I just enjoyed the grad school graduation of a good friend. She now has a MA in Education and will be getting married to her long-time boyfriend this summer. She is defying all that the media says about "us." And I couldn't be prouder of her! GO GIRL!
She is in love, educated, she is independent with her own apartment and car, she doesn't have any children, has great fashion sense and is a good friend. She's everything so many people wish they could be......... She has a very strong sense of self and is dedicated and motivated to follow her beliefs. I love her. Did I mention she's a Christian? She can dance, she can sing, she can hang with the best of them. GO GIRL!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Trayvon!
Oh my heart!
Another day that George Zimmerman (or G. Killerman as my friend Wendy says) walks around free is another agonizing cry from the ancestors. If you listen quietly you may be able to hear Brother Malcolm, Brother Martin, and little brother Emmitt. ASE ASE.
As I write this I have to breathe slowly. I'm not filled with anger or rage - but the saddest calm ever. It is not a peaceful calm, but the calm of loss. The loss of a life.
Trayvon's dead body lay in a morgue for three days. His cell phone was on his person, but nobody found it worth it to look at this recent calls or address book. His body was tested for drugs and alcohol - there was none present. His confessed killer was never tested for the same.
While I will stand behind the fact that a White family would have had much more respectable treatment; this is a detriment to the human race. A life is lost and there wasn't even enough decency to make a decent effort to find out whose life it was. That is absolutely disgusting. We are failing as humans.
We, the Black collective are also failing ourselves. Did Mother Harriet risk her life on that freedom-bound train for us to piss all over it? What good is having it if we are not going to do anything with it? How many people bled, cried, and died for us to have a say? And now we have nothing to say. George Zimmerman is walking around free because of his family ties to his local justice system. From the cops straight up to the commissioner and the DA are giving preferential treatment and flaunting their ties and power all in the face of America. And they're doing it because they can!
I would challenge 5/10 of the Trayvon-supporting-hoodie-wearers to tell me who they're local ELECTED officials are. Then I want to know how many of them voted at all. We have the power to vote, we can call these officals to task on their agenda. They are supposed to do the bidding of the people. But they will only do the bidding of the VOTING populace. This case happened to get the attention of our Black President - but that is not in his job description. Had ALL the people below him done the right thing it probably wouldn't have. In the early stages however the white house deemed it as a local matter. And honestly, it was. GZ wasn't acting on behalf of an officially sanctioned body. This was a single man acting alone. However, the improper handling of the entire situation is what brought on all the attention. And thank God it did.
Let us not forget about Ramarley Graham. The kid in the Bronx who was "selling drugs" and chased by NYPD. They chased him into his home and entered without a warrant and killed him in his bathroom as his grandmother and six-year-old brother looked on. Ramarley was not only unnarmed, but no drugs were found on him or in the home either....but Ramarley deserves his own post. So I'll be back soon.
So now that the petitions have been signed, and we've marched and rallied and flooded facebook and instagram and twipicced in our hoodies, what will you do?
Another day that George Zimmerman (or G. Killerman as my friend Wendy says) walks around free is another agonizing cry from the ancestors. If you listen quietly you may be able to hear Brother Malcolm, Brother Martin, and little brother Emmitt. ASE ASE.
As I write this I have to breathe slowly. I'm not filled with anger or rage - but the saddest calm ever. It is not a peaceful calm, but the calm of loss. The loss of a life.
Trayvon's dead body lay in a morgue for three days. His cell phone was on his person, but nobody found it worth it to look at this recent calls or address book. His body was tested for drugs and alcohol - there was none present. His confessed killer was never tested for the same.
While I will stand behind the fact that a White family would have had much more respectable treatment; this is a detriment to the human race. A life is lost and there wasn't even enough decency to make a decent effort to find out whose life it was. That is absolutely disgusting. We are failing as humans.
We, the Black collective are also failing ourselves. Did Mother Harriet risk her life on that freedom-bound train for us to piss all over it? What good is having it if we are not going to do anything with it? How many people bled, cried, and died for us to have a say? And now we have nothing to say. George Zimmerman is walking around free because of his family ties to his local justice system. From the cops straight up to the commissioner and the DA are giving preferential treatment and flaunting their ties and power all in the face of America. And they're doing it because they can!
