Imagining Breonna Taylor; Say Her Name

#BreonnaTaylor

Can you just imagine, you are a hard working, law abiding woman. You go to bed in the comforts of your home and in the protection and warmth of your man's arms. Hoodlums dressed in blue kick open your door, break into your home with guns drawn forever disturbing your peace and that of your community and your loved ones. Imagine that...

These thugs, all dressed in blue, shoot and murder you. You never saw it coming. You died not knowing that it was your tax dollars that paid the salary of the hoodlums who murdered you and falsely arrested your man. Drama and trauma all rolled into one and all you were trying to do was get a good night sleep.The thugs in blue, were in fact cops on the local municipal payroll. You were an EMT and might have even worked with them or someday saved their lives. Now they have murdered you. Imagine that...

The cover up begins. Your man is arrested for doing what men are supposed to do, defend his woman and protect his household. You are now in a black body bag. He is now in an orange body suit. How in the hell did that happen when all you did was go to bed in the comforts of your own home? Self defense in one's home is not a crime but now your man, who rightfully shot in self defense, is being paraded like a criminal before the media by the criminals who killed you. One can only imagine what is going through his mind. Thank God for Judge Olu Stevens who brought justice to this matter and released Mr. Walker with no bail pending trial for commission of no crime. A Black Judge committed to justice did that! Imagining Justice for ALL in America...

You were aware of the endless incidents of Black lives ended by poorly trained, fearful and/or violent police. Never could you have imagined when you put your head on your pillow on that fateful night in March that your name would be added to a long list of infamous Black folks murdered for no reason other than simply Living While Black. Against your will, you are now part of an ever growing list of innocent Black Americans who die victims in infamy at the hands of murderous cops. And all you ever wanted was a good night sleep in the comfort of your man's arms. Instead, in a flash and without notice, your life, your dreams, your future and that of your man is over. Your light and his have been extinguished. You are forever gone. He is forever changed... It hurts to imagine that...

And to think that all the cops had to do was knock and respect you and your man in your home as they would have done given another zip code. Across town, there is no presumption of guilt nor fear of retaliation for all the harm they have inflicted upon the community. Across town, never would they have violated you or the sanctity of your home in the wee hours of the morning murdering you and arresting your man. Across town, they would have done their homework and realized before kicking in your door while you slept in you man's arms that yours was the wrong address and that already they had in custody the man they were seeking. Across town I imagine that still you would be alive nursing and tending to wounded cops, their friends, their families or others of innocent victims of their crimes such as yourself. Across town, there would be justice and accountability for what happened to you and your man. I would like to imagine the same for your community and your loved ones. Instead, I imagine their pain...

Imagining Breonna Taylor, Say Her Name!

Justice For Kenneth Walker!!! Say His Name Too!

Breonna & Kenneth

There Is Trouble A Brewin' in America...

This morning they are telling us that 86,904 Americans are dead from COVID-19 in America, which means that there are more. Still trump is doing nothing to rise to the occasion of leadership. Why not? Because on top of being icy cold, inhumane, racist and xenophobic, donald trump is grossly incompetent and as should be expected, is rising to the only standard or level of performance he has even known; failure! America knows this but still America continues to tolerate the presence, embarrassment and absolute humiliation of him for the world to see. America has lost her standing and her might on the world stage for a very long time to come...

donald trump is the epitome of that imbecile supervisor we have all had who was utterly stupid but who spoke with such confidence and belief in him or herself and in what s/he was saying that you looked on and listened in total disbelief and wondered whose relative must s/he be. Some joke that trump is that 'crazy old uncle'. But this crazy old uncle occupies the White House, has his finger near the button to kill us all and is evil, corrupt and immoral as hell. There is nothing funny about this crazy old uncle. Conversely he is quite dangerous; globally...

At this point however, America MUST ask herself what is so very wrong with this country that at the highest level of authority, when lives are being lost, when our very existence and certainly our credibility are at stake, why, as a nation, is there any willingness to tolerate such representation of us? This man, as a good friend put it, is an embarrassment not only to the US, but to the world. Other countries are no longer looking at America with admiration or envy but instead with horror and disbelief if not pity and shame and some, certainly with absolute glee and delight in anticipation of America's inevitable fall because karma, as we know, is a bitch! All for what America? Tolerance of a psychologically challenged, morally deprived, con man because he is white?, because he is male?, because he is racist? Really America?

