Where Has Love Gotten Us?

       Amidst all of the things, writings and tasks this disabled being has to do to change his circumstances, answering this question for myself, for all of you, I rate as dire and critically important.  In all honesty, we hear messages and are asked things when it comes to happiness and especially responsibility.  My responsibility is to answer this below…

Where has love gotten you?

        For educational purposes, let’s just view love in all it's possibilities.  Love helps families exist. Families create communities and thus cities and nations are born.  Where has love taken me?  Well Love my friend, has taken me to travel with friends, to help countless others, to help build and provide in new ways, to move with my ex to New York City, to be brave and allow myself to be open to the possibility of falling in love with my high school sweetheart. Can you believe that love has brought me to you my friend?

 How exactly has love brought us here? 

Well if we do not know each other, picture yourself concerned about your own well being, your ability to socialize, to matter to another, to be recognized for who you are or the ability to be able to check on a Family member or friend.  All of these reasons and more are why we use social media, right?  Think of it this way, you are practicing self love and more when you log on, simply to see what’s up.  The social part of your humanity in the Subconscious sense, cares about your mental health and socialization!

 Caring about yourself as well as caring about others is one of the simplest yet humble and Noble things a person can do.  

       What I really want you to think about with this post, to come away with, is to seriously and consciously realize how powerful this force we call Love, actually is and can be.  One question I used to hear when I was much younger was “Is it better to be feared or to be loved?” The answer to this is now less complex for me for a few reasons, some of which I'll leave for y'all in s different post titled Fear vs Love.  The first reason is the understanding of self sacrifice.

As a parent, I now look through a completely different lens that I previously had when lives did not depend on me.  As a father I look at the sacrifices made as not strenuous, stressful or tedious but things that “needed to he done.”

       The largest thing I now know about Love is knowing that I will do anything to protect those which I love and sacrifice for.  I would pull the stars from the sky for my children and I am trying to do that now!  I realize the fight within myself and the “no holds barred, you better stay the fuck out of my way,” demeanor when I feel my family is being threatened.  Looking back at those nature shows I love so much, it is now easy to realize why specific animals, parents fight all unbelievable odds to protect their offspring. 

       For the reason of freedom as well as to protect home, I understand completely why people, when fighting on their own soil during a war, tend to naturally fight harder and strategically for the places and lands they love.  (Just look at Vietnam, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and others) You see, love can even conquer the conquistador. I’m not talking about changing someone’s mind about fighting in the first place, or rethinking a fight or conflict, I am talking about the ability, strength and will required to beat unsurmountable odds.  I’m not saying that you cannot win a disagreement, fight or conflict without war.  What I am saying is that the party, individual, group, community or government which is fighting for a reason tied to this unseen gasoline called Love, is indeed more likely to be much more dangerous as well as prepared against the force they are fighting.

       When fighting for love, we automatically reach deep past a strength we cannot see within ourselves and bring it forth to he challenged without question.   We as humans do things that seem to be humanly impossible.  We use the survivalist instinct suppressed in order to ensure that those we love, can endure.  We do not only get stronger but we inherently get more creative and inventive with the task at hand… to let no harm befall those we cherish and value in our existence as priceless.  We move mountains so that we can, if possible, prevent suffering, hardship and death to those which  we care about most.

I do this every now and then when writing these thingies.  I ask an open-ended question, just for you to think on.  What for you is worth fighting for?  When you know what that is, I also would like to ask, do you believe that there are any circumstances or reasons why you would choose not to fight?  Let me be frank, now the power of love is so strong that a physical fight or confrontation might never need to occur in order to achieve the goals and get the answers we seek.

Love can stop the opposition in it’s tracks, especially if it knows the overpowering force that they are up against.  Love can cause people to find innovative ways to protect themselves, to protect those they love, build wiser, to pay attention to details and love provides focus to the pursuer.  With focus and clarity, the one sacrificing time, energy, effort, emotions gains the ability to build for others, whether it be a physical sanctuary as a house, or an idea(s) to change the life of another in a positive way.  To be more serious, I can say with confidence that it is purely Love which is lacking in communities as well as in many governments.  Lastly I want to remind that love survives all odds, builds healthy Families, builds empires and it is only love alone that lead successful revolts of the past and has many times, won revolutions!  

