Oppression

Feeling a heaviness on my shoulders that's not lifting
The hatred of society is drowning
I can't breathe
This world that's so suffocating
I put up the fight
The fight for my life

They let me have it  my life
But then strip me
Trying to take my dignity
They say you can't do anything so I won't do a thing
Just watch as  the country goes down
The flames consumes them

They keep trying to take it from me my dignity
Until I run out of energy
I try to climb the latter and the just kick me down the stairs
Then come to me and say make sure you say your prayers

They say
Let this depression be a lesson
We will not stop oppression
When you stand to fight
We will take your right

Race and America

After the verdict of George Zimmerman was handed down yesterday, of not guilty the country was saddened, but not surprised. According to the jury, Trayvon Martin because he was an African American male, not man, but child has no rights in this country. Their 'not guilty' verdict says that a child's life is disposable, as long as he is different. Whether that be that he is black, Hispanic, or LGBT. No matter how innocent, no matter where you live, if you're African American you can be shot down dead and never have your aggressor prosecuted.

Every African American person in this country right now feels like it is open season on our young people. On our family members, on our fathers, our mothers, or brothers and our sisters. Even if you are an law abiding citizen, if you are African American or anything but straight and white, you can still get murdered for no reason, and not get any justice.

The right wing began their fear mongering campaign, saying watch out, there's going to be looting and riots and black people are just going to go crazy. Because clearly in the light of tragedy, minorites can't control ourselves. Because clearly to them, we are animals, and can only behave as such and that's why we need to be treated as such. So that it's always the black person that is guilty, guilty of being black. Guilty of going to the store after dark for skittles and walking home, black.

Even the prosecution gave up on defending Trayvon. They were afraid to even mention that race was the entire reason why George Zimmerman followed Trayvon. The entire reason why he got out of his car and started a confrontation with the child. They decided to believe George Zimmerman and give up on prosecuting him.

So now what? We can't depend on the police to make arrests when their supposed to. We can't count on prosecutors to defend the rights of our black victims, so now what? Wait for 'God' to step in? Isn't this just another illusion? Putting faith in some that 'they' gave us, so that we will wait forever for something that will never happen. So that we will not rise up and fight against what we know is an continuing injustice. What now? Keep waiting? I'm sure that's what they would want, so that they can continue living in their 'safe', 'controlled' atmosphere. While they get in their cars and stalk, harass, and murder anyone they feel could be a threat. Anyone that doesn't look like them.

What do we tell our children? Even more importantly, how do we protect our children from these monsters?

We must go to our legislators, protest, peacefully to get these laws changed. All people must be involved, because if you are different in this country you can be victimized, and there is no one that will try to make it better, but us, the people.

It's over It's all over

"What time are you going?" asked Nancy shielding her cocoa skin from the hot Texas sun.

"I don't know, Nancy, I don't know, I can't stand out there in the hot sun for more than an hour, and I heard that some people have been out there four, even six hours long! That's crazy, I could pass out! said Maria fanning her already rosy cheeks.

"I plan on bringing a cooler with plenty of water and snacks for the long wait and -,"

"I don't see why they can't just open more polling places, how can someone hate other people so much by just looking at their skin color?" Maria said cutting Nancy off.

"That's just how it is, but we can't let them win by not going, we have to make sure they see that we will not give up, we will exercise our right, no matter how hard they try to cut us off."

Shaking her head slowly, Maria's eyes began to get glossy from the anger she held deep inside. "First it was voter ID, then it was gerrymandering, and just last year they struck down the voting rights act. Now this election the congress is full of republicans and a tea party member is running for president. I didn't think this could get any worse, but every year it gets worse and worse we are slowly sliding back into oblivion, if those people had their way we would all be slaves again. Sometimes it's just to much to bear."

"I know, we are all exhausted, but we must push on, we cannot give up no matter what, I'm going to vote early in the morning, we'll be there right when they open, we'll be the first ones there ok. I'll pick you up around six, they open at seven."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow," Maria said as she walked back in the house.

***

"Oh my god, Nancy, look at that line, I thought you said they open at seven," said Maria.

