A Gentle Human

Remind them. https://t.co/an9VboMTCv

—
Ava DuVernay (@ava) July 08, 2018

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Wild Embers by Nikita Gill

‘I Want Freedom’

In honor of Black History Month and Langston Hughes birthday ✊🏾 (This is the poem I read over the announcements)… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

—
emanee 🤸🏾‍♀️ (@EmaneeWright) February 01, 2018

The 4th

This is my form of patriotism: https://t.co/w1bRopSSPC

—
Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) July 04, 2017

Before you celebrate the Fourth, I do think it is important to read Frederick Douglass' July 4th oration.… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

—
Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) July 04, 2017

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I try not to forget that we also live in a country where a black president delivered this speech across from Indepe… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

—
Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 04, 2017

The ghost of Frederick Douglass came down & said enjoying your ribs today isn't mutually exclusive from critiquing America. You can do both.

—
Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) July 04, 2017

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It shouldn't have to be said at this point but critiquing this country doesn't prevent one frm loving it. It's how you know the love is real

—
Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) July 04, 2017

Fourth of July, 2009. https://t.co/1zgK3hB1B7

—
Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) July 04, 2017

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July 4 = obama and kids https://t.co/KXrh6nGwGV

—
Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) July 04, 2017

July 4, 2011 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Lhwv1Z3MnS

—
shauna (@goldengateblond) July 04, 2017

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama always had a picnic for military families every year on July 4th. https://t.co/nlH7D7Yd4F

—
meta (@metaquest) July 04, 2017

Happy Independence Day! https://t.co/Swft0ooCzD

—
The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) July 04, 2017

Orator In Chief

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Jacqueline OBoomer: Orator-in-Chief

He wrote what he saw “in Lincoln’s eyes”
And to some of us reading it was no surprise
That we were certainly in for a treat
When Barack H. Obama rose to his feet
Remember when we heard him speak
At that Democratic National Convention
His remarks got rave reviews in ’04
Much more than honorable mention

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And during his first presidential campaign
When we craved to hear him even more
Remember he told us that we … we …
Were the ones we’d been waiting for
When he cajoled we’re ” … a nation of immigrants …
… strangers once, too,” he stood tall
Prodding us to come together as one, for
“Embracing tribe dooms us all”
From his loftiest words heard in a consoling speech:
“Faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have doubt”

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To his hysterically funny two words to the press:
“Obama, Out!”
Sometimes he delivered oration in a hymn
Often his words caught us all on fire
This man seems to have come out of history
In colonial days, he’d have been a town crier
We love this man, his mind, voice, and tone
We see he’s armed us better than we were before
And when we wonder if we’ll be able to go it alone
We whisper we are the ones we’ve been waiting for
And isn’t that the proof of the orator he’s been
And the fact we seldom see his kind
We’re not sure which of our heartstrings he pulled
But we know he also left his words in our minds
And this year we thank him
Genuinely, without measure
For being Orator-in-Chief
And our national treasure

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‘Enough Is Enough, Through And Through’

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Jacqueline OBoomer

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The Michelle Obama Lesson Plan

She rose up and she stood up
And she said, “Listen here”
And she was our grandmothers
And mothers through the years
This was the lesson they all had tried
To teach us to take in our stride:

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To rise up and stand up
To rise up and stand up.
Treat us with dignity
We are your women and girls
Treat us as equals
We are your diamonds and pearls
Treat us with respect
We are your soulmates and loves
Treat us as partners

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When push comes to shove
Give us our due
As we return it to you
Rise up and stand up
Speak up and give a hand up ~
Enough is enough
Enough is enough, through and through

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Children In Search Of Refuge

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Gazelle’s thoughts on the recent events

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Gazelle

Children In Search Of Refuge

As a child, a refugee child,
My Mama taught me Caution.
Run from the marauders of the streets,
Especially those carrying guns
Beyond their natural height.
Run from machete wielding persona.
Run from The Toothless Angered,
They’re mastered by the powers du jour.
Run for dear life.
If speed is of essence,
Drop your school books upon the dusty path,
Run!
Make it home,
To your Mama’s anxious arms.
Pray you do,
And live another hour

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As a child, an American child,
The ghosts of yonder history hovered.
Waiting their turn to fully manifest,
Yet again.

