ADIEU GEORGE FLOYD ADVOCATE IN DEATH!!!!#BLACKLIVESMATTER!!!

A peep into your life of Struggle, typical of most male African Americans break my heart…
You hard your peculiar challenges…..Without privileges or opportunities…. Buh battling to achieve just that basic life above failure..
Brother I learned from your life,that yeah you kept struggling to be the best…..That’s what we all do no one is perfect in the real sense.
The question I dared asked God was why did George just keep failing and falling… As I reminiscence the process of pain in which life was snuffed out of you… Unprecedented mode of wickedness indeed.

Kneeling to the NECK!!!He had obviously set out to kill something in you, So with focus and determination he kept kneeling and pressing how sad and heartbreaking those momentsPressing down pressure..hardI can’t breathe..was your words and song as heartlessness kept kneeling till he snuffed the very life out of you, he definitely set a new made history and rewrote the hierarchy of gruesome implemented wickedness ever committed by the police.Officer Derek Chauvin has thereby written his name in history negatively forever in this generation.

Brother George, descriptions of who you really were floods the social and timelines, you kind brave and loveable heart, Perry your family out pours the vacuum you Left..all in the media.

Life couldn’t just be so unfair to one man, expose you to a life of zero privileges.. and let u have so much pain and struggle in one lifetime. Then let you die in public so cheaply at the Knee of Killer Officer Chauvin……So very sad

Lets just say you are the HERO OF THE SEASON, DYING JUST TO BRING BACK TO FRONT PAGE HEADLINES NEWS OF THE  PRIORITY ISSUE THAT…. #BLACKLIVESMATTER!!!!
SO PERRY,may your sweet soul rest in peace, knowing that what you couldn’t achieve standing..You Indeed achieve while sleeping…in death.

These signals gone up in every corners is a  blaring flame, with one message #BLACKLIVESMATTER
This time it’ll burn till  this Message sinks..Equality Not Revenge.
An equal world is an ENABLED WORLD!!!!

Thank you George, for not dying in vain!!!!Adieu brother!!!Adieu Great AfricanAdieu Our Advocate in Death!!!!Adieu Comrade,you left us still in the struggle,God Almighty be with you.I should say;Goodnight George Perry FLOYD.Buh you More alive in death than dead.

So live on Great GuyLive on Great African American.Live on in Millions of hearts and minds.Live on my ZERO 2HERO EVEN IN DEATH!!!!!

• 

I am Chief Emmanuel Koko Eyamba Marshall from Duke Town, Calabar South Local Government of Cross River State, Nigeria. I am the second of seven siblings of my parents and was brought up by my grandparents, who impacted a wealth of life experiences in me. I’ll describe myself as an adventurist whose life is driven by an enthusiasm to help others and get things done wherever around the world. I am pretty emotional and passionate in all my endeavors. That is to say, I have a great understanding perception and anticipation in what I do. I dislike falseness and so I always say as humans we are players on earth, and have to contribute our best for the benefit of mankind.

MY LIFE AS A CHILD 

As a child, I grew up living with my grandparents with my numerous Grand-uncles, Grand-aunties, Uncles, Aunties and cousins. I also had numerous friends I had then “myself”, hence I discovered inner drive. I attended the famous Duke Town Primary School, Eyamba Street,  and the famous St. Patrick’s College (SPACO), Ikot Ansa, both in Calabar, Cross River  State, Nigeria. One situation that spurred me on then was that, I had a dynamic support and as such, became focused. I grew through those developmental days happy because, as there was competitive support from teachers and my peers, academically and socially.

MY LIFE AS AN UNDERGRADUATE 

In 1983, I took a decision to exit from working experience to study. I got admission to University of Manchester to study Accounting and Finance. I had become an active member of the Students Union and the local branch of the Nigerian National Union. After graduating in 1986, I went to pursue further professional studies in London, combining with working part time as the newly introduced Second Tier Foreign Exchange market in Nigeria impeded the processing of and receipts of tuition fees and grants.

MY WORKING LIFE

After my secondary education, In 1976, I was employed by Lewis and Peat (Nig) Limited in Oghara, Sapele, Delta (then Bendel) State, a Rubber Processing and Shipping firm; with vast business ties to United Kingdom and Nigerian business moguls; with its own private jetties in Oghara and Sapele, dealing with imports and exports worldwide. I was exposed to different nationalities and shapes businessmen, that helped broaden my base. My working here started as a Clerical Assistant, rising through the ranks to Accounting Supervisor and Assistant Accountant when I left to Study abroad.

