The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Ezell Ford, John Crawford III. 4 unarmed black men killed by Unites States Police Officers in the past month. Some have been labelled as thugs, thieves, gang bangers, violent sociopaths, one was even mentally challenged, but it's not the fact that our young men are dying, it's how they're being portrayed. They say Mike Brown now fits the suspect that was seen at the convenience store robbery that happened hours before, but when the police officer saw him and shot him he had not a single weapon on is body. Actually, after the first two times he was shot, he turned around and put his hands up to show he had nothing, to surrender, and then was still shot 8 more times. 

Ezell Ford was mentally disabled and complying with police laying on the floor when he was shot. The police would not even tell his mother where he was being hospitalised before he died. He died alone.

Eric Garner was put in a choke hold because he allegedly was resisting arrest for once more allegedly illegally selling cigarettes. 

John Crawford III was playing with a toy handgun when he was gunned down. What more can I say about that?

They're those that say social outrage occurs when there's a shooting of an unarmed man, we should be focusing more on black on black violence, but wait, hold up, what do you think we've been trying to prevent for years? We set up community centers, after school programs and we try to raise our children in a way that in educating themselves they do not fall victim to the pressures and ills of society. This in itself is not a race issue, because all races kill one another. Genocide, 'weeding out the bad seeds', those happen within every race. Must I go to the paper I wrote on Genocide and the effect it has on society psychologically? Because I could. 

Why I say the revolution will not be televised is because we are now in the age of warfare. Where black kids are afraid to walk the streets. In Barbados, we're more afraid that our house will be raided because of some error made by Police, or some kind of erroneous excuse of a death by Police Officers. We're afraid of our circumstances because things are getting so unbelievably grim that youth are dropping at our feet. Romario Yarde, 20, killed on Sunday, Mark Walton (age unknown) but killed last Monday, by who? A 18 yr old and 20 yr old.

The Revolution will not be televised. 

The day where our young boys in Barbados, are hunted and gunned down like deer by Police, just like they're doing in the US, we will see war, we will see blood in the streets, we will see protests, we will see our prison cells full and I will sit and say, 'The revolution will not be televised. 

What sparked this blog just now was a video my friend shared on FaceBook. It hurt me to my core. A young girl was being mouthy, ok, police told her to leave, she started walking off, one white officer decided that he was going to grab her back and by instinct her brother stepped in to help dissolve the situation. He was then thrown to the ground, with one officer's knee on his neck, and the officer who grabbed his sister pinning him down handcuffing him, all the while he was was asking 'what did I do? That's my sister'. It made me think of my own four brothers and what they would do for me, and the fact that we all know I would sit in a jail cell for them. But to know that you stepped in to help diffuse the situation to save your sister and that's what happens, what if someone attacks your mother or father, cousin, aunt, grandparent? Are you to sit idly by? Excuse my language right now, but the revolution will not be fucking televised. 

I am not a Pan-Africanist, I am not a freedom fighter but I AM human, I bleed the same red blood as everyone else and therefore can formulate my own opinions. I AM a feminist, and I will until the day I die, work towards the rights of young women and girls all over this world, because in the end we only have each other to lean on and not 'The Man'.

Gil Scott-Heron (may he rest in peace) said 'The Revolution will not be televised' and he was right. The violence will never end because human nature does not allow rage and anger and power hunger to cease, but we can do something about it. I am absolutely tired of seeing my young people falling on the streets, race excluded. Tired of seeing kids dropping like flies in Syria and Gaza, young black men being reduced to nothing but meagre minions all over the World and I'm tired of seeing my young women lose all respect for themselves. Here is Gil's "The Revolution will not be Televised'.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and
skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Mendel Rivers to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
on reports from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the right occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so god damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally screwed
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash or Englebert Humperdink.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back
after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

May the road RISE to meet you.

Vernee

Inked.

And with a pumping heart, I covered my boobs and laid down for my Sternum Tattoo. I listened to friends, I researched but nothing could've prepared me for the pain I was going to experience. 7 tattoos in and my 8th would prove to be the most painful (so far, you know I'm far from done! Hehe) 

Through the pain I thought about what this tattoo meant to me. A flower :- Me with 6 roots. The flower forever blooming, forever growing, forever learning, forever shining represents Vernée as she is now, the 6 roots represent the reasons why and how Vernée keeps blooming and keeps pushing forward. Each root is a significant person in my life:- Margaret, Vernon, Hazel, Valerie, Marion or Ordine as mummy would call her and Mirriam, daddy's mum who passed before I was born but I'm told is like a reincarnation. I am who I am because of these 6 people, my personality, my traits and characteristics. My loving nature, my craziness, lackadaisical, say what's on your mind, that one girl who will punch you out and ask questions later and that tenacious attitude. I am me because of them and I love all of them immensely. 

To my family, you are the reason I survive. Don't give up on me yet! Better things to come! 

With many words left unsaid, these are the words from my head. 

May the road rise to meet you.

Plain ol' Vernée. 

Chub Chub Tum Tum ... In a bikini!

Today I wore a bikini, a high waisted one at that from Forever 21 and guess what?!?!? Nothing happened! I didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed, I felt empowered and beautiful. 

There weren't any awkward stares or uncomfortable remarks, there was just Vernée in her black pineapple bikini. We place so much emphasis on what we should look like in swimsuits, who's allowed to wear a bikini, who must wear a whole piece, who can't have their chubby tummy at the door and their chunky legs. 

