BLACK PEOPLE CAN'T - Guest Poet Aina Ifetayo Oyewole-Williams

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

I was going through my posts on FB and almost missed this.  I read it and re-read it and decided to share it.  I looked at who the author was to make sure I gave credit for such a powerful, insightful work and, lo and behold, it's written by Aina Ifetayo Oyewole-Williams,  the daughter of my brother/friend, Abiodun Oyewule!!! I haven't seen her since she was 15 years old.  She and my son both attended high school together.  I shouldn't be surprised, she has the DNA of a genius, her dad, Abiodun Oyewule - founder of the LAST POETS,  who have been speaking truth to power for over 50 years!! 

Sharing it so it can be shared - 

Congratulations and kudos Aina - this is so beautifully done.
Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Aina Ifetayo Oyewole-Williams

5 hrs ·

Black people are so tired. 😓 💔😢
We can’t go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
We can’t relax in the comfort of our own homes (#BothemJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
We can't ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
We can't have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
We can't leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
We can't play loud music (#JordanDavis).
We can’t sell CD's (#AltonSterling).
We can’t sleep (#AiyanaJones)
We can’t walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
We can’t play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
We can’t go to church (#Charleston9).
We can’t walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
We can’t hold a hair brush while leaving our own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
We can’t party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
We can’t get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
We can’t lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
We can't break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
We can’t shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
We can’t have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
We can’t read a book in our own car (#KeithScott).
We can’t be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
We can’t decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
We can’t ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
We can’t cash our check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
We can’t take out our wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
We can’t run (#WalterScott).
We can’t breathe (#EricGarner).
We can’t live (#FreddieGray).
We’re tired.
Tired of making hashtags.
Tired of trying to convince you that our #BlackLivesMatter too.
Tired of dying.
Tired.
Tired.
Tired.
So very tired.

FaceBook Comments

• 

  Shweta Shah I’m so sorry this country is failing an entire demographic of people due to the levels of melanin in their bodies. Seriously. It’s just so sad.

  
  

  • 
    

-1:15

Michelle van Naerssen

💔

Carol Maurer We are s country that drops charges for a shire person that plead guilty and we kill innocent persons of color. We are an embarrassment- just shameful!

Brenda Anderson Do you mind if I share your copy and pasted post?

Aina Ifetayo Oyewole-Williams replied

  ·  1 Reply   3h

Shakur Afrikanus Great research Abiodun Beloved Daughter.love you black to eternal life

Tyronne Robbs Well told

Donald Brown Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired . Sister Fannie Lou Hammer

Jake Weber Damn, it ain’t right. I’ll work on things to make it righter

Sam Benjamin Daly Can't make a quarter selling a 'loose' cigarette.
(they took our identity)
Jesus is our ROCK...and you are David... now in 2020 with Clear Vision we know we're from the Lost tribes of Israel and therefore we can defeat any Giant!!!!!

NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

 Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

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Guest Post: Congressman Bobby Rush - We Can't Breathe - T-rump's EPA suffocating Black America

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

 I just received this press release from Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois.  It's dealing with the evisceration of the environmental protection agency by T-rump. 

ICYMI Rep. Rush Op-Ed – We can’t breathe: Trump’s EPA is slowly suffocating Black America

May 4, 2020 The Grio We can’t breathe: Trump’s EPA is slowly suffocating Black America OPINION: Rep. Bobby Rush calls out the administration for not enforcing pollution and clean air regulations that disproportionately harm African Americans May 1, 2020 By: Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) In 2017, Eric Garner cried three words eleven times before being choked to death by a New York City police officer: “I can’t breathe.” Garner’s tragic plea shook the heart of the nation with a strong blow to the Black community, and “I can’t breathe” became the battle cry of a historic movement for equal rights and protection under the law.  Today, “I can’t breathe” continues to reflect a crisis afflicting millions of African Americans, but not for the reasons you may expect. Unlike the countless acts of police brutality and other forms of racial injustice that make the nightly news, there is a silent injustice harming the very lives of millions of African Americans. Slow and seemingly invisible, toxic air pollution is wreaking havoc on communities of color at an alarming rate relative to white communities. Even worse, the Trump Administration has not only known and sat on this fact for two years, but it has exacerbated this crisis substantially. In 2018, scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a robust study outlining the startling connection between the air we breathe and the color of our skin. The study found that non-Whites had a 28 percent higher health burden from particulate matter air pollution and African Americans alone had a shocking 54 percent higher burden than the overall population.   To put it simply, minorities, especially Black Americans, are being exposed to higher levels of dangerous air pollution, and the consequences are lethal.  A quick visit to the EPA’s own website outlines the poisonous penalties:  premature death in people with heart or lung disease nonfatal heart attacks irregular heartbeat aggravated asthma decreased lung function increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing. Despite the EPA’s own findings on air pollution’s disproportionate health effect on communities of color, the Trump-led agency charged with protecting human and environmental health has recently used the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic to impose a freeze on enforcing pollution and clean air regulations. Moreover, the agency has already rolled back nearly 100 environmental regulations, of which a quarter dismantle much-needed air pollution and emission regulations. Either EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and this administration are intentionally trying to suffocate Black and minority groups, or they are callously insensitive to our basic needs.  This apparent indifference to the health of Black Americans becomes even more alarming considering the recent correlation discovered between air pollution and COVID-19 mortality rates. In a recently released Harvard University study, researchers concluded that COVID-19 patients in areas with high air pollution levels have a greater likelihood of dying from the illness.    EPA’s chosen response has been to continue to indefinitely cease enforcement actions and allow companies to monitor their own behavior, a likely free-for-all for America’s corporations and factories to emit pollution as much as they want.  When called out by myself and 83 House Democrats for their inability to protect Black, Brown, and low-income communities, EPA answered in the typical way we have come to expect from this Administration: dismiss the science and obscure the truth.  In the face of a global pandemic that preys upon those with weakened respiratory systems, the EPA must end its self-imposed and indefinite moratorium on environmental regulation.  Failure to do so could potentially exacerbate the deadly consequences of a virus that is already devastating to the Black community.  The swift suffocation of Eric Garner was met with appropriate outrage and Americans across the country demanded justice for his needless death. However, when faced with the slow suffocation of the Black community at large, brought on by disproportionate air quality standards and worsened by an administration that isn’t doing anything about it, we are largely silent.  We cannot wait for this administration to do the right thing. We must demand it, and we must demand it now.  Rep. Bobby L. Rush is a Democrat representing Illinois’ 1st District. He is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, and sits on the Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. ###