"They do, girl, they do," she responded rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

Maria looked at the people standing in line, "There has to be at least a hundred people here, Nancy, seriously, this shit is out of control."

"It's a good sign Maria."

"And why the hell are all those cops there, what are they doing? Wait, Nancy, it looks like there are two lines, what the hell is that?"

After parking the car Nancy and Maria started walking towards the lines in front of the library hosting the elections.

"Excuse me ladies," one of the officers said approaching them with his hands up, "I need you too step in the line to left, this line here is for white voters."

"Are you fucking crazy, what the hell do you mean this line is for us and this line is for white voters, everyone here is equal, there should only be one line," Maria said staring him down.

"Calm down, Maria," Nancy said grabbing her arm.

"Officer, what exactly is going on, why are there separate lines?"Nancy asked in a calm voice.

"I'm sorry I have to do this ladies, but the great state of Texas just passed a law this morning that minority voters have to show two forms of ID's to vote, to make sure that they are not committing fraud. This can be your driver's license and a credit or debit card, social security card or anything else that has your name on it," the officer informed them hanging his head low.

"So I guess your here to make sure there isn't a riot, right? Because this is terrible and a lot of people, the almost majority of Texas is going to be very angry. I hope your ready for that, officer, I hope you got a lot of sleep last night."

"Who's screaming?" Maria said looking around to the front of the line. "Who is screaming like that?"

Nancy and Maria started walking towards the front of the line where a black woman was screaming at a police officer and he was grabbing her arm. They watched as the officer firmly held her arm as she screamed that he was hurting her. He then twisted her arm to her back and pushed her hard to the ground, putting his knee hard in her back. The officer that Nancy and Maria was talking to ran over to the duo and continued to retrain and handcuff her standing her up and all but throwing her in the cruiser. Nancy gets her phone out and starts recording the episode discreetly.

"This will happen to all those who try to cause trouble," the white officer who the lady was yelling at, screamed at the line with the minorities.  "Don't act like animals and we won't treat you like animals," he said looking at his partner who nodded his head.

"You are already treating us like animals, you racist pig," a black young man yelled from the back of the line.

The people standing in the 'white' line started looking around nervously, the tension was unbearable, they began to retreat to their cars knowing that this was going to go bad very quickly.

"Don't say another word young man."

"I can say what I want, I do still have freedom of speech don't I, pig?" he yells back.

The officer walks over to the man and jerks him out of the crowd, almost dislocating his arm. He yells out, and another man steps out to stop the officer from his continued assault. The other officer runs over and hits the man with his night stick and another person jumps in and tries to push the officer off the man. Then someone else jumps in, this goes on until almost every officer and every person stand in line is in one big struggle. Nancy and Maria are horrified, screaming and crying, but Nancy never stops recording. The fighting goes on for hours, more cops come, they came with their nightsticks and they came with there guns, beating some people and shooting others. Seventy-eight people died that day and hundreds were wounded, all because the SCOTUS decided the year before that the voting rights act was unnecessary.

Trayvon, Howard Morgan Whose Next?

Here we are again with another story that proves how corrupt our legal system is, and how victims that are of a minority descent, can be unjustly demonized by white law enforcement. Howard Morgan, a police officer and husband was shot 28 times by four white police officers in the Chicago area on February 21st. At the time of the shooting Mr. Morgan was off duty, and was pulled over by police officers for going the wrong way down a one way street. Both sides agree to this side of the story, but that's about it.

According to the four police officers Howard resisted arrest by shooting at the officers with the fire arm he was carrying with him. Unfortunately, the bullet proof vest that allegedly sustained bullet wounds was never located, instead the prosecution used a replica vest to show to the jury. Mr. Morgan's truck was destroyed before a forensic team could do an analysis on it making it very hard to collect evidence for or against him. This already sounds like something is being covered up.

