My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The Problem Within The Problem, Part 2

*This 2-Part Series Was Completely Based On The Black Male/Female Connection written by Dr. Maulana Karenga, which was a chapter in the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics by Nathan & Julia Hare.

As the world evolves & new technology takes its place in our daily lives, the politics of the traditional male/female relationship remains a confounding journey of joy, grief, stress & confusion.

Male/female relationships are vital to our existence as a species.

I left off saying that both black men & women are guilty of using inadequate connections as the foundation of their relationships. It’s not our fault though. We live in a capitalist system where we base everything we do on how much we can receive for the time we invest. Now, there’s nothing wrong with getting what you put in. But at the same time, we let this capitalist state of mind make us turn our relationships & parts of it into commodities & utilitarian arrangements. Instead of being driven by morals, values & principles, we’re driven by selfish, self-destructive engines which will drive us down the road to destruction & pure fuckery. Instant gratification is the cancer that’s preventing us from building constructive relationships with one another.

A quality relationship is a long-term, stable alliance which is defined by a mutual investment in each other’s happiness, well-being & growth.

Yet, we are being weighed down by four insufficient connections:
• The Cash Connection
• The Flesh Connection
• The Force Connection
• The Dependency Connection

The Cash Connection is probably the most significant factor out of the four, along with the Flesh Connection. This association is the result of living in a capitalist society, where everyone has a price & can be brought. This is why you see a large amount of ladies putting a price on their coochie, exchanging sex for economic security & calling it marriage, guys who feel as if dinner & a movie entitles them to sex because they came out their pockets, and more men who ruin the lives of their families just because they bring the money in. A person’s self worth cannot be measured by how much is in their bank account. Sean Combs is a multi-millionaire & he’s still a prick. I’ll go on the record & say any woman who gets with him at this point in time is only with him because of his net worth. That wouldn’t last long, just like any relationship that’s based on financial ramifications.

In a culture where sex sells, The Flesh Connection is right next the Cash Connection in its emphasis in this culture.Since we all enjoy sex (including myself), it’s very easy for use to lose sight of other important characteristics & focus on the body & all the diverse things we can do to it, or selected parts. While we go on & do this, we turn the opposite gender into objects in which we can have at our will, use whenever we feel like it, and dispose of it when we’re bored or want to move on to someone else. This is a very destructive train of thought, being that it rejects the completeness of human character by making the holes in the body more important than the whole body.What makes it even worse, is the fact that people foolishly attempt to create meaningful relationships from lustful emotions & believe it’s gonna last! I can’t think of one person who’s had success doing such a foolish thing. Maybe if it was a mutual agreement with both parties getting sex out of it (Friends With Benefits). Yet, it takes two mature individuals to make that work, and that in itself is rare.

The Force Connection speaks for itself. It merges with the Flesh Connection in the act of rape, which is more psychological & physical than sexual. For men, this union is based on the template of manhood in this society, conquering & dominating, taking for himself what he feels he’s entitled to by fantasized nature & principled ownership. To make this flight of the imagination even more warped, these men think that she not only deserve it: she wishes for it to happen. You see this executed by primitive, chauvinistic men who are ideally stuck in the Stone Age & narrow-minded women who like guys those “bad boys” who are just downright niggerish.

The Force Connection speaks for itself. It merges with the Flesh Connection in the act of rape, which is more psychological & physical than sexual. For men, this union is based on the template of manhood in this society, conquering & dominating, taking for himself what he feels he’s entitled to by fantasized nature & principled ownership. To make this flight of the imagination even more warped, these men think that she not only deserve it: she wishes for it to happen. You see this executed by primitive, chauvinistic men who are ideally stuck in the Stone Age & narrow-minded women who like guys those “bad boys” who are just downright niggerish. We all know in an abusive relationship, one is gonna have to take the abuse. Why would one subject their own well-being to such a fucked-up situation?

Now, after a person is turned into a commodity, reduced to just body parts & mentally/physically altered into obedience, they become reliant upon others. And even in the face of the most detesting conditions, they’ll remain exactly where they are. Since they’ve been stripped of their character & their sense of worth, they‘ll stay in their relationships, all for the sake of not being alone. They’ll even go as far as justifying their treatment. This is the last connection which fuses all 3, The Dependency Connection. This connection is most closely linked to slavery, as the abused takes on the mannerisms of a slave in bondage, becoming a set of reactions based on the actions of their abuser. Even if they do get out of that one relationship, dependency becomes part of their character, thus lowering their standards & expectations. When that happens, the search for a mate becomes more like a search for a new master. And one settles for anyone who will accept them in their current state of being.

