Will Ever Learn.

beauty in the hat by Adam Gadomski.

"Man can resist what he has never had, yearn for what he does not need, and stand in awe of a woman he never met..." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/10/18 





















Dynamic, proud woman whose strength is in the number of her strengths and their relation to each other woven together.

Lola Marie flirts with the unknown the way pretense shies away from the authentic self. Greek mythology likes to appraise its culture against either the lie it told, or the truth of where they learned. Adulthood requires the truth to build. In the sexual and practical lives of too many unfortunate souls is the interference of a disingenuous probe into their daily lives. Black White People (Wasicun Sapa) like to build bridges between who they were told to be, and who they were meant to be in their lifetime! So much was placed upon denial, and to such a degree lives shorten themselves effortless in those addicted to the roles they were told to embody... ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/11/18

Black Hearts



Soul loss of black americans.

"How did Black Americans go from aspiring to excellence to glorifying debased and otherwise degrading behavior?" is a good question someone asked. It deserves a thoughtful response, and a nod in the direction of the right answer(s).

In a word: soul loss.

For the most part it is a question asked just to be asking. Healers at the deeper levels know most are not committed to excellence because freedom is attached to that goal! More to the point: any group who fights hard to call themselves niggers will be just that! And niggers ain't free, and niggers don't like aspirations above nigger shit!

 

This is the consciousness of death beat upon the drums Blacks no longer use properly!

 

And then moments come, and there are gatherings of a class of Black Americans, like Cécile Charles who embody what their ancestors came from and learned to survive with from their complex spirituality deeply connected to the urge to excel far beyond mere survival.

 

 

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

6.2.16



Cécile Charles by Athenia Walker, her personal & professional photographer.
 November 6, 2015.

 

A Riddle to Resistance

An historical note: I refrain from referring to Blacks prior to the 1990's as 'African American'. That term was resisted vehemently by all concerned prior to that decade. Referring to them thus implies to the naïve that Blacks, or Coloreds were citizens with a basis of pride of heritage that was not fashionable as many like to fantasize about today.

In the social climate of the 21st century the fundamental and the variety of questions to freedom from the perspective of people bound to the nature of being ghetto, and retaining the status of being 'niggers' makes the historical reference to Black folks of our past as African Americans as too far ahead of themselves. You cannot correct the past by renaming it from the present.

On April 20, 1853 Harriet Tubman's task was to free her sister, and her sister's two children, at a terrible cost: her marriage. Her husband was a free man. They lived in southern Maryland, she slave-born, he a free born man. He couldn't take the risk of entering into that affair running the risk of being caught by whites three years after a law that required returning runaways to their owners, or the authorities was passed.

 

Being free born would you had you been him then? ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.17.16



a couple playing together.

 

Do I Need a Title?

There is a rumble in a story I am going to tell beneath the surface.

Black Americans, I believe, fail their children because parents place their full trust in a system designed for their children's demise. Black people 'adore' white American's contempt. If it were not true the obvious things to protect and develop their children would be done automatically.

Abandoning our children is a deep and conscious decision made daily. Not plunging into why the system of thought about education exists is abnegation of duty. Or maybe Black Americans are lazy. There are other systems of education that fit our children that is not resistant to creativity and is resistant to social engineering. There are other battles to fight within these schools, but it is better to fight those fights with a sense of knowing the control has shifted in your favor. And then there is control. I don't believe, and I am not convinced Blacks are finished with their assigned role of subjugation.

Maybe, Blacks are waiting to be saved, or simply enjoy complaining. The onus is on us to grab the reins of the horse running amok and bring him to a halt. The reins physically control the horse's movement, but the horse studies the rider's soul, and emotions. His determination of the substance of strength or weakness in the rider supports his compliance, or rebellion. Riders know this. It is why some healers use horses to mediate the healing and balancing of disruption, disorder, psychic pain, and trauma in a wide variety of people. Water mediates and tempers the soul, balances fire's propensity to destroy by directing the heat to heal when needed. Understanding the elements are the genius of indigenous cultures. Education, at the level it is, in modern life is not based upon the structures of living in the world as co-creators, and caretakers, or nurturers. It is based on something insidious.   

