Let us BE

Let us BE
By Donita A Binford

Let this burning anger restore our faith and hope in our people. Let this heavy disappointment move us to fight for justice and run without ceasing. Let us not tire in our fight or give up, but let us help each other to endure until the end. May our dissatisfaction with our plight push us to drive out ignorance, fear, and hate.

Let us remember our history, our ancestors.
Their pain has become our joy, their struggles are now our victories. Yet we still have to overcome the  residue of the racism, prejudices, stereotypes, and bigotry. We still have room to grow. Let us learn from our failures and let us learn to be better human beings from them.




Let us look forward toward the future with eyes wide open and a positive vision for our people. Let us learn to love each other without conditions. Let us learn to battle with our minds and not our fists. Let us stop pointing weapons of destruction toward each other and come together to tear down the walls of self hate.

Let us speak with the authority, boldness, and truth that only the Creator of Heaven and Earth and give. Let us not fear. Let us not be afraid. Let us not reject change, success, love, or any good thing because it is unfamiliar. Let us open our souls and minds.



Let us educate ourselves for ourselves. Let us write books, create art, open businesses, for our own people. Let us be fruitful and abundant. Let us be wealthy. Let us extinct poverty. Our people shall no longer fear, shall no longer want, and shall no longer suffer injustice. Let us seize what is rightfully ours and move onward.

Let us look to the sky and bask in the sun knowing that we are free. We shall be released from these mental prisons. We will shake loose the chains of degradation, emasculation, hypersexualization. No longer will we allow ourselves to be held down by the weight of statistics, stereotypes, and propaganda. No longer will we be victims, we shall be the VICTORS!

Let us have liberty. Let us pursue our happiness. Let us know our rights. Let us BE.

I am a nation of one.

This week I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag for vacation bible school. As I did this 4 times, I truly felt like a fraud. I just didn't feel like an American citizen. I felt no connection to the flag. I felt no pride in holding my right hand over my heart. In fact it felt more like a waste of time. Why was I pledging my commitment to the flag of the country that kidnapped, enslaved, tortured, murdered, and terrorized my ancestors? In my true heart of hearts, I wanted to snap that flag pole and throw that flag to ground.

Tonight, my feelings were validated. Tonight I understand how my grandparents would have felt in 1955 hearing the verdict of Emmitt Till's trial: Disgusted, Weary, Outraged, Silent Fear.

Just thinking about it, about this verdict in Trayvon Martin's case, it just puts a pit in my stomach. What will this mean for black people? Will we be safe? Must we live in fear of all things white... again?

I'd rather not even take my mind there.

But right now. I feel like a foreigner in a strange land. This nation is not my home.

In the Wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict...

America Not For Me

By Donita Binford

For the millions who were kidnapped from their homeland

For the hundreds of thousands whose bodies are buried under the oceans

For the enslaved who were whipped and tortured

For the women who were raped

For the men who were emasculated

For the history and culture that was destroyed
For the auctioned fathers,separated mothers, and lost children

For every dark hanging body in the sun

For every dog bite and bruise

For every march and sit in

For the burned bodies of 3 little girls in Alabama

For the mutilated body of a young boy in Mississippi

For the videotaped beatings and the riots that ensue

For every bullet that flies tonight in Chicago

For the sidewalks and cul de sacs in Florida

For every child who dies by violence

Why must we suffer still?

Why are we always at war?

Where is our peace? Where is our justice?

No place is safe for Black skin.