Letter to my Father in Prison

Hey Dad, I hope you are well. I am sorry I have not written you yet because I have been very busy. I will do my best by writing you a letter each month and tell you what is going on. I am moving to Oakland with some great friends but the commute will be very hard. I was just talking about you to my roommate about how you used to tell me how I would run into the pool when I was baby and you would have to come after me. I saw the family last Thanksgiving break and it was really nice. It was very weird without you and Poppy there. I am not used to that all so I cannot wait for you to get out because no one deserves to be in prison. I am reading this book by Angela Davis who is an anti-prison activist. It is called Are Prisons Obsolete? It talks about how prison is a racist institution. I will not go beyond that because I know they read your letters. I think that in order for people to really rehabilitate they should be nurtured not put in a cage. You deserve to be with your family especially since you have made so much progress in your life. Even though we have our issues, I do notice that you always try. When you are around me you try to watch your language and give me the best advice and I appreciate that. I have been worried about you and sometimes I cry because you need to be free. You deserve freedom and love. I hope you get to do some reading while you are there because it is very empowering. I try to read all the time especially about resistance against the system. If you have any friends there maybe you can read with them too if that is allowed. I do not even know how you are feeling and that bothers me. I am applying to graduate school for social work because I want to help kids find loving homes. I think that everyone deserves a loving family and luckily you have one. Even though you are in prison at least you have people here that love you. Many of the men that are in that prison do not even have that which is why I do want to help kids find families. I kept the poem you gave me my first year of college and I thought at this time you needed it more. I printed some more poems that I thought you would like by me and other poets. Keep staying strong and I will see you at my graduation.

Your Daughter, Jasmine Jewell Le Blanc

Fuck the Military

So the military is every where!
Men from it try to get with me which sucks because I want a man!
I have some family who are proud members!
My cousin is thinking about joining it.

Honestly, I hate the military with the deepest passion ever!
Then people get mad at me because I choose to scorn and hate something so sexist, racist, hateful, and deadly ever. My ex-boyfriend joined the Navy and completely flipped. Sad part was he actually read and was very smart. Having a man that reads is a big deal and rare!He completly changed and does not speak to me anymore because I bad mouthed the military.

But lets think critically, lets say you live in Los Angeles. Imagine soldiers taking your streets, knocking on your doors and shooting you on site along with your kids or your parents or both. What if this was happening every day for years and years! How can you work for something so barbaric. Who is the damn terrorists? This is called the United States military.
I have heard the quote, "Obama cannot do everything, he inherited this war," so many times and this is bull shit! Civilian casualties are rising, why the fuck are American troops killing civilians then !!!If these men are crazy then take them out of there. When raids are killing children and families, please defend our so-called President and the military. I understand why people join it your broke, you couldn't get into college, you feel important whatever the fuck yo reasoning is doesn't defend the craziest psychotic institution of the military. You change and develop the most disgusting habits and they turn humans into killers.
I don't have any hope for this nation! It needs to be destroyed if they are allowing this to happen to innocent people. We as so-called citizens need to feel disgusted that our gov't is fine with troops killing innocent people for no fucking reason and completly oppose this war including the commander in chief Barack !!!
FUCK THE SYSTEM !
Peace~

