On This Day In American History

Today, February 9, 2021, the 2nd impeachment of a charlatan POTUS, is as historic a day as was the infamous day of televised  domestic terrorism, a failed coup, an insurrection at the US Capitol, January 6, 2021. The republican party will make its mark. The world is watching. What ever will they do? Stand up or Stand down? I actually admire the Dems for making them publicly claim and record their position. Oh yes! This is an historic day indeed! Pass the popcorn!

Happy American History Day!!!

❤🤍💙

What's In A Name?

I am horrible with remembering names. How about you? At this point I don't even know some of the names in my phone. I read them and ask who? Even with a description by the name I don't recall who some of them are. I scan old texts hoping something will ring a bell. Nothing... Do I dare call and hope to recognize the voice or do I just erase them? LOL!!!

A Jamaican guy once suggested that Americans are bad with remembering names because we are too preoccupied with describing people instead of making an effort to know their name:

the fat lady, 

the tall skinny guy, 

the red head, 

the blonde, 

the fine guy with the big fro' (throw back memory!)

the one who always ______ (fill in the blank)

Sound familiar? We all do it.

The Jamaican continued that our obsession with describing people or associating them with something or someone makes us lazy about committing to remembering names. He said as children they would get popped if they described someone instead of using their name. It was considered disrespectful. It was a no-no! Their parents instilled in them the need to remember and call folks by their name...

I hate that I am so bad with names. I think it makes folks feel devalued or less important in my world and that is not the case. I am learning to politely apologize and fess' up that I forgot the name and ask again. Still, I forget. I am hopeless... 

There is an art to recalling names on cue. An art I am forever working on. How about you? Do you remember names? If yes, what's your secret? If no, how do you manage it?

Traveling On My Mind...

For travelers, there are no tricks of the mind that will truly suffice for our not being able to enjoy our favorite pastime, jetsetting at whatever our level, to see and enjoy different parts of the world freely, unencumbered but most importantly, regularly. For free spirits, such as myself, being still is imprisoning...

Travel changed after 9-11. We adjusted. I can only imagine the changes awaiting us post COVID. It ain't gonna' be the same... 

For those of us who live to travel, we now realize that we actually traveled to live. My motto has always been, "some people do drugs, I do airplanes". Boy, do I need a "fix"...

For many, traveling sustains us. It gives us life. It (re)fuels our purpose. Life without travel (escapism) is not living but mere existence. I am so tired of just existing... 

We can tell ourselves what we wish but the reality is that whatever we tell ourselves, whatever we do to take our minds off airplanes, tropical beaches, meeting new people or visiting exotic places are simply our means of coping, putting on our big girl panties and dealing with our new reality. What else is there to do? 

On the bright side we should be thankful that we were able to enjoy travel and see so many wonderful places and meet so many wonderful people. How happy I am that in terms of travel, I lived life on my terms and didn't put off for tomorrow that which I needed and was able to do today. For many, it is our memories that will sustain us, especially those of us who are on the other side of 50...

In the meantime, just chill and do your best to find new escapism, even if only in your mind. Find new joys. What else is one to do? 

Thinking out loud on a sunny but cold Saturday morning. Sigh...

I AM BLACK HISTORY

Scrolling through old writings. I came across this and thought it an appropriate post in celebration of Black History Month. Enjoy!!!

May 31, 2015 at 8:05 AM

Last week I was part of a debate on Facebook that pondered the underlying message when Blacks don't refer to ourselves as African American. The assumption was that inherent in such reluctance is some denial of our African roots. Of course I disagreed and enjoyed the lively discussion that ensued.

Question: Why is this discussion always framed around Blacks in America? If in fact the argument is somehow a denial of or failure to acknowledge one's roots, why then aren't other Blacks throughout the Diaspora pressured to similarly self identify? (i.e. African Haitian, African Jamaican, African Bahamian, African Puerto Rican, African Dominican Republican).

We all share African roots, unfortunately our original culture was annihilated and we were deposited in different parts of the world. Sadly, not one of us is any more certain of the origin of our roots than is the other, yet somehow only Black Americans are perceived as these wandering souls, somehow lost and in search of our roots. NOT!!! Just as others who hail from Africa owe no explanation and bear no guilt or shame for claiming roots and/or having allegiance to the foreign land in which they were deposited and where they subsequently created a history and a culture, similarly Black Americans owe no explanation for doing the same or for self identifying as Black American as opposed to African American.

Our ancestors were deposited in America. Under the harshest of conditions, they too created a viable and sustaining culture, left a helluva' legacy and bore a strong, proud and enduring people who undoubtedly paved the way for others of African descent to migrate, self deposit if you will, to America...

I proudly walk in their footsteps...

I proudly celebrate my ancestors and my heritage; a unique blend of American and African...

I am Black American which makes me proudly American, proudly of African descent... It was a lively discussion indeed!

Celebrating Black History Month! I AM Black History 365!

Her Name Is Amanda...

