i's all about the opening line, so i had to keep reading: "i was 9 when i met my father."
"Daddy" (his grandfather) was illegitimate too, &he resented his father's lack of interest in him. he believed that he had been born in Savannah in 1907, &later on he chose April 1 as his birthday, in the same way that so many other southern blacks picked out similar birthdays for themselves. (Louis Armstrong chose July 4, 1900)." brokenness begets brokenness /illegitimate (born out of wedlock) // with no roots, who can bloom? with his faith &interest in learning, clarence thomas in his thinking, would break a mold. he speaks of "white liberals" who tried to tear him down as soon as Bush Sr. nominated him to fill Thurgood Marshall's spot on SCOTUS. to this day, people don't consider this highly honorable man as "really black," because he doesn't vote Democrat. it's crazy!! (just like when fellow family members or hispanics don't consider you because you don't know the language /are light skinned). this man only remembers being cold &hungry during childhood &he becomes supreme court justice of the US. "only in America," he writes in memoir.. some eye -opening quotes4 you to enjoy.. -sisters at catholic school taught us that God made all men equal, that blacks were inherently equal to whites &that segregation was morally wrong. -light skinned blacks believed themselves to be superior to their darker brethren; an attitude that struck me as no different than white racism. -the more i read the less inclined i was to conform to cultural standards that blacks imposed on themselves &on one another -how could a black man be truly free if he felt obligated to act a certain way? how is this any different from being forced to live under segregation? i already knew that the rage with which we lived made it hard for us to think straight. but i didn't want to play anymore; iit hadn't improved my life -i had better things to do than be angry. -as a member of a group that has been treated shabbily by the majority in this country, why would you want to give government more power over your life? -disconcerting to watch other people use food stamps to buy whatever they pleased, but i knew our financial problems would someday come to an end, whereas theirs were likely to stay with them (not a good idea to make anyone more dependent on the gov). -working for an attorney general, he found that blacks were responsible for 80% of violent crimes committed against blacks. a hard pill to swallow, but whites not responsible for woes of black on black crimes
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love is not all. -sonnet xxx
e. st. vincent millay 1892-1950 love is not all: it is not meat nor drink. nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; nor yet a floating spar to men that sink &rise &sink &rise &sink again; love can not fill the thickened lung with breath. nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; yet many a man is making friends with death even as i speak, for lack of love alone. it well may be that in a difficult hour, pinned down by pain &moaning for release, or nagged by want past resolution's power, i might be driven to sell your love for peace, or trade the memory of this night for food. it well may be. i do not think i would. i have a dream that my 4 little children will 1 day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream.
i have a dream that 1 day in AL, with its vicious racists; its governor having his lips dripping with words of interposition &nullification, 1 day right there in AL little black boys &black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys &white girls as sisters &brothers. i have a dream today. i have a dream that 1 day every valley shall be exalted every hill &mountain shall be made low. the rough places will be made plain, &the crooked places will be made straight. &the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, &all flesh shall see it together. this is our hope. this is the faith that I go back to the South with. with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. with this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nations into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. with this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free 1 day. this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning. "my country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee i sing. land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring." &if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of NH. let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of NY. let freedom ring from the heightening alleghenies of PA. let freedom ring from snowcapped rockies of CO. let freedom ring from curvaceous slopes of CA. but not only that.. let freedom ring from stone mountain of GA. let freedom ring from lookout mountain of TN. let freedom ring from every hill &molehill of MS, from every mtn side. let freedom ring when we allow freedom to ring -when we let it ring from every city &every hamlet, from every state &every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men &white men, jews &gentiles, protestants &catholics, will be able to join hands &sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, "free at last, free at last, great God Almighty, we are free at last." sometimes hidden from me /in daily custom &in trust /so that i live by you unaware
/ as by the beating of my heart, suddenly you flare in my sight / a wild rose blooming at the edge /of thicket, grace &light where yesterday was only shade, &once again i am blessed, choosing /again what i chose before. |
if you can keep your head , when all about you are losing theirs &blaming.. trust yourself when all men doubt, but make allowance for their doubting too; if you can wait ¬ be tired of waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, &yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise. if you can dream -¬ make dreams your master; think -¬ make thoughts your aim; if you can meet w Triumph &Diaster, &treat those 2 imposters just the same; if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap fro fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken. &stoop &build em up w worn -out tools. if you can make 1 heap of all your winnings &risk it on 1 turn of pitch &toss, &lose, &start again at your beginnings, &never breathe a word about your loss.. if you can talk w crowds &keep your virtue, or walk w Kings -nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you. if all men count w you, but none too much.. Yours is the Earth &everything that's in it, &-which is more -you'll be a Man, my son!
-father's advice to son; Kipling "in order2be able2think you have2risk being offensive."JBP
i am no bird; &no net ensnares me. -charlotte bronte
D.E.A.R. "never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -in nothing, great or small, large or petty -never give in except to convictions of honor &good sense." -w. churchill. 10/28/41
i am not afraid of storms, for i am learning how to sail my ship. -louisa may alcott
nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. persistence &determination alone are omnipotent. -calvin coolidge i am not an extraordinary man, &i am quite ordinary. but God chose me for something quite extraordinary. -a. valladares receives '16 canterbury medal.
not failure, but low aim, is crime -james russell lowell
a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus -mlk jr. (you are all leaders .#experts) it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust &sweat &blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again &again because there is no effort without error &shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best knows in the end the trump of high achievement, &who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold &timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. -theodore roosevelt we are what we repeatedly do. excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -aristotle
no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. -eleanor roosevelt a dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.-gk c.
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