Sorry I have been gone

Hey all sorry I have been gone for a while,
Something I want to discuss is Black organizing. I have noticed a lot of conflict with it. When I was in high school, I was a str8 up liberal because that was fed to me and I kept reading and reading and reading about it. I read and analyzed every single Martin Luther King Jr. speech. I was not exposed to militant and/or radical organizers. I had mixed emotions about nonviolence but I was mostly for it since the Civil Rights Movement was the cause of many rights granted to Blacks. I was aware of the oppression because I saw it in my neighborhood with every Black boy I ever known in my neighborhood winding up in prison and other things. During high school when I was the president of the Black Student Union, I was all about educating myself as well as Blacks about our people and issues since we did not learn about it in the classroom. This was extremely difficult since I did not know everything and my advisors were not that big of a help either. Still we had discussions and readings every now and then and I was proud that we were on that path. This Black man did not believe in ethnic groups and told me that we should have only multicultural groups where everyone is welcome. I didn't believe in that melting pot bullshit because we are all different and Blacks should have the opportunity to lead and have a space where they can come together and celebrate their community. He was in the multicultural group at my high school. Then there was this member who called me an idiot because all we do is read and talk. He told me that reading is not going to help the community. He said we should be in front of the people talking to them about issues like Black on Black crime and gang violence. I told him I agree but we have to read while we are doing that too and we cannot just roll up on the community when we don't know what we are talking about. I also told him if he has connections then to set it up and I will support him. Unfortunately, he was all talk and came to 2 more BSU meetings and got tired of it. I learned so much from my BSU and at the end of my senior year I began reading about other BSUs and what they did in the communities. My racist white high school first ethnic org. was the BSU who happened to be very political at the time. Unfortunately, there was a lot of drama and it was overrun by some crazy bougie Black women and the politics were lost. So I thought when I go to college, the politics and organizing will be on point.

As I start reading more about grass roots organizing and Third World people, I noticed that the nonviolence liberal approach don't work! When your brothers and sisters are being killed, tortured, all over the world I am not gonna have a peaceful march about it. I'm going to get locked and loaded !!! MLK inspired a lot of people including me but I am nonviolent up until somebody wants to get violent with me. As I have been reading about Black organizers such as Garvey, Huey, and Malcolm I notice that there is division especially after reading a ton about the Civil Rights Movement. But there is division in all organizing especially with the working class and bougie folks. Working unity NOT unity but a working unity is critical for revolutionary change. People are all about unity but if you don't trust the people you are organizing with then it is not working unity. If there is division then how can the revolution happen?
These are just some of my thoughts after doing some reading. Peace~

RIP Don Givens

**I piece about my amazing Grandfather that just passed, I read it at his funeral**

My Poppy looked good

My poppy would roll into the place and can pull off a mean yellow suit, black hat with some gators on his feet to match

Do ya know this man could dress?

None of that grandpa vest crap on his chest only the best

This man would come in like batman

With his sunglasses on and his gold rims on the side

He would look like a straight up G, but not a gangsta you see

He was Givens

But that is just the surface only the physical

My poppy had a heart of gold

Like heavy wet rain in Southern California

He was rare

I used to love running down to his den to see him in his chair

Watching football or whateva other sport

Cheering his team on to make the ball in the court

Poppy you look good

Your smile would put me in so much awe

Knocks me out till I fall

No matter what I would be feeling sad, angry, lonely, scared,

Poppy your smile would be a slap back to reality

Because your smile reminds me

You are a true gift and blessing to me

You are the reason I have a family

You are an extended tree

From the roots to the branches and the leaves, you shaded me and provided shelter

You look so good; you were more than just an elder

I remember when I cooked for you

You came in this fly white suit

Sat down and ate because that’s what you do

You of course was a another inspiration for school

For trying something new

An inspiration to make my dreams come true

Poppy I was just blessed to walk with you to talk with you just to know you

I could always remember your sweet smile even when I was a child

You had the charisma like a king

And I always felt like royalty because I was a part of your family

Poppy you gave me your birthday ice-cream when I was about 3

And you don’t even realize how much that meant to me

My first memory I can remember is walking in your home on 22^nd and Bronson with ease

Poppy I would neva get over the conversations we would have

Even if it was the same thing over and over again

I could play every conversation like a broken vinyl record player because I could never get annoyed with your voice

“Jazz how are you doing in school”

“Jazz tell your knucklehead cousin to do well too”

“Jazz I really love San Francisco too; maybe I will come out there and visit you”

“Because I love the trolley too”

I wish I coulda did my surprise for you.