As usual, I have left a poem for you to enjoy.  Persistence, Purpose, Patience, Prosperity and Inner-peace! -Sekou Mensah Black

A seed awaits just as we do

As much as time allows one to survive

Faithful and patient for the main event

For things to change, there must be a key ingredient

Dark heavy clouds agree in unison to open up

Pouring the liquid equivalent to what we know as Love

So knowing this we can begin to understand 

How exactly the most simple of organisms

Thrive in spite of

With conditions we deem unfit for life

Stepping up to Nature’s challenges & demands

The story was started before seeds hit soils or

Much before life in any place was placed to show Granted opportunity to exist, no matter what and

With winds, we too travel'd far

Some came on ships, some on Airplanes while others

Shot straight down from an unknown star

Being let go, to fend for themselves some question

Was this some sick mistake or was this pre-destined?

Whether Creator exists at all teaching ethical lessons

Keep it positive, keep it moving & keep em' guessing

I cannot speak on what I do not know but

If they think struggle and folly got me here 

They must first remember 

That Love finds no reason to brag

Especially when it already shows much

As some say the journey is not important yet

We cannot discount the struggles of any seed nor

Belittle ways in which the destination was achieved

“Give me rain,” some seeds say while others

Entertain many with the thought that

It was them who watered and raised themselves

Because no one wants to think of a seed screaming

That Neglect is possibly one sure way to reach

A very unforgiving and scorching hell

Waiting Seeds 

7-29-2020

The Black Canary

The Black Canary

Until We Are Truly Free:

The Tale of The Black Canary

“Singing like a Canary,” as I recount in the streets of East Palo Alto, California as a child and teen held a call against the street code. I learned much from street scholars as well as from many books my father kept, yet I would never guess that I would understand the complex nature and significance that bird held in the lives of us all in this experimental extraction of resources we know as Capitalism.  Although I had done some reading myself, I did not fully connect the relation between the oppression of a people and the government which benefited.  I mean, I clearly knew the First Nation's struggles from broken treaties to massacres but to fully notice the uphill struggle of your own means one thing, that you can in no way discount or deny what you have been conditioned to live, or in the case of the canary in the mine, conditioned to die accepting.

All over the planet as well as in the earliest recorded histories African as well as the darkest skin of people tend to suffer an abundance of Genocide, Oppression and inhumane hardships.  One could look at history from ancient times of the pharaohs and understand, why African slaves in more modern times, rebelled.  In fact, Africans from the diaspora, although indoctrinated through a carefully controlled, Christian brainwashing, learned to read, in secret for themselves and thus were inspired to seek freedom, compelled by what was taught in the biblical book of Exodus.  But why is it that Africans were used as slaves in the first place, why Aboriginal Australians were forced into slavery as well as any other dark-hued people of the diaspora and so forth?  Being the first people, we have had many firsts, unfortunately that even means, the first to struggle and die.  

During mining throughout the world, humans have learned to use the canary to signal when the air levels in the caves were too dangerous for miners, as it were live canaries used that got sick and in some cases, died before the people did.  It is not strange for people to seek dangerous occupations, yet when your very life becomes dangerous, the term occupational hazard is no where close to the injustices which follow and the scars that are left.  So yes, Africans and people of the diaspora have been the sociological, canaries in many societies, especially in this American one.  In a sick twisted sense, what happens to us, will indeed happen to everyone.  As a man of African decent myself, I cannot ignore the injustices, nor can I act caviler to the reality that some stranger, just because I have melanin in my skin might decide to physically attack myself or my family, unprovoked.

