Black is beautiful
I'm not giving up my greens or my grits
or saying "gurl" and putting my hands on my hips.
You see...Life for me ain't been no crystal stair and I'm not giving up Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary McCleod Bethune, Sojourner Truth, Madame C. J. Walker, Toni Morrison or Dr. Maya Angelou, 'cause you see, I am a phenomenal woman
and I'm not giving my black back. I'm not giving up my crown, waves, braids, curls, locks, kinks, scarves or Muslim garb. I'm not giving up sitting in Ma's kitchen eating peach cobbler or sweet potato pie and hearing her ask me, "How you doing baby"?
I'm not giving up going to "You Buy, We Fry" on Fridays, or barb-ques on Saturday playing bid whist and slammin' those dominoes. I'm not giving back Harriet Tubman's train, Soul Train, Coltrane or the Midnight train to Georgia.
Now, you can meet me at the function at the junction but I still won't give up BB King, the Whispers, Fancy Ms. Nancy, Lena Horne, the Philadelphia Sound, Motown or the Temptations.
Cause you see, it's the way we do the things we do, like building the pyramids that still stand made by our forefathers' hands where the diamonds, oil, silver and gold are buried in our rich dark land.
I'm not giving My black back! I'm happy being nappy with my wide hips and my wide nose and the rich melanin in my skin. I love putting lotion on my ashy legs. Oh, I'm happy being nappy and being in the skin that I'm in.
I won't deny or forget my ancestors who lay in a wet grave at the bottom of the sea in the middle passage from slave trade. And I won't give up on our youth of today who still need a way made.
I won't give back Miles even though he didn't smile. I won't give back Marvin Gaye, Richard Pryor, Phyllis Hyman, Billie Holiday or Billy Eckstein, Jackie Robinson or Jackie Wilson.
I won't give back the electric slide, Alvin Ailey, Bojangles or Debbie Allen. You think I'd give up reading my Jet, Ebony, Essence, Emerge, Black Enterprise, Heart and Soul or Upscale magazines? For we are a colorful people. Like Curtis Mayfield sang, we are a people that are "darker than blue." We are honey, cinnamon, mahogany and
chocolate. We are REDD Fox, James BROWN, Barry WHITE, The Mothers of the Church dressed in WHITE, The Color PURPLE, the Lady Who Sings the BLUES and we are Al GREEN with love and happiness.
Oh, NO... I'm not giving my black back! I'm not giving back Maxine (Waters), Martin, Medgar, Malcolm, Mandela, Marley, Marcus, Muhammad Ali, Michael (Jordan) or the Million Man March. I'm not giving my black back!
It's had tacks in it, and splinters
But all the time
(I've) been a'climbin on,
and reachin' landin's,
And turning corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.... ...And life for me ain't been no crystal stair."
By Langston Hughs
A Black Woman
If I asked would you make me feel as if the world were mine , If I asked could you say you'd love me now and for all time.
If I asked would you sweep me away far from the stresses in life,if I asked would you keep me safe thru the storms of the night.
If I asked would you let me give my all to you.
If I asked would you make that step and give me your all too.
Well my darling I'm asking and I hope you don't deny me.
Heres my heart in your hand ,in love is where you'll find me ___.
copyright@2002 Dec/2002
Some we try hard to make come true. Tho nothing is what it seems.
But hold strong for crazy as it seems. Nothing can be accomplished without first a dream.
your heart in your hand.
You have stars in your eyes,
when you meet that special man.
He loves you,he wants you
,he holds you so close.
You never think twice,
just love him the most.
And then that night when he didn't come in.
You push it away,it won't happen again.
He doe's it again and you can't ignore it.
You cry,you scream,you try to restore it.
Cry hard as you want, scream loud as you can.
Theres nothing to do,you can't trust the man
So you get depressed,then you put it away
. Stir all this together,add that fateful day.
This is the recipe that made a trusting Mikki
..a skeptical Mae.
