Hello Charles I had the unpleasant experience of having a rat run across my arm as I lay in bed watching tv. It actually scratched my arm as it sped across the bed. I was six months pregnant at the time. I ran to the bathroom and doused the scratch in bleach, the strong kind. U.K. rats, where I’m from, carry Weils disease. It’s their urine that carry’s the germ, and it can be fatal. People who enjoy swimming in rivers are prone to it. And then there’s also the fleas on the rats, and the microbes on the fleas on the rats. I was conflicted about extermination being a Buddhist. But it had to be done, a baby was coming and if the rat was bold enough to climb up on a bed where it knew a human was, a crib would be an easy target. So we paid a bloke, and they set traps, and put down poison. And we never saw another one. They are the stuff of nightmares. Smart like us, self preserving and too numerous, Would the death row authorities be open to allowing a couple of cats to be released to the row. They might be more successful that bait trays, and create some good energy among the men who like cats? Obviously not the dog people! Good luck with it. T
I don't require empathy, nor does my Soul require being saved, my foundation is not rooted in the Black Church, as equal protection under the law is exactly what is required. I don't need a program to fix me, I am not broken, and require my own space. I'm not fixed on white people giving us more, I'm protesting anyone who seeks to deny me equal, regardless the melanin density in your skin, I am Human and shall always be engaged on a human level, I am Gay and happy to be myself, as my Humanity, Happiness, Joy and PRIDE is therefore not open for debate.
White people don't understand that while they have become partners with some Black people, they don't understand that those Black people have deraced those of us that they consider "Abominations," or "Infidels", and have been kicked out of our homes, abandoned by our parents, beaten and outcast by our own people that by default, DO NOT speak for us all, thats facts. White people who present as LGBTQAI+ have partnered with the very oppressors of Gay Black inmates then wonder why the crowded closet door remains shut.
It is not safe to come out of a prison closet into a program that offers ZERO safety after the group session is over, white people drive home after the powerful work of getting people to open up, but they don't go back to the cell, yard, the blindspots/Tha Cut, The religious services, and those environments of the ignorant and violent that is conditioned to believe that homosexuality is a white disease and to present as such, will turn into what white people are unable to engage because they have ZERO experience with what being Black is, to Gay people.
Preaching to a choir is easy for white people that create the lesson. As a choirboy, I teach white people that the lesson becomes oppressive when the choir director is molesting me, and all of the others that chose to join a gang, and cross paths again as adults in prison where white people are the most ignorant, Black people are the most silent, and Gay Black incarcerated Americans view the situation from a position that has created the standing room only, in this crowded closet, the only true safe space.
White people with all of the expert answers have no value in a prison setting where the lessons and PREA responders are ignorant to the developing reasons as to why LGBTQIA+ prisoners in California are being violently removed from Level 4 and level 3 prisons by active gangmembers, they don't care that this is happening in reception centers, and county jails all over the state even as I write this, Gay Black Incarcerated Lives don't matter to white LGBTQAI+ people, or fellow Black inmates who are silent, yes, Black silence is violence in prison.
And while the so-called experts on what Gay is to them, attack, from the Straight side and the fellow Gay side, I end up being the only Black man, or California prisoner at San Quentin State Prison that is openly Gay.
One in over 4,000 inmates? For over 30 years? Where else on Earth can we find these numbers? I was raised in the hood just like everyone else, so "Straight Acting" don't apply to those of us who are like me. This is not an act, not at Gay clubs, no parades.
I never struggled with my sexual identity, I don't want to be a female, and "The Down Low" has more to do with security than lifestyle, I'm not a "Homo Thug" or any of the degrading labels that others have placed on people like me.
Nothing, and being Stonewalled is an understatement. They say we are all in this together, yet the proof at San Quentin State Prison shows clearly that Black Incarcerated Gay Lives don't matter to anybody, except for Skylar Brown.
They will say this is not true, and yet, won't even search online the facts about why black PRIDE started in the first place, and come face to face with how they are participating in the continued deprivation of the right to human dignity even during incarceration for all non-white gay people who primarily come from places and experiences they did not volunteer for.
