Just because you smiled at me this morning on the bus
Doesn’t change the fact that so many others didn’t
Just because you claim that there are no races
Doesn’t mean that I don’t experience racism
Just because you have a few black acquaintances
Doesn’t mean that you can interpret my black culture
Just because you attended a Black Lives Matter protest
Doesn’t prove that you don’t harbor prejudices
Just because you believe black people need a chance
Doesn’t help them get one
Just because you appropriate black culture
Doesn’t make you unique
Just because you acknowledge white fragility
Doesn’t absolve you from suffering from it
Just because you claim to be a good Christian
Doesn’t make you of necessity spiritually evolved
So, just because you’re in my face boring me with whitesplain
Doesn’t mean that I have to get affronted
But what if I do?

Camille Elaine Thomas
August 18, 2021
Copyright@ All rights reserved

If we had justice for all
Human Rights Movements would die out
If cops stopped targeting black men and women
People wouldn’t have to fight racial profiling
If we had equality for all
Why need affirmative action?
If we gave black artist appreciation
No need for cultural appropriation
If we had true freedom of speech
Wouldn’t have to deal with white fragility
If we had no racial murders
Black Lives Matter would be a thing of the past
If we had reparations
No need for white supremacy
Do you feel me?
If we had cultural acceptance
No sufferers of post traumatic slave disorder
Do you feel me?
If we had unbiased history books
No need for cultural race theory
Do you feel me?
No need for anger
Do you feel me?
No need for paranoia
Do you feel me?
No need for defenses
Do you feel me?
No need for fear
Do you feel me?
Right the wrongs
Before the day is long
Do you feel me?
Time to transcend
Do you feel me?
Before it’s too late
Do you feel me?
We shall not be moved
There's a train a coming
And the Revolution will not be on TikTok

Camille Elaine Thomas
August 14, 2021
Copyright@ All rights reserved

There are times when life seems to get you down
You look for friends but none can be found
Your hope is low, nowhere to go
Nothing to do, don’t have a clue

What do you do when you’re feeling bad
Where are the clowns when you’re feeling sad
Where are the arms to hold you tight
Where is the strength when things aren’t right

It’s in the tingle in your feet
It’s in the rhythm of your heart beat
It’s in your ear all day long
It’s in the melody of your song

There are times when life seems too tough
The path is rocky the road much too rough
People seem to want to use you
The system seems out to abuse too

Times when all you want to do is hide
None there to share the ride
Only rain on your window pane
One step further to going insane

It’s in the tingle in your feet
It’s in the rhythm of your heart beat
It’s in your ear all day long
It’s in the melody of your song

it’s the joy in just being alive
like a dance with a little Jive
like the leaves on a new tree
only there for you to see

if you just refuse to resign
very soon the pieces will align
there is a rainbow just for you
don’t give up, that’s what you do
never give up on your dreams
life ain’t as bad as it seems
soon laughter will fill the air
Give a care, it’s still there
Love yourself and you will see
The door of new opportunities

It’s in the tingle in your feet
It’s in the rhythm of your heart beat
It’s in your ear all day long
It’s in the melody of your song

Camille Elaine Thomas
27.07,2021
Copyright@ All rights reserved

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

      ~John Lewis

At the 2021 DPCA Annual Global Meeting in May, Democrats Abroad adopted Resolution #1 -  Rename the Historic Edmund Pettus Bridge for Congressman John R. Lewis. From this resolution, the Democrats Abroad John Lewis Global Voting Rights Day action committee was formed. Together we have planned a series of events and actions in July to celebrate the life and work of the late Georgia Congressman and Civil Rights leader, John Lewis. Often described as the conscience of the Congress, he was a friend to Democrats Abroad. July 17th marks the first anniversary of his passing and the first annual John Lewis Global Voting Rights Day.

The dedication and bonding of both permeates the barriers of age and life.
The transplanting of knowledge into the player with the grace and skill of
An eagle in a hunt.

The bonding overgrows the years current and past to an unknown level of
Continuous dialogue of both is truth and understanding. As the player goes into the
Realm of being a “Basketball Jones” as his coach had been for so many years.

His coach's love of that 'round pill' supersedes all other sports on this planet.
As the player watches like a hawk on the prowl for a victim. Seeing through all
Of the side noise and distractions with the focus of a shark. He embraces all of the
Coaches style and techniques honing them into a grace likeness of a track star in
A 'poetry in motion' likeness with a pure desire to win and win every time.

As he embraces- his players with a cocoon of love and respect instilling in them the need
To be the very best for themselves in each and every challenge.

The days-weeks-months and years pass with grace and the emerging of a coach- not
A player as the cocoon dropped away. All that was ingrained in his soul and heart became
As granite to be the best and the best is just around the corner.

Now -as the epitome of his former coach no longer a player- but a coach. As the
Crowd roars and his players push to be as he was with his coach in high school.
Polishing their skills in a diamond like way revealing the inner beauty of perfection of
Them as their coach - not a player for his former coach in high school.

As the years pass, the coach and his coach continue their bond as though it is yesterday.
As the crowd roars and his players smile with love for their coach as he did to his
Coach in his high school days.

With a championship as their target and bound with a steel like bond between the players
and their coach -they take to the floor-and the clock starts...

© 2021 “The Coach and the Player”- Paul S Hickman- All Rights Reserved

And, the time has come for the retreat into the caves
from whence we came.

