Niyonu, Wake Up!

--> Teachable Moments on the Power of Societal Oppression – Using three 2009 stories in the news   (find links to each story at the end of this submission) During our workshop, Beyond Diversity 101 (BD101) we practice distinguishing between the personal (INDIVIDUAL), the GROUP/institutional and the SOCIETAL.   We encourage seeing and naming - what is happening and what has happened on each of these three levels.   The practice of seeing and naming is terribly important if we are to heal as a people, as a society.   Denial and confusion - the resistance to see and know - are the fallback positions that protect and maintain systems of domination.  To acknowledge a breech between who we believe ourselves to be and what we actually do, to acknowledge such a breech might suggest that we turn our worlds upside down and do things differently.   So, in any system of oppression there is a great investment in not seeing. I often say that if...

Advice to Self in the On-Going Work for Peace and Social Justice  [By Carly Frintner...check her out at: http://lovewantstoreachout.blogspot.com] Advice to Self in the On-Going Work for Peace and Social Justice Do not ask, “Am I enough?” Instead claim that you are, Believe that you are, And live up to all that means. Do not ask, “Am I strong enough?” Know you are strong enough and you will be given strength for the journey There will be times when you feel you can’t go on, There will be times when you have used every last resource; Trust that you will be given strength anew, To do things you never thought possible, In the name of an ever-higher power, And in the name of an ever-higher Love. Do not ask, “Am I good enough?” For to ask this is to ask the same of anyone, And I Know that we were all born good, And that we all do the Best We Can, Every minute of every day, Even if we are not living up to our own expectat...

--> Yesterday I was in Vermont hanging out at the home of a friend.   The night before, having no phone reception we finally got hooked up to some wi-fi and there it was: I got word of the verdict "on Zimmerman."   I became driven like some homing beacon had been set off.   I had to get out of there.   I had to get to a place where peaceful people could not be at peace with this...where folks did not need to debate "possible angles" of the case...where folks discern and recognize truth and act from there...where folks know what they know and their noses are in good working order and they had smelled this before.   I drove three hours as far as New Haven, grabbed a bite and then continued the next 3 hours to get to LOVE Park.   It didn't matter that the traffic was crazy on the NJ Turnpike because my senses were focused digesting every bit of this horrible awareness.   What some folks don't get is that its not that we are in shock or even ...

Keep strong, Break through illusion!

 http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2013/03/poem-the-good-ones-for-hugo-chavez/

Greetings dear ones, haven't written on here for a long while (again) but, my son, Tai Amri woke me up with this video rendition to one of my songs.  Here are his words and a link to the video: "11 years ago my mother's singing group, Tribe 1, performed a song called the Saddest Thing about the tragedy of 9/11, and they ended it with a prayer, "Mother/Father help us end this cycle." My life since then has been about just that, trying to end the cycle of violence.  I believe that our destiny is a continuation of the journey of our parents, and their parents, and their parents and so on.   I've created this video from the song of my mother as a small offering to the cause of peace.  May it be found holy and acceptable, and if you should weep, may you weep tears of transformation.  In peace,  Tai Amri" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl1EQCwqFRw&feature=colike

I woke this morning with the refrain from this poem going through my head mixed with thoughts of the mother of a friend who had a massive stroke yesterday. [I just learned that she passed away.] Though she was a white woman whose cultural background would seem to have little to do with those referred to here by poet Maya Angelou....even yet, I quote the poem below and send it in honor of Dottie Sines, Deb's mom. Still I Rise You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you t...