Inspiration: it doesn't just happen to be MLK day

A well-intentioned friend said to me, "That's just you. You were going in a political direction." He's right; I am a politicized person. But-- as I explained to him-- I do not just happen to be political. I looked around to see what was happening and decided I refuse to be part of the problem. That was the beginning, not the end.

Likewise, today doesn't just happen to be Martin Luther King, Jr's day of commemoration. This day came hard fought-- in more ways than one. Simply because everyday is a day for work and maintaining/celebrating/living memory, it did not just happen that that is the case. It begins with focused effort, but it does not end there.



crowns and garlands

Make a garland of Leontynes and Lenas
And hang it about your neck
Like a lei.
Make a crown of Sammy, Sidneys, Harrys,
Plus Cassius Mohammed Ali Clay.
Put their laurels on your brow
Today--
Then before you can walk
To the neighborhood corner,
Watch them droop, wilt, fade
Away.
Though worn in glory on my head,
They do not last a day--
Not one--
Nor take the place of meat or bread
Or rent that I must pay.
Great names for crowns and garlands!
Yeah!
I love Ralph Bunche---
But I can't eat him for lunch.

-Langston Hughes



Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children. . .

For the revolutionary intellectual in us all, check out Amilcar Cabral's essay "Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories". Cabral's work in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde makes his writing an inspiring example of praxis.