Many have accepted the generational injustices as “the way of things,” yet everything within their conditioned humanity seeks to scream, “give me freedom, give me peace,” when we have already fought and died for that many times over.  Sacrifice is something understood which all can attest to building character, strength and resilience of spirit, yet how much burden do a people have to bear?  When unfortunate circumstances happen to us, do we look at the past as a teaching tool or do we simply “move on,” to greener pastures, placing a blind “hope,” as an achievable goal, without worry for what could happen, or do we look back, take stock of the previous lessons learned and strive for a different kind of hope?  I ask this due to the fact, that many can empathize as well as see the common threads in humanity from family, work, school as well as in our social lives and even in religious lives for some. The question for me is not whether people, can see themselves in us in different aspects but can people foresee the ways in which control and oppression has had a negative impact upon our lives and can sense the same common threads of dissent, abuse, financial fraud, and financial dependency aimed at them as well?

Many in capitalistic societies do not recognize their importance nor their role as an openly participating “Unit of Production,” per see, such as the social security number given to Americans since birth.  I have not studied enough about other modern or “Western,” cultures to know how they view their citizens yet can clearly see the “trickle down effect,” from what the United States of America has modeled to hlthe rest of the world.  We can easily look at any form of governance and see people being abused and even killed, while working for the common good, the unspoken monster which Capitalism breeds called “Greed.” Now this Greed, which societies experience is like the gingivitis to our teeth and gums.  It eats away at any nutrients we need, after the accumulation plaque has prevented our gums to properly breathe.  Capitalism as I have been told many times, is a good thing, yet ingenuity usually comes from a curtain kind of person, one that either wants to make their own circumstances better or in many instances, make the lives of others easier or better.

“It is genuinely the nature of the beast to want more and more, even after the feast,” I sarcastically say but what many fail to realize are the many ways in which, they too have fallen victim to and yes, have been used and abused by a nature which goes against everything good, wholesome and natural.  While living comfortably, it is easy to understand why many would not see the struggles, hardships or even notice the many ways in which their society has conditioned them.  Their relationship with their society has been designed to seem natural in all aspects from desires to need yet what was carefully crafted specifically for them, could be everything which alludes to superficial.  “I get it I get it,” I mean, we all need to live by some type of rules and everyone has to work in some capacity in order to survive, yet where the question lies is with two words, choice and freedom.  We are born into this world with the understandings given to us, whether through family, socially or educational. 

 The decisions we make, directly affects the outcome of how we are allowed to live or chose to live. When people say “Do as they do in Rome!” I question, do they know what happened to the Roman Empire and how it fell?  When we see others suffering, are we drawn to help them, so we believe or aknowledge that what we see in that moment could also befall us or someone we care for?  Why or why not?  Is our ability to empathize and relate stifled by the monotony we toil with daily?  Are the messages we are fed by government and media foster community, or individualistic success?  

These are all questions for us to ask of ourselves while we seek to feel more “liberated,” as wholesome individuals on our own "road to sucesss," or view life. Now for the canary in the mine, the Black Canary… do you think that you could find yourself in situations where what happened to her/him could happen to you? Why or why not? Do you see instances of people taking advantage of others or has anyone taken advantage of you or your kindness in any way and if so, how did or does that make you feel?  My only tasks I ask of you is that you try to look through eyes of a different lens, that you perhaps open yourself to the possibility or thought of… something magical and seemingly impossible and not befriend a Canary, but free them as well as others from the dangerous mines from dangerous minds which led them there in the first place.  Besides, Compassion and Courage is Contagious.  Dare to plant a seed of resistance and resilience and see what sprouts.  (Poem left below, enjoy)

