We Hold These Truths...

 [I posted this on Facebook last year, and it's a good time to post it today, because nothing much has changed. And all of us weren't free July 4, 1776.]

We hold these hard truths to be self evident:

That your forefathers claimed all men were created equal,

But said my forefathers were less than human and therefore property;

That you praise Lincoln for freeing the slaves,

When he didn't care either way, as long as the Union was saved;

That when the slaves were free, you turned your slave catchers into cops,

And created the prison system to put my forefathers right back into slavery.

We hold these truths to be self evident:

That your forefathers claimed all men were created equal,

And that Black people need to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps,

But I don't recall anyone giving out the boots after emancipation was proclaimed;

Matter of fact, only the slave masters got reparations for the loss of their "property,"

But all men are created equal.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That this country was built with the blood, sweat, and tears of Black people,

On top of the bones, blood, and tears of the Indigenous;

Your forefathers said all men are created equal,

But you paved our paradise to put up Central Park in New York and bombed our Wall Street to appease the virtue of some fragile white woman in Tulsa and emptied a whole pool because a black woman dipped her toe in the water;

All men are created equal, but the father of modern gynecology treated black women like lab rats who can't possibly feel pain,

And his mindset continues to kill black women to this day;

All men are created equal, but they're even killing our children,

Because black children aren't allowed to just be children, so Mommy and Daddy have to sit them down for The Talk before they go outside to play.

We hold these truths to be self evident:

That all men are created equal, but red-lining and gerrymandering exist;

All men are created equal, but my parents were in segregated schools;

All men are created equal, but you're scared to say racism still exists;

All men are created equal, but turn on the fire hoses, release the dogs, throw the tear gas, get the pepper spray, they doth protest too much;

We hold these hard truths to be self-evident:

That this country wasn't built for all men,

And it's time to pick it up by its bootstraps, turn it upside down, knock out all the excuses, lies, the status quo, the racists, the gaslighters, and this jerry-rigged system,

And start over so we all can pursue life, liberty, and the justice we so deserve.

Monthly Review & Wednesday Words: Masque of Red Death by Kenya Wright

 

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

It is the last Wednesday in October! I can't believe it. But to be honest, October felt long when I look back at it. Strange how that goes. On the 4th Wednesday of the month, I review , but as promised last week, I will also slip in Wednesday Words, since I had big news to share on the 2nd Wednesday!

I still get excited when I think about being an agented author. What a difference a month makes! It had been a secret wish of mine this past year to have an agent find Fractured Princess, read it, love it, and contact me, and that is exactly what happened! I will be under the imprint SFF For the Culture, and if you happen to peek over at Wahida Clark's Instagram, I'm listed as one of their newest authors! That was unreal. It's really happening.

NaNoWriMo is...still around the corner, and I've done nothing to prepare. It's fight or flight at this point. I have to pick a story and work on it. Every day. All month. God help me. I know which one I can work on, though. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to---this will be hard. haha

All righty, onto Wednesday Words!

For the next several weeks, my friends and I are reading Kenya Wright's Masque of Red Death, not to be confused with Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death, but part of the story is based on it. We're reading 3 chapters every 2 weeks, though we're a week behind (we're just so busy), and we're not completely sure about the book yet, but it's intriguing nonetheless. Also, that cover! So amazing. Here is the blurb:

In a Florida city plagued by race riots, a murderer has come to play. He calls himself Poe, and he invites only the most corrupt to his game.

The invitations arrive with masks made of human skin. Participants must dress for a masquerade ball and go to a specific nightclub where a riddle is given. Each hour, a guest will die, if the riddle isn’t solved. No one can contact the police.

However, Poe makes a grave mistake by inviting two people—Shadow and Lyric.

Shadow towers over most, wields power like the devil, and holds the city in his hands. Wanting to be steps ahead of this killer, Shadow joins forces with the one person he believes can discover Poe’s identity—Lyric Blue. Once, she was Shadow’s lover and the brain of his operations. But then Lyric chose her morality and pushed him away. Still, there’s an enduring attraction that weaves them together. United, they attend the ball, ready to beat the game.

Secrets are revealed. Bodies pile up. Every death from an unsolved riddle comes with a clue. And a story unravels, exposing victims and betrayal that no one could have ever imagined.

Super intriguing to me. So far, we're dealing with the protests and riots, mental illness, and political corruption. My friends and I meet this Sunday to talk about our next 3 chapters, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

What have you read this month? Planning on doing NaNoWriMo? Good luck!

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Industry Changes

It is the 1st of July and the first Wednesday of the month, so that means it is time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh and the co-hosts this month for keeping this program alive for writers to share their insecurities and successes. If you are a writer, please join us by visiting the IWSG website and signing up!

I'm in a better head space to blog this month. I took an inadvertent month off, which was much needed. But do remember as your timelines and media return to "normal," the systems of this country still need to be rebuilt to work for all of its citizens, and arrests still have not been made for Breonna Taylor's killers.

This month's IWSG question is: There have been many industry changes in the last decade, so what are some changes you would like to see happen in the next decade?

Well, in the wake of the spike in tragedies that occurred in May, many publishing companies decided to open their submissions to black writers. This is interesting because there has been a huge lack of diversity in traditional publishing, from the agency to the writers, for as long as publishing companies have been prominent. Many who received this news rightfully thought, "Now, you want to look at our work?" Most black writers, including myself, have turned to self-publishing because publishers have only been interested in black voices if they provide a look into black pain. Otherwise, agents "loved but didn't connect with" our work (and often, they've already filled their quota on black authors or books about black characters, sometimes not even written by black writers).

So in the next decade, if these publishing companies truly care to represent more diverse authors and aren't just opening their gates for optics right now, I hope this sudden interest in black writers does not die down and that more of our stories--and not just the ones that center our suffering--can be accepted by the industry.

I Can't Do IWSG Today

It's been a very tough few weeks, so when I saw the IWSG email come through I had a feeling things would be going on as usual. Just know your black writer friends probably aren't okay. If you haven't already, please support them by speaking out against police brutality, and that includes violence by police during peaceful protests. If you are silent, you are complicit.