My Mama taught me,
Before I was double digits,
To be cautious out there.
The marauders, the ghosts, the egregious,
The Toothless Angered
Will menace my being.
Don’t run for dear life.
Learn to stay still

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There is nowhere to run.
Nowhere to stay still,
Except in shocked death.
No school books dropped on a dusty road,
They lay stained in unrequited blood along the school hallway.
Bullet strewn sidewalks splatter my paths.
The Toothless Angered
Are again mastered,
The daily Puppets of Avarice

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Sanctuary is a scarcity in my universe
While The Toothless Angered,
With ample, unjustified impunity,
Continue to menace my being.

Pray I make it home Today, and all Tomorrows,
To my Mama’s anxious arms,
So I can hug her.
And just once, of many more, say
I love you Always

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Ieshia Evans On The Bayou

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Jacqueline OBoomer

Ieshia Evans on the Bayou

The ones who were afraid in Baton Rouge
Were the ones carrying the “red sticks”
Not the warrior queen who visited from the north
On behalf of her five-year old son
So she might invest in
His having a better life.

A better life
Than the sons of other mothers
She had gone there to mourn with
And stand proudly for.

She repelled the “red sticks”
Who were few in number
But seemed to grow into
A wall before her
As she stood her ground
Quietly in front of them.

She was a nurse who cared for others
Who said she was now “a vessel”
Doing God’s work.

The young queen arrived in regal garb
Regal in that it adorned her presence
Regal in that it could almost be said
To adorn ours.
She dressed for the moment
So that – standing in the hot sun
Of righteousness and pride –
She could feel as though
She were floating
In God’s air
In Baton Rouge.

The “red sticks” took her away
Took her away from her son
Took her away from her duties
Took her away from the cameras
And the tributes.

But the imprint she left
In the hearts and minds and souls
Of all of us
Remains
As though someone had gone out
And built a statue
Of a modern-day goddess
In every town in America.

The young queen
In the flowing garb
With diamonds in her closed eyes
With grief in her open heart
Sharing the secret:
How to be a woman
How to be a mother
How to be the vessel
How to show us the way
To Baton Rouge.

She stood silently on the gravel
She never spoke
But when we close our eyes
We can almost hear her say
“Ain’t I a woman?”
So that someday her son may say
“I am a man.”

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A Veteran

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Jacqueline OBoomer

He served

He hugged the grandmother,
and mom and dad,
tears in his eyes
that he couldn’t let them see.
Looked over his shoulder
to remember their faces
set in time.
This time in his life
he would only understand
was extraordinary,
looking back.

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Honor and bravery
and, yes, to be a man
were why he signed up early,
why he went off
why he missed a bit of his youth
and journeyed to a far-off
war-time destination
he had never
heard much about
when he was younger.

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The in-between years
are not forgot
They enter in dreams
and memories he sometimes wished
he didn’t have.
He knows he’s not alone
in the recollections
yet only a small amount of comfort
has come from that,
has ever come from that.

It is what it is,
his mantra.
It is what it is.

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But now in the prime
of his older years
he wears a ballcap with the
name of his service on it
and the name of his war.
He remembers the conflict
and when he
remembers the grandmother
remembers mom and dad
he feels the honor
he thinks he brought them.

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The sting of yesterday’s tears
in his crinkly eyes come from
the love of country
the esprit de corps ~
the brothers and comrades
he left behind or
still meets for coffee
on a Wednesday morning
in his hometown.

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And when he and his brothers
talk over coffee
about the “free lunch” for veterans
they’re serving at the
VFW, in a few hours,
he turns to them
(those who, like he,
paid ahead such a high price
for that “free lunch” years ago)
and says,
“We should support that
for the new vets
who might really need it.”

He is what he is.

A veteran.