My questions first is why does it take 28 bullets from four Northern Santa Fe Railroad police officers to stop one man? Is it because he's black, and he had a firearm? They not only wanted to stop him but clearly, they wanted to make sure that they killed him? After being left for dead, it must have been very surprising to find out that he lived through all that fire power. So they decided to take another road, get a conviction in court they had to get rid of him in some way; they told the jury that Mr. Morgan went crazy on them and that they believed that he was trying to kill them, all four of them, in his neighborhood close to his house, so that's why they had to open fire on him 28 times. After the jury heard the case they found Mr. Morgan not guilty, on all the charges brought against him but one, the attempted murder charge, they were deadlocked against that. Even though they cleared him of discharging his firearm, they still couldn't decide on whether he was trying to murder the officers or not. There is no evidence that he tried to stab them or beat them up, just that he went crazy and tried to shoot them. I guess maybe they thought that he was trying to kill them with his words. Or maybe he was trying to identify himself as a fellow officer and the four white officers decided they didn't care and started shooting instead.

Unfortunately, another jury was assembled and he was tried again and found guilty by this second jury. Wait a minute isn't that double jeopardy, in the constitution you cannot be tried twice for the same crime! So how did this slip through the courts fingers and why hasn't this been brought up?  The prosecution of course would not let the defense inform the jury that Mr. Morgan had been cleared of every other charge in this unconstitutional second trial. Our justice system still fails to give to all, no matter the race, a fair trial. Because of this Mr. Morgan can face up to eighty years in prison; he awaits his sentence in January.

We can no longer sit back and let these things happen, we have to get up and make a difference, stand against an unjust, justice system. If we don't all minorities should be in fear of their free lives. freehowardmorgan.com

Going Natural

In the past few years I have a seen a big hype about going natural, being all organic and keeping those nasty chemicals away from our bodies. I bought into it, after deciding to only shop at Whole Foods or Publix, organic section only, I have noticed a big change in how I feel. I feel much better with more energy for the whole day. So I took it a step farther, not only do I only eat all natural and organic, I started using organic and all natural skin and hair care. My skin is clearer than ever, and stays soft and moisturized. Now even though I started using all natural hair products, I was still going to the salon and getting a relaxer to make my hair straight as possible, and easy to manage. I thought about how I wish I had the choice of either wearing curly hair or straight but I was always told that if I wanted to "go natural" I would have to cut all my hair off. Of course just like a lot of African American women, this idea totally freaked me out, and it went totally out the window.  Then a few weeks ago a friend told me she was going natural, I expressed my concern of unmanageable hair along with having to cut it short. She showed me several clips on Youtube of other women that have taken the plunge and stopped using relaxers. Some of them didn't even cut the relaxer part until their hair was comfortably long enough, laying my fears to rest. Not only did these women have beautiful curly hair, but it was long, thick and healthy. This is what I always wanted for my hair, so as of yesterday I'm going natural no more relaxers or harsh chemicals in my hair.

After I was alone last night, I really started thinking about the psychology behind relaxers, weave, and other products that make African American hair straight; along with other lies throughout the years that we have been told about our hair. One thing is that we can't get our hair wet, we should only wash it every two weeks or longer, it has to be straight or it doesn't look good. It's because still to this day, the society thinks that if our hair straight then we are more presentable, or easier on the eye. It's to keep us in a bubble that makes "them" feel comfortable. What about the stigma that we can't get our hair wet, making water our enemy. I learned that this rumor started because white people back in the civil rights era didn't want us in "their" pools. So they craftily started this rumor. Sadly African Americans still believe this down to this day. What about the "being presentable"? It seems that white and Hispanic girls can wear their curly locks, but when an African American does it, it's immediately frowned upon. This would make anyone feel insecure, and that is exactly what they want, they want us to feel bad so they can feel better. The thing is though, that we should be able to do whatever we want with our hair and our bodies. This shouldn't offend anyone, everyone should have the opportunity to be their natural beautiful selves. That is the exact reason why I decided to go natural, I'm tired of trying to live up to everyone's expectations an leaving what I want to do in the background. I want to be who I am, and if someone doesn't like it, that is just to bad for them. Maybe some of you are reading this thinking "damn girl your kind of late", but I thank all of you that have gone against the grain and did what they felt was good for themselves, not worrying about what other people think; that's what all of us that are being stigmatized or held down in anyway should do, come together and rise up against racism and sexism.