Change is good... all the time

If you watch nothing else in your life with a mission for change, watch this 20 minute clip with a direction of where our wisdom may work for us. in my personal experience, this is how i feel. this “game” that i am forced to play in order to do what is right some days knocks the wind out of my sails. i operate on the idea that we need a huge change in not how we live, love, and work, but in WHY we do it. last night during our family meeting, we touched on grandma Melernea’s gold kaiser card. Barry Schwartz talks about the janitors who have the wisdom to do their jobs well with the intent of offering caring service to others. when i think of my grandmother and the fact that she did housekeeping for as many years as she had when others ask if she is a doctor, the answer should be “no” with a reply of “better”. like the janitor who cleaned the floor in the room of the comatose man TWICE because the father who had been sitting vigil for 3 months didn’t see it done and was upset; like the housekeeper who did not vacuum because another family who had spent a great deal of time in a waiting room were asleep; and for the janitor who stopped mopping the floor so that a patient who was trying to regain strength could walk the halls. we have to remember that so much of what makes this world a fantastic place comes from those who society looks at as the bottom of the pickings pile. we should never give up hope that doctors, lawyers, politicians, and yes even businessmen on Wall Street can reach for greatness by being more like janitors and housekeepers and persons who work with the public and do their jobs well and with wisdom simply… because… it … is … right Goddess
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

thinking about things

with reference to black history month and all that perhaps my brothers and sister feel they deserve and what they actually should be getting...

on the opposite yet same end of the spectrum as you (amykay) in thought. however, it is a little more bizarre for me because i am a black woman. when i say that reparations is a crock of hooey, folks look at me like my head rolled off my shoulders and hit their new Jordan's.
i know what i know and i know that i grew up in a household and a family full of adults who lived through the labeled drinking fountains and bathrooms.
my grandfather was there when the young people who wanted to register voters turned up missing and then were found dead.
i can ask many many relatives about Emmet Till and they will cry when they relate the story of that day.
i know why the caged bird sings...

however, i do not believe that the caged bird should forever bind itself to the cage. also, should the caged bird be willing to unlatch the blessed "protection" of the cage and be willing to take flight. to soar with other birds. to experience the wind currents beneath it's wings.

if i am qualified, hire me. if you choose not to hire me because you are only 35 and you grew up in a house where my people were call "niggers" on a daily basis. where it was the norm and you thought nothing of it until you went away to college and realized that we were human too.

if i want to rent from you and and clear a deal with me on the phone and suddenly the aparment is rented shortly after my personal visit, to hell with you.

i grew up in a household of acceptance of EVERYONE no matter what they did to you. i grew up in a town where i was one of only 4 black kids. i remember that is where i learned the names that they called us. it was just the norm because they never had to confront us. when we moved into town, we threw it in their faces. as depressing as that seemed for us, imagine how it much have felt to their kids who grew up and thought about their upbringing and felt it wrong?

anywho.....

equal?
yes. only in the eyes of the Lord.
equal?
yes. only in the eyes of the Law.
equal?
perhaps one day in the distant future when all the influences that change the thinking of young children have passed away

i was once asked to explain something in "black style"

you want me to explain this with my interpretation as a black woman?
there is no such thing as "black style"
african americans/blacks/negroes/"sistah"

don't like to be pigeonholed by descriptions such as black style. it does not make us angry, it makes us sad.

what you have just done is point out what a black woman is expecting and usually receives when she walks into a room.

people expecting her to roll her eyes and play it up "black style"
most of the time, you will find a black woman either walking into a room with her head hung low expecting all that you just pushed upon me in this short email and feeling not so good about who she is and what God has blessed her with.

on the other hand, you may find the black woman walking into a room with her head held high, in effect saying "fuck off" to all that have a predetermined view of her.

next time you decide to ask for an honest opinion, please do not interject yours within.

thank you,
in honesty,

garota

FUCK YEAH! I CAN BE A BITCH!
YOU CANNOT EXPECT A WOMAN TO PLAY HERSELF THAT WAY.
GEEZE MAHKNEES

G

Poetry

so the fuck what if you own a shop?
do you think your shit stopped stinking when you signed the lease?

i am willing to bet you it didn't

taking advantage of a sistah
because she wants to wear her hair in natural twists
charging her 40 bucks an hour for wanting to preserve her beauty
her natural beauty

jacking a brother by closing your shop before 8
right....
the negroes with jobs can just cut their own damn hair
to hell with the working stiff

try to make it easy on us working mothers
with boys with hair
and no daddies to take them to the shop.

have sympathy for the daddies
doing it on their own
trying to make a home
scrounging for a bone

let us get houses
get dinner on
take a squat
rest our weary heads

allow us to pray
for the blessing of the day
that God has given us;
healthy children
steady income
running car

don't look at us and nod your head like we are one of your homies.
ask us if we need help
call us ma'am
call us sir
call us because we pay you
without us
there would be no lease
there would be no "open" sign
there would be no shop
there would be no you

just a brotha on the corner
trying to hustle a dime
trying to make a buck
down on his luck

don't you mutter "what the fuck?"

*bows*

garota