American ME.

Photographer Vern Jensen captured Aliya Mathiesen 

at Pasadena City Hall, March 2016, rejoicing!

"… White American youth are enjoying their illusion of freedom, and their vindication from past misdeeds done by their people. As recently as the other month, when a young Black man was found hung in a trailer park in Virginia, yesterday became today. The lynchings have not stopped, and the cultural vibe of white people's right to take life to get other people's stuff is as vibrant and enforced as ever before. Their defensive structures are stronger under Trump's administration, and whether liberal, or conservative, the benefits extend to both kind of white people. 

It is an old story. It is the fabric of American life. What Black folks can do is the same, and slightly different from what the Red Nations need to do to do more than survive. The other ethnic groups know how to protect their individuality, their culture's dignity, and we all have access to how we gave up so much to recover from the ravages of white conquest, and not lose more in modern times. 

What did our ancestors have that we need today? 

That is all." 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Feb. 01, 2019

Aunt Betty. She was the slave of Mr. Walker, at Faunsdale, and was the cook for Rev. Mr. Harrison, Rector of St. Michael’s. The picture, taken in Aunt Betty’s home, shows a typical cabin... - Joan Johnson 

WHEN WE AWAKEN 3

"Some things are just average, other things are spellbinding!"


TO MY Nephew

"Whatever you do as a practice developing body, mind or spirit and however you develop emotional maturity it comes back to assist you at the oddest times; in particular when you have been given life for a long time. In a culture, childishly upset over aging, and obsessed with the illusion of staying young old age trips you up. There are peculiar benefits to a life well lived. The practices of life to stay fit in the four realms are best teaching us how we live.

It is fascinating this way of being. "- Gregory E. Woods, (Dawn Wolf), Keeper of Stories WHITE AS A RIGHT! I was recently watching a video clip of a British man, with images flashing of what his people were doing to people who looked like me of the darker hue, in recent times past in other countries. Black African countries they have conquered and subjugated. The combination was meant to disturb the viewer and his closer was meant to be a kumbaya moment.

The horror he described with emphasis on the images in the film is grim, but a white man with a British accent telling this burns within me. It stirs a rage, a collective one constantly felt in silence by our ancestors and those of us whose people suffered at their hands. It is the way he sits with authority and a measure of disgust and the simple minded appeal to the viewer about how we are one that burns into the soul of non-whites! Historically, whites skip all the steps to heal with a not so subtle a suggestion that we hold hands and let bygones be bygones.

It always comes out this way and it always leaves the rest of us happily lapping it up so we can avoid the long process needed to mend at the deep levels, or it burns with rage on the inside because we know that beast is never chained up and killed. He is always there. It is part of the staying power of Donald Trump! ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/24/18

Outside of AFRICA

Delbert Africa was assaulted by Philadelphia police after the standoff with the group MOVE. An officer was killed that day and the evidence pointed to him being shot by other cops, but 9 MOVE members were all convicted of pulling the trigger. The memory of that is dark taking me back to other related incidents, as brutal as the way their house was burned to the ground with people inside.

During the years I was a police officer in the period of the crack epidemic I saw a lot I won't write about. One of the outstanding things I learned was this: Communities, cities and towns tell, and indicate what they really want. In other words, police reflect the unspoken desire of their communities, and their leaders. I am not sure how sophisticated Black youth are, but as they are seen in the eyes and behavior of police around the country it is clear! How and if that changes is dependent upon the changes Black Americans make within individually, and later collectively. The chances of that are slim contributing to the violence levied against us by brute force, and contempt for Black lives that don't matter to 'them'! The bulk of the battle is within. The enemy is without substance if we own ourselves! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/19/18

diagram of Racism

Delbert Africa beaten by this Philly cop with his helmet. When down others kicked him in the face till unconsciousness, dragged him by his hair. 3 cops were tried for excessive force and exonerated...

A Look Back

Dyan Cannon on phone in the '60's

Sophia Loren in a breeze.

