My brother became a super hero this week.
As he eloquently stated at the end of his message, a little boy made it from Woodrow Wilson and Elmhurst to the pulpit at Triumph Church.
Rewind 15 years and you’ll see that same boy shuffling his feet like James Brown singing “I Have a Testimony.” He did more than sing the solo, he prophesied into his life. Yet to reach puberty, in a high pitch he sang, “I have a testimony, God made me whole…” The choir agreed in harmony.
He preached his first message as an associate minister at a 12,000 member church on its South campus about using what you already have to get where you need to go.
Real super heroes are the ordinary people who grow up in ghettos and soar above expectations. Capes are dingy sheets wrapped around 9-year-old neck that one day could be his rap sheet or his reminder that the things behind you propel you into tomorrow.
Walking down Hubbell from the park we used to race to on the way to school chatting he reminded me that it was his desire to pastor a church one day.
Watching him in the pulpit I say him prepping to one day fly.
I‘ve always believed that when you feed your passion you will never be hungry. He inspired me to go back to the project I started a about a year ago, daily writing, until I write my first book.
I have always competed with my brother, because I’ve always been more athletic, good looking, (He is shaking his head and disagreeing right now), and intelligent.
But today, I am more proud.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Big Timing
Check me out on BLAC Detroit's website.
http://www.blacdetroit.com/BLAC-Detroit/May-2011/A-Former-Foster-Care-Child-Speaks-Out/
http://www.blacdetroit.com/BLAC-Detroit/May-2011/A-Former-Foster-Care-Child-Speaks-Out/
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Patience
The window was open in the ballroom. Tickling the necks of onlookers, the breeze pushed her hair off her face.
As Prince Charming danced with his suitor, all of a sudden, the room stopped.
Unlocking the phony bond made between stranger’s hands, he let go of his suitor, and approaches his destiny.
“Dance with me,” he whispers in her ear.
They float. Snares and base drums were no match for the intensity their hearts. They dance.
“Kiss me?” he asked, “Midnight,” she replied.
When the song ended, he asked her name, “Cinderella,” she answered in a soft, yet matured, sound. “Cinderella, hunh? Sounds like we belong together.”
She giggled, and they talked for hours. Glancing down at her feet he saw clear slippers. Reminded of a story he heard his whole life, he asked, “Are you really thee Cinderella?”
Hope filled his eyes while he waited for her reply. “I…” she says, “Stop.” he interrupts her. He already knew, he had dreamed about this moment.
Running over to his father he expressed his joy. “Father, I know it is her, please tell me, am I right?”
“Yes.” answers the King, “But you have to make it through the end of the night.”
At the top of the steps entered another. Housing the grace of a horse past its prime, Prince Charming saw something different.
11:55. He wanted to get to know her. They talked.
11:56, 11:57, 11:58, 11:59.
Cinderella sat, looked on, still content. Another called her by her name, “Cinderella, kiss me.”
Midnight.
Hearing the loud interruption. The prince made haste to his feet. Dashing back to the place her left her, frantic, screaming for her. “Cinderella! Cinderella! I came back.”
Shocked, looking on in dismay, with another, Cinderella faded away.
Walking over to his son, the King asked, “How does it feel to know you had Cinderella, but could not wait until the end of the ball?”
As Prince Charming danced with his suitor, all of a sudden, the room stopped.
Unlocking the phony bond made between stranger’s hands, he let go of his suitor, and approaches his destiny.
“Dance with me,” he whispers in her ear.
They float. Snares and base drums were no match for the intensity their hearts. They dance.
“Kiss me?” he asked, “Midnight,” she replied.
When the song ended, he asked her name, “Cinderella,” she answered in a soft, yet matured, sound. “Cinderella, hunh? Sounds like we belong together.”
She giggled, and they talked for hours. Glancing down at her feet he saw clear slippers. Reminded of a story he heard his whole life, he asked, “Are you really thee Cinderella?”
Hope filled his eyes while he waited for her reply. “I…” she says, “Stop.” he interrupts her. He already knew, he had dreamed about this moment.
Running over to his father he expressed his joy. “Father, I know it is her, please tell me, am I right?”
“Yes.” answers the King, “But you have to make it through the end of the night.”
At the top of the steps entered another. Housing the grace of a horse past its prime, Prince Charming saw something different.
11:55. He wanted to get to know her. They talked.
11:56, 11:57, 11:58, 11:59.
Cinderella sat, looked on, still content. Another called her by her name, “Cinderella, kiss me.”
Midnight.
Hearing the loud interruption. The prince made haste to his feet. Dashing back to the place her left her, frantic, screaming for her. “Cinderella! Cinderella! I came back.”
Shocked, looking on in dismay, with another, Cinderella faded away.
Walking over to his son, the King asked, “How does it feel to know you had Cinderella, but could not wait until the end of the ball?”
Monday, April 4, 2011
I am...
Little girl is what they'll call you. But it is a woman who will respond.
Who gave a man a right to force a little girl to grow up? Remember, puberty won't let you keep believing in fairy tales, and once you realize that the boogie man is a man too, you're more afraid of the man than the boogie.
Sexual abuse involves two people whose lives will never be the same. The victim will always wonder what they did wrong. Was I too pretty? Did I smile too much? Should I have been like my sisters? He didn't do it to them.
What do you tell her, or him, to make them see past a momentary physical pain that torments, stalks and weighs on your heart, emotions and self-worth for what seems like forever.
You tell them to forgive.
What do you tell him, or her, who found themselves so weak, they they needed power of a child's body to validate their lack of self-worth. Searching for what they feel entitled to, they take control. In that ephemeral moment, they is no conscience, only desire followed by demise.
