More Than Justice

You Shine We Shine

We do not have to agree on everything for me to be your fan, supporter, and a person who enjoys seeing you do well. This is apart of what it means for me to practice solidarity. If we truly believe that our freedom and happiness is tied together across many intersections then when I shine you shine and vis versa. Competition can be fun but is often bred in us to keep us divi

ded. We have to intentionally work against the urges to compare and compete for profit over people. A common challenge to this are our own insecurities and ignorance of self. When you are ok with who you are you don’t need to compare nor do you feel threatened at others’ success. Now someone else’s success or shine at the expense of my peeps or liberation politic thats another story.

 

This Isn’t About Bad Apples

I don’t know who killed that police officer or why. (You can’t believe everything in the media) Nor am I promoting killing random cops. However the killing of a police officer does not change the reality of how much damage policing has done to our communities. Fuck The Police! They are a home based military designed to protect capital and keep the american populous in line while continuing the genocide against poor, indigenous, black, and brown bodies. They operate daily as violent state sanctioned soldiers of imperialism, capitalists & the myth of white supremacy. As for the propaganda of a “a few bad apples in in the bunch” there are good people ignorant to these realities who believe that american policing is really about people who seek to use a badge to do good. Even that type of officer is part of the problem (good intentions and all) they are still giving their talents and energies to the service of a corrupt institution in the name of a corrupt murderous nation. Real good cops have the ability to divest from policing once they realize first hand how fixed the game is. Most stay and seek a way to profit while being used to do so much damage in the name of this imperialist genocidal government. We need to find alternatives to american policing and prisons. The So called “Rhetoric”will change when police stop killing, torturing,and harassing people in the streets.‪#‎SayAllLivesMatterAgainIfYouWantTo‬ ‪#‎FTP‬

Chi2Ferguson

 

That moment when we held hands and screamed “We have nothing to lose but our Chains” and hit the floor dramatizing the black bodies who have died at the hands of the state. It was in that moment when the tears that are apart of my healing process came. My eyes quivered as I fought to keep them close but the tears came and in the midst of protest I was able to release some of the pressure with my people… Thank you.

Today was the first time in my 10 plus years of organizing where I was given the opportunity to be a organizer, healer, queer, unapologectically black, transman and all of me was welcomed while feeling pain, rage, anger, hope and struggle with strangers and friends. For that I thank CFS, BYP100, and the amazing community of Chicago organizers and activists. Next time I hope its not in the shadow of fighting, genocide, these corrupt systems and having to risk freedom for Liberation.

‪#‎struggleContinues‬ ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬ ‪#‎Chi2Ferguson‬

BYP100 Die in at Chicago City Hall

Say Justice Again

Some cry for justice cause their definitions of self and success are wrapped in the American dream being a reality

But anyone with eyes to see

who wants to see even the painful truths

know it’s always been  white lies shaping our nightmares.

Some cry and fight for justice cause we know the system was never designed for us

and on our way to building a new way

we can’t  just lay down and allow you to keep dehumanizing us without a fight.

Skittles Tea

I’m on ten

so much is being said about Trayvon

I don’t want to speak

the thought of it  fills me with anger

and hopelessness

but I know I can’t give up

I know this is what the beast does

this is white supremacy this is injustice and this is not new

we know this beast oh too well

and that is why though angry and sad many of us were not surprised

it happens all the time

on  grander scales everyday

multiply one black boy dead with nothing but skittles and ice tea  in his hand

with over 100 other unarmed black men killed by men in uniforms just last year

with all the women raped last night

plus all the black and brown bodies behind bars

fighting for sanity struggling to hold on to their humanity in the the dungeons of the PIC

plus all the seniors on fixed income who are hungry and huddled around boxed fans in 80 degree apartments

counting the last of their medications which are slowing killing them to keep them alive

but what does all that have to do with Trayvon they will cry

there will always be those who deny whats clear as day

they are invested in the myth of white supremacy

they lust after the spoils of capitalism

they benefit and profit and find comfort in it all

whether consciously or subconsciously

their just happy to be middle class or at least not one of those lazy poor people

they believe he must of got what he deserved

so much is being said about Trayvon

its a sticky hot summer night and I am boiling with sweat and melting in tears

its just another painful reminder

we still 3/5s even less than that

the stats of this judicial system boast

so the struggle continues

yes “we who believe in freedom can not rest”

but I don’t want to be equal with white

in order to be valued

After all shouldn’t freedom equal rest?

talking about why the verdict was not guilty

trying to find reasoning in a corrupt system … insanity

I’m so angry I just want to punch Zimmerman’s smug face

I don’t want to kill him

he’s not worth blood on my hands

just punch him around a bit

let him know we see right through you

you are the suspicious one

with your brown skin worshiping whiteness

upholding this status quo

murdering a child thats a special kind of low

what makes us want to have children in a country

that continues to devour our young, starve the old, and jail the strong?

Sometimes it gets thick

the weight of this struggle

the reality of our plight

sometimes injustice spits in my face

I weep and wipe sour saliva from my eyes

tonight they are stinging with the pains of a good cry

tonight slow sad songs are playing

my liquor is pouring

and I’m humming along for my life

for the lives lost and the burden of those still living

today I read of a black woman who watched a old white man

shoot her 13 year old son

he accused him of stealing  guns

what made him think he could

look this boy’s mother in the eye one moment

and shoot her son point blank the next

insanity, white supremacy 2 sides of the same coin

I weep for him for her

for those of us who walk in the skins of the “suspicious” ones

for every woman who will be told she deserved it

for those of us who’s capacity for greatness

is overshadowed by lust for power, control,

and the comforts of an identity rooted in the misrepresentation of we

tonight Luther,Jill, Chrisette and Kem

are singing me through my grief

I’m grateful for the way their voices

guide me to the depths of sorrow

with gentle romantic soothing alto baritones

their melodies remind me pain is not new and love is still real

every lusty, sultry, melancholy note screams

its ok to be angry, to weep, and to love as the struggle continues