Regardless of what connection a person uses, it all adds up to the same quotient: Using a false pretense to create a situation in which neither one can guarantee a progressive relationship being built. Each union that comes from force, dependency, sex or money is settling & bringing down the standard of what was once a fruitful relationship between males & females. Now, with everything the way it is, it’s vital for us to take a step back within ourselves & analyze who we are. These connections are a result of the society we live in, which is maintained & controlled by humans. Therefore, they can be changed by humans. However, we must first become the change we want to see. Our potential decreases & increases with what we put at the forefront of our lives. If we value material items, sexual desires & instant gratification, we’ll continue to go down this destructive highway & forever be at odds with the opposite gender. The destiny which was supposed to be fulfilled will be betrayed.

I want to end this by directly quoting the man in which these last 2 blogs on the Black Male/Female Connection is entirely based on, Dr. Maulana Karenga. His piece, which is included in the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics, has been the main component behind this 2-part series.

The key crisis in Black America is the cultural crisis. It is a crisis further defined by our lack of a system of views & values which give us a moral, material & meaningful interpretation of life on the seven basic levels of culture: religion (or spiritual value system), history, social, economic & political organization, creative motive and ethos.

A people who slavishly imitates its opressor & refuses to take its destiny & daily like in its own hands has little or no possibilities.

Peace & Love.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The Problem Within The Problem Pt. 1

The Black male/female rift is the offspring of the black family crisis in America.
Man v. Women was the probably the single most important factor in the Willie Lynch experiment. And now in 2009, YouTube has been somewhat of the frontline in the Blackman/Black woman saga. Both sides can bash all day & point out their flaws, and only a selected few can actually put in the sincere effort to improve this strained relationship. And for too long, parties from both sides have depended too much on white society to define & solve our problems.
This is only the tip in the iceberg....

• Teenage pregnancy
• Unemployable & socially irresponsible young males
• Broken marriages
• Never married or no-longer-married single mothers
• Latchkey & neglected children
• Growing illegitimacy
• High dropout rates
• Difficulties in the discipline of the children in the fatherless families & inner-city public schools
• Chronic welfare families
• Low academic & socioeconomic achievement among black youth reaching proportions which no longer could be denied, simplified or tolerated.

This outline fundamentally explains the plight of the Post-Civil Rights/Hip Hop generation. All of these issues stem from one root: The lack of employment & racial discrimination (covert & overt) from the institutions of American society, primarily against Black men. A higher percentage of unemployment can lead to a swift increase in crime & different forms of social decay, such as poverty, prison, substance abuse & high dropout rates. It’s been well documented that most white men (the ones who call the shots) are intimidated by black men & are afraid to compete on an even playing field with them. Cause it’s these same white men-from an economic, political & military standpoint who run this world. The concept of shared power has always been a question for them, especially if it involves sharing that power with men outside their ethnic group. So, its cause of this fact that in order for brothers to be accepted by the mainstream (the ones who are willing to integrate); they have to give up their blackness (act white). With that blackness, come their pride, dignity & respect from fellow peers. Many brothers will be tempted to cross over for the sake of acceptance by mainstream, while the others hold on to their blackness & fight an uphill battle against an oppressive structure.

Throughout these years of bigotry, mental & economic slavery, the Black woman has been riding shotgun, with the patience of a Buddhist monk. Her scars are as deep, if not deeper than the Black man’s. As a matter of fact, her being disenfranchised from the Black man put a burden on her shoulder in which she was in no position to carry alone. So, we cannot blame her if she becomes frustrated. It’s been too many years of pain & suffering for her. She has every right to feel this way. The Black man is equally frustrated that the Black woman doesn’t get the respect she rightfully deserves. We can even say that his primary motivation as a man is to take care of the Black woman he holds so near & dear to his heart. However, too many sistas are liable to criticize the brothers on a consistent basis, which is the wrong way to vent their dissatisfaction with their place in society.

