Poetry ~ An Image

AN IMAGE

A tattered soul deeply displaced

Running full speed in a never ending race

Deep wounds with no visible scars

An image of a black man behind bars

Careless lessons of life gone by

Countless mistakes with no understanding of why

Long lost with no direction back

An image of a black mother on crack

Difficult circumstances with no vision of a way out

The consequences to this equation is self doubt

Pressure so strong it is hard to cope

An image of our black children with no hope

God is our guidance so never let go of faith

Without him these are the images the devil will create

Let the Lord in and you will be lifted higher

Making the devil what he truely is A LIAR!!!!!!!!!

Written By:  Monica Lanier Brown  ©



Be Beautiful At Any Shade

Black Beauty Is More Than One Shade

What happens when the world tells you, you are not beautiful because you are not a certain shade?  What happens when products you love don't use people of your hue for advertisement?  What happens when the world makes you feel bad about yourself because you are not the image they strive to portray?  Who set the standards on what beauty is suppose to be?  How can you spend millions of dollars on products and still get a lack of notoriety? What happens when we become compulsively obsessed with changing our hair, nose, chin, cheekbones, skintone and body?  What happens when things totally go wrong?  We realize we were just fine exactly the way we were, but now its to late to change what has already been done.   If the world can make standards, then you can make them as well placing yourself way above any standard that has been set making YOU SIMPLY MARVELOUS!!!

~monica lanier~

• Chanel Iman
• Jessica White
• Selita Ebanks
• Joan Smalls
• YaYa Da Costa

Gerren TaylorR'el Dade

• Leomie Anderson
• Lyndsey Scott

• Danielle "Dani" Evans
• Danielle "Dani" Evans

Peace, Love, Light and Much Much Respect

Think Beyond Right Now

Thinking Beyond Right Now is reaching deep within yourself and forcibly restraining from falling victim to crime.  Sixty seconds can instantly make a dramatic life changing effect on the lives of your children, your parents, your peers and definitely your mind mentality.  From freedom to lock down is an earth shattering adjustment that will always be at the core of who you are.  Because society will never let you live it down.  It will become a permanent reminder of past mistakes. You might as well get them tatooed on you. All I am pleading is think, think, think, think, think please think and don't just throw your life away.  

~monica lanier~  

• The  the majority of inmates in the prison system are african american.
• Most of the inmates that make up the prison population is under the age of thirty.
• Violent crime in america has increased at an alarming rate.
• The death sentence is four times higher if the defendant is african american.
• Zero tolerance, racial profiling, and no second chances.
• Criminal victimization



Be Authentic

Painting By:  Frank Morrison

Be Authentic

People will analyze you and apply their own perspective to others about you and half of the time they have pre-judged you.  Creating thier own stories of how you should or could be.  My advice is to never conform to what others think or say.  Create your own way that will define you.  Be you, do you, love you, be true to you, believe in you and never ever give up on you.  Be Authentic to yourself and others and you will never go wrong.

~monica lanier~

Believe that you can fly like a monarch butterfly

High in the sky in sync with the power that lies in me, myself and I

In tune to the world on a cloud of possiblities.

~monica lanier~

Painting By:  Frank Morrison