Why Should Anyone Take Us Serious?

We wonder why our race is not taken seriously, or why sunami victims half way across the world received aid before our own people. We cry foul when we get the shaft but only when we get the shaft. We are not taken serious because we have know power. We have know power because we not only have the crab in a basket syndrome, we have settled for the stinking attitude that everybody owe us something, therefore we will take whats rightfully ours. The truth of the matter is nobody takes us serious because we can't hurt them at the poles where it counts. We have over one million african americans, men and women in prison, on probation are involved in the criminal justice system in one form or another.One million votes that cannot be counted, one million voices that cannot be heard. We were treated unfairly after katrina hit because our politicians know that we don't have the votes to make a difference during election time. Our priority should start with helping our youth to become successful. We need to teach our kids about the value of human life and school them on their heritage and why so many proud ancestors fought for what we have today in this world, this life. We need to introduce our children to God and the bible and let them read the stories of famous people of color. Most of all we need to help our kids to understand our history and maybe then will they realize how proud we should be as people and why it's important to fight for what's rightfully ours.If we want to be taken serious maybe it's time we find out why and stop being other people's reasons or excuses.Our power comes not in fighting each other but in voting at the poles. Our strength will only come in numbers, our power will build through education. If we are to be taken serious then we need to get serious.

My World

Pants hanging down, underwear showing thugs playing hard.
Not hard because they've gone through anything, hard because that nine or that forty-five makes them fill that way.
Crack heads running down white folk looking for the rock hoping to make a score that will retire them for the night.
Hookers standing on the corner not because they want to, because the white devil has a hole on their dignity and self- respect.
Buisness men lurking to find their pray that vulnerable soul that will sell themselves, man or women for ten or twenty dollars to get a fix.
I see you all standing there, I 've watch on many nights as you fall to sin.
Fall to your on hopeless desires. Be careful !
This is my world !

Crabs in A Basket

I love my race, I'm proud to be black but we are like crabs in a basket holding each other back. We dream of having more, we dream of the promise. How do we get there if our own people won't let us prosper? We have names for our own people that help in holding us back. The ones who do the dirty work for the management, stopping us from getting one. One job, One house, One loan , One promotion, One life. The life that was promise to us not by the forefathers, but by God himself. It's not totally the faults of others being the reason we don't reach our dreams, we have become our own worst enemy. If we want to blame someone for short comings maybe we need to look in the mirror.If we want to reach the promise we can know longer be like crabs in a basket.

Little Katie It's Okay To Cry!

I met the sweetiest little girl today with tears in her eyes, her name was katie and her tears came out of concern for her mother,Kim who was bieng treated. I don't know exactly what attracted me to little katie but whatever it was prompted me to write this story. As a parent the thing that keeps us going is the love of our children and seeing little Katie reminded me of the love I have for my mother and my family. At that very moment I realized just how special I am to my kids and this little girl taught me a big lesson whether she realize it or not. Little Katie the love that you showed for your mother is all the strength she needs to get through this. I admire you and I am honored to know you.I see in your eyes not just a tear but love that will one day create goodness and happiness in anything you touch. LIttle Katie there is more power in one of your tears than all the oceans.Hey! it's okay to cry. To Dillon, Take care of your little sister and always protect her and remember it's okay for you to cry also.

"Slippage"

People who are involved in recovery have a saying,"one day at a time" and they live by this logic, this reasoning. They know that at any time, at any given moment their lives can be turned upside down and the results can become devastating. I call this change "slippage" and at some point in our recovery life we addicts have experience slippage,some never to recover. It took me a while and several falls to realize that I was going through this slippage.I finally realized that I was in a fight for my life and the key to overcoming slippage is to realize that you slipped and immediately start the process of recovery. It would be easy to lay down and give up, sit on the pity pot and expect others to run to your rescue, but you are fighting for your life and if you stop fighting why should anyone fight your battles. I have to remember the recovery philosophy,"One DAY AT A TIME". I have come to realize that my life is worth too much to give up now. I hope that if you are out there experiencing slippage that you are smart enough and brave enough to continue to fight for what God intended for you to have. Your Life!

Slippage---- A time when an addicted person results back to the temptations of this world and the effects become devastating to everyone around you.

The White Man In prison

You don't stand a chance in any prison in any state at any given time because you have become a minority.The system was set up by society to protect you from the deviants of this world and now you have been thrown into the lion's den. You would be better off tying a pork chop to your bottom and jumping into a pit of wild dogs. Our society has over populated our prisons with black males, the same males who now have a complex and just looking for some white boy to turn into their girlfriend.This is their moment, their time to extract revenge on the judge who sentence them, the prosecutor who convicted them, the white jury who sentence them to so much time that they will never get to see their children, sleep with their wives, or tell their mothers that they love them. Yes it's true at any prison at any time is full of black men and women filling like they got the shaft. How do you think you could possibly make in prison controled by blacks with an attitude.I have seen white boys gang rape just because they were white and I have witness young white boys turn into girls, their manhood stripped away and not a thing anybody can do about it.Once behind those bars you are in a different world, the abiss and the guards won't help you,your family can't help you and it dosen't matter how much money they have.You think you're a thug with a thug mentality until you walk behind that fence and realize that these men and women are facing life sentences or so much time that they have sold their souls just to survive. White man listen up, society didn't mean for this to happen to you but now that you're here lets see how you survive when you walk into the shower.Oh! if you drop the soap please don't bend over to pick it up.One more thing throw in all the drugs and alcohol and you have entered the devils playground.