Today I wore a bikini and I have all intentions on buying more. Need someone to wear a bikini with? Give me a call, let's do it together.

Peace, Love and most of all Blessed Light! 

Vernée 

When Things Take Time

I know I haven't blogged in ages but I think from now on that is going to change. 

For a while I've been feeling down and out, like the world is taking its time with me. Sometimes it's as though all the good I do and how hard I work won't come back to me tenfold but today well tonight, this morning, whatever you want to call it, it was though I had an epiphany. 

Good things take time.

I've been working since I was 11. Yes please, I have been making my own money since I was 11. I've done exceptionally well in school. But somehow I can't seem to get it right. I'm frustrated, I feel like giving up, but every time I think, 'today is the day, I'm done with it all', I get the feeling like it's not over yet. 

Good things take time, we can't continually think that by rushing our lives, better things will happen. I may be getting old with serious baby fever, but that's a good thing that takes time. I am feverishly saving to pay my bills and move out, be on my own again, be a REAL adult once more, but that's a good thing that takes time. We are often so consumed by how far others have gotten especially when they're the same age as you, or we're obsessed with thinking 'why has it happened for that person but not for me' and that's because everything that is good takes time. Patience is key, love is eminent and God is in all of us. 

Good things take time. Remember
that. 

May The Road Rise To Meet You. 💋

'Unsure of what the balance held...'

Unsure of what the balance held, I went into 27 overwhelmed of the tasks I was and are to perform.

What I do know is that at 27 it is expected that I'm to have half the things in my life figured out already. Sadly, it is not so, the only thing I do know is that I am completely grateful for another year of life. Grateful for blessings bestowed upon me:- food to eat, clothes on my back, a house over my head and family and friends who love me. I am grateful to have made whatever impact or imprint on certain lives and those who have made a tremendous imprint on mine. I am grateful for this voice, for these eyes, for my one dimple, for this smile. I am happy that I am a God-mother to the sweetest little girl in the world and Aunt to three cute little munchkins. 

I am however, sad at certain things I've had to experience to get to this stage of my life but every trial has made me a stronger person. I've learned that age means nothing when you live in your parents' household because certain rules will always apply. I've learned that I will strive when I become a mother to not have a double standard amongst my children to avoid certain problems I would've gone through myself. 

I've learned how tough living in this country can be especially when you cannot support yourself and must therefore depend on others. I've learned how to handle disappointments because they are ever most present within every life and almost every day. 

I've learned that as special birthdays are to me, others just don't feel the same way. 

I've felt my heart break into millions of pieces continuously and I've developed my own mental instability, this does not mean that I am crazy, it just means I pay more attention to the mental health of myself and you my brothers and sisters. 

I've lost friends and gained new ones along the way, happiness is in the hand of the those who wish to possess it. That's my wish for myself and my wish for you.

I've met my own struggle and it's now a matter of coming out of it on top. 

I can't stop and I won't stop, I am destined for greatness and so are you.

Unsure of what the balance held I trod into 27 with mixed feelings but tears in my eyes. New Vernée? Not really? Different Vernée? Definitely. 

Love and Light.

Birthday Girl. xx

Having a Coke with You

I once re-wrote this piece of gem for a certain person. At the point in time he was the love of my life, and we loved having Fantas, so I re-titled it 'Having a Fanta with you', based on my own personal experiences with him. Yes.. back in the days where I consumed sugar, but sadly, it was hand written, a love letter if you please and he isn't even here for me to get it back to see how I re-worded it. But to this day, this piece sticks with me, even though I can't have Fantas with him any more, and I no longer write love letters and there is no love left, Frank O'Hara, you are a genius.

Frank O'Hara: "Having a Coke with You"

HAVING A COKE WITH YOU

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them

I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully
as the horse

it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

—Frank O'Hara

Love and Light

'May the road rise to meet you'

LabellaVee a.k.a Vernee 

Does my life mean nothing to you?

22 years old and I am stabbed several times. By who you may ask, a man? I am out with my daughter and I am stabbed by my ex lover. I am in my home and killed by a man I knew who also tried to set fire to my home. Me and my friend are stabbed by my lover, I live but he thinks he's killed me so he kills himself. Need I go on?

Does my life mean nothing to you? As a woman, must you continuously hit me, rape me, abuse me, confuse me.

Can I not walk through a party in a camisole, long pants and sneakers and not get harassed by every man I pass. Can you not see my broad bumper and refuse to touch it, or pull my hand to yank me to talk to you? When I give you the 'I'm good' response, must you verbally abuse me as though I have no feelings? As though I am nothing?

Does my life mean nothing to you?

Women, do your lives mean nothing to you? Must you continue to walk around scantily clad, begging for this and that, and then wonder why men treat you the way they do? Can you not see they will only take the power away from you if you let them?

Call me feminist, call me old fashioned, call me a geezer, call me career and academic oriented, but DO NOT call me a slut, DO NOT call me a whore, DO NOT project those labels upon me for me to internalise them and then turn into them.

Does my life mean nothing to you?

Would you rather kill me because you can't have me rather than move on with your life? Plenty fish in the sea pooksie, someone else will want you. But they won't take the abuse from you. So what you dish out to them, they will return ten times fold.

'Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn'

Does my life mean NOTHING to you?