I BELIEVE!

I BELIEVE!  That statement speaks volumes. It’s greater than I know, I hope, I wish, I think. I had an emotional moment today listening to Assata Shakur speak. The idea that an American citizen had to seek political asylum in another country is unfathomable. The thought that freedom of speech was at one time censored. I can not wrap my mind around the fact that the freedom to have your own opinion could at one time not ONLY land you in prison but get you killed. It kills my soul to know that protesting against injustices and cruelty stole away precious human lives. Yet this IS the “freest” country in the world. Tears flowed from my eyes when Assata began to answer the question about what “freedom” meant. She responded by saying that she wasn’t free. Can you imagine that? Do you realize what we take for granted daily? If the media broke a story RIGHT NOW and reported to you that it was NOW against the law to SPEAK, would you silence yourself? Think about it. For as long as I can remember my mother has called me a militant. Why you ask? When I learned I had a voice, and I’m not talking about my speaking voice, I never stopped vocalizing my thoughts. I remember I once told her after coming home from school learning that ppl who looked just like me were whipped, beaten, and hung for wanting to have the freedom to live by their OWN rules that “I would have been dead right along with them”. I recall the shocked look in her eyes, when she told me I shouldn’t say that. I remember thinking I would be plottin’ my way out. My mother said I was definitely “a revolutionary born too late for the revolution”. When I moved north, she told me the day I left don’t let my mouth get me into trouble “UP THERE”. What she meant was in trouble up there with all those conservatives i.e. “white folks”. I just smiled. She grew up during a time when everything was segregated. She is afraid for me. My younger self never fully understood why. I’ve always known I was different. Ppl that have crossed my path have mentioned that I have an “aura” and that there was “something about me”. I thought they were kidding around you know I thought it was just something they said to strike up conversation. I FULLY UNDERSTAND NOW. Not as of this moment but I get it. I really do. I can not sit by and not participate. I cannot fall back and just watch as certain behavior continues to be commonplace. I will not sit quietly. Gil Scott Heron said “The Revolution Will NOT Be Televised”. Well guess what IT’S HERE! History is happening right now and if you don’t know what I’m talking about you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past umpteen months. In my daugther’s lifetime, in my lifetime, in my mother’s lifetime, my father’s, my grandmother’s….you get what I’m saying. I’m ready! I ready to put in work. In my soul, in my heart lies a revolutionary. I accept it, I claim it. It is ME. If you can not get with it, get out of my WAY!