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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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Whose Minding the Children?

Innocence lost

and being ignored

sin

destroyed

sickness and little hope

confusion of mind

How can fathers detach so easily?

And who's minding the children?

Broken homes

absentee fathers

mothers abandoning them too

or too busy to care

child abuse and perversion

What happened to the fathers who say they are men?

And who's minding the children?

Taught to think of only self

gangs and bloodshed

early pregnancy and more unwanted babies

disrespect of authority

they don't live long anymore

Where are the fathers who plagiarize God's name?

And who's minding the children?

Abuse their elderly

violence in dating

all manner of carnage

homosexuality embellished

emotionally damaged

Why is daddy no where to be found?

And who's minding the children?

Physically impaired and unhealthy

insolent conduct

drugs annihilating

hidden in prison houses

sleeping in the streets

Wasn't daddy placed as head?

And who's minding the children?

Raising themselves

Uneducated

Misdirected

hungry

and full of rage

Where are these fathers who beat their chests?

And who's minding the children?

Reprinted from The Purple Rose by Michelle R. Yisrael, published March, 2008

A collection of poetry about daily living.