The implicit bias, and racial agenda has collectively and systematically fallen into the controlling hands of those enforcing religious homesteading of the San Quentin Media Center Television innerprison in-cell programming that prevent heros from simply playing DVDs.
Some people are so into themselves, that they portray others as wanting special treatment, they refuse to view society as requiring equal treatment, and an equal presence within the San Quentin Prison Media Center.
If you are Black and Gay, it would be a great blessing of your presence for the education, wellness, spiritual growth, and health of fellow Gay Black incarcerated Americans, here is what we have done without you, so far.
South Chicago ABC Zine Distro P.O. Box 721 Homewood, IL, 60430 anthonyrayson@hotmail.com
Zine issues: 1. Write or die zine * Poetry, Prose & Condz Vol, 3 2. Write or die zine * I AM AZANDE 3. AZANDE Press * The Sound Mind Streamer 4. AZANDE Press * Gaytekeepers 5. AZANDE Press * Liberated Facts 6. AZANDE Press * Direct Message 7. AZANDE Press * 6 (COMING SOON) AZANDE Press * Parallaxboi Mobile EP 2020 (COMING SOON) Write Or Die Zine * Parallaxboi da'VENT 3.0
Now imagine what we are able to accomplish with you. Enjoy your reading and the music on youtube, and betweenthebars.org/TheSoundMindStreamer
When Black gangmembers file lawsuits, or join movements to expose corruption and abuses in prison against them, they all call it "A Solitary Struggle and Movement."
When Black Gays file complaints that expose abuses against them at the hands of corrupt officers in collective conspiracy with gang members, they all call it snitchin.
To white people who volunteer in prisons, Black becomes the version of Black that they have been exposed to, they believe that if you mention the Black Panther Party, or quote Dr. Martin Luther King, and play anti-death penalty, that they have made the connection required to gain Black acceptance.
I titled this post specifically to encourage monitors of my blog to search Black PRIDE and view the results of what many see as not worthy within the California Prison System.
I am the only openly Black gay man at San Quentin State Prison, and most of you already know, to be black and gay while incarcerated is dangerous on so many levels.
#1. On an official level, all LGBTQAI+ programs are Transgender based, for example, allowable property items, clothing, cosmetics, and Healthcare, also safety and housing
#2 On an Educational and Vocational level, again, not only is programming limited, but again it's primarily designed to engage transgender persons, with curriculum designed for the inclusion of womens issues from a Eurobized perspective, and primarily facilitated by white women that present as lesbians, volunteers, in an all-male prison.
#3 There is an agreement between gangs, and other prison subcultural groups in the entire state of California to remove all gays from Level 4 and now some level 3 prisons, and this removal has been ultra abusive, violent, and amounting to the deracing of all Black men that identify as LGBTQAI+, by fellow inmates, who present as Heterosexual.
Which brings me back to #2. Due to the ethnographic ignorance, and non-presence in areas where the abuses are ongoing, and the total disregard for the physical, spiritual, mental, and educational well-being of Black gays, and Bi-sexual inmates, the programming exacerbates the inhumane treatment for the most underserved demographic of the prison population.
The lack of attention to detail is evident in PRIDE Month recognition in 2020. Most holidays or recognitions only have one day, PRIDE Month is for the entire month of June, in an all male prison, with an influx of innercity youth, and street perspective black culture, not one white person facilitator of any LGBTQIA+ programming at San Quentin State Prison have provided any PRIDE functions, even in the Global COVID-19 virus situations that also affects LGBTQIA+ inmates, have none of them been able to provide any efforts equal to what is being done by other vocational volunteers educational, and religious departments, with inner-prison televised DVDs for the sound, compassion, and informational awareness for inmates.