After my University studies, I worked in a variety of organizations, amongst whom were Rotter’s Discotheque in Manchester, McDonalds Restaurants Ltd, Royal Mail, a Charity-United African Women Forum and South West London and St Georges’ Mental NHS Trust in London.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY 

Right from childhood through to adulthood, I have been involved in voluntary services wherever I lived. I was a mass server in both primary and secondary schools. I was a member of Young Christian Students, Debating Society, Man O War Bay, the Choristers and the Band Set. In my adult life, I worked voluntarily with several charitable organizations.  I am a member of AkwaCross Nigerian Catholic Chaplaincy in UK and Ireland, The Calabar Union of the United Kingdom, many others and was very active in the social circle. I am collaborative, compassionate, consistent, and respectful; and open to all.  This is what I live for and hope world must become a better place.

• 

He kicked him framed him up, after some brutalizing he

Got him some years  then threw him behind the prison bars!!! 

Sure he simply knows that it didnt matter he was BLACK!

He used her up got her

Pregnant and dumped her with pregnancy to figure out her struggle..he always thought because she was BLACK so it just didnt matter…

The mental slavery system of WELFARE structured to cater for the less privileged MOTHER, was put in place to be prominently patronized by the BLACK females cos those cadres of population didnt really matter…

Time and again BLACK kids being victimised by Gangsters white kids, plus being victimised by even the police sometimes getting killed and buried off without any justification of their mode of DEATH..ooooh yes they deserved to DIE, they were BLACK….it didnt matter!

JUST like the June 16th

I944, Electrocuting incident..of the young lad, whether guilty or not He was BLACK AND DESERVED TO DIE..it just did NOT  matter 

Then in the city of Minneapolis…

he knelt on his neck…deprived him of breathing…Then he pleaded a dozen times for a chance to breathe.

In his words ‘I cannot breathe’A whooping dozen times PLUS…in their thinking…

He is BLACK 

So why should it matter…??

Then when he DIED the

World eruptions began

World protests began

The lootings the burnings 

The vandalism, breaking ups.The sanctions Every where agog no peace the white house in disarray…

And so gradually Maybe perhaps it began to sink.. that these were not those ancestors, this generation was more definite and focused and wouldnt call for peace…

Untill justice was served…

Then they began to understand This age LONG agitation!!!!!s

For equality not even REVENGE…was what they sort for….

That indeed.. just maybe THESE…

#BLACKLIVESMATTER…

We hope someday and that VERY soon that our Brothers can effectively and respectfully realize that BLACK LIVES JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER LIVES MATTER TOO!!!

By

JCI sen. Princess Ayi Umo

• 

 

 POEMS

ON #BLACKLIVESMATTER

An Equal world 

Is an enabled WORLD..

The world full of races 

That world full of colours 

Like the Rainbow full of resources…

World with out

Majorities and minorities 

Superiors and inferiors 

A world with 

White and black living 

Equally in love and peace

A world of love and trust. 

Knowing fully well we are 

No masters to the other but our brothers keepers

A world where the officers would protect and value BLACK LIVES same way WHITE LIVES. 

Our advocacy our crusade…for a better WORLD that emphasises 

The humane slogan..AN EQUAL WORLD IS AN ENABLED WORLD…

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

By

JCI sen. Princess Ayi Umo

• 

THEN & NOW, WE ARE STILL HISSING…

I couldn’t get myself to watch the George Floyd video completely. Still can’t. I’ve only seen clips on the news.

There’s anger it stirs within you when you realize that anyone involved in that gruesome murder must have taken the victim as subhuman- undeserving of respect. Undeserving of pity. This sentiment was not directed to Floyd alone but all black people. Floyd was just an object to channel their disdain and frustration. The knee was left there for an eternity to squeeze the life out of a race he clearly had no affection for. Even though they had enough time to snap out of it and salvage a bad situation, they chose not to. Their madness was far from momentary. It was nurtured from a much greater, systemic, and generational madness that goes back centuries. The George Floyd incident, like many others, paints an ugly picture of a racial divide that has refused to close.

After publishing …And the night hissed some years ago (a fictional suspense thriller about the exploits of a white slave trader in 19th century Yorubaland), I took a step back and asked myself if the racist sentiments I described in the narrative hadn’t been over the top. Well, visits to Elmina and Cape Coast Castles in Ghana a few years later cleared any doubts I might have had. I realized that my depiction of the African slave trade was just the tip of the iceberg. It was a sobering trip for me but one I would surely recommend to anyone. What I couldn’t fathom however was how such bile… such racial abuse as witnessed in the 17th to 19th centuries could still exist in our world today and why certain countries would treat it with kid gloves. Racial mistrust and resentment for blacks haven’t faded away with modernisation; it’s just been hiding in the shadows. Recent cases like the Nigerian woman in Lebanon who was sold at an online auction or the blacks caught on CNN being sold at a Libyan slave market or the racist chants we hear and bear at European football matches…all show that we are not there yet. Not yet uhuru!

