My Life is Purposefully Driven

My life is Purposefully driven
My drive is Progressively accelerating
My acceleration has Provided influence
My influence has emPowered the people
My people have Prayed for peace
My peace has Permitted my ability
My ability has allowed me to Proceed
My Procession has Patiently Promised to Prepare me for
MY LIFE'S PURPOSE!

I take the blame

If blood stops flowing to my heart from all of this heartache,
don't blame yourself,
blame me,
Blame me for agreeing to this
when any other time I am indecisive
blame me for not walking away,
and not given it a second thought
blame me for allowing this to manifest
into something bigger than the both of us
blame me for taking you seriously
when love to me was a joke,
blame me for allowing you to make a woman out of me,
when my maturity didn't step up to the plate
blame me for contractually cooperating
when I don't sign anything without reading it first
blame me for looking in into your eyes
and seeing a part of you that was reserved
blame me for for taking you to level of jaded reality
when we both know we don't live in the matrix
blame me for allowing you to love someone else
when your love is monotheistic
blame me for falling in love
when the result is me pointing the finger at myself.....
So don't blame yourself......
I take the blame.....

-Niesha

What would happen if?

Your ringtone throws me off…

Off into a world of what would happen if

What if God’s plan was for two souls to meet

And create a Barack & Michelle moment,

But wait a moment, Coretta has her King

But all I have is a dream,

Singing….Day dreamin and I’m thinking of you, Day dreamin and I'm thinking of you..

Thinking of what would happen if,

What if you were Jacob and I Rachael,

and we recreated one the greatest love stories in the bible,

but like Rachael, I would die after giving birth to this forbidden obsession, that has me bound and directionless

But I love you.....and you love me too so.... LOVE CONQUERS ALL, RIGHT

But our love is not on a battlefield boo....
We're not fighting for it to be recognizable, just for it to be understood

 You have given me something that can't ever be taken away, and that is a glimpse of how my future should be with a man in it and God's plan for it, 

My mama always told me that "you can't help who you fall in love with"..

But what if I'd helped myself to someone else's love...

They say that love hurts, but damn I didn't think that pain was a symptom,

Like a cancer in remission, it keeps coming back, slowly eating away at a part of my heart that was reserved just for you ....

....there is no amount of oxycodone that can make this pain tolerable...

My affliction comes from me not knowing if I or you will one day have this epiphany and 

say it's over, we both knew what it was.....

We agreed that this is not real,  just a figment of our imagination.. or better yet a TV reality show, starring us and an Atlanta Housewife....

Like Donald's Trump birther movement,

Our love just may be that immature, or prematurely irrelevant,

Though I would be remised if I still didn't wonder what would happen if,

What if W.E.B Dubois’ Talented Tenth had twelve

And we would be the plus two minus the third wheel,

But for real, I am addicted baby

Like an addict I’m feenin for my fix, that removes my guilt

Of allowing exposure to the other me....

What if the vision took a U-turn away from the purpose and..

The multiplication of our circumstance divided the people..

The Declaration of Independence says “We the People”..

But by declaring what is there, have we amended our right to love

To speak what shouldn’t be spoken, like "I Love you" or

To hear what shouldn’t be heard, like your heartbeat, or

To see what shouldn’t be seen, like your apologetic eyes, or

To feel what shouldn't be felt, like heartache, yet still I am wondering

What would happen if....

We woke up from this pleasant nightmare,

And all we had, are those what if’s....

A letter of appreciation

Thank you for your encouragement when I didn't feel like being encouraged

Thank you for your honesty when truthfulness seemed distant

Thank you for your humor when I didn't feel like laughing

Thank you for your wisdom, when I felt like I knew it all

Thank you for your conversation, when my text didn't get my tone

Thank you for your patience, when my urgency was a factor

Thank you for your insight, when my sight was limited

Thank you for your touch, when I lacked the feeling

Thank you for your ignorance on subjects that were unfamiliar

Thank you for your time, when you had none

Thank you for your kiss, when I forgot how bliss felt

Thank you for your knowledge, when I needed a reference

Thank you for your eyes, when I needed to recognize success

Thank you for your humility when degrees can jade reality

Thank you for your love when, my heart only functioned for the sole purpose of keeping me alive

Thank you for allowing me to show you appreciation

Fourth World

Our video conference on Feb 28th with Professor Dotson was both enlightening and eye opening. In my travels I haven't been to the midwest as much.  I have mostly ventured in the south, southwest, north, northwest and west. With the recent migration of midwesterners to the south, I had some indication that the economic situation was bad, but had no idea to what effect until Professor Dotson presentation.

