Diversify Us

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My fourteenth book, Diversify Us, was released on 11/5/16. The book is about Alese Morrison, who is a fifth grade student at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Newark, New Jersey. Alese and her fellow classmates were tasked with a very tedious homework assignment to get their minds going. Some of them were up for the challenge, while the others relished in procrastinating. 

This homework assignment would open up discussions for debate, create open dialogue, and show various perspectives on life. Diversify Us allows youth to think and talk about diversity in various environments. It allows them to look at it at school, home, work, and in the communities where they reside. Diversity is a very big topic and is sometimes, which people narrow to one of two things. The objective of this book is to broaden the views of diversity and what it means to other people. 

This book will give youth the opportunity to look at diversity in genders, race, socioeconomic status, states, and much more. 

What You Don't Want to Know

What You Don’t Want to Know…

It’s hard for you to understand

What you don’t want to understand

Hard for you to know

What you don’t want to know

Blinders are placed around your eyes

Because it’s much easier than seeing the world for what it really is

 

Your protective bubble

Has been placed on a pedestal

And placed out of reach from society

When in reality, you’re the same 

 

You’re the same as the

Complaining mother

Who just wants the best for her child

 

You’re the same as the

Underappreciated worker

Who just wants his due diligence

 

You’re the same as the adamant teacher

Who believes that every child

Has a special gift inside of them

 

The only difference between you, us, and them

Is that some of us have already recognized our similaries to each other

While others continue to play the blame game

And disparage the characters of those who we think are unlike us

 

I challenge us to look deeper than the race of the person sitting next to us

Deeper than the religion that sparks many feuds

Deeper than the sex and sexuality of a co-worker

Deeper than the candid ignorance that refuses to

Dissipate and turn into a beautiful swan

 

I embrace the rejected duckling

For I know the swan lies within

Beautiful thoughts

Flow from my mind

And attacks my lips

 

Take me

And do as you may

As long as you keep ill will

And harm

From all of my days

People and Our Differences

Have you ever been at the park with a friend and you happen to see someone who looks different from you?  Maybe you are at the grocery store and see someone who walks a little different?  What about having a manager’s meeting and another manager thinks differently than the other managers?

If you have answered yes to any of the statements above than welcome to this wonderful world we call society.  A world where people are made up of different shapes, sizes, colors, abilities, and thought processes.  A group of people that encompasses different cultures, religions, preferences, and upbringings.  Who would have imagined such a group of extraordinary people?

We are a people of many differences, yet many similarities as well.  Have you ever seen the dedicated African-America mother who works hard to make sure her four girls are raised the right way?  What about the Caucasian father who helps his son learn how to play baseball?  Don’t forget about the dedicated Asian boy who learns how to play basketball well enough to make it to the NBA.

As a society of many differences, we also have to respect our similarities and the things we have in common.  We must put aside our strife toward other races, sexes, religions, cultures, and other protected classes, in an attempt to gain what is naturally ours; peace.  

When I think about peace and coming together despite our differences, I reflect on the Statue of Liberty.  The statue has a very symbolic meaning that I am pretty sure that most of us can identify with, being that we are a nation of immigrants.  It was gifted to the United States by France in 1886.  The statue:

Stands for an idea. The Statue of Liberty stands in Upper New York Bay, a universal symbol of freedom. Originally conceived as an emblem of the friendship between the people of France and the U.S. and a sign of their mutual desire for liberty, over the years the Statue has become much more. It is the Mother of Exiles, greeting millions of immigrants and embodying hope and opportunity for those seeking a better life in America. It stirs the desire for freedom in people all over the world. It represents the United States itself.

When dealing with other people that are different, remember the easy part is judging immediately.  The hard part is understanding the unknown.  Are you tired of taking the easy way out of life?  Be more than the judge and jury socialites that we come into contact with or have become today!