Today is June 25th, and still, NOTHING, as the COVID-19 virus spreads at SQSP, NOTHING, I myself tested positive for COVID-19 virus a week ago, and I'm housed on Death Row, in fact, for many years I've worked to provided DVDs of LGBTQIA+ perspective in the 1st historical LGBTQIA+ spirituality group, we call our program The Sound Mind Streamer, please check out our post about The Sound Mind Streamer, and our journey right here.
We also need to stop forcing our youth to falsely assume that all black people today are in America as a direct result of American slavery, and moreover, the flat-out lie that all Black Africans at the bottom of those slave ships was Kings and Queens, and heterosexual warriors, it is our youth who are the Kings. Instead of using criminal DNA data-base systems to seek further incarcerative enslavement of Black people, the Act of Reparation's should start by using that information to connect people to who they really are, and where we all come from and get really specific about which Black persons are owed reparations based on bloodline, captain's logs, and the Dr. Gates Magic, and Ancestor dot. com, that's if real unity is required.
Boooooo Hatred, Julia, this one is for you for being a true warrior and medium of Humanity.
Today, in America we have been caught up in the names and statues of white people that have caused Black people great harm, and we forget to tell our young people about the Julia's in history that did not require White Guilt, Protest, Law Changes, or Riots to simply be Human.
Where is the Statue of People like Julia from history, and the Julia's of today?
The following contains a few surface-level issues that we can encourage our youth to engage as deep-seated issues that require all of our attention while we are on the road to allowing our youth to lead all of the us away from the ignorance and horrific damage of racism.
Telling our young people about U.S. history and slavery can, to them, be viewed as an all-out indictment against all white people, and the white youth in America today.
When we encourage young people to study history for themselves, they will discover that in America, some white people was not only against slavery, but some even protested against it, and some were even killed for fighting back, helping slaves escape, and caring for them as fellow human beings.
Our youth will also discover that Black people also owned slaves, as did some Native American Indian Tribes, and nobody is demanding the Indians to give The Freeman's due share.
Our youth will also discover that many Muslims bought, sold, castrated, and traded African slaves.
Our youth will discover that to this day, some Africans themselves still benefit from selling slaves.
Our youth may even pose a new question as to why the U.S. Co-Defendants of the institution of slavery is never required responsibility for their share of such horrors?
Black People don't demand Reparations from Christianity, Islam, or fellow Africans that played a critical roll of the the results we see today, as we turn slavery from Business to Race, and wonder why our youth are forced to experience Business today as an ever intense struggle to get on top.
Our youth will also learn that New Money from Tech worlds, investors, and science innovation etc, did not come from being simply white, or descendants of slave owners.
Our youth will also find out that U.S. Prison Populations are so white, that mass incarceration needs a second look when it comes to systematic attacks on communities that exist below the poverty line, where white privilege is a fallacy.
Our youth may wonder the difference between lesser of most many evils between being killed by a white cop, or an non-white cop, and attempt to rationalize a fake balance of corruption.
Dedicated to Julia By California Death Row Inmate Floyd Smith By the times I met Julia through my journalistic work on behalf of a California Death Row Zine Project that was generated from the creative mind of Genius, I had been at least 20 years cured of a life long infection of learned behavior hatred against White people.
The first time I read Julia's handwriting, I couldn't make out a lot, however, I somehow was able to understand what she was saying.
I was allowed to sit in on a phone conference where I heard her voice for the first time, and couldn't make out a word of her German/Netherlands best version of English, yet, I understood what she was saying.
Out of the blue, one day, our young visionary Piankhibird said: "You can tell she's not coming from a place of White Guilt, huh?"
I said: " Pure as fuck huh?"
He then said: "Glad she's on our side because she's coming from a genuine place, and we all need that because they don't make people like her no more."
The more I worked with Julia and got to know her for myself, I realized that Piankhibird was correct about her, and although Julia presents as a white person, her Humanitarianism is raceless.
Julia is the kind of person that will Google Earth two trees I planted over 20 years ago and print them out and mail them from the Netherlands to San Quentin State Prison, she sent the love and light that I planted in society and sent them as love and light into California Death Row.
