A Little Pat on the Back

Here are some of the things I've done well recently:

I convinced a man to buy my old Honda, even though it had a little smoke coming out of the hood, a bit of rust on the side, and the air conditioner was making a considerable amount of noise. And man oh man, did I need the money!

I successfully drove my daughter to a sitter's house in the pouring rain as my 1986 stick shift Volvo was acting up in a bad way. Then I drove to work, back to the sitters to pick up my daughter, and made it all the way home in a failing car, in the heavy rain.

Even though I'm not technically savvy, I'm grasping the concepts taught in my Final Cut Pro Video Editing class and taking some very meticulous notes. (I also have to say that I have a great teacher.)

I drew two attractive sketches -- one of a penguin and one of a butterfly and some flowers.

I reminded my daughter of the many things that she does well, as she seemed to dwell a bit on some things she doesn't think she does well. (I frequently tell her how proud I am of her. She's a brave and smart little cookie.)

I'll stop here....

A Father Recalls the Death of His Little Girl

This is the anniversary of the horrendous bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young girls -- Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. I heard a report on NPR today that I couldn't finish listening to. The report was titled "Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church," and as the title suggests the father of one of the girls, Denise McNair, was interviewed.

"Do you mind if I ask you about that day?" the reporter asked McNair.
"No, I don't mind," he says quietly.

I can't imagine being able to think about it as a parent, much less talk about it. But this man bravely told what he remembered about that day. He talked about how the four girls were in the morgue, "side by side, on the table."

I don't even want to imagine what that looked like.

McNair and his wife Maxine are the last surviving parents of the girls that were killed in the tragic crime.

To listen to the NPR report, click here.

Here's a bit of what Wikipedia says about the tragedy:

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church served as an organizational headquarters, site of mass meetings and rallying point for blacks protesting widespread institutionalized racism in Birmingham, Alabama and the South. The reverends Fred Shuttlesworth, who was the chief local organizer, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were frequent speakers at the church and led the movement.

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10:22 a.m., they exploded, killing four young girls–Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair–and injuring 22 others. They were there preparing for the church's "Youth Day". A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, white and black, but no city officials.

I Will Not Fear What Man Shall Do

Hebrews 13:5-6 (King James version)

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

And here's the Gullah version that I love so much:

Stay way fom de lob ob money. Mus be sattify wid wa oona got, cause God say, "A ain neba gwine lef ya. A gwine stay wid ya all de time fa hep ya." Dat mek we know fa sho wa we da taak bout wen we say,

"De Lawd de one wa da hep me.
Ain nottin gwine mek me scaid.
Cause ain nobody got mo powa
fa do me bad, ainty?"

Give the People What They Want

It disturbs me that certain people have tried to belittle Barack Obama's Community Organizing experience. It turns out that his ideas about running the country have come directly from his community organizing days. Obama wants the people of the country to take an active role in making positive changes in this country. Community organizers encourage and empower people to come together and help themselves. In tribute to Obama and his activist spirit, I'm reposting this piece that I wrote in the Fall of 2006 after I took a Leadership Workshop at the Nashville Peace and Justice Center. I'm also giving a shout out to my community organizer friends in Nashville, Matt Leber and Megan Macaraeg. Keep on doin' it yall!

The Art of Organizing: Giving Power to the People

Recently I had the privilege of participating in the Nashville Peace and Justice Center’s Leadership Institute. It was an amazing experience and inspired me to become more active in social justice issues. Before I enrolled in the Leadership Institute, I didn’t have the confidence to stand before people and make the following brief speech:

Did you know that across the country prisons often shackle pregnant inmates in labor or chain them to a bed? When a woman is in labor, it helps the process if she can move around, walk or squat. What real danger does a pregnant woman, screaming in pain, cause to anyone? Every woman deserves the right to give birth the way nature intended. Not with her legs shackled together like some wild animal. This practice of shackling and putting chains on pregnant inmates in labor is UNJUST and we need to fight to make it ILLEGAL.

This speech, which takes about one minute to deliver, was my homework for the public speaking portion of the workshop. Actually, I forgot some of the words as I was giving the speech. I looked at the floor and couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say next. But the encouragement that I received during my brief lapse of memory motivated me to gain my composure and finish.

