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Let This Motivate You
With the Pandemic and recent killings of African Americans by police in the United States it is easy to become depressed or seek move away from this type of news. Folks want to avoid talking about it or watch something to take their minds off of it.
Resist the urge to ignore this. Now is the time to have a conversation about how you feel about injustice. It is also time to learn more about these things and how they impact you.
Art has been a great expression of how some people are dealing with unjust situations. I have found comfort in how artists use their creative minds especially to express their pain and fear and translate it onto a canvas.
George Floyd was an African American man who was arrested by Minneapolis Police on Monday, May 25. This situation was video taped by people who watched four police officers hold Floyd down. One officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck which restricted his breathing. Floyd died.
After the world watched this man die on the internet and television as the video was replayed, grief and angry filled the nation as we were faced with the chickens coming home to roost. Since then riots broke out around the city, with even a police department building being burned down.
Over the last couple of months life has become very precious as we have watched the numbers of people dying of the pandemic climb to 100,000. Yet this singular death of one man by a police officer has been the proverbial straw.
I have seen people who have been quiet during other situations like this speak loud and often. I have seen people throw themselves in between police and people they are pursuing.
If we are going to stop this, everyone has to do their part. You have to figure out where you belong and go to it. But everyone has to be a part of this if we are going to stop this. We are going to stop this.
Art of the Month
Self Confidence
Awake
Keep up with what is going on around your surroundings
They Made Brown Beautiful
My Thesis examines how African American beauty was marginalized through laws over hundreds of years. The story examines some moments in time that left a mark in history on my people. These marks shaped what we think is beautiful and continues to limit us today.
Dark skin was not attractive and over the years we have tried to convince them to lighten their skin if they want to be. In 1910s and 20s, women like Nina Mae McKinney could not play mammy roles because of her light skin and European features. She was a talented singer and dancer who scored so big the all African American movie Hallelujah (1929) that she became the first African American to be signed to a 5 year movie deal.
With this deal, she was limited to playing maids and servants. She knew she would never make it as a star being a maid so she moved to France, which welcomed her with open arms.
Nina Mae McKinney is a woman who used her talent despite what others thought. Her beauty is not only in how she looks but in how she lived. She didn’t let them stifle her talent.
The only role models little African American girls saw on the big screen in the United States were maids and servants for many decades. Generations grew up thinking beauty was for fair skinned and Flaxen hair as one author put it. We didn’t think brown skin and kinky hair had much value.
But times are changing. My new book More Than A Color will tell the story.
Keeping It Spicy
Fresh pico is everything.
Resilient
I have also learned to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. This week lets be resilient.
Art of the Month
Self Confidence
Name Five Things About Yourself
In May lets reflect on 5 ways we see ourselves. It may not be the way others see us, but it is what we see in ourselves, or would like to see.
For me, I am faith filled. I believe God is the answer to all the questions.
I Can’t Believe It
Two years has gone fast. There has been numerous hot tamales, tortilla chips and NCIS Los Angeles episodes.
In about two weeks I graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Masters degree. The pandemic has stolen the thunder from my little crew, but we are still heading toward our goal. There won’t be a ceremony but there will be a presentation.
My crew is made up of five other people who with I have taken classes, eaten meals and solved the world’s problems. Like iron sharpening iron, we have honed each others talents, laughed till we cried and learned more than our minds could hold.
So what I have learned is that not all of the people you hang with today are permanent in your life. Some are just there for a season. Enjoy the season. Learn from the season. Recognize when it is over.
UPP Creative Media 