Helen Mirren, actress "Woman In Gold" 

‎

Beautiful and stunningly beautiful white women from days gone by formed and support the opinions about what was the standard for this and the last century.

Look at this gallery. It is more of a tribute. Women like Kim Novak and Sophia Loren featured in this gallery of poses, who set standards today's woman glances at in their mirrors for glimpses. Yes, this is a tribute to the influence of white women in our sensibilities. This gallery of comparative photographs skips through the mid-twentieth century with darlings like Caroline de Maigret and Lucille Baugh! Audrey Hepburn set the standard of elegant poise and the long forgotten Isabel Jewell!

If you look close and beneath the assumptions they are all white women, whose influence framed the network of thought and esteem Black women from then until now hold as mirrors. In the strive for freedom Black American's struggle for identity begins with images framing their perception of themselves.


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
October 14, 2017

pretty legs of Ginger Rogers.

Anna Q. Nillson in 1920. 

Mae Busch's exquisite beauty in 1922. 

Hedy Lamar in the style of the 1940's.

Evidence of the Fool!

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.



I have not read the New York Times' opinion editorial released the other day anonymously in the literary form of a diatribe against Donald Trump. The excerpts on the news are all I've read. Someone, in this administration, has moral fiber and the texture of responsibility floods his or her being with integrity. At the core of this piece consider the weight of this small quote:

"...we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic. That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office. The root of the problem is the president's amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making."

White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders believes and said, "This coward should do the right thing and resign." The unnamed official who wrote this editorial said others at his/her level, who are like-minded, chose to stay on the job to save the country from President Trump believing the President's leadership style is erratic, and his "...leadership style is petty and ineffective."

In response to the assertions in the opinion piece, Republican senator, Bob Corder, stood in front of reporters today and said with clear eyes and clarity; "It wasn't new news to me. It wasn't new news to anybody who served in the Senate." Bob Woodward's book, "FEAR" paints Trump "as ignorant and impulsive and of aides who struggle to reign him in".

With over 3,000 recorded lies, to date, coming out of the president's mouth the question to precede any response is: "Is he lying?"

We are long past a tolerable point. There is no parent or spouse who would suffer three thousand lies from a child, or a relative and maintain the possibility the child is telling the truth! Such a low standard in a marriage does not survive, if such a one exists! There is something amiss in the purpose of this presidency, and something hides within the shadows of the allegiance for this man, who has built a reputation over the decades in business based upon his name, and not dependent upon integrity, but his ability to bring value to the market place.

That's his value. His substance is not based upon moral integrity. His presence in high office is telling a profound story millions refuse to acknowledge because of things they want that are consistent with their vision in life for and from this country. All of this is buried in the long history of the psychopath of the European characters that left that land that likes to call itself a continent without fulfilling the qualifications for such a distinction!

A fundamental question to ask in the shadow of these facts is: "Is there an agreement to undermine the very strength of a nation's core to maintain a divisive substance that will temporarily validate a belief system itself not beneficial to all citizens?"


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
September 6, 2018


P.S.

There is a lot of buzzing around in the White House. People, up to the Vice President, are denying they wrote this opinion piece. There is an opinion poll on the television screen, right now, pointing out that 64% of the people, at least, in the Washington DC area think this is article is treasonous, and 37% believe it is patriotic! It will change each minute, but understanding the pulse of this area the outcome will be stirring because the two words: treason and patriotic mean one thing to white Americans and something different to Native Americans and Black Americans, who are not considered in the estimation of this White House.

One Congressman said in front of the camera in a deadpan: "I think a lot's been made outa nothing. I think the biggest issue they're gonna have is figuring out, who wouldn't have written a letter like that?" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

First Lady Melania Trump dressed to meet Queen Mathidle of Belgium 

stands with wife's of world leaders.

He Who Controls the Images. . .

Dove ad released October 2017.

Did Dove Just Call Me Dirty?

The actress Danielle Brooks responds to the company's offensive ad. 