I didn't ask her to do that, nor did I expect her to, she did it for the very same reason that I planted those trees in my hood in the first place, and it meant that not only did I understand her, but she also understood me, and yes, every now and then there is a young Brotha that will plant a tree in the hood.
Julia went into my Brain, after reading my blog post The Sound Mind Streamer, and video'ed herself mailing the [page]4 of 10 the physical manifestation product to San Quentin State Prison to be broadcast on the SQ Media Center inner prison Television Cable Network where close to 4,000 other inmates could have direct access to what love, care, and service looks like in my head reformatted on DVD, mind you, over 2 years of content without needing to broadcast a re-run, yes, all constructive LGBTQIA+ perspective programming.
If that wasn't incredible enough, Julia walked side by side with me into the "Crowded Closet" of the Black Prison population with 8 Black Gay perspective Zine Issues titled, AZANDE Press. Available at: anthonyrayson@hotmail.com.
One Day by Parallaxboi' Thanks to Piankhibird, DJ Jules, DJ Sonikboi, Gson, ISM, da'Kid, Perfect Timing and Extended Version @ PBE 1993 for keeping my work alive and posted, it's been a long time since I've heard this song outside of my brain, thank you for reminding me of my value to you.
One Day
Circa 1989, I was sitting at an old beat up, upright piano in the Protestant Chapel in Heman G. Stark Youth Training School, which was a California Youth Authority Detention Center, Prison for Kids.
Our Bible Study Teacher "MaMa Betty" was off in the back of the chapel ministering to other youth, and I began to play the bassline and chords to a song I had written in my head when I was 13 years old titled, One Day.
MaMa Betty walked over to the piano and asked me if I wrote the song, I said sure, then she asked if it was a Christian song, I told her that I was only 13 years old when I wrote it.
MaMa Betty laughed and said, "Your first words were "I'm A Good Man" at 13 years old?"
She asked me to sing it again, I said "You can take it home with you because I was recording it before you came over here."
Mama Betty always brought a boombox with a double cassette deck with her, So I was recording while I was singing "ONE DAY", so the vocals you are listening to as you hear this track is actually me in 1989 trying to get an idea of what the song would sound like outside of my brain.
I found that Cassette dub years later in 1993 and added guitar lick from my keyboard, and harmony background vocals as a tracer track because I wanted to give the song to my younger cousins family boy band, "Perfect Timing!"
So, to this day, One Day has never been recorded beyond the quick rough draft idea from the mind of the 13 year old version of myself, and it is my plan to one day, record this song karaoke style live as an adult, especially now that I'm truly able to sing that first verse opening line with confidence.
Second verse begins with; "I Strive to Win"!
Check out One day by Parallaxboi' @danielrainey YouTube Thanks G,son for posting my stuff
RSS
I had the unpleasant experience of having a rat run across my arm as I lay in bed watching tv. It actually scratched my arm as it sped across the bed. I was six months pregnant at the time. I ran to the bathroom and doused the scratch in bleach, the strong kind. U.K. rats, where I’m from, carry Weils disease. It’s their urine that carry’s the germ, and it can be fatal. People who enjoy swimming in rivers are prone to it. And then there’s also the fleas on the rats, and the microbes on the fleas on the rats.
I was conflicted about extermination being a Buddhist. But it had to be done, a baby was coming and if the rat was bold enough to climb up on a bed where it knew a human was, a crib would be an easy target. So we paid a bloke, and they set traps, and put down poison. And we never saw another one.
They are the stuff of nightmares. Smart like us, self preserving and too numerous,
Would the death row authorities be open to allowing a couple of cats to be released to the row. They might be more successful that bait trays, and create some good energy among the men who like cats? Obviously not the dog people!
Good luck with it.
T
Happy Black PRIDE!
It is not safe to come out of a prison closet into a program that offers ZERO safety after the group session is over, white people drive home after the powerful work of getting people to open up, but they don't go back to the cell, yard, the blindspots/Tha Cut, The religious services, and those environments of the ignorant and violent that is conditioned to believe that homosexuality is a white disease and to present as such, will turn into what white people are unable to engage because they have ZERO experience with what being Black is, to Gay people.
