Speak VSU. #Micheal Brown is on my mind, and I know hes on yours too. And a town I never heard of before this tragic occurrence-Ferguson. But we all spent years in the small town of Ettrick attending Virginia State University. It was right next to Colonial Heights or as we called it Colonial Whites. On April 4, 1988, hundreds of us Trojan-ites joined with local town people and marched through the streets of Colonial Whites protesting the racism and discrimination that we and the black people who lived there had faced frequenting their businesses. Well, the white folks came out like a time before, carrying poles with monkeys and nooses tied to their necks, with all kinds of leave niggers and go back to Africa signs, and even a large poster saying, James Earl Ray had a better dream. The shit was madness. I served as one of the grand marshals so I had to walk on the direct outside of everyone marching with an orange armband. I vividly remember the angry white people screaming crazy obscenities at us, and how dangerously close they were to me. To us. I prayed no one swung out or spit. Even though we were trained by the SCLC heads who organized the march, of which I was vice president of the VSU chapter at the time, Im not sure our fighter spirits would have been able to stand down from some real physical confrontation. But of all the numerous marches and protests that Id participated in throughout my life, this one had me shook. They had no fear, and they were not hiding their hate for us. They were out there with their families-their children, shouting hatred at the top of their lungs, while we chanted sixties songs of freedom, and marched civilly through the streets to the court house. It felt like a throwback to another time, perhaps my grandmothers time or something. Was this a stage play or something? We acting our part, they acting theirs? It felt surreal, but surreal IS real, dont sleep. It was real then, just like it IS now. Whats happening in Ferguson is the real stand up deal - this aint a blockbuster movie. We had better keep the fire for justice burning in us too. Lest we forget. What say you Yolanda Sessoms-Jones Darryl E Kelson Kenny Washington Donna Brooks Vivian Renee Pruden Stone Sonya Smith Cedric Smith Fahja Bey Safiyah Farrakhan Craig Stephens Tracey Allen-Merrill Roni Hardy-Hawkins Vanessa Henderson-Weeks Cali Ente Usher Lavalle Jr Gorham Lorenzo Thomas Eric Smith Eric Lee Fadia Pyatt Allison Timmons Tamelia Hinson Renee Washington Eileen Stokes Benjie E. Wimberly Darryl E. Beveridge Muneerah Young Debby Sims What say you #VSU?
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 03:12:51 +0000
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