Archive for January 12th, 2015

12
Jan
15

A Tweet Or Two

By Nerdy Wonka 141 Comments
Categories: All Photos
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12
Jan
15

“I Am Selma”

By Chipsticks 90 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles

by LDS

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I AM SELMA……

This is NOT about me. This IS about a movement!

I saw the movie two days ago and I wanted to wait before I posted anything here so that I would not spoil anyone else view before they saw it.

Movie critiques have a way of doing that.

While watching the movie it was as if I was watching my whole life unfold right before my own eyes.

As a young girl growing up in the days of Jim Crow, I marched, marched and marched some more at the young age of 17 years old.

I cannot begin to tell you the urge that came over me when I knew that it was something that I had to do.

No, not in Selma…..in Ga. (same difference).

As a little girl I remember going to Woolworth’s with my mother and aunts and asking why we could not sit at the counter to have an I cream sundae. They would hurriedly walk pass and tell me and my sisters not to look. I remember the COLORED/WHITE water fountain signs. I also remember drinking from the WHITE fountain just because.

I did not understand then my life could have been taken away or worse, my whole family could have been in danger.

I remember my older sisters and brothers sneaking out the house to go and join the sit-ins in downtown Athens, Ga. My mother would have never given them consent to do anything so dangerously. But secretly my father was very proud and protective of his children. Jim Crow would never take that away from him. I remember Charlene Hunter and David Holmes being the first Blacks attending the University of Ga. and how we were so afraid for them. I remember we were asked to pray for them every Sunday in church.

In the summer of my 17 years, you would think that the sit-ins and marching in the ’60’s,two Blacks attending UGA would have made everything peachy cream. Sadly, that did not happen.

I still felt racism. I still knew there were some parts of that little quaint college town we were not safe to venture in and out of.

My mother demanded that we go to the predominately white school when I was in middle school. I cried all summer long because meant that I would be separated from all the friends that I grew up with and things would even be different between us.

The movement happened one hot summer night when there was a meeting called at a local Black church to help get Blacks to sign up to vote in rural counties. We were young and fearless. I was 17 and there was a strong unity of Black college kids attending UGA now(more than two). And they were playing recordings of Malcolm X, The Last Poets, H. Rap Brown, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis, many more in this little den they called, (fittingly so) “The Black House”.

They were responsible for my attending my first Nina Simone concert at UGA among other noted singers that I had only heard of on the Black radio station coming from Nashville, Tenn. as a child late at night.

So here I am caught up with all of this new found pride and awareness that no school or text book ever offered me.

I remember S.C.L.C. attending those meetings and later N.A.A.C.P. came to organized and strategized how we were going to do this marching thing. I remember walking for hours in the hot sun marching and singing in rural places in Ga. I had never been before. Somehow I knew when we were in a strong KKK county because the mood of the march changed very quickly.

I will never forget the hands of the first older man that I helped signed up to be able to vote for the first time in his town. We were always assigned with another older person because we were being trained. The older man was so nervous. His hands were shaking so much. But when he signed his name with an “X” he was so proud. So strong. So tall. It was an immediate visual transformation. There were many more gatherings, hot marches.

The pivotal point in my life is when the Black students who were attending the predominately all white high school felt their needs were not being met. No history books about our ancestors being taught. It was evident this integration was not fully embraced. They made it clear we would not be included, we were not welcome ( unless you played sports and brought them to championships).

Needless, to say “All hell broke lose.”

The National Guards were called. We were children. Water hoses were sprayed upon us. Dogs were unleashed upon us. We were put in jail. I was more afraid what would haven to my family that night than what would happen to me.

It has taken me my whole life to remember not to forgot. For years I could not watch movies that depicted those times because it all became so real and I would wake up not being able to sleep. If I had to chose my best scene, it would be the question Dr. MLK posed to the congregation. “Who Killed Jimmy Lee Jackson?” That is a question that we all need to answer even today.

The movie is remarkable! I felt so proud to have had that boldness, fearlessness, fight for justice in my DNA. I did not know nor did I care that my life could have ended then. I wanted to make it better for others.

When you are in a movement you become humble, unselfish, fearless, bold, caring, determine, resilient, kind, forgiving, hopeful.

Finally, you just love. To be love and to give love.

I Am Selma. But this is not about me…..

12
Jan
15

President Obama Honors the San Antonio Spurs

By Chipsticks 32 Comments
Categories: All Photos

2:40 EST: President Obama Honors the 2014 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs

12
Jan
15

Rise and Shine

By Chipsticks 144 Comments
Categories: All Photos, All Videos and Michelle Obama

On This Day: The President and First Lady at ‘Together We Thrive: Tucson and America’ honoring the January 8 shooting victims at McKale Memorial Center on the University of Arizona campus on January 12, 2011

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Today (all times Eastern)

11:55: The President lays out plan to combat identity theft and improve consumer and student privacy; Federal Trade Commission Offices, Washington

1:0 White House Press Briefing

2:40: The President honors the 2014 NBA Champions the San Antonio Spurs; East Room

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The Week Ahead

Tuesday: The President will host bipartisan, bicameral congressional leadership. Vice President Biden will also attend.

Wednesday: The President will visit Iowa to give a speech proposing new steps to increase access to affordable, high-speed broadband across the country.

Thursday: The President will have a working dinner with PM David Cameron at the White House. He will also travel to Baltimore, Maryland, to attend a Senate Democratic Issues Conference.

Friday: The President will meet with PM David Cameron again at the White House.

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There Is Always Hope

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On This Day

A school named after US Senator Barack Obama is signposted on the main road on January 12, 2007 near the village of Kogelo, western Kenya

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk across the South Lawn of the White House following their return to Washington from Delaware where they attended funeral services for Jean Biden, mother of Vice President Joe Biden, Jan. 12, 2010

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With Mark Kelly

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Morning everyone.

12
Jan
15

Early Bird Chat

By Chipsticks 105 Comments
Categories: All Photos

On This Day: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at the White House, January 12, 2010, after traveling to Delaware to attend a memorial service for Vice President Joe Biden’s mother

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