Be One or the Other

I was able to make a contribution because we had the Brotherhood and because I wasn't afraid.--E. D. Nixon, the person who recruited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Asante for the person, E. D. Nixon, whose person-all convictions were stronger than fears. He looked the gangbangers in the face, stayed the course and continued to make contributions that have lasted into my person and lifetime.

We fear because we don't “understand” history in the context of its everyday all day impact on our thoughts, behaviors, lives and situations. Neither do we “understand” the impact of each person on the continuum of history.

Dr. King and Rosa Parks succeeded because they put their person into how they lived. They also succeeded because of others. E. D. Nixon succeeded because he put his person--all in also. His success was enhanced by the Brotherhood and enough community members to support a boycott.

There seemed to be more persons, “ones and the others,” way back in the day who understood their ability to change history and impact lives in accordance with their beliefs. There seemed to be more persons then, than now even though being afraid seems more warranted then, than now. Those people were jailed, assailed, bombed and what not. We succumb to mediocre M-bombs.

They gave up convenience when it interfered with courage. The bus boycott lasted three hundred and eighty-one days. Nowadays, each person can at least give up those supposedly convenient stores in their neighborhoods that ain't doing their communities a bit of good and drive to the ones that will. [economic impact] Each person can at least vote in people with their interests in mind. [political impact] Each person can at least begin the mental journey back to Ancient Egypt. [cultural impact] The ancestors are waiting and rejoice each time one person enters the epicenter of all history...[spiritual impact]

E. D. Nixon put up his house in order to bail Rosa Parks out of jail. Many of them gave their precious resources to the futures of what was right and necessary. They put up their jobs. They focused on the dismantling of systems not just individual situations.

In one sense, E. D. Nixon was already doing better than most since he had a "good" job as a Pullman Porter. In the true sense, he didn't do what he did for himself or his family...understand the personal and historical impact of this one person's actions. He understood legacy. Thankfully he was not too busy or tired.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because economic banks were breaking, yet the will of the people could not be broken with fear.

Who will be the next person, the one to step to the front or the one to support someone who is not afraid? Be one or the other.