The 10 things you said made me want to speak...

10 Things I Want To Say To A Black Woman by Joshua Bennett


black women, this is for you. everytime i hear it, this poem moves me. moves me because i believe that a black man who truly knows who he is, one who truly knows his self worth, with out question respects, appreciates and cherishes the black woman. So Mr. Joshua bennett (here is his blog http://myheartisaspaceship.blogspot.com/ and his twitter @Katalytik7), and the men who live the words he has been blessed to speak; to the chocolate soldiers made in the image of God himself; to the brothers proud enough of their heritage to be humble; to the men who know genuine worship of their savior evokes true manhood; to all my cocoa queen red blood flowing sisters who inspire and live up to the truth in this poem; to every mother who works til her feet swell and knuckles sore to make a way for the seed of her womb; for every kinky haired princess who second guessed the beauty in her skintone tightly curled tresses; for every sistagirl whose hips have fought wars with jeans because designers haven't fully understood the concept of the magnificence in your curves; for the young boys who become young men without a man to show them how; for the young men who become grown men and raise up a new generation of true men from cradle to college; for every brown skinned student sitting solo'd out in a classroom because your peers don't look like you; for every seed of the motherland who has been ridiculed by this society, even by your own brothers, simply because you can trace your African descent back to a generation or less instead of a few hundred years (trust, your accents and your customs are badges of honor for your bloodline); for all the people see the images in the media and decided that their lives, thoughts, ideals would paint a better, more accurate picture; for the college student struggling through this flawed system, dedicated to making their due; for those who speak up in the quiet, even if their words come out as awkward as those silences; for every person who has rolled their eyes, or even had to roll their tongue against ignorant actions, comments, or misconceptions; for every person who looked at stereotypes and statistics and ran in the other direction; for every person who didn't laugh at the jokes that make light of our struggles; for every child who still holds their dreams in their stomachs and digest new hopes daily despite the diet of lies society feeds; for every woman who decided that today was the last day any one would call her outside of her God given name or treat her any less than the royalty she is; for the people who fight our fight as if their skin was brown simply because their blood is red; for every martin, desmond, winfrey out there in the making; for all the brothers in the church using the WORD as their standard and not what the world puts forth; for my church sisters who acknowledge their temple with respect and chaste, who wait for a man to love their body first fully clothed; for every tap on the behind of discipline to teach our children some respect; for every path our weary feet have walked; for every suit from business suit to uniforms to track suits to lapa suits, for every type of attire you adorn, this suits you, and i, i salute you. i salute you, i thank God for you. i thank God for us, and the tint of melanin in my skin. because i am, because we all are. because my greatness is refracted by your reflection. and my heights do soar as yours touch heavens. because we are another shade in a rainbow coalition of the worlds greatest invention. because its time to put the human back in humanity, and the humble back in humility, break the confines of confusion and sip up the sweet wine of confidence. time to appreciate who we are, and learn our heritage past tubman, past skin tearing whips, past "masters" and treachery, past broken backs and broken spirits and broken families and broken homes; past boats that tried to drown our self-worth beneath the seas as it floated atop them, beyond our mother continent; we need to trace our heritage back the God who spread out His arms and died so that though on this earth we may share in his sufferings, though our people may weep and moan, cry out and trevail, one day, we shall also share in our papa's glory; the greatest story ever told.

until later!

remember, regardless of circumstances, of skin color, of our shortcomings, we are ALL Kings and Queens!

"they've got so much things to say right now....I'll never forget no way, how they crucified Jesus Christ...so don't you forget no way, who you are, and where you stand in the struggle..."

-Lauryn Hill


love, compassion, royalty!

Qu3eN G