by ·Comments Off on Essay: Angela Davis’ Influence

During my sophomore year of high school, relaxers had done the final damage I would allow them to do for the rest of my life. I was finished with the fashion statement of having my hair done by a man with haircare gifts from Olympus. He could make my hair do anything a white girl’s could do, and I was done with those kinds of chemicals period. I began my transition in 2005.

My transitional phase was composed of a few different kinds of weaves. During this period, I fell in love with kinky twists. My senior year was my coming out year (in more ways than one). The Afro came out with a BANG! No one saw it coming, especially with the ferocity that it exuded. That year was a time of self-exploration, meaning us-exploration. The first time I was told I looked like Angela Davis was that year. I had to find out who she was. I dig-dugged my way through all kinds of information from home, academic, and government perspectives. I gained inspiration, a new outlook on life, refined goals…

One day I went to the African Street Festival with my mother. I bought necklaces and earrings and bracelets and shirts and hats… My favorite thing I bought was a black tank top with white print of Angela Davis’ face. She was rockin’ that fro, flaunting our power.

Also that year, a black marine who was attending the HBCU Tennessee State University, had me read a book called the “Mis-education of the Negro” by Carter G. Woodson. My life was forever changed. I became the president of the NAACP Youth Council in Nashville, TN. Then I went off to attend the college Carter G. Woodson went to, Berea College in Kentucky. I ended up learning about the importance of community and oneness there. Then I had to use my experience as an executive board member of the Black Student Association at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS (and yes, they were very racist there, including the structure of the administration). We had to fight for everything we did with virtually no support, but we got the job done. We established a sense of community between the black students on campus and performed various events of community service. Our school was gated off from the black community surrounding it. We established days in which we would open gates for children and their families to come in and participate in various activities.

Overall, the impact Angela Davis had and has on my life was and is tremendous. She taught me that if I fight smart, I can achieve what I want, even against the will of the racist pricks who stand in my way (who are sometimes black). If we could do what we did in Mississippi, at a school that banned black sororities yet let a notoriously racist fraternity run rampant, I could achieve my goals on an even larger scale. All it took to open my eyes, was being told that I looked like Angela Davis.

 

Warmly,

Genelle Bundle,

Senior, Psychology Major

by ·Comments Off on Before I even knew you: a tribute to Angela Davis

Written by Brittini Ward

—

Before I even knew of you, you had already had an influence on my life.

As a child, I would find myself quick to throw on a fake afro and throw up the black power fist for fun.

Mimicking glimpses of what I never thought that I’d become.

I would hear my dad jokingly calling me a young revolutionary. Even though my only audience of influence was found at the outsiders lunch table.

Before I even knew of you, you had already had an influence on my life.

I would find myself sharpening my ear to the voice of indie guitar players who spoke of self-empowerment and standing up for what was right regardless of who followed behind.

You helped me to connect with my father.

As my sister asked for the latest Usher CD I asked him for his latest collection of Badu or anything relating to what I now know as “Black Empowerment”

Back then if you asked me, I had no idea why I did these things or held them so close as my values, I just loved it.

Perhaps it was that one movie on Black Entertainment Television I found myself watching when no one was looking, or maybe it was that one month out the year where the color of my skin seemed to be glorified?

No! Before I even knew of you, you had already had an influence on my life.

For you are the living essence of my ancestry. Dropping hints here and there and appearing just when the time was right! Just when you knew Injustice was about to put up a fight!

You have replaced the false ideals of my juvenile education that was cramped into one chapter of my history book. You have type “keep going, keep pushing” blood

Now, I know why I hold my fist so High! Because if I held it any closer to the ground my stance would be mistaken for giving in. Now I know why I would rather have bold kinks because my roots are connected by the strongest of links.

Thank you for carrying out the legacy, in a system that pushes you to do otherwise, other wise MEN would tell me to sit down and be a lady! But you have shown me that a woman is just as strong in the front line as they would like her to be in the back with the paperwork.

Be quiet! Why you always so angry? They say. Smile more! They say.

I smile when I no longer have a reason to lay on the cold ground to prove a point!

Your passion has backed up my words, my purpose.

The deeper I grab things by the roots the more minds I have to liberate. I have to liberate. I have to liberate!

Before I even knew of you, you had already had an influence on my life, for it is the very spirit of your activism that can only add to the perseverance of mine.

Thank you for not giving up!

—

Brittini Ward is a Senior at UM-Flint, Professional Communication and Graphic Design

by ·Comments Off on So you want to be an Artist

So you want to be an ARTIST

You believe you have talent

You find beauty in things around you

So then you go to school

Now you’re educated

Not only are you better at what you do, you have become a critic…a historian

And boy, are you a critic!

You see the faults in every piece around your medium

The short falls of the Artist

The mistake, the danger

Your critical eye has come to light

Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk

Be prepared, your life will change

So now you know, you know the angles of light

You know how to mix the colours

You know where the shadows fall

But now you also know what should not be done

So you want to be an ARTIST

 

By Pandora Wallace, UM-Flint Art Student

Graduating Winter 2015

 

by ·Comments Off on We Survived! (A tribute to President Obama and Black History Month)

After years of pain and suffering
We survived
After very little understanding to our lives
We survived

After no shoes to our feet
Walking barefoot through the streets
Our bodies barely clothed
No peacefulness to our souls
We survived

After digging our fingers raw
Being grief stricken by what we saw
After very little education
We exceeded all expectations
Because we survived

Now we are doctors, lawyers, and teachers
Ministers and preachers
Doomed to illiteracy is what they saw as our fate
But we triumphant through all the misgivings and through all the hate
And now, we are the President of the United States!

And we will continue to stand tall
Pick ourselves back up
Even though we may fall

And we will continue to excel in our lives
And most definitely, most respectively
Ultimately and undoubtedly
We will survive!

by Gale Glover

by ·Comments Off on Merica by Jia Ireland

I call this “Merica”

I’ll say this again. Minimum wage paychecks are basically allowances for adults. People are working for pennies on the dollar, basically poverty pay with no way of upward mobility. It doesn’t matter if you have a degree, certification, or experience – these companies and businesses do not care. They pay people very little, every job is part time, and most do not offer any benefits, job security, or advancement. People are graduating from college with massive amounts of debt and no real job/career prospects, but apparently that is okay because this is “merica”. Many of us will have to relocate in order to find better paying jobs and opportunities, because hate to break it to you, but Flint, Michigan is not the place for most people to thrive….maybe back in the ‘50s and ‘60s but not today.

What’s the point of having a job, when you are still broke? Ask yourself, “Isn’t the main point of having a job to have money so that one can provide for themselves and have a source of income?” Yet many of us get paid and will be broke the same day or a few days later. The paychecks are so small and downright pathetic. No wonder many are living paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile these so called “PROUD TO BE AMERICAN” companies/businesses continue to thrive, make millions/billions/trillions in profits, getting tax cuts (many are not even paying taxes)…Meanwhile let’s tax the living **** out of the working poor, working class, lower class, and middle class, because once again it’s “Merica.”

 

Jia Ireland graduated from UM-Flint in 2014. She plans to pursue her graduate studies in the Social Sciences in 2017. She explains: Cultural Expression is important to me, because it allows people to creatively express how they feel, and it gives people a platform to express themselves. Many times there are no avenues for people to express themselves, particularly one’s culture in mainstream America. So, it is very important to have “Cultural Expression.”