We keep crying the same tears; the helpless, empty, hurtful ones.
Stealing our lives like it’s their right!
Blatant disrespect…
In broad, bright, and sunny daylight!
A mocking threat?
My mind bounces between black realities.
Sharing painful memories.
With those in the same skin as me.
Like a bonded teleportation machine.
Flashbacks that come and go.
Inhaling the last breathes of my fellow Negroes.
AGAIN: THIS TIME…
A knee to the neck.
In Minneapolis | in May | On a Monday
My mind machine placed me at the scene
That’s when I heard something…
I leaned in to hear it this time clear as day.
I heard Mr. Floyd say:
“I … C A N ‘T… B R E A T H E”
I heard his BLACK neck bones crickety-crunching under that relentless white knee
I heard his mind telling him: “THIS IS IT. THIS IS WHERE I DIE”
His dead eyes as he took his last breath staring at me
Urging me to ask:
Were you comfortable Officer?
Did his neck feel better than the ground?
Was there no other way to pin him down?
Cuffed, breathless you must like that sound.
Why you always trying to keep us down?
How many black lives must be taken by police brutality?
How come you tell us we’re free when we aren’t free?
Now it’s just unbearable every time one of us dies.
The sobs of our families are so alarming.
I can hardly sleep at night: Deafening, ear-splitting cries.
They keep haunting me: haunting us.
We keep crying the same tears.
The smell of prejudice-death is stomach-churning.
All that hate, all those lynchings.
From thousands and thousands of imploding,
dead BLACK bodies over the centuries.
⁃ Rotten dreams that never hatched
⁃ Assassinated leaders
⁃ Dead hopes
⁃ Sagging stories stinking of similar ancient skin curses
We keep crying the same tears.
They’ve kept their knees on our necks for years.
We remember masters and auctioneers.
Slavery like puppets and their puppeteers.
Our nightmares are a reality.
We can’t wake up.
W E… C A N ‘T… B R E A T H E
We can’t benefit from a supremacy.
I will no longer sit and watch silently.
I won’t make a bed with the enemy.
I won’t let you lie to me.
I won’t let you tell me you see us equally.
We keep crying the same tears.
Your loss of words is a choice!
You have the power in your voice!
I don’t want to read anymore.
The emotional pain engrosses my body.
AGAIN: AH! FLASHBACK.
Mind dropped in Georgia, Glynn County.
The trees standing sharp-eyed.
The violent air swishing, whooshing to warn them.
THUD…THUD…THUD, on the pavement.
Thudding.
I hear thudding, a rhythmic kind.
Alas, I was there aside Mr. Arbery.
He was the same age as me, 25.
His jogging rhythm sounded a lot like mine — BLACK.
I ran with him. I still run with him. We all run with him.
WHEN WILL WE STOP RUNNING?
Riots increasing…
We’re confronting…
“Don’t riot. Don’t set aflame. Don’t loot.”
But how many times we beg you to not shoot?
Because we keep crying the same tears.
Retract that moment, I breathed the same air Arbery did.
I felt his heartbeat pounding in MY chest unaware it would be the last thumping he’d hear
FOREVER.
Cause some prejudice, heartless whites thought they were clever.
I feel sick just wondering what they’d thought pulling that trigger.
“I’m gonna kill this nigger!”
Then y’all got the nerve to ask why we’re so bitter?
Because we keep crying the same tears…
I don’t have words strong enough!
But I am enough!
We are enough!
We’re getting racism on bold replay.
Rewinding our anger on display,
But today is the last day… I will sit here and be okay.
We must stand.
We must rise.
We must use one voice,
Look them in the eyes,
AND SAY— W E… C A N ‘T… B R E A T H E.
Bottles of alcohol.
Face masks.
Bottles of Lysol.
God help us all!
You know, what goes up, must come down.
You know what this is!
You know, what goes around comes back around.
HA!
We thought the divine wouldn’t notice?
The shark tooth we fashion around our neck?
Making sure we have everything the most high-tech?
It was time for a reality check!
We were moving so fast we forgot we could wreck…
Racing to our death,
to our DOOM.
My friend said “God sent us to our rooms”.
We can buy all the PPE,
But this happened because society is ugly.
SLASHING throats and WATCHING each other bleed,
making it hard for anyone to succeed,
watching what trend sets the lead.
Remember.
ALL it takes is faith the size of a mustard SEED,
but we didn’t BELIEVE, so now we have to plead.
LOOK!
We have our TRASH packing up the sea!
I remember.
When I was young,
Momma told me…
There was someone always watching me.
An angel in the corner of every room,
But I think I hurt her too much.
She stopped watching.
It got horrifying.
She started crying.
Cringing.
Then slowly dying.
I think you hurt yours too.
You think your angel didn’t see you?
All our watchers told God the news…
Angel tears are made of gold,
but they TURNED black…
because we didn’t wipe them fast enough.
That’s why we HIDE our hands.
You’re hot in your seats.
I know under your butt you feel this heat!
You ever heard a hard head makes a soft ah…
You know what!
So why when you know BETTER, you BUCK?
The weather has the pavement getting hotter.
