New Slaves

 Harriet Tubman once proclaimed "I freed thousand of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves. It seems that we have become accustomed to the chains. The chains have become accessories that we refuse to discard. The unknown garments of freedom do not appeal to the taste of the conveniently enslaved. No, the masses seem content with the limited notions of freedom. So, when the newly freed slaves scream in the wilderness about the beauty of freedom their screams are muffled by the earphones of conformity.The predicament of John is clearly illuminated when speaking about freedom to those who would rather remain in bondage. As the acceptance of bondage is easy when your misery is normalized. It seems that before we can break the chains there has to be an acknowledgment that chains exist.

My pen

I guess you can say that in this current moment my pen bleeds hopelessness. As I try to resurrect through the written word my faith in humanity.  Why so callous America? Why so indifferent to the suffering? While are rationales for injustice easier than the demand for accountability from the guilty? I do not profess to hold the answers. I just believe that the questions so drive us crazy until the solutions rescue us from the brink. We are on the brink. On the brink of what has yet to be decided.  We will decide with our actions. The answers to the questions that arise in the wake of the not guilty verdict remain covered but not for long. So as long as there is injustice I will allow for my pen to be long winded. Let’s get Free!  

Fiscal Cliff

The masses hang on the fiscal cliff clinging to the hope that things will get better. However,most live  paycheck to paycheck. So, as our collective checking account balances dwindle with the onset of numerous responsibilities we remain largely silent. Why are we silent when the rigged game the we are force to play produces predictive results? The results of our collective silence is continual oppression masquerading as a hollow democracy. The question is what do we do?

The NCAA treats college athletes like property period. However, most cannot see the exploitation through the lens of their envy. Most envy the position that these young men find themselves in. So, we ignore a capitalistic reality where there are owners are making millions while the laborers remain impoverished. So are impoverished thoughts leads us to believe that a depreciating degree is enough. At times I wonder if we see the parallels between their reality and ours? Those who labor in this country are never valued as the value of labor is set by owners who have intentions of letting you see the American dream. So, most are convinced that must simple dream harder. Truthfully, it has always been hard for me to digest bullshit. I just wondered when the masses will see the truth? Let's get Free!

My Choice

Do conscious words fall on deaf ears? I wonder if revolutionary words fall on powerless ears? So, those ears turn their attention to the loud noise of distraction. So, the writing is on the wall but most are blind to the penmanship. We are on a sinking ship. However, instead of attempts to abandon the course, of course we push forward towards destruction. Destruction seems to be encoded in our D.N.A and yet we seem to be oblivious to it's ramifications. I simply sit on the stoop of concerns watching the masses pass by. By and large we seem to be content with hollow democracy and the illusion of choice. In the midst of the wreckage I have a choice, either succumb to the apathy or keeping fighting for the day a collective liberation. My choice is simple, to continue use my pen and voice to articulate my ambition for revolution. Let's Get Free!

Precious Self-Hate

How many times do we down the drink of self hate until we our intoxicated with ignorance? It is a simple question that arises when I listen to rap music and black men use precious as a punchline. How precious is it to material profit to profit off a hate for your own? It seems that profit is perpetually linked to the linking of blackness to self-hate. As our theme songs diminish our worth we must ask ourselves is blackness worth anything anymore? Or have we simply sought to be judged as individuals while we collectively conspire to alleviate our collective identity to the scrape heap of white supremacy. So once what was thought to be sacred is no more. Our love one another seems to be reserved for recollections of the past while past one another on the street without a second thought. These are the simple thoughts of one who wonders if we will ever see that if precious is a punchline then the joke is on us.

Immune to Tragedy

As the world keeps turning I wonder if we have become immune to tragedy? Have we lost our ability to grapple with the reality that the world is changing and not for the better? This is a difficult truth for most to embrace because the prospect of the inevitability of goodness to win out seems to be continuously injected into the American bloodstream. This hollow optimism allows for us to rationalize tragedies of Aurora and now Wisconsin as blips on the path to continued human progress. The truth is these tragedies are not blips, and when we trivialize the lost of life, or when we refuse to wrestle with the larger questions humanity suffers. When we think that our job is done with status updates or  clicking the like button on trending articles, the possibility to truly learn and be transformed by tragedy is lost. We must do more. We must challenge a culture that continually diminishes the value of human life. We cannot simply choose to move on. The time is now to stop, and grieve for the lost life, and to also grieve for ourselves, if we cannot recognize that something more than our condolences is needed.