“A Prelude to Love.”

The beautiful woman swiftly whipped in between a car and a truck parked in front of the corner store. She could hear the loud laughter and conversation of the guys gathered outside over Ciara’s Body Party playing on her Bose system.  Yvonne freshened her lipstick and checked her hair in the rearview mirror. All in one motion she opened the door to her jeep swung her legs around and hopped out. Her blue leather 4-inch heels hit the ground with a click. She adjusted the white cotton mid thigh skirt that revealed the secret of her full hips and bum. She flipped up the collar on the jean jacket she wore over the v- neck white fitted shirt showing her flat tummy and breast that begged to be let free.

Her presence changed the mood of the once boisterous group. Calm and hungry glares came over the small crowd as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Yvonne smirked and winked at the crowd as she passed and made her way into the store. As she crossed the threshold, she could hear the men attempt to determine who had dibs. Yvonne stood in the snack aisle trying to decide what appealed to her taste buds the most. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she watched his calculated approach. Leisurely, he walked towards Yvonne; his hands tucked in the front pocket of his white hoodie, his baggy Levi jeans fell just right over his Timberland boots. He continued his approached as he snatched a bag of chips off the rack not missing a step. Casually stalking his prey.

“Excuse me?” He said at a whisper standing close enough to brush arms with Yvonne.

“Yes,” Yvonne responded brushing the blonde and brown hair from her eyes. Yvonne stared intensely into his slightly slanted brown eyes. His fitted blue beanie met his thick red eyebrows and complimented his pale skin. The ivory perfection caused butterflies to metamorphize deep inside her belly and commence a game of tag.

“You have beautiful eyes lady!” Scott said extending his hand. He was mesmerized by her big brown doe eyes, her chocolate complexion and full lips. Scott stared at Yvonne as if an angel of perfection descended from heaven for him alone.

“My name is Scott. What’s your name?” He asked still holding her hand in his.

“Yvonne,” she responded blushingly. She looked down at her hand in his.

“I’m sorry” he blushed, allowing her fingers to slide from his grip.

“How can I get to know you?” Scott barely managed to get out.

Interrupted by the sound of R.E.M playing in her purse, she searched frantically before pulling out her cell phone.

“Can you excuse me for a second?” She asked putting the phone to her ear.

“I’ll be back,” he mimed in Yvonne’s direction after frantically checking his pockets.

Yvonne watched Scotts’ suave sway as he walked away throwing his medium sized bag of Lays potato chips on the counter and head out the door.

Uninterested in her current conversation. “Lemme call you back,” she said to the caller on the other end.

Quickly, Yvonne chose the almond joy she had been pondering over. She quickly made her way to the counter and paid for her items instructing the old man to add the Lays to her tab. She could hear the guys teasing Scott about her being “out of his league” and “too much woman for him.”

Yvonne grabbed her lipstick from her purse and scribbled her number across the front of the potato chip bag. Proud of her creativity she sashayed out to her jeep. Yvonne unlocked the door to her vehicle threw her items on the driver’s seat and made her way to Scott climbing down out of his own truck.

With a sly smile, she handed him the bag of Lays.

“You shouldn’t have done that! I seem to have misplaced my wallet.”

“It’s ok, you might want to pay close attention to that bag,” she said as she started to back away.

Scott glanced down at the bag then flipped it over. He noticed on the opposite side ten red numbers in the form of a phone number. Immediately he entered the number into his phone then held up the red trophy with the yellow background for his friends to admire. Yvonne sped away with a beep and a wave.

 

 

Celebrating Black History Month.

The month of February is the designated month to celebrate Black History. This is the time where black Americans adorn their dashiki’s, Kente cloth and view movies and documentaries about the struggle for equality. Black History month triggers a stronger sense of pride in African Americans due to the accomplishments of those who fought for change. I am truly grateful for the civil rights leaders and activists who made it possible for me to have equal rights in America. Although I must say that pride, culture and self-respect should not be celebrated one month out of a year.

I’m laughing right now… I feel like a major league athlete with seconds left on the game clock in a championship game. There is an ominous hush over the crowd in anticipation of what will happen next. In this case what I will say next! Many will not agree or like what I pen next but I’m entitled to my feelings and opinion. As a Christian and a writer I will write just that regardless of the backlash.

Quite a few use Black History month as a time to alienate other races and impose a sense of entitlement. Supposedly they feel African Americans are deserving of certain things due to the struggles of our fore fathers. The African American community has come a long way but at the same time we are hypocritical and ignorant to the fact that we have earned and taken our rightful seat in society. If you want a better position in society, you must earn it! Don’t expect it to be handed to you! My mother always told her children… “No one is going to hand you anything in life. You must go out and get it for yourself.” There are no reparations for slavery, no forty acres and a mule and if you are waiting for the voyage back to Africa let me make you aware of a fact. Africans do not consider “Black Americans” as Africans! We are called “White” in Africa. They have more respect for Caucasian Americans than Black Americans. I’m the ex-wife of a Nigerian prince of the Yoruba tribe and have been told this by many Africans and have been referred to as such constantly. As you may have noticed by now, no special privileges have been offered to you because there is a black president. It is us as a race who continue to oppress ourselves by failing to take advantage of the benefits obtained and allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed with complacency.

Black history month should not be used as a reason to turn up our noses at other races and cultures. I view Black history as American history; Civil Rights is a time to be recorded in American History. Once we as a country see and treat it as such the division among races will dissipate. I refuse to be a part of this separatist mentality and I know there are some of you who feel the same way. While we honor Black Americans who fought for us to have equal rights, lets honor the White Americans who fought as well. I honor the following Caucasian Americans for their role in the civil rights movement.

• Viola Liuzzo– Mother of 5 shot dead at the age of 39 while shuttling fellow activist to the Montgomery Airport after the “Bloody Sunday” march. She worked with Martin Luther King Jr. assisting with coordination and logistics.
• President Dwight Eisenhower– Used federal troops to assist the “Little Rock Nine” in 1957. With the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Eisenhower’s administration became the first since Reconstruction to pass civil rights legislation.
• Michael Henry Schwermer & Andrew Goodman– Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to their civil rights work, which included promoting voting registration among African Americans, most of whom had been disenfranchised in the state since 1890.
• President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy– June 11, 1963, President Kennedy spoke to the nation in a televised address to ask for support of the civil rights bill. He said, “We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”
• First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt– She fought hard for legislation against lynching and lent her presence and support to the NAACP’s art exhibit on the problem. She challenged the segregation ordinance when at a convention in Birmingham in 1938. And when the Daughters of the American Revolution barred black opera singer Marian Andersen from performing at Constitution Hall, she withdrew her membership and told the nation why in one of her columns.

The list goes on and on!!! Just as I have done my research, I urge you to educate yourself about Black History in its entirety. This is important information!!!

 

How can we as a people continue to excel to great heights, if we continue to look in the rear view mirror instead of focusing on the road that will lead to a better future.  America is multi- cultural melting pot, every day I wake up and see the beauty of this country through the diversity of its people. As a proud African American or Black woman which ever term you choose to use to describe my ethnicity. I really don’t care because my ethnicity alone does not determine who I am as a person. I am an American who refuses to hate or punish another person because of the fear and ignorance of another. This has been going on since the beginning of time. It can stop if we choose to take steps as a people to make a change.  May this article be seen as my first step! What will be your first step towards change?