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MY NAME IS GWENDOLYN LEVELLE MITCHELL AND I WAS BORN IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON JULY 6TH, 1942, NOT LONG AFTER WORLD WAR 2…MY MOTHER ; SARAH GLADYS OLIVER MATTHEWS MITCHELL, BI- RACIAL, HER MOTHER , MY GRANDMOTHER, WAS FRENCH, AND MY GRANDFATHER WAS FROM MARTINIQUE…I AM AFRICAN AMERICAN. MY GRANDFATHER WAS THE COLOR OF TEXAS CRUDE OIL. WHICH IS A BEAUTIFUL COLOR AND HAS A RICH SMELL. MY MOTHER WAS BEAUTIFUL AND SMART AND MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME ALL THE BEST OF THE GOOD THINGS THAT I KNOW… AND MY FATHER, ROB HT ME HOW TO DANCE, AND BOTH OF THEM TAUGHT ME HOW TO LOVE …WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS? BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW, AND ALWAYS REMEMBER, WHERE YOU COME FROM, AND WHO YOUR PARENTS ARE…AND TO REMEMBER THAT OUR GREATEST PARENT IS OUR SHARED CREATOR…
THE CREATOR WHO MADE ALL OF US, WHITE, BLACK, BROWN, YELLOW, RED…AND IF I LEFT ANY OTHER HUE OUT IT IS NOT INTENTIONAL AND PLEASE FORGIVE ME…I ONCE HAD A PRETTY GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR, HOWEVER LATELY, IT APPEARS TO BE MISSING IN ACTION…WE ALL, NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD WE CURRENTLY RESIDE, OR WHERE WE LOOK, THERE SEEMS TO BE HOPELESSNESS. WHAT DO I MEAN BY THIS?...THE WORLD IS IN DANGER, REAL DANGER OF BEING DESTROYED…BY ENVIRONMENTAL INVADERS CAUSED BY MAN MADE UNATURAL POLLUTANTS THAT TURN OUR SKIES GREY AND MAKE OUR WATER, THE MOST NECESSARY BEVERAGE ON EARTH, UNDRINKABLE.
LIKE HUMPTY DUMPTY IT MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BE PUT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN, MAY NOT, BEARS REPEATING, MAY NOT…YET THERE IS A SOLUTION…AND IT IS THE PURPOSE OF OUR BEING HERE…AND ANYONE, NO MATTER HOW POOR, OR, HOW RICH, ANYONE AND EVERYONE HAS THE ABILITY TO SHARE THIS GIFT…AND IT IS A GIFT BESTOWED UPON ALL OF US…BUT IN ORDER FOR THIS GIFT TO HAVE THE INTENDED POWER, THE GIVER, AND THE RECEIVER OF THIS GIFT, MUST COME WITH OPENENESS OF HEART, CLARITY OF MIND, AND THE CAPACITY FOR FORGIVENESS…
BEAR WITH ME PLEASE…LET ME SHARE WITH YOU SOME RECENT DISCOVERIES…I WANDERED IN TO A CHURCH, A BAPTIST CHURCH IN SANTA MONICA, A FEW DAYS AGO, AND I GOT DOWN ON MY KNEES AND PRAYED OVER A MATTER WHICH SEEMINGLY HAD LITTLE SIGNIFICANCE IN THE TOTAL WORLD SCHEME OF THINGS…WHEN I FINISHED MY PRAYER, I WANDERED AROUND, AND CAME TO A CLOSED DOOR. I COULD SENSE THAT THERE WAS SOMEONE BEHIND THAT DOOR…SO I CALLED OUT, HELLO? SEVERAL TIMES, NO ANSWER, UNTIL I DECIDED THAT I WOULD GO, SO I SAID, “WELL GOOD-BYE”…AND SUDDENLY THIS WOMAN, OPENED THE DOOR AND SHE ASKED WHAT I WANTED…I SAID I’D LIKE TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE, AND SHE SAID, WELL USUALLY DURING THIS TIME ON WEEK-DAYS THERE IS NO ONE HERE, BUT YOU’RE WELCOME TO CALL BACK…
I ASKED IF I COULD SPEAK TO THE PASTOR…AND SHE SAID, WE DON’T HAVE A PASTOR RIGHT NOW. AT THAT MOMENT SOMETHING TOUCHED ME, BECAUSE THIS WAS SOMETHING I HAD HEARD NOT TOO
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LONG AGO FROM ANOTHER CHURCH, AND BEFORE THAT, ANOTHER…THERE APPEARS TO BE A VOID IN CHURCH GOING…AND I AM A NON PARTICIPANT AS WELL…UNFORTUNATELY.