By Danielle Brooks

October 9, 2017

"Scrub your knees. Don't forget your elbows. Use more soap," my mother would say as she checked in on my six-year-old self in the bathtub. She knew my body was dirty from all the sticky germs I'd gathered on the playground or at gymnastics practice. Yet even as she ordered me and my brother to use more soap, she never once made us feel that our skin color was dirty.

You might be thinking to yourself, Well, of course she didn't. What kind of mother would make her children feel that way? But the sad fact is that no matter how much adults like my mom built us up and made us feel pride in who we were and what we looked like, there was always a sneaky, vicious monster out there, determined to knock us right back down. That same monster has been whispering in the ears of little brown and black children since before my great-grandmother's time, telling us that the color of our skin makes us dirty.

As much as I've worked to armor myself, to defang that monster and keep it at bay, it ambushed me again yesterday morning, as if to remind me of my vulnerability.

I was scrolling Twitter, as I do every morning during my rise-and-grind routine — catching up on the latest news from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter; scanning to see what funny video has gone viral in the middle of the night, what crazy rant 45 is on now — when something disturbing caught my eye. An advertisement. Four images. Two women: one black, one white. The black woman happily peels off her brown top, which is the exact same color as her skin, to reveal a smiling white woman in a white top. In the bottom right corner of each image is a bottle of Dove body wash.

I pause. Scratch my head. Think for a minute. Wait. Dove, you want me to believe that using your soap will turn my skin into that of a white woman? No — that can't be it. You want me to believe being black isn't clean? You want me to believe that black = dirt and white = purity and using your soap will make me clean? Got it. You're telling me my skin, the deep, rich melanin that I was born with and cannot change, is filthy. Got it.

That's painful.

That stings.

And Dove, I understand that you've apologized for your racist, "missed the mark" ad. Good for you; we should apologize when we offend others. But do you even know what you are apologizing for? I appreciate your expression of "deep regret," but what is it exactly that you regret?

Do you regret that your ad has caused controversy, that people were offended by the ad? Do you regret the negative publicity? The potential damage to your bottom line?

Or do you regret that you put this racist piece of nonsense out into the world? That, apparently, not one person in your organization even questioned its insidious message before approving it for release? That you put it onto Facebook with its platform of two billion users? That you fed that monster of my childhood and gave it the strength to whisper into the ears of another generation of children born a rainbow of shades? Do you own it?

Do you regret that you've labeled one of your products a "nourishing lotion for normal to dark skin"? Do you even have black people on your marketing and advertising team?

Do you regret becoming the most recent addition to the historical legacy of detergent companies using racist images to sell their soap?

In the past, you have shown your commitment to "thoughtfully representing women of color." I even participated in one of those ad campaigns myself, and I was proud to be a part of it. Do you regret taking that feeling from me?

You were disrespectful, Dove. Thank you for the apology, because I was hurt by this. Thank you for reminding me that it's not only about seeing more representation. The way in which we see representation is what truly matters. And thank you for reminding me that the whispering monster still lives, that it has not been vanquished. Thank you for reminding me that the "Black Girl Magic" and "My Melanin Is Poppin" T-shirts and jewelry I rock aren't just statements of pride. They are armor, armor against the sneak attacks like the one I experienced over my breakfast yesterday.

Danielle Brooks is an actress, singer, activist, and designer.

Elegant lady, Danielle Brooks. photo by Matt Sayles.

When Dr. King spoke: Power of a People's Pain.

When Dr. King spoke: "If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run, then walk, if you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward" I heard the enforcement of the laws of purpose, and felt at the time what it meant to Colored folks. Being young, and being old and a Negro in those times held a stress level that strangled dreams. It killed by fear and emboldened by necessity a killer instinct in others, and made the leaders arise from within the caste system created by the fears white lives, who developed themselves into monsters or tolerant moderates, afraid to do what was right in the sight of God!

Dr. King, I recall, was despised by so many ministers, but I saw fear of changing the white people around them alive in the purposes the church served in Colored neighborhoods. No one killed like white folks! I remember how television delivered these messages from Martin Luther King Jr. the way word spread through the forests into the towns and cities where 'Members' lived. I remember old people talking about the way storytellers told the old stories to the children around fires in the dark of night! The fires became radio, radio became television and television became the internet, where the family circles disappeared into the mist of separate rain drops.

