SMILE! It's FRIDAY!!!!!

How am I feeling today? Well truthfully I awoke feeling a tad bit sluggish, but I recovered thanks to a good cup of Chai at work. All is quiet in the office today, so all in all I must say that I've done about 10-15 minutes of actual work today. Hey - it's Friday. :)

I'm looking forward to getting home soon and doing a lot of nothing for the rest of the evening. Consider it Lady's Choice; I might do some reading, tv watching, phone conversation, etc....like I said - Lady's Choice.

As I look around my desk I feel a lil bad since I really did VERY little work today, but you know what? Screw it - it's Friday. All in all this was a good week personally...I hope you all are able to say the same.

I'm feelin a lil generous today, so here's a poem:

the squared roots of 3Fifths
you don’t know we

mochacaramelbutterscotchdeepcocoa
of all flavors, shapes, and different packaging
are we but

you don’t know we

cause to you we’re only the collective
them
one ugly brown spot on your
pristine white distortion of history

you don’t know wewe’re the spawn of Ellison’s
invisible man and your gaze pierces
air as you stare right through us
focused on the animalized
sexualized and
primitive labels you slapped on us over the years as we built up
the country you claim as your own

you don’t know we

in your maladjusted eyes we all look the same
at first glance, which is all you can spare
as a second might reveal the fool
in you as you continually strive to put every
thing about we from external to innermost
into a file of categorized nonsense
stored in the core of your cranium because

you don’t know we

and we’re too
complex to digest
if we ain’t abstract so you
subtract parts from our whole to put
we in a box — rewind that
we in a box…
my people can’t you see we’re
in a box
conveniently filtered we’re like grinds
left behind in morning’s brew
we’ve been simplified, misrepresented, and
generalized by all mankind in hopes that we’d bend and
blend into this unnaturally homogenous
mix of manwomanchild to be force fed to kin
from generation to generation we’ve remained
the bastards of this nation cause not only do
they not know we

we don’t know we

S.Gray

For All Have Fallen Short

Or have we forgotten that part? I was conversing with a young man today via text message while at work today, and the topic of homosexuality came up. Anyone who knows me, knows my feelings on the matter – I think that a person doesn’t make that kind of life-altering choice. Who would choose to be persecuted and being the subject of hate? Right. Anyway, my own beliefs on homosexuality are in conflict with my Christian beliefs, which state homosexuality is sin. How do I deal with that? Well, I believe my God doesn’t make errors and everything that has occurred has done so because He allows it to serve a greater purpose. I also believe that if indeed it is sin, then it is no better/worse than the sins we commit everyday. If you’re gonna go after one sin, then go after them all. Thirdly, I hold to the fact that the Creator alone is judge and jury of our souls and it is He – not us (thanks be to God) that determine our eternal fate.

Now with all of that aside…this young man is Trini – so I already figured he would have certain hostilities towards homosexuals, and he’s Rasta as well. Now my own faith believes that we are the one true faith and all others will perish. Did I throw that in his face? No…of course not, why would I? Especially since I believe that God is in everything, in all of us…and in the end only He knows those who are right and just, and no one religion can boast of that much at this point in our world’s history.

Anyway, so the texting continues and I realize that I’ve opened a can of worms with this young gent, simply because I said I was going to the Captial Pride Parade this weekend. Wow. He continues to go on to say some things that make my chest burn, but I can say I’ve kept my calm and just agreed to disagree with the man. Some things in life are not worth it, especially when you know at the end of the day you don’t decide a darn thing.

I know others might not agree with me, and that’s fine. My thing is this…God is love and He’s in all of us – like it or not. Even if you believe what a person does isn’t right or isn’t in line with your beliefs, acknowledge the fact that a person is not their actions – all of us are worth far more than that. None of us are perfect – even on human standards, let alone trying to measure up to the Almighty. So tell me why is it so hard to love a person, but hate that which they may or may not do? Why is our love and acceptance conditional, based upon how much like us that person is? Because face it, we don’t like/accept those who are different from us. Whether it be different beliefs, different socio-economic status, different race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion – you name it…the human race is extremely intolerant at its core. Yet a great deal of us believe in and worship a higher power…one that advocates living right and just. Hate is not right. It is not just. It does not solve a problem. It will not heal a soul. Yet so many of us practice it on a daily basis, so much so that it has become ingrained in our mentality and settled into our spirits.