She thinks he is using racism as an excuse when its racism being the primary reason he’s out there struggling to provide for himself, his family & community. Maybe out of dissatisfaction, she forgets that harsh fact. And when she overlooks that cruel reality, she is more likely to blame the Black man for both of their troubles.
From an economic standpoint, you can easily see what makes money a major issue. In the 1970s, when the White female entered the work force, black males were being pushed out of it. These White women (who were mostly middle class & married) got 70% of the new jobs created & put their new income together with that of their husbands, which resulted in the economic gap widening between them & the Black, single & poor. The money that could’ve made a difference in our communities were spread out among White women, while the Black man & woman only inherited more stress, which amplified the social & emotional separation between the two.

To make matters worse, the White feminists, with their unisexual, anti-family movement took the grievances they had with their men & poisoned the minds of a few egotistical/disruptive black women & projected the negative white male qualities into black men. Instead of taking up their grievance with the man who calls the shots (and keeps everyone who is not white or female underneath them as far as status & respect), they go on & provoke an already agitated Black woman into believing the Black man has put them thru centuries of pain & suffering. So when feminism wanted to ascend the Black female, our sistas looked around & saw no one standing next to her. With her dissatisfaction at an all-time high, anger affecting her judgment, and no one else to blame, she indicts the one person who had the least to do with her current position in society: The Black Man.

He has never oppressed the Black woman. He has never reduced her to menial status & locked her in a role as a wife & mother. He’s never took away her right to vote. He never decided to pay her less than what she was worth. These are gripes that White women have with their men. They just created the illusion that Black men should be held responsible for failing to obtain the masculinity they were being denied, the same masculinity these feminists scrutinized & discredited.

And this is exactly what the main power structure wanted. Being that Man v. Woman is most likely the single most important factor in the Willie Lynch experiment, putting them at odds with each other, while covertly holding back both from attaining some type of status (economic & social) can create a situation where resentment & hostility can be handed down from generation to generation.

The Black man is doing all he can to take care of his family, despite the obstacles in front of him. Some of these brothers are mentally tougher than others. The ones who leave the sistas to fend for herself are the pathetic ones who feel as if all hope is lost & she can take care of herself & a child (or children) better than when he was in the picture. Not the case. While this is happening, you have outside influences telling our sistas that they don’t need him. They don’t need to depend on a man for anything, it’s a privilege to work (just as she was about to gain access to the home as a housewife), get her own & ascend up the pedestal. She goes ahead & listens to this rhetoric, climbs that ladder & when she thinks she got to the top, they ridicule the same ladder she was climbing. So, you got the same outside influences persuading both sides to execute actions which aren’t parallel to their development as a family unit & as individuals.

In a world where men rule & clash for control of their part of the globe, Black men are fighting a powerful enemy whose interest is to neutralize, eliminate & keep us economically illiterate. By tearing down the Black man, it creates an irreplaceable void in the household & forces our women to walk in both pairs of shoes. And in America, the system works overtime to keep the Black man in a position of disadvantage.

• Making them think in similar fashion to that of the oppressor, making them white in thinking & reaction. Now, you have brothers working only in the interest of their teacher. How can a brother realize what being a Black man is all about if he’s thinking like his master?
• Driving Black men out of the economic segment of society, making it difficult for them to take care of themselves & their families. Brothers got mouths to feed & clothe. If they can’t get that 9 to 5, they’ll resort to a life of crime just so those mouths won’t starve & get cold.
• Distributing harmful resources like drugs, alcohol & unrestrictive sex, making it easily available & accessible.
• Push the Black man to the point of insanity, thus making them turn their backs on their community & themselves. That only leads to black on black crime, a mental hospital or suicide.
• The ones that do crimes are led away to prisons, in which no type of help is available to them in the form of counseling & rehabilitation. They usually come out worse than they were when they got tossed in, and when they get released, they’re back in the same neighborhood to prey on other members of their community.

Add all those factors up & you have destitute males of color in a world ruled by the force of men. And when any people do not have tough, imaginative, vigorous, courageous, innovative and fighting men in this society, those people are in a heap of trouble, not to mention the progression & development for those people will be damm near impossible without men of integrity & vision.

Instead of fighting together against our social & economic plight, we looked to self-improvement & single-minded selfishness to better our condition. The mentalities we see in these times will do nothing for the future of our communities. The system has us believing that making it in America means getting as much money in the shortest period of time. Building a foundation for our family & community takes a back seat to “I gotta get mines.” The investments we must make for our future give way to instant gratification. We look for this temporary fulfillment amongst each other, and when we don’t find it, we begin to point fingers, blaming each other for our problems. To a degree, both sides are guilty of the same thing: using inadequate connections as the foundation for our relationships.