Now, today broken circles pretend to bring people together. Pieces of a dream are no more effective than broken bowls. The old ways of fighting the demons are the methods to bring the worst of killers to their comeuppance, to trail, to the courts of law, but not the law created by the killers and framed by the beneficiaries of their brutal murders and acquisitions by force and terror.

It is less and it is more our Ancients speaking the old truths our interactions with those from Europe stripped from our knowing of the deep that gave Dr. King his voice... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/18/18 

This Actress provokes thoughts...

Debra Messing in her first movie, A Walk In The Clouds

Debra Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. She is known for her many television roles, most notably her eight-year run playing Grace Adler on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace... 

I never liked or watched Will & Grace. I was no fan of lily white shows depicting, with skill, how white people look at the world around them without seeing anyone else, but themselves! It is a dismissive quality brilliantly written in this and other shows like Sex and City, Mad About You, and so. That's how it is in daily life! 

I pay respects to the actress' respect and deep love for her father. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3/8/18 

Debra Messing on the Tonight Show

2 Stories Interlocked!

Brigitte Bardot having fun!

Brigitte Bardot was once innocent, had innocence and played with it with ease until the world of men, predatory men, took that from her. It is an old story her old age repeated. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/12/18 

Fred Astaire, 1935.

"The African informed, taught his act and he became famous being white interpreting African dance to a less sophisticated appreciation of African genius!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/12/18 

Fred Astaire. Looking at the man through the lens of how entertainment failed and divided the races (Black and white) with the ingratitude of white entertainers learning, as best they could, how to dance the popular African dances of the time is a tell. . . White people are indeed lacking in gratitude, they also prefer to not acknowledge the debt of African genius. It doesn't agree with the intelligence of their assumptions of superiority, arrogance.

Far beyond in terms of years, the current fad of playing around with words and concepts like diversity, getting along, tolerance and other trite movements white people distant themselves from self-analysis and we, the rest of us, have to grapple without the presence of the designers of the racial construct we live within, to get along with white people! That's some shit! But, that is the way the misconception: racial reconciliation conducts itself!

This is hard to understand with a Twitter frame of reference and developmental substance. There are those who would prefer I'd simplify complex subjects, but I am a mature man who has steeped himself in study and analysis of this culture since my teenage years. Why would I try to fit all of this into 140 characters like the President Trump currently does most days!

It is this division of intelligence wrestling this global power into ineffectiveness. In time, in ways I don't need to see from this vantage point because of my age is a grown up way of dealing with a child. Let the child stumble. In this sector of human history the risk is the loss of power, and Americans without the powers they are accustomed to will falter in terror, no longer being the most powerful nation in the world!

That is quite a story Fred Astaire started. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/12/18

LOOKS BACK!

actors Ray Milland and Jean Arthur in the film, Easy Living, 1937.

My father was 5 years old when the movie, Easy Living, came out in 1937, the Depression was in full swing, and Daddy's father was one of the few who owned his land, and his house. During the Depression that was a significant reality. Strategically, it provided a basis for the assurance that one's family could live through so hard a time! For those like Granddaddy, who cared for those around him he became a centered and central force that created the feel of being held in a community of poor folks. It was during one of the heights of the violence of big city crime bosses, Jim Crow's reign of terror, and a time Colored folks, in the South, were purposely being forced to accept no more than a 4th grade education. That decade was struggle and accomplishment, survival and denial...

The movies were important. They held sanity together for thousands bringing together everyone in dark theaters in suspended reality that blocked the depression of the era!- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/19/18

Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis behind the scenes in Spartacus (1960).

The movie, Spartacus, was good, and for the times extraordinary! But, the novel? It was the book that turned the country upside down! It was banned in the South! I did not understand that until I read it! The author's mastery interpreting Roman history gave the spiritual and the intellectual basis for the governing business of American life: slavery. It was an extraordinary read! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/19/18