What do you tell him when he looks to another to find love and finds out that she felt the victimization of his lowest moment.
You tell him to forgive.
People who have forgiven themselves for their mistakes do not carry the burdens of what they've done. They are testaments that you can change your life.
You are not sexually abused, you were sexually abused. Then you were a victim today you are a victor.
And you are not a sexual abuser. That suggests that is all you are, and ever will be. Remind yourself of who you really are, outside of a moment when you were weak.
My attempt is not to take up for anyone who has sexually abused someone. I know that its pains are many. I am hoping that we will stop labeling people as they worst thing they have done
Who gave a man a right to force a little girl to grow up? Remember, puberty won't let you keep believing in fairy tales, and once you realize that the boogie man is a man too, you're more afraid of the man than the boogie.
Sexual abuse involves two people whose lives will never be the same. The victim will always wonder what they did wrong. Was I too pretty? Did I smile too much? Should I have been like my sisters? He didn't do it to them.
What do you tell her, or him, to make them see past a momentary physical pain that torments, stalks and weighs on your heart, emotions and self-worth for what seems like forever.
You tell them to forgive.
What do you tell him, or her, who found themselves so weak, they they needed power of a child's body to validate their lack of self-worth. Searching for what they feel entitled to, they take control. In that ephemeral moment, they is no conscience, only desire followed by demise.
What do you tell him when he looks to another to find love and finds out that she felt the victimization of his lowest moment.
You tell him to forgive.
People who have forgiven themselves for their mistakes do not carry the burdens of what they've done. They are testaments that you can change your life.
You are not sexually abused, you were sexually abused. Then you were a victim today you are a victor.
And you are not a sexual abuser. That suggests that is all you are, and ever will be. Remind yourself of who you really are, outside of a moment when you were weak.
My attempt is not to take up for anyone who has sexually abused someone. I know that its pains are many. I am hoping that we will stop labeling people as they worst thing they have done
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Blame Game
“Who else is gonna hire a man who went to jail for killing somebody; somebody you have to call to wake and pick up…nobody” J
Systems are not designed to fix the problems they create. So you create a new system to fix the old one. The lineage goes something like this:
The State begat the education system
The education system begat the jail system and GED programs
The jail system begat the prison system which had twins, welfare and child support
You could contest that order, and I could rearrange it but family is family and they all carry the same legacy: failing urban communities.
At the forefront of every media outlet is the failing school system. It’s supposed to prepare students for their next step in life, whether it’s further education or work. If they don’t get an adequate education life forces them to move on to the next step, unprepared.
So when Ray Ray and Nique Nique apply for jobs and school and are unsuccessful we blame them. In reality fault lies with a system that was designed to fail them. (Yes parenting and self-motivation play a part in this. We all know someone who overcame a bad public school education, but that’s why we call them overcomers.) When they have no money and nothing to do they run around committing petty crimes and conceiving kids who will be born into the same system.
The jail system and GED programs which are supposed to rehabilitate, teach lessons and provide second chances don’t. The teachers who work in GED programs are mostly retired public school teachers who came from the same system who failed these people in the beginning. They are trained to teach 12-year-old 7th graders not 30-year-old 7th graders.
If the State would have done its job the first time the Department of Human Services wouldn’t be overflowing.
It’s amazing that Michigan has such deep budget problems. If you spend the bulk of your money re-correcting the school system’s wrong you don’t have the money to fix it.
But states like Massachusetts and Connecticut are known for having great school systems and the largest populations of affluent resident.
It’s an old principle, if you get it right the first time you never have to do it again. Does this mean I’m saying if the state created a better educational system we could eliminate crime, not one hundred percent, but it’d be a heck a lot less.
I read it in Mrs. Swayne’s classroom when I was in the 6th grade on a red and yellow poster: Education is the key to life. Which makes lack of education….
Systems are not designed to fix the problems they create. So you create a new system to fix the old one. The lineage goes something like this:
The State begat the education system
The education system begat the jail system and GED programs
The jail system begat the prison system which had twins, welfare and child support
You could contest that order, and I could rearrange it but family is family and they all carry the same legacy: failing urban communities.
At the forefront of every media outlet is the failing school system. It’s supposed to prepare students for their next step in life, whether it’s further education or work. If they don’t get an adequate education life forces them to move on to the next step, unprepared.
So when Ray Ray and Nique Nique apply for jobs and school and are unsuccessful we blame them. In reality fault lies with a system that was designed to fail them. (Yes parenting and self-motivation play a part in this. We all know someone who overcame a bad public school education, but that’s why we call them overcomers.) When they have no money and nothing to do they run around committing petty crimes and conceiving kids who will be born into the same system.
The jail system and GED programs which are supposed to rehabilitate, teach lessons and provide second chances don’t. The teachers who work in GED programs are mostly retired public school teachers who came from the same system who failed these people in the beginning. They are trained to teach 12-year-old 7th graders not 30-year-old 7th graders.
If the State would have done its job the first time the Department of Human Services wouldn’t be overflowing.
It’s amazing that Michigan has such deep budget problems. If you spend the bulk of your money re-correcting the school system’s wrong you don’t have the money to fix it.
But states like Massachusetts and Connecticut are known for having great school systems and the largest populations of affluent resident.
It’s an old principle, if you get it right the first time you never have to do it again. Does this mean I’m saying if the state created a better educational system we could eliminate crime, not one hundred percent, but it’d be a heck a lot less.
I read it in Mrs. Swayne’s classroom when I was in the 6th grade on a red and yellow poster: Education is the key to life. Which makes lack of education….
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