Preaching to a choir is easy for white people that create the lesson. As a choirboy, I teach white people that the lesson becomes oppressive when the choir director is molesting me, and all of the others that chose to join a gang, and cross paths again as adults in prison where white people are the most ignorant, Black people are the most silent, and Gay Black incarcerated Americans view the situation from a position that has created the standing room only, in this crowded closet, the only true safe space.
White people with all of the expert answers have no value in a prison setting where the lessons and PREA responders are ignorant to the developing reasons as to why LGBTQIA+ prisoners in California are being violently removed from Level 4 and level 3 prisons by active gangmembers, they don't care that this is happening in reception centers, and county jails all over the state even as I write this, Gay Black Incarcerated Lives don't matter to white LGBTQAI+ people, or fellow Black inmates who are silent, yes, Black silence is violence in prison.
And while the so-called experts on what Gay is to them, attack, from the Straight side and the fellow Gay side, I end up being the only Black man, or California prisoner at San Quentin State Prison that is openly Gay.
One in over 4,000 inmates? For over 30 years? Where else on Earth can we find these numbers? I was raised in the hood just like everyone else, so "Straight Acting" don't apply to those of us who are like me. This is not an act, not at Gay clubs, no parades.
I never struggled with my sexual identity, I don't want to be a female, and "The Down Low" has more to do with security than lifestyle, I'm not a "Homo Thug" or any of the degrading labels that others have placed on people like me.
They will say this is not true, and yet, won't even search online the facts about why black PRIDE started in the first place, and come face to face with how they are participating in the continued deprivation of the right to human dignity even during incarceration for all non-white gay people who primarily come from places and experiences they did not volunteer for.
The implicit bias, and racial agenda has collectively and systematically fallen into the controlling hands of those enforcing religious homesteading of the San Quentin Media Center Television innerprison in-cell programming that prevent heros from simply playing DVDs.
Some people are so into themselves, that they portray others as wanting special treatment, they refuse to view society as requiring equal treatment, and an equal presence within the San Quentin Prison Media Center.
If you are Black and Gay, it would be a great blessing of your presence for the education, wellness, spiritual growth, and health of fellow Gay Black incarcerated Americans, here is what we have done without you, so far.
South Chicago ABC Zine Distro
P.O. Box 721
Homewood, IL, 60430
anthonyrayson@hotmail.com
Zine issues:
1. Write or die zine * Poetry, Prose & Condz Vol, 3
2. Write or die zine * I AM AZANDE
3. AZANDE Press * The Sound Mind Streamer
4. AZANDE Press * Gaytekeepers
5. AZANDE Press * Liberated Facts
6. AZANDE Press * Direct Message
7. AZANDE Press * 6
(COMING SOON) AZANDE Press * Parallaxboi Mobile EP 2020
(COMING SOON) Write Or Die Zine * Parallaxboi da'VENT 3.0
Now imagine what we are able to accomplish with you.
Enjoy your reading and the music on youtube, and betweenthebars.org/TheSoundMindStreamer
When Black gangmembers file lawsuits, or join movements to expose corruption and abuses in prison against them, they all call it "A Solitary Struggle and Movement."
When Black Gays file complaints that expose abuses against them at the hands of corrupt officers in collective conspiracy with gang members, they all call it snitchin.
To white people who volunteer in prisons, Black becomes the version of Black that they have been exposed to, they believe that if you mention the Black Panther Party, or quote Dr. Martin Luther King, and play anti-death penalty, that they have made the connection required to gain Black acceptance.
Happy BLACK PRIDE
Happy Black PRIDE!
I titled this post specifically to encourage monitors of my blog to search Black PRIDE and view the results of what many see as not worthy within the California Prison System.
I am the only openly Black gay man at San Quentin State Prison, and most of you already know, to be black and gay while incarcerated is dangerous on so many levels.
