Join residents and friends at The Piedmont Senior Apartments, 6750 Whitsett Avenue in North Hollywood, CA, for EngAGE’s celebration of Black History Month. Sidni Appleseed Myles, Programs Manager, informed us that there will be poetry and spoken word performances, a classical concerto and other music, and a soul food brunch. She added, “I have a feeling something awesome is going to happen!” Sounds like fun! Get further info at (818) 795-0702. Scroll down to see the poem that Sidni wrote in honor of the occasion.

I Choose To Be Here

Some may have been rounded up, tricked, or captured

But, I chose to be here

Locked up and shackled along ports

In caves by the ocean

Waiting in the darkness with filthy hands touching my body

Yet I chose to survive and to be here

Young people passing through the low door of no return

It was built for children

For a natural free adult

Could never fully conform to the make-believe illusion of slavery

Packed in ships

Like sardines

Underwater

Melon split down the middle

Reveals black seeds and red flesh

I am the 1 in 100 who survived the

3 month

90 day

Voyage across the sea confined in a space no larger than a coffin

Chained by neck and ankle to brothers and sisters next to, above, and below me

It is said, if the Atlantic dried up today, there would be a trail of billions of bones like bread crumbs leading from who I was to who I am

‘Cause I come from those who chose to make it through insurmountable odds…just to be…here

Auctioned, sold, traded, willed, and gifted

Bred, milked, whipped, beaten, and raped

I am a reflection of master and slave in ONE body

Anger and forgiveness is my daily struggle

Sometimes light prevails

Sometimes darkness overcomes

But, balance of my soul’s yin and yang is always the goal

To educate, have compassion for, and love those around me

Even when their guilt, fear, and hate may seem unbearable

I have to remember…I am my ancestors’ reason for living

I am their dream alive, breathing, realized, and awake!

I remind myself…I am an important part of something larger and something larger IS an important part of me

And to honor the sacrifices my ancestors made so that I…could be here

To: Work the land with my grandmother

To: Survive brutal lynchings of the South, flee to Chicago, and live to tell about it

To: Teach my great-grandmother how to read Green Eggs & Ham

To: Encourage my children to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurialism and owning their own businesses

To: Stand for change on the educational front of media production and demand equality

To: Set an example for friends and family of the sheer joy and beauty of being in a meaningful relationship

To: Witness my granddaughter teach karate to white and Hispanic children

To: Raise a son and daughter who graduate suma kum laude from Americas top educational institutions

To: Protect my sons from an unlawful racially motivated police home invasion

To: Share laughter, baked goods, and my cute little granddaughters

To: Work next to and spend time with my eldest daughter Wednesday mornings

I choose to be here

Even with all that’s been said

Even with all that’s been done

Even with all that hasn’t

I choose to be here

And do you know why?

Because I knew the day

I knew to-day

Would come

A day in a world in desperate need of hope, love, and miracles

I am

We are…that

We are ALL these things

And we are here

Because we choose to be!