What would the American education system look like if Black Americans, en masse, moved away from their norm and rode horses instead of walking mules on acreage they don't own? What would change in the social environment if Black people shifted from the slave/mastery mentality into the difficult waters of self-sufficiency, if they trained their own children's spirits?

At the core of the controversy about education is one unanswered question many white people on both ends of the spectrum ask of each other, but avoid asking Black parents: "If Black lives mattered would Colored folks be so dependent upon white's control over their lives?"  

Gregory E. Woods, Grandfather  

Dec. 15, 2016

A Call to Evolve.

For Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Michael Brown by Titus Kaphar  

"A powerful and impossible way of describing a condition of the soul, a challenge of perception, and the confusion of imaging one's self in the historical context of another's personal history.

How weak are Black people ignorant of the 'why of their existence,' forever seeking approval from whites. Forever measuring their lives against the background of white Americans lowers the value of Black lives, as well as emboldens the purpose of killers enjoying the blood sport their ancestors created and profited from the whole of our collective yesterdays until now! " - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9.1.16

Black White People: a puzzle.

By necessity Negro men had to assert strength, elegance and poise to vie for the attention respect demands from whites, who did not value Black lives. It was white people's struggle to place equal value upon Black lives that played a role in Negroes' emphasis upon doing better, doing better than the dumbest white man, excelling despite and because of the odds.

A lot of maxims came out of the eras in association with white folks, Mr. Charlie, Ofay, Jim Crow. Established into the code of survival where did the notion of engineering distain for ourselves become the standard for a people who call themselves African Americans?

African American.

That is a helluva an indictment when you think about it. Black Americans have a deeply held contempt of Africa and their connections to the people and the continent. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/13/16

Negro man distinguished in his suit. circa early 1900's.

Colored man and wife in Cotton Plant, Arkansas.

Then on the other hand there were the Tuskegee Airmen.

COMBAT Missions

Total Missions - 12th Air Force 1,267 ...
Total Missions - 15th Air Force 311
Total Sorties - 12th Air Force 6,381
Total Sorties - 15th Air Force 9,152
Grand Total Missions 1,578
Grand Total Sorties 15,533
Total Number of Pilots Sent Overseas 450
Total Number of Pilots Graduating From Tuskegee 994
Total Pilots Killed In Action 66
Prisoners of War 32

COMBAT RECORD

Destroyed Damaged Total
Aircraft (aerial) 111 25 136
Aircraft (ground) 150 123 273
Barges and Boats 16 24 40
Boxcars, Other Rolling Stock 58 561 619
Buildings and Factories 0 23 23
Gun Emplacements 3 0 3
Destroyers 1 0 1
Horse Drawn Vehicles 15 100 115
Motor Transports 6 81 87
Power Transformers 3 2 5
Locomotives 57 69 126
Radar Installations 1 8 9
Tanks on Flat Cars 0 7 7
Oil and Ammunition Dumps 2 0 2

AWARDS

Legion of Merit 1
Silver Star 1
Soldier Medal 2
Purple Heart 8
Distinguished Flying Cross 95
Bronze Star 14
Air Medal and Clusters 744

http://www.earthlyissues.com/tuskegee.htm

Tuskegee Airmen, the flying officers.

Say It Loud I'm Black & I'm Bound!

" The challenge and the scriptures encouraging freedom of the mind and spirit from bondage travel short distances into the slave's mind. It has always been that way and Black Americans embody this contradiction with great passion convinced that to shed shackles is not being Black, whatever the hell that is!" - Gregory E. Woods, African/Creek/Crow NDN 

the LADDER PEOPLE!

Miho Yoshioka is a Japanese actress

Miho Yoshioka is a Japanese actress born 1980. That year is close enough to 1945 for her to feel the affect of the contradictions of being Japanese and submissive to American influence after the atomic bomb Americans dropped on their heads and changed the nation's perceptions and identity. What does it mean to be Japanese today? I don't know. I read about it and watch with awe the way Japanese respond to American dance, and the music of Black Americans, whom they reportedly look down upon culturally.