Resembling the HELL we’ve caused.
The STORMS are stronger.
The HEARTBREAK is lasting longer.
The presence is getting closer.
Young girls hot in the pants!
Make up, “Crop tops”, Social media rants.
Posting up damn near naked pictures.
Pleasing someone’s old man.
I remember.
When I was young,
Momma told me…
There was someone always watching me.
An angel in the corner of every room,
But I think I hurt her too much.
She stopped watching.
It got horrifying.
She started crying.
Cringing.
Then slowly dying.
We aren’t blind.
Use your mind.
Just because something is available,
possible, make-able, repeatable, doesn’t mean we should do it!
DUH!
You could have a seat at God’s table, but you want crumbs?
So what, now you a bum?
You’re a heavenly creation.
A holy presentation and you wanna be none?
We are given everything.
The lessons,
The lessonbook,
The teachers,
But it’s like we said…
“NOPE. THIS ISN’T IT.”
All that guidance wasted.
We’re not winners.. we are sinners!
We think we can do it better.
When did we let arrogance be the trendsetter?
Why are we biting the hand that feeds us?
Chomping and swallowing it’s flesh!
Remember Lucifer?
Oh, you thought you rose?
Well, you about to fall.
How can my expectations be so high?
When humanity has proven nothing
for ages, but arrogance and lies.
If HUMANITY has TURNED their backs on JESUS,
Who am I? I’m easy to defy.
I remember.
When I was young,
Momma told me…
There was someone always watching me.
An angel in the corner of every room,
But I think I hurt her too much.
She stopped watching.
It got horrifying.
She started crying.
Cringing.
Then slowly dying.
Death numbers climbing daily,
but remember we are all walking dead people.
Our SOULS have been dead.
It’s time we bring them to life!
Pandemic this – epidemic that.
Wake up and smell the roses!
Take notes and check the facts.
Even if you don’t believe Jesus is coming back,
you can’t deny humans hands are filthy with BLOOD –
BLOOD of our own, BLOOD of animals, and of the earth.
IF!
we come back from this,
You can’t make excuses.
You gotta use those talents.
You have to learn to balance.
Are you up for the challenge?
That’s why we’re here!
‘Cause we didn’t get it the first million times.
How many more wake-up calls do you think we’ll get?
This just might be IT!
I remember.
When I was young,
Momma told me…
There was someone always watching me.
An angel in the corner of every room,
But I think I hurt her too much.
She stopped watching.
It got horrifying.
She started crying.
Cringing.
Then slowly dying.
Don’t say it,
Because you’ll say it ’til you can’t say it any more.
Show it,
I don’t want to hear it, I’ve heard it all before.
You love me.
You always have and you’re proud.
You support me.
Y’all always say it aloud.
How about when I ask you for help, you show up?
Start being there.
I don’t need your distant “good luck’s”.
For those I don’t care.
Why can’t you hush up?
Why can’t you be there?
You shouldn’t speak if you can’t back it up.
The real talk, doesn’t talk.
You sound like the rest, go head line up.
The real walks the walk.
Now I won’t expect it.
You’ll come around when I’m on top.
I’m not gone stress it.
I’m just fine, cause my grind, it won’t stop.
Real talk doesn’t talk.
Cause it shows.
Real talk doesn’t talk.
You know how it goes.
There they stood
These natural things
Effortlessly dancing in the warm breeze
It was then I’d start to plea
I wished it could instead be me
Bursting with curiosity
How’d they done it with ease?
Suddenly
I felt unsettled, unsolved in my small shoes
I wore them knotted and laced tightly for the unknown
Aspiring to plant my roots in the same soil
They stood in three
Giant, stretched above me
Their leaves bright with the suns rays
Their strength ready to take on more days
Purposely
I’d begun watching routinely
Comparing my progress to their perfection
Looking for any mishap, mistake, or infection
Nevertheless, finding nothing in need of correction
To be like them has become my sole obsession
They never droop, wallow, or weep
Steadily reaching up to the heavens
Closer to the divine than I’d ever be
Daily getting higher
Leaves getting brighter
Their mission always complete
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There they stood
These natural things
Effortlessly dancing in the warm breeze
It was then I’d start to plea
I wished it could instead be me
Bursting with curiosity
How’d they done it with ease?
Suddenly
I felt unsettled, unsolved in my small shoes
I wore them knotted and laced tightly for the unknown
Aspiring to plant my roots in the same soil
They stood in three
Giant, stretched above me
Their leaves bright with the suns rays
Their strength ready to take on more days
Purposely
I’d begun watching routinely
Comparing my progress to their perfection
Looking for any mishap, mistake, or infection
Nevertheless, finding nothing in need of correction
To be like them has become my sole obsession
They never droop, wallow, or weep
Steadily reaching up to the heavens
Closer to the divine than I’d ever be
Daily getting higher
Leaves getting brighter
Their mission always complete
Fathomed not by anything in life at all
In all conditions, from summer to fall
Strong, vigilant, a lesson to us all
Stop making excuses for yourself! Make your dreams, goals, the life you want – HAPPEN!
