Ah, Ancestor Luther. You were one of a kind, Brother. Your stunning voice is very much so missed.
Hello Family and welcome new subscribers! Happy Belated Spring Solstice!
It’s April Fools’ Day, but I don’t feel like engaging in hoaxes or pranks, or being played for anyone’s fool. There seems to be way too much of that happening every day such that we don’t need any one special day dedicated to it, you know what I’m saying?
But anyway: How you doing?
Me? Well, I can tell you this: I love the spring! Nothing makes me feel more alive than a gardening or taking a walk on a 75-degree day with the sun shining, and trees and flowers beginning to sprout and bloom…or, conversely, being snuggled up in my favorite nook with a good book on a rainy day.
I am a spring baby, after all. I was born on April 21; and based on the day, time, and location of my birth, Café Astrology says that I’m a Taurus (Earth) sun sign, a Pisces (Water) moon sign, and my rising sign is Aquarius (Air). I’m going through my chart to see what that all means. All I really know about astrology is the stuff I used to read in the newspaper’s daily horoscope back in the day. I know some people dismiss it as unscientific nonsense, while others swear by it. I just think it’s fun.
Relatedly, people who are spiritually in tune with these sorts of things say that this time of year, the Spring Solstice, is an Earthly (or perhaps a Universal) time for renewal. If that’s the case, despite how modern media and social media feeds are constructed to warp our sense of reality and prey on our fears to keep us in a perpetual state of terror, there are, in fact, wondrous things happening in the world.
But full disclosure: my personalized astrology chart said Lunar Pisces “are known to be dreamy and not always in touch with reality. However, though these people may not always show real-world savvy in day-to-day, practical affairs, they make up for this with remarkable intuition. They can put themselves into anybody's shoes with extreme ease. On the plus side, this endows them with remarkable compassion and love. The down side with this apparent ability to break down boundaries is that these people can easily lose themselves in the suffering of others.”
Well.
After having been read to bits by my chart, I wondered: If my horoscope is to be believed, it means that, because of my susceptibility to sorrow, I have to be very careful, thoughtful, and discerning about the media I consume and the energy I allow into my personal space. And I feel like I also have to be intentional about the kind of energy I put out into the Universe.
With that being said…
Renewal
Despite severe backlash and accusations of impropriety, the Supreme Court of Kenya ruled in favor of LGBTQIA+ rights, stating:
“Human rights are inherent and held simply because of being a human. All human beings, including LGBTIQ persons, are entitled to the full enjoyment of all the rights under chapter four of the constitution, not by reason of their sexual preferences as LGBTIQ but as human beings. Just as the rights enjoyed by heterosexuals are not based on their sexual orientation but by virtue of common humanity.”
Author extraordinaire Kiese Laymon recently sat down for a Q&A with the Oregon Humanities’ Consider This, and was dropping jewel after jewel of wisdom.
One of favorite politicians on the face of the Earth is U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman. His truth-telling before liars and courage in front of cowards is most amazing to behold. Here he is, sounding the alarm for people who will dismiss it as the Mister Softee ding-a-ling. It takes so much interior fortitude and divine patience to continue making the clarion call as people who hate children patronize you, gaslight you, refuse to listen to you, and meet your honesty with unceasing deceit. May the Ancestors always shield Brother Jamaal from the slings and arrows of the Adversaries.
Earlier, I was talking about how much I like to curl up with a good book. Here are some good books whose worlds I’m looking forward to getting lost in and being enlightened by.
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Greenland by David Santos Donaldson
Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana
Redaction by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts
When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey
Best Barbarian by Roger Reeves
We Are a Haunting by Tyriek White
And while we’re on the subject of books, a hearty congratulations to my homie-brother-friend Phillip B. Williams whose debut novel, Ours (out in 2024) is taking the publishing industry by storm!
I’m always astounded and humbled by the grace of Black men who are wrongfully convicted of crimes, spend a significant portion of their lives behind bars, are finally freed after additional, usually suppressed, evidence exonerates them, and they harbor no ill will to the system or society that chewed them up and spit them back out. Or am I confusing their grace with them being coerced?
If I am honest, I would like to, at least once, see a Black man who honestly assesses, for the record, what spending decades in prison did to his mind, body, heart, and soul; how he deals with being unjustly thought of as guilty—even after he’s exonerated— simply because he was once imprisoned. Sadly, we are all implicated in the truth of what the prison industrial complexes are; and precisely what they’re not.
Thank goodness these men have been released, and in some cases, received some money. I wish that they were also afforded free and culturally competent mental health services as well. May you somehow heal Elder Maurice Hastings, Brother Sheldon Thomas, and Elder Sidney Holmes, and Elder Anthony J. Broadwater.
I listened to three podcasts that dove into redefining masculinity and unpacking patriarchy in the interest of healing. So much to consider. Special shout out to my homie-brother-friends Frederick Joseph, Danté Stewart, and Damon Young.
I don’t put my faith in a lot of things, but I do place my hope in Black love. In my estimation, Black Love is a revolutionary response to Anti-Blackness. And I’m not speaking in the tradition of a weaponized, Colonial-Christian “love your enemies” philosophy. What I mean is a healthy and profound love of the Black Self and the Black Other and Black Communities in a world that incentivizes—and builds all the machinery that cultivates—the opposite.
Black Love restores.
Spring Soundtrack
Here are a collection of songs I listen to hard in the springtime. Consider it The Frolicking Mixtape if you will, because something about these songs makes me feel like spinning, running, and falling in a field of flowers under an April shower or a May sun. Something about them makes me feel loving and wide-open and weightless and smiling and free. “The hills are alive” and shit. :)
Enjoy!
“Electric Relaxation” by A Tribe Called Quest
“Keep You In Mind” by Guordan Banks
“You Are” by Bilal
“Full Moon” by Brandy
“Get Me Home” by Foxy Brown (featuring Blackstreet)
“Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine” by D’Angelo
“Potholes In My Lawn” by De La Soul
“When I See U” by Fantasia
“Day Dreaming” by Aretha Franklin
“Mass Appeal” by Gang Starr
“Calls” by Robert Glasper Experiment (featuring Jill Scott)
“When I Think of You” by Janet Jackson
“Papillon (aka Hot Butterfly)” by Chaka Khan
“Love Ballad” by L.T.D.
“Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” by Maxwell
“Float” by Janelle Monáe
“Green Garden” by Laura Mvula
“SpottieOttieDopaliscious” by Outkast
“Runnin’” by Pharcyde
“Sweetest Taboo” by Sade
“If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” by The Staples Singers
“Spring Affair” by Donna Summer
“So Into You” by Tamia
“Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” by The Temptations
“Addicted” by Tweet
“Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross
“Do You Know The Way To San Jose?” by Dionne Warwick
“Free” by Deniece Williams
“As” by Stevie Wonder
“Vibe” by Zhané
I’ve compiled it here on Spotify:
That’s it for another edition of Witness. Until next time: be well! And may the Ancestors always love and keep you.
Blessings upon blessings,
Robert