Listen to the Cries of the Children MONTHLY OUTREACH PROJECT FOR CITYWIDE PARTNERSHIPS
DROP YOUR COLORS
CITYWIDE CAMPAIGN TO KNOCK-OUT CRIME AND ABUSE WITH LOVE, FORGIVENESS, AND UNDERSTANDING TO HEAL FAMILIES AND RESTORE COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Starting again this Fall, Volunteers and Families with Listen to the Cries of the Children nonprofit outreach campaign, renew our invitation for everyone in Houston to say no to violence, bullying and abuse. Our communities are tired of seeing young lives lost to drug and alcohol addiction, violence, crime and gangs, destroying themselves and their families out of anger or rebellion.
We all want our children and communities to have a better future, with positive aspirations and goals, and equal support for living and leading good productive lives with special purposes, talents and gifts to share with each other and the world.
Given the injuries caused by abuse and bullying, in our schools and our districts plagued with gangs and divided by political conflicts, we ask support to reach out with love, forgiveness and understanding, to heal families and community relations with schools, police, and government, united in restoring equal justice and peace.
We especially call out to citizens affected by gang violence and political bullying to DROP YOUR COLORS – to reach out across cultural lines of division, put our children and communities first, and commit to promoting positive solutions instead of blame and anger. If you have brighter visions for the future, join this campaign.
Instead of picking up a gun, we ask artists to pick up a paintbrush, and writers and poets to pick up pen and paper, and join us in a national media campaign to unite in sharing positive messages of healing to end violence in our streets and media.
If you have ideas for a community art or media project, please join with us. Please contact Olivia Reiner, Founder, LISTEN TO THE CRIES OF THE CHILDREN (713) 829-0899 or Emily Nghiem, media outreach volunteer (713) 820-5130.
On behalf of the volunteers and families with LISTEN TO THE CRIES OF THE CHLDREN: Thank you for LISTENING TO THE CRIES OF THE CHILDREN with Mercy, Love, and Compassion. http://www.isocracytx.net/hp-org/mercylove.html
From Tears to Cheers: Days Before Christmas
ReplyDeleteDays before Christmas, throughout this great land,
People were raising their voices and hands,
Protesting violence both here and abroad,
Crying for justice and praying to God.
The angels looked down at what couldn't be righted
Until crowds of people joined hands and united.
Mobs at the peak of their anger and grief
Discouraged the angels with sad disbelief.
But through clouds of chaos, a prayer was heard,
As meek as the sound of a sweet baby bird.
A young boy was weeping and standing alone,
Holding a sign he had made on his own.
Watching the protesters walk through the streets,
He offered "Free Hugs," as they mocked the police.
One girl smiled back but was soon pushed away.
Nobody wanted a "Free Hug" that day.
As the poor boy dropped his sign on the ground,
An officer noticed his tears streaming down.
"What's wrong?" the man asked him and listened with heart.
The boy's deepest anguish had torn him apart.
He feared police violence he saw on the news
And longed to reach out, asking people to choose
To love one another with smiles and free hugs,
Not shooting and fighting each other as thugs!
What drew crowds in protest was not the same reason
The boy had come out, but the holiday season.
Not angry chanting, but sharing life's song --
Gifts of the spirit to be passed along.
The officer glanced at his handwritten sign,
And asked for a hug, if the boy didn't mind.
They hugged, and a journalist captured his tears:
Embracing a cop had erased his worst fears.
The photo went viral, online and worldwide,
Touching more hearts, reaching deeper inside
Than hundreds of rioters marching for miles.
One hug from a boy was enough to bring smiles!
The angels worked quickly to send all around
The message of hope with an impact profound,
Healing division with heavenly grace,
Humbled by tears on the little boy's face.
Encouraged, the boy knew his prayers were heard.
His friends multiplied, helping him spread the word.
With "Free Hugs" for Christmas and through the new year,
The world was their witness that love conquered fear.
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2014/1129-devonte-hart-hug.jpg/19321754-1-eng-US/1129-devonte-hart-hug.jpg_standard_600x400.jpg
http://www.usmessageboard.com/threads/touching-photo-ferguson-protest-i-love-this.389184/#post-10258517
https://kindnessblogdotcom1.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/free-hugs.jpg?w=788
http://kindnessblog.com/2014/12/03/free-hugs-at-ferguson/
Shared Credit for this project also belongs to DIONNE SMITH DOWNS of Stockton CA, who organizes mothers and other community activists from the BLM Movement to focus on positive solutions, including investing resources into better education, programs and centers for youth and families to overcome past patterns of poverty, abuse and oppression.
DeleteDionne inspired this creative media campaign for all the kids who deserve safe centers in every neighborhood.
Above are the links to the photo of the young man who
started the FREE HUGS campaign.
The contest idea is to host HUG WARS, where kids raise $1 each for each hug coupon they sell to donors toward building local youth centers. Books of hugs coupons can be sold in sets of 5 or 10 dollars and shared.
