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.

The Bandaids were Temporary

Today has been a difficult day for me.

Emotionally.
Mentally.
Spiritually.

When you're sitting at a computer all day doing the same tasks over and over again, it's easy to find that your mind wanders off to some corner of your psyche. I kind of hate that because those are the times that I start to reevaluate my life and it's current state. Most normal people would probably start thinking about chores or errands. I'm at my desk trying not to cry because I'm having a revelation about myself.

Walking through the hallways at work, sometimes feels to me like I reenacting my journey through life when I'm going through this thought process. Looking into the eyes of coworkers and children... I try not to burst into tears. I try to smile. I try to hide the emotional distress I feel on the inside. I don't know if I do this very well or not. No one has ever asked me "What's wrong?"... so I must be doing okay.

I got home from work ate some candy and proceeded to fall asleep for like 4 hours. I had plans to wash clothes... I think it's too late now, but I'll be up late anyway so I guess I'll pop a load into the machine. But even after that nap or crash really... my mind is still whirling and my heart is heavy.

It's so hard to tell everyday people your life's struggle. Everyday people seem to think they can solve your life's problems in one day. But a life problem, you struggle with it everyday and everyday people don't understand your life's past, present, and tomorrow.

Today I made the decision to seek professional counselling.

I'm not crazy but there's some things that have happened in my life that are crazy and I need to speak on these things. I need to speak on them in a way that doesn't make me want to cry at the very thought of the situation or makes me burn with anger at the very sight of the person.

Sometimes you think your wounds have healed but when you poke the wounds, you find that the spots are still tender. Worse yet you find that your wounds are infected, trying to drain out the bacteria.

My wounds have opened back up. From childhood. This one thing has affected everything else about me and I want it done. I want it healed. I want this part of my life to be closed. To have it's finish. To have no more control over me or my future.

Learn and Listen with Wisdom

I have these eloquent thoughts in my mind sometimes and when I finally get down to my computer to express them here, I either can't remember or I can't translate them into words.

Those are the times I know God is speaking to me and only me. And the wisdom that He is imparting is for me at that moment and for the rest of the world at an appointed time.

It is  not a good thing to share everything you know. Some people are so anxious and needy for attention, the first moment they hear something they didn't hear before, they need to go and tell everybody about it.

Sometimes we all need to sit down and process what is really being said and going on when we hear the things we hear.

Processing means we have to take the time and understand. Either by asking questions, doing research, or putting other background information together to come to a competent conclusion.

We need to have patience with each other. We should be able to actively listen to one another where each person feels that they have been heard.

We all need help or will need help at some point in our lives and there will be a point when we will need to cry out for someone to help us. Let's learn to listen with wisdom so when we are needed we will know what to do.