Please - Somebody - stop me from posting so much (but not til after this one)

[Mira]

There were a few choices of where to be election eve and I chose the local YWCA, with about 70 black folk and 2 more whites to await the returns. My grandson and I figured it to be the place where we could experience what was happening the best.
They are my customers and my friends and we were a nervous crowd.

I watched a gorgeous little boy draw with high concentration as we all concentrated on the TV screen. When he finished and pushed it away, I asked to see the drawing, and now you can too.

I bought it from him for $ 2 and said I would put it on a T-shirt for me and one for him to memorialize the evening.

Do I need to tell you how phenomenal it was to be there at 11 pm?
I know I don't,
I also do not have the words to try.
Never before, and never again will I see so many happy explosions into tears.

After everyone was calming down a bit I opened my purse and passed out bumperstickers:

and they all cried some more.

I wanted to be "Black on that Tuesday night"

Am posting this wonderful poem by Maya Angelou who lives here in Winston-Salem, which gave me that idea


Weekend Glory


Some clichty folks
don't know the facts,
posin' and preenin'
and puttin' on acts,
stretchin' their backs.

They move into condos
up over the ranks,
pawn their souls
to the local banks.
Buying big cars
they can't afford,
ridin' around town
actin' bored.

If they want to learn how to live life right
they ought to study me on Saturday night.

My job at the plant
ain't the biggest bet,
but I pay my bills
and stay out of debt.
I get my hair done
for my own self's sake,
so I don't have to pick
and I don't have to rake.

Take the church money out
and head cross town
to my friend girl's house
where we plan our round.
We meet our men and go to a joint
where the music is blue
and to the point.

Folks write about me.
They just can't see
how I work all week
at the factory.
Then get spruced up
and laugh and dance
And turn away from worry
with sassy glance.

They accuse me of livin'
from day to day,
but who are they kiddin'?
So are they.

My life ain't heaven
but it sure ain't hell.
I'm not on top
but I call it swell
if I'm able to work
and get paid right
and have the luck to be Black
on a Saturday night.