieces
of her
the parts society is too fearful
of hearing
she bathes in your smile
because you loved her, truth
saw her delicate
and fragile
torn between the additions
and subtractions
that multiplied her sorrows
until her parts were divided
ripping her reality from the pages of scripture
like confused tongues
and babblings
snatching her away
from the breast of wisdom
like coal painted faces
minstrel shows
whitewashed genesis
cream-colored pharaohs
but she is not interested
that you feel sorry for her
history
she needs not of your pride
not of your bonafie hustlers
in prophet suits
not of your street corners
not of your liquor stores
not even of your religion
for her stone coated roses are too heavy
to place upon your caskets
for even in death
you have honored yourself
above her
truth
needs not of your chocolate bars
for history is tired of eating
she is sick
to the brim
with prophecies
and worries
and concerns
and birth pains
over those who wear her burden
like the colors of their skins
but she is thankful
that they have chosen to rather be humiliated
than to deny her
and this poem
is for all
their bravery.
Love, Honesty, Truth, and Respect
Love me or hate me but know that I will always keep it real with you. Integrity is everything. Enjoy your weekend people.
10 Commandments Statue Must be Removed from State Capitol
For those of you who know me, you know I like symbolism and this story is very symbolic to me. For the record I’m not a Christian so this is not about religion, it’s deeper than that.
They are removing a statue that is representative of the 10 commandments. Interesting. Let that marinate.
Link to the story:
10 Commandments statue must be removed from state Capitol, Oklahoma Supreme Court rules.
Chasing Time
If you weren’t such an important part of the way we measure our existence, I would call you a coward. Why you choose to hide behind second hands and between work schedules I would never know. You slip away from us with the ease of the wind; attaching only seconds to the opportunity to pour heart matter onto paper or spill thoughts onto the screen. You make it difficult for me to drain creativity out of the dust you’ve left me with. I hurry to catch up to you, forcefully picking up the pace of my fingers that heave in and out of breath. They say its good practice writing everyday so I fish for a way to transliterate thoughts against a racing pulse. Time. It is no secret your lack of compassion. It is the chit chatter of every inanimate object that you wait for no one. Sometimes I wonder if you really exist at all. If clocks and 24 hour days is just a mask you wear to disguise your invisibility; if you are truly infinite. I doubt I’ll find a place for you among the galaxies, or deep beneath the sea. This will mean that we will never actually catch up to you, and must instead appreciate your presence when it is near. Time. The only uninvited guest we hope will out stay his welcome.
When You Give Away Your Power
Men Give More
…in relationships.
I saw this post on Facebook made by a sister who made a very valid point. While I cannot remember her entire statement, in summary, what she said was that men are more accepting of women when it comes to relationships. I agree with that statement. I have seen it happen over and over again even within my own past. I have a cousin, for example, who has always, despite having children, been capable of having a man by her side. Not because she’s the best person ever, but because men are usually more loving than women. Meaning, a man is willing to accept a woman with all of her flaws. He is willing to accept that she has six children and no job. He does not mind providing for her and being there for her. A man would marry a woman the world thinks is fat or ugly. Men do this because men tend to give more than we do.
Women love of course, but we are also much more judgmental and rejecting. For most women, if a man can’t provide financially he is nothing. If he is not good looking, he is nothing. If he is not sexually adequate, again, he is nothing. You see, men, contrary to popular belief, are not just this hard core structure of a person. But real men have deep emotional feelings, they do cry and they do feel pain. It is possible that a man who has been hurt by a woman he truly loves will never come back from that. Society says that this man is weak but this couldn’t be any further from the truth. It’s not that men who show their emotions are weak, it’s that men are just more loving. As a woman, I am not saying we do not love or have the same deep feelings since we tend to be extremely emotional, but what I am saying is that it is true that men tend to give more in relationships than women.There’s a saying that rings true: “You ain’t a Queen until you’re married to a King”, but some women would rather rule alone than to admit it.
The PBS Blog 