Pressed but Not Crushed

By Brenda Starr

Pressed but not Crushed is an anthology of political poems that address current and historical issues in the American Descendants of Slave(ADOS) population. Issues such as ADOS abduction, white supremacists practices, lynching and murdering of "native blacks" in America are addressed in this book. There is a Say Their Names sections which honors and memorializes some of the victims of murder by law enforcement and white supremacists. It would take a book just to memorialize all of the victims of murder and injustice in the Say Their Name section. Current political issues such as ADOS reparations, Executive Orders that do not address ADOS, legislation that does not address ADOS issues and promises broken since we were promised 40 acres and a mule.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098386351

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Pressed but Not Crushed...

© 2021, Brenda Starr.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN: 978-1-09838-6-344

eBook iSBN: 978-1-09838-6-351

Always Remember:

YOU MATTER

2 Corinthians 4: 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.

If you inherited your ancestors (forefathers) wealth,

then you also inherited your ancestors (forefathers) debt.

This book is dedicated to my ancestors (my tribe) that survived or did not survive the Middle passage, slavery, racial terror, lynching, Buck breaking, brutalization, discrimination, economic deprivation, poverty, substandard education, segregation, redlining, Jim Crow, and racial injustice that persists in the United States of America to the present day.

Contents

Introduction

Prayer for White Supremacy

Acknowledgements

STOLEN

Buck Breaking

National Commission on the Use of Excessive Force

Slave Patrol

Slumber

Denial

It is all Lies.

Immune

Hate

Pressed but not Crushed.

Brown Ebony Girl

Guardians of Racism

Mass Incarceration

Qualified Immunity

This is not who we are?

The Confederate Flag

Problematic Images

H.R. 40

COVID-19

Executive Orders and Memos 2021

Capitol Riot

Unprecedented!!!!

Say Their Names…

Kalief Browder

Sandra Bland

Breonna Taylor

Ahmad Arbery

George Floyd

Trayvon Martin

Tamir Rice

Jamar Mackey

Karen

Black Lives Matter

Song of my Spirit

The Gift

Damaged

Testimony

Praying

Masks of Abuse

The Enemy Within

Addiction

My Joy

Bryan Stevenson

Introduction

I am an American Descendant of Slaves (ADOS), ( term founded by Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore). Foundational Black American (FBA) (term founded by Tariq Nasheed) or as Dr Claude Anderson coined the term native blacks. I will use the terms African American, blacks, ADOS, FBA, or native blacks throughout the book.

I have a clinical diagnosis of non-combatant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder based on trauma that occurred due to a childhood of economic deprivation, abuse, poverty, social depredation, sub-standard education, redlining, discrimination. and systemic racism. The diagnosis of non-combatant PTSD is attributable to the race war black people must fight everyday of our lives.

As I did the research for this book, Pressed but not Crushed, the history of my/our people is a cause for great sadness to me. The pain of my people, our people, and our history permeated my soul to the point of a deep depression. I had to literally unplug from everything for a period due