I truly hope I’ll be able to one day say these words to people who can make a difference in the prison system. My anger and frustration with the way all prisoners are oftentimes mistreated was one of my motivations for attending the Institute. I’m also looking forward to working with such groups as the Nashville Homeless Power Project. My friend Matt Leber, who persistently encouraged me to participate in the Leadership Institute training, John Zirker, and the other NHPP organizers, have been tirelessly working to empower Nashville’s homeless community and erase homelessness in Nashville. I hope I live to see the day when all homeless people find and keep safe affordable housing.

When I see homeless people in Nashville, I’m reminded of the homeless family that I saw in New York City shortly after I had moved there. I saw a mother and father with three young children sleeping under dirty blankets at the World Trade Center subway station. I was appalled that whole families were so unprotected and vulnerable in such a harsh environment.

Institute facilitators taught me that the role of community organizers is to challenge people to act on behalf of their common interests. Organizers identify leaders and enhance those leaders’ skills and commitment to their cause. In other words, organizers give people the power to help themselves. Imagine that entire family in New York City visiting their City Council representative and requesting that he or she vote yes for a resolution to build affordable housing clusters for homeless families. Imagine a group of single mothers lobbying their state representative to vote yes on a bill to increase the minimum wage rate in the state.

Organizers can give folks like the homeless, single working mothers, pregnant female inmates, and many others the education, advice, and encouragement to stand up and fight for their rights. This is the work that I’m hoping to accomplish and the Nashville Peace and Justice Center Leadership Institute has given me the tools to send me on my way.

A luta continua.(The struggle continues.)

I Can Sing a Rainbow

I asked my students to answer a series of questions yesterday in class to encourage them to use complete sentences when talking. I asked questions like:

Where were you born?
When did you come to America?
Where do you live?
What language do you speak at home?
(and several other questions)

But some of my students wanted to ask their own questions of each other, like:

What is your dream?
What kind of music do you like?
and
What's your favorite song from childhood?

Here are some of their answers:

I dream about being happy.
I dream of becoming a U.S. citizen.
My dream is to end my life being loyal to Jesus Christ.

I was impressed.

One student asked me to name my favorite song from childhood. I had to think only a few seconds before I remembered this one:

I Can Sing a Rainbow
(by Arthur Hamilton)

Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too!
Listen to your heart,
Listen to your heart,
And sing everything you feel,

I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing along with me!
Red and yellow...

I wish I could sing it for you. It's really cute and touching.

Coney Island: How Sweet It Is

"How Sweet It Is" -- This is what Brooklyn whispers to you as you cross over the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge into the borough. The bridge is named for Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first known European navigator to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River.

This was my first time back in Brooklyn in many years, but Brooklyn is still Brooklyn -- lots of people, densely populated, lots of different languages and colorful people. I love it! My daughter thought it was pretty special too. After we passed the bridge and began to see the buildings and people I said, "There it is babe. There's Brooklyn!" She paused and sighed, "It's beautiful."

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

We headed for our destination -- Coney Island -- a place my daughter has been excited about since she heard about it on one of her favorite children's television programs. Since my parents live only 2 hours from the fabulous City of Rocks as it is also known, I decided to trek on up to Brooklyn from Delaware last Saturday with my little lady.

We had a blast. We rode on many rides, and put our feet in the sand and water. We also tasted a bit of the Coney Island cuisine, which includes Nathan's Famous, Regazzi pizza, and Gino's delicious Italian Ices.

We also got to check out the regal statue of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson by sculptor William Behrends, which was unveileved at KeySpan Park (home of the Brooklyn Cyclones) on November 1, 2005.

The monument consists of two 8-foot-tall bronze figures that stand on a six-sided pedestal inscribed with the following words:

This monument honors Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese: teammates, friends, and men of courage and conviction. Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Reese supported him, and together they made history. In May 1947, on Cincinnati's Crosley Field, Robinson endured racist taunts, jeers, and death threats that would have broken the spirit of a lesser man. Reese, captain of the Brooklyn Dodgers, walked over to his teammate Robinson and stood by his side, silencing the taunts of the crowd. This simple gesture challenged prejudice and created a powerful and enduring friendship.

