When you hate women, you hate yourself...and can not get BACK TO LOVE!                           ©NEEMA

It’s Going to Be A Good Day…

Sweat profuse out the pores on my skin…I was not even hot, quickly searching on the internet under tags like fasting and sweat-I found out that sweating can be a sign of danger. This was only my second day on water as my only consumption to renew me spiritually, emotionally, politically, and physically. I registered the warning signs of sweating and quickly took a couple of swigs of spring water to re-liquefy my body and fight off dehydration. Afterwards, I took a light 30 minute walk around the block of my blossoming neighborhood. For the first time, I saw the buds popping off the trees, the green leaves hanging confidently, and the colors of reds, blues, and yellows bursting on the landscaped yards that comes with living in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood-I found the beauty in the little things while listening to Pandora’s India Arie station on my smart phone. Ready to tackle the day, I came home turned on the sizzling water in the bath-it takes a while to get it to the scorching heat that I like…threw my clothes any type of way in my room…stripped and headed towards a shower that was going to hit my body just how I liked it as I adjusted the shower head. At that moment I would have a soapy intimate experience with Dove-while continuing to listen to meaningful R&B artists like Joe, Jill Scott, and Maxwell.

The Fate of Death…

We are all going to die-well at least physically our bodies will deteriorate to a substance similar to dirt. Even if you believe in the process of reincarnation, your body will be destroyed again-in whatever form that you return. Death is still seen as a taboo in the American culture.  We hide it behind plastic surgery, Botox injection, live longer and live stronger ads, but it does not change anything…Your heart will one day stop beating, your limbs will one day crumble, your throat will refuse to swallow.

“They can take a lot from you, but they cannot take your education. You are our future…We are looking for you to go farther than we have gone…” #StreetPreach ©NEEMA

I AM INSUBORDINATE TO PASSIVITY…
By: Osage Dior

Extreme change works for me! In order for me to really transform a habit, a small jump will only have me going back to the diving board. African Americans are the most at risk to obesity. Data collected in 2007 from The Center for the Elimination of Disproportionationality and Disparity, stated that 75.3% of African American adults were overweight or obese. Another study done in 2008 researched the cause of life lost before the age of 65.  African Americans had the highest death rate when it came to diabetes, heart disease, cerobrovascular disease (stroke), and malignant neoplasms (Cancer). All these maladies can be prevented or eased if we as a people can watch what we eat, right? Or is it deeper than that- is America killing us?

Island Colors and Infancy Dreams…
By: Osage Dior

Born to Pamela Jean Lewis and Clarence Benjamin Shields in San Franciso, Brandy would grow to lead an extraordinary life were her creation of art would keep her centered amongst the struggles of the world. Her parents met in Kansas City, Missouri and went to the University of Berkeley California; both were active in the Black Panthers Movement and National Black United Front. Also, they equally became educators. The black conscious child was raised to have a great sense of oneself. During a time were racial oppression and poverty were high in the States, her mother and father decided they couldn’t risk raising a child in America. Selling all they had, leaving everyone they knew behind-they moved to St. Thomas in the Caribbean.

By: Osage Dior

On April 16, 2012-I was working in Douala, Cameroon-just turned 27. I knew that if I left my job at 12:00am in the morning to catch a taxi to get back home-nothing would happen to me. The same day an article was posted discussing four white men who was convicted for beating a black man at a downtown bus stop in Houston around midnight. These men apparently bonded over an iconic white supremacist tattoo they all had and decided to hang some strange fruit #Texasstyle. Using a ploy of, “What time is it…?”, these men gathered around Yondell Johnson at the bus stop and beat him severely.