Text Tuesdays – New Prose – “I Don’t Want To Be Your Next #BlackLivesMatter #Hashtag “

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#BlackLivesMatter, Alton Sterling, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Black, Black Lives Matter, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brother, California, family, Georgia, iPhone, iPhone Post, Japan, Japanese, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Keypsiia Walker, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker, Louisiana, Minnespta, Philando Castile, Photography, Poet, poetry, Prose, Sacramento, Son, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

7/11/16
Did my life matter,
It mattered to my Black Father,
It mattered to my Brown Mother,
It mattered to my Sister,
It mattered to my Brother,

Blue Lines Blog -Throwback Thursday

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Alton Sterling, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, California, facebook, Falcon Heights, Fruitvale Station, Georgia, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Keypsiia Walker, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker, LA Riots, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Minnesota, Murder, Oakland, OJ Simpson, Oscar Grant, Philando Castile, Photography, Police Brutality, Rodney King, Sacramento, San Francisco, twitter, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill

I wake up further enraged this morning…there is no time to mourn when the news of the next murder is broadcast. How much longer will we cast a blind eye, and allow locations, tweets, and posts to be evidence of our disgust and displeasure, yet let it end there? The pandemic of violence against us in the United States, and systematic violation and disregard of our lives is reported daily. Should my future wife have to worry whether I will come home, or whether she has to watch me die in public? Should I have to worry about my future son not returning home from college? Should my future daughter live in fear that at any moment, her father, brother, boyfriend…husband, will not return from their day? Will I make it home alive tonight?

I refuse to live my life in fear, but these are real questions to be asked in a country where increasingly obscure locations, towns, and places become unfriendly reminders of how devalued the life of a Black man is. Last year I felt an uneasiness as I rode past Fruitvale Station…what was simply a stop on the B.A.R.T. is now an eerie reminder of a New Year’s shooting of an unarmed Oscar Grant was murdered by a police officer. Our lives our being reduced to temporary outpourings of grief, vigils, speeches, and memories tied to a location. However, I wasn’t…we weren’t born to be symbols of tragedies that continue to repeated on, as we have seen the last two days, a daily basis. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are simply the new names added the growing list of disregarded lives.

New To You Music Sundays – Bosnian Rainbows – “Eli” NFL Edition – Go Giants

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2004, 2013, alternative rock, art rock, Bosnian Rainbows, Clouds Hill, Deantoni Parks, El Paso, Electronic rock, Eli, Eli Manning, Elisha Nelson "Eli" Manning, Elisha Nelson Manning, experimental rock, Giants, indie rock, Johann Scheerer, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, Louisiana, Maxwell Award, Mississippi, Most Valuable Player, MVP, National Football League, New Orleans, New To You Music Sundays, New York, New York City, New York Giants, New York Giants 80th Anniversary Team, NFL, Nicci Kasper, Omar Rodríguez-López, Rodriguez Lopez Productions, Sargent House, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Champion, Super Bowl MVP, Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl XLVI, Teri Gender Bender, Texas, The Mars Volta, True Detective

  
The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Music Mondays – Mikky Ekko – “Pull Me Down”

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2012, Alternative, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Indie pop, John Stephen Sudduth, Key Yemaya Walker, Louisiana, Mikky Ekko, music, Music Mondays, pop, Pull Me Down, RCA, RCA Records, record producer, Shreveport, Singer, songwriter, tracks, United States

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Cover Sundays – 30 Seconds To Mars – “Stay” – Rihanna Cover

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2012, 2013, 30 Seconds To Mars, Actress, Alternative, Alternative metal, alternative rock, Angels & Airwaves, Barbados, BBC, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, California, Chamber pop, Cover Sundays, dance, Def Jam, EDM, Elof Loelv, EMI, Emo, fashion designer, Great Northern, hard rock, Hip-Hop, Immortal, Indie pop, Jared Leto, John Stephen Sudduth, Justin Parker, Key Yemaya Walker, Kuk Harrell, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Love, Matt Wachter, Mikky Ekko, music, neo-prog, Nightbird Studios, pop, progressive metal, R&B, RCA, RCA Records, record producer, Recording artist, Reggae, Rihanna, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Saint Michael, Shannon Leto, Shreveport, Singer, Singer-songwriter, Solon Bixler, songwriter, Soul, SRP, Stay, The Wondergirls, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Tomo Miličević, Unapologetic, United States, Universal, Virgin, Westlake Recording Studios

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays – Frank Ocean – “Wiseman”

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2012, ballad, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, California, Christopher Breaux, Christopher Francis Ocean, Def Jam, Django Unchained, Django Unchained soundtrack, Frank Ocean, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays, Key Yemaya Walker, keyboards, Long Beach, Louisiana, music, New Orleans, Odd Future Records, poetry, Prose, Quentin Tarantino, Soundtrack, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Unreleased, Vocals, Wiseman

“Frank Ocean wrote a fantastic ballad that was truly lovely and poetic in every way, there just wasn’t a scene for it…I could have thrown it in quickly just to have it, but that’s not why he wrote it and not his intention.” ~ Quentin Tarantino on why “Wiseman was omitted from the Django Unchained soundtrack.

Wiseman closed his mouth
Madman closed his fist
Young man shows his age
Judge man named it sin
Bad man don’ exist no
No evil man exists
Good man don’t exist no
No righteous man exists
Sad man cannot cry in place where man can see
Never witnessed father weep
This old man thought it weak
But strong man don’t exist
No undying man exists
Weak man don’t exist no
Just flesh and blood exists
But your mother would be proud of you
I bet your mother would be proud of you

Music Mondays – Frank Ocean feat Andre 3000 – “Pink Matter”

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3000, alternative hip hop, André Lauren Benjamin, Andre 3000, Andre 3K, Andre Benjamin, Atlanta, Benjamin André, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, blues, California, Christopher Breaux, Christopher Francis Ocean, Def Jam, Dookie Blossum Gain the 3rd, Dré, drum and bass, Frank Ocean, Funk, Georgia, Ice Cold, James Ho, James Ryan Ho, jazz fusion, Johnny Vulture, Key Yemaya Walker, Long Beach, Louisiana, music, Music Mondays, New Orleans, Odd Future Records, OFWGKTA, Pink Matter, pop, Possum Aloysious Jenkins, Rapper, rock, Singer-songwriter, southern hip hop, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Three Stacks, U.S.

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Blue Lines Blog: This Day In American History – Edward Perkins Nominated U.N. Ambassador (1986)

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Ambassador to South Africa, Black History, Black History Month, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Edward Joseph Perkins, Edward Perkins, Jefferson High School, Key Yemaya Walker, Louisiana, Oregon, Portland, South Africa, Sterlington, This Day In American History, U.N. Ambassador, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, University of Maryland University College, University of Southern California

Edward Perkins, the first Black Ambassador to South Africa, was nominated U.N. Ambassador on this date in 1986.

Edward Joseph Perkins (born June 8, 1928) is a former American diplomat. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, South Africa, and the United Nations 1992-1993. He was later Director of the US State Department’s Diplomatic Corps.

Perkins was born in Sterlington, Louisiana, son of Edward Joseph Perkins, Sr. and Tiny Estella Noble Holmes. He grew up in Pine Bluff, AR and graduated in 1947 from Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. He earned his B.A. from the University of Maryland University College in 1967, and his M.A. and Doctor of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and holds the highest honor the fraternity bestows on its members, the Laurel Wreath award.

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.