#1. On an official level, all LGBTQAI+ programs are Transgender based, for example, allowable property items, clothing, cosmetics, and Healthcare, also safety and housing
#2 On an Educational and Vocational level, again, not only is programming limited, but again it's primarily designed to engage transgender persons, with curriculum designed for the inclusion of womens issues from a Eurobized perspective, and primarily facilitated by white women that present as lesbians, volunteers, in an all-male prison.
#3 There is an agreement between gangs, and other prison subcultural groups in the entire state of California to remove all gays from Level 4 and now some level 3 prisons, and this removal has been ultra abusive, violent, and amounting to the deracing of all Black men that identify as LGBTQAI+, by fellow inmates, who present as Heterosexual.
Which brings me back to #2. Due to the ethnographic ignorance, and non-presence in areas where the abuses are ongoing, and the total disregard for the physical, spiritual, mental, and educational well-being of Black gays, and Bi-sexual inmates, the programming exacerbates the inhumane treatment for the most underserved demographic of the prison population.
The lack of attention to detail is evident in PRIDE Month recognition in 2020. Most holidays or recognitions only have one day, PRIDE Month is for the entire month of June, in an all male prison, with an influx of innercity youth, and street perspective black culture, not one white person facilitator of any LGBTQIA+ programming at San Quentin State Prison have provided any PRIDE functions, even in the Global COVID-19 virus situations that also affects LGBTQIA+ inmates, have none of them been able to provide any efforts equal to what is being done by other vocational volunteers educational, and religious departments, with inner-prison televised DVDs for the sound, compassion, and informational awareness for inmates.
Today is June 25th, and still, NOTHING, as the COVID-19 virus spreads at SQSP, NOTHING, I myself tested positive for COVID-19 virus a week ago, and I'm housed on Death Row, in fact, for many years I've worked to provided DVDs of LGBTQIA+ perspective in the 1st historical LGBTQIA+ spirituality group, we call our program The Sound Mind Streamer, please check out our post about The Sound Mind Streamer, and our journey right here.
Julia, this one is for you for being a true warrior and medium of Humanity.
Today, in America we have been caught up in the names and statues of white people that have caused Black people great harm, and we forget to tell our young people about the Julia's in history that did not require White Guilt, Protest, Law Changes, or Riots to simply be Human.
Where is the Statue of People like Julia from history, and the Julia's of today?
The following contains a few surface-level issues that we can encourage our youth to engage as deep-seated issues that require all of our attention while we are on the road to allowing our youth to lead all of the us away from the ignorance and horrific damage of racism.
Telling our young people about U.S. history and slavery can, to them, be viewed as an all-out indictment against all white people, and the white youth in America today.
When we encourage young people to study history for themselves, they will discover that in America, some white people was not only against slavery, but some even protested against it, and some were even killed for fighting back, helping slaves escape, and caring for them as fellow human beings.
Our youth will also discover that Black people also owned slaves, as did some Native American Indian Tribes, and nobody is demanding the Indians to give The Freeman's due share.
Our youth will also discover that many Muslims bought, sold, castrated, and traded African slaves.
Our youth will discover that to this day, some Africans themselves still benefit from selling slaves.
Our youth may even pose a new question as to why the U.S. Co-Defendants of the institution of slavery is never required responsibility for their share of such horrors?
Black People don't demand Reparations from Christianity, Islam, or fellow Africans that played a critical roll of the the results we see today, as we turn slavery from Business to Race, and wonder why our youth are forced to experience Business today as an ever intense struggle to get on top.
Our youth will also learn that New Money from Tech worlds, investors, and science innovation etc, did not come from being simply white, or descendants of slave owners.
Our youth will also find out that U.S. Prison Populations are so white, that mass incarceration needs a second look when it comes to systematic attacks on communities that exist below the poverty line, where white privilege is a fallacy.
Our youth may wonder the difference between lesser of most many evils between being killed by a white cop, or an non-white cop, and attempt to rationalize a fake balance of corruption.