Rush.House.Gov | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Flickr

Jeremy M. Edwards

Communications Director

Congressman Bobby L. Rush (IL-01)

202.705.6697

   

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Gwen Carr, Mom of Eric Garner pens book: THIS STOPS TODAY

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

You may remember the tragedy of the murder by police of brother Eric Garner - who was choked to death by NYPD for vending on the streets.  His Mom, Gwen Carr has penned a book on the tragedy and the travesty of a feckless judicial system and abuse of power via the police department, as she seeks justice after the death of her son.

Not only is this an important read, taking you inside her life and her strength, it is an opportunity to meet this valiant mother in person and hear her story first hand.  

I am advocating for Ms. Carr and other Mothers of Black Sons who were tragically killed or who have had brushes with death or brutality at the hands of a racist society.  

The information on how to purchase the book, THIS STOPS TODAY, and how to engage Ms. Carr to speak with your church, civic organization, Sorority, or other group is below.

If we don't tell our own stories, and if we don't listen to them, then we have no right to expect anyone else to respect or care for who and what we are or have been through.

Buy the Book

A Moving Account of A Son’s Tragic Death by one of the Mothers of the Movement

THIS STOPS TODAY

After the death of her son, Eric Garner, at the hands of New York City police officers on Staten Island went viral, Gwen Carr’s life changed forever. The illegal chokehold that took Garner’s life has been seared into the public consciousness forever as the large black man struggled to breathe while a white policeman held him down on a hot concrete sidewalk. His death set the tone for a new normal where young black men and women now automatically document police interactions with their cell phones for fear of brutality and even death. As one of the Mothers of the Movement, Gwen Carr, a retired transit train operator, now dedicates her time to fighting for racial equality, especially the way law enforcement treats blacks in the United States.

In This Stops Today, Carr shares the tragedies she’s faced, recalls her son’s life and death, and recounts her newfound role as an activist in the fight for racial equality. More than the story of a single moment, her book recounts a life of family, community, and of a woman who now speaks for those who no longer can. She has to do it for her firstborn. She has to do it for Eric.

With a moving foreword by Hillary Clinton.

For information on booking Gwen Carr for book appearances or interviews, Contact:

Diane S. Nine, Esq.

President

Nine Speakers, Inc.

A Full Service Entertainment Agency

Ninespeakers@usa.net

@DaisyCatNine (our tweetingCat)

www.ninespeakers.com

NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria

EMERGENCY EVENT ALERT! Friday, July 17, 2015 Vigil for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin in Brooklyn & Manhattan

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:
 

Having just returned from the 4-day NAACP Convention, where topmost on their minds was the subject of Criminal Justice; and having heard both President Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch detail their concerns about and reforms for the broken criminal justice system in this country, I consider this upcoming vigil orchestrated by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network, HIGH PRIORITY for us all!  

And, if you cannot be there physically, make it your business to stop whatever you are doing, where ever you are, and take time to meditate on justice for us and the families who've had their sons and daughters so tragically snatched away from them at the hands of violence. 

FROM:  <Membership@nationalactionnetwork.net> 

Tomorrow: Vigil for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin,  Tamir Rice. 

ERIC GARNER

National Action Network, mothers of police killing victims and the Garner, McFadden and Fulton families 

ERIC GARNER DIED AT THE HANDS OF NYPD FOR SELLING 3 LOOSIE CIGARETTES!

 One Year since the police chokehold death of Eric Garner, no federal charges have been filed against the officer who killed Mr. Garner in Staten Island; the Garner family has yet to see justice. Tomorrow, President and founder of National Action Network (NAN), Reverend Al Sharpton, and the families of the victims will lead vigils for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and others killed.

TAMIR RICE GUNNED DOWN FOR HAVING A TOY GUN

TRAYVON MARTIN KILLED BY A MANIAC

MICHAEL BROWN PUMPED FULL OF BULLETS FOR JAY WALKING

THE REV. AL SHARPTON ALWAYS IN THE FOREFRONT AGAINST INJUSTICES TOWARDS BLACK PEOPLE

 

The Family of police chokehold victim Eric Garner, including Gwen Carr, his mother, his children and wife Esaw Garner; the mothers of national police-killing cases Sybrina Fulton (Trayvon Martin), Lesley McFadden (Michael Brown), National Action Network (NAN) and more

Friday, July 17, 2015

7:30 p.m.

The Mothers and families of police killing victims Gwen Carr, Leslie McFadden, Sybrina Fulton and others

7:30 p.m.

Vigil for Eric Garner hosted by the family of Eric Garner

WHAT:  Vigil for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin hosted by the Garner, McFadden and Fulton families

WHERE:

House of the Lord Church

415 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

And

Caanan Baptist Church of Christ

116^th and Lenox, Harlem, NY

Paid for by National Action Network

106 w. 145th street
New York, NY 10039

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Now that you know, what are YOU going to do about it?

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

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