Beach Day: Ebb and Flow of Life

Bodies of water are rejuvenating, envigorating, life-affirming.
The push and pull of the waves. The retreat and reach of foam caps. The way the water ripples and shimmer as it stretches into the horizon, connecting with heaven at the end of our sight and with our feet planted on the earth at the beginning of our frame of vision.

Poem: Death is passive. Killing is not.

Poem: Death is passive, killing is not. by LaShawnda Jones

Breathing is active.
Breath is sacred.
Air is life.
We are all created beings
with the same Right to Life
and unhindered breathing.
Access to air should not depend on
Assumptions, opinions, political views,
Occupation, wealth, social status,
Skin color, mood, hatred of fellow humans
or self-hatred. Access to air should
not require legislation.
Yet here we are.

Quote: Never stop believing…

Please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. It is, it is worth it. ~ Hillary Clinton, Concession Speech, November 9, 2017 Transcript to Hillary’s full concession speech

A lesson on class and leadership from First Lady Michelle Obama

“Family motto: “When they go low; we go high.”

Right to Life: Protest=Love

A series of portraits and signs carried in marches and rallies protesting police brutality. The images were taken in New York City and Baltimore between 2014-2015. Click here to purchase any of the below prints. Click here to purchase any of the above prints.

We Charge Genocide: The Historic Petition to the United Nations for Relief From a Crime of The United States Government Against the Negro People (1951)

Introduction Out of the inhuman black ghettos of American cities, out of the cotton plantations of the South, comes this record of mass slayings on the basis of race, of lives deliberately warped and distorted by the willful creation of conditions making for premature death, poverty and disease.,  It is a record that calls aloudContinue

Quote: It’s a crime, the lie that has been told to generations of black men and white men both.

It’s a crime, the lie that has been told to generations of black men and white men both. Little innocent black children, born of parents who believed that their race had no history. Little black children seeing, before they could talk, that their parents considered themselves inferior. Innocent black children growing up, living out theirContinue

(1964) Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity

(1964) Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity
“This cultural revolution will be the journey to our rediscovery of ourselves. History is a people’s memory, and without a memory man is demoted to the level of the lower animals.” When you have no knowledge of your history, you’re just another animal; in fact, you’re a Negro; something that’s nothing. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who has no knowledge of his history. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who doesn’t know where he came from. That’s the one in America. They don’t call Africans Negroes.” {Click to read his full speech.}

Quote: Justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other.

Clem understood that justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other. That my liberty depends on you being free, too. That history can’t be a sword to justify injustice. Or a shield against progress. It must be a manual for how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. {Follow link to read full quote.}

Gang Member Speaking at Baltimore Rally May 2 2015

This young man was one of several speakers who made quite an impression. I started recording after his introduction so I missed his name; he may be an ex-gang member, but “ex” was not in my notes. There were many gang members at the rally wearing their colors but standing in unity. It was quite the sight.