There have been many dark corridors and corners to turn

I swear it feels so trapped in here 

Sometimes the air itself is so thick it burns but

I exist for a reason

Can’t you see that if I’m allowed space, I can spread my wings and fly but

My wings have been clipped and they gave me no reason why so

I sit in this cage

Calm and complacent

Still singing and patient

For one day I know they will open that cage and set me free

I know the world out there is scary

I have seen it all being the Black Canary

Watch me glide through the courageous skies and I

Will show you how to fly during the storm and when wet

I will unfold my wings to keep you dry and warm

Together, new treasures and shady trees we will find but please

Just please don’t force me back into that cage and mine

Watch me close even if your breathing is fine or

It might be you who finds yourself confined, out of time

The Black Canary

7-7-2020

A Revolutionary Father's Day

       As my own father mentioned today, after I brought up a question about this Holiday we celebrate commending Father’s, for Black men in particular, this holiday holds an eerie significance.  Being that Black men have been murdered and are still murdered by racists and police, any Black father that is not dead and incarcerated is a very blessed man, a living symbol of Power, Greatness, Strength and Love. Oh yes, soon in a blog or two from this one, you will read about me taking about the power of love. For one reason alone I will make a serious example.  Ok, so we know that for love, many folks will do the damdest of things, right?

       I have one more question.  If you knew that there were negative forces, being a set of laws or a group of people, that wanted the most precious person you care about, either a slave or dead, what would you do to protect them and guarantee their safety?  I ask this because this is what Black parents have wondered as soon as, if not much before, their child steps one foot out of the houses into that unforgiving and very racist White Man’s World. The Black Woman is indeed the most precious as well as the most abused woman in this planet, the true Atlas yet I was amazed by what I saw today.
Although there is lots of hate out there, there’s also lots of love and I saw that as Black women stood up, not just this Father’s Day but other years as well, whenever the call arose.
       While others pointed out criminal convictions, they pointed out that these men, were fathers and pillars of their communities.  I watched the Black family in many forms, nuclear as well as modern, kin as well as stranger, come together to stand up for future generations as well as the brotha on the corner selling cigarettes that could have passed knowing too many of us saw faces of evil as they breathed their very last.  So we need soldiers to combat hate and fight the good fight so that our children might never have to raise a fist, to protect the ones thrown at them.  I couldn’t bear the thought of not being there for my children and loved ones.  Just trying to imagine what that would be like is not a nightmare I want to visualize thus I cannot even fathom the idea.

      Unfortunately there are thousands if not millions of African men that were ripped away from their families either on their way to the New World or through kidnapping, murder, or this new virus of Jealousy, Hate with Greed. Me giving thanks for being here isn’t even the half of it as I struggled to communicate with my twelve year old, who is already sad about the COVID realities, that it’s “just not safe out here for us.” (Below are pictures of George Floyd, Oscar Grant and Reyshard Brooks with their daughters)

I used to look at this American Crafted holiday of Father’s Day as another Hallmark ploy for sales and economy boosting.  I can no longer look at it that way for my life, our lives are much more valuable that any words or phrases Hallmark can print. Every year, as the plight of the Son’s and Daughters of slaves gets pushed under the rug, so does the fabric of Freedom itself. The seriousness of what it means to be a Black Father or a Black Mother, to date, is the most challenging and yet the most profound, noble, and powerful responsibility in human history.  The fact is that this past day, the one where we honor our fathers, is now sadly a Trophy of Our Black Survival, as “I made it alive to spend this day with my family and my children.”
     

       I am thankful even for what I saw on social media, as I saw classmates from all levels of schooling, with their own children, fishing, BBQing, cooking Father’s Day meals and even watching the joys others had, like when my boy Alvin shared the joy of his son eating Eloté corn with what looked like hot Cheetos on top.  These are the moments actions which build a community, although we are far and only close by way of our telecommunication devices.  I saw my friends with their fathers as well and was reminded what those Black men must have gone through just so that we could be here.  We only know struggle and hardship when it is brought directly to our doors, as in many cases, struggle is the norm.  If we are still here throughout the Mid-Atlantic slave passages, torture, rape, murder, dismemberment, fed to animals, burned alive, drawn and quartered, tarred and feathered, hanged, branded, chased, bred, abused, psychologically messed with to the point where it perpetuates over ten generations removed from the harshest trauma imagined, we are truly here for a divine reason.

