Featured Artist @ Art Sanctuary Open Galley Night

Apologies for the long absence from my blogging space. I'm back today to let those in the Philadelphia area know I'm the featured artist for Art Sanctuary's Open Gallery Night. Thursday, April 20th, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. 628 South 16th Street, at the intersection of 16th and Bainbridge in South Philly. I'll be performing spoken word, and reading excerpts from my forthcoming memoir: "No Time for Tears:  A Book of True Life Stories." Plus there will be a slide show of my photography and visual art. Admission is free! Light snacks will be served. Free Surprise Give Aways! Open Mic following my presentation. Come out and join us if you can. Thanks!

Love, Peace and Blessings Always!

Love Where Your Life Is

Freedom Quest

There is guidance in

our souls, whispering to us

the right things to do.

“The Meaning of the Fourth for the Negro”

“Until All My Brothers and Sisters Are Free”

The Fourth of July

is a farce when it comes down

to Black Folks’ Freedom

“Why us always have family reunion on July 4^th?” asks Alice Walker’s character Henrietta in “The Color Purple.” Harpo replies:  “White people busy celebrating they independence from England July 4^th so most Black folks don’t have to work. Us can spend the day celebrating each other.”

I remember years ago, my own family (on the Dove side) driving 12 hours down Interstate 95, from Philadelphia to South Carolina, to gather by the old homestead in Eastover, to celebrate the 4^th of July. At least one hog had been slaughtered and barbecued, sometimes as many as two or three. My Dad and my uncles would stay up all night roasting the pigs on grills they made out of out of 55-gallon metal drums, adding their secret sauce when they were almost finished cooking.  And believe me, the meat was tender and luscious. There was plenty of potato salad, greens, fried chicken, corn on the cob, lemonade, cakes, pies and all kinds of delights. The music would be blaring and at a certain time, all the children gathered around in a circle and danced, danced, danced, gleefully transforming the dirt into dust with nary a care in the world.

None of us, neither the children nor the adults gave a thought about Independence Day from England. And even as they watched their children twist and turn to the beat of the music in the dirt, none of the adults were foolish enough to delude themselves into thinking Blacks were free in America. But we celebrated anyway, knowing that we were untethered at least for those precious moments, dancing and singing and talking and eating and laughing on the land our ancestors had bought, cleared, built up and made home.

For whatever reason, we don’t gather down there where the old house used to be for the 4^th of July anymore.  Since those golden days, the old house burned down, another one was built and now even that house has been jettisoned for a newer, prettier, ultra-modern edifice a little further up on the property.  You would think our family has arrived.

Yet as I sit here reflecting from my 2016 point of view, I realize that with all the gains we have made as a race, Blacks in America, (and throughout the Diaspora) still are not free, still remain disenfranchised, still are no where near experiencing ubiquitous equity. We still face mountains of injustice on a daily basis. We are still in the throes of daily warfare, not to mention the utterly unacceptable fratricide and Black on Black crimes within our own conflicted communities. We are all very aware there is still, without a doubt, ever-present danger in our very being Black in this country. We are reverently reminded of too many of our brave foot soldiers who were lost on the battlefield. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Freddy Grey. Reika Boyd. Dorian Hunt. And down throughout the ages including Emmett Till and countless others, too many to name.

Indeed, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,” once wrote the journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, who was born in 1862 and died in 1931. Talk about shining light on the truth! Especially on this day, I am reminded of Fredrick Douglass’ landmark speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth for the Negro,” presented in Rochester, New York on July 5, 1852. The masterful orator Douglass told his predominantly white audience, in part:

“…I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! -The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

“…Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting...”

These injustices notwithstanding, as Maya Angelou so eloquently stated: “And Still I Rise!” So you go on everybody. In spite of harsh truths about our station in this country, go on and enjoy this day. Do as Harpo said and “…spend the day celebrating each other.”

Asante Sana. Peace, Love and Blessings Always

Pheralyn Dove

July 4, 2016

Philadelphia, PA

"One Love"

Savor each moment.

Bless each and every fleeting

gift of space in time.

"Reach Out And Touch"

Pheralyn Dove

Asking for help does

not mean you're weak. It's a sign

of intelligence.

Sometimes we may feel embarrassed. Other times it may be pride. Or not enough money. Then again, many of us delude ourselves into thinking we can do it all on our own, that we don't need anyone else. We soldier on. We suffer in silence. Yet we all know you can't get through this life without the help of others. Even if it's money that's holding you back. Please. Say your prayers. Ask for divine intervention. Listen for the signs and act upon them.  Don't ever be afraid to ask for help. Wise people seek wise counsel and competent assistance as a way of life. Can you think of a time when you asked for help and reaped the benefits? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

PRINCE!

WE LOVE YOU PRINCE!

1958-2016

Our Icon is now 

Our Ancestor. Rest in Peace.

Prince:  The Purple One.