I learned this opinion, or perception the Japanese hold of Black Americans during a short friendship with a Japanese man living and working in Chevy Chase, Maryland at the turn of this century. He was a very professional man, a teacher. He was in the United States, he told me, to teach Japanese at a small, but prestigious school housed in the building I was serving as a corporate concierge. For a time reference his time in the U.S. started early in 2001.

Of course I saw and greeted everyone who entered the building. He was typical of Japanese men living and working in the Washington DC area. He drove a modest car, walked with studied purpose. His suits were immaculate and neat. Hair cut was neat and never but so long, or short enough to draw unnecessary attention to himself. He penetrated deep into every eye he looked into, and that trait led to an intimate and honest conversation about Japanese thought in the context of business.

I was either very formal, or very relaxed and funny when I greeted people as a concierge. My wife dressed me each day and made sure I was immaculate from my long hair to polished shoes. You see, in sales one must match the people he/she needs to impress. That is how I met and befriended a Japanese man new to this country back in 2001 and new to the job he held teaching Japanese to English speakers. He was a serious traveler, who traveled to see and to know where he was and in depth who he was living amongst. In that respect we were kindred spirits.

One day he told me how he and other Japanese were prepared for travel to the United States. There was a process and in that process the intangibles were fascinating to me. They were given practical knowledge, but their insights into the souls of Black Americans left me aghast! He said he and all others are told that Black Americans are known as and called the Ladder People because one can place a ladder upon their shoulders and climb and build a fortune! ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9.21.14

Miho Yoshioka 

Miho Yoshioka climbing a building!!!!

The Beauty of Black & White photography!

Fear of Success

Check out this video/interview of then 12 year old Venus Williams, 11 year old Serena Williams and their father Richard Williams. It's pretty cool to see just how many of the Williams family predictions came true over time. Just goes to show you that hard work and dedication do pay off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p31aGy_jD3E




Ghetto chick showed up at work and ...

I Love Being Black

















Your point Orman Griffith, "It's pretty cool to see just how many of the [Serena and Venus] Williams family predictions came true over time. Just goes to show you that hard work and dedication do pay off. It is not only hard work it is having a vision to work from as the point of origin." I get. I add that all things start from somewhere and from someone a vision finds release in their commitment to birth the vision through labor and sacrifice.

Most people will not reach their vision's end because of poverty and other things, but in the United States where people come to see the realization of their dreams most will not birth their vision because of the misconceptions that formulate life as a citizen. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/9/15  

Gayle King interviewed Cynthia MacFadden one day !!!!

 

One Day poolside

Sabrina Sanchez
September 25, 2012

The thrust of the Civil Rights movement was to be equal with whites. Beyond that scope was no vision. Beyond these shores was no capacity to extend and follow the momentum of the movement to the freedom fighters in Africa. As a result the bonds that should exist between the African states and countries and Black America do not exist. We suffer because of this failure in our projections and our negotiations with Power for power. If this were not true we'd not be sitting with our hat in hand hoping we can vote every 25 years! - Gregory E. Woods 7.31.13

JESUS IS A WHITE MAN

The sad fact to face as a lay person, and a pastor is the resistance of Black and White Americans to go against the traditional relationship set up between slave and master (black and white) in the American lexicon of relationship. The question we all ask ourselves at some point in our existence is what do we do about it when we see it affecting our offspring. But, the interpretation of the Eastern document (the Bible) by Western thought binds honesty to a pillar thus preventing clarity from gaining power in the consciousness of everyone bound by the rules of subjugation. 



Freedom is feared amongst Americans because of its demands to look each other in the eye and tell the truth, and to look one's self in the eye and decide to embody the truth. Because white Americans chose to view the Bible as a means to subjugate they are unable to lose themselves from the bondage they created. Entombed in fear the white man turns white with the element, and Black men turn grim against the reasons to become men and become free. Black people, as a whole have become Wasicun Sapa (Black White People) in the name of survival, and white Americans have learned to bully. This is why the symbol of Jesus remains, by popular denial, white. This is the American story, and why so many Christians from other countries come here as missionaries. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.24.13

Jesus after resurrection convincing Thomas...