Football game tickets at Oakland Stadium

Me plus You

Poppy you always look good not for your colorful suits

I love you because you were you

Male Privilege

I am glad most of my friends & cousins were boys when I was younger because it showed me the development of the their male privilege. I did not tolerate it and I still do not tolerate it. I learned what sexual harassment/assault was when I was 7 years old. I learned about abuse when I was 2. I used to jump boys after to school for messing with me. Anyways as I continue in this movement, I have a strong frustration for the male privilege that my comrades have been using very frequently. This unfortunately is normal in movements where womyn are somewhat oppressed while they are organizing with men.

Honestly, I try to listen to everyone and what they say to me. I would fully appreciate it if the men that I organize with will be aware of how they treat womyn and step back and LISTEN. With the public eye watching us as well, ppl around you view you as their heroes. Do we really need to be praising men that practice their male privilege on the regular and cannot listen to their female commrads? Lets set examples for the youth & the people!!! THEN WE CAN HAVE A REVOLUTION !!!!

I'm Bringing Nappy Back !!!

"Before a black child is born, many wonder what will he or she look like whether it is their eyes, nose, skin color, and especially their hair texture.

Before a black child is born, their family already judges their appearance especially when it comes to their hair." Unknown

The dreadful hair topic !! Movies & shows discuss black hair. Books, articles, etc. have talked about black hair. MY TURN!!! Other people look at hair as something that is normal mostly womyn have it straight, wavy, curly, but in the case of Black womyn it is thick, nappy, kinky, whateva you wanna call it, it is different from other types of hair. The black womyn that can fall into the category of having straight or curly hair are praised or ridiculed for their hair.

With white supremacy on the loose & lack of products and education on black hair, it is no wonder and question why the weave, perms, pressing comb, hair grease, gel, etc. are in most Black homes.

I usually avoid this discussion with Black womyn because they honestly feel that straight hair is their only option. Even with them completely aware of the reason for these standards, they still do it and never consider the options of natural styles. It is clearly obvious why because once most black girls enter school and start associating with other children, the teasing begins. They will make you feel like shit about your hair if it does not have a certain length and texture. Girls beg their parents to straighten it or perm it because in order to fit in not because of their own choice. A lot of womyn will claim "I don't hate myself" and they want their hair like that but if you ever catch some Black womyn with her hair natural, they will freak out and talk hella shit about their own hair when it is not processed. Is this not hate for yourself? I think it is when you refer to your hair as a bitch, a hot mess, unmanageable, etc. This is what I have heard from a few womyn and do not feel good about themselves unless their hair is processed.

I made the realization fully after my senior year that my hair cannot be straight at all. If you cannot run a regular comb through your hair and it does not become straight, its not meant to be then. When I pressed my hair consistently, it broke off. After prom and the removal of a mistake of a weave, my hair lady cut all of my hair short evenly. People have expressed hardcore how I am way more attractive with a weave or pressed hair. I had a huge problem with this obviously because it was clear my beauty was not valid unless I appealed to a mainstream racist oppressive limited view of hair beauty. Now I understand why Black womyn pursue these standards because you were raised on it, you want to fit in, you think it is beautiful and natural hair doesn't work for you, whatever the reason they have, I do challenge to try the natural hair route.

The very few beautiful things about the internet is now you can look up how to take care of natural hair. Just like when you grew up and said, "Hm let me try pressing my hair or getting a weave." I would recommend trying out some natural styles. So many Black womyn have posted blogs, youtube tutorials, websites, etc. have offered great products and techniques when caring for your hair naturally. When I discovered a few of these videos it made me extremely happy about my hair. Since I did not know how to care for my hair in a fro, I just kept them in braids. This semester is the longest I kept my hair in a fro. I bought some amazing straight up raw products like shea butter, vegetable glycern, & some organic shampoo and conditioner. It was amazing.