I’m not capable of doing these things. I’m too busy. I’m too tired. I don’t have enough experience. I don’t have the money. I could never do a job that amazing.
Any of those sound familiar to you? Admit it. You have said one of those things, haven’t you? Or you’ve believed it when it came from someone else? I have and the first step to progress is accepting the truth. It’s time to stop beating around the bush. We keep accepting these excuses and we think it’s okay. But it is not okay, because we are hindering our own progress.
Excuses stop success from happening. If you keep making excuses and telling yourself all the reasons why you can’t do something… you will never come close to doing it because you will start to believe it. Excuses, whether they come from you or others, are actually more harmful then…
View original post 507 more words
Why we are not as bad as they think we are
“I think your generation struggles, quitting jobs just because they sometimes have to work overtime, lazy, and moving too fast…” Be honest, how many times have you heard this? Said this? Or thought this? Do you want to know how many times this has been said to me? too many. Millennials have this negative perception that looms over us, we’re quixotic. My response, 99% of the time is to define the word lazy. I’m going to do it right now. Lazy is defined as “unwilling to work or use energy”. Millennials are indeed said to be some of the laziest and non-ambitious people when it comes to careers. There are so many articles written about this. What if we are just changing, fast-paced people?
Most of the time, the people who are saying we’re lazy are from the previous generations. There are various polls and data about this exact topic. However, I find those types of comments to be not only non-factual, dismaying, but problematic in their entirety. I want to lay out some reasons why. Remember, that the older folks used to be the younger folks who were on the receiving end of similar comments, but I can’t speak on how they handled it, all I can do is speak up for my generation. We are willing to apply our energy and work hard ONLY on things that we choose to. We are very selective and those are two different words with two different definitions. We want to apply our energy to things like our families and friends. In the end, all that matters is that we were happy no matter what that happiness is in…
There is a huge push on laws backing people’s happiness that did not exist before. We break traditions, toss them out the window if need be and push laws on things we think are fair because happiness comes first for us. Millennials, especially highlighting happiness in life, are not gratified with just a career, a house, and a car, but that we were truly happy with those things. I think we make happiness a number one priority in our lives so that’s where our energy goes most often. We were not interested in the options provided so we made our own. Millennials are pretty powerful. Life is simply too short to be unhappy, stressed, and so honed into jobs we forget how to be happy. We know we’ll be old farts one day teasing the generation after us, so we want to spend our time happy. That’s not lazy.
Next, we question what others were taught to go with. We want to know what we are doing and why. Nine times out of ten, based on my own experiences, we do this because we want to know what we are doing is meaningful and that we see results from it. So if there is no context to what we are doing or someone simply cannot provide it, we look elsewhere. We want answers and we want them fast. We want more and we want it now not later because there may never be a later.
The laziness comment usually relates to views about how we are with employment and life choices. But, just think about this… we would rather work jobs that allow us to be more flexible and spend time with our friends and family so we find ways to do that. We created and advanced technology! We took what our ancestors did and built upon it, improving accuracy and efficiency. Now you have Facebook, Uber, AirBnb, iPhone 11’s, Teslas that practically drive themselves, prosthetic arms that move with you, tiny cameras for surgery, Wi-Fi, and video chat to name several things. We have created some of the most advanced processes and routines to ensure success, faster. However, it seems the generations that existed before us think we are lazy when we have revamped and revised the world everyone lives in. We have done this in about twenty-five years, so imagine what we will do in forty!
I mean just think about how often technology is used. We launched phones that are not just used for communication but communicate with the owners. They are fashionable, lighter, more efficient, longer battery life… now that same technology applied to cars. Cars now talk to their owners, emergency braking systems, blind-spot detectors, and send text messages for you (stats are proving this feature has saved lives). What about the medical field or the engineering realm? Oh yeah, technology is there too. We developed a new era!
And social media? You can now talk to your family no matter where they are and what time it is in their location. You can see them, hear their voice, and post jobs all on one platform. Social media, well, technology itself, has made the world a smaller place. Is that lazy? I don’t think so. Laziness can simply not be that successful and touch that many lives.
So next time you think about saying we are lazy, think about how much we have impacted how life is lived now and how the future is changing. Currently, we are the largest generation in America overtaking the generations before us. We are the future.
A poem I would like to share with you for Black History Month! In light of Mr. Langston Hughes’ “Dream Deferred” I wrote a response from current times! I know you’ll love reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
“What happens to a dream deferred?”
It became life as I know, Mr. Hughes.
It flew and soared like a bird.
I came to tell you the news.
I’m a credible source.
You and I wear the same shoes.
At times, it was desiccated.
Dry, like Arizona desert sand.
But now it’s hydrated.
A dream blacks did demand.
It used to be a bubbling sore
Or the pain of a deep wound.
But it is stiff, and hard as a floor.
It is bold and fine-tuned.
In the early 1900s blacks could only dream
Of what we now can do.
I know in your time it’d never seem
But I tell you it’s true.
The dream is candied.
I wish you could live now to see
It doesn’t smell like rotten meat.
Oh, how I wish you could see.
Racism still boldly exists.
Some souls still hate us.
But our…
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