Articles....
 The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised -- Thoughts on the Election
Last night, I had a
dream. In the dream, I was visiting my mother in a foreign
land, her home, where she lived. In the dream, I found my
thoughts and words were somehow heard from behind the closed
doors and windows of her house. This country where she lived
was one you had to conform, you had to think as they thought,
you had to live as they lived and somehow, I drew attention to
my mother’s house by my thoughts. At one point in the dream, a
helicopter swooped down near her home and flew, very slowly,
past her window. My mother said “they heard you.” I was
astonished that my thoughts could be heard not only from outside
my body, but from within her home. I felt a foreboding feeling
envelop me – this is not freedom, I thought, this is
oppression. Just because someone has feelings that oppose the
current system should not be cause for attack. I awoke wanting
to leave my mother’s house and her country.
I awoke a couple of hours
after going to sleep because it was meant for me to remember
this dream. It was also important for me to remember the
feelings of oppression. Then I thought to myself “that was
Christine, she wants me to remember this dream.”
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Sen. Tom
Daschle, D-South Dakota, said President Bush "had some
coattails."
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Just before settling in
for sleep, I was petting my little “Diva Dawg” and telling her
how much I missed “the other mommie.” Because the feeling came
from such a deep place within my soul, I knew to expect
something. When the soul leaves the body at sleep, it goes
places only God knows where. Mine, somehow, embarked on and
landed in a place of truth – my truth. It was time to go and do
and say those things I’ve wanted to go, and do, and say. I
realized it was time to come out of my self-imposed exile.
Christine always said I needed to “write that down” when she
heard me tell stories of fiction from off the top of my head, or
when I expressed my feelings on the human condition. Well, I
guess it’s time because no longer can I contain my thoughts and
feelings within my head or home.
I did my last performance
and poetry reading in 1978. In or around 1974-75, coming from a
place where Black men called Black women sister and the Black
women called the Black man brother, the language of respect
turned to something else – instead of sister, she became “my
bitch” and instead of brother, he became “my nigger.” From Black
Power, where the images to emulate were strong Black men and
women, the new image to emulate was a pimp, a prostitute, or a
drug dealer. Today, nothing has changed. Our pride has hit
rock bottom and respect for one another has been thrown out baby
first, then bathwater. In 1978, I sat down and was silent.
Last night’s election
results were horrible. The sleeping giant was found, curled in
a fetal position, sucking on his or her thumb and fast asleep.
We did not vote. In my polling place, I was surprised to find
the place empty. The folks who did show up while I was there
were those who probably marched with Dr. King – the older Black
man and woman. I looked towards the young and asked “where were
you? I did not see you at the polling place.” Their reply was
“my vote doesn’t count,” “I didn’t have time,” or “they don’t
speak for the young people so why vote?” Oh, I will grant you
there have been times when I wondered did my vote count or was
it thrown out. Coming from Chicago, I know what it’s like to
have my vote stolen or misrepresented. But, I will go to vote
if it serves no other purpose than to show, collectively and
individually, we have power and our power should never be taken
lightly.
I rose this morning to
turn on my television and find the war mongers and gang bangers
of politics won yesterday’s election and now they have control
of both the House and the Senate. The sleeping giant needs to
pull the finger from its mouth and rise. Our supposed democracy
was established to provide a system of checks and balances –
where are those checks and balances now? We will soon find our
absence at the polls yesterday has placed us upon a slippery
slope to the future – a slope where we will find ourselves
taking a more defensive stance than offensive. As the “War on
Terrorism” mounts to insult the collective consciousness of the
world, our rights, as we know them, will be whittled away, piece
by piece. Will the sleeping giant continue in its slumber?
I am very angry, that is
why I have opened my mouth to insert foot today. “Weapons of
Mass Destruction” were dropped on the people of Afghanistan.
500 and 1000 ton bombs, equipped with parachutes, were dropped
from airplanes, which allowed our planes to get out of the way
but not the innocent. We, this country, manufactured those
weapons of mass destruction and yet we seek to go after the
President and the people of Iraq because we purport they are
developing weapons of mass destruction. We funded their
endeavor; we gave them the credits to do so, as we funded both
Iran and Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. We were on both sides of
the conflict. Collateral damage is too fast becoming the catch
phrase of the day and don’t think we, in this country, won’t be
considered collateral damage as well.
Yes Christine, you are
right. I need to get up and say something because my thoughts
have permeated the walls of my home. If I don’t rise and say
something, this country will soon become a foreign land to me.
The freedoms my forefathers fought and died for my benefit, will
be taken away and my mother’s home, this land, will soon become
like other foreign countries where freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, women’s rights –at least I can sleep with a woman
tonight without being taken out and shot according to law – all
that exists today that is against the thoughts and/or beliefs of
the war mongers and gang bangers of politics will slowly become
non-existent.
Arise sleepy giant, awake
from your slumber – the revolution will not be televised.
   
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