Many ask if the Exodus is true. I bear witness to it here in Detroit, Michigan, a city where many suffer as in other cities across this nation in all urban communities alike! Here in Detroit, we have been victims of all things predatory, with our housing, education, even the God-given right to raise chickens and rabbits. All elements of life – LAND BY GENTRIFICATION, AIR BY DRONES AND POLLUTION, and FIRE IN THE PEOPLE’S SPIRIT ANDDDDD WATER, TO SUSTAIN THE PEOPLE’S LIFE AND RIGHTS. Detroit is a city that is drawn with red lines and redistricting and its full effect is waiting to be revealed in the year 2020. I live in a city that lost the right to equality around the same time as “white flight” and this set in stone today’s “Black” Flight. Tragically, of all things lost to the people, who have made this city great, is their right to have clean WATER! THE ONE AND ONLY POWER THAT UNITED “BLACK” PEOPLE AS A WHOLE HAD IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
We, here in Detroit, had the power to negotiate ourselves into having our own heaven right here on this earth created by the people and for the people. However, because of weak “Black” people, instead we lost our power! These weak people who helped steal the flow of life are the same ones who have told us to stand down when it comes to fighting for justice. These people supplied the ink to draw out a master plan of privatization that I know to be the root to all evil and one of the most devastating tragedies that we have faced in the 21st century. Privatization has pillaged the people’s spirits and good graces. Privatization has even pushed through spirituality in the Black churches many that are led by pedal pushers. Privatization is in our boardrooms, supports NATA and trade deals that HAVE SENT THE MOTOR CITY INTO A RACE OF PEDDLE PUSHING AND AUTOMATIC HUSTLING. Drugs are often supplied in this community by the government. Nickel and dime bags are sold by our Brothers and Sisters to feed their families and, in some cases, their egos. Marijuana is becoming more legal while Prisoners of War sit behind bars. The United States Constitution holds up slavery and the dismemberment of our lives. There have been battles between nations and many across this world our now caught in the WATER WARS crossfire, everywhere from Palestine to Detroit and most recently St. Louis, Missouri A.K.A FERGUSON!
We are revisiting a modern-day “New Jim Crow” Era. Detroiters sit miles away from our Brothers and sisters who chose to fight for justice as a result the police officer killing of Michael Brown. We sit, many wanting to move towards the battle lines, but are afraid of being Black balled by our fellow man. We are constantly being told to do nothing and to stay on our “own” ground. I often wonder how the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would feel about this unwarranted stance. Especially knowing that there have been no unified marches, protests, rallies, or rebellion. Protests are often mistaken and mislabeled as rioting. Had young people in our past not acted there would have never been a successful Civil Rights Movement. My Brother Martin would say “none of what we did could have been possible great if it were not for the thousands of people that came from across this nation, those who joined in solidarity for Freedom Summer in 1964 or Selma to Montgomery in 1965.” Hundreds of thousands joined in the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial to witness Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and many have no idea that he actually practiced that speech here in Detroit! Not just for the Blacks in this city, but for ALL!
While scavenging through the news trying to find updates on the battle in Ferguson, I ran across a newswire that screamed at me. Contributed by the NPQ (online news outlet) Citizen Activism Helps Fend Off Privatization of St. Louis Water. Not only did I learn about the killing of Mackenzie Cochran (the Brother who was killed at Northland mall by security guards who weren’t prosecuted). The city is being ran by white officials although the majority of the populace is “Black”. The world awaits a grand jury decision to recommend or not recommend a criminal trial against the police officer that killed Michael Brown. As it relates to whether charges should be brought against the officer, (in the court of public opinion) the country is split along racial lines. The grand jury’s decision is sure to further highlight the nation’s racial tensions. In reading the embedded article, I learned that FERGUSON IS IN A WATER BATTLE OF IT’S OWN! DID YOU KNOW THAT? YES, it’s true.
