The Eagle has landed.

My heroes are Black women. It's very simple to me. My heroes are those whose story I can relate to and understand and feel in the depths of my soul. I've finally reached a stage where I'm no longer to speak my truth for fear of repercussions.

For the past 7 years, I've been a member of several online message board user groups. I've always been the lone African American woman or in a major minority where numbers are concerned, therefore, some of my views that would come as second nature to many that look and think like me, were foreign to others. They met my opinions with opposition and disdain.

I've been called names. I've been set up in elaborate hate scams meant to demoralize me and undermine my person. I've been villified, all because I enjoy speaking on topics of race and don't shy away from a debate about those issues.

An example, on one board that will remain without description, there are members that have specific health issues. In their regular postings, they often post on topics related to these issues and others that interest them specifically and on more personal levels. There are political activists that make no bones about sharing their opinions about the current state of American politics, yet when a subject even remotely mentions culture or race and I respond, I'm often labeled as "looking" for a fight or playing race cards and any number of things meant to stop me in my tracks from further inciting thought into their minds. Basically, it's perfectly fine for anyone BUT me to speak to topics that interest me that deal with race and ethnicity.

On these boards, we all focus on topics that interest us. What people fail to realize is that while their interest might be in politics or education and they are free to roam and post and discuss their opinions on those, for some reason, they don't extend that same kindness to me on topics of cultural issues. It stands to reason, if it is ok for you to discuss topics that you have knowledge of and that interest you, then its ok for me to do the same and these are the topics that interest me.

They use terms like White guilt and make it my fault they have it. I certainly don't intend for that to happen because as a goal, I want to bring cultures closer together. I want to remove barriers. The only way to do that is to acknowledge they exist and brick by brick, dismantle them.

I recently watched a televised service from T.D. Jakes, a pastor of a mega church. An African American pastor of a mega church. He was on mission in Africa and his words touched me so profoundly that they have changed the way I see myself and in turn how I react to people online.

His analogy was this...( a synopsis from Guitargirl_07)There was a baby eagle that hadn't learned to fly. It's mother had died before she could teach it. This baby eagle had stumbled out of it's nest and fell into a chicken coop. It started hanging around with all these chickens. It started acting like a chicken, walking like a chicken, and talking like a chicken. It thought it was a chicken...until one day. The wind started to blow and the eagle lifted it's wings and found it could fly! It soared a little way and then landed again. It looked up at the sky and then looked back at the chickens and said, "See ya!" That eagle learned that it wasn't a chicken. When it was hanging around the chickens, it looked funny..it moved funny..it felt out of place. It wasn't like the chickens. You've been walking with the chickens. You've been acting like the chickens. You've been talking like the chickens. The reason you don't fit in is because you ain't a chicken! You're an eagle! You were born to be different..you were born to soar!


These words touched me and made so much sense to me. I've been clucking my ass off and I'm done clucking, for I am not a chicken. I'm a eagle and I'm about to soar.