WHY BLACK LIVES MATTER MATTERS

Here’s a simple lesson I wish everyone could be taught:

When we say Black Lives Matter it doesn’t mean other lives do not!

Of course all lives matter…that point is undisputed

But that has never been the case in this country…despite being constituted.

So when we say Black Lives Matter this should be your first thought

It means that other lives have mattered more and Black lives…they have not.

When we see a person drowning we try to rescue them without thinking

We don’t look to save everyone in the water…only the one who’s sinking.

But for over 200 years we have been the ones pushing them under the water

holding them down…

or sitting on the shoreline…content to watch them drown.

So when you hear Black Lives Matter think of it as a synonym…

for people who are only asking for an equal chance to swim.

Think of it as a way for all people to achieve equality

So we can finally become 

the country we were constituted once to be..

So never again will any group be made to feel inferior or small

So after 200 years when we say all lives matter

It finally will mean all.

THE SOULD OF OUR NATION

I once thought the soul of our nation was a mix of colors 

A mix of colors shining bright

but I was wrong…the soul of our nation is the absence of color

the soul of our nation is white.

(Which is crazy when you think about it…I mean that statement can’t be right

because there’s not a person in this land who’s DNA is purely white!)

Still, I falsely thought since my life was easy…since I was safe and free

that everyone in America…had it as good as me.

What made me realize my mistake…what made me start to seethe

was when George cried out for his Momma…

when George yelled, “I can’t breathe.”

It was when I watched a white man deliberately take a black man’s life

and I thought, “How can we be so unkind?”

It was when I saw the pain and sorrow grip the world

It’s when I saw the friends and family he left behind.

I am sorry it has taken me so long…to hear over 200 years of pleas…

from the Indian reservations to the slave ships on the seas…

How could I have ignored them?

They’ve been pleading every day…

but now that I have heard them…I know they’ll never go away

Nor should they…for it’s time we listen to their pleas

It’s time we make some changes…before our time is gone

It’s time in the battle for our nations soul…to decide what side we’re on.

And perhaps we’ll find when we put an end to their over 200 years of hell

in saving the soul of our nation

we’ll have saved our souls as well.

ONE OF THE TRAGEDIES

There are many tragedies in George Floyd’s death

They are interconnected…intertwined…

From the brutal way that he was murdered

to the daughter he left behind.

The daughter he would carry on his back

Where, perched on his shoulders way up high

She would stretch her arms out wide

and feel like an airplane in the sky.

The tragedy that makes us sad

that makes us frustrated…makes us mad

Is how 6 year old Gianna 

will now grow up without her dad.

Her family will, no doubt, be there to help her

and she’ll smile when she says his name

but growing up without him

her life will never be the same…

Because they never had the opportunity

to grow together or even say goodbye…

and he never had the chance 

to teach his daughter how to fly.

We need to change this now…today!

We must do more than try….

So Gianna’s children will have a father

who can teach them how to fly.

A MORNING WALK

I love to walk before the sun comes up…with the stars and moon on high

to walk along deserted streets while darkness fills the sky.

As I listen to the morning birds sing from the protection of their trees.

I feel free…

I feel safe…

I walk with dignity…

I walk with ease.

I feel alive…I feel exhilarated……everything in the world seems right

as I walk alone…in the shadows…somewhat hidden by the night…

But then again I have nothing to worry about…

on a round trip from my home and back….

and I can only imagine how different I’d feel…

If I was a woman…

if I was black.

Our society has made it’s fair share of mistakes

none bigger than how we do not treat everyone the same…

We divide ourselves up irrationally

by color, 

by sex 

by religion

by sexual preference

by name.

Which has made it comfortable for me

without a worry or a fright

not to give a second thought to my safety

as I walk the streets at night.

But I hope and pray someday soon this will change

that for our past sins we will atone…

and in the early morning darkness

I won’t have to walk alone.

JUST ANOTHER STATUE

You asked for the tired, the poor

the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

You said with your lamp light lifted high…

Send them all to me.

You said this is the land where everyone

everyone…shall breathe free.

You said you were the beacon of hope

our statue of liberty.

But it’s been a long time since they arrived

since they traveled across the sea

and some people in this country 

are still yearning to be free

Some people are made to feel inferior

they are made to feel small…

not only can they not breathe free…

but some…cannot breathe at all.

And although it’s late…it’s not too late

to act…as we pray on bended knee…

to listen to their voices…

and let everyone breathe free.

For until the day when everyone

Everyone…breathes free

then you are just another statue

and not our statue of liberty.

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?

When we watch children playing

unaware of politics, 

religion…

or race

we watch how they laugh

how they share

how they hold hands

no matter what color the face.

Then we watch how adults rule the world

causing bloodshed

and havoc

and woe

and we can’t help but wonder

we can’t help but ask…

where did those children go?

Those children who cared for one another

who picked each other up when they were low

who knew of only one race…the human race…

Where did those children go?

And today, as we watch the actions of these adults

and see the traits of children they now lack

not only do we wonder where the children have gone…

but we pray…

oh…how we pray

they will come back.

GOODBYE ROSE

Yesterday we celebrated the life of a Rose…she lived to be 94.

We delighted in her life as we mourned the fact she’s not with us anymore.

What struck us immediately were the photos of Rose as a child, 

a woman…

a wife

photos of Rose and her family…

photos of a wonderful life.

A bouquet of Roses on display for everyone to see

and so we stopped to sniff each Rose…

each captured memory.

We took our time at each photo…

stopping…

moving slow

wanting to view each petal of the Rose we came to know.

And we realized the beauty of these photographs…

is in what each single photo does…

giving us a glimpse of who Rose is

as well as who she was.

We were thankful to view each little snippet of her life…

each little stem of who she was…and why

grateful to say hello to all the Roses…

before we said goodbye