On November 20, 2014 I sat across from my mother and grandmother scratching my daughter’s hair with one hand, while scrolling my cell phone with the other. My daughter sat between my legs with her daughter on her lap. It was a beautiful morning. The only thing that was missing from this five generational masterpiece was the men that had came in and out of our lives. As usual we sat in laughter only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. My daughter Kayla let my granddaughter down to roam our hardwood floors, only to be greeted by death. My granddaughter’s father’s (Alvin Smith) girlfriend stood with my daughter, for the first time in solidarity to comfort my daughter as she told her, that the love of their lives had been killed! Robbed, beaten, shot, and left outside to freeze in 7° weather. At first I didn’t know what was going on when I heard their voices joined in a description of pain!
Alvin had become a victim of society’s reality. He lived by squatting in a home with nothing except a mattress, a couple of blankets and a heater that was given to him by a friend. His friend confirmed that the empty shell Alvin had made home was colder then the outdoors! Not just because of the temperate but also because of Alvin’s broken heart that had developed over the years due to the abandonment he had experienced throughout his life. A life that reflects many of our people that gets over shadowed by the sagging of pants, the blunt smoking, new era language and what society considers nothing. They are viewed as disrespectful personalities. Some people have adopted personalities that were created by those who abandoned them, and who will take no blame or claims! For so many reasons, in my view, this goes directly back to the system. Young men like Alvin Smith and Michael Brown die every day. While some of us try to save lives, we as a people in united force do nothing to stop the cycle from continuing.
Right now Folks in Chicago fight for the enactment of C-PAC a Civilian Police Accountability Council! While others ban together to combat violence in the communities and rid crime! But you still hear folks saying “No one cares about black on black crime, it’s our fault, we do it to ourselves” delivered with bullhorns of stupidity from all walks of life! “You protest about white cops, but no one protest about the murder we do to self”! When I see these statements I think to myself about how well the programming is, because these statements come from my own people from all over the nation. I try to speak up and use my experience of riding past light poles draped with teddy bears as proof. I raise my voice often mad because folks seem to reject the hundreds of thousands of t-shirts that bare the faces of our fallen loved ones. I recall all of the candlelight vigils I’ve gone to and sang at while holding strangers hands. Our people have created their own way of facing pain, and because it isn’t the politically correct way, our actions get washed away with our tears.
On November 20, 2014, Alvin Smith, like so many other fathers left my granddaughter. He was another casualty of war. I say all this to start a plea, because it seems nothing is going to change. Alvin had no man in his life to stand up for him or to give him the fortitude that he needed to be all he could have been. The knowledge of knowing that he was given up for adoption at the age of three did nothing but expand his negative view when he saw nothing in the mirror. The death of the lady who adopted him did nothing but shatter all hope he had at the tender age of 13! I spend this time to speak aloud to those I love the most. I feel if there is no other time to speak aloud it is now, so this is my cry, my open letter to those I love the most……… R.I.P ALVIN SMITH!!!
AN OPEN LETTER TO MY BROTHERS
I’m really becoming pissed off at YOU, MY BROTHER, those middle-aged and older! I keep seeing and hearing grown men say “we need to stand down”! So I ask today, STAND DOWN FOR WHAT?
The picture depicted comes with a story about how the “black” woman felt during 500 years of slavery here in this country! And this is my story about how I feel RIGHT NOW, AS NOTHING HAS CHANGED! I feel absolutely no security from the men that are suppose to protect my sisters and I. I feel no protection for my mother and grandmother. All my life I have seen the black man crawl and beg to stand! All my life I have witnessed the “Black” man whimper in all kinds of situations that made me feel weak! From a random traffic stop, to the pacing that takes place the night before a child support hearing! Watching my Brothers suffer on a poll of totem constantly being degraded and scrutinized. Spiritually raped on hands and knees. It is starting to take a toll on me.
I somehow become engaged in conversations with my Brothers who wear a belt and have letters behind their name ridicule the younger generations because they refuse to be held down. Over and over these men dog the younger generation out when, in fact, they left them hanging! (YOU DO KNOW YOU LEFT YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN?) True, these young men have misplaced anger, but they also have the guts, pride, self-defined dignity and love. They have the balls to defend themselves no matter what! I wonder when my older brothers may decide that they really aren’t content, have nothing, and TAKE A STAND FOR ONCE! I frequent social media a lot, and I witness with my own eyes what some would call bitch-azz-ness from those who are truly afraid. Those who say we can’t win, those who highlight the armor and might of this country that has placed us in these relentless chains that hold my people hostage!