Question the Standards

Khia Cimoné Moon, from Portsmouth, Virginia was crowned in Richmond, Virginia April 1, 2012 a beauty queen. That came about four decades after the end of the racial terror of the Southern white genteel societies, and a breath after the beginning of the era of a technological innovation that changed relationships between people. In the 1970's some envisioned an end to beauty contests, but they persist insisting on relevance against the outcry of women activists, who insist it (the practice) is archaic and outside the modern definition of the New Woman. But, is it? Is beauty meant to be glossed over, or an intellectual acknowledgment of identity or physicality? 

Today much more is expected to come out of the mouths of beauty contestants since the Women's Movement. Intelligence is expected to be flanked by accomplishment and intentions beyond the pale of personal gain. Women beauty contestants need to be poised to evolve with a level of sophistication eventually making them interesting enough to engage the elite of the media jungle and inform young girls about the how of reaching goals and manifesting dreams. It is a delicate balance between being beautiful and taken seriously in an industry and culture that judges women by standards men are not submissive to, or sacrificed for. Beauty pageants ask questions to one's existence. Do they define the New Woman? Who is the New Woman?

In the 1970's the estimation of womanhood was narrowly defined by white women. They will deny it, but actions speak louder than words. The '70's were fresh with newness, and the dependence Black women had on the ideals and idea of womanhood were mirrors of white women's woes and standards. Is the early 21st century different? Have we evolved from that? I submit no as I gaze across the country and beyond to other countries across the globe. White women under play their influence and power and out of the corners of their eye they see the multitudes taking their cues and phobias to heart. Bleached skin in Africa and throughout Asia, Iranian women sculpturing their noses into white woman's notion of perfection as if Napoleon's reaction to the sight of the pyramids is insignificant, and not a commandment as powerful as the commandments Moses carried down from the mountain!

With that in mind what are beauty pageants for, who do they honor, what is the deepest objective of them and whose identity is expressed as the ideal? In other words, are we white people who look like the ancestors of other cultures? 

Gregory E. Woods

Keeper of Stories

5/8/15 

Khia Cimoné Moon working out !!!!

IN NATURAL HAIR are stories

Madagascar woman

"The conqueror, I say, is always afraid of whom he conquered, and the conquered holds terror of the conqueror within his body, his body of thought and his Being. When the conquered is wed to, or mates with the conqueror the child has the spirit of the conquered and the conqueror. That conflict of emotions and beliefs becomes either angst to the soul or sources of power.”

There is a lot of pain on both sides. Dorothy Height said it all when she said these words at Mrs. King's funeral. "The Black Man needs the White man to help him with his fear and the White Man needs the Black Man to help him with his guilt!" ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8.20.13

Raquel Welch

Nigga Please !

Sinclair your words, "What people call you is a reflection of how they see you and value your worth..." are an insight into that which embroils Black Americans into a forever revolving door of frustration. It occurs within and without the churches they may attend. But, unlike any group I know of, save the Dalid people of India's caste system, give everyone the power to call them by the name that enslaves their spirit. American Blacks it's nigger. For the Dalid, it is the Untouchables. - Gregory E. Woods, 3.27.15

Sacred Geometry design drawn by Sasha Grey 

Words Are Powerful

By Dr. Sinclair Grey III

What you tell yourself has a way of manifesting itself. Let me say it another way. What people call you is a reflection of how they see you and value your worth (Oops, I said something). Words have meaning and because words have meaning, I challenge you to use them for uplifting and not tearing down. Don't let people cause you to degrade yourself and/or others for the benefit of profit and fame. With so much talk about free speech, let's get one thing clear - derogatory speech against Jews, Gays and Lesbians, as well as Latinos is consider hate speech, but use the 'N' word and it's either free speech or I'm sorry I said it and and got caught speech.