Like the wealth given him by his crooked daddy and every company he has run into the sewer, donald trump has destroyed America. No longer is America the "go to" country to lead or show other nations the way. No longer is America the "come to" country successfully marketed since being built for free on the backs of the enslaved, as a nation where anything is possible, opportunities are unlimited and the streets are paved in gold. I am willing to bet that many who risked their lives abandoning country and family to get here are now wanting to return as American borders now have them locked in and the borders they fled have them locked out as American continues to ignore the reality of a very real pandemic. No longer are Americans welcome. No longer is that blue passport the ticket to have that opened most doors. Hell, even I feel trapped!.

The writing is on the wall. We are far less safe in America than in most other nations. Not only are we being annihilated by a virus that is being allowed to run rampant while trump and his clueless, complicit cohorts ignore or downplay the very existence of Corona all the while trying to convince us that it will miraculously dissipate in this "great" nation they are building, it is also clear that we are on the verge of civil unrest fueled by racism and an eventual resistance to the coup of our democracy, our way of life and/or the fall of our government when/if donald trump steals or is handed yet another election or when/if he refuses to relinquish the throne which will ignite military intervention. At some point, as the indifferent and greedy rich get richer while the poor, the middle class and unhealthy continue to die or are forced back to work in unsafe and unhealthy conditions to maintain wealth of the rich, there will be mass resistance in the streets and it ain't gonna' be pretty...

Trouble is a brewin' in America. Things are guaranteed to get far worse before they get better and still we sit by, seemingly defenseless, idly waiting for the tsunami that we see heading our way. It's all so especially incredible because this is not a new page in a very old playbook of political manipulation. We have read this book before. We know the ending. There is nothing new on the pages that we are refusing to read... And still, we do nothing. Now that's Incredible Folks!


America the victim. Since when?

America Trades Kool-Aid for Lysol...

So donald trump actually suggested that as a remedy for COVID-19 that perhaps Americans could disinfect ourselves from the inside out via inserting heat or intense ultra violet light rays through our skin and into the body, that we might ingest bleach or inject ourselves with household disinfectants.... 

When I first read it on Facebook, I refused to believe the headline. You know, fake news and all. Surely this could not be true. I would not take it for granted, I had to find the footage and hear it for myself. There just are no words. It was true. The guy occupying the white house and masquerading as President of the United States (POTUS), in all sincerity and seemingly in a show of sheer brilliance known only to him, he actually declared that any of the above methods, tantamount to acts of suicide, should be explored as remedies for Americans. Astounding! Not even the best comedy writer could have made that up. Yep! He really said that much to the obvious horror of the professionals around him who he pressured into tacit support of his lunacy...  

One could say that he doesn't realize the power of his words or the office he has commandeered. Oh but he does! What he doesn't realize is just how big an ass he is and just how absolutely embarrassing he is to our nation or just what a horrible influence he is to our youth and so many others, but especially our youth who otherwise look up to and aspire to be POTUS! He has demeaned the office and the nation yet he thinks himself genius and not one of his handlers dare fend for America. Not one...

Corona has become his 5th Avenue. He is doing his best to kill Americans, to include his foolish followers who will heed his advice and drink the special jim jones blend Kool-aid, who show up at his rallies and protests orchestrated by his henchmen in suits who could give a damn about them demanding a reopening of the economy therefore ensuring their own death, who will take hydrochloro-whatever it was and who will sadly heed his call and try to ingest or inject cleaning products or disinfectants. Pathetic...

American companies warning American citizens NOT to do something the "POTUS" said and STILL he has supporters and STILL the republicans back and spin stories for him. Today we are to believe him not our lying and horrified eyes but instead his spin that he was not being sarcastic, not serious when he made these outlandish remarks.  Click here and judge for yourself. That people are dying and the "POTUS" thinks humor or sarcasm even slightly appropriate is equally disturbing but that was not his intent. Incredibly, he was quite serious. 

