on the black hand side

The Black Prayer

This is deep, so take your time.

Why Did You Make Me Black Lord
Lord .. Why did you make me black?
Why did you make someone
the world would hold back?...
Black is the color of dirty clothes,
of grimy hands and feet......
Black is the color of darkness,
of tired beaten streets...

Why did you give me thick lips,
a broad nose and kinky hair?
Why did you create someone
who receives the hated stare?

Black is the color of the bruised eye
when someone gets hurt...
Black is the color of darkness,
black is the color of dirt.

Why is my bone structure so thick,
my hips and cheeks so high?
Why are my eyes brown,
and not the color of the sky?

Why do people think I'm useless?
How come I feel so used?
Why do people see my skin
and think I should be abused?
Lord, I just don't understand...
What is it about my skin?
Why is it some people want to hate me
and not know the person within?

Black is what people are "Labeled"
when others want to keep them away...
Black is the color of shadows cast...
Black is the end of the day.

Lord you know my own people mistreat me,
and you know this just ain't right...
They don't like my hair, they don't like my
skin, as they say I'm too dark or too light!

Lord, don't you think
it's time to make a change?
Why don't you redo creation
and make everyone the same?

God's Reply:

Why did I make you black? Why did I make you black?

I made you in the color of coal
from which beautiful diamonds are formed...
I made you in the color of oil,
the black gold which keeps people warm.

Your color is the same as the rich dark soil
that grows the food you need...
Your color is the same as the black stallion and
panther, Oh what majestic creatures indeed!

All colors of the heavenly rainbow
can be found throughout every nation...
When all these colors are blended,
you become my greatest creation!

Your hair is the texture of lamb's wool,
such a beautiful creature is he...
I am the shepherd who watches them,
I will ALWAYS watch over thee!

You are the color of the midnight sky,
I put star glitter in your eyes...
There's a beautiful smile hidden behind your pain...
That's why your cheeks are so high!

You are the color of dark clouds
from the hurricanes I create in September...
I made your lips so full and thick,
so when you kiss...they will remember!

Your stature is strong,
your bone structure thick to withstand the
burden of time...
The reflection you see in the mirror,
that image that looks back, that is MINE!

So get off your knees,
look in the mirror and tell me what you see?
I didn't make you in the image of darkness...
I made you in the image of ME!

by RuNett Nia-Ebo

this poem was inspired by Genesis1:26-27
written an by unknown Artist.

Genesis 1:26 and 27
And GOD said, "Let Us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness. So GOD created man in His own image, male and female He created them.


h/t - Facebook/Larry Besant

I Can Be One If I See One: Kim Godwin [VIDEO]

Kim Godwin is an example of awesome industry leaders produced by this nation's HBCUs. Check out this video tribute featuring her family and colleagues at CBS Evening News. A product of the J-School at Florida A&M University, Godwin's numerous awards include an Emmy and an HBCU Innovation Award. Congratulations, Kim!

  

 

#hbcupride #famousjournalists

Black Men - Black Fathers: #DefeatTheStereotype

Showing the real lives of real Black men. Amen. Spread the positivity. Defeat the Stereotype.

 

#DefeatingStereotypes #BlackFathers #BlackLove We Are All College Graduates EDUCATED MEN! #DefeatingStereotypes WeAre...

Posted by Shelton Jackson on Sunday, June 21, 2015

 

 

 

STATEMENT: CAP’s Carmel Martin on the Administration’s Executive Order Restoring Pell Grant Access to Incarcerated Students

Washington, D.C. — The Obama administration announced on Friday that the U.S. Department of Education will launch a pilot to test the effects of restoring access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students. This measure will give a limited number of individuals at selected correctional facilities a chance to obtain education and training to prepare for employment upon release. Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement in response:

We applaud the Obama administration for taking this important step. Prison education and training is truly a win-win—boosting formerly incarcerated individuals’ employment rates upon release, substantially decreasing recidivism, and yielding tremendous cost savings in reduced incarceration. In fact, studies show that every dollar spent on prison education saves $4 to $5 in reduced incarceration costs during the next three years, when recidivism is most likely. Yet despite their cost effectiveness, prison education and training programs are far too scarce, in large part because Congress removed access to Pell Grants for inmates in 1994, putting prison education and training out of reach for inmates who want to increase their employability and chances of successful re-entry. The president’s action today will help ensure public safety and give a limited number of individuals in select correctional facilities the chance to obtain the education and training they need to forge a pathway to successful re-entry and to have a meaningful shot at a second chance.

In a recent report from the Center for American Progress, "One Strike and You’re Out,"Rebecca Vallas and Sharon Dietrich address how mass incarceration and criminal records serve as underappreciated drivers of poverty and inequality in America by presenting barriers to employment, housing, education and training, building good credit, and more. The report offers a roadmap of policy recommendations—including calling for testing the restoration of Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals—to ensure that Americans with criminal records have a fair shot at making a decent living, providing for their families, and joining the middle class.

The powerful voice of Anthony Anaxagorou [VIDEO]

Anthony Anaxagorou at the Young Writers’ Festival 2012 (UK)

I’d like to introduce to you a young man who is truly gifted in his ability to weave words in such a descriptive manner that the listener cannot ignore the profundity of his statements. Please Google Anthony Anaxagorou and listen and read his work. This young man is truly Superbad. Listen to the Truth. Share. Please.

  

 

This is Not a Poem and I Am Not a Poet. Wow. If this doesn’t move you or at least make you think then you have no heart. 

