Your venue is video. Mine is by verse. Here is my "sharing"..
"My Soul Look Back In Wonder, How I Got Over"
One brother hit w/a golf ball
On a summer job @ a local Country Club
Resulting in cracked ribs and a ruptured appendix
All because a bunch-o' sick, low-down hicks
Thought it an inspired joke
Not a soul yelled the sport's warning of "FORE!"
Such etiquette for a little BLACK boy, they could ignore
It was supposed to be so much fun?
To see the li'l n!gg3r
Look up, yell, and run.
When somebody robbed a local convenience store
Two cruising White "Bubbas"
Picked up another brother for "Walking While Black"
But, because he personally knew our mother,
The Chief of Police brought him back.
Now, thank God, he was not harmed in any way
But, the message was plainly read that
For that crime, somebody's son
Guilty or Innocent, would surely pay
A sister who was intelligent, sophisticated and graceful
NOT to hire her would have been stupid and down-right wasteful!
With Sheep's-skin in hand, she went out to make her professional mark
But, after countless rejections and "The position's just been filled." lies
The reality set in that her complexion was just too dark.
Teeming sidewalks and long crossing lights
Make a stomach start to growl....
Downtown with my mother to pay bills and to shop
But at the Woolworth counter for lunch, you'd better not stop!
She pulled me by the hand, as I looked
Through the window at those blank, White faces
Lined up on each stool as she quickened our paces
Oh, Segregation was over according to ink on paper
But, in that city, the angry, resentful feelings still had yet to taper.
To feed her family
A mother who toiled hard and endured
All kinds of insults and slights
And later, her children rubbed her back
And soaked her feet on hot, summer nights
After she worked for White Folks in restaurants and in their homes
Always watchin' and lurkin'
Thinking she might steal
But, my mother sucked it all up
No matter what she might be thinking or feel..
One White woman went so far as to count her Silverware
And checked her China Cabinet
But my mother never did blink nor fret
Even when, on the bar, she marked each liquor decanter
Oh, yes, she was trying with all her might to somehow trick and catch her!
But my mother took it all in stride
She did what she had to do
Many times, she sucked up her pride
But, like Paul, she "pressed toward a higher mark."
Her faith and hard work
Saw her thru Night School
An escape from the bigoted, menial rule
So, yes, a degree greased a few doors
That before had remained shut
And, she plodded on
Stuck in a new groove
But not the same ol' rut.