       We are simply told when we were Young that “there will be challenges,” yet in many other phrases commonly heard like “life ain’t peaches and cream,” and so forth.  To accept the challenge and gift of being a strong Black parent is nothing short of heroic.  Walk proudly and let us teach our future Kings, Queens, Geniuses, Billionaires, Scientists, Professionals and Astronauts that with fierce determination against all forces and odds, that our Creator has invested in us that we can and will be anything that we truly want to be.  Here’s to real freedom and whatever that flavor tastes like.  I've left a poem below so enjoy!

Only mothers can know the strength which resides in a hopeful possibility
Not even us fathers can fathom the will to carry and even lose a child
There are those that hold no worries
For their destinies were carefully crafted, stolen
Prepared and procured, purposely for them and prestige… and then…
There are men
Ripped from the existence they fought so hard to keep
Whom may never again feel water flow or the amazing strength of the wind
As some were strung up by their necks and limbs others
Shot like criminals or enemy combatants in a war
When we have been patient to the point of no longer trying to keep score
But we want our daughters and son’s to live another day to greet the sun
So when days like this pass, I hold fast and hold them tight… like...
A Black teenager, bright child of a mother or father doesn’t want to let go
Off into the night, now an argument ensued so we let show
How damn scared and afraid for them and how far we have let things get thus far
Too distracted by what’s spilling on the concrete to be focused on the stars
So we fight and live with the strongest love given
Until we are called by force or by grace to sit proud where our ancestors are

The Vigilant Parent

The Vigilant Parent

What to Tell Our Sons and Daughters 

During These Times of Change:

       When I think of freedom, I dream of golden grassy hills being blown by the wind.  I dream of walks on the beach and I begin to fantasize about what it would be like to live completely without the fear and worry of murder for simply being me.   To live in fear daily, believe me is no way to live however this is the reality of many Black Americans especially if you are a parent.   When we think about what our children might have to go through, getting sick to the stomach is a normal feeling.  Anger sadness and feelings of being overwhelmed is very natural if you are a black parent in Apartheid America.  The big question many have is “how do I talk to my son(s) and daughter(s) about racism and what is going on with the George Flynn murder?"

       My answer for a fellow colleague, coworker was simple “straight up,” yet we wonder, how will my child receive these truths?  Many wonder, is there a certain way or sensitivity that should be used when speaking about these horrific things?  As a parent myself the best way I know to talk about hate and injustice is the opposite of the subject, with empathy, understanding and love.  We as parents want the best for our children and this includes how they feel about and deal with issues.  

When a CNN journalist asked a community organizer about the realities of raising a child of color in this racial tinderbox and the screenshot I took says it all.

       Some that know holy books are taught about “The Age of Reasoning,” when a child can distinguish right from wrong. We simply do not want our children to be hurt or traumatically affected by the stories of the past as well as with the horrible realities we still struggle with.  We as parents cringe at the thought of the young souls we know losing their innocence.  I for one do not want my son called a “nigger,” as I was in kindergarten by a little boy or girl singing the racist version of “Enie Minnie Miny Mo, catch a Nigger by his toe.” These fears as a parent are very much valid as some of us have experienced truths in our childhood which caused some of us to “grow up early,” per see.  

      There is no easy way to speak about violence, injustice and especially murder with our children yet it is detrimental and essential for their understanding and most importantly, for their survival.  The answer sounds simple, yet I imagine can be met with layers of anxiety.  Using the most understanding we can muster, with the love and sensitivity you can find when speaking about the subject of death and loss is one way.  Another approach is to be nonchalant yet serious when we mention the reality that injustice, that harm could befall the young lives we cherish.  How do we explain the positives with all of the negatives we know and see?

      Compassion as I have witnessed can bring the coldest heart to a standstill.  Compassion and empathy is how we will also teach our children of promise to be better than what this rat-race of a capitalistic society demands. Introducing them to awesome people, successful as well as educated Black folks is one way to show them positive.  Bringing them to community events such as the  Juneteenth and humanities which include us such as plays, musicals like “The Heights,”can be awesome.  Showing positive movies which depict the Black man (Latino or Native) in a positive manner helps. 