-vb

 

Photo: Richard Budd

 

How Black People are Being Eliminated [VIDEO]

In the wake of the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death Micheal Brown, there has been much discussion on race, racism and white privilege in the United States. Check out this cartoon by Neely Fuller Jr.  

 

 

 

Trial Attorney Willie Gary and Team Filed a Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit against City of Greensboro for Discrimination, Breach of Contract and Bad Faith Dealings after City Reneges on Approved Loan

 

GREENSBORO, N.C., -- PRNewswire/ -- Prominent trial attorney Willie Gary along with his legal team James Leonard Brown of Los Angeles, California and Michael Jones of Durham, North Carolina announced the filing of a multi-million dollar discrimination and breach of contract lawsuit on behalf of Michael and Ramona Woods and Black Network Television against the City of Greensboro, North Carolina. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Guilford County (case #6767).   

The lawsuit details the irreparable damage and harm that the City of Greensboro's bad business dealings caused Michael and Ramona Woods and Black Network Television.  The Woods are suing the City of Greensboro for discrimination and losses related to an economic development loan from the City that was approved on June 18, 2013, and then reneged on one month later by a City Council vote of 6 to 3.  The lawsuit outlines the claim for damages caused by the denial of the promised funds.  The loan was slated for network operations, including production of a new national comedy series titled, "Whatcha Cookin'?"

"The City of Greensboro's discriminatory acts crushed our client's dream," said Gary. "Michael and Ramona Woods discussed with various city officials what a successful minority owned Greensboro-based television network would mean to the community in terms of job creation, skills and training and economic development.  As a result, the Woods put full trust and confidence in the City's promise to grant the economic development loan, only to be misled, misguided, deceived and discriminated against," continued Gary.  "It isn't right and we will not stand for it!"

Gary is no stranger to seeking justice.  Gary and his legal team are known for taking on some of the nation's most powerful corporate giants, including the funeral industry. In 1995, a jury awarded Gary and his legal team a record-breaking, half-billion dollars against one of the world's largest funeral chains, The Loewen Group. In addition, Gary is noted for winning a $240 million jury verdict in Orange County against the Walt Disney Corporation for his clients who alleged that Disney stole their idea for a sports theme park.

For more information, visit www.blacknetworktelevision.com.

 

Read About One Reporter's Coverage of the Sex Crimes of Singer R. Kelly and the Worthlessness Young Black Women

R. Kelly

"The saddest fact I've learned is nobody matters less to our society than young black women. Nobody." - Jim DeRogatis

That quote, from a tweet posted by the Melissa Harris Perry Show, led me to a mind-blowing article, by Jessica Hopper, about journalist Jim DeRogatis and his extensive and indefatigable coverage of the numerous sexual assaults committed by singer R. Kelly on young black females.

Wow, just wow, is the first thought that comes to mind. I wish I'd read DeRogatis' work when Kelly's predatory exploits initially received mainstream media coverage. This is all so very sad.

To read about the mothers of victims crying —including Aaliyah's mother — victims attempting suicide by slitting their wrists, degrading sexual acts and silence of the accusers via a pair of sneakers or trips to France. Wow. Sad. Nauseating.

Where were journalistic ethics while Kelly was on trial? Why didn't more reporters care? Would the outcome have been different if any of the victims were white? Or do black female rape victims really not matter?



Photo: Atlanta Black Star

SNL parodies '12 Years A Slave' [VIDEO]

Actor Edward Norton was host on Saturday Night Live last night. One of the skits performed --- 12 Days Not A Slave --- was a parody of the critically-acclaimed movie on the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped and enslaved for twelve years. 

 

 

 

What say You? Funny...not funny...too soon?

 

Lorraine C. Miller named NAACP Interim President and CEO While Search for Next President and CEO Commences

(LAS VEGAS, NV) – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held its final Board of Directors meeting of 2013 this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock announced that National Board Member Lorraine C. Miller was named the Interim President and CEO of the 104-year-old organization while the search to select a new President and CEO begins.

“This is a moment of great change and great opportunity for the NAACP,” stated NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. “We are excited to work with Lorraine C. Miller during this time of transition. We are confident that Lorraine will serve the Association with a steady and experienced hand as we continue the search for the next President and CEO.”

“I am honored to have been selected for this venerable role,” stated Miller. “I look forward to continuing the path forged by Chairman Brock and President Jealous in the months ahead. These are important times, and the important work of the NAACP will go on.”

“Lorraine is a natural fit as interim president of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “She comes into this position with two decades of experience working for the U.S. House of Representatives and an even longer career in civil rights advocacy and policy. She will have the honor of leading the dynamic staff of this great organization.”

Miller is a commercial real estate broker with Keller Williams and sits on the Board of D.C. Vote. She served as the first African American clerk (and the first African American officer) of the U.S House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, and previously worked for former House Speakers Nancy Pelosi, Tom Foley and Jim Wright, as well as U.S. Rep. John Lewis. She also worked in the Clinton White House, as Bureau Chief at the Federal Communications Commission and as Director of Congressional Relations for the Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, she worked at the American Federation of Teachers. She is a faithful member of the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Miller served as President of the Washington, DC NAACP Branch for six years, and as a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors since 2008. On the Board of Directors, she serves as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Advocacy and Policy Committee, and she played a significant role in the creation of the NAACP’s Game Changers.

Miller will begin her role as Interim President and CEO and assume day-to-day responsibility for the Association on November 1st, according to the transition plan approved by the National Board of Directors. Jealous’ tenure with the Association will end officially on December 31.