The writer of Proverbs penned the words, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Please don't miss this. Be careful of what you say because it has consequences. In addition to this, love yourself as well as others enough to not allow anyone to degrade or demean you with words. Oh, I have to say this. Just as we don't want anyone labeling us and mistreating us, we cannot do it to one another. 3.27.15

Nigger Americans Wasicun Sapa

natural hair of Taraji P. Henson



portrait of a Black woman - Taraji P. Henson

Old African man in his village



Rasta, a true dread

"Well, I took a trip to Africa – which, by the way, is where I plan to live some day. I went to Kenya, and while I was there something inside of me said, “Look around you, Richard. What do you see?

 

I saw people. African people. I saw people from other countries, too, and they were all kinds of colors, but I didn’t see any “niggers.” I didn’t see any there because There are no “niggers” in Africa. ...Can you imagine going out into the bush and walking up to a Masai and saying, “Hey nigger. Come here!?”

 

You couldn’t do that because Masai are not “niggers.”

 

There are no “niggers” in Africa, and there are no “niggers” here in America either. We Black people are not "niggers,” and I will forever refuse to be one. I’m free of that, it’s out of my head. My mother is not a “nigger.” Is yours one? So if your mama ain’t no “nigger,” how could you be one? See, when I went to Africa, to my Motherland, I realized that terms like “nigger” and the word “bitch” that so many Black men call our women are tricks, like genocide on the brain."- Richard Pryor

Dark deep beautiful woman



Genevieve Nnaji is a Nigerian actress !!!!

"I remember when Richard Pryor said that. For a moment he held Blacks silent, but that moment needed to exhale as breath into our ancestors who saw themselves as niggers. That train of belief and thought has not been let go and killed. As willfully as the word nigger is defended being a nigger is equally protected as identity, as property. Black Americans through hip hop, for example, gave permission to the entire globe to call us niggers. Visit anywhere and listen." - Gregory E. Woods, 2.17.15

Jesus did not die for me. . .

 

THIS Is Black History Month

In 2015 something other than critical thinking has replaced the obvious trend of action we envisioned in the 1970's we felt deep in our bones was sure to materialize listening to Gil Scott-Heron telling the deep stories we felt, but could not tell ourselves. If we followed the path from his pointing finger we were supposed to be in a state of a kind of prosperity that began with a heightened understanding of personal power, and evolve into a respected place in society our great grandparents had sung about in church and field. But, complacency replaced the urgency of becoming a force of nature serpentine in nature capable enough to boost the economy of our rich heritage and brilliance into viable integrity that translates into cultural strengths one can bank on, and respect in American culture as a spiritual power lacking in the substance of American economy of soul.

That is a lot of jibber jabber on my part if you are young enough to have grown up watching the situation comedies that placed the revolutionary into a comical role, and the pimp into a cultural hero the larger world accepts as 'the way we are'!

Gil Scott-Heron, our poet and the nation's prophet is dead now the timbre of his voice reminds me. The finality of decisions is as finite as death is translucent and at one point the end of our life. That is how the work ethic of Death works with vision. Yesterday, we had visions today we don't see. The year 2015 has come, and the areas of concern many of us Blacks own are governed by outside forces, not by inner unctions. That's jibber jabber, our jibber jabber.



Gregory E. Woods
1.29.15

Black man by the pool by Ana Dias 

Daddy, I thought of you in four stories

Chicktagram
5.23.13

Human Zoos were popular entertainment amongst white people in the United States, Australia and Britain well into the 20th century. It is an unbroken legacy changed only by law; not necessarily within the heart to the degree that the evil of racism and white supremacy has left the heat of the land upon which it dwells in colored people's dreams and aspirations. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 1.24.15 

2. The U.S. is a Vassal State of Israel


It is a very unpopular vote to vote on the side of Palestine. Over here in the States I can count on one hand how many times I've heard outrage in churches, or communities of people over the system of apartheid Israel holds over Palestinians. There are reasons for that. The very reasons there are are the very reasons something is askew within our thinking about life, liberty and justice! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1.24.15

drawing of a Cowboy 

3. Hitler in us?

If Hitler would come back into another life it would have not been as a physical resemblance of himself. There would be some sort of transformation within his being because in the transitory period from his former life to another he would have suffered and gone through tremendous and unheard of (to us) trails and retributions to even see the light of another life upon the Earth, our Mother. It is not to say he would have ascended from the role he played as Destroyer or ascended from the depths of the lowest energies he maneuvered in into high ranges of creative and transformative energies!