Attached is the poem. Any kids or youth programs raising money for their local center are invited to launch contests, drawing artwork that can be posted online in galleries for fundraising, or animated as a power point or flash slide show.
I want to contact the mothers and family who started this
free hugs campaign. And invite members of all communities in all cities seeking to rebuild, to take photos of hugs across racial, cultural and political lines, regardless of political stance or affiliation. Everyone is invited to post their "hug shots" in a friendly "hug war" -- where public viewers can vote with $$$ on which are the most poignant images and community art projects, inspiring people to "drop their colors" and join together to rebuild our relations, communities, and nation.
Don't Blame Victims for the Crime
ReplyDelete[How dare you blame me
After you rape me]
How dare you blame me
For things beyond my control
How dare you make up lies
That I consented
I clearly was passed out cold
I'm not the one on trial. Don't
Point your filthy little guilty
Fingers at me. I'm lucky I'm alive
This almost killed me
Why am I judged by society?
While you deny what you did to me?
If I'm not crazy I'd lose my mind
Reading the headlines:
Blaming victims for the crime!
Will Lady Justice
Get sold to the highest bid?
Is every Jury biased?
By what I'm wearing when
NOTHING that I said or did
Could ever justify this!
Laws were not intended to be
Used to SHAME
And silence every witness
To this sickness!
Why is due process denied to me?
While you get off with LUNACY?
Have we gone crazy and lost our minds
Believing the headlines?
Don't blame victims for the crime!
[How dare you blame us
And not the rapists]
My baby sister,
She takes this upon herself.
I told her maybe
It would have been someone else...
Who cries in the dark
Her life torn apart
While dangerous killers walk free
Till we cure the real disease
Abuse can be healed
Prevented in time
Till then who's paying for the crime?
We won't put up with society
Condemning us, while crooks go free!
Sign our petition, tell all your friends
Everyone online: STOP
Blaming victims for the crime!
Let Justice prevail
It isn't for sale
Like criminals courts, where drug lords
Traffic women through the jails.
The cycle can break
When we make up our minds:
Don't blame victims for crime!
STOP - RAPE - NOW
---------------------------------------
https://youtu.be/C-u5WLJ9Yk4
Public Radio Campaign - WBAI Pacifica Contest
In support of Trisha Meili, Amanda Nguyen, and RISE
who won the landmark victory to pass a Bill of Rights
through Congress protecting Rape Victims, by reforming
procedural flaws causing further injustice and trauma.
https://youtu.be/NCk_AU3LWJg
For WPFW/Pacifica and Deborah Shafto/Kay West of the Greens and Progressives in Houston, here's a message of empowerment through Constitutional education on natural laws and democratic due process and equal protections: http://www.judgmentcall.org
ReplyDeleteAnd a proposed theme song for a national call to RECLAIM REBUILD REJOICE:
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/democalls.html
(music tracks linked at http://www.houstonprogressive.net)
For KPFA: http://www.houstonprogressive.org/legalization.html
For KPFK: http://www.americanwildlife.ca
For KPFT there is an entire musical series Civil Wrongs for Freedmen's Town, including
http://www.rightsfortheworkers.org
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/4d-song.html and http://www.houstonprogressive.org/4d-songs.html
See also: http://www.houstonprogressive.org/GIG.html
http://www.usmessageboard.com/threads/civil-wrongs-musical-series-for-houston-area-progressives.549681/
https://www.usmessageboard.com/threads/racist-song.564863/#post-24792048
ReplyDeleteRacist Song
In the Style of CRAZY by B Spears
When someone like me breaks the laws
I make excuses, everyone does
But when it's somebody else (ha!)
I call for Justice I don't follow myself!
People in society
Project our image
On all that we see
That makes me "racist"
I put myself first
I paint the world through lenses
Framed on my own terms
The cause of racism
Isn't black and white
We can make each other wrong
It doesn't make things right
One look at world history
It's full of genocide and bigotry
The Red, White and Black
Tribes that were raped
Still carry hatred
And pain to this day
Fear inside is mutual
But still uniquely individual
That makes us biased
Stuck in our own ways
We blame it on religion
Class or race
The cause of bias
Is more than black or white
We can make each other wrong
Or we can make things right
[You call me Racist.
Bigot!
Biased - Yeah, aren't we all...
STOP the
Race baiting, group hating,
Name calling, fat shaming,
Finger pointing, mud slinging,
Baby whining, victim blaming,
Cyber bully
CRAP!
Why don't we drop our colors,
Seek Justice,
Believe in Peace
Everybody wants free speech
All I ask is that we practice
What we preach]
Because we're biased
Stuck in our own ways
Blame it on religion
Class or race
The cause of racism
Ain't just black or white
We can make each other wrong
That doesn't make things right
Racist!
We put ourselves first
We see the world through lenses
Framed on our own terms
The cause of bias
Is more than black and white
We can make each other wrong
Or we can make things right