STILL the media covers and broadcasts his every word. Why? I learned last week that there is a journalistic obligation to cover him to include his ridiculous rallies now turned press conferences, but there is no obligation to broadcast them, certainly not in their entirety. This guys is dangerous and there should be no live feed of him, Not Ever! Every time he speaks it should be aired on delay, in time enough for his words to be vetted. For the safety and sanity of the American people, last night should have been the final straw. He is exhausting sane Americans. It is the media that made him, it is the media that can break him by not feeding his insatiable and enormous ego and desire to be seen and heard and to feed red meat to his base of supporters. There is nothing to be gained with these afternoon rambling sessions of pure idiocy that he now holds in place of his racist, xenophobic rallies laced with baits of treason. His poor base. They are his sacrificial and foolish lambs. What ever will it take?   

STILL, We the People have not bum rushed the white house demanding his eviction. We have become a passive, or maybe just exhausted, people. Meanwhile... America ain't so great anymore as she trades Kool-Aid for Clorox and Lysol... 

  

AMERICA, NOT SO GREAT 

ANYMORE...

GOP Mandates Workers Back to the Field...

The Headline reads:

GOP Governors Will Push Workers off Unemployment by Reopening Early

These are wicked people y'all... They are DELIBERATELY choosing to reopen places frequently employing and servicing the Black community. Black people are waking up, realizing that and pushing back and as consumers saying hell no!, we won't go. As workers however, there will be another choice to make. Get back in that cotton field, I mean go back to work, or sacrifice unemployment benefits therefore one's means to survive, one's ability to feed and house themselves and their family during this pandemic.

So if it is not bad enough that we make up a disproportionate number of the "essential workers" risking our lives to save America and/or to keep it going, now we will be forced to the front line yet once again being made to literally choose between living and facing the very real potential of death as we return to work before any testing has been done or procedures put in place to clear the path of doubt or to reassure us or the rest of the American public that the coast is just a little clearer. How sad... STILL we are expected to die for the economy of this country, just as was the case during slavery. Still don't believe that Blacks built this country? Still believe that Blacks are lazy and don't want to work? Still don't believe that some whites think themselves superior and that to them, Black lives really don't matter? You fail to see your country for what it is and what it has always been. The more things change...

Black folks might just have to take care of one another, our collective self. You know, get back to the pre-integration basics of making our own way as we grapple with how to not only get through but to survive this pandemic!!! Let there be some good to come out of this. Please God...

Channel the resilience of our Ancestors, check on one another and Hang in There! We have weathered many a storm, together we can weather this one too... 

Governor By Theft!

Damn Corona!

So yesterday I was determined to make it a better day. I had to do things differently to pick up my mood. On purpose I got up, got dressed, COMBED MY HAIR, took a nice shower, cleaned up a bit, washed clothes and played music all day as I worked from home. I even entered a Zoom conference with video instead of my usual still photo concealing the mess that I am. LOL! I purposely decided to make it a better day...


Later in the evening I went for a drive and even picked up a cheesesteak and fries; comfort food to treat myself in closure of my good day. But for a walk around the block at 9pm one night when the moon was beautiful and bright, I have been in the house since Sunday. No fresh air! I know this is not good but in my overwhelming sense of helplessness, it seems it is becoming my new norm. Ugh... Somehow I went from creating a daily task to get me outside to only going out once per week. Too much information coming at me. I have no way of knowing what is true. So I guess my response has been to just stay put where I feel the most safe... Not good. I must work on it...


Thursday was freaky too. I have had no one in my apartment since this nightmare began. On Thursday, a cable guy HAD to come in. I was getting new service. The new norm says they don't come in but call and let you know that there is a bag outside your door with instructions on how to install your own equipment. That of course depends on there being no problem with the wiring already in your home. Of course there was a problem with my wiring which required him being in my apartment for what seemed an eternity. Creepy as I am masked up and watching everywhere he went so to know what I had to clean when he left... This new norm, being afraid of the mere presence of others, is freaky y'all and 'social butterfly me', doesn't like it...