If life after death is like the three blood religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) teach he wouldn't return. He'd be in hell, fire and brimstone forever. But, if life in each form including the deaths we experience from birth to grave transforms us what would a Hitler transform into? Or do the Hitlers in our world serve as a cleansing purpose to make good people live better, honest people tell the truth, cowards stand up for others or the fearful find courage? - Gregory E. Woods, 1.24.15

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, 

4. Responsibility of a King

This past weekend for a lack of a better way to put it belongs to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is a lot to say about his legacy and about the citizens who occupy the country. White people need direction and guidance out of their creative illusions that exclude them from being a part of the solutions for racial divisions, and Black people need guidance through the maze of our fear based contradictions about being free and freed from slavery. Koreans and Chinese and Hispanic American citizens need escape from their delusions about being white enough to be accepted by whites as equals. In the end they will find out they aren't with great and significant disappointment.

Black Americans no longer own the impetus of change the Civil Rights movement stirred on the balmy water of Southern congeniality. White people do. The moment in 1963 in Washington DC is where Dr. King is interred for viewing and consideration and admiration. It is the most white American 'somebodies' can stomach from the profound changes Dr. King was in the midst of, created, and mustered into the social circles of Southern comfort and Northern pretense at liberalism.

Dr. Clarke, Black America's esteemed historian, scholar and thinker, pointed out in an interview when he was blind and old that Black People enjoyed the ceremony of protest and shunned the action and the work of change. He said it different in his own words, but it is ever so clear to me, and many others deeply involved and invested in the spiritual, and community work within the Black psyche. 

That's what social work is. It involves work within the Black psyche. It is not about housing, social reform, legalization, it is about what swirls within the minds and spirits of a people who do not own themselves, do not own their own images; whose images are owned by white people with or without power. A people earmarked by slavery twice over are not as free as is proclaimed by Southern and Northern whites. With the legacy of slavery in our souls, and the law of the land allowing in its very constitution a continuation of its evil thread upon heart, mind, body and soul of darker hued people we are double slaves. That is not accurate for everyone physically because not every Black American has been or is incarcerated. What is true is the large number who are and have been are earmarked for it by a design. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1.20.15

Daddy holding his great grandaughter Erin-Elaine, my granddaughter, is a living reminder to me of the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and the impression of Black intelligentsia that is down played in Black culture. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories July 2015 

BETWEEN RACE & FRIENDSHIP

"Black consciousness therefore takes cognizance of the deliberateness of God's plan in creating black people black." ~ Steve Biko 

Many things are evident in a smile, a moment between friends, and lovers. Many things are between friendships that mean something, or could mean something if it were not for the racial and societal barriers set up by history between people, groups and governments.

Today, there is a startling difference in the friendships between American Blacks and Whites compared to the end of the Civil Rights movement. The tension and fear are absent as they were then in part because it eventually became evident Black Power was harnessed by a greater need to assimilate. Largely white administrators in charge of educating American children decided to stifle children's growth collectively through cruel measures of manipulation and take away policies that took the creative aspect of learning from the children. Black children creatively reacted by creating from the morass Go Go music in Washington DC, and in New York came Hip Hop. Go Go returned the soul of 'Chocolate City' to its African roots and explored family and community and unity and solidarity with the rudiments of African rhythms,  and chants. In New York city expression through Hip Hop grew into an international voice of a generation and the divides between people fell in unforeseen ways.

- Gregory E. Woods,

5.16.13

"It is better to die for an idea that will live than to live for an idea that will die." ~ Steve Biko