These connections are painfully obvious. What do we base our lives on? Money & Sex! Then we have the nerve to force ourselves to be with someone all for the sake of NOT being alone. Or even worse, we force somebody to be with us against their will. Like really, do we truly believe in these tactics? Or are we just so far gone, these are the only ways we know how to approach each other?

This is only Part One.

Inadequate Connections will be explained further in Part 2.

For right now, This Knowledge Right Here Should Feed Your Mental...

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: I Hear The People Talkin'...

There's been a target on my back since the day I was born.


I’ve been called many things in my lifetime.

• Racist
• Anti-Semite
• Narrow-minded
• Ignorant
• Prejudiced
• Biased

This comes along with the praise that I’ve heard from colleagues, teachers & generational peers.

• Open-minded
• Intelligent
• Knowledgeable
• Limitless Potential
• Great work ethic
• Mature beyond his years

I’ve learned from an early age that one must learn how to take praise & accept criticism, cause most of the time it is served on the same plate. And me, being the foodie that I am, was taught to never waste rations. The old heads would tell us, “You might not like the taste, but it’s good for you.” Hence, I eat it willingly. Scrutiny is something that no human is immune to. Even our Savior Jesus Christ got stones thrown at him during his time on earth. Many greats of history have been subjected to the worst kinds of treatment & words, just off the strength of them putting together a thought for themselves, formulating an opinion & standing by it, no matter if their opposition tried to hurl the kitchen sink at them. So, I don’t like being labeled & stereotyped, but I ingest the side order which is denigration. It gets thrown by way of my morals defending my words & actions.

And before you detractors & narrow-minded opinionated assholes start to nitpick this paragraph, let me say for the record that I’m in no way, shape or form trying to compare myself to Jesus. All I’m saying is He wasn’t immune to criticism. So I’m not either. As a matter of fact, I accept it & embrace it. Here’s why:

I know who I am & what I stand for. I’m aware of my history, my struggles, along with my triumphs. I’ve been real ALL MY LIFE. And nobody can say any different. They can feel free to try, but more than likely, they’ll be nowhere near the truth. They may think they are, for the reason that they’ve known me for an extended amount of time, although that “fact” means shit. Most of them can’t even name 5 things about me without saying “Uhh….” This right here goes to show you that a person can be around another individual, but won’t know a damn thing about them. Why? Because one individual is so immersed into him/herself, they can really care less to find out about the other persons likes, dislikes, pet peeves, opinions, philosophies & ethics. Nevertheless, they’ll be the first ones to notice the flaws of said individual! And they’ll use that flaw to make asinine assumptions about the individual who they didn’t even give the significance of getting to know. What makes it even worse & insulting is that person who’s talking live from the corridors of their ass actually believe what they’re saying is “right.” Then they got the nerve to accuse you of being sensitive when you subliminally insult them! Like really? I wasn’t supposed to catch up on that?

An opinion is an opinion; therefore I’ll never knock a human being on this earth for having one. Most outlooks are based on sound principles picked up along the journey of life. And much credit is due to the people who stand by what they believe in, regardless of what backlash they face. The only exception is if that opinion is based on one-sided logic & selective senses, along with the reluctance to accept diverse viewpoints, subsequently, this opinion will be tossed in the toilet like a bloody tampon & flushed.

From my experience, I’ve learned that your viewpoint on what someone else has been thru is as valuable as a pair of bootleg Jordans from Canal Street. Unless you been down the same exact path as them, you have no idea how they think, where their state of mind is at & the events in their life that shaped who they are and why they think the way they do. The most you can do is hear them out & do your best as a human to understand the many ingredients that make them whole.

Yes, you can read a person thru their body language, what they say & how they represent themselves. That’s why they say first impressions are the biggest. Cause those impressions can carry thru a whole relationship. I, myself, am very aware of this. However, I don’t put all emphasis on it. I like to get to know a person & have dialogue with them, see how they think & interact with others before I make an astute judgment on them. I’ve been blessed to have an exceedingly low tolerance for bullshit, so I can tell when somebody is trying to put a cloak over my eyes or slip something in my Kool Aid. My gut never steers me wrong (Plus, I know how to read between the lines)!