My Brothers begged to fight and die for this nation, in a fake war only to still be segregated on the battlefield! My Brothers you still do this today, fight and die in FAKE UNNESSACARY WARS. You die in this FAKE war on drugs. Our forefathers fought in the 1800-1900’s to keep their sexuality, still to this day, they fight for the same. They fight everything mentally and get NO WHERE. I’m tired of you being the weakest link! I am most tired of folks talking shit against those who are willing to stand FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN AND, IRONICALLY, THAT IS WHO HAS SOLD THEM OUT THE MOST AND WHO THEY FEEL BETRAYED BY!
My Brothers I’m tired of you killing each other. My granddaughter lost her father several days ago! Alvin lost his life for some chump change. Why couldn’t he go to Ferguson and lose his life over his daughter, her mother, or even his own mother! Why couldn’t he lose his life for real Liberty that was sent to protect us? My God! I ask why it is ok for us to die because of stress, the drugs sent into our communities, domestic violence, the fake wars, food and fluoride-filled water. Why can you, my Brothers, die over a pair of shoes but you cannot die for yourself, your people, your will and what you believe? I’m trying to understand why my elders put businesses over their own people. Why people who come from my village would sit on TV and ask us to continue this 500+ years of passiveness “don’t tear the city up”. FUCK THAT CITY, they have insurance is what I say. There are hundreds of news reporters there, I bet not one is staying at a black-owed hotel nor are they dining at a black-owned restaurants.
We have voted, marched, rallied, all for the sake of being in the same place we were in the 1930’s, we have LESS then we have ever had. We don’t have the foundation needed to convince the people to believe in the power of the vote anymore. Obama ruined that. All the power we have is within us. So, what happens, if the Grand Jury verdict comes down in favor of
that racist pig?
Are we being hunted by Integration, as a people, as a whole, and with a trillion dollar spending power, we prefer to buy weave and weed. Shamelessly we hoard our knowledge without passing anything of worth on to our people. What is our collective legacy? Does it sit in the hands of those who make decisions for the United States? Are we hunted by those decisions? Are we hunted by the things we once yearned for under the hallucination of wanting to be accepted by those who never wanted the same!
ARE WE HUNTED BY THE 1896-PLESSY V. “FERGUSON” (do you really think it’s all a coincidence?) RULING THAT SANCTIONED SEPARATE BUT EQUAL SEGREGATION OF THE RACES RULING THAT SEPARATE EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES ARE INHERENTLY UNEQUAL—- BE PROGRESSIVE AND PAY ATTENTION TO THAT LIE PEOPLE. THEY MOCK US, AND WE DON’T EVEN KNOW IT. LOOK AT ALL THE LIES AND CONNECT THE DOTS!
PLEASE STAND UP WITH THOSE IN FERGUSON, WHO HAVE BEEN ON THE FRONTLINES, HOLDING THEIR COMPOSURE ONLY TO BE RIDICULED IN SOME CASES BY THEIR PEOPLE. PLEASE SUPPORT THOSE WHO SUPPORT YOU. PLEASE DON’T DOG OUR PEOPLE OUT, IN THE WORKPLACE, AT THE DINNER TABLE, IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN. PLEASE DON’T BE NEGATIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA! PLEASE TAKE THIS AS A LESSON ON HOW ONE SHOULD DEFEND THE BLACK CODE! NO ONE CAN CONVIENCE ME THAT THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THE BLACK FAMILY IS TO SUFFER ON OUR KNEE’S! FOR ONCE, STAND UP FOR YOURSELF AND UNITE!
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, IT IS THE BLACK CODE THAT THEY WROTE FOR US! WE HAVE BEEN AT WAR SINCE WE WERE PLACED IN THIS ENTRAPMENT! YOU MAY NOT HAVE ENLISTED, BUT YOU HAVE BEEN DRAFTED! WE CAN WEAR A BADGE OF HONOR! BLACK PEOPLE, YOU ARE THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF LIFE, THE EARTH, WIND, FIRE…YOU ARE THE WATER!
PLEASE DON’T LET ANYONE STOP YOUR FLOW OF LIFE. STAND!!!
Sun Shine in the City 
