- They Came Before Columbus
- Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey
- The Fire Next Time
- Stolen Legacy
- The Destruction of Black Civilization
- Images of Color, Images of Crime
Liberation of A Writer
To write is to be free. These careful words and thoughts liberate the writer in me. Share just a few moments with me and enjoy.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Questions on Blackness
Thursday, January 1, 2015
40 Books for 2014
My 40 Books for 2014
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Flatland
- Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and The Literary Imagination
- Parable of the Sower
- In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women
- The Heart of a Woman
- Kindred
- Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
- The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
- Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
- Looking for Alaska
- A Long Way Gone
- Getting to Happy
- Giovanni's Room
- Song of Solomon
- Caucasia
- Wild Seed
- Mind of My Mind
- Clay's Ark
- Patternmaster
- Passing
- The Phoenix and the Carpet
- The White Boy Shuffle
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
- The Mis-Education of the Negro
- Mumbo Jumbo
- Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
- The White Tiger
- Tar Baby
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Dreaming in Cuban
- Tuff
- A Song Flung Up To Heaven
- One Crazy Summer
- Brown Girl, Brownstones
- Jonah's Gourd Vine
- Jazz
- The Fire Next Time
- Cane
- Animal's People
All photos courtesy of CheVenyke Photos |
Friday, October 3, 2014
Blows, Strikes and Opinions
Domestic violence and the reactions to incidents will always be controversial. The outsiders will never know the full story even with surveillance video of the incident. Reactions are opinions, educated and uneducated guesses pertaining to the known facts. With recent cases in the NFL, celebrities and close to home incidents, we as a species are analyzing the moment a bit closer. There are many people who can relate to the history of domestic violence and the effects it can have on one’s psyche. The people in the spotlight are highlighted and may give the average person flashbacks of similar moments. Domestic violence has never been a new issue.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
My Killing Rage
Where did we lose our humanity?
Monday, August 4, 2014
What I Am Made Of
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, W.I. |
Calcutta (Kolkata), India |
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Civil Rights and Women's Rights
The racism of white women during the 1950s and 1960s, when the Civil Rights Bill was being pushed was seen as if they were the main reason of it passing. The suffrage movement wasn't for all women. It wasn't for equality and the bill prioritizing race wasn't sufficient for the backers. The racism of Susan B. Anthony and Martha Griffiths has not been blown to a point where their legacies are touched. They are deemed as fighters for the rights of all women. Yet, they were shamed at the fact that black men and women would receive more rights than them. The plan was then devised to ride the coat tail of the Civil Rights Act.
Even to this day, the Feminist/Women's Movement isn't for the equality of all women. The only change may be the decrease of blatant racism and superiority of race. The underlying subtleties are still enough for a small type of segregation. Although the guise is an organization full of unity there still lies a discrepancy.
I have recently began to delve deep in the feminist movement. I started by imposing my opinion on Black Feminism and Woman's History Month. Through my research for each topic I have seen an inequality. Feminism is merely an umbrella for women who are activists for rights. There is a separation between race and orientation yet we are all women. Shouldn't we all be fighting for the same cause rather than taking on "priority" issues one at a time. There is Black Feminism, Transgender Feminism, Queer Feminism and other subdivisions that aren't covered by the main topic.
White feminism seems to outrule the subdivisions. Yes, race and other factors shouldn't separate or deter from the cause but in reality it does. There are issues that just can't relate to a subdivision of feminism. A black woman may not encounter the same problem as a white woman and therefore leads to either miscommunication or misrepresentation.
It makes me wonder if unity is inevitable or just a dream. Can feminist unity be a real thing any where in the world? We may not even touch the surface of answering this question when the stigma of women united is fearful. There are negative words and thoughts thrown at united women causing the preposterous of obstacles. Women's rights are also civil rights but when discrimination within the unity of all equality comes from those who should be fighting for all then it becomes an issue of integrity.
There is a myth behind the reality of truly equal feminism as there is that of civil rights. In my opinion true equal feminism has a small probability of taking off. There are too many factors to overcome when starting the conversation. The thought of it is great but actually implementing the ideas are a heavy task. I wish for fully equal feminism as well as civil rights but the discussion has to come together like the people willing to see the day.
Let us release every bit of discrimination for fighting for true equality. Let us stand up and fight the good fight for all.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Morals and Human Sexuality Pt. 2
“Sexuality is one of the ways we become enlightened, actually because it leads us to self-knowledge,” –Alice Walker
“Sexuality is fluid. It moves freely in and out of the universe. It’s contingent upon energy and character. Sexuality isn’t based on gender or orientation. I’m queer, always have been. I was taught that there was a binary gender paradigm but I do not adhere to that. I don’t believe that sexuality is a binary concept, but a spectrum. I choose not to adhere to a hetero-normative lifestyle or society.”
“Sexuality isn’t something to be figured out. It is something that grows with you and manifests itself in your being in the most comfortable way. Sexuality is stage that one embraces naturally when they are ready to open up that part of themselves. I can’t say wholeheartedly that my environment per say had shaped my views on sexuality but my morals most definitely. My morals shape my life, how I ought to function and how I treat myself and others. I guess in regards to my sexuality, my morals has led me to create an energy in myself that attracts like souls to explore in the most healthy and respectable way. The universe allows it so that I am able to learn every lesson that comes my way.”
“For me, sexuality is ever evolving. I’m right in the middle of living this right now and the evolution of my morals through a changing environment is crucial to that. I’ve come to understand they go hand in hand. Sexuality is a really complex and beautiful thing.”
“Sexuality for me is the foundation of life (love, happiness, artistic expression, etc.) and all creations there in. it is the most possibly powerful interaction between individuals with the correct composition of compatibility with one another. Media influence, irresponsibility and ignorance have torn from the genuine eroticism of the natural and explorative act itself, but when between people who respect it and the power it yields; it is the closest physically spiritual experience you can share with someone.”