At the end of the day, we breathe the same air, but in different regions. Some inhale the same, others more or less distinctively. The only thing that separates most of us is how we choose to function on an everyday basis. If you comprehend this, you’re more open-minded than most would be willing to give you credit for. If you don’t, what can I say?

I can only say what I tell my detractors who try to come at me without any idea of who I am & what I been thru:

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The REAL Reason Why The Quality Of Hip Hop Music Has Been Lowered.

Ever since I saw this video on worldstarhiphop.com, I’ve watched it over & over, took mental notes, read the Kerner report in detail & I’ve spread the exact same message that Wise Intelligent spoke about on the current state of hip hop.

So, lemme start this off by presenting a link to the Kerner Report, which was released in 1967.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6545/

This document was a product of the National Advisory Commission created by President Lyndon Johnson, which sole purpose was to find out the cause of civil disorders that were going down in the hood during the summers of the mid-60s. Intelligent Wise doesn’t get into detail on what’s in the Kerner Report, but he states the focal point of the Commission’s findings. And those main points are intricately linked to the social conditions of the post-Civil Rights generation.

All in all, this is the reason why hip hop is in the state it's in.
Watch & listen.
Learn.
And spread the knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV4mhxpaEmk

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: A Definiton Of Black Manhood

This has been taken directly out of the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics by Nathan & Julian Hare. I agree with many of the points brought up in the book & trust, this won't be the last time you see a blog based on their work.

By defining Black Manhood, this gives young brothers an idea of what to strive for to be better boyfriends, husbands, fathers, uncles, and overall upstanding role models in the community.

• Teacher.
• Father.
• Husband.
• Fighter.
• Warrior & Statesman.
• Soft/Strong.
• Patient.
• Understanding.
• Sensitive to Black women's needs & aspirations.
• Realizing that it is not necessary for them to completely absorb themselves into us, but that nothing seperates the communication between us.
• A brother to brothers.
• A brother to sistas.
• A lover of life & all that is beautiful.
• A quiet strength.
• A listener.
• A student.
• A student of peace & war.
• A historian.
• A seeker of truth.
• A challenger of the known & unknown.
• A practical idealist.
• A questioner of the world.
• A direction giver.
• A worker of the first order.
• A builder with vision.
• A builder of the necessary.
• The positioning of oneself so that observation comes before reaction.
• The first to admit that he does not know what he seeks to find out.
• Where emotion is not seen as a weakness.
• Love for self, family, children & extensions of self are beyond the verbal.
• Making our lives accesible to children in meaningful ways.
• Able to recognize the war we are in.
• Doing anything to take care of family so long as it doesn't harm or negativly affect other African-Americans.
• Willing to share resources to the maximum.
• Willing to struggle unrelentingly against the evils of this world, especially evils that directly threaten the race.
• To seek & be that which is just, good & correct.
• Properly positioning oneself in the context of our people.
• One who is able to provide as well as recieve.
• One who develops leadership qualities & demands the same qualities of those who have been chosen to lead.
• One who is able to solicit the best out of self & others.
• One who is constantly growing & learning from mistakes.
• Example of what is to be.
• Maintainer of the I can, I must, I will attitude towards African-American struggle.
• Sees material awards as means towards an end & not an end in themselves.
• Clean-mentally & physically.
• Protector of Black weak.
• One who respects Black elders.
• Culturally sound
• Spiritually in tune with the best of the world.
• Connects land with liberation.
• Always & always in a process of growth and without a doubt cannot be bought.
• A winner.

This is a long list. And with what's listed, one may seem to think that all of these qualities are hard to obtain for one man. Nobody ever said being a black man was easy. Living with a target on your back every day of your existence is a burden which no human being should have to endure, but with very little choosing in the matter, we have no choice but to strive & do our best to lead ourselves out of the position in which we inherited from our forefathers. With us being able to survive as long as we have, with the powers that be in this society bent on our destruction, there is hope for the future. It's just a matter of putting fourth an agenda to follow, working to meet the standards, excced it, and then keeping it as consistent foundation for the betterment of our people.

And once we get to that point where we can postively contribute to the world at large, our focus will go from a racial pespective to a moral one.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: These Damm House Negroes!

