Divided We Are - Willie Lynch

I thought this was the most appropriate time for ALL OF US to re-read, remember and NEVER FORGET, the speech given by Willie Lynch a slave owner who over 300 years ago devised a plan to help keep Black people divided...
 

Gentlemen: I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First , I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the of the colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me in my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest method for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious KING JAMES, whose BIBLE we CHERISH, I saw enough to know that our problem is not unique. While Rome used cords or wood as crosses for standing human bodies along the old highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed, Gentleman,...You know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag, I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years.

 

My method is simple, any member of your family or any OVERSEER can use it. I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use FEAR, DISTRUST, and ENVY for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the SOUTH. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is "AGE" but it is only there because it starts with an "A"; The second is"COLOR" or shade; there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZE OF PLANTATION, ATTITUDE of owner, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, east or west, north, south, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action- but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST, AND ENVY IS STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION.

 

The black slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don't forget you must pitch the old black VS. the young black males, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves VS. the light skin slaves. You must use the female VS the male, and the male VS, the female. You must always have your servants and OVERSEERS distrust all blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Never miss an opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year the slave will remain perpetually distrustful. -WILLIAM LYNCH-1772

 

The letter above is one of the major problems of the African-American race today.  We as a race must start somewhere in learning our problems what better place than the document that started the destruction of our MOST POWERFUL RACE!!! We must do our part and utilize the opportunities we have - VOTE!!!

 

What are your thoughts?

reinventing the woman that I was in my 20's

My birthday is tomorrow and I am almost excited.  I love birthdays - they are a blessing.  Right before my birthday I generally do an inventory of my life and get my goals in order and remind myself of where we have come from.  Not that kind that makes you feel all woe is me but the kind that makes me appreciate His hand over my life. Getting a year older tends to have this affect on me.  Stroll with me a sec.  The reflection is good because there are times when I feel stagnant and complacent but when I look over my life, I feel pretty good about the woman that I am becoming in my 30s oppose to my 20s.

 My 21^st birthday was on a Monday and it was a drunken stupor of a night.  It was my introduction to Jagermeister and I didn’t call Earl – ha.  I graduated from the illustrious Fisk University and thought that I was way grown which I now know is way overrated.  My 25th birthday was spent in Vegas with people that were for a season.  that trip is a bit of blur but there were pictures and I looked as if I had a great time.  It was a good time but all of my 20s were not spent fully in love with me and I took myself through some situations that were not completely healthy or happy.   Looking back I see that they were necessary for me to be broken down for a breakthrough.  Sometimes God takes out of comfort to bring you into contentment.

Somewhere along the way I lost me and thought I wanted and needed to be more than I was.  I was captivated by quantity instead of quality.  I felt that needed to please and be what others thought of me instead of being honest and true to myself.  There were people hurt and somewhat betrayed by the façade that was me but no one more than me.  It was never really about them but about me and it took me a long time to get to that point but I am so grateful that I did.  I grew up and dealt with me directly.  God has such a sense of humor.  I purely, honestly and directly asked Him to show me, me – the good, the bad and the ugly and boy did He.  There were things that I hadn’t truly understood about myself or even noticed to be flawed.   There were issues that I didn’t know were issues.  There were strengths that I believed to be weaknesses and vice versa.  In my broken down state when I felt that my world was over, that moment where everything that had made me be what I thought I wanted to be was stripped away and the multitudes were gone – I saw me and my ways.  The woman that God had not ordained me to be and woman that I couldn’t be proud of regardless of all the accomplishments.  There was just me to deal with and to be honest with and become reacquainted with.  I needed to learn to look in the mirror and like the person who looked back at me.  So I did and it was not easy and there were some very rocky moments but I made it.  I found a place of contentment.  I learned to be honest with who I am and truly striving to be.  I learned that I was pretty damn awesome without all of the foolishness of what others thought or wanted me to be.  I fell in love me.

At 30, I was faced with new challenges and character building experiences that I haven’t completely recovered from.  My daddy died, lost my job and my car.  My stability was rocked but in a complete different direction as before which brought about the same thought provoking self reflection.  I learned that I had a PRIDE issue that almost kept me from helping me help me get though.  Thankfully I had some really good friends in my life at the time (thanks KBCVD).  With all the life changes I moved back to LA filled with a spirit of failure with a side of grief, guilt, sadness, heartbreak and uncertainty.  It’s funny how a proclamation made would smack me in the face.  I never thought that I would move back when I left.  I was surely not the same which wasn’t a bad thing.  It just was.  I didn’t have very much established here and life has a way of going on with or without you around.  My relationships were different while other no longer existed.  Luckily, FB connected me with some restored and recreated friendships.  God will always give you who and what you need with you need.  I am truly grateful for some of these relationships/friendships/associations.

Even though I am no where I would like to be, want to be or thought I should be in my life..  I’m in a good place in my 30s and better than my 20s.  I’m just grateful for where I came from and thankful to where I am going.

31 was my 10^th anniversary celebration of my 21^st birthday, 32 was Birthday Backyard Boogie and 33 will be…. Full of Cocktails and possibly a sipper at my house – possibly.

 

 

FRECKLES' THOUGHT FOR THIS DAY

May 14: A Picture of ME from last year - how have I changed?

Yall not tired of pictures of me yet??? 

Well... honestly, I havent changed all that much from last year but life has changed from last year.  Last year I was very much in love with a wonderful man. The love came into play rather unexpectedly but it was genuinely appreciated.  We also parted ways last year and that crushed me. I love so hard and throughly with all that is in me and when we broke up it was unexpected again.  So yes I was crushed.  I wrote about it a bit [once upon a time he hurt me].  Its amazing how one can feel so many different emotions in a matter of 12 months.  If I have to say what changed with me outside of me finding my MOJO [read about it here].  I am coming into myself again.  I am feeling myself a bit too. 

in this picture I made the headband and the earrings. Just sharing my creativity.

Freckles' Thought For this Day... The only one...

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

Author Unknown

But Very Much Appreciated!

Change

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.

King Whitney Jr

There are so many things changing around me.  Some of it good, some of it bad and some of it is simply just changing.  There are times when I am hopeful that the good will out weight the bad and that the bad is simply a figment of my imagination that will simply change.  Confused?

 

My life has changed a lot within the last year and half.  I moved back to LA from Atlanta which has been more monumental than I give credit on top of my unstable emotions caused by grief.  My father died and that has been more than tough and some days are better than others.  I have not completely found a balance in that change but I do know that guilt and greif is a hell of a mix. I have had several jobs but nothing very steady or completely full time.  I have recognized that my mother is a woman outside of being my mother. My sister had a daughter which is awesome that I was here for my sister and her family.  I reunited with some old friends from high school.  The time difference has impacted some of my most significant friendships and relationships along with all the things that I have been feeling. I have changed and I have not been able to find my new normal or where I fit in. 

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.

Martha Beck, O Magazine, Growing Wings, January 2004

Life goes on with or without you around.  It sounds rather cold but it is true.  Life went on without me in LA and I had built a life for myself in Atlanta.  Both of those lives have changed and moved on with and without me.  I am here now and often just sort of feel that there has been so much change that I cannot seem to catch my breath or seemingly deal with or wonderg if I am dealing the right way.  I guess I am trying to figure out what I am suppose to learn from all the change.

I know that I am not the only one that  has to learn from change or even deal with it.  We live, lose, love and learn. Som I am curious to know the thoughts of others so that I can complete this post. 

What are yout thoughts on change?