 

This young Woman did us proud, especially her Mama, a single woman who by no surprise is an English teacher. Her name is Amanda Gorman, poet laureate for President Joe Biden's inauguration. I heard her in an interview this morning say that she had a speech impediment. Reading poetry was the therapy that helped her to overcome it. How beautiful! She plans to be POTUS in 2036, I think that's the year she cited but it is on her agenda! Dream Big Lil'  Sis! Dream Big!!!

Our dear Maya is looking down beaming with pride. This young lady picked up and is carrying her baton well. Oprah gave Amanda a ring in the shape of a bird cage to wear today. 

This is ALL so appropriate! Amanda, Officer Eugene Goodman, the hero from the January 6 coup attempt, and Silvester Beaman, the AME Pastor who closed the inauguration. OMG! And did you see our forever First Lady Michelle? She continues to show up and represent so well! 

Nice start Joe!

Peace in Twitter world reigns supreme. Thank You God...

Click here to enjoy Ms. Gorman's poem, The Hill We Climb.

Her name is Amanda and she did us proud!

💝❤💚

On Black Fragility...

This meme suggesting that Black folks too are fragile, was posted for discussion on a Facebook page. The question is quite provocative and necessary for Black folks to ask ourselves. While our personal fortitude and resilience may be stronger and more enduring than others, it does not minimize the hurt and trauma of being Black in America. It does not excuse or minimize our need to address it. 

I learned earlier this week that here has been an update re: the murder of George Floyd. The judge decided there will be two trials instead of one; one for the actual murderer and another joint trial for the three accomplices who were actually on site because we know that his biggest accomplice is a system that supports him from arrest to conviction to incarceration of Black faces. They call it justice but that's just a buzzword absent substance and meaning for the Black community. 

Last week I also saw that the NYPD cop who did the unthinkable and sodomized Haitian arrestee, Abner Louima, with a plunger handle following an arrest for a fight at a party, wants leniency after 21 years in prison. He wants to come home to his Family because of COVID.  Ain't that special??? My guess is that the loved ones of so many murdered by police officers across this nation want for their loved ones to come home. Leave him in there! Abner does not object to his early release... 

Yesterday NY AG Letitia James filed a civil suit against NYPD demanding that NYC address and be held accountable for the brutality committed by its officers. Public hearings were comprised of countless heartbreaking stories from citizens. Thank God for AG James! Let the officer remain in prison. 

I hear about the complicity by elected officials and officers of the law in the attempted coup of the US Government last week. I didn't watch but am now seeing pieces of absolute mayhem and anarchy that would never be tolerated by non-white men or females of any hue and I am reminded of the brutal on camera beating of Rodney King specifically, but others as well, and  all the times we were told not to believe our lying eyes in the face of police brutality and how mainstream, aka white, America has been duped into believing the narrative of the "do-gooder" cop just doing his or her job but who felt fearful and intimidated into shooting to kill the unarmed "scary" Black person, man, woman and even child. Was that fear we saw of armed violent, militant and angry white folks last week? I can't tell... 

I wonder in light of all of that was made crystal clear on January 6, what are white folks telling themselves about themselves this time. Their people are captured on film. There are no non-whites to blame it on. 2020 like no other year in recent times, has forced white America to assess her own pathologies where her usual M-O is to create, assess and then employ herself "fixing" pathologies in others. Not this time. The ugly baby in the bath water is hers and hers alone. What will she say? I'm listening...

Back to us. Living while Black in America is traumatic. I don't know about you but I have yet to watch George Floyd cry for his Mother. Rarely any more do I watch the footage of murders of Black folks by white cops. When I do it is with baited breath and my body fills with anger and/or anxiety. By not watching, I am protecting my mind and rejecting the possibility of normalizing or becoming desensitized or accepting as status quo, via  constant viewing, the murder of people who look like me. I reject it. Remember COPS and all those jailhouse series. That's what they did, they made it normal for cops to be bad, those shows gave crime a Black face for the world to see, including our kids...

This past week seeing all those white terrorists who were ALLOWED, AIDED & ABETTED to wreak havoc and destruction at the nation's sacred Capitol ironically built by enslaved Black folks, to include MURDER, TERRORISM & BEATING cops and essentially nothing has happened to them. They were not deterred and largely they will not be held accountable in terms of a brand of justice known to and reserved for Black folks in America. One cop murdered, another beaten so badly with a fire extinguisher that he will lose an eye, all caught on camera I'm sure and NO ONE has been arrested? Unheard of!!! 

White America MUST look her pathologies in the face and accept that it is she who needs assessment. It is she who tolerated and made excuses for and tried to explain trump for 4 years. It is she who is the face of the 74 Million who voted for trump and who showed up at the Capitol to KILL elected officials at his delusional, self serving direction. How do you spell T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T? Ask Black people, we know all too well that which America still wants to deny... How do you spell C-O-U-P? Tell me again, who's angry? SMH...

But in light of all of this Black people are not super human. Like white folks, except for legitimate reasons, we too, are fragile. Ours plays out differently but we too have a breaking point. Fannie Lou Hamer put it to words for us more than 50 years ago, We Are Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired. STILL we are sick and tired...