The Crackle of The White Rock

It's time my friend to open your eyes and see
what the crackle of the white rock has done to the
It's taken it's time and damaged you're mind
it's now twisted, polluted, blackend and fried
Your personality is two faced
Your manhood has been stripped
For the crackle of the white rock has sent you on a trip
A far journey you've taken through the land of thick smoke
It's kept you in the closet and praying you choke
You see it has no feelings it just make you the joke
The crackle of the white rock just draws you in
It makes you hate yourself and causes you to loose your friends
It's a powerful thing just waiting for your destruction
cause once it's grabbed you
you can no longer function
Not in your right mind with commen sense
For the crackle of the white rock leaves you no defense
So it's time my friend to open your eyes and see
The crackle of the white rock is your worse enemy
It's killing not only you, but me
cause I'm trying to be there for you my friend every day
But you are lying
hurting me and it's slowly pushing me away
I love you
but don't like you
and it's scary to say
But the crackle of the white rock has me feeling this way
So please try to fight it
Try to pull away
Get help for yourself
Kneel down and pray
Kill the crackle of the white rock
Now
Today
Please

The End

By Velma Byrd Eddings

Story For Robbie

I listen to a story of a young man from Florida who had gotten caught up in life's web of obstacles and challenges. I immediately thought about me at the age of twenty-one trying to find my way and allowing outside interferences to poison my mind. I was a good kid, an athlete who had proved that I could play with the best of them. I began to experiment with different drugs, drinking, girls and I found myself falling into this trap. It happen so quickly that before I knew it I was hustling to take care of my habit. I became good at it, I found myself on top of the game, women, clothes, jewerly, cars, everything the rap stars and athletes brag about. I was the king of my domain surrounded by my peers who I thought admired and loved me. Life has a way of smacking you in the face with reality. You see, I ended up spending the rest of my twenties and most of my thirties behind bars. I lost everything and as I sat in those prisons I realized that my so call friends had forgotten about me . The ones who help my spend my money at the clubs, the women who call me special had moved on to my best friend or other dealers still in the game. On Sunday when other inmates were getting ready to visit with their families I sat there knowing that nobody was coming to see me. I had know choice but to realize that I had to fight for my life, regain the person I was before all of this deceit. I got on my knees and prayed to my father in heaven to restore my life back to sanity. As for my friends, well some are in prison, some are dead. I went back to school and started a motivational speaking business. Life could not be better but I had to accept defeat and realize that it was time for a change. Oh! By the way my family who I thought was ragging me about changing my life was right there with open arms to not only congratulate me in my change but to help me along the way. I could not have done it without them. Robbie if you are reading this I believe you know what I am saying. It's now time to rise up and take back your life. I'm out! Ron Eddings

The Art of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is not one of the most easy things to do or expect someone else to do. Our past has a way of reminding us of the mess we made, it seems that people love to remember the bad things and not the good things about us. I look at forgiveness as a way to help me continue to build and strengthen myself. I look at forgiveness as a way of releasing unnecessary anger, hate, and rage which can only hold me back from growing into a better person. When people have a problem forgiving you don't get discourage, don't give them the comfort of seeing you respond in a negative manner. What they don't realize is that in order for you to approach them you had to go through the same process they now need to forgive you. I realize that the ones who cry "Lord,Lord" are simply fooling themselves. Why expect God to forgive you for your mistakes if you can't forgive your neighbor.

The Emancipation of me

My road has been tough as you already know, I set out to find myself, find me under all the mess I've made. My process had to start with a new creation, a new beginning of me.I needed a make over, one that would show my progress as well as remember the mistakes that I made to cause such a need for change. I wanted to do it without drugs, alcohol,women, or any other vise that had derailed me and continued to distract me from this emancipation. It's been four years sense I've started my journey, this process of change. I went from a street thug,drug dealing,drug using,womenizing jerk with a super man ego to a deminished, humbled servant and friend on a crusade to help those in distress. I now walk proud because of my assistants as well as my accomplishments.I went from an Inmate with prison green and brown to the Student Government President,I traded in my bags of cocaine for a National Coca cola Scholarship,The National Deans List,and various other awards to be used as my weapons for success.You can know longer refer to me as an inmate but Who's Who of American College Students.I started this journey with only one thing in mind "The Emancipation Of Me"

Starting the change

We live our lives daily like there is no tommorrow, at some point we get lost in all the chaos and excitement. When we finally realize what has happened to us, it always seems to be too late. We find ourselves in a major struggle to regain who we are and what we once stood for; our integrity and our pride is on the line. What do we do? At what point do we decide to change the behavior which is destroying our lives? The topic is out there to be discussed, what do you think?

This is me . . .

Ron Eddings' life is a story of tremendous struggle, tragedy, perserverance, self-discovery and triumph. His life spans one of the most tumultuous, contentious periods in American history and sheds insight on a number of larger social, cultural, and racial issues. Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Ron developed into a star athlete in the shadows of poverty, discrimination and domestic abuse. He was awarded a baseball scholarship to Howard University, but subsequently lost it due to a knee injury. After returning to Asheville, his life took a number of twists and turns that eventually led to his involvement in drug and gang activity. After spending eight and a half years in and out of some of the roughest prisons in North Carolina, Ron decided that he had to change his life, and recover the warm, intelligent, courageous person he had left behind along the way. After being released from prison, Ron began telling his story in a number of venues including churches, schools, prisons, and social events. Currently, Ron is the Student Government Association President at Catawba Valley Community College, has garnered a number of academic and service awards, and works with a single-minded and determined passion to reach out to others, to educate them about the dangers of drugs and the horrors of prison life, to encourage them to enthusiastically embrace life's challenges, and to help those who have fallen into despair. Ron derives great pleasure from connecting with his audiences, and uses both incisive straight talk and infectious humor to deliver his message of hope and unity.

More later . . .