Hungry

"We're hungry but we won't give in." ~Sade from When am I Going to Make a Living (my theme song)

Mother Appreciation Day

Much love to the woman who raised me to be the man that I am.

Blog Love

Every now and then I wonder if anyone reads my blog, so it was a very nice surprise to receive a One Lovely Bog award from Angelina Fong.

Much thanks to Angelina, who has a very nice, creative blog herself. The Lovely Blog Award is the gift that keeps giving, in that once you are given it you give it to 15 other blogs you dig. Here are mine (in no particular order).

1. Lichiban Blossom
2. Racialicious
3. Jennysdresserdrawer blog
4. The Soaring Impulse
5. New Black Man
6. The Kitchen Table
7. Illdoctrine.com
8. Anti-Racist Parent
9. Tea and Honey Bread
10. Get Angry With Me
11. Angelina Fong Designs
12. Angry Asian Man
13. Stacey Epps
14. Okayplayer News
15. The House of Tomorrow

It's good to give love and it's good to get love!
Peace!
_____________

The rules to the One Lovely Blog Award:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

New Painting

This piece, titled Sunshine (Nurture the seeds) is the first of a new series, Children of the Sun.

Injustice

"Injustice" 7x10 Prismacolor Pencil by Marcus Kwame Anderson

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." ...Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That's the only thing that can save this country" ...Malcolm X

These are historic times indeed. We are taking wonderful steps in the right direction, but we are far from the finish line. The two quotes above have never been more true. While a select few prosper, far too many struggle. While we celebrated history, Oscar Grant was murdered in cold blood by law enforcement. The economic woes that the entire nation is feeling, have long been a reality in America's inner cities. Complacency is dangerous. The two men I quoted gave their lives for the cause of freedom and dignity. Let us continue to move forward and grow. The struggle is far from over.

Peace and blessings,
Marcus Kwame

Inkwell Army (poem)

by Marcus Kwame Anderson

the inkwell turned to desert
deserting the smoldering embers
strewn across the soil

glowing golden
the sun’s children
struggle for sustenance

a little oxygen would
keep them ablaze for today
but i’m looking at tomorrow

thinking beyond sunset
because the sun wept
as the moon took the stage

quiet as it’s kept,
i’ve slept too long and
i don’t wear complacency well

we all dwell in cells
from the jails to the cubicle
mentally chained and dutiful

the inkwell had deserted
and i stood ready for war
depleted, unarmed and leaden

looked to the heavens
and then to the earth
stabbed the soil with my pen

ink floods the implement
voice resounds as an instrument
spilling the tune of the infinite

i, too, sat at the table
when company came
beautiful in the face of their shame

lifted audre’s chalice of words,
the lorde manifested in ink
and took a long drink

i’ve often wondered if i was born
into the wrong time, but perhaps
this is the time which needed us most

i hold my daughter close
her infant smell spell-binding
reminding me to smile

welling up with pride
upon the earth’s promise
the inkwell swells as well

spilling tales of old
chronicling the present
and narratives yet untold

lifting voices to sing
timeless melodies
until the firmament rings

singing glorious songs
calling on every last
have-not within earshot

the world is ours
and we battle for peace
like the heavenly host

i’ve often wondered if i was born
into the wrong time, but perhaps
this is the time which needed us most
~

© 2009 Marcus Kwame Anderson

Rude Bwoy

Meet Quentin. He's a character in a comic that my creative partner in crime, Mr. Gone and I are working on. Quentin runs a Jamaican restaurant and is very much an old school yardie who rarely smiles. He does, however, have a sharp sense of humor, a strict code of honor and is one of the most well read individuals you will ever meet.

Waters of Potential

This piece was a commission that I did last year. I forgot about it until I stumbled across this jpeg on my computer. It's strange when a piece of art leaves your hands right after it's done. It feels like contemplating the fate of a long-absent child.

I miss this one... but, moving forward, I'm continuing to plant creative seeds.

Peace and Love,
MKA

"I'm a Good Man"

Father Father Video by NYOIL

In the video link above, socially conscious Staten Island emcee, NYOIL gives props to all of the good fathers out there who stand as strong and loving pillars of their families. My daughter and I appear in the video (around 1:47) along with many other fathers and their children. I love this video because it proves that Hip Hop can still be positive, and it also reminds us that there are a lot of men of color who are good fathers.