I SAY UNFORTUNATELY BECAUSE REMEMBERING MY ROOTS, GOING BACK TO MY MOTHER, WHO MAY NOT HAVE BECOME MY MOTHER HAD THE MATTHEWS FAMILY OF OSSINGING NEW YORK NOT CARED ENOUGH, OR, LOVED ENOUGH .TO ADOPT MY MOTHER, SARAH, GLADYS, OLIVER, MATTHEWS…THE MATTHEWS FAMILY CONSISTED OF REVEREND EDWARD MATTHEWS PASTOR OF THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH IN BEACON NEW YORK, AND HIS WIFE EVELYN, WIFE, MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, THEIR OLDEST CHILD WAS MY AUNT HELEN , OF BAYONNE NJ, AFTER GRADUATING FROM PUBLIC SCHOOL IN 1928 SHE ENTERED THE JULLIARD SCHOOL OF MUSIC, FEW BLACK FOLKS WERE EVEN GETTING OUT OF THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOODS. INEZ MATTHEWS, MY AUNT, APPEARED ON BROADWAY AS THE INGENUE IN LOST IN THE STARS. A PLAY BASED ON THE VERY IMPORTANT BOOK, “CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY” BY ALAN PATTON, ABOUT APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA…A STORY OF HATE, DOMINATION, AND FEAR…
HATE DUE TO SKIN COLOR; DOMINATION EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE SAKE OF RULE AND GREED; AND FEAR OF BEING OUTNUMBERED BY THE RIGHTFUL INHERITORS OF THE LAND WHERE THEY TOILED FROM DUSK TO DAWN WITHOUT PAY, GAVE BIRTH, AND DIED, WITH THE POPULAR BELIEF AMONG THE INTERLOPERS THAT THE NATIVES WERE NOT ONLY RESTLESS, BUT SUB-HUMAN.
NOW PERHAPS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO INTERJECT THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND SOUTH AFRICA…EMMET TILL COMES TO MIND, A YOUNG BLACK MAN VISITING THE SOUTH DURING SUMMER BREAK WHO RETURNED TO HIS MOTHER UNRECOGNIZABLE AFTER BEING BEATEN TO DEATH FOR ALLEGEDLY WHISTLING AT A WHITE WOMAN…
BILLIE HOLIDAY THE GREAT JAZZ SINGER OF BLACK AND IRISH DESCENT WHO WAS NOT ALLOWED TO PERFORM WITH HER DARKER SKINNED MUSICIANS IN THE SOUTH AND THE WOMAN WHO HELD ME AS AN INFANT DUE TO MY MUSICIAN FATHER’S PROFESSIONAL FRIENDSHIP WITH MS HOLIDAY’S PIANIST, MR. TUCKER…AND RIGHT HERE IN LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA, IN THE 30’S AND 40’S, WHERE BLACK PERFORMERS COULDN’T STAY IN SO CALLED SWANK HOTELS BUT RATHER WERE PUT UP IN THE HOMES OF CARING BLACK AND WHITE PATRONS.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ON THIS SUBJECT INVOLVED, MY PERSIAN JEW FRIEND, AND, LOVER, WHEN WE WERE BEATEN BY THE RAMPART DIVISION OF THE LAPD IN THE EARLY 70’S AT PARK LABREA. THE OWNERS HAPPENED TO BE AN INSURANCE COMPANY THAT ALSO OWNED MAY AND COMPANY WHERE
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LACMA NOW STANDS TODAY. THIS WAS AFTER APPEARING AS “ELLIE” Shaft’s main squeeze IN ARGUABLY THE BEST AND BADDEST SHAFT SERIES WITH INTERNATIONAL HEART THROB, RICHARD ROUNDTREE. AND GENIUS DIRECTOR, WRITER, COMPOSER, FIRST BLACK PHOTO JOURNALIST FOR LIFE MAGAZINE, MR. GORDON PARKS SR. WHICH PROVES OUT OF ADVERSITY CAN COME GOOD.
BACK TO FAMILY
MY UNCLE, EDWARD MATTHEWS REKNOWNED BARITONE WHO TOURED EUROPE AND SOUTH AMERICA AND WAS A GRADUATE OF FISK UNIVERSITY WHERE HE RECEIVED BOTH A BACHELOR’S AND MASTER’S DEGREES. MY UNCLE CREATED THE ROLE OF JAKE THE FISHERMAN IN GEORGE GERSHWIN’S PORGY AND BESS WHEN IT FIRST OPENED ON BROADWAY IN 1935. HE SANG THE ROLE OF ST. IGNATITIUS IN GERTRUDE STEIN’S OPERA FOUR SAINTS AND THREE ACTS IN PARIS, IN 1933 AND WHERE MY UNCLE FELL IN LOVE AND MARRIED MY AUNT ALTONELLE. WHO LIKE MY MOM, WAS NOT ONLY A STUNNER, BUT BRILLIANT AS WELL.