So after Thursday, a "snap back" Friday was important. I purposely set out to MAKE it a good day in this new normal and it was, kinda' sorta', UNTIL that evening. I received the dreadful text from a person very dear to me that she and maybe her little one have Coronavirus. Shit just got even more real! She is the first person in my intimate circle to disclose that she is positive. It was just a matter of time as we can all expect this kind of news, even for ourselves.  Brace yourself. The virus is too prevalent and too little is being done to contain it nationally to think otherwise... In my heart I KNOW that she is going to be fine, so I didn't really panic, but still my heart sank. So much for a good day. I ate only half my cheesesteak...


I hate that she and others are going through this. I hate that disproportionately Blacks are being affected by Corona and that we live in a country where we have an administration that largely doesn't care and is likely quite happy and motivated that estimates of nearly 50% of the deaths from this virus are Black people, thus his nonchalance that a possible 100,000 Americans could die from Corona. He is banking that they will be largely Black people. And we thought "George Bush didn't like Black people"... Corona is Katrina on steroids...


We are on our own in this fight, AGAIN... Good and forward thinking for Sean Combs to assemble a Town Hall to launch a discussion of just how we start to do this; take care of ourselves. What a nice new normal that would be post Corona, Black independence... Something has got to give... If you have not seen his Revolt special, check it out, it is on YouTube.


Throughout all of this, I have repeatedly said, it is one of two things that will sustain and get us through this mess; our strong belief in faith and/or our strong belief in US and the resilience of our Ancestors and confidence that we are similarly resilient. We've been through some stuff y'all and amazingly we have come through. As dreadful as it seems, this too will pass. As someone shared with me yesterday, no season is permanent. This time however we need to come through standing much differently on the other side. What does that look like? What will be OUR new normal? WE MUST envision... WE MUST decide...


Of course in the interim, we have to do our best to do as much as we can to protect ourselves; stay home as much as possible, practice social distancing, wear masks, wash our hands, try not to touch our face, all that we are being told are preventative measures. Stay strong and fight like hell if Corona does pay us a visit but most importantly, let's check on, take care of and pray for one another. My special friend is atop my list right now. I know that you are reading this. Hang in there and don't hesitate to call no matter the need. I will be there...


Happy Saturday Folks & DON'T go to church tomorrow no matter what that foolish preacher is saying. Easter is the day of resurrection for Jesus not you. You may not rise so don't risk it. Worship on line, on the phone with family and friends or alone with you and your God in your living room. Put on your Sunday best if you must but just stay home!!!


Be Well EVERYONE!!!


#DamnCorona!!!

America the Great, Now A Shithole Country?

America the Great!!!



America now looks like a "shit hole" country with states begging for supplies or being forced to wheel and deal or to compete with or outbid one another for the most basic of supplies necessary to save and/or protect lives as if on the black market, defenseless against death of our caretakers and their patients as our "leadership" seems OK with the loss of a "mere 100,000" or more of our lives, staring like deer in the headlights at a growing pandemic soon to be in pandemonium mode the likes of which America has never imagined and does not know how to handle.

Ultimately, arrogance be damned!, we will be forced to look to other countries, you know, those "shit hole countries", to which we have previously boasted superiority, shunned and/or criticized, to whom we have selectively doled entrance to our sacred borders like grand prizes, we will be forced to look to them for guidance on how to survive the unthinkable here where the streets have been falsely marketed as "paved in gold".

The land of golden opportunity does not seem so opportune now as doors previously open to us and desiring our presence are being closed in our faces. Call it karma and false notions of supremacy and invincibility. The borders incited by trump's racism and xenophobia are now borders against America. The blue passport that everyone else wanted and that was our key to wherever we wanted to go, ain't the book to have no more... At least not now. The next REAL POTUS is going to have so much fixing to do!

And why is American in this state? It is because Americans, all of us because surely there are mechanisms to have unseated terror in plain view, has tolerated absolute incompetence at the highest of levels. Yes, trump's regime took it to an unprecedented extreme, but since the days of ronald reagan, the actor, and Dan Quayle, the pretty boy air head VP, the republican party specifically, has glorified and/or tolerated absence of skill, intelligence and now integrity... For that, there is a price to pay; a huge price which sadly, ALL Americans will pay.

donald trump is INCAPABLE of making a plan to get us, as a nation beyond Corona, and is too arrogant to listen to those properly trained and educated who can. Without a concerted, nationwide effort, we are wasting time and resources toward no end. There is no end in sight to our current troubles absent a national plan. What a time to be a nation without leadership.

