Updated: Sep 19
Dear girls,
Please advocate for other oppressed people.
For example, when other people of color, disabled people and Muslims are mistreated, please speak up. Why? The next person who is mistreated could be you, and you would want someone to stand up for you.
I love you for life.
Auntie
Updated: Sep 19
Dear girls,
Please read this story:
Folks were outraged about a gorilla being killed to save a toddler’s life. Where is this outrage when unarmed Black men, woman and children are murdered? And the mother who was tending to another child when the toddler slipped away? She and her other children received death threats. Some folks said the child should have been allowed to get killed by the gorilla. Really?
This is what I know for sure. (1) Some Americans are mentally unstable. (2) Way too many people value the lives of animals over the lives of people. (3) When I saw the outrage and hatred on social media sites, I knew the mother was Black. A White woman would not have faced this level of outrage and hatred. Instead, she would have received much more sympathy. (4) Women with children are some of the most judgmental people in the world. They should know firsthand how difficult it is to keep an eye on multiple children at one time. Instead, they were the main ones calling for this woman to be arrested and yes, even killed. (5) I know a lot of parents, and many of them fall short in the parenthood category. Yet some of them are calling for a mother and her child to be killed because of an incident that could have happened to anyone. Again, really? (6) I have never wanted children or been pregnant. However, I have more compassion in my big toe than some parents have in their entire bodies.
This despicable behavior is NOT normal. Folks could have expressed sympathy for the toddler and the gorilla. Those feelings were not mutually exclusive. However, if folks could not muster any compassion for a toddler – someone’s child – then they are sick.
By the way, this message is for people of ALL races, Blacks, Whites, Smurfs, etc. As your grandma would say, “If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn’t, carry it.”
Remember this lesson for the future, sweet girls.
Love,
Auntie
Updated: Sep 19
Dear girls,
One day in 2014, I was walking through the train station in Philly, and a woman stopped me. She handed me a $20 bill and asked if I could buy her something to eat and use the change to buy me something to eat. I noticed that she had a cane beside her and did not detect a scam, so I readily agreed. I asked her what she would like to eat and told her that I was grateful for the offer for her to buy my food but that I would decline. I purchased her some food and gave her the food, her receipts and her change. She then asked me, “What part of heaven are you from?” She then asked me about myself and said she could tell I was a good person when I walked by.
This random of act of kindness cost me nothing. In fact, I believe I benefitted more from it than she did. I am blessed in so many ways, and I am obligated – yes obligated – to share my blessings with others.
I hope you too will be a blessing to many others throughout your lives and that others will bless you.