WHY AM I SAYING THIS RIGHT NOW. BECAUSE THE WORLD IS ON A DESTRUCTIVE COARSE AND IN TIMES PAST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ITS ALLIES SUCH AS ISRAEL HAVE BEEN A BEACON OF LIGHT AND HOPE FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD…
UNFORTUNATELY, I’M SAD TO SAY, THAT IS PRESENTLY NOT THE CASE, WHY? BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN, OF HATE, DOMINATION, AND FEAR…
OUR CHURCHES ARE VOID OF LEADERS, AND CONGREATION,BECAUSE PERHAPS PEOPLE HAVE LOST HOPE, OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE OVERCROWDED TO THE EXTEND THAT AN EXCEPTIONAL STUDENT MUST BE FORCED TO GO AT A SLOWER PACE TO KEEP IN SYNC WITH THE MAJORITY OF OTHER STUDENTS IN THEIR CLASS, THE MAJORITY OF POLITICIANS, SOME CALL THEMSELVES PROGRESSIVES, HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT THEIR JOB IS TO SERVE THE NEEDS OF THE UNITED STATES CITIZEN. RATHER, THEY HAVE OPTED FOR DANGEROUS DEALS WITH OUR ENEMIES, THE VERY PEOPLE THAT OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS MUST LEAVE THEIR HOMELAND FOR, TO FIGHT AN ENEMY OVERSEAS WHEN THE VERY INSTIGATORS OF THESE WARS-FOR- PROFIT, ARE RIGHT HERE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY, RIGHT HERE IN OUR OWN BACK YARDS, RIGHT HERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
THESE ENEMIES ARE THE ELECTED OFFICIALS… CAN BE AT THE LOCAL OR FEDERAL LEVEL,WHO SEE ONLY DOLLAR SIGNS WHILE NEGOTIATING WITH OUR ENEMIES…THEY ARE WILLING TO SACRIFICE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN FOR THEIR GREED AND EGO. IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE. I AM NOT SPEAKING OF THE GOOD HONEST HARD WORKING POLITICIANS FROM EITHER PARTY WHO SEEK AND DELIVER TRUTH.
AND AS ALWAYS, THE FAR FROM PERFECT, BUT ALWAYS WILLING, SOMETIMES TOO SLOWLY, TO ACCEPT CHANGE, IS AMERICA. OF COURSE WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT IS THAT IT IS COMPRISED OF THE BEST HUMAN BEINGS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, WHO LOVE THEIR COUNTRY, AMERICA!
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ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE, YOU MAY RECALL WHEN I MENTIONED THAT WE, MAY BE ABLE TO CHANGE THE WRONG COURSE THAT WE ARE ON…AND I BELIEVE THE SOOTHING BALM, NOT BOMB, FOR ALL JUSTICE, IS LOVE…THIS IS A TIME FOR MEN TO REALIZE THAT WE, WOMEN ARE ON THE ASCENT…WE ARE RISING TO OUR INANIEABLE NATURAL PLACE, OUR GOD GIVEN POSITION AROUND THE WORLD…EXAMPLE, MALALA YOUSUFZAI THE BRAVE FOURTEEN YEAR OLD SCHOOL GIRL WHO TOOK A BULLET TO THE BRAIN FOR ADVOCATING AN EDUCATION FOR FEMALES IN HER COUNTRY OF PAKISTAN
AND THE TALIBAN SAW THIS CHILD AS A THREAT…WHAT COWARDS, THESE MONSTERS WHO ARE NOT MEN. WHY INSULT MEN.
WE ARE IN A STRUGGLE RIGHT NOW BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. THE GOOD NEWS? I SEE THE TIDE CHANGING AND THE WINDS ARE BLOWING IN OUR FAVOR, GOOD WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL, AND THE TIME IS NOW FOR THIS TO HAPPEN…REMEMBER THE ONLY TIME THERE IS, IS NOW…
NOW TO STOP ALLOWING GOVERNMENT TO INTERFERE AS TO HOW YOU RAISE YOUR CHILDREN, TIME FOR US TO SHOW HOW MUCH WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN BY CHALLAGING GOVERNMENT AND I PROPOSE THAT A CITIZENS COUNCIL BE FORMED IN EACH AND EVERY STATE THROUGH OUT AMERICA COMPRISED OF PEOPLE BEYOND REPROACH, WISE AND DILLIGENT INDIVIDUALS…WAS IT NOT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR WHO URGED IN HIS I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH WHERE LITTLE BLACK BOYS AND BLACK GIRLS WILL BE ABLE TO JOIN HANDS WITH LITTLE WHITE BOYS AND WHITE GIRLS AND WALK TOGETHER AS SISTERS AND BROTHERS.
THROUGH OUT HISTORY THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ALONG WITH THE CITIZENS FROM AFRICA, ENGLAND, IRELAND, ISRAEL, RUSSIA, TURKEY, ITALY, SYRIA, IRAN, GERMANY, EGYPT, ETC.AND I APOLOGIZE IF I’VE LEFT ANY COUNTRY OUT, BECAUSE THE REALITY IS THAT ALL THE CITIZENS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ARE OUR TRUEST ALLIES, AND WE ALL COME TOGETHER FOR GLOBAL COMMON GOOD, AND THAT COMMON GOOD IS THE SURVIVAL ,OF THE FAMILY OF MAN…GOD BLESS AMERICA AND THE ENTIRE WORLD CITIZENS AND LET OUR FATHER’S COMMAND,BECOME A REALITY, BY LOVING OUR FAMILY, AND WE ARE ALL FAMILY.
COPYRIGHTED © BY GWENDOLYN MITCHELL THURSDAY, OCT. 25TH, 2012.
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