I would challenge 5/10 of the Trayvon-supporting-hoodie-wearers to tell me who they're local ELECTED officials are. Then I want to know how many of them voted at all. We have the power to vote, we can call these officals to task on their agenda. They are supposed to do the bidding of the people. But they will only do the bidding of the VOTING populace. This case happened to get the attention of our Black President - but that is not in his job description. Had ALL the people below him done the right thing it probably wouldn't have. In the early stages however the white house deemed it as a local matter. And honestly, it was. GZ wasn't acting on behalf of an officially sanctioned body. This was a single man acting alone. However, the improper handling of the entire situation is what brought on all the attention. And thank God it did.
Let us not forget about Ramarley Graham. The kid in the Bronx who was "selling drugs" and chased by NYPD. They chased him into his home and entered without a warrant and killed him in his bathroom as his grandmother and six-year-old brother looked on. Ramarley was not only unnarmed, but no drugs were found on him or in the home either....but Ramarley deserves his own post. So I'll be back soon.
So now that the petitions have been signed, and we've marched and rallied and flooded facebook and instagram and twipicced in our hoodies, what will you do?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
ARIZONA!!!???? What is on your mind.......or as we used to say back in the day, "What's on your biscuit?"
How can you really approach people and ask them for their citizenship papers? What if they aren't Mexican, what shall you say, "you fit the description?" We all know this is a law proposed to control Mexican immigration. What if it's a person born IN AMERICA of Mexican parents, are they supposed to walk with their birth certificate.
This is without a doubt one of the STUPIDEST things I've ever heard of.......
Let's thank God above that our country doesn't rest in the judgement of John McCain.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Still Untitled
I wrote this in 2008.....and felt the need to repost:
I loved you in a place where everything stood still
Where there was no reality of space a time
Where I pushed ahead and moderation didn’t exist
And only focusing on us was great and not a crime
I loved you in a place where nothing mattered at all
Where there was no reality or gravity or anything at my center
Where I pull behind me nothing and move forward with all force
And only you and I can make sense in my mind
I still love you in a place where I don’t care about anything else
Where reality ceases to exist and I only focus on you
Where I have everything and nothing and that’s all I need
And the chaotic order that haunts me is fine
N.Hop 2008
I loved you in a place where everything stood still
Where there was no reality of space a time
Where I pushed ahead and moderation didn’t exist
And only focusing on us was great and not a crime
I loved you in a place where nothing mattered at all
Where there was no reality or gravity or anything at my center
Where I pull behind me nothing and move forward with all force
And only you and I can make sense in my mind
I still love you in a place where I don’t care about anything else
Where reality ceases to exist and I only focus on you
Where I have everything and nothing and that’s all I need
And the chaotic order that haunts me is fine
N.Hop 2008
42% ?????
So, now I'm told that one of the biggest crises of the "African American" people is that we are not marrying......and if we do, we do it late......
I missed the dateline special, and forgot to DVR it. But I must say I'm disgusted at the fact that we have to see these stats day in, and day out. There are so many ways I can attack this "news"
1. When the hell did not finding a good man become a Black Women thing?
2. Why don't we pay attention to more important stats like the literacy rate of children?
3. @ "Mainstream" America....are you really dissecting the Black family as though it's not something you destroyed physically and mentally from slavery - present.......
Re #3- I often pull my brothers and sisters aside urging them not to blame "the white man" for their ills and issues. With knowledge and awareness we can overcome....it's not easy, but it can be done. However, if we really get down to the psychology of the matter the Black family is an entity that has been struggling to exist.
If we further dig into the psychology of family or marriage we know that the stats are down period in this country. Let's be real, people married in the past for safety and security. But now when women are making exponentially more money than they once did, have much more education......we don't need men the way we once did.
The successful (and to be) men and women are learning, and working.......while other women are plotting on the men. So by the time we get to the top the successful men have been preyed upon by the woman who lacks or does not desire self sufficiency.....and the successful woman has to search high and low just to settle....this is not a Black thing. This is an American thing.
Furthermore, to say a successful Black woman can't find a man, or can't get married- that's yet another stab at the Black man.....why do our imperfections have to be sensationalized and publicized? And if this is such a recognized problem, then it shouldn't sound so crazy that other races should leave the Black men for the Black women....but it does.....because this whole situation is ridiculous!
When I consider my unmarried friends, most of them want to be so. When I consider that this country has exploited Black people since our arrival on the cotton fields and now wants to point a finger like we can't get out stuff together is sickening. The Black man has long been destroyed. And the Black woman has been sexually promiscuous, angry, and now we can't find a man.........
Again, the American family dynamic period is a mess. And women period have more difficulty than men finding a "good" man. But the presentation of these "stats" is wrong, and lacking responsibility.......
