Walk to That Power
By Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney©13
“We do not become storytellers…
We came to tell the stories
We & our ancestors who actually live...
Some of us are still catching up to our stories.
We do not become artists we came as artists…
We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.
We do not become writers…
Dancers…
Helpers…
Peacemakers…
We came as such…
We are”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Bricklayers, masons, housekeepers, ditch diggers, bakers, homemakers, movers & shakers, janitors carpenters, plumbers, caretakers, sanitation workers, cooks, waitress, dishwashers, bell hops, taxi drivers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs, entrepreneurs, professors, visionaries…
Yes even a President.
Walk to our power….
There is still enough largeness in us…
That knows/believes/aspired/can/did/will rock the world.
Who still sees a rainbow as a promise...?
A hope for…That will not be broken.
Walk to that power.
There’s still enough of the bigness in us...
To know there is so much more we can do.
Even the ones who others say we’re invisible…
The grey hairs, troubled knees, canes, bad feet hardly hear, vision blurring…
To the rest of the who let me tell you something…
We are.
There’s still enough of the vibe in us
Those who can Harlem Shake and Harlem Shuffle with a Beyonce
Dine on the Black eye Peas/Mills Brothers/Jimi Hendrix all in the same breath
And still walk in our power
With nothing to prove, speaking truth to peace.
We have so many that flooded the gates
That implored…
Explore
And floored you with their fierceness…
Their determination…
And while some of them did not live to see the fruits of their efforts.
Those of us who are the storytellers…
The dream catchers…
The visionaries…
Have kept your deeds alive, recording & stored it
Right beyond their left eye
It is easy to remember if you never forgot
And will sing those songs even when no one I paying attention
Singing your name in to the stratosphere...
That will carry your name far beyond the galaxies...
Black my story
Not his story
But my story
The Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington’s, Benjamin Hooks, Paul Roberson, Serena Williams, Condoleezza Rice, Martin, Malcolm & John
Drs, Ben Carson, Maya Angelou, Johnnetta B. Cole, Linda Brown
Oprah,
Hannibal, Kunta Kinte and Shaka Zulu...
A Woman called Moses,
And speaking words to truth while on her Sojourner (ain’t I a woman)?
Yes, George Benson, George Foreman, Chicken George, his mama Kizzy…
And George Fraser because success runs in our race!
Beverly Guy Shetfall, Frankie Beverly
MahaliaJackson, Harriet Powers, the Greensboro 4 and the Bennett Belles!
Rear Admiral Michelle Hawkins and General Colin Powell...
The Buffalo soldiers & the Tuskegee Airmen
We will not forget Rosewood, Tulsa, Chicago, the Jena 6 Emmett Till or Trayvon Martin
Thurgood Marshall, Anita Hill or even Clarence Thomas
(Hoping that he’ll find his way)…
Ruby Dee, Ruby Bridges and Tina Turner (rolling down the river)
Before the was Beyonce’ there was Eartha Kitt
Josephine Baker,
Etta, James, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Bailey thrown in for good measure.
Denzel Washington, Booker T Washington, Cory Booker
And yes Booker T & the MG’s.
Bill Withers, Bill Bojangles Robinson, Bill Cosby, Billy Eckstine, Billy Dee, Bill Stewart…
Billye Holiday singing of Strange Fruits
Nat King Cole & Nat Turner
Carol Bebelle, Patti Labelle & the Shirelles
Queenie, the Queen of Sheba and Queen Latifah
The Kings’ B.B, Martin Luther, Arianne King-Corner along with a Prince
In all his purple reign.
Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson
Alice Walker, Toni Morrison Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez…
Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney & Phyllis Wheatley
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…
That all men (and women) are created equal…
And they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.
Those among these rights are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”
Oui nous pouvons…
( Oh yes we can) …
Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th Potus…
They said it couldn’t be done…
But did it anyway
We walk to a power that defies all logic…
On so many, so, so many that they cannot all be named…
Yes some of us are still catching up to what we are.
But the storytellers know we are truly a wonderful work in progress
As we stand up to our power.
All rights reservedJHM2-22-13©
