Sanford, Florida G***amn*!



I want to tell you the stories my mother told me about growing up in Central Florida, but I can't. I'm too emotionally and physically exhausted. All I can say is that it's been almost 60 years since she left her hometown. Somethings have changed: there's a mall, and bigger streets. But people in Central Florida know what's up as far as racism is concerned, and they try not to make many waves.  So I'm posting this video of Nina Simone singing "Mississippi "****amn!" that overwhelming expresses how I feel about the my mother's birth state. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. The Oakland Baha'i Center is hosting a devotional meeting for ending violence in Oakland in the morning at 930 am. I will be there. The violence HAS TO STOP. I was supposed to be writing two articles for the Oakland Baha'i Examiner on the subject, but that trial and its damnable verdict threw me out of writing mode. Yeah, so I allowed it. I'm human. And black. And a mother of three grown children and one grandchild. Excuse me for being concerned for their well being right now. A lot of black parents are feeling the same way.

And there was a protest downtown in which a BART police car window was smashed. Yep, that's REALLY helpful to Trayvon Martin's relatives who are extreme grief right now. Can we think of something ELSE to do, like get that retro-Jim Crow law "Stand Your Ground" contested, appealed all the way to the Supreme Court and overturned? Oh yeah, how can I forget...the Supreme Court recently gutted the voting rights amendments because the South is doing so much in way of racial harmony right now. (Sarcasm mode firmly on during that previous sentence). I'm not posting any links to that story; I'm not in the mood. Please do a Google search on the subject, though. Yeah. I'm so tired that I can't think of anything polite or enlightening to say.  So here's Nina's video:


*For those of you who don't know, the title refers to a famous protest song sung by Nina Simone entitled, "Mississippi G***amn!" Here's the video. Substitue Florida for Mississippi, and and we can identify completely.

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