I was told that a very wise man said "Never tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon."
Friday, October 16, 2009
Good Morning all!
It's been a while......but I promise, I'm back.
This morning, upon perusing facebook I saw a friend's status message which considered outgrowing friends...... a theme which has been quite common in my head lately. And it reminded me of an idea my father posed to me years ago.
As a child, I didnt understand how my parents could introduce me to somebody and say the person "use to be my best friend." I would always ask, what happened? What could they possibly mean that somebody so close to them......is no longer close to them.
Daddy explained to me that our lives are like windy paths. Some people's paths take the same twists, turns, and dips as ours do. And those people will roll alongside you forever. Other peoples will seemingly do the same, but then for no rhyme or reason simply veer off; another person's will briefly cross. And it's okay. Accepting my dad's word as the gospel truth, as most children do, this stayed with me forever. And especially in the hardest of times losing someone to growth, and death-- I've been able to let go.
Today, I'm going to add to this idea.
There may come a time that we feel that we need to change the direction of our path, or that we need to get on somebody else's. And when that time comes- we must see where the new road is headed- and make it our own. It just may land us far from home, and it would be a travesty to want to or need to return.
That addition would have gone right in line with dad's philosophies that children are raised to go away from their parents. At this point, my father would reference birds which drop their babies out of nest if they dont fly, or perhaps a shark which will eat their young if they don't swim away fast enough. While these examples may be extreme- he is right. Parents teach and prepare children for the world, and then they are to go- to complete their growth and the cycle of life.
Undoubtedly, once one is no longer under the rule of their parents, they may want to do things differently, go different places. One may fall in love and decide to abandon or ammend their personal dreams and live in the collective. Regardless, all roads may not lead back to the starting place. It would be wise to own a change and make it your own.
Bible readers and believers may reference Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Faith in God; prayer and belief in His omniscience; your path is not unclear for God is directing it.
Have a great day, and a great weekend all!!!!!!!
My father - Mr. Kevin L. Hopkins was raised in Brooklyn, NY. He has been married for over 20 years to the beautiful Joyce. He is a 20 year veteran of the MTA. He is respected by everybody he knows for his philosphies, general knowledge and confidence. He is fraternal and a natural leader. Kevin is also the current president of the Brooklyn chapter of the East Coast Bad Boyz Motorcycle Club.
It's been a while......but I promise, I'm back.
This morning, upon perusing facebook I saw a friend's status message which considered outgrowing friends...... a theme which has been quite common in my head lately. And it reminded me of an idea my father posed to me years ago.
As a child, I didnt understand how my parents could introduce me to somebody and say the person "use to be my best friend." I would always ask, what happened? What could they possibly mean that somebody so close to them......is no longer close to them.
Daddy explained to me that our lives are like windy paths. Some people's paths take the same twists, turns, and dips as ours do. And those people will roll alongside you forever. Other peoples will seemingly do the same, but then for no rhyme or reason simply veer off; another person's will briefly cross. And it's okay. Accepting my dad's word as the gospel truth, as most children do, this stayed with me forever. And especially in the hardest of times losing someone to growth, and death-- I've been able to let go.
Today, I'm going to add to this idea.
There may come a time that we feel that we need to change the direction of our path, or that we need to get on somebody else's. And when that time comes- we must see where the new road is headed- and make it our own. It just may land us far from home, and it would be a travesty to want to or need to return.
That addition would have gone right in line with dad's philosophies that children are raised to go away from their parents. At this point, my father would reference birds which drop their babies out of nest if they dont fly, or perhaps a shark which will eat their young if they don't swim away fast enough. While these examples may be extreme- he is right. Parents teach and prepare children for the world, and then they are to go- to complete their growth and the cycle of life.
Undoubtedly, once one is no longer under the rule of their parents, they may want to do things differently, go different places. One may fall in love and decide to abandon or ammend their personal dreams and live in the collective. Regardless, all roads may not lead back to the starting place. It would be wise to own a change and make it your own.
Bible readers and believers may reference Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Faith in God; prayer and belief in His omniscience; your path is not unclear for God is directing it.
Have a great day, and a great weekend all!!!!!!!
My father - Mr. Kevin L. Hopkins was raised in Brooklyn, NY. He has been married for over 20 years to the beautiful Joyce. He is a 20 year veteran of the MTA. He is respected by everybody he knows for his philosphies, general knowledge and confidence. He is fraternal and a natural leader. Kevin is also the current president of the Brooklyn chapter of the East Coast Bad Boyz Motorcycle Club.
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