Under the encouragement mission, I sit projects like Queens of Freedom. In 2016, I got models, costumes and props so we could depict women who championed freedom as they knew it. Meet the Queens of Freedom. Bessie Smith, Betsy Ross, Madam CJ Walker, Rosa Parks, Sacagawea and Shirley Chisholm
don’t mean I love you. Just because I have friended you on social media, doesn’t give you the right to say whatever you want to me. You don’t know me. You may follow my news feed or see the bible verses I love and think you get me, but trust me you don’t.
If you have read any of my books you will know that there is a edge to me, and it is sharp as glass. Glass is dangerous if you mishandle it. It can be very useful and helpful in many ways, but if misused, it can hurt you.
I was born in the basement of a segregated hospital in one of the richest countries in the world. This means I was brought into a society as a second class citizen by people who knew better. God had blessed them with much and they refused to share. This means ABSOLUTELY no Caucasian person can tell me about racism. You don’t get to decide what racism is. You don’t get to decide how I feel about it. Your parents forfeited the right for you to chat about this to me.
The Lord has spent the last year taking me back to the roots of where I came from. He has allowed me to see what is important and what is trivial. He taught me some people I don’t even need to associate with. He will deal with them Himself. If I cut you loose, trust me, the Lord thought it was a good idea. And I believe Him.
The Lord keeps me on a short leash. But it is still a leash. This means you can be cussed out or knocked out which ever I deem appropriate for the circumstance. So you might want to pray and ask God to give you some words to say to me or we might both be in lock up if you decide you want to approach me with your opinion.
If you don’t like what I post, unfollow me. If you don’t understand the post, inbox or call me. I keep it all public. I keep it all real.
God has promised to free the oppressed and I will keep shouting to the Lord for freedom. Someone said the media caused the problem, but the media ain’t shooting black men and killing black women in prison, authority is.
Like Isaiah, I am going to keep on talking till the Lord handles it. But since Isaiah wasn’t raised in the Fort Worth hood, you will have to deal with the likelihood of being cussed out if you approach me wrong. But y’all keep praying.
peace and hair grease
We thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You were not able to attend your kids soccer games or school programs. You were not able to see their wedding day or birth of their first children. You were not able to see the election of African American senators, congressmen and even the first African American President. But you marched on and we thank you.
You showed us how to love when we were treated poorly. When they put the dogs on us, beat us brutally and even took us to jail. You taught us it was an opportunity to love. Like the Apostle Paul, you even wrote us a letter from jail encouraging us during the fight.
You were not able to work for major corporations making high dollar salaries. You were not able to attend major universities seated next to children of senators and congressmen. You did not get to experience the wealth for which you fought. But you marched on and we thank you.
You showed us that during times of adversity is when we need to take the high road. You taught us faith was depending on God and not on man. You taught us that we need to keep up the fight even though we might not see the results. You lived that example for us.
You have left a powerful legacy. Thank you for the sacrifice. We don’t deserve it. Thank you for the example. We don’t deserve it. BUT we are going to do the same for the next generation and build on the example you have left. I pray that Lord will allow the stars in the heaven to shine brighter because of the work He has done through you.
When I was a kid, I didn’t understand much about the world around me, but I knew what a bolo sandwich was. It was a thick cut of bologna with a little barbecue sauce between to slices of white bread. It was our answer to McDonald’s, especially during June. When you have four kids and a little money, bolos go farther. This week, I ran into a bolo sandwich, but now it looks like it comes as combo.
On June 19, 1865, Union troops landed in Galveston, announced to the slaves that the war had ended and they were free. Slaves and their descendants have been celebrating this day ever since. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Sometimes it is good just to see that our condition has improved.
When I was a kid, we would get our hair done for the special occasion, and possibly a new outfit. I remember going to the park and watching the men play softball. As a young kid, I could not understand why we celebrated a separate independence day. My parents believed in celebrating Juneteenth. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized that my people were not freed on July 4. Matter of fact, my enslaved relatives probably prepared the meals for their independence celebrations.
This reminds us that there are storms in life. And sometimes those storms are so bad we can hardly see past them. We are wet, cold and feel as though we are going to drown in it. I can’t imagine what it was like to work while my slave owner celebrated freedom from oppression. But I am sure there was a light in there somewhere.