I got a lot of love and a lot of hate for the new do but either way it was all me. Many Black men that would usually notice me never looked my way. Many made fun of the fact that I had a straight bang and and the rest of my hair was natural. It is interesting to see people's reaction over a Black womyn's hair. Everyone thought I cut my hair because I wear braids all the time. People told me I need to comb my hair. People told me my hair was soft and I look beautiful. Of course my lovely revolutionary buddies LOVED it :) and some other dope ppl too but it was a big deal to a lot of people. This is an example of why I think Black Womyn should try the natural hair route. See the reactions and learn how to embrace your true hair. Even if you try out some natural styles that is even a big step and transition, believe it or not braids, locs, and twists are looked at negatively even though they are hella BOMB. What I love about a black womyn's hair is the fact they can do almost anything with it straight, curly, fro, twists, braids, locs, bald, plates, etc. I understand that is difficult because maybe you processed your hair out but trust you can get that nappy back. So to conclude here are some dope naturally beautiful sistahs video blogs about none other than BLACK hair.

"I'm BRINGING NAPPY BACK"

http://www.youtube.com/user/kimmaytube
http://www.youtube.com/user/curlychronicles
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShidaNatural

Stolen Kiss

You stole my first kiss
Na it wasn’t no accident or a miss
It was my first kiss my own form of virginity
See because when my grandfather molested me
When the older boy next door took too much notice of me
When I got humped or felt up by this sucka over here and there
You just like all of them took me down
And pushed your thick lips …all over this
And all I could think about was DAMN
I should of kissed that cute guy at the movies instead of holding out for MR. Right
But is that right
Na that’s wrong
But ya grip was way too strong
And I thought you were going to rape me
When you slid ya hand under my shirt and on top of me
Where is my roommate when I need her
Damn I’m glad I don’t have on a skirt
I figured if I just kissed you and got it over with
You would get off me
And stop making me feel like a piece of shit
But I was wrong
And ya grip became strong
Stronger…my self control just stopped
At this point I needed you to stop
You were going to finish up my biggest fear
Tried to get in between my legs
With my shirt rolled up…Please stop pushing me to the edge
Your salvia left all over my lips
And quickly you grab my hips
Acting like were the cutest couple
When all I thought was that you were big trouble
You did everything a man shouldn’t do
I mean a man should do
You wanted to take me out, treat me right, be my boo
Wait but what about respect
I wanted respect and that’s suppose to be automatic last time I checked
You told me you could have raped me if you wanted to
WHoaa…theres a sigh of relief now I should trust you
Im only 19 and you call me from jail
WTF you callin for, do you want bail?
Look I just started my first year in college
And fa real though the calls from ya momma needa stop it
Just don’t ever call me and stop acting like you care
We are not together and have nothing to share
You want to be my friend and act like you know me
But the truth is I want you out of my life, so don’t get crazy
But how can you love a man that wont respect you
How can you love a man that always forgets you
How can love a man that wants to be ya lover first and not even ya friend ?
Like foreal though this just got to end
Bc I want real love not this bullshit
Why did you think I waited so long for my first kiss?
But you didn’t care all you cared about was to rule and conquer
And you held me up like a croked officer
You keep calling my phone calling it to this day
And I press ignore and delete yo ass on the way
You see fuck him because I wanna brother that is real
Not the one that just likes to feel
But feel whats in my heart for a start
A man that’s sweetier than candy but wont give me any because he says he doesn’t want anything to ruine this beautiful smile
A guy that knows that money does not please me
Rather you writing poem about me teases me
Because I love a passionate brother
That is smart thinks with his heart
And doesn’t mind being silly with me because when were in the grocery store, hell push me in the cart
A guy with ears like a elephant
Who wont even flinch to my loud mouth and tells me I speak with elegance
A guy that makes you smile for no reason at all
Like you will drop everybodies except his call
A man that says there is nothing more wonderful than this
Him holding me and waiting for that kiss
Because he will wait when I am ready
And well act like were in middle school and take it steady
A man that doesn’t mind helping you with that exam
Helping you to make plans
Helping grease ya scalp
Ya ladies know what Im talking about
A man that will kiss my forehead before he kisses my cheek
Then holds me close and will not speak
Because he knows what I have been through
And he’s says Babe let me show you
That I can be the man you want me to be
All you have to do is trust in me
It might not seem romantic but I think it works, why don’t you ask your partner can I kiss you first ?