tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2840952701248607821.post7937864447537400653..comments2023-05-12T04:49:13.790-07:00Comments on VL Towler: I am Black Woman. Hear Me...VL Towlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09063848659414679481noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2840952701248607821.post-6328867876106455002014-09-30T14:28:30.611-07:002014-09-30T14:28:30.611-07:00What you say needs to be said. Rather than a post-...What you say needs to be said. Rather than a post-racial society, the US is trying its best to return to what life was like just after Reconstruction.We need more sistahs and brothers to speak out about what is really happening in this land of the (not very) free and home of the (not very) brave.We are not paying attention, and doing just what Bush II (he wanted to be the king he was descended from, George III, who, I believe, was mad) told us to do after 9/11 - keep on shoppin'.<br /><br />This is especially deleterious for Black Americans, who are at the bottom of the totem pole (or the pyramid, whichever you prefer) when it comes to wealth, equality, jobs, you name it. Our young people are looking to rappers and the like for role models, and most (though not all) of them are out to put as much money into their pockets as they can, not carting whom they denigrate (mostly Black women and girls). <br />Every African and Black-American needs to wake up, smell the garbage, and get to work. <br /><br />In Greece, where democracy began, it was said that, for it to work, everyone had to be in the public square. Is each of us, today, in the public square? Are we part of the solution, or are we part of the problem? I am not ashamed of my slave ancestry. But I am ashamed at the way many of my people are content to bitch and moan about how bad things are, but are unwilling to work to be part of the solution. <br /><br />The first thing to do is VOTE! The second thing to do is WORK FOR YOUR CANDIDATES! The third, and perhaps the most important, is to PROTEST!<br />Nothing is ever given - you have to fight for your rights. Don't shop in places that don't treat you right or that don't advertise with pictures of people who are not white.They don't need your business. Don't wait to get to Heaven for everything to be all right because (1) you may not get there, and (2)there may not be one)!! <br /><br />Remember, "Faith without works is dead." Also, get the moneychangers out of the temple, as Jesus did. We don't need a "den of thieves," whether in the church or the congress (state and federal), but honest men and women who will work with us to create the country that we say we live in. Remember, nothing is ever given - you have to work or fight for it. We have great role models - just do what they did! <br /><br />Study your history (Black, not U.S. or American) and model after what our forbears did. I was not an activist (saying that I was raising children, studying, and working) until I realized that my mother had been one all of her life, and she had certainly worked, either as a maid or, during World War II, as a "Rosie the Riveter," while raising a family.<br /><br />Get busy! It is OUR freedom and OUR lives which are at stake. Science says that this is the 6th extinction, and the first one caused by humans. Are we going to help make ourselves extinct? Or are we going to make our first known human ancestor "Lucy" proud as we evolve and become more thoughtful, more caring, more ready to claim, in whatever way(s) necessary, our birthright as human beings, equal to any other on this planet? THE CHOICE IS YOURS. WHERE DO YOU STAND? <br /><br />I am an 82-year-old Black American great-grandmother. Will you stand with me? If not for yourself, then for the generations to come? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2840952701248607821.post-63012312160115806242014-09-30T09:06:31.333-07:002014-09-30T09:06:31.333-07:00The unexamined life is not worth living. Thank you...The unexamined life is not worth living. Thank you for this honest, frank, and heartfelt much needed discussion. There is so much healing that is still needed. We can never change others. We can only change ourselves and how we react to others. I am really looking forward to reading your book. (Renie)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2840952701248607821.post-7861523460257327152014-09-30T02:15:36.291-07:002014-09-30T02:15:36.291-07:00I hear ya sister Souljah. Black women are misunde...I hear ya sister Souljah. Black women are misunderstood, and have long been looking for the allegiance of their black counterpart; one who will put as much effort into a relationship as she will. Some black men do characterize black women as angry, but there is usually a reason why black women are angry. Too often it is the result of infidelity, deceit,lying, stealing,deprecation degradation, mistreatment,or drug induced (or not) Jekyll and Hyde personalities of black men that destroys those relationships.Black women are angry because black men are angry and take it out on the black woman. Not to say that black women are without all fault, but usually women want to work things out. It takes two to compromise. Black men think being a man means that they do not compromise. <br />I think if we all understood that the chasm between black men and women is an epi-genetic carry over from the trauma and horrific experiences and emotional responses of our enslaved ancestors, perhaps we would make greater efforts to bridge those gaps, to undo some of the damage that was imposed upon our people, one of which was the forced separation of families. And today, many black families are often separated by economic failures, mass incarceration (the modern day extension of Jim-Crow), lack of education, drug abuse, alcoholism,insufficient healthcare and lack of access to resources (including fresh fruit and vegetable, to say the least). It is just a continuation of the denigration and suppression of blacks by the system. Until black people become aware of their continued subjugation by a country that has never embraced them as equal, they cannot begin to do something about it, because they don't understand the why behind it. We do not live in a post-racial society. Kids today are still growing up not wanting to be black, because they are learning at early ages, that there is a perceived difference between them and their white counterparts. It is not a comfortable subject, and it may be even more difficult for those who don't understand what is going on, since they may look at the first (mixed) black)American President and think that black people have arrived. The status of a group of millions cannot be based upon the status of one, or even a few thousand, if the majority or a large proportion are living in poverty.<br />Looking forward to your book to hear the voice of a black educated women and the life that she endures.CallyRosenoreply@blogger.com