So all you folks who couldn't stomach voting for Hillary, how is your failure to vote or your vote for trump, which is the same, working for you now? I have NO use for you! Spare me your tears and your pink hats. Get your ass to the polls, Corona or not, in November!

If ever we were, ours is country on the brink of being considered a super power no more. Certainly, we are no longer the model of democracy or the moral compass or the benchmark of civility we once held ourselves out to be for the rest of the world. Instead, we are America the Laughing Stock . Some nations are rather enjoying our new state. Given our history, of course they are. Call it karma or something about chickens. Take your pick. Thanks trump! America feels really, really great again!!! SMH...

Vote People Vote! Death & destruction is knocking at our door. I am not sure what more it will take to make us face reality or to restore our fighting spirit...

Random Thoughts & Observations...

My thoughts this morning are with victims of abuse who are trapped in their homes with their abusers; children and victims of domestic violence alike. Check on your peeps'. Don't ignore what you hear happening next door...

My heart is concerned for hungry children. Make sure the children in your neighborhood who depended on that meal they are now not getting while in school are being fed. Share with others if you can... 

You are your Brother's/Sister's keeper. Check on him/her...

I am reflecting on a brief exchange with a former colleague on yesterday. I think it was a call for help. He is a recovering alcoholic having a really "hard time staying sober". I didn't hear him fully on yesterday but I hear him now. I will reach out to him today and everyday I think he needs me. Check on your peeps'... 

Sustaining recovery is likely a very real challenge for far too many right about now. Don't forget them...

No one is talking about depression but it is REAL as we are stuck in our homes under too many clouds of uncertainty. Folks are losing their jobs. Folks are losing or don't have healthcare. Folks are not sure which bills to pay or not to pay as they hold on to whatever money they do have, not certain from where or if their next dime will come, some with little mouths to feed. Stores, restaurants and "nonessential" retailers are closing. California has mandated forced shut in of it's 40 million  residents, other states will follow. The highways are empty making the world feel Apocalyptic... 

The virus haunts us like a ghost we cannot see. I feel like I'm living a sci-fi movie and I don't like sci-fi! 

Certainly, I never expected to live one...

What a horrible time to lack national leadership. Shame on the US for tolerating such ignorance and utter incompetence. It now goes beyond the morons who voted for or who amazingly continue to support him (I won't even mention his name). We, the American people, are responsible for our current plight. There is no one looking out for the best interest of the nation. It is our apathy or acceptance of defeat that has allowed that...

What is terribly disturbing about this is that undoubtedly this crisis is rooted in capitalistic greed and they, the greedy capitalists who already have more money than God or that they can spend in several lifetimes, are more vested in trying to figure out how to capitalize from this crisis than they are interested in fixing it. Of course they are! Bet your life on it, figuratively I hope... The shit is just that real. 

America justifies her malfeasance on any one of three "C"s; 

Capitalism, Christianity or Conservatism. Think about it...  

The rich WILL get richer. Although it is rather poetic that with the crash(ing) of the stock market, they too, have lost much of the gains they realized while looking the other way as the rest of us were exploited or got screwed. The financial ramifications of this crisis will be far more adverse and far more reaching than most of us can comprehend. Call it karma that the greedy are feeling it too but they WILL rebound. The game is theirs. They are the kingmakers. We are simply pawns being manipulated on their game board of choice. Their next move will make sure that they are going to be OK. Trust and believe it... But there are some things that not even money can buy. 

There is no where to run during this time of crisis from a nondiscriminatory virus.   

Anyway, that's my doom and gloom for this morning. Sorry, but it is what I am feeling and thinking. It is going to be damn near 80 degrees today. As I adjust to truly learning how to dance in the rain, I accept the sunshine anxiously await more...

Have a nice day folks! Check on your peeps'; the elderly, those in recovery, those otherwise vulnerable, potentially lonely or just otherwise shut in. 

The time is truly now for us to take care of one another. 

Just Do It... 

This too, Shall Pass. Believe It...