My Name is Jali

My cousin told me that one of his special friends told him that she doesn't date "church boys." I remember telling him that that was a cop-out because he wouldn't admit that he liked her & she wasn't going to put herself out there alone. But it made me laugh because I thought back to all the times my best friend and I promised ourselves that we were off categorized men... There was the musician strike of '03 We were thirteen, and we had both been talking to drummers. They both ended, how I'm not quite sure but I definitely remember the conversation we had that we were "done with musicians" because they were cocky and nothing but trouble. Besides, too many girls wanted musicians and we were no groupies! Then came the "thug" strike of '05 Our respective thugs came at different times in our lives, but we still reached the consensus simultaneously. I had an "accidental thug" you know, the one who kind of "falls...

So I read this article About African-Americans Who say that they No longer want the African presence in their name They just want to be Black They say They want the African part to go away Its a reminder of slavery to them Of a past that will never be overcome As long as they are African-American It's a negative stigma They believe One that brings to them no relief I say how can you deny Your roots, the basis of your design? You say adding Africa to your name Makes others see you as a slave? I say NO! I come from kings, and queens, and warriors A people so willing to give to others That they never saw the coming of their demise A people who weren't aware of the evils lurking Primped and primed ready to remove them from all existence They bred a nation that transcended generations That when the most drastic attempts were made to snuff them out They survived... I come from a land that was so fruitful Anyone who came across it just knew they had t...