Dedicated to Julia
By California Death Row Inmate Floyd Smith
By the times I met Julia through my journalistic work on behalf of a California Death Row Zine Project that was generated from the creative mind of Genius, I had been at least 20 years cured of a life long infection of learned behavior hatred against White people.
The first time I read Julia's handwriting, I couldn't make out a lot, however, I somehow was able to understand what she was saying.
I was allowed to sit in on a phone conference where I heard her voice for the first time, and couldn't make out a word of her German/Netherlands best version of English, yet, I understood what she was saying.
Out of the blue, one day, our young visionary Piankhibird said:
"You can tell she's not coming from a place of White Guilt, huh?"
I said:
" Pure as fuck huh?"
He then said:
"Glad she's on our side because she's coming from a genuine place, and we all need that because they don't make people like her no more."
The more I worked with Julia and got to know her for myself, I realized that Piankhibird was correct about her, and although Julia presents as a white person, her Humanitarianism is raceless.
Julia is the kind of person that will Google Earth two trees I planted over 20 years ago and print them out and mail them from the Netherlands to San Quentin State Prison, she sent the love and light that I planted in society and sent them as love and light into California Death Row.
I didn't ask her to do that, nor did I expect her to, she did it for the very same reason that I planted those trees in my hood in the first place, and it meant that not only did I understand her, but she also understood me, and yes, every now and then there is a young Brotha that will plant a tree in the hood.
Julia went into my Brain, after reading my blog post The Sound Mind Streamer, and video'ed herself mailing the
[page]4 of 10
the physical manifestation product to San Quentin State Prison to be broadcast on the SQ Media Center inner prison Television Cable Network where close to 4,000 other inmates could have direct access to what love, care, and service looks like in my head reformatted on DVD, mind you, over 2 years of content without needing to broadcast a re-run, yes, all constructive LGBTQIA+ perspective programming.
If that wasn't incredible enough, Julia walked side by side with me into the "Crowded Closet" of the Black Prison population with 8 Black Gay perspective Zine Issues titled, AZANDE Press. Available at: anthonyrayson@hotmail.com.
From 23 poems @BetweentheBars.org
One Day by Parallaxboi'
Thanks to Piankhibird, DJ Jules, DJ Sonikboi, Gson, ISM, da'Kid, Perfect Timing and Extended Version @ PBE 1993 for keeping my work alive and posted, it's been a long time since I've heard this song outside of my brain, thank you for reminding me of my value to you.
One Day
Circa 1989, I was sitting at an
old beat up, upright piano in
the Protestant Chapel in
Heman G. Stark Youth Training
School, which was a California
Youth Authority Detention Center,
Prison for Kids.
Our Bible Study Teacher "MaMa Betty"
was off in the back of the chapel
ministering to other youth, and
I began to play the bassline
and chords to a song I had
written in my head when I was
13 years old titled, One Day.
MaMa Betty walked over to the
piano and asked me if I wrote
the song, I said sure, then
she asked if it was a
Christian song, I told her
that I was only 13 years old
when I wrote it.
MaMa Betty laughed and
said, "Your first words
were "I'm A Good Man" at
13 years old?"
She asked me to sing it again,
I said "You can take it
home with you because I
was recording it before
you came over here."
Mama Betty always brought a
boombox with a double
cassette deck with her,
So I was recording while
I was singing "ONE DAY",
so the vocals you are
listening to as you hear
this track is actually me
in 1989 trying to get an
idea of what the song
would sound like outside
of my brain.
I found that Cassette dub
years later in 1993 and
added guitar lick from
my keyboard, and harmony
background vocals as
a tracer track because
I wanted to give the song
to my younger cousins
family boy band, "Perfect
Timing!"
So, to this day, One Day has
never been recorded beyond
the quick rough draft
idea from the mind of
the 13 year old version
of myself, and it is my
plan to one day, record
this song karaoke style
live as an adult, especially
now that I'm truly able
to sing that first verse
opening line with confidence.
Second verse begins with;
"I Strive to Win"!
Check out One day by Parallaxboi'
@danielrainey YouTube
Thanks G,son for posting my stuff