Black folks, let's take care of yourselves and each other. Do your best to consciously not internalize other people's stuff. While no other better than us can diagnose and tell her what is her problem, leave white America to assess and fix herself. We cannot and should not save her this time. Instead, we must tend to ourselves...

Power to the People!

💓🖤💚

Shattered Mugs

Having visions of cups and dreams shattering in my head this morning... 

My keepsake from traveling is to collect coffee mugs with the names of the places I've visited. I love my mugs. They provide my occasional trip down Memory Lane. I moved over the weekend so I've got some work to do and I'se tired y'all!!!


Last night I picked up a box packed with my travel mugs and the bottom fell out. All I heard was the clinking of mugs crashing on one another. My heart sank...


International Mugs:
Egypt
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Belize
Montreal
Niagara Falls
Santo Domingo, DR
Costa Rica


Domestic Mugs:
Colorado
Chicago
Florida
Vegas
New York
Atlantic City - LOL!
Carolina Beach - Where is that? I had to look it up. LOL! Sorry NC! I had a really pretty mug. I am sure I had a GREAT time!


Museum or Keepsake Mugs:
Frederick Douglas
Hallmark Maya Angelou
Howard University
US Capitol - Obama Inauguration


Some I am sure I am not recalling. Devastating...


To wake this morning to a text of what surely will become a reality, that airplane travel will be denied those who refuse the COVID vaccine deeply disturbs my dreams. Travel is what I do. I have said all along that such would become the case.


I predict no travel, no health insurance, no employment, no enrollment in school and God knows what else for non-compliant people. We are going to be bullied or shepherded like cattle to get this shot trusting the government or not...


Long before trump we were conditioned to not trust this type of move. History has certainly trained Black America not to trust... Last night I watched a Mike Wallace 60 Minutes interview from the 70s that someone shared with me of Americans being scared by the government to take the swine flu shot because of one death and few reported others who recovered at Fort Dix military base ironically here in NJ. Americans sued like hell when many were left with neurological and physical disorders. Google it.


US government officials looked like fools lying that they did not know of the potential harms to the public. Only one doctor admitted that they did know of the harms because he had warned them. I wonder what became of him. The original 60 Minutes was investigative journalism at its best! In so many ways history is repeating itself and we are not listening. This time however vaccines will not be voluntary and we will have no legal remedies. Big Brother paying attention to and relying on history to take care of Big Brother...


I am not feeling good about this at all and am quite disturbed that my opinion and decision about what to do to or with my body is being denied me. What happened to pro-choice? Does it stop at abortion? Hmmm.... It is disturbing that folks who speak against or question the vaccine are being silenced, ridiculed or attacked. I am disturbed by all the people who say they "can't wait" to take the vaccination without question seemingly out of fear or desperation. Yes be excited and anxious about the possibility of ending the nightmare but to not question, be concerned or to just fall in line like good desperate sheep is disconcerting...


Like it or not, we are mere pawns in vicious game caught up in a capitalistic quandary. We are slammed with so much information, we don't know who to believe or trust. As we know, money is the root of all evil. Lots of folks stand to make tons of money on this forced injection project. Money over safety and welfare is how capitalism works... Big Brother is driving this train with no brakes and no intention of slowing down for even the most dangerous curves, much less stopping.


Our rights are eroding and we are not questioning because we are so tired (of trump and the madness that has accompanied him for four years) and so terribly scared and afraid of COVID, we are eagerly endorsing it. Government and Big Business is loving our obedience. If this is a test, we will fail miserably. Once this stitch is sewn, they will push this needle through different fabrics of our society against our will. We will have given them the thread (permission). Sigh...


I think of the lost lives and I am deeply saddened that during the worse possible crisis, America accepted the most incredibly incompetent and heartless "leadership" imaginable. How many have died needlessly? How many will be forced to vaccinate against our will? How does one not care that more than 1/4 million are dead. I would care even if white supremacists were dying, and they will. Really I would...


I hope the Biden administration staggers these shots allowing folks like me who are uncomfortable time to ask questions, sit back and observe the affects on non-affects on others, allow us to make informed decisions before forcing us to vaccinate. That is the least that they can do. Although it will kill me, if mandated, I will forgo travel until I feel comfortable that the vaccine is safe. This is the adult version of the still unsettled mandatory childhood vaccination debate. I hear them. Our government is pushing the envelope...


Someone pointed out that China seems to have controlled their pandemic absent a vaccine. A good friend pointed out that we must trust science and that research for this vaccine started not in 2020 but many years ago with SARS. She works in the medical field and plans to be among the first in line. She is disheartened that, as planned, the public is questioning science...


Thank You God for allowing me to travel and see so many wonderful places, meet so many amazing people and have so many unforgettable experiences. Memories are forever and what pleasant dreams are made of. They cannot be shattered when the bottom falls out, be it a box, the world, or our freedom and rights as we know them. I am forever thankful for my pre-COVID experiences. I don't see that travel in my lifetime, will ever be the same and like my mugs, that breaks my heart...