But take courage. There is someone outside your storm looking in on you. They have the power to stop it, but they know this is going to make you stronger. One day you or your children will look back and see it was all worth it.
This week I got home in time to see the Juneteenth Parade. It was led by Fort Worth Police Officers. They were men and women from different races. In the first car was Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. I thought how my parents would have gotten a kick out of seeing how far this event had come. To see that Juneteenth was not just celebrated by African Americans, but by many different Americans in a city in the South. Wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3TGbKfkwGAhttp://
I started with one of my favorite scenes from the musical 1776. Our founding fathers had to deal with just as much stuff back then, as our current administration does today. We are the United States of America.
I love the story of the American Revolution. Men had an idea of what freedom meant and chose to pursue it. They laid down ideals of what true freedom looked like and promised these truths to all men. They declared that all men where created equal and had certain inalienable rights in the eyes of their Creator. They did not say “landowners” “white men” “financially stable.” They said all men.
Today we take these truths for granted because it seems like they cost us nothing. We are standing on the shoulders of man who paid the price. Men like John Adams who scarified time with his family to help build a nation. A trip to a few national monuments will teach you the price that was paid. Our country does a great job of preserving our history and many of the tours are free.
Recently I have been watching the AMC series TURN which tells the American Revolution story from an espionage position. It gives me a sense of the danger it took to be on the side of the revolution. On our most recent trip we saw a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Once the man signed it, he had sealed his fate as a traitor. There was no turning back, because they had put an “S” on their chest making themselves targets for the British Military. But there was an ideal they believed in and it was worth dying for. A vote for independence.
I have spent some time traveling this great land of ours. It is an amazing country from the mountains to the plains to the beaches. The only thing better than the landscape are the people who make up these United States. Whether they are sitting on a street corner in Harlem selling goods or dressed in period clothing in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia explaining history to tourist, they make up a great nation.
We are the experiment of what happens when you bring a little bit of everyone together and allow all of the cultures to combine. We do not know where one culture ends and another begins. We have created a culture that is unique to US.
If you took our DNA, you would find that we are all fifth cousins and our ancestors started in Europe, Africa and Asia. If you took our picture, you would find that we are as different as our personalities and that is the way we like it. If you tried to take our freedom, you would find yourself in for the fight of your life because it is something we take serious.
It is difficult to understand if you are not born here, but the desire for freedom starts young and stays. Whether you are black, white, yellow or red, it starts in our hearts. God created us with a desire for freedom.
Happy July 4th.
My last song comes from Les Miserables. (I know it is not about the American Revolution) But I think the song captures the sentiments of our founding fathers. They needed men who would stand with them and fight for independence
One – sitting little, my friends create concepts with words;
Two – freedom is an incredible gift but most of the tourist I saw today were from other countries. We are losing our grip on freedom;
Three – try other people’s traditions, it was worth the walk;
Four – Ben Franklin was the type of man who put is money where his mouth was. University of Pennsylvania is an incredible school;
Five – Don’t be afraid to stop during a storm, it gives you time to get your bearings
The Queens of Freedom is a photography project that will tell the story of 17 women who did extraordinary things in the fight for freedom. If you are interested in being a model for the Queens of Freedom project please email me your headshot. If you have an idea which of the 17 Queens you would like to portray, tell me that and why.
My email address is uppcreative@yahoo.com.
If you need to send it snail mail: PO Box 11082 Fort Worth, Texas 76110.
I want to say Thank You for supporting the Queens project to Deidra Hightower. You will help me tell stories of women like Sacagawea. She was kidnapped as a child by another tribe and later married Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecois trapper. She traveled thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean on expeditions with Lewis and Clark.
I want to say Thank you for supporting the Queens project to Keisha Robinson. You will help me tell stories of women like Sojourner Truth who was born Isabella “Bell” Baumfree. She delivered the speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the Ohio women’s Right Convention in 1851.
I want to say Thank You for supporting the Queens project to Brenda Derrick. She will help me tell stories of women like Charlotte E Ray. She was born in 1850 and was the first African American attorney in the United States. She was the first woman to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
UPP Creative Media 