The conversation I had with that young man, brief as it was, served as a reminder of the close-mindedness of the human race. Now I realize that all this might be sounding a little Kumbaya for some of you, and no I’m not suggesting we hold hands and skip happily in fields of daffodils. What I am saying is simply, that we are so quick to judge, so quick to hate, that we oft forget that we have a Lord who will judge us all in the end. Should we all perish today, where do you think you will end up for the rest of eternity? I thank God that I am still here, because I know I’m not perfect. Yet and still I know my Master loves me and I Him. Now if the God of All Creation…the One who has names too numerous to count…the One who spans millennia and precedes Time itself…if that most Supreme of Beings can love and care for one as flawed and scarred as you and I – then why is it that we, the lowly ones who are unfit for His grace, mercy, and love find it so hard to simply love, respect, and accept our brethren? We all carry our own crosses…our own burdens…our own faults and shortcomings. I would much rather carry all of those with love in my spirit, than to allow the venom of hate emanate from my being.

God is Love…and it is He that I aspire to be like.

Peace Be With You Always,
S

Rev. Al takes it to Potty-Mouth Rappers – HARDCORE

He’s not playin around folks…Reverend Al Sharton is rather adamant about his campaign to clean up the hip hop music industry, and has decided to take it to the next level (see here). He and his cohorts will be cleaning up hip hop one mouth at a time, as they are in Detroit collecting bars of soap to shove down the misogynistic throats of rappers as we speak!

Well ok…he’s not really going to wash their mouths out with soap, once they’re done collecting all the Dove, Dial, and Irish Springs they can lay their hands on, Rev. Al will be donating the bars of soap to shelters and halfway houses. This little ‘demonstration’ is a part of his ongoing crusade to save the Black community via cleaning up hip hop….I still think my idea of actually going old school with it and washing out a few potty mouths with a nice big bar of Dial would be the better idea – just imagine 2 Quarters getting his shark toothed behind getting the b*tches and ho’s washed out of his mouth. Pure comedy. Alas, Rev. Al has decided to take the passive route…whatever.

My question is this: what kind of god-awful protest/demonstration is this??? This is 2007, not 1957 – that ish doesn’t fly round these parts anymore. What is the deal with these passive, pansy ass demonstrations that both Rev. Al and the NAACP (see this article) are conducting? I think it’s indicative of just how out of touch some of these civil rights leaders/organizations of old are with the times – and their own people. No one is going to be moved by a mock funeral or a bar of soap. That’s not gonna solve anything at all! Where are the more progressive activists at? I’m tired of sideshows, gimmicks, and jingles…this whole Black activism thing is looking like one big ole minstrel show to me right now. Can we stop soft-shoeing for a minute and seriously get down to some business?

I Just Want to Know Why

Taken from the Washington Post:

Ten-year-old Zainab Ali, a victim of a mini bus bomb explosion, look on in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Amil, Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, June 3, 2007. A parked minibus packed with explosives blew up in a busy section of central Baghdad, on Tuesday, May 29, 2007, killing 17 people and injuring 53 others. Zainab, was in her home the time of the blast and is one of many residents made homeless by the bomb attack. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Photo Credit: AP Photo

This is ridiculous...this was somebody's baby girl right here, and she's scarred for life. Granted, at least she is still alive, but I just don't understand how we can continue to 'play war' when you are hurting innocents? This picture broke my heart, and my prayers go out to this little one, her family, and all those in Iraq who are dying/being injured everyday. This is sheer madness, what gives us the right to do things liek this to one another? For the sake of Democracy? For oil? To distract the American public from the fact that we STILL don't know where Bin Laden is and the fact that the idea of waging a war on a concept as intanglible as terror is a long-shot @ best? It just isn't right. Lord have mercy on us all, because truly we have lost our minds - and our hearts.