"Still I Rise"

"Still I Rise"

Maya Angelo

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise I rise I rise.

Heritage and Hate at Ole Miss

Wonderful article from The Daily Beast about hate and racism at Ole Miss (The University of Mississippi). It is sad that the schools in Mississippi are still as racist as they are. Actually it's sad that people are as racist as they are.

Will the day ever come when one person looks as another and does not see a black, white, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, atheist, transgender, Hispanic, Asian (etc) person but sees simply a HUMAN BEING? Must we classify everything and then align stereotypes to those things? Must we be scared to walk down the same street as a black kid without automatically thinking they're up to no good and deserve to be shot?

The entire state of Mississippi has a racism problem and as someone who lives there I see it everyday. I'm simply lucky to have been born Caucasian in this state rather than of some other race. My hope is that someday people will not be so full of hatred for things different than they are but will appreciate the differences we have. And celebrate them. But it's hard to think that day will come when every February I have to hear how we should not have a Black History Month and every time a black is on television I have to hear "fucking niggers should all die" - and yes that actually happens. Even though people in other places don't see how it is I can tell you for sure iy is certainly very real.

Why must we spend so much energy hating people?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/21/heritage-and-hate-at-ole-miss.html