So, I was browsing youtube, looking for something to spark my train of thought, and I came across a video audio called "I Am Embarrased By Black People" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Cpj3HApvM). Intrigued by the title, I decided to give it a listen. Now as I was listening to this, a few things came to me. First, his accent. His accent told me that he had to be from the West Indies. And the story he told about the brotha comin' on the train with the mean mug. Homeboy was so terrified of this cat mean muggin', he puts his PSP away! This guy is talkin' about why young men of color always walk around with a hard look on their face? This question is so easy to answer, I'm not even gonna complicate it: New York is known as the Concrete Jungle. The way we move up here is very aggresive & fast, so you gotta be on your Ps & Qs. You see a cat with an ice grill on, so what? Why does it bother you? You think he's tryna "look hard"? You don't know what the next person is goin' thru. Son probably had a bad day. Sometimes you gotta put on the asshole face so people won't test you. Especially in the hood. And there's a chance that the mean muggin' won't work, cause there's gonna be one cat who's gonna try & see if your actions back up that look. It sucks, but that's how it is growin' up in such a dog-eat-dog environment.

And what's even more pitiful is that Homeboy (I'ma call him Shook One) was scared...I understand bein' embarrased, cause we all have that one person in our lives who act or look foolish. But we usually don't shy away from it. We'll be like "That's my (insert title here)...." How can you be scared of another human being who breathes, bleeds & hurt like you? How can you be an Brotherman & be scared of another man? Shook One bein' scared just enforces the stereotype of the "Scary Black Man" that the Anglo-Saxon created...

Then Shook One goes into detail about how he was shoppin' at a discount store, and this young girl (emphasis on the word young) was makin' fun of the fact he was shoppin' at said store...A woman with a walkman who was playin' her music too loud...Wild teens scrappin' at the mall...

I'm not gonna justify each situation, because I know what he's talkin' about & I been in the same situations. Between the shoppin' & those kids scrappin', I expect that from teens in the hood. Give that up to youthful igorance & lack of parenting.
As far as the lady blastin' the music, she's enjoyin' her tunes. Let her be. She's not concerned with what everybody else is doin'. When I'm on the train, I don't give a fuck what everybody else think I look like. I'm in my own zone, iPod in my ears, ice grill on my face. I got my fitted low, my headphones on blast, and I'm rockin' to my music. So I guess I'm an embarrasment to my race, right?

Everybody does have a right to speak their mind & are entitled to an opinion.
But Shook One sounds like a fuckin' idiot.
That's my opinion.

The only thing I got out of his video was he's one of those feet-shuffling negroes who'd easily take the follower's route of talkin' down about his own race, but won't stand up & solve the problems of his community, if called upon to do so. Frontin' like he's down for change, but ain't doin' shit to uplift. I bet he ain't nothin' but good things to say about the other man, but can't find a positive in his own Brotherman...

Seriously, we can do without these types. No matter if they were born here, or emigrated here, they're one of the cancers that's killin' our community!

I'm done...For now.

I'ma House Negro's Worst Nightmare.

Peace & Love to my brothers & sistas who are down for something positive for ALL Afro-Americans, including the niggas. Cause they're our kin, also!

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: You're ALL Appreciated...

I wanna take this time out to wish all the wonderful mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. Much love & respect is given to the mommies out there, who have the hardest job in the world! Your love, sacrifice, hard work & dedication are greatly appreciated. More than a Sunday in May, we need to appreciate your contribution every single day, for you are the rock, the foundation & without you MVP performance, the children wouldn’t….I don’t even wanna talk about what would happen if y’all weren’t around. I love all mothers, because I understand what y’all go thru & the love you give to your children is your greatest asset.

I can’t wait till I get older & become a father, since I know the mother of my child will nurture my seed just like my mother nurtured me.

It’s been almost 15 years since she’s been gone. But she is still with me everyday. Today, it’s the hardest. Wishing she was here so I can tell her how much I love her. She knows. She’s watchin’ over me & James.

And she’s watching the amazing job her sisters (my aunts) have done raising us since she’s been gone. We’ve become fine young men, and for that, we salute them for making your absence seem like you never left…

I’m really not in the mood to open up right now. The heart & the pen starts to feel heavy, which disables my mind from projecting my thoughts. So, I’ma take this time to bow out gracefully & reflect on Momma, mommies all over the world & appreciate the underestimated contribution that women make on a daily basis.

Peace & Love….