I can’t breathe – T.B.P.I.K.

I find it both criminal and heartbreaking that over five years have gone by since I first shared this post and that things have exploded into the current state of affairs. My son is relieved that I’m so far away as he knows I would be on the frontlines with the protesters. We are long past due for the pendulum to swing and this time to go in the direction that is needed. Let it swing for love, understanding and compassion. 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other ‘isms’ grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class, or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.”     – Roger Ebert

“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”  –  Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird (Character – Scout)

 

“The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction.” – Tim Holden

                                                                                *

 

                                                                           T.B.P.I.K.

 

Yes, that is how

They do it

All of them

The black people I know

They put on their pants

First one leg and then

The other

They hold down jobs – frequently

More than one – to survive

Blacks often are paid less

They eat, sleep, and shop

Cooking meals for family

Inviting friends in

Taking a hot dish

To someone whose been ill

They work in hospitals, search and

Rescue, give to charity,

Donate blood – you may have

It in you now

In a crisis – do you refuse?

They are expected to remain calm

As one more is profiled

Gunned down, targeted

Until the scapegoat paradigm

Chooses to target someone else

Momentarily

They read books, write poems

Dream dreams, large and small

They reach out their hands

In pain and in friendship

THE BLACK PEOPLE I KNOW

 

 

Bisous et solidarité,

Léa

Master Racism

David Redpath

I followed the money trail
That sap laden root of evil
Through the land of Mordor
To the heights of Mount Doom
Only to discover
Under a shadow of gloom
The dark arts of Sauron
Veiled behind the illusion
Of a philanthropic institution
Euphemistically referred to as
A reproductive health foundation

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It Can Happen Here: Revisited — charles french words reading and writing

Given the horrors of the mass shootings over the weekend, clearly inspired by bigotry, white nationalism, and racism, I decided to use this post again. (https://en.wikipedia.org) In 1935, Sinclair Lewis, in It Can’t Happen Here, spoke to the idea that many Americans held that fascism could not occur in the United States of America. His […]

via It Can Happen Here: Revisited — charles french words reading and writing

Thoughts and Prayers My Ass — This, That, and The Other

I’ve been pretty angry and upset over this whole Tygpress.com thing over the past three or four days. But in the scheme of things, it’s small potatoes compared with what’s going on in the United States. At least 53 people were shot dead and many more were wounded by separate mass shooting incidents in just this past […]

via Thoughts and Prayers My Ass — This, That, and The Other

For Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)

What will we do on that day? That day is here.

Scribbled Verse

For Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)

when,

the hushed rage of prejudice rejoices in triumphant pomp and hateful ceremony,

and,

the silent dagger of complicit racism plunges deep into the soul of a world bereft of hope,

and,

the long knife of embraced apathy twists and turns,

then,

perhaps we’ll open our opaque eyes,

and perhaps then we’ll open our sewed-up mouths,

and perhaps only then will we whimper in mock shock and startled surprise,

for,

the festering hate that spirals around us,

in the fertile minds of quasi-religious bigotry,

is unafraid,

and speaks in the loudest baritone.

2.

Yet,

we accept,

we acquiesce,

we wish it all away,

but,

there will come that time when the lines are drawn,

when the purest hearts of silently smiling bigotry will hold the world in their sway,

with their cherubic, agreeable arguments sprinkled with pieces of fact that will kill, rape…

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Fancy Restaurant|رستوران مجلل

I couldn’t resist sharing this one…

A Voice from Iran

A rich man walked into a fancy restaurant and asked for the best table.

When he sat down, he saw a black woman sitting at the bar.

He didn’t like what he saw. He didn’t like to eat in a beautiful luxury restaurant and see a black woman enjoying the same place that he was. He decided to show her; where her place was and prove to her that she didn’t belong there.

He called the waiter and said: “Everyone will be my guest for dessert, except that black woman.”

The waiter brought the restaurants famous chocolate cake to every single person except the black woman.

The black woman walked to the rich man and with a kind smile, said: “Thank you.”

The rich man got angry and called the waiter and said: “Give everyone a glass of wine under my bill except the black woman.”

The waiter did what…

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MERCI MILLE FOIS UK!

Photo courtesy NPR – No copyright infringment intended

We’re sorry UK for the invasion you are currently subjected to. Despite becoming an ex-pat, I still have those I care about back in America. It does my heart good to see you take to the streets and demonstrate your response to one who has done so much to harm the Country he is suppose to represent and to the rest of the world. His list of crimes would require another post just to list them all. However, he has delcared war on Nature itself. I sometimes wonder if that has something to do with the fact that we have frequently referred to it as Mother Nature and we are all well aware of his views on women. Thank you to the Media sources who share this information and truth. 

United Kingdom Your signs and numbers do you proud!

Photo courtesy of Evening Standard – no copyright infringment intended

THANK YOU UNITED KINGDOM!  You do yourselves and any allies proud. I’m not especially motivated by numbers but weigh these against inauguration photos from not that long ago and you do the math…

 

 Bisous,

Léa

Is it worth fighting for?

Before lighting the fireworks, think about what you are celebrating, what works, what doesn’t and at what price. Ask yourself, WHAT DO I STAND FOR?

–

“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.”  – Aristotle

“I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”  – Abraham Lincoln

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”                        – John F. Kennedy

“The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decicions independent of the political winds that are blowing.”  – Caroline Kennedy

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” – Charles de Montesquieu

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.”  – Reinhold Niebuhr

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” – Edmund Burke

“Patriotism means loving your homeland. Nationalism means hating other people’s countries.” -Charles de Gaulle

“Hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and deathh struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy.” – Liu Xiaobo

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywere else.”  – Clarence Darrow

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.” – Martin Luther King

In peace and with a clear conscience, I implore you to search your heart, soul and conscience and decide what you will stand for.

 

Bisous,

 

Léa

World Refugee Day

“Those who cannot remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Thanks Barb.

…To the left

NEVER AGAIN!

poetry, photos and musings oh my!

Despite the fact that I first published this here over three years ago, it seems imperative to reblog it now given current events in Virginia and elsewhere. 

“This is the biggest cemetery for Jews, Poles, Roma and Sinti. It must tell us that we have to come back here again and again. We must keep the memory of the worst crime in human history alive for those who were born later.”   –  Horst Koehler, Germany President

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak…

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