Would Sojourner Truth 'wanna lick the rapper?'

One morning while riding in my car I decided to venture away from my regular News programming on the radio and turned to one of our local Hip Hop and R&B stations.
It wasn’t long before the commercial for some debt creating pay-day loan went off and my ears, mind, and soul was being violated by rapper lil’ Wayne’s song ‘Lollipop.’ As I listened in disgust to the monotony of his lyrics (similar to many I had heard in some contemporary rap songs today) about how some women wanted to ‘lick the rapper’ amongst other things, my eyes began to tear up from those degrading and humiliating lyrics.
Keeping in mind that I am in no way picking on any one rapper, I began to think about all of the African American women who fall subject to those words and gobble them up as a ‘way to behave.’ Pardon the pun. And then I thought back to the glorious African American women like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nzingha, Yaa Asante, and Mary McLeod Bethune.
I turned my thoughts to these women and I wonder. I wonder if our fore-mentioned female ancestors are watching us from the other side in utter disgust and humiliation. I wonder if they cry for us. I wonder if their spirits cringe and fall to their knees in agony as they watch their descendants fall into a deeper pit of sexual promiscuity, self imposed inferiority and hatred, and total miseducation. I wonder if Harriet Tubman feels like all 19 of her potentially deadly trips were traveled completely in vain.
I wonder if Sojourner Truth still feels like a ‘woman’. I wonder if Mary McLeod Bethune still believes in the power of knowledge and education being put into action as a form of liberation and progress. I wonder if Nzingha and Yaa Asantewa would still feel like mighty warrior Queens who believe in the power of women’s leadership strong enough to defeat the deadliest of opponents. Maybe. Maybe not.
Are not African American women worthy of marriage, community, and family life no matter what their educational, social, or economic status may be? Are we not befitting of praise and uplifting, adoration and hope; rather than being the modern day sex toys degraded and mistreated in the very same manner that our ancestors were treated by white males? Are we not precious jewels blessed with the ability to bring forth life and love?
As proven by time immemorial, the African American woman, then and now, has undeniably been the glue that binds. We are strong and beautiful. We are the hopeful and forgiving mothers, lovers, and friends to our communities. We have been the nurturers and the shelters of those in need. We have worked like horses to keep our families and our Men from falling through the cracks of hunger, helplessness, and even homelessness. In spite of all the propagandizing of us being bitter, cold, disrespectful, and nowadays no more than some poorly upgraded bed winches- many of us still stand strong.
We have been used up, beaten, raped, tortured, and mentally tormented while our babies are being trained to be nothing more than fools and jesters for the entertainment purposes of a society that does not consider their best interest.
We have been subjected to mutilating ourselves and our God given beauty and resilience only to be told that we are never enough. We have to declare our freedom and our sanity. We must embrace our struggles and now our mental liberation. It’s time to take back your lives, your families, your respect, and your Mind.

Zekita is author of Don’t Call Me N!gga (Revised- Purple Cover) and Reggies Wakes Up- two socially conscious books for African American Youth about the ‘n’ word and education and entrepreneurship. She can be reached at info@zeniampublications.com by email or visit www.zeniampublications.com.

CREATING "CONSCIOUS" CHILDREN BY "BANNING THE 'N' WORD FROM THE MOUTHS OF OUR BABIES" AND ENCOURAGING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN OUR COMMUNITIES

YOU READ SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS BOOKS TO UPLIFT AND INSPIRE YOU....SHOULDN'T YOUR CHILDREN DO THE SAME?

CREATE CONSCIOUS CHILDREN......

Making a living and taking care of a family is a very hard thing when your amount of income depends on how much you write and how many people are willing to pay for your work. In the business of Liberation esp. that of Liberating African/Black people, the art of being a wordsmith gets even more complicated. There are so many obstacles when trying to reach a particular audience of whom need freedom, deprogramming, and then reprogramming. The reason being that- you have to first convince the people that they are ill and are in need of some serious self reflection. This is why I find it not only more feasible, but at this point, more essential and urgent that we as the promoters and purporters of African/Black Unity and Liberation focus most of our energies on our children and young adults. They are the ones that will surely lead us to our Victory. They are strong, they're minds are fresh and innovative, and they are seemingly more willing to listen to and contribute the ideas of self determination throughout the diaspora. We as the adults of this struggle should always keep them in mind and be sure that they are involved in everything that we do in terms of cultural events, rallies, conferences, and yes even our most hard core grassroots operations. Our young people have been lost in the last decade or so to just plain ole' stupidity. By that I mean lost in a lifestyle of selfishness, disrespect, and that total annihilation of the Knowledge of Self. They are being whitewashed (brainwashed with a pseudo culture) and turned away from truth like we never imagined. Many of them lack respect for their elders, their families and peers, and ultimately themselves. It is our job to 'talk' less and 'act' more or even better, 'act' just as much as we 'talk' - even if that means something as simple as volunteering your time teaching 'cultural' or African/Black awareness in community centers on weekends or at your local library. Actually, that's not really 'simple' at all, teaching African/Black awareness in your free time is something that could be life changing for one of our young people. Whatever we do we should always maintain our one true mission that is to CULTIVATE AND CULMINATE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS CHILDREN in addition to our adult peers.

Written by Zekita, Author of Don't Call Me N!gga (NEW REVISED EDITON) a book that discourages the use of the so called 'n' word in youth and Reggie Wakes Up, a book for youth that encourages Entrepreneurship in the community. For ordering info of signed copies contact zeniampublications@yahoo.com or info@zeniampublications.com or you can go to Amazon.com.

KHA Books: PRINTING YOUR BLACK BOOKS

THE LUMUMBA BOOK PRINTING COMPANY/ KHA BOOKS

Lumumba Book Printing Company/ KHA Books began printing quality books [quickly] in 1989. They offer all of the services you can expect from a division of a company that have been serving the Black Nation in North America for 33 years. TLBPC/KHA Books was co-founded by H. Khalif Khalifah and Lumumba Odingo as a division of UNITED BROTHERS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS. It is named for the co-founder, Black nationalist, who is now deceased was a legendary legitimate business manager of Harlem, N.Y. gangster Bumpy Johnson; after the death of Bumpy Johnson, he became the personal Security Officer for the family of Malcolm X. During the last 23 years of his life, Brother Lumumba was a registered United Brothers, providing Mentoring and Securing H. Khalif Khalifah. Brother Lumumba Odinga made his transition in his beloved Harlem, NYC in 2003. His name lives on through the company that he co-founded and the book he co-authored: "BUMPY JOHNSON & LUMUMBA ODINGO: TWO UNCOMPROMISED BLACKMEN BORN IN THE SLAVERY SOCIETY CALLED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".

H. KHALIF KHALIFAH....First United Brother, H. Khalif Khalifah is a Master Typographer (printer). He was born in The Black Nation in the territory called Alabama in 1940. His family imgrated to NYC when he was a child of 11 years old. He has been in the Nation of Islam since 1972. He modelled his services to The Black Nation in the mode of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey; and of course, his Spirituality under the Guidance of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He was a principal leader of N'COBRA (The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) during the 1990's when the Great Issue of "Reparations" became a household topic in America.

PRINTING RANGE: TLBPC/KHA Books offers quality and quantity printing from 50 copies to 1,000,000 and more. Find us a http://www.khabooks.com/ E-mail printing@khabooks.com or call (434) 658-4934 or 704-277-1462