Professor Dotson's idea of "Fourth World" seemed a bit mis-useful at first until the pictures began. I think that Professor Dotson did a good job in going over the history of automobile industry. He indicated that many blacks moved from the south to the midwest in search of better jobs and opportunities. However the move was not without it's consequences. Many of the blacks were still subject to racism and discrimination within housing and schools.

Professor Dotson also showed us some clips from Gary, Indiana, (Michael Jacksons birthplace). Gary, Indiana was the thriving in the 50's and up until the 90's. The clip that he showed us was a bit disturbing. There were vacant buildings such as schools, libraries, churches, houses and recreational centers. The city was a complete ghost town, or as Dotson calls it a "Fourth World". Many residents have moved away leaving behind furniture, toys and clothes. The housing market has definitely been hit hard here.  Dotson informed us that there were some contractors who have acquired some of the deserted land and were planning on rebuilding communities, but at prices that would be unaffordable to most families. How does this connect to our readings?  We have been reading and discussing articles on the injustice treatment of blacks. From the strategically placed neighborhoods, to the unequal distribution of resources/money being funneled between black and white schools, which still exist today.

Professor Dotson shared some of his own personal experiences about his grandfather who lived in south. It was an introduction to his life's work with architecture and social justice. He showed us pictures and shared stories about the NAACP organization within his country town.

The presentation and readings were eye opening but not surprising. If we as social justice advocates are to combat these injustices, it is imperative that we don't just focus on one specific area, but look at the whole picture.


Niesha

Is it Black vs White? or Working class vs The Capitalist Class

This is an article from the Bloomberg report. It just reconfirms the oppressor's antics against the oppressed.  I am not so much talking about minorities, but I am referring to those descendants of the white indentured servants who came to America either enslaved or a slave to a debt owed.  While we are up in arms about abortion and "other peoples" wars.  "The Capital class" as Marxs calls it is continuing to profit off of the working and middle class.  How is it that the middle class and the working class pays the most of the taxes, while the 400 of the wealthiest individuals don't pay hardly anything. These people can afford to pay taxes. Did they ever think that if the wealthy paid a percentage of their income to the government as us "working class people" wouldn't that cut into the budget deficit?

Also it is mighty funny that Republicans want to get rid of programs like Planned Parenthood and Medicaid, but they don't want anybody getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy, yet they don't want to help provide help financially either. So, if you keep your child and you can't afford to take care of your child, then oh well. They don't want to increase minimum wage, but they want to increase taxes and consumer spending.


Our problems have gone beyond black and white, it has entered into rich and poor.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/08/how-rich-pay-no-taxes_n_846518.html?ref=nf

International Civil Rights Museum

The International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC was more local than international. Although the design of the building used both contemporary with a touch of historical pieces, there still seemed to be something that was missing. We started the tour by going down the escalators to the basement of the building. There was a brief pause for a video clip introduction to the history of the Woolworth building. After the clip we walked through a room that were filled with "quasi-graphic" images of blacks being violently killed for any reason that the oppressed felt was disrespectful. The room wasn't as graphic and disturbing as I thought that it would be. It was almost like the images that are shown on TV that are filtered for all audiences. Our tour leader then led us through a series of rooms that focused on the Sit-in movements and other historical facts about Greensboro.
Many of the stories and the photographs shown, were familiar to me, being that I am a native of Greensboro. Though I must say that I did learn some new facts that were interesting to me. I do feel as if the museum took somewhat of what Freire (1970) calls a "banking concept" educational approach to the delivery of the knowledge given to the visitors. Meaning the information was given and not fully experienced. The museum coordinators could have conveyed the experience a little more in depth that would leave me thinking that I wish that I was apart of the movement in the earlier days. Though this was not considered a formal learning process, it was an opportunity for the visitors to learn and possibly used what they have learned to educate others. Am I "hating" in the words of Taurean and being too critical, or am I just a student trying to understand and want to experience more than just a commentary?