PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

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I just received the message this evening from a lady I have not spoken to all summer. It is suggested that African Americans boycott Christmas purchases. I always miss the boat. I'm done with my shopping. Before today, I ordered the senior sized edition of the jumbo board and tiles version of SCRABBLE on a turnstyle and have played two games, it got here day before yesterday. I have a coat early - U know the ones with the hood and fur and puffs that trap air and keep out the wind and make you sweat in 30 below zero weather - wore it twice. Christmas is going to be fine. This idea is interesting, a little late, but interesting. With the snow and cold temperatures in Michigan, I am house bound and have not been out for a while. So I play Scrabble and expand my grandson's vocabulary and ability to understand the rules of crossword puzzleness.
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I love a good boycott. The last one I participated in was against Dearborn Mall where security guards beat a black thief to death in the parking lot. We almost shut them down. Denny's Restaurant before that, we were not being served before other customers. Long waits were documented and there were other restaurants in which we could spend our discretionary dollars. Hard lesson to learn for a franchise. I still do not go to Denny's. They have black people in their commercials now, which I find mildly humorous. I hated it because their food was incredibly good. Today, I learned that African American purchasing power is the seventh largest economy in the country. Three percent is statistically valid. 7% sounds a bit high, but okay. I originally thought the stat meant in the world, but that was way off base. I know we are the ultimate consumers, but 7th world wide. Naw. How does one boycott Christmas and not make purchases?
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I would prefer a boycott of fast food franchises. The meat industry would intervene and get justice for all in Ferguson and the message would be a campaign nationwide to not shoot black teens for playing their music too loud, or walking down the street, or being mentally ill in a mall, or while surrendering to the police. Putting people of color in prison as policy is already being politicized and my hope is that real change, not just mild reform, will result from a review of the statistics and the cost to public treasuries. Killing suspects is definitely not the answer.
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So, seems that whether Michael Brown's shooter is indicted or not, the underground railroad will be alive and well regarding boycott information dissemination. Imagine the scene. "No, Sharnita, we did not buy Christmas toys this year. Let me tell you about a boy born in a stable who grew up to be unjustly crucified for our sins. Then let me tell you about a city in Missouri called Ferguson."
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It is a peaceful, meaningful, doable, and high impact form of protest. No marching is involved, no looting, no fires, not deaths (the part I like best), or arrests. Just saving a lot of money not buying the latest X-Box. A lot of kids nation wide NEED TO SKIP a few happy meals. We would be thinner and healthier. So retailers and manufacturers will take a hit, most likely no matter what judgment comes out of the grand jury. A large group of U.S. citizens are unhappy with law enforcement and the judicial system. There were over 40 police shootings in New Mexico in one year. Tweaking the economic system is appealing. Individuals can decide to participate or not.
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The FBI presence has been increased anticipating what? The riot gear is already distributed and the officers know how to peacefully deter citizens with dogs and plastic bullets. Actually, FBI presence gives extra eyes on the process. If judicial malfeasance is observed, there are options that can be taken to bring the dispensers of justice in line with the law. This is one of the functions of our Federal government. Too late for Michael, but maybe, just maybe, greater scrutiny of judicial procedures and law dispensation will be a good thing. Closer scrutiny of judges is long over due. Maybe there will be justice in Ferguson? That's a big maybe. May cooler heads prevail.
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For the last few weeks I have been struggling with how to think of what transpired in Ferguson on August 9, 2014. I have always encouraged people to form groups and go after their dreams. King and Ghandi taught us all what is possible and what can be changed through non-violent protest. We have a lot of problems here in the United States of America. Students are on fire about tuition, border states are up in political arms about the relaxation of deportation of illegal Mexican who have lived her most of their lives. There is gridlock in California ports - too much coming in, too much being exported and not enough capacity (or a union slow down). The middle class is under siege and vanishing, too big to fail companies are operating and thriving. Gun control failed miserably, too hot an issue and constitutionally gun ownership is guaranteed. Taking away the right to bear arms is just impossible. Sorry, but having only the police and the military armed in the U.S. is anathema. They work to protect us. Somebody should remind them of that fact.
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Theories will abound, the jury will be unbiased, history will change course and convict a police officer and send him to prison after he is fired, and the boycott will be off. Merry Christmas will be on the lips of AA's across the world - followed with a high five for justice. How many of you see this as a possible outcome? I am a dreamer. A poet. I see the human condition and I both despair and rejoice and will participate in anyway I can to bring about change. Saving money for a year is something I am willing to do.
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Yes, I started shopping in April for Christmas and have a corner full of boxes that will be wrapped in newspaper this year without bows and the required purchased fancy ribbons and tags. I order seeds and perennial rose bushes and plants at this time of year. I threw away my catalogs. I have one left and it too will go in the recycling bin. There may be a small ceremony over the discarded seed source. I was going to get boots (for the new thermo coat) but last year's gray monsters will be fine. My Social Security will accumulate in my bank account (less health care and diabetic products) in remembrance of Michael Brown, no matter the verdict. A woman's son, a man's son, lies cold under the ground. He is not here smiling and laughing and probably getting into trouble making bad choices as young men do. His parents are deprived of their duty to raise him to manhood, to correct his course, and produce a good citizen. But, he went wrong. He put hands on a clerk and stole a cigarillo.
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I have made arrangements to go to the Mall after Thanksgiving. It will be cancelled tomorrow. Kill a Jewish kid and the weight of the universe will fall on your head. Kill a black kid, well maybe not the universe, but a few stars may crash in a remote backyard. I was saying recently that the rhetoric of the sixties is not in the voices of the black leaders of today. Now, we are rational and educated and more than watchful, we are policy makers and a light for the unbelieving. President Obama will probably not be going to Missouri. If he does, I'll write him a congratulatory letter.
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We understand the meaning of "By any means necessary." If Malcolm X were alive, had not been murdered, he would see his legacy realized. Black people here using their economic power to get justice, and not just for Black people, for all people of color. It has come to this again. And I have tears in my eyes right now because Blacks in the U.S. will suffer more if the economy slows to a crawl. Carl Sandburg wrote a book and title poem called "The People, Yes!" But we are like his fog, on tiny cat feet. When we move on, the landscape and the view will be better, more just. We have been called the conscience of America, we have had centuries to develop that conscience.
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You know me. You know my heart. I have never hidden my beliefs and hopes and dreams and desires. Claude Mckay wrote the poem "If We Must Die". I recommend it highly. Also, Alfred Knoft's "I Am The Darker Brother". Stay away from "Enemies" by Haki Madhubuti. I read a chapter, let it sit on the shelf for about ten years, before I could read it to the end. I eye it with suspicion on my shelf in our extensive Black Literature section of the library and have not cracked it open since (and I read it about 40 years ago). It changed me forever. I will sit one day at the foot of God and we will discuss fear and definitions of enemies and the merits of martyrs, the effectiveness of boycotts of his son's holiday. Anybody seen any pigs flying lately? It is difficult to think clearly about such large issues, but I wrote the above to examine the terrain, to hopefully bring clarity to why things happen to the guilty and the innocent everywhere. - I'm Just Sayin'
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Lady A
Revised: 11-24-14
115p

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