"Dedicated to the Father I always wanted and the one I'm trying to be." -NYOIL

It's Been a Long Time...

I haven't posted much recently, but I'm back. I've been going through a creative dry spell in recent months, a dry spell which I'm happy to say that I'm coming out of. I have a bunch of half finished projects that I'm getting back to. This watercolor pencil portrait of influential poet and Hip Hop icon, Rakim is one of my in-progress pieces. It's only a beginning. I have big plans for it.

It feels good to be painting again. I'm sure all of you creative people out there know how frustrating creative droughts can be.

I leave you with Eric B. and Rakim's Paid In Full and In The Ghetto.

peace and blessings.

Roots Rock

It's been one of those weeks. I need 3 weeks off and a lot of roots reggae. It's nice to dream.

Demand Justice for Lavena Johnson

With March comes the end of Black History Month and the beginning of Women's History Month, and while I feel it is important to recognize and celebrate Women's history and Black history, I don't feel that either should be confined to a single month. But hey, America has a long way to go in terms of it's treatment of women and people of color, so these respective months are certainly better than nothing.

This month while we recognize Women's history, we should also confront the violence which so many women face. Why? Because the present will one day be history, and violence against women is unacceptably prevalent today. The department of defense has released alarming statistics which state that one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. Americans tend to view terrorism as an act solely perpetrated by foreigners, but a lot of American women live with terrorism in their homes everyday. And what about those women in the armed forces who are sexually assaulted and/or killed by other US Soldiers, while risking their lives in service to this country. Women like Lavena Johnson. If you haven't heard her story, don't feel alone. Though Johnson's death occurred in 2005, it has been absent from mainstream media headlines. This silence is deafening in light of the facts that have surfaced since her autopsy.

Lavena Johnson entered the army fresh out of high school and was sent to Iraq in 2003. When her parents were notified of her death in 2005, they were told that she died of self inflicted wounds and her death had been ruled a suicide. Upon viewing his daughters corpse, Johnson's grief stricken father, Dr. John Johnson knew that the official story was far from the truth. The supposedly self-inflicted M-16 wound was too small to have been made by an M-16, and was on the left side of the right-handed woman's head. And then there were her brutal injuries.

From Firedoglake.com:

After two years of requesting documents, one set of papers provided by the Army included a xerox copy of a CD. Wondering why the xerox copy was in the documents, Dr. Johnson requested the CD itself. With help from his local Congressional representative, the US Army finally complied. When Dr. Johnson viewed the CD, he was shocked to see photographs taken by Army investigators of his daughter’s body as it lay where her body had been found, as well as other photographs of her disrobed body taken during the investigation.

The photographs revealed that Lavena, a small woman, barely 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, had been struck in the face with a blunt instrument, perhaps a weapon stock. Her nose was broken and her teeth knocked backwards. One elbow was distended. The back of her clothes had debris on them indicating she had been dragged from one location to another. The photographs of her disrobed body showed bruises, scratch marks and teeth imprints on the upper part of her body. The right side of her back as well as her right hand had been burned apparently from a flammable liquid poured on her and then lighted. The photographs of her genital area revealed massive bruising and lacerations. A corrosive liquid had been poured into her genital area, probably to destroy DNA evidence of sexual assault.

Despite the bruises, scratches, teeth imprints and burns on her body, Lavena was found completely dressed in the burning tent. There was a blood trail from outside a contractor’s tent to inside the tent. She apparently had been dressed after the attack and her attacker placed her body into the tent and set it on fire.

Any rational adult can see that there is a mountain of evidence of murder and a cover-up, and yet the military maintains their story that Lavena Johnson's death was a suicide. Her father has worked tirelessly to get someone to investigate Lavena's death, but little progress has been made thus far.

You know all those "Support the Troops" bumper stickers and flag magnets that adorn countless vehicles? Lavena Johnson and many other women like her are troops who need support. Again, one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. It happens in the military and it happens in American homes. We must work to end violence against women, a fight which cannot be won without the full cooperation of men. Do it for your mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters and aunts.

To learn more about Lavena Johnson and to find out what you can do, check out www.Lavenajohnson.com and ColorofChange.com. Spread the word.

Peace.