Cape Coast Castle had a lot to show and tell but what probably struck me most was the chapel located directly above the male dungeons which, by the way, still carries a strong pungent odour. Lord knows how it must have smelled two hundred years ago! Did these people actually worship over the heads and stench of thousands of naked men and boys crammed into dark tunnels and shackled together with no toilets waiting for months to be shipped? How did they pray to their God with a clear conscience? How did they utter words of prayer over cries for help? How did they? How could they? The only explanation I could find to this disturbing question was that they considered us sub-human. In other words, we didn’t count: just like Floyd and Arbery and Breonna and Michael Brown and Diallo and Rodney King didn’t count. Many racists and Neo-Nazis in our world today still describe themselves as ‘God-fearing, righteous white Christians’ while they proudly ascribe little regard to nature and ‘Negro’. 

You may ask how the slave traders slept at night with all this on their conscience? Well in Elmina Castle at least, the answer would be with a slave girl. The master’s bedroom was directly above the female dungeons and it had a trapdoor and cat-ladder that descended to where hundreds crouched in fear. The master would raise the door and select a woman or girl to be brought up to him for the night. So we ask again: How could they do all this without finding it a crime against humanity? If we could ask Arbery’s or Breonna’s killers, I bet the answer they would give would be no different from those given hundreds of years ago by slave masters. Racial inequality demands neither reprimand nor repentance.

It is a sorry state of affairs for us to still have a closet and systemic support for racism in some Eastern and Western countries. The challenge for us therefore seems daunting but there is hope. From the number of pensive white tourists at those castles years ago to what I see now on TV with all races protesting together worldwide for Black Lives despite a pandemic, there appears a steady growth of conscience. I am thus of the strong opinion that we can only combat racism if we refuse to shy away from it however disconcerting the topic may be to some. Therefore, I was (and still am) quite appreciative of reactions to my novel which delves into this disconcerting subject. Our comfort zone needs shifting once in a while for people to see another view. Floyd’s video was disconcerting and haunting enough to evoke change. It succeeded in exposing the harsh reality of racism to a world that has played the ostrich for too long. Now that our common neck is out of the sand, we need to strike more cords to move the legs so paralyzed by inertia. 

So the million-dollar question remains: can we ever eliminate racism? I have my doubts. We can’t change the hearts of every man but like the Abolitionists of the past, we can rely on a collective resolve to attack it wherever it surfaces. So long as there is good and evil in the world, racism will find a place. We just need to ensure that it no longer finds hold.

Claude Opara

Author, …And the Night Hissed @nighthissed

             Bayajidda: An African Legend @bayalegend 

• 

AFTER CORONOVIRUS

BACK STATUS QUO

THE ORIGINAL VIRUS

THE SILENCED ONE

THE 400 YEARS OLD ONE 

SEVERE AND BRUTAL

SEGREGATED ONE

VISIABLE IGORNORANCE

IN THE AIR

MINORITY CHOKE ON

INFLUECED AND TAUGHT

BRUTALITY –

OUR REALITY

HUMANITY PANDEMIC

INCOCENT BLOOD

ON THE SAME

COLD HANDS

TIME AND YEARS ON

LIFE FORCED. WRONG.

OUT OF THEM

HIM

A TRUE LIGHT

SWITCHED OFF

BROAD DAY

REMAINS LIT

A WORTHY BREATH BLOWN AWAY

COUNTLESS OTHERS

UGLY TRUTH

HAUNTS

THE NATIONS SPIRIT CHOKED

BUT THE SOUND OF

THE HEART BEAT

OF EVERY

I CANT BREATH

BREATHS CHANGE

SONS OF THE SUN ITS TIME TO RISE AGAIN

CHAINS OFF

GET YOUR KNEES OFF MY KNECK

AFTER CORONVIRUS

BACK TO STATUS QUO

THE ORIGINAL VIRUS

WASH YOUR HEARTS –

AND THE SAME COLOUR BLOOD

WE SHARE OFF YOUR

COLD HANDS.

CHAINS OFF GET YOU KNEES OFF MY KNECK.

