I sat down at the piano to play a song
But not just any song,
A song for you.
It was going to be the sweetest song ever played
Every note would flow perfectly into the next
In my song for you
And it would tell a story about you,
One that I could never tell
The words I cannot say,
And the feelings I could not express
Would all come out in beautiful fashion
From my song for you
And you were going to dance,
You would spin and twirl into my arms
Drawn by my song for you.
All these scenes played in my head as I sat
I was ready to make them reality,
But as I put my hands on the keys
I remembered I never learned how to play
So I gave up and walked away
Because there was no possibility that I could ever play
The song that I made for you.
I promised myself that once school ends and I’m back home, I’m going to update this blog on a regular basis. Hopefully I’ll be able to stick with that.
I recently just told my roommate and another friend that Trayvon Martin’s parents were in the District of Columbia. Their response was not one of excitement, or even intrigue. It was one of indifference. My friend went as far as to say, and I’m paraphrasing, “Why is this news? Dude, he was just another martyr. Sure it’s bad, but it happens all of the time.” When he said this, I was caught off guard. It sounded like something someone would say just for the sake of the shock value. Then I realized, he was serious.
He did not realize the seriousness of the word martyr. A martyr dies for a cause that he believes in. The apostle Peter was crucified because he was a martyr for the Christian religion. Stephen, another biblical figure, was stoned to death (willingly) because of his faith in Jesus. A martyr dies voluntarily, knowing what is going to happen. Trayvon Martin did not expect to die that night, nor did he die willingly.
But, for the sake of argument, let’s expand the definition of a martyr to one who dies for a cause, regardless of circumstances. If Trayvon was a martyr, what was the casue he died for? What is this important thing that needs to be changed, that so many other youth have died for? Is it the murdering of black youth? Is it the ease of getting away with murdering youth, regardless of race? Whichever it may be, it is not just a trivial issue that can be shooed away like an annoying insect. A child had to die to bring it to the forefront; it warrants our attention.
When the church was still a central part of the community, and teaching was a respected profession.
the lazy man’s essay. You can say in about two stanzas of broken sentences what some write entire books about.
to a friend before I came to Howard. She said all of her relatives that went here turned into some “uppity ass niggas.” They believed they were better than everyone else simply because of Howard’s legacy. One year at Howard gave them the right to walk around judging every other black in America; the other three years made it worse. She made me promise I would not turn into one of them. I’m not sure I’ve done a good job of keeping it…
Quite frankly, the answer is no.
By no means am I implying that black history is insignificant; we have a rich culture that demands attention. However, information only benefits those who wish to use it. If for whatever reason a person does not want to learn about black history, then they should not be forced to. They may go to the class in order to graduate; they may learn the material throughout the semester, but after finals their brain will dump all of it. Since they would not be majoring in black history, the class will not contribute to their professional growth. The credit hours would be better suited going towards makeup classes, getting ahead in their major, or electives that they are interested in.
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I’m sitting up in the sky
You can’t bring me down
I’m getting high off life
Running across the clouds.
