I'm Not Giving My Black Back

I'M NOT GIVING MY BLACK BACK

I'm Not Giving My Black Back! I'm not giving up my greens or my grits or
saying "girl" and putting my hands on my hips. You see...Life for me ain't
been no crystal stair and I'm not giving up Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hammer,
Mary McCleod Bethune, Sojourner Truth, Madame C J. Walker, Toni Morrison
or Dr. Maya Angelou, 'cause you see, I am a phenomenal woman and I'm not
giving my black back.

I'm not giving up my crown, waves, braids, curls, locks, kinks, scarves
or Muslim garb. I'm not giving up sitting in Ma's kitchen eating peach
cobbler or sweet potato pie and hearing her ask me, "How you doing baby"?

I'm not giving up going to "You Buy, We Fry" on Fridays, or barbeques on
Saturday playing bid whist, spades and slammin' those dominoes.
I'm not giving back Harriet Tubman's train, Soul Train, Coltrane or the
midnight train to Georgia. Now, you can meet me at the function at the
junction but I still won't give up B.B. King, the Whispers, Fancy Ms.
Nancy, Lena Horne, the Philadelphia Sound, Motown or the Temptations.

Cause you see, it's the way we do the things we do, like building the
pyramids that still stand made by our forefathers' hands where the
diamonds, oil, silver and gold are buried in our rich dark land.

I'm not giving my black back! I'm happy being happy with my wide hips and
my wide nose and the rich melanin in my skin. I love putting lotion on my
ashy legs.

Oh, I'm happy being nappy and being in the skin that I'm in. I won't deny
or forget my ancestors who lay in a wet grave at the bottom of the sea in
the Middle Passage from slave trade.

And I won't give up on our youth of today who still need a way made. I
won't give back Miles even though he didn't smile. I won't give back
Marvin Gaye, Richard Pryor, Phyllis Hyman, Billie Holiday or Billy
Eckstein, Jackie Robinson or Jackie Wilson.

I won't give back the electric slide, Alvin Ailey, Bojangles or Debbie
Allen. You think I'd give up reading my Jet, Ebony, Essence, Emerge, Black
Enterprise, Heart and Soul or Upscale magazines? For we are a colorful
people.

Like Curtis Mayfield sang, we are a people that are "darker than blue." We
are honey, cinnamon, mahogany and chocolate. We are REDD Fox, James BROWN,
Barry WHITE, The Mothers of the Church dressed in WHITE, The Color PURPLE,
the Lady Who Sings the BLUES and we are Al GREEN with love and happiness.
Oh, NO... I'm not giving my black back!

I'm not giving back Maxine (Waters), Martin, Medgar, Malcolm, Mandela,
Marley, Marcus, Muhammad Ali, Michael (Jordan) or the Million Man March.
I'm not giving my black back.

Join me in lifting up the black woman's spirit. Find a black woman and
send this to her. Enjoy.


The first duty of love is to listen.

Rest in Peace Rev. Douglas G. Whitlow

My husband, Rev. Douglas G. Whitlow was laid to rest today in Cambridge Cemetery. He died Monday January 18, 2010 from kidney failure. He had been on dialysis for seven years.

Thank you to all who came out to support me and my family.

May He Rest in Eternal Peace

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Che-Mponda Kadete family and the Whitlow family wishes to express their deepest appreciation and sincere thanks for all acts of kindness shown to them in their time of sorrow. Special thanks to the Tanzanian Community & Diaspora, Warren St. Baptist Church and The International Gospel Church. A very special thanks to Ezekiel Luhigo, Charles Jackson, Muhidin Michuzi, Laura Moloney & Pastor Jared Mlongecha.

The family also wishes to thank Cambridge 9-11, EMT’s, Fire and Police Departments. Fallon, Cataldo and PRO Ambulance Services. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cambridge Hospital, Radius Specialty Hospital in Boston, MA. The Veterans Hospital, Jamaica Plain, MA, Embassy Rehabilitation and Health Center, Brockton, MA, Emerson Village, Watertown, MA and Haborside Healthcare in Wakefield, MA and the various Visiting Nurses who assisted Reverend Whitlow during his illness.