SONS OF THE SUN IT’S TIME TO RISE AGAIN

JACKLINE WAZIRI –

• 

-backyard parliament-

There we become
the spell to break spells
and drink confessions of the passing crowd,
poured out willingly into our patient cups in platinum thoughts, only overflowing from many streams:

not carved in wooding stratifications; but flowing
in fleeting currents to mock parables
by words dipped in gnomic ambience,
with our many open bottles…
and uncorked minds by shredded reasons in high places…

sometimes we laugh
gaining bent rays from the Sun,
and then we laugh again
and ask where all the open bottles have gone,
like that fourteen rain drops
at the back of all things…

and with our lingering legend,
we seduce many latent aristocracies
with shots of good hope…

and we laugh
and laugh again…

-Kenneth Christie-Atiti
#backyardparliament
#Wearestayingathome

• 

The White Privilege

A cherished childhood spent cocooned in my inward-looking community,
Protected me from the indoctrination of a white-privileged history.
But when I stepped into a world where brown was under-represented

My identity…Was molested.

My speech, skin, hair and dress, seemed to cause the white man stress.
And brown was a tan on the white man’s skin,
But brown on a brown man stirred anger from within.
My thoughts and views were misaligned, with rooted, selective, historical lies.

My identity…Was compromised.

I was now paradoxically an exotic delight, a shameful pressure to apologise
For the privilege of living in the civilised world, where white and West comfortably merge.
My education spoke of no oppressive past, the Normans and Saxons, unequivocal facts.
No mention of my ancestors, murdered. Indigenous peoples, exploited, slaughtered.

Building privilege through the strength of tyranny,

Calculated villainy.

White privilege, invisible to the white, naked eye. Yet it lives in every coloured breath,

In every silent cry.

I have lived with an unseen claim, that white is right and everything else is to blame.
But lessons in life inspired me to rise and pronounce myself with an internal pride.
To name and shame the blood-stained colonialist, the callous, indifferent, imperialist.

And from their murderous history, rose the modern man insecurity,
The truth, the bloody, brutal, truth, that is the black man’s reality.

Still evident today is a strong disclination, reflected in the ignorance of the nation
To admit that their historical success, was moralistically, humanely, a bloody mess.

But not all should hang their head in shame…it’s not you but your past that is to blame.
Yet the consequences of those crimes, have won you privilege and power through time.
And the legacy of the other: disadvantage, subjugation, intimidation, domination.

And still they make subconscious judgements, of my backward, other, non-conformist views.
A stubbornness in accepting and respecting the path that I decide to choose.
Delve deep into your history, open up your subliminal mind,

And ask the difficult questions, seek, unfeigned, with loosened pride.

Sahera Patel

• 

BLOWN OFF TOO SOON „
( REST IN PEACE GEORGE PERRY FLOYD)

On 25th May the knelt your breadth away,
And set the world in turmoil,
The Heaven‘s are troubled with man‘s brutality, that stage war against a ‚RACE‘
And tribe ‚

Rage ! Rage against man,
Who forgot the beauty in Black history ,

In death lies your hero,
They ceased your breathing,
Not knowing the set free the breadth
Of unrest,

They shall sing their sad song s,
And you watch them from top,
Deliberate claims,

Your death is not in vain,
Who could have stopped them ?
They law,
But now you are gone,

They world is mourning and left with
Many unanswered questions,

They world can’t refrain from crying 😭
For a brutal exit of a young guy,
Who was blown off too soon,
A young man that had a heart to love,
And a courage to be Black,

Yes you were born Black and died Black,
You only wanted to breathe like everyone,

Today , is another special day to stop for 8 minutes and bid you final goodbye,

Mother Africa will give you breadth,
Which they earth refused you,
Which the law knelt down ,
And took away from you in 8minutes,

We can not stop crying 😭
Though we did not get to meet you,
But we felt your pains,
Now our pains,

Go in peace George ‚
And May the Angels lead you to the
Gate of Heaven,
There is no sorrow,
No discrimination,
No cops to kneel on your neck,
And take your breadth,
At random,

T‘is day,
And yet peace have eluded them,
Those racists,

Adieu!
Rest in peace ✌️.

• 

IF YOU CAN SEE

If you can see him like your brother
His colour won’t cause you to bother.
You’ll treat him with care
You’ll try to be fair.

If you can see her like your sister
You’ll mind how you treat her.
You’ll assist and not assault her
You’ll protect and not plunder her.

If your can see him like your brother
You’ll defend and not destroy him
You’ll stand by him and not against him
You’ll show him love and not care less.

If you can see her like your sister
You’ll love her like your mother
And not murder her like the others.
You’ll help her stay safe outside
And not force your way inside.

If you can see him like your brother
You’ll know you’re from the same Father.
You’ll be a life Saver
Rather than act like a Smother.

If you can see her like your sister
You should watch her grow and not groan
Help her rise and glow
And not lead her six feet below.

© Jerome Okeme

•