Ahhhhh, Brooklyn. How lovely you are. We'll be back ...........

You Are What You Do

Here are some wise and helpful quotes from my Dad, Bobby Benjamin:

God gives us choices and we choose what path we go down. You either do it God's way or you do it the way you want to do it.

You are what you do. What you do has already spoken of what you are.

Amen!

Hillary Says Vote Obama for a Taste of Freedom

You can say what you wanna say about Hillary Clinton but she gave a very passionate and moving speech last night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in support of Barack Obama, and in an effort to get her supporters to vote for Obama in November.

She plainly told all Democrats, including her reluctant supporters, to go out and vote for Obama. "Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president," she said. She seemed to be so emphatic about encouraging -- no -- insisting that people vote for Barack that I almost thought she was going to say something like:

"When you get up on Election Day, don't bother to take a shower or brush your teeth. Throw anything on and RUN to the polls. If you don't know how to spell his name, it's B-A-R-A-C-K, O-B-A-M-A. If you need a ride to the polls, Chelsea and I will make sure that you get there. Here's my number. Call me if you need a ride. I'll make sure to get you there so that you can cast this most CRUCIAL vote .... Do I need to repeat anything I've said here tonight?"

I was also genuinely moved by Hillary's references to women's voting rights, her own historical campaign, her concern that we all have access to healthcare and financial security, and her recalling of a fierce abolitionist -- Harriet Tubman.

I could see the visuals when Hillary told the Democrats that we need to follow Harriet Tubman's advice:

On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Please let's keep on going to the polls in November and let's make sure we get the Obama-Biden team in the White House!

Click here to read about Harriet Tubman's life and her struggle to help free the slaves.

Delaware is in the House!

OK, I can hardly believe it. Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph Biden, my boy from Delaware, as his Vice Presidential running mate. Needless to say, I want the Obama-Biden bumper sticker, cup, T-shirt and yard sign (even though I don't have a yard yet).
I've written on Cappuccino Soul before about Biden and his passionate advocacy as a U.S. Senator. This is what I said about him last year:

One image that sticks in my mind about the senator is some television footage that must have been shot in the late 80s when South Africa was still openly practicing its evil apartheid system. Biden spoke on the Senate floor supporting sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid practices and passionately banged on the podium and called for chastisement of the South African evil “racist apartheid regime.” He seemed to be genuinely outraged.

Now, I've read about Biden's Violence Against Women Act and I'm even more impressed with this fella from Delaware (my home state). Let's kick some butt in November Obama and Biden! This country needs you two, more than ever before, to lead us out of the muck.

Here's some info. from Biden's Web site about his Violence Against Women Act:

Senator Biden wrote the ground-breaking Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the 1990s that set the national agenda on criminalizing violence against women and holding batterers truly accountable. It encouraged states to set up coordinated community responses to domestic violence and rape; was the catalyst for passage of hundreds of state laws prohibiting family violence; and provided resources to set up shelters so battered women abused by husbands and boyfriends had a place to go. The law also established the national hotline that over 1.5 million abused women have called for help. By empowering women to make changes in their lives, and by training police and prosecutors to arrest and convict abusive husbands instead of telling them to take a walk around the block, domestic violence is down 50 percent and rape is down 60 percent nationwide.

Each time the Senator renewed the Act –- in 2000 and 2005 -– he pushed for new initiatives. In 2000, the Act was attached to ground-breaking laws on human trafficking –- crimes where over 80% of the victims are women. In 2005, the Violence Against Women Act tackled issues like domestic violence in public housing and treating children witnesses of family violence.

Roses from Russia

I think today was the first time I've ever received roses for my birthday (which is coming up in a few days!). I was pleasantly surprised when one group of my students (mostly from Russia) presented me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses. What a treat! And the card and generous gift card really made my day. They never cease to amaze me. The birthday card says that I am "A Gift from God." If they only knew how heaven-sent they've been to me. I dreamed about them years before I met them. They have been a spiritual blessing.

God is good ..... all the time.