A man.

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Bree Newsome Is What Courage And Bravery Looks Like

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Bree of the House Newsome. First of Her Name. Climber of the Pole. Flagslayer. @BreeNewsome http://t.co/LFgDXWOBEK

—
Ol' QWERTY Bastard (@TheDiLLon1) June 27, 2015

Yes. I hope I get the call to direct the motion picture about a black superhero I admire. Her name is @BreeNewsome. http://t.co/BgMeaNsbYk

—
Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) June 27, 2015

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Thank you, thank you, thank you, Bree Newsome

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Beautiful Bree makes a good case for Black girl fitness-neva know when you have to climb a poll & tear some racists ish down #FreeBree

—
MichaelaAngela Davis (@MichaelaAngelaD) June 27, 2015

Drop any charges against Bree, activist arrested for taking down the Confederate flag at South... fb.me/25E8pC6Le

—
Harry Belafonte (@harrybelafonte) June 27, 2015

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Yes, TOD. This is the perfect example of what you can call money well spent

Bail Fund for @BreeNewsome! Give what you can, if you can: indiegogo.com/projects/bail-…

—
Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) June 27, 2015

Non-POC ask often how they can be an ally. James Tyson, who stood at the base of the flag pole as @BreeNewsome climbed. THAT'S an ally.

—
April (@ReignOfApril) June 27, 2015

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Most iconic pic of 2014, next to the most iconic pic of 2015 http://t.co/U9bKylFTDv

—
L'Engineer (@GPL_) June 27, 2015

Keep in mind: a Black woman removed Confed flag frm SC Capitol on same day 2 Black women victims of #EmanuelAME shooting will b laid to rest

—
DMo Birfday #June27 (@PercivalPenman) June 27, 2015

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A Mass for the Dead

SHE HAS A NAME: A mother of three, pastor + high school track coach, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was killed at AME. http://t.co/rvXe1y33Ry

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

SHE HAS A NAME: Susie Jackson, a longtime church member was killed at AME Church last night. http://t.co/oUL7n1DGBw

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

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For the dead, we say, “Amen”. And for the living.
There are too many dead, and the living are riven.

Every day, a new horror, a new loss of innocence,
And the night-dimmed tide swallows us.

There is no innocence; this is a fallen world,
And men of evil revel in destruction.

When is it enough? It’s never enough.
Violence has an army of reasons,

And peace seems to be an idea
Honored more in the breach than the observance.

This is not your heritage; it is evil.
This is not your freedom; it is slavery.

Do that which you would have done unto you;
Flee from that which is harmful to all.

The answer is there, to be teased out
Of life, hard life, the only life we have.

Remember the dead, for they speak from the earth,
Pleading, “Let us not be in vain.”

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SHE HAS A NAME; Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, a mother of four daughters, singer in church choir was killed at AME. http://t.co/YoqNF1yiOD

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

HE HAS A NAME: Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., another pastor at the Emanuel AME church who was killed last night. http://t.co/n4sz9GBBxf

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

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HE HAS A NAME: Rev Clementa Pinckney, a State Senator + Pastor of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Killed last night http://t.co/hkDgCdlobc

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

SHE HAS A NAME: Ethel Lee Lance, worked at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston for 30 years. She was killed last night. http://t.co/7OHjsnhD8f

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

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SHE HAS A NAME: Myra Thompson, killed last night at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. She was teaching bible study. http://t.co/NlqoNfjPP2

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Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 19, 2015

HE HAS A NAME: Tywanza Sanders, a 2014 graduate of Allen University was killed last night at the Emanuel AME church. http://t.co/oQa1SQlbx8

—
Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

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SHE HAS A NAME: Cynthia Hurd worked for Charleston County Public Library for 31 yrs. Killed last night at AME Church http://t.co/jgJY9acnRc

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Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2015

Lord have mercy All nine victims of Charleston shooting identified thegrio.com/2015/06/18/cha… http://t.co/gof7tf5Qts

—
TheObamaCAT (@TheObamaCat) June 18, 2015