As the Clock Stops

As the clock stops, and the wind blows in all directions
as the changes are upon us. With the top down and the
down on top as it has been spoken to us.

As The Clock Stops

As the clock stops, and fear grabs the souls of the iniquity
doers of deeds. And with visions heard over the horizon whips into
our faces burning us with the hot winds of change.

As the clock stops then starts again with the changes done.
And we stood there in awe...

© 2021 “The Clock Stops After 400 Years” -Paul S Hickman- All Rights Reserved

Today I met two angels on the path
One was an older slightly lined woman
White mature cultivated masculine
She asked me to dance with her
But first I should take off my clothes
I hesitated out of shy conceitedness
Then she put her arm around my waist
The natural bond was unabashedly felt
Nothing mattered except the moment
I urgently shed my constricting shirt
The empty hall transforming into a ballroom
The next angel was a dance teacher
He showed me a warm-up exercise
It looked graspable quite simple
Until I realized that I was in a cage
I looked below and discovered the others
Dancers moving with diverse rhythms
Each performing their own technique
I opened the gilded filigree door
And I jumped.

Camille Elaine Thomas
July 1, 2021
Copyright@ All rights reserved

Can you hear the whistle blowin‘?
Do you know where you’re goin?
Take a trip down the seaside
Clear Waters moving deep and wide
Ridin on that new A Train
Best method to stop the pain
Ridin high on the line
And everything is oh so fine

Cus it’s a brand new day
No old dues to pay
That’s all i got to say
Is it’s a brand new day

You take one step forward, two to the side
The movement just makes you wanna ride
Nothin to stop the positive flow
Listen up just nod your head and feel the glow

No blues gonna catch me and get me down
I can feel my mojo jumpin‘ comin round
Everything is movin on to where I wanna be
Nobody’s Drama is gonna be fuckin‘ wid me

‚cus it’s a brand new day
Hear what I say
It’s a brand new day
No collector bills to pay

Immigration laws hey no taboo
Gun Control thats what we gotta do
Make racial profiling a Thing of the past
Make defund the Police free at last

Change you mind and you ass will follow
The Oppression blues you ain’t gotta swallow
Free your mind from mental slavery
Stand up strong that’s true bravery
Together we stand divided we fall
It’s about the peoples Unity, that’s all

From left to Right and back again
Change your mind Baby, that ain’t no sin
Philosophies White Brown and black
It’s the Unity of the Forces, that’s what we all lack

‚cause it’s a brand new day
Nothin‘ left to say
Hey, it’s gonna stay
It’s the only way (repeats)
To make a brand new day

Camille Elaine Thomas
June 01, 2021
Copyright@ All rights reserved

Paul's daughter Irene Melina Hickman reads his poem:

When does it end with my death.
The minutes-hours-days weeks-months-years.
We the enslaved toiled without mercy for those who control
Our daily movements.

The shear physical and mental pain must be endured for the
Ancestors wrestle with this too. Mental - the teachings us
The anguish yet to come endlessly.

Days In and Days Out

Into the fields of nothing for us. As we watched over each other
With care and love. Keeping that unseen love intertwined
With bitterness and hatred. Both learned from the ones free
To do to us without regret.

Days In and Days Out

There was no end insight for us. Some ran only to
Be returned with bruises and scars. Some whimpered like
Young puppies while others stood tall and erect. None
Could wonder back and forth without interrogations.

Days In and Days Out

While we were still chained and loaded in cages like untamed lions.
Glaring our eyes towards the en-slaver who called out our action
On their parts. The power of the eyes looking deep into the souls
Of the en-slavers Raising their fear beyond their belief. As they
Withheld the freeing us from bondage when the news passed days ago.

Days In and /Days Out

The whispers of good news for us. The cuffs and iron around
The neck and ankles were to be taken away.
To break freely. Some danced a jig and ran around happily.
For me it was the harness wrapped around me inhibiting my
movements. Controlled anger caught me giving me
the release of my soul before death would claimed me.

Days In and Days Out

JUNETEENTH -NEVER AGAIN!

(c)2021 Paul S Hickman All Rights Reserved

On the morning of May 30, 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland was riding in the elevator in the Drexel Building at Third and Main with a white woman named Sarah Page. The details of what followed vary from person to person. Accounts of an incident circulated among the city’s white community during the day and became more exaggerated with each telling.

Tulsa police arrested Rowland the following day and began an investigation. An inflammatory report in the May 31 edition of the Tulsa Tribune spurred a confrontation between black and white-armed mobs around the courthouse where the sheriff and his men had barricaded the top floor to protect Rowland. Shots were fired and the outnumbered African Americans began retreating to the Greenwood District.

In the early morning hours of June 1, 1921, Greenwood was looted and burned by white rioters. Governor Robertson declared martial law, and National Guard troops arrived in Tulsa. Guardsmen assisted firemen in putting out fires, took African Americans out of the hands of vigilantes, and imprisoned all black Tulsans not already interned. Over 6,000 people were held at the Convention Hall and the Fairgrounds, some for as long as eight days.

Twenty-four hours after the violence erupted, it ceased. In the wake of the violence, 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, more than 800 people were treated for injuries and contemporary reports of deaths began at 36. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died.

Watch our event commemorating the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Download the slides from the presentation

Listed below are some resources you can use to learn more about this tragedy and make sure nothing like this happens again.