       There are no perfect answers yet I can remember what my parents did.  My father had books about racism and blackness everywhere in his library, thus Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Before the Mayflower became some of my first books.  When I was called “nigger,” in Kindergarten, my father removed me from that school and put me in a community school that nurtured blackness, cultural strengths accomplishments and emphasized the many leaders which have led us this far.  I was introduced to African events, food and culture via the African friends my parents had.  How will our children know that we are strong, resilient, intelligent and have a large outpouring of support if we do not show them?

       Personally my first son, now twelve is much too mature for his age due to what he, what we have already been through.  He is resilient yet sensitive to the point where I have to choose the right time and space to talk with him.  He has a strong sense of morality just like his father and does not like to hear about people, especially Black people being hurt or killed.  My son had unfortunately experienced bullying by white children as well as blatant racism from children at playgrounds. This, if I could have avoided was one of my fears.

      My duty as a parent and a Black Father is made that much more challenging.  While I'm on the subject I must say that I do not believe that I would have the strength it takes to be a black mother.   One thing we must do is to ensure that our children know that they are undeniably loved, super awesome as well as what he knows what's up.  My job of protecting him is not just physical for I have to try my best to encourage him faced with an environment which does not nurture community, individuality or the accomplishments of anyone that is not of European decent, especially Black men. I must help him keep his fire lit and hopeful, so that no matter what comes hisway, that he will be prepared by all means and ready to fight back in many ways and not to let the negativity aimed at him, become him.

      We must model as well as show them the majesty through our great histories, how beautiful, black and powerful they are and how great, if they are down for a little fight, they will soon become.  With showing them how to defend and protect themselves we must also explain that like many instances, there are good people and bad people, good cops and bad cops etc. and that we decide how to become, that being who you are is not decided for them.  I have a new son, one that has me wondering, what will we teach him and what will he face.  As I have before, I will leave you with a recent poem of mine.  Enjoy!

Priests and holy men around the world hold fast

Praying, meditating and fasting for insight

Pacing and trying to think of innovative ways 

As unexpected tides rise much too fast to find high ground

Evil creeps in sinks both sharp teeth deep before…

Any sound of pain can be heard and simple solution found

While children world’s away but even…

The ones dead in our face have been forced to thirst

Oblivious to the busted teeth, broken bones bruises and blood stains

Those who could change things fail as other cowards have countless

This time even the value of human life we leave for them to define

For even the old and weary point out...

The way in which this sun currently shines

Worrying about economies and 

Satire too close to home to be comedies

We forget yes

I admit that I didn’t see the reason things must have come to be

You see, while we were all blinded

Some asshole put out a contract on “Kindness,” 

Now we all must show face, soul search and if we must… purge

Not like the sick movie types

With death, racism and political euphemisms

Just a plan and an action with momentum and rhythm

Cutting off Evil Greed and Lack of Empathy as the main determining

Maybe then we could perhaps find a grand design or 

An offspring of the risen

The son or daughter of Kindness expressed in Love to get this ball rollin'

Perhaps then we would be paid for our patience and granted reparations

Maybe then land that was stolen would be given back to them

As First Nations stand with their fists raised...

We behave like trained slaves

With every reason to rebel, instead we accept Hell

Proving that we were the most successful colonized people and

There was no forced brainwashing or reasons under the church and steeple

It was us, comfortable, immovable, unyielding and yes, Complacent

Because it could be me or you, no lies, only truth

Taking their very last gasp of breath pinned against the cold  pavement

As onlookers only yell or walk pass we cry in disbelief and

From the deepest of pain

Allowing no just cause 

As our own empathy for others momentarily pauses

Ask the ancestors and elderly for all of these causes and they said...

"Not on my watch!"

We don’t need a sundial, watch or phone to remind us what time it is

Only a person not tied to the privilege to act according to what we might do and …

To resurrect my dear homie named Kindness

The Contract on Kindness

May 26, 2020